Chapter 6: Enter My World
Ichigo left Kuchiki Manor and walked slowly in the direction of Central 46, his mind so deeply focused, he barely saw the people passing by him.
What could have happened to Aizen's records? Who erased everything? What does that person want? Is it as simple as it seemed in the visions that tormented me last night? Does someone just want to kill him? But, how can they? He is immortal, isn't he? They haven't been able to overcome the will of the hougyoku that he should live, despite all our wishes he would die.
I want him to die, don't I?
Shouldn't anyone?
But what I saw...
He shivered, remembering how Aizen's lips had felt, touching his.
There wasn't just passion in that kiss. He was feeling something else too. But I passed out before I could figure it out.
"Ichigo?"
Ichigo sucked in a surprised breath, stopping just short of the tall black stallion that had paused in front of him. Tetsuya Kuchiki and behind him, Renji Abarai, looked down at him from the stallion's back with concerned eyes.
"Hey, Buddy," Renji added, "Are you all right?"
"Torio told me that you seemed very troubled all night," Tetsuya explained, "So, we were worried when we heard that you had left without even having anything for breakfast."
"Sorry," Ichigo said, scratching the back of his neck, "I guess that was kind of rude. I just...have a lot on my mind."
"Yeah," said Renji, "we figured. So, we decided to follow you and to go with you if you were going to question Aizen again."
"Really?" Ichigo said, frowning, "You don't have to do that."
"We want to," Tetsuya assured him, "and in any case, my cousin wanted us to go with you in case there was any trouble. He told us about the erased records, Ichigo."
"Oh...right, well, I guess he should have. Someone's got to figure out what happened, right?"
"Yeah, right," Renji agreed, "Captain thought that you would probably be the right person to question Aizen, but that it had to be your decision. He said that we should just go to make sure that he doesn't try to attack you like he did last time."
"Eh...right. I suppose it's fine."
"You sound distracted," noted Tetsuya, sliding down off of Arashi's back, "That is understandable, considering everything. Can we do anything to help?"
Ichigo couldn't fight off a genuine smile.
"You're helping just by being here. Come along with me, then. It's probably a good idea to have someone with me when I talk to him."
Renji dismounted and Tetsuya sent Arashi trotting back in the direction of the manor. The three young men continued on the way to the prison, exchanging only necessary words as they went. The tension around them rose as they reached the prison and were escorted inside. This time, an armed guard accompanied them all of the way down through the checkpoints, and to Aizen's door.
"I have been instructed to ask your friends to wait outside," the guard told Ichigo solemnly, "and I am to go in with you. Your conversation with the traitor, Aizen, will be recorded so that the council can hear what he says to you."
Damn, thought Ichigo, That also means that if the person who erased those records is around here, they'll probably find out too. What do I do?
He sighed in resignation.
"Sure, whatever," he said, moving forward.
Ichigo and the guard entered Aizen's cell together, leaving Tetsuya and Renji outside the chamber, watching on a small monitor. Aizen's uncovered eye rotated to meet the two, and his lips smiled as he recognized the shingami substitute.
"Ichigo, I am glad you came back," he said quietly.
"I need to ask you some questions."
Ichigo, be careful. Aizen's voice whispered into the surprised youth's mind, Mind what you say aloud.
The shinigami substitute was wise enough to give no sign of reaction to the warning, but he considered his words carefully before continuing.
"First, why did you attack me?"
Aizen smiled.
That's right. Let them think I attacked you. Now...why are you really here?
"I am your enemy," Aizen stated calmly, "What did you expect I would do?"
Just think what you want to say to me. The bond that I told you about will allow me to hear your thoughts if you desire it.
"Come on, I'm not stupid," the shinigami substitute said, meeting the other man's eyes squarely, "You had a reason for what you did. I want to know what it was. Did you...do something to me?"
I asked Byakuya about your past. He said that all records of your past have been erased...from the general records, from Central 46 and from the Kuchiki family archive.
"I am a violent man," Aizen said aloud, "I tried to kill you. It is very simple. If you come close to me again, I will try to kill you again. Is that so hard to understand?"
Interesting...
"I understand perfectly well," Ichigo went on, "But you're up to something. What are you trying to do?"
"Why don't you come closer and find out?" Aizen asked seductively.
Ichigo, what else did Byakuya say? Who does he think could have done this?
"I'm not coming any closer," Ichigo said aloud, "I'm staying right here and you are staying right there in chains, where you belong!"
