Title: Unconfessed love.
Characters: Ise Nanao and another mysterious shinigami;
Disclaimer: Characters belong to their author. And it's not me.
Unconfessed love.
It was already late at night when Nanao arrived at the hill. She had received a message a few hours before, brought to her by an official messenger.
"Meeting 1.00 am today, at the Cherry Hill"
She was worried: what did it mean? Official meetings were not settled that way. Never.
What should she expect? Had she done something wrong? Had she offended someone who now wanted her to pay? Or what if it was...
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He was hiding in the middle of bushes and trees. He wanted to see her.
She never looked at him. At least, she never looked at him the way he wished she would.
She loved him; he was almost sure of that. She did not just act as a good vice-captain; she took care of him, more than she had to. Even off duty.
What other choice did he have? He wanted her so badly all the time. When he had passed her this morning, she was waiting for him. There was a meeting among captains and she had come to see what was going on.
Her captain had come out before him; she had not even noticed him. She had turned her back and begun to converse.
He had paused. He wanted to see her.
Her neck. Her hair was tied up so he could see the pale shivering skin of her neck.
His heart began to race as his breathing stopped.
His fingers twitched. He could imagine the feeling of her skin under them. He knew how he would feel if he could touch her. Only once.
She was gone.
Everybody was gone.
He was standing there alone. Nothing was left from those seconds of happiness.
He had never been happy. Until he met her.
He wanted to be happy again today.
He wanted to see her again today.
It was the only way he could think of. A message. Anonymous. A few words written by someone else's hand so she would not know it was from him.
It didn't matter if she never knew. That's what he was thinking at that time.
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Time flew.
Nanao was sitting against the tree now.
"What is that?"
She couldn't understand why nobody came.
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She was lying on the grass now, asleep.
She waited patiently. It was just like her to not go before she knew.
The leaves and moonlight were playing together, drawing shadows on her pure, pale face.
She was sleeping and that was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Would she stay like this all night? What if he brought her back to her room? She might wake up... But he could say he had just passed by and found her.
His body began to move by itself.
He stood up and made a step forward, then stopped. His heart was beating so fast now, he thought his chest would explode.
He wasn't breathing. When had he stopped?
He took a deep breath and finally found the courage to move again.
She was lying innocently, her zanpakuto fallen from her hand.
He knelt by her side. His heart was beating so fast now; it was just an endless pain.
Like before, his fingers twitched, hoping to reach her skin. He felt her shivering under his touch.
She sighed breathily and smiled in her sleep.
It gave him the courage to raise her from the dewy ground.
He pressed her against his chest. Her skin was so warm.
His whole body shivered. He felt her breath on his naked skin and thought he might faint.
"I wish this moment would never end."
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When she woke up, it took a little time for Nanao to remember that she had not fallen asleep in her bed that night.
She had a weird feeling.
"What happened to me?"
This question will never find an answer. But this feeling...
This feeling will follow her all life long : as if a warm and protective hand was guarding her.