Wise (and silly) notes from the author: "A Picture of Words" is a series of One-shots of my favorite Bleach pairings, particularly based on a fanart made by various talented artists. Whether they're sketches, colored arts, digital, traditional, vectors, or doujin, when I get inspiration from them to write, I just do it. Of course, I'm not gonna forget to credit the artists that gave me that inspiration. The one-shots will be based on my interpretation of the arts. I'll be posting the links of the art in my profile every time I update.

Art Inspiration by: EspadaDina
Bleach Pairing: Ulquiorra Cifer & Orihime Inoue
The First Canvass: A Coarse Breeze of a Reunion

Her heart was like a blank canvass…

It's been difficult these days, she realized, as she crossed the road, heading home from her work. Often times, whenever she's alone, her thoughts would always lead her to those sad and painful memories of the past. She was known for her sunny smiles and vivid imaginations, and no one at school or at work could tell that she was really a lonely person inside. She already had overcome the immense loneliness she felt when her big brother died with her best friend's help. But now she was experiencing a loneliness fueled by grief, pain, and regret.

She had the ability to reject events, the power to violate the realm of gods, just as she'd been told, and she was able to save the one person who opened her eyes, who made her realize the grave mistakes she did, and the one who made realize her strength. She wished she could undo all the mistakes in the past, but all she can do was to change the way she felt about it.

It was the right thing to do, even though her friends were skeptical about it. Sure, he was the one who kidnapped her, locked her away, and tried to kill her friends, but he was able to redeem himself. He was merely following the orders of his superior, and she could see it in him that he wasn't evil. He was just a being shrouded in darkness and she was able to reach out to him and brought him to the light.

It's been a year from the time when she last saw him. She wanted him to come with her and live in the human world. But she wasn't able to ask him. It was difficult for her. There wasn't a day she hadn't think of him ever since halcyon days returned. Sometimes, she would occupy herself by daydreaming about random things, just to distract her from the sadness and longing she felt towards him, but it doesn't always do the trick.

A sigh escaped from her lips as she turned around the corner. She walked past a group of five men, all dressed kind of ruggedly. She failed to notice the malice in their eyes and the way they snickered like sly foxes. As she further occupied herself with her thoughts, these men approached her, joking loudly among themselves.

When she was almost at another corner, one of them called out to her. "Why not play with us for a while?"

She spun around, whipping her gorgeous wavy hair about, and looked at them immediately. "Um…" She pointed a finger at herself. "Are you talking to me?"

One of them took a step forward. He was wearing a white shirt underneath the open black jacket and a pair of blue jeans. "Woah…Look at you!" he exclaimed excitedly and rather sinisterly. "You're a babe!"

"Pretty face and a nice rack too," another one said, licking his lips, as if he was ready to eat her.

"I really have to be going now," she said innocently. "I still have homework to do."

"No need to rush. Come spend time with us, babe," the man said, as the others chuckled gruffly.

If these men thought she would get scared that easily, then they have another thing coming. She had handled hollows, faced dangers and survived, so handling a group of hooligans won't be a problem for her. She was ready for their attack.

Their minds were filled with disgusting, malevolent things, even she could tell that much. They were ready to taste her, to knock her out senselessly, but before they could even take a step closer to her, their expressions suddenly changed to somewhat frightened, as if they'd seen a ghost or a monster, and she recalled doing nothing yet. Well, she had every intent of beating them up with her martial arts though.

"Let's get out of here!" one of the guys yelled, and all of them panicked, spun around and made a run for it.

This left her baffled. "I wonder what their problem is…" she muttered, scratching the back of her head.

"Are you always this oblivious, woman?" a voice questioned.

"I do daydream a lot, you—wait… huh?" She turned her head, peering over her left shoulder to look at the owner of the voice. And then she just froze, obviously surprised.

"Regardless whether you can fight or not, it's not wise for a woman such as yourself to be walking alone at night," he said in such a cool, composed manner.

She blinked, still unable to grasp the reality in front of her. Or maybe she was having one of her delusions again. She stared at his face, studied his flawless features highlighted by the ray of the moon. He was wearing her school's uniform, looking very refined and very human. He no longer had the tear marks on his face and the broken helmet was missing.

"I can assure you that I'm as real as the air you breath, woman," he said curtly, leaning forward, as he brushed a mass of hair to trail a finger down her neck. His touch was cold against her skin, yet it gave rise to an unexpected heat inside her. His whisper, as soft as the night breeze, sent shivers down her spine. "I came back for you…Inoue Orihime…" And the way he muttered her name made her heart race.

She was speechless. It was as if she was under his strong, mystifying, sensual spell. And she swore that her face turned even redder the moment he lightly brushed his thumb across her lips. She felt her knees weakening. It was too much and too exhilarating.

"And I believe this belongs to you," he whispered again, jumpstarting her heart once more, as he pulled away to gaze into her silver orbs. His hand stayed where her heart was, to her surprise. As he withdrew his hand, he revealed her most precious memento, the Shun Shun Rikka, now pinned on her uniform.

For a moment there, she thought he was going to kiss her. "Ulquiorra…" She giggled in the sweetest way, and he looked at her, obviously thinking absurdly of her reaction. Then, without warning, she kissed him on the cheek. Even with a mask of indifference, she could sense that he was somewhat surprised with what she did.

"And what was that for?" he questioned.

"For bringing back my Shun Shun Rikka," she said cheerfully. She stepped forward, bringing her face close to his, as she smiled. "And this is for coming back to me." She spread her arms wide and gave him a great big hug. "Thank you, Ulquiorra. It won't be lonely anymore with you around."

She had never wished for anything greater the moment she took that step out of Hueco Mundo. He no longer belonged there, despite being a hollow, and that's because he already possessed something precious. When they reached out for each other, she knew from then on that the bond between them will never be broken, that they were always going to be connected.

"Let's go home, Ulquiorra," she said, taking hold of his hand, and the ex-Espada graced her with a rare smile.

And the canvass is filled…

JC: That's the end of the first one-shot. Simple, really, but it's the scenario I thought off the moment I saw EspadaDina's sketch. If you wanna see the art, the link is in my profile page. Once again, I'd like to extend my thanks to EspadaDina for drawing such a cute art. Now I wanna see some reviews. No flaming please. After this, let's move on to the next one.