Kisuke looked over the files for the others. He was trying to come up with something, anything that would help these people. He put a hand to his head and sighed. He started as the phone rang beside him.
"Urahara," he said with a sigh.
"How are things over there?" came Jushiro Ukitake's voice. Jushiro was one of those from Group A. He had a case of drug resistant tuberculosis. Kisuke had tried to cure him of it with the trials, and he had stopped the disease from killing him or being communicable. However, Jushiro was left with a permanent case of TB that never got better, nor got worse.
"I guess the old man told you I got Subject 0, 1, and 2."
"He did. Would you like me and Shunsui to come over there and help with them?" he asked with long pause to cough.
Kisuke thought about it. "Yeah, that's fine. I'm taking them up to meet the others, well the others that are currently conscious."
"Alright, we'll see you soon, then," he said and the line went dead.
"Yo boss," came Nnoitra's voice from the doorway.
"What is it?" he asked with a sigh.
"Your pet boys are awake, seems like they're getting antsy," he said. "Want me to come with you in case that jumpy brat tries to bolt?"
Kisuke sighed. "Yeah, you probably should. I can't even begin to understand what that boy went through and survived."
Nnoitra waited and then fell into step beside him. "Saw he was a gay boy," he said thoughtfully. "Wonder if he might like me any…like that would be perfect, find me a partner that I could fight after I fuck them…"
Kisuke glared at him. "Nnoitra, please, do not make advances on him. He is not in a great frame of mind right now."
"Hey, I ain't gonna do anything," Nnoitra said with a grin. "But I'm damn sure tapping that if he seems interested."
Kisuke shook his head. Sometimes Nnoitra's incredible sex drive was hard to deal with. Luckily, considering the animal features that many of the subjects had, a lot of them had primal sex characteristics. That part had been a bit hard to get used to when he began gathering them. He couldn't count the times he'd walked in on several of them paired up…or more than two of them together…Hal and her girls were probably the worst, though. No one went in their rooms without knocking or they were going to probably get a view of at least two of them performing some sex act with each other, or with someone else they invited in.
"I don't even know if he or the other two have interest in sexual activity," he said softly as they came down the last cooridor.
"Shit, the boy's got a tat that basically advertises that he's a bottom bitch. Come on. He's like the rest of us. He just likes to have his ass…" Kisuke glared at him. "Sorry," he muttered realizing that he was going a bit far.
Kisuke opened the door to the room and saw all three of them sitting on their beds. He noted that Grimmjow had moved his bed closer to Ichigo's, and Ulquiorra had also moved a bit closer. He smiled. It always fascinated him about how they made connections with each other despite the situation they were in here.
"I'd like to take you up to meet some of the others. I didn't bring you here to lock you up. I brought you here to try and help you, and the others," he said and looked around.
Ichigo nodded and stood up, crossing his arms over his chest and ducking his head. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow followed him, and Kisuke noted that Grimmjow had taken up a protective position behind him and slightly to the side.
"Alright, come along," he said with a smile as he led them down the corridor to the elevator. They got in and headed up to the top level. The door opened and they were assaulted with a cacophony of sounds.
"Oi!" Kisuke yelled. "Keep it down you lot!"
In the large front room, three of the girls were playing a board game with a couple of the guys. All of them looked up.
"Hey, newbies!" one of them said. She was a girl with large breasts and short green hair. She came over and grinned broadly at them and looked them over. "I'm Mashiro!"
Ichigo nodded. "Um, Ichigo," he said and seemed to shrink away from her.
Grimmjow nodded. "I'm Grimmjow, this is Ulquiorra," he said as he put his arm around Ichigo's back. He felt him tense for a second but then it was like he was grateful that he was there.
The other two girls came up. "Hey there, I'm Loly," said the girl with a pair of black pigtails. "This is my girlfriend Menoly," she said and pointed to the girl next to her who had short blonde hair.
The two boys that had come up were standing back a bit. One was very short with white hair. He looked like a child, to be honest. He nodded to them. "Toshiro. And no I'm not twelve. I'm twenty four."
The boy next to him smirked. "Yeah, he's a kid at heart," he said. This one was a tall and thin young man with blonde hair pulled back at the nape of his neck. "Shinji," he said and blinked and for second Grimmjow thought his eyes changed color.
