The great Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the infamous eleventh company of the thirteen court guard companies of the Seireitei, was many things. He was huge and deadly and terrifyingly strong. He was insane, incredibly so, yet surprisingly insightful at the most unexpected times. His spiritual pressure was enormous, and none could stand in his blazing presence when it was fully released without feeling at least a barest hint of fear within themselves. He was a monstrous demon, invulnerable to pain, indestructible in the truest sense of the word, and above all else, he was completely, absolutely fearless. He was invincible; at least, that's what most people thought.

They were wrong.

Of course, no one would ever find out about his humanity. Only three people had been witness to his one moment of weakness, and whether out of kindness, respect, or fear, they were not telling.

The orders had been remarkably simple. There was an abnormally large gathering of hollows in the world of the living. Kenpachi, along with Assistant Captain Kusajishi Yachiru, Madarame Ikkaku, and Ayasegawa Yumichika, was to remove them. They were hollows of moderate strength, and only sheer numbers made it necessary to send such an elite team to dispose of them. Nothing should have gone wrong.

It began predictably. Immediately upon the group's arrival, the hollows stopped fighting amongst themselves and turned upon the soul reapers, eager to consume their powerful souls. The foursome flung themselves into battle. This was what they lived for. Their foes fell as wheat before the scythe, and they reveled in the bloodshed. Every wound scored on them was a credit to their opponent and added to the pleasure of defeating them. It was a typical battle for those of the eleventh company.

Afterwards, no one was quite able to say for sure how it happened. Despite her disarming appearance, Yachiru was an extraordinarily capable warrior, as was evidenced by her superior rank. However, how a hollow managed to stab through her ribcage with hooked claws that were over three feet in length is less important than the fact that it did, leaving Yachiru to collapse to the ground in a weakened and defenseless state.

Ikkaku and Yumichika did not notice their assistant captain's plight, so engrossed were they in their own battles, but Kenpachi turned just as the hollow descended upon Yachiru's fallen form. In an instant, the hollows on the battlefield dissolved, unable to withstand the vast amounts of murderous spirit energy pouring out of the captain. Before his eye patch hit the ground, every hollow in the vicinity was gone and he had vanished into the Soul Society with Yachiru in his arms.

Anyone who inadvertently stood in Kenpachi's path was remorselessly plowed down without causing even the slightest hitch in his rapid pace. Mere seconds after Yachiru fell, he held her out to Captain Unohana and calmly said, "Fix her. Now."

A less experienced healer would not have recognized the glint in his eyes or the faint undertone in his voice, but Unohana had been the fourth company captain for centuries and had noticed that same subtle undercurrent in many others before him. Many a soul reaper had come to her about a wounded comrade, and their eyes and voices held the same fear for the lives of their companions as his did. If she was surprised to find such an uncharacteristic emotion coming from the war-mongering captain of the eleventh company, her face did not show it as she took Yachiru's tiny, broken frame.

"I must ask you to wait here, Captain Zaraki," she said placidly, but without any expectation that he would comply. Worried comrades rarely did peaceably. "The wound is serious and will require all my attention to heal."

He acquiesced without a word and seated himself outside the room where Unohana treated Yachiru. From time to time, another member of the fourth company would approach him, intending to heal the injuries he had received in battle, but Kenpachi was fairly imposing under ordinary circumstances and the intensity of his spiritual pressure – for he had not stopped to retrieve his eye patch – sent them scurrying to find a less difficult patient. (Of these, there was no shortage, as his venture through the Seireitei could be described as nothing less than rampageous.)

By and by, Ikkaku and Yumichika arrived – even without Kenpachi's spirit energy serving as a beacon for them, the chaos and destruction he'd left in his wake was an easy trail to follow.

"We came as fast as we could," Ikkaku said, holding forth Kenpachi's discarded eye patch. He accepted it without comment. Soul reapers throughout the Seireitei breathed a sigh of relief as his spiritual pressure diminished.

"How is she?" Yumichika asked. "I only caught a glimpse of her, but it looked bad-"

"Shut up," Kenpachi snapped, and Yumichika immediately complied. Captain Unohana was not the only one who could detect the fear in his eyes.

Time passed. The sun began its slow descent into the afternoon. A soul reaper on cleaning duty despaired over the blood and gore dripping from Kenpachi's zanpaku-to onto the floor, but the purported demon did not budge an inch. No one spoke.

Finally, just as the sun began to set, the door slid open to reveal the fatigued fourth company captain. Kenpachi leapt to his feet and waited expectantly.

"Assistant Captain Kusajishi will survive," Unohana said tiredly. He started to walk past her, but she raised an arm to stop him. "I would not advise that you go in right now. I was able to heal her sufficiently to save her life, but she is still in a critical condition. She needs rest if-"

"I'm going in," he said in such a way that she knew arguing would be pointless. He breezed past her and knelt down at Yachiru's bedside. Even then, he towered over her tiny body.

Unohana sighed and turned to Ikkaku and Yumichika. "Will you be attempting to go in as well?" she asked with a hint of resignation.

"Not at all, Captain Unohana," Yumichika assured her.

"We wouldn't want to interrupt our captain," Ikkaku added.

Unohana peered back into the room. Kenpachi showed no sign of moving from his bedside vigil.

"Some people say he's a demon," she mused aloud.

Ikkaku snorted. "And some people also say that he kidnapped the assistant captain so he could turn her into his bride, but that doesn't make much sense either, now does it?"

"No…" Unohana quietly slid the door shut and said, "It will be some time before she recovers enough to rejoin the force, and she may never heal completely."

"She will," Ikkaku said confidently. "The captain wouldn't let her not get well."

"I'll send Isane to check on both of them later. You should have your wounds tended as well."

"We'll stay here a little while longer," Yumichika declined politely.

She nodded and turned to leave but stopped at the door. "I used to wonder why you follow him so devotedly." She glanced at the room where Kenpachi sat up with Yachiru. "I think I understand better now."

People found it strange that the great Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the infamous eleventh company of the thirteen court guard companies of the Seireitei, stayed beside his assistant captain all throughout her long recovery. (Supporters of the Yachiru-child-bride theory viewed his dedication as confirmation of their peculiar conviction.) Kenpachi ignored the rumors as usual, but sometimes, if Captain Unohana overheard someone gossiping about him, she would make an offhand comment about how utterly ridiculous they were being and that was the end of that. Kenpachi ignored this as well – it was just his way, but Yachiru did not.

During one of the rare occasions when Kenpachi was out, the buoyant assistant captain beamed up from her bed and said, "Thank you, Miss Unohana!"

"There is no need to thank me," she said warmly. "Healing the wounded is what I do."

"Oh, not for that," Yachiru giggled. "You made Ken-chan so happy, and you didn't even fight him! That must have been hard."

"Not at all," Unohana said knowingly. "It was a pleasure."

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AN: What do you think? Before you complain, rampageous is definitely a word. Look it up. Sorry if you think it's too OOC; I think it makes sense under the circumstances. Leave a review if you have the time. I accept flames, but I don't understand computer talk. Please type in English.

-BlackMarketTrombones