Author's Note: Like I said in the previous chapter this is my first chapter fic. I usually stick to one-shots due to my short attention span. However, when I had this idea it just didn't seem like a one-shot would do it justice. I had been trying to write an Ukitake/Unohana pairing when the light bulb went off. It appears that my muse is very fickle indeed. I ended up doing a lot of research for this chapter because as far as I have seen we don't have any idea what Nanao's Zanpakuto is, looks like, or does. My apologies if characters seem ocd…. I mean ooc. Research on the meanings of the flowers was found at www(dot)florist(dot)com. Extra special thanks to Hitsu-taichou, my bestest friend ever, on the collaboration of the original kido spells. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or it's characters. I just play with them.

Chapter: Camellias and Hyacinth

Nanao was sitting at what she had come to call her desk in the Captain's Office of Squad Eight. She had just arrived promptly at Eight o'clock, and had already made her morning tea. She was contemplating her new position as Vice-Captain. With a small smile she thought of her Captain.

"Captain Kyouraku wasn't at all what I thought he would be. Come to think of it, he isn't like any of the other Captains either." She remembered worrying about her new position and the new Captain that came with it. "I expected him to be confident, but in a stately way. I also expected him to be dedicated to his Squad, and have the wisdom, and manners one would expect a pupil of head Captain Yamamoto to have." Her expectations were laughable really, when compared to the Captain Kyouraku she had come to know. He was confident, but in a very self assured kind of way. He was dedicated to the well being of his squad members, but not so much to the interdivisional paperwork and politics. On an exceedingly rare occasion when he was being serious she could see the wisdom in his chocolate brown eyes. Manners however were another matter entirely. He treated everyone equally no matter their rank or social status. He also had the tendency to address everyone in the familiar. He constantly addressed her as Nanao-chan and took naps in the middle of the office floor in the middle of the day. It was very unprofessional of him. But he wouldn't let her work to hard either. He would make sure she left no later than five o'clock in the evening after that first day.

Their personalities were completely at odds, but it seems that they worked well together. Other than a couple of incidents. Everything had been working great. Nanao hadn't been able to train very much since her transfer. She had had to wade through all of the overdue paperwork, and make all the new training schedules. Not to mention rearrange the workspace to be more efficient. She was happy to note that after six weeks in her new position she had finished all of the old paperwork and starting yesterday she had only had to do the paper work for that day.

It seemed that Squad One sends out all of the paper work for the following day at the end of the work day so it was ready for her when she came into the office. Today was no different. It had been sitting on her desk when she came in this morning. However she could afford to begin her morning leisurely since she only had a days paperwork to do and it was a possible task.

Not wanting to get behind again, she ended her musings and collected her brush and ink to get started. She worked in comfortable silence until she was halted at ten o'clock by none other than Captain Kyouraku himself. This was a surprise, since she had grown accustomed to not seeing him until after noon.

Captain Shunsui Kyouraku was in good spirits today even though his sleep had been interrupted. It appeared that their was a high concentration of hollows converging on a small town in the living world, and since it was Squad Eight's turn at General Missions, he would get to see his Nanao-chan fight for the first time. He knew that she was a master at Kido and carried a Zanpakuto, but due to the large paperwork load that she had had to contend with and the fact that she had scheduled her own training sessions in the mornings, he had not gotten to see her spar or train. He had never even seen her Zanpakuto. He was looking forward to seeing exactly what his Nanao-chan could do. Shunsui walked into the office with his carefree smile plastered across his face.

Nanao looked up in surprise at him being in the office early. Well early for him anyway. He was also carrying his Zanpakuto. This was highly unusual as she had not seen them with him before. But after seeing the look on his face she new that she was probably not going to like the news he brought.

Recovering from her shock she said, "Good morning, Captain Kyouraku."

With his smile still firmly in place he replied, "Good morning, Nanao-chan."

Still wondering what her Captain was doing there at this hour of the day she asked, "Captain, is everything O.K? You are early today."

