EDIT: The latter part of this chapter has been edited. Please see the opening of Chapter 15 for the reasons

So.. I've been having the wonderful disease of writer's block.. I still have a few more chapters pre-written, but, I -might- be slowing down on the updates, we'll see how things go.

Days had passed, and not only had Kenpachi become completely withdrawn, pretty much keeping to the roof 24/7, but not a single Hollow showed up. Keiko did her best to ignore the latter, constantly reminding herself of what Shuuhei and Kenpachi had told her, but she couldn't ignore the former. Well, she could, but, she felt like she needed to do something about it.

"Don't do anything," Shuuhei suggested, peering at her from the couch.

Keiko had closed the window when she told Shuuhei she wanted to talk. The lieutenant had gotten his hopes up until she had mentioned Kenpachi. "I probably can't, any way.." she sighed, leaning back against the couch, sitting on the floor. "I mean, he's so withdrawn that I can't even get a feel of him from his aura. I don't know whether he's upset, happy, or just concentrating -really- hard and trying to communicate with his zanpkauto by himself."

"If he doesn't want you knowing, then I'm sure he has his reasons. Just leave him be until he either approaches you or makes it evident he wants to talk. Although, he -is- Kenpachi, and I don't know how you'd figure that out," Shuuhei shrugged, closing his eyes and folding his arms under his head.

With a scowl, Keiko stood on her knees and turned around to poke Shuuhei's side until he opened his eyes. "Then what am I supposed to do? I'm going crazy between him and the fact not a single Hollow has shown up since we got here. I need to do -something- or I'll lose my mind!"

A grin spread out over his lips. "We could go out on a date."

"No," she frowned, hitting his chest before turning back around and sitting on the floor once again, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "Although I am tempted to go visit Ichigo and Kuchiki-san to see if they thought of anything new."

"You did that yesterday. And the day before, and the day before," Shuuhei yawned, reaching down and massaging her scalp with his fingers. "I'm sure when they think of something they'll be over here in a heartbeat. They're just as stumped as you."

Her eyes slipped shut and a noise, very similar to a purr, emitted from her throat.

"Honestly, do whatever you want. Once those Hollow show up, it'll solve both your problems. So, wait, and in the meantime do.. whatever."

"But I'm a Captain, one sent on a mission. I feel like I'm not doing my job."

"Do I have to dump ice down your shirt? You can't -do- anything until Hollow show up, so drop the subject before I throw you in the shower again."

"Yeah, yeah," Keiko rolled her eyes, settling her chin on her knees. Almost completely forgetting, or ignoring, what Shuuhei had just said, Keiko got up and moved towards the window. "I'm gonna' go check up on him."

"No!" Shuuhei growled, quickly snapping his arm out to grab the back of her shirt and pull her back to him. "You are going to leave him alone, you hear me?"

"But..!"

"No buts!" Getting up from the couch, he kept his hold on her shirt and started to drag her backwards out of the room. "We're going out, let's go."

"Shuuhei, no! I have to, damnit, you're gonna' rip this shirt!" she yelled over her shoulder as he continued to pull her out of the room.

If it were possible, the roof would have molded around Kenpachi's ass - he had not budged since the moment he and Keiko had returned from his inner world. Without a word, he headed straight for the roof, and, zanpakuto in hand, closed his eyes and just concentrated. He still didn't know how to return to his soul, but he was now convinced that if he waited long enough, he'd be able to do it on his own.

Meeting with his zanpakuto was the most... life-changing experience he had ever had, more so than first meeting Yachiru. He could feel the magnitude of its power just from being near it, and he -wanted- that power. But he knew he had to work, and he had to work hard - his zanpakuto made that clear. He also knew that his zanpakuto, whose name he still didn't know, was quite upset with Kenpachi for being so ignorant and stupid over the years, but it had spoken to Kenpachi, and that was why the big man wasn't deterred. Truthfully, Kenpachi could not put his current state of mind and emotions into words, but he knew he was different. One thing was for certain - he was determined.

Slowly becoming oblivious to everything around him, he remained relaxed, and continually tried to communicate with his zanpakuto.

"I like coffee.." Keiko commented, staring down at the cup in her hands.

Shuuhei chuckled softly, drinking his own cup of the dark brew. "It doesn't go well with lollipops, though."

The Captain merely rolled her eyes before taking another drink. "We should probably head over to Kuchiki-san's school. They'll be getting out soon."

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"Because."

"...Because is not a reason," she muttered, her eyes narrowing a bit as she looked at him over her cup. "Unless you give me an actual reason, I'm going to go myself if I have to."

"We have things to talk about," Shuuhei replied, leaning forward over the table they were currently sitting at outside a small cafe, his drink cupped between both hands.

"Such as...?"

"'Later', as you put it." A grin spread out over his lips.

"No. We are -not- talking about that."

"Why not? It's not like we have anything better to do right now. And besides, it's much, much, much later if you ask me."

"There is nothing to talk about," Keiko shrugged, now staring down at her drink, refusing to meet his gaze. Yeah. Right. Nothing to talk about. Like either of them was -really- that stupid. Of course she wanted to talk about it! She was a -woman- for shit's sake. Well, technically, first she was a Captain, then a Shinigami, and -then- a woman, at least that was the priority she put things. And, as always, being a Captain came before everything else. As a Captain, she knew this was a subject that should not be breached. As a Captain she knew there were rules against these sorts of things. As a Captain, she had to end the discussion right here and right now.

"Don't even try to pull that crap with me," he started, leaning back again. "Yeah, yeah, I know, you want to go on and on about how you're my Captain and I'm your lieutenant, blah, blah, blah, that's getting -old-, Kei. You do realize that, hm, maybe 75 percent of Shinigami are in a relationship? That -includes- Captains."

"But not with their lieutenants!" she finally looked up at him.

"Uhh, do I -really- need to point out Squad 8 to you?"

"And there are -rules- against these things!"

"Yeah, for the protection of Soul Society. I don't know if you've noticed yet, but both you and I are fairly smart individuals with intelligent heads on our shoulders. I highly doubt that if we were to start something that Seireitei would blow up."

"But, but.."

"No 'buts'. I don't see you wearing a Captain's jacket, nor do I see my lieutenant's insignia, so just shut up for a moment."

Abruptly, Keiko shut her mouth, fairly startled at Shuuhei's choice of words.

"I kissed you. -You- kissed me back. -You- said it wasn't wrong. -You- were pretty damned comfortable when I had my arm around you in the park. I mean, hell, people say we look -good- together!"

"I'm not shallow enough to care about -that-..." she muttered.

"Whatever, that's not the point. The point is, if any of those things bothered you, you would have said something long ago. Not only that, but it's not hard for me to tell you want it just as much as I do. Now. I'm going to kiss you again, and if you really, really, really don't want this, then do something about it." Despite the fact he was in his gigai, Shuuhei was fast. Within the blink of an eye, he was out of his chair and standing over her, his hands cupping her cheeks as his lips pressed into hers. Keiko, however, was much slower; it took a few seconds for her brain to register what was happening. And although she wanted so desperately to prove him wrong, she knew there was no way she could, because, let's face it, she wanted it.

Shuuhei pulled away, but kept his hands on her face, ignoring the various looks, stares and "awws" people were giving his public display of affection. "Now. Are you ready to admit I was right and stop beating around the bush?"

Half lidded eyes looked up at him, and Keiko found it hard to get her thoughts into speech. He really, really was a good kisser... "Uhh.. yeah. Yeah.." She cleared her throat, sat up a bit and blinked back the glaze on her eyes.

"That's better. Now, if you want, we can go wait for Rukia and Ichigo to get out of school." Letting go of her face and leaning back, he offered her his hand, which she took.

Shuuhei and Keiko left the small cafe, drinks in hand, and made their way towards Kuchiki-san's school, the air between them much clearer and happier. Because of their little trip for coffee, they didn't have to wait long for the others to get out, and when they did, Inoue-san hopped up to them. Literally.

"It's the weekend! And I hope you two don't mind, but I invited everyone over for snacks and movies!" she smiled, looked back and forth between the Captain and lieutenant.

