Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH. IF I DID Aizen, Grimm, Nnoi, and Ken-chan would live with Ichi under one roof!
Warnings: NON-BETA-ED (AS IN NEVER WILL BE) AU, UKE!ICHI FOREVER MORE, Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Run-Ons, POV switch, AiIchi, OthersIchi, OtherAi…etc etc etc…
Dedication: To the one the only BonneNuit, no matter the style, no matter the setting she knows how rock love for the berry!
Shades of Orange
Part 8
The Makings of Aizen Sousuke
Last time…
"Raise your head Ichigo-kun."
Aizen kept his voice calming and gentle.
Not quite reluctantly, the boy raised his head.
"I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself since you have just shared some of your own story with me."
And Now…
(Ichigo)
The man gazed up at the ceiling for a moment and then started his tale..
"I did not grow up in a traditional Japanese household as one might expect. My mother was a very opinionated and outspoken person. The role of a demure little housewife did not appeal to her. She did not like to be tied down or controlled. And told my father as much when he first showed interest in her.
My father, being an artist, had no desire to break her fiery spirit, he preferred to let her fly wild and free like a brilliant phoenix in the sky.
But even with his gentle heart, my father was not some docile creature who had cowered before her. For he knew that underneath the many layers of tough skin a young woman was crying out for love.
They married in the spring of my mother's 17th birthday. Her gown had not been white but lilac, matching the color of her eyes.
Her hair, a rich chocolate brown, swept over her right shoulder, a pearl comb holding it in place. Her skin nearly flawless and olive toned had been lightly powdered. In place of a bouquet she held in her hand a tiny box and inside the box a tiny water dragon."
Ichigo did not mean to be rude but a water dragon?
He raised a thin orange brow
This story was beginning to sound like some type of fairy tale not real life.
If Aizen was affected the skeptic look, the man did not show it.
Still—he'd be lying if he said he wasn't slightly intrigued with the tale.
Olive toned skin? Lilac eyes?
"Did you inherit more of your features from her or your father?"
"My father was the son of one of the many Dukes in Germany. The only thing I inherited from him were his brown eyes, the rest of my features came from my grandfather on my mother's side."
"Royal blood then?"
"If you wish to see it that way."
What did the man mean by that?
Ichigo shook his head, deciding it was best to let the man continue with his story.
"So a water dragon huh? Why a water dragon?"
"We'll get to that."
"So when did they decide to bring you into the world?"
()()()()()()()()
(Aizen)
The boy seemed genuinely interested to learn more about him.
Who was he to let such an opportunity pass by?
"It was late in the Month of May. My mother, despite being 8 months and several weeks along in her pregnancy had decided to go on a spur of the moment adventure into the great land down under."
"So she was hopping around like a kangaroo with you inside her belly?"
The boy's tone was playful and teasing.
Eyes shining with laughter, the kind of laughter he didn't dare show on his lips. He had loosened his stiff posture, started to relax, falling back into the cushions of the red velvet couch. Curling his feet and hands, bending that young, lithe toned body almost artistically.
It reminded Aizen of the article.
"How many times have you modeled?"
The boy tensed, full on scowl returning.
"I don't know how you found out about that but believe me it will never happen again."
"Shame, why not?"
"What if I asked you to model for me?"
He would never get enough of seeing those perfectly sculpted boyish cheeks turning a fine shade of red.
"You wouldn't even consider it Ichigo-kun?"
The boy refused to answer. He would ask again at another time but now it was time to continue the story…
"Many times when my mother recounted the story, a small smile dancing on her lips, she loved to point out that even with a high fever and painful contractions, she had been the most level headed out of the two of them. My father had been a complete wreck, sweating profusely when she went into labor."
()()()()(()()()()
(Ichigo)
Goat face was a doctor so Ichigo understood the risks of a woman going into premature labor. He did not understand how Aizen's mother could have been so careless, gallivanting around Australia when she should have been in bed resting.
It was nothing short of a miracle that Aizen was sitting here alive and telling the story to him.
"Were there complications?"
"Surprisingly not. I suppose it had something to do with the box."
"Box?"
The man nodded and stood up. Walking over to one of the bookshelves and pulling a leather-bound book out from its row. He made his way back over to Ichigo and passed it to him.
Ichigo read the title
The truths and lies about water dragons
Orange brows furrowed in concentration. Um okay what exactly did the man expect him to do with this?
