A/N: Hey Guys! Just wanted to give a little shout out to my die-hard fans here. I want to thank you all for bringing this story back. I quite literally do live off reviews, and when I get so few, it makes me not want to write a story any more. But I've learned with this story, it's not the quantity or volume of reviews; it's the meaning behind them. I've noticed I have a few hard core people who read every single chapter on the day it's posted, and some of those very people are those who review almost every chapter for me, and keep me going.
I wanted to give my thanks to those who have favorited this story, or have placed an alert on my updates. I want to thank everyone who's read the story this far, for your patience, your understanding, and your encouragement. It means a lot. So this chapter is a little bit longer for you, and also, a turning point. A twist in the plot that some of you might not have seen coming.
Please, enjoy!
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Uryuu's POV)
Once Uryuu made it to his room, he didn't leave. He laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling, vaguely aware of how the sun moved across the room well into the afternoon, to the evening time, then disappeared as night fell. His stomach started to growl around evening, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered.
So Uryuu laid there, and watched as the shadows grew in the room. They started small, but out of the corners of his eyes, he watched the shadows sway and swell, each of them taking on Ichigo's form. He watched numbly as they came toward him, but even as he felt his heart pounding in his chest, he knew there was no point in moving away. No point in running, fighting, or hiding. Ichigo would find him no matter where he went; he would find him, rape him, and torture him, and leave him barely alive to repeat the process again and again and again...
Uryuu felt the tears leak out his eyes, even as he felt fingers ghosting over his flesh, beneath his clothes. He wanted to scream, but his mouth never opened. He wanted to run, but his body never moved. His mind forced him to relive every moment while he stayed mute and still on the bed, crying silently to himself.
He was trapped, with no escape. Only death could free him, but even Ichigo wouldn't let that happen.
Unless.
Uryuu's eyes snapped open, shining with tears and hysteria. He could still feel the hands groping at his flesh, feel the tearing of flesh inside him as fingers penetrated his defenses, see the shadows moving around him. It made his stomach turn and heave, but he managed to find the strength to push himself out of bed. His legs wobbled and almost buckled as they hit the floor, but it took that first step toward the bathroom for his legs to actually give way and send him crashing into the floor.
He whimpered quietly on impact, his cheek and shoulder taking the brunt of the damage, and for a moment, the shadows pulled back from him, leaving Uryuu to lay on the floor and catch his breath. Then they started again, twining around his shaking form and slipping into his most intimate parts, piercing into his very core and bringing a fresh set of tears to his eyes. Barely able to hold up his body, he raised himself onto his arms, and crawled toward the bathroom.
Each inch was agonizing, and after so long, the tormenting shadows had wrapped themselves around his legs, not only making them useless, but slipping underneath his skin and trying to rip him apart from the inside. They knew what he was trying to do, and they were trying to stop him, just like Ichigo would. With a mute yell of pain and anger, Uryuu opened his mouth, breathing heavily as he forced his arms to obey his will instead of the shadows that threatened his existence.
Pain was everywhere, especially in his limbs, as he made it to the bathroom door. Tears still spilling over his face, he knew he had to get up to actually open the door, but his legs wouldn't move. Looking back, he could see the shadows encasing his lower half, and felt it acutely when several fingers tore through his opening, making his body stiffen up and another scream to die halfway up his throat. With nothing else to do, Uryuu's fist came down on his knee, dead on one of the shadows holding him down.
This time, he did yelp in pain, but the pain was much lighter and somehow chased away some of the shadows clinging onto his despair. With a manic light in Uryuu's eyes, he made the connection.
And began beating his legs with his fists.
Blow after blow, he drove the shadow hands back until they were cowering at the edges of his vision, leaving him free to move. Breathing heavily, Uryuu barely noticed as he tried to stand the pain that snaked up his spine, or the way his freshly bruised legs wobbled and still threatened to buckle under his weight.
He only relished the fact he could stand.
He opened the door with trembling hands, and hobbled into the bathroom, barely catching himself on the sink as his legs started to give way. Managing to pull himself back up with a strength he didn't know was there, he reached quickly for the shaving razor as the shadows closed in from the doorway, waiting for their moment to strike. Letting himself fall away from the sink, he landed hard on his ass, sending another flair of pain up his spine, but it only seemed to hold the shadows at bay.
His forehead was slicked with sweat and his hair was sticking and matted around his eyes, but he couldn't bother to waste the effort to push them off his brow. Instead, he waved the razor at the shadows, giving a breathy laugh.
