Chapter 21: Broken Bones

Warning: Gore and torture scenes

Four days had passed since Rose had been taken and Nanao was starting to get very worried about her Taicho. He had barely spoken a word to anybody over the past few days and would walk around aimlessly for hours on end, usually with a bottle of sake in his hand. The eighth division was also quiet and mournful. They knew their captain was hurting which also hurt them. Nanao was the only person within the confines of the division who was working. It was not that she was being disrespectful to Rose; she just had to keep the division running. But there were also some moments when she herself felt like giving up and curling into a ball and crying. She had developed and odd connection with Rose, one that she could not describe. But what worried her most was how her Taicho was dealing with the situation. He would spend the day searching for Rose in the Rukongai and then at night drink until he passed out. Ukitake would normally join Shunsui in the evenings only to make sure that his friend did not kill himself.

For four days the entire Seireitei either searched for Rose in the Rukongai, sat in the labs trying to work out how Rose was kidnapped and what Kurosawa's plan was, or mobilised in order to be ready for Kurosawa's imminent attack. Rose had been in his clutched for four days so most likely he had achieved what he wanted and would make his final move soon.

But finally, after hours of research, new information had been found so the Soutaicho had called a Taicho and Fukutaicho meeting. These meetings were rare which could only mean that the information found was ground breaking.

Nanao followed quietly behind Shunsui as they made their way towards the meeting hall. On the way there they passed Ukitake and Hana who both had solemn looks on their faces. Shunsui walked right passed them, barely acknowledging Ukitake while Nanao stopped and bowed politely.

"How is he doing?" asked Ukitake in concern for his friend.

"As can be expected. At least he is eating." Replied Nanao. At first she had been worried that her Taicho would replace food with sake like the time when Lisa went missing. However, me seemed to be eating which came as a relief. The last thing the eighth division needed was for their Taicho to stop eating and collapse.

"Well that is good. Do you know why the Soutaicho summoned all of us?"

"No. But I guess we better find out."

Nanao bowed and ran off to catch up with her Taicho who had already rounded the corner and was now standing outside the meeting hall waiting for the doors to open. She had barely caught up with her Taicho when the giant doors to the meeting room opened. Shunsui walked into the meeting room, sakkat pulled low over his eyes. Nanao followed behind him and saw that a giant monitor had been set up on the left side to where the Soutaicho sat. A twelfth division technician stood by the monitor, awaiting the command to use it. Silently everybody lined up, the Fukutaicho's stood behind their respective Taicho's. The mood was divided, those who saw Rose as only an object that Kurosawa was going to use to finalise his nefarious plan, had serious faces. While the others, who had developed a bond with Rose and saw her as a person had dark solemn looks on their faces. The Soutaicho looked at every one before slamming his cane down on the ground.

"This join Taicho and Fukutaicho meeting has been called to order! Now, Unohana Taicho what do you have to report on the conditions of Abarai Fukutaicho and Matsumoto Fukutaicho?"

"Sir, Abarai Fukutaicho as severe burns on his skin but lucky these were treatable. What is troubling is his head injury, he cannot remember anything that happened on that day yet alone who the kidnapper was. Matsumoto Fukutaicho is still unconscious but she will likely make a full recovery." Said Unohana in her usual calm tone.

The Soutaicho grunted before focusing his attention to Byakuya. "Kuchiki Taicho do you have anything to report on the evidence collected at the scene of the crime?"

"Sir, My team searched the entire area and found no other traces of reiatsu apart from those of my Fukutaicho and Rose Bentley. It seems that the person who took Rose Bentley was able to hide any traces of his reiatsu."

Shunsui stiffened. He had spent many hours going over and over his quarters trying to find any clue as to who or where Rose had been taken to. He knew that Rose was not stupid enough to not leave him any indication as to who had taken her. But every time he searched his house he would find nothing. It seemed like he would never find his darling Rose. Images of his darling Rose swam across his mind, her brilliant eyes haunting him.

