Author's note: I do not own Bleach or its characters.

Inked

Nanao had forgotten why she thought this was such a bad idea. She giggled as Rangiku drank yet another man under the table. Her friend had insisted that the two of them go out and celebrate. Today was the fifth anniversary of Nanao making lieutenant, and her friend hadn't been willing to take no for an answer. Nanao had tried to impose some limits on her friend, so it was just the two of them instead of the whole mob that Rangiku had wanted to originally bring. Nanao had been unsure at first, but after her first three drinks (something that was bright green), she had gotten into the spirit of things. She was on her seventh or eighth drink by now; she wasn't quite sure which. Rangiku had ordered her something called a Bridesmaid which was lemony and fizzy and quite good.

Rangiku clapped her hands together and surveyed the bar. It seemed like she had run out of people willing to challenge her to a drinking contest. Shooting a mischievous smile at her friend, Rangiku rose to her feet and pulled Nanao up after her.

"Come on, Nanao-chan. I've got an idea."

The pair of them couldn't seem to stop laughing as Rangiku led them through the streets of the Rukongai. The little shop Rangiku brought them to wasn't any place that Nanao had ever been before, but the alcohol in her system kept her mellow, even when she realized that this was a tattoo shop. Rangiku was already chatting with the owner. It was clear that she knew what she wanted. Nanao idly leafed through some of the books of designs while Rangiku got situated. Maybe she should get a tattoo too.

Within half an hour, Rangiku had a silver chrysanthemum tattoo on her back that was just low enough that the collar of uniform would cover it. It was about the size of Nanao's first, and she thought it was rather pretty. And it did suit Rangiku. But Nanao knew what she wanted for herself. There was this odd feeling in the back of her mind that there was something about all this that she should really remember, but she was too busy explaining her design to the man to really think about it.

She groaned. Why wasn't someone killing all the little hollows attacking her skull? Nanao barely opened her eyes only to slam them back shut. It was far too bright. Whose bright idea had been to put her bed in the path of the morning sun streaming through her bedroom window? Nanao whimpered and pulled the covers over her head. She needed to kill Rangiku. That way this would never happen again. Her friend was the only one that could talk her into these situations.

Nanao managed to heave herself out of bed and make it to her bathroom. She washed her mouth out with some water and winced at her reflection. A night spent drinking did not agree with her. Thankfully, there was aspirin in her medicine cabinet. Nanao quickly downed two of the white pills. Thank goodness she had today off. She had absolutely no desire to go into the office in this state.

By the time she had finished fixing herself a cup of tea, Nanao's headache had died down to a dull ache, and she had become aware of an ache on her back accompanied by some slight itchiness, like one would get with a healing wound. She frowned at that. She couldn't remember getting injured last night. And there was another itchy patch down by her tailbone. Nanao slipped her hand down the collar of the yukata she slept to find a gauze bandage just an inch or two below the edge of the collar.

What on earth had she done last night? Nanao retreated back to the bathroom to try and get a better look. What she found, with the help of a mirror, were two bandages. Nanao frowned. Clearly she hadn't been badly injured, but it was very odd placement to get hurt in the first place. She'd leave them there for now though. She shook her head and sighed. She really should know better than to go out drinking with Rangiku.

After dressing, Nanao moved on to fixing herself breakfast. She didn't really want anything more than toast, and she needed to figure a few things out. Somehow, asking Rangiku just what they had done last night didn't seem like a very good idea to her. Hopefully, some memory of last night would come back to her. Nanao had not been extremely drunk very often, but losing entire chunks of time was not typical even when she did get completely wasted. Then again, she didn't know just how much she had drunk last night either.

Nanao sighed. There really wasn't much she could do at this point except remember not to let Rangiku drag her out drinking again. The injuries thankfully were not serious, and she had all day to recover. By tomorrow she would probably be back to normal and could go back to work without needing to worry about anything.

It was two days later when Nanao finally took the bandages off. She had always been careful with injuries, and it had been clear to her eye that the bandages had been professionally done. The itching had stopped, and she had hoped by this point that the two injuries were mostly healed. So after work Nanao planned on a nice hot bath to relax. She had undressed and then went to work on removing the bandages. It was never a pleasant task but best done quickly.

