Ichigo's eyes blinked open, the first thing that awaited him was off white ceiling. His mind was still foggy, but it didn't take long before the events from before hit him. He didn't know what was real and what wasn't anymore. The mattress that he laid on felt real enough, but it didn't feel right. He hoped that it had all been some nightmare that he would wake up from, but he wasn't so lucky. No, he couldn't give up hope. He had to at least try.
He sank his teeth into his bottom lip as hard as he could. Pain shot through his lip, but he didn't let go. He couldn't give up hope that this was all a bad dream that he would wake up from soon enough. After a few minutes had gone by and he had realized that he was not going to wake himself up, he released his lip from between his teeth. He sighed, but that was the only movement he made. He didn't feel like getting out of the bed, he didn't want to even think about what would occur today.
His friends and family hadn't done anything, they had locked him up. He wasn't crazy, he didn't belong here. He could hear footsteps outside the room, the room that he was now thinking of as a jail cell. He took a chance to take in his surrounding of his 'cell'. The walls were the same off white that the ceiling was. The room reminded him somewhat of Los Noches, the more he thought about it. The white on white layout of Los Noches, and that gave him a shot of hope. Perhaps it was all a bad joke.
If he was in Los Noches, that would raise even more problems. It was something that Ichigo could deal with though. There wasn't much to the room besides the off white structure of it, as the only objects inside the room was a bed and a small side table. The door was opened, and light streamed in through the crack in the door. Aizen approached him.
"How is my patient this morning?"
Ichigo backed up against the wall as Aizen got closer. There was no way he was allowing that man to touch him again. "Not talkative, I see" the older man said as he looked over Ichigo calmly.
"Just leave me alone" Ichigo got out, his throat and his lips felt raw.
"What kind of doctor would I be, if I did something like that?"
Ichigo couldn't help the scowl that formed on his lips. "Just stop with the good doctor routine, you're not fooling me." Ichigo only then looked down to see that he was wearing different clothes. He was dressed in a simple white shirt and black sweatpants.
Ichigo risked a look at the older male's face, and Aizen looked offended. "Ichigo, the world that you were living in, it isn't real. I am not some criminal, I want to honestly help you. "
"Why do you care so much about me? Doctor or not, why not let someone else 'help' me?" Ichigo wanted answers and he would get them.
Aizen looked at him. "If I tell you the answer to that, will you at least try to corporate with me? I don't want to be forced to call for backup to get you out of this room. You after all do need to go socialize, Ichigo." Aizen's voice was calmed, but to Ichigo he didn't buy it one bit.
"Fine, I will try to corporate with you."
Aizen let out a sigh before he began. "I'm not sure why myself. I just know that I am the only one that can truly get anywhere with you."
"Bull shit. I don't believe you. You have to have some motive behind it."
Aizen raised his hands in defeat "I promise I don't. I hope that you do learn to trust me. I don't know why the world you spoke of had me as a villain, but I assure you that I am not one. Ichigo, will you at least follow me. I want you to meet the other patients and the other staff. Maybe that will help you come out of that shell of yours. "
Ichigo sighed as he slipped out of the bed. He really had no choice, and at least Aizen hadn't tried to touch him. He did look the part of a doctor though, no it was all a lie. He couldn't let his guard down not around the man who had threaten and betrayed so many people. His eyes wondered down Aizen's body though. The man was dressed in professional attire, completed with a white button up shirt and black pants. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up an inch and two buttons of the shirt were undone. Ichigo stopped his eyes from roaming where they shouldn't. What was wrong with him?
He was stuck in a mental asylum and longed for it all to be a bad dream or for it to be cruel reality. He never thought he would hope to be trapped inside Los Noches, yet his mind wanted that more than anything. Actually the thought his mind wanted more than anything was for it to be all a bad dream. Aizen had exited the room, leaning the way through the off white halls. It had to be based off of Los Noches, there was just too much white for comfort. It was actually starting to make him sick.
Ichigo wasn't fighting Aizen this time, he was too lost in thought to fight. He was however making small mental notes on the layout of the building. "You are free of course to roam the halls, well during the appropriate hours of course. Your door isn't locked" Aizen said trying to make small conversation with Ichigo. Ichigo did not take the bait.
Aizen continued as they went by a room that looked like a mess hall. "That is where meals will be served, again there is a schedule to the times it is opened. You just missed breakfast, so perhaps we should get you something to eat."
"I'm not hungry." Ichigo couldn't help but let the words flow past his lips. He was lying, he was starving, but he didn't want to eat.
"Ichigo, there is no reason for you to lie about being hungry. Come on, we can delay a few minutes for you to eat." Aizen lead the way into the mess hall, Ichigo had no choice but to follow him. "Now sit here and wait" Aizen said.
Ichigo sighed as he sat down at one of the tables. He didn't understand why he was listening to Aizen. He didn't understand anything that was going on actually. Aizen soon was coming back along with a women following shortly behind him.
The women placed a tray in front of Ichigo, on the tray was a glass of orange juice, a bowl of rice, a bowl of various fruits and chopsticks. It was simple, but it looked good. Aizen took a seat in the chair across from him. "Thank you Mai" he said and the women smiled at him. "No problem at all Dr. Aizen." Then she was scurrying back into the kitchen.
