As soon as Ran woke up, she went to take a shower and as usual waiting in the room until Aizen came to picked her up. But, no matter how long she wait-Aizen didn't come to her room. She started to wondering whether he's still sleeping which she thought that's impossible or maybe he was going somewhere and late on picking her up. And then there are knocks from the door.
"Oh, Ran-chan? Are ya awake already?"
"Gin-san? What's wrong?"
"Oh yeah, the thing is... Aizen-taicho haven't come back yet from his work so he's unable to pick ya and because Ren is with him too and there's no food now. I already asked the arrancar to cook for us, so be a good girl and wait for it, 'kay?"
"I see..." So, Aizen indeed went somewhere and with Ren too. "Um, when they'll get back?"
"Hmm.... They've been gone for quiet time, probably some time later. Hehe~ Don't worry about Aizen-taicho, he won't easily got killed y'know?"
"That's--That's not what I meant!"
It took them thirty minutes until the breakfast is ready and as Aizen's replacement, Gin was the one who escort her to the dining room. Tosen was not there also, probably he also went with Aizen. That leaves only Ran and Gin who ate the breakfast.
"Um, Gin-san?"
"Hm?"
"Can I know the reason why you've been following Aizen-san?" She asked and suddenly his face became serious. To her, it was rare for Gin to be that serious. His eyes were still closing as always but he didn't smile cheerfully as usual.
"....You see, Ran-chan? At first, I wanna get revenge on him"
"Eh? Revenge? Why?"
"It's a personal matter which involving Rangiku. I joined him in order to get close to him so I can find a way to killed him, one day. But then, I came to learned that everything he done was for Kiyo-san. I'm sure you're already heard about her, right? Everything he did was for her and after she died, he never stopped looking for you. When I realized, I just wanna help him, not just because what Kiyo-san said but I just wanted to help him, even though it'll have to cost by destroying Soul Society" He paused for a moment while playing his spoon in the plate.
"You see, Ran-chan. He maybe did all of this because of Kiyo-san but he did everything for ya. He will never stopped until he felt ya already saved. Believe in him a little, 'kay?" He said while patting her head. "At first, watching Aizen-taicho did all of this just because of a girl is rather comical. A person like him got swinging around because of a girl is totally a rare sight. I bet if the Soul Society found out, they maybe sweat dropping" Ran didn't know on how to react of his words but it's true, they were probably not expected that Aizen was doing all of this just for...her. She was happy hearing it from Gin, but she wanted to heard it from Aizen himself, whether it was true or not. When they were in the middle of the breakfast, somebody entered the dining.
"Ah, Aizen-taicho! Welcome back! Ren and Tosen-san too" Gin greeted them.
And then Ran, timidly... "W-Welcome home"
Aizen smiled lightly towards her and touched her head a bit. "I'm home, Ran. I'm sorry I couldn't picked you up for breakfast"
"N-No, that's okay. Gin-san is accompanying me. Hm?" Ran looked at him and how she was staring at Aizen rather made him...weird. He loved her gaze. It was like her gaze shown a sincerity, innocence, and how beautiful her emerald green eyes. Sometimes he felt she will be able to know what kind of person he was just by looking at him. To him, Ran was indeed the same with Kiyo. It was like he was looking at the younger version of Kiyo. But, of course he know-that she wasn't Kiyo. Ran maybe looked the same as Kiyo but she was not her.
"Aizen-san? Are you maybe...tired?" He blinked few times when he heard Ran's question. "Um, I'm sorry for saying that. But, I just think that maybe you're tired, you looked...beat" Just like her words, Aizen indeed felt rather tired-especially when he was dealing with the Hogyoku. It appears the Hogyoku recently became rather unstable and also he has to dealt with Ichigo and his friends who were trying to entered the castle. "Um, you probably should rest, Aizen-san" She said worriedly. He then smiled and patted her head gently.
"All right then. Ren, please bring the meals later to my room"
"Sure" He answered and Aizen exit the room. "You sure have talents for able to read him, Ran"
"True, true. Hehe~ As expected, Aizen-taicho is unable to live without Ran-chan" Gin teasing her.
"I-It's not like that" Ran countered them.
"Well, guess I better made his meals now"
"Um, Ren-kun? C-Can I help you made his meals?"
"Eh? Well, sure. I'm sure he'll be very happy having you made his breakfast. Meet me at the kitchen later when you finished" He said and went to the kitchen.
"Okay!"
