A/N: These stories should be treated as non-canon yet possibly helpful introspectives into several characters' mindsets. They do not go along with the plot per se, but they (very) roughly fit into different timelines of the trilogy.

Warnings: Blood, violence, foul/racist language, very dark…

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any other copyrighted things mentioned in this story and the language/thoughts of THIS entire story do not necessarily reflect my own views.

Justice Is Blind

Timeline: Pre-LTG

"Hey look!" Everyone in the vicinity turned their heads in the direction of the blue-haired youth. "It's that blind nigger!"

Tousen Kaname sighed as he heard this. Do not get angry, do not get angry…, he repeated to himself over and over again. He had just started middle school yesterday, and Grimmjaw JaguarJack was already on his case.

At the moment, everyone was filing out of school and heading for the nearby bus stop; over 90 percent of the student body lived within four blocks of any given stop on the public bus's route. Several sixth graders, such as Kaname himself, were still getting themselves acquainted with the newly-renovated school.

That didn't matter to Grimmjaw, who had been the "tough guy" since elementary school, bullying other kids and always getting his way. He had a desire to inflict pain only equaled to the giant Zaraki Kenpachi. While the two never really hated each other, as bloodthirsty individuals neither warmed up to the other person. In fact, one could go so far as to say the two maintained a "balance of terror," where neither person and his associated clique could break the stalemate with the other side because a full-scale rumble would wreak mass havoc. The fact that these boys were just boisterous 11 year olds was scary indeed.

Clenching and unclenching his fists, Kaname turned to face the taller kid.

With a firm tone he asked, "what do you want, Grimmjaw-san?" which made the other snigger loudly before his posse (A/N: I hate that word but I have to vary my diction or else…ya know…) joined him.

"Heh, look at ya actin' all tough, fuckin bitch," Grimmjaw mockingly replied. "Take a look around; you don't belong here with that gay hair color; shit, you look like you just came out of a cracked out oven!" As if on cue, his 'friends' began to laugh like a pack of hyenas.

Tousen was feeling the anger re-surface and turned around to continue walking to the stop. When he heard Grimmjaw's voice again, it was much closer and it appeared to be coming directly at him.

"Oi! Where the FUCK do you think you're goin'?" the pale-skinned youth yelled as he was walking briskly towards Kaname, whose stride had broken into an all out run just moments later. He was just a block away from the stop, and if he could reach it before they grabbed him, he was safe…

Unfortunately, Kaname was not too fast, and as a conditioned bully, Grimmjaw was gaining on him by the second. Now running haphazardly, Tousen was stumbling to reach the stop, barely a half-block away…

The next thing he knew, he was lying on his stomach with Grimmjaw's foot holding him down.

Shit…

The pressure was lifted off his back and a calloused hand was now hoisting him by his collar. Looking through his barely functional eyes, he met his worst nightmare: a pissed off Grimmjaw, teeth bared and ready to deliver some serious hurting.

"Listen carefully," Grimmjaw whispered menacingly. "Don't talk shit to me if you don't want me to start beating your bitch ass up everyday. Now give me my fuckin' money and we're through."

Kaname was no exception to this treatment; Grimmjaw and his cronies had been extorting yen from their male classmates for the past year. Few actually resisted this ritual of forking over 500 yen whenever asked, and only a handful of boys were exempt from the entire ordeal.

Sighing in defeat, Tousen reached into his pocket and handed over all he had left: 350 yen.

Grimmjaw curled his lip with disgust as the money was handed over. "Feh, this is all ya got? You've gotta be fuckin kiddin' me…"

Leaning into the darker child's ear, he growled, "Make sure you have enough next time or else I'll do worse to ya."

Landing a sharp punch in Tousen's gut, he stormed back to his clique, wiping his hands off as if he had just dealt with the victim of some third world pestilence.

"Leave this piece of shit here. We've got other things to do," the ringleader stated before leaving the scene as the bus pulled up to the stop.

Tousen, who was doubled over from the impact, used all of his stamina to stand erect and jog to the bus in order to catch it. Thus was his life: an interminable epoch of torture filled with pessimism and anger with the world. What had he done to deserve this treatment? He could not help who he was; it's not as if he wished to be born this way.

Throughout middle school, he would continue getting flack from Grimmjaw. It seemed that while the blue-eyed preadolescent had bigger fish to fry, he just loved to harass Kaname because it gave him some sick, twisted sense of pleasure.

But it was not just people of that ilk who played with him.

"So when are you and Yoru-chan getting married, Kaname?" Keigo asked during lunch one day in his usual singsong voice, immediately drawing the seventh grader's ire.

