Chapter 11: Into the Dark Heart

"It is time that I told you how I created the hougyoku. I think once you know, you will have a better understanding of the stone, its behavior, and my connection to it."

"Why does it matter anymore?" Tetsuya asked softly, closing his eyes, "I have no need to know."

Aizen frowned.

"What do you mean?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Tetsuya gave him a look of surprise.

Can he really not understand?

He pulled away from Aizen, walked back to the bed and climbed onto it, loosing the tie at his waist and revealing the slender, lovely body beneath it. Aizen watched him in silence.

"According to hougyoku," Tetsuya explained in a soft, weary voice, "I am nothing more than a lowly servant…and a whore. You have taken me from my home to isolate me, taken my powers to undo my strength and you have used my brother to force me into subservience. Prisoner? Slave? Whore? What need has a person like that for answers? Your answers don't matter. All that matters to a person like that is avoiding pain."

Aizen walked back to the bed and sat down alongside him.

"Tetsuya," he said, capturing the ends of the tie on the noble's yukata and tying it closed again, "Although I have made you a prisoner, I have never treated you like a slave or a whore. I granted you the status of my lover. I never treated you in a disrespectful way. You are a prisoner of war. And yours has been a privileged form of captivity."

"It may have been," Tetsuya whispered, his eyes filling with tears again, "And I may not have been those things before. But that changed when the hougyoku used my innocent brother to exert control over me. Cast whatever illusions you want upon that fact, but you cannot change what has been done. So tell me what you want and I will do it. That is what servants do, isn't it? I have no choice but to obey…if I want my brother to return home safely."

Tetsuya flinched as Aizen's hand touched his face and the other man's lips brushed his gently.

"Don't disappoint me, Kuchiki Tetsuya," Aizen said quietly, "Don't lose your will to fight now. Certainly, your back is to the wall at the moment, but you are a resourceful man. You are also unusually determined when it comes to defending what is important to you."

Tetsuya gave him a look of confusion.

"I don't understand," he said, looking into the enigmatic brown eyes, "I thought that the whole idea of using my brother, was so that you could render me helpless. Now you want me to fight? Sousuke, you need to make up your mind. I don't know what you want from me from one moment to the next."

Aizen gave him a conciliatory smile.

"You are over-thinking this," he said, rising and bringing the noble to his feet, "Come with me."

"Where are we going?" Tetsuya asked, mistrust plain in his eyes.

Aizen shook his head briefly.

"Nowhere that you need worry about, Tetsuya. I merely thought you must be bored of spending all of your time in my room."

"I don't imagine there are many oases in Hueco Mundo, ne?" Tetsuya said, lowering his eyes, "but I am in need of something a bit brighter. Are you saying that such a place exists here?"

Aizen nodded.

"Perhaps it will help to ease your melancholy and put you in a more receptive frame of mind. I hope that we can put aside what happened and make the rest of the time we have together before my leaving as pleasant as it can be, considering the circumstances."

Tetsuya stared at him incredulously.

"After what you just did to my brother, you want…?"

"It was the hougyoku that decided that the way to best serve my desires was to establish better control over you. You must admit that our soul bonding did complicate things, and can you honestly tell me that knowing what you do about the soul bond, you wouldn't have been tempted before to allow yourself to die to accomplish your goal of stopping me?"

Tetsuya looked back at him quietly for a moment.

"I thought that you didn't believe I would kill you, unless honorably," he commented.

"I feel confident in that," Aizen admitted, "but I have to consider the hougyoku's needs, because it needs to be allowed some control to grant my desires. I am not happy that it was necessary to place your brother in suspension, but you notice that he has not really been harmed in any way. He is merely sleeping."

Tetsuya met his eyes warily.

"And what would you have done," the noble asked softly, "if the hougyoku had decided to torment my brother? To kill him? Would you have allowed that too?"

"Think for a moment, Tetsuya," Aizen said, gazing at him meaningfully, "If the hougyoku did not think you were an important figure in some way, it would have simply allowed me to neutralize you by placing you in suspension. That it, instead, wished to gain control, to overcome your will means that it suspects that you are somehow useful. And for your part, that is a good thing. It leaves you in a position to continue to seek what you have wanted all along…the protection of the people you care about."

Tetsuya kept his eyes lowered, but sighed in resignation and nodded briefly. Aizen led him out of the bedroom and back along the corridor. They walked up a long stairway, to the end of another hallway, and up a final set of stairs. They came to a set of doors, which Aizen opened, then he motioned for Tetsuya to enter.

Tetsuya took a step into the room and froze, staring.

