Right, the important stuff –
I do not own bleach and anyone saying otherwise is a liar that has it in for me.
I also do not own the rainbow bridge story itself.
The only things I own and can claim copyright to are Ichimaru Cherry and Tsuku Aizen. They are mine. Theft of either of them will not be tolerated.
Note – theft is taking without permission. If you wish to borrow them, all you need to do is ask. I don't bite unless provoked or attacked X3
Also before I begin - this is not a yaoi fic so please do not ask me if it is, they are like brothers in this fic. No matter how much anything more than that may be implied - any implications are unintentional. If you want yaoi I have done many others and I do take requests for it but just not in my Gin&Cherry universe. Thankyou in advance for your understanding.
Okay~ Now that all of the formalities are out of the way – just read, relax, enjoy, and you can review if you like. All of my reviews are much loved so long as they're constructive.
Tell me a story
Huecco Mundo. A cold, dark and desolate place, a place where the moon perpetually hangs there in the sky, and the corpses of hollows both living and dead litter the desert like landscape. The only form of any civilisation being one large and perpendicularly shaped building known as Las Noches.
It is in this building in which our story starts. The sun, artificially created by the ruler of this plain, and all who resided within Las Noches, had long ago broken through the horizon and lit up the dark sky, bringing with it the daylight. Artificial daylight, but daylight nonetheless, and it is this day which said ruler finds to be the most solemn. For it is quiet, far too quiet to be normal, as he walks down the halls and he knows why this is. His footsteps echo quietly down the white corridors, each footstep falling and breaking the silence as he walked towards his destination. There is not a smile on the lord's face, nor a look of contempt in his eyes, or a look of coldness upon his well structured face. No, he just walks.
It is almost noon now, and he is walking towards the room of his second. Stopping in front of the door when he sees one of his subordinates, named Ulquiorra. He was the slender, pale skinned male of his followers which became known as the espada. He had raven coloured hair and bright green eyes, eyes that seemed too bright for his monotone colouration and personality, ignoring the fact that everyone wore white here.
"Aizen-sama," the espada stated, acknowledging his master's sudden appearance.
"He is still in there. He has not eaten…"
The lord glanced away momentarily, sighing regretfully to himself at the situation. "I see. Very well Ulquiorra you may go."
The espada nodded and then turned to walk away down the hallway, leaving the master to knock on the door of his second, only to receive no answer from the other side of the door.
"May I come in?" he asked, quietly pulling down the doorhandle and slowly creaking open the door. The lights were turned off, and the room was dark, the only light in the room coming from the hallway as he opened the door. The room falling into darkness again as the door closed again after the master had entered.
"Gin?"
The sleeping form on the bed did not move. The body of Ichimaru Gin just remained quiet and unresponsive to him, lying curled up on the bed, facing away from the door.
"G- go away…" he said, half choking on sobs. "I dun want yer pi- pity…"
The lord sighed deeply, mentally preparing himself for how this would go.
"Now Gin, I have never once in my life pitied you. And I can assure you that I never will. I am here simply out of concern for you."
"Aizen-chan…" Gin whimpered, listening to the footsteps of the other echoing loudly into the silence of his room, his sanctuary. His room was his little sanctuary away from the world, his secluded little space that nobody else ever entered – well, apart from one other. But apart from that one, not even Aizen had ever entered Gin's room until today. Any other day Gin would feel like it was a violation of his privacy, but not today. Today he just didn't care. He didn't care that Aizen was in his room, he didn't even care that he was sitting beside him on the bed, he didn't even care that Aizen hadn't even been asked to come in.
All he cared about was that he was here.
"It hurts…" he whispered, with only Aizen there to hear him. "It just hurts so much…"
"I know." Aizen said, placing a comforting hand onto Gin's head. "I know it hurts."
Aizen stroked Gin's white, tufty hair, trying to soothe the younger one as he just cried more tears.
"Shhh its okay…"
Gin wailed quietly, as Aizen's hands slowly pulled him into an embrace, Gin crying into his chest, his heart really hurting for Gin now, for he knew what he was going through, having experienced it first hand himself.
"I understand."
"Do… does it ever get easier?"
"No."
Aizen wasn't going to lie to the boy, he always thought the truth about what Gin was currently feeling shouldn't be built around lies. But Gin's heart wrenched in his chest, making him whimper painfully again. Feeling the dreadful pang of loss shudder through him again as he choked on another sob.
"Oh god, do- do ya mean I'm gonna feel this way fer- fer forever?"
"Come now… you know that is not so."
"Bu' I jus' miss 'er… so much. She- she were my baby, an' an' I raised her… ever since she were a puppy, an' an'…"
He sniffed again, suddenly feeling quite stupid. This was ridiculous, he was crying over a fox. And he knew that this wouldn't be helping Aizen at all by making him remember his pet…
"I'm sorry, this prob'ly aint helpin' ya forget Tsuku…"
"Gin I could never forget him, just as you will never forget Cherry. They were ours and we loved them, but their time came and they had to leave us, you know that. I taught you of life and death myself, do you remember?"
"Yeah, I remember. It jus' feels so stupid."
"Now Gin," Aizen said sternly, but still in a quiet voice, not sounding at all too harsh. "Grief over an animal is not stupid. Anyone who has been through the same thing will understand. Grief is natural when we lose someone we love."
Gin just lay there in Aizen's arms, with tears staining his pale face. His body limp and his once bright eyes now heavily lidded. A shadow of his former self; he was just heartbroken.
"The greater your love for someone, the more hurt you feel when you lose them… you loved her with every fiber of your being. So of course it is going to hurt. And I know that you will not smile again for a long time."
Gin seemed to calm down a little, and his voice was slightly less shaky, even though the water still flooded from Gin's eyes, and his heart ached.
"It feels like my heart's jus' been ripped outta me." Gin sobbed, "li- like I'll never be happy again. Tis like an empty space there Taichou… like an empty space that aint never gonna be filled again."
Aizen took a deep breath and just held Gin tighter, he had felt this all before, and yes, he did cry like he is right now. For you just don't lose a pet and get over it the next day, it is, as any loss is, traumatic. It destroys you. And it takes so long to rebuild yourself afterwards.
"Gin…"
Gin looked up, still not making any sound other than the odd quiet whimper, looking intently into Aizen's chocolate coloured eyes, and at the deep brown hair that fell in between the man's eyebrows. Gin's own green eyes searching for solace in those chocolate ones, hoping to find some small sliver of comfort in a world of harshness. Finding warmth and comfort there in the man that had been the older brother he never had. Finding it in him to hug him back, squeezing tightly, with his head leaning against his chest.
"Tell me a story Aizen… tell me a story with a happy ending. Tell me a happy endin' exists."
Aizen smiled softly at him, for he knew of the most appropriate story to tell.
"Alright." He soothed, watching Gin curl up comfortably on to bed again, with his head resting on Aizen's knees, so that he could still stroke his hair in the relaxing way that he liked.
"I'll tell you a story. I'll tell you the story… of the rainbow bridge."
God I said to myself I wouldn't make this into a two part fic. I Told myself I wouldn't…. but I have. Dammit. Anyway, because it is like, nearly 2am now, I need some sleep. More fluff will come tomorrow. Reviews, as always are much loved. And I hope to get the second part up soon, thats if I can manage to get up early... which may or may not happen. But wither way I've wanted to write this fic out for months so I will now that I have the time to. So the next part should be up and running soon.
Reviews are much loved, but please keep em constructive,
- wolfy-chan
