CHAPTER ONE
Unohana wandered the wasteland, searching for some rare herbs for the healing work she takes so much pride in. The sun was shining bright in the sky as a slight wind was blowing. As the wind picked up the ground began to rumble and Unohana started to look around. Suddenly, the earth split apart violently as a huge hollow burst from the ground intent on ending the life of the small form of Unohana. The hollow turned its monstrous head in search of its prey. Its glowing eyes found the frightened and stunned woman, causing her to freeze, dropping to her knees as the herbs fell beside her. The beast locked its gaze on Unohana. It opened its mouth, let out a tremendous roar, and swung its massive claws. The woman froze in terror, awaiting her death, barely finding the strength to close her eyes.
But the expected blow never came. Instead, the sound of claws clashing with steel fell upon her ears. She slowly opened her eyes, hoping to seeing her fuku-taicho there as her savior. Instead she saw the back of a man, mammoth in size and wielding an unknown zanpaku-to. He seemed to enjoy the fight with the hollow, laughing openly as he flung it back into the dirt a bloody heap of hatred and anger. She sighed in relief thankful that the wretched creature was dead, but, much to her dismay the beast rose swiftly, kicking up a cloud of dust as the man before her howled with blood curdling laughter, clearly enjoying the fight. Lunging forward with the same maniacal laughter ringing from his throat, the man swung his blade what seemed to the untrained eye to be five maybe six times. The beast was still moving forward as it fell to countless pieces. The man stood in a short shower of blood and flesh, a falling claw digging into his skin and slicing his face from hairline to jaw. He grinned and spoke to the mess at his feet. "Good job, you managed to get in a blow..." He then turned to the kneeling woman. "You were lucky I was here." His voice was a deep growl, and the frown on his face showed his distaste for the shortness of the fight before turning to face away and started to lumber off. Watching the man walk off, she obeyed the sudden urge to call after him, "Wait! What is your name?". The man paused glancing over his shoulder, blood still oozing from his wound he stated "I have no name.". He faced forward once again and continued walking away in search of more carnage.
"Taicho... taiCHO...TAICHO" Unohana was shaken from her daydream to find herself still in her shower, the interruption coming from the cold water that cascaded over her fair skin, causing her to shiver. Her fuku-taicho was by her bathroom door in a tizzy. " Taicho! The Elventh Division taicho was killed and a new taicho has taken his place! He's a terrifying monster of a man! You must come see him!" Calmly, the raven-haired taicho turned off the water, stepped out, and began drying herself with a towel before dressing. She smiled at her fuku-taicho as she braided her hair in it's usual style. "Stay calm, Isane; it will all work out" Her thoughts wandered back to her dream as she dressed. "Could it be" she thought to herself as she finished tying her robes in place. Isane looked at her curiously, her eyes showing her concern. "Could it be what, taicho?" Unohana smiled at the silver-haired woman. "Nothing to worry about. Shall we go?" Unohana opened the door and headed to the Eleventh Division's barracks to meet the newest Kenpachi
Kenpachi stormed into the main part of the Eleventh Division barracks. He looked around at all of the squad members that had gathered and wondered if any of them would measure up to survive an actual battle. A pink haired girl hung on his left shoulder. Kenpachi stated to all the Eleventh Division members that were gathered. "I'm the Eleventh Divison's taicho, Zaraki Kenpachi. Listen up! I don't care where you're from, how old you are or what your records look like..." He walked over to a bench and sat down. "I'm not gonna force you to stay here, but there's no guarantee I'll let you stay either. I want one thing! What I want from you is...Strength! I like strong guys! Guys who can fight." The squad looked nervous, even scared. This guy might be the death of them. Kenpachi looked over the squad and wondered if any of them would actually survive a fight with a weak opponent.
Unohana stepped onto the Eleventh Division grounds. She walked around for a bit, looking a little lost. "Unohana Taicho can I help you?" A member of the division asked. "Yes I want to see your new Taicho." The man bowed to the short-stature woman. "I am sorry, but right now he does not want to be disturbed." He sighed. "He is drilling most of the division now in the ways of combat." Unohana smiled and bowed. "Alright then. Please tell him that the Fourth Division's taicho wishes to meet him."
