[Log] Nanao, Ukitake
Title: Sugar War
Characters: Nanao Ise (davyn), Jyuushirou Ukitake (lcpdragonslayer)
Timeline: August 15th, 2007
Rating: PG
Summary: The hunt for sugar begins!
The world has come to an end.
The box of chupa chups was empty. There was nothing but empty plastic packets in drawers. Candy wrappers littered the floor, but none of them had any candy in them. Even his emergency stash in the bottom filing cabinet - gone.
All gone.
Picking up all the wrappers, the empty bags, the white sticks lying around, he began clearing up all the rubbish on the floor, filling up the bin with candy remnants.
Once he was certain the floor was only littered with paper, and not candy carcasses, he tied up the trash bag and put it next to the empty bin, opening up another plastic bag, stuffing it down the canister.
Standing, straightening, he sighed as he looked beyond his workspace and toward the pantry. Perhaps a raid through the kitchen could satisfy his insatiable desire for glucose...
Nanao hated not having the information that she required in order to deal with the various media buyers that she played intermediate for. She reached up and removed her glasses, setting them carefully on her desk and rubbing at the indention they made on her nose.
So they wanted information on an ad they had done some ten years ago so that they could remarket the strategy. She was tempted to just close her doors and blinds and thump her head on her desk for a few minutes. Like she remembered or cared about ads that were used fifteen years ago? She reached down and settled her glasses back on the perch of her nose.
Fine. There was nothing for it, she was going to go find Ukitake and pick his brain on this one. She pushed her chair back and stood, plan in motion. Maybe after that she could assure the client she knew what he was talking about and would take care of it.
Maybe.
He stepped out of his workplace quietly, glancing down at his watch. It would be over two hours before lunch break - he could not survive without candy for that long.
He had been barred from the sugar supply in the pantry for a week after depleting a week's worth of sugar in two days. It was not his fault, really, that he ran out of candy. He swore someone was stealing it from his office.
The top of his head popped up from above a cubicle partition as he scanned the area - he was about a third of the way to the pantry, and there was no Shunsui, who would tattle on him, or Mr. Kurosaki, or Mr. Ishida in sight.
Good. The mission was going well.
Nanao was not expecting to find Jyuushiro Ukitake creeping down the hallway. She had in her time working at here only ever heard good things about the man. Thoughtful, kind, he took more sick leave than any other employee in the building but that seemed to be offset but his ability to work quickly and efficiently with his time.
She liked efficient people. She had never seen an efficient, hard working person, sneaking down the hallway however. She blinked at him and pushed her glasses back when they tried to slip down her nose. Well this was new, but she could adapt.
She cleared her throat and blinked when he didn’t seem to notice. She cleared her throat a little louder and blinked again. Oh fine. She reached out and carefully settled her hand on his shoulder. “Mr. Ukitake,” she said carefully. She was more than certain she was speaking to the only Jyuushiro Ukitake in the building; no one else had that particular shade of hair.
The sneaking… she would figure that out later. Get her information now, ask about the sneaking later.
When something warm touched his shoulder, he jumped a little and spun around, widened, bewildered eyes settling down upon one familiar face that he, in the heat of the moment, forgot the name it belonged to.
When his heart stopped pounding in his ears, the name 'Nanao Ise' floated by.
Ah, the lawyer. Right.
He heaved a sigh of relief - firstly, because he did not die from his heart attack, and secondly because she was not either of the bosses, or Shunsui.
"If it isn't Nanao," he said cheerily, laughing nervously as he scratched the back of his head idly. "What brings you here?"
Nanao blinked at him. Was this a normal reaction? Maybe it was? She would have to take note of this. She glanced over his shoulder trying to figure out what he was trying to sneak up on. Was there a mouse?
“Am I interrupting something?” she asked lightly, not entirely sure if she wanted to interrupt whatever it was that he was hunting for.
Maybe he and Shunsui had some little game that she did not want to know about?
"Interrupting? Nooo~ Of course you aren't." He supposed, with Nanao keeping him busy, he could wait until lunch time to make a stop at the nearby convenience store to get his sugar fix. At least the thought of needing sugar would not be hounding his mind too much.
He slipped his hands into his pockets and leaned against the cubicle partition, smiling.
"What can I do for you?"
Ah yes, what could he do for her in fact, finally she had met someone with a work ethic. He had a rather disarming smile didn’t he? She let her mouth quirk up a tiny bit in response, she hadn’t had too much contact with Jyuushiro but she had heard that he was rather easy to deal with. At least that was one bit of office information that she had gleaned that seemed to be rather spot on thus far.
“One of our clients wants to use an ad that they used about ten years ago?” She blinked. “On shoes I think? I was hoping you would know what they were talking about, I certainly don’t.”
Which made it kind of hard to do her job, this lack of information… she didn’t like not being able to do her job as efficiently as she was used to.
Ten years ago? Well that is quite a long time ago to be digging up. He started working here at around that time, too...
"Well, I doubt I can recall something like that from a decade ago... But I will have a look. If you're not too busy, you're welcome to wait around. I'll take about five or ten minutes to find it. If not, I will bring it to your desk."
He straightened and started heading back to his workspace, weaving through the cubicles they passed. He rubbed at his chin idly, his gaze on the floor, trying to recall the advertisement Nanao was talking about. An ad on shoes... 1997... It sounded oh so familiar...
He reached the end of the office, moved around his desk and opened the door into the storage room. Turning the light on, he headed down one of the corridors of the many shelves in the room, looking for the 1997 section. He hoped he could find it here - wading through the thousands of articles archived on the computer was a bit of a pain.
Nanao nodded, quietly stepping behind him as he walked forward. She was okay with waiting for a few minutes that was no where near a problem. She shook her head.
“Thank you, I will wait for a bit.” This was basically hindering her ability to do any more work and she was not to particularly fond of it. She liked efficiency. This was not efficient; though Jyuushiro looked liked he could handle it.
She just wondered what he had been sneaking around the office after.
He pulled out one of the dusty, old white boxes, coughing a little as he lowered it to the floor. He lifted the lid and peered inside - sheets of A4 advertisements each in its own plastic cover. Though most of the edges of the papers had gone yellow, and some of the color faded, the images were still quite intact.
