I'm alive! With a new and improved multi-chapter fic about Gin and Rangiku! I love them so much. Also, with an absence of OCs! I know this isn't the most original idea ever, but I wanted to do my take on it, and I really enjoy writing this. I have a bunch of chapters written already (so you don't have to wait months for them), but I'm still not really sure how it's going to end! Sooo...

Le Disclaimer: Bleach and all associated characters, locations, and other elements does not belong to me, it belongs to the wonderful Kubo-san. That being said, the story does belong to me, so don't steal it.

Le Warnings: Language and some OOC. Gin's accent is also very difficult for me.

Le Reviews: Post a review if you feel so inclined; they make me happy happy happy. Criticisms and spelling edits are also appreciated, though I have been experimenting with grammar and punctuation a bit, lately. Flames will be used to light candles! Enjoy the story!

The Universe had made a mistake. A colossally stupid, horrible mistake.

And Matsumoto Rangiku was staring straight at it.

It happened to come in the form of a man who had died and then died again. Which meant that he should be completely, utterly, irrevocably dead.

Although if Ichigo was the standard the universe went by nowadays, she could understand.

She swallowed. This was going to be hard.

She walked nonchalantly past the man sitting on the bench in the park, but for some reason, after she passed, she could barely stop herself from looking back. As she passed, she felt a breeze against the side of her back, and a noise like a clink.

Rangiku hadn't realized she had been holding her breath until she was seven steps past him, and she exhaled slowly, deliberately.

"Miss?"

She froze. His voice.

She turned, despite knowing that the voice was likely not directed at her. He was staring straight at her, a slightly perplexed look on his face. He wasn't smiling; that was strange, for sure. However, he actually looked confused, and somehow, that was refreshing.

It reminded her of the miserable perfect days in the Rukongai, just the two of them, when he had facial expressions that other people could decipher. She had been able to see the slight variations in his mask, and perhaps Kira had, too, but back then, anyone could tell. He had always kept his eyes closed, though. As long as she remembered.

"Yes?" The word was a soft, round cotton-ball in her mouth, and she swallowed again, repeating her question, louder.

"Yes?"

He smiled, and the old Gin smile was back. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Ya dropped yer wallet."

A sharp inhale; then the involuntary check of hands to the side pocket of her jacket. All of a sudden, she realized what had happened, and her eyes narrowed.

"Gin!" she scolded him, and began walking toward him, trying to feign irritation at his thieving hands, only slowing when she saw his startled expression.

He recovered smoothly.

"So we have met, then."

She stopped then, realizing that, of course, he didn't know her. He couldn't know her. His very existence in the world of the living was such a fluke, that anything more would be asking for a miracle.

So why was it that Rangiku's heart ached a little when he said those words?

"No... No we haven't..." she started as she snatched her wallet from him. "I mean yes! Yes we have, but you wouldn't remember. It was... a long time ago." She opted for something closer to the truth. After all, the Winter War was already six years in the past.

"Oh really?" He grinned, a dastardly grin. "I have an excellent memory. 'Specially fer pretty girls like you, Rangiku."

Now it was his turn to inhale sharply. "What didya say yer name was, miss?"

"I didn't. But it's Rangiku. Matsumoto Rangiku."

"Well ain't that funny? I must've met ya 'fore I bonked m'head."

Rangiku had abruptly turned and started walking away after he said her name without thinking, but he had stood up and followed her, talking all the while.

"'Bonked your head'? What do you mean?"

He smiled apologetically. "I was lyin' about the memory, Ran-chan." Rangiku winced at the pet name, hoping he hadn't noticed. He had, but he chose not to comment.

"I've got amnesia, Rangiku-san. 'Woke up in a gutter smellin' like cats and booze, and not in a good way." He wagged his finger back and forth at her. She smiled, against her will.

"Goodness, Gin; don't call me that. It makes me feel old. Just Rangiku is fine."

He grinned, "Rangiku it is then. Anyhow. 'Woke up, didn't remember anything. If somebody says certain words, I get feelin's about 'em, but no real memories.

"Like, you fer instance. Now that I said yer name, Ran-ch–Rangiku, I've got a feelin' that you wouldn't mind me takin' you into this cafe and buyin' you a coffee and some dried persimmons."

She laughed and allowed him to steer her into a small cafe on the outskirts of Karakura Town, where they chatted for a few hours. There were some awkward moments, but for the most part, it was comfortable. The one small thing that disturbed her was that he didn't seem to have any sort of reiatsu at all.

Meaning she couldn't track him. Which was totally not a creepy thought at all.

After Rangiku's few hours were up, though, and her Soul Pager started becoming more active, she was forced to begin extricating herself from the disturbingly comfortable moment talking in a coffee shop with Gin.

"I'll see ya again sometime, Rangiku."

She paused, wanting this moment to be forever. It was dark outside, and she was sitting across from Gin at a table inside a coffee shop where the sign on the door had long been flipped to 'Closed.' The table was littered with eleven or twelve empty coffee cups, more than half of them hers, and two half-eaten bags of dried persimmons. She was laughing and happy, and so was he. Neither of them were drunk, and Aizen wasn't even a presence in the room. The young man behind the counter had gone off to loudly wash dishes in the back, and the hours could not drag on long enough.

"I hope so."

"Here, call me, Ran-chan." She barely noticed the renewed use of the name as he dragged her wrist across the table and started writing on it with a permanent black marker.

"Gin! What on earth are you doing!?"

He laughed as she snatched her hand away, smudging the six and turning the last digit, a nine, into a sort of funny, drawn out 'g.' He opened his eyes briefly, then stood up to leave, throwing a farewell casually over his shoulder.

"Bye-bye, Ran-chan."

Yay! Hope you liked chapter one!