Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Sleeping with the Enemy ❯ Captain and Subordinate ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11: Captain and Subordinate

 

“Wishful thinking, patience shrinking,

Bliss is far away,

North is calling, now I'm falling,

At your feet please stay.”

-The All American Rejects “Too Far Gone”

 

“See you tomorrow, Seito-san!” Momo called as Nina left the Division Five office.

Nina smiled at Momo and waved. Her blue eyes dared to steal a glance at her captain who was busily working at his desk. He said nothing to Nina as she departed from him, but he had certainly noticed her presence and watched her keenly and secretly.

Nina had been in the office to ink Hinamori's illustrations with her professional artist's pens, and the girl had been impressed at how much sharper and neater her work appeared when compared to the standard permanent markers she had been using. Though Nina was more often the quiet one, even she couldn't help a giggle or an amused snort of laughter over Momo's comics.

A month had passed since the festival, and Aizen had barely spoken to Nina in that time. The night of the festival had left a bitter taste in his mouth over the fact that she had been someone else's date. He'd felt insulted that she had chosen to go back to her date with that inferior example of a man rather than staying with him after he'd gone through the trouble of pulling out all the stops. He even left a mountain of paperwork to sit until the following day so that he could be with her, and this was the way that she had chosen to treat him.

He forced a pleasant smile toward Hinamori. “Lieutenant, I'm going out for a little while. Please continue with your work.”

His smile was as devastating as ever when Hinamori looked up to catch sight of it, and she blushed. “Yes, Captain Aizen.”

He left the office with little more to say and clasped his hands behind his back as he made his way down the boardwalk. He was silent for the most part, only offering a greeting to those who spoke to him first, but try as he might, Sousuke's expression was somber and his eyes hard.

“Why so serious, Cap'n?”

Gin had appeared from nowhere, as he was famous for doing, and invited himself on Aizen's little stroll.

“Serious? What makes you think that?” Aizen asked.

“Well that hard look on yer face doesn't suit you, ya know,” Gin responded. His ever present smile stretched into a clever grin. “It's that girl again, ain't it? I thought you'd gotten over that.”

“It's nothing, Gin, as I have told you several times before.”

“Tsk tsk,” Gin clicked. “Lyin' to yer friends ain't becoming of you either. Ya look like you've given up on her.”

He frowned but said nothing. Whatever he said would be contorted around anyway, so he chose to just keep his mouth shut.

“Ya know,” Gin began, “you always get what you want. I'm sure you'll find a way.”

Gin smiled at his companion in that weird, implying way that Aizen saw all too often whenever Gin had an idea in his head but didn't quite want to say it.

“I'm sure I will, Gin,” Aizen told him, understanding.

Nina was once again out in the Fifth Division forest, but though her supplies were with her and her sketchpad was out on her lap, she was not drawing. She stared at the blank page and twirled the pencil in her hand, but her mind had gone blank.

Actually, it wasn't completely blank; she had been thinking far too much about Captain Aizen lately. Her captain had been acting very strangely since the night of the festival, and it had made her unsettled. He hadn't visited the library much, and when he did, it seemed as though it was when she was not on duty. During training, he would barely say two words to her, and in the office, he seemed…tense. Had she said something to offend him? Had someone said something to him, perhaps?

She sighed and put away her sketchpad and supplies. There were a hundred things around her to draw and she couldn't focus on anything. She rubbed her temples, shook her head, and glanced down at Kiyohime. Nina picked up her beloved zanpakuto and laid her across her crossed knees.

You're here again today, Nina. What's wrong?

“I don't know, Kiyohime…the way my Captain has been acting toward me is bothering me.”

Kiyohime sat down on a charred rock and crossed her legs. And why is it bothering you?

“If I knew that I wouldn't be asking you,” Nina responded annoyed.

Now, no need to get snippy, Kiyohime responded casually. Let us address this problem, shall we? I can only surmise that the reason you're so perturbed by your captain's behavior is that you have become quite attracted to him, probably more than you should.

