Warning: I have been consuming a -lot- of coffee lately. There's a little fluff ahead that, and although it doesn't have much to do with the story (little bit of a plot device, -big- bit of filler) I couldn't -not- write it. Very teen rated though, so no worries.
"So, how's the training going with Kenpachi?" Shuuhei spoke up from the couch.
Keiko quickly looked up, pulling a lollipop out of her mouth. "I thought I asked you not to mention that! No, change that, you promised you wouldn't." A frown came to her lips. He and Keiko were in her office, Keiko at her desk working on every day paperwork, Shuuhei sitting in front of a table working on the magazine.
Rolling his eyes, he turned around to face her. "Kei, look around, no one's here. It's Saturday, and most of the Squad takes the chance to get outta' the Squad house and out into Seireitei and Rukongai."
"Yeah, I know, but still... And anyway, since when do you call me 'Kei'?" she asked, her nose scrunched up.
"Since you stopped referring to me as lieutenant."
"Touche," she shrugged, looking back down at the paper before her as she slipped the candy back into her mouth. "Just don't call me that in front of anyone else."
"Yes, -Captain-," he replied, adding more stress to her title than was necessary. With a shake of his head, Shuuhei rolled his eyes a second time, but unlike her, he didn't return to the papers before him. Instead, he slipped off the couch and stepped up to her desk, palms pressing down into the wooden desktop as he looked down at her. "You didn't answer my question."
With a sigh, Keiko dropped the pen she was holding and leaned back in her chair to look up at him. "It's going. Not very fast... very slow, in fact, but it's going." It was something that Keiko felt bad about. Ever since her last fuck up, she had been overly cautious with training, which, sadly, basically pushed them back a few days. She was afraid to let him see into her soul again, and because of that, she couldn't get the connection to stick. So, like before, she'd wind up on her hands and knees puking up everything she had eaten through the day. Though, having started to become obsessed with lollipops, her mouth didn't always have a disgusting taste in it afterward.
Reaching out, Shuuhei pressed his thumb against the front of her chin, his pointer finger curled and placed under her chin. He then proceeded to lift her head up and down, then side to side as he examined her face.
"What, exactly, are you doing?" she questioned, her words slurred and muffled from a combination of the lollipop and the pressure he had on her chin.
With the other hand, he snagged the lollipop and pulled it out of her mouth so she could talk. "You should think about stopping for a few days. You always look tired lately, and your skin tone's not very good. First step to getting sick," he nodded sagely, as though he were really a member of the Fourth Squad.
"I still have more of a tan than -you-, tattoo-face," she countered, despite knowing he was right.
"And you should probably stop eating these," he waved the lollipop into the air. "I swear, you suck on these things like air - you always have one in your mouth anymore. I think Yachiru's beginning to affect you."
Leaning back away from his grasp, Keiko flexed her jaw before holding her hand out. "Maybe, but I like them. They're good. Now can I have it back?"
"Nope." With that, Shuuhei popped the lollipop into his mouth.
"What the fuck!" Keiko yelled, quickly standing up and trying to snatch the candy from him, but Shuuhei was too quick, and backed away in time. "I'm not even going to begin telling you how gross that is, but that's not the point. That's -my- candy!" She moved around her desk and tried to snag it back from him a second time, but again, she was too slow.
Shuuhei laughed, pushing the lollipop to the right side of his mouth. "If it's so gross, why do you want it back?"
"It's the -principle!-" With that, Keiko physically lept at him, colliding with his body and bringing him to the ground. Repeatedly, she tried to snag the candy out of his mouth, but Shuuhei only continued to laugh and dodge her grasp. Eventually, she pinned him down, sitting on his stomach and holding his wrists above his head, against the ground. "Will you give me my lollipop back now, -please-?"
In response, a loud crunch was heard from Shuuhei's mouth. He spit the stick out, off to the side, and grinned up at her as he chewed and swallowed the candy.
Keiko's jaw dropped as she stared down at him. "Ugh, -ass-!"
"Hm, you're right," he spoke between chews. "These are good."
With a snort, Keiko stood up before offering her hand to help him up. "I told you so. You owe me a lollipop now."
Shuuhei reached up to take her hand, but rather than get up, he yanked on her hand. Taken surprise, Keiko fell forward on top of him, her hands pressing into his chest to stop her fall. "You sure it's a -lollipop- you want right now?" he grinned at her before closing the already small distance between them and kissed her.
