Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

Rating T

NO YAOI!

Summary: Before darkness had consumed his soul, before loneliness became his only friend, he was a man. Nothing more, and nothing less. This is his story. The rise and fall of Aizen Sōsuke. The true reason why.

O-O-O

-Eventide-

Chapter 1 – Paradise lost

O-O-O

It was a sunny day in eastern Rukongai's 15th district. With the rain having ceased only a few hours earlier, the weather was nice and cool, despite being in the midst of summer. The sky still bore a few clouds, but was mostly clear by now;the few remaining clouds slowly crept towards the horizon, as the villagers beneath them moved about their business. And, while not on the level of the first ten districts, living in the 15th district was a million times better than living in the districts that followed – something that the locals were very thankful of. Even the local shinigami were kind and respectful. It was the Ansei era, of the Edo period. There were some people that claimed it was the year 1855, but in the 15th, westerners were few.

A patrol of shinigami rested beneath a tree, to the side of a wide road that lead from the 15th into the 14th district. They were all sitting on makeshift chairs, since the ground beneath the tree was still damp, and were eating their lunch. The sounds of children laughing and playing on the nearby grass managed to make even the grumpiest of them crack a smile. When a rag ball landed in the lap of one of them, the children that came after it seemed a little bit frightened, but the encouraging smiles on the faces of the shinigami convinced them to come closer.

"How about a game kids?" The one with the ball asked. "We play by shinigami rules." He added, seeing the looks of discomfort on the kids. Seconds later, the kids cheered, and the match was on – the eight of them vs. the five shinigami. No powers. The oldest boy mussed a bit about one of the shinigami being a girl, but was outvoted by his friends. "Ready?" the man asked before tossing the kids their ball. The children nodded.

The barrels that served as goals were set in place. They would play by the shinigami rules – a little something the British shinigami introduced only a few years back, and it was catching on quickly in the inner districts of Rukongai.

With the sound of a clap of hands, the game was on!

As the children played their best against the joyful shinigami, the sixth member of the patrol remained seated beneath the tree. Tomas Walker was an older man, whose youth had passed many years ago. Both his hair and a short beard were now snow-white. As he watched the youngsters play, he scratched his crooked nose, and laughed when the kids scored their first goal and took the lead. His zanpakutou rested besides him, lying in the grass, along with the zanpakutou of the others. He wasn't very much like the other shinigami. The truth was, he was one of the rare few westerners who became shinigami to remain within Soul Society, since most of the westerners would immediately sign up for expeditionary forces that were deployed throughout the world, most often in attempts to protect the countries they were born in.

"Well done Miss Wan!" He said as he clapped his elderly hands. He remembered the time when he first realized that women were allowed to fight as shinigami, and how thoroughly appalled he was by it. 'What a man won't get used to…' he thought as he watched the game. It was not until his life was saved by a female superior officer – who then slapped him senseless for being a 'chauvinisme' as the French would call it – that he came to loosen up towards such an otherwise embarrassing state of things.

One of the boys tripped and fell, and then when he tried to get up, he fell down again.

"Are you alright boy?" the shinigami asked.

"My ankle hurts." The scrawny young brown haired boy complained. Immediately, Wan Yu reached for his ankle and used her healing kidō to examine him.

"You sprained your ankle." She said. "Give me a minute, I'll fix it." As she placed her fingers on his ankle, her palms glowed in a serene green light. The surrounding shinigami laughed at the sight of the boy's shock as he felt the pain disappear from his foot.

"Wow! That's amazing!" He exclaimed with excitement. "How did you do that? Can I learn it?"

Wan Yu chuckled faintly and ruffled his hair.

"It's called kidō and, who knows, maybe you could learn it one day."

"Yea right he could." One of his friends mocked him, but the others started to cheer him on.

"You can do it Sōsuke-san!"

"Give it your all, Sōsuke!"

"We'll train to be shinigami together, Sōsuke-san!"

Tomas Walker approached the group. "Alright, game's over kids." He said, bearing the looks of disappointment on the faces of the children, but also on the faces of his younger associates. "We will come back tomorrow, but right now we have to return to our patrol." He then proceeded to hand everyone their respective zanpakutou before returning to the young boy.

"So, you would like to be a shingami, boy?" The kid nodded, intimidated by the scowl on the old man's face. "Not anyone can join you know." Tomas warned him, only to hear one of his male associates scoff.

