Bleach is copyright Kubo Tite.
AN: There's some spoilers in here for both the Soul Society arc and possibly the Bound filler, so be warned. Also be warned that there are and will continue to be adult situations! They won't necessarily be graphic, but there're around and you need to be aware of that before you proceed. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the combination of angst and cuteness I was going for here!
"And then this one, I got it in this cute little boutique after, oh geez, my second to last mission down there? It goes on so smooth—" Matsumoto Rangiku peered into her mirror as she applied the lipstick, eyes intent on her task. Her words were meant for Ise Nanao, who was sitting on Rangiku's bed paging through a magazine Rangiku had bought in the real world with her make-up.
"Does it really make a difference? The make-up, I mean," Nanao added, and Rangiku raised an eyebrow.
"A difference, how?"
"With, um, well. You know." Rangiku's newly painted lips curved into a sly smile. Oh, she knew, alright.
"You mean, if you put some on, will a certain captain finally look your way?" Nanao blushed and ducked her head behind the magazine. Her voice was muffled as she responded.
"I've been doing everything else your silly magazines said, but he just always smiles and asks if Kyouraku-taicho wants to have tea with him later. If putting all that gunk on my face works, maybe it's the only chance I have left." Nanao sounded so despondent that Rangiku crossed the room to sit beside her.
"Oh honey, you have more than one chance! Ukitake-taicho is just like most men, oblivious to everything until you glue it to his nose."
"How did you get Kyouraku-taicho to pay attention to you, then? Glue yourself to his nose?"
"Among other parts of his body, yes." Rangiku laughed. "But it wasn't something I set out to do. It's not like you and Ukitake-taicho, where you care for him. I wanted physical comfort after Gin . . . left, and Shunsui just plain wants physical contact; it was spur of the moment, a drunken hook-up, and a decision that it was so much fun, we should do it again. And again. But, you don't want it to be like that with Ukitake-taicho, do you?"
"No," Nanao answered, her voice barely above a whisper. "I want to see him and spend time with him out of bed. I'm sure the bed part would be very nice, but I want him more." Rangiku patted her on the shoulder.
"Then we'll have to make sure that you have him. Here, hang on, I'll give you some things." Rangiku stood up to rummage through her cosmetics bag, picking subtle colors to highlight Nanao's facial structure. She handed the small pile to Nanao, who looked a little bewildered. "You know how to use this, right? Okay, good. We have our meeting with Yamamoto-taicho tomorrow morning, so be sure to get all dolled up, okay?" She looked proud of herself when Nanao nodded.
"Well then, it's getting late, and I have a long night ahead of me. I'll walk back to Eighth Squad with you."
"Oh, sure." Nanao had gotten over the awkwardness from the early days of Rangiku and Shunsui's 'relationship,' and she was now used to her best friend accompanying her back to Eighth Squad's barracks after their girly time. But sometimes, if they discussed that relationship like they had tonight, Nanao found herself grouchy and sullen when she returned to the privacy of her own room. It was jealousy, she had figured out—jealousy, almost certainly, of Rangiku's natural appeal to the opposite sex. That's all Nanao could possibly be jealous of, right?
The two women chatted amiably on the way back, Nanao juggling the make-up containers as they walked. They said good-bye at Nanao's door, and she hurried inside so she wouldn't have to see Rangiku continue down the porch toward Shunsui's room. Someday, would she walk the same way through the halls of the Thirteenth Squad's barracks? The idea made Nanao giggle happily to herself as she undressed for bed and performed her ablutions.
When she crawled into her futon and closed her eyes, she expected more of the same—daydreams, maybe real dreams, of opening the door to Ukitake Juushiro's room to find him waiting for her with a soft smile. But instead, her mind seized on Rangiku's earlier comment and ran amuck with it. Rather than Juushiro's beautiful eyes, she saw Rangiku dabbing glue onto Shunsui's nose, his expression innocently confused. Then Rangiku's hand dropped, and began to rub glue on the front of Shunsui's hakama as Nanao fought to turn her mind away from the image. Rangiku pressed herself against Shunsui, his expression now a smirk of understanding and anticipation. Although Nanao sternly warned her mind to shut off this very moment, it refused to obey, showing her Rangiku's hands easing under the two robes and two kimonos to bare Shunsui's chest. As Nanao finally surrendered to her mind in defeat and drifted toward sleep, the perspective changed, and now it was her kissing Shunsui instead of Rangiku, her hands looking small and delicate on his wide shoulders. The last image she had before falling into a true sleep was of an unfamiliar, generic sky as her head fell back in pleasure and Shunsui's teeth nipped at her exposed throat.
