Disclaimer: I absolutely do not own Bleach or any of its characters. You all know who it truly belongs to. Next, I do not own Lion King 3 and any of its characters. Once again, you guys know who owns them.

chAngE

Chapter 3: Untold Stories- Moonlit Strolls of Disney Movies

Hueco Mundo was just as Orihime remembered it to be. Stretching towards the horizon was a white sand desert with the occasional eerie skeletal, quartz trees dotting it. Upwards from the horizon line, the dark, black curtain of the night sky hung, empty save for the reversed moon that dimly lit the world. The air was as cold and as reishi-dense as ever. Once in a while, a silhouette of a Hollow can be seen in the distance, hunting for prey. All in all, it was a welcome sight to her.

To her companion, however, the bleak, desert world's landscape was near unwelcome. It was so different from the Living World and Soul Society. And as Orihime started walking calmly towards Las Noches, Yoruichi could only wonder why their bubbly and fun-loving Orihime would want to come back to such a place, void of all the bright things from Karakura. Then again, Orihime hasn't been as cheerful as she was before.. It was like she was mourning as if Ichigo has died… But that wasn't the case… What was even more mind-boggling was the fact that the moment they have arrived in Hueco Mundo, the Orihime she knew was starting to go back, the atmosphere of despair that clung around her previously seemingly vanishing into nothing. The ex-Shinigami couldn't help but ponder…. What in the world did that bastard Aizen do to Orihime when she was in that wretched castle of his? The device that Urahara handed to the Shape Shifter a while ago suddenly felt heavy in her outfit's pocket… More disturbingly, what was Orihime planning to do with such equipment and in this world of Hollows?

"Yoruichi-san, daijobu (are you okay)?" the light-hearted voice of Orihime dragged the said dark-skinned woman out of her thoughts.

Yoruichi shook her head and then looked directly to the eyes of the auburn-haired girl in front of her. Without hesitation and with a face uncharacteristically serious, Yoruichi asked, "Orihime… what did that bastard do to you?"

Orihime blinked in confusion. Bastard? Who was she referring to?

"What do you mean, Yoruichi-san?" the caramel brown haired girl asked.

Yoruichi took a few steps forward and then put a hand to Orihime's shoulders.

"What did that bastard Aizen do to you?! Why did you want to go back here? What are you planning on doing? What did you mean by setting things to motion a while ago? What did you and Kisuke agree about?" the ex-Shinigami barraged.

A small frown appeared on Orihime's face and then replied,

"Aizen didn't do anything to me... They didn't do anything… And…. I wanted to go back here because I had something to do… Urahara-san did not scheme this… This is all my idea Yoruichi-san… And on what I'm going to do.. I…. I want to bring him back…."

Yoruichi's eyebrows furrowed, loosened her grip, and questioned, "Bring who back?"

Orihime stepped away from Yoruichi's hold, looked out towards the horizon with her left hand fisting over her heart before replying with a distant voice, "Ulquiorra…."

"What?! Aizen's Cuatro Espada? Wasn't he the one who kidnapped you?" Yoruichi asked.

Orihime's grey orbs flickered to Yoruichi's topaze ones before answering, "Ulquiorra's more than that….."

Yoruichi was about to voice out an objection.. That what Orihime may be feeling something akin to Stockholm Syndrome when the girl in question suddenly spoke out.

"Want to hear a story Yoruichi-san?" Orihime questioned, her eyes staring distantly at the crescent moon hanging on the black backdrop that was the sky.

"What story?" Yoruichi queried.

Orihime didn't respond. Instead, she started walking forward towards who-knows-where. Yoruichi's frown deepened, but she said nothing, opting instead to follow former quietly. Silence fell over them for a few seconds, until the younger of the two broke it, unfolding the first of the untold stories that happened in Hueco Mundo…..

It was Orihime's official first day in Las Noches and it was near lunch, judging by her cycle of meals. Despite just being in her room for a night and a few hours, she was already feeling anxious, claustrophobic, and antsy. Who could blame her? One, a war was impending to come and she was truly worried for her friends… Two, she was in the enemy's fortress for Pete's sake! If their foes were just normal humans, she would've been a bit calmer.. But no… Their opponents were far from such.. They were Hollows…. Beings who thrive on instinct and feed off human souls. Three, she had totally nothing to do but stare at the unchanging moon from her barred window, causing boredom and pessimistic thoughts to creep over her insides and brain.

