"So? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"About what?" Shunsui asked lazily. "You're the one who called this meeting."

"Are you courting Ise Fukutaicho?"

"No."

The old man's fist hit the desk with enough force to make everything on it jump. Shunsui had sat through enough Yama-jii rants not to be startled. "Don't lie."

"I'm not lying, Yama-jii."

"I saw you. Why else would you have been taking her family to dinner?"

"They were in town," he shrugged. "Seemed like a nice thing to do for my subordinate."

"Shunsui, it's unacceptable."

"Why? You took my family out to dinner last night and I'm your subordinate. Does that mean you're courting me?"

The old man's face turned that particular shade of puce that only Shunsui seemed to be able to coax out. Though he hadn't succeeded in getting the old man this fired up in a while. "You will end this relationship immediately."

"Are you telling me to fire her then?"

"Playing dumb doesn't suit you. You will break romantic ties with Ise Fukutaicho immediately."

"I'm not dating Nanao-chan, and if I was what right would you have to tell me to end it? It isn't against regulation and it hasn't affected our work."

"But it's going to, and I won't abide it."

"It won't, mainly because we're not dating. But even if we were Nanao-chan is too professional to get love struck and let her work suffer. As for me how would you even be able to tell the difference?"

"I don't mean now. I mean when you inevitably break that girl's heart. I don't have anyone else who can manage you Shunsui. I need the 8th in working order. There has to be another woman you can take to your bed who will do and who is not your Fukutaicho. Even dogs are smart enough not to shit where they sleep."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that girl is much more useful as a Fukutaicho than as your bed warmer. If she needs companionship I'm sure there are plenty of worthy attractive men in the Seireitei who will do the job. And if you need companionship there are women everywhere."

"How come she gets worthy men and I get whatever woman is lying about?"

"Because the women don't mean anything to you, whereas I assume based on knowing Ise Fukutaicho even remotely that she is looking for something more substantial."

"That's not fair," Shunsui argued feeling miffed at the analysis. "Nanao-chan means something to me."

"And if she were a man I'm sure you'd have a lifelong friendship like you and Jyuushiro. Unfortunately, she's a woman and you don't know how to keep it in your pants. End the relationship now, before you irrevocably screw it up. Women like Ise Nanao are not for you."

Ok, now he was starting to get offended for real, but he tamped down on that feeling for fear his annoyance would lend credence to Yama-jii's belief that they were dating. "And Nanao-chan has no say in this?"

"You're a master manipulator, the responsibility is yours."

"You think I manipulated her into a relationship with me?"

"Of course you didn't mean to, but when you see something you want you're completely unable to control your urges. With her you need to. Go to the living world for a while and blow off some steam if you have to. Enough women and you'll forget Ise-san."

"Nanao-chan is not a forgettable woman." As soon as the words left his mouth he realized he wasn't helping his case. "I also would never take advantage of her."

"Look, Shunsui," the old man started with a sigh. "I understand you might believe you're in love with her. I've watched your friendship grow over the years and I know you care for her. The problem is you're fundamentally incompatible. You're frivolous with your feelings except for those closest to you and she's so very serious. She needs a serious man who will be in it with her long term. You aren't that man."

"I can be serious when I want to be. You of all people know that."

"I've never seen it applied to a woman. Are you telling me that it is serious? Do you plan to marry her?"

The instinctual panic in him kicked in hard. "Whoa, no one said anything about marriage."

"Then end it. She's a pretty woman, but there are other's who are her superior and you can have them just as easily without risking your division."

He didn't know why he was so offended, but he was, mainly on Nanao's behalf. So she wasn't the obvious eye catcher, but she was beautiful. She wasn't a flashy trendy beauty, she was classic grace. Was it her fault if the male populace was blinded by huge boobs? "We aren't dating," he stated flatly. "But if we were, there would be nothing you could do about it. The only one who would be able to stop a relationship between us is Nanao saying no. I took her family to dinner as a nice deed. That's it."

The old man growled low in his throat. "That better be the truth Shunsui. She's not for you."

