-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Nnoitra didn't know what to do with the boy. Nnoitra was sitting on his bed and staring at the floor where beside his bed, the young man was curled into a ball on in a thin sheet fast asleep. He sighed, pulling the facemask off and looked down at him for a long time.
It had been a couple days since he'd found Ichigo in the yard. So far, he couldn't get much information out of him, and getting him to leave his office or bedroom was impossible. He wouldn't even come out to eat with the others, and he would hide in the adjoining bathroom when even Tesra came into the room. Then, at night, Nnoi would try and get him to sleep in the other bed, but he would invariably end up on the floor beside his bed. He wasn't sure why, but he guessed that since Nnoitra had "saved" him, he felt like he was safe around him.
Nnoitra leaned over with a sigh and scooped the much smaller and lighter body up and put him in his bed beside him. He supposed he should at least be comfortable. He turned and curled into Nnoitra's side and sighed, never waking up as he moved him. He was worried about the boy, but he didn't know anyone who would be able to help with this odd situation. He had spent more time trying to figure out what to do, but he was going to have to go to classes tomorrow, and he was worried about what was going to happen. The weekend had been quiet, but the next day was Monday, and he couldn't skip classes. He couldn't really take him with him either… He supposed he'd have to get him out to stay with his family tomorrow. They'd agreed to give him a couple days to try and see if he could come out of his shell.
Nnoitra sighed and looked at the clock. It was almost eight. Today was Sunday, and the only person he could think of that might know something was his friend Szayel. He would know what to do off the grid, he supposed. Szayel ran a late-night talk show in the area on sex advice with his friend Luppi. The two made a great team and did a lot because they knew so much about gender, sexuality, and even kinky stuff. However, Szayel was also probably one of the most well-connected people Nnoitra knew. If there was someone that could put him in contact with people that might be able to help this boy, it would be him.
He fished his phone out of the pocket he'd sewn into the side of the mattress for it. After a few minutes there was a grunted reply on the other end. "What the fuck are you calling me for this early…"
"I got a problem to solve before tomorrow," Nnoitra said, sighing. "And I thought you might be able to help."
Szayel groaned. "What the hell, man…I didn't leave the studio until three am last night…I've been asleep four hours…"
Nnoitra sighed. "I know, but…this is your sort of thing, I kind of found a boy in my yard, and I don't know what to do with him, and he's scared to death," he said glancing down at the sleeping form beside him.
"Find his parents, Nnoi, I'm a sex talk show host, not a babysitter," he grumbled.
"He's in his twenties, and I think…I think someone's hurt him," he said softly, biting his lip thoughtfully as his long fingers threaded through the matted hair. He still hadn't gotten him in the bath yet.
Szayel's voice made a strange sound. "Hurt him? How?"
Nnoitra shook his head. "Not on the phone, okay? Come by?"
"Yeah, gimme time to caffeinate myself," he said and Nnoitra knew he was getting out of bed. "An hour."
"Thanks, Szay," Nnoitra said with a sigh. "Mamma will let you in, she'll be up. Come to my room. I can't get him to come out since I got him in here."
There was a noncommittal ascent on the other end and then the line cut off. Nnoitra felt the other body begin to tense and he put his phone aside, seeing the clear signs of someone in a nightmare of sorts. His face was pinched in discomfort and he was muttering under his breath. Nnoitra sighed, and pulled his body up into his arms to try and sooth him from the dreaming. Ichigo jerked finally and his eyes popped open and he stared up at Nnoitra's face as though he didn't remember where he was just yet.
"Hey, Ichi, you were dreaming something bad, you okay now?" he said, quietly.
"No," he said, and stared at Nnoitra for a time. "No, no," he muttered eyes flittering around the room franticly. "I just want my mommy again," he said finally.
Nnoitra frowned a bit and nodded. "I know, but you gotta get through his, she's gone and you're not, and…" Nnoitra realized something sharply. "Ichigo, have you gone to school?"
Ichigo look dup at him. "I couldn't leave the house or Uncle said they'd take me to jail," he said quietly. "I stayed in the closets and the bathrooms and we moved a lot…" he said, looking around.
Nnoitra was shocked because that was the most the boy had talked in the last two days. Ichigo stopped though and put his head down again, staring into space. The next hour passed quietly, and Nnoitra dozed in and out until he heard the soft knock on the door.
"Um, come in," he said, blinking and seeing the familiar pink crop of hair as Szayel came in. His eyes were very tired looking, but he was otherwise not looking to worse for not having slept much.
Ichigo's arms immediately tightened around where they'd wrapped around Nnoitra's waist, and Nnoitra had to hold him to keep him from locking himself in the bathroom again. Szayel's eyes went wide as he shut the door behind him and moved to sit beside the boy curled into Nnoitra's side.
"What…he's beaten to hell," Szayel muttered, looking over his face as well as he could. "He's filthy, Nnoitra, why hasn't he showered?"
Nnoitra shook his head. "I can't get him in the bath or the shower, he won't go. I mean, he goes in the bathroom, but he locks himself in there for hours at a time if someone tries to come in here. I keep putting him in the other bedroom, but he comes in here and sleeps on the floor by my bed. So I just gave up this morning and put him in bed with me. I don't know what to do with him, Szay."
Szayel reached out gently and pushed a bit of hair out of Ichigo's eyes. He jerked harshly back to try and escape Szayel's touch and his breathing picked up. Szayel could tell it was only Nnoitra's grip that kept him from bolting into the bathroom.
"Why the bathroom?" Szayel said, looking at him then up to Nnoitra.
"He said he slept there with his Uncle. Look on the computer in the other room, I left up the stuff I found the other night, about who he is. You'll understand why I don't know what the hells to do with him," Nnoitra said, nodding toward the door to the bathroom that connected this room with the other one.
Szayel nodded and stood up, disappearing for a good twenty minutes before coming back to sit down again. "Okay, I see what you mean. So this Uncle of his held him captive for twelve years, and obviously abused him extensively, probably sexually, by my guess. He just…let's get him cleaned up. I'll help you. Let me draw a bath, and maybe I can check him over and see how injured he is."
Nnoitra nodded and he felt the body against him tense again. "Look, we're gonna have to clean you up, your hair is disgusting, and your clothes need to be burned, they're so dirty. Come on," he said, swinging his legs off the bed and Ichigo stared because he couldn't go in the bathroom, the other one was there, and he couldn't go out the door because the other three people were there.
"Come on," Szayel said, pulling his shirt off. "I'm not getting wet," he said when Nnoitra arched a brow at him.
"Ichigo, come on," Nnoitra said as the boy just stared at him. Nnoitra sighed. He was tired today, and he just wanted to get him clean. He leaned over and scooped him up easily, Ichigo yelping and clutching him as he carried him into the bathroom.
Luckily, the downstairs bath was large, since it had been made for both the adjoining bedrooms to share in. The bathtub was a normal sized one, but there was a lot of open space around it so, Nnoitra could easily kneel beside it along with Szayel. Nnoitra set him on his feet, and Ichigo just froze in place, eyes staring at the floor.
"Come on, now," Nnoitra said, reaching down and pulling up the undershirt quickly. He scanned the bandages and pulled them off slowly. "Can you take off the shorts?" he asked, frowning at him. Ichigo's hands trembled as he nodded, sliding them off his thin hips. Nnoitra steered him over to the tub and gently got him to step over the edge into the water.
Szayel frowned as he looked him over. The patterns of bruising were unmistakable to anyone who had dealt with this before. He shook his head and nodded to Nnoitra to try and get him sat down. Ichigo hesitated when Nnoitra pushed on his shoulders but managed to sit down instead of falling on his unsteady legs.
"Sweetheart," Szayel said, looking at him. "Did this Uncle do this to you? Did he hurt you?"
