Chapter Two

How They Found Him

"In local area news today, a student from the suburban Karakura Town was listed as missing. Information leading to the whereabouts of Ichigo Kurosaki is to be directed to…"

Carson smirked as he turned off the TV and glanced toward the pantry. It was a foolproof plan, or was it? This would be a problem if people kept looking for Ichigo. He needed them to not look for him. The easiest thing to do for that would be if he could convince everyone that he was dead, the victim of a vicious serial killer. He frowned and looked toward the freezer. Well, technically, he still had some parts he hadn't disposed of. He could put together a little package and announce himself to the world as a serial killer and name his victims. It wasn't like they were every going to find the rest of the remains.

He was smart and he knew it. He knew he could play the police. He got up and retrieved his books from the spot in the ceiling tile that he had hidden them and picked out a few pictures from the stalking phase of the first two victims and a couple from Ichigo. Then he found a photo of each of the other two bound up and one of the ones he had just printed from Ichigo's current predicament. But would photos be enough? He glanced at the freezer.

A few minutes later he'd taken out his prizes. Fingers. He had no idea why, but he liked to keep their fingers and their hair. He picked out the pinky finger from each of them and then cleaned, dried, and wrapped both of them in paper towels to pack into a neat package. Now, he needed one from his current victim. No, not victim. Ichigo was more than that. Ichigo was his love. He meant everything. He hated to hurt him like this but it was necessary for their peace. He planned to stop killing, of course. Of course, he would because he had Ichigo. The thought of not killing again though made him cold. Could he stop?

He opened the pantry to see Ichigo look up at him with those gorgeous brown eyes and he smiled because they were all his now. No matter what, he had him.

"My poor little wife, we have a problem. I'm going to have to cut off a finger to send to the cops to keep them off our trail." He watched as Ichigo's reaction was instant. Fear, revulsion, all of it roiled through those expressive eyes of his and again, he wondered if he could wait until he presented Ichigo with a symbol of his undying love for him before he consummated their love. No, he would wait, just a little bit longer. He reached under the bottom shelf and pulled out his tool bag.

"Now, now, I know, but you'll be fine. I even have the perfect implement, see," he said as he held up a pair of shears used to cut branches. They had a spring action that snapped them closed and clipped through small bones quite effectively. "I've done this on dead bodies, but not on living ones, so I don't know how much blood there will be. But I'll cauterize it when I'm done," he said as he pulled out an acetylene torch. Ichigo's eyes widened even further and he shook his head violently against the bindings and tried to speak around the ball gag Carson had used.

Carson ignored him and stood up to clip the pinky of his left hand. "You're right handed so I'll do the left, okay, love?" he said as he positioned the clippers and then snapped them closed without a moment's hesitation. He felt Ichigo struggle and scream against the gag. Well, it was a good thing he'd opted for the heavy-duty gag and did this inside the pantry, otherwise there would have been plenty of people who came to find out what was happening. He put the disconnected phalange down on the shelf and quickly used the torch to cauterize the wound. It bled a lot more than he expected, but then, he guessed he wasn't used to cutting up living bodies. He guessed it was a good thing he'd had his hands up like that for a few hours, as most the blood had run out of them.

"You're a mess now, but I'll deal with that later. Right now, I have to make this appear at the police station, my love," Carson said and realized that Ichigo had passed out. Oh, well, he guessed that might have been a bit traumatic. Either way, he'd have to bathe him to get all that blood off of him. He sighed, going out to sit down and package up the three fingers, the photos, and a cryptic note he printed. He looked it over. He sounded like a real serial killer baiting the police, he thought proudly as he cleaned up and wiped down any leftover prints. He'd used gloves, of course, but you could never be too careful.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Kurosaki-san, this isn't good news," the detective said across the desk from Isshin. "We have reason to believe your son was the third victim of a serial killer."

Isshin blinked and stared at the man. "A serial killer?"

Detective Ryu Tsubaki pushed over a file. "We had this delivered to us today by courier. They had been paid in cash to pick up a package and drop it off here, no names, just a box that continued three fingers. One belonged to Unkei Ohashi, a young man that worked down in the warehouses here in Karakura that disappeared a while ago. One belonged to Koto Kitani, a young woman from Tokyo who also disappeared. Their families have already been contacted and informed that we know that they are deceased, but the third belonged to your son. Also in the package were photographs of the three of them, some were taken from afar as if by long range camera, and the last was each victim bound and gagged before they were killed. I'm sorry, but we are going to list him as deceased."

"That can't be right," Isshin whispered. "How could anyone do this to my son?"

"We don't know more, but the guy is calling himself the Shear Mangler. The fingers were removed with some sort of gardening shears. He isn't done, but the type he chooses are young, reddish hair, and charismatic sorts. We're going to do everything we can to capture him and bring him to justice."

Isshin left in a somewhat fugue state, leaving the policeman to stare at all the evidence before him. Still, he wondered at the report he'd gotten back. The first two fingers had been frozen and severed from dead victims. The third, though. The third had never been frozen, in fact, it appeared to have been very recently severed from a living victim. Of course, that didn't mean the victim was alive now. To change the way he did things, though, it seemed a bit off. Unless this was the new method the guy was using.

"Something wrong, Ryu?" asked his partner as he sat down across from him.

"I don't know. Something about the Shear Mangler case. Things don't just fit together quite right. I can't put my finger on it."

"Well, we'll get the bastard. To have a serial killer strike here, of all places," Kotaro Goya commented as he flipped through the file. "And twice."

"But what if the third victim isn't dead yet? You saw the report. That finger had been severed less than a few hours."

"Yeah, he cut it off right before he cut the kid's throat, you know as well as I do that kid's dead," Kotaro said with a shrug as he closed it. "Best we can do for that kid is to find the guy and put him behind bars.

Ryu, though, couldn't get it out of his mind. What if they were wrong?

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Alright, love," Carson said as he opened the door to the pantry. He wrinkled his nose as he realized he'd forgotten something very important about harboring a living prisoner instead of a dead body.

They needed to use the bathroom. He winced but refused to show his irritation with himself at this fact. "Did we wet ourselves, what a naughty thing," he said instead and grabbed the handcuff chain off the heavy hook.

Ichigo was a bit limp when he pulled him from the pantry, and he supposed he had also forgotten food and water. Well, he couldn't be too mad at himself, he was learning after all. He pulled Ichigo up onto him and guided him to the bathroom where he hooked the chain over another anchor he'd installed in the walls of this place. He smiled as Ichigo heaved breaths around the gag and looked to be trying to collect himself in the well-lit bathroom.

"Alright, love, let's get you cleaned up," Carson said and began to undress him. He started to protest through the gag but Carson ignored him as he removed the dirty pants and boxers. He paused then, staring at the tops of Ichigo's legs and the looked up at him.

"You've been cutting yourself, Ichigo," he commented as he knelt down in front of him and ran fingers over the scars and fresher cuts. "Now, now, that won't do. I can't let you do that anymore. Not at all." He stood up and unbuttoned Ichigo's shirt and realized that he'd have to uncuff him. He'd have to be careful. He'd just do one arm at a time and cuff him to the bar as he did it. He didn't think he was strong enough to fight back much, after all he'd been without food and water nearly a day already and he'd just cut off a finger and triggered some pretty heavy shock-trauma.

A few minutes later, he'd cleaned up Ichigo and placed him in new clothes. There was no need to subdue him because he was incredibly weakened by his confinement and lack of food and water. He had to come up with a way to get him to the place in Tokyo, but he didn't think it would be too much of a problem. He was smart, after all.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo was certain that he was going to die. The way Carson would forget over the next few days that he needed water, and the pain his body was constantly in was enough. He fretted over him when he remembered and Ichigo began to see the different aspects of the friend he had once had. Carson was everything anyone could want when he was attentive and treating Ichigo sweetly, but then he would change and the cruel person that was so foreign to Ichigo would come out. That person Ichigo could imagine killing people easily.

He began to wonder if he was ever going to get out of the pantry until one night, several days had to have passed. Carson opened the door and there was one of those very large rolling suitcases lying on the floor. Ichigo was certain that it was meant for him as soon as he saw it.

"Just because I have to transport you. I know a full-sized person will fit in one; I've used it for the others. Don't worry, I'll knock you out."

Ichigo struggled against him as usual; he couldn't not. He felt the pinch as he injected something into his leg where he was bound up with the ropes.

"I must admit, my skills with rope have improved greatly when dealing with you, my love."

Love. He always called him that. Like he wasn't bound up in a small space and about to be tossed in a suitcase. The drug hit him and the world began to phase out. It didn't knock him all the way out, though, and he could sense things here and there. He felt himself be put into the suitcase and positioned with his back against the side and his legs folded up in front of him. He tried to push through the drug but it just wouldn't let go of him as he was moving. His guess was they were headed to Tokyo as they had originally planned. Carson would have to start at the school as expected. The world faded and for a while, everything was quiet.

When he woke up, Ichigo found himself lying somewhere warm and comfortable. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton but he was becoming clearer as he laid there.

"Love, wake up, welcome to your new home," he heard from beside him. He jolted the rest of the way awake and saw that he was still bound with he handcuffs and they were attached to a bar in the bedframe. He was still gagged and exhausted.

"Now that we're in Tokyo, you'll have a new life here as my wife. And if you step out of line, I'll lock you in the basement of this place until you know your place. I know it will be hard but you will learn what to do. But first, I have a present for you."

