Hey don't forget I'm English – I won't spell everything like many of you do! Yup I agree there are mistakes, good as they are I couldn't work with a beta, so there will be the odd slip up.

Chapter 3: Keeping a Pet

Ichigo made his way a little lacking in confidence, but with a whispered hint from his partner to take a left step not right, he arrived in the lounge with the deep piled rug beneath his bare feet. It seemed that this new idea of bare feet was helping, at least in so much as to realise that the rug and its luxury pile seemed more appealing than the formal stuffy sofa.

"Sosuke?" He called to get his baring again.

The man had already admired the way his partner had dressed alone, although the fact Aizen had only laid out elasticated sweat pants, a t-shirt and that favoured jumper were probably the real reason. Still he'd seen it as an exercise in boosting the young man's confidence. "Here." He replied simply waiting for what Ichigo's question but rose an eyebrow instead as the young man ignored the sofa and following the direction his voice had come from, lowered himself to the rug at his feet. "Why are you down there?" He asked as Ichigo's numb hands found their way to his knees and his head laid on top of them. An audible sigh left the pink lips as Aizen's fingers trailed into his hair.

"Tired." He mumbled closing his eyes and sighing again. Tired too much to even remember his mantra and resite it to himself, all he could do was embrace it like this by offering himself just short of prostrate at his masters feet.

With a guilty feeling for having woken the healing patient, Aizen responded softly. "After your visitor, it may be as well to put you back in bed? You ate your breakfast?" He asked knowing Ichigo hadn't come from that direction. Soft hair still slightly damp caressed his fingertips.

"I shall if you think I should." Ichigo went to raise himself up, it had been hard enough getting here trying to recall just how many steps and what doors did not lead to this room. A large hand over the back of his stopped his movements and dutifully he looked upward to where his caretaker sat.

"Did you want to be with me?" The man smiled at the blush that question produced and he rubbed a rewarding bunch of knuckles softly over the pink cheek. Ichigo lowered his gaze at being caught out, was he so transparent? "Then why did you sit there instead of next to me?"

"Erm..." Ichigo blushed again. He didn't want to irritate the man and insult his taste in furnishings. "The carpet felt softer?" He replied still averting his head.

"You silly child." Aizen sounded amused and Ichigo felt the vibrations of his chuckle through the legs he leant against. "If it is comfort and softness my Princess requires, so shall be it." Ichigo moved to accommodate Aizen standing and felt a little lost as he patted his head. "Wait a moment for me." And was then left alone with retreating footsteps. The minutes passed quickly where he picked up cupboards opening and closing along the hallway. The strong strides of Aizen vibrated across the floors until his footfalls fell silent on the mat he sat but still they vibrated closer. The soft thuds, if they could be called that, sounded behind him and some rapid movements later Aizen asked him to stand. "When this house was decorated, the designer, female of course, added more than a few feminine touches. I could not see the need for such trivialities and had them put away." Two firm hands holding his shoulders, pushed Ichigo gently backwards into the sofa his knees had already made contact with. "But now my tower had its special guest, it seems that trivial things are of greater importance than I thought." Ichigo lowered into a bed of throws and cushions. His fingers could feel that some were off different sizes and his more sensitive little fingers felt the furs and frills around him. The sofa dipped as Aizen lowered himself next to his beloved and pulled a large fur throw around them both. "You can rest better whilst we wait for our visitor?" He asked and Ichigo nodded a little bemused at the treatment he was getting.

"Thank you."

"Anything you need my Princess is no trouble at all." Aizen pulled him closer and kissed the top of his head.

Ichigo sighed again as music began to drift around the room from Aizen's expensive stereo. "Your music sucks." He mumbled.

"Does it? I am sure that yours is not anything to write home about." Aizen retorted rubbing Ichigo's left wrist softly. He lowered his head to lean against the vibrant zest coloured hair and allowed his own breathing to calm too.

