"I need to go shopping," Grimmjow complained as he and Aizen shared the sink, shaving in the morning. Aizen's eyes cut his way in the mirror.

"I disagree."

"What? I barely have anything anymore since most my shit went up in smoke."

"Like I said, I disagree. I don't mind if you walk around like this all the time."

Grimmjow was just in his boxers. He rolled his eyes and set his razor down. Aizen had finished too and his hand reached behind Grimmjow, swirling over his ass as he kissed him.

"Don't go out today. It's still too soon."

"Yeah," Grimmojw felt a bit breathless as Aizen's other hand came down over his chest, his thumb swirling over his nipple. "I won't."

They both started breathing hard, but Aizen really did have to go, and so with reluctance his hands slipped away from Grimmjow's heated flesh and he left the penthouse to go reclaim some of his losses.

Over the course of the next few days Grimmjow's hands improved. The doctor on Aizen's payroll came and fished out what was left of the glass and treated the cuts as best he could. When the bandages came off, Grimmjow applied Vaseline so the skin wouldn't grow tight or scar.

Aizen's calf healed nicely as well, but there was a lasting scar. The bullet had cut through the muscle but it healed without complication.

The only one who didn't heal quickly was Stark. Grimmjow's stomach knotted when Aizen told him his right hand had slipped into a coma due to the bullet that had broken his breast plate and caused severe blood loss. His chances of coming out were unknown.

It was two weeks after the incident that Grimmjow got the text from Kaien. He was bent over a padded table, his wrist cuffed before him and his body jerking in time to Aizen's movements. He saw the pile of his pants vibrate where they'd been discarded on the floor of the back room.

When Aizen finished and released him, he bent stiffly and checked the message.

"It's from Kaien," he explained to Aizen, rubbing his sore back. A hand slipped around his waist and Aizen read the text over his shoulder.

"He wants to meet you."

"He must have information for you," Grimmjow said.

"Mmm." It wasn't a surprise, Kaien had used Grimmjow before, but it was clear Aizen didn't want to send him out.

"I'll tell him to meet me at Baker's pub," he said, ducking from Aizen's hold, trying to avoid the conversation he knew was coming. He bundled up his clothes and headed for the shower as he texted. "You're going out this afternoon anyway," he reasoned when Aizen followed him into the shower.

"Exactly."

"You can't go with me, it would defeat the point."

Aizen turned the water on. Grimmjow jolted under the cold spray.

"I'll be fine," he insisted when Aizen leaned him back against the wall, tracing his jawline.

"I want you to take a body guard."

Grimmjow shook his head. "Again, that would defeat the point. Come on, it must be important if he's making contact in the middle of all this shit."

Aizen relented, but not happily. He gripped Grimmjow's arms and pushed him face first into the wall as he took him a little too hard. Grimmjow endured without comment and let Aizen scrub him down after. He left the shower when Aizen washed himself and got dressed. His back hurt worse now but he didn't say anything when Aizen joined him in the bedroom.

"Kaien's on his way, I'm going."

"Call me when you're back."

"I will."

He started to go but Aizen caught his shoulder and spun him. He planted a long deep kiss on him before letting him go.

"You be careful too," Grimmjow added as he left.

He had been out a few times in the last couple of weeks but not often. Now was the first he'd gone completely on his own. He blended smoothly into a crowd of hotel guests on their way out for some site seeing then he grabbed a bus to the seedier part of town. He walked from the stop to the pub but saw Kaien parked in an alley a block up.

When Kaien spotted him, he hurried over to him and shouted at him to stop then grabbed him and pinned him to the front of the hood as if he was making an arrest.

"Dammit, is this really necessary?" Grimmjow complained.

"Anyone could be watching," Kaien hissed, hauling Grimmjow's wrists behind his back and cuffing him. "Get in," he said a bit louder in case someone was in fact watching. He guided Grimmjow's head through the door and slammed the door shut. Then he got in the front seat and began to drive.

"Shit, can you give me the keys or something?" Grimmjow wasn't very comfortable with a virtual stranger having control over him like this.

"Just hold on, kid, it won't take long."

"Fine, what's the message?"

"The message is Katagiri came to me with a deal."

"He did?"

"He wants me to flip. He still has one man on the inside but if he could get me to flip, he'd have two and Aizen would have none."

"So what did you do?"

"I said no, of course."

"And he said?"

"He made me a new deal. He said if I wouldn't flip, then I needed to get out of the picture. I didn't respond too politely to this scenario either."

"So he's threatening you?"

"My family. I have two younger sisters."

"Shit. I'm sure Aizen can help."

"I'm sure he could. The trouble is, Katagiri already slit my youngest sister's throat."

A terrible silence followed the statement. Grimmjow felt himself go cold, slowly processing the implications. He leaned forward and watched Kaien's eyes in the mirror.

"What…what are you saying…?"

"I'm saying I only have one chance to save my other sister. A trade."

Grimmjow swallowed hard. He looked out the window and only now realized they were headed for the North bound highway, out of the city.

"Kaien, stop the car."

"I can't."

"LET ME OUT!"

"I'm sorry kid….I'm so sorry…but it's you or her. I don't have a choice."

"No…" Grimmjow yanked on the cuffs. He was stuck. The police car was designed to keep him trapped. His heart raced, he shook his head and pressed his face to the metal grating.

"Kaien, I'll help you get her back, but you have to let me go."

