"Damn, where are they all coming from?" Ichigo exclaimed, slicing through another attacking hollow.

Rukia snorted, swirling Sode no Shirayuki and sending ice after a bunch of them that were coming in from her side. Around them, they heard the pitched battles. There was a rain of Quincy arrows here, the roar of Zabimaru in the distance. Chad's crashing hits smashed into hollows all around them. The sounds of a massive battle thrummed around them heatedly. They had only been in Hueco Mundo for a short time together and the battle raged already. The Menos Forest hadn't even been this bad. This was just wave after wave of bloody hollows. It was almost as though somehow every single hollow in the place was homing in on the small group of Shinigami.

Ichigo looked up, slicing through a nasty snake-like hollow and glanced at Rukia. "They're getting farther away from us," he said, trying to flash the direction the sounds of battle were coming from only to be stopped by a huge lumbering hulk of a hollow and a deer like creature.

Rukia was panting now. "Are they drawing them away for some reason? Into a trap?"

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo yelled, slicing a swath through the seemingly endless hollows. Well, it wasn't really a surprise; it was Heuco Mundo after all. But damn, how many could come at them at one time?

"Bastards," Ichigo muttered. "Who is being drawn into a trap, though?" he said looking at Rukia.

She shook he head. "I don't know, but we better head to them if we can, either way! Them or us, someone's in trouble if we get separated from each other out here. There's no way we can keep up this pace of fighting, we'll exhaust ourselves in no time at this rate."

They continued fighting, but the sounds of their friends' battling became more distance, and they were even harder pressed. Another wave and Ichigo was panting with the effort, his reiatsu fluctuating from sheer exhaustion. This was getting ridiculous. Finally, it seemed that there was no end when a burst of sonido put two Arrancar familiar to Ichigo in front of them. All the lesser hollows ran, fleeing the massive reiatsu of the new arrivals. Ichigo stepped back, eyeing the pale, short Arrancar he'd seen in Karakura town and the one named Grimmjow that he and Rukia had fought.

"So, we meet again, Shinigami?" Grimmjow said, and leaped at the exhausted substitute. Ichigo lacked the energy to even come up with a comment to that.

Rukia went to help him but found herself restrained against the green eyed one. She looked back at him and struggled as he wrenched her wrist into dropping her snow-white sword to the ground. His grip was like iron. But he wasn't doing anything, merely holding her and crushing her with his reiatsu to keep her in place. He stared at the fight impassively as though he had no interest in the turn out.

She turned back to the fight, and found that Ichigo was pressing him rapidly, until the Espada grinned and pulled his sword in front of him, placing a hand on it. "Grind, Pantera," he said with a smirk and transformed into his resurrección, leaping again, with a grace and speed he hadn't had before. It seemed like forever, but at the speed that Ichigo moved in Bankai and this Espada, she knew it was only a few minutes before a sound hit sent Ichigo nearly slamming into her. He tried to stand up, great stripes of claw marks down the front of his shihakuso, and blood dripping from a gash in his head. He struggled to stand and then was knocked flat from behind, Zangetsu flying from his fingers at the impact.

"Dammit!" he yelled scrambling to his feet only to have Grimmjow kneel before him, putting Zangetsu to his throat. Somehow, he'd managed to grab his own sword.

"Hrm, what have we here, a helpless Shinigami. Aizen seems to think yer gonna be bad for him so I've got my orders. Can't disobey the prick, because last time I lost an arm. So, I guess I'll get this over with, though can't say I won't enjoy it," he said then kicked Ichigo square in the chin, flipping him to his back from the force.

Ichigo made to stand up, only to have him slam a heel into his chest, holding Zangetsu up above him, dangling it for a moment then and slammed Zangetsu through his right shoulder, pinning him to the ground. He vaguely was glad it was in Bankai, but it still hurt like hell. He felt it rip right through bone, muscle and tendons.

Ichigo yelled out as his free hand went to frantically try and drag his sword out, but he'd buried it to the hilt, making removing it a challenge pinned to the ground. Tears sprung to his eyes and his right hand fluttered on the ground, utterly useless as half the nerves were severed. It would be a damn miracle if fourth could repair it, he thought, groaning and turning toward his friend. Rukia struggled against the one that held her. He was pretty sure only Inoue could deal with this.