He browsed through each plastic sheet gingerly, looking for one involving shoes of some sort.
He sighed softly as he reached the bottom of the box, and there was nothing of interest he had found. It was only the first box of three involving advertisements used in 1997, so he replaced the ads and closed the box, sliding it back into its place.
He retrieved the second box and started looking. It was a little fuller - perhaps this one would be more promising...
Nanao was rather impressed with all the different boxes down here. She had not been aware that so much had been stored here. She was an also impressed that he seemed to have a good understanding of what was in each box or at least he looked like he new what was in each box? He also seemed to know what he was looking for which also made her somewhat happy.
She really disliked not having all the information she needed at her fingertips and she was completely out of her element while staring at… boxes. She would have not had any idea of where to start if she had been forced to come and hunt through all of this on her own.
She winced about the thought of trying to figure all this out on her own, it would take her months, time that she certainly did not have. She would have offered to help; only she rather felt that she would just get in his way which get on both their nerves. She reached up and pushed her glasses back.
She could wait.
An advertisement featuring shoes near the bottom of the second box caught his eye - he peeled it off gently, holding it up and flipping it over. It may not have been the ad Nanao wanted - there was another box to look through, but he quickly browsed through the remnants just to make sure that was the only ad featuring shoes.
Straightening the other advertisements, he replaced them back into the box and pushed the box back into place.
He picked up the plastic-covered advertisement and headed back out into the light, shaking the dust off it a little.
He held it out to Nanao, smiling.
"Is this what you are looking for?"
Nanao took the offered advertisement sheet and quickly brought it up to a little better light to examine it closely. She pushed her glasses back again to make sure that she was in fact seeing the whole properly and felt the muscles in her neck relax just a little bit at the very welcome sight of the advertisement that they had been trying to describe to her an hour ago.
“I do believe so,” she said after another few moments gazing at it closely, she looked over the top of the paper at him and brought the corners of her mouth up into smile. “Thank you for finding this.”
She glanced behind him at all the boxes and again wondered how he kept it all straight in his head. That sort of ability was very useful; she would have to remember this for later advertisement purposes.
At the very least on the days that the clients were driving her insane by asking questions about past images that she had no recollection of.
He tilted his head to one side as she eyed the advertisement, and his smile widened as their gazes met.
"No problem~ 'Tis my job, after all," he said, grinning a little sheepishly as he slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" he asked as he leaned back against the edge of his desk. "Having to dig up an old advertisement... Sounds like you have fussy clients."
Nanao blinked at him and found herself smiling again, twice in one morning. She had not known such a sensible person existed on her floor; this was going to have to be remedied immediately.
“Yes,” she agreed with a nod. “It is not normally a problem, but I am not familiar with advertisements that go so far back that we don’t have them in our computer data bases.” She nodded.
“May I buy you a cup of tea?” It never hurt to cultivate good speaking relationships with the sane people… especially since there weren’t that many who actually worked here. She could appreciate sane co-workers… she really could.
'Eh?' was his first reaction to the question - which was more of a request than a question. He quirked his eyebrow a little, surprised. A cup of tea? With him?
Uh, well... He did not have anything important to do... And he was probably over thinking the offer. Besides, it was a chance to get to know an office colleague he barely had any interaction with better.
"I would love to have tea with you," he replied, smiling. He hoped he did not sound hesitant. "If you are not too busy with work, of course."
Nanao nodded. “The bakery just across the street produces a nice cup of tea,” she said with another small nod. Though to be honest it wasn’t as good as her own tea makings, it was enough to sooth her frayed nerves when she had spent one to many hours dealing with difficult customers or when Shunsui paid one to many visits to her office in the course of one day.
“I will just drop this off in my office,” she glanced at her watch and shrugged. “It is time for a break anyway.” Breaks kept her sane; otherwise she would end up having to close her door and the blinds in order to vent her frustration in private.
“Shall I swing back by here?” It was practically on the way out after all.
"Mmm..." He glanced over his shoulder, towards the elevator, and then back at Nanao. Well, her office was down the other side of the bullpen, and she would pass by here before going out.
"Sure," he said. "Whenever you're ready."
He had all the time in the world anyway - he was free today, and going to help Shunsui with his designs could always be postponed.
Besides, a stop at the bakery meant that he could get some cake, or something sweet, and that would keep him satisfied until he could go for a candy run.
Nanao nodded. “I will be right back then,” she waited a moment to make sure that he wasn’t going to decide he didn’t like the idea, nodded once more just to be certain, and headed back to her office, clutching the show advertisement close. This would go in a folder and get organized so that she didn’t loose it - might even make a copy of it so that she could return it to Ukitake and let him put it back in his files with nothing happening to the original copy.
She settled it on her desk, under one of the folders so that no one passing buy would just reach out and grab it, grabbed her purse and flipping off her light and shutting her door, she headed back in the direction of Ukitake.
She wasn’t entirely sure what impulse had gotten the invitation out before she could stop it… but it was going to be fun.
He smiled and returned her nod as she turned and walked away, back to her office. He wandered back around his desk and straightened up some papers. Pulling the top drawer open, he retrieved his wallet and mobile phone, slipping the former into his back pocket whilst holding on to the latter.
He leaned over his computer and logged off, casting his gaze over his shoulder to his desk to see if anything else needed to be done.
Satisfied, he pushed his chair in and wandered back around, leaning against his desk again. It was just a little odd - having a break with Nanao. He often spent it alone, with Shunsui, or maybe Isshin when he was free... Come to think of it he had never had tea with Nanao before.
It was certainly going to be interesting.
Nanao stopped at his desk, bag firmly clutched on her shoulder.
“Ready?” she felt it was rather redundant to ask the question since he was obviously waiting on her, leaning against the desk like he was but she worked to be polite if nothing else and who knew? He might have gotten a phone call in the two seconds that she had been in her office.
Things like that happened.
He nodded at her, clutching at his back pocket instinctively. Wallet was there, phone was there, office table did not look like a nuclear testing site... Yes - he was ready.
Slipping his hands into his pockets, he smiled warmly at her as they headed for the elevator.
"I..." he began, glancing up at the dimmed numbers on top of the elevator as they waited for it to arrive. "I've never had tea with you before," he said, scratching at the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face.
