Author's Note:
A) I don't own Bleach.
B) This is just a silly little drabble, ShunsuiXNanao, plus appearances from what I think are some of the funniest characters in Bleach: Zaraki and Yachiru.

Nanao had been surprised at first that she didn't have to slow down so the pink blur beside her could keep up. In the decades that they had been leaders together, however, she had learned better.

Yachiru ate enough candy in an hour to keep an entire division moving at breakneck speed for a week.

"But Nana-chan!" the little girl argued, scurrying along beside Nanao's purposeful strides. "I can get Bya-kun's pictures for the yearbook! Remember what a good job I did last time, huh?!"

"I don't doubt it, Kusajishi-san," Nanao replied, trying to be diplomatic. Trying, actually, not to press a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "It's just that I'd like someone else to assist you with it."

"I can do it myself!" Yachiru tried to look back at Nanao, but turning her little frame while walking made her rolling zanpakuto twist, and Yachiru tumbled into what looked like a pile of cotton candy.

Nanao audibly sighed this time. What is it about that color that makes people act ridiculous? She bent to offer Yachiru a hand.

"I can do it myself!" Yachiru repeated, bouncing up quickly. "I don't want to work with Fish-Paste-chan!"

Nanao grimaced at the disrespectful nickname. Isane couldn't help dreaming about fish paste any more than Nanao could help dreaming about Kyo... well, it wasn't the girl's fault.

"Nemu?" Nanao suggested hopefully. She knew that Yachiru liked spending time scheming with Nemu, and what was more, Nemu actually seemed to like spending time with the hyperactive little girl. Perhaps it took that kind of exuberance to draw the quiet researcher out of her shell.

"Clown-chan says she's grounded this week," the girl pouted, "She smiled at the 'speriments."

Nanao had to suppress a chuckle at Yachiru's comment. She allowed herself to frown at the cause of the 12th Division lieutenant's unavailability, however. It was sad how repressed her "father" kept her.

"What about Soifon-Taicho?"

"Ninja-Lady's mean," Yachiru replied nonchalantly. "Ken-chan can help, though."

"Well, it's just that Ken-ch... Kenpachi-Taicho might not be the best one to help out with this project." Nanao kicked herself mentally for almost slipping up and using Yachiru's nickname for her captain. The girl's cutesy speech-style was obnoxiously contagious.

"What's wrong with Ken-chan helping?" Yachiru looked up at Nanao, stopping first this time so as not to trip. Her eyes were wide with confusion, and Nanao thought she looked light she might cry if she said the wrong thing. She knew better, though. Yachiru didn't cry when she thought someone had insulted her Ken-chan... she did much, much worse. Nanao still had a little scar on her ankle from when Yachiru bit her the first, and last, time she had made that mistake.

"Well, Kusaj..."

"Chiru-chan!" Yachiru interrupted.

Good grief, thought Nanao, she's even nicknaming herself now.

"Well, Chiru-chan, it's just that it might be hard to get a good picture since Kenpachi's hair is so tall. The bells might get in the way, ne?"

"I like Ken-chan's bells!" Yachiru giggled, shaking her head as if to ring invisible bells in her own hair.

"We all like his bells," Nanao bluffed, "but we also like getting to see Kuchiki-Taicho's face in his pictures too."

Yachiru looked thoughtful for a moment. Nanao found the expression disturbing.

"Mmmkay... how 'bout we practice, Nana-chan?!"

"Pardon?"

"Your hair is kind of spiky in the back like Ken-chan's!" Yachiru enthused, clambering onto Nanao's shoulder. "I can put some bells on it and practice taking pictures so then I can go with Ken-chan and know how to get it right!"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Ku... Chiru-chan."

"Okay. I won't practice then!" Yachiru started to climb down.

"Wait, Yachiru," Nanao said. She sighed in resignation.

~*~*~*~

A few hours later, Nanao was making a distinct jingling sound as she wandered around Seireitei, the sound of a camera shutter adding to the clamor around her head. There was so much unusual noise that Nanao didn't notice the additional jingling noises coming up behind her.

