Chapter 06

Thrive to Live

Now—

It had been four excruciating days in this prison where men and women would use his body day and night without his consent to any of this. They branded him by placing one of those stupid bracelets on his right ankle and began calling him 'Chibi' and 'Pet' everyday. He would not tell them his name so that they could not soil it—in fact, he had not spoken since his first 'training session' as the called it. An hour ago, he had to service a large man that was the size of a sumo wrestler who gave no remorse for his small figure. It hurt—everything hurt; each time a man would use him for their sexual desires, he would bleed from the tearing inside of him. They were all savages that saw him as a piece of meat, and what was worse, he could not escape this Hell no matter how much he wanted to.

No one would remove the binds on his arms and wrists, they enjoyed watching him struggle for his survival as he would not eat the food that gave him because he would not stuff his face. Since there was a pipe leak in his cell, he could shift over and get a few drops each minute—more so if someone would run the water in the kitchen above him. This was Hell for him, there was no facility for him to use, making him go in a corner and sleep somewhere far away from it so he would not think of all the pride and dignity that he was losing. If he would ever see Kurosaki Ichigo again, he would apologize everyday for the rest of his life and let him call him whatever he wanted, even Pervert. Harribel would come every night and smack him around to make sure that he would receive a good punishment for his disobedience. In a way, he understood her protectiveness towards the Strawberry, especially when everyone would be protective.

"Chibi," a man called, unlocking his cage. "It's time for your public performance of the day."

Two men came in to grab his arms roughly as a third came in and gave him a shot in the arm to drug him as they would to make sure he was obediently. He still attempted to fight to stay in the cell because this was the one part of the day that he did not want to deal with; humiliation in front of a full room that could fit five hundred people easily. They threw him out so he would crash against the hallway before grabbing him again to head out onto the first floor where he then could sense him. His head jerked up and began to fight as much as possible to make sure that he would not get up on that stage if he was this close by. If he was seen like this, there was no telling what would happen—but he knew that above all else, he was not going to be happy with what he sees in any way.

"Untie me and give me my clothes or forfeit your lives." Toushirou spoke rashly, breaking his silence.
The men chuckled at him. "No way, we're getting twice as much money off you than we ever did."
"I'm not joking you imbecile!" He yelled at them seriously. "Kurosaki is on his way here and—"
The leader punched him in the gut. "Oh shut up, be a good boy, and stay quiet. Honestly…"

'Why don't I want Kurosaki to find me…?' He thought to himself, catching his breath. 'Being seen by Kurosaki is a better option than this...' The truth was, he was scared—terrified even. No one here knew who he was and knew his body, but he knew Kurosaki who would see everything. 'If it means freedom…'

They got on the stage, and placed him against a table to make the set up seem nicer for the audience to see some action. This humiliation had to stop now or else he would go insane, so his reiatsu began to rise immensely just before the man stuck a finger inside. Pain surged through him, it hurt too much that the wind was still knocked out of him, but felt the next finger insert and caress something inside him. Just bear with it a little longer, he only needed a few more minutes at the most as he could feel Ichigo's reiatsu flare with hate and anger. The fingers escaped his rectal, and felt something rub against it—there he was, he could feel him outside of the building, and he gritted as he shoved backwards to get the man off.

Toushirou fell over on the ground because of the drugs. "It looks like your time is up."

Before the men could bother asking what nonsense he was spilling, the doors to the front exploded by what Toushirou knew was a cero. "Sorry I'm late," it was his voice as he was coming in, "tracking you by foot was harder than I thought it would be." Kurosaki Ichigo came into sight. "Nice hideout though—"

Brown hues stopped at the site of everything, men and women now standing from their seats, six men on the stage, one with white colored hair. Seeing the small captain on the ground with no clothing stirred him into even more rage than a moment ago before pulling out his gun. Before anyone could scream in fear, he shot the five thugs in the forehead as he ran over and jumped on the stage to be at Toushirou's side.

"…took you long enough." The captain whispered.

This set him off as he yelled. "Ulquiorra! Kill them all!"