"Wow, will you give that nonsense a rest, Asano?" Tousen hated jokes with innuendo overdoses, such as those about crushes and marriage. He resented assumptions made based on the fact that he and Yoruichi shared a common skin and hair color…unfortunately, he did not want to say anything to ridiculous to anger her, the most influential girl in BMS. Along with her partner-in-crime Rukia, she controlled life in school on several levels, although moreso for girls than boys; for instance, she never meddled with the Grimmjaw-Zaraki struggle that dominated most conversations in the boys' gym locker room. Although most people viewed Kaname as an outcast who had nothing, not even a good friend, she was sympathetic to the type of person she would usually step on. Thus, rumors would swirl and the more sensitive kid took exception to even the slightest insinuation of a crush.

Speaking of which, he felt that was a highly idiotic term for a subconscious desire for a member of the opposite sex based on superficial qualities and a nascent lust found in most middle schoolers. What did anyone know about who they loved? Such questions could not be answered in these years of their lives, a fact that apparently only Tousen could comprehend.

"Ohhhhh you hurt me, Kaname! Not only do you refuse to call me by my first name, but you deny your feelings for the godde-"

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" it was as if a fuse had gone off inside his mind. The anger had resurfaced.

"Woah, Kaname you alright?"

"NO I'M NOT, YOU KNOW HOW THAT IRRITATES ME AND YOU KEEP PUSHING ME!" Now several heads were turned in their direction, wondering what the ruckus was about.

"Relax dude, it was a jo-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT WAS! YOU'RE SO ANNOYING! I HOPE YOUR HOUSE BURNS DOWN OR I GET TO SHOOT YOU WITH AN AK-47!" By now everyone in the cafeteria had his or her attention fixated solely on Kaname's potential diatribe. Although he was livid with anger, Tousen found himself at the mercy of one menacing Occhi-sensei just seconds after his outburst.

"TOUSEN-KUN! COME WITH ME TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE!"

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No amount of therapy helped Kaname; most psychiatrists pointed to his lack of purpose and enthusiasm for anything in the world he deemed immensely cruel. Unfortunately, he did not bottom out until the spring of eighth grade.

For the first time in his entire life, Tousen abstained from going to school due to sickness. He believed he had nothing more than a slight headcold that had the potential to become worse on this rainy day; always trying to stay as healthy as possible, he declined the chance to continue his streak of approximately 9 years.

Taking advantage of this newly-acquired free time, he decided to start preparing for the Biology Olympiad. Intent on heading into medicine, Kaname wanted to read higher level material in order to at least reach finalist status next year. Ideally, he wanted to win a gold medal at the International Biology Olympiad before he was a senior; if he did, the chances he got into a top American university would skyrocket. Lately, the top universities – Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and Stanford – had been accepting less than 4 of all international applicants, which made living in the states seem like an unattainable advantage to Tousen. Unlike most people, however, he would be competing with the best of the best despite being blind for nearly half is life. The transition from darkness to near-complete restoration of eyesight was a marvel he doubt would have occurred even 10 years ago; his opthamologist Ise Nanao was one of Japan's finest and had performed numerous surgeries on him since he was an infant. It took nearly 40 separate operations, but after 5 years of complete blindness, newly-improved laser surgery had miraculously recovered approximately 70 of his optical functionality. This entire treatment would have cost nearly five million yen had his parents not died in a tragic car accident just three weeks after the final operation.

For the limited time that Kaname knew his parents, he appreciated everything they did for him despite his disability. Thus, the accident was devastating to a young boy whose chain of maladies seemed to develop from experiencing one trauma after another. Fortunately for him, his parents' insurance and Dr. Ise's insistence on adopting him – she was like a second mother to the boy – saved Kaname from leaving for his aunt and uncle, who lived in Tokyo. Nanao, however, was rarely home and trusted Kaname to act properly on his own, which he willingly did.

After a few hours of reading through cellular respiration and photosynthesis, Kaname decided to battle the rain for today's mail, which had just arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon. Putting on a windbreaker, he opened his door and entered the raging storm.

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Aizen Sousuke entered his home at 3:37 P.M. with a great deal on his mind

Not only was he soaked to the bone, but he had a Chemistry test which would count as two tests in preparation for the upcoming AP exam. He always laughed when people at Bleach High saw him and continued to ask him what he was doing taking AP Chemistry as an eighth-grader. Not only did he have the highest grade in the class, but he was also the only Chemistry Olympiad semi-finalist from the school, as well as the top scorer in the nation on the qualifying exam with a perfect paper. Already, people in the Japanese Olympiad task force were touting him as a future medalist. As planned, Aizen left himself little time to prepare for the upcoming National Exam because he had spent the entire year attaining peak physical condition for next year's spring track season. Having recently run the 800m in 2:20 and the 400m in 59 seconds, he was already paving his own road to an automatic acceptance to the college of his choice. Although he had been intent on going to MIT, he had recently been lured by Princeton's aura as well as its throne atop the college rankings per U.S. news. Either way, he couldn't go wrong; however, neither the Chemistry Olympiad (which he planned to leave time for winning a medal in during his high school years) nor his athletic endeavors were his greatest selling points. This summer, he would begin to play around with the idea of mind control and research everything he knew about brain waves. No one knew his long-term goals except for himself; and it would stay that way until the very end.

However, the main thing on Aizen's mind was one single thought:

Where is Kaname?

He had seen the other kid from afar; not a single day had gone by that Kaname did not attend school. Ever since the beginning, the boy with less-than-perfect vision had never missed a single day of school. This had initially boggled Aizen's mind; he knew all about the boy's mistreatment, but a few of his outbursts in middle school had repelled Sousuke from speaking to the kid. Rather, his mind was drifting to lunch today…

Aizen had been eating his sandwich when he felt a presence behind him. Knowing who it was, he set his food down and spoke up.

"Grimmjaw…" A few of said person's henchmen were snickering.

"SHUT UP!" Jack yelled, silencing them. "Don't call me that fuckin' name, Aizen!"

Ignoring this comment, Aizen turned around from his seat to face "Jaguar Jack," as he liked to call himself.

"I assume you want to know where Kaname is?"

As expected, this statement drew a look of surprise and assent from Grimmjaw. While it's true he lead all extortions, there was a select few people whom he did not approach for bullying money out of. Among this list included most of Zaraki's pack, notably Madarame Ikkaku, Abarai Renji, and Ayasegawa Yumichika, who looked like a fruit but was actually rather strong. Furthermore, Kurosaki Ichigo and Aizen Sousuke were exempt as well. Why? Ichigo had become one of the toughest – and most sought after -- kids in the school ever since his mother died. While his orange mop was a nuisance to most thugs, Grimmjaw couldn't really fault him for it; after all, his own hair was blue.

But then why did Aizen get special treatment? While he was rather fast, he wasn't remarkably strong by any means, and he never fought anyone. In fact, several people had strong suspicions that he was a pacifist Quaker and not the Deist he had been masquerading himself as being. Either way, his beliefs on God were…unconventional, abstruse, and threatening to most kids.

No, the real reason lay in his intellectual acumen, which was so great as to lead classmates to make premature comparisons between himself and Albert Einstein. In the back of his mind, he would laugh at this naïve idiots who misunderstood the difference between biochemists and physicists…if they had to compare him to someone, could they not at least try to use such a trite – and inaccurate – title? Hans Adolf Krebs, John MacLeod, or even James Watson would have been better choices as frames of reference. These contemptuous thoughts were always tempered by his own acceptance that these were merely unintelligent 13 year olds who did not know any better.

It didn't matter to Grimmjaw; all he considered were his own beliefs that Aizen was a genius who would be a billionaire some day. He remembers the day he first tried to scrap with Aizen.

Jack saw the boy who everyone thought would save the world leaving school. He didn't see anything special; all he could perceive was a 5'3" tall boy with messy brown hair parted on the right side of his head, strands of hair covering the entire left half of his forehead but stopping short of his eyes, which were protected by brown rimmed rectangular glasses. He was neither too lanky nor too plump. However, he looked like a complete loser to Grimmjaw, who stormed over to Aizen and got up in his grill.

"You think you're so much better than me, why don't you prove it bitch?" Even as a 10 year old he had a very…colorful vocabulary.

"Certainly not…but I believe I know where you are going with this. You don't want to do it."

Expecting an emotional outburst of some sort, Jack was surprised to hear the equanimity in his response.

"The only reason I let someone off from having to pay me is if they're tough; you don't look like shit to me, I'd wipe the floor with you easily," he haughitily replied.

Aizen, on the other hand, was unperturbed and had even started to smile.

"Do you realize that down the future I could give you more yen than you could ever dream of?"

Grimmjaw's face fell slack and his eyes widened before he re-collected himself and sneered at the other boy.

"Feh, what'd you know? Yer just a nerd who got his nose in the books." This statement only served to widen Sousuke's grin even farther than before.


"You could not be farther from the truth. I have a plan for the future, one that involves me becoming rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams and then fulfilling other dreams by distributing my wealth to whomever I choose. I'm not one to speculate, but a few trillion yen sounds about right." At this point, Aizen's high-level speaking skills were pounding Grimmjaw's brain into submission.

