Dawn hadn't yet arrived in the Soul Society, yet Izuru Kira found himself wide awake, moving methodically through heaps of division paperwork. His eyes were narrowed slightly in concentration as he went through paper after paper, stopping only to push his unusually long blond bang out of his vision. It was pathetic, really, that he was trying to escape from his thoughts, only to feel a fresh jolt of pain in the pit of his stomach every time he wrote the date on the documents. September tenth…Ichimaru Taicho's birthday. No, not Ichimaru Taicho…Ichimaru Gin.
Gin had betrayed Soul Society and that was that. Izuru tried and failed to convince himself of this fact for the umpteenth time since his former captain had left for Hueco Mundo with Aizen. This man had put Izuru through hell. Even though the Captain General didn't hold him responsible for any of the events that had lead up to Aizen's betrayal, people still gave Izuru odd looks…still believed him guilty. It was as if they expected him to suddenly ascend to Hueco Mundo at any second. No matter how much this disgusted him, Izuru had to admit it was logical. After all he had served under Gin since he had left the fourth division to join Aizen's division.
They had been so close for so long yet Gin had had no qualms about lying to Izuru about Momo's safety. He may not have hurt her himself but Gin had still lead Momo to what would have been her end if it weren't for Unohanna Taicho. Gin had known how much Izuru loved her and he had still let her be injured. He had betrayed Izuru's trust and left him without so much as a goodbye after all those years of loyal service.
Izuru threw down the paper he had been pretending to read. Sickness washed over him as he admitted the next point to himself, even after all of this, he couldn't act as the rest of soul society did; he couldn't hate Ichimaru Gin no matter how much he tried to. It wasn't black and white, like hating persimmons. Gin was much more complicated than a persimmon.
In spite of himself, Izuru lifted the tea he had been sipping all morning and moved it in a mock toast as he whispered, "Happy Birthday, Ichimaru Taicho."
While Izuru was sipping tea, Rangiku had popped open the sake, in need of something stronger. She shouldn't have been awake this early and she certainly shouldn't be drinking before sunrise, but she had given up on sleep. He was haunting her dreams again and even more so than usual today. She had always loved him. Even when they had been poor children, he had been there to protect her. It was he who had suggested they become soul reapers in the first place; he who had saved her from starvation; he who had given her a birthday; he who had given her a reason to live.
Rangiku took a swig of sake large enough to choke even the captain of eighth division. She thought of Gin's promise to protect her. She thought of their first kiss outside of fifth division barracks. Rangiku had loved Gin and he had left her stranded. He had left her for Aizen's ridiculous rebellion. The lieutenant took another swig of sake. It didn't make sense still for Gin to have left. She wanted to ask him why he was following Aizen. To be honest, Rangiku wanted to ask Gin a lot of questions. Most of all, she wanted to know how he could have left her after promising to always protect her.
Rangiku wished she could resent Gin like everyone else in Soul Society did. But the silver haired shinigami meant far more to her than he did to everyone else. She stilled loved him. It was a complicated love, like the kind she had for persimmons only much stronger. Persimmons had been her lifesaver; Gin had always smelt of persimmons. When the fruit was in full bloom on the tree, Gin's kisses had always been sticky and sweet, like persimmons.
Rangiku toasted her bottle before finishing the last gulp of sake, "Happy Birthday, Gin."
Gin Ichimaru glared out of his small white room in Las Noches. The artificial sun and lack of a time piece made it impossible to tell time on Hueco Mundo, but Gin guessed it was still early in the Soul Society, probably before sunrise. He did know one thing however; it was September tenth, his birthday, the first birthday in a long time that he would spend away from Rangiku and Izuru. Nobody in Las Noches was likely to recognize his birthday. Gin intended to keep quiet about the matter, knowing that the arrancars would probably be crueler than usual to him if he gave them an occasion to. Tousen had never much liked him so it wasn't likely that he would waste valuable "justice time" on Gin. As for Aizen, he would probably ignore it. Aizen thought of things like birthdays as frivolous wastes of time.
Gin couldn't remember feeling so homesick in his entire life. He had promised to protect Rangiku. Yet he had been unable to stop Aizen and his men from hurting her. It was then that Gin had promised to destroy Aizen at all costs. Over a century later, that cost had proved to be time away from his home, his lieutenant, and Rangiku. Sometimes, Gin wondered if he would be able to kill his former captain. If he failed, he would never be able to eat the sweet persimmons off of the tree he had planted outside of his division again. There would be no more sticky kisses from Rangiku and no more relaxing under the tree with Izuru, playing cat's cradle and watching the young man compose haikus.
Gin shook these thoughts away. He knew he would succeed. He just had to succeed. Aizen had made a foolish mistake by revealing the one weakness of his shikai to Gin. It was just a matter of waiting for the right time to strike. As odd as it sounded, Gin was reminded of waiting for the persimmons to grow juicy and sweet on the trees. If he picked them too early, they were disgustingly bitter and firm. Killing Aizen was waiting for the persimmons to ripen.
He had remembered to apologize to Rangiku even though this was all for her; it had always been all for her. Izuru, on the other hand, he had left without a word. Gin was worried that Aizen would eliminate Izuru the same way he had Momo if the boy had succeeded and returned to them. If not, Izuru would have noticed Momo's body and would have attacked Aizen for sure. Gin had set it up so that he would fight Rangiku and lose. He needed Izuru to be safe.
With a sigh, Gin prepared to endure the worst birthday ever, another sacrifice for the cause. He would wait until it was the right time to defeat Aizen and then the fruit would finally ripen. Until then, Izuru, Rangiku, and he would have to wait patiently.
It was a ridiculous thing to do since he knew neither of them could hear him. Gin knew this yet he still felt the need to say it, as if it might make something better, heal one of the many wounds that he had created. It was barely a whisper but he had said it for both of them.
"Thank you."