With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
Aoide Sat, Third Seat of Squad 10, walked casually down the street. It was hot, insanely hot, with her free hand she wiped a cloth on her forehead. This was the type of heat that she hated having bangs. Lifting her bangs off her forehead she gave her skin a little relief from the heat. Instead of wearing her usual robes that all Shinigami wore, she was wearing a sleeveless version that was more light weight to battle against the heat. Her black tattoos on her back and next seemed extra dark against her moist skin as she walked.
"I will kill the Shinigami who decided we should wear all black," she murmured darkly. She adjusted the large container of Sake that she was carrying on her shoulder before continuing down the street. She stopped short of her destination, seeing as a pair of guys were in her way. Great, Squad 11, riff raff. Not saying that all of Squad 11 was like that, but these two guys looked like punks.
"Hey there," one of the guys spoke, grinning.
"Great," Aoide rolled her eyes putting a hand on her waist. "Could I get by?" she the asked looking slightly annoyed.
"Sure baby, what do we get if we let you?" the other guy asked grinning just as large as his friend.
Aoide sighed, lifting her eyes to the heavens. Why was this even happening? "Listen, just move it, really, is this what Pachi-san has you doing all day? Or is he napping again?" she asked grinding her teeth.
"So come on sweet cheeks, wanna go somewhere nicer then this street?" one of the guys slid up beside her and put his arm around her waist. It was really too hot to deal with this type of thing. A swift palm to the nose, the a kick to the groin, the same for his friend and Aoide was passed them, leaving them crumpled messes on the ground. It really was too hot for this...
Coming to her destination, Aoide picked up a smooth, round rock from the ground and threw it at the window. Instantly, it tore through the window's paper. Aoide panicked for a moment, looking around to see if anyone had seen, nope, no one about. Picking up a much smalle rock, she tossed it at the window. "Pachi-san, come out and play, it's boring today, and I have sake!" she yelled before putting a hand on her hip.
"Listen, just move it, really, is this what Pachi-san has you doing all day? Or is he napping again?"
"AACHOO!"
"... Taichou, are you okay?"
He rubbed his head, "What the hell? I don' feel sick..."
His subordinate blinked once, twice... before speaking. "Maybe you should cut back, you've been pushing it pretty hard lately."
"Pushing it?" Kenpachi's eye gleamed, and the lowly shinigami gulped. "Pushing it?! HA! HAHAHAHA!"
The lower ranked man let out a comical sweatdrop before hurrying off while the captain was busy laughing. When he was done laughing, he looked about. Every trainee there was staring at him.
"... I see SLACKERS!" Kenpachi roared, everyone in the room gulped simultaneously. "Do you know what I do to slackers?!"
"No, Taichou!" They all yelled.
"Do you want to find out?!"
"No, Taichou!" They pretty much screamed.
"Get back to work!" He roared in response.
"Yes sir!"
Letting out a subtle, "Che" as people ran about, the tall captain decided to head back towards his quarters, he had left a couple training targets there and needed to go grab them.
The sun was pretty bright that day, which was invigorating, it was nice to be made to sweat. Of course, even with the blazing sun, Kenpachi wasn't sweating much at all.
"Now..." Kenpachi huffed, looking right, and then left. "Which way is my quarters...?"
He set off by intuition wandering about the streets and trying to find familiarity where he was going. Problem was... everything looked the same! Eventually he found two guys, sprawled out on the floor, both with broken noses.
"Oy." He said simply, noticing immediately that they were two new recruits to his squad.
"Huh? W-what the he--..." As the closest guy looked up, his eyes widening the moment he realized who it was. "T-t-t-taichou!"
They both struggled to get up, painfully rising to their feet. After a moment, he began to laugh, they looked ridiculous! To think, that members of his squad got their asses handed to them.
"... who did this to you?" Kenpachi chuckled, after finally calming down.
They fell silent, their eyes drifting to the floor.
"Eh?" The tall captain lifted an eyebrow. "I said, who did this to you?"
"W-we'd... rather not say, sir." One managed to speak up, unluckily for him.
Kenpachi growled and picked him up by the hem of his cloths. "Are you disobeying my orders? Well?"
The man gulped. "Well, no sir... it's just...!"
"I'm listening."
"It's just..." He looked down. "... It was a girl."
He fell silent, blinking, once, or twice. After a split second he dropped the man, laughing hystericallly. "You mean to tell me that you both were beaten by a girl?! Pathetic!"
