Adult-FanFiction.org : Bleach

Cradles in the sand	By : NovaAlexandria Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 9098 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, not make any profit from my stories.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Karin could tell something different was up today. First off, the Shinigami prisoners were fearfully raking the sand, glancing nervously at the cages that ringed the stadium. Second off, even though he tried to hide it, she was positive Grimmjow was nervous. She could tell by the way the tip of his tail kept twitching. She kept her bone weapon extra close.
It was after her morning meal and waste had been removed when the sound of the stadium filling started to reach her ears. She felt a scowl appear on her face as she realized that a round of ‘entertainment’ was about to begin. Based on what little she had learned so far in the three days she’d been here, such entertainment seemed to involve feeding shinigami prisoners to hollows. It was sickening. She couldn’t see much of the crowd from the cell, the angle was wrong, but she could picture it.
The crowds’ din dying down was the only warning she got that the event was about to start. A black and white body hit the ground and a terrified shinigami she didn’t recognize scrambled about in the sand, frantically racing towards the wall on hands and feet. A scorpion type hollow chased him down quickly, the stinger on its back coming down to impale the man through the chest. Blood splattered across the sands in a fountain and the man let out a gargled scream before turning black and going still. The hollow took its time tearing pieces of flesh off with its pincers and eating it. The gruesome display continued until the only thing left were the tattered remains of the man’s uniform, dark sand where blood had landed, and a few of the larger bones that were almost picked clean.
Karin felt sick to her stomach as the hollow gathered the scattered remains of its meal’s clothing and returned to its cell. She couldn’t help but to glance at Grimmjow’s nest and quickly realized where the padding had come from. Grimmjow ignored her glance, watching the spectacle before them with board disinterest. She shifted her gaze to the kosodo she was using for a blanket and couldn’t help but to wonder who it had belonged to before now. Hopefully not someone she knew.
Another prisoner was tossed into the pit, taken down, and consumed by the next hollow released. The sound of flesh tearing and bones crunching caused her to wince, but she couldn’t bring herself to look away. She clutched her bone to her tightly as she watched the bloody spectacle take place before her and came to the realization that those bloody corpses could have easily been her if she hadn’t been both lucky enough to have drawn Grimmjow and have him recognize her.
The crowd above suddenly grew silent after the sixth prisoner had been consumed. Now Grimmjow suddenly showed interest and moved to sit beside her. The position resulted in his head being slightly higher than her own.
“Starrk?” he whispered.
“Yeah. Wonder who pissed of the Black Death this time. Maybe one of the sternritter if we are lucky.”
“Never that lucky,” Grimmjow snorted.
“What’s going on?” she asked, keeping her own voice low too.
The next man to land in the pit was clothed all in white. Karin barely had time to register it was a Quincy and not a shinigami before Starrk shot from his cell. Sharp fangs closed around the man’s throat, who struggled briefly before going into violent convulsions. A moment later the body went still. Starrk tore into his meal with relish and it didn’t take him long to consume everything, even the bones as his sharp fangs snapped and broke them. When he was done, nothing but splintered bone fragments remained.
“When they piss of their leader, sometimes they are thrown down here for us to deal with. Hollow reiatsu is poisonous to the Quincy,” Grimmjow answered her question as Starrk began to lick himself clean of the blood that had splashed on his muzzle, paws and neck. “Truthfully, they taste like shit, but it’s worth it for the power we often get out of them and the satisfaction of getting our fangs on ‘em,” he growled.
Starrk gathered the remains of his meal’s clothing and returned calmly to his cell. Karin noticed that he almost seemed tired and didn’t glance their way once.
“How many shinigami have you eaten?” she asked softly.
“Fuck, I have lost count. Too many to keep track of anyway. I been around a long time,” he answered with a grunt. “It’s not like shinigami and hollows have a history of being friends.” He rose to his paws and returned to his nest. “That will be all the ‘entertainment’ for today. They always save their own dead for last.”
Karin remained silent as she watched the nervous shinigami prisoners, the ones that had apparently been spared being a meal for some reason, begin to clean up the arena. When dinner came, she forced herself to eat; passing the meat over to Grimmjow on auto pilot. It had certainly been a gruesome display. Yet… the more she replayed the horrible events over and over in her mind, one thing became clear; all the shinigami, and even the quincy, had been killed quickly and efficiently. There had been no torture, no drawn-out suffering. If anything had been drawn out, it had been the actual consummation of the corpse. While grotesque, the victim hadn’t actually suffered.