"…Very well Zaraki Taicho." Said the Soutaicho. Shunsui looked up slightly. Had Zaraki been talking? What had he said? "Now moving on, Kurotsuchi Taicho I hear you have some information to tell us?" Continued the Soutaicho.

"Indeed Soutaicho, after hours of research my team and I have finally discovered Kurosawa's intensions." A quiet gasp resonated through the room and a few head shot up. Shunsui stared at Kurotsuchi with piercing eyes. Had he really discovered what that bastard Kurosawa wanted to do with his Rose? If it involved hurting Rose in any way he was going to hunt Kurosawa down and kill him in the most painful way imaginable.

"After examining the information collected from both laboratories we were able to conclude that Kurosawa had two intensions. His first intension involves the formation of a powerful Shinigami army strong enough to take control of the Soul Society. We believe he first started forming his plan when he was still a member of the fourth division. According to the record Kurosawa was found experimenting on Academy students and was thus sentenced to spend the rest of his days in the Maggots nest. However, he escaped custody and fled to the world of living where he continued with his plans. With the information collected from his old laboratory in Thornhill, that girl currently under Ukitake's supervision and Rose Bentley we were able to determine that he was using the children he abducted to reproduce and create a new breed of Shinigami. He would inject the children with reiatsu and then sell them as sex slaves to the highest bidder in the hopes of getting them pregnant. We wanted the children to give birth to child prodigies in the hopes that they would grow up more powerful than the Soutaicho. However, according to Rose Bentley the pregnant children always miscarried within the first trimester of their pregnancy so the prodigies were never born. But Kurosawa developed a particular like to Rose Bentley because she already had reiatsu in her body, all he had to do was get her pregnant…and when he did manage to get her pregnant she successfully managed to carry the foetus into the second trimester before she kill it. It is clear to me that Kurosawa intends to continue trying to make his own bread of powerful Shinigami but this time he is only using children with reiatsu present in their bodies. However I am unsure whether he has been successful." Said Kurosawa.

"I have tried speaking to Yuri, the girl found in the abandoned laboratory in the Rukongai, but she still finds the topic uncomfortable. However, she did say that when she first arrived, which was a few weeks before she was discovered, none of the other children appeared to be pregnant or had babies with them." Said Ukitake

"Did she say how many children were there when she arrived?" asked Toushiro.

"She estimated about ten/eleven. But those numbers can change very quickly as Kurosawa kills the children the moment they miscarry." Replied Ukitake with a dark look on his face.

"Kurotsuchi Taicho what is Kurosawa's second objective?" asked the Soutaicho.

"Unlike with his first objective, we can only assume what his second one is as the supporting evidence is rather limited. But we believe it has something to do with the missing Shinigami. The reiatsu samples collected in his abandoned laboratory in the Rukongai all belonged to the missing Shinigami. This, however, is not the interesting bit. What is interesting is that the reiatsu samples appeared to be smeared and splattered across the room in a way that suggests that the Shinigami where decapitated. But no of the missing Shinigami reiatsu have extinguished which means that they are still alive. You must be wondering how a soul which has been decapitated can still survive? Well there was healing Kido technique that was developed hundreds of years ago to repair the soul chain of Shinigami once they had been broken. The technique was called soul stitching and basically it was when the soul was literally stitched back together. This technique can also be used to stitch together the soul taken from other person to your own soul."

"Are you saying Kurotsuchi Taicho that Kurosawa was taking the souls of the missing Shinigami and then stitching them with his own?" Said the Soutaicho.

"Yes…but it is only an assumption until we have solid proof."

"What would happen to a soul that has been stitched together with another?" Asked Ukitake, slightly unsure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"Their reiatsu would increase and they would acquire the abilities from the soul they used." Said Kurotsuchi. There was a collective gasp from the people present.

"Where does Rose Bentley fit into all of this?" asked Komamura.

