Sunlight. It was golden and twirling and fresh, and it came pouring down in thick yellow curtains like the glow of a healing shield. It streamed through the windows of Orihime's apartment, filling her senses, making her sigh out puffs of breath to stir the particles in the air because it made her feel so drowsy.

Orihime had cried herself into a numbness, once. She found that now sometimes when she might have cried in the past that same numbing sensation came back and suddenly she just shut down. This time she found herself in the living room, hiding in a corner with her knees to her chest and her back to the wall.

One of her hands slipped up over her breasts to rest just over her heart. It wasn't numb like her mind, it ached. It throbbed dully under her skin and bled all over her ribs because it just couldn't seem to hold all of the despair it was drowning in.

She kept that one had over her heart, slowly straitening out her legs. It would do her no good to cower in the corner of her living room sulking.

She pushed herself up into a standing position.

Slowly, though, she leaned back into the wall, her head dully thumping against the white paint. She watched with a lovely sort of detachment as she fluidly, though slowly, raised her arm.

She reached out to the empty air in front of her, to the sunlight, and made a grab like she was searching for a hand.

Little tiny particles of dust swirled past her fingers, spinning in the air before lazily drifting on.

She held her hand out, open, waiting, reaching. She could see through her middle and index finger like they were some sort of window. Her heart ached and dripped with sorrow, but the rest of her was unfeeling.

Her eyes widened.

It wasn't often it felt like the air reached back.

So! I've decided to start yet another UlquiHime fic. Except, you know, with a lot more angst. I hope to hear from everyone telling me what they think and all that good stuff. So... enjoy!