Chapter 36: The Case of Sousuke

See the stone set in your eyes,

See the thorn twist in your side,

I wait for you.

Sleight of hand and twist of fate,

On a bed of nails she makes me wait

And I wait without you."

-U2 "With or Without You"

He waited. His arms were at his side as he stood in front of the door he'd left open for her waiting patiently for Nina to step through. Sousuke Aizen didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling rather anxious. His plans were in motion, and they would continue with or without her – preferably with her.

The door shifted, but it was not Nina that appeared before him. Instead, a sealed letter fluttered to his feet from the other side, and his heart suddenly dropped to the pit of his stomach. Aizen kneeled down and picked it up Opening it, he read its words carefully.

He closed his brown, menacing eyes. "I see…" he said and turned away.

Sousuke still held the letter between his fingertips as he sat down in a favorite chair in his bedchamber in Hueco Mundo. He let out a sigh as he brushed his hair back, one long, wavy strand naturally falling into his face. He had really hoped Nina would accept his invitation. In fact, he had every intention of taking her as his bride here in his kingdom. After all, a god should not be without a goddess. He'd decided that she would have been the perfect wife to him – intelligent, quiet, submissive, and so very striking.

It was Nina's remarkable beauty and mysterious nature that drew him to her to begin with. She had been a good enough Third Seat replacement, but she kept her walls so high. She would often speak to him in a soft, proper manner whenever they did encounter, but she never revealed much. But on a good day, she would allow him a glimpse of her charm through soft wit. That beguiling nature was enough to string him along and drive him mutely crazy all at the same time.

She managed to make him all the more curious about her, but at the same time, the perfect target. More than anything, she desired a relationship, total and passionate. He'd sensed this and used it to his advantage. He had purposely sent the Hollow to lure her innocently into his trap. He watched her intently. His smile broadened, despite himself as she displayed her skill. He hadn't counted on her artful use of the blade or her innate potential in kidou. He surmised from her outward personality that she liked dark, mysterious things. He showed her Kurohitsugi. Her immediate desire to learn gave him a tremendous sense of pride.

He befriended her on that hot day in late summer and offered to tutor her in kidou, building her trust. She was exceptionally clever. Utilizing everything, he tested her. She often picked up on things before he even finished the lesson. She was well-read, and as he later found out, a highly talented artist. By the time the first leaf fell in autumn, they had grown close, his interest in her and his intent toward her fueling their newly-formed friendship.

However, there arose a new development that startled Sousuke himself. Against his better judgment, he began developing feelings for her, though he tried so desperately to fight them. Somehow, the mysterious Nina managed to surpass his every expectation effortlessly. She broke through his defenses and pierced his heart with a certain fondness that he was sure he could have never felt with someone else. With secret pangs himself, Sousuke relinquished, deciding it would be good to love at least once in his lifetime and do it while he still had time.

One cool autumn day on the curved red bridge that crossed over a secluded pond, he made the connection with her. It had been somewhat breezy that day, and the light winds shook the trees. Blazing colors of orange, red, and yellow fell around them as he gently kissed her softly. She was surprised – he could tell – but she tried so valiantly to resist what her bright pink cheeks revealed. He made the stipulation that they had to keep their involvement a secret, for a revealing would dismantle his hidden agenda. Though his request was strange, Nina complied, despite her own personal reservations.

When the last leaf fell and the first snowfall appeared, Sousuke had strangely grown even more uxorious of her. Why? He had no idea. He had abandoned his morals years ago since they stood in the way of his true ambitions, yet, he could not bring himself to harm her in the end. Whether he truly loved Nina even he wasn't sure, but now that she was no longer here, Aizen had decided that, yes, he had loved her in a way. Perhaps it was not the eternal bond that changes people for the better, but rather a taste of it. This revelation when it first came to him confounded him. Was he was capable of affection?

This kind of love, affection, or whatever one would call it drove him to bedding with her that winter. A good part of it was lust, he wouldn't deny that – Nina was beautiful, after all - but some of it was the physical manifestation of that ardent fire that burned hotly within him. He quickly began to enjoy her company in his bedroom where she would surrender herself to him. She rarely ever slept in her own quarters, preferring his bed to her own. Both of them began craving the other's touch and felt empty without it.

The night he had composed his letter, Nina was in the bedroom, having dozed off after another passionate experience within his sheets. Upon awakening, she noticed he wasn't there and wrapped herself in his robe, which was lying among their scattered clothes on the floor. She quietly came up behind him. Sousuke felt her warm, familiar arms drape around his neck as she knelt behind him, her breath tickling his skin as he wrote.

"Are you coming to bed, Sousuke?" she whispered. "You look tired."

"Yes," he replied smiling sincerely and yielding to her. She was his opium. With a subtle movement of his arm, he obscured the letter from her view. "I just need to complete this very important document."

She sighed. "What's so important that can't wait until tomorrow?"