"What kind of percentage would ya give me?" he asked.

"Depends on your behavior from hereon in. If you choose to be my ally and follow anything I tell you, expect up to 5 percent of those shares." Jack's heart pounded with excitement. He was not exactly at the other kid's level, but he did know that 5 percent of a few trillion was still a huge number.

"However, if you take a single yen from me from now until we graduate, or step out of line at any point you will receive absolutely nothing," Aizen firmly added.

In an attempt to look cool, Grimmjaw rolled his eyes before agreeing with mock reluctance. On the inside, he was hoping for this promise to come true. Until then, he would still do whatever the fuck he wanted, provided Aizen didn't give a rat's ass about it.

"Yeah, I was figurin' you'd know since ya know just about everything" everyone except the two conversing laughed at this statement.

"I'm sorry, but I have no explanation for why he's out. He's probably just sick for once and deciding to stay home instead of grinding out a day here."

Relatively satisfied, Grimmjaw muttered a thanks and left with his "boys" Aizen, who resumed his eating, although not without pondering…

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Kaname had just gathered up the mail and was turning back across his lawn to head inside. However, as he did so he heard a rustle in the bushes. Turning around to check it, Kaname went around to the other side, only to receive a sharp blow to the back.

"Sh-" he couldn't even yell as his mouth was punched at the same exact time. Scrambling about 15 feet away before turning around, he saw three figures wearing thick black jackets, navy blue jeans, and jet black boots. Their faces were shrouded by ski masks, and they each had aluminum baseball bats in their hand.

Kaname realized he was closer to the door than they were; furthermore, he had a stick concealed by his back which he could use as a diversion. He knew he would not be able to stall for more than a second, so he had to be quick.

The 'leader' stepped forward and spoke in a resoundingly deep voice. "If we can't lynch your black ass, we might as well beat it." Kaname did not know these men, but either way he knew he should fear for his life. He waited a moment…

Now

Tousen picked up the stick with his left hand and hurled it at the leader's face, smacking him on the forehead and making him drop his bat as he grabbed his skull in pain. Making a mad dash for his house, Kaname felt the other two members on his tail. He needed to pick up speed if he wanted to make it home alive.

Amidst the tall grass he could not see where he was stepping, and in doing so he landed awkwardly on a stone, twisting his ankle in the process while making him fall to the floor.

He knew what was coming, and covered his head hoping to wake up from this ordeal.

The other two caught up and pinned him to the ground. The leader approached and readied his bat for striking.

"Teme!" he growled, before delivering a hard hit to Kaname's back, causing him to spit out blood. The other two joined in and before he knew it, Tousen was being mercilessly attacked with three baseball bats, sending jolts of pain through his posterior chain.

After numerous attacks, one of the other men picked him up by his purple hair and held him in front of the leader, who glared menacingly into his eyes before pounding him all over his face and torso…with a knuckleduster.

Kaname was losing track of the hits; all he could feel were the numerous welts and bruises across his body accentuated by the chilled rainfall. He couldn't breathe, and now he truly knew how it felt to be weak, useless, and unworthy of this world.

Forfeit the game
Before somebody else
Takes you out of the frame
Puts your name to shame
Cover up your face
You can't run the race
The pace is too fast
You just won't last

He remembered all the things said about him and how nearly everyone treated him in school. He couldn't take it anymore; he was just not cut out for an existence on this world.

You love the way I look at you
While taking pleasure in the awful things you put me through
You take away if I give in
My life
My pride is broken

He wish it were otherwise, but it seemed the others were right the whole time about him and his violent outbursts.

You like to think you're never wrong – Forfeit the game
You live what you've learned
You have to act like you're someone – Forfeit the game
You live what you've learned
You want someone to hurt like you – Forfeit the game
You live what you've learned
You want to share what you have been through
You live what you've learned

After a while, the beatings stopped and instead a knife was plunged into his leg and promptly removed. Unable to bear the pain, he crumpled to the ground in an undignified heap, the relentless rain beating down on him without a care as a pool of blood began to form around his body.

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He must have been feeling unusually generous today. That had to have been it, because Aizen had volunteered to bring all of Kaname's missed assignments to him when no one else took up the offer out of distaste.

So now he was getting off at a bus stop six blocks away from Kaname's house. Homework in hand, he began to jog towards his destination; the rain was not letting up by any means.

