Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put them in. Everything else belongs to somebody else and that's just the way it's gotta be lol. Thanks to all you readers out there and please review cause I'd love to hear from you!
Nemu's New Home
Walking carefully down the nearly deserted, puddled street, eighth division vice captain Nanao Isle Kyoraku adjusted her umbrella, cursing the less than stellar weather and her idiotic husband. Just because she was six months pregnant, he thought she wasn't perfectly capable of walking home by herself, rain or no rain. Pregnant or not she was still a vice captain for Christ sakes. He still had no problem sticking her with most of the paperwork, Nanao thought with a sigh, thinking of all the work she'd left behind in their office, undone thanks to frequent stops to nap and to expel what food he'd forced her to consume. At the moment, she was just too tired to care though and her back was killing her. Moving to avoid a rather large puddle just waiting to be stepped in Nanao took another step, halting abruptly when her attention was caught by the unexpected sight of another vice captain, sitting of a nearby stoop looking like something the cat had dragged in. The fact that it was Nemu Kurotsuchi, alone and drenched, made the sight that much stranger. Changing direction Nanao hurried over as fast as she was capable, to stand in front of the still girl and shifted the large black umbrella so that it covered them both. "What are you doing out here in this? Did you get locked out?" Even though the rain and chill in the air would have little to no effect on the girl physically Nanao still didn't like the idea of the girl sitting out in this weather without any cover. What was she doing out here anyway?
"Thinking." Was the quiet response as the girl looked up from her seated position to meet Nanao's gaze. "You're bigger than the last time I saw you." She added, her gaze dropping to Nanao's extended belly with a hint of interest in her dark, vacant eyes. She was normally a pretty girl but at the moment her surroundings were as depressing and dark as she was.
Nodding in unfortunate agreement Nanao looked up at the building Nemu was sitting in front of, one of Captain Kurotsuchi's laboratories if she wasn't mistaken. The question was, why wasn't Nemu inside as she usually was, waiting on her father hand and foot like always. The reason they hadn't run into each other in weeks was because Nemu's creator had practically barricaded himself and Nemu in his labs, working on god only knows what. She knew because there had been quite the rucks when Kurotsuchi had refused to leave his work long enough to attend an important meeting. "Is Captain Kurotsuchi finished whatever he was working on this past month?" Nanao asked, since Nemu apparently didn't want to talk about why she was sitting out in the rain. One of that bastard's experiments? How long will my daughter sit in the rain because I told her to?
"Yes, my replacement has been completed."
"What do you mean..your replacement?" Nanao repeated, already having a sinking feeling she knew exactly what the younger girl meant. That unimaginable bastard.
"Captain Kurotsuchi has created a new vice captain to better suit his needs. I am no longer wanted as I am obsolete and inefficient in comparison." Shrugging her shoulders Nemu's expression never changed as she related the fact that she'd been thrown away like yesterday's paper, chucked to the curb after having to take part in the creation of her own replacement. "That's why I'm sitting here thinking. I don't know where to go now." She'd been out on the stoop for approximately five hours, thirty seven minutes and twelve seconds and had yet to come up with any feasible alternative to what she was doing now.
Staring down at the girl in disbelief Nanao wished she could say she was surprised but she really wasn't. This sounded like something that bastard would do, even to someone he called his daughter when it suited him. Not that he'd ever treated her like his daughter to begin with. Looking around Nanao felt her temper spike as she took in the lack of luggage, not even a tote in sight. Had the scientist kicked her out without even letting her pack whatever meager belongings he'd given her? "Where are your things?"
"They belong to my replacement now."
Giving serious thought now to march into the building and trying to tear Kurotsuchi apart limb by limb Nanao restrained herself only because she was in no condition to do it and it would be a useless endeavor anyway. Nothing she did to that sadistic son of a bitch would change Nemu's situation in the slightest or actually kill the bastard for that matter. The poor girl didn't even have friends to stay with, having never really been given the free time to have a life outside her father's thumb. "You're coming home with me then."
There was no way Nanao could just leave the girl like this and it wasn't like there wasn't plenty of room for Nemu at home. Shunsui wouldn't mind and if he did she'd just remind him that she was his wife and that meant it was her way or the couch. Not that it would come to that, since he pretty much let her do whatever she wanted these days, afraid of upsetting her and indirectly the baby. A major perk of being pregnant to her way of thinking since before he'd made it his mission in life to do the opposite of what she told him.
