Title: The Language of Flowers
Series: Bleach
Focused Characters: Ise Nanao and Kyouraku Shunsui
Summary: Nanao finds herself dealing with her nature-loving captain and the hidden meaning in flowers.
Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns them.
Note: Okay, so I realize maybe Kyouraku would prefer hanakotoba (Japanese flower language) more, but floriography is more effective in this. (A red carnation symbolizes admiration or "My heart aches for you", by the way.) It's also my first time writing a Bleach fic, so I hope the two of them aren't too OOC. Constructive criticism would be nice!
Ise Nanao knew her captain had a vast appreciation for nature, but this was becoming a bit ridiculous.
Ever since the first day of spring arrived with its whole new array of flowers, she seemed to be overwhelmed with said flowers. Each day, but to her it seemed like every time the words "lovely Nanao-chan" or the like were said, she would receive a certain type of flower from her captain. At first, she would just push him, his words of love, and the flower of the day to the side with her book. But as each day came and passed, there would always be one flower on her desk by the end of the day. It was never a different kind of flower, but always a red tulip.
At one point she had tried to stop her captain from putting the tulips inside her office, even going to such lengths of saying, "Kyouraku-taichou, did you ever think I might have an allergy to pollen," but was immediately answered with, "But if my Nanao-chan truly couldn't handle my givings for my most lovely vice-captain ever, wouldn't she have thrown them away immediately?"
That was true. But Nanao would not admit to him that she had actually kept each flower given to her. She also would never admit that all the tulips were kept in a vase inside her bedroom.
However, the whole cycle seemed to end when she was given a white violet instead of the usual red tulip. When Shunsui handed it to her, she stopped in her tracks and looked at him questioningly. He just gave her a smile and walked away. She definitely thought that was unusual, but she brushed off her suspicions and went off to get her work done.
By the time she was back in her room after work and adding the last flower to the vase, she thought over the different actions from her captain and how the white violet dramatically stood out from all the red. A sudden idea had struck, interrupting her previous musings, leading her to go to one of her bookcases. Her fingers grazed over a number of books, then stopped at a book titled Hanakotoba, but realized that Kyouraku Shunsui would probably favor the more specific meanings from Western floriography compared to the simple meanings from hanakotoba. She looked in the direction of another book of floriography and flipped through the pages looking for what she wanted to see.
Nanao's eyes widened. A red tulip symbolized a declaration of love, which she didn't find too unusual from her captain, but a white violet meant... "Let's take a chance."
She stood there for a few moments, pondering what her next actions would be. After internal conflicts of deciding right and wrong, she found that the next half hour of her time was flipping through that book of floriography.
The next day Shunsui found himself doing the relatively normal... which happened to be sneaking away from his vice captain and the paperwork with a sake bottle. However, he was immediately caught when the voice of Nanao rang through the air. "Taichou, shouldn't you be working? I need you to sign the paperwork by this afternoon."
He turned around from his spot to face her with a childish pout. "But Nanao-chan, I was going to visit Jyuu-chan!"
"You can visit Ukitake-taichou later," she then proceeded to glare at him, "but I do need those signatures."
"But Na--" He was abruptly cut off with a "No buts." and was pointed into the direction of his office. He then found himself being forced inside the room, the door being shut by his vice-captain, with a command to sign those papers.
Realizing his Nanao-chan had her back against the other side of the door, Shunsui surprisingly went over to the desk to pick up a pen, but was then distracted by something else in his sight.
He looked over at the white jonquil next to the stack of papers and mused over the fact that a jonquil means "affection returned".
Shunsui then walked over to the door, opened the door, happy to see that his vice captain was still standing there. He then walked over to her, embraced her from behind, and whispered softly in her right ear, "I'll be giving you a red carnation tomorrow, Nanao."