Paper Flowers

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

-Written for BlackVelvetBand's Shunsui/Nanao challenge.

-A/N: This is a three part story - once again, an attempt at a respectable Shunsui/Nanao romance. Heh. This one's more serious than my one-shot. It's also sort of symbolic - at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I think the story is like a flower. The chapters are rather representative of the stages of their relationship, in flower terms: a seed, a bud, and a flower in full bloom. You won't really see it literally, though, except maybe represented in the colors used for each chapter (dark "seed-ish" colors for the first, greens and whites and maybe flower colors for the second, very bright, vivid "blooming" colors for the third).

Well, enjoy everyone!

'Nao-chan, 'Nao-chan, my Nanao-chan,
How does your garden grow?
"With silver bells and kidou spells
And pink haoris all in a row."

Chapter One: Planting the Seeds
(In Which Nanao Receives a Promotion)

xxx

Ise Nanao sighed. She was tired - the day had been busy, full of celebration due to her promotion to vice-captain of the eighth division. And of course she was happy about it. Who wouldn't be? Ever since her academy days, she had dreamed of making her way up the ranks, one day attaining a captaincy. And with her recent promotion, she was closer than ever.

But when she should be her most rapturous, she found that instead she was... a bit melancholy. Probably due to her fatigue; the day had been rather full, after all.

She lit the candle by her bedside. It flickered to life, shining bronze and brown across the wooden room. What a dull, pretty light. With another tired sigh, she took her hair down from its usual style, picking up her delicate, ivory comb to pull through her dark, fine hair. The same thing she did every night. Only now, she was a vice-captain.

Everyone had been so warm, so congratulatory. As though it was a huge achievement - it was really just a goal, what she had been working towards since she had become a shinigami. Drinks had been poured liberally, and there had been confetti and streamers and food. As though it was supposed to be the best day of her life. Nanao did not particularly like parties; she liked a quieter sort of happiness.

The promotion wasn't sudden or unexpected, either. When she was transferred to the eighth division from the sixth, she was confident that she'd do well in any placement tests. And indeed, she had. So well, in fact, that she had immediately been offered the seat of vice-captain. She wasn't vain or boastful, but it was clear the captain - Kyouraku Shunsui, if she remembered correctly - had been impressed with her skill at kidou. (He should be, she thought indignantly. After all, that was her greatest strength. She never even used her zanpakutou unless absolutely necessary.)

The captain... Nanao hadn't been able to read him, and having never really had a proper conversation with him, she had no idea what to expect. It was rumored that he and Ukitake-taichou from thirteenth division were the strongest shinigami in Seireitei - after Yamamoto-soutaichou, of course. And he had been one of Yamamoto's students. Clearly, he was someone to be respected and admired. Nanao had heard some less respectable things about him, as well, but she would at least give him the benefit of the doubt. And at any rate, she was starting the next day, so she'd find out all about him soon enough.

She got into her night clothes and settled down to read a few chapters of a new novel she had received as a present from a random well-wisher. After about half an hour, when her yawning was too great to ignore, she put down her book and blew out the candle.

The blackness wrapped around her, dark and warm. She let out a happy sigh. Good night.

The next morning, Nanao arrived at headquarters to discover an empty office. She was at something of a loss. She had no idea what to do; after all, it was only her first day. There was a sheet of paper on the desk - in fact, it was the only thing on the desk at all. Thinking that perhaps it might contain instructions, she walked over and picked it up. She was pleased to see it was addressed to her.

Ise Nanao (it read), I welcome you to the fukutaichou seat of the eighth division. To start your job off right, I've included a list of common things that will be required of you. Don't worry about me - I'll be coming in later. -Kyouraku Shunsui

Under that, there was a list. She began to read.

Duties of the Vice-Captain

1. Help the captain control the division. This includes setting a good example and seeing to any discipline problems.
2. Fill out all required paperwork and any extra delegated to you by the captain.
3. Be a productive member of Seireitei; help insure laws are enforced and be ready to take up arms against any attackers.

There might have been more, but after those three rules - written in official, generic style - the remainder were written in the same hand as the beginning message.

