Title: Veiled foe
Characters: Aizen, Hitsugaya, Hinamori
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: language, violence, slight OOC?
Disclaimer: Don't own nothing!

A/N: I've never realized how difficult it is to write Aizen, hopefully it comes out alright. Inspired by the scene when Hinamori confronts Hitsugaya and tries to kill him (forgot the chapter).

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Yamamato's cane echoed, harsh yet short, as it struck the wood floor. All eyes drew upon him.

The day had come when the Gotei-13 would be complete. Urahara's treason stripped away the few captains present, however one by one each position had been slowly filled until only one remained vacant. Since the death of the Tenth Division's captain decades ago, no possible candidate had risen and it had remained so until the rumors started to flood in.

Another genius had been discovered with so much potential. He graduated with top marks and a shikai- something completely unheard off. Within months, he moved up the ranks from fifth seat into third, though he was not quite satisfied; and then- after a few short years since his graduation- he sought out captaincy. Disagreement followed about his lack of experience, but he merely asked for his name to be put up into consideration.

They were not disappointed.

He was gifted and knowledgeable in the shinigami's four basic combats, responsible and from his position as third seat, a good leader. But perhaps his gifts were not what stood out this candidate the most; rather it was his zanpaktou the strongest of all ice-types, Hyorinmaru.

Hyorinmaru- a name that hadn't been heard in centuries- captured the interest of everyone, including Aizen himself. Many did not believe in the ice dragon, believed that it was all folktales and rubbish, but this new candidate squashed all those rumors and proved that Hyorinmaru did in fact exist.

"It is thus," Yamamoto continued. "That I appoint Hitsugaya Toushirou as the captain of the Tenth Division."

A child- a child that should be carefree and ignorant, oblivious of the world around him except his own little world of toys and friends- took a step forward. The haori was too big and too heavy, almost forewarning that a little boy could not take on such a big role. It was only with the reassurance of the long, deadly sword on his back that corroborated that this child should be in this room of adults.

"Thank you Yamamoto-soutaichou."

Yamamoto struck his cane again. "Very well the Gotei-13 is finally complete. You are dismissed."

Change was inevitable, Aizen knew this. People die and become replaced, enemies become friends, the admired become the despicable, chaos rises and falls until it becomes order. The environment spun out of proportion and it needed to be supervised to assess whether this change could be defined as an opportunity or a threat. And Aizen pondered what part Hyourinmaru would be to his plans.

Kaname eyed him, his white eyes almost speaking to him on what to be done. "I'll deal with it," he barely muttered, drawing his hands together and passing through- the message unnoticeable. Kaname nodded before continuing along, catching up to Komamaru. For a moment, Aizen talked lightly with Ukitake- he was after all the captain that had recommended Hitsugaya- hiding his inquiry behind a look of curiosity. The older man noticed nothing, speaking instead with a sort of pride at the great possibilities he saw when he first met the boy in the Academy training grounds.

But his inquiry stopped when Aizen spotted Gin approaching the said genius. "Did ya' know I used to be the genius?"

Hitsugaya paused to look at him, a slight scowl on his face. "I know."

Of course he would know. Years ago, Gin had been highly praised at having graduated in a mere year and obtaining a seated position so soon.

"But times have changed," he agreed in nostalgic, his ever present smile changing for a moment before reappearing once again. "It took me decades of experience and training to become a captain and yet you did it barely comin' out o' the Academy when many have spent years and years just tryin' to reach third seat. I'm sure that creates an awful set of friction, and distrust at having someone so young fill in such big shoes."

"Despite my age, I believe that I'm quite suitable for this position."

"Is that so?" he smiled. "But I wonder how many people would take a kid serious?"

He narrowed his eyes at him before Gin broke out laughing. "I'm just kiddin' Ah hello Aizen-taichou!"

"Hello Ichimaru-taichou," Aizen answered none pleased. Gin was curious by nature. He took his little walks, poked his nose into things that he didn't need to, and often time bringing suspicion onto himself. "Well I must be goin' Aizen-taichou, little taichou." He shuffled Hitsugaya's hair affectionately, ignoring the boy's distaste.

With a wave he left. One by one the other captain's filed out and soon enough Aizen was left alone with Hitsugaya. "I apologize on behalf of Ichimaru-taichou, he says things without thinking."

Hitsugaya said nothing, no doubt upset about Gin's slide comment. The corridors were empty, causing their footsteps to echo loudly on the wooden floors. Lamps hung on the walls, dimly lighting the polished floors and the old, yet dangerous sword— Hyorinamru. The guard, shaped as a four-pointed star, flickered under the light, the hilt a light blue, slightly contrasting the long, curved blue sheath. He had read that it was a beautiful and terrifying creature, easily controlling bodies of water, shaping the weather as it pleased, and indiscriminate creating ice anywhere.

