as years pass | kyoraku shunsui

fifteen - 'like a glove'

The setting sun had snuck up on Shuriken, who had found herself buried in piles of paperwork since the moment she'd walked through the doors of her office earlier that day. While Taro had helped her for the first hour or so, he'd been summoned for a mission in the Rukongai and as much as she would have preferred her pupil to stay with her, she wouldn't argue with his assignment. In fact, Shuriken had been so preoccupied in her duties that she hadn't realized that it was drawing near time to leave until Sasakibe entered her room with a cup of tea in each hand.

"Have you been in here all day, Shuriken?" Sasakibe questioned as he approached her desk. Before sitting on the side opposite of the younger woman, he handed her one of the tea cups which she graciously accepted. "If I'm not mistaken, the Head Captain gave you a couple of days to finish this work, did he not?"

"I'd have been done with it by now if you jerks hadn't taken away my protege today," Shuriken remarked without a bit of seriousness in her tone after she had enjoyed a warm, soothing sip of tea. After sitting the cup down on her desk, Shuriken stretched her arms above her head and sighed softly as her tense joints popped. "No, I honestly hadn't noticed how late it was until you came in here. Time just got away from me, I suppose."

As Shuriken turned to look over her shoulder at the sunset through her window, Sasakibe chuckled slightly. It had been far too long since Yamamoto's two favorite subordinates had sat down for a chat and rectifying that was part of the reason that Sasakibe had come to visit Shuriken this evening. Although they saw one another on an almost daily basis, they'd not been able to truly talk in a while.

"How are things going between you and Captain Urahara?" Sasakibe asked once she had turned back towards him. "Or am I still supposed to be under the impression that there's nothing happening between the two of you?"

Despite having been with Urahara for several months at this point, Shuriken had yet to say anything official to either the First captain or his lieutenant. Neither Yamamoto nor Sasakibe were dumb, though, and they knew exactly what was going on between the two high-seated officers. It was hard not to, between the rumblings in the Seriete and the frequent visits between Shuriken and Urahara.

"I'm head-over-heels in love, can't you tell? Or is that why you brought this up in the first place?" Truthfully, the reason she hadn't said anything was because she didn't want to listen to a lecture from Yamamoto about how she should handle her relationship from a professional perspective, or even worse, what his personal opinion about Urahara was. Even if Yamamoto was fond of Urahara, it was extremely likely that his view would change when his beloved daughter was involved.

"Ah, yes. The look on your face as you speak of him gives it away," Sasakibe said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "It's as though there are hearts in your eyes."

"You can't see them, but there are butterflies in my stomach, too."

"What about a flutter in your chest?"

"Chojiro, that's the most important part."

The two pseudo-siblings stared at one another with serious expressions before smiles spread across their faces. Seeing such emotion on the normally stoic lieutenant's face wasn't common but when Shuriken was involved, he found himself able to be more at ease. For as different as Shuriken and Sasakibe were, they complimented one another well.

"No, he's been very good to me. I'll admit that my history with men isn't the best, but he's like a shining gem in a huge pile of shit. I'm lucky to have him," Shuriken wasn't the most expressive with her feelings of fondness but even Sasakibe could see that she cared for Urahara. The subtle way in which her face perked up when speaking of him proved that without a shadow of a doubt. "Even if he is a huge nerd and would rather spend his night cooped up in the lab than on a hot date with me. It's tragic, isn't it?"