As the crowd heard this, they left their seats instantly and ran for their lives towards the exits, only to be slaughtered without knowing what happened. While they were being killed, Ichigo removed the binds from the small one's body before peeling off his hooded sweatshirt for the small one to wear. Before he could offer it, he watched Toushirou use his arms to cover himself from his sight, and he understood. He stood up from ground and dropped the sweater on the captain, telling him to cover up while he was not looking.

"Grimmjow!" Ichigo roared, and the panther-like creature appeared. "Destroy this facility to the ground."
"Understood," he began to leave, but paused to look at him. "Do you want a garganta opened for you?"
"Yes," a portal was opened, and he heard Toushirou trying to stand. He looked to him. "Can I carry you?"
Screw pride and dignity… he had none left. "Yes…" the captain answered. "They drugged me heavily."

Ichigo came over and bent down to pick up the captain who had only a sweater as protection to his body, but he was taken back. The captain wrapped his arms around his neck, making it a little easier to have the taller male pick him up as Grimmjow began to walk through the garganta. After they were escorted to Karakura Town, Grimmjow left to do the task that was demanded of him, but Toushirou looked. This was the university that his savior goes to school at… what were they doing here, why not at the apartment?

"Toushirou," Ichigo called softly. "I know you don't want to, but you need to get checked out."
"I've been humiliated enough." He was not trying to disobey, he was just stating facts.
His nodded softly. "I understand, but if they sexually—" he watched him flinch.
There was a long pause, but he hid his face. "I've been humiliated enough."

"I will check you myself, no one else should be in the university this late at night." He received no answer from him. "Have they assaulted you?" A weak nod. "Have they penetrated you?" A pause, then a nod. "I can take you to a preparation room to check you, or we can go home. But you could be eternally injured."

Who knew how long Ichigo stood there waiting for any sign of an answer, but it was obvious that he would stand there until he was told what to do. Turquoise hues turned to the university before nodded weakly; reluctantly agreeing to be checked on because he was in unbearable pain. On another note for that matter, Ichigo was a medical student, and so he would know what to do to help him without having to go to Soul Society to seek help from Unohana Retsu. If anyone else he knew about what he had been through over the past few days other than Kurosaki Ichigo, he would die on the spot. They entered the university and went to the second floor to a room that had a medical bed that was for testing purposes.

Ichigo shifted the captain in one arm to place an unused sheet on the bed before lying him down rather than sitting him down. "I'll let you keep the sweater on for now, alright?" He received a weak nod again. "Okay, do I have permission to check your body, both externally and internally? I need to know it's okay."

Eyes were shut tightly as he nodded again.

"Sorry, I would let you sleep while I do this, but you're heavily drugged." The Strawberry lifted his head to place a pillow under his head of white hair. "Look at me," it took a moment, but was obliged to, "I need you to stay still as I examine you, if you move around, I will stop and have to strap you down unless you tell me to discontinue, do you understand?" He received another nod. "Toushirou, tell me in your words."

"…I understand." Said male closed his eyes and turned away. "Don't… don't tell…"

"Even if you told me to, I would not breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll take this to my grave and then some." Ichigo got up and placed some gloves on while catching eye of the bracelet. 'I should have killed them all myself, those bastards.' He grabbed a stool and went to the end of the bed by the captain's feet. "Let me know whenever you want me to stop, I won't force you to continue the examination, understand?"

"…yes…"

He shifted slowly under the covers as he tried to use his senses other than his sight; it was nice gently silent area, and it smelt of Ichigo's apartment. Things were coming back to him—humans slaughtered upon an order before taken to the university where he was touched all over again. To his grateful surprise though, his savior's large hands were gentle to the touch and had not once caused him pain in any way. It made him look at him across his body to see the look on the man's face; caring, focused, and as mad as Hell though trying to hide it. After his body was examined and other things were grabbed, Ichigo carried him to the apartment to wash him carefully, and clothed him. Once given a bowl of ramen in bed, he was given some medicine to take before being told to get some rest, everything else he forgot.

His eyes opened and looked to the side to see Kurosaki Ichigo sitting in a chair next to the bed…

He was fast asleep. Toushirou did hear him say that he walked day and night to find him.

The captain began to recall the examination… how his body reacted to his touch.