"Hmmm, it is highly likely that Kurosawa wants to use Rose Bentley again as she was the only child who successfully carried a child into the second trimester. But she also has a unique reiatsu which he might be interested in. But all of that are assumptions. For all we know she could be dead. "

Ukitake looked up at Shunsui and saw that is his friend was clenching his jaw so tightly that he was surprised that it had not broken.

"Is that all Kurotsuchi Taicho?" asked the Soutaicho.

"Not quite. While I was researching and running tests I had the insignificant members of my division go through all the surveillance camera's within the Seireitei and after a lot of searching they finally found something." Kurotsuchi walked forwards until he was right next to the large monitor. "You idiot show them the video!" The poor member of the twelfth division jumped and then pressed the play button.

The monitor buzzed on and then showed what seemed to be a deserted street in the Seireitei. "At first there appears to be nothing special but then when you zoom into the right hand corner you will be able to see right into Kyoraku Taicho garden, and more importantly you are able to see Rose Bentley's kidnapper appear." Explained Kurotsuchi.

Shunsui narrowed his eyes, a scowl appearing on his face. The video played and nothing much happened…until Rose walked out onto the grass wearing practically nothing and carrying a towel. Shunsui's flashed across the room as he glared at all the young males present who were looking on with interest. Rose spread out the towel, stretched and then ley her arms on the ground before lifting her legs in the air. Everybody watched in mild discomfort as Rose folded herself up into the most painful looking position they had ever seen. Oddly enough Rose never looked like she was in any sort of pain.

"Damn...that woman is very flexible." Commented Kenpachi as he watched Rose move into yet another impossible to comprehend position.

Shunsui glared at Kenpachi.

Everything was going fine until a hooded figure appeared on the screen. Shunsui watched as the figure moved forwards and stopped right in front of the kido barrier. The hooded figure's hand rose up and lightly caressed the outline of the kido barrier and then to everybody's surprise pass through it. Whoever this person was had managed to deactivate the kido barrier without Shunsui even noticing. He watched as the hooded figure crept around his garden while Rose now lay sunbathing. Shunsui was internally shouting at Rose to get up and run but sadly that would not accomplish much. It was not until the hooded figure was standing in the bushed right next to Rose did she finally realise that somebody else was present. Shunsui watched as Rose slowly climbed to her feet and walk cautiously over to where the hooded figure was. Rose rounded the corner and walked straight into the hooded figure. Behind him, Shunsui heard Nanao gasp slight as she watched Rose straighten herself out…and start talking to the hooded figure.

"Does she seem to be-"started Ukitake.

"Talking with the intruder. Yes, it appears that Rose Bentley knew the intruder." Said Kurotsuchi. Shunsui growled slightly at this. And then Rose broke out into a desperate run. But sadly the intruder was too fast for her. Shunsui watched as the hooded figure grabbed Rose arms, his insides screaming in anger that somebody would dare touch her. Then he saw Rose turned around and knee the guy between the legs. A few hisses were heard around the room. Rose then ran into the house and slammed the door shut. The monitor when black after that. The room was silent.

"So it seems that Rose knew the kidnapper…and that the kidnapper was skilled enough in Kido to pass through the kido barrier without alerting anybody to their presence." said Toushiro, his hand under his chin.

"Kurotsuchi Taicho is that everything you have to report?"

"Yes Soutaicho." Kurotsuchi started to walk back to his spot next to Toushiro.

"Very well then, now in light of the new information we must-." But the Soutaicho's voice was drown out by the loud sound of static coming from the monitor. "What is the meaning of this?!" cried the Soutaicho.

"I am sorry Soutaicho Sir, but-but we seem to be picking up a signal coming from outside the Seireitei." Stammered the twelfth division member.

"You idiot put it through!" Shouted Kurotsuchi.

The twelfth division member fumbled around with the monitor, trying to put through the incoming signal. The monitor buzzed for a bit and then came into focus showing a dark room. There was a large overhead light that illuminated the large metal cabinets lining the walls and a large metal operating table at the centre.

