Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put them in. Everything else belongs to somebody else and that's just the way it's gotta be, at least for the time being. Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoy this latest chapter!

I'll Be Seeing You

Nanao hadn't been kidding about her unfortunate habit of cuddling with things in her sleep. Rather than her pillow, which was what normally ended up in her arms, Shunsui awoke early the next morning to find his sober lieutenant plastered against him in a most un Nanao like way. Her head rested under his chin, her arm carelessly laid across his side, while her free leg was resting over his own, putting them in a very suggestive position, especially since from the feel of it her shirt had ridden up under the covers at some point during the night. Now this was something actually worth waking up for, Shunsui thought with a grin, not even bothering to open his eyes as he simply savored his current predicament. When he did find whoever was bothering his Nanao chan, he might just let the bastard live for the part he'd played in getting Nanao into bed with him. Content to remain as he was he didn't move, minutes passing before she started to stir against him, making a panicky sound in her sleep. Reacting instinctively Shunsui wrapped his free arm around her and turned his head to place a kiss on the top of hers. "Shhh, baby. It's okay, I've got you."

"Not the baby. You're the baby." Was her muttered response, still half asleep as her brain struggled to wake up. "Don't call me baby."

"Yes ma'am." Withdrawing his arm, since he knew how she's take that, Shunsui even scooted over a little so that she couldn't accidentally bash him under the chin with her head when she woke up enough to try to get up. Good thing too, since mere seconds had passed before she suddenly sat up in bed, looking around her in sleepy confusion. Enjoying the view Shunsui watched as awareness came into those dark, confused eyes, his lieutenant raking a quick hand through her sleep tousled hair as she turned to look over at him while blinking owlishly. "Morning."

"Good morning." Was her stiff reply, as she struggled to find some semblance of dignity. From the look on his face, she must be a definite sight. "And why are you awake anyway? It's not even six yet." She added, after glancing at the clock beside the bed to confirm the time. Not even she got up this early normally.

Not about to tell her why he got up every morning this early her captain gave her a casual shrug. "I just did."

Eyes narrowing slightly Nanao was tempted to go back to sleep but now that she was awake she didn't think she was up to the embarrassment of going back to sleep in her captain's bed, especially not for just two more hours of sleep. Noting for the first time that the light beside her side of the bed was on Nanao frowned, distinctly remember it being off. Looking from the lamp to her captain Nanao's cheeks pinked when she realized that sometime during the night he'd turned it on for her, in case she got scared. It was such an embarrassing thing for him to do, as well as incredibly sweet of him. Then again, that pretty much summed him up and his usual behavior towards her.

"You can go back to sleep you know, it is too early to get up." Used to being up at this hour Shunsui didn't need any more sleep but it was obvious that she was exhausted and the threat of attack had probably resulted in her not sleeping as deeply as she could have. "I'll stay in the room and keep watch, there's no need for you to worry, Nanao chan."

Rubbing the remaining sleep from her eyes Nanao shook her head. "No, I don't need to sleep anymore. I just want to go home and make sure everything's all right over there."

"Okay, then we'll go check out your place together."

"There's no need for you to go too." Nanao protested, averting her eyes slightly as he threw his covers off and got to his feet. "I'll be fine, I'm sure whoever it was is long gone."

Not buying that Shunsui had no plans to let her out of his sight until he was a hundred percent sure that she was safe from anyone who might be under the mistaken impression that they could cause his Nanao chan trouble. "Or he could be waiting for you to come home." He pointed out, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he shook his head at her. "We'll go down and raid the kitchen for some breakfast and than we'll go over and check your place together. That's an order as your captain."

Annoyed Nanao gave him a dark look but got up to join him in hunting up some breakfast. He better not think I'm cooking for him though, she thought as she followed him out the door.


"Well that's not something you see every day." Captain Soifon said under her breath as she watched Captain Kyoraku drag his lieutenant after him, Ise san struggling to keep up with his longer strides as he kept what looked to her like an iron grip on his lieutenant's arm. They were headed right towards her too, which had Soifon and the General sharing a look that said plainly they were both curious as to what was going on and why Ise san was letting Kyoraku get away with this.

Marching straight over to his former teacher Shunsui didn't let go of Nanao's arm until they were standing right in front of the old man, and thus perfectly safe. "Someone broke into Nanao chan's apartment last night."

Surprised Soifon looked Kyoraku's lieutenant over, seeing no sign of injury. "Were you there when it happened?"

"No. Someone followed me home from work and again when I went out for a quick errand. Because whoever it was evaded my attempts to confront him so easily, I thought it wise to leave and go to my captain's residence to inform him and insure that he hadn't been similarly targeted." That was her excuse and she was standing by it. If Kyoraku even thought of contradicting her, she'd see him limping for a week.

