Title: Why Matsumoto Wants to Kick Aizen's Ass
Rating: PG
Pairings: Ichimaru Gin/Matsumoto Rangiku, Ichimaru Gin/Kira Izuru
Spoilers: A lot. For the end of the Soul Society Arc.
Warnings: Angst
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Kubo Taito does.
Summary: Matsumoto watches Kira sleep.
Notes&Comments: I think I wrote this almost a year ago or something... Lots on reflections on the series and the relationship between Gin and Matsumoto and Kira... if I remember correctly I started writing this for Miuu and Knuckles, but never got around to post it, probably because I thought it was too short... Well, I decided it was okay as it was, so here you are now. ; Sorry for being so slow.

Matsumoto stared at the snoring Kira, who was lying on her couch after he had passed out from too much alcohol. They had had a long and deep talk about the one person that connected them directly and put them apart just at the time. To both of them the betrayal and disappearance of Ichimaru Gin had been more than they could fathom in words. But it was different just at the same time.

While Matsumoto missed her childhood friend and the person whom she had let closer to her than anyone else she guessed that Kira's wound was much deeper than just from missing his captain and his lover. Even though Matsumoto knew Gin inside and out when they were kids and knew how far he'd go with his pranks, the Gin she met when she entered Gotei 13 was just a warped shadow of the person she once knew.

She thought that it had been time that changed him into who he was now, but when she first met Kira's hunted bunny look she knew that it wasn't only because of the hollow that had attacked them, but because somebody had planted a fear inside him that made him step back from his own shadow. And their talk just then had confirmed and even exceeded her worst assumptions.

Ichimaru Gin was a completely different person now and Matsumoto blamed Aizen Sousuke for that. Just like she blamed Gin for breaking Kira so easily and thoroughly. Sitting down on the couch beside him, she petted his hair gently. The blond first flinched and then sighed, leaning automatically into the touch, murmuring "taichou" in his sleep. Matsumoto sighed and stared at the ceiling, wishing she could see where Gin was now. If she could she would immediately look for Aizen as well and no matter how powerful the other Shinigami was, she would kick his ass and kill him for letting Gin hurt so many people she cared for.

And then she would kick Gin's ass for leaving her.

Next to her, Kira relaxed again in his sleep.