Aaroniero was gone.
Dust was all that remained of the Noventa Espada and even that, Stark watched it blow away, a coolness in the wind. Remnants of her reiatsu, he mused, eyes lowering to the bloodied form at his feet. It surprised and somewhat angered him that her so-called friends weren't coming.
One, the nearest had fallen to Nnoitora. The fool hadn't obeyed Aizen's order to let the Ryoka come to them. Stark wondered if this one had been on her way to the other. Perhaps. Then had met an Espada...
He bent and tugged the broken hilt from her hand. Surprisingly her eyelids fluttered, a soft pain-filled groan leaving her lips as a protest of refusal. "Let go," he said gently yet with a firmness that made her hand relax its hold. "No one is going to harm you," a quiet clink as the guard met the scabbard. His gloved hand trailed through her dark hair, the black a contrast against the white.
Their world was monochrome.
Black and white.
Never filled with color or life.
A hushed sigh. "I won't let them," he finished.
~*~
Whose hand was it that reached out for her in the darkness? The chillof her body was nothing compared to the ice enveloping her soul. She was going to die. She wasn't going to be able save Orihime. Her promise had been for nothing. Rukia was filled with horror.
She was going to die alone.
What Kaien had forbidden her to do.
Soundlessly, blindly she had cried out. Her cheek to her hard, cold floor, her eyes shut to the empty partially destroyed room of the white Palace. Maybe her cry was only in her mind. No echo of it reached her ears. Soon she began to despair of ever being found...and then someone came.
She knew by the grasp on the oval end of her sword. The slight tug as if whoever it was, wanted to disarm her. Her strength waning, she fiercely clung to the hilt. It was one of the enemies! Surely her battle couldn't have gone unnoticed by the rest!
Rukia steeled herself.
She had to open her eyes!
She had to fight!
Orihime was waiting--
But...would an enemy say this?
"Let go." It was a man's voice. Calm, unfamiliar yet Rukia sensed no under-lying threat to it, just...just something. There was something that made her feel the man was no threat. Her grip relaxed and Sode no Shirayuki slipped away. A quiet clink off to the side indicated it had been sheathed.
"No one is going to harm you..." the hand that had taken away her sword, slid along the crown of her head now, the weight real. Very real. And warm. It was different from what she was used to. No one had ever touched her so gently. "I won't let them."
And for some reason...she knew he wasn't lying.
~To be continued~
AN: Thanks for reading. Short chapter but I might update sooner that way. :)
No flames-haters-idiotic spammers!
Reviews appreciated :)