Yeah... Hi! This is my first Bleach fic, so please tell me what you think. If the characters are out of character, then it's my fault and you can flame me all you want. It's also part of the story, but if it bothers ypu too much, let me know.

Chapter One

Waking the demon

"Why are you not eating? Am I really going to have to force it down your throat? Eat, I do not wish to touch you." Orihime looked over to Ulquiorra standing in the doorway with another tray of food. He had his left hand casually in his pocket, like always, and he was holding the tray with his right hand. Ulquiorra had seemingly told whoever was making her food that she had trouble keeping her food down, so there was only a serving of mushroom soup and bread on the tray, along with water. Orihime was sure if she were to mention it he would just dismiss it as an order from Aizen, but Orihime knew that it was him who mentioned it to the chef. She had her sources.

"Yeah, princess, you really should do what you're told. Otherwise he would be "forced" to touch you. Give me a break! He wants to touch you and do some other things to you so bad that it hurts him. If Aizen were to "disappear" he would rape you in an instant!"

There it was again, the real reason why she had trouble keeping her food down. The lies this voice fed into her mind made her feel sick and the possibility that they were not lies made her gag up her food. The laughter she heard echoing in her head made her clutch her head and collapse on the couch that happened to be there to break her fall. The voice projected an image of Ulquiorra flinching in the doorway, but then controlling himself immediately. She could feel how the voice smirked. Like every single one in this place the voice seemed to see her misery amusing. It beckoned her to do something, but she knew that this was another one of Aizen's games and had tried not to show any signs that she could even hear the voice.

"Oh, this is amusing! Ulquiorra is now trying to find a detached way of asking you if you are okay. Let me guess: Do you need medical attention? No, that might imply that he would care for you. Oh, I got it! 'Aizen doesn't wish you to die, so detain from doing so'"

"I will leave the food here; if you had not eaten it by the time I come back I will force you. Aizen does not wish for your death, so you are to stay alive." Ulquiorra walked away without making any sound. When she was left alone she allowed herself to finally acknowledge the voice as a reality.

"Stop laughing!" Her head was about to explode as the voice got louder and louder by the second and the laughter seemed to echo from everywhere and turn into thousands of different voices, all laughing at her. The laughter stopped suddenly and Orihime felt that the owner of the voice grinned like a fox. A picture of Gin popped into her mind. Could it really be that fox-faced bastard? The voice didn't voice didn't sound familiar at all, but it didn't sound even nearly human. It was too deep to be coming from any human throat, but Inoue Orihime knew that there were voice synthesizers that could change someone's voice like that.

"So, you finally admit that you hear me. No, I am not this Gin. I am something very different. Now when both of us know we can hear each other let me ask you: What are you prepared to do in order to get out of here?"

To get out… She thought about everything she had gone through in this place. She thought about Ulquiorra's threats, Aizen's aura of hypnotic evil and Grimmjow's acts of violence right in front of her eyes and the fact that she made it possible for him to continue being an espada. Now the cause for the worst experience she had in here was asking her what she would do to get away.

"Oh, no, let me rephrase that: What are you prepared to do for all of this not to ever happen, for it all to be avoided? Does that sound any better?"

For all this to never happen… For my friends… I would do anything. "What do you mean? Are you saying that you can do that? What exactly are you?" A rumbling chuckle rumbled all around her and it felt like the world was shaking. She feared that she would pass out from the force and sense closeness of the inhuman voice.

"My, my, so many questions, you answer my question and I'll answer yours. How far would you go? How deep would you sink into darkness for them?"

"Yes, I would do anything! I would go through anything to stop this from ever happening."

"That's good to hear. Now what you will have to do first is to draw runes on either side of the door according to my orders. Can you do that?"

"Y- Yes. But… There's nothing I can use to draw them."

"Stupid girl, you're supposed to use your own blood. I guess I should have mentioned that a little earlier. Bite your finger or cut it with something. You don't have to worry; I chose the path that is most likely to succeed. Now get up and get to it. You do not have to know why, just do it. We do not have time to spare for that."

I really hope she has finished eating by now, Ulquiorra thought while walking back towards Inoue Orihime's room. If I were to be force-feed her she could break. Humans are so… Ulquiorra stopped while searching for the right word to describe Inoue Orihime.

Soft, yes, they are too soft when compared to us Arrancar. Ulquiorra continued walking, but he didn't stop thinking about how soft Inoue Orihime was. The temptation to touch her skin had become almost irresistible in these last few days. He had this vague feeling like something was whispering things in his ear when he was around Inoue Orihime. Sometimes he felt like his thoughts were really not his own, but someone else's. He was confused for the first time during his short life. What the hell was going on in his head?

He rounded a corner and almost ran into Halibel. He stopped right before he would have collided with her, but she seemed to be deep in thought and was knocked back when she collided with Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra had concluded that most of her willpower must have gone into keeping that little jacket of her in place. Now he started to think if it was glued in place as it didn't move an inch when she fell. He noticed that it was hard for him to get his eyes off of her breasts, still bouncing from the collision. What the hell was going on inside his head? Was that laughter he heard?

"You were careless." Ulquiorra pointed out. Halibel shot him with a glare promising a slow and extremely painful death. Ulquiorra offered a hand down to Halibel. "Can you get up?" The murderous look in her eyes melted away and Halibel looked at the offered hand in surprise. Halibel grabbed his hand and allowed Ulquiorra to pull her up. They ended up very close to each other. Ulquiorra saw Halibel turn her eyes away and noticed that her hand was sweaty. He couldn't tell if she was blushing or not because of the high collar of her mini-jacket. Now he was sure that he heard laughter. He let go of Halibel's hand and stepped back.