The room was at the top of the tower and was housed in a thick, glass dome, which let in sunlight from the illusionary blue sky above them. The room was huge, seeming to cover the entire roof of the tower. It was a sea of colors and gentle, earthy and flowery scents, striking him as being nearly as beautiful as the famed gardens at Kuchiki Manor. Grass spread out in all directions like a pretty green carpet and was divided by a meandering trail that wandered all about the lush foliage around the room. A variety of flowers grew all about. Even the grass was dotted with them. And the lovely red-brown walkways looked to be made of some kind of sandstone. Tetsuya took in the calm beauty of the room, then looked up at the former taichou.

"Sousuke," he said quietly, "Is this an illusion too? Whether it is or not, it is breathtaking."

Aizen smiled.

"Actually, all that you see is real. Only the sunlight is an illusion, but the plants cannot tell the difference, and so they grow."

"Fascinating…" Tetsuya said softly, following Aizen to the center of the room.

Out in the midst of the lovely gardens, was a large pool and waterfall that appeared to be fed by a creek that wound its way around the room. They stopped at the pool and Aizen removed Tetsuya's yukata, then his own clothing. Upon following Aizen into the water, Tetsuya was mildly surprised to find that it was comfortably warm. They walked out to the waterfall and stood beneath it, letting the water splash pleasantly down onto their bared skin. Tetsuya stood quietly as Aizen's arms wrapped around him from behind and the man's chin came to rest on his shoulder so that their faces were touching. And despite his circumstances, Tetsuya couldn't help but sigh gently and sink deeper into his arms. He wasn't accustomed to being held in such a way, but couldn't bring himself to pull free of the other man.

"I come here daily to bathe and reflect. You are also free to come here at any time. Merely ask the guards to escort you if I am not with you. It will help to soothe your bouts of melancholy, I think."

"Arigato," the noble said quietly, "But I think that the only thing that will improve my state of mind is getting my brother home safely. I cannot focus on much else."

"Well then, I will offer you what comfort I can while we are together here," the leader of the hollows said, letting his hands play gently over the noble's pale flesh. Tetsuya relaxed against him and closed his eyes, letting the calm and gentle scents soothe him as Aizen held him and spoke quietly into his ear.

"I promised you before that in return for your cooperation, I would reveal myself to you. To do that, I will employ an illusion so that you can see as I speak. I think it would be best if we recline in the soaking area."

He led the noble out from under the waterfalls and to an area where the water was warmer and jets beneath the surface riled the water with air bubbles. They sank down into the water and reclined, Tetsuya resting with his back against Aizen's chest and the back of his head rested on the other man's shoulder. The noble's eyes slid closed and a moment later, images began to appear in his mind as Aizen's voice provided a soft narration.

"I was born in the upper Rukongai. My father was a shinigami, a member of the second division. He was quite talented and one of the upper seats, but died shortly after my birth, while on a mission in Hueco Mundo. Luckily, my mother was an educated woman, a historian who often assisted the Kuchiki household in collecting information to be recorded in their house archive. My mother explained to me that each noble house was assigned a special duty, and it was the duty of the Kuchiki household to record the important events in Soul Society. She provided geographical and historical information related to the Rukongai. Because my parents were wealthy, I was able to attend an elite learning academy. My mother had decided after my father's death that she did not want for me to become a shinigami. My father's death in Hueco Mundo was very sudden, and she couldn't bear the thought of such a thing befalling me.

I wanted most to make her happy, so I attended to my studies and did nothing to move in the direction of becoming a shinigami. We were both aware that I possessed significant reiatsu, but we had no idea how it would upend our lives.

One day, a shinigami who was visiting the learning academy, noticed the strength of my spiritual pressure and questioned me about it. I told him that I had no interest in being a shinigami. He seemed to accept my answer, and he left the school. But two days later…

"Open the door," commanded a loud voice, "by order of Central 46!"

The petite woman on the other side of the door, turned to her wide-eyed son and put a finger to her lips.

"Go and hide in the basement and wait for me," she said softly.

The boy looked back at her, his heart pounding as the men outside the door knocked louder.

"But they'll hurt you!" he objected.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "They will only question me. Go and hide, Sousuke. Don't let them find you!"

He hesitated a moment longer, then heard one of the men threaten to break down the door. He turned and ran to the back of the house and descended the steps into the basement, where he found a set of large boxes to hide among. He heard the men's voices and footsteps as they searched the house.

"I told you, he's not here!" his mother insisted, "He left to visit friends and hasn't returned."

"What friends? Where are they?"

"Why do you want to know? My son is only ten years old and he hasn't done anything to anyone. Why are you here? Why do you want to see him?"

