The next day Suzume dressed in one of the worn out outfits and put the other in her bag along with the other things Ikkaku had told her to bring. Items to dress a wound, food for five days in the form of travel rations, some cash just in case, and a couple bottles of water. He had said not to worry too much about water as every village had at least 1 working well they could refill from. She had also added a small, light blanket to the pack. She found that she had a hard time sleeping without something covering her at night.

He had also suggested that she not wear her zampakuto on her waist like normal as it wasn't common for women to wear swords. He had suggested that she instead strap it to her pack. It would still be visible, but it wouldn't raise as many eyebrows. She did as he suggested and headed out to the meeting place at the gate to the southern districts. She was the first to arrive and so leaned against a wall while she waited. It was odd to not have her zampakuto at her hip like normal.

As least she could still hear her sword. She had been to his world a few times. She wasn't fond of it. His world was decorated in skulls and skeletons. Sitting at a table with him that was made out of arm and leg bones for the table top was unsettling. He was nice though, even if he was a skeleton himself who never let her see his face properly. It was always hooded and cast in shadow, but she had seen flashes of the white bone, so knew it was a fleshless skull that he had for a face. His hands were usually exposed and she could see that they were only bones. He looked like the images of the Grim Reaper humans talked about.

Are you worried? She heard him ask in her mind.

No. A little anxious, but I always get anxious before trying something new. You know me. She replied.

Do you love him?

She bit her lip, knowing she couldn't lie to her zampakuto's spirit. I'm definitely getting there.

Does that scare you?

No, just makes me anxious and nervous. I've never been in love before. Is this how it feels?

She could hear the spirit laugh at her. How would I know? By the way, I heard that comment you made a few weeks ago. You aren't disappointing me. I'm just excited for you to learn more of me. Keep up your training and I'll soon be revealing more of myself to you.

Suzume smiled as the communication ended. It was good to know that the spirit was pleased with her progress. Her thoughts were interrupted as the rest of the group came into view. Kenpachi looked much as he did when they went on their date with his hair down and no bells on. When they reached her, Ikkaku looked her over, nodded and said, "Let's head out." He set a ground eating pace and they all fell into their own rhythms.

Suzume noticed that her captain still wore his eye patch. She knew he could see fine out of that eye and knew why he wore it. She just wondered if she would ever see him without it. The districts flashed by and she had a moment of sadness when they passed the seventh. It would have been nice to see her parents again. The pace Ikkaku set them had them close to the 40th district just as night was approaching. He brought them to a walk as he looked for a good place to set camp for the night. Suzume noticed that she was the only one breathing hard. She would have to work on that.

Yumichika pointed out a spot, "There. That's where we camped last time." Ikkiku nodded and headed for the spot the 5th seat had pointed out. They set up camp and Suzume went looking for some wood as she had been asked. She had put her zampakuto on her hip just in case, and Kenpachi gave her back an approving nod.

A little while later, she came back with an armload and set it down in the center of the small clearing they were in. Ikkaku stopped her from going back for more, "Yumichika and Captain Zaraki are also grabbing wood. Take a seat and relax." Suzume nodded and sat down. They waited for the others to come back.

They eventually heard Yumichika saying, "No captain, it's this way."

"Are you sure?" Was the gruff reply.

"Positive."

Suzume and Ikkaku stifled laughs at their captain's lack of any kind of a sense of direction. Soon the missing members were walking into view; stacks of wood in their arms. When everyone was back, Ikkaku showed Suzume how to make a fire as the nights still could get a little cool and Yumichika insisted on warm food. He also explained that a fire would keep some predators away during the night. They all grabbed travel rations from their bags and munched quietly. They also set up a watch with Suzume as first, Kenpachi second, Ikkaku third, and Yumichika last. Yachiru they left out of the lineup, knowing it wouldn't do any good to have her take a watch.

Suzume watched as the guys slept, making sure to keep the fire going. When her two hours were up, she woke up Kenpachi and was startled when his reaction was to have a sword at her throat. "Mmffhh, sorry love. Old habits in the outer districts die hard." He sheathed the weapon, "I'm up now. Go ahead and get to sleep."

Was he sleeping with the bare blade? I didn't even see him draw his zampakuto! Suzume went to where her pack was and pulled out the blanket she had brought and settled down to sleep.

