Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Sleeping with the Enemy ❯ Portrait ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: Portrait

 

Nina sat at the pinnacle of a cliff somewhere near Fifth Division atop a flat boulder with her legs crossed in an Indian style, and across her knees laid her zanpakuto. Kiyohime was its name, and she was just as beautiful in her sealed and spirit form as she was in legend. Kiyohime's blade was a normal, gleaming blade protected by a smooth, shiny black scabbard.

Nina's cerulean eyes were closed and she was completely engrossed in her inner world. She found herself sitting in the middle of charred ruins and a large charred bell nearby. Soon a woman appeared to her dressed in the kimono of a tea house worker. This woman had long beautiful black hair, dark crimson eyes, and pale, almost porcelain skin.

“I see you've finally come to see me, Nina,” she told her.

“I've been quite busy, Kiyohime. I apologize.”

Kiyohime sat down in front of Nina and smiled. “I understand. Joining the Gotei 13 is a big responsibility. You seem like you're making acquaintances.”

“I am, but I promise I'll try to spend more time visiting with you, Kiyohime, though I am uncertain as to how much I should visit.”

“You can visit any time night or day, and you need not even be in this realm to speak with me. However, the more you train with me and the more harmonized you become with me, the stronger we will be as a team and the closer you will be to achieving your shikai.”

“How long do you think that will be?” Nina asked.

Kiyohime smiled softly. “It all depends on you. Those who are lax on honing their skills and training properly may never reach shikai.” She sighed. “Many a zanpakuto tragically waste their potential as strong protectors and fighters simply because the wielder does not take the time to pay attention to what their zanpakuto has to say.”

“I shall not do the same,” Nina reassured her. “I wish to become better.”

“That is good to hear. I like to think that you and I have an excellent working relationship as well as the foundation for a close friendship,” Kiyohime remarked. She smiled. “I see your captain seems to be a good and kind man. I'm certain you will be most happy with Division Five.”

“I already am,” Nina told her happily. “We have a training session later this afternoon. Do you think you're up for it?”

Kiyohime chuckled. “Have I ever turned down a challenge?” She paused. “Someone is looking for you, Nina.”

Nina opened her eyes and looked about her. She was met by the glorious view of Seretei spreading out that the precipice had to offer. She could see the many rising roofs of the buildings that made up the Thirteen Districts as well as the various forests and other foliage that dotted the scenery. In the distance, a great mountain range was painted jaggedly against the light sapphire sky. A light warm breeze rose up from the valley in which Seretei rested and kissed Nina's face as she breathed in the fresh air as she ran her finger over Kiyohime's scabbard.

“It's a breathtaking view, isn't it, Seito-kun?”

Nina stood up at hearing her captain's voice. “It is indeed.”

“You can relax, Seito-kun.” Aizen glanced down at Nina's zanpakuto. “I didn't mean to intrude on your meditation with your zanpakuto.”

“Oh…it's fine. We were just finishing our visit anyway. She understands.”

“What is her name?”

“Kiyohime.”

Aizen shook his head knowingly. “Like the age old myth?”

“Yes,” Nina affirmed.

Captain Aizen sat down on the large rock next to Nina, smoothing his white haori beneath him as he did. “Mythology is such an interesting subject to study. There are so many facets to it.”

His companion smiled a little. “There certainly are. I've read many mythologies besides Japanese.”

“Is that so?” Aizen asked pleasantly. “From what other cultures?”

“Well…Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese, and I came across a book on Norse mythology in the library, but I haven't had time to read it.”

“I think you'll find that Norse mythology is quite intriguing, and I also recommend the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.”

Nina smiled shyly. “I've already read that one.”

“Oh. Well, how did you like it?”

“I rather enjoyed it, actually. It's so heroic, though the ending was quite sad.”

“That's what epics are meant to be, Seito-kun: heroic. But Beowulf's death as a king wasn't for nothing. His people revered him as a fair and generous leader.”

Nina nodded. “I understood the significance, but it was still cheerless for me.” She offered a slight smile. “I have illustrated some of the myths I've read, including Beowulf.”