They both fell silent, completely ashamed. After the captain had finally stopped laughing, he sighed and cracked his neck. "Get out of my sight and get to the training grounds. You sure as hell need it."
"Y-yes, Taichou." The both said at once, before turning away. Before they were able to move; however, the large man stopped them.
"By the way..." Kenpachi said, "which way is my quarters?"
------------------------------
Was that a hole... a hole in his window? Did he seriously just see a rock go through his window?! He was about to roar when another one was thrown, like it was meant to be. Who the hell--?!
"Pachi-san, come out and play, it's boring today, and I have sake!"
Pachi-san? That was new. Nobody in all of Squad 11 ever dared do something like that. He growled inwardly, somebody was going to bleed. As he found the source of the voice, he blinked.
"... Aoide?" Kenpachi raised an eyebrow. After a moment, he put two and two together. "Are you to blame fo' the hole in my window AND the sorry excuses for men down the road--...? Did you say Sake?"
"Guilty as charged, though," Aoide said leaning against the window sill, looking oddly relaxed around the Captain they called the 'Demon.' "For the guys down the road, they were hitting on me, and one even had the guts to put his arm around my waist. Psh, how dare they touch me they don't even have enough Reistu to fill a cup. As if such weak Shinigami had any chance with me. So I put them in their place, I mean someone had to, if lets say Captain Soifon was the one they did that to, they'd be dead. So over all I'd say it was a learning experience from them," Aoide spoke a slight matter of fact sound in her voice before continueing, putting her finger through the hole in his window and wiggling it around.
"As of the hole, well I guess I accidentally threw it too hard. You know how it is, don't know my own strength and all," she shrugged before setting the sake barrel on the sill and patting it proudly. "Now Pachi-san, you are in luck, this just isn't any Sake. This is my very own Sake, grown from my own rice patties, and made with my own two hands. And you are the lucky guy I have chosen to help me drink it," she gave Kenpachi a friendly wink before putting the sake barrel back on her shoulder. "But of course if you'd rather just stay here with your sweaty, smelly, squad I suppose I could get someone else to share with. I think that there's a couple of Squad Four guys that would enjoy it as well," she added flicking a pigtail behind her shoulder and beginning to walk away.
"For the guys down the road, they were hitting on me, and one even had the guts to put his arm around my waist. Psh, how dare they touch me they don't even have enough Reistu to fill a cup. As if such weak Shinigami had any chance with me. So I put them in their place, I mean someone had to, if lets say Captain Soifon was the one they did that to, they'd be dead. So over all I'd say it was a learning experience from them."
He laughed, what she said was true, if it was Soifon, the guys would be burning in hell. People like that deserved to be taught a lesson. "I wasn't complaining." He said, after he had stopped laughing, "They got what they deserved."
"As of the hole, well I guess I accidentally threw it too hard. You know how it is, don't know my own strength and all," he laughed again, remembering the same cockiness he had seen when in her when she had sparred against Ikkaku, one of his finest. He shook his head in amusement, bells sounding as he swayed his head. "Now Pachi-san, you are in luck, this just isn't any Sake. This is my very own Sake, grown from my own rice patties, and made with my own two hands. And you are the lucky guy I have chosen to help me drink it," she gave Kenpachi a friendly wink before putting the sake barrel back on her shoulder. "But of course if you'd rather just stay here with your sweaty, smelly, squad I suppose I could get someone else to share with. I think that there's a couple of Squad Four guys that would enjoy it as well."
Once again, he shook his head in amusement. Though he was surprised that someone like her knew how to grow and make sake, Aoide was really a girl full of surprises. As she started to walk away, the tall captain simply laughed and slid his front door open.
"Urusai, gaki. 'Shut up, brat.' " He chuckled, stepping into his home. "You owe me for the window."
Surprisingly enough, Kenpachi's house was as war-torn as one might expect. Considering that he spent very little time in it, it was a rather clean and trim place. The only thing that really was messy was a pile of Yachiru's toys and littered the floor in several areas, but, someone like Yachiru could not really be expected to be that tidy.
There was a large pond in the area in which they entered, which once had a large number of koi and turtles. However, now there were only turtles. Yachiru's insistant habit of dressing up like a cat and hunting the koi had led them to be extinct in the proximity of their home.
Nowadays she simply hunted the koi in Byakuya's pond, not that he knew that.
