"Is she ...with him?"
"No, they're both Captains at the Seireitei. It's ...gotta be business, right?"
"This time of night? Everything respectable will be closing soon."
"Soul Reapers, maybe they really are vampires."
"You've lost it. Vampires? Stop reading so much, you've gone loony."
"But ...do you think he knows ...about ... Mitsuo ..."
"SHHHHH ..."
"But ..."
...
Captain Kenpachi Zaraki strained his ears a bit, but couldn't catch any more of the whispered conversation. Grumpy, he looked over at his companion for the evening. She looked perfectly comfortable as she window shopped, since the stores were closed.
"You know. This isn't what I had in mind for 'rule breaking'." The large warrior groused. "Sure we left our barracks without informing people properly ...but really, is that the depth of depravity you really want to reach?"
Retsu didn't look at him as she glanced at the wares on display in the window. Her eyes went to the shoes first. Gorgeous. "A Hell's Butterfly can still find us if needed."
"Breaking the window and taking those strappy things would be breaking the rules." Kenpachi pointed out, somehow knowing she'd never go for it.
The calm healer did turn and give him a chiding look, however. He grinned, unrepentant. "We have been to two bars already." She pointed out to him softly.
Kenpachi groaned and looked up into the starry night. "Where everyone scattered from us and were polite. Too polite. And since I've never been to such nice bars in my entire life ...and they greeted you by name ...it wasn't my fault." The scarred warrior frowned. "Hard to start a bar brawl when everyone is so damned ..."
"Nice?" Retsu clucked her tongue and shrugged. "I've been a Captain for just about 200 years now, I've been a few places."
"Bars?" He gave her a lingering look, not quite believing that.
Retsu looked back at the shoes and then up the street, her face lit up a bit and she started forward. Kenpachi had no trouble keeping up with her, not with his long strides. In fact, it was a bit irritating not to walk at his usual pace. But when he'd tried earlier she had not sped up to keep up with him. The big man frowned, in fact, she'd had him dancing to her tune all night.
"The owner of the last bar? Had a child who'd been ill." She shrugged.
Kenpachi lost his scowl. Oh. She'd healed the man's child. That explained the free drinks. His. Not hers. She'd yet to have one.
"I don't think you're really getting the hang of breaking the rules." Kenpachi took a deep breath. "Fine. You don't want to get sloppy drunk and screw my brains out." She gave him a quick glare for that one, and he smiled cheesily at her. "So what do you have in mind?"
Retsu stopped on the sidewalk and looked up at the warrior beside her. Her calm eyes and demeanor were back in place. No hint of the desperate pain that he'd glimpsed earlier when she'd asked for his help. Yet he knew it was there, somewhere hidden and underneath the surface. He knew because he'd lived with inner pain like that his entire life. It didn't just go away, never completely. Though, hopefully hers was temporary. Brought on by stressful circumstances. Resolvable.
She blinked and looked around, unsure.
Kenpachi sighed, trying to understand. "That noble, did he ..."
"Look!" She interrupted rudely. "Iced creams, and they're still open."
The leader of Squad 11 knew he wasn't an educated man, but even he could see through a strategy that thin. "Fine, distract me. Iced creams? So what?" He looked at the bright store front with lots of candy colored furniture and gleaming white counters.
"That's a rule I want to break." Retsu gave a small nod.
"Iced creams?"
The smaller woman beside him walked toward the store, leaving him to follow or not. "Rule is that they are only for holidays, and I'm usually working on the holidays."
Kenpachi scratched his head as he ducked to enter the establishment. He stood back up to find every eye glued very cautiously on him. He grinned. This was more like it. It had bothered him to be treated so nicely at those two bars. Fear and loathing, he was much more comfortable with those reactions.
"We're closed." The older man gave Kenpachi a nervous smile. A fake one.
The larger Captain took the open sign from the door and ripped it in half, making the little man swallow hard and start coughing. "What do you want, Retsu?"
The little healer looked from one male to the other, and Kenpachi knew she was feeling uncomfortable now. He grinned. "Iced cream. What do you want?"
"Vanilla." She said, as if unsure.
