Grimmjow didn't know what to expect from the Shinigami as the two captains escorted him to a room where the other captains had gathered. He didn't know them all, but he recognized some of them. He looked around and knew that this would determine what he could do while he was in Soul Society. That meant he couldn't fuck it up.

"Have a seat, please, Grimmjow." The head captain stared at him from across the table.

Grimmjow sat down in the lone seat that was in front of the table while the others sat behind it. Thirteen of them, he noted. Well, now he had to show he wasn't a danger to them, and that he could follow the rules.

"We're here to determine what, if any, threat you pose to Soul Society or the World of the Living. First, how did you come to be in the World of the Living?" he asked.

"Well, that I don't know for sure. I was on the sands of Hueco Mundo when I ran across this big ass hollow. It wanted a fight, so I fought. Next thing I know, we're fighting in the World of the Living, and the redhead and the midget were there," Grimmjow explained.

"You expect us to believe that?" the woman said, Grimmjow didn't know her name.

"It's what happened," Grimmjow reiterated. "I can't tell you anything else because that's all I know."

"Soi Fon-taichou is right. That seems unbelievable," the one with a green sash across him and white hair said.

Grimmjow only shrugged. "It was a hollow that turned me into a fucking cat. I wasn't there because I wanted to be."

"You were given the choice to go back to Hueco Mundo or to come here with Abarai-fukutaichou. You chose to come here. Why is that?" asked the black-haired one, the midget's brother. Kuchiki-taichou, he thought his name was.

"I wanted to make sure Kurosaki didn't do something dumb."

"Something dumb?" asked a blond-headed one.

"Like go back to the mother fucker who abused him," Grimmjow said with a sour look on his face.

Several of them looked between each other. "You were witness to this?" one with a pink kimono over his shoulders asked.

"Damn right I was. So was the redhead. The bastard beat the hell out of him, and my only regret is not being able to tear his fucking head off before I came here," he growled out.

"What makes you feel so strongly about Kurosaki?" asked the white-haired one that had escorted him here asked.

Grimmjow didn't know how to answer that one. "I dunno. Just do."

"It doesn't matter, he's here and poses a threat. He should be sent back to Hueco Mundo at the very least," the woman, Soi Fon, said this time.

"Look, I know I wasn't on your side before, but it was your asshole captain that took over Hueco Mundo and wanted to take on Soul Society with us. He made us promises and we did what we did. Things have changed since then, and I've been bored out of my living mind lately. So, maybe getting out of there and doing something interesting is what attracted me to coming here, I dunno, but I don't mean to harm anyone while I'm here," Grimmjow sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I may have a solution," the guy with a crazy looking headpiece said.

"Yes, Kurotsuchi-taichou?" the head captain said, looking at him.

"A monitoring device that I've been working on. It measures reiatsu, dampens abilities, and tracks the wearer. It might be a way that we can keep track of him while he's here. It would also offer me measurements of use to my research on hollows," he said, giving Grimmjow a smile that chilled even him.

"Yer a creepy bastard, aren't ya?" Grimmjow muttered.

The blond one spoke up again. "I think it seems like a fair way, assuming he has a place to stay while he's here."

"I've already agreed to allow both him and Kurosaki to stay at my manor," Kuchiki said.

Everyone kind of looked at him with a strange look. "I see," the head captain said. "Anyone else have anything to say before I make my decision?"

"As long as I get to fight him before he leaves," the big one with the spikey hair said.

"We can make that happen," Grimmjow grinned.

He grinned in return. "I'll hold you to that."

"Very well, with the monitoring device in place, and under supervision of Abarai-fukutaichou, Grimmjow will be allowed to remain in Soul Society. That is my decision." The head captain stood and left the room.

"Come with me to my division, I'll fit you with the monitoring device," the strange Kurotsuchi said as he stood.

"Alright," Grimmjow said and followed him.