"Aizen?"

The lack of suffix surprised him even more than Hitsugaya knowing his name.

"Forgive me, my mind was elsewhere," he answered smiling pleasantly. Hitsugaya stood carefully watching him with his thin eyebrow raised.

"I see," he responded continuing forward. "It seemed as though you were planning something."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Most people first notice my age and then my zanpaktou. It almost seemed as though you were analyzing it." Aizen froze at his easy comment.

"Ah yes. I spent years studying elemental zanpaktou and it is quite astonishing to see Hyorinmaru awaken from its long slumber. Perhaps Hitsugaya-kun, you would care to join my for tea tomorrow afternoon? I would enjoy discussing more about Hyorinmaru."

He paused before looking at him, as though wondering whether there were any ill intentions involved; seeing none, he sighed. "Thank you for the invitation. I look forward to the conversation."

The busy streets of Seririte came into view as the two captains finally descended the steps. "Taaaichou!" came a cheery voice. Masumoto waved, waiting for him by the foot of the steps. Hitsugaya's face grimed.

"Do you know Masumoto-san?" Aizen asked in amusement.

"My fukutaichou," he sighed. "That I personally picked."

"Oh... good afternoon Aizen-taichou," she said respectfully, bowing her head slightly. He greeted her before bidding the two farewells. He watched as Masumoto hug her captain tightly, muttering how proud she was of him. Hitsugaya struggled within her grasp, warning her to not do that in public anymore now that they were commanding officers.

Yes, he reasoned the only threat was Hyorinmaru not this little boy that had somehow ended up in an adult's world.

"Ah Hitsugaya-kun is here to see you Aizen-taichou."

Aizen looked up from his notes, smiling in reassurance at his third seat. "Please let him in, Hinamori-kun."

"O-of course!"

Within a moment, Hitsugaya appeared, arms crossed and the scowl still evident in his face. Aizen set his brush down, rising from his desk to greet the younger captain before leading him a bit further into the Fifth Division's tea houses, overlooking the gardens. The day was fairly warm with the approach of spring around the corner. Flowers began to bud, though the small chills continuously prevented them. They took a seat onto the cushions, while Hinamori left to fetch tea.

His gaze briefly fell upon Hyourinmaru. "You seem so interested in Hyorinmaru," Hitsugaya stated.

"Yes, as I mentioned before I used to study the elemental zanpaktou. So it is quite exciting to see one. Do you mind if I-"

Hitsugaya glanced at him for a moment before sighing and drawing out the sword carefully handing it to him. The curve blade shone brightly against the light, even more dangerous than he had imagined. Aizen greedily took the sword, gripping the hilt tightly. It felt cold, despite the warm weather as though some invisible wind was picking up.

"Did you know that elemental zanpaktou were believed to have existed since the beginning of time?"

His left finger drew onto the blade, trying to make out the tiny inscriptions.

"According to legend," Hitsugaya answered.

"It must have been difficult taming such a beast," Aizen continued noticing how heavy the sword was. "Hyorinmaru is believed to be the wildest of all the elemental zanpaktou because of its size and its unlimited source of power. Terrible stories had been told how it crumpled mountains, caused blizzards, drowned villages with its tsunamis. It can manipulate solid ice, liquid water; even vapor from the air, in theory the entire atmosphere is its battle grounds."

"In theory," the younger captain answered taking back the zanpaktou and placing it in its sheath. Aizen blinked, preferring to have held the sword longer but said nothing else.

Hinamari returned that instant, setting down two tea cups and began to pour the green tea. The warm steam engulfed the senses as she carefully handed the cup to Aizen, slightly blushing in embarrassment as he thanked her. She stuttered something, without realizing the other cup by itself and bumping her elbow against it, dropping it onto the floor and shattering it into pieces.

"Ah I'm so sorry Hitsugaya-kun," she apologized bending down to pick up the larger pieces. He pushed her hand away. "Baka! You'll cut yourself."

"Sorry," Hinamori said meekly. "I'll go bring a spare."

"And don't drop it!"

He hissed in pain as a rather sharp piece cut his finger, a large drop of blood oozing out. He drew his cut finger into his hand, Aizen helpfully handing out a handkerchief.

"Is she always this clumsy?

"Hinamori-kun? Not at all, she just gets a bit nervous."

He rolled his eyes.

Hinamori Momo was a pleasant girl, hard-working, loyal and naive. Aizen had met her as well as Abari and Kira, years ago when they were all in the Academy. It was a simply mission, killing a high-level hollow that had butted into a class field trip to the human world. He dealt with it quickly, but he never forgot her bright eyes, how she readily attended his lectures afterward, and how she trained and worked non-stop for his approval.

