"Are you really sure Ise-san said it was alright for you to leave now?" Jyuushiro asked suspiciously.
"Of course," Shunsui replied with a dismissive wave as he glanced around quickly for his hat, which had fallen off at some point during his nap. "I did my share already today."
"And that's why we're escaping while she's out on her lunch break?" Jyuushiro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No need to disturb her delicate thought processes by shuffling around getting ready to leave while she's here." Shunsui shrugged as he rummaged around. He finally retrieved his hat from where it'd rolled under the couch.
"Right," Jyuushiro said with a grin. He had no doubts that his best friend would be getting an earful from the petite Fukutaicho later on that day. Normally he wouldn't encourage his friend's behavior, but the art gallery in the first district that was hosting the show wasn't open late and he'd really wanted to look at some pieces. It wasn't his fault Shunsui had demanded to go with him.
"Let's go," Shunsui said triumphantly as he pushed the hat down on his head.
"Just in time too," Jyuushiro said closing his eyes briefly. "Ise-san is back."
Shunsui returned the man's smile and Jyuushiro was sure Shunsui was reaching out for her reiatsu trying to find the best escape route. Suddenly the grin morphed into a frown and he seemed to hesitate.
"Shun?" Jyuushiro asked noticing his friend's mood shifted..
"Something has upset her." Shunsui glanced at the open window and back to the door where his Fukutaicho would be entering soon.
"You can tell that from her reiatsu?" Jyuushiro asked skeptically. He scanned the girl again and didn't pick anything up out of the ordinary. Then again he was sure his best friend was by far too familiar with his Fukutaicho's reiatsu signature. Most people could sense strong emotions off of others, but it took a certain level of familiarity to pick up subtle changes, especially if that someone was trying to hide it. Shunsui flirted with his Fukutaicho often and loudly of course, because he was incapable of not doing so with pretty women, but whenever Jyuushiro pushed Shunsui claimed they were only very good friends. Jyuushiro couldn't really argue since he and Shunsui could read each other's reiatsu like a book too, but he also didn't blame people for reading too much into it when Shunsui was so acutely aware of the woman.
Shunsui didn't answer for a moment and then sighed. "Looks like we may have to make a run for it after she arrives. It could be nothing, maybe she had some bad noodles for lunch, but I want to check."
"She won't appreciate it." Jyuushiro groaned internally at the change of plans. He hated headlong flights with the poor overworked woman dashing behind them. Besides that, Nanao was not likely to share whatever was bothering her even if it was just bad noodles.
"She won't even know that's why I stayed," Shunsui answered conspiratorially.
The door opened moments later and the woman walked in looking pale, but otherwise normal. She was staring down at a document and didn't even seem to notice they were there, which Jyuushiro supposed was distinctly abnormal.
"Oh sweet Nanao-chan," Shunsui singsonged sliding up to her.
The girl gave a brief start and crushed the document in her hand lowering it quickly to her side. "Kyouraku Taicho."
"What have you got there?" he asked curiously.
"Nothing," she said sharply. "I'm surprised you're still here. Planning on actually doing some work this afternoon?"
"You know I would, Nanao-chan," Shunsui said grinning. "But the 13th has a special assignment they need my help on."
Jyuushiro couldn't contain his snort of laughter at the comment and Nanao rolled her eyes. "I'm not in the mood to argue with you. Just go with Ukitake Taicho and leave me in peace." She maneuvered around him quickly and headed for her desk.
Even Jyuushiro was frowning now. It was unlike her to pick her battles with his friend. In fact, she never picked, she fought every single one generally no matter how futile, and if she wasn't going to fight it she at least put on a show of trying.
"Nanao-chan," Shunsui persisted. "What were you reading before?"
"A form from the 1st chastising your latest party efforts," Nanao said with a sigh tossing the balled up paper into the trashcan under her desk. "Nothing new there."
"Are you sick then?" he asked.
"What?" the Fukutaicho snapped shooting him a glare. "What are you talking about? I'm not sick."