"Did you hear something?" Now when he stopped and tried to place the laughter he couldn't hear it anymore. Maybe he just imagined it after all. He did hear the laughter whenever he had those foreign kinds of thoughts. He just might be going crazy. "Forget it, sorry." Ulquiorra started running towards Inoue Orihime's room. He did not know why, but he had a feeling he had to hurry, that she was in some kind of danger. Aizen entrusted her in his care and he had to tend to her. Yes, that's what this feeling is, this smothering pressure in my chest. Obedience, nothing more…

"That Ulquiorra character has surprisingly sharp instincts. I think he actually sensed my presence a second ago. He'll be here in a minute. Does he always give you this much time to eat?"

"Yes…" Where was it going with this? She usually was a very trusting person, but now she had spent a month surrounded by people that kept on conspiring around her, playing with her. She was bound to be a little suspicious.

"That's real nice of him. Ulquiorra can't hear me like you can, but I was able to make him hurry." Inoue Orihime was still unable to place the voice, but now when it had stopped bullying her it didn't sound as inhuman anymore. Still you couldn't even think it was coming from a human, but the cruelty and the sickening presence were gone. "Hmm… It seems like you have questions, go ahead and ask me. Or could you just wait a second. We don't want to make him suspicious."

"Wait! What's going to happen to him? What are those runes going to do?" The presence she felt when the voice was near vanished altogether when the door swung open and Ulquiorra appeared in the doorway. The runes on either side of the door started glowing crimson red. The trap was set. Some of the excess blood that had dripped on the floor when she hesitated while drawing the runes moved up the wall and formed three words: "No Second Thoughts."

"What have you done?" Ulquiorra's eyes darted on the floor around her and he took both of his hands out of his pockets. Orihime looked at the floor around her and saw that there was blood on her dress and on the floor around her. The steak knife she used to cut her finger was set on her left side and her right hand was covered in blood. Ulquiorra moved his right leg towards her and almost crossed the threshold, but hesitated at the last minute. His eyes were fixed on the floor just at the side of the doorway. He had noticed the crimson glow. His analytic mind made a inventory of the things provided inside Inoue Orihime's room and he realized that there was nothing in there that could produce such a glow. Her power had a warm yellow glow, so the glow had to be from someone else or some kind of magic she can use, but what they had failed to record. Either way: It was a trap.

"What have you done?" Ulquiorra repeated, but with a threatening tone. Now Inoue Orihime realized what the voice had meant with those three written words. If this failed now, there would be no going back. She would be the one to suffer and whoever the voice was would stay unscathed. She might have figured it out, but there seemed to be nothing she could do now. She looked up to Ulquiorra's murderous eyes and felt utterly defeated. He could just blast a hole in the wall and avoid the runes. She noticed that movement on the corner of her eyes and saw how the words written with her blood reformed to form one word.

"FAINT"

Fine, probably the only thing she could do now anyways: Orihime didn't even have act much. Ulquiorra's stare felt like it was smothering her and she felt dizzy already. She let her legs bugle under her and felt how the floor rushed up towards her. She must have been a little anemic from losing that much blood while writing and rewriting the runes. She heard Ulquiorra take a hurried step forward.

The runes activated instantly and the whole room was filled with the crimson light for a split-second. Orihime turned her head towards the doorway fearing what she might see. What had those runes done to Ulquiorra? During the two seconds it took for her to turn her head towards the doorway she imagined dozens of different ways the runes might have killed Ulquiorra. Still she wasn't able to even get close to what she really saw.

Ulquiorra wasn't dead, actually he was still standing in the doorway, but still you could tell that the runes had done something to him. First of all his black hair had turned completely white and was standing up like he had been electrocuted. His eyes shone with the crimson light that had been in the runes just a minute ago. Ulquiorra had to support himself on the doorframe and Orihime noticed that long black claws grew out of the tips of his fingers and sunk into the stone doorframe easily. Ulquiorra took a long breath in and then smiled while exhaling slowly.

This wasn't Ulquiorra, couldn't be. Even if he did smile sometime, somewhere, now he didn't have any reason to do so. And Orihime couldn't imagine Ulquiorra smiling at all anyways.

"Does this answer your question? He knew that there was a trap and still he took a step forward when you collapsed. He was really living in denial…" The voice Orihime had been hearing for the past couple of days now chuckled using Ulquiorra's body. "Sorry, I really shouldn't laugh. It just feels so good to be in a body again. Ulquiorra was not actually evil, just extremely loyal, to Aizen, and possibly to you as well." Ulquiorra's body walked over to her like a puppet supported by strings, a marionette doll. Orihime had always thought that the way those dolls moved was creepy. Seeing Ulquiorra's body desecrated like this made her feel terrible about what she was doing. She flinched away from the clawed hand reaching down to her.

"I see… Let me explain something to you that you obviously failed to understand. I am offering to make it so that any of this never happened: Aizen doesn't kidnap you, Your friends never see the need to come to save you, Ulquiorra or Grimmjow don't hurt your friends… Do you understand now?"

There could have just been a huge question mark flashing above her head. He sighed and forced her on her feet. He grabbed her by the shoulders, but was careful not to pierce her skin with his claws, and waited for her to look him in the eyes. When she eventually did he spoke in a clear and calm tone.

"This would never happen. You would not be here, Ulquiorra would not be here, this would not happen to him. Now that you understand, we really have to go." Orihime was dragged out of the door of her cell and her feet barely even touched the floor when the possessed body of Ulquiorra rushed through the corridors and made sharp turns that made her flail around in his grip like a ragdoll. When he finally stopped and let go of her she collapsed against a wall and tried to stop the world from spinning. When she finally felt like the world had stopped swaying like a ship in a storm she turned to the being that had possessed Ulquiorra's body.

"Halibel, stand aside" Ulquiorra sounded and looked like Ulquiorra again. His hair was back to the usual black and his eyes were also as green as ever. He was standing there casually with his hands halfway in his pockets. What had happened while she was dazed out? Did the runes lose effect or was the transformation only temporary? What exactly was going on?