The one on her lower back was the first she pulled off, and Nanao frowned when she found black smudges on it. That didn't seem right. Still, she reached back and pulled the other one off. When that bandage had not only black smudges but also some pink and what looked like a trace of green and yellow, a sinking feeling settled in her stomach. She maneuvered herself, so she could see her back in the mirror, thankful that her hair was still pinned up.

"Damn it, Rangiku!" Nanao hissed; she just knew this was her friends fault.

Right above Nanao's tailbone the bird of paradise symbol that was the Eighth Division's logo was tattooed in black ink. It was no bigger than Nanao's thumbprint, but it was still there. And that was the more modest of the two tattoos. Right below her neck, just low enough to be hidden by her uniform, was a tattoo the size of her fist. A pink cherry blossom in full bloom. Artistically, it was beautiful. Nanao's issue was the fact that it was on her skin. And it probably wouldn't come off easily either.

She groaned and turned away from the mirror. What was she going to do about this? Besides kill Rangiku. That was a given. Unwilling to let her new discovery ruin her planned relaxation, Nanao stepped into the bath, her mind awhirl. She thanked whatever deity that had been looking after her that neither of the tattoos were in easy to see places. It was just as well. She definitely didn't want to explain the tattoos to anyone else.

Because they did have significance. Nanao knew exactly why she had chosen those particular designs. She wouldn't lie to herself about that, but she would prefer not to discuss it with any one else. The Bird of Paradise was the easiest to explain. It was the symbol of the Eighth, and the Eighth was very much part of who Nanao was. It had been her home and family since she had graduated from the academy, and it was there were she felt she belonged. Nanao probably could have lived it down if that was the only tattoo she had.

But the second tattoo, that would be harder to explain away. It would be hard to not to make a connection to her captain given that it was a cherry blossom. And it probably had been chosen with Shunsui Kyoraku in mind. However, while Nanao no longer denied to herself that she was very much in love with her captain, it was not something she felt like sharing with anyone. Especially her captain. She could see that turning out several ways, and none of them were very good in the long run. Men like Shunsui Kyoraku did not fall head over heels in love with women like her. Once the thrill of the chase was gone, the affection soon followed.

Nanao sighed and rubbed her temples. Well, what was done was done. There wasn't anything she could do about it now. She would just have to hope Rangiku was discreet about her newly acquired tattoos and keep them to herself.

Nanao never really forgot about her tattoos as much as they became less of an issue at the forefront of her mind. Rangiku thankfully had never mentioned them when the two women were in company, and no one had ever actually seen either of the tattoos. So Nanao resigned herself to their existence, and they simply became a fact of life. Something like her feelings for her captain.

Rangiku did tease her some about the tattoos in private, but her friend was surprisingly considerate about the whole topic. Then again, given the state of Rangiku's relationship with Captain Ichimaru (Nanao assumed that they had a relationship even if neither of them seemed to want anyone to realize it.), maybe that wasn't so surprising. Ran had shown off her own tattoo to Nanao, though for the most part, the woman didn't make a big deal of hers either. In fact, Nanao would guess she was one of the few people who knew about Rangiku's tattoo.

In some ways, Nanao was rather fond of the tattoos. They did mean something special to her. And they satisfied a little part of her that liked to be rebellious. So the years passed, and Nanao's tattoos remained a secret. She also managed to somehow fall even more in love with her captain. And she still refused to mention any word of that to the man. She would be content with being his lieutenant. Or at least that's what she told herself. There were some nights when Nanao wanted to just give into her feelings, but morning's light put her in a less lonely mood. Besides, Nanao wasn't sure if she wanted to trade decades of friendship for a little romance, and she was still fairly sure that was what would happen.

But the tattoos really weren't at the front of her mind most of the time. Especially not before, during, and after a battle.

They were the victors in the battle. Worn, exhausted, injured victors, but still the victors. Nanao herself had some minor injuries, but she was more concern with the condition of her fellow division members. Even her captain was exhausted. Nanao had quickly taken control of arranging their return to the Seireitei and making sure all the injured were triaged and taken care of. In was only as she was sending the last group back through the gate that she really became aware of her captain's eyes on her.

