Chapter One
The Wolf's World
The Earth died. Humans try to frame it another way, that the world was just left behind, that people just moved out into the stars, but that's not the truth. The Earth's resources were depleted, and no one could live on that cold, barren expanse any more. So, humans left. To the stars they went, and the colonized worlds in a neighboring galaxy. Two generations passed while in transit, a total of 200 years, but once they arrived, humans found a new home.
Humans thought they were the center of the universe before leaving earth, and once they got to the rest of the galaxy, they knew they were. No life was found on any world other than local flora and fauna. There were new animals and plants to see, new suns to explore, but all in all, humans were found to be completely, and utterly, alone in the universe.
With advanced technology, many worlds were terraformed and brand new civilizations were created. A near Earth-like planet was found and quickly colonized in a solar system named Prime One. Earth Prime became a home for the most elite and well off humans. Earth 2 and Earth 3 were colonized as nearby planets in the Earth Prime solar system. These two would become dens of inequity where the poor and the dregs of society would take residence. The solar system they had found was a binary system, and the best worlds were those that circled the sun called Sol One. The second sun in the system, Sol Two, was circled by gaseous planetoids. Earth Prime, One, and Two were similar to Earth and in close proximity to each other. Earth Prime stood as an "ideal" location, with Earth Two being warmer due to being closer to Sol One, and Earth Three being frigid being further from Sol One.
Primers (the name for those that hail from Earth Prime) were the scientists and elite of society. Primers found that Earth Two was an excellent source of minerals and the tropical climate on the world made it ideal as a farming planet. Earth Three, with it's near freezing temperatures, had sources of minerals and fuels the likes of which Primers had never seen. E2 and E3 quickly became nothing more than labor planets, answering to the elite that lived on Prime. The lives of those on E2 and E3 were little better than Old Earth's third world countries, with much of the planets overrun by slavers, criminal enterprises, and black market traders. Earth Prime, however, was a bastion of peace and cleanliness, all built on the backs of E2 and E3. After four hundred years, the differences between the humans on each of the planets started to become apparent. On Earth Prime, as well, scientists began experimentation with DNA and genetics to create strains of humans more able to survive on harsh climates of E2, E3, and the prospective and even colder Earth Four. Their experiments were often failures.
Some others left to try and find an alternative to the Earth Prime's jurisdiction. Heading to the area around Sol Two, they decided to colonize the moons around a gas giant named Dangai. Some of the moons needed to be terraformed, a process that could take up to a hundred years. A group of humans colonized one of the moons named Seireitei. These humans, after a few generations began calling themselves shinigami. They carved out a city, and walled it to keep the wild world around them outside. They then began the process of terraforming the other moons around Dangai. Out of the planet's thirty-six moons, twenty-eight could be terraformed and four were semi-livable. Once they had settled, nearby moon served as a place where unscrupulous scientists abandoned their failed experiments with humans and animal DNA. This other planet, while not terraformed, was another harsh environment that it would be possible to survive in with help from technology. No one expected these humanoids to survive simply being abandoned with minimal supplies. To their surprise, the altered humans, Arrancar as they came to call themselves, thrived in the desert wasteland of Hueco Mundo.
Despite the high ideals that the humans of Earth Prime set forth, things like slavery and the trafficking of humans for labor, sex, gladiatorial matches, and experimentation became big business, and a group of Primers that called themselves the Bounts became the source for most of it. Claiming a small moon of Dangai, the Bounts called their world Slavers' Moon, and proceeded to become the source for slaves that worked Earth Two and Earth Three, as well as provided entertainment to Primers and the downtrodden civilians of the worlds alike.
On the moon of Hueco Mundo, it was a constant battle to keep such things away.
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"Again?" Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez growled with his blue eyes flashing. "Didn't we just bust a fuckin' ring of slavers last month?"
Coyote Starrk, the Primera Espada of Las Noches, and by default, the leader of Hueco Mundo, looked over the report Tier Hallibel had brought to the meeting of the Espada, or the ten Arrancar that ruled over the desert world, and the city built into the cliff known as Las Noches. He sighed and glanced at the others. Word had come down that the one of the casinos that Tier ran was being used as a slave auction. The people that had rented the room had failed to mention the reason they were renting it. It quite obviously was not for a "conference" as had been listed on their application. Because of the entertainments offered by Hueco Mundo, off-worlders were frequent visitors to their casinos and other venues. Sometimes, this made them an ideal meeting place for slavers and their clients. Neutral ground was highly sought after in their business.
