Title: Princess

Author: Fact Vs Fiction

Rating: T (for now)

Pairing: ShunsuiXNanao

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

A/N: Okay so this file was date marked almost two years ago. I found it in a folder of old Organic Chem coursework tagged "…". I had completely forgotten it even existed until I opened it! Dawned on me that I actually have it written up to the big fight scene so it's essentially complete. Thought I'd post it for you guys. Obviously, since it was written almost two years ago it's AU, although it was that anyway… Enjoy!

Princess

"That is ridiculous!" Nanao hissed.

Shunsui immediately pulled himself back around the door and masked what was left of his reiatsu, listening. Nanao-chan had been his lieutenant long enough for him to identify her tone of voice. There was frustration, exasperation, Unwilling amusement and embarrassment all of which were normal in their day to day conversation but Shunsui had only very rarely heard this particular tone. Nanao Ise was furious.

"What's ridiculous is your notion of independence and self sufficiency!"

"I am independent and self sufficient!"

"Dad'll disown you if he ever hears that."

"I don't care what that man does to me. I haven't seen nor heard from him in centuries. Instead he sends you or Nee-san or your kaa-san as his little messengers and it makes me sick!"

"He only let you come down here to find a husband. Too picky for the royal guard." The other woman mocked.

"The royal guard are so far up their own posteriors nobody knows which end is up." Nanao dismissed.

Shunsui had to work incredibly hard not to laugh at that one. It was so typically Nanao-chan.

"Furthermore he allowed me to come because he's scared of me and apparently what my emancipation would do to his reputation. God forbid he ever have a child with any usable reiatsu but one with captain's capability? That's exactly why he divorced my mother and you know that. I belong here. I am happy here. I have worth here even if you and the rest of those upper class morons refuse to recognise that that's your problem! I will not marry to keep father happy. There is no point to me marrying. Didn't you just have your fourth son?"

"Fourth and fifth. Twins."

"Well then he has plenty of heirs doesn't he?"

"Nee-san-"

"The next time I see you, your kaa-san or our sister down here I will file for legal emancipation and you can tell the old man I said that."

"A princess can't emancipate herself!"

"The only way he'll stop me is laying claim to me and lord knows that'll hurt his reputation even worse than losing the daughter nobody really remembers anyway so with all due respect hime-chan, watch me!"

The other women choked on her words a few seconds before Nanao saved her the trouble of replying.

"Get out of here before someone sees you."

"Fine!"

The woman stormed from the room and Nanao sat down behind her desk, pinching the bridge of her nose tiredly.

"Would you like to hear the whole story taichou or is that sufficient for your curiosity?" She asked eventually. Outside the door Shunsui jumped at the address. He was so sure he'd gotten away with it. Slowly he stepped around the door.

For a long moment they just stared at each other, all conversation occurring through their eyes. He was itching to bow to her. She could see it. She couldn't blame him, it's what he was raised to do. Nobles could only dream of running into a member of the royal family. His compulsion to bow was natural but it hurt her so so badly.

Her eyes filled with tears even as he watched her and she blinked them back, frustrated.

"This is why I never told you, why I never told anybody. Please. Please don't bow to me taichou. I don't want it. I don't want any of it." She whispered.

"Nanao-chan." He murmured. Before she could blink she was in his arms. Normally she'd scold him for hugging her. It wasn't appropriate as a captain to a subordinate but now all she could do was squeeze back with all her might because it was inappropriate. You do not hug members of the royal family. His actions told Nanao it would all be okay. That she could still be Nanao-chan, still be fukutaichou of the eighth. It meant everything.

She lost awareness of how long he held her like that. A small eternity anyway. As she got it together she accepted that she wasn't going to get out of this without a complete explanation. She supposed that if she were to tell anyone Kyoraku-Shunsui was about as politically correct as one could get while breaking the law. Decided she finally pulled back and he allowed her. She spoke before he could.

"I am willing to tell you everything taichou, just, remember that my father can and probably would have us both arrested for sharing what I'm about to tell you if he ever found out."

"I still want to hear. Big secret Nanao-chan. I can do those. Plenty of experience in that."

"I know." Nanao agreed. His eyebrows shot up.

"You've met my father."

"A story for later. It's easier to start at the beginning, but not here."

Shunsui understood her wariness. She was a princess of the royal family for heavens sake, even knowing that was grounds for his execution. He nodded, taking her hand, and disappearing in a shunpo. He didn't bat an eyelid when she matched his pace. He got the impression that his Nanao-chan had a lot of secrets. He was just happy to finally hear them.

"Where are we?" Asked Nanao as they stopped by a waterfall surrounded by greenery.

"One of my favourite spots to hide when I really don't want you to find me." He said with a slight grin. "It's Kyoraku land, no inhabitants for ten miles in any direction. She nodded and approached the water's edge.

"Ask away."

"You're the eldest? The kings daughter by his first wife?"

