A/N- Please leave a review telling me how I can improve, or any errors I made. I will try to write characters as in character as possible, but I might have to bend them a little for the sake of the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or any lyrics.

Chapter 9

The Truth of the Spy, a Death in Las Noches

In Las Noches, as the day of Orihime's wedding approached, the spy made their move.

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Orihime sat in her room the next day, thinking about Ulquiorra, which had become a bit too habitual for her comfort. It seemed nothing she did, even imagining her upcoming wedding, could stop her from thinking about the green-eyed Espada. He was hiding something from her, of that she was sure. Grimmjow was definitely involved too. So why wasn't she thinking of Grimmjow nonstop? Oh yeah, maybe it was because she hadn't locked lips with him while engaged. She felt so awful about that. Just who was this place turning her into?

She didn't even feel like Orihime anymore. This place had bended her, broken her until she was paranoid and edgy, not to mention wildly out of character. Back home, she had never been kissed by anyone other than her brother. Now, it seemed, she was kissing people all over the place. As for her new power, she felt sure that it had a special meaning. All three of her original techniques were acquired by circumstance, by her needing them to protect and heal Tatsuki. Could it be, she gained these powers to teleport by her wild need to escape form here? Could her powers really get her out of here?

Maybe… maybe it was worth a try. Maybe she could be free from Aizen's sweet lies. She quickly said the incantation, and felt familiar warmth in her chest. She imagined home, with Tatsuki and Ichigo and all her other friends. She willed herself to be there. Orange began to swirl around her… then nothing. The orange had zapped out as quickly as it had come leaving her still in Las Noches, and more than a little confused.

Why hadn't it worked? She felt fine, energized enough to perform the spell. Yet her powers had failed. Was it a limitation? Could she not transport to a different dimension? A thought struck her. Did she even want to leave? She did, she knew, but there were also things, like the deal with Ulquiorra, that were tying her here. She didn't have enough resolve to leave. And until she sorted it out with Ulquiorra (and Grimmjow, she added guiltily) she wouldn't have enough resolve to do anything. All the more reason to sort this out sooner rather than later, she thought firmly.

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Like Ulquiorra had asked him to, Grimmjow came by his room in the morning, sensing that something serious was going on. However, true to his nature, he took his time, knowing it would really piss the very punctual Ulquiorra. When he finally wandered into the 4th Espada's room Ulquiorra glared at him angrily. He seemed unnerved, a rare sight for Ulquiorra.

He didn't waste a second, ripping his left eye out hastily, crushing it violently. He practically threw the shards at Grimmjow, who stared in shock as the memories from Ulquiorra's dream assaulted his mind, forcefully bringing his own into the open.

Grimmjow stared ahead silently for a moment, digesting the truth that made itself painfully clear to him. Ulquiorra waited impatiently for his response. In a voice that was much calmer than he felt, Grimmjow said," We have to stop this wedding."

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Orihime sighed as she stared out the window of her room. You'd think, as the soon-to-be queen of this dimension, she would at least get a little more freedom. Then again, the original restriction placed on her couldn't still be in effect, could it? Surely Aizen wouldn't mind her exploring her new home. She quickly strode out of her room, before she could loose her nerve.

The walls and floor were varying shades of white and gray, so plain it almost hurt her eyes. She looked for remarkable features of the hallway she was in, not wanting to get lost, but found none. She felt nervous, but kept going, wanting to break the confined feeling she had been feeling in Las Noches.

Every twist and turn of the confusing hallways deepened the sick feeling n her stomach, and panic filled her, setting every nerve on high-alert. The walls seemed to close in around her, and she felt her legs break into a frantic run. Something about this place frayed her nerves, making her feel paranoid. There was no logic to fear, just a bone-deep feeling of terror, of the need to get out of here.

She felt time flying behind her, along with the blurred white walls. She had no idea how long she had been running through the palace, but she couldn't stop herself. This wasn't natural. Something was messing with her mind, because there was no logical reason to feel like this. Did Aizen keep an illusionary spell over the halls to confuse enemies? Possible.