***
Kitchen
"What should we make, Ren-kun?"
"It's up to you. Well, before he was enjoying a dish with tofu"
"Tofu? Hmm... I think I know what I'm gonna make"
"I see. Well, I'll leave it to you then"
"Eh? You're not gonna help?" Ran asked.
"Nah~ That's okay. I'm sure you wanna made a special dish just for him, right? Hehe~ I think I wanna teasing him a little. Don't worry about me and cook something for him"
"O-Okay. Let's see..." She began to cooked for Aizen. She knew what she had to cook for him, it was a dish that she usually made for her father when they were...in good terms before, but she was thinking to elevated it a little. "Um, Ren-kun? Where did you go before?"
"Oh, we're just taking care the Hogyoku"
"Hogyoku? Oh, that? What's wrong with it?"
"We're still unsure. It became unstable and it took us a whole night to take care of it. Well, as you said-he probably very tired. Can't blame him too because he wasn't the original owner"
"Oh...right. It was... Kiyo-san's, right?"
"Yep. It became like old times also. Aizen think maybe the Hogyoku was missing something and it will not heard to someone's order. Recently, when he wanted to made an arrancar-it began to reject him and as a result the hollow died in process. Same thing happened to Kiyo-san before and as a result causing few of the captains and lieutenants became a hollow" He explained.
"I...see. But... If the Hogyoku is unstable, why don't you guys just don't use it until it became stable again? I think there are already many arrancars here, so..."
"Well, I already told him that but he still need more. You know... So, if Soul Society know about you-we're already have many people. Although, defeating Captain-Commander will be rather difficult. He's very strong" He said but it got her thinking, why she would be such a threat if they ever found out about her? Aizen did said that Ran was made by something that was strictly forbidden by Soul Society. She was still wondering what was the material. She can't still believe that she was just made not born.
It took her forty-five minutes to finished the meals. She started to plating the dish. Three portion, she was thinking to gave it not just for Aizen but also for Ren and Tosen.
"Hoo... That's smell nice. Hm? Three? The other two for who?"
"Well, I notice Ren-kun and Kaname-san haven't eat yet, so I was thinking to made it for you two"
"Wow... Thanks, Ran. What's this called?"
"It's a vegetable and tofu stir fry and also I made a yogurt. But...that's for Aizen-san. For Ren-kun and Tosen-san is a tofu peanut stir fry"
"I see. Thank you. Well then, you wanna bring it to Aizen or should I?"
"Oh, I can bring it by myself"
"Well, let's go then. I want to tease him a bit so let's eat together"
"Ahaha, okay then" She picked the tray with vegetable and tofu stir fry on top and both of them headed to Aizen's room.
***
Aizen's Room
"Ah!" Ren suddenly shouted.
"Wh-What's wrong, Ren-kun?!?"
"I forgot the drinks. Sorry, Ran. Could you go to his room first? I'm gonna grab some drinks first"
"Okay" Ren then disappeared, probably headed to the kitchen. Ran kept continue walking towards Aizen's room. When she finally reached his room, she suddenly felt nervous. It was her first time to came to his room without him. She intend to knock on the door when she heard voices inside. She could heard Aizen's voice and...Gin as well as Tosen.
"So, the Hogyoku is really became unstable? Wonder why?" Gin asked.
"What should we do, Aizen-sama?" Followed by Tosen.
"For now, we should leave it be. From my speculation, it began to act on its own since Ran came back here" Hearing him mentioned her name causing Ran unable to knocked on the door. She knew it was impolite but she couldn't help it as she continue to eavesdropping them.
"Really? Well, maybe ya should try to made Ran-chan stand beside the Hogyoku and see what's happened. After all, she was born from it"
"Indeed..."
"By the way, Aizen-taicho? How's the pests that you were taken of? I heard you hurt the boy pretty bad" Pests. Boy. Only one person appeared in her mind. Did he went to killed Ichigo as well? He indeed said he will killed anyone who entered the castle, including Ichigo.
"Indeed I have. After all, he's the enemy. Even though he's Ran friends, I do not see any other way to erased him in order for him to not disturb my plan"
"You know? Ran-chan will absolutely mad at you for killing the boy. What are ya gonna tell her if she found out?" There was a long silence before Aizen answered Gin's question.