"When you got my clothes did you go to my flat or send someone else?"

"I went too."

"Oh."

"I expected to find a sink of washing up and bath load of laundry." Ichigo chuckled at that assumption. "However, I found you were impeccably tidy."

"Sorry to diss..." Ichigo yawned. "Disappoint you."

"I only collected your clothes, I assumed you would have let me know if you needed anything else."

"Music. Ipod." Ichigo seemed to go quiet a moment and Aizen wondered if he'd fallen asleep already. "Guess I don't need my books."

"I did take the liberty of browsing..."

"Being nosy you mean."

"Browsing your abundant shelves of books. Again I had not expected such a, how to say it, mature selection."

"I studied literature you know. Didn't you read my resume?" Ichigo turned his head to give a soft smile at the man above him. Aizen took advantage of the proximity of Ichigo's lips and bestowed a light touch against them. "Not much good now though." The smile changed to a frown.

"It is early days."

"With a poor prognosis."

"I never would have put you in the pessimistic category."

"Realist actually."

"I rather prefer being a bit more pragmatic. Its a lot more user friendly and turns optimism into something to strive for. Why only dream of becoming an astronaut when one can just apply oneself and join the space programme?"

"Now you're going to tell me that you didn't inherit off daddy."

"Very hard to inherit of someone who never existed."

"Hey?"

"I may have had my mother, but she had very little. What she strove to earn she paid right back out again for my education only to die before I graduated and see her hard work was all worth while. But that is another tale and one not for someone who needs to fret about little old me." Suitably rebuked, he turned his attention back on Ichigo. "This talk of home, do you not like living with me here?"

"I do...I just...it feels weird not being at home or the hospital." Aizen wrapped his arms around Ichigo's snug body and inhaled the boys sweet scent as an offering of comfort not only for himself. "I dunno though." Ichigo sounded as if his tiredness was winning through and it was. .

"Don't know what?" Aizen prompted quietly as his beau had gone quiet.

"That I wanna go to." He sighed and snuggled his shoulders deeper into the hold around him. "Cos if I go... I'm gonna expect to see. Ya know, see all my things, my place... I don't know that I want to actually realise just how bad all this shit is." Aizen didn't rebuke him for his crude language, it fitted the youths feelings aptly and it was not said in malice.

"I have every faith in you." Is all Aizen responded and Ichigo didn't want to question that statement either. Did he have faith, was it only up to a point where he could tolerate it? After that was he going to be thrust back into his own flat, miserable and broken, left to rot away? The hands around him were sure and steady and the soft breath on the top of his head was real enough now. Just taking what he could when he could would have to suffice for now and he willed himself to show his trust in Sosuke by relaxing fully and letting his mind drift into its sleep.

Sleep was short lived with the sound of the door buzzing for attention. Ichigo jolted awake at his lovers movement to answer it.

Ichigo wouldn't see the buxom woman with platinum blonde hair who entered and greeted him with an air of self-assurance. Aizen sat her in the single chairs whilst he resumed his seat next to Ichigo.

"I am sorry to intrude into your home."

"No bother. It seems I cannot take a couple of days away from the office, there is always something needing my attention, so I'm waiting for another visitor too."

"Well lets get your details first then just in case they show up early." She uncurled her files and looked back at he pair. "Right, well I'm Tia Halibel, I am here to co-ordinate your therapy programme Ichigo. Any questions or concerns you have you can dial me yourself or ask your father to do it for you."

"My father?" Ichigo prickled. Halible looked to Aizen who was smiling with an air of smugness.

"I believe you mean me?" He nodded his head lightly.

"Oh, you're not related then?"

"No." Aizen chuckled taking Ichigo's hand and doing his smooth caress to the inside of his wrist. "We're lovers." His deep voice purred out the word and Ichigo blushed in response.

"Oh so that makes you?"

"Aizen Sosuke. Director of Las Noches Corporation & city mayor."

