"You mean all this is for me?!"
Orihime's expression was priceless, Ulquiorra found himself thinking. She had a look of complete and utter surprise at all the food before her. The disbelief in her eyes made him wonder if she believed that he had tricked her into making her believe that the delicious meal before her was hers when in fact it was not.
"Of course it is all for you. Who else would it be for?" Ulquiorra replied as the servant wheeled in yet another cart of well prepared food. Orihime was too much in shock to actually comprehend that she would no longer be eating the rotten rice and raw meat but a spectacular meal cooked to perfection.
"Are you sure this isn't a joke?" the redhead asked, still showing signs of hesitation towards the feast before her.
"Do I look like the type to joke, woman? This was a direct order from Lord Aizen," Ulquiorra stood there with his typical stiff pose, his hands remaining neatly in his pockets.
"Giving me actual food was an order?" Orihime couldn't help but ask as her eyes scanned over the many courses before her. All types of food filled three trays on one cart: freshly cut fruits, perfectly seasoned rolls of sushi, pork cutlets, and even roasted chicken! The other cart was full of nothing but mouth watering desserts: chocolate cake, sweet bean dango (dumplings), and even vanilla ice cream!
Orihime wiped away a tad bit of drool that was collecting at the corner of her mouth as she gawked at the scrumptious meal before her. Ulquiorra could still clearly see the wavering sense of uncertainty in her eyes. Perhaps she wondered if the food was actually poisoned. Ulquiorra couldn't help but wonder if it was in fact poisonous indeed. He had never seen so many exotic foods in his life.
"The rules still apply, woman," the Espada said, breaking the silence, "I will still gladly force food down your throat if you do not comply with eating."
He did not have to tell her twice! In seconds, Orihime had the chopsticks neatly pulled apart as she began digging into the wonderful foods.
"Itadakimaaaasu!" Orihime's voice rang out in a harmonious tone as she began to consume all the wonderful foods on her plate. Ulquiorra looked at her with mild interest as the girl happily devoured her feast. Why did such a simple thing like food cause the girl's eyes to light up so much? Arrancar never had much of a need for human foods. Only fools like Nnoitra Jiruga or Yammy ate human food; probably because they enjoyed the taste.
"Would you like some, Ulquiorra-sama?" Orihime piped up, noticing that he had been staring at her for the past few moments without even so much as a blink. "It's really good!"
"I have no desire to eat human food," Ulquiorra answered as he signaled for the servant to leave. The servant Arrancar bowed politely before rolling out the carts. Orihime had completely finished the main entrees and had already started on the trays of dessert atop of her table.
"It's really yummy! But of course, I think the dango would taste better with a bit of wasabi…" Orihime added, popping a whole dango into her mouth. Orihime's tastes buds had never worked properly but they thanked her profusely for placing actual edible foods into her mouth. Even though some hot sauce would have been wonderful with the watermelon…
"What is…dango?" Ulquiorra asked as he continued to stare at her, pondering on what the tiny round balls on her plate were.
"You've never eaten dango before? They're little balls of dumplings made of rice flour! The ones you gave me are dango made with sweet bean paste! So they're really sweet and yummy," Orihime smiled brightly as the pale male as she held up her plate to him, "Here—try one!"
Ulquiorra stared at the plate as if it were about to bite him, a look of disgust crossing over his features, "No, I will pass on your offer."
"Awwww, you're no fun, Ulquiorra-sama," Orihime whined gently before setting the plate down back on her lap. "Sora used to love the green-tea flavored dango…"
"Sora?" Ulquiorra asked, wondering who the girl was referring to. Orihime was silent for a moment as she chewed thoughtfully on another dango. She chewed slowly and softly, as if pondering on how to explain who Sora was. Instead of replying to him, she swallowed her mouthful and turned to smile at him again, "Why are you asking me so many questions tonight, Ulquiorra-sama?"
"No reason in particular," the Espada answered, looking away from her.
"Oh, and one more thing, Ulquiorra," Aizen's voice rang through his mind as Ulquiorra's eyes gazed at the view of the moon outside her window. "In order for our princess to forget about her friends, she must make new ones in return. She must replace all memories of her old friends with her new ones." Ulquiorra could still picture Aizen's evil smile as his words continued to pulse through his memory, "But there is a problem with that theory. Orihime Inoue has no friends here, as you may know. We must fix that."
"Sora was my brother," Orihime whispered timidly as she stared at the concrete floor. Ulquiorra's eyes shifted towards the girl's form. Her smile had disappeared along with the flaming sensation in his chest. Why was that?
