Crossbreeding the Future

Chapter 5

Tests



It was the night that they would be expected to present themselves for testing. Rukia was beginning to feel the panic weigh on her as the deadline approached. She shared looks with the others as they were picked up that evening.



To her surprise, Grimmjow didn’t lead her to his room, but rather out into the open before opening a Garganta and hauling her through it. On the other side she looked around in pure shock.



“Karakura.” She gasped.



They were in the living world.



“We don’t have much time.” He declared as they set out.



She had to hold onto his back, with her reiatsu sealed she was more or less human, which meant she couldn’t walk on air.



“Where are we going?” She dared to ask.



He didn’t respond, but the area was starting to get frighteningly familiar. He came to a stop, his eyes set ahead.



“Grimmjow?” A male voice called out in challenge.



Her eyes widened in surprise as two people appeared before them, one in the robes of a shinigami, the other in a dress of black and white.



“Rukia.” Ichigo shouted in disbelief, the tip of Zangetsu falling a few inches.



“Ichigo, Nel?” Rukia gasped in a mixture of surprise and joy.



“Grimmjow.” Ichigo growled.



“Yo, Shinigami.”



The next thing she knew she was flying through the air to be caught by a surprised Ichigo, who had to sheath Zangetsu in order to catch her.



“Why does everyone feel the need to throw me?” She shouted in indignation in her mind.



“I’ll be back in two hours.” Grimmjow grunted, then left in a bang of Sonido before anyone could object.



All three of them were staring in the space he had been in complete surprise.



“Oi, Rukia, what’s going on?” Ichigo demanded.



Suddenly realizing where she was she blushed, before barking at him to put her down. He let go of her, and then watched in surprise as she dropped like a rock before catching her before she could hit the ground.



“Ichigo no baka.” She shouted at him as she fell.



“Her reiatsu is sealed.” Nel pointed out.



He blushed in embarrassment. Rukia looked over to the woman in surprise, just now realizing that she wasn’t a little girl anymore. In fact the only reason she had noticed it was Nel was because she had spotted the helm and her brain had put two and two together for her while she had her gaze fixed solely on Ichigo.



“Rukia, what is going on?” Ichigo asked as their feet touched the ground.



She looked up at him, suddenly embarrassed as she realized why Gimmjow had brought her to Ichigo and said he would be back in two hours. She was shocked he would do a gamble like this. What was stopping her from running right to back to Seireitei and out of his reach?



“Rukia.” Ichigo called again.



Realizing she was wasting precious time, she requested he bring her somewhere private where they wouldn’t be interrupted. They brought her to an abandoned housing complex where Nel was apparently staying with her two brothers.



Ichigo filled her in on what had been happening in the last two weeks, and she wasn’t surprised to learn that Seireitei was not thinking of a rescue, even though the rest of them were, exactly as Unohana had predicted.



She couldn’t blame them after all, as far as Seireitei was aware, they were dead. Why would Aizen keep them alive? And the resources needed to rescue them would be far more then they could afford at this time.



The fourth was missing three of their officers, the tenth their top two officers, and the sixth was missing its taichou. That left six out of 13 divisions missing their taichou and four missing their fukutaichou, as Hinamori was still unfit for duty.



Caught up on things on this side of the coin, she filled them in on what was going on in Hueco Mundo. Her audience looked suitably horrified, though she noticed Ichigo had a tint of pink to his cheeks.



“So that is why he dropped you off here.” Nel noted.



“Well you aren’t going back.” Ichigo declared.



“I have to.” Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “If I do not then Aizen well know something is up and he may order an attack on Karakura town looking for me. As the Gotie 13 stand they will not be able to hold back another invasion and there will be a lot of blood shed. A shinigami’s main duty is to protect the souls of the living world.”



“So, Grimmjow brought you here why?” Ichigo asked confused.



Sometime he could be so innocently, cutely and annoyingly dense. She shared an exasperated glance with Nel.



“I’ll leave you two alone.” Nel offered, disappearing in a bang of Sonido.



“Huh?” He looked after Nel.



“Grimmjow brought me here to….” She couldn’t finish the sentence, blushing in embarrassment herself at the thought.

They stared at each other, until dawning suddenly appeared on his face and he blushed to. Talk about awkward.



“Um right, so we, you know, need to do that?” He asked.



“Yeah.” She agreed, also embarrassed.



“Um, I have never, you know….” He couldn’t finish, hell he couldn’t even look at her and she had never seen his face so red before.



“Me either.” She admitted. “But Ichigo,” he turned to look at her and she smiled softly, “I am glad it’s you and I wont lie and say I haven’t fantasized about it.”