"I do apologise." The woman looked suitably mortified whilst she ponderd the city mayor, so this was the new guy on the block who'd just got into seat. "Ichigo, then, basics first. How long have you lived here?"

"Since yesterday." The meek sounding youth answered.

"Ooookaaay." Halibel blinked several times. "That makes rehabilitation that bit harder. Can I ask why your here then and not where you lived before?"

"I lived alone." Ichigo shrugged. "Sosuke is looking after me."

"So how are you finding it? It must be hard being in a new place as well as learning to accept what's happened to you?"

"Sosuke is really good to me."

"He hardly needs much help, he seems to be adjusting well enough." Well enough – Ichigo noted, not better than expected or exceeding doctors estimates. Just well enough to not get kicked out.

"And your hands seem to be bandaged, were they already injured or is that new too?"

"Same thing, acid burns." Aizen answered for Ichigo. Ichigo dropped his head an concentrated on the smells wafting his way, the woman's scent was flowery and light. Her clothes seemed to make little sounds unlike Sosuke's thicker trousers. The hand on his wrist was still rubbing softly and a small vibration of Aizen's speech was drifting down the connection. The older man seemed to be handling the conversation, giving Ichigo's answers for him, as so he allowed it to continue for a few more questions until neither spoke obviously waiting for him to answer.

"...Sorry, what was that again?"

"Your work? Do you hope to return?"

"I don't know that it's possible. I mean a lot of it was data entry, checking for errors, cataloguing... I kinda of need my eyes for that."

"We are however a very large company and Ichigo can be slotted into a role more suitable to his talents." Aizen smiled at the woman with his light not meaning too much smile. She nodded and made more notes in her files.

"Well, its not going to be quick fix for that to happen, we have a long road of rehabilitation ahead of us."

"Ichigo is not a person who'll idly sit down and wait for change." Ichigo's ears pricked up at the this praise coming from his boyfriend. "He didn't get to where he was on the motor circuit without driving himself 100%. He is a man of ambition, with an impulsive drive and more than an iota of passion." Ichigo could hear the warmth in the deep voice and the strength of the hold on his wrist. It was hard not to believe that Aizen meant every word he said. It was a shame that the person he spoke about had died those few weeks ago. Ichigo didn't even know how to tap into those reserves of energy that kept him pushing and pushing to get better and stronger.

"Its good you are backing him, he will need your encouragement and support."

"He'll have everything he needs."

"So pre-accident, Ichigo. Tell me about your daily routines."

"Is that relevant now?" Ichigo wouldn't be going back to it, so what was the point in dragging all that up?

"Humour me." Her voice sounded light and smiley.

Ichigo sighed, rubbed his tender brow and began. "I'd wake about six, train for an hour in the gym...get ready for work then go for a walk during my lunch. After work if I was meeting Sosuke I'd go for a run and use the bike for our erm... our date." He swallowed, he's always hated that word. "If I had all night, I'd go home have a light meal, go to the circuit and train on my bike, eating late and after a shower crashing into bed about eleven. Weekends just meant I had more time to train."

"So all your hobbies surrounded motor sport?"

"Nah, I read a lot. Listened to music, went out with the guys from the circuit. Sosuke and I went to lots of things together."

"Museums, theatres and concerts." Aizen supplied for her. "You had art materials and a guitar at your flat."

"Not that I was any good." Ichigo scoffed slightly.