Ichigo shook his head. "Uncle didn't hurt me," he said quietly, looking between him and Nnoitra. He was well and pinned and there was nothing he could do.
Nnoitra frowned. "What do you mean? Ichi-baby, you're black and blue," he said, reaching over and running a finger down some of the darker bruising on his arms.
"I deserved to be punished," Ichigo said, blinking owlishly at the two men. "I killed her, momma and Aunt, so he punished me, if they found me I'd go to jail," he said seriously.
"Jail?" Szayel asked, grabbing a washcloth and lathering it with soap as he spoke. "Why would you go to jail?"
Ichigo flinched but let Szayel start to scrub his hand and arm. "Because I got them killed, and killers go to jail, that's what happens, so Uncle kept me, and kept me from going away with the bad people," he said, eyes following everything that Szayel did as he worked up his arm. Szayel frowned and looked at Nnoitra.
"Ichigo, you were a child, like nine, you didn't kill anyone," Szayel said, leaning over and taking his other arm. "They were shot, from a long way away, too, from what I read."
Ichigo shook his head emphatically. "But it was my fault! Uncle said I caused it! He said he didn't know how but I did it."
Nnoitra frowned deeply at that and grabbed a cup from the counter behind him, dunking it in the water and pausing. "I'm going to wet your hair, okay?" he said, and Ichigo just closed his eyes as Nnoitra ran the water over him. He picked up the shampoo bottle and began to slowly work the suds through Ichigo's hair.
"Ichigo, that doesn't make sense," Szayel said quietly, continuing to wash, moving now to his chest, which he was exceedingly careful with over the bruising. "Your uncle, he lied to you," Szayel said softly.
"But he wouldn't…" Ichigo began then frowned. "But…but Uryū he wanted me to leave…so did he know that Uncle…"
Szayel paused. "Uryū is your cousin. You said he wanted you to leave?"
Ichigo nodded, looking between them. "Uryū was mad because he said Uncle did something bad, he said. He said he couldn't do what he did, but I didn't know why. I took away Uncle's wife. Uncle needed someone, right?" he asked, looking between them. "I had to do what he said. It was my punishment. I had to cook and clean and do that because that's what I took away."
"Ichi-baby, you didn't have to do anything," Nnoitra said, reaching out and putting his hand against the boy's cheek. "You didn't do anything. Someone murdered your mother and your aunt. You watched it happen, you didn't do it. You had no fault in it. Ever. He had no right to hit you or make you work for him, or do what made your cousin mad. What was it that made your cousin mad enough to want you to leave?"
Ichigo looked between them. "Uncle got really mean sometimes, and would take me to his room," Ichigo said, frowning. "He hurt me and would tell me to take a bath afterward, and…and Uryū came home this time and I was sitting in the sh-shower and I thought Uryū was going to hit me but he didn't, he got really mad and said I was leaving and that he was sorry, I don't understand," he said, looking into the now dingy looking water.
Nnoitra put a hand over Ichigo's eyes and rinsed out his hair quickly, finding that it was much brighter than before. "Ichi, please, you gotta let me call someone to help you, at least a doctor," Nnoitra begged.
Ichigo shook his head. "Uncle's a doctor, they will tell him where I am," he gasped. "And Uncle is going to be so mad when he finds me," he muttered, looking away from them.
Szayel looked up. "I know! Let's get him dry and dressed and I'll call someone," he said, standing with a smile.
"You know someone?" Nnoitra asked, seeing Ichigo's eyes widen at what they were discussing.
"Yeah, yeah, he works up at the college, he's a doctor, well he used to be, worked at the ER a long time ago, teaches in the nursing program out there now. You got some clothes for him?" Szayel said, looking around the bathroom.
Nnoitra winced and looked at him. "Um, I'll get him one of my shirts," he said, getting up and going into the next room and bringing back one of his t-shirts.
Ichigo was honestly numb by the time they'd gotten him out of the bath and into a shirt that was far too big. He looked down as the t-shirt with a logo for Marylyn Manson came down to the middle of his thighs. He looked up and the shoulder slipped off slightly. Szayel snickered.
