Title: Twelve Fifteen in the Afternoon

Author: FactVsFiction

Pairing: Shunsui/Nanao

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I don't own bleach!

Shunsui Kyoraku woke and stretched languidly. Well. He tried to anyway. He stopped mid stretch at a mumbled complaint in the vicinity of his chest.

He relaxed his body as carefully as possible. It wouldn't do to wake his bed partner up just yet. His Nanao-chan was exhausted and besides. It wasn't every day he got the chance to hold her regardless of his valiant attempts and he had every intention of taking full advantage. Apparently carefully wasn't quite careful enough because she grumbled at the movement anyway shifting until she was comfortable again before sleeping silently once more.

Shunsui had to fight back a chuckle. Only his Nanao-chan could give out to him in her sleep. Now that was true talent.

He raised a large hand to brush through her hair, the silky strands slipping through his fingers like water as he mused on her. Being the man he was Shunsui had always viewed his second as something that should be protected, something fragile. Apparently his Nanao-chan was not in agreement however and refused to be protected, dependent, babied, wooed or any combination of the above. It was one of the many things he adored about her.

Nanao refused to be seen as anything but capable. She was reserved, intelligent and dignified but had a certain spunk that allowed her to keep him in line and ensured that everybody in Seireitei knew exactly who ruled the roost in the eighth division offices. He wouldn't lie either. Though she kept it under wraps his Nanao-chan was exceptionally powerful when she wanted to be. Shunsui didn't mind her dominance around the office at all to tell the truth. To be honest he knew that he needed somebody like his Nanao.

It was her independence that bothered him. There was self reliance and then there was Nanao whose self reliance combined with her reserved nature. It made for a very strong exterior but a much conflicted inner world. Nanao didn't confide. It just wasn't something she did and unfortunately that allowed her to work herself into states like the one she had the previous night. Shunsui had never seen her in such a state. He'd heard stories of course but never had she run to him before. He was pretty certain it was an experience he was never going to forget.

The image was firmly implanted in his brain. Every muscle in her body tensed, wound so tight that she shook. The hand that had woken him still hovering as if the limb itself was in shock at her action. It was her face that frightened him though. Her ashen complexion and the evident tear tracks which led his gaze to her eyes. She'd taken his breath away. She hadn't worn her glasses and their absence revealed far more than he ever could have imagined. He'd realised guiltily that she had fooled him with her outward appearance. He flirted, he teased and he treasured but it had been a good seventy years since the last time he'd tried to take care of her, tried to make her confide in him. With her glasses gone and her barriers lowered he'd seen her vulnerability. The fear from having woken him, the anger directed at herself for needing someone but drowning all that out was the worry about whatever was keeping her up. She was scared.

Shunsui looked down at the sleeping woman with understanding in his gaze. He knew those nights. Nights where the whole world seems to fall on your shoulders and no matter how you looked at it your situation seemed hopeless. Everyone had them and everyone dealt with them differently.

When it was him he tended to drown his problems in sake. It wasn't dignified and it was escapism of the highest order but when he reached oblivion he could finally sleep and sleep was good. It meant you didn't think. Those were the nights that his Nanao-chan would receive a call in the early hours to come and pick him up from some bar and put him to bed, often staying to make certain he didn't choke on his own vomit. The poet in Shunsui didn't romanticise the fact. He was not proud of those nights. He deserved the shame that came with the harsh truth. It was a truth he told himself though. Against her usual character Nanao-chan never lectured him after such nights. Somewhere in her she recognised the coping mechanism for what it was he was sure.

Of course there were nights when alcohol just wouldn't do the trick. When he was working on something confidential and couldn't risk running his mouth, when he had a mission the next morning… In those situations he wrote to clear his mind. Pages and pages. Sometimes they made sense and others they didn't. As long as they cleared his mind he didn't care. Then there was the final situation where all he craved was simple human contact which always ended up with him sleeping with some random woman. That Nanao-chan did lecture him on and he was glad. She was right.

He was aware of quite a few of Nanao's coping mechanisms. By far the most obvious was her nails. She bit them compulsively as had done since before she ever joined the squad. Even as he glanced down at her hands now he could see the dried blood where she'd bitten too far last night. Sometimes she'd just sit out on his landing for the night. She didn't know he knew about that. He'd only caught her a handful of times over the years he'd known her, sensing her reiatsu when she thought he was sleeping. Unfortunately for Nanao neither of those involved actually expressing what she was feeling. She did have one manner of expression. She wrote sheet music, Shunsui had discovered quite by accident years ago. Not only did she write sheet music but she wrote extremely impressive sheet music. After quite a lot of prodding she'd admitted that she played the piano. There wasn't one in the eighth division but he still found random sheets among the paperwork she was yet to sort. The year he'd found out his birthday present had been a composition to one of his published poems. Not the most critically acclaimed but in Shunsui's opinion the most beautiful of the volume. It was ironic that she'd chosen that particular work. In truthfulness he'd written it with her in mind.

He was pulled from his musings as the subject of them shifted, curling further into his side and tangling delicate fingers in his hair before sighing softly and falling still once more a small smile gracing her lips. His own lips turned up in return. He was glad she had found something to smile about after the tears the previous night. He had only ever seen her cry once before, the day Lisa was replaced as lieutenant and it was finally confirmed for Nanao that her mentor was not coming back. Already mature, she'd needed to be to survive Zaraki alone, she'd done the rest of her growing up that day, any child-like mentality that she had still possessed was gone forever. She hadn't changed all that much since that day she'd hardened her shell again after Lisa softening it. She'd grown taller and her vocabulary had grown steadily but she was still essentially exactly the same.

He didn't like guessing at what went on in her head. In his perfect world she would tell him but reality was not that kind. If he guessed he would figure that the looming war had been the cause of her little breakdown. She was working herself to the bone to ensure that the eighth were as ready as they possibly could be and on top of that she was working pro bono with the fifth division to prevent them falling to pieces, Hinamori finally having been deemed unstable and removed from office. On top of that Yama-ji had turned around and ordered that she remain in Seireitei during the final battle. She had had every right to appeal that, even Kenpachi had seen it was unfair but she hadn't. She'd kept her mouth shut and her head held high. Typical Nanao-chan.

In many ways Shunsui was glad she wasn't fighting. He didn't want to see her hurt, didn't want to face the possibility of dying but he knew that was selfish. Yama-ji was holding her back and if Nanao had wanted to fight that he would have been with her one hundred percent. That was what partners did. He honestly didn't understand why she hadn't but answers could wait.

Answers for everything could wait. For now her was just glad she'd turned to him at last, glad she'd felt that she could and only too happy to offer whatever comfort he had.

He glanced at the clock on his dresser.

12.15pm.

Far too early to get up yet. He reasoned.

Deciding to chance his arm he rolled over, pulling his Nanao-chan into his chest as he went and holding his breath. She didn't stir and slowly he released the breath. He realised that he was risking life and limb but hey.

It wasn't everyday he got to hold her.

He was going to take full advantage.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

A/N: Well. I was asked for a sequel for three o three and this is it. Sorry it took so long for me to get it up. I find it hard to write from Shunsui's POV. Did I get anywhere close at all???

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Becca