To Magnapede - "Zaraki would come back to see the entire 11th division transformed into a candy factory or something." I couldn't -not- laugh at that.. The images! And, yeah, all in all, Yachiru would enjoy it. Personally, I think after a while, she might get bored of it. Might, key word. Keiko, having had very few interactions with her (the "shopping trip", the candy, and any other short meetings not written about), still only views her as a child, and since children get bored with things very easily... She has yet to -see- Yachiru be serious. Yachiru also -exudes- cuteness and innocence, so that's what Keiko would feel in her aura as well.
It had been arranged that Keiko and co. would arrive in one of Karakura's parks late at night when it would be empty and they would be met by Kuchiki Rukia, Abarai Renji and the Subtitute Shinigami. So, when Keiko, Shuuhei and Kenpachi actually showed up, Keiko was thoroughly surprised by the fact that it wasn't three people that came to meet them, but six, err, seven.. if you included the small stuffed lion...
Shuuhei nodded to Renji and Rukia as Keiko scratched the back of her head. "I'm surprised there are so many of you here to meet us. Yamamoto-Genryusai-soutaichou only mentioned three of you. And to be honest, I don't know who's who," she smiled weakly.
The shortest girl stepped forward to speak. "I'm Kuchiki Rukia, member of the 13th Squad, this is Abarai Renji, lieutenant of the 6th Squad, Kurosaki Ichigo, the Substitute Shinigami, and our friends Inoue Orihime, Sado Yasutora and Ishida Uryuu, the Quincy," she pointed to each person as she named them, most of them bowing to her, except for the Substitute Shinigami. Keiko raised an eyebrow at the orange-haired's unusually pale face and eyes which were wide in horror. She followed his trail of vision to see that he was staring at Kenpachi. How... odd. She'd have to ask Kenpachi about that later.
Shrugging, she turned back to everyone and bowed in return. "I am Akuuno Keiko, Captain of the 9th Squad. Apparently you all know my lieutenant, Hisagi Shuuhei," she spoke, glancing at Shuuhei. "But, uhh.." her eyes trailed down to the small yellow stuffed animal. "Who.. or.. what is that?" she pointed down at it and stared at Kuchiki-san.
"That is Kon," Rukia frowned at the small stuffed animal. "And I suggest you try to stay away from him. He's nothing more than a leech."
"But Nee-san!" Kon whined and leapt up to try and attach himself to Rukia's chest. Rukia, having apparently been prepared for this, promptly smacked Kon away before he could hit his mark. The lion hit the floor and bounced a few feet away, squeaking all the while.
Keiko chuckled, actually finding the thing kind of cute. "Oh, by the way, Kuchiki-san, your brother gave me something to give you," she started, reaching into her obi. "Ah, here," she nodded, pulling a delicate ivory comb from the fabric and offering it to her fellow Shinigami. Rukia's eyes widened and sparkled as she carefully took the item. "Onee-sama!" she gushed, her attention now fully on the small comb in her hands. Keiko raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. "And Abarai-san, Kuchiki-taichou told me to give you a message."
"Huh?" Renji looked up, having been speaking with Shuuhei.
"He says, and I quote, 'Rukia better be well taken care of. If anything happens to her, I shall personally hold you responsible.' Uhh, he didn't look happy, either, but he never really does," she shrugged.
With a sigh, Renji let his head fall forward in defeat and Shuuhei laughed, patting his friend's shoulder.
"Inoue-san?" Keiko looked towards the last female of the group. The girl looked up quickly, a genuine smile on her face. "I'm sorry for being so last minute, and possibly rude, about this, but Matsumoto-fukutaichou told me how she and her Captain stayed with you while they were last here on a mission. Would it be a problem if myself, Hisagi-fukutaichou and Zaraki-taichou stayed with you for the duration of our time here? I will most certainly make sure you're well compensated for the trouble."
"Sure, it's not a problem!" she smiled, replying chipper-ly, but glancing every so often at Kenpachi, a look of slight worry on her face.
Brow furrowing, Keiko looked around and noticed how almost everyone kept glancing at Kenpachi, and they all looked as though they were downright terrified of him. Kenpachi himself was smirking, once again happy with the impression he gave people. "What the hell have you done to these people?" Keiko growled, quickly turning around to stare at Kenpachi. When he only smiled and shrugged innocently, she rolled her eyes: "You know what, forget it, I'm sure I can figured it out myself." Sighing and turning back around, she made sure to catch everyone's gaze as she spoke: "I know how much of a pain in the ass he can be," she pointed behind her at Kenpachi, "but I promise to keep him out of trouble. It's one of the many things I have to do while I'm here anyway."
