I'll apologise in advance for the disgustingly short-ness of this chapter…. This, and the next chapter were originally one, but I felt that they'd be better as separate chapters. I'll get the next chapter out within a week though :)
Ichigo looked out at the dark landscape and thought it was perfectly in tune with his heart. Dark, desolate, and full of monsters. Of course out here, Grimmjow was fighting the monsters instead of creating them, as he did in Ichigo's heart.
It seemed Arrancar used lower Hollows as target practice to train, and that was just what Grimmjow was doing. With just his sealed sword, he had already slaughtered at least fifty Hollows with ease, not even breaking a sweat. Ichigo was sat on a rock nearby, after being told to 'sit and stay'. The red head scowled. He was being treated like a dog. This morning, Grimmjow had watched Ichigo get dressed before bringing him out here, saying that he trained every morning before breakfast. He had also said that after breakfast, he would take Ichigo up to see Inoue. And that was the only reason Ichigo was still sat on this infernal rock, and not running for it.
"Oi! Hurry the fuck up!" Ichigo called. Grimmjow scowled, using a cero to kill the last five Hollow opposing him in one shot. He stalked back up to Ichigo, who felt his colour drain with every step. Despite putting on a front, Ichigo was terrified of Grimmjow. In his weakened state, he was completely vulnerable, and the pain in his backside combined with the vile taste in his mouth served as proof that there were worse things than death that Grimmjow could inflict on him.
"Watch your mouth, bastard." Grimmjow hissed. He produced a chain from his jacket pocket.
"Don't!" Ichigo said quickly. "I'll follow." Grimmjow smirked.
"You know what will happen if you try anything stupid, right?" Ichigo scowled but nodded, averting his eyes.
Ichigo followed Grimmjow back into Las Noches and through a series of winding tunnels until at last they came out in a huge cafeteria. It basically consisted of hundreds of rows of tables lined with seats, and a counter behind which stood one severely bedraggled looking Arrancar, scurrying back and forth serving the others. There was a slightly raised table with ten chairs, and an even more raised table with three. Ichigo knew straight away who they were for. And at one of the three seats sat Aizen, looking at him with interest. Ichigo backed up without thinking and bumped into Grimmjow, who growled.
"What are you doing?" he hissed. He followed Ichigo's line of vision and spotted Aizen looking at them. "Tch…" Grimmjow looked away, but his heart was beating faster. Aizen knew. Grimmjow didn't know how he knew that he knew, but he knew. That was all that mattered. He just hoped to god that rape was an acceptable way to break someone in Aizen's eyes. Pushing the worries aside, Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo's arm and pushed his way to the front of the queue, sending lower Arrancar flying in all directions. Ichigo stumbled after him, nearly tripping over an Arrancar on the floor as they reached the bedraggled cook – if you could call him that. The small blonde Arrancar was handing out slabs of dark red meat, uncooked. Grimmjow licked his lips, snatching the plate out of the cook's hands. Ichigo dreaded to think what his meal would look like, but Grimmjow pulled him away before he could get anything.
"What the hell is that?" Ichigo asked, pointing to Grimmjow's meat.
"Hollow meat. Looks like the leg. That's the best bit." Grimmjow said, smirking. He looked up to see Ichigo staring at him. "What?! Did you expect us to have tea and caviar on toast for breakfast?!" he snapped. Ichigo flinched.
"No it's just… I thought Hollow disappeared when they died… how did you manage to cut up one before it disappeared?"
"That's easy. It's not dead." Grimmjow said, shrugging. "It's out the back. The cook cuts chunks off whenever someone wants it." Ichigo paled.
"That is disgusting. You're all disgusting. You're fucking cannibals for god's sake."
"And you are a whore." Grimmjow stated, which shut Ichigo up immediately. They made their way over to the slightly raised table, Grimmjow shoving Ichigo unceremoniously into a chair opposite him. The Espada purposefully sat with his back to Aizen, and picked up his slab of meat, licking his lips.
"You don't even use cutlery?"
"Quiet you." Grimmjow snapped. Ichigo scowled, averting his eyes up to Aizen. It was surreal to the red head to be sat in the same room as the man he hated most in the world, not able to do a thing about it. Aizen was looking down at him with a smug smile.
"Grimmjow." The ex-captain's voice echoed all around the hall, and there was instant silence. Everyone had stopped in their place, fearing to move. "Join me up here for a moment will you?" Grimmjow, who had stopped just as the very edge of the meat touched his lips, looked royally pissed off. He slammed the meat down, scowling.
"Don't touch my food." He snapped at Ichigo.
"As if I would want to…" the red head muttered, glaring at the dark bleeding mass.
