I do not own Bleach or any characters related. All rights belong to Tite Kubo.
Nanao was done. Hours and hours of paperwork, the entire week, endlessly filling out forms, pulling all-nighters… And for what? Carpal Tunnel in her writing hand? But other than that…
Sure, she had finished it all by the deadline, but it shouldn't have been her responsibility to begin with. Nanao wondered if this hell was worth what she had done. Or any of what she had done, for that matter.
…Nope. It definitely was not. Just because Shunsui had to be an imbecile and ruin things all the time doesn't mean that she should fix everything for him. Sure, she loved him with all her heart, but he didn't even know that, much less care about her the same way she cared for him. But then she remembered Rangiku, who had been in her office all this week, with even more work than Nanao had, and smiled. At least it could have been worse. She shook it off, and replaced her smile with a frown. It was Rangiku and Shunsui's mess, so why should she, a perfectly fit fukutaicho, have to deal with their problems? Shunsui was her Taichou, for Kami's sake. Why in the world was she taking care of him?
Because you love him, a voice inside of her whispered. You like knowing that he needs you for something that others can't provide for him.
No, she argued to herself. No. She was just trying to hold together her squad. There was no way anyone could fault her for that. She just hoped that Rangiku would stop getting sucked into Shunsui's pit of stupidity any further so that she wouldn't get pulled into any more ridiculous stunts. Shunsui definitely got into much less trouble when it was just him doing the damage. His plots got more sophisticated (if you could ever call them that) and harder to clean up with outside help. There was a direct relationship between the number of people on Shunsui's side, and the direct demolition to her squad and her social life. Well, not that she really had much of a social life to begin with. She supposed it was her leisure time that she was referring to. She felt a surge of anger directed at Rangiku and Shunsui, so she decided to close up shop and take a nice bubble bath.
And then she felt them.
Nanao knew that they would be coming sooner or later, but she was hoping that it would be when she had already locked herself in her bathroom and was relaxing in the tub.
Oh well. She'd better run. For her life, possibly.
She grabbed the last of the paperwork, shut off the lights, and locked the door. Shunpoing to the Soutaicho's building, she hoped that they wouldn't catch her before she got there. She knew that they were sticking together, which greatly improved her chances, but she worried that they were tricking her with this. They both knew that she tracked their reiatsu, so maybe they were using this against her. Nonetheless, the dropped the paper off with Soutaicho's secretary of paperwork, then shunpo'd (?) back to her apartment as fast as she possibly could. She was wary of misstepping, because she knew that one step could be the difference between success and failure.
Was it sad that she put as much effort and tactical strategy into avoiding them as she did fighting hollows?
She supposed it didn't really matter at the moment. She just had to get away, and then she could debate her sanity (as well as theirs).
She thought of Rangiku despite her attempts to focus on home, and shuddered. She was, no doubt, looking for a drinking buddy. Well, she thought, there's no way she's going to pull me into this. No way in hell, after this despicable excuse for a business week they caused for her. Nanao was sick of her "friend's" harassment at the end of each work week. Just because she never wants to go out doesn't mean that she's weird or old or antisocial, it just means that she's tired from all the shit she puts up with all week from her immature Taicho and idiotic friend. In fact, if it weren't for them, maybe she would go out more.
Nanao had reached the side of the building she was determined to get inside. She looked through the window for signs of the other fukutaicho, grinned when she saw none, and then climbed through. She looked around her bedroom and sighed blissfully. A nice, steaming cup of chrysanthemum tea and a hot bubble bath would cure her—
"Get her."
A figure in a black hood and mask lunged at her. She managed to kido them, but to no avail. She was still on the floor in a matter of seconds. Damn Shunsui, she mentally spat. Curse him and his need to perpetually keep me out of hand combat courses. She made a mental note to bribe Soi Fon into giving her secret private lessons for times like these.
A second hooded figure appeared, chuckling. A deep, luscious voice filled her ears. "Now, now, Nao-chan, be a good girl and listen to what Ran has to say." He swiftly performed a simple kido charm that she could easily have rejected, but she decided that she rather liked him tying her up in a feral, animalistic way. Not that she'd ever admit it. She'd simply point out that it was useless trying to get away in the first place, and that she was not going to waste what little energy she had left prolonging the inevitable. Rangiku was simply too good at hand to hand combat. She'd say, winking, "With a body like this, a girl needs to teach men to keep their hands to themselves." She would then proceed to take off her uniform so that whoever she was informing would believe her. Not that anyone was in doubt. Nanao thought she just liked having a reason to take her clothes off.
Shunsui then leaned into her, inhaled deeply before placing a hand on her cheek and then wincing at the pain of her kido attack, and whispered, "Don't leave me waiting too long," before blowing in her ear and then walking to the door to leave. She was torn between wanting him to stay and touch her more and kicking his ass out of her apartment herself. She chose the former. She was simply too worn out to lie to herself at this point, so she turned her attention to the black hooded figure.
"Rangiku, take off the damned mask, I know it's you for Kami's sake."
Shimmering blonde hair cascaded into the dark of night as the mask and hood were shed. She smiled, revealing perfectly aligned white teeth. "Nanao, Nanao, don't be mad. We're just trying to do you a favor!" She puffed out her breasts, put a hip to one side, and, wagging a finger at her, said, "and before you say anything, this is not about you being a boring old woman at whatever age you are, which is a young age, despite anything that the lower ranks may say because they are too young to understand what true youth is, but that's not the point, the point is that this is about me. Yes, me. Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady. I don't appreciate your sarcastic body language. Anyway, you and me, Nanao, we've been stuck in a cage all week. Like goddamn animals, for Kami's sake! We definitely deserve a break. Which is why—"
"You, and let's be very, very clear on this, do NOT deserve a break. You had to accept the consequences of what you did. I, on the other hand, did not do anything worthy of what I had to accomplish this past week, and I do not appreciate this half-assed attempt on Shunsui's part of making me feel better. If he truly wanted me to feel better, he would have helped me with the paperwork that HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING ANYWAY."
Rangiku rolled her eyes. "There is absolutely no reason for you to yell at me, Nao."
Nanao undid the charm, threw up her arms, and announced, "I'm taking a bubble bath, drinking a few cups of well-earned tea, and then sleeping for the first time in a week. You, my friend, would do well to do the same."
"You even speak like an old woman! Kami, Shunsui was right! You're even worse than I suspected." She winked, and announced, "So we're going drinking!"
AN: Hey. So. This is the first installment of Kissing Lessons, a story I initially used as a KenshinXKaoru fic that was AU. It sucked, and I realized that this was because (1) it was AU, and (2) it was KenshinXKaoru. I love KenKao, but this plotline just didn't work with those two characters. So I adapted the plot to ShunNao, which made me even more happy. I've planned the whole story out, and am in the process of writing each chapter out roughly, so then I can go back and edit, but... it may take a while. At first, I wanted it to be a nice, simple, ten chapter story. But I realized going in that some chapters (like this one) may be about 1500 words while others (like the next one) may be about 5000. But that all depends on what's going on in each chapter.
So that's about it for now. I really am looking forward to writing this, and I thank those who read this and review. I welcome any sort of review, especially criticism or suggestions. I'll do my best to take what you say into mind.
On that note, I'll probably post the next chapter within the next two/three weeks. (Sorry to disappoint anyone!) Love to all! And if you want to read the first version of this story, check out my old account- karathemurphster. I guarantee nothing except a good laugh at my incompetence. ;D
(LOL I love how long this AN is. I once read a story that was shorter than the AN. Maybe I'll do that for one chapter... ;D)
