Nanao felt like shit. Just utter shit. Whatever spell Daiki had hit her with had packed a nasty punch. She groaned as she rolled over and tried to assess the damage. Her head hurt, her wrist hurt, she still felt exhausted, and her hand was pulsing in pain. It was bearable though, and Nanao tried to collect her thoughts as she sat up. She found herself in a large futon and quickly glanced around the sparse room. Daiki was nowhere to be seen and she was grateful for small favors. Nanao crawled out of the bed and tried to decide what to do next. Daiki obviously outclassed them both in power and skill. Then again that wasn't very surprising considering he'd allegedly been a formidable worrier in his time and had had nothing to do for years but practice and refine his skill. That meant they were going to have to run. Nanao sent her reiatsu seeking for Shunsui, but could only find it tangled up in another unique kido binding.
The door opened and Daiki walked in carrying a tray of tea. There was no doubt he wasn't related to Shunsui. Where all the Kyourakus she had ever known had possessed dark hair and eyes this man was blonde and blue eyed. He was also significantly shorter than all of the Kyouraku men she had ever met, though she considered that that could have just been due to time and people getting taller through the ages.
"You countered that last kido a bit then, before you lost consciousness," Daiki commented looking surprised. "You should have been out for at least a day or two. Impressive."
"Kido has always been my strength," Nanao said with a glare.
"I could teach you more," he offered putting the tray down on a small desk.
"I know enough," she spat stubbornly.
"Then counter this," he said and flicked his hand casually at her.
Spears of light flew at her and her mind scanned them furiously as they came. She quickly recognized that any shield she could throw up would be shattered. Instead she combined two spells to form a flexible barrier that stretched like a rubber band as the shafts of light impacted and absorbed their speed and strength before flinging them off uselessly into other directions where they fizzed out.
"Interesting," he said watching her. "What you lack in skill you seem to be able to make up for in quick thinking. It will be fascinating to watch you progress."
"You won't get the chance," Nanao said coldly. "I will never bend to your wishes despite what you do to me."
Daiki chuckled and started setting out the tea. "Do you love him? That man? That imposter?" She was stubbornly quiet and continued to glare at him. "You do," he continued. "And what you do not seem to understand is that it is not your life and well being I am threatening. It is his. So, woman, how will you bend to stop me from harming him?" He tightened his fist and Nanao felt Shunsui's reiatsu flare around the restraining kido in the other room as it hurt him.
"Stop," she said quickly. Daiki loosened the binding again and Nanao realized she'd just proven his point wonderfully.
"That is what I thought," Daiki replied. "Tea?"
"No, thank you," Nanao growled bitterly.
"As you wish," Daiki said calmly. "You may go down that hall and you will find a bath two doors down on the left."
"No, thank you," Nanao repeated stiffly.
"That was not an offer," Daiki said simply, "that was an order. I will not look at you any longer while you look like a dirty peasant in men's clothing. It is offensive. Go."
Nanao fought everything in her telling her to punch him in the face and instead marched down the hallway slamming as many doors as she could. At least he hadn't demanded to come along. She stripped and washed quickly returning from the baths only to find her clothes removed and a deep red yukuta left in their place. It was obviously one of Daiki's but she didn't have much of a choice if she didn't want to walk out there naked. Sighing, she slipped the cloth on and tied the oversized yukuta up as best she could after rolling up the sleeves. Her hair hung wetly down her back and she steeled her shoulders into the most rigid posture she could hold before marching back out into the house at large.
"Better," Daiki commented from a side hallway, nearly scaring the life out of her.
"Let me see him," she demanded coldly.
"As you wish," Daiki said gliding down the hall in front of her and showing no concern at all that he'd turned his back on an enemy. Nanao started an attack spell in her mind and was interrupted when Daiki said, "Woman, if it will not kill me, consider what I will do to him after I have survived."
