Hajime lay limp on the table, his eyes open and glazed as he struggled not to choke on blood. The gag was gone, now. It wasn't needed anymore. He could hardly draw a breath, let alone speak.

"I've always wondered." Hajime shuddered as a hand slid through his hair, then gently traced the side of his face, stroking his jawbone curiously. "Demons don't need to breathe. I've established that several times… yet, when they are placed under duress, they always do. Does the oxygen help your body endure pain? Is it just an automatic reaction? It's really quite curious." The demon blinked up at him wearily, wishing that his labored breathing wasn't quite so obvious. He would have stopped it, just to spite Mayuri, but he knew that would only increase his pain. "Tch." Hajime gasped as he felt the power flow from Ichigo increase, very briefly. A quick spurt of strength to help mend himself, then the power was lowered again. "Demons are very difficult to study, you know."

No. Don't care. Hajime wanted him to shut up. He'd thought torture was bad, and it was, but having every bit of it explained, often before it even happened… he wanted this man to shut up and just do what he planned to do. He didn't want to know why his body was being violated.

"You see, demons need to feed. And, alas, Soutaichou can get so stuffy about that." Kurotsuchi sighed as Hajime blinked slowly. "He wouldn't even give me prisoners from the Maggot's Den, and I've never been able to find any other way to feed a demon except on pain and death." A hand stroked his shoulder and Hajime closed his eyes. "You, however, are quite different. Thanks to your connection to that boy, you can feed, and along with healing kidos… I should be able to examine you indefinitely. Isn't that wonderful?" Hajime tested his lungs and found things were working a bit now.

"I would like to die." He whispered. There was a laugh from the scientist.

"I'm sure you would. Really, I would much prefer to use an anesthetic. But creating one is hardly a priority. Now… I'm going to begin examining the connections between your body and your soul." He said cheerfully and Hajime couldn't help a small moan at the thought. Having his soul tortured was even worse than his body.

Surprisingly, though, these tests did not hurt. It gradually came to Hajime that Mayuri was just observing, not actually touching yet. Although that would come, and when it did, so would the pain.

You don't have to keep trying to get to me, Hajime. Just endure, I'm coming for you. Hajime nodded to himself and tried to use this time to rest. He needed his hour of reverie. When Ichigo came for him, he would be ready.

Until then, he would endure.

Ichigo groaned as he woke up from restless dreams of white hands and a raspy voice, pleading for him to hurry.

I fell asleep? For a moment he was horrified, but then he realized. No, I passed out. I'm sorry Hajime. He quickly sat up, wincing at his injuries. But they were already feeling a lot better, and he was sure someone had used a healing kido on him. Sorting through his bag, he found the balls and pulled them out, stroking them and trying to feel Hajime's condition. To his relief, there was no pain. Maybe they were giving him a breather. Hang on Hajime. I'm coming for you.

"Hey there!" Ichigo started violently and quickly stuffed the ivory balls in his bag before turning. There were two men there, one with black hair and the other completely bald. Baldy was grinning at him. "I'm Ikkaku and this is Yumichika. Impressive work out there!"

"Thanks." Ichigo said, reaching up to adjust his headscarf. It was tied very tightly over his head, not letting even a wisp of his orange hair show. Urahara had thought his hair was just too unusual to let show. "I'm Yuu." He said, pushing himself to his feet.

"So we heard. And what are you hiding under that unfashionable scarf?" Ichigo jerked away, but not quite fast enough. The scarf was yanked off his head, and it was painful. He'd gotten a bit of hair caught in it, when he knotted it into place. Ichigo swore and gripped his head before trying to grab his scarf back. But Yumichika danced away with a grin.

"Wow, that's bright. People never have trouble seeing you at night, eh?" Ikkaku said, looking impressed. Ichigo sighed and desisted in his attempts to get the scarf. His hair was busted anyway.

"Yeah, that's why I wear a scarf. That and I got sick and tired of people picking fights with me because I have orange hair. Now, can I have that back?" He scowled at Yumichika, who laughed and tossed over the scarf. Ichigo was just putting it on as a little girl suddenly ran in.

