Orihime approached the first day of her training by consoling herself. She always knew that by accepting, she would be betraying those she loved, but now she knew that she was truly a coward by not choosing death. Time was precious, so she prayed that by some small shred of hope she might end up proving useful to her friends by prolonging her life, and she hoped that her friends would understand. Most of all, she hoped that she would be able to keep her memories. She recalled the previous day's events. Neither Aizen nor Ulquiorra had appeared surprised at her decision to accept Aizen's proposal, and she could tell that Aizen seemed pleased. She left his throne room, following Ulquiorra to her room on the verge of tears and ran over to her pillow as soon as the door was closed so that she could cry in silence. I feel so alone, she grieved. She got very little sleep, waking long before the resounding knock on her door signaled the second day of her true betrayal.

Ulquiorra announced his presence before her first meal. Orihime stood directly across from the door, fidgeting with her hands.

"Upon eating your meal, you will begin your first day of training with me. Aizen-sama has ordered that we train on the roof of Las Noches, as it is a more discreet location for such purposes."

"Yes, sir."

The servant walked in, but Orihime hardly touched her food. Her appetite had left her long ago.

After scrambling whatever she could inside her mouth, she stood from the table, waiting for the next command. She followed Ulquiorra out to one of the terraces of the palace, after which Ulquiorra created a sphere of reiatsu around them. Orihime felt her body start to move upwards. She gasped.

"This is merely a method of transportation. Since you are not able to travel upwards on your own yet, I have created this device to transport us back and forth from the palace to the roof of Las Noches. You will not fall."

"R-right." She clutched her chest as they withdrew steadily from the ground. She decided not to look downwards.

They passed through the roof and walls and came upon a very bright, colorful place that resembled the blue skies of the real world. Orihime gasped; she never thought she would see blue skies. "What is this place?"

"It is merely within the dome of Las Noches. Aizen-sama prefers it this way."

When they were very close to what could have been considered the sky, Orihime saw Ulquiorra take his hand and create an opening in the sky. Fascinated, she looked at the ease with which he created such a rift. After passing through, they landed in an area just as drab as the rest of Hueco Mundo. It was very dark. The sphere Ulquiorra had created placed them very gently on the ground and then disappeared. She looked around, with one of her hands still clutched at her chest.

"So, what now?" she inquired.

"Now your training begins."

Orihime's eyes grew wide. I am not prepared for this.

"We will begin by first testing how much reiatsu you can withstand. Do not move," he ordered. Ulquiorra turned his back to her and walked several yards away, facing her again as soon as he reached a suitable distance.

Immediately, she felt the air around her shift the way it did over a week ago with Aizen. It was not as strong, but she could feel Ulquiorra's reiatsu grow in strength as the seconds passed. It was suddenly about the same level as what she had experienced with Aizen. Slowly, she felt her head grow heavier, her breathing harder, and her body stiffer. It's so hard to breathe!

Ulquiorra could see that she was struggling, and eased his reiatsu. Orihime breathed a sigh of relief. Ulquiorra's spiritual energy gradually started rising more slowly than before, so that Orihime had more time to prepare herself. She was surprised at how sensitive he was to her capacity. He was very good at guessing her limits.

And then, he took a small step forward.

The pressure was too much to bear. She felt her body bend to the power of his reiatsu. She doubled over and landed on all fours on the ground. Her bright, red-orange hair fell all over the dull, white sand and around her face. The pressure ceased. Orihime's breathing was very strained. She looked up at him, sweating.

Ulquiorra said nothing as he looked down at her. He was very calm, as if he had expected this to happen. He waited for her to regain her composure, stand back up, and prepare herself again. The same procedure continued; he took closer steps towards her, both letting his reiatsu rise and fall until he was standing several feet away from her.

"That is enough," he finally said, and the atmosphere suddenly became very light.

By the end of her training session that first day, Orihime was panting, sweating, and on the verge of tears. But she knew that her tolerance for withstanding reiatsu had increased; she could feel it. Once her breathing returned to normal, the hunger pangs in her stomach roared. She turned a light shade of pink at the noise and scratched the back of her head. "Ha…ha…sorry about that; I was really nervous about the training this morning and didn't eat very much."

