Author's note: I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is AU.

His Lady Fair

Shunsui Kyoraku first met his princess when she was five. Oh, he had seen her Royal Highness Crown Princess Nanao before, but they had never really been introduced. He had just taken up the position as hereditary royal champion, and unfortunately, the Kyoraku family wasn't exactly in the King's good graces. It was mostly his father's fault. The royal champion was to protect the monarch from all dangers, including himself. King Yamamoto had been a little too fond of his pleasures and had not been happy when Shunsui's father had interfered with his attempts to seduce a number of young women both before and after his marriage to Nanao's mother.

And that was why when Shunsui's father passed away, the eighteen year old knight found himself in charge of the care and education of the kingdom's heir. His new charge hadn't been in court to witness her change of guardians, and Shunsui decided to make the change known to her. However, his charge was not to be found in the Royal Nursery, and neither her nurse nor her tutor knew where she was.

That worried him. Shunsui was fairly certain that the sole heir to the kingdom really shouldn't be wandering around on her own without any supervision. Luckily, after enlisting the help some of his fellow knights, Princess Nanao was found on a bench in a shady corner of the palace gardens. She was a petite child dressed in a pale green yukata that was slightly too big for her. Her nose was buried in a thick book, and her hand kept coming up to brush dark, chin length hair back behind her ear.

"Princess?"

A pair of violet eyes met his. "Yes."

He smiled. "I'm Shunsui Kyoraku, the Royal Champion. Your father has put me in charge of your education from now on. I thought it would be proper to introduce myself."

She frowned. "Isn't there something more important for a Royal Champion to be doing?"

Shunsui raised an eyebrow. This was a rather perceptive five year old. His cousins the same age would be more interested in if he would play with them. "Well, the education of the heir is an important task, but you're right. This isn't what the Royal Champion would normally be doing, but I'm afraid your father isn't very happy with me right now."

Nanao tilted her head, considering this. "All right."

She went back to her book, and he seated himself beside her. Shunsui frowned. It was awfully large book for a young girl. Nanao seemed perfectly content to ignore him in favor of it.

"What are you reading, Princess?"

"It's an etiquette manual," she held out the book to him. "My tutor wants me to have the first three chapters memorized by the end of the week."

That was ridiculous, and he told her so.

Nanao bit her lip. "My tutor says if I am not good and study hard, that my cousin Soi Fon will get the throne since she's older and already started her training."

She looked so worried that Shunsui couldn't help gathering her into his lap for a hug. "He's wrong, Nanao-chan. I'll have a chat with him. You're clearly studying too hard."

She squirmed in his lap, clearly uncomfortable. "Sir Kyoraku, this is hardly appropriate."

Clearly whoever had been in charge of his princess' upbringing so far had neglected to teach her anything other than duty. He would have to each the little girl to have fun.

"Sir Kyoraku," she frowned up at him, "I really should be studying."

He gently set her on her feet before rising. "Let's go for a walk, Nanao-chan. You can tell me what you have been studying, and I can get to know you."

It was the first of many such walks. Shunsui found his new charge to be incredibly intelligent and very dedicated to her duties as heir. However, people had neglected to remember that she was also a child, and Shunsui found himself spending as much time teaching Nanao how to enjoy herself as seeing to her education as heir. It soon became a common sight, the princess in her pastel yukatas followed by her champion in his dark robes covered by both the white haori of captain and the silly pink one that he affected. Nanao had once demanded to know why her knight wore such a thing. His response had been to tickle her until she was breathless with laughter.

The rest of the Shinigami Knights also became used to the princess' quite presence. In fact, they started expecting her and including her in their activities. Nanao was delighted by this and the fact that a whole group of people treated her simply as Nanao instead her royal highness, the Crown Princess. She began to study law under Sir Ukitake, one of the foremost scholars on the subject, as well as beginning kidou training with the knights' fifth division, a pursuit she showed great aptitude for.

His princess' trust came more slowly. Nanao was a bright child, and she had already learned that the court was not friendly place. She was used to veiled insults and being treated as if she was incapable of understanding what was going on around her. It wasn't until Shunsui gave Marechiyo Omaedo a bloody nose for patting Nanao on the head and suggesting that she would be better off playing with her dolls than practicing kidou that Nanao finally began to confide in him. But with her trust earned, Shunsui found himself the one person she confided in and one of the few that she held an intense loyalty to. And that wasn't a bad start.