Chapter 3: Friend

Ichigo awoke with a jolt when the lights in the cell suddenly turned on. There had only been dim light before, and he groaned as the brightness stung his eyes. He didn't know how long he had slept, nor what time of day it was, as the room had no windows. He was still tired and it took him a moment to realize where he was again. He only remembered what was going on when his eyes fell on Uryu. The teen was still asleep, hunched forward as far as his chains allowed.

Ichigo cringed at the sight. Laying down on the cold, hard floor hadn't done any wonders for his body as he felt stiff and cold, but he didn't even want to imagine how the other felt after sleeping chained up in that awkward position on his knees.

The Substitute rubbed his eyes and held his hand in front of them to shut out the light. He groaned again and managed to sit up. Only now did he see what the place they were confined to looked like. It was just a medium size rectangular room about four by five with 4 corners and pristine, white walls which were made out of some sort of metal. In one of the corners, there was a half high wall with a toilet. All made out of the same material.

Suddenly, the door opened. The sliding sound obviously startled the Quincy and made him gasp in surprise while rattling his chains. Ichigo watched him wake up. Uryu grunted and lifted his head, but squeezed his eyes into slits to shield himself from the brightness. Before the Substitute had the chance to ask the other teen how he was holding up, 3 guards stepped inside. One of them held a tray.

"Is that food?" Ichigo asked interestedly, but the guards remained silent. He heard Szayelaporro's maniacal laugh to the side of him but the only thing he saw was a big tv screen hanging on one of the walls.

"Peekaboo, my dearest Shinigami Substitute." The pink-haired man said. "Did you sleep well? And you darling Quincy?" Uryu looked up warily. Sleeping chained to a wall couldn't have done him any good. "While you're really interesting and all, I might not always have the time to meet you in person. But don't worry! I'll make sure you'll get plenty of attention! So I hope you're not camera shy, cause my staff and me are watching you 24/7." He laughed again and showed his teeth. "I'm sure the two of you will put up an excellent show."

"Shove it, you creep!" Ichigo shouted at him. He stood up and wasn't impressed by the guards with their electrical staves.

"Kurosaki, watch it." Uryu said, rattling his chains. "That guy is dangerous."

"If you ask me, he's just a fruitcake who doesn't have the guts to fight me head on." Ichigo felt a tingling around his neck and a few seconds later electricity shot through his body. He screamed: "Stop that, you asshole!" Szayelaporro watched with an evil leer on his face as the teen writhed on the floor, trying to pull the collar of his neck.

"All better?" He asked the Substitute when the current stopped. "Now, which one of you is hungry?" Ichigo didn't answer as he was panting and watching the screen disdainfully. "Nobody? Not even you, dear Quincy? It's been over 48 hours since you've been given this pretty room and we haven't given you anything substantial. Not even water. Don't tell me you aren't thirsty." Uryu just showed his teeth at the Espada.

Ichigo gasped. He was in his spiritual form, while Kon was hopefully keeping his body alive and refraining from doing any weird stuff with it. He didn't really need food, only to replenish his spiritual pressure, and could survive on a little water. But Uryu, although a Quincy, was still human and needed food and water. After 2 days, he must be starving.

"Oh, that's easy then." The Espada continued. "If you don't want anything, I'll have my guards-"

"Wait." Ichigo said and the pink-haired man gave him a toothy smile again. "What do we have to do to get that food?"

"Why, follow my orders of course." Szayelaporro said with a sugar coated voice.

"Don't listen to him, Kurosaki!" Uryu shouted from behind him. "He's baiting you!"

"What do you want?" the Substitute snarled. "Are you gonna torture me, because I can tell you now-"

"Oh no! I wouldn't dream of something so barbaric. I'm not going to do anything." The freak interrupted him and his gaze went over to the Quincy."

"I'm not letting you torture my friend either!" Ichigo yelled.

"Oh no, dear boy. Don't write me off as such an aggressor." Szayelaporro laughed again. Ichigo was getting impatient.

"What the fuck do you want?" He yelled at the screen.

"I want you to beat him." Szayelaporro said sadistically. Ichigo's eyes grew wider, and he heard the other boy gasp. He wasn't expecting something like that!

"You mean… beat Ishida?" the Espada just laughed at him. "Why?"

"Whyyyy? I don't have to explain myself to you, boy. Where's the fun in that?" Szayelaporro crooned.

"Don't listen to him, Kurosaki." The Quincy intervened, but Ichigo kept looking straight at the weirdo on screen.

"And what if I refuse?" He asked.

"If you don't do what I want, I'll intervene, and the outcome will be worse." Szayelaporro smiled wickedly. "So in this case, I'll have my guards beat him up until I tell them to stop. Either way, that pretty friend of yours will give us all some well-deserved entertainment. It gets so dull around here." He threw his head back and laughed maniacally, after which he licked his gloved fingers.

