Oh jeeze guys I'm sorry . I didn't mean to poof like I did but life got in the way. I graduated, the internet went out, my laptop is terribly broken and now, now I'm off to another state tomorrow night and so trying to update as much as I can. See, even though my internet was gone, didn't mean I stopped writing. I hope you all don't mind the chapter influx but if I don't take my laptop, still broken by the way, I won't be able to update for another month. I really hope you all aren't too mad and if you are I really am sorry.
This and the next several chapters have Kenny in them so I hope that makes up for things a little~
As always I don't own Bleach, just So, and people are awesome and amazing and I'm giving them a shout out cause I can.
Sushii-Kun, gnarly, lisamariem, Kira Carmen, Chocoholics Unite, Insanity-Red, Sou desu ka. Meh. Kami korosu, Inspired Kid, eternalwings15, LuCkY-StAr69, ISgrl15, Nightshade's Deadly Beauty, Goldensaurus, WiseDragonQueen5, Silverveign, TalonNight, Devious Cherub, Alix117 and suney You're all amazing and I thank you from the bottom of my heart~
Oh, and thanks to those who are contented to just read~ You all make me happy too, even though I don't know who you are.
Chapter 12- Day Off
Days skipped by, rolling around to the weekend. The sun shone happy but strong over the soul society, noontime rays hotter than ever as spring slowly faded away.
It was a nice day, a good day, and a day off.
Yes, a day off, for So and Shuhei at least. The ninth was having a leisure day, hoping to keep everyone calm and complacent in the face of certain… circumstances.
Namely, that Kenpachi was back. Though it seemed he and So were past his violent exits out the window, especially since he often used the door now, it didn't make the fact that he showed up every day around the same time any less real.
Instead of in the evening he came just after noon, around one when Shuhei and So were returning from lunch breaks or getting back to work.
He came in through the door, they'd tried locking it once and he broke the handle, and made himself comfortable in the largest of their spare chairs just across from her desk.
Sometimes he spoke to Shuhei, others he ignored him. Regardless of that though, he always talked to So, or at her, about why she should fight him, trying to goad her into battle.
She wasn't responsive, ever… Well besides the occasional "shut up Zaraki" that would bring silence to the room for a few minutes as the beast amazingly complied.
Sometimes Yachiru was there too. So was far nicer to the little girl and often gifted her with candy from a stash hidden somewhere near her desk. Neither Shuhei nor Yachiru could quite figure where that location was and Kenpachi didn't bother to think on it.
Yachiru liked her though and So liked her back which was far more than she could say about Kenpachi.
And speaking of Yachiru…
"Hey Kenny! What's that?"
She pointed up at the sky, more precisely at the colorful object fluttering about in it, and pulled herself higher up on his shoulder to get a better view.
He grunted in reply, turning his singular gaze to the area his lieutenant was staring so fixedly at, and recognized the item immediately.
"'S a kite."
"A kite?" she chirped and then cooed excitedly as another rose into the air, followed by one more colorful blip. "Aren't they over by Tiny's squad?"
"Yep" he nodded.
"We gonna go see?"
"Yep."
His grin turned sharp as they sped off, it was a lot easier getting places when they had a marker straight ahead and in the sky, and his little companion tightened her grip on his shoulder, chatting away about what she thought the kites might be for and who she thought might be flying them.
"Ya think it's Shu-shi?" she asked as they dropped onto a nearby rooftop.
He shook his head and took another leap, landing just a few yards from the small woman. "Che. Didn't take ya fer a slacker" he said lowly, leaning against the wall just behind him as Yachiru scrambled down to meet So.
"Is mah day off" the small woman shrugged, sparing neither of them a glace. She was, at present, too occupied with keeping control over her three kites. There was a special skill to this, an art to keeping them aloft without letting the strings tangle or the frames collide and she wasn't going to break such a high level of concentration for the likes of Kenpachi Zaraki.
"How're you doin that?" Yachiru quipped from her side and So smiled softly.
"Very carefully." Yanking on one of the sheer strings she sent a kite, one shaped and colored to resemble a hell butterfly, dipping lower than the rest, circling around the sky. It just barely avoided the other two, coasting under them, and Yachiru giggle with childish glee, clapping her small hands together.
"Can I try?"
"Hmm…" So hummed softly and let her head loll from side to side as she thought the request over.
She was quite in love with her kites and to have one destroyed by the child would certainly break her heart, if only for a little while. She wasn't so sure…
"Might fly away Chiru" Kenpachi said, stepping towards the two. "Surprised she hasn't, runt like that."
