Blade's Edge

Chapter Four

Memory Sequence

Present

Monday, May 19th, 1:00 pm

Seireitei Safe House

Renji and Rukia at the same time wanted to know and didn't want to know what had happened to the boy that had become their friend in those cages. They all knew what they had seen on the reports. The piercings he'd put into him alone was enough to turn someone's stomach several times over. And now, he acted like a lost puppy at Zaraki's feet. Rukia was sure that she couldn't have been any sadder than she was at the moment. She moved over and kneeled beside Zaraki's leg. Ichigo was still sitting between his legs with his head resting against his thigh, and he looked like he was sleeping.

"Zaraki, is he asleep?" she asked, looking up at the larger man.

Zaraki touched his head and got no response and felt the soft huff of breath on his leg. He nodded. "I'll be damned, how can he sleep like that?"

Yumichika shook his head. "He probably had no choice. Do you honestly think a bed is someplace of comfort for him?"

Zaraki nodded, and left his hand against the back of his head. "I guess I shouldn't move him then."

Yumichika shook his head. "I don't think it would be a good idea. He'll probably wake almost immediately."

Flashback

Saturday, September 15th, 2007

Espada Compound

"Come on, you little bitch, I'm not fighting with you today," Nnoitra said, dragging his orange haired charge roughly down the corridor by the chain he had attached to the collar on his neck.

It had been four weeks, and Ichigo was not about to do anything he said, damn any consequences. His days usually ended with more than a little pain, but it was worth it to see the frustration light up the bastard's eyes. It was somewhat childish, what he was doing now, digging his heels into the floor as Nnoitra tried to hurry him. He growled and yanked backward when he could. It wasn't like he could say anything; Nnoitra never let him out of their room without a gag of some sort. Today it was one he hated more than anything. It was one that wedged his mouth open, and there was a piece inset into it, a thick rubber piece that nearly choked him. He knew it could be removed, allowing someone to use his mouth without taking it off him. It had the added benefit that he couldn't bite.

Nnoitra had found out the hard way that sometimes, Ichigo just didn't care how much he beat him with the whip or the crop. He had some small satisfaction that he'd needed two stiches in his cock after that incident and couldn't fuck for a week. Of course, the torture that came during that week was almost worse than the satisfaction. In response, Ichigo had ended up needing a few stitches himself in less than savory places as well. However, every single time he thought back to Nnoitra's face when he saw his dick bleeding was golden and made him smile. So now, he was stuck with the dumb gag. He had no idea what the hell it was called but whoever made it was a fucking sadistic prick, he'd decided.

Finally, Nnoitra had enough of him and yanked hard on the chain and just grabbed him by the arm and shoved him ahead of him. Ichigo winced as he fell into the wall. His back was a mess at the moment, and every movement seemed to pull at one of the scabs. Of course, it wasn't like his legs or ass were in much better shape. Ever since the bite incident, Nnoitra had been particularly vicious with his beatings. The double doors opened and he was shoved into a wider room full of people and despite the fact this wasn't the first "group" he'd been shown to, he still blushed at the people staring at him. He wasn't naked (thank gods), but he was pretty damn close. He was wearing a set of leather bindings on his upper body, and a pair of what amounted to a pair of tight boy short panties over the cage Nnoitra had started making him wear. He had no idea why. He didn't have one bit of problems when it came to getting near a hard on.

"Hello, boys," Nnoitra said, shoving him toward a chair in the center of the room that Ichigo had never seen. It was reminiscent of a dentist's chair or something. "Here for the show tonight?" he asked, smiling.

There were too many people for Ichigo to recognize any of them. He vaguely remembered the guy with blue hair, and that one with pink that was a doctor was walking toward them.

"Nnoi, you sure about this? I mean, it isn't like you've been trained in this…" the pink haired man said almost nervously.

"I've watched YouTube videos on it, I can handle it, Szayel," he said with a smirk as he shoved Ichigo into the chair and strapped his hands to the arms. He strapped his ankles to the feet of it, then leaned over and buckled a belt around his waist really tightly.

