Prologue

Red Ribbon of Fate

Gin walked around the corner, and his captain's haori lightly shifted in the breeze. He was done substitute teaching at the academy and he was just wandering some random district to escape his boredom. None of the student shinigami had impressed him. Amusing as it was at first, some girls even tried confessing to him. Most likely trying to get a spot in the advanced classes I suppose, Gin thought. His first class was fun while he could unnerve the students, but it became boring as they had shown no good skills. It was a boring day at school. He didn't want to head back to Yamamoto and report what he saw in the students, then go back to his squad to listen to his lieutenant nag about paperwork. He was going to give himself a day off.

He was beginning to get lost in his thoughts when a girl bumped into him. The jolt of the contact caused him to have a mild recoil and his hand was on the hilt of his sword in a swift second. His stance was relaxed but ready. Then, he looked down. Small thing isn't she, he thought with surprise. She looked up at him with fear and backed away to give a bow.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me! It was my fault and I wasn't looking." The girl bowed and her tangled hair fell beside her face.

Gin retracted his hand from his hilt and then began to relax. She must try very hard to keep it even that clean, Gin observed. He looked at her small stature. Her clothes were a dulling black, and he could see the cuts and patches from underneath the fabric. She looked up and Gin had an electric current run through him. Well, she have quite the spiritual pressure. But what caught him more were her bright eyes. Gin smiled. "Where were you heading to miss?" He was curious now. Maybe she could provide the answer to his boredom. He noticed the piece of paper that she was holding neatly in her hands. He also noticed how smooth her hands looked. All of it was odd.

The young girl looked up to the silver haired man. He's a captain, so I mean, he shouldn't be one of those men, she figured. "I was going to Shino academy." She smiled then, trying to mask her sadness. Her blue eyes looked expectantly at the captain. She wondered, if he could even see her with such narrow eyes.

"Why is that?" Gin spotted a man passing by with a bag of rice over his shoulder, he silently chuckled as the rice was leaking through a hole. Then he turned his attention back to the girl. He was astonished that she also saw the man and his rice bag.

"Sir," she followed the older man, "your rice is falling." She motioned to the hole in the bag. He looked at her very wary. She slipped the paper in her shirt and tried to give the man a friendly smile.

Well, isn't that just plain rude, Gin thought disdainfully. He watched as the man beamed with gratitude to the girl. No wonder she's going to be a shinigami, he added with an internal laugh, I bet she'll be in Unohana's squad with all the rest of those nice girls. He sighed and waited for the girl. He wasn't going to let this prey go just yet.

The man put down his bag of rice and kneeled next to it. His gratitude was then soiled by the realization that he had been walking for a while. "Ah, so much rice! How am I going to explain this to the kids?" The man had saved up money just to buy a bag of rice for his family, and as it was, rice was hard to come by where he came from. He looked to the bag, hopeless.

Balancing on her feet, she looked at the stranger's pained face. She rummaged through her under shirt and pulled out a worn pouch. She kneeled next to him. The man looked questioningly and was met by a small handful of silver coins. "Have them," she said, as she put the pouch back in her clothes.

Is this girl serious, he wondered. He stared at the silver mesmerized. Shaking the trance from him, he quickly explained, "I'm sorry, but I don't take money from strangers." He looked down ashamed he had momentarily entertained the thought of taking them and being grateful. With silver coins, he could have bought meat to make up for the lost rice.

Gin was still standing, waiting for the girl. He was beginning to feel left out. What is she trying to do? He leaned against a nearby wall and folded his arms. Then, he made a quirk realization. She has silver coins. Gin looked the girl over, and it was obvious that she was poor, but with the silver gleaming in her palm, he began to question her. Who was this girl going to the academy?

She smiled wider and outstretched her other hand to show the older man some kindness. She pushed the coins in and made his rough fingers wrap around the silver. "My name is Tomoko Matsuyama, and for this instant, I am your friend. So take the money. I'll be coming up with more soon enough." She let go of the coins and looked to the bag. While the stranger looked at the silver coins in amazement, Tomoko began to shift the bag upside down.

The man was confused by her actions, and puzzled at what she was doing with the bag. "Miss, if you wanted the rice for the silver, I'd of-" He was cut off by the rip of Tomoko's sleeve. She quickly tied the strip around the area that the hole did not reach, and created a block so the rice could no longer trickle down the hole. She turned it over to check if the tie was strong enough and stood up. The bag was now tied at two ends and the rice appeared like a small pillow, much to Tomoko's amusement.

