Chapter One

Wilting Lily

"It is a little odd, don't ya think?" Renji said as he landed on a pole and glanced around the city. "Where are we again?" he asked, looking at Rukia.

"Kyoto," she muttered. "I mean, I get that he's a seventeen-year-old human, but I can't imagine him up and disappearing like this with no warning."

Renji dropped to the ground. "Without his reiatsu I don't think we're gonna find 'im like this. I mean, spending our days off searching the World of the Living for one idiot human."

"He's our friend, and you're worried too, so don't act like you aren't," Rukia sighed as they walked the streets.

After a week, they went back to Soul Society. Renji, Rukia, and several others would often spend their days off trying to find their missing friend. His father and sisters assumed that he'd gone away to get some perspective, to do some soul searching and there wasn't a reason to worry. Not really. They were all, living and Shinigami, sure he'd just come back soon.

After a month, they really started to worry. It became a Gotei 13 issue because Kurotsuchi-Taichou confirmed that his power was not gone, and that there might be other powers at play around him. Not only his friends, but all Shinigami who were dispatched to the World of the Living were put on alert. Missing persons reports were filed, but his family was told not to be hopeful. He was an adult. If he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be found, they said. Still, they were sure. He just needed time.

After a year, no one knew what to do. There wasn't anything else to do. Already, every member of the Gotei 13 was aware that the substitute Shinigami, powerless as he was, had disappeared without a trace. Police and authorities had given up on the World of the Living.

After two years, no one looked anymore because they guessed that he just didn't want to be found. It was as though Ichigo Kurosaki had simply vanished from the face of the World of the Living.

After the sixth year passed with no information, memories were all they had. Then the events transpired that left everyone involved stunned.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Man, this is a boring detail," whined the young Shinigami Nomura Matsusuke. This was his first trip to the World of the Living and he was bored to tears already.

Nomura was a small man. He had black hair pulled back away from a severe looking face. He seemed to be a very serious looking individual, but in reality he liked goofing off. However, he wasn't going to be let off easy because he was being trained today by his Fuku-taichou of the sixth, Renji Abarai.

"Yeah, well, it's important. Ya think I like training any more than ya like being here?" Renji groused. They were standing atop a building as night descended.

"Yes, Fuku-Taichou."

At near midnight both felt a spirit nearby. Renji nodded. "Alright, ready Matsusuke?"

Nomura was happy to be able to do something, even if it was just a Konso. "Abarai-fukutaichou, isn't it weird that we've been here every night for a week running, and there have been no hollows in the area?" he asked as they stopped in front of the building the spirit was in.

Renji blinked. "I…that's true now that ya mention it. We'll see what the Taichou says when we get back…but…" He stopped. "That can't be right," he muttered.

Nomura looked at him. "What is it?"

Renji shook his head. "Nah, nothin'. Just thought I felt a reiatsu I ain't felt in a while. Imaginin' things. Airght, go in and perform the Konso, I'll wait here, alright?"

Renji leaned back against the building and sighed. That was scary, he thought to himself. To think he was imagining that. Rukia would chide him when he got home tonight for that. His thoughts were interrupted by hearing Nomura shriek inside the building. He reacted on instinct, Zabimaru in Shikai as went into the building to find Nomura standing in a hallway with his back to a door. He looked pale.

"What is it?" Renji asked and then he sensed it. Brief surge, almost not there at all. But it was there.

"It touched my Zanpakutō…it touched it…and I feel like I've been drained of almost all my energy… I got away from it, but the spirit, it was…was…" Nomura looked at him. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Talk plain," Renji said. "What is in there? Did you see the spirit?"

"The spirit is trapped, and whatever it is…is…is…" Nomura looked far more freaked out than Renji liked. "I heard something, I went to look, and when I leaned over to look in the bath, it…it looked at me, and then a hand grabbed my blade…"

"What did it look like?"

"I just saw the eyes…black and gold…it was dark, there's no lights…" he whispered.