"...The hell?!" boomed a menacing baritone. The ground seemed to shake as Nanao turned to see Zaraki bending over her, glaring at her interestingly-adorned hair. She let out a surprised squeak.

Oh dear gods, please let him not think I'm mocking him.

"Ken-chan!" Yachiru shouted in Nanao's ear. The noise was accompanied by a camera flash. If Zaraki's uncontrolled reiatsu hadn't made her dizzy, the sights and sounds were sure doing a good job of it. Or maybe it was the fact that it was late afternoon and she hadn't had a chance to eat anything that day yet.

Maybe it's the weird pink weight on one side of me, she mused, starting to topple over.

Kenpachi suddenly found himself with an armful of fukutaicho, Ise-fukutaicho caught in the crook of his arm, and his own lieutenant scrambling up the same arm to his shoulder like a squirrel from tree to tree. The stern vice-captain of the Eighth didn't seem the girlish fainting type, but then again, she didn't seem the type to wear bells in her hair either. He knew it probably wasn't a good idea to leave her lying in the courtyard where he had found them, but he wasn't sure what to do.

"Look, Ken-chan, it's Nana-chan's nap time!" Yachiru cheered from her new perch. "I bet it's Shun-Shun's nap time too. Maybe she's 'sposed to have nap-time with Shun-Shun! If we take her back, I can practice getting pictures of Shun-Shun and Nana-chan!"

"Practice?" Zaraki nearly growled. Yachiru was unfazed. He wasn't angry, it was just the way he talked.

"Yep! Nana-chan put the bells on so I could practice taking pictures like it was you, Ken-chan! Isn't that a great idea?!"

"Whatever."

~*~*~*~

Shunsui shifted groggily. He had been having a nice enough dream about his pretty little lieutenant when the sound of bells reached his mind. The terrifying prospect of dreaming about the bell-wearing captain of Eleventh was enough to bring him mostly out of a sleeping state, though not much else could.

He was pretty sure he was awake now, but he felt a strange pressure on his chest. The kind of slight pressure he might have experienced in the presence of uncontained reiatsu. What if he hadn't been dreaming about Zaraki?

His eyes flew open. Unsure of what they were seeing, he shut them tight and opened them again. Nanao's face was in front of his own, which was strange because he was laying on the sofa in their division's office. And because her face was framed by little bells attached to her upswept hair.

Shit, he thought, this has got to be the weirdest... most wonderful... frightening... dream... nightmare... Okay, Shunsui, no more sake in the afternoon.

The vision of Nanao groaned and moved a hand to its head, and the reality of the situation struck Kyouraku. Knowing his lieutenant would freak out at the sight of their current position, her stretched across his reclined frame, he tried to sit up. This had the unfortunate effect of waking Nanao entirely, and she shrieked.

"Taicho!" She sprang off the sofa, and her captain, and nearly tripped over a low table. Shunsui caught her arm as she wavered.

"Easy there, Nanao-chan."

His voice held the same deep, lazy tone and tempo as always, but after centuries of hearing it, Nanao knew it was laced with concern and confusion. For good reason - she had no idea what was going on, either.

"Taicho, I'm sorry, I don't know how..."

"Hey, easy," he repeated. Nanao looked down to see his hand still wrapped gently but firmly around her wrist. She pulled her hand free, blushing furiously, and ran a hand through her hair to calm herself down.

She felt little bits of metal.

"Kuso," she muttered under her breath, yanking the bells out of her hair.

"Yare, Nanao-chan, language!" Kyouraku chuckled. It was a rare pleasure to hear his vice-captain flustered enough to let down her guard and curse.

"Sir, I just woke up in the arms of my captain, dressed like the Eleventh's captain, with no idea how I got there. I think my language was entirely appropriate!"

She blushed again, eyes wide, the first half of her statement dawning on her.

"I didn't know my Nanao-chan was into that kind of thing," Shunsui remarked suggestively.

The comment earned him a frustrated scream and a face full of tiny metal bells.

~*~*~*~

Shunsui's next chance to hear his fukutaicho curse was three weeks later, when the annual Seireitei yearbook came out, and the cover featured the events of that afternoon... although with more bells.