A/N: So sorry for the long wait on this chapter. My hiatus is finished, and (in case you're not following my other stories), I've been able to update pretty regularly lately, so things are looking up!

Now, this chapter was supposed to be longer, and there's something that I'd been planning on putting in the chapter since I first thought of this story… but it's not here. See the end author's note for more information.

I'd also like to give a huge shout-out to KJacket for their recent review and kind words regarding this story. I was on the verge of putting the computer down for the day since the final scene was fighting me (and has been for a few days now), but they gave me the motivation to keep working on it.

I would've posted this earlier in the day, but FFnet is currently not allowing me to upload documents (or use the copy/paste feature in the doc manager) for some reason. Instead of waiting for however long it'll take for them to sort out the errors I keep getting, I did a little roundabout thing to get this to you guys. Seriously, I hope you enjoy it. And now, because of how long this took, I'm not taking the time to proof it before posting. I'll proof it later on, if need be.

Run and Hide

She'd been so confident in her ability to run the hell away from things before, but now, Lucy was seriously questioning just why that was. All the streets of the Seireitei looked the same to her. Damnit, she didn't know her way back to the division well enough to do something like this. Namely, running away from the mad scientist that may or may not be chasing her down right then. In the dark.

But, no , Yumichika couldn't have escorted her back. And he'd had to drag Ikkaku into the distraction as well. A whole lot of good that had done. Now she was lost, and couldn't stop running, just in case Captain Kurotsuchi was somewhere nearby.

She knew he'd seen the truth. Yumichika had told her what it was that would make her stand out to anyone who really looked. Her reiatsu - more accurately her magic that they assumed was reiatsu - wasn't like anyone else's. It was gold and glittery. It wasn't just waves of energy in some random color that somehow represented her spirit. Yumichika had shown her his own reiatsu, raising it so she could see the physical manifestation of it while they were sparring that first time. She'd been able to watch his light turquoise energy leap off of his skin and dance in the air around him in a small aura.

But she just had to be different. Of course.

And with how intently Captain Kurotsuchi had been looking at her while Captain Kyouraku's arms had been wrapped around her in a very hairy stranglehold, Lucy could only assume that he'd seen it.

He knew. And that could only mean one thing.

"I'm so fucked," she whimpered while dashing around a corner. Why did every street have to look the same?!

The soft scratch of a straw sandal on stone somewhere nearby drew her attention, but she didn't slow down. She couldn't. If anything, those unknown footsteps quickened. So Lucy ran faster as well. She wasn't sure where she was getting this energy from, because her legs were already burning and her lungs couldn't expand far enough or fast enough for her to suck in the air she needed.

She didn't care how much noise she made. Maybe she should have. Between her feet hitting the ground as loudly as they possibly could in an unsteady rhythm, and how she was panting so noisily that it could wake the dead… Then her keys where they jingled just a little from their space in her shihakusho top. She may as well have taped bubble wrap to her feet and walked across a room full of bicycle horns and rubber chickens.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she hissed. "Where am I?"

She stopped when she reached an intersection that split off in four different directions. Lucy wracked her brain for any direction to go, but she couldn't even remember going through a four-way intersection like this when they'd been on their way to the party. God, why couldn't she have just feigned drinking too much, and had someone take her back? Like Shuuhei, maybe. He seemed nice.

"Don't stop, Lucy," she said, picking a random direction and running once again. Those footsteps were louder now. And higher than her, maybe. It made her want to look up, to search the roofs of nearby buildings to see if someone really was following her. But there was no guarantee that she'd see anyone. And if she looked away from where she was running, then the universe would most likely hate all over her and make her trip.

If she tripped, she was dead.

"She has to be around here somewhere, Nemu. Find her."

"Fuck," Lucy whimpered. His voice was way too close. Just up ahead if she could trust the way sound echoed. Which she couldn't.

But then there was a shadow at the end of the street she was running down, one that had an oddly shaped head, very reminiscent of Captain Kurotsuchi's weird pharaoh helmet thing. "All this time," came his grating, strangely musical voice, "Searching for something new. And it just falls in my lap like this. Now, if only I could find my little test subject."

