Chapter 2: Awakening
(Sorry for being out of touch and not doing shout-outs this time, but I have sinusitis and am on antibiotics and pain medication the sinus pain is so horrible. But, thanks so much to everyone reading and reviewing! I will catch up on thank yous next time. Enjoy the chapter. Love, Spunky)
"I owe you an apology," Aizen said dulcetly as he adjusted the bindings on the young man that he had abducted and then carried into Hueco Mundo, "Actually, I owe you several."
He turned to face the computer and his fingers gracefully stroked the keys as he continued.
"I suppose I must first apologize for doing the unnatural to create you. Perhaps I should have just made the attempt to court your 'mother' but Urahara Kisuke, at the time, was not of a mindset to do such a thing. He was already suspicious, and with good reason, ne? Others might have felt uncomfortable in my presence, but he didn't just feel uncomfortable, he suspected that I was not what I appeared to be at all. It was a sort of Catch 22. I required someone of high intelligence...intelligence equal to or exceeding my own, in order to make you. However, one of such a high mental caliber would also see through my machinations, and so needed to be subdued before making too many connections. It was like a game of chess, waiting for Kisuke to offer me an opening. But that man has an Achilles' heel I don't. You are of highly intelligent parents, so you might understand. Let me see if I can explain it to you."
The computer in front of him beeped and whirred, expelling a written report that stole him from his monologue for several minutes, then brought an approving smile to his lips.
"Fascinating," he said softly.
He blinked slowly, then looked back at the young man, rose, and returned to his side.
"As I was saying," he went on, "The weakness that Urahara Kisuke has is his inescapable desire to protect chosen others. He protects Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends, his former comrades, the vizards, Shihoin Yoruichi, and the list goes on. This is not to say that 'caring' for another is wrong. It is that he misinterprets what 'caring for' and 'protecting' really mean. When I left the Seireitei with Gin and Tousen, I chose them specifically to serve me. You could say that I 'cared' for them. Indeed, I concealed them in Las Noches and made certain that when we returned for the final battles, they were not only in their best condition, but were well prepared for what steps the enemy would take. I improved their abilities and raised their power so that they could do what I intended for them to do."
He paused and closed his eyes for a moment, a flash vision of Gin's death flickering in his mind.
"You might ask why those men are dead...if, indeed, I 'cared' for them and 'protected' them. Listen closely, Ren. See if you can understand. We all come to life with a fate. Some believe that one's fate is predestined, while others believe that we set the course with our decisions, and still others believe in a melding of both. I say that it does not matter how one gains a fate, but that he pursues it relentlessly, once he knows what it is. I pursued the throne. Gin wanted to kill me. Tousen longed to be the hand of justice. And through our endeavors as comrades, we put ourselves in the path of those fates."
Aizen's lips curved slightly upward.
"I knew that Gin wanted to kill me, and I found a way to use him to move me in the direction of my own goals. Tousen too, I used, even while giving him a way to pursue his justice. We did not form a nakama, nor did we interfere in each others' battles. Had one of them died early, I would have gone on uninhibited, because while binding our energies and moving towards our goals, we did not become dependent on each other. That is where 'caring' and 'protecting' become foolish things."
He paused as Ren's breathing roughened for a moment and he moaned uncomfortably. A touch of reiatsu deepened his state of unconsciousness and Aizen continued.
"Have I ever mentioned, Kuchiki Byakuya? He is a wonderful example of a supremely powerful and talented shinigami, an experienced strategist and taichou, who foolishly cared, and weakened himself because of it. When the quincies attacked the Seireitei, Byakuya went off to battle the quincy As Nodt, with his comrade and friend, Abarai Renji at his side and his beloved sister, Rukia fighting nearby. But the quincy already knew of his weakness. And even had that data not revealed his protectiveness, As Nodt's power revealed it. Kuchiki Byakuya, the man who would have seen his own sister executed to protect his clan's pride before, had grown a heart...and As Nodt was perfectly happy to break it for him. Byakuya fell under the power of his own bankai and nearly paid for his foolishness with his life. I am sure that when he woke and had a second chance, he grew a bit wiser. He has since dwelt less on protecting his loved ones and more on making them more able to take care of themselves. It is a step in the right direction, but it falls short. Instead of worrying about whether they live or die, he should look at who they are, and how they can best achieve their fates, and help him to reach his. And if they fall, he should be sad at their passing before they could achieve their fates, but he should not throw down his own usefulness to save them. That would be a waste. I hope that you will never be that foolish."
