Chapter 6

Two weeks later

Nanao

Luckily, Lisa had kept that part of the story to herself without being asked to, so the next two weeks passed in peace. Nanao had argued that they should wait for any possible result before starting the next attempt, so they had not done anything else, and made their next move now, a day before the 14th February.

.

Lisa

They met again in the tenth division's office, despite Hitsugaya's annoyed look. The captain had gotten the chocolate, since he had seemed to have a better idea which they might like that the rest of them. Rangiku was wrapping the boxes, and Rukia was already working on a short note in Ukitake's writing stile. She had gotten old notes of his, to compare, but she still found it difficult, so they had agreed to make the text very short: `To Shunsui. Happy valentine's day. Love, Juushiro.´

Nanao and Lisa had both written their text, to compare who could fake Kyouraku's handwriting better. It didn't really surprise Lisa when she won, Nanao probably hadn't even tried that before.
Not legal enough.

So Lisa wrote her note, in her captains character. 'For my dear Juushiro. May you have a happy valentine's day, and many more to come. Love, Shunsui.'

It felt strange to write something like this, but Lisa was proud when she managed his signature perfectly. Of course, she had practiced that the most.

They finished the presents, and agreed that Rukia and Lisa would drop it of at their places early the next morning.

.

Next day

.

Ukitake

He got up early, as usual, and found a small package in front of his door when he was about to leave.

He sat down on the wood, and opened it.

It was a sweet note from Kyouraku, and some chocolate. But… when had he put it there? Kyouraku never was up this early, and Ukitake had stepped outside late in the night, when he woke up and wanted to watch the stars until he got tired again, and it hadn't been there then. Also, it was unusual for Kyouraku to use their first names. And why hadn't he just handed it to Ukitake when they met for lunch later?

Ukitake shrugged to himself, and put it in his bag. He would just ask Kyouraku later, after giving him his chocolate.

He walked into his office, smiling at Rukia. 'Good morning Rukia. Happy Valentines day, or however you say that.' It was his first valentine's day after all.

He took out some chocolate he had bought for her. 'This is for you, as a thank you for your great work.' Rukia smiled widely, thanking him.

She had also gotten him chocolate, 'For being a great captain.' and he smiled at her. This was a nice tradition.

After Kiyone and Sentaro had enthusiastically opened the door, bickering, and also given him chocolate, still bickering, he listened to their reports as well as he could while they were bickering, and waited for an opportunity to interrupt them.

'I got you chocolate too.' he said when they happened to breath at the same time. He pulled out an extra large box, smiling at them.
'It's for the two of you, thank you for your hard work. Please share nicely.' They stared at him for a moment, before both trying to take the box at the same time.

.

'That was… a little mean, wasn't it?' Rukia asked, unsure, after they had left. Ukitake just smiled innocently, while grinning wildly inwards.
'What do you mean?'

.

Kyouraku

He got up late as always, and got ready unhurriedly. He briefly wondered why Nanao hadn't come to tell him to hurry up yet before he stepped out of his quarters.
There was a small package in front of his door, containing a note and chocolate.

'Right.' he said to himself. Good thing that reminded me. And went back inside to collect the chocolate he had prepared, before reading the note.

The note said it was from Ukitake, and it was a gesture that seemed like him, but he wouldn't just drop the package off without talking to him, would he?
Unless this was something like a confession, since Lisa had said you gave chocolate to romantic interest too. But that didn't seem like Ukitake's method, writing a note and leaving. And he would have been more clear, so as to avoid misunderstandings.

Kyouraku frowned at the note, reading it again. Also, Ukitake might sign with his given name, but he wouldn't address Kyouraku that way, not that Kyouraku would mind if he did. And this wasn't actually Ukitake's writing style, now that he though about it. The characters were a little less exact.

So someone was playing a trick on him?

Kyouraku shrugged, and decided to ask Ukitake for his opinion later, and just move on and watch until then.

Valentine's day was complicated, it turned out.

.

Nanao

Lisa had told her not to wake Kyouraku, since he should find the package they had placed on his own, which had made sense.

So she tried to focus on her work, being the first in the office, as always.

Lisa came in soon, saying she wanted to see Kyouraku's face when he finally came.

But he didn't look like anything happened. He smiled at them, and wished them a good morning. Had they been to indirect in the note? Had he not seen the package?

'Here's your chocolate girls. For making this office much more beautiful with your presence every day.' Kyouraku said, and handed each of them a small box.

Nanao was about to hit him, her automated reaction to his joked flirting, when she noticed that she had completely forgotten to get anyone chocolate, since she had been distracted by their plan.

'Thank you.' She said quietly. 'Uhm, I decided against participating this year, since I wanted to observe it first, so I didn't get anyone any chocolate.'
She directed that at the room, realizing that it was a costum to give chocolate to the people one worked with.

Kyouraku smiled at her. 'Don't fret about it Nanao-chan. We understand, it's complicated isn't it?'

Lisa gave her a wry smile. 'I also didn't get any, for the same reason a you I think.' So she had forgotten too. Nanao smiled back at them a little, before pushing up her glasses and focusing back on her work.

