disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Chapter 37

The Cat Fell in Love with the Mouse

"Glad ya finally see what Captain Aizen been tryin ta get ya ta see all along."

"Yea, I guess being here has let me see things that I couldn't before."

He just smiled.

I raised my shirt up. "My wound is gone!"

"Well would ya look at dat? Did it do dat on its own or was dat all thanks to our hospital staff?"

I smiled "The nexus did it. I'm sure you probably felt its presence earlier."

"I mighta felt it a little." He chuckled.

I laughed. "I'm sure that was all." I took his hand. "You were gone when I woke up."

"I had business to attend to."

"I figured as much. Thanks for bringing me clothes and stuff."

"Not a problem, anytime."

I just smiled and played with his hands.

You are getting in way to deep with him, Kristen.

We were making eyes at each other when he quickly let go of my hands and turned around. "Hey there Captain Aizen."

I was a little confused as to why he let go. I thought Aizen knew about us. I decided to play along. I would ask Gin about it later.

"Hey Aizen." I said politely.

"Hello Kristen, Gin." Aizen said as he momentarily glared at Gin.

"Okay, I get it dis is a one on one session, you don't gotta tell me twice." He flash stepped away.

Damnit, I wanted to tell Gin to find me later. I guess I'll just have to find him. I thought.

Or you could just not show him. Unmei responded.

"One on one session? I have a feeling I know what you want to talk about." I said.

"Guilty conscience Kristen Meadows?"

"Guilty? What have I got to feel guilty about?"

"I guess that saying is too old for your generation then. I mean is there something I should know about that you're not telling me, but believe that I know about anyway?"

"I'll tell you anything. Just ask."

"What was that earthquake of reiatsu earlier?"

I had learned that reiatsu was the technical term for spiritual pressure.

"That was the nexus healing me. Apparently it can do that." I raised my shirt up. "No scar or anything."

"That's all that was? Kristen, every Arrancar in the palace and a few hollow hordes outside rampaging through Hueco Mundo felt that, I had to dispatch the Exequias to keep this place secure."

"Don't be mad at me. I didn't even know it was happening. I was asleep."

If he's going to be mad at anyone, be mad at the nexus. We can't help its great power. It's not like new hollows aren't created every day. It'll be ok. No need for him to cry about it.

"I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at the situation. And also where were you? I put you in charge of the monitors to keep tabs on the incoming infiltrators. Of course I guess I can't be too upset since you took care of two of them."

"I have to sleep, Sosuke. I'm sorry." I looked down at the ground.

"If I needed someone to sleep I would've asked Starrk to look at the monitors." He switched from irritated to confused. "And since when did you yourself start referring to me on a first name basis, not that I'm complaining."

He's an ass. He has no reason to be mad at you. He must have waked up on the wrong side of the bed or something.

"I don't know. I like your first name."

He smiled. "Thank you for the compliment."

I smiled. "I really am sorry I let you down. I think you forget that I'm human sometimes."

Do not apologize to him! You didn't do anything wrong. He shouldn't make you feel like you did.

"We all need sleep Kristen, but most of us don't take naps in the middle of our shifts, that's unprofessional."

I'm sorry, Kris. He has done went and pissed me off. I can't hold back any longer. I'm taking over. Sosuke Aizen and I are going to throw down if he doesn't adjust his attitude.

Unmei took over.

"She was injured! What the hell did you expect her to do?" Unmei asked as she clenched her fists.

"We have an efficient medical staff on hand, and there's no reason not to at least send word first, and especially not cause a reiatsu earthquake while healing." He clutched his head "Please excuse me, I need some tea."

Unmei followed him. "Now apologize."

He turned around and spoke softly. "Give Kristen back control, my apology is to her."

"For your information, I can't help how much power the nexus has. I can't control it." Unmei said before giving me back control.

"I apologize Kristen, I'm not mad at you, just frustrated with the current situation, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to get some tea. Feel free to return to monitor duty, or come down to the dining hall. I'm sure Tosen could find something for you to do if you have nothing on your own agenda and don't want to go back to watching monitors."

"I was hoping we could talk some more."

Why in the world would you want to continue your conversation with him? Unmei asked.

I want to know something.

What's that? Unmei asked.

How he feels about me.

This ought to be interesting. Let's see what he can come up with.

"If you'd like to continue our conversation we can do so down in the cafeteria." Aizen said.

"I'd like that." I smiled and followed him.

When we arrived at the cafeteria, Tosen greeted us. "Good day Lord Aizen shall I fetch your tea?"

Aizen nodded and turned to me "Would you like anything to eat or drink?

"No, I'm fine. Thank you."

Aizen sat down at the table and Tosen went into the other room to prepare tea.

"Sit." He gestured to the seat to his right

I sat down.

"What did you want to talk about?" He asked.

"I learned something new today."

"And that would be?"

"I can sort of freeze people. Unmei called it molecular immobilization."