“Do you always kill your prey so quickly?” she asked, pleased that her voice was steady as she asked the question.
“Yes,” Starrk answered. “It is foolish to give your prey a chance to escape or harm you.”
“What happens to the souls of the people you eat?”
“They join our soul collection. When we die, the souls move on to where they are supposed to go, usually Soul Society.”
She found herself relaxing at the statement and moved over to where she usually sat while talking to Starrk.
“Do they suffer being in your soul collection?”
“No. It’s a lot like taking a long sleep, or so the few who remember it say. Occasionally, when the main personality of a hollow becomes weak for some reason, another will rise to take its place. I knew one hollow that had three dominate personalities. When the other two were not in control or ridding double, they said it was a lot like being asleep. Sometimes they would ‘dream’ about things going on, but most of the time it was quiet and peaceful,” Starrk explained.
“Sounds a lot better than being erased from existence,” she couldn’t help but to muse aloud. “Giving the choice, I think I would sooner be eaten.”
“I’ll remember that for later,” Grimmjow drawled.
“What makes you think I would let you eat me? Starrk has been the more informative, talkative, friendly one,” she pointed out. “I got a feeling it would be a lot more peaceful in his head than in yours.”
“Yeah, I give you a week before you would go crazy with boredom. If you are anything like the girl your brother wouldn’t shut up about, then you are far more interested in kicking asses than sleeping all day.”
“I am hardly a ‘girl,’” she rolled her eyes at him, “but you might have me there,” she admitted easily. “And if I was being honest, I would sooner see you eat the entire quincy army while I kicked ‘em down your throats than have to be eaten.”
“A good dream,” Starrk sighed.
“Really should have been you who got those powers your brother wastes,” Grimmjow chuckled.
Karin settled more comfortably into her makeshift bed, mind slightly more at ease than it had been after witnessing the straight up murders that had taken place earlier. She couldn’t help but to wonder if the Shinigami knew what awaited them if they were captured, but she somehow doubted it. Ichigo would never have mentioned camps like these in his letters, but Orihime would have and Nel would have warned her to watch out for them.
She wasn’t a fool either and had noticed the word choices Starrk had used. She had a feeling that being eaten was the better fate. Grimmjow had mentioned some of the others having ‘pets’ and that scream the other night, while one of pain, hadn’t sounded very much like the ‘stub your toe’ kind of pain. Not that she could stop anyone from torturing anyone else being locked up in this cell, nor could she get through the doors of the other cells while in the arena.
The next ten days seemed to pass in the same pattern. She was fed three times a day, provided a bowl for waste twice a day, and every two to four days more prisoners were thrown into the pit to feed the hollows. She quickly noticed a pattern to the way they were being released and she had a feeling that Grimmjow’s turn would be coming up again soon.
Can I watch him kill and eat a ‘human?’ she asked herself. I accepted Starrk doing it, but that was an enemy and I don’t really share a cell with him. What if it’s someone I know? The thought was making her nervous and it was getting harder to sleep at night. She didn’t know many shinigami, but the idea of watching the ones she did know have their throats torn out was not pleasant.
There was a growing commotion in the cells as the sound of the crowd gathering up above reached their ears. The hollows were chitterling excitedly and the few she could barely make out from the light reflecting off their white hides were pacing before their bars in excitement. Grimmjow’s ears were up and his nose was lifted to the air. When he stood up Karin was reminded all too keenly that he was a male.
“What’s going on?” she asked nervously.
“Breeding selection,” Grimmjow answered in a growl.
Now that she thought about it, all the hollows she’d seen and heard had been male. Nel had mentioned that there were fewer females at the higher ranks, mainly because most of the people that became hollows were men since most militaries were, to this day, male heavy. If anyone tended to die in bloody, violent ways, it was often soldiers.
The entertainment started off as she had seen the last four times. A shinigami prisoner was tossed into the pit to be eaten. This time the meals were over quickly as the hollow chosen to eat them made a quick kill and all but choked on their meal while trying to eat in a rush. There was even another Quincy tossed into the pit, this one a civilian judging by the lack of a white uniform; or perhaps he’d been caught doing something off duty and not given a chance to change.
