Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ STOLEN TREASURE ❯ Chapter 5
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: MrAZ 
Anime/Manga: Bleach Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Angst | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 05.01.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 641 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Bleach Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Angst | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 05.01.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 641 | Status: Completed
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
She could barely move her jaw it hurt so bad. The sheet rubbed mercilessly against her sore cheek. She couldn't even see what was going on other than Gin was inside her and fucking her like some useless doll. Her tears had long ago dried and her voice was long gone from the choking and her own screams of protest and pleas to stop.
Rangiku felt his hand knot itself in her hair and yank her head back. A choked groan of pain caught in her throat. The only blessing of this entire humiliating experience was that she didn't have to look at him. He had her face smothered in the pillow while he did her from behind.
He saw red. Blood red. Murderous rage red.
The Grimmjow that stood in the doorway, frozen with the door wide behind him, was not the Grimmjow Ichigo had faced off with. Nor the arrancar who'd glared viciously at Tousen, ready to rip his head off as he'd cut off his arm. Even as he'd grinned like a maniac and followed Ichigo down... this wasn't the same arrancar. This wasn't even the same arrancar that had gathered the energy to release a cero point blank into Rukia's face, just because she'd dared freeze the top layer of skin.
Even when he'd shoved his hand through Luppi's chest and left the arrancar but a smear on Aizen's marble floor, cackling the whole while he was once more the Sexta Esapda, that was not the same arrancar. In each of those times Grimmjow had something that he was horribly lacking.
Some modicum of control.
He was killing them. Fucking killing them. Both of them.
Starting with Ichimaru.
The sound of the door sliding shut rang in his ears but he was cross the room before it even fully shut. The blade of his zanpakuto bared and up against Ichimaru's throat, his hand tight on the hilt, as his other clenched on the man's bony shoulders, fingers piercing his skin and digging into tendons and muscle.
The man stilled but he did not pull out from the broken body beneath him. "Ah. Grimmy. Came to play with the slut?" He grinned coldly. "Hafta wait yer turn. I ain't dun yet."
No audible words came from the prowling beast, just a single deep growl as his muscled arm tightened about him and he yanked hard on his shoulder. The wet sound of flesh tearing filled the room as his hand dug in deeper and he pulled the man off of the shinigami, leaving the blonde forgotten on the bed for the time being.
Gin winced and looked at his arm with confusion. His eyes narrowed on Grimmjow with cold, deadly menace. Reaching to his side he drew out Shinsou. "Now, tha' hurts, Grimmy."
Oh no. He wasn't being pierced by that little wakizashi again. Energy was already gathering, causing a glow about Grimmjow's hand, even as he yanked it from the soft tissue of Ichimaru's shoulder. He lifted blood-dripped fingers, aiming his hand directly at the man's torso, and grinned. Letting Ichimaru see the true face of a perfected arrancar Aizen had worked so long to obtain the ability to make.
"Cero."
With a sinister grin, Gin shyunpo'd to the bed and lifted the helpless, half-conscious blonde to use as a shield. He had no qualms about hurting her now. He honestly didn't care what this little whore did.
The man's movement was ridiculously easy to follow. What was that, shyunpo? Nothing compared to sonido. The gathered energy held in his palm, casting an eerie red glow over his glowering face and the room. It held steady though, Grimmjow hesitating as his eyes fixed on the blonde now draped in Ichimaru's arms and the man himself. He should release it. As easily as he slammed that cero into Luppi's body. Her body wasn't much of a shield, it would rip though her and still have enough destructive force behind it to destroy him. So it would kill a shinigami to get to Ichimaru.
And?
She was destined to die anyway, due to her very nature and this war.
That small bit of hesitation was all he needed. With a smirk, Gin tossed the blonde over to the arrancar. In another few steps he was gone from the room, laughing softly down the corridor.
She was caught easily enough, her form crumpling against his body after he was at least quick enough to realize what was being tossed at him and not destroy it to destroy his attacker. The cero was left to fully dissipate, and the arrancar was left to just stare down at the bruised face of the shinigami.
Rangiku's head lolled as consciousness slowly ebbed. At first it was difficult to differentiate the teal hair from the pale silver. In an effort to get away from the latter, she shoved pathetically and shook her head. "Stop, Gin... please. No more... I don't want this..."
He growled softly and slid his zanpakuto back into its sheath before swinging the woman's limp body up into his arms. One hand yanked at her ripped, stained hakama, settling the folds of fabric over to give her some cover before he turned and headed for the door with her still tucked up in his hold. "I ain't Gin."
The reiatsu registered with her almost as quickly as the voice. The fear left her somewhat, but with his anger a near palpable force, she couldn't fully relax, but she did express her relief that Gin was no longer there. "Thank the gods it's you..."
