Chapter 11: Captain and Subordinate
"Wishful thinking, patience shrinking,
Bliss is far away,
North is calling, now I'm falling,
At your feet please stay."
-The All American Rejects "Too Far Gone"
"See you tomorrow, Seito-san!" Momo called as Nina left the Division Five office.
Nina smiled at Momo and waved. Her eyes stole a glance at her captain who was busy at his desk. He said nothing to Nina as she departed from him, but he had certainly noticed her presence and had been watching her discreetly.
Nina had been in the office to ink Hinamori's illustrations with her professional artist's pens, and the girl had been impressed at how much sharper and neater her work appeared when compared to the standard permanent markers she had been using. Though Nina was more often the quiet one, even she could not help a giggle or an amused snort of laughter over Momo's adorable drawings. Nina and Hinamori had different styles, for Nina preferred to draw realistic subjects and scenes while Momo drew in more of a manga style. However, Nina acknowledged that she was talented, and honestly, Nina herself could do manga style drawings, though it was difficult not to make her subjects realistic.
A month had passed since the festival, and Aizen had barely spoken to Nina in that time. The night of the festival had left a bitter taste in his mouth over the fact that she had been someone else's date. He was insulted that she had chosen to go back to her date with that inferior example of a man rather than staying with him after he went through so much trouble. He even left a mountain of paperwork to sit until the following day so that he could be with her, and this was the way that she had chosen to treat him.
He forced a pleasant smile toward Hinamori. "Lieutenant, I'm going out for a little while. Please continue with your work."
His smile was as devastating as ever when Hinamori looked up to catch sight of it, and she blushed. "Yes, Captain Aizen."
He left the office with little more to say and clasped his hands behind his back as he made his way down the boardwalk. He was silent for the most part, only offering a greeting to those who spoke to him first, and it was difficult to hide his somber expression.
"Why so serious, Cap'n?"
Gin appeared from nowhere, as he was so famous for doing, and invited himself on Aizen's little stroll.
"Serious? What makes you think that?" Aizen asked.
"Well that hard look on yer face doesn't suit you, ya know," Gin responded. His ever present smile stretched into a clever grin. "It's that girl again, ain't it? I thought you'd gotten over that."
"It's nothing, Gin, as I have told you several times before."
"Tsk tsk," Gin clicked. "Lyin' to yer friends ain't becoming of you either. Ya look like you've given up on her."
He frowned but said nothing. Whatever he said would be contorted around anyway, so he chose to just keep his mouth shut.
"Ya know," Gin began, "you always get what you want. I'm sure you'll find a way."
Gin smiled at his companion in that weird, implying way that Aizen saw all too often whenever Gin had an idea in his head but did not quite want to say it.
"I'm sure I will, Gin," Aizen told him, understanding.
Nina was once again out in the Fifth Division forest, but though her supplies were with her and her sketchpad was out on her lap, she was not drawing. She stared at the blank page and twirled the pencil in her fingertips, her mind blank.
Actually, it was not completely blank; she had been thinking far too much about Captain Aizen lately. Her captain had been acting very strangely since the night of the festival, and it had made her unsettled. He had not visited the library much, and when he did, it seemed as though it was when she was not on duty. During training, he would barely say two words to her, and in the office, he seemed…tense. Had she said something to offend him? Had someone said something to him, perhaps?
She sighed and put away her sketchpad and supplies. There were a hundred things around her to draw and she could not focus on a single thing. She rubbed her temples, shook her head, and glanced down at Kiyohime. Nina picked up her beloved zanpakutoand laid her across her knees.
You're here again today, Nina. What's wrong?
"I don't know, Kiyohime…the way my Captain has been acting toward me is bothering me."
Kiyohime sat on a charred rock and crossed her legs. And why is it bothering you?
"If I knew that I wouldn't be asking you," Nina responded annoyed.
Now, no need to get snippy, Kiyohime responded casually. Let us address this problem, shall we? I can only surmise that the reason you're so perturbed by your captain's behavior is that you have become quite attracted to him, probably more than you should.
"What?! Oh, I have no-!
Nina was suddenly pulled from her inner world by a reiatsu that was now more familiar to her than ever. She bristled and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she rose quickly from her spot. She could sense another reiatsu, this one even more familiar to her. She grabbed Kiyohime, left her art supplies where they were, and slipped into shunpo.
