A/N: Hello again, beloved readers! I just returned from vacation on Sunday and through a combination of inspiration and the guilt I felt about letting you hang in wait for an entire week, here is the next chapter in my humble Shunsui and Nanao saga. Apologetically, this chapter is filled with more action than fluff. Hope you enjoy it anyway, I worked especially hard on this chapter and it just might show for once. Don't forget to review!
Tossed Aside
Chapter Twelve: Nightmares
This chapter is dedicated to Kenta Divina, because great minds think alike. Sorry I kept you waiting…
Nanao adjusted her glasses on her nose, struggling to balance the heavily laden tray of food she was carrying on one arm. Carefully, she freed her other hand, rapping sharply in warning on the door to Ukitake Taichō's quarters.
Nanao sighed as she awaited a response. Her eyes landed on the vice captain's badge wound securely around her arm. Even after close to two weeks in the Thirteenth Division, it still jarred her to not see the Eighth's insignia emblazoned on it.
"Come in," Ukitake's voice floated through the wooden panel followed by a feeble, rasping cough.
Nanao slid the door open and entered the room quietly. She carefully made her way over to the pillow-strewn bed near the large window where her new Taichō lay, already dressed in his uniform. Nanao knelt beside the bed, placing the tray on the low table in front of her. She watched in concern as Ukitake took what seemed like ages to push himself into a sitting position. She cringed inwardly at the obvious display of male pride, reaching up and arranging the pillows behind him so he could remain propped up as he ate.
"Thank you, Ise-san," the white-haired taichō said gratefully, sagging back against the veritable mountain of cotton-encased feathers.
"You're welcome, Ukitake Taichō," Nanao replied softly, unloading the small bowl of fruit she had selected for breakfast off of the tray before resting the remainder of the food on the bed near the captain.
"Still so polite, Ise-san?" Ukitake joked, letting out a small laugh which quickly escalated into a full scale coughing fit.
As he removed the plain white handkerchief from his mouth, Nanao was relieved to see that it was devoid of blood. She handed him a glass of water and watched as he sipped it gingerly before handing back to her with a slightly shaking hand. He drew a long, rattling breath, his eyes regarding her carefully.
"That's a lovely scarf," he commented, as he noticed the length of indigo silk draped around her neck. "I don't believe I've ever seen you wear it before."
Nanao blushed. She had forgotten to take off Okuni's gift before she headed to the mess hall in order to fetch Ukitake's breakfast like she had every day for the past week.
Nanao had wrapped the scarf around her for comfort when she awoke in the small hours of the morning, drenched in a cold sweat after having the nightmare again. It was the same exact one she'd had every night since her move to the Thirteenth…
Nanao was bathed in luxurious sunlight as she lay on the picnic blanket in the sakura grove. Shunsui was reclined roguishly next to her, reading to her from his battered book of love poetry. He reached that ridiculous line about 'moving together' before observing her flushed face with a raised eyebrow.
"Yare,' he said teasingly, tossing the book behind him carelessly. "Why are we just sitting here when we should be listening to what the book is telling us to do?" Shunsui leaned over her, dusting one long, callused finger over her collarbone, causing her to shiver slightly. "Isn't that what books are for my Nanao-chan, to follow their instruction?"
Nanao could only nod before his lips were pressed against hers, his hands divesting her of her uniform at an agonizingly slow pace.
Much later, when they lay with their limbs tangled and bodies sated, Shunsui glanced down at her with playfully dancing eyes.
"Will you meet me here again tomorrow, Nanao-chan?" he asked, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
"Hai, Taichō," she responded warmly as they reluctantly dressed and left to tend to the division.
The next day, with a small smile playing about her lips, Nanao returned to the grove only to find Shunsui slowly undressing a gorgeous stranger in the same fashion he had undressed her less than twenty-four hours prior.
"Taichō!" Nanao choked out. "I-I thought you loved me!"
He glanced up at her, brows knit in confusion. "Nanao? What are you doing here?"
"You…asked me…to meet you here yesterday…"
"Oh," he said bending down to place a kiss on the curve of the woman's neck, smiling as she mewled in pleasure at his action. "I forgot all about you…"Glancing up to see her still standing there he gave a small chuckle.
"Yare, Nanao. I thought that you of all people would know that I need someone less plain…"
Shuddering as the dream washed over her again, Nanao glanced up to meet Ukitake's scrutinizing gaze.
"Ise-san," he began, pausing to take a sip of the tea Nanao had brought him. "I am… concerned about you."
Nanao blinked, nonplussed. "Concerned, sir?"
"Again with the politeness," he laughed softly, stopping quickly when coughs threatened to overwhelm him once more. "In all seriousness, Ise-san, you do not appear to be happy. In fact," he said, placing the teacup gingerly down on the tray, "you seem quite distracted and incredibly unhappy."
Who could be happy? the voice in Nanao's head screamed. Her once perfectly organized life was one big, knotted mess.
She had acknowledged days ago that she was desperately in love with her former Taichō and, for the first time in her entire life, she had not one single idea as how to solve her problem.
Originally, she had thought it would be best to avoid the potential scandal it could create; the shadow a relationship would cast over their future careers. In truth, she doubted a relationship would hurt Shunsui's position much. As one of the oldest and most experienced, albeit lazy captains, Nanao reasoned that if his liaisons had not affected him before, one more wouldn't hurt. The only one in jeopardy was herself.
While Nanao knew it would look much better if they were to have a relationship now that she was no longer his direct subordinate, she didn't like the idea that people would automatically assume that things had happened while she was still the Eighth Division fukutaichō.
It had occurred in blaring clarity to Nanao that the best possible scenario for any sort of romance between two members of the Gotei Thirteen would be between two captains. However, it appeared that the most likely way of her becoming a captain in the near future would be a result of Ukitake Taichō's death. It was a circumstance she prayed would not come to pass, both to prolong the life of a man she both respected and admired, as well as to spare Kyōraku Taichō the loss of his oldest, dearest friend.
She had had more than enough time to contemplate her plight during the tedious hours of paperwork she completed each day. Despite the fact that she should have been doing twice the amount of usual paperwork, Nanao found herself doing half of the amount she usually completed at the Eighth Division. She couldn't find a reason for the lack of work but this was not for lack of trying. Regardless, Nanao often found herself staring at the same sentence on a document for minutes at a clip, her heart aching for her old division, its lively members, and their pink-clad Taichō most of all.
When she wasn't doing paperwork, Nanao spent her time in a secluded clearing, training with her zanpakutō. She supposed if there was a possibility that she could become a captain soon, she had better start working on achieving bankai.
When she wasn't engaged in her regular duties, Nanao utilized any means to keep herself busy, oftentimes doing menial chores like tidying Ukitake Taichō's room, bringing him food, or reading to him. Anything to keep her from having to retreat to stifling atmosphere of her quarters, which reminded her strongly of a mausoleum, as the rooms had sat empty and completely untouched since the death of Shiba Kaien.
Kiyone-san had assisted Nanao in cleaning the place on the day of her arrival. Nanao had tried to personalize the space, but nothing seemed to work. Maybe the quarters only seemed oppressive because Nanao could not feel as if she should be living in them. Had things worked out differently, perhaps Kiyone-san would be living there or more likely Kuchiki Rukia if she was not being sent so often to deal with matters in the living world.
"I am fine, Ukitake Taichō," Nanao responded belatedly to his question.
"If you're certain, Ise-san, I won't pry," Ukitake said gently. There was a slight pause as Ukitake observed that she had not touched what he considered a pitiful excuse for a breakfast.
"Shunsui is planning on stopping by later," he remarked with a sly smile. "Perhaps he can convince you to actually eat something."
