The scorching hot day that blistered the Seireitei streets dissolved into a mild, sultry evening that Thursday, offering not much relief to the heat except for a few gray clouds that promised rain later that night.
The weather mattered little to the man sitting at table Eight, alone, as he had been for the last few weeks, his hopeful gaze on the alcove opening of eucalyptus and ivy that swagged from one side of the entry. Shunsui Kyouraku was a patient man, which some people mistook for sheer laziness, but he preferred to think of it as being extremely contemplative on matters.
But patience wasn't getting him anywhere lately, he decided, pushing his hat back a few inches on his head so he had a better view of the alcove opening. Not that there was anything to see.
"Not yet," he murmured aloud, cheering himself for only a few moments. He twisted the cup of tea in his fingers, eyes going to what he could see of the Soul Society Canteen dining room. His friend Juushirou was at table Two with Soi Fon, not a match he'd arranged, but they seemed content with their weekly games of Go, as were Kurotsuchi and Isane with their collaborative efforts on articles yet to appear in the Seireitei Communication. He couldn't see the table, but he knew Izuru Kira was making good use of table Three to entertain Kiyone for the evening.
"Now there's a fast-worker," Shunsui said aloud, sighing. "Didn't see that coming."
Table Eight was set with a large pot of tea, a dish of sweet bean jelly, and what he knew to be his lieutenant's favorite rice thins on another plate, and no saké in sight. The last factor was the hardest, he decided.
He rethought the absence of his favorite beverage, and changed the absence of her rather than saké to being the hardest factor in sitting alone. Again.
After all, he could always -- as he usually did do lately -- take a bottle or two of saké home with him for company.
Perhaps he'd gone about it wrong all these years. All his other matches -- well, not quite all -- but a good majority had found ways to secure that second date. He had the restaurant coupon bills to prove it. But he couldn't even attract the affections of a woman he thought he clearly knew, whom he had studied so intently.
"Of course, she could not be interested in me," he said to the cup of tea. "I thought laying it all out in ink would bring some sort of response." The tea cup didn't seem to care. Neither did the rice thins. "All it's brought me was that uneasy silence at the office lately. I'm afraid I have my answer."
He drank down the tea, and was about to forego the pot in favor of ordering a bottle of saké when the entry greenery shifted, and he looked up to see Nanao timidly looking back at him.
The fingers of one hand were clutched at her opposite arm, just below her lieutenant's insignia, but what caught Shunsui's attention most was the malleable quality in her violet eyes. She smiled a little, cautiously, remaining at the entryway.
He was on his feet in a second and stepped away from the table, an immediate smile across his half-shaven face that brought a blush and more of a smile from her. "Ah, my sweet Nanao, it's a pleasure to see you've come," he said, extending a hand and ushering her to the table.
"Thank you, Shunsui," she said hesitantly. She sat on the booth cushion and slid farther behind it, an awkward movement that was lessened when he didn't crowd too close to her. She looked up at him, as she had a thousand times before, and then to the table settings, her expression falling a little. "Oh, are you alone? Is someone else already --"
"What? No." He looked to the dishes and tea service. "I was hoping for your presence tonight. I wanted to be prepared."
She opened her mouth only to close it when her words failed, and looked down to where he was pouring her a cup of tea.
"It's not too hot, but we'll get fresh when the server comes back," he said, setting the cup before her.
"Thank you," she murmured, fingers closing around the white ceramic cup, summoning her resolve. "Shunsui, I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but I just last week read the letter you gave me."
His eyes opened wider. "Just last week, Nanao? So late?"
Her gaze dropped to the tea in the cup as she sighed. "I'm sorry, Captain. Shunsui," she said, smiling a little more. "Everything you said in it, all the things about ..." She made herself look at him, her voice weakening as her pulse clipped quicker. "Is it really like that? I don't want to be nothing more than the little fish that got away."
His face fell at her interpretation, and his arm settled around her shoulders lightly, feeling her stiffen slightly. He eased his hand at her shoulder, gaze holding hers. "Those days of empty pursuit are over for me, Nanao. They have been for a long time. Can a man not outlive his reckless youth?"
She nodded, blushing anew, blaming it on the feeble heat from the single candle's short flame in its glass dome at the centerpiece. She was about to say more when they both sensed another powerful presence, one that made everyone in the dining room hush to a lapse in conversation.
Shunsui and Nanao looked up as Captain-General Yamamoto filled the inlet's entry, his wizened eyes on them. Nanao sucked in a quick breath of surprise as Shunsui stood to the booth's side at the elder's appearance.
"Captain-General, you honor us," he said, bowing slightly.
"Hmm, Captain Kyouraku, Vice-Captain Ise," Yamamoto said, nodding to Nanao, who was still seated, mostly because of Shunsui's hand that had moved to her opposite shoulder, keeping her in her seat. "I'll join you."
