Notes:
My first chaptered Fanfic!
This pairing doesn't seem to exist, but I think it should! Isane is such an awesome character, probably because she's the character I can most relate to in Bleach (or a strange mix between Isane and Lisa) and Kensei is a babe, who looks like a marine and punches things! What isn't there to like!?
Once again Beta by the amazing SocialDegenerate ( /users/SocialDegenerate/pseuds/SocialDegenerate) Much Thanks as always *huggles*
The Captain Commander's meeting chambers were always comfortably warm, whether it was from his Zanpakutō, or simply that the man in his old age preferred to keep warm. Isane wasn't sure, but something she was sure of was how distinctly different Ninth Captain Muguruma looked tonight. The heat played a part of course: all the captains and their lieutenants present at the meeting appeared bothered by the closed-in heat. Komamura shifted his huge shoulders in discomfort, a cloud of loose fur floating up from the motion. He's probably shedding his winter coat, Isane thought, then suddenly blushed and looked away; that was an absurd thought.
Turning her attention back to the main floor, she felt it was difficult to pay any heed to Captain Kurotsuchi. The most evil of men was speaking animatedly on some aspect of Seireitei security. Twisting her mouth into a frown ever so slightly, the tall woman again glanced around the room, trying for the umpteenth time to pretend she belonged here. Which she didn't. In a room of warriors, fighters, barbarians, murderers, tricksters and those actually fighting the good fight, she felt out of place. Her captain appeared to have no such issues, however: she of course had been part of the founding membership.
Blinking almost sleepily, she felt her eyes drawn again to Kensei. His captain's haori fell loose at the waist, his belt not tight enough, either due to the heat or to the Thursday festival night drinking sessions which would occur between the squad men later that evening. Isane groaned inwardly: Thursday nights were the nights she dreaded on a weekly basis. While other squads (especially the men in those squads) took to the bars and restaurants around Rukongai, intent on having a good time and letting their hair down, some people's evenings didn't always end that way. Bar fights, accidental injuries, theft and sexual assault were rampant during those brief hours of relief. It was hell for the Fourth Squad, and Isane couldn't count how many times she'd picked glass out of an individual, or set broken bones and made sure to rest those suffering from alcohol poisoning.
Her thoughts strayed further again, trying to remember if she'd ever seen Kensei at the Fourth Squad headquarters during those nights. Not to her memory, but he'd only been back in Seireitei for a year, and she had not been in service back when he'd first been a captain. His hair had been shorter then, she'd seen him in pictures passed around the Shinigami Women's Society dubbed attractive men, and still even now with the slight change, she could see he was a downright and correctly titled attractive man.
"Isane, we're leaving now." Captain Unohana's face fell into Isane's line of vision over the quickly retreating Kensei, who was followed by his lieutenant Hisagi.
"Sorry Captain, yes Captain." Gathering her thoughts, Isane followed Unohana from the First Squad headquarters back to their own barracks, slyly watching Kensei's retreating figure. Shaking her head she dismissed all silly thoughts of men and focused on the horror of the night to come.
The mid-moon festival was in full swing, with drink and food passing between friends and squad mates in good nature and fun. It was barely midnight and Isane already knew it was going to be a long morning. Already she'd directed the flow of play battle victims, two men who'd fallen afoul of a wall and several who'd been found simply passed out in the streets of Rukongai, meagre wages and shoes stolen. Swigging back a beaker of ice tea, she took a quiet moment to herself in the break centre.
"Lieutenant, we need your assistance!" The request echoed down the hall as Isane dashed from the break centre and into the reception foyer.
"Room four: Sixth Squad member, head injury. Room sixteen: minor blunt force trauma, and surgery theatre three: glassing with minor abrasions, if you please." Snatching the papers across the service desk, Isane scanned them and assessed them from highest to lowest importance. Room four first, a member from Sixth Squad had been admitted with a head wound, likely caused by a fall down a set of stairs. Spinal injury had thankfully been ruled out, but the injury required stitches and cleansing. The patient was barely coherent, mumbling softly, as Isane and another of her team went about a simple kido healing and application. A soft knock at the door broke Isane's concentration.
"Who is it?"
"Captain Kuchiki, checking on my fifth seat." Blinking quickly Isane called out
"Yes Captain, please come in."
The door slid open, revealing the tall, dark haired captain; stepping inside, he closed the door behind him and walked up to the bed.
