SMILES

It was early in the morning when I first walked by her for the day. I was out on a walk at the break of dawn. She looked to be lost in her thoughts, but when she saw me, she threw a smile my way. I could tell it was forced. I can always tell if her smile is forced. She doesn't know that I know if she's sad or happy. She doesn't know that it pains me when I see her forced smile. I smiled back. I don't usually smile and she knows that. As my second-in-command and my best friend, she knows my smiles are few and far between. Her eyes lit up and her smile became a bit more genuine than it was before.

As her smile turned to be genuine, I promised to make sure she didn't force her smiles anymore. I wanted her to smile for herself.

It was barely a whisper, but I heard it nonetheless. "I love you, Captain." My voice was also a whisper and was most likely whisked away in the breeze. "I love you, too, Matsumoto." Then we walked our separate ways.

It was midafternoon when I saw her in the office that day. Her cheerful mannerism and voice slightly strained. "Hello, Captain!" I glanced up from my work to acknowledge her and to see her beauty. She was absolutely gorgeous with her long wavy hair. I knew she knows that boys think she's pretty, but I wonder if she truly knows how beautiful she truly is. Although, I did notice that her smile was strained and her eyes sad behind her cheery shield of protection.

"Matsumoto." I don't know what I got myself into, I just did. I was going to make sure she smiled a true smile even if it were the last thing I do.

She tilted her head and frowned at me, as if she knew I wasn't sure and confident about what I was going to say. "Yes, Captain?"

I looked down at my desk and closed my eyes. My face softened from its usual mask of self-confidence and maturity. "You don't have to force your smiles for anyone. It's okay to smile for yourself. Just please don't let me see you with a forced smile. You have no clue how much it breaks my heart." I gathered my courage and looked at her to find her looking like she suddenly understood how much I cared for her and how much I loved her.

I got up, walked to her, looked her in the eye, and then kissed her like no tomorrow. It was passionate and fuelled by desire and the need to make up for lost time in which we denied the others possible feelings. We both understood each other's love and need to have physical contact and never let go.

When we looked each other in the eye again we felt invincible. She smirked. I was scared, but too in love to care. "Captain, you wanted me that bad, eh?"

I most likely looked very serious. "No. I just wanted to see a genuine smile on that beautiful mouth of yours." Then she smiled. She smiled like she could die, but it wouldn't matter because of how happy she was. And I smiled back, just as happy and pleased that I kept my promise to make her really smile.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore, Captain. All my smiles will be perfectly genuine from now on." That made me happy. The way she said Captain, like I was the only captain in the Gotei 13.

"You can call me Toshiro, Rangiku. I love you." She smiled at that. To have permission to call me by my name was something, she was the only one to ever get it. Sure, Ukitake and Ichigo called me Toshiro, but I insisted they call me something else. I even didn't want Hinamori to call me Toshiro.

"Nah, I think I'll stick with calling you Captain because you're my Captain."

Now I know that I will never be able to live without her genuine smile lighting up my day.