Keiko couldn't help but laugh at her jubilation. "Why would -we- mind, Inoue-san? It's your house!"

"I know, but you're my guests! And I don't want to intrude on you!"

Shuuhei shook his head, but smiled. Keiko continued to laugh. "If you really want our okay, then of course you have it." Inoue-san was such a sweet girl, and Keiko hated to think it, but the girl would be taken advantage of for it...

"Then let's gooo!" she pointed in a direction, hooked her arm with Keiko's and started off in said direction, everyone else laughing and following. They went on a trip to the food store as well a a video rental store, picked up supplies and all returned to Inoue-san's house, Keiko, on the way, letting Ichigo know (to the Substitute Shinigami's relief) that Kenpachi wouldn't be joining them.

At the end of the first movie, everyone crammed on the couch and floor in Inoue-san's living room, Keiko got up from the couch, offering to get everyone refills on their drinks. But before she could move, she gasped and grasped her chest with both hands. "Hollow.." she whispered, staring out in front of her with wide eyes.

"What?" Kuchiki-san looked up at her. No one else had felt it.

"You don't -feel- that?" Keiko gasped, looking around at everyone, all of whom shook their heads. "Trust me. They're coming.. a lot of them.." Shaking her head, she leapt from her spot and ran upstairs.

"I don't know what she--" Ichigo was cut off when he finally felt it, the distinct spiritual energy patterns of a Hollow. Glancing around, he could see everyone else felt it too. The only two with the GPS phones, Kuchiki-san and Shuuhei quickly pulled them out, beeping heard as they pressed the buttons.

"There's a lot of them.." Shuuhei started.

"And they're all in one spot.." Kuchiki-san finished.

Running back down stairs, having been upstairs to apparently get rid of her gigai as she was now in her Shinigami uniform, zanpakuto at her back, Keiko paused before the door and stared at everyone. "What the hell are you all doing? Let's GO!"

Not being needed to be told twice, the rest of the Shinigami in the group left their gigais, Ichigo left his real body, and Inoue-san, Sado-san and the Quincy all ran forward with the group, quickly leaving the house.

"What about Kenpachi?" Shuuhei asked Keiko, running beside her at the front of the group.

"He must have already felt it, he wasn't on the roof," Keiko shook her head. "How spread out are they?"

"They aren't. They're -all- in the park where we first arrived."

"What?!" Keiko yelled, glancing at Shuuhei who only shrugged. "What the fuck is going on..." she shook her head again, disbelief across her face. After all the studying she had done, all the work she had tried to do, it was all completely useless now. No more patterns, apparently.

As the group neared the park, Keiko was the first to stop, and stop short she did as Ichigo ran face first into her back, groaning softly as he fell back a few steps to grab his nose. "You never said anything about the Hollow being Menos Grande.." she whispered, her eyes mesmerized by the picture before her. Perhaps a good 40 to 50 Menos Grande were within the park, a specific count almost impossible from how they swayed back and forth. But they weren't -doing- anything, they were just.. standing there.. swaying.

"There never -were- any!" Kuchiki-san replied, obviously quite as surprised and horrified as Keiko was. Such a large numbers of Gillian in one spot would disturb anyone.

"What took you people so long?" Kenpachi called out.

Rather than answer the question, Keiko looked up Kenpachi, who was standing in the air a good 10 feet above and to the left of her. "Are there any people around?" she called out, her hand reaching back and unsheathing her zanpakuto.

"Nope," Kenpachi shook his head, turning to look at the Gillian swarm, his zanpakuto resting against his shoulder.

Keiko nodded. Good, even if the rules certainly permitted her to use her shikai, even her bankai, she still didn't want any humans around to be influenced by her powers. "Inoue-san," she called out, not turning to meet the girls eyes, her's locked on the Menos. When the girl looked up, she continued: "I know you want to fight with everyone else, but you're our only healer. I need you to stay back."

"But!"