He was taken to the twelfth division where Kurotsuchi fitted a wristband on him. It looked just like a band without anything on it, but he could feel the effect of the dampening of his power immediately. He didn't like being weakened, but he was going to do what he had to do so he could stay in Soul Society with Ichigo. He would make sure that he didn't do something stupid.

"You know, I could use you in my research," Kurotsuchi said as he tested the band to make sure it was functioning properly.

"Yeah, well, I'm not here for research," he responded.

"Unfortunate," he intoned.

"Sir?" came a voice from the door.

"What is it?" Kurotsuchi snapped and looked over at the female Shinigami at the door.

"Abarai-fukutaichou is here to pick up Grimmjow."

"Ah, very well, go on," he huffed. "Don't allow your reiatsu to raise too much, otherwise it might short out the band."

Grimmjow stared at it, and nodded, following the Shinigami out to where Renji was waiting.

"There you are. It took forever to figure out where you went," Renji said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Ichigo was getting worried about you."

"Yeah, they asked me questions and put this monitoring band on me," he said as he showed Renji the band on his wrist.

"Well, come on, I told Ichigo to wait for us, but it's been so long I wouldn't be surprised if he'd left already."

Except he hadn't. They came to the noodle place and found Ichigo sitting right where Renji had left him. Yumichika and Ikkaku had both left already, and he was actually the only one in the place. Renji let out a little sigh and walked in with Grimmjow. Ichigo had apparently fallen asleep, though, because his head was in his arms and he was quiet.

"Yo, Ichigo," Renji said and pushed on his shoulder.

"What!" he exclaimed and sat up, wide eyed. He blinked and looked between Renji and Grimmjow. "Oh, you're both back."

"Yeah, did Ikkaku and Yumichika leave ya here?" Renji asked.

"They asked me to come with them, but you said to stay here, so I stayed," he said, rubbing his eyes a little. "I guess I fell asleep. Sorry."

"No reason to be sorry," he said. "But I got assigned to watching Grimmjow, so I thought we could all use a relaxing soak. So, wanna head over to the bathhouse?"

Ichigo blinked for a minute, thinking about it. "Oh, yeah, sure, that's fine," he said, standing up.

"Alright, come on, then," Renji said and led them both out of the noodle place and toward the bathhouse.

Grimmjow noted that Ichigo tried to walk behind them a little bit, and he wondered why he was doing that. Renji didn't seem to be bothered by it, but Grimmjow didn't like seeing him do that. He also thought he was awful agreeable to everything they said to do. He put the thought away as they entered the bathhouse. They went through the part to put away their clothes and he turned around in time to see Ichigo taking down his hakama.

"What the hell is that?" he asked.

Ichigo froze, glancing down at his leg, face immediately turning crimson. On his right leg, at the very top, there was a tattoo of a dragon that went up to his hip on that side. The legs of the dragon were all weighed down with heavy chains which pooled under the figure.

"N-nothing!" he said, covering as much of it as he could with his hand.

Renji walked over and snatched his hand away and looked at it. "When did you get that?"

"Just something from the World of the Living. I didn't expect it to be on me here," he said, still red in the face.

"Ichigo what is that for?" Renji asked. "You're not the type to get a tattoo, and I don't see Tadasu even deciding to let you have one if you wanted one."

"I told you, it's nothing!" he said, pushing past Renji to go out in the baths.

Renji and Grimmjow followed him out where he'd sat down in the bath with just his eyes and nose out of the water. Renji and Grimmjow came over next to him and sat down on either side of him.

"Come on, there's more to it than that. What's that really?" Renji said.

Ichigo was still flushed but he sat up a little. "I got it because of something Tadasu made me do."

Grimmjow frowned. "What did he make you do?"

"Can we not talk about it? Please?" Ichigo said, looking really distressed about the issue.

"This is important, Ichigo. We want to help you with this, but to do that, we have to know what went on," Renji said, putting an arm around his shoulders gently. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but I really want you to tell us what happened."

