Darkness. He groaned, his head hurt. He must have blacked out again. What was with this place? He looked around at his surroundings. He couldn't see anything, but darkness. He could hear someone screaming.

xxxxxxx….xxxx

What was the screaming about? Aizen pushed through the crowd of patients and staff that were gathering in the hallways. That was when he saw the clump laying in the floor. He could tell it was a body, and the person wasn't moving. He couldn't see the hair of the person who laid in the floor. He moved closer and only then could he tell who the person was. He dropped to the floor and scooped the boy into his arms.

"If anyone saw anything, I recommend you coming forward now."

The boy was at least not bleeding. No he had been wrong. There was a wound on his head. Though he was still alive, thankfully. At least some of the other staff were moving around and had taken Ichigo to have him attended to. Why had everyone just been staring? Why had no one taken care of the boy? "I'm waiting."

No one stepped forward.
"Know whoever did this will be punished. I will find out who did it."

xxxxxx….xxxxx

Ichigo had finally came across the mirror again. Nothing played in it. It was a blank slate. Ichigo coughed.

xxxx….xxxxx

Aizen shifted as he heard the boy cough. The boys brown eyes shot open, the look in his eyes was one of pain. Aizen had no clue what to do.

Ichigo vision was blurry. He could see Aizen. "Which Aizen are you" he got out, his voice sounded weak.

"Don't speak, Ichigo." His power had been limited, when he had been put in this cell. He should be able to do a healing kido on Ichigo though. Then again he could allow Ichigo to die, he seemed like he was on death's door. No. He couldn't allow the boy to die. The only thing with the healing kido, he would need to figure out what was wrong with the boy.

"So what have you done to him now?" Kisuke had approached him.

"How did you get down here?"

"I think your concern should be rather or not the boy dies in your arms. "

"There is nothing to heal. Physically he is fine."

Kisuke pulled something from his pocket. Keys.

The door unlocked. Aizen had no time to think, he scooped the boy into his arms. He would never admit it out loud, but he had grown attached to the boy in this short amount of time. He flashstepped away from Kisuke. He was free. The movement was harder carrying the boy, but he managed. He had noticed something wrong with Kisuke Urahara. That man was an imposter. Aizen grabbed the boys zanpakutō. He had a feeling the boy wouldn't forgive him if he forgot it. Aizen felt the air on his face, it was dark in the Soul Society. He did not slow his pace. He couldn't go to Hueco Mundo just yet.

He would save the boy first.

….

Ichigo groaned. He could feel movement, it felt like a flashstep. He did not worry about it at all though, as he faded away into the darkness.

…..

Ichigo's eyes barely opened. His vision wasn't blurry anymore. He must have been imagining things, he was lying in a bed. His body ached, especially his head. Aizen was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room.

"Hey" he got out, his voice was weak.

"Hey" he got out getting up and moving over to Ichigo. "How are you feeling?"

"My head feels like it is on fire" Ichigo got out.

"Dr. Unohana did all she could. You lost a lot of blood. Something is wrong here. What do you remember?"

"Darkness. I thought I had blacked out, though it feels like someone knocked me out."

"Yes. Though the question is who."

Aizen watched the gate, he just had to time this right. He couldn't take any risks, not with the boy in his arms. Hell, yeah he could. He flash stepped past the guard, it shouldn't have been that easy. That was when he saw that the guard at first glance looked to be asleep. Then he saw the blood. He did not slow his flashstep one he realized that. He was being framed. He made it quickly to the 64th district of north Rukon. Ichigo had gone still in his arms, no he could hear the soft breathing of the boy.

He made his way to a house. He had no clue if the person he sought was there or not anymore. He was trying to shift Ichigo in his arms to knock when the door opened. "What do you want?"

The man who answered the door took a look over Aizen and then at the boy in his arms. "What did you do? Come in." Aizen stepped into the house. The man instructed him to lay Ichigo down, which Aizen did. "You are an idiot, Mr. Big Bad Soul Reaper or should I say traitor. I only allowed you back in this house because of who that boy is related to. Answer why you have one of the Shiba family."

"Shin, I did not injure the boy."

"You better get to explaining exactly what is going on. Don't leave out anything, I will heal the boy."

…

Ichigo had a concussion. Just when he thought his life could not get any better. That meant he could not get peaceful sleep without being woke up every few hours. Aizen had not left his side, and that worried him a little bit. "I'll be fine. Go get some sleep." His voice was soft but not as weak anymore.

Aizen tried to complain, but footsteps quiet him. "Dr. Aizen the boy is right. Go get some sleep. I'll take care of the boy."

Aizen sighed, but finally he left the room. Gin took a seat in the chair Aizen had pulled up by the bed.

"So what the hell happened?"

"You were knocked out. Very nasty."

"How did I get into the hallway?"

"The person moved ya. Be careful who ya trust Ichigo. That is the only piece of advice I can give ya. Get some sleep, I'll wake ya up when the time comes."

Ichigo groaned. He wouldn't get any answers from Gin, so he should get some sleep or at least try. He slowly started to drift away.

…xxxx...

"He is waking up" Shin said finally.

Ichigo's eyes slowly opened. "Am I dreaming" he got out as he spotted Aizen and then the strange man.

"What did you do to his mind?" Shin was glaring at Aizen.

"I didn't do this one. " Ichigo slowly sat up. He had no clue how long he could stay here, or if this was even real.

"How are you feeling" Aizen asked finally.

"My head hurts, I'm confused. How did … you broke out."

"You were dying. The imposter opened the door, killed who knows how many people. I took the opportunity. "

"Where are we anyways?"

"Rukon that is all you need to know." Ichigo sighed hearing what Aizen said.

"I don't know who is worst. You or Gin. Well at least you do answer me questions. "

"You really do look like Kaien, don't you?" Shin was looking at him.

Ichigo looked confused. "Kaien Shiba. I have heard the name before, but well I never met the guy."

Shin sighed. "He was your cousin. Your father is a Shiba. Which reminds me Sōsuke, you never answered why you have this boy."

Ichigo sighed. "I may have gave him no other choice. My name is Ichigo though." Ichigo had just added more thing to the list of things he was confused about.

"So which one of you are going to tell the story. Sōsuke, I would love to hear about your newest betrayal."

"Excuse me, but who are you" Ichigo got out. Aizen was the one who answered.

"It would be most logical to call this man my father. Though we are not related by blood. That is how families work when you're from Rukon. "

"Shin Himura." The man smiled at him. Ichigo smiled back,

"Nice to meet you."

His eyes shot open. Gin was smiling at him. "Damn you" Ichigo got out.

"Well I think ya safe now. Though ya are a violent one."

"I blame you, it is because of your help that I don't know what is real and what isn't."

"Where are you when you space out? "

"Rukon, why?"

"Which district?"

"No one told me which district."

"Do not talk to anyone else here about what you see. Only to me. Do you understand?"

"Fine. Can I go back to sleep?" Gin nodded, and Ichigo closed his eyes and allowed sleep to wash over him once more.

..+++++….

Author's Note:

Fun chapter. So many switches. Hopefully it wasn't that confusing.

So many more fun chapters ahead.

What does everyone think so far?

Name Meaning:

Shin: Real, true | Himura: Scarlet Village