"Ain't much better." The door closed behind him and he turned and headed through the hallways, his reiatsu still pulsing and angry from his interrupted fight with the former captain. It was more than enough to warn any minor rank arrancar in the nearby vicinity to get out of the way lest they find themselves the target of Grimmjow's wrath.
Confusion set in as the look of the floor changed. She couldn't make it out very well. One eye was swollen shut while the other she could barely see from, when her head had hit the wall after Gin had initially punched her. "Where are we going?"
He just gave a soft snort but didn't answer. She'd see soon enough wouldn't she? It wasn't like he was taking her out to the exterior of Las Noches to dump her in the crystalline sand to fend for herself now. Though he possibly should. Ichimaru had just made it clear he had no interest in her being here and so.. Until Aizen gave the order though, he was still under the original restrictions. Free for all, just don't kill her or release her.
Getting to his destination, he shifted her in his grasp to press his hand to a sunken part of the wall and spoke his name. There was a shift in pressure as energy unlocked, parting the wall in front of him to reveal a door that he stepped through.
"Oi. Chick. Heal this," he muttered, walking over to set the blonde down on the long couch in the other prisoner's room.
Orihime's eyes were wide as she stared at the two, blinking in disbelief at the person who'd just been set down in her room. "Rangiku-san?"
The moment she fell onto the couch she lost complete consciousness. The pain and fear had just been too much this past hour. She vaguely registered Orihime's presence before passing out.
"I..." The girl continued to blink owlishly, a bit surprised when the arrancar spoke again, his back to her and over by the door.
"Ya have an hour," he said, tossing a glance over his shoulder at the unconscious form. A frown crossed his face but he looked away before Orihime could see anything more. "From when she wakes."
The door opened he left as abruptly as he'd come and Orihime finally went over to the couch, gasping softly as she noted the extent of Rangiku's injuries. Welled tears slid down her cheeks as she eased herself onto the couch to cradle the woman's head in her lap. She whispered softly, calling out Shunou and Ayame, and put her entire focus into healing -- no, rejecting -- every bruise, mark, and tear, on the woman's body and clothing.
--
Someone was humming. That was strange in and of itself. There was also the feeling of being embraced in something warm and tender, like a mother's embrace. It was the combination of the two which allowed Rangiku the most restful sleep she'd ever gotten since arriving in Hueco Mundo. Opening her eyes from that slumber, Rangiku took in the differences of the room she was in. It was still that painful, too-clean, too-bright white, but somehow it seemed softer, more innocent. The woman groaned softly as she shifted. She wasn't sore, just wary and a little frightened. What was to become of her? How were things going to be now? Why---
Wait a minute. She wasn't sore. Peering down into her shirt, every hickey, every bit of nail-torn flesh was gone. She was in perfect health. Only one person she knew could accomplish that. Her head turned looking for the girl in the room, "Orihime?"
The soft humming came to a stop as Rangiku stirred from her unconsciousness, Orihime's bright voice filling the silence. "You're awake..." She smiled softly, gazing down at the woman whose head was still cradled in her lap. The soft glow from Shunou and Ayame faded as she finished healing the woman as much as she could. But she could see from the haunted look in Rangiku's pale blue eyes, she could still only reject the effect of events... not the memories and fears of the event itself.
Her brow furrowed a bit, but her thoughts of anything pertaining to that were put on pause. That all could come later. Rangiku came first.
Rangiku felt herself relax in the presence of the younger girl. Sitting up she turned sideways to look at her, noting the same uniform she herself wore but with the top completely closed. She laughed softly, shaking her head and trying to push the events from hours ago away from her. "Don't we make a pair."
"They made me wear it..." Orihime blushed faintly, a bit self conscious of the uniform she wore now that someone other than an arrancar was seeing her in it. She hated it... She knew why she wore it. She wasn't the smartest girl, but every word Ulquiorra had said to her after she'd first adorned it hadn't been lost on her. Maybe if they believed it was working though... It was just as well. Her school uniform didn't really fit here.
Brushing her hair back behind her ear, she smiled softly at the two little creatures and they returned to her hairpins. "Did you get my letter? Did you really get it? Grimmjow-san said he'd give it to you but... I didn't know if he was telling the truth. I could only hope he was, since he gave me your scarf as proof you were here."
The soft blue gaze of the woman went to the arm of the other where indeed her scarf was there tied in a bow about her upper arm. So that's what he'd done with it. "I'm surprised he gave it to you. I half expected him to wipe his ass with it." Rangiku shook her head and laughed, her hands reaching out to clasp the other girls. "Yes I got your letter, sorta. Grimmjow read it to me at first, but after some... well, coaxing..." She blushed a pretty shade of pink remembering what followed. "Well I read it and thank you. I wanted to reply, but... complications, um, arose."