After a bit more of conversation, it was agreed to bring the three new Shinigamis to Urahara's shop to get their gigais, which was, in and of itself, fairly comical because all three of them wound up wearing almost all black clothing. As it had grown late, and the lot of them claimed they had school the next day, the newest arrivals followed Inoue-san to her home.
Keiko bade the younger girl goodnight, thanking her profusely before slipping into the room she would share with Shuuhei and Kenpachi. Or.. maybe just Shuuhei, because Kenpachi was already missing. "Where the -fuck- did he go already?" Keiko sighed, pulling her hair down and shaking the short locks out.
"Up on the roof," Shuuhei replied, flopping down into a chair. "He really doesn't seem very happy to be here. Why'd he come anyway?"
"Few reasons," Keiko sighed, lying down on the couch in the room. "I brought him here to continue his training. He won't exactly progress while I'm off on a mission, so," she shrugged. The other reason... Well, now was a time as good as any to explain to Shuuhei about the seals. And besides, she knew Kenpachi was listening to their conversation, what with the window being wide open. "Remember when I told you that I disappeared because of the Onmitsukido?" she turned her head to look at him and saw him nod, his eyes focused on hers. "Well, there's more to it than that. I came down with a, uhh.. condition, so to speak. Have you ever heard of Chishio no Rouzeki?"
"It sounds familiar, but, I don't know."
"In simple terms, there's something wrong with my blood." Sitting up, she unzipped her hoodie and slipped it off before turning around so her back faced Shuuhei. She then pulled her shirt up in the back so he could see some of the tattoos on her back. "Seals," she started to explain, staring at the back of the couch now in front of her. "They were put in place decades ago by Yamamoto-Genryusai-soutaichou himself because of the problem. There's something in my blood that, if triggered, causes me to lose my humanity. I basically go insane.. become an animal.. and I'll wind up killing everything and anything near me. It's not a pretty sight, but, these seals will prevent that from happening. It's why I brought Kenpachi with us - he'll know what to do if something happens to the seals."
Sighing softly, she started to pull her shirt back down, but was stopped by Shuuhei. He had slipped off his chair and knelt on the floor behind her, and reaching up, he kept the shirt up with one hand, the other, he reached out to trace one of the tattoos.
With a wince and a gasp, Keiko bit her lip. "Careful.. they're immensely sensitive right now.. they were redone yesterday. And why aren't you surprised by this?"
"Why should I be?" he shrugged, leaning back on his haunches. "You disappear, come back out of the blue, and now I find out something weird about you? I've learned not to be surprised around you anymore."
Keiko chuckled softly. "I guess you're right."
"I know I am," he responded before leaning forward and lightly pressing his lips against her skin, right over one of the ends of the tattoos. Following the intricate design the tattoos made, he lead a trail of light kisses along the red ink. Keiko gasped again, but this time, not from pain. His lips and breath were cold against her back, and it was unusually soothing. After a while, Shuuhei let her shirt fall down, and he sat up to curl his arms around her waist and pull her back, carefully, into him.
"It's later," he murmured in her ear.
"Now isn't the best of times," she replied quietly, well aware he was referring to what she had said to him yesterday.
"Why?"
Loosening his grip on her waist, she turned around so she could face him and rested her arms on his shoulders. With her chin, she motioned towards the open window, then looked up, referring to Kenpachi. "Not only are we on a mission, but we're in someone else's house, and it would be terribly rude."
Shuuhei eyed the window and nodded. "What, talking is rude?" he turned back to grin up at her, resting his hands on her hips.
With a light laugh and a roll of her eyes, she shook her head. "No, it's what the talking could lead to that's rude. I'm not stupid, you know," she smiled, poking his nose.
Shuuhei quickly tilted his head up to kiss the finger she had used to poke his nose. "Well can you at least answer one question?" She nodded. He moved his face closer so he could whisper: "Was I wrong for kissing you yesterday?"
"Do you really need to ask that?"
"Hey, it's nice to hear it verbally."
She rolled her eyes again, but leaned forward to press her forehead into his. "I could go into a long tirade about -why- it was wrong, focusing on the fact that you're my lieutenant, and I'm your Captain, but no, you weren't wrong." She kept her voice low, because, honestly, she didn't exactly want Kenpachi hearing anything. "But, anyway, you should probably get some sleep. I'm going to head up to the roof and talk to Kenpachi real quick before I turn in. We have a lot to do tomorrow."
The moment he could, Kenpachi got away from everyone, quickly making his way to the roof. Sure, a large man sitting on a rooftop in the middle of the night might be a weird thing, and it might draw attention, but that was just too fucking bad. He could be alone with his thoughts up on the roof. And one of his first thoughts was sake. He was pretty sure that orange-haired chick didn't have any, so he would have to make an effort to go out and get some tomorrow... Or maybe he'd get Keiko to do that.
