Disclaimer: I do not own bleach or any of the wonderful characters from it. That would be tite kubo. I do own Taroru and Ryuuka.

Introduction:

"Oh boy... Today is my big day..." 28-year-old Ryuuka Shisona said to herself as she paced nervously around the guest house. Her long white train and shoulder-length lavender hair followed behind her, and her while veil covered her tanned skin. Her bright green eyes shifted around nervously. She had been waiting for this day for a long time, and now that it was here, she couldn't be more anxious for it to get over with. Suddenly, a knock came on the door. Turning quickly, Ryuuka realized that the time had come. She took a deep breath, walked to the door, and peeked outside. Standing there, in a suit of black and hair slicked back, was her little brother, Taroru, smiling to her. He took her hand.

"Ne... are you ready, Onee-chan?" he asked her. Ryuuka returned the smile politely and nodded. With that, she stepped out to Taroru and walked with him all the way to the outdoor patio, where the wedding would take place.

The patio was brilliantly decorated, with white lights hanging from the archway where the groom and his bride would stand and banners placed everywhere. There were seven rows of chairs, five seats to each. As Taroru led her to the hall and turned around the corner, leaving her, Ryuuka peeked out and could see that her soon-to-be husband was already standing at the alter dressed handsomely in his white suit and red bow tie. He was the only one out of all the men that was wearing a white suit. He had picked it out himself and it went good with his hair. His long black hair had been combed and flowed onto his back like a river of black waves as he looked out onto the sea. "He is so handsome...especially with his hair down like that and no bells..." Ryuuka thought as she leaned back against the wall, but not without straying another look at him. He turned and caught a glimpse of her as she quickly ducked back. He just smiled and turned back to the waves of the ocean, his long hair billowing in the wind.

Zaraki Kenpachi never thought that he would see the day that he would be getting married, especially to one of his own squad. He chuckled to himself as he remembered how he had first developed feelings for her...

Chapter One:

It was a sunny day in the Seireitei; the eleventh company hallways were completely empty except for one woman, Ryuuka Shisona, fourth seat. She was diligently working on projects that had been assigned to other company members that they had not finished. Kenpachi saw her doing this and grinned his usual Kenpachi grin, walking up to her. Ryuuka was too preoccupied to notice him until she turned around, running right into him. Slowly, she looked up at him and blushed.

"Eh... gomen nasai, Kenpachi-taicho..." Kenpachi just grinned again and looked at her.

"Eh, it happens, Shisona-san," he told her, to which she relaxed slightly. He saw the paperwork she was working on and chuckled. "You don't want to overwork yourself, Shisona-san. Ne, why not go outside and catch some sun before it goes away?" he suggested. Ryuuka looked down and sighed.

"Iie, I can't do that, Taicho. There's so much that's not done, and some of it is due to Soutaicho by tomorrow... I can't go relax and have a good time when there's so much undone!" Quickly, she ran around, gathering papers and shuffling off to her room to finish them. Kenpachi chuckled again.

"Yare yare, such a strange woman..." he said to himself. As he turned to go outside, he heard a strange noise from Ryuuka's room. Grinning and thinking that Ryuuka fell like she usually did, he started to walk again. However, the sound came again, only louder. This time he stopped completely and turned, the grin gone from his face. He heard someone coming in and yelled to them to stay out. The member looked at him, confused, but shrugged and went back outside. Slowly, Kenpachi drew his zanpakuto from the sheath and walked toward the room. The sounds he was hearing weren't from Ryuuka. No, they sounded more hollow-like than soul reaper. As he peered into the room, he saw Ryuuka on the floor, a hollow standing over her.

Looking around the room, Kenpachi noticed that Ryuuka's sword, Ryuuzuto Hoshi, was still in the sheath, meaning that she hadn't used it. Looking up at the hollow, Kenpachi noticed a sickly sweet smell that quickly filled the room. He immediately covered his face; he could only guess that the hollow had used some kind of airborne poison to weaken Ryuuka, and then pounce on her when she was either dead or asleep. He found himself hoping badly that Ryuuka wasn't dead. With one quick motion, he dashed at the hollow, slicing it from head to toe. The hollow screamed in pain, then vanished before his eyes. Still covering his mouth and nose, Kenpachi put his sword away and rushed over to Ryuuka, picking her up and shunpoing her to fourth company.

Yachiru, his vice captain, had been outside playing when saw this and rushed inside, changed into her soul reaper uniform and following behind him secretly. She noticed that the person he was carrying was Ryuuka, sixth seat officer. Yachiru looked at the two of them, confused and worried. She and Ryuuka were the best of friends, so Yachiru was worried when she saw Kenpachi rushing off with her in urgency. She decided to follow them to the fourth company. She would ask Ken-chan about it later.

Unohana was sitting quietly at her desk while her vice captain finished up with the other patients, when she noticed something in the distance. She looked closer and saw that it was Kenpachi, carrying someone on his back. She immediately opened up the door just as he shunpoed into the division. He was quickly set her down on a stretcher.

"What happened to her, Zaraki-san?" she asked calmly as she took Ryuuka into one of the rooms. Kenpachi followed.

"A hollow, that's what happened. It came from nowhere and let out a poison, making her fall into a deep sleep, or at least I hope it was a deep sleep..." At this, Unohana smiled playfully.

"Good to see that you actually care about someone in your squad other than Yachiru-chan, ne..." she joked and chuckled, but stopped as she saw the look on Kenpachi's face, which was one of concern and worry. She had never seen that look on his face before and figured that this was more serious than he let on about. She turned to Ryuuka and started to check her pulse and blood pressure, and noticed that Kenpachi still was watching her anxiously, which was making her nervous. Unohana turned to him.

