The usual day.
Another usual day.
Since Ren came to Las Noches, the only things he was doing besides commanding the arrancars to guard the castle was...cooking. To him, it was rather ridiculous but that's what he likes to do. He was checking on a calendar. Before he went to Las Noches, he brought few things which he thought will be rather useful and one of them-it's a calendar.
"Hmm... So, tomorrow is the day, huh?" He said to himself. It seems tomorrow is the day of something special to him. He then exit his room and while he was walking, he thought to go to human world to grab something for tomorrow. Along the way, he caught Ran's figure was standing silently staring at the outside. "Ran!" He called and he could see Ran was very surprise of his sudden arrival and looked at him.
"Oh, Ren-kun? You surprised me, what's wrong?"
"Sorry about that. Um, is there something outside? Or you fall to your head again?"
"Ahaha~ Not exactly. I just...bored so I was thinking to go outside for a fresh air. But, because I couldn't exactly wondering around too far from my room so..."
"Oh yeah. Aizen told you that, huh? Did you...do something again?"
"....nothing" He knew there was something going on between them but he better didn't ask any further because Ren knew Ran won't tell him anything. And from his eyes, he could see there was definitely something between these two, especially...from the few marks around her neck.
Geez~ Aizen... You sure are so scary when you got jealous
Ren thought in his mind. It reminds him that few days ago, Gin told him that Aizen caught Ran was just getting a confession from Grimmjow and it appears he was doing something to Ran which made Aizen forbid her to get out from her room. She was allowed to but she couldn't wondering too far without Ulquiorra.
"By the way, what happened to Ichigo? He's taking a very long time to get here, isn't he? I guess it was right to strengthen the defense, huh?"
"...I think so. But... It will be better if he just go home"
"Eh? Why?"
"Because... If he came here, he will got himself killed and I don't want that" Ran said with a sad face.
"Ran..." Ren could tell Ran was pretty down. Not just because of Grimmjow, but because of Aizen too. He was thinking to do something for her, to made her happy again. One thing strikes his mind, he was planning something for tomorrow and thinking to invite her, so... "Oh, Ran? You know, you should go back to your room now" He said, rather made her confuse. "You should stay still at your room and when--"
"Ren" Someone was calling him and when he looked behind him, Aizen already stood behind him. Ran soon felt uneasy with him around, so he whispered in her ear. "Just wait until I came pick you up, okay?"
"O-Okay" She answered and head back to her room.
"What are you doing, Ren?"
"Nothing~ I was just accompanying the lonely Ran-chan who are not allowed to go outside because of someone's jealousy" He said to him with a mocking tone in his words. Good grief! Why did you do to her?!? You didn't...touch her, right???"
"....I wonder"
<< Flashback
"It seems I have to remind you to who exactly you are belong to. Prepared yourself... Ran" He stated coldly and suddenly closing his lips to her forcefully. Ran was trying to struggle but she couldn't much with her hands got pinned down.
She was scared. So much. She never seen Aizen this scary. She could feel her heart was thumping so bad made her able to heard it clearly. Not because she was embarrassed, but she was terrified. When Aizen pulled himself from him, he immediately caught her lips again, not allowing her to say any words. Ran could feel to her tears began to drop. He then pulled himself again and descend to the lower part of her.
"This red mark, I should replaced it with mine" And he kissed on the mark and sucking it a little and then there he had it, the new mark from him. He smirked and chuckled a bit "This is interesting, shall I made a new one? In here perhaps?" He touched the collarbone and immediately sucking on it.
"Nn...A---Aizen---san" She could feel her face flaming of his action and it made her dizzy. She knew she has to pushed him from her, but at the same time, she didn't want to either. A strange feeling. Without any warning, he opened the kosode a bit and leaving another mark there. Now, rather than felt scared-she felt embarrassed having him kissing that part. He then slowly turned her body around and pulled the clothes below a little and started to kissing there.
Ran starting to became more embarrassed and hoping he will stop any time soon. "A--Aizen-san! P-Please, stop..." She knew he heard her but he didn't stop what he was doing. She was trying to push his hand from her shoulder but unfortunately...it turned out to be a bad idea to her as Aizen hold her hands tightly and continue kissing her back. She didn't know this kind of sensation, she became weird having him kissing her back. "N--No... Aizen-san! St-Stop!" Her last shouting finally made Aizen withdraw from her and he looked satisfied with what he has just done. He touched her back gently as he left a countless kiss mark on her back.