"So... What do you do during your breaks?" he asked, wanting more to make conversation than be invasive or nosey. "Besides trying to preserve your sanity, of course." He was mildly surprised that someone serious and more work-minded could last in an office like Soul Society.
She blinked at his question and smiled. “No,” she agreed, “it is nice to meet another sane person though,” she turned her smile in his direction. It was easy to smile at nice normal people or at least she was quite capable of it.
Her breaks? She paused thoughtfully and shrugged, the truth was the truth. “I lock my door to keep Shunsui out and enjoy the silence which goes a long way to preserving my sanity.” Which was really quite important here, people were always in a hurry or doing something that just seemed… illogical. If she didn’t have a door to shut and lock she might have already quit for the simple purposes of maintain her sanity.
She glanced over at him again.
“You?”
Sweets? Really now? It sounded like a great place to visit for a break. His smile widened and he cast a sideways glance at her, only to realize she was looking at him.
He felt the slightest of blushes creep up his cheeks, and turned and looked away, his smile softening.
It was a little awkward, really...
Thankfully the elevator saved him by arriving at a good time. He waited for Nanao to step in before he followed in after her, standing in the corner, waiting for the elevator to descend to the bottom floor.
Nanao ducked her head to hide her amusement at the blush. The blush was actually quite cute but she rather doubted he would like for her to tell him that. She was going to wonder why she hadn’t taken the time to say hello to him before this now though to be honest it was mostly because he was always hanging around Shunsui. She would have to stage her hellos carefully from now on; the last thing she wanted was for Shunsui to think she was greeting him.
“So how long have you been working here?” she questioned, curious and to help break the silence after making him blush like that.
Mmm... How long has he worked here... He gazed at the ceiling, thinking. "Maybe... About ten years or so now," he said, laughing a little nervously. Ten years is a long time to stay in the office these days, but he really liked the job.
"Was the first job I got when I arrived... Didn't really look around for any others."
He would be hard pressed to find a company so lenient in their sick-leave policy, and he had already gotten acquainted with most of the staff in Soul Society. He would love to stay for as long as he could.
"Don't suppose you have been working in this mental hospital for that long?"
Mmm... How long has he worked here... He gazed at the ceiling, thinking. "Maybe... About ten years or so now," he said, laughing a little nervously. Ten years is a long time to stay in the office these days, but he really liked the job.
"Was the first job I got when I arrived... Didn't really look around for any others."
He would be hard pressed to find a company so lenient in their sick-leave policy, and he had already gotten acquainted with most of the staff in Soul Society. He would love to stay for as long as he could.
"Don't suppose you have been working in this mental hospital for that long?"
Nanao shook her head. “No,” she agreed. “I started work here shortly after I graduated, so almost four years, but not quite.” She liked the challenge that the magazine offered and it since they promoted from within she had found herself enjoying the steady climb in job status.
It was a good place to work - all things considered. She shot him another glance out of the corner of her eyes.
“I am surprised you haven’t visited the bakery, having been here so long.” It was one of the first places that she had gone and looked at.
Well, he was a creature of habit. He only knew a few places in Manhattan, having come from overseas, and he had not really explored the vicinity of the office building. He spent most of his lunchtimes in the office, and the other times would be spent following colleagues around to different places.
Besides, he took a lot of sick leave - he knew the hospital better than the vicinity of the Soul Society office.
"I haven't really explored around," he said, his gaze wandering to the diminishing numbers. "I only know a few places in Manhattan, which is a little embarrassing seeing as I have been here for a decade."
That made sense, the only reason she had discovered the bakery was because of the need to get out of the office for a legitimate reason so one day during lunch she had gone on a walk and had been pleasantly pleased by her little discovery. Otherwise all the restaurants and places she frequented were either explorations she had made her first year or so after moving into the city itself or recommended by co-workers.
The elevator pinged open and she stepped through and paused to let him catch up. “I hope you like this place then,” they had good soups and sandwiches on top of the cookies and the cake.
She rather thought he might just go after the sugar though - after his confession anyway.
He followed after her as they started to make their way across the lobby of the building, smiling a small smile at her. He had nothing against bakeries - the place would certainly be fine.
Besides, they were just going to have tea, were they not? Tea and something sugary, anyway.
"I'm sure the place will be fine," he said. "It is quite nice to try something new every once in a while."
She agreed, completely. “It is.”
They made it outside and she relaxed just a little more at the sunshine. She had an office with a window of course, but it was always nice to escape outside into the bright sunshine instead of being stuck in front of her computer or talking to any number of people.
“The bakery is a short distance this way,” she said motioning to the left with her hand.
He took in a breath of fresh air and sighed contentedly. He had grown fond of the outdoors, having spent too much time in hospital beds inhaling the strong scent of disinfectant.
He looked over to the general direction of where she was pointing, and nodded. He would have to remember how to get there for future lunchtime visits.
"Lead the way," he said, smiling.
The thing that Nanao liked best about the little hole in the wall bakery (besides its location) was the cozy atmosphere that it cultured very well. It had the old fashioned booths and tables but the lighting wasn’t overly bright so when her eyes were tired from staring at paperwork all day she could walk in, grab some tea, and let them rest which was almost invaluable for her peace of mind.
The made it to the bakery very quickly. It was simply around the corner from the building and she hit the door at a quick step. She was here often enough that they lady at the counter waved and Nanao offered her a slight smile in return. They were nice, friendly, and not only had good cake but good banana bread and soft cookies.
… she would admit to having a fondness for soft cookies when she wasn’t in the mood for banana bread. Or the cherry tarts when cherries were in season, those were like an addiction. She took more breaks during Cherry season than at any other time of the year.
She paused in front of the counter and let Ukitake examine the menu. Banana nut bread and the house blend tea was her main staple and she would stick with it today. It was definitely a banana nut bread day.
They had arrived at the bakery, and he could tell that Nanao was a welcome, regular customer. He looked around - it was a nice place to be, whether it be taking a break from work or after work. It smelled like a bakery would, with fresh bread and pastries.
He took in the display, the myriad of food and things on the menu. Nothing was new or extra spectacular, but everything looked and/or sounded nice.
