Desert Rose

By Nimfah

Rating: M for language

Summary: One sleepless night Gin gets lost and stumbles upon a door he has never seen before. Unable to resist he opens it and finds Aizen's secret garden. But is he really the only one there?

Main cast: Ichimaru Gin, Leila, Aizen Sousuke, Ulquiorra Cifer, Grimmjow Jaegerjaques

Secondary cast: Szayel Aporro Granz, Nnoitra Gilga, Tousen Kaname, Kuchiki Byakuya

Pairings: Gin x Leila. The story might contain hints of other pairings depending on your perception.

Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters do not belong to me. I do own Leila. This story is for entertainment purposes only; no money is being made from it.

A/N: I tried to avoid OOCness as much as I could. I hope you will enjoy reading the story. Also I'd love it if you could leave comments and constructive criticism to help me improve my skills and learn what you think. Thank you and enjoy.

Chapter 1: Twinkle twinkle little fairy.

"I dream of rain

I dream of gardens in the desert sand

wake in vain

I dream of love as time runs through my hand"

Sting "Desert Rose"

Gin was lying in his bed trying to fall asleep, but the sleep just refused to come to him. That would mean another sleepless night. He made a deep sigh and sat up, unable to stay in bed another minute. He gave a bored glance to the white, ridiculously tall, double door in front of him. He never understood Aizen's love for humongous things. Maybe he should recommend to him to read Dr. Freud's works where he talks about preoccupation with sizes… On the other hand it probably wasn't the best idea. He chuckled softly imagining Aizen's face after make he such a comment. His usual grin made an appearance on his face. That meant he was ready to go. Ever so slowly our shinigami slipped his feet to the floor until they touched very soft, high pile rug. Gin came to like that sensation and stretched his legs lazily running his toes through the carpet. It took him a couple of minutes to get dressed and to fish his second shoe out of the bed. The reason it was there is a mystery even to him or that's what he believed. He looked around and took a final look at his room. Everything seemed to the way it should be. Large white bed done with leather in the middle of the room, two night tables with soft glowing round nightlight, dresser and the mirror to the right and bathroom door to the left. Same as yesterday. Nothing had changed. Perfect. After making that final check he turned on his heels and left.

The night was still young but most of the inhabitants of Las Noches already went to bed except for those who had a night duty shift. One of those lucky persons tonight happened to be Ulquiorra Cifer, the forth Espada. Gin simply greeted the said man and walked past him. He was actually quite fond of Ulquiorra and it was always fun trying to get some sort of emotion to appear on his usual indifferent face but just not tonight. However Gin made a resolution that he would see Ulquiorra's smile even if it killed him, figuratively speaking, of course. He didn't have a plan at the moment but he was working on it.

He was headed to Szayel's lab to mess with scientist's stuff. It had become his most favorite hobby. And the look on Appolo's face was always priceless - it never got old and always seemed to cheer the trickster up a bit. Even those boring talks that Aizen would gave him every time about how a respected man should behave were well worth seeing Szayel running through the halls like a madman, wearing only a small towel and cursing the idiot, asking who messed with his hair conditioner and made his hair a nice shade of green… swamp.

"Some things are just too funny" Gin thought, "and that hair color actually went very nicely with Szayel's eyes…"

His thoughts trailed off as he kept walking. Now a left turn than to the right and the shinigami found himself staring at a white wall. Something was seriously wrong here. It should be one of the other: either Gin took the wrong turn, which is unlikely, or Tousen messed up the halls by the accident, which seems to be the case, considering the fact that Wonderweiss was at his care tonight. The location he found himself in looked somewhat familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then he realized this place must be the Captain Aizen's part of the Palace, from which he usually kept his distance. As he was about to leave he saw a door that was slightly ajar. After a second of hesitation he moved in the direction of the door, unable to resist his natural curiosity instinct, if you can call it an instinct. He took a peek only letting his head through the door and was amazed at what he saw.

There was a beautiful garden under the moonlight sky of the desert. Gin stood in a doorway for a good few minutes, wide-eyed, hungrily studying his newly discovered surroundings.

