It was night, and everyone had retired to their quarters; with the exception of Asa. With a dark grey cloak around her, she sneaked out of the Sasaki Manor and made her way towards the Central 46 Compound. She couldn't take another step closer because of the guards on duty, and she had no choice but to use Flash Step to sneak up from behind and knock them out. Asa would've left them there but that would only alarm everyone if someone were to see them laying on the ground unconscious. Leaving her with no choice, she unsheathed her Zanpakutou and let her reiatsu flow into it, causing it to illuminate in a soft, dark purple glow. At that moment, an invisible wall was conjured to hide the unconscious Shinigami, followed by an illusion of them guarding the entrance. Once the glow died, she sheathed the weapon back before entering the Central 46 Compound.
She may have went through the first challenge. Now, there were few more awaiting for her. It was a huge place, and the quarters were right in the center; which meant that although Asa was able to get through one of the entrances, there were still three more with guards on duty. In a situation where she had to get to the center without being spotted by them, she had to conjure another illusion to make her invisible; and even though she was a bit reluctant to do so, it was her only choice. She would have to turn invisible and make full use of the five minutes to try sneaking into the building.
Unsheathing her Zanpakutou once more, the blade glowed once more, and her body glowed in the same colour before she used Flash Step to get to the center, where she had to be as quiet as possible in opening the doors. Time was racing against her, for she had to stay invisible while quietly opening the doors at the same time, and by the time she had few seconds left before the invisibility wore off, she finally opened the doors wide enough and quickly entered, gently closing the doors behind her as well.
Asa was finally inside the building, but that also meant she had to go to the lowest level of the enter building, where Aizen was locked up. And like before, there were Shinigami guarding the place so she had to use her Flash Step and her Zanpakutou's abilities to get past them unnoticed. It was tiring to do both at the same time, but in the end she was able to arrive at the eighth and lowest level of prison - Muken. Though she had made it, another question strike her: where could Aizen be? He might be the only Soul to be locked up here, but there were several cells in one level, and she didn't want to waste time searching each of them. There's even a risk of getting herself caught if she were to do this, as there were also guards walking up and down the corridors. What was she going to do?
"Asa-nee, let me out!" came a voice inside her mind.
Snapping out of her thoughts, the said woman glanced at her Zanpakutou and realised who was calling out to her. 'Tamako-kun...' she thought. Without wasting time, Asa quickly hid in a corner where no one would spot her, and held the hilt of the Zanpakutou before it glowed, and out came the purple miasma that soon manifested into the toddler.
"Has desperately searching for Aizen made you forget about me?" he asked playfully.
"I guess so." she said with a chuckle.
The toddler peeped from behind the wall to look at the situation, carefully planning a way for Asa to reach to Aizen without having her getting caught. Once he was able to figure out the best solution, he turned around with a grin and saluted her. "Leave it to me!" he whispered proudly. With that, he ran into the shadows and disappeared from her sight, but his reiatsu lingered in the air, which enabled her to track him and go to where he was if he happened to stop. While waiting for him, she continued hiding behind the wall and closed her eyes, thinking about how her encounter with Aizen would go.
Meanwhile, Aizen was bound inside his prison cell. He had his entire body sealed, including his eyes and mouth, leaving him in complete darkness. Behind the seal, he had his eyes closed, letting himself rest until his ears picked up a sound coming from the left side of his cell, as well as the familiar reiatsu. He opened his eyes and could only tilt his head towards the source, despite not being able to see, paying close attention to the sound of footsteps; footsteps of a child. Aizen's eyes widened with surprise, and his heart began to race. He could easily tell what was going on after putting the pieces together. The familiar reiatsu, the sudden appearance of a child in his room; Asa was here. It had to be her. Because deep down, he knew that she would be the only person to visit him in prison. To actually risk herself to see him in person.
To prove that made the right guess, he heard the child, or rather, Tamako opening the door from inside. Right after the door opened, he heard her entering the cell before the Ghost Child gently shut the door from behind, wanting to alert the guards patrolling outside. How she managed to get here without being caught, he couldn't be bothered. What was going to happen next intrigued him. Because if he was prohibited from talking or seeing, what was she going to do? His question was heard when he heard a soft incantation, and the next thing he knew, she had easily removed the bind from his mouth and eye.
"Asa, is that you?" he asked. The last time he saw her was back in Hueco Mundo, where she infiltrated the building and had a tough fight with Randepra, who managed to get her wounded, and went to heal her. Though they hadn't seen each for a short while, he thought she was becoming more beautiful.
The said woman smiled at him. "Yes." she replied. "It's me, Aizen."
A genuine smile flickered across his face. "It has been a while, Asa." he said. "I'd wish our reunion happen in a more... appropriate place."
She merely chuckled at this. "So do I." she agreed.
Aizen's smile remained on his face before a frown followed. "Why are you here?" he asked. "Surely there must be a valid reason for you to visit me here."
"Is it wrong to visit my former Captain?" she asked back playfully.
But that wasn't the response he wanted to hear. "Asa." he said seriously. "I know that's not the reason why you're visiting me." His gaze suddenly turned cold, so did his tone. "You shouldn't be here. You must leave now." It wasn't that he didn't want her to visit. In fact, he was glad that she came to visit him in prison, of all places. But he wasn't sure why she would visit him when he had been branded as a traitor to Soul Society and was locked here for the next 20,000 years. He knew Asa was a very kind Soul, but if she was that kind to risk herself of getting caught just to see him, he would prefer that she stay away from him. He could pretend to hate her and make her feel bad so that she wouldn't return, but after being with her for so long, he knew that it would be futile, for she could see through his act so easily. Probably that was the reason why he loved her - she wasn't easily manipulated by him and could confront him the moment she saw his intentions.
