Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. All the credits to Tite Kubo.

Summary: A story about the untold past of Aizen, while he still played the role of vice-captain of the 5th squad. Now, Past and present intersect with a new story unfolding.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Part III

Chapter 6

–Yue, again–

The blue-haired woman picked a syringe and inserted some medicine on the veins of the boy, when she finished. She sighed in relief and turned back, to look at the shop owner.

"That will lower his fever, by tomorrow he must be better, but it would be good if you gave this to him… " she handed some pills "By the way, you said there were two more children sick…" she asked worriedly.

"Ah, yes, the other two who live with me, it seems they three caught a fever because they came back from school under this hefty rain…" he gestured with his head for her to follow him.

"Come, I'll show you their room… Tessai is taking care of them now…"

"Right." She stood up.

Before going, Yue took a last glace to the boy leaning on the futon, her eyes wavered in some sort of pity for that child. For some reason, her heart felt as heavy as that rain even though she had never seen that boy. She left, closing almost completely the door, letting only a little breech, allowing the light from the corridor to come in, and the tiny ray of light illuminated Akira's pained face.

On his secret dreams, he was meeting a detestable creature that insisted to haunt his heart… If only that dream was a memory from the time when his real mother was still alive…

.

.

.

64 years ago,

Soul Society,

The thunders and lightning accentuated the shadows from the dark room of Mitsuhara household, the rain pouring outside almost breaking the ceiling gave an eerie vibe to the wooden house. Inside that room there was Yue, and at each one of her sides, one of the twins.

Akira and Chieko were no more than five at the time, they were so tiny. They were covered on their futon, for Akira it was a ted bear-patterned blue one, and for Chieko, it was white bunny-patterned futon. Their faces were red and they sweated a lot. Yue checked their foreheads, they caught a fever. She sighed feeling forlorn.

A servant entered in the room to take care of them and bowed to Yue, asking in a polite, calm manner:

"Yue-sama, you should not stay awake taking care of them at this hour, your body is fragile, and you need to rest… If you keep near them, there's the possibility you'll get sick too. There are many servants to take care of them, your mother asked you to leave this room immediately… "

There was a frown on Yue's face as she listened to the indifferent servant. She was indignant, although they were trying to help, there's no way she would her children alone with those people.

"I'm not letting them here alone. I'll personally tend to them. Is it wrong for a mother wishing to stay with her children when they're in need?"

"I'm sorry, Yue-sama, but-" he was interrupted.

"Enough." Her firm, strong tone startled her subordinate. She averted her gaze from him, refusing to listen. "If you already brought the medicines, you can take your leave."

The man gulped, and left the room treading carefully. Yue remained there, watching the twins with a distressed expression.

"You two will end up killing me from worry… How could you both get sick at the same time…?" she sighed heavily.

.

.

.

Three days after, the twins were already cured, on the other hand, Yue was sick in bed. As if her disease did not suffice, she caught their fever too after spending much time with them…

Her senses were jumbled, she felt dizzy. Her eyes fought to keep opened, but she awoke when she listened to the sound of the door sliding softly. A servant, maybe? Her eyes directed and she slowly leaned on her side to look at the entrance.

"Huh…?" she rubbed her eyes, was she hallucinating? "Sousuke…?"

She tried to sit, but her body didn't obey her, her arms wobbled as she tried to sustain her weight to sit properly. Aizen held her shoulders and leaned her on the bed again.

"Yue-san, you shouldn't force yourself…"

His serene smile was adorning his face like usual, but he didn't seem the least worried, his eyes had the same gentle tone when he used to deceive people.

"Why did you come today?" her voice was low and somewhat husky, she was overusing her throat to talk.

"Can't I come from times to times?"

"Ah…" she smiled briefly "You won't win with this, Aizen." She looked at him earnestly "Who told you this time?"

"Ukitake-san."

"He again… Did he tell about the twins too?"

"Of course, he was bringing their medicine."

"You two…" she chuckled. "Akira and Chieko are fine already, they're playing outside… " then, her eyes narrowed as she looked at him "Do you think it was irresponsible staying with them?"

"I didn't say anything."

"You don't need to; it's sculpted on your face."

His eyes were frivolous, but his faint smile kept curving his lips. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily as his glass lenses occulted his eyes from her sight with a strange, chilling glint reflected on them.

"You're an emotional woman, Yue. I wouldn't say I'd do the same and risk my health just for that when there were many people who could've taken care of them, but I won't contest your choices. That's just part of who you are."

He picked something on the chest pocked of his captain coat, it was a small bag tied with a lace.

