The Artificial Sun Also Sets
Chapter 11: "Turn on the Bright Lights"
"Hmm...hmm...hmm...," hummed Gin to himself as he traipsed into one of Las Noches' many large parlors after snooping around the corridors. From the windows, the artificial sunlight lit up the room as its source indicated a late afternoon position in the blue "sky."
"Aizen-sama should be in the library with Orihime right now," he said to himself as he stepped near a closed door. Staring straight ahead and off into the dark distance of a large corridor right in front of him, he began to see a white figure moving in his direction. Some moments later, a large, tight grin expanded on his face as he began to recognize the figure through his eye-slits.
"Oh, this will be the crowning event of a truly exciting day for boring ol' Las Noches," he cackled, watching the white figure grow larger as it inched ever closer to him.
"You're really headed for trouble, now," said Gin to the white figure as it stepped into the light of the large, high-vaulted room. Such a statement only made Gin smile brighter, making him bear his teeth.
"What's it to you, anyway?" asked the figure, cooly, who had been identified as the arrancar, Grimmjow—light-blue hair, and all. As he came to a halt just in front of the corridor he emerged from, the weight of his zanpakuto clanked around at his left hip.
"Ha, ha—that thing really wants a fight, doesn't it?" remarked Gin, referring to Grimmjow's blue-hilted sword. Grimmjow glanced down to see it shifting around as he realized what Gin was looking at.
"Am I gonna have to remove you from here, Ichimaru?" he asked sincerely, the seriousness of his face speaking volumes louder than his words.
"Don't worry about me," said Gin, waving his hands around and about to burst into laughter, "I have no intention of getting in your way! I simply want to watch, is all..."
"Fine," replied Grimmjow, curtly. He waltzed casually over to the closed door of the library, his hips swaying in slow motion as his arms freely swung by his sides. It was his usual sexy swagger, but more focused as he headed for the door.
"Aizen! I know you're in there!" shouted Grimmjow at the closed door, wrapping his fist loudly against it. "Aizen!"
Moments later, the door cracked open to reveal Aizen himself standing at the doorway with Orihime a few feet behind him. She was seated at a large table in the center of the small, box-shaped room whose walls were covered from floor to ceiling with row after row of old hard-covered books. Laying on the top of the table in front of her was a piece of parchment marked with some black paint strokes, as her hand hovered over it. Between her delicate fingers she held a wooden paint brush, the tip stained in pitch-black ink.
"Hmm? What's this?" began a congenial Aizen, as he strolled out of the room a few paces into the larger outside parlor.
"Grimmjow!" shouted Orihime once she saw who had been banging on the door. She immediately jumped out of her chair to her feet, dawning a worried look on her face. Her jolt caused her to inadvertantly paint her own white uniform with the black ink soaked into the hairs of the brush she held in her hand.
"It seems we have a visitor, my love," said Aizen with a grin, glancing back at her. Grimmjow peered into the room at Orihime, but he tried not to allow himself to get too distracted by her presence.
"I'm sorry, Grimmjow," began Aizen, "But, I'm afraid I am in the middle of a calligraphy lesson with Orihime right now, so whatever it is you want, it'll have to wait until afterwards."
"You son-of-a—" began Grimmjow, until, suddenly, someone he couldn't recognize at first came to intercept his lunge at Aizen.
"Tousen!" gasped Grimmjow, incredulous upon realizing who the someone was standing in-between himself and Aizen. The blind man peered at Grimmjow with his snare, face-to-face, leaving little breathing room between the two of them.
"Get outta my way, Tousen!" shouted Grimmjow, poking his face even closer towards him.
"If you've come to attack Aizen-sama, then you will have to go through me, first, Grimmjow," stated Tousen, rearing back a little and drawing his zanpakuto from his side. Grimmjow glared at the tip of the man's completely unsheathed sword as the fake sunlight glistened off the bright metal blade. Consequently, he grabbed the hilt of his own sword, pulling it only a third of the way out of its sheath.
"Grind your teeth, Pantera!" bellowed Grimmjow. Suddenly, he was engulfed in a bright blue light just around his own person. Everyone's clothes began to whip around furiously in the wind created by the commotion. Orihime walked up to the doorway from inside the library, just behind Aizen, her eyes gaping open at the tumultuous scene.
"Please, my darling," said Aizen, turning only his head to the side towards her, "go back inside the library and shut the door tightly. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, and you will be safe behind these sturdy walls."
"But, Aizen-sensei—" she started to say as the urgency of her voice tried to escape her mouth.
"Do it now, please," he reiterated, in a serious tone, before she could voice her opposition. She silently backed away and began to slowly close shut the large, heavy door behind him. Leaning her back up against it, she sunk to the floor, sighing on the way down. Tears began to stream down her cheeks. Her eyes finally caught a glimpse of the black ink brush stroke she painted on the front of her uniform. She began to rub it, smearing the ink around in her attempt to erase it's existence.
"I...I don't want...this..."
(...to be continued...)