The Artificial Sun Also Sets
Chapter 4: "Vigilance"
"Aw... I think this time I'm really gonna puke!" declared Menoly as she ran her rigid fingers through her short spiky hair. The other hand had to forcefully cover her mouth as her cheeks puffed out like a blow-fish.
"This sucks!" exclaimed the other eavesdropper, Loly, still holding the glass cup to the outside of Aizen's door. Despite over-hearing just about everything Aizen and Orihime had been conversing about, she somehow conveniently managed to not hear the part where Aizen said openly that he suspected she and Menoly were the cause of all the racket from the hall.
"What are we going to do to her, Loly?" asked the spikey girl in a lowered, devilish tone. Her fists clenched as she darted through a maze of malevolent ideas in her mind.
"I don't know, but we'd better make it good because it sounds like Aizen getting to like this chick just a little too much." Loly's eyes squinted and the left side of her mouth curled up into a mischievious grin. "Feeding her fine chocolate, eh, Aizen-sama? We'll see about that—"
"—You'll see about what?" asked a curious, gruff voice from just over her shoulder. Upon hearing it, both girls turned into the coldest stone, unable to make even the slightest peep to save their lives. Turning their heads towards each other like a ticking clock, one second at a time, they eyed behind themselves to confirm their worst possible fears had indeed come true. The man that stood behind them...
"G—G—Grimmjow?" they said together, confused and stunned.
"What are you two doing in Aizen's hallway?" he asked in a unamused tone. He had been skulking around outside Orihime's chambers and heard the raucous from Aizen's direction. He peered at the girls hunched over in terror with a deep, dangerous glare that filled them with total dread. Since they seemed to lack the ability to respond, he leaned in closer to their ears.
"I said, 'what are you doing here?' he repeated louder this time, his hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his white hakama. "Don't make me repeat myself."
"Uh—we, uh..." stuttered Loly as she attempted to straighten-up her hunched frame. Menoly fixed her eyes on his dead-serious face without ever blinking even once. She could only shutter and inadvertently gasp in the state of shock she was in.
"Tell me something," he started in a somewhat more affable tone, "is Orihime all alone in there with Aizen?"
"Y—yes," came the affirmative from the lesser terrified girl, still trembling near the door.
"And, you both have been listening to every word they've said, is that correct?"
"Yes," replied Loly, her voice evolving to resemble the high-pitched articulation of that of a three-year-old little girl. Both of them were beginning to relax and stabilize slightly as they sensed the gentler tone of Grimmjow's delivery.
"So, then I can count on you both to give me a full report of exactly what's going on in there, right?"
"Uh, r— right, sir!" said Loly, the only girl capable of speech thus far, with an expression more in accordance to her current adolescence. Menoly managed to nod up and down at him in agreement to the terms, which implied that Grimmjow would not harm nor tattle on them, as long as they carried out his personal demands.
"Very well, then," he said, his hands still pocketed, although more shallowly, as was his usual custom. He turned to move away down the hall, gaining a few yards of distance between himself and the girls at Aizen's door. At last relieved and consequently drenched in sweat from the encounter, the girls resumed their conspiratorial battery against their favorite target of jealousy.
"As soon as I get another chance," said Loly, feeling the heated, ornery adrenaline coursing through her veins again, " I'm gonna tear her hair ou—,"
She stopped, suddenly realizing Grimmjow had not yet walked far enough away to not be able to hear them anymore. They both very cautiously glanced over at him, gasping. He had come to a dead stop at the end of the darkened hallway, his back still facing them.
"Nevermind!" shouted Loly, half giggling in an attempt to brush-off the near-violent declaration with a light-hearted air of teasing.
"You better never mind that," he shot back at them. Satisfied, he resumed his exit of the scene...
(...to be continued...)