Ichigo sighed, swallowing hard. "Tadasu owed money to these Yakuza guys. H-he was trying to get into the Yakuza, so that was the guys he hung out with. Well, he had borrowed money from one of them, and then he lost it gambling. He didn't have any way to pay them, so he told me I'd help him out by paying for him."

"Paying for him? You didn't have any money, Ichigo," Renji pointed out.

"It wasn't money," he said quietly. He was staring down into the water at his hands and refusing to look at them.

"Wait a minute, are you telling me, that bastard sent you to Yakuza men to cover his debts? And they tattooed you for what?" Renji exclaimed.

"To show anyone what I'd done," he whispered. "What I was. They normally only gave the tattoo to women, so there's that. I was an exception, they said, but they did that the first time I paid off Tadasu's debt." Ichigo still wouldn't look at them.

"First time? You mean he did it more than once?" Grimmjow stated, looking at him.

"Yeah, a few times over the last four years," he said quietly. "He had a hard time not gambling. He spent most the money we needed for food and the bills on gambling, then he'd take money out, sure he could make it back, but he never did. He always lost."

"Ichigo, you're telling us that he loaned you out to these Yakuza guys? To cover his gambling debts?" Renji said, and Ichigo just nodded. "Why did you do it?"

"H-he said that if I loved him, I wouldn't want him to get hurt, and these guys would hurt him if I didn't do it. He said he'd gone through a lot of trouble to arrange it, and if I didn't do it, it would mean I didn't love him enough to keep him from getting hurt. So, I couldn't say no," Ichigo started chewing on his thumbnail. Grimmjow noted that his nails were extremely short and ragged looking.

"Oh, Ichigo," Renji sighed and squeezed his shoulders, which Grimmjow noticed made his face go a bit red again. "You didn't have to do any of that. It was his own fault for getting into debt with them. If he got hurt, it would have been his own doing."

Ichigo finally looked up at Renji, then away again. Grimmjow caught it. "There's more to it than that," he said flatly.

Ichigo looked at him sharply and shook his head. "No, that's all! I promise!"

Renji narrowed his eyes at him. "No, it's not. What else did he do?"

Ichigo chewed his nail again without saying anything for a minute. "I just, well, I'd get in trouble when I got back."

"You're telling me he sent you off to do this, to these Yakuza men, then he got mad at you for doing it?" Grimmjow said, eyes wide. He couldn't believe what he was hearing out of him.

"H-he said it was for sleeping with other men," Ichigo whispered. "He tied me to the bed, after he, you know used the belt on me, and he left me there for a while. It was humiliating because he didn't let me up to go to the bathroom, then he got mad at me for that."

Grimmjow couldn't help it at that point. His reiatsu shot up, and there was a loud popping sound as the wristband shorted out. Ichigo turned to him, eyes wide and panting a bit at the strength of his reiatsu suddenly. Grimmjow picked up his wrist and stared at the band which was shooting sparks out of it.

"Whoops," he muttered.

"You just did exactly what they said not to do! Dammit, Grimmjow!" Renji said.

"I'm sorry! Like I could help it! All I can think of is tearing this guy's head off his shoulders and kicking it around for a few hours!" he growled out.

Ichigo had sunk down in the water again and was watching with wide eyes as Grimmjow ranted. Renji sighed. "Well, I'd like to encounter the bastard and show him what it's like to be on the receiving end of that belt, y'know."

"I don't want him to suffer, I want him dead!" Grimmjow said.

"Well, that wouldn't make Ichigo happy, so we can't kill the guy!" Renji exclaimed.

"Please, it's okay!" Ichigo said. "Just don't worry about it!" he said with a sigh.

"Of course, we'll worry about it, Ichigo!" Renji told him. "What you went through is not okay at all!"

"What we saw was bad enough, but to know what else this bastard did, it is almost too much or me to handle without losing it," Grimmjow said, purposefully lowering his reiatsu because he could tell it was getting to Ichigo.

