Disclaimer: Not. The. Show's. Creator.

AN: i'm not the only one who thought that the ulquoirra vs. ichigo fight was a hichixhime moment am i? :p & thank Abingdon Boys School for HOWLING. :)

HOWLING

:-::-:

A night sky full of cries

Her heart was pounding so hard that it hurt. Her hands clenched into firsts, digging her nails into her palms hard enough to cut through her skin. Her face had broken out into a cold sweat. Orihime could barely speak, standing in It's looming shadow, feeling small, insignificant, like an ant. It moved fluidly, taking the scene in with a sweep of those black and gold eyes - the ones that made her vision go fuzzy. Someone was talking, Ulquoirra, but the world sounded as if it had plunged underwater. Everything had gone into a blur, like a watercolor painting, except for It - standing there, eclipsing the moon.

She was shocked. Intimidated. Confused. Dizzy. Nervous. Distressed.

Everything but what she should have been as It moved like lightning, destroying almost everything in it's path. Even when It tossed Ulquoirra's tattered body to the floor like trash. Even when the black zanpaktou was thrust through the white Quincy uniform - a startling contrast. Even when blood pooled out of him. Orihime felt a million things, but the one thing she wasn't was scared.

Hearts filled with lies

Orihime knew exactly how she was supposed to feel. She was supposed to shrink back in horror, like a traumatized soldier. She was expected to scream bloody murder, and maybe even grab the skirts of her dress and try to run away, even though they were standing on a roof. Or maybe she was supposed to just faint right then and there, falling into the arms of some big strong man. Standing there, squinting as the winds whipped stinging white sands up into her face. Her heart raced , but not with fear, with elation

He was here to save her.

Orihime swallowed that jubilation - how selfish can I be? - and did what she was supposed to. She stared on in 'horror', fingers crossed that he would pull through.

The contract - is it worth the price?

Whenever she could feel his spiritual pressure rising and falling, and at times, clinging to life itself, she would feel sick. Guilt would rear it's ugly head into her thoughts, and she'd find herself crying hysterically. It only got worse when she thought of how hard she'd been trying, trying not to be a burden anymore. Was it so hard on him to go and save Rukia? She couldn't remember feeling him suffer so hard for her - only his determination to get to the end. Now, it was just suffering. At her expense.

She should've been stronger.

"I'll...help her..."

Sweet words from a monster. The roof of Las Noches was tainted with blood, and she could feel the dull spiritual pressure from the rest of her friends as they tried their hardest to keep on fighting. There was one thing she didn't feel any more, even as it turned an angry gaze on Uruyuu. Guilt.

A soul pledged to the darkness

Long after, the memory of it haunted her for weeks after - and every time she thought of what had happened, she could feel It's presence even more. Sometimes Orihime could just glance at Ichigo, no matter what he was doing, and feel It there, stirring. She could feel it there, impatient, annoyed, flickering like a candle's flame. Not to mention the smothering feeling it always gave her. Like she was wrapped up, wearing a parka at the beach. It's presence was heavy and dark, soaked in warm rain. Soon enough, Orihime grew accustomed to that weight, letting it wrap around her like a blanket.

The funny thing was, when she couldn't feel it, she felt strangely empty.

And now I've lost it

'I must be crazy...'

He laughed out loud, and she could practically hear the smile on his face. Over time, Orihime had started hearing and seeing him too - and as a result, he was no longer known as It. Sometimes, when she was about to sleep, he would somehow enter her mind. Most of the time, it was something sick and sadistic, like the specific ways he planned on killing the people around Ichigo - the worst one involving Rukia, a potato peeler, and an oven. But one night, when he came - same time as always - he didn't have a story.

'Princess,' he ordered, the smirk on his face replaced by a thin frown. As the days went on, he called her something different. It had started out with Woman, and come down to Princess. Either way when he said it, some order was about to be delivered. Orihime opened her eyes slowly, not sure what to think of this anymore. What would Ichigo say if he knew that she could hear what he thought was his secret? That she could see it, and actually talk back? 'Tell me. What does a floh-wuhr look like?"

'Flower?' She asked, forcing herself not to smile. There was nothing to smile about. A conversation with a psycho was not something that should make a person happy.

'Whatever. Flow-err.'

'Well...' She closed her eyes, trying to find the right words. 'It's pretty and um delicate and...'

There was a pause, and she could sense him considering it. 'So you're a flower.' He caught himself. 'You tell anyone I said that and I'll slit your fucking throat.'

I know I can kill

"Now look around," He spat in one of the puddles, stopping only to watch the water ripple. He turned to look at her, black and gold eyes burning through her soul. Orihime couldn't help but stop and stare - she was there, really, actually there. She'd only imagined what inside of Ichigo's soul would look like, but when she did, she saw something much livelier. Even Hueco Mundo had more color, more personality. There was just blue stretching out into even more blue, enough to drive anyone crazy. He turned to face her, giving her that lopsided grin. "When I'm King, everything here's gonna change. There's gonna be colors and flow-errs, and dragons and shit."

She stifled a giggle, unable to help herself. Even though he had a killer's fluid movement, and a laugh that still sent chills down her spine, there was something so childlike about him. Orihime couldn't help it. "Dragons aren't real."

"You shut the fuck up." A smirk. "Neither are spirits and ghosts."

She shook her head, pausing suddenly. He was always talking in what she felt was a code - kings, horses, crowns. "What do you mean when you're King?" For some reason, asking that made her throat feel like sandpaper. Not liking the helpless feeling that came with it, she instantly wished that she could take the question back.

He turned around, suddenly reappearing right in front of her. The smirk stayed on his face, and slowly, like she might fade away in the breeze, he laced his fingers through hers, pulling her close. It was just like being surrounded by his spiritual pressure, that familiarity. She bit her lip, trying to stop her muscles from relaxing, it wasn't supposed to be like that. She was supposed to love Ichigo - it was supposed to be his hand laced through hers, his body close enough to feel her heart beat. He moved so that his mouth was right by her ear. "When I," he paused, taking her hand and running it along zangetsu's blade. "Kill Ichigo."

The truth exists beyond the gates

"Guess what?" She reached in the back of her pocket, smiling brightly. He looked over at her with curiosity, usually, she tried to keep a straight face. Orihime seemed to be scared to smile to widely around him, like that would be betraying her beloved Strawberry in some way. "I wanna show you something!" She said cheerily, digging something out of her pocket with flourish. A crushed rose, petals falling, and was just starting to go brown around the edges. "It's a flower."

He took it between his fingers, studying it. It was those moments when she forgot what he was, when he would stop to feel the bark of a tree, or stare up at the sun. The moments where he wasn't an ax-crazy killer. When he was just a caged bird, singing. He clenched his fist, crushing the flower, and dropping it on the blue skyscraper, watching it fall. Orihime frowned, watching him scatter the petals in the wind. He looked at her, grinning. It was then she realized how close they were, how she could feel his heart pounding. His arms wrapped around her waist the way she'd always wanted Ichigo to, he knew it too. Warm breath on her neck, he whispered, "I already have one."

Her knees went weak, and soon she was wobbling on her feet. Some part of her mind kept thudding What about Kurosaki-kun? She met his lips, her mind a blank slate. Technically, it was him. Technically, it wasn't. In some weird, twisted way, this was what she'd always wanted.

So we rise, close your eyes

Down fallen (falling) fallen

Give me sight, to see inside

I'm calling

Take a bite

Night by night

Downfallen (falling) Fallen

Hold inside

Just HOWLING in the shadows