Kumiko sat around the fire they had built, the soft flames dancing around the wood, quietly crackling Sounds overshadowed by their shared laughter

"then the thing tripped over it's too many legs, face slamming into the floor," Sota was animatedly telling his story, wild arm movements exaggerating flailing about in mocked imitation. The sound of his friends laughing music to his attention seeking ears "it was the funniest thing I've ever seen" he ended, biggest smile on his face

"you're an idiot," Kumiko laughed at the young man, she really loved his story's

Asanas quiet laugh next to her quietened down "then what happened, Sota-chan"

standing up to mimic what happened next, Sota continued " so I was doubled over laughing right? Holding onto this tree to stop myself falling over . When the hollow finally managed to get back on his feet and run over to me, absolutely furious he was"

"so I raised my zanpakuto, but it got stuck in the tree branch above me! I was pulling and tugging trying to get it free, as it jumped at me, mouth wide open ready to eat me, I ripped it free, skidded under the thing, just about not getting my head bitten off . When I turned around the hollow had bitten the branch instead of me, ripped it clean off the tree. It was standing there with a stupid look on its face, branch in its mouth looking like a dog wanting to play fetch, it was hilarious " he finished the story walking back to sit down on a thick brown tree branch, tapping it lightly "and that's how we got our new fireplace bench!"

Kumiko shook her head, laughing at her flamboyant friend .

"he made me help him carry it all the way back here" kenji added "he was laughing so hard he dropped it twice"

Sota turned to the older male, smiling wildly "thank you Ken-chan! I don't know where we would be without those big muscles of yours"

"you would still be dragging that tree back here" kenji pushed Sotas face out of his own. The younger man's lack of respect for other people's personal space has been to source of many playful fights between the pair. "You're like a damn leech, move over!"

"but Ken-chan!" He whined childishly, closing the distance again

"enough" kenji said, shoving him off the bench entirely. Laughing Kumiko crawled over the the bench to peer at the man still on his back. Peeking over she screamed in Terror at the bloody mess she saw. Sotas previously laughing face, pale and battered, lifeless eyes staring back at her. Scrambling back Kumiko turned to her friends to help to see their lifeless body's on the floor around the now extinguished fire.

Kenjis body completely severed in half at the waist, blood pooling into the leafs scattered on the ground below.

Asanas, pretty face had three jaggard slices cut across it, travelling down across her chest. One of her arms were missing. Another scream leaving her lips, she turned and ran, looking back absolute fear on her face, watching the scene behind her fade away as she slammed into someone's hard chest


"Kumiko!" The all too close shout startled Kumiko awake, in a fit of panic her right fist snapped out as hard as she could, trying to defend herself from what she thought was the man trying to hurt her, throwing herself further away on her bed

"fuck" came the pain filled cry from someone she wasn't expecting to see in her bedroom.

"c, captain Kyoraku!" Kumiko breathed, heart racing and breathing heavily, her right hand started this throb protesting the punch she threw, that connected with the captains nose, now currently sat on his ass next to the bed, both hands holding onto his now painful face, groaning slightly

Coming back to her senses Kumiko threw off the blankets and slid off the bed next to the captain.

"I'm so sorry! Here let me see". She said worriedly, gently removing his large hands from his face. She gasped upon seeing his face, blood trickling down his nose, all too close to the images that plagued her dreams, she inhaled sharply

"you're bleeding, stay there" she said running off to the bathroom to grab two towels, wetting one. Leaving Kyoraku to gently hold his nose agajn, trying to stop the bleeding. Kumiko hurriedly returned, dropping to the floor In between his outstretched legs. Blood had smeared on his face and hands, spilling lightly down his throat and onto his bare chest. She removed his hands again, replacing it with the small dry towel, squeezing it slightly, trying to stop the heavy flow,

"ouch" came the mumble from behind the towel

"I know" she soothed, "but I've got to stop the bleeding" looking to meet his eyes, surprised at what she found there, he looked amused. Not the angry as she was expecting, she did punch a captain in the face after all.

Pulling the towel away slightly, she noted his nose was still bleeding, although a lot less dramatically than it was, she put the towel back in place, continuing the pressure

"what are you doing here?" She asked him calmly, not at all mad, just very confused to how he was in the position to be punched in her fear filled awakening in the first place.