The sound of hysterical female screaming alerted her to the fact that the ‘breeding selection’ was up next. To her horror, the woman being lowered into the pit was not only naked and restrained in ropes like something right out of a bondage movie, but she was clearly not a hollow either. She was left dangling about two feet off the ground, swinging and swaying slightly as she fought against her restraints. Screams turned into frightened sobs and Karin wondered how long she’d been suspended above the pit. Long enough to have seen her companions devoured? Did she have any idea that the Quincy didn’t intend for her to be eaten?
“If this door opens, you stay close by my side or Starrk or his cell if we get separated,” Grimmjow ordered firmly. Unable to find her voice, she nodded her head and held her weapon close.
The bars to their cell didn’t open, but four others did. Two of the hollows raced for the bound woman, who let out a scream of terror when she saw the one in front of her charge at her. The third stalked in at a more leisurely pace while the fourth moved out of his cell and lay down to watch. The two that charged in met in a fury of claws and fangs as they fought, both trying to do more damage to the other. The third, goat-like one slowed down as he approached and walked around the fighting duo to sniff at the sobbing female, who tried to jerk away from him. It just resulted in her swinging in her harness. Apparently not liking the scent, he scoffed and turned to the two that were fighting. He moved so fast Karin almost missed the attack.
With a furious scream, one of the two scrapping hollows fell away, blood gushing from his neck. The two attacking wasted no time in ending his life and beginning to feast in a leisurely manner. Oddly enough, the sight of hollows fighting and killing each other didn’t bother her overly much.
Probably because they look so much like animals. It’s not like watching a tiger eat a monkey has ever bothered me or watching alligators take down wildebeest. What is the fourth one doing though? He is still just laying there in front of his cell looking board.
For a brief moment, she dared to hope the two hollows eating the third had forgotten about the suspended woman, but the one that had initially charged in finally rose to his feet and turned to face her. The bound female sobbed as the hollow stalked around her, looking very much like the mongoose he resembled, all be it even larger than Grimmjow.
Come to think of it, he and Starrk are considerably smaller than the others. It’s like some sort of reverse evolution. The more powerful they are, the smaller they get.
Karin had to look away when Mongoose finally stepped over his victim and settled in above her. His partner stood guard over his mating friend, keeping an eye on the third hollow that still showed little to no interest in what was going on. The screams of the woman being raped by what was basically an animal gouged their way into Karin’s brain and she felt tears threaten the corners of her eyes. Locked in this cell, there was nothing she could do to help the poor woman. Even if she had been free she doubted she could take on one, let alone both, of the hollows before her.
Judging by the way Grimmjow had returned to his nest as soon as it had been determined which one was going to take the woman, she doubted he would offer any assistance.
That could have been me, she realized in horror.
Raking sobs died down to whimpering and she found herself looking out into the pit again. Mongoose was done and he used his fangs to snap the rope suspending her. He carried his victim off to his cell by the ropes still binding her, escorted by his companion the goat. The third one simply returned to his cell now that the event was over. When the usual Shinigami prisoners were released to clean up the mess, she noticed they looked more subdued than fearful.
Do they know her? Where they friend’s? she couldn’t help but to wonder. “I don’t understand,” she whispered.
“Shinigami and Hollows do not go into heat very often, and even when they do the chances of conceiving are low. But for some reason, perhaps something to do with the attraction of positive and negative energy, when a hollow mates with a shinigami that is in heat, there is over a ninety percent success rate,” Starrk answered solemnly.
“Is that why there are no female hollows here? Are Shinigami men forced to mate with them when they go into heat?” she asked.
“Do we look like women?” Grimmjow grunted.
Starrk sighed at Grimmjow’s response. “We don’t know. We have only ever seen this part of the facility. The only way to get out of here is to be killed, or be changed into, or back into, an Arrancar by Yhwach.”
“And the only time he does that is if you give him offspring to use as weapons,” Grimmjow grunted.
Karin felt her mouth go dry. She swallowed a few times to wet it before daring to speak again. “You mean the only way to get out of here is to rape someone?”
“Pretty much,” Grimmjow grunted. “And not all of us like the thought of tainting our genes with a shinigami bitch.”
“Have you been offered the chance to rape someone?” she asked more bitterly than she intended.
“Five times for me so far,” he grunted. “I ain’t a quincy dog,” he growled.
“Fourteen for me,” Starrk offered. “I am not into rape,” he added barely loud enough for Karin to hear.
