Well, it took me some time to write, because of reasons, but here it is if anyone's interested.
"My Lord Aizen…" Orihime moaned while the man in question slowly moved his hand up from her hip, brushing through her breast he brought it up to her neck and then stroked her jaw while looking down at her lips.
He took one step forward, closing the gap between their bodies and without saying anything he slowly brushed his lips across her own. The gesture made her shiver; she pushed herself up to stand on her tiptoes in an attempt to reach his lips and take the kiss he's been denying her.
The feelings of peace and safety seemed to take over her mind and she couldn't care less if he only made her feel that way because it rendered her way easier for him to manipulate. This sense of security and belonging Orihime yearned for ever since she had lost her brother. She would never dare to think that she would find it in arms of the enemy, but here she was, devoting herself to him without even a shadow of shame.
He was about to finally kiss her when Orihime felt a sudden jolt of pain shot up her abdomen. With a grunt she opened her eyes to see Nenya's leg buried in her belly; it's owner sleeping soundly with her head buried in the mattress and clutching a fistful of sheets in her hand. It was a dream. Obviously. Definitely. Aizen would never do something like that. It was too… un-aizen-y of him. The room was dark as always and a little stream of silver moonlight was falling on the other end of their bed. She pushed the child's foot off of herself and turned Nenya around to avoid being kicked again.
After putting her head down on a pillow once more she found it difficult to fall asleep asleep. The thought of dreaming about the Lord of Las Noches holding her way too close caused her face to turn red and brought up her hands to hide her embarrassment even though nobody was here to see it. Such a needles dream. Inappropriate. What would her friends think of her is they saw what she was dreaming about? It's such a relief to know that at least her thoughts and dreams can't be heard and seen by Ulquiorra. He does have this nasty ability to see through people somehow but she was fairly sure that he couldn't literally see what is happening inside their heads.
She sat up and stretched her arms above her head, trying to catch any noises that could potentially suggest the hour of the ever present night. Sometimes she could hear the clamoring of the washing machines and footsteps of working Arrancars echoing through the corridors, but at this moment everything seemed to be perfectly still and quiet. Orihime half hoped to hear a voice singing somewhere from within the main dome.
Without a doubt, two days ago someone was chanting her name almost obsessively and at first she thought that she might be getting mad from all the stress she's been subjected to lately, however, when Ulqiorra showed up to deliver them their rations she had asked him about it. With no hesitation in his voice the Espada had admitted to hearing it too, but he did not stay to dwell on the topic as he seemed to consider as irrelevant. "If the Lord had not informed me about anything regarding the owner of that voice, then it is not my business. Take it as an advice." He said and left her and the twins alone with their dinner.
Since that time Orihime had been straining her ears in hopes of hearing it again. Surely, Aizen wouldn't be hiding another child of his somewhere in the stronghold? Besides, aside from having a childish note to it, there was also a sharp, metallic undertone surrounding it which made it sound somewhat artificial. Perhaps she would have found it creepy, had she not been surrounded by creatures who wore parts of animal skulls permanently adhered to their heads and were probably waiting for an order to kill her a any moment.
Puzzling over the the strange voice chanting her name and the dark and quiet atmosphere of the room had drained her enough to put her into a state of light drowsiness. With a sigh she set to lay down again when she heard footsteps echoing faintly in the corridor behind the closed door. They seemed to be slowly inching closer, aiming straight towards her and the twin's place.
After a few minutes the doors cracked open and Ulquiorra walked quietly inside accompanied by another (very round) Arrancar. He did not look surprised to see Orihime awake and she looked up at him questioningly.
"Lord Aizen wishes to see you." He said with a flat voice and turned around, obviously expecting her to jump out of the bed and follow him back to the main dome.
"What about-"
"Rollo will look after the kids." The Espada had cut in, not wanting to wait for her to finish asking the question.
