Footsteps echoed through the quiet of Mugen. Sōsuke Aizen was interested to know just who had come to visit him, until the shadows cleared he could only guess, not that he cared of course but a good game wouldn't be so bad. After all there were not many people who had committed crimes so bad to the Soul Society that they had been thrown down here with him. There could have been others, but he was unique for his traitorous crimes. The only two who might have been locked up with him were dead, Gin the traitorous bastard who had betrayed him. Though he had expected the silver haired snake to betray him in the end, he only kept him with him to see just how he would plan to kill him. Any other people who were deemed as criminals or traitors were usually thrown in the Maggot's Nest.

"By order of Central 46" his ears picked up a quiet echo among the darkness of Mugen. The voice seemed to cut off before he picked up a jingle of something and the echo of footsteps. Was he being released? He would take what he could get of course, but something told him that this was more than just being released from this hell hole. Anything that had to do with Central 46 wasn't in his best interest.

"Can you hear me Sōsuke Aizen? Of course you can." That voice it sounded familiar, but at the time he couldn't place his finger on who it might be. That was the only down side to Mugen, though this time alone did give him plenty of time to plot the next step in his plan.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" His voice rang with sarcasm, his throat felt dry from not being able to speak for so long. At least the accused bond from his mouth was gone. The chair he was strapped to, did nothing to suppress his reiatsu close to him, of course he would keep that part a secret until later. He wouldn't redo anything that he had done, even if somehow he was offered the chance to undo the past. He had no regrets about anything he had done, truth was he would probably do it again in a heartbeat. He knew what went wrong with his plan, he could easily make it better.

"Are you not the slightest bit surprised to have a visitor?" That same voice, so when he found out who it was, he would figure out who to thank his freedom to.

"Not really, it was only a matter of time." He could hear several locks being undone, before he heard a laugh. No it couldn't be… He didn't want to thank his release to this man. He couldn't, he wouldn't. This man probably had a reason for coming to visit him. Why was he being punished this way? Gin was creepy, but he did not compare to Mayuri Kurotsuchi. No one could compared to that man, well besides Szayel.

"Your being set free or rather moved to a new area. Doesn't that sound interesting?" Of course Central 46 wished to torture him, he could escape from the crazed captain, he just needed to get free completely. He could flee back to Hueco Mundo, he didn't have to stay in the Soul Society. Or better yet he could invade the Soul Palace and become the king, just like the plan was originally. Perhaps he could even use Ichigo Kurosaki to get what he wanted, the boy had enough power. If only he could get to the boy, together no one would dare stop them. After all the only reason he was in here was because of Ichigo and that damn Kisuke.

The crazed captain was dangerous, even to him. This was the same man who created the accused chair that he was strapped to. He stood up and approached the door from out of the shadows, he was free of that accused chair, though a bond still remained around the top part of his head and his wrist. Idiots. The door was being opened and he was being guided out by the guards who guarded his cell. All according to plan, now his mind went into overtime, he had to escape. His eyes adjusted easily to the new light, going from darkness to dim light wasn't that bad, it was the sunlight of the Soul Society that might screw with his eyesight. He sized up the people who were in front of him. Three guards, Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Shunsui. A smirk formed on his lips. "Do you mean to insult me?"

"Yes he will make a perfect subject indeed."

"I can't believe that you got Central 46 to agree to this."

"It was quite easy. Now be a good boy and do exactly as I say." No way in hell was that happening. He had found the exit as Shunsui and Mayuri exchanged words. He started to build his reiatsu, he had to escape when he could. The guards were easy to take down, they fell one by one as he slowly got his reiatsu to build up. However he felt something being attached to his wrist before the rest of the restraints were cut. He was actually free, but now his body wouldn't follow his will and his reiatsu levels were dropping. What the hell?

"It is useless to try to fight" the crazed captain replied. He tried to release a kido, but it didn't work. Never in his life had he not been able to do any kind of kido. Though it failed him now. "It is useless to try to keep trying to fight, you are my prisoner now. " Oh no, he wasn't going to allow this to happen, he would rather stay in Mugen if that was his only option. This restraint whatever it was made him feel powerless. Had they learned after the months he had been held up here?

"Now Aizen shall we go and get some air." Shunsui spoke causally to him.

