Whoa, where did this come from?! Hehe, well, I've recently gotten into Bleach, and last week I read a certain chapter, and, well...this was the result.
Because I'm essentially equal parts a complete romantic (and huge Momo fan), and knee-deep in DE NILE, this is split into two parts: the first twenty-five being their relationship before he "dies", the last twenty-five is everything afterward.
Now, a note to reviewers: I have just reached the end of the Soul Society arc--so no spoilers for anything after that, specifically anything involving these two. We clear? Good. Enjoy!
A Certain Kind of Warmth
01 Hello
"Greetings, Hinamori-san" he said, laying his warm hand on her head, "I'm Aizen Sousuke, your captain."
02 Devotion
She would do anything for him; it was that simple.
03 Horizon
"See that line there, Hinamori-kun," he said to her one day, "that is the edge of this world," but Momo was not looking at the sky, but up at his face.
04 Forever and a Day
Momo used to pray quietly to herself at night, (hands trembling; held tight to her breast) please, please, let me stay with him forever…
05 Heaven
Even though the Soul Society was already the afterlife, if she had not met Captain Aizen, she would not have considered it Heaven.
06 Smile
His smile was the warmest, kindest thing in the world, and Momo would do anything to bring it out of him.
07 Wonder
These were the miracles of her life: the way her small hand fit against his palm; the gentle weight of his hand on her head, and the scent of him that surrounded her, as she lay wrapped in his haori.
08 Wishes
She picks a flower in the fields, and pulls the petals off one by one (she does not wish for love, only to stay with him); when she gets to the last petal, she stops, and sets the flower down, unfinished (she didn't really believe in that sort of thing, anyway).
09 Soft
Sometimes, he would brush his hands over her hair, and marvel at it's softness.
10 Crush
Momo did not remember when her admiration for him turned into something more…and it did not seem to matter, really: he had always been her captain and she would always be by his side; the rest was simply semantics.
11 Welcome
The world of the Soul Reapers had always seemed more than a little scary to her--then she had caught her first look of the 5th Division's captain…and suddenly, it seemed a little less scary to her.
12 Gentle
"Captain Aizen is a kind man," she would often say, "you can see it in his face: he has a gentle face," and he is always kind to me…she always adds to herself afterwards.
13 Blessing
Every day, Momo thanked life itself for the fact that of all the places she could have been sent in the Gotei 13, she had wound up at his side (she could not imagine what life would have been like if it were otherwise).
14 Happiness
Happiness was being here, with her friends…and the knowledge that, no matter what happened, Captain Aizen would be there for her.
15 Sweet Dreams
Momo used to have nightmares often; now, when she gets scared, she knows that all she has to do is knock on her Captain's door, and he will be there to comfort her (and her dreams near him are always sweet).
16 Home
Wherever he was, she called it home.
17 Precious
He was the most precious person in her life, and she knew that nothing would ever change that.
18 Star
She would sit outside with him and count the stars: one for every moment of their life together.
19 Hands
His hands are larger than hers, with the calluses that come from holding a sword; she sometimes wonders how they would feel, if they ever were to hold her own, smooth ones.
20 Don't Cry
Momo cried often, and each time, Captain Aizen would smile gentle comfort down at her, and wipe away the tears with a warm hand.
21 Falling into You
Sometimes, there are moments while they talk when his glasses catch the light from a candle and obscure his eyes--so Momo takes special care to try and find him in the sunlight, so she can gaze into his eyes when he says her name.
22 Candlelit
At night, when the candles were lit and the only source of light, sometimes she would sit outside his door and dream of the days when he would call her simply 'Momo.'
23 Birthday
For her birthday, Captain Aizen held a small party especially for her; but that was not what made the memory special for Momo…it was that afterwards, he took her out alone under the moonlight, and held her in his arms until she drifted to sleep.
24 Believe
He could not be defeated; he could do no wrong; he would always be there for her--these three simple facts may as well have been the laws of Hinamori Momo's entire world.
25 Innocence
Looking back, there might have been things that hinted something was wrong--Momo never saw them, though: she looked through the eyes of a young woman in love.
- - -
26 Scream
She catches sight of him, an empty shell of the man she had known him as, and her lips form a silent scream (oh, Gods, no…!) even before the real one breaks forth.
27 Breakdown
He made quite certain that she would be happiest just before the fall…
28 Façade
She never would have thought (even in her darkest nightmares) that there was even a shadow of darkness lurking behind that gentle smile.
29 Are you There?
"Captain…" she whispered, standing outside his door; "Are you there, Captain Aizen…?"
30 Paradise Lost
When she saw him, bleeding upon that wall, it was like her whole, perfect world crumbled into dust.
31 Heartbreak
She felt it shatter inside her, the shards cutting deep--why; why had he been taken away from her?!
32 Lies
They were quite blatant, really--but then again, Momo never could quite separate reality from fantasy.
33 Alone
Without her Captain there for her, Momo felt more alone than she had ever thought was possible.
34 Damaged
Her eyes glazed and dull, her movements limp and feeble, her voice thin and thready…after he died, she just wasn't the same anymore.
35 Haunted
Every corner she turned, every room she entered, every snatch of conversation she caught--she could feel him everywhere…yet when she looked, he never was.
36 Sincerely Yours
She holds his will tightly to her chest; these are his last wishes for her, and she will fulfill them, no matter the cost.
37 Reunion
She turns, and it feels like her heart will burst from joy; "Hinamori-kun," he says, laying his hand on her head; because he is here again, andnothing has changed.
38 Danger
She could see it in his eyes, and sense it behind his smile, but that did not matter because he was here with her; he was here with her, and he was alive…
39 I'm Sorry
As she lay there, in the pool made of her own blood, she could only think one thing: I'm sorry, Captain Aizen, so sorry; I wasn't good enough for you, after all…
40 Hollow
It was all for the power, he thought to himself as he looked down on the small, broken body--and he felt not one hint of remorse at what the cost of that power was.
41 Betrayal
It wasn't really a betrayal; she had never really been his Assistant Captain, anyway.
42 Goodbye
He said it like a goodbye, but then again, there had never been a relationship to end in the first place, was there…?
43 Blood
There was so much of it, pooling around her and gushing from her chest…why wasn't Captain Aizen coming back with some bandages…?
44 Dark
Why couldn't she see his face clearly…why did her chest hurt so badly…how come the edges of her vision were growing black…? (I'm scared, Captain Aizen…)
45 End
If this was the end, then it wasn't so bad (she thought) because she had gotten to see him again, whole and as he should be.
46 Breaking
It was so easy, like snapping the stem of a flower.
47 Hell
It was not the sword that plunged through her, or the words spoken that mocked her, but the simple fact that, just after they had been reunited, she waslosing him again.
48 Death
If she had died, back then, maybe it would have been a blessing--because at least then she would not have had to live without him.
49 Faithfully
It didn't change a thing: she was still his Assistant Captain, and she would still do anything for him.
50 Despair
What hurt the most was not that he left; it was that he didn't take her with him.