Starrk sighed as he looked over the reports. "Why must they decide to bring their wares here?"
Nnoitra snorted. "Well, you remember that last group we busted? They said something about being told that we had the most depraved world in the galaxy and that being sold her was worse than death. Which considering that we outlawed slavery and have open trade between people is so far from true."
"Someone here is willing to buy slaves for them to keep bringing them." Ulquiorra was normally quiet but he looked around at his fellows. "We arrested three last time, but in the end most of them got away that were looking to purchase the slaves. Unless of course we have more from other worlds, but I have not seen any reports of large numbers landing lately."
"Perhaps undercover would be best?" Barragan, the oldest of the Espada asked from his position as the second of them. "Send in a few of our people to get identification on them."
"Could work," Grimmjow scratched at his ear. "We should do that. When is the sale?"
"Tonight." Tier said as she looked around.
Grimmjow stood up. "Alright, I'll take my boys, and Barragan's crew."
"I shall go myself," Starrk commented as he stood up as well, gaining everyone's attention.
No one spoke. If Starrk himself was going, he was serious. There was a reason that he was Primera. He was the strongest, and his powers were greater than all of them together. Those that lived here, at least those of them that were Arrancar, all were possessed of abilities related to their DNA. There was also an effect of the very moon itself that gave those that were born upon in what seemed to be supernatural abilities. Of course, most of the Arrancar had been on this moon for seven generations or more, and Arrancar aged slowly compared to Primers and other humans. Szayelaporro Ganz, one of the Espada, had spent his entire life trying to unravel the sources of their abilities. After all that time, though, he had no real answers. It did not matter. It was as it was, and they would try to do what they could to help others born with the genetic alterations like they had been given.
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Fear was a staple in their lives since being rounded up by these Bounts. Some of them had fought, of course. None of them had come through unscathed, even those that hadn't fought. Of course, if they had fought, they were punished for it repeatedly. It felt as though they'd been in the cages forever, but it had been more than a year since the raid on the Dangai moon called Karakura.
Karakura had only been terraformed and settled in the last fifty years. Citizens that colonized the pleasant climate of the moon were from other worlds, including the crime ridden Earth 2 and 3. The moon was terraformed by the neighboring world of Seireitei as a less hostile world for refugees from the Earth planets to inhabit. The problem was that other moons around Dangai were inhabited by slavers and criminals that had fled from the Earth planets as well. One moon, Slavers' Moon, was a well-known home to the group of slavers called the Bounts. They were a relatively small group, but they were extremely well funded by an unknown source and had an impenetrable stronghold. Now and then, they would raid Karakura since it was the most vulnerable of the moons, or other moons with settlers that were unguarded. Then, they would take their captives and train them on Slavers' Moon for their position, and then return to Earth Prime, Earth 2 or Earth 3, and sell their slaves. People would also buy slaves on the moons of Dangai, even if it was prohibited.
Ichigo Kurosaki was among the group that had been captured during a raid on Karakura. He, along with a number of other Karakura residents and a fair number of the Shinigami that were helping with securing the largest settlement for just such problems. Despite the Shinigami's presence, the Bounts had surprise on their side, as well as weapons that the Shinigami had never encountered. Once captured, they had been thrown in cages to be transported back to Slaver's Moon for training as slaves. More than a year with their captors had shown all those present that there was little point to having hope any longer. Each slave was assigned to a group that fit their "talents" best, according to their captors. Slaves were sold for labor, pleasure, and as gladiators. Any that became injured or sick would be shipped to Earth Prime for "experimentation." They were separated and spent a year learning their "trade" properly. The Bounts were adamant that their slaves performed at the highest level.
Ichigo now sat with his arm around Orihime as she sobbed again. This was a near daily occurrence since they were caged up on the ship to go to the other moon of Hueco Mundo. He did his best to protect them from their captors. Unfortunately, that meant he ended up being the one they drug out for their fun. He supposed it was better than one of the girls. It didn't always work, sometimes they took one of them anyway, but he found if he antagonized them enough, they'd grab him. They didn't care who it was, male or female. If they could hurt them, that was all that mattered. They often called their torture "training" and laughed that they should get used to such things.
"Please, Orihime, I know what they said, but we don't know for sure, right?" He hugged her and tried to ignore the rattle of the heavy chain that weighed down their necks.
"They said this was the worst place in the galaxy!" she sobbed.
