Brown eyes opened slowly, and stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Vision slightly hazy, the eyes blinked a few times and tried to register the pearly white ceiling. He took a deep breath of relief, in knowing that he was not as dead as he thought he was. He takes in a deep breath, and smells the odor of the room. Just like that of a hospital, it reeks of cleaning chemicals and Alcohol.
Toya cracks his neck softly and tries to sit up with his left arm only to fall back down against the bed he was lying on. Completely confused as to what happened, he used his right arm to get up and look over towards his left, only to gawk at the stump of a limb that used to be his left arm. Quickly he gripped the sheets that covered him and noticed two things about himself.
One, he was nearly completely naked under the sheets, save for a pair of black boxers. And two, that his right leg was in nearly the same condition as his left arm was in. He let out a shriek of sadness and gripped his stump of a left arm with his right. Tears starting to form and spill down his face as he imagined what the future held for him in this type of condition.
Sure he would accept it one day, but for now all he could do is weep. Sobbing, he looked up from his chest and chose to examine the room that he was in. Different kinds of cutting tools, beakers, chemicals, and test tubes lined the tables around his bed. He tried to remember the last time he had ever seen a hospital look this way, with its utensils out for display like this.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a soft humming coming from behind him. Toya quickly ducked down against the bed and pulled the covers above him, closing his eyes in an attempt to fake sleeping. He heard the soft clicks of shoes against the ground and tried to slow his breathing down to mimic the effects of a sleeping person.
He heard the humming get louder and louder with each footfall against the marble floors, and then it stopped. "My my…. So you did survive little miss temper tantrum… Congratulations Toya" The voice said in a higher than normal pitched voice. Before he even knew it, the sheet was completely ripped off of him and he was face to face with a pink-haired man.
The main looked down at him over the rim of half-moon glasses, and smiled at him. The pink-haired man moved back and disappeared, quickly reappearing on the other side of Toya. "Hmmm… I honestly didn't think you would make it boy, guess humans are full of surprises after all" he said softly, nodding his head at Toya and walking towards the desk filled with chemicals.
Toya's curiosity got the better of him as he sat up and studied the weird color-haired man. From what he could tell from the man's bent over position, he was standing at a relative six feet tall. He didn't look that well-built, instead looking as though you could topple him over with a single breath.
Instead of the normal jacket Toya had come to see from Harribel, Grimmjow, and Starrk, this man wears a long shirt that covers his entire torso up to the top of his neck. But the one thing that kept drawing Toya's attention, was the pink hair. It looked so familiar to him, almost as if he had known it for years. Then, it hit him, His mind jogged and screamed the answer at him.
Before he could stop himself, the words left his mouth. "You're THE Szayel Aporro Granz… 8th Espada of Aizen's Army" Toya blurted out. Szayel stopped looking through his many concoctions and looked at the boy laying on the gurney. "So.. You have heard of me even in the human realm…. Most interesting….most….interesting" Szayel said, before busying himself with meddling with his chemicals again.
Toya stared on as the man picked up different chemicals and placed them down or threw them to smash against the wall. One of them actually melted a hole through the wall, to which Szayel just looked at it with a bored expression and mumbled something about it failing to actually explode. After what felt like hours of silence, Szayel stopped searching and held up a small vial of greenish liquid.
He stared at it for a few minutes before a grin broke out across his face and he turned to face Toya. His glasses seemed to reflect the light, because Toya only saw one of his eyes through his glasses, and it held a very sinister gleam.
"Now… as you may remember… you were in a battle just recently…. A battle which I was informed that you gave up in the middle of…" Szayel said sharply, the softness in his voice replaced with such venom that it made Toya's skin crawl. "One of the rules here in Los Noches… Is that you never give up in a fight… It's a matter of life and death, and you normally do not get a second chance to live…. If not for Aizen-sama.. And his interest in you, Harribel would have most likely finished the job" Szayel explained, walking around the table slowly, as though he was a teacher lecturing a student.
"You are lucky that Aizen-sama thinks you have been punished enough with the removal of your limbs at the hands of your teacher, and the grueling healing process" Szayel said, his voice carrying the softness once more. Toya absentmindly rubbed his stump of a left arm with his right hand, and looked down at his right leg. Then his mind picked up what Szayel had truly said, the grueling healing process.
"So.. Does that mean that I'm getting my arm and leg back?" Toya said softly, hope rising in him of his future looking brighter. That was dashed out completely when Szayel stopped walking and turned his eyes back on Toya, a sinister grin spread across his face. "Oh yes… you will be getting your limbs back…. Very much so" Szayel said softly, producing a syringe from out of his shirt pocket and extracting some of the green liquid into it.