4. Keep plenty of sake on hand. (I do have my own stash, but we wouldn't want the division to run low.)
5. To aid me in any grand entrances, keep a basket full of flower petals ready to shower down. Don't worry - the basket will be provided.
6. My pink haori needs special dry-cleaning.

She was too appalled to read any further. With an angry grimace, she crumpled the creamy sheet of paper into a ball in her fist. And, of course, it was ironically appropriate that at that exact moment her captain would come waltzing in with a half-inebriated grin on his face.

"Ahh! My lovely new fukutaichou!" He immediately went into a big, sweeping bow. His hat tumbled off his head. With a chuckle, he picked it up and set it back on. "Good morning."

"Kyouraku-taichou," she said, her jaw tight, "I was... just reading this list of duties you left for me."

"Really?" he said excitedly. "Wonderful! Then there's no need for any explanations from me." And without another word, he sank down on the old, saggy couch next to his desk.

Nanao was left speechless.

He had closed his eyes and was humming softly. That was the great Kyouraku Shunsui? A half drunk fool in bright, bright pink? Nanao's expectations were shattered. From the two weeks being in the eighth, she had known he was eccentric, but the sudden rude awakening left her in no doubt as to just how eccentric he was.

Her voice came back to her. "Kyouraku-taichou," she said slowly, "don't we have... work to do? Paperwork or..." She struggled to think of any other tasks. "Something?"

He looked up. "Paperwork?" With a giant yawn, he stood up, stretching like some giant haori-clad cat. "Oh, I can certainly help you there." He opened a drawer and pulled out a large stack of papers. With a grin, he gestured towards it with a great flourish.

"I think I can do that, sir," Nanao said, pushing her glasses up. "It might take... me..."

While she was talking, he had gone behind his desk and slid open a rather inconspicuous door. The small, closet-like room was stuffed floor to ceiling with papers. A few loose ones came innocently tumbling out.

She deadpanned. "You can not be serious."

Ten minutes later, a second desk had been brought in, and she had begun work on the moutainous expanse of overdue paperwork. It was probably one of the most infuriating mornings of her life. Her captain, who was back to lounging on his couch, a bottle of sake on the floor, within easy reach of his hand, hadn't offered to help, had nothing more than wish her the "best of luck". Had she not been rather certain his reiatsu alone could slow her down, she would have been quite tempted to go over there and strangle him.

He was not at all what she had been expecting.

And the worst part of all was the fact that he was exactly the type of man Nanao found herself attracted to. She was slight and pale; she liked men who were darker and large. He wasn't a beautiful man (not like Kuchiki Byakuya, who was like a prince made of porcelain), but he was decidedly masculine. Large and broad, with a wide expanse of chest that he didn't seem to mind exposing. And his hair was long and wavy, the rich brown of freshly turned soil. He was certainly a fine specimen, with arms long enough to wrap all the way around a small, warm, womanly body. And he was tall enough that said woman's head would just come to his shoulder, where she could rest right at the crook of his neck. Nanao's ears reddened as she realized that she actually was physically attracted to him, and that the woman she pictured with him might not be all that different from the woman she saw in her mirror each morning. That was an annoyance she'd just have to overcome.

While occupied with such thrilling thoughts (which were really thought only to overcome the monotony of her work), she hadn't noticed that her captain had been calling her.

"...fukutaichou? Ise-fukutaichou? Ise-san?" He paused for a moment. "Nanaaaao-chan?"

She looked up quickly, glaring at him, her lips drawn tight. "What did you say?"

He gasped loudly and put a hand to his mouth. "Such a reaction! Does Nanao-chan not - "

"Don't call me that, sir. It's quite inappropriate."

He grinned and bat his lashes teasingly. "If you say so. I'm going out for lunch - to the thirteenth division to see Ukitake. You seem so competent, I'll just leave the rest of this work to you." He then had the audacity to wink. "Farewell for now..."

Oh, he wasn't going to say, he wasn't going to say it, he -

"...Nanao-chan."

The brush she had been writing with broke in her hand.

: end chapter one :
-End A/N: So... How was that? I'm quite nervous about this, actually. It didn't come out at all how I wanted it to. But I can always go back and edit later, so... Nyah. It'll be fine. Heh. I hope everyone enjoyed it - feel free to offer some constructive criticism. Until chapter two!