Orihime and the Beast

AN: Well, here it is. My first full-length-not-a-terrible-oneshot Ulquihime fanfic, aptly titled "Orihime and the Beast". Hope you enjoy! Please review. Please. XD

Long ago, in a faraway land, there lived a stoic prince, who ruled over a small kingdom. The prince was unkind and unjust; many called him heartless.

One gloomy and cold night, an old beggar woman found herself at the doorstep of the heartless prince's castle. Freezing and wanting shelter, the woman asked kindly for refuge from the bitter cold and rain- offering a single rose as payment. Horrified by her haggard appearance, the prince coldly turned her away. The woman warned the prince not to judge by appearances, for what lies within the heart is what truly matters. Still, the prince dismissed her, thinking that such ideas were foolish. And when he did, the horrid beggar woman transformed into a lovely enchantress. The prince begged her for forgiveness, but the enchantress would hear none of it- and she cast a powerful spell over the prince and the inhabitants of his castle, saying:

"Since you do not use your heart for love, I will take it from you until you learn to feel for the good of others, and love another ahead of yourself."

The rose she had previously offered was truly an enchanted one, and as she disappeared she warned the prince that if the last petal of the rose fell on his twenty-first birthday without him having learned the value of a heart: to love and be loved in return, he would stay a heartless and empty beast for all eternity.

The prince, after the spell took effect and the enchantress disappeared, looked down at himself in horror, seeing what he had become. Above his heart- or where his heart used to be- there lay a gaping hole, with the blackness of his own soul dripping forth from it down his chest. He was no longer human- no, he had become the picture of his empty heart: a black winged beast.

The kingdom fell to ruin, and the prince hid himself away, unable to feel even unhappiness as he lost his all that he had: emptiness swallowed him whole. All he had that connected him to the outside world was a magical mirror- the only kindness the enchantress gave him- and the rose, which soon began to bloom. To him, however, there was not even hope. For who could ever learn to love a heartless beast?