Ichigo half expected to be knocked out again before it was time for curfew, but somehow he made it without being knocked out. He had been reminded that he had zoned out three times after getting out of solitary, Grimmjow made it a point to count how many times he had zoned out. He no longer knew what to think, the more he thought about it the more this felt real and his journey with the Soul Society no longer did. Twice he had found himself leaning towards this was actually the reality and he was actually crazy, though he quickly talked himself out of it. If he gave up hope that would mean he had no way out of this place.

Ichigo couldn't keep focusing on what this place truly was, it may drive him insane if he did. Perhaps that was what Aizen was trying to do, the insane were easier to break. He could see Aizen now going on about how this was all part of his plan, perhaps he had been shown Aizen's Shikai and just didn't realize it. If that was the case, he had failed the Soul Society majorly. Ichigo sighed as he laid on his bed looking up at the off white ceiling. He had to do something to keep his mind off of that topic. He couldn't allow himself to overthink it after all. That was when he resulted to counting the ceiling tiles, it was odd but it oddly had a relaxing effect on him.

That was when a new thought entered his mind. When he had come into the room with Grimmjow everyone had stared at them, he wondered what everyone had heard. Well he was most likely going to hear all about it tomorrow. He closed his eyes, maybe sleep would come if he did that.

His eyes snapped opened when he heard footsteps and then a door opening. Aizen was in his face.

Ichigo couldn't help the groan that escaped his lips. "What do I owe this visit" he got out. Aizen had put his finger over his lip.

"Shh, follow me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Just trust me." There was something in the man's voice that told him he could trust him. He was already up on his feet and following Aizen, until Aizen stopped at a pair of doors. "We should be safe here. Ichigo, something is terribly wrong here. "

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Would you believe me if I told you I was in love with you?"

Ichigo couldn't find the words to reply. Aizen leaned in to kiss him. Aizen's lips were soft, and Ichigo couldn't help but return the kiss. Aizen pulled back to look at him, and Ichigo found himself melting into warm dark chocolate pools that were Sōsuke Aizen's eyes.

That was when Ichigo woke up. Holy shit. He had to be going insane if he was dreaming about Aizen like that. Ichigo groaned. He had to get out of this place before he truly did go insane. He sat up in the bed, there was no way he could allow himself to go back to sleep if that dream was going to continue.

…

Ichigo had told himself he wasn't going to go back to sleep, but somehow he found himself being woke up by the sound of knocking on the door. When he didn't reply the door open and Aizen came into the room. Why was Aizen his personal wakeup call anyways?

"Get ready Ichigo, you should be having visitors today. Your father at least said he was coming to visit today. So get up."

"Why are you such a morning person?"

Aizen chuckle. Ichigo noticed by looking at the man that he had not been expecting that question. "Perhaps it is the tea. Though seriously Ichigo you need to wake up. If you don't get up I'll be forced to get you out of bed myself."

Ichigo felt a chill go through him at that. He sat up in bed. "Fine I'm up. Though how did I get so lucky as to have you as a personal wakeup call?" His voice seemed to lack emotion when he said that. A scowl was forming on his lips. He was still a little shook up after the dream he had last night.

"I don't think anyone else could wake you up frankly." He looked at Ichigo's face and shook his head. "You look like shit."

"I'm sorry for not being a morning person, okay!" Ichigo couldn't help but raise his voice a little bit.

"I don't mean like that. Though it seems that you really are sensitive. I meant that it looks like you didn't get a good night's sleep. Did you have a bad dream?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be telling you about it" Ichigo snapped out. He slid his legs off the bed and went to get up, but Aizen had stopped him from standing up.

"Talk to me."

There was no way in hell that he was going to tell Aizen about his dream. He couldn't make up something either. He shrugged Aizen's hand off of him, only to be pulled into Aizen so he couldn't get away.

"Let go of me. I don't want to talk to you. Let me go get ready."

"Ichigo, you know you can talk to me. Or are you still convinced that I am the villain."

"Fine, I'll keep it in mind, just please let me go. So help me if you say that everything is going according to plan…"

Aizen was looking at him strangely now. "I know what will help you, I'll share some of my special tea with you."

"I don't want your tea. I want you to leave me alone. No special wake up calls, no special treatment, I am sick of it all. I don't care if you promised my father anything, I want you to back off. I don't like you, okay. To me you will always be the villain, and you acting like this gives me the creeps."

Ichigo had pushed Aizen back, his words had at least stunned the older man. He went from the room, going to the mess hall. Maybe he could find Grimmjow. The man did not follow him, from what he knew he was still where he had left him.

