The truth behind the smile

Disclaimer: I own nothing!!


50 years after the execution

"Ukitake-san!" called Rangiku as waved a obsenely large ball of candy floss, "Come quickly! The fireworks are going to start."

Ukitake smiled at her and made his way to her, little Shunsui, Kyoraku and Nanao, "That's a lot of candy floss," he commented, taking in Rangiku's pink candy floss ball and Shunsui's blue candy floss ball.

Shunsui usual grin got unbelievably large, taking him into the realm of cute usually managed by small furry mammals, "This is my third one!" he declared.

"That's nothing to be proud of!" scolded Nanao.

"Come now Nanao-chan," said Kyoraku with a laugh, "Let the boy enjoy himself. The festivals come around only a few times year!"

Shunsui grinned up at his father and gently squeezed his hand in thanks. Kyoraku was not a strict father by any standards but he did insist that his two children have a firm grasp on each of his hands or those of Nanao when they were in large crowds. "I love festivals!" he declared, "I get to have candy floss, I get new toys and I get to watch fireworks!"

"If only you got candy floss and new toys only during festivals," said Nanao in a long suffering voice, "You two are the most spoiled kids in all of Seireitei. How you have not become rotten is beyond me," she declared.

Little Shunsui beamed up at her, "It's all because of you, Nanao-san. With a great role model like you, how can we possible get spoilt rotten!"

Nanao couldn't help but smile, "You little charmer."

Kyoraku laughed, "That's my boy," letting go his hand briefly to ruffle his silver, silver hair, "Takes after his old man doesn't he Ukitake?"

Ukitake nodded, "If you are not careful, Shunsui, you are going to get as bad a reputation as Kyoraku here and not to mention the constant scolding from Yama-jii."

"Yama-jii never scolds me," declared Shunsui, "He says I am the best student he ever had and he's always giving me sweets!"

"Clearly Yama-jii has gone soft since he retired," commented Nanao.

"No he hasn't!" protested Rangiku, "He's as tough as ever! He just has more time to buy sweets now! That's all!"

Kyoraku laughed, "Well I am glad, it's much more fun to get sweets from Yama-jii then scolding," he assured them. And I am also glad, Kyoraku thought to himself, that Yama-jii was kind enough to let Rangiku stay with Ichimaru all those years ago. Her death wasn't something I wanted but I cannot but be grateful for the two of you.


10 months before the execution

"So they moved her into his cell, Ichimaru must be happy," commented Ukitake.

"From the sounds of it, he's ecstatic," agreed Kyoraku, "Yama-jii granted Nanao-chan access to the cell so she could visit Rangiku. She says that Ichimaru so happy that she feel like stabbing him. Although given how he always smiles, I am not sure how she can tell he's happy and not just being... well him. On the upside Rangiku is improving daily. She is eating again and regaining her strength. Nanao says that she looks happy, almost as happy as she was before Aizen's betrayal was discovered."

"I guess that's good, but this does seem to be a house built on shifting sand," Ukitake pointed out, "What is going to happen after Ichimaru is executed?" wondered Ukitake.

"I try not to think about it," said Kyoraku a little sadly, "I just hope that Ichimaru cares about her enough to help her accept the inevitable."

"There is also the matter of if he can do anything to help her accept the inevitable," said Ukitake, "I cannot begin to imagine what a person could do to help someone do that."

"There is that," agreed Kyoraku, "Especially when that someone is as afraid of death as Ichimaru."


At the beginning all he did was hold her, try to coax her into eating and try to talk about light frivolous topics packed with as much humor as he could manage just so she wouldn't start crying. He succeeded, she would obediently eat anything he fed her. She smiled and laughed appropriately. She let him hold her tight. In all that he needed to do, he was not only helped by the fact that Rangiku did not like to upset him but also because she soon realized he desperately needed her. He needed her to be strong so he could lean on her and pour into her bosoms all the fears of his heart. Literally.

"I jus' see darkness," he whispered as he gently nuzzled her soft breasts, "I keep try'n ta move my mind ta after death ya know and I jus' see darkness."