BREAK
"Shunsui-kun, I have a favor to ask you." Rangiku lay beside the Eighth Squad captain on his futon, flush with his side and her left arm and leg draped over him. They were both naked, having already gone one round, and his own left arm was around her shoulders.
"For you, my sweet, anything—as long as I get a favor in return." Shunsui nuzzled her hair, and Rangiku smiled.
"Of course. What I need is Ukitake-taicho to get some time alone with Nanao-chan tomorrow." Shunsui paused.
"That's an odd favor."
"Well, she's too shy to do anything herself, but, well . . . I think she may have a crush on him." Rangiku gave a fake giggle, as though she hadn't planned this entire conversation beforehand. "They would be adorable together, wouldn't they? But they're both so quiet . . ."
"Hmm, you're right, they ARE both quiet. But are you sure she likes him? Nanao-chan always works so hard, I never thought she had time for dating." Shunsui didn't add that he'd asked her out countless times and had always been rebuffed; it seemed dangerous to tell one's lover about failed attempts at getting past lovers.
"Even people who spend a lot of time on their jobs still have needs, Shunsui-kun, you should know that."
"Yeah, but—Nanao-chan? And Juushiro?"
"Is there something wrong with her and Ukitake-taicho? Is he gay or something?" Rangiku frowned. She hadn't expected opposition, just a confused agreement and a lot of sex as payment for the favor.
"No, no—gods, no, he's straight." Shunsui laughed now, running his fingers lightly over Rangiku's back. "When we were at the academy, he'd lecture me on 'womanizing' one moment, then the next he'd be reciting poetry to some hapless, starry-eyed underclasswoman. Trust me, he likes women."
"Then why can't he date Nanao-chan?"
"Because Nanao-chan is mine," Shunsui responded automatically. Oh, shit. Recover, recover! "I mean, she's my lieutenant—if she's in Juushiro's bed all the time, who will fill out my paperwork? Who will wake me up when Yama-jii calls a meeting? I can't let Juushiro take someone so useful away from me." Not good enough. "But, you know, if you think they'd enjoy each other's company, who am I to get in the way? It could be true love."
Before Rangiku could answer, Shunsui rolled over to prop himself above her on his forearms. He put on his best sultry look and gazed down at her.
"It's time for my favor now," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her slowly and deeply—so thoroughly, he was hoping, that she would forget his metaphorical loose tongue and think instead of his real one.
Rangiku, in the style of all women, forgot nothing but played along in good humor anyway. And she was, in fact, in good humor. Shunsui making a typical male misstatement didn't faze their relationship, because there was no relationship to faze. It was completely physical, and not necessarily monogamous (so she assumed, although she was sure neither of them had yet attempted the contrary). It wasn't like Shunsui was serious, anyway. Nanao wasn't his type.
She was, however, Ukitake Juushiro's type. Rangiku mentally smiled at the thought of the two quiet, gentle people shyly confessing their love. It made her proud to play matchmaker, and when Shunsui dipped his head to flick his very real tongue over her nipple, although her moan was all for him, her broad grin was for Nanao.
BREAK
"We might have a problem," Yamamoto Genryuusai announced at the daily assignment meeting the next morning, and everyone stood up a little straighter—except Kyouraku Shunsui, that is. He made it a habit of not displaying any negative emotions, so he remained relaxed, staring intently at Yamamoto-taicho from under the brim of his hat.
"An Eleventh Squad patrol group out in northern Rukongai never checked in this morning. Considering the usual punctuality and precision of Eleventh Squad—"
"Because they know I'll kill them," Zaraki Kenpachi-taicho added helpfully.
"—this could be cause for worry."
"Are we certain we cleared out all the ryoka?" Ukitake Juushiro asked quietly. Now that he had cause to pay attention, Shunsui noticed that his lieutenant's head turned toward Juushiro more quickly than everyone else's, and that her cheeks tinged the faintest red. Well, hell. Nanao-chan really did like Juushiro.
"I'm not sure. Hitsugaya-taicho's track record—" A ripple of annoyance filtered through the group at Kurotsuchi Mayuri's words, but Genryuusai held up a hand.
"This is not the time. Every report I've seen indicates that the Bound problem has been completely solved."
"Thank you, Yamamoto-taicho. I thought it best to rule out the enemies we know before chasing ones we don't."
"Which leads to my next point, Juushiro—if this is Aizen's doing, we need to be on alert. That alertness may not be necessary, but it can only help us in the event that there's some other enemy in Soul Society. I want Eighth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth squads to branch out through Rukongai starting from the north and gather information. If possible, and especially if it's an agent or agents of Aizen, any criminal elements are to be captured alive."