"Hi there! I'm Yachiru!" Ichigo's eyes widened as he looked at her. What was a little kid doing here? "I'm Kenny's lieutenant! Hitsy said you're Yuu! Hi Yuu!"

"Uh, hi." Ichigo said, bewildered. "Lieutenant? Really?" He was still trying to get his mind around that when Yumichika laughed.

"Yeah, she's the lieutenant. So don't get on her bad side. And if you ever need to bribe her, candy works really well." He said and Ichigo stiffened in horror as the girl suddenly started to root through his bag.

"Hey, that's private!" He yelped, grabbing her and yanking her away. But that only made the situation worse, as his ivory balls and several explosives fell outs. Yachiru grabbed the balls with a giggle and Ichigo cursed, trying to at least get the explosives back into his bag. They weren't too recognizable for what they were, maybe…

"Now, that's interesting. Why are you carrying around condensed soul explosives, Yuu?" Yumichika asked with a smile, but his hand was on the hilt of his sword. Ikkaku was looking less than amused, as well, and Yachiru was energetically spinning the balls. Ichigo took a breath and tried to lie.

"It had to do with what I did in the Rukongai. Don't ask, alright? But they were expensive and I figured I'd find a use for them again someday. Yachiru, can I have that back? My grandma gave me that, it's all I've got of my family." He held his hand out for the balls, then hissed as Yumichika took it from Yachiru, who pouted at losing her new toy.

"This thing has one hell of a lot of power in it, and it feels like nothing I've ever touched before." Yumichika said as Ikkaku suddenly moved. Ichigo was slammed against the wall, coughing as his wounds were aggravated. "And you are lying your ass off. Care to come clean, Yuu? We might let you live."

"I… I…" Ichigo wheezed, trying to figure out what to do. Things couldn't end here, they just couldn't. But he could sense Zaraki's reiatsu in the barracks. If he got into it with his two officers, with Yachiru watching, the taichou would want to know why. Then he would be screwed. "Look, I… my teacher, the guy who taught me to fight. He's… over at the 12th Division. I need to get him out. Please, can you just pretend you never saw this?"

"And why should we do that?" Ikkaku said and Ichigo tried to think up a reason. He was still coming up blank when someone else walked into the room.

"So this is the new – ah! You!" Ichigo made a small choking sound as a green haired man levelled a sword at his chest. "I'll kill you, you demon freak!"

"Saito!" Ikkaku shoved him back sharply and Yumichika swept his legs out from under him. Then Yachiru laughed and jumped on his chest, pummelling the young shinigami. "Don't you ever learn? And what the fuck are you talking about? He's not a goddamn demon." Yumichika had a finger on his lips and was clearly thinking hard. Ichigo bent down and picked up Zangetsu in one smooth move. If he had to, he'd try to break through a wall and make a run for it. Then Yumichika snapped his fingers.

"I get it now! He's that human who beat Renji Abarai." Yumichika eyed him thoughtfully. "He does feel a lot like a shinigami, but there's a slight difference. You're here to free that demon, aren't you?" Ichigo heaved a sigh and nodded.

"Are you going to try to stop me? Because I'm going to warn you. I didn't fight even close to full out against your taichou." Ichigo said and was surprised when they both grinned and Yachiru laughed.

"I'll tell Kenny you were holding out on him, he's gonna be so mad!" She started to scramble off and Ichigo blanched.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" He blasted out the ball, grabbing his bag and making a run for it. He was leaving the balls behind, but that wouldn't matter. They would follow him on their own, and he had to get out of here. There were shouts behind him as he tried desperately to figure out where they would be keeping Hajime.

This was just a nightmare.

"What a fascinating construction." Hajime felt like he might die at any moment, and a dark rage flickered somewhere in the back of his mind. It was as inhuman as it was terrible, and he mentally cringed away from it.

Kurotsuchi was getting down to exploring the connection between his body and soul. In Soul Society, the two effectively merged, so that wasn't as easy as it would have been in the Living World. A demon's unnatural flesh converted to something spirit based when they passed through the worlds.

The result of his explorations was a kind of agony that made him want to scream. His gag muffled his cries, but even to him the sounds he was making were pitiful. And his demon half was growing more and more ascendant with every moment of torment.

