Work Text:
"Ken-chaaan!"
Zaraki Kenpachi was a very avid sleeper. He slept just for the fun of it, not because he had to replenish his strength or energy or whatever the hell they called it. The amount of spiritual pressure he unconsciously leaked out only served to burn food in his stomach, leading to an appetite that was much, much more bigger than what the division's Tenth Seat Aramaki possessed.
Although Kenpachi could be miles away in slumber, uncaring to the activities around his division, even less when those ass wipes were carrying out slaughter among themselves, he jerked back to reality whenever he heard the shriek of one little child.
His brat.
He could recognize that squeal even if he went deaf for it was more than capable of bringing back to life a torn eardrum.
Kenpachi rolled to lie on his back and instantaneously received a punch square in the gut. He had been ready for that; his abdomen had hardened, and the solid muscles made Yachiru's epic dive from the top of the wardrobe a little too ineffective and superfluous.
"Ow! That hurts, Ken-chan!"
Kenpachi couldn't help but grin to himself at the all too familiar whine and several mild punches into his stomach and chest. They were merely itches, and he raised a hand lazily to scratch at them.
Yachiru crawled up the length of his torso, her small frame easily balancing itself upon heaps of muscle and rough hide.
"Keeen-chaaan..."
"Whaaaat, ruuunt?" Kenpachi could almost feel the annoyance in her pout and fought back a laugh.
"Look! Look at what I got!" She began clapping the sides of his face, seeking attention. The captain brushed her hands away and turned around to lie on his side with a muffled groan.
"Go 'way, runt. I need my god damn sleep."
"You don't need sleep!" she protested, poking his cheek. "You're such a lazy ass, y'know that, Ken-chan?"
At the sound of that, Kenpachi cracked an eye open and rolled over onto his back. He scrutinized the small girl, who could barely straddle his chest with both legs spread wide open, as she stared back at him, blinking large ruby eyes.
"What'd ye jus' say?"
"What? What did I say?"
"Who taught ye the word 'ass'?" This, to him, was a serious thing. Though he was notorious for his filthy tongue, he never let Yachiru inherit it from him. To keep her away from such vulgarities were difficult considering that everyone in the Eleventh Division had horrible mouths and a flurry of colourful words and phrases ready at their disposal – excluding Yumichika, of course.
Yachiru merely shrugged, oblivious of the implications her words had brought upon her guardian. "No one, I guess." Seeing his sudden frown, she tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Why? Somethin' wrong, Ken-chan?"
Kenpachi searched her expression for any hints of dishonesty, but he knew deep inside that she wouldn't lie to him. And though 'ass' wasn't much of a curse word – Kenpachi said it all the time, even in Yachiru's presence – he didn't like the way it sounded when it left her baby-soft lips.
Speaking of lips...
"What the hell is...that, Yachiru?" Kenpachi pointed at her lips that he just now realized were glistening, as if they were wet. "What'd ye put on 'em?"
"That's what I wanted to show ya!" With a gleeful beam, Yachiru rummaged in the folds of her shihakusho and produced an object that loosely resembled the shape of a finger. She popped the lid open and twisted the base until a peachy pink stick, the colour akin to her lips, rose out of the hollow.
Kenpachi could only stare with no knowledge whatsoever of the thing Yachiru now held in her hands.
"Look closely, Ken-chan!" She proceeded to press the flattened tip of the stick to her lips, coating them even more with colour and... Was that glitter?
"What the hell are ye doin'? What's that?"
"It's called 'lipstick', Ken-chan," she replied matter-of-factly and then, with a mischievous glint in her eyes, leaned down so that the tips of their noses were touching. "Wanna try?"
Kenpachi gave a loud, disgruntled, uneasy scoff and shut his eyes. "Go 'way, brat. I ain't got time to play with ye and yer crap."
"But Ken-chan-"
"Shut up."
Yachiru pouted and tried to pull his eyelids open, but he quickly slapped her hands away – gently, of course. He was more than familiar with her antics and reactions whenever she felt ignored, and was even more than capable of dealing with them.
Yachiru sat on his chest, without uttering a word. Kenpachi continued to lay there, eyes closed, inching closer and closer back into slumber. The brat would go away sooner or later – he'd bet on later – but she would go away nonetheless and leave him in peace. All he had to have was patience.
No sooner had Kenpachi thought that, he felt warmth and softness pressing against his forehead. His eyelids snapped open on their own accord. A strand of pink hair tickled his nose, and he would have sneezed hadn't he been paralyzed by surprise.
When Yachiru pulled back, her wide beam was enough to make Kenpachi blow his top.
"What the fuck – hell – was that?" he bellowed, mentally slapping himself for spewing forth a curse word that Yachiru was never allowed to hear – or say.
All Yachiru did was cock her head to the side, like what she always did whenever she didn't understand the reason of his being mad. Sometimes he had the feeling that she actually knew why he was angry, but decided to just set the facts aside and settle to irritate him further.
"What was what, Ken-chan?"
"That – don't ask me – what'd ye just do?"
"What, ya don't like it, Ken-chan?"
"Hell, no!"
"Fine!" Yachiru folded her arms across her chest with a pout and peered down at him. "If ya don't get up and play with me, I'll keep kissin' ya till ya face turn pink!"
"The hell!" Kenpachi growled. "What's gotten into ye, brat?"
Yachiru playfully stuck out a tongue, wagging it at him. "So what's it gonna be?"
Kenpachi glared up at her, hating her guts, before twisting over to lie on his side. "Cheh! Tough luck. I don't bargain with brats."
"Fine, ya asked for it!"
And Kenpachi had to endure a series of sloppy, bratty kisses planted all over his face by the pink-haired bob of a lieutenant. He could have covered his head with his arms, but only lily-assed pansies did that, and he wasn't one of them.
But he had to admit though, as Yachiru's insistent whining filled his ears, that it wasn't so bad to contradict her wishes after all.
If Kenpachi was going to be 'punished' by 'Chiru's strawberry kisses, he thought with an affectionate grin as she clumsily planted one on the bridge of his nose, it would be quite all right to go against her once in a while – just to reap the rewards.