"Kurosaki…" The orange-haired teen finally glanced at his friend and gave him a meaningful look. "He's just testing us. You know it's a trap."

"We need that food, Ishida. And you really look like you could use some water."

Uryu lowered his gaze and sighed. "But…"

Szayelaporro threw his head back and played with his hair while watching them intently before saying:

"I'll sum it up for you boys, so it'l be easier to understand. Option 1: You beat up your friend and you get this tray, or option 2: My guards beat him up and you get nothing. Either way, the Quincy provides a spectacle for us all to enjoy."

Ichigo growled at him. "Bastard!" He yelled.

"Don't listen to him, Kurosaki!" Uryu shouted from behind him.

"But they'll beat you if I don't do anything."

"They've managed to capture us and keep you under control. They'll beat us anyway."

"But you must be starving!" Ichigo shouted at the other teen. "At least, if I do it, it will-

"Fraccionés!" Szayelaporro interrupted him and he made a signal with his hands. The 2 guards without a tray stepped forward and went right up to Uryu.

"Wait!" The Substitute shouted at the screen. "I'll do it myself!"

"Too late!" The Espada snarled at him. "I gave you a chance, but you took sooo long to discuss things with your girlfriend that I got bored. I want action now!"

"You assho-" The collar buzzed and Ichigo could do nothing but grunt and wait until the electricity stopped running through him. He sank down to the floor, but managed to lift his head when he heard Uryu shift uneasily in his chains.

The Quincy wanted to say something, but didn't get the chance. A fist crashed into his stomach and forced the air out of his lungs. Another fist crashed into his cheek and almost made his glasses tumble down. Uryu groaned, but could do nothing to defend himself as his arms were still spread apart in the air. The chains made a lot of rattling noises while they held the raven-haired teen in place as more blows rained down on him. When a particularly violent blow to the face knocked him so hard back into the chains his back almost touched the wall, his knees buckled while falling forward as far as he could and blood started dripping from his nose.

"Stop it, you douchebags!" Ichigo yelled at them. He felt utterly useless right now, as his own body was still trying to cope with the nasty shocks. Uryu locked eyes with him and he could see the same helplessness reflected in those deep blue orbs. The Quincy groaned again as one of the Fraccionés kicked him in the back of the knees, so his entire weight was now solely supported by his shackled wrists.

"Stop it!" Ichigo screamed at Szayelaporro. "I'll beat him! Stop it!" He turned over onto his stomach to get a better look at the screen.

The Espada gave him an evil leer. "Will you now?" He asked. "Maybe I'll give you another chance, seeing how excited you are about it."

The current stopped and Ichigo panted for a few seconds. He sat up and looked at the screen determinedly. "You'll still give us the food if I do this?"

Szayelaporro was visibly amused by his question. "Too bad. If you hadn't asked me that question, I would have let you beat him up, without providing you anything. You're not stupid, Kurosaki Ichigo." He said while curling a strand of hair around his gloved index finger. "I need him alive. For now… so I'll give you the food."

"Call back your guards. I'll do it." The Substitute said.

The pink haired man laughed. "My, you're so eager! By all means then."

Ichigo growled. Uryu wasn't going to work against him, and even if he would, he was chained up. He intended to knock him out with just one blow.

"Fraccionés, step aside." Szayelaporro commanded. Having regained the use of his legs, the Substitute stood up and walked over to the Quincy while the guards moved away. Uryu was panting and struggling to stay upright on his knees. Blood was still leaking from his nose and as his head hung low, it slowly dripped onto the floor. He lifted his head to look up at Ichigo.

"K-Kurosaki…"

"Sorry, Ishida, but you need that food more than I do. I'll make it quick."

"I… I know." Uryu nodded. "But don't smash my glasses."

That was fair enough, Ichigo thought, and lifted the glasses from the other teen's nose for safekeeping, earning a surprised gasp from the Quincy. The Substitute concentrated for just a moment, then gathered some of his Hollow spiritual pressure into his hand and hit the other boy hard against his right temple. Uryu groaned while his body was flung to the right from the impact. When gravity pulled him back into his original position, he hung slouched in the chains. His eyelids fluttered and his head lolled to the side on a moan, before he lost consciousness.

Before Ichigo had the chance to say anything, one of the guards had come up to him and used his staff on his back. Electricity crackled through the targeted place and the Substitute cursed and sank down to one knee. Ichigo saw how the other guard approached Uryu again. He shouted angrily:

"Hey! I knocked him out! Leave him alone!" The Fraccioné fetched something from inside his robes and presented another collar to him. "If you give him a collar, can you at least get him out of those chains?" He yelled at Szayelaporro.

