Chapter 16

It was there. He felt the barrier and without a though, blasted through it and watched with enraged eyes as it shattered into pieces and revealed a small black door behind. The instant he saw it though, it felt as if his soul was being sucked into a vortex and his body dissolving into a slow burning fire.

"Damn it!" Renji jumped back, hissing in ease as the sensation left his body. Ichigo appeared beside him, whistling at the door.

"Instant hollowfication for anyone who touches the door."

"I figured that out."

"Hence the part where Aizen said make sure I'm with you."

"Gee, and here I thought he was just trying to rub Rukia's choice in my face." Renji mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Speak up Boke."

"OPEN THE DOOR DUMBASS!!"

Ichigo snorted and walked to the door, placing on his mask as he entered the field. Palm flat against the cold stone, a wave of black reiatsu flared from the orange head boy, which consumed the blackness on the door, draining it into his being.

"Damn it," Ichigo seethed before he collapsed, mask vanishing, just as the block swung open to the slightest degree.

"ICHIGO!!" Renji ran to the limp form, checking over his vitals. A brown orb met his and a smug smirk crossed the limp figure's lips and Renji knew the brat was going to be okay.

"You should probably go check in there don't you think?"

"Whatever." Renji yelled for the fourth division to come up at once and watched as Ichigo was carted off to be healed. Two other lieutenants were asked to stand watch and be ready to heal whoever was to come out of that door. With that all said and done, Renji took a deep breath, and braced himself as he entered the cell.

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There was someone calling out to him now. The door was opening and the warmth was getting closer. Someone was coming in. No, he didn't want anyone else to come in anymore. He just wanted to stay in his corner where the red head was there to keep him company. They were shifting through now, picking their way over the gruesome excrements that lay all over the floor. He didn't care. He just wanted them to go away. A voice was calling out now. It was soft, hesitant, not like their voices. It wasn't them. But who was it. He had been greeted by a soft voice before, but that voice was slithering, crawling under his skin making him whimper and scrunch even tighter. Apparently his shuffling ha been heard and whoever they were, was coming closer. Please go away, please go away. Apparently those thoughts had come out as whimpers because whoever it was, was coming closer still. No more, no more, no more. The warmth was back too, scorching him, burning him, crashing him, but not letting him go. Please, please, please, please, how many times had he begged now, how many times had he been denied. A sharp light came into his view and a harsh gasp was shaken from the intruder. They were making a fast way towards him now. It was too loud, too loud. He buried his head behind his knees and slammed his hands onto his ears. He was there. The person, the warmth, the light. They were kneeling in front of him now. They were talking to him, softly, gently. He didn't understand. All he did was bury himself deeper; waiting for the blows and the laughter.

"Can you look at me?" It wasn't an order, it was a question, not like the ones they asked. It was a plea. A soft plea. Why were they pleading to him, he should be pleading to them.

"Can you look at me, please?" There, that please again. Slowly, he looked up, and met brown eyes, a red strand on hair, falling across his face.

"

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The room was dark, dank, but this one didn't smell quiet as bad. There were chains hanging in various areas, blood stained tools left behind. But it was everything that he knew he was stepping in on the floor that was about to make his stomach roll.

"Is anyone here?" He called. Silence met him. He called out again. Still no answer came. He walked a little more. Still there was only the eerie silence.

"Can anyone hear me in here?" a muffled rustle this time from one of the darkest corners of the room and Renji grabbed it like a life line.

"Don't be scared, we're not here to hurt you." Panicked whimpering started from the same corner and Renji picked his way over. Mutter a Kidou, he lit a small light and instantly say the curled figure. A plain white robe clothed him but Renji could not make out the face for the prisoner had buried it in his knees.

"Hey, can you hear me?" The prisoner only buried himself tighter, hands rising and blocking his ears.

"Am I being too loud." More whimpering. He needed to see his face. He needed to see if this is the one he had been searching for.

"Can you look at me." The whimpering stopped and the prisoner seemed to freeze. A response, finally. But still no face.

"Can you look at me please." He sank to his knees in front of the huddled figure, eyes pleading that this would work. Slowly the dark head raised itself and pieces him with a gray, frightened gaze.

"No." The figure looked at him shaking, the entire body trembling as if holding the gaze was killing him. Renji could see the whimpers in the back of a pale throat, marred by a thick metal collar. The gaze suddenly locked on his hair that had fallen across his face and the figure stopped breathing. A trembling hand reached for it, while the eyes began to lower themselves letting the shivers take over. The fingers grasped it and pulled, hard, that Renji bit his lip to keep from yelling out, knowing that it would scare the figure even more. Suddenly, the entirety of the white clad being fell into his arms, knocking him off his knees and flat onto the ground, the pale hand never leaving his hair.

"Byakuya."

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Red. Red. Red. He needed the red. The red wasn't real though. It couldn't be real. He was still asleep. He was dreaming. He reached and grabbed it and pulled. It did not disappear this time. It stayed. The red stayed.

"Byakuya." His name. But he could not let go of the red. Even as the black ate away at his world again,

and dulled voices yelled out in the background. He would not let go of the red.