The Science of the Soul
A/N: This is a reposting of an old fic, so you might have read chapter two before. Warnings will be updated soon, but expect violence, gore, non con, and Urahara/Ichigo sexytimes.
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Chapter Two
Cutting to the Chase
Urahara stared at the monitors. All three of them were here, finally. He was actually quite surprised that Aizen hadn't gotten to them first. He had expected it. And it had been far too easy for Kenpachi and Yachiru to manage it. Luckily, he'd only had one 911 call to intercept, and it had been from the last one when Yachiru had misplaced the last sedative syringe. That girl, he thought shaking his head. Oh well, at least everything had been in place. It reminded him how valuable his small group of people was to him. The thought of any of them dying was unacceptable, and he was going to do everything possible to stop that. If it wasn't for the Hogyuku formula, none of this had happened. And he'd been the one to invent the damn thing.
If he still had it, he could try and correct this mess. But Aizen had stolen the formula. And because Urahara had worked so hard to keep it out of other hands, he had split the formula into two pieces that had to be laid together over a light table to see the whole thing. He had a copy of one half but not the other. And he had been so careful to keep the thing that way, even down to his closest associates.
It wouldn't have been so bad if the serum the formula created was stable. There was an ingredient, though, that he had a hard time finding when he made the first batch to test. Aizen held the secret to that in the half of the formula he possessed. So, here he was, experimenting with a highly volatile serum to try and correct the changes in the very DNA of these people. He was realizing slowly that the changes were permanent, and no amount of trying to change that was helping. So instead, he was having to settle on the next best thing. Stabilization.
He was almost there. The Hogyuku serum naturally tried to stabilize itself. But when combined with the DNA of something non-human, it tended to want to recode the entire gene sequence if it wasn't stopped. His original subjects, Yachiru, Kenpachi, and that group, only suffered minor cosmetic changes, with a few deeper alterations to their physical bodies. Kenpachi was unnaturally strong and thick skinned and had grown in height and girth. Yachiru had stayed the size of a child and her hair had turned pink, but she gained incredible speed and dexterity as well as mental capacity. After that, he decided that human experimentation was treading on the ethics, and he set about working with animals. Perhaps that was when things went wrong, when Aizen got the idea of mixing animal DNA with the Hogyuku serum to see where the alterations went.
He did it so secretively; it wasn't until he walked in on a group of three young boys in the testing room. Aizen had come in with a chart and found Urahara looking at him. They'd argued about what he was doing, Aizen claiming that they were perfect test subjects, and they shouldn't pass up the opportunity. Urahara had prohibited testing on the children, to which Aizen had informed him it was too late for that, the testing was finished and they were being sent back to the orphanages they'd come from. He found out that there were many others he had tested on at various orphanages and homes in the area. He'd chosen children and teens that had no family so that their losses wouldn't be missed. It was that point he'd banned his partner, and closest friend, from him and his research facility. He went without a fight, and it was only weeks later Urahara realized he'd stolen half the Hogyuku formula.
That had been forever ago. So long. He looked up as Szayel came in, his pink hair pulled back, he looked flushed.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked. Szayel shook his head.
"Kisuke, I don't know, Illfort is getting worse. The DNA is starting to rewrite faster. He's going to transform…into something…and I don't know what to do. He's my older brother, and I really hate him for dragging me into this, but I don't want him to die like this," he said, pushing his silver square-framed glasses up his nose.
Urahara nodded. "Bull DNA was what he was injected with, wasn't it?"
Szayel nodded. "Yeah, he's one of the weakest ones, so I think that's why his sequence is being overtaken, early experiment and least stable."
Szayel and his brother had been taken in from the foster home they'd been in under the ruse that Aizen was testing hyperactivity drugs. He'd offered the teens money to come and do the experiments. Illfordt had been first, and when his brother had money, Szayel decided to go to Las Noches. It wasn't until months after the drugs were administered that both of them ended up in jail for a violent outburst at a bar. Their DNA was destabilizing, and the first sign was violence.
"Well, I have the three down there I've been searching for. Maybe they'll shed some light on what Aizen was doing. The advantage to those three is that I know for a fact they were given the purest and most complete version of the formula," he said looking at the monitor. He'd have to take the orange headed one some clothes, it looked like Kenpachi had pulled him out of his dorm in his underwear.
"Well, no more putting it off. Szayel, give him the sedatives I gave you. I've already had to sedate three of the others, Mila Rose, Sun Sun, and Apachi. Hal is beside herself, but I had no choice, those three are everything to her. You go take care of your brother. I've got to get some blood from these three for testing," Kisuke said, putting items on a cart as he spoke.
