A/N:
I really enjoyed writing this one. I had an idea what to to, but I felt that I needed a better way to get there so I let my imagination run free for a while.

I hope you enjoy it, and I do love getting feedback - it helps me grow, so please take time to sit down and write down your thoughts.

Do like /follow me if you enjoy my stuff:
FaceBook: WinnifredArtemisDub
Twitter: WinnyArty
Wordpress: WinnifredArtemis
Fanfiction: WinnifredArtemis
Fictionpress: WinnifredArtemis

Disclaimer:
«I do not own any of the following pictures, music, characters or the original universe. I only own the story itself the main character and to the idea.»
Thanks a lot to Lightning Bee for betaing on this story.

Chapter 10: The Decision

Orihime didn't know how to react. What could the ex-captain possibly mean by that? "Ulquiorra Schiffer was found guilty and will not be seen here again." The words kept echoing through her, making her unsure what to think.

"Oh?" She asked carefully. "Why is that?"

"You went and blew up that bastard, didn't ya? I knew this was gonna happen someday." The blue haired man laughed. "I just knew it! I mean, that guy was always acting so high and mighty," Grimmjow's pose changed and became stiff and serious for a second; clearly imitating his fellow Espada, but then he broke down in laughter once again. "No wonder you got tired of him! Ah, I only wish I'd been there to see it! Or even blasted him myself!"

"Does that mean…?" Orihime couldn't get herself to finish the question. She couldn't understand why, but for some reason the thought of the strange espada being gone was something she couldn't not accept. They hadn't been close, and not at all like friends, but he'd been by her side ever since she'd arrived in this land of monsters, and even though he only stayed there because of orders, she'd felt that she could trust him to do that in some strange way.

"My dear," The silver haired man put a calming hand on her shoulder, giving it a friendly squeeze. "I think this… wild man," he sent Grimmjow a patronizing scowl. "What I mean to say was that the espada, known as Ulquiorra Schiffer, will no longer be responsible for you. Contrary to members like Mr Jaggerjaquez do we not look at death as the only punishment. If that had been the case, then you would never have had the.. eh, pleasure… of knowing the arrancar present in this room."

There was a moment of awkward silence where the two of them looked at Grimmjow. At last the arrancar added two and two and got four.

"Now wait a sec-! What are ya saying? When the hell have I ever-"

"About every time you open your mouth," The ex-captain commented, cutting off Grimmjow's protest. "But if you insist on being told a moment in particular I'd say that your handling of Luppi, in event of young Orihime's arrival, would be the most recent of your wrong-doings."

The blue haired man didn't reply. Even he knew that he'd gone too far that time. It hadn't been on purpose. Not to be mistaken: he really didn't regret the fact that he'd killed his replacement. No, not the least. The way he'd done it though, in front of the three lords during the demonstration. It had been a disrespectful act - not that Grimmjow normally cared. He held no respect for the others, heck, there was probably no one in the entire world that he respected - and if he had to name one, that one would be Harribel. However, he usually kept his emotions and rage under control until the official business was done and he could confront the one responsible for his rage in a private, and often fatal, encounter.

"Anyway, because of these new events there are going to be changes. It's not been decided who will be the one to permanently care for you yet - or if we're going to have one person mainly responsible at all. For now I guess you just have to be open for a little mystery, okay?" The captain winked at his captive, who nodded in return. "Well," he said, spreading his arms in a gesture. "That's all the time I have. I'm afraid I'll have to leave you guys now. Grimmjow, could you look after our friend for another hour or so? I won't be too long, I promise." During the last sentence his voice was cute and apologizing, and Orihime could not help but burst out in laugh. It was so different from his usual self, and she could not help but comparing him to a overly-attached mom leaving her kids for a urgent errand.

Her laughter seemed to please Gin and he smiled almost warmly at her before turning to his subordinate, repeating the question with his eyes.

"Why me, for fuck sake?" The espada complained, though it was visible that he didn't really mind doing so. The snake then nodded his farewell and left the room. As he left, the room fell silent. For a while they stood both still, unsure what to do, and then Orihime broke the silence:

"So, do like playing cards?"

"Cards?" The arrancar said thoughtfully

"Yes, cards. 52 different pieces of-"

"Do you think I'm stupid or something?" His face didn't change, but Orihime could sense the anger that slowly had started to build up in his voice, and hurried to to shake her head while waving her hands in front of her.

"No, no of course not! That wasn't what I meant, not at all. It's just that Ulquiorra-"

"Fuck Ulquiorra!"

Orihime had no time to react. Before she knew what was happening, she found herself slammed into the wall. It hadn't hurt, and it surprised her. It was common knowledge that the sixth espada was the one, excluding Yammy, with the largest anger issues and lack of self-control. Despite that, he'd not hurt her. She looked up and found herself looking into a pair of blazing blue eyes that were so intense that for a second she stopped breathing.

"Stop talking of that misfit." Grimmjow said, his voice heavy with the strain of calming down. "I fucking hate that guy! Just the name of him drives me insane. Understood? It's for your own good that you do." Though his words were cross, Orihime understood that it was meant only as a warning and she gave him a careful nod. For a second they just stood there, unsure what to do, but then he let go of her and stepped back to look her up and down.

"Turn around."

"Huh? What?"

"Turn around!" He snapped and Orihime automatically spun around. She turned back to face the arrancar, noticing a sly grin on his face.

"You know, now that I think about it... There is this one card game that I enjoy playing..." His grin widened as he spoke, and Orihime could not help to start worrying. Still, this had been her suggestion, and if she now refused to play - who knew what he might do?

