Noble Love - Bleach (Kuchiki Byakuya x Oc x A bit of Various)

二十

"Aizen." called Asa weakly.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Why?" she asked back, making him look at her without disrupting the healing process. "Why are you helping me? You could've killed me the moment you found me, but you didn't. And instead, you're using Kidou to heal me. Is there a motive behind this?"

"So many questions for an injured soul to ask." he playfully remarked before his gaze returned to the task at hand. "And it feels nostalgic to have you ask me about my motive. Well then, I'll give you an answer to ease your confused mind - there is no motive behind this." He paused for a moment to rethink about his words before correcting himself. "No, there is one, actually. I do not want to have Szayel ordering the Exequias to kill you for his research. He doesn't know how much you mean to me."

Asa stared at his face while thinking about the last bit of his sentence. "Aizen, do I really mean a lot to you?" she suddenly asked, which caused him to look at her from the corner of his eyes. "Randepra mentioned about you talking so highly of me, like you were truly fond of me. After so many years, even when you betrayed Soul Society... Please answer my question - what am I to you?" But he didn't reply and continued focusing on healing her wounds, leaving her mind to travel back to the past when she was assigned to be in the same division as him. She remembered the day when they first met, and its exact details.

It was a hot afternoon when she entered his office after being inaugurated as Lieutenant of the 5th Division after many years of being the 3rd Seat of the 6th Division. She didn't mind being promoted to a rank higher than her initial one, but she was very reluctant to be transferred to another division because it meant that she would have to leave her teammates. However, she knew not to argue the moment Kuchiki Ginrei insisted that she should go.

When she arrived at the office where 5th Division's Captain worked, she walked in to see him doing paperwork, and he placed the brush on the table before getting up and walking around his desk to properly introduce himself. Looking at him up close, Asa knew there was something about him that made her feel uneasy. Her female classmates often talked with their friends about how they wished to be in the 5th Division because of Aizen himself, and she understand why. His mild features radiated warmth to everyone, he was polite to everyone regardless of their ranks, he was respected in return; he had the ideal characteristics of a Captain, even though some of the female Shinigami were infatuated by him because of his looks. But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she was "blessed" to be in his presence, a little voice inside her head kept telling her to be wary of him, and she knew better than to ignore that instinct. She still introduced herself; on a professional basis. And with the way his brows subtly furrowed in response to her brief introduction before returning to his normal facade, she had already gotten her answer.

Time passed to a month since she'd joined the 5th Division. She was often sent by her Captain to protect the souls and people from Hollows that would appear out of nowhere, met new people, trained with her squad mates; one would think that she was adapting to her new life as a Lieutenant, but what they didn't know was that she was carrying out an experiment. An experiment that would confirm Asa's hypothesis - is her Captain truly the person everyone thought he would be? She was grateful to be his Lieutenant because in comparison to others in the same Division, she was closest to him during work hours. She was able to observe his demeanor carefully and deduce them before coming up with several assumptions that give her some clues about Aizen's true colour, and she didn't care what majority of the people thought about this if they were to find out.

One night, when Asa was doing some paperwork, he suddenly dropped by her room and requested her to follow him out of Seireitei. Despite bombarding him with several questions, he wouldn't tell her what he wanted to do and why he picked that time in particular. She could remember the location and its exact details. The cool breeze brushing her cheeks, the forest path that opened up before her with each step she took, the smell of grass lingering in the air, the ray of light shining down on her, the sound of birds chirping; she remembered the place all too well - the place where she had her first sparring session with him. It was the place where she'd learn to use her Bankai properly with his guidance. It was also the place where he opened up to her.