This is not my story! All credits go to The. Teal. Rose. on Fanfiction.net. This story belongs solely to the author.
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227 Chapter 30: Enticing Threshold
Chapter XXX
Enticing Threshold
"The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand."
-Robert Valett
Inoue did not even fully comprehend how it had happened but as she stood gazing up at the very man who had been the cause of all her tribulations, his menacing gaze piercing through her, she knew with certainty that it wasn't a nightmare.
It was real, everything was still so debilitating real. A mere second ago she had been standing upon the warm sands, witnessing the fall of the fifth Espada at the hand of Zaraki Kenpachi and feeling a subsequent and immediate glow of relief. However, that had not lasted long for within the blink of an eye, as she was making her way to heal the injuries of the 12th squad captain, a firm hand gently placed itself on her shoulder, his striking azure gaze boring into hers.
"Sorry about this," he had said, his deep voice still curiously lacking any malicious undertones. "It annoys me that I have to be doing this, but..."
Stark had then announced to their bystanders that he intended to borrow her a moment before performing a swift sonido and carrying her with him to the fifth tower, where Aizen stood in greeting along with his two trusted Shinigami followers.
Eyes wide, Inoue found she could not look away from the individual she loathed above all others, his abhorrent smile in place and his voice smooth, silken and entirely chilling.
"Welcome back," he began, eying her intently. "Orihime."
She was speechlessly caught and immobilized beneath the influence of his eyes as he began to descend the staircase toward her.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "You look so troubled."
He stopped as he reached her before slowly extending a hand and placing it against her face, his fingers resting against the soft of her cheek and his thumb ever so slightly pressured against her lips. "Please smile," he demanded, "when the sun isn't shining, everyone gets depressed."
The sun...she thought absently, her entire body cringing at his touch and her heart pounding anxiously.
Aizen pulled her forward, and allowed his mouth to linger beside her ear. "All you have to do is smile, and wait here for a little while. Until we..."
He released her, though his gaze continued to hold hers. "...finish destroying Karakura Town."
Inoue's heart thudded as her entire façade stilled. What is he saying? I haven't even restored the Hougyoku yet! There's no way he could already be moving forward with his plan. What is going on? "Destroy Karakura Town?"
"That's right," Aizen confirmed as he then turned to leisurely ascend the staircase.
She watched him rise higher and higher, the view of her beloved city inverted above him. She recognized every building and felt the return of all her attachments to that world. There wasn't a single thing she could to stop him, however, and as she watched on with impending despair she hoped with all her heart that someone somewhere was prepared to stop his advance.
"We are about to destroy Karakura Town and create the King's Key," Aizen explained, returning to stand beside both the former 3rd and 9th Squad Captains.
But who is strong enough to conquer this overpowering reiatsu? Inoue wondered in horror as the very air around her seemed to suffocate and crush every cell in her body. Aizen was powerful, more powerful than anyone she had ever met.
Aizen turned to stare out at the town, "Kaname."
"Sir?" His blind subordinate answered.
"Soaring Net of the Heavens."
"Yes," Kaname replied before lifting a hand and thrusting two curious objects to his right before shoving his arm into their path and allowing them to etch some sort of inscription upon his skin.
Inoue watched with unease as a large, square substance was formed a few feet from where his fingers remained outstretched.
"Way of Binding No. 77: Soaring Net of the Heavens."
A resounding echo encompassed the atmosphere then and Inoue suddenly realized that it was the same device 4th squad had used to communicate with everyone in Soul Society.
"Can you hear me, my dear intruders?" Aizen began calmly. "I applaud you for having defeated so many of my Espada, and shall reward you by telling you of our plans."
Inoue looked down at her hands briefly as she wondered how many had been defeated. She felt the tiniest sensation of relief that Ulquiorra had been sealed away. If that hadn't happened then it was possible that he would have been conquered as well.
"We are about to enter the real world," Aizen continued. "I shall leave Inoue Orihime in Tower No. 5. You are invited to take her back if you so desire."
