A/N: Okay, here's more from me. I took a little longer than I wanted to coming out with this part even though it was only a day, but I worked so it left time for little else. Not much to say about this one execept that...I'm sorry. I'm aplogizing in advance for...nevermind, I'm just sorry. I think this is the sweetest one so far though, just because it's a little complex. Good, not good? Let me know. -KG

Chapter Five: The Downside Of Eavesdropping

Nanao now sat working in her office. Her captain was present for once, along with one Yukio Otori, who had been scheduled to work with them today. Nothing was really out of the ordinary, but there was an uncomfortable silence in the air today. At least, that's how Nanao would describe it, being very uncomfortable with the other person in the room.

She was a little impressed though, because he had offered to help her with her work. This caused an eyebrow raise from Shunsui, who had been pretending to sleep in the corner. Nanao thought that he might offer to help himself in retaliation, but none such offer came. She politely declined Yukio's offer, saying that it was division things that he wouldn't know how to deal with.

Later, it was close to the time when Yukio was supposed to go report back to the Third, which had become his main dwelling place for now. They had all gotten up to see him out, being the hospitable thing to do.

"Yare, so Yukio, your demonstration is tomorrow right?"

"Yes, sir. Can I hope that you two will be there to observe?" A good-natured question.

"Of course. We'll be rooting for you, won't we, Nanao-chan?"

She nodded her head. "Of course."

At this, Yukio smiled, more at her than him really. "Well that's a relief. I shall most definitely do my best then. Good evening."

With that, he took his leave, leaving the other two to finish up. That was two days ago.

Presently, Nanao was much the same, sitting at her desk pondering things. The Demonstration for Yukio was supposed to be today, but by some miraculous feat, they decided to cancel it. Nanao figured it was because they were busy or something else was going on, but when she investigated further, she found that it was just because they didn't want to hold one.

She asked Yukio about this, but he had no answer for her, just stated that he must be awfully lucky. They had told him nothing but the fact that they thought he didn't need to go through a demonstration to be placed. The crazy thing was, they were still talking about an officers spot, a lieutenant in particular. She didn't know how they could do that without a demonstration, so when she was really supposed to be filling out forms, her mind was drifting.

That wasn't the most amazing thing though. There was something else she thought of when she was watching out the window, reminded of it when she heard a loud crash from a division member outside. According to Izuru, who had been strangely talkative to them lately, Yukio had been assigned to the Eleventh yesterday.

When Ivy had said Eleventh would prove if he was worth anything or not, she was right. They always wanted to fight, to test out each others' strength. That was what puzzled Nanao. Surely they would want to fight him because no one knew what he could do. From Yumichika to Rangiku to her, she found out that Kenpachi had indeed challenged him, wanting to see if he was weak or not.

It's common knowledge that Captain Zaraki never backs down from a chance at a good fight. Apparently, after a few minutes in Yukio's company, Kenpachi backed out, saying he had more important things to do. She still remembered the open mouthed gape she gave Rangiku when this information was told to her. It was like Shunsui getting rid of his haori or giving up sake altogether.

It simply wasn't done.

His division members were just as surprised as she was. They tried all day to find out why Kenpachi didn't just thrash him and get it over with, but when they asked him, he couldn't remember ever challenging someone so worthless as him. Okay, so maybe it was a viable answer, and sometimes his memory was like Yachiru's sense of direction, but still. The members were so baffled, that none of them bothered to challenge Yukio either, which would've solved their problem.

As it was, no one knew what he could really do yet. This fact bothered Nanao a little, having most of the officer's abilities engraved into her memory for strategy purposes. She had half a mind to challenge him herself, but he would probably refuse and come back with something along the lines of not wanting to hurt her. Strangely, the voice sounded like Shunsui's. She supposed that they were similar in that aspect.

A sharp crack from another chair brought her back to reality. Looking up with a snap, she ran into the apology of the other person in the room.

"My apologies, Lieutenant Ise, if I distracted you."

She looked over to him, sitting at the captain's desk by Shunsui's insistence. It's not like he used it much anyway.

"That's alright. I was just thinking."

She put a form in the completed stack and grabbed another one. Shunsui had stepped out for a minute, saying he had something to take care of. It probably involved sake, so Nanao didn't really want to know. She continued her working process for another ten minutes until Yukio spoke up again.

"Say, Lieutenant Ise, can I ask you a question?"

Stopping what she was doing, she set her pen down and looked over to him, giving her full attention.

"Sure." If this worked out, she had a few questions of her own for him, like about the Eleventh.

"Why are you here?"

Okay, that was an odd question to be asking.

"Pardon me?"

"I mean like here, doing all the work. You practically run the division. I've only been here for a few days, but I can already tell. Does Captain Kyouraku do anything?"

Nanao bristled at the comment. How dare he insult him that way. She had a few choice words in mind for retaliation, none of them kind, but she kept them back. It probably wouldn't do any good to start an argument, especially when it was her job to keep things running smoothly, no matter the situation. Still, he had a point kind of.

"I would suggest that you hold your tongue when you speak lowly of a captain, especially one so revered as Shunsui."

She almost bit her lip when she said it, calling him by such an unprofessional title while around others, even worse when it was a lower (at least for now) soul reaper. He did insult Shunsui on a personal level though, so Nanao felt it her duty to defend him as a human being capable of making mistakes, and if nothing else, her lover. She just hoped that Yukio wouldn't comment on it.

