Chapter 4: The Trap

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(My work schedule is really brutal this week, but I have been working to get several chapters of stories in progress over the weekend, so I'll be able to keep publishing. We'll see how that goes. My deepest gratitude to everyone reading and to reviewers Aizenfan6969 (The muse is definitely calling the shots on this one. I keep getting freaked out and having to remind myself it's just a story.), Picklez80 (I have a few words for you. Thank you so very much! 3), Wildwind13 (Thanks for the compliment!), Winterheart2000 (While also scaring my own pants off too!), Willow (I will keep the chapters moving along. I continue to feel very motivated.), Nyma (Thanks! Glad to have you along.), Gemnika (We'll be meeting the beast very soon...or at least Ichigo will be!), Jazzybella (Thanks a million! This is one of those special stories that has me by the hair and is pretty darned insistent about being written. I love those!), Bubblymoon (I have a little less experience writing suspense, so it's fun weaving in the little bits of clues from chapter to chapter.), Anarane-Sensei (Yay! I love feeling that enthusiasm. It's such a powerful motivator! Thanks!), AliciaJenHavens (I will be busily updating. I'm taking my writing laptop to work for those lovely stolen writing moments during the day.), AdalieDelacroix (It will take some serious cooperation and a lot of luck for the inmates to get out of this predicament. But Ichigo will have some help along the way. Oh yes, and the beast is coming soon!), Parnita (I am really mean to my favorite characters. If I ever meet them, they just might beat me up!), Hisuiryuu (Ichigo and Byakuya have a bond that will reach across and even having lost his memory, Byakuya senses that Ichigo is important/significant, and instinctively feels drawn to him. Vice versa as well!), PrivateCaller (That place is like my worst nightmare.), Periwinkle (Aaaaand, here's a new one!), Beaker (You are wise!), Kenni-bun bun (It's pretty darned effective in lowering the risk of prisoners making escape plans, but they have underestimated Ichigo's deep determination.), Shima-Taicho31 (Ah, thanks Kuri, for taking care of my passionate friend! That guard will get a little bit of comeuppance soon! He's pushing his luck...), BleachLover (Here's that update!), Kittykins (I love exciting stories, but sometimes thrillers are too scary because my reality meter gets knocked off kilter!), and Tmp3475 (That seems to be a wicked quincy characteristic. Luckily, Ichigo and friends are resourceful and strong, so they will have a brutal response.) Peace to all! Enjoy the new chapter! Love, Spunky)

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Ginger moved his chair out of the way as an orderly arrived and bent over Sakura, unlocking the restraints and slowly releasing the bound man's wrists, waist and ankles.

"Sit up slowly," the orderly advised him, taking Sakura's hand and curling an arm around him to help support his weight, then piling several pillows behind him, "You're going to feel drowsy for a while. Just rest and eat. You'll feel better soon."

Sakura gave no answer, only suffering a cold shiver at the man's touch, then settling back against his pillows and looking down at his uncovered body.

"Sorry, no bedding for you, but you should be warm enough without," the orderly said, not bothering to explain why.

He exited the room, leaving as Ginger moved his chair back to Sakura's bedside.

"You all right?" he asked, "You do look sorta shaky."

"I think I will be fine," Sakura answered, "Thank you, Ginger."

Sakura picked up a cup of water from his bedside table and sipped at it for a moment, then set it down.

"So, you say you can't remember anything?" Ginger asked, "How did you know not to answer the orderly?"

"I was warned while I was still immobilized," Sakura explained, "I could see and hear. I just couldn't move."

"Oh, so you did hear me before?"

"Yes, but your words didn't make sense to me. I didn't know you, but you spoke to me as though you knew me. You also sounded like we were gathering information."

"We were," Ginger confirmed, "Look, I think because we can't anticipate when one of us will be mind wiped, we need to find a way to keep the information we learn safe."

"But how will we do that?" Sakura mused, "We have so few implements to work with here."

"You're right about that," Ginger agreed, "So, I think I'll share what I know with the others, you know, quietly so that even if some of us are reconditioned, we won't lose ground. We have to do something. It's clear as day that we're not here because of any crimes we committed or because we're dangerous to ourselves."

"I think you are right," Sakura agreed, "I think we are here because we are dangerous, or at least useful, to someone else."

The two looked up as a footstep sounded in the doorway. Ginger smiled and Sakura looked on with deep interest as Shadow and Kit entered the room, the former carrying a handful of little flowers he had placed in a paper cup with a measure of water.

"Shadow, Kit," Ginger greeted them, "Good to see you."

