It had been a mistake from the beginning. Kenpachi still didn't have much skill in damping his spiritual pressure, so heading to the human world with a bunch of shinigami recruits was just asking for trouble. But they insisted, said that it was his turn to lead a training mission. As he expected, a bunch of Hollows showed up. Stupid. They weren't even smart enough to have a good fight, and it was a pain to have to keep an eye on all the greenhorns.

Suddenly, there were several screams from the recruits. The sky had torn open, and several Menos descended. "Everyone, get under cover!" Kenpachi barked. If he was going to fight Menos, he didn't need any distraction. He vaguely noticed them complying. He ran to meet the first, slashing mightily. As he dodged and swung, he lost himself in the fight. He hadn't enjoyed himself this much since he fought with Ichigo Kurosaki.

His concentration was shattered by a scream of pain. Yachiru. As he glanced away, the Menos slashed his side with its claws. Kenpachi bellowed and split it in half with his zanpakuto. He ran towards the source of the scream. A massive Menos had Yachiru in its jaws. Her sword was on the ground, covered in blood. Her blood.

"No!" Kenpachi screamed. He was too angry to use his sword. He leapt into the air and punched the Menos' stomach with all his might, forcing it to drop Yachiru. He jumped onto its back and split its skull. The last Menos descended on his lieutenant. Kenpachi jumped to the ground in front of her and cut its head off.

He opened his communicator and bellowed. "Get a door open now! And get us medical help!"

It took an agonizingly long time to get a portal opened. As soon as it was large enough for him to fit, Kenpachi gathered Yachiru in his arms and charged through, nearly bowling over the shinigami on the other side. A few healers were waiting. Not strong enough, Kenpachi thought. "You," he barked, "which way to Fourth Division?"

"That way," one said, pointing, "but we'd be happy to help if…"

Kenpachi didn't stay to argue. He just ran in the direction the healer indicated, jumping over walls and roofs at top speed, and ignoring started cries from passing shinigami. Finally, he saw the too-familiar front door of the main hospital building.

He threw it open, smashing it into half a dozen pieces. "Unohana!" he bellowed.

oOoOoOo

Captain Retsu Unohana had been enjoying an afternoon cup of tea when she heard the front door shatter. There never was such a thing as a quiet day, was there? But when she heard the sound of Kenpachi's voice, she hurried out of her room. There was something in it she had never heard before. It was the sound of fear.

Kenpachi was standing in the lobby, clutching a bloody bundle of clothes. Retsu's subordinates had all fainted from his reiatsu; he was upset enough that even she was having trouble walking in it. "What is it, Captain Zaraki?" she asked. He held the bundle out to her gingerly. She looked at it more closely, and saw a few strands of pink hair. Yachiru, she realized. She took her gently, already probing the girl's injuries with her mind.

It wasn't good. She had dozens of broken bones, multiple severe internal injuries, and she was bleeding very badly. Moreover, her soul-chain had been damaged. She glanced up at Kenpachi, who was looking at her with stricken eyes. "I will do what I can for her," she said gently. "But now, you must withdraw. It will be a very difficult healing, and I cannot have any interference from your reiatsu. I will have Isane contact you as soon as there is news." He was gone as soon as she finished talking.

"Mr. Ogido, please get Lieutenant Kotetsu quickly," she said to one of her subordinates. He got to his feet unsteadily and hurried away. Retsu gently carried the tiny shinigami into a treatment room.

She set up a stasis bubble to maintain Yachiru's vital functions. That would keep her alive until Isane arrived. Her lieutenant hurried in a few minutes later. She stopped in shock when she realized who they were treating. "What happened?" Isane asked.

"There will be time for that later," Unohana said. "She is very badly injured. I need you to start a transfusion while I heal her internal injuries. We must work quickly."

It was a very long and dangerous process. Yachiru was nearly dead, and it took every bit of skill both healers had to save her. They nearly lost her several times in the process; she stopped breathing twice, and her heart stopped once. Still, after six hours, they had managed to mend the worst of the damage.

"Isane, please contact Captain Zaraki," Retsu said. The girl rubbed her eyes tiredly, and performed the Kido spell necessary to communicate over a distance.

oOoOoOo

Kenpachi was pulling up trees with his bare hands when a voice sounded by his ear. "Captain Zaraki?" a female voice said.