"Then what's upset you?"
"I'm not upset," she said firmly and pulled a piece of paperwork towards her signaling the conversation was over.
"Come on, Shunsui," Jyuushiro said hesitantly. "Let's go or we'll be late for that um, assignment."
Shunsui ignored him and sidled up to her desk. "So what's wrong?" he asked making a motion to sit down on the edge of it and her sharp glare switched back to him.
"Sir, if you sit on my desk and disturb any of my piles of work you will severely regret it," Nanao warned, her fingers turning white around the brush she was holding too tightly.
"Yare, yare, Nanao-chan." Shunsui backed off and held up his hands in submission. The girl relaxed marginally, and then in a lightening quick move he reached down and snatched the paper she'd dumped in the bin.
Nanao gave a straggled noise and leapt up from her seat. Jyuushiro expected to see kido start to fly and was shocked when the small woman lunged at his friend and tackled him to the floor. Shunsui was obviously just as surprised or she'd never have been able to knock him off balance.
"You have no right," she growled trying to reach the hand he'd instinctively held up clutching the paper as far away from her as he could on the floor. She moved to crawl towards it and instantly had to stop as Shunsui made a move to roll them both over and pin her. Nanao slammed back down on him with a knee between Shunsui's legs. "I wouldn't," she threatened coolly.
"You'd never," Shunsui challenged meeting her glare.
"You've never had me in this situation," Nanao said arching a brow from where she still lay pinning him haphazardly to the floor. "You don't know what I would do."
"I've imagined it more than once," Shunsui teased grinning up at her. "And it's been fantastic every time."
"You're a masochist then?" Nanao asked sharply.
"I can't imagine the 1st would take a Fukutaicho kneeing her Taicho in the crotch well."
"I'll tell them I was being sexually harassed," Nanao said with a small dangerous grin. "I highly doubt I'll get more than a 'don't do it again' lecture. Now give me that paper."
"Party reprimand, huh?" Kyouraku muttered not making a move to bring his extended arm closer to his side.
"Give it to me," she demanded.
"What do I get in return?"
"I figured not getting kneed in the groin would be enough," Nanao said smartly.
"Well it isn't," Shunsui said, and Jyuushiro almost groaned. The idiot really didn't think she would do it. On a normal day Jyuushiro would agree, but on a normal day the girl would have thought to just fire off a kido and burn the paper up and would have never ever contemplated physically tackling her Taicho.
"Taicho," she hissed. "Give me back the letter."
"Oh it's a letter now is it?"
"It's personal," Nanao replied sharply. "Hand it over." The woman again tried to squirm up the length of him and reach the paper in his hand, and was forced to stop when he started to get loose of her grip once more.
"Oh, Nanao-chan don't stop," Shunsui mock moaned, laughter dancing across his features. She had flattened herself against him chest to chest, legs tangled up with his and one arm pinning his own down while the other stretched in vain for his upraised hand.
"You lecherous pervert," Nanao hissed wrenching backwards and away from him.
"I didn't ask you to jump me, Nanao-chan," Shunsui said with a chuckle as he got to his feet. "Although I would grab things more often if I knew that was the result."
"You have no right to read my mail, sir," Nanao answered stiffly staring at the paper in his hands.
"Yare, yare." He held the letter out to her, which she snatched back hastily. "I wish I didn't have to steal things, and you'd just tell me what's wrong instead."
"It isn't any of your business," Nanao said crossly. "It's just a letter from my mother."
"I've seen you get letters from your mother," Shunsui pushed. "You set them on fire and go back to working. Why's this one different?"
"It just is. Ukitake Taicho, are you not going to be late for your assignment? You can blame the tardiness on my Taicho of course."
"Of course," Jyuushiro said getting the hint. She wasn't an idiot. She knew they were going somewhere else, but she was so desperate to have Shunsui gone she didn't care. "Shun, we should go."
"Fine," Shunsui pouted. "But I want it noted that I'm only leaving under protest."