"Well, well, well." Said a silky smooth voice which was soon followed by the appearance of a person with ghostly white skin, short blond hair, white eyes and deep scars covering his face. "If it is not the leading members of the Gotei 13. Why I am honoured that you grace me with your presence."

"Who are you!" cried the Soutaicho.

"Oh where are my manners, my name is Master Kurosawa. You will find that most people call me Master so-."

"What do you want!" Cried the Soutaicho. Shunsui grit his teeth then growled. His reiatsu rose ever so slightly.

"Ah, Ah, Ah" said Kurosawa while wagging his finger. "It is rude to interrupt, especially when I have-." Kurosawa turned the camera. "-Rose Bentley in my custody." Shunsui's heart stopped beating when he saw Rose sitting on a chair with her hands in shackles. Her hair was matted, unkempt and hung limply across her face. She was wearing nothing but a long sleeve white shirt and a pair of white underwear. But from the looks of it she appeared to be unhurt. "Now I am going to ask all of you a simple question. How much does my beautiful Rose mean to you? I know she means a lot to one of you, ne Shunsui Kyoraku."

"Let her go." Shunsui's voice was low and full of malice.

"And if I refuse?" taunted Kurosawa.

"Then I will hunt you down and kill you in the most gruesome way I can imagine."

Kurosawa laughed. "Hahaha, this is excellent! See here Rose." He walked towards Rose and grabbed her chin in his left hand and directed her face towards the monitor. "Your precious Shunsui is going to come and rescue you. Too bad he has no idea where you are. See how it torments him." Rose resisted Kurosawa's cold hand with everything she had. She refused to look at the monitor. She would not give him the satisfaction. "Hmm you were always a feisty one Beautiful Rose. I can see why Kyoraku Taicho fell for you. So beautiful, delicate, with such soft and…delicious skin." Kurosawa ran his tongue up Rose's cheek. Shunsui grit his teeth while he shot a murderous glare at Kurosawa. "Oops, did I strike a nerve? You are so easy to torment Shunsui Kyoraku. But sadly as much as I would love to torment you some more it is not my main purpose of this transmission. I actually wanted to talk to my old Taicho and I must say that I am surprised that you did not recognize me before Unohana Taicho." Kurosawa glared at Unohana. A few heads in the meeting room turned to look at Unohana but Shunsui's eyes stayed glued to the screen.

Unohana stepped forwards and faced Kurosawa. "You are wrong Kurosawa I have known for a long time that it was you behind all of this."

"So why have you not acted? Surely what I have done goes against every moral you stand for?"

"What makes you think that I have done nothing?" answered Unohana and then she gave Kurosawa the look.

Fear visibly crossed Kurosawa's eyes but then it was gone and replaced with anger. "Do not toy with me Unohana! You will rue the day you ever got rid of me!"

"Oh I'm sure I will Kurosawa." Smiled Unohana.

Kurosawa grit his teeth. "When I am done with Rose I will hunt you down and kill you. You hear me!" He bellowed.

"Well then I look forward to seeing you then."

Kurosawa looked at Unohana and then smiled. "Even now you still can't take me seriously. Well that was to be expected. I just hoped I would never have to do this but I guess there is no other way to make you take me seriously Unohana." He grabbed the chair that Rose was sitting on and dragged it more into view of the monitor. It was only then did the Taicho's and Fukutaicho's realise that a large metal devise was attached to Rose's leg. The devise started right below her knee and stretched down to her ankle. "This devise is of my own invention and can modify the pressure inside someone's body much like the arrancar Madness's ability. However, the pressure that is affected is more limited. So Unohana I have a question to ask you. How much pressure can a bone take before it breaks in half?"

Realization of what Kurosawa was going to do dawned on Shunsui. "Stop Kurosawa!" he roared.