Rangiku came around and knelt before her. "Honey, don't sob so, they'll hear you. Just have some hope."
"We may get a chance to run," Rukia reminded her as she approached. "We have to try. Whatever happens, we'll try to get away."
Finally, Orihime calmed and Ichigo stood up, walking to the bars in the front of the cage. The ship had landed and now they could only wait. He glanced back at them. He was one of three males in this group. He, a Shinigami with long brown hair named Rose, and a very quiet blond Shinigami named Kira were in this group. Then, he supposed male wasn't exactly accurate in their case; there wasn't a name for them yet, but they were new and no one was sure what to make of their genetic variation. They had all agreed that at least they hadn't been shipped off for examination by Primer scientists. Rukia, Rangiku, Chizuru, Orihime, and Lisa were locked in here with them. There was a bang as the upper door opened and Ichigo stepped back.
Mabashi came down with a basket in his arms. He smiled at them through the bars. "Time to get ready to be sold to the most depraved masters in the universe. You think we're bad, just wait."
Mabashi's hair was nearly as orange colored as Ichigo's so he glared at him through the bars. Considering the fact that Mabashi insulted Ichigo's hair all the time, it was annoying to look at him with his trimmed hair. Ichigo, and the others in here, weren't allowed to cut their hair. That was for their masters to decide. Mabashi unlocked the main door and began handing them each a set of clothes. Ichigo held it up and looked at him. "You can't be serious."
"You're all a bunch of whores. You get to dress like it. Either that or I'll beat you unconscious and put you up there naked."
Mabashi laughed and left them to change into what amounted to a loin cloth for them all, and a small sleeveless chest covering for the females of the group. It wasn't actually much different than what they already had on, just cleaner. Though at least they had sleeveless shirts before instead of being nearly bare chested. He saw that Rangiku was struggling a bit with her top. It didn't cover her breasts completely. He moved over and tried to get it to cover her nipples at least. He grumbled as he fiddled with it. One of the things none of them were bothered by any longer was nudity or touching each other. It had to be that way or they would have all lost their minds by now. Finally, they managed it but she couldn't move much or it would pop right off.
"I wish I had Rukia's boobs right now." She looked at Ichigo with a lopsided grin. "But I guess it is better than naked."
"Not much," Ichigo muttered. "I hope Shiro's okay."
"They won't let him out of the box until they sell him," Rukia said as she came up beside them, reaching up and shifting the metal collar.
Ichigo sighed. "Yeah, he'll kill the first person he gets his hands on once they let him out."
Ichigo knew his brother. Twin, actually. Well, sort of. They had been born of the same mother at the same time, but Shiro was something else that no one had been able to explain. When they had been young, Ichigo's parents had attempted to have his DNA analyzed, only to find out that it was as though he wasn't human at all, despite having a roughly similar appearance to Ichigo. He was also extremely violent and Ichigo knew what to expect of him. Shiro would try to disembowel anyone that was between him and Ichigo. That was why he was in a box. No one could control him, well, unless they had Ichigo. Then he'd listen. At least a little bit.
It didn't take long for Jin Kariya, the captain of the ship they were own and leader of the Bounts, to come down and chain their collars together, then bind their wrists with shackles. They were led up the ramp and out into the ship. He glanced over and saw the first group, the labor slaves, and sighed. It looked like everyone was still alive. He saw Hachi's pink hair, Uryū still had his glasses, his friend Chad who towered over the rest, the bright red-haired Renji who was Rukia's brother-in-law, and his friend Keigo. Those that he knew best were staring at him and the rest as they were led toward the bright light as the hatch opened on the ship. It had been months since they'd seen a sun, and this place was incredibly bright. Slaver's Moon was in perpetual darkness and covered with storms.
Ichigo saw the tall box that he knew contained his brother wheeled out on a cart. He caught a flash of white in the tiny window as he was pulled past them to the other side. He called him his twin, but it was really only because they were born of the same womb. Shiro wasn't actually human, and so far, no one was sure how he came to exist. Ichigo watched as the other gladiator slaves were chained together and led after the boxed Shiro. Kensei, Shūhei, and Hiyori were all dressed in linen pants and shirts with bright silver plates over their chests to show their position as fighting slaves. The labor slave group was led past them, like the fighting slaves, they wore linen pants, but had sleeveless linen shirts. Like the rest, they were shackled together.
