Exposed!

Exposed

Chapter XI

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The moment Ichigo uttered his name and took a surprised step forward, a white blur lunged at him. He reacted by pure instinct, bringing Zangetsu up to block whatever had just attacked him. In a haze of comprehension, he realized that it wasn’t just Aizen who had come; the dangerous ex-Shinigami had brought two other Espada –Stark and Ulquiorra, and it was the latter that had attacked him just now.

The orange-haired Substitute grunted as the Cuarto Espada applied more pressure, his face emotionless as always. The others around him were just beginning to realize what had happened and he felt Grimmjow’s hand reach for Pantera behind him.

“Don’t!” Ichigo hissed as he pushed off Ulquiorra. “We don’t know what they want yet, dumbass!”

Ichigo relaxed slightly and resisted a smile as he felt Grimmjow’s tense behind him. The blue-haired idiot was pissed at being called dumbass and being unable to retaliate. This would have delighted Ichigo, if it weren’t for the current situation he was in. The teenager turned to face Aizen, his chin lifting of its own accord as he faced down the man who had once tried to cut him in half two short years ago. He surveyed the group Aizen had brought with interest; the way they carried themselves was much more confident than it should have been. After all, the entire Gotei 13 could take them down whenever they wished since Aizen’s group was so woefully outnumbered, so to be confident meant they were stupid… Or else they had some kind of bargaining chip.

Ichigo’s eyes narrowed as Aizen’s face broke into a slow, shark-like smile and he clapped his hands. “Ahh, looks like you figured it out, Kurosaki Ichigo. Make any moves toward me and Ulquiorra will kill you.” Suddenly a cold, sharp sword was biting into his exposed neck and he gritted his teeth and spat in the Espada’s face. Another blur and the ever-sleepy Stark appeared behind him, holding sword to his back and telling Grimmjow that if the Sexta Espada so much as twitched, he would stab Ichigo from behind.

“Alright, children, you can come out now,” Aizen said. The man jerked a rope that Ichigo hadn’t noticed before and to his horror three humans tumbled out of an open and waiting garganta. He gave a strangled cry as Mizuiro, Keigo and Tatsuki stumbled to the ground, tied together by the rope that was wrapped around their waists. Ichigo shook his head, as if trying to wake himself up from a bad dream. He couldn’t believe this.

The three humans looked up at him then and he tried to take a step back, wincing as Stark’s sword cut into his back. Suddenly feeling slightly panicky (normally he wouldn’t panic, but his friends weren’t usually completely defenseless and powerless humans!) he tried to get away from Stark and Ulquiorra. He succeeded and grabbed his sword, the wrappings falling away. Without really thinking, he tried to charge at Aizen, letting out an angry yell.

His attack was cut short as Ulquiorra sonido-ed in front of him and he stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. He looked down and saw the Cuarto Espada’s sword sticking out of his abdomen. The Espada backed away, leaving his sword stuck in Ichigo’s stomach as blood soaked his haori and hakama. Behind him, he could hear Grimmjow’s breath hitch as if he were listening on the other side of a water bed. Ichigo stumbled a bit, his vision getting hazy, but managed to pull the sword out of himself without cutting himself up further. He groaned and spat blood before turning his molten gaze upon Aizen. He didn’t want his human friends to see him this way, all weak and bloody.

“What do you want?” He asked raggedly, hating how his voice hitched as a wave of pain hit him. He winced as he remembered that bad feeling he’d had the last two days. His eyes blazed as he waited for Aizen’s answer.

“I want something in exchange for these three,” he said smoothly, giving Ichigo a particular look. “I think you know what it is I want.”

The two made eye-contact for a brief moment before Ichigo turned away. He looked at Grimmjow, who was struggling against Ulquiorra and Stark.

“Grimm,” Ichigo whimpered softly. He knew Aizen wanted to trade himself for his friends and he knew he would do it, too, but he didn’t want to die quite yet. Grimmjow’s eyes bore into his and he could see the desperation in them as the Espada struggled; whether the blue-haired bastard was desperate for a fight or desperate to help, the Substitute didn’t know. Ichigo turned back to Aizen, who was waiting patiently for his answer.

“Fine. But allow me to say goodbye, at least,” Ichigo said softly. His voice wasn’t shaking and his face looked calmer than he felt, and for that he was thankful. No one could say he was a coward. He lifted his chin a little and stared Aizen in the eyes. The latter looked back, amused at the show the boy was putting on before nodding his head in approval. “Sure. Five minutes.”

Ichigo sighed, the breath hurting his abdomen and he stumbled over to where Stark and Ulquiorra had let Grimmjow go. Suddenly he was in Grimmjow’s strong arms and even though it hurt, he reached to hug him back. The Espada could feel Ichigo trying to appear cool and calm, but he knew the boy better than most people present and knew he was anything but. Ichigo would never sell out and he could never be called a coward, but he had to admit that the thought of what Aizen could do to him was scary. Ichigo stepped back from him and Grimmjow bent down to kiss him light and short on the lips. Grimmjow leaned his forehead against Ichigo’s and sighed.

“I’ll find a way to save you, Ichi,” the older man breathed. “I promise. Just as long as your weak-ass doesn’t die first.”

Ichigo allowed himself a smirk at the Espada’s arrogant words before stepping away and facing his other friends. He knew that Renji and Rukia would be upset with him but they would jump at the chance to rescue him if the time came. He turned to his human friends, who were looking at him, scared.