"No…that can't be…can it?" Renji said and pulled out his communicator. "Inform Kuchiki-taichou that I need backup in the World of the Living. Limiter release requested. Unknown combatant, possibly hollow in origin. No readable reiatsu. Repeat, no reiatsu can be read."

"We wait?" Nomura asked nervously.

"Yah, we wait. They'll send a captain, so don't look so worried. Whatever it is doesn't seem to want to leave that room, so I think we're fine," Renji said and leaned against the wall to wait. Nomura looked at him and then slid down the wall in a faint. Renji checked him and found him alive, just drained of reiatsu. Strange, he thought.

Their wait wasn't long before Renji sensed someone come through a senkaimon. He smiled. Kyōraku-taichou and Ukitake-taichou. Ukitake's calm presence, as always was soothing. His white hair was smooth around his shoulders. In opposition, Kyōraku's bright pink kimono stood out against his white haori. He tipped the hat he always wore at Renji with a lazy grin. They took him seriously, at least. He looked up as both came in.

"Abarai-kun," Ukitake said with a smile. "What is the situation?"

"Ah, we've been on the Osaka detail for a week, been trainin' Matsusuke. He pointed out we ain't seen any hollows, and tonight was the first spirit that needed a Konso. But he went in, and he can't even say what he saw proper, something wrong with the spirit and something creeped him out with black and gold eyes, said it sucked off his power. Then he passed out."

"Shunsui, you want to enter first?" Ukitake asked. Kyōraku nodded and opened the door, letting the other two follow. He muttered and a light exploded near the ceiling lighting the room.

"What the hell is this?" Renji whispered.

It was a plain room with a low futon against a wall. The center of the room had a tall, iron pillar. Attached to the pillar was a ring. On that ring was a chain that could move around the ring. They could see a door to a small bathroom, and there was a low table with sparse food dishes on it, all gone bad now. The room smelled of death and decay, so this was not a recent death. Next to the pillar, suspended from the rafter, was a human that had hung himself by an electrical cord. That had to have been the source of the spirit. His hands were both stained dark with what looked like blood. On the floor, there were small pools of blood.

The spirit, though, seemed to be shackled to the wall over the futon mattress by his soul chain. Renji had never seen something like that. The chain was melted and looked almost welded into the wall. The spirit was a middle-aged man with thick glasses, black hair, and a pockmarked face, the same as the hanging man. He was standing against the wall his soul chain was attached to, staring blankly ahead. They all heard the rattle of chain in the room, and Renji saw that the chain that ran from the pillar disappeared into the bathroom. Now and then they heard a jingle of the chain.

"Kyōraku-taichou, what would do that to a soul chain?" Renji asked. "Matsusuke said that 'it' touched his Zanpakutō and it drained him of power, whatever is in the bathroom." He gestured toward the bath.

"I know of nothing that can do this," Kyōraku answered as he walked quietly toward the spirit.

It didn't seem to acknowledge them. He turned and went to the hanging man and saw there was a note pinned to his chest. He glanced at the others.

"A suicide note. It states, 'I've taken something I should not have. I am sorry, but he was too beautiful for words, and I had to keep him for myself. But the eyes are driving me mad. I hope if he lives, you will end his life. He deserves that much that I could not give.' This human kept a captive here," Kyōraku said. "What does it mean, the eyes?"

"No…" Renji said, staring at the futon and then the door where the chain disappeared. "Matsusuke said the eyes were black and gold. You don't think…"

Ukitake's intake of breath confirmed that Renji wasn't the only one to start to come to the conclusion. "That is impossible, for him to be alive and accessing the hollow power without releasing reiatsu?" Ukitake said as he pulled one of his twin Zanpakutō and tapped the forehead of the bound spirit. Instead of passing, though, the spirit screamed horribly as it just evaporated before them.

Ukitake looked at Kyōraku. "It didn't pass over. Look, the soul chain remained…" Ukitake touched the chain and it disappeared.

