Orihime shivered and hugged her new dress around herself. Why is it so cold here if it is a desert? she wondered to herself. She paced around her cell again. The room wasn't so bad if you ignored the barred window and huge stone door. The rest of it was nicely appointed with lavish white and cream rugs, comfortable white couches and a huge white bed. "It could sure use some color though", Orihime said to herself as she spun in a circle in the middle. Her dressed flared out around her puffy pants and she looked down at her new outfit. "I could use some color too." she told her herself as she spread the white skirt wide with her arms. I wonder if my skin and hair will turn white if I stay here long enough? she giggled to herself. I wonder if that is why his skin is white? Suddenly Orihime didn't feel like laughing any more.
She began pacing her room again quite at a loss with what to do with herself. She hadn't been allowed to take anything from home and there was nothing in her room to amuse herself with. Obviously Las Noches was not a palace set up for entertaining. She wondered if the hollows had TVs and things like that in their rooms. Did the hollows even HAVE rooms? Or did they sleep all together in a room full of cocoons? Did they even sleep? She hoped that they had given her a kind guard...well maybe KIND was expecting a bit much...maybe she would be OK with just a talkative one. Then she could ask it all her questions. She hadn't seen anyone at all since the arrancar who kidnapped her brought her to her cell last night. He had tonelessly instructed her to put the clothes on that were on her bed and with that he had gone. She had waited until she was sure that he was far enough away to not hear and then sat down at her small white table and had a good cry. Then she had felt a little better and had put on the white garments, neatly folded her own clothes and put them on the table and then she had laid down on the soft bed and had promptly gone to sleep. Then she had woken up this morning sure that someone would be sent in to check on her, give her orders, give her food, or heck...just make sure she hadn't died in her cell in the night, but no one had come yet.
Then she had a scary thought. Hollows don't eat food, do they? What if they forget that I need food? What if they don't have any food to give me? She almost started to panic at that, but forced herself to think things through calmly. These were the hollows Aizen had made, which means he would have to be in the palace somewhere and she knew that he had to eat along with Gin and Tousen. Her breathing calmed at that thought and she began pacing her cell again. When she got tired of that she went and looked out over the barren and unchanging landscape of Hueco Mundo that her small window showed her. Soon she was lost deep in her own thoughts and didn't hear when the door quietly opened behind her.
"You look nice dressed like that."
Orihime gave a little scream in surprise and whirled around to see the black-haired hollow who had taken her standing in her doorway. "What are YOU doing here!?" she yelled at it.
"Aizen-sama has ordered me to take care of you so you will be healthy and capable of performing your duties whenever he has need of you. You must be hungry, no?" He turned out into the hall and said, "Come." A servant wheeled a cart laden with trays into her room. Her stomach audibly growled when she smelled the delicious smells that came from under the lids.
"No, I'm not hungry. Take it all away and tell Aizen that I want a different guard. I'll eat then." she told him with what she hoped looked like defiance instead of fear which is what she felt more.
"Listen, woman. You are in no position to make demands of anyone...least of all Aizen-sama. You will eat or I will restrain you and force the food down your throat."
"Fine! But will you at least leave and let me eat in peace?" she asked the unmoving figure next to her door.
"I had intended to do so when I first came in, but since you have now made it abundantly clear that you do not want to eat I need to stay here to make sure you don't throw your food out the window."
Orihime sighed, realizing she had brought this upon herself with her little outburst. As she took the first tray and brought it to her little table and sat down she heard the hollow quietly telling the servant to leave them and shut the door. She shivered at the thought of being locked up in this room alone with him. She quickly started shoveling food in her mouth hoping to get done really soon so that he would leave.
"Hey! Hey now! Slow down. I don't need you choking on my watch!"
Orihime looked up and noticed that he was standing right next to her and she shivered. Cold seemed to come off of him in waves...the same cold that made up Hueco Mundo, but concentrated into a single being. She closed her eyes, concentrated and searched out his reiatsu. When she finally felt it, she almost DID choke. The strength of its pressure was overpowering, she felt as though she was being smothered beneath it and so she quickly released her concentration and went back to eating stealing a glance or two at him from under her lashes. She now had no doubt that he could have made good on his threat of killing her friends. They wouldn't have stood a chance against him.
She started again eating her eggs as quickly as possible without it seeming like she was going to choke on them. When she had eaten the whole plate full, she was full and told the hollow so. "I really don't have to eat all the food you brought do I? It's SO much!"
"You have eaten enough." he answered her. "Honestly, I had forgotten how much food a human eats at a time so I just had the servant send a platter of everything so I would be sure you had enough."
Orihime didn't know quite what to make of that statement or the sadness that it stirred inside of her. How long HAD it been since he was human himself? He was human once wasn't he? What else had he forgotten? Orihime vigorously shook her head and told herself silently that was a dangerous road to take. He was a monster and if she ever needed reminding of that fact again all she had to do was remember what he had done to her two guards that were just trying to protect her. To think of him as anything more would soften her and she needed to be strong if she was going to survive here...strong and hard like the monsters that ran the place.
So she got up and turned her back to him and looked back out her window and waited for him to leave. She felt him linger on for a moment more and then he said, "I'll have a servant come remove your trays. I will be back tonight with more food for your supper." And with that he left and Orihime couldn't hold back the sigh of relief that came at his departure.