Thanks for the review! Here goes chapter 3. Again, reviews are always appreciated.


"Where is she?!" Kenpachi roared at Ichigo. "She should have been here two hours ago! I finally agree to train her and she disrespects me like this?! Fuck her! And fuck you to!" He went to stomp inside when a shuffling sound drew his attention.

Sara was using the side of the house to steady her. She wasn't wearing any shoes and her feet looked like they were bleeding. The knees of her pants had been torn and her dirty and bleeding knees were exposed and there was also a dark stain at the crotch of the pants that looked suspiciously like blood. Her shirt was also torn with blood stains on it and it was hanging off one shoulder which also appeared to be out of socket. Her other arm was holding her ribs. Both hands were dirty, scraped raw and bleeding from multiple places. Her face would haunt Ichigo's dreams. Blood was dripping down from her mouth and her lips were swollen and split in multiple places. Her right eye looked sunken, like the cheek and orbital bones had been broken. Her eye was already black and puffy and she didn't look like she was really seeing what she was looking at. Her wrists had wide red abrasions around them.

As they moved towards her, she fell to her knees and began vomiting blood. They were at her side in an instant. Kenpachi gently lifted her up and Ichigo ran to get his dad. Kenpachi took her to the clinic part of Ichigo's house and laid her on the bed in one of the rooms. She was already unconscious long before he got there.

It wasn't more than a minute before Isshin was there. He took one look at the girl and was immediately on his cell phone.

"Kiske? Yeah, it's Isshin. I need you at my clinic now and bring Tessai. I'll explain when you get here." He snapped the phone shut and turned to his son and the 11th squad captain. "I need you to do exactly what I say when I say it." They both nodded. "Good. Ichigo, I need you to go get the rape kit." The red head nodded and left.

"Rape? She was raped?" The big man asked lowly.

"I think so."

"Why didn't she fight back? I've seen her punch some guy before." Kenpachi's face was cold. Isshin could tell that there were various emotions warring within the man.

Isshin lifted one of the girl's hands for Kenpachi to see. "She did, Kenpachi. She punched and clawed for all she was worth. It may be the only reason she survived." Isshin went to a cupboard and pulled out a large plastic bag. "I need you to help me remove her clothing. We're going to do this right and get all the evidence to the police."

"She said that your police don't care about foreigner girls like her. We need to go find those bastards." Kenpachi flexed his hands feeling the thrill of a fight anticipated slowly working it's way into his veins.

"We'll talk to Kiske when he gets here. For now, help me with her clothing."

They kept her covered as much as they could while they undressed her and all of her clothing went into the plastic bag. Her wallet and key ring were rescued and set on a counter. Ichigo returned with the rape kit at about the same time that Kiske and Tessai arrived.

"Kenpachi, please take my son and Kiske from the room and let him know what's going on. Tessai, you're better at healing kido then I am. I want you to start by popping her shoulder back into place and then heal the bones in her face and also I think she may have some internal damage. See what you can do about that."

As the two men went to work on Sara, Kenpachi led the other two men out of the room. Kenpachi turned to Kiske, "Can you make something to track down specific humans?"

"What happened to that girl in there? Is she the one I ordered the zampakuto for?"

"Yeah, she's the one waiting for the sword. If what Kurasaki in there says is true, then she was raped. My guess, by the amount of damage to her body, is that it was more than one guy. So can you?"

"I should be able to if the rape kit can collect enough of those animals."

It was several minutes before Isshin opened the door. They saw that her face was still bruised and Ichigo asked why Tessai didn't heal her completely.

"Well, Ichigo, there are several factors you have to consider when healing someone." He replied, pushing his glasses up. "What condition is the body in? A few broken bones, some cuts, and sure, healing them is no problem. This girl had, not only a traumatic experience, but had extensive internal and external injuries. Had I healed her completely, if she didn't go into shock due to the strain it would put on her body, she would have a hard time dealing with the experience if she didn't also get to see her body heal. When she wakes up and has more strength, we'll offer to heal her completely."

Kiske spoke quietly to Isshin, away from everyone else. Isshin finally nodded and handed the containers containing the girl's clothing, the swabs from the rape kit and the container holding the scrapings from under her nails. When he had them in hand, he turned to leave.