So, she started pacing around her room to get her blood pumping and for something to do. Then, she began to strike funny poses with her shadow to chase away her negative thoughts. After randomly conjuring random stances, she tried doing the routine of the sentry meerkats from Lion King 3.

"Scurry" she whispered and scuttled across a corner of the room to another, thinking she was on top of a rock in the middle of an African savannah.

"Sniff" she said next, inhaling the air in her room with closed eyes, imagining instead that she was smelling African air.

"Flinch!" she squealed, striking the same pose the sentry meerkats do: one arm over her forehead, the other just below her jaw and one leg raised. She swept her eyes over her room….. about to conjure an image of the trio of funny hyenas that watched Timon during his sentry watch when she was met with an open door and a figure standing on the doorway.

"What are you doing woman?" came the monotone voice of her captor.

A hearty laugh made Orihime stop her story-telling, the familiar heat of embarrassment rushing to her cheeks as she found Yoruichi doubled over the sand. Perhaps she shouldn't have started her story with that part… But it was unavoidable… She had to recount it first so that the events that took place thereafter would make sense…

"Orihime…. Only… You.. Could… Think… and… Do… such things… in….. the… situation you were put in!" Yoruichi exclaimed in between bouts of laughter, tears starting to stream down her eyes.

Orihime pouted indignantly and responded, "Yoruichi-san please… Are you going to let me finish or not?"

All she got in answer were hysterical snickers. Orihime's flush turned even a deeper shade of red, if that was even possible…

After a while, the ex-Shinigami finally calmed down into just a few snigger here and there and so Orihime continued on with her story…

All blood rushed to Orihime's face and she fell butt first to the floor as she squeaked, "Kyaaa!"

An awkward pause soon followed. Her captor staring at her emotionlessly, waiting for her answer while she looked at him with a face that rivalled that of a red rose, her brain a jumble of humiliation.

A minute passed. Then another.. And another…

"I repeat… what were you doing just now woman?" her captor asked.

"I.. um.. Well.. I- I…" she stuttered.

Her captor tilted his head, urging her to continue.

"Well… I… It's so boring in this room. I have nothing to do but sit or stand and stare at the moon. The silence is making me think negative thoughts too since a war's coming you know. So I just thought of pacing around the room to fight off the boredom. But my thoughts kept going, so I had to do something funny to ward them off. I started striking random poses, starting with Don Kanonji's infamous stance.. and then, I just did the routine of the sentry meerkats because it seemed more amusing you know?" Orihime rambled.

Silence.

"I see," came her captor's reply.

A small sigh escaped Orihime's lips. At least he didn't comment that she was crazy or something like that, right?

"You are a strange human, woman," her captor suddenly stated.

Orihime blinked at her captor and sweatdropped a bit.. Was that an insult or what? Then again, thanks goodness he didn't think she has lost her mind. Weird is much better than crazy, right?

"Regardless, I have brought you your meal. Now eat," he told her next, his even tone in a silent command. As if on cue, a lower Arrancar entered her room, rolling along a trolley with her lunch.

Orihime's face fell and her blush faded at the sudden reminder of the reminder of her current situation. What was she doing, rambling to her captor like that as if he was a human? …. He does look like a human, she tried to reason. However, the truth was absolute. No matter how human her captor looked like, his half-helmet mask was a constant reminder of what.. no.. who he truly was.

Standing up with head bowed, Orihime answered in a surrendered voice, "Hai…"

And then the eating routine she had began. After a few minutes of only the sound of cutlery being heard in the room with the human and the Hollow, the former's voice finally spoke out, "I'm done". Then, Orihime proceeded to put her empty plate and her other eating materials to the trolley.

Her captor then finally moved from his position on the wall, opened the door, let the servant Arrancar enter to retrieve the cart of food, and then said, "I will return later for your dinner"

Without another word, he left. Once again, Orihime was left all alone with only her thoughts and the shadows of her room as company. At first, she was fine with just sitting there in the quiet. After a few minutes, she started squirming. Her negative thoughts and boredom were coming back to torture her. However, she can't risk doing funny things again. So, she settled with lulling herself to sleep.

Yoruichi had finally gone over her previous hysterics and Orihime was thankful for it. Her story was starting to take a turn, and she didn't want Yoruichi's snickers to distract her and make her stumble over her words. After all, she also wanted to share some of her memories to others without them scolding her for even remembering such events.

