Disclaimer: Bleach does not belong to me.

Author's Note: This story was based off an introductory paragraph from Mizu1411. (She smsed it to me in the middle of my church-.-)


I sat in the grey cell, looking forlornly at the moon which was partially blocked by the bars of the only window. I fidgeted in my seat, my hands sore from the endless struggle to break free. Red accusing bruises on my wrists were clear evidence that I was not happy with being tied up.

My captor walked into the room, no expression on his face as usual. Cold emerald orbs looked at me in a taunting manner. They flickered to my bruised wrists, and I could have sworn that the faintest hint of a smirk passed over his face for a fleeting second. In that monotonous voice I had grown to accept after so many days in captivity, he asked me if I was happy with the state I was in.

Without a second thought, I blurted out, "No! Of course not!"

Realising what I had just said, I felt my cheeks heat up. He then said, in that calm voice which now had a tinge of amusement in it, "Then I hope you have learnt your lesson… woman."

That was it. To him I was no more than 'woman'. After all, he was the captor, I the captive. I wasn't worth to be called by my name. Then again, the number of times I had heard anyone call me by my name was considerably dwindling compared to when big brother was alive. I sighed heavily, my breath producing a thin cloud in front of me.

Suddenly, I heard a few voices outside my cell. They couldn't possibly be other captives, because I knew they had either been drugged so heavily that they didn't know where they were, or worse still, killed. I had heard the screams of anguish coming from neighbouring cells and could just imagine their limp bodies, cold and lifeless, their mouths open in a half-scream and lying in a pool of their own blood. My stomach lurched at the thought.

So who then were these strangers? There was little or no wind where I was being held prisoner, but even so the nights were cold. I shivered, just as a female voice spoke, one I was familiar with, one I had heard for a few months, wild but gentle. The quiet words carried well over the still air. I could hear them clear as day. "…we go by separate ways and save her…" was all I heard before I realised that I had hope. There was only one female prisoner here – me. My friends had come to save me.

I had hope to escape from this bleak world.