What kind of world, would it be without you? I couldn't breathe without you. What kind of world, would I see without you? I can't dream without you here.

Counting the Days

Chapter I

A Prelude to Tragedy

"All at once, I finally took a moment and I'm realizing that, you're not coming back. And it finally hit me all at once. All at once, I started counting teardrops and at least a million fell. My eyes began to swell. And all my dreams were shattered all at once."

-Whitney Houston

"There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope."

- George Eliot

The sun was high above, glistening brightly overhead in the cloudless sky. The glorious day contrasted the foreboding forthcoming events. Death was looming over the city, readying his hands to clutch the life of one.

Ichigo sat in an underground cell. The chamber was murky and depressing. The only light that illuminated the pitiful cell was a hole. Occasionally, people would come by the hole and show their blatant dislike of the Prince.

They did a number of things, which led to the guards barring the hole up. Even if this stopped the daily visits from the citizens, the bars were exuding a sense of captivity. The light shined through the circular hole, casting a shadow that allowed him to predict the time. It was almost noon.

He rattled the chains on his wrists, pulling at them, knowing it would be effortless. The chains were hooked to two bars wedged to the cold floor; the chains were long enough for him to stand, even then there was not much he could do. It provided to his annoyance at his current dwellings.

Suddenly, the floor began to move forward. Ichigo was startled by the abrupt movement. The floor kept moving until he was directly under the hole. The bars overhead began to retract backwards until the sun fully shined upon his carrot colored hair.

"Hey asshole! Up here Prince." Ichigo looked up to see appalling blue hair block the sun. He grimaced at the sight of who it was. Commander Grimmjow Jeagerjaques.

"Shit, you look so fucking pitiful down there. Sucks to be you, ass." Grimmjow smiled at him without a care in the world. Ichigo turned his head with a solemn look. He truly did look pitiful.

"The Prince of Karakura in a fucking cell! Unbelievable. Get that pathetic look your face, you're a fucking prince! Hold that head high, you ain't dead yet. Have some fucking dignity."

Ichigo ignored Grimmjow once more, even if he spoke the truth. However, Ichigo held his head up and gave the Commander one of the nastiest looks he could muster up.

"Ho ho! That's what I'm talking about! Just what I wanted to see. You know, you were a great rival; it's only fair that I tell you this. I told you, you would lose." Grimmjow left Ichigo with a spring in his step.

However, the disgust Ichigo felt for Grimmjow could not even begin to compare to the feeling he was having now at the sight of what was happening above him. There was a loud cranking sound that echoed throughout the cell. He could hear the churning of wheels for something to face the hole.

Then the noise stopped.

A low creaking sound could be heard before a boom shook the walls of Ichigo's cell. He covered his head to protect himself from the falling debris. After the rubble fell, Ichigo looked up, and there was a sight to behold. What he had seen was a sight indescribable.

Ichigo had finally learned the true meaning of despair.

Suspended in mid air was a cross. It lay horizontally above the hole, so Ichigo could see perfectly what was going on. It wasn't just the cross he saw, no, he saw Orihime tied to the cross.

Ropes were wrung around her wrists, waist, legs, and neck. She opened her eyes and stared down into the pit. At the sight of him, Orihime began to feel extreme happiness.

"Ichigo! You are alive, Ichigo! They told me you were dead, but I knew. I knew you were still here. I just knew." Ichigo was feeling the same way as he gazed at her lovingly. The feeling was overshadowed by the appearance of King Aizen. He walked across the cross, stepping heavily on the platform. His steps shook Orihime's small body, and the ropes tightened in correspondence against her skin.

"Kurosaki look at this poor girl. It seems the ropes are putting a strain on her body! Here Princess, let me help you." With the sword in his hand, the King struck the ropes that bound Orihime's legs. Her legs fell into a painful arch, and the other ropes tightened in response again.

Ichigo struggled against his chains to no avail. He had no idea what the crazed king had in mind; it only served to worry him more.

"You cannot do this! You won't get away with this Aizen!" Orihime shouted. Aizen only smiled at her retort. He swung his sword at her right wrist, slicing it open. She gasped at the feeling. The blood trickled down upon Ichigo's head with a soft pat.

Aizen chuckled evilly. He loved that look on Ichigo's face. Despair. Aizen raised the blade over the wooden boards. He slammed his blade down with a powerful force. The sword rammed through the wood, straight into Orihime's stomach.

Her eyes widened, her voice responding with a shrill scream. Blood gushed out of her body like a river and into Ichigo's cell. The blood she lost, gathered onto Ichigo's body, bathing him with a nice coat of red.

"Princess if you keep screaming, you'll die of blood loss, we don't want that." Aizen smiled down at the tormented Ichigo. This was another victory in his book.

"Such a lovely day." Aizen said with a nauseating sense of cheerfulness. Aizen cut the rope that bound the Princess's waist. He walked further down and sliced at the rope wrapped around her left wrist.

The only thing that was keeping Orihime from falling was the last two ropes that were cutting off her circulation.

Orihime was barely breathing. Her shallow breaths were the only things that Ichigo could hear. Ichigo was speechless; he was decimated at the sight of his beloved hanging above, while he sat there and had blood rain on him. He looked into her big gray eyes.

Her big beautiful smiling gray eyes, for she smiled at him.

"Ichigo I am glad to have met you. I knew since the day we met that we were star crossed. I did not care though. I just wanted to be selfish and have you for as long as I could. Do not despair. I am glad to have seen you one last time."

With that Aizen cut the rope on her other wrist. Orihime's body fell until the rope around her neck stopped her from falling, with a sickening snap. The rope began to strangle Orihime. Her legs flailed uselessly about, hands clawed at the rope, but it was no use.

In just a moment the dangling body moved no more.

Ichigo watched the body sway from side to side. The floor began to move backwards, obscuring his view. The hole stayed open though. Unexpectedly, the body came crashing down the hole, hitting the concrete floor with a horrible crunch.

Although her body lay before him mangled and bleeding, she was still there.

Just barely.

Her eyes were dead, but her lips moved at a slow pace. Ichigo hardly heard her. But it wasn't until she finally closed her eyes, that Ichigo ultimately understood what had just transpired.

Orihime was dead.

The last few words spoken by her, was something Ichigo would remember as his blade would pierce Aizen's throat.

I love you.

And it was not until a few days later that Ichigo's voice would give out from screaming as he watched the dead body bleed out before him.

Remembering the time you were here . . .