Kisuke wasn't sure what to do as he watched the victims in the closed room. He was most worried about the red head. He knew from the files that Aizen had taken special pleasure in using him out of retaliation toward the boy's father. Kisuke looked at the computer open beside him and sighed. There had been no sign of Isshin Kurosaki ever since Masaki Kurosaki had been murdered when Ichigo was five years old. Isshin and the infant twin girls, Karin and Yuzu were simply gone when the police went to the house to find them. That was how Ichigo had ended up in Aizen's "drug trial".

It had been a seemingly innocent thing, this drug trial. Aizen had gone to the local orphanages and wanted to see about working with "troubled youth" with some new ADHD medications. At least that's what he said they were. The truth was far from something so benign. Aizen had been doing the experiments for a while without success, but in doing so had refined his formula to a high degree.

There were four groups of victims of the human experimentation. The first group had been a set of volunteers to develop metabolic enhancement drugs and things to strengthen the various systems. Kenpachi and Yachiru had been in the group. The major side effect of the first round testing had been slowing down the aging process of all participants to roughly one eighth of normal. Because of that, they'd dubbed that group shinigami, almost as a joke.

The second group had been members of the first group, but there were eight that Aizen had called back for secondary trials without Kisuke knowing. When he'd found out, he dubbed them Visored because they all had some sort of alteration to their eyes, a second lid had formed, almost like a shield, that would descend and recolor their eyes almost a pure red color when they were stressed. Luckily, only eight of that group existed.

The third group was the most deeply affected. Aizen had taken his research much farther and started experimenting on children under his "ADHD" drug trials. There had been eight seriously affected that were literally able to morph parts of their body in some fashion like Nnoitra. There were numerous others, like Szayel's brother, who had milder dosages.

The final group had been the three in the room now. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra had been treated with higher dosages and it was assumed that there would be some secondary change they could perform other than the morphing ability. With Ichigo, though, they really had no idea since he had been his perfect specimen. He had no idea why, and had no idea if he'd even made the connection to who Ichigo's father was. Kisuke didn't even know if he was still alive, for that matter. He sighed and turned on the monitor and watched to see how the three interacted.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo woke up with a gasp and promptly smacked his head into something very hard. He groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"Fuck!" came the gruff voice. "You got a fucking hard head, brat," Grimmjow muttered.

Ichigo blinked and saw Grimmjow standing over him, rubbing his chin. He panicked a bit having him so close, both eyes going wide and freezing. Grimmjow's brows knitted together and he tilted his head to the side.

"Fuck, what's the matter with you? You act like I'm gonna take off your head or something," he said, stepping back as he watched the other boy sit up and pull in on himself.

"S-sorry," he muttered, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his chin on them.

"Are you ill?" Ulquiorra said with a frown, moving toward him and reaching to touch his forehead. Ichigo flinched backward into the wall and Ulquiorra frowned and glanced at Grimmjow.

Grimmjow stared for a minute. "You're pretty damn jumpy, what's up?"

Ichigo swallowed hard and shook his head, tightening his arms around his legs. "N-nothing, really, just nothing…" he said quietly, but both his companions could see that wasn't the case.

Ulquiorra looked at Grimmjow again and then sat down on the end of the bed, noting that Ichigo pulled his feet even closer to his body when Ulquiorra came close to him. Grimmjow noticed it too. "Are you afraid of us?" Grimmjow asked finally, crossing his arms over his chest and looked at him pointedly.

Ichigo's eyes answered without words as his eyes shifted between the two of them. "Why in the world are you afraid of us?" Grimmjow said with an eye roll. "We haven't done anything to you and there's no…"

Ulquiorra interrupted him. "Grimmjow, stop, please."

Grimmjow frowned and glanced at him and started to argue then stopped, looking back at the expression on their roommate's face. Ulquiorra had realized why Ichigo looked so familiar.

