I didn't say this before but I do not own Vassalord either, though I am only using the name.

Salvation Through Medication

Chapter 3: Cells and Offices

Orihime sat in the middle of her fluffy pink bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms crossed on top of her knees, and her chin resting on her arms. It was dark in her one bedroom apartment. the only light coming into the room was the moon light coming through her window. She looked over at her alarm clock on her bedside table. It read 2:47 AM. She groaned and flopped back onto her pillows. She couldn't get to sleep, she was too excited. She had already counted three flocks of sheep and every post on the white picket fence they were jumping over. She needed to sleep, but how could she? She was just offered the job opportunity of her life. And she took it. So for the past couple of hours she had let her mind roam the possibilities.

'Will I have a new uniform? Will the co-workers be nice? How long will I have for lunch? What kind of patients are there?' Her mind was racing with thoughts, she couldn't concentrate on sleeping. She stared at her white ceiling. Nothing. She groaned again and hopped out of bed, walked to her kitchen and rummaged through her refridgerator for a late night snack. The only things that were occupying the shelves were a bottle of mustard, an apple, fruit juice, and strawberry yogurt. She made a mental note to go to the grocery store after she got her paycheck. She left her kitchen and went into her living room and sat on the lone couch against the wall and turned on the television opposite of the couch. She watched not even five minutes of the medical documentary before she drifted off and fell asleep on the couch.

XXXXXXX

Ulquiorra stared blankly at his cell door. It was pure white, along with the rest of the cell decor, with a small, barred window in the middle. He sat on the edge of the twin sized cot that vacated the west corner of the cell, nothing else was present. From the amount of light coming in from the Skylight he could tell that it was still early morning.

The van slowed to a stop and the door was opened from the outside, two men in dark gray uniforms with what seemed to be tazers, handcuffs, and black cases strapped to utility belts looked into the van to see the newest patient sitting stoically on the bench. Their hats read 'VASSALORD SECURITY' so Ulquiorra determined they were at their appointed location. He guessed that the black cases on their belts had chlorophyll injection needles waiting inside to be put in a resisting psycho's neck. Though he wouldn't dare try to make an escape now, he always thought that, in the scenario of him getting caught, making an attempt to escape would make him look feeble and scared, which he most certainly was not. He stood silently and walked to the edge of the van and stepped out without removing the look of apathy on his face. The two guards walked on either side of him into the gates of the facility. The stark, white building stood five stories high, surrounded by solid brick walls which stood twelve feet high and were two feet thick. there were no trees in the courtyard or land surrounding the building. Just above the iron, and most likely, electric gate was a sign that had the facility name posted in plain, black letters. During the ride here he noticed that there wasnt another building, or car in fact, for miles. All of the windows in the building were barred, with a guard posted every couple of feet apart. Heavy security.

One the guards pulled an I.D. out of his pocket and waved it on front of a black square on the side of the building, an audious click could be heard and the other present guard pushed open the double doors. More white. Though the reception room was rather empty, there were no chairs, tables, or people even, any normal person would feel claustrophobic. He was brought in front of the chest-high counter, the space between the counter and the ceiling was barricaded with plate glass he assumed was a few inches thick. there was a small gap between the counter top and the glass, wide enough to slip papers and small objects through, but nothing else. Cool air seeped through the opening from the portable fan behind the desk. His attention was brought to the woman currently painting her nails behind the glass. She was aging, though she tried to hide it behind layers and layers of bright, caking makeup. She wore hot pink hoop earrings, costume jewelry necklaces, and four rings on each hand, all bright colors with matching rhinestones. Her hair was died fire engine red and her cheap spray tan made her skin orange. Ulquiorra couldn't hear himself think over her obnoxious gum smacking. He was already thinking of ways to horribly mutilate the vile female.

Without looking up from her nails, she spoke. "Name?"

He didn't speak, he never associated with her kind, filth, and he wanted to keep it that way. One of the guards cuffed a firm hand on the back of his neck and squeezed, he bit back the urge to attack the guard and replied with a monotonous tone. "Ulquiorra Schiffer."

The unusual name rolling off his tongue made her glance up from her work, "This man don't look crazy at all. Why's he here?"

One of the guards grumbled something under his breath that sounded something like mind your own business bitch and get back to work, while the other one stayed silent. She looked to the man in question, in return, Ulquiorra looked down at her as if she was a stain on his shirt. She pursed her lips and turned to the computer beside her, scrolling through pages and typing in his name. She frowned when the screen came up blank. "He's not in the database..."

One of the guards cleared his throat before answering, "That's because he's a Category E."

