Author's note: I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is AU and a sequel to The Book of Love.
Let's Never Stop Falling In Love
Nanao stretched in her seat and let out a content sigh. She was quite pleased with the way her life was going right now. She had a job she loved, and this past month since she had starting seeing her boss romantically had been quite lovely. Nanao had been more than a little surprise at how easy it had been for Shunsui and herself to fall into a fairly normal romance. And no one at work had even commented on it beyond knowing smiles. It was almost as if they had been expecting this to happen. Truthfully, Nanao no longer cared what her co-workers opinions were; she was too happy.
She set to work on the day's tasks in the library. There was quite a bit of shelving that needed to get done as well as some new music to catalog. The past week had been especially busy for the library. Nanao had just sat down to catalog the new pieces of music when she spotted the box of chocolates sitting on top of another stack of papers. There was a little origami heart beside them with a familiar scrawl covering it. With a smile, Nanao reached for it. It read:
My darling Nanao-chan,
Happy White Day! The chocolates are for you as is the sheet music. If you wouldn't mind coming down to the practice rooms for an hour or so around lunch and lending Jyuu and I an ear, we could nip out of lunch afterwards. It's your choice.
Your Shunsui
Nanao smiled and checked the clock. It was only ten, so if she got busy with the cataloging, she shouldn't have a problem giving Shunsui a hand. It only improved her mood when she found that the chocolates were dark chocolate with raspberry ganache, one of her favorites. It didn't take her long at all to get things taken care of. Since she still had a little time before she needed to go find Shunsui, Nanao took a chance to familiarize herself with the music he had left for her.
It was easy enough to recognize the music as something Shunsui had written. She was very familiar with his style. The first piece was rather humorous and had little to no melody in the accompaniment. It would be a challenge to sing, but Nanao had no doubt that it would sound wonderful. The second song was in a more Latin style, and Nanao couldn't help the smile that the lyrics caused it was romantic and a little over the top and very Shunsui.
Music in hand, she headed downstairs to find which practice room Shunsui and Mr. Ukitake had taken over. One of the best things about 8/13 Music was they had just about everything under one roof. From the corporate offices to recording studios to practice rooms to the music library, everything was in one place. It made things much easier to get done. Nanao found the two men in one of the larger practice rooms. Both men looked up from the sheet music they were studying when she entered.
Shunsui beamed at her. "Nanao-chan! Come give us a hand. We can't seem to get this song quite right."
She made her way over the piano. "Which song is it?"
It turned out to be the Latin sounding one. Nanao played the music straight through just to accustom herself to the melody and piano part.
"What exactly is the problem with it?"
"Jyuu says I don't sing it right." Shunsui pouted.
Jyuushiro Ukitake shrugged. "There's just something missing when he sings it. We thought a fresh set of ears might help."
"Ah."
"Actually," there was something sly about Shunsui's expression, "maybe we should have you sing it first and see if it sounds different."
Nanao shot him a glare. She liked to sing, but she didn't like to sing in front of people, and he knew it. Still, it was just the three of them in here. She took a deep breath and started the song. It was easy enough to lose herself in the music and forget her audience. Nanao let the last note die away only to find the two men staring at her in something like awe.
"Can we record you singing that for the album?" Jyuushiro looked very eager at the idea. "That was simple amazing, Ms. Ise."
Nanao blinked more than a little stunned and not sure what to say. To her surprise, Shunsui leap in for her.
"Give her a chance to think about, Jyuu. Besides, it's lunch time, and I promised my Nanao-chan lunch out."
Jyuushiro gave the two of them a rueful grin. "All right, but please do consider it."
They made their goodbyes to Jyuushiro and headed out of the building. After some debate, the couple found themselves eating at Nanao's favorite noodle shop. As they were served Nanao couldn't help but indulging her curiosity.
"You wanted me to sing that specific song. That's why you invited me to join you two." She pinned him with a stern look before he could deny it. "I would like to know why."
Shunsui caught her right hand in his, the one that bore the amethyst promise ring he'd given her for Valentine's Day, and pressed a kiss to her palm. "Because I wrote it for you, Nanao. And I never intend to stop falling in love with you."
