Chapter 2: Arrangements

Right now was possibly the worst position either former espada could be in. Right now the two were on their knees in front of all the captains of the soul society. Ever since the war ended, some of them were off duty due to injuries. Soi-Fon needed a new arm, Ukitake needed medical treatment for his condition since it was strained during the fight, both Kenpachi and Byakuya needed medical attention despite their own tough demeanors, and the head captain needed treatment for his burn wounds. Now that everyone, for the most part, was fully healed, the more pressing matters could be attended to. Like the two remaining espada's in Aizen's army. With the mad man defeated by Ichigo Kurosaki and imprisoned by the soul society in the Muken, the war was over and now they needed to deal with the last of his forces.

Both Ulquiorra and Halibel were more than a little nervous. They had no power or means to defend themselves. Their zanpakuto's were most likely destroyed or taken away somewhere, and the were entirely alone now. No espada, no arrancar and nobody from Hueco Mundo was crazy enough to actually attempt a rescue for them. Things were looking gray for the two and was about to be worse once the old man with one arm spoke.

"I should have the two of you killed like the rest were in battle." His words caused Halibel to sigh in an almost relief that she could join her fraccion in the afterlife while Ulquiorra stared impassively. "But that would be too simple for the two of you. So instead of killing you or wasting our time torturing you, I have decided to let you both go."

To say there were widened eyes and slack jaws was an understatement. Everyone within the room stared at the head captain like he had lost his mind. As expected, there were shouts from the more vocal captains such as Kurotsuchi and Soi-Fon. Even Komamura voiced his concern for this decision, and he was usually impartial to these types of decisions.

As the shouting continued, both Halibel and Ulquiorra were confused by this sudden change in the old mans attitude. From what Aizen had told them, vaguely I might add, the old man had no love for hollows of any kind and saw them as the permanent enemy that needed to be dealt with in the most horrific of ways. But what they just heard contradicted everything they were told about him. Why was doing this? Why let them go? It's not like they could really do anything with these seals on them cutting their energy, so what was his real intentions?

"ENOUGH!" The head captain shouted to shut the captains up while adding his own spiritual pressure to get his point across. "I was not finished." This earned him confused looks from the captains. "Before I was interrupted, I was about to say that my decision to simply have you two executed was altered by a certain someone I owed a favor to."

"With all due respect sensei." Ukitake spoked up first. "But just who exactly persuaded you to take such action?"

"The very one who saved us all from Aizen destroying the very world we live in." Yamamoto answered his former student turned captain.

Immediately everyone in the room stopped in their tracks. Ichigo had convinced the old man to spare these two and let them leave? Why? Didn't one of them put a massive hole in his chest? And Ichigo wants to save him? This didn't sit well with the captains as they thought that the boy was a little too soft hearted to do what was necessary to quell a potential threat.

The two arrancar were having trouble wrapping their own thoughts around this, especially Ulquiorra. 'Why would he want me saved?' He thought to himself over and over again. 'I killed him, twice. I stole the girl from him and showed him true despair in order to show him how different our powers were. And yet when he finally has the chance to see me suffer as I have caused him to suffer, he has the leader of the soul reapers release us both? Why?'

Halibel was having similar thoughts, though she had never really met the boy and didn't really know how he was in person. She would get reports of him when Aizen showed everyone of his espada's. She had assumed he was like any other typical human at the time, but now, hearing that it was he that changed the old mans decision to have them executed, she was doubting if anything coming out of Aizen's mouth was ever real or just another illusion.

"Ichigo Kurosaki convinced me that these two were only following Aizen through blinded means." The head captain continued. "That Aizen's end goal was to eradicate them all once they had outlived their own usefulness to him. That they were simply pawns to be used and discarded once he had what he wanted from them. A distraction."

His words cut through some of the more sympathetic of the captains, such as Unohana, Kyoraku, and Ukitake. Toshiro saw what Ichigo was saying and agreed with his words, though was skeptical on just letting these two go. Kurotsuchi was furious at the thought of losing two prime test subject materials and wanted the now powerless boys head. Byakuya didn't make any reaction, stoic as ever. Kenpachi was the same as Byakuya, since they both fought Ichigo and know just what he was about. Komamura was hesitant but eventually saw what Ichigo meant. Soi-Fon still hated the boy and hated his idea, thinking that she could just as easily kill him as she could these two.

"So, I have decided to release them based off of that." He continued. "But that doesn't mean that they will have th opportunity to regain any of their power and plot against us again." He continued on, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "They will have their powers sealed at all times and their bodies placed within human gigai's to be sent into the human world. There, they will be monitored and housed by two separate individuals in order to keep them on a very short leash."

