[Five Years Ago]

Ichigo's first thought was pain. A lot of pain. His arms were behind him in some sort of painful kido, and he was held down to the floor with it. He looked up to see a face that surprised him. Rukia was watching him carefully, seated on a low futon in front of him. He looked around to see that he was in…in…Kuchiki manor? He wondered what had happened; he was…what had happened? He couldn't put his finger on it. He was fighting Aizen. He was about to use everything he had on him to…what? He went in the Dangai. His father had held back the current so he could go to his inner world. Shiro and Tensa had Merged and then he was different, in a sort of final form…but then what? He blinked and struggled against the kido.

"Rukia?" he said. "What's going on? Why am I bound?"

She smirked at him. He was a little surprised. Since when did the midget smirk? "Why wouldn't you be bound? We don't let hollows run free in Soul Society."

He stared in disbelief for a while. "What the hell are you talking about, Rukia? I'm not a hollow!"

"Close enough. That power you call up, I've seen it. And it is sickening. How can you even do something so disgusting? We kill hollows, we don't become them," she said with a deathly softness. "And then, what you did to Aizen? That kind of power cannot be allowed to roam freely. There was nothing left when you were done. Disgusting."

Ichigo blinked and tried to say something only to feel something connect painfully with his jaw. If he hadn't been bound to the spot he would have fallen with the force of it. He felt blood running down his face and he gasped to look up and see a familiar red haired Shinigami. He hadn't evens seen him come into the room.

"Renji, the hell, what is going on?" he yelled in frustration as he struggled against the hado binding him. He had broken this thing before, this was that paralysis one. Wait, was it? He was so confused right now.

Renji grinned at him in a very unnatural way that reminded him of someone else. His mind couldn't put his finger on who it reminded him of though; who did that predatory grin reminded him of? He should know. He should know who that terrible, horrible grin reminded him of…

"You shouldn't talk unless yer told, Pet."

Ichigo scowled up at him. "The hell you call me, bastard?"

It was a comment followed with another kick, this time to his temple, sending him reeling and pitching forward. For some reason the kido didn't hold him in place anymore. He blinked away stars and pulled himself up again and found that Byakuya had replaced Rukia. Wait, he hadn't even seen her move. What was happening to him? Byakuya was staring at him with that stoic expression but something was wrong. Ichigo shook his head. That couldn't be Byakuya. Byakuya didn't smile and now he was smiling at him.

"Forget what you have known, no one is going to help you now, you belong to me, nothing more than a pet for my amusement," the raven-haired man said softly. "A tame hollow. It was this or you were to be put to death. We, the other Taichou and I, decided that you would make better amusement for us in this fashion. Bound like the monster you are, and a thing for our use. You can imagine how satisfying it is to take out anger and frustration on someone that represents everything we hate."

Ichigo scowled and tried to pull his arms free again. "What the hell are you talking about? Whose idea is this? I'm not amused, let me out of this damn kido!"

In flash, Byakuya was kneeling in front of him, one hand painfully gripping his chin. From behind, he felt Renji and something slapped harshly around his neck. His eyes bulged. It was heavy.

"All good pets wear a collar," Byakuya whispered and forced his mouth onto Ichigo's.

In surprise, Ichigo sucked in a breath, giving the noble a chance to force his tongue into Ichigo's mouth. The surprise only lasted a moment and Ichigo scowled even deeper. He then bit down on the intruding member as hard as he could. There was no noise from Byakuya as he pulled away, wiping blood from his mouth. Ichigo felt accomplished. He'd made him bleed. No matter what, he'd made the stoic bastard bleed.

"I wasn't going to do this the first day, Pet, but you will be punished for that," he whispered in a quiet tone, and for a moment Ichigo felt his stomach tighten at the threat and promise in that voice. But why did it sound wrong? Why did it make him think it wasn't Byakuya? Something flickered in the back of his mind, something fluttered and screamed there and he couldn't remember what it was…something was missing. Something was very wrong.

He didn't have time to contemplate it as he felt hands on his hips. He was on his knees, bent forward, and Byakuya was holding his chin to keep his upper body upward. It was the same one Tessai had used in the hell hole, he realized. Wait, didn't he think it was the paralysis one a second ago? Something wasn't right, something was off.

Byakuya let go and Ichigo fell forward with a crash, his nose busting into the floor. He let out a painful sob and he felt his knees and ankles released and forced apart. He was so concerned with the pain blossoming in his nose he almost didn't notice that he was exposed now. What happened to his clothes? He hadn't even noticed that he didn't have his shihakuso.

"No, stop, what are you doing!" he cried, trying to move from his awkward position. He managed to turn his head behind him and he saw Byakuya staring at him with those eyes, and a smile that didn't belong.

Byakuya smirked again and Ichigo realized suddenly what he was going to do. He struggled again and then screamed as Byakuya forced himself into him roughly. Tears sprung unbidden to his eyes. He felt burning pain shoot up his back and down to the arches of his feet. He was sure that this was perhaps the most humiliation he had ever endured.

"Byakuya, stop! Itai! Itai!" he screamed, shaking his head.

"Fool, it is supposed to hurt. And it will only get worse, so unless you want me to continue to punish you, you'll do as you are told," he said roughly. Ichigo turned his head to see Renji kneeling in front of him.

Renji grinned again and Ichigo felt the tickle at his mind that he looked like someone else when he did that, but before he could think, his jaw was being forced open and Renji was forcing himself into his mouth, gagging him as his body fought to eject the offending object lodging its way down his throat.

"Slutty Pet," Renji whispered. "You'll behave or I'll go and make sure that all your friends die here. Humans don't deserve to be in Soul Society, especially not those with hollow granted powers and idiot Quincies that should be dead. They deserve to be punished like this too, do you think your princess would like the feel of my cock in her throat like this?"

Ichigo felt a creeping horror as he shook his head, his breath ragged by now. Pain was shooting up his back like a knife. Renji bucked into his mouth and before long he felt the sick feeling of warm liquid shooting into his throat. Behind him, Byakuya having a difficult time maintaining his rhythm, and he met his completion. Ichigo's stomach turned and lurched, as he pulled out of him, and warm, wet liquid ran down his legs. He smelled blood.

"You can stay here until Rukia-sama comes back to teach you your place with her tools, Pet," Byakuya said, leaving the shocked Shinigami substitute to stare blankly into space as blood pooled underneath him.

Over the next year, Ichigo watched as his world unravel around him. People he trusted, people he loved, even, in and out of his small, tortured room. He was let up from the kido, but he had no power. At some point, someone had placed thick black bracers on his wrists sealing off his power. They would come and torture him. Renji, Rukia, and Byakuya. His body was not his own, and they took great pleasure in tormenting him in every way possible. The room was empty other than the corner he was chained to, thick rings embedded in the collar ensuring that he couldn't break them. If he was lucky, the chains weren't used to beat him.

The irons were nearly unbearable some days. The searing hot pain was enough to make him cry when they left, thick stripes of burned flesh on his legs putting him in agony. Rukia loved using the irons, laughing when she did it. He knew she shouldn't enjoy torturing him. If he was lucky, she wouldn't turn the irons and use the handles in other painful ways. He had no idea how she even knew how to do these things to someone.

Renji and Byakuya would come to him daily, forcing him into degrading acts that he would have never imagined that they would do. It became that being beaten was the least of his worries. If they hurt him too much, they just healed him. He sat at the edge of life and death so many times, pleading with them to let him die. They wouldn't let him die. He felt that it would never end. The count of days had been lost long ago. He grew used to seeing blood, bone, and worse.

He wouldn't break. He refused to submit. No matter what they did, he refused to give them what they wanted.

