Author's Note: Tomorrow I have a massive interview at work, and typically as it's a very highly stressful interview, rather than work on my Powerpoint Presentation, I had an idea for a fanfic instead.

This is a scene I've had in my head for a while, though it only really became an idea for a fully fledged story today when I was trying to budget for next year's marketing spend. I was always quite fascinated by the relationship between an Arrancar and their zanpakutou, plus I've always thought it a shame that we never got to see more of Murcielago or Segunda Etapa. Just something about Ulqui in full-powered evil mode that gets my blood flowing.

Warnings: Swearing, but nothing sexual yet. I'm sure that'll come later though!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. You can tell, because if I DID own Bleach, Ulqui would NOT BE DEAD.

Murcielago

1: Gone, But Not Forgotten

"No..."

His hand was slipping away. There was nothing she could do. She stared at his face as if mesmerised as first his raven hair, then his pale ear, then those penetrating green eyes all disintegrated into nothing.

"No... no..."

His dust was caught by a sudden gasp of wind that came from nowhere and sent the specks rolling, cartwheeling over each other and dancing away, and Inoue found herself stumbling towards them. Her legs were exhausted, her whole body was aching, but she scrambled forward - her ankles giving out periodically and nearly dumping her on the stark, cold ground.

"No... it can't... it can't be..." tears had started to stream, and she couldn't see anymore. She couldn't see the stones beneath her feet, nor the one that was a foot high and caught the remains of the hem of her dress. She tripped and finally hit the floor, scraping gouges in both her knees and tearing her palms to shreds as she pushed herself upright again.

Footsteps behind. Someone running. Calling her name.

She span around and struck out, catching Kurosaki unexpectedly a blow to the side of his head. He had neither seen it coming, nor strengthened his reiatsu in preparation, and he found himself wincing and gripping his now bleeding ear, as the bracelet Orihime was wearing took a nick out of the lobe. She turned back, kneeling down, practically shaking with passion.

"No, you can't... you can't take him from me!" she shrieked into the wind, the gusts starting to tear up around her and sending more ash hither and thither in front of her. "Give him back – give him back!"

"Inoue-san..." Ichigo stood behind her, not daring to approach and touch her, but trying to remain as close as he dared should she lash out again. "What's wrong? He's gone, you're safe now. He tried to kill you."

"Shut up!" she roared over her shoulder. "You didn't know him – you have no idea about him – you don't know anything about who he was – shut up shut up shut up!"

She beat the ground with her fists, a guttural scream surging up her windpipe and erupting from her lips.

Ichigo didn't know what to do. He turned around – he could see Uryuu bleeding to death on the ground. He needed help – there was no time for Orihime's histrionics. "Inoue-san," he implored. "Please – Ishida..."

"I don't care..." she groaned, beyond consolation. "I don't care, I hope he dies, I hope we all do. You stabbed him you stabbed him Kurosaki-kun – when you were meant to be protecting us. You killed everyone... Ulquiorra..."

She hung her head and wept feverishly, unable to take command of her body or emotions. It had finally happened. After all those years of holding in all that pain about her brother – her fears of being useless - her feelings for Ichigo – it was all coming out in a great torrent.

She leant forward, clutching her hands together desperately.

"Inoue, what are you?"

"I'm PRAYING, what does it LOOK LIKE?" she retorted.

"Praying why?"

"Praying for his soul," she bit back through her sobs. "I'm praying that there's somewhere for his soul to go now, praying that he might get a second chance. I'm praying that his soul could make it to Soul Society, or somewhere, but please... he can't just be gone – he can't just be gone."

Ichigo had taken about as much of this as he could stand. He had been fighting for weeks – weeks – to get to Orihime – he had risked his life, they all had. He'd been beaten to within an inch of his life, he'd gazed down without fear into his inevitable death as that demon had held him up by his neck and blasted a hole through his heart, and now Inoue wouldn't even speak to him. No – she was too busy mourning her kidnapper like he was some kind of fucking saint.

"Orihime, STOP IT!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her up to standing, shaking her, trying to be gentle but too angry to give it much thought. "Orihime – he was evil – he was working for Aizen – and now he's DEAD. He's not coming back."

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

He dropped her and stepped back, unable to bear it another second. He turned his back, walked a few paces away, and, confronted by Uryuu lying motionless, turned back. "Orihime – for the love of God – please..."

She wasn't listening. She was kneeling again, pressing her fingertips to her Shun Shun Rikka and mumbling their names through clenched teeth.

"Orihime..."

There was a flash and suddenly six tiny fairies swirled in the air around her head like a halo. The small creatures circled and looped a couple of times before coming to rest – one on each shoulder, another on her forehead, and the last on her knees. They were scared, but as always, calm and purposeful.

"Orihime – what on earth is the matter?"

"Orihime – how can we help you?"

"Tell us what to do."

"Stupid girl – stop this crying. Tell me who you want me to kill."

"Tsubaki, be gentle..."

"Tch."

"Please... pleasepleaseplease," she mumbled through her fingers. "You have to help me – you have to help me."

"Orihime – for God's sake..." but Ichigo could see she wasn't listening. She moved herself, pulling her knees up under her chin, and the tiny fairies scurried and landed in new positions, close to her mouth so they could hear their mistress speak.

"Ul-Ulquiorra..."

The fairies looked at each other knowingly. Only Orihime's hairpins had been close enough to her to have seen everything that had gone on since she'd left for Hueco Mundo. "Hime – he is lost..." whispered Ayame sadly. "His soul has dissolved – there's nothing left for us to bring back."