High school was going to be a bitch when it came around. Aizen had been carefully watching everyone when they thought he wasn't around…

Yoruichi was just too powerful to fend off single handedly. She had everything she wanted and knew how to get what she wanted. The Shihouin family was starting to make its presence felt around the world; unlike most reactionaries, this clan knew how to modernize with the changing times, and was thriving in the twenty-first century. Thus, Aizen knew that his dreams of greatness directly clashed with Yoruichi's own goals; the next four years would be a psychological battle for dominance. In terms of rhetoric and demonstration of pure intellect, he felt he could easily defeat the girl. However, Yoruichi had three things he did not: money, popularity, and looks to appeal to the males. Yes, Aizen had already assumed that no female would support his endeavors, and quite frankly he wanted it that way. No one understood his reasoning behind his detached, hard-line asexuality. In fact, why would someone great want to marry or fall in love? It would only dilute their own greatness and take them off of the pedestal they might have otherwise deserved. Potentially great men had fallen through this manner in Sousuke's eyes: Jefferson, Bismarck, and FDR were all world leaders whom he respected outside of their need to marry. However, people of his nature simply did not exist. In a way, it was better like this; after all, his uniqueness only made him a greater standout. At the same time, however, he realized he had to draw the line between standout and pariah. If he pushed too far along this vein, he might have others see him as a lunatic. However, for high school that did not matter…his goal for the next four years involved gaining support for his cause, that is, to resist the growing conglomerate that was Shihouin Corp.

Rukia was another powerful noble who was also up there with Yoruichi. Allegedly, those two had been close friends since birth because the Kuchikis and Shihouins decided that they needed to be allies in order to resist "commoner trash," as Rukia's older brother and clan leader Byakuya so eloquently put it, from controlling the world. Aizen had always noticed how the girl was incredibly short, even for her sex. Standing at 4'6" as a 14 year old, she probably would not grow more than 2 more inches for her entire life, according to Aizen's estimates. Furthermore, she had a grotesque fetish for Chappy the Rabbit, even as a teen. He did not care to understand why she carried a Chappy key chain or why she allegedly wore Chappy panties (he shuddered at the thought); he knew one thing: she was not one to be messed with either without support. She could step on anyone and get away with it just because of her family's status. However, she prided herself on being "holier than thou" pure, and looked down on men as basal creatures. Aizen loved tearing down this assessment. He was living proof of a disciplined, complex, and thoroughly logical man who could not imagine being transformed by a woman. His goals were larger than life, and for this reason he knew Kuchiki Rukia's analysis was incorrect.

Ichigo was always different from everyone else, and was a tentative ally of Aizen's. In fact, he felt that if he could continue to cultivate the orange-haired youth's mind, he might successfully resist the numerous traps he anticipated would be set by Rukia and Yoruichi in order to get him to love on of them and thus turn a former friend into a despised enemy. Aizen still had the upperhand, however, with the fact that Ichigo's mother had been killed in a car accident four years ago…ever since then he had been trying his hardest to become emotionless. What concerned him, however, was the boy's love for the rest of his family, and his will to protect them unlike what he had done with Masaki. This could lead to either pushing him away or reaffirming his moderate asexuality, Aizen thought. Then again, Ichigo came off as the type of person who was the exact opposite- someone who would abstain from love or romance and go straight for sex. This musing was quelled by Sousuke's later self-reassurance that Ichigo was too virtuous to do such a thing anyway. Regardless, his plan with Ichigo was to make him join his side for good…it would take a lot of mental suasion though…

Toushiro was two years younger than Aizen, but was on pace for the same courseload as the older man. In fact, he had potential to surpass Aizen…academically speaking. No one could rival Sousuke's intellect and ability to innately dissect statements into multiple parts and then choosing the most appealing aspects to respond to. Toushiro's attitude mirrored Ichigo's, but that same concern lingered within the back of Aizen's mind: he was only in sixth grade. As his hormones started to flow through him, could he restrain his soon-to-be primal desires? Once again, he was faced with the same conundrum: how could this all be accomplished? He needed more than just support, really…and right now he wasn't sure if he would look for it in these two…

Kenpachi was no threat for Aizen, who had decided to side with Grimmjaw in this feud. He liked the latter's style over the former's blandness. Besides, when Aizen took off his glasses before taking a shower and casually swept a hand through his hair in the bathroom mirror, he saw an uncanny resemblance between the hairstyles. On the contrary, there was nothing, in his mind, intimidating about several long spikes of hair with…bells at the tips. Aizen did not think this rivalry would ever end; the two were similar in so many ways, except Zaraki believed that he was a fundamentally good person by not extorting money from others. He probably did not need to, anyway because when he scared someone they would give him everything they had and run away. However, in the past few months there had been relatively little friction between the two opposing groups, and the détente was palpable, even to the teachers who felt they could breathe a little easier noticing that during this school year the fights had been occurring less frequently than usual. Zaraki had been lucky to grow much quicker than everyone else; he was already 6'10" and could effortlessly dunk on a standard basketball rim, even with his poor vertical jump. This was one of two physical advantages he held over Grimmjaw, who was only 6'4" -still pretty damn tall for a 14 year old – and weighed in at 200 pounds, or seventy pounds less than his rival. Aizen reasoned that Jack's trump card was his superior intelligence and thus explained the true reason he would bring him over to his side.