Nina arrived in a clearing to find the very object of her thoughts already at the location with his zanpakutodrawn and a gigantic, spider-like Hollow poised to attack him. It struck out at Captain Aizen, but he deftly blocked it with Kyoka Suigetsu and aptly dodged another strike that the beast threw his way. It looked strong, and Nina felt that she had better do something to help out her captain and do it quickly.
"Slither, Kiyohime!" she suddenly cried as she ran into the fray to assist.
Aizen snapped his head up, wide-eyed with surprise, in time to see his Third Seat glowing red and her zanpakuto reforming into a large-bladed naginata. With a snap of the wrist, the blade extended out into a long chain of links and sliced the front legs completely off.
"Seito-kun…" he trailed, still mildly surprised. He readied Kyoka Suigetsu.
The blade retracted and Nina stood at Aizen's side at the ready herself. "Do you mind if I assist you?"
"By all means," he responded pleasantly. "You and I have not had a chance to work together, and it will be a pleasure. Besides, you could use the training."
"The pleasure should be all mine," she remarked as she focused her attention on the Hollow.
Why don't you just kill it already, Sousuke?Aizen heard Kyoka Suigetsu complain.
Patience,he answered back.
The Hollow peered at Nina and Aizen with its eight eyes and suddenly reared up and began spitting a sticky substance directly at them. He shoved Nina out of the way as he repelled in the opposite direction.
"Seito!" he barked. "Use kidou!"
Nina cringed at the mention of using kidouin front of her captain. As much as she hated to admit it, her skill in the demon arts was definitely not as strong as her swordsmanship. Yet, she was given an order and she had to comply.
She raised her hand toward the Hollow and focused her reiatsu. "Way of Destruction Number 33: Soukatsui!"
A blast of fire cannoned from Nina's hands and directly at her target. However, the shot did not prove entirely effective as it only grazed the monster and left barely a scratch. However, it did provide just enough of a distraction for Aizen to slice off the rest of the legs, and the push from Nina's kidouwas just what it needed to take it down.
The Hollow hit the ground hard and began to roll around like a boulder, flailing what was left of its legs. Its screams were deafening, and Nina's ears began to ring from the sound. Luckily, Nina had been working with Kiyohime to better learn her abilities and this provided the perfect opportunity to activate something that Kiyohime had recently taught her.
"Strike, Kiyohime!" she commanded and flicked her naginata toward the flailing Hollow. The links of her blade coiled around its fat spider body like a constrictor-type snake, and Nina pulled on the hilt. She began to glow red as she felt the energy beginning to drain from the struggling beast. It was difficult to keep her footing on the ground with all its fraught, and she had to put every fiber of her strength to keep the coil firm until its reiatsucould drain enough to weaken its erratic movements.
The pull of the beast was making her feet start to give way, and she glanced up at her Captain, alarmed; he had barely escaped the toppling of the Hollow onto the ground, but it had collapsed so hard and so close to him that it knocked him off his feet.
"Captain!" she cried out.
Aizen scrambled to his feet, seeing that Nina would not be able to hold it at bay for very much longer and decided to finally finish this here and now. He raised a hand up, his dark brown eyes narrowing.
"Way of Destruction Number 90: Kurohitsugi!"
An ominous, black and purple light emitted from his hand and lines of a large box began to draw themselves around the Hollow. The coffin filled with black and skewered the beast on all sides. There was only a second's pause, and when the box had cleared, the Hollow was destroyed, dissipating into air.
She stared wide-eyed in amazement at the scene, and she was so caught off guard that she was not prepared for Kiyohime to recoil back into a blade once again. The force of the withdrawal knocked her flat on her bottom, and she could hear Kiyohime giggle mischievously.
You can stop drooling now, Nina-chan…
She ignored Kiyohime's remark for now as Captain Aizen approached her and held out a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.
"You are mastering your zanpakutowell, Seito-kun," he remarked. "I've always believed in your potential."
"Are you alright, Captain Aizen?" she asked, genuinely concerned for him. "That Hollow nearly fell on you."
Sousuke forced a smile at Nina. Truthfully, he could have fallen that Hollow in just one stroke of his zanpakuto, but he had needed an excuse to be with her. The Hollow was another of his failed experiments of which he no longer had use. "I am just fine, Seito-kun. Thank you for asking." He glanced at her again. "Accompany me, Seito-kun."
He clasped his hands behind his back as Nina joined his stride. They walked in silence for quite a ways, for Sousuke was at a loss of words for what he should say to her. He had felt angry with her for the past month, or so he thought. But he realized that what he was feeling was not anger at all, but jealousy. Still, it confounded him, nonetheless. He was not supposed to feel anything regarding this woman – not love, not jealousy, nothing. But he did, and the idea that he could feel such things toward another was confounding.