"Nope! He gave it to me..." She looked at the scarf and fingered the edge of it lightly. The strip of pink and her own blue hairpins seemed to be the only break of the monotony of white of this world. Her hands clasped tightly on Rangiku's, not understanding. She'd come here to keep the arrancar from hurting her friends, and yet Rangiku was here. Grimmjow terrified her because of what she'd seen him do with his restored arm, but he never touched her. He never even looked at her. A few days ago he'd come, to have her heal his arm again, and with Rangiku's scarf, and then today. Dumping her here like she was just a broken toy for her to mend, but giving her an hour with her friend. "Complications?"
She found she couldn't meet the warm gray gaze of this sweet young woman. There was an innocence about her which Rangiku didn't want to taint. This darkness shouldn't touch her. However, there was no way she wouldn't know and in the end it was best she tell the girl rather than Gin in hopes of breaking her mind. "I was brought here to be some sort of concubine to Gin. I ended up Grimmjow's instead."
Orihime's arms went tightly about the woman, the girl hugging her against herself tightly. She chocked back a short sob. "When I healed you... I saw... I mean... I didn't look! I knew though, what I was healing." Her arms tightened about the woman, determination setting in. She knew it was futile, but when Grimmjow came to get the shinigami, she would find a way to keep her here, safe, somehow. "He did that to you..."
Looking at Orihime, she must have come in looking a fright. It was obvious she'd been raped repeatedly, but it seemed as if the girl was accusing the wrong man of the act. "It wasn't... I mean..." There was an urge to clear Grimmjow of that crime. It was more than an urge, but a need. The girl already saw him as a monster, and sometimes she did too, or did, but adding rapist to his resume of dastardly deeds seemed wrong and unfair. Especially when in his own rough and childish way, he had been nothing but nice to her.
Rangiku shook her head. "He didn't do that to me. Well, the hickeys and most of the scratch marks, yes and if you got a good look at him, he has a set of matching ones courtesy of me, but no." She blushed again, realizing that it wouldn't take much for Orihime to realize that the wild intimacy was mutual. "What you saw earlier the beating and the cuts and the carvings... that was not his doing. It was Gin's. Grimmjow actually saved me from getting killed."
The girl's brow furrowed a bit, clear confusion in her eyes at what the woman said. While it wasn't a bad thing per se that the one it sounded like she was... with.... frequently hadn't been the one to do it, as it made Orihime sick to her stomach to think she'd healed the woman from close to death only for him to come and take her and do it again. It was confusing to say the least. An arrancar had saved her from being killed, a shinigami?
It didn't seem like something he'd do. He'd very gleefully killed one of his own, as messily as possible. Granted, they hadn't seemed to be on very good terms right before that moment. It seemed like all the arrancar wanted all the shinigami dead.
She drew back from the hug with the woman, just gazing at her. This place was doing a number on her view on the world. On good and evil. Even for a girl who wanted to find the best in everyone, there were limits, but now those limits were again shattered. She would have thought Grimmjow would be the one to laugh at a shinigami's death, not prevent it. "I don't understand. Did Aizen..." She closed her eyes, swallowing tightly, "-sama order him to have me heal you?"
The woman shook her head. "Not that I know of. It's hazy, but I remember Grimmjow in the doorway. There was a fight. I remember Gin holding me and then Grimmjow was holding me. Now I'm here." She bit her thumb in thought. "He saw Aizen before, but I don't know what that was about. Gin showed up right after he left."
That was the confusing part. The arrancar had sent her to the one person who could get rid of her wounds and make her well again. Why he'd done that made no sense and it frightened her. What was that man up to? She sighed and smiled at the girl. "This is all dreadfully confusing isn't it. It's even confusing me and I was there!"
Curling her legs up under herself, Orihime nodded softly and leaned her head against the older woman's shoulder. "It is... This entire place is confusing..." She tipped her head, looking again at the blonde. "Why would Ic--" she stopped, shaking her head. She couldn't. She couldn't say his name, address the man who'd raped Rangiku with such a level of respect as -sama. "Why would he do that? You two were friends... I saw the look he gave you before he was hit with the negation."
She patted the girl's head lightly and sighed. "He's very possessive and jealous. This was my punishment for letting someone other than him get close." Nuzzling her face against the top of Orihime's head she sighed. "It was bound to happen sooner or later considering Grimmjow's recent fixation with me. It was silly of me to think Gin would just punish him and leave me unscathed."
Orihime's head still boggled at it all. That Rangiku's lifelong friend could do such a thing to her, so violently, and it was her enemy who came to her rescue. Thank the gods someone had but everything Orihime had ever known told her that the situation should have been reversed.
