Author's note: I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is AU and set in the same universe as Golden Flower.
Persimmons and Wine
Rangiku arrived at the rooftop to find a full harvest moon shining down on a picnic blanket spread out with a feast. Her husband grinned at her.
"Come sit down, Ran-chan."
The female kitsune laughed and curled up beside Gin on the blanket. She hadn't thought he'd be able to get away for her birthday. Things had been unsettled lately, and since Rangiku was on temporary assignment here in Kyoto, they hadn't had the chance to see one another on a regular basis. But it was her birthday, and they were both entitled to some sort of treat.
Rangiku hadn't really known that the silver haired boy she'd met at the shrine as a child would change her life so drastically. But he had been a friend she had badly needed as she grew up, and one of the few constants in her life even though he was rather unpredictable. But Rangiku had always known that no matter what happened or where she went, Gin would eventually appear. And none of the odd things in her life seemed to matter to him.
It had been Gin who she had gone to when the odd impulses and things she was seeing out of the corner of her eye started driving her more than a little crazy. Gin's explanation of fox spirits and a world in the shadows of the one she was used to was a little hard to swallow, but it did explain things, and Rangiku hadn't been able to argue with the silver fox that had curled up in her lap. Gin's demonstration of kitsune shape shifting had been very effective.
Gin had shepherded her through her first steps in to the world in the shadows. He'd been there when she'd made her first attempts at shape shifting and when Rangiku had received her zanpakutou. Rangiku had given the man her heart years before quite frankly, but it hadn't been until she started walking the shadows with him that Rangiku began to notice that her affection was returned. Gin was possessive and protective of her, especially when it came to the shadows they traveled through.
Rangiku still wondered at times if Gin would have been so willing to work as a double agent if Aizen hadn't attack her first. She sipped the sake that Gin had poured for her and tried to shake off the memories that went with those thoughts. It had easily been the worst part of her life. The Gotei Thirteen's Commander-General hadn't graced her with the knowledge that Gin was a double agent. Rangiku had spent month being conflicted over the fact that the man she loved had betrayed the people they had worked with and fought beside and yet she still loved him with all her heart.
"You're frowning, Ran-chan." Gin held out a persimmon to her.
She took it with a smile; persimmons and onigiri had been the first meal they had ever shared. "Just remembering."
"Well, stop. You shouldn't frown like that on you're birthday." He leaned in to kiss her. When he pulled away, he was grinning at her. "Up for a moonlight run?"
"With you?" Rangiku grinned. "Always."
And under a full moon, a pair of foxes, one silver and one gold, could been seen running through the red gates of Fushimi Inari shrine.