Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Second last part, everyone. I'm a bit happier with this chapter, actually. Hopefully I'll have the final part up in a few days. Reviews much appreciated.

Chapter Three- Larger Games

"But that emptiness in the throne of heaven will be filled from this day forth."

Aizen preferred to communicate with his zanpakuto at night, when he could be sure that nobody would overhear. Materialising Kyouka Suigetsu fully had its drawbacks. But it was absolutely necessary. Before any of his plans could be put into action, he had to be a Captain, and nobody could attain that rank without bankai.

Forcing his zanpakuto into submission was proving difficult, though. Close-mouthed as always, he had refused to set any terms, or any goal for him to work towards. It was like obtaining his shikai all over again. Another riddle to be solved. In the meantime, he enjoyed their games of go and their sparring matches, when he could find the space and privacy for them.

This night he had only the privacy, so go it would have to be. He called for Kyouka from his internal world, and his double appeared across the table from him, hand already moving towards the black stones. "Have you thought any further on obtaining bankai, Aizen?" he asked, placing a stone on the board.

"Of course. The trick still eludes me," he replied.

"You are certainly taking your time about it. And your move, too."

Aizen frowned and set down a stone of his own. "I have won in both our sparring sessions and in our games. I don't understand why I still cannot get what I want from you."

"It's because we're not just playing at swords or go, my friend."

There was nothing Aizen could say to that.

Kyouka Suigetsu restarted their conversation. "How has life been for you since you last found the time to talk to me? Your position certainly keeps you busy, if you can only summon me once a month."

Aizen kept up a steady stream of talk from then on. He found it distracted his zanpakuto from the intricacies of the board game they played. And the friendship they had developed over the past years had strengthened his shikai and his control over it greatly.

Eventually the game drew to a close. "You've won the game again tonight," sighed Kyouka. "Maybe tomorrow you'll win for real."

And he vanished as if he had never been there at all.

It was Aizen's turn to sigh, as he reached for his borrowed text on obtaining bankai. Knowledge was power, and he did not intend to stay at this level of power for much longer. His drive for heaven had been temporarily halted for twelve years, just because he could not figure out the rules his zanpakuto played by.

Knowledge was power. It had been a rule he lived by in life. He wondered idly if Kyouka existed by it too.

That idle thought sparked a more serious mood in Aizen, as he realised that for years he had given his zanpakuto all the knowledge he had himself. He had always followed his zanpakuto's wish that Aizen be totally honest with him.

He had been tricked from the very start, he realised. From the moment he had gained his shikai, he had allowed his zanpakuto to set the terms of their relationship, on a deeper level than board games and swordfighting.

Therefore, to obtain his bankai, he would need to first withhold information from Kyouka Suigetsu. He could order the zanpakuto to give him the power he required, and back it up by defeating him in any contest he chose. It was simply about control on multiple levels.

If he were to get to heaven he would need to be able to do this anyway. He might as well start with the being that existed within his own soul.

The next night, Aizen summoned the materialisation of his zanpakuto again. This time, Aizen was the first to reach for the black stones, and to place one on the board.

The night after that, Aizen made an effort to leave the Seireitei in order to test out his bankai.

He returned to his rooms feeling happier than he had ever been. Bankai had given him such power, and he was yet to master it. With his power, and with planning, he could truly do anything. Anything. It was all within his grasp, if he planned for it properly.

It was the first time he considered taking the throne in heaven. And he had never felt more complete in his existence.