Ichigo had quickly found Grimmjow at an empty table in the mess hall. He had quickly got his food and went to sit by the Espada that was now somehow his friend. "I need to get out of here" he got out in a whisper to Grimmjow.

"What happened? You seem paler then yesterday, Berry Boy."

"I told you not to call me that, and well I rather not talk about it." He had took in a mouthful of rice to prove his point. Grimmjow shook his head at him.

"So I should be on the lookout for people coming after you. Yeah that is it. If you're not going to talk Ichigo, I am only going to assume."

Renji and Rukia had come to join them at that moment. "You're going to assume he likes Dr. Aizen. Well he does, don't you see how they are with each other. Hey Ichi, why isn't your doctor with you?"

"Shut up Renji" Ichigo had to stop his voice from raising. He shoved a bite of fruit into his mouth to stop himself from saying anything else. The food did come in handy for that at least.

"Honestly you two."

"Did I say you two could come and join us? I think you should both leave if you're only going to go after Ichi. Get away from him." Grimmjow was quick to defend his new friend.

"Who are you to tell us to leave him alone." Rukia wasn't going to let Grimmjow talk to her like that.

Ichigo wanted to sink under the table and disappear.

"Yeah, we are his friends. He even told us that. We also heard that you are a bad influence on him. So you should get lost." Renji was backing up Rukia.

"Just stop all three of you. I'm not in the mood to deal with this, later." He left half his food on the tray and got up to walk away, He had no clue where he was going to go, but he had to get out of here. Maybe he could go talk to Gin again. The guy was creepy, but he had at least helped him out the other day. He didn't turn around despite his friends calling for him.

He bumped into someone as he was leaving the mess hall, he looked up into Ikkaku's face. "Sorry" he got out, not bothering to say the man's name.

"You should be!" Ikkaku looked mad, yep that was very true. Ikkaku went to punch him, which Ichigo easily avoided. He was at least thankful that no one here had Zanpakutōs that would be a disaster if they did. He went around Ikkaku, he had no reason to fight the man.

"Get back here Kurosaki! Fight me like a real man!" Ikkaku was yelling after him. Ichigo didn't dare turn around, he would not get into trouble. He turned the corner but he could still hear the yelling as he left the mess hall behind him. He hoped he didn't run into anyone else. As luck would have it, he of course did run into someone. Before him was Kisuke Urahara.

"What do we have here" he said. Ichigo half expected the man to whip out that stupid fan of his, but the man did not.

"I'm not in the mood, Kisuke. Unless you have answers for me, I could care less."

"Well I suppose someone has to lead you to the visiting room. Your guests just got here. Are you in the mood for guests, Ichigo?"

"Guests?"

"You have more than one person who had come to visit you. If you will follow me." Ichigo followed behind Kisuke, and for the first few minutes they walked in silence. At least Kisuke wasn't Aizen. He preferred the other man's company now, but in all reality he didn't know if Kisuke was the best person for him to be hanging around with.

"You sure do space out a lot don't you? Sōsuke has told us this, but I never realized just how bad you space off. Which reminds me why isn't Sōsuke with you, well I should call him Aizen around you."

"He is a creepy, and I left him. "

"Shame, poor guy must be worried. He went about making that promise to protect you and all…"

"Wait what?"

"Ask him about it, or better yet ask your father about it." None of it made sense any more, well it never had made any sense. "Anyways we are here" he said opening a door and ushering Ichigo inside before entering himself and closing the door after him.

Ichigo's breath caught in his throat. He couldn't believe his eyes, he had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming. His dad was there and beside him was his mother. Orihime and Uryu were there too, but he only cared about his mother. "Mom" he got out, his voice breaking a little as he spoke. "You're alive."

Masaki looked at her son, her eyes had become glossy as if she was about to cry. His father was holding his mother in an attempt to comfort her. "Of course I am, Ichigo. Sōsuke said that you were having problems, but I didn't realize that much. No, I refused to accept that you were having problems. If your father…"

"Shh Masaki, it will be okay. Ichigo aren't you going to say hello to anyone?" Or are you just going to stand there gawking at your mother like she is some ghost or something."

Ichigo couldn't believe it, his mother was alive. She was actually there, he looked between the faces of his visitors, and noticed that two people were missing. "Where are Yuzu and Karin?"

