Horrays! New chappie :3 But is is JUST me or is there once again no new bleach/naruto/nurarihyon no mago update again this week?
Anikin:...Am I supposed to care?
Moony: INDEED YOU ARE UNLESS YOU WISH TO BE DUMPED INTO A VAT OF SPARKLES!
Anikin: -coughs- yes, uh, indeed, this is terrible...
Moony: yahumn, that's what i thought...ANI-CHAN! WILLTH THOU SAYETH THE DISCLAIMER...ETH?
Anikin: PLEASE tell me that you DO NOT have Shakespere homework.
Moony: ...
Anikin;-sighs- should've known...Moonlightrurouni doesn't own Bleach, nor me. However I am stuck on a psysic leash and am unable to escape from this crazy person's clutches.
Moony: and that's how you'll be staying for a good long while...
"Orihime."
…
"Orihime."
…
Who are they calling? Is that me? Is that my name?
"Orihime. My sweetest princess, Orihime, will you wake?"
"Are…are you calling me?" Eyes open and the girl sits up slowly, looking around at her surroundings in confusion. "Where am I?"
The man sitting beside her bed sighs and smiles gently at her. "I'm so glad that you're awake. I was so scared that the whole ordeal with those evil shinigami would have traumatized you permanently."
The girl looks at the man with brown hair, a single strand falling into his face. "A-Aizen." she breathes. Wait. How does she know? How does he know her, and how does she know him?
The man stands up from his seat and sits on the bed, leans forwards and presses his lips against her temple. "Can you remember anything, dearest princess? Tell me what you remember." He says softly. The girl looks up at him with fearful eyes and shakes her head. "Come now, you can trust me. You're safe here." He promises. "Tell me what you can remember. Start with people."
"I-I can't remember. Why can't I remember?" She breathes, "There's a boy with orange hair, a-and a girl with black hair that's spiky like the boy's. And there's a tall dark skinned boy, and another boy with glasses, a-and-!" The girl clutches her head as it begins to pound fiercely. "Why does it hurt? What's going on? Why can't I remember?" she asks, her eyes widening, and panic seeping into her voice.
"Shhh. That's to be expected." The man- Aizen- says in a soothing voice, wrapping her into his arms. "Calm down, dearest princess, you're safe."
"Why do you keep calling me that?"
Aizen smiles down softly at her. "You remember your name, don't you? If you do, try and remember its meaning."
"Orihime…Hime, it means…princess, right?" she asks hesitantly, looking up at him. He beams back.
"Correct, Orihime-chan."
Orihime looks down bashfully. "I don't remember, but why?"
An angry expression passes over Aizen's face and she immediately looks down in fear. "Gomenasai! I didn't know that I spoke out of turn," she says quickly, eyes refusing to move from her lap.
Aizen shakes his head. "No, no, no Orihime-chan, you are mistaken, I am not angry at all with you, but rather at those people."
"Why?"
"Because they were the ones who tortured you."
"What?"
Aizen raises a hand and stroked Orihime's hair. "You must promise not to fret, alright? They kidnapped you from Las Noches. They wanted the special gifts that you possessed. Your Shun Shun Rikka." Here he pauses and run a finger gently over the two hair pins that held her bangs back. "They wanted to use you against me and the rest of our family."
"Family?"
"Aizen-sama." A soft voice says, followed by a soft tap on the door across the room.
Aizen stood and sat back down into the chair. "Come in." He says.
Orhime watched as a lithe girl, probably a couple years younger than herself -sixteen. Yes, that's how old she was, sixteen- walk into the room. She wore a simple outfit, a hakama and plain jacket. Her dark hair was shoulder length, and a circlet sat on her head. The only extraordinary feature of hers was her eyes. Orihime mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. There were glassy and lacked pupils. She was blind.
"Please Aizen-sama, she is healing still. Her body may not be able to take the stress if she is unable to rest enough to recover," she says, almost inaudibly, lowering her eyes to the ground.
Aizen patted Orihime's hand. "Of course. Orihime, I'd like to introduce you to one of my children- so to speak. She is the one who helped you heal from the trauma you went through while you were in the Shinigami's hands." Orihime watched curiously as the girl walked up to them slowly.
"Orihime, this is Anómino, the sexagésima sexta Arrancar."
The girl bows, and Orihime waves shyly. "Hello." She smiles shyly. "Is she my sister?" Orihime asks, looking up at Aizen hopefully. Aizen chuckles.
"You can think of it like that, dearest princess. You see, although the people here aren't family biologically, they are family in rank. Anómino is the youngest so far." Aizen explains, standing up. "She's a good girl Orihime, she will take care of you."
"You're leaving?" Orihime can't help but ask, feeling panic rise in her chest.
