Prompt: Final
Characters/Pairing: Hanatarou/Hinamori, Aizen
Genre: Humor
Summary: Aizen's death came as a great surprise.
Wordcount: 679
As Ukitake remarked cheerfully into the stunned silence following Aizen's death, no one could ever have predicted how the final blow would be dealt.
Things had looked bad for the forces of Soul Society, and to make matters even worse, Hinamori found herself face to face with her former captain almost at once. She'd convinced Yamamoto to allow her to attend the battle because she was of vice-captain level, and because the chances she would actually meet Aizen were very, very slim.
Well, so much for slim chances.
Hanatarou had been tending to a wounded Renji alongside Isane when he felt it happen - that spark of terror that jolted through Hinamori's reiatsu. Even Aizen's presence had not distracted him from his task, and he'd remained steadfastly beside Renji's side even though he was shivering with the effort of withstanding the former captain's spiritual pressure. At the feeling of Hinamori's fear, however, he looked up, and his eyes narrowed. Aizen and Hinamori stood a few feet away from him, both completely ignoring the battle that raged around them.
"Captain Aizen," Hinamori whispered, shivering, her eyes wide. She raised her zanpakuto shakily, but it was clear that Aizen did not believe she would really use it. He was right.
"Hinamori-kun," he said gently, smiling at her. "What's wrong? Surely you don't think you're in any danger from me."
"You betrayed Soul Society," she continued uncertainly, watching him. "You're my enemy now, C... Aizen..."
Aizen chuckled and spread his arms. "Of course I'm not. It's me, Hinamori-kun. Why would I hurt my own excellent lieutenant? I'm proud of you, you know."
Hinamori's sword faltered, lowering just an inch, and in that moment of indecision Aizen struck, whipping Kyoka Suigetsu from its scabbard and slashing down through Hinamori in a fatal blow. She crumpled to the ground in a puddle of blood, dying, and the air was pierced by a shout.
"Hinamori!" To everyone's surprise it was the timid medic Hanatarou who jumped forward, his eyes blazing with uncharacteristic fury and his hand on an unsheathed Hisagomaru. "How dare you," he growled at Aizen. "How dare you!" He knelt down and plunged Hisagomaru into Hinamori's body. Aizen didn't interfere, smirking as if in amusement. Clearly, he thought that the small medic was only trying to put his friend out of her misery. He didn't even move when Hanatarou stood up with what looked like a scalpel in his hand, regarding Hanatarou with some disdain.
"There was no need," he said to Hanatarou condescendingly. "She was already dying; she did not suffer."
Without another word, Hanatarou stepped forward and stabbed Aizen in the chest with his scalpel-like zanpakuto.
The resulting blast of energy knocked Aizen off his feet. Meanwhile Hinamori was sitting up, looking confused. "Hana-kun?" she said tentatively.
An uneasy quiet fell over the battlefield as everyone suddenly sensed the departure of Aizen's reiatsu. Those not within sight of Hanatarou and Hinamori began looking around anxiously, wondering who had managed to slay the traitor. Meanwhile, Unohana stood up, calmly walked over to Aizen, and checked his vitals. She looked up at her timid seventh seat officer, a look of mild surprise in her eyes.
"Hanatarou-kun, he's dead," she said. "You're a hero, you know."
A collective gasp and a few awkward laughs spread out across both armies as the details of Aizen's demise spread. Hinamori laughed in relief, throwing her arms around Hanatarou. The hero himself simply blushed and stood there with an embarrassed smile on his face.
Several yards away, Ichigo lowered his sword, looking enormously disappointed. He shrugged at Grimmjow, his opponent. "Now I know how you felt about me earlier," he said. "I wanted to kill him."
So it was that Soul Society's most downtrodden shinigami won all of its highest honors (against which he protested enormously) and the rather startled respect of a good many powerful warriors.
And later on, when the next batch of new recruits arrived in the 11th Division, the division's new number one unwritten rule was already circulating: "Never, ever annoy the 4th Division."