A/N: As the semester is ending, I'm trying to get back into writing, especially for Bleach. This will be a short, five-part drabble series with each chapter featuring a different pairing based on one of the five different types of love.
Please enjoy.
-0-
Eros: a passionate physical and emotional love based on aesthetic enjoyment; stereotype of romantic love.
Pairing: Isshin/Masaki
-0-
"We loved, and the closest we've come to explaining why...is because it was you and because it was I." - Linda Goodman
Masaki never anticipated a love like this. Growing up, she believed she'd be trapped within a loveless marriage, one born out of necessity instead of fondness. She knew it had to be like that, there was never a doubt there wouldn't be, which was probably why these new feelings were so strange. She knew how to love. All her life she had felt love for different things; toys, books, food, friends. This love, though, was so much different than the love for those things. This love made her giggle with happiness whenever Isshin said something ridiculous. This love made her toes squirm when the tickle fights turned into something more. This love made her feel warm, especially when it was raining outside, and she had just gotten back from University, and Isshin brushed her damp hair for her while she was wrapped in a fluffy towel.
This love redeemed her. It made her feel so whole, like she would burst from everything she was experiencing. You'd always hear teenage girls whisper about falling in love at first sight, about romantic dinners and perfect compatibility. Those were things out of fairy-tales, things that were supposed to happen to princesses. But they way he looked at her, in those moments when he thought she wasn't aware, made her feel like the most precious person in the universe.
They revolved around each other now. She didn't know how it happened, just that it did. They kept each other grounded, a tether in case either one of them decided to float off into space (which they were both prone to do at times). There were so many ways in which they were different – a Quincy and a Shinigami – and at the same time they were so incredibly similar she swore Isshin knew what she was going to say before she even knew herself. They were balanced in more ways than one, and everyday they learned from each other, little things that maybe didn't matter to anyone else but mattered to them.
Sometimes she was afraid that it was a dream, or that something terrible would happen to split them up. It all felt too perfect, like something someone destroyed because it was too beautiful. Some days she woke feeling anxious, like a dark cloud was hovering just around the corner, waiting to drop upon her. However, it was those days of doubt and wariness that cemented her love and trust in Isshin even more, for he could sense her uneasiness and did everything he could to lift her spirits. It meant so much to her that he didn't press her or ask her what was bothering her, because she wasn't quite sure she'd be able to articulate her feelings. He would simply wrap his arms around her, keeping her warm and safe while they merely lay down together or watch the people outside their windows. Slowly but surely, those uneasy feelings would fade away, replaced by those of care, trust, and above all, love.
They were all each other had in the world, and within themselves contained all the world either of them would ever need.