Toya eyed the liquid cautiously, afraid of what it might do to him. "Now… lie back, before you strain yourself even further.. It's just a small shot" Szayel said, choosing his words carefully to lull the boy into a false sense of security. He pushed softly against the boy's chest, goading him to lay back. When Toya was completely laid back, and seemed to relax, Szayel's hand jumped to the underside of the bed and pressed a small blue button.
In an instant, metal braces clamped down on Toya's arm, leg, and neck. Effectively restraining him to the bed, and causing him to start to freak out and pull at his bindings. "Tis no use to try, these bonds were made to even hold that beast of a man Yami…. And it's for your own good child" Szayel said softly, placing the syringe against Toya's neck.
Toya would have tried to turn his head if he could, but the braces kept him in place as the needle broke through the skin and deposited the greenish liquid into his bloodstream. When the syringe was empty, Szayel smiled and stepped away from the boy, pulling up a chair and calmly sitting in it, folding his right leg over his left.
Almost as though he was critiquing a lesson, or observing a phenomenon. Toya's body at first felt normal, and then in a flash he felt his body as though it was on fire. Pain beyond pain started to course throughout his body, lighting his senses on fire, and it all seemed to be concentrating in two direct spots, his stump of a left arm and right leg.
Then the pain seemed to multiply ten-fold not even a second later as Toya let out a scream that seemed to echo in the room. He dared a glance over to his left arm, only to find the wound forcing itself open. Then he saw the white of the bone, as it started to twist and grow. Before he knew it, and through his screams, the bone had already extended as far as his other arm, and was now morphing the tip to that of his palm and fingers.
The skin seemed to stretch itself (Which earned Szayel another scream from Toya) across the new bone. The veins were following suit, weeding their way in and around the bone while the skin covered them underneath. The pain increased, and Toya could no longer take it. He collapsed in a cold sweat and Szayel stood from his chair.
The bone was now completely covered by deathly pale skin, which seemed to grow darker and darker until the skin completely matched what it had grown from. Szayel looked down at the leg and noticed that it too was completing its process of healing. "Hmmm.. He lasted 7.6 seconds longer then I thought he would… interesting indeed" Szayel said softly, tapping his chin and then writing on the paper once again.
It was a few hours before Toya had regained consciousness, and it was with baited breath that he found himself free of the restraints. His vision blurry once more, he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He stopped when they had touched his face, and he opened his eyes to stare in shock at both his hands. He grabbed his left with his right and started to inspect it, to see if it was really apart of him.
He looked down at his leg and was completely overjoyed to learn that it too was in place. The pain had been worth it, seeing as he now had both of his limbs once again. "Hmmm… you seem to be awake finally" Came Szayel's cool voice. Toya smiled and nodded vigorously. "More than that… I'm damn ecstatic right now! But, let's never inject that green stuff into me again" Toya said happily, removing the sheets from around his waist and gently standing on his feet.
He did a few jumps to make sure that the limb wouldn't just fall from under him, and resisted the urge to squeal like a school girl. "Now …. We have business to discuss before you can leave my lab" Szayel said softly, turning his back on Toya and picking up the boy's articles of clothing. When Toya nodded and reached for his blood stained cloths, Szayel jerked them from his grasp and ceroed them to a crisp.
Toya stood horrified, knowing now that he had absolutely nothing left to wear except his boxers. "No need to be so hasty Sakuya… That was the matter I was about to address…. You seem to have no clothing" Szayel said in mock pity. When Toya was about to voice his concern, Szayel held up a finger to his lips and smiled devilishly.
"Do not worry…. Seeing as you are still alive and apart of Aizen-sama's glorious army… Some of our lower Arrancar who have apparently seen things from the human world… Have made you an outfit to wear around here" Szayel said softly. He removed his finger from Toya's mouth and grabbed his hand, pulling him forcefully into the next room.
"Now , everyone in Aizen-sama's army wears white, mostly because of its contrast to the Shinigami though Aizen-sama won't admit it. But, I managed to put in a word with him, mostly because you are not part of the army yet." Szayel explained, throwing Toya down onto the white colored bed and trudging off towards his closet.
Toya took this moment to look around, and noticed that it was not that much different from the lab. It was completely white, smelled of chemicals, and bookshelves lined the walls. The only different was that on the ceiling was a rather large mirror that overlooked the bed. "Found it…. I swear they should have put more effort into it, but it will have to do" Szayel said dryly, wheeling around and approaching the still browsing Toya.
When Toya did look back around, he was damn amazed at what he saw. Szayel had laid out his 'outfit' onto the bed. A White jacket lies in front of him, outlined in red along the edges. No collar lined the top of the jacket, but that's not what caught his eye. What caught his eye was the snake looking pattern, outlined in black, which seemed to slither its way up from the bottom of the jacket and ended just before the collar disappeared.
