I do not own Bleach.
Nanao woke up due to being over heated. But when she tried to get the covers off of her, she couldn't move them. She kept trying, but there was something stopping her.
"Nanao-chan. Let us sleep." Nanao rolled her eyes as she heard Chishitoge's voice.
She slid herself out of the blankets and looked at her three cats. They all looked at her sleepily. 'Really you guys. You can't just materialize whenever you want.' She looked at them as they all yawned and stretched. She rolled her head as she got off her bed. She walked into her bathroom to shower and change.
She was out in under an hour. Nanao looked at her clock. It was only 7:27. But she didn't know when the tournament started. She rummaged through her drawers to try and find a spare pair of glasses.
"Nanao-sama." Nanao looked up at Chibara sitting on her desk. He held a paw up and pointed down at something on the desk.
Nanao walked over and looked climbed onto her chair to get a better look at what was on her desk. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of a heart shaped locket. Nanao hesitantly reached for it.
She picked it up and examined it. 'It can't be.' Nanao had sworn she didn't have it on her earlier. She didn't have the locket that Shunsui had given her on their second anniversary. How was it here?
"Note." Nanao looked at her zanpakutou. Then the note that was under his paw.
She picked up the note that had the school's official stamp on it.
'This was found in Kizuki-sensei's class room. The reiatsu that was found on it matches yours, Ise Nanao. Please do not lose such items as they can not always be returned. And wear such things are also against the dress code. This is a warning.
Headmaster Shikumina'
Nanao set the note down as she gently opened the locket. She smiled as the gentle melody played. She wished she could sing with it.
Gaikotsu jumped on her shoulder and rubbed against her neck. "We will get your voice back. We promise." Nanao scratched his head as she closed the locket and stopped the melody's endless cycle.
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
Nanao shoed her cats into hiding as she walked to the door. She opend it and smiled at Gin.
"Mornin' Nanao-chan. Ya ready ta go?" Gin smiled as his friend ran to her desk to grab her zanpakutou.
Nanao slid her wakizashi into her belt loop and walked beside Gin as they made their way to the Zanjutsu building.
"Ya feelin' better?" Gin frowned as he only got a nod from her. And she hesitated as well. "Is something wrong with her voice?" He got another nod. "What's wrong with it?"
Nanao thought of how she was going to tell him she couldn't speak. Nanao's head snapped up with an idea. She pointed to her eye.
"Something wrong with her eye?" Gin was wondering what she was trying to do. 'Charades maybe?' Gin saw her roll her eyes and point at one of them again. "Eye?"
Nanao nodded as he got the word right. She then crossed her fingers and made an 'X' shape with them.
"Ex?" Gin got a head shake from his friend. He thought of what an X was associated with. "No?" He got a nod from Nanao.
Nanao thought of how she could interpret or portray speaking. She took her hand made it act like a duck that was quacking.
Gin was stumped. He was smart in military aspects, not children's games. "Um...quacking?" Head shake. "Eating?" Head shake. "Speaking?" Massive nod. Gin frowned as he out all of the pieces together. "Eye no speaking. Eye no speaking?"
Nanao hung her head as it seemed her efforts were in vain.
Gin smacked a fist into his hand. "Got it. You can't talk." He pointed at Nanao. She was clapping and smiling at him. "How did that happen?"
Nanao shrugged. She honestly didn't know. But she guessed Aizen probably had something to do with it.
"Do the nurses know?" Gin couldn't understand. She had been completely fine the other day. Had something happened?
Nanao shook her head. 'This is a very one sided conversation.' Nanao heard her zanpakutou laugh their heads off.
Gin frowned as he looked at her. "How are ya goin' ta fight? If ya can't speak, ya can't call out yer zanpakutou. Unless you can wordlessly summon him." Gin could see a frown growing on Nanao's face. "And ya also can't use kido. So how are ya going ta win her match?"
Nanao smiled and held up her fists. She saw Gin smile and laugh.
"That's true. You could always just take them down with hakuda." Gin smiled as they made their way towards the waiting area to check in with the teacher. There were only 16 students left in the competition. "When did ya get so good at fighting? At the beginnin' of the year, ya was the weakest."
Nanao shrugged at his comment. She then snapped her fingers and smiled.
"It just clicked huh?" Gin could tell she wasn't comfortable talking about it. 'Maybe something happened and she needed TA get stronger, or something.'
When the supervising teacher saw the two prodigies he walked over to them quickly. "Ichimaru-san. You are in the first heat. Please make your way to the waiting area. Ise-san. You are in the second group. So please make sure to be in the waiting area before the second heat begins."
