I do not own Bleach. Also - you will notice that that I use the English terms rather then the Japanese terms. For example, I use "spiritual pressure" instead of "reatsu" (no clue how it's spelled, and I don't feel like looking it up). When I wrote this, I wrote it all at once and later split it into chapters. There are a few sex scenes and I have not separated them out. If there are requests to, I'll do so at a later date. Reviews are welcome. I have this taking place sometime before Ichigo ever has his Soul Reaper abilities activated. In general, I don't like writing along with one of the arcs as I hate seeing the original cannon modified to add in a character.
The character Suzume used to be Kourri. I liked Kourri better, but when I was reading someone else's story, they used the name Kouri and I didn't want the names to be so similar. I'm pretty sure I changed all the Kourri's to Suzume's, but if I didn't, let me know.
Kenpachi's birthday was in a week. Various members of the 11th Division were getting things ready for the party. Ikkaku and Yumichika were in charge of the food and drinks and Yachiru was in charge of decorations. As the date drew near, people were getting more and more interested in what Suzume was going to be making for him. Suzume had a talent for carving and wood working. For Yachiru's birthday, she had carved her a dragon. In the right light, it seemed to move, it was carved so perfectly. Yumichika had gotten a peacock for his birthday. Now it was Kenpachi's turn.
"Aren't you even going to give us a hint, Suzume?" Yumichika begged the 17th seat of the 11th division.
Suzume laughed, her hazel eyes twinkling, "If I give you a hint, you'll end up guessing it and then it might get back to the captain. I want it to be a surprise. No one knew what you were getting from me when it was your birthday and I didn't give out any hints either." She pushed her chin length brown hair out of her eyes.
"Have you finished it?" Ikkaku asked.
"Of course," She replied. She looked at the guys slightly hesitantly. "I know party plans are your main focus this week, but do you think either of you have time to help me with training? I just achieved shikai and I could use some practice."
"I have some time this afternoon. Yumichika has most of the plans well in hand." Ikkaku replied. "Training grounds after lunch?"
"I'll be there." Suzume replied with a grin.
Yumichika clapped his hands in excitement. "So what kind of weapon does it turn in to?" He asked excitedly.
Suzume frowned. "It's a scythe like you would use to harvest wheat except the entire blade is sharp, not just the one side."
"That's odd," Ikkaku responded. "I'm sure you'll be just fine with it. Have you hand a chance to fight with it yet?"
She shook her head. "Not really. I've worked a little with my zanpakuto's spirit, but I keep feeling like I'm disappointing him."
"I'm sure you'll learn it just fine, Suzume." Yumichika patted Kourri on the back consolingly.
Later at the training grounds.
"Are you ready Suzume?"
Concentrating on her zanpakuto, Suzume called out, "Come out, Tamashī no karitori!" the katana elongated and curved into a scythe. Her left hand moved to the handle half way up the scythe's shaft and the right stayed down towards the end.
Ikkaku looked over the weapon. "I think some of the movements we can work on for you and that scythe are going to be similar to spear movements." Ikkaku released his own zanpakuto and started with simple thrusts and parries and moved on to slashes working Suzume until she could barely hold the scythe up in a guard position.
"Good work, Suzume. It's almost dinner time. Why don't you go get cleaned up and I'll see you there."
Suzume was bent over with her hands on her knees huffing from the recent exertion. She gave him a breathy thanks and waited until she caught her breath. As her breathing slowly went back to normal, she sensed a familiar spiritual pressure; that of her captain. Straightening and letting her zanpakuto go back to it's katana shape, she sheathed it and turned to face her captain.
"Good evening, Captain Zaraki." She said with a smile. When she had first joined the squad a year ago, she had a small crush on the man. She had had a hard time looking him in the eye too, but he had quickly broken her of that habit. The crush was still there, but with it was respect and admiration too.
"I see you've achieved shikai. How do you like the weapon it becomes?" He asked as he walked closer to the young soul reaper.
His presence could still be a little overwhelming, but Suzume found that as long as he wasn't too angry, she didn't feel like taking steps back as he walked towards her. The first time she had met him when she had been assigned the 11th division and was reporting for duty, all he had to do was take a step towards her and she would subconsciously take a step back. He had, of course, noticed it and caused her to walk right up against a wall, got really close and had said, "There, that isn't so bad, is it?" He had laughed about it and found it to be an entertaining joke whenever she was in his presence. This turned out to be quite frequent as he had purposely assigned her to retrieve and deliver paperwork to force her into the game as frequently as possible. It had taken a good month for her to stop doing that. It wasn't that he was scaring her, it was more his spiritual pressure was just too thick for her in the beginning.
"It's a little awkward. I think that more practice will help me get used to it. I'm glad Ikkaku was willing to help me out." She responded with a tired smile.
Kenpachi nodded. "Tomorrow you'll work with me. Same time."
Surprised, but looking forward to it, Suzume nodded, "As you wish, Captain Zaraki." Suzume bowed to him and turned to walk back to her quarters. Her quarters were rather spartan. A small kitchen to the right, a combination dining/living area just as you walked in, a bathroom that only consisted of a toilet and sink was a little further back, and a small bedroom that was straight back from the entry door. The only place to bathe was at the squad's bath house.
Hidden in the closet was her gift to her captain. Only one more week until she would give it to him. She knew he would like it, she seemed to have a sixth sense about what people would like or not like. In a chest next to the foot of her bed she had other items she had made that were waiting for the right person. They had all started as blocks of wood. Sometimes she would stare at those blocks for days trying to see the shape hidden within and then remove every bit that wasn't it.
She grabbed her toiletries and headed to the bath house to get cleaned up for dinner. Later she headed to dinner and enjoyed the camaraderie.
Tamashī no karitori means Reaper of Souls according to Google Translate. If it's wrong, blame Google.