They fuck like animals.

Away from the prying eyes of the other shinigami behind the trees, in the dirt, on the rocks, and against the trees themselves. Against the wall, the door, the floor, the balcony. Anywhere but the bed.

Soi Fong can't stand things that are soft.

Kenpachi is the toughest shinigami in existence. He may not be the strongest, fastest, or smartest but he is the toughest. He can withstand just about anything.

Her nails won't injure him no matter how many times she scratches. The rabid biting rarely draws blood but, when it does, it makes him laugh and urges her on all the more.

They had been born to fight.

Kenpachi lived to fight and he fought to live. He had been spewed from the deepest, darkest hell hole in the world and he had been born ready for it.

Soi Fong had lived to fight for another. When that other had gone, she had been left to reap the consequences.

They fuck like they fight and, when it is over, Soi Fong's thighs are sore and bruised and his arms are red from where the knife has sliced him.

It couldn't be said that it was a relationship built on hate. They didn't know enough about each other to hate each other.

It couldn't be said that it was a relationship built on love either. Soi Fong is done wasting her time with that pretty word and Kenpachi doesn't know the meaning of it in the first place.

When Kenpachi thinks of love, he thinks only of battle.

When Soi Fong thinks of love, she thinks of dark skin and golden eyes.

That makes her hate love all the more.

Soi Fong had lost herself once.

It is often said that when women love, they love until they give themselves away completely. When a woman loves and loves strongly, they lose themselves in the process.

Soi Fong had loved Yoruichi as strongly as a woman could love somebody. When Yoruichi had left, she had taken all the love Soi Fong had poured into her away.

Now Soi Fong has no more love to give.

Kenpachi has never experienced love. He has known nothing but the battlefield. Instead of being raised on mother's milk, he has been raised on blood.

Most people feared him when he first came to the shinigami academy. Soi Fong had been intrigued by him. He seemed to feel no emotion except to laugh in ghoulish delight when he was injured or injured somebody else in battle.

Kenpachi doesn't live for anybody else. He is selfish to a fault.

Soi Fong wants to be just as emotionless as he.

The first time she had seen him up close, Soi Fong had been in limbo. Now that the person she had lived for was gone, she had no place left for her in the world.

Kenpachi doesn't need a place ready for him. Kenpachi shoves himself in and makes room for himself.

He slings the captain's coat victoriously over his shoulder. The captain's blood has been sprayed everywhere.

One drop lands itself on Soi Fong's cheek. From the corner of her mouth, Soi Fong's tongue flicks out and she licks the droplet away.

Yoruichi had been Soi Fong's place in the world. With Yoruichi gone, Soi Fong has no place.

After Kenpachi kills his captain, Soi Fong realizes what her place should be.

Her place is Yoruichi's place.

Where Yoruichi used to stand, Soi Fong drives a wedge for herself. She takes what she wants, takes for herself everything Yoruichi had been, and throws away the past.

Soi Fong makes herself the head of the keigun. She fights those who oppose her, disregards those that support her.

Soi Fong will be just as selfish as Yoruichi was.

The first time they meet, their eyes connect. Between them passes a communication that needs no words.

Kenpachi sees in her the next battle. Soi Fong sees in him what had inspired her to take back what she had lost.

When he slams her into the wall, the tip of her sword scratches the side of his chest. His teeth sink into the side of her neck and into him she pours all her hate, all her fury at the world and those that reside in it.

He is the only one who can handle it.

They meet again and again. In the darkness of the night, they conduct their secret war. In the day, they slip into the shadows unnoticed.

When people ask where they received their wounds, they both say in battle. In either cases, neither of them considered themselves liars.

It is weeks before they learn each other's name. Regardless, they never use them anyway.

He is always looking for another fight and she was looking for an outlet.

If anything, it's a relationship of convenience.

When two dangerous animals mate, one must first be forced into submission. Soi Fong will never submit. She knows Kenpachi won't either. That's what makes their fight so exciting. Their constant desire to conquer the other.

Their battle will never end. It's too good for either of them to even want it to. They collide against each other, teeth seeking teeth, fingers tearing away clothes.

After all this time, they have never kissed. They will snarl into each other's faces, bare their teeth like the feral animals they are. They will spit, howl, claw, but never will they kiss.

Their meetings are never slow either. It's fast-paced, lightening fast, going straight for the kill. Sometimes it will last for hours, a constant swift grinding that leaves them both exhausted.

Kenpachi is a demon dressed in a human's skin. He doesn't try to woe her, doesn't shower her with words of affection. He doesn't even care if he hurts her, which is exactly what Soi Fong's wants.

Soi Fong doesn't want it to end. Whatever nightmare she has fallen into, she wants to stay in it.

Kenpachi is as heartless as a devil and twice as nasty.

Soi Fong is grateful for this. She doesn't want him to love her.

If he did ever start to love her, she might feel tempted to give it back and that's exactly what she doesn't want to do.

The word love will never trip lightly off their tongues. It's what neither of them wants. Love is a soft emotion and both of them have learned that they are not suited for anything soft.

After all the hardships life has given them, it's nice to have something that is easy and effortless. They owe nothing to each other. If they ever wanted to leave, which they don't, they could without second thought or explanation.

Soi Fong doesn't need to worry about falling in love because Kenpachi doesn't love anything except battle. Soi Fong will never lose herself again.

Kenpachi doesn't love her but he does love the battle they have immersed themselves in. He's entertained where he's at and where Kenpachi is entertained is where Kenpachi stays.

Neither of them has any desire to change anything.

In the nightmarish dark they reside, legs entwined, and start their endless battle over again.