"Don't push it, boy." The man answered coldly. "You don't get to make demands here." Ichigo showed his teeth and looked back at the Quincy, who now had a collar around his neck, identical as the one he wore himself.

"What do you want me to do to get you to release him?" Ichigo asked determinedly.

"Interesting." The Espada answered, while putting his index finger against his cheek and giving him a teethy smile. "Is he that important to you? Wouldn't it be smarter to just eat all the food yourself? Your chances of survival would increase dramatically."

"He's my friend." Ichigo just stated, looking back at the unconscious teen.

Suddenly, the 8th Espada laughed maniacally again. "Friend? That's funny. When I interrogated that Quincy he said something entirely different. But you don't have to take my word for it, I'll just show you." The screen went dark for a moment and when it turned back on, he saw Uryu being strapped to a table. Just as he had been before.

"Where have you taken me? What is this?"

Ichigo could faintly hear Szayelaporro talk to him in the back, but the sound was hardly audible.

"Where is Kurosaki?" He heard the Quincy yell. Ichigo remembered his own interrogation, and it had taken him a while to ask what they had done to the other boy. Unlike Uryu, whom seemed more concerned about his friends wellbeing rather than himself.

"He means nothing to me! We're enemies." Uryu yelled. He must've realized his mistake of letting his solicitude shine through and didn't want to sound too worried. At least, that's what Ichigo thought about the situation. If Szayelaporro couldn't deduct that, he wasn't going to tell him.

The screen went dark again for a second, before Szayelaporro's leering face reappeared.

"You heard him. He said you don't mean anything to him." The Espada chuckled. "Highly entertaining. I can do something with that." He licked his lips greedily and Ichigo felt a shiver run down his spine by the maniacal look the man gave him right now.

"Release him and I'll do what you want." Ichigo bargained.

"Silly boy. You humans are so stupid. I'll get what I want anyways." Szayelaporro grinned. "But if you want it so badly, it would be nice to hear you beg." The Substitute had already expected something like this, as the pink-haired man had come across as a vain bastard right from the start. It's not that he was keen on begging, but the saying "escape now, live another day" was his motto right now.

"Please, release my friend from his chains."

The Espada didn't look too pleased. "Is that all?" He waved with his hand and one of the guards came over to Ichigo and shoved his spear into his back again. The Substitute groaned and fell on all-fours, his head looking down. At the same time, he felt the tingle of his collar and looked at Szayelaporro with blazing eyes. It suddenly became a lot more difficult to produce coherent speech when being struck by the current from 2 fronts at the same time.

Ichigo heard buzzing behind him and managed to look back, only to see the Quincy's unconscious form twitch from the current. The pink asshole had made the collars go off at the same time! Goddamit! He had to see this trough, for both of their sakes.

"P-please… mighty 8th Espada…" Ichigo tried while falling to his belly on the floor, back arching upwards. "Aah… release Ishida… from his chains." He screamed as the volume of the collars suddenly augmented. "Please!"

"That's better already." Szayelaporro jeered. "You're looking pretty pathetic as is, but we will go from there." Ichigo was panting by now, and he didn't even want to know how the shocks were affecting Uryu as his chains must make it even worse. "Your friend wears my collar now, thanks to you. His chains don't really matter anymore. Now I can zap him, whenever I want to zap you." He laughed again, but this time, it made Ichigo sigh in relief. The freak gave the command and the Fraccionés released the raven-haired teen. Ichigo moved forward and managed to grab Uryu before he fell face first onto the floor.

"Now then. It's time for you medication, Kurosaki Ichigo." The pink-haired man said with a toothy smile. One of the guards stepped forward and buzzed him with his staff again.

"Fuck!" Ichigo screamed and quickly let the other boy rest onto the floor. "Stop doing that!" The 2nd guard grabbed his arm and injected something into his shoulder again. "What is this stuff?" He asked. Szayelaporro just snickered at that.

"Now then. I'll leave the two of you to your meal. Enjoy."

The screen flashed before turning completely black. Ichigo looked at the 3rd guard with the tray, who had been standing there the whole time. The man set the tray down against the wall near the exit, before he and the other two disappeared through the door.

Ichigo crawled over to the tray and sighed when he saw it only held 1 cup of cooked rice and a bowl of water.

"Dammit…" he cursed. This wasn't even enough to sustain a single person, but they'd have to make do. It would be easy to only think of himself for now, just as the Espada had said, but he wasn't going to abandon Uryu to a cruel fate of starvation. He'd share the food and water with him. They'd just have to manage somehow.

When he looked back over to the Quincy, who was still laying on the floor unconsciously, he noticed the heat he had felt before had started to spread through his body again. It was no coincidence this time. He knew for sure it was because of the injection he had just been administered. He went to sit in one of the corners and wanted to ride it out, but soon he felt tired and started to doze off.