Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Sleeping with the Enemy ❯ Hakuda and the Harvest Moon ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13: Hakuda and the Harvest Moon

 

“And I'd give up forever to touch you

`Cause I know that you feel me somehow,

You're the closest to heaven

That I'll ever be

And I don't want to go home right now.”

-Goo Goo Dolls “Iris”

 

Autumn

 

Bits of sunlight shone through the canopy of trees as a pair of feet collided in midair. The two fighters recoiled and retracted their limbs as the redhead came at Nina hard and fast. Apparently, Edogawa had no intention of holding back on her friend as she shunpoed out of sight and reappeared a split second later behind her opponent. Nina turned quickly, but she was just a millisecond too late as Amaya's fist smashed into Nina's torso and sent her flying where she face planted into the grass and slid a short distance.

Daunted, Nina dragged herself to her feet and held her midsection wincing in pain. “Ow…that really hurt Amaya-chan…”

The other female stood before Nina triumphantly with hands rested on her hips, but her winning demeanor melted into apology upon seeing Nina holding her middle and walking toward her slightly doubled over in pain.

“Ah, geeze…I'm sorry, Nina-chan,” Amaya said sincerely. She took Nina's arm and had her sit down on the grass. “I just get so worked up during sparring that I forget you're not as tough when it comes to hakuda.”

Nina frowned. “It isn't that I'm not as tough, it's just that I am not as good. I didn't grow up in the poorest district of Rukongai like you did, Amaya.”

Amaya plopped down on the grass next to Nina and sighed. “Well, my upbringing on the streets may have helped, but I will say that you're actually pretty good. I think your technique needs some more refining for sure. You leave too many holes in your defense. Maybe your captain can tutor you in that, too.”

Nina glanced at the redhead. “Are you implying something?”

“No,” Amaya responded impishly.

Nina ignored this and went on. “Captain Aizen is already doing enough for me. I wouldn't want to trouble him for anything else. Besides, I would feel more comfortable learning from you.”

Amaya blinked. “Yeah? Why is that?”

“Because I can fall on my face and not be embarrassed about it.”

Amaya snorted amusedly. “Yeah, that's because you're not attracted to me.”

“What?!” Nina answered incredulously.

Amaya smiled. “Oh come on…you blush every time you even look at him, and I find that as cute as it is hilarious.”

“Oh, as if!” Nina protested. She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Just admit it and put yourself out of misery already!” Amaya teased. She batted Nina playfully and grinned.

Nina sighed. “He's the captain of my division! Since when does a little kidou tutoring indicate that I'm madly in love with him?”

Amaya giggled, seeing that she had clearly peaked Nina's ire. “Oh, I'm just giving you a hard time, Nina-chan. After all, that's what friends do.” She paused. “Actually, from what I've seen, your kidou really has improved over the past month you've been training with Captain Aizen. Think you'll be able to tackle higher level spells?”

A tiny smile crossed Nina's features. “I already have. He practiced a higher level spell with me yesterday, actually, and he said that today, he is going to let me try it by myself.”

“Well, just try not to blow yourself up. I hear Sixth Division's lieutenant is infamous for his kidou skill, or lack thereof.”

Nina laughed. “I heard the same from Hinamori-san. She went to school with Abarai-san and saw it firsthand.”

Amaya snorted and laughed amusedly. “I bet that was awesome...I mean! Poor Abarai-san.”

Nina giggled. “You are so mean, Amaya.” Nina paused and glanced over toward her friend's bag and stack of piano scores next to it. “All joking aside, have you told Captain Ukitake that you got accepted into the Philharmonic?”

“Yeah, I ran into him this morning.”

“And?”

She smiled. “He was really excited for me…then he pulled out a ton of candy and offered it to me.”

“Candy?”

“Apparently, he has quite a sweet tooth.”

“Did you take some?” Nina asked.

“Of course I did! He had chocolate! Chocolate! How could I refuse that?”

Nina smirked. “Isn't it a little soon for him to be getting chocolate for you?”

“Oh, shut up!” Amaya protested, hitting Nina in the arm which earned an amused smirk.