Too angry even to be amused by her fibbing Kyoraku was all business. "She stayed with me to be on the safe side and when we arrived at her apartment at six we found that someone had been inside. Nothing was obviously disturbed but the bastard took one of her lipsticks and wrote 'I'll Be Seeing You' on her bathroom mirror."

"Has anyone been causing you trouble, Lieutenant Ise, or suggested they wished you harm?" The General asked, the only one of the group to appear unfazed at the idea that someone might be coming after a member or members of his divisions.

"No, I don't know who it could be. I've never felt that sort of malice directed at my person before." She just wasn't the sort of person one expected to be stalked. She didn't stand out that much and only her captain seemed to think she was a beauty worth pursuing. She didn't handle top secret documents either and if the person had been looking for something, wouldn't they have trashed the place to look for it? No, this was directed at her and the not knowing why almost scared her as much as the idea of facing the General in battle again. When it came down to it, nothing scared her more than the short, scarred man watching her with those all seeing eyes of his. Her captain had been pretty scary too, Nanao mused while the others talked around her about possible explanations. When he'd seen what was written on her mirror he'd flipped out even more than she had. You'd have thought it had been his place that had been broken into, given his tone of voice and foul language as he cursed the unknown perpetrator out. She'd never seen him so upset before, it had definitely been a sight to see.

"Well she'll be staying with me." Her captain was saying when Nanao's mind turned back to the conversation. "Until we've solved this I'm not letting her out of my sight."

Fighting down the instinctive need to put him in his place for deciding things for her, Nanao forced herself to let him get away with it, since staying with him really was the best solution for the time being. As much as it galled her, she really would feel better with him around, at least until the bastard who'd broken into her place was caught.

"I'll look into it personally, Ise san." Soifon informed them with a decisive nod of her head. "We'll catch him, I promise."


Dragging her feet slightly Rukia was in no real hurry to get to Urahara's shop anytime soon. She'd spent the morning sleeping in her closet while Ichigo was out with his family, having been sent down to earth to pass some information on to him and to drop something off for former captain Kisuke Urahara at the General's request according to her older brother. Why she had been chosen to be the messenger, he hadn't said. Not that she really minded, since this got her away from Renji for a couple of days at least. At the moment, giving what a jerk he was being, it was better he wasn't around for her to maim for causing her so much trouble. What had she ever seen in him in the first place? Muttering under her breath about the stupidity of the male species Rukia wasn't even aware that she'd picked up a shadow until that person was standing right behind her.

"And where are you off to, Kuchiki san?"

Nearly jumping out of her skin Rukia whirled around to see former captain Yoruichi Shihoin grinning down at her, a cat that got the cream look on her face, obviously pleased to have so successfully snuck up on her. "Yoruichi san." Giving a quick bow out of respect Rukia worked hard not to let her annoyance show. "I was just on the way to Urahara san's store."

"Were you now? What have you come to buy? Something for Ichigo perhaps?"

"Something to drop off, from the General. I'm under orders to give it to Urahara san personally and no one else." Which sucked, because here was someone who she could trust to give it to so that she wouldn't have to walk all the way there. All luck seemed to have deserted her this week.

"I see." A naturally curious person Yoruichi wondered what the General had sent for Urahara, especially since the two weren't exactly on the best of terms. Oh well, she'd just bug Kisuke about it later until he filled her in. "So what were you muttering about earlier? Something about Renji and being stupid? It's not like you to be redundant."

Smirking slightly at that Rukia explained that she and Renji were currently fighting and that it was all his dumb fault. "And all over a stupid list I wrote and he was rude enough to read. All it said was that on paper, Ichigo and Ishida were better boyfriend material than him."

The poor stupid idiot, what a blow that must have been, especially to an ego as frail as Abarai's, Yoruichi thought to herself, amused. "So why did you write it in the first place? Thinking about trying to find your special someone?"

"Not really, it all has to do with this theory of Lieutenant Matsumoto's." Explaining all about the theory and the conversation Rukia had to stop several times because Yoruichi kept breaking out into fits of laughter, so overcome that the older woman was actually weaving as she walked, holding onto her ribs like she might burst one. Rukia didn't get what was so funny, and by the time she was finished her explanation she was more than a little annoyed. "What is so funny?" She finally demanded to know.

