Chapter 10: The Truth

Warning! This chapter contains graphic scenes of abuse and rape.

The girl in the photograph had to be Rose. It explained everything, the link to Kurosawa, the mark and her fear of being touched. Shunsui just wished, hoped for a moment that it was not Rose, that it was another girl. And the reason being that he did not want Rose to have gone through so much suffering. White hot rage shot through Shunsui and made him clench his hands, scrunching the photograph. Kurosawa was going to pay for what he had done to Rose and all the other children.

"We should summon Rose here. There are some questions that we need to ask her." Said Unohana from behind Shunsui. Shunsui did not even notice Unohana, Ukitake and Nanao moving behind him to see the photo. Ukitake nodded and walked outside and summoned a passing Shinigami, which just happened to be Maya.

"Could you please tell Rose Bentley to report to the eighth division Taicho's office please." Ordered Ukitake in a serious tone. Maya raised her eyebrow and looked over Ukitake's shoulder at the scene inside the office. Shunsui was sitting on a chair, glaring at the floor with a scrunched up piece of paper in his hand while Nanao stood behind him trying to calm him down with words of reassurance. Unohana sat next to Shunsui with a light frown on her face while Toushiro and Rangiku both looked rather pale and stared at their cups of tea. Maya nodded and then turned to leave. Something serious was going on and she was going to find out what it was.

Ukitake walked back into the room and started to pace. The office was deadly silent, the only sound coming from the distant sound of Shinigami sparring. The day had started off so beautifully, and now it was going to end on a dark note. Ukitake looked over at Shunsui with a look of concern on his face. He knew that his friend must be going through hell right now. Shunsui was barely able to control his angry reiatsu and looked like he was about to murder someone.

A few more tense moments passed and then Ukitake heard the sound of approaching footsteps. The door to the office opened and in walked Rose wearing a grey hoodie with the words 'keep calm and drink tea' written in dark green written on the front and a pair of baggy pyjama bottoms with apples on them. Rose looked around the room, taking in the tense, melancholic atmosphere with a confused look on her face.

"Rose…please sit down…would you like a cup of tea?" Asked Ukitake with a fake smile on his face. He was trying to ease her but his fake smile only made Rose more suspicious.

"What is going on?" Asked Rose after she had sat down and accepted a cup of tea from Rangiku.

"We are going to ask you some questions Rose and you are going to answer them with nothing but the truth." Said Shunsui in a hard tone while looking at Rose with dark, angry eyes.

Rose glared back at him. "What the hell is going on?!"

Shunsui threw the photograph at Rose and then stared at her. Rose bent down and picked up the photograph. She was barely able to contain her panic when she saw the photo of herself on the day she was freed from Master's clutched. Thousands of questions were running through her head. How did they find out? Her Godfather had covered up her tracks so that nobody would be able to discover about her past. So then how did they find out about it?

"Explain." Said Shunsui in a hard tone. Rose looked up and saw that everybody in the room was looking at her with serious eyes. She really did not know what to do. Panic rose up within her making it hard to breath.

"Shunsui calm yourself." Said Ukitake rather sternly. "Rose…Please tell us what happened." Rose looked up with pleading eyes at Ukitake and saw that there was no happy glint in his eyes. His face was frozen and like Shunsui he was looking at her with serious eyes.

Rose brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. It was her worst nightmare come true, people were looking at her, judging her. All she wanted was to curl up in a ball and disappear. Why did she have to tell them want happened? They already knew about her past relations with Master so why did she have to give them more details? Hadn't she been humiliated enough already? Could she at least keep some of her dignity?

Slowly Rose brought her head up and stared at Shunsui with rebellious eyes. "Why should I tell you more? I mean you already know the whole story so why should I go into more detail?" Her voice was shaky and she could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

Shunsui glared at her with barely contained anger. "Just explain what happened Rose. I am not in the mood to listen to your wit." His harsh tone made Rose quiver in fear.

Rose shook her head. "TELL ME!" shouted Shunsui.

"Shunsui!" cried Ukitake. "Calm yourself. You are not helping the situation." Ukitake turned and looked at Rose who was cowering slightly in her chair. Shunsui was known for being a care free, easy going Taicho…until her was angered. His anger was just as legendary as his womanizing and was said to intimidate even the most powerful men in the Soul Society.

"How did you end up in the clinic outside of Thornhill?" Asked Toushiro. He was trying to sound as uninterested as possible but his inpatients could still be heard.

"Tell them." Whispered her Zanpakuto.

