Many people see the Eleventh and the Fourth Divisions to be polar opposites. The violent, chaotic, ruthless animals that take lives, and the kind, caring, gentle angels that save lives. In reality, they were two sides of the same coin. Few knew all the details, but they all knew the traditions.

For one, the two divisions coordinated their schedules, so that the Fourth had the most people on duty when the Eleventh had the most people training. As a side effect, the two divisions had coinciding days off, unlike most of the divisions. This resulted in members of each seeing more of each other than any other two divisions in the Court Guard Squads.

Another tradition is the Eleventh's "on the job training" of the Fourth. They kept to certain rules. They would never attack a healer while they were working, during a time of war or outbreak of disease, or on their day off. They would never kill one of the healers. They would never attack an unarmed healer. If the healer stood their ground and asked for the fight to be over, they would comply. If the healer ran, they were inviting pain upon themselves, and even healers are not allowed to be cowards. They also did not tell the healers the rules. They had to figure it out themselves.

There is also a tradition among the men of the Eleventh that if you are helped by the same female healer three visits in a row, you have to take her on a date. Due to this, there are more couples between the two divisions than most will admit to. After all, angels and demons just didn't do things like that. In public.

Although these traditions have been in place for years, it is relatively rare for individuals to arise within their respective division who truly embody the bond the Fourth and the Eleventh share. One such pair, although their details are largely kept quiet, were Kenpachi Zaraki and the former Kenpachi Retsu Unohana. The other is surprisingly even less well known.

Line -

"Who do you think will win?" Lieutenant Omaeda asked, arms folded over his chest.

"I don't know... Aramaki has held his seat for decades, so he must be strong." Lieutenant Kotetsu said quietly. She had not dealt much with either of the men who were fighting. As the Lieutenant, she was privileged with choosing her patients under normal circumstances. She found both men slightly unbearable, and tended to avoid them.

"I bet one of them is dead at the end. 1000 Kan?" The large man smirked and waved the money in front of his fellow Lieutenant. The tall girl glared at him.

"I am not betting on lives!"

"Why not? They're Eleventh Division. They kill each other off like flies anyway. Why not make a little money off it? They're just a bunch of animals." Omaeda said. The arrogant man was another individual that she tended to avoid.

"They are not animals. The Eleventh is really beautiful, in a certain way." The silver haired woman said. A few feet to her side, Yumichika perked up and turned toward the pair, listening closer. His long time friend followed suit, wondering what had caught the pretty boy's attention.

"How can you of all people say something like that? You're in the Fourth! You see first hand what they do to each other!" Omeada gaped at her. She sighed.

"The Fourth gets to see more of the Eleventh than anyone else, and we know them better than anyone but themselves. Have you thought, then, that I know better than you on this subject?" Lieutenant Kotetsu said. She rarely lost her temper, but this man was pushing her. She did not like it when people spoke poorly of people she respected.

"I see enough to know you're deluded to think they are any better than a pack of wolves."

"You would be ignorant to the beauty of that as well, wouldn't you?" She growled at him. Yumichika was very interested now. It was rare for a member of the fourth to defend the honor of the Eleventh. "Of all the divisions we are responsible for healing, none of them are as close as the Eleventh. They are a family, more so than any other. They understand honor and duty, and they are brave and strong. Just because they chose the path of the warrior instead of the doctor does not mean they are less than anyone else. They save lives just as much as I do, they just do it a different way."

"They kill people!" Omeada could not believe she was so foolish.

"Yes, so do you. The Execution Squad is renowned for its violence and ruthless nature, can you say they are more honorable than the Eleventh, when they will poison, back-stab, and assassinate people, even people they do not know the crimes of? The Eleventh fights enemies they can see, and they fight them head on. They are the strongest division, and we would be in just as much trouble without them as you would all be without the Fourth." She continued to glare at the man.

"They helped the invaders against orders when the substitute came with his friends!"

"And they helped save an innocent woman from execution."

"That's not the point..."

"Get lost, Omeada. I don't know how you got invited to this anyway. You are certainly not beautiful." Yumichika had joined the tall woman now, touching the hilt of his sword lightly as he locked eyes with the second division lieutenant. For a moment, he looked like he might stay and fight, but then he saw the bald man coming to join his friend and decided against it. "I'm sorry for the harassment, the fool was rejected from the Eleventh and never got over it."

