Well, the night could have been worse. He could have taken her to a strip club and bought her a lap dance from someone she used to run the streets of Rukongai with. That would have definitely been worse than this awful dinner affair. Nanao pushed some of the food around on her plate and tired to stifle a sigh. They'd run out of things to talk about shortly before the appetizers arrived, and that conversation had only been about their third seat messing up a recent supplies request form.
If that wasn't bad enough he'd taken her to an extremely fancy restaurant with extremely fancy food. She'd worn the totally wrong thing for the occasion and known nothing on the menu, which had resulted in her ordering something at random which had been a mistake. Basically she was hoping she could make it to the check and bolt. They could have a talk on Monday and go back to being just friends.
She glanced over at Kyouraku again and saw him staring into his wineglass as if it held some answers. Given that it was his first drink of the evening and he'd been nursing it, it clearly didn't. Why was this so awful? They'd never had problems connecting before. Well, besides when they were fighting. She'd never imagined a date would be this horrible.
She noticed a flurry of activity at the door and watched the ruckus since she had nothing better to do. Surprisingly it was Kuchiki Byakuya and what looked like an escort of his household. She quirked an eyebrow when she notice a pretty young woman in the group who was not Rukia.
"Interesting."
"What?" she asked turning her attention back to Shunsui.
"I didn't realize Kuchiki-san was in the market for a new wife." He took a sip of his wine as he watched the procession. "Usually those rumors make their way around the noble families. Although I suppose the Kyouraku's don't have a woman to offer up so I guess it's not that surprising."
Nanao glanced over and realized that the older couples with them must be representatives of his family and hers and the older woman must be the matchmaker. "He's going on miais?"
Shunsui chuckled. "It's still pretty common with noble families, Nanao-chan."
"Have you gone on them?"
"My mother has tricked me into a couple."
"I imagine that'd be awkward."
He shrugged. "It's often not any worse than any first date." He seemed to think about his words and rushed to correct himself. "Not that first dates are awful."
She laughed outright at that. "This one is though, isn't it?"
He grinned ruefully. "I was hoping that I was misjudging the situation. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm usually delightful company."
She shook her head. "I don't think it's just you."
"We've eaten plenty of wonderful meals together, yet tonight I can't seem to think of a single topic of conversation and you look like you're uncomfortable."
"The restaurant choice didn't help," Nanao admitted gesturing around them. "I didn't think we were going somewhere so fancy."
"I was trying to impress my Nanao-chan."
She poked at whatever it was she'd ordered and snorted. "I'm not exactly the type of girl that attends miais. I figured we'd be going to that sushi place we like or something of the sort."
"I'm sorry, Nanao-chan. I really did want to make it the best date you'd ever had. Have I irrevocably mucked it up?"
"I've had worse dates. One tried to get his hand up my skirt before the entrees came out, which was only after he'd asked some intrusive questions about my sexual history. So you're doing better than that."
He laughed. "That good, huh? Let me get the check." He signaled a waiter and leaned back in his chair. "If you haven't completely written me off yet as completely irredeemable perhaps we could go to the ramen stall across the street? If you're still hungry that is."
She gave him a small smile. "Sure, that sounds nice. Think we can manage to think of something to talk about too?"
"Only if you ask me intrusive questions about my sexual history," he said with a wink as the waiter brought the bill and he put money down. She reached for her purse, but he waved her off. "My choice, my bill."
They got up and they had to pass the Kuchiki table as they headed towards the door. What little conversation there was sounded stilted and Nanao felt a flash of deep pity for the noble considering she'd just been trapped in the same situation not a moment before, but at least hadn't had any family members to witness it.
Honestly she had a pretty good relationship with Kuchiki. They worked well together when they had joint division assignments and she often attended his calligraphy classes when she could. She caught Kuchiki's eye on accident and gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile. He gave her a slight nod and a subtle eyebrow lift at her companion. She returned a one shoulder shrug.
"Nanao-chan?" She glanced over to see that Kyouraku had gotten a bit ahead of her and was looking back at her.
"Coming." She took one last peek at the table and saw Kuchiki had gone back to feigning interest in the conversation around him. Nanao turned away and caught up with Shunsui as he opened the door for her. She even allowed it when he hesitantly put his hand on her lower back.
The ramen stand had been a good idea. It was like all the awkwardness just slipped away. The food was hot and tasty and the conversation flowed easily again. They'd finished their ramen and paid long ago, but neither of them had made a move to leave. Shunsui was in the middle of telling a story about a mission gone wrong in the living world when he and Jyuushiro had been recent graduates when Kuchiki and his entourage exited the fancy restaurant across the street.
Shunsui followed her eyes and grinned. "Ah the fun part."
"Hmmm?"
"Where your parents leave you alone and you're supposed to get to know each other."
"I can't even imagine what they'd have to talk about," she said glancing at the small well-dressed woman standing next to Kuchiki. "Household management?"
"Wanna find out?"