He still fought them. No matter how many times he was kicked, or heard the crunch of his ribs or fingers, he still fought. Refusing to call them master, or sama, and refusing to refer to himself as pet. He was not a pet, and he would be damned if they broke him. He couldn't tell time, of course, but he knew a lot of time had passed. He was nursing a couple broken ribs, curled up on his mat, the thought of covering his nakedness lost long ago. He heard someone enter and he looked up in surprise to see Tōshirō. This was the first time someone had come to him besides Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya and his heart raced.

"T-Tōshirō? He said to the small captain, who stared at him, tilting a head to the side.

"Such trash," he muttered. "You've become such dirty, used trash," he said walking over to him. "Disgusting. You won't even acknowledge your position. It's been a year, and you still resist. Not anymore," he said and pushed him back on the floor, his eyes searching Ichigo's for a sign that the spark was gone.

The one over him found the spark still alive despite the beatings, the punishments, the pain. He shook his head impassively and struck him and pushed him down. For some reason, pain lanced through Ichigo's heart looking up into the face of the small captain as he forced himself on him. He was smaller than Ichigo, but Ichigo was weak, and shocked that Tōshirō of all people would do something like this. When he had finished Ichigo turned back. He thought maybe it wasn't true. Ichigo was sure that this was some sort of thing where Renji, Rukia, and Byakuya had done this to him without their knowledge. He was sure someone from the Gotei would save him if he just held on. No, they knew already. They allowed it.

"Kuchiki-Taichou has tired of you so he's letting us have our way with you when we want. I'm sure everyone will enjoy punishing a Monster like you," he said with seething venom as he left.

For some reason, Ichigo was left shaking. He'd been trapped like this a year in this hell? The rest had turned on him too? It was too much, even the pain lancing through his ass didn't stop him from rocking back and forth with arms wrapped around his knees. They'd all decided that he was a monster? All of them? Surely…no, he thought. Images of the kind Toshiro, fighting beside him flashed in his mind. Then they disappeared. It wasn't long after that Ichigo recalled the small Arrancar coming to him. He believed him to be imaginary because he couldn't be real. The blond haired Arrancar would come and sit with him and talk to him. He would tell him things that were so odd he couldn't be real at all. He would talk about the sands, and the strange hollows that walked among them, and other things. Perhaps it was his presence that made things easier.

Ichigo resisted still.

Even when he watched Ukitake come to him and call him names so despicable he didn't want to remember them. Then he'd take needles, and Ichigo knew pain from such tiny things that he could not have imagined before it happened. Still, there was something wrong with Ukitake…he wasn't right, and Ichigo couldn't make his mind work to figure out why he was wrong…

Zaraki came to him often, the tall menacing figure that haunted his sleep as well as his wake. There was something wrong, though. Zaraki's smile was too wide, too many teeth, and Ichigo didn't know why. He'd enjoy using his body in horrific manners that left him on the edge death, only to be pulled back by Mayuri.

Kyōraku enjoyed using water for some reason. He had no idea why. He'd heard of water torture, but this was more than he'd imagine. The droplet torture was by far the worst, though, even more than being dunked in boiling water until he was forced to breathe it.

Unohana would visit him, and of all of them, he almost enjoyed her visits. She'd give him things that made him sick, and would whisper "amor" in his ear and he felt really nice. It was torment, inside his head, anyway, but there was sometimes a peace that fell over him. He couldn't imagine Unohana being so sadistic…

Soi Fon and Ōmaeda scared him far worse than any of the rest. Soi Fon took sadistic glee in prying his legs apart and proceeding to mutilate and torture his male bits. After she left, as he was sure he'd die, Mayuri would appear. He would do something that healed, and sometimes entirely regrew, the mangled parts. These sessions generally included Ōmaeda crushing his hands or his feet with hammers, or sometimes both. Again, they would be healed, eventually.

