Author's note: I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is for the 30 Kisses challenge using list gamma. This is slighly AU and is set several years after the previous chapter. Theme 16: Mesozoic.
These Hands
Nanao couldn't help sighing as she surveyed the office. The place was an utter mess. There was going to be no easy way to see if the requisition form she had submitted had been approved or not. Honestly, you would think that the paperwork hadn't been touched since the Mesozoic era. There was also no one here. Nanao was fond of her captain despite his bad habits, and he was a good captain. So, Captain Kyoraku's absence wasn't that surprising, but at least the current lieutenant should be here right now. Nanao sighed again.
In the two years since Lisa's disappearance, the Eighth Division had gone through lieutenants like crazy. So far the longest anyone had lasted was three months. And in the meantime almost every thing administrative was behind schedule. Resigned to her fate, Nanao began picking her way through the paperwork, organizing as she went. It was not the first time that she had dealt with turning chaos into order. When she had first become the Fifth Seat, her office had almost been this bad.
Before Nanao had really realized it, she gotten most of the office organize. Taking a seat behind the lieutenant's desk, she began sorting through the various stacks of paperwork she had assembled. Most of the work was really not that difficult, and honestly, for the majority of it, all the lieutenant really needed to do was get Captain Kyoraku's signature on things. Everything else simply required basic form filling out skills. Nanao easily assembled the two stacks of papers. And then because it just seemed natural (and the easiest way to get the work done), Nanao found herself filling out the blank forms.
Shunsui wandered into the office in order to find that extra stash of sake he knew was in there, and he blinked at the sight of the tiny shinigami perched behind Lisa's desk. He still thought of it was Lisa's desk despite the fact that he had been through at least three lieutenants since her. He recognized the girl easily. He had encountered her a handful of times since she had joined his division, and Shunsui vaguely remembered meeting her in the Rukongai and turning her over to Retsu. Most recently though, he had run into her the night Lisa and the others disappeared, and he had her come and knock some sense into him about two weeks after Lisa had disappeared. Shunsui honestly didn't remember much about that night other than the fact that she had told him that it was all right to miss Lisa and that she missed Lisa too. He vaguely remembered her climbing into his lap at some point in the evening, but she had been gone when he woke in the morning.
The girl was an intriguing little thing. Unfortunately, the recent troubles had kept him from getting to know her a little better. She had grown some, though she was still tiny. Physically, she looked to be about ten or twelve now though. The girl looked up from the paperwork and frowned at him.
"Nanao-chan?"
"You do realize that this paperwork is nearly three months late," her voice was rather exasperated. "It's a wonder the division hasn't fallen apart by now. I realize that paperwork is not exactly your forte, but you could at least make sure that your lieutenant is competent enough to get it done. I need you to sign that stack of papers."
She sounded far more like Yama-ji than a little girl, and as amusing as this situation was, she was probably right. But none of the lieutenants that Yama-ji had assigned him so far had really meshed well with Shunsui. He needed his lieutenant to be a partner, and none of the men and women so far really worked well with him. Nanao tapped a pen against the stack of papers, indicating that she was waiting for him to get to work on them. With a sigh, Shunsui picked up the stack of paperwork and took it to his own desk.
As Shunsui began to sign the papers, he took a good look at the office. The last time he'd been in here, it had been something of a mess. His organization skills typically led to Shunsui making piles of various things. He always knew where to find things for the most part, though the system wasn't very user friendly for anyone else. Now the office was almost completely organized. How long had Nanao been in here? He considered the little girl sitting at the desk across from his. It was an impressive feat. Of course, Nanao herself was rather impressive.
She was extremely young for a shinigami. However, she also was currently the division's Fifth Seat, and clearly, she had organizational skills. She didn't seem all that intimidated by him at this point, and she clearly had no qualms about ordering him around, as evidenced by the paperwork Shunsui was currently doing. Nanao was also a kidou master, and Shunsui seemed to remember from a recent discussion with his Third Seat after a patrol that she had her shikai. The main reason she wasn't ranked high in the division simply because she hadn't challenged anyone higher than his former Fifth Seat (who really had been rather incompetent in many ways). Shunsui didn't doubt that she could probably take on both the Fourth Seat and the Third Seat and win.
He tumbled the idea around in his head. It was a good idea, and it would solve a number of problems. There wasn't anyone else in the division who was qualified for the position, and clearly no one who Yama-ji had sent had worked out. Nanao-chan would be a wonderful lieutenant.
"Ne, Nanao-chan, is Ishikawa-kun's application for transfer somewhere in this pile?"
Her brow furrowed. "I think so, sir."
"Hmm. I suppose that means we'll need a new lieutenant."
Nanao rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, sir. Could you please get a competent on this time?"
Shunsui finished signing the last of the papers. Then he pulled out a blank form and began filling it out.
Part of Nanao was shocked and appalled at her behavior. She really shouldn't be so informal with her captain, but when she was tired, her tongue sometimes got away from her and she would say things she wouldn't normally. Captain Kyoraku didn't seem to mind though. And he was doing the paperwork that she had given him, so that was useful. The girl bit back a sigh. Another new lieutenant. Just what they needed.
To tell the truth, Nanao had never really gotten along with any of the new lieutenants. She knew in part it was because she compared all of them to Lisa, and they all failed to measure up. But there were other reasons as well. Nanao knew that she looked like she still belonged in the academy, but she had more than proved herself to be a competent shinigami by now. But every time they got a new lieutenant she had to prove herself again. Nanao was sick of it. On the one hand, it had honed her skills both in kidou and with her zanpakutou. However, it was also exhausting and draining.
The thought of her zanpakutou made Nanao instinctively touch the blade that was concealed in her sleeve. She had only just mastered her shikai in the past few months. She was better with kidou than she was with her blade, but Yamazakurakaze was not something she neglected. Nanao let out a sigh. Her captain slid a form into front of her. Nanao started; she hadn't noticed him moving.
"Sign this please, Nanao-chan."
Nanao huffed. More paperwork. She signed it without bothering to read it. It was probably one of those silly forms where you needed two officers' signatures to complete it.
To her surprise, he then kissed her forehead. "Thank you, Nanao."
Nanao looked up to meet his eyes.
Captain Kyoraku carefully tied the lieutenant's badge in place around her arm with a solemn smile. "This is yours, Nanao-chan."
She was speechless. Her captain just grinned at her.
"You did tell me to get a competent lieutenant. I can't think of anyone better suited."