He would have a hard time deciding what he wanted, but he did not want Nanao to wait for too long, and if he could he would pick one of everything, but he couldn't really do that.
Maybe he would try something different each time he came back?
Mmm... He was probably going to get a cheese scone and tea.
"What are you getting, Nanao?"
“Banana nut bread and the house tea,” she said promptly. She reached up and pushed at her glasses and glanced at him. She wasn’t sure if he would think she was rambling if she explained that she had a few staples given whatever time of the year it was. She shrugged casually.
She really was a pretty routine person if she had to break it down. Though he didn’t seem anywhere near as flamboyant as Shunsui so it was probably safe to say that he wouldn’t call her out for being boring on a trip to the bakery, which was good. “Have you decided on what you are going to get?”
Banana nut bread... Hmm... That sounded interesting, too. He nodded promptly at her - he would settle on his decision before he changed his mind, or they would be there all day while he deliberated.
"I guess I'll get a cheese scone and. Tea." And then in the future he would start working his way down the menu and across the display, trying to figure out what would be his favorites and what was good.
He made the orders with the lady, who seemed to be familiar with the 'banana nut bread and house blend tea' routine, and he pulled out a bill from his wallet and handed it to her.
Banana nut bread... Hmm... That sounded interesting, too. He nodded promptly at her - he would settle on his decision before he changed his mind, or they would be there all day while he deliberated.
"I guess I'll get a cheese scone and. Tea." And then in the future he would start working his way down the menu and across the display, trying to figure out what would be his favorites and what was good.
He made the orders with the lady, who seemed to be familiar with the 'banana nut bread and house blend tea' routine, and he pulled out a bill from his wallet and handed it to her.
Nanao had fished out her card and blinked at Ukitake handing the clerk a bill. She blinked again and frowned. “I do believe that I offered to buy your tea,” she informed him, reaching up to push her glasses back. It wasn’t that they were loose this time, but it was a habit. If she was going to stare someone down she was going to do so where she could see them clearly.
Shunsui had only made this particular habit worse in the last few months. And Isshin… both of them were trying to drive her batty she was sure. She pushed her card at the sales person.
He blinked a few times. Sure - she did say that she wanted to buy him tea - but he couldn't possibly let her pay for him. She was looking at him with 'that' look that he remembered Shunsui had mentioned before a few times, and he felt just a little uneasy.
"But I insist - I can't let you pay for me... Anyway, it's just lunch, right?" Surely she could just let him pay for this.
Nanao shook her head at him. “I offered to buy you tea, you accepted,” she informed him. Then she quirked a brow at him, “You wouldn’t go back on that agreement now would you?”
He might push it and then she would relent because that was the proper thing to do (if her mother was to be believed but she had never been one for letting people pay for her stuff once she had gotten her own hefty paycheck…). It was perhaps her one social counter. Besides she had offered to buy him tea, not offered to take him to the bakery so that he could buy her tea and bread.
Well, he didn't want to go back on the agreement, but it just. It felt innately wrong to let Nanao pay for him. Well - it felt innately wrong to let anyone pay for him - he had paid for other people, too.
"It's only a lunch," he said softly. "Besides - I promise - if I pay this time, you can pay next time." That way it was a reason for them to have lunch again - it would be a lot different from his usual lunches.
"Will that work?" he asked, tilting his head a little and smiling.
She stared at him for a few more moments. Then she sighed and took her card back shaking her head at him. If he wasn’t so cute she wouldn’t have agreed. “All right,” she agreed. “But I am paying next time.”
She held out her hand for her card back and shook her head again. "There will be no changing of the terms either."
She was a lawyer. People didn't get to wiggle out of their agreements with her very often.
He smiled a little, relieved that the issue had been sorted, and finally the lady accepted his bill and gave him a receipt and his change. "No changing of terms, ma'am," he confirmed, nodding. She could probably sue him or charge him for something if he deviated from that note.
"Shall we grab a seat?" he asked, glancing around. There were many tables to choose from - he would just follow her to one.
Nanao nodded. “Sure,” she agreed heading for her favorite little corner in the café. The sunshine was warm here and she could watch the various people walking around outside and wonder where they were going so quickly. It was fun to guess who was going where and to try to figure out exactly where they were going to go.
It was one of her favorite little games that she played when she had the time and when she was here by herself. She settled so that she was the one with the sunlight. A glance at the clock confirmed that they had only been here for a few minutes and could safely chat and talk for a good fifteen minutes before they would have to think about heading back to the office.
She took a sip of her tea and sighed - perfect.
He followed her to the corner of the shop, and took a seat opposite from her. He sighed softly, content, and looked out the window, at the people passing by. New York was so busy - he could never get used to it, how everyone was always rushing around, always fighting against time, fighting against deadlines.
He looked at the cup of tea before him, blinking a few times. Sitting before Nanao, he felt a little self-conscious, so he tentatively opened the metal sugar container. One, two, three, four teaspoons of sugar went into his cup of tea, and he stirred the sugar and tea solution.
He took a sip of his tea, a small smile on his face. It tasted just right, and he was starting to feel more at ease.
"This place is nice," he said. "Away from the madness in the office."
Nanao nodded. “I am glad you like it,” she ignored how much sugar he just loaded into his poor unsuspecting tea. She was starting to think that it wasn’t so much as a thing as it was he just loved sugar.
She hid her grin behind her tea cup. “Thank you for coming with me.”
He gazed up at her, looking mildly surprised, and smiled. He was beginning to wonder why he hadn't gotten to know Nanao better earlier - they'd been in the same office for years and this was the first time they had gone out to lunch together.
And they got along quite well, too, save for certain awkward moments.
"I should be thanking you for bringing me here," he replied, lowering his gaze as he took another sip of tea.
"I shall be looking forward to our next visit," he started, gazing over at the display of pastries and breads. "I'm going to have to try one of everything before Christmas," he added, a wide smile on his face.
He was cute; Nanao would give that to him on all sorts of levels. Especially when he blushed, the blushing was adorable. She grinned. If he wanted to come and try all the different things before Christmas then she could accommodate him.
“That is a lot of visits,” she agreed. He hadn’t even gotten into the seasonal treats that they made on monthly basis here. Her lips twitched.
“I look forward to it.”
