Ichigo sighed as he opened his eyes only to find himself in one of the asylum's beds and not in the bed he had fallen asleep in. He remembered Katsu's words from before, this wasn't real. He could hear the door opening, he sat up quickly to see who had stepped into the room. He did not see Aizen at all, but thankfully he didn't see Kisuke either. His heart was racing though, he didn't realize who either of the two doctors were. This wasn't truly real, this was not reality. The door slammed shut.
One of the men strapped his wrists and his legs to the bed. Ichigo tried to scream. What was going on? His shirt was being ripped opened. He could feel something cold against his chest. A scream left his lips as something bit into his skin. Blood slowly started to trickle down his chest and down his stomach. He was trying to fight them, but he couldn't.
Another cry of pain left him, and then darkness began to wash over him. His life was slowly starting to fade away from him, this was the end.
Ichigo was drenched in sweat. He was clinging to one of the pillows, but as his eyes shot open he was back in the bed he had remembered falling asleep in. That had been a dream. No that had felt too real to be a dream. The door flew open and he saw a figure running towards him. He flinched away, his vision was blurred by something so he couldn't make out who the figure was.
His body was shaking. "Shhh" he could hear the voice, but it sounded so far away. Something wet was on his checks, and he realized he had been crying. He was being pulled to someone, and he tensed, filching away from the touch.
"Stay away from me" he got out, his voice was horse from screaming and sobs were coming. His whole body was shaking still, despite the fact that the nightmare was over.
"Ichigo" the voice said.
"No, I don't want to go back there. No, you can't make me" Ichigo barely got out. His nails dug into the other person's arm.
"Let go" the voice hissed at him.
"What the hell did you do to him" Isshin voice reached his ears.
"What I did, I am trying to help him. He is in some sort of daze" the voice hissed back at the second voice.
His grip was being pulled away from the figure.
"No, no don't take me back there. I don't want to go back there."
"You're safe" the first voice said.
"No, you're lying to me."
"Ichigo" a female voice had joined the two other voices. "Baby, please."
Ichigo was slowly eased into someone's chest, and a hand was stroking his hair.
Ichigo tried to wipe the tears from his eyes and he truly looked at his surroundings. He was in the room that he had fallen asleep in. Aizen, his mother and his father were all looking at him with worried eyes. Aizen was the one holding him, and he could see blood on the man's arm.
He cuddled up into the man, though he was still shaking. "Shhh" Aizen got out stroking his hair.
"What has happen here" Gin's voice reached his ears.
"Go away Gin" Aizen got out trying hard to calm Ichigo down.
"Nawh, what kind of protector would I be if I just left the prince like this."
Ichigo sobbed into Aizen's chest, he hated feeling so open. "It felt so real" he choked out.
"What did, did you go back there?" Gin's voice was questioning.
"Yes and no." Ichigo wiped at the tears again, and tried to take deep breathes to calm himself down. He clung to Aizen. The older man's arms were around him.
"What is this there place?" Masaki was the one to ask first.
"That place I explained before" Gin answered.
"What happened" Aizen asked.
"I… I…. I think I died" Ichigo somehow got out.
"Shhh, let's get you back to my room." Aizen had easily scooped him up into his arms and had stood. Ichigo wrapped his arms around the older man's neck.
"If he died" Isshin started.
"Gin will inform you, I'm going to take Ichigo to my room" Aizen got out as he cleared the room quickly.
"Inform them about what, Captain Aizen?"
"Memories" Aizen got out before flashstepping out of the room.
"What happened, Lord Aizen" Ichigo could hear Ulquiorra's voice as they approached Aizen's room.
"It doesn't matter" he said before walked into the room. Ulquiorra must have opened the door for Aizen. He was being laid down onto the bed. Aizen climbed in after him.
"Can I get you anything, Lord Aizen" Ulquiorra asked.
"No, leave and make sure no one enters the room."
"Of course, Lord Aizen." The door shut.
"Why didn't you come back here?"
"Ulquiorra was blocking me from coming in, he refused to move unless I told him what happened. So I ended up going to sleep in that room."
"What did you see?"
"I was back in that place, I think I saw Katsu's death. He said he died in that place, behind that door. I think I was experiencing that life. Sorry about your arm."
"I heard you screaming and I was instantly there."
"I felt so alone, so helpless. "
"Shhh, you're not leaving my side from now on. "
"Is Ichigo okay" he could hear Orihime's voice outside the door.
