Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. Want to though. Badly.


Within the forests of Aizen, a young boy by the name of Aizen Sosuke slowly flipped, kicked , and punched his way out of the small clearing he'd been using on his way towards the village. Now what most would call spirited physical exertion, others with a far keener eye would call suspicious. In their view, the forms he employed would be far too uncomfortably similar to the training versions of the hakuda discipline used in the academy; No way could a random "rat" from the Rukongai flow through these movements from observing some shinigami investigating the area. Neither was it legal for them to impart the techniques without any legal repercussions either. No, there was something off about the boy, something dangerous.

And they would not be totally incorrect.

Coming to a sudden stop as if coming to the same conclusion that he would likely draw more questions than nods of respect, Aizen Sosuke craned his head in silent contemplation. The smirk that slowly graced his face was evident that perhaps stillness was as much of an unknown as the eyes the enigma his recent display would have labeled him as.

"Have you returned old friend? The excitement's already passed, I'm afraid it's just the two of us now, just as we agreed," Sosuke Aizen calmly relayed to what appeared to be nothing more than the wind.

"No answer? I can sense your presence you know," he said, having received no reply.

Patiently waiting for a voice to answer back, a pleased grin and easing of the tension in his eyebrows indicated that either he'd reached an understanding with whatever it was he called out to or the that which he called to amused him with their silence.

"Please, make yourself more conspicuous like you did for my counterpart. I'd rather not have to force the issue, but…"


( ` -`)


"Fiiiine!" said Hogyoku, an entity perceived by only a few rare individuals across the dimensions of the afterlife.

"Is that anger I hear? You deceived him from the beginning, and without my personal interference. Is that blame my ears detect?" Sosuke laughed, his amusement carrying more weight than the indignation he voiced.


( ` n `)


"It…was ….necessary…Aizen" said Hogyoku, with an unseen pain lacing its voice.

"Yes, yes, of course it was," the still amused boy replied. Satisfied with the answer, he proceeded to pace about the path at a sedate pace and without the theatrics he had pulled off earlier.

Mumbling to himself as his eyes grew introspective once more, "Let's see here…"


(o - o)


"Was he… in pain… when you did your… thing?" Hogyoku questioned, hoping to gather any information on the state of

"I see we're feeling some guilt-Ah! There," Aizen Sosuke chirped, looking at a speech bubble forming from his mouth.

"This is quite an interesting trick to have around, or should I say power?"said Aizen, examining the visual representation of his words only to catch a glimpse of Hogyoku's once again angry expression.

He sighed in resignation, "Was he in pain? Unfortunately for him, he was less prepared for my offer than we had hoped, so yes, he did not enjoy our "union", but it's not as if it killed him. I would not have risked something like that."

Quickly catching himself becoming slightly distracted by the manifestation of his words, he willed the bubbled speech away in favor of depending on the traditional use of his ears.

Stopping once more in the path, he narrowed his eyes in seriousness, yet held the same amused tone when he addressed Hogyoku again, "I'll save that for later, I can see that becoming more than a little annoying, but my counterpart wasn't very skilled its use to begin with now was he? Now, I have a question of my own. What compelled you to lie to him to that extent."


( ` n`)


"I couldn't have just came out and told him t-"said Hogyoku,

"The truth?" Aizen said, gifting Hogoku with a questioning eyebrow, "I think that like my counterpart, you underestimate the power that sincerity holds, a power sometimes more powerful than the truth, well misdirection does too, but that's not the point."


( - _ - )


"Can you stop beating around the bush? I guess I could have-"

Catching Hogyoku off guard with a disarming small smile, Aizen Sosuke dismissed its complaint away nonchalantly, "To be honest, why you decided to come up with that ridiculous lie about the future crashing down on him or that score system matters not to me, I just thought it was interesting, I'll probably keep it around myself, it might keep me on my toes in the future should I get complacent again..."


(- _ -)


"Really now…" Hogyoku grumbled.

"Yes. I was simply curious. Was guilt or fear supposed to make him initially more compliant with assisting you? And was the use of my bankai to make this "game" totally required to reel him back in? In any case, I find it thoroughly amusing how naïve I was back then. My counterpart was just as unsuspecting as I thought, but then again, what could he possibly have done if he'd been less trusting? No, I am most thankful to you for preparing his mind as the necessary sacrifice it had be. The time was a little expedited, but …" said Aizen, shrugging his shoulders and smiling in sincere appreciation.


