Damn it, how could anyone be so strong? No it wasn't about strength, it was about speed. He hadn't even seen the attack coming, or had the Shinigami gotten him twice? Whatever had happened, he hadn't seen it coming and he could feel his strength draining away. No this couldn't be the end. He couldn't die, if he died who would protect Rukia. He needed Rukia, there was so much more that had to be done. If he couldn't protect Rukia then what made him think he could protect his family and friends. Rukia was his friend. Wow who would have ever thought he would think of the girl who had turned his world upside down as a friend. That is what she was, and he wouldn't let these two take her away. He had to move.

He reached his hand out to grab the Shinigami's pant leg, he had to do it. Rukia had kicked him away. No, something was wrong. "Don't move, you're going to die, why not live a little bit longer." Rukia had called this man her brother. No brother should treat their sister like this. He didn't know what kind of strange relationship Shinigami had with family, but that wasn't how someone treated their family. He wouldn't stand for it. Before he could do anything, the strength he had was beginning to fade quicker than before. He had to save Rukia, he couldn't die here.

The rain began to pour down, it reminded him of that moment when his mother died. Now he knew that it was a hollow that killed her. No he couldn't die now, if he died now he could never get revenge over that hollow that killed his mother. He couldn't protect his friend and most important he would open that sadness again for his family. He couldn't die, he needed to move. The blackness was starting to claim him. No this couldn't be it. He thought he could hear footsteps in the rain puddles around him, but his mind could be playing tricks on him. It was then that the blackness claimed him.

…..

The boy would work wonderfully. Byakuya Kuchiki and Renji Abarai had performed according to plan as well. With some work this boy could be a wonderful asset to him in the future. The boy would soon be ready.

"Captain Aizen, are we taking the boy?"

He smirked as he looked at Gin. "I believed that I told you not to follow me, Gin. We can't have anyone suspecting us." Gin had a tendency to do whatever he wanted, he knew it yet he kept the boy close regardless. "As for what we are going to do with the boy, we will take him before Kisuke Urahara can find him. Grab the boy Gin." Gin took the boy into his arms without hesitating. The moment the boy's body moved, his hand let go of the hilt of his zanpakutō. He picked up the broken zanpakutō. The first step was for the boy to learn the name of that massive zanpakutō of his. He tucked the blade the best he could under his haori.

He slide Kyōka Suigetsu out of her sheath and plunged her into midair to open the senkaimon. He didn't have to say the word 'open' like other Shinigami would, the gateway simply opened for him. He slide his own zanpakutō within her sheath before he went into the gates. Gin quickly followed behind him. The gates disappeared before Kisuke Urahara appeared.

"Where are ya gonna take the boy, Captain Aizen?"

"You know exactly where we are heading Gin. Until the boy is ready, I can't just let him roam through the Soul Society. The plan remains the same." Normally the dangai was monitored, but he made sure that it wouldn't detected his or Gin's presence. All was going according to plan.

….

He couldn't feel pain. Shit was he dead? Didn't pain go away when you died? He couldn't have died. He opened his eyes, no he wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead. He looked around the rather plain room, this wasn't his house. He noticed a figure dressed in black and white facing away from him.

"Good you're awake" the voice was smooth, but something was off about the voice.

"Where am I?" His voice didn't sound stable to his ears. His body actually felt like no, what exactly had happened.

"You must have a lot of question, and all of them will be answered in time." Why was the person not turning around?

"Why not answer me where I am and who you are!" He truly got a better look at the figures back, a five was scrolled on the back of the haori. A Shinigami, just like the man who had almost killed him.

"My name is Sōsuke Aizen, all you need to know is you're safe." The figure was approaching towards him now, he could clearly see the man's face. He looked fairly normal, brown hair with brown eyes and a set of glasses. He saw a flash of something as the man held something… no a zanpakutō within his hands.

"Can you at least tell me where you took me? You're a Shinigami and you seem to be wearing..."

"Don't hurt yourself trying to think. I suppose I should tell you where we are, if you promise not to do anything stupid." He had to nod, he had to trust the man in front of him. After all he was at this man's mercy. "We are in a place called the Soul Society." No it couldn't be. He could go find Rukia. He did his best to get up from the floor, but the man was close to him before he could blink. How was he so fast?

"Ichigo, you aren't ready to leave this place yet. It is in your best interest to stay put and learn what I can teach you."