Once they had been lined up, Jin stood up on a floating disk that lifted him a couple feet off the ground. Ichigo glanced around and saw there were so many people in the place. His heart began to beat hard in his ears. This was it, this was where they all met their fate. He heard Orihime crying again and silently willed her to stop. They'd beat her if she didn't, and he couldn't step between them here.
"Welcome, welcome! We have a lovely selection for you today, the finest in gladiators, including one so vicious we have to keep him in a box! A group of good, strong laborers that will till your fields, work in your kitchens, or man the smithy! And of course, our pride and joy, our lovely pleasure slaves, trained to answer your every desire no matter what it may be. Who can resist the charms of this lovely group? We've got boys and girls for your enjoyment, so now, I'll step down and let you all inspect the merchandise before we begin the bidding in fifteen minutes!" Jin floated down and stepped away as the men and women in the audience began to approach them.
Ichigo was startled when a girl…no, boy? Yeah, he thought as he saw a boy in a pink and white maid's outfit staring up at him. He had a collar on with silver spikes all around it. Mabashi appeared beside him then and turned him around. "Hey, you, where's your master?" he asked him.
The short boy in the dress looked at him, confused and just walked away. Mabashi shook his head. "Fuckin' slave owners should watch their property better, letting him walk around freely…" he muttered as he moved away again.
Ichigo heard thumps now and then from Shiro's box and hoped he didn't hurt himself. Several men came up and twisted his head up to look at him in the face. He tried not to move, knowing better by now. After the fifteen minutes was up, Jin started taking bids on everyone, starting with the laborers. Ichigo noticed that most of the laborers were bought by a man with long black hair and a calm demeaner. Then it was the gladiator slaves. All four were bought by a guy with half red and half black colored hair. Ichigo saw him talking to Mabashi as soon as he won the bid.
Then it was their group. He waited as Rukia and Chizuru were sold to a man with long blond hair. Rangiku was sold to a short man with black hair and a tiger print scarf. Orihime's buyer was a short man with dark hair and sleeves that covered his hands. A man with blond hair and leer purchased Rose. Lisa went to a man with red tattoos and dark hair. He heard his own bidding go over and he looked to see he'd been bought by the man who bought the gladiators. His heart clenched in his chest. That was good, right? He was going to be Shiro. Mabashi must have warned him that Shiro was easier to control if Ichigo was there. Kira was bought by a heavy looking man with cropped dark hair.
All the sales made, they were unhooked from each other and taken to their respective buyers. Ichigo was led to where the gladiators were waiting with the man with red and black hair. He couldn't help but tremble as his chains were handed to him. He glanced at the box and saw Shiro's eyes through the window.
"My name is Edrad Liones," the man said to him as he looked up at him. "Please, do not be afraid." Ichigo tried to speak up as he moved to unlock Shiro's box. Before he could, he heard a new voice.
"Slave trading in my city is not permitted," boomed a voice that made Ichigo turn and stare.
From the doorway, a man walked in with a severe look on his face. He had wavy brown hair that sat at his shoulders and an eye-patch over his left eye. In his hands were a pair of pistols. He looked around, and Ichigo watched as the boy in the maid's dress was leading Orihime quickly toward the exit behind him with the guy with the sleeves over his hand. He noticed that there were several of the other buyers and slaves quickly heading for the door. The world descended into utter chaos.
Nearby, Jin turned to Mabashi. "Get as many as you can back to the ship, I'm not losing everything on this rock," he muttered and took off toward where Ichigo and the others were standing.
Mabashi went toward the doorway just as Orihime and her buyer were about to exit. He snatched her by the arm and she screamed. The short, dark haired guy that bought her turned and so did the boy in the maid's dress with the collar. The boy stepped forward and glared at him.
"You, call back your fucking slave bitch," Mabashi said, dropping Orihime's arm in surprise.
The man smirked. "You are mistaken. Wonderweiss isn't a slave. He just likes wearing that collar. I'd retreat, he doesn't get angry often. So…how fast are you anyway?"
"What the fuck do you mean?" Mabashi asked as Wonderweiss smiled at him in a way that chilled him.
"So you can run?" the dark haired man smirked. He stepped forward and pulled Orihime backward and well behind Wonderweiss as he pulled out a long, thin stick of some sort. He pressed a button on the side of it and Mabashi's world began to recoil and he was immediately on the ground, retching. Wonderweiss leaned over him. "Ha. You're gonna burn."
