Chapter 3: Games

"Life's a game, all you have to do, is know how to play it."

~Anonymous

During the next week, Nanao made a new resolution. She wouldn't cry after something she had no business wanting in the first place and so she became a veritable "goer". Going out each night after work with different friends to try and enjoying herself. The weird part was - she really did! It wasn't as if Nanao was boring or anything, she liked going out with her close friends, usually in moderation, though.

But this week she left all her inhibitions and thoughts at the door to her office and had fun with her fellow fukutaicho. Actually, you couldn't not have fun with that bunch that included Shinigami like Matsumoto Rangiku, one of the funniest people ever, especially if tanked, and Kira Izuru, who wasn't really that funny but it was decidedly fun seeing all his sad antics.

In short, she had a good time.

It was Friday night and the bars were even more stuffed than they had been during the week, and while slightly oppressive, it felt nice to hear the carousing and fun of other groupings around her.

"Ey, ey, I need a new drink!" Abarai Renji tried to shout to one of the waiters who apparently couldn't hear him above the noise level of the bar.

"Damn it! Do I have to get up now?!" Renji looked so put out that Nanao chuckled and got up herself.

"I'll go to the bar, anybody else want something?" Nanao asked. After affirmatives of every occupant of the table, Nanao made her way over to the bar and ordered her drinks after gaining the attention of the busy bartender.

While waiting for her drinks, Nanao could feel eyes on her but couldn't pinpoint the location that the feeling originated from and a quick look around didn't give her any clues either.

She shrugged her shoulders. Usually she would have been bothered more but the few drinks she had had did their job fabulously she thought with a lopsided grin.

"Hey there Miss fukutaicho." A voice came from her right. Nanao looked up and saw a tall, quite handsome Shinigami with a nice smile looking down to her.

A quick run through her brain gave her the answer that he wasn't in the 8th Division.

She smiled back politely.

"Oh, no, you can't just smile back like that, you're supposed to look as if the sun just rose after a long night." The words were completely arrogant but his tone of voice was charming and fun.

Nanao smiled a bit less politely and more honestly.

"Better but still not quite what I had in mind - but we are getting there." He said with twinkling eyes.

"Aoki Eiro." He extended his hand for her to shake and Nanao not thinking put hers into his. Instead of shaking her hand, he lifted it to his mouth, though, and kissed the back of it gently. Nanao chuckled and looked the Shinigami over. Well, well, well. He was the proverbial tall, dark and handsome and he was charismatic, no doubt about that but with a pang she thought of her taicho and his antics and had to think of a time when her taicho had probably started out like this too, before he became legendary.

But Nanao didn't want to think of her taicho at the moment, she was trying to enjoy herself and who better to help her than a handsome man who was interested in her. If she wasn't as interested in him as she played at, well, she certainly wouldn't tell and so flirted right back at the charmer.

~o~S~o~

Shunsui was sitting in a corner a bit shielded from the other clients of the bar next to Ukitake. This particular bar didn't have a separate backroom but they certainly had a nice secluded corner where one could see everything but at the same time couldn't be seen. Being a taicho was, in certain instances, like when you wanted to relax a bit at a bar on a Friday night, a bit of a bother (not that he had done all that much during the week) since you got starry-eyed kids trying to get in your good graces and women trying to get into your bed.

He snorted at the cynical thought. He wasn't drunk enough yet.

Ukitake next to him certainly was well on his way to being tanked and was flirting with a pretty Shinigami with his usual gentle charm that usually wrapped the pretty females around his little finger. The elicited blushing giggles were testament to Ukitake's suave ways with women.

Shunsui sighed and looked around the bar just to stop with a real smile at the form of his Nanao-chan who was going to the bar. It was good to see that she got out once in a while with her friends.

He watched her make her way to the bar and then lean over to get the attention of the bartender and deposit her order. She must have felt his eyes on her because she looked around with a frown but his corner was hidden well enough that she didn't see him and so went back to waiting, until some Shinigami pup came up to her and probably started flirting since soon enough a pretty smile came onto her face.