He smiled softly as well, most of the awkwardness gone.



“Yeah, me to.” He admitted.



He set Zangetsu aside and hugged her tightly. She could tell he was nervous and she would be lying to say she wasn’t as well. They were both hesitant in their touch, and the first kiss was clumsy.



He was the first to slowly start to remove her clothing, his hands growing more steady as hormones and his own fearless personality started to take over. She was down to her panties before she gained the courage to start to remove his clothing, which fell quickly away as he helped her remove it.



He quickly took control of the situation, and she was content to just lay back and let him shower soft touches and kisses to her body, a heat rising in her nether regions as he continued to caress her softly.



She opened her eyes when he stopped, not even aware she had closed them at some point. She held back a gasp when she noticed his eyes were now black, but instead of gold they were still his chocolate brown. She was now also dimly aware his Reiatsu was spiking all over the place and reeked as much of Hollow as it did Shinigami.



“Ichigo?” She asked worried.



“You sure you want to do this Rukia?” He asked, his voice low and husky, but still his voice.



“Yes.” She answered before she could stop to think about her answer, before she could talk herself out of it.



With a nod, he continued. She gasped when she felt him start to enter her slowly, her walls stretching to accommodate him. He stopped when he hit her inner barrier, giving her time to get use to the sensation before breaking through with a sharp jolt.



She let out a gasp of pain before pleasure shoved it down into a haze and it was quickly forgotten. This was a million times better then any fantasy she had ever dreamed up. His pace was even and she found herself bringing her hips up to meet his downward thrust.



She could feel something building up within her and she thrashed beneath him in overwhelming pleasure.



“ICHIGO.” She screamed as her body felt like it exploded.



“Rukia.” He gasped.



Something warm filled her body as Ichigo shuddered on top of her. They both lay panting, Ichigo holding her close. They rested in silence, he was holding her tightly, as if afraid to let go.



“Ichigo, I need to get dressed.” She said slowly some time later.



His grip on her tightened momentarily before loosening.



“I can protect you.” He whispered.



“I know.” She agreed. “But we need to think about the others to. I will be safe, I promise.”



Reluctantly, he let her go. She didn’t move away for a moment, instead turning around to kiss him, to try and shove all the emotion and her feelings through that one connection into him. He returned it, giving back the same.



With forced back tears they drew apart from each other, pulling their cloths back on and walking outside to see Nel sitting quietly next to Grimmjow, the two turning to look at them as they emerged.



“Let’s go before Aizen figures out we are gone or I decided to bust that Shinigami‘s face into the ground.” He commanded gruffly.



“Heh, in your dreams, Grimmjow.”



The two men faced of with each other, one grinning like a wild animal, the other scowling, though there was little to no malice in it.



“We do need to get back.” Rukia reluctantly agreed, breaking the mood between the two men.



The black maw of a Garganta opened behind them and she reluctantly climbed up upon Grimmjow’s back once again.



“Oi Grimmjow.” Ichigo suddenly shouted as they were about to leave.



The Espada stopped to glare back at the human hybrid. There was an expression on Ichigo’s face Rukia had never seen before.



“Thank you.” He said humbly. “I promise, the next time we meet, I’ll give you a battle worth remembering, truly fit for a king.” He suddenly boasted with a large grin, that was quickly matched by the blue haired Espada.



“I’ll hold you to that, Shinigami.”



“Count on it, Espada.”



Then they were through the gate and back in the hell that was Hueco Mundo. She jumped down from Grimmjow’s back and followed him to their destination.











Despite his apparent laziness and annoyance at having to move from his bed after performing his nightly duty upon her, Unohana and Stark were still the first to arrive at the room, other then Aizen and some Arrancar she didn’t recognize.

Stark found a comfortable place to snooze while awaiting the results. She slowly approached the table and unknown Arrancar, curious about what tests they were planning on doing.



“Welcome, Unohana-san.” Aizen greeted.



“Aizen-sama.” She returned his greeting. “Might I inquire as to what particular test will be preformed this evening.”



“You will learn quickly enough, though I am sure you can name them all anyway.”



The door opened again, admitting Halibel. Byakuya was not with her. There was really no reason for him to be here as he wasn’t needed for the tests. Next to arrive was Matsumoto and Barragan. To her relief Matsumoto seemed to be more or less fine, if not walking gingerly. Barragan left immediately after dropping her off, apparently not interested in whatever it was this test was going to involve. Rukia and Grimmjow arrived last, and the 6th Espada followed Barragan’s example almost as soon as they entered the room.



