Thanks for the amazing reviews, I am so glad you are enjoying the story, I love the way so many of you have said how calm Ichigo and Aizen are... Well that changes for a few paragraphs here so enjoy their shouting anger!
Thanks again x
Chapter Three:
Ichigo yawned as he stepped over Aizen's still sleeping form as he headed for the bathroom to begin his morning routine before school, gasping as his ankle was grabbed and he found himself pinned down under the brunet's taut body. He stared up at him with a scowl.
"What are you doing you son-of-a-bitch?" he asked as calmly as he could manage for the circumstances he was under.
"I apologise," Aizen said smoothly, "It was a knee-jerk reaction, I thought I was under threat."
"Then you can release me can't you?" Ichigo stated, ignoring the warmth of the breath which was gently blowing against his face and neck as well as the heat of the body pressing against his own.
"Oh yes, I suppose that is possible."
Aizen pulled back and climbed off him effortlessly, resting a hand on his hip as he stood up before he offered a smirk and lifted the strawberry to his feet, doing nothing to disguise the roaming of his eyes down his muscled chest.
Ichigo slapped his hands away from his body as soon as he was on his feet and turned on his heel, stalking out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, locking the door securely before he dared to undress and climb in the shower. He would deny until he was blue in the face that Aizen Sousuke was even mildly attractive, even if certain parts of his anatomy disagreed and awoke in the wake of being pinned down and restrained by such a man.
He allowed the water to wash away his thoughts as well as the night time grime he had ascertained, and when he climbed out of the shower and dried off he set about relieving himself and cleaning his teeth ready for the day ahead.
Upon returning to his bedroom he sidestepped the brunet as he headed for the bathroom instead; taking advantage of his time alone in his own room he got dressed in his uniform and packed his bag so that he wouldn't be distracted mid-way through.
Out of curiosity he checked his mobile, he groaned as he saw he had three texts messages; one was from Keigo, one was from Inoue and the other was from his Goat-Faced father asking how things were going.
Deciding he would answer his friend's messages face to face and opting to ignore his father for the time being he dropped the phone in his bag and picked the satchel up, slinging it over his shoulder before he headed out of the door and down the stairs, having left some clothes for his guest before leaving.
He grabbed himself some breakfast, having adjusted to Yuzu's absence and her love of cooking, he favoured simplistic things such as cereal or toast with some kind of condiment. It was practically a treat not to be plied with cooked goods first thing in the morning.
He looked up as Aizen arrived in the kitchen doorway and he pointed to the fridge, "Get whatever you want, it is nothing fancy but food is food."
"My thanks." The brunet said simply, his former playfulness having been toned down by his shower.
They sat in silence, not even really looking at each other as they ate what was dubbed the most important meal of the day, it was a peaceful and tensionless silence which was enjoyed separately by both present parties.
When he had finished, Ichigo washed his bowl and put it away, picking up his bag from where he had left it before he tossed his guest a mobile, "My number is in there, if you have any problems call me or text or whatever. I am going to school; I'll be back at four. What you do with your day is up to you on the understanding that you stay out of trouble and keep away from my friends."
"I understand perfectly." The brunet said as he pocketed the phone without looking at it.
"Good. Later." He said, waving casually before he left the room and left the house.
Aizen watched him go and finished his breakfast at his leisure - he already had plans for today, and every other day he needed to. He would wait as long as it took.
Ichigo sighed as he walked down the street, catching up with Ishida and Chad on the way before they met Inoue a little further down the street. He mostly tuned out their conversation, his thoughts lingering on the morning's events as he hoped his house guest didn't draw too much attention to himself. Whatever else happened, Aizen had to behave, or it would be back to Muken with him, or death... Either one.
By the time they reached the school gates he was in a world of his own; his friends were used to this enough that they didn't bother to interrupt him or bring him back from it until they reached their classroom to be lectured by their tutor; even then they could see that his mind was elsewhere.
The day went slowly, classes were easy considering his was more intelligent than people like Ishida and Byakuya gave him credit for, they always teased him for not using his head, but he used his head more often than they realised. It wasn't his fault if he happened to listen to his heart more often than that though.
He had noticed Ishida looking at him slightly strangely throughout the day, and he had begun to consider the fact that the Quincy had detected a very faint scent of Aizen's almost none existent reiatsu or something because his expression was increasingly dark as the day wore on. He cared very little for what the Quincy actually thought of him, but he did want to believe that their time in Hueco Mundo together had brought them closer together. It didn't help that they hadn't really spoken one on one since his Hollow form had stabbed him and almost killed him after his fight with Ulquiorra.
He had been avoiding it, what could he say? He didn't want to discuss it; he didn't want to rake it back up. The Quincy was alive, he was still kicking, and he was still as pretentious as ever, nothing had changed so there was no need to discuss it was there? Or was there? Who knew?
As Ichigo left school, having had a fairly dull and normal day without even a Hollow attack to break the day up, he paused and looked around as he found himself immersed in a gang of six youths. It wasn't an unusual sight, but it would have been nice to go one day without seeing their ugly faces.
"What do you want with me today assholes?" he asked.
"What did you say?! You're gonna fuckin' pay for that!" the apparent ringleader yelled before foolishly attacking.
He loved the fact that he could crush them like bugs, maybe it was sick and twisted and maybe it was related to his connection with Shirosaki but he really didn't care. He loved beating the living daylights out of them so that they thought thrice about coming back for a second taste of his knuckles.
And his Shinigami training had done nothing if not sharpened his skills, if he could fight Aizen Sousuke one on one he could damn well fight six on one in human form.
Of course, it would have been nice if they hadn't brought weapons. A baseball bat, a broken metal pole, a bottle, and a pen knife. They really were assholes and he wondered briefly what he had done to encourage this sort of hatred, surely it wasn't simply his hair colour anymore?
He ducked under the swing of the bat and reached up, wrapping his fingers around the attacker's wrist before he pounced, head-butting him and breaking his nose at the same time as he twisted his wrist and snapped the main bone before he kicked the baseball bat aside and narrowly missed behind hit over the head with the bottle, smirking as the idiot hit his friend instead and shattered the glass completely. A rough elbow to his ribs and a knee to his crotch sent him crawling off after his stupid friend.
The guy with the pole was a bit more experienced and he actually managed to hit Ichigo around the back, iliciting a cry of pain before the strawberry went into a bit of a range mode and threw him to the floor, dislocating his shoulder from the socket before he stood on his shin and bruised the muscles, hissing as a blade whistled through air beside his face and cut his cheek; abandoning the guy with the pole in exchange for the kid with the blade who could actually seriously hurt him, he lunged, wrestling with the kid as the knife tossed and turned between them.
He swung around and kicked his legs out from under him, stomping on his abdomen before he snatched the knife from him and broke it clean in two while glaring murderously at the kid, he trod a little harder before kicking him in the face, picking up his bag and walking away.
Ichigo wiped his cheek and snorted, stupid kids thinking they could take him on. He wasn't arrogant, he just knew what he was capable of; his eyes flicked to the side as his Quincy friend appeared beside him suddenly and he sighed.
"Thanks for the help back there."
"You looked like you were having fun, Kurosaki, I didn't want to interrupt." He answered.
Ichigo scoffed, "Whatever. What's your deal Ishida? You've been glowering all day long. You've obviously got a stick up your ass about something so you had best spill."
The Quincy hesitated before speaking, "Urahara dropped by my place last night to talk to my Dad, I overheard them talking. Is Aizen really staying with you?"
"Damn, Urahara's got a big mouth as ever." He sighed, "Yeah, Aizen's at my place."
"Do you think it wise?" he asked, unfazed by the truth of the matter, "What if he is planning something?"
"He probably is planning something, that is what Aizen does isn't it?" he sighed, "The point is, Central 46 asked me to do this so I am doing it."
Ishida rolled his eyes, "Like you haven't done enough for them already. Shinigami ask too much."
"Whatever. You happy with my explanation or do you need more information?"
"Kurosaki, I am merely concerned for your safety, there is no need to bite my head off you know?" the Quincy said softly, reaching up and touching his shoulder, "I'm your friend. Okay?"
"Yeah I... Sorry Ishida. I had a late night, the Clinic over ran and then Urahara brought Aizen around and... I'm just over tired." He smiled weakly and patted his hand, "Thanks."
They parted ways near to Ichigo's home, the strawberry sighed and hung around outside for a few moments as he finally took the time to answer his father's text message, only answering with a few short words mind you. He then took in a breath and tried to prepare himself for a torturous night of babysitting the criminal. Maybe it would be as bad as he thought.
He shut the front door behind him and slipped his shoes off; a frown formed on his face as he saw several pieces of paper strewn across the floor which hadn't been there that morning.