Hell no, she was not going to get into a confrontation of any sort with him. She wanted nothing to do with that. Lucy nearly came to a halt, and instead noticed another break in the road, just ahead of her and off to the right. That mad scientist was coming from the right, but he was further down, so this could work in her favor. Maybe she could find something to hide behind until he was gone.

So, Lucy put on an extra burst of speed and dashed around the corner only to stop dead in her tracks when her face smashed into a wall of hard, unforgiving muscle. It took everything in her not to scream when a pair of large hands clamped around her shoulders.

"What the fuck are you doing now?"

Lucy jolted and looked up, focusing as hard as she could in the darkness to see who it was. But she knew that voice. She knew the way it rumbled and zipped down the length of her spine. "K-Kenpachi?" she whimpered.

"Yeah. What the-"

She didn't think twice about her actions, and instead lunged forward, wrapping her arms around his waist in a crushing hug. "I-I need your help," she whispered.

"With what?" he asked, frowning down at her with his arms lifted out and away from where she was touching him.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Captain Kurotsuchi crooned. "Tell me why your reiatsu looks that way, little girl."

"Help," she breathed, looking up into Kenpachi's one visible eye. He forced her to let go, even though she tried to fight it, and she nearly stumbled when he pushed around her so she wasn't visible in the mouth of the alley. He was broad enough to cover her easily, but Lucy still burrowed under his haori, just in case.

Those footsteps came closer, closer still, and she stopped breathing altogether. Maybe if he couldn't hear her breathing, he wouldn't know she was right there. Her hands fisted in the back of Kenpachi's shihakusho top and she buried her face in the fabric.

"Climb up," Kenpachi muttered. "And don't let go."

She didn't need to be told twice. Without anymore prompting Lucy climbed his ass like some creepy little koala bear until her head rested just beneath his shoulder blades. Her arms looped under his and her hands anchored themselves around the front of his shoulders, beneath his haori. She wasn't sure what to to with her feet though. Because if she let them dangle, then they didn't touch the ground, but she was sure that someone would notice a pair of feet peeking out of the bottom of his white coat. And she couldn't exactly wrap them around him like this was any other piggyback ride.

Kenpachi helped though, by hooking his hands just behind her knees and yanking them up to his thin hips. "Right here," he muttered. "Squeeze your legs and don't let go."

She didn't say a word, instead pouring everything she had into holding herself in this awkward position with her knees at his hips and her feet hanging down along the sides of his thighs. It was even worse when he started walking. Right toward the footsteps that were nearly upon them already.

"Zaraki, have you seen-"

"Haven't seen shit," Kenpachi growled as he walked past Captain Kurotsuchi. Lucy tightened her hold on him, trying to keep herself flush with his body so there was no bulge in his haori to give her away.

"You filthy barbarian, watch where you're stomping!"

Kenpachi didn't answer, and instead rounded the corner Mayuri had just come around and continued on his way back to the barracks. He didn't try to get Lucy off of him. It would look too suspicious if he stopped for anything. And even when her hold on him started to loosen, she adjusted and got a better grip without incident. She couldn't let herself relax even as Captain Kurotsuchi's footsteps faded off into the distance. She couldn't allow this tension that had frayed her nerves overwhelm her. Not while they were still outside.

The last thing she needed was for his lieutenant to spot Kenpachi, and realize that he was carrying Lucy around under his haori to keep her safe.

She was sure Kenpachi would tell her that she was lucky he'd come along, and if she wasn't in the process of swallowing down her bone-rattling fear, she would have thought the same thing. There was nothing she could say to him though. She needed to stay quiet and still, and pour all of her focus into not falling flat on her ass while he walked around another corner.

Eventually, they returned to the division, but he still didn't let her get down. Not until she heard his feet thudding over the wooden planks that led to the barracks. Well, she'd assumed he would stop for her to finally stop clinging to his back, but he kept going. Right past the room that she knew was Yachiru's, where Lucy slept, and into his own room next door. When the door finally closed behind them, he still didn't stop. Instead, Kenpachi walked across the room to an open window and closed it, pulling the drapes shut for good measure.

