Bleach (c) Tite Kubo. I am just a borderline obsessed fan.
"Ties that Bind" (c) Alter Bridge and its respective composers
Ties That Bind
Characters: Shiro/Hichigo
I tear on the leash
That keeps me contained and controlled
Let me go
I want to break free
And fight my way out of this hole
He woke up with the sound of whispers filling his ears. He twitched slightly at the annoying voices, already dreading the long day ahead of him.
"Momma, why does he look so strange, can I get closer?"
"Absolutely not! He could easily reach his hands out of those bars and strangle you. It is best if you stay by my side. Besides if he touches you he might give his disease."
A laugh echoed and he slowly opened his eyes, a grin spreading across his face "A disease is that what you think I have? If that's what I have then perhaps I could be cured. You would help a sick man, wouldn't you little girl?"
The mother scoffed in disgust, "How dare you talk to my daughter, you beastly freak."
He growled before lunging at the bars, his eyes murderous. As soon as his hands touched them an electric jolt coursed through his body, causing him to drop to the ground and hiss in pain.
"Shiro, Shiro, Shiro. How many times have a told you to stay away from the bars?"
Shiro slowly raised his head to glare at the man in front of him. The man's face was painted white and he had a thick black stripe going from his forehead to his chin with a portion extending over his orange eyes while his nose remained white A smaller white stripe went from the bottom of his lip to his chin. Around his face was a gold headpiece with strange gold cups covering his ears and ending at his chin, extending downward. His hair was a vivid blue and was styled into downward facing horns. The grin on his face revealed large orange teeth. And the woman thought that Shiro looked like a freak?
One last hope
To rise and break away
Above the faded line
Way beyond the ties that bind
This I know
The risk is worth the gain
It's worth the sacrifice
Way beyond the ties that bind
You can rot in hell, Mayuri Kurostuchi."
"Is that any way to speak to the man who controls you?"
"You can't control me."
"Oh?"
He turned toward a crowd of people and raised his hands, "Ladies, gentlemen, and children of all ages, welcome to my exhibit. Here you will find an assortment of human experiments done by yours truly. There is no need to fear them. They are strong, there's no doubt about that, but with one push of a button I can easily control them and show dominance. See?"
He extracted a large black remote from his coat pocket. On it were various assortments of colors. Upon pushing the white button another jolt of electricity caused Shiro to howl in pain, clawing at a collar on his neck in a desperate attempt to tear it off. The crowd of people stood and watch for a moment before walking away to look at the other "exhibits". Mayuri turned toward him and grinned sadistically.
"All the creatures here are at my mercy, Shiro, including you."
"Stop calling me that. That isn't my name."
"Do you prefer that I call you Hichigo, is that what you want? Do you want me to call you by your real name, Hichigo Kurosaki?"
Shiro stayed quiet, panting slowly, still gripping the collar around his neck.
"You're not a Kurosaki any more. You haven't been a Kurosaki since that fateful night four years ago."
"Shut up."
"You no longer have a family. Your mother is gone, your father is gone, your two younger sisters are gone, even your twin brother is gone. How can you be a Kurosaki if there isn't a Kurosaki family?"
"Shut up, shut the fuck up!"
He lunged towards the bar, only to collapse again as another jolt coursed through his body.
"When are you going to learn? I made you what you are today, you are merely an experiment and I am your creator. I will call you whatever I please. Speaking of experiments it's time for your daily injection."
A door at the back of his confinement cage opened and a strange…thing enter. Szayel Aporro Granz, another one of Mayuri's experiments. He however embraced his beast like appearance. His lower half was covered in purple tentacles that barely exposed his feet. His tentacles were overlaid by a white skirt thing and his torso was covered a grey material and long white sleeves that had four purple droplets on each one. His hands were white and his fingers were purple. Around his head was an odd head piece that looked like a piece of bone that extended over his ears and a smaller portion on his brow line. His eyes were also orange, like Mayuri's, and his left eye had purple markings around it while the right was covered by his pink hair. On his back were four long, grey protrusions that had red droplets hanging from them.
In short, he looked like the love child of an anemone and a butterfly.
"Get the fuck away from me," Hichigo growled.
"Now now Shiro, resistance is futile," he laughed as he waved the syringe before kneeling next to Hichigo, who had lost the energy to move. He grinned down at Hichigo's glaring eyes before injecting the black serum in his arm.