Kenpachi sighed loudly and looked up at the ceiling. "What you should have? What you've always had? Or your true preference?"
Dark gray eyes looked over at the menu quickly and she gave a jerk of a head nod. "You ...you are right. I will have ...buttered pecan."
"Live dangerously." Kenpachi said, rolling his eyes behind her back.
"I've never tried it." She admitted in a soft voice as the man hurried to fill her order.
"So damned sheltered." The fighting captain sighed. Only to narrow his gaze on her as his words made her stiffen, as if insulted. Damned? No, he'd used that word and a lot worse over the past thirty years to try and illicit a response from her. She was a bundle of exposed nerves tonight.
"Just give them what they want, get them out the door."
"Isn't that ...?"
"Yes. But, just keep calm."
"I don't know, you heard about ... my cousin Mitsuo Oshiri didn't you?"
"Shush!"
...
Kenpachi had been listening in blatantly, glad they were afraid of him. Only to frown sharply as he realized that while they were wary of him ...but feared her. Her? Who was this Mitsuo character? Unless it was someone he'd fought and killed. No, he couldn't remember such a person. And he'd never really been to this part of the town before.
Here he was, towering over everyone in the shop by a good foot and a half. Covered in battle scars and wearing an eyepatch with a well used sword at his side. There she was, covered from head to toe in a respectable manner, hell, even her braid covered her up! She was gentle, kind, and very, very calm. He was the loose cannon, the one that they should fear!
Retsu sat down at a nearby table with her iced cream in a cone, with napkins. Kenpachi shook his head at her and grabbed a chair, turning it around the wrong way to straddle it and face her. "You like to live dangerously, don't you?"
"You're mocking me." She told him in a mild tone of voice.
"Yes." He grinned, watching as she licked the iced cream. Zaraki watched her mouth as she ate with slow pleasure. And down below his belt, he felt the faintest stir of interest. He let his grin fade, his visible eye narrowing her on face.
She wasn't indifferent, it amused him that as his attention grew, so did her nerves. Oh, it wasn't overt, not with Retsu. No. A twitch of her thumb on the table as she reached for her napkin. A turn of her head as she casually avoided his gaze. With her, it was all in the details.
"When you rub your thumb over a surface like that, you're nervous." His voice came out gruff.
Startled, her dark gray eyes moved to look at him, as if weighing his words. Her thumb also stopped moving and she pressed her hand to the table. He chuckled at her. "Can't say I've learned nothing teasing you for thirty years?"
"Teasing?" She asked coolly. "I thought you were stalking me, trying to force me to attack you."
"That too. And just so you know? I still want that battle, tonight changes nothing." He admitted baldly. "How's your rule-breaking treat?"
"Delicious. Don't you want a cone?"
Kenpachi shrugged. "Never tried one."
Startled, the little healer stared at him a moment. "Never? I thought ...I thought that Yachiru at least would have gotten you to try one once."
"She eats them too fast. Besides, I'm not one for sweets. I like my pleasures ...with an edge." His grin turned raffish.
Retsu swallowed and nodded, then sighed as some of her iced cream melted and a drop ran over the back of her hand. She reached for a napkin, only to stop as his hand was suddenly in the way.
"Let me." He muttered, and pulled her hand with the cone in it toward him.
Retsu stopped breathing for a moment as he brought her hand to his mouth and licked the droplet off of her skin. She stared at him, unable to form a response as her stomach turned over unexpectedly and her internal temperature shot upwards. And during it all, his gaze never left hers. Her lips slightly parted of their own volition as they stared at each other.
"Mmmm ..." Kenpachi wasn't sure what the hell he was doing. But he knew he damned well wasn't going to stop. Caution was not a word familiar to him.
His dark eyed gaze never straying from her own eyes, he opened his mouth and tilted her hand to take a bite of her iced cream. The warrior was pleased to see a pink tint staining Retsu's cheeks as she stared back at him, unable to look away.
As unexpected as the moment was, it ended in a howl as Kenpachi reared back with his hand to his head. "What the fuck?"