It was Orihime who looked like she was going to cry this time. She couldn't stop herself, she ran up to Ichigo throwing her arms around him. Ichigo awkwardly wrapped his arms around Orihime. "I'm sooooooo sorry Ichigo" she got out along with a few quiet sobs.

"What? Can someone tell me what is wrong? Mom, Dad, Orihime, Uryu? Where are Yuzu and Karin?"

Uryu pushed his glasses up looking at Ichigo. He seemed to be the one who had took it upon himself to tell Ichigo. "Ichigo, I'm sorry but they aren't here anymore. They haven't been alive for a year now." Ichigo had let go of Orihime and went towards Uryu.

"What did you say?! Yuzu and Karin are ….dead" he got out. "No it can't be true. Where was I?" He couldn't stop his knees from giving out from under him and he fell to the ground. It had to be a nightmare, it needed to be a nightmare.

His mother had come to his side now, she was hugging him. His father was the one who spoke. "You were claiming to be a Shinigami, saying you would fight to protect those you cared about. Honestly I blame myself for not protecting them."

"H… how did they die?"

"It was a drunk driver" Orihime got out quietly. "Sora tried to save them, but he was too late. I'm so sorry Ichigo."

Wait did Orihime say Sora had tried to save him. Sora had been Orihime's brothers, but in the world he knew her brother had died. When Orihime had come to the clinic that was the first time he had seen her, although he didn't know it was her until later. He was trying to wrap his mind around everything that was happening. His mother was alive and so was Orihime's older brother but Yuzu and Karin were dead. He could hear the door open and close. He didn't bother to look up, he figured that Kisuke was simply leaving the room.

"Well this isn't exactly what I expected when I came in here." Aizen's voice rang in his ears. Ichigo looked up, his vision was blurry but he saw Aizen in place of Kisuke. Shit he was in trouble now.

Isshin looked at his old friend. "Sōsuke" he got out.

Aizen raised a hand. "Though Ichigo needed to know. It is best for him to relearn things. It doesn't look like he is going to remember on his own. I would say that he should go home, but he isn't in the right mind to go home."

"I am" Ichigo snuck a look at Aizen. "I promise I am. I don't belong here. I just need to go home. Please let me go home."

Aizen shook his head. "I don't think it would be wise at least not now. Perhaps we should have a little story time, you looked shocked."

"Bastard! You did all of this, how do I know you didn't kill them!"

Aizen looked at Ichigo. "See this is what I meant. You assumed I killed your little sisters? I would never do such a thing. Ichigo I'll tell you again that I am not the villain."

Isshin looked at his friend. "He thinks you're a villain? You wouldn't hurt a fly though. I mean yeah there was that time with Masaki, but I forgave you for that."

"He hurt mom?!"

Aizen sighed. "No I would never hurt Masaki. In fact I saved her. Ichigo why don't we compare your reality to this one. It may help in the long run."

Ichigo was being help to stand and was sat down on a couch. He sighed, he wouldn't be able to get out of this. "Yuzu and Karin were alive, Yuzu had to grow up too fast though." He bit his lip but continued. "Mom died when I was nine, she died saving me from…" he stopped himself. Aizen gestured him to go on. "She died saving me from a hollow. I blamed myself for her death though. Orihime's brother, Sora, also died, he died by a drunk driver. "

Orihime looked like she was going to start sobbing again when he said that her brother had died. Uryu was quick to comfort her. "So would you rather have that life?" Aizen's voice was calm as ever.

Ichigo bit his lip. "I never wanted my mom to die okay, but I never wanted Yuzu and Karin to die either. I couldn't even protect them, it feels like it was my fault because I couldn't protect them. I hate seeing Orihime cry, I feel terrible for making her cry. "

"You did not answer my question though, Ichigo. Would you rather have that life?"

Ichigo swallowed. "I made myself stronger so I could protect those I cared about. Sure at times I felt crazy before of my damn inner hollow, but I had resolve. I had a reason to fight, a reason to keep going. Here I don't know what is real and what is not."

"Ichigo_" Aizen was starting to speak.

Ichigo looked down. "I would take that reality over this one. I just wish that my mom had lived in that reality."

Aizen frowned. "I see."

Ichigo stood up from his spot on the couch. This was just getting to be too much for him, he might as well leave this room and go back to plotting an escape with Grimmjow. Isshin had come flying towards him his foot extended. He landed a kick on Ichigo that sent him to the floor. Ichigo growled. "What was that for?!"

"You left yourself wide open and you're an idiot Ichigo. Your sisters are alive, no one thought it was a good idea to bring them here."