She's sleeping with a blanket in this heat? Is she crazy? Such an odd woman. At least she is never boring. He mused to himself, watching her as she started to sleep.

The next morning Suzume was surprised to find and arm around her waist and a body at her back. Was she sleeping on someone's arm? She looked down and realized the arm could only belong to Kenpachi. He must have come over after his watch was done. She rolled over to face him and the movement caused him to snap his eye open. She noticed that he was still wearing the eye patch. She reached up and touched it lightly, "You even sleep with it?" He nodded and explained that he can't control his spiritual pressure when he sleeps so keeping it on at night meant that it didn't suddenly raise too high when he dreamed. Suzume nodded and gave out a small, "Oh."

"Is there something wrong?" he mumbled to her.

She shook her head, "Just curious what you look like without it. I don't think I've ever seen it."

He nodded. He used one arm to hold her close, and the other to take the eye patch off. As always happened when he took it off, the sudden increase was intense. He quickly held onto her with his other arm as well, knowing she would want to flee with the sudden increase. He started reigning it in. He watched her expression changed from amusement to downright fear and then slowly to pure awe.

When her heartbeat went back to normal she hesitantly reached back up to touch the skin around the eye that had been hidden. "I like you without the eye patch, but is it always like that when you take it off?" He nodded. "I wanted to run away."

"I know. I could feel your muscles tighten. At least you didn't faint."

"Yay! You're up Kenny!" A pink blur was suddenly jumping on his side.

He let out an "Ooompf!" And quickly moved onto his back, and reclaimed his arm from under Suzume's head. Yachiru jumped on his stomach a few times before he grabbed her and pinned her to tickle her.

Suzume sat up to watch the unexpected rough housing. "Is this normal for you two?" She watched as Yachiru wiggled out of his grasp and tackled him "pinning" him.

"Most mornings start this way." He replied while Yachiru again went to jumping on his stomach. "Stop that, Yachiru. I'm not a trampoline, you know." She stopped and snuggled into his chest as he put the eye patch back on.

"Are we gunna kill hollows today?" Yachiru asked with some excitement.

"No. She's going to kill hollows and we get to watch. This is her training exercise after all." He replied, pointing to Suzume as he spoke.

"Aww!" Yachiru frowned, "But I like watching you fight, Kenny."

"You might, Yachiru." Yumichika replied as he made his breakfast, "There's supposed to be a vasto lorde around here somewhere. If we encounter it, the captain has already claimed it."

For the next two days they wandered around the more wild places between the districts and encountered several low to mid-level hollows. Suzume had only needed help when she had been surprised by a group of four and even then, they only helped her as much as she needed. No more and no less. They were all rather pleased with her progress and the way she used her shikai. The scythe seemed to be made for this kind of fighting.

They were on their way back when Yachiru pouted, "I want to go swimming!"

"I could use a good soak, too." Suzume chimed in.

The guys rolled their eyes as the girls ganged up on them, "Isn't there a lake around here, Ikkaku?" Yumichika asked, deciding that feeling clean again would be nice.

Ikkaku looked around, getting his bearings, "It should be over that way. About a mile or so." He pointed. Kenpachi nodded and started heading that way to the delight of Yachiru who swung from one of his arms before settling onto his shoulder.

Eventually the lake came into view and Yachiru ran ahead. Silently, Suzume's zampakuto screamed out a warning and she flash stepped to the lieutenant who had already stepped into the water. "No! Get out of there, Yachiru!" She screamed. She grabbed her around the waist and threw her towards her captain as a large hollow erupted from beneath the water's surface. It had the look of a large octopus, but the mouth and head were different. The head was wider and didn't look very gelatinous. It actually did have a face and instead of the usual beak, the mouth was large and the teeth had the look of a shark's with multiple rows. Before anyone had time to think, it's tentacles were wrapped around Suzume's chest and arms and lifting her towards it's mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. She tried to get free, but her sword and pack were back at the shore. She had dropped them when she ran to Yachiru. As she struggled to get free, the tentacle holding her started to squeeze. As her ribs started breaking under the strain she screamed out and eventually fell unconscious.

Meanwhile, Kenpachi had caught his adopted daughter and handed her off to his subordinates. This was the vasto lorde they had heard about. He could feel it's spiritual pressure. She saved Yachiru. Was all he could think as he leapt at the hollow. He sliced through the tentacle holding Suzume as Ikkaku flash stepped to catch her and get her back to shore. He unwrapped the tentacle from the girl as gently as he could, noticing that it was like an octopus' tentacle. Every inch that he pulled off left round bruises. She coughed weakly, blood trickling from her lips. Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned in pain.

"Hurry up, captain! She's bleeding internally!" Yumichika called out to Zaraki.

With a last slash, the hollow screamed it's distress and before it could dissipate, he used it to springboard him back to shore. He quickly sheathed his weapon and knelt down next to Ikkaku. He lightly ran his hands along Suzume's ribs trying to be careful to not hurt her any further. "Feels like at least 3 broken ribs." He checked her arms as one looked like it was in an odd position. "Broken arm too." More blood trickled from her mouth. "We need to get her to Unuhana. Yumichika, run ahead, see if she can meet us halfway." He gathered Suzume carefully in his arms, finding a way to hold her without causing her too much pain. "Ikkaku, lead the way."

Kenpachi ran behind Ikkaku, sometimes overtaking him and causing Ikkaku to flash step several times to get ahead of his captain. Every now and then a whimper of pain could be heard from Suzume. He tried his best to keep his movements smooth. "Stay with me, love. We'll get you to Unuhana. Remember, you're not allowed to die until I hear you sing." He wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, he just wanted to keep her mind here and off of her pain as much as possible.

Yumichika and Captain Unuhana met them just outside of the 4th district. They grabbed a room at the inn so that they would have a place to work and then Unuhana shooed everyone out of the room once Kenpachi laid her on the bed.

It was an hour later when Unuhana came out of the room. She sat down at one of the tables at the tavern part of the inn with the men of the 11th division. Kenpachi looked at her inquisitively, trying to say with his eyes what he wanted to say with his lips. "She's healed. She's going to still be a little sore, but I was able to heal her broken bones. One of the broken ribs was just barely piercing her lung. She may continue to cough up some left over blood, but the internal wound is healed. She's going to be unconscious for a while though. All that energy to heal her came from her. I was just the facilitator." She fixed each of them with a stern stare, "How did she get into that condition."

Ikkaku explained and as he did, Kenpachi was lost in his own thoughts. She knew there was something in the water. How did she know? Yachiru wasn't even into the water yet and she was already running towards her. How did..

"…she know, Ikkaku." Unuhana asked interrupting Kenpachi's thoughts. Voicing aloud what he had been thinking. The three men shook their heads and Yachiru, completely out of character, looked forlornly at her hands on her lap. Seeing his Yachiru looking so sad, he scooped her up and held her close. She grabbed a hold of his shirt and buried her face in it. He stroked her back.

"Can I go see her?" Kenpachi asked.

Unuhana nodded, "But don't wake her up. She's going to need her rest." He nodded and with Yachiru in his arms, went up to the room.

He sat down on the edge of the bed. The bruises from the tentacle were still there. I guess she only healed the bones and lung. I wonder why. Her arms were laying outside of the sheet so he picked one of them up. At his touch, she stirred, cracking open an eye. She smiled a little and gave his hand a squeeze but was quickly unconscious again.

Unuhana opened the door and stepped inside. "Good. You didn't wake her up. Let's get her back to squad 4 so I can keep an eye on her."

"Why didn't you heal the bruises too?"

"Her body was only able to take so much healing. Had I continued healing, she would have gone into shock. It will be better for her to heal the rest of the way naturally."

He nodded and picked the girl up and then followed Captain Unuhana down to collect his men. They paid for the room and were soon back in the 4th division.

It was a few days later when Suzume awoke to find herself in hospital clothing and in a hospital bed, IV running to her arm and her captain seated at a small desk next to her filling out paperwork. "Am I still dreaming or are you really doing paperwork here?" She rubbed her face.

He quickly got up and moved the desk out of the way so he could be closer to the bed. "They just care that it gets done. They don't care where I actually do it. Besides, if someone needs me, I left a note on the office door." He rubbed her eyebrow ridge, "How are you doing?"

"A little tired. What happened? Last thing I remember is throwing Yachiru at you. Did you catch her?" She replied drowsily.

"I did. It was the vasto lorde we had been hearing about. It broke several of your ribs and your arm. How did you know it was there?"

She thought how to explain it, "My zampakuto spirit knows death when he feels it. The area was too still and he sent me a warning and I didn't think about it. He's warned me about things like that before."

Kenpachi nodded in understanding. At least that explained how she had known. "While I'm glad you're awake, if you're still tired, go back to sleep. I'll still be here." It was then that she realized that in addition to the desk in the room, there was also a low cot against the wall.

She turned on to her side so she could face him, closed her eyes and sleep was quick to claim her. He continued to stroke her face for a while before going back to the makeshift desk and the never ending paperwork. A little while later, one of the officers of the 4th squad came in with some lunch for the large captain and inquired after his subordinate.

"She woke up for a little while and then went back to sleep." He replied, not looking up at the 4th squad member. He pointed to a small stack of paperwork, "These are for your captain. She asked me to fill them out for the stay."

The officer was a little intimidated, so grabbed the paperwork even though it wasn't his job and removed the IV from the girls' arm. When Captain Zaraki looked up at him when he had done it, he quickly stammered out, "With her having regained consciousness, even for a little while, we know that she'll wake up when she's hungry and don't have to worry about her loosing vitality." The captain of the 11th nodded and went back to the paperwork in front of him. The officer let out a quick sigh, glad that the scary captain was no longer glaring at him and quickly left the room.

It was night when she awoke again with a start, quickly sitting up breathing hard. She heard the squeak and groan of the cot and soon felt Kenpachi sitting down on her bed, holding her close. "Are you ok?" he asked into her hair. He could feel her nod as she snuggled into his arms and chest. "Bad dream?" He again felt her nod. "Did you want to talk about it?" He could feel her shifting.

"It's dissipated. I think I was remembering that hollow. I remember feeling like I was being squeezed again. And the teeth." He felt her shudder. "But the details of the dream are gone. Can you sleep in this bed with me tonight?"

"This bed is rather small. The best we could do is if I slept on my back with you on top of me. I'm not sure how comfortable that will be for you. But I'm willing to try if you want."

"I'd like that."

They maneuvered and finally found a comfortable enough position for her and they both fell back asleep, him waiting to fall asleep until he heard her breathing even out.

Captain Unuhana came into the room in the morning while they still slept to check on her patient. Zaraki cracked open his eye at the door opening and she saw it. "Please tell me you two did not have sex in her weakened condition." She hissed at him angrily trying not to wake the girl up.

Just as softly he replied, "Do you think I'm that stupid? She woke up with a nightmare and asked me to share the bed with her, so I did. I have to admit, it was more comfortable then that cot." He readjusted the pillow and closed his eye, seeing if he could get a little more sleep.

"See if you can get some food in her when she wakes up." He nodded with his eyes still closed and heard the captain leave shortly after.

Another hour or two later, he felt her stirring on his chest, "Good morning, love. How are you feeling?"

"A little hungry." She replied, lifting herself off his chest and groaning a little at the soreness of her torso. He adjusted her and sat up with her so that she didn't have to do any of the work of sitting up.

"Easy, love. Your body took quite the beating, so don't overdo it." He gave her a quick kiss on the temple. On the makeshift desk was two plates of food. One that held more fruits and other light foods and one that held more meats and other heavier foods. He got up and grabbed the desk and brought it over to the side of the bed so they would have something to eat off of. "Think you can feed yourself, or do you want help." He asked her with a rueful grin.

"I think I can manage. I'm guessing the fruit is for me?"

"Yeah, they said only lighter foods for you today."

"Probably for the best. Your food looks like it's too much work."

"It's only some ham, bacon, and a bowl of oatmeal."

Suzume groaned in pain and grabbed her side as she moved into a better sitting position.

"Unuhana said she didn't heal you fully because you would have gone into shock. She was able to heal the bones and your lung, but had to leave the rest. You're going to be sore for a while." Suzume nodded at his words. She still felt a little weak so she leaned against his side as she slowly ate pieces of fruit. It didn't take long to feel full and sleepy again. He laid her back in the bed and moved the desk so that he could keep an eye on her while she slept and he did paperwork.