He decided to ignore the voice, and cuddle into Aizen. "I am afraid to go to sleep."
"I thought I had done something wrong when you flinched away from me."
"I didn't know it was you. It felt like I was in that memory even after I woke up. It hurt so much. There were two doctors doing it, I was tied down." Ichigo couldn't stop the sobs that left him.
Aizen moved and wiped the tears from his eyes, going to slowly kiss him, but Ichigo once again flinched away. "Please" he got out.
Ichigo had started to shake again, and Aizen realized the boy had gone back into the memory. "Ichigo, you're safe. No one is going to hurt you."
The boy was silently sobbing. Aizen wrapped his arms around Ichigo, trying to calm the boy down the best he could. After a little bit, the boy's sobs went away and he realized that Ichigo had fallen asleep. Aizen held the boy close knowing he couldn't go to sleep. He was too worried about Ichigo.
The boy had begun to scream in the middle of the night, Aizen was quick to calm the boy. The door never opened despite how much the boy screamed.
Morning came after a total of three more rounds of separate screaming. Though the boy hadn't woke up once during the fits. Aizen could feel movement in his arms, he hadn't gotten sleep at all last night. He looked down at Ichigo and offered a weak smile to him.
Ichigo sat up on the bed, it was a slow motion. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying throughout the night. He looked up into Aizen's dark brown eyes to find that his eyes were bloodshot as well and small bags were under the man's eyes. Had he really not gotten any sleep?
He could barely remember anything but the nightmare that had been on reply through the night. He didn't even really remember getting to Aizen's bed. "How are you feeling" Aizen got out, his voice sounded tired and almost weak sounding.
"I've been better" Ichigo got out, his voice was horse from all the screaming he had done and he was pretty sure he was losing his voice.
"Was it the same nightmare?"
He slowly nodded. He slide out of the bed, he didn't look at Aizen. It pained him to look at the older man who was clearly sleep deprived. He moved to the joining room that housed the private bathroom and went to go look at himself in the mirror.
His skin was noticeably paler, his eyes were puffy and bloodshot. He untied the sash around his waist and allowed the cloth to fall off into the floor. He looked at his chest, no wounds were on it. It had felt so real though. Aizen approached behind him. "Are you okay?" He went to touch his shoulder, which Ichigo flinched away at. He couldn't help it, he could see the hurt in Aizen's brown eyes.
"Please go get some sleep. I can tell you stayed up worrying about me. I also rather you not touch me, it feels like my skin will explode when you touch me." So maybe the last part had been a tiny lie, but it was the best he could do to explain how it felt like for Aizen to touch him. He was isolating himself without meaning to. "Don't hate me" he got out looking at Aizen.
"I don't hate you" Aizen got out moving out of the room. Ichigo decided to take a shower, it may make him feel better. After he had stripped he moved into the water. He winced as the water touched his skin, but bared through it until he had gotten the last of the sweat off of him. He dried himself off and was about to tie the towel around his waist when he noticed the white uniform laid out on the small table. His black Shinigami outfit was missing from the floor. He pulled on the uniform and went into the bedroom. Aizen was sitting on the bed, looking at the door.
"Please get some sleep, you're worrying me" he got out going over to Aizen. "Thank you for the clothes" he said as he went to sit on the bed to pull on the socks and the shoes.
"No problem" Aizen got out. Aizen really did look bad, the bloodshot eyes, the dark circles, and his hair falling into his face in parts and sticking straight up in others. "I don't need sleep, I'm fine" he got out, he moved to get off the bed.
Ichigo sighed, grabbing the man's hand. "Please, you're lying to me. You DO need sleep." He realized that Aizen was showing signs of not having sleep for more than just that night. He was looking pretty bad. Ichigo kissed the man before going towards the door. "Please try to get some sleep. Just because I'm the one having nightmares doesn't mean you have to suffer too" he got out and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him. He looked at Ulquiorra.
"Make sure he doesn't leave the room."
"Why should I listen to you" Ulquiorra got out.
"Ul, I'll take over" Yuzuki said giving a small bow to Ichigo as she approached.
Norio was behind her like always. "Norio, could you take Ulquiorra's place and make sure he does not leave that room. Ulquiorra you are free to stay here if you want, but don't you need some sleep. I know that you must have stayed here all night."