She really did.
Characters: Nanao Ise (davyn), Jyuushirou Ukitake (lcpdragonslayer)
Timeline: August 15th, 2007
Rating: PG
Summary: The hunt for sugar begins!
The world has come to an end.
The box of chupa chups was empty. There was nothing but empty plastic packets in drawers. Candy wrappers littered the floor, but none of them had any candy in them. Even his emergency stash in the bottom filing cabinet - gone.
All gone.
Picking up all the wrappers, the empty bags, the white sticks lying around, he began clearing up all the rubbish on the floor, filling up the bin with candy remnants.
Once he was certain the floor was only littered with paper, and not candy carcasses, he tied up the trash bag and put it next to the empty bin, opening up another plastic bag, stuffing it down the canister.
Standing, straightening, he sighed as he looked beyond his workspace and toward the pantry. Perhaps a raid through the kitchen could satisfy his insatiable desire for glucose...
Nanao hated not having the information that she required in order to deal with the various media buyers that she played intermediate for. She reached up and removed her glasses, setting them carefully on her desk and rubbing at the indention they made on her nose.
So they wanted information on an ad they had done some ten years ago so that they could remarket the strategy. She was tempted to just close her doors and blinds and thump her head on her desk for a few minutes. Like she remembered or cared about ads that were used fifteen years ago? She reached down and settled her glasses back on the perch of her nose.
Fine. There was nothing for it, she was going to go find Ukitake and pick his brain on this one. She pushed her chair back and stood, plan in motion. Maybe after that she could assure the client she knew what he was talking about and would take care of it.
Maybe.
He stepped out of his workplace quietly, glancing down at his watch. It would be over two hours before lunch break - he could not survive without candy for that long.
He had been barred from the sugar supply in the pantry for a week after depleting a week's worth of sugar in two days. It was not his fault, really, that he ran out of candy. He swore someone was stealing it from his office.
The top of his head popped up from above a cubicle partition as he scanned the area - he was about a third of the way to the pantry, and there was no Shunsui, who would tattle on him, or Mr. Kurosaki, or Mr. Ishida in sight.
Good. The mission was going well.
Nanao was not expecting to find Jyuushiro Ukitake creeping down the hallway. She had in her time working at here only ever heard good things about the man. Thoughtful, kind, he took more sick leave than any other employee in the building but that seemed to be offset but his ability to work quickly and efficiently with his time.
She liked efficient people. She had never seen an efficient, hard working person, sneaking down the hallway however. She blinked at him and pushed her glasses back when they tried to slip down her nose. Well this was new, but she could adapt.
She cleared her throat and blinked when he didn’t seem to notice. She cleared her throat a little louder and blinked again. Oh fine. She reached out and carefully settled her hand on his shoulder. “Mr. Ukitake,” she said carefully. She was more than certain she was speaking to the only Jyuushiro Ukitake in the building; no one else had that particular shade of hair.
The sneaking… she would figure that out later. Get her information now, ask about the sneaking later.
When something warm touched his shoulder, he jumped a little and spun around, widened, bewildered eyes settling down upon one familiar face that he, in the heat of the moment, forgot the name it belonged to.
When his heart stopped pounding in his ears, the name 'Nanao Ise' floated by.
Ah, the lawyer. Right.
He heaved a sigh of relief - firstly, because he did not die from his heart attack, and secondly because she was not either of the bosses, or Shunsui.
"If it isn't Nanao," he said cheerily, laughing nervously as he scratched the back of his head idly. "What brings you here?"
Nanao blinked at him. Was this a normal reaction? Maybe it was? She would have to take note of this. She glanced over his shoulder trying to figure out what he was trying to sneak up on. Was there a mouse?
“Am I interrupting something?” she asked lightly, not entirely sure if she wanted to interrupt whatever it was that he was hunting for.
Maybe he and Shunsui had some little game that she did not want to know about?
"Interrupting? Nooo~ Of course you aren't." He supposed, with Nanao keeping him busy, he could wait until lunch time to make a stop at the nearby convenience store to get his sugar fix. At least the thought of needing sugar would not be hounding his mind too much.
He slipped his hands into his pockets and leaned against the cubicle partition, smiling.
"What can I do for you?"
Ah yes, what could he do for her in fact, finally she had met someone with a work ethic. He had a rather disarming smile didn’t he? She let her mouth quirk up a tiny bit in response, she hadn’t had too much contact with Jyuushiro but she had heard that he was rather easy to deal with. At least that was one bit of office information that she had gleaned that seemed to be rather spot on thus far.
“One of our clients wants to use an ad that they used about ten years ago?” She blinked. “On shoes I think? I was hoping you would know what they were talking about, I certainly don’t.”
Which made it kind of hard to do her job, this lack of information… she didn’t like not being able to do her job as efficiently as she was used to.
Ten years ago? Well that is quite a long time ago to be digging up. He started working here at around that time, too...
"Well, I doubt I can recall something like that from a decade ago... But I will have a look. If you're not too busy, you're welcome to wait around. I'll take about five or ten minutes to find it. If not, I will bring it to your desk."
He straightened and started heading back to his workspace, weaving through the cubicles they passed. He rubbed at his chin idly, his gaze on the floor, trying to recall the advertisement Nanao was talking about. An ad on shoes... 1997... It sounded oh so familiar...
He reached the end of the office, moved around his desk and opened the door into the storage room. Turning the light on, he headed down one of the corridors of the many shelves in the room, looking for the 1997 section. He hoped he could find it here - wading through the thousands of articles archived on the computer was a bit of a pain.
Nanao nodded, quietly stepping behind him as he walked forward. She was okay with waiting for a few minutes that was no where near a problem. She shook her head.
“Thank you, I will wait for a bit.” This was basically hindering her ability to do any more work and she was not to particularly fond of it. She liked efficiency. This was not efficient; though Jyuushiro looked liked he could handle it.
She just wondered what he had been sneaking around the office after.
He pulled out one of the dusty, old white boxes, coughing a little as he lowered it to the floor. He lifted the lid and peered inside - sheets of A4 advertisements each in its own plastic cover. Though most of the edges of the papers had gone yellow, and some of the color faded, the images were still quite intact.
