And this is it, the final chapter! And as a bonus, it's over double the length of either of the last two. Thank you for the reviews and the support you've given - even when I 'dissapeared' for a month a so between chapters 1 and 2.
Some notes: You can learn a lot about anime characters by listening to them speak in their original language (as I do - I hate most dubbing with the passion of a thousand suns going supernova). Such as in Bleach, where in Japanese you'll notice that Kyōraku always addresses people by their first name and then a suffix (e.g. Nanao-chan, Sōsuke-kun for Aizen, etc). I've used Byakuya's manner of referring to people only by their last name in this fic, so I hope that's cleared up why Nanao is only called 'Ise'. You probably didn't need to be told this, but oh well, I've done it anyway.
Second, Orihime and Hitsugaya - why? Why not, I reply. And squidgeesushi, I'm glad you like the snippets I added - since there's not nearly enough information about Nanao (apart from the fact she's a kidō master) I felt like I had to add details. Why isn't there more information?? As cool as the 10th, 11th and 13th are, we barely know anything about the others!
Thirdly, there's a slight perspective change from Nanao to Byakuya, since at that point the story flows better from his view. I hope it doesn't jar too much.
Thank you!
She continued to give the smile that was beginning to terrify the captain when she spoke "I'm going to talk to Kuchiki-taichō".
Which was how Nanao came to be standing outside of the 6th Division Headquarters, glasses flashing in a way that made several seated officers run for cover. The instincts for danger they had acquired from years of fighting hollows made them back off, with the ones too dense to notice following their friends. Whatever the 8th Division's fukutaichō was here for, they weren't sticking around to find out.
Nanao was about to step into the now empty courtyard when a sweet, chirpy voice brought her up short "Nanao-san!"
She felt an unintentional smile pull at her mouth as the owner of the voice barrelled into view. Ishida Orihime was so inhumanly sweet, who couldn't smile at her? Even if she fit into the recent trend of opposites attracting (such as her and Shunsui, Rangiku and Kuchiki-taichō, and even she wondered about what was going on between Madarame-taichō and Ayasegawa-fukutaichō sometimes) by marrying that Quincy boy. She battled the smile down and turned to greet the maelstrom of red hair and boobs that flung itself at her – Orihime was one of the few people in Seireitei that had no problem with hugging the stern, taciturn fukutaichō of the 8th.
"Orihime-san" Nanao acknowledged, before looking up at the silent figure that had followed the girl "Hitsugaya-taichō".
The man nodded before frowning "Matsumoto, she..."
"Rangiku is in the 8th with Kyōraku-taichō, sir." Nanao interrupted, before looking at the girl – even though she was in her thirties, it was impossible to see Orihime as anything else – who still had her arms looped around Nanao's shoulders "Could you see to Rangiku, Orihime-san? I think she could do with some company." Nanao paused and amended that sentence "Company that isn't a sake bottle"
Orihime nodded seriously, warm smile dimmed for once "I'll do my best" She promised "We followed your reiatsu because we couldn't feel Rangiku-san...but what are you doing here, Nanao-san?"
"Shunsui's reiatsu tends to engulf anyone else's" Nanao commented wryly "But I'm here to speak to Kuchiki-taichō" She gave them the same vicious smile she had given Shunsui minutes earlier, and then turned away to continue on into the 6th's offices.
She felt Orihime turn and bounce away towards the 8th, Hitsugaya following close behind. He really is very fond of that girl, Nanao mused as she walked into the equally silent office building, word having spread that Ise Nanao and her deadly glasses had appeared. She walked past the desk and glanced down at the nervously babbling 6th fukutaichō. Renji's red shock of hair fluttered as he stared up at her from behind the mounds of paper on his desk.
"Is Kuchiki-taichō here, Abarai-san?" She asked for politeness' sake, since Byakuya was in and she knew it.
"Course. Go ahead, Ise-san." He managed, burying himself back in his paperwork but staring at her as she walked past. She gave him a smile that possibly frightened him even more than he
had already been and swept into the captain's office like a queen. Renji shook his head and escaped the 6th Division – Nanao had been his and Rukia's senpai in their years at the Academy where she taught kidō, but even if she had despaired of him sometimes, he had never seen her that angry before. Better to get out before the faceoff between two equally stubborn people turned nasty.
Nanao settled herself in a chair in front of Kuchiki's desk and waited patiently for him to acknowledge her.
--
Byakuya paused mid-stroke as Ise entered his office and settled herself in front of his desk, seeming to be happy to wait for him to react. He had felt her meet Hitsugaya and the ryoka girl outside before they moved on, so he had a nagging sensation that he knew exactly why Ise was here. He set down his pen finally and looked up in the cold, elegant face of the 8th Division fukutaichō.
She knew about his dalliance with Matsumoto, he knew that much. Ise was her closest friend, and the expression on her face said that they had been talking recently.
"Ise-fukutaichō." He acknowledged "What is it you wanted?"
She tilted her head and fixed him with a smile that rumours said had been learned from Unohana. It radiated none of the gentle captain's warmth, however – he was being pinned with an expression similar to pure malice "I am here to protest your treatment of the 10th Division's Matsumoto Rangiku, sir."
He frowned, slightly "My treatment of her, Ise?"
"You had...relations with her, correct? I am here to speak to you about your behaviour towards her, sir"
He didn't let himself utter so much as a sigh, but he asked anyway "Did Matsumoto send you, Ise?"
"No, sir. I sent myself." She answered, just as evenly "May I speak?"