Orihime's eyes widened as she looked up at him, entirely confused. Did he have no use for her at all? What had been the point in capturing her to begin with? Why was he suddenly allowing her friends to rescue her? Had he not been planning to kill her?
"I'm finished with her," Aizen stated. "Her abilities truly are wonderful. Her power to reject all matter of phenomena greatly oversteps the bounds of what any normal human should be able to do." He began to walk forward, slowly approaching the inverted portal. "The top brass of Soul Society understood just how great her power is. As such, kidnapping her would make Soul Society feel threatened. Rather than focus on the real world, Soul Society strengthened its own security."
Her heart plummeted then as Inoue listened to the truth behind her kidnapping. She had not saved her friends but, rather, led them into the elaborate trap Aizen had constructed. She had been nothing but a useless pawn within his game of tricks. Had Ulquiorra known the truth? Clenching a fist, she closed her eyes and desperately tried to hold onto the last semblance of merit she still granted the fourth Espada. There was no way of knowing whether he had been included within Aizen's confidence.
"Then she became the bait that would lure both the ryoka and Substitute Shinigami here to Hueco Mundo, leaving them unable to aid Soul Society. On top of that, I succeeded in luring four captains to Hueco Mundo to help them, and locking them all in." Aizen concluded with a detestable smile.
Inoue looked up to the ceiling as a sound almost like thunder reverberated through the walls. He is sealing the Garganta. She then watched Aizen enter his portal, as he took the first steps toward her town and the destruction thereof. She felt so stilled from shock that she could hardly grasp at anything she was feeling. All of her emotions had been frozen and her thoughts rendered imperceptible.
"The power of the 13 Protection Squads lies almost entirely within its 13 captains." Aizen proceeded, though his voice was growing fainter as he slowly advanced further from Inoue. "But of those 13, three have defected and four have been captured. One could say that Soul Society has lost half of its military power. This will be easy."
Inoue watched as he reached the other side, his form inhabiting the world she loved. It seemed so entirely surreal that such a place was to become nonexistent, that all the people she had ever known would soon perish at the hand of evil.
"We will eradicate Karakura Town, create the King's Key, and overthrow Soul Society." Aizen announced in complete self-assurance. "There will be plenty of time to fight you, my friends, after we're done with everything else."
Before Inoue could contemplate any further she began to hear other voices, though muffled, and wondered who they belonged to.
"Made it in time?" she heard Aizen say then. "Exactly what are you referring to? I am well aware that this isn't Karakura Town. But that means nothing to me. Stark, Barragan, Hallibel, come."
There was a lengthy pause, during which Inoue assumed his top three Espada had joined him within the real world. However, she was still perplexed by his statement that he wasn't actually in Karakura Town. What did that mean? Had the 13 Protection Squads done something? Were they the ones who had intercepted him?
She then felt a very small semblance of hope.
"If Karakura Town is in Soul Society," Aizen continued, "then I'll simply kill you here, and make the King's Key in Soul Society." He paused another moment before adding, "Until then, Los Noches...is in your hands, Ulquiorra."
The Soaring Net was disabled then as both Kaname and Ichimaru Gin moved to join Aizen, allowing the portal to close behind them. Inoue stood petrified following his final proclamation before hearing a sound resembling shattered glass from her far left.
Mind still numb to all but the sound of the name Aizen had voiced, Inoue's senses could not readily comprehend who had suddenly entered the room until and she heard his echoing response to his master's command.
"Yes, sir."
With a sharp exhale, her gaze widened as her head turned, her hair flaying out around her and the atmosphere seeming to suddenly halt in response to the silent command of reiatsu that Ulquiorra Cifer possessed.
He continued to walk forward, without seeming to acknowledge her presence before altogether stopping and deliberating another weighty moment before slowly turning his head to look over at her, the inflection of his eyes as always serving to pierce into the depths of her own.
Her gaze widened and wavered within his, as she saw not a trace of the gentleness she recognized across his features. His obvious resolve and detached disposition seeped through her entire core and once again instilled a cold, dark emptiness.
