Unohana was never just the calm, gentle Captain of the Fourth Division that everyone knew. Behind that serene smile was one of the oldest monsters in the Soul Society.
She is one of the original Captains, one of the founders of the Gotei 13 who shaped the Soul Society through blood and war.
In the past, when "order" was nothing more than a handful of brutal warriors, her name was feared in every corner of the Soul Society.
Unohana Yachiru, the first to carry the title of Kenpachi.
The title wasn't just an empty honor. It was passed to the strongest, most savage Shinigami of each generation. And Unohana had been the first, the model that defined what it meant to be a Kenpachi.
But when peace took hold, when the Gotei 13 stopped being just a band of killers and became an organization with rules and discipline, Unohana lost something inside herself.
Every fight, every battle, every opponent… they all fell too fast, without giving her the true pleasure of a fight.
There was nothing left that satisfied her blade.
So, wandering the lands of the Rukongai, Unohana searched for something that could reignite her flame, something that would give meaning to the cut of her sword.
That was how, on a distant day, she found a wild boy in the Zaraki District. A kid who had no name, no discipline, but possessed something she hadn't seen in centuries: a pure, feral instinct for battle.
They fought.
And that day, for the first time in centuries, her heart truly raced. For the first time, she felt pleasure again in the cut of the blade. But also on that day, she committed the greatest sin of her life.
After that, Unohana Yachiru left the Eleventh Division. She abandoned her title of Kenpachi, buried the name that defined her, and took on a new face.
She became Unohana Retsu, Captain of the Fourth Division. The warrior most thirsty for battle became the calmest of healers, known for her gentle voice and serene smile. Her sword, once stained with blood, began to heal instead of harm.
But that façade was only there to hide something that never died.
That boy grew up and took the name Zaraki, becoming a man who still sought the fight that consumed him inside.
And Unohana… kept carrying the scar of defeat and the burden of her greatest sin.
Then, centuries later, a young Shinigami appeared, still in training, but already recognized as a genius.
And when she found him… Unohana felt her sword vibrate again. The captain's calm broke inside, and the blood sleeping in her veins began to boil. It was as if she had finally found an opponent who could reignite her true nature.
That's why she accepted his idleness and calmly guided him along the path of Kaidō, already knowing that one day she would cross swords with him.
That was the fate that tied them together.
Now, in the same place where she once faced Zaraki, in the infamous Zaraki District, Unohana and Keiji stood face to face.
The calm eyes so many knew now carried the sharpness of her violent, bloodthirsty nature.
The wind carried dust across the empty field, and the tension between them was as dense as released reiatsu.
It was Unohana Yachiru, the First Kenpachi, who stood before Keiji. The woman who was considered the most diabolical and notorious criminal in Soul Society.
She raised the blade slowly, the movement precise and elegant, but carrying the sharpness of her killing intent.
Keiji kept his eyes fixed on her, tracking every gesture. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his zanpakutō, ready to react to the first move.
Then, she advanced.
The light sound of Unohana's feet sliding across the ground was the only warning. Her blade came down in a clean cut, without flourishes. Keiji brought up his sword at the last instant, and the impact echoed loud, cracking the stones of the ground beneath them.
The swords vibrated, throwing sparks from the force of the collision.
"Good reflexes, Keiji-kun."
Unohana's voice came out calm, as if praising a student in training. But her eyes showed no trace of instruction; only bloodlust.
Keiji forced his arm and knocked the strike aside, trying to press forward. But when he moved his blade to counterattack, Unohana was no longer there.
One step and her figure appeared at his side, the tip of the nodachi skimming past his shoulder. The sliced air was the only thing separating steel from his flesh.
She wasn't playing; her sword always sought a vital point: throat, heart, jugular.
Even with pure zanjutsu alone, without resorting to Kidō tricks or hidden techniques, she revealed herself a monster.
Keiji fell back with a short shunpo, creating space between them. Sweat ran down his temple, but a crooked smile appeared on his face.
"So this is how you hold a conversation, Captain?"
Unohana didn't answer right away. She simply slid her feet and launched another cut, this time horizontal, which Keiji blocked with both hands.
The impact was brutal, the sound echoing like thunder, and the ground gave way beneath them with more fissures.
Unohana took just one step back, lifting the nodachi in a fluid arc. Her calm eyes reflected the serenity of someone who didn't need haste to kill.
"Exactly like this."
Keiji took advantage of the tiniest opening and turned his body, sending a quick counterattack, the blade cutting the air and aiming for her waist.
But Unohana intercepted it with ease, deflecting his sword in a short movement and immediately returning a downward cut so fast it skimmed past his neck.
Keiji raised his guard at the last instant, the steel humming with the impact, but he realized the mistake in the same second. The space he had opened was far too dangerous. He retreated at once with a short shunpo, appearing a few meters back, his chest rising and falling slowly.
"…"
Keiji realized that he instinctively retreated.
"What is it, Keiji-kun?"
It was the first time Keiji was being outclassed in pure zanjutsu. Every movement from Unohana was a lesson in refined technique and lethal intent. But instead of feeling fear, Keiji let out a low laugh, a wide smile spreading across his face.
"Kekeke~ how fun~"
Sora, even in silence, conveyed the same excitement he felt, the blade vibrating as if it were a reflection of his racing heart.