Szayel was about to leave. "Will you need some help? They don't look like they'll be easy if they don't prove sympathetic to your words."
"I doubt they will, they were basically kidnapped and brought here. They won't comply easily. I'd sedate them if I could but I don't want any drugs in their system for the testing they need. I'll have Keni and Yachiru help. You worry with the others," he said, pressing a button to alert the aforementioned.
He headed down the hall and stopped outside the doorway to the white room inside. He'd been here too often. Before long, the hulking Kenpachi came up with Yachiru on his shoulder. Behind him, the taller, but thinner, Nnoitra followed.
Nnoitra was another one like Szayel. The formula he'd been given seemed stable for the most part, but he was prone to incredible bouts of anger and violence, making him one of the more volatile of the group. It was only through sparring matches with Kenpachi that they managed to keep his violent tendencies in check.
"Thought you might need some help, Kisuke," he said mildly, grinning as always. "Six arms are better than two if Kenpachi had trouble with these boys."
"You know I'd prefer you not use that ability, we're not entirely sure if utilizing the extra arms will accelerate the DNA re-sequencing, you know," Kisuke said with a sigh as Nnoitra concentrated and two additional sets of arms ripped through his clothes. To be honest, he was worried about Nnoitra. The DNA belonged to a praying mantis, and combining insect DNA was different than combining mammal DNA like Illfordt, or even squid like Szayel.
"But I love it! Just promise when you stabilize this shit I get to keep the extra arms!" he said, a gleam in his eyes.
Kisuke sighed. "And I need to find some clothes that will work better, or Uryu is going to skin you, he's tired of fixing your clothes."
Kisuke was treated with a wide smile, and opened the door to find all three boys leaning back against the wall on their respective beds. All three jumped to their feet in obvious defensive stances when he pushed the small cart in.
"Hello, I figure I should come and introduce myself and explain what is happening," he said, smiling and adjusting the green and white bucket hat he wore.
"Who the fuck are you?" asked the blue haired one. Grimmjow Jagerjaquez, injected with panther DNA. Prone to violent outbursts all throughout high school. Football and soccer player. Known for his acerbic wit and violently protected of those he considered members of his "pack" at all times.
He smiled. "Are you going to cooperate as I run some tests or do I need to have you all restrained?"
The three boys glanced at each other. "Like hell you're getting near me again!" the orange haired one said frowning, keeping his back flat to the wall and his arms crossed over his chest. Kisuke had no idea what he had been injected with because Aizen had taken those files. Kisuke's curiousity was peaked because Ichigo's files were the only ones Aizen had left with.
Kisuke sighed, he figured as much. "Nnoi, Keni, take care of it."
When Kenpachi entered with his pink haired charge they all tightened as thought to try and run. The then they saw a black haired guy that was actually taller than the freaky spike headed guy with six arms. Keni nodded toward Ichigo and the six armed fiend had him, one arm around his neck, one around his waist, two more holding his wrists down, and the last one just hovering to the side. Kenpachi moved easily and quickly and put the blue haired one in a head lock and Yachiru leaped over and tackled the green eyed one to sit on his back on top of the bed. All three were effectively immobilized.
"Ichigo, I believe, is your name?" the blonde with the hat said, coming over to him first. He struggled but there was no way with six hands on him he could even move an inch.
"Kisuke, this fucker's strong for a skinny bitch, man," Nnoitra said, grinning. "Can I fight with him later?" He reached up with one of his hands and flicked the piercing on Ichigo's left nipple above which was the tattoo of a chain with four hearts dangling from it in the shape of a heart. "He likes pain, too, see," he said flicking the dangling crystal again. Ichigo flinched each time he did it.
Kisuke shook his head, seeing the gleam in Nnoitra's one eye. "Nnoitra, not yet, he's not even close to the point that he'll be able to fight with you or Keni yet." He saw the frown on the taller man's face. "Don't worry I'm sure you can spar with him plenty once he awakens."
Ichigo's mind was a blur. "Wh-what is happening? What's going on? Wh-what do you mean awaken?" He'd completely forgotten his embarrassment at being nearly naked in front of these people. There was something at the back of his mind about that phrase that made his heart race.
Kisuke placed a hand on his shoulder. "I assure you, Ichigo, no one here is going to hurt you. And if all three of you cast your mind back, I'm sure I will seem familiar in some way. We've met before, but you were children then. You were only eight, my boy," he said with a smile as he took his arm.