Shunsui frowned. And then frowned some more. Why was he frowning? He looked over at the pair and the frown didn't abate. He didn't know the Shinigami who was talking to his Nanao-chan but he could already tell that the boy wasn't good enough by far for his Nanao-chan. Wasn't smart enough and by the gods wasn't strong enough to protect her.

He saw the Shinigami lean into Nanao and whisper something in her ear that made Nanao look up and stare into his eyes intensely and after a few torturous moments she shook her head and the guy leaned down and…kissed her! Right there and then in the bar and Shunsui had to use all his formidable willpower and restraint to keep his reiatsu from blasting the whole bar into oblivion.

What the hell! What was that little pup doing?! Shoving his tongue down her throat…and touching her! The soon to be permanently dead Shinigami had one of his hands low, very low on her back, nearly on her ass. The gall!

Shunsui was using every tactic he had ever been taught to stay in control of his emotions.

Why the hell was he so furious? Because someone was kissing Nanao-chan? Kissing someone who was his? His?! He frowned again at that and was able to relax a bit, although he was still watching the two with hawks' eyes, even though it hurt a bit to watch them.

However, soon enough the guy pulled back and although he was too far away to hear anything, he could see the guy saying something to Nanao-chan and Nanao-chan answered something back with a small smile on her face.

Had they made plans for something more later on? If those two were to leave the bar together, Shunsui couldn't be held accountable for what he did to the boy. When Nanao moved, every muscle was tense in his body. But… the boy didn't move. He looked after Nanao as she made her way to her table with the orders collected from the bartender but … the boy didn't follow and soon enough he turned away and vanished into the press of people.

Shunsui breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed back into the cushion drinking down a cup of sake in one swallow.

~o~S~o~

The next day in the office Nanao was concentrated as ever. The last night had actually been kind of fun, she had to admit. Her fellow fukutaicho were all a hoot and even though the little kissing session with the handsome Aoki Eiro hadn't worked out for either of them, she was proud of herself for being spontaneous and not wallowing in self-pity over her taicho.

Yesterday had shown her that maybe, even though she had felt absolutely nothing when Eiro had kissed her, it had shown her that maybe if she looked well enough she could find someone who could replace Shunsui's memory from her mind. Doubtful but a possibility.

But as soon as her taicho entered the office just before lunch and she got her first eyeful of him she admitted it was probably futile since her heart instantly started a hard pitter-patter rhythm and her thighs clenched in reaction to the tiny little spasms that were happening in between them.

"Morning, Kyouraku-taicho."

"Good morning, Nanao-chan." Shunsui smiled at her but she frowned when she saw that it was a bit strained. Nanao thought that maybe he had a hangover or something, wouldn't be the first time, and decided to go back to work.

Even though it was silent, which wasn't unusual, Nanao's whole body was strung tight and something was decidedly not right! The tension in the room was so thick you could have probably cut it with a dull knife and Nanao had absolutely no idea why.

"Taicho?" She decided to be active.

"Yes, Nanao-chan?" He looked over at her from his seemingly relaxed pose on the lounge, a book in hand.

"Is everything alright?" She ventured.

Her taicho looked over at her broodingly and then sighed and went back to his book.

"Of course, Nanao-chan. Everything is just perfect." He said, not looking at her.

Nanao looked at him for a second longer and frowned heavily at him. No teasing, no exaggerations, no nothing. Odd. Maybe he really did have a hangover. Nanao sighed and went back to work, not seeing her taicho's inscrutable glance at her.

~o~S~o~

Nanao didn't know what to do anymore. She loved the man. She really did and he was completely oblivious. While she was usually very direct in everything she did. Being direct in things of the heart was not her forte.

She looked glumly across the bar to where her obviously tipsy taicho lounged with a woman in each arm, each trying to crawl into his lap.

Nanao made a disgusted sound and drank down her wine in a gulp.