"We need to see," Renji said as he followed the chain from the pillar toward the doorway of the bathroom.

Inside the room, a figured was curled into a ball inside the bathtub covered with what looked like the curtain from the shower. Faint reiatsu pulsed from the form, in an all too familiar sensation. Renji looked over his shoulder at Ukitake who came up and placed a hand on him. Renji nodded as Ukitake moved forward and knelt beside the tub. The figure's hair had pooled beside his face, long and somewhat dingy looking, but the unmistakable color of orange-red. Ukitake reached down and pushed it off his face and swallowed. He stood up and turned back to Renji.

"Come, we need to get Unohana-taichou," he said but there was movement behind him.

Renji's eyes went wide. "Ichigo," he whispered as he locked eyes on his face as he lifted it over the side of the tub. "What…"

Really, if it hadn't been for his hair and the familiar if faint reiatsu, he wouldn't have known who he was. Both of his eyes had been gouged out, leaving open, blank sockets. His face was covered with crusted blood under his eyes. It was obvious the loss of his eyes wasn't that long ago. His mouth had been sealed with some sort of wire through the top and bottom lips, but it wasn't recent. The threading was tight enough to dimple the skin. The hollowness of his face was equally appalling. The thick chain attached to a metal collar that appeared to have been welded closed around his neck. It had left deep red rub marks, some of which bled. Considering how thin he was, it was no surprise. He had similar metal cuffs around his wrists, also seemingly welded closed with rings in the sides of them.

It was obvious Ichigo had heard them, as his head tilted to the side and he listened. He moved and gripped the side of the bath with his hands, and Renji could see that his fingers were at odd angles, and the nails were pitch black. He hummed, a strange reverberating sound, and then sighed. He turned away and then turned back and for a second, those empty sockets seemed to glow red, then it faded.

Ukitake tried to stop him, but Renji went forward put his hands on Ichigo's. First, Ichigo jerked his hands away, the plasticy part of the shower curtain he was wrapped up in crinkling. Then he tilted his head and reached his hand out and put it on Renji's face, fingers feeling along his jaw and cheek up to his hairline. There, he paused, fingers tracing the shape of his forehead. He tipped his head to the side again, and he touched his own face and shook his head, pushing Renji back, a keening sound starting from his throat.

"Ichigo, it's me, Renji, remember?" Renji said hopefully. "Let's get you out of there, come on."

The reaction wasn't what he'd hoped for because now he did make a sound they knew was hollow. The glow began in the eye sockets again, red and pulsing until Ukitake reached over Renji to put his fingers to Ichigo's forehead. He slumped into unconsciousness into the bathtub as the sleeping kido took over.

"What should we do?" Kyōraku said from the door where he had been watching.

"This…" Ukitake began but the door banged open behind them in the outer room.

"Police!" came a call. "Ogawa Kanjiro, if you are present, surrender immediately! We have a warrant for your arrest! Oh shit…" they heard from the next room.

Ukitake pulled Renji to stand and the three stepped into the room to see that four police had entered the room. They'd found the hanging man.

"Well, hell, there's Ogawa Kanjiro. Hung himself. That makes him look guilty." The first police officer, a large, tall man felt the hanging man's arm. "Pretty cold, been two days at least I bet. Got a bit of smell. Call forensics…to…what the fuck does this note mean?"

A smallish woman with a high black ponytail looked at the note. "Look, lieutenant. There's a chain…" she said and followed it toward the bathroom. "Think they were right?"

"Careful, Yoshi," the larger man said as he moved with her. She followed the chain toward the tub and Renji wasn't surprised to hear the muffled scream when she looked in and then ran back out the front covering her mouth.

"Another body?" one of the other two officers asked, a blonde man with a tattoo on his forearm, asked and walked toward the bathroom after the larger officer.

"Call an ambulance. Quickly," the lieutenant said as he stared into the tub. "His neighbor was right. I'm sure she did hear screaming a couple nights ago."