 

 

Nina wandered to the usual meeting place at the grassy open field and sat down on a large tree stump, glancing around for her captain as she did. Normally, he was here waiting on her, no matter how early she tried to be, but this time, she thought that either she finally bested him in the time match or he was running uncharacteristically late. Nina pulled out the kidou book from her art bag and opened the pages, deciding on a quick review while she waited for Aizen to show up.

Moments later Captain Aizen appeared from shunpo at Nina's side and greeted her with a soft, “Hello there, Seito-kun.”

Nina jumped, let out a slight scream, and nearly threw the book in reaction. While she had been expecting Captain Aizen to show at any moment, she was not anticipating the man appearing out of nowhere.

She held her hand over her chest and could feel that her pulse had jumped sharply. "You startled me, Captain Aizen."

His eyes widened, and he let out a slightly amused chuckle. "I apologize...I didn't mean to scare you," Aizen said. "Forgive me for being late. I was away at a meeting.”

Nina gave an amused snort. “And you chide me for being tardy all the time no matter how hard I try not to be,” she lightly teased.

Sousuke put out his palms in mock surrender. “I will not say another word, in that case.” He paused and nodded toward the book in Nina's hands. “Have you studied the chapter I assigned to you?”

Nina glanced down at the volume in her hands. "Yes, of course. I was just reviewing it." She closed the cover entirely. "Shall we begin?”

He nodded and smiled down at her. "Of course."

He paused for a moment wondering whether they should continue practicing where they had left off. Aizen then remembered their first session and decided that perhaps he should throw in a little practice at combining kidou with other techniques.

"How about some practice with hakuda? I'm sure that would be an easy start," he suggested. “If you noticed, the chapter I assigned you was over practical technique combinations with kidou. The simplest one to practice is using it in conjunction with hakuda. So, we will see how you are with your hand to hand skill for the first part of this lesson.”

Nina inwardly blanched. She was even worse at hakuda than she was at kidou, and she really wasn't feeling up to it considering that her closest friend had already defeated her several times during their training together. Though she was not up for another fist fight, Nina removed Kiyohime from the obi of her uniform and carefully laid her atop the stump.

"That sounds reasonable, though I have to warn you that I may not be at my best."

"It's quite alright. Just do the best you can," he replied as he removed his haori and folded it neatly. Aizen placed it and Kyoka Suigetsu on top of the tree stump along with Kiyohime.

He turned, calmly walking out a distance from Nina before turning, pushing up his glasses, and then positioning his body into a fighting stance.

Nina positioned herself into a defensively, hoping that she was prepared for what she knew was coming. This would be nothing like fighting Amaya in the least. Her opponent was Captain-class, an unfair match really, but she hoped that he would at least drop his training down to her Third seat level.

"So...how do you intend to go about this? I know you will not be easy on me."

"Fight as you normally would," he replied as he darted out for an attack.

Aizen came at her straightforwardly his hand striking at her face almost faster than a pit viper. Nina didn't dodge, but she did block him with her wrist. He came at her again, but this time she moved and went in for a round house kick to the side. He blocked her, grabbing her foot and flipping her upward. Nina did a twist and landed on her feet in the grass, but not before Sousuke came in for another strike. He was fast, and she knew well that he could be much faster if he wanted to; he was a captain, after all, but Sousuke held back for her sake so that perhaps she would learn something. Nina found that he hit much harder than Amaya, though she was used to this speed. Aizen was amazed that Nina could even keep up with him, despite his best efforts to hold back on her. As she dodged and counter attacked, she had to think about what she could do to gain an upper hand on him of some kind.

Aizen definitely topped her as far as strength, but perhaps she could try for an advantage in speed. She suddenly remembered a training session in Second Division that she and Amaya had sat in on during hadou class: they used shunpo as part of hand to hand, and she knew she was good at shunpo.

She suddenly disappeared from Aizen's line of sight and appeared directly behind him and coming in high. He turned and went to block her, but she faked him, instead dropping to the ground, sliding across the grass and square into his ankles sending him toppling over on top of her. He landed on Nina with glasses askew and his face in her shoulder. As for Nina...she wasn't quite sure what to do as she had expected a much different reaction out of the Captain.