Nanao blanched. This wasn't the first time that Shunsui had dropped by the Thirteenth Division to look after his old friend and hopefully see Nanao at the same time. While Shunsui had been able to put in hours of (rather one-sided) drinking with his old friend, Nanao had been suspiciously absent during these times. Nanao knew it was childish to be avoiding her former Taichō and she also knew it had been stupid to hope that she would continue to get away with it. Nanao was praying her fixation with Kyōraku Taichō would fade quickly and restore her shattered dignity in its wake.
"Did he happen to mention what time he's coming?" Nanao asked in what she hoped was a casual manner, staring at her knees.
Ukitake sighed deeply, fixing Nanao with an exasperated, yet amused look. It was one she'd seen him give Kyōraku Taichō plenty of times in the past.
"He's scheduled to take a class up to the living world for supervised training today, so he didn't give a specific time."
Ukitake paused, coughing pathetically before continuing. "Even if he did know what time he was coming, I would not have told you. You cannot avoid him forever, Ise-san. He may not look it, but Kyōraku Shunsui can be a very persistent man when he wants to be."
Nanao pushed the fruit she was supposed to be eating around the bowl, muttering something which sounded like, "Believe me, I know…"
- - -
Takahashi Okuni sang quietly as she slid the door to her room closed, smiling at the rather dirty lyrics that accompanied the upbeat drinking song she had learned last night at one of the division's impromptu parties. As she walked toward the center of the small community of buildings, she looped a brightly colored sash once over her shoulder and then again around her waist. The sash was adorned with an artfully done geisha holding a white mask. Okuni grinned at her unique but rather functional piece of apparel, tucking her distinctively shaped zanpakutō in the cross of fabric at her hip.
Adjusting her glasses, Okuni raised her hand and knocked rhythmically on the door to the Eighth Division office. She entered, glancing around curiously.
"Kyōraku Taichō?" she called hesitantly into the rather dim office, her eyes going wide in surprise as she saw the haori-clad Taicho not passed out on the sofa as she had expected, but seated as his usually abandoned desk. She watched dumbstruck as he scribbled his signature on a lengthy piece of parchment, adding it to the rather large stack of what Okuni assumed were completed papers.
"Kyōraku Taichō, are you actually doing paperwork without Ise Fukutaichō breathing down your neck?" she asked lightly, trying to mask her concern at his unusual behavior. She had only been a member of the division for a relatively short time but it was long enough to know that her Taichō generally avoided paperwork at all costs.
Shunsui set the pen down, a look of hurt flashing across his face at the mention of Nanao. Okuni regretted her words immediately.
She was aware that Nanao had been avoiding Kyōraku Taichō quite effectively. The brunette had learned this from Matsumoto who had recently pried the information out of Nanao after a visit to the Thirteenth Division. The strawberry-blonde had also managed to inveigle Shunsui to admit that he had told Nanao he loved her only to be threatened with a harassment suit just a day before she left the Eighth.
You had to hand it to Rangiku, Okuni thought. She could probably get Yamamoto to divulge his innermost secrets to her. Okay, maybe not, she decided as the image of the rather fearful commander flitted across her mind.
Okuni was convinced that Nanao's horribly mixed signals (rejecting a man and then drinking herself silly with him later that night) would throw anyone for a loop, but the Eighth Division Taichō seemed to be taking it rather hard. Or maybe it was just having to get through every day without even being able to see Nanao was what was wearing on him most. Okuni wondered if the pair had even noticed that they had formed almost a symbiotic relationship over their many years together.
Shunsui glanced up at the petite form in front of him, slowly putting his pen down, affording Okuni a better view of the dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. Now that was even more troublesome.
"Okuni-san?" Shunsui asked, blinking in the shadowy office. "What time is it? And what are you wearing?"
"It's almost two o'clock Taichō," she responded. "You're supposed to lead that class to the living world for training at two-thirty."
Shunsui stood, stretching. "Ah, yes. That's why I brought this down, I almost forgot." He picked up his own zanpakutō which had been leaning against the desk and strapped it around his waist. He smiled as he picked up his hat off the back of the chair and moved toward the door. Okuni noticed it didn't chase away the sadness in his eyes.
