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Nanao awoke slowly. She'd had another dream last night. When was this going to stop? The dreams were so real they made her body ache. She longed to feel his hands on her body, to hold him close and feel his body pressed to hers. She could even smell h-

Wait! That scent was real! She sat up and looked around the room. Sunlight streaming in the window lit the strange room. This wasn't a dream and this wasn't her room! Her eyes came to rest on the naked figure lying next to her in the bed.

"Oh god, what have I done?" she whispered. Her heart felt like it was being crushed by an invisible hand. She looked down at her own nude body, only partially covered by the sheet lying crumpled in her lap. She quickly lifted the sheet to cover her bare chest. When she pulled the sheet a little more, trying to cover more of herself, the portion of the sheet covering him pulled toward her, displaying more of his body.

His eyes opened and with a slightly confused look on his face, Shunsui reached for her arm and pulled her back to lie next to him. Her body stiffened; just touching his bare skin sent an electric tingle thru her body. The sheets even smelled of him. She was in his room, in his bed, not wearing any clothes and she was thinking about how good the sheets smelled. She suddenly felt horribly embarrassed. He rolled onto his side and propped his head up on one hand, studying her face. He draped his arm over her stomach, gently tracing the scar on her stomach through the sheet.

"Is something wrong Nanao-chan?" His asked quietly, concerned at the strange look on her face.

She could only reply with a small squeak. He was lying so close! His arm at her waist felt so comfortable, so right. But it was so wrong!

"So you decided to stay the night this time." Just the touch of his hand softly stroking her stomach sent another shiver thru her body.

"This time?" She whispered softly.

"Of course, the night before you didn't stay."

"I… I…" She stuttered. Was she going crazy? She didn't remember any of this! Sure, she'd had dreams about him, being with him…

His deep voice continued, unaware that her heart had dropped into her stomach. "The night before last, I woke up to find you sleeping curled up behind me and holding me tightly around the waist. The next thing I knew, you were kissing me. Ah, what soft lips my Nanao-chan has! When I awoke in the morning, you were gone. But last night – ah, last night was wonderful!" His hand slid up her body, coming to rest on her cheek, turning her face towards his. "And the first thing I got to see today was my Nanao-chan's face."

Her mind was reeling, trying to understand what had happened. Before she could say anything, his soft lips cut off her reply. Her eyes fluttered closed, trying to stop herself from enjoying this. His tongue slipped between her lips to lightly caress the inside of her mouth and she couldn't help but moan softly.

When she pulled away, the look on her face confused him. Had she not enjoyed the kiss?

"Oh god." She said softly, her hand flying to her mouth. She traced her lips, trying to forget how pleasurable that kiss was. "It was real. I thought I'd just been having strange dreams." Her mind finally caught up.

"You don't remember?" His eyes finally registered the dazed look on her face.

Still trying to understand the situation, Nanao leapt out of his bed and raced from the room, barely taking the time to retrieve and don her kimono.

Shocked, Shunsui could only stay and watch her leave.

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What should I do, oh god, what should I do? Only wearing a light yukata, Nanao ran to Matsumoto's room. Without bothering to knock, she slid the door open and rushed in. Not surprisingly, Matsumoto was still asleep.

"Please forgive me, Ran-chan – I've done something horrible." Nanao fell to her knees on Rangiku's blankets and shook the huddled form. If everything she'd dreamed of had become true, how could something that felt so very good be so wrong at the same time? And it had felt oh-so-good.

"Quit it, I'm tryin' to sleep! Oh shit, that hurt." The form groaned. Rangiku sat up with hands shielding her eyes from the light.

"Ran-chan, I screwed up. Oh, God, what have I done? Please forgive me!"

"Shh, a little quieter, please." Matsumoto thought her head was going to explode. And it was bright. Way too bright. She reached for the water glass she kept by her bed. With her eyes still closed, her hand groped around for it nearly knocking the cup over. She drank half of the water before opening her eyes and realizing Nanao was on her bed crying. Wait, Nanao was crying? The girl was draped across the bed, with her head bent forward and her loose hair obscuring her face. Her body was shaking with each sob. All Matsumoto could hear was Nanao saying she was sorry.

"Nanao, what's wrong!" Matsumoto couldn't help but be frightened – if something had happened that caused Nanao to cry, it must be extremely serious.

Nanao had stopped trying to speak but continued to sob.

