Hi! ^_^ I'm slowly working on making the fandom for this pairing grow, so I hope you enjoy yourself. And do criticize anything you dislike even or can argue against even the slightest.
I do not own.
Gin really, utterly loathed silence.
When he was younger, he used to be utterly terrified of it; he talked to himself, hummed or sang a song. He even started brawls and fights just to do something about the silence; he was positively desperate!
And falling asleep was virtually impossible until he had either run himself to exhaustion (which was how he learned to manoeuvre with closed eyes) or until he came to a grove filled with singing songbirds.
When Rangiku became a part of his life, he was nothing short of overjoyed. Especially since he found out she had a beautiful singing voice (for all he cared, she could have sounded like a sick camel), and that she rather liked singing, but was far too shy about it (the first had him dancing on the roof with sheer joy and the other had sparked the first small fires of infatuation). The first time he had, shyly, asked if she would sing him a lullaby, she hadn't asked "why do want me to do that?" she had instead asked "why do you want me to do that?"
He had answered neither question, and told her that she had such a beautiful singing voice. "Please, Ran, I'll do somethin' nice for ya in return," he had pleaded in a desperate whisper. Rangiku had never asked for anything, she had thought she did way too little around their miniscule home, anyways. At least, she did until she caught a cold one horrible winter and could barely talk, much less sing.
Gin had been beside himself with terror and had babbled so far into the night, the exhausted Rangiku fell asleep. Gin had, when his voice gave up on him, found himself hugging Rangiku close. Half asleep, half awakened from the sudden contact, the girl returned Gin's terrified embrace, his ear pressed against her heart.
And that was when he found the best alternative to Ran's lullabies; her slow heartbeat. Gin supposed that was when the small flames of infatuation that had formed over the long time since they met merged into what wasn't quite love.
Many of those flames had come during the autumn thunderstorms, which Ran had proved absolutely terrified of. She had a good reason, though, as she was one of the few who remembered her death, which had happened in the late autumn during a hefty thunderstorm, which had turned the fresh earth from the decaying leaves into treacherous mud. One little slip, and a poor, starving, orphan could easily find herself sliding straight off a cliff side, hanging suspended in mid-air for a few moments, with lightning illuminating the dark, dark canvas that was the cloud cover, before crashing to her death in a river far below. All the terror from that night returned every time thunder roared or lightning flashed, and Ran clung to Gin, as if she would slip off another cliff should she ever let go. The terror was most obvious in her stifled sobs and his aching ribs. She needed his stability during the storms as much as he needed her songs during the silence…
Wonderful feeling, knowing that you weren't the only one with needs, which seemed silly to anyone that did not share in their fears.
The last little spark had been added to the bonfire of love when she, on their first night together in the Academy, had snuck into his room (there was a punishment for leaving your room, especially if it was to reappear in another's, after curfew) and had gently sung him to sleep. She was gone when he woke up, or he would probably have told her he loved her… Although he didn't wait too long to do any such thing.
And now… Gin hummed quietly to himself, knowing he wouldn't get any sleep any time soon. It was far too quiet in Hueco Mundo. The autumn storms couldn't be far off, Ran would need him soon.
I know it's a bit of a strange place to stop, but I think it's a good point. And the students each have their own small room, or it would be hard to sneak from one to the other. Please review and tell me what you liked/disliked.