"Aizen-sama." Grimmjow greeted sulkily. "You wanted to see me?" behind them, the other Arrancar were slowly starting to return to normal, noise levels rising so that their conversation didn't reach Ichigo's ears.
"I've been watching you train."
"Oh?"
"I noticed that Ichigo didn't try to run whilst you were training." Grimmjow stayed silent. "He followed you in here without complaint. He seems very subdued around you."
"That's what you wanted isn't it?" Grimmjow asked warily. Aizen smiled, looking deep in thought.
"Is it though?" Grimmjow frowned. "I wanted him broken, so that he would take orders from me. But he seems only to be subservient to you." Grimmjow inwardly cringed. It was true – his power over Ichigo was only sustained as long as he threatened him and bribed him. If he took those threats and bribes away, Ichigo wouldn't listen to him. And he certainly wouldn't listen to anyone else.
"It's only been a day, Aizen-sama…"
"Ulquiorra could have broken him more in that time." Grimmjow bit back an angry retort. He really hated that little bastard. "Let's put it to the test. You send Ichigo up here, and you tell him that no matter what, he can't tell me what methods you use to break him."
"What will that prove?" Grimmjow snapped. He quickly faltered under Aizen's dark look. "I,if you don't mind me asking."
"It will show how effective your methods are. He needs to be broken so that he will obey the commands of higher level Arrancar even if it goes against an order from a lower one. And he should never disobey an order from me, or lie. If he refuses to tell me, then you have to either change your methods, or I will assign another Espada to break him. One more suited for the job." Grimmjow bit his lip in anger. Aizen was playing with him. Someone – Ulquiorra no doubt – had told the ex-captain exactly what Grimmjow had been doing, and now Aizen was making a game out of it.
"Yes, Aizen-sama." He muttered, stalking off to rejoin Ichigo.
"What was that all about?" the Shinigami asked, seeing how completely pissed off the Arrancar looked. He didn't really care, he just didn't want that anger taken out on him.
"Go see Aizen." Grimmjow snapped. "Just answer his questions and do what he says. But don't tell him the truth if he asks what methods I'm using to break you…" all of a sudden, Grimmjow found his face full of blood as Ichigo threw his food at him. It hit him square between the eyes with a wet slapping noise as Ichigo jumped to his feet.
"That's what it was!?" Ichigo snarled, glaring down at Grimmjow. The Espada rose to his feet as well, grabbing the front of Ichigo's jacket.
"You little shit!" he hissed. "I should…"
"Do what, huh!? You sick bastard! You thought you could break me like that?!" Ichigo punched Grimmjow full force in the face. He knew it didn't hurt the Espada, but it sure as hell made him feel better. By now, every Arrancar in the hall was watching. Aizen was watching with an amused smile on his face. He stood silently, and moved over to the two.
"What is going on here?" he asked calmly. Grimmjow glowered at Ichigo, tightening his grip on the other's jacket. "Let him go, Grimmjow." Grimmjow raised a brow in confusion. "Now, Grimmjow. I want to take a walk with him." The cyan haired Espada's eye narrowed, but he let Ichigo go, stalking away.
"Whatever." He muttered. Ichigo glared after him in fury as Aizen started to move away.
"Come, Ichigo." He said quietly, and the red head followed out of pure rage, unable to think about anything except how much he hated Grimmjow. Of all the ways Grimmjow could have used to break him… why rape? Ichigo would have preferred anything over that. Anything.But to use sex as a weapon and not even tell him the reason… to leave him feeling abused and disgusted with himself without even knowing why it was happening…
Ichigo's anger carried him right up to the very highest point of Las Noches, where Aizen finally stopped and turned to face him. They were standing out on a balcony that seemed to overlooked the entire stark wasteland that was Hueco Mundo, so vast and uninviting to view.
"I assume that your stay with Grimmjow isn't going well?" Aizen asked.
"Screw you Aizen. Stop playing your stupid little games. You know exactly what's happening to me."
"All I know is that I gave Grimmjow instructions to break you. That much I will admit to." Ichigo fell silent. He supposed that made sense – Grimmjow had said not to tell Aizen what methods he was using. "Here. Eat." Ichigo turned from the 'view' to see the shabby little Arrancar from the hall wheeling in a small trolley with plates of bacon and eggs. There was toast and orange juice, and even a few mints for afterwards.
"No thanks." Ichigo muttered. But another part of his body decided to betray him, and a long loud growl emanated from his stomach. He sighed, snatching a piece of toast. Aizen smiled.
"Ichigo, there's no need to be afraid. Your stay here would be a lot more to your liking if you simply accepted it."
"My stay? You make it sound like a holiday." Ichigo muttered. Right now, he didn't care that he was talking to someone who could rip his heart out as easily as breathing. All he cared about was that he was pretty certain Aizen wasn't the sort to rape.