"That's me. The shame of the royal family." She cracked a small smile. "My father was never meant to be king. He was the youngest of four boys. When he married within the royal guard nobody batted an eyelid. He'd never have to produce heirs because he'd never have the crown. It's quite normal for the younger children, particularly the female ones. Anyone who has to rule or produce an heir has their partner handpicked. Heirs to the throne should not hold spiritual power. It encourages interest in the fighting arts and the king is a purely political position. Anyway my father was put in charge after an unfortunate accident involving all three of his brothers and suddenly he had to produce heirs. Needless to say I was not welcomed with open arms. Not only was I female but I had a huge amount of reiatsu. Unacceptable for a lady of the royal family. It was obvious that his genes were recessive when placed with my mother's and he divorced her shortly after my birth. It broke his heart to do it, but the political pressure was far too much. I still saw her, she was a higher up in the guard. She died in the line of duty when I was seven. Protecting my father's second wife ironically enough."

"That's nasty."

"To my mom only one thing came before work and that was me. She died a heroic death and was highly decorated for her sacrifice. Anyway. Seven years was enough for me to get a taste of life in the hot seat. My reiatsu was completely out of control when I was a toddler and I had to be trained, there was no way around it. I was dangerous. After mom died there was no way in hell I was giving it up. I wasn't important, I'd been written out of the throne line and as a mother of heirs because of my power and my father let me do as I pleased against the courts wishes. It was his last gift to my mother."

"He still loved her."

"My father married for love and was corrupted by politics." Nanao agreed.

"I think you were ahead. It was messy but I've always felt that knowing you came from love is good for the soul."

"I don't disagree. So. Where my younger sisters were raised by nannies and nurses I was raised by the royal guard. You can only imagine the effect that had on me, being surrounded by captains and lieutenants all day."

Shunsui grinned.

"I'm sure that made you an interesting character."

"Oh it did." Nanao agreed, swinging herself up into a tree and walking out on a limb over the water. Her balance was phenomenal, Shunsui noted as she held her position.

"I don't know if you're aware of the practice but each of the royal children are given a protective guardian…"

"My father's a guardian, isn't he?"

"He was. He was my guardian from the day my mother died. My father appointed him to keep an eye on me. Make sure I was never too involved in the world of the guard. He covered for me constantly, let me train, taught me meditation and sword arts when my father wasn't looking. The whole guard took my abilities on as a project. Kuku was a dreadful kidou artist but when he found out how well I was taking to it he did everything to make sure I got the best help possible from the kidou division. By the time I turned seventy I was teaching them. I taught the whole guard. Kuku was so willing to learn." She laughed a little. "He was a hopeless case. Definitely where you got your kidou ability from, you throw it just like him. All brute strength and will, no fineness whatsoever."

Shunsui chuckled.

"So my dad raised you."

"He was more of a father to me than my own ever was. That's probably hard to hear, when you were split up from him…"

"Not really… I was in the academy when he was promoted. Well grown. I understood where and why he went. I'm just glad he got the chance again after my mother died."

"He loves her very much. I heard constant stories."

Shunsui smiled at that.

"The courts went right on disapproving of me. The only positive thing they could find was that I was so involved with the guard I'd easily find a husband."

"I take it that didn't work out so well."

Nanao snorted from her spot in the tree, dropping her Zampaktou to the ground below her.

"I wasn't of marriageable appearance when I left, you know that, but they organise royal weddings young… Being able to kick most of the men on the guard into shape is not conductive to finding a husband."

Shunsui full out belly laughed at the matter of fact statement. Nanao dropped the black part of her upper uniform.

"You'll freeze." He warned her, knowing exactly what she was up to. She shrugged and dropped her clip and glasses before diving gracefully into the water below her. She came back up, flipping her hair from her face.

"Cold?"

"No. Men are fragile. Can't deal with cold, can't marry a girl who can hurt them either. Needless to say marriage never happened. Your father decided it was all his doing. He never could get his youngest to settle either."

Shunsui smiled at that.

"I started getting restless and he could see it. I waited it out a while. You know nobles age slower than normal souls. Like you look under thirty-five where as Yamamoto looks half dead?"

Shunsui nodded.

"It's even worse for royals." She said, absently doing backstroke across the water. "I'm almost seven hundred now for example."

"Wow." Said Shunsui simply. She looked nothing over twenty when she dropped the authoritarian guise.

"It's a pain. It meant I was close to four hundred before I reached an appearance acceptable by the academy. Your dad was plotting to get me out. By then it was so obvious I didn't belong in my family it was scary. Eventually they let me out on a few conditions."

"Which were?" He asked, amused.

"My official reason for being here is finding a husband, I cannot break my cover even to a prospective husband. If I dared go near a Rukongai soul I was dead… Usual rubbish. The final condition was the one to try and insure I return. I'm allowed absolutely no contact with your father or the guard."

Shunsui took in a sharp breath.

"That hurt badly, to the point where I wasn't going to go. Kuku sat me down and told me under no uncertain terms that I was going whether I liked it or not and that I was acting like a hime-chan. Ultimate insult to me."

"Sounds like dad to me." Said Shunsui with a fond grin.

"Anyway, I went through the academy as cover. An untrained soul of my skill would raise suspicion. The most boring years of my life but I made it through with my sanity intact, graduated and here I am."