He said that it had to be either a high ranking noble from the royal realm or maybe a spirit demon. No one else could have gotten into the archive to erase the information. I need to know what happened to you before. There's a reason they wanted the information to disappear.
"We shall see how long these chains can hold me," Aizen said, looking meaningfully into Ichigo's widened eyes.
Would you like me to show you? They haven't erased my memory.
Ichigo glanced at the guard for a moment.
"Are you trying to scare me?" he asked.
How can you do that with this guy here and the others watching on the monitor?
Aizen's lips twitched slightly in amusement.
You need to come back tonight...alone. You have Kyouka Suigetsu's soul entrapped in your inner world, ne?
"It looks like you are scared, Ichigo."
Yeah, I do. You mean, he can...?
Come to me tonight. Use Kyouka Suigetsu to get you inside. I promise I will tell you what you want to know.
Ichigo frowned.
I don't trust you.
Who can you trust? Do you think you really have a choice?
"Come on," the guard said in an annoyed tone, "Don't let him pester you, Kurosaki-san. Ignore him. He can't do anything. He can't even move from that spot."
"Yeah," Ichigo said in a low, disgusted voice, "Let him rot there, for all I care."
He turned out of the cell, meeting Aizen's eye one last time and catching just a hint of what looked like hope. Tetsuya and Renji gave him sympathetic looks as he emerged.
"Sorry you couldn't get anything useful out of him," Renji said.
"Well, I don't know what we could have expected, given who he is," Tetsuya added.
"Right," Ichigo sighed, "Well, I'm going to go home and give things some thought. I'll catch up with you guys later, all right?"
"Sure thing, Ichigo," Renji said, falling in with Tetsuya as the three left the prison.
Ichigo took his leave of the two just outside the prison, then started towards the central senkaimon, slowing as he came to a small park and looking around to make sure he was alone. Seeing no one following, he sat down under a blossoming plum tree to consider what to do.
It's so weird that Aizen could speak into my mind like that. It's scary, because if we're that connected, it suggests he's telling me the truth. I just wonder where this is all leading. What's going to happen if I take Kyouka Suigetsu and go back there? What's he going to do? I don't want Aizen to escape, but...I need to know why someone didn't want people to know about his past! What's back there that someone would want hidden? And what's going to happen if I start digging into this? I can't go to anyone. I don't know anyone who would understand. Hell, I'm in the middle of this, and I have no clue! Is this real? Or is it just Aizen playing tricks with my mind?
What's really going on?
Damn it!
He fell deeper into his thoughts and was barely aware of when his hand strayed to his zanpakutou, and he pulled it free of the sheath and balanced it on its tip in front of where he sat. He focused on Zangetsu's reiatsu and let himself be slowly drawn into his inner world.
He was surprised not to see old man Zangetsu's spirit upon touching down on the side of one of the buildings. He looked around, frowning at the odd feeling that he was being closely watched.
"Hey," he called out, "Zangetsu. Old man, where are you?"
He shivered as a cold breeze passed, ruffling his hair and clothes, but no one answered.
"Zangetsu?" he called again.
Ichigo closed his eyes and reached out with his senses.
"Hey, I can feel that you're close by. Why won't you answer me? Hey, Zangetsu! What's going on?"
"Shatter," intoned Kyouka Suigetsu's tranquil voice.
It was like a curtain had suddenly been drawn back. The heavily bound form of Zangetsu was abruptly revealed, lying on the ground a few feet from where he stood. Beside him, Kyouka Suigetsu stood, his sword raised, tip down.
What are you doing?" Ichigo cried, starting forward.
He sucked in a surprised breath, realizing all at once that his legs would no longer obey him.
"How did you...?"
"I am sorry," the green-eyed spirit said, moving closer to him and disarming him while he stood frozen, "I wanted to explain to you. I wanted to let you come to the truth on your own, but I can't do that. My master needs to get out of that place."
"But...!"
"You are going to help me free him."
"No!" Ichigo gasped, struggling against the invisible bonds that held him in place, "I'm not helping that bastard escape! No way!"
"Again, my apologies, but if necessary, I will use force."
"I'm not helping him escape!" Ichigo roared, "You can't...!"
Terror numbed Ichigo's paralyzed body as he felt the rogue zanpakutou's soul enter his body.
"No! Stop! Get out!" Ichgio screamed, "I won't let you...!"
You have no choice, the spirit's voice said into his reeling mind, I am going to use you. Sleep, Ichigo.
Ichigo screamed again as he felt his control over his own body give way. He felt as though his very being began to constrict, and both painfully and slowly, everything around him went black.
S-stop...
