COLD INTERFACE
Crushed Hands
"How many times have people tried to escape from here?"
"More than you can count on ten hands." Ichigo stared at her evenly. She had the fresh spirit of every new person in The Factory. Ichigo had been like her. Hell, for the first six months he'd been there, he was determined to escape. He didn't give up even when the guards beat the shit out of him for trying. He didn't give up even when they'd pressed a lit cigarette to his neck, or when they kept bashing his ribs in with a steel bat. He had been so focused and head-strong back then, but after six months he slowly started to slip into the daily routine here. He wanted to leave, yeah. But there was no way. There was literally no possible way of escape here. Every entrance and exit was secured, and all indirect exits like ventilation systems were caged by metal bars bolted to the ceiling, and in public areas for that matter.
"I'm going to try."
Grimmjow moved his eyes over to the girl. "You're just like everyone that comes in here. Why don't you spare yourself another head injury and shut up about it?"
"How can the two of you sit here and be this place's slaves? Don't you want to go back to the outside world? Don't you want to be able to do whatever you want? You two are pathetic! I thought hard-headed men like you would never stand to be in a place like this! But it turns out you're too weak to even try."
Grimmjow stood up and walked over to her. He lifted her by the front of her dark clothing and held her eye-level to him. "Listen, you goddamn bitch. You don't think we both tried when we first got here? You don't think we got our asses handed to us when we did? You try and escape and it gives the guards reason to use you as a punching bag for the next week and a half. Don't fuckin' call me weak when you don't know shit. You think you're tough because you came from a place like Habrinnia? You aren't worth shit. There's far worse than that."
Rukia took the breathing pause Grimmjow made to interject her own thoughts. She wrapped both of her tiny hands around his muscled arm, the one holding her up, and dug her finger tips into his skin. "So you're afraid of getting a little beat up? You gave up and now you're going to live this life until you die? I'd rather be dead than spend anymore time here!"
"That can be arranged, y-"
"Will you two stop? Jeeze, it's not worth it." Ichigo had rolled his eyes at their bickering.
Grimmjow dropped Rukia and she stormed over to Ichigo, doing what Grimmjow had done to her. However, with the height difference, once Ichigo stood to his feet it was Rukia pulling him down to her, no lifting him. "Don't you even try to play the calm and collected one! You're just as guilty as he is. Giving up. What is that? You need to try harder!"
Ichigo waved his arm through hers, pushing her grasping hand away from him. He averted his eyes to the side casually and stared off. "Just shut up."
"Oh, hello Miss Rukia!" Hanatarou seemed to be very excited upon seeing Rukia enter the kitchen area.
She offered him a soft smile. "I told you, you can just call me Rukia."
"O-Okay, Rukia then. How are you Rukia?"
The raven-haired teen's eyes slid to the side for a moment and then back at him. "Alright, what about you?"
"Oh, I'm fine!" He paused and stared at her. She seemed very distant, as if her mind was miles away. "Uhm, is there something wrong Rukia?"
Rukia's eyes focused back to reality. "No, not at all. I'm just a little tired is all."
"You know, I found that if you hum a tune when you're trying to fall asleep, it usually drowns out the noise from the main room." He looked to her with a concerned expression.
She smiled again. "Thanks, I'll have to try that."
Another day, another disaster.
Trouble seemed to seek out Rukia. Trouble had a giant rocket launcher filled with pain that had a personalized Rukia-seeker attached, and wouldn't detonate until it landed on the designated target. That's what she'd like to believe, at least.
The lunchroom seemed to be the place where people had the most freedom. That's the only place where other workers would mess with her. She stood in line with her tray. A tall and somewhat chiseled man slipped in front of her and snatched her tray. He grinned down at her.
"Hey cutie. You want your tray down, you gotta give me a little somethin' somethin'." When he smiled, the missing front right canine tooth was evident, as well as the black and yellow from the others.
Rukia looked the man up and down as if sizing him up. After a split second, she swept her leg in a circle on the floor around him. She knocked his legs out from under him and he fell backwards. In the process of falling, he had thrown the tray up, which Rukia snatched. The brute jumped back up to his feet with a sour expression and lunged after her, but she swung the edge of the tray into his face and then shoved it into his stomach, causing violent coughs to erupt from him. The area around Rukia went silent for a second, and she realized that she was circled by a bunch of people - some grinning with excitement and some pissed off. Rukia's eyes narrowed and she clutched onto her only weapon, the tray.
Someone from behind her looped their arms under her armpits to hold her arms back and keep her in a somewhat steady position. She struggled against him, and started to feel panic flood her when the men in front of her started to come forward. This was the moment that the hero was supposed to show up. This is where Ichigo would come in like before and save her from being...whatever these guys would do to her. This wasn't actually going to happen. Not in a place like this, not with people like this. Ichigo woul- 'Damn it, why the hell am I depending on him? I don't need him! I can take care of myself just fine. I've been in situations like this before, why should this be any different?'
As one guy came to stand right in front of her, she jumped up, her upper body still restricted, and drove her right foot into the man's face, shoving him back into the horde. Once back on both feet, she instantly moved her left foot to the side, kicking a man square in his groin. Rukia started feeling adrenaline rush through her, and felt like she could take on the whole cafeteria if it was against her. But before she could do another ninja move, she felt her cheek slam against the cold ground. The man who was behind her now sat on her back with knees on either side of her. She tried using her hands to push off the ground and throw him off, but she felt the pain of someone's weight on them as they stepped on the front side, crushing her palms into the ground. She winced silently at the two hundred something pounds on her hands. She felt the man on her back curl his fingers into her hair and tug harshly, jerking her head back.
