Ya know, I just realized something. This story is going to be WAY longer than I originally intended. Cool.
- - - - - - - - -
Chapter 9
- - - - - - - - - -
Hanatarou finished healing Ichigo to the best of his abilities (and options). He stood up, and watched the now stable breathing boy infront of him. Slowly walking towards the door, he looked through the hole to see if anyone was there.
"Is anyone out there? I've finished with Ichigo-san."
"Oh, good." said Tobiuo from the side of the door in his chair. "You stay in there until he is able to be worked on. Kurotsuchi taicho's orders."
"What! But..."
"Taicho's orders."
"Hai."
"Don't worry. We'll give you 3 meals a day, and you will be in charge of keeping the cell clean as well."
"Hai..."
Hanatarou sat down in a chair near the bed Ichigo had bed moved to. He looked from the door, to the lying form near him.
'I hope Ichigo-san will be okay.'
- - - - - - - - - -
Hitsugaya and Matsumoto walked through the many streets of Seireitei, and after about half an hour, they arrived at the 12th division lab.
They entered, without so much as an acknowledgment to the lower ranked officers outside it. Matsumoto fell back, a couple feet behind her captain as they approached Kurotsuchi.
"Kurotsuchi, where is Kurosaki?"
"Why do you want to know, Hitsugaya?"
"I have the right to know where he is. I'm the one how brought him here in the first place, or did you forget that?"
"Tch. You need to respect your elders, brat."
"'Brat'?"
"Yeah, 'brat'. As long as you don't do anything to it, I'll let you near his cell."
"Near?"
"You heard me. Nemu!"
"Hai, Mayuri-sama?"
"Take the 10th squad captain and lieutenant to the vaizard's cell."
"Hai, Mayuri-sama." she turned to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto. "Please, this way."
Nemu lead the way, to Ichigo's cell, and stopped just before it. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto looked at Tobiuo, who was guarding the cell.
"Tobiuo-kun, please open the door for these two."
"Right away, Kurotsuchi fukutaicho."
"Thank you. Let me know if anything gets out of hand."
"Hai." Tobiuo responded, and turning to the young captain and his adjunct. "Please, come in. I'll be closing the door behind you. Tell me when you're done."
"Right." answered Hitsugaya.
"Hanatarou? What are you doing in here?" quirked Matsumoto at the sight of the 4th division member.
"Ah, Matsumoto fukutaicho, Hitsugaya taicho. I'm here to watch over Ichigo-san."
"Why?"
"Kurotsuchi taicho ordered for a 4th division healer, and I just happened to be grabbed and dragged." answered Hanatarou, scratching the back of his head.
"How is he?" asked the young captain.
"He'll be okay. He just needs to rest, but, knowing him..." he trailed off.
"What's wrong? What'd he do?"
"He'd try to get out of here as soon as he regains consciousness."
"Isn't that too reckless?"
"Yes, but, he doesn't care. Ichigo-san acts before thinking. He did the same thing when he broke into Seireitei to rescue Rukia-san."
"He's an idiot."
"Eheheh. I hope you don't mind me asking, but, why are you here Hitsugaya taicho?"
"I think Matsumoto is right. If we didn't bring him here, no one would've gotten hurt. Not that I care too much about the 12th squad."
"Uh, Hitsugaya taicho, isn't that a little harsh?"
"Maybe."
Ichigo shifted in the bed, causing everyone in the small room to look at him. He was sweating, and mumbling incoherent things. Hanatarou got up, and checked his wounds, but as soon as he got within a few inches of the body, Ichigo's reiatsu increased its pressure. Hanatarou backed away, and the two from 10th division looked shocked.
"What'd you do Yamada?" asked Hitsugaya.
"I- I don't know! I was about to check his wounds, and his spirit pressure jumped!"
- - - - - - - - - -
Kuroji looked up, sensing that someone had gotten closer than wanted. Ichigo lifted his head from Kuroji's neck, and glanced in the same direction.
"What was that, Kuroji?"
"Damn, someone is pro'ably tryin' to get ya up."