The sound of the gate opening behind her caused her to whip her head about to see the young boy that usually delivered her food and took away her waste delivering the three evening bowls. Tears marred his face and he was barely paying her any attention.
“Hey,” she offered tentatively.
The boy jumped and splashed some of the water. Frightened and sad blue eyes stared at her. “Umm… hi,” he returned tentatively.
“You doing all right?” she asked him.
He nodded his head but she doubted he was being truthful. A moment later he shook his head and tears flowed freely down his face. “Mimi-san didn’t deserve something like that,” he whispered sadly.
So, she was right, the boy had known the victim. Before she could offer any form of comfort, a whip cracked; causing them both to jump.
“Get back to work rat, unless you want to be the next one in the pit,” a guard snarled, the same one that had tossed her into the pit she noted sourly.
The young boy scrambled to obey, wiping his tears away quickly. Karin scowled at the guard, who just grinned at her as he stalked by doing his rounds. “Fucker,” she muttered in his wake.
The middle door didn’t open so she had to use her bone to pull the three bowls towards her. She stared at her food before just sighing and handing the whole thing off to Grimmjow. One missed meal wasn’t going to hurt her. He’d been surprisingly silent during her exchange with the unknown shinigami. Given what she knew of him, she half expected some sort of tell off or snide comment for showing compassion to another.
When the lights went out she crawled into her little nest, but found herself unable to sleep. It may have just been her imagination, but she could swear she could hear soft, broken sobs drifting across the pit. Suddenly, a lot of the other sounds she heard during the night, and the phrase ‘playing with their pets,’ took on an all new meaning.

Karin didn’t sleep well for a few nights after that horror show. It hardly bothered him any, but he did keep an eye out to make sure she ate. Starrk was the one that talked to her about it, the sentimental old coot. He wasn’t into rape but he was hardly disturbed by it. It happened a lot in Hueco Mundo and a good amount of it wasn’t even traditional sex partners. When the only things to do was, as they’d discussed at the beginning; hunt, sleep and fuck, one didn’t get too choosy over partners. Fortunately, Karin didn’t turn into a blubbering mess over the matter, but she was definitely subdued. Today was another show day and it would finally be his turn to feed; unless they planned on skipping him for not killing Karin as some sort of punishment.
His eyes snapped open and his head up when the scent of blood reached his nose. Karin had her back to him but there was no mistaking the direction where the scent was coming from. He rose to his paws and moved over in three, quick steps. Her breathing was deep indicating she was still asleep. Her slumber allied some of his concern. For a moment, he thought that she might have tried to end her life using the sharpened end of her bone, but the bone was right there beside her and blood free. Now that he was closer he could tell that the blood seemed to be coming from around her waist. A heavy sniff led him between her legs.
“Fucking hell!” Karin leaped awake and swung her bone at him. The mace like end connected solidly with the side of his head and he saw stars for a moment as he backed away, pawing at the wound and trying to make the stars dancing in his eyes stop. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” she demanded sharply, brandishing her weapon at him as she rose to her feet.
“I can smell your blood,” he growled while continuing to rub at the spot she had nailed. That was a damn good hit, he admitted to himself.
“Blood?” she demanded. “Do I look like… oh, shit,” she cursed.
“Are you wounded internally?” he demanded.
“No. If you are smelling blood from below it probably means my menstrual cycle must be coming on, and me without any tampons,” she groaned.
“Ahhhh. Her womb is cleansing itself of the unfertilized eggs,” Starrk helpfully supplied.
That made sense. It happened far less frequently for hollow females, but it did happen if they didn’t find a mate during their heat cycle or failed to conceive.
Karin turned her back to him and probed between her legs. “Doesn’t look like I am bleeding yet. I will have to ask someone if I can get pads or something. If not, is there a better corner to be miserable in for a week and burry the blood?” she asked with a sigh. “Seriously, how did woman of the old ages deal with this crap.”
“Uh… the pit side,” he offered.
“That will do. Until then, maybe I can use some of the material from my pants as makeshift pads. It will make me a bit colder, but at least I won’t be soaked and coated in menstrual blood. Can I borrow your claws?” she requested while taking her pants off to reveal black panties. Not that he noticed what colour they were or anything and he definitely wasn’t looking. She didn’t seem the least bit self-conscious about being half naked around him.