"Your powers are developing quicker ever since you returned here."

"I noticed that."

"Now do you understand why you belong here?"

I smiled. "I do."

Tosen walked up with Aizen's tea. "Your tea, Lord Aizen."

Aizen took it. "Thank you Tosen"

Tosen looked at me. "Would you like me to take over your shift Miss Meadows?"

"Miss Meadows? Sure. Just call me Kristen though."

"Very well" He then left.

"Tosen doesn't feel comfortable speaking to someone so informally that he doesn't fully trust."

"Oh, I'm a trustworthy person. But I guess I can't please everyone. Do I please you?"

He slowly shifted his eyes from the tea cup to me. "In more ways than one."

"In what ways?"

"You're reliable, you're loyal, you're responsible, your cooperativeness with the others could do with some work, but other than that you don't have many disappointing factors."

You hear that, Kris? We don't have many disappointing factors. How nice of him to say that. Unmei said sarcastically.

"That's all?" I asked.

"What did you expect me to say?"

"I don't know something a little more personal."

"Like what?" He asked before taking another sip.

I smiled. "You tell me."

"You sound like you're expecting me to say something specific."

"Nothing specific, I just thought there might be more to it."

"Don't lie to me now Kristen? You're trying to get something out of me, I can tell. What is it?"

"I just thought there would be more. I guess I might be wrong though."

"Maybe," He finished his tea and got up. "If you'll excuse me I need to continue preparations for invading Karakura town."

"Just know that you don't have to hide things from me." I said as I stood up and touched his hand.

"I hide things from everyone Kristen, even Gin and Tosen."

"But if it involves me, I should know."

"Just what is it that you are trying to learn from me Kristen?"

"How you feel."

"About what?"

"About me."

"I admire you a great deal. I think you're a wonderful individual."

Well that certainly wasn't the response I was looking for. Unmei said.

Me either.

"That's all? Nothing deeper?"

"What do you want me to say Kristen?"

"You're going to tell me you spent all that time trying to get me to come here and stay here when all you felt for me was admiration? That cannot be all!" I said, very frustrated now.

"You want the truth?"

"Yes."

"The truth is, I do in fact love you Kristen Meadows. I want you as my goddess; it's been like that since you escaped Hueco Mundo the first time."

And that's the answer we've been looking for. About time he admitted it.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. At first I thought it was just infatuation or perhaps interest because you managed to escape from my domain, but then you did it again, and again and again. I became obsessed with you, wanted to force you to stay, tame you. I thought of you as an enemy and tried to force you to my side, but when you came here this time I was met with little to no resistance, it befuddled me. You always talk about how I can manipulate you, but I think, in a way you've done the same to me." He cupped my chin. "Stay with me Kristen, do not astray, you belong here, this is your home, you said it yourself, you are accepted here."

Wait a minute, how did he know you said that? You said that to Gin and he wasn't even around at the time.

"All this time I wanted you to care for me. Something inside of me thought you did, but I doubted it because of the way you acted. You are so hard to read. But you really do care. Things make so much more sense now. Thank you."

"You're very welcome, of course I like being hard to read. I don't like people being able to see the inside of me." He paused. "Of course now that I've said what I think, what do you think?"

"I can't tell you what it really is. I can only tell you what it feels like."

"What does it feel like?" Our faces got closer.

"It feels nice to know that you feel that way about me. I do have feelings for you. I'm not sure how to describe them. It feels good, whatever it is."

He then kissed me softly.

Look at Sosuke try to win your heart. It's going to take more than that.

I opened my eyes slowly when he pulled away. I didn't say anything. All I did was smile.

"You should get back to work," he walked past me. "If you want to continue fraternizing, meet me in my quarters at your leisure."

He left and plopped back down in the chair. Unmei started laughing a little.

"What is so funny?"

You are. You're a little player.

I smiled.

Acting like that kiss just made your day.

"Well, I wasn't expecting it. So it did take me by surprise."

So now he thinks your putty in his hand.

"I don't know what he thinks. I always thought held a torch for me. I'm glad he does. It explains so much."

Now what are you going to do?

"What can I do? I'm just going to see what happens. If Sosuke wants me as his goddess, he's going to have to put a little more effort into it. Right now, Gin is beating him in the ground."

I think it's funny that he wants to tame you. He's way out of his league for that.

"Yea, I don't think he can tame me either. Maybe he doesn't want to anymore."

We will see. You should make it required that if someone is going to tell you they love you, they must give you a gift or something. You'd have a lot of things by now. She snickered.

"Yea, I would."

You and those boys.

"I like one of those boys."

It's a little more than like and you know it.

"Yea." I smiled.

Gin walked through the door at that moment. I looked at him and smiled.

There's your boy now.

Author's note: draconichero19 wrote Aizen's brilliant lines lol So Aizen finally stated his feelings. Who was shocked? I know it was short and I was going to add more, but i decided this should be it's own chapter. Review plz!