The three had entered his division, but over time he scattered these pawns only keeping Hinamori. She would be useful somehow, if not now then certainly in the future.

"Please don't be upset with her, she was probably nervous."

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes at him, as though trying to examine him. Aizen smiled.

Hinamori returned with a spare cup and began to pour the tea, once again pausing to gasp at the few drops of blood on the floor. "Did you cut yourself Hitsugaya-kun? I'm so sorry!"

"Its fine," Hitsugaya answered taking a sip of the tea.

"It's alright Hinamori-kun," Aizen spoke noticing her troubled face. "It wasn't a large cut or anything."

She frowned, looking slight slummed. "I apologize, Aizen-taichou, Hitsugaya-kun."

"Hinamori, its Hitsugaya-taichou!" he answered.

She blinked looking back at him, though his face wasn't quite set on a scowl. "Oh that's right!" she answered cheerily, her nervousness slightly at ease.

Several weeks later, a body was found rotting deep within the forest. It might not have been such a deal if it hadn't been the body of a rich aristocrat, so naturally the Gotei-13 was sent to investigate.

Kyoraku had been the first in the scene and eventually gotten a lead to what could have caused this. It lead to a hideous hollow- pale as a sheet of paper with no face but a large hole that resembled a mouth with sharp teeth poking from it. Kyoraku had dealt with it easily but then another aristocrat went missing, his body found a few days later in a corn field.

The body was still preserved though the body was just as bad as the rotten corpse. Its eyes had been bloodshot red, hand palms an angry red, and mouth gagging open- salvia and vomit dry of its mouth.

"All seems accordin' to plan, eh Aizen-taichou?" Gin asked stretching his arms. "Of course," Aizen answered, studying the data of his latest experiment. It was still in the developing stage but from these recent statistics reports, progress had been running along smoothly.

"Why shouldn't it go accordingly?" he asked. All his plans were perfect no flaws whatsoever.

"Ya know with lil' taichou around," he grinned, his closed eyes looking right at him.

Aizen snorted. "From what I've seen there is no doubt in my mind I can deal with Hyorinmaru."

"No!" Gin laughed his throaty laughter cacophonous in the empty room. "Hyorinmaru is no threat," he paused to look at him. "It's the kid… lil' Shirou-chan."

Aizen scowled. "He's a child."

"I don't know," Gin answered the fox grin still on his face. "I've heard he's pretty smart."

He did not have time to question him further as a messenger popped in informing him of the newest victim. Upon arriving at the scene, Aizen stopped short noticing Hitsugaya- speak of the devil they would say- and his fukutaichou standing behind him. The dead hollow remained on the floor; its belly cut opened revealing greenish blood and unpleasant odors.

Hitsugaya was bent down onto to the floor, staring at the newest victim. It had been a female- young with thick black hair though spots of hair had been ripped, leaving behind the white color of her scalp.

"Hitsugaya-kun, I did not think you would be here."

The younger captain looked up at him. "I asked the soutaichou last minute."

"I see," Aizen answered. He paused, Gin's words haunting his head. "Perhaps you would let me deal with this case? This has been a rather violent-"

"Don't worry about me," Hitsugaya answered, walking a short distance to stare at the dead hollow, a glint of gold catching his eyes. "I've already solved it."

The Tenth Division found the hollow's nest a few kilometers off north from the second victim. The nest was hidden deep within a cave; making it rather difficult to notice it at first but Hitsugaya knew almost exactly where it was. In a matter of minutes the eggs were destroyed, the newborn hollows slaughtered, and all Aizen could do was watch.

"The hollow was not the creature Kyoraku- taichou defeated long ago rather that was the result of the victims. These hollows are nothing more than tiny larva that dig into the skull- causing the bloodshot eyes and ribbed hair. The individual struggles to fight against the hollow but ultimately fails and dies, only the ones with stronger reitsu is capable of surviving becoming the pale creatures. The victims' vomit is free of food, showing that they did not to eat as often and thus had weak reitsu.

"Hitsugaya-taichou," Yamamato asked interrupting his report. "What makes you believe that these pale creatures are not the hollows that we are searching for?"

"Because a hollow has no need to wear a wedding band," he easily answered. "My division has personally dealt with the larva in the north but I believe that more of these creatures continue to exist. It does not seem likely that these larvas could travel so far. I believe that they have been manufactured and strategically distributed-"

"Enough!" the soutatichou spoke, striking his cane onto the floor. "I do not enjoy these speculations of a traitor within us."

"My apologizes soutaichou, it was merely a theory of mine."

