Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.
A.N.: I should probably space these out, but I finished another chapter and figured, why not? Thanks again for any past or future reviews. I know it takes some effort, and I myself have stories bookmarked that I still need to comment on. And thanks to all you great writers out there whose stories keep me motivated to keep my own project going.
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Orihime walked cautiously towards the tall white building the tailor had shown her. Nothing else moved through that quiet street, as if the structure itself was enough to keep people away.
Up close, she was surprised to spot the peeling paint and the cracked wooden planks that were so common in the ordinary homes of the Rukongai. The spell of intimidation broken, Orihime braced herself and knocked purposefully on the old weathered door.
The door swung open and a giant hand reached out and seized her, dragging her inside before she could scream in alarm. When the door slammed shut, she was enveloped in darkness, trapped alone with the hand's owner.
She caught a whiff of sulfur as a match was struck, and suddenly she could see a face outlined in flickering light. Before she could think of where she had seen those turquoise-green eyes before, she breathed out a name.
"Ulquiorra."
The eyes flickered in recognition.
"Yammy, release her."
The hand let go immediately. The room was soon illuminated as the match struck several torches.
"You know who this is, Ulquiorra?" asked the dark-skinned man who had grabbed her. Orihime was daunted by his large size, and the way he seemed to lick his lips in hunger.
"Her name is Orihime," said the one she had recognized. She thought his partner looked familiar as well, though her memories were still clouded. Were these truly her friends?
"Hmmph," snorted Yammy. "If she's one of ours, why isn't she wearing a uniform?"
Orihime winced in apology. "I'm sorry, but I had to sell it to the tailor so that I would have enough money to eat."
Yammy growled in disapproval, and made a threatening gesture with his hands. "You should have died of starvation first, before mistreating one of Aizen-sama's gifts so!"
"Enough, Yammy," said Ulquiorra impatiently. Orihime was surprised to see the giant follow his orders and back off. "Woman, did lord Aizen give you any special instructions before you came here?"
She shook her head automatically, already knowing that her memories were sealed away. But then suddenly she did remember something, as Aizen's name triggered a flash of images.
"There was a man," she muttered softly, surprised at how cold she suddenly felt. "He grabbed me, and then there was this chain connected to my chest. He...he broke it with his sword." Orihime was breathing heavily now, as the cold inside her grew into gut-wrenching fear. "He said something about a hollow, and he showed me a glowing purple ball."
"Bah," muttered Yammy. "She's just remembering her hollowification."
"At least her story verifies that she was one of us. Do you still doubt it?" When Yammy remained silent, Ulquiorra turned to her. The warmth of his smile chased away the cold shadows that had been threatening to choke her soul.
"Tomorrow you will meet the others. Together, we have been able to piece together much of our past. Perhaps one of them will also remember more about you, Orihime."
She smiled at him gratefully, although she was disappointed to find that she did not feel any joy at his words. Despite having been reunited with her friends and finding a purpose, she still felt empty. Ulquiorra seemed to sense something was wrong, and she explained to him what was troubling her.
"Ever since I woke up in this place, something has been missing inside of me. It's like all the happiness is gone; like I can't feel anything any more."
"Like you're ...hollow?" asked a voice eagerly. She was surprised to find it was Yammy who had spoken.
"We've also been troubled," explained Ulquiorra. "Yammy and I have been feeling strange since we arrived. As hollows, we had control over our emotions. Only hunger--or pride--could overcome our better judgment. Yet now, by some Shinigami sorcery, we have been made whole. We have regained all the weaknesses that made us, disgustingly, human." He met her gaze with his sparkling green eyes.
"You should not regret being what you are. Out of all of us, you are the only one to have retained your purity; free from the burdens of human conscience. Your soul is clean, perfect; like bleached white bone."
"If you remember how you did it, please tell us," said Yammy, his voice desperate. "I can't stand to live like this. The nightmares-" he couldn't continue. Ulquiorra turned to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"We will speak more of this tomorrow," he said. "For now, let us rest."
Orihime watched as the two men settled down on the dirt floor to sleep, laying the torches between them to burn as a small bonfire. Orihime stayed where she was, too intimidated to approach them. She gathered up the robes she had bought and tried to make herself comfortable.