"It's our orders, maam. We were told that he was observed as having dangerously high reiatsu and he is to be taken to Central 46 to be examined."

"Why? I told you, he hasn't done anything wrong! You can't just come here and take my son! And anyway, I told you, he is not here!"

"Stand back, maam. Don't get in the way!"

He knelt silently, cringing as the men searched the house, then started down the steps.

"He's in here," said a low voice, "I feel his reiatsu."

The boy shrank into a corner, his brown eyes wide and frightened. A moment later, the men threw back the boxes, revealing him.

"No!" screamed his mom from the top of the stairs, "Sousuke!"

A shinigami at the top of the stairs grabbed her as two men took hold of the boy.

"Run, Sousuke!" his mother screamed, tearing away from the man holding her.

Time seemed to slow as the shinigami reached for her again, but missed and lost his balance. He tumbled down the stairs, crashing into the woman and making her fall with him. The boy watched in horror as his mother and the shinigami crashed to the floor, then broke free of the ones holding him and ran to her.

"Mom!" he screamed, dropping onto his knees next to her and shaking her gently, "Mom! Mom!"

"A healer was sent," Aizen explained, "but there was nothing that they could do. She was dead when she hit the basement floor."

"That's horrible," breathed Tetsuya.

"The shinigamis took me from my home and delivered me to Central 46. My spiritual pressure was sealed away and I was imprisoned there while they ran scores of tests and asked endless questions. They had never seen such reiatsu, especially not in such a young child. I had never done anything to hurt anyone and had no ambitions against them, but they killed my mother and imprisoned me anyway. I heard them talking while they thought I was unconscious after one of the tests and I learned that my powers had been judged to be too dangerous and I was to be humanely killed."

"Sousuke…" whispered Tetsuya, his face pale.

"They had been forced to unseal my powers for the testing, and thought that I was too drugged to be awake, so they were not watching me closely. I managed to slip away, but I became lost in the maze of offices and laboratories. An alarm sounded and I heard them searching for me. I knew they could sense me, but didn't know which way to go.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as a hand touched his shoulder and he found himself looking up at a tall man with dark olive skin and oddly tranquil green eyes.

"Come with me, Sousuke," he said, offering a hand to the boy, "I will make it so that they cannot see you. I will hide you."

With the searchers closing in and no other way to escape, he chose to take the man's hand. The man whispered something and an odd feeling passed over the boy. He led the child out of the room and directly into the path of the searchers. Thinking that he had been betrayed, Sousuke tried to pull free of the man's hand, but he froze as the searchers passed by as though they had not seen him.

"Come now," said the man, "We must escape quickly."

"He led me into the Rukongai, to an abandoned house and used his illusions to hide my reiatsu and to make it seem as though I was a child in a family, living there. In truth, I was alone, except for the one who saved me. After I had calmed down, he revealed to me that his name was Kyouka Suigetsu, and that he was my zanpakutou. I used his powers to change my appearance and identity and to make it look as though I had more normal reiatsu. I dared not trust anyone after that, and so focused instead in learning all I could about the forces that had taken my family away from me…Central 46 and the Gotei 13. I quickly came to the conclusion that those two organizations were part of a massively oppressive system of government. Central 46 was supposed to have been created by the spirit king so that the noble families could take responsibility for keeping order in Soul Society. The Gotei 13 gave military support, a way for Central 46 to see that its orders were carried out and to enforce the laws.

But as you know, Tetsuya, the noble houses are corrupt and are not interested in something so idealistic as justice. No, they wanted order, and to preserve their power over the peasant class. I wondered then, how the king could leave his lands to such self-serving men, and I came to the conclusion that he was as false a god as the nobles were dutiful servants. I imagined that he must have some awareness of what they were doing, in which case, he lacked the concern to fix it. And if he did not lack the concern, he lacked the power. It made me angry, Tetsuya. It made me want to destroy them all. I communed for long hours with my zanpakutou and then pursued relentless studies of the king, the noble families, the Gotei 13 and Central 46. I realized soon after, that the king did not possess powers as great as mine…nor did anyone in Central 46 or the Gotei 13 or noble families. And my fury at the injustice of losing my family and being treated so unjustly, simply because of my powers, made me realize that the only way to stop what was happening was for me to seize power, myself. I do not claim to do this for idealistic reasons, simply that if the king is not powerful enough to see to justice and peace in the three worlds, as the only one strong enough, I have an obligation to overthrow him. But I must reach the spirit dimension to do that.