"Bastard!" he screamed, "What is it with you and using swords to pin me to the ground! Are you that afraid of a fair fight!" His memory flashed to having both hands pinned with his sword in their last battle. That had hurt, but this hurt more. A damn sight more. And he could feel the nasty sand from Heuco Mundo creeping into the back of the wound.

"Ichigo!" she called as Grimmjow sauntered up to where she was held in a painful grip.

He smiled and picked up her white Zanpakutō where it had landed, and looked at the green eyed Espada. "Ulquiorra, bring her over here, she gets to watch."

"Watch what, as you kill him with my sword?" she cried out frantically being pushed along until she was standing over Ichigo who lay panting in a growing pit of darkening sands. Her toes were almost touching his hair as he dropped his head back panting. He looked up, opening one brown eye, the other closed from the blood that was still streaming from his forehead and smiled, though it was quite grisly since his mouth was bloody.

"I'm okay, I'll be fine…" he said locking eyes with her. "Just don't worry…you know me…I'm hard…to kill… If Byakuya and Kenpachi…couldn't kill me…now way will this…bastard…"

Grimmjow growled at them, positioning himself kneeling over Ichigo this time. He grinned and pressed the tip of Rukia's sword at his left shoulder. Ichigo gave him a scowl as he started to slowly press the sword into him. He jerked as the sword began to slide through his flesh and muscle and winced as it scraped against the bone, sending shocks of incredible pain through him, forcing a keening sound out of his throat. Then he slammed it the rest of the way through the shoulder down to the cross guard. He jerked upward then and let out a strangled sound, blinking away the water in his eyes at the pain. Grimmjow continued to kneel over him, still in resurrección, putting a knee in his stomach and leaning into him.

"Ain't ya pretty, all pinned out just like one a'Szayel's bugs. Be a shame if someone took advantage of the situation, wouldn't it? Just as helpless as a lil' kitten…" he practically purred and sliced claws down his front, shredding what remained of his kusodo and causing a trail of blood to blossom down his chest and abdomen. Ichigo didn't really notice, the incredible burning in his shoulders eclipsed the pain of anything like claws.

Ichigo tilted his head down and yelled, "The hell are you doing Grimmjow, kill me already and get it over with!" He didn't want to die, but this was getting to Rukia, he could feel her feet at the top of his head and felt her flinch.

Grimmjow moved down and straddled Ichigo's hips, and grinned. "Good, good, the fire is still there. I'm going to extinguish it for ya. Yer not supposed to die, yer supposed to break. And Aizen said I got to be the lucky one to break you."

Ichigo's eyes widened as it suddenly dawned on him what Grimmjow was talking about. "What the hell, you sick fuck!" he screamed kicking wildly to get the heavy beast off him, both sword blades digging even more into the bones of his shoulders, the scraping sound unusually loud in his own ears.

Grimmjow laughed and ignored the kicks, which were significantly weakened from blood loss. He hooked a claw around his obi and sliced through it, ignoring the screaming female before him as well. He was intent on his own pleasure. He'd dominate this Shinigami in every way and leave him broken and bloody on soul society's doorstep. For once he agreed with something Aizen wanted done. And to have the good fortune for the short bitch to be here…well so much the better. Not only would he break him, she'd break too. And he didn't have to even touch her.

He grinned as he inched his hakama down revealing the pale skin underneath, fresh, and unmarred. He couldn't have that. He needed some scars to remind him of this moment. He left them there, just below the line of orange curls there and dug one claw into the flesh above the hip. He hissed and tried to squirm away, but Grimmjow was now sitting on his thighs, and his weak struggles were nothing. He continued trailing claws over him, leaving deep grooves welling with blood, pausing with a smirk as he drove his claw in deeply and began to carve the number six into the sensitive flesh above his orange curls, using his reiatsu to make sure it scarred badly. He was marked now and forever by the Sexta. Even Aizen couldn't take that pleasure from him now.

"Well, ya don't dye yer hair that obnoxious color, do ya?" he muttered, yanking at his pubic hair harshly, when he was done with his carving, getting a yelp for his efforts. He glanced above him to see the female Shinigami turning her face away and closing her eyes.

