Last I checked, I'm still not Kubo Tite. Soundtrack: last chapter: Boki wa Tori ni Naru from Code Geass. This chapter: Funny Days, Yachiru's theme.
Kenpachi sat down, laying his sword across his lap. He fished in his pockets and produced a scrap of cloth, a tin of sword polish and a sharpening stone. It had been two months, and Yachiru was ready for the next step in her training. She sat across from him with her little wooden sword on her lap.
"We'll start in on the basics. When you get a real sword, you'll be responsible for polishing and sharpening it. Always clean your blade after a fight, or it'll rust."
Yachiru blinked at him. "Can't you make a real sword? Ya made this one for me."
"This is for practice. You'll get a zanpakuto once you grow a bit. Now pay attention or I'll do horrible things to ya."
The threat worked. Kenpachi showed her how to polish a sword and started her on the simplest sword kata he knew. Keeping things slow and simple would be a lot easier for her. The first Yachiru had been a lot harder on him, but he'd won his first twenty fights by then. He'd been a teenager then, all arms and legs and ego. Yachiru the first had done him a favor by knocking him down a peg or three.
On the other hand,Yachiru the second needed a lot of building up. At this point, the best she could hope for was surviving her first fight. Yachi wasn't weak or stupid, she just needed time to grow.
"All right, Yachi, take a break. You're doin' great."
She sat down, breathing hard. He showed her a few stretches, and then picked her up.
"I think it's about time for lunch. Mugarame's only a ri away."
--
After a quick lesson in town safety, they headed toward a soba place Kenpachi remembered from his last visit. That'd been a while ago. He wondered if the boy he'd met here had ever gone to the Soul Society. What was that kid's name? Shuusuke? No, it was Shuuhei.
"Soba, soba, soba!" Yachiru chanted. "Hey Ken-chan, let's do the soba shout!"
Kenpachi rolled his eyes. Thankfully, the waitress came out, and he ordered some soba for both of them. He tended to get quick service, especially when he smiled at the customers.
"Isn't that the demon of Zaraki?" one of the customers at the shop whispered.
"I didn't think he actually existed," his friend whispered back.
Kenpachi grinned, digging into his soba. Nice to know people remembered him. He just hoped the "soba shout" was a one-time occurance. Next thing ya knew, the kid'd have him dance like a rice ball or some damn thing.
Yachiru'd already made her meal disappear and was idly observing the crowd.
"Hey, Ken-chan, you ever been here before?"
"Yeah, a few times. Last time I went, I'd heard a whole buncha captains and vice-captains died, plus most of a squad from Ninth. I wanted to see if I could beat somethin' as strong as that, but the thing that got 'em was long gone."
"Aww, that's too bad."
"No t really. I missed out on tha fight, but if I hadn't taken a detour for a while, I wouldn' of meet you."
He flicked a noodle off her head. "Food's supposed to go in, not on."
After the first Yachiru had died, Kenpachi'd avoided Zaraki as much as possible. He still had the house that he'd squatted in, but it'd just gotten too lonely. He'd been in the Sixtieth when the word about the attack had gone out.
On his way back from Mugarame, there'd been Michio and the Seventieth, ducking into Seventy-First to avoid Michio, and then there'd been Tomie, Tomomi, Akito, Amane, and Hikaru. There might've been one or two he'd missed.
He usually changed districts when the relationship failed, or in one case, when his current lover died. (That wasn't Kenpachi's fault, Amane'd charged a customer who pulled a knife on her.) He'd been kind of heading back to Zaraki, and planned to train there for a while. In Seventy-Fifth, he'd caught word of a group of bandits who were planning to attack Kusajishi.
Kenpachi'd then high-tailed it to Kusajishi. He loved bandits: first you got to fight 'em and then ya got their stuff. 'Course this time around he'd ended up with a lot more than jewelry and coins.
The waitress came around and tidied up.
"Both of you have enough?" she asked.
"Yeah, thanks," Kenpachi said, putting a bracelet down. Their stock of money was low, and jewelry was negotiable. It never hurt to flirt with a pretty girl either.