"Nanao! You can't drink that like it's some cheap hooch. This is absolutely divine wine to be savoured - not gulped down!" Rangiku leaned over the table, nearly spilling her breasts out of her uniform in the process.

"Now, look what you made me do." And she rearranged her chest so her uniform fit her once again. Barely.

"What is up with you anyway? You're a spoilsport tonight, all glum and dark. The last few days have been so much fun with you. What's wrong now?" Rangiku, too observant for her own good looked frowningly over at her and then she looked in the direction that Nanao had stared at all the time and saw the reason why Nanao was so depressed.

"Ah, he's got some floozies hanging on his arms, huh?"

Nanao looked away guiltily.

"I don't know what is going on with you two but Nanao, I think it's about time you told me."

And maybe it was the wine, or the compassionate expression on Rangiku's face that made her want to talk. She had never confided in anyone about her one night with her taicho and it was eating at her. While Rangiku wasn't too successful with her relationships either, the woman knew what she wanted and at least went after it. Most of the time.

"Not here." Nanao said swiftly and before she could blink, Rangiku had dragged her out of the bar and half-way back to her quarter. She guessed she really was kinda sloshed.

Soon enough they arrived at Rangiku's quarters in the 10th Division area and Rangiku shoved her into the small apartment before she stepped into it herself and closed the door. She switched on some lights and deposited them both on the couch.

"Alright, and now spill!" She looked at Nanao expectantly.

"God, Rangiku, do you never clean in here?" Nanao was astonished at the chaos. Clothes and magazines lying around, a mug strewn in between here and there. And… take-out cartons. Uh oh.

"Pah, Nanao, you know me. I've got more important things to do than clean. And I don't have enough money to hire a cleaner." Rangiku said snappishly, not saying anything to Nanao who had started to put the magazines into neat piles.

"Yes, because apparently you spend it all on clothes and magazines." Nanao said, looking around.

"Ah, Nanao don't stall! Just tell me. It can't be so bad."

Nanao didn't think. Couldn't, and literally just spilled it all.

"It's worse…I had sex with Kyouraku-taicho about ten years ago which he can't remember. I am in love with the man and he sees me as a daughter or a sister." Nanao looked at Rangiku's absolutely shocked face with just a bit of satisfaction. Take that!

"Oh my goodness! Seriously? Don't pull my leg about this, you hear me, Nanao?"

"I'm serious, unfortunately." Nanao admitted with a heavy heart.

"Oh my. Oh wow!" And then Matsumoto Rangiku was silent for a long while, a feat in itself.

"And you're in love with him?" Rangiku asked aghast.

"Yes." Nanao didn't want to beat around the bush. She had done so long enough and if someone could help her out of this hopeless situation it was one Matsumoto Rangiku, even if she hadn't rally admitted to herself to finally wanting to find a solution to her dilemma.

"And he can't remember at all?" Rangiku asked doubtfully.

"No not at all." And Nanao told her all that had happened, leaving out some of the more juicy details.

"Wow, I mean I like the man but at the moment I think I'd clop him a painful one over the head. Damn!"

Then they were silent for a while. Nanao was trying not to vomit after her confession and the alcohol she had imbibed on while Rangiku digested the whole story, gods, Rangiku couldn't believe that her friend had kept that secret form her for over ten years!

"So, what to you plan to do?" Rangiku asked after a while.

"Well, that's exactly my problem; I have absolutely no idea what to do. I love the man and while he flirts and teases me constantly, it's harmless and he doesn't mean it! He practically raised me and he doesn't see me in a sexual way." Nanao ended unhappily.

"I can see your problem but why don't you try to seduce the man. Tease him! Make his heart beat faster for a change."

Nanao looked doubtfully at her friend.

"How?"

Rangiku got an evil smile that would have made Aizen Sousuke shudder and Nanao leaned forward in glee.