"Don't worry so much, if he starts bleeding too much, that's what you're here for," Nnoitra said and Ichigo's eyes went wide at the comment.

"Let me get the med kit before you start, at least," he said and headed back out the double doors.

A face Ichigo did recognize came toward him. Aizen. "Well, there, aren't you a sight?" he said, looking him over. "Have you been good for Nnoi?"

"Fuck now," Nnoitra said, glaring at him. "Little fucker bit my dick a couple weeks ago. He bit my fucking dick. Szayel had to give me two stitches!"

Aizen smiled at him. "Well, he's got spunk, that's for sure. Wouldn't expect any less out of my dear brother's nephew. What are your plans for him tonight that you wanted to have us view?"

Nnoitra grabbed a table and pulled it over. "Well, as you can see, he's got some of my lovely work already in his ears and his nose and his eyebrows, so now, I'm going to practice some of the more interesting piercings on him, figured you'd all enjoy the show, since all you fuckers are goddamned sadists too."

Aizen nodded and left, leaving Ichigo to wonder what the hell were "interesting" piercings? He looked up as Szayel came back and sat a large bag on the floor and shook his head.

"Just, watch out for…" he began.

Nnoitra shook his head. "I know, I know, don't worry, fuck man."

Ichigo didn't know what to expect, but he did know he didn't expect Nnoitra to produce a pair of scissors and cut the underwear he was wearing off him and unlatch the cage from him. Ichigo squirmed and blushed even brighter because the chair had is legs spread out and everyone now got quite a good view of his goods.

"Ah, now baby boy, for the fun part," Nnoitra said, holding up a curved needle. "First, this is called a…" he looked at the laptop sitting behind Ichigo. "This is a…frenum. All these technical names for shoving metal through your cock, right?" he said with a grin. Ichigo's eyes went wide and he shook his head. Nnoitra smiled and kneeled down; taking his time and taking pleasure in the stiffening of his body under him as he ran the needle through the thin skin. "Now, that's not so bad, is it?" he said looking up as Ichigo glared at him.

"Now, let's see, I like that a lot, so let's do a whole bunch, a Jacob's Ladder they call it when you do this…" he said, smiling and he worked diligently. Around the chair, those present were milling, coming up and watching for a while then moving back to their seats where they were chatting and having some sort of dinner. Ichigo looked over them and locked eyes with someone he recognized. Her name was Loly, he thought, from the cages. She was staring at him, no doubt recognizing him. She smiled sadly and turned back to serving drinks.

"There we go, isn't that lovely?" Nnoitra said, standing up and staring. More than a little blood was dripping onto the seat now. "Now…oh, yes, I'm dying to do this one…"

Ichigo thought piercing hurt. He really didn't expect what Nnoitra did next. He picked up a longer, thicker needle and smiled at Szayel. "You might come over for this one."

Szayel moved up and shook his head after he glanced at the computer next to Ichigo's head. "Seriously? You know how much damage you could do with this if you aren't careful?"

Nnoitra grinned. "I'm careful!"

Having a needle go through the tip of the penis isn't a fun experience, especially when it isn't one that the person having it done wants to have. "And now we have a…what the fuck they call this one…oh yeah, Ampallang. What a name!"

Szayel shook his head as he watched Nnoitra pulled the needle through, amazed there wasn't more blood, and slide a ring through the opening and snap it closed on the other side. "This one will be useful," Nnoitra said, grinning up at him.

"Whatever you do, Szayel, do not let that get ripped out. I can't repair that kind of damage, got it?" Szayel said, shaking his head. "I'm not a fuckin urologist."

Nnoitra smiled at him. "Well, that's up to him, now isn't it, baby boy?" he said, leaning up and licking his tears away.

Ichigo was dizzy now. He had never had a problem with needles or anything until the moment he put one through his cock. Now, he was about to pass out. No, scratch that, he thought as blackness encroached onto him. He was going to pass out. It was actually pleasant for a little while, until he woke up in excruciating pain.

