Author's note: Hey folks! Thanks for sticking with me this far, and special thanks to people who have been in touch to chat about the series. This is it; the final piece in my crazy AU Bleach saga. I'm hoping to get this whole thing tied up in a neat little bow but we will see! It's a work in progress and I am super busy so updates will be slow. I hope you enjoy this as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
Sakura Takahashi trembled, her unusual violet eyes fixed on the dark shadow of the doorway. Through the bars on the window, moonlight filtered through, painting the room in shades of grey and black. Sitting on the small, hard bed, Sakura pulled the sheet up to her neck, shivering as a wisp of cold air snuck through the open doorway and sent shivers across her bare skin.
Pushing at a strand of her white hair, she couldn't look away from the dark figure standing so quietly across from her; watching. She knew this person, she was sure of it, and her heart beat frantically in remembrance of fear. Eyes widening, sweat began to bead on her forehead and her shivers increased as terror seized her.
A low chuckle filled the room, and the person in the doorway stepped out into the low light of the moon. Sakura forced down a sob as she gazed up at the tall, distinguished figure of Sosuke Aizen, the former captain of the 5th Division, and the man who had betrayed all of Soul Society.
"You thought you were free, Sakura?"
The pale woman blinked and gazed around at her surroundings. She recognised them now; she was back in her cell, in Hueco Mundo, where Aizen's fortress resided amongst the roaming Hollows. Her breath caught and she balled her hands into fists. She'd escaped here, hadn't she? Was the memory of her release all a dream? Hadn't Ishida, Kurosaki, Renji, and Rukia come to save her? That had really happened, hadn't it?
Panicked, Sakura looked down at her naked body, startled as she realised that the intricate, dark lines of the seal Aizen had forced on her were no longer there. She ran her hands along her arms, throat, and face in astonishment, amazed to find that the horrid magic was gone from her body. But, if the seal was gone, why did she feel so weak? Why couldn't she feel her own reiatsu, her spiritual pressure? Why was she still helpless?
Aizen laughed again, the sound grating along Sakura's mind like nails on a chalkboard, and she looked up at him sharply. He stepped closer, his dark brown hair glowing almost silver in the eerie light of the moon. The whole room was cast in shades of grey but his white outfit, the style of which Sakura had come to associate with the monstrous Arrancar, seemed to glow like a beacon. Aizen's pale skin almost appeared to be lit up from the inside and for a brief moment, in her terror, Sakura thought he looked like an angel of death, or maybe of vengeance; the image strengthened by the small, almost beatific, smile on his handsome face.
He came to sit on the bed beside her, and she clutched at the thin sheet desperately, wanting to hide her nakedness; wanting to shrink away from this powerful man who terrified her so completely that she could do nothing now but try to remember how to breath as her heart pounded almost painfully in her chest. Undeterred by her reaction, Aizen tilted his head as if examining an interesting specimen trapped in a glass cage and smiled softly, though his eyes were as cold as ice.
"You can't escape me, Sakura."
He reached out a hand, and Sakura shrank back, the cool wall shocking her as she pressed her bare back against it. He touched her cheek and she turned her face away, trembling. Those warm, long fingers ran along the planes of her cheekbone before sliding down to her chin, and finally coming to rest on her throat where her pulse was clearly visible beneath her pale skin.
Aizen leaned close enough for his breath to stir her hair and tickle her ear as he spoke.
"We are the same, little Sakura. You cannot hide from this."
He gripped her throat and she turned to face him, shocked and afraid, as those fingers tightened like a vice, cutting off her air.
"We are the same." He hissed, his voice seeming to emanate unnaturally through the room. "There can be no escape for you, majo." Gripping her throat tighter, ignoring her struggling, Aizen pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that silenced her choking cries.