A gentle tapping on the door to the lab made Aizen look up and fix his brown eyes on the door. A moment later it opened, admitting a golden-haired and buxom female hollow. Aizen smiled at her and nodded.
"Harribel," he said quietly.
The hollow's lips tightened rebelliously, but she nodded curtly.
"The shinigamis are nearing the fortress," she reported, "I am more than certain that they are here for you. Given that they did assist us in overcoming the quincies, we owe them. You had best gather your things and leave this place. We have no interest in creating new hostilities."
"I told you not to worry," Aizen said easily, "I am undetectable in this lab. In fact, you, yourself, are only able to reach it because I have chosen to allow it. Just tell the shinigamis that you don't know where I am. No one but you knows it isn't true."
"You want me to lie for you?" Harribel growled, "You...!"
"Calm down," Aizen said softly, "You don't want to make me have to remind you why I became your leader before, nor why you have no choice but to follow me now. Here...let me offer you some relief from the stress. I wouldn't want you to give anything away to them."
"Aizen, don't you dare...!" Harribel began, reaching for her sword.
Aizen gave her an icy smile, invoking his shikai silently, then watching as the lady hollow blinked several times, then shook her head to clear, and walked out of the room.
"Ah, much better," he sighed, turning back to the young man he had been examining.
He froze, staring, upon realizing that the bonds that had been holding his captive down were now empty and Ren was gone.
"Impossible," Aizen whispered, then he caught himself, "But no, one of our making would be able to do this. I underestimated you because of the fact that I sealed your greater powers before giving you to those peasants."
He shook his head and sighed.
"I had best find you before the shinigamis see you. It would be problematic for them to find you before you are properly educated in using your abilities."
He slipped out of the room, using his shikai to conceal him as he searched the hallways. The sound of voices drifted into the hallway from the nearby throne room.
"I am sorry, Kuchiki taichou," Harribel's solemn voice said calmly, but we have seen no sign of Aizen Sousuke. I would imagine that if he left you a trail to follow here, then he must have done so to cause a disagreement between us. You and your group are free to search the fortress, if you wish, but do not harass the hollow protectors here. We fought hard and many of our soldiers died to win peace. Do not do anything that will bring us back to a state of war."
"I have no plans to do that," Byakuya agreed, "We will accept your gracious offer to allow us to search the fortress and we will take care not to harm the protectors here, unless they attack us."
"Ah...such harmony," Aizen muttered, smirking as he continued past the throne room, reaching out with his senses and searching for his escaped captive's reiatsu, "Come now, Ren. You should not have done this. I would hate for you to die too soon."
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"You know, we may be at peace with the hollows for now, but I still don't trust them," Renji said discontentedly as Byakuya led them out of the throne room and into a maze of hallways.
"I'm with Renji," Ichigo said, shaking his head firmly, "That asshole, Grimmjow, still tries to pick fights with me every time we bump into each other."
"I haven't had the dubious pleasure of meeting Grimmjow," said Tetsuya, "However, I do know that, despite his poor manners, he did play a significant role in defeating the quincies."
"Yeah, he did," Renji said, scowling, "But it didn't change the guy's nasty personality."
"Come now," Byakuya said, frowning, "This is not the time to be worrying about such things. We need to locate Aizen quickly, before he is able to unseal the hougyoku and start all of that nonsense again!"
"Right, Taichou!" Renji agreed, falling in with Tetsuya on one side of the clan leader, while Ichigo took up a position on the other side.
They proceeded through the hallways and searched the open rooms, scanning the locked ones carefully as well. The hollows they encountered all greeted them warily, and none challenged them. But even without impediments, searching even just the main tower of the fortress was an arduous task. They proceeded for several hours, carefully searching every corner, nook and cranny. Finally, Byakuya called a halt and the group stopped to rest briefly.
"That room appears to be empty," Byakuya said, nodding in the direction of a spacious lounge, "Come, let us..."
He paused, staring in surprise, as he turned into the room and almost tripped over the unconscious body of a young man.
"What the hell?" Ichigo breathed, as Tetsuya and Renji exchanged curious glances, and Byakuya bent over the young man's motionless form.
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What happened to me? Why can't I move? Ren wondered, I remember leaving home, but...something happened on the way. Yeah. That man. I just got a little glimpse, and I had no chance to counter when he struck. I may be nearly powerless except for a little healing ability, but I'm usually fast enough to make a quick strike and get away. At least, I always could before. What happened? Where am I?
A voice trickled down into the haze around him and he registered that it seemed to be the same as the one that had addressed him as he was losing consciousness.
