After the Betrayal
A lot of people were hurt by the captains' betrayal – hurt/comfort – Kyoraku and Ise
Disclaimer – There isn't a single Bleach character that I own. Not one.
Captain Shunsui Kyoraku arrived at his lieutenant's quarters. He could hear her sobbing on the other side of the door. He would not normally enter a seated officer's quarters without knocking, but this wasn't a normal day. He let himself in without hesitation.
Nanao Ise's quarters were tidy, professional, impersonal. Most people saw her that way too. But at this moment, she sat slumped on her cot, tears streaming down her face, bawling. She looked up at the sound of her captain entering the room. She was ashamed to be seen like this. She willed herself to stop crying, then looked at him. "What happened?" she asked.
Shunsui was still exhausted from his recent confrontation with the General, but he put it out of his mind, his attention completely focused on Nanao. He looked with sorrow and compassion into the puffy red eyes of his lieutenant. "He got away. Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tosen escaped to Hueco Mundo. How are you doing?"
She stood up, hoping it conveyed strength and self-assurance. But the pity in her captain's eyes told her that it was pointless to try to hide anything from him. He could read anyone. He had even read Captain Aizen, hadn't he? "You knew about him, didn't you? You always told me to stay away from him."
He tensed. "You two didn't ever…"
"No." She shook her head, rejecting the notion that she'd ever been intimate with Aizen. "I obeyed my captain. But…I loved him. Sir, I loved him so much! He was so kind, and so beautiful…"
Nanao didn't remember if Shunsui reached out to her, or she to him, but she found herself in his arms, sobbing.
"Don't be silly. Everyone knows I'm the most beautiful captain."
"How did you know about him, about what he was?"
"I didn't, not really. It's..." Shunsui tried to find the right words, but gave up. "He tried."
"What do you mean?"
He sighed. "Do you know how old I am? How many days I've seen? If you try to be stronger, or smarter, every day, hundreds of thousands of days, it turns you…wrong. A person can't do that."
"You're only saying that because you're lazy." She would later be stunned that she'd spoken that way to her captain.
"You're so young, my little Nanao," he said, stroking her hair. "It's good for you to aspire to greater heights. But when you're a captain, you have to be willing to spend a day drinking, or watching the clouds, or chasing after a pretty girl who is much too wise to submit to you. If you make yourself content with life, you can grow old happily, like Yamamoto. If you struggle against yourself, you become hardened. You become like Byukaya …or Aizen. There's no middle ground."
He didn't usually speak this way with her. It distracted her from her tears. It was an interesting idea, really. But there was one thing she didn't understand.
"Sir? If it's so good for young people to try to become better…"
"Hmm?"
She looked up into his eyes. "Why won't you ever let me fight?"
He was offended at the question. "Because…you're my precious Nanao!"
She laughed. The stupid ones are always loyal, she thought to herself. She squeezed him tighter. "Remind me next time to fall in love with you, ok?"
He smiled back at her warmly, protectively. "I will", he said softly.