"This is indeed interesting. Just by looking at the mark it makes me feel that you are mine. Ah, don't worry. I won't do any further. I shall wait for the continuation...until the day you wanted me to do it" He whispered in her ear, rather seductively made Ran's face became redder than before.
"This is your last warning, Ran. Do not let other man touched you again, or I will punished you like this again. Well, if you want to be punished you could get yourself touched by someone" He chuckled.
"L-Like I will do that!" To her, how come Aizen could easily said those words so easily? Did he didn't considered her as someone important to him? Just a person to satisfied his amusement? Her thinking about that made Ran felt miserable. She was starting to think that she will never and never to say that she loves him.
"Well then, from now on. Do not go out from your room without Ulquiorra"
>> Present Time
"I bet you did something to her" Ren said and let out a short sigh. "Whatever. I'll be going now" He turned around and started to walk away.
"Where are you going? It seems you're wondering in human world these days, are you plotting something?"
"Excuse me! I didn't do this for you! It's for Ran! Ah--" He slipped out and regretted of how come he was easily to tell him what he was intending to do.
"For Ran? Why is that?" He asked. Ren was thinking to lied about it but he knew Aizen will immediately discovered that he was lying.
"Fine, I'll tell you. You see, I've been marking calendar just to make sure what day is it and what date. And today I just checked it, tomorrow is... Ran's birthday" He stated and that made Aizen rather surprised about it. "Well, of course I don't know her real birthday so Yuki-san decided the day I brought Ran to her is the day of her birthday. I've been going to world of living for the preparation for tomorrow. I was thinking to tell you later but..."
"I see. So, tomorrow is her birthday?"
"Yep! It could be your chance to redeem yourself. Don't make her become more distance from you. Ran is very sensitive, y'know?"
"I know. Hm..." He was thinking about something and Ren could tell what of it.
"You wanna come? Buy something for her, maybe. I already asked Gin to come with me too"
"Sure"
~Timeskip~
"Na, Ren! Is this okay with you?" Gin asked.
"Hm? Yeah, that's fine!"
Right after they went back from human world, buying few things for the surprise party, Ren with Gin, Kaname and Aizen decorated the room. It was rather amusing for Ren watching these three doing something that they never done before, especially Aizen.
"Guess that leaves the cake" Ren commented.
"Are ya already made it?" Gin asked.
"Of course! The only thing that missing is the decoration. Just give me thirty minutes and I'll be done with the cake. Are you guys ready with the presents?"
"Of course! My present will surely made Ran-chan happy again!"
"Why I have buy it too?" Kaname asked.
"Geez~ Tosen-san, you're so stingy! Think about Ran-chan's feeling a bit. It's her birthday, y'know. Well, anyway! Aizen-taicho? What did you bought for her? I didn't see you buying something so I thought you didn't want to give her anything but here you are, holding that gift. What's that?"
"I'm sorry, Gin. But, I couldn't tell you" He chuckled.
"Eeeeehhhh~ Well, I bet it's something good. Hehe~ Can't wait for Ran-chan to see all of this. Ren! Hurry up and finished the cake! It'll be bad if Ran-chan suddenly appeared here"
"Don't worry about it. I already asked Ulquiorra to guard her room and told him to not ever let her out from the room" Ren said. "And Tosen? You're responsible to brought her here later. Don't screw up!"
"Why it have to be me?"
"We couldn't exactly let Aizen picked her up so it'll be better if someone other than him escort here. Just tell her Aizen-sama is looking for you and everything will be fine"
"Tch! Fine"
***
One Hour Later
"Nn... Did I overslept?" She raised up her body from the bed. She was wondering what's everyone doing. No matter how many times she want to out from the room, Ulquiorra was there and told her to stay in the room. But it got her thinking too, it didn't mean anything if she went out from her room. She was being forbid by Aizen to see anyone, expect himself, Ren, Gin and Kaname, and of course Ulquiorra. She wanted to see Grimmjow too, since that day he confessed to her-she met him few times but out of nowhere Aizen appeared and take her away from him. She couldn't exactly tell what's going on with his mind. Was he...jealous? If that's true, to Ran it was very scary for him to be jealous.
In the middle of her thought, someone was entering her room and it was...
"Hm? Kaname-san? Um, what is it?"