Keiko's eyes nearly popped out of her head, and her pale cheeks quickly turned a bright crimson. Before she could react, her mind swarmed with thoughts: What the fuck just happened? Is Shuuhei kissing me? -Why- is Shuuhei kissing me? This shouldn't happen - I'm a Captain, and he's my lieutenant! He's a really good kisser... But, the body is generally faster to react than the mind, and, focusing on the last thought, Keiko simply returned the kiss.
As things generally go, the simple kiss quickly turned into something more, something a lot more hot and a lot more heavy. Shuuhei's hands slipped under her haori, onto her upper arms. When he started to push the white jacket off of her shoulders, Keiko found herself freezing up. Almost immediately, her mind realized that the moment he saw the tattoos, he would ask about them, and now was certainly not the best of times to go into it... Maybe if she quickly rolled over so that she was on the bottom...
Luckily (or, not so luckily) for her, the door to her office slid open and a loud cough caused the two Shinigami to promptly break the kiss and look up at the interrup-- err, 'guest'.
"Soifon-taichou," Keiko stared at her mentor, the redness at her cheeks deepening from embarrassment.
"'eh hem, sorry to interrupt, but.." she paused, looking at Keiko and Shuuhei. She shook her head before continuing: "I came to let you know that there's a Captain's meeting in ten minutes. I'll wait for you outside." With that, the Second Squad Captain closed the door, leaving the 9th Squad leaders alone.
Clearing her throat, Keiko quickly got up off of Shuuhei and arranged her uniform so it fit her properly. Despite the fact that she had thoroughly enjoyed that kiss, she couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. She nodded once to him before making a beeline for the exit, but was stopped by his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey," he called out to her, but when she didn't look up at him, he moved around in front of her and slipped a hand under her chin to lift her head up.
Pretty much now being forced to look up at him, she tried her best to look serious, but, who was she kidding, what with the blush still on her cheeks and the way her lips had swelled up. "We'll talk about this later," she spoke quietly, before leaning up to kiss his cheek. Nodding once, she turned and left her office.
"So, you and Hisagi-fukutaichou, huh?" Soifon-oneesan's voice rang out as Keiko stepped out of the 9th Squad house.
"Oh, shut it," Keiko mumbled, refusing to face her mentor as she made her way towards the meeting room.
"Hey, no reason to get so upset. I always told you you needed to find someone to help you release all that pent up sexual frustration," she smiled, catching up with Keiko and walking beside her.
"Oh? Look who's talking, Miss I-Love-My-Mentor. Have you even -spoken- to Shihouin-sama about how you feel?"
Soifon-oneesan cringed, and Keiko could tell that the older woman wanted to hit her for the comment, but, -she- had started it. "Guess I deserved that," Soifon-oneesan muttered.
"Yes, you did. That subject aside, why wasn't a jigokuchou just sent to tell me about the meeting?"
"Yamamoto-Genryusai-soutaichou wanted me to make sure you knew to stay after the meeting to have your seals redone," Soifon-oneesan replied, her voice having dropped to low tones, her speech twined with sympathy for her protege.
A visible shudder rippled through Keiko's body, and she closed her eyes for a moment. "I had forgotten it was time to have them redone.."
Stopping, Soifon-oneesan reached out and grabbed Keiko's arm, stopping the shorter woman as well. "There's also bad news... I won't be able to be there when the seals are done. Yamamoto-Genryusai-soutaichou is sending me out on a mission with the Onmitsukido immediately after the meeting." She paused, watching Keiko, whose eyes had widened. "Do you want to go back and get Hisagi-fukutaichou? Have him stay with you while they're done?"
Keiko swallowed the lump in her throat. No matter how many times she would have the seals redone, it always scared her. The pain that her body was put through could not be explained in words. She had come to the realization long ago that nothing could help make the pain better, but, there was always some comfort in the back of her mind when she knew that someone was there with her throughout the ordeal, that person, obviously, being Soifon-oneesan. "No," she finally spoke up, her voice choked as she bit back a cry. "He doesn't have a clue about them."
"Who are you going to have stay with you, then? You know someone -needs- to at least stay there while you recover, and neither Yamamoto-Genryusai-soutaichou nor Sasakibe-fukutaichou can do that."