"Hey, you better call me when you have something, Urahara." Kenpachi growled.

"Eager to beat up a few humans, Zaraki? Isn't that beneath you?"

"You know me. I'm always up for a decent fight." Much softer he said, "Besides, these bastards deserve a good beating."

Kiske left with Tessai right behind him.

"Ichigo, see if you have anything that will fit her. The girls' clothing is going to be much too small for her."

Ichigo nodded to his dad and went to go find something that would be comfortable. It wasn't long before he came back down with sweat pants and a sweat shirt. Isshin had his son leave the room and the two older men dressed the unconscious girl.

"I'm taking her back to my house." Kenpachi declared.

"I'm not sure that's for the best, Zaraki."

"She said she doesn't like hospitals. Let her wake up in a real bed and I'll keep watch over her tonight. You can always stop by and make sure she's ok." Isshin gave him an odd look, knowing this didn't quite match with the large captain's personality. "I feel bad for being so mad at her before and I have to wonder if I had started training her right away if this wouldn't have happened. Are you satisfied?" he growled.

"I'll allow it. Be gentle with her, Kenpachi. Her body is still pretty battered. We were only able to heal the internal damages." Kenpachi nodded, picked the girl up and took her to his house. He only had the one bed set up, but it was a large king sized bed. He set her one side of it and pulled the blankets up over her and got in on the other side. He was soon asleep.

It was the early hours of the morning when the sounds of whimpering awoke him. He scooted closer to her.

"Hey, Sara. Wake up. You're safe now." He rubbed her arm. She started awake, gasping for air. She touched her ribs and her face and quickly took in that she wasn't in a hospital bed and that she thought she had heard Kenpachi. She turned to face him, confusion clearly showing on her face.

"What happened? I remember….." She trailed off as she looked at her hands which still showed signs of her fight. She touched her face again and winced at the pain.

"You made it here and Ichigo and I took you to Isshin. A guy he knows was able to heal the worst of the damage." He saw her looking around oddly. "I remembered you hate being in hospitals so brought you back to my house to keep an eye on you tonight. Do you want anything? Something to eat or drink?" She shook her head and laid back down, pulling the covers up protectively. Kenpachi scooted back over towards 'his side' and settled in. He was waiting for her to start breathing evenly, indicating that she was sleeping, but instead she curled her body into a fetal position and he could see the shaking of her body as she sobbed as quietly as possible.

Kenpachi got up and got the girl a glass of water anyway. When he came back into the room, Sara was still trying to hide the fact that she was crying. The large man was shirtless and made a point to not look at Sara as he set the glass on the nightstand beside her. She stared at his chest and the multitude of scars crisscrossing it. Compared to the two large vertical scars that went from his collar bones to almost the end of his rib cage, the rest looked rather small and insignificant. She quickly looked away.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"For what?"

"For waking you and then keeping you awake by crying."

"I usually have rules against crying, you know." He was making his voice light and playful, but he wasn't sure how she would perceive it. "I'll allow it this time." He made sure the smile was evident on his face.

She looked over to him and saw the smile and recognized that his tone had been teasing and not harsh like it had sounded.

He moved back to the other side of the bed. "I'm right here should you need anything. Even if it's just to talk." He saw her nod and closed his eyes and continued to listen to the various sounds Sara was making. She eventually quieted and he could hear her drinking the water he had brought her. She then settled back in and eventually he heard the even measured breathing of sleep and allowed himself to fall asleep as well.

Morning light streaming in through the nearby window woke Kenpachi. He saw that Sara was still sound asleep, so he got up and started making breakfast. He was just finished cooking when Sara stumbled out of the bedroom. She was unsteady on her feet as Tessai had not healed them. He watched her come to the island in the kitchen and pull out a stool and climb up it, all the while wincing in pain. He chose not to offer help as she has not asked for any and felt she may not want to be touched by anyone just yet.

"Whose clothes am I wearing?"

"Ichigo's I think. No one else had any clothing that might fit you and what you were wearing was pretty damaged. I hope you didn't have any attachment to any of it."

"What happened to my shoes?"

"Don't you remember?"