He whined against the gag still in his mouth and felt Nnoitra pat his thigh. His eyes fluttered open and he was still in the room, still being watched, and his entire nether area was on fire. "There you are baby boy, gave you some more pretties," he said, standing up. Ichigo didn't want to look. His entire scrotum was burning along with every bit of his cock. If he ever got an erection again, he was sure it would be a miracle. At this moment, that whole part of his body could have fallen off and he wouldn't have cared or even noticed.

"Um, don't you think that's enough?" a voice said nearby. "I mean, he isn't looking so good. He's already passed out once, Nnoi," the voice said, coming closer. He blinked and saw a man he was unfamiliar with. He had long wavy brown hair and deep brown eyes.

"Ah, baby boy can take it, can't you?" Nnoi asked, yanking on something that pulled painfully on some part of him, he wasn't even sure what part. He whimpered against the gag and even to his own ears it sounded pitiful.

The man frowned and reached out and ran a surprisingly gentle hand over his head. Why couldn't he have someone like that take him instead of this sadistic bastard, he thought. Then he caught himself. What the fuck was he thinking? He was seriously comparing people who could treat him like a thing, a piece of property? This was taking a toll on him much more than he wanted to admit. However, what was he supposed to do?

"Now, done for now down there, though, my sweet boy, you'll be getting a few more later. I'll wait for the other ones though. I don't want you to die, after all. As it is, I can't play with the front of you for a while. I definitely don't want to pierce the back and not be able to fuck you at all…" he said with a grin and Ichigo realized what he was talking about piercing. Oh hell no, he thought to himself, shaking his head.

"Now, let's see, this shouldn't take long," he said, leaning forward with another needle and piercing his left nipple in one smooth move. Ichigo gasped and panted as he did the second one. That didn't quite feel as bad as having the other parts pierced, but dammit it still hurt.

Nnoitra clicked two thick rings into the openings and snapped a chain between them. He tugged experimentally on it and Ichigo came forward immediately with a gasp. "There we go. See, you are such a pain in the fucking ass. You don't like to be led by a goddamned collar like a normal fucking slave. So we're going to do things this way. That little piercing I put in your cock and these two right here, they're going to be attached to your fuckin' leash. Up to you how hard I pull on it, baby boy," he said with a grin.

Ichigo's eyes were wide as he tugged harder on the chain connecting the nipples together. That hurt so much already and he was going to attach it to the other one? Holy fuck, he thought to himself.

Saturday, September 27th, 2007

Espada Compound

By the time another week passed, Ichigo was a lot more compliant. He had no choice, of course. Nnoitra didn't even let the new piercings heal before he'd rigged a leashing system that incorporated all his favorite ways to punish him at once. He still wore the collar; the chain instead, though, ran through the ring instead of attaching to it. It then ran down and passed through both the nipple rings and continued down into a cage that Nnoitra had fitted for him that left a nice opening in the end where the chain again ran through the ring in the tip of his cock. It then threaded back up and split into two chains that each attached to one of the nipple rings securely. He wore a kilt looking thing most the time now to accommodate the torturous system Nnoitra had set up. Now, with a flick of his wrist, the chain would tighten from top to bottom, yanking painfully on every point in between. Ichigo had decided the bastard was a complete sadist to come up with something so fucking twisted like this. It was painful enough that there was no problem with him even beginning to say or do anything other than what Nnoitra told him to do.

Even then, he'd end up flogged, and he was really trying to do what he said now. Like as he was currently strapped to the bed on his stomach with him tearing into his back with the riding crop again. He didn't even know why; he didn't say this time.

Finally he was done and sat the crop down, sitting down beside him and yanking his head around to face him. Ichigo had tried to hide the tears, like always, but sometimes they just showed up whether he wanted them to or not. Nnoitra sometimes got this strange look on his face and petted his hair so gently. Ichigo wasn't sure what to make of it. One minute he'd be just about stripping the flesh from his back, and the next he'd look at him with a strange look on his face. He swallowed thickly and sighed, petting his head.

