Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
Zaraki was out of Yachiru's room before he remembered that he didn't know where to find Kuukaku. The house's underground was seemingly endless, and he wasn't sure how Shiba always got the attention of her idiotically idiosyncratic servants, even if they were nowhere in sight beforehand. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, being careful not to stretch the skin on his forehead, where the slash down his face was healing.
He was thankful for her kindness. He was thankful that she gave him the chance to fight his way out of repayment, because there was no way in hell that he'd ever be able to pay her back with money: she looked the type to know when it had been stolen. All the same, he wished that Yachiru hadn't gotten sick, so he could have found a barn to hide in and heal. The Shiba woman had given words to his suspicion; that was the problem. Before, when the attackers had no reasons, no force behind them, no uniformity, he could ignore them without drawing conclusions, and keep existing as he and Yachiru had always existed. Together, in the moment. But now that there was a purpose for the attacks, and that purpose was Yachiru...Zaraki felt that he was being forced to walk a road between walls which had not before existed, coming to close in around him.
He shook his head and decided to go outside before seeing Shiba about crayons: it was getting claustrophobic.
Kuukaku was rubbing her temples and smoking like a wet woodfire when there came a knock at her door. Hauling herself upright, she said, "Yeah?"
It was the Kenpachi who drew back the door and stepped inside. He did not bow, but came to the centre of the room and sat before her.
"It's about Yachiru," he said, sounding bored.
"Oh? Is she alright?" Kuukaku asked, a little surprised. The toddler should be well on her way to health: if she was taking a turn for the worse, it could suggest something more than a mere fever at work.
"Che. She's fine. She can't sleep though, and she ran outta paper for colouring. She wants to colour in bed, too, so she needs a board to stick the paper on, or else she can't colour it properly."
"Ah." Kuukaku grinned, failing to be intimidated into solemnity as the Kenpachi looked down at her. "Yeah, sure. Koganehiko can help with that."
"Hai, Kuukaku-sama!" Shouted the lackey from his prostrate position behind Zaraki, where he most definitely had not been a moment before. Zaraki decided not to think about it.
"Well, get on it!" Kuukaku was saying, and suddenly they were alone in the room again. Zaraki was getting up to leave when his host's voice stopped him.
"Kenpachi. Stay a moment."
He sat down again, managing to look both interrogative and intimidating at the same time.
"I've got a contact in Sereitei," she said, keeping her face deliberately impassive. "I may be able to find things out. We -"
Zaraki never found out what she was implying with the "we", because at that moment, a powerful reiatsu seemed to appear, almost out of thin air, outside the door: before either of them could do anything, the door was knocked back, and a naked woman strode in to the room.
"Kuukaku, you sneaky bitch! You sent your servants out to look for me? They couldn't find me if I was standing right in front of Why hello there," the woman noticed Zaraki halfway through her ranting at Kuukaku, and paused deliberately, sizing him up. "Kuukaku, that's quite the catch. Where'd you find him?"
"My front yard," Kuukaku said. "And don't you ever wear clothes?"
The woman looked down at herself. "Well I wasn't expecting company," she said in an aggrieved tone, "but if I must..."
"My room's the next door down the hall," Kuukaku sighed. "Go find something that fits."
"Like you have anything that would fit," the woman snorted, gesturing towards Kuukaku's breasts, but she left anyways.
Kuukaku turned to Zaraki. "My apologies," she said, smiling wryly. Zaraki, whose face had reverted to its usual stony demeanor the moment the woman had burst in, said nothing, but inclined his head as if to say, it's not your fault.
The woman came in again, this time dressed in an oversized kimono, which she wore like a robe. She plopped down near the right wall of the room, between Kuukaku and Zaraki. Turning to Zaraki, she flashed him a toothy smile.
"Sorry about that. I'm used to being alone with Kuukaku, here. I'm Shihouin Yoruichi, commander of the Sereitei special forces, and Captain of the Second Squad of the Thirteen Protection Squads."
"Zaraki Kenpachi," he said, face still impassive.
"Yoruichi here is our Sereitei contact," Kuukaku said, tapping her pipe bowl in her palm.
"Wait, "our"? Contact?" Yoruichi looked from Zaraki to Kuukaku and back again with narrowed eyes, her voice taking on a slightly edged tone. "What's going on here, Kuukaku?"
"Zaraki-san came here during that thunderstorm a few night's back," Kuukaku began to explain. "He's got a kid with him: little tiny girl named Yachiru. He'd been attacked by shinigami."
Zaraki, a little uncomfortable with the honorific, shifted under Yoruichi's sudden re-evaluating stare.
"Shinigami?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of Zaraki. "You're sure?"
"They wore black and used strange swords," he said.
"Kidou-based, it sounds like," Kuukaku interjected, and Yoruichi looked around at her. "You know anything about this, Yoruichi? Extra patrols in Rukongai? Missions to different Rukongai districts?"
Yoruichi rubbed her chin. "I'd have to go through intelligence reports looking for that specifically," she said pensively. "Whoever's doing it, they're being quiet about it, because it hasn't been mentioned at a captains' meeting, nor have I had anyone contact me specifically about unusual behaviour to that effect." She turned her gaze quite suddenly on Zaraki once again. "Do you know why they were attacking you?"
Zaraki hesitated, the "no" already half-formed in his mouth. Yachiru trusted the Shiba woman. If the Shiba woman trusted this captain, he would extend that trust. But only for Yachiru's sake.
"Yeah," he said. "It's because of Yachiru."
Yoruichi looked quizzically at Kuukaku, who explained, "His ward; the little girl."
"Ah. Do you know why they're after her, and not you?" The dark-skinned woman asked, and her look shifted to one of appraisal. "They could be targeting your strength. Have any old rivals?"
"I have no memory." Zaraki said simply. "And they're targeting Yachiru because she knows things." He didn't elaborate.
Yoruichi continued to stare at Zaraki, who returned her look with one that spoke of stone barriers. She wanted to see through him, and he'd be damned if he'd let her.
"Alright," Yoruichi said at last. "I'm going to go through the records back in Sereitei, and maybe post a few of my squad to look over the rest of them."
"It's not the thirteenth," Kuukaku said pensively. "Kaien may be an idiot but he's keen. He notices things, and he hasn't seen anything like what we're looking for."
"Ukitake's a good man," Yoruichi agreed. "But I'm not going to let anything go unnoticed."
"Che." Both women turned to look at Zaraki, who had uttered the contemptuous sound. He raised his eyes to look at Kuukaku; they glinted yellow. "This is wasting time, an' Shiba hospitality," he said. "I've paid for Yachiru's time here, til she heals, but after that, I'm leanin' on you like a crutch. You can't fight when you're dependent on something to hold you up."
"So you're just gonna leave?" Kuukaku's half-smile turned dangerous. "What's your plan, Kenpachi?"
"Simple," the large man rumbled. "I take Yachiru and we leave. Then she" - he jerked his head at Yoruichi - "sends her guys to watch over us. We're bound to be attacked again, and that way you can single out who they are."
Kuukaku lifted an eyebrow. "You sure? They're bound to send more attackers; higher level of skill, too, after last time. You think you can handle it?"
A feral grin spread its way across the Kenpachi's face, and Yoruichi nearly shuddered. "Only one way to find out," he said.