She took the offered plate of food and glass of orange juice and set them down. Kenpachi was leaning against the island across from her. She put a hand to her head, closed her eyes and was silent for a moment.

"I was fighting back. I was kicking out and one of the guys grabbed my ankle and tugged so I fell. He was mad at me and ripped the shoe off. I had already kicked him in the face with it. My other shoe must have been ripped off at some point too." She had spoken slowly, testing each word, all while her eyes were closed.

"Do you remember how many were there?"

"Four, I think." She whispered slowly and began shaking in fear.

"Hey. Open your eyes. You're not there anymore. Keep your eyes open and remind yourself that you're safe here." He had started to see tears forming at the corners of her eyes and he didn't want her focusing too much on the previous night.

She opened her eyes and slowly ate. He could tell that moving her mouth too much seemed to hurt her.

"Tessai said that once you were awake, I could ask you if you wanted him to heal you the rest of the way. He was concerned that healing you completely without being able to see your injuries may cause you to go into shock."

"Who's Tessai?"

"He was a kido master. I hear he performed one of the forbidden kidos and had to leave Soul Society when Kiske left. Kiske had been accused of experimenting on unwilling soul reapers, including his own lieutenant." He saw her face and added, "He wasn't the one who did the experimenting. He ended up saving their lives though and the only way to do that was with a forbidden kido."

"Who's Kiske?"

He laughed, forgetting that though his name had been mentioned in passing, she would have no way of knowing him. "Kiske is the former captain of the 12 division which is in charge of research and development."

"So the 12th is in charge of experimentation and the 11th is in charge of the fighting?"

"All soul reapers fight. The 11th just likes it more than the rest. We seek out the strongest opponents on the battlefield." She nodded in thought and winced at the movement. "I can call Tessai and have him over here if you like."

"Considering that everything hurts, I think that might be for the best."

Kenpachi nodded and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Kiske and waited for him to answer.

"Yeah, Kiske, Sara's awake." "What? It's ready? Well bring it over already! I'm aching for a fight." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever if it's beneath me. You think I care?" "No, I'm not letting her near them. Bring Tessai. She's ready for more healing." "Whatever. I'll see you soon." He snapped the phone shut and turned to Sara. "They're on their way and Kiske made a device to track the assholes who did this to you." His smile was a little frightening, "And then I'm going to have some fun."

Rosetta Stone did not teach much in the way of swearing, "Assholes?" She said the word slowly, getting the feel of it. Kenpachi explained and then she said, "Oh! (Assholes!) I got it." Kenpachi shook his head in amusement. "Why are you doing this?" She asked seriously.

"Aren't you happy that they are going to be brought to justice?" He said the last word oddly as it reminded him of that traitor Tosen and how he always went on about justice. He forgave himself for using the word as it really did apply to the situation.

"What's the point, Kenpachi? The police aren't going to do anything about it."

"Who said anything about bring them to the police?" He smiled widely. "I just said I would bring them to justice….. which just happens to look a lot like my fists…"

"You aren't going to kill them, are you?" She asked with a horrified look on her face.

"Considering what they did to you, you have a problem with them being killed?"

"No. I have a problem with you killing them on my behalf. I don't know if I could deal with knowing that I hand a hand, even such a small hand, in killing another human." She hugged herself and winced as her torso had taken a lot of damage.

"You humans are odd. They nearly killed you, and you don't want me to make it so that they can't ever do that to you or anyone else ever again?"

"I can't help it, Kenpachi. I wish horrible things on them all the time now, but at the same time, thinking of you killing them makes me feel horrible inside, like I'm no better than them. It's like if I let myself get to that level, I won't be human anymore."

He sighed. "Ok, I promise I won't kill them. I can't promise what will happen to them after that, but I'll leave them alive."

She gave him a small smile as anything larger would hurt too much. "Thank you."

When they were finished eating, He took the plates and set them in the sink for later and they waited for the two men to arrive.

They didn't have long to wait before Kiske walked in, followed closely by Tessai.

Kiske took in Kenpachi's lack of dress as he was still only wearing a pair of sweats. "You don't look ready, Captain Zaraki. Should I come back?"

