Red Riding Strawberry

Bonds Deeper Than Blood

Ichigo groaned as he opened his eyes, and when they finally opened wide enough to see his surroundings, but instantly regretted it. He was hanging upside down from a tree branch, bound by rope; his head throbbed like a bitch and Ichigo sucked air in through his teeth.

"Damn..." Ichigo looked around for the maniac that tried to rape him.

When Ichigo's hair was viciously grabbed, he instantly knew who it was. Gritting his teeth, Ichigo glared at the blue haired devil with all the strife he had.

But it seemed that Grimmjow wasn't playing around this time, he looked genuinely pissed off.

With a growl, Grimmjow yanked Ichigo forward, still holding onto his hair, "What the hell did you do earlier? I thought you were human."

Ichigo didn't know what the ass hole was talking about, but when he looked down, he saw a long scar going down the length of Grimmjow's chest and abdomen. Grimmjow snarled and tugged on Ichigo's hair, making the orangete cry out in slight pain.

'You answer when I talk to you!" Grimmjow yelled out in rage.

It took Ichigo a minute, but it finally clicked in his head why Grimmjow was acting this way.

He was scared.

He was scared of me.

Shaking his head Ichigo glared at Grimmjow, "Fuck you."

Grimmjow grinned, "Nah, I'll save that for later. Right now I'm gunna teach ya not to mess with me."

Ichigo didn't know what was going to happen until he felt a fist collide with his stomach. Letting out a cry of pain, Ichigo curled as best he could into himself, the wound from the previous day still there and just as painful.

Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo's chin and tilted it up to look him in the eye, he looked like he was trying to find something within the depths of Ichigo's eyes. By the look of pure anger on Grimmjow's face, Ichigo could guess that he didn't find it, and when he felt his had smash back against the tree, he knew that there was more to come.

Grimmjow growled at Ichigo's figure, "I hate the way you think you can be stronger than me. The way your eyes look at me," Grimmjow gave a swift kick to Ichigo's side, making the boy hold back a sharp cry.

Glaring, Grimmjow did it again and again, making Ichigo's body swing slightly each time. Ichigo knew his wound had reopened with the new pain blossoming in his gut, and the wet, sticky feeling of liquid traveling down his stomach, to his chest.

As Grimmjow kept kicking and punching, Ichigo had soon closed his eyes to the pain, his mind slowly going black.

"Switch with me!"

Ichigo's eyes shot open, he knew that voice; it was Shiro. Frowning, Ichigo mentally shook his head, 'Go away.'

A mental image of Shiro grinning appeared before Ichigo's eyes.

"I can kick his ass if you switch out with me!"

Ichigo could hear the joy in Shiro's voice, the thought of Shiro ripping apart Grimmjow sounded nice, but he wasn't going to let what happened last time happen again.

'I said no. Go away.'

Ichigo could feel Shiro pushing against his defenses, 'Go away!'

The more Shiro pushed, the more Ichigo had to fight to stay awake, which was bringing back the pain he was feeling. Soon, Ichigo cried out in pure agony and his head went limp, so too did the rest of his body.