Nnoitra grinned and moved around and slapped Shinji on the ass. He glared at him. "The fuck, Nnoi?"
"Want to fuck? I'm horny as hell, and you're one of the only ones that can take me on in my post sex rage."
Shinji rolled his eyes. "Not today, Nnoi. After the last time we did that my ass hurt for a fucking week, you violent bastard, and you nearly broke my fucking jaw."
"You know you like it," Nnoi said with a grin.
Shinji growled and walked off from him. Nnoitra sighed. "Damn, I'll have to see if Kensei will let me top him…or Hal might want to do something since her girls are all laid up…"
Kisuke shook his head. "Nnoitra, I know you've got these urges, but our new friends are going to think all everyone does here is have sex."
"That's not what we do?" came a new voice. "Could have fooled me," he said. This guy was a taller guy with pink hair. "Hey, Szayel. My brother's laid up at the moment, but I'm conscious…for now," he muttered as he shook hands with Grimmjow and then Ulquiorra. He noted the stance that the other one had taken and didn't approach him.
Grimmjow nodded. "I guess my hair ain't so weird after all," he muttered.
"Rukia!" came a guy's voice and they saw a very short woman come walking out of a room followed by a puff of cold air. "Please…don't do this to me, baby…"
She turned and glared as a guy with bright red hair and black lines on his upper body and head came after her. He was wearing a pair of jeans and nothing else. She was in a yukata or something. "I'm sorry, okay, I didn't mean it…"
"You did too!" she said and glared harder at him.
Kisuke moved forward and put a hand on Rukia's shoulder. "Yare, yare, you two. What now? Rukia, please calm yourself, you're exuding far too much energy into your cold aura. I could feel it from over there."
"He is…argh!" she said and looked away.
"Renji?" Kisuke said and looked at him.
"I just said that she was cold today…" he muttered. "I meant it literally! You turned down the temperature to like fifty degrees! I was freezing my nuts off!"
Rukia narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, if you don't like my 'cold' then stay out of my room." She snorted and went back into the room and slammed the door behind her.
Renji sighed. "Dammit, that woman is seriously going to give my dick frostbite one of these days."
Kisuke sighed. "Renji, we have some new guests. And since everyone is in their usual moods…"
"You know she gets like this now and then. Fuck I'm gonna go stay with Byakuya for a while, at least he won't freeze my fucking nuts off when I'm trying to get off…" Renji muttered and crossed his arms.
Kisuke turned to the others. "Ah, there are some interesting…relationships around here, as I suppose you've noted. There are four groups of those of you that were experimented on. Renji, Rukia, and Rukia's adopted brother Byakuya, as well as Yachiru and Kenpachi who you met yesterday, were my test subjects. I put a stop to their testing when things started turning out badly, like with Rukia. She's unable to tolerate temperatures over eighty degrees. She's most comfortable at around twenty to thirty degrees, but when others are around, she can stand to be in about sixty or seventy for extended periods. So for this reason you'll rarely see her leave her room."
Grimmjow nodded. "What about you, red?" he asked.
Renji shrugged. "Um, well there were some…ah…strange things that happened," he said as he ran his hand over his red hair. "Besides the hair and the markings, I kind of got dosed with snake and monkey DNA, and then fucking Aizen, when our trial ended, he managed to slip me another dose…"
"So what was the effect?" Ulquiorra inquired.
Renji shrugged. "You know those monkeys called Bonobos? That like to fuck all the time? Ah, yeah," he said with a sigh. "And I'm super flexible and pretty fast too."
"It seems that the most primal instincts in the animals that were used come to the surface in the easiest ways," Ulquiorra observed.
Kisuke nodded. "Yes, and it is getting worse," he said with a sigh as they continued onward. They stopped outside a wide glass window. Inside was a hospital room with five beds occupied and five more empty. "These are Sung-sun, Mila Rose, Illfordt, Apacci, and Lilynette. Their DNA sequences have been altering at an accelerated pace. Some of the subjects I've had a reasonable time stabilizing," he said as a boy came walking into the room.
"Kise!" he said and ran to hug him. He had blond hair and distinctly mouse-like front teeth. His eyes were a strange color of purple.
"Wonderweiss, how are you?" he asked with a soft grin.
"Good, I eat breaky today for Hal!" he said with a big grin.