Toushirou shuttered and sat up—immediately winced loudly at the pain.

Ichigo jolted in the chair and looked over to see what happened, only to see him sitting up. "Toushirou, I said you shouldn't sit up unless it was necessary. You want to heal fast, right?" He received no answer. "Ah… I stayed in here in case you would need something." His body rose to their feet. "I'll leave you—"

A hand grabbed his shirt. "Don't…" he stopped, noticing that he grabbed him, so he let go. "Sorry…"
"You've been asleep all day, it's Friday evening right now." Ichigo whispered. "Do you feel better?"
"Just knowing that I'm not there anymore makes me feel better. Thank you for coming for me."
"Did you doubt that I would?" The other turned away immediately. "I'm sorry for taking long."
"Tia Harribel…" Toushirou paused, clenching his fists. "She disobeyed you, Kurosaki…"
"Ulquiorra took care of it. I thought she would do as told… but she was the jealous one."

"I… disobeyed you…" he bowed his head. "I'm sorry… I tried but… they came…"

"You did nothing wrong," Ichigo stated softly, slowly coming to sit against the headboard on the bed, he ran a hand gently through the captain's hair, motioning him to lean back against his chest. "You're safe."

Toushirou wanted to say something to get him away, perhaps even shoving him away, but he embraced the actions tiredly. The hand cautiously lowered to his shoulder, rubbing it in a comforting manner that soothed the captain who hid his face. He was ashamed, humiliated, and all sorts of emotional feelings for being seen exposed like that, but Ichigo had not said a word about it. All the pride and dignity that he had for himself were washed away that left him with little to no self-respect at all, because of what happened.

"I'm sorry I failed you, Toushirou." He whispered softly, feeling the other become shocked at this. "Had I known that they would have ever truly gone after you, I would have killed them earlier." His hand held his shoulder firmly, but still in a gentle way. "I won't let anything else happen to you, you can lean on me."

"Dumbass…" he mumbled against him. "I'm leaning on you right now, aren't I?"
"You know what I mean Toushirou, I'll listen if you want to talk about anything."
"If you've been tracking me, what about your classes?" He felt him tense. "Y—"
"Finding you is more important than a few days of classes." Ichigo stated firmly.
"Kurosaki… you're classes are to have you graduate." The captain pulled away.

"My career means nothing if I can't share it with my friends." He looked down at the captain who sat slanted to ease the pain. "You know that I do anything to keep you guy's safe, even quitting school."

"You can't—nh!" Toushirou had gotten himself worked up causing pain. "You can't quit, not when you have worked so hard to get as far as you have." He clenched the man's shirt, trying to bear with the pain. "If you quit, it would be my fault because I got caught by those idiots. I won't let you give everything up." His lower half was becoming sore quicker, and he turned on his stomach, his head against Ichigo's chest. "I have the medicine you gave me, so starting next week you're going back to class, no discussion either."

Ichigo nodded softly. "If that's what you want."

Hearing the man say this had him had caught him off guard, causing him to look at him to see if he was being serious or not, and he was. His attention was then redirected as Ichigo grabbed something from the desk to reveal a plate of sliced watermelon—just looking at it had his stomach growl. Once Ichigo set it down on his own lap, he told him to go ahead and eat as much as he wanted since he knew he had to be hungry. He began to reach for one, but leaning on his stomach and half way on this man made it a bit difficult to attempt to eat one. After adjusting to a leaning on his back in a slanted angle to ease the pain on his behind, he leaned back against Ichigo chest, but it was still uncomfortable.

"It's hard to sit, isn't it?" Toushirou flinched, forgetting that the man was there. "If you lay at a slight sit up position against me, you won't have any pressure on your medical condition." He knew that if he called it rectal or anal tearing, it would bring back horrid memories. "It's only a suggestion, but your body would be in a more comfortable position." The Strawberry watched him nod weakly. "That's what you want then?"