So's arm twitched minutely and her face flushed, but she kept her eyes on her kites. "Shush!" she snapped and he roared laughter.
"Strike a nerve shorty?"
Another twitch and this time it was enough to throw off her positioning. In just seconds, before she had time to correct it, all three were tangled together and came crashing down to earth.
She turned on him, eyes blazing and surged forward, a small foot connecting with his head hard enough to knock him down.
She was fast.
Forcing himself back up he readied himself for battle but was disappointed to see that she was no longer there.
She was very fast.
Looking across the yard he saw her crouched over her fallen kites, hands working busily at something, probably trying to untangle all the string.
He and Yachiru both moved her way, leaning over her, watching her work.
"How come they fell?" Yachiru asked with a child's innocence and So had to resist snapping.
"Th' strings got all 'angled tagether cause your capin' distracted me" she settled with, instead of the biting comment that had almost slipped from her tongue.
"It's not Kenny's fault that you pulled the strings wrong!" she defended and So suppressed a sigh.
She'd heard before that Yachiru would defend to the death Zaraki's honor, even when he was in the wrong, and that she always took his side. She hadn't been so sure of the validity of these claims but now she believed.
She couldn't hold it against the pinkett though she guessed, she was a daddy's girl too, she knew that feeling. "If ya sa' so" she muttered, conceding with the girls opinion for now, more focused on retrieving her kites.
Quiet moments ticked by and then,
"They're not broken, are they?"
So looked up and Yachiru was staring down at her from Kenpachi's shoulder, a sad frown on her face, eyebrows knitted together. Her voice was full of concern. She didn't want the kites to be broken.
So saw this, and shot the girl a soft, sweet smile. "Nah." She shook her head. "Jus 'angled s'all. No worries."
With a few more twists she had all three freed from each other and spread on the ground. She held a hand out, motioning to them and smiled when Yachiru cheered, jumping from her perch to look them all over closely.
In addition to the hell butterfly there was also a classic diamond colored bright red and a rainbow koi. She awed and oohed over them, touching their surfaces gently under So's ever watchful gaze, mesmerized. "They're real pretty."
"Mmhm" So nodded.
"Can I fly one? Pleeeassse?" she asked, pulling her sweetest, cutest puppy-dog face.
"Hmm." The petite woman hummed softly to herself, considering it. She wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. But Yachiru was so cute… She bit he lip and crossed her arms, expression staying thoughtful, Yachiru staring at her fixedly while Zaraki loomed over them large and imposing, arms crossed over his chest as he watched disinterested.
She sighed, just about to give in when,
"Captain! I'm back."
"Hi Shu-Shi!" Yachiru quipped, the kites temporarily forgotten as her fellow lieutenant stepped through the sliding door, arms full of snacks, the bag labeled Konpieto catching her eye quickly. "Is it snack time?"
He blinked down at the child suddenly at his feet and gave a weary smile.
"Yeah, I guess it is… Uh, do you-"
" 'Ere." So said, snatching the candy from her lieutenant to shove it at the little girl.
When exactly had she gotten beside him? He blinked down at her wondering and a little startled but smiled back when she quirked a cheerful look at him. He was starting to get used to her just popping up, but it was still a bit unsettling.
"Set t'rest of it down" she told him, waving dismissively at the porch and the pillow covered blanket spread out on it. "Isa go get tha tea."
"Alright" he nodded, depositing the load in the center of the colorful mess. He looked to her curiously when she stopped in the doorway and turned.
"Yah stayin?" she asked and he realized the question was for Zaraki and Zaraki only. It was obvious that if there were snacks Yachiru would be staying but they never quite knew what the hulking captain would chose to do.
"Got any sake?" he asked, stepping nearer to the porch.
So scrunched up her face in a part way thoughtful part way peeved expression, he supposed she would be a little upset since he had no real right to ask for anything under current circumstances, and then nodded. "Ah t'ink so."
Kenpachi gave a wolfs grin and stepped up onto the porch, dropping heavily onto the largest of the pillows colored deep purple and embroidered with gold while she turned back around and skipped back inside.
Yes, she really did skip.
Shuhei laughed a little at the action. It was further dramatized by all that long hair, today in braided pigtails, bouncing around her as she went and he wondered not for the first time if the weight ever strained her neck. It had to be heavy.
Maybe one day when he knew her better he'd pluck up the courage to ask… not now though, certainly not now.
