Lamenting Enchantment (A Bleach/Ulquihime fic)

Chapter 28

This is not my story! All credits go to The. Teal. Rose. on Fanfiction.net. This story belongs solely to the author.
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Chapter 28: Impossible Fantasy
Chapter XXVIII

Impossible Fantasy

"Every age yearns for a more beautiful world. The deeper the desperation and the depression about the confusing present, the more intense that yearning."

-Johan Huizinga

Inoue's hair swayed with the wind as the air stilled for several moments following Ichigo's decisive blow to Grimmjow's chest. The child beside her watched in astonishment through the golden expanse of the shield that separated them from the motionless pair below.

Ichigo breathed heavily as he allowed his sword to lower to the sand below, watching as the Espada simply gazed up at the sky in pain and disbelief. He stood another moment before falling to his knees before the Shinigami, seeing the blood upon the massive Zanpakuto bathed with the gore of his own blood.

It's over, Inoue thought with relief and a very slight and surprising satisfaction that Grimmjow had not been slain after all. Regardless of his abrasive and often violent personality, she still held some semblance of gratitude toward him for rescuing her from the two female Arrancars and for allowing her the opportunity to revive Ichigo, despite his abhorrent intentions.

The one thing that she could still not seem to forgive him for, however apparent the necessity, was his cruel act against Ulquiorra, sealing him helplessly within a prison of darkness. However, she did recognize that she would not have been to heal her friend otherwise, and that escape would've been forever denied to her.

Now, though, it appeared as if she and all her companions would finally be able to return home, to where she had always belonged. She felt so many emotions at the prospect that the entire venture seemed too impossible to be real. For so long, she had been prepared to face death within the realm of the Hollow, and had slowly accepted the fact that she would never again set eyes upon her own beloved world.

Lifting her eyes to the sky, however, she felt a small wave of sadness at the possibility of not being able to see the face of the fourth Espada before leaving. He might chase after her, or somehow find a way to escape his confinement before her departure but, the prospect was still present and so she offered him a small smile in his absence. She brought a hand to her lips and closed her eyes, bidding him a silent farewell and kissing her fingertips before lifting her hand upward toward the site of his disappearance.

Looking to her left, she noticed that the child had momentarily averted her gaze and was now eying her curiously. Inoue smiled uneasily as she lowered her hand and clenched her fist gently as the faintest trace of a blush found her cheeks.

Why did such reactions continue to plague her? He had committed unbelievable acts and purposefully hurt her in the aftermath. He had said the cruelest things and showed her neither sympathy or even respect. And yet...as she felt the burn of a scarlet flush upon her skin, she marveled at its continuance and at how her heart would beat even slightly faster at the sound of his name or memory of his face.

Looking down to Ichigo, she also began to feel the cold withdrawal of all the romantic impulses he had once unfailingly instilled within her thoughts and emotions. Why was that so? He still attracted and inspired admiration but...something was undeniably different. Something that was now absent and Inoue found that she could not identify what exactly was missing any more than she could determine the nature of her disposition concerning the Espada.