"We need to go report," Ukitake said quietly to Renji. "Stay with him, I'll take your junior back with us so Unohana can see to him. Don't let him out of your sight." Ukitake paused. "If you have to kill him, if the hollow emerges, can you do it?"

Renji nodded. "I can."

Ukitake and Kyōraku left and Renji stood and watched. Not long passed before paramedics arrived and Ichigo was loaded onto a gurney. Renji kept pace with them, and debated flash stepping along. He sighed. He should stay with him in the ambulance. He flashed inside and sat toward the front and waited as the young paramedic got in after the gurney and began trying to start an IV. It wasn't working, though, so she set to covering his eyes with bandages. She sat down after she'd done all she could.

To Renji's surprise, she looked directly at him. "Is he dying? Is that why you're here, Shinigami?"

Renji blinked. Spiritually aware, no surprise in this occupation. "I hope not, he is a friend."

"Death gods have friends among us humans?" she asked, her deep brown eyes reflecting pain.

"He is not quite all human," Renji said quietly. "But he's been missing for six years, more than. We could not find him no matter how we tried. He has family."

She nodded. "My name is Hano Saori. What is his name?"

"And how will you explain knowing his name when you reach the hospital?" Renji asked sadly. "I should not tell ya."

"His family misses him. I can figure out how to tell them without telling them a reaper that only I can see was riding in the ambulance with him," she said with a smile.

Renji nodded. "I have to stay with him, in case I do have to kill him. But his name is Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Why would you kill him?" she asked, appearing worried now.

"His power, what he is, might be dangerous. So, I have to watch him. I hope it doesn't come to that. My wife and I are close with him," he answered, adjusting the heavy braid of his hair from his shoulder. By the look, Ichigo's hair was almost as long. Six years. He leaned forward and ran a hand over Ichigo's hair with a sad look on his features. He jumped out once they were at the hospital.

Renji stayed with him as they finally got IVs and medications into him, the kido thankfully keeping him completely sedated the entire time. Finally, he was placed in a private room, an officer stationed at the door. His hair had been cleaned as had his body. Renji approached and saw they'd put restraints on him, no doubt because of the IV lines and the bandages. They'd removed the wire that had sealed his lips together, but the holes above and below his lips stood out. Renji could tell those had long ago healed. Now, to wait until someone found out who he was. He hoped that the paramedic was good on her word.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Renji heard a voice he hadn't heard in a long time and looked behind him to see Kisuke Urahara and Isshin Kurosaki both standing at the door staring at him. He smiled at them. A week had passed and he'd spent each day sitting beside Ichigo's unconscious body and watching as they took him for tests, then returned. He had been ecstatic the day before when a pair of nurses had come in excitedly chatting that their unnamed patient had been identified. One had kissed Ichigo's head and said, "Hello, Ichigo-kun."

"Why are you here?" Isshin asked.

"I'm to stay with him until we know for sure about the hollow," he said and stepped back.

Isshin walked slowly up and put his hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "He's skeletal," he whispered, touching his collarbone. "He…they didn't tell us what happened yet, they said there was a doctor coming down to talk to us, what do you know, Abarai-san?" he said and looked at Renji.

"I don't…" he started but the door opened, revealing a woman in a white doctor's coat. She had long brown hair and kind hazel eyes.

"Dr. Kurosaki, I'm Dr. Yuguchi Yei," she said and smiled at Isshin. Her eyes passed Renji and rested on Urahara. "And you are?"

"Ah, Kisuke Urahara," he said and bowed slightly. "A…friend…" he muttered and looked back to Isshin who still stared at Ichigo.

The doctor walked over and looked at the IV stand and sighed. "I've got a good deal of respect for a fellow doctor, Dr. Kurosaki. So, I won't mince words. He's not in good condition. Severe malnutrition and dehydration aside, he's severely deficient in vitamin D. There's damage already. You can see the deformities in his hands, and there are fractures that aren't healed correctly. I'm recommended extensive surgery on his limbs. Even then, his right leg…it may need amputation. Currently, I can't guarantee either of his legs below the knee can be saved. The left is in better shape, but there is evidence of splinters of bone. All of his bones are soft and brittle at this point." She picked up the bandage on his eyes each in turn. "And he won't ever regain his sight."

