Author - Erizawa Hoshie

Title - Kaiyoko and Sousuke.

Genre - Romance/Angst (especially in later chapters.)

Summary - A pre-captaincy, Aizen fic. Partially designed to explain why he is the way he is. Or, just a sad fanfic.

Rating - A very soft M, for some violence later on.

Pairings - That would be telling, now wouldn't it! Let's just say, 4th squad isn't as innocent as it looks.

Main characters - Aizen Sousuke and Unohana Retsu are the only ones that strike me right now.

Disclaimer - Ooooh, I don't own Bleach, never will. Sad that, imagine what I could do it I did……….?

Notes - Nothing that I didn't put in the summary, just enjoy……….

Unohana Retsu sat alone in her office. The dark was gathering outside and the wind whistled through tiny holes in the 4th squad building.

She nursed a hot cup of tea and a slight headache. Her captain's haori folded over the back of her chair.

This business with Aizen had gone on for long enough. Everyday, 4th squad was over-run by casualties and fatalities caused by him and his arrancar.

Unohana Taicho hated to have to watch such carnage everyday. It was a burden that came with her job and position, but somehow she felt responsible, that she was to blame for all that was happening.

A faint knock interrupted her thought and Isane poked her head around the door.

"Umm, sumimasen, Unohana Taicho, can I come in?"

The older woman smiled sleepily and waved her vice-captain into the small, dark room. The candle flickered as Isane shut the door with a quiet snap.

"What is it, Isane?" said Unohana, gently, indicating for her subordinate to sit down.

Isane took the seat proffered and looked at the floor. She seemed unsure of what to say. She knew what she wanted to talk about, what everyone else was talking about – Aizen.

Her maternal captain seemed to read her mind and prompted her,

"You wish to talk about these troubles with Aizen Sousuke?"

Isane blushed at her transparency and nodded. Unohana sighed. She sighed like a woman quite broken by fatigue.

She settled herself into her large chair and looked at her Fukutaicho. Isane sat so patiently, like a young child listening to the wise tales of a favourite relative.

Unohana knew that one day she would have to tell all she remembered of the young Aizen Sousuke; now might as well be the day.

She sighed again and surveyed her young Fukutaicho.

"What is it you wish to know, Isane?"

"Well, just… you… you knew him didn't you Unohana Taicho……? I mean, before my time. I thought you could shed some light on what's been happening. Maybe you know something that could tell us why he' doing this"

Unohana cracked her neck awkwardly and contemplated how much to tell the young woman before her. Then she decided that is was best that Isane knew everything……

A thunderous roar echoed all around the woods accompanied by the screaming of four boys, as they desperately ran, in a vain bid for safety.

They knew they weren't supposed to be there, but it was something about the forbidden nature of the woods that made them so irresistible.

They didn't know there were Hollows. Massive Hollows, with a taste for young shinigami student. None of the boys could deal with genuine Hollows. They could barely handle the fake ones.

One boy fell, shrieking and terrified of what could be upon him any moment. He scrambled hysterically trying to get up.

He was hauled to his feet by the eldest of the four, still sprinting and shoving the younger ones ahead.

"Keep going!" he shouted breathlessly, smearing the condensation from his glasses.

They stumbled blindly into a clearing in the trees; tightly packed on most sides by rocks and heavy thicket. They had little hope of outrunning so many Hollows in such dense undergrowth.

The boys stopped, they had no other option, they had to fight. But how, they didn't know.

The youngest fell to the floor, almost paralytic with fear, crying like the frightened child he was. The two older ones stood over him, while the eldest stood foremost, to defend his friends.

The Hollows lumbered into the clearing roaring and snarling hungrily. The eldest drew his sword and stepped forward, nominating himself as the protector.

The others gasped.

"Sousuke! But there's so many."

"What can you do?"

"You don't know how to fight them!"

"Oh. And what else can we do?" he snapped back. "We're going to die no matter what, why should we just let them win?"

The other boys said nothing. Sousuke grimly took another step forward towards the Hollows. His hands trembling as he cleared his glasses again.

The nearest and the biggest Hollow howled murderously and charged at him; baring it's teeth for the kill.

Sousuke brought up his blade in a sloppy guard position. He stared up at the great beast and froze. His eyes widened as it bore down over him. His grip loosened on the hilt of his sword.

The Hollows was just a few inches from him. He shuddered and dropped the sword, looking up at the monster in pure terror. Before shutting his eyes in readiness for death.

There was a pause. A painfully long pause. Sousuke gritted his teeth, waiting for the Hollow to tear into him.

But the attack never came.

He noticed Yutaka had stop crying, there was silence from behind him He opened his eyes and gasped, unable to believe it.

A Shinigami stood before him, zanpakuto drawn, fending off the Hollow. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun and her large brown eyes were fixed on the Hollow before her.

She didn't acknowledge the boys' presence at all, she simply held off the Hollow's attack before springing up into the air and slicing it into oblivion.

The woman paused, then turned her attention to the remaining Hollows, dispatching them with similar ease.

She sighed and sheathed her sword before rounding on the four boys. Sousuke could see that she bore the insignia of 4th squad, Fukutaicho and a scowl.

"What, the hell did you think you were doing!" she snapped. Her voice crackled slightly. Like a voice first thing in the morning, or very late at night.

"Did you think you could take on mature Hollows, by yourself?"

The younger three boys cowered in fear of her rage, all of them recognising her insignia. The sharper ones also remembered her from a visit the vice-captains made to the academy several years earlier.

Shi Bantai Fukutaicho, Mujitsu Kaiyoko.

Sousuke stepped forward, head slightly bowed.

"Gomennasai, Mujitsu Fukutaicho," he mumbled, blushing red under her frosty glare. "Ainiku, Itameru and Yutaka had nothing to do with this; it was my idea, I was the one who put them in danger."

The vice-captain, folded her arms, her scowl softened a little.

"Well then," she said, matter-of-factly. "You boys are very lucky I was here then, aren't you?"

They all nodded slowly, before the enraged and sleepy Fukutaicho took them all back to the academy, and personally handed them over to their equally irate sensei.

"Arigatou, Mujitsu Fukutaicho," he said before turning to bellow at the boys.

She nodded and left the office.

Sousuke watched her go/.