A few hours later Kenpachi was walking the grounds of his newly acquired division when one of his members walked up to him. With a bit of fear in his voice the trembling man told Kenpachi that the Fourth Division taicho would like to see him. "What is this about?" Zaraki growled. "I do not know taicho. I think she simply wishes to meet you since she likes to introduce herself personally to all new taicho, and it may also have something to do with your sudden appearance." The member bowed as he said this to avoid eye contact with Kenpachi. Zaraki just smiled and asked "What do you know of this taicho of the Fourth Division?" He looked up to Zaraki and said "Her name is Retsu Unohana sir; she's the taicho of the Medical Corps." As the nervous shinigami quickly excused himself, Zaraki wondered to himself why she would want to see him of all people.
A few hours later Kenpachi was walking along a road he didn't remember traveling before. He had decided to get to know the area better in case he wanted to find strong opponents later on but didn't feel like getting lost. Turning a corner, he came to the doorway of what appeared to be another Division's barracks. The large number painted on it made it obvious that this was the Fourth Division.
Remembering the words of the shinigami who had informed him about the female taicho's appearance, the massive man decided to give her a visit. As he entered the barracks, the Division's members glanced at him nervously, but did not approach him. 'Their reiatsu's weak... wonder if the whole Division is like this?' He thought as he approached one unfortunate man. "Hey you, tell me... where can I find Retsu Unohana?" He growled. The smaller shinigami trembled a bit as he spoke, being unsure of the larger man's intentions and whether or not he would attack him. "Please Taicho-san, I understand that you may have good reason to see Unohana-Taicho, but i must ask you to state your business before i can take you to her." He stated, trying to stay as calm as possible so as to not alarm the other Division members.
The new taicho looked down at the smaller shinigami. "She came by my place earlier asking to see me, and I wanna know why." He said, glaring evilly. "Now, I won't repeat myself to a weakling."he finished, his frustration at the man's demands growing. Bowing, the Fourth Division member turned and started to walk off. "Please follow me sir. I'll take you to Unohana-Taicho." He called over his shoulder. Following him, Kenpachi returned to mulling over why the woman would want to see him so badly. 'maybe she's... nahh.' the possibility that she and the person he was thinking of were one and the same was too slim.
Placing down the flowers that she had just put in the vase on the bedside table, the black-haired taicho had just straightened up when the door opened. "Unohana-Taicho, there is someone here to see you. He says you asked him to." said the shinigami standing in the doorway. "My apologies for not knocking first, but he's.." he lowered his voice "a bit scary. He's the taicho of the Eleventh Division, and he claims you came to his place and asked him to come see you." He gulped when said taicho suddenly appeared directly behind him. "Well?"He looked down at the shinigami, suddenly on his knees from the amount of reiatsu pressing down on him, and just snorted. After watching him crawl away, the massive taichou turned to gaze into the room. He quickly spotted the woman he was looking for, made clear by the "4" on the back of her haori, and stepped ominously into the room. Turning immediately at the vague familiarity of his reiatsu, Unohana met his gaze immediately, and her knees nearly buckled.
The room felt like a shot of electricity had just passed between the taicho. Their eyes locked onto one another as they stood rooted to the spot for a moment, or an eternity, which would be how Unohana would describe it. Her eyes traced the scar that ran down the left side of the hulking man's face, the nearly undeniable proof that this was the same person that had saved her that day. "I remember you... from that day." She took a step forward, taking in a deep breath to steady herself. "You saved me from a hollow the same day you got that scar."
Memories flooded into Kenpachi's mind. The feeling of the hollow's reiatsu, how swiftly it fell, the claw that gave him the most recognizable scar he had to date... Then the image of the helpless-looking shinigami taicho that had asked his name. The image matched that of the woman standing in front of him now, apparently unaffected by his monstrous reiatsu. A wide grin suddenly crossed his face. "You asked my name before. I didn't have one back then, but I do now; my name is Zaraki Kenpachi, and apparently, I'm the new taicho of the Eleventh Division."