They shared a stare as Ichimin balanced precariously on the rock, her belt tied tightly around her throat to be a makeshift noose. And then, the rock finally slipped and flipped away.
The drop was sudden; it wasn't the right length, Ichimin's neck didn't break like she wanted it to. She was merely hanging there, feeling the terror of slow suffocation. Aizen stared at her. She would either die here or survive and know of his true nature. And so it was in an instant that Aizen shunpoed near her, giving a hard jerk to the ribbon and seeing it loosen from the tree. Ichimin dropped to the ground with a hard noise and didn't move, and for a moment Aizen wondered if she was dead.
"Ichimin, Ichimin!"
He said urgently and dropped next to her, expecting a woman coarse and unwilling to accept help. Instead, as soon as he laid a hand on her shoulder she basically threw herself into his arms, sobbing loudly into his chest. He couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but it sounded like 'I'm sorry' over and over again. All Aizen did was hold her tight, sitting on the ground with her as she cried. Loud, guttural wails, the sounds of the hardest and most painful sort of crying. Aizen found that he didn't like seeing her cry like that, and it was confusing. He absolutely loathed being confused, but remained hiding his annoyance as he sat with her. Once she calmed down, he would interrogate her on what had happened and then make a decision from there.
"Calm down, Ichimin. It's alright."
He told her gently, moving to sit against the tree she attempted to hang herself with not two minutes ago. Unexpectedly, having her in his arms and solely dependent on him for survival brought a feeling of warmth to his heart. He had seen every facet of the woman now, and she had many of them. Aizen attempted to ignore the feeling as Ichimin slowly calmed down, now her forehead on his shoulder.
"I-I'm s-sorr-y C-Capt-tain-"
Ichimin began, her words reduced to stutters by the crying. Aizen cut her off right about then, shushing her gently.
"Don't apologize. I just want to know…what happened?"
He waited for a while, as she seemed to gather herself enough for an explanation, before she turned her eyes to look up at him. Her eyes were puffy and red, she had only just stopped spastically sucking in breaths, her hair was mussed and her face was dotted with tears here and there, his shihakusho having absorbed most of them.
She was absolutely beautiful.
He removed his thoughts from that dangerous category long enough to listen to her begin.
"I…I lost…my position as…Fifth seat…because I'm in Fourth…all the time…"
She started, quickly being whipped up into another crying frenzy all over again.
"And I r-remembered and c-could-n't b-bear th-that all m-my years of w-work were gone, and-"
Aizen shushed her again, pulling her against him in a warm, caring embrace.
"It's alright Ichimin; everything is going to be alright. Come along; you can't be alone tonight."
Wait, why can't she? Didn't he want her to be alone, so next time he wouldn't be there to interfere when and if she tried to kill herself again? Yes, yes he did want her to kill herself and be out of his plans. But he didn't want to have her die and not be around. It was complicated, and Aizen was becoming tired of it. He continued to ponder while pulling Ichimin up and holding her bridal style against him, shunpoing back to his personal home. She didn't resist or move during the short trip, merely attempted to calm down a bit. When they arrived, he sat her down on the futon opposite his desk and sat next to her, looking very worried. Ichimin took a few deep breaths, and restarted.
"I…I've been in Fourth division too much, from my own fault. That's what Lieutenant Nanao told me. She said that I might get it back at some point in time, but with my drinking I'm never…going to be able to."
She hung her head, and Aizen tentatively put an arm around her shoulders. She didn't resist him.
"Ichimin, you're a very talented and powerful shinigami. It won't be difficult for you to spend the time to prove your worth again, it's just that you need to stop-"
He began, before she had her head in her hands.
"It doesn't work like that! I…I hate Soul Society. I hate shinigami. I hate being a shinigami. I hate everything here, and almost everyone. What the hell else am I supposed to do than drink? How am I going to deal with that feeling of hate if it's not from a bottle?"
She was still moderately drunk at the moment, but to that level that she was capable of being coherent, and in this moment of weakness was telling the Captain everything that she'd hidden for so long. And at the moment, she was playing right into Aizen's hands. He himself was getting an idea. An idea that concerned a very insidious plot that would cure her problems and his own hesitancy. There was no risk in this plot; with the recent events he'd learned of, then it would work out perfectly in his favor.
"…I can't tell you that. But I can tell you that I am going to be here for you, Ichimin."