She turned a corner for the umpteenth time, only to run painfully into a wall. She spun around to run the way she had come, only to see another wall. She stared disbelievingly at the wall that had materialized out of nowhere. Another illusion? she thought anxiously. She was in a box, and the walls were definitely closing in. In a minute, she would be crushed. If only she could get out of here…

Wait a second; I can get out of here.Her new power hadn't been able to get her out of Hueco Mundo, but she might be able to get out of this room, maybe even back to her room. Calm down. I can do this. She took a shaky breath.

"Well look at this. The princess is all alone," a mocking voice said from Orihime's right.

She spun around towards the noise and found a hallway stretching out in front of her. That definitely wasn't here before. The source of the voice was a female arrancar with black hair in pigtails, standing next to a girl whose hair looked a lot like Grimmjow, only in blonde. She couldn't deny that she felt relieved. Maybe they would help her.

She noticed their smiles, cruel and mocking, and she felt the relief disappear. They took menacing steps forward, and Orihime felt her muscles tense up, ready for fight or flight. Suddenly, their smiles disappeared, leaving angry scowls in their place.

"How dare such a lowly human even consider marrying Lord Aizen! " the raven-haired one exclaimed. The blonde nodded.

"You're so pathetic! You could never, in a million years, deserve Lord Aizen," she continued, hate glowing in her eyes. The blonde nodded again.

Orihime glanced from one girl to another. They didn't look like the type who would listen to pleas for mercy. She forced herself to calm down and tried to sound controlled as she said," I am marrying Lord Aizen because he wants me to. I exist to serve him."

She had hoped that would placate them, but instead in made them angrier. The raven-haired girl leaped forward, slapping Orihime so hard she rammed into the wall.

"You stupid bitch! How dare you even utter Lord Aizen's name," she seethed. The blonde nodded fiercely.

"Let's ruin her face!" the blonde chimed.

The raven-haired one smiled. "Great idea, Menoly!"

Menoly grinned. "Thanks Loly."

"That's not very nice," a familiar voice commented. All three girls turned to see a green-haired arrancar walking towards them lazily. Orihime recognized her immediately.

"Okashii?" she called, confused by the girl's sudden appearance.

"Hang on one second," Okashii answered, standing between the arrancar and Orihime, staring at Menoly and Loly with her pale eyes.

"What're you doing here?" Loly asked angrily, tensing for battle. "Get lost!"

Okashii didn't answer her, just stared at her, unblinking and unrelenting. She reached into the pocket of her hakama, slowly and smoothly. She pulled out what appeared to be three gray marbles, like storm clouds encased in glass.

She threw them to the ground wordlessly, and they exploded, filling the area with smoke. Quick as lightning, she leaped into the cloud of smoke, toward Menoly and Loly. Orihime didn't see what happened, but when the smoke cleared, Loly was on her hands and knees, grasping her stomach, and Menoly was unconscious.

"Lord Aizen won't let you get away with this!" Loly rasped, before coughing violently.

Okashii didn't even acknowledge her. She blipped over to Orihime, and led her away from the scene, before pulling them both away with Sonido. When they were far enough away, she slowed down into a brisk walk.

"How did you do that?" Orihime asked her.

Okashii looked at her ambivalently, as if unsure whether or not to answer her. Finally, she said," I used smoke bombs, then heavy sedatives." She pulled out two empty silver syringes.

Heavy sedatives? Orihime looked at the green-haired girl nervously.

"I had to!" she said defensively. "I couldn't have taken them both if I hadn't used those things. I'm not as strong as the average arrancar, not to mention my hierro is a lot thinner and weaker. My only advantage is my increased speed and skill in Sonido."

"Where did you get all that stuff you used?" Orihime pressed.

Okashii bit her bottom lip. "Szayel Aporro Granz," she answered.

Orihime shrieked," The sadistic scientist?"

"Be that as he may, he's a good ally to have. I've been doing work for him for a while now, and he repays me by giving me cool stuff he invents."

"What kind of work?"

"Reconnaissance work, mostly. He sends me all across Hueco Mundo looking for hollow covens he can turn into his fraccion. I can do that pretty well, because I'm fast and stealthy."

"Stealthy?" Orihime asked.

"I can completely mask my presence," the arrancar said proudly.

Orihime felt a wave of unease, but quickly dismissed it. It had to be nothing, right?

"And Grimmjow doesn't mind, either," she added as an afterthought.

"What does Grimmjow have to do with it?" Orihime asked.

