Breakout

Summary: After the most daring prison breakout in the history of the Seireitei, Toshiro and Rangiku still don't understand the magnetic allure Aizen exerts over Hinamori. Takes place eighteen months after manga chapter 423.

Characters (in order of appearance): Matsumoto, Hitsugaya, Hinamori, Aizen

Pairings: Aizen/Hinamori, implied Gin/Ran, implied one-sided Hitsugaya/Hinamori.

Warning: Lemon near the end. Do not read if you are under 18.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. All characters in this story are over 18.

(Originally posted 1/2/2011.)

Matsumoto Rangiku tiptoed up to the tenth division offices and very slowly turned the knob. Glancing at the clock, she made a rueful face. She was even later than usual, and would certainly receive a tongue-lashing from her captain. She slid open the door quietly and slipped into the office, moving stealthily with her reiatsu tightly furled. She snuck over to her desk and sat down, trying to look as though she'd been there all the time.

But when she glanced over at the captain's desk, she was surprised to see it empty. Where could Hitsugaya be? He was never late to work. She walked over to the desk. It was neat and tidy as always, and the desk calendar was still set to the previous day. Hitsugaya had obviously not been in the office yet. Her brow creased in a frown, Rangiku sat down at her own messy desk and began rummaging through the disorganized piles of paper covering every inch of the surface.

Then she stopped. Someone had brought in the latest edition of the Seireitei Communications Bulletin and tossed it on her desk. It was wrapped up, but she could see the headline was in extra large print, indicating a big story. She quickly removed the twine from the newspaper and laid it out flat on her desk, then sucked in her breath.

"Aizen Sousuke Escapes" read the headline in screaming 120-point type.

"Shit," muttered Rangiku as she spread out the newspaper to read the story.

In the most daring prison breakout in the history of the Seireitei, a shinigami tentatively identified as Hinamori Momo, lieutenant of the fifth squad in the Gotei 13, used a unique combination of kidou spells to spring notorious traitor and former fifth division captain Aizen Sousuke from the Avici Prison.

The pair made a daring escape amidst a hail of offensive kidou from prison guards and shinigami officers, firing devastating spells of destruction behind them and leaving dozens of wounded in their wake.

Aizen Sousuke – one of the Seireitei's most dangerous criminals, currently serving a 20,000-year term for betraying the Soul Society – was plucked to freedom by Hinamori Momo, who applied her alleged specialty technique of combination kidou to meld variants of Bakudo #81, Danku and Bakudo #73, Tozansho with a kidou net to peel back tons of earth from directly above Aizen's prison cell, thus bypassing prison security.

A prison guard, interviewed at the scene, said, "It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. She was like a force of nature. I've never seen that much earth move before except in a landslide."

Other prisoners watching the 30-second escape cheered and applauded as the pair flash-stepped away, raining bolts of destruction down on the prison guards. The Central 46 is mounting a large manhunt for the couple who are believed to have gotten away but not yet managed to make a dimensional shift.

One of the perimeter guards had an encounter with Hinamori on her way to her destination. "I saw her approaching the far fence, and told her she couldn't go too close, but she shot off a binding spell at me and locked me down to the ground. She then ran straight to the recreation area, a big field inside the grounds. It's directly above the underground cells. There was a huge explosion and I saw the ground rising up out of itself like a fountain. There was a pyramid-shaped hole in the ground and one man was standing at the bottom, just waiting for this moment. It had obviously been well-planned."

The head of Avici Prison, interviewed for this story, said, "This is the first time in Seireitei's history this sort of escape has happened."

Aizen's escape came after he faced trial for high treason against Soul Society. He had served 18 months of his 20,000-year sentence.

Hinamori, standing 4' 11 ½" and weighing 86 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes. Although friends call her kind-hearted, others say that her rare bouts of anger can appear extraordinarily menacing, especially when concerning her former captain. Aizen is six feet one inch tall and weighs 163 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He has at least twice the captain-level amount of reiatsu and is extremely dangerous. Civilians who encounter the pair are advised not to make contact with them themselves, but to report the sighting to the authorities at once.