Orihime just watched as the dress wearing boy began dancing around strangely, and the dark-haired man that was standing beside her did the same. She looked over and saw that all the guard were restrained, and then realized that they were going to open Shiro's box. She gasped, as the door popped open and a blur of white was all she saw fly out and tackle the man that opened the crate.
Ichigo dashed forward as Shiro was out and choking the man with the red and black hair, eyes blazing. He put both hands on his shoulders.
"Shiro, stop!" he begged. Shiro's black and gold eyes turned up to him and he smiled. He let go of the man he was trying to kill and threw both arms around Ichigo's neck.
"Ichi, baby, there you are," Shiro gasped out. Ichigo returned the hug and they stood there for a minute before Shiro let go of him, seeing the clear path to the door behind him. He whispered in his ear. "I'm going, baby, I'll be back for ya, when I got a safe spot…"
"Wait, no, don't!" Ichigo stammered as Shiro shot around him and made his way to the door and out of it. He knew he was going to run. He wouldn't trust anyone, and right now, Ichigo didn't know what to think about these people.
Starrk had taken off after Jin, who had taken off for his ship. Of course, the ship would already be secured by Grimmjow. The others would handle the few guards that were out in the main area. He found him in the cockpit, frustrated by the controls not working.
"No one sells slaves here. Not even the infamous Bounts of Slavers' Moon," Starrk informed him.
Jin turned around and growled. "No good," he muttered and slapped his chest. Starrk reach forward to grab him but he dissipated. Emergency long range teleport.
Starrk sighed and figured he had more important things to worry on, and that was the crop of slaves that had been dropped in his lap. He came out and saw the sight of the very confused slaves and his Arrancar. The Arrancar were having a little fun with some of the slavers. He was glad at least Jin had been the only one with an emergency transporter. Grimmjow walked up beside him.
"We have eight 'pleasure' slaves, five laborers, and four gladitorial slaves. Well, three. The one in the box got away from us once Edrad released him," Grimmjow informed him.
"Any idea how long they were on Slavers' Moon?" Starrk asked as they were grouped together. He saw that the scantily clad slavers were clinging to each other as they got close to each other. That action didn't bode well for their condition.
Grimmjow sighed. "I asked one of the laborers, and he said he thought it had been around a year or more, they aren't sure how long exactly. Slavers' Moon doesn't have a view of Sol Two. They were separated by group, so they have no idea about the other two groups and what happened to them. We've never had any rescued pleasure slaves here. We've got no data on them. They're usually trafficked on Earth 2 and Earth Prime."
Starrk nodded and thought for a minute. "Nelliel might be able to help. Send for her. For now, let's take them all to my castle. Put them together in the biggest guest hall. I'll speak to them myself."
"I'll set out to look for that one that ran. He was fucking demonic from what Edrad said, but the slave there, the one with the bright orange hair, pulled him off of him. Some relation between them. Edrad said they look alike a bit, too." Grimmjow nodded and took off out of the casino, running a hand through his blue hair as he went.
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"What's happening?" Orihime asked as she clutched Ichigo's hand. Rukia clutched her other hand.
"I don't know. It seems like they don't like slaves here," Rukia said as she sat down on the cot behind them. Orihime and Ichigo sat down beside her.
The slaves had all been brought to a huge castle in the cliffside. As they walked through the footpaths, they saw that there weren't any motorized vehicles. There were horses and other four legged creatures that pulled along two wheeled carts over the uneven ground. The whole place appeared to be built into the very cliffs of this world. There were multiple levels to the buildings, and they generally went upward. The castle was at the very top of the cliff, and was huge. They had been led into a large, open room that had about twelve cots set up in it.
Ichigo had looked over to his old friends, the ones that had been set in the labor group, and wondered if they would have anything to do with him now. He didn't know how to act around them anymore. He only knew what he was now. They seemed as hesitant as they were to separate out of their groups. Ichigo realized that none of them would even look at him for more than a second. It was a bit painful, honestly. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but he hadn't expected to be dismissed by the people he once called friends just because of how he'd been trained.
It seemed like hours passed before the door opened and the man with the booming voice from before came in with several others behind him. Ichigo felt Orihime's hand clench his.
"I am Primera Espada Cayote Starrk. I am the leader of Hueco Mundo. This is my Segundo, Barragan, and my Tercera Harribel." He gestured toward the door where a flamboyantly dressed man with long pink hair stood. "Szayel is our medical scientist and my Octavo Espada. I know that you are all unsure of what has happened, so I will try to explain. We absolutely prohibit slavery on our moon. We captured some of your captors, but the leader, Jin Kariya managed to escape with a long range teleportation device. I would ask that you allow our medical scientist to look you all over, and we will see about returning you to your homes as soon as possible. I understand many of you were taken from Karakura," Starrk spoke with such presence that it was no wonder he led their people.