"Why should I?"

"Well I did save you from dying, I healed you. I could have let you die, well you would have probably ended up here regardless."

"Huh? Wait a minute how did you know my name?"

"Not important. You are a human with Shinigami powers, therefor if you would have died you just would have woke up in the Soul Society regardless. I could have saved a trip to the World of the Living, but why have you transition? "

"Captain Aizen, remember use smaller words for the boy."

"Gin, is everything in place?"

"Are ya doing this now?"

"Soon within the next days. We will take turns training the boy."

"Who said I wanted to be trained by either of you?!" They were talking like he wasn't even there and it was starting to piss him off. What was in place anyways?

"Did you want to save your friend? I can help you if you willingly want to learn from us. Just give us a few days."

"Didn't the man do something to…?" He didn't know if that had been his imagination or not.

"He did serve your soul chain and your spiritual pressure is all but gone, but that was Rukia Kuchiki's power and not your own." It wasn't his own, what did that mean? "By the look on your face, that would make me assume that you are confused. Very well allow me to explain this for you. You met Rukia Kuchiki and she committed a forbidden crime by transferring her own power to you. It was only meant to be temporary, but you took most of her power. This power awakened your own power that is all you need to know. I can teach you to tap into your own power rather than the borrowed power that you lost. "

"You can? Wait how can I have my own power?"

"That you will learn in time. We start as soon as possible. Gin you will take the second shift. "

"What shall I tell Kaname?"

"Tell Kaname to just keep doing what he is. Ichigo do you vow to do everything I or Gin tell you to do?"

"If you can promise me that you will help me save Rukia."

"Of course." The man smiled at him.

He nodded. "Fine I promise to do what you want of me. How long will this take? Don't we need to work quickly?"

"Give us a week. Rukia won't be executed before a certain period of time. You have plenty of time. Now get up and go towards the room on your right."

"Thank you I guess for helping me."

"No problem at all Ichigo. Once in you're in the room take a series of five deep breaths and channel yourself. I will be there shortly." He had no choice but to go and do as the man wanted of him.

…

He went the opposite way as the way he told the boy to go. "Captain Aizen, are you really sure…" Gin was questioning his plan?

"Gin everything is going according to plan. Don't worry, this will only help us to get our goal. You see everyone in the Soul Society already believes that this boy is against them. We give him the steps on how to get the Hōgyoku out of Rukia and then he does the deed. Now go before people think something."

"What about ya, Captain Aizen?"

"I will train the boy, and then we will switch out, it will be just like before. Now leave." Gin turned to leave and he turned to go towards the room he had sent the boy.

…

He had just finished taking the last series of breaths when he heard footsteps coming his way, Aizen had entered the room, he couldn't shake it that something was wrong with the male that was so happy to help him. Why was he helping him? Then again why had Rukia helped him what seemed like so long ago? If this man could help him so he could save Rukia, then he would do anything that the man wanted of him. "Good, you have centered yourself. The next step is to gain your powers back. There is two ways to do this. I'll allow you to choose which way you would like to go."

There were two ways? "One way is the way I have already mentioned. You can die and you will be granted the powers that was always yours. That way means you would be a full Shinigami rather than a substitute. The other way is a more painful route."

"More painful than dying?" This man had to be joking. He had said he could die with a straight face, maybe he wasn't sane after all.

"Death isn't that painful, it is all in how you die. The second way allows you to stay human, though it will take a little more hardship on your side. I kick you out of your body and you become a soul. At the point you're at, you will be a plus and will have to gain your powers back before you transform into a hollow."

"So if I fail that one I become a hollow and that means you would kill me."

"Correct, though I doubt you would fail."

"So why don't we do that second way." Had he chosen wrong? The look on the man's face seem to say he had.

"Very well. Stand still." The man hit him with something before he could blink and he was being separated from his body. "Follow me." Why exactly was this man helping him? Well why had Rukia helped him in the end? He may as well do as the man wanted of him, he had no other choice. The man was leading him through a maze of hallways, before he stopped on the edge of a pit. What was this room? It smelled oddly of death.

"What now?"

"You survive and make your way back to the top. You have two days give or take." What? The man pushed him down into the hole without any other explanation. How was this helping him? He really didn't understand, this wasn't helping him at all. Well he had to survive, he needed to save Rukia. That would be how he survived. He just wished the man would have gave him a way of how to survive this.