"Answer him!" Said Shunsui with an undertone of steal.

"You must tell them." said her Zanpakuto.

"Rose we need to know."

"Tell us."

"Rose it will all be ok…trust me."

"Tell us!" shouted Shunsui.

"FINE!" screamed Rose with tears in her eyes. The room when deathly quiet. "I…I was taken to Thornhill Child clinic because my parents had been killed and I was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress symptom." She continued a little weakly. Shunsui looked at her with serious eyes that made Rose shiver.

"Go on" said Nanao as kindly as she could.

Rose looked up and stared at Nanao with defeated eyes. "My parents and I lived in a small village outside of Aberdeen." She whispered after a pause. "My parents were always peculiar and told me that they could do magic. And they did, they thought away the monsters that came at night with their magic. But one day, when I was about six, we were walking back from a walk in the woods when a large shadow attacked us. My mother took me and ran while my dad fought the beast, but sadly they were both killed. It was after that when my ability to see souls first came. The police thought I was suffering from trauma because I kept telling them that the shadows consumed my parents. As I had no family I was sent to a hospital in the small town of Thornhill where the doctor there specialized in child psychology. I don't know his name, but he wanted me to call him Master." Rose took a deep breath. "…and he would hit me if I did not obey him." Shunsui pulled his sakkat down to cover his eyes and sighed. Ukitake clenched his teeth hard and continued to stare at Rose with serious eyes.

"There were five other girls in Masters basement, each with their own room. I was the youngest. Master branded each of us so that we would always remember who we belonged to. Every day we would get up and obey Master and do whatever he wanted us to do. If we did not he would beat us. He had his own little torture room at the end of the basement. He once beat me so hard that I lost consciousness and I think I broke my rib. We were scum, the dregs of humanity and he treated us like that. He wound rarely feed us so that we were too weak to fight back. Overtime more and more girls started to arrive until there were about ten of us. I thought I was in hell…but that was before I hit puberty." Rose wiped her eyes with her sleeve and then returned to looking at the floor. She could not bear to look anybody in the eyes…especially Shunsui. Rose feared how Shunsui would react. For the moment he had a dark solemn look in his eyes and a clenched jaw.

"The moment I started my period I suddenly became more useful to Master. Master already knew that I was special, different from the others. Master needed money so he-he w-would sell us." Rose sobbed and then wiped her eyes with her sleeve. On day a few other girls and I were dragged into a room where a bunch of men were sitting. We were forced to disrobe and present our bodies to the men. Master had a policy of customers being able to…to…inspect the merchandise. I was twelve." Rose let out a small sob but refused to break down.

"I bled for days and I could not walk after my first time. The man was…was…not gentle. But that still did not stop Master from beating me until I coughed blood. I had disappointed the customer so I had to be punished. Because I was older I became more of a threat to Master, so he started to use drugs to control me. I would be injected with heroin every now and then so that I would stay obedient. Usually once a weak I would have a customer and for that Master gave me Meth so that I was more active during sex. My addiction to drugs meant that I could no longer escape. I needed the drugs to survive and thus Master had full control over me. My clients were allowed to do anything with me as long as they only marked my chest or other places that could be hidden. But because I was special Master also used me. He…he would c-call me beautiful R-rose before he would fuck me." Rose burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollable into her hand. Shunsui had his head in his hands and was radiating anger, Ukitake had shuffled over and placed a restraining hand on Shunsui's shoulder but he too looked very angry. Rangiku was cross between sitting in her seat and getting up to comfort Rose who seemed like she was on the verge of having a breakdown.

Rose gulped and continued. "I was never alone, when the beating and the fucking came too much I would retreat into my inner world and stay there until it was over. I don't know if that inner world was similar to where my Zanpakuto inhabited but when I was there everything did not matter. I was free and safe." Rose sobbed and then wiped her eyes again. "But the selling of child prostitutes was not Master's primary aim." She continued, "he would experiment on us as well and because I was so special I was his primary guinea pig. He would inject me with substances that would burn and make me feel sick. I felt like a part of myself was being ripped away from me. I hated the experiments more than anything else. I learnt that Master wanted to create a race of superior souls and that was why I was special. He knew that I had the ability to see souls and thus reiatsu and he wanted to harvest that. He was using the children in order to create his own species of souls strong enough to make an army. So many girls were impregnated and many gave birth to healthy babies. He would usually make one of us deliver the children…I was fourteen when I was ordered to help deliver a baby. Sadly all of the babies that were born had no reiatsu and so were useless to Master. If that happened Master would kill the girl because she had failed him…I was scared. When I was fifteen Master came to me and told me to rejoice be-because I was pregnant. I-" Rose stopped midway when she saw Shunsui stand up and march towards his desk. He picked up a paperweight and flung it across the room making it shatter against the wall.

