TRIGGER WARNING!
This work contains dark themes such as non-con, violence, death, swearing, kidnapping, forced marriage, mentioned eating disorders and explicit sexual content so be warned now.
This is also cross posted on my Tumblr account as well as A03 under the same name and username!
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You watched red hair blow in the breeze as you were led deeper and deeper into the forest that surrounded your home. Renji had come to collect you quickly after the attack began on your home, the bulk of our knights and soldiers had been sent to deal with border skirmishes days ago, your father among them. He had promised he would not be gone long and not to worry that it was all being taken care of. What he didn't know was that there were already more enemies surrounding your home, waiting until the bulk had been deployed before they began their attack.
You had been shoved into your bedchambers before you could comprehend what was happening, the sound of steel against steel rang out along with the screams of battle. The battle couldn't have been raging for more than twenty minutes before Renji had busted into your room, blood running down the right side of his face as he panted and told you it was time to leave. Now. He would not hear any arguments you'd offered about wait for help or being able to win. After a moment he signed and grabbed your hand, leading you through the empty halls and into the gardens at the rear of the manor. You asked why the two of you were not headed for the stables, to which he told you that more than likely they were already there waiting for people with the same thought.
Once you were at the edge of the gardens you heard the ear piercing screams of women coming from the house. You whipped around on instinct, both Renji and yourself pausing, both of you heard your breath. You couldn't see anything from where you stood but you could certainly hear it. Screams and pleas echoed as the sounds of boots spread out throughout the manor. As the sounds of boots against flooring got closer Renji grabbed your hand again and began to run. You followed behind him blindly as you stumbled through the forest, no telling how long you'd been running but it felt like an eternity before he let the two of you slow into a fast paced walk. Your hair was damp with sweat and your chest heaved. Once you had finally caught your breath you asked, "Where are we going?"
Renji didn't bother to look back at you, simply answering "Away from that." Sounding harsher than you'd ever heard him before. He had trained under your father, rare considering he didn't come from any noble family, instead he'd come from an impoverished village a dozen or so hours to the south. He had always been very loyal to your father, more than likely he felt indebted to him. Your father had hand picked him from the line up of new soldiers to come train under him. He'd been knighted less than six months ago taking the place of one of the knights who had gone missing during a mission. You had a few nights laying in bed and thinking of what had happened to the three knights who had disappeared, they were all skilled and from what you understood the mission itself hadn't been a particularly difficult one to complete. You wondered what was happening now was related, if perhaps whoever was attack your home where the same people that killed those knights.
It was a strange thing to be thinking about right now, perhaps it was easier than thinking about what was going on back at your home to people that you knew well, to your friends, to the people who you cared for. Instead your mind was running circles around three men who you hardly knew. You didn't know much about Gin, he was a silver haired man with an untrustworthy looking smile, he'd never given a reason for this though, just a strange feeling, like it was almost too kind, in an off putting way. The second was a man named Tosen, you knew a bit more about him but only because he was some kind of miracle. He was born blind but had somehow become a skilled swordsman. He was the focus of a lot of rumors when he'd first been knighted, from ones saying that he wasn't truly blind because they couldn't believe he could be that skilled, to rumors about him wanting vengeance for his dead wife. You personally had never really cared for the gossip but it didn't stop it from circulating. Finally the last man had been named Aizen, him you'd known a bit better, he was a kind man with a warm smile to match it. He'd often come to talk with your father about matters around the kingdom, when he did he always made a point to greet you and have a conversation with you. The two of you were not friends by any means of the words but you were a bit more friendly than acquaintances.
In fact, you'd been quite sad when he didn't return. Your father tried to soothe you, telling you that perhaps he wasn't dead but instead caught up with something or being held somewhere. While he had only been trying too help, it had made you feel much worse. You knew he was a smart and strong man, Aizen had made it to being a knight afterall, but the idea of him being held and possibly tortured wasn't something that'd made you feel better.
Renji slowed as the two of you came to a small river, as you came to the edge of the bank he fully stopped, clearly contemplating how to cross. While the previous week had been the warmest in a while spring had still not yet fully begun, meaning that the water would be ice cold. "We'll head downstream and try to find a bridge or someplace thin enough to cross. It'll be better for us to put the river between us and them." Renji explained. You nodded in response and continued to follow his lead. Together you two walk downstream for a few hours before coming across a towhead in the water. At the widest part it looked around twenty feet at each side away from the bank, luckily the water didn't seem too deep, it came to your mid calf at most. You slowed as Renji kept walking downstream.