"He isn't going for a casual walk outside" the crazed captain replied, that was when he felt the shock that went through his body. It actually hurt. He couldn't die, this wouldn't kill him. His knees gave out from under him so that it looked as if he was bowing to the two men before him. He tried to force himself up, but his body wouldn't obey him. He opened his mouth to speak, at least his mouth still worked, however he couldn't utter a word before he felt pain in his head and then he blacked out.

Slowly his eyes opened, the air that he breathed in was rotten, and not like the dry stall air of Mugen. This was something different, he looked around. He was trapped within a glass case, it was sealed, meaning he had no escape. He might have if the restraint wasn't on his wrist. He looked down and saw that there was no restraint on his wrist like before. He heard a humming noise, his brown eyes searched for the cause of the humming. He needed to get out of here, he raised his reiatsu in hopes to shatter the glass. What happened surprised him, he couldn't breathe, it was if his own reiatsu was betraying him. He quickly lowered it and took in a gasp.

"Your efforts to escape are useless. Master Kurotsuchi will be with you in a moment" Nemu replied as she flicked on a switch. He needed to get free of this somehow before that crazed captain came here. What did he have at his disposal? Reiatsu wouldn't work, meaning kido probably wouldn't work. Charm? No Nemu would be immune to that attempt, no one was as easy to manipulate like Momo. Momo would probably still do as he wished even after seeing how he really was.

"Is everything ready Nemu?"

"Of course Master Kurotsuchi." Shit, he had just ran out of time.

"Aren't you the least bit curious to hear what I have in store for you?" Did he really want to hear what the crazed scientist had in store for him? Not exactly, what he was interested in was getting the hell out of the capsule. When he didn't reply, the mad scientist continued. "Oh you're no fun at all. The least you could do is ask."

"Fine what do you have in store for me?"

"I'm glad you asked. I'm going to make your life very interesting indeed. You're going to be my guinea pig to test my new invention. After all I find it only fitting after all you do love science so very much. You can't escape that container."

He sighed. He didn't like the sound of being someone guinea pig at all. He used others he didn't get used, that was how life was. Yet here he was about to be the source of this mad captain's experiment. He slightly craved to be in Mugen again, at least there he didn't have to worry about this, that prison had a way out this one didn't. He looked for the exit he found it, once this container open he would make a run for it. The crazed captain shouldn't be able to keep up with his flashstep, especially if he was able to use kido out of this barrier. Now which kido would be the most useful? Should he kill the crazed captain or allow him to live?

He hadn't killed anyone, well not of the Soul Society. It all depended on what he had in store for him. If he used Hado #90 without the incantation, it would prove him with enough time to get out of here. Nemu was a problem though, perhaps a Bakudo to block both of them from following him until he had enough time to escape. Or perhaps a combination, it had been a few months or maybe longer since he had used any kido, so it may be a little rusty. Though rusty was better than being trapped here. He could hear switches going off, he heard a soft humming as a machine turned on. Pain radiated through his body after a flash of light filled the capsule. He would not give the crazed captain the pleasure of hearing him cry out, he bit his lip to try to stay quiet.

His blood felt like it was boiling. The Hōgyoku transformation was more pleasurable then this, he was sure getting hit by a cero would be more pleasurable than this. After what felt like hours of being hit with pain, the sound stopped as did the waves of pain. His body was still in pain, but he could handle this more so then the waves of ongoing pain. He at some point must have fallen to the floor of the capsule, he forced himself to stand, his legs felt odd to him. The container was opening. He focused on trapping both father and 'daughter' in Hado #90 as he flashstepped away he added a Bakudo #63 before finally adding a barrier to seal the crazed scientist and his 'daughter' in the lab until he was long gone. Flashstepping felt odd to him, but he continued. Hueco Mundo wasn't a smart idea at the moment, the soul palace was out of the plan until he could actually get a new plan.

That left him with two different options, stay in the Soul Society or go to the World of the Living. If he stayed here, what where the chances he could get Momo to hide him. No he couldn't stand Momo, especially not after that. Gin and Kaname were dead. He could hear commotion around him, meaning they noticed he was missing. That left one option, he had to make his way to the World of the Living. He increased the flashstep speed as he headed towards the central senkaimon.

As he approached, it open and a single hell butterfly greeted him. He had to be quick, he entered and quickly the senkaimon closed behind him. He slowed his pace a little, but he could not afford to be caught. He was free, he didn't want to go back to Mugen, and he refused to go back to that lab. He would have to hope that he could find refuge in Karakura Town until he could come up with a better plan.