"Aizen-sama...wishes to see you" He said uncertainly. It was rather odd for a person like Kaname to be like that. "Follow me"
"O-Okay!" She descended the bed and followed him from behind. Along the way, none of them were opening their mouth. Well, Kaname was not a chatter person unlike Gin so Ran thought he will never speak until she say something. "Um, Kaname-san? Where are we going? I thought we're going to Aizen-san's room, but his room already--"
"I did tell you that Aizen-sama wants to see you but that doesn't mean he will be in his room"
"Oh, I see" They finally stopped in front of a room. It appears the room where they usually had their meals.
"Enter" Kaname said and opened the door, letting Ran to enter first. As soon as she entered, the room was dark and then... She could heard countless sounds of some kind of firecrackers surrounding her.
"Kyaa!" And when the light goes on...
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" All of them were congratulated her. Ren, Gin and Aizen were there holding the confetti to her direction. So, that was the source of the sound she heard.
"Ran-chan! Happy birthday! Fufu~ We heard from Ren that today is your birthday so we're thinking to celebrate it together. Hehe~ How was it? Are ya surprised?" Gin asked playfully but there was no answer from Ran, making him confuse. "Hm? Oi..." He waved his hand in front of her face. He could see she was still in shock. "Ran-chan~ Oi~ Are ya there?" She blinked as she finally realized on what situation she was now.
"Eh? Um... This... I didn't even remembered today is my birthday..." She looked down to the floor and tears began to dropped down, surprising them.
"Eh? Eh? Ran-chan! Why are you crying?!? Don't cry in such important day" Gin assured her.
"N-No, it wasn't like that. It's just... I'm so happy... that you guys are celebrating my birthday. I thought... I will never celebrate it again" She said as her tears continued to drop from her eyes. As she said, it wasn't the tears of sadness but the tears of joy. Aizen walked towards her and wiped the tears with his thumb, surprising her.
"Today is your big day, do not show any tears on your important day. You have to enjoy it" He said and Ran slowly returned to her usual self and smiled to him.
"Okay..."
"Yosh! Let's party! Come on, Ran-chan! Look at this cake!" Gin said to her. Aizen then raised his hand to her, as usual waiting for her to accept it. To Ran, it's been a long time since she saw this side of Aizen. Since the incident with Grimmjow, he always did things without any of her approval. Hesitantly, she took his hand and walked towards the table with the large cake on top of it. "Hee~ You're seventeen now, huh? Ran-chan sure became more mature than the first time we met her. Oh, before you blow the candles, be sure to make a wish first"
"Okay!" She closed her eyes and starting to wish something in her mind while holding both her hands in her chest and then...she blew the candles off. All of them were clapping and then she grabbed the knife and started to slice the cake. She gave the first cake to Ren because she knew it was his idea and it was Ren who made the cake. She sliced another cake and gave it to Aizen and then Gin and Kaname.
"Oh, Ran-chan! Here!" Gin grabbed the wrapping gift and gave it to Ran. "It's a present from me. Open it!" She did as he told and there she has...a doll. A pink kitty doll. "Hehe~ In my mind, Ran-chan is like a cat so I chose that doll. I chose pink because it matches with your hair color. Hope ya like it, Ran-chan"
"O-Of course! It's so cute! Thank you so much, Gin-san!" She smiled happily to him.
"Hora! Tosen-san! Hurry and give your present to her"
"Sh-Shut up!" He shouted silently to him and then... "H-Here. It's pile of books. I thought maybe you could use the free time to read something" He said.
"Hehe~ Thank you, Kaname-san. I'll be sure to read it"
"And this is from me" Ren finally gave the present to her. She opened the gift and it was...
"Waaa! What a cute one-piece! Thank you, Ren-kun! Hm? What's this? A seeds?"
"Yeah. A flower seeds. I already brought the other ingredients so you could grow up some flowers here in case you got bored. You missed that stuffs, right? Arranging flowers and growing them? I remembered before that you really fond of that one-piece so I bought it for you. Once again..." He patted her head. "Happy seventeen birthday, Ran" His wishes causing Ran smiled happily to him.
"Thank you, Ren-kun"
"Oh, Aizen-taicho? Aren't ya gonna give her your present?" Gin bluntly asked, causing Ren and Ran looked at him but that made Ren laughed very hard. "Eh? Ren? Why are you laughing?"
"Sorry about that. It's just... You see, Gin? He was trying to hide his present until he escort Ran back to her room so they will have their own time, and you just blew it. Hahaha! This is so funny! My stomach hurts!" He continued to laugh.
"Ah, um... I'm sorry about that, Aizen-taicho! J-Just pretend I didn't say anything!"
"You're such an idiot, Ichimaru" Kaname scolded him.