"Ulquiorra, do you know why I put you in charge of the girl? I knew you'd be the only one able to handle her. She's sweet, kind-hearted, and even very beautiful. Any of the other Espada would have either been touched by her warm heart or would have taken advantage of her loveliness. But you? You, my faithful servant, feel nothing. You have no heart for her to touch and no desire to touch her. You will not be fazed by the girl in any way. That is why I want you to befriend the girl and lure her more towards our side. Regard her kindly and even make conversations with her. Do as you please, Ulquiorra. I know that you will not let me down."
"He died awhile ago, though…In fact, he even came back as a Hollow. But Kurosaki-kun purified him so he's in a much better place now," Orihime continued on as she fiddled with her long locks.
"I see," Ulquiorra simply replied. It wasn't that he was not paying attention to her. It was just that Aizen's words kept ringing through his mind as if he were watching a movie that kept rewinding and playing back the same scenes. What was Lord Aizen thinking?! It was impossible for Ulquiorra to befriend anybody—whether or not it was just a simple façade.
"What about you, Ulquiorra-sama?" Orihime glanced at him as her fingers continued to comb through her hair.
"What about me, woman?" the man retorted, completely forgetting what they had previously been talking about for a moment.
"Don't you have any family members?" the girl asked with gray eyes full of innocent curiosity.
"Do not be foolish. Arrancar haven't a need for family," Ulquiorra replied, turning away as to not meet her gaze. He found that if he stared into her eyes long enough, that same aching feeling would make its way to his chest again. He wanted to do whatever he could to prevent that feeling from swelling up again.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense for you to not have any family…but weren't you a human in a past life? Surely you had family then!" Orihime continued to chat before Ulquiorra bent down and grabbed another dango, shoving it towards her mouth.
"Cease your pointless babbling and finish your meal," the Espada coldly replied, already fed up with her chatter.
Orihime couldn't help but groan slightly as she opened her mouth, allowing him to feed her once again. Only this time, she didn't mind it as much. Who would mind having a cute guy like Ulquiorra feeding them a sweet bean dango?
There it was again. The word cute. Just thinking about that word caused Orihime's cheeks to blush lightly as she once again tried to shake that thought away from her mind. The only person Orihime Inoue believed to be cute was Ichigo Kurosaki! Orihime nodded once in confidence as she got lost her thoughts, "Yep! Kurosaki-kun is definitely the only cute guy to me!" She often talked to herself when she got lost in her thoughts. Consequently, Ulquiorra broke through her train of thought and shoved another piece of dango at her.
"Eh, sorry!" Orihime blushed with a sheepish grin, completely forgetting that he was in the room. She happily ate the dango before another small groan emitted from her throat.
"I'm full, Ulquiorra-sama…Please no more," a small whine came from the girl as she stood up from her seat on the wooden chair and approached the couch. She sat down the comfy piece of furniture and leaned back with a content smile on her face. It had been a very long time since she encountered the feeling of actually being full.
"Are you satisfied, woman? You should thank Lord Aizen when he requests your presence tonight after your shower. Do not expect such grand feasts like that for every meal but I can assure you that you will never have to eat the kind of food you used to be served," Ulquiorra calmly stated. Orihime's smile brightened a tiny bit more as he said that. Hurray! No more uncooked meat and cold rice!
"Now, it is about time for your daily bathing. Be dressed in your bath wear by the time I return in ten minutes," Ulquiorra ordered, turning his back to the girl. Orihime, however, was not paying attention. Once again, the girl was lost in her own world as she gazed up at the window. Usually when she daydreamed at Las Noches, her mind would waver to pleasant memories of her times in high school. Even sometimes she would reflect on her adventures at Soul Society when she and her friends journeyed to rescue Rukia Kuchiki.
On that very moment though, Orihime's mind drifted back towards her dearly deceased brother. She clearly remembered the times when she and her brother would enjoy a nice portion of freshly made dango. Sora would often sing a song from a child's television show about dango to make Orihime giggle. After awhile, it turned into a tradition: every time they ate dango, they would sing the "Big Dango Family" song.
"Are you listening to me, woman?" Ulquiorra asked, trying to hide a slight growl that had formed in his voice.
Orihime smiled at the memory as she placed her hands neatly on her lap, closing her eyes. She opened her mouth slowly before slightly chanting to herself in a harmonious nature, "Dango, dango, dango, dango, a big dango family."
Ulquiorra had reached out his hand to tap her shoulder but stopped when he heard her soft voice ring out. Was she…singing?
