Disclaimer: Kubo Tite-sensei owns Bleach. Facebook and Facebook Chat belongs to the respective owners. I own nothing, aside from the plot of this story.
Two months had passed since Suzuki Sakura had first spoken to Etsuko.
Boy, alot's changed, she thought, sheathing her sword after another hour and a half-long training session. Sakura, Akemi and Mizuki would take turns sparring with each other, while Aizen watched and told them how to improve even more. Sakura had just cut through one of Mizuki's best spells, only going in to her sword's first release.
She smirked at Aizen.
"And you said I hadn't been trying enough." she said.
He returned the smirk. "I guess I was wrong."
"Le gasp!" Akemi cried out sarcastically. "Could it be that the great and powerful Aizen-sama was wrong?"
Aizen glared at her. Sakura placed her cold hands on his shoulders.
"Easy, Sousuke. Sarcasm. Ya want some for Christmas?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
He stared down at her, chocolate colliding with emerald as their eyes met.
"You know what I want for Christmas." he said seductively.
"Yeah, yeah, the same thing you want all the time... ya know, after awhile that gets kind of old, Sousuke! Maybe I'd like to do other things sometimes!" She waved a hand dismissively as Akemi and Mizuki cringed in disgust.
"So... anyways..." Mizuki interrupted, blushing.
"Moving on..." Akemi said, her face on fire as well.
"Oh, right." Sakura turned her face back to her friends and rested her head on Aizen's chest. "... Oh, dammit, I forgot!"
Everyone looked in opposite directions as Sakura pressed a finger to her bottom lip, trying to remember what she had been going to say.
"Uhm, hey, you guys hungry?" Akemi asked quickly. "Ya know, I'd really like some popcorn..."
"We just had some last night!" Sakura cried out. "I'm gonna run out of popcorn at this rate!"
"What can I say? I've been having a real popcorn craze lately." Akemi said sheepishly.
Aizen shook his head. "You ladies eat some crazy things sometimes..."
"You're tellin' me." Sakura said. "Ne, Akemi, d'you remember that one time that we made watermelon smoothies at like, midnight because there was nothing else in the fridge, and then we didn't want chocolate, so we made popcorn at two A.M.?"
"... That wasn't me, Sakura." Akemi said gently. "That was you and Sayuri."
Aizen didn't miss the tears that sprang into Sakura's eyes. He kissed her forehead as she shut her eyes and turned closer to him, trying to make the tears go away.
"Was it?" she murmured into Aizen's coat, "I thought that was you and me. Sounds like somethin' we would do..."
Aizen patted her hair, trying to comfort her. "So... do you women think that you could fight a shinigami?" he asked.
Sakura nodded once against his chest. Akemi followed suit; Mizuki remained expressionless.
Aizen smirked. "Good." he said. "Because we've decided we'll infiltrate Soul Society tomorrow."
Sakura stared up at him, her big green eyes wide. Akemi gave a small gasp; Mizuki's grey eyes narrowed slightly.
"Are you serious?" Sakura asked him.
"Yes." he replied.
"... Cool!" Sakura cried suddenly, clapping her hands together- or at least trying to, as Aizen was holding her so tightly.
The other three sweatdropped and stared reproachfully at Sakura.
"...Yeah... ah... about that..." Akemi said.
"You do realize you're going to have to kill people over there...?" Mizuki asked.
Sakura squealed in delight again. "Yeah, I know! Isn't it awesome?!"
"Slightly bloodlustful today, are we...?" Aizen asked, kissing her forehead.
"Maybe. I think I'm just feelin' kinda sadistic, though. I get that way sometimes." Sakura smirked.
"Oh, really?" Aizen raised an eyebrow. "Well, then maybe I could-"
"Oh-kay, that's enough of that!" Akemi yelled, blushing profusely.
"Seriously." Mizuki crossed her arms after pushing her glasses up her face. "If you're gonna talk to her like that, go get a room or something. Not all of us enjoy that sort of thing, ya know."
Sakura turned and smiled apologetically at her friends. "Sorry, you guys."
"No worries." Mizuki said, waving a hand dimissively. "We were just leaving."
"We were?" Akemi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, we were. Now, c'mon, dammit." the younger girl said, pushing Akemi from the room.
"Are you really that exicted for a battle?" Aizen asked, causing her to turn her attention from the door after her friends left.
"I guess so..." she replied.
"Even though you may not make it out of there...?"
Sakura stared up at him, her rage apparent in her eyes.
