Author: Uchiha Yumi

Title: Notes

Genre: General, Romance

Summary: "She couldn't love her Taichou. And she couldn't do it for the simplest reason in the world – she liked someone else" Nanao-centric story, crack pairing, romance

Rating: K+

Parings: None really – sort of Renji x Nanao.

Main Characters: Ise Nanano, Abarai Renji, others just vaguely mentioned

Special thanks: A special thank to Lilya-chan and FunnyNeko, for reading and correcting all of my nasty stuff.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

Notes:English is not my native tongue. Please tell me about my mistakes!

This crazy idea that popped in my mind after cosplaying as Nanao and having a cute picture with a boy cosplaying as Renji… oooh, Gawd. XD People said it looked good and I joked saying "Beware, I could use it as a pairing"…and then…oh, well. I did it.

Probably not my best work, but I still like it. Well, read and review, please.

Dedicated to: AUNTIE-CHAAAAAN! And all of my faithful fans, of course.

NOTES

There was a reason why Ise Nanao couldn't fall in love with her Taichou.

Despite what the large part of the Gotei 13 could think it wasn't because of his chronic laziness, or his addiction for alcohol or his extremely "cheesy" attitude – well, to a certain extent, they did influence her opinion of the man, in the beginning, but now, centuries later, she had become used to that.

She was so patient: working for such a person was a really hard and unlucky task – or so her friends said. Honestly, she didn't mind filling in for Kyouraku-taichou anymore – if she could do all the work for one, she could perfectly do it for two as well, couldn't she? But, if she didn't love her Captain, it wasn't because she just cared about work, either.

Then again, extra-work gave her time to think – about many things. Tidying up the archives, signing piles of paperwork, attending the meetings – her assignments flowed so mechanically and flawlessly she could almost space off.

Almost – if only she wasn't so dutiful. Work came before everything.

Every little event concerning the Eight Division was written down on her big books – the topics of the reunions, the needs of her division, the progress of the rookies: everything was punctually reported to her and, consequently, on her personal registers.

It wasn't like they were secret and untouchable items, though – just nobody had ever wanted to take a look, apart from her .

That's why she was so fond of them.

When she had just become Fukutaichou, she had started keeping this sort of "diaries" to make sure she wouldn't forget anything important and would always be prepared to report to her Taichou.

Over the centuries, however, when her experience had consolidated and she had fully gained the trust of Captain Kyouraku, she had still found herself unable to part from those big, heavy books. Maybe it was just a habit – or maybe the notes scribbled on those sheets were starting to get more and more personal.

Some comments dropped here and there in between the list of supplies needed for the missions, some little drawing sketched on the corners of a meeting-report – just a handful of insignificant things. Insignificant things that talked about her.

At first she thought it would have been wise and useful to progressively number and conserve her big "diaries" – just in case, so that she would know where to look. But, when she had decided to clean up a little and throw away old, unneeded stuff, some sort of nostalgia had prevented her.

So, she had started reading every single note, from the very first of the first register to the last, incomplete one of the current diary – and she had understood.

She couldn't love her Taichou. And she couldn't do it for the simplest reason in the world – she liked someone else.

From what she could understand from her own detailed messages, everything must have started a few years before, when the "Female shinigami association" had decided to have a spring party in the Kuchiki garden. When the problem of asking Kuchiki-taichou for permission had risen, everyone else had backed away and, of course, the difficult task had fallen on her. Fair enough, she didn't mind.

Her notes said that day the nobleman was absent due to an important family reunion – and that's were the odd things started.

Abarai-fukutaichou kindly advised to come back tomorrow.

It was just a little adverb, but she knew herself quite well. She immediately understood what it meant. Going farther and farther through the pages, those little hints – that would go unnoticed to most – slowly but steadily multiplied. Sometimes it was the particular care she used in writing the kanji of his name, the first of which being the same of "love" – Rangiku would have surely called it "So romantic". Other times it was the fact she had started to refer to him by just his first name in her private notes – she had first thought it was just a matter of handiness – "Renji" was shorter than "Abarai-fukutaichou" and, because they both were Vice-Captains, she felt she wasn't being inconvenient.

Renji helped me pick up my paperwork when he bumped into me in the hall to the Captain's office. I appreciate his gesture – his eyes were sincerely smiling.

Book after book, her comments became more and more personal and private – embarrassing, she would have called it, probably exaggerating.

I was glad to be able to personally retrieve from the Sixth Division, the documents about the defence reinforcements.

Were they still just official reports? Were they her personal diaries? At first Nanao had blushed at the thought of having been so loose and unconsidered for so many years without even noticing.

What if someone found out? Impossible – why would someone want to read those things? They were her prerogative – so much her big books had become her distinctive symbol.

The meeting about the new rules of the Gotei 13 was particularly unfitting and useless as most of the main topics had already been pointed out in the previous one. Luckily Renji kept me entertained by talking about his own division.

Would she just keep those feelings in what had become more and more like her personal diary? Would she ever talk with him about it? It was highly unlikely. Renji – Abarai-fukutaichou – either wouldn't understand, or wouldn't believe her.

While, during the vice-captains reunion, Kurotsuchi-san was asking everyone if we had issues we wanted to discuss, Kira-fukutaichou said he was concerned with his Division's buildings status. Renji winked at me and replied it would have been better to talk about girls and how glasses can wonderfully fit them – everybody laughed. Momo whispered to me, wondering why I was blushing.

And then she didn't want to wound her Taichou – maybe he wouldn't even be affected, because she was sure he just wanted her to be happy and protected. But she knew she wouldn't be at ease with herself. It was something that had to keep for herself. For herself and her diary.

Yamamoto-taichou's birthday. The formal, annual party was conducted as usual, included the ritual dance. But, since this year Kyouraku-taichou and Ukitake-taichou were busy conferring with the supreme Taichou, Renji gently offered to take my Captain's place as my own partner.

"I can't dance with Kuchiki-taichou, can I?" Renji said, smiling. I thought it would be impolite to refuse another Fukutaichou's offer. We danced for a few minutes, chatting a little.

I distractedly thought it would have been perfect to call him my boyfriend. I immediately dusted it off– it would have been unbecoming to appear distracted while he was being so kind to me. At the end of the music, he bowed and kisses my hand – the girls squealed and clapped their hands behind me.

But she could still dream, couldn't she?

OWARI