Nanao Flavored
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Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
Kyouraku Shunsui had many favorite times of the year. His birthday, Christmas, New Years, Nanao's birthday, and any occasion that could be construed into a party was a good occasion. One of his favorite times of year that did not entail a party was, surprisingly, among the highest on his list. It was so utterly predictable that even the first year graduates assigned to the unit would smile and giggle behind their hands, blushing daintily as they passed by their singing Captain in the hall. It was even worse if he was sipping sake and doing his favorite solo dance number, "the Shunsui Slide".
It was that time of year again.
Pink.
Red.
Hearts.
Romance.
Love.
It was Valentine's.
Nanao wasn't sure how her Captain had come across the holiday but once he had, he had literally "fallen in love" with it. He personally made posters and hung them in the halls, the meeting rooms, the battle hall, outside on the back deck where they were rain spattered… Anywhere and everywhere that he could promote his holiday, he did so.
He had tried promoting it outside the 8th Division property but after numerous reports, Kuchikia Byakuya among the complainants, Captain Yamamoto had banned the posters to the 8th Division Squad Office and Barracks only.
And Nanao was, for the most part, silent and patient about his activity. She didn't say anything when she saw the finely drawn portrait of Matsumoto, replete with bulging breasts, arms outstretched and a chat bubble proclaiming, "Holiday of Love." Nor did she say anything when other shinigami females appeared in the posters dotting the Division walls with gushy text, provocative poses, and sporting scandalous alterations made to the standard black uniform. It was just easiest to let it go.
The culmination of all this attention was a line of ladies, 8th Division and others, lined up one after another at her Captain's door all the way out to the gates. Her Captain's well wishers would bring him a box of chocolates or some other sweet. It was merely a ticket in the door. It had become something of an "in" thing to do among shinigami women and all the fashionable ones were there.
It was not the chocolates that her Captain was interested in. It was something of a massive ego boost to her overly-romantic Captain that so many women not only came, but brought him chocolate and wanted a kiss before they left. It was heaven. Literally. They sported cleavage, grinned, flirted, and otherwise draped themselves all over his desk. It was disgusting.
Nanao eyed it all with patience and said nothing as the troublesome day brewed on. She kept her door shut and bit the head off of anyone who dared open it. After the first four almost had their insides rearranged, no one had dared disturb her again.
The line outside would be there when she left just as it had been there when she arrived and if the presence of certain high-ranking women in the line irritated her, no one could say. The longer she stayed, however, the more the noise grated upon her nerves. The chattering, the giggles, the hushed whispers… it was worse than being back in the academy.
At two in the afternoon, on the dot, Nanao's tea time, her assistant Suki found her Vice-Captain conspicuously absent from the office.
There were few things that would ruffle the feathers of the 8th Division Captain. He was a 'live and let live' kind of man, thoroughly enjoying his lifestyle and going so far as to promote it amongst his Division, much to the Vice-Captain's irritation.
She had been with Vice-Captain Ise for just over two years. It wasn't a long track record, but as far as she knew she was the Vice-Captain's longest standing assistant. In that time she'd spent a great deal of time with the Vice-Captain and considerably less so with the Captain, but she'd seen them together often enough to get a certain "feel" for them.
For instance, she knew that her Vice-Captain hated Valentine's Day. Although Suki strongly suspected it was due to her jealousy and her Captain's sheer gusto at parading so many women right under her nose. It was the same kind of playful shoves he was always devising against her. He might have been Captain and authority, but Ise Nanao was quite literally Queen of the House and marching women through was guaranteed to annoy her.
Atop of that she suspected that maybe her Captain would provoke a bit of jealousy and turn Ise-san's eyes toward him a little more. It never worked, but that didn't mean he wasn't trying, right?
Ise-san wasn't the kind of woman to discuss her personal affairs with the office help. The 8th Division Vice-Captain was one of the most frightening people to work for in the Gotei-13 and had a reputation of being very hard to please. She fell in just under Captain Kuchiki of the 6th Division.
But, truly, that was off the topic.
As Suki came in to bring Ise-san her tea for the day, an everyday ritual, she found the office empty. Ise-san simply did not leave in the middle of the day. They had emergency couriers, they had a kitchen, Ise-san had her and she was the office servant in a way. So that meant… had Ise-san wanted to escape?
There were few things that would upset the unflappable 8th Division Captain and knowing that he had caused his steady second to flee her office was one of them. Biting her lip, Suki retreated from the office escaping through the veranda shoji, doubling back to the kitchen to avoid the line of women. She was not about to make it obvious that Ise-san was not in her office.
Their prized Vice-Captain had been so busy lately with trying to keep up normal productivity amongst the Captain's hopping around and flirting. She was certain, however, that in her haste to get things done Ise Nanao had not been in her Captain's office since the Valentine's posters had gone up. So that meant there was no way she had seen the Captain's favorite Valentine poster, attached strategically on the back of his door directly across from his desk.
Suki wondered, if perhaps, she should prompt her Vice-Captain to go in there.