She awoke with a start, at first not recognizing where she was. It was still dark, and the fire had burned down to nothing but embers.
A whimpering sound made her raise her head to look for the source. A large shadow lay quivering behind the fire, kicking at the ground as if he were trying to run.
"Did Yammy wake you?"
Orihime looked up in surprise to see Ulquiorra standing over her, his green eyes reflecting the dying light of the embers. He knelt down and lay a gentle hand on her face. She shivered at his touch.
"Woman, you are cold. You should come lie near what's left of our fire."
"Please don't call me 'woman'," she said as she climbed to her feet, and then wondered why she sounded so irritated. He had only addressed her that way once before.
"You are a woman, are you not?" he asked in amusement, leading her to the warm spot on the floor he had recently vacated. As she stretched herself against the ground, she caught his eyes admiring her body.
"Hmph," she snorted lightly, feeling much more comfortable so close to the fire. "I liked it better when you called me by my name."
He settled down next to her, blocking her from the heat of the embers. She looked up at him to protest, and was briefly startled by the vision of a horned helmet over the left side of his head, with black marks between his eyes and green streaks running down his face. Then the shadow image was gone, and only his emerald eyes remained the same.
"Orihime," he said softly, then smiled. That simple act helped banish the frightening image from her memory. Something told her that that other version of Ulquiorra would never have smiled.
Yet as the man ran his fingers lightly down her neck, her mind was occupied with trying to deny the truth of what she had seen. What had these friends of hers once been like, and why did they desire being that way so badly? Even now, as Ulquiorra's warm breath tickled her ear, she felt no emotions stirring in her at all. She felt as cold and heartless as those eyes staring back at her in her vision. Was that really what they all hoped to become?
As the night rolled on, her body responded all too willingly the man's caresses. Her spirit, however, was troubled. From inside her walled-off mind, she watched impassively; completely untouched by their passion.
When she awakened a second time, she was astonished to find herself once again in her white dress.
"Yammy went and fetched it," said Ulquiorra, not bothering with a more detailed explanation. Orihime wasn't sure she wanted one. She didn't want to know what he might have done to the kind tailor who had helped her.
"Thank you," she said to him. The brute shrugged.
"Aizen-sama wanted you to have it," Yammy said simply.
"The others will be here shortly," Ulquiorra informed them. "Maybe they will have found something to help us return to our true forms."
"Ulquiorra-san," Orihime whispered, drawing him away to speak with him privately. "Are you sure you want to go back to the way things were?"
The turquoise eyes studied her. "Orihime," he began, "It might be easy for you to live here, your soul only partially tainted, but for the rest of us, it is torture. I admit-" he said, running a finger down her cheek, "that there are some human emotions that I did not fully appreciate until last night. But it is not that alone. Lord Aizen waits for us, and as we are, we are too weak to help him."
"Why in the nine hells is it so damn dark in here!" shouted a voice from the doorway. They all turned in surprise as a group of people in white uniforms stepped into the building.
"Ha! I thought you preferred the dark, Aaroniero," Yammy teased him, greeting the others as they walked in.
"That's when I had access to my powers, fool. Now I'm trapped in this horrible human form. Please tell me you two have found a way to change us back?"
Ulquiorra left Orihime's side and approached their guests. "We were hoping you had."
"You found something else, it seems," said a man with short pink hair. "What's that you got there, Ulquiorra?"
"She's one of us, obviously," said Ulquiorra calmly.
"Funny. I don't remember her." Orihime tried not to flinch under his studious gaze.
"Oh, but I do," said a tall lanky individual, throwing her a lecherous grin. "I never forget a pretty face."
"What is your name and number, girl?" growled a large black-skinned man, his head shaved completely bald.
"She is Orihime, and since there is only one number missing from our group, she is clearly the 6th Espada."
"Why don't you let her answer for herself, Ulquiorra?" said the only other female present, her face partially concealed under a long collar. "I myself would like to see her power before I can accept her claim."