Pulling himself together, he loosened his shoulders, relaxed his body, and adjusted his footwork. His guard became less rigid and his movements looser as he sheathed his zanpakutō again.
He slipped the upper half of his shihakushō off, showing his torso with the refined lines of his muscles.
It was less a display and more a preparation, like someone showing he was ready to take the fight seriously.
'Abandon the pretense of relying on brute strength.'
Against Unohana, he needed to dedicate himself with all his zanjutsu. Sloppy movements wouldn't do.
Or he really would die.
'Heh... how long has it been since I felt this way?'
Unohana noticed the change even before he attacked again.
Her smile grew wider, full of brightness, and her tranquil eyes revealed a razor-sharp focus, the old spark of Yachiru flaring beneath the Captain's mask.
"Exactly! This is what you need to show me!"
She exclaimed, like someone who had found the exact note to an old song. Her voice held pleasure, almost a restrained euphoria.
They moved again like two dancing blades, as if they were savoring every instant.
Unohana kept changing her rhythm with every step: a wide attack to gauge distance, a short cut aiming for tendons, a fake retreat that ended in a quick thrust.
Keiji followed, slipped aside, answered back — sometimes with straight strikes, sometimes trying feints to force a reaction. The swords scored the air and threw sparks when they met, the metallic sound filling the empty space between the district's houses.
With each exchange, the excitement grew in both of them.
Keiji felt a pleasant tingling in his chest, the adrenaline turning his idleness into laughter. Unohana showed genuine pleasure, her movements growing more and more cruel out of delight, as if she were savoring the danger.
When their cuts landed, there was no hatred for the opponent; there was only recognition of each other's abilities. Two people happy to finally cross blades with someone on their level.
This was the feeling Unohana had missed so much.
This was what Keiji kept looking for.
A fight that made the blood boil!
In a quick instant, Unohana sped up with a series of short cuts from her nodachi and found an opening. The blade scored Keiji's side; flesh bled, a deep cut right along the side of his torso.
The heat of the wound spread and Keiji tasted iron in his mouth for a second, but he didn't recoil in panic; he smiled, a slightly crooked smile, and twirled the blade in the air before placing his hand over the cut.
"Aren't you going to ask about Aizen-san, Captain?"
He asked, already starting to use Kaidō to close the wound.
Unohana raised the nodachi calmly, her eyes not wavering in the slightest.
"I don't need to hear anything about that. Let's enjoy our fight properly."
For Unohana, talking now would break the sacred rhythm of the battle. She wanted to feel, she wanted to measure, she wanted each strike to speak for itself.
'What a simple person.'
But Keiji could tell he was right about Unohana. Her mask hid a monster. A monster hungry for battles.
{Don't get lost in thoughts now! Let's fight!}
Keiji sighed at the call of his eager zanpakutō.
"Right," he murmured, wiping the blood with the inside of his arm. "Then let's have a bit more fun."
The two of them reset their stances with eyes locked, their breathing setting the tempo.
Unohana's nodachi pointed forward again, her face lit by a smile that mixed affection and bloodlust. Keiji smiled back, and the ground began to tremble under their steps again as the fight resumed, more intense and purer than before.
The swords slashed the air in furious zigzags. The metallic sound echoed, and the field around them already felt smaller, crushed by the reiatsu of the two.
Keiji felt blood running from a fresh cut on his arm, but instead of complaining, he let out a low laugh. The sound made Unohana smile back, showing her teeth like a satisfied beast.
"This is exactly what I want to see!"
She exclaimed, spinning the blade with brutal grace.
Keiji blocked from the side, the sword buzzing in his hands. The impact made his feet slide across the cracked ground.
"You really don't hold back, huh…"
Unohana answered only by coming in again, her nodachi sweeping down in an arc that would have split anyone else in two.
Keiji slipped away with shunpo, reappearing behind her, trying a lateral cut, but Unohana turned her body smoothly, the blade skimming the air right by his neck, almost touching him.
Their eyes shone. There was no hatred, no anger. Only an insane pleasure in testing strength.
Sora vibrated in response, as if she shared the very same feeling.
Unohana then took a slow step and her reiatsu rose even higher. Her gaze was fixed and her breathing calm, but the bloodlust overflowed from every gesture.
"Keiji-kun…"
Her voice came out low, almost excessively intimate.
"Enough warming up. Let's really fight."
Unohana smiled, and her expression was so improper, so full of excitement, that it made Keiji lose his rhythm for an instant.
He drew a long breath, trying to control the wave of chills that ran down his back.
"If we unleash more power here, the entire district is going to turn to dust…"
"Nonsense."
She replied, the tone light but loaded with intent.
"Stop worrying about useless things. The only thing that matters now is our fight."
Sora thrummed in Keiji's hand, her voice echoing inside his head with the same ferocity.
{That's right! Stop fussing and enjoy it! Come on! Come on!}
Keiji sighed, a half-smile slipping across his face.
"… How did I end up getting involved with people like this?"
In fact, it was so because he was a person made of the same material as both of them.
He brought the zanpakutō in front of him, slid his hand along the blade, and felt his reiatsu rise, cutting the air in waves.
His eyes fixed on Unohana as his voice rang out.
"Unleash, Sekai no Tengoku."
And then his reiatsu roared, lighting up the district's empty field.