"Shouldn't we cross here?" You asked, "With the sun setting I don't think we'll find another place to do this safely." You continued to express.
He turned around to face you with knit brows, "It'll be cold." He simply said while looking at you. "And you're not dressed for the cold, especially if I drag you through water." You looked down at your dress, it was long sleeved and a beautiful shade of deep forest green but he was right, it wasn't made for the cold and you hadn't had the time to get anything on your way out much less warmer clothes. You thought for a moment, not wanting to stay on this side of the river, surely whoever had invaded your home had begun searching the surrounding areas and you were sure you didn't want to be captured by them.
"I'll be fine," you argued, Renji said your name in a warning but you interrupted him. "Once we cross we can get deeper into the forest and set up camp before dark, we can light a small fire and I'll be fine I promise." He considered what you'd said for a long moment before sighing and begrudgingly agreeing. He made his way down the steep river bank first before offering his hand to you to help you down.
You took his hand and made your own way down, the second your feet fell into the water you gasped, the water being much colder than you expected. Your hand tightened in his and he gave a small chuckle, "I told you." He said as he began pulling you to the towhead, once you'd made it to the small bit of land you could feel your shoes squishing in the cold mud and the cloth of both your shoes and dress holding the cold to you. You made you way back into the water on the other side of the towhead, the bank was higher than the other side so Renji had to lift you while you used a tree rot to pull yourself the rest of the way up.
The two of you kept on your trek, every so often Renji would look back at you with a worried look on his face, every time he did so you will yourself to stop shivering and to give him a reassuring smile even though you don't think your legs had ever been so cold. The sun was barely above the horizon when Renji stopped the two of you and made a fire, you sat with your legs close to it as the heat dried your clothing and shoes and helped to calm your shivers, though not completely stopping them. You looked over to Renji and he looked completely exhausted, he had heavy bags under his eyes and the hand he had resting on his sword hung completely limp. He clearly needed sleep especially if he was supposed to be navigating the two of you to safety. "Why don't you get some sleep? I can stay awake and alert you if I hear anything strange." You offered.
He looked up at you and shook his head, "Not a chance, you sleep I'll stay awake." He said in that same stern tone you'd heard all day.
"No," you countered. "How are you supposed to get us out of here if your exhausted and sleep deprived?" You answered back just as sterenly.
He took in a sigh and started to answer back to you before being interrupted, "I don't think he'll be taking either one of you much further." A voice said from behind you. The hairs on the back of your neck rose and you were on your feet in a split second. Renji had reacted much quicker and had drawn his sword and pulled you behind himself. "Now, now, put it down." The man said, stepping forward. He was tall, freakishly so, and thin with long black hair that fell to his shoulder, an eye patch hung over one of his eyes and he wore a simple black leather tunic with pants that matched, "I'd hate to get in a fight and end up hitting your pretty little lady there." He said with a smug grin. Renji kept his sword up and didn't say a word, you took a step back, eyes darting between the two of them. You were at a complete loss for what to do, never have been in a situation like this. "Fine, have it your way!" He yelled before taking a step towards Renji and raising his own sword. The smirk he held turned into a wolvish smile.
"Nnoitra wait!" A second voice rang out stopping the man in his tracks. A second man with blue hair like you'd never seen before stepped into the light cast by your fire. On his face sat a mask that looked like it was made of bone with sharp teeth, he wore an identical outfit with his partner. His eyes fell on you and looked you up and down slowly, in a predatory way. Eventually his eyes met yours and held them as you took yet another step back. He cocked his head and asked "What's your name?" While still holding your gaze.
You didn't answer, "Her name is none of your concern." Renji answered through grit teeth. The man's eyes flicked to Renji for just a second before looking back at you. "Regardless, I think she's the one he wants, she matches the description perfectly. I don't think we'd be rewarded well if she was hurt in this little squabble." He explained. The other man, Nnoitra, lowered his own weapon.
"Okay well then how do you recommend we take them in then, if you're so smart?" He questioned angrily, his smile falling completely and being replaced with an agitated glare.
The blue haired man signed, "You get him and I'll get the girl, remember they want as many of them as possible back alive." He sneered back before moving towards you.
"Run!" Renji shouted to you before moving to strike the blue haired man moving towards you, only to be stopped by Nnoitra's blade. You turned on your heels and made your way towards the forest. You could feel your adrenaline pumping through your veins and you ran as you heard the sound of steel on steel. You ran blindly in the dark woods, getting caught on tree limbs and roots but desperately trying to get away. You couldn't hear anything behind you but you didn't chance a look back to make sure. Through the mood light you cloud see a clearing coming up ahead of you. You had no idea where you were but you did remember something about there being some outposts around the forest edge. You ran as fast as your legs could carry you towards the clearing praying that maybe there would be soldiers or even just people from your own kingdom there. Someone to help you. Someone to help Renji.