"He is my master," she answered," I am his fraccion."

"Really?" the teen asked.

"Yeah. All of his original fraccion died a while back, so I was assigned to him as a sort of replacement. Anyway, he doesn't have much use for me, so he doesn't care if I go off on missions for Szayel."

"So what's it like to work for Grimmjow?" Orihime asked.

"It's like… running and endless race. You keep running for the finish line, but it's never there, so you just keep on running." She smiled. "But I wouldn't change it for the world."

Orihime wasn't sure what to say to that. She really is weird, she thought, but she's nice.

"So," Okashii said awkwardly, changing the subject," Less about me, more about you. Are you excited for the wedding?"

Orihime sighed. What was the point of lying? "Not really," she answered truthfully. "I don't really want to get married. Plus, what happens thirty years from now? I'll just keep getting older and older…"

Okashii stared at her disbelievingly, and Orihime suddenly felt uncomfortable. "What?" she asked.

"When do you normally get your period?" Okashii asked.

Random much? Yet her question had come at an odd time. She should have had her period two days ago, and she had never been late before. She was starting to think she was sick.

"When you came here," Okashii explained," your body was frozen in place, so in thirty years, you'll look pretty much the same as you do now."

She digested this slowly, as they continued their trek in an unknown direction. Frozen in place… just like Peter Pan. I'll never grow older, she thought slightly hysterically.

"You ok?" Okashii asked.

"Yeah," she answered slowly," It's just incredibly weird. I'll never grow again."

"Not necessarily," the arrancar said softly.

"What do you mean?" Orihime was beyond confused.

"You're like a shinigami now. You don't grow with age, you grow with power. If your power increases, you will get a little bit older."

"Anything else?" The autumn-haired teen asked warily.

"Nope. That's about it. Care for a subject change?"

"Yes, please," Orihime said, relieved.

"Awesome," Okashii chirped, looking excited," What're you going to wish for?"

She stared at the arrancar for a few seconds before asking," How do you know about that?" Okashii wasn't at the Espada meeting, so the only way she could know is if everybody knew, like the latest gossip. The last thing Orihime wanted to be was an item of gossip.

"Not important," Okashii said quickly, waving the question off. "So what're you going to wish for?"

"For my friends to be safe," Orihime answered.

Okashii stared at her. "Are you serious? That's what you're going to wish for?"

"Yeah… What's wrong with that?" Orihime asked self-consciously.

"There's no way he'll honor that! He'll say something like,' Sure, no problem.' Then he'll kill them all behind your back!"

Orihime stared in horror. "He wouldn't…"

"Yes, he really would. That friend of yours, what's-his-face…"

"Ichigo," Orihime supplemented.

"Ichigo is one of the biggest threats to Lord Aizen right now. There's no way he'd let him live just because you asked him to. That's a waste of a wish!"

"What would you wish for then?" Orihime challenged. The truth was it had never occurred to her that Aizen wouldn't grant her wish. Yet as she thought about it, it made perfect sense.

"I would wish to never be forced to have sex," Okashii answered calmly. Orihime blushed fiercely.

"He would never force me…" she said unsurely.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Okashii said in a low whisper. "He's dangerous."

Orihime shuddered. She really didn't want to think about that. Luckily, she didn't have to. Okashii changed the subject.

"Do you know what Stockholm Syndrome is?" she asked in a low murmur.

"Um… No. What is it?" Orihime asked curiously.

For a long moment, Okashii didn't answer. She stared blankly ahead, before she sighed.

"It's a thief in the night,
To come and grab you.
It can creep up inside you,
And consume you.
A disease of the mind,
It can control you.
It's too close for comfort" she sang softly.

Orihime blinked in confusion. Where did Okashii learn human songs from? More importantly, what was she trying to say by them?

They stopped in front of a door, but it definitely wasn't her door, Orihime noted. Just where were they?

"What're you doing?" Orihime asked as the arrancar walked up to the door and pounded on it.

Okashii smiled. "Ding-dong ditching," she answered, before blipping away, leaving Orihime alone.

The door opened. "What do you want?" Grimmjow yelled, but upon seeing Orihime his expression softened slightly. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

"I… I don't know," she answered truthfully. He stared at her, before sighing loudly.

"Fine. Come in."