That was the danger of torturing him too much. Demons were built to withstand torture. They knew physical pain, but their alien minds were incapable of breaking. More pain only fueled the endless hate and rage inside them. If they begged for mercy or cried, they were faking. It was as simple as that.

Hajime's shinigami soul was not built to withstand torture. It could bend and break. So as the torment went on, his demonic nature became more and more prevalent simply as a survival mechanism. If it went on too long, Hajime's soul would completely disconnect from reality, leaving the demon in charge. He always came back from that, but it could take a while. And right now, he did not want that to happen. Ichigo was coming, and having to deal with an infuriated demon would only make things harder for him.

Then Kurotsuchi did something that drew a sound of pure agony from him, and his entire body went stiff, almost vibrating against the restraints.

Hurry Ichigo. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Ichigo leapt from rooftop to rooftop, cursing.

Strangely enough, the whole Seireitei was not on alert. Unfortunately, he had the feeling that was because Kenpachi was hunting him down personally. It seemed like the kind of thing he would do, keeping an intruder all to himself. He already knew the maniac loved fighting, and he'd revealed to Yachiru that he had power in reserve. Zaraki would want another go at him.

Ichigo bit his lip. He couldn't let that happen. He had no backup here, no one to help him, and even winning that kind of duel would be losing. He would be too badly weakened to get Hajime out of the 12th Division. And he still didn't know where the 12th was!

Leaping down, he prepared to dart across the road. It was almost nighttime now, and there were very few people out. If he just hurried maybe he could –

"Boo." Ichigo almost started out of his skin and whirled. It was Yumichika and Ikkaku. How had he not sensed them? Then he cursed to himself. Despite all his training, his reiatsu sensing was still poor, especially when he was upset. "You flare your reiatsu a lot when you're upset, you know."

"Yes, I do know!" He snarled, making the two of them eye him in surprise. "What do you want?" Although it was really rather obvious. Ikkaku sniggered.

"Kenpachi decided to let us go first. If you can't defeat us both, you're not worth his time anyway." He said, drawing his sword. Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he pulled his own sword off his back. Yumichika smiled, also drawing his sword. Both at once? He'd see about that.

"I'm going to beat you both so hard, you'll have boot prints in your ass." Ichigo said calmly and they both laughed. "Bankai!" The laugh was abruptly cut off as his spiritual pressure spiked, then tightened. They both stared at him, disbelieving, as his black sword came into view.

"That's not possible. You can't be older than seventeen!" Ikkaku said, disbelievingly. They both knew Ichigo was human, so he was every bit as young as he looked. "You can't have a bankai!"

"And bankai's usually get bigger, not smaller. That is very strange." Yumichika observed. Ichigo just shrugged.

"It is what it is, and it's mine. I had a very good trainer. Now – " He set on them with speed and ferocity. First he went after Ikkaku, then turned with lightning swiftness on Yumichika, driving them away from each other. Keeping them from coordinating an attack…

"I can't beat you both at once!" A white face, grinning, while a white and green striped hat was pulled down a bit more firmly over blonde hair.

"No, but that's not the point. You're going to learn how to handle multiple opponents. Now, try to keep us away!"

Ichigo grinned to himself as he remembered his training. He'd been cursing the two sadists at the time, but now he was feeling unutterably grateful. He was pounding these two into the dirt without hardly trying, and it was all due to Urahara's and Hajime's training. Ikkaku barely got to use his shikai before Ichigo broke it, his bankai snapping the spear. Then he laid Yumichika out with a well-placed kick.

Both opponents groaning on the ground, Ichigo froze as he felt enormous reiatsu rising. Then someone familiar and very distressing leapt down from a nearby roof. There was a pink, laughing girl on his shoulder and Kenpachi was… grinning?

"Well, well, well. So Yachiru was right, you were holding out on me you little bastard." Ichigo swallowed hard and backed away. If all else failed, he could run. He was probably faster than Kenpachi with his bankai. "Don't you think of running away, coward." Kenpachi sounded less than amused now, probably because he didn't want to have to run his prey down. Ichigo paused, scowling.

