Challenge enough.

Most of the captains enjoyed going to this bathhouse from time to time, reserved exclusively for them. Even the three traitor-captains had often been relaxing there after a hard day of training. Served them well that they could no longer go here. Zaraki Kenpachi sighed and let his head rest against the side. More than 48 hours he had been pushing himself, trying to strengthen his muscles just a little bit more. In the end even Yachiru had tired of watching him and gone to sleep.

The warm water was making him feel slightly better and he tried to estimate how long it would take before he could continue. Maybe now he could go to the 67th district of Rukongai. The air was always particularly thin there, the strain giving him an added challenge.

The door opened, the wood creaking as it did so. He looked up, seeing the fourth division's captain enter through the steam. A white towel covered her, but her hair was down.
It was the first time that he saw it unbraided and it was just an inch or two longer than he had expected, hanging somewhere between her knees and ankles.

"Good evening, Zaraki-sama," she said, heading for the wash basin.

"Unohana-taichou," he replied as a way of greeting. She was the only person who had ever addressed him that politely and he thought it fairly amusing.

It didn't strike him as odd that she would soon be naked and in the bath with him. It was going to be the first time that she would do so, but Soi Fong had been there quite a few times before while he was also there. The first time, Tousen and Kyouraku had been there as well. She had just glared at them and gone in. Kyouraku had been about to start something when Tousen had spoken up.

"If the women's association hears about it..."

The man had sighed, a willful glance at the woman and then sat back again. Ever since that organization had come into existence, sexual harassment and the like had been done by 80, Yachiru had proudly accounted to him a few months ago.

Unohana was now cleaning herself, the towel put away on the small bench beside her. Her body looked soft, a bit more fleshier than what he was used to of the few women in his own division. But he could also see her muscles were well trained, as it befitted a captain.

He looked in front of himself, but soon found himself drawn to her figure again. What would it be like to fight her? Was she really only a healer, as some of the people in his division firmly believed, or could she also ditch some damage? It would be interesting if she had a bankai that could heal her while fighting. It would make her stamina possibly limitless. Fighting her would be wonderfully straining.

She turned around suddenly, aware of his gaze. He calmly looked on as she put away the soap and walked to the water. It didn't seem she was bothered by him watching. Then again, maybe she just pretended she wasn't, only to strike at him without warning. The thought excited him.

Her hair floated in the water, and she temporarily paused before she sat down, adjusting to the hotness of the water.

"What does your bankai do?" he asked bluntly.

She opened the eyes she had just been closing and gave him an unreadable smile. "Am I to assume you ask this because I am next on your list of targets?"

He grinned. "That depends."

"I see," she said, not asking him on what.

"Well?"

"I am a bit surprised you'd ask... and not just challenge me to find out, Zaraki-sama," she said.

He wondered now if there was a deeper meaning to what she said and this was some kind of flirting. Maybe the brat had been right when she said that the good girls always fall for wild men. Of course she had been talking about that Ryoka girl and her firm believe that she liked 'Ichy'.

"Maybe I should..." he said, more aware of her nakedness now, even if most of her was hidden under the water.

She smiled. "Well?"

"We're not supposed to bring our soul slayers here, remember," he said. "Or you want to do a wrestling match?"

"There are other kinds of battle," she said cryptically.

"Like...?"

Her eyes were unreadable to him. "Like mental battling... or the battle between a man and a woman."

"I don't like the first one," he said.

"And the second?"

"Only if the woman can offer a challenge," he said, holding her gaze.

She shifted a bit, exposing just a bit more of her cleavage, before settling back down. "And how do they do that?"

All this talk was wearing him down, especially now that he was getting turned on. But he knew that, to interest her, he would have to give her a challenge in the mental battlezone. "Women who know when to charge and retreat and attack again."

She seemed pleased with the answer. "Do you know such women?"

"I think you got it down perfectly."

Now his cards were on the table, an attack on a moment she might not have expected it yet.

She glanced away from him, letting her hair fall in front of her face. Then she stood up, her breasts in full view for a tiny second, before she turned to walk out off the bath. He had expected movement and reacted quickly, his hand on her wrist before she could take another step.

"Afraid?" he asked.

She smiled back. "I was only going to lock the door, if you can wait another moment?"

Grinning, he let go of her. She moved quickly, but still elegantly, just a bit of nervousness visible, mixed with excitement.

He watched her movements like he would watch a prey. Knowing she would soon be in front of him, sliding onto his lap, becoming all his.

The end