“What?! Oh I have no-!”

Nina was suddenly pulled from her inner world by a reiatsu that was now more familiar to her than ever. She bristled and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she rose quickly from her spot. She could sense another reiatsu, this one even more familiar to her. She grabbed Kiyohime, left her art supplies where they were, and slipped into shunpo.

Nina arrived on the scene to find the very object of her thoughts already at the location with his zanpakuto drawn and standing down a gigantic, spider-like Hollow. It struck out at Captain Aizen, but he deftly blocked it with Kyoka Suigetsu and aptly dodged another strike that the beast threw his way. It looked strong, and Nina felt that she had better do something to help out her captain and do it quickly.

“Slither, Kiyohime!” she suddenly cried as she ran into the fray to assist.

Aizen snapped his head up, wide-eyed with surprise, in time to see his Third Seat glowing red and her zanpakuto reforming into a large-bladed naginata. With a snap of the wrist, the blade extended out into a long chain of links and sliced the front legs completely off.

“Seito-kun…” he trailed, still a little surprised by what he had just seen. He readied Kyoka Suigetsu. “So you do have shikai…”

The blade reformed to normal and Nina stood at Aizen's side at the ready herself. “I'll explain that later. Do you mind if I assist you?”

“By all means,” he responded pleasantly. “You and I have not had a chance to work together, and it will be a pleasure.”

“The pleasure should be all mine,” she remarked as she focused her attention on the Hollow.

Why don't you just kill it already, Sousuke? Aizen heard Kyoka Suigetsu complain.

Patience, he answered back.

The Hollow peered at Nina and Aizen with its eight eyes and suddenly reared up and began spitting a sticky substance directly at them. He shoved Nina out of the way as he repelled in the opposite direction.

“Seito!” he barked. “Use kidou!”

Nina cringed at the mention of using kidou in front of her captain. As much as she hated to admit it, her skill in the demon arts was definitely not as strong as her swordsmanship. Yet, she was given an order and she must comply at any cost.

She raised her hand toward the Hollow and focused her reiryoku as she did when she was alone. “Way of Destruction Number 33: Soukatsui!”

A blast of fire cannoned from Nina's hands and directly at her target. However, the shot did not prove entirely effective as it only grazed the monster and left barely a scratch. The shot did, however, provide enough of a distraction for Aizen to slice off the rest of the legs, and the push from Nina's kidou was just what it needed to take it down.

The Hollow hit the ground hard and began to roll around like a boulder, flailing what was left of its legs. Its screams were deafening, and Nina's ears began to ring from the sound. Luckily, Nina had been working with Kiyohime to better learn her abilities and this provided the perfect opportunity to activate something that Kiyohime had recently taught her.

“Strike, Kiyohime!” she commanded and flicked her naginata toward the flailing Hollow. The links of her blade coiled around its fat spider body like a constrictor-type snake, and Nina pulled on the hilt. She began to glow red as she felt the energy beginning to drain from the struggling beast. It was difficult to keep her footing on the ground with all its fraught, and she had to put every fiber of her strength to keep the coil firm until its reiatsu could drain enough to weaken its erratic movements.

The pull of the beast was making her feet start to give way, and she glanced up at her Captain, alarmed; he had barely escaped the toppling of the Hollow onto the ground, but it had collapsed so hard and so close to him that it knocked him off his feet.

“Captain!” she cried out.

Aizen scrambled to his feet, seeing that Nina would not be able to hold it at bay for very much longer and decided to finally finish this here and now. He raised a hand up, his dark brown eyes narrowing.

“Way of Destruction Number 90: Kurohitsugi!”

An ominous, black and purple light emitted from his hand and lines of a large box began to draw themselves around the Hollow. The coffin filled with black and skewered the beast on all sides. There was only a second's pause, and when the box had cleared, the Hollow was destroyed, dissipating into air.