She looked at Rukia in concern, but the young woman smiled at her and blushed lightly. So she had managed to get into bed before coming, that was a relief and unfortunate all at the same time. To lose her virginity to some random person just to make sure she stayed alive and under Aizen’s radar.



“Who would you like me to check first, Aizen-sama?” The arrancar asked once they were all there.



“I’ll go first.” Halibel volunteered before anyone could speak up.



“Would you please strip from the waist down and get onto the table, Helibel-sama.”



She didn’t even hesitate, pulling the required garments off and laying on the table. Blood was taken and several samples gathered with a long swab from her nether regions. They were labeled and set aside. She dressed and left without another word once her tests were complete.



The rest of them were similarly tested. It was not comfortable having a dry swab shoved into you, but Unohana understood the reason behind it. It was one of the many test they preformed on rape victims to confirm they had been involved in some manner of sexual intercourse.



Once everyone’s samples had been gathered they were permitted to leave. The results would be in by the morning, she had no doubt about that. A large part of her was nervous about the results.



She fully expected Stark to go right to bed when they arrived at their room, but instead he set the chess board and she took his silent invitation, even though she knew she would lose yet again, it was still an enjoyable way to kill the time in a place there was nothing to do.



“The young woman seemed in high spirits this evening.”



Unohana was taking by surprise at his declaration. He didn’t often bother with small talk.



“Really?” She responded after only a slight pause to get over her surprise.



“Yeah.” He moved another piece on the board.



“I never asked before, but how do you feel about this, Stark-sama?” She asked hesitantly.



“Troublesome.” He answered.



She should have expected that answer from him.



“You?” He asked.



The question took her by surprise. He had showed no interest in her feelings in the matter before, just relief that she wasn’t resisting and making it difficult for him.



“Unpleasant.” She admitted.



He raised his gaze from the chess board to her.



“Please forgive me Stark-sama, you have been more then fair with me giving the circumstances and I could not ask for more. I simply mean it would not be my choice to be here. I worry about my Division.” She admitted.



Silence between them again as they both moved a few pieces across the board.



“Soul Society wont come to your rescue.” He pointed out.



“No more then Aizen-sama would come for yours.” She agreed.



He merely nodded in agreement, not arguing the point at all.



“You are worried about the results?” He broke the silence again after several more plays.



“I would be lying if I said I was not interested.” She admitted. “And a little apprehensive.” She added.



A part of her wanted the test to say yes, just so she would no longer be required to lay on her back for the Espada, even if he was rather gentle in his use of her. Another part wanted them to say no, for any child brought into this world through this experiment was not brought in out of love and would no doubt be used by Aizen in what ever way the man deemed fit. She would be lucky to even get to hold the child before it would be taken from her.



They finished the rest of the game in silence, and to her gratitude she found herself more at ease about the tests, able to crawl into bed next to the man who currently owned her and fall asleep almost instantly.











Morning came and they were all gathered in the conference room, seated beside their respective owners. Aizen sat on his throne at the head of the table, flanked by the other two traitors. Tea was served by a nervous Hanataro, leaving Isane as the only one not present other then Toshiro, who she hadn’t seen since their first day of imprisonment.



Once everyone was served and had a few sips of their tea, Aizen started the meeting. Unohana felt apprehension rise as she eyed the file folders set on the table before him. A part of her hoped that at least Matsumoto’s had come back positive, if only to spare her from Barragan’s torture.



“The test results are in, though we may do another run in a few days to confirm them.” Aizen started the meeting.



“How long do we need to keep this up until we consider this impossible?” Barragan spoke up in clear irritation.



“As long as it takes the rest of you.” Aizen smiled and took one of the file folders out of the pile, tossing it casually onto the table as he spoke.



Helibel was the one who caught it, opening it up to read the report before snorting and tossing it back down towards Stark. With a look of annoyance on his face he opened it. Glancing over his shoulder she looked at the information confirming pregnancy on all test before glancing up to see who’s file was now open.



Stark closed the file folder and passing it to Barragan, who glanced through it before handing it to Grimmjow. Grimmjow passed it to Rukia without even opening it, leaving it to her to look at who it was for him.



Unohana wasn’t sure how she felt about the news that had been revealed. Now that one of them had managed to get knocked up Aizen had proof that cross breeding them was possible and there would be no escape for any of them until the seeds took in their bodies, and that could take years.



And then assuming they remained trapped here and the child was born would they be bred again? And again? Until they were nothing more then Aizen’s broodmares to keep pumping out kids until either they died in child birthing or someone manages to kill the bastard.



