Wow, it feels like I've been away forever. In reality, I just have another account I've been more active on. However, I did promise my readers over here a DARKER UlqHime fic than The Names We Carry so here you go! (Though, it's bordering more on being both UlqHime and IchiHime.)

I started writing this before the final arc so for arguments sake, we'll say this takes place between The Lost Substitute Shinigami Arc and The Thousand-Year Blood War Arc. Think of it like a "filler episode!" Ha ha! Anyway, without further ado, enjoy!

"Are you afraid of me, woman?"

...

"Hey, Inoue."

Orihime's eyes snapped to attention as she heard Ichigo whisper her name. She glanced over at him, realizing that she had been dozing off in class for the second time this week. She smiled and nodded to him as a thank you before turning her attention back to the lesson ahead.

It wasn't uncommon for her to have nightmares.

In fact, she often had two or three a night. Most times they were trivial and silly, like a squid breaking into her apartment and eating all the food in her kitchen or the bakery being overrun by giant ants on motorcycles. Most times they were things that wouldn't keep her from getting enough sleep.

But lately that had changed.

Lately her nightmares had been frightening and disruptive to her sleep. They were the type of nightmares that would drag her right back in after she woke up covered in sweat and panting. They were the type of nightmares that kept coming back night after night regardless of how calm and peaceful she was when she laid her head on her pillow.

It had gotten so menacing that she had sought out and bought a Malaysian dream warden doll hoping that it would bring her a peaceful sleep, but of course it didn't work. It didn't solve the problem of her nightmares at all. It didn't even so much as weaken the frequency of these dreams.

It seemed that no matter what methods she tried the nightmares returned night after night and it was always the same.

It always started the same.

...

"Are you afraid of me, woman?" He asked, his cold gaze piercing through her like a blade made from ice; chilling and yet burning in the same instant.

"I'm not afraid." She managed to utter.

"I see..." His response came. They were the final words he spoke to her.

His hand outstretched in her direction was a frightening thought and yet she mustered up the strength to reach out to it. Their fingers nearly touched as he began to disintegrate and then very quickly, all that remained of him was ash.

She stood there staring as the wind kicked the ash to and fro through the endless night sky, beckoning her closer as though asking for a partner to dance with. Despite every ounce of her better judgment telling her body otherwise she set a trembling foot forward. In that moment the wind swept upward violently to engulf her. It tossed her about, ash swirling around and covering her body, choking her. Suffocating her and blinding her. The darkness grew thicker and the whole world seemed to drop out from beneath her feet.

The whirlwind continued to thrash her around like a rag doll; lifting and spinning, dropping and crushing until finally everything came to a standstill. She lay there floating in midair, the ash now fleeing her body and taking shape in a rolling mass above her head.

She stared up at the mass in horror as it sprouted wings, claws and terrible demonic eyes. The claws reached down for her. The demonic form grabbed her by the waist with one clawed hand and began prying her mouth open with the other. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't scream. She could only lay there helplessly as this creature ravaged her body and all her senses before forcing its way into her opened mouth with a deafening screech.

Only then could she scream and cry and let out all the fear that had been building up within her but the release would be short lived. She soon saw an image of herself mirrored above her but she noticed quickly that they weren't the same. She stared up into her own eyes only for them to stare back at her with malice and loathing before the reflection reached out and grabbed ahold of her throat with sharp fingernails.

...

"Inoue! Inoue, wake up." Ichigo said as he snapped his fingers loudly.

Orihime jumped at hearing Ichigo speak her name once again. Her eyes flew over to him and she noticed that he was no longer sitting in his seat but now standing next to her.

"Class is over." Ichigo said quietly. He stared down at Orihime, the tired bags under her eyes telling that she hadn't been sleeping much if at all in the past few days. He placed a hand on her shoulder and forced a smile. "You look tired. Come on, I'll walk you home."

"N-no! That's alright!" Orihime said as she stood quickly. She grabbed her bag and bowed her head to Ichigo. "Tatsuki-chan is waiting for me." She hurried away from him, noticing that they were the last two people in the classroom as she began to make her exit. She paused and turned back to him with a smile. "Thank you though, Kurosaki-kun. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you." Ichigo replied as he began to wave but Orihime didn't stick around long enough to see it. He furrowed his brow and picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. He started out of the classroom to find Uryū waiting for him not too far down the hall. "Ishida..."

"So you've noticed too." Uryū said as he adjusted his glasses and turned to face Ichigo. "Something is definitely changed in Inoue-san. Something she doesn't want us to know about."

"She rushed out of here so fast." Ichigo replied as concern began to grow within him. It was true, he had noticed some changes in Orihime but he had shrugged them off as just natural changes that everybody went through. But now Uryū was noticing these things and it wasn't normal. It was cause for concern, especially after all they had been through. "It's like she's been distancing herself from us for a while."

"She reacted the same way when I offered to walk her home last week. She barely spoke to me and when she did it was only to tell me that she would be walking home with Arisawa." Uryū said quietly. "Then she rushed out of here like she did just a moment ago. It's as though the instant we offer any sort of help to her, regardless of how trivial, she runs."

Ichigo furrowed his brow and looked at the ground. "You don't think it has anything to do with-"

"I considered that myself." Uryū interrupted. "But right now, we shouldn't be thinking like that. The cause could be anything and if we narrow our thinking to only one possible cause we could miss recognizing all the other possible causes. For the moment, banish the Espada and everything that happened in Hueco Mundo from your mind. It was over a year and a half ago so let's try to broaden our outlook. It could be anything, even something as plain as Inoue-san simply outgrowing us, as painful as the thought may be."