He browsed through each plastic sheet gingerly, looking for one involving shoes of some sort.
He sighed softly as he reached the bottom of the box, and there was nothing of interest he had found. It was only the first box of three involving advertisements used in 1997, so he replaced the ads and closed the box, sliding it back into its place.
He retrieved the second box and started looking. It was a little fuller - perhaps this one would be more promising...
Nanao was rather impressed with all the different boxes down here. She had not been aware that so much had been stored here. She was an also impressed that he seemed to have a good understanding of what was in each box or at least he looked like he new what was in each box? He also seemed to know what he was looking for which also made her somewhat happy.
She really disliked not having all the information she needed at her fingertips and she was completely out of her element while staring at… boxes. She would have not had any idea of where to start if she had been forced to come and hunt through all of this on her own.
She winced about the thought of trying to figure all this out on her own, it would take her months, time that she certainly did not have. She would have offered to help; only she rather felt that she would just get in his way which get on both their nerves. She reached up and pushed her glasses back.
She could wait.
An advertisement featuring shoes near the bottom of the second box caught his eye - he peeled it off gently, holding it up and flipping it over. It may not have been the ad Nanao wanted - there was another box to look through, but he quickly browsed through the remnants just to make sure that was the only ad featuring shoes.
Straightening the other advertisements, he replaced them back into the box and pushed the box back into place.
He picked up the plastic-covered advertisement and headed back out into the light, shaking the dust off it a little.
He held it out to Nanao, smiling.
"Is this what you are looking for?"
Nanao took the offered advertisement sheet and quickly brought it up to a little better light to examine it closely. She pushed her glasses back again to make sure that she was in fact seeing the whole properly and felt the muscles in her neck relax just a little bit at the very welcome sight of the advertisement that they had been trying to describe to her an hour ago.
“I do believe so,” she said after another few moments gazing at it closely, she looked over the top of the paper at him and brought the corners of her mouth up into smile. “Thank you for finding this.”
She glanced behind him at all the boxes and again wondered how he kept it all straight in his head. That sort of ability was very useful; she would have to remember this for later advertisement purposes.
At the very least on the days that the clients were driving her insane by asking questions about past images that she had no recollection of.
He tilted his head to one side as she eyed the advertisement, and his smile widened as their gazes met.
"No problem~ 'Tis my job, after all," he said, grinning a little sheepishly as he slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" he asked as he leaned back against the edge of his desk. "Having to dig up an old advertisement... Sounds like you have fussy clients."
Nanao blinked at him and found herself smiling again, twice in one morning. She had not known such a sensible person existed on her floor; this was going to have to be remedied immediately.
“Yes,” she agreed with a nod. “It is not normally a problem, but I am not familiar with advertisements that go so far back that we don’t have them in our computer data bases.” She nodded.
“May I buy you a cup of tea?” It never hurt to cultivate good speaking relationships with the sane people… especially since there weren’t that many who actually worked here. She could appreciate sane co-workers… she really could.
'Eh?' was his first reaction to the question - which was more of a request than a question. He quirked his eyebrow a little, surprised. A cup of tea? With him?
Uh, well... He did not have anything important to do... And he was probably over thinking the offer. Besides, it was a chance to get to know an office colleague he barely had any interaction with better.
"I would love to have tea with you," he replied, smiling. He hoped he did not sound hesitant. "If you are not too busy with work, of course."
Nanao nodded. “The bakery just across the street produces a nice cup of tea,” she said with another small nod. Though to be honest it wasn’t as good as her own tea makings, it was enough to sooth her frayed nerves when she had spent one to many hours dealing with difficult customers or when Shunsui paid one to many visits to her office in the course of one day.
“I will just drop this off in my office,” she glanced at her watch and shrugged. “It is time for a break anyway.” Breaks kept her sane; otherwise she would end up having to close her door and the blinds in order to vent her frustration in private.
“Shall I swing back by here?” It was practically on the way out after all.
"Mmm..." He glanced over his shoulder, towards the elevator, and then back at Nanao. Well, her office was down the other side of the bullpen, and she would pass by here before going out.
"Sure," he said. "Whenever you're ready."
He had all the time in the world anyway - he was free today, and going to help Shunsui with his designs could always be postponed.
Besides, a stop at the bakery meant that he could get some cake, or something sweet, and that would keep him satisfied until he could go for a candy run.
Nanao nodded. “I will be right back then,” she waited a moment to make sure that he wasn’t going to decide he didn’t like the idea, nodded once more just to be certain, and headed back to her office, clutching the show advertisement close. This would go in a folder and get organized so that she didn’t loose it - might even make a copy of it so that she could return it to Ukitake and let him put it back in his files with nothing happening to the original copy.
She settled it on her desk, under one of the folders so that no one passing buy would just reach out and grab it, grabbed her purse and flipping off her light and shutting her door, she headed back in the direction of Ukitake.
She wasn’t entirely sure what impulse had gotten the invitation out before she could stop it… but it was going to be fun.
He smiled and returned her nod as she turned and walked away, back to her office. He wandered back around his desk and straightened up some papers. Pulling the top drawer open, he retrieved his wallet and mobile phone, slipping the former into his back pocket whilst holding on to the latter.
He leaned over his computer and logged off, casting his gaze over his shoulder to his desk to see if anything else needed to be done.
Satisfied, he pushed his chair in and wandered back around, leaning against his desk again. It was just a little odd - having a break with Nanao. He often spent it alone, with Shunsui, or maybe Isshin when he was free... Come to think of it he had never had tea with Nanao before.
It was certainly going to be interesting.
Nanao stopped at his desk, bag firmly clutched on her shoulder.
“Ready?” she felt it was rather redundant to ask the question since he was obviously waiting on her, leaning against the desk like he was but she worked to be polite if nothing else and who knew? He might have gotten a phone call in the two seconds that she had been in her office.
Things like that happened.
He nodded at her, clutching at his back pocket instinctively. Wallet was there, phone was there, office table did not look like a nuclear testing site... Yes - he was ready.
Slipping his hands into his pockets, he smiled warmly at her as they headed for the elevator.
"I..." he began, glancing up at the dimmed numbers on top of the elevator as they waited for it to arrive. "I've never had tea with you before," he said, scratching at the back of his head with a sheepish grin on his face.