He stuck his head into the lounge and was taken aback by the sight beyond, it had been completely wrecked, the sofa had been over turned, the cushions ripped off and torn open while the bookcase had been thrown to the floor and the books decimated in a frenzy examination.
The kitchen was just as bad, pots and pans were thrown left, right and centre while the fridge had been left open with various articles of food dribbled over the counters; the cupboards had almost had been torn off their hinges and the contents spewed onto the usually spotless floor.
A quick check of the Clinic showed that it had been untouched, probably because of the door being locked, but it certainly suggested that the person had a vendetta.
He ran upstairs and was about to check his sister's room when he heard a crash and a bang from his own; he half sprinted down the hallway and threw the door open, his eyes widened as he watched Aizen ripping his mattress from the bed and throwing it across the room, raging about not being able to find 'it'.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ichigo roared, storming over and grabbing the man's arm; his head snapped to the side as the brunet spun and slapped him hard.
"WHERE IS IT? I HAVE SEARCHED EVERY DAMNED INCH OF THIS HOUSE! WHERE IS THE SWORD?! WHERE ARE MY POWERS?!" the brunet bellowed in his face, shoving him against the wall.
"LIKE HELL AM I GIVING IT TO YOU! EVEN LESS SO AFTER THIS! IS THIS HOW YOU THANK SOMEONE FOR SAVING YOUR ASS?!" he snapped, "YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU WRECK MY HOUSE LIKE THIS! I TRUSTED YOU!"
"WELL MORE FOOL YOU!" Aizen barked, slapping him again, "WHY WOULD I EVER THANK YOU?! IT IS BECAUSE OF YOU AGREEING TO THEM THAT THEY TOOK MY POWERS!"
"AND THAT MEANT THAT DIDN'T IMPRISON YOU FOR 20,000 YEARS!" Ichigo shrieked, "YOU LOST YOUR POWERS BECAUSE THIS WAY YOU CAN ATONE FOR YOUR SINS AND HAVE THEM RETURNED TO YOU WHEN I DEEM FITTING! I WAS NEVER GOING TO KEEP THEM FROM YOU FOREVER!"
"WH- What?" he asked, his voice dropping several decibels at the news.
Ichigo panted slightly and licked his lips, "I was never going to make you stay this way forever. I was going to let you prove yourself to me, and then when I was certain you could be trusted, when I thought you had rehabilitated I was going to return your powers to you."
Aizen stared for a moment before he frowned, "Why would you do that?"
"Because, you stupid idiot, I nearly lost my powers fighting you. By rights when I used the Final Getsuga Tenshou I should have been stripped of my Shinigami powers completely, left human without any sight or sense of Hollows or Soul Reapers..."
"Then, how did you not lose them?" he asked in confusion.
"The voice of the Hogyuku called to me on that day... It recognised my power and my determination and it called out to me," the strawberry told him honestly, "I heard it. And I cannot forget it. Its voice haunts me like a bad dream which I can't shake... I am both afraid and in awe of it."
"The Hogyuku stopped you from losing your powers because it was what your heart desired?" Aizen questioned.
"Yes." He agreed, "I would have lost everything if it hadn't been for the Hogyuku so... I understand... I get it."
"And I understand what you mean also... I believed I could master the Hogyuku but its voice was so strong and loud in my head... I dream about it, even in my waking hours." He sighed and pulled away, turning from him, "I... I cannot live like this... This human body is so restricting and so powerless... I feel weak."
"You will adjust, but I cannot give you your powers back like this. I'm sorry Aizen, but please just trust me, if you prove yourself then it will be sooner rather than later that you are allowed them back, but you cannot get them back by acting like this all the time! This is madness!"
The brunet slumped slightly, "I agree, it is madness but I was out of my mind. I thought that if I found them and took them back everything would be alright again and this nightmare would be over before it had truly begun but... things rarely work the way we want them to. I have been foolish."
Ichigo sighed heavily and put his mattress back where it belonged before he looked at him again, "Help me clean up the house, and then we can talk if you want to."
"Talk?"
"Yes, it might help alleviate your stress." He smiled weakly, "It normally helps people."
"I do not understand you... Even after this you treat me with a gentle hand instead of a clenched fist. Incredible." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I... Maybe a chat would help. I am unused to needing to talk though so it may take a while."
"I have all the time in the world."