She glanced at him startled by the suggestion. "How would we?" He gave her a knowing look. "Oh. That'd be terribly intrusive."
"It's not like they're in private," he said motioning as the couple started to take a very public walk.
"It'd be very bad of us."
"Well, it was just a thought."
"I mean we could just go for our own walk and if it happened to be in the same direction, what's so wrong about that?"
He laughed. "Careful, Nanao-chan, you'll become as bad as I am. Come on." He tugged her hand pulling her off her seat and down the street before looking both ways to see if the coast was clear and guiding her into a dark alley. "We can ditch our clothes here."
"Smooth."
"Nanao-chan, stop thinking dirty. With a small kido shield no one should bother them."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "I'll go first, turn around." He winked at her but spun around to face the entrance of the alleyway. She started to shed her clothing quickly and took off her shoes shoving the pile hastily into a corner before transforming.
"Ok, your turn."
He spun around and grinned at her. "You're lookout." She padded past him and took up a sentry position as she heard him shuffle around behind her. "Lacey black underwear, Nanao-chan?"
She spun around. "Are you going through my clothes?"
He held up a placating hand. "I didn't touch anything. You left them on top."
She glared and leapt past him grabbing the edge of her dress collar in her teeth and dragging it over to cover the undergarments. "You're a child." She glanced up only to find he'd continued stripping with no mind whether she was looking or not. She darted past him to the front of the alleyway and pretended she hadn't noticed how good he looked shirtless.
"Ready!" a sickly sweet feminine voice said as he popped up at her side. She laughed and he gave her a quick nip on the shoulder in reprimand before bounding off. She followed and before she knew it they were on the rooftops keeping pace with Kuchiki and the little noble woman.
"I don't think I'd like living in the Seireitei very much. It's so full of soldiers all the time," the girl said demurely.
Kyouraku shot Nanao a look and she smothered a laugh.
"Yes, it is a military city."
"I mean that can't be good for raising children. Especially when so many of them are off the streets of the Rukongai."
Nanao shook her head. Did the girl not know Kuchiki had been raised here? Or that his last wife and sister were off the streets of the Rukongai?
"Did you spend most of your childhood at the Kuchiki country estate?"
"No," he said stoically. "My family mainly resided here in the Seireitei."
An awkward strained silence followed after that and Nanao winced internally in sympathy for Kuchiki.
"Well, I suppose it wouldn't be that bad as long as you have a large estate and don't have to be out on the streets that much," the girl mused finally. "And the Kuchiki name guarantees you a Taicho position so I wouldn't think you often have to sully yourself with the Rukongai riffraff."
Kuchiki's shoulders tensed and Nanao wasn't sure what had pissed him off more; the insinuation that he didn't actually deserve his position or the fact that the girl had just once again insulted people that were close to Kuchiki. Other than that his face remained perfectly neutral.
"Can't you just command your Fukutaicho to run most of the division?" the girl continued. "Then you could spend far more time in the country with other people of your caliber. Our family estates are very near the Kyouraku estates. I hear the son they sent off to the Seireitei rarely comes home though. But then again I also hear he's a drunkard and an uncontrollable lout so perhaps he fits in better here."
Nanao felt her own hackles rise at that and had to suppress a low growl. What the hell did this bitch know about her Taicho? Kyouraku brushed up against her and even in his cat form she could tell he was smiling. She realized her hackles were literally standing up, puffed up tail and all, and if she'd been human she would have blushed at having betrayed her emotions like that. She sniffed and turned away from him trying to pull herself back under control.
"Kyouraku-san is a Taicho here," Kuchiki said neutrally.
"Is he absolutely horrible?"
"He and I have very different styles of command."
Kyouraku snorted at her side. Nanao decided this outing had turned out to be more uncomfortable than funny. She nudged Kyouraku's side and raced off across the rooftops. He followed her without further prompting.
"It's official, his date was worse than ours."
"I thought ours had taken a turn for the better?" Shunsui squeaked.
She rumbled a laugh. His voice as a cat was just so ridiculous. "It has, but that was depressing me and pissing me off in equal measures."
"You could go back and defend my honor," he suggested. "Scratch her eyes out."
"That prissy little noble isn't worth my time," Nanao said sharply. "Kuchiki Taicho better not agree to marry her. I'll have the SWA perform an intervention."
Shunsui laughed at that. "Well, what do you want to do now then?"
"Who cares? We've got the entire Seireitei at our disposal." She raced off over the rooftop, shimmied up a drainpipe, and leapt to the next roof over. She just enjoyed having the agility of her cat form.
"Come on, I'll show you something fun." Shunsui took off gaining the lead and she followed. A short time later she found they were wandering into the first. "Watch," he whispered. She climbed up a fence behind him and tried to figure out where they were. Nanao flattened her ears to her head as he started caterwauling. She shot him a curious look, but he just winked at her and kept yowling.
Her eyes widened as the Soutaicho came out on the back porch of what must be his personal residence cursing. A rock whizzed past her and Shunsui darted out of the way.
"Damn cat! Why do you insist on tormenting me?"
Shunsui kept up his screeching and a shot of kido blasted past causing Nanao to dance off to the side.
"Another one! At least your friend is quiet!" the Soutaicho raged throwing another kido at Shunsui's dancing form. "Prowl somewhere else, damnit!"
Nanao huffed and realized she was about to laugh outright. Shunsui caught her eyes and gracefully jumped over another kido to make it back to her side. They ran off again and when they were out of earshot she started laughing. "How many times have you done that?"
"On and off over the years," he said happily. "It's just too fun to rile him up."
"I suppose I should be pleased you only spied on me instead of screeching outside my window."
He tackled her playfully and they went skittering over a rooftop as she kicked him with her hind legs. After a brief struggle, he finally pinned her down and bit her ear teasingly. "Come on." Then he bounced off her and took off again. She laughed and chased him.
They darted around the Seireitei in a makeshift game of tag until she was breathing hard and losing ground on him. She finally sat down on a rooftop to catch her breath and figure out where they were. Glancing around she found they were close to the 8th.
"Why'd you stop?" Shunsui's sweet voice sang as he bounced back over the rooftops he'd traversed before noticing she was no longer following.
"I think I'm reaching my end," she admitted reluctantly. Their game of chase had used up quite a bit of her energy and she could feel the strain of maintaining her cat form.
"I should have thought of that. We're probably too far off to get back to our clothes. Can you make it home?"
"My keys are in my purse. I didn't leave a set out since I didn't plan on changing tonight."
"My place it is then."
She glared at him, but didn't argue. The stupid man always left his home unlocked. Given there weren't that many people that were stupid enough to disturb a Taicho's home, although she knew for a fact he'd had some problems with over interested women showing up at his residence over the years.
They jumped down into his backyard and without a word of warning he transformed back into his human form. If Nanao had been human she'd have been blushing something awful at the sight of her Taicho's naked backside. Not that it was a bad backside. She looked down at her paws until she heard the door slide open and him slip inside. She followed after him once she heard him open another door and pass into the next room.
"Here," he said coming out of his room dressed in his uniform and dropping a bundle of clothes on her head. She fought to get out from under the swaths of fabric and sent him her most disgruntled cat glare. "It's all I've got as far as ladies clothes." He gave her an easy grin and exited the room to give her some privacy.
She transformed and found she was holding his pink haori, which she'd assumed but couldn't confirm with her cat vision. Nanao rolled her eyes, but figured it was better than nothing as she slipped it on and tied the sash he'd given her with the haori.
"You look good in that," he said smiling as she entered his living room.
"Where are you going?" He was slipping on sandals at the door.
"I'm going to go get our things. It should only take a few moments. Rest." With that he was out the door and she settled down on his couch tucking her bare feet underneath her.
It didn't take him long, but she found she was falling asleep on his couch all the same by the time he returned. He grinned at her as she blinked off sleep. "Can you make it home?"
"Of course," she groused getting to her feet. Her legs gave out from underneath her and he flash stepped to catch her before she tumbled to the floor.
"Easy there, Nanao-chan," he said bracing her. "I'm sorry. I should have known better. You're still new to this."
"I'm fine," she mumbled into his chest, but she didn't really think she could stand on her own. Stupid energy draining cat form. He lifted her into his arms and she was about to argue before her own yawn cut her off.
"Bedtime." He started moving towards his room and she grumbled.
"I thought you didn't expect me to sleep with you."
He laughed and it vibrated through her pleasantly. "You can have the bed Nanao-chan. I'll take the couch."
She narrowed her eyes up at him, but didn't argue when he tugged the blankets down and put her on the bed. "I would have been fine on the couch."
"Just go to sleep, Nanao-chan." He pulled the blankets up over her. "I've slept in worse places than my couch."
She snuggled down but caught his sleeve as he turned to leave. He looked back at her with a lifted eyebrow. "It was a good date."
Shunsui broke into a grin. "Yeah?"
She tugged his sleeve again a little higher up so he crouched down over her. Propping herself up with an elbow, she gave him a quick chaste kiss on the lips. "Yeah."
"Will Nanao-chan go on a second date with me?"
"Sure," she sighed happily letting her eyes slide shut and falling back into the bed. "Next time we should spy on Matsumoto-san. I could use some dirt on her to shut her up in SWA meetings." She drifted off to the sound of his laughter.
In the morning she'd wake up to a warm purring ball of fluff sleeping away on her belly. She'd feign anger and he'd make it up to her with breakfast.
A/N: Sorry it took so long. I wasn't happy with the first draft of this chapter so had to rewrite. Hopefully it is sufficiently fluffy now (couldn't resist a puffed up Nanao-cat). Reviews make my days happy! Also slight poll if you are so inclined, do you prefer updates as I write (which means another story will go up sooner but it'll take longer between chapters) or for me to get a good chunk of the way through so I have consistent weekly updates but more time between fics? Debating my next story because I think it's going to be a long one and I'm just not quite done with this couple :)