"Heh heh, lookie boys. She hasn't even cried! Tough little bitch, must mean she could handle a cock real well." He tugged on her hair a bit harder. "Can you? Huh? Can you handle being used like a dirty little whore?"
She said nothing, trying not to focus on the pain in her hands. But when she didn't say anything, she felt someone stomp on her right leg. She let out a somewhat loud yelp before clenching her teeth together. After only a second longer, the weight on her was miraculously lifted, as well as the shoes on her hands. Rukia rolled over and sat up within one fluid motion. She looked down at her hands as reflex, and could feel them throbbing with pain. She right to move her leg to try and get up but found that any movement caused pain to shoot up her calf. Ichigo had came, hadn't he? She looked up to see a flurry of turquoise hair, and her eyes widened. Once he sent a fist into one of their faces, the rest seemed to back off. Grimmjow turned around with a dull expression. He looked down at her with expressionless eyes.
"Don't think I did this to save you. I had to prove to you just how wrong you were. I'm far from weak." His statements were true, as a pile of incapacitated men lay on the ground.
"I wasn't aware you cared so much about what I thought."
Grimmjow grit his teeth together and furrowed his eyebrows. "The hell I do! I couldn't give a rat's ass what you think, you little bitch!" He saw Rukia smirk slightly at how furious he had gotten. He then realized she was still on the ground. "What, is my presence so great you can't even stand?"
Rukia's eyes narrowed and she forced herself to stand, baring through the pain of her injured leg. She shifted her weight onto her uninjured limb and glared at him. "Waiting for something? Why don't you go do whatever it is you do?" she remarked snidely.
Grimmjow stared at her for a moment. His nonchalant stare returned and he looked at her leg. "Yeah sure, and why don't you walk over to that table there?"
"Don't tell me what to do you idiot!"
Grimmjow grabbed her by the front of her clothing like he always seemed to do and pulled her in his direction slightly. His intention was to only make her take a step forward to prevent from stumbling. She did so, but in the process her injured leg gave out and she fell forward and onto Grimmjow. Before she could fall into him, he regained his grip on her clothing and lifted her slightly. He smirked. "Haha, how does it feel to be so feeble? How's it feel to have watched me wipe out those guys when you couldn't?"
"Let me go you asshole, I don't care about any of that."
"Heh. Hey, Starrk," Grimmjow called. When he caught the brown-haired man's attention, Starrk made his was over. "Bitch was injured. Take her to the cell or whatever." He then tossed her body as if she were weightless, and Rukia landed against Starrk. Grimmjow then walked off without a care, or seemingly so.
"That was you in the center of that brawl, am I right?" Starrk asked as he carried her in his arms. With anyone else, it might have seemed as though it was a tender and heroic gesture. But with Starrk's apathy it seemed like he was carrying a box of fragile items.
"Yeah." Rukia looked to the side, in front of where Starrk was walking.
He had a feeling the that guards purposely hadn't stepped in. Starrk had only caught the end of the fight, and by that time Grimmjow had stepped in. He stopped by a first aid center and grabbed some gauze and tape. After he arrived at Rukia's cell, he opened the barred door and walked inside, setting her against the wall. He crouched down and unrolled the gauze he had nabbed. Rukia stared at his blue-grey eyes at they focused on unwrapping the bandages. He seemed so emotionless and uncaring, yet he was going to wrap her hands (something he noticed looked crushed and bruised on the way there) which he wasn't required to. He seemed harmless and even lazy at times, but something told her he might very well have been the most dangerous person of all the guards.
"Thanks, but you don't have to." Rukia tried to translate any expression he made, but his face was void of emotion.
"Prolongs having to go back to the cafeteria," he uttered. He began wrapping her hands, in between the thumbs and index fingers and around the palm and across the back of the hand. He wrapped both hands so that it was tight but not cutting off circulation, and it hurt having the pressure more than it did without. But Rukia knew that if her bones were broken, the bandages were necessary. "Bandages won't help your leg, so I'll inform the Chairman of your injury. He'll most likely station you in the kitchen until it's recovered."
"Thank you." With that, Starrk stood up and left the cell, locking it behind him.
Rukia sat in her cell silently, not being able to help the sense of loneliness that tugged at her. The cell was colder tonight. Was darker, was quieter. It was emptier, too. And she found herself waiting on the two men who also occupied it to return.
Author's Note: Damn. It took forever again. I'm sorry guys x.x Anywho, here's the new chapter. I'd like to thank everyone who tells me what they think! I encourage constructive criticism. A writer that doesn't grow isn't a very good writer! Oh, and for those with an eye for detail, I changed from having Hanatarou use honorifics to American-styled addressing (i.e. Rukia-san changed to Miss Rukia). Easier on everyone, and doesn't leave me sounding like some fangirl weeaboo.
And you know, I had originally written Soifon as the one to enter when Rukia owned a bitch with the tray, but changed my mind. Just a random note. Also, I haven't proofread this because I wanted to get it up asap. If there's mechanical errors, excuse them please.
-PB
