Gladiator

Chapter 5

Ichigo loved spending the money of asshole Masters.

He'd bought new bed sheets for the slaves from Juu and Kyo as well, loads of soaps for the baths, better medical equipment, and even a few books and some parchment and quills so that he could teach Szayel to read and write as had been requested by the other slave.

Of course, he'd bought his master the same things but better so as not to upset the balance, and he knew he hadn't even touched Aizen's fortune, but it still felt good to spend money without consequence.

Besides. Even if he was angry at Ichigo, a good sexual favor or two would do fine to appease him.

Grimmjow settled everything on Ichigo's bed, a small, ragged mat given to him as a curtesy by Aizen. Ichigo was usually ordered to sleep next to Aizen on the master's bed, and even when he wasn't, Aizen allowed him in bed anyways. The master was out on business, so Ichigo had to work quickly with Szayel before he came back so that they could present their new outfits and cleanliness to their Master.

Ichigo showed Szayel how to fit the sheets to the beds and left him to the task, dragging Grimmjow towards the baths with the load of new soap and a large bucket for the old soap.

Grimmjow picked up the old soaps and plopped them into the bucket. Ichigo followed behind him with the new blocks of fragranced lye, unwrapping them from their neat brown paper to set them in little indentions made for soaps on the sides of the tub.

Finally, he got to work on storing his medical equipment in Szayel's room, as Ichigo did not have one of his own.

Szayel stood nearby, unusually lost for words. He still didn't understand Ichigo (and probably wouldn't for a long time to come), but he was more concerned with the two masters he'd met earlier that day.

"Ichigo...if I asked you how you knew those masters..." he finally started when Ichigo finished organizing things, "...would you tell me?"

Sadly, Ichigo smiled at his pink-haired friend, stepping forward to hug him.
"No, Szayel. I can't for a while. But I promise - as soon as this is all over, I'll explain everything clearly. Okay?"
Reluctantly, Szayel nodded, so Ichigo grinned and led him out the door and back into the commons.
"Let's go show Aizen your new robes and after dinner I'll start teaching you how to read."
Szayel lit up at the prospect of the books and he happily followed Ichigo back into the main commons, where Aizen resided on his 'casual throne' as Ichigo like to call it.

"Master! Look! Doesn't he look beautiful?" Ichigo loudly asked, gaining the attention of Nnoitra and Ulquiorra, as well as the minor slaves in the room that weren't fortunate enough to be in the inner circle of fighters or bed warmers.

Truly, Szayel was outstanding. The turquoise brought his golden eyes out, as did the shimmery gold trim around the hem of the robes. His pink hair (now clean) also looked very attractive when paired with the turquoise and gold, and Ichigo grinned at the slightly stunned looked on Aizen's face.

"Yes. I'm very happy with the robes you've chosen. Tomorrow, you will take me to the same tailors to be fitted for my own new robes."

"Yes Sire!"

With joy, Ichigo hung about Szayel, Grimmjow, and Nnoitra for the rest of the night, politely requesting to stay in Szayel's room for the night when Aizen settled into bed and left the covers flipped back.

"Why?" Aizen asked with a scowl.

"Because I'd like to teach him to use medical equipment. If something ever happened to me, you would have to go back to letting your slaves heal incorrectly. That, and I would like to have some help when taking care of them when they really hurt themselves."