Author's Note: Yup, been a while since I looked at this one. On a total whim, missed working on it and had a chapter already ready in my files. Enjoy. Might come back to it for a little while.

Tough Lover

Chapter 2

Nel tried to control her facial expression at Kenpachi's blunt demand. Sleep in his bed? Rationally, she knew that it would be expected of them to at least share a room this upcoming weekend. It would look funny if Kenpachi's wife requested her own room.

"Starting tonight," he added. Why not add more to his already nearly impossible demand. She felt a few beads of mild panic begin under her bangs.

Before the weekend rolled around? Was he just playing one of his games? Sure she had her own room at his house to watch Yachiru full time. She had moved out of Pesche and Dondo's apartment about six months after she had begun caring for Yachiru. It was easier than commuting.

"Alright, agreed," Nel told Kenpachi coolly, her voice holding no trace of the anxiety she was feeling. There really wasn't any need for her fears. Kenpachi was about as likely to fall in love with her as Ichigo was. She stopped the tumbling visions of Kenpachi glancing at her night clothes, brushing against her 'accidently' while sleeping, being held in his arms...

Nel had her own room, right next to Yachiru's, so that she would be close should the little girl need her. It wasn't much, just a bed, a bookshelf, a tiny dresser, and a small desk. The one or two formal outfits she owned were hung in Yachiru's closet.

When Yachiru was younger, Nel even let her play dress up with them. Why not? It wasn't like she had any real use for them. Sometimes Dondo and Pesche lent her retired outfits and makeup from their shows as well for Yachiru to have fun playing with.

While Nel would have loved to involve her godfathers, she wouldn't break her word to Kenpachi. Although, it seemed that letting them help her quietly behind Yumi's back would be a better option.

She was dreading future time spent with Yumi helping her pick out something for her pretend marriage to Kenpachi. Marriage, it was such a permanent word that it seemed funny to be thinking of it as pretend.

"What about Yachiru?" Nel asked.

"What about her?" He turned and addressed the far end of the house. "Twerp!" Yachiru, who had been listening in appeared again. It seemed that Yachiru got the nicknaming business from her father. To outsiders, it would seem his terms of endearment for his daughter was skewed and cruel, but for Nel it was obvious the affection he had for her.

"Yes Ken-chan?" She beamed as she climbed into his lap.

"Nel-san is sleeping in my room." Nel thought for sure that Yachiru would ask questions but instead the little girl just kept smiling, as if she knew something they didn't.

"Okay." She pinched Kenpachi's cheek and took off again. If anyone else had tried that, Kenpachi would have probably killed him or her on the spot.

"There. Settled?"

"Yes." Her insides were saying no.

"Fine. Continue on. I'll be there in a second." Before Kenpachi could ask anything else of her, Nel hurried back to the kitchen for a quick breather.

"Set the table Yachiru," Nel instructed. Kenpachi sat down at the table, but Nel didn't glance in his direction.

To Kenpachi, it seemed that she was avoiding him. He watched her scuttling around the kitchen in more a fluster than usual. He didn't understand women. What was the big deal about sharing a bed with him? It wasn't as if he had any odd habits, was it?

Or was it something more? Did she have some horrible secret that she was ashamed of? Was it something about her body? As far as he was concerned, she had no reason to hate herself. Women, always finding some make-believe thing wrong with themselves.

Whatever it was, he would see it tonight.

He sighed as he leaned back in the chair. Even for a woman, Nel was odd. He wondered if that blow to her head all those years ago had caused some kind of damage.

"Are you hungry Ken-chan?" Yachiru asked as she set a plate in front of him. Being a butcher, Kenpachi always brought home the best cuts. Usually Nel was fairly proficient in the kitchen, but tonight it didn't escape Kenpachi's notice that the vegetables and the chicken were burned on one side.

"Sure," he answered. Food was food and Kenpachi wasn't picky. He noticed a large band-aid on Nel's finger. She must have hurt herself while cooking. Had she been that disturbed by their conversations? Why?

But Kenpachi recalled his frustration with his sudden notice in her female form and her airy laugh. His workout had not been as gratifying as it normally was.

"Kenpachi-kun, you're bleeding," Nel pointed out to him as she brought her plate over to the table.

"Huh?" He glanced down to see the sleeve of his practice robe was cut and crimson was starting to drip on the nicked tabletop. Before he could tend the wound himself, Nel had fetched the first aid kit and was doctoring what was a minor flesh wound.

"Always prepared," Nel told him cheerfully. Yachiru had gone through a period of daredevil stunts and was always scraping something. Out of habit, Nel had responded to the injury. Her hands were soft and delicate as she cleansed the wound with mild antiseptic before sealing it with gauze. He had not been close enough to notice them in some time.

He hadn't even noticed the sting of cleansing. His skin tingled everywhere she had touched. Kenpachi realized she probably had no idea what exactly her simple, deft movements caused in him. He kept his eyes trained on her back as she put the kit away and washed her hands.

