Hollow King – Chapter Sixteen

Tite Kubo owns bleach.

Patch Work

Gondra felt all the reiatsu that had been held back by the limiter surge over him in a cobalt blue tidal wave of spiritual pressure. His shihakusho and hair rustled like in a strong wind. With a shark like grin, Gondra channeled the reiatsu into his limbs and made a dash at Ikkaku with alarming speed. Ikkaku grinned and launched the spear tipped end of Hozukimaru at Gondra only for it to be smacked out of the air effortlessly. Ikkaku shrugged off the look of surprise and whipped the weapon around, aiming to smash the other end against Gondra's head. With his free hand, Gondra grabbed his staff, snapping it in two.

Ikkaku was shocked at the gap between their power levels as he looked Gondra in the eyes, noticing the cobalt blue rings around his sky blue irises. He knew he had to hold it together. He couldn't reveal his trump card out in the open where someone could notice. Ikkaku was ripped away from his reverie when Gondra smashed the back end of his blade against Ikkaku's chest, causing him to fly backwards and crash into a wall.

Gondra aimed Sunaryuu at Ikkaku with one hand, firing off several incendiary rounds that enveloped the other man in flame. Ikkaku dropped to one knee and coughed. In a final attempt, Ikkaku leaped out of the wreckage, spinning the remainder of his weapon around violently. With one final battle cry, Ikkaku lunged at Gondra in an all or nothing attack. Gondra deflected the attack with his blade effortlessly. Then shifting his bodyweight, Gondra connected his free fist to Ikkaku's jaw with a left hook slash uppercut. He sent him flying backwards. Ikkaku crash landed on the beaten path of the Division Eleven courtyard.

"I'm done. This match goes to you." Ikkaku called out in a weak voice as he got up halfway.

"You okay?" Gondra asked, letting his reiatsu subside as he walked over to Ikkaku to help him up.

"I'll be okay. That was one hell of a match."

Sure, Gondra was a bit of a space cadet. He didn't hold any noble titles or fame. But Gondra was a god for ten minuets when he trounced his superior officer Ikkaku, in that match. That was the thing about Eleventh company...your first fight there, your ass was a wad a cookie dough but after a few weeks you're carved out of wood. Gondra loved his blade but aikido was fun too. The feel of his fists connecting with their intended target was great.

"Oh dear God, Ikkaku! What happened to you?" Yumichika shouted as he entered the courtyard.

"Gondra beat me." Ikkaku grumbled as he deactivated his shikai and sheathed his zanpakuto.

"I wouldn't say I completely won. I can tell when my opponent's holding something back." Gondra stated as he did the same and walked over to retrieve his power limiter strap. He latched it around his chest then clicked his zanpakuto in place on his back. Ikkaku and Yumichika exchanged glances, choosing not to reply to Gondra's statement.

"It looks like you two had a great match." Kenpachi called out as he entered the courtyard with Yachiru on his shoulder. She looked up from her Game Boy at Ikkaku.

"Baldy, what happened to the present I gave you?" she shouted, staring at the burnt scrap of hair that still clung to Ikkaku's head.

"You call this a gift?" Ikkaku shouted, pointing at the burned up mullet.

"I suppose that explains my other question." Yumichika stated, looking at the wig in disgust.

"So who won anyway?" Kenpachi asked, looking over the two officers.

"Gondra did, Captain." Ikkaku grumbled.

"Good job, kid. You both should go and get patched up." Kenpachi stated as he walked up to the others.

Gondra looked down at his hands. His knuckles where raw from the punches and his palms sore from gripping Sunaryuu too tightly. He was also bleeding from his shoulder wound and the clotting ointment on his eyebrow cut was starting to itch. Ikkaku was a little worse for wear with his numerous injuries, as well.

"Damn! I'm not nearly injured enough to see Isane." Gondra thought to himself.

"But Captain, I can't go anywhere looking like this!" Ikkaku complained pointing at his head.

Kenpachi reached down and with a swift hard yank, he ripped the wig from Ikkaku's head, causing the man to cry out in pain and clutch the top of his head. Kenpachi then walked over to Gondra noticing the troubled look on his face.

"And let me guess, you're worried that you're not injured enough to see your girlfriend, right?" Kenpachi asked, rolling his visible eye.

"Yeah. What should I do about it?" Gondra asked.

"This!" Kenpachi roared as he reeled back his fist and slammed it against Gondra's face with the most horrible of cracking sounds. Gondra felt like he was suddenly hit by a Buick as he rocketed back, crashing through one of the courtyard walls.

"Earthquake! Get under a door frame, Emo!" Tyler cried out from the confines of Gondra's mind/soul scape.

Yachiru hopped of Kenpachi's shoulder and looked through the hole in the wall at Gondra's twitching body in the ruble.

"Kenny, I think you killed Blacky." she called over her shoulder.

"I'm okay." Gondra called out as he staggered to his feet, dragging himself out of the hole and lighting up a cigarette.

"Thanks, Captain." Gondra stated in a shaky, half conscious voice.

"Kid, I don't think you should light up right now. The smokes comin' outta the cracks in your head." Kenpachi stated, thinking that he should have held back a little more.

"He's like a smoke stack!" Yachiru cheered.

"It's all good man. Come on Ikkaku, let's go get fixed up." Gondra called out as he started to walk away.

"Uh, Gondra. The Fourth Company Medical Center is that way." Ikkaku stated while pointing in the opposite direction that Gondra way walking.

"I knew that!" Gondra shouted as he started to feel light headed.

"Before you go, tell us how to turn this damn thing off!" Kenpachi barked. Gesturing over at Gondra's iPod.

"Blacky's music sounds like a buncha bangin' and screamin'." Yachiru commented as she held her hands to her ears with her head low.

XXXXX

Kiyone sat in the Medical Center break room with Isane. She had just delivered a few medical documents regarding her Captain's worsening condition and had some time left over to enjoy some tea with her sister. Isane wasn't feeling much like conversation. She kept looking out the window with her head in the clouds, paying little attention to her sister's rant about how she kept having to compete with her fellow Third Seat. She paused in mid-sentence, noticing her sister's over all lack of interest in the conversation.

"You want to see him. Don't you?" Kiyone asked, raising an eyebrow. Isane looked over at her sister.

"I can't. Not with the standing orders of Commander Yamamoto. Every officer, regardless of rank, has to remain with their squad due to the threat of Aizen and his arrancar. Unless it's official business." Isane stated with a depressed sigh.

"Well, since he's a member of the Squad Eleven boneheads, he should be in here any time now to get stitched up from all their unnecessary fighting." Kiyone said as she rolled her eyes.

"Don't say that about him. He's different than most of them." Isane spoke back.

"How so?" Kiyone asked, her sister's statement piquing her interest a little.

"Well, he's a nice guy. Really sweet and smart, too. Don't get me wrong though. He's perfect for that squad. He's really powerful." Isane stated, blushing ever so slightly.

"You two didn't..." Kiyone started but was cut off when she and Isane heard a familiar voice in the waiting room.

"Hey Ikkaku, ya think I can get medical marijuana for my headache?" Gondra asked in a rather loopy voice, with slurred speech, due to his head injury.

"I don't know, man. And that's far more than a headache." Ikkaku replied.

"Speak of the devil." Kiyone stated with another roll of her eyes. Isane was about to get up when Kiyone stopped her.

"You stay here. I'll go see what they want." Kiyone stated as she got up and walked out the door and around the corner to the waiting room. She stopped at the entrance noticing the Third and Fourth seats of Squad Eleven leaning on each other to stay upright.

Ikkaku sat Gondra down on a couch then went over to the desk, without noticing Kiyone. He informed the medics that they both needed medical attention. Kiyone took the opportunity to study Gondra. She had only seen him once before and never really talked to him after all. Without Gondra noticing, Kiyone crept closer to get a better look at her sisters boyfriend. She stopped at the far end of the couch and looked him over, noticing the many changes to his shihakusho and over all look. She noticed he had replaced the standard issue sandals and obi sash with a pair of black combat boots and a pyramid studded belt with wallet chain. Both of his arms had black leather wrist bands strapped to them and he had a bullet shaped pendant around his neck on a thin chain. Drawing a little closer, she noticed the faded black eye liner and nail polish that had been chipped and cracked from excessive fighting. His shihakusho itself was worn and tattered, resembling Kenpachi's haori. His neck length, dark ash blond hair had a wild untamed look to it, partly from the blade attacks he dodged that had clipped the edges.

"He sure is dark looking. Kinda like a bad guy." Kiyone thought to herself, studying Gondra's face.

Kiyone was torn from her thoughts when Gondra's head turned to look at her all of a sudden, finally taking notice of his observer. Kiyone then noticed to her horror that he had several small trickles of blood running down from his ears nose mouth and eyes. Gondra then smiled when he recognized the little sister of his girlfriend.

"Oh hey, it was Kiyone right? Didn't notice you there." Gondra slurred out as he leaned across the couch slightly, to move closer to her or because he had lost his balance Kiyone didn't know for sure.

"Is your sister around? It'd be great if she could heal me. Kenpachi broke my head." Gondra spoke in a loopy voice as he pointed to his head with a big Kenpachi style grin on his face, which looked even more disturbing given the amount of blood. With a quick nod, Kiyone rushed back to her sister, who was leaning out the break room doorway and wondering if she should go check on Gondra or not.

"What's going on Kiyone?" Isane asked, looking down at her little sister.

"Your boyfriend's in the waiting room with blood spilling out of every hole in his head and grinning like an idiot." Kiyone stated, trying not to laugh.

"Can't you be serious for once?" Isane stated as she walked out to the waiting room, thinking it couldn't be all that bad. Could it? To her horror she found Gondra passed out on the couch with a steady flow of blood gushing from his head. Isane froze for a moment then rushed over to him, crying out his name.

XXXXX

Gondra awoke from his comatose state, on a medical table with Isane standing over him with both of her palms at his temples as she used some sort of healing kidou to repair his damaged head. She had her eyes closed as if to concentrate so she didn't notice Gondra looking up at her.

"Hey, beautiful." Gondra whispered as he placed one of his hands on hers.

Isane's eyes shot open with surprise as she looked down at her beat up boyfriend. She let out a sigh of relief. Slowly, she stopped the flow of reiatsu and straightened up.

"I'm glad you're okay but how the hell did this happen?" Isane questioned with a hand on her hip.

"After a sparing match with Ikkaku, I got Captain Zaraki to smack me one so that I'd be injured enough to see you." Gondra stated as he sat up, noticing his other injuries where mostly healed and he was missing his kimono top. Isane bent down so that hers and Gondra's face where only centimeters apart.

"That has to be the stupidest and sweetest thing I've ever heard." Isane stated, looking Gondra in the eyes.

Gondra moved in to kiss her passionately. Isane's toung fought his for dominance but in the end failed as Gondra placed a hand on her left breast causing her to shutter from the contact. When they broke the kiss for air, Gondra looked her in the eyes, asking.

"Does this door lock?"

Hey! New chapter so yay! Hope you all liked it.

Reviews are greatly appreciated so keep 'em coming!

Rinda my beta reader got mad at me for forgetting to try and correct the chapter myself but its cool. Id like to thank her again for putting up with me and doing a great job with the beta work.

Sandragon out!