Ichigo didn't want to know what kind of present he had for him but he felt his hand come out of the handcuff and he saw it was his left hand. Carson slipped a golden band on his finger. Carson kissed him on the forehead then kissed the ring. "Just like we're married. Two guys can't marry for real so this has to do for us, my Love."

Ichigo didn't know what to think. He was truly of the belief that they were a couple. He jerked as his hand was put back in the handcuff above his head and Carson started to undress him.

"I've been patient, waiting for this moment," he said as he stripped Ichigo of everything except the shirt which was caught because of his hands being bound, buttons opened and gaping. Ichigo fought the hands as best he could but he was still so groggy and weak. "I love you and I want to show you how much."

Carson seemed to be approaching the incident like a lover rather than a rapist because he began by kissing Ichigo's bare chest and playing with his nipples until they hardened from the stimulation. Ichigo tried to pull away from him but there was nowhere to go. Next he began to fondle Ichigo's uninterested body until his ministrations led to an erection. Ichigo was mortified but his body was responding to the stimulation.

When Carson's hand slipped down and began to probe at his entrance, Ichigo used all his strength to summon a kick. Unfortunately, it didn't do much more than rock him a little. Carson grabbed his leg and twisted it to the side without a word and continued to slide his finger down into him. He took time, slowly massaging and working Ichigo open. He then reached and grabbed a bottle from beside the bed. He paused and coated himself with the lube before he leaned forward and sunk into Ichigo's body. Despite it all, he couldn't stop the response to the expert stimulation Carson gave, bringing him over before he thrust into him again.

After the world skipped out and came back, Ichigo woke clearly to find himself strung up like in the pantry somewhere dark. The light came on and Ichigo watched Carson come down the steps of what was apparently the basement.

"I can't trust you just yet, so you'll stay here at night, my Love," Carson said. He caressed Ichigo's face and smiled at him again. "You'll do anything I want to get out of this dark basement, and I know it. Even if you don't realize it yet."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Time passed and everyone moved on. Then one day Isshin Kurosaki received a phone call that his son had been found, alive. He immediately went to Tokyo to find out what had happened. It had been seven years since Ichigo's presumed death.

Isshin arrived at the Tokyo police station and found that there had been a lead on the Shear Mangler. His seventh victim had led them back to a small apartment. When they had entered the place, they had found Ichigo, chained to a central location in the apartment with enough slack to visit most of the rooms. He had been cooking dinner when the police had come to the door. To Isshin's shock, the identity of his son's captor and the serial killer had been Ichigo's friend Carson.

"I don't understand how this happened," Isshin told the officer, Ryu Tsubaki who used to work in Karakura Town.

Ryu shook his head. "We're still putting together everything but it looks like your son was his only survivor. The other six victims' remains have been located. He's been surprisingly forthcoming with information now that he's been caught. He refers to your son as his 'wife' and states that they are 'in love'."

"Really?" Isshin said with a shake of his head as he was led into a room where he found himself looking at an older version of his son. His hair was long and pulled back on his neck, but otherwise, he looked just the same.

"Pop," Ichigo said as he stood up and walked around the table to embrace his tearful father.

"Son, we thought you were dead," Isshin sobbed, grabbing his hands and pausing to run a finger over the missing pinky of his left hand.

"I know, that's what Carson wanted you to believe," Ichigo said with surprising calm. "He was very meticulous. I think he was tired of the chase and that's why he let the police catch him."

"I don't know what to say, son," Isshin wiped his eyes and stared at him.

"I'm happy to see you," Ichigo said with a sad smile. "But I miss Carson. He's all I've known for a long time."

"Seven years," Isshin informed him.

"Has it been that long?" Ichigo asked with a frown. "I guess it has. He kills about once a year so that would be about that long since this all began with his first victim in Karakura."

"You seem calm," Isshin said as he sat down at the table unable to stand any longer. Ichigo sat down opposite him and nodded.

"I've been waiting for the day he go caught because I knew only then would I be free. He told me that."

After a few minutes, Isshin was summoned from the room and taken to the observation area outside the room looking in. A Doctor walked up to him.

"Mr. Kurosaki?" he asked.

"Doctor. Dr. Kurosaki," he responded.

"I'm Dr. Kent. I'm a psychiatrist and I've spoken with your son. As you can see, he is quite calm about the situation. This is a worrisome thing to me. He has been held captive a long time, and I fear some elements of Stockholm Syndrome may be present. Luckily, he seems to be okay with being separated from his captor. I worry about his lack of response."

"I'm sure that he'll respond when he needs to. Can I take him home?" Isshin asked.

"We have no reason to keep him here, so you are welcome to take him back to Karakura, though I recommend heavy therapy for him once he's there," Dr. Kent said with a shake of his head.

"I'll take care of him," Isshin said with a sigh. What else could he do?