She just couldn't hold on any longer though, and she wasn't even sure if he was going to tell her to get the hell off of him. Her legs finally gave out, sliding down his own legs until she was left dangling on his back. She let go and once her feet touched the floor, Lucy collapsed in a shaky heap.

Kenpachi turned and glared down at her, silently watching as Lucy curled in on herself and fisted her hands in her tousled hair. "You're staying here," he said.

Lucy just nodded. That made sense, she supposed. It wasn't like she could just saunter out of his room and go to Yachiru's, especially if that freak had followed them. If he was waiting for her to make an appearance, then that would be the time he'd catch her. It was probably why Kenpachi had taken her to his room to begin with. So it looked like he really was alone, going home to get some sleep.

She didn't hear him sigh and make his way to the bathroom. Just as she didn't hear the soft jingle of the bells in his hair as he removed them, or the water running for him to take a bath. It wasn't until half an hour later that she finally uncurled herself from the pathetic little lump on the floor that she'd become, just as Kenpachi left the bathroom with his damp hair hanging down past his shoulders, and only a towel wrapped around his hips.

She'd seen him shirtless on several occasions before, considering how often his clothing was torn while he was just training. Hell, his kosode was almost always open down to his navel, showing off those deliciously toned abs of his. But she'd never seen him like this. Practically naked.

Fuck, this was the last thing she needed. Because the long scar running down the left side of his chest was begging for her tongue to drag over it. Small droplets of water beaded on his broad shoulders as he made his way toward what she came to realize was a closet. His arms were deceptively thin without the rest of his clothing on, but she knew just how strong he was. How the hell could he look like this under his clothes?

It just wasn't fair.

"Get changed," he said over his shoulder.

"Into what?" she asked, still holding her knees to her chest on the floor. Talking was a good distraction. She could latch onto a conversation instead of the lewd fantasies rolling around inside her head of dragging him to the ground and letting him have his way with her all too willing body. "I don't have any clean clothes in here."

He threw a yukata over his shoulder, and she barely had time to catch it before it hit her in the face. She wasn't questioning this. It was the safest place for her, and she'd never really had a reason not to trust Kenpachi. Her eyes widened when his hands dropped to the towel around his hips, and he loosened it without looking back at her. That was more than enough for Lucy to bolt from her spot and rush off to the bathroom, locking herself inside before she could see even a sliver of tan skin that she wasn't supposed to.

She moved on shaky legs toward the sink and mirror, and braced herself on the counter while staring at her spooked reflection. She was a complete mess. The chopsticks holding her hair back were barely hanging on. She could feel sweat pooling in the most uncomfortable of areas from running before. Honestly, a bath was in order, but she wasn't sure if it would be right to use Kenpachi's bath.

Then again, if she had to stay in his room, he'd probably appreciate not having to smell her funk. And it would probably help her relax a little more.

With a shake of her head, Lucy undressed and started a bath for herself. Hopefully, by the time she was done, this raging fire in her belly would die down, Kenpachi would be dressed and not look so delectable, and maybe… just maybe… she'd be able to put this business with that freaky scientist wanting to dissect her out of her head for the night.

It wasn't until she was dry - and thanking the stars that Kenpachi kept some of Yachiru's shampoo and conditioner in his bathroom - that Lucy realized she didn't have clothes. Well, there was that yukata he'd thrown at her, but it was in the bedroom. And she didn't have clean underwear with her at all. That was all in the room next door.

She could have probably called Virgo out for help with the clothing situation, but thought better of it just as she reached for her keys. There couldn't be any weird sounds orlights coming from Kenpachi's quarters, if Captain Kurotsuchi was wandering around nearby. It had to look and sound as though he was all alone.

Of course, that meant that Lucy would have to walk out of his bathroom in nothing but a towel. Hopefully, he would already be in bed, maybe already asleep. Oh, that would be perfect. It was just too bad the alcohol she'd been enjoying so much while at that party had dissipated in her system from the sheer terror she'd been feeling earlier. What she wouldn't give for some of that liquid courage.

Then again, the last time she'd been drunk around Kenpachi, she'd apparently thrown herself at him. And then thrown up on him. So maybe it was better that she was stone-cold sober. At least he wouldn't want to beat her into the ground for covering him in vomit.

