A/N: Here's the next chapter as an apology for the supper long updates so far. A big thank you to those of you who review. The support is much appreciated as it helps inspire my writing. Enjoy and review~ :D
Chapter 3: sold
Pairings: ShiroxIchigo, one sided AizenxShiro, one sided AizenxIchigo
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: I own only the plot and Suna, Tite Kubo owns everything else.
Ichigo started searching for a way out of his prison with renewed energy. He shot another glance at the lock before setting to work scratching at the floor and the bars with his claws. They only left superficial scratches on the metal, nothing deep enough to do any damage. Ichigo walked over to the pile of blankets he had woken up amongst and flopped down on them resigned to his fate. If he couldn't brake himself out, he would have to wait until they opened his cage to give him to the buyer the next day. If that was the case, he was better off conserving his energy than wasting it on fruitless escape attempts. He settled for glaring at the current crony watching him, though the man ignored him in favor of his magazine.
What seemed like hours passed, the only break in the monotony being the turning of the occasional page of the magazine. The door to the warehouse creaked open, then clanked shut. Ichigo's nose twitched as the scent of warm food filled the room, making his stomach growl. He turned his head to follow the direction of the scent and saw a new guard walking toward him carrying a white grease stained McDonalds bag and a bottle of water. Without a word the guard that had been watching Ichigo closed his magazine, stretched, and left giving a nod of acknowledgment to the new guard. The new guard placed the food and water on the floor within reach of the bars, watching Ichigo warily to see if he'd try to jump him. When Ichigo made no move to attack him, he straightened and walked over to the newly vacant chair.
Ichigo stared at the food on the floor in front of him suspiciously. His stomach wined again, begging for food. He ignored the tantalizing scent of a cheeseburger and fries. There was no guarantee the food hadn't been drugged and that was the last thing he needed to be in this situation. He scooted forward to examine the water bottle. It's seal wasn't broken, so it was probably safe. He picked it up and returned to his pile of blankets. He broke the seal with a plastic click and swallowed a couple mouthfuls of the the cold liquid. It soothed his throat, but did nothing to quiet his stomach. It was going to be a long night. He sighed and twisted the cap back on the bottle, placing it on the floor beside him.
As the hours passed with the changing of the guards Ichigo found it progressively harder to stay awake. The shot of initial adrenaline that had had him on edge and alert had faded with inactivity and with it had brought the dregs of exhaustion. He found himself drifting to sleep only to jerk violently awake at the sounds of a chair scraping the floor or the door opening. In his body's fitful attempt at sleep, memories he had tried to bury over the years but could never fully let go of resurfaced.
It had rained. The water had come down in torrents, washing all the color from the world. Everything was grey: the sky, the buildings, the river. Then everything was red, replacing the grey with pain and loss. Ichigo jerked awake for the hundredth time. His body was tense and light shivers shook him. His hand subconsciously reached up to press against the sweatshirt material that covered the old scar on his chest, waiting for the remembered sting to go away.
Maybe it was the stress of his current situation or the fact that he had met more ikimonos in the past 24 hours than he had in the past 13 years. He had avoided ikimono at all cost after... that. Now he was surrounded by ikimono and the nightmares of his past circled him like hungry beasts waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
"Can't sleep," asked a voice that had Ichigo's fangs bared. He glared at the sandy haired ikimono he had quickly grown to hate. He had been the latest guard on watch duty. Suna's neural look didn't change. "I wouldn't be able to either knowing Aizen was the one who was gonna buy me." The name drew a hiss from the tired red head. There was a long silence.
"Why are you even talking to me," Ichigo growled lowly. None of his other guards had paid him any attention and Suna and he weren't exactly on good terms. The blond raised an eyebrow.
"I'm bored. Conversing with someone is a lot better way of passing the time than staring quietly at a rust covered wall for hours."
"Oh, so you admit I'm a person and yet you seem to have no problem selling me. How can you sell out your own kind," Ichigo snapped the question that had become his mantra over the last couple hours. This time though, the target of his sarcasm dipped rage actually responded.
"Because then it's not me in that cage," Suna said, voice void of emotion, "You'll find that Aizen is a hard man to escape once you catch his eye." That caught Ichigo by surprise. As much as he hated the other man, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of empathy towards his situation. That thought only irritated the red head more. Underneath his scowling tough exterior he had always had a softer side of him with an impulse to help anything that was suffering whether it be a stray cat or a person. Now, however, was not a time where he had the luxury of such impulses. He kept his ever present scowl on his face, but he changed to a new subject.
"What does this Aizen guy want with me anyway," he growled. Suna's expression didn't change but his eyes hardened.