Orihime woke up to the presence of someone else in her room. Looking around, she found her captor on his usual place on the wall, hands in his pockets and the most vivid green eyes she'd ever saw hidden behind pale eyelids. A few meters to his left was the cart with her dinner, resting a few feet beside the sole table in her prison cell.

"Eat woman," came the usual order. And as per se, Orihime did as she was told.

After a while, Orihime settled her tray of food back to its place on top of the trolley. As per routine, her captor let the lower Arrancar take the trolley away. So, Orihime headed to her couch/bed and prepared herself for another round of sleep even though she wasn't really sleepy, when a change of pace happened.

"Woman, come," a deep, silky, flat voice made Orihime almost jump back in surprise. She turned around and found that her captor hasn't left yet, a deviation in the cycle of her meals.

Orihime was about to voice out a question when suddenly, she felt a cold grip on her wrist. A gust of wind from rapid movement followed and the next thing she knew, she wasn't in her room anymore. She was on a desert of white sand, the sky of Hueco Mundo surrounding her from above.

"How-?" Orihime turned to her captor and was about to ask something when he beat her to it.

"I have been granted permission by Aizen-sama to take you outside of Las Noches for some walks," he nonchalantly said and then tilted his head a bit, "However, you will only be out for a limited amount of time and I will stand by to watch you. Do as you wish until then. You have complained of not having something to do earlier, have you not?"

Orihime was speechless. He actually took note of her boredom and tried to do something about it? That was… considerate… of him.

As if reading her mind, her captor then said, "Do not misinterpret my actions woman. I am only doing this because it is my duty to take care of you. Aizen-sama has ordered to treat you as a guest, and as such, your human needs shall be accommodated."

Nonetheless, Orihime smiled at him and said, "Thank you… Ulquiorra-kun."

It was the first time she addressed him by his name, and personally, she liked the feel of his name on her tongue. It sounded so unique. So different from the usual names that she spoke of. Ulquiorra blinked at the sudden change from her. She just smiled wider at him and then started walking forward, revelling in the little bit of freedom given to her.

After a few moments of quiet, Orihime couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't that the silence was awkward. With Ulquiorra, it actually felt normal…and comfortable. The quietness with him wasn't making her think of negative thoughts. Instead, it actually gave her some peace of mind. However, humans were social creatures. She looked at Ulquiorra and then wondered: if her "needs" would be accommodated, would that mean he would humor her for some conversation? Feeling desperate for talk, she decided to give it a try.

"Eto… Ulquiorra-kun?" she tried gaining his attention.

Ulquiorra's gaze moved to her and he replied, "Nanda (What)?"

"Well.. um… You see… Humans need social interactions.. and that includes talking.. so.. um… Can I talk to you?" she asked.

"You are already talking to me woman and if conversations are a need of you humans, then I have orders to oblige," he responded.

Orihime gladly grabbed the chance and started talking. Since her mind could still visibly recall her rather embarrassing moment a while ago, she started justifying her actions by talking about Lion King 3, and eventually leading to her rambling about other similar Disney movies with Ulquiorra listening and occasionally asking a question or commenting here and there.

And thus began a new routine for the prisoner and her captor turned to guardian.

"It was through those moonlit strolls that I realized Ulquiorra wasn't like the others," commented Orihime as she ended her story there.

Yoruichi remained silent, still processing what Orihime had told her. Indeed, the caramel brown-haired female had a point. This Ulquiorra seemed to be different from the Arrancars she had encountered. More than anything, he seemed to be curious about humans.

"Ah! I can see Las Noches already Yoruichi-san! Let's go!" Orihime suddenly chirped and grabbed the wrist of the dark-skinned woman.

And as the two ran, Yoruichi couldn't help but glance once in a while at Orihime's way. There were more things that happened in this world that would've led to Orihime going through these lengths to bring this Ulquiorra back and for her to have felt so sad for his death….. Yoruichi knew though that Orihime would tell her more of what happened… And maybe, she might know whether it was he who brought about a change in Orihime that finally made her stand up for herself and do things of her volition from Ichigo and the rest of her friends.

A/N: Well, that's it! Hope you enjoyed reading and thank you very much for taking the time to do so! :DDD *bows*

I absolutely loved the sentry watch part! XDD And mind you, when I was younger (and more foolish) I actually did what Timon did when he was on sentry watch when I'm absolutely bored XDDDD

To more important matters, why are the recent chapters only containing flashbacks? There's a point to everything.. So please bear with me... Three to four more chapters of flashbacks and something will happen.. So please... just bear with me XDD

Anywho, ja ne!