"He should be fine sir, a little rest and he'll be good as new," Isane was babbling. In truth the captain made her nervous, she was certain he still hadn't forgiven her for breaking into his manor and taking photos of him without permission. Keeping her eyes down, she noted his slow nod.
"Good, have you looked in on Lieutenant Abarai yet?"
"Renji?" Isane questioned, quickly flipping through her notes. She shook her head, "No, he's not on my list, would you like me to?" The stern Captain nodded.
"I would appreciate it, when you have a moment," and with a quick sweep of his dark hair, he was gone. Isane bit her lip, wondering for a frightening moment what her fellow lieutenant would have been admitted for. Finishing quickly, she dashed to room sixteen, pleased the situation had been handle calmly and professionally in her absence. The third surgery theatre doors were slightly open as she strode up to them, snapping on another pair of disposable elbow-length gloves. A gaggle of men were scattered around the room and jumped as she entered, there were far too many of them within the tiny surgery to be considered safe and practical. Frowning, Isane tried her best impression of a strict lieutenant, but in current company she felt as though she was failing. Clearing her throat, she pushed through the throng of people to the medical bench. Perched none too gracefully there was Captain Muguruma, with Lieutenant Hisagi to his left. Blood was leaking from a wound hidden somewhere behind a wad of torn shirt at the base of his neck, with a deep gash across his forehead, just above his left eye. The Captain's eyes were glazed, but not from battle Isane deducted: the heavy stench of liquor was enough indication that the Captain was as drunk as half of the headquarters. Shaking her head, she gestured to the gathered men,
"Please leave, all of you. This will not help the Captain"
The men looked uncertainly at each other, until a bellow from Kensei made Isane jump and sent them scattering.
"Out now, all of you. I don't even have to be here, kindly fuck off!" They retreated quickly, and Isane watched in mild amazement as the Captain and Lieutenant debated on Hisagi remaining.
"I don't need to be babysat Hisagi, go back out, enjoy the rest of the night." The lieutenant looked hesitant, his scar twitching as he looked past Isane to the door and back at his Captain.
"It wasn't a request Hisagi, it's an order." Tilting his head to the side, Kensei stared his lieutenant down until the young man turned and wordlessly left the room, sliding the door shut with a sharp click. Isane was suddenly alone with the man who'd enchanted her earlier that morning.
Moving slowly forward, she spoke softly.
"Captain, if I may, please could I see your wound?" Brown eyes met hers, and for a second the dim glaze which coated that chocolate gaze lifted for a second.
"Of course, thank you for seeing me Lieutenant," he said gruffly, removing the blood soaked fabric from the back of his neck. Even at Isane's height, she struggled to see over the man's broad shoulders to inspect the wound.
"I'm sorry Captain, would you mind moving to the chair, I can't see." With a quick nod, the large man heaved himself off the bench and, swaying slightly, collapsed into a nearby chair. Elbows on his knees, he slumped forward at a perfect angle for Isane to properly inspect the damage. Jagged glass shards littered the wound, red blood seeping out in small rivulets. Moving to the instrument cabinets, Isane collected her tools and moved back to her patient, who sat quietly with his head in his hands.
"Are you alright Captain? I can give you something for the pain." Kensei looked up at her quickly, wincing.
"No thank you." Returning to his previous position, Isane could feel his gaze on her as she gently began to remove shard after shard of glass, swabbing after each piece and softly chanting an incantation to reduce the bleeding. As she worked, she felt her mouth run dry at being so close to this man, his reiatsu was high, causing an odd caress against her own awareness. Focus, she told herself, keeping her hands busy and her mouth running breathless words, but it was hard. The soft hair at the nape of his neck intrigued her: would his hair be soft or coarse? How did it defy gravity with such ease, would he like it if she touched him that way...She blushed, pulling out the final shard and cleaning the area with a quick swipe. Applying a salve and bandage, she continued her healing though kido while moving to stand in front of the captain.
"Excuse me sir, could you please tilt your head back, I'll attend your eyebrow wound now."