"What exactly are you doing with the little princess, Ulquiorra?" Orihime noticed Halibel standing in front of them in the hallway. Her eyes didn't leave Ulquiorra one second, but she nodded her head towards Orihime. Was she suspecting that Ulquiorra wasn't Ulquiorra?

"Of course she knows Ulquiorra is not Ulquiorra anymore! The reason I was in such hurry is because they were bound to notice the change in Ulquiorra's reiatsu. The only reason she is not attacking because she doesn't know what she's up against. I would appreciate it if you would use that little shield of yours if I happen to miss on my first attack." Orihime heard the words echo all around her and it didn't look like Halibel heard him, so he must have been talking into her mind.

Wait, why wasn't she even mildly shocked or surprised by that? Some body-snatching, fiery-eyed thing was speaking into her mind and she was not shocked or even slightly surprised?

"We needed cheese" Ulquiorra said in his usual calm voice. It took a couple of seconds for Halibel's mind to accept that she did hear Ulquiorra say something like that. Halibel was now almost absolutely sure it wasn't Ulquiorra, but even hearing someone who only looked like Ulquiorra say something like that was ridiculous.

"You needed cheese… So you decided to take the captive with you to the kitchens instead of just sending someone to get it?" Halibel hunched down onto a battle stance and inched her hand towards her katana.

Ulquiorra simply nodded before disappearing into thin air. There was no sound of movement like with Sonido or did he jump up like with shunpo. He simply disappeared into thin air. Halibel's eyes widened from shock when she heard the sound of a sword being drawn from behind her. She spun around and reached for her sword. Her hand closed around thin air. She saw a fiery eyed being with white hair standing behind her with a wide grin on its face. It had her katana in its right hand and a clawed left hand reached out towards her.

"You lose" The claws suddenly shot out and impaled her chest. Halibel couldn't believe that she had been unable to dodge an attack like that, even with the fact that it had waited for her to turn around before striking with those claws. No, wait, the claws had not been able to impale her like she originally thought. If this thing would have decided to try and impale her stomach or head she would most probably be dead, but it had went for her chest and couldn't reach any vital organs. Halibel gave a silent thank you for Lord Aizen's perverted mind for making her so busty.

"Uhm… Is she going to be alright?" Orihime took a step towards Halibel. The front of her jacket was dyed red from her blood. Both Halibel and the possessed body of Ulquiorra turned to look at her in surprise. Orihime had not heard of a female Arrancar, so for her it looked like a woman with a sword getting attacked by the monster that had kidnapped her from her kidnappers. Halibel suddenly staggered against a wall from the crushing cold spreading out from the wounds on her chest.

"Cheh… She's an Arrancar, like she would die from something like that… Instantly, that is…" He kept on cutting the overgrown claws his left hand with Halibel's sword. He had to saw them off slowly and it looked like Halibel's sword was getting duller and duller while the claws refused to break. "Damn… I made them too strong… Oh, who cares! Come on, princess. Let's go." The fiery eyed thing dropped Halibel's katana down on the ground and then slashed it to pieces with the claws on his left hand. He turned around and kept on walking to the direction where they were going before moving like a puppet controlled by strings. Orihime didn't follow after it and it spun back around when noticing it.

"What now?" It asked in a extremely irritated tone.

"She is not going to die, is she?" Halibel and the monster inhabiting Ulquiorra's body both growled at Orihime. She flinched back and wondered what she had done to agitate them like this. She didn't want anyone to die because of her.

"Oh, for heaven's sake! She's not even human! Why would you care? She is an Arrancar, a freaking soul-eating hollow! One of those monsters that ate your brother and caused him to become one of them! Are you seriously going to tell me you do not want to see her suffer just as much your brother did?"

Orihime looked up in surprise. How could it know about her brother? She had not told anyone about that incident. She was still dealing with it herself. Having your own brother trying to kill you did leave behind a certain amount of damage, no matter how cheery you looked on the outside, the scar still remained. It felt like a wound in her chest that hadn't closed up was torn open yet again.

Still she didn't take a step towards him.

"Cheh… You're such a fucking saint…" Ulquiorra's body flew over to Halibel's body lying on the ground without its feet hitting the floor even once. It was clear that it was really controlled like a marionette doll instead of a possession of body. The overgrown claws struck out and ripped open the front of Halibel's jacket.

"Umm… Nice. Without that mask on your face you would be the hottest thing in here." Ulquiorra's body suddenly hunched right over Halibel like the strings supporting it had been cut. Halibel could feel the fire in the thing's eyes burning her skin. She tried to move, to kill it, to hurt it, to stop it, but the poison running inside her made it impossible to move and her vision was already getting blurry. If this thing was intending on doing something to her, she couldn't stop it. She was totally helpless.

"What are you doing?! Stop that!" Orihime noticed with a quite of a shock that she was pulling Ulquiorra's body away from Halibel. The burning-red eyes turned to look at her and she took a step back. Still, she had found the courage to stand up to this thing and decided to ride on that feeling as long as possible.

"What the hell are you?! You say that you have the power to reverse time or something, but I'm not going to believe that from someone who intends to rape the woman he just stabbed in the chest!" She screamed right in its ear.

She was breathing hard and her hands were clenched into fists by her sides. She felt good after letting out some of the frustration gathered up inside her. She looked back up into its flaming-red eyes.

All of her resolve melted away when she felt the inhuman rage in those eyes. Squirmy looking runes flashed for a second in the air between them and Orihime was slammed against a wall with a tremendous weight pinning her down. She was going to die now. She just knew it. She could see how painful her death would be from those eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks when she realized she would not see her friends ever again. She was going to be killed by this emotionless monster in a world where no one would save her.

"Rape?"

This thing was going to kill her. It was going to… Wait… What did it just say?

"Do you really think I'm low enough to do something like that?"

