Hello readers~! I know it's been FOREVER since I uploaded anything...
A lot of shit went down in my life that you all probably don't care about lolol.
Basically I started college, my girlfriend of over 3 years cheated on me,
I temporarily lost one of my best friends, and I fell in love all over again.
That said, I'm doing a lot better and my muse has begun to surface once again!

This is an UlquiHime fic that has been lingering in my mind for a few months and I've just begun to piece it together.
There may be hints of IchiRuki and IchiHime later, but no promises. There definitely will be M rated content later on.

Enough of this long author's note. This first chapter is just over 1,000 words;
just a taste of the story. More of a prologue, really. R&R if you would, please~!

The Mind Knows Reason, But the Heart Knows Bliss

Chapter One

Written by Illuminate the Shadows

She was starting to believe his words were true. If he were to rip her chest open, he would see her heart beating. But the heart she had spoken of was not physical. When people spoke of a broken heart, they were still alive. Their heart was still pulsing; it was not broken. But they associated the pain they felt with the organ in their chest. Was it because they felt the most pain there? Because every society's symbol of love is a heart? Inoue knew the pain personally. It resonated throughout her whole body, seemingly drawing its strength from her chest.

No, she had never been broken up with, nor cheated on. No, she had never had to say goodbye to a family member going across seas to fight for some nameless war. She had never gone hungry, or not had a warm bed to sleep in at night.

But she had suffered through the loss of a brother. Carried the burden of an unrequited love for many years. Been a burden on her friends from day one, having to rely on them to survive countless times. She had never got the opportunity to say goodbye to her friends before they were lost in the middle of the pointless war waged between shinigami and arrancar. It hadn't been their fight. Even her powers could not bring them back.

Now all that remained were bits and pieces of each side. Lives lost, innocent blood spilt, hearts broken without their companions. Only crumbled remains, strewn like shards of shattered glass.

She could still taste the sunglow on her tongue, like a mixture of ginger and vanilla radiating from the counterfeit sun above. Fake or not, it had served the same purpose as home. The gentle breeze had carried the scent of desert and sultriness through her hair and along her skin. She would curl her toes down into warm sand, enjoying the feel of the grains on her tired soles.

Her wispy eyes opened and she stood slowly, savoring the stretch of her limbs. The sun that shone down upon her now was certainly genuine. Soaking in all the ultraviolet rays had done wonders to her pale, weak body. Spending the majority of her time locked up in a cell with blank white walls and the bland, tasteless food she'd been forced to consume had deteriorated her health. Her limited time out of her cell had consisted of testing on her Shun Shun Rikka, leaving her so thoroughly exhausted that she had sometimes stumbled back to her room beneath the silent presence of the Cuarta and collapsed on her bed without devouring the meal that her famished body desperately needed.

It was time to head home. The sun was beginning to drift behind the mountains in the far distance, casting rays of pink, red and orange across the clouds. The gentle breeze tickled her calves as she retreated from the ocean's shore. The beach reminded her of Hueco Mundo. One would think she wouldn't want to be reminded of such a place. It wasn't the place she was fond of, really; more so, a select few of its inhabitants.

The sidewalks were quiet. It was late on New Year's Eve. Most were at home with their families or loved ones, drinking wines and ciders and celebrating. Inoue hugged her coat tighter around her frame as she passed by shops closing up for the evening. She was nearly home. A woman passed by her, being pulled along by her dogs on their leashes. A tall man on a cellphone crossed in front of her, heading further into downtown. Inoue turned the corner around a fruit stand and, just like that, there he was.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She raised a hand to wave, opened her mouth to call out to him, but... No.

Her arm slowly fell to hang at her side as she watched him laugh merrily. His arm was slung around the short girl beside him. They walked close; their bodies touched. When she moved, he moved. Like gravity. His face was aglow.

Letting him go had been the hardest thing she'd ever done. She would have given everything to him.

"Why do you still long for him?"

Orihime jumped, startled by the monotonic voice resonating from behind her. Her eyes lingered on the orange-haired shinigami for a few more minutes before she turned around slowly, meeting emerald orbs.

"He rejected you. He scorned your feelings toward him. He discarded you like the weak human you are."

"Kurosaki-kun never meant to hurt me," she murmured, avoiding the arrancar's gaze, hardly believing the words herself.

He was silent for a moment, simply scrutinizing her like he often did. Inoue began to grow self-conscious, like she always did. She and Rangiku had once spoken about her shyness. She was not used to people staring at her. Rangiku said they did stare – only when she wasn't looking. Or, they were too afraid to look altogether. "That's the responsibility that comes along with being a beauty," the woman had claimed. Inoue didn't consider herself ugly, but she had never recognized herself as beautiful.

"Would you like something to eat?"

"You know I have no purpose of ingesting food, On'na."

Orihime glanced around to make sure no one was staring at her as if she were insane. Talking to what appeared to be air was something not many sensible people did. "Then just come keep me company. You don't have to eat."

Ulquiorra regarded her with a neutral expression. Orihime knew he was contemplating her offer. Such interpretation came from being around him so often. She knew the tiny changes in his expressions like the back of her own hand. To her, he was not so detached. A small smile formed on her lips. "Please?"

"Your beseeching is not required, On'na," he murmured, blinking jade eyes. "I will accompany you home, but that is it."

Orihime remained silent, turning to walk with him. She could tell by his tone that he would probably change his mind once they arrived at her house. He still felt protective of her; even almost a year after the war had ended.