Claimer: I do not own my characters and anything else original I may include.
Summary: Rangiku is missing an old friend during one of the worst storms in the history of the Soul Society.
"Rain on the Soul"
The dark sky had been ripped wide open and an endless torrent of water was released. Water roared through even the streets of the Seireitei. Travel was nearly impossible and the entire Soul Society was at a standstill. A red-haired shinigami student sat on the windowsill of her dorm peering out into the black night sky watching the rain gushing off the roof of the dormitory. She flinched slightly sensing she wasn't alone.
"Kimiko would love this rain. Do you think she is okay?" she asked not turning around.
"I don't know. I don't see why she ain't alright," said a young man standing in the doorframe.
"I hope she isn't stuck out there somewhere in the rain," she replied.
"Nah, she is too smart for that. She woulda found cover by now," he said shrugging.
"Do you think she still hates us?" she asked turning around.
"I don't think she hated ya. Me? Maybe," he said.
Wind whistled through the tiny wooden shack. Rain was pounding on the roof and several wooden bowls was catching the water that leaked through. The shack seemed to be holding up strong against the raging storm despite being knocking more than sticks tightly tied together by twine.
A young girl with red hair rolled over onto her side on a futon. She blinked several times making out the two small silhouettes of her friends. She rubbed her eyes trying to make them out better, but it was too dark.
"Oww, Gin that hurts," whined a small girl.
"Then you shouldn't have gone after that hollow," said the older boy pouring a liquid onto bandage and pressing it into her arm.
The girl yelped in pain "Gin! You don't need to be so rough!"
"Shhh! You're going to wake Rangiku. Unless you want to explain to her why you have cuts and scrapes everywhere I'd suggest you'd shut up," said Gin.
"Sorry," said the girl flinching again.
"What ya sayin' sorry for idiot," said Gin.
"For goin' after that hollow," said the girl.
"Don't apologize if ya don't mean it," said Gin "you ain't sorry for it."
"Don't tell me what I ain't sorry for. What if I was sorry for it," growled the girl.
"So you ain't sorry than," grinned Gin.
"Damn you, Gin," said the girl "You're right I ain't sorry. I ain't sorry from saving some dumb kids from being killed."
"It ain't your reasonability to protect them," said Gin.
"Who else is goin' to do it?" said the girl.
"Maybe those Shinigami oughta do their jobs," said Gin.
"They don't give a damn about us Rukon kids," said the girl "or did ya forget that night?"
"I told ya not to mention it again," growled Gin glaring darkly at the younger girl. She shifted in her seat. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to mention that when he was the one tending to her wounds.
"I can't just forget what they did. It doesn't go away when ya don't talk about it Gin," said the girl softly.
"That's not for ya to worry about," said Gin.
"But I wanta help Gin, please," said the girl.
"No! I want ya to stay safe," said Gin "those...men that took her away from us and hurt Rangiku they'd hurt you too given half the chance."
"Who's to say they won't try hurt me anyways," said the girl.
"Kimiko, please just drop it. It's for ya own good. I don't want ya getting hurt or worse," said Gin softly playing with the girl's black hair.
"Now I've done it you're using my full name," giggled Kimiko.
"Kimmy, I'm serious," said Gin.
"I know," said Kimiko "I'm just tryin' to get rid of all this gloomy energy."
"You're such a pain in the ass," said Gin.
"You love it that way," smiled Kimiko.
"Go rest. I done want I can," said Gin.
"Thank you," said Kimiko.
"Don't go gettin' soft on me," teased Gin.
"Wouldn't dream of it," said Kimiko pushing her brother.
"And Gin you know I'm going' to do what I'm goin' to do no matter what you want. You don't have to do everything alone. I don't know what ya plannin' but don't forget we need ya too. Revenge ain't worth dyin' over. I thought ya told me that," said Kimiko.
"You know you're a real pain," said Gin.
"You tell me that every day," said Kimiko.
"You remind me of her a lot ya know. That's why I don't want ya fighin' those hollows. You care too much for people," said Gin.
"I thought we weren't goin' to talk about her anymore. I'm not her though Gin. Stop tryin' to protect me from the world," said Kimiko "I'm not some fragile doll that is goin' to break if you play too rough with me."
"I know that. It's just…" said Gin.
"Just because I'm a girl. And your little sister. Doesn't mean I can't help ya. I'm all ya got when it comes down to family. Rangiku is family too, but it ain't the same as us. If I didn't know better I'd say…" said Kimiko.
I know, I know. It's just because I'm your little sister. I'm all ya got when it comes to family. Yeah Rangiku is part of your family too but it ain't the same, is it? If I didn't know better, I'd say…" said Kimiko.
"Will ya shut up and go to sleep," groaned Gin rolling over "ya getting all sappy and stuff."
Rangiku sighed running a hand through her hair. It wasn't long after that Gin decided to join the academy. She would never forget his back turning on her and Kimiko. That desperation and anger in Kimiko's eyes as she ran after him begging him not to leave. That pain that lingered in the young girl's eyes when he pushed her away from him and kept on walking. Rangiku didn't think twice about joining him. But she would never forget that day. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath.
"You too! Gin, whatever! But you too! I can't believe this! I hate you both! How could you join them!" screamed Kimiko. If she was a louder she could probably raise the dead again. She rapidly closed and open her fists trying desperately to get control of her emotions. But the damn broke. Tears burst from her pale blue eyes making them look more blue than usual. A strangled sob escaped her lips as she fell to her knees on the ground.
"Kimmy, please" pleaded Rangiku watching her young friend sob. It shattered her heart. She had only done it to be with Gin. She looked over at the pale haired boy waiting at the gate for her. She had never meant to hurt the young girl she considered a sister. Seeing her like this was too much. She had seen this girl break bones and never even whimper, but here was crying her heart out and she was the cause of the pain.
