Started on June 24th.
Completed on July 3rd.
Authoress: Desperatembrace
Disclaimer(s): I do not own Bleach. If I did, Ururu would totally show up more often. She is awesome and scary at the same time.
Warning:
Violence
Language
Sexual Content
Yaoi
Chapter 11
"Murderer"
The first thing that he noticed upon waking was the taste of metal. He struggled to identify the source of the taste, his mind still foggy. Grimmjow knew that he would be blind-sighted if he would open his eyes, seeing the faint light from underneath his eyelids. He kept his eyes firmly shut. He slowly came into awareness, his senses coming back one by one as the minutes ticked by. Finally, his brain clicked into gear, allowing him to deduce the taste in his mouth.
Blood.
His nerves kicked into action, alerting him of a massive pain on the back of his head, causing a pulsing headache to stir. He was unable to hold back the groan, the sound of it seeming to echo around him. The blue haired man vaguely heard shuffling nearby before a loud chuckle sounded beside him. "I think he's awake," the deep voice beside him said.
There was no reply. The only sound after that was a clacking of shoes approaching him and a slight sloshing of liquid. He had no time to think before ice cold water rained over his head and ran down his back, quickly soaking into the fabric of his shirt. The moment the water had made contact with his skin, he had frozen up, his muscles constricting as he clenched his jaw against the cold.
A booming chuckle was heard as he pried his eyes open. Blinking the water from his sight, he turned to look at the source of the sound only to have his stomach drop unpleasantly.
The chuckle had emanated from the man standing beside him, a tall, buff black man clothed in full white. While that itself was quite disconcerting, the fact that he knew the man was what made his nerves shrink in horror. Yammy Rialgo, one of the department heads of Espada Enterprise. By the look on the man's face, he knew exactly what was going on--and seemed to be an actively voluntary participant.
Yammy's mischievous smile widened into a pleased smirk. "Ah, so you really have joined the living once more, Blue." He let out another booming chuckle before glancing over to another figure standing before Grimmjow. The blue haired man let his eyes drift away from his tall coworker to find who had gained the man's attention. When his eyes landed on the older man before him, he felt his eyes widen, sheer surprise written on his features.
Another department head, Barragan Luisenbarn, an elderly, Mexican-seeming man, stood before him, a scrutinizing look painted on his face. Grimmjow slid his gaze over to the man standing beside him, finding another coworker watching him and adjusting the now-empty bucket he held--Starrk. He noticed one of the man's arms bandaged, likely broken. By now, he was no longer surprised, his features having settled into a guarded expression. It only took a second or two to click. These were the men who raided his home and kidnapped Ichigo. Instead of the wonderment and utter confusion that had been grasping his senses, he now felt unprecedented anger clutching at him, urging him to lurch forward and take these men down.
When his body halfway reacted on that passing urge, he was held back, finally realizing that he was restrained. He ignored Yammy's repetitive chuckles, instead analyzing the situation. His hands were cuffed behind his back, around a... support beam? He didn't seem to be severely injured, save for his head... He leaned his head to the side, swiping his face on his shoulder to get some of the running blood and water out of his eyes.
Grimmjow was brought out of his thoughts when Yammy spoke once more. "But damn," he said. "I knew you were hot-headed, but I thought even you were smarter than this." He knew what the dark-skinned man was talking about instantly. Not many people would rush into a base full of who-knows-how-many dangerous subordinates only to bring back someone who had been lost. Grimmjow let out a quiet chuckle, unheard by his captors. It seemed like he was an exception.
Starrk swished his brown hair back over his shoulder, dropping the bucket to the ground with a dull thud. "Well, I don't have any orders past this. I'm outta here.." He trailed off with a yawn, reaching up his good arm to half-assed cover his mouth. Yammy merely let out an undignified snort. "Going to go find that pretty little thang o' yours?" He asked, referring to the ridiculously small, green haired teen that seemed to follow the brown haired man everywhere. Starrk stayed silent before turning and walking to the entrance of the warehouse. "I'll tell Lilynette that you guys said 'hi'." With that last statement, he disappeared out the door.
