-Hypnotized -
"...Shatter."
The barren rocky plain was silent.
Dark brown hair flopped carelessly over the sweating, blood-streaked face. Every breath was an effort, a pull on the lacerated lungs of the Shinigami traitor.
Dimly in the recesses of Ichigo's mind as his newfound powers vanished, the hiss of bandages disintegrating, his skin becoming bare to the exposure of the weak sunshine. Shatter...wasn't that? But, he couldn't think anymore. His legs gave out, crumpling down before the enemy.
"Kyokasuigetsu." Aizen finished softly.
The edge of a broken katana- a silver one began to come apart. Petals of light dispersing all around them.
"What-" what's happening. Was what he wanted to ask. Logic was flawed, yet his tongue was strangely thick, leaden in the confines of his mouth. What're you doing- Ichigo wanted to think it was over. That he had won. He wanted so much to, sensing his Shinigami powers evaporate in the wind kicking up. I've sacrificed everything-!
He lacked the strength to stand.
Weight was descending down on his bare back, curving down along the sculpted ridge of his spine. Ichigo gasped, screwing his eyes shut against the overwhelming force. Don't look. Don't give in- the silent urgency beat at his mind.
"I must say I am quite...disappointed in you." Aizen's smooth voice like the slither of silk echoed from above. "You were given time to prepare for this moment yet in an instant..." a soft sigh.
"-Shut up." Sweat trickled into the creases of his eyes, stinging though he dared not raise a hand to wipe it away. His sightless face was turned to the ground, palms digging into the ground, head hung low. In a position of servitude.
"You threw everything away." Accusation as well as a hint of pity laced the Shinigami's tone. Ichigo flinched, shifting away from the touch of a hand curving along his cheek. "I am..so very dissatisfied, Ichigo-kun. After everything I have done for you. You've failed..my expectations."
Though everything screamed at him not to do it. To ignore that slightest, faintest tinge of...something other than irrefutable logic.
His eyes opened. Pupils dilating. A single shard floated before Aizen's face mere inches away. The man was smiling, hair trimmed, the collar of his white robes immaculate. Cool, brown eyes glinted with keen intelligence.
"What-" his voice cracked on the single word. What is this?
The plain wavered, fraying at the edges to a rubble-strewn landscape. Fake Karakura town.
"An illusion, Ichigo." Aizen murmured, an exhalation of breath scented with mint and another aroma he couldn't recognize, fanning over his mouth. Amber eyes darted about, hearing for the first time the quiet groans of his father, Yoruichi and Urahara. Defeated yet not destroyed.
What are you going to do to me? Cold fear bled into his veins. Now, he was a kid again. A powerless teenager unable to move beneath the immense reiatsu of the other. Unable to protect...Ichigo's eyes filled. Zangetsu...lost for nothing.
"I would think the answer is obvious, Ichigo-kun." A note of a tease, a curl in the kindly smile. A snake's smile. Ichigo felt the hand clasping his chin tighten, the grip hardening forcing his head up when all he wanted to do was look away from his utter failure.
"You're too valuable for me to kill you, so I am going to take you.."
An allusion. The barest minimum of what the traitor wanted threaded through to Ichigo's core. He struggled even harder. More desperately. Yet what was he- a mere human to the God-like Shinigami? "-F-Fuck you-" Ichigo spat, feeling the reiatsu increase threefold. His insides shriveled, his chest expanding raggedly to draw breath from the thickening air.
"We must work on-"
"Leave him alone!"
"-your manners." Aizen finished with barely a note of thinly veiled disgust for the ex-Taichou whom had interrupted. Coffee brown eyes swiveled toward the east where the shopkeeper's bent form faltered, hatless and barely able to stand, yet the man's eyes were like a knife.
Sharp. Dangerously cold like flint.
"He is already mine, Urahara Kisuke-san.
Benihime tilted at an angle.
"And has been..for a very long time." Aizen said pleasantly. "Good day. Ah- and Isshin-san. Have no fear, I will take care of your son. Excellent care."
"Nake, Beni-" A sharp whistle as a tang clove the air.
But it was too late.
Both human and Shinigami had vanished from the face of the battlefield leaving the father to scream in rage for his helplessness.
Gods help them.
They had been deceived into believing an illusion.
-TBC-?
Disclaimer: don't own Bleach.
AN: Au for Deicide arc and afterwards. I am working on WTG CH.9...it should be in a few days, but until then. :)
No flames-yaoi haters-stupid comments!
Reviews appreciated and loved! C: