~Tracks of your tears~

"Why are you sad, Mister?"

Ulquiorra observed the mere speck of a young child who had spoken to him. Though his expression revealed no surprise he was indeed confused. No one in years beyond remembrance had been able to see him for he was a ghost. A slightly immaterial, thin, black-haired man with two trails of red streaming beneath each eye. A murder victim, unsolved but unable to leave the Park where everyday his former sweetheart came with her daughter to play.

He decided it best to ignore the small raven-haired girl watching him with solemn eyes.

~*~

"Why are you following me?" he finally asked aloud. The crisp orange leaves of the trees rustled with the shifting of his emotions. "Because you looked lonely," said the girl; she wore denim overalls and a white shirt. It was no doubt that she was young. Perhaps five or so, he guessed speculatively. He was sure he had seen her playing ball often on with Orihime's girl.

"Here," she rolled the rubber playground ball in her hands and then tossed it across the remaining distance between them. "Catch." He watched the red ball roll and come to a stop at his loafered feet. He simply stared at it for the longest time, all the while feeling the little girl's too-large eyes in her small pinched face resting on him. Finally, he bent slightly, brushing his hand over the surface of the ball, a slight breeze responded and pitched it back to her.

Her smile was radiant. However it vanished all too soon with the call of a man's voice. She and he both glanced toward the playground beyond the trees, a cool wind rippled through the branches. "Rukia!" the call came again. She started and fidgeted slightly, looking fearful. "I have to go now," she said remorsefully. Ulquiorra turned away, wondering if Orihime had left yet.

Leaves crunched, he knew she was leaving. He prepared to do the same, however his departure was silent into the wind.

~*~

"You..." he felt eyes on him. An eerie sensation even though the whole of the neighborhood children had gathered on the pleasantly cool autumn weekend. He sat apart, on a bench wholly to himself save for the same girl as before openly staring at him with large violet eyes. The young mothers standing back watching their broods mingle and shriek in play together, observed her at once, speaking to--what they assumed was empty air.

"What's your name?"

His expression darkened.

He caught the words 'pity' 'her father' 'alone' and 'strange.' The last in particular struck something within him deeply. It had been Orihime gossiping in a low voice to the others. His Orihime. His beloved. Talking in that way about...

"Your name? It's very rude to not answer someone when they've asked you a quest--"

"Ulquiorra." he said, glancing back and catching the hint of the beautiful smile he had witnessed days before. "Rukia," she said, meaning herself. He nodded slightly, "I know. I recalled it from before."

She beamed at him even when the mothers whispered to their children to stay away from her.

~*~

"Ulquiorra!"

He barely lessened his pace through the shrubs. She soon caught up to him, wide-eyed and angry. "Why didn't you wait up for me?!" Emotionless eyes flickered her way, "leave me be. Associate with others your age." He knew what her answer would be and was even surprised at the pang that accompanied hearing her words and the shrug that followed.

"They all stay away from me."

"Don't you have friends?" he asked quietly.

"Only you."

"Don't delude yourself, girl. We cannot be friends." he missed the flicker of hurt that passed through her eyes. Like with any emotion she felt, it was soon buried and a mask of calmness worn to prevent further wounding. "Why not?" a hint of defiance crept into her voice. Ulquiorra sighed and the wind sighed along with him, "the living and the dead cannot mix. It is forbidden."

"By who?"

Her questioning, he found impertinent. "I do not know."

"Then if you..." she struggled, "don't know...maybe it's not true then!"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up," he said warningly.

"Whatever you say. How about we do something today..."

~*~

He would never have admitted it.

Before another had done it. Been all he wanted and needed. Desired to see day after day. Another whose smile he wanted to be the cause of...

Rukia.

The girl had brought something into the regret filled hell he had been trapped in.

Rukia.

Who came on the rain-soaked days to huddle under the trees and watch with him, the sky empty out. Her father was gone at work so that made it easy to sneak out under the watch of another neighbor and go to the Park.

He was afraid. He was so afraid of becoming dependant on the girl's presence. He tried so hard to keep a distance between them, one she was always able to surmount with little difficulty. The living...his eyes wandered to her delicate face and her upturned eyes fringed by thick black lashes. She was ten now. She had been coming to the Park for a little over five years, he realized, how time had flown. She had grown some, was louder in her opinions and wore jeans and a shirt instead of overalls. The dead...he observed himself detachedly. He hadn't changed from the moment the knife had entered his heart.

He was...the same.

He would never change while she grew up. Never see her unless it was--

"Ulquiorra?"

Something hurt inside but he forced his expression to remain impassive lest she suspect something was amiss. "Yes, Rukia?" he answered after a moment of painful deliberation. He would tell her to stay away--he would say he never wanted to see her--

Warm fingers touched his cheek. Startled, he turned eyes full of confusion to her.

"Just smile," she said, tapping her finger to the corner of her mouth.

~*~

And though he had never smiled for anyone but Orihime and never again after that, he felt his lips quirk up slightly in the semblance of a smile. He decided then he would wait to tell her. Next time, he promised to the worry nagging his mind. There would always be a next time.

~To be continued~

Disclaimer: don't own Bleach.

AN: Thanks for reading--no flames or idiotic spammers! Reviews are always appreciated. :)