He groaned, he hated this lack of a plan, it wasn't like him. Although his kido was better than ever, he still could only use small amounts of it like he just did. He would have to rest that was for sure, his body was complaining at him now that he wasn't flashstepping. He pushed through, he could handle this pain. Where could he go in Karakura Town though? That was the thing he didn't think about. Kisuke would turn him over to the Soul Society in a heartbeat. Ichigo? What exactly would the boy do if he was to show up at his door? Isshin would turn him over, wouldn't he? Orihime? That could be a possibility.

Well here went nothing. He stepped out of the senkaimon, it exited right at the river side. The river had a strange beauty about it, he might actually enjoy reading by it one day that was if he could actually relaxed. He wondered if he could go back to the Soul Society and try to gather his shatter zanpakutō. The Hōgyoku rejected him, there was a chance that his zanpakutō might be there still. He could try going into his inner world that could work. What if it wasn't retrievable? He was an expert on kido, but he couldn't just fight using kido. He couldn't depend on another zanpakutō, that didn't happen. That left him figuring out a more human method, no that wouldn't do either.

He fell to his knees on the soft grass, his body had finally deemed that he shouldn't continue. He needed to continue though, if he stayed here he would be captured. He could hear soft footsteps on the grass, he couldn't help the panting. Shit he needed to move, but his body refused to move. On top of that his body felt odd. Whoever was walking by must have noticed him because within a few minutes someone was bending over him. Did he have enough strength to use a healing kido on himself? Surely a healing kido would help him, surely if he could manage that he could run.

He felt soft hands on him, whoever this was, they were trying to see what was wrong. Meaning this wasn't a normal human. Shit he was in trouble. He groaned as the person's hand ran over his body. What surprised him was when the person took him in their arms. He flinched at the contact, this was it. That was when his brown eyes looked up and saw just who was carrying him, it was Ichigo. Wait, what was the boy doing?

"Why are you helping me" he got out his voice sounded odd to his own ears, it had to be the pain.

"Although I've never seen you before, it would be wrong not to help you. You're hurt after all." Wait, something was wrong. Did Ichigo just say he had never seen him before? What the hell did that crazed scientist do to him? A soft whimper left his lips. Ichigo smelt good. No, what was wrong with him? This made no sense, he was taller than the boy, surely it wouldn't be that easy to carry him, yet the boy was carrying him with no effort. He surprised himself as he cuddled into the boy's chest. No what was wrong with him? Ichigo smiled at the gesture. Wait the boy had smiled at him. This was plain creepy. His eyes was closing. No he couldn't fall asleep, what if this was a trap. His mind was screaming at him, yet his body was too tired to care. Before long he had fallen asleep in the boy's arms.

He felt warm and he was pretty sure he was laying on something soft. A bed. His eyes opened to see a very concerned Ichigo with a chair pulled up to the bed. Wait when was the boy concerned about him? At least his body felt better. "You're finally awake." That same smile was on the boy's lips. The boy never smiled, he usually had a scowl on his face. It didn't make sense.

"Where am I?" His voice still sounded weird to him.

"I brought you to my house." Ichigo looked like he was going to say more, but he was off of the bed. No, this wasn't good. Yes he had wanted to find Ichigo, but surely this was a trap. Mirror, he needed to see a mirror. He saw the mirror on the back of the closed door of Ichigo's room. He rushed over to it and his brown eyes went wide.

His hair was a little longer, but not as long as when he had been using the Hōgyoku, it was about shoulder length now. His hair looked wavier than normal and the single curl that hung between his eyes was missing. Sure he had always had wavier hair, but it never was like this. His face looked thinner. He then looked at his body, he was wearing normal Shinigami clothing again, his figure had changed with his clothes. This couldn't be his reflection, he wasn't a girl. He was also noticeable shorter from his usual 6'' 1' height. He brought a shaky hand up to his face, the reflection did the same.

"What's wrong" Ichigo got out as he came behind him. The boy lightly touched his shoulders and he watched the small blush come across the reflections' face. He was going to kill that crazed scientist. Well at least he didn't have to worry about people realizing who he was.

