"The progress you've made is remarkable, Kenkou. No other Soul Reaper I know of could advance as quickly and as well as you have in the past two years." Yamamoto and Kenkou sat on the ledge of Sougyoku Hill, looking down at the Seireitei on a warm autumn day in the Soul Society.
"Thank you, master, but I haven't even learned how to attack yet," Kenkou said, turning to his left to look at Yamamoto.
"Remember, young one, before you can run, you need to learn to crawl. Before you can hit your target, you must be fast enough to catch your target." Yamamoto grabbed his cane, which was between the two, and he disappeared into thin air.
"HEY! That's not funny, master! You can stop with the games now!" Kenkou shouted with a twinge of loneliness in his voice. A minute had passed and the wind gusted, but with no Yamamoto in sight. "Great, I thought being seven years old, I was past 'hide and go seek'…" Kenkou jumped off of the ledge and fell a half a mile down to the ground, and landed with a crash. The crater he made was three feet deep and 15 feet wide. He jumped out into a somersault 20 feet in the air, landed in a runner's ready position, and dashed towards the Seireitei, thinking that Yamamoto went to his offices.
After 30 minutes of running, Kenkou ended up at the front door of Yamamoto's office after some questioning of other Soul Reapers on the location. He searched the office for Yamamoto, but to no avail.
Kenkou left the building pondering of where his master could be. While walking, he knocked into another Soul Reaper and almost knocked him over in doing so. He stood six feet, two inches tall and had brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses. The Soul Reaper had the standard kimono on, but he also wore a white over coat which was underlined with an aqua material. On the back was a diamond with an 'h' shaped character with a line above, and a line below the character in the center of the diamond. He was fair in complexion and his face was as gentle as they come. The man stepped back a few steps and apologized. "I'm sorry for that, but shouldn't you watch where you're going, little one?"
"I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't see you there. I'm just trying to figure out where my master is." Kenkou turned to the captain and bowed.
The captain walked back over and patted Kenkou on his head and at that, he stood back up and looked at the gentle man. "Well, I really have nothing to do, so I'll help you. Who's your master, child?" He asked with a smile.
"My master is Commander Yamamoto. He just disappeared while we were just sitting on Sougyoku Hill."
"Oh my, he's training you? You must be strong!"
"I think I am, but my master is the strongest in all of the Soul Society!"
"That he is, that he is. What's your name, child?"
"I'm sorry, where are my manners. I'm Kenkou Martinez, apprentice to Commander Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genreyuusai, son of Sozounushi Martinez and brother of Jiriki Martinez. Pleased to meet you," Kenkou said in another bow.
"Likewise. I'm Souske Aizen: captain of the Fifth Squad of the 13 Court Guard Squads and my Lieutenant is Momo Hinamori. Now, you said you needed help finding Commander Yamamoto? Well, since he's the strongest in all of the Soul Society, he should be easy to find with spirit ribbons."
"Spirit ribbons? What're those?"
"Spirit ribbons are ribbons of reiatsu that can identify a person's soul type and at long distances, determine their power. Just watch." All of a sudden, a slew of red ribbons appeared before Aizen and Kenkou. "I just used my own reiatsu to call forth these ribbons. Red ribbons denote Soul Reapers, white ones are for humans and Quincys, and if you come across a black or purple one, they're for Hollows. If you grab one, and it snaps back a certain amount of times, it symbolizes the power of the ribbon you grabbed—and the number of snaps back is always out of five," Aizen said, grabbing a ribbon out of the air. "What you do is you send just a little bit of your energy into the ribbon and snap it lightly. It should snap back a few seconds afterwards." Aizen snapped it lightly and it snapped back twice loudly.
"Oooo, can I try?"
"Sure Kenkou, but you have to call forth the ribbons yourself." Aizen smiled at the boy. Kenkou closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, twice as many ribbons as what Aizen called upon appeared. "Wow, kid! Well done, well done." Kenkou took a ribbon from the air and did as Aizen told him: he sent a little of his energy through it and snapped it lightly. The ribbon snapped back once as hard as when Aizen's snapped back. "Very good, Kenkou. Now all you have to do is process of elimination and find one that snaps back five times."
Kenkou snapped one ribbon after another as he searched for one that would crack back five times—one, three, four, four, two, one, three, four, four, three, three, and finally five. "I found it! That's Yamamoto! Well, I have to be off now. Thank you for the lesson, Captain Aizen." Kenkou bowed and ran in the direction of the ribbon, holding it along the way.
The rest of the spirit ribbons dissipated as Kenkou ran off into the distance, holding the ribbon that snapped back five times. As he ran away, Aizen brought forth the spirit ribbon of Kenkou and snapped it lightly—ten cracks. There's no way he could be twice as strong as Commander Yamamoto, is there? I'll just have to wait and see. He might be good for my cause…