He laid down and extended the claws on this left paw. Karin kneeled before him and together they managed to cut the bottom of her pants off from the knees down. Those they sliced into five-inch rectangles, one of which she folded and stuffed into her underwear while muttering something about black being a good colour to hide stains before pulling her modified pants back on.
Fortunately, when breakfast was delivered and Karin made her request for pads, the boy seemed to understand the situation and promised he would see if something could be found. Karin ate most of her meal this time, giving the meat to him despite the fact it was chicken this time. When the noise from above indicated show time was about to start, she let out a sigh and joined him by the entrance into the pit.
“You haven’t been fed in a while and if I am reading the rotation right, there is a good chance your turn will be today, right?” she asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “I cannot afford to miss another meal, unless you want me to eat you instead.”
“Almost tempting, but my death would hardly spare another or do any good. Just promise me you will make it quick.”
“Stay close to Starrk’s cell,” he ordered, not bothering to promise something he couldn’t guarantee.
The first prey was dropped into the pit and the cell to his right was opened. The poor woman barely had time to register where the threat was coming from before she was killed. Karin watched silently by his side. When the next prisoner was tossed down, a rather old male by the looks of it, his own bars rose. Karin stepped out with him and moved over to stand by Starrk’s cell. The man looked at her hopefully and this time she did look away.
The old seemed to almost always be more calm than the young and the man turned to face him as he stalked up to his prey. Grimmjow briefly wondered where the Quincy had picked this one up for he looked like he should have been in retirement, not on a battlefield.
“Hollows do what hollows do,” the old man mused as Grimmjow stopped before him. “What will it be like being a part of you a wonder?”
“Starrk says it’s like taking a long sleep,” he shrugged, thankful for the lack of screaming and whimpering. It wouldn’t have bothered him any but he did have to share a cell with Karin and having her upset with him would make the space even more unpleasant.
“A long sleep eh? I can do with one of those. I would appreciate it if you could at last make it quick.”
Grimmjow moved forward and settled his large paw on the man’s shoulder. With a hard swipe of the other, the man’s head snapped to the side and he fell lifeless to the ground. He settled into his meal, unable to resist the urge to glance at Karin out of the corner of his eye. She was watching him eat with a determined expression on her face. There was nothing she could have done to save this man. If not him another would have eaten the prisoner. He felt the man’s soul and meagre power settle easily into his own, drifting down with the rest that slumbered while he reigned over this collection. He could hardly remember a meal that had settled so well but the man had seemed at peace with dying.
He gathered the clothing in his teeth and moved back to his cell. He set the new material into his nest while Karin watched the rest of the feedings, a blank expression on her face. When it was done, her evening meal was delivered, as were a handful of what looked like swabs of cotton.
“Just put them in the waste bowl when they are used.”
“I will, thanks.”
The lad scurried off to his next task before he could be yelled at again. It was no wonder the boy had survived for so long; he knew how to keep his head down and become ignored by those far stronger than him. It was a wise tactic and one that let him get into places and learn things most others wouldn’t. Wonder what kind of knowledge he’s managed to gather in the time we have been here, Grimmjow mused to himself.
Karin ate her dinner, offering him the meat and a quarter of the water. She drank half and used the other half to give herself something resembling a sponge bath with the scraps they had made from her pants. She hung the cloth on the bars to dry and returned the bowls to the safety cage to be collect on the next round.
“What’s it like, having hundreds of souls inside you head?” she asked after the lights had gone out and they were in bed.
“Depends on the souls and the hollow. The more emotional connection the soul has with you, the longer it takes to tame it. Stronger souls can give you a good fight and even take over if you are not careful, putting you into slumber,” he answered after giving it a moment to gather his thoughts.
“Were you always the dominate soul?”
“Fuck yeah,” he grinned at her despite the fact she couldn’t see it. “If you are worried about the old man, don’t be. One of the more peaceful additions to my collection I must say. Floated right on down to slumber.”
His sharp hearing picked up her soft sigh of relief. He had almost fallen into slumber when she spoke again. “If I ever asked you to eat me and spare another, would you do it?” she asked softly.
“Maybe, if only to see your brother’s face when I tell him,” he chuckled. “Better make the request worth it though, because if the person you want to save is annoying as hell, I will eat them in the end anyway. Evil hollow, remember?”