Ikkaku was actually rather personable; Aizen liked that about him. He would see the kid walking around and all of a sudden he would look into his face and the other kid would pull out his fist for Sousuke to pound. He didn't have anything against Madarame, and Ikkaku thought Aizen was cool because he was a "genius" like his friend Toushiro. He would have been part of Aizen's plans had he not shown that he was loyal to Zaraki above all else…and since Kenpachi was not in it, neither was he.

Yumichika was nothing more than insane narcissist. Aizen made sure to keep distance from him in case he started to come onto other boys at an early age, which Aizen was sure he would eventually do because of his sincere adherence to a "code of beauty."

Renji was just a complete dirtbag. He had gotten tattoos all over his body in seventh grade (and had started showing them off in gym class) in order to look more intimidating for being part of Zaraki's group. Truthfully, he was one of the weakest "big guns" and overcompensated for his weakness by talking tough until Zaraki came to rescue him from utter embarrassment. Although he was friends with Ichigo, Aizen did not care for him one bit because he had not an iota of sense and was always angry about something. This idiot was going to get himself killed one day and Aizen would give a hearty laugh for a few seconds after reading his obituary in the paper before moving on to far more important things in his life, such as turning on his T.V. to watch some pro sports.

Schiffer was a very exciting prospect, indeed. While his looks might have warded off a lesser man, Ulquiorra's lack of emotion was a promising point for Aizen. He knew that even though he was a year younger, when Sousuke spoke Schiffer would listen, because they had had several small conversations where one professed to becoming a leader who would do things right for a change and the other wanted to see the rise of such a great person. He would bring his close friend Yammi into the picture, who was not anything special (and not even a familiar acquaintance of Aizen's) but was necessary baggage in order to accommodate Schiffer. The only potential roadblock was the friction that would ensue from Grimmjaw and Ulquiorra being in the same school. If everything went as Aizen predicted, then Grimmjaw and Ulquiorra would be competing to win his favor. For this reason, he would make sure to bring in the tiebreaker.

Noitora had no friends after his buddy Stark had informed him of his family's move to the United States. Aizen saw this as an opportunity to get both on his side; he separately promised each that they would see each other again in the future, as colleagues and friends. Noitora was very sharp, physically and mentally. He could jump up to 3 feet vertically and more than 4 times that amount horizontally. That was just the tip of the iceberg, too. Two years ago, he led the local recreational baseball team to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Combined with Stark, he was part of the best LL pitching tandem in the entire tournament. Stark had thrown a two-hit shutout in the final round of the international bracket. In the championship game against the Southwest, Noitora promised to his team that he would do just as well, if not better (he smirked at Stark while saying this) in order to bring home the trophy. The game itself was a no-hit, 0-0 duel until the bottom of the 6th inning, when Noitora forced his coach to leave him in, saying "I'll win it for us." He singled up the middle for a basehit on the first pitch to break up the aggregate no-hitter and promptly stole second on the one to the next hitter. After a flyout to right field advanced him, Stark came up to the plate. In the most shocking move in the history of the LLWS, Noitora stole home by surprising the pitcher, as he had gained a tertiary lead that put him halfway to home plate; no one had noticed him. As the Japanese team mobbed Noitora, Stark punched him playfully while muttering, "you could've given me a chance at least…" Of course Aizen knew all the details: he was the team's second baseman.

Kaname was…a special case. Could he really be trusted as an associate? He seemed to hate the world because he felt he did not belong, so if Aizen gave him a purpose, would he listen? It was an interesting thought to say the least. He had been keeping tabs on the kid's moves for years. He was very prone to succumbing to whatever side got to him first. The kindness Yoruichi reserved to only her close friends but had shown him so far was a hint that she was intent on using him. Aizen knew he needed to make a move fast, or this kid's brain could be used against him within the next year or so.

Aizen had reached Kaname's house and decided to enter the walkway instead of getting his shoes wet in the grass. He was intent on asking Kaname today about joining him, that is, showing him a new path…

What he did not expect was to see the boy's body strewn across the front lawn, bruised and battered, his blood staining the lawn like wine on a white rug.