"Don't you dare. I'll be right back." He went back to the bedroom, shut the door, and got dressed. He came back out a few moments later wearing his black boots, dark colored jeans and a black button down short sleeved shirt. He came out still buttoning it up and left the top couple buttons undone. He went to the bathroom and ran a brush through his hair and came out ready to go.

He noticed that Sara looked rather stiff and realized he hadn't introduced her to the other men when he left. He called himself seven kinds of a fool and quickly went up to her and got her attention.

"Sara, the man in green is Kiske and the taller man is Tessai. He's the guy that healed you last night. If you would feel more comfortable, I can have Isshin or Ichigo here with you." She looked down and shook her head. "Are you sure? You don't have to pretend to be ok to please me."

"I need to learn to trust again. And if you trust this man, I should be able to trust him too. I can't go through life being scared of everyone. If I do, then they've won."

He appreciated her fighting spirit. I would come in handy when he started training her. He gave her shoulder a light squeeze and walked out with Kiske.

Tessai bowed low to Sara, "Peterson-san, please come and lay on the couch. It will be easier for me if you are lying flat. I see you have eaten which is good. You will need a lot of strength for me to finish healing you."

"Just Sara is fine." She got off the stool and hobbled to the couch and laid down.

He healed her feet first and then her hands and face as those were areas he could see and then asked her what else hurt. She explained and he healed each one. By the time he was done, she was exhausted. He helped her to the bed and tucked her in. When she started to nap, He took her keys and went next door to Ichigo and told him to get the girl some of her own clothing. Ichigo did as he was asked and the clothing was waiting for her when she woke up several hours later. Happy to see her own clothing, she took a long shower and was dressed again when Kenpachi came back home.

She was surprised to see him bruised and a little bloody. His lip was split and his cheek looked bruised. He walked in with a big grin on his face and took a seat on the couch. He was happy to see the girl walking without pain and seeing her face without bruises. She looked well rested and much more like the Sara he had seen at the grocery store.

She hurried to the freezer and pulled out some ice and laid it in a towel and rushed over to the large man. She gently laid the impromptu ice bag against his cheek.

"Quit your fussing over me, woman. It's nothing."

"Let me." For a brief moment, their eyes caught each other's.

Kenpachi reached up and touched the cheek that had been bruised. "Tessai does good work. It's nice to see you walking normally again."

Sara blushed and looked away. "Hold the ice pack. I'll grab something to clean your lip."

He held the ice pack in place. It did feel nice against his cheek. And he had to admit, it was nice being fussed over.

She went back to the kitchen and wet a wash cloth. She came back to the couch and kneeled on it while dabbing and wiping at his lip. "So, what happened?"

"We found them. It was easy because they were all together. Apparently, they take women frequently because they were at work on another one. I don't have to ask you how you got those wide marks around your wrists. I saw it for myself. One of the bastards had a belt around the girl's wrists and a foot on her shoulder which is how I'm guessing yours was dislocated?" She nodded. Her eyes were filling, but she deserved to know.

"It looked like one was seeing how many bruises he could make on the girl's breasts." She looked away and nodded. Isshin knew then. I was behind her supporting her when we were removing her clothing at the clinic. He had covered her up quickly. I thought he was just granting the girl some modesty after what happened. He didn't want me to see. "I think they were surprised to see me. The girl they were working on wasn't sure if she should be happy or scared when she saw me and Kiske."

"I said to Kiske, 'Oh look, a bunch of cowards who can't get a woman without abducting her from the streets.' They didn't like that. Three of them moved towards me and the forth stayed there holding the girl by the belt on her wrists." He continued.

"Oh no, if you really want a sporting chance, all four of you should come at me at once."

The three guys looked at each other feeling a little smug. Sure the guy was big, but did he just say he would take on all four of them by himself?

"What about hat and clogs over there?"

"He knows better than to get in my way during a fight."

"What's your problem, man? We don't have any beef with you." One of the thugs asked who had what looked like deep scratches down his face. Seeing evidence of Sara fighting back made him happy.

"Oh, but you do. You should have never taken the girl you did last night."

"She your girlfriend or somethin'?"

"Nope. Just my student and you interrupted our first lesson. Now, I'm gunna have to take it out on you boys."