"Captain Aizen?"
"Mmm?"
"Um…have I done something wrong?" Nina asked uncertainly. "You seem like you've been avoiding me since the festival." She fidgeted with her obi. "And I know you seemed upset when I would not address you by your name."
He blinked at her. Then he gave a smile. "No, of course not, Seito-kun. I have just been…preoccupied." He decided to change the subject. "Your shikai…that was the first time I ever saw it. It really is quite like the Kiyohime from the legend. Tell me, that move where you strangled the Hollow, is that your special ability?"
Nina nodded. "Yes. Kiyohime just taught it to me. If I had been injured, I would have been able to heal myself."
"What a shame you did not learn that sooner," he said, recalling the time he had healed Nina's injuries from a Hollow attack.
"Yes, what a shame," she replied. She paused. "Captain Aizen, I wonder something."
"And that is?"
"You could have destroyed that Hollow yourself. Even though I came, you didn't need my help. Why did hold back?"
He smiled. "Perhaps it is because I want you to trust me, Seito-kun. Trusting your captain is important, especially when your captain is the one who holds your life in his hands. While it is true that I could have taken it out myself, I wanted you to gain experience. It also gave me a chance to see you in action and have more of an idea of your abilities since I was not there to guide you the first time, and we both know how that encounter ended."
"Are you implying that I cannot take care of myself?" Nina challenged.
"Of course not," he replied. "You could not have defeated that Hollow without your shikai, though it would have been far wiser on your part to leave it and get help. You got yourself into a very dangerous situation, Seito-kun, and you were fortunate. I only wish I had been there to help. After all, there is strength in numbers, but thankfully, your skills were enough to take care of the problem."
She blushed. "Well at least I learned my lesson, even if it was the hard way."
"And that's the important thing," he responded pleasantly. "I did see something during our little battle that you do need work on…your skill with kidou. That basic spell taught in the academy should be nothing for a Third Seat to master. Was kidoua difficult subject for you?"
"Yes," Nina admitted. "I can do most of the lower-level ones without a problem, but the medium to high level types are not something I have been able to master properly. I cringed every time I attended kidou class because I knew I would do something wrong or I couldn't completely destroy the target like my classmates could. I only received the grades I did because I had to work exceptionally hard for them. Kidouwas my weakest subject."
"I offered you additional information regarding kidoua few months back. Why did you not see me about it?" Aizen asked.
"I am rather embarrassed about it," she confessed. "Though I have to admit that even I'm better than Madarame-san."
He laughed softly. "Well Division Eleven frowns on the use of kidou. They're the Division of brute force, so to speak." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please do not be embarrassed by your skill in kidou. For some, it comes easily, as it did to me, but for others, mastering it is like mastering a musical instrument. You must practice it over again until you become good at it."
"Like Amaya's piano…" she trailed under her breath. She looked up at Aizen. "The spell you used…that was amazing."
"Ah, you liked that, did you?" he said pleasingly. "It's my favorite spell – it's strong and effective, but I took me many years to master it, though at that moment I wasn't even using it at its full potential. Simply using the spell on such a low-level Hollow is overkill."
"Then why did you use it?"
Sousuke smirked. "Even I must practice my skills, Seito-kun."
"You said you weren't using it to its full potential. You…can control that?"
"You can control the power of any kidou spell, Seito-san. However, it often depends on the reiryoku of the wielder and one's personal ability to master the spell. One doesn't learn control until mastery is achieved. Perhaps with enough practice at kidouyou can someday learn to use high-level spells like that, too."
"What do you recommend I do, then?" Nina asked.
"Practice, and lots of it, for one," Aizen replied. "And for another, how about I give you that extra material I mentioned?" He guided her toward his office. "Come. You have a lot of work to do."
Author's Notes:Nina is not that great with kidou. Although she is certainly strong and clever enough to utilize it, it was a difficult subject for her back in the Academy. She lacked confidence in her ability, and had it not been for Amaya, she would have never attained the grades she did in kidou.
Nina's Shikai Special Ability
Constrict: Nina's zanpakuto has the ability to coil itself around an enemy and constrict. Rather than robbing its victim of physical breath, it siphons out their spiritual energy until they die. Nina can also absorb the energy she draws out via the shaft of her naginata in order to heal her injuries, but she has not yet learned this part of her shikai special ability.