"He wants you as a pet. He sees ikimono as some exotic animal to collect in order to show off his wealth and status, as a small group of people in the richer circles have started doing behind the scenes recently. He asked us to find a cheetah ikimono specifically. See, he has this... habit of trying to collect two of a kind that are also opposites that complement each other. For example, a black panther and a white snow leopard. He thinks this enhances his prestige and shows off contrasting beauty or some bullshit like that. I don't really pay attention to his rantings, but he must have another cheetah or big cat that you would compliment if he specifically requested you." Ichigo was silent, dread starting to replace the burning anger he felt toward the other. If this man had purposely hired people to find him he wouldn't let go once he had him in his grasp. He had to escape before the imposing brunette succeeded in getting him to wherever he planned on taking Ichigo. New determination burned in his eyes, tinged by a slight desperate spark.
"I'm not gonna let that bastard get away with this," Ichigo hissed menacingly. Suna grinned slightly, showing his sharpened canines in the florescent lighting.
"I wish you the best of luck," he said quietly.
The night passed slowly leaving Ichigo thoroughly exhausted. By the time morning light began to filter in through the grimy windows set at the top of the warehouse walls Ichigo was slouched against the back wall of the cage with dark bags under his eyes, lightly dozing. The bag with his dinner in it sat equally slumped over, cold and forgotten on the cement floor within reach of the cage. The high pitched groan of the warehouse door caused him to jerk awake for the hundredth time, dazed amber eyes quickly darting around him for signs of danger, only this time they didn't land on a new guard taking his shift. The leader of this hell hole entered the warehouse and behind him followed the man he had dreaded all night. Aizen strode forward, confident smirk in place, wearing the same immaculate white suit he had appeared in the day before. Trailing behind him was a blue haired man he hadn't seen before. Ichigo shot to his feet immediately, backing up against the back wall of his cage and hissing in warning. This only seemed to amuse the brunet rather than scare him. Without taking his eyes off the red head, he handed a thick white envelope to the leader.
"That's half. I'll give you the rest when I confirm he is indeed a cheetah ikimono or decide to keep him regardless." The leader nodded and wordlessly handed him a key card in exchange for the envelope. Ichigo noticed he didn't count the money in it in front of the brunette. Aizen in turn held the card up for the blue haired man to take.
"Grimmjow, if you would." At that a murderous grin spread across the man's face, replacing his previously bored expression. He stalked toward the cage door with what could only be called feline grace. This man was an ikimono and he was dangerous. Ichigo hissed again, falling into a defensive pose as multiple escape plans ran through his head. He was a cat and thus was graced with the weapons of sharp teeth and claws, but so was the blue haired ikimono stalking toward him and he was bigger. This wasn't his first time fighting an opponent bigger than him, but he could tell that Grimmjow was highly skilled. Ichigo would have to rely on his speed and agility to get around the other male's brute strength and size. To have any chance of succeeding in escape he would also have to play dirty, something his conscience rejected as cowardly and unfair but his survival instincts snarled was necessary.
Grimmjow slid the key card through the lock and the leader of the ikimono group placed his hand on the palm scanner causing a green light to flare into life and a sharp click. The blue haired man swung the door open and slowly approached the the red head, hands raised. Ichigo immediately threw his plan into action. He lowered his body slightly more in a show of submission, hissing lowly in warning, and forced himself to shake in a show of fear. It worked. The other ikimono's instincts took over, telling him that Ichigo wasn't a threat. The excited grin on the larger man's face dropped to one of disappointment and disgust. He sighed.
"And here I thought I was gonna get a challenge or at least a fight." Ichigo let out another low hiss. Grimmjow rolled his eyes. "Come on now, I'm not gonna hurt ya." The blue haired man closed the distance between them and lowered his hands to grab Ichigo by the shoulders. Ichigo swore he saw Suna standing in the background grinning right before he made his move. The red head grabbed onto Grimmjow's shoulders, using them as leverage to force his knee up into the larger man's groin. He shot around Grimmjow and made a sprint for the door to the cage that was still wide open. Despite his enhanced speed and the advantage of surprise, the leader reacted faster, slamming the cage door just as he reached it, causing Ichigo to smash into it and fall over. He yowled in frustration as he got back to his feet. So close! He had been so close! He glared angrily at the men on the other side of the bars. His attention was brought back to the man that was now locked in the cage with him by a fierce snarl. He whipped around to face the blue haired ikimono.
"I'm gonna kill you, you little shit," Grimmjow yelled, straightening from his bent over position with another snarl. Two rounded white ears were flattened against his head and a long feline tail that was fluffed out in full fury.
"Grimmjow," Aizen's calm voice cut through the tension in the cage like a knife. Grimmjow snarled, arms shaking in the effort to control his anger in order to subdue the orange haired ikimono without killing him. Ichigo crouched into a defensive stance, this time laced with strength instead of fear. He let his sharp white claws slide out, his last defense when he no longer had Zangetsu on him.