"I'm not a coward. But if I fight you, I've failed!" He snarled as the towering taichou looked puzzled. "I'm here to save Hajime. How can I do that if I'm badly hurt? And even if I kill you, I'm going to get hurt!" That was the problem. He needed to keep his strength to deal with whatever had captured Hajime. He didn't think the 12th would be an easy nut to crack, unless he was incredibly lucky.

"Well, that's too bad." Zaraki said with a grin. "Guess you'll have to win without getting hurt." Then he laughed and Ichigo hissed a curse. That was as likely as the sun rising at midnight. He was good, but the crushing reiatsu coming from this captain was terrifying. Then something occurred to him.

"You know, you could have a much better fight than anything I could give you." He said calmly, hoping Hajime would forgive him. "My demon is one of the two people who trained me." Kenpachi tilted his head and Ichigo went on, encouraged. "He's also a demon king, and the only one that comes to our reality. It's the opportunity of a lifetime. Just point me in the direction of the 12th and when I get him free, you can fight him." The taichou was listening, and looking slightly intrigued. Then he grinned, widely.

"Never could stand that fucking lab rat. Okay, kid, you got a deal." He said and Ichigo blinked. He honestly hadn't expected it to work. "Yumichika!" He barked at his subordinate, who was still groaning a bit. Ikkaku was out cold. "Take the little bastard over to the 12th, but don't help him anymore than that. If he can't get in himself, he ain't worth our time." Yumichika nodded, a bit speechless, and Zaraki nudged an unconscious Ikkaku with his toe before picking him up. "I'll get this dumbass back to the barracks. He needs to learn to fight harder, getting beaten that easily…" They watched him go, mumbling about Ikkaku's failures. The little girl on his shoulder was laughing, heartily amused by it all.

"Did you really have to kick me in the balls like that? Ow." Yumichika said, managing to get up and move, but it was clearly an effort. Ichigo shrugged.

"Whatever works. Although, it doesn't work very well on a demon." He added. He'd learned that the hard way against Hajime and Urahara was usually too fast to get nailed like that. Yumichika groaned.

"I'll… keep that in mind…" Following his slightly hunched over guide, Ichigo finally reached the 12th Division. Checking his bag, he found he had his balls, and they were definitely signalling that Hajime was inside this building. Ichigo hesitated, then considered the roof. It might be more direct to go down instead of across…

"Thanks, and I'm sorry I hurt you." He said to Yumichika before leaping onto the roof. With the help of soul explosives, he thought this might be the best way in.

No matter what he did, it was going to be interesting.

"You appear to be losing your sanity. Interesting." Mayuri was intrigued by the new developments, studying the demon on his table thoughtfully. Mad black and gold eyes glared back at him, filled with rage and hate. "Or perhaps, regaining it? The condition of having a soul must be so strange for you." Looking at his monitors, he shook his head.

The tests were actually not going that well. The demon's soul had retreated from his probes, becoming harder and harder to reach. But it was still attached to his body, and Kurotsuchi thought that it always would be. The strength of the bindings between the body and soul were frighteningly powerful, and touched with the same power as his holy bonds.

"Tch." Mayuri said, slightly annoyed. He disliked dealing with this ancient power. The 'gods' humans worshipped were very difficult to quantify scientifically. They almost seemed non-existent, until you stumbled over something like this. And even with Hajime right in front of him, it was very difficult to get readings on his holy bonds and the nature of the connection between his body and soul. The power seemed to eel away, refusing to fully reveal itself. But in time, he would manage it.

But the retreat of the soul was a problem. Kurotsuchi sighed to himself. He did not particularly enjoy causing pain, it was simply a by product of his experiments. And in this particular case, it was coming close to tainting his results. Unless you were studying the effects of pain on the body, pain would always affect the results of any procedure. The body released so many chemicals and stress hormones when it was under assault, and Mayuri did not think the demon would be much different.

"I think you need a rest." He said to the demon, who managed to look surprised despite his descent into feral behaviour. "I will go report my findings to soutaichou. Do behave while I'm gone." Mayuri left the room, unaware that from Ichigo's perspective, his timing could not have been better.

"Okay." Ichigo breathed out carefully, concentrating on his reiatsu sensing.

If it had been anyone but Hajime, he would have been doomed to failure. Despite all of Hajime's training, and Urahara's help, his skill with reiatsu sensing was still his weakest area. His kido was much better, which was a bit odd. Usually strong kido came after strong reiatsu sensing.

