Farewell
As I neared the entrance of her chamber, I saw a beam of silver moonlight shining down on her, casting an inky black shadow that nearly reached my own feet. The lighting of that atmosphere made her hair seem to glow just a little, just a little to make me bite the inside of my lip.
I recollected myself and began to speak, "How unexpected. You look rather unscathed,"
Her hair flew around her flustered face as my words seemed to shake her out of her reverie, "Wha-? How long have you been standing there?"
"Just now."
My shoes clicked on the stone floor as I walked further in, "I have a message for you: Your allies have broken into Hueco Mundo."
Her features molded into one of somber disbelief, "Why..?" she softly whispered to herself.
"Why you ask?" I replied, "To save you. To them, there is no other reason other than that."
"They came… to save me?"
"..Yes." said I in an apathetic tone. "But for you, that should no longer hold any meaning for you are already our comrade in body and mind. That is what wearing those clothes means."
A fleeting look of pain crossed her features before it returned to her continuous look of sorrow. Her hand was across her chest as she stood there with the white uniform of Hueco Mundo covering her body.
Avoiding looking at me in the eye, she stared at my feet, "Yes, sir."
"Say it. For what purpose does your mind and body exist?" Loyalty to Hueco Mundo and Lord Aizen must come first. It had to.
Impassively, complied to my order, "Yes, sir. My mind and body exists for Lord Aizen and for his will,"
As she finished, I nodded with silent approval, then turned around and left through the corridor. The woman showed hesitation for only a split second, and she did not flinch. She is a woman of strong spirit.
A voice resounded from behind one of the supporting beams of the hallway, "Yo."
As the figure walked out of the shadows, he continued, "So, how's she lookin'? Our little pet princess."
A twinge of jealousy crossed my mind, "Nnoitra… I know all about it. Lord Aizen entrusted you with the job of looking after her, hmm?"
"So, how much did you 'discipline' her?"
I had no response to such a vulgar question. There were multiple reasons why I wouldn't do such acts, even if she looked like a woman in which I would.
"Aw, don't be so pissy. I was only asking how well you're doing with the pet. What were you thinking?" the man had one arm on the wall above me as he talked. It would have been intimidating to… anyone else.
"You're that interested? You really must have nothing else to do," I said as frigid as I could manage.
Cocking his head slightly to the right, he responded quite cluelessly, "Eh?"
Stepping out of his looming shadow, I tonelessly replied, "Do not worry about that woman. Even before she entered, she was under Lord Aizen's control."
"The princess is under the Kyouka Suigetsu, huh?"
"Ridiculous. That would be overdoing it." I said, with an air of nonchalance, "When I first approached her about coming here, I trapped her in a psychological cage. I told her that she would surrender to us and her friends would stay alive. And additionally, as long as it remained unknown to everyone else, she was allowed to say goodbye to one of her comrades."
Squinting his eyes, the man haughtily said "You call that a cage?"
Ignoring his slightly piquing comment, I continued on, "By giving her a break under such pressure and then allowing her to say farewell to a friend. To her, both will be misrecognized as compassionate actions… She will loosen up a bit. Do note, however, that in those twelve hours, by using her friends as shields, we had no need controlling her thoughts. Furthermore, allowing her to choose which person to say goodbye to created an illusion that she was still acting on her own will the entire time. And then, I told her to come to the rendezvous on her own and taking her to Hueco Mundo from there. The illusion was only in her mind, and she will dampen her will to escape. "
The man with the ridiculously high collar slouched slightly due to my verbose explanation.
"Furthermore, the phrase 'Saying goodbye to one of her friends as long as no one else knows' could also be said in other words as 'Being able to have an impression that she said to one person only."
"…What the hell is that? Doesn't that also mean that you screwed up?"
"It is the exact opposite. The impression of giving a farewell is irrefutable proof that until the moment of surrender, she was acting entirely under her own will. Which means: The stronger that impression remains, the more it will seem to her allies that she betrayed them by choice. Unfortunately, it seems as if that last stage was not a perfect success. It seems to be that the Soul Society has removed themselves from the incident entirely."
With a rather odd, sinister smile plastered on his angular face, "I gotta' admit, that'sa well thought out plan. Or should I say 'As expected of Lord Aizen?'"
"Well thought out?" I questioned.
"To Lord Aizen, this is mere child's play. If the red herring works, fine. If it doesn't, that's fine as well. The main point remains—as of now, that woman cannot even attempt to escape from here.
That is because that woman has neither the strength nor the will to leave."
Author's Note: We're back on track with the story line! There's not much fluff in this chapter. It was more to the point and following the story line. In the next chapter I will include some Ulquiorra and Chiharu fluff.
Do not fret my readers; there will certainly be Ulquiorra and Orihime fluff when the story line allows it.
