Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Perpetual ❯ Reality ( Chapter 15 )

Tite Kubo owns Bleach and the characters and gets paid for it. I don't. I just write these to amuse myself and because the voices tell me to.

Reality

Totally confused, Orihime followed the unfamiliar Arrancar down the hallway. She'd been saved from potential rape by a lot of different events and was trying to sort them out in her mind. This man had started it by refusing to help Mr Aizen, or had it been Mr Tosen who had started it when he argued?

The absence of Mr Ichimaru, Gin, didn't surprise her. Even though she knew he enjoyed sex with her, she always felt that she was a substitute for someone, especially after Mr Aizen's initial comments. Ichigo had mentioned something once about there being a woman in the man's life and had hinted it was her friend, Ran.

She'd never asked. There were some things she didn't feel comfortable with and asking those sort of questions might lead to problems.

All the same, she wondered at the dark skinned former Captain's attempt at protection and why he had visited her. Maybe for sex, but he hadn't tried to remove his clothes, or even look at her. She had been scared when he touched her and then when he embraced her. The dreams she'd been experiencing had made it difficult for her to distinguish reality from the dreaded, accentuated memories that had arisen from the dreams. He was nothing like her father, so why did he merge so fully into her nightmare?

The man. Stark, stopped and opened a door, then walked inside. "Should I follow?" she wondered. Rather than think about it, she walked into the room.

It contained little. A bed, a desk and chair. No ornaments, a single rail on which hung some clothes. No carpet or rugs on the floor, no pictures on the walls.

"Ulquiorra likes things simple and clean," Stark said quietly.

"It's nice," Orihime hazarded. She found the room cold and unwelcoming, but it would be rude to say that.

"No. It's not. It's practical, like the person who lives here." Stark turned to look at her. "Did you get in the habit of lying as a child, or since you came here?"

Even though he was standing on the other side of the room, the nervousness Orihime experience near this man made her draw his coat around her more closely. It didn't meet in the middle. The shame she felt at being exposed to his gaze made her lower her eyes and hunch over. "I don't lie."

"You do. You lied about liking this room," his dispassionate tone made her temper rise.

"I was trying to be polite," she said.

"Why? What's the point of lying? It's not my room," Stark sounded disinterested.

She couldn't think of an answer. In her world, politeness was expected. Here it was a matter of indifference to most of the people she encountered. Mr Aizen, who was the leader, didn't show any sign of it. So far she'd been ordered around or ignored by most of the people and any kindness she'd received had cost her in some way.

Even though he'd been asked to take care of her, she wondered if this Arrancar would expect payment also. Reluctantly she began to strip off the shirt he'd given her. If he wanted sex, maybe she should get it over with and then he could leave and she could sleep. Sleep at least would stop the questions she was asking herself over and over again.

Mr Aizen had done something to her, she was sure, that made her eager to have sex with so many men, but even so this man didn't revolt her like he did.

Stark was looking at her, frowning. "What are you doing?"

"You want sex, don't you," she said, her eyes on the floor. Had she really uttered those words?

A short laugh made her look at the man. "I said no before. Why would I change my mind?"

The answer didn't make sense. He might have said no to Mr Aizen, but that was because it would have been rape. She was freely offering sex and she hadn't been refused before.

"I'm willing," she said.

"No you're not. You think I want this, but I don't."

Orihime went and sat on the bed and pulled a sheet over her, huddling underneath the cover. "I don't mind," she said with little meaning.

"You do."

He was turning her thoughts around. She thought she was saying the right thing and offering what the man might want, but she was wrong. Was she wrong about other things? Did Ulquiorra and Grimmjow like her at all? She was aware they were using her for sex, but she thought they'd actually cared about her. That was why they were fighting Mr Aizen, wasn't it?

The questions piled high, the ones she had avoided. Each new question scared her a little more until soon she was sobbing as the reality of what she had become was borne on her. She was no longer Orihime Inoue. She was a plaything that had been passed around traitors and Arrancar as if she counted for nothing. Or that was the truth. She was nothing and deserved all that had been done to her because of her father.

The dream came back to haunt her and the shudders ran through her as her throat closed and she began to gag and retch. She was longing for death in a place where the creatures ate the souls of those who died. It was not Hell, it was worse than Hell because there could be no redemption.

"Stop crying. I hate it when females cry." The sharp crack of the words distracted her from her thoughts for a moment, but only a moment and the tears continued.

She felt the man's hands on her shoulders as he shook her. "Stop crying," he said again, more gently. The warm hands made her control break and without meaning to she'd flung her arms around him, seeking any form of comfort he could provide.