Characters: Shinji, Gin, Aizen
Summary
: What's the connection?
Pairings
: None
Warnings/Spoilers
: Spoilers for Turn Back the Pendulum arc
Timeline
: Turn Back the Pendulum arc
Disclaimer
: I don't own Bleach.


Just like there's something wrong about Sousuke there's something wrong about that little kid always with him too, and Shinji picked up on it even faster in this new case. Maybe it's just that the kid doesn't even bother to behave normally—even Sousuke will put up a veneer of normality to hide what lies beneath.

It's morning, the crack of dawn really when Sousuke ushers the small, thin boy with silver hair, half-closed eyes and a smile permanently affixed to his face into Shinji's office. The night before, their Third Seat, an aggressive, combative man met a violent end on the grounds—something that doesn't surprise Shinji given his nature—and this child has been picked by Sousuke (it's the lieutenant's duty to present prospective seated officers to the captain) to replace him.

There's something fishy about all of this. Something off. First off, how the Hell does Sousuke figure that a little kid barely a month out of the Academy will make a good Third Seat for any division, let alone ours? Upon closer inspection, Shinji actually finds that the little kid is, astoundingly, prime officer material, despite, he would like to emphasize, only being a month out of the Academy.

Must be another little prodigy or something, Shinji muses moodily. Or something.

The more he looks at Ichimaru Gin, the warier Shinji gets about him. He's just a child, but he's dangerous; there's that hint of animal cunning that can exist in living beings of any age, and he has it so potent that it's practically palpable. Like the Reiatsu of a Menos.

And still yet more…

The more Shinji looks at Gin, the warier he gets. Like Sousuke, he always seems to know more than he should, always shows up in places he shouldn't. And whenever this happens, Sousuke is always no more than one step behind to bail him out.

Smooth smile, like always. Hands on the boy's shoulders as he produces a perfectly plausible explanation for what Gin's doing huddling in the bushes below the window of Shinji's office at midnight, or why he knows, by heart, the names of all the deployments of the Fifth Division for the entire month.

Sousuke by himself is bad enough. Gin by himself is bad enough. But together?

Shinji gets a bad feeling whenever he sees them together, which happens to be quite a lot. Gin's become Sousuke's silver-haired, undersized little shadow.

They're too close for his comfort. An uncanny lieutenant and an even uncannier child. And what makes Gin even more disquieting than Sousuke is that he can not be read. Sousuke is obviously plotting; Gin is just… strange.

Something's happening. Shinji's always suspected Sousuke of conspiracy, always seen more to him than Sousuke would care for him to see. But when he's with Gin, Shinji gets for the first time the impression that maybe he should be worried that Sousuke will actually do something.

He's tried and tried to connect the dots, but there are still dots that Shinji can't find, things he can't begin to see or understand. Like the truth's shifting all around him, just out of sight in the shadows.

And the question remains.

What is the connection between Aizen Sousuke and Ichimaru Gin?