Immediately, he rushed to Kaname's side. Checking his pulse, he sighed in relief to discover it was existent. Unfortuantely, he was out cold and Aizen would have to carry him to the nearest hospital, which was luckily only a block away. While wondering who could have done or wanted to do this to the poor soul, he swiftly tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it firmly against the wound on Kaname's leg, which he could only guess to be due to a stabbing. Picking him up by the head and legs as gently as he could, Aizen rushed to the clinic.

As Aizen entered the building, the receptionist gasped in horror at the sight of the teen in Aizen's arms and immediately called for a doctor. Within seconds, a stretcher was brought out for the boy and several surgeons rushed him to the ER. Aizen could only hope his life would be saved; it's not that he was afraid of seeing someone die, it's just that he would have missed out on the opportunity to see what the kid could have been if he had an ally or two.

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Kaname awoke to the sound of machines and the smell of medicine. He could tell that a night had passed since it was perfectly clear outside.

Memories of yesterday came flooding back to him. The pain….the despair…the hopelessness from being too weak to defend oneself….the lack of a will to live…it was all floating around in his mind and the magnitude of the emotions was almost too great for him, like a dam ready to burst and let all the water through.

"Kaname Tousen?" a nurse prevented this collapse in the nick of time. Shifting his bandage-covered head to the lady, he hoarsely croaked, "y-yes?"

"You have a visitor." She opened the door to reveal Aizen standing there. She promptly bowed and left the room.

Kaname was shocked, and he let his facial expressions show it.

"Aizen? H-how did I get here?"

Said man grinned.

"Relax, Kaname. Your significant injuries should be nearly healed by now, but the doctors want you to stay here through the end of the weekend."

"Was it you, then?" Kaname asked, not needing to finish the thought.

"Correct…I found you after I had brought last night's homework to your house. It's a good thing I came when I did, because a few more hours in that rain and you would not have survived."

Kaname tried to sit up, but found that his body was filled with pain from head to toe.

"W-where did you leave the home-"

"Enough of that," Aizen cut him off. "That's just like you, to focus on your studies to avoid the issue, isn't it, Kaname? It's under your door; do not worry. However, I must inform you of your attackers…you do realize who lead the assault, right?"

Kaname could only come to one solid conclusion. "Grimmjaw?"

Aizen nodded. "Yes…While I have no definitive proof, he and his 'gang,' if you will, asked me where you were yesterday at lunch. I put two and two together and assumed they were coming to your house."

"Did you notify the police of what happened?"

Aizen sighed. He knew it would come to this. "An investigator asked me questions about what I saw, and I did not give any names because we have no proof. Either way, we are not bringing the police into this. I have a better idea."

If it were anyone else saying that, Kaname would have yelled at the incompetent fool who decided to take the law into his own hands instead of telling the authorities. After all, policemen sought to maintain the peace and take down those who disturbed it.

However, this was Aizen Sousuke; Kaname had heard about him around school; apparently, he was a chemistry genius and aspired to make the IChO the way Tousen wanted to qualify for the IBO team. If Aizen had a plan, then by all means he would listen to it.

"I want to form a united front against the Kuchiki-Shihouin coalition that is dominating our school and will continue to do so throughout high school. I know about your dreams to become as good at Biology as I want to be in Chemistry…for this reason I propose that we make an official alliance to start the beginning of a new era in our school. We will not yield to those two nobles' demands, and as more people see this they will join our cause. Later on, as we prepare for fighting these two in the real world, I will extend my partnership to people all over the world who may be interested in seeing the fall of Shihouin Corporations. So think carefully, Kaname. Do you want to continue living futile life, or do you want a higher purpose to dedicate yourself to?"

Aizen knew he was laying it on a tad too thick at the end, but he needed to use every tactic possible to make sure this would work.

Kaname, on the other hand, was actually deeply touched by this apparent offer of friendship and responded nearly right away.

"Aizen…I don't know what to say…first you save me physically, and now here you are trying to save me emotionally too? I am certainly thankful for all you've done and I gladly accept your proposal. I hope this is the start of something big."

Aizen smiled. This plan was a success. "You no longer have to worry about Grimmjaw; he will never so much as insult you now."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kaname returned to school the following Monday with a new look of determination. He was ready to tackle every challenge he might face, all because of this pact with Aizen.

