Title: Blessed Victory
Chapter: 10/?
Rating: MA for smut and language.
Warnings: Coarse language, and adult themes.
Pairings: Kenpachi x OC
Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. I am forever the slave to his world. Nanashi Katsue is mine.
A/N: What the flux? Two updates in two days? Miraculous. Writing this made my heart ache. :( Short, sweet, and to the point.

There was a permanent snarl on Zaraki's face as he stalked across the huge expanse of prairie grass that stretched out in front of him. He was emanating anger, his reiatsu manifesting in a yellow aura that burned like a wild fire over every inch of his skin. It licked out angrily at the group of officers that flanked him, but gently caressed the presence of the woman that stood slightly behind him. Katsue was irritated herself, but her spirit power was reigned in neatly as she scowled at Zaraki's broad back.

Ikkaku and Yumichika didn't wait for their captain's orders as they neared the battlefield, where a group of young hollow screamed and roared and taunted the early responders from Squad Eleven. They leapt off the moment the aura shifted around Captain Zaraki Kenpachi, and as they raced towards the hollows, Zaraki slowly drew his blade.

Snarling like a feral wolf, Zaraki maintained his stalking pace. His zanpakutou was humming in his hand, screaming with the same blood lust he felt to rip, tear, and rend. The minute he saw his two officers engage, Zaraki roared and charged. Katsue didn't pause as she followed him, her sleek zanpakutou in her hands as she followed in the wake of his reiatsu.

"Ma'am! Orders?" the young woman that Katsue had placed as the sergeant of Zaraki's medical squad had to shout to be heard over the wind rushing in their ears.

"Fall back and wait for casualties," she barked in reply. A growl tore out of her throat as the girl disappeared to their rendezvous location, and Zaraki tore into the first hollow.

It was a quick, short, bloody melee. Whatever possessed such a young group of hollow to attack soul society, and then stand up to the Eleventh Squad, Katsue would never know. But she barely had time to wet her blade before it was all over. Zaraki stood in the midst of a pile of decaying corpses, his chest heaving as he glanced around himself. Nothing moved. Nothing breathed.

Damn it.

For good measure, he roared his anger and buried his sword into the mauled head of a dead hollow, savoring in the feel of steel easily parting flesh and bone. Black blood covered him from head to toe, sticking in his hair and weighing down his bells. "I need a bath," he spat on the corpse as the tension in his body slowly dissipated. Well, fighting did come second on his list of physical releases that he immensely enjoyed, right after sex. Even if it was a far second.

His yellow eyes swept over the face of his officers. They met his stare head on, Ikkaku grinning stubbornly as he flashed his still broken zanpakutou at Zaraki. With a short bark of laughter, Zaraki stepped from his grizzly throne and on to the blood-matted grass. His mood was immensely improved as he searched for the one face he cared about at the moment.

When he found it, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Katsue kneeled in the dirt, her sheathed zanpakutou at her side, and one fist planted in the ground as the other braced herself on her knee. Her head was down in stark obedience as High Commander Yamamoto loomed over her. They were too far away for Zaraki to hear what the old fart was saying to her, but he knew it wasn't good. The old man never had anything good to say.

He watched, the growl in his chest falling silent, as Katsue's head dipped in a short nod. Her hair was still loose and obscured her face from his view, but he didn't need to see her frown to know she was doing it. He could read her frustration and anger in her body language.

High Commander Yamamoto looked up from the obedient girl at his feet to look at Captain Zaraki. With a nod so slight that Zaraki didn't even see it, the old man turned and walked away, his vice captain falling into step beside him.

"The fuck did he want?" Zaraki growled low in his voice as Yachiru's little hand reached up to grab on to one of his fingers. The little girl had been waiting at the sidelines like she always did, but had rushed to her Ken-chan's side when she saw the look on his face.

"I 'unno," she spoke softly and squeezed the thick finger in her grip. Zaraki's hand wrapped around hers reflexively, even as he started to prowl towards his woman, who still kneeled in the dirt.

"Get on your damn feet," he barked irritably as he came to a stop a few meters away from her. "The bastard's gone."