To both Nanao and Shunsui's shocked frustration, Yamamoto sat at the table across from Shunsui, who was still on his feet, staring at the General.
Yamamoto looked to the younger captain, enjoying his unusual loss of composure. He gestured to the booth cushion beside Nanao. "Off your feet, Kyouraku. Be civil."
Shunsui sat down next to Nanao, who was still staring at Yamamoto with frank directness, her previous apprehension replaced by a new agitation. Before anyone else could speak, the gray-robed served entered the alcove, this time staying a few more feet away from the table than usual, bowing for a long moment to Yamamoto.
"We're honored by your presence, Captain-General Yamamoto-san," she said shakily, her fingers nervous on the menus in her hand as she straightened.
"We'll take a bottle of your finest saké, and you can leave the menus," he told her, nodding as she bowed again.
"Yes, Captain-General." She left immediately.
Shunsui couldn't keep the disappointment from his tone, but neither could he bring himself to attempt dismissing his elder. "We weren't expecting you, General."
"Hmm? I imagine not." Yamamoto's gruff look descended on Nanao's one of half-fright. "Is this a match?"
Shunsui and Nanao looked to each other in mutual indecision for a moment, and then Shunsui answered. "Well, not exactly a match so much as an arrangement," he said, ready to expound on the wording when Yamamoto interjected.
"Arrangement? Hmm, well that's not precisely what I'm looking for, either," he said, hand tightening on the cane he held at the side of the table. "As duty-bound and suitably proper as your vice-captain is, Kyouraku, she isn't what I imagined you'd offer for my match."
Shunsui lost all tightness in his face for a fleeting second, his lax jaw sagging before he found the sense to make an expression of control. "I hadn't planned to match you with Nanao, General. We were --"
"Not Vice-Captain Ise?" Yamamoto sighed, eyes resting on the startled woman until she wanted to melt and slink away. "Who had you in mind then?"
Shunsui watched the man across from him, his many years of his senior's company now coming to his aid. His former instructor's humor was barely discernible, even under scrutiny, when he expressed it at all, and usually it was at Shunsui's expense, making him blind to it until too late. But this time he caught the older man's subtle intimation. He grinned at the older man.
"Who would you propose, Yamamoto?"
"Hmm, cordial, are we, Shunsui?" Yamamoto said, fingering one of his long drooping whiskers.
Shunsui smiled wider, his arm going along the back booth behind Nanao, feeling her lean slightly against him, her face still one of unease.
"You say my Nanao isn't quite your ideal, no offense, Nanao," Shunsui said to the petite woman -- who was doing her best not to cower -- before turning back to the other captain, "and we haven't found your first match yet, General, so your input would be helpful."
Yamamoto's eyes narrowed on Shunsui's knowing grin. "Well, I've always admired the graceful strength and propriety Captain Unohana has brought to her work and my tea ceremonies," he said slowly. "On the other hand, I enjoy what Vice-Captain Kusajishi brings to the ceremonies, too. Vibrant and lively in her chirping voice so happy to see whatever sweets my table offers. She's quite energetic, and that revives an old spirit. But of course she's out of the question."
"Of course," Shunsui said, nodding as Nanao sank into the hollow of his arm, quite by accident, he was sure, but welcome nonetheless.
"And while I do appreciate the decorum and poise of your lieutenant," Yamamoto said with a nod to Nanao, who nodded back, "and diligently read her articles on moderation every week, I believe you've made it clear she's off limits. Correct?"
Shunsui cleared his throat, feeling Nanao turn to look at him questioningly. "Something like that, yes, General."
Yamamoto nodded, one bony finger tapping on his cane head. "I suppose that leaves only Vice-Captain Matsumoto."
Shunsui's arm flinched tighter on Nanao's shoulder, an involuntary reflex that surprised them both. "You'd like to be matched with Rangiku? I mean, Vice --"
"By the gods, no," Yamamoto mumbled, eyes shifting to the dining room, but unable to spot the lieutenant in mention. He looked back to Shunsui. "I'm not a young man anymore, but I can appreciate a beautiful woman. Looking at her is enough." His eyes lowered on Nanao. "That stays at this table, lieutenant."
Nanao nodded numbly.
"So we seem to be agreed," Yamamoto said, sighing. "Aren't we?"
Shunsui shook his head slowly. "Agreed to what?"
"That there is no single woman in all of Soul Society for me, Kyouraku." He made a throaty growl. "Not even any romantic fan fiction out there for me." A smile stretched his whiskers. "It's been a pleasure just watching you squirm the last week, Shunsui." He looked to Nanao. "Do you know this is the first time in five decades your captain has been punctual to two Gotei Thirteen meetings in a row?"
She shook her head, blinking.