"Wow, that's huge, I'm guessing you don't have any pants that wouldn't slide right off him, huh?" Szayel asked, glancing at the boy being dwarfed in the shirt he was wearing.
Nnoitra looked at him. "What do you think, idiot?"
Szayel sighed, following Ichigo and Nnoitra back into Nnoitra's office, where Ichigo climbed up on the bed and sat and stared at them. Szayel dialed the number from memory.
"Yo, Kisuke, what's up?" he asked, smiling.
"Szayelaporro, how are you, my boy? Something's not wrong with your brothers is it?" he asked, his voice tinged with worry.
"Nah, Illfordt and Wonderweiss are fine, nah, I'm calling for a discreet medical issue," he said, glancing at Ichigo.
"Discreet, huh?" Kisuke said tentatively. "How discreet?"
"Like, we have to have you come to Nnoitra Gilga's place, asap, and you can't tell anyone about it…" he said slowly. "Um, with your medical bag…like, all your exam stuff."
There was a long silence. "Male or female?"
"Male, twenties, way off grid," Szayel answered, golden eyes flittering back and forth between Nnoitra and Ichigo. "And…ah, I'd bring some sedatives."
"Fifteen," came the curt response and the phone cut off. Szayel smiled at Nnoitra. "Arranged. I'll go wait for him."
Ichigo watched him go and looked back at Nnoitra. "Who…who is coming? I don't want to see anyone else…why…" he said, looking at the door to the bathroom again. Nnoitra saw it, and moved, slipping onto the bed and pulling him onto his lap smoothly, wrapping his long arms around him.
"Hey, now, none of that. He's a doctor. And you need to be seen to. I can't tell if you're hurt, I'm not a doctor," Nnoitra said, feeling him wriggle in his grip before relaxing into it. He didn't want him to run off and hide until they could figure out if he was actually hurt or not.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Gin sighed as he stood outside the Firecracker Diner. So far, no leads, other than the video he'd already seen. He knew where the garage in the video was located, but he worried about approaching it directly. He really didn't want to barge in with no further proof than a grainy image from a poor quality video. He was about to walk away when someone yelled "hey" from a little way down the sidewalk. He looked up to see a woman with short dark hair limping toward him.
"Yes?" he asked.
"You that guy asking questions about the other night? That ruckus around the Gilga's shop and everything?" she asked.
"Um, yeah, Gin Ichimaru," he said, reaching out to shake her hand.
"Yeah, Apacci. I don't know if it means something, but I almost hit some fucking idiot that was running across the street that morning, tweaked my ankle pretty hard. I was on my ATV for a pre-dawn ride up to the rise to watch the sunrise, like four am or something. It wasn't too far from the Gilga's, ended up ditching my ride, too," she said, leaning heavily on her right leg.
Gin nodded. "What did this person look like?" he asked, thinking it could have been Ichigo, or at least the boy in the video.
"Some dumb fuck with white hair and glasses, wearing a suit, too, just stopped in the road and stared at me. I swerved off and when I got my ride back upright, he was gone. No idea, then I heard the dogs barking down at the Gilga's. I didn't think much about it, just thought those pits of theirs heard me run off the road," she said with a shrug. "I headed home, knew I sprained it, but wasn't the worst hit I'd taken on my ATV. But I figured I'd let my sisters know what happened," she said and sighed.
"White hair?" Gin asked, frowning. "Had you ever seen him before?"
Apacci shook her head. "Nah, sure hadn't. Dunno where he came from, but thought it was funny when I heard someone new was around asking about what happened Friday night, well, early Saturday Morning. So my sister said you were down here, asking about it, so I came over."
The door opened and a dark skinned woman who had been inside the diner came out with long, curly brown hair. She waved and came over. "Ah, you did get here okay," she said, smiling at Gin. "Did it connect to what you were looking for?" she asked Gin.