"Fine, but just so we are clear you're not my boss" Ulquiorra said and left his post in front of the door. Norio slipped into the position himself.
"Yuzuki, I was hoping you would come with me" Ichigo got out.
"S..sure. Nori think you can handle it without me" she got out. He nodded.
Ichigo walked away from the room with Yuzuki following shortly behind him. "Where are we going Master Ichigo?"
"I just wanted to talk to you. I have a feeling that that memory I saw before meant something."
"Memory? If you don't mind telling me which memory."
"Your name isn't Yuzuki is it? It's Chiyo Kuroki isn't it?"
"How did you learn that name?"
"A memory of Sōsuke's life when he was alive. So that is your name."
"How did you know it was me?"
"It was a hunch. I want to know more about you. You can just call me Ichigo by the way."
"What would you like to know?"
"Anything you would like to tell me." She gestured towards a door. Ichigo opened it and stepped into a sitting area that was empty. She took a seat in one of the chairs, and Ichigo sat down facing her after closing the door.
"Yes, that is my birth name. I was able to keep my memories of my past life, but Ul did not. We were twins, but there were not two individuals that were more different. Everyone realized it too. Our personalities were that much different when we were alive. Ul vowed to get better than me, because I always beat him when we would spar. Our father killed us both and we both became hollows. Ul felt alone regardless of the fact that I tried to stay with him. He was the eldest of the two of us after all, but I felt like I should protect him. He wouldn't accept it."
Ichigo listened to Yuzuki story in silent. She bit her lip. "I was left on my own, after I was forced to go my own way. It wasn't before long that Norio found me. He stayed with me and we protected each other. We became Arrancars on our own, Lord Aizen didn't help us. We found ourselves in the world of the living one day, soon we were offered a deal. We would serve and protect you, well you were Katsu at the time. We met you, you weren't afraid of us in fact you were really nice to us. We stayed in the shadows and took care of you, but we were always on the run. We returned to Hueco Mundo and shortly was approached by Lord Aizen. He offered us a place to stay and safety. The others didn't know, the others couldn't tell. I could, Lord Aizen was surrounded by Katsu's embrace. Though the man didn't seem to even know it at that time. "
She took in a breath looking at Ichigo. "Then we were introduced to you. You choose us to become Espadas, and I felt so happy. I knew who you were, but I couldn't say anything. You weren't ready and you wouldn't have believed me. "
"I see. Your relationship with Ulquiorra did it ever mend?"
She shook her head. "Sadly no, he refused to accept that I exist even now. He doesn't remember who he was, but he knows who I am to him. He refuses to accept it though. "
"Why change your name?"
"I hated the last name Kuroki. I hated my entire name actually and when asked what my name was, I gave the name you know me by now. Norio knows my real name, but no one else does. Yuzuki is much prettier than my other name isn't it."
Ichigo nodded, his chin rested on his hand. "Ichi, may I ask you something personal?"
"Sure go ahead."
"What did you see?"
"In the nightmare? I saw my own death, well Katsu's human death. I saw it over and over again, it felt so real."
"Ichi, you should get some sleep. I'll protect you."
"I honestly don't think I could sleep. I'm afraid." Yuzuki was so easy to talk to, he couldn't admit that tiny piece of information to Aizen. He loved the man, but the man had also been his enemy before. It felt weird to tell him that he was afraid, he knew the man cared about him, but he couldn't allow himself to feel that open with the man. Well he had broken down in front of the man, but it was different. He wouldn't have broken down if he was in control, and he knew it. Or maybe he would have, he no longer knew what he would do. He had after all seen Aizen shaken up, perhaps there was that unspoken trust that allowed both to feel open to each other without fear.
"I can understand, but I will protect you. I remember my death well. My father tortured me and made my death slow and as painful as he could. My mother didn't do anything to stop him as he killed me. He had killed Ul first and made me watch, I tried to fight him back but he was stronger than I was. I sometimes relive it, so I can understand what you are going through."
Ichigo offered her a weak smile, his head dropped a little bit on his hand. Yuzuki helped him move over to the couch and before he knew it he was asleep. Dreams did not come, it felt like hours had passed before he woke up. He was lying in a bed, he didn't remember going to sleep in a bed. Aizen was asleep next to him, and he could see someone sitting in a chair. Now that he thought about it, he could see another figure standing behind the sitting figure. His mind couldn't focus and he fell back into a deep sleep.