Yamamato still looked highly upset, no doubt memories of Urahara's previous hollowification experimentation coming into mind. "Kurotsuchi-taichou, Unohana-taichou, verify Hitsugaya-taichou's assumptions. Afterwards, another meeting shall be call on the appropriate action. Dismissed."

"Nice work there, lil' taichou," Gin smiled looking down at Hitsugaya. "That brain of yours sure is amazin'- take good care of it." He laughed lightly at himself before continuing along.

Hitsugaya watched him, his eyes narrowing in distaste. "Hitsugaya-kun."

He stopped descending down the steps and turned to view him. "I wanted to personally congratulate you on your contributions to this mission. Without you and you're good decisions I'm sure it wouldn't have been solved so quickly."

"But it hasn't been verified."

"Yes but everything you've come up with makes perfect sense. I'm sure you're correct with your reasoning."

The boy looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you Aizen. I was somewhat hesitate that no one would consider my judgment, considering that it was all based on my personal observations and analyzes."

"Really?" he asked. "You have such an excellent intuition and deduction. Perhaps you've heard this many times before, but you really do have a lot of potential."

He thanked him once again before reaching the end of the steps, his fukutaichou quickly greeting him with a hug and eagerly asking what everyone thought about their superb performance. Aizen excused himself then, inviting Hitsugaya for tea whenever he had the chance. His pace quicken somewhat as he reached his personal quarters, his fingernails digging into his palm. At last he reached into his private quarters, locked the door carefully behind and entered his personal office.

Books aligned the walls, elegant brushes, maps and paintings. The windows were shut tightly making it slightly difficult to see, but he already knew who those two silhouettes were. "A-Aizen-sama."

"That fool!" he screeched, taking off his glasses and smashing it against the wall, shattering into pieces. The pleasant thoughtful man never existed, he was nothing more than a string of lies and masks he set up for his own convenience. It had been a long time, since he ripped off his mask. But his anger was too much; too much that he couldn't contain it. It was a terrible wrath- a boiling hatred - and he wanted to destroy something with his bare hands.

"That idiot!" he continued in his rage, tilting the bookshelf and bringing everything crashing down. "He ruined fifty-three years of research!"

He collapsed onto his seat, pushing all the contents off his desk in one swipe. Ink bottles staining the polish floor, while official looking documents becoming crumpled. "He destroyed my work, humiliating me in the process, how could I be best by a child!"

"Aizen-sama," Kaname began hesitantly at a lost to what to say. "Why don't you just kill him?"

"And cause suspicion after his remark." He banged his fist onto the wooden desk. "Hyorinmaru was never the threat! It was that boy- that stupid boy!"

He gripped his brown locks of hair, tightly enough to pull the hair out. He couldn't be hush, couldn't be killed, and couldn't be controlled. He had free will- knew when to follow the rules and follow orders, yet knew when to step away from authority and follow his own set of values. He trusted logic and reasoning, instead of foolish emotions. He was not blind and naïve, he knew that evil and corruption existed.

Hitsugaya was dangerous.

Perhaps more dangerous than his previous enemies.

Aizen had not been able to see this new enemy until now and he cursed himself for not thinking farther ahead.

A soft echo of a laugh echoed in the room. "Ya sure are mad, ain't ya Aizen-taichou? But ya know, no one's perfect just look for a flaw."

Aizen was still upset the following morning and had called in sick. Hinamori came knocking on his front door asking if he was alright. "It's just a slight headache, Hinamori-kun," he said gently. "Nothing to get worried about." She still looked troubled and held up a bag, filled with medicine she had gotten from the Fourth Division, insisting on making tea for him. He agreed halfheartedly, apologizing for the messy apartment but she shook it away, reasoning that he had been sick lately.

"Hinamori-kun," he asked having thought of their first meeting together. Hinamori was there and he realized she had been friendly towards Hitsugaya, and he had been somewhat overprotective of her, preferring to clean up the broken glass so she wouldn't get cut.

"Are you and Hitsugaya-kun siblings?"

"Huh? Oh not really. We were raised together in Roukongai."

"Is that so? He acts so much like an older brother toward you."

She blushed. "Hitsugaya-kun is a few years younger than me but I guess he does act more mature." He thanked her for the tea and she smiled, urging him to get some rest.

Another meeting was called the following morning and it came to no surprise that all of Hitsugaya's assumptions were correct. He spoke to him pleasantly, keeping that warm face and voice, while trashing madly within his head and wanting to do nothing more than to break the boy's neck.

"I guess you've cool down, eh Aizen-taichou?" Gin remarked noticing his usual demeanor.

"Yes I have," he answered, having noticed Hinamori kiss Hitsugaya good bye- a tint of red appearing on his cheeks before he scowled at her- after delivering a freshly made bento box. "It's time to move another one of my pawns."