"What, do you not think I can do it or something?!" she asked angrily.
"I just don't want anything to happen to you," he whispered.
"Whoa, there. What's with the sudden OOC-ness?"
"It's true, though." There was such a sadness in his eyes that Sakura had to look away.
"Okay, fine. I will believe that you, in all your badass awesomeness, would fall for someone like me." She reached up, smirking, to kiss him.
"Don't think so lowly of yourself, my dear," he said quickly before helping her close the gap between his lips and hers.
Akemi and Mizuki stood outside Aizen's door, having been lead there by Ulquiorra, who knocked.
Sakura opened up the massive door.
"Hey, you guys." she said, smiling. "Come on in. Want some tea? I was about to make some... Lord knows Sousuke has enough..."
Akemi and Mizuki exchanged a look before entering. They stood in a sitting room, where a small, pretty coffee table surrounded by a massive couch and two chairs sat atop a beautiful Asian rug.
"Is this it...?" Akemi asked, looking around and silently admiring the crown moulding around the ceilings.
"Keep going, Akemi." Sakura said before disappearing through a doorway.
They now entered a large kitchen. Sakura stood at the stove, putting some water in a kettle to make the tea. Glancing around, they could see double ovens, a massive sink and stove, and a large bar/island directly across from the stove.
"I didn't know Aizen liked to cook..." Akemi murmured.
Sakura smirked. "Keep going, Akemi." she said, smirking, before leading them through yet another doorway.
This time they entered a bathroom that was roughly the size of Sakura's bedroom, with a huge bathtub that could've at least held twenty people comfortably, and a shower that may have held ten. A black chandelier hung from the ceiling, dimly lighting the beautiful tiles on the floor. In front of them was a mirror that stretched across the entire wall, and a vanity with two huge sinks- and they could see Sakura's makeup remover, makeup bag, hair products and the like spread out around one of them.
"Wow..." Akemi breathed.
"Keep going, Akemi..." Sakura said, her smile widening.
Now the group entered the bedroom. A huge bed with a red and gold comforter across it sat in the corner; it could have easily held about fifteen people. Another rug adorned the floor, and curtains that matched the comforter framed a sliding glass door that led out to the massive balcony. A big white couch sat in the corner, with another small table in front of it.
"Holy freaking crap..." Akemi said under her breath.
Sakura led the other girls through another door.
"Keep going, Akemi." she said, her body and voice shaking with controlled laughter.
And then they stood inside Aizen's closet, which was at least the size of Akemi and Mizuki's shared room; white clothes hung everywhere. They then noticed that their entire left side held all of Sakura's things as well. Akemi and Mizuki quickly exchanged a look.
"So..." Sakura said, turning on her heel to face her friends, "What do you think?" she asked.
"I'd like to know when you moved in with Aizen." Mizuki said quickly.
"Oh, that?" Sakura said, her cheeks turning slightly pink. "That's been a slow process over the last month. Acutally, I've only been sleeping in here for about a weeks. I still have my room when I need a little privacy, of course."
"How can you need privacy? This room... if you can still call it that... is pretty much a frigging house!" Akemi said.
Sakura smiled brightly, leading them out of the closet and flopping down on the bed. "I know." she chirped. "Isn't it great?"
Akemi sat quietly on the couch. "Uhm... yeah... it kind of is..."
The tea kettle whistled in the kitchen.
"Aw, crap!" Sakura yelled, jumping up and sprinting back towards the kitchen.
"So." Mizuki said after Sakura was out of earshot.
"So what?"
"Did you know that she had moved in with him?"
"Well, I knew it was getting serious... but I had no idea that it was to this extent..."
Sakura returned with three cups in her hands.
"I'm not sure how strong you guys like your tea..." she said apologetically, giving a cup to each of her friends before perching herself on the edge of the table, "but I did my best."
Mizuki raised her glass. "I'm sure you did fine."
"Thanks, Taiyou-chan." Sakura said before draining half her cup. She sighed.
"So... you're really exicted about killing people tomorrow...?" Akemi asked, raising her cup to her lips.
"Oh, hell yeah." Sakura said, brightening.
Akemi sweatdropped. "... Sometimes you scare me, Sakura..."
Sakura smiled brightly.
"I know. I scare lots of people sometimes."
Akemi and Mizuki noticed Aizen enter, but decided not to tell Sakura.
"What's wrong, you guys?" She asked, noticing that her friends were shaking, they were trying so hard not to laugh.
