A Dangerous Man

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"You never took Aizen-sensei's calligraphy class? You missed out! That was the best class there was in the Academy."

"I heard he was very good. I had him for Kido of course and loved it. He's by far the best sensei in the Academy."

"I heard he went into teaching straight after graduating from the Academy. Lots of students looked down on him for that to begin with. You know, wondering if teaching was all he's good for since he never joined the Gotei 13 or Kido Corps, can't really see him in the Omnitsukido, but then he would subtly put the students in their place and you just know that he is in the academy by choice."

"Yeah, most definitely. He seems to really enjoy teaching. I also hear he's really into research. I think remaining at the academy just gives him more freedom to do the things he likes."

About then the two Shinigami moved out of Shinji's ear-shot as they moved away from Shinji's open window. A drop of ink fell on the letter Shinji was writing form the brush that stood suspended in mid-air. The blot on the paper brought Shinji back to his senses as he quickly moved to rescue the letter from further harm, absently wonder why the off-hand conversation between two recruits had arrested his attention so much.
His vice-captain was getting married. It was a joyous occasion and Shinji would be celebrating it whole heartedly if his vice-captain hadn't also tended his resignation in the same breath he announced his upcoming marriage. Apparently his vice-captain was keen to start a family, so both he and his future wife had decided to resign their commission in the Gotei 13 - something they could do given their years of service, and go into business. He did go into detail about his business but Shinji hadn't paid enough attention, his mind pre-occupied with the thought of how best to fill his soon to be vacant Vice-captain position. Unbidden the memory of the conversation he had over-heard came to his mind but Shinji pushed it aside, not all together sure why he was remembering it at a time like this. Even if this Aizen-sensei was as good as his students said he was, it didn't mean he was good enough to be a vice-captain of the Gotei 13. Besides, there was probably a waiting list of candidates for the next opening for Vice-captain. Just as Shinji was resolving to apply for the list from Captain-commander Yamamoto, his dutiful vice-captain said to him, " I know this is all very sudden, Captain," said the man, "And I apologies deeply for inconveniencing you. But I will do all in my power to make this a smooth transition and minimise any inconvenience. To that end I have already applied for the list of candidates for Vice-captain based on the latest set of test score."

"Helpful as ever!" exclaimed Shinji happily, "Ya gonna be missed, that's fer sure!" he declared, "I hope ya wife knows what a catch she landed."

His vice-captain grinned, "She is a great catch too!" he assured his captain, "Now the top most name on the list is one Aizen Souske," Shinji's was startled to his core when that name came-up again, but his pre-occupied vice-captain didn't notice, "But he's sensei at the Academy. He scored full marks in everything but he doesn't have any actual field experience. I did some investigating, apparently Aizen-sensei takes the test regularly as almost a hobby. If he's serious about joining the Gotei 13, he certainly hasn't shown it. He was offered the Vice-captaincy of the 4th squad some years back, but he turned it down. Apparently he didn't think he had the right temperament for the 4th squad. I think that was mistake on his part. 4th Squad is the only squad I would ever make him an untried academic the vice-captain of. I think you should give him the skip and..."

"I think," interjected Shinji, "I would like ta meet with this Aizen Souske," he said, "he's on top of the list. It'll be rude ta not consider him at all."

"You are of course correct, captain," his vice-captain said promptly, "I will make the arrangements as soon as possible," with that he left the room. Leaving Shinji to wonder if the turn of events did not feel a lot like divine will.

Author's note: This wasn't suppose to be a multi-part story. But I am struggling a lot to write this. So I figured I might as well do this in a couple of chapters. The idea for this fic basically came from chapter 391, where Aizen mentioned him teaching Shinigami precepts at the Academy. The only known teaching job Aizen had was that of a part-time calligraphy teacher but it didn't seem enough to justify him brining up his position as a teacher in the middle of combat. I mean, sure calligraphy isn't just calligraphy in Japan, it's partly philosophy as well but still. So I thought to myself what if he was in the Academy up until Shinji made him Vice-captain. It would explain a few things. Like, how is it that Aizen could so effectively hide the true power of his zanpakuto and his true power in-general. How he seems to come out of "nowhere" etc, etc. Academia is a surprisingly effective place to hide and would allow Aizen to lay low until the right opportunity presented itself so that he could make his move. More over he would have access to young, impressionable shinigami who he could mould to suit his purposes. Anyway, all this convinced me to write a story about how Shinji recruited Aizen-sensei of the Shinigami Academy. The title of the fic come from chapter -99 and Shinji's line, addressed to Aizen, that reads "I always thought you were dangerous and couldn't be trusted..."