Shadow nodded and walked to Sakura's bedside, setting the flowers gently on the lap table his food rested on.

"I picked these for you," he said softly, "I know you probably don't remember me..."

"But I can feel that you are a friend," Sakura assured him, "Thank you."

"It's a fucking crime what they did you," Kit said in a low, angry voice, "I don't care what they told you. I know you wouldn't do what they said."

"It is good that you are here to say that," Sakura sighed, "since I have no memory of just how I received these injuries."

"I feel kinda guilty about that," Ginger confessed, "I think the guard might have overheard me sort of flirting with you. It was a guard that you'd made a deal with so that you could sit with me while I was recovering from getting beaten up by him."

"You should feel guilty," Kit said, crossing his arms.

"Kit, you can't blame Ginger for that," Shadow argued gently, touching the blue-haired man's arm and provoking a look of frustration in his eyes, "That guard has been purposely provoking him. I've been watching. He seems to hate Ginger, and he would be glad if he turned us against him."

"Fuck, they play so many head games here," Kit complained, running his hands over his face, "It gets to where I don't know what the hell the truth is. I don't know what's real."

"I feel the same," Ginger assured him.

"I think we all do," Shadow added, "but if we can just trust each other and work together, maybe we can find out what's really going on here."

"We have to be really careful," Ginger said, glancing at Sakura, "If the guards or Falk get any inkling we're all in this together, they're going to make sure all of us get mind-wiped and we have start from square one."

"If any of us have enough brain cells left to realize what they're doing after that," Kit said, scowling, "But okay. What are we gonna do?"

Ginger smiled.

"You need to pretend you don't like me."

"Heh," Kit snickered, "That'll be easy, cause I don't!"

"Kit!" Shadow chided him.

"It's okay," Ginger reassured him, giving him an encouraging smile, "If there's tension between some of us, the guards here are less likely to think we'd cooperate. So, you just act like you don't trust me. Be kind of a jerk to me. That should be easy for you."

"Sounds like fun," Kit joked.

"See if you can convince Buzzard and Tats to act like they're disagreeing over whether or not they like me. The more we seem to distrust each other the better."

"Just be careful not to break the rules prohibiting violence," Shadow warned them, "We don't want to walk into one trap while avoiding another."

"That makes sense," Sakura agreed.

"Okay, I'll go out and talk to the others. You coming, Shadow?"

"Actually, I haven't been feeling well since lunch. I was thinking I'd go and lie down."

"You sure you're all right?" Kit asked, evincing a worried look that belied his usually taciturn attitude, "Want me to come with you?"

"Oh, I'll be fine. I'll just lie down for awhile."

"I'll come and check on you after I talk to Buzzard and Tats."

"You really don't have to worry so much," Shadow assured him, "I'm fine."

Ginger watched the blue-haired man leave, then grinned at Shadow.

"You really have that guy wrapped around your finger, don't you?"

"He is very protective. I don't know why I bring that out in him."

"Maybe it's because he's not used to being around kind of innocent people."

"I think Kit had a hard life before he came here. And I am not talking about the lies they fed him about his past. Kit is...different."

"Different?" Ginger asked, "How is he different?"

Shadow stole a cautious glance at the door, then looked back at Sakura and Ginger.

"There is a hole in his body," Shadow whispered, "It is in his abdomen. It is large and it never heals. He doesn't know why it's there. It's very strange."

"A hole that doesn't heal?" Ginger mused.

Shadow nodded.

"I have seen it."

He looked around again cautiously.

"I think I should go."

"Sure," said Ginger, "See you later."

"Thank you for the flowers, Shadow," Sakura said gratefully.

Ginger and Sakura watched quietly as Shadow slipped out of the room.

"What do you make of that?" asked Ginger, shaking his head, "It sounds like our captors may have done something to Kit."

"Maybe," Sakura agreed, "I wouldn't be surprised in the least if we were being used for experiments. The ones I overheard during my recovery said some disturbing things."

"Try to put that out of your mind for now," Ginger said soothingly, "You need to rest and get better. There's plenty of time for figuring things out when you're well."

"I will try to be patient," Sakura said, yawning.

"I'm gonna go now," Ginger said, standing, "I was thinking I'd go and see if..."

A sudden, sharp cry made Ginger and Sakura stiffen.

"Shadow!" Ginger exclaimed, "Sakura, you stay here, okay?"

Sakura nodded briefly, watching with haunted eyes as Ginger ran out the door. He ran into the hallway as another pained cry sounded, and as he drew closer to Shadow's room, he could hear the young man's sobbing voice.

