The little boy opened his eyes to find he didn't know where he was any more. He tried to remember who he was or where he had come from but all he could remember was a faint voice telling him to protect. Looking around he found himself in a village, with people all around him looking sullen. Pushing up from the ground, he stood. A man nearby spared him a glance before going back to starting at the ground. He found himself beginning to walk. He felt something drawing him, it was hard to explain but it was like a light was drawing him closer. His eyes remained focused on that light. He didn't notice how far he traveled or the occasional thug that would turn their eyes on him. Nor did he notice as the thugs would try and approach him only to fall down to the ground. He also didn't notice that even normal people who got close to him also suffered from the same fate.

When he finally came to his destination he found himself looking at a small lean to that if he so much as blew on would fall over. Reaching out his small hand he gave a light tap on the tree holding up the lean to. He held his breath as he waited to see what would happen.

It was a moment before a boy stepped out. The boy stood up, revealing that he was tall and lanky with shaggy brown hair falling in his eyes. The boy seemed to squint as if trying to see who was knocking. "Who's there?" The boy said in a growl.

"I am!" Said the little boy.

The boy turned his eyes down to where the little boy was and growled back, "Who are you?"

The little boy paused a moment before answering, "I don't know who I am."

The bigger boy glowered, "You must be new. Don't go knocking on the first door you see!" He went to go back into his house before the little boy grabbed his shirt.

"But you aren't the first door I saw."

"Don't go knocking on every door you see!" He snapped back as he tried to pull his shirt back but found that he couldn't.

"But you're the first door I knocked on!"

He stopped trying to get his shirt back as he turned to look at the boy. "Then why did you knock on mine?" He growled.

"I just followed the light and it led me to you!"

The older boy tried to look around but didn't see any light. "There is no light kid. Go bother someone else." Once again he turned to go back into his house.

"There is too a light!" He looked back to see the boy looking up at him. The boy raised his hand as if he was touching something the other couldn't see. "It's all around you. It's very pretty."

The older boy froze. A light? He couldn't mean. . . After a moment of concentration he lowered his spiritual pressure.

"Wow your light just got dimmer!"

Slowly the boy turned around to face the younger boy. "Why did you come here?"

The little boy looked up at his face. "I felt that I needed to find the light!" The older boy looked puzzled as he looked down at the young child. "What's your name!?"

"Aizen." He answered absentmindedly. "Follow me boy." With that he took off down the street. He could sense the younger boy following behind him. It was about time for the shinigami to be making there patrols. Aizen went to where he knew they would be. Pausing just out of sight he turned back to the boy. "Look down the street and tell me if you see any lights."

The boy did as commanded. "There are a couple of faint lights, but nothing brighter than yours." He looked back at Aizen with a confused look.

"Wait another minute."

Shrugging he went back to looking down the street. Aizen knew the moment the shinigami crossed the road because the crowd went silent. He waited tell they were gone before asking his question. "What about them did they have a light?"

The boy turned back to look at him before shrugging and looking back down the alley. "It was brighter than the others but still not as nice as yours."

Aizen began to smile, well well well look what he had found. "Do you want to live with me?"

The boy turned back, "Really, can I?!"

"Yes."

The boy began to jump up and down and cry out in joy!

Aizen turned to leave but quickly found a little hand in his. Looking down he saw the boy holding his hand and humming. When he went to pull his hand out he found he couldn't. Aizen rolled his eyes and kept walking.

He found that holding the boy's hand wasn't so bad. The boy made it a point to steer Aizen out if the path of potential hazards and people. Even though Aizen had been in this forsaken place for years he still would trip over things that people left in the street, but he refused to stare at his feet as he walked like everyone else did. The boy almost seemed to be doing it unconsciously.

His mind was wandering when all of a sudden he felt the boy jerk him so a stop. "What. . . .?"

"Oh boy, look what we have here!" There was a chorus of laughter.

Aizen ground his teeth. It was them. Kyan and his gaggle of thugs.

"My my my if it is our neighborhood blind girl, and what is this? Do you have a suitor?"

"Back off Kyan." Aizen found his voice drop into a low ominous tone.

"Oh look boys, our little girlfriend here is trying to be tough for her man!"

"Aizen's not a girl." The little boy spoke up.

The group went silent for a moment, "Looks like your little suitor's got some backbone." Aizen kept his eyes focused on where he thought Kyan was. He felt him draw closer and held the boy's hand tighter. "Why lookie here, your suitor is actually quite the eye candy. I bet we could fetch a nice price for him."

Aizen let out a growl as he pulled the boy behind his back. "Leave him out of this." His tone fell flat.

"Oh feisty are you. I think it's time we teach you a lesson again." There was a sickening sound of laughter and his conies cried out in joy as they all surged towards them.

Aizen felt frustration rise. There wasn't anything he could do to fend all of them off. He raised his one hand to deflect a hit he knew was coming only to be hit from another direction. He felt the boy drop his hand as he tried to help. Moments later Aizen heard his cry as he was picked up and was being pulled away. He heard Kyan from somewhere to his left holler out, "Be careful with the merchandise, we won't get as much if you hurt his pretty face!"

Aizen almost bit his tongue as he went to yell out, but once again he was punched in the stomach.

The boy began screaming in earnest at the sight. With the sound Aizen was surprised to find a weight descend upon him. He hit his knees from the pressure but he found that Kyan's cronies also hit the ground but harder, and they began to cry in pain. Aizen found his vision turning to nothing but white. The sound of the scream continued even as the boy ran to Aizen and threw his arms around his neck.

The scream slowly faded to cries of anguish as he continued to cling to Aizen's neck. Aizen found that as his screams faded to tears that he was able to rise to his feet. Kyan and his cronies were whimpering on the ground. "Stay away from us if you know what is good for you!" He spat on the ground towards where he thought Kyan was before leaving with the boy still crying.

Aizen tripped and faltered several times on the way back to his house but he managed to keep his feet. He carefully entered his house before placing the boy down. Now that he could get a close look at the boy, Aizen realized he didn't look much younger than him, but with pitch black hair and large chocolate brown eyes the boy looked younger.

Tears still running down his face the by looked up at Aizen, "Are you okay?"

Aizen was startled for a moment, "I'm okay."

The boy began to rub his eyes as if trying to dry them, "I was so scared, they were hitting you so much and I just wanted to help, but I didn't know how."

Aizen made soothing sounds to the younger boy as he tried to help him calm down. "I have something that might make you feel better."

The boy looked up with red eyes, "What?"

Azien gave a smile, "I've come up with a name for you."

The boy looked puzzled, "huh?"

"You said before that you don't remember who you are so I thought you would like a name." The boy's eyes got big as he stared at him and began to empathetically nod his head.

Aizen's grin grew, "I think the best name for you would be Shiro. Your power is so strong all I could see was white earlier."

Shiro nodded his head as he spoke the name aloud. "Shiro. I like that! Thank you Aizen!" He leaped forward and gave him a hug.

"Welcome to the soul society Shiro."