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Okashii sonido-ed as fast as her nimble legs would carry her. She had to get away from Orihime as fast as possible, unless she wanted the people following her to reach Orihime as well. She pressed herself further, hoping Grimmjow wouldn't mind looking after Orihime.

It wasn't in her nature to depend on another person, but Grimmjow… she had feeling she could trust Grimmjow with Orihime. Even more so than Ulquiorra, actually. Ulquiorra might still be conflicted in his loyalties, a risk she couldn't take. Grimmjow, however, never had any such loyalties to Aizen, making him the obvious choice.

She moved quicker, flying through hallways with little care where she was going, as long as she led her followers away from Orihime. Determination fueled her legs, making her go even faster.

Finally, she reached a large empty space, where she stopped abruptly. This would be far enough that Orihime wouldn't be involved. She stood still in the silence that blanketed her, like the calm before the storm.

With an echoing sound, the Exequias sonido-ed into the room, surrounding her. She watched them lazily, not showing any signs of fear. They were just the black pawns, and she was still waiting for the black king, after all.

He came soon after, along with his two black bishops. Ichimaru smiled at her, and she smiled back, not seeing any reason to be unfriendly to him. He was not the one calling the shots. Tousen just stared at her with his empty eyes, hand fingering the hilt of his zanpakuto, ready to strike at any minute. She deemed it best to flip him off, a gesture he would never see.

Aizen, the black king himself, greeted her. "Hello, Okashii. Have you decided to stop running?"

The white horse stood ready. "I was never running," she answered calmly," only changing the playing field."

Aizen raised an eyebrow, smiling good-naturedly. "And do you believe this playing field gives you an advantage."

"Not particularly," she replied, looking bored.

"Then why chose it? It makes no sense."

Okashii seriously doubted he hadn't figured it out yet. He was just toying with her, not that that came as a surprise. People always stay true to their nature, after all. "It makes perfect sense to me, but that may be because I know the reason I did it."

"Obviously. Do you want to find out why we are here?" Aizen asked her.

"That's a great question. Why are we here?" she said sarcastically. "Are we meaningless beings, wandering through the world? Or is there truly a divine hand, guiding us towards a predestined purpose? I'm not sure. Care to ponder this with me?"

"That's not what I meant," he said in a slightly annoyed voice.

She smirked. "My bad."

"Would you like to know why we are confronting you?" he clarified.

"Go for it," she said evenly.

"You have been spending an awful lot of time with our guest, Orihime. I believe you remember me instructing everyone to leave her be when she first arrived."

"Did you really? I don't seem to remember that. I must have been asleep. Your meetings are always so boring."

Tousen flashed forward and struck her across the face. "Show more respect to Lord Aizen," he hissed.

She rubbed her stinging cheek with her right hand and used her left to flip him off once more. She heard Ichimaru chuckle. Tousen walked back to his position next to Aizen.

"Anyway, what do you think would be an appropriate punishment for disobeyment of a direct order?" Aizen asked as if nothing had happened.

She pretended to give it serious thought. "How 'bout a spanking?" She winked at him. He didn't look amused.

"You better be careful," he warned her," You're gambling with your life here."

"The life of a horse carries no meaning to even to the horse, if it is for the sake of their king," she replied calmly.

"And who is your king?" he asked her.

"The white king," she answered," The one I made a promise to.

"I am your king," he corrected her," You and all the others here live to serve me."

She eyed him evenly, but her voice carried sparks of anger and she replied," What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender,
What if I say that I'll never surrender?"

She never heard his response, because in the next moment Tousen was in front of her, his sword running through her chest. She stared wide-eyed at the metal sticking out of her chest, as if she had no idea how it got there.

Tousen withdrew his sword, and Okashii fell to the ground. Without a sound, the spy had fallen. She had failed again.

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A/N- Yes, Okashii is the spy. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!! I swear, I have a perfectly good reason. Which I will explain later.

NOTE: A few chapters back I said that Ichigo & co. would be joining the party in five days. However, I am horrible at keeping track of time, so please forgive me if the day count is off. Also, sorry if this chapter sounded rushed. It was. I've been buried under homework.

Thanks for reading this far, especially those who reviewed. You guys are the best, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. If you haven't reviewed yet, PLEASE DO! I love hearing from you guys.