Flowers for my Love
Ok, this is a story for Gin Ichimaru and Rangiku Matsumoto.
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The day Rangiku had passed from the academy; she received a bouquet of flowers on her bed. She doesn't know how someone had gotten in there, but there lay a bundle of flowers. She simply assumed that the person who had snuck in was too shy to give them to her in person, so she never raised any questions. No, she treasured that bouquet for the two weeks that it lived. It was a bouquet of begonias.
She kept it on her kitchen table; safe from harm and place just-so that it was always bathed in sunlight. Only one person saw it, and he was shocked. She didn't understand why he would be.
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"What's wrong with them?" Rangiku questioned her oldest friend, tilting her head in an innocently curious way. She stared surprised at the look of shock and even the bit of anxiety that crossed his pale face.
Ichimaru blinked at her innocence before sitting at the table and stroking one of the leaves of the flower with a careful hand. "Ya know what this flower means, Rangiku-chan?" he pondered, frowning ever so slightly. He turns his hidden green eyes to face her as she shakes her head negative. "This flower means 'beware'. Someone mus' be warnin' ya, Rangiku-chan…" His brows creased in worry and contemplation. "Any 'dea why one would think they 'ad ta warn ya?"
Rangiku blinked, looking at the flowers. "No, but if I didn't know what they meant, then surely that means that the sender might not know either. They are beautiful, Gin-kun, ne?" she tells him. She sat down across from him and gently pressed her nose towards one of the light pink blossoms, inhaling the sweet scent. "You worry too much since you've become fuko-taichou. Aizen-taichou must think you're uptight…" she drawled.
Gin smiled lightly; one of his rare true smiles. "An' maybe ya worry a bit to lil', ne?" he teased.
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When she became a fuko-taichou to Hitsugaya-taichou, she received another bouquet and, again, they were placed on her bed. Beautiful blue/violet flowers adorned it; tiny and each gently tracing the stems in rows of tens or so. She found out what they meant when she put them in the office. Ukitake-taichou had come to talk to Hitsugaya-taichou.
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The white-haired man's brows furrowed slightly as he took in the sight of bouquet on her desk. "Fuko-taichou, what are those flowers on your desk? Do you know?" he questioned her, stepping up to look at them carefully.
"No, I was sent them just last week. I assume for my big promotion! They are so beautiful…" she murmured, stroking the little flowers tenderly.
Ukitake kept a few steps away from her desk, gazing at the flowers gently. "They are monkshood. They mean that there is a dangerous person is nearby…" He shook his head gently, a smile brightening his face once more. "But that isn't that well-known, and they are a beautiful flower. I think your idea is much more believable than a warning!"
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Gin must have been right when he said she was carefree, for she didn't give a second thought to the flowers. She simply kept them on her desk until Hitsugaya-taichou complained that the black of the wilted flowers was bringing him down. It was a dry comment, dripping with sarcasm, he used to get her to realize they were dead.
When Gin had become taichou, she had given him a potted plant of nasturtiums. She had actually spent the time to find out the meanings to may flowers before finding that these flowers meant exactly what she wanted.
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"Gin-kun!" she called, looking at his back. She grinned when she say the symbol for the third squad on the white taichou-cloak. "Gin-kun!"
Gin spun gently to face her just as she stopped in front of him. "Rangiku-chan, wha' is it?" he questioned carefully, looking at her gently. He smiled slightly when he saw the potted flower in her hands. His smile grew a teensy bit when she handed them to him. "Fer me?" he questioned, smiling down at her. She nodded happily. "Thank ya, Rangiku-chan. They're lovely…" he told her, gently peeking at the card. "'Congratulations on the promotion, love Rangiku'…" he read, smiling softly at her.
Rangiku gently took the taichou's free arm around her own, pulling him towards the empty park. "It means 'victory in battle'. I think it fits due to you winning the position of third taichou, ne?" she chirped, smiling brightly.
"Indeed they do…" he drawled.
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Half a year later, she received another bouquet on her bed. Again, it was of little small flowers colored violet and stacked on the stem in tens. But they didn't look like the monkshood. For one, they were streaked with white.
Rangiku had gone to the nearest flower shop with her bouquet; she wanted to know what they meant. When she had gone, she found out that they meant a deep, sad apology. They were hyacinths. The clerk had wondered if someone had done her a terrible wrong, but not even Rangiku, herself, could imagine who and what that person did. She ignored the meaning, thinking that she was given them for their beauty. Perhaps a mistake.
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When she returned to her bed after Gin's betrayal and escape, she saw another bouquet on it. Realization crossed her face and she pulled out the flower guide that Ukitake had gotten her for her birthday since he knew she loved flowers. She looked up the pale pink flowers, along with the small white ones and the purple ones. The pale pink ones where cyclamens, the white was orange mocks, and the purple ones where anemones. "'Cyclamens, meaning: resignation and good-bye,'" she read, stroking the pink flowers numbly. She flips through the pages. "'Orange mocks, meaning: deceit.'" Once more, she flips through the pages of the small book. "'Anemone, meaning forsaken…'" she murmurs into the air. "Gin…"
As she gently scoops the flowers into her arms, she notices the light blue sheet of paper that was hidden beneath. As she trims the ends of the flowers carefully and places them in a vase of water, she tries not to think. She sets the vase on her table before picking up the note. Tears run from her eyes as she stares at the patch of her bed that was covered by the paper. One single forget-me-not lay on her blankets. "'True love and memories'…" she whispers, knowing the meaning by heart. Her favorite flower; and the one she wanted most to receive from him.
Rangiku-chan,
I'm sure you understand what I have done. I have been the one giving you the flowers all these years. The begonias, I had given you them the day after I accepted Aizen-sama's plan and joined him. The monkshood was when I finally mentally joined him. Before I had been undecided, that was the end of that time. I gave you the hyacinths when this plan was made; me leaving and Rukia-chan's execution. I betrayed you so badly then. These three in the bouquet are the symbols of the entire thing. 'Forsaken', I had done that to you. 'Deceit', what I have been doing this entire time. 'Resignation and goodbye', I accept the hate I will receive from you and the whole of the soul society. And good-bye, the first and last I shall ever give you. And surely by now you have found the forget-me-not. I love you, honest, but that scares me. I am supposed to not have emotions, so I am being a coward and running from everything. I love you. And I shall never forget the memories that we have shared; never. Again, I love you, Rangiku-chan. Forget me; you deserve a true love that will not leave you and hurt you like I have.
Goodbye forever,
Gin
Tears sting her eyes and she clutches the forget-me-not to her chest. "I love you, Gin-kun, even if I hate you. I will never forget you, though…."
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Ok, there we go! Done! Please review!
- LaZ