To ObliviousWarrior89 - Well, I will admit I was not, at first, happy with how I did the hierarchy, but, I quickly put it off with a shrug because I wanted to just focus on Keiko and her bankai. Seeing as how this bothers at least one person (you, and I am thusly sure it bothers other people), I went back to re-write both the beginning of the fight as well as the hierarchy notes. Also, realize, I'm trying to focus the story around just Kenpachi and Keiko (with Shuuhei and Soifon up there as well) and it was fairly hard to incorporate all the others (Rukia, Renji, Ishida, Chad, Inoue, Ichigo) because it's just -so- many characters and thus, I have a tendency to just -ignore- them (the main reason I haven't had Chad say a -word- all through the fic). So, I hope you, as well as anyone else who was bothered by it, are a -bit- more happy with it. I know I am.
Though, I do, indeed, enjoy Ichigo being over-shadowed by Rukia and Keiko... those few parts with his fist-shaking shall remain, uwahaha!
There were two parts fighting inside Kenpachi at the moment: one wanted to just rip shit apart with his 'new' zanpakuto, the other, the part winning, wanted to see Keiko's bankai because he -knew- it would only fuel his determination in getting his own. So, when he felt the sudden surge of her power, he dealt with the Gillian in front of him before he backed off to watch Keiko.
"KEIKO!" Kenpachi heard 69 yell, and after seeing the woman impale herself with her zanpakuto, he could understand why he'd be so upset. So, -that's- what she meant by "bleed more."
His eye was literally glued to Keiko's form, watching her lurch forward once the blade protruded out of her back. But his vision was blurred when some sort of explosion detonated beneath her, a whirl of dirt and wind quickly building up and circling Keiko, hiding her form from sight. He might not have been able to see her, but he could -feel- the increase in her power, could -feel- the electricity in the air, and, just like when he first met her, his tongue moved out over his lips as he salivated over her raw power. He was, however, surprised and almost disturbed when the dust settled.
Where Keiko had been standing in midair was Chiakki, or rather, an inversion of Chiakki. When he had first seen her zanpakuto, it had been completely red with black chains and mask. Keiko, however, was completely black, her skin included, the chains and mask red, and the eye slits in the mask glowing red. Movement started to catch his eye, and immediately, he looked towards her shadow. Stepping back and away from Keiko, her shadow began to grow and take on a corporeal form. Within seconds, Chiakki took form from Keiko's shadow and stood behind and to Keiko's right. At least, Kenpachi -thought- it was Chiakki. It looked exactly like the thing he had seen, but, the aura, the maliciousness, the hate, none of it was there. He could, however, feel glee.
It was Kenpachi's turn to be mesmerized, because he could -not- take his eyes off Keiko and Chiakki, each holding the shikai form of her zanpakuto, Keiko's blade black and Chiakki's red. Immediately, the two dashed forward and split up to literally lay waste to the Gillian, each taking one out with a single slice of their blades. Not only were they fast, but they were powerful and Kenpachi shivered in delight as he watched, realizing that he was only seeing a fraction of her power, that Keiko's limiter was still in place. For a few moments, he cursed the limiter because at the moment, it was preventing him from seeing what Keiko and Chiakki could really do, the carnage they could cause.
Briefly, he glanced around towards everyone else, and saw that they too were just as mesmerized as he was, each of them forgetting that there was a swarm of Menos Grande right in front of their eyes. Weren't these people Shinigami? Kenpachi at least had a reason to be lazy and let Keiko do the work, but not these kids. "Hey, she may be doin' five times the work you little shits are, but yer Shinigami! Get to it, punks!" he yelled, mostly to the actual Shinigami, Ichigo included. He really didn't have a name for those other pansies, but, whatever, they got the idea, because they all shook themselves off before returning to the battle.
After returning his zanpakuto to its sheath, Kenpachi crossed his arms over his chest and let his eye settle on Keiko again, or Chiakki? Whatever, they were supposed to be one and the same. By releasing her bankai, Keiko had made sure that the Menos Grande were being taken care of in half the time it would have taken them if she hadn't, even without Kenpachi's help. Almost as quickly as it had began, the fight was over, to Kenpachi's dismay. He wanted to see more, wanted to feel more, but either way, one thing was for certain, after this, he would work his -ass- off to get his bankai...
Keiko returned to the ground, Chiakki right behind her, staying back and to the Captain's right, similar to the shadow it had taken form from. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed, faster than normal, her breaths sounding like hisses and gasps behind the mask. She tilted her head down, and Chiakki, apparently taking this as a cue, stepped behind Keiko and walked forward, melding into her body. When all evidence of the blood demon was gone, Keiko's shadow returned, her skin and haori faded to their normal white and the chains and mask disappeared. Shuuhei was at her side in an instant, and the Captain smiled, arm looping around his neck as she fell into his side, quite weak from using her bankai.
