Disclaimer: Kubo Tite-sensei owns Bleach. All music belongs to the respective owners/artists. I don't own Bleach, KAT-TUN or Carla Bruni in any way. If I did, I would have more money than God and there would be no need for me to write fanfictions. But alas, this is not the case. xD
"Ne, Aizen-sama...?"
Aizen sighed. "What is it, Gin?" he asked lazily.
"Well, ya see..."
Aizen closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, sensing that Gin was about to go on a rant.
"Ya see, me 'n' Kaname had a lil talk recently... and... well, I know 's not my business er nothin', but we noticed that ya sure do let Sakura-sama's opinions influence yours pretty heavily..."
Aizen's eye snapped open, then narrowed dangerously.
"What are you saying, Gin?"
The rage in his leader's voice sent an involuntary shudder down Gin's spine.
"I was'n' implyin' nothin', Aizen-sama. Jus' somethin' we noticed, tha's all."
Aizen continued to glare threatingly at his subordinate.
"I was'n'!" Gin said defensively.
"You will not question my authority again. And you will not question Sakura again. Am I understood?"
Ichimaru bowed politely. "O'course, Aizen-sama. I getcha."
"Good. Now, I want you and Kaname to prepare the Espada today. We launch our attack in three days. We've got to be on top of our game."
Gin nodded. "Yessir."
The sound of clashing metal rang through the desert. Akemi and Sakura faced each other, panting, swords out and loosely in their hands.
"Do it again." Aizen said darkly.
"Are you kidding me?" Sakura yelled. "I've been trying to perfect this for hours, I'm tired as hell, how d'you expect me to-"
"Do it again." Aizen repeated, pinching his forehead in an attempt to get rid of a headache.
"Fine." Sakura snapped through clenched teeth as she released her sword. She lifted the pale blade, and pressed her lips against it before bringing it violently to her side.
The slim sword changed for very small and delicate to very bulky and frightening; Akemi had also learned recently that it weighed almost two hundred pounds to anyone but Sakura in this form; however, to Sakura herself, it was still about the same weight, just a larger exentsion of her arm. It was almost as long as her body, shaped almost like a machete, with another piece of metal coming over her where she had her hand. The hilt was wrapped where she lay her left hand; after that, it made a diamond shape before continuing another four or five inches. Rather than the almost-white metal it usually was, the blade now took a darker sheen. Blue-white light began to gather around the blade, and Sakura's eye took on a sky blue hue just before she charged.
Akemi blocked just in time. When her friend's wepaon was so large, it almost scared her to fight like this.
"Okay, do it now." Aizen said from his corner.
"Hiraita sora wo tsukisase (1), Etsuko!" Sakura cried out.
The sword changed once again. Now, it took on the form of a medieval sword, with a wide hilt, and a large sapphire pressing in to it where the hilt met the handle. The blade itself was thin enough to slip between a pair of ribs, yet stout enough to hack through the hardest armor. The silver-white sheen was back in the metal, which gleamed wickedly in the moonlight. Black wings exploded from Sakura's back as the white of her right eye turned black and the iris began to fade to yellow-gold; however, her left remained green, clouded over by blue. Now Sakura, Etsuko, and Sakura's inner Hollow were as one.
"How long do you want me to keep the transformation up?" she asked Aizen, her voice only slightly disorted.
"As long as you can. Preferrably longer than last time."
She nodded once, then swung at Akemi.
"What?" she asked her friend, who merely blocked the attack. "It ain't training if you just stand there and let me it you, you dingbat." she said, using the flat of the blade to smack the top of her friend's head.
"Hey!" her friend yelped. "I'm not gonna let that one go!"
Sakura smirked. "Now we're cookin'!"
Sakura pushed a hand nervously through her dark hair before pouring the hot water into one of the cups before her. With so little time before a huge battle, Aizen was on edge, and Sakura wanted nothing more than to help.
She sighed. Nobody ever bothered to help her when she was stressed out.
A few minutes, she entered the sitting room with two steaming mugs of tea. She held one out to Aizen, smiling sweetly.
"Thristy?" she asked quietly.
He took the mug from her as she settled down next to him on the couch, tucking one leg under her.
"Thank you."
She sipped her tea and smiled. "Anytime." She closed her bright eyes and leaned back against the couch.
"Tired?"
She could practically hear the smile in his voice. She opened her right eye to see him smirking at her over the rim of his mug.
"What do you think?" she asked darkly.
"I think you must be."
She glared at him again. "Wipe that stupid smirk off your face." she said through her teeth.
"I don't think so. You're kind of funny when you're angry."
She opened both her eyes, put the mug down, and turned to give him her fullest glare.
"Am I funny when I'm mad, Sousuke? Am I?"
He put his own mug down, turned towards her and brushed the hair out of her eyes.
"That depends." he murmured, their lips almost touching.
She squirmed away from him and took her empty mug into the kitchen. He stared after her before rising and following her.
"What was that?"
She turned around. "I'm sorry, what?" She yawned, attmepting to stretch out the action as much as possible. "Oh, that? I dunno... I'm just really tired tonight... Think I'm gonna go to bed." She walked past him and patted his shoulder. "'Night, Sousuke." she said, stretching her arms up above her head as she walked to the bathroom.
As she yanked back the covers to get into bed, there were warm arms around her waist and Aizen's head was on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" she asked innocently.
"I shouldn't have yelled at you so much during your training today."
"Aw, that's sweet, but I know you didn't mean it." She smirked. She sure had learned a thing or two while she was here.
"I just want things to go..."
"Perfectly." she finished for him. "I know. I understand."
"But that's no excuse for me to wear you out and stretch you thin, as well." he said gently. "I'm sorry. I'll try not to be so harsh tomorrow."
