(Ichi POV)

Fuck it.

If he wasn't budging, neither was I.

I'd been sitting on my aching ass for a whopping 19 hours and I knew he wasn't letting up any time soon. This wasn't funny anymore. It wasn't funny to begin with, but now I was really pissed.

I'd worked free of his flimsy tie job; it was a little sad. This was the only time bondage actually mattered and Hichi had fucked up. Now I just needed an opportunity (I couldn't very well make a run for it now; he'd just catch me and really make sure I didn't get loose). I just couldn't believe that stupid bastard thought I belonged to him. He'd see. I'd show him.

Just then, our door buzzer rang. It was like fate wanted it to happen.

A little late there, fate.

It was a package, addressed to Hichi, wonderful. Our apartment was cheap enough you had to run downstairs and open the door for anyone that wanted to come in. If it had been any other day, I would've bitched and moaned about it.

His teasing eyes took one last look at my hateful expression before shutting the door behind him, and I got to work. I slipped my sore arms through the bars and pulled the wet cloth away from my chapped lips. I knew I had to hurry or he'd catch me and really make sure I didn't get loose, and that sent my heart racing as I yanked up a pair of clean jeans. I grabbed a wad of cash off our dresser and zipped a hoodie over my bare chest, shoving the dough in my pocket. In record time, I was out the door.

I was one damn lucky bastard that our building was set up the way it was. I could just take the long way to the stairs once he came up, and I'd miss him completely. I debated with myself for a minute before grinning like a devil and locking the door behind me. The landlady had an extra key, so he wouldn't be completely locked out, but it might buy me some time. I hoped to God he thought I was still in there.

I waited until I heard his footsteps pass before bolting down the stairs. It was raining like a bitch outside, but lucky as I was that day, I hailed a cab almost instantly.

"Where to, kid?" The cabbie grunted, popping his gum irritatingly. I'd been staring off into space. It was a good question, anyway. Where the hell was I going?

"Hampshire Park, please." I blurted. He looked at me like a madman in his rearview mirror, but tapped the meter and started driving anyway.

Hampshire Park? Who goes to Hampshire park in the middle of a monsoon? I could see it all in that brief glance, but it didn't bother me.

The rain felt good. I would've walked there, but I was afraid he'd catch up to me. I knew he could run faster and wasn't in the mood to test it anyway. I just sat on a bench, letting the rain soak all the way through my clothes until they stuck to my body like glue and weighed me down. It wasn't uncomfortable, and I wasn't sure how long I'd been letting my head loll behind me when I heard a frighteningly familiar voice in front of me.

"Now what's a pretty lil' thing like you doin' out in tha pourin' rain, Krsaki?"

I immediately sat up, getting out of the vulnerable, throat-exposed position I was in, and kept my eyes fully on him, sensing the danger in his predatory smile. A better question would be what he was doing out in the middle of Hampshire park in the pelting rain. Probably drugs. I wouldn't doubt it.

"Nnoitra," I nodded, not giving a fuck if he didn't care about proper greetings, "I was just enjoying the weather. How about you?"

He raised an eyebrow, smile dissolving into an unsettling smirk.

"Ya sure are a strange one, Krsaki," he paused, looking me over, then glancing away nonchalantly. "I was just on my way to Grimmjow's house," a peek at my expression, "his sister owes me a few drinks, so I'll just be hangin' with her, but I know Grimm-" and his phone rang, some weird rap song I'd never heard of ruining the sound of the rain. I'd never realized the entirety of his unpleasantness until now.

"Sup?" he answered rudely, "Yeah, I was just- No, twice as much. Yeah. Well, I ran into Ichigo here, so I thought I'd stop and chat for a bit. Mhmm, Krsaki. Ya what?" He peeked over at me, obviously amused. "He wants to talk to ya." He clarified.

"Who?" Stupid question. I knew the answer, it was just an impulse.

"Grimmjow," he answered anyway.

I began to back away, shaking my head. "I'd better get going..."

"Aww, no reason to be rude, cupcake."