Ikkaku and Yumichika would come together as well. Yumichika to flay the skin from his body, and Ikkaku to cut him with his sword, sometimes in small places, others in large. They would then pour the contents of Ikkaku's sake jug over his head and laugh as he screamed.

He snarled and cursed their very existence as they called him a monster. He gave them no satisfaction as he held on to his voice longer than they expected. He tried to not scream for them, but no matter how hard he tried, it would eventually happen. Whether he was watching them peel the skin off his body, or piece his flesh again and again, or throw him to the ground and force themselves or objects into him to watch him writhe in agony…

It didn't matter. He wouldn't break. He refused to give them what they wanted. He was sure that every piece of him had been destroyed and repaired at some point. He'd lost his eyes numerous times, and he knew that his ears had been pierced more than once, but he lost count. He lost so much to so many of the people he called friends.

He kept hope though. The Vizard, Urahara, Orihime, Chad…and Uryū. The name sliced pain through him to think. Had he realized he was gone? Had he realized he was in pain? He would say their names in his sleep sometimes, and then everything would burn hot in his mind.

He only knew he wanted it to stop. He wanted to die.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Kon stepped off the train with Aiko and Seras. Seras smiled and took one of his hands while Aiko took the other. He nodded.

"You never wanted us to come with you," Seras said in her gentle way. In a way, she reminded Kon of Orihime. She was a gentle soul with big brown eyes that cried easily. Of course, her large breasts had been what first got Kon's attention, but it had been her smile that kept it.

"I've never wanted to come back," he said with a smile at her. "But this is important."

They approached the clinic and Kon took a breath. He knocked upon the door and when it swung open he blinked. It was Karin.

"Kon…" she hissed. "What are you doing here, Yuzu…" she muttered and winced.

"Karin! Who is it…oh! Anaki!" Kon heard and Aiko noted how sad he looked as a girl with brown hair pushed the dark-haired girl at the door aside.

She ran out and hugged Kon tightly. "Oh, Ichigo, Pop said you were so busy you couldn't come! It's a special day!"

Kon frowned and looked at Karin. "Oh?" he said and feigned a smile.

"Yes, silly Anaki! Today's the day Karin graduates from the dojo!" she said with a smile at her sister. "But you are late! You missed everything! Come in! Who is this?" she said realizing that there were two others with him.

"Ah, Karin," Kon said, gesturing to the dark haired girl. "And Yuzu, this is Aiko and Seras."

"It is nice to meet you, Kon talks about you all the time!" Seras said and took Yuzu's hand. Yuzu blinked and looked at Kon.

"Kon?" she asked. "Why does she call you that, Anaki?"

"A…" Kon stammered.

"A nickname, stupid," Karin said and smacked Yuzu on the back of the head lightly. "You know what a nickname is don't you?" She shuffled her sister into the house.

Kon sighed and followed the girls into the house. Behind him, Seras and Aiko exchanged a confused glance but followed.

"Pop! Ichigo's here!" Yuzu yelled up the stairs. "He brought friends too!"

Karin turned and glared at Kon. Kon ran a hand over his head and looked away. "I'm sorry," he said quietly before Yuzu came back with Isshin.

He looked surprised. "Ah, K…son!" he said and glanced at Karin and back to him. "Ah, what brings you to town?"

"Pop, he's here to see Karin after her graduation, what do you think?" Yuzu said with a shake of her head. "I'll go make tea and get some cookies for everyone!" he said and took off to the kitchen.

Immediately both Karin and Isshin stepped closer. Isshin spoke under his breath. "What are you doing here?"

"I came because…there's something wrong…I don't…" he stammered.

"You know what it does to see you. And Yuzu gets so excited, I can't…if she finds out the truth, Kon, it will kill her!" Karin growled as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Kon sighed. "I shouldn't have come," he said and started to turn away.

Aiko though grabbed his arm. "Wait, what is happening? Does this have to do with that painting? That's why you came, ai. Tell them. I know you didn't want to come but you have to show them. You said it had to do with your stolen life, Kon."