She turned and leaned her head against his. "It's okay. I understand." She stiffled a real yawn this time. He released her, allowing her to slip into bed, before wrapping his arms around her again.
"I love you." he said gently, caressing her face.
Sakura's face promptly burst into flames. That was unexpected. Aizen smirked at the sudden heat in her face.
"... Yeah. I love you too."
Flop.
That was the only word to describe Mizuki's mood right then. She absently wandered the halls, bored as hell, watching a KAT-TUN (2) video on her iPod.
"Woman."
She turned around.
"Hey. Emo Kid. I thought we agreed that you'd call me by my name a few months ago, ne?"
Ulquiorra's cold stare met her pretty grey eyes. "My apologies."
"Eh, don't be so formal about it." She waved a hand dismissively. "So, what're you doing?"
He stared. "Why do you wish to know?"
"'Cause. I'm bored as hell." She shrugged. "And I've got nothing better to do."
Ulquiorra turned around.
"I was returning to my quarters after talking with Szayel."
"Ah."
A lightbulb visibly clicked on in Mizuki's mind.
"Uhm... can I walk back with you? 'S not like I have anything else to do."
His tone was cold, but sounded somewhat interested. "If you wish."
She fell into step behind him, talking in the sights of the blank white walls around her.
"Ne, Ulquiorra!"
Ulquiorra sighed. "Hello, Nnoitra."
The other Espada leaned lazily against the wall. "So," he said, his eyes scanning over Mizuki, "Who's this? Pet-sama's replacement?"
Pet-sama?
"No. You're thinking of her friend. The dark-haired one that threatened to castrate you the other day."
Mizuki chuckled, shaking with restrained laughter. That sounded so much like Sakura.
"What's so funny 'bout that?" Nnoitra asked, looking at Mizuki again.
"I'm very sorry, but I have to ask... you were staring at her chest, weren't you?"
Nnoitra glared at the floor while Mizuki allowed a small giggle to escape her lips.
"Let me apologize for her. Sakura's incredibly touchy about her body, in case you didn't notice already." She took a deep breath to help surpress her laughter.
Nnoitra stalked away. Once he was out of earshot, Mizuki began to silently giggle.
Ulquiorra turned around.
"What is so funny, Mizuki-san?"
Mizuki composed herself for a moment. "I just... I have this image, in my head... of Sakura... goin' off on that Nnoitra guy... and it's kind of hilarious...!"
Ulquiorra shook his head as he opened the door to his room.
"I suppose I should thank you for walking with me."
She waved her hand again. "Anytime. I had fun." Mizuki smirked. "Now I have somethin' to go bug Sakura about later, which she'll bug Aizen about, and then... yeah."
Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow at this strange woman's idea of a good time.
"I'm glad that I was able to provide you with some fun. Now, goodnight, Mizuki-san."
She nodded in his direction before turning around and walking back to her room.
"What language is this?" Aizen asked, staring at Sakura's MP3 player, which was playing her favorite Carla Bruni (3) song.
"French." she chirped. "Isn't it pretty?"
"The woman has a very lovely voice, yes. But the language itself is..."
"Yeah, I know." she said, turning back to the massive book in her lap. "I felt that way when I first heard it, too. It was like nothing I'd ever heard before." She puased to turn the page. "I'm of French descent, you know."
Aizen stared at her. "Really?"
She nodded once, not looking up from her book. "My great-to-the-fifth-power-grandfather came over here in either the late eighteen or early nineteen hundreds, I can't remember. But we've been here ever since." She sighed wistfully. "I wish I could learn to speak French, but I can't even pick it up enough to sing along with these songs. The pronounciation is unlike any other language I've been exposed to."
"How many languages do you know?"
She stared up and pressed a finger to her bottom lip. "Well, I know Japanese, of course... I've been learning English off and on since I was little... this friend of mine from back in middle school's family is from Hawaii... this kid I've known since gradeschool is Vietnamese... and I took Spanish in my third year of middle school. So, I know three languages, and have been exposed to at least five." She noticed his astonished stare, and blushed. "It's a hobby of mine... I really am fascinated by other cultures for some reason." She turned back to her book, her overlong bangs falling over her eyes.
"Is your book good?"
"Actually, yes, it is, and it will continue to eat my brain until I'm done, so if you could go get me some tea and quit bugging me, that would be great."
Aizen sighed and stood up, passing Sakura back her earbud and stretching out before entering the kitchen.
As he went to return to her with her tea, he stared at her from the doorway. Why on Earth did this woman have some much power over him? Why was he suddenly unsure about sending her into battle before she was ready?
He shook his head. That's nonsense, Sousuke, and you know it is. he told himself. She's stronger than Grimmjow, for crying out loud. She'll be fine.
Still, when he sat down next to her, these thoughts didn't stop him from wrapping his arms protectively around her while she happily drank her tea.
Author's Notes: I'm very sorry this chapter took so much longer than usual! I was held back by the release of Breaking Dawn. But, get used to it, peoples- I go back to school in about two weeks, so my only free time will be on weekends. xD
But anyway. All things explained:
(1)- Hiraita sora wo tsukisase: Japanese for "Pierce the open sky". The command Sakura uses to release Etsuko.
(2)- KAT-TUN: A J-Pop/J-Rock boyband consisting of Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Ueda Tatsuya, and Nakamura Yuichi.
(3)- Carla Bruni: The current First Lady of France who, among many other things, is a singer/songwriter. Her newest album, Comme si de rien n'était (As if Nothing Ever Happened), inspired most of this chapter. The album hits the United States on August 5th, 2008.
As always, feedback in the form of reviews would be much appreciated, folks. See you next chapter! ; )