"Hey, Mila-Rose. I just told him what happened," she said smiling at her.
Gin frowned. "It…might…but things are getting more confusing…" he said thoughtfully. He was startled out of his thoughts when the phone buzzed in his pocket. "Ah, excuse me, ladies," he said, stepping away from them to answer it. He didn't recognize the number, though.
"Yah?" he asked.
"Detective Gin Ichimaru," came a voice he vaguely recognized.
"Jūshirō?" he said, realizing that he knew that voice.
"Gin, you do remember me, huh?" he asked, and Gin could imagine the smile on the once black haired man he'd gone to school with briefly several years ago.
"How could I forget, that was an interesting semester, you almost dying in the middle of our class," he said, recalling the absolutely horrifying experience of watching someone nearly die in his arms while coughing blood all over him.
Jūshirō sniffed. "Well, I did have stage three lung cancer," he said. "Still not in the best of health, of course. But that's another story, anyway, that's not why I'm calling."
"I'd hope reminiscing over your near death would not be a reason you'd call someone," Gin said, waving as the two women he'd talked to headed off.
"No, I believe that you came to town to investigate something I'm involved with as well," he said, and Gin heard the sound to his voice.
"The incident at the mechanics the other night?" Gin asked, standing straighter. "What do you know?"
"Well, I'm guessing you are here because of Isshin Kurosaki, then?" Jūshirō said.
"How do you know that?" Gin asked, really confused now.
Jūshirō sighed. "Because his nephew is sleeping in our spare room, freaking out because he tried to get away from his abusive father with his cousin, and he has no idea where either of them are now."
Gin nearly dropped the phone.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Uryū sat outside as the afternoon sun beat down on him. He'd left Jūshirō and Shunsui's house to walk down the beach. He'd never really thought about what he'd do if he got out of his father's house, and now that he was out, he couldn't fathom what to do. He watched as the waves came in and went out again. It was peaceful in a way, he guessed. His heart ached thought and he had no idea what to do about it. He felt tears start to well in his eyes and he tried to shake them away.
Along the beach a bunch of kids were wandering around, from the free school, he guessed. There were all ages and they were looking for shells and playing in the waves. They were so happy, it seemed. Uryū saw a pair of young boys building a sand castle and his heart shot to his throat. He couldn't stop the tears then and he let loose with a shaky sob, trying to stem the tide.
"Hey, mister, you want some of my sandwich?" came a small voice beside him.
Uryū looked over to see a little girl with blonde hair holding out half of what looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Despite how hard he was trying to avoid the tears he just let them fall.
"Mister?" the little girl said, sitting down beside him. "You is sad, Nel hug you," she said, putting her arm around him while she held up her sandwich with her other small hand.
"Nel, what are you…" came a deep voice and Uryū looked up to see a large, darker skinned man walking toward them. He saw that Uryū was crying and he patted Nel's arm. "Nel, go find out where the boys went," he said and kneeled in front of the man she'd been talking to.
"Hey, can I help?" he asked. "I'm Sado, well, Chad's what everyone calls me. I'm going to the school to be a music teacher; I help out at the school as a volunteer for trips."
Uryū stared at him. "I…I can't do this…how do I do this…" he said, staring into the ocean. "I let it happen, I let my father do those horrible things to him, and I just watched…I didn't want him to do it to me, I'm so selfish…"
Chad frowned and slowly sat down beside the young man. "What can I do?" he asked.
Uryū shook his head and hugged his knees. "Nothing, nothing at all…" he said, taking a shaky breath. "I can't do anything to fix it…I can't help him…I don't know what to do!" he gasped.
Chad didn't think, he saw someone hurting, he simply put an arm around the smaller man's shoulders. To his surprise the sobbing boy turned and buried his face in his shoulder and began to fall to pieces. Chad waved off someone who started to come see what was going on, and Chad just sat there. Who in their right mind would leave someone alone in this condition? He couldn't, he thought to himself as he sat with the brunette and watched the ocean.