She sighed softly, reaching up to press her hand at her eyes that felt hot again. No. No more crying. Was that all she could do, even here? She'd told herself no more crying when she took that bracelet from Ulquiorra. She wasn't doing a very good job of that so far. She was hardly the one who had anything to cry over here. "What happens now...?"
"I really don't know," replied the woman with a sigh. "I don't really have a choice anymore."
"I'll appeal to Aizen...-sama, next he calls me to speak with me," the girl offered up, that seeming to be the only choice. She couldn't just wish her friend well, best luck with that arrancar and enraged former captain. "To let you go, or... something..."
"Let me go? As nice as that would be, I doubt that would ever happen." More importantly did she want it to happen? Though it was cruel, vicious and demeaning, she quite enjoyed her interludes with Grimmjow. They were even better when he kept his mouth shut or on her pussy. No one back in Soul Society could give her that brand of sex. She cursed herself mentally. Gods there was something wrong with her if she actually considered staying because she enjoyed one man's particular cock far more than the possibility of seeing her friends.
"I have to do something... I came here to keep all of you safe."
"Ah, Orihime... so that's why you came here." Rangiku sighed and hugged her tightly. "You have a beautiful heart. It's no wonder you were granted such a special gift. I'll be fine though no matter where I end up. I'm a survivor. It's the only thing I know how to do."
--
He was spending way too much time in this room lately.
To be requested to be in Aizen's presence this often was either a high honor for an arrancar, even an Espada, or a very bad thing. It was more feeling like a bad thing to Grimmjow as he stood there, feeling Aizen's scrutinous gaze on him from so high up on that dais.
Grimmjow kept as steeled and silent as he could, eyes wandering over to the form in the shadows. Ichimaru. Poor thing, his entire shoulder and arm was now stained a nasty red. He really should get that looked at.
That was of course what Grimmjow wanted to say, but for once, he kept his mouth shut, completely shut, and just waited for Aizen to speak. He wasn't assuming a damn thing about what his lord wanted to speak with him about.
If it was to remove his rank for aiming and nearly firing a cero at Ichimaru, it was what it was. But if it was, he was finishing his crime and murdering Ichimaru right here before they scraped off his number. There wasn't much to live for if he was going to be knocked down to being a Numeros.
Aizen looked between the two with an amused smile barely painted across his features. "All this for a toy? Honestly, Gin. It should not surprise you or upset you when another man steals your toys. Considering how long you've left that one in neglect, I am frankly surprised it didn't happen sooner."
Unexpected. Aizen was siding with him here, not Ichimaru? A thin brow quirked up but otherwise Grimmjow remained uncharacteristically silent. Matters where Ichimaru and Tousen were involved were to be treaded carefully. Grimmjow knew that more than anyone. Even with all of his lacking grace and failure to grasp and display subtlety, even he wasn't ignorant of how to carry himself in Las Noches and before his creator.
"I think 'at ya missin' tha point 'at's here ta be looked at, Aizen. Ye'r li'l subordinate ove' there leveled a cero at 'is superior. Ya sayin' 'at ya gonna go an' let 'at go unpunished?" Blue eyes flashed over to the former 5th division captain, Gin's voice crisp and cool even as he smoldered in rage.
Grimmjow just rolled his shoulders in a shrug, shoving a hand in his pocket boredly. "Only cos ya threatened me with yer zanpakuto. It's common knowledge how I get when blades are drawn. We can't all be as composed as Aizen-sama." He looked over at Ichimaru, grinning dangerously. "It an apology ya want? Sorry I almost killed ya. I swear I won't repeat such a mistake again."
Aizen chuckled softly and looked at Gin. "He was defending what he'd rightfully claimed as his. I see nothing wrong with what he did."
"An' bringin' an' leavin' 'er wit' Orihime-chan, all alone?"
"All fer Aizen-sama's behalf," Grimmjow stated flatly. "The chick's bored and lonely. Ulquiorra doesn't make the best company--" Wait, scratch that, Aizen didn't mind Ulquiorra's company. "--for a human girl. She likes healin'. Let her heal someone she admires who's in her same position. An' I had to do something. Ya didn't leave me much ta look at."
Shaking his head with amusement, he said nothing as he waved his hand to shoo them both out. "Enough with this pettiness. Gin. Let it go. She's lost to you. After your recent treatment of her, I doubt she would want you back. I warned you, you would not be able to have both with this road, but you would not listen."
Grimmjow didn't need more than that slight wave of Aizen's hand. He'd take his dismissal this once very happily. Giving a faint bow, he turned to leave, a nasty smirk being tossed Ichimaru's way once his head was turned from Aizen. His gait to the door was unhurried and he paused a brief second by the door, just in case Aizen had any final words for him.