"Gods." Murmured Shunsui. "That is a huge amount to take in."

"You aren't meant to." Nanao reminded him good naturedly.

"True… So you haven't seen or spoken to dad since you left?"

"I'm not allowed." She said glumly. "Do you get to see him?" She asked curiously.

"Once a year at an undisclosed location. He took a big interest in you when I first mentioned you were lieutenant. I had always put it down to your ability to keep me in line. It makes sense now.

She nodded, flipping like a fish in the water.

"What were your thoughts when I chose you for the eighth? I know I wouldn't have been happy…"

"I was undecided. On one hand you were making being away from Kuku far harder and maintaining that tie with my family that I didn't want but on the other you're the captain I have the most time for even then and you keep me on my toes, never a dull moment."

"You said you're captain capable but how captain capable are we speaking?"

Nanao read that one loud and clear. With the exception of Aizen the captains could be older generation or younger generation. Research was showing that new souls were getting less and less reiatsu powerful by the century.

"Higher end of the older generation."

Translated, Shunsui knew that meant stronger than Unohana, and Ukitake now that his illness was finally showing effects. Nobody was quite sure where Aizen sat in relation to Shunsui but Shunsui sat directly under Yamamoto power-wise otherwise. Having listened to her story Shunsui didn't doubt that she could at least match him if not beat him. She wasn't going to tell him either.

"You have your bankai?"

"I had to do something to keep myself busy in the academy. I achieved it two years after I finished." She dived again.

"You're good in the water."

"I'd want to be, it's my element. That's all you're getting though."

He shook his head, watching her dive and flip in the lagoon. He couldn't ask for anything else.

He fell silent, pensive, and Nanao knew something was bothering him.

"Ask." She ordered.

"How different is your personality, to the Nanao I know?"

She stilled at that one. That was a loaded question, quite literally interpreted as are you a stranger? Are you a lie?

He saw her still and knew she'd understood as she waded back to shore. She grabbed her uniform top to sit on and joined him on the bank. They sat silently for a few minutes.

"I'm not a stranger." She offered eventually. "The organised, rule abiding, honest, patient Nanao is completely real. There are a few things that couldn't be helped. Obviously I'm far stronger than you were ever told, than anyone was ever told…"

"I always maintained you were. Jyuu thinks I'm nuts."

She laughed a little.

"The other thing is the authoritarian. I am quite serious and quiet, I'm bookish and have no alcohol tolerance but I'm not as robotic as you've known me to be in the past and I'm not asexual."

Shunsui snickered.

"That's all protection. I have to be as unattractive as possible. That's the hairstyle as well, and the lack of makeup…"

"Why?"

"What do you know about nobles? They mark members of their families with the family crest. Could you imagine someone finding the royal crest in the bedroom."

"That could be quite an interesting conversation. Hey sweetheart are you a princess?"

"You see my point."

"So you're honestly telling me you've been celibate your entire life?"

He looked absolutely horrified at the very idea and Nanao laughed softly.

"Not my entire life… I may have looked very young but I was four hundred cut me some slack taichou! I probably shouldn't be telling you this but it isn't just the royals up there. It's like another seireitei with a whole different nobility and then the guard. Of course the problem with that is unless one or more of your parents are on the guard you're generally inbred."

"That was harsh."

"True though. How did you think they kept the reiatsu out of the royal family?"

"That's kind of creepy." he admitted. "But seriously? You're celibate since you came down here? That's bizarre."

She rolled her eyes.

"It's not that bad. You're just addicted." She said matter of factly.

"Nope. You've obviously just never had a decent lover. You've missed the whole connecting part."

"Whatever you say taichou." She rolled her eyes. "The fact of the matter is that isn't going to change anytime soon."

"Can you hide it at all?"

"I can with a kidou I created but it requires constant concentration."

"Something you can't maintain in the bedroom."

"Precisely. I can't believe I'm actually having this conversation with you… The kidou is for medical purposes."

"What if you pass out?"

"Then I'm in trouble. I've developed a ridiculously high pain threshold over the years though."

"Sounds like a lot off hard work to me."

"No. The Shinigami is something I enjoy doing. Hard work was the royal dimension." She rolled her eyes.

"You always seem so lost when conversation turns noble around you."

"The less I know the better. Who wants a wife who knows nothing. What you have to remember is they'd make me return taichou."

"That's a good point."

"I know. We have a meeting in a half hour and I need to change my clothes now." She said, rising. He nodded, rising after her as she gathered up her possessions. She turned around and smiled at the way he was watching her.

"Before you get enthralled in guessing where it is taichou it's nowhere so interesting. She pulled the white fabric of her uniform tight over the skin of her back to show the black marks on the back of her right shoulder."

He grinned at how apparently transparent he was to her then pouted.

"My Nanao-chan is no fun. That could have kept me amused the long boring meeting."

"Might I remind you that you happen to be the captain in this situation I shouldn't be taking notes for you in the first place."

"But Nanao-chan it's so boring." He whined.

"Lets go taichou."

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