Katsue didn't look at him as her hand grabbed her zanpakutou and cradled it against her chest. Slowly, as if she were sore, she rose to her feet and turned to him. When she looked up, her hair parted like a curtain to show a stubbornly cool look on her face. "How was the battle?" she spoke quietly, but strongly.

He snorted and cast another glare at the retreating backs of the high commander and his second. "Satisfying. Did the old man feel like ruining our night more?"

"He was reminding me of my duties, Captain Zaraki," she murmured and turned, heading back towards the Eleventh Squad headquarters.

Zaraki's head snapped back as if she had slapped him. What the hell did that mean? he growled to himself as he stalked after her, Yachiru stumbling to keep up with his long strides. And she bloody called him Captain Zaraki again! "What'd he say?"

"He reminded me of my place, I told you that," Katsue replied simply.

"What the fuck does that mean?" he snarled and reached out to roughly grab her arm. She tore herself away from him, before silently disappearing in to the night.

"Ken-chan, something is wrong," Yachiru whined and sniffed back a tear as Zaraki halted where he stood. "I don't like this!"

"Me either," he grunted as he stared across the prairie, trying to look for any sign of Katsue. He knew he wouldn't find any; she was simply too fast for him to keep up with.

XXXX

Something most definitely was up, Zaraki grumbled to himself as he crossed his thick arms across his chest. Something was always up when Unohana showed up at his headquarters when he wasn't injured, and here she was, sitting quietly on the floor across from him and patiently sipping at her tea. Yachiru fidgeted uncomfortably on her cushion next to him, her eyes darting from first Zaraki and then to Unohana. The woman had simply shown up before the noon meal, all soft smiles and kind words. She had ignored his gruff disposition and asked for tea with him as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do.

The hell it was.

"The medic teams are coming along quite nicely," Unohana spoke in that quiet, cheerful tone of hers as she took a deep breath, savoring the smells wafting from her tea cup. "Captain Kuchiki has expressed his gratitude for his team several times. How is yours coming along, Captain Zaraki?"

"Cram the small talk," he snarled and glared down his strong, angular nose at her. "The hell do you want, Unohana?"

She only smiled kindly at him, before taking another sip from her tea. "How have you been lately, Captain Zaraki?"

He had been irritable, pissed, and flat out frustrated. Katsue hadn't returned to his rooms the night she ran off, and she hadn't even opened her clinic. He didn't even know if she was in that stupid building of hers, because no one came or went. If she was pulling that same shit on him again like after her first fight out in the field, he had a few choice words to say to her. After he reminded her that he was a man with needs that only she could satisfy, and she was neglecting that fact.

"Fine," he snarled in reply.

Unohana's eyebrows furrowed slightly as concern crossed her face. "Fine?"

"Yeah, fuckin' fine. Why the hell do you ask?" he growled. Yachiru placed a small hand on his leg, a silent signal for him to calm down. To hell with that.

Unohana cleared her throat slightly as she set her cup down on the table between them. "No one told you," she said simply.

"Told me what?" he snapped, his one visible eye flashing yellow in irritation. Despite beating the shit out of Ikkaku and Yumichika every day for the past week in the dojo, nothing could cool his mood with Katsue hiding from him. His reiatsu had been on the fritz because of it.

Unohana's jaw dropped slightly in blatant surprise, before she seemed to remember her decorum. "Officer Nanashi—"

"What about her?" his voice was low, a threatening growl as he leaned over the table. His hand was on his zanpakutou, ready to decapitate the woman.

She swallowed a knot in her throat. "High Commander Yamamoto has given her a new assignment. Did she not tell you? I came to make sure you were taking it okay."

A dead weight settled in the pit of Zaraki's stomach. "What?"

"High Commander Yamamoto assigned her to a post in Karakura Town, to assist the local Shinigami and Shinigami Substitute in much the same manner as her medic teams assist the Gotei Thirteen. She left last week, after the hollow breached Sereitei. Did she not tell you?" Unohana's hands had fallen limp in her lap as she spoke, her eyes growing wide in surprise.

Yachiru's eyes welled up with restrained tears as she looked up at her Ken-chan. His face was dead, emotionless. He wasn't even scowling at Braid-head anymore. She didn't understand. "Nana-chan is gone?" her voice was a soft squeak.