Eventually forcing a grin to her lips, Keiko finally looked up. "I have someone in mind. Someone who owes me much more than just a bottle of sake."
Another meeting. Didn't they just have one two weeks ago? Waste of time...
Kenpachi stood in line, as he usually did, like all the other Captains, and sighed inwardly. Even before the meeting had begun, his mind was already wandering to other important things: sake and whether or not he had to go out and buy some more.
"Stay after the meeting."
Blinking a few times, Kenpachi looked down to see Keiko fall into line beside him. "What?"
"I said, stay after the meeting."
When she turned to look away from him, he shrugged and settled his weight back onto the heels of his feet. After a few more minutes of wasted time of waiting, the old man appeared and took his place at the head of the two lines of Captains.
"I apologize for convening a meeting on such short notice, but it had some to my attention that there is an unusually high number of Hollow appearing in..."
Hollows? Ass kicking involved? Kenpachi actually started to pay attention to the old man.
"...Karakura. After having been told by the multiple Shinigamis we have out on patrol in and around the area, the decision has been passed to send a Captain to the location to gather information as well as taking care of any imminent dangers. Before picking a Captain to do this, I will first allow time for someone to volunteer."
There it was. Volunteer. No Captain in his right mind ever volunteered for these excursions to the real world. Nine times out of ten, it wound up being some false alarm and a waste of time. Kenpachi thought about it, for a millisecond. The asskicking he would enjoy, but intel? That was not something Kenpachi would volunteer for. Ever.
"I'll go."
Eyebrow raised, Kenpachi craned his head to look down at Keiko. What the fuck was she thinking?
"I'm the newest Captain. It would only seem fair if I go. Might as well save everyone else's time," she smiled. A few of the other Captains nodded, some smiled in return.
"Very well," the old man continued. "You can all thank Akuuno-taichou for making this meeting short and painless. You are dismissed."
Kenpachi turned, like the rest of the Captains, to leave, but was stopped by Keiko standing on his foot.
"Stay!" she hissed.
And rather than having to deal with her bitching later, he sighed and stayed. When all the other Captains had left, he turned to look down at her. "And why am I staying?"
"You get to help -me- with something this time."
What the fuck kind of reasoning was that? He wanted to reach out and smack her, but before he could follow through with the thought, the old man spoke up.
"I assume Soifon-taichou told you she couldn't be here?"
Keiko nodded. "Yes. Zaraki-taichou is the only other person who knows about the seals, so he will stay and assist."
"Very well," the old man replied, taking a scroll from his lieutenant.
What? Assist with what? He never said he would!
"Before the seals are redone, I have a request," she continued. The old man nodded. "I know it is routine for a lieutenant to accompany the Captain to the real world, but I would also like to request Zaraki-taichou comes as well."
WHAT?!
"As I said before, he is the only other person who knows about the seals. And I know, as well as you do, Soutaichou, that overall it is fairly dangerous for me, of all Captains, to stay away from Soul Society for a long period of time. I am certain that if anything out of the ordinary should occur that Zaraki-taichou is one of the few people that would be able to deal with things."
Why the fuck was she volunteering him for this shit?
The old man nodded. "Request granted. You will explain to him what he may need to do?" She nodded. "And should things take longer than necessary, you will be sure to return here to have your seals redone?"
"Of course."
Kenpachi was furious. Who the fuck did she think she was?
"Just fucking nod and smile," Keiko muttered, apparently making a huge deal of taking her haori off, her back facing the old man. "I'll explain everything later and I'll make sure it's worth the while, so just nod and smile. Besides, your training won't go any where if you stay here while I'm off on a mission."
Well... that much was true. But still, what the fuck? "It better be worth it," he muttered.
After she let her haori fall to the floor, she motioned for him to follow her. She knelt down on the ground in front of the old man, her back facing him. "Kneel in front of me." Sighing in annoyance, he did. "All you have to do it sit there and keep me from falling over. Grab my upper arms." Reluctantly, he did. "Just kneel there and wait. When the whole thing is over, I'm going to pass out. You're going to have to stay here and make sure nothing happens to me."
"Whatever," he muttered as she slipped something into her mouth and bit down on it. Kenpachi looked up at the old man when an alien language met his ears, but before Kenpachi could wonder what language it was, he felt Keiko jerk and he tightened his hold on her arms as he looked down at her. Tears were beginning to stream from her eyes, and he raised an eyebrow. Was she really in that much pain? Depsite the fact she didn't show the least bit of evidence that she was in pain when they fought? Well, that was odd.