Read it out loud?
"My mother believed that her ancestors descended from the water dragons. She believed that I was a gift sent from the deep and forgotten world of the mermaids and—
Right the man's mother was starting to sound like a bit of a quack. Perhaps it was contagious and Aizen himself had inherited some of her insanity?
/Yet another reason ta shack up with the man King, the family that is crazed together stays together./
"So you're saying that you are not human then is that?"
"In some ways one might say I am above the rest of humanity.
Talk about an arrogant ass.
"You're the type who loves listening to the sound of his own voice aren't you? And I bet you spend a lot of time looking at yourself in the mirror too," a snort "I'll bet even your own mother grew tiered of your narcissistic ways."
"I am not a narcissist. I was rather chubby as a child, didn't have very many friends in my own age group. My father was rarely around, always running off to find the next thing or person to become part of his new art project. My mother had shifted her focus away from herself and on to me, it was her wish to mold me into the perfect son."
The man's tone sounded bitter rather than fond.
"Later on in my teens, I realized just how very hypocritical that kind of behavior had made her. And so when I reached the age of 14 I broke away from her coddling hold and transformed myself into a new person. I started with simple things like 'how I should style my hair, what I would do in order to get my body into shape, should I keep my name or change it?
"You changed your name?"
"I took my mother's maiden name Aizen and my grandfather's first name Sousuke. I felt it sounded a lot better than Sigwald Alaric. My mother agreed and has called me Sou-kun ever since."
"So she accepted the new you?"
"She accepted my name change, that did not stop her from trying to smoother me with her love, did not stop her from telling me what I should eat for breakfast, what I should wear on my first official date—"
"You went on your first date when you were 14?"
It was weird to imagine this man, Aizen, as a teenager.
"We were having some sort of silly dance at school, a girl in my history class asked me to go with her. I agreed only because I couldn't wait to see the look of shock on everyone's face when they saw the beginnings of my new transformation."
"But didn't they notice the changes as you were going through them."
"I remained hidden, home schooling was the best choice. The only one who saw me was Simca-chan."
"She's the one you went with?"
"Yes."
"How long did it take, the transformation process that is?"
"Dropping the weight was easy, changing my hair was easy, the tricky part was building the desired amount of muscle mass. Initially I looked more like a pale flat-chested girl on the night of the dance. Heads turned, one in particular. An older man, posing as a stiff, uptight school librarian had revealed his true colors that night. His eyes had been dark, grin lecherous, fingers rough and slightly calloused but I had not run screaming and cried rape because luckily he hadn't gotten that far.
The night security guard, who insisted on being called 'Yama-ji' heard a commotion coming from the library when he was running his rounds.
The strength and power hidden underneath hundreds of wrinkles and age spots, I remember my eyes were wide with awe. The fact that I had basically been assaulted didn't really seem to matter.
I simply pulled up my stained pants and followed 'Yama-ji' out of the library while 'Toka' remained unconscious.
We talked late into the night. Like a grandfather and grandson.
He presented me with my first 'Dirty magazine' and then drove me home.
Simca-chan had been most displeased with my abrupt departure but I simply had not cared.
One date did not equal a relationship.
When I walked in the door my mother took one glance at me, burst into tears and then ran upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom.
She nearly drowned that night.
It was the single most selfish act she had ever made.
A few days later, when I saw her lying on the bed in the large white hospital room, pink plush pillows cushioning her entire body, looking for all the world like a spoiled queen, I considered grabbing one of those pillows, pressing it into her face and waiting for her body to fall still, for her to breathe her last breath.
I thought about what her casket might look like, white marble with twin lilac dragons in each of the four corners. Imagined the tears falling down from my father's grainy face, he was such a mess, even there in my wild imagination.
When her lilac eyes fluttered open and met mine I squeezed her hand and told her that 'Her little boy was not broken, but reborn anew'
And then I left the room, made my way down the stairs and stopped in front of the nurse's station.
There were three women sitting behind the desk. The first was blonde, the second a brunette and the third a redhead. The blonde was flirtatious, the brunette was wary and the redhead was indecisive.
And yet at my call, they came to me.
As I knew they would.
Women love to be worshiped in one way or another.
Some might say I was bluffing my way through the entire process while others might call me a natural.
