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He's standing there, plain as day when she wakes with a start in the night. As her mind grapples with what she sees, struggles to comprehend, to find the line between dream and reality, her body is one step ahead - she trembles, sweats, becomes numb in the presence of the reiatsu that he must be masking and yet that she knows is there. She wants to blink, wants to rub her eyes, to pinch herself, anything, but she cannot will her eyes to close, cannot will her arms, to move - and if this is a dream, does she want to awaken? Aizen-taichou, the man for whom she would have done anything, the man for whom she would have given her life, the man who left her behind, it standing in her bedroom doorway.
Perhaps a minute passes, perhaps an eternity, but then, he speaks; "Hinamori-kun." The words slip off his smile like honey and her heart pounds so loudly in her ears, she fears that if he speaks again, she'll miss it. Should she be afraid for her life? Certainly, she can dutifully name off his list of crimes, but she knows that this was not the reason her pulse races and her body shakes. It's pure, sick hope, and despite herself, the words fall from her trembling lips before she can stop them. "Aizen... taichou...?"
His smile grows slightly, and it's not, she thinks, the smile of a wicked man. It's the same kind smile he has always shown her, and when he speaks again, his voice is warm, comforting. "Come to me, Hinamori-kun," he bids, and she comes, fighting with her bedclothes as they try to impede her, stumbling over her own feet. She's dressed only in he thin cotton night clothes, feet bare, hair falling limp over her shoulders. The evening air is not particularly cold, but she cannot stop trembling, no matter how hard she tries. Nor can she find words, and so she looks up at her former captain, her only captain, eyes wide as the hope threatens to suffocate her.
He looks over her, and his eyes flicker with some emotion that she cannot name. "You're cold," he remarks softly, gently taking her small hand in his own large one. He's warm, but the touch makes her shiver all the move. "Forgive me for disturbing you at this time of night--"
"No!" she cuts him off a little too quickly, then claps her hand over her mouth, mortified at the lapse in manners. "I mean-- I'm sorry-- I--"
His smile softens again (everything about Aizen-taichou is gentle, so gentle) and he shakes his head. Without a word, he sheds his jacket, draping it over her thin frame and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Please don't be afraid," he bids, and, her voice having fled yet again, she can only nod and hope that he understands that she could never be afraid, not of him.
He seems to, anyway, and the hand on her shoulder slides up to brush tenderly against he cheek. Looking into her eyes (and straight into her soul, she's sure) for a moment, he speaks again, voice hushed and deep and enticing, "I need you, Hinamori-kun."
She holds out because the voice of reason in her mind tells her that to respond would be treason, but those words wrap like fingers clutching tight on her heart, and her body begins to shake with the will power even silence takes. he waits for a moment, and maybe he even looks hopeful, too, but when she doesn't respond, the expression falls and he sighs. He seems to gather himself for a moment before continuing, his voice earnest. "I understand it must be difficult for you to believe, Hinamori-kun, but please at least hear me out. Soul Society is corrupt-- you must know that--- and I'm trying to do everything in my power to change things... but I need your help, Hinamori-kun."
"My help?" she crumbles, unable to hold back any longer. Her voice trembles, its pitch unpleasantly high, and she feels her face flush slightly. He mustn't think her silly, he mustn't think her weak-- what if he changes his mind?
She catches herself on the thought a moment later, but doesn't have a chance to regroup before he speaks again. "I need your help to subdue others who might appose me-- appose a change for the better. Won't you help me change their minds, Hinamori-kun?"
She hesitates a moment, but really, there is no question in her mind. When she replies, her voice does not waver, and her lips twitch up a little in a nervous smile. "Yes," she answers, plain and clear, and when Aizen-taichou offers his hand, she places in it not only her own, but her trust and all of her heart.