~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Rukia's POV)

She was almost too tired to think as she climbed into Ichigo's bedroom through the window, flopping down onto the soft bed without a thought to what Ichigo would think. Her body ached in ways it hadn't for a long time, and she wanted nothing more than to just sink into the covers and give herself up to a well needed nap. Instead, she slowly lifted herself up with her arms, managing to crawl off the bed tiredly and make her way over to the closet, wondering where her phone was.

In hindsight, she probably shouldn't have gotten angry at Uryuu's continued silence toward her, seeing as how she got the feeling it was something life changing that was bothering him. Of course, rational thought had been beyond her in that moment, and she'd flung her phone somewhere in the dead of night. She thought it had stayed in the closet, but as her hand came out to grasp the sliding door, she paused. Had the door been open that night? Maybe it skidded across the floor and ended up somewhere else...?

Sighing frustratedly, she tried to promise herself to be more patient with Uryuu, though she didn't know how long that promise would last. One unanswered phone call? Three; six? How many times was she even going to call?

Rukia's face set into a grim line even as she turned away from the closet, lowering herself to her hands and knees, looking around the messy floor where Ichigo discarded his clothes and trash when he was done with them.

She would call until she got through to him.

After a long while of searching, coming up empty handed, she leaned back on her knees, her eye lids drooping downward against her will as she tried to stave off exhaustion induced sleepiness. A blur of red light caught her eye, and there on the desk next to the bed, lay Ichigo's nearly unused alarm clock, proudly displaying 9:49 am. It was Saturday, after all. Uryuu was probably asleep; or at least, she hoped he was. Either way, she could wait until after her nap to find her phone and call Uryuu.

Without a second thought, Rukia yawned heavily, walking over to the closet door and sliding it open, laying down on her makeshift bed. The world could wait a few more hours.

So sleep she did, but her dreams were interrupted by an odd noise, fighting its way through her resting ears and slowly causing her eyes to slip open. The sight that met her instantly snapped her awake.

Something was very wrong, and she still couldn't hear Ichigo's snores. Rukia's eyes snapped open, only to widen seeing Kon bound into a small bundle of synthetic fluff with duct tape, all but the eyes and ears on his head wrapped securely. He was trying as hard as he could to get her attention, and that could only mean one thing...

Oh god.

~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Hollow Ichigo (Shiro)'s POV)

Well. This was boring.

Shiro sat spent upon Uryuu's bed, watching the slightly quivering, silent doll at his feet. He had kicked him, raped him, crushed his soul, crushed his bones, tore his skin to shreds, pulled some of his hair out, crushed his glasses, raped him some more, (And some more after that...) threatened to throw him out the window, choked him until near death, and still he refused to beg for his life.

That really took the fun out of the game, didn't it?

Shiro sat there, contemplating exactly what he was to do, how he could get that one last satisfaction from his plaything before he broke it beyond recognition, but somehow it was looking like it was a little too late. Sad. He had really liked the time they'd spent together. Of course, the Quincy had lasted longer than most of his earlier playthings. He'd survived their first game and had lasted quite a few weeks. What was it, a month; a month and a half since they'd started playing? Somewhere around in there, Shiro guessed.

So now it was time to end it. Time to kill the lifeless doll and get on with his life; find another toy to play with. Shiro was grinning quietly when he reached down toward the Quincy, hooking his fingers easily around the pale neck and hoisting him up onto his knees, to get a better look at the faraway and numb look in his watery eyes, overflowing with tears.

Thoroughly broken, if he did say so himself.

His hand had just started to squeeze, turning the boy's face from pale white to a pale blue when he felt the first pang of a struggle inside his head. Growling, Shiro let go of Ishida and let him thump into his lap, not worried by how his hands caught around his shirt, keeping him in a kneeling position in front of Shiro. However, he was unable to admire the submissive position, as his head was thrumming with pain. His hands came up to his head, trying to stave off the pounding, annoying persona trying to work his way through to the front, but he knew it was a fruitless effort.

Damn. Despite his nature, he'd been so careful not to get caught before, and this would be the first time all attention would be on him. It drove a deep scowl onto his face amid the pained look he already had. What to do, what to do...

A door gently opened and closed on the floor beneath him, and Shiro mentally threw his arms up. Fuck it. Let the King take the fall for him. It would be amusing, after all, to see how he reacted to his little buddy being broken and all. Then once he got the chance again, he would end the Quincy.

It was with that thought that Shiro closed his eyes, finally giving in to the insistent force in his head.

