Watercolor Lenses
Chapter 4: Spinning Rooms
By seven that evening, one hour after official closing, Ise Nanao had managed to clear 2/3rds of her office and the desk surface was smooth. The task was made slower by the fact that she was required to read the documents before determining in which pile they went to. The stacks or the trash…
It did not account for the other littered offices, only half of which had been started, but the hallways were again unfettered. It was anyone's guess the last time that had happened.
Now, returning to what would, she hoped, become her sanctuary, she found that her desk was not as spotless as she'd left it only minutes before. A sheet of paper had been left, singular, with black writing upon its frontal surface. The script was unfamiliar, but very legible and very neat. On second inspection, she realized she did recognize the writing.
It was the same flowing script she'd found in the books of poetry from the next room. She had gone through the books with a quick but thorough eye and all, save one, had been sent out to the sale tables. The singular volume still in her possession was… Well… it was rather shameful of her to pocket it but… it was beautiful. Her guilt had only been intensified earlier by his admission that they were his personal items, but as it was the situation could not be remedied and he had not called for it. Being that as it were, she saw no reason to admit to having the volume.
That, however, was a separate matter entirely. Peering down at the paper she found it was indeed from her Captain. He was actually going to make her go out with him and drink? Of all the- she immediately ceased her line of thinking. If she could sell his things without his permission, he could certainly demand she go drinking. They were both breaches of propriety. As long as he didn't demand anything improper she couldn't really, effectively, protest.
The paper in her hands was little more than a set of directions with an address. She was expected by eight that evening. He had not gone so far as to warrant a dress code, but the paper stated she was to bring, "a smile, an open mind, and some money."
With a quick check to her watch she decided she ought to get home and get ready. No use in appearing unkempt, who knew who else her Captain would have with him.
He was observant. Or maybe he'd been waiting upon her. He called out to her the moment she walked in the door. Before she had even spotted him, it was startling. Lifting her eyes she looked across the room to see he had one hand raised, waving at her.
"Nanao-chan! Over here!"
Her mouth twisted into a frown and she crossed the room toward him. There was another man, no three other men and a woman with golden hair. Did she recognize any of those people? Her attention was momentarily caught by the noise caused by a man tossing another man into the wall. Bar fights, lovely. Had she ever seen the inside of a bar before? As she walked toward the table, she realized she hadn't.
"Saved you a seat, Nanao-chan!" he patted the cushion right next to him, the other side of him was occupied by the man she recognized now as Captain of the 13th. Thinking of nothing to immediately say, she walked around the table and took the seat indicated. They were not close enough to be pressed hip to hip so she sat. She had not changed clothes and was glad she had not because her other companions were all wearing their uniforms.
"Hey Matsumoto! You met Nanao-chan yet?"
Nanao winced. Was he drunk or was he always so loud? Without warning, he threw an arm around her shoulder and crushed her to his side. The space between their hip bones vanished as she was abruptly drawn up against him. The weight and heat of his arm over her narrow shoulders was a bit on the overwhelming side and she flushed and hated herself for it.
"Ise Nanao, my Nanao-chan, is my new Vice-Captain."
The golden woman turned her bright eyes toward her and Nanao waited anxiously for a response. Would the lady say anything about this ridiculously inappropriate pose? Wait, did the lady always wear her uniform so… uh, open? Didn't that much exposure make her self-conscious?
"Nanao-chan! Great to meet you, I'm Matsumoto Rangiku, Vice Captain of the 10th. I'm sure we'll meet often at the Vice-Captain's meetings." She grinned widely. "Is he behaving himself?"
Nanao wiggled out from beneath her Captain's arm and scowled wiggling away to regain her own breathing space. "I doubt that's possible," she muttered sourly. "Can you please not call me 'Nanao-chan'."
The woman turned her eyes to the man next to her and Nanao took notice of the two other men again. They had been at her Division battle. One was 13th Division Vice-Captain and the other was his brother… what had their names been? "This is the librarian, right, Kaien?"
The 13th Division Vice-Captain Kaien had a wild grin as he looked over at her and Nanao felt compelled to stand and leave. These people were partiers, weren't they? These type of people did not hang out with people like her. She didn't belong in this group.