He moved her head gently to brush her hair back and tell her this with the absolute truest of stares. It was still falsely kind, but the intentions were the same. She was something tormented, a wretched thing. Someone who could truly understand the cruelness and the evil of Soul Society, how this world really was. And she was a draw for Aizen; in the way she could hide her emotions as he did. Never a more perfect setup.
Ichimin looked up at Aizen as he spoke, and soon found herself embracing the man. She wasn't sobbing wildly this time, just wanting some comfort in his presence. It was stupid, it was dangerous and she was going beyond her rank in this action but at the moment, she didn't care. Aizen didn't either, apparently, because he wrapped his arms around her and leaned back onto the futon, enjoying having her so dependent on him and enjoying having her so close
Ichimin proved something weaker than himself, but something that was close to his own level in at least one area; deception. A very useful trait, and the fact that she had grown attached to him from all the times he had saved her was a boon that Aizen hadn't expected to acquire. Gin would no doubt either be happy or pissed that Ichimin was more involved, but whether Gin was complacent with his plans or not wasn't of any consequence to Aizen. There was, however, the problem of her alcoholism. Ichimin would need to be weaned off of it slowly, and during that time of detox, he could only dream of the hell she would bring him and everyone else around them. But, no matter. It would all end in his favor no matter the path they took, and so it wasn't of great consequence which direction they moved in as long as it was forward.
Ichimin was currently cuddled up to Aizen, taking great comfort in the clean smell of his cologne. She didn't want to go, and be away from the only one that would ever comfort her in this type of situation. Gin was a good friend, yes, but he was devoted to Matsumoto. Matsumoto herself was like an elder sister, and Ichimin didn't want a sisterly comfort. Something that had been present ever since the dinner date with Aizen was currently making itself known to her, and the female shinigami wasn't stupid enough not to know what it was. She had grown attached to this Captain over the times he had saved her from death or worse, which made three times now, and was absolutely terrified of it. So she had a thing for Aizen. How would Ichimin ever be able to say it? She couldn't; at this moment in time, the last thing she would need is rejection. That would definitely giver her that gentle push over the brink. But the woman could instead keep it quiet, as she had with all of her negative emotions for all those decades. It'd probably never work anyway; over time, the attraction would be smothered out and the two could continue with their own lives. Right?
She didn't care at the moment, as Aizen brushed her hair from her face. Contented and calmed, she quickly fell into a deep sleep as Aizen watched. When he could feel her breathing slow and deepen, he opened his eyes again to look her over. Relatively attractive, a bit plain but not ugly. He enjoyed having her around, enjoyed it ever since they had had that conversation at night. But how she would react to his methods was to be seen.
'Even if she does think ill of it, it will not be a problem. Ichimin will learn that in certain situations, the painful choice is the best of them all.'
That next morning, Ichimin opened her eyes to a massive headache. A crying headache mixed with hangover pain. It was like someone was driving a chisel through her forehead. Sitting up, she realized that Aizen was gone and that she wasn't in his house anymore. She was in her own division, in her empty unranked bedroom. Sitting up, she remembered what had transpired last night. Remembered enough of it, anyway, there were bits missing here and there. She remembered being drunk and she remembered tying the belt around her throat. In fact, it was still there in that elegant ribbon covering the crescent moon scar across her throat. And she remembered Aizen. Running her hand through her hair, Ichimin closed her eyes gently and finally let go of the fact she'd lost her position as Fifth. The title was gone and that tiny addition to her paycheck was nonexistent, but then again, it'd never been that important anyway. What was more important was that she would now have…
"Holy shit, I don't have as much paperwork."
The wide-eyed woman looked at the 'to-do' stack and noticed that it was much smaller than before. She could do that much in ten minutes. And one more thing she had missed dearly.
"…I can go out on patrol missions. I get to kill hollows again."
There was sunshine in the demotion, a bright spot of brilliant sunshine. Sure, she was in the noisy barracks now and the room was tiny, but that didn't matter because she wouldn't be spending every moment of her free time doing goddamn paperwork.
Sitting up further, she moved off of her futon to stand shakily. It was a very good feeling that she wouldn't have to worry about paperwork anymore. Hot damn, that paperwork thing was brightening up her hangover more by the minute.
"…Hm…"
She pondered what to do now. Choosing paperwork, she finished it quickly and now had nothing to do.