"Please go wait out there, Zaraki-san. I'll be done with her soon." Kenpachi nodded to her, looked at Ryuuka one more time, then exited. Unohana turned back to Ryuuka and continued checking her.

Kenpachi was as confused as he was nervous. He kept thinking to himself that he was worrying too much and that he usually never worried about anyone as much as he was anxiously awaiting the outcome of Ryuuka's tests.

"What's wrong with me?" he wondered to himself. He then noticed that someone had been following him: Yachiru Kusajishi, his vice captain. He turned to her and grinned again, though it wasn't as big as normal, and it seemed that Yachiru noticed. She walked up to him, her sword strapped to her back.

"Ken-chan?" she said softly, "What's wrong with Brownie-chan?" 'Brownie' was Yachiru's nickname for Ryuuka because of Ryuuka's skin color. Kenpachi looked down.

"A hollow got her, I'm afraid," he replied. Yachiru noticed the sadness in his voice and started to get worried, not only for Ryuuka, but for her captain as well. He had never gotten this emotional for anyone other than herself before. It was strange and peculiar, but she smiled anyway.

"Ne, I'll wait with you, Ken-chan," she said, to which Kenpachi looked at her, "I want to know if she's okay, too." Kenpachi smiled at her. She was always so bubbly and happy. Sometimes, I wish I were that happy, he thought to himself.

After about an hour of waiting and pacing impatiently, Kenpachi and Yachiru heard the door open and saw Unohana step out. They looked at her anxiously. Unohana smiled to them and Kenpachi felt himself relax a bit.

"So?" he asked simply. Unohana nodded to him, indicating that Ryuuka would live. Kenpachi let out a deep sigh of relief. He wasn't going to lose one of his squad to a poison-secreting hollow. Unohana looked at him.

"Now, as for that poison," she started, Kenpachi turning to her, "It was a strange mixture. I'm sending it to Kurosuchi-taicho of twelfth division right now, but I have a feeling that there are more than one of those kinds of hollows out there. Do you know how it got into her room?" Kenpachi looked at the ground, thinking. He then looked up at her again.

"It must have been hiding in her room, waiting for her. Then, when she had her back turned, it sprung on her." He shook his head in disbelief. How could a hollow like that come into his division under the wire. The security was always packed and his ability to uncover masked reiatsu was extraordinary. He just shook his head again and looked at the now relaxed Unohana. She looked at him and smiled.

"You may go in and check on her if you'd like, Zaraki-san," she said softly, returning to her desk just as another injured soul reaper entered. Usually, Kenpachi would grin and say something snappy to the injured one, but this case was different. Yachiru smiled and started talking to the injured shinigami as Kenpachi slipped quietly into the room.

Ryuuka was sleeping soundly on the bed as Kenpachi walked in. The room smelled of the sickly sweet poison that had been there before, but Kenpachi saw that it was coming from Ryuuka herself. He could see the streams of purple gases flowing through a filter, making the air easier for Ryuuka to breathe. He slowly walked up to her and saw her in full profile. Her lavender hair framed her tanned face and her bright emerald eyes were closed. He had never seen a woman up close before, especially someone like her, and he could see that she was indeed beautiful. Kenpachi pulled up a chair next to Ryuuka's bed and sat down, sighing and putting his head in his hands. "Today has been a strange and peculiar day," he thought.

Just then, Ryuuka opened her eyes. She looked around the room and her gaze fell on Kenpachi sitting next to her, his head in his hands. She looked at him, puzzled. In all the months that she had worked with him, she had never seen him in such a state of grief before. She turned to look at the air filter placed next to her bed, then back at Kenpachi, who was looking at the ceiling. She smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, to which he turned quickly and looked at her, sighing.

"Good to see that you're awake, Shisona-san," he said, grinning at her. Ryuuka smiled back.

"Thanks to you, Taicho." Kenpachi shrugged.

"It was nothing, really."

"Not to me, it wasn't nothing." Ryuuka laid her head back on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Kenpachi got a good look at her vivid green eyes. They were the color of the ocean at dawn. He found himself wanting to comfort her more, but knew that he had work to do, the work that she had left unfinished. He just grinned and stood up, turning to her.

"Well, time to go finish some undone work," he said, winking at her as he turned to him, to which she smiled shyly back at him as he added, "You get better soon, got it? I want to see you working hard on my squad for another day." Ryuuka blushed slightly.

"H-Hai, Taicho," she replied shyly. He then left the room. Ryuuka looked at him curiously, but noticed Yachiru coming in to say hello, taking her mind off of his behavior.

Kenpachi walked through the Gotei 13, thinking about how he had acted. Surely the whole place would know by the end of the day about Ryuuka's accidental run-in with a hollow. Since so many companies went in and out of the fourth company and Yachiru usually blabbed about everything she saw, it was bound to happen. Kenpachi had never been this worried about someone since he had found Yachiru. He also hadn't been this worried about his composure before. He usually did his thing and didn't care what others thought. However, since his meeting with Ryuuka, things had felt and been different in and around the division. She was the only woman in eleventh company other than Yachiru. Kenpachi shook his head again. I'll never understand women, I guess, he thought to himself as he continued to eleventh company headquarters.

Thanks for reading.^^ here are some translations:

"ne" is a word used at the end or beginning, meaning "right?" or "so,"

"Hai" means yes

"Iie" means no

"shinigami" means death god (literally, but in the english anime, the term is soul reaper)

"Taicho" means captain, as in captain of a squad.

"Yare, yare" means "jeez" or something along those lines; an expression

"-san" is an honorific suffix for most any name.

"-chan" is a suffix mostly for close friends.

"zanpakuto" is a soul reaper's weapon of choice. Their swords pretty much.

"reiatsu" is spirit energy.

"onee-chan" means older sister here.

There you are, there's more to come for sure.^^