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New drabble-- a couple of weeks since my last one. Aizen meets Momo, though neither of them realize it. Takes place pre-everything.
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It was due to habit that he tread carefully. Granted, the house-- shack-- was burning, and beams were periodically collapsing, but his habit was more inclined to watch for dust. If it weren't for the fact that such tangible things as falling roofs were harmless to him, he might have been more worried, but for now-- out of force of habit, he was trying not to get ash on the hem of his hakama.
(Was in medical school when he lived, you know. Sterile environment. He was thankfully not in Fourth Division.)
He dodged a flash-flicker of what might have once been paper, falling from the ceiling, and ducked into a doorway-- what was left of it. The room he entered was no more interesting in flame than it likely was before, and he disregarded the surroundings after noting nothing. And there, on the hard-packed dirt floor, was the soul.
She was staring up at the sky almost wonderingly, eyes unfocused, glassy-- likely shock. She'd crumpled after her death and apparently hadn't moved far from her body since, judging by the stiffness of her shoulders. He gently nudged her with a foot.
Not so much as a blink.
He sighed, and squatted in front of her. Lifting her chin so he could meet her eyes, he summoned a gentle smile. "It's time to go."
Her eyes moved slightly, and he saw tears welling up at the corners. "They...left me."
He shook his head. "It's all over now-- you don't need to worry about it anymore."
Her eyes focused on him. "...to...die?"
Oh, no. Not one of these cases. "It's--"
She thrust his hand away from her, and moved back suddenly. "They had no right."
He unsheathed his zanpakutou.
"I cared for them. They had no place--" She stood, all but a phoenix from the ashes, dim eyes now burning almost-if-not-more brightly than her former residence.
He advanced.
Flames flared around her, as if accepting their kin. (He shook his head. Imagination going slightly rampant, there. The fire was just being fed by a collapsing wall.) "--to let me die alone!"
Before the end of her chain had a chance to attach to the ground and before her anger channeled itself, he moved. She fell to her knees again, and her eyes moved slowly to focus now on the hilt pressed against her forehead.
Her gaze moved to his. "You..."
He smiled again, his eyes obscured by burning red-orange reflected against lenses.
"If I find you again, will you also leave me?"
She faded.
(she'd meet fire again, and solitude)
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