"I was just thinking about how everyone is going to react once this goes around. Soifon is going to have kittens." Grinning widely Yoruichi could only imagine how scandalous and inappropriate her former lieutenant was going to find all this. Soifon could be a stick in the mud when it came to some things, sex being one of them. This was really going to get the woman's back up, when she heard what the lieutenants were up to. The General's reaction was sure to be hilarious as well. Oh to be a fly on the wall, Yoruichi thought with a small sigh of regret. She was sorry she was going to miss it.

"Well what do you think about it? You're a former captain after all."

Raising an eyebrow at what could be seen as a rather insulting question, Yoruichi simply grinned and winked at the younger girl. "Well I've never had any complaints in that area, but then, I'm no longer in Soul Society either. Maybe there's something about the atmosphere there." Or maybe it was because she was less busy now, thus making more room and time for sex. Either way, she had no complaints in that department.

"That was one of the suggestions."

"I see." Thinking the whole thing over a very evil, very diabolical thought entered Yoruichi's oh so devilish mind. A little way for her to contribute to this whole experiment of Matsumoto san's. After all, as a former member of the Gotei 13, it was her duty to look out for the best interests and help her former comrades in arms. "So tell me, Kuchiki san, just how long are you going to be staying before you go back?"

I'm going back tomorrow night around ten. There's a family function I have to attend with my brother the next day."

"Hmmm. Then if it's all right with you, I'll drop in at Ichigo's house tomorrow, around nine thirty in the evening, and give you some packages to deliver for me? Nothing too strenuous and heavy, just a few items I need to pass on to some of the lieutenants."

"Sure, I guess so."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."


Arriving at the store Yoruichi helped Rukia find Urahara in the back room than headed to the front of the store to find out what they were having for dinner from Tsukabishi. Once Rukia's business with Urahara was concluded, and the girl came out to say good bye, Yoruichi slipped back into the back to find Urahara sitting cross legged on the floor, several sheets of paper in his hand. "So what does the General want with you?" Walking over Yoruichi sat down beside him, propped her head up with her left hand as she looked over at him curiously.

"It's one of Kurotsuchi's latest ideas for a weapon to use against the arrancars. As always, it involves a lot of human experimentation and trials. Will he never learn." Throwing the sheets down on the floor it was obvious how Urahara felt about his replacement's latest endeavor. "He should never have been given my job."

Understanding him perfectly Yoruichi agreed with him completely on that point. "Sooner or later he's going to go too far. Then what he's done will come back to haunt him."

"Can a man without a conscience, truly ever be haunted by the things he does?"

"I think so. I want to anyway." Hoping to lighten the mood Yoruichi deliberately moved closer to give Urahara a quick body bump. "Besides, you have other things to worry about."

It was never a good thing when she smiled at him like that. "Such as?"

"Well apparently, you and I are suffering from a lack of sex drive due to our incredibly high levels of spirit energy. There are several members of the Soul Society who are researching the phenomenon right now and the data that's come in so far isn't looking so good for us."

Blinking a couple times Urahara just stared at her blankly. "You can't be serious."

"Oh but I am." Briefly explaining her conversation with Rukia Yoruichi told him all about the girls' theory and how apparently testing was being done by several of the female lieutenants to find out whether or not Matsumoto was right.

Laughing Urahara could only imagine the chaos this little experiment was going to cause once word of it leaked out to the general public. The fact that Kurotsuchi's daughter was in on it was just the icing on the cake as far as he was concerned. Oh but he hoped the melancholy little lieutenant went to her captain with their findings, he thought with inner glee. Kurotsuchi's face would be absolutely priceless. Maybe the girl would even find herself a man in the process, that would really mess things up for Kurotsuchi's, since no real man would let his woman be abused the way Kurotsuchi's abused his daughter. "Damn, too bad we're going to miss it."

"I know. I'm going to put some stuff together though, to help the girls out."

Raising an eyebrow Urahara was quick enough to figure out that whatever the stuff was, it was the reason she looked so deviously pleased with herself. "What sort of stuff?"

"Oh a little of this and a little of that. I'll go shopping in a few hours." Getting to her feet Yoruichi stretched her arms above her head, arching her whole body into it before looking down at him with a mischievous smile. "So what are you up to for the rest of the day?"

"Nothing in particular." He answered with a similar grin, knowing that look in her eye very well as she walked over to stand provocatively against the door frame. "Why, did you need my help with something?"

"Well you know, you are getting stronger and more powerful as the years have gone by. I should probably take advantage of you as much as possible, before you aren't of any use to me anymore." Running a finger seductively down the front of her shirt Yoruichi gave him a knowing look of her own. "Don't you think so?"

"You do have a point." Getting to his feet Urahara motioned for her to come closer with a suggestive crook of his finger. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."