Care Package
~One Shot 5: Little Kitten~

Rangiku watched slowly as Ichimaru Gin lay in front of her dying. Tears rolled down her cheek and fell upon his brow. She wanted him to say something but whenever his mouth moved words didn't come out. It was almost as if he wanted to say something to her but couldn't. Something told her the words he was trying to tell her were important not to lose.

Finally though his lips stopped moving and his breath stopped coming. She found herself suddenly bawling her head off with a sound she felt could be heard all the way in the living world. At least, that was the way she felt emotionally. He was one of the last people she wanted to lose and she held onto his cold dead hand for quite a bit of time.

Eventually someone from the forth division came to pick up his body and cover him with a white cloth to carry him back with the other possible dead. Rangiku found herself standing up with an aching feeling. The numbness that came from the disbelief of her not getting to say goodbye caused her not to comprehend what was going on.

Someone took her arm and led her to a room in the forth division. Her wounds were attended to and eventually Isane came to her side. "Matsumoto-san?"

"How are you doing?" Rangiku gave the other woman a weak smile.

"Your taicho is being brought in right now." The tall female stated with a frown on her face.

The busty female's eyes went wide and she suddenly stood up to hurry to the small child's side. Isane called after her but truth was nothing was going to stop her from seeing that little one. She let out a laugh remembering when she had told her captain and Gin about the boy and one of them had refereed to him as her kitten.

"Well, he is likely the kind of child you and that Ichimaru scum would have had."

The woman ignored her zampaktuo and arrived as they were carrying in the child genius on a gurney. Her smile at being elated to see him suddenly fell. She could tell through the sheet that two of his limbs were missing. Her hand clapped over her mouth as she tried not to vomit over the procession. One of the forth division members called out for her to stay out of the way.

To everyone's surprise two teal eyes opened up weakly and a small hand... the one that was left reached out to grab hers. The mouth of the child moved before the eyes shut closed again. Rangiku then found herself hurrying along with the group to the room they had set up for the small child. She only let go when they were lifting him onto the bed.

The sheet was removed and she found herself turning towards the waste basket and spewing what little food she had. "God no. Not him."

"Matsumoto Fukutaicho. If you are uncomfortable..." One of the men stated.

A tear fell down her cheek and she held back the pain before sitting down next to the boy's bed as the medics began to bind his severed limbs. Her mind was racing and numb. First she lost Gin and now the child she loved as her own was going to lose his ability to walk and hold a sword. A few more tears fell down her cheek. More would have come if it weren't for the fact it wasn't time to be crying.

Eventually though they finished and she was left alone with the child. There was the offer to go back to her own room but she profusely refused. Her wounds were nothing compared to this little ones. Eventually his beautiful, bright teal eyes opened up to look at her weakly. "Matsumoto?"

"Taicho!" Rangiku clapped a hand to her mouth and a few tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Did I make you cry?" The boy frowned at her.

"No. It isn't your fault I am crying. It is Aizen's." The female grasped his one small hand in hers.

It was then that he tried to sit up. The tactic he used was to try and use his free hand to do so, but there was no free hand. This realization caused confusion to flit across his eyes. Rangiku's hands reached down under where his armpits were located and helped him to sit up. She smiled at him but the look on the face told her he knew very well that she was pained.

His teal eyes drifted over to his other arm to comprehend why he couldn't move about like he wanted. Toshiro simply stared upon seeing the missing limb. After a bit of time he moved back the sheet to reveal his missing leg. "I guess I'm not going to be a shinigami much longer."

"Taicho..." The woman felt a few tears fall down her cheeks. "No matter what, I'll make sure you're taken care of."

The boy looked up at her in surprise. "Why?"

"Why..." Rangiku paused for a few seconds. "Because I want to. Because..." She paused for a few seconds.

"Where is Ichimaru?" The words spilled so innocently out of his mouth and then the woman placed her head upon his shoulder and sobbed away. She felt him reach up and pat her on the back and comfort her. It was in truth supposed to be her taking care of him. For some reason he spoke up again. "I understand."

But how could this small child even begin to understand what she was feeling. Then again maybe that wasn't what he was saying he understood. Maybe her small taicho simply understood she needed someone. Maybe he understood that she wanted to feel needed. She wasn't trying to replace Gin but to find solace in something other then her usual drinking habit.

It wasn't long after that she found herself happily cutting an apple for him to eat. He watched her do this calmly. The look on his face said he didn't understand why she wanted to do this for him. However, the fact Toshiro didn't object to her babying him meant that he knew she needed him near her. For a short time it was a reprieve.

And short it was. Inoue Orihime soon came into the room, clapping a hand over her mouth as she looked at the wounds on the small child. "Toshiro-kun! I knew Unohana wanted me to see to you, but... I didn't know!"

"It's all right. I don't wish to abuse your powers simply because you have them." The boy stated smiling at her. A look from Rangiku though caused him to suddenly frown. He opened his mouth and narrowed his eyes in thought. He glanced at the older female with a worried expression on his face, his lips pushed together.

"Inoue, I don't care if taicho says he doesn't want to use your powers because he feels like he is taking advantage of you. Please. I wish to take advantage of your powers for him." The woman looked at the boy with a stern look.

Orihime danced into the room and brought out her little friends and Rangiku watched as her small taicho looked at his right arm rather depressed like. "How can they heal my arm when there is no arm there?"

Both members of the tenth division found their eyes going wide as the child's missing arm suddenly began to materialize back into existence. Orihime then moved onto the boy's leg. "I can fix anything I can see. Inside injuries I can't do because I don't know what the organs look like and I can't do sickness and some other stuff. But this is rather easy."

When she left Toshiro glanced up at Rangiku. "Why did you insist on her healing me?"

"Do you really want to remain a cripple the rest of your life taicho?" The woman sat down on the bed next to him. She popped a piece of apple into his mouth.

A crunching sound followed by swallowing was heard. "I thought you wanted to be able to take care of me. I mean, I don't want to be taken care of you forever... but..."

"You noticed I needed something to ease my mind." Rangiku smiled without looking at him. "I am hurting. I would hurt more if you were hurting despite the fact it could be fixed though."

The boy simply leaned back pondering her words.

Author's note – My original plan was for the one-shots I wrote to be of a more positive aspect. I critique fanfics for a fandom that is very small at this point. One writer tried telling me that I use "the character is a strong female" as an excuse because I obviously dislike said character feeling sad. Unless there are stories that have been deleted, this is based off three stories. One is the authors, one I feel that my OoC label was justified and another that I gave a ton of praise to. I like writing for the angst genre and I like writing darkfic. So... this is the result of me letting off some steam.