"Wait a minute." Kenpachi spoke up, surprising everyone else in the room. He scratched the back of his head and quirked an eyebrow. "So what, you're just gonna let two randoms watch these two? That's kinda stupid old man."

"The two in question just so happen to be allies to us and capable of defending themselves for the time being." Yamamoto answered before continuing, turning to the still kneeling arrancar. "These two will be brought to them when they have fully recovered and are ready to head back to the world of the living."

"Head captain." Soi-Fon spoke up, disgust and anger still very evident in her voice. "Who exactly are the two?"

The old man sighed as he knew this would definitely entice a more negative reaction from them all. "The ones that will be watching over these two in the world of the living are Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue."

Not even five seconds and already a few shouts were heard. This was going to be a long meeting, and the two arrancar in question were the most stunned by this news.

Days later

It took a lot of convincing, and some very hostile threats from the old man, but eventually most of the captains had agreed with this decision, not that they had much of a say in the matter. Currently, Ichigo and Orihime were standing with their friends near the portal, waiting on their extra guest to be brought in from their cells. Since their spirit energy has been cut off from them, the four weren't all too worried about any hostile actions. The four being of course Orihime, Ichigo, Uryu and Chad. The news that both Ulquiorra and Halibel being sent to live with them did not sit well with the soul society's savior. He wanted them free since they were used as pawns by a mad man who was going to betray them regardless, but he didn't want to actually take care of them himself. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you ask, Orihime was also to be given one of the two former espada to take care of. Why her? Well, only the head captain and Ichigo really knew why.

"So let me get this straight." Uryu started with a tick mark over his head as he looked right at the two orange heads. "You two are going to be in charge of those two like caretakers as they live life as humans? Is that about right?"

Orihime scratched the back of her head sheepishly and let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah. Basically."

Uryu just sighed and turned to Ichigo, his glare hardening for a moment. "And I don't suppose you had something to do with this Ichigo?" There was a bit of animosity between the two now after Ichigo had attacked him in his fully hollowfied form. The two hadn't spoken more than three words to one another as Uryu was seeing Ichigo in a much darker light now.

Ichigo returned the glare and answered. "I convinced the head captain to let them both live. I didn't expect him to do this though." Ichigo had tried to convince Uryu that what had happened back at Las Noches wasn't him and that his hollow form was no gone, but that didn't seem to sit well with the Quincy.

Before they could really even say anything else or do anything else, the four heard the familiar sound of shunpo not too far from them. They turned and saw that both Renji and Rukia had appeared with Ulquiorra and Halibel in tow respectively. The two former espada in question were in white yukata's and had their wrist bound in front of them. They each looked to the two orange haired teens and scowled for different reasons. Halibel because her life was now in the hands of teenagers, and Ulquiorra because his life was in the hands of the one he was defeated by.

Renji spoke up first as he pulled Ulquiorra by the shoulder towards the group. "Well, don't know how you did it Ichigo, but here's your added baggage. Try not to treat him too well." Renji may have been joking but Ichigo could hear the disdain for the arrancar in his tone of voice. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that practically every single soul reaper hated hollows or at the very least had a very low tolerance for them, so hearing that these two arrancar weren't to be executed like most thought left most people in a very 'displeased' state.

Ichigo nodded to his brother-in-arms and watched as Rukia brought over Halibel. This was the first time he had seen her and boy was he surprised by what he saw. She was gorgeous to him from her beautiful caramel skin to her piercing green eyes. She had a body most women here in the soul society would kill for, and it was no wonder why Rukia was glaring at her body with anger and jealousy clearly in her eyes.

"Thanks guys." Ichigo started as he stood in front of Ulquiorra now. "We'll take you both to Kisuke. He already has your gigai's waiting for you, so lets get going."

As much as both the two former espada's didn't want to follow his orders, they did not want to stay in enemy territory any longer than they needed to. With a sigh, Halibel was the first to step forward and stood next to Orihime. Ulquiorra stared blankly but joined her soon after, not really having anything left to lose.

After some goodbyes, the four with their two extras left through the portal and appeared later on at Kisuke's shop. By this point, Chad waved them goodbye while Uryu flashed away without a moments glance. The four went inside of the shop where Kisuke was waiting for them with the two bodies laying on separate futons.

Both Ulquiorra and Halibel were surprised at how accurate the gigai's looked to them. From Halibel's curvy figure to Ulquiorra's pale skin, the bodies looked exactly like them, just minus all the hollow parts. Halibel had her full face and those markings on her cheeks while Ulquiorra also didn't have his hollow mask fragment and the green tear streaks going from his eyes. The only real problem was that the both of them were completely naked. Ichigo and Orihime went red faced at seeing just how *cough* accurate Kisuke made their anatomies. Halibel was slightly embarrassed at how this man somehow got her measurements right while Ulquiorra looked away at seeing just how well endowed his body was.