The guy holding the girl down laughed and admonished the girl to stay put as he went over to his friends. When Kiske was sure that they were going to fight the captain of the 11th squad, he went over to the girl and removed her bindings and covered her in his long jacket.

He sat down next to her and said, "We might as well enjoy the show. You don't see something like this every day." She was too battered to protest and watched it all wide eyed.

"Well, come on. I'll even let you have the first punch."

Unlike anyone in Soul Society, these punks took him up on the offer. Not only did they all fight him at once, the guy who had been bruising the girl stepped forward and decked Kenpachi in the face. He was surprised at the amount of pain the punch gave him, but realized that with his spiritual pressure so reduced, a normal human's punch would now have some weight behind it.

He laughed and said, "My turn." As he punched the kid in the jaw. He was surprised that even though the kid went down, he got back up. He was happy to see that the guy at least had what looked like it would become a nice fat lip from the punch.

Kenpachi laughed as he fought, taking some hits and laying about him with his own fists. It was a good fight. He wondered if all his sparring should be done like this.

When he was finished, he went over to Kiske and the girl. She was terrified, he could see it in her eyes. "Let's take her and these bastards to the police. I promised Sara I wouldn't kill them and I'm really wishing I hadn't agreed to that right now." To the girl, "Can you walk?" She nodded. "Good." He went over to the thugs and started hauling them onto his shoulders. None of them were really big men, but after lifting three of them, he was staggering under their combined weight. Damn these seals! He thought. Kiske slung the last man over his shoulders and used his other hand to guide the girl. He took the lead so that they didn't end up all over the city and eventually get lost.

They walked in to the police station, dropped the unconscious men on the floor and pushed the girl forward. When she started talking to an officer, they quickly left, not wanting to answer any questions.

Sara listened with her head lowered and when he finished, he lifted her face to look at him. "I want you to move your things here, Sara."

She narrowed her eyes and pulled away. "Why?"

"We ended up going by your apartment. I know it was yours because I recognized the building and the sun tea jug in the window. When I pointed out your apartment to Kiske, he told me that the area you're living in is not a safe one especially for a woman living alone."

"I knew that when I rented the place. Compared to some places back home, it's really not that bad."

"The only time I want to see you covered in that much blood is when it's someone else's and you've defeated them. I already talked to Kiske and we're going to move you tomorrow."

She got off the couch. "You have no right. You didn't even ask me."

"You froze up when Kiske and Tessai arrived here earlier and you think you can go back to living alone?"

"That's not my point, Kenpachi. I barely know you and you're making decisions for me without even consulting me."

"What is it that is upsetting you? Do you not trust me? Do you feel that you would be safer in your apartment? Or are you mad that I didn't ask your permission first?"

Sara was standing in the middle of the room, turned slightly away from the large man so he couldn't see her face. "I'm mad that you didn't ask me. I do trust you and I do feel safer with you, but you didn't even bother to ask me my opinion. Do my feelings even matter to you?"

"Your safety matters to me more than whether or not I make you upset by disregarding your feelings."

She chuckled darkly. "At least you're honest about it."

"Since you're feeling better, let's start training."

"My body may be healed, but my mind is still a little messed up. Give me a day and we'll start Monday after I get home from work."

"Are you sure you're ready to go back so soon?"

"It's Saturday. Assuming that Ichigo didn't tell anyone at work, it would be for the best. Get me back to a normal routine as soon as possible."

"What kind of contract did you have with the apartment?"

"Only a month to month. I was going to look for something else as soon as I was secure in my job."

"Good. How about we figure out which room will be yours?"

"I'm still very upset with you, Kenpachi."

"If we were training today, you could take it out on me. I wouldn't mind." He grinned.

She caught his grin and held in her own. He stood up and walked towards the bedroom that would be next to his. It was the second largest in the house and like his, had an attached bathroom.

"Think of it this way, you've been upgraded."

She pushed him with a mixture of cooling anger and playfulness. He, of course, didn't move.

"What are you? Part boulder?"

"Just expected the movement and planted my feet. Are you sure you don't want to take your anger out on me?"

She shook her head and hugged herself. "Not today."

He left her to her thoughts and began making dinner which they later ate quietly.