Disclaimer: This story is made completely from request from a friend which means the OC, Voltaire, is not mine. I am writing this story for Red Cr0w and I do hope it is to their liking and to everyone else's as well. I do NOT own Bleach or Voltaire.

Summary: Byakuya Kuchiki, a stoic noble and Captain of the 6th Division, for all important pretenses, holds back any and all objects of his past from anyone. Aside from Hisana, not even Rukia knows about the life he spent with a woman whom claimed his heart for nearly 8 years. Even as he stands alone as the leader of the Kuchiki clan, his heart still aches for the person he truly loved. He is able to keep up this façade until he is sent with a recon team to Zaraki to investigate a sudden surge of reiatsu. When they arrive, what will Byakuya do when he finds the woman who disappeared all those years ago beaten and broken and without any memory of him at all?

Castle Of Glass

Chapter 8: And Drop Me Down To The Dream Below

"Voltaire-sama?" A meek voice crept into the room from behind the shoji screens, pulling the red-head from her heavenly daydreams.

"Come in." She took a few steps towards the petite woman who moved into the room holding a lump of dove-white, satin-red, and nebulous-black, fabric.

"This is the dress that Lord Byakuya has picked out for you and I do hope it is to your liking, miss. I was assigned to help you put it on." The brunette smiled softly, the layers shifting slightly in her grasp.

"Just you?" Voltaire moved her fiery locks to one side of her head and to the front as she admired the shimmering cloth.

"Yes. He said that you don't like being...ravished by servants. So Lord Byakuya had only me come to assist you." The small woman smiled again, pulled open the kimono that lay in her crossed arms and hold in before the two of them.

Swiftly, the woman dressed Voltaire in the kimono. In what seemed like a dream, the new fiancé was in awe of the beautiful silk that rest across her skin. She felt the knots that held the robe closed tighten softly and nodded to the question about it. Voltaire felt the folds of the cloth across her chest and the abundance of lace above that.

And then, when the woman finished her touch ups to the alabaster dress, Voltaire turned to the full-body mirror and stood in silence for a good minute before she said anything.

"Voltaire-sama? Is there something the matter with the dress? Is it okay?" The woman stared at the girl with emerald orbs and saw the streams that trickled down her face. "Miss?"

"It's beautiful..." Voltaire admired the black under-toned dress that had geometrical, off angle triangles that were gold and white petals of cherry blossoms. At the waist and the bottom of the robe, there were layers of the gold, white, and red fabric and of the black fabric as well, though the black fabric had red petals. At the very top, there was a thin layers of red lace that overlay the layered fabric beneath it.

"So it is to your liking, then?" The young woman smiled once more as she watched her soon-to-be mistress weep softly into her palms she now buried her face in.

"Mhm..." Voltaire mumbled between her skinny fingertips. "It's perfect..."

"So? What's the word, robot?" A blond captain called from behind a concrete wall. "Have ya found anythin' out yet?"

"Have you ever heard of the word 'patience', you imbecile? These things take time." A voice from the other side of the door ranted back to him.

"Well time is somethin' we ain't got. So hurry it up!" Was the piano-teethed man's last word's before he headed back to the medical wing in the 4th Division barracks.

"Ukitake." Hirako called the snowy-haired captain's attention as he approached.

"Shinji. What have you heard?" The sickly man asked, standing and glancing into the room where V rested.

"No, nothing. what about her?"

"She's responding to stimuli, pain and certain other things, but she hasn't shown any signs of waking anytime soon."

"What about the tall, dark, and lonesome?"

"You mean Byakuya? He hasn't shown up either. Things have gotten rather strange ever since she returned. I think there's so much more to this than we may ever know." Ukitake walked into the room and made his way over to the slumbering figure.

"Captain Ukitake? She hasn't shown any signs..." Lieutenant Isane looked up to the high-ranking officer.

"I know, I just wanted to see how she was doing." He smiled gently and ran a soft hand through her lightly tangled locks. "I wonder what it is that's holding you back."

"How many days until the wedding now, miss?" The young maiden asked as she brushed through the cascade of fire the poured down Voltaire's back.

"Oh, um...I believe it's 13 left. Only 13..." Voltaire took a deep breath as another stroke of bristles scrapped through her hair.

"Are you ready?"

"I was ready 2 days ago...I trust I'll be ready in another 2 and maybe another 2 after that. I don't know if I'll be ready 13 days from now...but I hope I will be, because this is the best...he is the best thing that's ever happened to me." Voltaire smiled gently at her own words.

Though it was true that the two were together for a substantial amount of time, Voltaire had always had a thought in the back of her mind a slight insecurity; a feeling of uncertainty about her relationship with Byakuya because she never could fathom how someone like him could ever harbour feeling for someone like her. Someone who erupted from the slums, fought for her life from the very beginning, and was covered in filth the very first time they met. Voltaire never understood where his love for her came from but she cherished it, thrived from it, and became who she was that day because of it.

Even with all this, she still held a feeling of hesitance as she tried on her wedding dress; she still felt rather insecure in the way that he looked at her. She loved him, in every since of the word, but she always had a lingering sense of doubt, which always felt natural.

Later on that day, Voltaire and her servant were sitting on the front porch steps sipping green tea and talking for hours before Byakuya approached them.

"Voltaire." He smiled at the quaintly dressed woman, and her companion, who nearly jumped two feet in the air towards the heir.

"Byakuya! Where the hell have you been?!" She grappled the taller man and held him tightly for a good minute before she said anything.

"V-voltaire...?" The raven-haired man asked, worried by her silence.

"Where...have you been...?" He heard the choking in her voice and embraced just as tightly.

"I'm sorry, did you miss me?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I...miss you..." She squeezed him ever so tightly when those words escaped her mouth.

"I'm sorry...can you forgive me?" He gently kissed her forehead and forced her to look him in the eyes. "Please?"

After a few moments in teary silence, she agreed. "Okay..." She smiled briefly. "But don't ever. Leave me. Alone. Again. Got it?" Her strong, erect digit was very forceful in delivering her message as it dug into his soft tissue between his collar and shoulder bones.

"Hai, I promise."