Ichigo looked out the window down at Orihime as she rushed up to Tatsuki and the two began to leave the campus. "I hope that's all it is, Ishida."

…

"Those bags under your eyes aren't getting any smaller." Tatsuki said as she looked at Orihime. "Are you working late hours at the bakery or are you still staying up to watch those awful horror movies?"

"A little bit of both, actually." Orihime said as she chuckled. "I can't help it. I've become addicted."

"Well then it looks like I'm going to have to stay the night one of these nights and make sure you get to sleep at a decent hour." Tatsuki replied sternly.

"What?" Orihime managed to ask despite the fact that she felt as though someone had knocked the air out of her. "D-don't be ridiculous, Tatsuki-chan! I'm not a little kid."

"Well you act like one sometimes." Tatsuki muttered in irritation. "Why don't I come over tonight as a matter of fact?"

At hearing this, Orihime lost her balance and fell onto a trashcan, knocking it over. She winced in pain but stood quickly before Tatsuki could help her off the ground. She dusted herself off and glanced at Tatsuki quickly. "O-oh, I just remembered! I have to work tonight." Orihime picked up her bag and started to rush off. "Maybe some other time!"

"Well how about I stop by and see you at work?" Tatsuki called after Orihime.

"Don't bother! I'll probably be in the kitchen all night!" Orihime shouted as she kicked her feet into a sprint. She hated lying, especially to Tatsuki, but she just couldn't let anybody know why she hadn't been sleeping. She continued to run home. Her will to keep her secret hidden was the only thing driving her body to continue despite the complete physical and mental exhaustion she felt.

When she finally reached her apartment she felt relief but it was minimal. She realized that soon she would have to sleep and if she slept, she would dream. Nightmares would pester her relentlessly all night until morning when she would wake and try to make it through another day at school without alerting her friends that something was wrong.

It was getting harder and harder to keep this secret and she knew soon she would have to find a different way.

She walked to the bathroom and removed her clothes, drawing a much needed hot bath. She then went to the kitchen and put a kettle on the stove so she could have some soothing night time tea before bed.

She returned to the bath and stepped slowly into the steaming hot water that filled the tub. It burned but it felt good on her aching body. She quickly grabbed a hair clip from the edge of the tub and pinned her hair in a messy mass to the top of her head before submerging herself in the warmth of the bath. She shut off the water and breathed a heavy sigh, trying to search her mind for a solution to her problem. Her eyes began to slip slowly shut as she thought on anything and everything that could help her situation. That was when sleep took her yet again.

...

"Are you afraid of me, woman?"

The question came as strikingly as it had in every nightmare. She stood staring, trembling like always and she managed to respond. "I'm... not afraid."

A slight smile twitched on his lips but there was no outstretched hand this time. Nothing for her to reach for with uncertainty, and his response was different. "Why do you hesitate?"

Her breath caught in her throat. This was not the same recurring dream. This was something different entirely. "Why did you say that?"

"Why do you answer a question with a question?" Those same cold eyes were burrowing into her now, sharper and more painful than they had ever been before.

"That's not what you usually say." She said apprehensively.

There was a flash of a smile again, only for an instant. Then he responded. "You don't usually hesitate when I ask you. So I ask again, why do you hesitate?"

"I'm... I'm not sure." She answered, glancing behind her. If this had been a memory Ichigo and Uryū would have been there. They might have been able to help her if they were present but they weren't. She was all alone here. With him.

"Not sure of what?" He asked as he drew closer. "Not sure of why you hesitate? Or not sure of whether or not you're afraid?"

She turned her gaze forward to find him mere inches from her, staring at her deeply. Her pulse quickened and she found it hard to breathe in his presence. "I'm not sure of that either."

"Then allow me to enlighten you." He said as he pressed his mouth against her ear. "Your hesitation was in direct correlation with your fear of me."

She shivered, the sound of his voice crawling over her flesh like maggots to a corpse. Where she should have felt warmth from his breath she only felt bland, stagnant air. "B-but, I have no reason to fear you." She breathed out, her voice scarcely even a whisper. She could feel him let out something akin to a chuckle against her ear before she felt a clawed hand wrap around her waist.

"Foolish woman, you never learn." He pulled her body against his and forced her head back. He began prying her mouth open with his free hand while keeping her steadily in place. "I promise, you will know fear."

She let out a gasp to scream but it was too late. His hand was in her mouth and his body was slowly disintegrating into ash. She was suffocating on him and the sensation was as though she was drowning. A loud screech filled her ears and she battled to regain her breath but everything just turned black.

...

Orihime opened her mouth to scream and as soon as she did she got a mouthful of water. She sat up, coughing and sputtering in the bath tub, gasping for air. She could hear a distinct screech in the distance and her heart skipped a beat before she realized it was just the kettle on the stove. She climbed warily out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself to soak up the water trickling down her body.

She stepped into the kitchen and turned off the stove, quickly deciding she didn't want tea anymore.

She then returned sluggishly to the bathroom and released her hair from the sopping wet bundle it had become. She let her towel fall to the ground as she reached around for her brush. The mirror was fogged up due to the heat so she took her hand and swiped across it quickly but as she did so she saw eyes staring at her that were not her own.

She screamed and stepped backward, slipping on the wet floor and falling to the ground. Her head collided with the side of the bathtub and it left her unconscious on the bathroom floor.