"Now, listen my pupil, what you have to do, is simply…"

~o~S~o~

The next day at the office, Nanao was unbelievably excited. She now had a plan. It wasn't the best but she could now do battle. Battle her own taicho if she had to!

When he came in after lunch with a yawn on his face, her excitement abated a bit. What had he done that he was still tired when he was coming in after lunch? The two floozies in his arms popped into her mind and she tried to suppress the pain and put all the sad energy into her plan. If it worked, he would never so much as look at another woman, or man for that matter (she knew her taicho!) again.

"Hello, my beautiful Nanao-chan!" He gave her a tired smile.

"Kyouraku-taicho." Nanao answered respectfully.

"I hope there isn't much to do today, I'd like to call it an early night, or afternoon, for that matter." And he chuckled.

Nanao gave him a frown.

"Don't look at me like that, Nanao-chan." Her taicho whined.

Nanao sighed and shook her head at his antics, "No taicho, there is not a lot to do for you today, just a few signatures."

Shunsui gave a happy sigh and plopped into his chair, a pen poised, ready to sign. Nanao nearly rolled her eyes at the sight, she had trained him well.

After ascending to the position of fukutaicho, she had soon found out that it was absolutely fruitless to let her taicho do any paperwork at all. He doodled, wrote down memos to himself and drew little sketches for some future paintings since he was a very gifted artist, when the mood struck him. Nanao blushed just thinking of his favoured topic. Erotica. Men and woman, separately or together, nearly all in the nude, he just loved the forms of men and women.

After those instances, she had taken over to do his share of the paperwork too. After a while, when he had found out Nanao was doing his paperwork for him, there had been a time when he had completely stopped coming to the office, thinking that now he had nothing else to do. Nanao hadn't minded that much and then had started to forge his signatures on some forms, not knowing that some of the forms were put under reiatsu testing scrutiny.

When she had been ordered to the first, her taicho had suddenly been there and had put his head on the chopping block for Yamamoto-soutaicho, so to speak.

After that, Nanao had invented a new model of doing paperwork. While she still did his forms, he signed them. That he put that much trust in her that he signed stuff without even reading what the form entailed boosted her confidence every single time.

Coming back to the present, Nanao arranged the forms and stood up, feeling a bit queasy but she was not a coward, so she went over to his desk and put one form in front of him, holding onto the rest.

"Sign here please taicho." And she leaned over his shoulder so that her specially unbound breasts grazed his shoulder when she pointed at the line for his signature.

At first Nanao thought he hadn't noticed at all but after she had done it about four times he looked back from the corner of his eyes and looked at her, then a quick glance at her breasts. Nanao pretended to be busy with rearranging or looking for something in the forms but she knew where his eyes had strayed to.

She took a deep breath and felt her unbound breasts rise with the motion. Then after a passable amount of time, she made a happy noise as if she had found what she had been looking for and then leaned over him again and put down some more forms. But before she grazed his shoulder again, Shunsui had jumped up fast to evade her.

"Taicho?" Nanao asked, blinking innocently. Gods, she could have been an amazing actress.

"Eh, Nanao-chan, I-I'll be going to Ukitake, yes, that's it, I forgot, he needed me for, for rearranging his living room! Yes, that's it! Bye."

And gone he was.

Nanao waited a few moments until she let a devilish smile flit across her face.

"Let the games begin."

A/N: So here it is! Told you, I'd update on the weekend. Revision for my exams is kicking my ass so I took some time off and distracted myself with this chapter. The next one should be up by the end of next week – look for a Friday update *Crosses fingers that she can keep to the deadline*.

Anyways, let me know what you thought of the new chapter. I love reading your reviews, comments etc. And I hope I make that clear in my replies! For those who I couldn't reply to privately, here a few comments…

pearlyn – thanks fort he review! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Hope you also enjoyed the new chapter

InThisLife, - Aww, that's great! I hope you continue to love it ;-)

JapanLi – Well, I'm glad the storyline is believable. I always try to make them as in character as I possibly can, even if they are in situations like this. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint!