Noble Love - Bleach (Kuchiki Byakuya x Oc x A bit of Various)

六十三

Author's note: Hello, readers! How are you? Hopefully you and your loved ones are doing well despite the pandemic. The good news is the wait has finally come to an end. After completing the mountains of assignments given by my lecturers, I can finally continue this series. Hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the chapters. Stay safe, and stay healthy! ❤️

"Kyoraku-taichou." called Asa, who was following the said man inside the Central 46 Compound, heading towards the eighth and lowest level of prison. "Don't mind me asking, but why did you ask me to join you?"

"Eh?" he innocently responded. "Is it wrong for me to a company with me?"

"Of course not." she assured with a sheepish smile. "But we're going to visit him."

The Captain let go of the cheerful facade, and his expression turned serious. Asa didn't know what the expect, for the jovial man had suddenly become quiet. She soon got her answer when he stopped in his tracks, forcing her to do the same, and blurted, "I know about the two of you."

That sentence alone made her blood turn cold. How did he know? Did she somehow get caught when she was sneaking in and reported it to him? Since he knew about it, what would happen to her next?

"Rest assured, Asa-chan." he said, turning around to face her with one hand tilting his straw hat down. Seeming to have heard the questions bombarding in her mind, he added, "You're not in trouble."

The said woman slowly released the breath that she unconsciously held. Albeit feeling relieved that she was not penalised, there was still one question that bothered her. "How did you know?" she meekly asked.

"It wasn't hard." he stated casually. "I sort of knew that you were snooping around here, plus that fact that he didn't kill you back at the Soukyoku Hill when he had the chance. So I kind of connected the dots."

Asa stared at the Captain for a while before softly heaving a sigh. "I see." was all she could say.

"Well, don't worry so much." he assured, giving her a light pat on her head. He then turned back around and continued making his way to Muken. "I'm just trying to get him to give us a little help. So I was hoping that he'd agree when he sees you."

'In other words, I'm just being used.' thought Asa with a sweat drop on the back of her head. Sighing for the umpteenth time, she trailed behind him as they began the descend the very stairs she used two years ago. As soon as they reached where he was placed, the ground shook momentarily. Asa needn't question what was happening. She looked up with her brows furrowed. 'The Soul King is dead. The Zero Division must have been defeated. At this rate, Seireitei- no, everything that's linked to Soul Society, everything made in Soul Society, the Dankai, Hueco Mundo, even the present world; everything will fall apart.'

"It's really shaking." commented Shunsui, who also felt the effect. "To think that it'd reach all the way here. The end is hear, for Soul Society." Taking a few steps forward to a semi-circle of keyholes lodged into the ground, he looked ahead and continued, "You can hear me, can't you? This is as far as we innocents can go. We won't go any further into the darkness. However, if it's you, you'd be able to hear me even from here, right? C'mon, answer me. Aizen Sousuke."

Upon hearing his name, Asa fixated her gaze on the darkness in front of her and Shunsui. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, for she could finally see the figure of the man she had visited in this very place. 'Aizen.' she thought sadly, genuinely concerned about him despite his past doings.

"So no response, huh?" said Shunsui when all he got was silence. "Are you against the conversations using your reiatsu as well? Or could it be that even somebody with your power can't overcome this?" He took out a rectangular box and opened it, revealing a set of keys. "These are the keys to your seal. I've been allowed to use up to three of these." Asa's brows raised at this, as she watched him sit in front of the keyholes with the box while she stood behind, watching the whole scene unfold. "So let's start with the "mouth"."