Title: Beginnings

Words: 2315

Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach

A/A: Woah!! Sorry people, I kind of decided to go on a month long road trip round Europe rather abruptly. Quite literaly my mates called and said 'fancing driving across the channel to france and randomly going round Europe' and me being me, said HELL YES!! , it was soooooooo much fun!! Sorry about the wait though, I hope I have more than made up for it!

So here it is. The last offical chapter of the series. I have the next 5 chapters chosen, thank you everyone for your ideas, some have been really good, I'll give you sufficiant praise for coming up with the title for me and in some cases basies for the plot!! Thanks again, and thank you to all my reviewers you are all so unbeliveably awsome!!

As wave upon wave continued to assault her senses, Nanao clenched her teeth together tightly in determination. Even possibly in fear. It hurt so very much, her insides feeling as though they were being torn apart. As though every cell in her body was coiled tight ready to spring apart; and by gods did it hurt!!

She felt her body settle slightly reaching a small measure relief, leaving her feeling aching and tired. She knew the pain would be back. There were people around her she knew, fussing and preparing whatever it is they prepare in these kinds of situations, and at any other time, she could probably have read them off the top of her head; but all her thoughts and energy were focused on herself, barely able to focus on anything else.

There was not much she could focus on even had she wanted to. The rooms of the fourth division were always spartan, having room for only the necessary should there be a need of sudden influx of healers to help their patients. Like now Nanao mused. The walls were washed white, which she found horribly depressing. Why could they not be yellow or orange? Making the inhabitants feel warm and cosy. Instead they were emotionless and cold. Sterile.

Nanao knew these walls well. She had seen them many times. Far too many times for her liking. Whether she was the visitor or the patient, she had never liked these rooms, and the memories they held within. Because although there were few times Nanao could recall that brought a smile to her face whilst being in these rooms, usually, more often than not, they held painful memories of suffering and illness.

And yet, he was always there, making them seem less important and less life threatening.

This was what caused this spike of fear to course within her. So much suffering and pain. It hardly seemed like the ideal setting to be in this kind of situation, and the idiot was no where to be found. Unohana in her calm soothing voice had penetrated her pain filled mind, and had mentioned something about Ukitake, which initially lead Nanao to believe that he had dragged her idiot Captain off somewhere. He had been more oppressive than ever these past few weeks and she had been coiled ready to strangle him. Something she knew Ukitake-san must have been aware of. Although she was glad for the kindness he showed her, he couldn't have picked a worse time.

Nanao almost smacked her head against the head board of the pallet she was on, as the pain suddenly, overwhelmingly intensified, causing her to cry out and grip the sheets beneath her tightly, lest her body finally fly apart from the pain.

"Where is he!?" Nanao gasped, she turned her head and grasped desperately at Unohana who stood by her side clutching her hand. Her face was etched in concern as she tried to sooth the desperate woman.

"Shh Nanao-san, you must be still, try not to move too much, I know it must be hard." She brushed her sweaty hair from her face and smiled encouragingly. "You're doing well. Try to think of something else."

Nanao thought that was the most stupid thing to ever come of Unohana-taichou's mouth. She had already tried focusing on something else, and it hadn't worked very well. As the waves of pain settled again and she slumped against the bed, she tried to follow through with Unohana's advice.

She remembered the last time she had needed to come to fourth division. It hadn't been nearly as serious as this. In fact, it had been somewhat her own fault. Somewhat. It was mostly his fault!

She had overworked herself again. The paperwork had been steadily growing because somebody hadn't been pulling his weight, and she had spent the last 2 weeks pulling in extra hours trying to complete it before the monthly collection.

She had overdone it. She remembered feeling her eyes drooping as she fought to keep her head up and her pen moving swiftly over her work. There had been black spots filling her vision, and she knew this was supposed to be important for some reason, but she had been so tired she completely ignored the warnings. The next moment she remembered was waking up in a room identical to the one she was in now with her pink clad Taichou standing over her, concern etched into his familiar features.

"My Nanao-chan overworked herself again." It wasn't a question or an accusation, just a clear fact, delivered to her in a serious tone full of distress and guilt. She remembered looking up into his eyes and being somewhat startled by the years that seemed to press down on her. Even though she knew she should scold him, or remind him that if he were to do his paperwork, she wouldn't end up like this; however as she looked up at him staring down at her, she could only blush in shame and apologise for worrying him.

