Szayel nodded to himself. No two ways about it. Ichigo was right. The body of a Shinigami, even one as powerful as he was simply could not withstand the hollow occupying the body in full. There were two types of reiatsu signatures in his blood, and one was vaguely blue while the other was black and red. The black and red seemed to overpower the blue every chance it got. He ran a few experiments and confirmed it. The hollow's reiatsu was simply too strong to be contained within a Shinigami or human form without literally burning it out within less than a week's time. He nodded to himself and took off to Aizen's throne room.

"Aizen-sama?" he queried, quelling the manic laughter that tried to bubble up his throat. Not now, not now, dammit, he repeated in his mind. A little longer… There were often times that he wanted to sink into the madness but right now he couldn't afford to do that. He was not ready to give in yet.

"Yes, Szayel, what is it?" Aizen asked, leaning against his fist as he sat looking extremely disinterested. Beside him Tōsen was standing impassively. As usual, Wonderweiss was sitting beside his feet on the floor, looking around disinterested at anything that was actually happening around him. Szayel felt sorry for him.

Szayel bowed his head. "Yes, I finished my research, and it seems what you want from the Shinigami is quite impossible."

Aizen arched a brow. "How so?"

"The hollow, White, he is simply too powerful to exist in full inside the Shinigami's body. The drain on his reiatsu came from the hollow having taken over briefly when the human shut down and let him into control completely. There is no point; you will not be able to gain control of White again. The form has altered as well; he has become one with Kurosaki's soul, actually he is nothing more than his Zanpakutō anymore. There are other latent powers in him that I can't quite identify yet, but I'm not sure how they express or even how to access them. There is no way to separate them," he said with a nod of his head.

Aizen nodded. "A shame, I had hoped to at least get something from him," he said with a sigh. "Go by his room and tell Nnoitra to take him down to the gathering room after he's finished with him. The fraccion can have him; he's of no use to me any longer."

Szayel stared at him, quite amazed at this sudden declaration. "Aizen-sama, not to question you, but are you sure? He's so unique; I could do a lot of research and experimentation…"

"No, I would rather not have Soul Society continue to try and get him back. Once he's been killed, I'll deposit the corpse on their doorstep," he said with a shrug. "After the fraccion have had their fill, I doubt there will be much left, of course."

"Pardon me, Aizen-sama," Tōsen said from beside him. "Would it not be more expedient to eliminate him as a threat rather than delay any further?"

Aizen nodded and smiled. "Yes, but the fraccion deserve some distraction. After all, how many hollows have the Shinigami killed? This will give them a chance to avenge their fallen comrades on one of their numbers and increase their loyalty to me. Now go on, Szayel, Nnoitra won't take forever."

Szayel nodded and left, heading toward the room. As he left, he saw the look cross Tōsen's face. Szayel wasn't sure with him, but he thought it might have been a look of disgust…

Szayel honestly wasn't sure if he could maintain his sanity long enough for the task, though. It was a fleeting thing. He would try, though, because disappointing Aizen meant dire consequences in the long run. He paused outside the door and listened until the noise seemed to pass from within. He knocked.

"The fuck," came Nnoitra's voice and the door opened. Nnoitra was half dressed and Szayel swallowed thickly.

"Aizen says to give him to the fraccion at the gathering room. He can't get what he wants, so he said to just hand him over to them to do whatever they want until they kill him," he said, biting down on his lip as the manic laughter tried to giggle up his throat. He turned on his heels and headed back to his lab leaving Nnoitra watching him go.

Nnoitra turned back to the bound Shinigami and grinned. "Hey, looks like you get to entertain the masses," he said.

Ichigo, to his credit, was still somewhat conscious. Whatever Szayel had given him seemed to have made him almost drunk or high. It was for the best because Nnoitra had been rather vicious. He could feel blood dripping down his arms and the back of his legs again. No doubt, if he was being passed off to someone else, Szayel wouldn't be healing him again. Aizen had abandoned him when he realized he couldn't do what he wanted, no doubt. Ichigo shook his head as Nnoitra yanked the chains on his wrists from the wall and pulled him roughly off the bed onto the floor.

