Yuzu walked with fearful steps beside Aizen, her body shaking from stress as she glanced wearily around her at the vast halls she traveled through. The white around her was almost blinding, but working at the clinic with her father on occasion made it to where her eyes naturally adjusted to the brightness of her surroundings.
Aizen had yet to speak to her since he told her to follow him, which seemed to frighten her more than it reassured her. She didn't know what this man was about, and she had a feeling that she shouldn't want to either. Yet, she can't help that one pinch of curiosity that shows through her fear. She wanted to know why she had been kidnapped and what Ichigo had to do with any of this. Is Aizen the leader of a group of thugs, and they kidnapped her because Ichigo got on their bad side? The thought caused Yuzu to shiver uncomfortably and shake her head, wrapping her arms around herself.
The longer they walked, the more life Yuzu began to see around her. There were more people walking through the halls wearing similar white outfits to the one Aizen and the people who took her wore. Some, as creepy as it was, had holes in their bodies that peeked through their uniforms or were out in the open for display. Some of them did seem friendly enough, but then there were those who glowered at her after bowing towards Aizen. She could feel the threats in their stares, and she unconciously stepped closer to Aizen in fear of someone lashing out at her. At least Aizen wasn't going to let anyone touch her, she hoped.
One in particular seemed quite brutal and really disliked her being there. She saw the wild blue hair first when the male was walking by. He had a nonchalant manner about him when he was walking until his icy blue eyes landed on her and narrowed. He had a large hole in his stomach out on display for those to see. Also, Yuzu noticed that one of his arm were gone, causing her eyes to sadden for a moment in slight pity. She made a sound of discomfort when his eyes landed on her, finally pressing up against Aizen's side. When that happened, the blue haired male stopped walking and turned to face her and Aizen directly. Aizen had stopped walking as well, first glancing down at Yuzu before looking up at the male with wild blue hair.
"Do you need something, Grimmjow?" Aizen asked, his eyes sliding over to look at the espada.
"That girl you have there," Grimmjow started, glaring down hatefully down at Yuzu, "I don't like her."
"Is that so?" Aizen asked. "Can you tell me why?"
Grimmjow looked away, making a sound of slight anger. "Her eyes are so similar to that bastard shinigami it makes me sick." He slid his eyes back over to Yuzu. "Who is she anyway?"
"She is the younger sister of Kurosaki Ichigo," Aizen replied simply.
At the mention of her brother's name, Yuzu saw Grimmjow's glare intensify and his hand clenching tightly into a fist. She felt as if a knife had suddenly been pressed up against her throat and she leaned back farther into Aizen's side to escape the sharp blade.
"Grimmjow," Aizen started, giving the espada a hard look, "you are not to touch this girl. You will eventually be able to get your rematch with Ichigo, but harming his sister will do nothing for you. In fact, you might want to be weary of Tousen from this point on. He will do more than just get rid of your other arm if you disobey orders, and next time he makes a move, I will just sit and watch as it happens."
Grimmjow clicked his tongue, turning away and begining to walk away from Yuzu and Aizen. "Like you did anything last time."
Yuzu sighed in relief as the feeling of death left her and she didn't feel as suffocated where she stood. Noticing that she was leaning into Aizen, she jumped away and bowed quickly.
"I'm sorry sir! I didn't mean to bump into you like that!" Yuzu bit out in a haste. She looked up, surprised when she heard Aizen chuckle.
"It doesn't matter," he replied, waving for her to continue following him as he turned. "There was no harm done and I can promise that you won't be seeing very much of Grimmjow during your stay here unless he disobey orders."
Yuzu sighed again as she caught up to Aizen and smiled slightly. "I guess that's a relief," she stated before frowning as they finally seemed to reach a opened the door for her, motioning for her to step into the room. After a moment's hesitation, she did as she was told and her eyes widened as she took in her surroundings.
The room still had the color theme of white, but it was vast compared to where she thought she would be staying. A bed fit for a whole group of her friends was on the far right side of the room and a long, roundabout couch was directly opposite and a couch in between the two. The thing that caught her attention most, though, was the giant window directly opposite of her position. As she walked towards it, she was able to look outside and see the wide expanse of desert plain. The darkened sky outlined everything she saw and the bright, crescent moon sat still in the sky, giving off enough light that she could see what looked like baby trees sprouting from the ground outside.