Ulquiorra responded in his usual silence and created the sphere around them so that they could travel downwards. On the way down, Orihime reflected on how controlled he was. "It must have taken a lot of practice to be able to fluctuate your reiatsu like that," she remarked suddenly.

Ulquiorra's expression marked a hint of surprise.

"It's just that…you were able to read my limits really well. I guess I didn't count on that."

"It is expected of an arrancar at my level."

"Right, of course." How silly of me.

She gazed at him as he looked outwards. Everything he does is marked by pure duty, she thought. She felt admiration towards him in this aspect. Everything he did reflected this. It reminded her of her own seriousness in her studies. She suddenly remembered her school, her classmates, and friends. And here I am, training with the enemy, she thought, disgusted with herself.

"Does it really take months to get prepared?"

He looked over at her nonchalantly and responded, "For hollows, it is a much quicker transformation process. This is because they are already embodied with spirit particles. You, on the other hand, are human, and it is uncertain how long it will take for you to get accustomed to high levels of reiatsu. However, the time Aizen has suggested should suffice. Judging by your progress today, I expect it might take half the time."

She felt her cheeks flush at the positive critique, and Ulquiorra noticed that she seemed pleased with his statement. He considered explaining to her that his comment was meant as an observation and not a compliment, but then his thoughts drifted to several days ago. He was not completely certain, but he thought he understood her reaction better because of what had happened with the libélula. It is odd how strongly the things I say can have impact on her emotions, and emerge physically in her demeanor. Though, she is certainly the type to overreact. Perhaps this is why what happened to me days ago was so noticeable. It must have something to do with the magnitude of how she allows herself to be impacted by others.

"I want to get stronger," she suddenly said, her face still warm. Though she knew he probably did not mean his comment as a compliment, she decided to take it as such. "It's something I've always wanted. I like being useful."

The last sentence betrayed her lips. She had just revealed to him one of her deepest insecurities. Why did I just tell him that? With her face even redder, she slowly drifted her eyes towards his face, curious to see if he was still looking at her. He was. He merely stared, saying nothing. Thank God he's the silent type.

His response startled her, "I have trained a number of arrancar. Though your training will certainly be more tedious given your odd abilities and the fact that you are human, in my experience it has typically been the case that the arrancar with the most resolve learn more quickly than others. You should keep this in mind throughout your training, as it will prove to be more efficient."

Orihime did not know how to respond to this. Whether he had known it or not, he had effectively just given her a word of encouragement. Though she knew he was saying this to speed up her training, she still appreciated it. A smile emerged on her face.

Ulquiorra noticed the look on her face, but remained silent.

They eventually arrived at her door, upon which Orihime gave her thanks. "Thank you," she said sweetly, her words holding double meaning. "I will see you tomorrow."

The servant had just arrived with her food, however, and Ulquiorra stayed to watch her eat, as usual. For the first time, Orihime questioned his presence. She had accepted Aizen's help. It should be clear by now that she was on their side, even though she really was not. She was obviously starving, so there would be no incentive for her not to eat. Why is he here, then? She stole glances at him while she ate. His expression remained the same.

His thoughts mimicked hers. He supposed that staying had been out of habit. After all, she was clearly famished, but his thoughts were very focused on how his words could have such an effect on her. He had expected her reaction; he carefully chose the words so that they would appear neutral, but could also be taken to mean something positive, and he was right. She indeed expressed happiness at his words. He chided himself in being allowed to be distracted by curiosity. Perhaps the reiatsu has not completely worn off? he questioned. Yet, this was a pointless question; he knew that it had. What, then, was keeping him there? After further reflection, he decided that it had to be frustration at not having fully understood the events surrounding Orihime's reiatsu. Perhaps observing more of her reactions will allow me to comprehend the entirety of the changes in the previous weeks. In any event, he was going to be spending a lot of time with her in the coming days. This would give him plenty of opportunities to make his investigations.

.oOo.

For the next three weeks, the training sessions continued much like that of the first day. On some days, Orihime's progress was significant, on some days not. One day, for some strange reason, her abilities had actually regressed.

"Wh-what?" she cried when Ulquiorra had explained to her what had happened.

"Your tolerance has decreased. It is highly unusual."

"How is that possible? I've been working so hard…" she trailed off. She could feel her eyes water.