"So... What do you do during your breaks?" he asked, wanting more to make conversation than be invasive or nosey. "Besides trying to preserve your sanity, of course." He was mildly surprised that someone serious and more work-minded could last in an office like Soul Society.
She blinked at his question and smiled. “No,” she agreed, “it is nice to meet another sane person though,” she turned her smile in his direction. It was easy to smile at nice normal people or at least she was quite capable of it.
Her breaks? She paused thoughtfully and shrugged, the truth was the truth. “I lock my door to keep Shunsui out and enjoy the silence which goes a long way to preserving my sanity.” Which was really quite important here, people were always in a hurry or doing something that just seemed… illogical. If she didn’t have a door to shut and lock she might have already quit for the simple purposes of maintain her sanity.
She glanced over at him again.
“You?”
Sweets? Really now? It sounded like a great place to visit for a break. His smile widened and he cast a sideways glance at her, only to realize she was looking at him.
He felt the slightest of blushes creep up his cheeks, and turned and looked away, his smile softening.
It was a little awkward, really...
Thankfully the elevator saved him by arriving at a good time. He waited for Nanao to step in before he followed in after her, standing in the corner, waiting for the elevator to descend to the bottom floor.
Nanao ducked her head to hide her amusement at the blush. The blush was actually quite cute but she rather doubted he would like for her to tell him that. She was going to wonder why she hadn’t taken the time to say hello to him before this now though to be honest it was mostly because he was always hanging around Shunsui. She would have to stage her hellos carefully from now on; the last thing she wanted was for Shunsui to think she was greeting him.
“So how long have you been working here?” she questioned, curious and to help break the silence after making him blush like that.
Mmm... How long has he worked here... He gazed at the ceiling, thinking. "Maybe... About ten years or so now," he said, laughing a little nervously. Ten years is a long time to stay in the office these days, but he really liked the job.
"Was the first job I got when I arrived... Didn't really look around for any others."
He would be hard pressed to find a company so lenient in their sick-leave policy, and he had already gotten acquainted with most of the staff in Soul Society. He would love to stay for as long as he could.
"Don't suppose you have been working in this mental hospital for that long?"
Mmm... How long has he worked here... He gazed at the ceiling, thinking. "Maybe... About ten years or so now," he said, laughing a little nervously. Ten years is a long time to stay in the office these days, but he really liked the job.
"Was the first job I got when I arrived... Didn't really look around for any others."
He would be hard pressed to find a company so lenient in their sick-leave policy, and he had already gotten acquainted with most of the staff in Soul Society. He would love to stay for as long as he could.
"Don't suppose you have been working in this mental hospital for that long?"
Nanao shook her head. “No,” she agreed. “I started work here shortly after I graduated, so almost four years, but not quite.” She liked the challenge that the magazine offered and it since they promoted from within she had found herself enjoying the steady climb in job status.
It was a good place to work - all things considered. She shot him another glance out of the corner of her eyes.
“I am surprised you haven’t visited the bakery, having been here so long.” It was one of the first places that she had gone and looked at.
Well, he was a creature of habit. He only knew a few places in Manhattan, having come from overseas, and he had not really explored the vicinity of the office building. He spent most of his lunchtimes in the office, and the other times would be spent following colleagues around to different places.
Besides, he took a lot of sick leave - he knew the hospital better than the vicinity of the Soul Society office.
"I haven't really explored around," he said, his gaze wandering to the diminishing numbers. "I only know a few places in Manhattan, which is a little embarrassing seeing as I have been here for a decade."
That made sense, the only reason she had discovered the bakery was because of the need to get out of the office for a legitimate reason so one day during lunch she had gone on a walk and had been pleasantly pleased by her little discovery. Otherwise all the restaurants and places she frequented were either explorations she had made her first year or so after moving into the city itself or recommended by co-workers.
The elevator pinged open and she stepped through and paused to let him catch up. “I hope you like this place then,” they had good soups and sandwiches on top of the cookies and the cake.
She rather thought he might just go after the sugar though - after his confession anyway.
He followed after her as they started to make their way across the lobby of the building, smiling a small smile at her. He had nothing against bakeries - the place would certainly be fine.
Besides, they were just going to have tea, were they not? Tea and something sugary, anyway.
"I'm sure the place will be fine," he said. "It is quite nice to try something new every once in a while."
She agreed, completely. “It is.”
They made it outside and she relaxed just a little more at the sunshine. She had an office with a window of course, but it was always nice to escape outside into the bright sunshine instead of being stuck in front of her computer or talking to any number of people.
“The bakery is a short distance this way,” she said motioning to the left with her hand.
He took in a breath of fresh air and sighed contentedly. He had grown fond of the outdoors, having spent too much time in hospital beds inhaling the strong scent of disinfectant.
He looked over to the general direction of where she was pointing, and nodded. He would have to remember how to get there for future lunchtime visits.
"Lead the way," he said, smiling.
The thing that Nanao liked best about the little hole in the wall bakery (besides its location) was the cozy atmosphere that it cultured very well. It had the old fashioned booths and tables but the lighting wasn’t overly bright so when her eyes were tired from staring at paperwork all day she could walk in, grab some tea, and let them rest which was almost invaluable for her peace of mind.
The made it to the bakery very quickly. It was simply around the corner from the building and she hit the door at a quick step. She was here often enough that they lady at the counter waved and Nanao offered her a slight smile in return. They were nice, friendly, and not only had good cake but good banana bread and soft cookies.
… she would admit to having a fondness for soft cookies when she wasn’t in the mood for banana bread. Or the cherry tarts when cherries were in season, those were like an addiction. She took more breaks during Cherry season than at any other time of the year.
She paused in front of the counter and let Ukitake examine the menu. Banana nut bread and the house blend tea was her main staple and she would stick with it today. It was definitely a banana nut bread day.
They had arrived at the bakery, and he could tell that Nanao was a welcome, regular customer. He looked around - it was a nice place to be, whether it be taking a break from work or after work. It smelled like a bakery would, with fresh bread and pastries.
He took in the display, the myriad of food and things on the menu. Nothing was new or extra spectacular, but everything looked and/or sounded nice.