"…I forgot how it feels to be a peon. Feels pretty fucking great."
She jumped in the shower to get the smell of cheap liquor and clean scented cologne off of her, switching out her shihakusho with a fresh one. Showers always made her feel a whole lot better when she was hung over, and as she stepped out into the day's sunshine a shatteringly loud slamming noise rang out. Ichimin's eyes widened before she dashed in, grabbing her odd-colored Zanpakuto and running outside with it attached to her hip. The gate; someone was attacking the gate.
"A hollow? Or a Ryoka?"
She breathed, still seeing a bit double but able to figure out which double was real. Always the one on the left. Shunpoing, Ichimin left Eighth to back up the array of shinigami apparently already stationed around the gate. A blond head; someone familiar.
"Kira! Erm, Lieutenant Kira."
She called, and then corrected herself. Not a Fifth seat anymore; even for a Fifth to call a Lieutenant by their name was very substandard. For an unranked shinigami to do it was near blasphemy. At the call, Kira turned around and looked to Ichimin.
"Oh, Fifth seat Kumorigachi."
Ichimin grinned a bit, a little sadly.
"Nah, not anymore. Demoted; I'm…unranked now."
Izuru looked sympathetic, but Ichimin just turned it away.
"What happened? Who's attacking?"
She had a hand on her Zanpakuto hilt, even though officially, wartime had not been declared and she wasn't supposed to be carrying it around at the moment. Other shinigami had theirs out though, so it was just in case the attackers came inside.
"Ryoka. No trouble though, Jidanbou's on the other side. We'll be fine."
Ichimin glanced over to see Hisagi there, and vaguely noticed the divisions there at the moment.
"Why'd they send both Third and Ninth here? Was there something going on?"
Ichimin asked him curiously. Hisagi shrugged.
"We were put on patrol behind the wall while it was lowered, and the Ryoka just happened to come along."
Immediately, they all felt a spike in reiatsu and realized whose it was.
"Wasn't that Captain Ichimaru?"
A nameless division member asked nobody in particular. Ichimin shrugged.
"Probably. The Captain might've just been scaring them away from the wall or something. God knows nearly everyone here'd run from him if he tried to chase us off."
A general murmur of agreement through the lower division members rumbled, before Ichimin yawned in the sunlight.
"Well, we've got something to do again. Finally."
She stretched, and since nothing seemed to be happening, the former Fifth seat began to walk away.
"You guys don't need me if you've got the Captain around. Since I'm unranked now, I think I'll go drink in the sunlight on a roof or something."
She had at least today before they set up all the grunt jobs she'd have to be doing again, like cleaning and patrol missions. But she was lazy enough to cut some major corners while cleaning, and patrol missions were what she was looking forward to.
"Yeah, alright. See you later."
She heard Hisagi call back, and Ichimin waved over her shoulder to him. Heading away from the wall, she returned to her room and dropped off her Zanpakuto once more. Grabbing a bottle of sake, it was easy enough to hide it in her shihakusho while passing Kyoraku in the hallway to make sure he didn't see it and want to join her. Actually, the Captain looked pretty surprised at how much of a good mood Ichimin was in at the moment, now merrily heading outside to do something menial, most likely.
"Hey there, Kumorigachi. How are you today?"
He asked, a bit suspiciously. Ichimin waved back to him as she had done with Hisagi.
"Fine, fine. Nice day out, Captain."
She didn't want for a response before hurriedly slipping out of the division and shunpoing onto a roof. Looking down at the building beneath her feet, Ichimin thought long and hard for a moment.
"Hm…no, I can't stay on an Eighth roof. I know Kyoraku'll see me up here when he comes to hide from the Lieutenant. I need a division that people won't bother to look up on roofs in. And even if they were to see me, a division where nobody would fuck with me while I'm relaxing."
Immediately, First, Second, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth were cut out of the lineup. Third was Ichimaru's division, and knowing him, he'd pop up and scare the shit out of her just for the hell of it. So Third was out. Fourth, she'd get lectured on alcohol abuse. Fourth was out too. Fifth would have Momo there. Hovering, lecturing Momo. Ichimin didn't know Komamura, and so drinking in his division might be frowned upon. Tetsuzaemon was Lieutenant, but they hadn't met beyond getting good and roaring drunk together, so maybe not. Thirteenth seemed like the best choice, but Ukitake was apparently having another sick spell, from what she'd heard. It wouldn't be right to drink on his roof like a lazy bastard when the man is coughing up blood and all.