Immediately Hichigo felt a burning sensation run through his veins. He yelled a stream of profanities and curses, glaring menacingly at both Szayel and Mayuri. And then burning sensation stopped, just as quickly as it came
"Szayel, why don't you put more restraints on him, we wouldn't want him to try to escape again."
As the shackles were placed along his ankles and wrist Hichigo growled out, "You just wait Mayuri, I'm going to get out of this hell whole and the first person I'll go after will be you."
I run but the chains
Pull me right back to the floor
You control
I rattle the cage
I won't be your slave anymore
"You're a fool, Hichigo."
Hichigo turned to look at whoever spoke at him. Ulquiorra Cifer, also one of Mayuri's experiments. Ulquiorra's skin was a grayish-white while his arms were covered with black fur that started just above his elbows and ended at his hands, which were clawed. His waist and legs were also covered in black fur and his feet had talons. In the middle of his chest was a large black hole that had what looked like black blood running from it. His back sported a pair of large bat-like wings, and he had a long whip like tail that seemed to be the length of his body. His black hair reached to his waist, and on his head were a pair of bat like ears. He usually had an expression of cold indifference coming from his yellow eyes surrounded by a green sclera. Just below them were large black tear-like markings.
"What was that?" Hichigo breathed out, "You shut the hell up, Ulquiorra. Just because the rest of you have given up…"
"The rest of us?" another voice said, sounding insulted, "What makes you think I've given up?"
Hichigo turned to his left to find Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez glaring at him. He too was one of Mayuri's experiments. His body was covered in a white, skeletal-like armor with blades coming from his forearm and calf, and he had a circular hole in his stomach. The chest was open in a V showing some slightly tanned. On his head was a crown that also seemed to be made of bone. His teeth were long and sharp, like a predatory cat's and he had greenish blue cat-like ears. Under his eyes, which were a bright blue, were green tattoo like markings that extended to his ears. He sported a long feline tail and both his feet and hands had become black clawed paws. His light blue hair, which used to be about as long as his waist, had been cut short, ending just at the base of his neck.
"You cut your hair, Grimmjow."
"No fucking shit, is that the best comeback you can come up with?"
"I've never seen you attempt to escape for as long I've been here."
A female voice spoke up, "Well you're escape methods are loud and obvious. We've been here long than you have. We've learned stealth and secrecy."
"You're going to gain up on me too, huh Nelliel?"
Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck was the lone female in Mayuri's group of humans he had experimented on. She resembled a centaur. Her fur was a dull tan color with a black tail. The humanoid part of her had creamy skin and her bust was covered by a ratty green shirt. Along the bridge of her nose and across her cheek bone was a dark pink tattoo. Her hair cascaded down her back in thick waves of bluish-green and her hazel eyes were soft that showed maturity, sophistication, and intelligence.
"I'm not gaining on you; I'm merely trying to help you."
"I don't need your pity Nelliel."
He didn't. He was strong. He was independent. He survived without a family for years. He didn't need anyone to take care of him.
Hichigo hadn't the faintest idea as to why people were more disgusted by him than they were by the other three. He looked the most human out of all of them. His skin and hair were a ghostly white, and his irises were white, surrounded by black sclera. Maybe it was because he did look the most like a human that people treated him as if he were a monster. Human's after all fear the things that are most like them.
One last hope
To rise and break away
Above the faded line
Way beyond the ties that bind
This I know
The risk is worth the gain
It's worth the sacrifice
Way beyond the ties that bind
As the moon began to rise Hichigo awoke from his slumber with a sharp pain in his chest. It came out of nowhere. One minute he's sleeping peacefully (or as peaceful as one can sleep on a hard wooden floor), and the next it feels like someone is drilling a hole into his chest.
He ripped his shirt. No, shredded it. He stopped in shock, temporarily ignoring the pain.
"How did I do that?" he thought to himself.
He looked at his hands, blinking three times before processing what he saw and turning to the mirror installed on the back wall. Mayuri had mirrors installed on all the cages. Hichigo wasn't sure why, perhaps it was to mock them, or maybe Mayuri thought they would be "proud" of what he made them into. At the moment, Hichigo didn't care why Mayuri put the mirror there; he was more concerned with his new appearance.
