Nanao had developed an aversion to sitting at table Eight in the Soul Society Canteen in the late afternoon hours, particularly if she was without another member of her Division, and sometimes even then. It was her Captain's table still, she assured herself, delegated to Eighth Division, off limits to anyone not expressly invited to it.

All the Divisions had their own tables, sunk back in tucks of foliage against one of the two exterior walls in the higher ranking officers' dining room, with other tables congregated in the center and a few at the corners for any shinigami ranking third seat or higher.

Sitting at the table alone nearing the evening hours gave the appearance of waiting for an unknown dining companion. That's how it had been since her Captain's matching business had taken hold in the ranks.

But there she sat that late afternoon, hoping no one would mistake her for a lost bookend awaiting her match. Shunsui was late, and she had a good guess he was loitering with Rangiku at some back porch with a bottle of saké in his hand. Probably one in her hand, too.

She looked up from her stack of papers as a shadow fell across the alcove's foliage entry. Juushirou smiled back at her.

"Well, I see you've outpaced your captain again, Vice-Captain," he said, cocking his head to one side. "May I join you?"

"Of course, Captain Ukitake." Nanao stood and bowed slightly at Juushirou as he took a seat opposite her in the booth.

He inhaled deeply, sitting straight in the booth seat, nodding at the ivy and eucalyptus hanging around them. "I like this. Clears the sinuses and lungs." He exhaled in a muted cough. "Maybe not too much for the lungs. Has quite the expectorant affect."

Nanao nodded, watching him breathe slower. "Table Thirteen has no eucalyptus?"

He looked across the room to where Kiyone and Sentarou were sitting together, both watching table Eight. "No, now that you mention it, it does seem odd. We have ivy only." He looked to a eucalyptus leaf hanging nearby. "Maybe I should look into that for us."

Nanao nodded, the papers in her grip slightly wilted from the day's humidity, her eyes going to the few pages in Juushirou's hands. "Do you have questionnaires to return, Captain?"

"Hmm? Oh, sort of." He looked down to the papers he held, sorting through them for a moment. "I have a friend who is in serious need of help in the romance department." He smiled his usual smile, one that had a reputation of melting even the stiffest female heart in Soul Society, with the exception of perhaps Captain of Second Division, and placed a form between him and her. "I figure you know Shunsui as well as I do, maybe even better, in some aspects. Would you help me fill out an application for him, Nanao?"

She blinked at him in surprise, the usual set of her mouth falling in momentary slackness. She snapped a dutiful smile on her lips, nodded, and leaned closer to the form. "I'd be happy to help, Captain."

"Good."

A gray robed server came up to the table, bowing deeply to Juushirou, and setting the table with his usual lemongrass tea. "Would you care to order, Captain Ukitake?" she asked.

He nodded. "A basket of sesame crackers and a dish of sage honey, please." He looked to Nanao. "Care for anything else?"

"No, thank you."

"That will be all. Put it on my table's tab," he added as the server bowed again and left.

"You didn't have to do that," Nanao told him. "Shunsui would have gladly ..." She cleared her throat. "Captain Kyouraku wouldn't mind paying."

He grinned at her slip and leaned over the table, pushing the form closer so she could better see it as she poured him a cup of tea. "Ah, that we can say about him, can't we?"

Nanao nodded, calming the faint blush that threatened her cheeks.

"Help yourself to some tea, too, Nanao."

"Thank you, Captain."

She did so, and then looked to the form. "Oh, you have an old one. Here, we have an updated version now." She found a revised form in her stack of papers and exchanged it for his. "Not much has changed."

He glanced over the form as a ripple of low laughter came from one of the other tables. He and Nanao looked to it. At one of the corner tables Shuuhei, Renji, Izuru, and Momo were passing around a few papers. Izuru was flushed, looking to Momo, who was equally red-faced.

Juushirou shook his head, taking a long drink of tea. "Our own literary society. You know it's mostly fan fiction they critique."

Nanao nodded as the server returned with the crackers and a dish of scented honey and took her leave. "Where do they get the fan fiction?" she asked with more interest than she wanted to admit, sipping her tea. "I know they pass it around at the Women's Association, but that's just what Rangiku and Rukia bring in."

He looked to her with a grin. "Nothing of your own?"

She nodded too quickly. "Not really. I don't think there's ..." She poured him more tea and then herself. "I don't read much of any of it."

"You should." He nodded to the table of vice-captains. "They claim to critique haikus Hisagi brings in, but you know it's more than that." Some of the humor left his tone. "As long as they're kind to my Sougyou, they can have at their critiques."

