Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and not me. No matter what sort of ending he writes. :P
Monsters at Rest
An Interlude
The Fourth Division was quiet in the after hours. Lower seats tended to the stable patients with admirable silence and grace. Their two newest arrivals, a little higher on the metaphorical pecking order, were under the watchful eyes of lieutenant Kotetsu and captain Unohana, veritable rocks of the Gotei.
It was because of this privilege that Retsu, stalwart smile frozen across her features, was able to send her subordinates from the area. Expert hands dropped a concealment kido with nary a twitch.
The door made the smallest rattle as it closed. It was almost too dark to see, but she didn't need her eyes to find him. Even unconscious, his reiatsu blanketed the area with anvil-like pressure so intense that his eye patch had to be found just to let the lesser Shinigami walk by without collapsing.
It felt warm.
And violent.
Sordid.
Frightening.
Beautiful.
Honest.
Kenpachi was sleeping and managing to look menacing all at once. His right hand flexed around an imaginary hilt, the smallest of grins crossing that ridiculous chin. With his hair down, the man from Zaraki district looked softer. A dozing predator, to say the least.
Two strides put Unohana at his bedside. His sword arm twitched. She stared at it as her eyes closed slightly.
The worst kind of passion roiled from the deepest corner of her soul, visibly shaking the false mask of flesh that held back the monster inside. Yachiru Unohana laughed, a delighted cackle that might haunt the dreams of a Shinigami for millenia.
The sharp hiss of a sword being drawn and Yachiru could feel his spiritual pressure wake up. A green eye, waiting to be plucked, stared up at her, the look of generations lost shared between them. The nodachi angled towards Zaraki awkwardly.
Yachiru's eyes felt heavy. Her chest boiled. Underneath a preposterous braid volcanic heat scorched every emotion. There was only desire; the need to kill and screw and stab and die again a thousand times.
Retsu blinked.
An iron grip was around her throat.
She couldn't breathe. Minazuki was sliding into his liver and she couldn't breathe and it was beautiful. Yachiru didn't make a noise. He squeezed harder, the sternocleidomastoid muscle snapping from her sternum. Her vision blackened around the edges and a full quarter of her zanpakuto tasted his organs.
Die, again, Zaraki Kenpachi. Beast of my heart.
"Hey." His voice is distant. Yachiru feels a vertebrae on the tip of her weapon. Her trachea collapses. "Did you know?"A lifetime roils inside her head, a genocide played across eyes staring into the past. "I like to fight."
Yes, Zaraki, I know. Die, again. Minazuki threatens to sever his spine. Yachiru's left leg loses sensation. A little voice says hypoxia will kill her. It's okay. She reaches into his robes with a free hand and feels every scar. Lower. Firm. She is breaking down, but she has tell him.
The first Kenpachi can't speak but her eyes want it all. You're the only man that could make me happy, Kenpachi of Zaraki.
Enemy.
Captain.
Soldier.
Child.
Man.
The only man.
Let us be monsters together.
She releases her shikai a split second before he snaps her neck like a toy.
Did you know... I like to fight, too?
Retsu walks away from the room, stretching a shoulder. Her vice captain greets her. "How is he, Unohana-taichou?"
It is only thanks to dim lighting that Isane doesn't notice the way her eyes drift toward her, gauging vital areas, where pain would be minimal but...
She blinks. "He is resting, Isane. The man's spiritual pressure is a danger to himself. Be sure you clean his dressings, I saw a few wounds open up again. Such a violent one."
Author's Note: I was sitting on this for a while. It isn't my best, but this pair is so irresistible. To be honest, they are the most shippable pair in Bleach, to me.
Thanks for reading, folks.