I Don't Own Bleach.

A House of Artifacts

ShunNao

In the week following Nanao-chan's deployment to the real world on 'personal business' Shunsui had been excessively bored.

As not to say there wasn't paperwork that need be done, or task to occupy the lull in beautiful scenery, but Shunsui found that being bored was better than being suffocated by a mound of paperwork. Nanao-chan, of course, would be displeased to come back to the office in a couple of days. Shunsui knew this, much like he knew the sun rose and set and sake would run out if he did not replenish the compromised hiding locations (as of now there were so many reams of paper stacked upon each other in the office that simply opening the door was a bit problematic).

Shunsui sunk lower into the tree trunk he was resting on.

Being that it was autumn, the leaves above him were red and every so often one would fall. Shunsui happened to know that the months between late autumn and early winter were Nanao's preferred time of the year. He's asked her about it once and had been given no response, thought Rangiku, who'd been with them at the time, alluded to the idea that perhaps it was because she liked the crispness of the world at that time. Nanao's face, if he remembered correctly, had gone very, very red, when Rangiku preceded to explain why it was Nanao also especially enjoyed spring, and Nanao had, in an attempt to change the subject, explained why she didn't like summer and early autumn. All in all, the conversation had been both adorable and informative.

Deciding that a leisurely walk would alleviate the boredom, Shunsui stood from his spot. He was in the wooded area behind his division, a place he didn't commonly go to, not that it wasn't beautiful, especially in autumn and spring, but because more often than not he was either at Juu's division, somewhere on the compound of his own, or frequenting the bars. He didn't want to make it too hard for Nanao to find him if she needed him, though given enough time he doubted there was anywhere she couldn't hunt him down from.

He made a slow pace wandering between trees and fallen logs for awhile, admiring the going-ons. The forest smelt strongly of cedar wood, something which always lingered on his Nanao-chan's skin when he was close enough to get a small whiff of it. These periods were few and far between, but the uncommon fragrance had become an association with his lovely fukutaichou because it was something that seemed to be a soul attribute of her. Grinning with the thought of an idea, Shunsui sped up his pace a bit, as people tend to do when they have thought of a place they need to be.

It was, of course, common knowledge that the eighth division's fukutaichou quarters were in this forest, as the grounds in which the forest lay was technically still owned by the eighth division. Shunsui had only been to her house a handful of times since Nanao had inherited it, and on none of those occasions had he been allowed in. He remembered the general layout from the time in which Lisa had inhabited it, it was a cozy thing, windows made up most of the walls on the ground floor, which made for a very bright, open atmosphere. His Nanao-chan had a habit of shutting the curtains when she was not home, and putting a privacy barrier around it when she was. He was under strong suspicion this his beautiful fukutaichou was hiding something, but never had any great opportunity to investigate. Now though, she was out of town, and curiosity led his feet to the secluded house, built in the small place where just enough trees were just far enough away from one another to fit the thing. As expected, the curtains were drawn closed. As Shunsui approached it he couldn't help but to think it was a bit unfair. After all, Nanao-chan had been to his house several hundreds of times, either with work, or to bring him home, on rare occasions she would come there for comfort and Shunsui would give it willingly. These were times that Nanao refused to talk about, and Shunsui, though not happily, agreed to let them fade into a back memory. They were vulnerable times, coming up on anniversaries of lost loved ones or before impending wars, and because his Nanao-chan had always a particularly stubborn individual (and stubborn was really the best word for it) she refused to acknowledge that she bled just like everyone else. His beautiful, guarded Nanao-chan.

He swooped under a tree branch with ease out-of-place with his large frame and whistled pleasantly as he tried to peak through the tightly shut curtains.

"My Nanao-chan is so clever~" He hummed as a small shock of electricity reached his palm when he made to touch the window. Kido no doubt. He chuckled good naturally, it was a familiar tingle and sometimes accompanied the bonks on his head when she hit him with her book. He sighed, and was about to go back to the office roof to dream further about his fukutaichou when a little gap in the dark curtains caught his eye. A light shown through it, and had it not been approaching evening Shunsui doubted if he'd see it.

"Nanao-chan forgot to blow out all the candles before she left?" He wondered allowed, peering through the small crack. Sure enough, a small flame in the far corner of her house could be seen. He thought, briefly, about getting Rangiku, who he knew had found several ways to sneak into Nanao-chan's house uninjured, but decided against it. He could slip through the kido just as easily, blow out the candle so it didn't catch anything on fire, and be innocently oblivious when his fukutaichou arrived home the following evening.

And he did just that, circling to the front door and slipping past the (remarkably high-leveled and surprisingly painful kido) mostly uninjured. When he opened the door his senses were immediately assaulted by everything Nanao. The smell, the style, the whole of the house. It was as cozy inside as it had been outside. Furnished in colors of black, white and red; small accents of pink. Bookshelves everywhere, small objects which Shunsui thought fit, despite how oddly out of place they all were. The shelves held pictures here and there, but the walls were plain and everything was organized as his Nanao-chan always seemed to be. The window seat had not gone unnoticed and Shunsui knew for certain it hadn't been there when Lisa lived in the same house, he walked to it, saw the small blanket and pillow, a book dogeared on a page, rested on the seat as well. He could imagine, vividly, his beautiful Nanao sitting there in the evening, her work clothes disregarded, reading silently, and thought that it seemed a very lonely picture so what if he added himself to it? The resulting fantasy was much more his taste and he stood for several moments imagining, instead, her hair loose, sitting between his legs, her head resting on his chest, reading as he pointed out the beautiful, but less captivating trees in the picture window beside them.

Shunsui smiled sincerely as he went to go toward the source of the reason he was here at all, after all, his Nanao-chan would be unhappy if she knew he'd been snooping, and though he hadn't intended to, being surrounded by so many things that were just like her made his mind foggy with un-acquired wants.

The source, as it turned out, of the light which prompted his intuition to begin with was a small flame. It hovered singularly in a brass cage situated on the middle bookshelf under the stairs. It was enticing, much like his Nanao-chan and an interesting little artifact, it seemed almost a shame to blow it out, but catching her house on fire seemed a bigger shame, so smiling sadly, he sucked in a bit of air and then released it into the cage. For a moment or so the room got very dark, and then to Shunsui's surprise, the flame lit back up. His eyebrows crinkled briefly in confusion before something very familiar resonated within him.

Shunsui was not a young man, he was ruggedly attractive and had the eyes of wisdom very few other people possessed; and both were the result of years upon years upon years of life.

In one of those years Shunsui had encountered this particular flame before. Or, more precisely, had once been exposed to its source. Of that he knew. The flame had been created while he was in the academy by a women with very little spiritual pressure in one of the lower districts, it had been a complete anomaly and when an instructor had gone to collect it, the flame had vanished. This was strange because reports indicated that the flame had been burning for years. Regardless, the cage which held the flame had been put on exhibit for students in the kido department as encouragement for students to try harder. Shunsui remembered this flame because there was a freshman boy coming in in his final year who had ignited the flame.

Yes, Shunsui knew exactly what this was.

"Nanao-chan has been keeping such wonderful secrets from me."

It was then, staring at the tiny flame, that Shunsui missed the door sliding open.

Well, this is a long and boring chapter. ^^; Next chapter will have interactions (finally) I'm not sure if I want to end it next chapter or continue on, I could potentially make this story a good 10 chapters long, but I'm curious if people would even follow it for that long? Let me know, hope you enjoyed, I'll try to get the next chapter up before next Saturday. :3