A/N: Something about this seems very Nanao and yet not…oh well, heres my character study of her.
Disclaimer: …
Playlist: I Will Survive by Stephanie Bentley
Euphemisms
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Nanao didn't approve of coddling. The new recruits were treated no differently than the elder members, age meant nothing to her and the young at heart made her want to shout at them to grow up.
Nanao's thought process was this:
You're not chubby, you are fat.
You aren't disorganized, you are stupid.
And it's not called 'passing away' people die, get over it.
All you have to do is learn from your own shortcomings and you will be alright.
Nanao had never liked people acting in that ridiculously coddling way towards her in particular.
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"Kyoraki-taichou, when's Lisa-san coming back?"
He had sighed, "She's not coming back Nanao-chan, she's gone to a better place, passed on." He laid his large hand in a comforting gesture on the small child's head.
"So you mean she's dead."
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She hadn't understood Kyoraku-taichou's look of horror when she'd said it, she had missed Lisa, yes, but she'd been proud of understanding what had happened. She liked the feeling of being mature and grown up, he father would have been proud.
But not Kyoraku-taichou; he'd told her that innocence was blissful and that she should stay young as long as possible. She hadn't listened; she'd been in too much of a hurry to grow up.
Then the war came and she'd been all too happy to put her skills to work.
But as she lay in a ditch with a hole in her chest, sickened by her sadistic and masochistic tendencies it wasn't death who'd found her, (she would have welcomed her like the warrior she is) no, it had been her captain. He looks at her sadly, at least she thinks so, considering how blurry her vision is becoming.
He lifts her up gently and holds her close.
"There was no one looking for you." He says without emotion. And she doesn't comment on his acting out of character. "You don't have anyone to go home to, do you Nanao-chan?" he gives her a hard look, "No one to notice if you disappear?"
She laughs bitterly, "You noticed," and so he had.
She coughs and continues, "Though I suppose respite from near constant nagging is quite noticeable."
He doesn't smile as he usually does when she attempts (and fails) to make a joke, "You're harsh and you're cold Nanao-chan, you're mean and bitter. Let people in and you'll have something to fight for, something to want to come home to, something that will motivate you and give you resolve. Something that will make you want to come back to us." And for the first time he glares at her. "Let people in or you will end up wishing you were dead."
"I refuse to be coddled." She whispers.
"I never expected it from you." He finally smiles, knowing he has won and she has heard him.
They remained silent until they reach the outskirts of Rukongai, he'd been too afraid to jostle her by shunpoeing.
"Kyoraku-taichou," she finally whispers, smiling and burying her face in his pink hoari, inhaling the scent of wildflowers that was his natural scent. "Will you be there to notice if I disappear?"
"Of course Nanao-chan," he conceded with a smile, hoping that in the morning she would remember and know how much he cared.
Everyone needs someone to look for them when they're lost.
A/N: Something about that ending….groar… hope you like! I did Shunsui and now I've done Nanao! Sorta…they're both a little of both XD