She left the bed and glanced at the new Arrancar while she walked towards the door. He seemed to be eyeing her tentatively, not daring to move nor say anything. It looked like he was trying to not attract her attention to himself. The room was still dark because Ulquiorra had not bothered with turning the lights on, probably not wanting to wake the girls, but she could make out Rollo's expression. He seemed worried and she saw that he was anxiously clenching his jaw while his eyes were unfocused as he kept staring at the opposite wall.
He was behaving very oddly and Orihime wasn't sure if she should let him stay with the two sleeping toddlers, however she did not have much time to think about it because her warden steps seemed to slowly fade in the distance and it was quite clear that he had not intended to stop and wait for her to catch up with him. The stronghold was far too big and complicated for her to remember the way to the main dome and even if she did manage to get there on her own, she probably would not be able to guess in which room Aizen was waiting for her. There were also other Arrancars stalking down the corridors and the last encounter taught her that it will be better if she'll avoid any confrontation.
She ran after the Espada and soon was walking shoulder to shoulder with him.
"What could he possibly want from me at this hour?" Orihime allowed herself to think out loud.
"You will learn when we'll get there, besides, you don't even know the time." He said, sounding as bored as ever when they were talking.
"I know it's late! I've noticed the washtower works at intervals."
"It does not matter. When the Lord orders you to wake, then you will obey." Ulquiorra stated firmly without even looking at her.
Ulquoirra's stiffness only made her roll her eyes; she got used to his relentless need to turn Aizen's every word into an order. The nature of his summon, however, still bothered her. Maybe it had something to do with the beating she received from Loli? Perhaps he needed to personally assess her physical state? He did give her a hand when it came to mending her bones. She suddenly went red in the face when she remembered the dream she just had. Maybe it was some sort of a vision?! Maybe he'll ask her to show him the places on her body which sustained some damage during that incident.
The scenes from the dream flooded back into her head and she quickly brought her hands to cover her face like she had done back in the bed. Thinking about the way he held her and how close they were had pushed her into a fit of embarrassment and made her rub her red face, and pant as of she just ran a marathon.
"Disgusting." She heard Ulquoirra's comment right beside her and was about to reply when a wave of cold washed through her. All of sudden Orihime felt like they were being watched and her hand had latched on the hem of Ulquoirra's sleeve.
"Do not pay attention to that." He said without even a hint of worry in his voice, quite the contrary, he seemed to be rather amused by something and appeared not to care about Orihime's hand that was still attached to his sleeve.
They had soon turned a corner and entered a short corridor leading towards tall wooden door which seemed to stand out oddly against the pristine white wall in which they were lodged. The corridor was lit with moonlight that was pooling inside through several arches propelled on ornate columns. The archways seemed to lead to a long, open balcony in front of which a vast desert was spreading far and wide without end. The balcony was hanging very high above the ground and she could barely see the leafless trees scattered randomly across the sand below while they walked towards the door.
With each step Orihime grew more anxious, the dream and the memory of her last meeting with the Lord of Las Noches had pushed themselves back into the surface of her mind. She slowed her pace and stood behind Ulquiorra's back when he finally came to halt. He announced their arrival and they both waited for the door to open. For a few minutes there was no response whatsoever and Orihime silently hoped that Aizen had cancelled their meeting, but as she was about to ask her warden if they should come back the right wing of the massive, wooden door swung open.
"Please, come in." Called a deep, masculine voice from the inside, yet Ulquoirra remained motionless. She stepped closer to the Arrancar and gave him a questioning look but he only motioned with his hand towards the open entrance, signaling her to go inside by herself. Such an odd behaviour on his part distressed her even more. Why would he not come in there with her? The last time he seemed to have no problem with walking her right into Aizen's study.
Reluctantly, she took a few steps towards the door and peered inside. The room on the other side was spacious and completely different from any other place she had seen so far inside the stronghold. There were dark, wooden panels adorning the lower part of the walls and a big, fancy rug covered the black, polished tiles in the center of the floor. At the opposite wall two arches were leading to yet another, smaller balcony and a pair of thin, silky curtains which kept disturbing the moonlight fluttered with the breeze. Some old, wooden cabinets were standing under the walls, and a few paintings hung above them. The room was dimly lit and she could make out Aizen's silhouette sitting on the sofa that stood a little of the center. He slowly brought himself up and turned his head in her direction.
"Well?" He said without showing any desire to walk towards her like he had done when she was first brought to his study. Even though not much time had passed since she had been called there to demonstrate her abilities Orihime felt like these events had taken place ages ago. She remembered the study being a little darker than this place, probably because it lacked the moonlight which was now weakly illuminating the room.
Not wanting to annoy her host she slowly crossed the threshold and the door had closed behind her with a loud click.
"You called for me… L-Lord Aizen." She looked down at her feet, quite unable to bring her eyes towards his face.
"Yes, I did." His voice resounded through the air followed by a prominent, metallic thud and she lifted her head up slightly, trying to spot the source of the unexpected sound. "There is something I would like to show you."
Orihime saw it then. The handle of Aizen's zanpakuto was lying at his feet, but the blade was nowhere to be seen. The sight had unnerved her and she looked up to his face expecting to see him staring at it with panicked expression but to her surprise, he was acting as if half of his sword hadn't just disappeared.
The room was silent and he was still standing in the middle of it without uttering a word, but Aizen did not need words to convey a message. He just looked her in the eyes and Orihime felt as if her legs started guiding the rest of her body towards him.
"Y-your sword!" She blurted out without much thinking, feeling unable to bear the silence.
"Yes, the handle fell onto the floor." He replied, sounding quite unmoved but he gave her an amused look, as if daring her to ask about it. Orihime stopped a few steps in front of him and looked back at the handle which was still lying bladeless and motionless on the rug, next to it's owner's foot. Maybe he needed it mended? She turned her gaze back to him, her lips twisted into a confused frown and Aizen only tilted his head slightly to the side.
"There is no blade… " She murmured stupidly, clearly not expecting to see anything like this while Ulquiorra was leading her to this chamber.
"No, there is not." The man in front of her replied patiently, as if he were talking to a child.
"Do I fix… ?" He hands slowly went up as she voiced the question, ready to call out her faerie, and he clasped his own palms around them, stopping them in the middle.
"It's not broken." He said simply.
This seemed to wake Orihime from her daze. She furrowed her brows and looked at the handle and then again up at Aizen. He seemed to guess what was on her mind because he spoke before she could ask any more questions.
"I have summoned you here tonight because there is something I wish for you to witness. I presume it will make a lot of things clearer to you, and at the same time it ought to put my mind at ease. You see, I like taking precautions."
She blinked up at him, not understanding what he meant by "precautions" and "putting his mind at ease", and also quite oblivious to the fact that he was still clutching her hands in his own.
"You will see for yourself in a minute." He added. "For example, if you're wondering where the blade had gone…" Aizen slowly looked up and Orihime had followed suit. The view hit her as unexpectedly as the rest of the situation she'd found herself in. Up, under the high ceiling there was something… something hard to describe, it covered the entire surface like a great sheet of constantly breaking and mending glass. For a moment it was doing just that, swaying calmly with jagged waves but then it suddenly started spinning around, creating a slowly opening hole in the center. A blue orb had filled it, and after that a smaller, white one showed up on the top of it, then a third, smallest, black one. It hung right above them and seemed to focus on her like a great eye.
Orihime gaped up at it, feeling like her knees were bending under the weight of her upper body but when she blinked it was all gone, and she was standing as straight as before. She felt Aizen let go of her hands and when she looked down at him, he was standing quite far away from her.
"Well, that should do it." She heard him say nonchalantly. "Fear not… unless you have something to hide." He smiled at her dangerously, and from the moment a thought entered her mind she knew that something was horribly wrong.