Ichigo looked up with a glare as the door opened. He said nothing as one of his captors, Ulquiorra, walked in. They stared at each other across the room silently for several long minutes. Ulquiorra seemed content to hold still and Ichigo had no choice. This was not a new arrangement for Ichigo. Aside from Aizen, Ulquiorra was Ichigo's only visitor. Sometimes the black haired arrancar would merely watch him silently for hours. Other times he would speak quietly, telling Ichigo of the way of the arrancar and vague hints of Aizen's plan.

"Have you considered our offer?" Ulquiorra asked slowly. Apparently this visit would not be one of the silent ones.

Ichigo was tempted to say yes, just to end his confinement. He couldn't.

"You know my answer."

Ulquiorra nodded. They were going from rote at this point. Nothing changed in this white prison.

Ulquiorra took a step closer and Ichigo's eyebrows quirked in surprise. He'd almost come to believe there was some sort of invisible barrier cutting off half the room by the way both Aizen and Ulquiorra had hovered on the far side of the room.

"I must apologize in advance. Aizen-sama has been quite..." Ulquiorra paused to choose his next word. "...displeased with your reluctance. I would have you know that, regarding what I am about to do, I am acting under orders."

Ulquiorra paused at the edge of Ichigo's bed. Ichigo wanted to shift away, suddenly nervous of the arrancar's strange closeness, but he forced himself not to. He wasn't so weak that he shied away from the other man's mere presence. Not that he could move far if he tried. That blasted collar that Aizen had put around his neck kept him from moving more than a foot to either side, and with the way Ulquiorra was standing his choice was to either shift closer to Ulquiorra or into the wall.

"I'm not afraid of pain," Ichigo said instead. Words were the only rebellion he had left in his confinement. He couldn't fight like this, and until now none had come close enough for him to even try. It seemed that Aizen merely wanted him to wait. He'd waited for Ichigo to come into Hueco Munde to save Orihime, then waited until Ichigo and the others had almost escaped before snatching Ichigo away from the group. At least the others were safe, as far as he knew. Rukia and Renji would have seen them safely back home.

"We are aware of that." Ulquiorra's answer only increased the slight fear that was working its way through Ichigo's body. The arrancar were still new to Ichigo. In battle he could handle them. He understood violence and honor and all those things. This manipulation... this was new. He didn't know what to expect, but him imagination was happy to fill in the details for him.

Ulquiorra shifted closer, placing one knee on the side of the bed and Ichigo was almost glad for the collar because it kept him from trying to run away. There was something incredibly unnerving about the arrancar. Ichigo knew a lot of it had to do with the first time he'd fought against Ulquiorra - he'd never felt so utterly powerless in his life. He had power now, but it was out of his reach. Something in Aizen's strange collar kept his Shinigami powers locked away from him.

"There are other ways of persuasion than pain," Ulquiorra muttered, his new proximity causing his voice to drift softer than usual. "Your particular case," Ulquiorra continued, "has caused Aizen-sama to consider some rather... unorthodox methods. His hope, and mine, is that you will come to consider your situation in a new light."

"I'm not going to change my mind. I'm not helping you. No matter what you do to me."

"We'll see."

Ulquiorra half-turned back towards the door. "Grimmjow."

The other arrancar stepped through the door at the summons, a cocky smile fixed on his face. Ulquiorra shifted again, body flowing as smoothly as his words always did. Ulquiorra knelt over him and stared at Ichigo. It reminded him of some of the doctors his father knew, the ones more interested in the illness than the patient they were treating.

What now, Ichigo wondered? Ulquiorra had said he wasn't going to hurt him but with Grimmjow in the room, the possibility of violence seemed much more imminent. His speculation came to a halt as Ulquiorra pulled two thick pieces of cord from his pants pocket. Ichigo's eyes widened and he shifted nervously on the bed.

"Hold him," Ulquiorra commanded.

Ichigo fought without even being fully sure what he was fighting against. He tried to push Ulquiorra off of him but the black haired arrancar caught his wrists easily, trapping Ichigo in a strong grip that belied Ulquiorra's frail image. Struggling did him no good as control of his wrists were transferred from Ulquiorra to the wickedly grinning Grimmjow. The cord went around Ichigo's wrists, binding him securely to the metal bed frame.

Even without use of his hands, Ichigo could still fight, and he did - or at least he tried. He bucked his hips, trying to throw Ulquiorra off of him and to get room to kick. Grimmjow moved before he could even bring his knee up. He grabbed Ichigo's ankles in as tight a grip as he'd used when pinning Ichigo's arms.

