No Boundaries

(Gin and Orihime. Author's Note: This story is actually Chapter 14 from The Artificial Sun Also Sets, which is a much larger story all about Aizen and Orihime's relationship. Go check that out from the list of my stories in my profile, if you are interested in knowing more about the background to this story...)

Orihime wept all alone in her barren, white-walled room throughout the night and into the beginning of the next day. As she lay raggedly in her bed, the image of Grimmjow's formless remains flashed in her mind over and over again, forcing her to grab her head in an effort to make them stop. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered up her ears with her hands as she laid her head on her pillow, trying to escape the inexplicable trauma Aizen had forced her to witness.

"He didn't even look human anymore..." she repeated to herself several different times as she drifted into sleep and startled herself awake again, in a sort of rhythmic pattern. Such an event was clearly more than any young, innocent school girl could digest.

Once awake the next morning, she leaned over to the night stand by her bedside, picking up her favorite old, framed photograph of Sora placed there to watch over her as she slept. It was the only keepsake she was allowed to bring with her from home to Las Noches, and it was the only earthly possession she had discovered, as a result of Aizen's restrictions, that she truly cared about.

"Onii-chan..." she said softly to the young man's image. Sora's gaze at her was sweet and beaming as it reflected the light from the rising sun outside her barred window. She felt, all at once, happiness and sadness, clarity and confusion, as the tears fell from her raw cheeks onto Sora's angelic face.

That afternoon, after having eaten breakfast and being tended to briefly by Ulquiorra, she sat silently alone on her main-area couch, slumped over by the weight of the gloom and melancholy that drew her body towards the ground.

Suddenly, a knock came from the door and slowly it began to swing open...

"Orihime-chan!" said a beaming Gin, as he entered through the doorway behind his attendant, his silver hair shimmering in the sunlit room. "I came to visit with you for a little while, today."

"Ichimaru-san?" asked Orihime quietly, immediately sitting up straight and scrunching her eyebrows together at him. As his grin widened, her frown broadened likewise.

"You must be wondering what I'm doing here," he said as he approached her very lightly and carefree, shoving his face into hers. "Aizen-sama has requested of me to have a little 'chat' with you."

Orihime's expression went from irritated to bewildered. She could see why Gin might have an interest in coming to her room on his own, if only just to amuse himself with teasing her, but she couldn't wrap her brain around why Aizen would deliberately send him to speak with her. She honestly couldn't remember ever having had a conversation with him before this moment.

"You look rather down-in-dumps," he observed. "To be honest, Orihime-chan, you have looked prettier before."

"If you're going to tease me, then please leave right now," she said, her staunch face staring at the bare wall on the other side of the room.

"Oh, no, that's not really why I'm here. You see, my dear," he said, as he sat down opposite her on the far end of the large, white couch, "I came to talk with you about...sex..."

Orihime suddenly gasped as the air from her lungs seemed to get sucked out. Her brown eyes widened as far as they could at the ever-grinning and squinting man staring back at her.

"I refuse to speak with you about that!" she shouted, screwing up her angry face at him. "Why would I ever talk with you about that?!"

"Don't worry, Orihime-chan," he chuckled, "It's not like I'm not going to do anything to you, or show you anything. I've been expressly forbidden from doing things like that! Aizen-sama is very curious and wants to know what you know about it. It's his way of taking inventory on you, since you two are going to be married very soon."

This declaration only made Orihime more uncomfortable, if anything but for the fact that he had to emphasize her inevitable forced marriage to Aizen. She began scooching herself as far over to the other end of the couch, away from him, as she possibly could.

"Calm down, Orihime-chan!" he bellowed, gesturing his hands and placing them firmly on his chest, "I'm Uncle Gin! You can talk to me about anything! I'm practically your older brother now, anyway, seeing as how Aizen-sama is like an older brother to me. You know, he raised me from the time I was a very young lad... Now that we're on the subject, how much did your real older brother tell you about sex before he died? You were quite young at the time, weren't you?"

"Um..." she began, very hesitantly and coyly while rubbing the tip of her nose and blushing slightly, "nothing...really. I learned some things about it from Tatsuki-chan's mother and from classes at school."

"At school?!" shouted Gin, completely caught off-guard and still cackling. "You mean it actually gets discussed in the classroom? I have to admit, I'm really having fun with where this conversation is going..."

"All the same," he continued as she glared at him cross-eyed, "I have to report to Aizen-sama about your experience level. Now that he knows about your former secret relationship with Grimmjow, the obvious question must be asked..."

Orihime felt all her muscles tighten as she placed her cupped hands upon her lap, peering down at them. Gin leaned back up against the couch cushion, slouching as he dangled his arm over the armrest. He glanced over at her with a loose smirk and a quick wink.

"Well...," he began again, very nonchalantly, "did you or did you not ever have sex with Grimmjow?"

"No! I never did that!" she shot back, her face shocked and troubled, tears nearly welling up in her eyes.

"Alright, I believe you," he said calmly, only moving his grinning lips and no other part of his body. "It does, however, seem rather implausible, given that we're talking about Grimmjow, of all people... But, Aizen-sama told me to believe your answers, and I think you're an honest girl, anyway..."

Orihime folded her arms over her chest and stomach, feeling a chill quivering up her spine. She began to quake for her fraying nerves. Gin enjoyed every minute of causing her so much discomfort, and as she progressively grew ill at ease, he likewise grew progressively happy and perfectly relaxed in a sort of excited way.

"Are you still a virgin?" he asked, all of a sudden, slumping even deeper into the billowy cushions with his legs spread wide apart. In what felt like slow motion, Orihime turned to face him, completely caught off guard by the question. She was already made to feel so uncomfortable, but now she felt downright violated.

"How can you ask me such a thing?" she declared, standing to her feet from the couch. "Of course I'm a virgin. I know practically nothing of men. I haven't even lived...my life..."

She began to trail off and sob mildly into the sleeves covering her wrists, the sound muffled by the thick fabric.

"Good girl!" said Gin, also standing from the couch now. "Aizen-sama will be very pleased to know that."

He stepped a few paces in her direction, stopping just short of a few feet from where she stood in the room. She continued to face the bare wall, allowing the sleeves of her uniform to sop up the painful tears dripping from her eyes.

"Come now, my dear Orihime-chan," he said as he widened his wing-span, "give Uncle Gin a hug."

She glanced over at him slightly with only one eye to assess his sincerity. She wasn't sure if he was trying to comfort her because she was upset, or just... The idea of receiving an embrace from Ichimaru Gin didn't exactly give her a warm and peaceful feeling.

"Come on, now, Orihime, give me a hug. You can trust me. Come over here—walk to me. Give your new big brother a great big hug..."

As Gin held out his arms to her, all of his uniform fabric made it look as though white wings were hanging from them, drooping, as if what was left of his angelic properties had shriveled up and died long ago, and the sickly pallor of his being was all that remained. He sniggered under his breath as he flashed his white teeth at her, his narrow eyes never opening too wide so as to make his true face difficult to read.

Despite her own huge reservations about him, she found that her feet began to shuffle slowly towards him, her tears still falling from the wellsprings that were her eyes. It was as if she no longer had any control over her own body's movements—she continued to inch ever closer towards the gap in his arms. She tried desperately to wipe away the stream of tears as fast as she could for it seemed they were pulling her in his direction. But, no matter what she tried, she could not stop their flow.

Before she knew it, she had entered his space, a darkened realm of shadows and daunting mystery. He drew his winged embrace around her back, pulling her into his long, lanky frame. He placed her head on his chest with his hand, pressing her diminutive nose up against his bare, pale flesh where his cleavage was uncovered by his clothing. She felt as though she were engulfed by a dank haze of gray, lumbering around, waiting for a victim to attach itself to.

"Mmm..." he deeply hummed into the top of her head as he began to stroke her hair, "your hair feels so soft... and it smells really, really good..."

Orihime immediately pushed him away, wrenching herself out of his grasp with all the force she could muster. Standing back where she was before, she panted and gasped to catch her breath as she scowled at him. His grin widened upon seeing her wild, horrified, angered expression.

"Oh, well," he said casually, turning his back to her as he headed to the door, "maybe you're not really the 'affectionate type.'"

He slowly sauntered away, snickering under his breath, as his awaiting attendant opened the door. Orihime's mouth twitched at him.

"Don't worry," he continued to her, "I'm finished speaking with you now. You can go back to your sulking... Have a nice day..."

He quickly spun around and waved a rather lively arm at her, pearly teeth and all, then disappeared through the doorway, followed by the attendant.

"Sometimes, I really enjoy my job..." he mused to himself, and possibly to his attendant, just outside the door as he stepped out into the large hallway. He menaced a wide grin to congratulate himself as he meandered away towards the nearest corridor exit...

...The End.