"You still didn't answer my question, Okuni-san," he said, tugging at the sash on her shoulder playfully. "What is this lovely addition to your uniform?"
Okuni flushed slightly as they emerged into the sun, the light catching her handiwork on the sash, the beads casting glittering rainbows on the ground as they walked.
"It's the sheath for my zanpakutō, sir," she said. She had often been teased about the odd shape of zanpakutō. Her male friends at the academy had ribbed her mercilessly about its holder.
Shunsui eyed what appeared to be the large, ornate carved steel fan tucked at the cross section of the sash.
"I've only seen a zanpakutō like that once before," he smiled wistfully. "She was a dangerous woman." Okuni wondered if the weapon had belonged to a former friend or more likely a former lover. From the tone in his voice she was betting on the latter.
"And what do you need your zanpakutō for, Okuni-san?"
The brunette blinked up at him. "I'm coming with you," she stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You might need help keeping the students in line. Besides, my zanpakutō could come in very handy in case some unexpected guests show up."
Shunsui chuckled deeply. "But your not even a seated officer, why would I take you into what could become a battle, even if it is highly unlikely? What's more, I couldn't bear to see your pretty face scarred."
Okuni let out an indignant snort. "Taichō, with all due respect, most of the seated officers in the division are idiots, except for maybe the fifth seat and possibly the seventh. I know I've only been in the squad a week but with Ise-Fukutaichō's departure, it didn't seem like the time to try to rise up in the ranks."
Shunsui folded his hands inside of his sleeves and regarded her carefully.
"Okuni-san," he began, but she cut him off.
"Taichō, it's only a field exercise. You said yourself that it is unlikely we would even be needed. Anyway," she said, lowering her voice. "I have to go, I made a promise."
Shunsui looked intrigued. "So, Nanao-chan entrusted my care to you, then?"
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as Okuni stared up at him with her eyes large and pleading behind her tortoise-shell frames. The girl reminded him Nanao so much it physically hurt sometimes. At least now he knew the reason she had been in the office every single day, helping him complete various tasks and pulling sake bottles out of his fingers as he tried to drown her disturbing resemblance to his Nanao in alcohol. Yet, he thought, they were different in so many ways. He took in her flashy apparel and couldn't help grinning. Nanao would be dead before she was caught in anything so…fun looking.
"Please, Taichō?" the girl begged, sticking out her lower lip. Nanao would also never pout.
"Yare," he relented. "We couldn't allow you to disappoint Nanao-chan, now could we?"
"No, sir!" Okuni agreed, grinning as she fell into step to his right and just slightly behind him.
As they made their way toward the academy, Shunsui realized that it was almost like having Nanao back again. He glanced at his companion and she adjusted her glasses with a soft smile.
But she wasn't his Nanao-chan. No one could ever take her place as effortlessly, both by his side and in his heart.
"Is something wrong, Kyōraku Taichō?" Okuni inquired uncertainly. "You're staring at me."
Shunsui shook his head. "My apologies, Okuni-san. I was just thinking."
Her expressive eyes radiated understanding. "Nanao again?"
"Who else?" Shunsui replied with a rueful smile. Okuni leant her head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand in comfort.
- - -
When they finally entered the living world, it was pitch black out. Stars twinkled dully overhead as fluffy gray clouds drifted like mournful ghosts over the moon.
Okuni fished the communication device out of her pocket. It was usually the fukutaichō's job to remain in contact with the academy technician during training excursions but she would have to do for the time being.
No one had had any objections to her accompanying Kyōraku Taichō as he oversaw the exercise. While the members of the Eighth were underestimated by most of the Gotei Thirteen, it was no secret that the division's seated officers were lacking greatly in the qualities that usually accompanied their position.
The truth was it hadn't occurred to Shunsui to hold the small skirmishes which allowed division members to ascend the ranks in quite some time. Shunsui remembered idly that Nanao had asked him about it months ago, but it hadn't seemed that pressing at the time. Perhaps he would look into it in the near future.