"…Eh, I can deal with Momo. Fifth it is then."
It was a relatively uneventful journey from the roofs of Eighth to the roofs of Fifth. She wasn't rushed at all, and soon came to a stop on a particularly warm-looking roof. Sitting down, Ichimin sprawled out on the pleasantly warm roof and opened up her bottle, taking a measured sip.
"This is the life…" She sighed contentedly, loosening the tie around her waist and opening up the top of her shihakusho enough to show more skin to the warm sun. The sounds of the cicada were soothing to her; she had listened to them when a child in Seventy-Ninth, and had always been eager to hear them every year. This year had been no different.
It was so nice a day.
Ichimin remained there and sipped, only getting the lightest of buzzes to make the relaxing day even more relaxing. She moved her top again to show her shoulders and stomach, before saying 'fuck it' and going topless. But she was still in another division and didn't have seniority anymore; that could end badly. So instead, Ichimin put the top under her and moved the sleeves to cover her breasts. That worked perfectly, and now the buzzed Eighth divisioner was getting rather drowsy. Setting the bottle of sake upright next to her, Ichimin drifted off to a light sleep on a roof in Fifth division.
Aizen stepped out of his division, preparing to head home with a bit of paperwork to do. The cicadas were quieting down and crickets were taking over the night with their untraceable chirping. Night had fallen quickly, and it was pleasantly cool outside. A bit chilly when the wind blew, but that was rare and it remained a very pleasant night. At the moment, everything was falling into place and very soon, he would have the Hogyoku in his grasp and ascend past Soul Society, to greater heights.
At that moment, Aizen noticed something. A female hand was hanging over the edge of his roof, still and limp. Mildly curious, Aizen shunpoed up to see who was on his roof.
It was an understatement to say that he wasn't expecting to see a topless Ichimin laying on her stomach on top of his roof, an upright bottle of sake within arm's reach and her shihakusho top under her chest like a cover between her and the roof. Most likely drunk, he had thought before noticing that the bottle was over half full.
'So she was sunbathing and fell asleep? What a lazy woman.'
Leaning down, Aizen leaned forward to Ichimin's face.
"Ichimin, wake up."
The woman woke up abruptly and jerked up on her elbows, looking around.
"What? Whasshappenin?"
For about three seconds, she failed to notice that she was still topless, leaning up and that Aizen was there. When she did finally realize that she was flashing him, Ichimin grabbed her shihakusho top and threw it on quickly.
"I-I'm sorry, Captain, didn't know that anyone was coming up here, I accidentally fell asleep, and…and…"
Only half doing up her shihakusho top, Ichimin sighed and gave up. She found that the article of clothing was apparently ripped from her rolling around on it, and only fastened enough to cover her. A good amount of cleavage was still visible.
"Sorry Captain."
She sighed, expecting Aizen to throw her out of his division now. Awkward, and now she'd probably just incinerated any chances that he'd ever talk with her again. Instead, she looked up at him when a Captain's white haori was draped over her shoulders. Aizen smiled down to her, kindly.
"Please, Ichimin. It was an accident. Understandable, since it was so nice earlier in the day."
As he talked to her, Ichimin noticed that he kept his eyes from her chest and maintained eye contact, which only proved him more gentlemanly to her. It was his kindness and gentlemanliness that made him her friend. She attempted to keep from switching out 'her friend' with 'attractive to her', as she pulled the haori to cover herself and smiled to him. He was too nice to want anything romantic to do with a drunk who now had no ranking in Seireitei.
"Y-yeah. Thanks, Captain Aizen."
She laughed a bit, smiling and closing her eyes. Looking to her bottle of sake, she picked it up and found that it was cold. She liked it when it was cold; it gave that icy feeling in her stomach that turned warm the more she drank. Taking a cool sip, she looked up at the clear sky. The stars were out, hanging in the sky like diamonds while the crickets sang. She smiled warmer at the sky, closing her eyes gently. Aizen watched her, seeing how Ichimin looked when she was at complete peace with the world.
"So Captain, why'd you come up here?"
Ichimin asked, looking over her shoulder to him with that same smile. Aizen blinked, before looking up to the sky.
"I saw that someone was on my office roof, and decided to see who it was."
