Thank you StarPrincess999, Shadow Pain and Denidene for being my very first reviewers! I thank you! (And will thank anyone else if they would be so kind as to drop me some kind of feedback – hint, hint…)
Again – Don't own Bleach, still not sure what I would do if I did… too many possibilities, so little time….
Chapter 1
2 days earlier….
Tension was high across the one square spirit mile of the fake Karakura. Aizen just killed the last remaining Espada he brought with him. He smiled as he watched her fall.
"Aww, now Halibel was one of our best ones. Change of plans, Captain?" Gin asked.
"Slight. It seems as though my army was not as strong as I was led to believe. They were not fit to defend the heaven I will reign over. Not that I should have expected much. No, Gin. When you create something out of nothing you still end up with," he gestured to the fallen Halibel, "nothing. No matter, as I already have plans for my next army who will be unstoppable." With a gleam in his eye and a flick of his wrist which held his blade, Kyoka Suigetsu, Hinamori suddenly appeared behind the tenth division captain, Hitsugaya.
Shock and disbelief played out across his face. "You're n-not d-dead!"
"No, Shiro-chan" she replied as she whacked him on the back of his head, knocking him out. She quickly placed a binding kido on him as Aizen nodded at her.
"It's time," he said.
"NO!" screamed Matsumoto from below, as she tried to get up to help her captain. She looked up at the yellow beams of the Negashion as they appeared around Aizen, Gin, Hitsugaya and Hinamori. A hole opened up in the sky and they were gone.
Hitsugaya didn't know how long he was out, but he woke to find himself in a white room. Sitting up he looked around. The bed was the only piece of furniture in the room. A small rounded and barred window was on the opposite side from the wall with the bed. At the foot of the bed was another wall with the only door in the room.
Shaking the cobwebs out of his mind, Hitsugaya ran his hand through his locks of white hair when he noticed it. He was wearing some kind of collar around his neck. Tugging at it with disgust, he found it wouldn't be easy to remove. He also realized it chained him to the bed.
"That's a reiatsu suppression collar. It's not like we can have you going around destroying the place," Gin said as he opened the door and stood in front of the young captain.
"Where's Momo?" he asked standing up. Fire was burning behind his teal eyes.
"She's…around," Gin replied, "Probably attending to whatever Aizen, needs." Fists clenched, Hitsugaya lunged for Gin with a growl in his throat but was quickly forced back to the bed as the chain to his collar reached its end.
Taking a small step back, Gin commented, "Nice to see you so feisty so soon. Ah, well, can't be helped." He placed a binding spell on the captain, "Time to meet up with the others."
Bent over with the collar around his neck and his arms around his back, Hitsugaya was led to Aizen's throne room. In the corner he saw Renji and Chad, slumped together on the floor. Are they? No, they can't be. He thought, even though he knew they were. No suppression collar, no trace of reiatsu. How?
Close to the bodies was that of Ishida. His breathing was labored and he was bleeding out of his chest but he was alive. In the center of the room on his knees, was Ichigo, also bound, collared and chained to the floor. Eyes locked, teal on amber. What the fuck is going on?, thoughts mirroring each other.
Forced to his knees, the chain to his collar bound to the floor, Gin stated, "I hear there was a bit of trouble getting the little one out of Yammy's grasp before he finished crushing her. I do hope Aizen-sama was able to save her. It would be a shame if she died now."
"Bastard!" Ichigo was seething.
"Not much you can do about it, from where you are, is there, Ichigo-kun. However, I must commend you for all the havoc you did manage to do. Your powers are growing. While you're not quite at your potential yet, I can almost taste it, can't you?" said the slick of voice of Aizen as he walked into the room.
"Ah, Aizen-sama! Did the little one make it?"
Looking at Ichigo he said, "Barely. My little Momo is taking care of her at the moment. Meet up with her and go get the other one." With a nod and a slight bow, Gin left.
At the mention of Momo's name, Hitsugaya snapped out of his daze. "How?" He demanded.
With a smile, Aizen turned his gaze to the white haired man. "You don't expect me to explain all of my tricks do you, Hitsugaya-kun? Even if they do involve the two of you I'm not ready to reveal my entire hand." Cracking an easy smile he continued, "I will, however, tell you that while you thought she was getting "better" she was still under my control. Turns out I don't have to control her nearly as hard as I used to. Seems she's doing more and more for me on her own, free will and all of that.
Back there, I wanted to see how far I could break you, so I set it up to make you think you ran your blade through her. Oh, the look on your face! I thought you were going to crumble right then and there. I was very impressed at how things played out. First things first though," he said, turning back to Ichigo. "I have a proposition for you."
AN: If you missed it, this is cutting into the anime at the part where Renji and Chad were crushed by Yammy (for simplicity of the story, they had to die) and Rukia was caught in his grip - before he threw her, before Ichigo left Orihime and Ishida. It was at that point where Aizen was able to capture the five of them.
Trust me; I am holding a vigil for Renji. Probably why I had to write that one shot "It's Always Been You". (Insert shameless promotion). I had to do something to make it up to him – sniff…