A/N: This is a story composed of several oneshots featuring Orihime's experiences in Hueco Mundo four years after the Winter War.

Pairing: Aihime, Ulquihime. Mainly Aihime.

(Originally posted 6/17/2011)

Chapter 1: Lilies, the leader and the prisoner. Rating: K+. Pairing: Aihime, minor Ulquihime

"Hueco Mundo, Hueco Mundo, my little home, Hueco Mundo, in here I can sing, I can watch the moon, and I can tease little Ulquiorra, la la la. Our leader, Aizen Sousuke is an idiot, la la la la. I wish I have a cat and I will teach it how to scratch"

"Ona, stop your nonsense, you silly song is killing me."

"But, Ulqui, this is my newest song. I have to think really really hard to compose this masterpiece."

"How many time do I have to tell you stop call me Ulqui, my name is Ulqui.."

"But it is easier that way, your name is way too long, I just want to make it shorter and easier to call you. Isn't it nice, Ulqui?"

"I'm leaving, eating your food before I come back, or I'll force it into your mouth."

"Hai hai, don't you feel bored with the same threat using for almost four years?"

"Not at all, as long as it works."

"Ulqui, don't leave."

"Eat your food, I'll come back to clean it up."

Five minutes, Orihime lived her life only to wait for these five minutes everyday. During these five minutes, Orihime could see Ulquiorra, teasing him, talking nonsense, but after those five minutes, she came back to her world, to solitude, complete solitude and darkness. She clung to those five minutes desperately, trying to get the sense of who she was and the meaning of her existence. She slowly touched her hair clip, sometimes when she thought she could go insane she called her little friends out and chat with them, but she could feel her power was dying. Recently it had been very difficult to call out her fairies (she preferred to call them this way), and sometimes they disappeared after a few minutes. Her soul was slowly dying. She was slowly dying. Wasn't this a place where bad souls resided? Souls that were so corrupted that it became hollows. Would she become a hollow too one day? She shook her head. No she didn't want to continue like this, she had to get out of here even if it was impossible, even if this action would guarantee immediate death, she rather died than to let her soul dying slowly like this.

She opened the door, surprised at how easily it took to open her freedom. It was not the door that held her prison but her weak self. She ran mindlessly through out the hall, through doors and doors, nonstop; then she found herself in a lily garden. So beautiful, she thought, the sun was shining through the garden, making it look like a paradise, the place was so pure and refreshing that she thought she was somewhere in heaven and not the hell she had been living through those four years. She softly touched a lily, so beautiful, how could something as beautiful live in a place like this?

"How could someone as beautiful live in a place like this?"

She startled and turned around to face the evil Aizen. When did he get there? He was so close to her, his fingers playing on her cheek, reminded her of the last time she saw him four years ago. Her body trembled with fear; no matter how much she hated him, she could never contain her fear every time she saw him. Here, at this moment, he was like a god who had absolute power to decide the life and death of any creature before him. She shivered as she felt his breath on her neck, slowly she looked up, piercing through his eyes; she would not be afraid any more, god or not she would not shiver in fear in front of this despicable creature. She could see him smirk in amusement, and he pulled her closer, whispering into her ear:

"Are you angry at me, Orihime, because I had not kept my promise and returned with the King's key? Don't worry though, one more hundred year and we could hold our dreams in our hands."

"I'm afraid that your dreams and mine are very different, Aizen-sama."

"Oh, so I just need to make yours become mine. What is your wish, my little sun?"

She looked at him and smiled in disgust. How could someone as treacherous could be as powerful? How irony, everything that she had ever wanted was stolen by the same man who was now asking to grant her her wish.

"Freedom"

"Freedom? Then your dream is the same as mine. All I have ever wanted is freedom. That's why I will make us the King's key again and grant you the ultimate freedom."

"Then your freedom is not the same as mine"

He laughed, taking her hands and led her deep into the garden.

"Where are you taking me to?"

He turned back and smiled at her,

"I'll show you the freedom you want to seek."

As they reached a small house in the middle of the lily field, he opened the door, and pushed her inside. It was dark, very dark, she could not see a thing, and the air was so thick that it made her hardly breath.

"Hard to breath, right.?