"You know that many things from your previous life can be continued don't you?" Ichigo shrugged but his body language gave away his defeated state of mind. "It may feel a little dark right now Ichigo, but give it some time." She sympathised with him whist Aizen patted his knee. "So now lets focus on where you are now so we get a base line starting point alright?" She didn't wait for an answer before launching into a string of instructions and expected Ichigo to leap up and lead her into the kitchen where she followed carrying her large bags. Aizen as directed didn't give Ichigo any help at all, but it was obvious to the therapist he found it hard to hold back, especially when the young man was walking towards an obstruction. She just knew that making a cup of tea, might be a bridge too far for these two men. So she set him about lots of menial tasks like washing up and putting away dishes, all of which was hampered by the fact Ichigo didn't know his way around the room and had to have a considerable amount of protection on his hands to prevent further injury. Twenty minutes in and the red head was obviously trying to keep his concentration from waning. Both Aizen and Tia had watched him get more and more frustrated by the simplest of things, all that she could conclude is that he was sent home way too early. It would have been better that his hands had healed more and his therapy at the hospital covered more self care instruction. With an uncoordinated grasp for a cup he was drying, the china object seemed hell bent on arriving at an early grave in a suicidal bid of freedom from the work top. Ichigo had arrived at the proverbial straw that camels had instinctively learned to fear. He gulped in air in an attempt to not cry out, not begin to sob like a child or scream in a merciless tantrum.

"Its fine Ichigo. I'll get it." Sosuke intervened instantly to stop the poor boy from trying to clear the mess up and step on the shards with his bare feet.

"No! Its not fine!" Ichigo burst out. "Its not fine at all. Its a fucking mess and I wish... I wish..." Aizen didn't spare a thought for their company, his chest brought a firm surface for the boy to reground himself in. Strong arms held him tightly and soft words in his ear stopped the blow out from escalating further. He stayed just as he was, waiting for the tremble of anger to subside before he pulled away and held Ichigo in what was now a usual hold, by taking his upper arms in his hands.

"This has been a long ordeal for you..." The sympathetic voice was working on the younger, but the anger still lingered yet, masking so many other feelings and emotions.

"I can't keep breaking your things!" Ichigo's voice carried a heavy scent of bitterness.

"You can break the entire building for all I care Ichigo. Just don't expect too much too soon. One day at a time, even one task at a time; you will get there Ichigo. I know you will."

"Sosuke." Ichigo shook his head and took in a deep calming breath. "Sorry." Soft lips brushed his forehead.

"I know."

"What your feeling and experiencing is normal Ichigo." Tia spoke in a tone she hoped was reassuring as she watched the two men. "This period of readjustment is difficult to face, but take heart in the knowledge that it is just a phase. With every little baby step you take, before you know it, you would have walked a mile."

Ichigo nodded with an awkward gesture. "I'm just tired."

"Of course you are." Tia agreed with him.

"What happens now?" He asked leaning back into the arms that hadn't let him go.

"The one thing that strikes me as important is that you spend some time at home. Your real home. Just an hour maybe each day, remembering how to do things, learning how to adapt what used to be normal until you can do it as easy as you always did. And before I see you again, I'm going to give you some homework to do."

"Great." Ichigo snorted. "Back to school."

"Now now, don't knock till you hear me out. I want you to work on one of your old hobbies, how about the guitar? The task is to get better at that over the coming months than you've ever been in your life. That's your task that you can't ask for any help with, use what ever other methods you need but Sosuke can't help you at all. Does that sound alright?" Ichigo nodded. "Then I want both of you to find something you enjoy and you can still do together, the only condition is that it has nothing to do with being blind and everything to do with your relationship. You could choose reading the paper together every Sunday morning in bed, going for a walk in the park or even enrolling in a massage class." She laughed as she ended that suggestion, the expressions glaring back at her were priceless. If anything though, she had successfully disarmed the negative vibes.

The doorbell sounded again and she reached down to pick up her bags. "I think that's my cue to leave."

With a directing hand on his back, Aizen guided Ichigo back to the lounge, whist Tia Halibel and the older man headed for the front door.

"You know if you have any questions this would be a good time to ask me." She spoke as Aizen's hand reached for the door handle.

"Let me get this first." The suave voice purred through her, it was a damn shame the hot ones were always gay, but she couldn't help the fluttering of eyelashes that just came alive of their own will. "Gin." Aizen greeted his guest.

"Thought yur were never gonna answer." Gin smiled, before his vision turned to the pretty lady.

