"Stand down, Captain Ichimaru, or I will be forced to take drastic measures." The glint in the eyes of the soul reaper held no lies. Said captain was no longer wearing his trademark grin and closed eyes. "You know I can kill you anytime I want, right?" The grip on the soul reaper's sword didn't falter. "Why did you do it you bastard. You said you'd become a Shinigami so I wouldn't cry again." Her speech was flawed with chokes and tears.

This would be the perfect opportunity to tell Rangiku why he had been working for Aizen, but he just couldn't muster up the strength to do it. "I-" Rangiku tightened her grip on the sword, preparing herself for what he was about to say. 'I did it for you' is what Gin wanted to say, but he couldn't muster up the words or strength. "You'd never understand Matsumoto."

Gin talked to her on a last name basis. His voice was sincere, she'd known Gin too much to not see emotion in him. Then again, he lied to her and everyone else without them noticing either. Matsumoto Rangiku lowered her sword and tried to reason to her childhood friend. "Come back to us, Gin. We can be just like old times, we only had each other for friends."

Ichimaru turned his back and denied any surrendering. "I wish it were that easy. Aizen has become too powerful, even if I will turn against Aizen-taichou-"the rest of Gin's monologue fell silent to her ears. "That traitor is not a captain. He never was. I suspected him from the very beginning, but I never suspected you. You were my friend, maybe even more than that, but you just shoved me off, broke off my promises and my heart." Gin's expression changed again. She had called him by the rank of a captain, but not Aizen.

"Of course, you did; you always were smart. However, you changed into a whore with a fake personality. Look at you. You even dress like a slut." Gin genuinely hated that side of his friend that he would die for. Rangiku, however was broken by his words, the ever so hurting words ringing in her ears as her conscience repeated the words in her head. The truth of the words hurt more than the insults themselves.

"However-"Matsumoto was broken from her sadness, when Gin's anger faded away into melancholy. "I know that is my fault, too isn't it? The only friend you ever had was me, but I had gone away to become your protector. Killer or protector, it didn't matter to you. In the end I was just a traitor. You became an alcoholic and tried to make new friends. All of this is my fault. I will fix this, like I promised."

She knew he was so close to coming back. He even kept their bond through his treachery. He just needed a little push. "If you will fix this, then help us defeat Aizen." Gin prepared his final words to his friend and said, "No, it is too late for that. You are too weak and he is too strong. Strategy is needed and obviously you have none. Your intellect you once wielded have faded away. I have to do this myself."

"No," cried Rangiku. Gin turned around to look at her. "Roar, Haineko!" Gin's eyes widened as gas hit him in the face faster than he could react. He closed them back, as he got back up. "We have to do this together, Gin, like when we were still kids." Gin still believed he was in the right. "Your sadness has clouded your mind. You are too weak to do anything. In your current state, you are worth as little as those humans over there. A team is as only strong as its weakest link."

"Teamwork is how things are accomplished, Gin." Matsumoto said with her eyes sincere. "You can't do this on your own, Gin. What happens if you die, Gin? I love you and I don't know what I would do without you. I'd go insane. What you are doing is more selfish than an act of heroism." Gin smiled, "You are right. Come on let's go. Two heads are better than one, right?" As Gin was turned back around, he cast hakufuku on Rangiku, while closing his faked smile. "Sorry, Rangiku, I have to do this myself. He jumped back to the ground and reported to his master that his friend was dead.

Aizen was reluctant in believing him, but he eventually let it go as he continued to walk back to the humans. With his backed turned to Gin, Gin's fake smile disappeared and he contemplated on his next actions.

As he offered Aizen his help in killing the humans, he used his bankai. "Korose, Kamishini no Yari". "No one knows of this technique, I know that you knew about Ulquiorra's second release, but no one knew of the true nature of my bankai. Even people knew what your bankai really did, but no one knew about mine. Not even Rangiku knew about it either. Goodbye, Aizen sama." Gin touched his master for the thought to be last time before his flipped over and grabbed the Hogyoku.

He felt the heartbeat of the Hogyoku and contemplated on his thoughts. Originally, he thought the Hogyoku was impossible, but he was proven wrong. As he held it in the palm of his hands he had many temptations on using it so himself and Rangiku could be happy again. It could be the perfect gift, but it was so perfect at being imperfect.

Before he could attempt to crush it with Kido, it flew back into its master as Gin died. His wounds were fatal and he fell to the ground in surprise and sadness. Surprisingly he felt no anger towards his killer, only himself. As he saw Rangiku running at him, he tried to warn her to go away, but his voice was extremely damaged. Rangiku started crying over his death and he tried to tell her to go away or she would die, but to no avail. Nothing mattered, even though he spent his whole life plotting against Aizen.

Maybe if he tried to work the Hogyoku instead, maybe if he hadn't left Rangiku. A million possibilities went through his head on what could've happened but all of them involved tragedy. He wished he could be happy, dying with Rangiku on his side, but that didn't happen. Nothing happened or mattered. As he refocused on his friend and lover cry on him, he heard her utter the words "I love you" and he wish he could say 'I love you' back, but he was too weak to do anything, too weak to change anything, too weak to protect her, but as he saw Ichigo on his last moments, he knew that there was someone that wasn't too weak.