Slipping off his captain's haori and placing it on top of a lampstand, Kenpachi moved past the greeting area and into the main living room. It was quite simple, with toys scattered about the carpeted area and a mediu-sized table in the area of hardwood floor. Before entering the area, Kenpachi slipped off his shoes as well.
Signaling for Aoide to stay there and take a seat, he silently went into the back room and got a couple cups before returning. He set them on the table before finally taking a seat.
Aoide playfully stuck her tongue out at Kenpachias her called her a brat. Though she did not expect for him to invite him into his quaters. Her eyes were as big as saucers as she kicked off her sandals and stepped inside. It was oddly clean, if not a tad shabby for a bachelor, and let alone a man like Kenpachi. Almost instantly, Aoide tripped over a few toys, but quickly righted herself for the sake of the sake. Gnawing nervouly on her bottom lip she followed Kenpachi deeper into his domain. Okay,she was exaggerating, it was really more of a sitting area for tea and what not. Aoide set the sake barrel on the table, taking a seat.
Gazing out at the pond, what a pretty view. From what she had seen of Captain Hitsugaya's office, it looked more like like a classroom. Aoide had found it boring, and had to resist the urge to hang kitten posters in it. This was oddly peaceful, even with the children's toys scattered around, Aoide relaxed a little. Obviously, there was another side to Kenpachi, well that was obvious, her tolerated a small child tagging around with him. That and he hadn't killed or on the spot, or even yelled at her. She liked that, her own Captain seemed like a bundle of stressed out nerves. Maybe his hair wasn't white it was grey from all his old woman pacing.
Aoide snorted and laughed at this thought, she then waved her hand at Kenpachi, "Nothing!" she said quickly taking the cups from him and cracking open the barrel with a curled fist. Who in the hell needed a mallet? Not Aoide obviously as she poured the clear drink into the cups. So here was the big test, whether she would fall or fly when it came to making Sake. Months and months of failed attempts, but this time, yes this time she had a good feeling about it. She grinned casually at Kenpachi, almost sitting on the edge of her seat to see him take the first sip. Yes, she was nervous, it had tasted really good when she had tried it, but if the Demon himself liked it...Gods she hoped he liked it.
She snorted and laughed, causing the tall man to blink a couple of times.
"Nothing!"
He raised an eyebrow, but decided not to pursue the subject. While she poured the sake he began to remove the bells from his hair. Lock by lock, his hair fell about his face, a look that people who didn't know him never saw. After a couple moments, his hair was completely bell-free, and now sat about his head in a somewhat shabby manner. Taking all the bells into his hand, he silently placed them into his garments.
"It's for Yachiru." He said after a moment, obviously sensing her amazement at such a tidy place. "She'd be better off not seeing blood with every passing moment."
It was all the explanation he cared to give at that given moment in time. Not seeming to sense the girl's nervousness, the large man muttered an "arigato" before lifting the tiny glass to his lips.
The moment he tasted it, his eyebrow perked up a bit. It was strong, and he liked that. Most sake he ran into these days were simply too watered down, or just burnt your throat in a sip. This... wasn't perfect by any means.
But it was good.
Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, he smiled and poured himself another glass. "This is good, Aoide."
After a moment of companiable silence, the captain decided to speak. "So, Aoide, what's your story?" He asked casually, lifting his second glass to his lips and sipping it slowly. "How did you end up as a Shinigami?"
Aoide blushed deeply, pleased with herself. It wasn't a usual thing to have the Captain of Squad 11 give a compliment. She was oddly quiet as she studied Kenpachi without his hair in the usual spikes. Insteresting, she kind of like him with his hair down, sort gave him a roaming samurai look. She was still silent as he explained the lack of blood in his quaters due to Yachiru. She chewed her bottom lip as she thought to herself. Did the demon really do all these things for such a small creature. Her eyebrows knitted together, she hadn't expected so much...depth, mostly on the surface Kenpachi was kill, kill, kill, and battle. But this simple statement began to let Aoide understand a little more about him.
She took a sip from her sake glass, before she was asked about her past, making her chug the rest of the glass and refill it. She looked at Kenpachi before finally smiling, "Sheer luck I think," she said leaning back against the couch, looking completely relaxed in Kenpachi's presence. This was a treat, she was hanging out with Kenpachi and actually enjoying herself. "Mostly, my memory is pretty muddled about being human. But I guess I was killed by a hollow. Then a member of the Yuu family, adopted me, they're mostly a really small family, you know the one that's know for dancing around naked, drunk, during holidays. Either way they sent me to the academy, I practically flunked out of that. Yadda yadda, then I was put into Squad 11 for the main fact that they couldn't put me anywhere else because I was the last in my class. Well, that's a short version anyway," Aoide spoke a little too fast before taking another drink of sake, and letting out a sigh. "Nothing exciting I assure you," she added running two fingers over her tattoos before sitting foreward, "What about yourself? I mean I hear the rumors, but personally I hate rumors and prefer to get the information for the horse's mouth if you know what I mean Pachi-san."
He swore that she blushed after he spoke, causing him to raise an eyebrow.
"What?" He asked gruffly, before taking another sip of sake.
Finishing yet another cup, the tall man filled it up again and started to drink as she began her story. Human... to be human. What was that even like? To Kenpachi's knowlege, he had been born in this world, but if that was true or not, he didn't know. Taking another sip, he placed the cup on the table.
"Then a member of the Yuu family, adopted me, they're mostly a really small family, you know the one that's know for dancing around naked, drunk, during holidays."
He smiled and nodded. Yes, he knew full well about the family.
"...I practically flunked out of that. Yadda yadda, then I was put into Squad 11 for the main fact that they couldn't put me anywhere else because I was the last in my class. Well, that's a short version anyway."
He paused, holding up a hand before taking another swig of sake. "Aoide, why did you quit the 11th?"
It was an honest question, one that, aside from her kidou-based weaponry, he could not see the answer to. Aoide had all the qualities of a member of the 11th squad and it showed. The determination, brashness, and willpower is something that he knew would drive the child genius insane. So why the 10th?
"What about yourself? I mean I hear the rumors, but personally I hate rumors and prefer to get the information for the horse's mouth if you know what I mean Pachi-san."
His eyes darkened over for the briefest moment, before he took a freshly poured cup and downed it. "It ain't none of your business." He growled slightly, taking on a harsher tone then he had intended.
The past of Kenpachi was something only he, Yachiru, Ikkaku, and Yumichika knew about. Not even Ichigo, the one man who had beaten him knew anything about it.
"Gomen. 'Sorry.' " He muttered, before filling up another cup and downing it. "It's somethin' I've left behind."
"So why're you here anyway?" Kenpachi said, after a few moments of silence. "Thought that white haired kid always had his squad doing paperwork."
Aoide wasn't they type to be offended when someone was rude to her. Or at least not Kenpachi, he probably had a reason no to tell her his past, after all not many people were as open as her when it came to their pasts. She raised her eyebrows, not letting it show that although his tone was pretty harsh, this made her even more interested in Kenpachi. Aoide was guilty in enjoying a good mystery.
"Daijyoubu, Pachi-san," Aoide shrugged refilling her glass, "I tend to be slightly abrasive when asking questions about other people, sorry if I offended you," she said simply and pulled on one of her pigtails in thought.
"Shit, he gave me a handful of paperwork, it kind of...disappeared," Aoide spoke waving ehr hand casually, before giving Kenpachi a rather naughty grin, "It'll turn up eventually, like underneath a bush or something. But really it's too hot for paperwork, and I'd only get so bored and fall asleep.," she added before going silent, he had asked why she had left Squad 11. She gnawed on her bottom lip for a little bit. "I didn't want to leave actually," she spoke her voice a little lower then normal, "I had set up a nice little niche with the lower Shinigami in the Squad. We were too low to be taken notice by you, Yachiru, and Ikka-cha, but we made do. You probably didn't notice me because it's so rare for a female to be in Squad 11. Probably you just assumed I was with another squad or someone's girlfriend. I-I hurt a lot of them," Aoide stopped for a moment staring into her glass, "I was doing so well with my swordmanship, and learning how to fight, I was completely ignoring my growing Spiritual Energy. And you know how my energy doesn't act...normally," she stopped again and looked at Kenpachi and shook her head, "It, just seemed to explode one day, it hurt all those friends I made. They said later it was begause they were jumped by a bunch of guys, but eventually the truth came out. I think you might have been in the human world, or away at that time. Then I guess the decision was made to move me to a Squad that was more Kidou based for me to try to control it. It wasn't so bad, I can do Shikai now, and I have better control. I mean I didn't blow up Ikka-chan when I healed him, so that's a plus," Aoide shook her head and drank the last of her sake before smiling a little. She didn't mention she still had nightmares about the whole incindent, she had to keep her secrets as well. "Plus Squad 11 guys are so stubborn, I would have never been able to move up in the ranks. And I was tired of the nasty rumors of sleeping with all the guys in Squad 11. Really some Shinigami have too much time on their hands to spread crap like that."
"In anycase, its been hard making friends in Squad 11. A lot of them are really stuck up and are wussies if I train with them. I prefer Squad 11 company, I mean Ikka-chan and you are about as close of friends as I have," Aoide tugged her other pigtail before settling back on the couch and smirking. "But then again, they don't let low ranking Shinigami into the human world. I wanna go so badly! I hear they have these machines just filled with juice, places where you can drink and dance all nice, and these claw machines that give out prizes! It's so exciting just to hear about it! Do you think they have grape juice, that's my favorite, or these dance places do both sexes dance, and are these prizes hard to catch! Witht eh dance places I don't know if I can go by myself, do I have to bring someone with me? I don't know that many people, I could probably blackmail Ikka-chan into going, but he doesn't seem like the dancing type, 'he's more of the hang out at the bar and beat up punks type.' I can't wait for that duty!" Aoide prattled, her cheeks growing red from her excitement and the sake. Usually she didn't give out this type of information so easy, afraid that she would be laughed at, but the sake was loosening her tongue and she felt at ease around Kenpachi.
"Shit, he gave me a handful of paperwork, it kind of...disappeared."
He laughed heartily before filling up his cup again, downing it's contents in a single swig. In truth, Unohana attempted to give him paperwork all the time, he just kind of ignored it. He could see where she was coming form in this particular situation.
Filling up another cup, he downed its contents like it was water.
Fallling silent, the man ran a hand through his hair, listening to her story. It was obvious that it was somewhat of a touchy subject for her and poured them both some more sake.
"Plus Squad 11 guys are so stubborn, I would have never been able to move up in the ranks. And I was tired of the nasty rumors of sleeping with all the guys in Squad 11. Really some Shinigami have too much time on their hands to spread crap like that."
"Baka." He huffed, almost immediately. "What gender is the Vice-Captain of the 11th? You really think you didn't stand a chance? You stood on par with Ikkaku Maradrame, my third seat."
"And as for the rumors..." He began, downing yet another cup. "I didn't think you'd be the type of person that let somethin' like that affect you."
He filled his cup up to the brim again. Finally starting to feel the effects of the sake, if only slightly so. "Hell, every bastard out there that talks like they know anythin' about me doesn't. But it'd be a waste of time to correct them."
"In anycase, its been hard making friends in Squad 11. A lot of them are really stuck up and are wussies if I train with them. I prefer Squad 11 company, I mean Ikka-chan and you are about as close of friends as I have." He laughed, she must not really have good friends, seeing as she had to befriend the supposed demon and cue ball of Soul Society.
" 'Bout as good a friend as any." He muttered, raising his glass before downing it.
"But then again, they don't let low ranking Shinigami into the human world. I wanna go so badly! I hear they have these machines just filled with juice, places where you can drink and dance all nice, and these claw machines that give out prizes! It's so exciting just to hear about it! Do you think they have grape juice, that's my favorite, or these dance places do both sexes dance, and are these prizes hard to catch! Witht eh dance places I don't know if I can go by myself, do I have to bring someone with me? I don't know that many people, I could probably blackmail Ikka-chan into going, but he doesn't seem like the dancing type, 'he's more of the hang out at the bar and beat up punks type.' I can't wait for that duty!"
He raised an eyebrow, apparently the sake was getting to her faster then him. Laughing at her actions, he simply raised another glass to his lips.
"There ain't too much special about the human world." He said, picking up the barrel and filling up his cup again. "Ya, they have all that that you said there, but they ain't nothing but normal humans livin' out their lives. You should ask Ikkaku about his experience, he seemed to be scarred by it."
Laughing, he picked up the barrel and glass, jerking his head to signify that she should take hers. Walking over to the side of the pond, he sighed and sat down, removing his socks and dipping his feet in it. Letting out a satisfied sigh, he downed yet another cut and looked into the pond.
"Gaki," He started, after a couple moments. "regretting the past is stupid. Chin up, move forward, ain't gonna get nowhere if you don't."