Okuni hooked the device over her ear. "This is Takahashi Okuni of the Eighth Division reporting for Kyōraku Taichō. We have just entered the living world and there appears to be no sign of hollow activity."
"We have you on the monitor, Takahashi-san," the technician's voice crackled over the line. "It is expected that lesser hollows will be drawn to the area soon due to the rise in reiatsu. Let us know if you run into trouble."
Okuni grinned. "A little trouble wouldn't be unwelcome. Over and out." She heard the person on the other end of the line chuckle.
Okuni found that they were in what appeared to be a deserted park in a large city. She looked at the rather apprehensive faces of the academy students and remembered that it wasn't so long ago that she had gone out on her first training run in the real world. From what she recalled it had been a piece of cake. She pushed her glasses up and moved to stand beside her Taichō off to the side of the manicured lawn, leaving the students to wait in tense silence for the first hollows to appear.
"Is something wrong, Taichō?" Okuni asked, noticing the frown on his face.
"I should have brought more officers," he mumbled more to himself than to her. "This class is scared out of their minds and either unable to or not bothering to control their reiatsus." Shunsui turned to face her. "Can you feel it?"
Okuni frowned as she noticed for the first time the massive spiking reiatsu issuing from the clump of students. The frown deepened as she realized they hadn't even assumed defensive stances or broken into smaller, more effective fighting groups but remained in one large cluster.
"Takahashi-san," the voice over her earphone startled her slightly. "You must get the students to control their reiatsus; we're detecting a large influx of hollow spiritual energy amassing in the area. If they continue like this it could become dangerous."
Too late, Okuni thought wryly as the hollows began to materialize around them at a rapid pace. She kept waiting for the students to move but they just stood there. What idiot stands around and waits for a hollow to attack? she thought incredulously.
Shunsui drew his zanpakutō.
"Takahashi-san, you must get the students out immediately," the voice over the line commanded. "It's too much!"
"Got it," she barked into the microphone. "Kyōraku Taichō, surveillance says we have to get the students out of here, their reiatsu level is too high!"
"Yare," Shunsui commented as he watched one or two braver students cautiously approach the nearest hollows. "Who authorized this class for field training? They're scared shitless!"
Following his lead, Okuni drew her own zanpakutō, the large steel, bladed fan clicking open to reveal its shining face, which was elaborately etched and painted with what appeared to be various masks. Okuni deftly tossed the fan into the air, catching it. "Are you sure you can do this?" he asked, gazing at her in concern as more hollows appeared.
In answer, Okuni threw the fan at a nearby hollow, where it imbedded itself with deadly accuracy in the creature's skull. The hollow disintegrated immediately and Okuni darted forward, snatching the fan before it hit the ground.
"Yeah, old man," she teased. "The question is, can you keep up?"
Shunsui arched an eyebrow at the rather out of character comment but didn't have much time to ponder it further on it as the girl raced toward the hollows. She vaulted off the ground, another hollow falling to ash in her wake.
Figuring that she could take care of herself as long their foes remained lesser hollows, Shunsui took off in the other direction, hoping to clear a path for the frightened students. He was relieved to see that the wide-eyed kids had at least begun to fight the hollows directly surrounding them. He blocked the downward swing of a more aggressive creature's claw with one blade before driving its twin one clear through the white mask.
Maybe Okuni's right, Shunsui thought as he dispatched another hollow. I am getting too old for this. But in truth, he knew it felt strange because it had been over a century since he had fought a battle without his defiant Nanao covering his back with her furious kidō.
- - -
There is absolutely no way we're getting out of this alive, Okuni thought miserably, the cheeky grin long vanished from her face.
She quickly switched her fan to her left hand, wiping away the slippery stream of blood that continued to run from the long, agonizingly painful gash down her right forearm. She took a step backwards, away from the encroaching white masks, hoping her presence would lend some comfort to the small huddle of students behind her. They were all bruised and bleeding in some manner. Okuni was exhausted beyond what she had previously thought to be the limits of endurance.