He leaped off Ichigo and pulled her chin around to look at her. Her breath hitched to be so close to the beastly man. "You watch, if you don't, I'm going to take his sword and drive it through his heart so you can hear him die. Or would you rather me kill him? You get to choose, watch and let him live, or don't watch and he dies. Though dying may be better…I don't mind either way, bitch."

Rukia gasped and swallowed, feeling the one holding her in position. He forced her head to look forward and down at her friend, the blood coloring the sand growing larger. Her stomach lurched painfully seeing the color steadily draining from his face.

"Please, he's going to bleed to death like that," she said, realizing that her tabi were dyed red from the seeping liquid in the sands around her feet.

"Tch, tch, not yet, I'm not done," Grimmjow said with a wicked grin.

He went back to his victim; Ichigo's eyes had started to flutter so he slapped him soundly. "Don't pass out or I can't guarantee what will happen to shorty over there."

Ichigo forced his eyes opened and looked at Rukia who was shaking in Ulquiorra's grasp just above his head, tears collecting at her eyes. Maybe if he stared at her, just tried not to think about what was happening, maybe then it would be okay. Just pretend it wasn't happening. That had to work. He didn't want her to get hurt, and he could handle anything…anything… That's what he thought. If he stared at her, then she wouldn't see what he was doing to him, keeping his eyes on her eyes, and she wouldn't get hurt. He wanted to tell her to stare at his eyes, to ignore Grimmjow, but he had no voice, it had been stolen by the pain coursing through him.

Grimmjow dug his claws around the waist of his hakama and slashed through the fabric shedding it off his body in a couple quick swipes, leaving him exposed. Despite himself, he blushed with what little blood would come to his face. He pulled his legs up but Grimmjow grabbed his thighs and clamped down with both sets of claws, bringing out a shaky scream out of him from the sharp pain. He swore the claws scraped bone. He was pretty sure they did. Grimmjow then forced his legs down and apart, though Ichigo fought it as much as he could, the fight was leaving him quickly along with his blood.

"I'm going to kill you for this, bastard!" he said weakly, but there was no venom in his tone. His vision was fading in and out and his head felt light and dizzy.

Grimmjow grinned, pulling his claws out of his legs, a couple gouts of blood spurting out from the deep wounds as Ichigo's legs fell limply where Grimmjow had forced them. He didn't think he could even think about moving them now. The muscles were twitching around the wounds and sending shocks of pain throughout his nerve endings. His breath came harsh and thready.

"Please Grimmjow, don't do this, you don't want to do this to him!" Rukia pleaded.

Grimmjow grinned up at her. "Like hell, ever since I fought him the first time I've wanted to pin him to the ground and fuck him bloody."

He didn't take time to gauge her reaction; he was tired of waiting; his throbbing erection was pressing against the inside of his release armor. He forced the bone enclosure open, letting it free, and took a moment to stroke himself, spreading the blood on his hands on himself. Rukia tried to close her eyes only to have a hand tighten on her neck when she did. She let out a strangled whimper. He leaned over the Shinigami brat, kneeling between his legs. He looked up with furious brown eyes as he leaned over and clamped his jaws on his neck beside the sword he'd driven in. His reiatsu flared making sure it was another wound that would never heal. He arched, a strange gurgling cry escaping his lips. He sat back up on his knees and looked at his work. Blood still gushed around the sword wounds, and now trickled sluggishly from the bite wound. Ichigo was panting heavily now, almost losing his consciousness when he was slapped again.

"I want you screaming," he said grabbing his knees roughly and pulling his legs and tossing them up and over his shoulder, eliciting a moan of pain as the wounds on his thighs were aggravated.

Ichigo finally had it sunk in that this was really happening and he wasn't going to pass out first, so he started struggling again only to stop with wide eyes when Grimmjow's clawed hand grasped his testicles and squeezed, nails pricking the sensitive flesh. "I can take these and then you'll definitely bleed to death here."

"Please, Grimmjow, no, don't do this…anything but this…I've never…" he muttered, turning his head to the side, not seeing the grin that had spread over the Espada's face.