She stared wide-eyed in amazement at the scene, and she was so caught off guard that she wasn't prepared for Kiyohime to recoil back into a blade once again. The force of the withdrawal knocked her flat on her bottom, and she could hear Kiyohime giggle mischievously.

You can stop drooling now, Nina-chan…

She ignored Kiyohime's remark for now as Captain Aizen approached her and held out a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.

“You master your zanpakuto well, Seito-kun,” he remarked. “I've always said that you have potential.” He paused. “I wish you would have told me about your shikai when you achieved it.”

She blinked at the implying tone in his voice; he had already known about it. “How did you…?”

“I sensed it,” he told her. “I am very receptive to the spiritual energy of others, especially those in my Division.” He glanced down at her and offered a mischievous smile. “Shame on you for keeping secrets from your captain.”

She snorted amusedly. “Shame on me, indeed.”

“Accompany me, Seito-kun,” he said as they put away their weapons and walked together through the forest. He clasped his hands behind his back. “Why did you not come to me as soon as you achieved it?”

Nina stared at the ground. “I didn't want to tell you until I better understood it myself.”

He nodded. “I see…but you know that I could have helped you hone your skill, though I must say from what I just saw, you really are perfectly capable of doing that on your own. Besides, you seem to know better than anyone that only your zanpakuto can teach you its secrets.”

“Then why are you objecting to the fact that I did not let you in on it?” Nina challenged.

“Perhaps it is because I want you to be honest with me, Seito-kun, and I want you to trust me. Trusting your captain is important, especially when your captain is the one who holds your life in his hands.”

Nina nodded, understanding what he meant. “In that case, I apologize for not being more honest with you, and I shall be sure to do so from here on.” She paused. “But I wonder something…”

“And that is?”

“You could have destroyed that Hollow yourself. Even though I came, you didn't need my help. Why did hold back?”

He smiled. “It is true that I could have taken it out myself, however, I wanted you to gain experience. It also gave me a chance to see you in action since I seem to have missed it the first time.”

“Oh God…you knew about that?” Nina questioned.

“Of course I did,” he remarked. “You could not have defeated that Hollow without your shikai, though it would have been far wiser on your part to leave it and get help. You got yourself into a very dangerous situation, Seito-kun, and you were fortunate.”

She blushed. “Well at least I learned my lesson, even if it was the hard way.”

“And that's the important thing,” he responded pleasantly. “I did see something during our little battle that you do need work on…your skill with the Demon Arts. That basic spell taught in the academy should be nothing for a Third Seat to master. Is kidou that difficult for you?”

“Ehh…yes,” Nina admitted. “I can do most of the lower-level ones without a problem, but the medium to high level types are hell. I cringed every time I attended kidou class, for I knew I would be blowing up everything else but the target.”

“I offered you additional information regarding kidou a few months back. Why did you not see me about it?” Aizen asked.

“Because my lousy skill is embarrassing,” she confessed. “Though I have to admit that even I'm better than Madarame-san in that area.”

He laughed softly. “Well Division Eleven frowns on the use of kidou. They're the Division of brute force, so to speak.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Please do not be embarrassed by your skill in the Demon Arts. For some, it comes easily, as it did to me, but for others, mastering it is like mastering a musical instrument. You must practice it over again until you become good at it.”

“Like Amaya's piano…” she muttered. She looked up at Aizen. “That spell you used…that was amazing.”

“Ah, you liked that, did you?” he said pleasingly. “It's my favorite spell - it's strong and effective, but I took me many years to master it, though at that moment I wasn't even using it at its full potential.”

“You…can control that?”

“I can, but you don't learn control until you master the spell. Perhaps with enough practice at kidou you can someday learn to use high-level spells like that, too.”

“What do you recommend I do, then?” Nina asked.

“Practice, and lots of it, for one,” Aizen replied. “And for another, how about I give you that extra material I mentioned?” He guided her toward his office. “Come. You have a lot of work to do.”

She nodded. “Thank you, Captain, but let me find my things, first. I left them behind when I came to help you.”

He smiled. “Of course.”