Despite his reputation for being lazy (unless it came to fighting), Kenpachi didn't sleep much. Very often, he would just doze off for short amounts of time, and very rarely, he would lie down to sleep for a few, scant hours. Some would speculate it was because the giant of a man didn't need to sleep, but that was only part of the problem. In all technicality, it was Kenpachi's spirit energy that usually prevented him from sleeping. He, unlike the rest of the Captains, did not have control over his own energy, which was, of course, the main reason he wore his eye patch; it was one of the few ways to contain his energy. The inability to control his energy, and the large excess which his body seemed to exude, were the two main reasons why he didn't sleep. Thankfully, it was something he had gotten used to decades ago.

And that was why Kenpachi, and the entirety of his Squad, were at the execution grounds nearly an hour before the scheduled time. Not only had he not slept the night before, but he was just downright impatient.

Perched atop a boulder, Kenpachi stared down at the dirt ground, his zanpakuto unsheathed and resting against his shoulder, every so often bouncing against it. The rest of his Squad, Yachiru included, stood some feet away, a buzz echoing through the otherwise empty grounds as they spoke to each other. Like their Captain, they were excited; it was a rare occurrence to see Zaraki Kenpachi pour everything he had into a fight, and each and every one of the members of the 11th Squad were excited and -proud- to finally be able to see it happen. Sure, there were quite a few nay-sayers in the crowd - how could a -woman- even -think- of being able to pit up against Kenpachi? But a glare from the small lieutenant shut them up; if Kenpachi said it was true, it was true. Who were they to argue?

As the sun was reaching zenith, the shuffle and scuttle of footsteps began to grow as Squad 9 made their own approach to the location. Looking up from the ground, a large, feral grin spread out over Kenpachi's lips as he stared at the approaching woman. But what he was seeing wasn't the new Captain, rather, all he saw was her aura - large, strong and pulsating. Probably due to the abundance of his own energy, Kenpachi was abnormally sensitive to spirit energy; whether or not a person was purposely giving off an aura, Kenpachi could actually -see- it and feel it as though it were tangible.

Licking his lips, he stood up, and immediately, his entire Squad was silenced. He watched as the woman motioned for her Squad to stay back, then closed the distance between herself and Kenpachi, her arms folded into the opposite sleeves of her Captan's haori. To those insensitive to spirit energy, it looked as though Kenpachi was staring at the woman with such intensity that he either wanted to kill her or ravage her. But the truth was quite the opposite; he could -not- take his eyes off her -aura-, so disturbingly like his and yet so... He couldn't put a word on it. It was just as battle hungry as his own, just as aggressive, just as lethal. He could feel her need for bloodlust just as he felt his own. And yet, there was still something so different about her aura that it almost disturbed him for not being able to identify -what-.

"Before we start, there's just one thing I want to know."

His eye focused on the physical plane, meeting her gaze.

"Just -why- do you want to fight me?"

He couldn't help but laugh. "Why are you asking a question you already know the answer to, woman?"

Her response was intoxicating; her aura nearly doubled in size and intensity, and Kenpachi could literally feel electricity in the air. Goosebumps rose on his flesh.

A laugh grew from his stomach, up through his chest and out his throat as his own aura responded to hers. Without a second thought, his laugh having turned to a maniacal cackle, Kenpachi reached up and tore the eye patch off his eye, his aura rushing outwards and expanding beyond it's normal boundaries, flaring around him in flames of yellow energy. He was exhilarated! He was ecstatic! He was -free-!

A sadistic smile spread out over Keiko's lips, and her eyes narrowed and focused, a tinge of red seeming to come to her irises. Her body shivered in anxious anticipation, and her aura grew to meet Kenpachi's, red flames of energy to match his yellow. For a short while, the two Captains stood staring at each other, both allowing their spirit energy to expand from their bodies causing the air around them to become dangerously hot. Wind from their sheer power caused their clothes to whip about violently, and when their auras would no longer grow, it bled into their eyes; Keiko's normal golden eyes shimmered red, Kenpachi's gray to yellow.

Reaching down and back to her right, Keiko unsheathed her zanpakuto which was kept across the small of her back like Soifon's. As she brought the weapon around in front of her, she raised her left arm into the air, her fist clenched.

"Waru ikimi.. Chiakki!"

As she yelled for her zanpakuto to release to it's shikai, she sliced it across the inside of her forearm, cutting a large gash and drawing blood. But rather than drip to the ground, the blood was drawn to the blade, as though it was absorbing the blood. For a moment, the blade shimmered red and white before quickly expanding in length and width. Moving her sword arm out to the right, Keiko held her zanpakuto out horizontally. The blade was now blood red in color, half a foot in width and six feet in length

Without a word, Kenpachi dashed forward, his speed fairly impressive for someone that was unable to use shunpo. After raising his zanpakuto off of his shoulder, he sliced it downwards, one-handed, aimed at her left shoulder. Keiko quickly brought Chiakki up and in front of her using only her sword arm to stop Kenpachi in his tracks with no visible effort on her part. For a few moments, the two Captains stood with their blades crossed, Kenpachi laughing as though he had lost his mind, Keiko grinning like an animal. It was nothing more than a simple swing and block, but each of them could feel and even smell the others raw, volatile power like an intoxicating scent.