Grimmjow snorted. "Ha ha, yer kidding me?"

Ichigo's eyes rolled in his head randomly; trying to lock onto Rukia's shocked expression, tears streaking down her face. Grimmjow snorted. "Fuck, seriously, yer a virgin! Thought for sure you were bangin' this one. Either that or the red head with the tattoos...hum; now it really is my pleasure to do this…"

He couldn't imagine pain from something like this to be worse than what he'd felt before. But when Grimmjow lined himself against him and with one thrust buried himself inside, Ichigo screamed, his back arching off the ground, thrashing against the blades that had him pinned, fresh blood running as he struggled. The racing pain in his shoulders was nothing compared to the stinging, burning pain shooting through his lower body now. And Grimmjow didn't give him any time to adjust to the violent intrusion, just focused on his own release, his clawed nails digging deep into Ichigo's hips, bending him awkwardly and painfully nearly doubled with his knees near his chest now. Again, he swore that claws scraped bone on his hips, drawing blood there to drip to the sand joining the blood that was flowing from elsewhere, everywhere. The sixth Espada was not small by any means, and the feeling of something inside tearing was obvious. He knew he healed fast, but if he bled out before the wounds sealed…

Grimmjow let go of his hips but Ichigo didn't notice the difference. He roughly yanked the white sword, now stained red, out of his shoulder, getting another shudder and cry out of him. His ruthless rhythm never stopped, reaching over and yanking the black Bankai sword out in the next moment. Ichigo's eyes fluttered, trying to roll into unconsciousness. Grimmjow leaned over and lapped at the blood with his tongue and then forced one of his thumbs down into each wound, making him jerk with wide eyes from the pain, a choked gargle all he could muster now. Then he pulled out of him, and flipped him face down, once again resuming the hard, fast pace into him, this time getting renewed screaming as he yanked his hips up to meet him. Then he leaned over to force thumbs into the backside of the sword wounds every time his body started to relax and indicate he might just pass out.

Ichigo couldn't hold himself up, both his arms completely useless, and his legs felt like leaden fire. The searing pain running through his back and legs left him sobbing into the sand. He coughed and sputtered the bloody sand filling his mouth and nose as he was ruthlessly rammed into it. He briefly wondered if it would be better to drown in the sand. It certainly couldn't hurt more than this. He just wanted it to end, even if he had to die to make it end. Finally, Grimmjow's pace became frantic and even more painfully hard and then he felt the flush of stinging warm liquid into him and that was when he started to try to vomit his empty stomach of bile. Grimmjow stayed there buried inside his prey, then leaned over and snarled in his ear.

"Nothin' against ya, Shinigami, but I love to fight and to fuck, so now I'll send yer broken ass home, and you won't be fightin' me again unless I find myself alone with ya again, then we'll have a little repeat session, which I really hope happens, fuckin' you into the ground has been the best fun I've had since I started working for Aizen," he said grinning. He moved back, pulling out, and Ichigo sobbed as something very warm and wet flowed down his legs. He fell over into the sand, unable to move much as Rukia was let go and stumbled over to him and pulled his head into her lap.

Grimmjow picked up both swords and dropped them at her feet, then reached up and flicked his hand to open the garganta. He gestured to Rukia. She reached out, dragging the two swords to her.

"Get him the fuck up, and the fuck out, bitch," he said with a snarl.

She gasped and stood slowly, sheathing her own sword and sliding Ichigo's through her belt. She groaned, pulling Ichigo to his feet and dragging him through the garganta. He was nearly unconscious, stumbling and falling as she tried to make the path solid enough for both. He was drained completely of reiatsu and his strength was quickly fading. At last the other side appeared and she stumbled out, finding her last strength to flash step to the ground, Ichigo's consciousness finally slipping as she stumbled and fell over him. His clothes were shredded, only vague remains of his hakama and kusodo clinging to him. She was in soul society, but where? Just then a couple flash steps could be heard and she looked up to Kira and Shuuhei staring at her, open mouthed.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Hisagi breathed, kneeling.

"Shuuhei, I'm fine, get him to fourth, quickly, he's lost a lot of blood, none of this is mine, it's all his, I don't even know if he can survive it," she said panting, falling to her own knees, tears spilling out as she looked down at his slack face.