"Seriously, what- EEP!" Sakura cried out, sounding alot like her dog getting stepped on, as Aizen's warm arms unexpectedly encirled her waist.
"That was odd," he said into her hair, "I certainly didn't expect that, of all the noises I know you can make."
"Oh-kay, then!" Akemi cried, turning scarlett as she drank as much of her tea as she was willing- Akemi had this strange phobia of drinking the last little bit of anything- and slammed the glass down. "Mizuki-san, we'd better go!"
"Huh?" Mizuki said, staring at the half a cup of tea she was still holding. "What the hell? I haven't even finsihed my tea yet!"
"Take it with you, Taiyou-chan." Sakura said brightly. "I'll come by and pick up the cup later."
"Okay..." Mizuki said as Akemi yanked her up from the couch and pulled her from the room by the arm.
As they hurridly dashed through the main door, Akemi slumped against the wall.
"Man, that was awkward!" she said, her face still scarlett.
"So he made an awkward comment. They all will, Akemi." Mizuki said, sipping her tea again.
"Whatcha doin' out here, Akemi-chan?"
The two looked up to see Gin coming down the hallway. Akemi stood, brushing off her uniform as she rose.
"Hey, Gin. What's up?"
Ichimaru shrugged. "Jus' walking around. Ya wanna join me?" he asked.
"Uhm, sure." Akemi said, blushing again as she fell into step beside him.
Mizuki shook her head and headed back to her room.
"So, Akemi-chan..."
"What is it?"
"Well, I know how close you are to Sakura-sama..." he began, "and I wanted ta know what ya thought o' her bein' with Aizen-sama and all."
Akemi stared at the floor. "There's nothing to say about it." she said darkly. "Her taste in guys has always been kinda questionable... why any sane person would even let Aizen come near them, I'll never know... but I've learned to just back her up, support her if she's happy and tell her when to stop when it's clearly no good for her."
Gin stared at this remarkable person. She was so loving... and she clearly hated seeing Sakura in pain...
Akemi gasped quite audibly and stared up when she felt Gin's hand on her shoulder, his face, for once, serious.
"That's good ta know. Sakura-sama mus' be lucky ta have a friend like you." he said, brushing her hair back from her shoulder.
Akemi smiled. "Thanks, but... you give me far too much credit. I'm not as great as you think I am." she said quietly, her long bangs falling over her face.
"Wrong again," Gin said, tucking one side of her overlong bangs behind her ear. "Ya don' give yerself enough credit, Akemi-chan." he told her gently, leaning his face close to hers.
"Yeah... ah..." She forgot what she had been going to say as he pressed his lips against hers.
"Akemi-chan," he murmured, pulling away and opening his eyes, "I can't lose ya tomorrow."
Ruby met chocolate as she stared back, speechless.
"See... I think I love ya, Akemi-chan..."
As he turned to go into his room, he wheeled around sharply when he felt her warm hand slip into his. Her smile was nothing but sunshine.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I don't really know if I can say the same... I've never really been in love..." She lost her train of thought as he stepped closer and put his free hand on her face.
He kissed her again, more passionately this time, and felt her face light on fire beneath his hand.
She did not protest as he led her into his room, closing the door behind her.
"Hey! Sakura!" Akemi cried out, banging on the massive door. "Come out here! I gotta talk to you! Right now!"
"Geez, Akemi!" Sakura opened the heavy door, fastening the belt of a short, hot pink silk robe, with black trim. The collar was open just enough to tease at the skin around her chest. "Do you really need me right now? I was sort of in the middle of something..." she said, cocking her head in the direction of Aizen's room.
"...I'm gonna pretend that you didn't just say that..." Akemi said, her eyes turning to small white circles at the thought of what Sakura was implying. "But, it really can't wait. Please, please, Sakura? Aizen's gonna be there when I'm done talking!"
Sakura sighed and opened the door. "After you." she said, sounded more like she was sighing.
Akemi sat down on the couch, barely unable to contain her slightly fangirlish reaction.
"Will you calm down?" Sakura asked as she sat beside her friend. "Now, tell me what's up."
"Eyaa!" Akemi squealed, flailing her arms and legs.
"Oh, Lord, here we go..." Sakura said, preparing herself for a long story.
Akemi's happy expression dissolved when Aizen walked in, his dark blue silk robe very loosely tied to reveal a perfectly sculpted upper body.
"Well. Hello there, Akemi-san." he said, smiling. "Do you think maybe you could come back another time...?"