Ichigo stilled suddenly, actually recognizing the face, that messy blond hair, the soft comforting voice. "You-you were there…when that man…he…he…"
His eyes were wide and he started shaking uncontrollably, memories that had been locked into his mind for such a long time. They were things he didn't want to remember. Things that made appearances in his nightmares, but disappeared when he woke up in the morning and he was so glad of it. But now, everything was crashing into him like a flood.
-O-
"It's okay, Ichi, it's okay. The pain will be over in a minute."
His body arched against the cold steel table under his naked body. The restraints strained and he screamed. His whole soul was being ripped apart and reshaped, and he could feel every moment of it. He wanted to pass out, but he couldn't, every nerve was on fire, every muscle was exploding.
"Shh, it will be over soon, sweet Ichi. The serum takes a couple hours to complete this particular transformation, but the results will be well worth it, despite the pain you're in right now. It will be over soon."
That voice, like warm milk sweetened with honey. He remembered that voice so well. Entrancing, enchanting, he remembered it weaving a spell over his mind.
Time crawled by, too slow, and he was still screaming, but now there was blood running from his lips because he'd screamed so much his throat was bleeding. He couldn't stop; there was no relief, just incredible crashing pain that was doubling as it went. His wrists and ankles were so cut that there was a constant drip of blood in the room from the table.
"I'm so sorry for the pain, but it has to be. What I'm doing to you, I haven't tried this with the others, so I'm hoping you live through it. The results either way will be worth it, whether you live or not. The other two children worked well, but I've changed it since I did their injections. Now it is all about you, the rest can crawl in a corner and die, but you…"
Eventually the pain left, but by then he was too exhausted to notice. The shackles were undone from his ankles and wrists, and they weren't bleeding anymore, like they'd healed. He heard the brown haired man cluck and scribble notes as he laid there completely unable to sense anything but the echoing pain and that sweet honeyed voice in his ears.
-O-
Ichigo came back to reality to see Urahara drawing blood from his arm, two of the six arms holding his arm still so he could do it. He started fighting again, the hands on his arm gripping tighter as a surge of adrenaline energized his flagging muscles.
"No, no, no, not again, not again…" he muttered.
Kisuke looked up with pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Ichigo, I'm trying to fix what he did to you, if it helps, I'm sorry."
His eyes were frightened and large as he tried to backpedal into the body that held him. "Lemme go, lemme get out, get out, I can't do this again…not like that…"
Kisuke sighed and filled a syringe with something from a vial. "I'm sorry, I have to do this, I can't let you get so worked up, things might happen too fast. Too much adrenaline will activate the genes, and I don't even know what he did to you until the tests come back, Ichigo."
Ichigo jerked his whole body, or tried to, as Kisuke injected him with something that made him first get dizzy then very relaxed as he slipped into the iron like grip that held him.
"Don't hurt me anymore," he whispered as his eyes slipped closed. Kisuke sighed, patting him on the arm.
"I won't, Ichigo, I won't." He looked up at Nnoi, eyes grateful. "Put him to his bed, and put these on him, please," he said, handing him a set of clothes. Nnoitra smiled, letting his four extra arms recede and then set about dressing the boy, pausing to snicker at the tattoo he found across his lower back.
Kisuke then turned to the other two. "Will you please let me draw blood, Grimmjow?"
Behind him, the grip tightened and one of his arms was forcibly extended. He growled. "I don't fuckin' recognize you, bastard, and I don't know these other two."
"It's okay," he said, setting to draw the blood quickly. Once he'd taken it he went over to the final one, pinned beneath Yachiru. He wasn't really fighting it too much, however.
"Ulquiorra, can I please take your blood samples?" Emotionally distance throughout school and appeared to have no violent tendencies at all. He seemed possessed of pure apathy. He'd been treated with the DNA of a vampire bat. Ironic considering his color had leeched from his skin.
He nodded and Yachiru climbed off of him, and he sat up offering his arm.
"You seem familiar, but I have not decided how," he said, watching impassively as he took the blood.
"I believe that your memories should resurface soon enough. Ichigo's experience was more traumatic than either of you, so it is no wonder he would have it flood back when he saw me," he said, glancing over at the now clothed orange headed boy. "I don't know why he needed to use him, perhaps because he was the youngest."
He gathered up the supplies and left quietly, followed by the other four. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow just watched frowning, and then glanced over at their roommate.
"Whatever the hell he remembered, I'm not sure I want to remember what happened to me," Ulquiorra said softly.
Grimmjow sighed. "Ain't no shit, man."
The sighed and then realized fresh clothes had been left for both of them. They decided to take the chance to shower in the attached bathroom and change before sleeping again.