Title: Caffeine, Nanao-chan!
Author: Shengwoo
Word Count: 524
Pairing: Nanao x Shunsui
Prompt: Narcosis
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Ise Nanao was fading slowly, Shunsui decided. His lovely fukutaicho had recently become a walking shadow, signing papers and half-heartedly hitting him when the occasion arose. This was dangerous.
Who else would remind him when his sake bill was overdue?
But Nanao would have nothing of it.
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"Lovely lovely Nanao-chan!" Shunsui sang, whirling around Nanao's desk in a flurry of pink sleeves. "Nanao-chan needs sleep!"
"Taicho," Nanao rebuked, normally sharp tone dulled into a soft sigh, "These papers are due tomorrow and I have yet to get through half of it." She punctuated the last word with a large yawn, her body tilting to the side to be righted moments later.
Shunsui noted that his Nanao-chan yawned very delicately, and made very little noise while she did so. When he snapped himself out of his reverie, he knew something was very wrong. Nanao always retorted with some sort of physical retribution. But…
This time, she was simply sitting there, pen loosely clenched in her fingers, and her eyes fluttering rapidly in effort to stay awake.
"Nanao!" Shunsui gasped, all traces of mockery gone. "You really do need sleep!" He paused here. "Or you need green tea. Caffeine, fukutaicho, is a wonderful thing."
Nanao, stubborn to the end, shook her head. "I will take the tea, taicho, but I cannot sleep yet."
Shunsui frowned, the creases on his forehead changing from laughter and relaxation to worry and concern. The unmistakable truth was there. Ise Nanao would truly burn out before night came, and would require days of uninterrupted sleep. Such was extremely dangerous for Shinigami – if they had enough sleep, all was well but when they reached the point of exhaustion…
Well, it was an evil to be avoided. And Shunsui's kawaii Nanao-chan would not fall into exhaustion when he was here to watch over her! SHUNSUI TO THE RESCUE!
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Minutes later, his familiar mop of brown hair came in through door. Balanced upon his hands was a tray on which there was a single cup of steaming tea.
"Nanaochann, your taicho has brought you your tea!" he sings as he waltzes to her desk. She lifted her head to slowly regard the cup of tea, and brings her hand to the cup.
"If you drugged this, taicho, I'll have you see stars for the next month" are her words as she slowly sips the tea. Moments later, she is standing and stretching, feeling the light effect of the caffeine in the tea. Seconds after that, she falls over into his arms, her breathing light and body completely relaxed.
He contemplated her words as he carried her to her quarters, directly across the hall from his room. He lay her down gently, and moved to tip-toe to his own room when Nanao clutches onto the edge of his pink hakama. He takes a step, and it falls off his shoulders, leaving Nanao to move it closer to her unconscious body, breathing in the familiar scent of sake and sakura. It was a little known fact that Shunsui couldn't sleep with the pink thing on.
Perhaps his Nanao-chan really did know him too well.