Aizen lifted his head and put up a hand to straighten his glasses. His eyes stared into hers, and he suddenly realized that he was inches from her face.

"I…wasn't expecting this," he said, stunned. "Are…are you alright?"

“Uh...y-yes,” Nina trailed.

There was a terribly awkward silence as he slowly lifted his weight from her. Yet…he could not break away his gaze into her blue eyes. His lips parted slightly, just inches from hers, and she blinked as she could not seem to distract herself from staring into Aizen's gentle, dark brown eyes. She swallowed, and she turned her head away suddenly as her face reddened.

"Ah!" he managed awkwardly before scrambling onto his feet. Sousuke reached down and took the girl's hand to help her up from the grass. "Are you certain you're not harmed…other than bruising from our training just now?"

Nina turned her head away from him slightly. “N-no. I am quite alright, thank you.” She dared glance at Captain Aizen again. “You?”

He shook his head. “Not at all.” Aizen cleared his throat quietly. “But your use of shunpo was quite unexpected. Excellent thinking.”

Nina shrugged. “It was the only way I had a chance of getting an advantage over you somehow.”

He smirked. “I see. Well, you performed much better than you let on, if you want the truth.”

Nina pursed her lips. “I think you let me get one in on you honestly. You should have been able to counter that no matter what angle I was coming from, and surely my shunpo was not fast enough to escape your sight.”

“That may be true, but perhaps I wanted to see what you could do, which is why I held back. I wanted to test your attack power as well as your defense. Your offensive form was rather impressive, but your hits lack power. And your defense…”

“…is full of holes,” Nina finished. “I was training with Amaya-chan prior to our session, and she said the same thing. She really is better at hakuda better than I am.”

Aizen nodded. “Your friend has a sound assessment then. Did she offer anything to help with that?”

“She told me she would help me work on it,” Nina responded.

“Then you would benefit from Edogawa-san's offer.” He smiled. “But I really don't think you'll have to train too much on that. As I have said other times before, you have much potential and you are a quick learner.” He came over to her. “I believe your current skill will be sufficient enough for today's lesson. Are you ready to begin?”

 

 

Nina picked up her zanpakuto from the tree stump and slid it into the belt of her uniform once again. It had felt odd for her to not have Kiyohime at her side, and she was relieved to have her back once again. She picked up Aizen's haori and handed them to him.

"I think today's training went very well. Perhaps next time I spar with Amaya, I might actually be able to beat her," she remarked.

"It only takes practice, really," he replied pleasantly as he took his haori from her and slipped it on. "It seems you have improved over this past month. I really am quite proud of you, Seito-kun. And your hakuda has had some improvement as well after this evening's lesson." The two walked next to one another as they made their way back to Fifth Division. "Perhaps we could practice more kidou next time.”

Nina nodded and handed Kyoka Suigetsu to him as she put the kidou book into her art bag. "Perhaps," she agreed. She glanced up at the dusky purple sky to see that the moon shone large, bright, and orange over their heads. She nodded up toward it. "It would seem that autumn is officially here to stay."

She had noticed that the evenings had not only become considerably shorter, but the night had grown much chillier. She buffed her arms a little as a cold breeze blew against her and rustled the treetops above their heads.

Aizen stopped to look up at the rising harvest moon with her. “Yes…it would seem so.” He glanced back down and gazed at Nina. “Winter's prelude. Soon, the days will become shorter and colder than they are now.”

Nina sighed. “Such a sad thing when winter arrives. It seems so long and everything is so dead and colorless.”

“Ah, but nothing is really dead,” Aizen pointed out. “And winter does have its own unique beauty. There is much allure in winter, such as when freshly fallen snow glistens under the sun, or when a halo appears around the moon when it is about to snow.” He looked down at her. “I would have thought that you of all people would appreciate the beauty that winter has to offer.”

Nina shrugged. “I'm sorry that I do not share your appreciation, Captain Aizen. I think that perhaps it is because it was winter when my mother was killed, and so I associate that memory with it.”

