Title: Clichés and Heartbeats
Word Count: 285
Originally Posted: April 31, 2011
Rating: K+
Summary: Because Tesla, Orihime realized, was a startlingly handsome Arrancar.
Genre: Romance
Characters/Pairings: Tesla/Orihime
Extra Notes: Yeah, I just completely rewrote this one. Same concept, completely different wording.
She could feel his heartbeat. Pressed up against the blonde Arrancar, Orihime could only watch helplessly as Ichigo was mercilessly beaten by a certain, horrifying, fifth Espada. Of course, this whole situation could be worse; she could be dead, or back in her holding cell.
As the fight (if you could call it that) progressed, she shrunk into him, enjoying the feel of his arm locked around her throat. She fought the urge to look up at him, to gaze at his seemingly perfect features – because Tesla, Orihime realized, was a startlingly handsome Arrancar. Not as attractive as Grimmjow, she supposed, but cute all the same.
She was just picking out the features of the oh-so-attractive Arrancar because, honestly, she had nothing else to do. Locked up in her room for hours, she'd taken to writing down lists of her 'Top Five Hottest Arrancar', 'Top Five Most Repulsive Arrancar', and 'Reasons I Hate This Place.' The last of the lists was the longest, with over fifty reasons.
Briging her mind back to the present, Orihime tensed as Nnoitra dealt a particularly vicious blow. Tesla looked down at her, confusion evident in his dark eyes. "It will be over soon," he said in a low voice. "One way or the other."
For some reason, she felt comforted. There was really no reason why she should feel comforted; after all, he was practically saying that Ichigo was going to die. It was just his voice, she supposed. The soothing, amazing voice was the thing she liked about him.
At that moment, she didn't care about anything. She was content to stay here in his arms forever.
She didn't care how cliché that sounded.