"I didn't come to talk much, since you're sick, you should rest… I only came to hand this for you…" he took one of her hands and put the bag kindly.

"What is it?" she examined the package, looking with a sign of curiosity to him.

"That will help you with the fever…"

"Jyuushirou-san is already bringing my remedies…" she stated.

"Those are different."

"Hm? What…?" she was intrigued.

"It's something I did personally."

There was a weak smile on her face this time, she chuckled amused with his statement, embroiling the little bag on her hands with some sort of cheerfulness. He was already standing and looked at her with a slightly confused expression.

"I wonder how you had time to do this, captain." She jested.

"You shouldn't laugh when I'm serious."

He stood up, then, Yue looked at the door that headed to the garden, he directed his gaze to the place too since she was surprised with something. Soon a smile came to her lips.

"Look at who is taking a peek at the door…" Yue giggled delighted.

The little Akira had slid the door open a bit and his eyes switched from his mother to his father as he seemed genuinely curious about what was happening. Aizen walked towards him and squatted down, ruffling his hair smoothly.

"Akira, your mother is tired now, we should let her rest a bit, right?" he stood up and offered his hand.

The boy held his father's hand, but he still casted a glance to his fragile mother leaned on the bed. She smiled with a helpless expression.

"Come, let's not bother her…"

Aizen closed the door once they were outside and the young Akira followed after him. At that time, he still admired the large back of that man whom he considered as a strong and honorable father. Little he knew about the truth that caused him so many hardships during his short life…

.

.

.

Urahara's shop,

Akira's eyes opened sluggishly, he was feeling better, but the memories from the other day: his mother talking to Urahara, was it even possible? He should be imagining things. He snorted and sat. A presence drew near and someone opened the door, it was the blonde man.

"Urahara-san…"

"How are you feeling?" he asked giving a faint smile and opening his fan

"I'm fine… How long have I slept?"

"Since yesterday night, you missed some classes, but don't worry. Ururu and Jinta are sick too."

"Ugh… My head feels heavy…" he massaged his temples "But…" his gaze landed on the shop owner for a moment, Akira was puzzled and some anxiety unnerved him as he formulated a question "Urahara-san, who was the woman talking to you…?"

"… That was Yue Ayashima."

"Yue…?" he gasped, his eyes almost popped out, flickering. "What… No, that's not possible… Who… Just who is she…?"

"She is a nurse of Karakura Hospital. It was her who took care of you."

"No… That's not…" he was wordless, his thoughts were more entangled than his mind could support. "That woman is… My mother…"

He declared bluntly, not aware that his sudden allege would provoke suspicion on the blonde man.

"Akira-kun… Your brain must be a mess now, you should rest a bit. We can talk about your 'mother' later…" he helped the boy to lean on the bed again.

"No, but…" he tried to continue the subject.

"Akira-kun." There was a reprehension imbued on his voice.

The boy's eyes wavered, he closed them and obeyed the older mentor. Urahara left the room, and from the moment he closed the door, his mind was also trying to search for possible answers to that puzzle.

"Mother…? So he wasn't fantasying…?" his eyes narrowed in doubt, determined to find a clue about that unsolved maze "Yue Ayashima is a mystery… Her powers… And now, her appearance… For Akira to confound her for his deceased mother…" he closed his fan poking his chin with it "Has she died in Soul Society…?" his eyes opened more, as if he had received a revelation "How did I not paid attention to this before…? She must be…"

He gulped nervous, he haven't felt like that in years, however, with that possibility, his heart was shaken. Unless he confirmed his theory, he couldn't discard other possibilities, but, she was probably…

"A reincarnated soul, huh…? Who'd think Soul Society would commit such error of maintaining the appearance of a soul after they' sent it back to the human world… There's something off on this theory… How would they slip and let it pass…?"

.

.

.

Yue walked on the dim dark streets alone, this time she was carrying her protective gadgets against hollows. She looked around, there wasn't a sign of that man from before, what was she expecting anyways? A stalker? No way she'd want to summon more trouble for her at that point.

She felt the presence of a hollow, then, above her, she saw a person jumping. It was an orange-haired teenager wearing the black uniform from shinigamis. He ran in the air like there was a path firmed for him, strange and wondrous at the same time, she was enchanted by that scene. Fortunately, he did not notice she was observing him.

"Sheesh… I hope he kill all those monsters before they attack someone…"

When she arrived at the main street of downtown, there were still people wandering around, going home, like her. The night sky was obfuscated by the artificial lights of the many buildings covering most part of the sight. Her gaze lowered with the disappointing view.