"No – I won't accept it – there's got to be something. There's got to be something left," she whispered. "He isn't completely gone – there was ash. I saw ash – that's something isn't it?"

"He is scattered to the desert," consoled Lily. "It could take centuries to find him again – his entire soul is in fragments – the pain of reassembling him would be excruciating."

"For him?" Inoue whispered.

The fairies looked at each other. "No – for you," they said in unison.

"We'd have to use your reiatsu to bind his soul together," explained Ayame. "The process would drain you almost completely – you may not survive at all. And if we revived him... I don't know what he might come back as," he added softly. "No one has ever even tried to revive a Vasto-Lorde before. No one has wanted to."

"You have got to be joking – why are we even considering this?" yelled Tsubaki, buzzing around her head like an angry fly. Orihime batted him ineffectually, and he burnt her finger savagely. "He is the enemy – he is dead now – this is a good thing."

"I need to heal Ishida-kun first," she said, standing shakily.

"But that will drain you more!" Ayame protested.

"I don't care about that – I don't care if it takes all my reiatsu – I have to bring him back. Help me."

Ichigo had little choice but to lead her towards Uryuu, but a plan was forming in his head. He'd allow her to heal Ishida, then he'd hit her as lightly as he could with the pommel of his zanpakutou, knocking her unconscious. He'd take her back to Earth, and she'd wake up in her bed, calm and happy and pretty and exactly like the Inoue he had known his whole life, and nothing like this terrifying woman before him now. He had never seen an expression of such unopposed angst on her lovely face as he saw now. What had happened? What had happened to Orihime? What had Ulquiorra done to her?

Inoue knelt down by Ishida's side, holding out her hands and murmured, "Soten Kisshun," and her fairies flew down, met briefly then stretched out a great glowing sheath over his belly and arm. Orihime stared directly ahead of her, an expression of intense concentration creasing her brow. She was pushing them, they could feel it. Pushing her own reiatsu into the ability to heal Ishida more quickly.

Kurosaki could see Ishida was almost healed and readied himself. When he thought that Inoue wasn't aware of him, he lifted his hilt and brought it down. The wind obscured the words she whispered from her mouth, and he didn't hear her before the butt of his sword connected with a thick golden shield.

The shield stayed steady. It didn't crack, it didn't dissipate – it seemed made of stronger stuff than before. Tempered by the sheer force of Orihime's willpower. Inoue stood and looked at him through the amber window. "Go away now," she whispered to him. "Go away... Kurosaki-kun."

She turned and walked a few paces, shield still in place and planted the soles of her feet on the ashy ground. She then rubbed her palms together gently and closed her eyes.

"Soten Kisshun... I reject."

Ayame and Shun'o nodded to each other and joined hands, then as if being blasted from a cannon, then shot upwards into the sky. The whole place lit up as though a firework display was going on overhead, and great balls of golden electricity tore open the sky. Orihime's clothes were caught up in a cyclone, the threads left on her shoulders were torn from her body, leaving her in tattered skirt and bodice, the remains of the garb of her imprisonment. She opened her eyes, feeling the energy of her ability inside her for the first time, driving down her bones, muscles and flesh, and into the ground.

"... I. Reject."

Kurosaki, seeing that something hitherto unknown was soon to descend upon them, left her side and headed for cover, scooping Ishida up as he went and throwing him over his back to head for the cave where just a few short minutes ago, Ulquiorra had shattered Ishida's arm. He skidded as he landed, dropping Ishida and pressing his back against the inside of the entrance way as the world exploded and the cave was flooded with light so bright and strong that it burnt everything it touched. He shouted aloud as his arm was caught in the force of it, and his skin blistered instantly. He rolled closer to the wall, pulling Uryuu against his chest in an attempt to shelter the both of them.

And just as suddenly as it had began, the light ceased, and darkness enveloped the cave. Ichigo found himself clutching an uncertain but now conscious Ishida, who pulled himself abruptly away, nursing a burnt shin. He pulled another shot of anaesthetics from his white costume and injected his leg roughly. "Kurosaki... what is going on?" he demanded. "Where is Inoue-san?"

Ichigo didn't even know how to begin answering that question. He didn't know how else to tell Ishida that the world had gone mad, Inoue had lost her mind, and was trying to pull the tiny pieces of Ulquiorra's soul back together.

Inoue... was there anything left of her now? Or had Hueco Mundo and Los Noches completed destroyed her?

He should have been more careful. He should never have let them take her. He should have kept her close. He should have been less of a child about her feelings – but then he had no idea whether he returned them. Now he'd lost her. Now he'd never know.

Ishida was already on the move, and Ichigo flew out of the cave behind him, heading for where he'd last seen Inoue – over the hill, just on the other side. What would be there? Her charred body? Ash? Surely nothing could have withstood the force of that blast. He could see that the sand had been melted into glass – more of the massive pillars he had smashed in his bout with Ulquiorra had been decimated. Where was Inoue?

But no, Orihime wasn't dead. She stood now in the centre of all this destruction, standing on her two feet as she had been when he'd fled. Her palms were no longer together, but instead in front of her and outstretched, facing the sky. They had been empty before, but now they held the shape of something that Ichigo could not possibly mistake even from this distance.

Inoue still had her eyes shut. She didn't dare open them – she didn't know what she would find. Would he be standing there before her? Or would she open her eyes and know from the silence all around that Ulquiorra was truly gone and there was nothing at all she could do to ever change that.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

Ulquiorra was nowhere to be seen. In the palms of her trembling outstretched hands was the glinting blade of Murcielago.