Wanting to see how his Nanao-chan would react he stated, " I have some wonderful news. We are going on our first mission as Captain and Vice-Captain today."

"Sir?"

"I received orders from Squad One. Their is a high concentration of Hollows around a small town in the living world. It is our turn to take care of the problem," he informed her.

"Yes sir. I am ready when you are."

As they headed to the Western Gate, Shunsui couldn't help wondering what her Zanpakuto was, considering she obviously had it concealed on her person, since she didn't have to go get it. He also couldn't wait to see the fiery passion that was held fastidiously under the cover of her stringent discipline. He had only been able to glimpse it a couple of times in her beautiful lavender eyes. Shunsui knew that she tried to conceal it under her glasses.

As they made their way Nanao's mind was reeling. This was her first mission as a Vice-Captain. Her Captain had never seen her in battle or training. She was hoping that she would be able to get away with not using her Zanpakuto.

The last thing that she needed was her captain finding out what form it took and making fun of her for it. Nor had she seen him in training or battle. She had however heard some stories. Captain Kyouraku and his friend Captain Ukitake, whom she had seen quiet a few times since her transfer, were legends at The Academy. Their strength was rumored to be incredible and second only to Head Captain Yamamoto. While she was a master at long range Kido, and adept at using her Zanpakuto, she couldn't help but hope that she wouldn't make a fool of her self in front of her Captain.

When they reached the gate that would take them into the living world. There were two members of Squad Twelve, whom she didn't know, standing at the open gate waiting for them. Nanao noticed that it was the first time that she hadn't had to wait for the gate to be opened. They must have been warned that Captain Kyouraku was coming on this mission. With well wishes from the Squad 12 members they were on their way.

When they stepped out of the gate Nanao could sense it immediately. Their was a massive malevolent reiatsu coming from just in front of them. It appeared that their was a huge collection of hollows surrounding the town and one building in particular. Nanao couldn't help but wonder just what had drawn them here.

She heard Captain Kyouraku say, "Yare, Yare, Nanao-chan. We better get ready," and with that she saw him draw both his swords.

Nanao couldn't help but watch with her mouth hanging open, as she saw a sight that most shinigami would give an appendage to see. Captain Kyouraku transforming his blades.

"Flower wind rage and flower god roar! Heavenly wind rage and heavenly demon sneer! Katen Kyoukotsu. "

Nanao couldn't help but look on as his twin blades manifested. Each was longer than his arm and curved. It looked as if they had a very sharp and wicked edge. It made Nanao hope even more that she wouldn't have to transform her Zanpakuto. Next to his, hers was positively miniscule, but it fit her like no other Zanpakuto could. It was a hope that was quickly dwindling as she saw more and more hollows appear.

Before Shunsui directed them in the direction of that horrible reiatsu he asked, "Nanao-chan, Aren't you going to draw your Zanpakuto?"

He was surprised to hear her reply, "No sir, I will begin this battle with Kido."

Not wishing to question her further he just nodded and decided that he would have to keep an eye on her. With that last thought they headed into battle. Captain Kyouraku with his dual blades flashing in the sun, and Vice-Captain Nanao Ise with a glowing ball of golden reiatsu held in each hand.

As they approached a large group, the hollows noticed their reiatsu and turned to see the intruders. The glistening blades of Katen Kyoukotsu was the last thing many of them ever got to see.

Shunsui burst into their ranks with his blades swinging mercilessly. Nanao knew that these hollows were going to regret their decision to come here today. But as she watched two hollows disintegrate before her eyes she reconsidered her thought. After all, they were not going to have enough time for regrets. Having spent enough time watching Nanao joined her Captain in the fight. Tossing both balls of reiatsu she had prepared, she watched as one reached it's target and the hollow disintegrated into ash. The hollow she had missed was coming for her though. She quickly shouted Red Flame Cannon, jumped into the air and threw the red energy ball effectively taking out the hollow. Nanao lost sight of her Captain when another group of hollows converged on their location, probably to see what was causing the commotion. Come to think of it they probably felt Captain Kyouraku's massive reiatsu. Since she felt it to she knew he was o.k., and she had her hands full at the moment with the new group.