"Duly noted, sir," Nanao said sitting down behind her desk once more. "Now get out."
"This one is nice," Jyuushiro said contemplating the painting in front of him. "What do you think?"
"What do you think it was about?" Shunsui asked.
Jyuushiro sighed. He knew his friend was not talking about the painting. An hour in to the gallery and Shunsui was still obsessing about the damn letter. "As I've said many times before," Jyuushiro repeated in exasperation. "I don't know, and maybe if you didn't harass her all the time she would have just told you."
"Do you think her mother is trying to get her to quit the Gotei 13 again?" Shunsui asked ignoring him completely. "The woman hates that she works here. Tried to make her quit several times over the years. Although those letters usually just get an eye roll."
"Then it probably isn't that," Jyuushiro said barely even paying attention anymore. He supposed he was just going to have to make his purchase choices on his own. Usually Shunsui was very good with art, but apparently there was no hope today. He moved over to the next painting.
"Not that one," Shunsui said absently.
"Why not?"
"It's Takumi's."
Jyuushiro looked at the plaque next to the painting and sighed. Takumi was a very talented artist and he wouldn't mind having one, but Shunsui knew the man personally as Takumi was a good friend of Shunsui's brother, and Shunsui had always hated him. Jyuushiro had never quite been able to ascertain why.
"Maybe someone in her family is sick?" Shunsui said switching back to his previous obsession.
"Possibly," Jyuushiro answered walking on and letting his friend trail behind him.
"Although why wouldn't she just tell me that?" Shunsui asked. "Her dad got pneumonia really badly one winter and she just told me and took off work to stay with them."
"Maybe she's the one who's sick," Jyuushiro said distractedly.
"You think it was a letter from a healer?" Shunsui asked looking horrified. "Wouldn't Retsu-san have informed me if my Fukutaicho was in danger."
"I'm sure she would have, forget I said anything," Jyuushiro scrambled to cover up, realizing the path this would send his friend down.
"Although what if it were personal like cancer or something? That wouldn't necessarily affect her job yet so why would I be told?" Shunsui brooded unhappily.
"I'm sure Ise-san doesn't have cancer,"
"But she could," Shunsui answered stubbornly.
"It's more likely that she's pregnant or something than cancer," Jyuushiro replied offhand and could have slapped himself when he heard it come out of his mouth.
"She's what?" Shunsui yelled causing more than a few heads to turn towards them in the gallery.
"It was just a comment about how ridiculous it was to think she has cancer without any proof," Jyuushiro said making apologetic eyes at the rest of the patrons. "I'm sure she's not pregnant. You'd have known if she was seeing someone. The two of you spend more time together than altogether healthy and rumors travel faster than wildfire in the Seireitei."
"Doesn't mean she didn't sleep with someone," Shunsui said. "I wouldn't have known about that, and Rangiku-chan said that Nanao-chan does occasionally date and get laid. That would explain how upset she was."
"Shunsui, she wasn't that upset," Jyuushiro said rolling his eyes. "I couldn't get anything different off her reiatsu. Don't you think Ise-san of all people would be a reiatsu mess if she found out she was knocked up when she didn't want to be? Besides, she's a kido master. I highly doubt her contraceptive would have let her down."
"You're saying she wanted to get pregnant?" Shunsui asked entirely missing the point.
"Oh for the love of," Jyuushiro started. "Shunsui, sometimes I swear you are worse than my third seats. I'm sure Nanao-san isn't pregnant. You know she has issues with her family. Her mother probably just insulted her or something. Now move on."
"I still say there is something weird going on," Shunsui grumbled following compliantly behind his friend.
"Oh, Shunsui-kun!" a sweet voice called from the crowd.
Shunsui turned his head to see Matsumoto picking her way through the bar towards the table he and Jyuushiro were sitting at. Jyuushiro had suggested they go out after he bought some art pieces and Shunsui had grudgingly agreed. He was more than aware that his friend was trying to keep him from harassing his Fukutaicho. Shunsui knew it wouldn't get him anywhere to badger Nanao, but he knew something was wrong and it was killing him not to know what it was. They'd known each other for over a hundred years and he didn't like being left out of her life. They were friends after all and he'd do anything to help her out of a tight spot.
