Ch. 7

I apologize for how long it took me to get back to this story (I know it's been, quite literally, years since I've done anything significant with it.) It was a truly epic case of writer's block is all I have to say. I've done my best to edit this on my own, and I believe I've caught the worst of the errors, but as I have no beta reader at the moment, you'll have to forgive me if there are still mistakes.

The next morning found Nanao sitting quietly at her desk, far earlier than even she would normally be found for work. Despite her resolve the night before, she could honestly admit to being nervous. She'd woken up this morning from a strange, strange dream about falling cherry blossoms and hadn't been able to go back to sleep. Largely because she'd immediately remembered what today would bring.

And this, therefore, was the reason why she was trying valiantly to calm herself with a cup of hot water and honey in her empty department early in the morning. Nanao had thought about the situation over and over, turning it topsy-turvey, sideways, and even inside-out trying to decide what to do. Quite honestly, she still had absolutely no idea how she'd respond to the situation, mostly because she was having trouble deciding how Kyouraku-sama would respond himself.

In purest fact, her best hope was that he wouldn't respond at all, and the whole situation would pass like so much water under a bridge. This was (admittedly) a very, very, faint hope however since she'd never known anyone as obnoxiously tenacious as Kyouraku-sama.

Thinking about this particular aspect of her boss's personality brought a small smile to Nanao's lips. She thought back to their exchange in the park and how Kyouraku-sama had looked up at her, astonished and dripping wet in the fountain. Nanao had discovered on that day that the battlefield between the two of them was much evener than she would like. In fact, sometimes it occurred to her that if Kyouraku-sama's personality was more competitive or perverse instead of being a mix of gentleness, good-humour, and curiosity, it was unlikely that she would be able to maintain an upper-hand at all.

Thank goodness for small favours Nanao supposed. Mind you, she did have to admit that at least now her life could well and truly be called interesting.

With that thought Nanao looked down at her now-empty cup, set it aside, and pulled a stack of memo's towards herself. Since she'd already discerned that there was no way for her to predict today's outcome, all she could do was rely on her resolve and quick-wits to get her through whatever occurred. And the first step towards brazening her way through the whole thing was to appear exactly how she always did. That is to say, Nanao got down to work.

Shunsui stood in his office later that morning, looking out the window at the city-scape before me. He'd snuck into his office while his Nanao-chan was out looking for him. Maybe it wasn't his most courageous moment, but Shunsui had some pondering to do.

He'd been thinking things through ever since yesterday evening and he still hadn't made up his mind. The part of his heart that had ached as he'd watched Nanao's flight from the room last night told that he'd be a fool to try wooing Nanao. The part that couldn't imagine forfeiting the match before he'd begun said he'd be a fool to quit. His mind told him that there was plenty of evidence that she didn't, and perhaps couldn't care for him as he did for her, but then Shunsui remembered the park and the fountain that fateful afternoon, and knew that those few, perfect moments had meant something.

But in the end, Shunsui had never been a coward before, most especially not with his feelings. After all, Shunsui was patient, and even if it took him years to worm his way past Nanao's battle-hardened carapace, he knew that she was worth it. Of course, there was nothing to say that she'd cooperate with his goal in any way, and in all honesty, given her nature, she probably wouldn't. Shunsui had faith in his little cat though, and faith in what he'd seen in her. She was strong, loyal, and underneath it all, he thought, passionate in a way that might even put his own warm heart to shame. And that was something that he simply couldn't give up on.

Nanao sat tense at her desk, staring blindly at the computer in front of her, while all of her senses were directed with pin-point accuracy at the office behind her. She'd come back to find Kyouraku-sama in his office. Doing paperwork. He was in his office, doing paperwork that she hadn't forced upon him, and from the look of the pile on the corner of his desk, had been for awhile.

It was unnerving, distracting, and positively...sinister! That was the word. Sinister.

What on earth was Kyouraku-sama doing in there? If he was a man with a bend for cruelty she'd say that he was far angrier at her than she had imagined, and had completely bypassed the obvious way to torment her (mentioning last night) and had come up with a positively malevolent scheme to punish her.

But Kyouraku-sama wasn't that sort of man, and in Nanao's (fairly extensive) experience, there was no explanation for his current behaviour.

Peering at the clock on her PDA she decided to test the situation.

There were very few things in life that Shunsui detested more than revenue reports, but somehow he had managed to occupy himself with them for the last hour. Normally, there was no circumstance on this earth that could possibly have gotten him to come within a full office-length of the detestable pieces of paper, but Shunsui was trying something out.