There was a pounding on the office door as Rangiku finished the story. "Come in," she called out.

Their fourth seat came running in. "Lieutenant! Have you seen Captain Hitsugaya? He's absent from the emergency captains' meeting Captain-Commander Yamamoto has just called."

Rangiku blinked. "No. He hasn't even been in the office today."

The fourth seat's eyes widened with fear. "Do you think he could have been kidnapped, taken as a hostage?"

Rangiku shook her head. "No. Momo would never participate in anything like that."

"Really?" asked the fourth seat skeptically.

The blonde shinigami ran her hands through her hair, thinking. "No… I think I know what could have happened. Just wait here a moment!" she called, leaping up from her chair and flying out the door.

She ran all the way to the tenth division captain's quarters. Pounding on the door, she shouted, "Captain! Captain! Are you in there?"

There was no answer. Biting her lip, Rangiku pulled out the emergency division master key she always carried and inserted it in the lock.

"Captain?" she asked as she opened the door. There was still no response. The room was dark, all the shades drawn. Rangiku slipped inside and groped for the light switch. She flipped it on and heard a low moan from the back room.

"Captain!" she called as she hurried back. Toshiro was slumped over his desk, head in his hands. An empty bottle of sake stood on the desk beside his computer monitor. The Seireitei Bulletin lay crumpled on the floor. The room was icy cold.

"Captain," Rangiku said in shock. Toshiro never behaved like this. The man was ferociously conscientious about his duty and never drank. She knelt by his side in concern. He raised bloodshot eyes to hers.

"Momo," he whispered in a broken voice. "Why did she do it?"

Her brow wrinkled with worry, Rangiku put an arm around her captain. "Shh, it's okay. You've got to pull yourself together. There's a captains' meeting going on right now."

Toshiro glared at her. "Fuck the captains' meeting! Don't you see? Momo's gone. He got her. Why? Why did she go to him?"

"Toshiro," Rangiku said, waiting for him to correct her with "It's Captain Hitsugaya," but to her shock, he only made an anguished moan.

"Look at this!" he said. "The man's a goddamn traitor, betrays everyone he knows, murders without compunction, and he's still popular with the general public! Why?" He clenched his fists. "Look." He gestured at the screen. "All these idiotic websites have popped up, calling his escape 'romantic.' It's like he's a hero." He glared at Rangiku. "These stupid students in his calligraphy class have signed a petition calling for his pardon!" His voice cracked. "They're calling it, 'the power of true love.'" He took a deep, shuddering breath and dropped his head into his hands again.

"What does he have?" he asked, raising his head again. "What devilish charisma can this man have, to lure Momo away, to actually get her to help him, after he tried to kill her twice?" He dropped his head on his desk and groaned. "Momo…"

"There, there," Rangiku said, stroking the back of his head. Her voice was bitter as she said, "Yes, I never understood the allure Aizen had, when he so obviously didn't care one whit even for his allies or subordinates."

Toshiro raised his head, eyes flooding with comprehension. "Yes," he said, "of course, you would understand."

"Yes," Rangiku said in a sour tone. "Gin followed him for a hundred years, all the while believing that he was doing it for me." She gave a harsh bark of a laugh. "I don't know what magnetic glamour Aizen had, to convince Gin of that, and to persuade him to keep it a secret from me all those years." She scowled. "It couldn't have been Kyouka Suigetsu all that time. Besides, his shikai just controls the five senses. This is a power he has over emotions."

Toshiro looked at Rangiku. There was an emptiness in his eyes. "Maybe if I—" he whispered. "Maybe if I had told her I loved her…"

Rangiku winced. "Captain— Toshiro, don't go there. I told Gin many times I loved him. It didn't make any difference. He still would walk away from me."

"She left a note."

"What?" asked Rangiku.

"She left a note for me, just before she went…" he stopped for a second to catch his breath. "Before she went to break him out."

"Well, what does it say?" asked Rangiku, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Here." Toshiro dropped a crumpled piece of paper on the desk in front of her. Rangiku smoothed it out and began to read.

My dear Toshiro,

By the time you read this, I will be far away. I just couldn't leave without saying goodbye to you, my dear friend, and without giving you an explanation for my actions, which I'm certain will displease you greatly. All I can say is, you must believe me when I say that I firmly believe I am acting to correct an injustice. Captain Aizen was unjustly imprisoned for crimes he did not commit. Although it is true that some of the things he did were wrong, he was acting for the long-term good of Soul Society. His sentence is far too harsh for his transgressions.

Please do not try to find us. All I ask is that you let us live in peace, and allow me to find some modicum of happiness in what remains of my life. I have accepted that I will live the rest of my life as a fugitive, but if it can be in the arms of the man I love, it will be utter bliss compared to the hell I have been living these past two years.

And please, if you could intercede with the Gotei 13 and Central 46 on our behalf, I would be eternally grateful. I know they listen to you, and you have influence. Even though they are a corrupt body, I hope that you can use your influence to grant us clemency. Or at least a chance for peace.

I beg of you, Toshiro, if you love me at all as a friend, to please do this one last thing for me. If you can't do this, at the very least ask them to commute Sousuke's sentence and allow me to serve it in his place. I beg you.

Yours affectionately, forever,

Momo

Tears stained the paper, and Rangiku was unsure if they were Momo's or Toshiro's. Her captain was staring off into space with a bleak, angry expression as Rangiku looked up from the letter with her heart aching with compassion. "I'm so sorry," she murmured.

"It gets worse," he growled. He tossed a packet of papers toward her. "Those are her love letters. She's been sending them to him in prison this whole time. She even applied for a marriage license." He bowed his head. "I can't believe I tortured myself by reading all of them."

"Oh, Toshiro," said Rangiku, her heart breaking for him.

"When I saw what she had done with that kidou… Nobody thought she was that powerful…" he said. "I guess nobody realized how strong your powers can get if you're motivated by love…" He gave an anguished sigh. "But my love wasn't strong enough. It was nothing compared to hers. What did I do wrong, Momo?" he asked. "What could I have done better?" He buried his head in his arms again.

"You did nothing wrong, Captain," Rangiku said. "There was nothing you could have done."

There was a pounding on the front door. "Captain! Captain Hitsugaya! Are you in there? You're needed at the captains' meeting!"

"But what you can do now," Rangiku said, "is go to the meeting and help recapture Aizen. Come on," she said as she helped him up to a sitting position. "I've got a good hangover cure right here. You can take it and go to the meeting. Come on. The Soul Society needs you."

She dropped a packet on the desktop and went to the front door. "I'll get him ready," she said to the messenger. "He'll be there in half an hour."

XxXxXxX

As night fell, the two fugitives stopped to rest in a steep valley high in the mountainous region, where tall pine trees shielded them from aerial surveillance, and the folds of the mountain itself, thick ridges of rock and earth, would hide them from reiatsu detection. The ways to the world of the living had been sealed the instant the prison was breached, and Aizen's powers had not returned sufficiently for him to be able to open a garganta, so they would have to remain in this dimension for the time being. Momo stood up, gesturing, to erect a kidou barrier to hide them from any pursuit, and then sat down abruptly on the ground.

Momo was exhausted and haggard, her energy nearly spent with the ferociously powerful kidou she had performed to free Aizen from prison. Her face was pale and smudged in the dim light after sundown, her body trembling as she collapsed on the bare earth. Aizen picked her up gently and carried her into the shelter of one of the largest of the pines, where the fallen needles had formed a cushion over the rocks and uneven ground. As he laid her down beside the bole of the pine, her brown eyes sought his and she clutched him.

"Captain," she whispered.

He smiled at her and she thought her heart would melt. He placed a long finger over her lips and said in his seductive, resonant voice, "Call me Sousuke, remember?"