He looked back at their new company and took the seat farthest from both of them, across and a little ways off to the left.
Yachiru was going to town on the candy, colorful blips of stickiness already clear on her fingers and a few places on her cheeks, and Zaraki sat cross legged, sword on his lap, eyes, or rather eye, closed.
Shuhei felt suddenly very, very awkward.
These were two people he did not often communicate with, and for good reason. He did value his life to some extent, even if he did do stupid things from time to time. But now, here he was, sitting so very near to them both, much nearer than he could ever remember, and he felt a slight sweat breakout on his forehead that wasn't necessarily from the heat.
Act natural Shuhei, act natural
Sure he told himself that but could he pull it off? If he were to be honest with himself he'd realize that he hadn't acted natural for the last several months. Sure he'd acted close to, but never really natural, never really quite the same. A little more awkward maybe, a little more unsure. He figured he was catching it from the tiny woman walking through the door-
She was back!
He suppressed a happy chortle at the realization that he was no longer alone, left to sit there gawking at the two, and the smile presently on his face widened without him knowing.
"'Appy bout some'tin Shuhei?" she asked suddenly and he realized that he had made a fool of himself despite everything, grinning like an idiot.
He sighed, shaking his head. "It's just a nice day is all" he told her, and she beamed back at him.
Shuhei was so nice, and always happy. She really enjoyed his company.
"Oy, woman" Kenpachi grunted and So let her smile drop a little. She wasn't too fond of him though. He was so gruff and mean and always calling her short. Not to mention the fact that he was always trying to get her to fight…
Well actually that didn't bug her so much, she liked fighting, what bugged her was the way he went about it and the way he didn't care about the consequences their fighting would make. She'd gotten in quite a spell of trouble with her parents because of their little battle before and she did not want to go through another week of intense control training.
She liked sleep damn it! And food!
With a displeased huff she sat down and shoved a porcelain saucer into his hand before filling it up for him. She did the same for Shuhei who took it with a hesitant smile and set the jug away by Zaraki. He could be in charge of the booze now.
She poured tea for herself and Yachiru, popped open a bag of rice crackers, and let silence settle over the group.
Quiet moments ticked by, oddly peaceful, oddly comfortable and when she finished off her snack she let gravity tip her backwards so that she was lying sprawled out under the warm sunshine. A soft, squeaky yawn left her mouth too fast for her to cover and she giggled out a soft "scuse me."
"For what?"
So gave a startled "oof" as Yachiru hopped over onto her stomach, pink eyes quizzical.
"Hu?" So asked, thoroughly confused.
"Why'd ya say excuse me? Excuse you for what?"
So furrowed her brow "Ah yawned."
"But why'd ya say excuse me?" the girl pressed.
"Cause thas ow ah was taught"
"Why?"
"Cause is polite."
"Why?"
"Cause tha stick up er bum nobles say so."
Shuhei almost choked on his sake at that and Kenpachi opened his eye to regard the small woman making his Chiru laugh like that, a grin on his face.
She was actually pretty alright when he got down to it, when he got to her. She was… spunky, a fighter in more ways than one. He'd started noticing it after he started visiting again, trying to convince her, coax her into battle without causing another scene.
She didn't speak to him, not in a conversational way, no, she just said two words… sometimes three if she added his name. "Shut up" that's all it was, just 'shut' and 'up'.
It was a simple phrase in and of itself but the fact that she was saying it to him, with such seriousness, such boldness, and without a trace of fear or hesitation…
She'd said it in the bathhouse sure, that one time, but he'd figured the steam had gotten to her head and she wasn't watching her mouth. Heck, he was pretty sure she'd yelled at him some time before, during their fight, before it? But that was all heat of the moment so he couldn't count that either.
He really took notice when she said it in her office though. Casual and right there, a little assertive sure but it was a lot like when you're asking someone to get you something, but you've asked about forty fuckin times already and now your pissed so it's an order instead of a request.
And that first time he'd been shocked, so shocked that he did exactly what she'd said, he shut his mouth and stared at her, waiting for some signal that she regretted her words.
She didn't look up from her work, didn't falter, didn't even bat one of her damn near to impossibly long eyelashes. After he'd kept quiet for a good five minutes he watched a smile stretch her lips briefly but that was all.
He'd taken her for some weird little pansy with anger issues but no, after that he knew that she was a spit fire dame all around. There was no sometimes to her flare, it was always present, bubbling just under that shy surface. He could see it, and damn it all did he feel foolish when he realized he could see it. All he had to do was look into her eyes, those freakishly wide eyes, large and blue and innocent if you didn't know what you were looking for.