His creator did so love getting the last word, snuck in there. When he heard nothing more, he let the door close silently behind him and headed the way he'd come.
The hour was nearly up.
--
Rangiku felt his hand knot itself in her hair and yank her head back. A choked groan of pain caught in her throat. The only blessing of this entire humiliating experience was that she didn't have to look at him. He had her face smothered in the pillow while he did her from behind.
He saw red. Blood red. Murderous rage red.
The Grimmjow that stood in the doorway, frozen with the door wide behind him, was not the Grimmjow Ichigo had faced off with. Nor the arrancar who'd glared viciously at Tousen, ready to rip his head off as he'd cut off his arm. Even as he'd grinned like a maniac and followed Ichigo down... this wasn't the same arrancar. This wasn't even the same arrancar that had gathered the energy to release a cero point blank into Rukia's face, just because she'd dared freeze the top layer of skin.
Even when he'd shoved his hand through Luppi's chest and left the arrancar but a smear on Aizen's marble floor, cackling the whole while he was once more the Sexta Esapda, that was not the same arrancar. In each of those times Grimmjow had something that he was horribly lacking.
Some modicum of control.
He was killing them. Fucking killing them. Both of them.
Starting with Ichimaru.
The sound of the door sliding shut rang in his ears but he was cross the room before it even fully shut. The blade of his zanpakuto bared and up against Ichimaru's throat, his hand tight on the hilt, as his other clenched on the man's bony shoulders, fingers piercing his skin and digging into tendons and muscle.
The man stilled but he did not pull out from the broken body beneath him. "Ah. Grimmy. Came to play with the slut?" He grinned coldly. "Hafta wait yer turn. I ain't dun yet."
No audible words came from the prowling beast, just a single deep growl as his muscled arm tightened about him and he yanked hard on his shoulder. The wet sound of flesh tearing filled the room as his hand dug in deeper and he pulled the man off of the shinigami, leaving the blonde forgotten on the bed for the time being.
Gin winced and looked at his arm with confusion. His eyes narrowed on Grimmjow with cold, deadly menace. Reaching to his side he drew out Shinsou. "Now, tha' hurts, Grimmy."
Oh no. He wasn't being pierced by that little wakizashi again. Energy was already gathering, causing a glow about Grimmjow's hand, even as he yanked it from the soft tissue of Ichimaru's shoulder. He lifted blood-dripped fingers, aiming his hand directly at the man's torso, and grinned. Letting Ichimaru see the true face of a perfected arrancar Aizen had worked so long to obtain the ability to make.
"Cero."
With a sinister grin, Gin shyunpo'd to the bed and lifted the helpless, half-conscious blonde to use as a shield. He had no qualms about hurting her now. He honestly didn't care what this little whore did.
The man's movement was ridiculously easy to follow. What was that, shyunpo? Nothing compared to sonido. The gathered energy held in his palm, casting an eerie red glow over his glowering face and the room. It held steady though, Grimmjow hesitating as his eyes fixed on the blonde now draped in Ichimaru's arms and the man himself. He should release it. As easily as he slammed that cero into Luppi's body. Her body wasn't much of a shield, it would rip though her and still have enough destructive force behind it to destroy him. So it would kill a shinigami to get to Ichimaru.
And?
She was destined to die anyway, due to her very nature and this war.
That small bit of hesitation was all he needed. With a smirk, Gin tossed the blonde over to the arrancar. In another few steps he was gone from the room, laughing softly down the corridor.
She was caught easily enough, her form crumpling against his body after he was at least quick enough to realize what was being tossed at him and not destroy it to destroy his attacker. The cero was left to fully dissipate, and the arrancar was left to just stare down at the bruised face of the shinigami.
Rangiku's head lolled as consciousness slowly ebbed. At first it was difficult to differentiate the teal hair from the pale silver. In an effort to get away from the latter, she shoved pathetically and shook her head. "Stop, Gin... please. No more... I don't want this..."
He growled softly and slid his zanpakuto back into its sheath before swinging the woman's limp body up into his arms. One hand yanked at her ripped, stained hakama, settling the folds of fabric over to give her some cover before he turned and headed for the door with her still tucked up in his hold. "I ain't Gin."
The reiatsu registered with her almost as quickly as the voice. The fear left her somewhat, but with his anger a near palpable force, she couldn't fully relax, but she did express her relief that Gin was no longer there. "Thank the gods it's you..."
"Ain't much better." The door closed behind him and he turned and headed through the hallways, his reiatsu still pulsing and angry from his interrupted fight with the former captain. It was more than enough to warn any minor rank arrancar in the nearby vicinity to get out of the way lest they find themselves the target of Grimmjow's wrath.
