Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite

Characters; Aizen, Rukia

Author's note: I wrote this just after chapter 201. The debate is still on whether D.Roy is really dead but I assumed that Rukia won.

Aizen watched the report of Ulquoirra with a smile. That mere chit of a girl who didn't have half the power of his arankaru had so easily tricked D.Roy in the pale moon dance. Perhaps she wasn't as insignificant as he thought.

Ever since he discovered that Urahara had hidden the hoogkyou in her, he felt that it was a slightly ironic twist of fate since in the beginning he had pinpointed her among the shinigami students to be his subordinate. She was reasonably strong and her demon arts were among the best, but she had a strong will, a streak of independence and was lonely. He was persuaded that she needed a father or brother figure to guide her, once he gained her trust she'd be easy to manipulate, moreover once he had won her over Abarai would be easier to control as he seemed to be always around her.

Unfortunately for him, the Kuchiki clan decided to take her in and Aizen decided it was unsafe to pursue the matter further. Byakuya was somebody with whom even Aizen didn't want to pick a fight lightly, despite his aloof demeanour he knew that he kept a close watch on his sister. He quickly found her a worthy substitute: Momo and decided that Rukia was nothing special after all or was she? Hinamori was in awe of him since the beginning and he had to make almost no effort to win her loyalty, so he figured it was for the best that he did not recruit Rukia. However ever since their separation, Abarai had grown more aggressive, moody and difficult to control, hence he had him transferred to the 11th Division.

He had also briefly wondered why Urahara had chosen her to hide the powerful weapon and dismissed it as mere coincidence; he had studied her in great detail and concluded that she was just an ordinary Shinigami. He remembered how tiny and frail she had felt in his hands after he removed the Hoogkyou, she knew that death was only a few seconds from claiming her but the stark terror that contorted her lovely features were not for herself but her two friends lying nearby. And when Byakuya collapsed against her, she cradled his head protectively against her chest knowing that she was helpless. Really weak and pathetic, he had thought.

Now he had some doubts, even if Urahara had manipulated him into rescuing her, Kurosaki had been willing to throw his life away for her and so were Abarai and even Kuchiki. The ever prudent Ukitake had destroyed the sacred soukyou and defied Yamamoto, all for her. Furthermore her mere presence had transformed Kurosaki from the pathetic weak shinigami Urahara had to save to a potentially dangerous opponent. Why? He wondered, his thoughts were going in circles and he didn't like that. He who prided himself of knowing all that was worth knowing and was only steps from reaching the absolute power could not understand his mentality of his enemies and this irritated him. In the end he concluded that they were just all overemotional fools who lay too much importance on pathetic bonds like friendship and trust but he decided she was definitely worth something, next time he'll make sure to snap her pretty little neck with his own hands.