"We are shinigami Gin, we precide over death," Rangiku pointed out as she slowly stroked his hair, "We know what comes after. When you die you get reborn into the living world."

"That's if ya die normally. They are gonna kill me with the Sokyoku. It burns away the soul. I ain't gonna get reborn. It'll jus' be over fer me. I mean, ain't that why we destroyed the Quincy? Cause they were really destroy'n hollows so that the soul the hollow was and the souls that the hollow consumed were jus' gone. Jus' taken out of the circle of life and death," whispered Gin, Rangiku could feel a faint tremor run through his body as he clutched her closer to him

"I don't believe that," said Rangiku, "They wouldn't be so cruel. As shinigami we are suppose to keep the balance. Destroying souls, really destroying souls isn't keeping the balance."

"What's the difference in destroying one rotten soul, that's what I would be think'n," said Gin, "And it ain't like we never destroy hollows with kido. We try not ta do it but we don't exactly lose sleep over it. Nay Rangiku, I am finished and even if I get reborn, that ain't any better. I got lucky this lifetime and got ta be a shinigami. If there is a next lifetime fer me... who knows what I am gonna be. I might end up a hollow or be'n eaten by one. I doubt I can become a shinigami twice in a row."

"You could just be a normal soul. Would that be so bad?"

"The idea of be'n trash ain't very comforting, Rangiku."

Rangiku sighed but Gin's comment brought to mind a question she had always wanted to ask him but never did, "Would you have saved me if I didn't have spiritual power?"

"If ya didn't have spiritual power, ya wouldn't have collapsed and I wouldn't have ta save ya," Gin pointed out.

Rangiku smiled, "It's that simple for you isn't it."

"It is that simple," replied Gin, "I don' no why ya try'n ta complicate thing."

"Do you ever wonder where we would be now if you hadn't met Aizen?" wondered Rangiku.

"I ain't very good with what ifs, Rangiku," said Gin, "Maybe we would be married with li'l ones or maybe I would've ended up in a cell sooner. Hard ta tell really. I mean, Cap'n Aizen didn't turn me in ta what I am. It's because of what I am that Cap'n Aizen let me in on his plans. It ain't the other way around."

Rangiku closed her eyes and forcing herself not to cry. It was true of course. Ichimaru Gin had always been a sadist whose loyalty never extended beyond himself. Then again if the Gotei 13 could tolerate Kurotsuchi Mayuri, surely it would never have turned against Ichimaru Gin had Ichimaru Gin not turned against it. After all, Captain-commander Yamamoto was an extremely tolerant and embracing man. As long as his Captains served the interests of the Gotei 13 he didn't care if they were a humanoid fox, a mad scientist or Zaraki Kenpachi. Room 46 on the other-hand was a different story but they're chief goal was to keep peace and order. If Gin's peculiarities did not interfere with the peace and order, they wouldn't have cared either or at least that's what she believed. What ifs were hard and who knows how things would have worked out in reality.

"I would have liked little ones," she said finally, "I always wanted a family. Even before I met you I would dream of having children of my own. Of course back then I wanted a family so I wouldn't be alone. After I met you I wanted a family with you because I wanted something that was half you and half me. I just... I just love you so much..." she couldn't stop the tears from flowing this time, "So much that... that I could never have enough of you to love. I just..." choked by her tears she couldn't go on.

Gin raised his head and slowly started to kiss away her tears, "Ya know Rangiku, it ain't too late fer li'l ones. Yer here, I'm here and we have a nice comfy bed. Last I checked that's all we needed ta try and make babies. What say ya? Even if we don' succeed, we'll have a lot of fun jus' try'n."

Rangiku laughed through her tears and pulled him up for a kiss, "Yes," she whispered, "Let's try," after that there was nothing left to say but plenty to do.


Author's notes: Hmm... I seem to have lost the ability to judge how this story is going. I can't tell if it's still good and interesting or if it's dragging and I should hurry up and get to the point. I kind of seem to have a lot more story to tell then when I first started. A well, nothing to do but keep going and hope all you wonderful people keep reading and reviewing.