She had to keep fighting. Kyōraku Taichō needed her. The students needed her.
"Call them again," Shunsui commanded, wiping sweat off his brow and twirling hisKaten Kyōkotsu in order to gain a better grip.
Okuni fingered the earpiece. "This is Eighth Division requesting officer assistance!" She waited for something other than crackling static but was sorely disappointed. "Damnit, they're still not answering! What do we do?" She flicked her gaze over to her thankfully still unharmed Taichō.
Shunsui grimaced. "We keep fighting."
He allowed himself one small smile as Okuni swore badly enough to make even the rowdiest officer of the Eleventh Division blush
Shunsui turned toward the small clump of students still able to wield a weapon. "All of you," he ordered. "It's your responsibility to protect those too injured to fight. Fan out around them in a defensive position and kill any hollow that gets too close. Work together. And no matter what happens you get yourselves and your classmates out."
Okuni was about to ask him exactly what he was planning on doing but never got the chance as more loud cracks filled the air, indicating the appearance of even more foes. Shunsui darted forward too fast for the eye to follow and dug his blade deep into the skull of the closest hollow.
Okuni noticed that the students hadn't moved. "Your superior officer just gave you a command!" she barked.
Any other time she would have laughed as they scurried off but she was already too busy lobbing her zanpakutō at a nearby assailant. She smiled grimly in satisfaction as the hollow fragmented as the blade of her fan swept across it, twirling speedily back at her. Catching her fan gracefully in her left hand before vaulting off of the ground, she scraped the weapon through the cranium of a hollow that had just appeared.
We have to get out of here now or we're hollow bait!! Okuni thought, as the fight dragged on, the hollows continuing to be magnetically drawn to the students' now out of control reaitsus.
She neared a rather haggard looking Shunsui. This battle would have been difficult even if he had been following his usual routine of sleeping two hours for every one that he was awake. Startled, Okuni realized that from the expression on Shunsui's face, it seemed he was thinking along the same lines. He looks as if he's about ready to give up…
In desperation, Okuni did something she had never done before. She tried to activate the initial release of her zanpakutō.
Warmth flared to her numb fingertips but nothing else happened. Okuni let out primal scream of frustration and despair.
"Takahashi-san!" the voice crackled over the line.
YES!
"Are you alright? The reiatsu level in your sector shorted our communications link. We are opening a gate near the area where we have the students located on the monitor. You and Kyōraku Taichō get out of there. We're sending in a team to finish off the remaining hollows."
"Finally," Okuni snarled, lashing out with her fan's razor edge at a nearby enemy. "Taichō, they're opening a gate! Back-up is on its way, let's get out of here!"
Shunsui dodged a hollow's blow, decapitating it with two swipes of his zanpakutō. "I'll stay and help the clean-up crew."
"Taichō―" She began to move toward him but was force to pause and deflect an attack. She screamed in pain as she was forced to use her right arm to finish the creature off.
"Okuni-san get to the Fourth Division before that arm is useless!" Shunui hollered.
Okuni turned, about to head for the gate only to shriek in fear for her Taichō's life.
A hollow had appeared behind Shunsui as he was yelling at her― she was too far away to do anything.
Shunsui spun quickly on his heel and severed the hollow's arm before thrusting both blades into its skull.
Distracted, she had not seen the four vicious hollows which had been slowly surrounding her until it was too late.
"Okuni!" she heard Shunsui shout hoarsely. She whirled around just in time to dodge the first blow.
Okuni jumped the second strike which came from behind her and she flung her zanpakutō at the responsible hollow's grinning mask.
But her injured arm had had enough and her throw was too wide. This time the fan didn't come swishing back into her grasp. Instead it embedded itself in the earth ten feet away.
Panicking, Okuni threw a hand out trying to remember what Nanao had told her once about casting kidō without having to invoke the entire incantation.