Confusion set in as the look of the floor changed. She couldn't make it out very well. One eye was swollen shut while the other she could barely see from, when her head had hit the wall after Gin had initially punched her. "Where are we going?"
He just gave a soft snort but didn't answer. She'd see soon enough wouldn't she? It wasn't like he was taking her out to the exterior of Las Noches to dump her in the crystalline sand to fend for herself now. Though he possibly should. Ichimaru had just made it clear he had no interest in her being here and so.. Until Aizen gave the order though, he was still under the original restrictions. Free for all, just don't kill her or release her.
Getting to his destination, he shifted her in his grasp to press his hand to a sunken part of the wall and spoke his name. There was a shift in pressure as energy unlocked, parting the wall in front of him to reveal a door that he stepped through.
"Oi. Chick. Heal this," he muttered, walking over to set the blonde down on the long couch in the other prisoner's room.
Orihime's eyes were wide as she stared at the two, blinking in disbelief at the person who'd just been set down in her room. "Rangiku-san?"
The moment she fell onto the couch she lost complete consciousness. The pain and fear had just been too much this past hour. She vaguely registered Orihime's presence before passing out.
"I..." The girl continued to blink owlishly, a bit surprised when the arrancar spoke again, his back to her and over by the door.
"Ya have an hour," he said, tossing a glance over his shoulder at the unconscious form. A frown crossed his face but he looked away before Orihime could see anything more. "From when she wakes."
The door opened he left as abruptly as he'd come and Orihime finally went over to the couch, gasping softly as she noted the extent of Rangiku's injuries. Welled tears slid down her cheeks as she eased herself onto the couch to cradle the woman's head in her lap. She whispered softly, calling out Shunou and Ayame, and put her entire focus into healing -- no, rejecting -- every bruise, mark, and tear, on the woman's body and clothing.
--
Someone was humming. That was strange in and of itself. There was also the feeling of being embraced in something warm and tender, like a mother's embrace. It was the combination of the two which allowed Rangiku the most restful sleep she'd ever gotten since arriving in Hueco Mundo. Opening her eyes from that slumber, Rangiku took in the differences of the room she was in. It was still that painful, too-clean, too-bright white, but somehow it seemed softer, more innocent. The woman groaned softly as she shifted. She wasn't sore, just wary and a little frightened. What was to become of her? How were things going to be now? Why---
Wait a minute. She wasn't sore. Peering down into her shirt, every hickey, every bit of nail-torn flesh was gone. She was in perfect health. Only one person she knew could accomplish that. Her head turned looking for the girl in the room, "Orihime?"
The soft humming came to a stop as Rangiku stirred from her unconsciousness, Orihime's bright voice filling the silence. "You're awake..." She smiled softly, gazing down at the woman whose head was still cradled in her lap. The soft glow from Shunou and Ayame faded as she finished healing the woman as much as she could. But she could see from the haunted look in Rangiku's pale blue eyes, she could still only reject the effect of events... not the memories and fears of the event itself.
Her brow furrowed a bit, but her thoughts of anything pertaining to that were put on pause. That all could come later. Rangiku came first.
Rangiku felt herself relax in the presence of the younger girl. Sitting up she turned sideways to look at her, noting the same uniform she herself wore but with the top completely closed. She laughed softly, shaking her head and trying to push the events from hours ago away from her. "Don't we make a pair."
"They made me wear it..." Orihime blushed faintly, a bit self conscious of the uniform she wore now that someone other than an arrancar was seeing her in it. She hated it... She knew why she wore it. She wasn't the smartest girl, but every word Ulquiorra had said to her after she'd first adorned it hadn't been lost on her. Maybe if they believed it was working though... It was just as well. Her school uniform didn't really fit here.
Brushing her hair back behind her ear, she smiled softly at the two little creatures and they returned to her hairpins. "Did you get my letter? Did you really get it? Grimmjow-san said he'd give it to you but... I didn't know if he was telling the truth. I could only hope he was, since he gave me your scarf as proof you were here."
The soft blue gaze of the woman went to the arm of the other where indeed her scarf was there tied in a bow about her upper arm. So that's what he'd done with it. "I'm surprised he gave it to you. I half expected him to wipe his ass with it." Rangiku shook her head and laughed, her hands reaching out to clasp the other girls. "Yes I got your letter, sorta. Grimmjow read it to me at first, but after some... well, coaxing..." She blushed a pretty shade of pink remembering what followed. "Well I read it and thank you. I wanted to reply, but... complications, um, arose."