Aizen walks to the door but turns to smile back fondly at her. "I promise that I'll return, alright?" Orihime smiles and nods, satisfied with this answer. "Alright, Aizen-sama." She says, mimicking what the other girl said earlier.
"Please, address me as 'chichi'." Aizen waves away the formal address then walks out the door and closes it softly behind him. Orihime looks to the other girl and shifts awkwardly in her seat.
"Did you want to sit down?" she asks, patting a spot on the bed beside her. The girl- arrancar? Something told Orihime that that was the right word- flinches and shakes her head, her hair hiding the right half of her face.
"I wouldn't dare compromise the comfort of Inoue-sama." she says softly, her unseeing eyes somehow locking onto Orihime face. "Only if Aizen-sama permits it."
Orihime pouts childishly. "Will you tell me what happened? I can't remember some things. It's like…there are gaps in my memories," she says slowly. She sees her open her mouth to protest but she cuts her off. "Aizen-sama said to take care of me right? Aren't you taking care of my by telling me what happened?"
The Anómino bites her lip and hesitantly walks forwards. She pauses a few feet from Orihime's bedside and takes a deep breath. "Do you remember your Shun Shun Rikka?" She asks, and Orihime nods.
"Of course! There's Ayame and Shun'o, Baigon, Lily and Hinagiku, and, eto, oh! Tsubaki!" The human girl says eagerly, counting them off on her fingers.
"The power to reject time and space." Anómino whispers absentmindedly. "Anyways, when the Shinigami found out they wanted to use you, and-!"
"Oi! Brat! Barragan-sama is calling you!" A voice cut her off. The door banged loudly as a tall, muscular-and orange?- man burst into the room, swinging his arms ridiculously.
"Brat? Isn't that mean?" Orihime wonders aloud, turning to Anómino, whose head is lowered, and whose hands are folded neatly on her lap.
"O-ri-hi-me-chaaan! Ohhhh you look sooooooo BEAUTIFUL! OHHHH I JUST CAN'T STAND IT!" Orihime squeals in surprise as one of the men glomphs her and begins to nuzzle into her hair. "How lucky we are to be able to watch over darling, precious, adorable Hime-chan! I'm so happy that I must just be oozing be-au-ti-"
"Cállate Cuuhlhourne." Orihime's eyes widen as she watched the gigantic man slowly lumber into the room, ducking just to fit under the doorway.
"W-Who are they?" She stammers in awe as she watches three others follow in after. Orihime turns to the lone female Arrancar who is peeking up at them from under her bangs.
"They are the rest of Barragan-sama's fraccion. Redder Abirama. Cuuhlhourne Charlotte. Poww Choe Neng. Calius Findorr. Vega Ggio. Parduoc Niggre." Anómino breathes, eyes lowering down to her lap.
"Oi. Aren't you forgetting something?" The one that Anómino called Abirama sneers, wacking her upside the head.
"…sama. All of them, sama." The girl adds, lifting her head back up.
"Exacta. Hajimamashite, Orihime-sama." The long, blonde haired arrancar said bowing.
"H-hai! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!" Orihime says, bowing from where she is sitting. She looks up at them all shyly. "A-are you, are you my anikis?"
Ggio eyes widen in surprise, and he turns to the Arrancar beside him. "'Anikis?" he asks incredulously.
Findorr laughs, "No es exacta, princessa. We are just the servants and soldiers of Barragan-sama and Aizen-sama." He explains.
"O-oh, I see." She says in disappointment. "It was just, Chichi said that, that we were all family, so I thought that it'd be alright to call you that…" She explains shyly.
There was a brief silence then, "Yes! Yes, my darling Orihime-chan, I'd LOVE for you to call me 'onii-san' and for you to be my imouto! A BEAUTIFUL onii-san with a BEAUTIFUL imouto!" Charolotte squeals, moving in to glomph Orihime, but Ggio grabs the back of his shirt to restrain him.
"Calm yourself." He commands. "You are going to hurt Orihime-sama."
"FINE! But she is our imouto! WE MUST ADDRESS HER AS SUCH!" The purpled haired arrancar cries theartially, throwing his hands up in the air. The others around him sweat-drop (metaphorically).
"What are you doing?" A gravelly voice rumbles. Orihime's eyes widens as she sees a grizzled and scarred man walk in. You there! You! Get up!Orihime's hand rises and goes to touch her temple as a sharp and sudden pain hits her.
"H-Hajimamashite." She stutters in surprise, as he walks up to the bed side. He stares down at him treatingly, as the other arrancars bow down. Orihime takes the hint and copies them. "B-Barragan…sama?" she adds hesitantly.