She nodded. "It's a very popular serial, Captain. I'm sure it has rave reviews."

He allowed a modest nod and took a cracker from the basket. "For the most part." His attention went to the form before them and he pointed to a question. "Ah, here. This is different. 'I am a blank seeking a blank.' That's a change."

"It helped clear up some matters," Nanao said uneasily, unsure she wanted to aid in creating an application for her Captain. "Don't you think he might recognize himself? I mean, he does all the matching, Captain. Surely he'd know this was him."

Juushirou thought the question over, dipping the cracker in the honey and popping it into his mouth, nodding after a moment. "Well, if he does, then he can correct the parts we get wrong. What better way to find his own match?"

She frowned over the paper, bemusedly nibbling at a cracker. "Suppose he doesn't want to be matched?"

"Of course he does. A man with a heart that large needs to fill it in with someone, Nanao." He kept his eyes on the form, pen posed over a line. "How would you describe him? I've already got fun-loving yet earnest. What else?"

"Ha!" Omaeda's voice boomed across the room as he entered and settled at the table of vice-captains as Soi Fon departed from his escort. He held up a paper in his meaty hand and grinned at the others. "I found one!"

Soi Fon rolled her eyes and kept walking toward the kitchen doorway, but not before throwing a curious glance to table Eight.

Juushirou gave Omaeda a brief glimpse and looked back to the application in front on him and Nanao. "Not much fan fiction for Omaeda, I'm afraid."

"Not much." Nanao's eyes traveled over the paper where Juushirou's neat handwriting had filled in many of the answers. "It looks to me like you've completed most of it already."

He frowned at the last section, pen tapping the 'Personal Comments' heading. "He can't very well brag too much about himself."

Nanao smiled. "But he would. Most of it would be true. He's very generous, and thoughtful, but we can't write that. It would sound conceited."

"Hmm, you're right." He wrote for a moment on another line. "We can put those in 'Ideal Character Qualities.' It suits him and whoever should be matched with him."

She nodded slowly. "That would work."

"What else?"

She looked over the application, knowing the questions by heart, but never considering them in the manner she now did. "He's patient, and trustworthy in most aspects. And very experienced ..." Her eyes grew large as she shook her head quickly. "No, not that. It sounds ...well, bad. I meant he's been a captain in Soul Society for a long time, and he's seen a lot of life."

Juushirou nodded, smiling, pen making marks on the line. "I think I know what you mean, Nanao. Skilled. Knowledgeable."

"Yes. That's it."

He studied the top of her dark head as she bent over the form, concentrating on the answers he'd already supplied. After a moment she looked to him.

"I think your answers describe Captain Kyouraku very well," she decided, smiling a little more. "You certainly do know him."

"Good." He wrote Shunsui's name at the top of the form and slid it to her. "Can you make sure this gets to your files?"

"Of course, Captain Ukitake. Oh, uh, Captain Kyouraku handles the money part. He's been running a little low on funds lately." She couldn't suppress a sheepish giggle. "Lots of form fees the last week."

"I'll pass." He looked over to table Thirteen where Kiyone and Sentarou were, for once, having a somewhat civil conversation. He sighed. "I hate to break that up, it's so rare. I'll just slip out and let them have their moment."

A rumble of laughter came from where the vice-captains sat, and Nanao looked there to see Omaeda's face taking on a flaming flush. He snatched a paper from Shuuhei's hands as the vice-captain read aloud. Rangiku yelled a 'Yoo hoo!' to them as she joined the table with a large stack of papers. She dropped them beside Renji and took a seat between him and Momo. Shuuhei waved to a server for another bottle of saké.

"Maybe you should join them," Juushirou said, nodding to her peers. "It looks like fun."

"Oh, no." She shook her head.

"Shunsui might be a while, Nanao. He had a meeting with Captain General Yamamoto." He saw the flicker of agitation cross her face. "Oh, nothing important. Nothing you need to be there for, Nanao. Some issue about Division expenses," he said with a chuckle. "I'm sure he'll be here later."

She nodded as he stood and glanced to where his third seateds were conversing lowly at his own Division's table. He looked back to Nanao and returned her small smile.

"I'll wait on Captain Kyouraku," she said, gathering the questionnaires closer, placing the most recent on top for her further scrutiny. "Thank you for thinking of him."

He nodded and left, sneaking past his officers caught up in their conversation at table Thirteen. Nanao looked back to the top form.

With a cautious look around, she picked up her pen and set it to the 'Personal Comments' section.

Next match: Porridge Four Ways

Poll is up!