Akemi stared at him, speechless.
"Ne, Sousuke, go make us some tea, would you?" Sakura asked.
"But you just had some..." he replied, leaning against the back of couch and playing with her hair, which hung loose down her back.
"Yeah, but this looks like we may need some." she said. "Now," she said quietly after he'd gone into the kitchen, turning to Akemi, "what is it you wanted to talk about?"
"Hee hee..." Akemi blushed and fiddled with her uniform. "Ya see..." she giggled again, "...Gin and I..."
Sakura smirked. "I know that look...!" she said, clapping her hands together. "You did the deed, didn't you?!"
Akemi blushed a deeper shade of crimson. "Would you keep it down?!" she cried, glancing to the kitchen.
"Eh, don't worry about it. Chances are that Sousuke'll hear about it before the day is out." She waved a hand dimissively. "So..."
"So what?" Akemi didn't like the glint that had come in to Sakura's green eyes.
"Did you enjoy it...?"
"... Yeah... a little..." At the expression on Sakura's face, she stopped trying to hide it. "Okay, it was great!"
"Wait a sec. I heard a while back that you'd spent the night with Ichimaru... was this seriously the first time?" A hint of anger came in to Sakura's eyes at the thought of her friend not telling her way back then.
"What?!" Akemi cried out, blushing even more. "Oh, that? Geez, Sakura, your memory is like Facebook Chat History or something... anyway." She sighed and composed herself. "Well, see, we were up really late talking... he left for a second and I just sort of passed out. It was so late that he just let me sleep in there. But nothing happened. Not until last night, at least." Akemi shook with controlled fangirling.
Sakura smirked.
"What?"
"... I'm not the only one who has comprimised her morals since we came here!" she said, joy clear in her voice.
Akemi put a hand to her forehead. "Oh, wow..."
Aizen came back with the tea.
"Here you ladies go. Sakura... I'll be waiting..."
"Yeah, yeah, get outta here." Sakura replied, waving her hand as she raised her teacup to her lips. "Now, then... wanna give me the gory details?"
"Do I have a choice in the matter?" Akemi asked, gently blowing on her tea. Why didn't I mention that I don't like hot drinks very much...?
"Nope. But I thought I'd be politcally correct and ask first."
"Since when are you politically correct?"
"Since I became a '-sama'. Now talk, dammit."
"So. Gin."
Ichimaru did not miss the all-knowing smirk in Aizen's voice, but decided to pretend he didn't.
"What is it, Aizen-sama."
"... I hear you took our dear Akemi-san today." He turned the chair around to smile at his subordinate.
"Yeah. Guess so."
"Why today, Gin?"
Gin seemed surprised by the question.
"Well, I thought... just in case sonethin' happened ta her tomorrow... ya know."
"Yes, Gin. I do."
Akemi, Mizuki and Sakura all sat on the countertops in Aizen's kitchen, each with a cup of tea in hand, and snack food being passed around.
Sakura smiled, popping another chocolate in her mouth. "I swear, chocolate is like, the Aizen Sousuke of all snack foods- it's just the best! You can't compare!"
Akemi and Mizuki exchanged a look.
"I'm not sure if it's the Aizen of all snack food... but I whole-heartedly agree that it's the best." Akemi said, stuff some more popcorn in to her mouth.
"Should we really being eating like this before a fight...?" Mizuki asked, picking at the bag of strawberry licorice.
"Lighten up, Taiyou-chan!" Sakura said, grabbing the bag away from her, "We just want to celebrate in case we don't all make it back..."
The three looked at each other.
"No matter what... you guys will come back, right...?" Sakura asked, so quietly they almost missed it.
"Of course we will!" Akemi chirped.
"Yeah. You don't seriously think we'd let a bunch of shinigami kill us, do you?" Mizuki asked.
Sakura smiled. "No, I guess not."
"Let's drink to our soon-to-be victory!" Akemi yelled, raising her glass in the air.
"I'll drink to that!" Sakura cried in response.
Mizuki nodded before tapping her glass to theirs.
Author's Note: Just in case there was any confusion, (because I have some readers that aren't too familiar with the terms of fanfiction) here's a bit of clarification:
OOC-ness: Out Of Character-ness. Used here because Aizen was acting crazily out of character.
Okay, now, that aside... reviews would be greatly appreciated! They get me motivated to write more chapters! Nothing makes me happier than knowing what you guys think of my work! xD