She could possibly survive that kind of future, as could Rukia seeing as how she was the only one actually being spared, but she wasn’t sure how long Matsumoto would last in that scenario, or how much longer it would take Helibel to finally break Byakuya.



And then there were the other three. She wasn’t worried about Hanataro as long as he stayed with Lilinette. Isane was also a concern, now that one of them had been knocked up would Aizen now demand that person start working on her fukutaicho? And then there was Toshiro.



She hadn’t seen him since that first day, but Isane saw him on a regular basis and reported that the young Taichou was on the brink of breaking. Unohana suspected Isane knew more then she was letting on, but trusted her Fukutaichou to let her know what it was when the time was right.



“We will run the tests again in another three weeks.” Aizen declared. “Until then, congratulations are in store.” He smiled. “You are relieved of your duty of bed service, Unohana-san.”



“Thank you.” She nodded to him respectfully.



So out of the four of them she was the only one to have conceived, of course it would take a few days to find out if Rukia’s one night stand had any effects. Depending on the timing of her cycles the might even know before the three weeks were up.



They finished their tea before being led to their “day room” as they had dubbed it. Isane was already there and she looked up at them as they entered, curiosity clear in her expression.



“You seemed happy last night.” Unohana pointed out to Rukia before anyone could corner her into a conversation once they were alone.



She nodded, sitting down.



“Grimmjow didn’t touch me.” She admitted slowly.



“Then who did?” Matsumoto asked, taking her usual position curled up on the couch.



One look at her eyes and Unohana could tell the woman was almost ready to break. She wondered if the fukutaichou could last another three weeks of the violent rape Barragan seemed to enjoy putting her through. No doubt she was also worried about Toshiro as well.



Rukia had blushed at the question and shot a furtive look towards her brother, who merely looked at her awaiting her response.



“Grimmjow brought me to the living world. Seireitei believed we were dead, after all what would Aizen want with prisoners? Apparently Kisuki-san is back in Seireitei, so Ichigo and the others can’t come after us right now. I filled him in on everything I could to get a message out, but….”



“Seireitei is in no position to come get us.” Unohana finished for her.



“Yeah.”



Silence, but all eyes were still on her.



“It was Ichigo.” She finally admitted. “Grimmjow brought me to Ichigo.”



Unohana nodded in understanding, while tossing a glance towards Byakuya. His face was expressionless and it was hard to determine what his thoughts were on the subject, but she could see the internal conflict warring in his brain reflected in his eyes.



In normal circumstances it would have been highly frowned upon for Rukia to sleep with anyone, let alone some commoner boy. It was possibly a big enough crime to actually banish her from the family.



The look in Rukia’s eyes screamed that she was awaiting and dreading a response from her older brother and head of the family. This was not a pleasant circumstance in an already unpleasant one.



“It was unavoidable.” He finally said.



Rukia and the others relaxed a bit at the declaration.



“You will marry him when we are free of this place.”



That stunned the entire room. In fact Rukia was doing a good impression of a gold fish and Matsumoto actually had a bit of a delighted light in her eyes they hadn’t seen in two weeks.



“You would make a stunning bride.” Matsumoto crowed in delight.



Unohana just smiled as the other three woman started going on about weddings and rather or not they could even get Ichigo to agree to the idea. She moved over to Byakuya, coming up beside him while the girls continued to brain storm.



“Unohana-san.” He greeted.



She noticed the drop of her rank, but didn’t say anything about. In their current position she couldn’t argue. But the drop in using her rank was just a small hint that even Byakuya was starting to break. It was his way of saying he felt rescue was either going to take a very long time, or not come at all.



“Byakuya-san.” She returned, following his lead on the title drops, after all she couldn’t argue his silent point.



“She seems happy.”



He nodded his head in silent agreement.



“I can’t imagine how things are done in the noble houses, but you made her happy at least. Or is there a respect for Ichigo you are unwilling to voice?”



“He is strong.” Was his answer. “No doubt he will come for her.”



Unohana smiled. He must be close to breaking if he was complimenting the ryoka boy who had tore Seireitei to pieces. But then Ichigo had broken in once already to save Inoue, now that he knew Rukia was still alive she had no doubt the boy would do so again to save Rukia like he had when he broke into Seireitei.



Until then….



Her hand went to her stomach and she glanced down, wondering what kind of child it would even be. Would it be closer to her or the father? Would it need to feed off of spiritual energy to survive like the father? Would it have amazing healing capabilities like the mother? Or would it be closer to what Ichigo was, a hybrid of the two species able to achieve both Bankai and have a Resurrección form?