She saw him avert his eyes a brief moment and mutter something undetectable before returning his attention to her. For some entirely indiscernible reason, whatever he had inaudibly voiced instilled a very potent feeling of foreboding, of such intensity that it nearly left her breathless.
Ulquiorra was roused from the continued silence and darkness that surrounded him as Aizen's orders reached his ears, a sudden, striking ray of light intercepting the container. He stepped forward before instantaneously thrusting a hand toward the fissure and reclaiming independence as he shattered all that remained of his confinement.
His feet met the marble of the throne room, and his eyes took in the familiar white of the architecture before he quickly comprehended what Aizen had actually bestowed upon him. He was responsible for Los Noches while his master was absent, and his decisions therein would determine the fates of all locked inside the Hollow World.
"Yes, sir," he answered aloud.
Ulquiorra took a few steps forward, before slowly beginning to sense the presence of the one he had vowed himself against. He stopped and withheld his gaze for several breaths, as he withdrew and steeled himself against her alluring company.
He slowly, and almost hesitantly, lifted his eyes to meet hers. He felt the threatening impact of her face, as it pounded away at the carefully constructed walls of his mind. He felt the invasion against his soul and sent forth every defense at his disposal to dispel the onslaught.
He watched her gaze widen in response to his efforts and felt both relief and undesirable regret at having instilled within her the obvious realization that he was no longer someone she held any semblance of fascination over.
The reiatsu of the orange-haired Shinigami then alleviated his contemplations as he allowed his gaze to drift to the right, toward the direction of the quickly approaching individual. He had become more powerful, as predicted. Grimmjow's defeat had served its purpose well enough.
"Come, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ulquiorra stated silently, now entirely dedicated to ending the life of the Substitute teen. Inoue's presence meant nothing, and would no longer serve as a distraction to that which he was resolved to do. She would be forced to watch the demise of the man she loved, and he no longer felt a single shred of compassion at the prospect of her inevitable pain.
Returning his attention to Inoue, he slowly advanced forward, his every step calculated and guarded, the reflection beneath him displaying only practiced denial and centuries of empty desolation.
Inoue was motionless as she watched his approach, unable to avert her gaze and altogether denied any emotional response. Her thoughts were subdued, all confusion and turmoil momentarily absent as he claimed her exclusive, and complete consideration.
He stopped then, a few feet away, yet near enough so that she could observe every feature of his face and perplexing gleam within his arresting eyes. He continued to passively gaze upon her, his hold unrelenting and his presence oppressing all external reality.
Orihime felt no fear as she forced her eyes to remain locked within his, only a final, though faint, feeling of captivation. Despite everything, she still marveled at his ability to instill such a response. He was so obviously intent on casting aside all regard he held for her and yet, she could still recognize an almost imperceptible glimmer of interest, hidden within the emerald abyss that so strongly conveyed nothing but cruelty and indifference.
Violet, completely contemptible violet, continued to try and reclaim his soul within a vice of false promise as the woman stared up at him committedly. Ulquiorra fought the urge to remove his gaze, determined to emerge victorious from the battle they had silently begun. Most detestable was the fact that her eyes had suddenly softened as she seemed to detect something within his. He tried to strengthen his defenses but he could already feel them beginning to weaken. What had she seen? He despised himself for ever allowing her the opportunity to decode his mentality.
"Are you scared?" he asked then, regarding her intently and entirely desiring that she reply in the affirmative.
Silence followed and, when he realized she did not intend to reply, he continued slowly. "Aizen-sama no longer needs you. There's no one left to protect you." Perhaps she simply didn't understand all that such a truth implied.
Inoue continued to gaze up at him, her brows furrowing only slightly in response. His voice resounded through her heart, and fulfilled the longing she had been experiencing since the moment he was sealed away. His face, and his presence, all only served to intensify the realization that had finally started to present itself following the moment in which she had discerned her actual feelings regarding Ichigo. She was not at the point to which she could identify that insight, but she had already prepared herself for the acceptance of whatever it might be.