"It is not a significant difference. You merely collapsed at a slightly lower reiatsu level today."

Orihime nervously started playing with her hair. It didn't matter. This was like failing a test— how could Aizen have any use for her now? She could feel the hot tears trickling down her face. Her voice breaking, she asked, "Does this mean I'm not capable of handling the change?"

Ulquiorra noticed the breakage in her voice and was startled to see her crying.

Not now…he thought. He was not in the mood to handle a blubbering woman.

"I am certain this is temporary. There is no need for hysterics," he responded.

His comment bit.

"I'm not being hysterical. It's natural to be upset at failure!" she wailed.

He tried calming her down. "It would be useful to simply wait until tomorrow. If it appears to be a pattern, then we should have reason to be concerned. But if you continue to progress normally in the next several days, then you should have no reason to worry."

This seemed to work.

"OK."

She sniffed all the way back to her room. As the servant entered, she turned to Ulquiorra.

"Um…"

He stared at her, waiting for her to respond.

"Um…"

"What is it?"

"Would you mind letting me eat by myself today? I just want to be alone."

The request came out of nowhere and it showed on his face.

"Don't worry; you can come back and make sure I've eaten all of my food," she offered.

"That won't be necessary. I will leave."

Orihime felt guilty, but she did not want him hanging around watching her continue to sob.

Ulquiorra did not know what to think about her request. She had never asked him to leave. Going back on his word, he came back an hour later, out of curiosity, after reporting what had happened to Aizen. He came to her door just in time as the servant was stepping out. He told the servant to wait, and opened the silver tray covers to see whether she had eaten. She had. The plate was licked clean. She never does that in front of me, he noted.

Since the door was still open, he let himself in.

Distracted by her thoughts, Orihime did not notice that the door had not closed. She was looking out her window into the dark skies, heavily contemplating something and talking to herself.

Ulquiorra stood silently at her door.

She sighed deeply. "I hope I'm not getting weaker. After so much of this struggle, I just want to prove that I can do something! All that training has me exhausted, and if accepting his help has only led me this far, I'll probably just die of depression." She paused. "But…what Ulquiorra-kun said was right."

Ulquiorra's attention intensified at the sound of his name.

"He said that those with the most resolve are the ones who turn out the strongest." She smiled to herself. "Those words really have helped me. I've just wanted to give up so many times. But I won't." She giggled. "Plus, it'll be so interesting to see whether or not I'll be able to take him. I think the first order of business after my transformation will be to challenge him in a fight."

"Don't press your luck," came a deep voice from behind her.

She spun around, startled. Her face flushed a deep pink.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough."

"You need to quit doing that, and I thought you said you weren't coming back today," she complained, thoroughly embarrassed.

He ignored her comment. "I have spoken with Aizen-sama about today's training."

Her face grew white. "You what?"

"It was necessary. However, you needn't worry. He stated that this is quite normal for someone who strenuously trains." He paused, uncertain about whether he should repeat what Aizen had said next. Curiosity got the better of him. "He expected it to happen sooner, in fact, which suggests that he is not displeased with your progress."

Her eyes grew wide. She seemed relieved. "So what now?" she asked, in a much lighter mood.

Satisfied that he had guessed correctly at her reaction, he answered her question.

"He recommends that you take the next several days to allow your body to rest."

"Oh."

"There is one other thing. Aizen-sama has decided to relax some of your restrictions, given that you are almost a comrade."

His last words stung. She didn't like being called a "comrade". Looking down at her feet, she quietly asked, "What do you mean?"

"He has given you permission to leave this room during allotted times. However, should you choose to do so, you will be supervised."

So Aizen still doesn't trust me, she thought. Well, that doesn't matter. I still don't trust him.

"Where am I allowed to go?"

"Anywhere within the confines of the palace, as long as you stay away from the forbidden areas."

"Who's going to be supervising me?"

"One of the palace servants."

She felt a subtle ripple of disappointment. She knew why. She refused to allow her thoughts to drift in that direction.

"When can I go out?"

"After either of your latter meals, every other day, starting tomorrow. You need only give word to the servant who retrieves your dishes. Someone will soon arrive to take you wherever you wish."

"Is that blue-sky place forbidden?"

"No."

She knew exactly where she was headed first.