He chuckled slightly "I was coming to see you, to ask how it went yesterday with Yoruichi," he started to explain "I couldn't escape my nanao-chan yesterday to come visit. By the time she released me for the night, I felt it was too late to drop in. So I came this morning." He stopped as she removed the towel again, satisfied it had completely stopped bleeding, she switched the the wet towel and began to gently dab at his face, wiping all the sticky blood away

"when I got to your door I heard you scream," he looked at her with concern then, letting her gently clean him up "I was worried you were hurt so I let myself in. You were having a nightmare, so I tried to wake you. Maybe not the best idea" he chucked before wincing at a particularly sore spot she was cleaning

"I'm sorry". She said, concentrating on her cleaning, "I didn't know who it was when I lashed out"

"no need to apologise, I should have ducked" he laughed "you have a mean right hook, miko-san" She laughed in spite of herself, face looking clean she moved down to his neck and chest

"do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly,

she shook her head no, "it was just a nightmare, I'm fine" taking one of his hands in hers, she began cleaning the drying blood. Looking to his face again, noting the darkening mark on the left side of his nose and slightly under his eye, "it looks like it's going to bruise". She commented sadly

"I'm not surprised with the force you whacked me with" he laughed, looking down, gently grabbing her right hand, at seeing the purplish bruise forming on her knuckles. "You hurt your hand, are you alright?"

"it's fine, throbbing a little, I'll grab some ice when I've finished" she said, swapping to clean his last dirty hand. Finishing up, glancing at his face one more time she said "come on, you need to ice your nose too" standing up and moving out the way so shunsui could rise. Dumping the dirtied towels in the washing basket in the bathroom on her way pass, he followed her into the kitchen. Where she stopped in her tracks looking at her front door, wide open hanging off its hinges.

"I thought you said you let yourself in? Not booted my door clean off its hinges!" She turned to ask him. Big smile on his face

"In my defence," he laughed holding his hands up in surrender "I left my lock picking kit in my other haori." He joked at her, angry eyes flashing "I thought you were in trouble" he added softly, reminding her that he didn't make it a habit to go around kicking doors in. She sighed softly "go sit down" she said, walking toward her freezer to wrap up some ice in two towels.

sitting next to him at the table, Kumiko gently laid the ice covered towel on his nose "hold that please". She asked, placing the second towel on her aching hand.

"does your hand feel broken?" He asked "maybe I should take you to see Unohana?"

"no not broken, just bruised" she told him, "how about your nose?"

"the only thing damaged was my ego" he laughed "I'm usually better at dodging things aiming for my face". He smiled cheekily at her

"do you often find people trying to punch you in the face?" She asked him smiling

"not as often as I probably deserve" lowering the towel from his face to grin at her "should I keep my guard up around you?"

Lifting the towel back up to his face, Kumiko said "that's the first time I've hit someone waking up from a nightmare ". Happy he's holding the towel in place again, "next time just shout from across the room or something"

"next time?" He asked, lowering the towel again. "Do you have nightmares often?"

An uncomfortable look passed on her face

so she does he thought. "You sure you don't want to talk about it? It might help?" He offered.

Picking up his towel and pressing it against his face again, a little more forcefully this time, she shook her head no again, "It's fine, I can deal with them"

the sad look on her face pulled at Shunsuis heart. Hating whatever it was that made such a sad look fall on her perfect face. He wanted to see her smile again. "Get dressed,". He commanded softly, noticing she was still in her oversized sleep shirt. "I want to take you somewhere "

"take me somewhere? Where?" She asked confused,

"its a surprise" he said, standing up, laying his Ice pack on the table once more. "Get dressed, and I'll be back shortly. I'll get someone to fix your door while we're out" he added walking out the door


Shunsui arrived back at kumikos home some twenty minutes later, happy to see another shinigami working on fixing the door he broke earlier. Slipping into the house, shunsui called out to her "miko? Are you ready?"

"coming" she called from the direction of her bedroom, coming though the doorway fully dressed, hair hanging loosely down her back.

she must have washed her hair he thought inhaling Deeply she smells like coconuts

"if you're ready we should head off" he said "the door will be fixed by the time we return" putting his hand on her lower back, guiding her out of the apartment they started their journey to an unknown location.


"You're really not going to tell me where we're going?" She pouted playfully, walking comfortably next to the tall,handsome man.

"really" he said playfully. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I did" laughing at her eye rolling up to the sky

"how did it go with Yoruichi yesterday?" He asked genuinely interested

"really well, her spiritual pressure was a good one" Kumiko went into more detail at his request

"it was like an adrenaline rush, my whole body was vibrating, like I could take on the world and win. It's an addicting feeling" she finished

"hey that's great!" Kyoraku responded. "I'm glad it was a good experience for you"

"Urahara is pleased, to have found at least one Reiatsu that won't render me useless" she laughed "we tried with Lieutenant Sui-feng too, but she didn't have an effect on me luckily "

Kumiko enjoying the leisurely stroll they were taking In the hot sun, not quite knowing where they were or where they were headed, but having the feeling they were heading out of the Sosaeti

"Yoruichi-san kind of kidnapped me after" Kumiko added laughing "she demanded I needed some girl time after being cooped up with "all the men" "

laughing Kyoraku said "that sounds like her, what did she have you do? " taking a step closer to Kumiko, their arms gently brushing

"we spent some time in her hot springs, it was heavenly" she dreamily remembered the soothing warm water, hopefully she'll invite me back soon, " apparently Yoruichi-San was after some girly gossip "

"what kind of gossip?"Shunsui asked her, looking down at the top of her head

"she was trying to figure out if I was sleeping with Kiske". She laughed at the notion, conveniently leaving out the part Yoruichi asked if she was sleeping with shunsui

"are you? Kyoraku asked slightly taken aback at his friends blatant disregard for people's privacy. But thankful she asked. He wanted to know too

"no" she laughed "I don't know why people are thinking we are"

"you two do seem awfully close" he pointed out the thought of the two together like a dagger to his heart "you're beautiful, he's handsome, it's not that hard to believe "

kumikos heart beated a little harder at that he thinks I'm beautiful? Blush rushing to her cheeks, slightly threw of kilter by the matter of fact way he said it, like if he said the sky is blue.

"we're just friends" she confirmed. Relief washing of shunsui at her words, having been so enthralled with her he didn't even consider the possibility that his blonde friend might feel the same way about her as he does.

Looking into the distance, sure now they are definitely not in the Sosaeti, Kumiko saw a small wooden house, on the edge of a field, which seemed to be their destination, turning up to look as shunsui she asked "where are we?"

"on the outskirts of the Rukongai, district 80. We're here to visit my friends" shunsui answered her finally, hearing a door slam up in the distance and a high pitched squeal, Kyoraku said " ready yourself" laughing as he turned to see three young children running at them as fast as their little legs could carry them.

two girls looking to be around 7, both wearing slightly worn dresses and young boy around 4 with more freckles on his face than Kumiko has ever seen came running up and jumping into Kyorakus waiting open arms, the force of their assault sending him onto his back with a quiet "oof"

kumikos Heart melted at the sight of the three children giggling, hugging or otherwise crawling over the captain laying on the floor laughing at their antics.

"shun-chan! You came to visit!" One of the little girls said, arms thrown around his neck

"i did" he said kindly, sitting up "and I brought a friend too, this is Kumiko, say hello children"

three choruses of "hello miss!" Was almost too much for Kumiko, fighting the urge to squeal in delight and start pinching cheeks.

"she's so pretty" whispered loudly the second young girl, in way only children can.

"she is" Kyoraku mock whispered back " but not as pretty as you hana" he smiled, shooting Kumiko a wink

"how about we show Kumiko our special tree hmm?" Finally getting back to his feet, the little boy standing in front of him raised his hands asking to be picked up. As if it was second nature to the captain, Kyoraku placed his massive hat on the little boys head "can you watch my hat for me kioshi?" Making the boy giggle before picking him and and placing him on his shoulders "hold on big man". He said to the little boy, wrapping his arms around Shunsuis head, making Kumiko laugh.

Hana stepped up to Kumiko, placing her small hand in hers, and started leading her to the big tree in front of the wooden house.

"I'm hana , I'm 7. And that's my sister kura. She's 6. Kioshi is 3. He will be 4 soon" the young girl talked at Kumiko, smiling wildly

"it's lovely to meet you hana" Arriving at the tree , shunsui sat down, pulling the boy off his shoulders, sitting him in his lap

"now I wonder" Kyoraku said in a silly voice " if there is anyone here who would like to help me eat all these sweets I found in my pocket" Pulling out three brown paper bags full of sweets from his captains coat inner pocket. Cheers from the children caused the man to laugh, handing them a bag each, they sat on the grass around them munching happily away,

" your friends huh?" Kumiko gently bumped into him with her shoulder, getting a wide smile in return.

"my bestest friends" He said for the children to hear " just don't tell jushiro, he gets jealous" sending Kumiko a wink making her laugh.


Kumiko watched, leaning up against the tree, as shunsui, having taken off his pink kimono and white haori, ran around chasing the children in a game of tag. Where apparently shunsui is always 'it'

running quickly, catching the young boy kioshi, Kyoraku threw him up in the air, catching him easily, causing the boy to scream gleefully. Coming to "protect" their baby brother from the monster shunsui, kura jumped up him, easily catching her and tucking her at the other side the boy wasn't, while hana wrapped herself around Shunsuis leg, laughing at every step/drag he took with her holding on. Arriving at the tree shunsui gently placed the children on the floor so he could dramatically fall to the floor " alright kids, take it easy on this old man, I need a break"Laughing

"can we do your hair again please?" Kura asked him sweetly

he nodded his head to the house "go get your things" causing the two girls to sprint toward the cabin happily.

Kioshi was entertaining himself with wearing Shunsuis large hat, a few feet away from them.

Smiling at Kyoraku; Kumiko said "thank you for bringing me here, I'm having a wonderful time"

"I'm glad" he smiled back "they're really great kids" slipping out the two clips he had in his ponytail, he slipped them away for safe keeping, hearing the rapidly approaching footsteps of the girls rerun. Hands full with hair ties and a brush each.

Hana walked up to Kumiko and asked sweetly "can I please play with your hair? It's so pretty, purple is my favourite colour" pushing her hair behind her Kumiko said "of course you can, you just got to make me look better than shunsui, okay?" Twinkle in her eyes, with a nod hana moved behind her to begin gently brushing, while kura began work on Shunsuis brown hair.

Twenty minutes later, kioshi fast asleep on the grass, the girls had finished their masterpiece. Kyorakus hair was tied up in a pony tail, with several brightly coloured hair bands wrapped around the length of it, hair in between sporting wild flowers from the field .

Kumiko had two buns, one either side of her head, surrounded in chains of wild daisies, two long strands falling at the side, framing her face,

"i absolutely love it" Kumiko said "thank you"

"I still think I look prettier" shunsui said laughing

telling the children it was time for him to leave, he quickly put on his captains coat, draped his kimono on his shoulder and placed his hat back on his head before carefully scooping up the still sleeping boy into his arms and walked them back to the house, Kumiko trailing behind them.

A kind looking older woman met them at the door, smiling as shunsui walked in and gently laid the boy down to continue his nap, walking up to the girls and crouching down, he gave them a hug, promising to visit again soon if they promised to be good for miss mizuno, which they both quickly promised they would, before disappearing back into the house

standing up straight, he turned to embrace miss mizuno, pulling out an envelope full of money out of his pocket, placing it in her hand and cupping it gently with his own " take care of yourselves, I'll come back and visit soon" he said to the woman who had tears in her eyes.

Bidding them a farewell, Kumiko and shunsui started the walk back home. Kumiko hiding the tears falling down her eyes at the sweet exchange she just witnessed

kumikos heart was full. The part of his life shunsui had shared with her this morning had pushed away all of her doubts she had previously had about the man away. No longer caring about his reputation. Kyoraku glanced her way, noticing the tears on her face

stopping, lightly grabbing her hand to turn her towards himself

"miko? What's wrong?" Gently thumbing the tears away

Reaching up on her tiptoes, hands gently resting on his broad shoulders, Kumiko answered him with a lingering kiss on his lips