Knowledge is a terrible thing to waste.
What most humans do not realize is that anything is possible if you know what to look for, study their body language, their facial expressions and their behavior patterns.
I have bedded many women, each and every one of them were different but at the same time not."
"And yet here you sit with male college student, so tell me Aizen, at what point did you stop fooling around with women and move on to men?"
Ichigo did not know why he was asking such a question. It was not in his nature to question what a person did in their life. It was not in his nature to—
()()()()()()()
(Aizen)
"I was 18 when I spotted him in the restaurant, the same man who had helped me along in the process of reinventing myself. His hair had thinned out a bit, started going slightly gray around the edges of his hair line, eyes still dark but bloodshot. I was taller than him now and he had not recognized me.
I considered my options. I could set out to seduce and humiliate him or I could cut off his testicles and sell them on the black market."
The boy looked like he was going to vomit up his breakfast. The sickly green color clashed horribly with his vibrant orange hair.
"In the end I wound up doing both. Then I wiped my hands clean and set off into the night, a light spring in my step."
The boy scrunched up his nose in distaste "You're disgusting." He spat the words quite viciously.
"I am not a cruel man Ichigo-kun. For every action there comes a consequence. Just as he had done to me, I created him anew. He felt nothing but pleasure on that night. The evidence was on both our bodies as well as my gloved fingers."
"But you—I mean you—
"When I turned 19 I was introduced to the world of the Yakuza. As much as I would like to give you details I do not desire to have my tongue sliced in half."
"So you're a criminal then?"
Aizen threw his head back and laughed, "Heavens no, I wouldn't get myself mixed up with a uncouth, uneducated crowd like that."
"But you just said—
"A wise man keeps allies in all locations."
The boy frowned "Why are you telling me all of this?"
"Because I believe that hiding ones past is a cowards game. And I, Aizen Sousuke, am no coward."
"Do you normally tell people you're interested in about your life story?"
"I tell people what I choose to tell them."
"But I mean you must've fallen in love at one point or another right? You said you have children."
"I do. But only one is my legitimate child. The others are adopted. And love, has nothing to do with conceiving a child, Ichigo-kun."
"So then what you just used the woman? Do you even have a conscience?"
"I never said I did not love her. Do not put words in my mouth."
"So you adopted children. Just how many do you have exactly?"
"8 in total."
"Why so many I mean were you lonely or something."
"It has nothing to do with being lonely. I simply refuse to let the innocent suffer?"
"You mean you rescued them from broken or abusive homes or something?"
"Would you like to hear more of the story?"
"Yeah, I guess I would."
Once again the Aizen looked up towards the ceiling and then resumed his tale
"I was in my second semester of my third year in college when I met her. Golden eyes sparkling, long dark hair held up in a high pony tail, skin the color of a fine mocha latte, Shihoin Yoruichi."
"Your first love?"
Aizen shook his head. "A medical student and a talented one at that."
"You studied medicine?"
"It's one of my majors, yes."
Ichigo wasn't really sure what any of this had to do with Aizen's adopted children but-
"During her free time Shihoin was involved in a group that affectionately referred to themselves as the 'Flash Step Squad'. This group had one major goal in mind: To speed up the process of rehabilitation and healing of the human body."
"And did they succeed?"
"It wasn't as simple as snapping ones fingers. They experienced several complications and road blocks a long the way."
"What kind of road blocks?"
"Well for example one of their patients fell into a coma and when he finally regained consciousness he had lost the ability of speech."
It was truly a horrifying thought. But not unheard of.
"Did the family members of the victim sue?"
"Unfortunately Margera-kun did not have any living relatives and was placed into child services."
"And then what happened?"
"Let me answer your question with a question of my own do you believe in miracles Ichigo-kun?"
Ichigo had to consider the question for a minute.
Did he believe in miracles?
Well he suppose he might to some degree after all back when he had been a small boy and nearly got run over by an oncoming train –a split second right before his body would have gone crack and splat the train had stopped.
And he was back in his mother's arms. Safe and Sound.
"I do. So what happened?"
"A business associate of mine decided to adopt him."
"Well that's nice but I still don't get w-
"Please do not interrupt me Ichigo-kun, I'd hate to punish you for talking out of turn."
Ichigo was ready to tell the man to stuff it when-
"Margera-kun and my business associate bonded almost instantly and it made me realize something. I wanted to adopt a child of my own."