The thought of that much power in a child both excited and frightened her. And what if they were rescued and she was commanded to get rid of the child as a threat to Seireitei? Would she be able to so easily destroy something that was a part of her, regardless of how it came about.



The other unknown factor was the father. He feigned indifference but this was something unprecedented. He would be the first known Hollow in history to sire an offspring, assuming the child survived to be born. The new life that was growing in her belly was as much him as it was her, and that had an effect on people.



“He would make a good father.” She couldn’t help but to think, looking back on the relationship he shared with Lilinette.













“Oi, Stark.”



No response.



“Stark.”



Still silence.



“STARK” Lilinette screamed as she nailed him over the head with her fist.



“Ano, Lilinette-sama, was that really necessary?” Hanataro stammered.



“Stop stuttering, Dorei-chan. And he deserved it.” Lilinette defended herself, pointing accusingly at the Espada who had been trying to sleep.



“What is it, Lilinette?” He finally responded, rubbing the top of his head where she had hit him with her fist.



“What are you going to do?” She asked.



“About what?”



“What do you mean about what? The baby.”



“There is nothing that can be done.” He pointed out.



“Don’t give me that. I mean, who knew we could even have children. You’re going to be a father! You can’t tell me that doesn’t mean anything! Right Dorei-chan?” She turned her gaze to Hanataro.



“Um.. Right.” He answered meekly. “Unohana…..taichou...”



Stark sighed, knowing he wouldn’t get rid of Lilinette until she was satisfied with all her questions answered.



“I don’t want Aizen to raise the child.” Lilinette finally admitted. “She’s kind of cool, for a Shinigami.” She added softly.



Stark looked at Lilinette, studying her. He had noticed that his young fracción had taken an interest in the Shinigami, or at least in Unohana, who greeted her so respectfully as if the little girl was an equal. The young boy who had been assigned to her she treated almost like a troublesome younger brother she got to boss around.



She was desperate for something resembling a family, he could see it in the way she expressed concern when the others were killed. They way she clung to him and kept trying to get him to interact with anything other then slumber. She hadn’t even raised a finger to Hanataro yet, treating him as one would an annoying younger brother scared of his own shadow.



“Yeah, I know.” He finally responded to her statement.



“She isn’t going to be taking away now, is she?”



Hanataro looked frightened at that point. At least here he knew his taichou was safe from harm, unlike some of the others.



“I don’t know.” He admitted.



“Ano…. Stark-sama.”



He turned his gaze to Hanataro, surprised the boy had actually spoken up without it being because he was answering a question. Lilinette had a stunned look on her face mixed with a hint of pride.



Hanataro dropped to the floor, bowing deeply. “Please…Please keep Unohana-taichou safe. Anything you can do, please do it.” The boy begged. “I don’t want to see her hurt.”



“Yeah, what Dorei-chan said.” Lilinette added strongly. “She is going to be having YOUR kid so we have to keep her safe, right?”



He held back a groan of annoyance, but could not argue their point. He was strong, the strongest here other then maybe Aizen. If he really wanted to he could leave, could fend off Aizen’s attacks, though he was not sure he could actually beat the man, but they could get away and hide easily enough.



This was becoming highly annoying, and both youngsters were now looking at him expectantly, awaiting his answer and both of them were expecting the same response. If he had one weak point, it was Lilinette.



“Yeah, I can keep her safe.” He finally admitted.



Looks of pure joy and relief lit up both faces. Somehow he got the feeling he had just taken the first step on a path that had ambushed him out of left field. One he had seen coming but had still permitted to jump him.



Somehow, he got the feeling his naps were going to quickly become a treasure of the past as they traveled this new road. For some reason that didn't bother him as much as it should have.





Stay tuned for chapter 6: Broken



RiddimMistress: Thank you for the lovely review and I am pleased you enjoy the way I portray Stark. He is difficult to write as he doesn't get a lot of screen time to really get a feel for his character.



limegreen: I got a giggle when you asked for more Stark POV because I knew we would see that this chapter, one of the perks of having the whole thing pre-written. He is very difficult to keep in character so his screen time tends to be limited. Unohana and Rukia tend to be the hoggers.

I am glad you made it past the apprehension and the little trick I pulled with Grimmjow and Rukia always gives me a smirk. Their scene was originally earlier in the chapter but giving how every one was stressing over her I thought it would have a bigger impact to put their scene at the end after working the reader up in worry.

And thank you for the spelling errors, the bane of my existence. Those are the hardest errors to catch as spell checker misses them and when re-reading you read what you want it to say and tend to miss them. Grr to spelling. :)