"She doesn't need to know. It's better if she forgot her useless friends" He stated coldly. Ran knew Aizen won't let her met her friends again, but killing them? That was way out of the line. She was shocked. To her, they're maybe just a friend but she considered them as an important existence. Because thanks to them, Ran able to felt lively especially when her mother was still alive and her father was abusing her. Thanks to them, Ran was able to forgot her problem with her father for awhile. Although, no matter how cruel her father was, she couldn't hate him and hoping he will returned to his usual self before her mother's condition became worse.
"Oh yeah? Did ya went to human world also? What were ya doing there?" Hearing Gin mentioned human world, it shocked her. For what reason Aizen went to human world?
"I was...erasing another pest" Aizen stated. Ran was still confuse of him. She knew he killed someone there, but who?
"Hmm... Kurosaki Ichigo's family?" Gin asked.
"No... He was... Ran's father" Hearing him causing Ran became stunned. Her hands were trembling and it was hard for her to breath normally. She was hoping she heard it wrong but no, there is no way she was mistaken of what she heard. And then...
"Ran!" Ren called her but that causing Ran very shocked about his sudden calling, causing she dropped the tray and everything were spilled to the floor and the plate was broke in to pieces. "Waa! Ran! Are you okay?!?" Ren asked worriedly while the people inside startled and together walked towards the door.
"I..uh...I'm okay, Ren-kun"
"Sorry, did I startled you that much?"
"It's okay. It's my fault" She apologized while picking up the pieces.
"Oi, don't touch that, let me--"
"Ouch!" Before Ren could finished his words, Ran's finger already got pierced by the plates' pieces.
"Ah, you got yourself sliced? That's why I was trying to tell you" While they were busy cleaning, Aizen appeared from his room with Gin and Tosen from behind.
"Is everything all right?" Aizen asked.
"Oh, Aizen? It's alright but Ran..."
"Hm? Did you hurt your finger? Here, let me help" Looking at his hand trying to touch her injured finger, Ran immediately slapped his hand very hard, surprising the people there-including Aizen.
"I--I'm sorry...I'm fine, I can healed it by myself. E-Excuse me!" She said and started to ran away from them.
"What kind of attitude is that? Here Aizen-sama was kind enough to help her" Tosen rudely said.
"It's all right, Kaname" Aizen said.
"Uwa... Did Ran-chan heard us?"
"You guys must be talking about Ichigo and her father? How come you didn't realize Ran was outside the door?"
"Eeeh?!? Really? I didn't noticed her a bit" Gin said.
"Huh? How come you didn't noticed her?"
"Again, her ability to camouflage her own reiatsu" Aizen commented.
"What? Ran capable to do that? I didn't know that. Well, anyway. Too bad for the food. Gin and Tosen dishes were saved, but Aizen's dish were destroyed. Here, Ran was kind enough to cooked your breakfast with full of love" Ren said which causing Aizen rather felt at fault. He didn't exactly do anything wrong because none of them were realized Ran was outside the door. He even considered what he was doing was the right thing to do. He thought Ran was no need to see her father and her friends anymore.
He glanced towards the destroyed food and kneel down. He could see there are many vegetables. Probably because she saw how tired he was so she made some and he could see there are some tofu. His favorite. Probably Ren was the one who told her that tofu is his favorite. He picked the food with his fingers, ignoring Ren's warning and take a bite from it.
Just from one bite from it, he felt guilty about it because it was... "It's delicious" Looking at his expression, Ren knew he felt guilty about the food made by the girl he had crush on.
"You know?" Ren said made Aizen looked at him. "Ran made a special yogurt too for you but she leave it in the kitchen. I just grabbed it, here" He gave the small cup to him and Aizen took it slowly. "I think she forgot to bring it too. How about you ate it while persuade Ran in her room? I bet she's crying now.
Without any words, Aizen just walked ahead leaving them.
***
Ran's Room
When Ran reached her room, she immediately heal her injured finger but as usual... If she couldn't concentrate, she will made the injury worse. Although the injury was not that bad, but it was enough for her to drop tears. Not because the injury, but she was hurt, inside. Hearing Aizen hurt her friends and killed her father was something she couldn't forgive. Even though she loved him, but hurting someone important to her was way out of the line. In the middle of her crying, someone was patting her head gently. She looked up and she found...
"C--Cerbeius?" He was standing in front of her. She didn't even realized he was already there. Without any words, he suddenly kneel down and took her injured finger and healed it with her usual light blue light. She now aware that she got that kind of light from him. "Th-Thank you... Cerbeius..." He looked at her again.