"Don't! Please stop!"

"Stop struggling or I'll make sure you're carried out of here in a body bag!" hissed the voice of the guard that had injured both Ginger and Sakura, "Do what you're told, you little freak!"

Ginger burst into the room and felt instant fury rise in his chest as he found Shadow naked and lying on his back on the end of his bed, with the lascivious guard positioned between his shaking thighs. His teary eyes found Ginger's and a terrified howl escaped him.

"Ginger, help me!" he pleaded.

Without hesitation, Ginger closed the distance and crashed headlong into the guard, tumbling to the floor with him in a tangle of arms and legs. He drew back a fist and punched the guard in the face as the man shouted for assistance. A moment later, the prison siren began to wail and pounding feet sounded in the distance. Shadow retreated to the corner of his bed, shrinking back against the wall as Ginger shoved a knee into the guard's groin and threw another punch that struck his face, drawing a splash of blood.

"You bastard, that's enough!" Ginger shouted, "Shadow never does a goddamned thing to deserve you doing something like that! Keep your fucking hands off him!"

"Ginger!" Doctor Falk called out from the doorway.

He turned his head to meet the eyes of the security staff with him as Ginger shoved the guard to the ground and stood, backing away.

"He was raping Shadow! I saw him!" Ginger cried, his eyes flicking around anxiously as the guard he had assaulted staggered to his feet and the security team closed in, "It's not his fault. I was protecting him from that asshole!"

"I want you to calm down, Ginger," Falk said with forced calm, "You have already broken a number of rules. We will talk about that, but you need to do as the security chief tells you."

"Lie down on the floor and spread out," the security chief said sternly.

Ginger swallowed hard and complied. He sucked in and released quick breaths as the security chief approached and touched a device to his back.

"What are you doing?" Ginger asked anxiously.

A cry of dismay escaped him as the device issued a shock that sent him crashing into unconsciousness. As the security team lifted Ginger's unconscious body and carried him out of the room, Falk approached Shadow, who was still huddled in the corner of his bed with his back against the wall. Tears ran down his white face and the hands that held his yukata closed shook hard.

"Arnell," Falk inquired of the guard Ginger had been attacking, "will you tell me what happened?"

"I walked in on Ginger and this one having sex," the guard lied, "Ginger was being rough with him. I felt kind of bad having to report that one, seeing as how he's pretty weak and can't put up much of a fight, so I was going to let them off easy. But Ginger attacked, just went crazy. He knocked me down and you saw the rest. I think he would've killed me if you hadn't come in."

"I see," Falk said solemnly, "Well, you look like you need to go clean up. I will stay with Shadow. He does look traumatized."

Falk waited until he was alone in the room with Shadow, who continued to cringe against the wall in the back corner of the bed.

"It's all right," Falk said soothingly, "It seems as though you really didn't have the ability to defend yourself from your attacker."

Shadow gave no reply, but shivered harder. Falk smiled comfortingly.

"You didn't break any rules, Shadow. You won't be punished."

"Wh-what will happen to G-ginger?" Shadow managed in a whisper.

Falk's lips thinned into a stern line.

"He broke the rules by trying to have sex with you and being violent with both you and the guard who came to rescue you."

Shadow's lips twitched in response, but no words sounded. Falk gave him a curious look.

"Is something wrong, Shadow?"

Fresh tears leaked onto Shadow's damp cheeks as he struggled for words. After a few agonized moments, his head bowed penitently.

"I should be punished too," he managed in a trembling voice, "I let Ginger have sex with me. I...I convinced him to. You should punish me for that, not him."

Falk arched a skeptical eyebrow.

"Now, Shadow, you know better than that," he said reprovingly, "It is kind of you to try to lessen Ginger's punishment, but I won't let you take the blame. Come here."

He extended a hand in Shadow's direction.

"It's all right. Come to me."

Shadow crawled to the edge of the bed and knelt in front of Falk, accepting the hand he offered and waiting quietly, a calmer expression taking over his face.

"There now," the doctor said quietly, caressing Shadow's cheek gently, "there's no need to wear you down anymore. You've already been sufficiently broken. You haven't the will to be defiant, have you?"

Shadow looked back at him silently and gave no answer.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Falk asked kindly.

"J-just a few bruises, I think," Shadow answered, looking down at himself as Falk opened his yukata and examined him closely, running his fingers along a soft inner thigh.

"It doesn't look too bad," Falk assured him, "but you might be a little sore in the morning. I will give you a pain reliever."