After Aizen had left on Saturday, Nanao, who was visiting Sapporo for a symposium, had called Tousen to ask him how he was. Although she had seemed intent on starting a case, Kaname was able to reassure her that he had it under control. She seemed pacified after hearing Aizen's name come up in the conversation. It seemed that the scientific community as a whole was starting to recognize Sousuke as a precocious teenager.

As he headed for the main entrance, he was stopped by the same face he had seen in his nightmares before.

"Heh, looks like someone had a bad weekend!" Grimmjaw and the others howled with laughter.

Kaname remained composed and decided to take a page out of Aizen's book. "Funny you would mention that, Grimmjaw. How was your Friday night?" Kaname was rather certain that Jack knew that he knew who his attackers were.

"It was great, really. I had a fun time with my punching bag." Some of the others couldn't stifle their laughter. "I decided to see ya in the morning instead. I want double for you not bein' here on Friday." Grimmjaw's anticipating smile betrayed his glee in watching Kaname suffer.

Not this time…

"Find someone else for your money," Tousen said before continuing on and walking towards his homeroom. "I don't take orders from thugs." He yelled over his back, extracting gasps from passersby.

From the sidelines, Yoruichi and Rukia waited in bated breath for Grimmjaw's reaction. They had been waiting for that sick bastard to get shown up by someone. Secretly, Yoruichi was happy for Kaname. He had stood up for himself for once.

Grimmjaw was not about to let him get away with it though; in fact, he was livid with rage.

"You son of a bitch! I'm gonna kill you!" He was charging straight for the purple haired man in front of him, with a desire to destroy fresh on his mind.

"Grimmjaw!"

Jack's pale blue eyes widened in fear and he stopped running almost instantly before turning his head, as did several others, towards the source of the cold voice that resonated throughout the hallway.

Aizen spoke up again, this time piercing Grimmjaw with a stern stare and then an equally stern voice.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to forgive you if you attack Kaname."

Realizing that he was torn between defending his pride and losing any chance of being part of Aizen's grand schemes, Jack merely bared his teeth angrily before turning away from the scene and leaving by himself.

As if nothing had happened, the shocked students resumed their normal frenzy. Aizen walked up to Kaname and asked, "Now do you see what I meant?" before leaving in the opposite direction, not even waiting for an answer.

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That night, Kaname was busy making up what he had missed when he his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Kaname, how's it going?" Aizen answered on the other end of the line.

"Today has to be one of the best days of my life. It's all thanks to you, Aizen. Arigatou gozaimasu."

A chuckle, then a response. "There's no need to thank me, I'm only doing what I see fit. You have the ability to do great things, and the purpose of my call was to help you out with the Biology Olympiad."

Kaname's heart leapt. This was almost too much help, considering he had not done anything in return.

"Yes, I am sure you're excited. I know you are reading from outdated textbooks on this stuff; forget it all, I have the only book you will need to get to become a finalist by next year at home; I had used it for AP Biology last year and figured you would want to use it because it doesn't miss a single bit of information."

Kaname was on cloud 9. Just to check, he asked, "Is it..free?"

"Don't talk such nonsense, Kaname." Kaname winced. "Of course it's free."

"Wow…I feel greedy taking this from you without any recompense, but if you insist…I'll be waiting for it tomorrow."

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Graduation was upon the 8th graders at BMS. The following dance had a Grammy Night theme, but two individuals did not give a shit, because the whole "theme" crap behind a graduation dance sounded ridiculous. It did not matter though; they were just saving some of their own money by eating the food provided by the school.

The gymnasium dance floor was darkened and only illuminated by the strobelight brought by the dance's DJ. As the latest J-pop song was finishing, a figure with silvery-purple hair could be seen speaking to the disc jockey. 30 seconds later, he made an announcement:

"Ladies and gentleman, up next is a song that has become a hit in America…give it up for 'Papercut' by..LINKIN PARK!"

Apparently not even half the grade cared much for the band. Aizen was one of the few who actually was a fan of the music. Obviously, he did not dress like a haza, thus proving one could listen to LP and still be somewhat "normal" (i.e., non-haza).

As he made his way over to the youth he saw a perpetual smile on the kid's face. "I didn't expect you to be a Linkin Park fan, Ichimaru Gin." The boy's fox-like smile grew wider.

"Oh, really? I wouldn' a thought the same fer ya, Aizen Sousuke. It's better than the crap they put on fer them 'popular' kids, ne?"

He could see it in Gin: the desire to resist the nobility. He had never spoken to him until now, although he had heard about his mysterious ways, accentuated by the ever-present grin on his face. Ichimaru would definitely be a huge advantage in his ability to lead people on…yes, it seemed as if things were moving a lot smoother than Aizen could have expected.

Thus, Los Tres Grandes was christened.