"Oh no, you could go home after a holiday." Aizen said, "You will never leave here. In time, this will be your home." Ichigo shivered. "Are you unhappy with Grimmjow?" the red head just snorted. "What has he been doing to you?" Ichigo looked up from his toast, and his eyes locked with Aizen's. Did he know?
"He's…" Ichigo sighed. He didn't know what to say. Nothing good would come of telling Aizen what Grimmjow was doing. And the Espada had specifically told Ichigo not to say anyway. The most likely possibility was that Aizen would do nothing, and Grimmjow would find out that Ichigo had told him. Ichigo shuddered to think what would happen then. "He's not really… doing anything I suppose." Ichigo muttered.
When Ichigo returned to Grimmjow's room that night with a full stomach and a confused, wary mind, Grimmjow was waiting for him.
"What happened?" The Espada snapped. Ichigo just glared at him. "Did he ask you? What did you say?"
"Fuck off." Grimmjow clenched his fists.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! You're in no position to talk to me like that! But if you carry on you'll be in a very different fucking position with my dick up your-"
"Oh don't fucking start with that. I don't care anymore!" Ichigo snapped. "You can't threaten me with that anymore!"
"Oh I bloody well can!" Grimmjow snarled, jumping to his feet. Ichigo flinched backwards, images and painful memories filling his head, but he stood his ground.
"It won't affect me like before."
Grimmjow raised a brow. "Why? Because I'm only doing it to break you?" He snorted. "What? Did you think I actually cared about you before?" Ichigo scowled.
"Of course I didn't! Hollows don't care!" the Espada advanced on Ichigo, pressing him up into the corner. He moved his hand up to cup Ichigo's face, smirking in amusement at the barely concealed fear in the red head's eyes.
"Did you think someone finally loved you?" Ichigo flinched at the word, trying to shove Grimmjow away.
"Just get the fuck off me! You raped me! I know you don't care, you're a fuckin' Hollow!" setting aside the anger Grimmjow was feeling at being referred to as a meagre 'Hollow', he frowned.
"Then what? Why did you react so badly to the real reason I fucked you?" Ichigo stayed silent. Grimmjow growled, hand closing around the Shinigami's throat. "Tell me!"
"What does it matter?!"
"Maybe I'm just naturally curious." Grimmjow said with a playful smirk. "Maybe I want to know what makes you tick." Ichigo stayed silent for a while, sending him a furious glare.
"You can go fuck yourself." The Espada's smirk dropped slightly, eyes hardening.
"You need to watch what you say to me, Shinigami." Suddenly the hand on Ichigo's throat swept down into his pants, and the redhead gasped as it closed around his member.
"Get off me!" Ichigo yelped, struggling to get out of the corner. He thrashed against Grimmjow, trying to push him away, until the angry Espada tightened his grip on Ichigo so much that it hurt. Ichigo hissed, ceasing his struggles, eyes falling shut as pain overrode his senses.
"That's better." Grimmjow murmured, running his thumb over the tip of Ichigo's member. The redhead was disgusted as his body started to react to the touches.
"I,Inoue…" Ichigo murmured, trying desperately to deter Grimmjow. "You said you'd take me to see her."
"Well I can't now." Grimmjow snapped. "You spent too long having a hissy fit. The guard's changed over now, and at this time of day there's a really high chance that Ulquiorra's the one guarding her. He won't let you in."
"You fucking lying bastard…" Ichigo hissed. Grimmjow growled, grip tightening again. "Gah!"
"I was going to take you." Grimmjow snapped, tone venomously low. "It's not my fault you decided to have breakfast with Aizen." He used his free hand to jerk Ichigo out of the corner, and pushed him down onto the bed, using his own weight to pin the frightened Shinigami in place. Ichigo bit his lip, refusing to cry out in fear. But ever fibre of his being was screaming at him. He was alone, powerless, and completely at the mercy of Grimmjow. The Espada could do anything he wanted to him, and Ichigo didn't have a say in it.
"What will it take…" Ichigo muttered before he could stop himself. Grimmjow, who had his hands around the rim of Ichigo's hakama, paused.
"Eh?"
"What will it take to stop you?!" Ichigo yelled, angry tears forming in his eyes. Grimmjow smirked, letting a hand trail lazily over Ichigo's chest as he lowered his head to the other's neck.
"Maybe I don't want to stop… maybe I'm having too much fun…" he murmured, licking a trail from Ichigo's neck to his jaw.
"I'll never submit." Ichigo snapped, sounding a lot braver than he felt. "This won't work on me. I won't break from this!"
"Weren't so tough yesterday when you were sucking me off, were you?" Grimmjow purred. The red head bit his lip. He wanted to scream. "Tell you what, Shinigami." Grimmjow smirked, "Let's play a game."
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