"I just need one minute, would you mind?"

"Sure sure. Study yeah?"

"If you could."

"Where's ya pretty boy?"

"Ichigo is in the lounge."

"Mibbe I'll just say hi then?" The tall very slender man waved with a wiggle of his fingers to the blond. "Bye-bye!"

"So?" Halibel shook the feeling of creepiness from her bones and looked back to the host.

"What should I be doing?"

"Reassure, praise. Give help where he needs it, but maybe don't be too quick to rush in?"

"This going back home?"

"If you think of it from his point of view, its like landing on a fantastical planet where you can't speak the language, you can't read the signs and no one understands you back. Its confusing, scary, lonely and every little thing just rips away your energy." Aizen had worked that out for himself. "At his old home, he will feel more relaxed, he'll remember where everything is giving him that bit of confidence. He already knows how everything feels, how it works in principle."

"And if he breaks his own mugs, its no big deal to him." Aizen nodded.

"If he wants to work on his therapy tasks let him, if he wants to rest, then let him."

"I am returning to work on Monday. I was starting to think that I needed to find a carer."

"Oh, not a carer." She squirmed a little at the title. "Not the confidence booster we are after right now. How about some one who has worked with this field before? You know a trained therapist? I can give you some names if you like?"

"I don't need a ream, just one. The best one."

The powerful business man showed his guest out and wondered at the name given him. He'd heard it before, the family name at least he was sure. All that he needed to do then was to a little background on them prior to calling them in, offer them some rediculos sum for caring for Ichigo and he could be sure Ichigo would then flourish whilst he returned to the duties that awaited him.

Aizen let his head tilt to one side in wonder at Gin's strange behaviour. The man was almost hiding behind the door frame peeping into the lounge. His was as still as a statue, not that it should have been surprising; the thin man could almost conceal himself in a room of sniping tigers and not get found. What a wonderful anology that was for the board members, sniping is just what they did to cover their own ineffectiveness and tigers meaning their ability to rip each others throats out verbally. Nasty men. Still soon enough, the old democratic system of operations would change, once Tosen had secured enough shares oh his behalf. They could all go rot in hell then.

"Gin?" His deep voice spoke as he approached the lounge.

"I thought ya didn't like keeping pets?" Gin smiled looking back over his shoulder, but when did he not grin like a Chesire cat? "Yet here ya are with a cute little kitty."

Aizen looked into the lounge and didn't fight the smile that came to his face. Before him, Ichigo had tucked himself into a ball amongst a heap of throws and cushions, that alone was cute enough, but the fact he'd done it on the floor where Aizen usually sat, nailed the lid down tightly on the adorable stakes. He was clearly asleep, worn out so quickly by the first visitor. There was no words adequate enough to describe the rush of glittery bubbles that ran through his guts or the overwhelming thrist to protect and nurture. Ichigo embodied everything Aizen hadn't ever known he wanted. Although he knew he felt it before, he couldn't have defined it to the singular word - love. Love was everything he felt looking at him now. Never had one such emotion ever been welcome or wanted in his life and right then and there, he would have handed over his entire fortune to keep holding onto the boy that caused it.

"I should put him to bed."

"Nah, he looks comfortable." Gin smirked. "What's tha harm in leaving 'im be whilst you sign these?" The brief case in Gin's hand was held aloft.

"Then whilst I do, I want you to research a man called Stark for me."

"Only one Stark I know. Used to work for us."

"Of course." Aizen nodded, Gin's little memory jolt was all he needed. "The one who lost his wife in childbirth? Left to take care of the daughter didn't he?" No wonder the name was familiar. "So find me out what has happened to him since. Apparently he has reinvented himself."

...

Thankfully Tia does not make any further appearances, i sure as hell do not feel confident writing her! Gin only appeared here, because I wanted someone from the company to see Ichigo looking so cute and that clearly would not have worked with Tosen! DOH!