Whoa, another fic came out before the year was due! I'm honestly impressed at myself, hehe.

I've always felt that, to Aizen, sexuality is mostly a matter of power, because his only displays of seduction happen in moments he's trying to assert his power over others - like that creepy Aizen/Orihime moment or the moment he puts his hand over Ichigo's heart. So I think Aizen wouldn't react well to being attracted to anyone... which is why my personal headcanon is that the reason he went out of his way to destroy Hinamori is that he was attracted to her. The idea for this fic came as I was trying to imagine the ceremony of Hitsugaya's acceptance into 10th Division - which led me to imagine how pissed Aizen would be, hehe.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, nor am I making any money with it. Drats!

A Universal Sign of Love

What makes his chest burn is her smile.

The girl has other male friends, in her own division and outside of it – and oh, has he made sure that the most dangerous ones are also the ones farthest away – but she is never that comfortable in her own skin around them, never so relaxed and content. When with them, she keeps trying to hide her fiery personality away, unwilling to let anyone know she does not master her emotions with all the deftness expected of a responsible vice-captain, and won't they be surprised at her ferocity when she finally explodes?

But this, this is different.

He has already warned himself it might be; he has been aware of the boy's origins the moment he stepped on the Academy, shocking and scaring his peers with his level of raw power. It wasn't hard to find out the boy's identity – not when his vice-captain used to make a point of checking on his progress daily, when she holds the boy's trials in the Academy as one of her favorite topics of conversation, and has forged a friendship with Gin's tramp of a girlfriend because she managed to talk the young child into joining the Gotei 13.

She has never had that much to say to him about someone else, and he has been filing all the information carefully, telling himself he should be thankful for her show of trust for the opportunity to revise his plans. Telling himself that feeling irritated by her willing exposition is illogical and unworthy of his time.

And he tries to remember that, tries to crush the weakness before it forms, but, when his eyes happen on her arms around the young man's short and skinny form, these thoughts are subdued by something more primal, something more angry and vulnerable.

She smiles at him and congratulates him for his first day on the 10th Division, his instantaneous promotion to 3rd Seat – only to be expected; he thinks the young man will soon surpass vice-captain Matsumoto and maybe even Captain Shiba – and takes a step back, takes his hands on hers. Her true smile, which he had never seen directed at someone other than him, flashes in the already dimming afternoon light; and his sharp eyes do not miss the flush on the young man's cheeks, the look of want in his eyes.

The moment is destroyed by the boy's immaturity, as he is unable to cope with the proximity. He turns away from her and asks her not to call him by that nickname, tells her he is "Hitsugaya-sanseki" now and needs everyone else to respect him – and the captain feels his throat sour with contempt for that boy who is unable to appreciate and savor her affection, or even to deal with it in a mature way. Ordinarily, such a demonstration of ungratefulness would rile her up; she would press her hands tight against herself, bite on her lower lip, and go on with a slightly clipped voice, the true smile fading onto a doll's artificiality – and he, he thinks himself victorious.

Yet her smile does not disappear – in fact, her smile only grows larger and gentler, as if she is endeared by the boy's words. Which, he realizes, she is; he surmises it must be one of his characteristic reactions, one of the things that make him him. At last, her smile infects the boy – and his smile is a bit unlike hers, more secretive and pleased, but intimate, all the same. Like they know each other inside and out, and can look past their superficial banter and treasure each other for what they are – defects and all.

He looks at their smiles, and thinks Toushirou Hitsugaya might know parts of her he himself has never even glimpsed.

"Ya'll right, Aizen-taichou?"

He turns to the voice as if whipped – and of course, it had to be Gin, coming up the hallway with his meek vice-captain, holding the creepiest of his knowing smirks. Sniffing for his weaknesses.

He disguises the irritation behind a calm expression, but he knows very well what this scene tells about him. "Why do you ask, Gin?"

"I dunno, ya looked like ya ate something mighty bitter." And in their unacknowledged little game, he retreats with every step Gin advances; and he loses when the other captain sees the two figures standing in front of the 10th Division's office.

Gin moves forward eagerly, snatches what little territory he has given with savage pleasure. "Ah, that's the new 3rd Seat from the 10th? I didn't know he was acquainted with Hinamori-kun."

He sees Kira move his lips – probably to tell his captain of the relationship between Toushirou Hitsugaya and Momo Hinamori – but he does not listen; he can only see Gin's smile, see the promise of death in his closed eyes. A taunt.

An unspoken idea that, if he has such weaknesses, maybe he can be defeated after all.

The anger burns stronger.

He has been long setting things so Hinamori-kun would function as a distraction when he eventually makes his escape from the Gotei 13; right now, however, he decides he will not stop there – he cannot afford to stop there, cannot suffer her to live. He will not stop until he sees that weakness in him gone – not until he destroys everything that ever made him feel vulnerable and exposed, everything that has ever been out of his reach, everything that made Gin smile like he, Sousuke Aizen, was only human.

After all, she is his and his alone; he will one day be more powerful than a god in their eyes, and if that doesn't make her his, what could?

Silently, he decides he won't even leave a hollow shell behind for the boy, and smiles a true smile.

Please let me know what you think!