~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Ichigo's POV)

He blinked after staring at the phone, still trying to rationalize the questions in his head about Uryuu's response, only to find himself sitting on Uryuu's bed, with Uryuu kneeling at his feet, latched onto his arms, tears filling and spilling over his eyes silently. Uryuu was naked, battered, bruised, cut, bloody, sweaty, and covered with a drying, sticky goo in places.

As much as the sight shocked him, his body reacted, turning violently as he gagged, heaving from the sight. But the body latched onto him flinched, and the smallest, most quiet whimper he'd ever heard Uryuu make left him.

"Please don't hurt me..." is what he thought was said.

It was hard to tell, and some of the syllables were slurred, as though he were trying to force them past a swollen tongue. The thought brought the bile back to his throat, and it was all Ichigo could do to slowly disentangle himself from Uryuu, flinching as the other body flinched when he saw the fingers on his left hand sticking out in awkward angles; obviously broken.

His body felt frozen but his mind was in over drive, taking in frightening details, like how the bruises on his ribs seemed to span out toward his stomach and back, or like how his breathing was shallow and labored and rattled. His glasses were nowhere to be seen, and for a moment, Ichigo managed to bring his frightened gaze up, taking in the room. There were blood splatters everywhere. On the bed, the floor, the wall, the door...

His ears picked up the sound of footsteps on the stairs, but his brain didn't register it until the door flew open, the first thing meeting his gaze being a pair of pants. Forcing his eyes to move away from the pants, he barely recognized the man holding them, looking at Ichigo and Uryuu with what seemed to be mixed emotions barely hidden under an expressionless mask. The white haired visitor, however, seemed to finally kick start Ichigo into movement as he carefully but quickly picked Uryuu up off the floor, holding him gingerly to his chest.

"We need to get to a hospital."

When neither one of them moved, Ichigo flinched as he raised his own voice at the man.

"Now!"

That seemed to get him into motion. The eyes that were watching him suspiciously finally tore themselves away even as he dropped the pants on the floor (Ichigo's stomach churned when he realized those were the pants Uryuu had worn to school a few days ago) and moved over to the bed, yanking off the only thing left on it; the blood covered sheet. It wasn't much, but he draped it over Uryuu in Ichigo's arms before turning back around silently and heading toward the door.

Ichigo followed down the stairs, and out to the man's car, thanked him quietly when he opened the backseat door, and carefully manipulated his body into the car in such a way that would keep Uryuu as still as possible. In a matter of seconds, they were pealing out of the driveway and headed toward the hospital.

When Ichigo looked up every now and again, he saw the white haired man watching him with a loathing glare from the rear-view mirror, but neither bothered to say anything. Ichigo was more worried about Uryuu, and trying to keep him a little upright, to make breathing easier. His own heart was pounding and he felt slightly dizzy from the adrenaline rush, but he couldn't allow himself to falter. It looked like Uryuu's life was on the line, and no matter what had happened to cause it, Ichigo had to make sure he was okay.

Biting his lip, Ichigo noticed the extremely pale look on Uryuu's face, and how his lips were turning a very slight shade of blue. Almost to afraid to know the answer, Ichigo leaned slightly down, listening his hardest for any breathing. The problem was, the rattle that had so clearly defined his breathing before was almost nonexistent now. Ichigo almost felt his own heart stop at the lack of sound, and had to force past a numb tongue,

"Hurry!"

~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~

Ichigo sat outside the surgery room, his head in his hands as the time ticked slowly by. The white haired man, whom he could only guess was Uryuu's dad, had long since disappeared into the room, giving orders as to who did what like he was in charge. Of course, Ichigo knew his own dad would do the same if it were him in that room instead of Uryuu, so it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for him. Even so, as hours flew by, he found himself sinking increasingly further into self doubt as scenario after scenario played out behind his eyes.

What exactly happened? What had he done? He didn't remember doing anything. After checking the time multiple times after arriving, he had come to the conclusion he had a seven hour gap in his memory that no matter what he did, he just couldn't recall. The horrible thing was, something had happened to Uryuu in that time, and Ichigo had been at the scene of the crime when he finally came to.

Staring at his hands, he knew his train of thought wasn't going anywhere pretty, but... how else could he explain how he'd been right there, at Uryuu's broken side, and...

Ichigo's phone vibrated in his pocket, interrupting his dark chain of thoughts. Closing his eyes and hands, he took a breath to steady himself before reaching into his pocket, and fishing out the phone.

By the little bunny chain. For a moment, he stared at the vibrating phone like it was an alien device before suddenly fumbling to answer the phone before whomever was calling hung up. The caller ID flashed 'Ichigo', leaving him to wonder what in the world was happening.

When he answered the phone, the voice that answered back almost made him drop the phone.