Ya know, today, for the first time in six months, I have sat and watched some bleach. Amazing no? I needed to refresh my memory on this particular part. I'm a very visual person when it comes to these things. Probably why I write so well when asked to write a scene from pictures. If I can visualise, I can write things. and it becomes so much easier for me.

But I'm still ashamed its been that long since I last watched any anime at all. The last episode I saw before that was the one with Little Gin. And I still need to watch the Fade to black movie. *sigh* I feel I am in no place to call myself an addict anymore. Nope. I'm still surprised I actually remember half the plot. And now everytime I hear Gin I can only think of Lau from Kuro after OD'ing on that after six months of nothing. And I can only see Aizen as some… really… perverted… Neeeergh (the sound of 'how the fu-- did this happen?!') why did I write that really long oneshot? WHY?! Was I THAT delirious with the flu? That's it; I must have been delirious.

Ugh, I think I've wrecked bleach. I can't do AiGin seriously (thankyou very much nii-sama), I laugh evilly everytime Kira is on camera, and Gin… well, erm, has anyone ever pictured him in a dress? Because I have. And to me now, Aizen is some sex crazed pervert. But oh yes, this is still a serious anime, just not for me anymore.

"With foxes, we must play the fox."
- Thomas Fuller

Chapter 24: Defending thy abuser

Time passed. Exactly how much time though Izuru was unaware of. Either that or he has stopped counting the days because each one was pretty much the same now.

Abuse.

Hurt.

Not that it did much now. After all, the more it happened, the less it seemed to hurt. Maybe because his body was adjusting to it and that he was becoming accustomed to it. So it was slowly and steadily becoming physical pain now. He was growing increasingly numb to the emotional hurt that came along with the violence done against him. Well, it wasn't like he was a virgin the first time Gin did it to him. He'd been hurt much more before that. So seemingly what Gin did to him was nothing in comparison to the first trauma he'd received. From the first heartbreak since arriving here. So whatever Gin did to him, surely he could handle.

All of the beatings he suffered. All of the torture and hurt. All of the rough and meaningless sex.

But was this the debt that he owed because Gin saved his life? Did he owe Gin for that? Was that why he was being treated like this? Like an object?

Because that man saved his life did that give him the right to treat him like this?

Kira didn't know. Maybe that was how things around here worked. That if you saved somebody's life that they owed you. That you owned them. Or was it the fact that Kira had sworn himself completely to Ichimaru Gin the reason why he was being treated like this. The reason that he was allowing himself to be treated like this. Subconsciously it probably was. But it had become the norm now; it had become art of his regular routine. And he was accustomed to it.

He woke up in his room in the morning aching. Nothing unusual. Gin was long gone. He'd come in during the night and had his wicked way with his body. Again, nothing unusual. Only today his legs refused to support him, so when he tried to stand he just collapsed onto the floor. He cursed under his breath.

"Crap."

He had a meeting today and he had to be able to stand up at least. Even if he was unable to use shunpo he had to at least be able to physically walk. People would suspect otherwise. He was on his knees on the wooden floor and blood was slowly trickling down onto his leg, but that didn't bother him; he had seen his own blood before many times. He slapped his upper leg in attempt to get some feeling back into the numb limbs.

"Come on, come on wake up."

He was in his hakama and he had to get dressed otherwise he would miss this meeting. But why did it have to be today of all days hat his legs decided to pack in.

"No… no, not today, not today. Ugh shit."

He sighed, gazing up at the ceiling whilst still on his knees. His legs were completely numb and he would just have to sit there and wait for some feeling to come back into them. He slapped his legs again until some of the numbness alleviated.

"Yes…"

He grinned, having regained some movement in his legs enough to shakily stand and put on his shihakusho, unsteadily staggering to the door. God if he didn't regain some balance soon…

"Argh, shit."

He was still shaking uncontrollably. God this was worse than before, it never ususlly took this long for him to regain feeling in his legs. Man, Gin must have been really rough with him this time for his body to be numb even in the morning.

He started to walk out anyway, his balance slowly returning to him as he walked, but he was still a little shaky when he got into the meeting room. Rangiku was already there, as was Renji and a couple of others. So they were just waiting for Hinamori to show up.

They waited for around an hour before the scream came. And when it did Kira's blood ran cold. Like ice.

"Aizen Taichou!"

It was Hinamori's voice.

"Hinamori-kun…"

They ran. They all ran, and Kira led the pack as they followed the direction which the scream came from. All of them skidding to a stop when they saw her standing there, standing stock still and gazing upwards. He ran over to her, frantic as to what provoked her scream.

"Hinamori-kun! Hinamori-kun? What is it?"

He turned, facing the wall she was staring at. Realising the pure shock and horror of it all. He was staring at Sousuke Aizen's dead body. Splattered in blood and hanging from the wall. Like hanging from the rafters.

Sousuke Aizen was dead.

Kira trembled. Aizen was… dead? No, that couldn't be. It can't be…

"Aizen Taichou!"

Hinamori screamed again, half wailing in despair and trying to fight back her tears. Falling to her knees before his bloody corpse. And Kira could only stand there, watching her fall to pieces. Until his blood ran cold again.

"Oya, what's all th' noise so early in the mornin'?"

Everybody stopped and looked. It was Ichimaru. Kira's heart started to pound and he started to break out into a cold sweat. It was like when they first met again, that same sense of fear and dread consumed him. He started to shake, thankfully unnoticeably. His eyes widened, pupils dilated, staring at someone so calm among the carnage. And Kira felt fear again.

Hinamori looked at him, and then all time seemed to slow down as she started to run at Gin, her blade poised for the kill, aiming at his throat. And Izuru could have left it like that. He could have let her go on, and kill him.

But we all know that this doesn't happen.

Maybe he thought that Gin would try to defend himself, or maybe he didn't want to be partially responsible for his death, or maybe he wanted to clear this debt that he owed to him, but his body just seemed to move on its own. Before he had really any time to think, he was between them, blade drawn.

Defending his abuser.

Can I ask ya'll something? the few people out there that like my work – my other story 'if things were different', I would like for this to be turned into a manga by someone. Yes, I would actually commission someone to turn my words into pictures for me. I would do so myself but I have neither the time nor the artistic ability. That and a tempermental scanner and I have no clue how to use photoshop. And I can't draw Kira for crap.

So does anybody know anyone that takes on big projects like this as commissions? Or would anybody like to? I would love to have that fic as a… (Oi, what's the word for fan comic you people use?) Yeah, one of those. That would be awesome and I would love the artist forever if they did one for me. I would like to have one done, 'cept it probably aint gonna happen. But still, thought I'd throw it out there.