Title: Cheshire Smile
Author: RandomHatTheif
Pairing: NnoiXNel
Type: One-shot Fluff
Rating: K+
The Disclaimer is at the bottom~
-Krista
He told himself he was better off.
He told himself life was better.
He kept telling himself -and anyone willing to listen- that everything was easier.
He concienced himself that getting no response from the replacement was better than what he used to get.
He told himself he didn't miss her.
Not one bit.
He went on and on about how much easier it was to think without her footsteps echoing past his door.
He kept repeating himself to Tesla, about how much nicer it was around this place.
He still told stories though, whenever the chance arose.
Stories about her following him around with her "stupid excuses" like:
"Oh please Nnoitra, someone has to keep the animal on its leash."
And he would make some comment about her being kinky.
At first she had glared at him with those big, mossy gold eyes of hers.
Eventually though -after he said it several times- she would just let a small smile slid ontp her lips.
Either way, he was glad she was gone.
Glad he didn't have her disgustingly blue-green hair to twist anymore -just to have the satisfaction of watching the expression on her face as she undid the tangles he'd made.
He ignored the looks the other Espada, and even Tesla, sent him once he really got going about the past.
"You should have been there Tesla," he let out a string of satisfied laughs, "her face was priceless! Such surprise! And the way her little wannabe bangs were in her eyes then too! Ah~ isn't it so much easier without having to deal with her?"
"Yes sir, she was such a handful wasn't she?" Tesla added agreeably.
Nnoitra could never tell when he meant what he said about her, or when he was just agreeing -because Tesla was a good Fraccion and he was like that.
And he always did it too.
Agreed.
Tesla was never a challenge.
Not the way she had been.
It was that rebellion in her he had liked to bother.
He had like stretching her patience, just to see how far it went.
And it had never snapped.
She had challenged his intelect.
She had been adaptable.
And so he'd had to think harder.
He'd had to adapt with her.
Every night he had closed the 8th door.
5 doors down from her, on the other side of the hall.
Every night he had crossed his arms behind his head and fallen asleep contemplating how to get back at her.
For what?
He wasn't sure.
For existing,
Yeah, that'll work.
But -of course- she was stubborn.
Tch.
Women.
She was the perfect example of why he only flirted.
No one in their right mind would ask a woman to claim them.
No one in their right mind would want to claim a woman like her.
Ugh.
.
.
.
But...
Now that he thought about it.
Note: Thought, not a single word spoken to the people crowded in the room with him...
Life without Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck...
Nel...
Was boring.
A word he'd been getting confused with "easy" for too long.
And, try as he might to convience himslef (a.k.a. Lie to himself) otherwise
He -sort of- missed her.
He regretted what he had done and missed her.
Nniotra glanced out the window of his room and for once in years he wanted his old view.
A view that Szayel now enjoyed, 3 doors down on the other side of the hall.
He only wanted it so he could go back.
Just a little...
Back to when he could prop up on the couch and throw his arms back over the top of the couch.
On top of the couch and around her shoulders.
She would only complain a little about his head being in her light -because she always kept right on reading her magazine, and reach back to move her hair out from under his arm, because he was pulling it.
He would always cock his head to the side and send her that trademark Cheshire grin of his.
She would just stare back out of the corner of her eyes and sigh.
Once she even muttered "childish" at him.
But -as she had an annoying habit of doing- she adapted.
She stopped noting when he played with her hair.
She would simply unknot it later.
Or when he would run his fingers over her helmet.
She would just lean this way and that when he decided to hook the horns and yank.
Or even when he would lean in close to her ear and whisper insults.
That she never reacted much to.
Save for once when his breath had moved the baby hair around her ear...
And even then all she had done was moved it back to its place.
But she had always smiled back when he'd grinned at her.
It was slight, but it was there.
Looking for her smile had become an especially honed skill in his arsenal.
Not that her reaction was a surprise to him...
After all, who could resist a Cheshire smile?
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, and (regrettably) I don't own Nnoitra or Nel. They belong to Tite Kubo~