The lust for blood was ignited within both Captains. Liquid ecstasy coursed through their veins. Every fiber of their being was ignited with pure, unfettered passion for battle.

It was only on the battlefield where they found meaning. It was only in the fight that knew true happiness. Their souls were free of their bindings, and everything around them disappeared except for the epitome of themselves: their energy.

For upwards of five hours, the two Captains let loose on each other, very often getting hits in or sending the other person flying into the ground to create a crater or two from the impact of his or her body. Keiko and Kenpachi stood staring at each other, their auras still crackling at full strength, though their bodies were bloodied and bruised and most of their clothing torn to shreds. But they were grinning.

With a yell on both ends, they ran for each other and when their zanpakutos met, an explosion detonated and rocks and dust went flying. Both Squads, now huddled as far away as possible to make sure they didn't get involved, stared intensely, wondering if, finally, the fight was over.

For five minutes, there was nothing but silence, and the dust finally cleared. Kenpachi and Keiko were crumpled at the bottom of a crater, their broken bodies shaking, gasping for breath between laughs.

"So," Keiko coughed, too tired to move. "I guess this is a draw," she smirked, trying to glance over at Kenpachi.

The larger man snorted. "You didn't use your bankai." But his voice wasn't laced with anger or spite, and there was a feral grin at his lips.

"Why would I use it if you can't?" she shrugged, and with a groan, slowly sat up to look down at him.

Coughing dust out of his lungs, Kenpachi sat up a bit, resting back on his elbows. "I want a rematch, and I want you to use your bankai."

Keiko shook her head. "No."

It was as though the grin on his lips was never there - it disappeared quickly. His eyes, having returned to their normally gray color, narrowed as he stared at her.

"But I'll make you a deal. Let me help you learn your zanpakuto's name, to learn how to unleash its bankai, and -then- you'll get your rematch."

The look on the woman's face was so smug, Kenpachi wanted to reach out and slap it away. But her words stabbed him, and they dug deep under his skin. Was she merely making fun of him for not knowing his zanpakuto's name, or was she being serious? Hereally didn't need to ask that question because he already knew the answer to it. "Think you can do it?" he muttered.

"I can't promise it'll happen, but I can promise that I'll try, and try with every ounce of my being." The smirk was gone, replaced with pure and utter sincerity.

Kenpachi reached out with a large hand, and Keiko gripped it firmly. The promise was sealed.

By the time Keiko had been dragged out of the crater, over to Squad Four to be patched up and scolded by Unohana-taichou, then finally returned to the 9th Squad house, it was close to midnight, and she had to lean against Hisagi-fukutaichou for support. The news of the battle and its outcome had quickly spread throughout all of Seireitei in a matter of hours, and nearly every person she passed gave her a pat on the back or a cheer. The same was said for her entire Squad. The moment she stepped into their house, the walls shook as they screamed and cheered. As she had hoped, and somewhat expected, morale was high.

Keiko laughed and thanked people as she and Hisagi-fukutaichou made their way towards the back, where her room was located. Once there, she flopped onto her bed, face first, with a groan.

"You may not be a bungling child anymore, but you're still a fool," Hisagi-fukutaichou commented, his arms crossing over his chest.

"Fool, but a fool who didn't lose!" she yelled into the blanket, raising her left arm, pointer finger pointed into the air. With a grunt, she rolled onto her back and sat up. "Told you I knew what I was doing."

Unannounced, a jigokuchou flew in from the window near the head of the bed. It came to a halt in front of Keiko and kept itself fluttering mid-air. "Tomorrow, Captain of the Ninth Squad, Akuuno Keiko, will have a meeting with Yamamoto-Genryusai-soutaichou at 1300 hours," an unknown voice resonated from the butterfly. It repeated the message before disappearing back out of the window.

Keiko pouted as she watched the butterfly disappear.

With a snort, her lieutenant shook his head before turning towards the door. "That's what you get. Anyway, you better get some sleep. No training tomorrow I assume?" Despite his serious tone, he grinned at her.

"Nah," Keiko shook her head. "They can have one more day off." Hisagi-fukutaichou nodded and left. Apparently already forgetting about the butterfly, Keiko scooted back onto the bed and abruptly passed out from exhaustion.

