First Contact - Encounters

I was waiting for him tonight.

Already I had left my girl's place; a large mansion, for a single girl. Having an inheritance was sometimes a good thing, but I didn't want people commenting that I was using her to climb the ladder. Using her was something I could not deny, but not for my career. I had been curious about her heritage, since all records of her parents and her lineage had been expunged. Only records pertaining to the captain-general remained, and I was beginning to unearth certain clues as to why the situation existed.

But that had nothing to do with the reason why I was waiting.

The place was just outside the student dormitories; a rowdy place at night. But there was a path that led outside the dorms, a secret one – not so secret among graduates of the academy, but still students believe only they knew of it.

The naivety of youth.

I leaned against the wall, bathed in shadow. And he was approaching.

He was alone.

That was good. Alone – loneliness. He might be smiling all the time, but something in him was screaming aloud his solitude.

The boy was an unappreciated genius, an unpolished gem. Discreet observation had identified certain qualities in him I thought useful, and similarly discreet inquiries showed him to have come from one of the most unsavory sections of Rukongai. In addition, he had an air of tainted innocence I found enticing. I would turn him into the jewel of my collection.

“Aizen-fukutaichou,” he said, startled when he noticed me. I wondered idly why he seldom opened his eyes more fully: such a brilliant, lovely sea-green, almost indigo in the moonlight.

“Gin.” I didn't move out of the shadows.

He swallowed, a little nervous. As he should be.

I looked at the brilliance of the full moon. Without looking at him I said, “You are breaking the rules, you know that.”

“I do.”

“And this is not the first time you have done so.” I lowered my gaze and locked eyes with him. “You didn't say you were a student.”

“I didn't mean for you to find out.” He was whispering, the snake transfixed by the charmer.

“Liar.” I straightened and waited for him to move forward. “You deliberately walked past me that day, with the pretty Matsumoto girl.”

I noticed how he stiffened slightly when I mentioned her name. I tilted my head and smiled gently. “She is someone special to you, isn't she?”

He didn't lie this time. Clever boy. “She is.”

“Then why are you approaching me?”

He swallowed again and licked his lips. The smile faded completely. I waited, the silence dragging out. Finally he whispered, “You don't have something I wish I didn't have.”

I said nothing. This was when I found out if I had judged correctly.

I said nothing.

His eyes opened a little wider, the expression almost hungry, almost fearful. “You have no fear. And I... I am very afraid.”

Perhaps the sudden flare of understanding in my eyes encouraged him to walk closer, to dare more. His hands, his elegant fingers reached up to my face, a shadow's width from my skin. “You are the bright flame in this ocean of darkness. I saw you, on my first day of school, and already I knew you have great plans for yourself.”

“Very poetic,” I mocked gently, my voice tender. “And entirely fictional, I suspect. But let me understand this: you wish to be included in my plans?”

“I wish to remain in your light, so that the darkness will not claim me.” His tone was that of a child seeking reassurance, and I was moved to cup his fair cheek. He sighed softly with that contact. Oh yes, I liked this one a lot. “I am dead, and thus I fear.”

“You had lived a difficult life when you were human, and probably experienced an agonizing death as well,” I stated. There was an empathy growing between us – unusual for me. The boy was so bold, yet so afraid. I wished to learn why. Curiosity would kill me one of these days. “But I warn you now that the path you seek by following me is more deadly than the one you had when you were a human. You will come to regret it, if you place yourself in my hands. You will come to think fondly upon your life as a human.”

“That cannot be possible,” he said flatly and withdrew slightly. His pulse was erratic; a vein throbbed in his temple. “Nothing is as bad as that. Nothing can be as bad as that.”

“And so you smile to hide your fear.” I sighed softly. “You are very different.”

He smiled suddenly, the mask in place again. “I know.”

I returned the smile, my own mask unwavering. My index finger traced the line of his jaw, to the soft lobe of his ear. Then my hand reached around the back of his head and I pulled him close. He had a faint scent; I tried to analyze it and failed.

“Ichimaru Gin,” I said, my lips now moving against his forehead, “you can follow me for as long as you will, but be forewarned: I show no mercy to traitors.”

Then I released him and turned away.

He hesitated for five seconds, then fell in step behind me.