"I hate tears," Nnoitra said finally, looking away and lighting a cigarette thoughtfully. "My ma was a bitch, Jesus fuckin' Christ was she a bitch. Used to beat the living shit out of me when I was a kid for no reason," he said, pulling deeply on the cigarette. "Maybe that's why I'm such a fucking sadist now. Guess I want to hurt someone as much as she hurt me."

Nnoitra looked down where Ichigo had turned his head away from him and put a gentle hand on his head, surprising the younger man to no end. "Sometimes, when I leave you, I feel sorry for what I've done to you. Can you believe that?" he said, fingers running through his hair. "The day I told her I was gay, she put me in the hospital, you know. Broke my jaw with a cast iron frying pan. I was sixteen, and told the doctor everything. I was done with her. Never forget how heartbroken she acted, like she was so surprised I would tell someone what she was doing. Not like they didn't believe me, shit, child services had been out to my place six or seven times in the last few years. Everyone knew what she was doing but no one could prove it."

Another long pull from the cigarette. "What the fuck am I telling you this for? I guess that part of me that feels like shit after I've done something like this is getting to me a little bit. So I'm taking a break, sending you to stay with one of the others for a couple weeks. Gotta go to Kyoto to pick up a load of fuckbunnies personally. So Starrk asked if you could stay with him and I said yes. I'll take you in the morning."

The bed moved and Ichigo felt a sheet drop over him. Then the lights went out and he sighed because for once after beating him to a bloody pulp he left him alone. He slept, easily now, because he was used to being bound like this all night. Somehow it was comfortable.

Present

Monday, May 19th, 2:00 pm

Seireitei Safe House

Zaraki's leg had long ago gone numb when the kid leaned against him gasped and sat up with wide eyes. He was grabbing his leg and whimpering against him. Zaraki reached down and stroked his head as he looked up with wide brown eyes.

"D-don't give me away!" he said suddenly with wide eyes.

Zaraki frowned. "What?"

He then buried his head in the larger man's thigh again, trying desperately to refrain from crying. Crying was so bad and he couldn't stand to be given away again. He had lost his master, he'd lost his master and now no one would want him and he was tearing apart inside.

"Don't give me away…Master, please…" he whimpered against him. "Need you," he whined and gripped Zaraki's leg tighter. "Please, let me please master?" he said, looking up. "So you won't give me away?"

Zaraki wasn't sure what to do. "You aren't going anywhere, okay?" he said finally.

Ichigo stared at him with wide eyes that were glistening with barely contained tears. "No?" he asked, not noticing the others that had moved to get closer.

Zaraki glared at Yumichika who shrugged. "Comfort him," he said softly. "He's scared you'll abandon him like Nnoitra did. He thinks he abandoned him, gave him to you. He doesn't realize anymore that he was a prisoner. Seven years, Zaraki, that's a long time for someone to go through what he did."

Zaraki pulled his face up and looked at him. "Look, I'm not your master."

Ichigo's eyes went wide and his tears started in earnest. "Please, master, I'll be good, I'll do what you say, don't…don't give me away again!"

Zaraki gasped and looked up to the others and back and realized the kid was having a total panic attack and was gasping for breath. "Look, no, stop, I'm not giving you away, I'm…fine, okay, I'll let you call me master, okay?"

Finally, he seemed to catch his breath and whined rather loudly and grabbed the larger man around the waist, his face practically buried in his crotch. Despite the fact Zaraki was trying to keep his mind out of the gutter, having someone's face in his crotch huffing long, hot breaths onto him, aroused him suddenly. His eyes went wide and he tried to avoid groaning.

"Don't, okay, you need to move, kid," he said tightly, grabbing both sides of his orange head and lifting his face up, very glade he was wearing jeans.

"Is master mad?" he asked, eyes wide.

"No," Zaraki said. "Here, can you sit…on my leg here?" he asked, shifting uncomfortably.