"You're finished," Ulquiorra continued, ignoring the expression that had crossed her face. "You will die here all on your own, without anyone to hold onto."
His words impaled themselves into her very core, but didn't sway her from the overwhelming effect of his presence over her dormant responses. The pain was accompanied with a faltering, yet continued warmth. Despite the unfeeling declaration of his words, Inoue no longer allowed such a cutting statement of truth to distract her from the strength her friends were lending. Even if Ulquiorra was prepared to rid himself of her, she had others to live for. She had others to share her heart with.
Her eyes continued to hold their strength as she inexorably held his gaze, their hues growing progressively gentler despite the intentionally hurtful infliction of the words he had so decisively chosen for the sole purpose of making her realize how little she could affect him.
"I asked if you're afraid," he stated, now conveying that he demanded an answer from her.
Orihime allowed the silence to envelop her as she searched his eyes for anything that might allow her to disregard everything he had just said. She masked the pain and desperately tried to allow her heart to remain open to the possibility that he was merely exaggerating his own defenses.
He was entirely absent of the intent to make his amends concerning his actions against Ichigo, and that, above all else, pained her the most. On top of which, she still could not find even a semblance of forgiveness within her own soul, and she despised both he and herself for that.
Despite himself, he allowed his eyes to briefly fall and rest upon her lips as he awaited her response. He felt the intoxicating desire to embrace them with his own, and had to forcibly remove his gaze to dispel such a compelling prospect.
Damn, he thought in dismay. Even now...I can't completely cast her aside.
Still, the answer to his inquiry was the same as it had always been. "I'm not...scared."
His eyes widened as they returned to hers, his resolve progressively nearing a complete conversion.
"Everyone came here to rescue me," she explained fondly. "My heart is already...together with theirs."
Ulquiorra was no longer aware of Ichigo's approaching reiatsu as her words consumed the entirety of his focus. "Nonsense," he responded, still intent to make her see how foolish her invested devotion to her friends had been. "You're unafraid because your friends are here? Do you seriously..." His eyes intensified within hers, as a curious, soft and silent resolve continued to contort her façade. "Believe that?"
Inoue's eyes narrowed ever so slightly before she responded with a gentle and captivating, "I do."
Her statement encircled him and he felt his frozen desires begin to stir and thaw beneath the ever-present warmth that she unfailingly instilled.
"When I first heard that they had come to save me," she continued, "I was a little happy...and very sad." She brought her hands over her chest and cradled them there as she felt the rhythm of her heart beneath her touch.
Ulquiorra felt his breathing grow shallower as he listened to what she was revealing to him. She had been...sad when he had told her that? Why? He recalled her, in that defining moment, standing beneath the window, the moonlight glowing all around her and remembered when she had turned to face him, revealing the questioning and concerned set of her eyes.
"I came here because I wanted to protect them all." She delicately added, "I didn't understand why they came. I wondered why they didn't understand how I felt. But when I felt Kuchiki-san collapse...As I watched Kurosaki-kun fight...I realized none of that mattered."
Allowing his eyes to wander to the way she clutched her hands together and to observe the fall of her captivating strands of scarlet hair, Ulquiorra permitted her words to reach him. He felt the return, though faint, of his mesmeric regard for her.
"But still, I didn't want to see Kurosaki-kun get hurt. I just wanted everyone to be safe."
He absently noticed that the way in which she voiced Ichigo's name was devoid of the detestable and debilitating fondness it had once carried. Once a surging and hateful sea of devotion, it was now a still and polite affection for her friend. Was he imagining such a truth, or had her romantic attachment toward him actually faded?
"And that's when I realized something," she stated. "Everyone else must have felt the same way. If any of them suddenly disappeared like I did, I'm sure that I'd do the exact same thing." Her eyes were almost imploring then as she attempted to reach through to the fourth Espada.
"How ridiculous," he finally replied, as sharply as he could though felt the lack of any real revulsion. Her reflection burned itself through his eyes and into his harbored soul. "We already know what awaits both you and your friends. Their coming here...will not change the fact that all of you are going to die. There is no changing that."