Nanao quashed the kido and wondered if there was something hard enough in the house to bash his head in with. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said skirting around him when he opened the door. Shunsui lay on the floor bound where Daiki had dropped him. She could see burn marks on his exposed skin where she'd heated up the last kido and she winced in sympathy. Striding forward as confidently as she could, she pulled the much larger man into a more comfortable sitting position. A scrape on his head was bleeding and she lifted her hand to heal it wondering if Daiki would try to stop her.
"You look lovely in red, Nanao-chan," Shunsui joked, but none of his usual lightness reached his eyes. "Though I think you bought it a few sizes too big."
"Hush, idiot," she chastised halfheartedly working the kido through the cut. She moved her hands to the burn marks and tried to ignore the man watching them.
"Enough," Daiki said and Nanao sighed backing off. "Come here," he said and Nanao simply shot a glare at him over her shoulder. "Now," Daiki ordered flicking his gaze towards Shunsui. Nanao got to her feet stiffly and moved to his side.
"Absolutely not," Shunsui said putting the pieces together quickly enough. "Nanao-chan, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Don't you dare do anything stupid on my behalf."
Daiki laughed and said, "Take a seiza, please." Nanao frowned but did as she was told folding her legs neatly underneath her and folding her hands in her lap. "Excellent," Daiki said softly. "Without the men's pants you look almost like a proper lady. Did you know my wife had your coloring? Only her eyes where a dark brown."
Nanao stiffened as he touched her chin to lift her face to him and she could practically feel Shunsui radiating anger on the other side of the room. "What do you want from me?" Nanao asked and was pleased that there was no wavering in her tone.
Daiki smiled easily. "I have been alone for a very long time," he said calmly. "Is it that difficult to figure out? It would not have to be unpleasant."
"Why would you want to?" Nanao asked desperately searching for anything that might turn him from her. "When Kyouraku-san has already had me."
The slap knocked her out of the seiza and she scrambled to her feet. "That man is no Kyouraku," Daiki growled advancing on her.
"If the Kyourakus take unwilling women then I suppose you're right," Nanao said sharply. "He certainly isn't one of you."
Nanao felt kido restraints lock around her and she struggled against them as her body was held in place. "This does not have to be this way," Daiki said advancing on her. "I can be kind."
Shunsui was yelling something, but all of her focus was locked on Daiki as he tugged her sash and let the yukuta fall off her shoulders and pool at her feet. Nanao struggled against the binding harder in desperation and couldn't stop the tears that started burning the back of her eyes as Daiki's hand came up to stroke her neck. She felt a burning sensation as kido coursed through the spot he touched and she blurrily realized he was healing the yokai fang wound at her throat. Given this time it wasn't pure torture like what he'd done to her hand.
"It does not have to be a struggle," Daiki said calmly, brushing her hair over her other shoulder and pressing his lips to her newly healed flesh. "There is no where to go. Why make this place anymore of a hell than it already is? We could please each other."
"Not like this," Nanao said and hated the rasp in her voice. "Not with you threatening me into it."
"You would do so willing if I were not?" Daiki asked surprised.
"Give us our swords," Nanao said trying desperately to form a plan. "Make it a fair fight. Us against you. If we win you let us go. We'll find a way out of here. Come if you like, we don't care."
"And if I win," Daiki said stroking a hand down her side to her bare hip.
"If you win, Shunsui dies and my life is yours freely given," Nanao said clenching her jaw and trying to ignore his touch. She didn't add that if they lost she fully planned on ending her life. Let him have the few seconds of it that would survive the duel.
"Done," Daiki said with a laugh. "There will always be another pretender to kill slowly. Rest, and in the morning he dies." Daiki released the binding around her and strode out of the room. Nanao let herself crumple, pulling the yukuta back up around her shoulders and tying it in the front. It took her a good few minutes to control her shaking and realize Shunsui was calling to her and desperately trying to inch across the floor to her even with the binding still on him.
Nanao stood up unsteadily and crossed the room to him, helping him again into a more comfortable position before curling into his lap and wrapping her arms around him. She could hear his heart thumping a frantic pattern and she squeezed herself to him tighter trying to calm them both down.