"It's okay, Kaname. Well, since Gin already said it. I will bring the present later in your room" Aizen said to her and Ran could tell he was back to his usual self. She only nodded to him and they continued the party.
"Ne! How about we play something?" Gin asked. "I think I found an interesting game from human world, called the truth or dare?"
"Oh, that? That's interesting. Wanna do it?" Ren asked.
"How do we do it?"
"Well, to put it simple, it's a game with two or more people. When a person got their turn, they have to choose between truth or dare. If he or she choose truth, we can give them one question usually an embarrassing one but if they choose dare, they have to do something exactly as we told them"
"Hee~ That sounds fun! Let's play!"
"We should play it fairly, let's made a word lucky in one paper and one paper with a crown on it"
"Crown?" Aizen asked.
"The one who get the crown will be the one decided the order to the one who got the lucky word" He said and he made the papers and shuffled it on the table. "There! Go on and take whatever you want" He said and one by one took the paper to them and when they opened it. "Heh! Got the King! Hora, who got the lucky one???"
"Uuh... I got it" Gin said while showing the paper with the word lucky on it.
"Well, truth or dare, Gin?"
"Hmm.... Truth then"
"How do you feel about Rangiku?"
"Haaah?!?"
"Well, hurry up and answer!"
"Ne ne, I want to hear it too!" Ran asked happily to him.
"Eh? Ran-chan too? Hmm... Well, Rangiku is a close friend of mine. Hmm... That's it. Tee-hee~"
"Whatever, let's continue" The game continued and unfortunately to Gin, he always got the lucky word as Ran's turn. He was choosing dare and Ran was dare enough to giving him order to do a belly dance which made the people inside were laughing because of her order, including Aizen and Kaname. Although they didn't laugh too much like Ran and Ren. Along the game, Aizen could see that Ran was really enjoying the game. He now able to witness the other side of her. To him, she was so beautiful when she's smiling. He will do anything to protect that beautiful smile of her. And then...
"Ah!" Ran got the lucky word with...
"Aha! Finally! Hehe~ Prepared yourself, Ran-chan!" Gin got the crown paper.
"Uuh... Um, truth!"
"How do you feel about Aizen-taicho?" His question made Ran became so awkward, especially...he was asking that in front of Aizen. "Nee... Hurry up and answer, Ran-chan" She could tell Aizen was looking at her, like he was demanding an answer from her.
"He, um... Aizen-san is..." Before she could answer, Aizen suddenly stood up from his chair and gently grab her arm and headed to the door.
"Sorry about that, Gin. If you continue, I don't know when I will give my present to her. Well then, please cleaned all the mess here" He said and exit the room.
"Arara~ Sure he was kind enough to protect Ran-chan like that"
"Indeed he is. Well, let's clean all of this and go to sleep"
"Yes" Kaname answered.
***
Ran's Room
When they reached her room, Aizen immediately let go his hold gently and he could tell she was still felt uneasy having him around.
"Um, th-thank you about earlier"
"About what?"
"W-Well... You know? From Gin-san..."
"Oh, that? Don't worry about it. Well, I do want to hear it directly from you but saying with somebody's order is rather weird so I will listened to it when you're ready" Ran was thankful at least Aizen already back like before. She better not do something again or she will experienced something a lot worse than before. "Anyway, I want to try something" He suddenly said.
"Try what?" She asked and Aizen suddenly went to the bed, slept on it while spread both his hands to her.
"I want to try the cuddle thing. Come here" She could feel the blood were raising until his face, felt like a steam coming out from her ears. Having him hugged her from behind was enough to made her very embarrassed and now he wants to cuddling with her? But, she better obeyed him. Nothing good ever came whenever she didn't obey him. She walked towards him, accepting his hand and Aizen gently pulled her to his embrace. "You still as usual. Always feeling embarrassed to do this. Well, your blushing face is very adorable though"
"Uuh... It was you who told me to do this"
"Did I? Well, you could reject if you want"
"W-Well... Yeah, but... You must be mad if I did that" She could heard a smirk from him as he started to caressing her hair very gently.
"Oh, almost forgot" He grab something from his pocket and it appears, it's a gift, he handed it to Ran. "Please open it" She wrapped out the gift and it was a box, she opened it. It was a cherry blossom choker necklace. "When I saw this, I thought it suits you very well. Here, let me help put it on" He took the choker from her and put her hair aside and then wrapped the choker around her neck. "As I expected, it suits you very well"
Ran touched the choker and she didn't expect Aizen will gave her this kind of present and it made her unbearably happy about it. At least, she now has something to treasured. She swore to herself that she will never lose it. It was the gift from someone very important to her.