"I know what I'm doing to you, Jaggerjaques. But she's only sixteen. You have to understand."

Grimmjow gave up trying to convince him. He sank back in the seat, fear creeping into his entire body. They drove a long way before pulling off to meet a car parked next to the road. Kaien let out a long, terrible sigh, and stepped out.

Grimmjow watched the exchange through the side window. He saw a young girl stumble barefoot from a van. He watched Kaien envelop her in his arms and then back them slowly away. Then he pointed to the back seat.

Four men came toward the car. Grimmjow prepared himself, tried to kick them when they opened the door, but it was futile. He was dragged from the vehicle and held on either side. He recognized Katagiri from the pier. He'd come here himself to collect his prize.

"I'm so glad to see you," he smiled wide, one of his teeth was gold. Grimmjow tried to maintain a fierce stare but the truth was, he was terrified. Katagiri reached out and stroked a hand down the side of his face, slow, contemplative.

"I see why he desires you so. Let's see just how much he's willing to sacrifice to keep you alive."

Suddenly he swung. The fist came hard into his gut and Grimmjow sagged, seeing spots. The next strike came down over the back of his head. He lost consciousness.

Frigid water brought him back to life. Grimmjow jolted, his hands snapping taught above him. Kaien's cuffs were still on him, but now they were secured to the post against which he sat. He blinked furiously, but the over bright light didn't go away. Instead he realized it was supposed to be there, illuminating his water soaked skin.

"Ah fuck," he whispered to himself. His torso was bare, a deep bruise visible beneath his sternum where he'd been struck. His arms felt numb from being above his head. He tried to look past the light but he couldn't tell where he was. The dirty floor and wooden post at his back suggested somewhere remote.

Something clicked to life next to the light. He squinted and thought he made out a camera lens.

"Aizen," a voice boomed from behind the camera but it was clearly not Katagiri's. He wouldn't be stupid enough to use his own voice just in case the tape ever made it into the hands of authorities. "You probably know by now your boy toy is missing. And you probably guessed who had him. You're right and now the game begins. We'll start with what you've stolen from me in the past two weeks. I want 64 Burlington back."

It was probably a store house of goods. Since Katagiri and many of his men were still wanted by the cops, it had been difficult for them to protect their assets. Aizen had been very busy not just reclaiming his own properties, but Katagiri's as well.

"I want your men to lay down their weapons and walk out by eight-o'clock tomorrow evening. If they do, I won't kill Jaggerjaques."

Grimmjow heard a paper turn over. The man was reading what Katagiri had written. Even though it was a different man who spoke, he could hear the smile in the following words.

"But in the meantime, I will have fun with him."

Two men in black with face masks stepped into the light. They were likewise protecting their identities in case this video ever made it into police hands. But Grimmjow wasn't think about that when they converged on him and began to yank his boots from his feet, then his belt from his pants.

He tried to keep the panic from his breathing when they hauled his jeans down. He got in a kick and was served a punch that stunned him enough he didn't struggle further. He waited for them to bare him completely but they stopped there.

Grimmjow wasn't sure why until his head was gripped by the man on his left and the other began to loosen his own pants.

"You motherfuckers." He got out before his mouth was filled.

He wanted to bite down, but the second man pressed in below the joints of his jaw in a way that stopped him from being able. He gagged. He struggled. He thought he would suffocate. His body clenched and the man pulled out just before he vomited. He was struck again and then they grabbed him again. He puked again before it was done, and when his throat and mouth filled they wrapped their hands around his mouth so he couldn't spit it back out. His eyes watered, his body shook. Finally he had to swallow and they let him go. He sagged back against the pole tasting salt and blood. He gasped for breath—they came in shaky. He heard laughter beyond the circle of light but could see none of the spectators. Then the voice spoke one last time.

"I think I've made my point. Until 8 o'clock."

The camera clicked off. The light vanished plunging Grimmjow into cold darkness. He felt the panic building, his chest heaving from what had been done to him and what still awaited. Even when his eyes finally adjusted to the dim lighting, he refused to look up at the men around him. He kept his eyes on the broken buckle of his belt next to him until a shiny pair of shoes kicked it away.

Katagiri's mauve suit stretched around his broad frame as he couched and took hold of Grimmjow's chin.

"I quite enjoyed that, didn't you?"

Grimmjow jerked away as much as he could. Katagiri chuckled and put a hand on his chest, letting his fingers wander slowly over Grimmjow's bare skin.

"I'm going to enjoy every inch of this body before 8 o'clock tomorrow night."

His hand stopped on Grimmjow's thigh.

"I can only imagine what Aizen is doing now, as he opens that video. It's giving me a fuckin hard on." He bent in lower. Grimmjow turned his face away but teeth sank into his ear lobe. He ground his molars together but said nothing. "But not as much as you're turning me on, boy. I'm going make you scream like Aizen never has." He drew back slowly. "Besides, I owe you for shooting me on the pier that night and for killing two of my boys." He licked his lips in anticipation. "I've never broken anything so lethal before."

"You won't break me," Grimmjow finally spoke.

Katagiri grinned.

"We'll see." He stood and snapped his fingers. "Take him to my room and lock him down."

So, yes, there is a dark turn up ahead, I understand if this is puts some reader off this story but I hope it doesn't, because this part of the story is not without purpose. If you want to follow Grimmjow and Aizen's journey, please stay with me.
Thanks,

~ZQ