He would have a hard time deciding what he wanted, but he did not want Nanao to wait for too long, and if he could he would pick one of everything, but he couldn't really do that.
Maybe he would try something different each time he came back?
Mmm... He was probably going to get a cheese scone and tea.
"What are you getting, Nanao?"
“Banana nut bread and the house tea,” she said promptly. She reached up and pushed at her glasses and glanced at him. She wasn’t sure if he would think she was rambling if she explained that she had a few staples given whatever time of the year it was. She shrugged casually.
She really was a pretty routine person if she had to break it down. Though he didn’t seem anywhere near as flamboyant as Shunsui so it was probably safe to say that he wouldn’t call her out for being boring on a trip to the bakery, which was good. “Have you decided on what you are going to get?”
Banana nut bread... Hmm... That sounded interesting, too. He nodded promptly at her - he would settle on his decision before he changed his mind, or they would be there all day while he deliberated.
"I guess I'll get a cheese scone and. Tea." And then in the future he would start working his way down the menu and across the display, trying to figure out what would be his favorites and what was good.
He made the orders with the lady, who seemed to be familiar with the 'banana nut bread and house blend tea' routine, and he pulled out a bill from his wallet and handed it to her.
Banana nut bread... Hmm... That sounded interesting, too. He nodded promptly at her - he would settle on his decision before he changed his mind, or they would be there all day while he deliberated.
"I guess I'll get a cheese scone and. Tea." And then in the future he would start working his way down the menu and across the display, trying to figure out what would be his favorites and what was good.
He made the orders with the lady, who seemed to be familiar with the 'banana nut bread and house blend tea' routine, and he pulled out a bill from his wallet and handed it to her.
Nanao had fished out her card and blinked at Ukitake handing the clerk a bill. She blinked again and frowned. “I do believe that I offered to buy your tea,” she informed him, reaching up to push her glasses back. It wasn’t that they were loose this time, but it was a habit. If she was going to stare someone down she was going to do so where she could see them clearly.
Shunsui had only made this particular habit worse in the last few months. And Isshin… both of them were trying to drive her batty she was sure. She pushed her card at the sales person.
He blinked a few times. Sure - she did say that she wanted to buy him tea - but he couldn't possibly let her pay for him. She was looking at him with 'that' look that he remembered Shunsui had mentioned before a few times, and he felt just a little uneasy.
"But I insist - I can't let you pay for me... Anyway, it's just lunch, right?" Surely she could just let him pay for this.
Nanao shook her head at him. “I offered to buy you tea, you accepted,” she informed him. Then she quirked a brow at him, “You wouldn’t go back on that agreement now would you?”
He might push it and then she would relent because that was the proper thing to do (if her mother was to be believed but she had never been one for letting people pay for her stuff once she had gotten her own hefty paycheck…). It was perhaps her one social counter. Besides she had offered to buy him tea, not offered to take him to the bakery so that he could buy her tea and bread.
Well, he didn't want to go back on the agreement, but it just. It felt innately wrong to let Nanao pay for him. Well - it felt innately wrong to let anyone pay for him - he had paid for other people, too.
"It's only a lunch," he said softly. "Besides - I promise - if I pay this time, you can pay next time." That way it was a reason for them to have lunch again - it would be a lot different from his usual lunches.
"Will that work?" he asked, tilting his head a little and smiling.
She stared at him for a few more moments. Then she sighed and took her card back shaking her head at him. If he wasn’t so cute she wouldn’t have agreed. “All right,” she agreed. “But I am paying next time.”
She held out her hand for her card back and shook her head again. "There will be no changing of the terms either."
She was a lawyer. People didn't get to wiggle out of their agreements with her very often.
He smiled a little, relieved that the issue had been sorted, and finally the lady accepted his bill and gave him a receipt and his change. "No changing of terms, ma'am," he confirmed, nodding. She could probably sue him or charge him for something if he deviated from that note.
"Shall we grab a seat?" he asked, glancing around. There were many tables to choose from - he would just follow her to one.
Nanao nodded. “Sure,” she agreed heading for her favorite little corner in the café. The sunshine was warm here and she could watch the various people walking around outside and wonder where they were going so quickly. It was fun to guess who was going where and to try to figure out exactly where they were going to go.
It was one of her favorite little games that she played when she had the time and when she was here by herself. She settled so that she was the one with the sunlight. A glance at the clock confirmed that they had only been here for a few minutes and could safely chat and talk for a good fifteen minutes before they would have to think about heading back to the office.
She took a sip of her tea and sighed - perfect.
He followed her to the corner of the shop, and took a seat opposite from her. He sighed softly, content, and looked out the window, at the people passing by. New York was so busy - he could never get used to it, how everyone was always rushing around, always fighting against time, fighting against deadlines.
He looked at the cup of tea before him, blinking a few times. Sitting before Nanao, he felt a little self-conscious, so he tentatively opened the metal sugar container. One, two, three, four teaspoons of sugar went into his cup of tea, and he stirred the sugar and tea solution.
He took a sip of his tea, a small smile on his face. It tasted just right, and he was starting to feel more at ease.
"This place is nice," he said. "Away from the madness in the office."
Nanao nodded. “I am glad you like it,” she ignored how much sugar he just loaded into his poor unsuspecting tea. She was starting to think that it wasn’t so much as a thing as it was he just loved sugar.
She hid her grin behind her tea cup. “Thank you for coming with me.”
He gazed up at her, looking mildly surprised, and smiled. He was beginning to wonder why he hadn't gotten to know Nanao better earlier - they'd been in the same office for years and this was the first time they had gone out to lunch together.
And they got along quite well, too, save for certain awkward moments.
"I should be thanking you for bringing me here," he replied, lowering his gaze as he took another sip of tea.
"I shall be looking forward to our next visit," he started, gazing over at the display of pastries and breads. "I'm going to have to try one of everything before Christmas," he added, a wide smile on his face.
He was cute; Nanao would give that to him on all sorts of levels. Especially when he blushed, the blushing was adorable. She grinned. If he wanted to come and try all the different things before Christmas then she could accommodate him.
“That is a lot of visits,” she agreed. He hadn’t even gotten into the seasonal treats that they made on monthly basis here. Her lips twitched.
“I look forward to it.”
She really did.