"We, some of us, are actually from Seireitei," Rukia said as she stood up. She looked over where Renji leaned against the wall. "My brother is one of the Captains in their leadership. We were on Karakura to help with the raids they were experiencing. We weren't expecting a slaver raid."
Starrk nodded. "Very well, would you come with me and you can contact your brother."
Rukia let go of Orihime's hand and smiled at her. "I'll be fine," she said as she followed Starrk out of the ornate double doors.
Szayel came closer to the group Ichigo was in and felt his heart beat faster. The question was, would he know about them? He glanced at Rose and Kira who wore a similar expression of concern. They were from Seireitei, though, so they were Shinigami. Even if this pink-haired guy wanted to, he couldn't keep them. Ichigo, however, had no such protection. He had been born on Karakura to parents from Earth Two. Szayel had some sort of hand held scanner that he was checking Lisa with. Ichigo's grip tightened on Orihime's hand, for the first time reverse of their usual position. The pink haired man scanned Orihime and then stepped in front of Ichigo. Ichigo tried not to look at him as the scanner hummed. He stood still and looked at it for a long time after it stopped humming.
"What is this?" he muttered to himself. Ichigo stared at the floor between his knees. He bit his lip as he moved away and scanned Rose and Kira. "You three," he said finally. "You have the same genetic malformation and alteration to your DNA sequences. Is this artificial?"
Kira spoke, which was a rarity. "We were all born with the anomaly. They are becoming more frequent in the last generation. There is not yet a name for it."
Starrk had returned and walked over where Szayel was absorbed in the readings on his scanner.
"Szayel, is there a problem?" he asked with concern.
As he turned the scanner around, he looked up. "They're not male or female. These three. They appear male, but they aren't completely. They're new. Between male and female, and they have a mutation that allows them to carry young; they literally have a secondary set of reproductive organs. But they lack secondary sex characteristics of enlarged mammary glands. The genotype has altered drastically, and the phenotypes are starting to come in line with them. It explains the somewhat androgynous nature."
Starrk stared at the readings. "Have we seen this in our people yet? If I understand this, this is an evolution. Perhaps because of exposure to Sol One and Two?"
"I haven't seen anyone…well, I haven't been looking for it. We tend to be a highly sexual species, but we've yet to have children born with this characteristic," Szayel's normally over the top flamboyance was completely absent. "To evolve into a completely gender blended species…this could very well be a new direction for humans, like the Arrancar when we deviated."
"We deviated by matter of force and environment," Starrk observed. "It was far from a natural evolution."
Szayel shook his head. "Evolution nonetheless. Ever since Old Earth was abandoned, each settlement has been evolving in different ways. A move toward a more efficient system of reproduction might be the way this particular sub-set of humans is going. Fascinating idea, really. Instead of have two sexes, each individual carries both sexes and thus doubles the chances of surviving. But this isn't like the idea of true hermaphrodites we see in some animal species. This is different, like a third reproductive genotype."
Starrk looked at the three and then to Szayel. "Is that why they put these three with the pleasure slaves? Because of this?"
"They might have known, or it could be coincidence since they all exhibit more androgynous features…" Szayel said. "I'll scan the rest."
Starrk watched him go and realized that the training this group endured must have been extremely traumatic. None of them looked up unless they were speaking directly to someone. They were all cowed and defeated. In contrast, the labor and gladiator groups were respectful of them, but they did not spend their time staring at the ground. Starrk heard one of the girls sniff and he reached toward her. To his surprise, the one beside her with the bright hair reached out and grabbed his hand. Starrk turned and looked at him, and saw his eyes were bright and shining.
"You would put yourself between the leader of this world and another?" Starrk asked him.
"Leave her alone," he said in a rough voice.
Smiling, Starrk put his other hand over the one that had grabbed his. "You are their defender, protector, yes?"
"Ichigo, don't," the girl said, pulling Ichigo's hand away from Starrk's. "Please. You've done enough. You always do enough, coming between us and the others who want to hurt us. It is time for you to stop putting yourself in harm's way."
"Ichigo. A fitting name," Starrk said, standing up and walking away from them.