"Ukitake-san," Rangiku greeted.
"Matsumoto-san."
"How are two of my favorite boys?" Rangiku asked squeezing into the booth and hip checking Shunsui to make him move over. She grabbed the bottle of sake on their table and helped herself to it. "Enjoying your Friday night?"
"Is Nanao-chan pregnant?" Shunsui asked impatiently. Once that one was answered maybe he'd be able to relax. He was not looking forward to having to hunt down some man and demand he take responsibility. Jyuushiro groaned and Rangiku stared at him in shock.
"You got Nanao-chan pregnant?" Rangiku shrieked. It was a good thing the bar was noisy or there would have been one hell of a rumor going around the next day.
"It certainly wasn't me, if she is," Shunsui said.
"Wait, then why do you think she's pregnant?"
"Because I made a stupid comment," Jyuushiro sighed.
"You got her pregnant?" Rangiku asked wide-eyed.
"No," Jyuushiro answered looking like he was struggling to stop himself from slamming his head into the table in frustration. "Ise-san is not pregnant. I just made an off handed comment about the fact that maybe she could be and this idiot blew it out of proportion."
Shunsui glared at his friend for the idiot comment, but turned his attention back to Rangiku. "Nanao-chan got a letter this afternoon that upset her. She said it was from her mother, but who knows who it was really from or what it was about. She certainly won't share with me."
"Oh that," Rangiku said settling back. "It's nothing to worry about I'm sure."
"You know what it is?" Shunsui asked attentively.
"Well, not this letter, no," Rangiku said with a shrug. "I haven't seen Nanao-chan at all today, but you know as well as I do she doesn't get along with her mother. Her mom's been trying to get her to quit the Gotei 13 since forever. Says it's not a position befitting of a young lady. She's probably just trying to marry her off again."
"Again?" Shunsui asked horrified. "I wasn't aware her mother had tried to marry her off before." There were few things he could think of that suited his Nanao-chan less than an arranged marriage to some prat from the upper districts.
"Oh yeah, at least once every couple years her mom finds some 'wonderful' man that Nanao simply must meet and then tries to arrange a marriage," Rangiku said with a shrug. "Must be about that time again. In fact, the last one I remember was a long time ago so I wouldn't be surprised. It's sort of overdue. That last guy was a riot."
Shunsui quirked an eyebrow at her and poured her another glass of sake, silently encouraging her to continue. "I mean he was totally wrong for Nanao-chan," Rangiku said with a laugh. "You know she comes from a family of wealthy merchants. Well, her mother set her up with this guy that's been divorced like three times and has this silk empire. Super rich. Huge asshole, but a fun one. Nanao-chan begged me to come on the obligatory date her mother had set up for them. He spent the whole night flirting with everything in sight. Offered us a large sum of money to make out with each other, which I still say was a mistake not to take. Ended up taking us to a strip club after dinner."
"Nanao-chan willingly went to a strip club?" Shunsui asked surprised.
"Well, I don't know about willingly," Rangiku answered as she accepted his refill. "The guy invited us out to a bar after dinner and Nanao-chan wanted to leave, but I pointed out if she left her mother would claim she didn't give the guy a chance and would force her to go out with him again. So she basically grudgingly accepted and then the bar turned out to be a strip club. I thought Nanao-chan was going to murder him when he popped some kind of pill and offered to buy us both lap dances. I've never seen her storm out angrier, and I've seen her storm out on you."
"Why would her mother set her up with such a horrible man?" Jyuushiro asked.
"Eh, he was rich and well-to-do," Rangiku answered. "I doubt her mom knew what an asshole he was. Even if she did I don't know that she'd care. She always planned on using her daughters for advantageous marriages. It's why Nanao-chan's career pisses her off so much."
"But her family sent her to the academy," Jyuushiro argued.