I studied endlessly to find a way to bring my powers to their fullest, transcendent state, and to divine a way into the spirit dimension. I searched for years before discovering the way to make the King's Key. It is the only known way to enter the spirit dimension. But before I could create it, I needed to mature my powers.

Shinigami history and lore could not provide any useful avenues, so I delved into hollow and demon lore. And it was in various places among those that I learned of the power in certain energies located in the precipice world. As you know, as spirit particles and souls pass through the cycle of rebirth, sometimes collections of memories and emotions are caught up in the process and left behind in the precipice world. I learned that one could go into the precipice world and collect these emotional clusters…the representations of lost hopes and desires of those long past. I went there and collected manifestations of lost hopes and desires of millions of souls and contained them in a powerful crystal housing. Then, I sacrificed souls to give the stone sentience, and the more souls it was fed, the more powerful it grew. And because it was born of lost hopes and desires, it used its newfound power to give life to the hopes, dreams and ambitions of the ones around it. I knew then, that if I mastered the hougyoku, it would push me into transcendence…and I would be able to craft the King's Key and enter the spirit realm.

"I came to find out that a scientist, Urahara Kisuke, whose work had been useful in my research, had also created a hougyoku. As mine was imperfect and I was having trouble finding a large enough collection of souls to fully power it, I took the hougyoku that Kisuke had hidden in Kuchiki Rukia's body and I fed it to mine, bringing my hougyoku to full sentience and power. I need only complete mastery of it, and I will be ready to make the King's Key."

"So," said Tetsuya, "You will take a million lives and kill the king, then what? How will you do a better job of ruling the three worlds, Sousuke?"

"I will crush Central 46 and the noble families. Then, I will give the Gotei 13 new leadership and use it to re-establish order. I will set in place a more equitable structure in Soul Society and then allow it to function. And I will make sure that the laziness and injustice of the old regime does not return."

He fell silent for several minutes, his eyes fixed on the nearby waterfall.

"So, Tetsuya," he went on, "Do you still think me some kind of monster? Does your experience tell you that I am wrong about the corruption in the noble families, or about the weakness of our king?"

Tetsuya sighed.

"I know the vagaries of the noble class and system of justice all too well, but Sousuke, I don't know if slaughtering the councilors of Central 46 and taking a million lives is the answer."

"Not even if it would prevent things such as what happened to you?"

"Why is my life suddenly worth more than that of someone from Karakura Town?" Tetsuya asked, "Aren't you denying them justice in the pursuit of your own goals?"

"Tetsuya," Aizen said, shaking his head, "Sacrifices must be made to achieve victory against such beings as these. I think you know that. And governments are rarely overthrown without violence. I am doing what I have to."

Aizen caught his breath softly as Tetsuya's eyes rose and met his with unexpected sympathy.

"I understand that you feel you are doing what you must," he said quietly, "and I will not try to argue the fairness of our government. But I cannot condone what you are doing. And I will fight to the ends of my strength, as my heart requires to protect the souls you want to destroy. I do not know that I can…but I have no choice but to try."

"You must follow your heart, of course," agreed Aizen, "But your decision to do so suggests that you still believe that you have the power to stop me somehow. Does this mean that you know what power that is now?"

"No," said Tetsuya, "I do not yet know. And I know that my time is running out. But as the only one in a position to do anything, I must act."

Aizen slipped a hand beneath his chin and lifted it, studying the noble's handsome face for a moment, then kissing him.

"I am overwhelmed with curiosity over how you will do that, Tetsuya."

"It doesn't bother you that I am working against you?"

"Not in the least," said Aizen, "In fact, I find it fascinating how much dedication you have to pursuing this, and that you have managed to stymie the hougyoku to the point where it would resort to such crude tactics to thwart you."

"But I…?"

"Do you remember what I said when you revealed Arashi, Tetsuya?"

"What?"

"I told you that sometimes a pivotal creature would undo his own purpose, simply by knowing it. I wonder if you could be such a creature. I look forward to finding out."

Tetsuya opened his mouth to object, but found it captured and attacked passionately. He resisted for a moment, then his eyes locked on the enchanting brown ones that looked into them, and he felt his defenses crumble.

Why is this happening?

How does he undo me like this?

Sousuke…

A strong hand parted his thighs and Tetsuya's legs curled around the body that settled onto his. He closed his eyes as his body was warmly penetrated.

I sought to understand you…

And only lost my understanding of myself.

"Kuchiki Tetsuya…"

He kept his eyes closed and his face buried in Aizen's shoulder.

"Who are you really?"

Who am I?

Kami, what am I doing here?

And why am I holding on to him so desperately?

Am I here to stop him?

Or could I be here to protect him…?