( 0 . 0 )


"Damn it, I didn't think he'd pull on your memories until he was on this upcoming mission! It looked like a simple spar back in the Seireitei. I didn't think he would have needed to tap into your memories to come out on top like that…"

"Fear not, Hogyoku," Aizen smirked, soaking in the confused expression on Hogyoku's makeshift face, "The boy known as Aizen Sosuke-no- this world in and of itself still follows too closely to the world we came from for there to have been any major interference on your end. In fact, I'd seen such a disturbing lack of differences occurring to be uncomfortable in letting that boy hold the reins for too long. Had he performed on this mission as I expected, we would have once again been propelled into the capital."


"And that's a bad thing? You desired a change from the dead end you'd trapped yourself in and I wanted to escape death from the Kurosaki boy and Urahara Kisuke. Haven't we gotten what we both wanted in this alternate world? A fresh start? "

"No," said Aizen Sosuke, his humored tone dropped not that the subject had taken a serious turn.


( ` n `)


"No?"

"No, we are not yet out of the woods. Our entrance into this world was not as undetected as we first believed."


( 0 - 0 )


"What do you mean? I used up most of the reiryoku from your mutations and the reserve of power you shared with me all those months to get us here. There's nothing that could have interfered with us or predicted our entry here, nothing, "said an indignant Hogyoku.

"That's where you'd be wrong my friend. The evidence is before me right now," said Aizen in dire tone.


( - _ ' )


"Huh?"

"It is you. You are the evidence of that interference. And so is the elaborate use of my power in making this game-like consciousness. Not even I had the power to enact such long lasting illusions upon myself before, but now my command over my Bankai has increases in …leaps and bounds. And seeing as how we both nearly died from the energy expenditure, it was neither of our direct doing.


(0 _ 0)


"Uh, wait. What do I have to do with any-"

Aizen cut Hogyoku off once more, this time with a questioning gaze, "Did you not notice it? You were indeed sentient before entering this place, but you were never this… conspicuous in presenting yourself before nor could you interact with any soul as deeply or as prolonged as now, especially with how weak we both should be. I can see no other way this is possible other than it being the work of an alien hand at work from behind the scenes, silently boosting you and I. As for what its purpose is or why it is doing this, I can only speculate at the moment."


( - _ -)


"That's a large leap don't you think…"

'No , I think not. Your boost was too specific and highly improbable enough to not have been caused by some random quirk of traveling the dimensions," Said Aizen, coming to a stop in the path before righting himself and turning to continue down towards Aizen village once more, "Hm, well we'll just have to continue as we were before. You know, in a way, I'll be continuing my counterpart's agreement with you."


(- _ -)


"….."

Cheerfully smiling once more, Aizen continued, "As I said before, he is not dead. Try to think of it as assimilation or a merger, with me being the dominant presence. He is still in here, just a part of me now."


(- _ -)


"…."

Shrugging in response to a silent Hogyoku, the Aizen Sosuke made his way onwards back to civilization at a quicker pace. The excitement and rush of anticipation of engaging in the most pivotal moments of his life stood before him. Whether he would grab it or discard it for an alternative, was a decision he would have to make with great diberation.

But with the experience of centuries of struggle and manipulation under his belt as a shinigami captain and one of the most successful traitors to the Soul Society to have ever existed, who was to say the cards were not also in his favor?


ARC THREE START


Author Note:

Well this chapter will be the Start of the Arc and driving point for the story from this point onwards. Also, this is where I switch to third person, so anybody put off by the 2nd person can rest easy. This is how it's going to be for the rest of the story. And to confirm it myself, yes, this is the Aizen with which we are familiar with from canon.

Yes, Hogyoku lied its butt off to the original Sosuke to get him to continue to use (our) Aizen's bankai. This synched them up, so that (our) Aizen could get the chance to take over.

Aizen loaned the use of his Bankai to Hogyoku mainly for this purpose.

Anyway that's it for this update. Until next time peeps.

Special thanks to those who have followed and faved the story, your support is very much appreciated everyone, and thank you for staying tuned. Thanks to those who have recently done so as well. Some feedback is also always appreciated whether you like the story or not.

Please let me know if there are any other criticisms you have and anything you like.

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