{Kenpachi X Reader} A flower among weeds Pt.2

{Kenpachi Zaraki X Reader}

    You ran alongside your squad mates, brimming with excitement. You hadn’t had a real chance for combat since you joined Squad Eleven so this was a welcome relief. Hollows were causing trouble in one of the less populated residential districts. It was strange but not completely unheard of. You hadn’t noticed when it was exactly but you were several feet ahead of your squad mates and already in the midst of the fight. You had set to work dispatching the first bunch of hollows not with you zanpak-to but with your bare hands- and well, feet as the first you planted your foot dead center in a hollow’s mask and shattered it. You shot past the others, striking each where it counted.

“Wow.” Ikkaku said as they followed, handling a few hollows of their own. “She’s got some moves.”

“And she hasn’t even drawn her zanpak-to.” Yumichika observed. “How interesting.”

You had strayed too far to hear their conversation but it mattered little to you as you could now see your captain in the midst of battle. He was one to make a spectacle, you knew that. He was easily handling a crowd of hollows. You didn’t know if you didn’t want to blend into the background or if it was a competitive spark but the sight made you fight twice as hard. It wasn’t long before the mess was entirely cleared up and your squad mates had crowded around.

“That was awesome!”

“You work fast!”

“____ took out just as many as Kenny~!” Yachiru said as she leaned over Kenpachi’s shoulder.

“Did she?” he asked nonchalantly. He caught sight of your thoughtful expression. “Something you wanna say?”

“Huh?”

“You’re making a face.”

“I was…?” You weren’t even aware that you were.

“Yeah. If you wanna say something then just say it.”

“I was just thinking that this attack was strange.”

“How so?” he asked, you couldn’t really read his face to tell whether or not he was truly interested or just humoring you.

“A numerous amount of hollows attacking this specific residential district, it’s weird.”

“I understand what you mean.” Yumichika agreed.

“For instance, why attack this close to the Seireitei when there are more remote areas? And how did a large group of hollows end up all the way over here without someone noticing their movements? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Kenpachi grinned. “That is weird. I guess this means I can count on you to write the report for this one, ____?”

“Captain Zaraki!” you huffed for a moment but you let it burn out quickly. “Fine but only because it’s my hunch that’s telling me something’s up.”

“You aiming for the Captain’s spot, _____?” Ikkaku joked.

“Of course not. That’s one fight I know I won’t win. I’m perfectly happy where I’m at.”

~BLEACH~

“You wanted to see me, sir?” You bowed in front of the Head Captain.

“Don’t be so formal, _____. How are you liking Squad Eleven?”

You stopped, a bit put off. “I-It’s good.”

“That’s nice to hear. I was surprised to hear that that was the squad you wanted to be on. I thought maybe Squads Five, Six, Nine or Thirteen would have suited you better but it’s nice to hear it’s working out.”

“Pardon my abruptness, sir but,” your voice now had an edge, a dull edge but an edge all the same. “Was there some serious business you called on me for or did you just call to check up on me at the insistence of my family?”

This caught his attention, he wasn’t mad in the least though. “Your family has tried their best get my attention on the matter but no, that is not why I called you here. The report that was signed off on by Captain Zaraki about your first mission was written by you, am I right?”

“Yes sir. Captain Zaraki thought that I should write the report since I had a suspicion about it.”

“And the missions that followed that,”

“They all showed a similar trend. I think that there might be something going on.”

“Then you have my permission to investigate, fourth seat.”

“I-I do?”

“Normally something like this would be handed off to Squad Twelve but I get the feeling that you want to be involved or it’ll bug you to let someone else handle it.”

“Yes, sir! I will investigate.”
“Then you’re dismissed.” You went to leave when he spoke again. “Oh, and ____, he may not seem like it but Kenpachi is a dependable guy. If you need any help,”

“I’ll make the Captain aware of any assistance I need on my investigation. Thank you again, sir.” You bowed your head and left.

“Not what I meant.” He sighed.

You hadn’t heard that last part as you began to walk down the hall. On that path was another Captain. You had memorized all of the names and faces of the Captains ahead of time so you recognized him as Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi. You stepped aside to avoid a collision as you walked past him but he suddenly stopped not two steps behind you. “You, girl.”

“Yes, sir?” you answered respectfully as you turned.

“What is your name and squad?”

“(first name) (last name), Squad Eleven.”

“Ah ha. You’re the girl who chose to be on Squad Eleven.” He seemed to eye you calculatedly. It was almost like he was looking through you. “There is something odd about you…”

“I get that a lot. Choosing to be on Squad Eleven-”

“It’s not your squad. I can’t quite put my finger on it…”

“Well, I have orders so-” You tried to escape but failed as he grabbed ahold of your forearm.

“Hold on a second-” he was cut off by a different person, someone you hadn’t even noticed.

“Now now, Mayuri. You shouldn’t get grabby with girls that don’t belong to you.” Your eyes went up to see Captain Shinji Hirako as he removed Mayuri’s hand.

Mayuri clicked his tongue. “I have things to do anyways.” With that he turned and disappeared into the Head Captain’s office.

“You’re ____?”

“Y-yes.”

“Heard Izuru yammering on to Momo about you. Ya know, before Kyoraku let you pick your own squad you were actually slated for my squad.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Nah, don’t apologize. You had personal reasons, right?” He grinned.

“Y-yeah.”

“Feel free to talk to me if you need anything to help with your investigation.”

“You heard?”

“We’ve all heard about it. That’s what Captain Kurotsuchi is going in there to complain about now- oh, and if he’s being a creep again just give me a ring and I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime. Maybe I’ll be able to swindle you out from Kenpachi yet.” He chuckled and you found yourself laughing too as he walked off.

