Gladiator

Chapter 6

Ichigo woke early two weeks later with a grimace on his face. He hurt all over, and there was something very familiar making his thighs uncomfortably sticky.

With a low growl of disgruntlement, Ichigo stood from his Master's bed and forewent his clothing in favor of limping from the chamber. He passed the morning slaves that were assigned the duty of waking the higher-ups with his head held high; never mind that he was unevenly bruised, lumbering, and didn't have a lick of clothing on.

Eventually, he made it to the outside bathing area and gratefully slid into the first pool of baths. It had rushing water designed to wear away the dirt and grime.
After sitting for a while and warming up, he finally grabbed the bar of soap next to him and stood to scrub himself clean of the mess between his legs.

"Yer up early, Foxy." a rough voice called to him from the baths' entrance.

Ichigo straightened up from where he'd bent to wash his legs and turned to Nnoitra.
"I could say the same to you. Aizen left a mess last night, what's your excuse?"

"Trainin'." Grimmjow answered from behind the tallest slave, pushing his way past Nnoitra to join Ichigo in the bath. He sighed in contentment as he sank in, sweat and dirt swept away in the currents.
"'Couldn' sleep so I dragged Nnoi outta bed too."

The red-head nodded, tuning them out in favor of settling back in the water to clean his insides once he'd finished with his skin. They were slaves, they dealt with much dirtier things than cum, so Ichigo felt no embarrassment at digging two fingers into himself with indifference on his face.

He knew his two early morning companions were watching him intently as he sat on his knees in the water, his side facing them to effectively hide both his front and back, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. At this point, he had nothing to hide.

Ichigo once again stood when he felt as clean as he could get with his given materials. Quietly, the newest slave climbed from the bath to instead sink into the soaking tub nearby.

The bath had warmed his muscles and helped ease the ache in his body, but the soaking tub almost immediately melted his pains away. He sighed and sank a bit lower, and soon found sleep creeping up on him. Ichigo allowed the much needed slumber to overtake him after he'd made sure his arm was safely anchored on the rock.

~

Grimmjow perked up when the orange head of hair he was watching across from him and Nnoitra disappeared into the water.
When Ichigo didn't come back up for a bit, Grimmjow realized he may have passed out. Szayel had done so once or twice after he'd been forced to tend to another's needs.
The blue-haired man pulled himself up from the bath and strode to the soaking tub. Sure enough, Ichigo lay slumped at the bottom, passed smooth out.

Grimmjow reached in, grabbed him under the arms, and promptly dragged him out, careful not to scrape his back on the rocks. Ichigo didn't move, so Grimmjow didn't hesitate to push down on his chest - hard. He could hear Nnoitra slinking out of the bath behind him.

Ichigo jerked up and coughed, one hand clutching his chest and the other scrambling for support. It found purchase on Grimmjow's shoulder and gripped tight, nails digging into the muscle enough to probably draw blood, but the taller slave let it be. He understood. Szayel had done this too.

Szayel would sit for a minute, face blank as he calmed his breathing, and then he would quietly thank Grimmjow without looking at him and unsteadily walk away.
However, Ichigo surprised him. He tugged Grimmjow down to his level and simultaneously hugged him weakly and attempted to pull himself up. Grimmjow slung one arm around the red-head's back in preparation to help him up.
"Thank you." Ichigo mumbled tiredly.