Next to the jacket was a black sheath that bore a dragon insignia. Szayel rushed him into the bathroom, and demanded that he get dressed quickly. The jacket, Toya noticed, not only covered his top half but apparently acted like a jumpsuit. He noticed that the snake pattern started from his left foot and stretched up to the collar. When he stepped out of the bathroom, Szayel stood and smiled at him.
"Now you actually look like you belong here… Except of course for you missing a hollow hole and your low reitsu" Szayel joked, to which Toya nervously smiled. A creepy grin spread across Szayel's face and he took a step towards Toya. "Buuuuuut…. I can fix both those problems at once" He said softly. Toya dared not asked, and thanked the heavens when Szayel's door busted open to reveal a rather annoyed looking Harribel.
"I see that he's alive and doing well…. Why did you not inform me Szayel?" Harribel asked softly, even though her words were lined with poison. Toya mentally backed away, because his body wouldn't listen to him out of fear. But Szayel seemed to laugh it off at the 3rd Espada and curtly nodded at her in acknowledgment.
"Yes yes, He has made a full recovery… But you know it's more polite to knock on the door when you wish to enter 3rd" Szayel stated lazily, as though he had repeated this many times already. Harribel blatantly disregarded his words and turned her eyes on her charge. "And how are you feeling boy?" Harribel asked, eyeing him up and down and taking in the fact that he now had his limbs back.
"I…I feel normal Ms. Harribel, no lasting damage…except to my psyche" Toya replied, still trying to will his body to actually move. She gave a curt nod and turned back towards Szayel, who was staring at something over her shoulder. "Good day to you too Sexta… To what do I owe the pleasure of this many visitors in one day….. I wish you had warned me, I would have cleaned up a bit more" Szayel said sarcastically, earning a sneer from Grimmjow.
"Not like I want to be here ya Pink haired freak" Grimmjow shot back, giving off that savage grin he usually gave in battle. Szayel shook his head and ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly. "Oh please do come up with some better insults… I tire of hearing the same thing repeated over and over again Sexta…" Szayel responded. Grimmjow gave a groan of annoyance but said no more.
Harribel pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Children I swear… Now Szayel… will he be able to train again?" Harribel asked, glancing over at the boy in question. "He should be able to… But I recommend that he not spar with anyone as strong as Grimmjow's little minion… His spiritual pressure is still quite low compared to that" Szayel stated, turning away from the group and giving Toya a tap on the shoulder.
"Now you be good mister… I don't want to see you down here again for giving up… Or next time I'll give you something even worse then what I gave you this time" Szayel said darkly, his glasses glinting dangerously. Toya nodded vigorously and his eyes drifted over towards Harribel's cerulean orbs. "Good... Now that it's settled… What say you guys…? Get the hell out of my room!" Szayel snapped suddenly, making Toya flinch and take a few steps closer to the door.
Harribel nodded at Szayel and grabbed ahold of Toya's shoulder. She felt the way he tensed up at her touch, and tried to remain indifferent even though she wanted to smirk. 'So he's even more afraid… Good, that should make things even easier for me' She thought to herself. They were gone from Szayel's room in a flash, leaving Grimmjow behind with the smiling Scientist.
Toya felt as though this sonido actually felt longer than the previous ones that he had experienced with Harribel, and his suspensions were confirmed when they had stopped moving. Instead of the bluish door he had come to expect of Harribel's room, they stood in front of an elegant white door. Harribel pushed it open and then pushed Toya inside of it.
"This is your new room, cause you're not sleeping in mine anymore" Harribel said calmly, taking a step inside after him. Toya looked around the room, which really contained little to nothing at all. There was a plain white, king-size oval bed; a small closet located next to what he thinks is the bathroom door. There wasn't even a single window in this room, oh there were going to be some changes.
"Err...Is this actually my room Ms. Harribel?" Toya asked, looking back at Harribel for an answer. When she nodded, a knot formed in his stomach at how pathetically plain the place was. "It should provide you with adequate space to function properly… "She said softly, eyes quickly scanning the room. "Well… I guess… but….Please excuse me speaking out of term… but this room is utterly bland" Toya stated, taking a step away from Harribel for good measure.
Again Harribel nodded, this time taking a few steps and sitting on the bed, continuing to survey the room. 'What could she possibly be looking at, only 3 damn things in here after all' Toya thought to himself as he watched Harribel. "Hmmm... then you would have to ask Aizen-sama for something to decorate it with…. But I warn you now, there is not a lot of materials to work with in Hueco Mundo" Harribel said slowly, as though speaking to a child.
