Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or any of the characters used in this fic. They all belong to Tite Kubo. I only own any of my original characters that I choose to include, as well as any of my own original plot ideas.
Maybe There's An Understanding
It wasn't in him to understand.
Yes, he knew what it was, what it looked like, how it functioned, but he had no clue as to how this important human organ could manifest a myriad of colorful emotions. It seemed surreal the way he'd heard them preach on about it. How they felt in their heart that this or that was right. Surely, every organism on their planet had one, but did that mean that they all experienced the same things? If a human woman could feel love for a man, did that mean that a dog could as well?
It was the most far-fetched thing he'd heard, and surely not something to be believed.
But watching them, these incredibly hopeful people, go to war for their own had brought him to question it. Even with wounds sustained in battle, he was contemplating the idea. He couldn't piece it together, the mind of this Ichigo Kurosaki. How he could abandon himself to nothing more than a silver line of hope. The woman had proven to be more of an enigma, sitting in her room day after day, staring out the barred window.
"He'll come for me," she'd told him. "I know he will."
And he had.
It wasn't so much that he wanted to feel what they did, but that he wanted to understand. He'd hoped to pull at that thread until it ravelled, unwinding the woven shell so he could find and see the tangible form that they called a heart.
He just hadn't had the chance.
But she didn't shun him after all he'd done. Kidnapping her, making her miserable, dragging her before Aizen. Her eyes spoke, and they didn't hold any malice. She just believed that he'd been acting on different principles than her own. She was willing to show him what it was, her heart. Her hand reached out, grazing what was left of his own. And, for a moment, he could see it.
If you believe in me, how can I be dissolving?
Her heart was compassion.