Nanao had not intended to return to the office. She had wanted to go home and relax and simply enjoy herself. Upon returning to her home, however, she found she was antsy. She hated being in the 8th Division building during Valentine's and she hated with equal fervor being away. At least while she was there she found stuff.
When she arrived she found the place noticeably empty. No crowds, no lines, no chatting, no women.
Silence.
It was as if her office had been returned to her. Through her office and down the corridor she was a bit startled when her Captain's closed door suddenly rattled open, but it was not her Captain who stood there.
Suki bowed low. "Vice-Captain Ise, Captain Kyouraku wishes to see you."
Nanao looked past the assistant toward her Captain to see a bright red smudge of lipstick on one cheek.
"Come in, come in Nanao."
Suki waited until she was in and then stepped out and slid the door closed. Nanao didn't look back to see, she heard the panel of the door click the wood.
"It's Valentine's Day," he announced. "Turn around."
As if she were somehow unaware of what absurd day it was. Who could forget when there was a zoo full of women marching through? She turned and froze spotting the color poster on the back of the door.
Herself.
In… She whipped around. "Captain, that is a violation of the dress code!"
He smirked. "Nanao-chan is a cute waitress with that frilly little skirt."
"That's not a skirt! That's a napkin!" she roared, outraged at the picture of herself apparently dressed in string, bar napkins and a tray with a single scoop of ice-cream on a little plate.
"So short it shows off your beautiful legs and Nanao-chan's pretty panties."
She whipped around toward him fueled for violence but he caught her wrists. "Nanao-chan, you didn't bring me any chocolates." He looked positively wounded with the drooped brows and frown. Her anger diminished. She wouldn't be suckered into buying him stupid boxes of candy and she wasn't going home to make him any either. It wasn't happening! She would not submit to this insanity, she could ignore it, but she would not participate in it.
"No, sir, I didn't," she answered as sternly as she could still captured by the wrists.
"So cold, Nanao-chan," he stood, releasing her, his pained expression waning. "So you'll just have to make it up to me."
Typical of him to say such a thing. She turned absently toward the window. A point of focus other than her Captain was always a wise idea.
"You want me to do something for you after I failed to get you something for a holiday that Soul Society does not even celebrate and is most certainly not part of the office schedule of the other offices?"
He smiled at her, widely, and then promptly ignored the comment. Raising a finger to his chin, he looked contemplative. "What can my Nanao-chan do for me?" he paused and his voice lowered. "A few nights ago I thought of my favorite things and Juushiro pointed out how lucky I was to have both of them on the same night."
She was confused. In her running knowledge of her Captain he had more "favorite things" than she could keep track of. The apparent trail of the conversation forced her to look at him and she found one of his most serious expressions staring back at her.
"Do you trust me, Nanao?"
She met his gaze, those heavy lidded eyes, that intense stare… How could women not line up to kiss him?
"Unless I know you're playing, of course, Captain."
"Am I playing, Nanao?" When he said her name that way, so somber, so grave, so sexy, it made her insides heat and she was certain he was serious and that frightened her more than his copious flirting did.
She dared not answer, she just stared. His mouth, his lips, kicked up into a grin. He was always sexiest alone with her, in moments like these too precious to interrupt, too valuable to ruin with words. She stayed silent.
"Close your eyes, Nanao."
His voice had fallen in pitch to a whisper. The sound caressed her cheek and sent a chill down her spine. She felt the tremble and feared he had felt it too. They were too close together. When had she come to stand by his desk? Why hadn't she kept her distance? He'd drawn her to him without her even realizing it.
It was much easier to close her eyes than to look at him. Her heart thudded, tripping over its own beat in her chest.
"Open your mouth."
She dry swallowed at the thickly voiced command. He was so… without thinking, she parted her lips. If she didn't… if she thought too much she'd flee from him and part of her desperately wanted to stay.
Her anxious wait was drawn to a close when something cool and hard was pressed past her lips and into her mouth. The jagged edges and sweet flavor announced itself to her tongue.
Before she had the opportunity to fully flick open her eyes she felt more, tasted more than the chocolate square. He pressed his mouth over hers, slanting deeply, his tongue slipping past her lips, rubbing her tongue, tasting the chocolate. It melted between their mouths. Nanao's eyes fell closed again as his hands found her slender hips, dragging her closer to him.
Their kiss ended with a throaty moan and chocolate coating on their tongues. A breath apart, they stared. He nuzzled his forehead against hers.
"Best flavor there is," he murmured, turning her in his arms to face the poster once more.
"What?" she breathed staring at herself in the tiny, inappropriate outfit.
His hands closed over her hips again, his mouth by her ear. "It's Nanao-flavored."
AN: So there we have it, released later than I wanted because I forgot to post it when I got home. Not perfect I think I was sloppy with the pov tenses with certain words during Suki's part and I'm not sure that Suki's address of her Vice-Captain as "Ise-san" is appropriate. In fact, I'm certain its not, but I will not go back and change it, not that big a deal.