"Oh, that's not..."

"I insist," the doctor said, smiling as he fished a bottle of pills out of his pocket and removed one, "Take this with the water over there."

Shadow's head bowed and he hesitated. Falk squeezed his hand gently.

"You'll be up all night, hurting. It's fine. You're allowed to have drugs I prescribe. Go ahead. Take it."

Shadow loosed a weary sigh and swallowed the pill with a mouthful of water. He remained on the edge of the bed, his eyes blurring slightly as the medication began to affect him. He blinked slowly and started to lie down, squinting and trying to make sense of the way Falk's smiling face seemed to follow, and he felt the man's hands touching him again. He tried to protest, but found his body unable to move. His mind went into a long, dizzying spin as Falk leaned over him and continued to caress his slim, naked body more vigorously. He could just hear the distant echoes of the doctor's pleasant voice as Falk's fingers invaded and slowly prepared him.

"You see, there is no need for brutality. We can get what we want without violence and pain. See how easily the blossom opens," mused, spreading Shadow's thighs wide and intensifying the motion of his fingers.

Shadow's legs quivered and he whimpered softly in protest.

"Shh," Falk soothed him, running his hands down Shadow's sides and wrapping them around his bare bottom, pulling him closer, and positioning him at the edge of the bed.

He stood and gazed down at the drugged inmate's dazed expression, unzipping his pants and caressing himself for a moment. He entered Shadow's incapacitated body unhurriedly, touching his lovely, confused looking face and whispering appreciative words as he began a slow, steady thrusting.

"You are as soft inside as outside," he panted, "Such a lovely, sad thing. And soon, all of the ones here will be soft and sad like you. They'll be gentle and obedient, opening like blossoms to receive our love. There is no need for cruel words and violence...only gentle guidance. Do you feel inside what my body wants from yours? Your heart pounds, sweat breaks out on your flesh and you feel heat in your most secret places. Only surrender and let yourself feel the beautiful throbs of completion."

A helpless gasp escaped Shadow's parted lips as his body stiffened, then joined the doctor's in release.

"Yes...yes," Falk panted, keeping himself connected with Shadow's seed splashed body as the last of the pleasant shudders faded, "There is perfection here. We are in perfect harmony. You have learned to take even your untenable situation and turn it into something as beautiful as you are."

He sighed, extracting himself from Shadow's body and carefully cleaning away the remnants of their joining before repositioning the senseless prisoner on the bed and closing his yukata.

"If only your friend, Ginger could try to understand like you do, then things would be more peaceful here. But he seems determined to make things difficult for himself. I wonder what he thinks of his punishment."

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Ginger felt life returning to his body, but found that his limbs had been immobilized and the back of his body sunk into some kind of substance that molded to his form and held him firmly in place. He tried to open his eyes, but even when he lifted the heavy eyelids, all he saw at first was blackness. It receded slowly, sending a fierce jolt through him as he realized that the close feeling he had grew even worse upon perceiving that he was locked in some sort of coffin-like box.

He sucked in a deep, reflexive breath and a terrified, instinctive scream escaped him, before he managed to clench his jaw and force down the emotion.

The point here isn't to kill me. These bastards don't want us to die. They want us alive for some reason. What they want is to scare me so that I'll obey them.

Although he couldn't stop himself from shaking, he managed not to scream again or to thrash about. With an iron will, he closed his eyes and slowed his harried breathing. As he calmed inside, he felt the slight motion of air passing over him and felt a telltale coolness that assured him air was being pumped into the box at a steady rate. His body still wanted to panic, but he kept his eyes closed and focused deeply on anything that would keep him from acknowledging where he was.

This must be their solitary confinement, a way of playing on fears that everyone has. They probably have monitors that are measuring my reaction, my heartbeats and breaths, the sweat on my skin and how hard I shake in reaction. This is horrible, but I have to control my fear. My worst fears right now are that I'm going to suffocate or that I will never get out. Neither is true. These bastards are just making a point, and when they think they've made their point, they'll let me out again. They're preying on my natural responses. I can't let them have the satisfaction!

Instead, he chose a source of comfort, a mental image that played and replayed in his mind as the minutes and hours ticked by.

"Sakura," he whispered, over and over as the bit of memory warmed him...Sakura smiling with amusement at his flirting and bending over his restrained body to offer him a warm, affectionate kiss. He buried himself in that lovely memory, focusing all of himself on it until everything else disappeared and he dropped of into a deep sleep.

Sakura.

Kuchiki Byakuya.

I'll see you again.

I will.