"Alright then." Kisuke started as he had his fan up. "Why don't we get those off." He snapped his finger and their bound wrist were released, much to their surprise. "Now, why don't you two go and take those bodies in the next room. There are some clothes waiting for the both of you." Both Halibel and Ulquiorra nodded quickly and took their bodies into the next room, leaving the three alone. Kisuke looked over to the two with a frown. "As much as I don't really like this idea, I was ordered to install a sort of obedience switch to these gigai's by the central 46."

Both Orihime and Ichigo looked at the former captain with wide eyes. "What? Why?" Orihime of all people asked out in disgust first.

Kisuke removed his fan and sighed as he pressed his temple in a frustrated manner. "Because the oh so smart people running the place are hoping to eliminate these two at a moments notice if used to much. Fortunately, I tailored those switches to these." He pulled out two bracelets, both orange only one had light blue pegs stuck in the sides while one was just pure orange. "I made these so that only you two could use those obedience switches with just a thought, and I know you two won't use them but I just feel like this is the safer option than the alternative."

Kisuke handed the two their respective bracelets, Ichigo the orange one and Orihime the orange/blue one. Both teens put their own respective bracelets on and the objects glowed for a second before dimming to a small hue. Both Ichigo and Orihime looked at one another before looking to Kisuke.

"Now as much as I would like to say that this idea is a horrible one," He started. "at least I know you two wouldn't do anything too bad to them. Just to let you know."

At that time, both Halibel and Ulquiorra came out of the room fully dressed and in their new clothes. For Halibel, she dressed in a tight but long sleeved black dress that went to her knees. The dress showed off all of her curves and then some. She had her arms crossed over her large and constricted breast in an almost embarrassed way, like she was trying to hide something. It was only by careful observation and noticing something small poking out through one of her fingers that Ichigo realized that she wasn't wearing a bra under that dress. Ichigo blushed and looked away for a moment, but then the idea of her not really wearing anything under that dress got in his mind and he was feeling himself starting to twitch a bit in his pants.

Ulquiorra was in a pair of black shorts that went to his knees and a tight blue tank top. Nothing was really out of the ordinary for him either at first glance, but with a careful eye by Orihime, she noticed that he wasn't wearing any underwear. How she noticed you ask, was because she saw that when he was moving his legs around to get a feel for the shorts, she could see the tip of his very impressive member. Orihime watched him with a careful eye as a few thoughts were going through her head right now that she had never would've thought a few weeks ago.

"Okay." Kisuke started, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Now that everyone is here, decent and ready, you two will be separated with Ichigo and Orihime."

"Fine." Halibel started as she moved to Orihime, much to Ichigo's slight disappointment, and stood by her side while still trying to cover herself.

"Um. Actually." Kisuke started as he brought out his fan once again and laughed a bit. "For you two it'll be the opposite way around."

"WHAT!?" The four shouted out, well in Ulquiorra's case spoke.

"The reason why it's like that is because those bracelets are also tailored to the gigai's in general." Kisuke started. "And I had a special tag tattooed to the gigai's that pretty much states that they can't run away from the one wearing the bracelet without that persons permission. Ichigo has Halibel's bracelet while Orihime has Ulquiorra's."

"So that means that I have to stay with her, and Halibel has to stay with Ichigo." Ulquiorra finished, not catching the slightly angered glare he received when calling Orihime "her" instead of by her name like everyone else.

"Correct." Kisuke answered. "You all have a nice day."

The four left the shop and walked down the road. It was still around noon when they left and Ichigo had to address the elephant in the room right that second. "Okay, I'm sorry, but why are you not wearing anything under that dress?"

The question took Halibel completely off guard as her face got a little red. Not only was her powers sealed, herself imprisoned, and now at the mercy of a teenage male, but he also noticed she wasn't wearing any underwear under this dress. Ulquiorra shook his head as he continued to walk on and Orihime did stop for a bit to basically tell Ichigo not to ask a girl that kind of question. Orihime was the one who advised Ichigo to take her out to the mall to shop for some new clothes before dark, to which the duo agreed and left on another road.

It was only for a brief moment that Orihime felt a bit a joy at watching Ichigo get so flustered. Ever since what happened with his hollow, she noticed that he was more serious than ever. It made her feel inadequate in a sense, seeing as though she was the main cause for his transformation, but she couldn't give up right then and there. She looked ahead of the road and saw that Ulquiorra was still walking along like nothing was wrong with his hands in his pockets. The very look of him and his walk just made her so upset. She didn't know why, but she wanted to see that cool and cold demeanor crumble before her, and she wanted to enjoy every single second of it.

Now that's not ominous at all. The next chapter will start some of that lemon/lime that this chapter just set up. Hope ya'll enjoyed this.

PEACE!