“Have you now?” Sousuke asked with interest. “I certainly wouldn't mind seeing those some time.”

“Perhaps you can if I can locate them. My personal effects are still somewhat in disarray from moving, and I just had a few stray boxes delivered this morning.”

“Oh what a shame, perhaps I can help you with that, if it's not much a bother to you.”

Nina shook her head. “I wouldn't want to trouble you, Captain.”

"It's quite all right," the captain continued. "Besides I do have some free time."

Nina blinked. "Since when does a captain ever get any free time?"

Aizen smiled softly. "When the captain completes all of his work in time, unlike other captains." He paused and looked away for a brief instant and smirked lost in thought.

Nina rubbed her left arm, certain that he'd feel the tinge of nervousness flicker in her reiatsu. "Well, only if you insist, sir. I really don't want to do anything to take away from what little free time you have to yourself."

"Ah, no need to worry, Seito-kun. It's no trouble at all." Sousuke said. He stared at Nina for a while. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Nina suddenly blushed and stood up. "N-no. Nothing at all. Shall we go before the day gets away from us?"

Aizen nodded, "Yes that would be best."

They left the solitude of the precipice together, returning to the bustling area that was becoming more and more familiar to Nina as each day passed. She led him to her quarters and there they began to sift through and move about the boxes that had arrived. So far Nina only had taken out the items that she needed and some simple things for decoration. During all the unpacking, Nina moved her sketchbook aside and dropped it. In her attempt to catch it, the cover came open and the pages fluttered apart. Much to her dismay and embarrassment, the picture she had drawn of Captain Aizen fell from between the pages and onto the floor near her captain. Nina's eyes went wide, and she quickly bent down to grab the page hoping that he wouldn't turn around before she did so.

The 5th Division captain held a startled expression at seeing Nina suddenly jump and attack a sketchbook page that landed on the floor.

Why would she pick that up so...suddenly? Aizen thought.

"Is that yours?" he asked, wanting to know why the girl reacted so suddenly.

"Um...y-yes," Nina managed as she carefully placed the paper back in the sketchbook.

She didn't want to offer him any more information on that particular piece. It was embarrassing that she'd even drawn it, and she decided that she should have burned it rather than hanging onto it. She held on to the book before spotting her bag and putting it inside. Out of sight out of mind, right?

"What are you hiding there, Seito-kun?" Sousuke asked following her every move as she placed the sketch book inside a bag of hers. "I thought you were proud of your drawing ability.”

"N-now I never said I was proud of it, Captain. I'm sometimes sensitive about what I draw," she told him, clearly trying to evade the subject.

“Was that something you did not like, perhaps?"

Nina bit her bottom lip. "Oh, I like it just fine. I'm just not sure it's something I want to show." She blushed. "It's kind of embarrassing, really."

"Oh? I thought an artist was not supposed to be ashamed of their work," he pointedly responded, eyes on her now.

"Well, I never said I was ashamed of it, either," Nina told him, knowing he'd cornered her. "But I think the artist is justified if the subject of one of her pieces is..." Her voice suddenly got quiet and she could feel the heat creeping into her face. "...standing right here in this room."

"Oh, is that so?" he asked and walked a bit closer to her. "May I see please?" Nina's captain asked in a suave manner. "Seito-kun."

His dark brown eyes kept sight on her and he nodded, interested to see what she drew.

Nina reluctantly knelt down and pulled the leather bound sketchbook out. "It's...just a portrait I did from memory. I'm not sure that it turned out that well." She pulled out the page and held it out to Aizen uneasily. "This is really quite embarrassing, but...I hope you find it accurate and to your liking."

The man stared at the drawing for a while. Never had he seen a portrait of himself done so accurately and with such painstaking detail.

"It's...amazing," he muttered quite stunned and unsure of what to really say. Who knew such a person like her would have a remarkable talent? Seito Nina just seemed to get even more interesting.

Nina blinked, clasped her hands behind her back, and blushed once more. "You are somewhat of a challenge to draw, Captain. I, um...I originally drew that to give to you, but I was too embarrassed to do so. You're welcome to keep it if you like."