"Nanao, tell me what happened." She pulled Nanao into a hug, resting the girl's head on her chest and stroking her hair. "Come on, take deep breaths, calm down and tell me what's going on."

Nanao was now crying too hard to speak complete sentences. "I'm sorry… I'm really, really sorry… I… I woke up… and Shunsui… look at him… never face him… oh, god please forgive me!" Nanao choked out between sobs.

"Ok, so don't try to talk yet, just take deeper breaths and relax, I'm sure we can fix anything that's gone wrong. And of course I'll forgive you!" But what was she trying to apologize for? Rangiku continued to stroke Nanao's hair, rocking her back and forth gently. Damn, her hair had gotten long. She always wore it up and Rangiku realized that it had been a number of years since she'd seen her with her hair down. And even stranger, Nanao was only wearing a light sleeping yukata. Something bad really must have happened for her to be dressed like this.

Nanao's sobs slowed and she started to tell Rangiku what had happened. "I'm so sorry. I woke up in Shunsui's bed."

Matsumoto inhaled sharply. Whoa, that would do it. But why the hell was she apologizing to her?

"We'd…" Nanao stopped and sighed. "I've been having strange dreams, dreams about him. And they got pretty… intense."

Holy crap, so it wasn't about that guy in the 5th? It was Shunsui the whole time. She'd really screwed that one up.

Nanao continued, "At first they were just about him and memories of him. And then my imagination started bringing in new things. Soon we were kissing and… and then it went further. Then last night I dreamed about sex. But this time, when I woke up, I was in his bed! And we were both naked. What can I do, Ran-chan? I'm so sorry." Nanao looked up at her.

Rangiku sat for a moment, digesting what Nanao had told her. Why had Nanao had come running to her? Did Nanao think she'd ever done something like this? Well, she kinda had, but Nanao didn't know that. And what was she apologizing for?

"So why are you crying? Don't you love him?"

Neither spoke. Eventually Nanao nodded her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Then what's the problem? And what are you apologizing for?"

"But you and he…"

"We… what?"

"You're together, right?"

"What!" Matsumoto could only gasp in surprise. Then a smile crossed her face.

"But, I saw you two…"

"Oh, honey, Shunsui's only a drinking buddy."

"Oh." Nanao paused. Her brain was stumbling, trying to understand what this meant. She hadn't come between them, but there were still problems. "Still, he doesn't love me, and we work together. Now how can I work with him now?"

Matsumoto sighed again. "Nanao, he's been telling you for years that he loves you."

"But he's not serious. It's just to irritate me."

"You're wrong. Listen, earlier this week, Shunsui was worried about you because you had been acting so strangely. One night he asked me to find out why you were avoiding him and not chasing him around with paperwork. I didn't want to just come out and ask because I didn't want to intrude on your love life. So I… I kind of followed you."

"What! You followed me?" Nanao pulled her head up and looked at Rangiku in surprise.

"Well, just for a little while. Actually it was that morning when you were flirting with that guy from the 5th."

"Flirting? But he just asked if he could help me with that pile of papers I was taking to the 1st."

"Sure looked like flirting to me. Between that, going to look at the sakura alone, avoiding Shunsui, spacing off during meetings and generally looking and acting like you aren't all there, I figured you must be in love. So I told Shunsui you were in love with that guy from the 5th."

"You told him what?"

"Calm down and let me finish; that's not the important part. When I told Shunsui he immediately left the bar with a bottle of sake. But the look on his face was so painful, like… well, it was like someone had stolen the most precious thing he owned and he hasn't been the same since. The next night he had a conversation with the guy from the 5th and then he left with another bottle of sake. He hasn't been to the bar since then. Honey, he loves you enough to let you be with whomever you want to be with. He was willing step back and let you be with the guy if it made you happy." She hesitated, "Or he was pouting. But either way, he really does love you."

Nanao sat in silence for a few moments, still curled up in Matsumoto's arms. "And now, by running away I've hurt him." She whispered.

"Probably. I think you need to go talk with him."

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Nanao returned to her room, letting Matsumoto go back to sleep. Dressed in a yukata with her hair loose, she set off to find Shunsui. Not even bothering to check the office, she checked his room, his favorite bar and the roof of their division. She checked with Ukitake and finally found him at the same place he had found her the previous week; her favorite sakura viewing place.