"The position itself sounds vulgar, but…" the captain slowly sat up, "if it will ease the pain, I'll do as told." His attention went to the bed covers. "I know that you will not do anything to cause me harm, Kurosaki."
Ichigo set the plate on the desk before helping the wounded party on his lap—wrapping him loosely with the covers as one would with a towel after soaking. "Get as comfortable as you want, I won't complain."
"This is actually a lot better, thank you." Still, he shifted his legs to go on the outside of Ichigo's legs since the other way would remind him too much of what happened. "What about you? Are you comfortable?"
"Don't worry about me, here you go," he placed the plate of watermelon on the small one's lap. "Eat as much as you want, I had Kon buy a few watermelons for you. He bought ten large ones, so…" He sighed.
"It isn't your fault I was taken, you don't have to feel the need to be guilty, and you don't have to make it up to me." Toushirou grabbed a slice of watermelon. "I didn't obey your direct order, and that happened."
Anger flickered through him when hearing such an accepting tone, but knew it was a front. "Speaking of orders… wonder how long it'll take for Jii-san to figure out I had Ulquiorra kill hundreds of humans…"
"We weren't in Karakura Town, right?" His body fully leaned back, resting against the man's chest. "If it's true, then he wouldn't connect the dots. Or tell him the truth… that you were rescuing me from idiots."

"Dummy," Ichigo leaned his forehead against the other's shoulder. "You have no idea how worried I was."

The captain froze when hearing him whisper this to him, but he eventually gained enough courage to look on his shoulder to glance at him. Ichigo's face was hidden through his bright orange colored hair—he could faintly see that his eyelids were shut for some reason though. As if Toushirou did not know why he was resting his head on his shoulder; all he needed to do was remind himself of how hard he searched. How could a human search day and night on foot, searching for someone who would not call him a friend and treat him as if he was inferior.

"I'm sorry… if this scares you…" Ichigo shifted his head to look at him. "Can I borrow your shoulder…?" He saw the confusion. "Don't want to wake up to find out finding you was a dream." Toushirou relaxed.
"I suppose I can grant you that." If it were not for this man, he would still be in a cell, and being sexually assaulted right now. "By the way…" he set the watermelon down briefly. "Sorry… for kicking your face."
"Shut up," when examining him, Toushirou kicked him right in the face in fear of being violated, but he was not thinking when he lashed out; fighting. "You can kick and punch me all you want, Toushirou…"
"Sleep, Kurosaki," Toushirou demanded softly, trying to think things through. "You deserve it after all of the things you did to endlessly search and rescue me from those animals." He picked up the slice again.
"You haven't complained about my calling you by your name, Toushirou, I hope you didn't get sick while you were there." His forehead went back into place, slowly falling asleep with his shoulder as his pillow.
"I made a vow to myself, to let you call me by whatever you wanted, if you were to save me…" He heard the man's stomach growl, making him growl at the man. "When was the last time you ate something?"

"…breakfast on Tuesday morning around four in the morning." Ichigo answered honestly.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" His shoulder shifted him up a bit. "Here, take a bite before you starve to death." Ichigo looked at him unhappily for shoving the watermelon in his face, but listened by taking a little bite of the fresh watermelon. "That was pathetic, take at least two large bites or else I'll shove it all down your throat." He watched the man scowl and listened once again by taking two big bites. "Thank you."

"Eat the rest on your now, and don't worry about waking me. It'll be fine no matter what your reason is."

Toushirou watched the man place his forehead on his shoulder once again, this time he instantly fell fast asleep against him. This made him lightly smile because this man had gone beyond his limitations to do everything humanly possible to save him. He understood why he did not chase after him in his Shinigami form; there were misleading clues and something could have been missed. Not to mention that the door breaking down and people suddenly dying while screaming 'ghosts' did not seem fun. The captain knew that Ichigo wanted his face burned into the lifeless eyes of the thugs as he shot them in the head—

The watermelon slice fell onto the plate, causing a loud clanking noise that instantly stirred the host that tried to fall asleep. Ichigo could feel Toushirou's body just shivering in fear as if something had triggered his memories about the past few days. His large callused right hand came from underneath the captain's arm to wrap around him with his own arm, placing it on his left shoulder. He lightly embraced him while trying to hush him into a stable state of mind, and two hands held onto his arm tightly. A few minutes came and went as Toushirou began to ease down before looking at the man, frowning at the sight of him.