Gin and Nanao bowed to the teacher as he walked away from them.
"Wish me luck." Gin smiled as he headed off toward the waiting area. He got two thumbs up from Nanao and a large smile.
Nanao headed to the stairs so she could watch Gin's match from the balcony. She walked along the balcony as she tried to find a space where she could squeak in to watch. She felt her foot catch on something. She picked herself up from off the ground and looked around. She couldn't see what she had tripped over. But she guessed from the muffled laugh that she was hearing that someone had tripped her. She dusted her pants off and continued on.
Nanao easily found a space to stand at. And it was easy to tell why it was open. The space was right beside Lisa and near the rest of the Gotei 13 members. She smiled as she made her way to them and stand beside Lisa.
"Hello there, Ise-san." Nanao looked up in surprise. She instantly had her hands wrapped around lisa's legs as she made eye contact with Aizen. Aizen smiled at her as he cursed her luck in his head.
Lisa looked at her legs as she felt someone latch onto them. She was surprised to see Nanao there. She hadn't felt the girl's presence at all. She looked up at her fellow Fukutaichou with an almost glare. "Will you stop scaring her?! Otherwise she might decide not to be a shinigami at all."
"I was just saying hello." Aizen have the 8th squad Fukutaichou a gentle smile. 'Why must she continue to have such good luck at living?'
"You snuck up on her." Lisa spoke calmly as she picked up Nanao and sat her down on the railing. "You okay there, Nanao-chan?" Lisa smiled as the girl hugged her arms to keep herself from falling off the railing.
Nanao wasn't too scared off falling. It was only a two story drop. Nanao nodded her head at Lisa and smiled widely.
"Careful with her Lisa-chan." Lisa and Nanao looked towards Shunsui. He smiled at them both. "Wouldn't our little Nanao-chan to fall."
"Don't worry I've got her." Lisa gave her Taichou a flat look as Nanao turned around to look down at the matches.
Nanao had her eyes glued on gin as he walked into his fighting ring. She waited for his match to start. "Take your positions!" She breathed deeply as they all waited for the tournament quarterfinals to begin. "Begin!"
Gin stood perfectly still as his opponent tensed. Gin just smiled at the large man he was facing. "Aren't you going to attack? What are you waiting for?"
Gin dropped the smile from his face at his opponents words. He lowered his head a bit. Then brought it. Back up with a smile plastered on it. "Nothing." Gin took a step back with his zanpakutou in his back hand. "Shoot To Kill, Shinso." Gin let his zanpakutou out till it nearly touched the senior's neck. He held it there.
"Ichimaru Gin, victor." Gin retracted his zanpakutou and sheathed it. He looked up as he heard clapping. He saw Nanao smiling at him. He smiled back and waved.
Nanao waved back, she was glad he had gotten into the semifinals.
"That looked almost too easy for him." Nanao leaned forward to see who was speaking. It was the blond haired man, Hirako Shinji. "What do you say, Sosuke? Should we get Nanao or Gin for our squad? Cause I doubt we can get both."
"8th calls dibs on Nanao-chan!" Shunsui smiled as he looked at the Taichou beside him.
Shinji looked at him with annoyance. "You can't call dibs! That isn't fair!"
"But I just did. And you didn't say anything about me not being allowed to before I did it. So we still have dibs." Shunsui smiled as he saw Shinji's face turned bright red.
"Can you both not act like children? There is a child present. And you are both in public." Lisa held back a sigh as she addressed the two Taichous. She noticed Nanao laughing silently at the two. "See what you have done?"
Shunsui turned and saw Nanao laughing silently. He smiled at her as he wondered what her laugh sounded like. "I think we should let Nanao-chan head off to her match."
Nanao nodded as she jumped down from the railing. She flipped herself over to her feet as she neared the ground. She landed lightly and looked up with a smile. She saw all of the Taichous and Fukutaichous staring at her in amazement. She waved before heading to the check in area.
She saw Gin walking towards the door and ran up to him. She tapped him on the shoulder.
Gin turned around and was surprised to find Nanao behind him. How had she done that? Gin smiled at her. "Good luck out there."
Nanao nodded as he ran off to get to a good spot on the balcony. Nanao turned back and waited for her name to be called.
"Arena two is Ise vs Fujiko..." Nanao walked out towards her arena as the teacher continued to speak. She was in the same one that gin had been in. She looked up and saw Gin sitting beside Aizen. She smiled and waved at him.