"Her family sent her to the academy to learn how to control her reiatsu and not bring rampaging hollows down on their house. It was only her dad's influence that allowed her to stay beyond that."
"She's a grown woman now," Jyuushiro said. "It isn't like they can make her quit."
"Obviously not," Rangiku agreed. "But her mother and sister do a good job of making her life hell, and Nanao-chan would never cut them out of her life completely as long as her dad is still alive."
"Why didn't I know any of this?" Shunsui asked hurt.
"You knew about the relationship with her family," Rangiku said perplexed.
"Not about the arranged marriage dates."
Rangiku laughed. "Well, why in the world would she tell you about the shitty dates she has to suffer through once in a while? Some things are best left for girl talk. One guy her mom set her up with was so old he could have been in the Soutaicho's age bracket. He was some minor nobility so I guess her mother thought it was worth it. At one point he assured her he was still fertile. Oh man, I hope her mother did set her up on another date. It makes for the absolute best stories when Nanao-chan comes over raging about them after."
"Taking pleasure from your friend's suffering?" Shunsui asked trying his best to sound offended. "I'm disappointed in you."
Jyuushiro snorted into his sake. "You take pleasure from your friend's suffering all the time. Remember when that woman in the Rukongai got weirdly obsessed with me in the Academy and you kept encouraging her and telling her I wanted to have children as soon as possible?"
"Come on, that was harmless fun," Shunsui said grinning. That woman had followed Jyuushiro around for months every time he entered the 1st district, offering to make babies with him until Jyuushiro had taken to hiding in the Seireitei. She'd finally married some 1st district man, but Jyuushiro still avoided the section of the 1st where they lived.
"Either way it's not like it matters," Rangiku said with a shrug. "She'll have a bad night and get another year or so off the hook. Besides it's sort of a blessing in disguise for you, Shunsui-kun."
"How do you figure that?"
"The more horrible dates she goes on, the more likely she is to never get married or leave the Gotei 13," Rangiku said with a giggle.
"Are you saying it's not my winning personality that is keeping her with the 8th?" Shunsui asked with a laugh. It died out though as he watched the last women he ever expected to see in the bar working her way through the crowd. "Am I hallucinating, or is that Nanao-chan?"
"She's probably here to yell at you for the work you skipped out on earlier," Jyuushiro said.
"Or to tell me about the new set up!" Rangiku said excitedly. "I'll get her attention." Rangiku started to climb up on the bench and Shunsui caught her wrist stopping her.
"It's already handled," he said nodding over to Nanao as she whipped around in their direction and located them.
"How'd she find us?" Rangiku frowned.
"Just a reiatsu touch is all," Shunsui explained with a shrug. He'd reached out and tapped her with his reiatsu to call her over.
"Isn't that a bit personal?" Jyuushiro asked. Most people tried hard not to be aware of other people's reiatsus unless they were trying to track them for business reasons since monitoring them was considered rude, let alone making contact with them. Touching someone else's reiatsu had started bar fights before.
"Eh, Nanao-chan has to use it all the time to try and find me when I'm hiding or to reprimand me when I'm slacking off in meetings and she can't verbally yell at me," Shunsui said grinning as his Fukutaicho picked her way over. "I guess I stopped thinking about it as a personal intrusion. She's never told me off for it, and she's yelled at me for everything else so I guess its ok."
"I need to speak with you," his prim little Fukutaicho said as she made it to the table. A man near her started yelling for his friends and Nanao shot him a cold glare that quieted him instantly. She was obviously not happy to be out at the bar.
"Sure, sure," Rangiku said happily. "Your mother set you up again? It can't be worse than the guy that tried to shove your hand into his pants on the walk home."
Nanao flushed bright red and Shunsui decided he was going to follow her to whatever date her mother set her up with this time. He didn't care if Nanao wanted him there or not. No one was going to attempt to shove his Nanao-chan's hands anywhere near their privates ever again without her express permission. What was her mother thinking? If she was set on snagging Nanao someone rich or a noble there were better options she could be securing for her daughter at the very least.