But he knew what he was looking for.
That was a killers gaze right there, a killers stare, predatory and dark drowned in cerulean blue. He had to guess it was one of the prettiest things he'd ever seen…
A sneer graced his features as that thought ran through his head and he gazed down at the sake, now about half empty.
'Must be some good shit if it's fuckin up my head like this' he mused and poured himself some more, eye drifting back to the girls who were now giggling madly at something new, So running her small fingers through Yachiru's bright hair.
"'S soft" she commented with a smile and approving nod. "Ya dun wash wit soap do yah" and she spared Kenpachi a, he couldn't quite believe this, teasing glance and smile that he returned with a raised brow and shrug of his massive shoulders.
Might as well keep the peace for a little longer. The sake was good… And so was the company.
So giggled at him and returned her attention to the child like shinigami on her torso, Shuhei leaning away as a stray, flailing arm belonging to one of the females nearly smacked him in the face.
He was a little amazed at the fact that he still had so much control over his body, what with six cups of strong, high quality sake down and the shock of seeing Zaraki and So have a civil bit of interaction he felt that the world was swimming, everything floating about him in a pleasant, confused buzz.
He was also amazed at a sudden realization, a realization that his captain and captain Zaraki were eerily alike.
Sure So was tiny, polite, shy, and female but besides those things the similarity was striking. Both held power of terrifying levels, both ate gargantuan amounts, both were fighters through and through, even if So was more controlled in her fighting, they were sturdy, and stubborn, gruff, though So a bit less, and… And they both had good hearts.
As hard pressed as many were to admit it, Kenpachi did have to have something at least vaguely resembling a heart to put up with Yachiru for as many years as he had, to raise her like he had, and So, though reserved and quiet and shy, was kind and sweet and loved loyally those who loved her.
Shuhei looked from one to the other as inconspicuously as he could, which wasn't very thanks to his alcohol addled brain, and came to one more conclusion.
They could've been great friends, had circumstances been different. Could still be great friends if Zaraki could stop poking at her…
It was a terrifying thought really, the two of them in alliance. What if they…
"Oy, Igami"
Kenpachi's deep voice cut through the girls laughter and his musing like the edge of his jagged blade and the called captain sat up to gaze at him curiously. It was the first time he'd ever said her name.
"Fight me."
Shuhei gave a mental sigh of relief. If he was back to that again it'd be a long time in coming before those two got toge-
"Okay"
What? He tried to vocalize but only succeeded in tipping forward onto his face. A moment later he rocked back onto his bum and got out "Really think thas a good idea Sos?"
He was proud of the fact that there was minimal slurring in his speech, enough that it could be attributed not to being mildly drunk but to the face plant he'd accomplished just moments ago.
Zaraki's eye sparkled dangerously, grin widening while Yachiru cheered as So nodded.
"Buh" she began and the demons grin faltered a little. "Yama-Gen 'as ta be 'er… N weh gotta 'ave rules… Can't go 'stroyin things again."
"Bull shit" the large man called, crossing his arms over his chest and So just smiled back a deceptively innocent little smile.
"Wanna fight?"
"Yeah"
She shrugged arms up in a 'well then that's that' manner and he glared, his single hazel eye locking on with double blue, for once un-obscured by that veil of hair.
Shuhei's thoughts scrambled for a moment before realigning. 'Well' he reasoned 'Zaraki will never agree to that! We're in the clear.'
"Fine" the demon huffed.
'Damn it!' Shuhei's mind screeched. Something about this just had destructive and life threatening written all over it, probably the fact that he'd be expected to be at the battle this time.
"Tomorrow?" So asked.
The grin returned and the larger captain drawled out "sounds good."
So smiled and Yachiru hopped up and down, excited for the fight and – oh! Seems she remembered the kites. Now tugging on So's sleeve asking her to let her fly one Shuhei figured his Captain must be in a very agreeable mood because she conceded, leading the girl away as Kenpachi reclined on the pillows, apparently ready to take a nap.
Watching the two tiny girls, now hoisting kites into the sky, and the large brawny man quickly drifting off into a nap, Shuhei felt his eye twitch and reached for the still half full cask of sake.
If this was going to be the last day off, the last day of any kind in his life, he wanted to end it piss ass drunk… Maybe he'd even go serenade Rangiku. Couldn't hurt to try, right?
Next chapter there shall be a battle~ It'll be up right after this so, head on over and thanks again for reading!
