𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑪𝒀𝑶𝑵 𝑶𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑶𝑵 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

Reality ~ Age 10

"As if you know what being a shinobi means!"

"Do you see now? For you, it hurts to even imagine something like that, right?", "Kakashi had to live through it."

"Seems like the only thing you two have in common is your appearance."

"If any of us die, including Asao, just remember... you are the one to blame!"

"-you are the one to blame!"

"-the one to blame!"

"-to blame!"

"-blame!"

The first thing he noticed, as his eyes snapped wide, was the throbbing in his shoulder. A wince left his lips the moment he sat up, "Aizen!" A voice immediately called out and his vision was blocked by vibrant green, "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?" Aizen couldn't even think about an answer, before he bent over, a choked gasp bubbling out of his throat.

"He doesn't sound like he's all right." Hikaru spoke up from next to him, pale eyes looking down at Aizen.

A hand was placed on Aizen's uninjured shoulder, "He'll be fine... He's in shock." Asao said, rubbing comforting circles into his collarbone. Somehow, that motion made Aizen feel better. He slowly managed to get his breathing under control.

"How long..." he harshly swallowed, "How long was I out?" Aizen asked, seeing that the sun had dimmed.

"About seven hours, you've lost a lot of blood and had a high fever," a cool palm was pressed onto his forehead, "You're still warm, but it seems it had gone down... That's good." The hand retracted and Asao stood up, offering a hand to the grounded boy.

Aizen took it without a second thought and quickly stood up, which proved to be a mistake, "Ah!" He exclaimed as the world around him spun and he stumbled backwards.

Before he could make contact with the ground, arms wrapped around his middle and straightened him up, "You shouldn't get up so quickly." He was released almost immediately and he turned around.

"Thank you." Lavender eyes blankly stared back at him, no reply leaving the boy's lips.

So he could be kind when he wished, eh?

"We're behind schedule, but since Aizen can stand, we can continue on... Can you keep up?" Aizen could hear the barely restrained reluctance in the tone of Asao's voice... He sounded like he wished to end the mission.

"Don't worry about me, it's not like this is the first time it happened, I can handle it." The moment those words left his lips, Asao's eyes widened and he looked at the boy.

"What?" Confused, the man asked.

"Oh yeah, I remember that..." Hikaru commented, a small smile on his face, "Kakashi really knew how to aim." His words dripped with sarcasm as he shook his head.

"What?" Still confused, Asao repeated, tilting his head.

Aizen sighed, "Back at the academy, we had a training match and I didn't pay attention which ended up with me getting stabbed in the shoulder... It wasn't that bad." He shrugged his shoulders, forgetting that one of them was injured, and immediately regretted it.

"It wasn't that bad? If Andou wasn't there, you would have been rushed to the hospital and, as he said, you could have possibly bled out." Of course, Hikaru had to add oil to the flame.

Asao went silent, a grimace on his face.

"Shut up, Hikaru!" Aizen hissed out, glaring at the boy.