"Because she could do so much better than me. I get it."

"Shunsui, you're a good man, but you don't have any ambitions of being a good husband. If you care for her at all you'll make sure it never becomes more."

"Are we done here?"

"Keep the relationship platonic. If you need time away, just request it."

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Shunsui stood and gave him a stiff bow before leaving. He sure as hell would be a better choice than Hachiro. Everyone was always going on about what a shit boyfriend he'd make, but honestly how would they know? He'd never dated anyone seriously enough to label himself that. People needed to keep their assumptions to themselves.

He regretted getting up early just to be berated. Not that he got up on purpose, he would have slept straight through the meeting if he hadn't had a wiggly Nanao-chan in his arms this morning and her annoying family waiting outside the door. He scanned for Nanao and found her in the office having yet another minor panic attack. She really did have to stop worrying so much. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Not now. Not ever.

"So?"

Nanao jumped in her seat scattering the paperwork she'd been trying to focus on with little success. "So what?"

"Come on, don't hold back on me now, Nanao-chan. Give me a story if I have to sit on such juicy gossip. How was dinner?"

"It was fine."

"Nanao," her friend whined.

"What? Are you hoping I'd say Kyouraku Taicho took me home and ravished me?"

"I was hoping the dress might inspire it, yes."

"Well it didn't."

"Nanao-chan that dress was killer. What did you do wrong?"

"I did nothing wrong," Nanao spat offended. "We're not actually seeing one another."

"I'm going to ask Shunsui-kun." The woman glanced around the office. "Where is he?"

"He had an early morning meeting with the Soutaicho."

"Oooh, sounds important."

"It's not." At least she hoped it wasn't. He'd been casual about going, but that didn't actually mean anything with Shunsui. Despite all her anxiety from not being at the meeting and not knowing what was going on, she had to admit she was relieved she didn't have to take care of this particular task. Talking to the Soutaicho about her love life, or lack there of, was high on her list of things she never wanted to do.

"He really didn't like the dress?"

"He liked it quite a bit," Nanao admitted blushing. "But we aren't like that."

"Pity, I thought you'd both enjoy yourselves. That man has always enjoyed a good bit of exposed leg and you've got nice ones. I thought the slit would be enough to seal the deal."

"There is no deal to seal. Besides despite your delusions, we'd be a terrible match."

"That's not true. He'd lighten you up and you'd make him more serious. Exactly what you both need."

"Leave it be."

"Fine, but you know where I stand on the matter. How was the food?"

"Fine, not something I'd pay that price for, but good enough I suppose. I'd have enjoyed a ramen bar just as much. More, in fact, if my family hadn't been there. Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Eh, Taicho doesn't expect me in until at the earliest 11."

"Poor Hitsugaya Taicho."

Rangiku waved the sentiment away and got a gleam in her eye that was always bad news for Nanao. "Where are you sleeping Nanao-chan?"

"What's that mean?"

"I know for a fact that Shunsui-kun only has two guest rooms. If your family is staying in both, where are you sleeping?"

"We're not having sex."

"But you're staying in his bed!"

"It's just a bed," Nanao shrugged. She could feel a headache coming on. She couldn't wait for this week to be over and her family to be gone. "Don't pretend you haven't slept right next to your Taicho on away missions too."

"Yeah, but that was on the cold hard ground surrounded by troops in our uniforms. Not his warm bed in sexy lingerie with four walls blocking everyone else out."

"If you think I'm wearing sexy lingerie to bed with my Taicho you don't know me at all. There's been nothing inappropriate. Well, no more inappropriate than any time you sleep with Kyouraku Taicho near you."

Rangiku laughed at that. As a drinking partner she too had suffered Kyouraku's cuddling tendencies when they'd both fallen asleep after benders. "Fine, be boring. How are you surviving your mother?"

"She's a trial, but at least she's not trying to marry me off to someone terrible. Mainly now it's just berating me for not tying Kyouraku Taicho down or getting pregnant. As long as Kyouraku Taicho is in the room though she's tolerable since she's too busy sucking up to him to be focused on me. I'll never admit it to him, but I think he got the bad end of this deal."

