ULQUIHIME FC'S TANABATA FESTIVAL CONTEST 2009

FANFICTION DISTRIBUTION

SUBMITTING FOR ULQUIHIME FC AT BA

CONSTESTANT: JinxJen

SUMMARY: After Orihime returned to Karakura Town from Hueco Mundo, she had endless dreams at night about Ulquiorra that didn't make any sense to her. On the first day in winter when she came back to school, she suddenly felt tired in her eyelids and had an adventure about the star festival in her dream.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: At first, I intended to make a one shot with only 1,000 words. In the end, it turned out into a series with several chapters for about 10,000 words. There are some random italic words I like to use just to emphasize the thoughts and the words. Please excuse some bad grammar because I'm not really a Native English person myself. But I did proofread carefully before I submitted. Hope you could enjoy this midnight summer dream.

WARNING: ONLY M RATED AT THE LAST CHAPTER. You can read the rest with your cheese.

DISCLAIMER: Bleach doesn't belong to me. Bleach is Kubo's masterpiece. Ulquiorra and Orihime don't belong to me. They are Kubo Tite-sensei's shippy. They belong to each other.

SUMMER FESTIVAL DREAM

CHAPTER 0 - PROLOGUE: ENDLESS DREAM

"If it's because of the heart that you are talking about, then it's that heart that brought me to you."

"I don't dislike you."

"You have never been afraid of me."

"Even if my body and my soul were returned to ash, my heart was entrusted to you."

"I want to be the reason for your whole being."

"Come with me, woman."

Orihime opened her eyes slowly and lazily in her bed. She was crying in her sleep.

She sat up in her bed and looked out the window to night sky scenery at her right side emptily. Her alarm clock read 4:00 A.M.

Recently, ever since she returned to her home, Karakura Town, every night, she had those same nostalgic dreams again. She was dreaming about him.

They were really cutting her sleep. They didn't seem like any normal dreams she had before. But they didn't really make any sense to her either because in those dreams, he was saying something that he had never said to her before. Well, except the last one. But the expression he made in the dream when he said that sentence was the face that she had never seen before. So gentle yet full of sadness.

They weren't real.

She reminded herself. She didn't want to recall them again. But the memories kept coming.

It was just like the time when her brother died, she was crying in her sleep, calling out his name every night. But instead of dreaming about past memories of him like she did with her brother, she kept dreaming about something of him that weren't past memories. Those dreams themselves were just coming in disjointed bits and pieces in same place that she didn't recognize where it was over and over again.

Were they all in her imagination? Were all the things he said in the dream made by her mind? If so, why did she think or dream about him like that? To her, what was he exactly?

"Ulquiorra." She murmured.

I never had chance to call out your name.

You just came in my life like a wind, no, more like an earthquake, and was also gone like a wind. You didn't leave anything to me but my regretful sentiment. You even took away my heart.

I kept reaching and reaching my hand out, but I couldn't catch you. Your hand. And your heart. They were all turned to ash.

I didn't want to believe that you were dead because I still felt the warmth of the ash in my hand. Dead people never had the warmth like that.

"Are you still here in this world? Someday will I be able to meet you again?"

Orihime thought she might be really stressful enough to talk by herself in the middle of night. She needed to sleep to regain her energy and got up early for school tomorrow.

Orihime took in a deep breath then released it, trying to relax every muscle in her body. She lied down on the bed once more and slowly adjusted herself to get into sleep.

To be continued...