What the… So did he get all worked up because I thought he was going to rape that woman? It's just not going to kill me because I stopped him? He's actually offended because I thought he was capable of rape? Still, the reaction was too violent for him to be any knight in shining armor, but Orihime noticed that she didn't think of him as "it" anymore. She realized that it had already proven numerous times it could hear her thoughts and she had regarded him as "it" for the whole time.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please let me go, I can't breathe!" Orihime fell to her knees when the pressure weighing her down was suddenly lifted and she could breathe again. She wasn't sure if she feared him less or even more after this. The fact that he got offended from her accusation meant that he had some moral standards, but his reaction on the other hand told that he had a dangerous temper.

"I understand that my means of healing this woman could have been seen as something… harmful to her. You can heal her on your own if it is your wish. Although the gesture is noble and admirable in any way, you should remember that this will never happen. In the means I intend to stop all of this from ever being."

Orihime walked over to Halibel's side without even stopping to consider his words. All she knew was that the horrible wounds on Halibel's chest were killing her and she didn't want anyone to die for her.

"Souten keshun! I reject!" The yellow field stretched out around Halibel's body and the red poison spreading out from the wounds started to retreat instantly. While Orihime healed Halibel Halibel's attacker was trying to cut the claws on his left hand with the smaller ones on his right hand. Orihime tried to rush the healing process as much as possible, but the silence was getting awkward for someone as talkative as her.

"So… Uhm…" She tried to find something to say. What could she talk about in the situation they were in? She didn't even know his name. Oh yeah…

"What's your name? You never did tell me that. You promised, remember?" He had promised earlier to answer her questions if she answered his. He never came around to telling her anything. She heard a scraping sound when something hard sliding against something hard. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he had stop trying to cut his fingernails. Actually, it looked like he had stopped moving all together.

"Oh, are you sure you want to know my name? Uh… Isn't it more important to know what I am before that? Something, anything else…"

"No, you should always introduce yourself before anything else. I was raised like that." Orihime looked over her shoulder again and saw how the light of his eyes fluttered like a dying flame. What was wrong with him? She turned back to healing Halibel.

"It is… My name…" He looked at Orihime with a scary looking expression on his face. "My name is Bezanthume…" For a moment Orihime felt that inhuman rage exploding out of him, but when she turned her head towards him it was gone again. She must have been imagining things. She did think he was intimidating and turning her back to him made her feel uncomfortable. Especially after seeing what those claws he was playing with right behind her back could do to an Arrancar.

"Bezanthume… It sounds… Nice. Exotic." He seemed to be sensitive about his name so Orihime was careful not to say any of her usual comments. Her life seemed to have no value here. All they cared about where her powers.

"You're getting depressed…"

"No, Im not depressed! Really! I'm finally getting out of here. What do I have to be depressed about?"

"You are getting depressed about the idea that your powers are what all these bad people care about and that is what is bound to get your friends in trouble. You know that they will come for you the second they know where you are and you also know that there are people here with enough power to kill them. As I said earlier: You're such a fucking saint. Now, when that is said let me ask you something: Do you actually think you are the only one being held captive here? I am in the same situation as you, but I just don't happen to have anyone to come after me. Sorry, but I have to use you and your powers for a really selfish reason. No one will know if I am locked here for all eternity. No one will ever know. No one can hear me screaming when they research me…"

He suddenly fell quiet. It was so sudden that it seemed like someone turned a switch and cut the power to his mouth. Bezanthume stood a little straighter than before and he had both of his legs on the ground. He suddenly looked like a human instead of a marionette.

"Sorry. That doesn't help you get over your depression at all, does it? My sad little story is irrelevant… You should stop healing Halibel now if you don't want her to snap your neck by the way. Szayel Apollo Grantz can heal her from there if they still wish for her to live." Inoue heard how he walked over to her and then stopped right behind her to judge Halibel's injuries. Orihime appreciated the fact that he was now walking like a normal human being instead of flaying around like a marionette.

"We have to go now." Bezanthume stated in a threatening tone. Reluctantly Orihime left Halibel lying there with those wounds still on her chest. She had been able to reject the poison spreading inside her body, but the wounds alone were enough to keep her out of commission. She had lost so much blood.

Bezanthume started walking with the claws on his left hand dragging behind him. Orihime followed after him, on his right side. She wanted to keep a distance between her and those claws. They walked in silence for a while and the hurry Bezanthume seemed to be in earlier seemed to be forgotten. He walked according to her step, even though he was the one leading. Orihime tested this theory by speeding up in to a run suddenly. Bezanthume didn't try to catch her or accuse her of trying to run away. He was still able to stay ahead of her. Orihime didn't feel like asking for a break even though her feet started aching after an hour of walking. Where were they going? Where was he taking her? They seemed to be going deeper and deeper into Las Noches.

"Uhm… Where are we going?" Orihime asked when the surrounding stone suddenly turned into black stone instead of the white stone the whole of Las Noches seemed to be made out of.

"Simply put: To my body." The glow of Bezanthume's eyes had been getting brighter and brighter and now it was enough to light their way. Torches had stopped being on the walls when the stone turned black. Now Orihime remembered Bezanthume's earlier words. How deep would you sink into darkness for them? Did he mean this journey into the depths of Las Noches's dark heart?

Orihime didn't ask any more questions.

"Wait…" Bezanthume stopped and raised his right hand to signal her to stop. Bezanthume was standing completely still and was moving his head to one side to another. Orihime thought that it looked like he was trying to place a sound he had heard. Orihime's hands rose up to her temples. She had also started to feel something ominous in the air; a presence.

"At the end of this path there is a door. I am beyond that door. You are to walk the remainder of this path alone."

"Waah!! No, there's no way! That's just way too scary for me. What if there are monsters down there? I feel something really ominous lurking around here…" Suddenly, Orihime couldn't get a word out of her mouth.

Bezanthume had turned around to face the direction they came from and the light from his eyes lit up the path behind them and two shadows stretched out into the darkness.

