And the story continues...

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1. Will NOT lose 3 kilos by the end of June, because Ichimaru Gin says so.

2. Will stop drinking but not around Ichimaru Gin, because drinking with Gin is fun.

3. Will stop cutting classes and playing hooky, but will not hold Ichimaru Gin responsible for any tardiness.

4. Will DEFINITELY fall in love with Ichimaru Gin. Over and over again.

As edited by yours truly,

Ichimaru Gin.

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Chapter 10

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"Hiro, what's wrong?" Rangiku asked tentatively watching Hiro push the dinner she'd made, around his plate moodily. For the last ten minutes she'd watched him sigh, play with an earring, press a hand to his eyes and the tapping of his foot had never stopped, drumming a nervous beat into the floor.

"The deal didn't pull through." He said through clenched teeth, pushing a hand through his rusty locks frustratedly. He dropped his fork on to the plate with a rude clatter which startled Rangiku a bit. She placed her fork down carefully and regarded him with big eyes.

"I'm sure you can always find another person-"

"It doesn't work like that! Not everyone is as naive as you are." He snapped and she flinched, looking down at the table, hands squeezing in her lap. He could be so harsh sometimes.

"I'm sorry, babe. I didn't mean it." Hiro said with exaggerated calm, extending an arm, palm side up, as an invitation to hold his hand. She shakily placed her hand in his. She couldn't lie, she was afraid of Hiro when he was in a bad mood. It was even scarier when he was pretending to be in a good mood when he clearly wasn't. It was like placing a thin, flimsy sheet over a roiling dark mass of angry lava, the sheet could be ripped open at any second, burning anyone who got too close- or in the way.

He closed his fingers around hers and brought the hand to his lips. They felt cold and lifeless and she struggled to maintain eye contact, wanting nothing more to have her hand back.

She really did like living with Hiro, it had seemed and felt so natural at first. He welcomed her with open arms and they did and shared everything. Everything seemed to fall into place and her momentary lapse of doubt as she left her key under the apartment doormat for the final time, disappeared like a snowflake in a blast furnace as he kissed her fully and helped her take in her bags.

"Hiro?" Rangiku asked nervously, "...I was wondering when we'd go shopping for the new table-"

"I told you to stop fucking bringing up the damn table!" Hiro interrupted her question angrily, slamming a hand onto the table. "If and when the deal comes through and I get enough, that's when we'll get the damn table."

"It's just, I feel like it's literally going to fall apart-" The table gave a demonstrative wiggle as it nearly buckled under the weight of Hiro's hand once more. Rangiku flinched and fell silent again, watching him with fearful eyes.

"Rangiku, just shut up and do your nails or something. It's none of your business and it never will be, okay? You don't know what you're talking about." Hiro stood up abruptly, taking his almost full plate in hand. He strode over to the kitchen sink.

"And by the way," Hiro added as she turned around to face him in her rickety chair, "This tasted like shit."

He dropped the plate on to the floor, china smashing into several large pieces, with food rolling off and splattering onto the floor in a disgusting concoction of broken crockery and cold remains.

She watched him stalk towards their bedroom, hearing the door slam and a tear trickled down the side of her face. A tear that fell out of fear, anxiety, relief and guilty shame at the fact that she felt relieved to be out of his ominous presence.

She hid her face in her hands and let out a quiet sob, she didn't want to have to clean up yet another broken plate.

At this rate, they'd have to eat out of bowls instead.

Rangiku tilted back in her chair, stretching. This was the last class before her stats exam and she was so ready to fail. She shook her head, no, she needed positive thoughts. She dreaded the thought of having to retake this course for the third time. That was just humiliating. So far she'd attended every class since the New Year began, and she patted herself on the back mentally. At least that was one resolution she'd kept up with so far. Now to just actually pass the damn course…

Toshiro slid into the seat next to her, placing a notebook and calculator, that he wasn't even going to use, on the desk.

"Done the homework then?" He smirked in greeting, knowing fully well that she hadn't. He placed the sheet with the correct answers on them in front of her and Rangiku raised an eyebrow, unaccustomed to receiving her saviour without shedding a few drops of tears and blood in the process.

She started copying the answers down quickly and without question, not believing her luck.

"So I suppose I better ask, right," Toshiro began languidly, appraising her out of the corner of one eye as he stared up at the ceiling counting the cracks, "Who's the guy you're seeing?"

Rangiku stopped writing and grinned widely.

"Did Nanao tell you?"