"I've got you now...! I know your weakness!" he found himself shouting, but it didn't matter.
Driving the shadows away was all that he needed to focus on right now. But shock filled him as the shadows drove onward, surprising him from the tub behind, and curling around his left arm. With a terrified gasp, Uryuu never thought about what came next.
Only slashed at his upper arm with the razor, pleased to watch the shadows retreat.
Oblivious to the red staining his shirt, as the shadows attacked from everywhere, he fought back in the only way he knew how.
Pain.
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~
School was hell. Having to sit still for hours, listening to someone babble on about mathematical nonsense when there were bigger terrors in the world to be reckoned with was not Uryuu's idea of a good day. He could barely focus on the book in front of him, much less the words that floated in one ear and out the other. All day, he kept his left hand in his pocket, fingering the razor he'd brought with him, just in case the shadows decided to attack during the day. So far, they'd kept to the edges of his vision, but he wanted to be safe.
He'd noticed Rukia giving him side-long glances every now and again, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her. Better to keep her un-involved in this. And he didn't even dare look Ichigo's way, in case he could make the shadows attack on whim. No, that was something Uryuu couldn't deal with right now. So he managed to make it through the day without paying attention to a single word anyone said, and rushing out the door before anyone could stop him.
Those were his school days. Thankfully uneventful, numb and antisocial.
Once he got home, he would eat a small meal then head straight to the bathroom and reopen every slash mark on his body to hold the shadows at bay during the night before laying down and shutting his eyes tight. The door and window were always locked, and the light was always on to give the shadows trouble forming. Sometimes he would fall asleep, sometimes he wouldn't. Sometimes his phone would go off, but he wouldn't answer it; and sometimes, he laid there until his alarm blared at him, and he would start the routine all over again.
Those were his school nights. Blissfully regular. Normal.
Uryuu was finally in control.
Until the nightmares returned with a vengeance.
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~
Uryuu's eyes shot open, panicking when only darkness met his eyes. His body stiffened immediately, and he could feel the shadows creeping forward to squeeze the life out of him, his arms reaching out to push the darkness away, only to find them weighted down by some unknown force. His heart shot into his throat and he felt like he was choking down bile as he struggled, his breath coming quicker and quicker until there was no air to breathe. He could feel his body sweating profusely and the dread of dying painfully swirled around his head.
He could feel the shadows on him now, slimy, sickening hands sliding over his abused flesh, trying to slip under his skin to kill him from the inside out, and Uryuu opened his mouth to scream. Instead, he gagged and almost threw up when he felt a rough, cotton feeling enter his already dry mouth. He spat as he struggled, trying to dislodge the uncomfortable fuzzy mess from his mouth, and finally succeeded...
At pulling the covers off his body. Light hit his sensitive eyes and he flinched, covering his eyes with his arm even as he felt the shadows slowly dripping off his skin, as if the light had melted them. His chest still heaving, Uryuu shakily brushed the cold sweat off his brow before kicking the blankets into a bundled heap at the edge of the bed.
Screw covers. He didn't need them.
Uryuu sat up a little too quickly, and hunched over on the bed when the dizziness hit him. He didn't even realize how close he'd come to hitting his head on the desk by doing so until a few minutes after the spell had passed, and he brought his gaze up. Two things caught his attention, one being his alarm clock, blazing the numbers 5:29 am. The other thing being the phone lying unused for almost a full week, with several voice mail messages from Rukia and Ichigo waiting in vain to be listened to.
For a full thirty minutes, Uryuu sat there, arguing with himself about picking up the phone and talking to Rukia, if she was even awake. Should he wake her? She'd told him he could talk to her anytime. But what if Ichigo found out? Ichigo had threatened to kill her. He should just stay silent. But he was going crazy. What if it continued to get worse? What if it got worse anyway? Could she even do anything, or would talking about it just make things harder?
Nearly moved back to tears, Uryuu shakily took the phone from the night stand, glaring again at the clock that stated 6:02 am. He couldn't do it.
He flipped open the phone.
He couldn't do it.
He dialed the number.
He couldn't do it.
On the first ring, Uryuu hung up, snapping the phone closed. His heart was racing, and the blood was pounding in his ears. Gripping the phone tightly, he gnashed his teeth together, berating himself for his childish actions. He forced himself to take a deep breath, and opened the phone again. The screen started to shake at him, and it took him a few seconds to realize it was because his hand was shaking. What was he supposed to say?
In the end, he settled on a simple text message consisting only of,
'Rukia? You awake?'