"Wow," she breathed out, placing her hand on the window as she continued to trace the outlines of the sand with her amber eyes. "This is way nicer than I expected a cell would be. It's almost as if I was a princess or something."
"It was an inconvenience on my part that you seemed to be here," Aizen spoke up and stepped into the room. "You and Inoue Orihime have a bit in common, which caused my espada to bring you here instead of her."
Yuzu turned from the window, her eyes widening as she did so.
"You were going to kidnapp Inoue-san?" Yuzu questioned. "Why would you need to kidnapp anyone at all?"
"Oh, we're still bringing Inoue here to Hueco Mundo," Aizen implied, sitting down on the couch and patting the seat next to him. "But the answer to your second question is simple: I need Inoue Orihime here to not only lure your brother away from Karakura Town, but her power is quite interesting and would be great in helping my cause."
Yuzu slowly walked away from the window and sat down on the couch, opposite the side Aizen occupied. She marveled at how comfortable the couch was for a moment before looking up at Aizen once more.
"I still don't completely understand," Yuzu stated honestly. "What has my brother done to you to make you resort in kidnapping the people closest to him?"
Aizen chuckled and sent her a smile that seemed to chill her to the bone.
"It's not about what he did do, dear Yuzu, it's about what keeping him away from Karakura Town for a while can do for me."
"You're not making any sense, Aizen-san," Yuzu stated, sighing and slumping back into the couch. Aizen narrowed his eyes at the informal use of his name before standing.
"Kurosaki Yuzu, I ask that while you are here, you refer to me as 'Aizen-sama' like the rest of my espada do. That is all I ask of you to do at the moment besides to stay here and not leave this room, do you understand?" Aizen asked, looking down at the petite girl.
Yuzu shivered involuntarily once again before nodding. "Hai, Aizen-sama."
Aizen let his gaze on her linger before turning to the door and walking to leave the room.
"There should be fresh clothing in the closet we've provided you and there is a bathroom behind the door by your dresser, I'm sure there's something in there that's your size. Feel free to freshen up whenever you feel the need. I'll send Hallibel to bring you your meals since you seem most comfortable around her."
With that, Aizen left the room and closed the door, the sound of a lock clicking being the last thing Yuzu heard before the room went eerily silent.
Yuzu sat silently on the couch for a moment, her mind still trying to process the small amount information she had been given in a way that made sense to her. Unfortunately, no matter what way she twisted and turned what she learned, there wasn't any sort of reasonable explination as to why she was here. She was completely stumped, and sighed when she felt a headache smash her brain.
To soothe her nerves, Yuzu took Aizen's advice and decided to try and freshen up. She stood from the couch, walking over to the closet and opening it up to see what she had to work with. A lot of the uniforms seemed to be way to big and she noticed how they were all white with thick black borderline strips on the trim.
There was only one uniform small enough to fit her frail size, and luckily it wasn't as revealing as most of the other outfits had proven to be. It was a simple white dress with long sleeves that had holes in the shoulders and a hole for her thumb to slip through at the end of the sleve. The dress would hug her small form all the way to her waist and then flow out to the ground once she changed into it. The thing she didn't like about it was that fact that there were holes in the sides, making it to where the sides of her stomach would show and the cloth made a strip down her stomach to cover her bellybutton.
Still, it wasn't the most revealing thing she had seen in the closet.
She took the uniform and brought it with her to the bathroom, setting it down on the sink neatly before turning on the shower. She quickly bathed herself, sitting underneath the warm water and allowing the tense muscles in her body to loosen up before exiting the shower.
With only a small bit of difficulty, Yuzu was able to place the uniform on her body. It wasn't all that bad looking, but it still showed more skin than she appreciated being shown.
Sighing, she looked over towards the clips for her hair, noticing that another pair of clips resided next to them. They were identical to the ones from home, but only this time, they were black. Underneath them was a note, and Yuzu picked it up.
'Lord Aizen thought that these would look better with your outfit, so I volunteered to give them to you. Just keep your other clips out of sight or he may take them from you,
Hallibel'
Yuzu smiled, touched by the offer and picked up the black clips. She noticed they were slightly heavier than her own, but she didn't mind very much. She placed them in her light brown hair and marveled at how they really did match her own outfit quite well.