"Please. Don't aruge with me." Keiko didn't want to throw her rank around, but she would if she needed. Glancing at Shuuhei from the corner of her eye, he nodded and moved closer to the girl; he would make sure she stayed back. There were two Captains in the area anyway, it wasn't like he'd really be needed. Once cutting herself and calling for Chiakki to release itself, Keiko launched herself into the air to stand beside Kenpachi, momentarily glad that Kuchiki-san, Abarai-san and Ichigo were smart enough to wait for her to give orders. "This is all they've been doing?"

Kenpachi nodded. "Got here a good ten minutes before you people, and they haven't been doin' shit."

"None of this makes sense.." Keiko sighed, shaking her head. She wanted to find out what was causing the Gillian to act this way, wanted to just stand around and observe, but she was a Shinigami, and it was her duty to get rid of them before they hurt any soul. "You might get to see my bankai earlier than I thought you would," she grinned weakly before turning towards everyone else. "Spread out and do what you can!" she yelled. "I don't want anyone trying to play hero and get themselves or someone else hurt!"

Taking her own advice, Keiko dashed forward, bringing Chiakki back before leaping up and slashing the nearest Gillian straight across the mask. Apparently, it was a stupid move, because the moment the Gillian she attacked started to disappear, the rest of them reacted, balls of Cero forming at their mouths. "Ahh, shit.." she muttered, throwing her body to the side. "Watch it!" she yelled in warning, using shunpo to make it back to the ground. It was as though she had started some chain reaction because the Gillian simply started firing ball after ball of Cero, nonstop, in all different locations.

While dodging the Cero blasts, Keiko glanced around, noting how everyone else was progressing.

Kenpachi was, no surprise, holding his own and simply slicing down Gillian after Gillian, cackling in glee as he swung. He had never been a fast individual, but his strength was beyond normal comprehension and that coupled with his reforged blade made the task before him seem like child's play. Each swing, a Gillian disappeared and very rarely he would have to move to avoid a Cero blast.

It was the same for Abarai-san and Ichigo, both having released their bankai due to the simple fact that there were just -too- many Menos Grande to -not- take the precaution. They, like Kenpachi, were easily downing a Gillian with each swing. Ichigo used the speed he gained to his advantage, simply weaving in and out of Cero blasts, dashing in and taking out a Gillian before moving on to another. Abarai-san, though, was much slower for the kills. Each slash his bankai made certainly got rid of a Gillian, but the recovery time of the attack was much slower than Ichigo and even Kenpachi, probably, Keiko noted, because his bankai was so large.

Even slower were Sado-san and the Quincy - the two of them needed to work together just to bring one down, the same for Kuchiki-san.

There were no real problems of being overwhelmed, but with how erratic the Gillian were acting, there was no telling what would happen if they weren't dealt with -fast-. And although Keiko knew she could take care of the Gillian with just her shikai, she wanted them dead as quickly as possible. Leaping back into the air through use of shunpo, Keiko came to a stop some 15 feet up.

+"Ban..." she thrust her sword arm out to the right and Chiakki immediately reverted back to its normal katana-length. Kenpachi glanced up from the Gillian he had just killed, apparently feeling the sudden increase in Keiko's output of energy.

"kai!" she yelled, quickly turning the blade around and bringing it in front of her before grasping it in both hands and thrusting it through her stomach.

+ I'm very influenced by music, so at this point on, the song "Dogfight" from Initial D is what I was listening to while writing this because I feel it fits perfectly.

This chapter was getting to a decent length, so I figured I'd be mean and make everyone wait until the next chapter to see Keiko's bankai as well as the rest of the fight. Uwahaha.

Shuuhei and Keiko

Yep, fleshing them out even more. I have the bones of the story set out, but I don't want certain things occurring too fast, so, their relationship serves three purposes: a) filler, b) plot device, c) to feed my inner love for romance - in that order.

Powers

And, as this story is very AU, some parts from the anime there, some not, I want to briefly explain the power hierarchy of the group:

At the top, as they are Captains - Kenpachi and Keiko

Next - Ichigo

Followed by - Renji and Shuuhei

Then: Rukia

Followed by everyone else - Chad, Uryuu and Orihime

(A small reworking, of which I am happy with, and I hope everyone else is as well.)

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

Akuuno Keiko (c) me, General Junos