Kyouka Suigetsu waited until Ichigo's voice faded from his mind, then made the youth's eyes slide open. He spent several minutes establishing control over Ichigo's stolen body, first standing, then walking around the small park, looking out through Ichigo's eyes, then leaving the park and starting back in the direction of Central 46. As he walked, he invoked his shikai, making himself appear to the ones who passed by as someone beneath notice.
When he reached the fortress, he simply caused himself to be unseen by the watchful guards. He moved past them blithely and worked his way down through the levels of the prison, until he came to Aizen's cell door. Stealing the key from a spellbound guard, he opened the cell door and walked inside. Aizen's eye rotated to look at him, and surprise and relief registered.
"Ichigo," he began, pausing as he sensed the deception, "But, no...you are not in control of yourself, are you? This...this is...!"
"It is me, Master," Kyouka Suigetsu said, using Ichigo's mouth, "I am sorry. I tried to be patient, but he wasn't going to help me. As much as I despise you for letting go of me, I can't leave you here anymore."
"Ah..." Aizen sighed as the spirit moved Ichigo's body forward and he quickly unbound the prisoner, "I do not approve of you using him against his will, but if he was telling the truth about the records being erased, it means that someone powerful is about to move against me!"
"Come, Master. We can air our grievances later. I will help you."
"I am surprised," Aizen said, observing the spirit closely for a moment, "I would have thought that you would be more vengeful. Should I be suspicious? But, all of that can wait, I suppose. Let's go...but first, free him."
"He will..."
"Leave him unconscious, then, if you wish, but I do not want you exerting force over him this way. Free him, Kyouka Suigetsu!"
"No!" the spirit spat angrily, "You will probably try to seal me away if I free him. I am remaining in his body until I am sure you will not just betray me again! Now, if you want to be free and not their prisoner, come with me!"
Aizen's dark eyes narrowed, his reiatsu swelling dangerously as he regarded Ichigo's stolen body.
"I see that you have become belligerent since I abandoned you," he commented in a calm, but icy tone, "Let me assure you, that if you allow harm to come to my soul bonded, I will do more than abandon you...I will destroy you!"
"Look who is being belligerent," hissed the rogue spirit, "You would call me a weak minded fool if I did not protect myself against you! I know how you think. I have been a part of you from the beginning! And yet, you threw me away without a thought for some higher power you couldn't even achieve!"
"You are mistaken."
"What do you mean?" Kyouka Suigetsu demanded, "You were defeated by Ichigo!"
"No."
"What are you talking about? You ended up in here, didn't you? The hougyoku abandoned you, just as you abandoned me!"
"No, it didn't," Aizen said softly.
"What? What do you mean?"
Aizen met his gaze unsmiling.
"The hougyoku gave me what I really desired," he said softly, reaching out to touch Ichigo's face, "By allowing Ichigo to defeat me, it opened the way to my heart's desire."
"I thought that you wanted to be king!" Kyouka Suigetsu reminded him, "You betrayed the shinigamis and plotted against the king. You were ready to stand in the heavens. And now, you want me to believe that you threw that away...on purpose?"
"Kyouka Suigetsu," Aizen said, more softly, "Think about that moment when I let you go."
"I never stop thinking about it!" the tormented spirit seethed.
"I didn't just let go of that power. When I was touched by power that I could respect...power that I could not look down on, I let go of everything. I let that power surround and overwhelm me."
"You...let them capture you?"
"I was spellbound by the power that touched me. I only just realized that Ichigo was the answer I had sought for all of those years, that he was the one other person who could understand my pain. Then, Urahara's spell activated and sealed our power away. I had nothing to think about after that, except how much I wanted to see him again. And you did bring him to me. I am grateful for that, as I am grateful for you coming to free me. But...I will not accept you overpowering him that way."
"You have no choice," the spirit reminded him, "Your powers, and those of the hougyoku are still sealed away."
"And, as long as they are, you have the advantage of me," Aizen reasoned, "The only reason you are holding on to Ichigo is because you want to punish me. Why don't you just admit it?"
Aizen watched silently as Ichigo's body quivered and then collapsed into his arms. Kyouka Suigetsu manifested, his green eyes filled with mingled rage and devastation.
"I should kill you for what you did to me!" he sobbed, tears leaking onto his pale face, "I hate you, but I also need you so that I can survive. That is the only reason I am doing this!"
"I know."
Aizen bent and lifted Ichigo's unconscious body into his arms.
"If you will," he said calmly, "Lead the way out, Kyouka Suigetsu."