Behind them, there was a knock at the door, and a pair of police officers came in. Renji recognized them as large lieutenant and the smaller woman from the house the day before. "Ah, sorry to interrupt, but the charge nurse said that you were here, Dr. Kurosaki. I'm Lieutenant Asano Shunsho, my partner Yoshi Utamara. We were the first on the scene at the location your son was found last week."

"Ah, thank you for finding him," Isshin said, bowing at them, but Renji heard the choked sound to his voice.

"I wanted to explain to you, and the doctor, what we know about what happened. In hopes it helps his treatment."

The doctor nodded and pulled chairs from the side of the room so they could all sit at the small table. Asano nodded.

"Yoshi and I were put on the Ogawa Kanjiro case almost three years ago. Kanjiro was a thirty-seven-year-old salaryman that worked for a large printing company as a financial officer. His wife passed about five years before this. He was known as a depressed and gloomy man. Interviewing people after his death, we confirmed his obsession with young men. A few of his coworkers said he often hid rather violent yaoi manga and pornography in his desk. What put us onto him was a call to a tip line about an 'old man' who would throw parties for young men, for a price allowing them access to his 'dog'. He was smart, though, and as soon as we were onto him, we lost the leads. We knew something was amiss, but we could never put something on him." He paused, seeing the pained look on Isshin's face.

"Sir, I'm sorry but this is only going to get worse from here," he said with a sigh as he pushed the file over. "This was Kanjiro's 'hideout'. He didn't live there, which was why it was so hard to pin him. He rented this space under an assumed name. The space was set up as a place of confinement. The pillar in the center allowed him to move around he circumference of it. He could just reach the bath and the table that Kanjiro would lay food out for him. The chain used wouldn't allow him to reach the walls or doors. All the windows were sealed and covered over anyway."

Isshin flipped through the pictures, not hiding his tears any longer. "I see. He was here the entire time?"

The lieutenant shifted and sighed, pushing another folder over. "Kanjiro regularly videoed things. I captured a few stills from the immense amount of footage he had, just so you might have a timeline of what happened. Significant events, if you will. The first is dated six years and four months ago."

Renji had come to stand over Isshin's shoulder to look. The first image was Ichigo alright, he was on his knees, his hands bound behind him, a collar with the chain attacked dropping in front of him. His legs were bound around his knees, forcing him to kneel. He was in street clothes still, his face twisted in fury and he was obviously screaming at him. His eyes were bloodshot and red, though. "We confirmed that Kanjiro was on a business trip to Karakura Town the week before this date, which coincides with his disappearance. We don't know the details, but it seems that he managed to snatch him then."

"How?" Isshin whispered. "Ichigo is a fighter, black belt, he can't be just grabbed by some middle age salaryman," he said, looking at him.

Yoshi spoke up. "Drugs and surprise can take down even the toughest combatant, Dr. Kurosaki."

"Would have to have been," Isshin said.

"The second photo is perhaps a year later. The tape this is from is pretty horrific, but it confirmed the reason we were called in. In the background, Kanjiro could be heard telling the others there that he had to do something to break him properly so he could be a good dog. It…it is a wonder he survived that event at all. All I have to say is that your son is one hell of a fighter. They had ended up smashing both his hands at this event, and by this point Kanjiro was taking regular advantage of him. He didn't always come back to this place, sometimes leaving him alone for a week at a time, and of course leaving little in the way of food."

"There's a steady decline," Dr. Yei said softly. "The malnutrition, you can see his body starting to consume what little fat and muscle. He left him bound with his calves to his thighs most the time it looks like," she said as she flipped through them. "That explains the severe damage to his calves and feet."