Just as you were at the tree line something wrapped itself around you waist, and pulled you back, knocking the air from your lungs as your back collided with something hard. You realized it must have been the blue haired man and started struggling to get out of his grasp. His other hand grabbed you by the neck, not choking you but with enough force for it to be a treat. "Stop fighting, while this little game of cat and mouse has been fun, if we don't get back to your little friend I can't guarantee that Nnoitra won't kill him." You stopped struggling, your chest heaving, trying to think of some way out of this. Before your mind could come up with anything he spun you around before lifting you over his shoulder, hands holding just above your knees, forcing you to bend over his shoulder.
You yelped as he lifted you up. "I can walk!" You shouted and resumed your struggle in an attempt to force him to put you down. No matter how you shook or kicked at him or threw your fists into his back he would not let you go.
"I'm sure you can but this is faster," he said as he started walking you back towards your makeshift camp. "Plus this way makes sure you can't run off again." You kept struggling and hurled curses at the man carrying you, he gave a light chuckle at your efforts before he spoke again, "Y'know you shouldn't struggle this much, some men like the fight and that'd leave you in a pretty hard spot if ya catch my drift." He said putting emphasis on the word hard. Your eyes widened and you completely stopped moving. He gave a barking laugh. "There we go, that's more like it." He said.
He continued walking and you began seeing the faint orange glow on the backs of trees as you got closer and closer to your camp. Your mind began reeling as you realized that you couldn't hear the sound of sword fighting anymore. Had that man killed Renji? Were you alone out here with these two strange men? You felt like you were gonna be sick as you heard a grunt, followed by another one. Then you heard what sounded like flesh hitting flesh. The blue haired man finally put you down and spun you around keeping a firm hand on your shoulder to keep you from moving. In front of you Nnoitra had Renji pinned to the ground, swords flung to the side and both of them bloody as he continuously punched him. You gasped loudly, eyes clouding up, the sound pulled Nnoitra's attention from Renji to you and gave a smirk through bloody teeth. "Took you longer than I expected Grimmjow." He said as he straightened out, still sat atop Renji.
The blue haired man, Grimmjow, simply shrugged, "She was faster than I thought." You couldn't take your eyes off Renji, both his eyes had been blackened and swollen, his lower lip busted upon, bruises and cuts marred every part of him and blood seemed to be thrown everywhere. Nnoitra was also clearly injured but no half as bad, a large cut ran up his face towards his uncovered eye but stopped just before it reached the eye itself. He also had a number of smaller cuts and bruises but nothing that he particularly needed to be immediately concerned with. "You have to carry him back to the horses if he can't walk." Grimmjow said not at all concerned about Renjis injuries.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He said getting up off Renji, he kicked at him telling him to get up and when he didn't Nnoitra pulled Renji's arm, forcing him up and pushed him towards the way they had come. "Fucking move!" He said as he harshly pushed him, "You don't want us to leave you out here to die and ride off with your pretty little friend do you?" Nnoitra said snuggly causing Renji to glare at him the best he could with his swollen face.
Behind you Grimmjow gently nudges you forward in a silent command to follow. Your feet drag along the ground as your mind tries to come up with what they meant about looking for you specifically. You weren't important or the head of your family or anything that could be useful to whoever it was that they served. Anxiety builds in your chest making it hard to breath, your breaths become quicker and shorter as you try to think of every worst case scenario of what would be waiting for you or if these men were even telling the truth and weren't about to kill you or worse. Maybe they were just screwing around with you two for fun like a cat batting at a mouse before it eats it. Or maybe they would take you back and you would be publicly executed. Your heart pumped so hard it hurt in your chest and even though the night was freezing cold you could feel yourself begin to sweat.
"Stop freaking out," Grimmjow whispered close to your ear, you jerked your head to try to look at him or perhaps put some distance between the two of you, you didn't know. His hand grabbed the top of your head and kept you looking straight as he continued, "If I'm right about who you are none of us are allowed to hurt you. Do what you're told, play your role and you and your friend will come out of this relatively okay." He kept his voice low almost as if he didn't want his colleague to hear him.