"N…nothing" he got out and noticed the small shutter in his speech. His stomach felt odd. He tried to make the blush disappear. No this wasn't happening to him. Ichigo was oblivious to it, at least that was one good thing. Why was this happening to him? "Ichigo, thank you" he got out when he had regained his normal calm composure. He offered the boy a smile, it felt odd. The boy smile again, he felt his stomach flip. The first thing he was going to do when he got back to the Soul Society was kill that damn scientist.

"What exactly happened? I mean you still seems to have all of your powers, yet you don't have a zanpakutō." At least the boy wasn't asking for his name, right he was supposed to tell the boy his name. That was the polite thing to do. His name didn't exactly translate well for a female name, god he hoped this wasn't permanent.

He bit his lip, what was he supposed to tell Ichigo. What could he tell the boy? He would need to visit his inner world as soon as possible. "You wouldn't believe me if I was to tell you" he got out. The boy looked a little sad at the reply.

"I have become very open as of late. I mean you know who I am, you should know just what I mean. I've been through everything you can imagine." He was going to regret the answer but he asked anyways.

"What do you mean, everything? I do know some of the things you are referring to, but not by everything. "

"I lost my Shinigami powers, regained them, found out things that I never knew. " So the boy had lost his powers and regained them, he remembered the last fight between the two of them.

"So you would believe just about anything. What about accepting it?"

"Does this refer to who you are? I mean you do remind me of someone, but there is no way."

"Who?"

Ichigo bit his lip now. "No, it isn't anything at all. Promise. Of course I'll be open. Perhaps I should take you over to Kisuke's shop. I am doubting that you don't have a place to stay and well my family doesn't exactly know you're up here. "

How could the boy be so trusting? "Don't take me there. I will find a place to stay, just don't take me there. I can figure out something, trust me." He felt the boy's arms around him. He jumped at the contact, the boy was now taller than he was and he smelt so very good. No he couldn't think like this. He had to get Ichigo to stop touching him like that, he had to tell him.

He extended his arm to put some distance between him and Ichigo. "I'll tell you the truth, about everything. It is up to you if you choose to believe or not, but this is 100% true. I am not big on the truth at all. Though I respect you enough to tell you this, you are the only one though. As to what happened, I honestly don't know how to explain what happened to me. I got here and then it was like my body wouldn't go any further and that is when you found me. As for my zanpakutō, I am working on getting it back. Surely it can't be gone forever. Lastly you do know me, just not like this. My name is Sōsuke Aizen."

He saw shock go over the boy's face. "B…but no you can't be."

"I was released from prison by Central 46. I'm not sure of the exact details of why or how. I was taken by Mayuri Kurotsuchi and he used me as a test subject. "

"Prove it."

"You really don't want to believe it do you? I wonder why you refuse to believe it. "

"Prove it to me. I don't care how, but prove it." How did he prove it? He hadn't thought about this. What did he tell the boy to prove his identity? The Hōgyoku. He slowly went to undo the sash from around his waist, his shirt fell open. Ichigo's mouth fell open with it and his face became bright red. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. He saw the small indent where the Hōgyoku would have been, but it was missing. Ichigo was staring at him. "I believe you, put on your shirt" he got out his voice was shaking.

He sighed and gathered the shirt and quickly tied the sash around his waist again. The boy went to his bed and sat down. "So why did you come to Karakura Town?"

"I thought about going back to Hueco Mundo, but nothing is there. I couldn't stay in the Soul Society, not with the crazed scientist there. I have a feeling he was only beginning. So that left Karakura Town. I find it odd that you found me, because I did think about coming to find you. Why were you down by the river anyways?"

"I was passing by when a senkaimon opened. You must be desperate though."

"I will take my chances elsewhere. "

"Where will you go?"

"I guess lay low here until my strength comes back fully. Come up with a plan at some point. I mean how bad can it be?"

"You don't know the first thing about anything do you?"

"I know my way around the World of the Living, thank you very much. Karakura not so much, but other cities. I will figure out something." He went towards the window, but his hand was caught by Ichigo. Ichigo held his hand without saying anything for a few minutes. His face heated up.

"No one knows it is you, as long as you don't say your real name no one will know a thing. I will be the only one who knows it is you. I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. I don't know the full story of why you did what you did, surely you had a good reason. I refuse to think that you are pure evil. I will help you until you figure out what you're doing. Don't make me regret doing this Aizen."

"You better be helping me figure out a name then. Also let go of my hand" he got out.