Then she realized the other major problem in their plan: if Kyouraku gave them chocolate, he would surely give Ukitake some too, and that would reveal everything.

She bit her lips, and tried not to destroy her desk.

.

When Kyouraku left for lunch, she looked at Lisa. 'We are stupid, they are going to give each other chocolate anyway, as friends, and then they will know.' Lisa shrugged. 'Yeah, I realized that earlier too. Well, maybe it will make them talk about it, so it might still work. Don't worry about it.'

That's all you ever say. Nanao didn't reply, and instead glared at her lunch.

.

Kyouraku

He flash stepped over to Ukitake's division, where he found his friend already waiting outside the office. There was a surprising amount of Shinigami surrounding them, and a lot of chocolate in the area.

Kyouraku appeared right beside Ukitake, who smiled at him, unsurprised.

'Excuse us.' he said to his division, and grabbed Kyouraku's arm, flash stepping them away.

They stopped at a clearing in the forest.

'You certainly have a lot of admirers' Kyouraku started teasing straight away. Ukitake gave him a glare, but his soft smile made it seem more cute that anything else.
'I got chocolate ice in the canteen for the division, and somehow they decided then that they all had to give me their work- chocolate personally.' he explained, already relaxing in the quiet. He emphasized the work-part.

Kyouraku laughed. 'I think Nanao put down her food, something about no chocolate during work? My division's been quiet, but since yesterday everyone's been giving her scared looks. She's pretty annoyed by all this.'

Ukitake sat down, and started unpacking their lunch. 'I kind of understand her there. Neither Rukia nor me got any work done today. And I gave Sentaku and Kiyone their chocolate.' He grinned mischievously. Kyouraku smiled, Ukitake had told him of that plan of his. 'And while that was fun, they haven't exactly been working since either.'

Kyouraku laughed at that.

Then he took out another box of chocolates, playing with it. 'Then you don't want any more chocolate, even if it's from me?' he teased.
Ukitake looked slightly surprised for a moment, then he smiled. 'I got you some as well.' was his answer, and he pulled out a package too.

They exchanged chocolate, both thanking each other. Kyouraku noted, amused, that they both hadn't written a note, because, what for, really?
He wasn't sure what was the protocol now, but he rarely cared about protocol anyways.

'So, an interesting fact: I found chocolate at my door, with this note, which I assumed isn't from you, since it's not your writing style. Any ideas?' he handed Ukitake the note.
It was worth it, for seeing the focused curiosity appear in his expression again.

'I don't know. I didn't write this, obviously. But I also got chocolate...' he rummaged through his pockets, drawing out another note and handing it over, while his eyes stayed focused on the other note, scrutinizing. 'which wasn't from you despite saying it was. It looks like your writing, so I wasn't sure until now, but it didn't make sense for you to drop it of. Besides, it appeared at my door at a time when you were probably in deep sleep.'

Kyouraku read the note, and considered. 'Both early in the morning, both using our first names. Seems like it's from the same person?'
Ukitake nodded. 'Or the same people. And while I don't mean to accuse anyone, I happen to know that Lisa is rather good at faking your writing.'
'True, but she wouldn't be able to fake yours, right? Did you try sensing for Reiatsu?'

Ukitake nodded. 'I did. Just Rukia, Sentaku and Kiyone, which doesn't mean anything. You?'
'Nanao, which also means nothing.'
'Any ideas why they would do it? They must have known we would give each other chocolate anyways, right?' Ukitake asked.
Kyouraku shrugged. 'They should have known, it doesn't make sense. They must have wanted us to find out… but I don't see what for.' he said, thinking.
Why give them more chocolate? Just to annoy them?

'Well, then I'll assume it was just a prank, and there's no harm done.' Ukitake said. Kyouraku nodded. They could of course confront Lisa again, but Kyouraku knew from experience that that wouldn't work.

'Though it would be a problem if they did this often.' Kyouraku said.
Ukitake smiled. 'Not really. We can just confirm now that we will continue signing notes with our surnames. Then if a note is signed with our given names, we will know for certain it is faked, and if it's signed with our surname, we can just ask each other to confirm if we aren't sure it's real. Or we could decide on code names, to be extra sure...'

Kyouraku grinned at him. He always found it endearing how enthusiastic Ukitake got when he was thinking through something.
'Okay, what do you have in mind?' he said, letting him play it out.

'Hmm. I think maybe we should sign with our surnames, like we normally do, in case someone else reads it. But I will sketch two fish under my name, because of Sogyo no Kotowari, and you can sketch… maybe a flower?' he gestured at Kyouraku's kimono. Kyouraku chuckled. 'It's a deal. Just hope my flower will be recognizable.'

Kyouraku lay down on his back, looking up at the trees, and Ukitake soon joined him.

'Ukitake?' he said after a while. 'You do realize we basically never write each other notes anyways, right?'

Ukitake laughed, a purely cheerful sound. 'I know Kyouraku. It's just in case.'
Kyouraku laughed with him.