Retsu grabbed her napkin, blotting at her hand as she looked away, a shiver running through her body.
"Nerve pain from the sphenopalatine ganglion."
Kenpachi was rubbing at the bridge of his nose and shaking his head for a moment, then glared at her. "What did you do to me?"
The little healer's mouth twitched, then she gave him a mild look with a barely-there smile. "It's brain freeze. From the iced cream. You shouldn't let it touch the roof of your mouth without being acclimated."
"Damn it!" Kenpachi gave her a multi-toothed grin that was more threat than anything else. "You did that on purpose!"
But Retsu just smiled at him and shook her head.
"You act like you don't, but you fight dirty. I just know it."
"No."
"Tell me about Mitsuo something or other."
His demand clearly shocked her. She turned and looked at him and then shook her head, not wanting to go there. "You shouldn't listen to gossip."
"Gossip says you're frigid." He teased her outright, obviously laughing on the inside.
Retsu gave a stiff shrug then shook her head. "Gossip says you eat the hearts of your victims."
"No." He drew out the word slowly, letting her relax. "I only eat the livers."
Her sudden indrawn breath and stare had him laughing so hard he fell off his chair onto the floor, pointing at her embarrassed face.
Ruffled, Retsu frowned and tossed the now messy iced cream into the trash bin, stepping over him on the floor as she headed for the door.
"Hollows don't have livers." He got the words out between bursts of laughter. "You should see your face."
Her hand on the door, Retsu looked over her shoulder at him. Her face a very sweet pink. "Hollows aren't the only ones you've ever fought."
Kenpachi climbed to his feet, leaning into her personal space with a huge grin. "I have never eaten the livers or hearts of anyone or anything I've fought. I don't take trophies. And believe me, I've been hungry enough in my life to make the idea tempting."
Her fingers reached out and twitched the line of his battered haori. "No trophies?"
The warrior shrugged. "Okay, one or two. But no livers. Promise. And I never fight with anyone too weak to fight back. Now, about this Mitsuo person?"
Retsu gave a half-shrug and shook her head.
Zaraki caught her chin in his hand and turned her head gently so that their eyes met again. He gave her a long, lingering look then smiled. "Tell me the story, or we go to my type of bar."
o.O.o.O.o.O
Kenpachi watched with barely disguised glee as Retsu glared at the scarred table and wobbly chair he was holding out for her.
"Is it clean?" She asked doubtfully.
"Can almost guarantee it hasn't been clean since it was new." The large warrior bowed and gestured for his companion to take a seat. "Now there are rules for this type of place."
"You mean a dive." Retsu sniffed and sat down as genteelly as possible, waving a hand at the smoky atmosphere. "And I thought the whole idea was to break the rules."
"Wanna leave? Tell me about Mitsuo Ohara."
"Oshiri." She corrected him without thought, then frowned.
"So you do know who they were talking about." He grinned, leaned in next to her ear.
Retsu sighed, but nodded. She did indeed know. "I don't have to tell you a thing. And I can leave anytime I want."
"You try to leave and I'll attack. Here, in the bar, making a HUGE mess and causing all sorts of embarrassment to you. I would even tell the Head Captain you screwed my brains out before we came out here. Give him explicit details."
"Assuming you have any brains in the first place." She hissed.
Kenpachi laughed, pleased that he was getting under her skin. "Now, the rules are simple."
"Again, we are here to break the rules." Retsu gave him a quick look, probably to see how serious he was.
"Little one, those are society's rules. Your rules. We can break them all we want. No, I'm talking about my own damned rules and break them at your own peril." Kenpachi moved to take the seat across from her at the table, leaning in on his elbows as he gave her a rough grin.
"Arrogant much?" She shook her head.
His grin grew wider. "Oh much more than you even know about. Now, listen up. First rule, follow my lead. Second? No weapons, do not pull your zanpakuto in here."
Retsu frowned slightly.
He waved one hand and answered without being asked. "I don't want any fights ending too soon, so no zanpakuto and no kido or anything else. Fights are meant to be long, drawn out and fun."
The healer raised one eyebrow at that and then rolled her eyes. "Are there any more rules?"