"I wish it could wait, but, unfortunately, I didn't remember it until now."

She buried her face in the back of his head, the soft strands of his tousled brown hair tickling her nose. "You work too much," she sighed.

He ventured a subdued laugh. "So you tell me time and again." He turned his head upward to look into her lovely sky blue eyes and smiled. She looked down into his dark brown eyes and blinked adorably at him before he turned and gently pulled her down into his lap and cradled her in his arms. "You're making this difficult for me."

"Am I?"

"Yes, but I am nearly finished." He smiled and leaned in to give her a kiss. "You may go along to bed, Nina. I will be there shortly. I promise."

Nina stood up and smiled mischievously at him. "I'll hold you to that."

Aizen snorted amusedly before returning to his letter to. Once he sealed it, he joined her in bed and fell asleep with his arms satisfyingly wrapped around her waist. Had he known it would be one the last nights they would ever spend together, Aizen would have spent more time with her. The night that he had said his silent goodbye while she slumbered deeply in her own quarters pained him, but he knew there was no other way.

After leaving chaos in his wake, Aizen sat upon his throne, still thinking of Nina. He had become unhealthily infatuated with her, as though she had him bewitched. He smiled. Gin had warmed him time and again. He had not been able bring himself to use her or bring harm to her, even if it was his intent in the beginning. He let himself become too attached to her. He actually cared for her and that puzzled him.

He sighed. He could never go back to her. No, not now. It was up to her to come to him. In his letter, he told her she would not be forcibly brought here nor would he bring any harm to her. He left it up to her to decide. Her response was unfortunate and a surprise. He should have known she would be too honorable to defect from Soul Society. He had even prepared a place for her in case she decided to spend her life with him. He unfolded the letter and read it once more:

Dear Sousuke,

When you receive this, the portal you left for me will have closed, but I am sending this correspondence in my place because, at the very least, you deserve to know my reasons why I will not join you.

The first reason is obvious: you have travelled down a path that I simply cannot follow. My life and my friends are here, and this is where I belong. What you are asking me to do goes against every fiber of my being and compromises my integrity.

While I still love you, and I always will, despite what you have done, you are not the Sousuke Aizen I fell so madly in love with. That man I held so dear is dead to me now, and the person in his place is naught but a stranger.

There are many things left unsaid between us. I cannot help but wonder whether you ever loved me in the way I loved you, but I may never know that answer for myself.

I have learned much from you in the time we had together, and I feel I have grown in so many ways. I will continue to study our kidou book and remember you as I believed you were – kind, unselfish, and most of all, honest. Everything I gave you – my innocence and my love – is yours to keep, and I hope that you will remember these things as my parting gifts.

My Sincerest Affections,

Nina

Aizen smoothed the letter on his table and climbed into his bed. He had brought with him a small picture of her that she'd given to him. He looked at her softly smiling portrait for a moment. Something alien stirred within him. He had often heard it said that people never forgot their first real love. He decided that Nina was his, and probably the only love he would ever have. It startled him to think that she had managed to prove he had at least some humility abiding within him. His eyes narrowed. He had been capable of such affection toward another. It was a shame that there would be no way to tell her directly that he grew to become truly fond of her. He put her picture back on his bedside table and lay back to sleep, turning over to look at the side where Nina would normally be sleeping. He stretched an arm out searching for that familiar warmth, but it was no longer there. This bed felt so empty. He rolled over onto his back and stared up at his dark, vaulted ceiling. Like all phases of life, this would come to pass and the emptiness would someday subside. But not today.

A/N: This is it! This is the final chapter of Sleeping with the Enemy. My sincere thanks goes out to all who have read and enjoyed the story and for all your wonderful reviews. These two final chapters are the pair of one shot stories from which this entire fan fiction spawned. I tweaked them to speak in the present voice and to suit the rest of the plot for the story here. The original pair of one shots can be found in my gallery on Deviant Art. Same user name, so I'm easy to find.

On another note, now that I know how the Winter War turned out, I have decided to do a sequel to this story that focuses on Yumichika and Nina and has more of Amaya and Juushiro. THere may possibly be the introduction of a third OC for another character, but I'll be evil and let you speculate who that character might be. I set up the scene between Nina and Yumichika in Chapter 35 to set the stage for them in the next story. I feel that their story is not yet finished and Nina still needs closure. I also feel that Amaya's story isn't finished, either, and we need to see whether she will be accepted in her new role as Lieutenant of Division Thirteen. I know a lot of you are probably disappointed that Nina didn't run off to be with Sousuke, but that happens in pretty well most of the other Aizen/OC stories (the ones I've read, at least), and I wanted something different. I didn't want him to get the girl this time around. I also wanted to write Aizen in a way I've seen no one else write him; I wanted to write him in a way that made him more human. I wanted to show that even a villain can still love.

So! I will begin the planning stages of the sequel and get the ball rolling on that hopefully soon! Take care and I'll be looking forward to your support in Part Two!