DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Not now. Not ever.
Title: Nightmare
Prompt: She woke up, shivering, in the dark of the night.
Rating: T for violence
Warnings: Angst. Violence. 'cause it wouldn't be Bleach without it. No humor at all. Not one bit. And this one is long. I'm not even going to call it a drabble. It's more like one shot length but part of the universe we've seen so far.
Him
His eyes shot open in the dark. There had been a flare of reiatsu. A flare in her reiatsu, to be precise.
He stared at the ceiling. So it had begun. He closed his eyes and waited for the screams.
"No!"
He clenched his fists. He wanted to move, so desperately wanted to do something, but he lay there shrouded in the dark, hating himself for his concern, hating himself for being unable to do anything about it.
He didn't know why he cared.
Nightmares were not life threatening. Sure, a few sleepless nights and the woman probably would be walking into walls, but she'd be alright. A little bruised, perhaps, but alright.
So why did he concern himself over this?
Grimmjow would have said because he 'needed peace and quiet to sleep, damnit.'
The woman would have said it was because of the heart.
But Kurosaki Ichigo... he would have known.
Ichigo would have known why he felt paralysed by her screams, yet wanting to help Inoue Orihime- the girl who had saved him from his own despair.
Ichigo would have understood. This helpless feeling of wanting to protect, yet not being strong enough- how was he supposed to ward off a bunch of nightmares?
"No! KUROSAKI-KUN! Please no!"
How was he to help her when it was he who was at the core of her fear?
Ichigo would have understood. But he would not have approved.
If Ichigo were in his place and he had heard the girl screaming in fear because of him, he would've moved out. That's just who he was.
Ulquiorra was many things Ichigo was not, but Ichigo would always be a better person. A good person. A selfless one.
Of course, he could not fault himself. He was an ex-hollow after all. Human or not, that fact was never going to go away- and hollows if nothing else, were very selfish creatures.
The woman was the center of his existence, his lynch pin, his reason for being.
He didn't mind being labeled selfish as long as he was not parted from her.
He did not want to go back to that colorless, senseless, purposeless, miserable void that was his life before Inoue Orihime. He would not leave. Not until the woman wished it.
"ULQUIORRA! NO! Please don't! Don't kill him!"
He sighed and closed his eyes, cursing every inch of his being.
Her
She was in Soul Society. Of course she was. Everything always came back to them somehow, didn't it?
She'd had this dream a thousand times, each time more vivid than the last. Each time losing one more person to this very real (too real) nightmare.
At first, it had been a simple errant thought that had sneaked its way in when she was cooking,
'What if they took him?'
Then she laughed to herself. 'Why would they? It's not he has given them any reason to-'
She froze. It was not like they needed a reason to.
Orihime was not stupid. In fact, she was quite far from it. Being consistently ranked among the top five of her class had to account for something.
She knew what was dangerous and what was not. She knew how much she could get away with by smiling at her adversaries. She also knew that harboring an ex-hollow, an ex-Espada to be precise, was as dangerous as it could get.
Orihime liked to think that despite her constantly sunny demeanor, she understood the sobering realities of life. The fact that she could smile at all, despite being forced to grow up too soon and too fast, was a mark of her strength. At least that's what she liked to tell herself whenever insecurities threatened to overwhelm her and her conscience ached that she could do nothing but stand in the sidelines.
She could accept a lot of things about herself. The fact that she was not suited for battle, the fact that she constantly needed help, the fact that she could not even stand in the sidelines when the reiatsu involved in the fights was too high.
She knew she was an eccentric cook and that people thought that she had no taste buds. She knew she was not as smart as Ishida-kun or Ulquiorra-kun and she had to work constantly to even retain her previous position at school.
She did not care about any of those things. That's what made her her after all. That was her essence.
But losing Ulquiorra to a senseless bureaucracy blinded by prejudices...
That was something she would not accept.
It was this thought, this single resolution that had probably given her stray thought a hideous face.
After all, it was inevitable. Where she went, her friends followed. Where they went, she went too. If they had requested it of her, she would die for them. And if she needed it, they would do the same for her in a heartbeat.
(They had never forgived Soul Society for condemning Rukia to death so fast, after all.)
So in its own twisted way, this nightmare made sense.
She walked the familiar path in Sereitei, knowing where she must go in order for the dream to truly begin.
At this point, she just wanted to get this over with.
Oh she had tried waking up so many times, she'd lost count. It was as if she were bound by Kido - her body simply would not move. She thought maybe her subconscious was trying to impress upon her the world of hurt she was setting herself up for.
She walked quickly; her legs moving as if they had a mind of their own. The distinct clanging of swords reached her, spurring her to move faster.
Did it mean it had already started?
No. It could not, it would not, nonononononopleaseno this wasn't how it was supposed to go she should be there she should be there it was too early why had it started?!
She broke out into a run. She ran like her life depended on it. Like his life depended on it.
On reaching her destination, out of breath and completely winded, it took her a minute to process what she was seeing. Then her legs gave out underneath her.
Perhaps, she thought as she stared at the carnage, this was her punishment for all those times she had impinged on God's own territory. Perhaps this was the price to be paid for all those lives.
After all the good things never came free.
Half of Gotei 13's shinigami lay slaughtered. She mourned for all those nameless shinigami, those casualties of war that nobody would care about, not when their eyes were on the prize.