"He learned to cope with it, learning to deal with him binding him like that. But as you can see, as he physically declined, his mental state was deteriorating. Anytime others came to the place, Kanjiro would blindfold him, and it became frequent. He treated him less than an animal, calling him a dog, training him through pain to obey his commands no matter how minor. The entire time was about dehumanizing him."

Isshin stopped on the last photo and stared. "Weird spot, something wrong with that section of the recording that made his eyes look weird," the lieutenant said. "But it is strange, that kinda thing after Kanjiro said in his suicide note that his eyes were driving him mad."

Renji, Isshin, and Urahara all knew what that was. He was leaning against the wall on the futon, eyes distant, but the sclera were black and the iris gold. His nails were black. Isshin looked up. "You said he left a suicide note?"

"Yeah," the police office said and flipped out a copy of it. "It says, 'I've taken something I should not have. I am sorry, but he was too beautiful for words, and I had to keep him for myself. But the eyes are driving me mad. I hope if he lives, you will end his life. He deserves that much that I could not give.' I mean, weird, right?" He shrugged. "I don't know but he was pretty fucked up after all the perverse shit he did to him."

Isshin looked at the doctor. "When can I take him home?"

Dr. Yei frowned deeply. "Dr. Kurosaki, I think it best you leave him here in Osaka, I don't…"

"He needs to come home. I can arrange for his care. He has sisters, friends. I don't want him alone here."

"Of course. I'll begin the transfer to Karakura General. Anything that we can do here, I'm sure that you will arrange," Dr. Yei said as she stood. "Should I mark it attention to anyone?"

"Dr. Uryū Ishida," Isshin said with a sighed. "I'll let him know the files are coming."

The doctor left and the two police looked at him. Isshin sighed. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"I wish I had good news. In the last week I watched most of the videos the guy had taken, went through more photo albums than I care to think about. He kept meticulous records of his 'beautiful dog'. If he used an implement on him, there were photos and video of it. Any time he could, he would take pictures and video. His phone was full of indecent photos of him, as well as charming, cute photos of him." He sighed. "He used praise, and Dr. Kurosaki, he broke him by the end. We were called to that place when a neighbor heard hysterical screaming a few nights before. I would assume it was when he attacked his eyes."

"He took his eyes completely? Or is there a chance to save them? I forgot to ask," Isshin said as he reached for the medical chart. "Oh, I see. They had to remove the remainder of both of them. What did he use?"

"His hands," Yoshi whispered. "He seemed to lose it suddenly, screaming about his eyes and just went at him. He had a camera mounted at the top of the pillar, that's where he took most the videos." She swallowed. "Even then, he tried to get his attention, to be praised, but he drug him into the bathroom and threw him into the tub. When we found him, he'd been in there for three days, but he didn't move. Kanjiro told him to stay there and not move from the bathtub, then went out and hung himself."

Isshin nodded. "I think you for all your hard work, officers. Please, would you send the records to me in Karakura Town?"

"Of course, anything we find out. Here's my card if you have any questions. I hope that you can help him get better," the lieutenant said with a sad smile.

They left, leaving the three Shinigami alone. Urahara looked at them. "His body won't last like this. Isshin, we're going to have to send him to Soul Society and hope that Retsu, Mayuri, and I can do something to stop this degradation. I have a theory," he muttered as he moved to place his hands over Ichigo's body. Renji saw the reiatsu pulse around him.

"Isshin, the hollow was trying to escape, he was trying to get them out. I think he was draining power, bit by bit, out of every human that came into physical contact with Ichigo. When he did it, it changed his eyes, and that's what that human Kanjiro was seeing. He was trying to save him," he muttered in an almost amazed tone. "Even without power, that spirit knew they were going to die. As strong as Ichigo was, his body was deteriorating too much so he started fighting it with everything. He must have come in contact with a person with reiatsu at some point recently, that would have triggered the hollow spirit being able to gather enough energy to try and come to the surface."