"I don't know, that dress was pretty great and you're a good snuggle buddy." Nanao had also had her personal space invaded by Matsumoto on more than one occasion during SWA sleepover events that the president occasionally called. Nanao threw a pen at the woman.

"You should go to work and give poor Hitsugaya Taicho a break."

Matsumoto made a displeased noise and shook her head. "He'd have a heart attack. So what's the story on your silent sister? Is she mute?"

Nanao snorted. "She might as well be. My mother has trained her well. At this point I don't know if Katsumi really has no opinion on anything or just refuses to speak it. She was a toddler when I went off to the academy. I barely know her."

"No wonder she married such a dull guy. I only walked with them for twenty minutes and I couldn't stand him."

Nanao was careful not to react. The last thing she wanted was Matsumoto to sniff out an even bigger story. Shunsui knowing about it was bad enough. "Hachiro-san isn't so bad when you get to know him."

"Sure, he is. I'm an excellent judge of character, Nanao-chan, and he's a total loser if I've ever seen one. Boring and snobby. I bet he and your sister only have silent missionary sex and she never actually gets off. He looks like he'd be a quick shot."

"Rangiku!"

"What? I call them like I see them. You can tell he has a low opinion of female shinigami too. I'd think you of all people would find that offensive."

"What are you talking about? He's never said anything of the sort to me."

"He must be scared of that Nanao-chan glare."

"What exactly did he say to you?"

"He may have implied that my career choices were limited to choosing between being a shinigami and a whore, but in much more flowery and subtle language. Unfortunately I'm not as stupid as he thought I was. Well, no matter, what can you expect from a stuck up jerk like that? He clearly thinks he's something special even if no one else agrees. Your poor sister. We should have an intervention."

Nanao was genuinely shocked by what Rangiku was saying. Not that she didn't believe her, Rangiku wouldn't make something like that up and never spoke badly about people who didn't generally deserve it, but why would Hachiro say it? And why did all her friends who met him seem to detest him? Perhaps planning to marry a guy who hadn't had to pass any tests of people she actually liked hadn't been her brightest idea ever. He'd just been so sweet to her and was so much better than anyone else she'd met who her mother would approve of. It would have made life so simple.

"Gotei 13 to Nanao!" Rangiku said waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, what?"

"Where'd you go?"

"Sorry, this whole week is throwing me off. What were you saying?"

"You could tell the truth? Tell your mom to suck it and declare your right to sleep with a multitude of men free of commitment?"

Nanao smiled. "I like commitment."

"Fine, you could still tell your mother to suck it."

"She'd probably poison me in my sleep."

"Shunsui-kun would never let it happen. Although then you might have to sleep with him forever, which isn't necessarily a bad thing."

A knock sounded at the door and Nanao had the fleeting hope it was Shunsui although she knew he never knocked. Scanning for his reiatsu she picked him up at the 1st. She wished he would hurry up.

"Come in." Nanao was surprised, and for the first time a little nervous, when Shunsui's mother walked into the office. "Kyouraku-san, welcome. Kyouraku Taicho is at the 1st. I can make some tea if you'd like wait."

"Ise-san," the woman greeted cordially. "I hope I'm not intruding."

"Oh no, don't mind me. I was just about to leave!" Matsumoto gave the woman a bow and shot out the door. Coward, Nanao thought meanly.

"Not at all, Kyouraku-san. Would you like some tea?"

"No thank you, dear. Do you think Shunsui will be back soon?"

Nanao scanned for him again and was relieved to find him headed their way. "Seems like he's returning now."

"Wonderful, I'd like to talk to you both."

Uh oh. That can't be good. She debated asking about what, even though she had a very good guess what it was about, but Shunsui was faster and the door flew open dramatically.

"Oh, Nanao-chan it was awful." She'd have panicked all over again, but if he was being this theatrical it meant everything was fine. "Yama-jii thinks I'm taking advantage of you!" Nanao closed her eyes in exasperation when she saw a few of their subordinate's faces swivel around and peer in the doorway.

"Don't you all have work to do?" she barked. They scurried off just as quickly. "Kyouraku Taicho, your mother is here and please shut the door before making ridiculous announcements."

"Mom!" Kyouraku cooed happily leaving the door gaping over and trotting over to his mother to sweep her up in a hug. Nanao sighed and rounded her desk so she could throw the door shut in his wake. "To what do I owe the pleasure of having the company of my two favorite women at the same time?"

"Perhaps I think you're taking advantage of Ise-san too?"

"Mooooom. Not you too. I told Shou it was her idea."

"And we all believed you, sweetie," his mother comforted, but just as quickly turned to Nanao, "Ise-san is this true?"

"I'm so sorry," Nanao said dropping into a deep bow. "It is. I never meant to use the Kyouraku name, well I did, but not for any horrible purpose and it wasn't supposed to get so out of hand."

A gentle hand on her shoulder had Nanao standing back up. "Ise-san it's fine. I just wanted to make sure my son wasn't playing some stupid game."

"Hey! You said you believed me."

She waved his comment away. "How long has this been going on?"

Nanao bit her lip and looked at the floor ashamed. This definitely rated in the top five for embarrassing life moments. "About four years. Although we've only been supposedly living together for two of them."

"You're living together? How are you pulling that off with them in town?"

Nanao berated herself internally. How many times had her Taicho told her not to give up more information than was required to answer a question?

"They're staying in my guest rooms," Shunsui said finally taking pity on her. "And Nanao is staying with me."

"Well, this won't do."

"Mom, it's fine. They're only here for a week and its not as if Nanao's family runs in the same circles as you all. And just in case you're in doubt, I have been a perfect gentleman."

"I'm not worried about that. What you and Ise-san get up to in your own time is none of my business unless you're going to make it official. Unfortunately Ise-san's family does think it is somewhat official. They must think we're terribly rude not meeting them when they're in town if they believe the two of you have been serious for four years."

"No, not at all," Nanao said vehemently. The last thing she wanted was to pull Shunsui's whole family into this mess, and they shouldn't feel guilty about her silly lie. "They don't think that."

"How could they not?"

Nanao blushed. "My mother believes it's a normal response to Kyouraku Taicho dating a woman of my status. She doesn't think you'd want him dating me so she's never even wondered why you have never met. She's rather hoping Kyouraku Taicho will ignore his family's wishes and marry me all the same."

"She must hate us!"

"Really, she doesn't. If she were you she would hate me being with her son so she understands."

"That's awful. She might tell you that, but as a mother I can guarantee you she's offended on your behalf. And why would we hate you? Shunsui's a lush, we'd be pleased if someone as sensible as you decided to settle down with him. The two of you complement each other nicely." His mother shrugged. "Well then, this is easy enough to fix."

"Fix?"

"Of course. We'll have them to dinner tonight, say around eight?"

"Kyouraku-san that is really very unnecessary. I swear its fine."

"Nonsense. You and Shunsui are free to play whatever games you like, but when it leaves a mark on the family's name it's an issue. We certainly can't have your family going around believing we'd be so rude as all that. After all if you really want to stand by old traditions it's our son who's taken your value as a bride." Nanao was certain she'd just turned a brilliant red. "We can at least offer them dinner if they're never actually going to get a wedding."

"Mom, Nanao-chan is right. You don't need to do this."

"It's already decided. Now does your family have any dietary restrictions?" Nanao shook her head numbly as she contemplated all the ways this could go wrong.

"Is Dad going to be ok with this?"

"Your father finds the whole thing hilarious. He'll be more than happy to play along. You know he's always up for a game. So will it be six of you altogether?"

"Mom, I don't think they brought clothes for a formal dinner," Shunsui said in a last ditch effort to get them out of it.

"We'll keep it casual then. Six, yes?" Nanao nodded feeling a cold doom settle around her. What just happened? "Excellent, we'll see you at eight and you're all welcome to stay the night if you need."

"No, I'm sure that won't be required," Nanao inserted quickly.

"Ah, yes, well you probably prefer to be in your own bed." His mother seemed to think about it for a second and then corrected herself. "Or rather my son's bed."

"Can you fault her for it?" Shunsui asked with a laugh. "I made sure to purchase the best bed possible and am very warm and cuddly."

"Shunsui," Nanao hissed.

His mother simply smiled. "I'll see you both tonight. And Ise-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Welcome to the family," she said with a wink. His mother gave her a quick hug before kissing Shunsui on the cheek and sweeping out of the office.

"Well my mother will be thrilled," Nanao groused sinking back into her chair.

"At least she'll be too busy sucking up to my family to be nasty."

Nanao groaned and dropped her head onto the desk. "Your family is going to hate me after this. They're going to forbid you from speaking to me and make you fire me."

He laughed. "My family is more tolerant than anyone thinks. I trained them well. It'll be fine. Dull, but fine. Besides they could never hate you."

"How am I ever going to repay you and your family?"

"Want me to make a list? I have some creative ideas for ways you can repay me," he said leaning across the desk and making a kissy face at her. She pushed him away.

"You're ridiculous. You'd be lost if I ever responded favorably to your flirting. Is your family really going to be ok with this?"

"Yes, it'll be fine."

"What happened with the Soutaicho?"

"He ordered me to stop courting you this instant."

"What? Why?"

"He's afraid when I mess it up you'll want to transfer and he'll have to find someone else to put up with me."

"Neither of us are that immature. Even if we were having relations it wouldn't affect our work."

"Love and breakups make you do uncharacteristic things, Nanao-chan. Like for example lying about dating your handsome Taicho."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, the point is yours. So what did you tell him?"

"The truth, that we aren't together, and I took your family out to dinner as a kindness while they were in town."

"And he believed you?"

"He didn't have any more actual proof so there was nothing more he could say."

"I'm so sorry."

"Stop saying that. I agreed to play. You don't need to keep apologizing."

"But it keeps getting crazier and more out of control."

"That's what lies do sweetheart."

"Makes sense now why I've avoided telling them in the past."

"Come on, you haven't had at least a little bit of fun?"

"It'd be more fun if my family wasn't involved. I turn into a ball of stress when they're around."

"Tell you what, you can keep staying with me for a few nights after they leave."

"Shut up, that's not what I meant," she laughed.

"It's nice to spend so much time together though," he said more seriously. "Usually Nanao-chan tries to get out of spending time with me after hours."

"I'll never be a barfly. But it has been nice. I enjoyed your Sunday night ritual with Ukitake Taicho."

"You should come more often."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude. It's your and Ukitake Taicho's thing."

"We have no 'things' that can't be made better with beautiful Nanao-chan's company."

She reached out and gave his hand a squeeze, which obviously surprised him. He wasn't used to her being the one to initiate physical contact. "You're sweet." She got up and drifted away from him. "Well I suppose I should go find my family on their tour of the 1st's teahouses and tell them."

"Isn't it a little early?"

"No, if I don't warn them and give them time to prepare I'll never hear the end of it. They'll want to cut their tour short." She sighed. "Can you mind the office for a half hour or so? I promise I'll be quick."

"Don't rush on my behalf."

She quirked a smile at that. "Just stay here for the half hour and you can spend the rest of the day napping and harassing Ukitake Taicho."

"Nanao-chan is too good to me."

"A half hour sir, here, or I hunt you down and drag you back."

"Scouts honor."

Nanao sighed. The probability was not high he'd be here when she returned. She'd allow it just this once. Now to find her family. She locked in on the very faint reiatsu her father emitted, being the only other member of her family that had any reiatsu at all. It was so faint most people wouldn't even pick up on it, but Nanao had grown up knowing the comforting feel of it whenever she'd been home or on break from academy. Time to set the next disaster in motion.

A/N: It's a bit shorter this time, but I always love interactions between Shunsui and his mom no matter how I'm writing them. I imagine it takes a pretty interesting woman to raise a boy like that (even if he was off at the academy often). My head cannon is that he's a total mommy's boy. Hope you all enjoyed!