"How did one turn into 7? Oh and when did the legitimate one come on to the scene?"
"Spring had come. The circus was in town. As a man of many interests I had always been quite fascinated with the all the mystical and magical illusions that went into a performance. I found myself drawn to the child with sea green hair and bright hazel eyes. She was performing some sort of wild acrobatic stunt."
"Drawn? What the hell! DO you mean to tell me that you're some kind of pedophile?"
Aizen's dark eyes flashed, his gentle tone was gone "Do not ever use such a disgusting word in my presence again!"
Ichigo no longer felt relaxed. He no longer wished to sit here and listen to Aizen's story. He just wanted to crawl under a rock and-
"You'll have to forgive me Ichigo-kun, I did not mean to raise my voice."
And just like that Aizen was back to normal.
"While I admit it wasn't exactly legal, arrangements were made and 3 days later Odelschwanck-chan was under my roof and my care. Her half brother, Jiruga-kun snuck into the back seat while I was finalizing the contract with Adachi."
"And the others?"
"We'll get to that next time. Now then-
"Why am I here? What exactly do you want from me? Am I some kind of replacement to some long-lost lover of yours?"
A replacement?
Once again the boy was exhibiting the kind of characteristic behavior that was second nature to his astrological chart.
Not paranoia. But self doubt.
Over the course of time, he would change.
Be reborn anew.
"You are not a replacement." A small smirk "I've never met a creature quite like you, Kurosaki Ichigo."
"I'm not a creature!"
The boy stood up, swiping a hand through the air.
It was quite amusing.
"Stop smirking! Not everything is a damn game. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Wrong with me?"
The boy threw both hands up in the air "I give up. This is ridiculous. I'm leaving."
A minute. Two minutes. Three minutes passed. The boy had not moved towards the door.
Rather he started pacing back and forth.
Muttering under his breath.
Aizen caught the words 'why, attracted, damn and fabric.'
()()()()()()()()
(Ichigo)
'Why am I still here? Why am I still attracted to this twisted heartless man?'
/You like em' bad King./
/No I don't!/
/Yeah ya do. I still remember when ya first encountered Grimm, ya couldn't even keep ya attention focused on what the professor was sayin' All ya kept thinkin' about what was 'Wonder if his hair is natural, wonder if he wouldn't mind if I touched it' I kinda just want him ta look in my direction-/
/I said no such thing. I never—I mean sure I had a lot of wet dreams about him and stuff but—
/When ya met 'Pachi, all ya could think 'bout was if he'd take ya dry or loosen ya up first—then ya were so disappointed when the guy said he wouldn't touch ya unless ya asked first. But ya didn't ask King because ya like to torture ya self. Ya like to get em' all worked up and then shy away from em' One day it'll catch up ta ya, one day the guy won't be nice like Aizen-sama, Grimm and 'Pachi—one day you-/
/Would you just shut up already! I mean so I'm not entirely turned off by rough affection and I did get a bit hot and bothered when Aizen told his story, 'course I'm glad he got his revenge on the bastard-/
/Sure ya are because ya don't want ta even think about Aizen being less than a suave seme ready ta pound ya eternal uke ass—that's what really turned ya off! Ya don't want to be 'round some wishy washy bottom bitch—because ya want ta be the bitch-/
/I do not!/
/Whine, whine princess berry, whine whine all ya want! That won't change a damn thing./
/I could be seme./
/Don't make me laugh King./
/But I could—it can't be that hard./
/Ya are such a dumb ass King! Tryin' ta lie ta me when I'm part of ya. I know damn well that you've gone limp at the idea of bein' in control in that way. Not sayin' ya would be a whipped puss but ya would much rather be the one bein' plowed not the one doin' the plowin'/
'Damn this stupid fabric!'
Shirosaki laughed inside his head before falling silent once more.
"So why am I really here?"
The man stood up and walked towards him.
"Every creature desires to know about the unknown, even you."
"So what is this like some prequel to the seduction process or something?"
Why did he care?
What was he searching for?
Was he hoping to prove both himself and the one inside himself, his other personality, wrong?
Did he want Aizen to show him just how much of a seme he was capable of being?
The answer was…
YES.
The smirk had returned to the man's face, he was nearing closer and closer to Ichigo now.
"Perhaps."