"What happened to that guy's spirit though? Kanjiro? The spirit chain was bound to the wall of that place, and it disintegrated when Ukitake-Taichou did the konso," Renji asked.

"My guess? The hollow had drawn so much of the spirit's energy, it was doomed already. The chain became attached to that place because it was Kanjiro's attachment to the world," Urahara stepped away from Ichigo. "We can see if Orihime can do something with his eyes."

"We should get him home first," Isshin said with a sigh. He turned to Renji. "Stay with him. As much as I don't want to lose my son again, he wouldn't forgive us if we let that hollow run free."

Renji nodded, knowing that it was true.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Uryū glanced at the phone. He was in the middle of his second twelve hour shift and it was annoying to be interrupted again and again. "What is it?"

"Sorry, um, Dr. Ishida, there's a package here from Osaka Medical Center, it says that it is urgent for you to look at it. Says it is regarding an impending patient transfer that is arriving in a few hours," the nurse answered.

"A what?" he said and took off at a near run. "Why am I getting a patient from Osaka today? Why is the first time I've heard of it?"

"I don't know, Dr. Ishida," she answered.

"I'm on my way," he muttered and got to reception to find an electronically locked file box.

He frowned and wondered why they would send medical records by courier. Very rarely were they sent like this, but he supposed the patient had priority? He shook his head and took the box back to his office. He put in his clearance code and the box popped open. He sighed and saw at least four inches worth of files. Who would need this kind…

"What?" he gasped out as he picked up the file on top. "No…" he muttered, but he felt his heart hammering in his chest. He didn't hear the knock on the door or the cheerful greeting. When the hand dropped on his shoulder he started and found himself looking into Orihime's gray eyes, now looking concerned.

"Ishida-kun, are you okay? The reception nurse said there was some patient transfer coming and you were worried, what's going on?" she asked.

Orihime had become a nurse while Uryū was becoming a doctor, and they had also become a couple in that time. "I…I…this can't be…" he said and handed her the file.

"Kurosaki-kun?" she gasped out.

Another knock at the door and the nurse spoke up outside. "Dr. Ishida, the patient transfer from Osaka has arrived, I've put him in a private room as they requested. 3F."

"Thank you," he answered and grabbed the file from Orihime and putting it back in the box.

He grabbed the whole box and headed toward the elevator with Orihime following him. They rode in silence until they got to the room where the nurses were moving a body from a gurney onto the bed. Uryū looked up to see Renji standing at the window staring outside in his Shinigami form. Renji turned to look at them and gave them a sad smile while he waited for the other nurse and paramedics to leave.

"Renji?" Uryū said as he shut the door on the room and moved over to the bed where it was Ichigo. "Why…what happened? Where was he?"

Renji snorted and stood beside the bed. "Well, seems like some perverted salaryman from Osaka ran across him about six years and four months ago, decided he was pretty, kidnapped him, and has had him chained up in a room ever since then."

Uryū's horrified stare turned from him and back to Ichigo where he lifted the edges of the bandages from his eyes. "His eyes are…gone? What…he's a skeleton. Orihime, can you help him?" he asked.

"I can see, but I can't fix anything with him here," she said as she called the sun sun riki. She frowned. "I don't…I don't know if I can fix his eyes, something is stopping me from rejecting any of these injuries, what's happening? His body…everything is just falling apart…his bones, his muscles…they're…"

"The other doctor said it was from the severe malnutrition, vitamin D deficiency is bad, and how he had him bound. She thought he might lose his legs below the knee," Renji said. "I'm sure Isshin will be by later."

"Has he been conscious?" Uryū asked as he went back to the record box and began looking it over. He would have Orihime take everything down and file it, he guessed.

"Ukitake-Taichou put a sleeping kido on him, and he's been out since then, but honestly, I think his body is too damaged to stay awake." Renji sighed. "I'm here in case the hollow emerges. We think it was trying to get enough power to escape."

"I can't believe this," Uryū said. "Six years."