"I'm glad! Why don't you go on and play, okay?" Kisuke said and watched him skip away. He glanced back. "I managed to stabilize him and restart his development. He was stunted for some reason, and his body grew, but his mental development was stopped at infancy. I ran across him in a facility and realized what was happening to him. It's taken almost four months, but his mind has started catching up with his body. Aizen used rodent DNA on him in the womb, which caused his body to age at an accelerated rate."
Grimmjow frowned. "This is some fucked up shit," he said with a frown.
"Yeah, it has been difficult to locate some of them. Some I have been unable to get to before their DNA rewrote to the point of no return, turning them into the animal their DNA was altered with in everything except body. That's why I wanted to find you three. You might hold the key to the hogyoku formula. If I can unravel it, I might be able to reverse, or at least stop, some of these changes." Kisuke looked around at them. "So, um, I'll show you to some rooms. I know that it might be easier if you room together for now until you become used to things…"
Grimmjow nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."
Ichigo looked at him and was a little surprised as he held his arm still around his back. He was still feeling out of sorts after the seizure the day before. He hated how they left him dull and slow for a day or two afterward. "Yeah," he said with a nod."
Kisuke showed them to a room and then looked at Ichigo. "Ah, would you mind coming to let me check you out after the seizure yesterday? I'd like to run an MRI on you, just to see how things are."
Ichigo nodded. "Um, yeah, I've had a ton of them, though," he muttered as he rubbed his hands up and down his arms.
"You okay with him?" Grimmjow asked and Ichigo nodded. "Okay, I'm going to get to know the others around here so I know what's happening."
Ulquiorra nodded. "That is perhaps the best thing to do right now."
Kisuke nodded and patted Ichigo's shoulder. "Come now, nothing invasive. I even have one of those open machines."
Ichigo nodded, more than a little thankful for that. He followed him down to the next level and into a room that looked like any other MRI room, but it had the open type machine. Kisuke helped him get up on the table and he adjusted his shirt. "Oh, wait, you have some piercings, are they metal?"
Ichigo's eyes went a bit wider. "Oh, yeah," he said and swallowed. "I always forget about that."
He pulled up the t-shirt and fumbled with the ring in his belly button. He growled because his fingers were not cooperating. Kisuke smiled. "Here, let me, you seem to have trouble with your nervous system after the seizure."
Kisuke deftly undid the belly button ring and then the two in his nipples. Ichigo stuck his tongue out to show him the one there. Kisuke was wearing gloves already, so he didn't mind getting it out of his mouth. Running through an MRI with something like that in would cause a very painful incident. He'd seen it happen more than once. He put them in his pocket and looked up to see that Ichigo's face had gone red as the strawberry his name was a homonym for. "What's wrong?"
He bit his lip. "I…I have two others," he said softly.
Kisuke frowned. "Where…" his eyes widened a bit. "Oh…okay. Are you okay with me removing them, or would you rather me just wait until you can do it yourself?"
Ichigo had no idea what the answer to that was. He sighed. "I…I'm here now, and after the seizure is a good time to run the test, because the readings are different right afterward…"
"I am a doctor, you know," Kisuke said with a smile. "I have seen more than a few genital piercings. I am certain that Nnoitra has more genital piercings than two. Several of the others have some as well," he said gently.
Ichigo nodded and found his hands were shaking too much to actually take the pants he was wearing down. "Dammit," he muttered as he held his right hand inside his left. "I hate this. It lasts for almost two days before it goes away."
"How often do you have one of those?" Kisuke asked as he slid the loose sweats down off his hips and then glanced at him before he pulled the undershorts down over him. He felt him tense.
"I see," he muttered as he removed the Prince Albert type piercing. He frowned. "Ah, you said two?"
Ichigo sighed. "Down…"
Kisuke frowned and looked and realized he had a perineum piercing too. "Oh, I see," he said and removed that one. "There we go. You are metal free." He pulled his clothes back up on him and saw he was still blushing.
"Alright, let's get this done, then we can get you back to your room," he said and started the test. It went as quickly as any MRI and he watched as the results came up on the screen. He frowned. There was damage to some of the nerve centers, but as he was watching, from one image to the next, the damage was healing itself.
"Ichigo?" he called. "You said that that these symptoms last for a couple days, right?"
"Yeah," he said. "Um, like right afterward I can't really move or talk or anything, then I sleep for a while, and when I wake up it's better, but not great. Just kind of fades after a while."