Toya nodded and sat down onto the bed and then laid back on it. It felt good to be in a bed, well one that didn't have any foreign objects threatening to poke him. For the first time since he had been in Hueco Mundo, around all of these crazy strong and very violent people, Toya finally had time to actually take a step back and think over what was happening.
This was a fan boy's dream that he was living, well not exactly a dream come true. If any fan boy had thought of being nearly killed not once but twice, that alone was enough to get that person checked out. On top of that, being forced to join Aizen's army, and then being rigorously trained by one of his top fighters. Then being beaten by a cat-girl and having his limbs cut off by said trainer. 'Yeah, that's totally a fan boy's dream come true' Toya thought sarcastically.
"Well then again, you did manage to live through all three of those incidents" A deep voice said softly. Toya quickly sat up in his bed, and looked around for the source of the voice. There wasn't much to look around, but he still saw nothing that should be able to talk. "What? Oh right, you can't even sense pressure, so of course you shouldn't be able to accurately see me" The voice said softly, laughing loudly.
Toya heard a few footsteps coming from the door and his eyes quickly snapped to it. The footsteps grew louder and louder. Then before his very eyes, the light in front of him started to twist and become deformed. First a single white and black shoe became visible as the light around it seemed to vanish. Then another appeared next to it, followed by long sparkling clean white pants.
"Is that better?" the voice asked again, to which Toya blinked and looked at the visible parts of the mystery person. "Umm…. Sort of… I can only see the lower half of you…. Nice pants though" Toya said slowly, which earned him a small slew of curses from the semi invisible person. As though it materialized out of thin air, a black jacket floated over the white pants, quickly followed by a brown Torso filling it out and two muscular tan arms.
Then the head slowly appeared, fazing in from the neck up. Toya gasped in shock when the face appeared, mirroring his own features, except for two distinct red strips on both of this person's cheeks and his long mane of black hair. "I swear, if only my top half is visible now, I will have to slap some reitsu into you" The figure said softly, eyeing Toya up and down for a response.
Brown eyes once again stared into crimson red ones, as though looking into the other's soul. "I…..I remember you….. You were there when I first came here! Duo! That was your name!" Toya said quickly, pointing an accusing finger at his copy. "Bingo… Maybe you're not as dumb as I thought you were…. Scratch that… you probably still are! But at least you didn't forget about little old me" Duo chuckled softly, taking a seat on the bed and lying down across it.
Toya eyed Duo cautiously, remembering those same eyes from the dream of him being eaten. "So kid, having a tough time adjusting to life here?" Duo asked casually, as though he had known Toya for years. "Not really….. It's a damn nightmare being here… I've nearly died three times already!" Toya nearly yelled, pulling his knees to his chest and putting his back against the bed post.
"I don't know what the hell I'm doing here…. I don't even know how I got here….."Toya whispered to himself more then to Duo. He felt the weight of the bed shift but continued on. "Maybe the universe just loves to screw with me….. First my brothers get killed in an accident… then my own mother looks at me like I'm a monster for just surviving….." Toya said softly, feeling the tears start to well up in his eyes at remembering these things.
He could feel Duo's eyes on him, but something about that feeling felt relaxing to him. "But Dad…Dad was always the shining light in my life….. He would always try and tell me everything would be alright, even when we knew it wouldn't….. He was such a great man, and an even better father and he ev-…."Toya trailed off, feeling the tears slowly roll down his cheeks.
"Your father was a great man….. He would be proud of you for just sticking in this long" Duo said softly, a bit of pity in his voice. Toya channeled all of his sadness into anger and turned it on Duo.
"What would you know? You don't know me and you damn sure don't know my dad! How would you feel if you held your father, the man you wanted to be like when you grew up, in your arms as he died! And then watched as your mother smiled and called him worthless for caring for a monster and walked out with the murderer! He died because he was protecting me! If I hadn't been there…. If I hadn't…..lived….. Then he would still be here!" Toya yelled at the top of his lungs, his words echoing off of the walls.
His face wet with tears, and his face red from crying and screaming. Yet instead of lashing out, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and pull him close. The warmth was relaxing, and that sense of familiarity enveloped Toya once again. He couldn't hold it any more, he sobbed uncontrollably into the chest of the man in front of him, letting the tears roll and fall where they may.
Duo smiled down at the boy clutching onto him and gently rubbed the boy's back. 'You haven't cried since then…. It's about damn time you got it out kid' Duo thought to himself. Before he knew it, Toya had fallen asleep in his arms and he gently laid him down and pulled the covers over his form.
"No bad dreams this time kid….." Duo said softly, wiping a stray tear from Toya's face and then pushing a small picture underneath his pillow before disappearing as though he was never there. "After all, you need your strength for the events to come" Came Duo's voice, as though it was carried by the wind.