Nanao yelled Red Flame Cannon once again and shot the red energy ball at the hollow closest to her. She didn't have time to notice the ash floating in the air, because the next two were closing in fast. Realizing that Red Flame Cannon just wasn't going to be enough, Nanao yelled, "Six Bars of Light," and directed it at one of the oncoming hollow. As that one was bound by the golden rods, she quickly aimed and fired Pale Fire Crash. Not wanting to waste time she hurriedly moved onto the bound hollow and disintegrated it with the same blue ball of energy.

Facing the last three hollows in that particular group, she yelled, "Binding Chains of Fate," and seeing the chains raise up out of the ground to wrap themselves around one of the approaching hollows she quickly dispatched the other two with the glowing lightning bolts of "White Lightning." Moving Back to the first hollow that she had bound. She proceeded to shout, "Black Blades of Heaven."

Shunsui couldn't believe the sight of Nanao-chan in battle. All of the passion that she hid behind her ever efficient and fastidious nature came out in the heat of battle. Her mastery of Kido was apparent. He watched as the black blades composed primarily of her fierce reiatsu tore the hollow apart. She was absolutely beautiful, and absolutely merciless. She was graceful as she crouched low and glided over her enemies, leaving nothing but the bright light of her kido and the disintegrating hollows in her wake.

Seeing that there was a lull in the battle, Kyouraku flash stepped over to his Vice-Captain. As he reached her she noticed that he didn't look any the worse for wear. She couldn't say the same for herself. She was dusty from all of the explosions her kido blasts and caused, not to mention the fact that her hair was starting to fall from it's clip.

Hearing an ear piercing howl they both looked up. Even though they had defeated at least half of the original mass of hollows, it appeared that there was even more than their was to begin with.

"Sir. We don't appear to be making a substantial difference here. They just keep coming. Why are they even here?" Nanao asked.

"You probably can't feel it due to all this immense malevolent reiatsu, but there is someone in that building over there that has a high concentration of reiatsu. They must not know it either. There aren't any standing orders for shinigami to be in this area, and it feels like a pure reiatsu."

Nanao nodded at this information. Now that she was looking for it she could actually feel the reiatsu that he was speaking of. Coming up with a plan, she said, "Sir, if I put up a reiatsu blocking barrier over that building then no more hollows would be drawn here. We could then take care of the remaining hollows."

This sounded like a very feasible plan so Shunsui agreed, "Why Nanao-chan, that is a great idea. You do that and I will watch your back."

They charged toward the building in question. Shunsui falling behind his Vice-Captain as her flash step was slower than his own. They plowed through the hollows until they reached their destination. Nanao stepped up to the building and let the glowing ball of red reiatsu she held dissipate when she saw her Captain take his place at her back.

Nanao began the chant that would bring up the barrier and felt her fiery reiatsu begin to flow out of her to form the barrier. Halfway through the chant she felt a harsh stinging sensation at the back of her shoulder, just above her shoulder blade. Not breaking the chant she glanced over her shoulder to see that while her Captain had been distracted by four massive hollows a smaller one had snuck up on her left side and attacked her with it's barbed tail.

Her Captain had noticed to, and Nanao hoped that she never saw the look of pure fury that was captured on his face again. He rushed to her side and dispatched the offending hollow with an attack of gale force winds. Having never stopped her chant she continued on until she felt the barrier stabilize. She completed the last verse of the chant and felt the completed barrier. It was a wonderful feeling.

With the barrier firmly in place she turned around to once again assist her Captain, however when she saw the force that they were up against she knew that Kido alone would not be enough., because she had used most of her reiatsu creating the barrier. She would have to draw her Zanpakuto and deal with the consequences later.