As soon as his hands were free, Ulquiorra reached for the fastenings of his clothing. Ulquiorra took great care in undressing. If Grimmjow thought it strange for the other arrancar to be suddenly stripping, it didn't show on his face. Instead he watched Ichigo from behind Ulquiorra, seeming to revel in the emotions flitting across Ichigo's face.

Naked, Ulquiorra returned to his contemplation of the bound Shinigami below him. "Of course, by now you realize my intent."

"Don't you dare," Ichigo warned. "Get off of me."

"I cannot."

Ulquiorra reached down and pulled loose the tie that bound the Shinigami's hakama. Black fabric fell loose, parted by hands impossibly cold. He flinched at Ulquiorra's touch. The arrancar's skin was cold, almost impossibly cold, a reminder that the other man was far from human - as if the bone covering half his head wasn't reminder enough. It was as if his inability to move amplified sensation - he felt the slide of fabric across his skin keenly, felt Grimmjow's hands on his ankles like they were cold bands of iron. The reality of what was about to happen smacked him full in the face as Ulquiorra carefully parted Ichigo's legs.

"Stop it," he yelled, louder than he needed to with Ulquiorra scant inches away from him.

"I can't."

Cold fingers pressed inside of him, and unwelcome invasion. Ichigo bit his lips. He wouldn't scream. He refused to, as much as he refused to give in, no matter what they tried to do to him. Still, a faint whimper of sound betrayed him through his gritted teeth. He was shaking, as much as he hated to admit it. This was worse, far worse he decided, that the pain of defeat. After his time in the Soul Society, death no longer scared him.

This did.

Closing his eyes, Ichigo tried to ignore what was going on. It was the only way he could resist, short of trying to bite Ulquiorra and he was loathe to think what they'd do if he tried that. But it was hard to keep control when he felt Ulquiorra's hands on his thighs as he moved to kneel between Ichigo's legs. Grimmjow worked with Ulquiorra wordlessly, sliding Ichigo's ankles up on the mattress to give Ulquiorra the flexibility he needed as he arranged Ichigo around him. His knees were bent, though not enough to give him any sort of leverage.

His control shattered completely as he felt Ulquiorra slide into him. His head went back reflexively, smacking hard against the iron wring behind him. The pain in his head distracted him momentarily from the pain of Ulquiorra inside of him and he couldn't hold back the whimpers this time. His vision danced in black and white as he was momentarily stunned.

He couldn't understand this. Why him? Why this? He stared stupidly at Ulquiorra. Exertion was obvious on the arrancar's face, but beyond that there was nothing. No pleasure, no guilt - he looked like he was fighting rather than fucking, and not even a difficult battle at that. The only noise in the room came from Ichigo. Each time Ulquiorra moved, each time that cold length speared inside of him, he gasped. The pain was fading and he didn't know if that was good or bad. At least the pain reinforced that this was bad.

A smile drifted across Ulquiorra's face and he leaned forward towards Ichigo's ear. "I see Aizen-sama was right to think you'd like this."

The smiles both arrancar were giving him made Ichigo want to throw up. "I don't..."

His words cut off as Ulquiorra wrapped his hand around Ichigo's erection. The touch sent a jolt up his spine and he really thought he was going to throw up. His voice rose in pitch - he couldn't control the sounds that were coming out of his mouth anymore. This wasn't happening. He didn't... But the proof of his enjoyment was thick in Ulquiorra's hand, and in the way it no longer hurt when Ulquiorra shoved into him. Somewhere along the way his soft cries of pain had turned into moans of pleasure. There was no denying that his body was enjoying this kind of treatment.

He wanted to die.

"Stop it!" He screamed, closing his eyes as tightly as he could. Cord dug into his wrists as he fought against his restraints but they were as unyielding as Grimmjow's hold. He struggled, trying to move away, to force Ulquiorra out of him, but his movements only made him feel it more, as if he were helping Ulquiorra hit deeper inside of him.

"It's not going to stop," Ulquiorra whispered in his ear. "Not until you give us what we want."

"No!" He cried out even as he came. Ulquiorra let out a slow breath as his hips stilled, the sudden wetness between Ichigo's legs telling him he wasn't the only one to find release.

Ulquiorra pulled out and dressed. Grimmjow let go of his legs though Ichigo could still feel the arrancar's gaze on him as he slumped weakly against the headboard. Guilt filled him, as if he'd just betrayed everyone he cared about.

"You only have one choice," Ulquiorra told him softly, his eyes seeming sadder than usual.

Ichigo watched quietly as Ulquiorra turned to leave. There was nothing he could say. Nothing.

Ulquiorra paused with his hand on the door, turned and stared first at Ichigo and then at the blue haired arrancar that still knelt at the foot of the bed.

"Your turn, Grimmjow."

The arrancar smiled at him and Ichigo felt fear.

Story continues in "Lies of Resistance".