"Difficult to draw?" he asked ignoring the offer of keeping the drawing. "How so?"

"Well...I've never drawn a subject wearing glasses before. It's hard to keep the proportion with both the eyes and the frames. And your hair has a lot of dimension; therefore, it was hard to decide where to put the shading."

Aizen smiled. "I thought it was because it was hard to capture my emotion."

"On the contrary, Captain. I find emotion easy to capture,” Nina told him honestly. Many artists face quite a challenge drawing emotion, but I don't. If you look at my other figures, I capture emotions in the people that I draw. The secret is that they have no idea I'm drawing them." She ventured a shy smile. "And the photographic memory helps."

Aizen let out a chuckle amused at her methods of drawing people. "Oh, well that's a very unique quality. I've said before that you're very gifted, Seito-kun, and I mean that."

"Thank you, Captain Aizen," Nina responded, somewhat more relaxed now that she knew she'd gotten a positive reaction out of him. She turned and placed her sketchbook in her bag once more. "I promise that I am not hiding any more skeletons in my sketchbook, so to speak. And as I said, you are welcome to keep that one. I originally drew it to give to you, but I chickened out."

"Hmm…then I'll take it, in that case. You did a remarkable job on it, and it would be rude to not accept it after all your hard work," he said. "Though I rather think you should hang on to it as part of your collection."

Nina snorted amusedly. "I'm certain other opportunities will present themselves if that's alright with you, of course. I had wanted to see if I could really draw you from memory as I so boldly claimed, and it appears to have proven successful." She stood up and had a look around. Her apartment now appeared to be in order, yet for some reason, Nina regretted that he would have to leave. "And my living space is now arranged to my standards."

Looking around, Sousuke noticed that her area was rather plain yet neat. "So it is. I thank you for taking the time to draw me.”

"There is no need to thank me for something I so enjoy doing," Nina responded lightly. "Though I believe I should be the one extending my gratification for helping me unpack the remainder of my things on your free time. I appreciated the company."

"It was no trouble at all, but why exactly would you choose to draw me?" Sousuke asked. He paused. "Then again you're the artist."

Nina softly laughed, as she led him out of her quarters. “If you really must know, Captain, you are a good subject. That is all.”

He nodded as he tucked the drawing inside his haori with a pleasant smile. “Well in that case, should you ever decide to use me as an unknowing subject, I won't mind, but I would like to see how and where you've captured me once in awhile.”

Nina smirked. “I might consider that.”

Aizen glanced up at the sky. “Well, it's nearly lunch time. You should hurry to the mess and get something to eat before training this afternoon. Take care and I'm sure I will see you around tomorrow as I won't be overseeing today's session.”

Nina bowed politely. “In that case, take care, Captain, and thank you again.”

Somewhere behind a tree a good distance away from Nina's quarters, a silver head with squinty eyes and a fox-like grin poked out. “So...that's how ya spend yer free time? Heh…"

"Spying on me again, as usual, Gin?" Aizen responded. "I certainly hope for your sake you're not insinuating what I think you are."

"Oh? And why would ya think of me like that, Captain? Besides I ain't spying on ya, just decided to go for a stroll an' ended up here to tease ya. Not much really."

Aizen snorted amusedly as Gin joined his company. "I find it highly suspicious that you would conveniently show up in my division on a 'stroll'. Are you certain you're not looking in on me to be sure I'm not crossing any lines?"

"Now why would I do such a thing?" the Third Division captain continued. "Yer a smart man. I'm sure you can take care of yerself," Gin said with his smile turning to a curved sneer.

Oh so now you're sneering at me," Aizen told him. "And just why would you making such a face, Gin?”

Gin let out a small chuckle as he placed his hand behind him and rubbed his neck looking sideways trying to avoid Aizen's stare on purpose. "No reason, although I do find it quite amusing."

Gin remained calm with the same usual expression he always held. Things were getting more entertaining. The smile turned to a wider grin slowly curving up wards. His eyes now even more narrowed than the usual fox slit eyes.

"Yer scary," the slender man said meeting Aizen's stare. "Very scary."