"But why? Why do you two care so much? What does it matter? Why are you even here with me?" he asked suddenly.

Both Renji and Grimmjow were silent a moment and then they glanced at each other. "Because we care about you, dumbass," Renji said.

Ichigo looked at him. "But why?"

"Why do we need a fucking reason?" Grimmjow asked, moving a little closer to him.

"I need to know! There has to be a reason! Tadasu said he loved me because I was useful to him! I need to know why you care because there has to be a reason! There just has to be!" Ichigo said, staring down at his hands under the water.

"Ichigo, there doesn't have to be a reason," Renji said, reaching over and turning his face toward him.

Grimmjow saw the blush start on his face and he put both hands on his shoulders. "Ya know, yer awful cute when you don't know what to say."

Ichigo's breathing became heavier and he swallowed, staring at Renji still. "Here, I'll show ya," Renji said, leaning forward and touching his lips with his own.

Grimmjow felt the shock go through his shoulders, but watched as he leaned into Renji, and Renji took the chance to deepen the kiss significantly. Grimmjow leaned forward and kissed the back of his neck and saw the skin prickle with gooseflesh. He pulled back from Renji and turned toward Grimmjow. Grimmjow took the opportunity and pressed his mouth to his, running his tongue along his lips until he opened for him to press his tongue forward and entwine with Ichigo's. After a few moments, he pulled back and Ichigo was staring at him with an almost drunk expression on his face.

"I don't think he knows what to do about this," Renji said, sliding one hand over his leg under the water.

Ichigo jerked and looked at him. "But you know what happened!"

"And I don't care, and I don't think Grimmjow cares either, idiot," Renji said, leaning forward and kissing his throat.

Ichigo sighed and Grimmjow ran his hand up his other thigh, sliding up to grip him. He moaned; his eyes wide as he slid his hand along his length. He felt Renji's hand doing the same thing from the other side.

"See, I think you like it," Renji said, nibbling on his ear a little. "Do you like it?"

Ichigo didn't say anything, only leaned his head up and whimpered a little. Grimmjow took the opportunity to lick a stripe up the center of his throat and bit gently at his Adam's apple. He let out a strangled sound, and Grimmjow felt him throb in his hand where he was stroking him. He closed his eyes and Grimmjow moved his hand to rub at his belly.

"I'm sorry, that just kinda happened," Grimmjow said softly, leaning in and kissing him again.

"We should get out of here, someone might have felt your reiatsu and come to see what's going on," Renji said. "I don't sense anyone coming nearer, but not everyone is easy to sense."

Then, they all sensed a nearby reiatsu, and they looked up to see it was Kuchiki-taichou. "Something's happened in the World of the Living. We've been summoned to return immediately," he said.

They got out and dressed and followed Kuchiki to the senkaimon. They went through and were near Urahara's shop. They stepped out to find Ichigo's father standing with Urahara. Ichigo frowned and looked at him.

"What's happened?" he asked.

"It's Kon, he's missing." Isshin looked worried.

"Missing?" Ichigo repeated.

"Yes, he was there this morning, then he went to answer the door and never came back," Isshin said.

"It wouldn't be Tadasu. It has to be his friends. If he owed them more money, they would have asked him where I was," Ichigo said, chewing his nail as he spoke. "He's in trouble. Big trouble."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kon had taken up Ichigo's life pretty easily. After all, he was staying with Isshin, instead of the awful man Tadasu, and once he started working on it, the online classes he took were pretty easy to understand, and Isshin helped when he needed it. It had only been a day, but he was already settled into life as Ichigo again.

Then the doorbell rang, and he didn't even think about it, he called out that he'd get it, and got up to get it. When he opened the door, there were two men in suits standing there. He blinked and cleared his throat.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, come with us," one of the men said. "Tadasu's debt is being called in."

"Tadasu's debt? What? Why do I need to come with you?" Kon asked, frowning.