He did things when it was required of him. He didn't need to bother himself with other things, even though it would be helpful sometimes (knowing that he did help out once in a while helped). That's why they kept people like her around, to do the 'other stuff'.

Then again, it was his job to run the division. She was pretty sure it would fall apart without her keeping up with the paperwork.

He sighed, meeting the intense glare she was giving him. "Maybe that's the problem, he's too well-known. He knows the Captain Commander wouldn't punish him for anything he did, so he can get away with practically anything. With all the energy you put into the division, they should just make you the Captain."

She couldn't argue with that really. She did do a lot of work, but all of it was by choice. She wanted to be here. There was no question to it. There was no other place she'd rather be, both professionally and personally.

"If you were Captain, then you would really get things done. Then again, you would need a lieutenant that could keep up with you, something I doubt Captain Kyouraku could handle. Has he ever done a piece of paperwork? I wonder. I don't think they would demote him that far though, so he would have to be transferred for it to work."

What exactly was he implying? He wanted her to be a captain for what reason? She was going to comment, but he continued.

"But I also doubt that he would let anyone keep up with you, if you catch my drift. I could see him killing anyone that so much as looked at you the wrong way, based on his judgment of course. It's almost scary. I think you can do better than someone who exploits you like that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She was positively irate by now. Insulting his work ethic was one thing, easily defendable, but insulting his honor was another. Yukio made it sound like he was just using her. Knowing him for many years even before she started returning his affection, she knew he wasn't anything like that. Furthermore, he made it sound like she was stupid for being with him.

"I just think you deserve better than what you settle for."

"Like who? Someone like you?"

He just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe."

He kept eye contact with her, like none of this bothered him at all. Maybe he thought he was doing justice. The thought made Nanao laugh in her mind. She was still glaring at him, but she was starting to fell kind of funny. Maybe this was upsetting her more than she let herself admit.

"I think you should cease with such ridiculous slander before I fill out the form for harassment. Based on your assumptions, I should know exactly what one it is."

Or not. She was probably fully voicing how much it bothered her, now that she thought about it.

"Is he afraid of a little competition?"

He asked it innocently, but she would argue with anyone who said he was. She was beginning to think that maybe Izuru was right, and that they should all steer clear. Maybe she should have set him on fire. It wouldn't be too bad of an idea now right? Oh, but then she would probably face charges. The courts probably wouldn't be in her favor either, seeing nothing wrong with a little flirting on his behalf.

She stood up and gritted her teeth, straining hard to make her next words extremely audible.

"There is no competition."

The flame that teased her fingertips wanted to bad to ignite, to teach him a lesson that would not be soon to fade away. She kept it in check though, if only for the sake of how much trouble it would cause for bother her and Shunsui. The rest would probably bring up that their relationship got in the way with running the division if she charred and he threatened any man who flirted with her.

She stalked over to the window, not looking at him. Instead, she chose to glare at the cherry blossoms she saw. Were they mocking her? Did every little thing have to get in the way for them? It took so long to make it this far, and she was just getting comfortable with it. She would not let something like this change things.

"I think you're due to be heading out."

He took the hint, getting up. "Indeed I am. The Thirteenth will be expecting me soon. Have a good afternoon, Lieutenant Ise. Good luck."

He took his leave soon after, leaving Nanao to her thoughts.

XoXoXoX

She couldn't take it anymore. How could anyone be so infuriating? How dare he say those things. She sat fuming in the office, only she wasn't sitting, she was pacing enough to wear holes in the floor. This is the reason that people shouldn't think, she thought. She got too riled up by it.

And were was Shunsui? He'd been gone over an hour. He probably got sidetracked from his original mission and decided to take a nap somewhere. It was the middle of the day.

She could really use the soothing effects he had on her right now. Actually, she wouldn't mind anything that took her mind off of this. She felt like she was going to explode, all over some stupid comments by someone who didn't know anything about her. Some papers had already tasted the effects of her wrath, ending up as smoking embers on the floor.

Waiting another five minutes, she suddenly stopped. Okay, this was it. If he wasn't coming into the office, she was going to find him.

XoXoXoX

She spent the next twenty minutes visiting all the napping spots that she knew him to occupy on a regular basis. He wasn't on the roof, under the grove of sakura trees next to their office or any of the others, he wasn't on any of the benches in sight, and no one had seen him since that morning.

She was getting more agitated by the minute, but was relieved when she saw a flash of pink and a familiar energy in one of the skewed alleyways in this area. From the sounds of it, he was talking to someone. She got closer and hid her reiatsu, trying to figure out who and what he was talking about.

She wasn't usually a snoop, but she was slightly intrigued to see what was going on. She got closer, peering around the edge of the building and into the alley.

It was in the next instant that she wished she wouldn't have. On the far side, she found that Shunsui was in the alley with some woman.

And they were kissing.

-End of part five

Yes, this is what I was apologizing for. First I don't stick to my 'one update a day' plan, and then I find a nice big cliff to throw you off of. Sorry...I really am...You don't know how hard it was to write that...

In an effort to make amends, I'm going to start on the next one right away.

(whispers) Please don't send hate mail...

-KG