Ichigo glared at his father. "Goat face, why the hell would you fucking lie to me about something like that?"

Aizen sighed. "It was my idea, I told them to do it."

Masaki looked at her son. "We didn't want to lie to you, honey. Though Sōsuke said that it would help you."

Ichigo got up from the floor, dodging a hit from his father and went towards Aizen. "Aizen you bastard!" Ichigo threw a punch at Aizen, which Aizen easily blocked. "It may have helped you, but you mostly failed the exercise. Trying to hit me won't help you. Ichigo, I told you I am not your enemy."

"You made my family and friends lie to me about that. I believe you are lying to me about not being my enemy. There is no way in hell that you want to help me." Ichigo took his other fist and this time his punch collide with Aizen's chest. Aizen was sent into a coughing fit, Ichigo smirked backing away from the man once his fist got released from Aizen's hand.

"Masaki… Isshin… you have quite a son there. He sure has a lot of power in that punch."

Isshin was smiled at that comment. "Just like his old man."

Ichigo expected to be restrained or something, but nothing happened. What kind of mental asylum was this anyways? Oh a fucked up one that was somehow ran by Aizen. The man was probably the most mentally unstable one here.

Ichigo looked at Aizen who was regaining his breath. A part of him felt sorry for punching the guy, but he quickly buried that part of him. He would not feel sorry for the bastard who had just told his family and friends to lie to him. He had to stay in the room though. Idle small talk was made. Uryu and Orihime seemed to be closer than normal. "So what is up with you two?"

Orihime clapped her hands together, but a small blush came across her checks. Uryu pushed up his glasses. "Well um you um see" Orihime started. Ichigo shook his head "let me guess, you two are dating? That is great. I'm happy for both of you."

His mother and father were going on about life, well his life here. It was different than the one he remembered. Finally time was up and it was time for his friends and family to say goodbye. Orihime hugged him "be safe, Ichigo and so sorry for lying to you" she got out, she looked like she was about to cry again. This must be hard for her.

"I will be, Orihime and it is okay." It wasn't, but for Orihime he had to grit his teeth and tell her it was.

His mom was next to hug him. "Honey, get better soon. That way you can come home and we can be a family again." His father gave him a very awkward hug, patting him on his back. Then Uryu awkwardly shook his hand. "Don't do anything stupid" he said and then a series of goodbyes were said, and he was left with Aizen again.

Aizen was looking at him. "Get it over with, punish me." He refused to apologize to the older man.

"Punish you, why? Because you punched me? Perhaps it was all according to my plan." A smirk played on the older man's face.

Ichigo punched his arm this time, Aizen made no attempt to block it. He was chuckling. "You gave me that one, can't blame me for using it. Also you have one strong left punch even if you are right handed."

"You can thank me getting into fights a lot for that one, plus all the training. Kisuke put me through hell, so did Shinji."

Aizen shook his head. "Did I put you through hell too?"

"It was all to defeat you so you're the devil who created that hell."

"So I'm the devil now? I'll add that to my nicknames from you. Well I suppose I should escort you out."

"What happened to Kisuke anyways?"

"He left, he knew it would be a matter of time before I decided to come seek you out."

"Why did you?"

Aizen looked at him and smiled, it was a real smile that showed all of Aizen's perfect teeth. "Because you're going to have to do a lot more than just tell me you hate me for me not to care about you. "

Ichigo didn't have to ask why, he had a feeling he knew the answer. He could see it in the way Aizen's brown eyes looked into his own. He walked behind Aizen in silence. Holy fucking shit Sōsuke Aizen was in love with him.

...++++….

Author's Note:

This is my first author's note, because well this chapter was hard to write for multiple reasons. With the earlier chapters it was all about explaining relationships and how each character fit into this story… or rather just introducing them. Know that somehow each character will play a part in Ichigo's adventures through the mental asylum. The first reason the chapter was hard to write was because well the beginning. Ichigo NEEDED to have the dream to set things in motions and make the teenage 'berry boy' even more confused about things. Secondly and the most important of the reasons is because of the visit with his family and friends and did I mention Aizen's part in it all.

Everything had happen like it did, trust me it all plays a part somehow. Everything happens for a reason after all.

Another reason for this author note, is to address what exactly is going on with Ichigo. Is it a parallel dimension, a nightmare, cruel reality or perhaps Ichigo is under the influence of Kyōka Suigetsu? Well that will be answered all in good time. Later Chapters will deal with that. Until then I leave you with this… context clues.

So what does everyone think?