A second later there was another flash and Byakuya appeared beside his sister and frowned at her disheveled state, then his eyes fell on the crumpled Shinigami substitute, the bloody remains of his shihakuso not doing much to disguise his injuries.

"Nii-sama…get him to Unohana-taichou, he's dying…" she gasped.

Byakuya frowned and gathered his sister up and looked at Hisagi and Kira. "Kira can you stabilize him before you move him?"

Kira nodded and knelt beside him. "I'll stabilize him then take him to Unohana-taichou, Kuchiki-taichou. If we tried to take him like this, he'd bleed out on the way."

Byakuya was gone in an instant and Kira leaned over the orange headed Shinigami. Hisagi kneeled beside him and looked over the injuries, amazed by the amount of blood coating his body.

"Kira…" he said softly.

Kira nodded. "I know, I know," he said softly. "Got to stop this bleeding here before I can worry about that bleeding," he said, pressing hands to the still weeping sword wounds in his shoulders. Once they were staunched, he moved to his pelvis where there were some superficial cuts, but he was still losing blood from something internal. He quickly staunched it then moved to the deep gashes in his legs, a couple he noticed were dangerously close to the main artery. Whoever had done this knew how to avoid it so he didn't bleed out too rapidly.

He looked at Shuuhei and nodded. "Can you take him; I've exhausted much of my power on it…I don't think I can Shunpo that far."

Shuuhei nodded and gathered up the Shinigami as carefully as he could and wished he had a thicker shihakuso, but he didn't. He would be flashing through the area, so he shouldn't be seen by anyone. Of course, when you flash past captains, it is hard to go unnoticed, especially ones like Kenpachi who were always on alert for his favorite fighting partners, or those like Toshiro who happened to be in the right place as Hisagi touched the ground briefly.

"Was that Kurosaki?" Matsumoto said from beside him. Toshiro nodded, and both took off to the fourth division to find out what was happening.

Toshiro and Matsumoto walked into the area to see Hisagi, standing there, blood covering his arms and chest. He looked ghostly pale. Beside him, Kira stood his hands bloody as well, and it seemed that both were oblivious to the fact that blood was staining them. A second later, Kenpachi and Yachiru came in, a frown creasing Kenpachi's brow, sensing immediately that Ichigo's reiatsu was at a dangerously low level. No one said anything for a long moment until Ukitake came out leading an obviously distraught Rukia, also dripping blood and Ichigo's Bankai sword in her belt. The fact that she had his Bankai sword meant that he had been in a fight. And it had to have been brutal for her to have kept his sword afterward.

The others quickly crowded into the room, patiently waiting what Rukia had to tell them. She pulled out his Zangetsu and sat it on the table, and they realized it was still dripping blood. Kira pulled a cloth from his pocket and wiped the sword down quickly, and was a little surprised to find the blood went up to the cross guard, thick and heavy.

"Oh, he's never going to be the same, Ukitake-taichou!" she said, gasping for breath. "Not after…after…" She swallowed, looking a bit sick.

Hisagi and Kira exchanged glances, knowing what they'd seen. But Rukia couldn't talk, she was still rocking and shaking he heard. Ukitake turned to Shuuhei and Kira with a questioning look.

"We were at some shops in Rukongai when we felt a garganta, so we headed to it with haste and saw Rukia and Ichigo dropping to the ground. Both were covered in blood but none of it was hers. Kuchiki-taichou came and took away Rukia while I tried to stabilize Kurosaki-san," Kira said, wiping blood onto his black hakama as if he just realized he was covered in it from healing the Shinigami substitute.

"What kind of injuries had he sustained?" the soft spoken silver haired captain said softly.

Kira and Hisagi exchanged looks. "Lots of battle wounds, it looked like, but nothing out of the normal for someone fighting in Hueco Mundo, but there were two wounds, one all the way through each shoulder, that were bleeding profusely, and some kind of internal injury, and what appeared to be claw marks on his thighs that barely missed the artery there," he said, rushing the explanation.