Kaien raised his sake up. "Good job, Ise-san. Good fight!"
The 13th Division Captain coughed indiscreetly and Matsumoto looked over. "I do not think it is quite appropriate to refer to her as 'the librarian'."
It was going to be horrible, Nanao thought. She had to spend the night with these people? Just as she was contemplating appealing to her Captain to be excused, he slid a sake bottle in front of her and a cup was placed down. Before she could open her mouth, he'd poured for her.
"You're not really going to make me drink this, are you?" she looked up at him. He was smiling.
"Won't hurt. Lighten up, Nanao-chan."
"Desist calling me that! I am not 'Nanao-chan'. No one has ever called me that." Her frustration was getting the better of her.
He was unaffected by her emotion and deftly ignored her protest. "You're too cute not to be Nanao-chan."
Protest was futile.
Sake cups were small. Nanao was glad of that fact as she'd been sitting for more than an hour and was only on her 3rd cup. She would not be getting drunk, no matter what he said. The longer she sat though, the more she watched and realized this group of people was fairly close knit. They seemed so familiar and easy with one another. Or, was that the liquor? The 13th Captain and her Captain seemed to be old friends if they way they spoke of their old academy days was correct. Kaien and his brother were just as easy-going. Matsumoto was friendly and boisterous with everyone and a bit of an outrageous flirt at that. Nanao had never been any of those things and rarely encountered such personalities in her work.
Really, she felt ridiculously out of place and supposed that this really was probably proper punishment for her. It was not the kind of humiliation she'd normally subject herself to. Most people went out of their way to avoid being subject to humiliation. Beside her, her illustrious Captain poured her another cup of sake. She slanted a glance up at him and noted he was watching her. No doubt he had been all night and keeping a very close eye on her sake cup. He couldn't really make her drink it, but he was keeping her cup full enough.
Despite the fact that her Captain had a heaping worth of personality faults, she found she didn't really hate him or even dislike him. Yes, he was lazy. Yes, he was something of a ladies man. Yes, he ignored her and called her "Nanao-chan" despite her request he not do so. Although, now that she thought about, she didn't really like him either. Deciding that ambivalence was good, she sipped her drink and wondered if there was any food to be had.
It was not her Captain, but the other Captain at the table that finally ordered food. She had never seen anything so wonderful in her life as the spread of food in front of her. Perhaps it was because she was starving. She had, stupidly, decided to forego lunch as she'd been too busy. Luckily for her the din of her surroundings prevented anyone from hearing her stomach growl noisily.
"So! Nanao-chan, you single?" Matsumoto propped her elbows and her breasts upon the table as she stared.
Being the sole focus of Matsumoto's attention was something she especially didn't want. Could the woman have said that any louder? Did she truly have to answer that?
"Single?" Nanao asked, trying to think of something to change the subject to.
"Right, as in not married. I don't see a ring on your little finger so I'll fill you in." She pointed first to the Captain at her side. "Kyouraku Shunsui, single and always looking but not good on commitment. Next is Ukitake Jyuushiro, also single but so hush-hush about it I never know what's going on with him. Shiba Kaien, with the spiky black hair down there… He's married already, but next to him is his brother Ganju who is single. And they are part of the noble Shiba house." Matsumoto winked at her. "As for the others, let's see…there's-"
"Matsumoto-san, thank you but I am not looking to date at this time." Nanao had the sinking suspicion before the woman even opened her mouth to respond that her protest would do her little good. Not only that, she could see very clearly at this point that most of her Captain's associates were as hard-headed as he was.
"Oh, I see. Well, if you're looking for a more casual male friend I know a few of those too."
The words had barely slipped from the blonde's mouth before Nanao was quite literally yanked toward the bar by her new overactive friend.
They were singing behind her. The song was unfamiliar and bordering on obscene. It was loud and obnoxious and absolutely no one in the place seemed to care. The 8th and 13th Division Captain's table was kept well stocked with food and liquor as the night wore on and Nanao was beginning to have serious worries about getting up on time. She had a very specific schedule. How was she to manage this office if she couldn't go home and properly rest herself?
Distracting her, someone came up and placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned only to see a man she'd never laid eyes upon beside her.