"Oh, it's alright. Thank you." The woman bowed politely to him, causing the pair to laugh.

"Formality has no place among warriors, Lieutenant. My seat is due to my fighting ability, not nobility." Yumichika said. Ikkaku nodded and extended a hand to the woman, who took it cautiously.

"I'm Ikakku and this is Yumi. I don't remember ever hearing your name, Lieutenant." The bald man said.

"Lieutenant... Isane. Call me Isane." She smiled at them as they both turned back to the fight.

"You are the first person I've met outside the division who has a clue how close we are. How'd you figure it out?" Ikkaku said to her, never taking his eyes off the fight.

"It seemed obvious to me... I treat so many of you that I realized it must be hard not to form a stronger bond than most when you put your lives at risk side by side so often." She looked at his face as he watched the battle and realized he was very handsome. The small blood red marks at the corners of his eyes drew her gaze every time she looked at him. She blushed and looked away. "You don't end up in the Fourth as often as the others. You must be very strong to avoid injury so well.

"He's afraid of needles, so he prefers to treat himself unless it is life or death." Yumichika laughed at his friend. The bald man shoved him, but didn't deny it.

"Ah, that would make sense. Some of the less skilled healers can't manage everything with kido, so they use physical methods of wound care. As long as I am not busy, you can request me any time you need healed. There isn't anything I would use a needle for that I can not do with kido. It would be better for you to get our help than risk infection for being stubborn." Isane said quietly. Ikkaku raised a hairless eyebrow at her.

"I don't get injured often, but I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." He thought for a moment, then addressed her again. "Why aren't you captain of the Fourth anymore?"

"Yuzu was better suited to the position, even as young as she is. Ichigo would have been a good choice as well, but he had enough of being a doctor while he was alive. I prefer being the Lieutenant. It's were I am comfortable."

"I can't believe we have four Kurosakis here, and three are captains!" Ikkaku shook his head.

"I'm surprised they allowed Isshin to have that title back. Although, with Shunsui in charge instead of Yamamoto, things have been a bit more relaxed." Isane said. As she turned back to the fight, the challenger was knocked to the ground, bloody, but alive. She smiled and began to step forward, but Ikkaku caught her shoulder.

"Let him ask for help himself. It will hurt his pride a little, but it is the standard rule here." The bald man said. She looked back at him, then nodded and waited by his side until the bloody man called out for her aid. She noticed Ikkaku's hand stayed on her shoulder until she went to the other man's side to heal him. She found she didn't mind.

"Finally found someone you like for more than there fighting ability, Ikkaku?" Yumichika said, appearing at his side. The bald man glared daggers at his friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Some weeks later, the two Eleventh Division warriors were sparring.

Yumichika growled as he held back yet again. It was like Ikkaku wasn't even trying! It was insulting.

"I don't know where your head is at, but get it back on the fight before I chop it off!" The pretty boy slashed again, only to find the defense he had been expecting absent. His blade left a long cut across his friend's chest and arm. He sheathed his blade and stomped to the third seat's side. "Alright, spill. What is wrong with you today."

He expected a punch for prying into his best friend's personal life before he shared it on his own. He was not expecting a grin of triumph. At first he thought it had been a trick to get him to let his guard down, but Ikkaku was sheathing his own blade.

"This is going to be a pain to fight with. I'm going to go get this taken care of, we can have a rematch later." The bald man walked away, leaving the fifth seat to realize the truth and then sigh in exasperation.

"There are better ways to get the girl, you know..." His words were wasted, as his friend was already out of the division and on his way to the Fourth.

When he arrived, he made his request quietly to the shinigami who greeted him. She raised an eyebrow at his request, but as he was the third seat of the most feared division, she nodded and sent him to a room. A few minutes later, a tall woman walked into the room and sighed.

"I expected it to take you longer to take me up on that offer." Isane smiled to herself and sat in front of the man and began work healing his cut. "What happened?"

"Yumi got in a lucky shot while we were sparring. It would have gotten in the way of my fighting if I bandaged it up myself, so I thought I would drop by." He watched her face flicker between deep concentration on her work, and amused interest in his excuse. She didn't know he was lying through his teeth, did she?

"Should I be expecting to see him in here later today then?"

"It's definitely possible, but I wouldn't count on it. We try not to bloody each other up too much when we're sparring. Neither of us want's to be incapacitated if a real fight pops up."