Silently, Zaraki rose to his feet. Unohana scrambled to stand with him, as manners dictated, but before she had her feet under herself he was already walking out of the room. She followed hesitantly, with Yachiru clinging to her haori. Zaraki headed straight outside and across the courtyard between the officers' dormitory to Katsue's clinic. He yanked the front door open with little effort, the door splintering from the lock, before he disappeared inside.

Unohana momentarily thought to stop him, and explain that what he was doing was breaking and entering, but then common sense caught up to her. He wouldn't care that he was breaking into Katsue's house—not after she had just told him that the woman he cared for had left without a word. She followed into the dark clinic room, and slowly made her way up the stairs.

Yachiru wailed and ran to Zaraki's side as they came to Katsue's room. It was completely barren, save the large dresser, desk and bed that were pressed against the walls. No clothes filled the drawers that Zaraki had torn open in a fevered haste. Her closet was empty. There were no linens on her modern bed. There was no clutter that usually accompanied a lived-in room. No items of personal significance. Her desk top was bare. Zaraki was slouched on her bed, his elbows on his knees and his black pit of an eye staring blankly at nothing.

Unohana covered her mouth as her own eyes stung with tears. She hadn't cried in decades, but to see this man—Captain Zaraki himself—in such a state…

"Where's Nana-chan!" Yachiru screamed and tugged at Zaraki's haori. Tears were pouring down her round cheeks, marking trails in the thin layer of dust that had accumulated on her face from her day of playing outside. "Where is she, Ken-chan! Where! Where did she go!"

Zaraki was silent as he moved, one of his huge arms wrapping around Yachiru's waist and pulling her up on to his lap. His eyes were still empty as Yachiru buried her face against his chest, her tiny fists clenched in his clothes, as she screamed and cried. His massive hand stroked her head absently.

"She ain't comin' back, is she?" he spoke in a soft rumble.

Unohana cleared her suddenly tight throat as she spoke up, "Not for a decade. Arrangements were made with Urahara Kisuke for an artificial body and clinic space. High Commander Yamamoto wants to test to see if a medic's presence will also reduce the casualty rate of Shinigami stationed in the real world."

Zaraki nodded slowly as Yachiru's crying grew louder. He turned his eye on to Unohana, and she shuddered as she met his dead gaze. "You didn't stop her, eh?"

"High Commander Yamamoto did not ask me, he did not tell me, until she was gone. An order from him is almost a law," she spoke quietly, for once not offended that he was trying to blame something on her. For some reason, it felt as if he were simply trying to wrap his head around what happened rather than accusing her of sabotaging his relationship with Katsue.

He nodded again before resting his head against Yachiru's. His thick arms held the little girl as great sobs wracked her little body. "Where'd Momma go," she cried against Zaraki's chest. "Why!"

"She'll be back, squirt," he murmured, his dead eye still watching Unohana.

"In ten years!" she screamed, her small fists pounding against his chest. "Why would she go! Why didn't she say anything!"

Unohana took a deep, steadying breath as Zaraki's eye shut. He was murmuring soothing things to the little girl in his arms as she wailed her pain. It was heart shattering to see the pink-haired vice captain expressing the emotions Unohana was sure they both felt. But Zaraki was as cold and strong as ever as he simply held her, rocking her gently against his chest. Yachiru was his heart, it seemed. But his soul was gone.

"Let me know if there is anything I can do," she spoke softly before bowing deep from the waist, the most respectful bow she had ever given to Captain Zaraki Kenpachi of the Eleventh Squad. He didn't say anything as she slowly backed out of the room, and nearly fled Katsue's small clinic.

Yachiru's wails and sobs chased her into the burning light of Sereitei, and Zaraki's dead face was all Unohana could picture in her mind's eye. It was odd, she thought for a moment as she hurried back to her own squad's headquarters, that the weather could be so beautiful when there was so much pain and grief in the world. For once, she did not stop to enjoy the rows of flowers that decorated the base of the pillars to her section of Seireitei. Katsue had helped her plant them, and now the woman was gone; the woman that had been as a daughter to her for the past one hundred years.

A tear welled up in Unohana's eye, and slowly rolled down the gentle planes of her cheek.

*clings to a box of tissues*

AT LEAST I GET TO WRITE ICHIGO AND KISUKE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER?! MAYBE?! We shall see!