#[sadjsfkd ok this got long]

[txchikaze]

with kensei being raised in an aristocratic, traditional family, what are his views on classism BEFORE and AFTER his exile? does he believe in it? knowing that he will need to marry well for his family, does he consciously or unconsciously 'filter' partners or individuals according to their 'rank' in life?

--- Pre-exile

Pre-exile, Kensei is relatively 'young', in his thinking, despite already being almost half a millennium old. Like he is still an adolescent, he follows his family's will, still eager to please them and fulfill the role that was set out for him. The traditions and routines of his family { and therefore of the Ninth and the Gotei 13 } are engrained in him. Habits are hard to break; he also has always been raised with the idea that the noble families and the thirteen divisions are good, and the Soul Society needs them both to keep running. He is of course aware that some have it better than others, but where that is concerned, Kensei very much believes in a meritocracy: those that have higher positions have them because they deserved them somehow. By being smarter, stronger, or simply more important than others. He would point at someone like Hiyori to be like 'well, she's from the Rukongai, and she became a lieutenant, so if you work hard enough, you can reach that potential as well', disregarding the fact that some residents of Rukon don't even have reiatsu, or not that much of it. In short: He does believe classism exists, but it is deserved.

{ Addendum: Tousen Kaname introduces him to the idea of classism more fully after he takes him on as his Fifth seat. They bond rather closely, and Kaname is well-versed in debate, debunking a lot of Kensei's preconceived ideas. However, all this is nullified once he is betrayed by him, and it takes him a long while to see these ideas of Tousen's as the valid reason why he was betrayed in the first place. }

--- Post-exile

It takes something as traumatic as a betrayal, hollowfication, & exile { and 'falling from grace' } to make him see the error of his ways. It made him realize how easy it is to lose that privileged position, and what little support the gotei and central 46 provide when something like that happens. Strangely enough, he does not equate his family to this system. He knows they are a part of the system, but because he loves them he finds it difficult not to see them as a separate entity. He still holds out a candle for them, and wants to do right by them. Which makes it difficult for him to break those old habits, despite his new knowledge about the kinks in the system. Post-exile, he finds himself craving a change for the entirety of the SS, however, he feels.. Rather powerless to do anything. Changing anything actually scares him. He does not want to change his life and his family's lives. He does not want to disadvantage them. He also still.. Very much cares what they think of him as the head of the family { especially now that he has come back half a monster }.

--- Marriage

This runs seamlessly from the last part. Yes. Kensei does filter people for marriage. And quite consciously, too. He will find himself thinking, looking at a woman, what his family might think of her as a wife. He does not go through this process when he observes men in this way, because 1) his family is not to know that he is attracted to men, and 2) he wouldn't marry a man anyway, so it does not matter if they have marriage-appropriate characteristics. For women, however, they must be aristocratic in some way, have quite a bit of reiatsu { for child-bearing }, and preferably be pretty as well as kind and accomplished. In Kensei's book, they do not have to be demure, or lesser-than-him, despite tradition. He prefers women with a backbone. He's been surrounded by them for a long time { Lisa, Mashiro, Hiyori }. Plus, he thinks she will need to be strong to run the family while under scrutiny of his relatives.

All in all this has the result that he rarely engages with women in something that goes beyond one or two trysts. Anything more serious and he would find it necessary to go over credentials.