He nodded, chuckling at Shunsui, standing up as the server returned with a tray and his order. He glanced at the help and nodded to the table. "Just leave it."
"Yes, Captain-General." The server set the tray on the table with shaky hands and then bowed and ducked out of the alcove.
Yamamoto turned back to Shunsui and Nanao. "Good evening, Captain, Vice-Captain."
"Good evening, Captain-General," Shunsui said as Nanao tried to find her voice.
Yamamoto left out the entry way, one hand unhooking the swag of foliage so that it fell across the opening behind him after he passed through.
For a few moments Shunsui and Nanao sat silent in the booth, her in half-shock, he in confusion and relief. Finally she sighed and leaned back against his arm behind her. He looked down to her, grinning slowly as she allowed a small smile up at him.
"He was bluffing."
She nodded, ease washing over her, focusing more closely on him now before she sat straighter. His fingers tightened on her shoulder, making her face him.
"I hope that your coming tonight is in answer to my question, Nanao," he said lowly, watching her eyes drop to her hand on the table as his fingers cupped under her fingertips, barely a touch as his thumb rested on them. "It is, isn't it?"
She nodded slowly, taking a moment to collect her thoughts before looking to him. "I was ashamed I hadn't read the letter sooner, Shunsui," she admitted. "And then after I did..." Her eyes rested on his lips, feeling his arm inch her closer until she was deep in his embrace. His other hand reached to the candle and pinched out the short flame there, leaving the alcove in dim light from beyond the shrouded greenery veils.
"You're here now, Nanao," he said in a gentle tone, his other arm encompassing her waist, pulling her closer, feeling the rigidity leave her form. "I am very serious about you in my future."
She let her hands rest lightly at his sides, and then slip beneath the haori to his back, her pulse quickening as he pressed her fully to him. For a moment she was caught against him, feeling his heart beat against hers, the straw hat hovering over both of them, a natural contentedness that seemed as accepted as if it had happened countless times before.
He closed the few inches of space between them, his lips meeting hers in a firm kiss that she met with tremulous lips that softened into supple eagerness beneath his warm breath, fingers pressing into his back, pulling him nearer, musk mingling with sandalwood. For a long moment he held her to himself, her lips matching his in increasing fervor until a sound at the alcove entry made them part, both looking to the astonished server who'd come for their orders.
"My apologies, Captain Kyouraku! Vice-Captain!" the girl nearly shrieked, turning and fleeing back out the entry, jerking free wisps of ivy that trailed after her wake.
Shunsui looked back to Nanao, who wore a blushing smile, her glasses slightly hazy, her clutch on his back still anchoring him to her. He smiled wide, leaning down until the brim of his hat touched the top of her head.
"Is this a yes to a second date, sweet Nanao?"
She nodded, sighing as his hand moved up her back, resting at the nape of her neck, fingers gentle on her hair, surprising herself at how a simple nod gave her such hope.
"To many more, Shunsui."
Authors' Note: Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, and offered suggestions for this story! Thanks especially to Bakabara, Thunderwolf66, chibi chan, archiemouse, unevilgirl, breezybiatch, AriellePevensi, k, Bubblewrap Leech, kateison, ShiraGetsu, kawaii chan, Ichimaru3Gin, Mirwen Sunrider, *Illegitimi, *ThierryMist, VioTanequil, anon, hehe, wow, random reviewer, Perennial Lurker, *kaibasgirlx, staidwaters, BleachIsMyCrack116, *EchoLoco, K, EulaliaGal, waterfall42, StarBK201, Vivienne Granger, PiFace314, flOofmykO, saki, HamakoKaiba, TaoueriT, Batsu Espada, Kira michi, Drowning Torrent, Maelie, *Kira'sDarkLight, FOEVA, Panther X, darkangel1910, unknown reviewer, kawaii neko, Avith, Woot!, AlaeaMori, Riley, sailor sama, I-Like-WAFFLES, anonymous, Pet Darkling, FlowerGirl82, lelouchgurl, Time To Make It Rain, gailzer, debbijedigirl, Mayu, moon mysteri, CloneGirl, Shadowblayze, Kenta Divina, ILikeUdon, White Tigress18, StoryTimeAfterRegret, ElfishScallywag, mj0521, Amciel, mauralucky7, Vichy, feroniawings, Yuuko, kuroi san, diekomposer, Veldare, neko sama, asdasf, Soni758, DoilyRox, Kuramori, YesAnimeCharactersCanBeSexy, shuusake, mec, resting sideline, up-down, spitfire2962, Umiko, RosieLEK, Kenta Divina, anonymous abq, Pariis Lights, KeepSmilingItMakesPeopleWonder, Armonia Justina Beyondormason, MozartsMuze, Raine20oo, Ginko, oscurasinkblot, asdfsdf, Cream, berry0chan, Stray Princess, Chillis, and Xapita.