Lamenting Enchantment (A Bleach/Ulquihime fic)

Chapter 1

This is not my story! All credits go to The. Teal. Rose. on Fanfiction.net. This story belongs solely to the author.
---------------------------------------------

Fanfic: Lamenting Enchantment Ch 1, Bleach | FanFiction

Chapter I

Castle in the Sky

do you ever question your life?
do you ever wonder why?
do you ever see in your dreams,
all the castles in the sky...

-Ian Van Dahl
~~~~~
The wind howled across the barren desert, caressing the sands as it swiftly made its way toward the lone figure on the other side of three steel bars.

Dancing through her hair, its fingers swept through the only source of color within the whitewashed room. She closed her eyes as she felt it dissipate and longed to feel once more its soothing touch, or any connection at all to the world outside.

Returning her gaze to the blackened sky she sighed and held her hands against her heart, clasped tightly together and desperately grasping at the threads of hope and strength she risked losing.

"Kurosaki," she whispered, his name flowing off her tongue like the taste of sweet honey.

She prayed with all her soul that he would not despise her for leaving, or mark her as a traitor. She trusted him with her life and she longed to somehow convey to him just how much he meant to her.

She dropped her hands to her sides and then bowed her head to look upon where the light of the moon fell at her feet, bathing the ground in a surreal glow. She smiled and then bent to touch the intangible radiance.

Her hand met only the cold marble of the floor and she shook her head at the silly notion of being able to grasp such an illusion. Her hand remained, however, as if captivated by the play of light upon her skin. It glimmered so magnificently that she felt immediately drawn to the mesmerizing scene.

Lingering but a moment longer, Inoue finally stood and wrapped her arms about her torso as she glanced to the right wall and absently stared at nothing but tricks of shadow.

She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes and she allowed them to suspend but there, forever stilled and denying them the awaited travel down the contours of her cheeks.

Her mind was blank and her heart heavy as her vision began to blur and obscure the sights before her. She hugged herself tighter and held for dear life as she was now the only person in the world with whom she could keep company.

Were the rest of her days to be spent in solitude? To live forever in the world of black and white? Was all color hence absent from her eyes?

'I miss the sun,' she thought as one hand rose to clutch her long tresses, 'I miss the ocean, and the birds and the silly fish.'

She leaned into her own touch, comforted somewhat from the warmth it offered, in such cruel contrast with the chill of her cell.

'I miss cooking and shopping for delicious desserts,' she closed her eyes once more, 'and warm summer days, and cloud gazing, and working hard to defend myself against Tatsuki-chan.'

She bit her lip and desperately fought against the tears that so desired to fall, "Tatsuki-chan..." she inhaled and brought her other hand over her face, hiding the betrayal of her eyes, "Sado-kun, Ishida-kun, Rukia-chan, and...and...," she fought with all her might to not allow his name to break her resolve, "...Kurosaki-kun."

Her mind immediately took her to the moment she had lived just mere hours before her present state, in which she had touched his hand, confessed her love and nearly kissed the man she so admired.