"Are you ready to go home, my Nanao-chan?"

She nodded, for once not reprimanding him for the nickname. "Yes, sir."

They had barely made it to the other side of the gate when Nanao found herself trapped in Kyoraku's arms, held tight against him. She allowed the embrace for a few moments, knowing that she had probably worried him when she'd gone charging into two Menos Grande without backup. Nanao hadn't seen any other choice; it was either that or let their Eighth and Ninth Seats be killed. Still, she knew that her captain was a little overprotective of her.

However, when she tried to wiggle free of the embrace after a minute or so, Nanao found that she was well and truly trapped. One of her captain's arms held her firmly against him while his other hand gently explored the ruined areas of her uniform, checking for injuries. His warm hand on her bare skin was oddly soothing. At least until it paused just below her neck where her collar had been caught and then ripped free. The moment Nanao realized he'd found her tattoo, she tensed.

"My Nanao-chan has been keeping secrets from her Shunsui," his voice was gently teasing.

Nanao couldn't find any words to say as he turned her around to examine the tattoo. Soon his fingers were lightly tracing the flower.

"An interesting choice for my Nanao," Shunsui's voice was a low rumble. He pressed a kiss to her temple. "And here I thought I was alone in my affections, but it seems I'm not the only one marked by love."

It took a moment for Nanao to process that not only had he figured out what her tattoo meant, but he was also admitting that he might have done something similar in regards to her. Shunsui took advantage of her momentary confusion to turn her so he could kiss her lips. And Nanao kissed him back, too tired to fight her own feelings for once. Besides, it felt so good to be held by Shunsui. He pulled away after a moment and cupped her face in his hands.

"Are you sure you want this, Nanao? Once I have you, I'm not about to let you go."

She met his eyes. "Yes."

She had wanted this since before she had gotten a cherry blossom tattooed on her back. Nanao still was a little uncertain and scared about just what might happen if she let this happen, but she trusted Shunsui not to hurt her. And she couldn't keep trying to avoid this any longer. It was what she wanted even if it scared her a little. This time she would let her heart lead instead of her head.

So Nanao took the imitative, pushed up on her toes, and kissed him thoroughly. Shunsui kissed her back, pulled away and then kissed her nose.

"Let's get you to the Fourth. We can celebrate after Retsu checks you out."

Nanao just smiled and shook her head. Some things would never change; Shunsui wouldn't be Shunsui if he wasn't overprotective. And she wouldn't be herself if she didn't love him, so this hopefully was a step in the right direction. As Shunsui began to herd her towards the Fourth Division buildings, Nanao's curiosity couldn't help but wanting to know.

"So what is your tattoo of?"

Shunsui blushed.

It was actually several months later when she discovered just what Shunsui's tattoo was. In part that was because of the insanity that came after major battles, and in part it was because Shunsui seemed to think if he moved their relationship forward too fast she would revert back to old habits. That wasn't likely, but Nanao was willing to take her time with this relationship; she was planning on it lasting for quite awhile.

But they had eventually ended up in bed together, and that had been when Nanao had discovered that he had the constellations of Lyra and Aquila, each with the stars Vega and Altair emphasized, tattooed on his left shoulder. Vega was in the same color as Nanao's eyes while Altair was in a shade of green that Nanao had often associated with her captain's reaitsu. And given that the romantic legend those two stars were associated with was also associated with Nanao's birthday, it was easy to infer why Shunsui had chosen the design. And it did fit his romantic and sentimental side.

It also quite clearly marked his interest in her, and that satisfied a little possessive part of Nanao that she hadn't realized she had. All in all, Nanao was quite content to be curled up in bed beside Shunsui. She could hear rain on the roof above them, but she was warm and snug beside Shunsui, and there was no reason to get out of bed until much later. Shunsui kissed the back of her neck, just above her tattoo.

"Love you, Nanao-chan," he murmured sleepily.

Nanao just snuggled deeper into his embrace and smiled; there was no place she would rather be.