He jumped a foot in the air and looked around suspiciously, grabbing his zanpakuto. "Who's that?" he asked.

"This is Lieutenant Kotetsu," the voice said formally. "Captain Unohana instructed me to tell you to return to Fourth Division. End of message."

Kenpachi ran back as quickly as he could, not thinking about how he would retrace his steps. It didn't take him long to find Fourth Division, even though he had no idea where he started. He walked inside nervously, noticing that he had broken the door earlier. Captain Unohana was waiting for him. "She okay?" he asked.

"I was able to heal most of the life-threatening injuries, but she is still in critical condition," she explained. "She bled a great deal before she got here, so even though we were able to heal the damage to her organs, her body may not be able to hold up."

"But can't you just do something about it?" he asked desperately.

"Kido can heal organs and bones, but it can't replace blood," Captain Unohana explained. "We have to rely on transfusions, just like humans do. If she pulls through the night, she'll live."

Kenpachi went cold. Unohana had saved the life of so many others, Momo Hinamori, Renji Abarai, even himself. Surely Yachiru couldn't die now, not under Unohana's watch. She couldn't die.

Captain Unohana said, "You may feel free to stay the night in Yachiru's room. Healers will be in and out on a regular basis to monitor her condition. I'll show you where it is."

Kenpachi followed her in a trance. She led him into the room. Yachiru was lying on a mat, wrapped in bandages, and painfully still. He sat down by her. Yachiru was never still. Even when she was asleep, she tossed and turned and made noises. It had nearly driven him to distraction when she was little.

With her lying there, it reminded him so much of those early days. She was so…vulnerable. It would have been easy to kill her when she touched his sword. Hell, it would have been the merciful thing to do, even. Life in District 80 was hard, too hard for any kid to face. But for some reason, he adopted her instead.

She changed him, somehow. Before, he had killed and hated those he killed. He hated them for having names, families, people to mourn them when they died. But even if he killed everyone in the world, he would never get what they had, someone to care about him. Yachiru offered that to him. After that, he killed, but he didn't hate. Having Yachiru to yell Ken-chan made all the difference in the world.

"Do you need anything, Captain Zaraki?" Unohana asked, breaking his reverie.

"Naw," he said. "I gotta go back to Eleventh Division, though. Gotta tell the others."

"I understand," she said. "I'll leave instructions with the nurse on duty to direct you back here when you return."

Kenpachi found his way back to Eleventh Division. It was a lot easier to find his way around when the directions weren't coming from Yachiru, but right now, he'd much rather be lost with Yachiru on his shoulder than where he wanted to be without her.

Ikkaku and Yumichika were sparring on one of the greens in Eleventh Division when Kenpachi found them. "Captain!" Ikkaku said. "How'd the training mission go?" Suddenly, he at Kenpachi's shoulder, and then all around him. "Where's Yachiru?"

"Hospital wing," Kenpachi said.

Their usual grins evaporated. "Is she okay?" Yumichika asked.

"Don't know," Kenpachi said. "Unohana says we won't know 'til tomorrow. I'm going back to the hospital now, but I figured you'd want to know."

"We'll walk back with you," Ikkaku said.

"Don't need to," Kenpachi said.

"We might as well," Yumichika said. "It wouldn't be very beautiful for our captain to get lost on his way back."

Kenpachi didn't feel like arguing. He was too worried. "Suit yourself," he said.

The three quietly walked back to Fourth Division, each one's mind elsewhere. The nurse led Kenpachi into Yachiru's room, but Ikkaku and Yumichika stayed behind. "He'll want to be alone with her," Yumichika said. The two settled down in the waiting room.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Ikkaku asked, after a while.

"I hope so. It would a pity to lose one of the only beautiful members of the Eleventh Division, apart from me, of course," Yumichika said.

Ikkaku punched him in the arm. "Seriously, though," Yumichika continued, "you know what'll happen if she dies."

"What?"

"The Captain will go charging into Hueco Mundo and try to single-handedly depopulate it," Yumichika said.

"That would be quite a fight," Ikkaku said.

"Yes, it would be," Yumichika agreed. Neither man said it, but both knew that if that happened, they would both follow their captain. They had sworn to die under his command years ago.

In the hospital room, Kenpachi kept his vigil over his lieutenant, his daughter. C'mon, Yachiru, he said silently. You can't die. Just hang in there, kid.