Out of the corner of his eye Shunsui saw his Vice-Captain draw a Harisen out of her uniform. Wondering what she could possibly hope to accomplish with a paper fan. He gave her his full attention when he saw her flutter the fan. When he heard her say, "Take to the air, Toga," understanding finally dawned. This was her Zanpakuto. In its benign form it was a paper fan. He couldn't wait to see what it became. What he saw fit her perfectly. Her Zanpakuto was a Tessen, or war fan. It was about ten inches tall and a foot wide when fanned out. The side he could see was covered with a beautiful scene. It depicted a lush bamboo field and in the center was a large golden tiger. It was focused solely on the hunt. It was sleek and commanding in it's fiery strength.

There, He just got a glimpse of the other side as she directed an attack at a hollow just to the right of himself. It depicted a white crane gliding serenely over what looked to be the same bamboo field. It's beauty and grace showing in the movement. She didn't have dual blades like Ukitake or himself. But he couldn't help but admire how her Zanpakuto encompassed all aspects of her personality. However, the beauty of the depicted scenes didn't detract from the blade itself. The edge of the steel blade looked positively lethal. This was confirmed when she attacked an oncoming hollow. It's mask was shattered when she waved her Tessen and indigo blades of energy flew from the sharp edge of steel.

As Nanao turned to face two more hollows she used prism burst to blind her opponents with a bright rainbow colored light. This was very effective since they were distracted by their temporary blindness and didn't even see her Zanpakuto, Tora, coming. They never got to see the blade that destroyed them. Before Nanao set foot back on the ground they were nothing more than dissipating ash.

Shunsui had to look away for a moment to dispatch a rather annoying hollow, but managed to look back just in time to see his Vice-Captain use a very unusual Kido.

"That's it. Enough is enough." Nanao thought as she looked at the five hollows that were converging on her. Her reiatsu was already depleted from creating the barrier and maintaining her Zanpakuto. She had to end this or she wouldn't have enough left. Her Captain had dispatched most of the hollows when she was creating the barrier, and now that their wasn't anymore congregating their was about twelve left. Nanao had had enough. She was ready to head home, wrap her aching shoulder, and take a much needed bath. Mustering her remaining reiatsu she called up one last Kido spell, "Plant Manipulation." Before her eyes vines flew out of the ground and around the five hollows on her side of the battle field. The plants were attracted by the hollow's malevolent reiatsu. Once the plants had the hollows in their leafy grip she proceeded to leap from one bound hollow to the next destroying each hollow's mask and as she gracefully flipped off the last one and landed in a crouch, she watched all five hollows disintegrate into ash.

Shunsui didn't want to look away from the lovely view his Vice-Captain provided, but didn't want to be here any more than he had to. He quickly dispatched his opponents with gale force winds interspersed with beautiful but deadly flowers.

Their mission accomplished he flash stepped over to Nanao. "Nanao-chan, Is your shoulder all right," he asked. It was the first time she had ever heard him be serious.

Nanao was ready to rebuke him for speaking to her in the familiar, but after seeing the concern on his face she just couldn't, but instead replied, "Yes sir, It is just a small flesh wound."

"Never the less. Let's get you to Squad four so Retsu-chan can fix you up."

Since she didn't feel like arguing she just nodded her head and replied, "What are we going to do about that other reiatsu, Captain?"

"I will send someone from Squad Two to put a barrier around the entire town so this will not happen again. They will probably want to investigate it anyway. Squad One will also need to station a shinigami here just in case the person carrying that reiatsu leaves the barrier."

Agreeing with the efficiency of this plan, and wanting her hot bath more than ever she nodded once again and together they headed back toward the gate.

Once they were back inside the Soul Society she tried once again to get her Captain to let her go home instead of Squad Four. The injury wasn't bad at all. He just wasn't hearing any of it. So they made their way to Squad Four, and once she was inside and in the capable hands of Vice-Captain Isane Kotetsu he left her to speak with Squads one and two.

Isane wrapped her shoulder and used a very simple healing Kido. While probably not necessary it did make her feel better. After informing her that it would be a little stiff for a couple of days Isane released her to go home and get some rest.

