Ichigo looked as if she were slowly stirring when he entered the treatment room and sidled up to the bed that she was lying on. Taking a moment to look her over, absently noting that she was dressed in a soft purple cotton gown now. And was tucked into the bed underneath a thin blanket so that she wouldn't get too overheated.

Her eyes fluttered for a second as he reached out and gently cupped the side of her face in his large hand and whispered in an insistent tone, "Wake up, Ichigo. I need you to open your eyes and tell me what happened."

"Tell? What?" She asked in a slurred tone that made him wonder if perhaps she was on pain killers of some kind. She probably was since she was burning up and barely coherent. And for a moment he wondered if he should just leave her alone. However he needed answers and pain killers were notorious for making people...chatty.

Sort of like taking a shot of truth serum or being roofied.

So after taking a moment to weigh the pro's and con's, he decided to go ahead only because if she had been non consensually modified, then she could be in danger from the person/person's responsible. Especially if they decided that they wanted to grab her again for further modifications.

"Did someone modify your body? Without your consent?" He asked feeling strangely as if he were slowly drowning.

She moaned leaned her face into his hand and purred softly for a moment before muttering a weak sounding, "Hurts..."

Swallowing past the lump in his throat at the admission, he tried again, praying that she actually answered him this time so that he didn't have to ask her again. She really didn't look as if she were doing too well.

"Did someone do something to you? Modify you?" He waited a heartbeat or two after asking his questions for her to answer. And when she finally did, he nearly broke down crying. Really he did, because he couldn't imagine how scared and horrified and just plain hurt she must have been before, during, and after the modifications were done.

Had she woken up in a cell? A hospital room?

Had someone been there to help her? Or had she been completely alone?

Just what the fuck had happened to you? He wondered as he leaned over and rested his forehead against her own for several moments while he tried to calm the rage burning through him, down.

Her breath was coming out in soft pants, and her skin felt as if it were on fire against his own. Honestly it was alarming since he didn't think that it was normal for someone to be quite so damned hot to the touch. But then again, his knowledge of everything was limited.

She muttered about hurting again, her tone bordering on a pained whine and he felt his heart clench painfully in his chest as he slowly lifted his head and straightened his spine. He'd see if the doctor could give her something for her...uh... If she didn't have an animal based quirk; then could she really be in heat? Or was her body simply that messed up? He wondered curiously as he quickly left the room to see about getting some more answers.

"So basically, she's more animal than human now?" He heard Nezu ask as he quietly slipped back into the doctor's office.

"Yes. Essentially. I mean, she's still human enough to be able to reason and think like us. But she's probably more instinctually driven now. Which is probably more than a little bit disconcerting to her considering that she started out as an ordinary human." The doctor explained.

"And her present condition? What can you tell us about it?"

"W-Well... To be perfectly honest, she's in heat. However unlike someone with an animal based quirk, her cycle isn't going to just last a few days to a week. It's going to last months. Two maybe three in total. During which time she'll feel the nearly overwhelming urge to copulate and beget offspring."

"Is there any way to help her?"

"I honestly don't think there is," The doctor confessed nervously, his eyes locking on Toshinori as the man hung back at the door as he continued to say. "Pain meds would barely be effective. Hardly enough to even take the edge off anyways. A medically induced coma could save her from suffering too much, but we'd have to keep her under most of the year for the rest of her life. And frankly that isn't any way for anyone to live." The doctor sighed before going on to say, "The only truly effective manner to really stop it at this point, and cut down on the damage that she would suffer from it in the long term- Is to lock her in a room with someone and let them go at it like bunnies. The heat would probably end once she is impregnated and then after that she wouldn't have another heat for a year or so."

Toshinori nearly coughed up a pint of blood upon hearing that.

Not because he didn't think it would work. But because Ichigo was a truly sweet girl and anyone would be lucky to have someone like her. And the fact that she was actually in heat and would probably become a little bit hormonally crazed from it- just about killed him.

Especially since he was now barely a broken shadow of man and hardly appealing at anyone. Sexually or otherwise. And thus couldn't be of any use to her.