With a grin of satisfaction, she picked up her other clips and left the bathroom. She looked around the room, searching for a place to hide the clips without someone being able to find them but herself. She couldn't find anywhere to hide them that someone wouldn't be able to find them.
'Let's see, if I were to hide something somewhere even Karin-chan wouldn't look, where would I hide it?'
Yuzu's eyes trailed along the walls of the room, her eyes landing on an air vent that almost completely blended in with the rest of the room. Her eyes lighting up, she walked over to it quickly. Surprisingly, the vent wasn't completely bolted into the wall and she was able to open it without trouble.
When she looked inside, she noticed that instead of an air vent, it seemed to be a hidden compartment in the room. It's interior was bare, which led Yuzu to believe that it had yet to be discovered by anyone except her and the designer of the castle.
She hoped so anyway.
She placed her clips inside, replacing the covering to keep them hidden. Hoping that would be able to keep them out of sight from any prying eyes, she backed away and stared around her room. It was quiet, unlike her home back in Karakura Town. Her fingers twitched at her sides, unused to having nothing to do.
She bit her lip, walking over to the bed and sitting on it. A sound of surprise escaped her lips at the softness of the sheets and the actress itself. It was unlike anything she had been on before. It was like sitting on a cloud, something she had only ever thought of doing in her dreams.
'Now, I'll be dreaming on a cloud instead,' she thought happily to herself and leaned back. Her head hit the pillows, the soft support seeming to fit around her head and melt to her comfortably. She closed her eyes, sighing in content before opening them and sitting back up with a troubled look on her face.
"I'm getting too comfortable and I've only been here for about an hour," she mumbled to herself, climbing out of the bed and walking back over to the window.
'I would be sitting next tell Karin, Ichi-nii, and dad at the dinner table right about now,' Yuzu thought to herself, causing her stomach to rumble hungrily. She sighed and looked down at her stomach, wishing she had something to eat.
A knock rebounded at the door, causing Yuzu to turn around at look towards the doorway.
"Come in," she called out after a moment of hesitation.
The door opened, allowing Hallibel to walk into the room while carrying a platter. Yuzu smiled brightly at her, walking over to the espada with purposeful steps.
"Hello, Hallibel-san," Yuzu greeted as Hallibel set the platter down on the table in front of the couch.
"Good evening, Kurosaki," Hallibel greeted as well, bowing towards her.
"Oh, there's no need to be so formal Hallibel-san," Yuzu stated and sat down on the couch. She patted the seat next to her, inviting Hallibel to sit with her.
"Kuro- Yuzu, I couldn't," Hallibel replied, sighing when she saw the sad look in Yuzu's eyes. "I still have some other things I must do."
"Please?" Yuzu begged. "Only for a little bit. It could allow you to take a break from your work and I couldn't possibly eat all of this myself," Yuzu indicated, mentioning to the platter of food in front of them. "Plus, I feel a little homesick and just want to talk to somebody. Do you have any time to spare before you go back to work, Hallibel-san?"
Hallibe looked down at Yuzu as the young girl looked up at her with the cutest pouting face that she has ever seen. She knew that she had work as an espada that she needed to finish, but she couldn't drawer eyes away from the young girl. Underneath her uniform and mask, she bit her lip and gave a small sigh.
"I guess a little time in your company would be a pleasant rest from my duties," Hallibel gave in, causing Yuzu to smile brightly and clap her hands in excitement. "But only for a little, alright?"
"Any amount of time is fine!" Yuzu agreed. "I just don't want to be alone in here for long periods of time. I have a feeling I could lose track of time being in here for too long."
"Yes, Hueco Mundo is definitely a place where time is almost of no essence," Hallibel agreed, looking out the window as she sat down next to Yuzu. "The sun never rises and the moon is forever frozen."
Yuzu began to nibble at her food, following Hallibel's gaze as the older woman looked longingly at the moon outside.
"The sun never rises here?" Yuzu asked incredulously, tearing her gaze from the moon and looking back at Hallibel. "Just where is Hueco Mundo?"
Hallibel sighed, looking back at Yuzu with a sad expression. "So you really know nothing of the life beyond death."