"And so I finally get to meet one of the famous prodigies." Nanao turned and looked towards her oppenent. "Fujiko Akihiko, strongest female in the senior class." Akihiko smiled at the girl she was facing against. She had beaten the strongest and smarted males in her class. She wanted to see how strong she was.
Nanao gave her a smile and a bow.
"You not going to introduce yourself? Or do you just assume everyone already knows who you are? Brat." Akihiko frowned at the girl. She had hoped the girl would have showed her senior some respect by introducing herself at least.
"Take your positions!" Nanao slowly drew her zanpakutou. She had a feeling she would need it. "Begin!"
Nanao brought her wakizashi up and quickly caught seniors blade with her own. Nanao's face became blank as she concentrated. She held her ground she the pressure from the attack increased.
*CRACK*
Nanao looked down and saw the ground begin to crack. Nano added her other hand to her sword and managed to easily push the senior off of her.
'You should keep two hands on at all times. Otherwise they might suspect something.' Nanao kept her hands together as Chibara advised. Although she was pretty sure she had already given herself away. 'Move me to your none dominant hand. Then be unable to block with out the other.'
'But a worrier never removes his hand from his blade. Only a rookie...' Nanao smiled. She was a freshman, that was equal to a rookie. Nanao switched her hands. She took her right hand off and wiped it on her uniform as if it was sweaty.
"Don't take your hand off of your blade." Nanao turned back quickly as the senior took advantage of the situation. Akihiko added more power to her attack. She could knock this brat off of her high horse and out of the tournament.
Nanao made it seem like her left hand was really weak. She quickly switched back to her right and prepared to receive another attack.
"So is that it. You can't only block. And only with both of your hands. Pathetic." Akihiko ran at Nanao. She didn't notice the concentration on the girl's face.
Nanao held up her right and left hand together. A glowing red ball shot out of her hand. She had cast a silent Shakkaho.
The red ball hit Akihiko square in the chest. Knocking her over and the wind out of her. She struggled to get up. And she found a blade at her neck when she finally did.
"Ise Nanao, victor." Nanao sighed as she sheathed her sword. She heard clapping above her. She looks up and saw Gin smiling at her. She also saw all of the Taichous looking at her impressed. She saw Lisa and Shunsui beaming at her. She smiled and waved at them before she turned and headed for the waiting area doors.
She walked out of the doors and through the dense crowd. She got out of the crowd and ended up at the front door to the Zanjutsu building. She sighed and decided to wait for Gin outside.
It was about five minutes till she saw the silver hair of her friend in the crowd. He was soon walking towards her with a smile. "Good job Nanao-chan. Were both in the semifinals. And this are this afternoon."
Nanao was surprised the semifinals were so soon.
"And that silent cast." Gin couldn't contain himself. He had never known anyone to be able to do that. "That was brilliant."
"Indeed it was." Nanao quickly hid behind Gin as Aizen walked up to the two.
"Sosuke." Nanao looked past Aizen to see Shinji walking towards them. He sounded annoyed. "Quit scaring her. Otherwise we'll never get her to come to 5th. Or even anywhere near us." Shinji didn't know why his Fukutaichou was always scaring the girl. But then again, Sosuke was a scaring guy.
"It's okay Shinji." Shunsui clamped a hand on his fellow Taichou's shoulder. "I will take good care of her in 8th."
Lisa walked her Taichou with the book she had with her. "Behave. Both of you." She glared at the two before turning and smiling at Nanao. "Congratulations on making it to the semifinals you two."
"Thank you, Yadomaru-Fukutaichou." Nanao and Gin both smiled at her.
"There you guys are!" The group all looked over as a Taichou with log white hair walked over to them. "We already have the picnic all set up. Hello there Ichimaru-kun and Nanao-chan. Would you like to join us for a picnic?" Jushiro smiled at the two children. Their eyes seemed to widen at his offer.
"Sure." Gin was excited. He could get closer to the man he was after, Aizen Sosuke.
Nanao nodded her head. 'I can spend time with Shunsui and Lisa.'
"Up you go." Shunsui picked up both of the kids and set one on each of his shoulders. "Hold on." He kept a hand on their feet to make sure they wouldn't fall back wards.
Nanao smiled as she watched the world from up high. She was enjoying herself very much. 'I wonder if this is how Yachiru-chan feels when she is riding on Zaraki-Taichou's back?'
An image went through her mind of Shunsui being dressed like the Taichou of 11th squad. She shook her head to clear the image from her head. She didn't want to see him with an eye patch again. She didn't want to see him hurt.
Nanao leaned into Shunsui's sakkat as he continued to walk. 'I will protect you. I promise.'
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