A/N:I would absolutely love reviews and some constructive criticism for my first story. For now, this will be a one-shot. Enjoy reading!

I shot up from my sleep, heart pumping in my ears and a fresh sheen of sweat coating my forehead. I wiped it off with the back of my hand and quickly looked at the room around me. I sighed from relief, realizing I was still in the same room I had fallen asleep in. Las Noches, I remembered. Memories started to resurface of the week before when I was first brought to this god forsaken place.

"Kurosaki-kun." I voiced into the empty room. No! I stood up completely now, wiping a stray tear from my cheek before it could even begin to fall. I couldn't allow myself a moment of weakness. I absolutely refused to be anything but strong while I was waiting for Kurosaki-kun and the others to find me. I had promised myself.

I found myself suppressing the thoughts as I starting taking shaky steps to the now familiar window. The crescent moon was shining high in the starless sky from outside the bars, casting an eerie glow to form around my body. Like always.I tried recalling the dream, or rather nightmare that had caused me to awaken so abruptly from my sleep. As I stood there, in thought I began to see flashes of the dream. I closed my eyes and, my eyebrows slightly furrowing as I concentrated harder.

Underneath my eyelids, I could see a head of short orange hair connected to a bruised and battered body, as it lay lifeless in the sand. It was Kurosaki-kun I had seen lying there, as the sand swirled around him, soiling his already shredded clothing. My dream self had ran to him with tears running down her face. I had fallen to my knees wiping the hair around his still features, worriedly. It was only then did I notice the pool of crimson surrounding his lifeless body. I remembered the hopeless feeling that had given my dream self. Something akin to despair had started to bubble up it the pit of my stomach as I had tried to summon spirits. It was a futile attempt, I realized as they were no longer with me. The dream had ended with his body turning into ashes and disappearing into the wind becoming part of the vast desert before me.

I couldn't help but frown as I finished recalling the unsettling nightmare. Odd, I thought to myself. I rarely ever had any dreams that didn't consist of me and Kurosaki-kun being together as happy as could be. On occasion, they even crossed over into more romantic themes. I felt my face heat up at the thought.

Other than this recent nightmare the only unsettling dreams that I had were the ones of brother's death, but those only came on rare occasion when I was feeling low or depressed. Needless to say, I would always try to keep myself optimistic all the time to avoid these types of dreams. Even now I was forcing myself to look on the bright side of things and to not dwell on the doubt that my friends would not come for me. So then why I wondered would I be having a dream like this now?

I was startled by two clear knocks that echoed from my door. "I'm coming in." A rather emotionless and familiar tone of voice called from the other side.

I watched as the Espada I had come to know as Ulquiorra Cifer came into view from behind the large chamber door. From the few times we met, he had always given me the same frightening feeling. There was nothing particularly scary about this hollow man to give me this odd feeling. It was always the same bored stare, his deceiving relaxed posture he always seemed to have, with his pale hands always shoved into the pockets of his clothing. Other than his deep emerald eyes and tear streaks of the same color forever staining his flawless cheeks, he could pass for a normal human. Well, if it weren't for his obvious hollow garment he wore upon his head or the black abyss of his hollow hole he had where his heart would've been.

He slowly glanced around the room before taking a few steps inside. I'm not quite sure what he did could really be considered walking since he didn't really move his feet while he walked into the room. His movements were entirely to smooth for that. Gliding, perhaps?

His eyes then flickered to me and I resisted the urge to shiver at his intense gaze. I held this stare for some time, telling myself to not look away like the few other times this had happened. It became a little test for me to prove I was not as weak as everyone believed. To keep myself from believing it. I started to search his eyes for some remnants of emotion if he had any.

I felt myself become short of breath as the search came up empty. Nothing, Absolutely nothing could be found in his eyes, which only served to make me more nervous. If the eyes truly were windows to the soul then what could be said about the man standing before me. Was he truly as empty as the name implied? No, that couldn't be possible. It just couldn't be.

I looked away as my search for emotion became futile under this man's empowering atmosphere. I felt a bit of defeat creep into my mind as I continued to stare at the floor to avoid his gaze. I had failed once again to prove to myself I wasn't weak. Perhaps this is why I had become so frightened of him in the first place. The Espada before me truly was one of the biggest enigmas I had ever come into contact with.

"Woman, I expect you to eat all of your meal this time without any fuss. I would not appreciate having to remind you of what would happen as a result of you not following this order." He then beckoned the man pushing the cart in the room. "Now eat." His voice was clear and commanding. His words left no room for defiance which I so earnestly wanted to give to him like last time.

I nodded my head slightly and sat in the chair that I was to eat this modest food in. I found it pointless to fight him at this moment as there was nothing to really gain out of it. I stuck a fork full of the warm food into my mouth nervously, trying not to think of the looming figure now watching me. In truth, the food wasn't all that bad as I had expected it to be the first time I tried it. Now if only I could get some red bean paste to go along with this.

To distract myself as I ate, I let my mind wander to a couple of days ago when I had first been imprisoned. I had refused to eat as another attempt to prove to myself that I could be strong and not bow down to commands of my captor. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the most intelligent thing I had ever done, as he had threatened to shove every last morsel of the food down my throat if I didn't obey. Then again neither was slapping the Arrancar across the face for the things he had said about my friends.

It had shocked me when all he did was repeat his earlier words and leave me alone to ponder over what my life had come to be. That brief moment of absolute contempt I had felt for my captor had vanished. The pride I had for myself for possessing the willpower for such a daring action was replaced by a regretful feeling, which burned in the recesses of my mind.

I looked up from my dish, coming out of my thoughts only to be surprised by the Arrancar still standing there glancing around the room. His gaze suddenly fell upon me. I quickly looked back down and put another fork full of food into my mouth, hoping he had not seen me staring at him. My cheeks burned as I started to feel guiltier for the earlier events. My mind began to make up impossible scenarios as it always did when I was feeling nervous. I really hoped he wasn't a mind reader.

Now I most certainly had to apologize for my actions from the previous day. My mind wouldn't rest until this was resolved. Of course, I wasn't foolish enough to believe that we would become friend merely from me apologizing but perhaps we could come to some agreement to not act like enemies for the hopefully short time I would be staying here. The chances were slim to most likely none but I had to give it a try. Besides, it wasn't really him who had the idea to capture me and bring me to this boring place. It was Aizen who was sadly calling the shots here and Ulquiorra Cifer was just one of his pawns in trying to win this war. Much like one of the pawns I was struggling not to become.

I looked up, determined to apologize to man when he suddenly turned on his heel and head for the door. "I have business to attend to, woman. I will be back in an hour to make sure you have taken in your nutrients." His bored voice said from the doorway. He stopped and turned his head slightly to address me. His emerald eyes held a warning. "And remember, the consequences still stand for not following Lord Aizen's order." The door closed with a screech. I listened to the footsteps fade in the distance.

I sighed, once again left alone in the miserable room that has regrettably become my place of residence. I placed my fork down and gazed up at the moon, which always seemed to frown over this lonely place. I grimaced at the irony. I had expected to feel a bit calmer with his absence, but now that the man had finally left me alone, the feeling in the room became much more hollow.