"No, please," he said, realizing that he was going to be killed before this was over. He was useless to Aizen it seemed after all…

Ichigo didn't have much choice but follow the lanky Arrancar as he drug him down the corridors, completely nude but beyond caring. His head was full of bees and his whole body felt sluggish and thick. He had a suspicion that Szayel had something to do with that fact. He'd begged him to not fight, maybe he'd given him something to help with that fact.

The door opened and Nnoitra tossed him into the room before him. He fell into a heap on the floor, the chains around his wrists clanging loudly in the otherwise quiet room. He lifted his head to see Arrancar, quite a few, sitting around the room at tables and on sofas.

"Hey boys, Aizen's gift for you. Have all the fun you want with 'im. No problem, he's going to have a death sentence anyway. Night," he said and shut the door, leaving Ichigo in the room with at least ten sets of eyes on him.

"Well, look at this. We get a lovely little whore that only the Espada were getting to fuck," one with half read and half black hair said as he stood up and came toward Ichigo's form.

Another one came forward, this one with blonde hair and a grin. "Oh, look at that. A Shinigami…"

There was a shifting of several others and Ichigo was unsure how exactly what they planned. One with a bunch of red tattoos kneeled down in front of him, where he'd come from Ichigo hadn't really seen. He stared at him with wide eyes. "You know what we do to Shinigami bitches like you," he growled low in his throat.

Ichigo choked out words despite the fear crawling through his guts. "Not Shinigami, I'm human, please…"

"With that collar on, of course you are," an Arrancar with a mop of black hair said with a smile. "It will be a pleasure to take out our frustrations on you, Shinigami…"

Ichigo gasped and turned to try and crawl away but someone had hold of his ankles and he screeched as something impacted his lower back. Someone had dropped onto him and he craned his neck around to see another blonde Arrancar. He closed his eyes as pain sparked up his spine and the words around him spun and spun into a blur of nonsense. After the first he was still fighting to get away from them. After the second he was starting to go numb. After the third he gave up, he couldn't get away from so many of them.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The rescue team was small and specific. Urahara led, Yoruichi watched their backs, and Shuuhei, Renji, and Izuru moved between them. Five of them, and they had no idea what they were going up against. Fortunately for the Shinigami, not everyone in Las Noches was fond of the things that Aizen had been doing. As they approached the walls of Las Noches, they found themselves confronted with one of the Espada. Leaning against the wall was a tall man with longish brown hair. He looked up as the five of them stopped before him.

"Coyote Starrk. It is a pleasure to meet you. It seems that your Shinigami is in quite the perilous situation. I suggest that you retrieve him. He's been left with the fraccion…" he said with a shrug and a yawn.

"Why are you telling us this?" Urahara asked with a frown.

"I'm Primera Espada," he said, removing his glove with the number one tattooed on his hand. "I grow weary of your Aizen. He offered freedom and we received enslavement. I am un hollow, but that doesn't mean I am completely immune to the suffering of others. Please, do as you must, I will not interfere with you. I cannot help you, however. Be wary of the others," he said, nodding to them and walking off into the sands. A few moments later he was joined by what appeared to be a young girl with green hair.

The Espada had left a door open. Such a simple act from someone who claimed to be unable to help them. The five Shinigami would not take such an act in vain. Instead they flashed through the corridors and found themselves facing Tōsen. Beside him was an Arrancar with blond hair and vivid purple eyes that seemed focused on anything around him except what was in front of him.

"Tōsen," Hisagi said, holding up Kazeshini at his ex-captain.

"I am surprised you have come, Hisagi," he said without moving. "You have come for your friend, Abarai?"

"No, I've come for Kurosaki, where is he?" he said, back stiffening and staring at his former mentor and what he thought was his friend.