Orihime couldn't later recall how it had happened, only that a voice inside her head had screamed at her to call out its name. All of a sudden, a golden shield of light appeared behind her. She might not even have noticed if she hadn't heard a deep moan of pain, and turned around to see the big black man cradling his fist.
"Impressive," said the pink-haired fellow. "She was fast enough to spot Zommari coming up behind her, and was able to block his attack effortlessly."
"If she can beat Zommari, then we know she is at the very least worthy of being 6th," remarked Ulquiorra. Orihime wondered if he had been at all worried about her ability to prove herself. She knew that she herself had been. Where had that shield come from?
The woman shook her head. "Blocking him is not the same as defeating him, but we need not argue over the point now. Our priority, as always, is to regain our hollow powers and quickly return to Lord Aizen's side."
"How do we even know he's still alive?" asked someone wearing a goatee. Despite the furious and appalled reactions of the others around him, he didn't seem at all bothered by the question.
"Lord Aizen cannot be-!"
"Yeah yeah, Halibel, I know you seem to think our leader is invincible," the odd man continued, still sounding unconcerned. "But if that was the case, why would he even need to create us?"
"Orihime!" whispered a voice at her shoulder. The girl turned her attention away from the arguing Espada--as they apparently called themselves--and stared in surprise at the tiny winged creature standing on her shoulder.
"Thank goodness you heard me call out!" it sighed in relief. "As it was, we were barely able to block that brute's attack."
"You created the shield?" Orihime asked in surprise, plucking the fairy-like being from her shoulder and examining it carefully.
"Hey, careful! Yes, of course we did. I never would have thought your amnesia would make you forget us as well."
"Orihime!" greeted another fairy happily, hovering before her eyes. "We missed you!"
"Don't let yourself get spotted, Lily," said a third winged creature, grabbing the smaller one and hiding them both behind long strands of auburn hair. "Listen, Orihime, you have to find that Vizard fellow and ask him to bring back Ayame and the others," he told her urgently.
"Vizard?"
"Yes, you know, those Shinigami with hollow powers," explained the first fairy, still caught between her fingers. "He was the only one able to bring back Tsubaki that one time."
"What are you looking at, Orihime?"
She started in surprise as Ulquiorra turned his attention towards her. The fairies immediately vanished, yet somehow she could still feel them inside of her head.
The other Espada now looked at her as well. Apparently they had finished their argument, and had overheard Ulquiorra's question.
"The...Vizard," she said slowly, searching her memories. "I thought I remembered something."
"Vizard?" frowned Yammy. "I've never heard of such a thing."
"What you don't know could fill a book," sighed the pink-haired Espada, pushing Yammy out of the way so that he could approach Orihime. "I believe our new friend may be on to something. In my research, I came across references to a band of exiled Shinigami who were supposed to have been quite powerful."
"They were Shinigami with hollow powers," Orihime said, repeating what the fairy had told her.
"What! Szayel, how is that possible?" demanded Halibel. The other Espada looked equally surprised.
"We were hollows with Shinigami powers. It stands to reason that the opposite can occur," he answered her.
"I think I remember fighting someone like that," said Ulquiorra thoughtfully. "A red-haired boy with a ridiculously large zanpakuto. Halfway through the fight, he summoned a hollow mask and began firing ceros at me. I must say, it came as quite a surprise." Several other Espada nodded, as if they too could remember the odd Shinigami.
Ichigo! thought Orihime, suddenly able to picture him in her mind. He was a Vizard? Somehow, it seemed to fit. Her memories could tell her little else about the boy, but she was convinced that he had been her friend. Surely he would be willing to help her and the other Espada get their powers back. Her few memories of Aizen terrified her, but if the others were so sure about the man's greatness, she would be willing to fight for him.
For some reason, the voices in her mind sounded angry. Orihime pushed them aside, her thoughts occupied with finding Ichigo and the Vizard.
"If we learned how they did it, we could have both our hollow powers and those of the Shinigami," grinned the lanky Espada.
"To do that, we'd have to find one of them," grimaced Szayel. "Unfortunately, the Vizard have remained hidden for centuries."
Suddenly she had it. "They live in the human world," Orihime announced, pleased by their smiles of relief. "I can show you exactly where to find them."