Rukia cleared her throat. "There were a lot of hollows, no idea how many, and somehow it was like they were separating us, I stayed with Ichigo, and Chad, Uryū and Renji were pulled away further and further. We were worried it was a trap, but we didn't know for whom, us or them. We were both exhausted and Ichigo had been in Bankai for a while just trying to get through the massive number of hollows and to the others when two Espada appeared, one with green eyes, and that bastard Grimmjow. The green eyed one grabbed me, and held me while they fought."

Her brother came in, and offered her a cup of water that she drank hurriedly. She had to tell it before she couldn't. If she didn't do it now, she'd never be able to say these words again. She was still in shock, numb. Later, the pain would well too much to repeat these things.

She gulped. "And Ichigo was doing fine, really, until he entered resurrección form. Some kind of cat creature, but Ichigo was losing to him, even as fast as he was in Bankai, he was just too exhausted, and Grimmjow was faster and hadn't been fighting for the last hour or more. He knocked Zangetsu away and kicked him to the ground, and then he just impaled him through the shoulder, all the way to the guard. I've never seen anyone do something like that. Then he came over to where I was and told me…told me I had to watch him break him. He picked up my Zanpakutō and ran through his other shoulder with it. He…he told him he looked like a pinned bug like that."

She gulped. "I tried to look away, Taichou, I tried, but he told me if I did he was going to take Zangetsu and run it through his heart so I could watch him die instead! I think I would have rather watched him die, does that make me horrible, Taichou?" she asked, pleading with her captain. "Maybe I should have…it would have been better to just die…"

Ukitake shook his head. "No, Rukia, what happened, we need to know so Unohana-taichou can treat him properly."

She swallowed, her hands shaking now. "Then he ripped off the front of his kusodo and told him that he was going to break him and send him back to soul society as a message from Aizen, and he said he didn't mind because he had wanted to do this since they fought the first time. He tried to kick him off, but instead he latched onto his legs like that and he couldn't even fight then, and he tried to pass out, but every time, he'd slap him and say if he didn't stay awake he was going to do something to me, and Ichigo would try to stay awake…but…but..."

She was silent, feeling her captain's arm around her back. "I don't think I've heard someone scream like that before. It was like something inside him broke, shattered and Grimmjow didn't make it easy, midway, yanking both swords out and forcing his fingers into the wounds to keep him awake. He flipped him, and then he was nearly suffocating in the sand because he couldn't use his arms at all. He was sobbing into the sand by then and I've never heard him cry, never once, and he looked at me then. His eyes, I'm not going to forget that ever…"

She was panting now from the exertion. "When he was done, he tossed him aside and opened the garganta and dropping our swords, telling me to take him back. He was so weak and bleeding so much, but I managed to get through and then we fell and Kira and Shuuhei found us."

She finished with a broken sob as she started crying. "Why would he do something like this? Why would he want to do something so sick to another person? Why would anyone do something like that to someone like Ichigo?"

Ukitake squeezed her and turned to leave and talk to Unohana about what Rukia had said. He made his way into the room where Ichigo had been laid out, bandages crisscrossing his body, his eyes closed but still in obvious pain. Unohana looked at him with tired eyes.

"He's going to live, Jūshirō. But the damage we can't see…" she said wondering what to say.

"Rukia was forced to watch," he said softly, gaining a surprised glanced. "He's not he only one with unseen wounds today."

Unohana nodded. "The brutality of it, I've never seen anything like it. And those wounds in his shoulders…the tearing inside him..."

"Kurosaki-san would not give in easily, and the Espada used his own sword and Rukia's sword to pin him to the ground. She said that he ran both swords through him to the hilt to keep him still. And then the wounds on his legs came from when he still resisted him," he said, sighing a bit.

She sighed. "I'm not sure he would have made it if Kira-fukutaichou hadn't been close by. The blood loss was massive. I'm amazed he managed to stay conscious through the…ordeal."

Ukitake nodded. "Rukia said he kept slapping him and using his wounds to keep him awake, threatening that he'd do something to her if he passed out."

Unohana's kind eyes watched her sleeping patient. "He may never really recover from this, Jūshirō. This kind of violation is so hard to deal with, but as a man and a protector like he is…"

"Aizen wanted to break him," Ukitake said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "And I think from what Rukia said, he may have accomplished it."