Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. That is just as true now as it will be at the end of this story. Therefore I will save space and reading time and quit repeating what is already obvious.

Chapter 1: What They Don't See

Nanao burst through the door into Rangiku's room. The redhead looked up, surprised at the sudden intrusion. The concern was obvious on her face as Nanao began pacing the room.

"Are you alright?" All of the usual light and mirth dropped from her tone and was replaced with worry.

"He's dead," was all the dark haired woman replied.

Rangiku's worry was replaced with panic. "Nanao, what are you talking about? Who's dead?"

Nanao finally met her friend's gaze and stopped pacing for a moment. "My captain. He is dead." She enunciated each word carefully.

Rangiku gasped. "What? How is that…What happened…" Her thoughts swirled with a thousand questions and images of Shunsui Kyoraku dying in battle or, more likely, from sake poisoning. But something was not right. Nanao was not nearly upset enough. More than anything she just seemed angry. Pissed, more appropriately.

"My captain is dead," she repeated, and continued before Rangiku could say anything, "because I am going to murder him in cold blood."

Rangiku fell back on her bed. She could not honestly remember standing up. She wanted to laugh with relief, but the murderous expression on Nanao's face told her it may have been the last laugh she ever had. "What did he do this time?"

"He accepted a three day mission to the world of the living."

Rangiku raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound so—"

Nanao raised a hand. "I'm not finished. He accepted it for the both of us, without asking me first. And the mission just happens to be on the three busiest days of the year, right before all of the annual reports for the division are due. I need those three days if I have any hope of getting everything organized in time. I tried explaining this to him, and the insufferable man laughed. Laughed! As if it is of no concern. Which, to him, it isn't. Then he had the nerve to tell me that 'his little Nanao-chan' could surely finish and be ready for the mission in no time!" She let out a huff of air. If she had calmed down any on her walk to the tenth, her anger was back in full force now.

Rangiku winced in sympathy for her drinking partner. "Which book did you hit him with this time?" Nanao was still carrying her usual untitled volume in her arms, so it couldn't have been that one; she would have taken care of it first if it had gotten bloody.

"All of them."

Rangiku blinked. "What?"

Nanao made an impatient gesture. "You asked me what book I hit my captain with. The answer is all of them."

The picture that entered the redheaded lieutenant's mind had her choking back a laugh. "You threw each individual book at him?"

"No. I threw the entire bookshelf at him and warned him I would use his sake to burn down his favorite napping spot if it was not cleaned up by the time I got back."

Rangiku rolled onto her back and clutched her sides as she laughed. "I'm…sorry," she gasped between outbursts, "I just…imagined the look on Shunsui's face…when he saw…an entire bookcase coming at him." She dissolved back into laughter.

Nanao relaxed a little. "Yes, even I have to admit it was humorous. But, well…he deserved it. He could have at least shown the consideration to pretend to ask me first."

Rangiku wiped the tears from her eyes. "Are you going to go?"

"Yes. Tomorrow morning." She gritted her teeth.

"Ew. That is short notice."

"Do you understand now why I am so upset? He has completely ruined my schedule. Again."

"Why didn't you just refuse the mission then?" Rangiku asked even though they both knew the answer.

Nanao sighed and the last of the angry tension left her body. "High level hollows have been spotted in a usually inactive sector in the world of the living. Captain Kyoraku did not want to leave it to an inexperienced team, so he volunteered himself. Since this mission potentially involves menos level hollows, it seemed imprudent that he go alone."

Rangiku nodded to cover her smile. "Well, Nanao-chan, have fun."

Nanao just glared and thought to herself, This is going to be a long three days.

Jyuushiro Ukitake shook his head when his longtime friend showed up on his doorstep covered in cuts and bruises. "What did you do to upset Nanao this time?" he asked as they settled down over tea.

Shunsui sighed. He felt a little pang of remorse that his friend was so quick to understand what had happened, because he was the source of upset for Nanao more often than anything else. "I accepted that mission the old man was talking about in this morning's meeting."

Jyuushiro eyed his friend warily as Shunsui explained his lieutenant's reaction to the news. When he had finished, the white haired man again shook his head. "You never learn, do you?"

"But Jyuushiro," Shunsui whined, "I had only the best of intentions for my little Nanao-chan. This was supposed to be a chance for me to get her away from the office. It should be an easy mission; we probably won't actually run into any hollows. So it's three days of vacation, just the two of us!"

"But did you ask her first or take into account how much work she has to do this time of year? Honestly, Shunsui, no matter how good your intentions were, all Nanao will see is how inconsiderate you were being."

They were both silent for a long moment. Jyuushiro always believed Shunsui's silences were when he mentally switched himself into serious mode.

Sure enough, when he spoke again, Shunsui's voice was somber. "I really just want a chance to spend some time with Nanao away from the office. Maybe that would give her a chance to look at me as less of a captain and more of just…me."

Jyuushiro had been in the unique position that allowed him to observe the odd relationship between the captain and lieutenant of the eighth. He and Shunsui were lifelong friends, but Jyuushiro had also grown fond of Nanao almost immediately. He got to see that other side of her she kept hidden from most people.

Over the years he had seen in his two friends what they could not (or would not) see in themselves or each other. He saw the little smiles Nanao tried to hide when she was around her captain, the sorrow she felt when Shunsui tried to drink away his demons, the pain of seeing him with other women. (What Nanao did not know but Jyuushiro saw was that Shunsui would have given anything for a smile from Nanao, that his demons were always a little quieter whenever she was around, that he had not been with another woman since falling in love with Nanao nearly a century ago). He saw the way Shunsui's gaze softened whenever he looked at Nanao (and thought no one saw), the torment of believing she may never want him, the despair he felt whenever he hurt her by doing something careless and foolish. (What Shunsui did not see and Jyuushiro never told him was the way Nanao gazed back at Shunsui with the exact same softness, how she thought she was the unwanted one, how she always forgave him almost immediately no matter what he had done.

The fact that she was his lieutenant did make a difference to Nanao, but what really bothered her was feeling as though she was one in a long list of conquests. Jyuushiro loved Shunsui more deeply than most of his own family but thought he really could be such a stupid arse at times. For instance, letting his sexual pursuits be over-glorified and over-exaggerated, even if that had started centuries before Nanao was even born.

Both men snapped out of their individual reveries, and Shunsui was back to behaving like his usual self. "Well, Jyuushiro, I guess I am just going to have to go for it and hope for the best." He stood up and started ambling out the door.

"Go for what, exactly?"

Shunsui grinned, and only Jyuushiro and a select few others would ever have seen the undercurrent of emotion beneath that expression. "Why, telling my Nanao-chan I love her, of course!" And with that he disappeared.

Jyuushiro shook his head. Again. Such a common reaction to Shunsui's dramatics. But Jyuushiro had seen what was under that jovial mask. My god, he thought, Shunsui Kyoraku is actually nervous. He chuckled and said a little prayer of luck for his friends. This ought to be interesting…

AN: Reviews, please, to let me know whatcha think. My first story of this pair that is not a one-shot! Yays!