Kisuke was amazed as he watched what was happening. "Ichigo, I need to get a look at your right after a seizure, or during it. Would you happen to be willing to wear a monitoring device for me?"
"Uh, I guess, what kind of device?" he asked curiously.
"It's a set of electrodes, I'll have to glue them onto your scalp, but I don't have to cut any hair or anything, it will stick to you for a week at a time before I have to replace the adhesive. How often do these seizures happen?" he asked as he came out and got him out of the machine.
"It depends. If I'm stressed, it happens more often, but at the very least, once a month. But this is the third one this month," he said with a sigh.
Kisuke nodded. "Here, I'll put these back, I'm sure you don't want them to seal over."
Again he blushed. Kisuke stopped. "I have to ask something, Ichigo. It is personal, but my curiosity has a basis in this research."
Ichigo watched as Kisuke carefully replaced the belly button ring, then the two nipple rings. He changed his gloves out and replaced his tongue ring and them looked at him. "Do you want me to put these back?" he said, holding the other two.
Ichigo didn't want him to, not really, but he also knew he really didn't want to have to get them done again. So he sighed. "Yeah, go ahead," he muttered and closed his eyes as Kisuke returned them carefully. "What…what's your question?"
Kisuke moved back up by his head. "You seem to be very hesitant and nervous around Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. And for someone that has the type of piercings you have, you tend to be rather shy and embarrassed by them. It has been my experience that people that have them are less modest. So why do you have them? And the tattoo? I noted that you were very nervous about the others realizing that you were gay, especially Grimmjow, yet you have a tattoo that strongly indicates it."
Ichigo's mouth worked before his brain stopped him. "It wasn't like they were my idea," he muttered then realized what he said and clamped his hand over his mouth.
Kisuke frowned. "What does that mean?"
Ichigo shook his head and sat up. "D-don't worry about it."
"Ichigo, please, there's a reason you don't want to discuss this. It may have some bearing on this research…" he began.
"It has nothing to do with this…experiment stuff. Just…just leave it, okay?" he said and slid off the table. "I…I want to go rest. I'm still shaky."
Kisuke nodded and led him back to the room he'd given them. "Come talk to me if you need to, okay?" he said.
Ichigo didn't answer just disappeared inside. Kisuke stood for a long time until he felt Grimmjow's presence. "What's the problem?"
"Something with Ichigo. There's something he's not telling us. He...he said something about his piercings and the tattoo on his back not being his idea."
Grimmjow frowned and looked at him. "Not his idea?"
"That's what he said and when I asked what that meant he told me to leave it alone. Considering the types of piercings he has…" Kisuke muttered.
"He has more than the nipples and his belly button?" Grimmjow asked.
Kisuke gave him a look. "Uh, yes, I had to remove them before we did the MRI. His hands are still not working well after the seizure."
Grimmjow looked at him and nodded. "I'll figure it out."
"Um, don't…" he started but the blue haired boy was gone into the room. "Push him…"
Grimmjow came in to find the orange heard boy sitting on one of the two beds with his chin resting on his knees. He looked up when Grimmjow came into the room.
"Kisuke said he did the MRI," he said conversationally as he sat down on the bed beside him.
"Yeah," he said. "Still not back to normal," he muttered as he held up his hand. His fingers still trembled and seemed to spasm now and then.
"I want to know what the hell you meant when you told Kisuke that getting that tat on your back and the pircings you have wasn't your idea," he said with an even look.
Icihgo's eyes went wide at him. "I didn't…I mean…it doesn't mean anything it just…"
Grimmjow shook his head. "No, I want to know what's going on, cub," he said and reached an arm around his shoulders. "I want you to tell me so I can help you with it. Something has been bothering you since we woke up here."
Ichigo looked at him for a long moment. "I can't…if I tell you…he'll be mad…" he said quietly.
"Who?"
Ichigo looked away. "I met him in high school, before I was, you know, out. And I just…he noticed and we got to going out and it was nice for a while."
"For a while?" Grimmjow asked.
"I mean, he doesn't do anything bad," he said and began looking at his fingernails. "I…I just have to listen or he gets mad. He…he doesn't like me going out alone, and he wants to know where I am…that's all."
"That's not all," Grimmjow said. "Did he make you get that stuff done?"