“There is no need to apologize for your negativity,” he assured her. “I understand how tragic that must have been and how difficult it must be for you to have such heartbreak linked to that particular time of year.” He stopped and looked up at the moon once more. “But things come and go in phases much like the moon that shines above us, and the seasons pass as well.”

“Well, I don't think my mother's passing was really a phase that will just go away,” Nina remarked.

“No, the death of a parent or anyone you love won't simply go away,” Aizen agreed, “but as time passes, so do seasons and phases, and with the passage of each of these cycles, it does and it will become easier if it hasn't already.” He looked down at her. “I…can only hope that one day you will have fond little memories of winter to ease the pain of the one tragic one.”

Nina nodded, having paused with him as his gaze returned to the clear night sky and the moon that resided there. She did not realize at first, when she lifted her gaze toward the sky with him, that her captain's hand had slid into hers and they stood there silently, enjoying the quiet evening without complications of conversation.

From somewhere in the back of her mind, Kiyohime gave her a jab that brought her back out of her reverie and back to reality where she noticed that she was holding hands with Captain Aizen. She blushed hotly, her eyes going wide.

“Captain Aizen…what are you doing?” she asked, somewhat alarmed as she slid her small hand out of his grasp.

He blinked, now knowing that he could no longer hold in the secret anymore. “I've grown quite fond of you, Seito-kun…possibly fonder of you than I wanted to allow.”

Nina's heart nearly stopped at this bold confession. What should she do? What should she say? He was her captain, and she was his subordinate. How could a relationship with him even be remotely possible? Perhaps if she were in another division…or if she weren't a Shinigami at all…then maybe…

She looked away. “Captain Aizen…I'm flattered, but…it would not be appropriate.”

She started to back away, but he grabbed her hands. “No one has to know. I'd rather not have people prying into my personal life anyway.” He paused. “And please…you don't have to be so formal when it's just the two of us. Please, call me by my first name…Nina.”

Nina tore out of his grasp. “No,” she firmly said. Then she gazed up at him, into his soft brown eyes illuminated by the moon's light, and her face softened. She reached up and cleared his messy bangs from his face. “Please…it isn't that…I haven't grown fond of you as well…it's just…”

He reached up and took the hand that lingered near his face. “It's just what?”

“It's the principle of the matter. Firstly, I have not earned the right to call you anything other than Captain. Secondly…it's the principle of the matter. You are my captain and I am your subordinate. What you would be doing…what we would be doing would be unethical and inappropriate on every level. You've already crossed a line in this matter, Captain.”

He shook his head. “I don't believe I ever read a rule where a captain was not allowed to fall for someone in their own division. I understand your concern, but…” He took her other hand into his. “…I will make sure no one knows but us.”

She pushed him away and shook her head disapprovingly. “No, Captain Aizen. Please…I stand by my principles.” She looked up at him. “I wish to continue to spend time with you…and learn what you have to teach me, but…I must set the boundary here.”

He nodded. “I see you're quite adamant about this, so…I will not press you nor will I hold any ill feeling toward you, Nina. I don't think I could ever do that to you, honestly.”

She frowned a little at hearing her first name from his lips, but she let it go in lieu of the situation at hand. She stared down at the darkened ground. “Please…Captain Aizen…don't say it like that.”

“It's Sousuke, Nina. Please call me that when it's just us.”

“I cannot,” she admitted. She looked up at him, her heart pounding. “We cannot. I-I'm sorry…”

With that she backed away, turned, and disappeared into the shadows in a full run. He stood looking after her, his hand still slightly outstretched toward her. Aizen slowly brought his arm down as he pondered how she had even resisted him. Yet, she had admitted that she was fond of him as well, and he could only surmise that either she was in denial of those feelings or she was being completely and utterly stubborn.

He sighed, and a figure stepped out from the shadows.

“Out enjoyin' a moonlit walk?” Gin said, his face illuminated by the moonlight. He glanced around. “I thought ya were with that girl.”

“I was, but she left,” Aizen told him.

Gin's grin stretched. “Wha'd ya do to her?”

“Mind your own business, Gin.”