She had promised him before not to over work herself to this point, remembering how distressed it made him. She had broken her promise to him, and she had been deeply ashamed to think she might have lost his trust in her. But so like her Taichou, he had smiled; not the smile of a hopeless dramatic flirt, but of a man and friend, and had stroked her check softly and kissed her forehead.

"That's okay Nanao-chan, just as long as you're alright."

She hadn't always been so forgiving, sometimes when she was strong enough, she would lecture him, guilt-trip him and bully him into grovelling so bad, that he practically cried to be forgiven. Of course it wasn't always that she was the one looking up at him from a hospital bed.

She could recall plenty of times she had been notified of his movements to the fourth division, but they were rarely serious. Mostly she was called after he had stumbled whilst drunk and had gotten himself knocked out. He always knew a good bashing was coming to him whenever that happened. She remembered how whenever she walked in the room, he would immediately slouch into himself as though making himself smaller would mean he could escape her notice.

Foolishness.

He would try to make light of the situation, joking and poking fun at himself, like calling himself a silly old drunk, so that she would hopefully be less harsh. It never worked, but that didn't mean she didn't agree with some of the things he called himself.

Every time she escorted him back to eighth, he would continue to try and pester her into letting him off, trying to engage her in conversation, even going as far as touching her to try and insight her wrath more quickly, so he would be spared the punishment of her silence; and as people walked by and witnessed the shocking spectacle of a captain walking dejectedly behind his lieutenant as though a naughty child, they could only walk swiftly on lest the notorious eighth division lieutenant turn her truly frosty gaze upon them.

All Nanao could think off however was how her stomach rolled in relief and her heart go light at the realisation that he was alright. That she could see with her own eyes that he was fine. Her head felt somewhat giddy, and she had to block out the sound of his voice so that she could calm her tightly strung body.

Yet it was within these rooms that she first witnessed his true anger, and Nanao couldn't help but see the irony in the situation, that the only reason he was angry was because she had hurt herself whilst drunk of all things.

This wasn't the anger she had glimpsed where he blew up in a rage, but the tightly controlled anger, that in some ways was more frightening than the swift destructive anger she had been whiteness to.

She could only be humbly thankful that his whole wrath wasn't directed at her, which only made her feel guilty as most of it was directed upon Matsumoto. This wasn't her most clear memory of being in these rooms, it was a little fuzzy, mainly because she had been drunk.

It was shortly after she had become the new fukutaichou for the eighth. It had been Matsumoto's idea to go out and celebrate her recent promotion, and true to Matsumoto's personality it had involved sake. Lots and lots of sake. Even now she couldn't quite recall what had prompted her to drink at all, and whenever she had asked her friend about it, she had become uncommonly quite and shifty, whilst trying to hide her smirks. She often reasoned to herself that she was probably better of not knowing.

She had ended up in 4th division after she had tripped over her own feet apparently and smacked her head against a nearby wall. She remembered being admonished by Captain Unohana for her state when her Captain had swept into the room all dramatics and filled with worry. However once he found out that it had been whilst drunk she had injured herself, he had become strangely quite, hiding those dark eyes under his hat.

To Nanao's shock he had turned rather swiftly on Matsumoto. However his voice had not been raised or laced with any emotion at all. Maybe that why it had been so terrifying. To be around a man who constantly joked, teased and made his whole life out to be some kind of drama, seeing this side of him was disturbing. He spoke as though he was admonishing a child though his tone never turned patronising. He spoke as one who had experienced many things. He spoke like a man who had lived as long as he had.

It was the first time Nanao had properly realised the reason why he was a Captain.

After Matsumoto had left, he used the same tone and disapproving look on her. It had irritated her, and immediately turned her defensive. She remembered shouting at him, though most of it had been rubbish and about nothing in particular other than to change his demeanour back to what she understood. What she had spent most of her life watching and learning. This was new ground that she was not prepared to deal with.