Ichigo looked at him and nodded. "I mean, I could have said no, but…but he said we were doing it so I went with him…he's all I have, you know, and I have friends, like my friend Tatsuke and her girlfriend Orihime, and my roommate at the dorms…but…no one that loves me."
"No one, huh?" Grimmjow said.
"Besides him, of course," he said and looked up at him.
"Where did he want you to get pierced anyway? Kisuke just said you had more than the ones I saw when you didn't have a shirt on."
Ichigo stuck his tongue out and showed him the ball in the middle of it. Grimmjow arched a brow. "And?"
"Th-that's all…" he stuttered.
"That's not all."
Ichigo sighed and hugged his knees again. "D-down there. He…he said he liked the way they looked and…and I didn't want to get them there. But…he told me if I took them out he'd be angry with me and I'd have to get them done again."
"You'd have to get them done again, huh?" he asked.
Ichigo looked at him. "What else was I supposed to do? I don't want him angry with me."
"Why not?"
Ichigo's head snapped up and he stared at Grimmjow a long time. "Huh?"
"Why don't you want him angry? What's so bad about him being angry? Everyone gets angry now and then."
Ichigo just stared at him for a long moment and Grimmjow could read the tension in his face. "He…he yells a lot," he said finally. "And, he's never hit me, so he doesn't do that," he said but Grimmjow saw the bow to his head when he said so.
"He makes you sleep with him whenever he wants it, huh? Doesn't give you a choice. Probably doesn't care about you when he does it, just whatever he wants," Grimmjow said with a sigh. It wasn't that he hadn't seen it before. The cheerleader in high school had a boyfriend like that. "You know, if you say no, it doesn't mean he can fuck you just because he wants to."
Ichigo looked at him. "But…but he's my boyfriend, and that's what…what you do…I mean, I want to be a good boyfriend, and he…he has his needs and I should take care of them. I shouldn't tell him no because I know he's going to want to do it."
Grimmjow blinked at him. No wonder this kid was freaked out by him. "Ichigo, it doesn't matter if he's your boyfriend, or if he's been your husband for twenty years. No is no. And if he doesn't listen to you, that's rape. No matter if you're together or not," he said softly.
Grimmjow felt the shiver through his shoulders. He looked up and Grimmjow realized his eyes were tearing up. "But…if I don't do it with him he'll go find someone else…"
"Then he should. You aren't there just for his sexual gratification. If he says you are, he's a shitty abusive fuck. And if I ever see him, I'll punch his goddamned face in."
Ichigo didn't know what to say. "But…but…" he stammered.
"But nothing. Even if we walk out of here today, you're taking me with you to this asshole, and I'm going to give him a piece of my fucking mind, and if he tries to act like he has any right to say anything, I'll kick his fucking ass," he said with a tight squeeze of Ichigo's shoulders.
Ichigo swallowed and looked up into his blue eyes. The look there was something he'd never seen, to be honest. It wasn't lust, not like with his boyfriend. No, this was entirely different. It was protective, nurturing even, and it made him feel safe. He bit his lip and leaned into Grimmjow's hold. Grimmjow held him and they sat there for a long time.
Grimmjow had to take care of his cub. He would beat the living shit out of anyone that mistreted him from now on no matter who they were. They weren't going to fuck with him anymore. And he was dead serious when he said he'd take the asshole down a peg or two.
"What's this jackass's name anyway?" he asked softly after a while.
"Abirama Redder. He goes to the college with me, he's a football player," he said with a sigh. For some reason, he felt like he could tell Grimmjow this. "He went to my high school with me. I just…I was at a bad point and he helped me." He sighed. "He wants me to move into his apartment this year, but…but I've put him off, saying I had to help my friend with his bills at the dorm."
Grimmjow nodded his head. "Well, Abirama is going to find out how to treat someone right. Even if it takes me ripping his fucking nutsack off and shoving it down his throat."
Ichigo couldn't help the smile as he snuggled into the comfortable hold Grimmjow had him in. He'd never had anyone say something like that to him. Abirama would just go with people who started picking at him, calling him a fag or telling him awful things. He'd laugh with them, join in even, as if he wasn't his boyfriend and just as gay as he was. At least, he thought that. What if it wasn't about what he'd thought? What if Abirama just liked to control him like he had for the last five years?
