The Only Salvation.
. here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. there is no why .
Blue.
Why, when there's no sky here, does she always think of blue?
It's not... sky blue though.
No.
More like.
Cobalt.
Yes, cobalt blue.
She remembers an experiment she did in chemistry one time. The teacher had produced cobalt from the storeroom, and she had been immediately mesmerized.
But, the sky is never cobalt blue. Always paler, not unpleasant, but not vivid and wild and –
No.
So why then, does this colour fascinate her beyond all else here in her whitewashed prison?
"I sense your distraction," Ulquiorra says one evening whilst leaving her supper. She glances up at him, chopsticks in hand.
"Not distracted," she says carefully, going to pick at her cuttlefish wondering if Ulquiorra would find her strange should she tell him of her curiosity with the colour blue.
But cobalt blue, not sky blue.
"Do not try and evade the truth, woman," he says quietly, as the Numeros that brought her supper bow out of her room.
"Ulquiorra, it's strange," she says. She does not take exact pleasure speaking with Ulquiorra – it was him, after all, that kidnapped her from the World of the Living. However, being trapped in Las Noches has made her lonely. So lonely, she will strike up conversation with her own shadow late at night when she thinks no one can hear.
He makes no move to show he is listening, but he watches her intently.
"I keep having dreams of the colour blue."
"Blue?" he echoes after a moment of hesitation. She nods, shoving a wasabi coated piece of cuttlefish into her mouth. She chews slowly and the room is silent again, Ulquiorra's empty breaths the only exception.
"Mmm. Yes," she adds, and he glances at the bars on her window.
"Perhaps you miss the sky," he says and she smiles, his error amusing her.
"No... it's more of a... cobalt blue," she says, a soft smile on her lips as she places another piece of flaky cuttlefish in her mouth.
"Cobalt... blue?" Ulquiorra's expressionless face is as it always is. Expressionless. Still, she can hear the waver of uncertainty in his tones, in the back of his throat.
"Yes... never mind though... just something strange that came to me in my boredom!" she smiles at him, her smile dead at her eyes, and shoves more cuttlefish in her mouth.
"You know you are free to wander Las Noches as you please," Ulquiorra says quietly, before sweeping out of the room, leaving an air of never ending emptiness in his wake.
No cobalt blue though.
It isn't until she takes his advice and leaves her room the next day to venture down the corridor.
Las Noches is a maze of identical hallways, all icy cold. Many Arrancar pass her by, but none look all to pleased to see her. A man with pink hair regards her carefully, an almost-smirk upon his face. A woman passes, eyes lowered to the ground, large collar concealing her lips. She is followed by other females, and nods as she passes.
The hallways come to an end and she realises. She is lost, and there is not a hint of cobalt blue in sight.
She begins to panic, glancing around and hurrying around corners and skidding down hallways to try and find something familiar in this place to lead her back to her room.
Nothing but white walls and stone, and she has all but given up and plans to rot here when she sees it.
In the corner of her eye, perhaps not even there, but there nonetheless.
A dash of cobalt blue as quick as a flash of lightening, when it disappears.
She gasps and begins to run, following the blue for fear of the emptiness behind her, and scared of the emptiness which lies ahead, only hoping this colour, this cobalt she sees will lead her to something other than mind numbing, heart crushing loneliness.
She sees it again, and runs faster, and it leaps from place to place.
Her heart hums in her chest like a nervous little bird's and she does not know what has happened when she hits something hard.
She is in the middle of the corridor – she could not have hit a wall.
Orihime looks up into depths of cobalt blue and her humming heart rushes to a stop causing her to clutch her chest as the cobalt hardens and her eyes are drawn to the whole of the perfect face with the perfect eyes.
Grimmjow Jaegerjaques sneers and Orihime Inoue tries to remember when chocolate brown eyes were her only salvation.
His face is angular, his jaw darkened with stubble, his broken mask pale as bone, his hair tousled and shining.
And his eyes.
They aren't quite the cobalt blue she remembers, but they are so close she is sure she made a mistake.