"Well it can't be that bad Tomas-san. After all, they let you join." He said mockingly.

"Laugh it up Mr. Saburo, and I may just introduce you to the time honored English tradition of duels." The shinigami named Saburo immediately stopped laughing, not willing to test his skill against his superior.

"Now listen here boy," Tomas continued as if he was never interrupted, "in order to become a shinigami, you need to posses inner reiroku reserves, and posses them in a high enough quantity to manifest them in the form of reiatsu." He paused for a second before he stretched out his arm and formed an energy sphere on his palm. "If you can do that, we will draft you in Shinōreijutsuin, a school where young shinigami are trained. Do you want to try now, or-" But before he could continue, the boy stretched out his hand and began focusing.

"It's not working!" He yelled out in frustration.

"Just relax. It will come to you." Tomas explained. The boy took a deep breath, then tried again. This time, little by little, a miniscule violet sphere began to form on his palm. The angry frown on his face was soon replaced by a proud grin, as he struggled to push as much of his energy into the ball. But despite all of his efforts, the sphere failed to grow, remaining barely half an inch in width.

Tomas ruffled the boy's hair.

"I wouldn't worry myself if I were you, boy. It takes time for the shinigami potential to reveal itself to individuals as young as yourself. Just believe in yourself and don't give up – mark my word."

And with that, the shinigami walked away. Wan Yu waved them good bye, and then disappeared with the rest of them in a blur.

One of the boy's friends offered him a hand to get up.

"Let's go Sōsuke. I bet my mom has finished cooking lunch. Want to come?" Sōsuke nodded and took his hand.

"Let's go, Kagetora-san. Everyone! To the Hyōdō home!" The boys grabbed their rag ball and headed home cheering.

"The shinigami sure are amazing, eh, Sōsuke?" Kagetora mentioned.

"They sure are." Sōsuke replied. "They sure are."

O-O-O

It was already late that evening that Sōsuke headed home, with his friend Kagetora keeping him company.

"I still can't believe we beat the sinigami today 1:0!" Kagetora exclaimed. Seeing the expression on his friend's face, Sōsuke smiled too, but then commented seriously.

"We did end early though."

"True – but we won anyways." To this Sōsuke smirked.

"Truer words were never spoken. Hey, what's that crowd doing over at my place?" He asked as he saw a large group of people gathered in front of his house. It took Sōsuke a second to realize that what he saw under the light of the oil lamps the people carried that the roof of his home was gone, and the walls were charred black.

"Mom!" he yelled worryingly, as he ran up to the house. "Where's my mom?" He began asking the gathered crowd. "Where's my mom?" The people looked at him with guilty faces.

"We're sorry, Sōsuke-san." An elderly man said, as he stepped out of the crowd. He had long gray beard with a few remaining black hairs here and there. "But there was nothing we could do."

"What happened? Where's my mother?" Sōsuke yelled out, demanding an answer. The old man, not able to look him in the eyes, cast his gaze at the ground, ashamed of himself.

"Bandits came, Sōsuke-san. From the lower districts. They burnt down several homes on the edge of our district, and took some people as prisoners. Your mother… was one of those people."

Sōsuke collapsed on his knees.

"Did you call the shinigami?" He asked, his hope reignited.

"We did." The elder replied. "They will be arriving here shortly."

"Then… they will find her, right? They are the shinigami! They'll be able to find her, right?"

The elder looked away. "We don't know from where they came from, Sōsuke-san! Your mother might be anywhere in the eastern Rukongai." All life seemed to had escaped out of Sōsuke upon hearing that. He lost his father to illness when he was only four – he could no longer even remember his face. And now that his mother was gone…

"You have to find her…" he whispered. "I have to find her…"

The elder crouched beside him. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I couldn't protect your mother, Sōsuke-san."

"You should have… You should have…" the boy whispered through tears.

"You are right," the elder said with a soft voice, "I should have. And I'm sorry." He then wrapped his arm around him, as Sōsuke began sobbing. "There, there… let it out." He said as he held the boy.

Kagetora approached them.

"Sōsuke? Why don't you come with me to my home – until the shinigami find and bring back your mom, off course." He quickly added.

"No…" Sōsuke whispered.

"What did you say?" The elder asked him, not sure if he heard right. Pushing the elder away, Sōsuke got up on his feet.

"I'm going after them. Which way did they go?" he asked. The people around him stared at him in surprise.