"Foolish girl… It's not the monsters ahead you have to worry about. It would be easier for me to stay here and hold them off while you continue on."

"Oii! Ya hear that? He's sayin' we're the monsters. That's rich." Gin said to the person standing next to him. The crimson light made him look even more like a snake than he normally did.

"Hmph!" Grimmjow answered while drawing his zanpakatou. Bezanthume let out low chuckle and flexed his left hand.

"You're no fun, Grimmjow. I would have liked to have an intelligent conversation with someone for a change and you decide to dice him up right away. That's not fun at all." He didn't follow Grimmjow's example.

"Go already!" Bezanthume screamed into Orihime's mind. Orihime staggered back into the darkness behind Bezanthume's back, out of the area lit by his eyes. Why wouldn't there be any torches in here? It didn't make any sense. No one would be able to walk around without stumbling.

"Grind, Panthera!" Orihime was suddenly knocked back and would have fallen right on her face if there wouldn't have been something extending out of the wall.

"Well, aren't you a cute little kitten, but do you actually think that turning into a cat is going to help you the least bit? I'm going to kill you like anything else no matter what you look like." Bezanthume closed his eyes and complete and utter darkness surrounded them. Orihime heard swords clashing and Grimmjow growling and screaming insults. She also heard the sound of Bezanthume's claws piercing flesh and bone several times. She still remembered the sound his claws made when they penetrated Halibel's chest. The wet grunching sound it made when the claws cut through an Arrancar's thick skin and the bones underneath.

"You… You… You bastard!" Grimmjow growled. Bezanthume opened his eyes again and the hallway was bathed in crimson light again. Grimmjow was standing up shakily and was soaked in his own blood. There were several deep gashes in his chest and hands. The luminescent veins signaling the spreading poison were covering his entire body. Bezanthume appeared right in front of him and Grimmjow's shadow stretched out into the darkness. Bezanthume watched Grimmjow struggling to stay on his feet for a second before turning to Gin.

"Are you stupid enough to attack me while I am in my own domain? These black walls work almost like Tousen's bankai. While I keep my eyes closed you are engulfed in complete sensory deprivation while I feel through the stone and cut you to tiny shreds without you knowing it." Bezanthume pointed one finger out towards Gin and it grew until it was inches away from his eye. Gin didn't move an inch away from it. The smile that had seemed to be painted on his face was gone and replaced by a serious scowl. The only real difference to his usual expression was that his smile was turned upside down.

"And you have probably noticed that I can control the shape and texture of this stone as I wish. Keep your zanpakatou sheathed and I'll let you live. I think that she doesn't want me to kill anyone." Bezanthume turned around and started walking towards Orihime.

"Ya really are a demon, huh?" Gin said in a even tone. Bezanthume didn't even flinch, but the fact that Gin was swallowed up to his neck inside the floor instantly after he said that gave away his reaction. He reached Orihime and offered his right hand to lift her up. Orihime just stared at him in horror. A demon! Now that she thought about it, it was really incredible that she didn't figure it out earlier: Bezanthume had possessed a body, been inside her head, had fiery-red eyes and a rumbling inhuman voice.

"She really didn't have to know that, you know. Yes, I am a demon, a scary, deal making, evil, blood-thirsty demon… I probably should have said that in some other way, but well… The thing is that it doesn't matter what I am. And you already know I'm a demon and you know that demons make deals. I have made a deal with you and I'm going to fulfill it and since you know my name you can regrettably… Never mind that. Let's go, princess." He grabbed Orihime's shoulder and started dragging her along the corridor made out of black stone. A black stone he had said was his domain… Orihime was confused.

"What was that about your name and the deal?" Orihime asked, totally rejecting reality for the moment.

"Shut up! You don't need to know that." He shut his eyes and left her in complete darkness. She had to trust him not to walk into a hole on the ground or some kind of trap.

"Open your eyes! Open your eyes! Walking with your eyes closed in a fortress run by hollows is a very bad idea!" Orihime frantically kicked and hit him while clinging on to him tighter. Bezanthume opened his eyes and she was bathed in crimson light again. She looked up to Bezanthume's face with her annoyed face and noticed Ulquiorra's tear tattoos coming down from his eyes. She had actually forgotten that Bezanthume was only possessing Ulquiorra's body.

"You said we were going to your body, your real body…" Orihime asked in a timid voice.

"Yes, I did and we still are… Well, it's not exactly my body, but… It's complicated."

"Do you want me to heal you then? In return for you making this all go away?"Orihime asked. That seemed like the only thing possible.

"No, I want you to set me free" Bezanthume answered.

"Oh… I'll do my best then… But…" Orihime glanced over to the teardrop tattoos under his eyes and then turned her eyes away. Ulquiorra had been nice to her in the end. The reason he actually got possessed was that he was worried about her…

"Are you seriously still thinking about that? Why can you not comprehend that if I do as you wish, he will never even exist? I stop Aizen from getting the thing-a-la-foozit from inside Rukia and he can't make even a single Arrancar. None of your friends end up being sliced up or do they come after you and get killed while doing it."

"Uhm… The thing-a-la-foozit?" Orihime asked

"That mystical little black thing Aizen carries around!" Bezanthume yelled and the black walls around them rumbled and formed into new shapes like they were made of liquid. Orihime was too scared to thing so she couldn't stop herself from saying what she thought.

"Do you mean Tousen?" She regretted it the moment she said it and she regretted it even more when the walls shout out towards her and formed thousands of little blades and forced her to stay completely still if she didn't want to rip herself to shreds.

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY THAT STUPID?! OF COURSE I DO NOT MEAN TOUSEN, YOU STUPID BITCH! I MEAN THE BLACK LITTLE ORB HE SHOWED TO YOU! HE USES THAT TO MAKE THE ARRANCAR!" The black stone swirled around him and formed into the shape of something like wings behind him; huge bat-like wings reaching out into the darkness surrounding them. The stone immediately swirled into some other form just as frightening to her. Snakes, lizards, rabid dogs, knives covered in blood, the face of her hollow-brother. And most important of all: The contorted bodies of all of her friends lying in pools of their own blood covered and consumed by the other.

