Author's Note: For the little we see of Nanao and Shunsui, we see even less of Nanao around other shinigami. I suspect she gets along well with Byakuya, and I imagine her being one of few people who can understand what's going on behind that blank face of his (she's very good at masking feeling herself, so she should know). So I wrote this little episode fully intending for them to seem to agree in every way (and for it to be very short), but it got away from me when I factored Shunsui's influence in. Which is, I assume, what it's really like for Nanao. It's set before the Soul Society arc, by the way.
Nanao watched with carefully-tempered chagrin as Kyouraku draped an arm around Matsumoto's shoulders and exclaimed something dramatic about some new bar in the Rukongai.
While Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and tried to inform his lieutenant that she had too much work to do that evening to go bar-hopping, Nanao kept a perfect mask. Her captain's antics were all too familiar to her. They were rather inappropriate for a captain of the Gotei 13, and during a meeting no less. However, Nanao recognized them as the relatively mild amusements of a man too powerful to be anything but bored by the day-to-day bureaucracy which Nanao herself found comforting.
Nanao found the order of the Gotei 13 comforting, and she realized how important it was to most of the shinigami involved. Even if she understood why her captain acted so ridiculously, she was obligated to temper his actions. Honestly, she suspected he acted so outrageously because he knew his lieutenant would keep him from doing anything too drastic.
Turning from where she was finishing a conversation with her friend Hinamori and the girl's pleasant but mysterious captain, Aizen, she noticed Kuchiki standing next to her. He was looking in the direction of the disturbance being caused by Kyouraku and the Tenth Division leaders, and if there had been anything like an expression on his placid face, Nanao suspected it would be annoyance.
"Excuse me, Kuchiki-taichou," Nanao said with a bow as she moved past him, "It seems in my inattentiveness, my captain has abandoned the propriety requisite for such a setting."
"So it would seem," Kuchiki replied calmly. He nodded very slightly to Nanao, and she imagined that if there had been anything like an expression this time, it would have been approval of her comment.
Turning towards the growing disturbance which now featured two white-haired captains, two leaders wearing articles of pink, and a varied crowd of bystanders, Nanao smiled.
She knew why her captain behaved the way he did, and really, she didn't mind most of the time. He was eccentric yes, but so were each of the captains and their lieutenants. Still, it was nice to know that the particular eccentricity of the Sixth Division captain was his stoic professionalism that balanced the Eighth Division captain's flamboyance.
Having someone who felt the same about such things made her feel less like a killjoy for what she was about to do.
"I'm sorry, Rangiku, but I must rescind my captain's offer to visit a new bar this evening. He has quite a bit of paperwork to tend to before the end of the week, and I think it will be Friday at the earliest before he has time for such recreation."
"But Nanao-chan!" Kyouraku protested, throwing his free arm around his lieutenant's own shoulders. "I already promised Ran-chan. I can't jeopardize my honor in breaking such a commitment!"
"I'm glad to hear that you intend to honor your commitments, sir," Nanao declared nonchalantly, removing his arm from her shoulders to hold it in a vice grip. "Of course, you have a long-standing commitment to the Gotei 13 which I expect you will honor just as judiciously."
Kyouraku pouted a little as his own dramatics backfired on him, but brightened quickly.
"I'm so sorry, Ran-chan!" he exclaimed, removing his arm from her shoulders to place it over his heart. "It seems my lovely Nanao-chan is determined to drag me off to do her bidding!"
He winked suggestively and grasped Nanao's hand on his arm. "I'm at your mercy, my adorable fukutaicho!"
Nanao indulged herself in an eye-roll as her own tactics backfired against her this time. It was a never-ending competition between the leaders of the Eighth, and Kyouraku usually ended up winning for sheer lack of shame. He wasn't fighting her as she pulled him out of the meeting hall toward their division offices, but he wasn't exactly allowing her to be professional about it either.
They passed Captain Kuchiki on their way out, and if there had been anything like an expression on his face then, Nanao supposed it would have been resigned irritation at the unprofessional behavior of the Eighth, no matter how effective it was.