"You know the deal. He said you'd be here, so you need to come, or there will be consequences for your family. We know where your sisters live, and you know we can get to them if we want to," the other man said.

"Alright, alright!" Kon said, stepping out and closing the door.

He got into the back of the plain black car and rode silently to a large house. He swallowed, wondering what was going on, and what this meant. Obviously, Ichigo would know what was happening, but he had no idea. The men that were escorting him pulled him out of the car and walked him up to the house.

"This is where you're going to be paying his debt today," one of the men said as he rang the bell.

"Paying his debt?" Kon said.

"Don't act like you don't know what's going on. You've done this before, chained dragon," the other one said.

"Chained dragon?" he whispered, not sure what that meant other than a reference to the tattoo that he'd found on Ichigo's body. He'd shown Isshin and he hadn't known what to make of it either.

The door opened and there was another man, some sort of servant, standing there. "Enter," he said.

One of the men grabbed him by the arm and jerked him into the house. He swallowed, starting to get worried about what was happening to him in this. The servant led him to a room and opened the door for him.

"Uesato-sama will be with you shortly, chained dragon. The master will expect you to be undressed and ready for him," he said and shut the door.

Kon stood there staring at the door and had no idea what he was supposed to do, or what was even going on. He felt like it was bad, whatever it was…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"I can't leave him there," Ichigo said, staring at Isshin as they stood in Urahara's shoten.

"Well, you can't very well do much about it," Renji said. "We have to come up with a plan to get him out of there."

"You don't understand what they'll do to him," Ichigo said, looking a little wild-eyed.

"I get what they'll do to him, you don't get that you can't stop it!" Grimmjow snarled, getting both Isshin and Urahara to turn to him with a curious look.

"I have to stop them! I have to get Kon out of there!" Ichigo stated. "And quickly!"

"Do you know where he's been taken?" Urahara said.

"I can guess. There was a man, named Uesato. He liked to have me visit when I was there," Ichigo said, face reddening. "He'll know something is wrong if Kon doesn't act like me, and he'll hurt him!"

"What exactly does this man expect out of Kon that you don't think he'll be able to do?" Isshin asked.

"It-it doesn't matter, just he won't be right, and he'll get hurt, so I have to help him!" Ichigo said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Do you know how to find this place?" Urahara asked.

"I can track Kon, I think, because I have no idea where the place was. They always came to pick me up and drove me there," Ichigo explained.

"Okay, let's have a plan first. Then we can go in and get Kon out," Isshin said.

"I'm going outside for a minute," Ichigo said and turned around. When Renji and Grimmjow moved to follow him, he held up a hand. "Alone!" he snapped.

"I don't think that's a good idea—" Renji started.

"I can be by myself!" he said and stormed out the door.

They waited a second. "He's going after him," Isshin said with a sigh.

"Yes, he is," Urahara said, looking at Isshin.

"What should we do?" Renji asked.

"We need a plan, still. We can't just go into the place. His real body is in there, so going in as spiritual beings isn't going to help," Isshin said. "Let's decide what to do."

Ichigo stopped at his house retrieving the plush lion and his badge, then took off toward the source of Kon's reiatsu. He had to get there before anything happened to him. Before he found out what was going on. He didn't need more people being introduced to his shame. He got the house and stepped through the wall into the bedroom where he was facing Kon.

"Ichigo!" Kon gasped. "You're here!"

"Yeah, you need to get out of here," he said, handing the badge to him.

"What about you?" Kon said as he took the badge.

"Let me deal with these people. I'll put you out the window and you can get back to Urahara's and bring back help," he said. "Come on, hurry up before he gets here."

Kon looked at the badge. "Ichigo, why did he tell me to get undressed?"

Ichigo felt his face warm. "Just don't worry about it and go!"

Kon pressed the badge and Ichigo caught the bead as his body fell backward on the bed. He put Kon in the plush lion and went to the window, opening it and putting him down gently.

"Okay, hurry! I don't know how long I can put him off."

"What do you mean?" Kon said.