"No crying and no stopping me if I'm having fun."
"Fun? As in fighting?" She guessed and then sighed as he gave her a slow nod of agreement. "And I never cry."
"Right." He dismissed her words with a turn of his head, looking around to judge the atmosphere. "Now, who is the strongest most bad-ass jerk-off in here that might be willing to have a fight?"
"You." Retsu sighed, then shifted in her seat as something on the table appeared to move. "Definitely you. Is that a spider?"
Zaraki gave her a look and a laugh as he nodded, acknowledging her comment. "Besides me." He flicked the spider away with his forefinger.
The drinks he had called for when they first arrived were slammed down on the table in front of them, the pale golden liquid slopping over onto the table.
Kenpachi stared as the barmaid glared at Retsu and turned to walk away, a barely whispered "bitch" could easily be heard as she left.
Retsu ignored the insult and tentatively picked up her glass, staring at the color and then sniffing it with distaste.
Kenpachi eyed his companion in wonder. "You've been here before?"
But the dark-haired healer shook her head and took the tiniest of sips from her glass, making a distraught face at the taste. "No, no I haven't."
"Ah shit, not like that." The warrior grabbed his drink and threw back his head as he slammed the fiery liquid down his gullet. He felt the heat all the way down as he gave a crude burp and smiled happily. "Like that."
He turned and called for more drinks, only to frown as the rude barmaid took off her apron and refused. The bar owner himself had to carry over the tray of drinks.
The little worm of a man put out more drinks, ignoring the fact that Retsu hadn't finished the first one yet. "There you are."
Kenpachi gave the man a level look. "Have I been here before?" He asked, wondering if he was no longer welcome here. It happened. A lot. And it didn't mean he'd leave either.
"No, no ...you are welcome here. You both are." The man jerked his head up and down nervously, sweat beading on his forehead. "And never mind Akiko, she just ...she's got a temper, that's all."
Akiko had to be the name of the rude barmaid who was over in the corner arguing with two other patrons as they tried to calm her down. But the little barmaid was having none of it, her gestures growing wilder as she argued with them.
Kenpachi looked at Retsu, who was eying her drink and then put it to her lips. A shudder passed through her as she tilted her head back and took a large gulp. He grinned as her face went beet red and she started sputtering, obviously not wanting to spit it out ...since that would be rude.
"Swallow." He crooned at her.
Retsu shook her head and her hand knocked on the already wobbly table. Kenpachi saved his own drink from sloshing and laughed as Retsu finally swallowed, her hand over her mouth in horror. She glared at him, her eyes promising retribution.
He lifted his own glass in acknowledgement and slammed back his second drink with great pleasure. He turned and gestured for another round.
Retsu stared at her second drink and pushed it across the table toward him, he grinned and handed it back to her.
"C'mon little healer girl, don't be a baby."
Retsu glared at him. "It's poison."
"The best kind of poison." He told her and picked up her hand, wrapping it around the small glass. "Drink. Or tell me a story. Or you can ..."
"Shut up." She interrupted him rudely, making him laugh. "You're not even attracted to me, why do you keep making comments about want to ...do that?"
"You mean fuck?"
"I told you to shut up." She hissed, looked around. Glared. Then took her drink and tossed it back as quickly as she could. More coughing and sputtering commenced as she grimaced at the taste.
Kenpachi watched happily, not bothering to dispel her belief that he wasn't attracted. He hadn't thought he was. But back in the iced cream parlor he'd started to think otherwise. And now, watching her struggle to drink like this? Yeah. He could take her. It didn't mean he still didn't want that fight with her, no. But ...she was making parts of him sit up and notice. In fact, if he was objective, he'd always noticed but hadn't really thought about it before.
Maybe that's why he'd felt the need to tease her for ...shit, thirty years already. Sure they lived a long time in the Soul Society. But damn. He grimaced. So, was this one fuck and done? He shifted in his own seat. Yeah, of course it was. That's the way it always was with him.
"Someone is getting brave."
Her words tugged him from his thoughts and he turned, seeing the barmaid had a small crowd around her as they glared at the Captains' table.