"Nope! He gave it to me..." She looked at the scarf and fingered the edge of it lightly. The strip of pink and her own blue hairpins seemed to be the only break of the monotony of white of this world. Her hands clasped tightly on Rangiku's, not understanding. She'd come here to keep the arrancar from hurting her friends, and yet Rangiku was here. Grimmjow terrified her because of what she'd seen him do with his restored arm, but he never touched her. He never even looked at her. A few days ago he'd come, to have her heal his arm again, and with Rangiku's scarf, and then today. Dumping her here like she was just a broken toy for her to mend, but giving her an hour with her friend. "Complications?"
She found she couldn't meet the warm gray gaze of this sweet young woman. There was an innocence about her which Rangiku didn't want to taint. This darkness shouldn't touch her. However, there was no way she wouldn't know and in the end it was best she tell the girl rather than Gin in hopes of breaking her mind. "I was brought here to be some sort of concubine to Gin. I ended up Grimmjow's instead."
Orihime's arms went tightly about the woman, the girl hugging her against herself tightly. She chocked back a short sob. "When I healed you... I saw... I mean... I didn't look! I knew though, what I was healing." Her arms tightened about the woman, determination setting in. She knew it was futile, but when Grimmjow came to get the shinigami, she would find a way to keep her here, safe, somehow. "He did that to you..."
Looking at Orihime, she must have come in looking a fright. It was obvious she'd been raped repeatedly, but it seemed as if the girl was accusing the wrong man of the act. "It wasn't... I mean..." There was an urge to clear Grimmjow of that crime. It was more than an urge, but a need. The girl already saw him as a monster, and sometimes she did too, or did, but adding rapist to his resume of dastardly deeds seemed wrong and unfair. Especially when in his own rough and childish way, he had been nothing but nice to her.
Rangiku shook her head. "He didn't do that to me. Well, the hickeys and most of the scratch marks, yes and if you got a good look at him, he has a set of matching ones courtesy of me, but no." She blushed again, realizing that it wouldn't take much for Orihime to realize that the wild intimacy was mutual. "What you saw earlier the beating and the cuts and the carvings... that was not his doing. It was Gin's. Grimmjow actually saved me from getting killed."
The girl's brow furrowed a bit, clear confusion in her eyes at what the woman said. While it wasn't a bad thing per se that the one it sounded like she was... with.... frequently hadn't been the one to do it, as it made Orihime sick to her stomach to think she'd healed the woman from close to death only for him to come and take her and do it again. It was confusing to say the least. An arrancar had saved her from being killed, a shinigami?
It didn't seem like something he'd do. He'd very gleefully killed one of his own, as messily as possible. Granted, they hadn't seemed to be on very good terms right before that moment. It seemed like all the arrancar wanted all the shinigami dead.
She drew back from the hug with the woman, just gazing at her. This place was doing a number on her view on the world. On good and evil. Even for a girl who wanted to find the best in everyone, there were limits, but now those limits were again shattered. She would have thought Grimmjow would be the one to laugh at a shinigami's death, not prevent it. "I don't understand. Did Aizen..." She closed her eyes, swallowing tightly, "-sama order him to have me heal you?"
The woman shook her head. "Not that I know of. It's hazy, but I remember Grimmjow in the doorway. There was a fight. I remember Gin holding me and then Grimmjow was holding me. Now I'm here." She bit her thumb in thought. "He saw Aizen before, but I don't know what that was about. Gin showed up right after he left."
That was the confusing part. The arrancar had sent her to the one person who could get rid of her wounds and make her well again. Why he'd done that made no sense and it frightened her. What was that man up to? She sighed and smiled at the girl. "This is all dreadfully confusing isn't it. It's even confusing me and I was there!"
Curling her legs up under herself, Orihime nodded softly and leaned her head against the older woman's shoulder. "It is... This entire place is confusing..." She tipped her head, looking again at the blonde. "Why would Ic--" she stopped, shaking her head. She couldn't. She couldn't say his name, address the man who'd raped Rangiku with such a level of respect as -sama. "Why would he do that? You two were friends... I saw the look he gave you before he was hit with the negation."
She patted the girl's head lightly and sighed. "He's very possessive and jealous. This was my punishment for letting someone other than him get close." Nuzzling her face against the top of Orihime's head she sighed. "It was bound to happen sooner or later considering Grimmjow's recent fixation with me. It was silly of me to think Gin would just punish him and leave me unscathed."
Orihime's head still boggled at it all. That Rangiku's lifelong friend could do such a thing to her, so violently, and it was her enemy who came to her rescue. Thank the gods someone had but everything Orihime had ever known told her that the situation should have been reversed.
She sighed softly, reaching up to press her hand at her eyes that felt hot again. No. No more crying. Was that all she could do, even here? She'd told herself no more crying when she took that bracelet from Ulquiorra. She wasn't doing a very good job of that so far. She was hardly the one who had anything to cry over here. "What happens now...?"