"No, I need to speak with Kyouraku Taicho," Nanao corrected.
"Nanao-chan you said I could go with Jyuu today," he whined instantly. "I didn't even sneak out."
"It isn't about that," Nanao said sternly.
"Oh? Then what is it about?"
"It's personal," Nanao admitted flushing again. "And I'm not going to discuss it here."
"Does Nanao-chan need me to help her work off some of her pent up sexual aggression?" he cooed just to see her face contort. He was not disappointed.
"Never mind," she said with a glare. "Ukitake Taicho maybe you can help me."
"Me?" his best friend asked surprised.
"Hey now," Shunsui butted in. "You asked me first."
"And you declined," she said.
"I didn't decline. Nanao-chan just can't take a joke."
"I'm not in the mood for jokes."
"Answer one question, and then I'll go with you."
"Fine," she said crossing her arms impatiently.
"Are you pregnant?"
"No," she replied flatly. "And I'm not even going to ask why you think I am. Can we go now?"
"Far be it for me to deny a lady a personal request," he said with a leer. She rolled her eyes and moved efficiently towards the door.
"I vote she's finally snapped and she's going to strip him naked, tie him up, force him to do paperwork, and leave him in the 1st to be discovered on Monday," Rangiku said as Shunsui scrambled to bump her out of the way and get out of the booth.
"Whatever it is, it can't be good if she's asking Shunsui for personal help," Jyuushiro agreed. Shunsui shot them both a disgruntled look before sweeping out of the bar after Nanao.
He watched her as she paced back and forth. Nanao had shunpoed back to the empty office and he'd followed willingly enough, but now he'd spent the past ten minutes watching her pace. He contemplated letting her continue, but knowing Nanao it would last all night if she was really mulling over a problem.
"Hey, Nanao-chan?" She jumped as if startled to find him still in the room and he suppressed the need to laugh. "Was there a reason you wanted to come back to the office? You're starting to freak me out with all this not yelling."
Nanao sighed and collapsed down on the couch dropping her face into her hands. Shunsui wasn't finding this remotely funny anymore. If it was something this serious maybe she really was terminally ill.
"Come on, Nanao-chan," he coaxed. "Tell me what's going on." He crossed the room to kneel down in front of her. He cocked his head to the side to meet her down turned eyes.
"You can't take this the wrong way," she said.
"I don't know what we're talking about so that's awfully hard to promise one way or the other."
"I didn't do it because I have any sort of romantic feelings for you," Nanao said standing up and restarting her pacing.
"Didn't do what?"
"I know it was stupid, but it was such an easy solution," she grumbled.
"Nanao-chan," he said getting back to his feet. He crossed the floor and gently grabbed her arms to stop her forced march. "Can you just tell me what's happening?"
"I told my family we were dating and that I was living with you," Nanao blurted.
"You what?"
Nanao blushed and looked down at her feet since he still had his hands on her arms and she couldn't move away from him. "I couldn't think of anything better to get my mom off my back. She's obsessed with marrying me off and having me quit the Gotei 13, and she always set me up on dates with these horrible men, and finally I couldn't take it anymore. So I lied and said I was seeing someone wealthy and noble to get her to leave me alone. She kept pushing and I panicked and just said the first name that would satisfy her. I knew she wouldn't love you being a part of the Gotei 13, but you're nobility and rich so she couldn't be too upset. With all the rumors floating about, I assumed that any cursory investigation would probably say we really were together. Your total inability to be in the same room as me and not flirt helped as well."
"So your mother was ok with you moving in with a man you weren't married to?" Shunsui asked trying to process everything.
"She was after we'd been dating for two years," Nanao said with a shrug.
"We've been dating for two years?" Shunsui asked letting go of his hold on her arms in pure surprise.
"No," Nanao said going back to pacing. "We've been dating for four years, and living together for two of them. Living together was the only thing I could think of to up the ante and keep her away from my life when she started to get suspicious. If I said we were getting married she'd have expected a wedding, and if I said I was pregnant, well I would have had to get pregnant."