"Oh sorry, you're not leaving are you? "

"No, not if you want me to stay. What are you going to tell your family?" Ichigo let go of his hand and went to the bed to think.

"I mean they did let Rukia stay here, but then again she had a gigai. You're going to have to talk to Kisuke about that. Plus Rukia told them some sob story."

"I don't want to talk to that man. He might figure it out. "

"Well I'm not going to go talk to him for you. I will go with you, but I have no clue about this stuff. You had to make everyone hate you, didn't you? "

"Name first then we will figure out the rest. I mean I don't plan on going to school of anything. Though I might need one to get books. I don't want to get caught though."

"You will be fine. Also explain why you love books so much but you don't want to go to class. I mean if you don't, how would you explain that?"

"Human school doesn't really appeal to me that much. Not that I've been before or anything."

"You want to go, but don't want to go talk to Kisuke. I see how it is. Let's work on the name first." He stood awkwardly by the window looking out. The sky was turning darker as the sun started to set. "You look awkward, come on sit." He went towards the chair, but Ichigo patted the bed next to him. He took a seat, this felt wrong. The boy had pulled a laptop on the bed and had opened it. "You need a name that doesn't sound like your name. Look through these and see if you like any of them."

He frowned as he look through the list of female names, his nose scrunched up. "What about that one" Ichigo pointed at one name and then another.

"One means butterfly and the other one means flowers. What do you take me for?" He sighed but searched through the names. He wouldn't be happy with any of these, he closed his eyes and scrolled down the computer until he stopped on a name. "I guess this will be my name." He looked at the kanji for the name, Mana.

"You choose one that means loves instead of flower."

"Your mocking me now aren't you?"

"No I actually like it. Now you can't use your last name, you need a new one."

"Tanigawa" he got out after looking at the names that Ichigo brought up. The boy was at least helping him that was more than he could say about most people.

"Now you need a gigai. Also about your zanpakutō. I might be able to help you with that. "

"For what price?"

"Get a gigai. " Ichigo wasn't going to give up on that idea.

"Fine" he said going to jump from the window again. The boy was putting the laptop up and went to grab his hand again.

"My family isn't here right now, so you know you can use the door like a normal person."

He sighed when Ichigo didn't let go of his hand. He had to yank his hand away from the boy. He was being guided out of the door by the boy. Sometime before they went down the stairs, Ichigo had switched to being in the front. Isshin came flying out of nowhere and Ichigo kicked the man into the wall. Was this normal?

"My son, I have taught you everything. Oh and who is this" Isshin got out looking over him. "What squad are you in?"

"Five" he got out, use the one squad he used to be the captain of. He backed against the wall, he couldn't help it, the way Isshin was looking over him creped him out.

"Dad leave her alone, no need to interrogate her. I'm just helping her out" Ichigo got out quickly before grabbing his hand and quickly leading him towards the front door.

"Masaki! Our son is growing up. Where are you two going? I didn't even get your friends name." Isshin was following them, Ichigo slammed the door in the man's face. He didn't let go of his hand once they were outside. Had Isshin always been like that?

"I thought you said your family was gone."

"He must have gotten back home early. Sorry about that, he gets that way half the time. Wait you knew him when he was captain didn't you?"

"I did. Can you let go of my hand now."

"Sorry. " Ichigo got out and finally let go of his hand.

"So is he always like that?"

"Yeah all the time, he gets excited when I bring home female company. Always thinks the wrong thing."

"I wonder what he would think if he knew the truth." He hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"I'm not sure exactly to tell you the truth. This way" he said as he started to go the wrong way, and Ichigo pulled him with him. "I am sort of happy that Kon isn't here, because you would not be too happy."

"Who is Kon?"

"Kon is a mod soul, a very perverted mod soul." He shivered as he got the picture.

"I hate this, I hope this isn't permanent. " He groaned a little.

"Isn't it better that no one knows who you are?"

"Yeah, but I would rather take my chances then be stuck as a female. It feels so odd, plus another reason why a gigai is not a good thing for me… what do I do about clothes?"

"That is a good question. Rukia stole my little sister's clothes, but you're taller than her. You could always wear my clothes when we aren't going to school, though not sure how that would work out." They were at the dreaded shop that belonged to Kisuke Urahara, he went through the door and hoped that he would not regret this at all.