"Who?"
"Hell if I know." he kissed Ichigo's forehead, and got up.
"Kuroji?"
"You should get back to them. I don' wan' them gettin' suspicious."
"But..."
"It's your job ta make sure we stay in one piece, Ichi-kun. Don't worry," Kuroji knelt down next to Ichigo's lying form. "I'm ain't goin' anywhere."
Kuroji lifted Ichigo to his feet, and put him down.
"I'll be righ' here, so don' feel so gloomy. As much as I want to see you wet and naked, I don't wan' ya havin' it rain yet." he smirked at the thought.
"Alright."
- - - - - - - - - -
The three in the cell were watching Ichigo's body, too nervous to get too close and set off another increase in pressure. They were sure most of Soul Society felt what Ichigo released a minute ago, and drawing attention to themselves was not what they wanted to do.
A few minutes later, a groan came from Ichigo, as he sat up, rubbing his head.
"Dammit, I fell like I was hit by a truck..." the young shinigami mumbled to himself, unaware of the three off to his side. He looked around, and noticed Hanatarou, Hitsugaya, and Matsumoto. "Hanatarou, Toshirou, Matsumoto! What's going on!"
"Well, uh, Ichigo-san. We're at the 12th squad's lab..."
"What! When did I get here?"
"About 3 hours ago." said a voice from the door. "Seems you're well enough to start on."
All four of the earlier occupants of the room turned around to see Tobiuo, who was looking in through the barely open door.
"Uh, Tobiuo-san..." Hanatarou cut in. "Ichigo-san still isn't ready to be released yet."
"Really? He seems okay to me."
"Just cause he's conscious doesn't mean he's fine."
"How much longer?"
"I don't know. Probably another day."
"Right." Tobiuo finished, and closed the door again.
"What's his problem?" asked Ichigo, as he turned, and let his legs fall to the floor. He tried to stand up, but with all the blood he lost, he fell back on the bed.
"Ichigo-san, you shouldn't be getting up yet.
"He's right, Kurosaki." said Hitsugaya.
"Whatever."
Ichigo lied back, when something hit him. He sat back rather quickly, which reopened his side wound.
"Ichigo-san!" Hanatarou yelled as the blood started soaking through the bandages.
"Where's Zangetsu!"
"Huh?"
"Where is Zangetsu!"
"Zangetsu?" inquired Matsumoto.
"My zanpakuto! Where is it!"
"I saw it when I came in, it's in Kurotsuchi taicho's office." said Hanatarou.
"Dammit..."
Ichigo started to get up again, and Hanatarou pushed him back down.
"You're in no condition to be getting up, Ichigo-san!"
"Hanatarou, get out of my way."
He tried getting up, but this time Hitsugaya got there before Hanatarou could do anything. He held Hyourinmaru at Ichigo's throat.
"Toshirou! Let me go!"
"Yamada was right."
"About what!"
"You would try to get out as soon as you woke up."
"So what!"
"You're in no condition, or position to be moving."
Ichigo mumbled something, and lied back down. His head too much to be arguing this much.
'Wan' me ta come out, Ichi-kun?'
"No."
"Ichigo-san, did you say something?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing."
"Well, I guess we should go." said Hitsugaya. "Let's go Matsumoto."
"Hai."
They walked to the door, and banged on the door.
"Hey, Tobiuo! Open the door."
"Hai, Hitsugaya taicho."
Tobiuo opened the door, and Hitsugaya followed by Matsumoto left the cell.
"Yamada, keep an eye on him."
"Hai, Hitsugaya taicho."
- - - - - - - - - -
15 hours passed, and Hanatarou was redoing Ichigo's bandages. Amazingly enough, his deepest wound was almost healed, and scared. To be on the safe side, Hanatarou covered them anyway.
"I'm surprised."
"About what?"
"Most of your wounds are healed, Ichigo-san."
"Really?"
"Yeah. By tomorrow, you'll be good as new. Or as new as your body could get..."
"Heh, I guess you're right."
'I think a thanks is in order, Ichi-kun.'
"You helped?"
'Yeah, I didn't let the shaking one next to ya put any of his reiatsu in the wounds.'
"How does that help?"
'Our reiatsu can heal our body faster than his can.'
"Really?"
'Yeah.'
"Uh, Ichigo-san, who are you talking to?"
"Oh, um. Just to myself."
"Right..."
- - - - - - - - - -
The next afternoon came way too fast for Ichigo's liking. Hanatarou was released an hour earlier, and then he was dragged into Kurotsuchi's main lab. He was on a cold metal table, naked, with restraints around his neck, wrists, ankles, torso, and other parts of his body. Ichigo couldn't move even a centimeter.
"Now, let's start with your internal organs." stated Kurotsuchi.
"What!"
"Nemu, get me the knife."
"Hai, Mayuri-sama." she walked over to the table, and took out a 3 inch knife and handed it over to Kurotsuchi.
"Hey, aren't you going drug me so I can't feel that fucking knife!"
"Of course not. I'm also looking at how well you can take something that is slow and painful."
"Damned bastard."
"Shut up, vaizard."
Ichigo continued to yell, in both pain and anger, at Kurotsuchi as he cut into his side. By the time his captor had finished, the opening cut went from the center of his chest, to just above his penis. The orange-haired shinigami lied there quietly, enraged.
'Ichi-kun, let me out! Let me kill him'
'No!' Ichigo shouted in his head, as to not have Kurotsuchi's attention turned to his head. 'Just let me handle this. Besides, if you did get out, we'd die.'
'Ya got a point. If thin's get ou' of hand, I'm comin' out regardless of wha' you wan'.'
'I'll keep that in mind.'
"Fascinating. All you're organs are the same as any other thing I've looked at, yet they seem to have adapted in some way."
"What the hell are you talking about!"
Ignoring his specimen, he continued. "The organs are made of thicker and tougher tissues, his key pressure points have been stabbed, yet he has retained his spiritual powers..."
Ichigo thought stabbing his head with Zangetsu would be more fun than this.
Kurotsuchi took multiple blood samples, inspected all his organs and muscles, and continued his mumbling while Nemu wrote his comments down.
After what seemed like hours, Kurotsuchi put all his organs back in place, reattached all that he ripped open and forcefully removed, and stitched him back up. When Ichigo had been finished for the 'day', Kurotsuchi induced drugs into his system, which caused the young shinigami on the table to fall into a deep sleep, repair his dissecting wounds, and numb his body from the shoulders down.
"Nemu, get him back to his cell! Be extremely careful, we need to make him last as long as we can!"
"Hai, Mayuri-sama."
Nemu undid his restraints when they were assured he was asleep and harmless. She then picked him up, and walked him to his cell. Lying him down on his bed, she left him uncovered, and closed the door.
- - - - - - - - - -
"I can't believe that bastard!" yelled Kuroji.
"I feel the same, let's just be happy he didn't do anything more than he did."
"You're bein' too damned passive abou' this, Ichigo!" fumed the hollow counterpart.
Ichigo walked over to his hollow, and grabbed his shoulders gently. He then proceeded to shake him to the left and right, forward and back. His head made contact with the back of his.
"Yare, yare. He hasn't done anything drastic. Calm down."
"Don't tell me ta calm down when you're jus' as pissed as me!"
Ichigo kissed the back of his neck, sending a small shiver down his spine.
"Relax, Kuro-kun."
Kuroji quirked an eyebrow at that, and then smiled.
"Alright, Ichi-kun, you win."
- - - - - - - - - -
Chapter 9 is up, and my longest one yet. It's almost 8 pages (on my Open Office, at least). I guess making it a bit longer is my way of apologizing for not updating when I planned it. Oh well, its extra length is the reason it took longer – that and a minor case of writer's block.
Let me know what you think about Ichigo calling Kuroji "Kuro-kun". I still feel iffy on the subject, and would like a based opinion from those who can make up their minds faster than me.
Read and review!