When Rangiku tried to approach her friend wanting to comfort her the young girl took off running as far and as fast as she could. Rangiku started to run after her.
"Let her go," said Gin.
"How can you let your own little sister run off into the Rukon like that," snarled Rangiku.
"She can handle herself. Will ya just believe in her. She'll come to just us eventually or she won't. But I know going after he now is a bad idea. She's very angry. She ran because she didn't want to explode and do things she'd regret," said Gin.
"Are you sure?" said Rangiku.
"She'll be fine," said Gin starting to walk away.
"Don't do anything stupid," whispered Rangiku to herself watching as the girl disappeared from her vision.
It had been a year. Only a year. It felt like a lifetime ago. Gin had graduated, in only a year and so young too. As the new year of students came in in Rangiku had watched the them closely this year looking for Kimiko, but didn't find her. She was worried for her young friend. What if something had happened to her? She was just a little kid after all. She shook her head. She was talking about the girl who'd go looking for hollows in the forest just to fight them. She was just fine. She probably just found some new kids that needed her. Whenever Kimiko did show up Rangiku would accept her back and not ask any questions. She owed Kimiko the same treatment she had given her when they first took her that night.
"I know that look," he said sitting next to her slithering an arm around her "trust me whatever she's doing I'm sure she's fine doing. If something had happened I think we would have felt it."
"I will never forget that look," ssighed Rangiku pulling her knees to her chest "she hated us so much and there was so much pain and I still don't truly understand why."
"It's best ya don't know. I'm sure she's moved on from it," he said softly "she's probably still irritated with us, but she never did hate us. If she hated us…we wouldn't be here now."
Rangiku nodded with a grimace. She remembered just how not-innocent that little girl was when they met. She looked so sweet, but during that first shopping trip and someone drew a knife on Rangiku demanding certain things and she saw that girl knock the knife right out of the man's hand and proceeded to stab the man with his own life than walking away to leave him to suffer a slow painful death. She hadn't even looked angry than when she killed that man. Nothing more than disgust and annoyance in her eyes and not a single mutter of guilt came out of her mouth. She was glad she had never seen the young girl truly angry.
"Kimiko I have a new sister for ya," said Gin.
"I could use with another girl around here," said Kimiko.
Rangiku starred at the young girl with wild black hair. The girl looked disheveled and out of breath as if she had been running a marathon. The girl was relatively calm. It made her uneasy. Was she really the sister of the boy that had saved her? They looked nothing alike.
"Why ya lookin' at me like that?" said Kimiko.
"Kimmy, play nice now ya hear me," said Gin.
Kimiko blew a raspberry at Gin putting her fingers in her ears. She flashed her pale blue eyes and toothy grin at Rangiku.
"Rangiku this is Kimiko. I call her Kimmy, but she might hit ya if you try," grinned Gin "Kimiko this is Rangiku. Now you're gonna play nice, right?"
"I wouldn't dream of being mean to my own sister," said Kimiko "unless she does something stupid and deserves it."
Rangiku smiled as she sat down on the floor and yawned. She was so tired. Kimiko didn't seem to even notice as she started to dose off.
"Ya leave for bread 'n bring back a girl. I gotta do the shoppin' for now on," said Kimiko looking at the older girl nearly certain she is asleep.
"Shut it ya little turp. I'd love to see ya try to go shoppin' ya can't even reach the counter," said Gin ruffling the girl's hair.
"Gin! Stop that! I'll never get those tangles outa my hair!" cried Kimiko trying to squirm away.
"Be quite will ya. Ya goin' to wake her. She oughta rest," said Gin.
Kimiko crossed her arms and huffed glaring up at brother. Gin grinned at her. She hated when he did that when she was clearly mad at him.
"Quit glarin' and go to sleep. Ya should have been asleep by now," said Gin.
"Ya no fun," pouted Kimiko.
"Go to bed Kimmy," said Gin.
"Fine, but I ain't happy about it," said Kimiko.
"I didn't ask ya how ya felt about it," grinned Gin.
Rangiku groaned in her bed rolling over. She pulled her blanket over her head. Why was she in bed? She remembered starring out the window and Gin coming in. Crap. Did they go out? She shrugged curling up in ball trying to ignore the spinning. She felt movement next to her a looked over lazily. It was just Gin. Gin! What the hell happened last night! She jolted upright on the bed.
"What's ya problem?" grumbled Gin groggily looking over.
"What's my problem. It's morning, I think," she said looking over at the gray skies. "Don't you have to be in your barracks?"
"It's my day off. Relax will ya," he replied, "go back to sleep."
"What did we do last night?" she asked.
"I told ya I had enough of all the sappy talk and we went out and came back here. End of the story," he said.
Rangiku felt back into bed. Even with Gin next to her she still felt alone. It just didn't feel right without Kimiko. She sighed starring at the wall. Even a letter will do. Why did that girl have to be so damn stubborn and proud. She felt an arm plop down resting on her.
"I told ya stop worrin' about her. She'll show up when she wants to," he said into her neck.
AN: This is the long-promised rewrite of Rain. It really didn't change a whole lot just added more detailed and made the non-flash back sections a lot more fleshed out. I added Gin to the story more because there was something missing the last time and I think Gin brings whatever it was I was missing. I'm just hoping it's too much of Gin as this story is still meant to be about Rangiku. You can expect to see more of Kimiko I just wanted to ease myself back into writing her, she can be a 'real treat' sometimes to write. Hope you enjoyed reading this one-shot as much as I did writing it. Also if you are interested in using any of my characters or original materials take a peek at my profile for more details about that.