"Yama-jii, perhaps I ought to remain in Seireitei and correlate the reports from the three squads," Shunsui suggested, his voice bored. He didn't want to go out hunting all through Rukongai for criminals which may or may not exist. The missing squad probably just got caught up with some prostitutes and alcohol, and was afraid to come back to Kenpachi without having completed their mission properly. Besides . . . he had promised Rangiku he'd come up with a way to get Juushiro and Nanao together.
"Kyouraku-taicho, no excuses from you. I want all three captains out there in case something comes up."
As Shunsui made a show of groaning out loud, he heard Nanao mutter beside him, "You haven't correlated anything a day in your life." He chuckled low in his throat as Genryuusai moved on to assigning other squads to details inside Seireitei, and leaned over.
"Awww, Nanao-chan, you know how hard I work." Nanao snorted. "Besides, that was for you. Now I need to think up a whole new plan." He smiled lazily at her as she looked up in surprise, and he winked. So she wasn't in on Rangiku's plan. That at least made this a bit fun.
It wasn't that Shunsui didn't want Nanao and Juushiro to be together. In fact, he wanted them both to be happy. But, well, he was worried that Juushiro would waste Nanao. He would be so accommodating that she wouldn't have cause to blush, get angry and yell, or stomp off in a huff—and those were the things that made Shunsui think she was beautiful. Well, okay, there were other things, like the curve of her cheekbone under her glasses and the delicate strength in those arms that constantly thrust huge stacks of paperwork at him, not to mention her loyal and kind heart. But the things she did when she was frustrated, those were responses that only Shunsui could evoke, and he liked knowing he was the only one who could effect her so strongly.
But, well, it didn't matter. Nanao didn't want him, and he was content to screw Rangiku until one or the other of them got bored and they went their separate ways, no hard feelings. If Nanao wanted a guy like Juushiro, it wasn't Shunsui's place to tell her that she had picked the wrong person.
It wasn't like Nanao would listen to him, anyway.
BREAK
It took a while, but Nanao had figured out exactly what Shunsui was planning, and she wasn't sure she approved. The whole thing just HAD to be Rangiku's doing, and it embarrassed Nanao to no end that Shunsui seemed thrilled at being named official matchmaker between his best friend and his lieutenant.
Since neither one wanted to work directly with Kenpachi and his Eleventh Squad, Shunsui and Juushiro had left the First Squad headquarters together, Nanao trailing behind the two men. She had been so busy trying to figure out what in the hell Shunsui was talking about that she forgot to pay attention to the planning. So, she was extremely surprised and nervous to find that Shunsui had volunteered her to be a stand-in lieutenant for Juushiro.
"I don't need a lieutenant to park myself on a roof and watch for trouble, and Nanao-chan will be a much bigger help than your fan club," Shunsui was explaining to Juushiro when she finally bothered to catch up, walking on Shunsui's other side.
"They're not incompetent, just overly excitable," Juushiro laughed lightly. "But Ise-fukutaicho is quite capable, so if you think you can spare her, I won't turn you down." Nanao's cheeks flushed, and she ducked her head.
"Oh, I certainly can. Do you really think I'm about to go running around through Rukongai looking under rocks for the mystery attacker? I'll get there in time if anyone's reiatsu flares; the meantime, I'd rather take a nap." Nanao glanced up to roll her eyes at her captain, and met Juushiro's amused gaze. He gave a small smile, just for her, and she looked away quickly.
Everything Shunsui had said was a complete lie—he always needed someone to get more sake for him, at the very least. He must be purposely setting her up to spend time with Juushiro, which meant this was how Rangiku meant to get them together. Nanao's ears burned at the thought of Rangiku and Shunsui discussing her love life while naked and entwined with one another.
That was how Nanao found herself walking through northern Rukongai with Juushiro at her side, clutching her book and avoiding his eyes. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary so far; all they had seen were peasants going about their business, eyeing the shinigami and wondering why a captain and a lieutenant were walking through their neighborhood.
"Ise-fukutaicho, you look different today," Juushiro finally said into the silence, and Nanao looked up at him with a start. Was her hair out of place? Oh, it was Rangiku's makeup—maybe she looked like a clown! This had been a horrible idea!
"Oh, it's just—"
"I like it. It makes you glow." Juushiro smiled down at her, and Nanao's breath stuck in her throat. What did this mean?
"Thank you," she murmured, and it was somehow important to her that they not return to the silence. "Matsumoto-fukutaicho got some make-up in the real world, and she lent it to me."
