His first sensation was cold. Everything was cold; his arms, his legs, his mind. The next thing he felt was a scraping hardness, almost like stone. Whatever he was laying on was damp, the ground steadily making him freeze. Shuuhei let out a shiver and opened his eyes, glancing around as his vision struggled to focus. Everything balanced out to a dim darkness, faint shadows flickering on the far wall. With a groan and creaking joints, the servant managed to sit up, placing a clammy palm to his forehead.

Shuuhei let out a whimper, glancing around. His eyes settled on a curled up heap in the corner, but he made no move towards it; he didn't think he could move just yet. As he looked around more, he realized that he was in a cave-like room, rusty iron bars blocking the only exit. Water dripped down the edges of the room, which explained the cold dampness he was feeling.

As he was busy figured out his new surroundings, the heap in the corner stirred. It shifted, moulding into a person. Their hair was dirty, wet and matted with blood. Several cuts resided on their arms, and as they shifted, a small noise left them. Almost instantly, the brunette's gaze whipped back around to look in their direction.

Through the dimness, he recognized the ragged individual as Grimmjow. WIth a few stumbles and jerky movements, Shuuhei made his way to the man's side. Grimmjow wasn't usually one to get injured, so whatever had attacked them had to be powerful. "Grimmjow, are you okay?" He asked. His voice was quiet, and it cracked at the end.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Shuuhei. What about you?" As Shuuhei watched, the blue-haired male tried to stand. His hands instantly went to those cold arms. "You're not strong enough yet. Give it a few moments; you'll get sick if you strain yourself too much. I'm perfectly fine, but what happened?"

With little complaint, Grimmjow settled back on his haunches, staring at the floor. The brunette reached up after a moment to trace the cut along the top of the man's head. It looked like he had been cut, or at least smashed head first into a wall. "Ichimaru Gin happened. He knocked out Izuru and then you. He came at me last, but he was so fast. I managed to cut his arm, but that was it. The next thing I knew, I was here."

As the story was told, Shuuhei's eyes widened. "Izuru! He must've taken Izuru!" The servant looked around, trying to see if there was another form in their prison. But there was nothing.

Izuru was no where to be found.

"Shit, shit," Grimmjow hissed. "He's the one that destroyed Izuru all those years ago." Shuuhei hadn't quite been told the story, but he knew that much. "Grimmjow . . . what exactly happened back then? Who is Ichimaru, and what did he do to Izuru?"

A small pause was strung between them, Grimmjow giving a small sigh. Shuuhei expected the man to turn away from him and refuse to speak, but moments passed and he began to talk.

"Back before Renji came to get you, the king had three advisors. Aizen Sosuke, Ichimaru Gin, and Tousen Kaname. They were extremely loyal, and no one ever suspected them of anything. The king relied on them to show him the way, but he often talked to Abarai when he needed more assistance, because he didn't fully trust them."

"Ichimaru and Izuru were together, and they seemed like a perfect pair. But Izuru often told me of what happened when they were alone; Ichimaru treated him like a dog, and forced him to try new and painful things when he didn't want to. He took Izuru's virginity without a second thought, and often violently beat him. The king and Abarai never really payed much attention to the bruises on him, because they all thought it was from training."

"When Aizen revealed his plan to overthrow the king and take over, Abarai, Izuru, and I, along with the others, managed to stop them. Aizen and Tousen fled into the shadows. But Ichimaru didn't leave; he almost killed Izuru, and then vanished. No one's sure where he went, but there used to be whispers around the castle about a strange ability that he had. No one knows what it is, but Ichimaru was said to use this to hide away. He hasn't been seen since."

Grimmjow fell silent, unsure on what to say. So Izuru had gone through horrible abuse, even worse than he was at the hands of Renji. Several moments passed and he opened his mouth to speak, when sudden clapping came from the doorway. Grimmjow and Shuuhei turned their heads, spotting someone standing there.

The same sadistic grin was along his face, but his clothes had changed. Everything was white, with black lines that ran over the edges of the cloth on his form. His hair was gleaming in the flickering light, and as they watched, the clapping came to a halt.

"Very good, very good. It seems like you figured something out. I am Ichimaru Gin, or as our little Shuuhei here calls me, Sori."

As that ran through his head, the brunette's mouth fell open in shock. Ichimaru was the cat, the white cat who had never left that garden. The one that had been there when he had first came to the castle. Sori was Ichimaru. Ichimaru was a shapeshifter, one of the rare beings that prowled the lands. And he had tricked them all.

"What a shame~ I thought it would drag out a bit more, this little game of ours. But it can't be any worse than the one you play with Renji all the time. You're barely even a player in that one. Just a pawn, little Shuuhei is, just a pawn."

Grimmjow sheilded him from the attack of words with a low growl, and with a bounce in his step, Ichimaru skipped away.

Oh look, another new chapter. xD I've been on a roll lately, so here's another new chapter. Might be a bit short, but had anyone made that connection yet? That Sori was really Ichimaru? Hmm, really brings up some mysteries, ne?~ Until next time! -Shuu