"There's a naughty fried dango, and here's a kind red bean dango. Everyone, everyone comes together to make a big family." She tried her best to recall the words as the memory of she and her brother singing together happily danced along her mind.
Ulquiorra could do nothing but stand there staring at her. His hands dropped to his sides as his eyes never left the serenading girl.
"The baby dango is always cradled in happiness while the happy old dango gazes with his squinty eyes," Orihime continued to sing as her eyes remained glued to the moon outside her window. She raised her voice to a slight crescendo as she reached the chorus, in hopes that her brother would be able to hear her melodious tune.
"The happy little dango hold their hands together and make a big, round circle. They'll build a town on the dango planet and everyone will laugh together. The rabbits are waving their hands from their home on the big moon. Let's all become a huge family, gathering all the happy things and the sad things, too…"
What a ridiculous song, Ulquiorra thought to himself. A family of dango on a dango planet? Rabbits waving to them from their home on the moon? Completely and utterly preposterous…A song only foolish trash would sing. However, he couldn't explain why he was almost disappointed when she stopped. From the moment she began to serenade, that same tingling feeling formed in the pits of his stomach and rose up to his chest. He couldn't understand it…he didn't want to understand it…and yet, the feeling was almost soothing.
"Oh, Ulquiorra-sama! I'm so sorry! I kind of drifted into my own world! Please forgive me! I'll get dressed right away!" In seconds, the girl had jumped up from her perch on the couch and bowed politely to her captor.
"I will return in ten minutes," Ulquiorra said once again as he turned his back to her in a brisk exit. He shut the door behind him as he leaned his back against it, a heavy sigh emitting from his throat. What was the girl doing to him?
Sousuke Aizen was wrong—the girl was affecting him. And he didn't like that fact in the least.
Ulquiorra could hear the sounds of the girl scuffling from inside the room. Orihime was allowed to shower and clean herself up once a day. Usually, she showered before her visits with Lord Aizen. Aizen frequently summoned her to his quarters once every few days. Ulquiorra had always wondered why he requested the girl to be neat and clean for her visits. It wasn't like she was his lady of the evening or anything…
Lady of the evening. Ulquiorra had been told by many of the other Arrancar that Orihime was in fact Aizen's love slave. Not that he believed them, of course. Trash like them often wanted to find anything they could to gossip about. Orihime was far too innocent and childlike to become a love slave for anybody. If she did happen to ever become a toy of Aizen, Ulquiorra would be able to find out in an instant. The girl was able to wear her heart on her sleeve; whatever she was feeling was reflected in her eyes. Being a toy for her master would indeed make the girl overflow with negative emotions; thus, Ulquiorra would know.
He sighed lightly once again, wondering why he thought about the girl as much as he did. Once he was certain ten minutes were up, he opened the door to her room once again, "Time for your shower. Aizen will certainly request to see you at some point tonight so you better—"
"EEEEEEK! DON'T COME IN!" Orihime squealed rather sharply as she tried her best to cover herself up with the bathrobe.
Even so, the young man opened the door anyways and walked in, completely ignoring her orders. After all, she wasn't even supposed to be giving orders.
"I told you that I would return in ten minutes," the Espada replied with an air of calamity and composure. He didn't seem to be affected at all by the partially nude woman before him.
Orihime had been struggling with the zipper on the back of her dress, having the long jacket of her outfit that had covered her neck and shoulders being the only article of clothing that was removed.
"But I can't seem to undo the zipper 'cause it's stuck and…Oh, please, Ulquiorra-sama! Turn the other way!" The girl's cheeks were burning as if they were on fire as one arm desperately trying to keep her dress from slipping off while the other was trying to unzip the back. The girl looked pitiful, Ulquiorra thought. Pitiful yet somehow captivating.
"I have no desire to look at your body—nothing about it interests me in the least," Ulquiorra said sternly before he approached the blushing beauty before him, "However, I gave you a specific time to be ready and you disobeyed my orders."
Oh boy…Why was Ulquiorra always so precise about his timing? Orihime's thoughts raced through her mind as she continued to fiddle with the zipper, hoping to undo it before he came any closer to her.
Much to her dismay, the zipper did not come undone. Even so, seconds later, Orihime could feel ice cold hands along her back, sliding the zipper downwards with much ease. The girl gasped lightly as her entire back was exposed to the male behind her.
"Get undressed immediately or I will do it for you," Ulquiorra leaned over and whispered huskily in her ear, causing her body to tremble lightly with shivers as her heartbeat increased its pace rapidly. She tried desperately to keep holding up her dress against her, making sure it wouldn't slide down and reveal anything else.