But just knowing that she was going to be walking to into his room, mostly naked, was enough for her cheeks to flush a deep, bright pink while slowly opening the door. She crept out of the bathroom and found him sitting up in his bed with his sword on his lap, and his eyes closed. Thankfully, he was wearing clothes, another yukata that was similar to the one he'd thrown at her. Then again, her rebellious, perverse mind lamented the lack of visible flesh.

"I figured you might need some clothes," he muttered, never looking at her.

"I, um… kinda forgot," she said. Well, it was more of a squeak, but she wasn't going to admit that to anyone.

Lucy shook her head though and forced her feet to move. She was no virgin, by any stretch of the imagination, and there wasn't anything for her to worry about. Hell, her fling with Gildarts had been her own doing in the first place. She'd come onto him, and she'd been confident about it. So why the hell should she be so bashful while she was around Kenpachi like this? She wasn't trying to sleep with him, no matter what her stupid hormones had to say on the matter, and he wasn't doing anything to proposition her. More than likely, he wasn't even interested in her to begin with.

Yachiru did tell her that he spent so much time fighting that he didn't waste time with women, so really… what was there to worry about?

Kenpachi didn't say anything else, and she made her way over to the yukata on the floor. She peeked at him for a moment, just to make sure he wasn't looking at her, then turned her back to him for good measure and wrapped the fabric around her shoulders. Just before tying it closed, she dropped her towel, folding the sides over her breasts before the air could even touch them.

Once it was tied, she looked down at herself, and laughed. "Kenpachi, this thing is huge!"

He smirked when she turned toward him again, his gaze travelling from her damp golden hair hanging over one shoulder, still unbrushed, down to the floor where his yukata covered her feet completely. "Nah, you're just tiny," he chuckled.

She probably would have gotten angry over what he'd said, except Lucy was fully aware of the difference in their sizes. Kenpachi was a monster, and she really was tiny in comparison to him. She couldn't help but wonder just how much he'd dwarf her body if he was on top of her. She'd already had her legs around his hips earlier, so she knew they were sinfully thin. She wouldn't have to be able to do a split just for him to fit between her legs.

But she didn't need to be thinking about that. At all.

Except Lucy really didn't know what to do with herself right then. When she was in the other room with Yachiru, they usually talked before bed. She'd grown accustomed to the young lieutenant's enthusiasm, even right before going to sleep. But here, in Kenpachi's room, it was so different.

And it probably had everything to do with him being there.

She just didn't know how to act around him when she wasn't pretending to be a shinigami.

"You can go to sleep if you want," he said, closing his eyes again.

Lucy jumped and picked up the towel she'd used, rushing off to the bathroom again. She didn't have a brush, and there was no way she would use his. She really wasn't sure how he felt about her using his things in the first place, so it was for the best if she didn't push her luck. By the time she was in the room again, he was right back to doing whatever the hell it was that he'd been doing before. Maybe he was meditating. If that was the case, then she didn't want to disturb him. Except, Lucy had no idea where she was supposed to sleep.

"The bed," he said, causing her shoulders to tense as though she'd been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

"Wh-What?" Was he a mind-reader? Oh, that wasn't good.

"You mumble a lot," he said. His one visible eye opened again, and she could swear he was looking right into her soul. Why did he have to be so intense all the time? He wasn't all worked up over fighting right then, but his gaze felt heavy, bearing down on her until she was sure her lungs would collapse. "The bed's big enough for me to sleep comfortably, which means it's big enough for me and someone as tiny as you."

"I'm not tiny!" she shouted, then bit her lips and looked around as though a monster would come crawling out of a shadowy corner at the sound of her raised voice.

"You really are," he chuckled, then shrugged. "I won't bite."

'Man, I wish you'd bite me… No! Shut up!' Still, Lucy nodded and made her way to the bed. She sat down and put her feet beneath the blanket, then looked over at him again. There was no way she'd be able to get to sleep with how jumpy she still was. But maybe, if she could get him talking, it would help her relax a little more. And then she could just pass out and pretend this night was all just a horrible dream. She could wake up in the morning, and everything would be back to normal, pushing her body to the limit in training with the division.