"Not that I'm not flattered," he started, "but why exactly did you tell your family this?"
"Like I said I couldn't take her anymore, ok?" Nanao said throwing up her hands. "I couldn't go on one more arranged date and I was tired of defending my choice to stay with the Gotei 13. Do you know how little I've had to deal with her since she started to believe I was in a serious relationship with you? It was a small white lie and no one got hurt."
"So why are you telling me this now?" he asked, still too shocked to tease her.
"They're coming to visit," Nanao wailed. Shunsui had never heard her sound so desperate in her life.
"Who? Your family?"
"Yes," Nanao said. "They decided to come for the week of Tanabata to 'celebrate' my birthday."
"You don't think that's why they're coming?"
"They've never felt the need before," Nanao said harshly. "The only reason my mother would deign to make a personal appearance in the Seireitei is to torture me."
"So what are you going to do about it?" Shunsui asked.
"Well," Nanao said quietly, and then looked at him with an expression he'd never witnessed from her before. She was begging. Big hopeful eyes and a small pout to her lips. Oh, he was in for it. "I was hoping that maybe it'd be alright if we all stayed with you and we could just fake that we were living together? It'd only be a week, and we could both be at the office most of the time."
"You want to move in with me?"
"Only for a week while my family is here," she said desperately. "I can't tell them the truth. If I do, she'll never leave me alone again. Do you really want to see me married off to some rich asshole merchant? She's convinced no man of any real caliber would ever want a solider for a wife."
"Just tell her no," Shunsui advised. He was trying to figure out when they had switched roles and she was the one with the harebrained schemes and he was the one with the logical solutions.
"Kyouraku Taicho, please," she said. "I won't even make you do paperwork for the whole week."
"Make it a month," he negotiated without thinking. "And a free pass to drink in the office."
"Never," Nanao said glaring.
"Then you'll just have to tell them the truth," Shunsui said. "She can't tie you up and force you to say 'I do'."
"Fine," Nanao spat. "Maybe Ukitake Taicho will help. I'll just tell them we broke up and I'm seeing him. My mother won't love that, but he's still minor nobility, and it'd be much easier to keep them out in Ugendo." Having made a new plan, Nanao moved efficiently towards the door.
Shunsui caught her arm and stopped her. She was truly desperate if she was still set on this strategy. "Two weeks of no paperwork, and I get to hold my birthday party on division grounds this year with as much alcohol as I want."
Nanao narrowed her eyes at him, but then relented. "Deal."
"You know this is madness, right?" Although she must know that already if she was agreeing to let him host a party that had almost destroyed an entire barracks the last time he'd hosted it before she'd banned it from the grounds forty years ago.
"You haven't met my family," Nanao defended. "We don't all luck out and get parents who think we're the greatest thing that ever existed."
"Hey, my parents don't think I'm the greatest thing that ever existed," Shunsui defended. "They just think I'm the greatest thing that's existed since my brother was born and before their grandchildren were born." His parents had sent him off to Yamamoto when he was young for similar reasons as Nanao's family, but unlike her family had been delighted with his career. He was a spare anyway since his older brother had been more than happy to settle down and lead the clan so it had been a good thing that he'd found his own niche. Shunsui had three nephews and a niece and was adored whenever he ventured home.
Nanao snorted and shook him off her arm. "Anyway they'll be here tomorrow evening, so I'll drop by in the morning to make it look like I actually live there too if that's ok."
"Fine by me," he said with a shrug. "There has to be something more to this than just your mother though."
"What do you mean?"
"Why is this lie so important? It's more than your mother," he coaxed. Nanao wasn't someone who got this crazed by a few bad dates.
"It's not."
"You're a terrible liar," he chastised.
"My family would disagree. It's just because of my mother, ok?" she said tightly.