Tōsen turned his head to the side. "What has changed, you are different since I've left," he said finally.

"What has changed? You left, you turned against us all, and I've spent every moment since then under suspicion and scrutiny in case I know of your traitorous intentions. No one believes me except the captains, my authority among my own division is tenuous at best. I thought you represented a force for justice, what is right, taichou. I cannot believe you would stand for this, whatever this is," he said, pointing his weapon at him.

"I don't sense his reiatsu. They've sealed it no doubt…" Urahara said, glancing around him.

"Will you stop me?" Hisagi said simply. "The Primera didn't. He let us in."

Tōsen looked at him for a long time. "I will not stand against Aizen, but I will also not stand for someone to be tortured in such a manner. He is in the gathering room with the fraccion. Be wary, there are at least ten Arrancar in there. None are overly powerful, but together they may be formidable."

Tōsen turned and headed away from them and toward Szayel's lab. Wonderweiss followed him without much thought it seemed. He knocked on the door and heard a giggle form inside. He sighed. Wonderful he was in one of his insane moods.

"Come, come," came his voice from inside.

Tōsen entered and stood still for a long moment. "You said that Wonderweiss was a 'special case' not long ago in one of the meetings when we discussed incursion into Soul Society."

Szayel's eyes glittered madly and he grinned. "Ah yes, lovely Wonderweiss…" he said, patting him on the head. "Specially made, you know, created with the help of the hogyuku…"

Tōsen nodded. "I know this," he said. "Why was he specially made?"

Szayel grinned. "To absorb the power of Ryūjin Jakka. He's Aizen's fire eater, I guess you could say…very important to his plan."

Tōsen looked at the Arrancar. For some reason, he had bonded to him and he wasn't sure why. He felt almost fatherly affection toward him. "What would be the result?"

"Why, what do you think?" Szayel said giggling and opened his hands up. "Poof!" He grinned again. "A big explosion, maybe, who could tell for sure, but some sort of self-destruct would happen."

Szayel turned back to some experiment he was running. Tōsen looked at the small Arrancar. Was this just? He wasn't sure and he left the lab more concerned than he had been upon entering. No, he was even less sure of what was going on. He passed Gin as he walked out and locked his blind eyes onto him for a long moment. There was something about him that he was yet to understand, and he wasn't sure he wanted to do so

The Shinigami headed toward a large concentration of multiple reiatsu signatures at a rapid rate. They neared a doorway and stopped, sensing that on the other side as what they sought. Urahara looked at the others and nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He opened his eyes and held up all ten fingers. Two to one didn't sound good, but with Urahara and Yoruichi, they had a distinct advantage. They had been lucky, perhaps too lucky, though, not to encounter Espada. Urahara drew Benehime and was through the door in a moment, his blade cutting through the throat of the Arrancar closest to the door, a large fellow with a rather dumbfounded look on his face.

Yoruichi was next through the door and landed between two surprised Arrancar, one with red and black hair and the other with red tattoos and black hair. She grinned at them and before they could react both were laid out before her. Renji moved and had tackled a blond Arrancar to the ground and engaged him. Kira had Wabisuke out and had laid out another blonde Arrancar's blade, as it dropped to the floor with the added weight. Shuuhei, however, had one mission, and that was to find Ichigo. He didn't see him, but his stomach turned because there were stained portions on the floor and the couches. No, he thought to himself. He wasn't sure that Ichigo could bare this sort of thing if they'd…

Shuuhei counted, and there were two missing. He only saw eight Arrancar that they'd engaged. The one Urahara had killed, the two Yoruichi had dropped, the one Kira had beheaded with Wabisuke, and Renji had dropped another one and was engaged with two others with Kira at his back. Urahara was fighting with one while Yoruichi had almost dropped another one. Where were the other two? He saw a doorway and shot toward it and burst it open and nearly screamed. He'd found them, and Ichigo.