Blinking Nemu gave her a look that said plainly that she didn't understand the offer of a place to stay. She must have misunderstood, in her frazzled state, Nemu decided. She had been replaced, like a coat that no longer fit right. She had no purpose now, no reason for existing. Why would Vice Captain Kyoraku want her around? Why would anyone? "But why would you? I'm not a member of your division and you have no obligation to take me in. I'm no longer a vice captain..I'm...nothing now."
"You are not nothing and don't you even think about repeating that again or else. You ARE a Vice Captain and you ARE somebody and even if he is replacing you that doesn't mean you aren't you anymore." Hands going to her hips Nanao was the picture of a school teacher lecturing a student who'd dared to cross her. "And we can have you transferred into our division if you'd like to join us and if not I'm sure there are plenty of other jobs you could do within the society or as a member of another division. But right now you need some place to stay and I'm offering you one, no strings attached. I won't take no for an answer."
Used to taking and following orders without question Nemu was nodding and getting to her feet before she'd even thought Nanao's order through. Opening her mouth to try and talk the vice captain out of her decision the words died in her throat as Captain Shunsui Kyoraku appeared out of thin air, his black robes and pink haori swirling around him as he hurried over, a concerned look on his face.
"Nanao chan! You promised me you'd wait until the meeting was over so that I could walk you home! You know Retsu san said that you needed to start taking it easy!" Waggling a finger at her he was the picture of a panicky papa to be, obviously worried about the affect the dismal weather might have on the both of them.
"I didn't promise, you just assumed I'd do it because you told me to." Was her annoyed response, a twitch appearing under her left eye at the suggestion that she needed to be babysat. She was the mother, she'd decide what was best for them!
"I'm your captain! You're supposed to do what I tell you to do!"
"I'm your wife! That means I'm supposed to tell you what to do and you're supposed to know better than to think otherwise!"
Eyes wide Nemu watched the two argue over who had the most right to order the other around, completely oblivious to their fascinated audience. Nemu really admired the eighth division vice captain. Kyoraku san never let anyone push her around and all the other divisions admired and respected her, even Nemu's own father. Her father had said that someone needed to teach Kyoraku san her place but that the vice captain was surprisingly intelligent and skilled for such a small, annoying female. It was more of a compliment than any her father had ever aimed in her direction. She liked Captain Kyoraku too. He was always very nice to her and he always lectured her father about being kinder to her. Once, he'd even bought her an ice cream cone because she'd told him she'd never had one before. It had been very nice and he'd looked very happy that she'd liked it. Captain Kyoraku was kind that way. Even though Kyoraku san yelled at her husband a lot Nemu knew that the older woman loved her captain very much and Nemu thought they were a very nice couple. She was sure the baby would be very happy too, having a mother and father who loved each other so much. Feeling two sets of eyes staring at her Nemu snapped out of her contemplation, resisting the urge to squirm as she realized one or both had said something to her that she'd missed. "Pardon?"
"I asked why you're out in the rain, Nemu chan?" Actually he'd asked her to take his side over the whole walking home alone thing but Shunsui decided it was more important to find out what she was doing out in this weather, looking ready to keel over at a strong wind.
"Captain Kurotsuchi has replaced her as his vice captain with a new creation of his." Nanao explained, interrupting any explanation Nemu might have given. "He kicked her out and she had no place to go so she's coming home with us." Her tone made it clear there was to be no argument on this point and her eyes just dared him to disagree with her.
"Well of course she is." Reaching out Shunsui patted Nemu's head, his calm eyes concealing the outrage he was feeling on her behalf. He wasn't surprised, Kurotsuchi was never satisfied and was always trying to find ways to make something better and more efficient. In his twisted mind anyway. Perhaps it was a blessing that the rat bastard hadn't decided to simply experiment on his daughter some more instead. Who knew what he'd done and would have done to the girl given the chance. "Where are your bags? We'll head home right now."
"I don't have any bags."
"Well then..lets get going, shall we? Supper will be waiting."
Hours later that night Nanao satisfied some of her pent up rage by hurling the hair brush she'd been using across the room, her face murderous as she swung away from her mirror to fasten her eyes on her intrigued husband, who was watching her from the safety of the doorway. "Can you believe that bastard? I want to find him and start slicing his head in two with a rusty knife, one slow cut at a time. You should have seen her sitting on that stoop, Shunsui! She looked like a discarded doll who's owner had broken her and thrown her away with the rest of the trash! UH! I'm so angry I could scream!"
"She's going to be fine, Nanao." Keeping a weary eye on his wife, who had excellent aim, Shunsui inched his way into the room to make his way over to her side as she toyed with the bridge of her glasses before taking them off, setting them on the vanity table. "In fact, I even came up with a position for her to fill in our division and a way to convince her to stay with us." He added, drawing her to her feet as he took her smaller hand in his.