"Are you sure this isn't all a ruse to get closer to me?" he teased, trying a different tactic. She obviously wasn't going to tell him if he was serious so perhaps he could annoy the truth out of her.
"Absolutely not," Nanao said. "The last thing I want is to get closer to you."
"Then why pick me?" he asked. "Out of all the men in the Gotei 13. Kuchiki would have definitely fulfilled your mother's standards, or Jyuu, or even Omaeda."
"Yuck," Nanao said scrunching up her face at the last suggestion. "You and Ukitake Taicho were the only plausible candidates since I actually spend a good bit of time with both of you and everyone knows it. When she pushed to know who it was I was seeing, I just said the first name I could think of."
"Which was mine," he said with a satisfied grin.
"Oh, don't think so highly of yourself," Nanao said disdainfully. "How could it have been anyone else? I spend the most time with you, and not by choice."
"Don't lie. You love spending time with me. It's why you chase me around all the time."
"I chase you around because you're an irresponsible lout, Kyouraku Taicho."
"Well now, that is going to have to be the first thing to change," he said. He was really warming up to this plan. It provided such ample opportunity to drive her crazy, and there was little he enjoyed more. Besides that he'd wanted to meet her family for years.
"What is?"
"I highly doubt you'd call your lover of four years by such formal address," he said.
Nanao glared at him, but promptly said, "Fine, Shunsui."
It gave him a little thrill to hear her say his name for the first time, and he couldn't hide his grin. "See, not so hard."
"Of course not," Nanao said with a huff. "I've been calling you Shunsui for four years whenever I go home. I've just never said it in front of you."
"I feel like I've missed out on fun," he pouted. "Didn't your family ever wonder why I didn't visit with you?"
"You're a Taicho," Nanao said with a shrug. "I told them you were busy. It wasn't that difficult when I avoid going home at all costs."
"Now they'll think I've been neglectful."
"They already think you cheat on me frequently due to your regular liaisons and the gossip mill. My mother likes to make snide, not so subtle, comments about it, but she clearly thinks that allowing it is the only way I'm keeping you. Besides your dedication to never having a long term committed relationship worked in favor of my lie, because I never had to worry about you seriously starting to see someone else. Affairs my lie can withstand, but if you'd gotten engaged or something it would have been disastrous. It really doesn't matter if my family thinks you're good to me, just as long as you continue to be rich and noble." she said sensibly, which was a fair enough critique of his relationship ability. Why would he want to tie himself down to one woman when there were so many willing to play? He'd never had an interest in settling down and honestly didn't see the appeal of having someone nag after you all the time. Quick and easy was definitely better. "Well except for my father, but he'll hate you regardless."
"Wait, why is your father going to hate me?" Shunsui asked horrified. He'd been disliked before, but never hated, and never before the person had even met him. Although if he was a father and thought some idiot boy was cheating on his daughter he'd probably want to strangle the prick too. One more reason to never have children.
"He's hated every guy I've ever been with," she shrugged.
"How many guys have you been with?" Shunsui asked curiously. Nanao was so private about her personal life that he'd always wondered.
"I don't see how that matters," Nanao said. She shot him a glare and started moving towards the door.
"Isn't it something a boyfriend of four years would know?"
"I doubt it will come up in conversation."
"Still aren't there some things we would know about each other that would tip your family off that we haven't been dating?"
"What's my favorite food?"
"Sweet bean jelly," he said without hesitation.
"The tea I hate?"
"Powdered green tea."
"See, we'll be fine," she said rolling her eyes.
"Anyone could know that about you," he said.
"It'll be fine," she said firmly. "I'll see you in the morning."
"See you then, darling," he cooed after her. She slammed the door behind her and Shunsui smiled. He was actually looking forward to the coming week. He needed some good intrigue in his life.
A/N: Today is my birthday and I am officially too old to still be writing fanfictions, so I'm celebrating by posting the first chapter in yet another long story. Good news or bad news is I think I'm going to do long chapters so it doesn't drag on forever. If you're here for fluff you're in for a good time! Make my day and tell me what you think so far!