He wanted her to hate him, wanted her to feel the fear that was only natural between humans and Espada. He wanted her to realize what he was, and how little she meant in comparison. However, even having voiced the prospect of her death, he found himself adverse to carry out such an action. He could kill everyone in Hueco Mundo... except her. He still could not bring himself to end her existence.
He watched as she lowered her hands and wrapped her arms tightly around her torso, her eyes set on him warily now.
"By sharing your feelings with your friends before your deaths, you humans are able to set yourselves at ease. It's a form of instinct that prevents you from falling into the pit of fear and despair." He paused and allowed her wavering gaze to comprehend what he was saying.
His voice then shifted only slightly, as he divulged something he had decided on during his confinement. Something that would undoubtedly succeed in her understanding that she no longer meant anything to him. "In reality, it is impossible for people to truly share their feelings. It's simply a human delusion."
Inoue held his eyes another moment before allowing her gaze to fall, as her head lowered slightly in response. She clutched herself tighter and suddenly pictured the moment in which she had gone to Kurosaki's room, their hands entwined and her lips nearing his. That moment had served to strengthen her for as long as she could remember. However...that image had been replaced by something else.
She saw herself during a time that seemed like so long ago, gazing up at Ulquiorra after hearing his thoughts concerning the ability to regain one's heart and at how impossible it was that she bore no hatred toward him. She remembered how she had felt nothing but pity and tenderness toward him before standing and approaching him. He had regarded her anxiously upon her advance but did not step back or push her away.
She had kissed him; she had kissed him because she had realized how deeply she cared for him. She had longed to unleash the potential she recognized within him; had longed for that with all heart. Now, as she continued to gaze at his reflection within the marble, she saw that same potential, hidden yet every bit as compelling.
"If I should return changed, hold onto this moment in time and never forget it, even if the entire world falls apart, as it may very well."
She smiled then. "That may be true. It may be impossible for us to all share the exact same feelings. "
She remembered crying over Ichigo, his face illuminated by her tears. She then recalled the night following Ulquiorra's fight with Nnoitra. She had cried for him too and had begged him to promise that he wouldn't ever die. She had reached him then, and he had proclaimed that as long as she remained alive, that he would as well.
"But when you both care for each other," she stated gently. "Your hearts are able to draw a little closer together."
She still cared for him; she knew that despite everything, and despite not being able to forgive him, she still cared for him just as dearly as she ever had.
"Don't die, Kurosaki-kun!" She remembered the desperation in her voice as she called out to Ichigo from the tower, his hollow mask in place and Grimmjow quickly approaching.
"Don't ever die, Ulquiorra-kun." She recalled how frightened she had been during his battle with the 5th Espada, and at how striking the thought of losing him had been.
"That's what it means when we say our hearts are one," Inoue explained with a gentle smile as all her memories of she and Ulquiorra coursed through her mind, instilling an intense and unprecedented attachment. She kept her eyes lowered and they delicately narrowed in fond contemplation.
There was a baited silence following her statement, during which Ulquiorra merely regarded her carefully. He watched her smile form, and detected the far-off glimmer of her eyes. What exactly had she been referring to? Her friends? Or had she been speaking of the relation between she and himself?
Nevertheless, she was entirely fascinating in that moment, standing before him without faltering, and retaining the happiness that no amount of hardship could deprive her of.
"Your hearts?" He voiced then, as always curious whenever the subject would arise.
She lifted her gaze and returned them to his as he took a step toward her.
"You humans say that word so lightly." Despite himself, he continued to close the distance separating them. "As if it were something one can hold in the palm of one's hand."
Her smile fell, but the attentive nature of her stare remained.
"My eyes see all," Ulquiorra explained as he allowed his feet their continued advance toward the woman before him, the closing proximity almost magnetizing in its power. "There's nothing that escapes their sight. Nothing exists that they can't see."
He then halted his steps, mere inches from where she stood, her eyes all the more mesmerizing within their current vicinity. "I've come to realize this during my fights."