With a click from the door shutting, the warehouse descended into silence. Yammy let out a disappointed sigh before rubbing at his neck irritably. "I can't believe we're still stuck on duty. I mean, seriously. I should probably just ditch..." He chanced a glance at the older man standing before Grimmjow. When he saw that Barragan had a strict expression on his face along with crossed arms, however, he frowned. "Yeah, yeah. Boss would kill us. S'pose we should just go keep watch outside." He made his way to the heavy door, disappearing in the same fashion that Starrk did only moments before. Barragan, however, lingered.
The older man kept a carefully trained eye on Grimmjow, watching him silently. The blue haired man was a bit unnerved, but determined to not relent. He stared the man right back in the eye, keeping the urge to look away at bay. When he seemed to come to a private conclusion, Barragan looked away and made his way to the door. While he felt compelled to watch the man, slightly paranoid about the man turning around and whipping out a gun, he found himself preoccupied.
At the exact moment that Barragan stepped out from in front of him, he had spied something that he had been desperately hoping to see for a while now. Directly across from him, a head full of orange hair lay limp to the side, the body of the person tied to a support beam in a similar fashion to himself. All of a sudden, Grimmjow's thoughts were wiped clean and replaced with a tiny sprout of hope and relief.
Ichigo.
Having finally found who he had been looking for, he paid no heed to the loud screech of the door slamming shut, focusing all of his attention on the man mere feet away. His heart thumped loudly in his chest, fear twisting through his veins as different scenarios played themselves out in his head. He pushed his illogical reasoning back and tugged on the hand-cuffs again, becoming irritated with the chaffing device. He pulled harder, the chains of the cuffs clinging against the support beam. Finally coming to the conclusion that the cuffs weren't coming undone anytime soon, he resorted to the only other way to get to Ichigo--verbally.
"Ichigo.... Ichigo." The only indication that the man was even alive was the quick inhale of breath and the twitching of his leg. Grimmjow called louder. "Ichigo..!" It was a sort of hiss--loud, but not loud enough to reach the others outside--not that he really needed to be quiet. The orange haired man inhaled once more, groaning before allowing his head to loll to the opposite side and then rolling his neck slowly. He finally peeled his eyes open, his eyesight blurry and skewed. Blinking a couple of times, Ichigo brought his surroundings into a better focus before realizing exactly who was sitting a few yards in front of him.
"Grimmjow," he croaked out, his voice rough. "What the hell..." He trailed off, going into a painful sounding coughing fit. When he finally finished, he opened his eyes once more, trying to keep his eyes on the blue haired man. "Why... are you here..?" His voice faded on the last word, making him clear his throat. His eyes showed concern when he noticed that he had blood running down the side of his face. Grimmjow just shook his head, his features relaxing ever so slightly. "Never mind that," he replied. "How are you? Are you in pain? Did they... do anything to you..?" He looked unsure when he asked the last question, his fear revealing itself through the wavering words.
He only stared at Grimmjow, the questions not making sense. It took a few moments before the meaning behind them clicked. His eyes widened as he mechanically shook his head. "No." The word was scratchy, but most definitely stressed. "They didn't... do anything." He took a second to swallow, trying to keep his throat moist. "How I feel... " He slowly shifted one of his legs, watching the limbs in concentration. Ichigo glanced back up and shook his head. "Fine... Think they gave me... numbing drug." He struggled with his words, trying to make his sentences shorter as each word seemed to hurt his throat.
A relieved sigh escaped Grimmjow, an immeasurable amount of weight having lifted from his shoulders. At least he knew that nothing... terrible had happened to him. From what it seemed the only thing that they had really done was strap him to a support beam. It was also likely that he wasn't given food or water, if the man's voice was any indication. He couldn't see any new wounds and Ichigo didn't seem to have been violated... He cut his thoughts off.
It didn't happen. End of the fucking story.
Ichigo tried to clear his throat, only causing himself to cough once more. Grimmjow watched him in despair, wanting nothing more than to have a glass of water materialize out of thin air. After the coughing fit, brown eyes vaguely focused on him once more. Ichigo narrowed his eyes slightly, making the man opposite of him furrow his eyebrows in confusion.