"Ken-chan should be more careful," Yachiru admonished as she tore a chicken strip and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Yachiru, remember your manners," Nel corrected from the sink. Dinner was quieter than usual. Yachiru wolfed down the burned chicken strips without any complaint. Nel found that she was too nervous to be hungry. The unappetizing food added further to her misery. It wasn't the worst meal Kenpachi had ever had, and he kept from making any comment.

"Bath time Yachiru," Kenpachi instructed as he and Nel cleaned up dinner. She made kissy noises at them but left the room.

"I'm sorry I ruined dinner," Nel said quietly as she prepared to scrub the dishes.

"Dinner was fine." No one could top Yachiru's cooking experiment the year before. Some of the bowls still held telltale stains of strange ingredients she had 'expertly' mixed with non-cooking materials. "At least it wasn't glue this time." That earned a chuckle and a smile out of her.

"Fair enough. I will start teaching Yachiru how to properly prepare a meal soon."

"Fine. Just make sure she realizes that glue is not an ingredient." She laughed again. "What happened here?" he asked, pointing to the bandage.

"I was careless with the vegetables." In fact, Yachiru had pointed out the fact that her finger was not a carrot before she severed it. Luckily, it was only a trivial wound, but it burned and throbbed
regardless. The soapy water was bleeding through her bandage.

"Move," Kenpachi told her as he commanded control of the sink. He tossed a hand rag at her and took over dish duty. She was almost too fast for him to catch, always adjusting things before he had a chance. He should have started the dishes to begin with.

She took a seat on the counter between the sink and the dish drainer. At this height, she was nearly as tall as he was.

"Kenpachi-kun, what does this Yamamoto-san mean to you?" If he could avoid it, Kenpachi never talked about the past. He grunted and but made no other reply. Just when Nel figured he wouldn't answer her, he finally said something.

"He was a commander from a long time ago." Longer than Kenpachi cared to admit. "We were a group of his best captains. A special division. Hush-hush type thing." Until several of their number had betrayed their secrets. So much bloodshed during those years... wonderful blood and pain...

The old man hadn't cared that Kenpachi didn't have a real name. He was a good fighter, rough around the edges but that didn't matter. He was a good leader too, despite not having the same background as everyone else. He hadn't entered the ranks with a test, but rather on sheer force alone...

"Zaraki-san?" she asked, hoping to shake him from the trance he had entered into. His facial expression had changed from slightly menacing to dread. He stopped washing the dishes, just staring off into a distance she wasn't a part of.

"Don't call me that," he finally said, shaking his head so that the bells chimed. He stole a glance out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't zone out in the middle of a story then," she teased. "But is that the end?" she asked more thoughtfully.

"That's as much as I can tell you without having to kill you." It took her a moment to realize he was kidding. Sometimes, he had moods where it was nearly impossible to distinguish.

"No funny," she told him. "You're about as funny as Ikkaku-kun. But is that all there is to the story?"

"That's all you get." It wasn't much, but it was more than he was used to sharing. How funny, both of them had pasts they couldn't share or didn't want to share.

Nel couldn't remember parts of her past either, after the incident with Nnoitra. Truthfully, there hadn't been that much to remember.

She sometimes dreamed about strange people and places that she thought she should know, but couldn't recall ever meeting or visiting them. There was always a man with a not-so-sincere smile. Sometimes, when she was younger, she would say or do something that would make Pesche and Dondo exchange strange looks. As if there were some great secret about her, they were keeping.

"Ken-chan, all finished," Yachiru announced from the living room. "Come watch a movie with me!"

"Alright Brat, I'll be there in a minute."

"Not fast enough Ken-chan!" She ran in the kitchen and tried to move him from the sink. Surprisingly, he budged slightly.

"I ought to wash you with the dishes." He picked her up easily and set her on the other side of the counter.

"I can take over," Nel suggested. A little pain was nothing.

"No, Yachiru can help dry them. Go ahead and shower if you want." Knowing better than to argue with him, Nel let herself off the counter and headed for her room to grab her nightclothes.

As she glanced around her room, Nel felt a sense of loss. She was just spending the week and weekend in his bed and then their lives would be back to normal. But when she returned, she would be different. This was probably how a bride felt on her last day of being a single woman.

Before she could think of anything else, Nel grabbed her clothing and headed for the shower for a bit of think time without immense spiky bosses and diminutive pink haired girls.

Meanwhile, Kenpachi was listening with half of ear to Yachiru's questions.

"Ken-chan, do you love Nel-chan?" Kenpachi about broke the plate he was holding.

"You have no business asking that!" She pouted, puffing her cheeks out like a hamster. She looked like she was going to spit at him, which was a common problem. Ikkaku could attest first hand to the power of her spit.

"Aw Ken-chan, I just wanted to know." She could push her bottom lip out pretty far. It never ceased to amaze him. Sometimes he and Ikkaku would take bets on how many things she could store on it. "Are you going to get married?"

"Don't be stupid."

"I'm not being stupid, you're being stupid."

"Why am I stupid?"

"If you have to ask," she rolled her eyes, "then you're the stupid one." She stuck out her tongue.