"THAT BASTARD!" shouted Shunsui in a rage. His reiatsu was pouring out of him as his anger took control. Suddenly the air became thick and Rose found it hard to breath.

"Calm yourself Shunsui!" cried Ukitake. Shunsui looked around the room and then his eye fell into Rose's quivering form. Cursing he reined his reiatsu back into his body.

"I'm sorry" mumbled Shunsui while leaning back against the desk.

Rose breathed deeply and then continued on with the story. "Master said that my baby was going to be special because I was special. I did not want my baby to be special…I wanted him to be ordinary so that Master would kill me." Rose felt her body start to shake a bit. "I wanted a way out…a way to end it all. Master started to take special care of me. I was no longer sold for sex and I was checked over daily. I knew that if Master accomplished what he was planning on doing something terrible was going to happen. I knew that I needed to end this otherwise that terrible something was going to happen. So one day I stole a knife from Master's surgery and terminated my pregnancy. Master was so angry that he started to beat me, hard. I could feel my bones breaking so a grabbed the knife and stabbed Master in the neck. When the police finally arrived they said that I was acting in self-defence and so I was not charged. There were sixteens girls, including me, who were freed that day. We were all transported to foster homes across the country. I was sent to Glasgow but I ran away from the orphanage. I could not take it, I could not trust anybody. I lived on the streets for a few weeks until I was caught one day stealing bread from a restaurant. It ended up that the owner of the restaurant was the leader of the most powerful, and respected gang in Glasgow. He took pity on me and took me in. Under his guidance I was taught self-defence. He also helped me kick my drug addiction. I have been clean for four years. I still stay in contact with him, he was like an uncle I never had…" Rose finished her story and then looked up at Shunsui. Shunsui had lowered his sadake to cover his eyes but his posture showed that he was angry and tense.

"We should pass this information on to Soutaicho" said Nanao after a long pause.

"We should also contact the twelfth division. I think that Kurosuchi might be able to shed some light on what Kurosawa was doing." Said Ukitake in a calm voice but there was still an undertone of anger in it.

"I'll go contact the Soutaicho and the twelfth division." Suggested Nanao while standing up. The other Taicho's nodded in agreement.

"Shunsui, I think it would be best to take Rose Bentley back to her room. Prolonged exhaustion and anxiety can put severe strain on a body. I suggest giving her a cup of camomile tea to calm her nerves". Suggested Unohana while looking at Rose. Shunsui lifted his hat and looked at Rose and saw that she was violently shaking.

Shunsui nodded and with a soft swish of silk he had crossed the room and wrapped his pin kimono around Rose's trembling body. Slowly and with much care Shunsui picked Rose up and held her close to his chest. Rose was in too much shock to respond to such close contact. Before walking out the room he turned and faced Ukitake and Unohana. "Please keep me updated on any information found by the twelfth division".

Both nodded in response. "Might I suggest Shunsui that you also get some rest? It will take some time before the twelfth division find something of importance. You might as well rest while waiting," said Unohana calmly.

Shunsui nodded before turning and leaving the office. The halls of the eighth were deserted, which was to be expected it was the end of the work day. Swiftly Shunsui walked down the corridor and turned left towards his private quarters.

"If you think for one minute that I am going to leave you alone after what you just told me then you have another thing coming." Said Shunsui in a serious tone while looking straight ahead of him. Rose blinked back new tears and looked down at Shunsui chest in order to avoid his eyes. Shunsui had sounded so cold and distant that Rose feared that she had disgusted him with her story and the way she had acted while telling it. She was a whore, an animal, the dregs of society, no wonder he was disgusted in her.

A few minutes later Shunsui arrived outside his private quarters. Rose never got a good look at the outside because Shunsui was walking too quickly, but she could smell several different plant scents. Shunsui walked around the side of the house and slid open a side door and walked in. After walking through several more doors, Shunsui finally stopped and opened a door into a room with light wooden floor boards and white walls with sakura blossoms painted in them. In a corner sat a small vanity and next to that a writing desk. On the right there was a door the lead out into a small garden with a large sakura tree. Shunsui gently deposited Rose down and then moved to unfold the futon.

