~Immortal butterfly~
Hate me.
Hate me for this.
For hunting your existence down to crush the burning, damned light from your haunted eyes.
Hate me.
That's all I ask.
~~*~~
"Ulquiorra, we're getting close. Stay on guard."
His thoughts were interrupted by the gruff voice of the cloaked man beside him on the rooftop. The yellow moon had risen, sickly in its shed light over the skyline of Tokyo, fitful shadows were cast in the corners and alleys, nothing stirred near the stinking trashcans.
Everything was still, in the hush.
He briefly touched the pommel of his sword in silent response. Tonight their quarry wouldn't evade them. Tonight, the immortal butterfly would cease to haunt the night.
~~*~~
He and his partner raced side-by-side together across the storied rooftops, the twin snapping of their light cloaks seeming like the many-winged flapping of birds. Birds of prey, he thought mirthlessly. For hunters they were, hunting that which slain humans as the hunter and had become the hunted now in a reversal of fate. The hunter is prey.
By mutual consent, he scouted on ahead in the northeasterly direction while Grimmjow went the opposite. Disappearing in a brief blur of movement, he was left alone. Concrete scraped beneath the weight of his boots, wind rustled his hair. His eyes, far-seeing, missed nothing, not even the slim woman's shadow that darted faster than humanly possible from three rooftops down. It was time.
Withdrawing his sword from the teal sheathe, he leapt between the buildings, gliding to the ground at the last one where the woman had vanished. Accustomed to the darkness without the worldly glow of streetlamps, the area was flooded by night, yet he saw her, and only her. Not the helpless man whose scream was choked off by a slender hand caressing fragile flesh. Red beaded up in thin rivulets, staining narrow nails a garish crimson. She was as beautiful as always.
It was a poisonous beauty.
A deadly, unnatural loveliness that made men weak and desirous of her. More often or not, her prey came to her willingly. But not him…
"Tell me," he inquired when she didn't turn around, "do you hate me?"
A breeze brushed the tendrils of raven locks below a delicate neck. "Why should I…when I don't even know you?" She answered quietly.
"You know what I'm here for, though, don't you?"
Lightly, she spun around with a fey-like grace. Wise beyond count of the untold years they'd seen trickle away; eyes of deep violet-blue stared back, unknowingly. "Yes," she said swiftly, then a breathy noise escaped her lips and he realized she was laughing.
"What is so amusing to you, vampyre?"
Her forefinger passed her lower lip; the tip of a tongue darted out, lightly licking away the man's blood. "You still don't get it do you? I know all about you-your ways-your fears. The things you hide from your allies—I know it all. I see inside their hearts…" she gestured vaguely to the human fast falling unconscious behind her.
"And I can see inside yours even now."
He took a step forward, "then tell me…"
The slender blade swished, breaking the quiet, blood splattered the ground from his thrust.
"—Tell me what you see?"
~~*~~
He held her thin form, the dead life leaving her at last. Eyes fluttered shut beneath the fading light of the moon. Soon it would be dawn and with it would come the requiem spoken of: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. For that was all she would become.
Remorselessly, he looked down into her face, the lifelike color draining away and the fine skin becoming pallid like a corpse's. Dead she was and returning into that which she had been.
"Tell me…why didn't you evade my stroke? Easily it could have been accomplished."
Her voice. Brittle now, answered, "There was no purpose in that."
"What do you mean?"
Her eyes flickered open for only a moment, "you wished the opposite of what you received. Inside your heart is the reason."
"That is ridiculous."
"Maybe so because you don't understand. In a few moments…I suppose you may."
He watched her taut fists loosen, a tremor passing beneath her lids.
Life died again.
"Hate me," he said aloud to the first rays of golden light rising, "hate me because that is all I can ask of you." Bending briefly over her weightless form, he impressed a small kiss upon frozen lips before they crumbled away in the morning dawn.
~~Finis~~
AN: I don't own Bleach. A bit weird but yeah…angst-ridden too! Whoot! Got it done…ahem. Please review! :D