"Hey, haven't seen you here before. You new?"
New to what, she wasn't quite sure. But the man was slender and smelled of a fine cologne rather than alcohol and had a friendly face. She ignored the fact he seemed to be trying to pick her up. Maybe he was just being friendly, how should she know? "New" was an understatement.
"New to this establishment, yes," she answered. He took this as an invitation to sit beside her and she sighed silently. "Do you know what time it is?"
"About ten till midnight," he answered casually.
"Looks like little Nanao has an admirer." Matsumoto's sing-song voice drew his eyes up from the plate and toward the bar.
He'd been covertly watching Nanao at the bar, a bit concerned about her slight frame and somewhat mousy personality. It wouldn't do for her to be led out of the bar by some shady man with wandering eyes and ill intentions. Vice-Captain or no she was his responsibility. If not for him she wouldn't be there at all.
As Kyouraku raised his eyes toward her he noted the scowl. The glowing fist should've been a clue for her companion that she might not be interested but the man wasn't paying attention. With one arm draped over her narrow shoulders and his mouth at her earlobe, he wasn't in a position to see the tightly clenched fist at her side. At least, not until it was probably too late to stop her. Again, he grinned. That girl was too much fun.
The color in Nanao's cheek's flared and her eyes hardened. She was a warrior. Who in the world had authorized her for the library? Her eyebrows drew down into a glower as the man grinned. Kyouraku didn't recognize him and didn't pity him as Nanao finally decided enough was enough.
There was no pretense. No shouts. She made a quiet comment he couldn't hope to hear from so far away and watched the man's momentary flicker of confusion before she raised that glowing fist and knocked him away from her. The sound was sharp, the sound of flesh striking flesh, the back of her hand and his cheek. He hit the floor with a thud and Nanao stood.
As she approached his table again he raised the sake bottle to her in tribute. She didn't look amused but he smiled anyway. It was a bit disconcerting to him to think his new Vice-Captain really didn't like him. It only made him more determined, however, to win her over.
"May I be excused now? I have to get up early."
"'Course, Nanao-chan." He stood up and led her to the door. Briefly, he considered walking her home but she was most likely to decline his escort and she did not appear drunk so he wasn't too worried. It wasn't even truly that late yet.
Outside the noise of the bar was lower in volume. Just as he was about to bid her a goodnight and thank her, she dug into her sleeve and withdrew a sum of money which she then held out quite dutifully. He cocked an eyebrow at her.
Leaning down he curled his fingers very gently about her narrow wrist and stared very seriously at her upturned face. "Nanao, if you want that kind of service we'll have to do it in private."
Her face flared bright even in the near darkness and he couldn't contain his mirth. He felt the laughter all the way down to his toes. When he settled, he noted her face was now turned downward and her arms were crossed quite tightly across her chest.
He placed a palm against the top of her head gently. She was so small and yet so ridiculously entertaining. He hoped she stayed a great deal longer than a month.
"Relax, Ise-san." The sound of her proper name got her attention and she looked back up. "A gentleman never asks a lady to pay when he has invited her somewhere."
"But you said in the note-"Absently, he shrugged a shoulder and she let the argument go.
"Were you uncomfortable tonight?" his attention was directed over the veranda and down into the street.
"It was different," she answered softly.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Continuing with the cleaning. Afterwards I think I'll begin looking at what needs to be filed with the First Division Office and there are repairs that need to be made."
"Before you sit down to do all that, you should go down to the combat hall. The schedules need changed. Otherwise all those shinigami you put to work today will be piled around your ears in boredom."
She blinked. "Oh. Is there a particular way you want that done?"
"Up to you."
"Thank you, Sir." There was a moment of hesitation where she faltered. "Goodnight then."
She left him standing there on the front veranda of the bar. All the things he'd been tempted to say about always having had trouble keeping a Vice-Captain and wishes for her to do her best were left all unsaid. His hazy solitude was disrupted when Matsumoto popped her head out the door.
"Ah, there you are. We were beginning to wonder if you had followed your librarian home and Kaien and Ganju were starting to take bets."
With a chuckle, he followed her back inside. Those brothers took bets on everything.