As the four of you made it back to the river Grimmjow again spun you around like you were a rag doll and flung you back over his shoulder, Nnoitra and Renji trudged through the cold water first and stopped once they got up the bank, Renji stumbling a few times due to his injuries. Grimmjow followed and as he got close to the bank he moved you so you could climb up with stepping a foot into the frigid water, "If she tries to run again do I get to hunt her down?" Nnoitra asked with a wolf-like grin returning to his face. Grimmjow didn't bother responding to him as he climbed up himself, instead just rolling his eyes and clicking his tongue in disapproval. Grimmjow placed his hand back on your shoulder and pushed you past the other two.
Another twenty minutes past before you found yourself in front of three horses. They were not from your home stables, they wore an all black saddle and nothing that could mark where they had come from but each of them also had strange bone like carving on their faces just as Grimmjow did. Grimmjow removed his hand from you and turned around to look at Renji, "Are you going to live long enough to ride back?" He asked in an uncaring tone. You looked at Renji for the first time since you'd crossed the river and could clearly see that he was worse than you originally thought, he had paled a considerable amount, he stood hunched over and his chest heaved with every breath he took.
"I'll make it back fine." Renji answered in a horsed tone. Nnoitra laughed manically and pointed towards one of the horses and told Renji to climb up. Renji gave himself a moment to try to catch his breath before steeling himself and making his way to the horse, he slowly and heavily made his way onto the back of the animal looking like he could pass out at any moment. Nnoitra made a snide comment that you didn't quite hear as you stared at Renji in deep concern. You didn't know if he could truly make it back, you watched blood drip from him onto the ground below, your eyes locked with his, "I will make it back with you." He swore to you.
You opened your mouth to say something back but where stopped when Grimmjow again spun you to face him. Your eyes met with his for just a second before he grabbed you by the waist and picked you up again. You were tired of being treated like a rag doll, and Renji yelled something at Grimmjow clearly sharing your displeasure about your treatment. He ignored both of you and placed you on one of the other horses before climbing behind you and picking up the reins, trapping you between the animal and himself with his arms on either side of you. Nnoitra tied Renji's horse to the last one before mounting it himself and leading you back through the woods towards your home.
You had no idea what awaited you back home, Grimmjow had said something about how they wanted as many of your people back alive as possible but that didn't seem like it meant much as you looked at Renji's broken and bleeding form. Your mind wandered to your father. Did he know what had happened? Was he already dead? Had these people killed them first before finding you? They seemed like they knew who you were but your father was a quiet and solemn man you couldn't imagine him speaking of you to an enemy in any way much less one that would put you on their radar.
Once you got closer to your home Grimmjow slowed your horse a bit allowing the two of you to lag behind Nnoitra and Renji a bit. "Once we get there don't fight him, do whatever he wants and be quite about it. He's a cruel man but he doesn't seem to want to hurt you more than he has too. Just be quiet and good and you should be fine." Grimmjow whispered in your ear lowly, he was close enough that you could feel the bone mask on the side of his face lightly graze against you. This time you knew better than to turn around to face him, thinking of the last time when he held you in place.
Instead you simply asked, "Who?" Grimmjow just laughed hotly into your ear before rising back up. Clearly he was set on ignoring your question which only served to aggravate you. It felt like every time he spoke to you he raised more questions than he answered. Which you thought, perhaps was on purpose, he was just messing with you, never really being done with the game of cat and mouse you'd started in the forest when you'd run from him.
Soon you found yourself riding down the Main Street that your manor lied on. As you got closer and closer to your home you could see the large white wooden doors had been kicked in and a number of windows had been shattered. Blood ran down the entry steps and while you couldn't see inside you were sure there was much more carnage there. As you approached you didn't turn towards your own home, instead heading straight to High Lord Yamamoto's home. While your family manor and the ones of the other noble families lied in ruin and blood the High Lords manor stood completely untouched. It looked as prestigious as ever, completely out of place when looking at its surroundings. As you rode to the front of the manor three men opened the huge rounded dark wood door.
You felt yourself stiffen as you immediately recognized the man in the middle who was walking down to greet you. He wore a similar outfit to your captors but it was decorated with much more glamor, a small cape hung from his shoulder and a sword hung from a finely decorated holster from his hip. He wore his hair different than you'd ever seen it before, instead of letting it hang loosely in its natural shape it had been slicked back. Behind him and his accomplices followed two more people with strange bone masks on their faces.
But they were not your concern. You barely spared them a look as your eyes locked with eyes of mahogany. He smiled brightly at you as if there was nothing wrong in the world. "Hello my dear, I hope your travel was not too harsh on you." Aizen beamed at you as he came up beside the horse you were currently riding on.