"If Matsumoto-fukutaichō has a problem, she can come to me with it herself" He replied, matching her tone and looking back down at his paperwork, expecting her to follow his unspoken dismissal. He forgot, however, that Ise was one of Kyōraku's trained officers, not his, and so unlikely to obey unless they had what they wanted. It was a main reason why he had not placed Rukia under the interfering captain's command, though he thought that Ise's influence on his sister would have been a good thing.
"May I speak, sir?" Nanao continued, voice taking on a steely tone.
He looked back up at the dangerously controlled woman, and he realised he had to re-analyse her. When they had first met, he had guessed that Kyōraku would drive this one away as quickly as he had the others, and dismissed her. But she had been around for several decades now, and unfortunately seemed to have acquired her captain's persistence. Her carefully contained reiatsu betrayed little apart from the fact that even though he could defeat her in battle, she
could inflict a fair amount of damage. And even if he won, he would have Kyōraku and Ukitake after his head, and Matsumoto would never, ever forgive him.
He gave in. Though he would never admit it, he had heard the horror stories about what happened when Ise removed her glasses and had no intention of experiencing it himself "Speak if you must, Ise."
"Why, Kuchiki-taichō?"
"Why what?" He hissed back, not liking how he had managed to sound like a petulant child.
"Rangiku, sir. It is not normal behaviour to ignore someone's existence after you have been...intimate."
He ignored the way she skirted around using explicit language and fixed her with a sharp look "Define normal behaviour, Ise."
"You love her, correct?" She continued, as if he had never spoken. A less controlled person would have sucked in a breath at both her impertinence and the sharpness of her observation. But Kuchiki Byakuya was nothing if not a controlled man, and so all that happened in reply was a clenched jaw.
Nanao nodded thoughtfully to herself, fingers running over the careworn cover of her book "And since it happened twice, and you reacted the same way. You addressed her as though she was any other person."
"She told you this?"
"Only the first time." She was watching him closely, now. Every single movement he made was being analysed – he refused to meet her eyes "I imagined what lead to her breakdown in my voice was as a direct result of you. I do not want such as thing to happen again." Even with her articulate speech, there was an undercurrent to her words that he knew he was meant to hear.
"A threat, Ise-fukutaichō?" He asked, something past his normal neutral tone creeping into his voice.
"If something is not done, Kuchiki-taichō, it might well be, yes." She replied smoothly, voice softening vaguely as she changed the topic to her lover "I understand noble families, Kuchiki-taichō. Kyōraku is one, and though I doubt what I went through will be on par with what will happen to Rangiku, is it right that you take this chance from her?"
How had she...? "I believe her anger before we parted means that she no longer wishes to have anything to do with me."
"Kuchiki-taichō, if you cannot understand even the basic reaction of the lover being rejected by the beloved, then maybe you deserve you remain alone" Her voice was harsh now – he had forgotten how Ran-Matsumoto had once referred to Nanao as her protective sister, only half in jest. He glared at her, silently willing her to leave, but she returned the expression with one of her own, before she gave a sigh that seemed to shake her entire form "Perhaps this exercise was hopeless. Excuse me for wasting your time, Kuchiki-taichō."
--
She stood and bowed to him, sweeping out of the door and back to the 8th Division, wiping her glasses and sighing about the impossibility of men.
At his desk, Byakuya stared at the pen in his hand, looking past it as his mind replayed Ise's earlier words. Even if he was irritated that in the latter part of the conversation Ise had neglected to call him 'sir', as far as he could tell, she never used words idly and anything she said would have been said for a reason.
'...lover being rejected by the beloved'. But it was Rangiku's fault, really. She had refused to talk to him, not seen his reasons, and ignored his attempt to talk to her. And...
...if she had not been so hurt by him, she wouldn't have lashed out. The reason fell into place with the finality that most revelations came with, even the unpleasant ones. She was hurt because of what had happened. No, by the way he acted afterwards. Without even bothering to speak to Renji, he flash stepped out of his office and down the road.
He blurred through the 8th's offices and stopped a few paces away from Matsumoto as she sat underneath a sakura tree, staring up at the petals as if they held the answers to life's mysteries. He could feel Kyōraku and the ryoka edging away inside, and saw Hitsugaya give him a look that promised death if he didn't fix it before the white-haired captain followed the others' lead.
He stepped forward, and she turned to look at him, the beautiful face close but the eyes distant "We need to talk."
She didn't say anything, didn't encourage him, but she was still there, listening. Understanding? Maybe not. But listening, all the same. Gathering his courage, Byakuya took the plunge, and began to speak.
--
Nanao entered her offices five minutes later, having opted to walk rather than flash step back to the piles of paperwork probably waiting for her. The first thing she was aware of was the flash of pink before her taichō swept her off the ground in an almost bruise-inducing embrace.
"My Nanao-chan is unhurt, I hope!" He exclaimed finally after placing her down on the ground – which only happened after she threatened him with use of her tome.
"Of course, taichō" She answered after straightening her clothes and hair "Nothing would have happened, not without you knowing anyway" She slated a glance at him "I could feel you checking my reiatsu"
He didn't even have the grace to look guilty "I had to keep an eye on you, precious Nanao-chan. Besides, your plan seems to have worked" He gestured to the far corner of the courtyard. Where Byakuya and Rangiku were talking earnestly, apology in his gaze and forgiveness in hers.
"Who'd have thought that my Nanao-chan was a closet romantic!" He all but squealed in her ear before she shushed him affectionately, running a hand down his arm to link their fingers "What did you do to convince him?"
She blinked thoughtfully and then looked up at him, a teasing twinkle in normally serious eyes "I smiled?"
And without waiting for his reply she pulled him inside, leaving the equally mismatched pair outside, to whisper to each other in the light of the dying sun.
-owari-