A little insulted at the idea that he'd managed to come up with a solution after she'd spent hours without any luck Nanao couldn't help but be skeptical as she raised a questioning eyebrow, letting him draw her into his arms to rest her head against his bare chest.
Reading her expression perfectly Shunsui couldn't help but grin. God but he loved her, even when she was thinking he was an idiot. "I was thinking that she's a former vice captain which makes her perfect for that sort of work."
"Thinking of replacing me?" There was amusement in her voice now, Nanao knowing perfectly well that he would never be stupid enough to think she'd let him replace her as his vice captain. If he even tried he'd end up black and blue and she'd just get a job as Captain Ukitake's vice captain. It would serve Shunsui right.
"Well we both know you're going out of your mind trying to figure out how you're going to balance work with being a mother once the baby comes. Why don't we hire her on as part vice captain, part nanny? You two could share both jobs and that way you're both happy and being productive. You'd go nuts as a stay at home mom but you don't like the idea of someone else raising our child either. It's the perfect solution." Pleased with himself Shunsui grinned down at her as she stared up at him in shock, obviously blown over at the idea that he'd out thought her for once.
Thinking it through Nanao had to admit, if only to herself, that it really was the perfect solution. She had hated the idea of leaving her son or daughter to the servants while she worked but had seen herself going insane imagining the mess her husband would make of their office without her there to supervise. She loved being a vice captain and the idea of leaving that behind had hurt even more than she'd anticipated. There was no question that Nemu could handle the paperwork aspects of the job and she would have time to teach the girl her system and way of doing things before the baby came. She imagined Nemu had no experience with child but she didn't either and they could learn together. She already had dozens of books on the subject after all. If Nemu didn't turn out to be good with children, well then they could just bring the baby to the office with them and both keep an eye on him or her.
"Come on, who came up with an awesome idea?"
Amused Nanao got up on tippy toes to plant a kiss on her husband's waiting lips. "I don't know about awesome...but it has definite possibilities." Wrapping her arms around his neck Nanao smiled up at him. "Now, I think I should be swept off my feet and taken to bed. It's not good for expecting mothers to stay on their feet apparently."
"I agree." Sweeping his wife up into his arms Shunsui carried her over to their bed, already anticipating the look on Kurotsuchi's face when he found out his daughter's new position as co vice captain of the eight division. It was going to be priceless.
Luck was with Shunsui the next day as he walked into the room where requests could be submitted to the higher ups by the various divisions. Walking in he was just in time to see Kurotsuchi hand over a roll of parchment that Shunsui had no doubt contained the information about the recent shift in power in the twelfth division. At the grotesque man's side was a blonde girl who's resemblance to Nemu was startling, the features and clothing exactly the same. As far as he could tell, only the hair and the eyes were different. Those eyes, which had fastened on to him immediately, were as lifeless and dead as her creator's. Not even Nemu's had ever looked so empty.
"He came in with that Nemu look alike a couple minutes ago. When I first saw her I thought one of Mr. Mad Scientist's crazy experiments went wrong and her hair ended up being bleached." Vice Captain Rangiku Matsumoto whispered from beside him, having come in just ahead of him to deliver something for her captain. "When I called her Nemu she just looked at me and announced that her name was not Nemu but Kari. I wonder where Nemu is."
"With Nanao chan at the moment." Winking at her Shunsui walked over to intercept Kurotsuchi before he could leave with his Nemu clone. "Nice morning, Mayuri, isn't it?" Deliberately being insulting by calling the man by his first name without any honorific, Shunsui's smile of greeting was anything but friendly. "And this is Kari? Nice to meet you, Kari chan. I'm Captain Kyoraku of the eighth division and this lovely lady behind me is Vice Captain Matsumoto of the tenth."
While his new vice captain bowed politely Kurotsuchi's golden eyes narrowed dangerously, his displeasure plain on his black face. "Is there something you wanted, Captain Kyoraku?" Kyoraku was not someone he wanted to tangle with and Kurotsuchi preferred to pick his fights on his terms. Not to mention that airhead nitwit of the tenth division was here, just waiting to pick up some tasty bit of gossip to tell all her equally inadequate friends.
"No, just coming in to send in this parchment, asking for permission to have your daughter join my division." His smile widening at the shocked look on the other captain's face Shunsui wished Nemu could see this, not that the girl would have appreciated it the way he was. It had taken Nanao chan and himself a good two hours to convince the girl to go along with their plan and even then she'd insisted that the matter had to be settled by the council before she took on any duties for them. "We're planning to make her my new co vice captain. She and my Nanao chan are going to make one hell of a team, don't you think?"