When he finally came to his senses he muttered to himself, "My, my, Aizen-taichou, how did ya managed to keep it from me for so long." Then he softly closed the door behind him and moved to study the garden along the road made of stone. There were flowers everywhere of any kind imaginable from wild dandelion to proud imperial roses. There were many trees in full bloom. Gin just kept going straight along the stone path looking around not even trying to hide his amazement. It felt like he had fallen asleep and was having a dream. Or had he woken up at last? The divine smell and cool night breeze made him feel lightheaded and he could feel how the blood started to tickle him from the inside - a long forgotten feeling.

He reached the clearing in the trees and saw the endless field of flowers. A sudden gust of wind blew the flower pedals into the air and surrounded Gin with a colorful cloud. He closed his eyes letting the pedals softly brush against his skin and letting the wing play with his lavender-colored hair. He lifted both arms up imagining himself flying. It was such a great feeling to let go a little and let his soul fly high into the sky. To the blue sky. Not the dull endless night of Hueco Mundo the one he remembered from Soul Society or maybe even before that; when he was human; when he was truly alive.

He was so relaxed that he failed to notice somebody else's presence. In a flash, he turned around right hand clenching a handle of his zanpakuto out of instinct. He saw white clothing flash among the trees. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and, hiding his reiatsu, he moved toward unknown guest, trying to conceal his presence. Gin leaned against a tree and saw a female figure dancing a few feet above the ground. There was light and a warm glow around her and he could feel her gentle reiatsu. She jumped gracefully from flower to flower making every tiny one within her gentle glow bloom. Shinigami was captivated by the scene unfolding in front of his eyes. Gin slowly came out of his hiding spot and leaned against the tree with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes never leaving the beautiful creature.

The girl's height was slightly above average; she was very lean but not painfully skinny. She was wearing a white dress with wide décolleté but it didn't make her look vulgar by any means. Under her breasts the fabric split in two pieces revealing more thin and semi-transparent white fabric, which didn't reveal anything inappropriate, overlaying itself. In front, the length of the dress reached her mid thigh gradually getting longer and longer on the back. Long sleeves were pretty loose around the arms and covered her hands slightly making her delicate hands look even more fragile. Her curly tea rose color hair reached mid back. The right side was up in a bun covered with a round shell looking object which turned out to be part of her hollow mask at the closer inspection. The iris of her cherry eyes were a little bigger than normal which made her face look childlike and at a first glance you would say it's a 12 year old. But if you looked longer you would start wondering how you could mistake such a beautiful young woman for a child. But what surprised Gin the most is that she wasn't wearing any shoes. Then he noticed a very fine golden bracelet around her left ankle decorated with gems which sparkled reflecting the light of the moon. He wondered where she got such a fine thing. Could it be a gift from Aizen? It seemed like something he would do. He always liked his toys dressed like dolls because that's exactly what they were for him in the first place. Dolls. Without a heart or soul, just serving their function to be thrown away afterwards. Sick bastard. But who was this girl? A numeros? Somebody's fraction? But she was in Aizen's private quarters. But Wait. She didn't have zanpakuto. Is that even possible?

But she sure is pretty.

His grin grew wider and he started singing just barely loud enough for the girl to hear.

"Twinkle twinkle little fairy

I love you cos ya not scary

In the garden you play hide and seek

How I wish to take a peek

Twinkle twinkle little fairy

I love you cos ya not scary"

The little fairy turned her head in the direction of Gin's voice, it took her completely by surprise and she lost her balance and fell on the ground. "Well, so much for being graceful," thought the silver haired man. He came closer and squatted to be on the same level with the fallen girl. She looked at him with the eyes of a deer caught in headlights. She was unable to move and didn't even dare to breathe at that moment. For a second Gin thought he could hear her heart beating extremely fast. It amused him even more.

"Wha cha name, fairy-chan?" said Gin grinning as usual.

"I-it's Leila" answered the girl after some moments of silence, trying to cover her legs with her skirt, which came up somewhat after the fall. Gin's eyes naturally followed the movement of Leila's hands and once he was able to draw his eyes away he looked straight into her eyes again.

"Well, nice to meet ya, Leila-chan. I'm…"

"Gin," a painfully familiar voice behind his back finished.