Kenpachi's eyes closed again, even though she was positive that he could feel her staring at him. She was technically supposed to meditate before bed, but even that wouldn't help her relax. She wasn't sure if she'd even be able to get into the right mindset to do it in the first place.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"I'm just wondering what you're doing," she said.

He looked down at the sheathed sword in his lap, running his thumb over the wrapped blade. "Trying to connect with it."

"Connect?" she asked. This was good. Maybe she could actually learn a little more about Kenpachi while trying to relax. He was a closed book, and it drew her to him even more because all she knew about him was that he enjoyed fighting, and that he took care of Yachiru. But there had to be more to Kenpachi. He couldn't only live for the thrill of a fight.

She knew it was stupid to wonder what else there was to him, but what else was she supposed to do while waiting to get back home?

"Zanpakuto have names," he said. "A shinigami imprints their soul onto the sword, from what I've been told, and then they bond with the spirit of the sword to learn its name. Makes them stronger."

"Like that whole shikai thing?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. He nodded again, and she frowned when his brows furrowed. "I would've thought you already knew it, being a captain and all."

Kenpachi chuckled and set his zanpakuto off to the side of the bed, where he always kept it. Close enough to grab it in the middle of the night if he needed to kill something. "Nah, I didn't even go to the Academy before becoming a captain. The old man trained me in kendo for a day before it was called off. Something about how I didn't need anything more or some shit."

"There's an academy?"

He smirked and leaned his head back, looking up toward the ceiling. "Anyone who wants to become a shinigami has to go through the Academy, learn how to fight, use tactics and kido. I didn't need any of that."

"How come?"

"Because I've been fighting to kill since I was a kid," he said, turning his smirk down to her. The last thing he'd expected was for her to be smiling up at him, even after admitting that. Most people didn't really smile over something like a child killing people. "That's just how it works in the Rukongai, especially where I came from."

"So, how does someone become a captain?"

"Three ways," he said, pulling up one knee to drape his arm over it. He was so used to being around Yachiru at night like this, that he didn't even blink over the nonstop questions. Yachiru was the same way, and it was really the only way to get her to go to sleep without her tossing and turning in the middle of the night. "The first is an exam, where you have to perform a bankai in front of the Captain-Commander and at least two other current captains."

"What's a bankai?"

"Ask Ikkaku to show you sometime," he chuckled. "He's the only one in my division with one, even if he thinks I don't know about it. He'll explain it better than I will, since I don't have one."

Her lips pursed for a moment. She vaguely recalled something about a bankai before, but after thinking on it, she realized that it was Shuuhei lamenting earlier in the night about no one believing his claims of having achieved bankai. "Is it like a spell or something?"

"No, more like the second step of unlocking your sword's power," he said with a shrug. That was the extent of his knowledge on bankai though. Well, there was more to it, but he wasn't going to get into all the gritty details with her. It wouldn't really matter all that much anyway once she found a way to go back to her home world. "The second way to become a captain is to be a kiss-ass."

"What?" she laughed.

"At least six captains submit a personal recommendation, and then at least three of the remaining seven have to approve it." He shrugged again. "You'd have to kiss some serious ass to get recommendations from six of us though."

"And what's the last way?" Lucy turned toward him a little more, leaning back against the headboard beside him. "If you don't have a bankai thing, then you couldn't do the first one. And I doubt you went around making friends with captains just to get a recommendation."

"Hell no," he snorted. "I did it in Trial by Combat."

"You fought your way in," she deadpanned. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"It's really only for my division," he said. "The challenger has to defeat the current captain with two hundred members of the division watching. So, I came in and killed the tenth Kenpachi, then took his place as captain."

"Tenth Kenpachi?" She couldn't stop herself from shivering when his thin lips curled into a dark and malicious grin.

"Kenpachi is the title of the strongest shinigami," he said. "The one that's killed the most enemies and won the most battles. To take the name of Kenpachi, you have to kill the last one to hold the title, and that person is always the captain of the 11th Division."

"So, there have been ten other men like you?" she asked, raising a brow at him. Ten other people who were obsessed with fighting, and recognized as the strongest shinigami?