Ichigo muttered a thank you before he began to eat the food in front of him. He didn't expect the food to taste so good, but it did. Aizen couldn't help but chuckle at Ichigo as he basically gulped down the food. "For someone who wasn't hungry, you sure look hungry. Slow down or you'll choke."
Ichigo slowed down his pace, he hadn't realized how fast he was eating. He couldn't help but glance up at Aizen then and again, there was an eerie silence between them now. Ichigo finished the last of the fruit and placed his chopsticks down on the tray. "So where now?"
Aizen looked at him and smiled. "Well now we continue our tour. Just leave the tray on the table. Come along." Ichigo found himself following Aizen again, he wasn't even hesitating now. He felt a little better now that he had eaten, but his mind was still a little bit on edge. Aizen pointed out various rooms as they passed them, saying what each room was for. Ichigo wasn't really paying that much attention to what each room was for. He could careless, he hoped to be out of here soon enough. He just didn't know how to escape exactly.
Aizen pointed out one more room on their "tour", and that was his office. He was saying how Ichigo could come to him at any time. Things still didn't add up. The setup of this place didn't really add up. Ichigo didn't know much about mental asylums, but he was sure that Karakura Town had no asylum. "Aizen" he got out.
"Yes."
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course, Ichigo."
"You said the name of this place is Karakura Asylum, but I didn't realize that Karakura Town had an asylum. "
They had stopped walking, Aizen had turned to look at him. Here it came, where he was told he was too smart for his own good and then all hell broke loose. Yet that didn't come. Aizen had placed one of his hands on Ichigo's shoulder, which Ichigo brushed off quickly. "Karakura Asylum is located on the outskirts of Karakura Town. Most don't know about this place. The town can't bother with those who they feel are unfit to function in normal society. "
That didn't sound like the town he knew. Well he didn't really think about it. The people of Karakura Town didn't stare that much when he saw spirits. In fact, they didn't find it that odd. Karakura Town was a place of high spiritual pressure, and that is what made Aizen target it in the first place to make the Oken. How could he forget that? This was something else that made no sense, yet he had no chance in getting Aizen to tell him anything right now.
"Oh" was all Ichigo could get out.
Aizen turned around and continued on his way, Ichigo followed him. They came to a set of double doors, these doors were at least not off white. Instead they were a pair of silver doors. Aizen pushed them open and waited for Ichigo to follow him inside before he let the doors close. Inside the room couches, chairs and tables were arranged around the room. The room itself was big and there were colors presents in the rooms beside off white. The room for some reason looked a tad more cheery with the brown accents in the floor. Ichigo also noted that this was the only room he had seen that had a window. In fact it didn't just have two windows, it had a door which lead to the outside. Finally his escape route! Ichigo couldn't help his excitement at this discovery. He may have a way out of this place after all. Inside he cheered quietly, he mustn't let Aizen discover his plan.
His plan? When did he start sounding like Aizen? He might have to stop this habit before he became like the bastard. That could be bad, he must not even think about things like that. Yet it wasn't as if he was going around going about how things had all gone according to his plan. If he started that number, he might find himself getting sick.
He noticed a number of people he knew, some were wearing the same white shirt and black sweatpants that he was. Some were dressed more professional. This had to be a nightmare, there was no way everyone was going along with this if it wasn't. Aizen had been talking to him, as he once again zoned out. Aizen was waving a hand in front of his face, when that failed he resorted to laying his hand on Ichigo's shoulder. That sent the teen jumping out of his skin.
"Don't touch me" he got out trying so hard to even his voice. Why was Aizen having this effect on him?
"You were zoning out on me, what else was I supposed to do. You didn't react to anything else."
Ichigo sighed and sank down into one of the chairs, it was surprisingly comfortable. People were looking at him, both what he assumed were staff and patients.
"Attention everyone" Aizen said causing everyone to look at him. "We have a new member to our family here at Karakura Asylum. I would like you all to meet Ichigo Kurosaki. "
There were series of mummers of 'hello', Ichigo didn't pay that much attention to them. He raised a hand in a form of a wave, but his eyes were looking elsewhere. He had spotted a short girl with black hair, she was sitting towards the corner. Rukia. She was here too. Rukia may have had some issues, but Ichigo would have never have sent her here.
He allowed his eyes to leave Rukia, he was now taking in everyone else in the room around him. There was Ikkaku. Perhaps the male did belong here, Ikkaku was his friend, but he wasn't exactly sane in all meanings of the word. Yumichika was there too, he was a short distance from Ikkaku, and he was looking at himself in the mirror. Ichigo noticed that a lot of the Soul Society was there, then his eyes landed on a pale individual with bright green eyes. Ichigo could make out his eyes even from across the room.
He wouldn't forget the individual. Another person who he thought was dead, yet the Espada was sitting in the corner of the room. He was alone and was not talking to anyone that actually didn't surprise him. He went and mentally registered who was in this place with him. That was when the door opened. Ichigo's mouth hung opened as he saw the pale blond haired man come in. Kisuke was a doctor, there was no way.