Freedom


"We hold in our hands, the most precious gift of all: Freedom. The freedom to express our art. Our love. The freedom to be who we want to be. We are not going to give that freedom away and no one shall take it from us!"

~Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

It was a day like any other. Nanao was in the office working on some paperwork and Shunsui was lying on the couch, napping.

She looked over at her taicho and contemplated his relaxed posture and knew that he was not really sleeping, only relaxing and thinking. He was doing that a lot. But then again, so was she. It was good that she was a woman and good at multitasking because looking at him all the time and doing paperwork was not really working.

Come to think of it, she would have never thought that she would ever be able to feel like this with Shunsui, to begin with. To not do her paperwork and not have her mind fully on it. Only Shunsui managed to distract her so.

She had thought that she'd feel constricted or worse, feel pressured. Living with another person was hard work and while she still had her fukutaicho quarters, her things had slowly been moved into his. Here a dresser full of her trinkets, there some of her books, his wardrobe now held feminine garments in it and she could see him smiling whenever he saw them there neatly next to his, the bathroom now smelled like female bath products and various things like combs and crèmes were now lying around on the shelves. Shunsui loved it.

She didn't feel constricted at all. The curious thing was she felt free like never before. She had known him for over a hundred years and even before they had started their romantic relationship she got to know him pretty well, being in the 8th Division and then as his fukutaicho. But for Ukitake-taicho and the soutaicho she was the one person who knew him to have the sharpest mind of all and an innate honour that spoke of dignity and also generosity. And yet, she still learned new things about him nearly every day.

She had discovered that they had a common favourite author and just the other day she found out that he loved strawberries. She had always thought him to love peaches but no, Shunsui had corrected her, saying that nothing could triumph over the succulent sweet red flesh of a strawberry, or something of the sort. Nanao hadn't been paying too much attention to what he said while he was slowly licking and sucking on a strawberry. Her face heated up as she thought of it. A small thing, sure, but priceless to Nanao nonetheless.

That was another thing she hadn't fully anticipated. The heated responses he was able to coax from her body made her feel so unbelievably free and passionate, she could have never imagined herself to act like that. He had done things to her body she couldn't even think about without blushing much less think of her doing them! She didn't know if she could finally let go with him or if he was able to bring out a completely different side of her. She just knew that he made her feel uninhibited, he made her lose herself in him. And she knew he was cherishing ever single moment.

oooxooo

Shunsui was doing something that was amongst the things that he loved most. He was lying on the absolutely comfy couch and watched his Nanao-chan work. It was fascinating to say the least. Her forehead would crinkle just so when she was concentrating on something.

Shunsui was so content like never before in his life. Never had he been so completely at ease as with Nanao night after night in his arms. He had known that it would be beautiful to have her finally there but he could have never imagined the pleasure of the simplest things she did. How could anybody be so happy, so complete with another person? He had lived for so long now but these times with Nanao at his side were the most precious of them all. He had known her for so long now, knew her little quirks and peculiarities and it gave him pleasure to just look at her.

This was no puppy love. He had loved her for decades before they had come together in a romantic fashion. Had cared about her from the first time he had met her.

There existed no other person like his Nanao-chan. He didn't know what he did to deserve her in his life but he would do everything in his power to keep her there.

It was such a beautiful time, a time he hoped to all the gods would never end. This was what he had hoped for in life since the first moments of puberty and his first thoughts of love. It had been his most sincere wish to be with someone who completed him, who loved him, even if Nanao-chan didn't say it as often as he'd like, he just had to look into her eyes to see the purest form of love shining out of them. She had such a diverse and complex personality that kept him on his toes, constantly.

The best part was, she didn't make him change. Not once had she said he shouldn't be so lazy, at least not more than usual, he smiled, no, now she had just become more creative in inciting him to work. Where before she would have bribed him with hiding his sake to do his paperwork, now she bribed him with other things and if possible he was even lazier just to get the bargaining chip. Ah, he loved when Nanao bribed him into doing work, it was so unbelievably pleasurable. He smiled.

The physical part of their relationship was certainly quite new. Not even a whole year had they been sleeping together but he knew that he would spend the rest of his life with her. He nearly cried whenever he thought too much about it and knew that he wouldn't be able to live without her, now that he finally knew what it meant to be with her.

She was such a passionate little creature and no one except him was allowed to ever behold that part of her. Let the rest wonder. He was the one who knew. Her every response was so very honest and genuine, her every sigh and moan was music to his ears. She was uninhibited when she was with him. She felt free enough with him to let go. Let go of all propriety and just feel and love.

He would never let her go.

oooxooo

When Nanao sighs at her desk, Shunsui looks up at her from his position on the couch to lift his eyebrows slightly in inquiry.

"Everything alright, Nanao-chan?" He asked.

"Of course, it just feels as if I have been doing these forms for forever."

Shunsui's eyebrows lifted even more and he contemplated her appearance.

"You look tired, my most hard-working Nanao-chan. What do you think about calling it a day? The weather is beautiful outside. The spring just coming in and chasing that winter away. Huh?"

Nanao had to say it sounded tempting especially since she really was a bit dizzy. Stupid paperwork. She sighed again and looked at the man across from her. She was tired of the paperwork and the late afternoon did look lovely and she would have called it a day in an hour anyway. Alright, she gave up.

"Alright."

Shunsui smiled happily and got up at the same time Nanao did, which was good since she wobbled quite a bit.

Shunsui instantly shunpoed over to her to brace her in his arms.

"Nanao?" He asked worriedly.

She breathed in deeply, "I am alright. Don't worry, I have just been sitting for too long on these monotonous forms and my blood rushed into my head, I guess. I am sorry, come on let us go, I feel fine now. You can let me go." She smiled up into his face beautifully and Shunsui discovered that he had quite a tight grip on her.

He chuckled a bit and with another perusing glance over her body to see for himself that she was truly alright again, he loosened his tight grip until he was only holding her hand.

He wanted to start walking when Nanao stopped him with her hand in his and pulled him down for a quick kiss. Shunsui smiled into her lips and with a chuckle he pulled her out of the office, her hand still tightly in his.

A/N: Thanks for all the awesome reviews. I love them! You're all amazing.