"Why are you... here?" He parroted his earlier question, watching Grimmjow's every move. The blue haired man knew that he was in a bit of trouble. In more than one way.
He shifted his body slightly, glaring off to the side. "I..." Blowing out an exaggerated sigh, he continued, "I didn't want you to go through any of this alone." Grimmjow continued to stare off to the side, refusing to see the orange haired man's reaction. Ichigo stared at him, blinking in confusion. His mouth fell open before snapping shut, the process repeating a few times. Finally, he settled on letting out a distraught noise. "You... stupid.." He slumped, letting his head hang close to his chest.
"Sounds 'lmost like you lo--" He was interrupted by the large warehouse door slamming open. Both of them turned to look at the door, straining their eyes to see their visitor. It was hard to see the man before he stepped into the artificial light from the dark exterior, but once he did, Grimmjow let out a growl of displeasure. The new visitor merely ran a hand through his slicked-back hair with a condescending smirk.
"What's wrong, Mr. Jaegerjaquez? Surprised?" He asked, amusement dripping from his every word. Grimmjow struggled against his hand-cuffs, growling lowly under his breath. Ichigo turned curious eyes on Grimmjow before straining to see the new arrival. His vision was still a bit blurred, and the man was more than a couple yards away... But for some reason, the voice seemed a tad familiar--just enough to invoke a small wave of not-very-pleasurable nostalgia. The blue haired man cursed, relenting in his struggles as the cuffs put new cuts into his wrists. He settled for glaring at the man before sneering.
"I kind of want to say yes, but at the same time, I can't be surprised that it ended up being you, Aizen." He spat the sentence out, his lips thinned out into a scowl. The man, Aizen, gave a smile. "Oh really? I suppose I can't be surprised about you being here, then, can I?" He walked closer, ignoring the orange haired man opposite of Grimmjow. "After all, we both know each other rather well, don't we? You are one of my employees, after all." The smile never faltered as Grimmjow let out another threatening growl.
Opening his mouth deliberately sluggish fashion, Grimmjow slowly pronounced his next words full of venom and eerily clear. "Go die in hell, you fucking son-of-a-bitch." Even then, the smile of his employer never faltered. "So you still resort to such colorful words? Sometimes I wonder why I ever hired you." He turned away, glancing past Grimmjow at something nobody else could see. "Of course, I did have my reasons."
Grimmjow only watched him in silence, biting back the curiosity that bubbled within him. He wasn't going to show interest. It was exactly what the man wanted. Without prompting, Aizen blinked out of his own world and turned toward the door, calling out loudly. "Nnoitra! Bring them!" After a few moments of silence, the door was thrown open once more and a man of long black hair stomped across the room. He shoved a box into Aizen's arms and turned around, aiming to leave, but paused in his steps. Nnoitra glanced at Grimmjow and let a large smirk cross his face. "So I see you made a stupid move, just like the weakling you are." He was pissed off. He knew this guy had been untrustworthy from the beginning and wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of him, but Grimmjow merely glared at the man, knowing it was unwise to provoke him under such circumstances. The black haired man lingered, waiting for a reason to pull out a knife and kill the restrained man.
Having retrieved what he had asked for, Aizen allowed his smile to slip off of his face and sent a commanding glare in the black haried man's direction. "Nnoitra." His name was said with malice. Nnoitra aimed a careful glance behind him to his employer, and turned his head sharply, letting out a fierce, "tch." He stomped away quickly, slamming the door shut behind him.
Aizen allowed the box to drop to the floor, turning his attention back to the captives. Ichigo had shut his eyes by then, his swimming vision making him a bit sick to his stomach. Aizen began to speak. "You see. Many things have happened for the past years. More than a decade, I believe. I'm sure you've already figured some of this out, Grimmjow. The only way you can be here is of two ways. One, you went to the police, or two, you went to a different source." His gaze lingered on Ichigo's form before it returned to Grimmjow. "And considering I don't hear any sirens..."
"Why don't you go ahead and tell me all that you know about the situation." By now, the smile had already slipped onto his face once more. Grimmjow stayed silent for a moment before deciding to amuse his captor. "I know that many people in our company are working for an organization-type society, which is likely 'under-the-radar'. I also know that this is also somehow involved with Ichigo's past and most likely his mother, too."
The smile seemed to slip slightly before growing ever larger. "You know the basics... but not quite enough to get the picture." He walked a few feet off to grab a chair, dragging it closer to the captives. The screech of the chair made Grimmjow and Ichigo flinch, turning their heads away from the awful noise. When he found a suitable spot, Aizen stopped and sat down once more. He threaded his fingers together and leaned back in his seat, watching the two with a mocking smile. "I suppose it's time to tell you a story.
"There was an organization that specialized in shady dealings. It started out small, but it grew into a small company. After that, it grew even further, bigger and bigger. But, since what the organization had originally began to do was something really bad, it had to be kept secret from many people. So as the company grew, many people who didn't know the secrets of the real work were integrated to help keep them under the radar. They had grown so far that they had made themselves one of the top Underground manufacturers--nicknamed 'Black-Jack of all Trades'. They did everything from smuggling drugs to developing and selling weapons and even assassinations. Almost all illegal businesses ran through this one particular organization-turned-company.
"While they had maintained the dark secrets for a long time, they had made a small mistake and left clues of their existence. Of course, the members who made the mistake were instantly killed for it." Aizen's smile had grown a touch maniacal at this 'confession'. He continued, "One particular couple had found these clues and decided to pursue them. They were a rather famous couple, with three children. The husband was a well-known cop, having been in the force for many years. The wife, on the other hand, was a famous detective, a newly found rookie who had been making a ruckus the past couple years. It was originally the wife who found the clues on the organization, but she had leaked a bit of information to her husband to get the cops on the trail. But even then, the husband hadn't gathered nearly as much information as his wife."
Aizen shifted in his chair, his candy-sweet smile making Grimmjow feel sick to his stomach. The blue haired man glanced across from him, seeing Ichigo pale and shaking slightly. Something about his reaction... He had no time to ponder anything as their captor continued with the disturbing story.
"When the organization found out about this, a hit was immediately placed atop the wife's head. Sadly enough, the couple seemed to be a couple of steps ahead of the organization and had gone into hiding, removing all traces of their whereabouts. All of their federal information was out of date, and although they continued to work, they used special means to avoid the organization. But there had been reports of one of their children being seen in a certain area of Karakura."
Aizen's smile grew in size when Grimmjow's eyes widened. Grimmjow knew exactly where this was going... and he didn't like it one bit. He turned his sight back onto Ichigo, seeing how pale the man was. But he had stopped shaking. He was now perfectly still, leaning up against the support beam with his eyes firmly shut, seeming to hold his breath for the next part of the horrifying tale. Aizen decided to continue, enjoying how he knew exactly how the wheels in Grimmjow's head were turning and matching up.
"The leader of the organization had been tired of the detective slipping from his grasp more than once, and decided to take matters into his own hands. So he started to sit in the park that the detective's son would pass by each day on his way home. One day, the boy finally realized that he saw the same man there every day and asked if he had a home to go to. When the man vaguely replied that he did, the boy had smiled and left. The next day, the same man was there once again. The boy asked why the man wasn't at home, and the man had replied that he liked the park better. The boy had frowned and went home. The next day, the boy had seen him again but ignored him, trying to pass him by. But the man decided to make his move on that day. He asked the boy if he could walk him home. The boy stayed quiet, but nodded, neither smiling nor frowning. As they walked, the boy had revealed that his father and sisters were going to visit a close friend that night. So the man had dropped him off at his home and left, a plan formulating in his mind." Aizen tapped his temple with a small smirk, watching Grimmjow with the utmost interest.
"So later that night, the order was issued to massacre everyone within that house. More than three assassins showed up at the premises that night, all of them being rather sadistic. As the main orders were to kill, they thought there to be no harm in a bit of torture. So they forced the young boy to watch as the life slowly drained from his mother. They continued to inflict harm on the woman's body, even after she had already died." Aizen shrugged as if he weren't telling such a horrific story. "Of course, as they continued to mutilate the body of the detective, they never noticed that the boy had slipped out of his restraints and snatched one of the knives that had caused his mother's death, running off to his father. The father had panicked and had gone into extensive hiding with his family for a few years, practically disappearing off the face of the Earth. They finally returned to the real world, but again kept their personal and familial information in the hands of only those they trusted the most. The boy grew up, refusing to be put in the witness protection program and continued with his daily life.
"Only a couple of years following that, however, the organization found his whereabouts. The boy-turned-man made a desperate run, but, lo-and-behold, he ended up being killed by an 18-wheeler truck... or so the organization thought. Of course, many members were confused when a little less than half a year later, that same man who was thought to be dead ended up walking right through the doors of the company who put him through such strife."
Grimmjow was shaking in anger, his thoughts racing through his head. This man, the way he spoke was as if... "You're the leader, aren't you?" He had already suspected it the moment that he heard Espada Enterprise was behind the whole kidnapping, but... he still needed confirmation. Aizen's smile grew as he regarded the blue haired man. "Why, yes. You always were quite the smart one, weren't you?" The question was laced with a type of sarcasm, amusement dancing in his eyes. Grimmjow gritted his teeth, watching as Aizen stood up and made his way over to Ichigo, crouching down. He grabbed the frozen man's chin and pulled him up to where their gazes connected. Ichigo's brown eyes dilated in fear as Aizen said, "Hello, Ichigo. It's been a long time." The sickly-sweet smile stayed in place as Grimmjow began to curse behind him. "Of course, you still remember me, don't you? I'm the man who had a home that he didn't want to return to. And..." His eyes narrowed, his smile growing ever larger. "The man who took away your home and forced you to say goodbye to your mother."
Something stirred in Ichigo, the words and voice provoking an unwanted memory, forcing his eyes to slip shut.
Knives hacking at his mother's limbs, watching and listening as she cried out. One of the men steps back and allows a smile to bloom on his face and approaches the child. Holding out a walkie-talkie, everything seems to be quiet as he murmurs, "Boss has some words for the kid." After a few moments of silence, static emits from the walkie-talkie, and then...
"Say goodbye to your mother."
Ichigo gasped as he connected the memory to the man before him, finally recognizing him as the man who he had talked to those few days. His eyes snapped open, a full-scale glare heatedly staring Aizen down. The murderer chuckled before saying, "Yes. I am the one who orchestrated your mother's death. That look in your eye... it's perfect." Another chuckle was released before he stepped back. He watched Ichigo for a few moments before a downright chilling smile crossed his face. "I think we should play a game." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, watching Ichigo the whole time. "You see, I rather like games." He walked around Ichigo and pressed the key into the man's hand-cuffed palm before walking back around to where the orange haired man could see him. Ichigo's face had gone expressionless, no doubt confused on the new developments. Aizen continued, a bit disappointed with the lack of emotion. "The game starts when you are able to escape from your hand-cuffs." He always loved to watch human emotions. They were so fascinating, right up to the point before they died. He found that the most fascinating emotion was hope.
He always made it a point to show the captives that there was no hope of survival before producing a small sliver of hope for them. It was fascinating to watch their expressions change from hopeless to hopeful. Of course, he loved to watch as the hope was forcefully drained from them before they were finally dead and devoid of life. "But..." He reached into his other pocket and smiled a truly devious and terrifying smile, pulling out a knife and tossing it to the floor in front of Ichigo.
"That is, only if you can keep your thoughts off of what is in front of you."
Brown eyes dilated in fear as Ichigo slammed his head back into the support beam. Without regard for the pain, he clenched his eyes shut and began shaking his head back and forth, muttering underneath his breath. Aizen watched him in fascination, a truly delighted smile upon his face. Grimmjow gritted his teeth even further, shaking from everything he had just found out and that everything looked so bleak. Aizen didn't even see Ichigo as a threat. Even if he did manage to ignore the knife in front of him and got his hand-cuffs off, he was still subject to the numbing drug that he had been given earlier. If only he could find a way to get his hand-cuffs off...