"I don't remember asking you the question Kyoraku. Now Unohana any suggestions?" smiled Kurosawa. Shunsui's reiatsu flared as he bared his teeth at Kurosawa and growled. He was not the only one in the room losing control of himself. Ukitake glared at Kurosawa with hard, angry eyes. The temperature in the room had dropped several degrees as Toushiro's reiatsu flared. Even Taichos who had previously shown no interest in Rose were displaying their anger. Byakuya simply glared at Kurosawa but still that was enough the show his anger at the situation.

"No answer Unohana…oh well looks like we will just have to find out." And then Kurosawa pressed a button from a remote that had suddenly appeared in his hand. The devise sprang to life and started to buzz sinisterly. Rose's face screwed up against the growing pain in her leg. And then there was a loud, sickening crunch as her bones were crushed by the intense pressure cursing through them. Her agonized, piercing screams echoed across the room and made Shunsui's blood run cold. Kurosawa stood by and laughed a truly sickening laugh. Rose continued to scream as blood started to run down her leg. She was in so much agony that she through she was going to pass out. And then like a miracle the devise loosened its grip on her and fell to the ground. But the sight of her broken leg made her scream some more. The Taicho's and Fukutaicho's who were close enough to the screen to see the state of Rose leg blanched. There were huge black bruises that covered her leg and blood oozed out of her skin from where the devise had broken it.

"How interesting." Mused Kurosawa while looking at Rose's leg. "It seems that my devise has shattered the bones in your leg. And to think it only took a few seconds for it to happen."

"Kurosawa!" bellowed Shunsui. He was glowing purple as his malicious, evil reiatsu leaked out of his body.

"Hm I must say Kyoraku your reaction is most interesting. I would say that you cared greatly for Rose. It must be killing you to see your precious Rose tortured. I like tormenting you Kyoraku and so because of that I will not kill Rose straight away like I planned on doing. No I am going to keep her alive, but in what state is debatable I mean I do need a source of entertainment. You said that you know a lot about me already, ok then let's play a game. I am going to wait for you lot to come to me…but every day I am going to break a bone in beautiful Rose's body…and torture her. Let's see if you can find me before Rose losses her sanity. But this is perfect. It is like hitting two birds with one stone. I will get to kill Unohana and break one of the most powerful Taicho's in the Seireitei by torturing his lover. Oh such good fortune!"

Shunsui snarled at Kurosawa's words his eyes burning with a malicious fire. "Just you wait Kurosawa I will find you and I will save Rose. I will not stop until I have found her. Do you hear me?!"

"Well then until we meet again. Let hope for Rose's sake that you find her quickly." And then Kurosawa shut off his monitor. The screen in the meeting room buzzed loudly and then turned off. The room was plunged into an icy silence. Nobody dared to look at Shunsui because of fear of what they might see.

The soutaicho looked around the room, wondering what to do next. It was clear that nobody, especially Shunsui, was in the right mental state to make a rational decision. Shunsui reiatsu had risen to the point where he was making a few less powerful Fukutaicho's sway on their feet. "I order the Second Division along with the Eleventh to search the Rukongai for any trace of Rose Bentley or Kurosawa. Kurotsuchi Taicho I want you and your team to track the origin of the transition. This Taicho and Fukutaicho meeting is dismissed until further information has been gathered." He banged his staff on the floor and watched as the Taicho's and Fukutaicho's left the room.

Kurosawa stared down at the whimpering form of Rose on the floor. She had fallen from her chair and had curled up into a ball all the while whimpering in pain. She felt like she had thousands of hot, sharp needles poking at her broken leg. Kurosawa smiled at her obvious pain. "Beautiful Rose, no need to worry your precious Shunsui is coming to rescue you. But in the mean time I am going to make you regret the day you decided to kill me." And with that Kurosawa delivered a powerful kick to her chest. Rose screamed in agony as his foot connected with her chest. All the air inside her lungs were brutally forced out and she was left gasping for breath. Pain and nausea wrecked through her body.