"The first Kenpachi was a woman," he said, chuckling again when Lucy's eyes went wide. "I fought her once, when I was a kid. Gave me a taste of a real fight."

That was something she hadn't expected. She just couldn't imagine any woman being so obsessed with fighting and killing that they would attack a child, and run this particular division. Then again, if she thought about it, there were several women she'd met back in Earthland who weren't exactly the most… noble in fights. But she couldn't recall any of them being obsessed with it the way Kenpachi was.

Lucy bit her lips and stared at him again while trying to picture what he must have looked like as a child. Honestly, she couldn't picture it at all. Any images her mind conjured of a young boy with black hair and grey eyes, and chubby youthful cheeks, just didn't match with the man sitting beside her.

Then she noticed his eye patch was still on. "Is that from fighting her?" she asked, nodding to the patch. "Did you lose it?"

"No," he chuckled. "My eye's still there."

"Do you ever take that thing off?"

"Sometimes," he said, turning to look at her more fully.

"When you go to bed?"

"Usually."

"Then why-"

"I figured you didn't feel like getting crushed with reiatsu when you're trying to sleep," he said. He still had that damn look in his eye though. There was something about it that Lucy just couldn't put her finger on, but it almost felt like he was challenging her. Then again, Kenpachi seemed to thrive on confrontation, so maybe that really was the case.

"So, if it's not missing, then why wear an eye patch at all?" she asked. She couldn't think of any plausible reason for someone to wear something that would limit their eyesight, especially someone who was constantly fighting.

"Same as those bells I wear," he said, watching as her slender hand lifted to lightly trace the edges of the black fabric. "It gives the enemy a better chance at fighting."

"You're pretty full of yourself, Mister Strongest Shinigami ," she laughed.

"Nah, I just like fighting. The bells give away my position if your reiatsu's high enough for you to hear them. So, if someone hears me coming, I know they'll be worth fighting."

Lucy wasn't going to mention that she was able to hear his bells all the time. It probably worked differently for her, since she used magic.

"The eye patch is a limiter for my reiatsu," he continued. It wasn't often that he got to explain this to anyone. When he thought about it, the last time he'd done this was when Ichigo and his friends had come to save Rukia from being executed. "It sucks up the excess. I don't take it off in a fight unless my opponent is strong enough to handle it."

She bit her lips while inspecting the little black patch. It was strange that he would use something like that to begin with. From her understanding, shinigami used their reiatsu to power their attacks. It was their strength. But he willingly gave himself such a huge handicap, all for the sake of prolonging a fight? It left her wondering just how much of the stuff he actually had in the first place. Because she'd noticed the way his subordinates started sweating bullets when even a little reiatsu leaked off of him.

It wasn't until she lightly touched his cheek that Lucy realized she was propped up on her knees, and seriously invading Kenpachi's personal space. Before she could draw back in horror though, her mouth decided to start digging her an early grave.

"Can I take it off?"

His brow lifted with amusement. "You sure you can handle that?"

She shrugged and gave him a shaky smile. "I'm still pretty freaked out from earlier," she admitted. "If it'll help take my mind off of nearly being a test subject, I'm all for it."

She watched as he seemed to mull it over, but it wasn't long before he nodded. Just once. That was all she needed, so Lucy licked her lips and carefully peeled at the edge of the eye patch. "Should I do it slow, or…"

"It doesn't really matter," he chuckled. Kenpachi didn't really care whether she took it off fast or slow, because the result would be the same either way. It would be until the last little reiatsu-sucking mouth on his eye patch had been detached that his reiatsu would spike.

Lucy's eyes widened when she finally pulled it away from his face and the pressure in the air increased until she struggled to breathe. And then it kept going. Fiery yellow energy swirled around him, fluttering his loose hair around his shoulders. And Lucy, for all she'd assumed that it wouldn't be that big of a deal, finally felt the power that truly lurked within the 11th division captain as she lost the will to keep herself upright and collapsed across his lap.

"Told ya," he chuckled as her hands clenched on the bed. She struggled to even turn her head, but when she did, there was a burning glare directed at him. "Just be glad we're not fighting. This'd be a whole lot more intense if we were."