"Yachiru," he growled. She hopped off the counter again, spinning out of his reach.

"Movie Ken-chan. I want Nel-chan too."

"She's busy. I'm busy with these dishes. You could help." He held out the drying rag to her.

"No," she told him cheerfully, as she disappeared into the living room. He uttered a low growl, ready to break the dish in his hand. Good thing it was just the three of them, which cut down on the amount of work to do.

Without Yachiru's distraction, Kenpachi was left with his own thoughts. He didn't want them though, so he tried to concentrate on battle strategies, or old memories of his life before the two troublesome women entered it.

"Um Kenpachi-kun?" He heard Nel ask from the doorway. How had she snuck up on him like that? Good thing he didn't have a knife or something. "You've been washing the same dish for a while." Had he? He glanced down to see the same floral design of Yachiru's favorite plate still in his hands. His fingers were wrinkled and slightly pale from the water.

During her shower, Nel had taken time to focus on keeping herself in perfect control. This meant nothing. She would do it for anyone. Wouldn't she? Somehow, she couldn't picture herself doing this for Ichigo though.

Kenpachi took notice of how her wet hair curled around her bared shoulders. Had she always worn a camisole to sleep in? The black material emphasized the fair hue of her skin and the pastel of her hair. Her legs were covered in a worn out pair of matching exercise pants, but he could still trace the faint outlines of lean muscle beneath the fabric.

She was just watching him with those resplendent hazel eyes. It was increasingly difficult to pay attention to her velvety lips and even more importantly, what words they were forming.

"I'm going to go keep Yachiru company and will put her to bed Kenpachi-kun," Nel was telling him. By the time Kenpachi shook himself free of his entrancement, Nel was gone as well, leaving him alone in the kitchen.

He hurried though the dishes, not really caring if they were completely clean or not. When he finally arrived in the living room, Yachiru was asleep in Nel's lap.

"Shh, don't wake her," Nel told him softly as she brushed some of Yachiru's bubble-gum pink hair out of her face. Whatever Yachiru had picked to watch was long over and Nel had turned it to some kind of comedy show.

"I'll put her to bed." Kenpachi reached under Yachiru, brushing Nel's legs in the process. He thought he detected the faintest hint of blush in her cheeks. Though Yachiru was close to becoming a teenager, she still acted like a child sometimes.

Kenpachi was sure that was his influence as well. He was just a big kid at heart when you stripped away all of his menace and killing instinct. But, he felt that fun was the most important part of a life well-lived. And he wanted Yachiru to have as much fun as she pleased.

She stirred slightly and mumbled something about 'pinball head' before he tucked her in and left the room. Nel was sitting almost in the same spot as when he had left her. Only now she had a book and had turned off the television. She looked so wrapped up in her book, he decided he would finally go and take his shower.

When he returned later, Nel was still holding her book, but her head was tilted forward in sleep. Kenpachi assumed she was exhausted from Yachiru's seemingly boundless energy.

Kenpachi wasn't sure he should just pick her up and head for the bedroom or if she would try to wake her. Taking her feelings into consideration, Kenpachi shook her shoulder in an effort to wake her.

"Woman," he said. Next thing he knew his arm was throbbing and Nel was looking very startled.

"Oh! I am so sorry Kenpachi-kun!" He rubbed the easily visible red spot on his arm. It would probably bruise over later.

"Sorry? That's a hell of a punch," he laughed. She looked extemely flustered. Did she want him to be mad? Since that night in the alley, he had not seen her fighting style again.

"I didn't hurt you?"

"No, not even close."

"Did you need me for something?"

"I thought you might be more comfortable in the bed."

"Oh, okay." Nel was too tired to care whether it was her bed or his. She untangled herself from the couch, setting her book on the end table. In the whole two years she had worked for Kenpachi, Nel had only been in his room a handful of times. It always surprised her with its starkness. He had just enough space for his queen sized bed and a table beside the bed. He kept the room rather simple and dark, with solid bed coverings and a lack of wall decoration.

"Which side?" he asked as he discarded his t-shirt. Her heart thumped harder a few seconds. She forgot how muscled he really was.

"Don't you need a shirt on?" she asked, lowering her eyes.

"I can't sleep with a shirt on." She could see his fingers heading for the waistband of his pants.

"Don't tell me you're going to take off your pants too!"

"What? Not afraid of some skin are you?"

"No," Nel snapped.

"You never answered me which side."

"I don't care."

After a brief consideration, Nel chose the left side facing the closet he probably never used.

"Good night," she told him as she curled up under the sheets, trying to make herself as small as possible so there was no accidental brushing against him. Everything smelled like his particular brand of hair care products and deodorant. Trying to appear inconspicous, she took a deep breath of it.

"Night." He seemed far more comfortable on the other side, even spread out a little on top of the comforter, his hands resting on his muscled abdomen. Within minutes he was snoring lightly.

Nel rolled her eyes, feeling restless now that she had taken a brief nap. She listened for a long time to his rhythmic breathing, allowing it to finally lull her to sleep.