"Your friends are important to you aren't they? Well, if you do not want that to happen to them in the near future, you better do as I say!" The blades that had kept her in place flowed off her body as harmless as water. The moment she was able to move she collapsed to the ground. The crimson red light from Bezanthume's eyes made the images of her friends' dead bodies seem like reality. No matter how much she tried to fight them, the tears still came. She cried while Bezanthume watched with inhuman hatred flowing from his eyes. Cold and determined hatred towards everything and everyone paired with the power to kill and destroy everything and everyone.

"Get up." Bezanthume said with his voice promising a slow and painful death if she didn't listen. Orihime's sense of self preservation made her get up on shaky legs. She still kept on crying and the tears rolling down her cheeks looked like blood in the light of Bezanthume's deep red eyes.

"Follow me. It's not that far now." Bezanthume turned around and started walking without even checking if she followed. Orihime stumbled after him. There was no turning back for her anymore. She didn't keep count of the time they walked, but by the time they finally arrived to the end of the hallway her tears had run out and she followed him like a doll. Step after step. Only thinking about what she could stop from happening.

"We're here. Now open the door."

"What? Me? How am I supposed to that?"

"Use that pompous little fairy on your head, the one that can cut anything. Tsubaki, or whatever his name is."

"Oh! Tsubaki, could you come out?" Her hairpins started glowing and six flying little fairies popped out and circled around her head.

"Stop this! You cannot trust him! He's a demon!" They all yelled in unison while flying around her head. They were screaming so close to her ears that Orihime was temporarily deaf in her right ear.

"Eh?!" She asked while the fairies formed the Santen Kesshun between Bezanthume and her. Bezanthume didn't make a move towards her and seemed indifferent about it all. She suddenly acknowledged that someone was pulling her hair and one of the fairies was screaming in her right ear.

"Damn it, woman!" Tsubaki, it was definitely Tsubaki. "Do you actually think I'm going to help a demon get free? There has to be a reason he was locked up in the first place!" Tsubaki hit her in the head repeatedly with his small fists.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop it! Stop it! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Ow!" Orihime screamed frantically, while running around with Tsubaki hitting her constantly.

"I have had enough of this little comedy show!" The black walls turned to liquid again and jumped out towards Tsubaki and the other fairies flying around Orihime's head and the three who were sustaining the shield. Bezanthume sighed and walked over to Orihime.

"You have control over these little things, not the other way around." Bezanthume's voice was threatingly cold. The light from his eyes made Orihime feel like she was totally worthless, not fit to live, only good to do the bidding of others and weigh her friends down. She was just a –

"Don't fall into the spell Orihime-san!" Ayame screamed frantically. She was clenched tighter by the fist made out of the black stone and started whimpering in pain. Orihime closed her eyes and the sense of inferiority melted away instantly. Bezanthume hissed at Ayame.

"What are you doing?! I already agreed to let you out, so there's no need for this! Stop it! Just please stop it and do as I tell you!" She couldn't really see with her eyes closed, but she thought that the light changed somehow. She was too afraid to open her eyes. She was just going to be trapped by the light of Bezanthume's eyes again.

"It's okay, woman, you can open your eyes now. I doubt if you're going to believe this any other way." Tsubaki's voice sounded surprised. Orihime opened her eyes and saw… white, white all around. She seemed to be floating in white light with her fairies around her. Bezanthume was nowhere to be seen. What the hell happened?

"Hey, look, a door!" Shun'ou shouted. With his high pitched voice it seemed like he was saying it louder than he actually intended. It had been weird for him to stay quiet this long. He was usually the talkative one.

He was right, there was a door. A door made out of white luminescent wood with a doorknob made out of shining silver. What did the door look like before? She couldn't remember, but she couldn't think of breaking this door with Tsubaki. Somehow it looked beautiful in its white glory. Like a simple wedding dress always looks beautiful for anyone but the one paying for it.

Orihime had to wonder why she compared a door to a wedding dress. Sure, the door was white and the traditional western wedding dress was white, but that's where the similarities ended. A door couldn't be anything like a wedding dress. Why did her mind keep on insisting that it was somehow like a wedding dress? Was it symbolic or something?

Her brain hurt.

"Hey, what happened to all the black stuff on the walls?" Shun'ou asked. He was immediately hit over the head by Tsubaki.

"The walls were the black stuff, you idiot! The demon was able to control the rock the walls were made out of! But… Where did the black stuff go?" Tsubaki was kicked in the jaw by Shun'ou immediately after he stopped talking.

"That was my point, you alcoholic bastard!" Shun'ou yelled after Tsubaki with a microscopic vein popping out of his small forehead. Tsubaki floated for a while, thinking about what just happened. When his stunned mind caught up, he immediately flew over to Shun'ou, grabbed his leg and pounded him repeatedly against the only solid object in the mysterious white space they were in, the luminescent white door.

"What did you say, you blonde haired faggot?!" Tsubaki kept on hitting Shun'ou's body against the door until Lily flew in and forced them apart. She kicked Tsubaki square in the balls to immobilize him and then flew over to Shun'ou to see if he was alright.

"What is going on with you guys?" Orihime asked and grabbed Tsubaki before he could charge at Lily. He obviously didn't like that and fought back like a rabid raccoon, but Orihime ignored it and made sure to keep him far away from her face.

"Let me go, you airheaded bitch!"

"Nah, don't worry about it, Orihime-san. They're always like this. Shun'ou just needs a couple of minutes and he'll be just fine." Lily said while pushing Shun'ou to float towards Ayame. Ayame was searching her kimono for something. Everything seemed routine to them. What exactly did go on inside her head when they were in there? Did they have a house where they lived or something? Maybe Ayame was the motherly and the one that did the laundry and Lily was the one who disciplined Shun'ou and Tsubaki for fighting, along with the other three…

"She's spacing out again, isn't she? See how her mouth is gaping open?" Lily asked Ayame. Ayame was administering green liquid from a bottle she pulled out of her kimono into Shun'ou's mouth. She dropped three drops down Shun'ou's mouth and then hid the bottle back into her kimono. Shun'ou jumped up and coughed up three gallons of blood. The sight was either extremely grotesque or extremely funny, since he was the size Barbie doll.

"I thought I told you to stop dropping sulfuric acid down my throat, Ayame!" He yelled in a raspy voice. The sulfuric acid had burnt his vocal cords a little. He was a little pale as well.

"It's the fastest way to wake you up when you're drunk or when Tsubaki had beaten you up. And it's fucking hilarious to see you clean up the mess you make every single time. Deal with it, Blondie." Ayame shot a murderously cold look towards Shun'ou and he tried to counter it with his own, but Ayame won inevitably. She always did. Shun'ou had no idea if he loved her or hated her, but if he was forced to decide now he would definitely say that he hated her. There was one screwed up bitch.

"Hey! Woman! Shouldn't you open that door already? It seems to be the only way out of here. But I can't actually see that much, SINCE YOU ARE SQUUESING THE LIFE OUT OF ME, WOMAN!" Tsubaki bit Orihime's hand to snap her out of her own little world. It worked, but it also made Orihime slam Tsubaki against the floor and step on him a couple of times.

"Damn you… Woman…"

"I'm so sorry, Tsubaki-kun! I was just so freaked out because I thought a rabid raccoon was biting my hand." The rest of the fairies all glanced at each other and wondered was Tsubaki anything like a rabid raccoon. They burst out into laughter seconds later. Orihime looked at them with an extremely confused look on her face. She decided that she didn't actually want to know. Her fairies had been acting weird for the past couple of minutes. She walked over to the door ad placed her hand on the doorknob.

Password/name/rite of passage/signature/spell/curse/enchantment

Orihime let go of the silver doorknob and jumped back from the door. What the hell was that? It felt like electricity running up and down her spine. Did the door just speak to her? Was that even real? No, it couldn't have been.

"What happened, Orihime-san?" Ayame asked while watching Shun'ou clean up the blood he had coughed up earlier. She was giggling constantly, but showed a serious face when she turned to Orihime.

"I think the door just spoke to me…" Orihime said and pointed towards the door.

"What did it say?" Lily asked, looking and sounding only slightly curious.

"It was saying something about a password… Wait! Doors are not supposed to talk!" Orihime shouted at Lily and Ayame. Everything was so wrong, so very wrong.

"And hairpins are not supposed to turn into six little talking fairies" Tsubaki replied sarcastically with a slightly more high pitched voice than usual. He shot one murderous glare after another towards Lily and she was sure to ignore each and every one.

Orihime sighed and sat down on the ground. She needed time to think and try and find out what exactly was going on. Somehow she had been trapped in this white space with only one other thing: A white wooden door that spoke to her. It seemed that the door was the only way to get out. Right, she knew that much, but why she was here and who put her in here was still undecided. The door spoke of a password and Orihime didn't have the slightest idea if she knew it or not. She could be trapped here forever.

It must have been either Bezanthume or Aizen. The two of them were the only people Orihime could think of that would be able to do something like this. Aizen's motives for trapping her in a white, blank space were obvious, but what about Bezanthume? He kidnapped her from her kidnappers to take her to his body and for her to set him free somehow. Right before Orihime was trapped in here Bezanthume told her to break the door with Tsubaki. Should she try that? Bezanthume was talking about a whole other door for her to break down, the door to his body. Oh, screw it!

"Tsubaki, could you break the door" Orihime ordered. She drew her knees close to her chest and covered her face with her hands. The door could explode for all she knew. Tsubaki only glanced at her for confirmation before charging at the door. He had a lot of pent up aggression to vent out on something, could as well be the door.

Tsubaki collected his energy around him and then concentrated it on his wings to make a cutting edge. Right before impact there was a flash of brilliant white light and Tsubaki suddenly realized he was lying face down on the pool of blood Shun'ou coughed up earlier, gagged and bound tightly. Dozens of different ways of cursing his damned luck flashed in his mind, along with the huge "WTF?!" in the forefront of his mind.

"What the fuck?!" Lily exclaimed.

"What the fuck?!" Ayame exclaimed.

"What the – " Shun'ou tried to exclaim before nearly coughing out his left lung. Having sulfuric acid poured down his throat always gave him a hell of a cough. He really, really hated Ayame right now.

"What in god's name?" Orihime exclaimed. Her eyes darted between the door and Tsubaki while she tried to figure out what just happened. Did the door just defend itself? Guess it did… But was it really necessary for it to humiliate Tsubaki? Or did it punish him from trying to break it? But that would be saying that the door could think and make decisions.

Orihime stood up and walked over to the door. She checked every inch of its surface for a dent or a crack, any evidence that Tsubaki's attack had worked. She didn't find any. She hit the door with her fist. No reaction, nor was there even a mark on the door. She grabbed the doorknob again. The words travelled up and down her spine like electricity again.

Password/name/rite of passage/signature/spell/curse/enchantment

She didn't let go of the doorknob, but the words only kept repeating themselves. What could the password be? But what was that about a signature or a rite of passage? What was that about a name? Who's name?

Why was Bezanthume so sensitive about his name?

Click

Orihime shook herself out of her thoughts and tried turning the doorknob. The doorknob turned without any sound and the door opened on its own weight when she stepped back. Why didn't she even try opening the door before? She just jumped back without even trying to turn the doorknob. Orihime thought that she really was dense and shrugged it off as that.