It had stuck in his mind from his conversation with Jushiro last night that perhaps he had been making it unnecessarily difficult for Nanao-chan to do her job. Shunsui laboured under no delusions that simply reading and filling out documents would endear him to his Nanao, but perhaps there were worse starts.

He was so caught-up in his musings that he didn't notice the object of his thoughts standing 4 feet from his desk until she cleared her throat.

Looking up, Shunsui beamed at the girl in front of him "Ah, Nanao-chan. A vision of loveliness as ever! What can I do for you?"

"Good morning, Kyouraku-sama. I simply wanted to deliver these messages to you and ask whether you wanted to take your lunch at 12:00 or 1:00 today." More curious than the cool and collected words from his wonderfully professional Nanao-chan was the expression on her face as she handed him a cup of tea. Shunsui had a feeling that there was something subtly wrong, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it.

Accepting the cup, Shunsui replied "How thoughtful of my Nanao-chan to bring me tea. You're positively a mind-reader. I think that I'll go for lunch at 1:00. I'm almost done this report," and glanced down at the aforementioned document.

When he glanced back up he was immediately struck by what was wrong with Nanao's expression. She looked horror-stricken. Other people might not have picked up on the subtlety of the expression, but Shunsui fancied himself an expert observer of Nanao phenomenon.

"Yare, yare, now that's an expression I've never seen on my dearest Nanao-chan before."

Looking away from him quickly and then back again, Nanao replied "I'm not sure what you mean Kyouraku-sama. What expression are you talking about."

"Why, Nanao-chan looks as if I suggested she throw away her PDA or something equally terrible and unthinkable." As Shunsui spoke the words he had a feeling like every ounce of his being depended on the answer. It was a peculiar sensation to say the least.

"I think Kyouraku-sama must be imagining things. I understand that doing actual work at work puts a terrible strain on your delicate mental faculties however, so I'm willing to ignore it this one time," Nanao briskly snapped out as she turned to walk from the room.

Standing up from his desk slowly Shunsui made his way around the side, speaking softly, "Come now Nanao-chan. I have many flaws, but observation has never been one of them. There's no hiding from me, and we both know that there'll be no living with me until you give me an answer."

Stopping her movement with tense shoulders, eyes flashing annoyance and a resignation, Nanao replied somewhat huffily, "Fine. If you must know it's positively surreal to find you in here, doing your work, and volunteering to remain at work when you had a clear option for escape. It is...worrying."

"I would have thought that you'd be thrilled to see me willingly and gainfully occupied without the threat of one of your harsh punishments Nanao-chan. I had thought that my "lackadaisical attitude" was one of your key irritants in life." Shunsui said, eyebrows raised, arms behind him, resting back against the front of his desk. "After witnessing my Nanao-chan sleeping exhausted on her desk last night, I thought that reforming my habits was the least apology I could offer."

Eyes wide with astonishment Nanao cleared her throat uncomfortably "Although I...appreciate the effort, there is nothing Kyouraku-sama needs to apologize for. It is my job to make life easier for you, not yours to make mine simpler, and there is nothing so wrong with Kyouraku-sama's behaviour that he need reform himself for my sake."

Shunsui just opened and closed his mouth, utterly shocked by what he had just heard. Not only had Nanao let him know that she was willing to forget about last night (albeit indirectly), but that she also didn't "completely" disapprove of him personally.

Obviously irritated and embarrassed by his lack of response, a blushing and irate Nanao shot back, "Of course, out of politeness I won't mention Kyouraku-sama's thoughtlessness, unprofessionalism, vagaries, eccentricities, or tendency to overindulge in everything from sake to naps."

"Ack! Nanao-chan truly shoots to kill. I'm mortally wounded by your cruelty! Here I thought that we were soon to begin a lovely romance scene where you profess your undying love and admiration for me, but you were cold-heartedly setting me up for a terrible blow" Shunsui cried out, throwing his arm across his face and falling to his knees on the floor.

Sniffing in a dignified manner as she walked from the room, Nanao replied "Do be serious Kyouraku-sama, and kindly hand that revenue report you have so thoughtfully took it upon yourself to complete to me before you go for lunch." Stopping momentarily at the door, she turned back to him and said in her own simple and straightforward manner, "I have had some months to become accustomed to your habits Kyouraku-sama, and although I disapprove of several and hope nightly for you to gain some sort of sense, I must admit that the idea of having to re-acclimate myself to a "new" boss holds little appeal to me."

With that she was gone, leaving Shunsui kneeling in front of his desk with a silly sort of smile on his face. Although he was sure that Nanao hadn't intended to give anything away with the exchange, she had given him something quite valuable. She'd told him that at least she didn't despise him, and in that, there was some hope.

Thanks to the people that have already commented on the story! Any feedback at all is much appreciated :).