The second that those thoughts flitted through his mind, he internally cringed a little bit and wondered where those thoughts had even come from. He couldn't remember a time he'd ever really bothered to look at a woman with any sort of desire for anything long term. Aside from maybe being friends. Sure he'd had a few girlfriends over the years. But none of them had been serious.

He'd certainly never bothered to look at a woman as a potential life mate.

So why think about those things now? Why Ichigo?

He felt so unbelievably confused right then that he didn't know what to think of anything anymore.

"If she's actually in heat, then she isn't coherent enough to make a rational choice about how she is treated during her...cycle. And frankly, we can't allow it while she's in her current state anyways." Nezu said, trying to be as delicate as he could.

Beside him, Aizawa nodded his head soberly, the idea of locking some hormone driven creep in a room with the girl while she was defenseless and unable to say yea or nay irked him to no end. If there was genuinely a decision between leaving the girl to be bred until her heat ended, and putting her in a medically induced coma- then he'd walk.

There was no way that he could consciously be a part of something so potentially damaging to someone else.

"She'll regain her coherency. I'm fairly certain of it," The doctor said. "It'll just take a few hours. Maybe a day or so, and after that- once her body begins to adjust to her new state a little bit more, then she'll be aware and rational enough to make a choice as to how she's taken care of."

"And if she decides that she wants to copulate? Who will take care of her?"

"There's a lot of single men present here at Might Tower that are looking for a nice girl to settle down with-" The doctor said and everyone practically jumped when Toshinori suddenly shouted,

"No!"

All eyes went to the blond for a moment as the doctor quickly hid behind his desk again. Not that anyone could really blame the man any. All of them knew that Toshinori had a temper. And could go from calm to flat out livid in the span of zero point two seconds.

So the fact that the blond looked so pissed at the turn in everyone's conversation, naturally had them a little bit...twitchy.

"Toshi?" Nezu said questioningly. Curious to know why the man had decided to interrupt their planning.

"If she decides to copulate- then she can use me." Toshinroi said despite the fact that he felt like being sick. This wasn't the best idea that he'd ever had. But even he knew that she wouldn't be satisfied with just anyone. If she really decided to copulate then she would need someone who would carefully consider what she needed at all times. There could be no quick roll between the sheets and then walking away once sated.

It would be cruel to put her with someone like that.

She would also need someone with the stamina to keep up with her. First hand knowledge with sex would also be helpful. Whoever she copulated with would also have to have a safe and easily defended home for her and any child concieved. A place where they would be completely protected.

Combat training and experience would be necessary as well.

The initial shock of his words wore off slowly. But when they did, Aizawa practically growled out as his eyes flashed red, "The fuck?!" Causing the doctor to scream and hide behind his desk again along with Nezu whom had apparently slipped form his seat at some point and decided to hide to avoid the inevitable explosion from Aizawa.

"Hello!" Nezu said cheerfully next to him as he peeked over the top of the desk.

The doctor blanched at seeing the mutant animal there and then practically started crying. What was it with heroes and their tempers? Why couldn't he ever work for someone who never flipped out at all?

"Are we going to die?" The doctor sobbed out. Nezu smiled at him and reached out to put a paw against his shoulder and then said in a totally unrepentant tone,

"Probably." He employed scary people for a reason, after all.

"Speak for yourselves," Naomasa grunted out as he came crawling around the corner of the desk on his stomach. "I say that we flip the desk at the two of them and then run like hell for the window in the confusion."

"We're twelve floors up." Nezu pointed out.

Naomasa shrugged and said, "No plan is perfect."

"B-But what about the conversation?" The doctor sniffled. Distressed at the way the situation had seemed to snowball.

"Let the two of them sort that out while we escape." The man said grimly.

"You people are crazy!" The doctor cried as both Nezu and Naomasa exchanged a look and both shrugged, it wasn't as if the doc was wrong. So why argue otherwise? Either way, they needed to get out of the building before Toshinori and Aizawa started trading blows.