Rangiku watched Ichigo and Aizen disappear into the horizon with her head laid on Gin's shoulder, lacing her fingers with his. She felt his head move and tilted her head up towards his face to meet his opened eyes.
"Ran-Chan, Ran-chan. I'm so sorry. I'm so-" He was cut off by a bubble of blood that welled up in his mouth.
"Shhh…" Rangiku wiped the blood from his mouth. "Save your strength. You'll need it."
He squeezed her hand in response.
"I did it…. I did it…." He repeated.
She frowned at him. "Did what, Gin?"
"Fer you," he gasped out.
"I know," she whispered as she tied a tourniquet around his bleeding stump.
Rangiku laid her head back down on his shoulder and placed her free hand over the long gash stretching across his torso, sending healing kido into it.
Why else would she stand in front of Aizen, if not to protect the man she loved from his killer? In the aftermath of the revealed treacheries, Rangiku had pretended to be outraged just like everyone else.
In private, she had mourned Gin's absence by crying herself to sleep and pretending he was just over in his division, in his own bed.
"I know," she repeated into the strange, white cloth covering his chest. His heartbeat stuttered, and then picked up evenly, if not a bit labored.
She was so tired and didn't want to move from Gin's side. Even the concrete was feeling softer. Gin's breathing evened out and she knew he was asleep. Whether he would wake up from his sleep was as uncertain as her survival, she mused.
Kira had patched her side, but it was the equivalent of slapping duct tape over a leak in a decrepit dam. It would hold the water in, but the rest of the wall was shot to hell anyway, so it didn't matter either way. She could feel her blood pooling in the empty space that once held organs.
What would her captain say when he found out she had healed and protected a traitor? She could picture his face, rage turning the air around him sharp with cold. If she had the strength, she might have laughed at her mental picture. Who would help him through the aftermath? Even if he was a captain, he was still just a kid.
Rangiku would never tell anyone, but she sometimes felt like his mother. She had found him in Rukongai, brought him into Soul Society and helped him become a captain. He was her responsibility.
She just wanted to sleep. Just close her eyes and forget everything but Gin for awhile.
The sun shone down on both their prone forms as they quietly lay next to each other, fingers entertained and blood congealing around their bodies.