Kurosaki-kun was fighting Komamura-san.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, give up this madness. Surrender the hollow and you and friends can return unharmed."
Kurosaki-kun scowled. "Like hell I will! He's not a hollow anymore, he's human! Why are you doing this Komamura-san? I thought you of all people knew how it felt to be judged just because you were a little different."
"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this. Know that I regret cutting you down and if only you had cooperated, things would have gone differently. BANKAI!"
Elsewhere, Renji-kun was pleading with his Captain. "Kuchiki-taichou, please listen to me. Ulquiorra is... He's harmless! Don't just blindly listen to orders! This is like Rukia all over again!"
Byakuya Kuchiki gave his lieutenant a look of supreme disdain.
"You dare compare a hollow beast with a member of the Kuchiki clan?"
Renji gave a demented laugh. "Half of Soul Society is dying and all you care about is your clan? Taichou, I implore you to see reason. He's a human! He can't lift a dumb bell without dropping it on his own feet!"
"What makes me curious, Abarai Renji, is why you've allied with the hollow creature. Did you not swear to protect Sereitei?"
"It's not- you wouldn't understand anyway!"
Byakuya Kuchiki dropped his sword, tip facing downward.
"Very well. It matters not. I told you once that the monkey could never hope to reach the moon. That has not changed. You have not changed. I will destroy you myself. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
It was worse than Soul Society, worse than Hueco Mundo. Far worse. Those times, Orihime felt guilty for being useless, for dragging her friends into trouble. This time she didn't. She couldn't.
She didn't even pause to stare at the black haired girl who came to Ishida-kun's rescue in his fight against someone who looked like Hisagi-kun, not when Kuchiki-san effortlessly brought down a man with sunglasses, not when Grimmjow-kun laughed as he brought down a huge hulking man wearing lots of jewelery.
They had a lot of people on their side, all of the Vizards had defected and even some of the Captains were only fighting defensively. Orihime knew for a fact that despite all of his fancy words, Byakuya-san's cherry blossom zanpakuto had yet to hit Renji-kun.
It was still not enough. So many had died, most of them caught in the crossfire. She ran, searching for that familiar head of jet black hair.
Ulquiorra-kun wasn't a powerful bat hollow who could take down people with his mere reiatsu. He was a human, a regular human, more fragile than her. She had to find him before the others. She needed to protect him. Lungs burning and fire flowing through her veins, she ran.
In the end, of all the people who had to bring a stop to this madness, it had to be Toshiro-kun. Toshiro-kun, who knew Ulquiorra-kun personally. Toshiro-kun, who knew just how much progress Ulquiorra-kun had been making. The betrayal felt like a bee sting compared to knife in her chest as she witnessed Ulquiorra-kun being killed in front of her, once again.
Her throat burned as she watched him sink to the ground, almost gracefully, his eyes on hers the whole time.
He did not scream. There was not even a slight widening of eyes, the way they did when something caught him off guard. How like Ulquiorra-kun to be unassuming even in death.
Someone was screaming.
"ULQUIORRA! NO! Please don't! Don't kill him!"
She felt the faint stirrings of surprise in her heart. She had no idea anybody other than her cared for Ulquiorra-kun.
"My, my. What a specimen wasted. I wonder if the Captain-Commander will let me play with the body."
The words jolted her out of her trance.
Ulquiorra-kun was not a body. Not when she was alive.
She was going to bring him back.
"Souten Kisshun, I rej-"
She coughed up blood.
"Nigeki Kessatsu. Death in two steps. I'm sorry, Inoue Orihime, but the hollow had to be put down."
Soi Fon. She looked down at herself.
Put down. Like he was some sort of animal. He was more civilised than these people could ever hope to be. Not that they realised it. They were probably mentally congratulating themselves on a job well down, killing a pathetic human girl and a defenseless man.
So she was dying. The realisation shocked her very little. She hoped she'd go where he'd go. Atleast they'd escape this awful place with all of its stupid prejudices and they could begin anew. She had brought them into this trouble, she would get them out. Atleast nobody else was going to di-
"INOUE!"
"Kuro..saki...kun."
She watched with horrified eyes as Ichigo lost control of his powers as the familiar roar of the hollow within him filled the air. His hair lengthened and... God was that his reiatsu?
The last words she heard were, "Bankai. Ryujjin Jakka."
The world exploded in a haze of flame and heat.
She woke up, shivering, in the dark of the night. A dream. Her stupid nightmare. She stood up on shaky legs and walked to the living room.
She stared at the peaceful form sleeping on the couch.
"Good night, Ulquiorra-kun."
She turned to her bedroom hoping she could find sleep again.
Okay! Author license stuff- I know Orihime probably would not know much about Yama-ji's Bankai or Soi Fon's techniques. I imagine someone told her. Probably Yoruichi about her student's progress or something. Which is why she lies there, dying for ages coming to all those revelations instead of going poof like Ggio Vega. This is her subconscious and that's how Orihime imagines it.
Yama-ji's Bankai, hmm think Ichigo told her, all awed about that 'old man's awesome powers'. So she just assumed his Bankai would be super powerful. Not that she's wrong.
As for how the hell is Grimmjow fighting, that's a story for another time. Everything else, well ask 'em in your reviews! There's a reason why I wrote it I'm sure!
Also, it's 1:40 am here, so please excuse any mistakes!
That's all people. Peace out. Don't forget to leave a review!
Edited to correct a few mistakes.