Ichigo didn't remember when they'd drug him into the smaller room. It was an adjoining kitchen to the room where the others were, and he guessed these two wanted some privacy or something. He didn't care. His limbs felt like lead and whatever drug the pink haired freak had given him had long ago worn off. All he could taste was blood and less desirable things. He was pretty sure he'd already thrown up at least twice on them, but it didn't seem to bother them at all.

When the door burst open he was expecting one of the others. The two that had drug him into the room had him pinned against the counter and decided that two was better than one, and Ichigo was briefly glad he seemed to have forgotten how to feel real pain anymore. When he heard the baritone voice he recognized vividly whisper, "Reap, Kazeshini," he nearly fainted from relief.

They did come…they did… he thought as he felt the two behind him turn toward the intruder. His legs wouldn't hold him thought and he slid down and onto the floor with a thump and groaned at the shuddering pains that shot through him. He was pretty sure his pelvic bone was broken, and at least one hip was out of the socket, he thought. He had no idea what else. He knew his forearms were both broken, the left he could see the bone jutting from it at a weird angle. It didn't matter though, as he heard the whirling blades behind him and two very gruesome sounding deaths.

He felt hands on him and tried not to pull away, but it couldn't be helped, he couldn't be sure it was Shuuhei, because maybe he lost.

"Ichigo," he heard and he felt his body turned over and he was looking up into the dark eyes of someone he was extremely glad to see. "Kami, we have to get you back…"

He looked over and saw a table in the center of the small room and reached up and yanked the white cloth off of it. He gently wrapped it around him, and Ichigo wasn't sure but he thought he might have been the happiest he'd ever been in his entire life in that simple moment. There was a thump and the door banged open, Shuuhei looked back.

"Urahara, we have to get him back to…to Orihime…now…" he said, looking up with wide eyes. He looked down. The white cloth was already soaking through with blood.

Urahara winced and nodded. "Come on, now," he said as Shuuhei lifted the bundle. To Urahara's surprise, Ichigo was clinging to consciousness, and was staring at him as Shuuhei flashed past him. He was out the door after him, yelling for the others to move before they were caught by a wandering Espada.

None of it would have been possible without the Primera allowing them entry, and they had no way to thank him. Instead they were into the sands of Hueco Mundo before half of Las Noches even realized they had been there. They stopped for Urahara to secure their transport back and Shuuhei sat down in the sands with Ichigo clutched to him. Both Renji and Kira kneeled beside him.

"Holy fuck me sideways," Renji muttered, glancing down at the cloth Shuuhei had wrapped him up in. It was almost red. "How the hells is he not dead yet?" he whispered.

"He was supposed to be already," came a voice near them. Renji and Kira both jumped to their feet with their swords drawn at the interloper. "Aizen intended for him to be dead and broken beyond all else by the time the fraccion were done. His plan to return his corpse to Soul Society seemed to bring him joy since he could not have the hollow within him to bend to his will."

Before them was an Arrancar with bright gold hair and behind her three other female Arrancar. None had drawn weapons and all stood still and watched the Shinigami. A moment later, Urahara and Yoruichi stood beside the two younger Shinigami.

"Who are you?" Renji demanded, resisting the urge to call his Bankai.

"Tier Harribel, third Espada. I am the only female among us. Perhaps for this reason I find myself ashamed to have been associated with those that perpetrated such a vile act upon another. We," she said, gesturing to the three females behind her. "We have protected each other from the males who would use their power against us. I've stood against Barragan before, and I will stand against Aizen. I will open a garganta to take you to Soul Society.

She stepped forward and flicked open the garganta and looked at them. "It is unfortunate that our lives would come together as enemies. Once, I might have seen such as you as friends."

With that, she turned and left with the other three Arrancar. Shuuhei didn't care, he was already halfway through to Soul Society before she left. He glanced at the now unconscious bundle in his arms. "Please, don't leave me, okay? I just started trying to figure out that my rules are pretty damn stupid…" he whispered into his ear and planted a gentle kiss to his forehead. "I don't care how bloody you are, and I don't care how broken…"