She was in the crowd, going to the train station, but her steps ceased when she felt a familiar presence. Her eyes raised and she met him again, standing in the middle of the streets, the man who helped her, whose name was still unknown at the time.

"Oh, you… What are you doing here?" she asked approaching.

"Nothing."

"I'm under the impression you were following me… I thought about asking Urahara-san if he knew you, but…"

There was a change on his cynical expression, his eyes narrowed and his brows frowned slightly, his lips curved up in a strange, bitter way. It was unconceivable for him to hide his loathe for that man, even more now that Yue seemed to be an acquaintance of him.

"Oh… Do you know him?" she raised a brow, intrigued with his reaction.

"….."his silence helped him to soothe his emotions, and in a minute, he had almost the impartiality he used to, except from the constant knot on his brows.

"You won't say anything again, that's very mature of you." She joked, but her next declaration surprised him "I was right about not telling him about you, I guess… From your reaction I imagine you're not on good terms… Also, you didn't even mention your name…" her eyes narrowed slyly as she explained her line of thought "I noticed you might not want to let anyone know your name, that's why you didn't tell me, right? Well, not that I would spread it anyways, only few people can see you, after all…" she spied his reaction again.

"You're very smart." He admitted.

"I owe you for saving my life, so I wouldn't cause troubles for you. But don't be rude and ignore me again, right?" Her bold, fearless tone collided with his arrogance.

"Are you not afraid of insulting me? Even after witnessing what happened to that hollow?" his cold tone did not bother her.

"Is it supposed to be a threat?" she asked with a keen smile "You'll not kill me." It was an assertion "If you really wanted, you had many chances before, right? That would not be very clever of you saving the person you should kill…" she chuckled.

His smile faded for some moments. Her appearance, personality, even her audacity was the same from back then. What a grave error Soul Society had committed… They sent to the human world a person who was not completely "blank". Even though her memories from her time on the other world were not visible, she was still the same person deep inside. That bothered him from his core that his memories were being played like that.

"…" She stopped laughing after seeing his serious, impassive expression.

"Well, you were probably following me because you were checking if I would tell someone about you, I suppose?" she sighed "If that's the reason, you should rest assured, I'm not going to tell, it's a secret." She patted his shoulder to assure him.

"Humph."

He simply walked past her, ignoring as she watched him going away. Her eyes were mesmerized with that sight of the large back from that man vanishing amidst the crowds. He was a strange and calculative individual, it seems, but she still felt she had seen someone similar before. That complex situation only evoked her irritation.

"What's wrong with him…?" she pouted annoyed with his indifferent behavior.

Aizen decided to not interfere on her life or it would have dire consequences. At least, she could lead a comfortable live in the human world, something she would never dream about on soul Society.

.

.

.

Meanwhile,

On Soul Society, first squad's building

Nanao carried a box filled with some belongings. That was the last box she was bringing from eightieth squad's quarters. She put the box on the table and adjusted her glasses in a severe tone, furrowing her brows. Her gaze was cast to the side where her captain was.

Kyoraku was sitting on a chair putting his feet on the table and looking idly to the scenario gifted with a clear blue sky outside.

"Captain, that is the last box with our belongings!"

"Ah, Nanao-chan, you work too much, you should take a break…" he talked slowly, unpreoccupied.

"May I remember you're not a simple captain anymore?! You're the great commander! Behave like one! Correct your terrible posture and talk properly!" she scolded.

After some minutes listening to her complaints, he finally stood up and helped her taking the objects out of the box. Then, she took a letter.

"Oh, captain, take a look at this…"

"Hm?" he peeked over her shoulder "Is this a letter for me?" his brows curled in a perverted way.

"That's from captain Ukitake…" his lieutenant was puzzled.

Kyoraku's eyes narrowed and earnestness was drawn on his usually relaxed expression, he took the letter and analyzed it: the paper was old, it had a rustic color and texture, like it had been there for years.

"That's strange…" Nanao commented with a hand on chin "Captain Ukitake always told everything to you, why he would let a letter on your office?"

"Let's find out…" he opened the envelop.

As he read the letters written carefully in the paper, his eyes became more serious and a slight frown formed. When he finally finished reading, he let out a heavy sight.

"Seriously, Ukitake… How could you die and let this big problem on my hands…? You really do want to see me taking lots of efforts as a great commander, right?" he complained in a bitter tone "That was not fair, my friend… Letting such trouble on my hands…"

"Captain…?"

Nanao asked gulping worriedly. What could the former captain from thirteenth squad had written on that letter that disturbed her captain?

Chapter 06/END