Inoue recalled how he had struck Ichigo in the center of his chest and suddenly realized that he had been searching for the heart all along, perhaps for far longer than was humanly tangible. She knew that the answer, however, could not be found on the physical level. He had to learn to accept that which was invisible, the emotional and spiritual truths in regard to the heart. Such a perfect thing was not simply confined to the realm of sight.
"What is a heart?" He asked her outright, somewhat interested in what answer she would provide. He slowly lifted his hand then, as he had done many times before, though the gesture was neither threatening nor jesting. He allowed it to gently rest in front of her chest, as his eyes continued to hold hers. "Could I see it if I tore open your chest?"
Inoue silently watched him, her heart pounding almost painfully and her lungs fighting to continue their intake of air. He was so close, so agonizingly close. Closer than he had been in days and his hand was a mere breath away from touching her. She was too enraptured to move, and her lips remained parted in silent and wordless response to his inquiries.
His hand drifted upward, past her lips and stopping to reside between her eyes, as his fingers barely brushed at the skin upon her nose, the intimacy of the action allowing for Inoue to conjure the anonymous feeling she was desperate to decipher.
"Could I see it if I cracked open you head?" he asked, desperately deterring his mind from dwelling on the warmth of her skin against his fingertips, the smooth texture enticing the delicacy of his touch.
Her eyes widened slightly and she allowed for a soft and sharp exhale of breath, not only at his statement, but at the look she saw returning to his gaze. The look she hadn't seen in so long that it was almost paralyzing in its foreign and beautiful intensity. She could now almost see the cryptic answer within the nameless emotion that plagued her, waiting just beyond the threshold. All she had to do was reach out and dispel the shadows obscuring it.
He did not lower his hand, merely continued to hold it in place as he again felt how deprived he had been from the absence of her touch. He had not experienced her warmth in countless days and now that he was, he found himself without the will to deny it to himself any longer.
His mind was both warning him to keep his distance and simultaneously begging for her to outstretch her hand toward him. Reach for me, Inoue Orihime. Reach for me and break my resolve once and for all.
Another moment ensued, another moment within the enchanting euphoria that had been created between them amidst some strange dimension absent of both time and reality. Ulquiorra felt his anger beginning to falter within the enthrallment she presented and Inoue openly regarded him with the forgiveness she fought to obtain.
If but another moment had been granted, the two would have found themselves within the embrace of the other, all sins amended and all hurt absolved. However, the connection they delicately shared was suddenly shattered as Ulquiorra's eyes widened in response to the reiatsu of the Kurosaki Ichigo, his mind at once recalling what he had resolved to do.
Lowering his hand, he turned his head in time to see the floor imploding and the answering form of the Shinigami Substitute ascend from within the rubble, Bankai assembled and sword at the ready. Ulquiorra met the hardened amber gaze of the boy, recognizing his continued determination to defend Inoue. The jealousy did not return, but his acceptance of the mission at hand remained. Kurosaki Ichigo had to die; there was no way around it.
Inoue Orihime would have to watch and subsequently release any remaining semblance of affection and reclaim her eternal resentment toward the killer of one of her companions, for that was all he would become to her following the deed.
The woman of his contemplations looked to Ichigo with initial confusion before seeming to comprehend what was about to ensue. She looked to Ulquiorra and saw the set of his façade as he continued to meet the defiant stare of the Shinigami. Her heart fell away from her chest, and her breaths altogether stopped in both anxiety and silent pleading.
She felt her soul breaking at the prospect of losing either one of them. Ulquiorra had promised not to die, and Ichigo had as well. However, the intent to kill was written upon both their faces and she suddenly began to feel very cold in apprehension of the inevitable battle.
Her greatest fear had taken form before her eyes, and she tried with all her might to refrain from standing between them, knowing full well that it would prove to be a useless effort. She contemplated grasping Ulquiorra's arm and pleading him to simply step away from the fight, but the connection she had shared with him had been entirely lost at the arrival of Ichigo.
Once again, she found there was nothing she could do to stop the course of fate.