When flames burst from her back, Kenpachi nearly fell backwards, from the surprise of the fire, Keiko's screaming and how she continued to jerk around. Muttering something or other about not being warned about that, he tightened his hold on her and settled back on his haunches to get comfortable.
Eventually, the process ended (it took too long, he thought), and Kenpachi loosened his grip when he felt her muscles relax. Before he could ask what to do next, he felt her body fall forward, so rather than stop her, he just let go and she fell into him. Again with the passing out... With a sigh, he laid her out on the floor and sat back to wait for her to wake up.
Groaning softly, Keiko slowly opened her eyes to find she was lying on her stomach.
"Could've warned me you'd be passed out for so long."
Letting her eyes close, Keiko chuckled, "Oh, well." For a few moments, there was silence until she slowly sat up and spoke up: "You owed me. And anyway, do you at least now see why I don't want to go into details about these damned seals?" She heard him grunt in reply. Until she decided to explain what they kept bound, that subject was completely done, and Keiko was pretty certain Kenpachi knew it after having been there to experience the process.
"So, about making all this worth my while?"
"Mm. Patience, totally one of your virtues," she sighed, turning around to face him, but remaining sitting on the floor. "First, like I said before, if I go on this mission and you stay here, you won't be able to continue your training, so, you're welcome, since I thought about you when I volunteered." He scowled, she laughed. "Second, you'll be able to leave Yachiru-chan behind and in charge. Just think of the hell she'll put everyone in your Squad, except you, through while you're gone. Aside from the fact I'm sure you find that highly entertaining, in the long run, it might do you some good. If she does the whole 'in charge' thing now, she'll probably never bother you about it again." After seeing no response, she continued: "And third, I'd be willing to show you my bankai." She wasn't stupid, she knew how intrigued he was to see what the thing either looked like, or did. Probably what it did, because once he saw it, he'd more than likely want nothing more than to work his ass off to get his bankai and then challenge her to a rematch.
Kenpachi remained silent, but Keiko could see his brain working. When he shrugged, and did nothing more, she knew she had pretty much won that fight.
"So, what is it with you and passing out? Seriously, it's like yer day isn't complete unless do it."
If she hadn't been as tired and ache-y as she was, she would have chucked both shoes at his face...
I said it wouldn't be Kenpachi x OC, but I didn't say it wouldn't be SomeoneElse x OC. /cackles.. Oh, the cute romance, the corny dialogue. I love it!
Just want to make a note about this. I never actually planned to have this fic be Keiko x anyone. In fact, I was thinking of making her a lesbian and basically feeling for Soifon what Soifon feels for Yoruichi, but then I felt like I'd just been ripping that off, so I nixed the entire idea. Also, like I had already replied to one of my reviews: To be honest, I had thought of just going with the numbers (Shuusuke came in for Squad 3, that'd leave Squad 5 next), but thinking of trying to get Keiko into Squad 5 would require to try and flesh out Momo-chan, but even -thinking- of that depressed me because of how bad Aizen hurt her. ;-; Sooo, cheap way out - Squad 9! Cheap way to make it even easier and not have to focus on it - old friends with Shuuhei. X3 I'm so lazy..
In a way, Keiko's seals restrict what she can do. As said above, if she were away from Soul Society for a long period of time, she would need to make certain that she could get back and have the seals redone. In a way, this -could- prevent her from ever actually being able to go out on missions into the real world, but at the same time, if Yama, Soifon and Keiko all didn't feel that she would be responsible, then she wouldn't even be a Captain.
"In charge thing"
Sounds strange, and it may not even make sense, but I was thinking about an actual child when I wrote this. When a child wants to do something really, really badly, sometimes a person will let the child do it. When the child finds out how boring/annoying/etc it is, that it doesn't meet up to the child's expectations, the child doesn't ever want to do it again. Take Calvin and Hobbes for instance. Calvin wants to try a cigar, his mom lets him, after he tries it, he pretty much never wants to try one again because it's just so nasty.
And for those of you that actually read the notes, a question: when speaking about multiple Shinigami - two Shinigami or two Shinigamis? They both sound fine, and yet don't.. Opinions, please!
Actual BLEACH-verse and characters (c) to all the respective people.
Akuuno Keiko (c) me, General Junos.