"Stay here" said Shunsui in a serious tone before he turned around and left the room. Rose walked over to the futon and sat down. Shunsui was acting all cold and distant towards her and it made her feel ashamed of herself for believing that she, a common whore, could be with someone like Shunsui. She was also rather scared of him, his anger was really something terrifying.

A few minutes later Shunsui re-entered the room carrying a tray with two cups of steaming tea. Silently he sat down facing Rose and placed the tray between them. There was silence between the two of them. Shunsui looked furious and Rose could not blame him. She had lied to him about her past and withheld crucial information because she was a coward.

Rose could no longer take the silence between them. It was slowly consuming her and making her feel claustrophobic. "Do you hate me?" she whispered while looking at her hands.

Shunsui looked at Rose with a look of shock. His angry, cold and distant eyes changing in an instant. "Hate you? Why would you think that?"

"You are being unusually quiet and you refuse to look at me. But you have every right to be angry at me. I was a coward who refused to tell you vital information. And I am a worthless being who ran from her problems instead of confronting them. I disgraced your division because of my cowardice. I am a worthless whore and a coward" Murmured Rose while looking down at her hands,

Shunsui looked down at his hands and sighed. "Is that really what you think Rose? That you are a worthless being". Rose nodded her head and then lifted her hands up to wipe away the tears in her eyes.

Shunsui sighed. "I am not angry at you Rose. I am angry at Kurosawa, your 'Master', for treating you the way he did. What he did was-was…disgusting. He took away all you dignity and honour and treated you like a slave…You Rose are more than a slave. You are worth a lot to me. And even if you don't want me in a romantic sense I will always be there for you. You are not a coward either. I know you did not want to tell me about your past and now I can understand why. I am sorry for shouting at you back in the office…but I was so angry at Kurosawa and what he did to you. Yes you withheld valuable information from us but nobody is angry at you because of that. The information you told up was very personal. You had every right to withhold it from us. And don't thin for a second that you are a coward. A coward would have laid back and waited for Kurosawa to kill them. You fought back. You said that you wanted to die but in the end you refused to do that. Your inner strength fought back and you won." Rose sniffed and smiled at Shunsui. Her tear filled eyes glittering in the light.

Shunsui moved forwards and gently took her hands in his, "Rose I don't usually make these promises. They go against my pacifist nature but for you Rose I will make an exception. Rose, when I see Kurosawa I will kill him. I will hunt him down and kill him". Rose smiled and shuffled closer to Shunsui and allowed his arms to encircle her and hold her close. Rose had been wrong, Shunsui did not judge her like she feared he would after hearing her story. In many ways the story had brought the two of them closer together. Rose knew then and there that she could trust the man who was holding her so securely with her heart. It was not like she had any choice in the matter anyway. Shunsui had stolen her heart the day that he had stayed the night in her room back at university while waiting for Ukitake to return with from the soul society.

The two of them stayed snuggled together for a long time, neither wanting the other to leave. It was only, however, after Rose yawned did Shunsui lie Rose down in her futon (albeit reluctantly) and gently brush a strand of her hair out of her eyes. Shunsui would not have minded allowing Rose to sleep in his arms, but he himself was also feeling very tired. As much as he would have loved to sleep next to Rose, he wanted to respect her wish for distance. She had told him an awful lot already and had allowed him to do things to her which, in the past, would have been impossible. He did not want to push his luck. Slowly Shunsui rose from the floor and made his way to the door. However, a small, semi-conscious murmur came from Rose which made him stop.

"I love you Shunsui." Murmured Rose in a voice that was so slow and inarticulate that for a moment Shunsui feared that he had misunderstood her. But he had heard the beautiful worlds from Rose's lips (albeit semi-conscious) and it made his heart beat a little faster. Finally it seemed that he was making progress, but he would only believe Rose's words when she said them to him while conscious. But in many ways it was still a major victory in Shunsui's book. With a smile he silently slid the door shut and walked down the corridor to his bed room. Before disrobing he sent a hell butterfly to Nanao ordering her to not bother him unless it there was important news about Kurosawa. After that was done, Shunsui lay down in his futon and fell asleep immediately.

Well that was an intense chapter. It took me a very long time to write it because I wanted to get the right amount of tension, anger and vulnerability in the scene. I hope I succeeded in doing just that. Sorry if the scene was a bit too extreme and violent but this is a mature fanfiction.

Thank you to all the people who have Favorited with story and too all the people who have written me reviews. I have enjoyed reading all of them :) So please write more.