"I will if you turn around, Ulquiorra-sama," Orihime replied quietly and nervously, her voice cracking slightly as she did so.
"Do you honestly believe I have any interest in that body of yours?" the Espada inquired before complying with her. With an agitated sigh, he turned away from her with his back facing her. Orihime seized that moment to hastily remove the remainder of her clothing while reaching for the long bathrobe lying on the table.
Every time she went to the shower, she always had to wear a bathrobe. While she was in her bathrobe, a servant would be washing her usual white uniform Ulquiorra had told her to wear.
Shower time was her least favorite time of the day. The male and female showers were not separated—they bathed in the same facilities.
Orihime Inoue had never seen a naked man until she arrived at Hueco Mundo. Unfortunately, the first male for her to ever encounter naked was the disgustingly obese Yammy. The memory of his bare body would continue to haunt her nightmares for years to come.
Naturally, having unisex showers meant that other Arrancar could see her bare body with ease. She often removed her robe after stepping inside the shower stalls and closing the curtain, but that had never stopped Nnoitra Jiruga from sneaking a peek at her.
The girl felt her cheeks continue to blush as she thought of all her embarrassing memories in Las Noches. Tatsuki would certainly never hear the end of it once she returned to the human world!
If she returned to the human world…
After Orihime was completely dressed in her flannel bathrobe, Ulquiorra escorted her out the room and into the extensive, narrow hallway in a quick manner. The girl barely had enough time to hand her white Arrancar uniform to a servant Arrancar before Ulquiorra got a good ways ahead of her.
Why did he always have to walk so quickly down the hallway? Couldn't he wait up for her?
Orihime was practically jogging to keep up with his swift pace, silently grateful for the tiny burst of exercise.
"You will have fifteen minutes to bathe yourself. If you are not done within that time limit, I will pull your out myself," Ulquiorra stated, breaking the silence between them.
"Hai, Ulquiorra-sama…" Orihime whispered quietly as she finally matched his pace with her power-walking.
The fair skinned male gave the girl a side glance, noticing her grim expression. Shouldn't she be happy she was being allowed to leave her room and actually cleanse herself? Didn't female humans find hygiene to be an important aspect of life? Perhaps that wasn't it…
They walked in silence for several moments down the long hallway that seemed like it stretched on for miles. Ulquiorra continued to ponder on why the girl was at such unease concerning her shower. His thoughts, however, were interrupted by the frail girl's shaky voice.
"Is…Jiruga-san going to be showering this time as well?" Orihime fidgeted with the long sleeves on her bathrobe while trying to calm her nerves.
"I wouldn't know," the Espada claimed. His emerald eyes glanced over at the girl's facial features as his thoughts continued to swirl. She was worried over Nnoitra? The girl had nothing to worry about concerning that lecherous piece of garbage. If the man was wise, he'd never go within fifty feet of her at all times. If he did…well, in short, all of his limbs would be removed as well as his ability to breed.
"You needn't worry yourself. Nnoitra will not be bothering you anymore. If you're still concerned, I will stand guard nearby." Ulquiorra stared straight ahead, wondering if his words even reassured the girl.
"Promise you won't look?" the redhead asked as she continue to fiddle with her sleeves. Orihime was not only harassed by perverts like Nnoitra but by female Arrancar as well.
The Arrancar by the name of Loly never ceased to humiliate Orihime in any way she could. That pesky girl would often make snide remarks about her body or call her Aizen's whore whenever she was around.
Just the thought of it made her stomach quench with nausea. Orihime was often picked on as a kid but she always had either Sora or Tatsuki there to protect her. Neither of them could help her out with Loly's constant bullying…Loly's friend Menoly was not much better.
"It is under Aizen's orders that I keep you out of harm's way. No one will lay a finger on you, woman. I assure you," the Espada continued on. It was almost as if he was trying his best to comfort her. Orihime couldn't help but smile lightly to herself at the thought of Ulquiorra attempting to comfort her.
"However, in order to accomplish that mission, I cannot promise that I will not look," Ulquiorra added, his pace slowly decreasing as they reached a long black door that lead to the showers.
Forget what she thought about him trying to comfort her…
"Well, here goes nothing," Orihime sighed, letting out a small breath of air.
Author's Note: Heyyy guyyyys :D Sorry for not updating in a while Did you guys like this chapter?? 3 Please review!! Oh, and by the way, the song that Orihime is singing is "Dango Daikazoku" from the anime Clannad. I chose her to sing this song because it's sweet and innocent…3 And the fact that dango are really yummy xD Oh, and I translated the lyrics myself into English so if they're not completely accurate, please forgive me! Thanks for reading