This was a Shunsui that she should have wanted to work for. A serious one. One who took charge and disciplined. And despite this being the type of superior officer she would have liked, she found that she didn't like this side of him at all. This man scared her and made her feel small and insignificant; he made her feel like she couldn't breathe as his pressure surrounded her and pressed on her.

It was then that she truly understood why he acted the way he did. It wasn't so that he could be lazy and drink and flirt with girls all day (though she suspected it was a nice bonus), it was because the serious Shunsui was too powerful and hard to control. This part of Shunsui's personality was too overbearing for mere children to be in the presence of. His silliness and teasing made him easier to be around because he was never taken seriously and so was never serious in return.

In that moment Nanao found a Captain worth following.

Nanao smiled at the memory. It was one of those epiphany moments that sealed her future with the 8th division. It seemed that even though these rooms held so much pain and suffering, to Nanao they held many beginnings and they all seemed to help her understand a little more about the man she had spent the better part of nearly half a millennia with.

She had understood just how much his friendships meant to him in these rooms when he would sit for hours at the bedside of a sick Ukitake, until she would have to quite literally carry him from the room.

Nanao understood how much she meant to Shunsui in these rooms when she had become seriously injured. He would never come and visit her when she was awake. It had taken a visit from Ukitake Taichou for her to understand that it wasn't that he didn't care; it was that he didn't want to see the pain in her eyes that he felt responsible for.

With a little bit a amusement Nanao realised it was these rooms where she was first called Nanao-chan by him. When she had been very young, still a child, he had come to check on her after a nasty tumble. She wondered if it was then and there that she knew she would spend the rest of her life by his side.

These rooms had been whiteness to some of her Captains more unusual reactions and she was proud and honoured that he had shared these with her. These small snippets of his life that she would hold with her forever.

The waves of pain that she had been struggling to hold back whipped into her small body making her cry out and her memories to fade as beads of sweat ran down her face and she clenched her teeth tightly to endure it.

"Nanao-san? Nanao-san he's here now. It's going to be alright now." The voice of Unohana penetrated her world. Shaking the last of her memories from her mind she looked up desperately searching for him as he walked swiftly towards her.

She smiled in relief. "Shunsui." She sighed. And then he was there brushing the sweaty strands of her fringe out of her eyes.

"I'm here my Nanao-chan. I'm so sorry I'm late." His eyes were dark with worry, but they also showed his relief that she was well.

Smiling again she reached out her hand for him, beckoning him closer. Only too happy to comply he made to hold the hand she was reaching towards him with; but his expression of happiness quickly turned to shock when her hand shot out suddenly to grab him by the collar of his uniform and pull him swiftly towards her face.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!!"

Although his shocked and slightly frightened visage was doing wonders for her mood, she heard Isane's voice break her thoughts.

"Unohana Taichou we have to work now, her contractions are practically on top of one another!" She saw the 4th division Captains hand gently settle on Shunsui shoulder. "You arrived just in time Shunsui-kun. What do you say we get started Nanao-san."

"YES."

It was dark now, the moonlight coming in though the window made the room look enthral and mysterious. The shadows cast from the trees outside made it look like night elves were dancing around the room. But it wasn't that that had captured her attention. It was the large man standing at the window with a precious bundle wrapped securely in his arms. He seemed to be lost in thought as he stared silently down the baby, his very own child. The moonlight was making the tears running down his checks sparkle and his eyes glow; and as he turned and looked up upon noticing Nanao's attention on him the moonlight caught the corners of the smile he directed at her.

Nanao smiled tiredly back at him realising she had been given another memory to add to these rooms. One of the day she witnessed Shunsui cry from sheer joy. Maybe these rooms weren't so bad.

After all they had just added another beginning in their story.

The End.

Oh my god!! I can't believe its over! I would like to thank everyone who reviewed especially those who have reviewed practically every chapter: JenovaJuice97, akirk85029, WinterVines, Devatron2000, anihana, darkangel1910, Kohyu. And most especially to AnimePenguin for her brilliantly long reviews and support!!

I'll see about getting those 5 bonus chapters up, and you know you have to come back and check, cus it might be your prompt I'm using YA-HA! These may take a little time to update as I apologise I have fallen in love with a new manga Eyeshield 21. But it's just so brilliant. So keep a look out, and again thanks to everyone!!

Butterfliesinthewind :P