Kurosaki Ichigo was dead tired, but was doing his best to stay awake since he was needed. "You don't have to say anything that you don't want to." He whispered. " You don't have to explain anything to me unless that is what you want. But remember," he started softly. "You know I'm here if you need me."

Hearing these words brought tears to his eyes as much as he tried to hold them back, "thank you…" His head dipped, tears stream down his face, landing on the man's arm. "Thank you so much… Kurosaki."

If he were in Soul Society right now, everyone would have known about his rape sessions with beasts and savages. Knowing the Captain of the Fourth Squad, she would have asked her lieutenant to help, and that would start a chain of rumors to the point where everyone would know. Everyone would know that the child prodigy fell into the hands of humans and was sexually assaulted everyday—almost every hour for four straight days. He knew he would have to tell everything to that captain if he had been taken to her instead of being treated by this man holding him. The thought of a 'man' holding him made him feel sick to his stomach, but this was not a 'man,' it was Soul Society's hero, Kurosaki Ichigo. However, right here and now, being held onto by this man did not seem frightening because he did in fact, trust him.

Had he known that he would have been taken care of like this, would Toushirou really have postponed his own rescue? This man risked his life for him on two separate occasions now, and risked graduating at the top of his class for what had happened. He needed to be a better guest; he was here to get rid of any Hollow that crossed their path while Ichigo studied and prepared for his exams. The Strawberry slowly went back to sleep as soon as the captain picked up the slice of watermelon again, and he managed to eat the five slices after thirty minutes. As quietly as possible, he placed the plate on the desk next to the bed, nearly causing Ichigo to stir at the sound, but managed to return to his slumber.

Toushirou would not have forgiven himself if he had awakened the carrot top a third time, but now he too was wanting to go back to sleep. The problem was, he had to go to the bathroom after being awake for almost an hour after from his near twenty-four hour sleep. He placed a hand on the bigger one that held his shoulder, having Ichigo inhale sharply before pulling himself away from him; both arm and head. Now he did it, with just a small touch he managed to disturb the man who saved him from Hellish nightmare, so he frowned apologetically as the other tried to wake up more. His eyes met with half dazed brown hues as if he wanted to apologize for waking him, which he did want to do, but Ichigo spoke first.

"Sorry, is something wrong?"

"I didn't want to wake you." The captain started in a dull tone; no pride or dignity as he explained. "I have to go to the bathroom." His cheeks still became slightly red; embarrassed that he actually said this aloud.
"Do you think you can walk on your own yet?" He helped him off the bed and on his feet carefully, trying to let him try on his own first until he stumbled three times. "Come on, I'll walk you to the bathroom then."
As much as he wanted to decline, he had no strength to do so, leading him to nod his head slowly. "Are you trying to be this nice because of what happened?" He winced as he walked. "I don't need pity."
"No, you don't," Ichigo brought him to the bathroom door, "you need a friend." He opened the door for him slowly in case it would startle the little captain. "Use the counter to support yourself, okay? I'll be back."

"Where are you going!" Toushirou had said it so fast and sounded almost terrified, startling himself.

"I need to get you a bottle of water and your medicine ready." He was taken aback too, yet knew that he would not want to be alone; he made it sound like he was leaving. "I'll stand right out here if you want."
"N-No…" Those people were dead, they could not reach him any longer—Ichigo would not let them. "Go ahead and do what you need to, I'm fine." He used the counter to get in, and closed the door behind him.

Knowing not to trust his word because he would say the opposite, but he needed the captain to know it was okay to lean on him. He left to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator, then to the guestroom to prepare the medication needed; Toushirou did not like the antibiotics. Remembering that he was still sore, Ichigo had to go back to the kitchen to get a couple of ice packs ready for when he laid back down. After about ten minutes of waiting for Toushirou to come out of the restroom, he came over and knocked softly.

"Is everything alright?" There was no answer, he opened the door slightly. "Toushirou?"
"I'm… sorry Kurosaki…" his voice muttered in disappointment. "I'm bleeding…"
Ichigo sighed softly at this, "don't apologize, none of this is your fault."