He said something, but I was too out of it to understand. I wish I could open my eyes. Maybe if I saw him, I would know who he is and why he grabbed me. Michio and Noa don't have much money and their only power is healing power. I don't think it could be about them. If they owed someone money, I would have just been beaten and returned as a warning. But this...it seems like it might be about me. Why? I'm no one. I'm powerless except for that bit of healing ability and some oddities about my dreams. I don't know who my mother was. She told Michio and Noa that she was running away from her abusive husband, then she died. Could this be him, then? Could this be my father? But why would it have taken him so long to find me? And why would he choose now to abduct me? What is this really about?
Ren quieted his mind and found with time that he could pick up something of what the man was saying, although the little bit he could understand didn't make great amounts of sense. He shivered inwardly when he heard the names 'Gin' and 'Kuchiki Byakuya.' They were names that had permeated most of the Rukon as men not to be trifled with. Gin was a dead traitor, who had been a powerful taichou. And although Byakuya had nearly died in the quincy invasion, he had emerged from the war even more frighteningly powerful. He had heard, too, that the Kuchiki leader was close with the hero, Shiba Ichigo. This person, then, must not be his father, he supposed, but whoever he was, if he had anything to do with the ones he was speaking of, then he was a deadly sort.
Ren felt the man moving closer and made his body perfectly still, letting his mind go blank as well as the man's cool fingers opened his clothing and he could feel the man's eyes slowly peruse his slender, tanned body.
"Interesting," the man murmured as his fingers traced a bit of the ebony dragon tattoo that ran around his throat.
It took the young man considerable effort not to flinch or inhale too sharply as the man's fingers followed the snake tattoo that wove sensuously around his waist and hips. The man's hands left his body for a moment, then he felt those invasive fingers capture a long strand of his purple tipped, ebony hair, and had to force himself into a lower state of awareness to avoid giving away that he was conscious.
He heard a tapping sound and the man left his side to converse with someone who seemed to be female and rough mannered. Ren managed to crack an eye open and watched for a moment, then took a steadying breath and put his lowly skills to work.
It's not common knowledge, but when I was a child and times were rough, I developed some survival skills that Michio and Noa would rather not know about. I knew it was wrong to steal, but it was more of a weight for me to be a burden on them. So while I was little and couldn't do much else, I learned all I could about being stealthy and escaping bad situations. The dragon tattoo was the mark of the gang leader I defeated to avoid being inducted into the street gangs and the snake around my hips was a warning that although I look weak, I know how to fight.
Fight and escape, the two things I learned to stay alive.
He smirked as he made easy work of the bindings, which his abductor had been somewhat careless with, probably thinking it would be longer before he woke. His body felt strange as he rose and ducked behind the examination table he had been on. It seemed to hum with some kind of unusual vibration. And as his captor turned and looked at the empty examinations table, the vibration seemed to swell all around him.
What is this? Ren wondered, staring as the man reacted as though he didn't see him, even as he looked him in the eyes, Am I...doing this to him? How does he not see me?
The very air around the two seemed to shift and Ren found himself standing on an unfamiliar rise, looking down into a lake that reflected his image. The image rippled and very slowly began to change as he watched. Ren gasped as the face in the water became someone else's, a tall, slender man with an aristocratic face and deep, hypnotic green eyes.
Who are you? the reflection asked him, How did you enter our inner world?
"What?" he gasped, backing away and shaking his head in confusion, "What do you mean? I don't have an inner world! I'm not a shinigami. At most, I am a simple healer!"
You stand before me and yet you want me to believe that? the green-eyed man said, No one has ever come here without our permission. One does not invade the inner world of Aizen Sousuke without an invitation!
"Aizen Sousuke!" Ren gasped, backing away from the water and looking around questioningly.
How have you done this? the man on the water's surface demanded, Why can I not make contact with my master! WHO ARE YOU!
Ren turned and froze as he found himself facing the brown-eyed man he had glimpsed earlier. He fled immediately, noting suddenly that a doorway had opened up in front of him, just as he had desired.
Oh my, Aizen chuckled softly, I seem to have very much underestimated you. And allowing your powers to begin to manifest without better securing you was careless. It's just been so long since anyone with real intelligence faced me. Aizen Razhah Ketsuekibara, you are very, very interesting. Now, why don't you come back and let me have a look at you? It's been a while...since the day you were born, actually...
"Leave me alone, you freak!" Ren screamed, launching himself through the doorway that had opened up ahead of him, "Stay the hell away from me!"
He felt a shock pass through his body and he went limp and started to lose consciousness as he tumbled through the doorway and crashed down into blackness.