"Shot of red flame!"
The hollow was blasted back a good four feet before it became nothing more than ash on the wind.
Okuni dived through the opening the circle for her zanpakutō waiting to feel claws rake down her spine. She rolled onto her side just in time to feel something warm and wet land on her. Glancing at her bare arm she was horrified to realize that it was blood.
She blinked, momentarily stunned. It wasn't her blood.
Shunsui was standing above her, his zanpakutō crossed in front of him. He was bleeding profusely from a large gash near his forehead, his hat knocked onto the scarlet stained grass. Okuni noticed immediately that there were only two hollows now.
"What are you doing?" Shunsui yelled over the din of the battle. "Why can't you ever stay where you're safe? Get out of here!" Confused, Okuni bolted to her feet, deflecting a claw with her fan and leveling another kido blast at one of the two hollows left. She felt incredibly stupid for forgetting all of the extensive kidō training she had endured in the academy for the entire duration of the battle.
"Taichō, are you okay?" she yelled as he delivered the finishing blow to the last hollow, blood dripping down his face from the wound in his forehead. Suddenly, the noise level on the field increased substantially. Frantically Okuni swiveled around.
Relief poured through her as she spotted Matsumoto's distinctive hair fanning out behind her, the blonde lunging into battle after her diminutive Taichō. Across the field she spotted other shadowy figures, as the ash-like remains of the hollows danced past her on the wind. The back-up had arrived.
Okuni turned to face her own Taichō.
"Kyōraku Taichō you need to get to the Fourth Division," she said. "They can take it from here." Shunsui stumbled.
"Nanao-chan," he murmured, falling to his knees. Okuni fell quickly to her own, catching him as he fell face first toward the earth.
"Taichō," she cried, alarmed, turning him over one handed. She found that it was excruciatingly painful to try and unclench her right hand from her zanpakutō, so she quit trying. Okuni rested his head in her lap, realizing that there was a large bump accompanying the bleeding gash. The wound was much, much worse than it had originally appeared.
Shunsui's eyes fluttered sleepily. Okuni, knowing that he had at the very least sustained a bad concussion feared what would happen if he passed out. "Taichō, stay awake. You've got to stay with me," she pleaded.
"You're safe Nanao-chan," he muttered, reaching up one hand to stroke her cheek as tears of exhaustion and worry fell behind her horn-rimmed glasses.
"Taichō, don't close your eyes," Okuni repeated. "You've got to wait until the Fourth gets here, you need help."
He fingers fell to near her neck as if he was reaching for something. "I love…my Nanao-chan…" he whispered.
"I-I know you do, sir," Okuni said, grabbing the hand by her neck and squeezing it. "But you've got to be alive to see her when you get back," she cried, nearly hysterical.
Shunsui reached toward her free hand with his shaking one. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Okuni dropped her zanpakutō and fit her hand into his. Shunsui placed a soft kiss on her bloodied knuckles as she gazed helplessly down at him.
"Taichō―" she whispered. His brow knitted in either confusion or pain, she couldn't tell which before his eyes fell shut.
They didn't open again.
Panicking, Okuni shook him gently. "Kyōraku Taichō!"
Shunsui did not respond.
"Kyōraku Taichō!" No, not now, please, he can't be…
"HELP!" the frantic screamed ripped from her lips. "Kyōraku Taichō's down! Kyōraku Taichō's down!"
- - -
Midway through the surveillance room of the Shinigami Academy, Ise Nanao froze. She stared at the computer monitor in shocked horror as Okuni's voice repeated the words over and over again. She was growing more frantic by the second, despite the reassurances of the technician that the Fourth Division was on the way.
"HELP ME PLEASE! Kyōraku Taichō is down…help…Kyōraku Taichō…please…"
A/N: And thus ends another chapter…Review or I will duck tape you to the toilet like Rukia did to Kon before running away…the back of the toilet, where no one EVER cleans because usually brooms can't fit…