Lucy ground her teeth together and pushed back against the invisible force weighing her down. She didn't budge. "Bastard," she muttered. Kenpachi's only response was to laugh again. She refused to give up though.

"It'll even out in a minute."

Lucy didn't want to wait a minute. Because she could hear the teasing tone in his voice, and the last thing she wanted was for him to see her as being too weak to deal with something like this. After having been around the men in this division long enough, she'd grown accustomed to their way of thinking. At least a little. Being seen as a weak little woman was pretty damn common around this place - at least, in this division - and she refused to let it continue. So she'd trained nonstop. She'd pushed her body to its limits again and again, and trained with her magic when she was alone at night.

This was the time to prove that there was more to her than some delicate little flower of a girl who couldn't stand on her own two feet.

Or sit up, to be more accurate.

Her gaze never left his smug grin as she dug deep within herself and tapped into her magical container. She reached deeper still, searching for the power that Ultear had unlocked in her just before the Grand Magic Games three years prior. Lucy pulled it to the surface, a grin of her own stretching across her full lips when glittering gold energy seeped from her pores and lessened the weight pressing down around her. It wasn't by much, but it was something. Just enough for her to move her hands to his nearby leg and slowly push herself up to kneel once again.

And the look on Kenpachi's face was more than worth it. She loved being able to see someone's utter shock at her abilities - the few times she'd managed to surprise an opponent with them - especially because it meant that she'd been able to take their preconceived notions of her and throw them right out the window.

"Not so strong now, are you?" she asked, though her voice was strained, and she could already feel her arms wobbling.

"What the hell is that?" he whispered. His gaze flickered across her face, down to her body and back up, as he took in the golden aura glowing around her and the glittery sheen across her flesh.

"My magic," she said. "It's not much in comparison to my friends, but…" Her arms finally gave out, even with her magic pushing back against Kenpachi's reiatsu, and she fell across his lap once again with a grunt. Except this time, his arm wrapped around her waist and he pulled her up just a little higher so she was pressed against his chest.

She didn't try to force herself away from him, and instead just listened to the steady beat of his heart until the pressure in the air settled to something a little closer to normal. It was still heavy, but it wasn't unbearable. She was able to breathe normally again, though, so that had to count for something.

Still, she didn't move. It wasn't that she couldn't, but more that she just didn't want to. Her inner pervert had come out and begun drooling over the delicious muscles hidden under Kenpachi's yukata. How warm and inviting he was. The fact that his eyes - now that she could see both of them - actually made him seem just a little more human, warmer somehow. Lucy was just going to bask in that for a moment. Just a moment.

"That's pretty damn impressive," he said, smirking down at her. Except this time, he didn't look smug. Not in the slightest. This time, he seemed surprised, pleased by the fact that she'd been able to hold her own even for a few seconds against the overbearing presence of his reiatsu.

Lucy glanced away as her cheeks heated up, a shy smile pulling at the corners of her lips while she muttered, "Thanks, Kenpachi."

So, this chapter was supposed to be where the first smut happens. When I thought up the idea for this story, knowing it would lead to a romance between Lucy and Kenpachi (with eventually smut), this is where I'd planned on having them do it for the first time. But when I went to actually write the last scene here, it just didn't feel right. Mainly because I ended up changing the events leading up to what would have been smut in the last chapter. The coitus is totally plotted out and saved in a separate document, but because I couldn't see any organic way to transition into it (mostly because of Lucy's character, and then some other factors), I decided to push that back…

For my perverse readers (no judgment here, considering I'm the one writing the damn thing lol), know that smut is coming. But it won't happen until it feels right for me to put it into the story. We all know what it's like to read a story, and then the characters are randomly banging for no good reason, and I really want to avoid that in this story (and all my other stories, to be honest).

For my readers who don't really care about smut… you're welcome, I guess, for no smut this chapter? I dunno.

Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Be sure to leave a review to let me know what you think so far! And, just to get an idea of your thoughts, what scenario do you think would be conducive to leading into their first smut? I think I have something in mind, but it's up in the air at this point. If I like your idea enough, and if it fits with what's planned, I'll use it with a shout-out to the reviewer who gave me the idea.