The woman fell silent, no longer chewing her gum, and looked at Ulquiorra again, something unreadable in her eyes. She stood from her chair and dissapeared into a conjoining room. Her reaction made Ulquiorra slightly confused, what was so horrible about Category E? Surely there were people out there in the world who were worse than him. She returned moments later with a file and a small white envelope. She sat down without saying a word and slipped the file and envelope through the slot, one of the guards picking them up. She reached over to the wall beside the computer and pressed a small black button, the doors to the right of the counter opening. He was pushed in the direction of the doors and brought to an elevator. Walking inside, the walls were lined with reflective metal, a guard inserted a key beneath the floor button panel and slid a hidden panel to the side, revealing a secret button, pressing it, the elevator doors closed and began to descend.

And here he was. In his cell. When they had locked him in here, they told him to change into the mandatory clothing that was placed on the cot. He was now donning a slim fitting, white cotton shirt, thin, baggy white sweatpants that were a size too big for him, and a white pair of slip on shoes, what was the popular brand called? Vans? Something like that. He was somewhat relieved, at least he wouldn't have to wear one of those revealing hospital dresses.

His mind wandered back to the file and envelope that was dropped off at another office before they got to his cell. It most definately had his information in it, but he got the vague feeling that there was something else. He decided not to think about it too much.

Also, before they got to his cell, they told him that his nurse will be arriving shortly to take him to his first round of tests. There was no clock in the small room, so he could not tell how much time had passed, but he figured it should be any moment now.

XXXXXXX

"Are you listening, Ms. Inoue?" Charles looked back to the girl standing a few feet behind him, who was staring at the door labeled 'Morgue' down the hall. His voice snapped her back to reality and she quickly turned to look at him.

"Oh! Um... I'm sorry..." She blushed and caught up to him. 'So they buried patients on site? That's not normal.' she thought to herself, frowning. They continued their tour, but she noticed how he didn't take her to the actual rooms of the patients, saying that there was no need since her job was to be in control of only one certain patient. She was never interested in this kind of facility, but now she knew that when she got home, she definately would be doing some digging. They rode the elevator to a floor made specifically for office space. Stepping out she followed him to an empty desk.

"This is yours." he motoined to the table, equipped with computer, phone, and fun, rolling chair. She loved those. "You'll be here when you're not escorting your patient places or running tests." Leaning against the desk, he picked up an envelope. Opening it, he pulled out a plastic card and a small key. Holding up the card for her to see, he said, "Here is the card to get in through the front doors, office space and cafeteria, your patient's cell door, and your permanent I.D. Don't lose it." Handing the card to her, he held up the key. "You'll use this in the elevator. Stick it in above the button panel and slide back the indicated screen, push that button and you'll be able to reach your patients cell."

Orihime's eyes filled with confusion, "He's on a different floor from the others?"

Charles smiled and nodded, "You could say he's a... Special case."

This made her even more cunfused, just who was her patient? Charles handed her the folder, "Now this..." she looked down at the manilla folder in her hands, "This is all the information you'll need on your patient. Ranging from his cell number to his birthday and everything in between."

He stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Congratulations, you are now a full-blooded Vassalord employee." Leaning over her desk to look at a calendar hanging on the wall, he turned back to her, "'s first test is at 3 o'clock, escort him to the testing floor, and don't be late, our doctor is known for being crabby when He's off schedule." He smiled again and walked off, leaving her alone.

Pulling out her cellphone to check the time, she gasped and turned quickly to dash down the hall to the elevator, it was 2:50. Doing as she was told and inserted the key, pressing the button, she leaned against the wall as it began to descend. Finding this the perfect time to skim through his file, she flipped it open and glanced at his information. 'Ulquiorra Schiffer, what a unique name.' She continued reading. 'He's two years older than me, black hair, pale skin, green eyes.' She began to picture him in her mind. She could say that she was actually excited to meet him.

I know it's been I while since I updated this story and I'm sorry. School started this week and this year's going to kick my ass. But I'm happy with the results from the chapters so far and plan to update every time I can.

Okay, I'm going to let you, the readers, help me with something for the upcoming chapter. You see, I need a character that I'm going to have become bff's with Orihime,and they can either be another new nurse or one that had been working longer. I don't want to have too many OC's because this is a Bleach fanfic. They can be anybody from Bleach, a captian, and soul reaper, a human, or espada. One exception, no Rukia. I hate her, and she will never be in my work. Sorry if that offends you. You can either review with your suggestion or PM me, whatever floats your boat.

Ulquihime is going to be the only pairing in this fic, the story is based on them and them alone. No one else is going to fall in love along the way.

Review with your choice of bff and tell me what you thought of this chapter and I'll try to update again within the next two weeks. Adios mi amigos!