But Hajime's aura was strong and as familiar to Ichigo as his own. This close to it, he could come much closer to pinpointing his demon lover. So he was settled on one part of the room, setting up the explosives.

He stood well back before triggering them, then leapt down the hole. A young woman in the room screamed and ran out, but Ichigo ignored her as he placed the next set of charges. He didn't have much time now.

It took four sets of charges, and a massive Getsuga Tenshou before he reached Hajime. The last floor he penetrated was much harder than the others, but his bankai finally managed it, shredding the steel and letting him drop to the floor. Hajime was there, chained and strapped to a bench with a black collar around his neck. Ichigo cringed to himself as he saw the surgical impliments, now sparkling clean and ready for use, lined up on a table beside him. Hajime's belt was there too, waiting to be examined. The demon was naked and wild eyed, and Ichigo immediately went to the collar.

"I'm going to get you out of here." He assured the albino, but there was something in Hajime's eyes that he didn't like. Frowning at the malignant stare, he went to work on his collar. Fortunately, it wasn't that hard to remove, and pretty soon it popped free. "Now I'll – ah!" Dark power flooded the room as Hajime ripped apart his bonds with frightening ease. Then darkness exploded from the albino. It didn't touch Ichigo – it couldn't, that would be a violation of Hajime's bonds – but the teen felt a stab of fear as he looked at Hajime's released form.

Dark red light shone down from above, lighting them both, and Ichigo looked up to see the sky opening up. His heart clenched as he realized a portal was forming. Hajime was summoning up his demon princes. Looking around frantically, he found Urahara's belt. It had been blasted away but was still unharmed. As he grabbed it, he heard Hajime start to rant.

"I'm going to raze this place to the ground!" His rasping voice was cold, and particularly inhuman. "I will feast on their hearts! I will – " Ichigo had to stop listening as Hajime began to detail all the things he would do, many of which were absolutely grotesque. What was wrong with him? Why was he acting like this?

"HAJIME!" He screamed, trying to force the belt into the albinos' hands. "You need to put this on!" But he hadn't phrased that as an order, and Hajime sneered.

"Why, master?" He said that word with such hatred that it took Ichigo's breath away. "Don't you think they should get the punishment they so richly deserve?" Ichigo stared into mad black and gold eyes, and finally realized what he was seeing.

"Hajime!" Ichigo didn't know how to fix this. He was talking to a demon, not the person he knew and loved. Then his gaze dropped to the holy bonds. They were tattered and worn, patchy and barely there. He wanted to touch them, needed to touch them. Ichigo reached out a hand, then hesitated.

If you love something, you have to let it go. Ichigo looked at the bonds and knew one single tug would break them. It would hurt Hajime, but then he would be free. But what would he do? Do you trust him to do the right thing?

"…Yes." He whispered. He trusted Hajime, trusted that he would get a grip on himself, that he wouldn't give in to this madness. So he grabbed the cuff around the demon's throat and before Hajime could speak or move, he gave it a tremendous yank.

The holy bond parted and the albino screamed in pain, arching as his cuffs and chains exploded into nothingness. He reeled away, gripping the table to stay upright. Ichigo swallowed and began putting the belt on him. Hajime didn't resist, just touching his shoulder as Ichigo snapped the black leather in place. The red light immediately began to fade.

"Ichigo?" Hajime sounded dazed, but when Ichigo looked up he saw something so much more human in his face. "You… freed me?"

"Yes. Now c'mon, we have to get out of here." From the shouts, Mayuri's men were approaching rapidly. Hajime steadied himself and squared his shoulders.

"No." Ichigo blinked at him, but Hajime sounded more like himself. "We need to make a statement, Ichigo. They can't just do this to us and get away with it." His rasping voice was hard but rational. "Let's go find the Soutaichou." Hajime gripped his hand and called on his bankai. "Dulce Ruina." The globes flowed upwards, widening the hole Ichigo had made and raising a few screams as they tore through more plaster and concrete. "Let's go." Hajime flew through the air, Ichigo close behind.

He wasn't sure what Hajime had in mind, but he trusted the demon.