"What, not gonna pass out?" Kenpachi smirked, landing on the ground in front of her.
"If it'll make you feel better," Keiko rolled her eyes. She turned her head to look back and forth to Shuuhei and Inoue-san. "You two were the only ones not fighting. Did you happen to notice anything strange about the Menos, aside from when we first got here?" Apparently, she hadn't been paying attention to Kenpachi.
Inoue-san shook her head, as did Shuuhei, his arm firmly around her waist to keep her from falling over. "Nothing. The moment you killed the first one, they all seemed to go crazy, but that's it."
"Great," she sighed, shaking her head. "Probably nothing else we can do tonight, then. Might as well get back and rest," she spoke to everyone, ignoring Shuuhei's smirk and the 'I-told-you-so' look on his face. Yeah, yeah, she was beginning to see she couldn't force information to jump out at her if she stared long enough.
With Shuuhei's help, Keiko returned to Inoue-san's house, straight up to the room they were staying in, and flopped down on the couch with a sigh. "Can my job just get harder? Seriously.." she muttered, draping an arm over her face as she leaned back against the arm of the couch.
"A little warning would have been nice, you know," Shuuhei spoke up, sitting on the opposite arm of the couch.
"'eh?" Keiko peeked out from under her arm.
"Oh, I don't know, when you shoved your zanpakuto through your stomach? Speaking of.." Shuuhei slipped off the couch to stand over her. Pushing her haori out of the way, he slipped a hand into the folds of her shihakushou and started touching her stomach. Brow furrowing, he looked down at her. "There's no wound?"
"Oh my god, stop!" she squealed, writhing on the couch. Keiko was, apparently, ticklish. "Stop! No! There's no wound! You're tickling me!" she gasped, trying to force his hand away.
Removing his hand, he started to push the fabric around. "No wound... no blood... not even a rip in the fabric... It's like you never actually stabbed yourself. You want to explain that?"
"Yeah, like, is that what you meant by 'bleed more'?" Kenpachi spoke up, appearing at the window.
After catching her breath, Keiko sat up. "Yes, smart ass, that's what I meant," she replied, eyeing Kenpachi, surprised by his sudden appearance. "Already told you I have a blood pact with my zanpakuto - I bleed for its power. Well, to get my bankai to release, I have to prove to Chiakki that I'd be willing to give my life for its power."
"Was that really Chiakki?" Kenpachi asked. "Didn' feel tha anger 'n hate like last time."
Keiko nodded, leaning back against the couch. "When a Shinigami releases its bankai, he -controls- the bankai. Chiakki does -not- like to be controlled. Put it all together, I show it I'm willing to die to control its power, Chiakki feels I'm worthy and lets me control it. It still doesn't like it, but, it submits, hence it doesn't show all its negative emotion. Though I'm sure you could tell it was happy?" Kenpachi nodded. "The thrill of killing trumps the anger of being controlled."
"And why no evidence that you stabbed yourself?" Shuuhei spoke up, sitting back down on the couch.
"What is with you two?" Keiko laughed, looking back and forth between them. "So many questions! I doubt you'd ask Kuchiki-taichou or any other Captain about his bankai!"
"He doesn't try to kill himself to release his," Shuuhei countered.
"And his bankai isn't some blood crazed demon that rips peoples heads off for fun," Kenpachi finished.
Well, that was true. With a soft sigh, she shrugged: "I really don't know. I assume it's something Chiakki does. I always stab the same spot on my stomach to avoid any internal organs. If it -wasn't- healed, I'd bleed out and die. Chiakki knows it and knows that if I die, so does it. So, where would the fun be?" She turned to look towards Kenpachi, but he was already gone.
Kenpachi took his spot on the roof, still out of his gigai, and unsheathed his zanpakuto, holding it in one hand and letting the blunt edge of the blade rest against his shoulder. For a few moments, he ran a mental inventory of everything Keiko had told him to do: relax, get a clear image of his zanpakuto in his head, try and concentrate on it, try to visualize it taking some form.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized he had more than one reason for figuring out his zanpakuto's name. The first, as it had -been- the main reason, was that it meant a rematch with Keiko. Then there was the aspect of just -being- stronger. Recently, though, after having met his zanpakuto (maybe not exactly face to face), he had begun to feel the emptiness, feel the hole in his soul that needed to be filled. And then there was the one thing that his zanpakuto had told him: "You are not worthy." It was one of the biggest things that both confused Kenpachi as well as made him want to work harder. How could he not be worthy of his own soul, of a piece of himself? Didn't make sense, even though his zanpakuto had explained it to him.
Shaking the confusion from his mind, Kenpachi sighed and closed his eye, relaxing his body and his mind. He was slowly beginning to realize that there was no quick way for him to learn the name, that it would probably take him decades, just as it had taken most other Shinigami. In a way, it bothered the big man, because that would only mean years would pass where he would just have to wait. And, as everyone knew, Kenpachi was not a patient person. It was never one of his virtues, never needed to be, but, maybe... now it would have to be.
Opening his eye again, Kenpachi looked up at the stars and shook his head. He was going to have to change. It was a fact. If Zaraki Kenpachi wanted to learn his zanpakuto's name, if he wanted to be stronger, if he wanted to learn his bankai, if he wanted to fill that empty hole in his soul, he was going to have to change. Change was... not something he liked. How could a person change himself? A person is what a person is. How could he suddenly change things to change himself? The concept was unnerving. But, if he even overcame -that-.. well, that would show everyone that he was strong in more ways than just the physical. Yeah.. if he put it that way, he -liked- the concept of change. Adaptation, that was a better word. He grinned. Well, then, maybe -now- was a good time to start this.. adaptation. First, he would adapt to the world of the living.
Kenpachi sheathed his weapon before getting up and slipping through the window back into the room where Keiko and Shuuhei stayed. He paused once inside, his eye falling on the sleeping form of Keiko on the couch. For a few moments, he was sorely tempted to scare the crap out of her, to just clap his hands really loud or yell so that she woke up with a start. But, Kenpachi refrained. He respected the woman, and honestly enough, put her through plenty of other embarrassing and annoying shit. So, he behaved, and simply walked past her to return to his gigai. Before he could leave the room, though, he paused in the doorway when her voice reached his ears:
"Don't give up."
Raising an eyebrow, he turned back around to look at her. She was still on the couch, but her eyes were open. "Shouldn't you be sleepin? Don't need you passin out on us if more Hollow show up," he grinned.
"I've been trying to, but how am I supposed to sleep when your aura's been shooting in all different emotional directions?" she countered, sitting up, legs folding as she sat Indian-style.
"Well your -majesty- will be able to sleep since I'm going out fer a while," he snorted as he bowed low, an arm sweeping out mockingly.
Rather than reply, she stared at him, her lower eyelids raising up. Eventually, when Kenpachi was actually starting to feel unsettled by the way she was sizing him up, Keiko spoke up: "Don't give up. If I weren't terrified that your zanpakuto would literally kill me, I'd still be helping you. But despite that, I have complete faith in you. So do not give up."
For some reason, her words stung, not because he felt as though she were making fun of him, but because he had never realized, despite the physical danger she had put herself in, just how much she truly believed he could do it. Rather than let her actually see that, he pulled his aura tightly around himself before grinning: "I don't plan on it, woman. That rematch is the only thing I'm looking forward to." A lie. She knew it, but, oh well. With that, he turned and left.
Kenpachi's first step in his plan of adapting was to go out and get some sake, something he had needed to do since he first arrived in the world of the living. Sadly for him, though, he didn't realize the time, nor the fact that almost all stores were closed. After walking around for a good hour, his annoyance only increasing, he finally found a tiny little liquor shop that was open. After walking in to buy a few bottles of his beloved drink, he left to return to the healer-chick's house, actually quite relieved his anger had -not- been sparked by a smart ass comment from the shop owner. His first step was complete without incident, and once he was back on the roof, enjoying his sake, he realized that maybe adapting to things wasn't really that hard. Hopefully, everything else would be just as easy and, in the long run, it would help him learn his zanpakuto's name quicker.
Liquor Shop
I have never been to Japan, and don't know nearly enough about it, so, as for a liquor store being open at like 2 in the morning or not, I don't know if that's something that's true, 'cuz around where I live, I -know- it's not. So.. just nod and smile like I'm currently doing.
So.. I know what I'm doing with the story, where I'm going next, what's going to happen next, etc, etc... but, like the previous chapter or two, I'm trying not to rush in to what it is I want to come next, so, this chapter is shorter than I had hoped, but, I'm fairly stuck on where to go with filler. /sigh. Oh, well, better short than pure and utter crap that I'm not happy with. Things are going to be getting much better starting the next chapter, so at least theres that.
Actual BLEACH-verse and characters (c) to all the respective people.
Akuuno Keiko (c) me, General Junos