Barragan doesn't say a word for a moment, but then turns on his heel and walks back out the door. "Aizen-sama has requested the Espada as well as their Fracción attend a meeting. Bring the girl."
The Arrancar snap up to attention, "Hai. Barragan-sama." They say in unison.
"Princessa-chan, follow us if you please." Ggio says, going and offering her a hand. Orihime smiles and takes his hand, but nearly falls over as the world spins around her.
"You mustn't. She isn't fully healed. She must rest." Anómino, who was silent for the longest time speaks up, standing, but still not looking anyone in the eye.
Ggio sneers at her, forgetting the human girl whom he is helping to stand. "Don't you remember Abirama's words from earlier? Remember girl, you are sin ningún valor.You may be a part of Barragan-sama's Fracción, but you are in no way our equal. Is that clear?" He asks threateningly. Anómino says nothing. Then he turns back to Orihime and sweeps her off her feet. She squeals in surprise and clutches his neck. "Does this satisfy you?" He asks, and without waiting for an answer he turns and walks out the door.
The group walks down the silent halls in silence for a few minutes, and Orihime's head spins as she tries to keep track of all the turns that they make. She glances at Ggio out of the corner of her eye, and then looks ahead, unsure if the question that the wants to ask is out of line.
"Is something bothering you, Orihime-chan?" Ggio asks, sensing her unease, his pace not faltering once.
Orihime fidgets unconsciously. "Not…exactly aniki." Ggio gives her a funny look but shakes his head in what seems to her to be amusement. "It's just…wasn't that a little mean? The way that you treated Anómino-chan." She says cautiously.
Ggio looks away for a few moments then finally speaks. "You have to understand Orihime-chan, that even though were 'family', there is still a hierarchy system that we must all follow. And that system isn't very kind to some." Orihime's eyes widen and her mouth opens, but Ggio cuts her off. "You, of course, don't have to worry about a thing-being Aizen-sama's 'daughter' and all that-but some of us have to be a little more careful. We're pretty well off because we are the Fracción of an Espada-meaning one of Aizen-sama's ten Arrancar strongest soldiers."
"Ohhh…I see." Orihime nods, and Ggio allows her to see a half smile. He nods to something ahead. Orihime turns and sees great ornate doors. She turns to Ggio, curiosity making her eyes sparkle. He gives her another half-hearted smile.
The door swings open and Orihime ducks her head as fifteen pairs of eyes land on her, all of them analyzing her in one way or another.
"Ah, I'm glad that you have finally arrived, Orihime-chan." Aizen says as Ggio sets the human girl down, and pulls out a chair for her that is on Aizen's left side. Orihime lets her hair fall into her eyes as she peeks around at the people who sit around her. She looks up at Aizen hesitantly, and he reaches out and squeezes her hand reassuringly. "Go on, introduce yourself, dearest princess."
"Hajimamashite. My name is Orihime. Yorushiku onegai shimasu." She says shyly, smiling sweetly at the people around her.
"Hey there pet-sama, how're you doing?" A lanky and dark haired man leans towards her, and Orihime shivers unconsciously as he smiles, baring all of his teeth.
"Watch your words Nnoitra." The lone female Espada says coolly, her hand fingering the high collar that obstructs the lower half of her face. She looks at Aizen who nods in confirmation. "My name is Halibel. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She adds at the end, the cold tone in her voice melting slightly.
Taking a hint from the woman, a pink haired man rests his chin on his hands and adjusts his glasses. "Quite interesting indeed, the possibilities that this implies." He muses thoughtfully, "If only I could conduct a few experiments-but never mind that," He cuts his train of thought off hastily as Aizen shoots him a dangerous look. "Greetings Orihime, my name is Szayel."
"Yammy." Grunts a massive man who is sitting at the opposite end of the table.
"My name is Aaroniero Arruruerie." The masked man who was sitting beside Yammy says. At least, Orihime thinks that it is a man. His voice alters from a deep one to a high pitched one. Orihime doesn't have time to think about it because the next Espada is introducing themself.
"Coyote Starrk." A brown haired-and very sleepy looking-man says boredly, his head on his arms.
The lone dark skinned man with strange skull earrings and spikes on his head folds his hands together and nods at Orihime. "Zommari Rureaux."
Orihime smiles at all of them, but frowns slightly when she hears the sound of muffled laughter. "Heh, heh, hahahahahahaha!" The last Espada to introduce himself throws his head back and howls gleefully. "Oh man, this is PRICELESS!" he smiles at Orihime, but she flinches as his smile reminds her of one that a cat would give to her prey. "Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. Remember it."
"Now, now Grimmjow, don't intimidate Orihime-chan like that." Aizen says patronizingly, smiling at him. "She is your imouto, remember to take care of her, won't you all?" he adds, addressing the Espada as a whole.