“From what I have learned here, hollows are no more evil than a feral dog,” she rebuked. “Most are rabid and beyond saving, but not at fault for being what they are, while a few can be salvaged.”
“An interesting denotation,” Starrk mused from his cell. “And one I find oddly fitting,” he chuckled.
“Speak of yourself, mangy mutt. I don’t know any cat that has ever been fully tamed,” he snorted, affronted at the mere thought of it.
“Well, there are more records of big cats attacking their handlers than wolves,” Karin admitted. “Quite a few countries with wolves don’t even have records of wolf attacks by healthy animals. The few records there are contain individuals that were half dog, had rabies or some other disease, were badly injured, or were frequently fed and socialized with humans.”
“I am a coyote, not a wolf,” Starrk corrected her.
“Might be where the whole ‘wolf attack’ came from, or at least, most of them. Coyotes do have a reputation of attacking people if I recall right,” she mused.
“Perhaps,” Starrk agreed. “If there was another way to avoid regressing, we would not be eating the food being tossed into the arena.”
“I know,” she sighed. “I don’t like it, but at least their souls are merely sleeping within your own and are not being completely obliterated from existence. Even the others make the kills quick from what I have seen so far.”
Well at least she isn’t trying to preach about there being a better way. Her brother could take a page or ten out of her book. I had to listen to him whine for a week at the start about me hunting others. Had to explain it to him over a dozen times before I got it through his thick skull. Granted, it probably helps that she hasn’t recognised any of them yet, nor is she one of them.

She was extremely thankful the boy who delivered her meals had been able to find the cotton swabs. They were not as good as tampon or pads, but they worked and the scraps they had torn from her pants combined with the water delivered three times a day helped keep her relatively clean.
Now all I need is a toothbrush, some toothpaste, and a hair bush, she mused. I wonder if I can even salvage my hair at this point. It’s basically one giant, sand caked, bird’s nest. My breath must be not so pleasant and my teeth feel so greasy.
Grimmjow let out a yawn and stretch beside her as he rose, revealing fangs larger than most knives she’s ever seen and claws that were just as wicked looking. A commotion in the pit drew her attention and she watched as several of the shinigami prisoners with rakes, wheelbarrows of sand and empty buckets moved towards the cells. The middle bars actually rose instead of the small door clicking open.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Cleaning day. They do it once a month,” Grimmjow answered as he picked up his bedding one garment at a time, gave it a good shake to flick out as much sand as he could and moved it to the middle section.
“Want some help?” she asked, rising to her feet.
“Sure.”
She helped him shake the sand out of the uniforms and move them. Most of the clothes were from shinigami shihakusho, but there was a good mix of quincy uniforms too, much to her satisfaction.
“Can you please move to the inner cage,” a shy voice requested as she was setting down her own piece of bedding. Karin turned to see the lad who fed her standing before their bars clutching a rake and looking at them shyly.
“Of course,” Karin agreed easily as she followed Grimmjow into the middle cage. She did notice that another prisoner in the inner ring hit a switch and the middle bars fell while the boy reached up and to the side on the arena end and the doors opened.
Now ain’t that interesting, she mused. I wonder if it’s a physical switch or something electrical. Are the switches locked out when they are not cleaning the cell? I can’t see any reason why they would be. It’s not like the shinigami are going to let the hollows out to eat them nor can I see any of the hollows releasing the others. What good would it do anyway?
There was not a lot of space in the middle section, but it was more than enough for the two of them to sit comfortably. Given what she’d seen of the other hollows, she wondered how they could comfortably fit between the bars. The boy started at the back, watching Grimmjow carefully, but not fearfully, as he raked out the majority of the sand. She couldn’t help but to wonder how many had ended up as hollow food when they hadn’t been paying attention to the beast on the other side of the bars. With most of the sand removed, she could see now the middle section was raised slightly and only a very thin layer of sand was over the sandstone floor.
“How long have you been here?” she asked.
“Um… a few years I think,” he answered.
“Wow, that long?”
He nodded his head.
“My name is Karin, what’s yours?” she asked.
“Hana…” the rest of his response was cut off by the crack of a whip and the boy jumped in fear and pain.
“No talking slave, unless you want to be the next one into the pit,” the same guard that had thrown her into the pit threatened Hana with a snarl.
“Fuck off asshole,” she snapped at him.