Isshin and Karin stared at him and back at Kon. "Does he know?"

Kon shook his head. "Not really, well yes and no. They know me as Kon, not Ichigo," he said with a sigh as he turned the backpack around he was wearing. "But, no, I…I don't remember painting this. At all. It was supposed to be his Shinigami form, not this. This is…isn't like anything I've ever done," he said as he turned the painting around.

Isshin took it. "You…why would you paint this?"

"I don't know, I don't even remember doing it!" he said with a frantic tone. "Something's wrong, really wrong, and I can't…I can't understand why!"

"Fuck you people are so goddamned stupid," came a voice from behind them.

Everyone turned and looked to see Grimmjow crouched on the back of the sofa, hands dangling between his knees, staring at them.

"What is that?" Seras gasped, putting both hands to her mouth and staring.

Isshin looked at her and Aiko, both staring at the Arrancar. "Oh…Kon, they're spiritually aware?"

Kon shook his head. "I had no idea," he muttered. "I've never changed bodies around them," he said as he looked to Grimmjow. "What are you doing here? Aren't you dead?"

Isshin had moved to put an arm in front of Karin.

Grimmjow snorted, reaching up to idly scratch his ear with his pinky. "Yo, if I wanted ya dead ya'd already be dead, idiots."

No one relaxed much, but he hadn't expected them to relax. "Look, fuck if I know what I came here for, but I fuckin' know wrong when I see it. I can't find the Woman so I came here, figured his daddy might know where she is."

"Who?" Isshin said with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Ichigo, baka. He's in soul society by now. Broke as fuck, though. You might want to see if you can find that woman to try and fix him."

"Ichigo is dead," Kon whispered, staring at him. Behind him, Seras and Aiko had gripped each other's hands but didn't speak. "He died. They found his broken Zanpakutō. I've been in his body for five years now. He's gone."

"Stupid mod soul," Grimmjow said, sighing and jumping off the back of the sofa to step forward with his hand shoved in his pocket. "You're in his fucking body, idiot. And you haven't felt anything?"

Kon shook his head. "I feel things, yeah, but I…"

Grimmjow pushed past him and grabbed the paining. "Well, that's a pretty fucking good picture of him."

Kon turned. "What?"

"What he looks like now, anyway," he said. "Though a few more bruises around the cheeks, you know, maybe a few more things. Like you don't have half the shit they used on him. Irons, knives, needles, hammers," he said, touching each image as he spoke. "But there was more, of course. And you didn't get the Kuchiki seal on the cuffs," he said as he brushed a finger over the silver cuffs."

"What are you talking about?" Isshin said. "You're saying my son's alive?"

"If you call it that," Grimmjow said and handed the painting to the stunned looking Karin. "I mean, I was there when Aizen got back to Las Noches with him five years ago. He was so fucking proud of fooling you all. Making you think he and Ichigo were dead. Did a good job, took him the first year to resurrect the Espada, of course. But that's when the real fun began. He loved to torture him, though. Fucker. Ain't right, you know, I just wanted a chance to fight him, not what they turned him into."

Isshin looked like he was unable to respond yet. "So, when Wonderweiss walked out of Las Noches with him today, I thought, fuck it. I'll go tell the Woman to go see to him. I mean, maybe she can fix him. I don't know. But she ain't here, so I came here. Do what you want, gotta get back before fucking Aizen decides to have fucking Luppi crush my fucking nuts since he lost his favorite plaything." He paused and sighed. "But ya should fuckin' see if you can help him. He's still fuckin' in there, barely, he asked me a few times to kill him. And if he gets enough of himself back, he may do it himself."

Grimmjow turned and before anyone could react, opened a garganta and was gone. Kon watched the spot. "He's not dead. Ichigo's not dead."