"Hai, Aizen-sama." They chorus, some before, some after others.
Aizen turns to Orihime. "Now, dearest musume, now you know your onii-san's and one-san's, there are two people left to introduce to you. Ichimaru Gin," He gestures to a white haired man with a wide smile who waves cheekily at Orihime, "And Tousen Kaname." He nods at a tall man with a visor over his eyes. Aizen then turns back to face the rest of them. "I have not forgotten about the Fracción that I have also summoned here, but first of all, why don't we have some tea first?"
:-:-:-:-:
Orihime set down her tea cup, and sat back in her chair. Unable to suppress her drowsiness, she held up a hand to her mouth and yawned. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aizen grinning at her in amusement.
"Are you tired, musume?" He asked gently, as she blushed, embarrassed that she must've looked disrespectful. "Do not worry yourself. I know that you're probably quite tired. I think that it's about time to retire for the day. At an unspoken signal, all the Espada stood up from their chairs in unison, their Fracción falling in behind them. "You'll get an opportunity to meet your other brothers and sisters later on, alright, Orihime-chan?" Orihime nods happily. She looks at her new family happily.
"Arigato. It was a pleasure to meet you. I hope that we'll be able to get to know each other better soon!" She beams at them, and she hears a few soft chuckles. Barragan stands behind her, and after receiving a nod from Aizen, he places a hand on her shoulder and leads her out of the room, along with his Fracción. Orihime falls in step with them, and after giving the others on last glance over her shoulder, she leaves.
Once again they travel into the elaborate maze where her room was. Glancing around, her eyes widened as she noted all the other Arrancar standing around the hallways. "W-wow. So many Fracción." Orihime breathes, looking around her in amazement. She hears someone behind her laugh, and she turns to see Ggio shaking his head in amusement.
"It seems like you're picking up on the slang already. But no, they're not. They are the Números. Other Arrancar who are not under an Espada's command. They wish to serve, so Aizen-sama assigned them here, Barragan-sama's domain within Las Noches." He corrects her, as they finally reach the door that leads to her room. He holds the door open for her and she enters followed by Anómino.
"Wait. Where are the others? Findorr-nii and Charlotte-nii and the others?" Orihime's eyebrows furrow in confusion.
"Orihime-chan, we are Barragan-sama the Great's Fracción. We have a couple responsibilities that we have to tend to." He says in a proud voice.
Orihime looks at Anómino sadly. "Does that mean that you'll be going too?"
Anómino shakes her head. "I'll be staying for a while. Don't worry." She says quietly.
"Oh…alright. Goodnight Ggio-nii." Orihime bites her lip uncertainly, but then stands on her toes and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Ggio looks down at her in surprise, and she blushes. "Thank you for taking care of me onii-san. I promise to become the perfect imouto."
Ggio looks down at her in mild confusion. "Alright." He says, then turns and leaves. Orihime waves as she watches him go, then skips over to the bed and flops down on it, sighing in exhaustion.
"So…do you have to leave?" She asks, as she settles down into the downy sheets. Anómino nods her head.
"I'll have to go now…" She sits down on the side of her bed, looks at Orihime shyly from under her bangs.
"What will I do while your gone?"
The Arrancar girl reaches inside her jacket pocket and pulls out several pieces of lined parchment and an elegant fountain pen that seems to be made of ivory. "Here." Orihime takes them in awe, and gently runs her fingers over the intricate design that is carved onto the pen. A shark, teeth bared threateningly wraps its way around the pen, waves foaming around it. "Why don't you write in your free time? Like letters…or something." Anómino suggests softly, standing up and walking towards the door.
"Okay. But who should I write them to?" Orihime asks, looking up from the pen.
Anómino shrugs and exits. "Goodnight, Orihime-sama."
Orihime places the paper and pen on her bedside and sticks her tongue out at her retreating back. "Hey, you can call me 'nee-chan' you know. We're sisters right?"
"…Goodnight, Onee-sama…"
sexagésima sexta- sixty sixth
chichi-father
Cállate- shut up
Hajimamashite- Pleased to meet you
aniki(s): brother(s)*note: I'm not sure is that's actually the plural...-.-" I apoligize if it's wrong. If someone knows the proper word for please tell me...
imoto: little sister
princessa: princess
Yorushiku onegai shimasu: please take care of me
musume: daughter
just to clarify, that kiss on the cheek that Orihime gives Ggio is in no way romantic. It's the kind of think that you'd do to someone who's in your family kinda thing. So yeah. :) hope that you guys liked it! Don't forget to keep up with Ulquiorra's perspective of the story with "Doomed to remember" by TheCatWithTheHat. Anyways, please REVIEW!
-moony