"All fixed!" Tomoko smiled triumphantly. She bowed and offered the bag to the man. She felt her hair slip past her ear.

"Oh, Miss, all you've done…" The stranger felt indebted to this girl. He began to feel foolish as he stood up, holding the coins in his closed hand as if it was a bird that would soon flee.

"Don't say another word. Just go," Tomoko requested with stern compassion. A few seconds passed. But Tomoko kept her smile, finally feeling the weight of the rice bag lift. The footsteps of the man slowly became nothing and she stood up straight stretching to the sky. "Ah! Stretch!"

"Well, what a show." Gin grinned, concealing his curiosity. This girl had the money to get a new dress and to get a decent comb for her dark hair. She had money to give away apparently too. So why the clothes, if the money was talking loud and clear. "You must work a lot if you had silver coins."

Tomoko turned back to the captain, she had completely forgotten him in the background. "Well, that…" she hesitated, but chose not to answer. "I've really must go, I'm sorry." She was beginning to feel timid under his glance. She could sense him trying to delve through the outer skin of her character. It was unsettling for her.

"Let me escort you, I was going to head back sooner or later." Gin used his grin to weasel his way next to Tomoko. Silently, he knew that she had conceded and they both walked in silence. "So, what's that paper for?" He glanced at her chest as she took the paper from her shirt.

Okay, now he seems like a pervert, Tomoko sighed inwardly. "It's a resignation letter." Tomoko's plan was to discourage the curious captain with the short and sweet answers. She wasn't in much of a mood to have company.

He was surprised, but he kept his grin. He questioned why she would want to resign from the academy. "Why? You obviously have the spiritual pressure." Though, he would note to himself, it had a different feel to it than the usual spiritual pressure of shinigami. Breathing, was what he chose to describe it. Breathing and alive.

"I don't want to be a shinigami." Tomoko was beginning to feel vulnerable against the tall shinigami. She didn't want him to know too much.

"Well, that's just a waste," Gin whined, pouting at the girl. "Maybe I could convince you otherwise."

"No that's…" Tomoko sighed, "My mind is made." She looked down at the paper. She reread the word. Resignation. It repeated in her head like an echo of a sad note.

It was silence after that for a while. Gin looked at her, then moved onto her hair. If she was given more, it could really look beautiful, he commented to himself. His eyes caught the sight of a familiar store and he wanted to get something before he was going back to the place he didn't want to see for a while. "I really want to convince you still, but I have a favor to a friend that this store may fulfill." He smiled down at her, and made his way inside the store. "Oh!" He turned to face Tomoko with a confused expression. "Don't you go anywhere~ I'll be sure to catch you!" He waved his finger back and forth as if he were talking to a dog and headed inside.

"What?" Tomoko murmured to herself and looked at where the captain had just entered. She wondered if she should wait. Sighing, she looked at the resignation letter.

*Later*

"Ah, and I thought I was only playing tricks with myself." Gin looked around and found that Tomoko was no where to be seen. He had sensed the loss of her spiritual pressure, but assumed it was just because she was trying to hide it for some reason or another. He held onto the bag of dried persimmons and took one out to plop into his mouth.

What a strange girl, he thought. He chewed the persimmon and lavished in it's slight cinnamon taste. He put the small bag of persimmons away and began to walk away towards the shinigami headquarters.

The sun was setting, its rays gently caressing the landscape. While Gin was heading back to his Squad, elsewhere Tomoko was alone sitting near a river. Looking at her reflection, a growing shame accumulated itself in the pit of her stomach. She held the tears from her eyes. The meadow remained quiet as she let out a whimper. She held the resignation letter in a twisted grip.

*The next morning*

Gin woke up in his bed and looked at the budding sunlight through his window. He had a dream that perturbed him profoundly and now he was grinning as if his grin could scare away the startling images. He looked to his nightstand and looked at the red ribbon he had bought yesterday. He could only imagine what it would look like in her dark, long hair.

He swung his feet off the bed. It was time to meet Aizen, and he knew it was best to try and act like it was like any other morning. He looked at the ribbon though, searching for the reason why he really got it. The grin had slipped and became a confused frown. Tomoko Matsuyama, he silently thought to himself, she must have some reason to haunt my dreams.