The man froze and turned to face her. Hana inched carefully away from the growing confrontation, the smart lad. One of his hands rubbed the spot on his shoulder the whip had struck.
“You got something to say bitch?” he demanded, striding up to stand at the entrance of the cage.
“More than something,” she shot back. “Pathetic assholes like you make me sick, throwing your weight around against people who can’t defend themselves. Probably why you ended up on guard duty here, isn’t it? You are too weak and a big ass cowered to be trusted where the real men go. Hell, if they put you into a squad, the rest of your team mates would probably be killed within a day from your own fuckups.”
“Shut it hollow whore!” he snapped, cracking his whip towards the bars. Karin didn’t even flinch as the leather hit the mettle.
“Bet you would recognize a whore a mile away. Ever not have to pay for it, or are you another one of those wretches that have to take it in order to get any because not even a whore would touch you?”
His face was turning a marvellous shade of red and she caught Grimmjow’s claws digging slightly into the sand, most likely out of trying to conceal his own laughter at her taunts. Other than that, he was being marvellously still save for the twitching of the end of his tail, which was hidden from the quincy idiot with his bulk.
“Someone needs to teach you a lesson in respect bitch,” the guard snarled, stepping into the cage and marching up to her. She leaned casually against the wall right in front of the bars.
“Well it certainly shouldn’t be you. I doubt you have an iota of intelligence in that empty skull of yours, let alone anything that could be taught. You are one of those men that have naked pictures of slaves hung up on the ceiling of his bunk since it’s the closest you will ever get to being laid, aren’t you?”
“Bitch!” he snarled.
Karin smirked as he threw a punch at her through the bars. She dodged the strike and grabbed his arm, holding him in place. Fury turned to abject terror as he realized his mistake far too late. Grimmjow, who’d been completely stationary and forgotten, moved quickly to clamp his fangs on the arm she was holding. The man screamed before it turned into a gurgling mess as Grimmjow’s claws found his throat through the bars. A savage yank of his head had the dead man’s arm detached from the body, sending blood spraying everywhere. He settled down to enjoy his snack, taking his time stripping the flesh away after removing the tattered remains of the sleeve.
“Like I said, dumb ass idiot,” Karin snorted, casually wiping a few drops of blood from her face. Alright, that was gross. I can’t wait to wipe this shit off, but first I got a display to put on.
Hana stood there watching with his hands clutching his rake. Oddly enough, he didn’t seem too disturbed by the violence for someone who was so shy. Yells and all sorts of other commotion occurred and before long three other guards were standing at the entrance to their cell. Grimmjow snagged his prey with his claws and pulled the corpse flush to the bars. He growled threateningly at the intruders, just daring them to try and take the body from him.
“What happened here?” the guard with a golden cord around his left shoulder commanded in a rather firm voice that proved he, at least, had earned his rank. The other two couldn’t keep their eyes off their dead comrade.
“Idiot got too close to the bars mouthing off,” Karin answered with a shrug.
“This true?” he demanded of Hana.
“Yes sir,” the boy answered dutifully.
“Told that idiot his attitude was going to get him killed one of these days,” left flanking guard muttered.
Gold cord frowned, but didn’t reprimand lefty for speaking, nor did he deny the fact.
“Shall we retrieve his body?” the other guard asked.
Grimmjow let out a feral growl around the flesh in his mouth and the two flunkies took a step back, hands reaching for the blades on their hips. Gold cord didn’t even adjust his gaze or flinch at the threat.
“I don’t know near as much about hollows as I do about wild cats, but I am pretty certain trying to remove their food is a good way to lose an arm or leg yourself. I am not going to be stupid enough to try, but be my guest.” She gestured to the corpse crumpled against the bar hooked in Grimmjow‘s claws.
The two flanking guards paled at the thought and glanced nervously at gold cord. He frowned before turning smartly about. “Finish your chores, filth,” he commanded Hana. “It shall be interesting to see how you think of these beasts after tomorrow,” gold cord commented to her before marching away with the other two flanking him, “when they are done with someone you actually know.”
That comment caused her to frown. She refrained from calling out to demand what he meant by that, but just barely. No doubt trying to bait me. The list of Shinigami I know is pretty limited and consist mostly of the higher ranks. Somehow, I doubt Toshiro or Renji or even Rukia would end up being tossed down here. Granted, most of that has to do with the fact they would suffer a worse fate than being hollow food since they would have actual intelligence these bastards might be able to use. Think I would prefer the pit.