Ichigo grinned and scrambled up to sit on the larger man's leg, leaning into his chest with a fluttering breath. There was a sudden calm that descended. And then Zaraki realized that he'd started to quietly cry against his chest. He put a hand around his back and frowned.

"What in the world are you crying for now?" he asked quietly.

Ichigo's head jerked up with a gasp and he suddenly was scrambling away from Zaraki at a frantic pace until he'd put himself into the corner of the room. Zaraki winced, remembering what he'd said about tears. He got up slowly and moved toward where he was sitting now with his chin resting on his knees staring blankly in front of him. Zaraki kneeled down in front of him.

"Say, none of that, okay? You can cry if you want to," he said, sighing. He'd actually completely forgotten the large audience he had. Everyone else watched in silence unsure if they should do or say anything.

"Don't cry, don't fucking cry," Ichigo said hollowly. "Tears make me mad. Really mad. I hate them. I hate you."

Zaraki swallowed with a wince. He really and truly wanted to get his hands on Nnoitra. Just for a few minutes. It would be all he'd need. "He's not here," he said finally.

Ichigo's head snapped up. "You hate me," he said quietly then, blinking.

Zaraki wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I don't, why would I? I got you away from him."

"You took me away!" he said, eyes wide suddenly. "You stole me away! I…I'm alone…I need, I need my master," he said, eyes flitting around the room frantically. "I can't…I can't…you don't want me! He wanted me! He always wanted me even if he hated me!" he said, voice growing louder.

Zaraki shook his head. "Ichigo, I don't…I don't understand what you mean. Why do you think I don't want you?"

Ichigo started rocking back and forth rhythmically. "He loved me, he hated me…all at the same time. You don't care, you stole me, you took me, I want to go back! I want my master, I want him to hurt me, because he wanted me to hurt for him, don't you understand! You took me away! You took his love away!" he was almost screaming at Zaraki now, his hands frantically touching his face, neck, wrists, and body where he still had healing wounds from the piercings and bindings. "You took it away, I'm alone," he said quietly and finally put his head on his knees.

Zaraki was at a complete loss and looked up to see Yumichika had come to stand behind him. "Cap, be careful," he said quietly. "He's volatile, and he thinks you have rejected him for some reason…we can't lose the progress we've made."

Zaraki gave Yumichika a glare. Just what the fuck was he supposed to do? How the fuck did he know carrying the fucking kid out of there was going to imprint on him like some sort of infant? He thought about what he looked like before. "Symbols," he said, looking up at Yumichika. "He's looking for the symbols of ownership he doesn't have anymore," he said thoughtfully.

Yumichika's face cleared and he winced. "Holy fuck-a-duck…I'm stupid. Of course…don't do anything, I'll be right back." He paused and turned back. "Cap, favorite color?" he asked.

Zaraki frowned and shook his head. "Um, red or black?" he said, completely confused. For one, Yumichika never cursed. And for another he never called himself stupid.

About thirty silent minutes passed and Yumichika came running back into the room holding a bag. He handed it to Zaraki. "He feels abandoned. Until we can get him out of this mindset you've got to show him he's wanted here, by you, since he equates the biggest, most dominate man to his master. Give him that, don't ask him, just put it on him," he said motioning to the bag.

Zaraki frowned and looked inside. "No, you are kidding me; I'm not going to…"

Yumichika kneeled beside Zaraki. "Listen, we've ripped him out of a life he's lived for seven years. He's forgotten what it's like to live for himself, what it's like to not have someone tell him what to do every moment. He's had independent thought beaten out of him. We can't expect him to suddenly be ready to go back to normal the second we get him out. It was hellish, but it was familiar and comfortable for him. This is completely alien and unknown and he's going to come unraveled if we can't give him some foothold in what has become his normalcy, especially since we are stuck in the safe house and he can't be sent to a care facility. If we were there, we could monitor him and help him through this, but there's too many dangers here, including him hurting himself because he can't handle it. Trust me, you won't be harming him. We're harming him as it is already," he said glancing to see that Ichigo's shoulders still shook now and then.

