Aizen's Reality (Bleach Fanfic)

Endings and Beginings

Ichigo found himself waking up and looking at the ceiling of the forth division. He sat up in time to see Urahara sitting there, giving him one of his quirky smiles. "How are you feeling?"

"Have I lost my powers yet?" The substitute shinigami placed a hand on his head.

"Not yet. You haven't officially passed out from the loss of your powers yet, you've simply passed out from having been knocked out cold by the explosion. Despite the injuries you sustained, I believe it gave you a little more energy to last on so you have a chance to say your good byes."

"And what about Orihime?" Ichigo gripped the sheets of the bed he was in. "And what about Toshiro?"

"Inoue Orihime has been returned to the world of the living and her memories modified so she doesn't remember what occurred between the explosion and going back. She is in a similar boat as you in that she lost her powers, but her loss of powers can be associated with her memory loss. She made the right wish though."

"What do you mean?"

"She wished for the Hyokagu to no longer exist or something like that." Urahara suddenly smiled. "I've tried explaining the principle of the Inuyasha theory to the Soul Reapers, but apparently they don't read a lot of Manga. The Viazard got it a lot better."

"I read Manga and I don't get it." The orange haired teen let out a deep sigh. "But I just care it is gone. What about Toshiro?"

"Toshiro hasn't still waken up. His parents are with him." The man's smile left. "I see your rather surprised about that bit of news. You actually know them, and it was a rather big surprise to a good deal of Soul Society. His parents are..."

"Gin and Rangiku..." Ichigo frowned. "That actually makes sense, what with the way Rangiku acts around him and Gin not really having any killing intent when he fought me."

"Ahh... I guess it isn't a surprise to you as it was for everyone else. Toshiro still doesn't know and it will take time to explain to him that Aizen's the reason for Rangiku losing her memories for so long and the reason they've been separated for over a hundred years as a family is because Gin got it through his head at a very young age that for them to be a family he had to get Ran-chan her memories back. Then again, they were children when they had a child."

"I wish to go and see him."

"Ahh... yes. I should accompany you because Unohana doesn't wish for you to pass out without someone there." The man stood up. "I'll also be the one taking you back when you finally do pass out."

Ichigo stood up and followed the man to the room Toshiro was staying in. Gin was sitting at the head of the bed with the boy's head resting in his lap while Rangiku sat in a chair next to the bed. She glanced up when she heard them enter the room. "Have you heard? I never imagined though that it would be Gin who is more of a mother hen to him."

"How long until he wakes up?" Ichigo frowned at the two of them.

"Toshiro may not ever be waking up." The silver haired man continued to brushed the boy's hair away from his face. "Unohana's already warned us that the way Aizen messed with his head may have caused serious enough psychological damage that he may just retreat into his subconsciousness. If he does wake up, he's going to likely need some serious counseling in regards to what is real and what is not."

"I'm going to be losing my powers, so I want to make sure I say goodbye to him before that happens. If he does wake up after I'm gone, will you promise to tell him I'm thinking of him too?" Ichigo watched as the silver haired man glared at him in almost a possessive manner.

"Now, now. Ichigo thinks of taicho as a little brother and taicho looks up to him in the same manner despite the fact taicho's never been able to admit it out loud to anyone. Let him say goodbye. Unohana said there was also a chance that speaking to him might get him to wake up." Rangiku smiled at Ichigo. "And this means not just us two, but everyone."

Gin let out a deep sigh. "That's true. He does have a crush on your sister Karin as well, so it may very well help."

Ichigo let out a deep sigh and went to one side of the boy. "Hey Toshiro... I came to say goodbye. I hope you understand that I don't want to say goodbye, but I'm going to be losing my powers. That's the price of defeating Aizen. But the thing is, you can rest assured that he won't be able to manipulate you anymore. Orihime took care of it... she'd be coming to see you if it weren't for the fact she's lost her powers and memories."

The teen found himself brushing a hand across his eyes. "Man... this is harder then fighting someone. I really don't want to say goodbye to him of all people."

"Why not?" Gin frowned at him.

"Because saying goodbye means you can't come back and everyone will miss you. Toshiro..." Ichigo shook his head. "I don't know how to put it, but I think he hates goodbyes." He then turned to leave. "I guess..."

A small hand suddenly reached out and grabbed his larger hand, and he turned to look down at the boy who had opened his eyes. "Are you real?"

"He's woken up!" Rangiku hurried over, her hands clapped over her mouth from joy. "Taicho... sweat heart."

"What is real?"

Gin let out a deep breath before brushing the boy's hair from his head. "That reality isn't real."

"How do I know?"

"Because I know it was an illusion created by Aizen. The only thing real was what I told you. Nothing I told you was a lie."

Rangiku shook her head in confusion, but Gin continued. "There are some things I've been keeping from you and Rangiku here in this reality. Do you remember when we talked about how I said your mother would be upset if you died."

"I don't have a mother Ichimaru."

"Your mother is Rangiku." The man stated firmly. "I also told you that your father was away on a business trip and that he wanted to lecture you about that stunt you pulled with cutting your wrists. I was talking about myself and how I had to take care of some things, but I couldn' explain that to you then."

"Yes... but..." Toshiro closed his eyes. "You told me that you weren't the Ichimaru of this world. You specifically told me..."

Ichigo slammed a fist into his palm. "I got that one! That's in reference to the fact he put in a lot of effort into making people believe he had a certain personality s he could put on a mask and fool Aizen."

"And what you said to me before you left... you..."

Gin turned his head to look away. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep my promise to be the one to pull you out of that little room, but Ise Nanao was able to find you."

"The other thing, about how having a father was better then not."

"Do you really think that I'm that great of a father?" Gin watched as Toshiro suddenly burst into tears.

Rangiku quickly scooped him into her arms and shook her head at Gin. "Now look at what you've done. He's even more confused then he was before."

The boy shook his head. "I know this is real, but..."

"But what?" Urahara shook his head. "Finding out you have parents is too good to be true?" The boy suddenly sobbed harder. "Yup. I hit the nail there. I think he's going to be fine, a lot better then we expected."

"You call this fine?" Rangiku shook her head at the ma. "He's bawling his head off! My son isn't the type of child to cry like this!"

"He does if the mental and emotional strain gets this bad." Gin shook his head.

Rangiku snapped. "He hasn't done it for quite a few years!"

"I think you should be a bit forewarned that Toshiro's maturity level and how he I able to cope with things may have moved backwards a bit because of what Aizen has done. He knows this is all real, but he still has a psychological barrier telling him this isn't real and he'll have to learn to re interact with certain people." Urahara sighed.

It was then that Soifon popped into the room. "I came to see how Hitsugaya Taicho was doing."

Toshiro looked at her, his sobbing calming down. "How is your relationship with Hisagi-san going oba-san."

The female found her face flushing up. "He is completely insane."

"And we may have to deal with him having new ideas about how the people around him should be acting." Urahara chuckled.