Then he pulled her out in the open again, the sun was so bright that it almost made her blind. The wind was blowing softly, making her hair fly slightly on his face. He took a small bunch of hairs and inhaled deeply.

"This scent, is so refreshing, just like the sun. Do you find your freedom now, my dear?"

"Your intelligence is so high for me to reach."

"My world, my dear, is even worse than the room we just went in, I built this garden to find some sense of freedom, but it is no where near to what I wanted to. You cannot even stay in that room for a second, but I was in the same kind of room for all of my life, or I would say after life."

"I still don't quite understand you."

"Would you prefer to live in that room instead of your current one?"

Hearing no answer, he continued,

"There is no freedom in this world, Orihime. People make their own definition of freedom and call them such. Humans could never satisfy with what they have, that is what makes them the most unfortunate creature in this world. Everyone has what they called freedom, but I will create my own freedom and make it the freedom for this whole world."

"Then, in my opinion, you are trying to confine others and yourselves in an imaginary freedom."

"You have such interesting views about life."

"Also, we, human, might be greedy creature but we know what is freedom and what not. We, also know what we are really want and will fight for it until the date we die. That is our true freedom, that is how we make our dreams come true."

"If so, you are the same as me, Orihime. But I don't want to continue on this topic anymore, it has become very boring, don't you think?"

"I do think that no matter how long we continue this, we could never reach an agreement."

"We are already in an agreement. You might not realize this, but you and me are very alike. We are the same kind of people, whether you like this or not."

He took out a lily and gave it to her,

"Here, take this, as a small gift from me. You are a very interesting young girl, come back to me whenever you feel bored, I'll always be in that room during the day. And although Hueco Mundo is very large, no matter how long you run around it you could never find your freedom, because..."He smirked before continuing. "Because if I can not find my own freedom, neither can you, and the rest of this world."

With that, he disappeared.

Orihime held the lily close to her nose; it smelled so nice. She looked the scenario one last time before heading back to her room. What was she thinking, escaping Hueco Mundo? Such a childish thought, at the end there would be no prince to rescue the confined princess. Fairy tale remained as fairy tale because they would never become reality. Her heart ached, tears began to fall down, but once upon the time there was a prince who had tried to rescue a princess, but she was just too weak to ever be with him, never again, not even four years after, not even hundred years after, or a thousand years after. But the poor princess could not help but continued to hope, continued to wait for the time to come, even if she had to wait for thousand thousands years, even if she had to wait forever.

"Ona, where have you been? I told you to eat the food, since when you have become so disobedient?"

"Ulqui, since when do we have a vase in this room?"

"Aizen-sama ordered me to put a vase in this room. He also ordered me to tell you that from now on you are free to explore Las Noches."

"Oh, is that so? Ulqui, do you think this flower is beautiful?"

"Ona, did you talk to Aizen-sama?"

"Um, is this a bad thing?"

"I don't want to stress this, but you are just a trash in this castle, just a piece of useless material that Aizen-sama had forgotten to dispose. Do you want to remind him to dispose you completely? Are you that eager to disappear from this world?"

"Ulqui. If I were to disappear from this world, would you remember me, even just a little?"

"Ona, don't ever talk like that again. Why would I want you to disappear from this world?"

"Thank you Ulqui. You know what, you are the only reason that I can still keep my sanity, could you visit me more often, talk to me a little longer?"

"Visiting you everyday is considered very often to the human knowledge, isn't it?

Orihime looked at Ulquiorra, his eyes were so empty but at the same time warm and fulled of concern, how he had changed in the last four years. She traced her fingers along his marks under his eyes.

"Ulqui, thank you very much."

"Ona, you have been weird lately, let's go out more often. I believe Aizen-sama would not mind if we get out of Las Noches and go around Hueco Mundo a bit."

Orihime laughed while spinning herself around the room and sang out loud

"Yo ha, yo ha, little Ulqui will go around with me in Hueco Mundo, la la la la , Hueco Mundo is very large, la la la. Our leader, Aizen-sama is an absolute idiot, lu la lu la. I wish I had a cat so that I could teach it how to scratch"

"Ona, I never said that I would go with you."

"Let's go Ulqui."

"It's Ulquiorra."

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