"Th-Thank you so much, Aizen-san" Then, she looked at him. "Um, when's your birthday? I'll give you something in return!"
"Ah, you do not need to do that"
"No no no! I want to give you something at your birthday. Please, tell me your birthday date" She begged and Aizen finally gave up.
"It's May. May 29"
"May, huh? Well, today is February 14 so I still got plenty of time. I'll make sure you will have something very memorable on your birthday"
"Really? Well then, I'll look forward to my birthday then" He smiled to her.
"Hm? Today is February 14, oh yeah! Its Valentine's day" She just remembered.
"Valentine?"
"It's the day when a girl give a chocolate to the man she likes and confess their feelings. Well, it's the day for couples, though"
"I see. Is it have to be chocolate?"
"Hmm... Not exactly, we can give anything but generally, it's chocolate"
"Interesting. Humans are sure odd but interesting too. Well then, will you be giving me something?'
"Eh? W-Well, the thing is Aizen-san, I don't have any ingredients and it's a day for a couple"
"I don't mind with anything. You said it by yourself, it doesn't have to be chocolate. Well, you can give me something, right here right now"
"And...what is that?" He then closing his face and whispered in her ear.
"...A kiss maybe?" His request made Ran blushing furiously.
"K--Kiss?!? Um, that's... That's impossible! I can't!"
"Yes, you can. Oh, if you're too shy you can give me a kiss in my cheek. How about that?"
"Um, cheek? O-Okay, but close your eyes first. I'm unable to do it if you keep staring at me" She requested and Aizen do as she told and closed his eyes. From her view, Aizen was surely very handsome and his pheromones were too great. She just realized Aizen has a long eyelashes and just by looking at his closing eyes, he was rather...hot? She shook her head and began to closing her face to him. And finally, gave him a light kiss to his cheek. Ran soon withdraw from him, covering her tomato color face.
"That took a while"
"Don't say anything about it! That was my first time kissing a man's cheek" He chuckled at her reaction and pulling her back to his embrace and closing her face to her.
"Once again..." He kissed gently. "Happy birthday, Ran..." He warmly said to her. Those warm and kind gaze. Ran loves that gaze of him.
"Th-Thank you..."
"And thank you for your Valentine's gift" He said it playfully, rather teasing her.
"Uuh... Your very welcome"
They stayed like that for quiet a long time. Even though at first, Ran felt rather uncomfortable with this position but along the way, she finally found the more comfortable position. While cuddling, they were talking about many things. Mostly about the activities in human world. Ran was trying her best to not ever mentioned anything about Ichigo and her friends or his mood will become worse.
"By the way, what did you wish for your birthday?" Aizen asked bluntly.
"Eh? Why you want to know that?"
"Well, I just want to know. If it's something I could do, I will gladly granted it"
"Uuh... I'm not gonna tell! It's a secret! If I told you my wish will not be granted!"
"Why is that?" His question rather made her irritated as she pulled herself from him and grabbed the blanket and covered her body with it.
"Anyway! I won't tell you what's my wish! And that's final!"
"Come on, Ran. You could tell me" He sounds like a child. His tone was like gimme gimme and that made Ran felt more irritated than before because he made her unable to hold her will to not told him her wish.
"No! It's late and I'm sleepy! Good night!" She shouted at him. Watching her reaction made him amused and gave a light kiss on her head.
"Good night, Ran" And when he intended to get in the blanket, Ulquiorra suddenly appeared in the room.
"Excuse me, Aizen-sama"
"Ulquiorra, what is it?"
"I'm terribly sorry for disturbing in this hour, but there is something I have to report to you"
"I see. Well then, let's take it outside. Let's not wake her up"
"Absolutely" He answered and Aizen descended from the bed and exit the room.
In Ran's mind, Aizen's question about her wishes was still echoing in her mind. "How come I can said it to you? That's so embarrassing" In her mind, there is only one wish and that is...
I want to stay by your side forever
----------------------------------
Fiuh~ Writing this chapter while listening to a few of love songs really made me feel the mood. Come on and confess, Ran-chan! Fufu~ Will Ran-chan be the one confess first or Aizen will did it first? Hmm... Wonder which one will be better? Please leave comments because I'm rather confuse with that part.
Ran-chan confess first will be cute but Aizen confess first will be kinda cool >.< Oh my, totally confuse.
I do hope to hear your comments about it or about the story too.
See you in the next chapter! :D