He was still wearing the tightly fitting black prison garb, and she could sense his reiatsu levels had been drastically reduced by the restraints and limiters he had worn in prison, but somehow he managed to still appear elegant and composed. She sighed as she watched his graceful movements as he settled himself under the tree. He carried again with him that sense of calm power, that utter self-confidence that had won her heart and soul since the first moment she met him. It did not matter where he was or what his situation; Aizen would always be in complete command of himself and his environment. His face was beautiful and serene as always, and as she reached out to touch his cheek, in awe that he was finally here with her, he turned his head into her hand and kissed her fingers. She trembled with suppressed emotion at his touch.

"I was impressed with how strong your kidou has become, my dear," he said, his voice deep and velvety. It sent a thrill through her.

"I'm glad," she whispered, "that I could be of use to you."

He smiled at her choice of words. "Exceedingly." He took her in his arms and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her slowly and gently, and then trailing more kisses down her throat. He pulled away to gaze at her steadily with his dark brown eyes and she drew her breath in sharply. The air was warm and gentle in the pine-scented dusk. He gave her the look filled with desire that she had dreamed of for years, and her heart beat faster as she slipped her arms around his warm body clad in the tight black garment that showed off every detail of his elegant, well-built form.

It had been eighteen months since he had been imprisoned, and having a beautiful young woman in his arms had aroused a fierce need in him. He kissed her again and with one hand undid the fastening around the bun at the nape of her neck. Long black tresses cascaded over his hands, and he threaded his slim fingers deeply into her hair.

* lemon begins here *

His mouth opened on hers and his tongue slowly licked her upper lip, and then slid into her mouth, suddenly demanding and passionate. She pressed her body to his eagerly and met his tongue with hers, feeling electric warmth spread through her entire body at his touch.

His fingers slid down her neck and traced her collarbone gently before moving lower to stroke the swell of her breast. She gasped as he slowly began to unfasten her shihakushou, pressing kisses to her throat, breasts, and flat belly as he went. He skimmed his fingertips down the sides of her bare torso, causing little tingles of pleasure to arrow through her core. Her breath quickened as his fingers slipped between her thighs, and she moaned as he stroked her with clever, expert motions, clinging to him and making clotted noises in her throat.

Then, as she lay helpless with desire, he stopped, and when she reached up to him and made a whine of complaint, there was darkness in his smile. Carefully, he undressed himself and straddled her, breathing in the scent of the pine needles overlaid with the musky scent of Momo's arousal. She looked up at him with wide brown eyes and moaned as he positioned himself at her entrance and slowly pushed into her. She was warm and ready for him, and the silky sensation of her engulfing him was exquisite, especially after his long imprisonment. He sighed and thrust more deeply into her, almost unable to hold himself back. He heard her sharp intake of breath and felt her nails dig into the skin of his back, and paused.

"Ah, yesss," she cried. "Yes, please…"

At her words, he gave up all semblance of control and gripped her body hard, giving in to the rush of desire and pleasure, increasing his rhythm and intensity as she moaned in delight underneath him. He felt her shudder and clench her muscles around him only moments before he too reached climax, intense waves of sensation rippling through his entire body until finally he collapsed on top of her, satiated and burying his face in her pine-scented hair.

They lay together, skin pressed to skin, for a long while as the light of dusk gradually dimmed to full darkness and the first stars began to show themselves in the translucent sky. Finally he rolled over and propped himself up on one elbow, gazing at her. She could only see the smudge of dark eyes in a pale face.

"Well?" he asked her in a teasing voice. "Was it worth exhausting your spiritual power, risking your life, and ruining your career, just to break a condemned traitor out of jail?" She sensed rather than saw his smile as he traced the curve of her cheek with one long finger.

The answer, and the emotion that accompanied it, startled even her, welling up with profound power from within every part of her body as though a monstrous hand had taken her in its grip and squeezed.

"Yes. Oh yes. Always..."