For Ichigo the world was pure haze around him. He'd yelled at master. He would never take him now, he'd send him off to someone else who would be terrible and mean and make him cry and then like to see him cry. Somehow that was worse than Master's insistence he not cry. He'd screamed at master who had taken him away from his Master and it was so terrible now that there was no way back. Master would be so angry, he'd be so very angry, and Ichigo was so scared of what he would do without master to protect him. He was alone, and nothing to show for what he was. He was nothing. He was a body floating through the haze of reality and nothing was going to change that. The others would come and no one would stop them, and he knew his life was worth less than nothing.

He gasped as he felt hands on his face lifting it up. He blinked and stared up into the one dark eye and he saw his Master, even if the eye patch was the wrong eye. It didn't matter. One eyed, strong, powerful, black haired, he was master, right? His eyes were still wet and he didn't want to be slapped yet at the same time he wanted some proof that this master was going to protect and keep him. His hands moved and he felt something touching the skin of his neck and his eyes went wide at the familiar sensation. His heart leapt and his breath began to speed up. He was accepting him? He was going to take care of him and love him and hurt him and hate him and everything?

Ichigo's hands went to the red leather collar that had been buckled around his neck, much looser than the previous black one. Zaraki had doubted what Yumichika had said. But the look on his face was almost blissful as his fingers gently danced along the leather and touched every part of the collar all the way around to the buckle in the back. Of course, he could remove it if he wanted. The buckle was easy enough to release. However, he wasn't trying to release it at all. He stared up at Zaraki and then lunged forward into his arms and began to weep again, quietly like before. Zaraki sighed. His head really hurt at the moment.

Monday, May 19th, 9:00 pm

Dockside Bar

Grimmjow sat at the bar with a jack and coke and stared at the mirror at himself. He wasn't the most attractive man in the world, hell the scars alone was enough to put someone off him. The entire right side of his face was covered in a massive tattoo of a jawbone to cover a massive nest of burn scars from when he had dove into a fire as a kid to rescue his dearest friend. He sighed, sipping again and realized he was being watched. He smiled as he watched a buxom woman sit down beside him. He had dyed green hair and red tattoos over her cheekbones.

"Come here often?" she purred into his ear in a sultry sounding voice.

"Of course," he said, grinning into his jack and coke. "Do you?"

"Nah, I heard about this blue haired man-whore that comes in here and gets drunk off his ass and often goes home with STD infested hookers. Figured I should step in and stop it," he said with a wry smile.

Grimmjow sighed. "Nel, really," he said shaking his head and setting down his drink. "What are you doing here? You never come to bars."

Nel nodded, her face turning serious as she sat down beside her childhood friend. Grimmjow Jagerjaquez and Nelliel Tu Oderschvank had grown up next door to each other in a heavily German settled community in the suburbs. Their parents were always at work and never at home, so the two had become friends. They kicked anyone's ass that messed with the other, and Nel, while a pretty face, was deadly as hell with her knives. After they got to be teens, they had been recruited by Aizen and quickly rose in the ranks. Things, however, had changed.

"Want a drink?" Grimmjow asked her as the bartender came over.

"I'll take a soda water, please," she told him and turned back to Grimmjow.

"Grimmy, I want out," she said.

Grimmjow nearly choked on his drink. "What? You don't just get out, you know that right?"

"I can't take it Grimm. I'm tired of watching what he does to these kids. I mean, look what happened after that bust. Nnoitra's completely gone off the handle, and Aizen is impossible to deal with because he's lost the Kurosaki kid. It was wrong what they did to that kid, and you know it. It is wrong what he does to the ones that are still there," she said, sipping the soda water slowly. "I've never been comfortable even knowing that there was human trafficking going on, even if my work is far away from it for the pharmaceutical business. I knew it was happening and didn't stop it. I can't…I can't watch any more kids have the light in their eyes die. I can't stand to see someone as vibrant as that Kurosaki kid turned into…into…what he became…again."