"You know? If I could heal your pain, I already did it now but sorry, I can't" To her, of course Cerbeius knew exactly how she felt, because he lives inside of her. Sometimes, it made her wondering. Her power was a healing type but she could see right through his bloody red eyes that his power was way beyond there. It was like he was hiding something but she could see that he had kindness which covered in his cold yet beautiful ruby red eyes.
"Thanks, Cerbeius but it's okay" She smiled to him and then someone was knocking the door and they found... Aizen stepping inside her room. Ran soon felt tensed having him around. Cerbeius could see that but he chose to disappeared from them.
"I'll be gone now" He said and suddenly disappeared. The atmosphere became heavy again, she could see Aizen was holding something and it was the yogurt she made for him. Aizen then walked towards her and take a seat beside her in the bed.
"How's your injury?"
"....It's fine. Cerbeius was helping me"
"I see. I apologize for the food, it was delicious though"
"Eh? Did you ate it? Its already spilled to the floor. How come you ate something dirty like that?" She looked at him.
"Well, that was made by you. Besides, I only take a bite from it-not eat all of them. I heard you made it just for me"
"Y-Yeah, but if you're still hungry then ask Ren-kun to make it" She sulked.
"It's fine. I still have this. It's enough for me"
"I see..." The atmosphere became tense again. She didn't know what to say to him after she heard the whole conversation. She wanted to ask him but she didn't know how to bring up the conversation.
"You do heard the conversation, no?" He spoke, but Ran unable to answer him. "I'm not going to lie after you heard it. But, that's the truth" He stated. She bitten her lips, trying to hold back her tears. She remembered what Gin told her.
You see, Ran-chan. He maybe did all of this because of Kiyo-san but he did everything for ya. He will never stopped until he felt ya already saved. Believe in him a little, 'kay?
That's what Gin told her. She was happy hearing Aizen did all of this for her, but...to the point of killing her friends and her father was not the way. Right now, Ran didn't want to see or talk to him. She looked aside and then...
"Aizen-san? I--I'm sorry, but could you leave me alone? I want to...clear my head a bit. Please..." She asked him. There were a long silent between them as Aizen only looking at her. He knew she was holding back her tears and the reason why she wanted him to leave her alone, was because she didn't want to say any cruel things to him. He knew she felt annoyed and sad because of his action but she didn't want to show it to him. She maybe mad at him but she didn't want him know, that kind of kindness which she had always made Aizen amused.
He then touched her head gently and smiled at her. "All right then. I will come again later. Please use your time until then" And then he gave a quick kiss on her head. She was surprised but she couldn't be happy with his action right now. Aizen then stood up from the bed and exit her room.
Ran threw her body to the bed as her tears slowly dripping down, she immediately wiped her tears. She wanted to become stronger and didn't want to cry every time Aizen did something bad to her. Unfortunately, no matter how many times she wiped her tears-it still flowing down.
"You're too cruel... Aizen-san..." She said as she continued to cried and slowly she entered her dream world. It only took her five minutes for her to sleep as Aizen suddenly returned to her room. When he found the girl already sleeping with yearner position, he walked towards her and sat on the side of the bed right beside her. He glanced towards the remain tears in her eyes and wiped it gently with his thumb. He then took the blanket and wrapped it around her and then gave another kiss on her forehead. He stood up and headed to the door, exit her room.
***
Few Hours Later
"Nn..." She opened her eyes slowly. "Hm? Did I overslept?" She sat on the bed and stretched out her body and yawned. She blinked few times and looked under her, found a blanket wrapping her body. "Hm? I didn't use blanket" She said to herself. Did somebody wrapping it for her? Only one person will do that for her. Only thinking about him capable to made her felt that everything he had done, slipped out from her mind.
"That's why you're so cruel... Aizen-san..." In the middle of her thought, she heard a loud sound from the outside. "Are? What was that?!" She ran towards the window but before she could reach it, a powerful attack blown the wall. "Kyaaa!!!" She covered her head with her hands and bent down while closing her eyes.
"Ran!" Someone was calling her. She opened her eyes. She knew that voice very well. She slowly looked at the standing figure right behind her. Orange color hair with his usual bankai uniform holding his own zanpakuto.
"I---Ichigo?!?"
-----------------------------
Fiuh~ Another long chapter. Another truth she discovered. Aw~ Aizen... You could just chained her up so Ran-chan won't run away :p Well then, Ichigo finally came in rescue. Will he be able to saved her or he will failed again? Stay tuned for the next chapter! :D
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See you in the next chapter! :D