"Poor boy, he must be in shock after seeing this." A woman form the crowd said, then turned towards Kagetora. "Why don't you take him to your home like you offered dear?" Kagetora nodded, but when he tried to touch Sōsuke, he was pushed away by the angry boy.

"Which way did they go?" Sōsuke asked furiously. "Someone must have seen what direction they went in.

"But Sōsuke-san, what can you hope to do?" The elder asked, pleading the boy for understanding. "What do you think a twelve year old could possibly do in this situation?"

"Which. Way. Did. They. GO?"

Again, the elder looked away. "They went towards the 19th district to the southeast of here."

The crowd nervously looked at the boy, as he started to walk away, towards the path the elder had told him.

"For god's sake, somebody please stop him!" Finally, someone in the crowd yelled out, snapping everyone back. "He's going to get himself killed if he goes on his own!" Immediately, two large men ran after him, each grabbing Sōsuke by the arm.

It all happened in a fraction of a second. One moment, the men were holding Sōsuke – and the very next they were knocked back through air, each flying for over several meters before crashing back down on the ground. Sōsuke's palms were glowing with a violet glow, and appeared to smolder, faintly.

Kagetora took a step towards him, but then stopped.

"Sōsuke…"

But in the young boy that stood before Kagetora, there was no longer a shred of doubt. And in his eyes, Kagetora could see that the cheerful boy he always played with was now dead serious. He walked up to one of the men he sent flying and ripped the woodcutting axe from his belt. It was smaller than a normal lumberjack axe, and with a shorter handle, making it easier for Sōsuke to hold it.

"Listen to me now, and remember this!" He said as he looked at each and every one who was present there. "The men of Aizen family don't run away! Ever!" With those words, he turned his back on everyone and started walking. The elder desperately called out to him, but in his fury, Sōsuke ignored the man. Soon, the voice of the elder was joined by the voice of his friend Kagetora, and then by the voices of the other people, each of them begging him to come back.

They didn't try to stop him by force again.

A single tear rolled down his face, as his eyes now red from the crying earlier stared off towards his destination, somewhere far ahead.

'Don't worry mom, just wait for me.' He thought to himself, as if he could see her smiling face in the distance. If the shinigami were unable, or unwilling to save her, than he would do it himself.

'Don't worry mom. I will definitely save you!'

O-O-O

-End of first chapter-

A/N: And there you have it! See how Aizen's true past unfolds, and how he grew up to be the man he is today. And, as far as I know, this is the only story like that on fanfiction. net, so I hope I'm onto something (and that I won't find out that there is a reason there's no other stories like this… hehe ^_^).

Explanations segment:

Title:

Eventide is an archaic or poetic word for evening. I believe it describes this story perfectly. This is also the title of the song Eventide by Brand X Music, which also played a huge influence on the direction of this story. You should check it out, seriously.

Date:

It's year-1855 AD; Ansei era (lasted from 1854-1860) in Edo period (lasted from 1603-1868). I incorporated the Japanese eras since the Gregorian Calendar was in use in Japan only since 1873.

Football, as everyone knows, is an ancient game, but it was forever changed by the introduction of the so called Cambridge rules, which were created in the year 1848. That's what I meant by the rules being introduced only a few years earlier than the current plot line (1855). Because the rules were first brought into Soul Society by shinigami, they were called shinigami rules. History lesson's over. ^_^'

OC's shown:

Tomas Walker – Shingami. Origin – Great Britain. Unranked. Division – unknown.

Wan Yu – Shinigami. Origin – China. Unranked. Division – unknown.

Saburo – Shinigami. Origin – Japan. Unranked. Division – unknown.

Hyōdō Kagetora – local boy. Origin – Japan. Childhood friend of Aizen Sōsuke.

Village elder – old man from 15th district. Origin – Japan.

…

I believe I should mention that this is a story which was inspired by my oneshot "Of heroes and Monsters" which itself regards Aizen's thought after he was defeated by Ichigo and subsequently captured. It's really funny how it happened. I was actually thinking of making just one more chapter and turning the oneshot into a twoshot, but I asked myself why not write a full story on his past. A sort of BLEACH Origins: Aizen, so to speak (BTW, that was the initial title of this fic) and then it came to me – why not? And that's how it happened.

So much from me this time, hope I'll see you next time!

~KuroiTori-sama

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