Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. Wish i did. I want a Hanataro Plushy. Don't Sue. Thanks.


It started simply enough. Hanataro had been completing his task of scouting the forest for camping Rukongai stragglers so that Shinigami Academy students could later practice their skills in being an authoritarian when it happened. It was a cry of astonishment that caught his attention but it was the sound of the girl he ached for that caused his legs to lunge into action.

Most of it was instinct and habit; habits learned in battle. He dogged each tree and each branch with agility and speed he wouldn't have comprehended a few decades ago. (Though oddly enough he was still as clumsy as ever when it came to walking down the clinic's corridors.) He could sense a hollow; it was not an Arrancar and he breathed a bit easier for it. Coming to a clearing in the forest he saw a young woman with waist long pink hair sprawled face-down on the ground. "Y-yachiru!" Seeing her sword on the ground beside her he collected it and stormed after the hollow.

It must have caught her by surprise, he thought panting as he let her sword clatter to the floor. The hollow was an easy kill even for him who knew very little about the ways of the sword. He turned from the spot where the vanquished hollow had once been and to the woman he had heard earlier. She was making a strange noise as she lay on the ground and he rushed to her shrugging the knapsack on his shoulder off in the process.

"Are you in pain?" he asked as he kneeled by her side, "where are you injured, are…are you laughing?"

The pink haired girl rolled over to expose a gleeful look upon her face. Still lying flat on the ground she brought her hand to her face and wiped away the mixture of spit, dirt, and blood on her chin before speaking. "You know I could have handled that, hikui-chan. He caught me by surprise that's true, but I've faced much worse than him!"

"hi-hikui?"

She giggled again her bright face brining a hesitant but truly genuine smile to Hanataro's. Seeing him smile Yachiru grinned wildly and sat up so that her knees were slightly raised and palms could support her upper body. "So Hikui-chan, is it because you wanted a reward that you saved this poor damsel in distress?" she raised an eyebrow suggestively. It was probably because she grew up around so many senseless savages that she learned to play up her sexuality though she'd kick anyone's ass who actually tried anything. It was amusing to see men turn to goop though it was not as good of a pastime as a spar worthy opponent.

"Ah, n-n-no."

"No? You don't want me to reward you?"

"Ah..i mean, it's not, I wasn't trying to be heroic or anything…."

She scoffed, "of course not. Forth divisioners aren't the type for heroics or battle or anything really,"

Hanataro looked hurt for a moment before raising his head. Over the last few years it was his division members who had lost the most in battle. He would not dishonor them by being ashamed; in his view they were the most heroic of the Gotei. "I could leave those wounds on your knees. It'd be pretty painful to get back to the eleventh in your condition."

"I've had worse," she glared a bit but her lips were still smiling, "and you couldn't do it. You. A forth divisioner. You could never leave someone, even a brute like me from the eleventh, in pain. It's driving you crazy watching the blood trickle from my knee down my calf, isn't it? I wonder," she began to whisper, "is it the medic in you or the man in you that can't take your eyes off my long- feminine- legs."

Hanataro's lips quivered a bit before he raised his head once more, "It's the medic." At once he began performing a worldless kido. Yachiru watched him with fascination; her mouth shut for once. The way his hands moved, his concentration, the furrow in his brow, the slight upturn that his lip made, the stray strand of hair brushing against his check, all this made up the man the soldier medic that was Yamada Hanataro.

Despite what Kenpachi thought the forth division did engage in battle. Their battle maybe even harder to fight than those against vasto lorde the forth division fought against enemies unseen: viruses, a patient's will, time. At least, that's what Yumichika had attempted to explain to their captain many years ago.

"…they fight against time itself! What's a more respectable opponent than time? Every day they struggle to…"

"You wanna go join them, ya fruit fly?" Kenpachi snapped, "I know you know Kido, I've smelled it on Yachiru for years. I ain't stupid."

"Taicho!" Yumichika eye's widened and he turned to Ikkaku, who was sitting on a chair shoulders slumped and face worried, for help.

"I ain't kickin' ya out for that," Kenpachi sighed.

"For something else then?"

"No, I ain't kickin' ya out for anything right now but if I ever hear that you're helping this brat see that boy again..."

"He's a medic!" Yachiru snapped, for the first time in her life raising her voice to her father figure, "it's not my fault if he just happens to be the one that treats my injuries!"

"You will not see that lousy good for nothing again! And you," he pointed sharply at Yumichika, "will heal all her injuries. If you can't, figure it out! If you still can't, I'll take her personally to Unohana or that fukutaicho of theirs. He ain't strong Yachiru, he's not worth your time."

"You're not a brute, by the way," Hanataro said quietly as her wound began to finally stop bleeding, "at least you weren't when you used to come see me at the clinic."

"Psh, see you. It's not like I asked to be seen by you specifically."

"Isane-fukutaicho said so." Hanataro looked up and into Yachiru's eyes briefly before turning back to her knee, "I wasn't always readily available when you came in injured but Isane would find me no matter where I was saying that you demanded to be seen by me."

"Your memory is messed up. That was a long time ago."

"Yes, it was three decades ago next month."

"Y-you remember the month?" Yachiru gasped. She too remembered.

"I always looked forward to it. To seeing you. I know we didn't speak much but you became a friend to me and then suddenly you weren't around anymore. Ever, even when we had terrible battles, like…" he closed his eyes for a second, "When I heard you started actively engaging in battles I hoped…I wished…"

"Were you worried about me? Don't be stupid. I've been trained by the best. No one but Ken-chan can beat me and some day I'll beat him!" Yachiru grinned proudly.

"I never knew if you were alive or not," he spoke loudly enough for her to hear but only just, "I always feared that it would be the day I heard that Zaraki-taicho's fukutaicho was gone."

"Well- well I'm not! Don't doubt my abilities or I'll force you to spar with me!"

Hanataro smiled, "I apologize Yachiru-fukutaicho."

"Looks like I'm healed." She said looking down at her knee which still was basking in the glow of a kido spell but completely wound free.

"Oh! Yes." He said pulling away from her and standing up quickly.

"Don't look so sad about it!" She said jumping to her feet.

"Sorry," he blushed, "I-I should be getting back to my duties."

"Yeah and I should go find Yumi-kun, he'll have to write up a report about this."

"Why would he….n-nevermind….Goodbye Yachiru fukutaicho. I hope I can see you again soon."

"You don't have to be so formal," she said tossing her hair to the side, "That's not how we do it in the eleventh."

"Then, I hope I see you later, Yachiru-chan." He smiled.

She smirked, "okay, Hikui-chan."


A/N: IDK if I will go on with this. I want to and have ideas so there may be updates. Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.