"Please sir, I can't accept that. It's gold!"
"Goldish. I bet it's plating on bronze or ever seen real gold around here?"
"No, no. I can't accept something like that from a stranger. Keep it for your wife. I'm sure she wouldn't be pleased if you gave a strange girl something like that."
"Ain't got a wife, it's just me and Yachiru."
"I'm sorry to hear that. But it's far too much as payment for a meal."
"How about you tell me some interestin' things, an' we'll call it even. I bet ya hear a lot of things from the other districts, workin' here."
"I hear some things," she admitted. "Like, they're predicting the bandits will be out earlier 'cause it's been so warm. I've heard that the caravans are hiring extra guards down in Forty-ninth. There's a gang war in Fifty-seventh. And they say that one of the shinigami captains died."
"From which divison?"
"Third. Everyone knows that the Third Division is 't had one captain that hasn't died in battle or by accident in the last hundred years. The vice-captains tend to be accident-prone as well. I heard there were some hollows around here- maybe one of them got him."
A suspicious person, like Kenpachi, might wonder about all those accidents. Being a captain had a lot of appeal, and someone might've gotten impatient. When all was said and done, a division was just a big gang. And he'd seen enough gang fights to know what happened when the boss seemed weak.
The waitress winked at him. "I'll pack you some food, and then we'll be even."
He waved and took Yachiru inside. She was beginning to squirm.
--
"Ken-chan, what'd we get?"
Yachiru leaned over his shoulder, examining the bag the waitress had packed.
"Two packs of soba noodles. Got enough food for a week."
There were also a pair of steamed peach buns that'd be dessert when they stopped for dinner. They still had a little rice and soup left, so they wouldn't need to worry about food for a while. Well, he might be in a dry spell, but the old charm still worked.
Kenpachi grinned. Might as well stop at Fifty-Seventh and see if there was some fun to be had.
--
Before leaving Sixty-ninth, Kenpachi had another errand to run. He flashed a few coins, waited for a street rat to show up, and got directions to the nearest tailor's shop. He bought three pairs of underwear for Yachiru, even though he wanted to drop through the floor with embarrassment. It got even more embarrassing when Yachiru tried to show her new clothes off.
---
"Can ya tell me another story, Ken-chan? About Seireitei?" Yachiru asked when they stopped for the night.
"All right. Once upon a time, there was a man named Yamamoto. He woke up dead in the Rukon, like I did, but he found that he was super strong. His enemies died when they lifted their blades against him. None of his opponents stood a chance, with Ryujin Jakka, his blade, by his side⦠"
She wrapped her arms around her legs and listened, spellbound. Heh, a long time ago, that'd been him. He could've recited the names of all the first captains: Yamamoto, Masanori Shihouin, Jun'ichi Oomeda, Retsu Unohana, Soichiro Shiba, Nobuya Kuchiki, Sawako Igurashi, Shunshui Kyoraku, Akira Nagutani, Tadashi Kasumi, Shin Kenpachi Shiratora, Nadeshiko Ushoda, Jyushiro Ukitake, and Yue Fong of the Kido Force. Most of them were long gone, but four persisted.
Kenpachi knew of the first twelve captains, and of a few other captains whose deeds trickled into the rumor mill of the Rukon. Shin Kenpachi, in particular, had fired his imagination. Shin had walked into the Seireitei with his gang and his sword, and bullied Yamamoto into creating Eleventh Division.
Yachiru was clearly just as interested as he'd been. Kenpachi wondered what the first Yachiru would've thought of the little one. She was probably laughing her ass off at him trying the parenting thing. Wherever she was.
I wonder what the first four are like, he mused, stirring up the fire after Yachiru dozed off. Guess I'll get ta find out when we get there.
A few terms:
Oujo: a gang , Kenpachi ought to have called the innkeeper in the last chapter "Taishou."
Night Hawk: Edo-period slang for "ladies of negotiable affection."
Ri = 2.44 miles. An old fashioned Japanese unit of measurement.
A/N: I know Yachiru's growing a bit fast, but a decade of infancy just seems cruel.
Review, please, so I can keep tormenting Kenpachi.