"What did you do?" He asked. "Cuz I don't think this is about me for once."
Kenpachi looked over at Retsu, smiled as he realized that after only two drinks she was looking flushed and a bit glassy-eyed. "Lightweight."
She gave him a frown, which is more expression than he'd seen on her face in a very long time. Usually she didn't even do that much. He grinned. "Mitsuo Oshit."
"Oshiri." She corrected then sighed. "Would-be rapist."
Kenpachi sat up tall and suddenly furiously angry.
Retsu waved a hand at him. "A trainee medic, local boy made good. Found him trying to fondle one of my patients when he thought he was alone. Telling her how he was going to take her even when she couldn't fight back."
A growl actually escaped the large warrior.
"So ...I stopped him." Retsu gave a tired smile as the bar owner came back with more drinks.
The bar owner stumbled and fell against their table as two strangers pushed into him. Pale gold liquid flew everywhere, splashing both Kenpachi and Retsu.
Captain Kenpachi Zaraki slowly stood up to his full height, easily half a foot taller than even the tallest of the men. His gaze was cold fury as he looked down on them all.
Retsu looked at them and leaned back in her chair, looking utterly calm and in control. In a crystal clear voice she spoke up. "Mitsuo Orishi. Tried to rape a medical patient. So I used kido for vasodialation and some herbs to give him the worst case of priapism I have ever seen."
Kenpachi looked at her blankly.
Retsu shrugged. "His penis was hard for over six hours."
Now the large warrior just looked confused. "Couldn't he just ..." He waved one hand in a rude gesture.
The healer smiled, and it wasn't a fun or pretty smile. Vindictive. He'd never seen her look so mean. "A hard-on like that hurts. Hurts badly. No touch, no nothing can bring relief. Touch can bring horrid pain, and it lasts for hours. Even a breeze could bring pain."
The three men, plus Kenpachi, all winced.
"I offered to aspirate the extra blood from the area." Retsu continued smoothly. "The needle was only about so big." She held out her fingers to a length that had every man within the area grimacing in sympathy. "But he refused."
"He can't get it up no more." One of the men whispered in horror as he stared at the healer.
Retsu pinned him with a long look. "He was a rapist and he refused treatment. He let himself suffer so long that it caused injury to the internal blood vessels. I offered to put in a shunt."
"Cut him open?" Kenpachi fought and barely won the battle not to cross his own legs at the thought.
Retsu looked at him and smiled slowly. "Still want to fight me?"
"You are evil. Fucking evil." Kenapachi Zaraki looked at the little healer, eying her conservative dress and smooth braid. "Hell yes I want to fight you." And that wasn't all he wanted to do either.
o.O.o.O.o.O
Kenpachi yawned and glared at his squad members. Every one of them started training harder under his glare.
He leaned back, ostensibly to watch and gauge his squad's performance. Looking to the side, he nodded at Yachiru who was sitting on his shoulder.
"Did you get to have any fun last night, Kenny?" The pink-haired lieutenant asked.
"No. Not the kind of fun I would have liked." Which was true, to a point. He hadn't gotten drunk, he hadn't gotten in a real fight and he certainly hadn't woken up in a certain Captain Unohana's bed. Still, he was surprised at how good he did feel today.
"Poor Ken-chan." Yachiru leaned against him. Then she sat up, staring. "Maybe this will be fun."
Kenpachi looked over and saw ...him. Fine clothes, long blonde hair to the shoulders. Well groomed. No spiritual pressure to speak of. He sneered. "Nah, no fun there." He said absently, though burning with curiosity about why Retsu's noble had shown up at the Squad 11 barracks.
He saw his third seat, Ikkaku, moving toward the man. Kenpachi gave a shrill whistle and when the bald man looked at him, he jerked his head to tell the man to get back to the exercises. Ikkaku looked a bit surprised that their leader would deal with the stranger himself, but nodded.
The man didn't walk over toward him, he minced. Like ...oh hell, Kenpachi didn't have a reasonable idea what the man was walking like. It just looked stupid.