“Would you like us to open the middle bars, Grimmjow-san, so you can finish your meal?” Hana asked shyly and politely, breaking her out of her musing.
“Go for it,” Grimmjow smirked, removing himself from the bars so they could be raised.
“Got to say, that was worth watching,” the shinigami in the inner ring commented. “Good to see these bastards get a taste of their own medicine.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say Harunobo-san,” Hana admonished. “Unohana-taichou would be unhappy to hear you say such things.”
Hana closed the opened end of the cage while Harunobo opening the middle set. Grimmjow pulled the rest of the corpse into the middle section before the two secured the cell once more and continued about their chores.
“Any word on the outside world?” Grimmjow asked after swallowing his latest mouthful.
“I am afraid not, Grimmjow-san. They keep us in the dark pretty well and talking is very discouraged, so it‘s hard to get news from any newcomers.”
“Should be easier now with that bastard dead. Most of the others don’t care, but you had him pegged down pretty good, Karin-san,” Harunobo complimented. “Jerk liked throwing his weight around all right.”
“You know each other?” Karin asked curiously.
“Brat was stationed at Las Noches,” Grimmjow grunted. “Braver than he looks, or stupider.”
Karin stared at the flushing boy in surprise.
“I was just doing what I could to help,” Hana murmured. “I was taken during a raid,” he added. “They deemed me too weak and pathetic to throw into the pit, so I have been cleaning stalls and helping with…” he trailed off, looking sadly at his rake.
“Brat’s part of the healing unit, so they make him deliver the pups and cubs the bastards are breeding,” Grimmjow supplied.
Karin felt her heart go to the boy. What must it be like assisting people he knew give birth to the hollow young they had been raped into having? She couldn’t imagine it.
“It’s not very pleasant,” Harunobo added. “More so because of the reason behind the pregnancies. Most of the births actually go pretty smoothly. Still, it’s a death sentence to any woman who has them.”
Harunobo continued down the corridor to no doubt operate the bars of the next cell while Hana finished raking out the sand before using a broom to get the rest of it. He passed her a smaller broom and she swept up the red and white grains from the middle section out to the main section so it could be removed. Rubbing sand on the blood splatters on her skin also helped to clear most of it pretty well. Guards came and inspected the cell, no doubt looking for escape attempts or tampering that could threaten the integrity of it. They completely ignored the body Grimmjow was snacking on. When the cell was deemed secured, Hana refilled it with clean sand before securing the outer gate and moving on to another cell.
“Was he even worth the meal?” Karin asked as she moved the pile of clothes back into the main room so Grimmjow could clean the blood from himself and finish the last bits of his meal.
“Weak ass fucker was hardly worth the foul taste,” he grunted. “Still, worth it,” he smirked at her. “How many more do you think you can bait into my fangs?”
“Probably not very many, if any,” she sighed. “He seemed like a real dick, easy to rile up. The others are probably too professional to be tricked like that and they will be on their guard for a while.”
“He was probably one affront short of being fed to us anyhow, which is why they didn’t bother to push the issue,” Starrk offered from his own cell. “Still, that was clever of you,” he complimented.
“Wasn’t all me. I was just the bait that fool fell for.”
When the evening meal came, Karin dared to offer Grimmjow a sponge bath, mainly because she could still see some blood in a few spots, like behind his ears. He seemed more amused at the offer than affronted and she used half of the evening water and several of the rags to give him a rub down. The little bowl was rather muddy by the time she was done.
She slept rather well that evening. While she knew she shouldn’t take satisfaction in anyone being killed, let alone in such a manner, she couldn’t bring herself to care in this case. She hated bullies and he’d been an obvious one. Besides, it was easier to dwell on a jerk getting his due than it was to dwell over the fact tomorrow was another feeding day and gold cord had taunted that one of the victims would be someone she knew. Starrk hadn’t been fed the last round so there was a good chance he would end up feeding on this one.

Dear lord, where did the time go. I randomly got a job; never tell someone you are thinking about going back to work, three days later you end up working. I have been working very hard on my original story. The manuscript is going over a split and minor rework to make it not so darn long, which has a few bonuses. I will have two stories done instead of one and severely reduce the cost of an editor.

Thanks everyone who took a moment to leave a review.
- 2
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Cradles in the sand