Aiko and Seras realized as they stood there that there were family pictures. The two girls, one boy, and the father. Not two. "You aren't a twin, are you?" Aiko whispered. "It wasn't your twin that died five years ago."

"What are you talking about? Who died?" Yuzu asked as she came out of the kitchen. She looked at the painting in Karin's hands and then looked at her father who had tears streaming down his cheeks.

There was a knock at the door and Yuzu just sat the tray down and opened it to see Renji and Rukia standing there, trying to both look normal, but the moment they saw Isshin and Kon they exchanged a look.

"Is it true?" Kon said as he turned and looked at them. "Is he alive?"

Rukia glanced at the others in the room and nodded. "He…he's alive. How did you…?" she started.

"Grimmjow," Isshin said. "He came through to find Inoue to see if she could heal him. He said he had no idea why he just did."

"I…I took Chad, Uryū, and Orihime through earlier, for the memorial service, but…but he's there, well, sort of…" Rukia whispered and looked down.

"He said they tortured him." Kon stared at her, hands balled into fists and vibrating.

Rukia nodded. "We…we don't know everything yet."

"Aizen did it. Aizen and the Espada. He resurrected them," Kon continued. "And…no one knew? You looked for him. You said he was gone, there was no way…"

Renji nodded. "I know what we said, but we…he used perfect hypnosis again, and tricked us into thinking they were dead and then…he…he…" Renji stopped, choking on the words. "He made him think we did it."

Isshin blinked. "What do you mean?"

"He thinks Nii-sama had him captive in Kuchiki Manor. And that we tortured him," Rukia said. "He's hurt, and his reiatsu is sealed by artificial means…and they told me…he's not himself right now. He thinks that the people that hurt him were soul society, not Aizen. He used the complete hypnosis to convince him that all of soul society had turned on him. He's afraid of everyone in Soul Society. And he can barely talk. We can't reach him. He's more damaged than we even know," Rukia said quietly, looking at his hands instead of the others."

Kon took a shaky breath. "Grimmjow said Inoue might be able to help him, maybe the only one that can fix the damage, whatever that means."

"Unohana-taichou is working with Urahara-san and Kurotsuchi-taichou to see if Inoue can help remove the sealing cuffs from his arms. We think we might be able to reach him, but we aren't sure," Renji said with a sigh.

"What are these cuffs?" Isshin said, having gotten his emotions back under control.

Rukia spoke softly. "They…they grafted these reiatsu sealing cuffs onto him, practically to the bones in his forearms. They're somehow connected into his nervous system; Urahara-san and Kurotsuchi-Taichou are trying to figure out how to remove them without killing him. But we're not sure of the damage they've done. His…his long-term memory, all the higher thinking skills, those parts of his brain…they're barely functioning, and we don't know if they have been destroyed or simply suppressed."

Karin surprised them by speaking. "Why would they do something like that?"

Renji closed his eyes. "See, like we said, we think Aizen used the hypnosis, convinced him that we…Kuchiki-Taichou, Rukia and me, were his tormentors. And later the rest of the captains and his friends from soul society. From what we can tell he wouldn't break, so they used the cuffs on him to train him, like some kind of animal. He's functioning…like…one."

Isshin nodded. "I'll leave my Gigai, Karin, I'm going to leave it to you to explain to Yuzu what's happened," he said as he went up the stairs and returned shortly in his shihakuso and haori.

"Can they come with me?" Kon asked.

Rukia nodded. "I have three hell butterflies, come."

"If you want?" Kon asked, looking between Aiko and Seras.

"Kon, we'll go with you wherever you need us to go," Seras said as she leaned up and kissed his lips softly.

"You know this," Aiko said, kissing his hand where he held it.

Together, they followed the Shinigami. He smiled, and nodded. "Thank you for trusting me."

Aiko put his arm around Kon's back. "We do more than trust you, we love you."

Isshin, glanced behind him to hear them, curious as to what Kon had found when he left Karakura Town.