"I remember you. We were in the same orphanage when we were younger. This started back then, you used to sit alone, and you didn't play with the rest of us," he said slowly and looked up at Grimmjow. "I remember now. The drug trials. They said I had ADHD and the drugs were supposed to fix it, but it didn't, they brought us here, in a room like this, and the man with the black glasses gave us drinks that made us vomit and shots that burned. There were a lot of us, but Ichigo was always pulled out of the room with us and taken away. I remember his hair. He was the only one with orange hair…"

Ichigo's eyes had gone distant as Ulquiorra spoke. Grimmjow nodded. "I remember now…I remember now. I had blonde hair, and they all said it was odd that it turned blue," he said quietly, rubbing his chin. "Doesn't explain why he's scare of us," Grimmjow said looking back at Ichigo who looked to be feeling very boxed in with the two of them beside him.

"Why are you afraid now, Ichigo?" Ulquiorra asked, reaching toward him and seeing he flinched even more violently away this time.

"Hmm, I'm not, just fine, don't…" he muttered and then stopped, burying his head into his knees again. He lifted his head then and a look of pure distress crossed his face. "Oh, not now," he muttered, holding up his hands as they started to tremble.

Grimmjow glanced at Ulquirro as Ichigo's eyes rolled up to the whites and his body went limp for a second before he started to convulse violently.

"Oh fuck me sideways, he's having a seizure?" Grimmjow exclaimed, reaching to keep him falling off the bed.

"He's epileptic, he knew it was coming, but he didn't know soon enough to tell us," Ulquiorra said.

"What the fuck do I do?" Grimmjow asked, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do.

Ulquiorra looked at his watch and then moved to stand beside Grimmjow. "Relax, put the pillow under his head, roll him onto his side in case he vomits, and we wait for it to be over," he said, watching Grimmjow slide the pillow under his head as they kept him on his side gently and blocked him from being able to fall from the bed. Ulquiorra watched his watch. "One minute," he said quietly. "I wonder if he takes medications for this condition?" he said out loud. "I would hope that our hosts are watching and will intercede if it goes too long."

Grimmjow glanced at the passive man beside him. "What happens if it goes too long?"

"After two minutes, the chances of the patient entering a coma become greater, most epileptics carry emergency medicatons that are a high powered sedative that can bring them out of it by sedating the brain impulses," Ulquiorra said as Ichigo's body began to calm. "There, one minute twenty," he said, placing a hand on his hip and the other on his thigh. Grimmjow held him by the waist and shoulder. He tilted his head.

"Kid's got ink," he said, smirking at where his shirt had ridden up on his back. Ulquiorra glanced down, and saw what Grimmjow was talking about. A very intricate lower back tattoo is what had caught Grimmjow's attention. It was a strawberry plant with a large one in the middle and branching out both sides of it. "Whoever did it, did good work," he commented.

"Is not this type of tattoo normally on women?" Ulquiorra said thoughtfully, helping Grimmjow turn Ichigo to his back now that his body had relaxed.

Grimmjow smirked. "Women and gay boys," Grimmjow said, pushing back Ichigo's hair from his sweaty face. "You saw how shy he was when he was brought in. He's got a belly button ring, and I noticed his nipples were pierced. That might be part of the reason he's nervous around me."

Ulquiorra nodded, understanding. Honestly, he didn't know much about sexuality. He was completely uninterested in such things. Grimmjow unbuttoned Ichigo's shirt because he was sweating and pointed out the piercings to his companion. "The belly button ring is really girly," Grimmjow said, noting the jewel encrusted dangle. "And he's got his ears pierced too, but no earrings right now," he said as he puffed the pillow under his head. "This ink though," Grimmjow said, seeing the chain that was situated above where his heart would be with the four charms on it. "That means something. I noticed he was trying to cover it earlier."