"What are you doing so far from your room, woman? And what are you doing chasing my shadow like some sort of lost animal?" he sneers, shoving her away from his chest where she has been balancing. She stumbles back, and catches herself, tucking a strand of auburn behind her ear. She cannot speak yet – the cobalt still captivates her.
His eyes narrow at her intent stare, and he growls, low and feral, reminding her of a cat.
"Answer me!" he growls, fist clenched at his side. She gulps and flounders for a reply.
"I...! Ulquiorra told me I was free to look around and I did, but I got lost after seeing this weird guy with pink hair and a beautiful woman with a big collar and I started to panic, and I've been having these weird dr - I... I saw blue and I th-thought... it might... be you," she trails off, hiding her pathetic obsession with his eyes only with even more pathetic lies. He snorts, and shoves his hands in pockets, edging dangerously towards her.
"Right. And what good would finding me be? Haven't you heard how I want to tear your little friend Kurosaki limb from limb? ...No," he grins, wide and feral and leans down so his lips brush her ear lobe, making her shiver involuntarily.
He is speaking of killing Ichigo, and she should be repulsed.
"Limb from limb would be too quick... I want to tear each and every one of his bones from each other, right from under his skin so I can see it break and split and feel his blood all over my hands-"
"Stop it!" she manages, brows furrowed, hands balled into fists as she puts up her most furious facade towards him. He pulls back from her ear, and she watches slits of cobalt as he grins roguishly at her, before snatching her arm roughly and tugging so hard she is surprised her shoulder is not dislocated.
"Stop stumbling, idiot! Just keep up," he hisses, pulling her harsher.
Orihime wishes she could see his eyes, the slash of cobalt in a realm of white.
"Wh-Where are you taking me?" she chokes out, as she struggles to keep up with his hasty steps. His laugh is a bark in the dim silence of Las Noches. He whirls around and she hits his chest once again, to which he tilts her chin up with his forefinger allowing her to gaze straight into those glowing cobalt blue eyes, and his grin is sleek, his sharp incisors like fangs.
"To my room of course. I figured if I found you, then I can play with you. At least for a little while," he hisses, face dark. She gasps, eyes widening in terror, at the thought of Grimmjow strapping her down in the emptiness of his chambers. At the look of fear in her eyes, and the tremble of her fingers, Grimmjow laughs louder than ever before turning sharply and proceeding to drag her.
"Relax you idiot woman. Do you actually think I could bring you back to my room when Ulquiorra's got a fucking search warrant out for you? Guy's shitting himself thinking he lost Aizen's precious little pet," he laughs sharply, yanking her arm harsher.
Orihime breathes a sigh of relief as she sees her door, thrown ajar and Grimmjow pushes her inside, frowning slightly at her.
"When Ulquiorra says you can wander round, he means to learn the fucking way back first, woman," he says sharply, his eyes glittering in the darkness of her room. Her breath hitches at their colour and he smirks.
"And think next time before you start spouting your mouth off about my fucking eyes or whatever – the rumours about me are wild enough without you shit stirring."
"Not your eyes. Just their colour," she blurts without thinking as he turns to leave. He jolts back round, said eyes dull with contempt, teeth slightly bared.
"I don't give a fuck. It's not you've never seen blue eyes before-"
"They're the only ones I've seen here. In Las Noches. They remind me of chemistry class and cobalt and Tatsuki and freedom."
His brow raises and he steps a little closer, body falling into the shadows, eyes glittering.
"Freedom? Trust me, woman," he spits, leering over her form. "I don't know anything about freedom."
She stands her ground, so their noses are almost touching and the heartbreaking shade of cobalt bears in upon her as her breath catches in her throat.
"But more so than the others," she murmurs.
His breathing is rapid for a moment, and the anger dissipates from his face, his sharp sneer back and he laughs, the bark of a laugh that reverberates across the bare walls of her chambers. He turns to go, pausing only in the doorway and winking at her so his cobalt eyes glitter and shine.
Grimmjow Jaegerjaques sneers and Orihime Inoue tries to remember when chocolate brown eyes were her only salvation.
I have such a fetish for these two at the moment. My first attempt at anything in Bleach other than HitsuHina... (who are substantially different to these two!) Reviews are love! (: