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 was quiet and she looked over at Kenpachi and shrugged, "That kind of sucks," she spoke her voice sounding a little muffled as she took another drink of sake. She kicked her feet back and forth in the water, she looked to the sky, sunset, it was really pretty. "Well, if you'd hadn't had such a tough upbringing, you wouldn't be a Captain, or known as the Demon, or have someone as awesome as me as a friend," Aoide spoke sounding matter fact as she refilled her glass, only to find all the sake gone.
"Well damn, that didn't last long," she pouted shaking the empty barrel and sighing and standing up, "I guess that's my signal to leave you be then," she stumbled a bit before using Kenpachi's shoulder to support herself. "I'll get out of your hair, Captain Baba-chan is probably hunting for me, so you know I don't want you to get in trouble with me," she grinned, her head feeling oddly fuzzy as the sake caught up with her.
He laughed and got to his feet, slowly, in order to regain his balance. It wasn't that back; however, he seemed to be holding his liquor a lot better then Aoide, who was using his shoulder as a support.
"I'll get out of your hair, Captain Baba-chan is probably hunting for me, so you know I don't want you to get in trouble with me."
He sighed, feeling her sway rather heavily. "You don' seem like you're in the condition to go anywhere at the moment. Besides, if you went now, you'd be in the same book as Matsumoto."
Seeing her stumble about, the tall captain begrudgingly put his arm around her waiste for support and helped her towards the living area. Even if he did let her out. He would bet that she would make it about half way down the street before collapsing.
What really tipped him off was that glazed over toothed grin. He had to admit, for a girl, she held her sake. But... that was a lot of sake. And no one, aside from the possibilty of Shunsui, could keep up with Zaraki when drinking.
"Just rest for a couple of hours or somethin'." He said gruffly, leading her over to a couch. "The little maggot wouldn't be happy to see you like this anyway."
Aoide looked up at Kenpachi with a drunken grin, not even blushing as his hand went around her waist to steady her, "No, no I'm fine," she hiccuped letting herself be pulled by Kenpachi into the living area. His hand felt nice, he was so much larger then her it practically just held most of her side. She leaned against him, and then drunkenly put her arm around his, well halfway, Kenpachi was a big guy, so her arm settled on the middle of his back to steady herself as they walked. She buried her head in his robes as they passed a particulalr bright patch of fading light and giggled a little as they went inside. "Pachi-chan, smells good," she murmured happily as she sat down on the couch, and instantly flopped over and giggled.
"He's not really a maggot, you know," she spoke closing her eyes, "He's not so bad, I mean he's no you, but he's okay," she stated opening her eyes then closing them again, she let out a large yawn, using her arm as a pillow, "Kenpachi, I hope you can find another girlfriend," she added sleepily, "You're too nice to be alone and stuff."
He sighed, she obviously wasn't. However, not wanting to argue a useless argument, Kenpachi continued to silently lead her into the house. If Kenpachi minded Aoide's arm on his back or her face in his clothes, his face didn't show it. "Pachi-chan, smells good."
His eye twitched, ever so slightly, but he decided to let it go. There was no real reason to argue with her. Once he got her to the couch, he couldn't help but be amused with how quickly she got comfortable.
Make it to Hitsu's, he scoffed mentally, not even a chance. "Kenpachi, I hope you can find another girlfriend, you're too nice to be alone and stuff."
He froze on the spot, thoughts that flew through his mind unknown to anyone but himself. Sighing, he took a seat next to her head and picked up a pillow. Gently, he lifted her head off her arm and moved her arm out of the way before placing the pillow underneath her head. It was something that the supposedly ferocious captain did with a little girl quite often so he had no problem doing so.
"Urusai, gaki." He said, cracking his neck and sighing, he thought about getting up to go somewhere else to rest, but he decided against it. Taking out his weapon from his belt, he sat it beside him and leaned his head back against the back of the couch, closing his eye and letting his mind rest.
"Aoi-chan come on, you take so long to get ready, you'd think you were a girl or something," a squad 11 guy shouted to Aoide who was running down the street.
"Baka," Aoide told him and hit him in the back of the head and huffed, "Perfection take time."
"You should take another hundred years then," another guy chuckled.
"Eh you don't even know what beauty is," Aoide pouted tugging on her pigtail as a group of her and about seven other guys walked down the street to their favorite bar.
"Alright enough guys or she's beat the crap out of us with her little blade," another guy spoke, "Last thing we need to do is get in a fight before we even start drinking."
"No kidding, you all pick on me like it's going out of style," Aoide spoke as they walked into the bar.
"No, no don't go in there," Aoide watching the dream screamed, it was a dream right as she floated above the scene. The drinking the joking, then the bar fight, something went wrong and as she watched this version of herself she watch her body morph into something more feral and it began attacking her friends. Blood sprayed everywhere, then the feral creature turned at looked at Aoide just standing there. It growled before it pounced at her.
Aoide gasped, throwing herself up into a sitting position, for a moment she started freaking out wondering where she was, if she was still in that bar. No, this was a semi-familiar place, she was still in Kenpachi's living quarters, she was safe, well as safe as she could be in someone nicknamed the Demon domain. She wiped her brow, a thin coat of sweat covered her skin, and she was still breathing pretty hard. Then her head started pounding, how much sake had she been drinking? She drew her knees up to her head and buried her head in them and covering the top of her head with her arms trying to make the ache go away. She then glaced over to the sofa on the other side of the room. Shit a monster, she was so surprised she fell off the couch, hitting her head on the floor below.
Wait not it was just Kenpachi, Aoide groaned again clutching her head, "Do you have to be so damn scary all the time!" she complained.
He had tried to wake her up, actually tried, but it had proved to be of no avail. shaking her caused her to scream louder, something about not going in... Not going in where?
After awhile, he had given up, even Yachiru didn't have nightmares this bad, and she actually had some pretty bad nightmares. Why shouldn't she, when she had been plagued with blood on her hands as a baby?
He sighed, rubbing his temples as a massive headache began to form. It's not like he could do anything about it so he just sat there and made sure she didn't hurt herself.
And sat.
and sat.
and sat...
...two hours later...
When she woke up, Kenpachi was finally half-asleep, and in the process of beginning to drift off. As she jumped, his eyed widened ever so slightly, but he simply sighed. Apparently she had finally woken up.
Watching in silence as she looked about frantically, he couldn't help but grin. That is, until she looked over at him and freaked out before falling over.
"Do you have to be so damn scary all the time!"
"Che." Was the first sound he letting out of his mouth before he rolled his shoulders. "... pleasant dream?"
"None of your damn business," Aoide replied her voice unusually harsh as she got to her feet and brushed off her robe, glaring at Kenpachi. She didn't like anyone seeing her when she had her nightmares, let alone one of the strongest people in the Soul Society. She then stretched and rubbed her face to try to wash away the images her dreams had brought. Looking outside she noticed it was night, she moon was already out. Great, now she knew that she was going to be in big trouble with Capatain Baba-chan.
Aoide's scowl turned deeper as she crossed her arms, "Can't believe I slept that late," she murmured mostly to herself, "I have the night rounds too," she added under her breath and sighing, looking at Kenpachi again. "Did I say anything in my sleep?" she asked her face devoid of her usual smile and twinkling brown eyes.
He frowned, obviously not used to seeing the girl act like this. Sighing, he decided not to push the subject about it too much. To be honest, he had drifted off a couple times during her struggles, and his dreams had been far from pleasant as well.
But, that wasn't something he would let aoide know.
It was true, the moon was already out, something that Kenpachi wasn't expecting either, but she had been drunk enough to explain it. Shrugging, he reached into his garments and took out a handful of bells.
"Did I say anything in my sleep?"
That tone of voice made him stop short for a second, halfway into tying a bell up. It wasn't something that he had grown accustomed to seeing and it wasn't something he thought he liked.
"Something..." Kenpachi responded, before shrugging, "However, something seems ta be wrong with my hearin'. I didn' quite catch it."
Without another word he picked up his blade and slid int into his belt before standing and brushing himself off. "Ya got nothin' to be ashamed of."
"Che, I believe we all have have something to be ashamed off," Aoide spoke, making sure she still had her Zanpaktou, and all her snack in her pockets. She pulled out her hair ribbons and tied har hair back into a simple ponytail, which surprisingly made her look older. "Listen, sorry for snapping at you and all, I don't normally sleep over at other people's places. And some nights are worst the others," was all she said before shrugging, not wanting to explain herself more. She licked her lips, her mouth was dry, she would kill for a cup of water.
"Anyway, I should get going, I have night rounds, not only that I bet Yachiru will be home any moment," Aoidem smirked a little walking up to Kenpachi, she looked a little confused at first before putting her hand on his shoulder, "It was fun, we should get trashed together more often!" she then laughed cheerfully, though it didn't extend to her eyes.
He nodded, not really bothering to acknowlege a fake cheerfullness that seemed to replace the usual cheery Aoide.
No words were exchanged as they exited the house, both meant to turn in opposite directions to get to their respective duties. With a nod, the tall captain turned and began to walk down the street, bells sounding with every passing breeze.
"Oy." Kenpachi called out, stopping and looking over his shoulder. "I'm proud that ya were part of the squad."
With that, he continued to walk, where to? Probably to the Vice-Captain's meeting chambers, but that didn't really matter. His bells continued to sound until he had almost gone out of sight.
"Chin up." He commanded, stopping and turning his head back one last time. "That's an order."