The room beyond the door wasn't really different from the white space she was in now. It was all white as well, but you could at least make out the walls and the size of the room. There was something else in the room as well: A pedestal with a crimson red orb resting on something that looked like black silk. Other than that there was nothing else in the room, not even a door or a window. No way out.

"It wasn't even locked? My god; you really are dense… Orihime-san." Ayame said while floating past her head. She sounded condescending.

"Give the girl a break." Lily said and flew after Ayame. At least one of them was on her side. "She has six little fairies living inside her head; it's not like there's any room for any intelligence." Why were the girl fairies so mean to her? Did this say something about her mental state? She felt a weight on her right shoulder. She turned her head to see Shun'ou sitting on her shoulder. He patted the top of her head to signal that he understood her anguish.

"Don't worry. They're like that only because they are expressing your suppressed emotions. They'll return back to normal when we get out of here." He smiled at her warmly and then flew over to Lily and Ayame, who were floating around the crimson orb. Hinagiku and Baigon also flew over to them. They also patted her head while passing her. She appreciated the gesture, but they had been awfully quiet… Where was Tsubaki?

Orihime looked back into the white space and saw Tsubaki lying in the pool of blood, still gagged and bound tightly. Orihime ran over to him and picked her up from the pool of blood by bending over. She didn't want to dirty the dress The Arrancar had made for her. She actually liked it, in a way. She wasn't so thrilled about the position of the fake "Hollow hole". It seemed kind of… suggestive. Orihime pulled out the little gag in Tsubaki's mouth. He took a couple of deep breaths before starting to shout.

"Damn it, woman! What took you so long?! I do not find lying in a pool of blood bound up like a freaking turkey very pleasing!" Several veins popped up in his little forehead and his face was redder than the blood on him. He was still bound tightly and Orihime felt tempted to keep him that way. Was Tsubaki acting out her suppressed rage or was he just genuinely this pissed off? Orihime decided not to answer him and joined the other fairies in gazing at the orb in awe. Tsubaki threatened everyone present with a painful death if someone didn't cut him free. No one paid him any attention. They were mesmerized by the orb.

The orb was the size of a basketball and an ominous crimson red glow emanated from it. It seemed like there was something like a red mist swirling around in the orb and Orihime lost all track of time while looking into the depths of the mysterious orb. She felt a stab of fear run through her when the mist were suddenly disturbed and something like a hand pressed against the orb's surface from the inside. She and all of the fairies around her looking at the orb jolted back and fell down on their asses. Orihime heard her heart race and felt cold sweat forming on her forehead.

"Wha… What…What the hell was that? You guys saw it, right? Right?" She asked her fairies in a raspy voice. Her throat seemed extremely dry right now. The fairies looked up towards the orb with shock written on their faces. She swallowed hard and gathered up the courage to stand up and check if the hand was still there. This was crazy. The hand was larger than her hand. There was no possible way that there could be someone actually trapped in that thing?

She got up to her knees, but hesitated to stand up completely. What if the hand was still pressed against the orb? What was she supposed to do then?

"COULD SOMEONE UNTIE ME ALREADY?!" Tsubaki yelled with all his might while trashing against the ropes he was tied with. The sudden noise caused Orihime to jump up and shriek in terror. The beating of her heart drowned out every other noise and black spots were dancing around her vision. She was hyperventilating. Where is a good paper back when you needed one? Lily hurried to silence Tsubaki by landing on his balls. Ayame untied Tsubaki and he curled in a whimpering ball on the ground.

She had to support herself on the pedestal and she felt the slippery black silk under her hand. The expensive fabric felt comforting in some way. She wrapped some of it around her fist and pulled it to her chest. She held the fabric to her cheek and let out a relieved sigh. The feeling of silk reminded her of home. Not that she actually had anything made out of silk in her closet, but she always had wished she would have. Some day…

"Orihime-san! The orb! The orb!" The fairies all screamed frantically. Orihime opened her eyes lazily and saw the orb rolling towards the edge of the pedestal. She stared at it blankly when it was rolling slowly towards the edge while her mind sluggishly realized what she was actually seeing. She dropped the black silk when her mind caught up to her eyes. Time seemed to slow down when the orb crossed over the edge of the pedestal.

Orihime lunged after the orb as it was falling to the ground. She was almost able to catch it, but her fingers only grazed over the smooth surface of the orb before it hit the ground.

Crack

The red mist exploded out of the orb and surrounded her in suffocating darkness. She opened her mouth to scream…

Orihime woke up tangled in her bed sheets, screaming as loud as she could. She fell off the edge of her bed and hit her head on the floor. Her jaw was clenched shut by the impact and she bit her tongue. Tears welled up in her eyes and the two pains combined made her stop screaming and snap back to reality.

"Ow ow ow ow! That hurt…" She blinked to clear her vision and looked around the room. She saw the ceiling of her apartment. She turned her head and saw a window without bars, the window of her apartment. Sun hit the apartment building across the street and there was a fluffy white cloud in the blue sky.

"What? A dream? Really? All that was a dream?" She untangled herself from her bed sheets and gazed in awe at the everyday things in her apartment. There was her kitchen, her stove, her cattle, her oven mittens, the picture of her brother, her TV, the remote to the TV she thought she had lost and… and…

"It was all a dream! Yay!" She raised her arms in celebration and noticed the smooth and slightly off-white fabric of her sleeves. The right sleeve was drenched with blood.

"These are not my pajamas…" She looked down to her feet and saw white boots stained with blood.

She was still wearing the dress the Arrancar had made for her.

"Shut up… I have a headache…"

That's it! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but it's very late and I feel like it wouldn't seem natural to continue the story any longer. Not for me at least. If you have anything to say about the story at all, let me know by reviewing. I'll take every opinion! Good or bad! I'm actually looking forward for some flames. Oh, yeah, I don't own Bleach by the way.

Crazy Laughter