He was awake, reclined to watch the clouds float across the sky, his hat resting on his chest and several empty bottles of sake at his side. She carefully made her way towards him and lay down by his side, close but not touching. Neither said anything as they watched the clouds.

"You really should have a barrier up sir." She broke the silence.

He said nothing.

"I'm sorry I left this morning." She paused.

Again there was no response. She closed her eyes turned her head away, knowing she couldn't explain if she knew he was watching her.

"I've been having these dreams for awhile now…" She started again. "And I've been so distracted because they're all I've been able to think about. They… they were about you." She sighed. "About you and me. At first they were about the daily routine things. And then we were kissing. And then… they went further. So when this morning I woke up in your bed, I was scared. You said that I'd come to your room, but I don't remember it. I just thought they were very realistic dreams, only pure fantasy and that there was no way they could come true." She stopped again. This had to be the hardest thing she'd ever done, but she needed to say this.

"When I went to the bar a few nights ago, I saw you with your head buried in Matsumoto's chest and I… I was so jealous." She hesitated. "I realized that while there were any number of women you could choose, you'd chosen Matsumoto. So this morning when I left you I ran to her, trying to apologize. She said you were just a friend and told me about how strange you've been acting this past week. She also seems to think… to think you love me." Her voice faltered with her last words.

"Of course I do, Nanao-chan. Never doubt that." He said quietly

"I- I thought all the joking and teasing was just to ruffle me."

"Maybe at one time it was, but not anymore."

Both were silent for a moment. He turned onto his side and propped his head up with an elbow so he could look at her face. Her cheeks were stained a pink-red color of embarrassment. She turned to look into his eyes, and was saddened to realize she was the one who caused all the hurt and pain they reflected. The stab of pain in her chest was probably nothing compared to what he'd felt when she'd left.

"Do you regret last night?" He asked. His hand reached out to stroke her cheek. She closed her eyes and turned her head to kiss his rough palm.

"No." she whispered. A tear slipped down one of her cheeks and he brushed it aside with the back of his hand.

He leaned over and kissed her gently, wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her to him. She returned the kiss whole-heartedly, enjoying the feeling of being held tightly. One arm wrapped around his neck while the other stroked his cheek. When the kiss was broken, she lowered her head to rest on his chest.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered.

"Its okay, Nanao-chan." He held her close and stroked her hair. It was a few minutes until he spoke again. "That first night you brought scarves."

"I brought what?" She pulled back and looked at his face to see if he was joking.

"Scarves. You tied me up and had your evil way with me."

"I did not."

"Yes you did."

"Impossible."

"Well, you could have."

She sighed. "Hmmm… I have to say, having you tied up sounds strangely appealing …"

"Oh? Sounds like fun."

"Yes, I'm thinking of you tied to your desk."

"What a naughty girl, thinking of office sex." His eyes lit up, intrigued by the possibilities.

"I meant tying you to the desk to keep you from escaping your paperwork."

"Oh…"

"There have to be some ground rules." She said.

"Like what?"

"No messing around in the office."

"Of course not."

"No public displays of affection."

"Certainly not."

"No telling anyone about this."

"Are you ashamed Nanao-chan?"

"No, but ethically, as captain and vice-captain we shouldn't be dating."

"Matsumoto has probably told everyone by now."

"She probably hasn't even gotten out of bed yet. I'll threaten her; there are some very interesting photos from the academy."

"Will you show me those photos?"

Nanao ignored the request. "We'll keep separate rooms."

"You've got too many books. Where would you put me?"

"And knock off all the Nanao-chan stuff."

"You would take away the best part of my day."

Nanao sighed.

"Very well, I'll tone it down a bit." He conceded. "If I stop completely, people will get suspicious."

"Fine. No paperwork, no sex."

"Oh, now that's not fair, Nanao-chan."

"Every good boy deserves a reward, right?"

"Mmmm. My turn. You wear your hair down."

"Only when I'm not in the office."

"Quit beating me with that book."

"I'll only do it when you deserve it."

"Nothing's going to change then, is it?"

"Nope."

"No seeing that guy from the fifth,"

"He was just helping me take the paperwork to the first division. And to hear Matsumoto tell it, after you talked with him, he's probably hiding from me."

"And we can come lay like this for an hour each afternoon."

"Only an hour?"

He lifted her face to his. "Whatever you want, Nanao-chan."

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too much fluff? please review and let me know if and how i should change it or if it even made sense.
thanks for reading!