Grimmjow swallowed thickly. He'd known this would come soon. Nel was such a good hearted woman. She'd been a gentle child. To be honest, he'd been the rough one, the one that got pulled into Aizen's gang. It had been stupid. He'd been mucking around with ingredients for pipe bombs again. He loved to watch things explode, and his adoration of fireworks had led to him going off in the woods to set his own off and make things himself. He was fifteen when he'd blown up the shed in the woods with a fertilizer bomb. He didn't know it was stocked full of cocaine that bellowed to Sōsuke Aizen. He found out really quick that he had only two choices. Work for him as a bomb maker, or die. Luckily for Grimmjow, he was good, so he quickly gained respect and privileged. To keep an eye on him, Nel had come into the organization, though in an above board position alongside Tier Harribel as CEO and COO of Aizen's legitimate business enterprise.

Still, she knew what happened. Nel never came to the gatherings, and was never called on to do patrol duty or guard duty when they got the large shipments of guns, drugs, or people to be trafficked. Still, she knew what went on because it was etched deeply into Grimmjow's face.

For him, it began with the brat, the one that Aizen and Nnoitra were going ballistic over having lost to the feds. There was something about the way he fought him, a kid of sixteen at the time, and damn near laid him out. He was sure if they hadn't drugged him, they'd never have got him out. He thought he was like the rest. They did it now and then. They'd kidnap someone important's kid and hold them for a time until Aizen got what he needed, then they'd release them. They'd done that with a bunch before. Then, Nnoitra started running his mouth and messing with the kid, teasing him through the bars with his vulgarity. Of course, it was hilarious when he put Nnoitra's eye out. He shouldn't have taunted the boy so much. Still, as Grimmjow watched, Nnoitra's whole demeanor changed. He'd always been perverse and took advantage of his merchandise. There probably wasn't a boy that went through his division that hadn't been thrown to the ground by him at least once. He never touched the girls though, not once. After he got his hands on the kid, though, he became worse. Instead of just having his way with them, he started killing one now and then and they'd have to get rid of the body. Aizen chastised him. Nnoitra's comment was if he didn't find some other outlet, he might just kill their baby boy.

The man made Grimmjow's skin crawl. Of course, not a lick of it could show. He had to pretend to like the fucker. He had to lather on the praise and boost his ego. All of the Espada were incredibly acquiescent to whatever Nnoitra wanted. The reason was simple, they were all thugs, criminals of all types, but they weren't animals. They'd all seen what he'd done to the bodies of the ones he'd taken out his frustration on. It was unspoken that to keep it from happening, they tried to keep the bastard happy. For some, like Zommari and Barragan, it was about protecting the merchandise. Every boy he killed was ten grand they wouldn't get. For others like Grimmjow, it was about the fact he was torturing and murdering boys because he was annoyed and bored. However, Grimmjow didn't know who else saw things his way. Zommari and Barragan were vocal about having to bend to whatever Nnoitra wanted to keep the merchandise from getting damaged. The rest, Grimmjow wasn't sure.

"Nel, what brought this up?" he asked softly. "It's been almost fifteen years since we started this, Nel. We don't just walk away. You didn't want to walk away when you found out about the kid."

"I know and my heart is always going to ache because of it," she said with a sigh, chewing on her lip thoughtfully.

"What is it?" he asked finally.

"Grimm, I…I'm pregnant," she said with a sigh. "I don't want a baby born into this life."

He blinked and slammed the rest of the drink down. Well, that was a surprise. "I see."

"I want out and there's a boy that I want to help get out too. He's being used to gamble for A. He doesn't even know he's being used, and I can't see him hurt like that," she said with a soft sigh.

Grimmjow nodded. "Gimme a few days, okay?" he said. "I can't just take you off somewhere without a plan. I'd be dead when I got back."

"I want you to come, too," she said softly, looking up with her green eyes and smiling. "I want the father of my child with me."

Grimmjow's blue eyes went wide and his mouth opened before he passed out cold onto the floor beside the barstool.