One of the reasons Kenpachi hated going to the real world was because he always got weird looks from people, and since he couldn't just reach out and hit them, he had to keep his anger and spiteful comments bottled up. He honestly wanted to stay as far away from people as he could, but, since there was always the possibility of being forced to be near people, to keep the comments at a minimum, he had made sure to get rid of the bells in his hair and let his normally gravity-defying locks fall weakly about his shoulders, just as he had left it before he had become a Captain.
His thoughts, as usual, were interrupted, this time by the voices of Keiko and 69 floating out from the window below him. While Keiko spoke, Kenpachi remained silent and immobile, finally hearing what it was those seals actually kept under lock. Chishio no Rouzeki.. he had heard of that before, but he had never actually seen a person when controlled by it. From what he had heard, it was a fairly gruesome thing, and if a person was so far gone under the effects of it, the only way to stop them was to kill them.
The more Kenpachi found out about Keiko, the more he grew to respect her. That didn't, of course, mean that he wouldn't get pissed off when she'd make some comment to him or hit him when he wasn't concentrating during his training sessions. And he had vowed, long ago, that once he learned his bankai, he would let loose and make sure she was paid back for all those smacks and smart-ass remarks.
"Hellooo?" Keiko waved her hand in front of his face.
Slightly startled, Kenpachi's head snapped back a bit as he blinked. "What?" he looked up at her.
She sat down on the roof beside him, looking up at the stars. "You gonna' stay out here all night, or what?"
He grunted in reply. Sharing a room with Keiko and 69 wasn't very appetizing to the big man. He had seen how the tattoo-face had fawned over her the last time Kenpachi brought Keiko's passed out ass back to her Squad. He might, however, take a nap in the kitchen or some other empty room later on.
Leaning back on her palms, she glanced at him from the corners of her eyes. "Why do you hate coming to the real world so much?"
Sigh. Was this going to be 20 questions or something? Kenpachi really wasn't in the mood to answer anything at the moment, but, he was beginning to learn who Keiko was, and he had learned that she'd only just push the question until he got pissed off enough to answer her. "I don't like people."
Snorting, she let her back fall against the roof and folded her arms under her head. "It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Why, though? You seem more pissy and angsty than normal."
He turned to glare down at her. "These -people- can't accept things that are different from them. They comment, point and laugh. Of course I really don't give two fucks about the whole fitting in thing, but when I can't lash out and shut their mouths for them, it can get really bothersome. I don't do well when I'm pissed off and have no outlet to vent the anger."
Keiko nodded, her eyes trailing up to gaze at the stars again. "Well, it's up to you, then. Shuuhei and I are going to head out and start investigating in the morning. You can either come with, or just stick around here and keep trying to communicate with your zanpakuto. Though if a Hollow shows up, I'll be sure to let you know so you can take your anger out on it."
He actually laughed at that.
"But if you -do- decide to stay here, make sure you don't wreck Inoue-san's house. She denies it, but I know she's stressed and somewhat put out by having to let three people she doesn't know live in her house for who knows how long."
"I wouldn't -dream- of it," he rolled his eye. Honestly, Kenpachi would probably stay put unless a Hollow showed up. In a way, it would be nice to be alone. Sure, he could be alone whenever he wanted in Seireitei, because people knew when to leave him the fuck alone, but here in the real world, he didn't really have any obligations.
Silence encased the two Captains as they regarded the night time sky, and after a while, Kenpachi found a question bugging him. "What am I supposed ta' do if the seals break?"
Smiling weakly, Keiko looked up at him. "Kill me."
"You don't exactly seem very upset by that."
She shook her head with a sigh. "I have never been afraid to die. Truthfully, I thought things would be easier for everyone if I -were- dead. Once, a long time ago, I had actually thought about killing myself, just to make it all go away, but then I realized, I would do more good if I were alive. Take now for example. I'm trying to help you learn your zanpakuto's name. Not only that, but my Squad is happy to have a Captain again. If I were dead, I wouldn't be able to make a difference. But, if things go wrong and I lose myself, I know I -need- to be killed. That notion does not frighten me, because I know some day it might just happen. And honestly, you are probably the only person who would be able to do it."
"Why, because I don't care?"
"No, because you are strong enough to stand up to me."
This woman, this fighter, continually surprised Kenpachi with nearly every word she spoke. "Well, ya' better make sure I learn my bankai before you have to up and die. I want that rematch."
Laughing, Keiko returned her gaze to the sky above and silence once more settled between the two.
Chishio no Rouzeki - riot of blood
Yes, yes, I admit it, I stole this from the King of Fighters series, the concept, and the name (The Riot of the Blood being the actual name of the condition). I'm so naughty, but this is one of the things from the RP I wanted to keep in the story.
Actual BLEACH-verse and characters (c) to all the respective people.
Akuuno Keiko (c) me, General Junos.