But I'd already left, practically running out the front gate and choosing a sidewalk at random. The rain didn't feel good anymore; I was cold and dripping wet and my clothes were rubbing harshly against my skin with every step.

I didn't want to talk to him, so I didn't. I wouldn't have known what to say. I wasn't drunk with jealousy anymore; it had reduced to a low smolder in the pit of my stomach.

So what was I going to do? I should have figured it out beforehand. My stomach wasn't hurting from hunger anymore; it had been so long since I had eaten, by brain had compensated.

I continued to walk until a car horn startled me from the street. I should have kept my eyes forward and disappeared into a coffee shop or something, but I didn't. I rubbernecked and saw one of the two things I dreaded.

A smooth, silver jaguar with a blue, silver-tongued panther at the wheel. He peered at me with a raised eyebrow, rolling the window down so I had no choice but to walk up to it.

"Heard you didn't want to talk to me," he wasn't smiling, I noticed. "Get in." I could tell it wasn't a suggestion, but I wasn't going to give in so easily.

"Actually, I don't think I will." I glanced up the deserted street and saw what I had previously overlooked; a tiny coffee shop hugging the street corner, about a block away. "I'll see you at school?" His face had morphed into such a violent expression that I did what I thought was the wisest idea and quickly headed up the street. I heard his car roar away behind me and I slowed to a quick walk as I approached the warmly-lit door. My heart dropped.

Closed. About an hour closed, actually. I tried to force my stomach back down my throat as I continued walking. He had sped away. He was probably already at home by now at the speed he was going, there was no reason to be nervous. I was glancing worriedly behind me when a strong pair of arms gripped my shoulders and dragged me halfway down an alley. I hoped desperately that I was getting mugged, but I wasn't that lucky. A large hand enveloped my mouth and the other had both my hands behind my back. I was pushed against the freezing stone wall like cheese against a grater, but the voice that caressed my ears was all milk and honey.

"Hello, my sweet little Berry. I hate to intrude, but would you mind rethinking what you just said to me?" He pulled me back from the wall slightly, letting my hands loose and snaking and arm around my waist. I couldn't figure out if I was trembling from cold, hunger, or fear, but I felt my whole body buck forward when his lips brushed my neck, and realized it might not be any of those.

He breathed a laugh and continued whispering into the curve of my neck and shoulder.

"See, something isn't a question unless the pitch rises at the end of the statement. And there is a large difference between a question and a command. Are you getting this, Berry?" He knocked on my skull, as if listening for an echo.

"'Get in.' is not a suggestion, and if I command you to do something, you do it, understand? Here, this one's a choice: either I fuck you here in this dirty alley, or you let me be polite and take you home for a while, then we finish what we started in my nice, clean bedroom. Which would you like?" His voice was still perfectly polite, despite his words, and he could've passed as an etiquette teacher were it not for what he was actually saying. He gripped me harder and I felt his finger begin to trace my bottom lip.

Stop it, Ichigo. Stop it, stop it, stop it. Only a freak could get off on this. This isn't a joke, he isn't playing around. This is abuse. Humiliation. Hinting at rape. I should have been kicking him in the balls and screaming for help at the top of my voice, but it was all I could do to whimper quietly as his hard body ground into mine.

"Well? What's it gonna be, fruity?"

I mustered up as much volume as I could and turned my head slightly as I answered him.

"I don't like my options."

My face was instantly ground into the cement wall, and I winced slightly as the pressure met my cheekbone.

"I don't much care if you 'don't like your options'. Choose or I'll choose for you. I'm all for a dumpster fuck, sweetheart."

"Then your house. I'm too cold to fuck right now." I reasoned, wincing at the curse out in the open. I could practically hear Hichi chiding me for it, and it was a lie on top of that. His words alone had my thoughts so tangled we could be in the middle of the park on a sunny day and I wouldn't know it.

It wasn't a good feeling at all. More like being drugged by someone and not knowing how much they dosed you with. There was a tinge of high, but mostly panic.

He pulled me back by the hood and gave me a loaded glance before pointing in the opposite direction I came. There sat his car, idling silently at the other end of the alley.

"Get in."

I had no smart remark this time. I did.