Kurosawa sneered down at her. "I have been planning this day for the last five years and I must tell you I never imagined it would be this satisfying. But as much as I would love to stay here and beat you into a bloody pulp I have other duties to attend to. I have to prepare my girls for when the customers arrive. Do you remember in the past my customers would pay good money to be with the 'beautiful Rose'? Sadly now that your leg is broken you are of no use to me in that sense, but that does not mean I can't have fun with you…guards!" Two arrancars walked in and bowed. "Take the girl and put her in the cell we have prepared for her." Ordered Kurosawa. The two guards bowed and then moved forwards to grab Rose by the arms and drag her out of the room.

Rose had no idea where she was but right now she could not care less. The pain in her leg and chest were unbearable. It was highly likely that Kurosawa had broken on of her ribs with the force of his kick. The floor was damp under her body and stank of moss. It was also freezing. The two guards continued down the corridor until they reached a rusted metal door. The door opened with a loud, finger nails of chalk board squeak making the hairs on Rose's neck stand up. The two guards looked at each other before throwing Rose into the room. She screamed loudly when she landed on her broken leg. The two guards snickered before closing and locking the door, leaving Rose in a cold, dark and damp room. Thankfully there was a small oil lamp hanging on one of the walls which provided a small amount of light and allowed Rose to look around her cell. The cell was just like the previous one she had been in (it was a cave) but sadly there was no hole in the ceiling which provided her with light and there was a stone bed carved into the wall. Slowly Rose dragged herself across the cave floor and climbed into the stone bed before curling up into a tight ball and closing her eyes. She thought about Shunsui and the times they had spent together in order to fight off the pain in her chest and leg. Absentmindedly she ran her hand gently across her chest and felt that two of her ribs had been broken. It hurt, god there was so much pain but she would not despair. Rose had seen the fire burning in Shunsui's eyes before Kurosawa turned off the monitor and knew that he was going to save her. She had to believe that Shunsui was going to rescue her.

The news that Kurosawa was going to slowly torture Rose Bentley to death in order to get back at Unohana spread through the Seireitei like wild fire. Everybody was talking about it which made the atmosphere inside the Seireitei more morbid. There was one question on everybody's mind: how long was Rose Bentley going to be able to hold on for before she was tortured to death or insanity? Nobody wanted to answer that question.

Shunsui had left the joint Taicho and Fukutaicho meeting quickly and had headed straight towards the Rukongai and started to search for Rose. It was only when the rain started to pour around him, soaking him through did he finally give up and head back to his quarters. Without even removing his soaking clothing Shunsui walked straight for the cupboard full of his sake. He only had two varieties of sake, one with a bright pink label and the other with a midnight blue label. Shunsui picked up a few bottles of sake with the pink label before sitting down on the floor and start to drink. He did not want the blue labelled one, it reminded him of Rose and right now all he wanted to do was forget. Shunsui drank and drank but sadly he could not forget.

The next thing he knew it was dawn and that somebody was trying to talk to him. Their voice sounded muffled but he did not care. It was dawn which meant that a new day had started…which sadly mean that Kurosawa was going to break another one of Rose's bones. Shunsui morbidly wondered which bone in Rose body Kurosawa was going to break as he tried to climb to his feet. The sound of Rose's piercing scream resonated through him making him grab his head and moan. The next thing he knew we was on the floor vomiting profusely while the room spun sickeningly around him. The muffled voices seemed to be shouting something but he had no idea what it was. And then calm hands were on his shoulder gently forcing him to roll onto his back. Shunsui watched with clouded eyes as someone their glowing green hands over his face and then next thing he knew he was slipping into a deep slumber.

Hi Guys, sorry about the late update but I went on holiday for two weeks and I did not have my laptop with me. So here are the next two chapters in the story. I hope they are sufficiently interesting and not too gruesome and gory. Anyway I hope you enjoy reading this chapter and please write a review. :)