"Well, I do know that my brother is able to see ghosts," Yuzu replied. "My sister is able to faintly see them as well, but she most senses them. Unlike them, I'm only able to faintly sense them when they're nearby, I can't see them at all. Our dad can't even sense them, so I think our ability to see and sense spirits must have been passed down from my mother's side of the family."
Yuzu then gained a look of concentration before taking a bite of her food and turning to look over at Hallibel.
"Now that I think about it, before I found myself here, I think I sensed some sort of spirit near me, maybe even two spirits, but I didn't see anybody before I blacked out. Did you find me in the middle of the road or something?"
Hallibel shook her head, casting her eyes down. "There is a lot that you do not know about the afterlife, Yuzu, and it's partially my fault that you've been dragged into this mess."
"What do you mean Hallibel-san?" Yuzu asked, sipping at her drink while looking at the woman curiously.
"It would be best if you were introduced to everything slowly," Hallibel clarified. "If I told you everything now, it would be too much for you to handle."
Yuzu pursed her lips, thinking to herself for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, she looked back up at Hallibel.
"How about I just ask a few questions each time you come here?" Yuzu offered, causing Hallibel to raise an eyebrow in question. The young female held up three fingers and continued to explain. "I will ask three questions about the afterlife each time you come here. If you think that the answer would be too much for me during that moment of time, then you will be able to tell me to ask a different question. You are only obligated to answer three of my questions and any more I ask about the afterlife are optional for you to answer. Sound good?" Yuzu asked, smiling up at the blonde female.
Hallibel sighed, nodding your head. "It's a deal, but only a little bit of information at a time."
"That's fine with me!" Yuzu replied, thinking to herself. "Well, I guess my first question and most obvious is based around the fact that when I asked where Hueco Mundo was, you mentioned the afterlife. So does that mean I'm... no longer alive?" Yuzu asked hesitantly, a frightened look passing through her eyes.
"I promise that you are still very much alive, Yuzu," Hallibel replied quickly, reassuring the young girl. "You are correct in assuming that Hueco Mundo is a world of the afterlife, but this is where the would who have wandered in the world of the living for too long come to."
"Really?" Yuzu asked, her eyes widening. "Then where are all of the spirits? I would have thought there would be more people here if this is where they end up after not passing on. Where did they all go?"
"They all live underground," Hallibel replied. "Most of them anyway. Some of us live here in Las Noches on the sand, but very few of us are able to survive in the dunes of Hueco Mundo."
"Survive?" Yuzu intervened, furrowing her eyebrows. "What happens to the souls when they come here, Hallibel-san?"
Hallibel shook her head, looking out the window again. "I will have to answer that question another time."
Yuzu, noticing Hallibel's change in demeanor, stopped asking questions and focused on eating. When she look over at Hallibel, she noticed that the green eyed female had yet to eat anything.
She took an extra plate off of the platter and began to put some food on it. She felt Hallibel's eyes on her, but kept moving and placing food on the plate as if nobody was watching her. Yuzu hummed to herself, placing a small vine of grapes on the plate to finish the touch. Smiling in satisfaction at the plate in front of her, she held it out to Hallibel.
Hallibel stared at her, her eyes widened as Yuzu offered the plate to her. She made a small sound of surprise as Yuzu smiled encouragingly towards her and moved the plate closer.
"Just something for you for when you're working," Yuzu implied. "I'm sure you've got a lot to do."
Getting the deeper message of the implication, Hallibel shook her head. "I haven't answered three of your questions yet."
This caused Yuzu to giggle, shaking her head.
"It's fine, Hallibel-san. Ill have more questions for you in the morning, and, besides, I'm sure you'll want to think about the stuff you want to tell me and the stuff that should wait for later, ne?"
Hallibel slowly nodded her head, taking the plate from Yuzu and standing from the couch. She felt Aizen's spiritual pressure fall on her, enticing the call for a meeting with the espada.
"I guess you are right," Hallibel agreed, bowing slightly towards the small girl in parting. "I will be by in the morning then to bring you your breakfast."
Yuzu stood up as well, bowing towards Hallibel with a smile. "I can't wait to talk to you again, Hallibel-san!"
"Please," Hallibel began as she made her way towards exiting the room, a smile appearing underneath her uniform and mask, "if you want to, Tier, or just Hallibel is fine, Yuzu."
"Well then," Yuzu replied, waving to her. "Until next time, Tier."