“Keigo, what happened to Ishida, Inoue and Chad?” He asked, worried. They were supposed to be taking care of the powerless humans and he didn’t understand how his friends had been captured. The poor boy, normally so buoyant and happy, always ready to glomp Ichigo, stuttered a bit at first, his eyes wide in shock at what had happened. Ichigo noticed his eyes flickering down to his wound every so often, so he drew Keigo’s attention back to his face. “Keigo.”

The boy took a breath and whispered, “I don’t know.” Nothing followed that short statement and so Ichigo just nodded, feeling tired suddenly as his strength left him. He felt abruptly like collapsing, but instead of showing such weakness, he looked his friends in the eyes, trying to tell them silently not to worry about him. He sighed and turned back to Aizen and nodded.

The Substitute allowed the ex-Shinigami to walk up to him and grab him by the back of his collar. Ichigo didn’t see any reason to fight them off at this point, so he sighed and let Aizen half guide, half drag him to the garganta. He threw Ichigo in roughly and signaled his two Espada to follow. Before Ichigo could react, Ulquiorra reached out and snatched Tatsuki and dragged her screaming and kicking into the garganta just as it began to close. Ichigo shouted and struggled, angry that he had been tricked.

“Aizen, you fucking bastard! You said you’d let them go!” He shouted over and over. Aizen laughed openly at his anger and struck him across the face to shut him up. Ichigo used the hardest, coldest glare he could muster.

“Shut up, Shinigami. I’m not stupid. I am keeping this one merely for bargaining purposes. If I don’t, how will I know that you won’t try to escape? But now that she’s here, you won’t even try.”

“How the hell do you know that?” Ichigo spat, angry as pain wracked his body from all the struggling.

Aizen laughed once again. “I know because I know your type, brat. You feel responsible for everyone. You’ll sacrifice yourself for others. You’ll live in misery in Hueco Mundo without struggle if I tell you to, since I have her,” he said, gesturing toward a terrified Tatsuki. Ichigo sighed, knowing he was right. If Aizen decided to tell him that if he tried anything he’d kill Tatsuki, then Ichigo would probably sit back and allow this shit to happen to him, all to save his longest friend. But he refused to ‘sit back’ forever. He would just have to bide his time, and hopefully his friends would come and help him escape.

They stepped out into Las Noches and Ichigo and Tatsuki were immediately taken away to be placed in a dungeon somewhere under the castle. Sitting next to the bars, Ichigo tried to breathe evenly as he tore a piece of his haori off to wrap around his middle to staunch the blood flow. Tatsuki was looking a little shocked and scared, but otherwise didn’t appear to be harmed. He had always known her to be a strong girl, so it was a little strange to see her this scared, but he completely understood. She was very new to this and had little to no idea who had just captured her or where she was. The orange-haired teen gathered his long-time friend into his arms in an uncharacteristic show of comfort.

Tatsuki allowed herself to cry once she was in the safe hold of her friend’s arms. She had never been this scared in her life, and she was glad that if anyone had to endure this with her, it was Ichigo. They had grown up together and he had changed so much. Usually she comforted him, but this time it was the other way around. And the way he gave himself up for them… She was impressed. He wasn’t the same child who cried every time she beat him in kendo class. He had grown up and matured. She only wished she could have witnessed that growth.

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Tatsuki groaned as her eyes fluttered open. They had to have been in that dungeon for days by now and no one had brought food or water to them. She was tired, hungry, and very thirsty, and she was sure Ichigo was worse off than her because no one had bothered to treat his wound either.

Said boy groaned and shifted, wincing as he opened his brown eyes to dull grayness of the dungeon. His breath hitched slightly as he shifted again, trying to sit up straighter. The bars bit into his back and he groaned again. He glanced over to where Tatsuki sat and felt immensely guilty for dragging her into this mess. He opened his mouth to apologize, but she must’ve known what he was about to say because she beat him to it.

“Don’t you dare try to apologize to me again, Kurosaki Ichigo. Save your strength, I’m sure you’re suffering more than I am,” she sighed. He almost smirked at how much she sounded like Rukia.

She was about to crawl over to his side of the cell and feel his forehead for a temperature when the door opened for the first time since they had been taken there. Both teens squinted up at the big figure of Stark, their eyes trying to adjust to the light he let in.

“Kurosaki. Girl. You are to come with me immediately. Aizen’s wishes,” Stark grunted, probably annoyed at being woken up to do a task as boring as this. “Come if you want, I don’t care. It’s not my head on the line.” With that Stark started to leave the dungeons, really not caring whether his prisoners followed him or not.

Tatsuki helped Ichigo stand up as fast as she could (even though he had at first refused any kind of help) and allowed herself to be used as a crutch as they followed Stark to Aizen’s chamber.

“What do you think is going on, Ichigo?” Tatsuki whispered, looking at his face for a sign of how to react to this new development.

“I don’t know… Aizen is capable of doing a lot of things. He could go so far as to turn us into Arrancar, kill us, or he could be doing this just to make us piss our pants,” Ichigo shrugged his shoulder. “Honestly, I’m scared as hell.” Tatsuki almost scoffed at this last statement; he looked as calm as could be.

‘How does he do that?’ She wondered, admiring his bravery. She was cut short in her thoughts, however, as a massive white door opened up in front of her and they were led into a small chamber. Tatsuki deposited Ichigo against a wall and looked around.OOMG

‘White… Why the hell is everything so damned white around here?’

The door opened again and this time it was Aizen and Ulquiorra who stepped through, the former smiling dangerously at the weak and injured Kurosaki. He nodded to Ulquiorra.

“Chain him.”

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