Ichigo groaned then, hand moving to his head. Grimmjow stood by him and waited as his eyes fluttered. He looked exhausted. "Hey there, you okay?" he asked nervously. He'd never seen someone have a seizure before.

Ichigo couldn't be bothered to do anything more in this state. It took almost an hour before he could move or speak after one of the full seizures. He opened his mouth and closed it before he sighed and swallowed thickly.

"I believe his speaking is impaired after one of these," Ulquiorra said, moving around Grimmjow to push Ichigo's eye open and check his pupil dilation. "Sometimes this happens."

"How the hell do you know so much?" Grimmjow asked, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest.

Ulquiorra looked at him. "I'm pre-med and I have a partially eidedic memory. I remember every fact I read on paper. It only works for things I read, however, I cannot remember things I hear in the same way. I also have an unusually acute sense of hearing, but my sight is rather poor. I wear contacts," he said gesturing to his eyes. "I can also hear things at frequencies impossible for most people to hear. My doctor compared my hearing range to that of a bat's. I thought, considering my skin tone, it was appropriate."

Grimmjow nodded, remember his own strange issues. One of the strangest was the fact that right now he had an incredibly strong urge to lick Ichigo's face, and not in the sexual way at all, in that area he was completely straight. He'd had that urge before, when he was in high school, there had been a cheerleader that he got on with well, and he'd found himself sitting beside her one day at lunch after she'd been crying and had the oddest urge to lick her face clean. He had fought off the urge, but if anyone tried to mess with her, or any of his friends, actually, he tended to beat the shit out of them. People didn't mess with his family, and since he didn't have a biological family, his friends were his family.

"So do you think his seizures are related to whatever was done to him here?" Grimmjow said with a frown, brushing his hand over Ichigo's head again.

"It is possible. I would assume that my strange hearing ability and physical issues are related to whatever happened during those drug trials we seem to have all took part in," Ulquiorra said with a sigh, resuming his seat on the bed by Ichigo's feet.

Ichigo still glanced at them and gave Grimmjow a look that said he didn't quite trust him. Grimmjow sighed. "You think I'm going to be an asshole, don't you? I'm a big guy, jock type, probably got your ass kicked a few times in school by people like me, didn't you?" he said finally, stroking his hair again. Ichigo's eyes widened slightly. "That's what I thought. Homophobic jackasses, huh?"

Ichigo's eyes went even wider. Grimmjow smiled. "Saw your tat, babe," he said with a smirk. "Out and proud, are we?"

Ichigo tried to turn his face away but Grimmjow wasn't having it and tilted him back toward him. Ichigo reached up to push his hands away. "Hey, stop that, don't do that, don't worry about me, okay?" he said, trying to ease his nerves about this at least. He knew that it wasn't the only problem, but perhaps it would help a little bit.

Ichigo's stomach was a mess and he swallowed again, brows knitting as he wondered if he was telling the truth. "Whoever did your tattoo did really wonderful work. I take it you get called Strawberry?" Ichigo nodded slowly, starting to get some muscle control back. "Not the most masculine guy, I'm taking it?" he said. The pinking on Ichigo's cheeks answered. "Babe, don't, you rest, that was a rough one. Ulquiorra said you were probably epileptic." Ichigo nodded slightly. "Okay, rest, alright?" Ichigo didn't have much choice, though as the exhaustion was pulling him into sleep.

Grimmjow watched him fade asleep. "Is he okay?" he asked Ulquiorra.

"I'm a student, not a doctor, I'm not sure the extent of his condition," he said, glancing at him. Something was worrisome about it. Something was not quite right about it.

"He's a kitten," Grimmjow said suddenly a few minutes later.

Ulquiorra glanced at him. "He's a cub?"

Grimmjow blinked. "Like a cub, I mean," he said, blinking. "He's weak, needs protection, you know."

Ulquiorra glanced at him. "Interesting. You have cat like instincts, have you ever been told this?"

Grimmjow shrugged. "I guess," he said.