"Just go!" he said and slammed the window closed.

He went back and merged with his body just as there was a knock at the door. It opened to reveal Uesato, an average looking man with dark brown eyes and trim black hair. He was wearing a yukata. He rolled the beverage cart into the room, glancing over to him.

"You're not undressed," he commented, picking up the glass on the cart and holding it out to Ichigo.

Ichigo took the drink in a shaking hand. "I-I thought you'd like me to take it off in front of you for a change," he said, sipping the drink, already tasting the drugs in it. Since he had his powers back, his senses were stronger and the drug in the drink was stronger than it had been before.

"Hmm, is that a fact?" Uesato said, watching him. "I want to see the tattoo I had them give you. I do so enjoy seeing it. And after all that effort, it should be admired."

Ichigo swallowed, panting. He thought he could do this, but now he wasn't so sure. He'd learned that the way to keep from getting hurt was to act like he wanted to be there, and he wanted to do these things. Otherwise, Uesato could get violent, like he had the first times he'd been here with him.

"I want you nude," Uesato commented.

"Oh, okay," Ichigo said, and pulled his shirt off over his head, heart pounding in his ears.

"All the way, my chained dragon," he said.

"Yeah, okay," he said, unbuttoning the pants slowly.

It was too slow for Uesato. He moved quickly, grabbing Ichigo's hands and then reaching out and slapping him hard across the face.

"Why are you acting this way?" Uesato demanded.

"I'm sorry, it's just, I'm—" he started, only to have Uesato punch him in the stomach.

Ichigo coughed and felt his eyes water. The drugs were starting to take effect though, and he was feeling sluggish already. Uesato grabbed him by the arm and threw him on the bed, grabbing at his pants and pulling them off. Ichigo wanted to just go along with him, but he couldn't. He felt Renji's lips on him, and Grimmjow's hands, and he couldn't just go along with it anymore.

"You are making me angry," he said as he slipped a hand underneath him and forced fingers into him.

"I'm sorry!" he said, trying to relax because he knew it would hurt otherwise. He knew that too well.

As he hovered over him, he tried to push him off again before he thought of it. This time he cried out as he punched down into his ribs painfully. He kept punching until something shot extreme pain through him. He was crying from the pain and begging him to please stop. He reached down and grabbed him by the hair and punched him across the face. His head was spinning from the drugs and being hit.

"You've been difficult today, but I appreciate it because I was in a foul mood anyway," Uesato said as he pushed his legs apart and slid up between them. "Now, lie still or I'll break your arm."

Ichigo tried to do it. He really did try to stay still as he slammed into him. But he pushed up on him, pressing his hands into his shoulders. He heard Uesato say something, then he was twisting his arm harshly until there was a snapping sound and Ichigo cried out again, this time feeling the bones in his arm break.

"Look what you made me do," Uesato said as he continued to thrust into him as he now laid limply there, unable to move now without pain coursing through him. "You made me hurt you, just like Tadasu said you always did. You couldn't just take it like good whore, you had to make things hard. I think I'll keep you here for a week, this time. So, you can know what it's really like to be used. What do you say?"

"Please, just stop," he whispered hoarsely.

"No," Uesato said and continued without pausing.

Some time later, he had finished with him, and Ichigo was curled up on the bed, cradling his arm. Uesato was smoking a cigarette like he did after he was done every time. He put his yukata back on when he was finished and stood.

"You'll remain here this week. I'll send in someone to take care of the arm. Perhaps give you some more drugs to keep you pliant," Uesato said, almost to himself.

Time skipped for Ichigo and then he was under the covers of the bed, being given something in a cup to drink. He was too out of it to ask what it was; he just took it and drank it down. The man who gave it to him then splinted his arm and wrapped it with bandages. It hurt a little, but whatever drugs he'd been given was dulling the pain. He then faded to sleep, wondering how long had passed and if anyone was going to come help him. They shouldn't, he thought; he didn't deserve it.