"I really don't know," replied the woman with a sigh. "I don't really have a choice anymore."
"I'll appeal to Aizen...-sama, next he calls me to speak with me," the girl offered up, that seeming to be the only choice. She couldn't just wish her friend well, best luck with that arrancar and enraged former captain. "To let you go, or... something..."
"Let me go? As nice as that would be, I doubt that would ever happen." More importantly did she want it to happen? Though it was cruel, vicious and demeaning, she quite enjoyed her interludes with Grimmjow. They were even better when he kept his mouth shut or on her pussy. No one back in Soul Society could give her that brand of sex. She cursed herself mentally. Gods there was something wrong with her if she actually considered staying because she enjoyed one man's particular cock far more than the possibility of seeing her friends.
"I have to do something... I came here to keep all of you safe."
"Ah, Orihime... so that's why you came here." Rangiku sighed and hugged her tightly. "You have a beautiful heart. It's no wonder you were granted such a special gift. I'll be fine though no matter where I end up. I'm a survivor. It's the only thing I know how to do."
--
He was spending way too much time in this room lately.
To be requested to be in Aizen's presence this often was either a high honor for an arrancar, even an Espada, or a very bad thing. It was more feeling like a bad thing to Grimmjow as he stood there, feeling Aizen's scrutinous gaze on him from so high up on that dais.
Grimmjow kept as steeled and silent as he could, eyes wandering over to the form in the shadows. Ichimaru. Poor thing, his entire shoulder and arm was now stained a nasty red. He really should get that looked at.
That was of course what Grimmjow wanted to say, but for once, he kept his mouth shut, completely shut, and just waited for Aizen to speak. He wasn't assuming a damn thing about what his lord wanted to speak with him about.
If it was to remove his rank for aiming and nearly firing a cero at Ichimaru, it was what it was. But if it was, he was finishing his crime and murdering Ichimaru right here before they scraped off his number. There wasn't much to live for if he was going to be knocked down to being a Numeros.
Aizen looked between the two with an amused smile barely painted across his features. "All this for a toy? Honestly, Gin. It should not surprise you or upset you when another man steals your toys. Considering how long you've left that one in neglect, I am frankly surprised it didn't happen sooner."
Unexpected. Aizen was siding with him here, not Ichimaru? A thin brow quirked up but otherwise Grimmjow remained uncharacteristically silent. Matters where Ichimaru and Tousen were involved were to be treaded carefully. Grimmjow knew that more than anyone. Even with all of his lacking grace and failure to grasp and display subtlety, even he wasn't ignorant of how to carry himself in Las Noches and before his creator.
"I think 'at ya missin' tha point 'at's here ta be looked at, Aizen. Ye'r li'l subordinate ove' there leveled a cero at 'is superior. Ya sayin' 'at ya gonna go an' let 'at go unpunished?" Blue eyes flashed over to the former 5th division captain, Gin's voice crisp and cool even as he smoldered in rage.
Grimmjow just rolled his shoulders in a shrug, shoving a hand in his pocket boredly. "Only cos ya threatened me with yer zanpakuto. It's common knowledge how I get when blades are drawn. We can't all be as composed as Aizen-sama." He looked over at Ichimaru, grinning dangerously. "It an apology ya want? Sorry I almost killed ya. I swear I won't repeat such a mistake again."
Aizen chuckled softly and looked at Gin. "He was defending what he'd rightfully claimed as his. I see nothing wrong with what he did."
"An' bringin' an' leavin' 'er wit' Orihime-chan, all alone?"
"All fer Aizen-sama's behalf," Grimmjow stated flatly. "The chick's bored and lonely. Ulquiorra doesn't make the best company--" Wait, scratch that, Aizen didn't mind Ulquiorra's company. "--for a human girl. She likes healin'. Let her heal someone she admires who's in her same position. An' I had to do something. Ya didn't leave me much ta look at."
Shaking his head with amusement, he said nothing as he waved his hand to shoo them both out. "Enough with this pettiness. Gin. Let it go. She's lost to you. After your recent treatment of her, I doubt she would want you back. I warned you, you would not be able to have both with this road, but you would not listen."
Grimmjow didn't need more than that slight wave of Aizen's hand. He'd take his dismissal this once very happily. Giving a faint bow, he turned to leave, a nasty smirk being tossed Ichimaru's way once his head was turned from Aizen. His gait to the door was unhurried and he paused a brief second by the door, just in case Aizen had any final words for him.
His creator did so love getting the last word, snuck in there. When he heard nothing more, he let the door close silently behind him and headed the way he'd come.
The hour was nearly up.
--