~BLEACH~

You searched through several bound reports and logs, hoping to find what you need. “Look at you, working harder than usual if that’s even possible.” You heard Kenpachi’s voice as he peered over at you.

“Sorry, Captain, I’ve been comparing reports from incidents handled by other squads to see if they match the activity we’ve been dealing with and it’s a lot to sift through. Not only has there been an increase in hollow activity lately, it’s like there are three separate sets of patterns to these attacks.” You tapped your fingers on the table as you eyed the reports. “And not a single sign of a menos anywhere. We deal with at least a handful of them normally but there hasn’t been a menos attack in at least the past two months.”

“You’re saying we’re overdue for one?”

“Heh, I won’t say that one attacking won’t relieve me a little right now. It’d make their disappearance seem less suspicious.”

He eyed you as you skimmed the next report. Signs of frustration and exhaustion were beginning to show. He gave sigh and then spoke. “Stop. If you keep running like this, you’ll burn out. Relax for a bit. You’ll start to make the squad look bad.”

“Look bad?”

“If we let you overwork yourself, it’ll seem like we let you do all of tedious work on your own on top of your own assignments because we were too lazy to do them.”

You chuckled. “Is that not true?”

“You gotta learn to unwind. Relax and then come back at it with a cool head.”

“This advice coming from you?”

“Yumichika said it first if you really wanted to know. Paperwork and a fight are two different things.”

You stood. “I’m going to go make some tea. I’ll be right back.”

“And how is you serving tea relaxing?”

“Oh it is. I’m taking a break with my Captain to talk over tea. What could be more relaxing than that?”

“A nap maybe?”

“Hehe, I’ll keep that in mind.” You said as you left the room.

Kenpachi laid back with his arms behind his head. “Spending time with me is relaxing, huh?”

~BLEACH~

Kenpachi awoke to a small noise. It was somewhat unusual, it wasn’t quite a scream, more of a yelp coming from the room next door. He sat up, hesitating for a moment whether or not he should go check it. Too late to decide as there was a noise at the door.

“Excuse me, sir, are you awake…?” He knew it was you.

“Come in.” he answered as you opened the door, bowing your head.

“I’m sorry if you heard that disturbance.”

“One of the guys try to sneak into your room?”

“N-not at all-!”

“It was a joke, _____.”

You breathed a sigh. “May I talk to you?”

“We’re talking already.” He spoke and you entered the room and sat in front of his futon.

“I haven’t exactly been sleeping well as of late. I… It’s the same nightmare over and over. I can handle anything in a fight, you name it but…” you trailed off, almost like you were in a trance as you stared down at your hands.

This time he was the one who sighed. “I told you, you were working too much.” He laid back down and much to your surprise, he lifted up the blanket. “Can’t be helped then, get in.”

“Huh-?”

“You won’t go back to sleep in your room after this, right?”

“Uh, yeah… but how-”

“Then get in. It’s your face again.”

“My face?”

“It says ‘I don’t want to be alone right now.’”

“Captain…”

“You’re letting all the heat out.”

“Oh-!” You knew your face was almost scarlet but you hoped he couldn’t see as you climbed under the blanket. He was less than a foot away from you, close enough that you could almost feel his body heat. “Captain…?”

“Hm?” he had already let his eyes drift shut.

“You’re… not going to ask?”

“No.” he said plainly.

“Thank you.” You replied, somewhat relieved. Strangely enough, you were already falling asleep.

“You’ve followed me this far, I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

“Hnnmm…” You vaguely caught his last whisper as you finally began to sleep.

~BLEACH~

“Hey, hey.” Shinji waved at you as you walked down the hall.

“Good morning, Captain Hirako.” You greeted him as he met you in the hallway.

“Well, don’t you look well rested, ____. That’s good. You were starting to look like a zombie.”

“Was I?”

“Yeah.”

You stopped, curious now. “I have a question. Do… you think I’m easy to read?”

“Huh? Actually, you’ve got one of those faces that unless you’re smiling, I can’t really tell.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’re an intelligent girl so you could be thinking about a dozen different things. Unless you’re openly expressing your emotions, I can’t tell.” He shrugged. “Why?”

“Captain Zaraki seems to know what I’m thinking all the time.”

“Ah. He told you that your face was easy to read.” You nodded. “Some people connect that way. I guess he pays close enough attention that he already knows your tells, Princess.”

“I don’t think so…”

“Face it, he’s out played you. You pay a lot of attention to him but you have to blink some time.”

“Yeah but I can’t read him at all.”

“Haha, maybe that’s what he likes about you.”

“Hm?”

“If you could read him, you could predict how he would react and alter your behavior to please him.”

“Why would I do that?”

“It may be subconscious but because you can’t read him your reactions are all you. They’re natural.” He smiled. “Here, let me help you carry some of these reports.”

“Uh, thank you.” You said as you handed him part of the stack, though he himself took more than half. “Um, Captain Hirako,”

“Yeeees?”

“You… know about my family, right?”

“Uh yeah.” It threw him off. “Listen, I don’t really care about that but I understand how it can affect your everyday life. I’ve always had an ear to the ground so of course I’ve heard about it but I don’t think it’s become common barrack gossip yet. If you need someone to talk to, I can keep it quiet.”

“Thanks… again.”

“And just call me Shinji. This is a talk between friends not officers, right?” he joked. “Besides, who are you going to gossip about Kenpachi to? If you tell Rangiku, it’ll be public knowledge in a matter of seconds.” You couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone will actually look that much into it.”

You had made it down the hallway but there was still a sensation of someone watching you that you found quite unsettling.

To Be Continued…