Nanao made her way to her new apartment in Squad Eight while wistfully anticipating the nice warm bath that waited inside. Once she got to the door however she noticed something sitting in front of the door way. Upon closer inspection she saw that it was a bouquet of flowers there were pink Camellias and two stalks of another purple flower she couldn't name, but she did have a pretty good idea about who they were from. The bouquet of flowers was stuffed into what looked suspiciously like a sake bottle with small pink blossoms painted on it. With a small smile she picked them up and entered her apartment. She still had an appointment with the bath.

After lounging in the tub until the water was barely warm, Nanao got out and, rewrapped her shoulder just like Isane had showed her. She dresses in a simple soft blue yukata and went to make tea. Having placed the teapot on to boil, she moved to the desk to get a better look at her flowers. They were beautiful. The Camellia's were a soft pink color, and their blossoms were overflowing with petals. Not sure of the name of the purple flowers, but secure in the knowledge that they were also beautiful. Each of the two stalks had dozens of tiny purple blossoms. They also smelled beautiful.

Thinking about the first flowers her Captain had given her, Nanao remembered that she still had that little book called "The Secret Language of Flowers." With an idea firmly in mind she took out the small tome. Knowing the name of the Camellias, she started there. When she discovered that the meaning of those beautiful pink flowers she couldn't help but feel proud as a smile slipped over her face. Excellence and Steadfastness was what they stood for. Nanao couldn't help but be happy that her Captain thought she was excellent and after their first mission even.

Not knowing the name of the large purple flower. Nanao had to leaf through the book until she saw a picture. It was a Hyacinth, and since it was a purple one, it meant " I am sorry. Please forgive me." This caused her to hesitate. What could he be sorry for. Thinking back she remembered his fury at her being harmed, and the concern he had shown later when insisting she go to Squad Four to have it looked at. The smile that was on her face didn't dissolve but it did morph into a small sad smile.

She had been in Squad Eight for six weeks today, and had learned something new about her captain every day. Today she had learned his fierceness in battle, and his capacity for compassion. Realizing that she didn't want to forget a minute of it, she opened up her new journal, and saw the Camomile blossom on the first page. She put some ink on her brush, and turned to the next page. She wrote the date in the top left hand corner, and at the top of the page she wrote Excellence and Steadfastness. She proceeded to pluck the blossom off one of the Camellias and place it on the bottom of the page. She moved on to the next page and did the same with the hyacinth, but with more sadness.

She closed the journal and put it away with the ink and brush. She left the small book about flowers and the secrets they hold out on the desk. It was due back to the library in a few days. It looked like she would just have to get her own copy considering the affinity Squad Eight had with flowers. Their Captain certainly loved them.

Across Soul Society in the Squad Thirteen Captain's Office sat Captains Juushiro Ukitake and Shunsui Kyouraku. They were both nursing cups of their beverage of choice. Shunsui's of course held sake while his long time friend had chosen a cup of steaming tea.

"How is Ise-san doing?" the white haired captain inquired.

"My Nanao-chan had already left Squad Four when I went to check on her but Isane-chan told me that it was nothing to worry about."

Seeing a glimmer of fire flash through his friend's eyes, the likes of which he hadn't seen since their academy days, Ukitake arched one eyebrow and replied, " Your Nanao-chan. When did she become yours?"

With a smirk Shunsui answered, "Today."

"Do you think that's wise? Ise-san is very partial to the rules and protocols?"

Shunsui's smile broadened into an even bigger smile as he replied, "Oh yes. She is definitely mine."

With a private smile Ukitake couldn't help thinking of the woman in question. His friend had quite possibly met his match.

Author's Note: This chapter ended up longer than I had anticipated, shortening it just wouldn't do it justice. So there it was. I hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review. Let me know if I should continue. Feedback is appreciated.

Special Thanks to the following people for reviewing Chapter 1: Camomiles:

WinterVines

Breezybiatch

Darkangel1910

Hitsu-taichou

Akirk85029

Kitsune Moonstar

Thanks so much. Your review's are appreciated.