On a cold morning in Rukongai Matsumoto Rangiku woke up, and Gin was gone. She decided she'd wait until she was really hungry before leaving, in case he came back. The emptiness inside her stomach grew, and she had just left the shack she had shared with Gin when she saw him.
He was carrying something in his hands, spattered with blood and smiling wider than she had ever seen him before. She ran over to him and hugged him tight.
'My, my, Rangiku, don't tell me ya missed me already.' Gin said. He handed her the thing he'd been carrying-food for Rangiku, and she forgave him for leaving her. But from then on she always knew that Gin would leave her forever one day; that one time he would leave her and he wouldn't come back.
The next time it happened she was afraid Gin had left for real. He was gone for even longer this time, and Rangiku had actually left their shack to find some food since she was so hungry. Just after she got back, Gin returned.
Again, he was grinning and he didn't say anything about where he'd been. 'Ya don't need to know, Rangiku. But I'm back now, ne?' And Rangiku forgave him again. But he didn't apologize, or explain, or promise to stay with her.
Gin left again, and again, and again. And Rangiku always wondered whether this time was the time he'd leave her forever. But he came back again, and again, and again, with not a word of apology. Maybe it was his way of telling her he was going to leave and come back again. And whenever he came back Rangiku welcomed him with open arms and he was always smiling.
Time passed, and Rangiku got used to Gin's sudden disappearances. But the terror that he was leaving her never ended, but she did learn to feed herself while he was gone. With Gin not there to protect her Rangiku stood on her own two feet and learned she was strong enough to manage.
Then, one night when they weren't quite children and not yet grown, Rangiku woke up when it was still dark outside, not close to dawn. She saw Gin pause at the door, as if sensing that she had woken.
'Where are you going, Gin?' Rangiku asked softly. He had never told her where he was going, but Rangiku sensed something was different this time. She had caught him leaving and he would have to choose. He turned to face her and he wasn't smiling this time.
'Ya don't need me here, and I don't wanna be held, Rangiku. I'm going to the Shinigami school.' And so he walked away, leaving something fluttering on the door of the shack they had shared and his footprints in the snow.