Misora: Hey there guys! It's me again! Sorry for the wait, I was still writing this. .

I wanted to thank my readers for waiting for the third chapter:

Kia Ukitake Sohma, logan, and FrankenXana

Here we go, the DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach the Anime or the Manga. That would be the ever famous Tite Kubo.

And, the CLAIMER: I do own Ryuuka and her zanpakuto, Ryuuzuto Hoshi.

Enjoy! ^_^

Chapter Three:

Since those two days, Kenpachi didn't feel like himself. He had found himself worrying about Ryuuka all the time. It was getting hard for him to work when he couldn't stop thinking about how the outcome could have been different. Even Yachiru told him that he worried too much, and she usually was right about things like that. As Kenpachi watched his squad over the next few days, he realized just how much he needed them, and how much they needed him.

One day, as he was sitting on the roof of the division, another captain, Toushiro Hitsugaiya, suddenly appeared next to him and sat down.

"Zaraki-taicho... You've been on edge all week... What's up?" Kenpachi let out a grieving sigh, which was very unlike him.

"It's that female, Ryuuka. Ever since she got attacked, I've been worried about others of my squad." He looked at Toushiro, a weary expression in his eyes, "I'm beating myself up for this one slip up. It's never happened to someone like me before." Sighing again, he turned back to his squad members, who were enjoying themselves in the last bit of summer sun that they had left. Toushiro smiled in a sympathetic gesture and put his hand on Kenpachi's shoulder, to which Kenpachi turned back to him.

"It'll be alright, Zaraki-taicho. She's fine now and I'm sure that she's very grateful to you. Don't beat yourself up over something like that." He stood up and faced the Sougyouku. "You should be thankful that it was just one and not a million, or even a Menos. Those things are vicious," Toushiro turned back to Kenpachi and smiled broader, "Besides, you're worrying your squad. They seem to think that you are becoming soft, Zaraki-taicho. You don't want that, now do you?" Chuckling, Kenpachi grinned his usual grin and stood.

"You're right, Hitsugaiya-san. What would I do without your guidance in my old age?" To this, Toushiro laughed.

"So you're admitting that you're an old man? Come now, Zaraki-san, that's not like you at all." Suddenly, Ukitake appeared by shunpo and walked up to them, smiling. Kenpachi grinned at him as well.

"Alright, alright, enough about me. How is she doing?" Jushiro knew who he was talking about and smiled reassuringly.

"Ryuuka's fine, Zaraki-san. She says that her head is killing her, but other than that, she's functional."

"Good to hear." Kenpachi turned and walked along the edge of the roof, "I'll go see her myself." With that, he shunpoed off the roof and to the Fourth Division Hospital. He walked to Ryuuka's room, where Ryuuka was quietly sleeping. He then tiptoed to the side of her bed and sat next to her, watching her sleep and smiling gently.

Back on the rooftop, Ukitake and Toushiro sighed.

"He's not quite back to himself, is he, Hitsugaiya-san?" Ukitake asked him. The young captain shook his head.

"Definitely not. I think that woman has had some effect on him, though," he answered. He then stretched his arms and turned to his good companion, "Well, I best be off. See you around, Jushiro-san." With that, he shunpoed in the opposite direction of Kenpachi to his division, where a very drunk, very excited Matsumoto was waiting for him. Ukitake smiled and put a hand on his forehead.

"Things sure have gotten strange around here with Zaraki-san not acting like himself. I'll look into this 'Ryuuka' person." And so, off he went to his division for some research.

A few days later, Ryuuka was back on her feet, alive and well. Everyone in her division threw her a 'welcome back' party. Even Kenpachi attended, since he was the one who organized it. Ryuuka was thrilled. She had never thought that any of the members of her squad would be so considerate. Although Ikkaku didn't think it was necessary to throw a party, he, Yachiru, and Yumichika were some of the first to welcome her back, with Kenpachi being her escort home. As the party started to liven up, Ryuuka left to her room, which had been kept the same way as when she had left it. She smiled, set Ryuuzuto Hoshi down, and was about to sit down herself when Kenpachi on the spur of the moment walked in. Ryuuka noticed his reiatsu right away and turned immediately. To her surprise, Yachiru was also with him, who instantly ran and pulled Ryuuka into a choking bear-hug.

"Brownie-chan!!! I missed you so much!" she cried. Ryuuka smiled and chuckled at the young lieutenant's actions.

"I missed you too, Yachiru-chan. How have you been?" They then started a conversation of how things had been at the division while Ryuuka was gone. Kenpachi stood back, leaning on the door frame with his arms folded across his chest, and let the two chat like old friends. As watched them chatting away like birds on a telephone line, he closed his eyes thoughtfully and thought to himself, "I must be either really stupid, or I am attracted to this female, Ukitake." As if his thoughts were read, Ukitake appeared beside him, though the look on his face said anything but welcome back. Kenpachi saw this, turned back to see that Ryuuka and Yachiru were still busy talking, and went outside with Ukitake.

Once outside, Ukitake turned to Kenpachi.

"You are not going to believe what I found on Ryuuka." Kenpachi's expression turned from serious to worried once more.

"What is it?" he asked, a touch of concern in his voice. Ukitake had been worried this whole time, and for a good reason.

"Nothing... nothing at all on her....Ryuuka... She's not real." Kenpachi stared for a few seconds more, then burst out laughing. Ukitake shook his head. He knew that Kenpachi would do this, and he needed the proof to tell him.

"I'm serious, Zaraki-san. There's nothing about that girl in my data books." Kenpachi stopped laughing and looked at Ukitake.

"You expect me to believe that? Come on, where's the proof?" Ukitake looked away in anger. As of yet, all he had for evidence was the lack of a background for Ryuuka.

"I know it's hard to comprehend..."

"No, it's not. What you need is some hard evidence that says 'Shisona Ryuuka is a fake', in which you have none. I suggest you get some proof before you start making false accusations."

"Now just listen for a minute, Zaraki-san! I do have proof, or rather, lack of proof." Quickly, Jushiro pulled out his newly-invented Portable Research Device (or PRD, for short) and started flicking through some of the downloaded files. Kenpachi wasn't too pleased, but when they got to the S's, Shisona Ryuuka was nowhere to be found. Kenpachi looked at Jushiro, annoyed.

"What is this? Why isn't Shisona-san in there?" he asked, more that a little ticked off. Jushiro merely shook his head.

"She's not in there because she is not a real soul."

"That's a load of bull-"

"No, it's not, Zaraki-san,"Ukitake said impatiently, "She is chemically altered."

"And how do you know this, huh? Tell me, Oh, Most Wise One," Kenpachi exaggerated sarcastically. Ukitake was getting really annoyed with Kenpachi, but he knew that he had to keep his composure in front of him. So he continued, "Well, let me tell you, then, Oh, Most Annoying One. While Tosen, Aizen, and Gin were here, they all started working on a project called XX-576. It was supposed to be a secret operation, and Mayuri was helping them. However, the three found that he couldn't be trusted. They left the work behind, and Mayuri must have just improved on it over time." Kenpachi was listening, and though he was still denying it over and over in his head, he knew that Ukitake was right. Ukitake continued on, "She is a genetically-engineered modified soul. She was never real in the first place." This is where he stopped and looked at his long time friend.

Kenpachi was in shock. He couldn't believe such a thing was possible. Ukitake had just opened his eyes to the truth, but he still couldn't believe it in it's entirety. He turned to Ukitake.

"And, what was the hollow doing there?" Ukitake just shook his head.

"Just coincidence. She never has, nor will she ever, be a real shinigami. Even her zanpakuto is fake." Kenpachi turned away from his friend and stared out at nothing.

"That's why she wasn't able to defend herself..." The thought of Ryuuka being just another mod soul enraged him, so much that he took out his own zanpakuto and swung it at a nearby building. The structure collapsed at his feet almost instantaneously. Ukitake backed away quickly. He knew that when Kenpachi was furious, nothing could quell his anger. As Kenpachi grew more frustrated, he jumped onto the rooftops and shunpoed to the training grounds to blow off some steam. He himself knew that he was a threat to everyone around him, but he was also infuriated at the thought of Ryuuka, and was thinking more out of impulse than of careful planning. With that in mind, he leaped onto the training grounds and started swinging his powerful sword around in a furious frenzy.

Back at Eleventh Division, Ukitake was starting to regret ever bringing up the subject. He shook his head once more.

"Now you've done it, Jushiro ol' boy. You should have just kept this one to yourself... Ryuuka probably doesn't even know that she isn't real..." With that sad, but true thought in mind, Ukitake took his leave, leaving the party-goers unattended and having fun.

Thanks for being patient, please review!