On his face was an odd masked that was seemingly made of bone that covered the left side of his face stopping just above his upper lip. On the mask were three black pointed stripes on the left side. Under his eye, just over his cheekbone, were two black stripes that came together at a point closer to his nose. On his white chest was a hole that had six markings, three on each side that extended over his chest and shoulders. On both shoulders were four sharp looking spikes, and on his wrist were these black tufts. His hands had become clawed as well as his feet and on his wrist and ankles were black tufts. He sported a long reptilian tail that was tipped black, and he also seemed slightly more muscular than normal. His hair was longer too, reaching the base of his neck and had become a lot more untidy as well.
He touched the collar on his neck with a clawed finger before ripping it off. A predatory grin spread across his face and he did the same to the shackles on his wrist and ankles. He was strong. He was very strong. This made him happy, ecstatic even. He could finally escape.
Walking over to the front of the cage he gripped the wooden bars with his hands and squeezed tightly. Loud cracking sounds could be heard, waking up Grimmjow, Nelliel and Ulquiorra.
"Who the fuck is making all that racket?" Grimmjow grumbled angrily. He glared over at Hichigo's cage.
"Hichigo, what are do-"
He stopped upon seeing Hichigo's new appearance. Nelliel and Ulquiorra were speechless to for a moment.
"What happened to you?" Nelliel spoke quietly.
Hichigo didn't answer. He merely ripped the bars off his cage and proceeded to climb put.
"What in the world? What are you doing, Hichigo?" Ulquiorra spoke calmly, with an undertone of worry laced in his voice.
Hichigo stopped and turned slightly to look at the three of them, "I'll come back for you guys, don't worry."
Grimmjow called after him as he walked away, "Damn it Hichigo, wait!"
But he ignored him, and headed straight for Mayuri's house at the end of the road.
"What's he going to do?" Nelliel asked, fear in her voice for the first time.
"I'm not sure," Ulquiorra replied, "but I'm glad I'm not his target."
Mayuri sprang up in bed as he heard a loud crashes sound in his house. Before he could register what was going on a hand reached out and yanked him from his bed. He was face to face with the new Hichigo.
"Interesting, it seems Szayel gave you too much serum, Shiro…"
"I told you, that isn't my name."
He held up his hand to strangle him, only when he did a crimson orb started to form from it. He looked at it curiously before placing his hand closer to Mayuri's face.
"Wait! Let's talk about this shall we? I could bring your family back with a bit of your DNA you know?"
The crimson orb in Hichigo's hand dwindled slightly, "My family?"
"Yes of course. Though there would be a price. How about, I bring them back for you, and then I can experiment on them as much as I please. What do you say?"
Hichigo's eyes blazed angrily and the crimson orb grew in size. With a sadistic grin on his face he spoke one word:
"Die."
"What the fuck?" Grimmjow asked as he, Ulquiorra, and Nelliel witnessed a crimson explosion come from Mayuri's house.
Smoke billowed everywhere, obscuring their vision. When it had cleared Hichigo's lizard like silhouette started getting closer and closer. When he finally reached them, he didn't speak. All he did was rip the bars off their cages, much like he did to his own.
"There, you're finally free."
"We're going to have to find a place to hide where no one can find us. We've got to stick together," Nelliel spoke up.
Hichigo raised an eyebrow at her, "We?"
"Are you not going to stay with us, Hichigo? It'll be much more beneficial to us if we work as a team. Besides, all we have is each other."
"I don't work in teams, I work alone."
"And what exactly do you plan on doing?" Grimmjow mocked.
"I plan on giving people the same treatment they have shown me over the years, and I'll become their worst nightmares."
You broke me into pieces
Don't tell me what to be
Damn you all I'm gonna find my way
Author's note:
Holy breadsticks, this took forever to get out. Sorry for the long wait folks.
Obviously the espada are in their Resurrección forms with a few minor changes. You might have noticed I didn't give Nelliel her mask, and I made Grimmjow's hair shorter.
Why, you ask? Because I didn't want her to have her mask and I like Grimmjow better with shorter hair.
You might have also noticed I combined Full Hollow Ichigo's first and second forms. I made his hair shorter for the same reason as Grimmjow's.
The way this songfic is written seems like it could pan out into a series. so, there is a slight possibility that I might do that. We'll see...
Reviews would be lovely!
God bless,
SingingButterflyRose