"Ahh, she does have a preference for shopping down there, doesn't she? Drives poor Hitsugaya-taicho crazy," he laughed, and Nanao joined in, gradually relaxing. The Gotei Thirteen had been laughing over the ever-suffering Hitsugaya Toushiro and his lieutenant since they'd first been assigned together; they were even more different from each other than Nanao and Shunsui. This was common ground, something that made Nanao comfortable.
"Have you been to the real world often, Ukitake-taicho?" Dumb question, but he didn't know that she'd already reviewed every report he'd submitted, from the real world and otherwise, taking pleasure in his neatly written script. It was so different from Shunsui's lazy scrawl that she had been jealous of Shiba Kaien at the time.
"Often enough for me. I'd rather stay here and keep things secure at home. Most of the problems we run into here can be solved without fighting." As if to punctuate his statement, he covered his mouth and coughed once. Forgetting herself for a moment, Nanao reached out to lay a hand on his arm.
"Are you alright? We could stop and purchase some water, if you wanted."
"No, no, I'm fine, Nanao. Thank you for asking," he told her with a gentle smile, and then he froze. "I apologize. I've been around Shunsui so long that I've forgotten my manners, Ise-fukutaichao." Nanao, flying high from hearing Juushiro use her given name, shook her head.
"It's okay. I don't mind you calling me Nanao, Ukitake-taicho." She smiled in a way she hoped didn't look too eager, but was embarrassed to see that her hand was still on his arm. "Oh, I—"
"Don't worry." Juushiro's eyes stayed on hers as he lifted her hand from his sleeve and raised it to his lips, gently kissing her knuckles. "For my part, I don't mind you touching me. And it's just plain Juushiro, okay?"
Nanao could only manage a small nod, and it barely occurred to her that her feet had stopped moving. Juushiro was . . . flirting with her? Was she misunderstanding something? Nanao could balance a ledger better than anyone else in the thirteen squads, but she was behind all the other women when it came to understanding males. She wouldn't be half as nervous if this were a problem with a mission that needed solving—
Speak of the devil, huh?
"Excuse me? Excuse me? Taicho-sama, did they send you? Thank the gods you're here!" The woman running toward Juushiro and Nanao made them leap apart, avoiding each other's eyes. Nanao used the hand Juushiro had kissed to hold her book as they hurried down the road.
"Madam, what's wrong? Ise-fukutaicho and I were on patrol, but we would be glad to help you." Juushiro laid a calming hand on the older woman's shoulder, and it made Nanao proud to see him being so kind to women in distress.
Okay, so Shunsui was also willing to help anyone who needed a hand, from the farmer hauling a wagon of potatoes to the young mother whose adopted son got stuck on the roof. Nanao didn't want to be uncharitable to her own captain while ogling someone else's—and Shunsui had enough faults that he deserved to have at least one trait in his favor. Nanao wondered if he had run out of sake yet. Who would go get some extra for him? And what if he was getting sunburnt? Who would tell him to face the other direction?
Nanao shook her head. What was she doing standing here worrying about Kyouraku Shunsui when Ukitake Juushiro had just kissed her hand? And now this woman needed help, so it was up to them to help her.
"It was just awful when we went outside this morning! I sent my nephew to tell the shinigami, but it seemed to take so long."
"What happened that you had to send someone?" Juushiro asked quietly. The woman shook her head, holding back tears.
"I can't describe it. Here, I'll show you." She turned back to walk the way she had come, and Nanao and Juushiro followed her after sharing a worried glance.
Nanao was happy to get back into work mode, where everything made sense. She understood patrol reports, training exercises, and even fighting much better than she understood romance. So even though she was nervous about what they would find by following the woman, Nanao much preferred it to worrying over what Juushiro meant.
That is, until she saw the bodies.
The woman led them around a corner into a small alley that opened onto a wider street parallel to the one they had been on.
"My shop is down there," she announced, pointing to the right down the parallel street. "They were like that when I woke up this morning to open the store. I didn't hear a thing all night." The woman continued talking about what her neighbors had said on the matter, but neither Nanao nor Juushiro was listening.
On the street in front of the woman's shop lay five figures in shinigami robes. The dirt street beneath them was stained wine-red with blood, pooling around bodies and severed limbs alike. Broken swords lay among the bodies. Nanao gasped and covered her mouth while Juushiro sucked in a breath through his teeth.
"Nanao, you may want to alert Shunsui and Zaraki-taicho," he said quietly. "And send the Fourth Squad morgue team. I don't think medical care will make any difference at this point."