Paradise Lost

By Shoujixyo-chan

Rating: T

Date Published/Updated/Started: February 25th 2010/ 12th November / EDIT: 16TH November

Pairings: Sakura X Ulquiorra

Synopsis: Only the brave of heart struggled to remain sane in Hueco Mundo, the world of Hollows, despair and reigning King Aizen Sousuke. Join Sakura in her descent into a world bereft of light, where she struggles to find a Paradise Lost.

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What was this? This painful, crushing, suffocating feeling that felt like she was being the submerged in acid, hit by a Chidori (not that she had ever been hit by a Chidori but the way Naruto described it sounded painful) and stabbed by a katana in several places.

She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think properly, al she wanted was this suffocating feeling to be lifted; she wanted release from the chains that bound her to the ground where she stood.

And as if her wish had been answered, the pain lessened, if only slightly, and she was allowed to think. To ponder her death; she stared at her mangled corpse, transfixed.

Was this the end? Was this what it came to? Couldn't she be freed in death and allowed to go to heaven or some shit that that? She looked at the corpses face, her face, and wondered 'That's it. I've died. I'm dead, I've kicked the bucket. So what now? Won't someone come to take me to the afterlife? Stab the butt of their sword on my forehead (and what a large forehead mine is) and tell me "Bye-Bye"?'

She snorted at the absurdity of it. But then again, she had pink hair and green eyes, so who was she to go around anything 'absurd'?

Wasn't someone going to come over and find out what was taking her so long?

And then see her hovering over her dead body and scream? Was she a ghost or something? (And then she reminded herself that yes, she was a ghost. What other logical explanation was there?)

And then the pain came back; it was even more intense, more painful. She tried to remind herself not to scream, nobody would her anguished cries anyway. Why was it that she had to suffer?

She had seen them, the people with broken chains coming out of their chests; she tried not to think about those ghostly people, (I've been hallucinating, I've been training too hard, working too long at the hospital) but when she saw their names on television and saw their smiling faces on the screen, she lost it.

She cried, screamed to the twinkling stars and dark night sky asking them why?

Why her to be cursed with the suffering of the hollowed dead.

But now she was one of them.

She was now one of those broken-hearted, forlorn, melancholic faces that peered ghostily at her, meeting their eyes with hers and nodding their heads, as if to acknowledge her and her 'curse'.

Sometimes the ghosts disappeared; and all that was left was a pool of blood and a feel of deep agony and fear.

She knew there was another type of them. Ghosts whose souls had descended into darkness. She had heard their anguished cries at night, (cries that were so much like her own); when everyone in Konoha was supposed to be sleeping, felt their pain and suffering. It was those nights when she slept the worst.

Could anyone hear her? Save her from this pain, this feeling of crushing agony and fear.

It was no use. There was only her and her pain.

'Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Look!' Naruto…

'Well done Sakura, you passed.' Tsunade-shisou…

'Sakura…you've grown.' Kaka-sensei…

'Forehead!' Ino…

I wish, I wish I could stay with you forever. Laugh everyday with Ino-pig and Naruto. Yell at Kaka-sensei for reading his pervy books and see that smile, one last time on Sasuke's face.

She smiled sadly, a tear sliding down her face, and breathed in one last time.

Good-bye… Konoha…

All the anguish, anger, pain and negative feelings came to surface and she gasped. The pain, it was more intense than ever… The last of the chain links from the chain protruding from her chest disappeared and she screamed. A scream full of all the negative emotions in the world; that scream soon turned to an inhuman howl.

A whitish substance formed over her face and she chocked, not able to see, hear or feel. Only the pain, the pain, the pain….

She let out one last, ear-splitting, heart-wrenching scream, (all of Konoha heard, the ominous feeling resonating deep in their hearts), and she knew no more. Only the hunger; the pain and suffering inside her.

Escape, escape. A voice told her and she did exactly that. Creating a dark, fathomless rip in the fabric of the sky she escaped through a passageway, which led to sand leeched of colour by the luminous moon, and an endless, endless night.

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Is she the one?

Yes, yes. She'll do nicely.

That spiritual pressure… that reiatsu.. DELICIOUS! I'LL MAKE HER MINE!

FEED!

It seems that our little experiment worked.

Aizen-sama…

Yes Ulquiorra?

Should I…?

Yes. Go fetch the girl.

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She collapsed onto the sand, face-first.

She ended up coughing up a lot of sand and dust.

But she didn't care about where she was; only hoped that she was safe, safe from ghastly white-masked monsters that used to haunt her nightmares back in Konoha when she was a little girl.

'Safe…' she thought 'no, I'll never be safe again. Safe is the feeling of the old Team 7, safe is the feeling of okaa-san and otou-san. Okaa-san…'

And she wanted to cry, to howl out her pain to this unfamiliar world and retreat to her inner world…

'Get up!'

'Huh?'

'I said GET UP! Look at you, you worthless piece of flesh, crying in the desert sand of Hueco Mundo! Get up and face your monsters! Get the fuck up!'

'Inner Sakura? Hueco Mundo? Is this the world that we're in?'

'I said GET UP! Act first, questions later!'

Sakura sighed and struggles. She couldn't…the pressure was too strong… then all of a sudden she felt an familiar warmth in her limbs, it was unlike anything she had felt before, more potent and filling than chakra. 'What is this…feeling? It's so, so warm.'

'It's reiatsu, you idiot. Your spiritual energy; judging by how much you have right now the nasties should come crawling here any moment…'

True to Inner Sakura's words, one of those masked creatures came crawling out the sand in front of her. It was distorted, mockery of a human being, and over 8 feet tall. It's cruel, crimson eyes glinted with malicious amusement.

Its face twisted into a sickening smile, more of an evil smirk than an embodiment of happiness. "Hello… little girl. You seem so... tasty. Do you mind if I eat you?"

'Of course I mind you bastard!'

But Sakura was frozen in fear. Inner Sakura went on and on about smashing the teme's head but she lay there paralysed. Was it the suffocating, crushing presence that the hollow seemed to exude? Or was it the killer intent in the beast's eyes?

'Stand up! Fight it! Crush his head and wipe that smirk off his face! Chaaa!'

She struggles to stand, but in the end her will and the unfamiliar warmth inside of her gave her the strength to stand up and face the masked predator.

"I will NOT be eaten!" she shouted, and threw a punch that was unconsciously charged with reiatsu at the hollow's face.

CRACK!

It's mask broke and it screamed, stumbling back and landing on its hindlegs. "You...you BITCH!" The beast roared and starting pumping its reiatsu into one, deadly blast that it was sure would end the little pink-haired hollow. "CERO!"

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So... thought you'd never hear from me, eh? This one goes to you black firelight, for inspiring me (even though you don't know it!) and ALL the Naruto-Bleach crossover writers, for providing me with an endless source of inspiration.

Loves, and be sure to review!

~Shoujixyo-chan

EDIT: I'm BAAAACK! Oh yeahz. There might not be many changes in this chapter but I assure you, the entire plotline of what I had planned out previously has changed to suit canon. Oh yes. You heard right. New title! TADAAA!

I think the way this story is planned out allows for a lot of canon to be structured around it. It may eventually be AU but... for now, I'll struggle to keep up with canon!

P.S- I've noticed that very story I plan out turns out to be the exact opposite. If it's planned out dark, it turns funny. If it's originally humorous, then it turns dark.

P.P.S- I also seem to like dark characters, like Tom Riddle from Harry Potter and Ulquiorra. I hope I portray him well enough for you guys!