"Nanao-chan, are you ok?" he asked quietly.
"I'll be fine," she said closing her eyes against his chest.
"What I wouldn't give to have my arms free and be able to hold you right now," Shunsui mourned trying to bring his legs up closer to his chest and thus hold her tighter against him.
Nanao let out a bark of laughter. "I just committed you to a fight to the death and you're worried about not being able to hug me?"
"The hug seemed more important currently," he answered warmly.
"You truly are an idiot," she said wiping at her eyes and lifting her head to meet his gaze. "Do you want me to try and get these bindings off of you?"
"Will it be simple?" he asked.
She scanned it quickly. "No, but I could try."
"Seems like a waste if he's just going to let us go tomorrow. So what's the real plan?" Shunsui asked curiously.
"I don't have one," Nanao admitted ruefully. "Think we have any chance of beating him together?"
"Possibly," Shunsui said with a sigh. "He's like nothing I've ever come up against."
"Our best bet is to keep me out in front of you," Nanao said as she started in on the healing kido on his burns. She'd always used work to distract her from problems in the past and it wasn't any different now.
"Definitely not," Shunsui said frowning.
"Don't be stupid," Nanao said simply. "Daiki obviously wants me alive. It'll make it harder for him to hit you if I act as a shield."
"No," Shunsui said with finality.
"We aren't arguing this," Nanao said glaring up at him. "I can take a few hits. I am not, after all a kid as you put it."
Shunsui winced. "I was hoping you were asleep when I said that. You know I didn't mean it that way."
"Sometimes I wonder," Nanao said diverting her eyes to his injuries.
"Nanao, I don't see you as a child," he said sincerely.
"You sure treat me like one when you want to," she answered frostily.
"I was trying to keep him away from you," he argued.
"Regardless, this is the best plan and you know it," she said redirecting the argument.
"We can't take the risk that he'll change his mind about wanting you alive," Shunsui said shaking his head.
"Shun," she said softly meeting his eyes and letting more tenderness show than she normally would. "Do you really think I intend to remain alive if we lose?" Horror sank into his features and he opened his mouth to argue. "No," she said putting her hand over his lips. "This is my decision. I'm not going to be strong and keep looking for a way out or some other bullshit. I promised myself after my father I'd never let that happen to me. It's an honorable way to go. Besides maybe we'll manage to get reincarnated near each other."
Shunsui looked at her sadly but showed no further signs of arguing and she let her hand drop away from his mouth. "We will," he said. "If it comes to that, we'll get reincarnated together."
Nanao snorted. "I don't think you get to make those decisions."
"If we don't, I'll spend my whole life searching for you. It's not such a very big world after all," he said.
"You won't even remember me in your new life," she said with a true laugh. "You'll go around and be a playboy like always and be something silly like a painter or a musician. There is no way our paths will cross."
"Even the silliest painter or musician needs managers," he said with a grin. "We'll find each other Nanao-chan. Count on it."
Nanao rolled her eyes. "Well, at least this time we'll be the same age so you can't pull that older and wiser than you crap."
"Yes," Shunsui said warmly. "We'll grow old together and pass away together and go back to Soul Society and do it all over again."
Nanao kissed his forehead and moved out of his lap to rest at his side. "Sleep. We have a big day tomorrow." She closed her eyes and tried to relax.
"Nanao-chan?" Shunsui asked quietly after some time had passed.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry," he said softly.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Nanao answered confidently. "I always knew I'd follow you in death just as much as I have in life. I'm not sorry and you shouldn't be either."
There was silence for a few moments. "What'll you do when we're reincarnated and you don't have kido to fight me off with in the living world?" he asked and she could hear the grin in his voice.
"I'll find a bigger book, sir," she said smiling herself. "Plus I hear they have some very stringent anti-sexual harassment laws in the living world." He chuckled and she curled up closer to him. With that they both drifted off into fitful sleep.
A/N: I know it's short, but at least its an update!