The shaking in Grimmjow's limbs subsided and he lunged at the red head. Ichigo used his speed and small body size to his advantage, ducking under his grasp and behind him, leaving a trail of bloody lines across Grimmjow's side in his wake. Grimmjow snarled, immediately turning on the smaller male. Ichigo barely avoided his claws as he jumped above the swipe, grabbing onto the bars that made up the ceiling of the cage and using them to swing himself over the blue haired ikimono's head. He let out a yelp when a hard grip encircled his ankle and roughly yanked on it, forcing Ichigo to lose his grip on the bars. He slammed into the metal floor with an oomf as the breath was knocked out of him.
A second later grimmjow was on him wrestling to restrain the snarling red head. Ichigo yowled as he fought against the larger man, almost managing to slip out of his grasp a couple times and gave Grimmjow several more bloody scratches before he was finally pinned to the floor. He lay on his stomach with Grimmjow sitting on his back holding both of his arms behind his back. He snarled, trying to throw the other off. His snarl turned to a yelp when Grimmjow yanked his arms harshly up his back to the point Ichigo was sure he was going to dislocate them. When he slumped against the cold metal floor again Grimmjow moved his arms back to their former position. Ichigo didn't try to escape again, laying collapsed against the floor panting. He could hear the larger ikimono panting equally hard above him.
There was a sharp click as the door to the cage was unlocked once more. Two sets of shoes tapped on the metal as they approached the restrained ikimono. Ichigo turned his head to see one of the guards and Aizen standing next to him. The guard pulled something out of his pocket and knelt down next to Ichigo. The red head's eyes widened when he realized the object the guard was holding was a syringe. He tried to move away from the man in panic, groaning when Grimmjow gave a warning tug on his arms. The man pulled Ichigo's hoodie away from his neck and slipped the needle into his skin. Ichigo screwed his eyes shut, shuddering at the feeling of the liquid being forced into his veins. The man pulled the needle out and left. Ichigo glared up at Aizen with lethal amber orbs flecked with gold.
"What did you give me," he spat.
A cruel smile crossed Aizen's face as he replied, "Just something to help you relax during the ride to your new home." Ichigo's glare intensified, but a sense of panic was slowly starting to fill him. The three of them stayed there in silence as they settled in to wait for the drug to take affect. Ichigo tried struggling a few more times, only to be stopped each time due to a tug from Grimmjow. Dizziness assaulted Ichigo and his vision began to blur. He closed his eyes as his limbs went limp, whether due to lack of circulation on Grimmjow's part or the drug he couldn't tell. The dizziness soon gave way to a weightless feeling and the panic throbbing in his head soothed to a warm fuzzy feeling. He felt a cool hand brush his heated cheek and then tilt his head up slightly.
"Open your eyes," Aizen's cool voice commanded. Ichigo shook his head slowly, unable to summon the words to tell Aizen to go to hell. Aizen's grip on his jaw tightened bruisingly, making Ichigo wince. He reluctantly opened his eyes, squinting at the sudden brightness that surrounded him. Aizen leaned toward him slightly, eliciting a weak hiss from Ichigo. He could see the hazy reflection of his owlish pupils in the brunette's eyes as he leaned down to examine the read head's. "He's fully under," Aizen said in what seemed like a far off voice.
The heavy weight that Ichigo had grown accustomed to on his back suddenly lifted and his arms were released. Blood began to flow through his limbs once again in painful pumps. He immediately tried to get to his feet, but his arms only succeeded in weakly pushing at the floor. The world spun as strong arms suddenly scooped him up and he found himself being carried out of the cage like a newborn kitten, weak and helpless. He struggled vainly to get out of Grimmjow's arms, hissing softly, but with his jelly limbs and fuzzy head that wasn't going to happen. The now familiar groan of the warehouse door clanged against his ears and he was forced to squeeze his eyes shut against the blinding light that flooded from outside. After a couple steps he was lowered into something dark only to be pulled into another set of arms, ones he did not want to find himself in. A car door slammed, plunging him into soothing dim light. Ichigo hesitantly opened his eyes as the car began to move. He glared up at the man who held him, pushing weakly at his chest in an attempt to get away. This only made Aizen smile.
"Soon we will be at your new home," he said softly, but Ichigo could hear the cruelty underlying those soft words. Not long after that Ichigo succumbed to the dreamlike quality of the drug and allowed the gentle thrumming of the car to lull him to sleep and away from evil billionaires and crazy ikimono fights. Where it was just him and the moon and a target to steal.
Well, hope you enjoyed it. Can't guarantee when I'll post the next one but hopefully it will be fairly soon. I know what I'm going to write in it, I just have to actually sit down and type it up. Till next time~