When the man approached, Kenpachi paid him no mind. The man cleared his throat. The warrior ignored him. The man cleared his throat a second time. It got him no attention.
"Are you the leader of this squad?" The man asked in a softly delicate voice and a strange accent.
Kenpachi didn't bother to turn his head. "Seventh seat! Switch with ninth! You're swinging that sword like it was a rubber hose. Stand firm!" He yelled, though truthfully there had been very little wrong with his man's technique.
"I would like to speak with you." It was a demand, not a question. Stupid nobility and their feelings of entitlement. Kenpachi sneered.
"You are speaking."
The man looked at the openly curious Yachiru. "Alone."
Kenpachi gave serious thought about ripping the man to shreds, but he did want to know what the guy wanted. "Yachiru, go give the men hell."
"Yes, sir Kenny!" The pink-haired lieutenant smiled cheekily and dashed off.
"She is ...not what I would have expected. Was she wearing a lieutenant's badge?"
Finally Captain Zaraki turned to stare at the man, making the blonde stiffen up. "Yes, I am wearing a Captain's haori. Yes, Yachiru has a lieutenant's badge. If your eyes ain't working, I can carve them out for you." For him, this was almost polite.
"My, my. Rude, disrespectful and stupid." The blonde sneered back at the warrior, as if he didn't know enough to be afraid.
"I am a representative of the Seitsu clan." The man stated in absolute pride.
Kenpachi spit on the ground and didn't respond.
The man cleared his throat.
"Ah hell, are we back to that nonsense?" The large warrior sighed. "What does a man representing nobility want with me? If you needed something you'd go to the Head Captain. He'd tell me what it is you want."
The man looked around and frowned sorrowfully. "We prefer not to involve your head captain at this time."
"No." Kenpachi sighed and rubbed his face. "Whatever you want, no."
"I hear you have bothered Retsu Unohana for a very long time." The man said in a low voice.
"Bothered?" The scarred squad leader sighed. "I verbally attack her at every chance I get, have for the past thirty years."
The blonde man nodded. "What if I paid you to attack her for real?"
Kenpachi Zaraki turned and stared at the man as if he'd just announced he'd arrived from the moon.
"Oh, nothing particularly bad. Unless you want bad." The blonde man continued. "Just, you know. Take it to the next level. You will have very high protection from your head captain, I can assure you. He won't be able to punish you at all."
The leader of Squad 11 shook his head, as if he hadn't heard right.
The man continued. "You will be paid handsomely, in favors if you don't want money."
Kenpachi's hands clinched and he spoke through gritted teeth. "Just what outcome are you looking for? Dead? Hurt? What?"
The blonde shrugged. "You're the one who has hated her for thirty years according to every source we have. You choose. I don't necessarily want her dead. Just, whatever. Take her down. Oh, and if it ruins her reputation, that would be a bonus."
"And if she does die?" Kenpachi's voice was a low growl.
The man nodded slowly. "That could be preferable."
o.O.o.O.o.O
Retsu frowned as her door slammed open. She turned and sighed as she saw who was walking into the entrance way.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, pulling her robe tighter around herself.
"You weren't in your office." He growled, a much different and far more dangerous man than the one she'd thanked in the hours before sunrise.
Retsu shook her head. "I'd been drinking, couldn't go in like that."
"Rules." He huffed, then sighed. "Look, who was the noble who came to see you yesterday?"
She stiffened and shook her head.
"Cause he wants to pay me big time to hurt you, maybe even kill you."
Retsu stared for a long moment, then slowly sank into a nearby seat.
Kenpachi paced in front of her, clearly agitated. "I'll fight you. Anytime and anywhere but damn it all if someone wants to think I'd do it for money!"
"He's my fiance."
The soft voice dripping with pain made Kenpachi wince. "Huh?"
"He and I are getting married."
Kenpachi drew back sharply and shook his head. "You said you weren't seeing him romantically."
She gave a humorless laugh. "I'm not."
The big man nodded and then shook his head. "I don't get it. I just want to know, can I gut him?"
"No." She answered emphatically.
"WHY THE HELL NOT?" He roared.
o.O.o.O.o.O