"O-oh?" she her herself say. "And what game is that?"

"...Poker."

Meanwhile, in the hallways of Las Noches

The silver haired man smiled to himself as he closed the door to Aizen's private chamber behind him. It wasn't unusual that the two of them shared a few private words in the evening, but lately these meetings of theirs had been pushed back and postponed. When he thought of it, it had all started a few days after the girl arrived. From that day, all Aizen thought of were his plans for the Hougyoku, leaving Gin to deal with most of the issues and problem handling that happened on a daily business. The second in command didn't mind his new area of responsibility, but in some way he felt that Aizen, by given him this position, also had put him aside, and that the leader now spent most of his time going over his plans with Tousen.

Ichimaru let out a sigh as he passed by the doors to the main hall. Even though the future of the trio and their goals had been uncertain when they had arrived, he'd still thought that they at least would handle it together. Not that the three of them were best friends or close. No, they were from entirely different places so to speak. No, what all three of them knew was they they all needed one another to succeed. However, the narrowed eyed man thought to himself, things did not seem to work like they did back then.

Halting in front of the human's room, he reached for the door knob when he could hear voices.

"Oh, fuck you!"

The voice and the expression was in no way mistakable. At least it seemed like the girl would be alive. Not that it surprised Gin. Even though the sixth Espada had a tendancy to get out of control and be rash, he still wasn't stupid. He knew that if he was to kill the girl, the same or something even worse would happen to him. Ichimaru smiled to himself, maybe he hadn't needed to remind the arrancar of his previous doings. It still had been a delight to see his reaction to it though.

"Aaargh!" And enraged scream came from the inside and Gin's confidence wavered. Could he really be certain of the safety of the human? Taking a breathe, he pushed open the door and stepped in.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight the met him. On the floor were different pieces of clothing, shattered one by one. In the midst of the chaos he could see a naked back. Gin opened his mouth. What he was going to say he didn't know. But before any words came out, the blue haired moved a little to the side, revealing the girl that had been in the shadow of his body.

"Oh," The girl met his eyes, for a moment she just looked at him, but then she waved at him. "Ichimaru-san, you're back." In difference to the espada, the human was fully dressed. No, not fully. Her shoes and stockings were laying neatly beside her. Noticing his glance she got up on her feet and picked up her wear.

"Ey! Get your ass down here! We're not finished." The espada growled.

"We aren't?" The girl smiled sweetly down at him. "I thought you had had enough of this game. Just admit that you lost." She put her tongue out and him and the turned to the ex-captain. "We were playing you see. Poker."

"And I guess Grimmjow was the losing party?" The silver haired asked.

"Yes," a giggle left Orihime and she leaned closer and put her hands beside her mouth in a secretive manner. "He's a sore loser, isn't he?"

"Yes he is, my dear. A very sore loser indeed."

Ichimaru couldn't help but laugh. Ever since they'd first read information about the human and the mysterious powers the world had granted her, they'd known that she wasn't seen as a normal girl - not even by her own. The girl had seemingly always had a strange picture of the world, and a mental image that could switch entirely just by a minor change in her surroundings. He thought back to this morning when he'd first given Grimmjow the responsibility. The girl had seemed so frightened, so unsure and distrusting. Now, however, a few hours later, she seemed so relaxed and liberated. It was as if she'd never feared them at all. It was an interesting fact, and Gin had many times been on the bink of contacting Szayel and ask him to run some tests on the matter. However, when confronting Aizen with these ideas, the leader had struck down on them, telling him that there was no reason wasting time on something meaningless when it could be used to widen their information about the Hougyoku. Left with no other choice, Gin Ichimaru had started his own way of research - it seemed like he finally would be able to gather some results.

"So, you came to release me, didn't you?" Grimmjow grunted. He'd now gotten dressed again and was looking impatiently at his commander. "Well? Come on already. Can I leave this fucking hole or not?"

"Grimmjow," Gin sighed, getting rid of this thoughts. "There really isn't any way to get you to behave is there? Saying such things might offend our friend here." He shook his head, seemingly in disappointment. "Oh well, if you really have to know, yes. You can leave." Before the last words had even left his lips, the other man was out the door. Gin turned to Orihime with another sigh. "You see what I have to live with?" he asked, playing the dramatic part perfectly. "Well, laughs aside. We still don't have any solution yet, but I'm sure we'll have one soon. In the meantime, please stay inside your room and don't let anyone inside." The snake met Orihime's eyes with his own. "Do you think you could do that?"

The girl nodded, a serious glint in her eyes.

"Good!" The man's good mood was back and he headed towards the door. "That's good to hear. Then I will see you tomorrow then. Oh, and could you close the door behind me? I want you to lock it from the inside."

"Sure," Orihime got on her feet and went over to the door. She was about to wish her guest a good night sleep, as a movement down the hallway caught her attention.

The arrancar was headed in their direction and Orihime could her heartbeat speed up for each step he came closer to them. She couldn't put her finger on it, but for some reason Ulquiorra seemed different. As he came close, she opened her mouth, but before she could say something, she noticed a cold, dead motion in his eyes. For a second his eyes met hers, but there was no sigh of recognition or of any other feeling in them. Then the espada turned his eyes forth again, continuing down the hallway without even having lost a step of speed.

Again, please like / follow me if you enjoy my stuff:
FaceBook: WinnifredArtemisDub
Twitter: WinnyArty
Wordpress: WinnifredArtemis
Fanfiction: WinnifredArtemis
Fictionpress: WinnifredArtemis