Lolling his head back, testing the resistance of the bandage and wound, Kensei felt the tell-tale tingling of the accelerated healing process. The Fourth Squad Lieutenant moved into his line of sight as she leant down to check his eyebrow. He'd seen her before, at meetings and other events around the Seireitei, and her height had been her distinguishing feature. Almost lanky, she'd stand behind her Captain, quiet and content, speaking only when spoken to and in soft tones one would have to strain their ears to hear. But before when she'd walked in, all mighty in her authority among his men until she'd seen him, he'd nearly mistaken her for another woman, grey eyes radiating control and confidence. Even now her movements were conducted in a calm and controlled fashion, but he couldn't help notice the odd, racing pace of her breath, how her well proportioned chest rose and fell almost enticingly beneath her uniform. She was graceful in her height, elegant in a way that a woman half her size would have never managed to master, and it appeared to be something she did innately. It was as if that gentle, swaying step to the work table was just how she moved, not something she'd trained to do, to impress or show off. She was beautiful, he decided, as she leant down, bringing her face close to his and dabbing at the cut with a swab. Shit that stung; gritting his teeth, he scrunched the eye beneath up as the chemical cleanser touched the open wound. With his right eye he tracked her every move, the physical wince as she noticed he was in pain, how her previously calm and slow movements were becoming jerky and quick in an effort to get the job over and done with as quickly as possible.
"It doesn't hurt that bad, Lieutenant...Lieutenant...ehh..." God dammit, of all the times to have a mind blank on names.
"Kotetsu Isane," she replied quickly, the awkward nature of the conversation bringing a blush to her features. Oh yeah, tilting his head to the side, he retook his previous assessment: she wasn't just beautiful, she was sexy as well. The pink in her cheeks turned a meek young woman into a slender, sexy woman with legs the length of heaven. Isane, oh he'd remember that now.
Isane fussed with small sticky bandage she planned to press to Kensei's forehead, her inner monologue running; why should he have known her name? Who was she to him anyway? A giant freak who loitered behind the Fourth Squad Captain, that was all. Setting her jaw, she turned back to him and none too gently pressed the bandage to the affected area. He winced again and she suddenly felt bad, chanting a quick kido, she eased the swelling, setting the bandage at a better angle. As she turned to clean up her work station, the light hit the dull gold of his right eyebrow piercing. It was almost regal, the gold among the grey of his hair and the chocolate of his eyes.
"The living world has a much grander version of vanity then us," he said, awakening Isane from her daze to realise she'd been staring. Blushing redder still, she moved back to her work.
"Yes, I've seen them," she paused as she removed her gloves, "did it hurt?" She remembered the uncomfortable sting when she'd first gotten her ears pierced at the encouragement of her sister.
"Not really, it hurt more then this though," he pointed to his opposite eyebrow and grinned sheepishly. Isane felt herself smiling in return, the awkward atmosphere broken as Kensei stood up and braced himself on the chair for support.
"Will you be alright Captain? Shall I prepare a bed for you? You'd have lost a lot of blood due to the neck wound." Isane quickly went to the Captain's side and fought a groan of despair as she realised she was actually taller then him. Having never stood this close to him, she'd never realised. He shook his head and went to take a tentative step forward, carefully placing a foot down to be followed by a second, only to stumble back onto the first.
Isane stretched out quickly, hooking her shoulder under Kensei's arm; since their height wasn't overly different, she supported him easily.
"Really Captain, I can even have the bed made right here -" she was silenced as a set of lips descended upon hers.
"You are really insistent on that bed Isane, maybe I should agree." His grin was greeted by a quick open-handed slap to the face.
Luckily it was his right side, Isane thought as she quickly fled, leaving the door open as she literally ran from the room and down the hall. She was so embarrassed! But what had she expected? He was a drunken brute of a captain who didn't even know her name. Tears welled in her eyes as she pushed open a nearby door to the captain's chambers. Unohana would scold her later, but currently she just needed to get away. She couldn't tell if he'd tried to follow her, but from the lack of heavy, stomping foot steps she'd assumed not. Pressing her back against the wall, she swallowed a sob and rubbed her eyes clear of tears. This was silly, she was being silly, she'd acted silly, she'd – she'd slapped a captain.
Eyes bugging out, Isane hugged her knees, almost hyperventilating in realisation: she was going to die, she'd be executed tomorrow at noon. Knocking her head back hard against the wall, she breathed deep and calmed her thumping heartbeat, sorting her thoughts from illogical to rational. And first things first, even if she was to be executed she was still on duty. Standing, she rubbed her eyes again just to make sure they were dry and pulled back the sliding door, walking calmly down the hall in search of Lieutenant Abarai.