Lyrics and title taken from Everything But The Girl's Protection.
Set during the Thousand Year Blood War arc, therefore is canon compliant.

Short ficlet from Rangiku's point of view about the two most important males in her life.

You're a boy and I'm a girl
But you know you can lean on me
And I don't have no fear
I'll take on any man here
Who says that's not the way it should be

Everything But The Girl - Protection

Silver – white – silver – white –

Two colors so similar to each other yet separated by voids beyond comprehension.

Two people so alike yet at the same time different.

It comes to mind suddenly, as she walks the wrecked streets of Seireitei – wrong, of the Ice Palace – tailing the white-haired boy she calls her captain. Flashback to a day decades ago, a peaceful day. Walking the streets of Seireitei, calm and peaceful, next to the black-haired captain and this same boy following just behind them.

And flashback once again, fifty years ago that she ran into a little white-haired boy being terrorized by a shopkeeper, whose reiatsu spiraled out of control in his little Rukongai hut. The little boy she would later find out became a shinigami, and by the strange twists and turns of fate, ended up in her division, to be known as the white-haired genius, wielder of the ice dragon.

He would rise quickly through the ranks of the Tenth Division; within two years she would find him one seat below her, and when her captain left – it was only natural that this same boy would become her captain.

She never resented it; she was happy to be lieutenant. Paperwork and meetings just didn't suit her the way they did Hitsugaya. The only thing she regretted, staying lieutenant for so long, was the simple fact that her captain was just a child. A child who should not have to bear the responsibilities of a captain.

No matter how she thought about it, no matter how much he tried to argue with her and persuade her that no, he was not a child, they both knew at heart that he was still very young in the eyes of the Gotei. Enough to warrant their calling him a child.

And she hated it, because it would always culminate in him training more and more – that indomitable pride of his always brought him back to the training grounds. She had sat in on his training sometimes, and occasionally she would see how weary and fatigued training made him. She knew that it was in his nature to push himself, but she also knew that it was because he wanted to show the doubters proof. Proof that he was able to handle the duties of a captain. Proof that he could fill his own captain's shoes.

Proof that even if he was young, his skills made up for it.

It was this same desire to prove himself that continually drove him to take on challenges nobody in their sane mind would undertake. He always subconsciously pushed her away, preventing her from helping, believing that he could do it. Protect her. Taking injuries in her stead, speaking up for her in meetings with the other Captains and Lieutenants, always making sure she was defended for.

But she was more than capable of doing so herself. He knew this perfectly, but he never relented.

So she let him.

He never left anything behind. Neither his slippers nor his coin pouch. The only thing she could remember of him was small childish shoe prints imprinted in snow… leading away. Leading away from her.

She would sit in the hut tending the fire, warming up water and curl up into a ball. Waiting. In the winter he came and went without sound. She would wait for the creaking of the wooden panels that signaled his return before she would uncurl herself.

He would always come back with something new. Whether it was money or food or medicine, or even wounds, he would always come back.

They would laugh and talk deep into the night, other days they would just go to sleep after exchanging a few words. But with him she was safe, safer than she ever had been. The uncouth men on the streets never dared take a second glance at her when she was walking by his side.

I'll protect you.

He never made promises, she realized one day. He made statements. Declarations that might have seemed childish but which he never went against.

The dreams were always the same. Just him smiling at her, blood in his mouth. Whispering "I'll protect you."

She always woke up crying. Hitsugaya knew, but he never said anything.

The day his bankai was stolen, she made her choice. Without Daiguren Hyorinmaru, Hitsugaya was just not powerful enough. This was where she, as a lieutenant, came in.

And so as they walked the streets of the Ice Palace, she resolved in her heart: all her life, she had been protected. Whether by Hitsugaya or by Gin, she had found herself safe from danger and harm. Now was her turn to protect them. Protect her captain's life, and protect her lover's heart.