Kenpachi's welcome back to the 11th Squad house would have been similar to Keiko's, but he was too cranky for anyone to even attempt to cheer him. It wasn't because he hadn't won, nor was it because Keiko had thrown in his face he didn't know his zanpakuto's name and claimed she could help him learn it, no, it almost had nothing to do with the fight. Kenpachi was cranky because the prissy healer had made sure he stayed put while she and ten of her men made sure he was completely healed and bandaged. To the dismay of the healers, that involved holding Kenpachi down while he yelled and cursed at them.

Walking straight through the 11th house, he waved his hand dismissively at anyone that tried to approach him and stormed right into his room, slamming the door shut behind him before he sat down on his bed. "Stupid bitch," he growled, reaching up and ripping off the bulk of the bandages which covered most of his body. Normally, he'd spend the rest of the night bitching and moaning about the prissy healer, but his attention was brought somewhere else: the fight with Keiko.

Kenpachi laughed to himself, lying back in bed as a grin spread across his lips; he was running the fight through his head over and over again. When was the last time he had been so excited? He wanted to say it was probably the one time Ichigo fought him, but it wasn't. Never had Kenpachi felt such exhilaration in his life. Never had he been so happy. And strangely enough, the adrenaline rush and excessive use of his power were making him tired. But before he let sleep claim him, as it so rarely did, he folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. While he had a growing respect for Keiko, and he continued to realize how alike he and she were, he still couldn't put his finger on what it was he felt in her aura that still made her so different from him.

Was it because she had control over her powers? No, that was something he could sense.

Was it that she could use her bankai, but actually chose -not- to, thus causing a draw? No, he could sense her putting a limit on some of her powers.

Why the hell did he care anyway? Since when did Zaraki Kenpachi ever -think- so much?

But no matter how much he mentally scolded himself for it, one question still remained in the back of his mind, and it was nearly impossible for him to silence it: did she really think she'd be able to help him learn his zanpakuto's name?

Turning his head to the side, Kenpachi stared at his zanpakuto, as though once more trying to communicate it. With a snort, he rolled over onto his stomach to get some sleep.

haori - hip or thigh-length kimono jacket which adds formality; the Captain's jacket

"Waru ikimi.. Chiakki!" - "Rend flesh... Blood-demon!" (Rough translation. I might be completely -wrong-..)

shunpo - a movement technique that allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow; "flash step"

jigokuchou - "Hell Butterfly"

Chiakki

I regret to say that I was a -little- inspired by Sephiroth's Masamune (FFVII). I wanted Keiko's zanpakuto to be large (as Ichigo's and Kenpachi's are to reflect the size and intensity of their spiritual powers) but not -too- much like Ichigo's or Kenpachi's shikai. I thought of making it huge, like Guts' Dragon Slayer (Berserk - brownie points if you know this manga/anime!), but at the same time, I wanted the blade to be somewhat thin to reflect Keiko having -some- control over it. As the story progresses, more information will be revealed about her zanpakuto, but for now, I'd rather not spoil anything.

Hisagi Shuuhei

I've always had a problem figuring which was his family name and which his given, and because of that, I often mix them up. It only dawned on me while writing -this- chapter, that I screwed up his name (writing Shuuhei-fukutaichou when it should have been Hisagi-fukutaichou.) I tried to fix it as quickly as possible, so hopefully no one spotted the mistakes.

The next chapter will probably focus mostly on Keiko. Let me say this now: this is -not- meant to be a Kenpachi x OC fic, nor will it turn into one. I, like many BLEACH and Kenpachi fans, always wondered what Kenpachi's bankai would look like (lololol gattling gun). Since it was stressed that Kenpachi would probably never learn it, as he and his zanpakuto only hurt each other, I thought it would be interesting to write about what lengths Kenpachi would go to -to- learn his zanpakuto's name. At first, I thought of using one of the other Captains, or lieutenants who can already use their bankai, as a means of helping Kenpachi, but the more I thought about it, the less it made sense.

1) People would be too -scared- to offer to help Kenpachi.

2) People wouldn't -care- if he learned his bankai or not (it doesn't affect them, so why get into the middle of it.)

3) It isn't mentioned (at least from what I've seen) that Kenpachi even -wants- to learn his zanpakuto's name, so even if 1 or 2 didn't apply, no one knows whether or not he cares.

4) Can you picture Kenpachi asking someone for help? I mean, seriously.

Taking all that into consideration, I screwed around with a BLEACH chara I used to RP (Keiko, duh) and changed her so that in a way, 1 through 4 don't affect her: she's not afraid of Kenpachi, and she cares because she -wants- a rematch with him, bankai vs. bankai. So, throughout the fic, Keiko acts as a catalyst to cause Kenpachi to change, and, honestly, the only way I can do that is if I go into depth with her character. If that bothers you, the reader, well, I'm sorry, but /shrug.

Actual BLEACH-verse and characters (c) to all the respective people.

Akuuno Keiko (c) me, General Junos.