Just like he had predicted, Asa stayed put, but he didn't expect her to look hesitant about telling him why she was visiting him. "Actually, Ichigo told me something." she began, which immediately caught his attention.
As soon as she looked at him in the eyes, she told him about what Ichigo understood about the Hogyoku, and its ability was to take in the "hearts" around it and materialise them. If that was the case, and that the Hogyoku had actually rejected Aizen, then the latter might have wished to lose that power. When Ichigo was clashing with Aizen's blade, he only found solitude, which led him to think that Aizen, searching for a person with the same viewpoint of the world, just kept wishing he was a mere Shinigami.
Now that she was retelling the whole thing to him, she realised one thing. It wasn't that Aizen couldn't find the person who had the same opinion as him. He had already found that person - Asa. He saw her as a great friend at first, but as they became closer, he wanted the two of them to be more than friends, and he wanted her as his lover. But her marriage was the biggest obstacle in this, and she didn't love him like how she loved Michiro; this became the trigger to his jealousy, one that was so ugly that he went all out to kill him just so he could have her. He thought he had won, but he actually lost because he had hurt Asa so much that he regretted it so much. Had he not let that Arrancar kill Michiro, he would've been much happier seeing her in a better state. What was done had been done, and he was going to live the rest of his life with that guilt.
When she was done, Aizen was staring at the floor with a solemn look, and her gaze was on her. Had she crossed the line? He may have been hated by his own kin for the things he had done, but she couldn't bring herself to hate him; and she couldn't understand why she felt this way. She could've fought him for what he had done to Michiro and everyone else, she could've said vicious things to intentionally hurt him, she could've exposed him after knowing so much and he still let her off; but she did neither of those things. Why? Was it because somewhere in her heart, she still saw him as the friend whom she could talked to? Was it because she still respected him as her Squad 5 Captain? Or was it because she had been guilty all this while for not being able to reciprocate the love he had for her? And that she used it as an excuse to forgive him and treat him kindly?
"He's not wrong, Asa." he suddenly said, bringing back her focus to him. When she looked at him, she was surprised to see another emotion on his face. She couldn't pinpoint what it was, but just by taking note of the sad smile on his face, she could more or less tell what he was feeling. "There were times when I actually hated you so much that I wanted to kill you for knowing too much about me. I tried pushing you away, but you still returned to me, read me like an open book, and even tried to make me see things in a better light. I hated you, but that hate eventually turned into another emotion that I didn't expect to experience. I soon came to like you as my friend, which then made me start to love you, even though you were married to Sasaki Michiro. I was being selfish to even kill him, the man you dearly loved, just so that you could come into my arms and seek for comfort. But in the end, I broke you. Words can't tell you how much guilt I had whenever I saw you walking around the barracks looking so emotionless and dead. You have no idea how much it hurt me whenever I heard you crying in your bedroom."
"Aizen..." trailed off Asa softly.
The said man didn't respond at first. He looked at her and continued, "Back in Hueco Mundo, I could've let you die. I kept reminding myself that you're no longer my Lieutenant of 5th Division, nor my friend. But in the end, I couldn't do that and went to search for you, healed you back to full health." His smile stretched slightly before he continued, "I'm glad I did that, because I got to hear you say that you forgive me. From that moment, I couldn't pick you as the one who was going to stop me. I couldn't bring myself to stain my own hands with your blood, or even use them to hurt you. So I picked Kurosaki Ichigo, instead." He then let out a chuckle when he recalled the last battle they had. "Who would've thought he had so much power to be able to even touch my blade and hear my thoughts?"
At that moment, a tear rolled down Asa's cheek. "Aizen." she called in a brittle voice, surprising him when she was starting to cry. "You have done so much for me, as my Captain and my friend, to become a better person. I didn't know how to repay you besides thanking you, so I thought I would do so by being there for you when you need someone to hear you out. But I didn't know I was making you feel more lonely, when you knew that I couldn't love you like I did to Michiro." By then, more tears cascaded down her cheeks and she began to sob. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to see that you're suffering alone. I'm sorry for not giving you the love you've always wanted. I'm sorry, Aizen."
The said man watched her look down and tried to ease her sobbing. He honestly didn't think that Asa would feel this way, and he didn't blame her for not loving him. After all, she was already married to Michiro when she was still working for Kuchiki Ginrei. It would be unfair to them if he made her break things off with Michiro after being his wife for more than ten years. The problem was Aizen himself, not Asa. And here she was, apologising to him instead.
"Dry your tears, Asa." he comforted. "You have nothing to be sorry about. In fact, I should be the one apologising." After wiping away her tears to look at him, another smile flickered across his face. "Thank you for being so understanding, Asa. So please, just let me say these words before I lose the chance again." Her heart began to race. He needn't say them because she already knew what he was going to say, but it was important to him.
Taking a deep breath, he calmly, yet tenderly, said, "I love you."
At that note, Asa went up to him, being careful to not break the seal around him, and gently placed a hand to caress his cheek. Leaning in, she kissed his lips and he returned the kiss. If Aizen wasn't in a prison cell and this happened in a normal situation, one would think they were two lovers sharing a kiss. But in reality, they were sharing their first and final kiss, one that Asa gave as a reminder for him that no matter what happened, she would be by his side if he ever needed her.
Finally, the two broke away, and Asa placed a final kiss on the top of his head before looking into his eyes. "Thank you, Asa." he muttered with a small smile.
The said woman didn't say anything and moved away from him, putting back the seals on his eyes and mouth area. She then walked towards the door as she prepared to leave. But before her hand reached out to open it, she turned around to look at him one last time and said, "Farewell, Aizen." He merely nodded his head, since he wasn't able to speak, and with that, Asa left him alone once more.