Grimmjow growled under his breath, drawing Aizen's attention back to him. The brown haired man watched him for a moment before something seemed to click. "Oh. I had a question for you anyways, Mr. Jaegerjaquez." He made his way back to the abandoned box and reached in, pulling out a mask. "As I'm sure you already know, we had approached your sister on joining the organization, and she had rejected. This was supposed to be her mask." He held the mask up at a more viewable angle, showing the mask's details. Pronounced teeth and goat horns were the only detailed parts of the mask, leaving the rest a blank, simple white.
He pulled out 3 other masks, tossing them to the ground. One mask had two sides of a detailed jaw and extended a bit, another with a strange type of horn (maybe an antannae..?) and ridges on the side, the last seemed rather plain save for the rectangular rims around the eyes. "I was planning on inviting a few others into the group..." He turned to fix his own brown eyes onto Grimmjow's electric blue.
"Have you ever wondered why I hired you, Grimmjow? You never really had the best record--constant fights, always getting into trouble... Why would I hire somebody who could ultimately cause my company trouble in the end?" His smile grew ever chillingly as Grimmjow seemed to understand. "That is, of course, unless that's exactly what I wanted you for. It may seem ridiculous as I probably already know the answer, but..." He reached into the box and pulled out another mask, this one having the details of only the right jaw. Aizen ran his fingers over the finely detailed teeth of the mask, watching Grimmjow intensely. "What do you say? Care to join us?"
Grimmjow felt his stomach turn over as disgust, hatred, and utter anger mixed themselves together. He fixed the company president with a glare and said, "I've said it once, I'll say it again. 'Go die in hell, you fucking son-of-a-bitch.'" Aizen shook his head and carelessly tossed the mask back in the box as the blue haired man continued, blinking as blood inched close to his eye once more. "If you already knew that I was going to reject the offer, why did you even bother?" The brown haired man gave a simple sigh and gathered up the other 3 masks, tossing them back in the box, too.
"I was hoping that you would accept because I thought you would think about the possible consequences." He folded the top of the box up, slyly smiling when Grimmjow perked up a bit at the mention of 'consequences'. He continued, "After all, what would happen to dear little Ichigo and your little sister?" There was a moment of silence before he said, "Really a shame." There was a clinking sound from Ichigo's direction, the brown haired man glancing over there momentarily before brushing the sound off as handcuffs against the support beam. He turned his attention back to Grimmjow as the man spoke. "Me and you both know that's bull-shit, Aizen." He settled his head back onto the support beam and gritted his teeth further, vaguely thinking about how uncomfortable it was to be in soggy clothes sitting in a puddle of water. "You would have killed them whether I accepted or not. Ichigo would be killed no matter what for being a direct witness. And Nel... even if there were some strange sort of chance that she would be left alive... the answer would still be 'no'." He clenched his eyes shut in pain, as if the indirect choice between his sister and Ichigo had hurt him physically.
Aizen smirked. "Yes, you're absolutely right. But you see, your positive answer would have at least delayed the process. It's quite terrible that you didn't think that through." He sent a glance to Ichigo before turning his gaze back to Grimmjow, the blue haired man's face lighting up in realization.
He was going to have to watch Ichigo die. And then he would be killed.
Ichigo, however, was no longer listening to the conversation and had been participating in his own conversation. Please. Just help!
I'm sorry, King--but I can't do this all the time. It's time for you to face your fears.
Ichigo felt Hichi's presence shrink into the back of his mind until he was unable to sense it any longer. He remembered the last conversation that they had, recalling how he needed to have the conviction to reach for the future on his own. He sucked in a rattling breath and made his decision, his body shaking almost uncontrollably. The sound that Aizen had heard earlier was not the handcuffs against the support beam. It was actually his handcuffs slipping off of his wrists and hitting the floor. He pulled his hands around the support beam to rest them in front of him.
His eyes shifted to the glinting metal of the blade lying just out of reach as he stood up shakily. Grimmjow's gaze locked on him from around Aizen, eyes widening in horror. As if questioning the sudden change in expression, Aizen himself turned around to see what the problem was. As soon as the brown haired man's eyes were on him, Ichigo darted forward.
And he picked up the knife.
-Chapter End-
A/N: Review?