"Panther, actually, not just cat," came a voice from the doorway.

Ulquiorra and Grimmjow both looked over to see that Kisuke had come in silently. "What?" Grimmjow asked.

"I know you're curious, why you're here, and now that you've had a chance to rest, I can explain things a bit. You were all a part an illegal and unethical set of trials done by my previous partner, Sosuke Aizen. He used a genetically altering formula we created to splice animal DNA into human DNA sequences. As children, you were easy to manipulate. And there are more of you. The two of you were almost his last subjects, aside from Ichigo. However, I don't know what he spliced into Ichigo's DNA yet. The tests haven't come back," Kisuke said with a sigh.

"Is that the reason for the seizures?" Ulquiorra asked.

Kisuke nodded. "I believe so. The tests haven't come back yet. His medical history shows that he's diagnosed with epilepsy since he was nine years old, however, no medications have any effect on the seizures. Most of his foster parents have been at a loss for what caused it."

Grimmjow moved closer again, brushing his head again with a high degree of affection. "He was bullyed for that as well."

"As well?" Kisuke said with an arched brow.

"Well, yeah, the gay thing, he seems to have suffered for that quite a bit," he said quietly.

Kisuke blinked. "Sexuality. That's an aspect I haven't looked into, quickly, you, what's your sexuality?"

Grimmjow frowned and looked up. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Your DNA was infused with panther DNA, from the records, female DNA. Are you also homosexual?" he asked, curious now.

"No!" he said. "I'm straight as a damn arrow, man," he said, stroking Ichigo's head again. Kisuke smiled.

"So the DNA injected didn't affect the sexuality, so that has no bearing on the effects. However, you have the instincts of a female panther," he said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"What?" Grimmjow said, frowning and standing up.

"You've got a history of being overly protective and possessive of those you consider your closest friends, and you are generally a loner otherwise. You have the maternal instincts to take care of one or two 'cubs' at a time, but other than that, you distance yourself from others, and are very aggressive," Kisuke continued. "I've found this with all the subjects. They have taken on personality traits of the creatures that they were infused with. Nnoitra, one of insect infused subjects, was infused with female praying mantis DNA. He is incredibly aggressive, and particularly violent after he's had a sexual encounter, so much so that any encounter he has to monitored and given a way to vent violence afterward. Another, he and his sister were infused with Wolf DNA, has a pack mentality and tends to keep his pack small and only consisting of himself and his sister. There are more, but the animal dictates possible traits they possess."

"What about him?" Ulquiorra said, pointing to the sleeping Ichigo.

"We have no idea, my ex-partner took the files on Ichigo," Kisuke said softly.

"So why the kidnapping?" Ulquiorra asked, staring at him seriously.

"The serum that was used has started to become unstable in those that it was tested on earliest. We've lost several people, and there are some that are very ill. The reason we needed you three is because you had the highest and most pure form. Some that we've lost have been very violent and there have been other deaths. We feared that if the serum destabilized completely, you'd have a worse episode. I needed you here both for your safety and everyone else's," Kisuke said with a sigh.

Grimmjow nodded, standing up, but seeming to hover close to his head. "So I'm a momma cat," Grimmjow said, looking at Kisuke. "That's fucking weird."

"And apparently, you've picked your cub," Ulquiorra added.

Grimmjow looked down and smirked at Ulquiorra. "Yeah, guess so."

Kisuke smiled. "I'll let you three rest for tonight, it is late, and tomorrow I'll take you up to the floor where the others are housed and introduce you to everyone. Sleep well, there will be much to do," Kisuke said and left them alone.

Grimmjow pulled his bed closer to Ichigo's bed so he could remain in physical contact. Ulquiorra didn't comment. Somehow, he too felt like he was a part of the small family unit they'd created. Perhaps the animal traits created such bonds faster. He smiled for the first time in many years as he fell asleep, after he'd pulled his bed closer to the others as well.