Ichimin laughed a bit, before feeling a chilled breeze blow past them both. She shivered, even through Aizen's haori.
"It's getting colder."
She stated, shivering. Looking to Aizen, Ichimin realized that because of her sleeping topless, now Aizen didn't have that extra layer of warmth.
"Winter is coming. It's going to snow soon."
Aizen stated, before feeling someone lean up against him. Looking down in surprise, Ichimin was throwing the haori over his shoulders and choosing to lean against him.
"Ichimin, I gave that to you to actually wear."
He stated, before Ichimin laughed. She had her arms crossed over her chest, leaning up against his side under the haori draped over his shoulder.
"What, and get you sick because of me? I can compromise. Sharing never hurt anybody."
She stopped smiling, looking up to him.
"Unless you don't want me here, I can sit over there again if you'd like."
Ichimin was moving while she spoke, attempting to crawl away and give him room when he draped an arm around her shoulders, holding her closer to him.
"It's no trouble at all, Ichimin. I rather enjoy having you here."
It would be hard not to notice that Ichimin's face had gone vermilion at the statement, unused to the sort of personal attention not given in a drunken slur. Aizen looked down to Ichimin, watching her with a smile. She was sipping her sake again, before realizing it and setting the bottle down with a nervous laughter.
"Sorry, I keep forgetting that I'm not alone or with drinking friends. Really have to stop being such a drunk moron, huh?"
She felt him move against her and realized that he had moved in front of her, and she was staring up at him with a sense of wonder as he spoke gently to her, his hands on her forearms.
"Don't say that about yourself, Ichimin. You're an intelligent and beautiful woman with a problem, that's all."
She listened to him wordlessly, before that his hands had slid down to hers. Without so much as a thought, she laid her hands in his and stared up into his eyes.
"I'm none of those things. I'm a hopeless drunk who lost her job over it and has nearly been killed because it, multiple times. So don't lie to me, Captain. Don't tell me I'm beautiful."
Aizen listened, carefully keeping in mind how compliant she was with him and how to have her completely won over.
"Then may I tell you that you are intelligent?"
She shook her head, feeling his warm hands close around hers.
"No. Don't tell me I'm intelligent."
She was leaning up and he was leaning down, their faces very close.
"Then may I tell you that you mean a great deal to me?"
He asked very quietly. Aizen he did…feel something. So it wasn't a lie after all; Aizen was just leaving out the small fact that he himself didn't know what it was that made her important, and that he was currently on the idea that it was because of her ability to hide her real emotions as he did and how useful it would be to him.
At the words, Ichimin stopped a moment in measured shock, but smiled warmly up to him.
"Yes, you can tell me that I mean a great deal to you. Because I hadn't the nerve to tell you the exact same."
Aizen quietly leaned down a bit more at this statement, sharing a gentle kiss with Ichimin. She didn't respond negatively in the slightest, her hands moving from his and to his shoulders and holding onto the material of his shihakusho gently. They remained there as she felt his hands around her waist. It was a good thing she had been sitting on her knees, or it would've been much more awkward. After a moment, she felt him run his tongue across her bottom lip, and the woman complied, gripping a bit tighter in his shihakusho as the kiss deepened considerably. It wasn't rough or sloppy, as Ichimin was used to in the odd drunken tryst she had been in. Aizen was gentle but firm, and neither of them proved purely dominant.
He tasted like expensive tea, she noticed. She tasted like cheap alcohol, he noticed.
Ichimin groaned softly, and immediately after felt herself swept off her feet and into his arms without breaking the kiss. Clinging onto him tightly, her bottle of sake and his small bit of paperwork was long forgotten as Aizen shunpoed with her, continuing on until he stopped at his door. Breaking the kiss for a moment, he stood at the door with her as if asking, 'Is this what you want?'
Ichimin smiled, cheeks flushed and fingers still knotted in his shihakusho. She nodded gently, and kissed him again as he opened the door and brought her inside, shutting it behind them quietly.
((Next chapter: lemon time! Soon, the choo-choo to Angstytown is making a visit so get ready for the angst coming up. Because no romance fic of mine is going to be completely loving and happy. Especially one with Aizen in it. Because I always saw Aizen as being controlling, dominating and some level of 'Nobody else loves you like I do, and they never will' kind of mentally abusive. See you next chapter!))