And then he waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, 6:07 am, Uryuu received a reply.
'You okay?'
Uryuu let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. This... was much easier.
'No. I keep seeing things. I can't sleep anymore.'
This time, the reply took a few minutes, but Uryuu was alright with it. He was thinking about how to try and come out with everything that had happened, where the beginning was, how to start at the beginning, everything was muddling in his mind, so when his text alert went off, it only felt like seconds after he had sent his reply.
'Do you want me to come over and we can talk about it?'
This time, Uryuu froze, all thoughts leaving his mind for a few seconds, before they bombarded him again. Could he talk in person? Would they be safe from Ichigo? Maybe if Ichigo never found out...
Shakily, Uryuu looked up at the clock, knowing in about twenty minutes, Ryuuken would leave for his shift at the hospital, and probably spend more than twelve hours there. It would be just him and Rukia. No Ichigo. They could lock the doors and windows. Returning his gaze to the screen, he knew Rukia was waiting on a reply, and he nervously typed out,
'Don't bring Ichigo.'
This time, the response was less than thirty seconds after his reply was sent:
'I'm on my way.'
Uryuu breathed a sigh of relief, and closed the phone. Things were going to be okay. Finally.
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Ichigo's POV)
His head wasn't in the game today at all. His thoughts were all over the place, wondering about Uryuu and thinking of things to help him. His thoughts were not on the Hollow that was kicking his ass. It was only after he'd gotten his sword arm injured by not dodging a simple attack that Rukia had yelled at him to just go home, that he was only in the way.
So it was with a defeated heart that Ichigo slinked back home, around four in the morning, Saturday. His father and sisters were asleep, as was Kon, so he tiptoed to his bed and flopped down, grimacing silently to himself at the pain in his shoulder. He'd need to put something on it, but he didn't feel like moving. In all honesty, he felt depressed. One of his friends seemed like they were going through a really hard time, and wanted nothing to do with him. Of course, it probably didn't help that the one friend it was happening to was one of the closest friends he'd ever made.
Yeah, it seems stupid, but you can't banter back and forth to the point of arguing with someone for days on end and then fight back to back against an enemy if there wasn't something there holding the two together. It wasn't that he loved him, Ichigo suddenly felt the need to reason with himself. It was because he didn't hate him. He couldn't love a guy without being gay, and he wasn't gay. Yeah, okay, maybe cooking breakfast for the guy was going a bit far, but...
Still, Ichigo wondered as he turned over onto his good shoulder, and closed his eyes. There was something about Uryuu and his situation that made Ichigo's heart hurt in ways he'd never experienced. Like a piece of him was dying each time he saw Uryuu hurting like this.
So Ichigo laid in bed for what felt like hours, pondering over the situation, only to be startled when a loud ring tone blared into his ears, only to stop short second later. Mindless of his shoulder, Ichigo shot out of bed and instantly regretted it, groaning in pain. Sighing harshly, Ichigo tugged off the covers of the bed and tried to remember where he'd heard the noise. It had come from... under him, he thought. Strange. He lowered himself to his hands and knees and poked his head under the bed, only to be startled when the phone vibrated suddenly, the screen lighting up and proudly displaying 'Uryuu'.
Ichigo's eyes widened as he pulled out the phone with the bunny chain on it. This was... Rukia's phone. How did it get under his bed? Feeling suddenly guilty, Ichigo looked around to make sure Rukia hadn't somehow come home without him hearing, and clicked on the un-read text message.
'Rukia? You awake?'
Ichigo stared at the phone for a few seconds, wondering if he should. He probably shouldn't, but this seemed like the perfect chance to actually figure out what was happening. Knowing there was a special place in hell for him acting like someone else, he brought up the texting option and began to reply.
'You okay?'
There. As Ichigo hit the send button, he felt somewhat proud of himself. It was very vague, to the point, and sounded like something Rukia would say all at once. The answer came quicker than Ichigo had expected, however, and his gaze lingered on the first word before trying to analyze the rest of it.
'No. I keep seeing things. I can't sleep anymore.'
Seeing things? Why can't he sleep? Anymore? Ichigo's head was full of questions, before suddenly... it was blank. There were no questions. There was no phone. That's all he remembered.
So why... why did he have a crying, naked Uryuu latched onto his arms, skin smeared with blood and jagged cuts all over his body...?
Ichigo's eyes widened, and all he could do was sit there, shocked into paralysis as he heard the barely whimpered words,
"Please don't hurt me..." from Uryuu.