"Of course not, " He scoffed, "It's written all over your face. In fact it's been basically plastered on your body for the last few weeks but I didn't bother asking figuring you'd tell me. But judging by the fact you haven't- I'm assuming you're pretty serious, right? So who's the lucky guy?" Toshiro supposed he could endure some girly chat for at least fifteen minutes before he started to feel more feminine than masculine, but seeing as this was one of the topics that made Rangiku very happy to discuss at length and gusto, he grudgingly allowed her to speak for as long as she wanted- which would probably be the whole lesson.

Rangiku beamed. She had been wanting to tell Toshiro about Gin for some time now, but she knew how iffy he'd became when it came to chatting about boys and love and so she'd refrained. Also partly she wanted to keep Gin a secret for herself to enjoy but she knew she had to let the fox out of the bag some day.

She fished around her bag for her phone. Flicking through a few photos, she stopped at the one with him kissing her cheek as she winked at the camera. She liked that one, it was taken at the park he'd first brought her to. God, that first date felt like such a long time ago. She could still remember the tangy taste of the olives on her tongue and the closeness of his face to hers without actually kissing. Not that that happened anymore, it was impossible to remain less than five centimeters away from each other without ending in a liplock.

"Here." She handed him the phone which Toshiro took. Rangiku watched his face closely, heart beating in anticipation of what he'd say. But as Toshiro's features darkened by the second, she felt herself becoming cross and annoyed. Wasn't he supposed to be feeling happy for her? What the heck was that look on his face?

"Rangiku, I don't think you should see this guy." Toshiro said quietly. "What's his name again?"

"Gin. Ichimaru Gin." She gritted out through clenched teeth as she all but snatched her phone back from his unresisting fingers. "God, Toshiro. What's your problem?"

There was another pregnant pause before he answered, without looking at her.

"I just don't think you should see this guy." He insisted without answering her question directly.

"Toshiro! You know I've been dating this guy for weeks, you can't just tell me this now and expect that I'll break up with him. I really, really like him, ok?"

"Didn't he go to Las Noches?"

"I don't know, and even if he did, petty school rivalry isn't reason enough for me to just break up with a guy."

Toshiro crossed his arms adamantly, a sour expression clouding his face as he regarded his best friend.

"I get it now." Rangiku said slowly, eyes narrowing in an accusatory glare. "You're jealous, aren't you. You're jealous at the fact that I'm dating someone that isn't you. Don't think I don't know about the crush that you had on me. I know how you look at me, when you think I'm not looking." Rangiku couldn't stop the poisonous words tumbling from her lips, adrenaline and anger were taking over her fast and her words tripped over one another in haste. There could be no other explanation as to why Toshiro was behaving so strangely.

"You still like me don't you, even if you're dating Hinamori, and you're jealous that I'm happy with Gin."

Toshiro who'd been looking at her with a look of disapproval up till then, now had a look of extreme hurt painted across his face that he didn't even bother hiding.

"Fuck you." He said quietly, teal eyes shimmering slightly. He stood up, sweeping his books into his bag uncaringly.

Rangiku's eyes widened too late, with the full realisation of what she'd just said. She grabbed his wrist.

"Wait- No, I didn't mean what I said! It was an accident!" She panicked, wishing with all her might that she could take back her words, even though she knew nothing would excuse what she'd just said to one of her closest friends. "Please, I'm so sorry-"

"Let go, Matsumoto." Toshiro snapped, shaking her hand off his wrist angrily. "You're dating a guy that you don't even know. Don't come crying to me when it's over. We're over." He added, sending her one last burning glare.

Rangiku watched him leave helplessly, the small white head disappearing around the corner, not to be seen again. Her face prickled with shame and embarrassment at what had just happened. Their argument hadn't been a quiet one either and she could feel people staring at her from all directions of the lecture hall. She wanted to leave and bury herself into a hole, never to emerge again.

What had she done?

She hid her head in her arms. God knows how she was ever going to fix this mistake. Would she even be able to fix this mistake? Even if Toshiro had just been gone for over thirty minutes, the emptiness without him by her side was overwhelming. She kept checking her phone, to see if he'd text her something- anything, but her phone remained silent and unchanged. Rangiku struggled to keep the lump in her throat down, she deserved the stony anger that Toshiro was displaying, there would be no way in hell that he'd show any indication that they even knew each other now. When Toshiro got angry, he stayed angry for a very long time, she knew that well enough.

She swore.

Her fingers flew over the keypad, typing out a message to the one person she could rely on to save her from herself.

"Sorry for calling you out on such short notice- I just, I really need to be with someone." Rangiku apologised as Gin laced their fingers together sweetly, comfortingly.

"It's no bother. I hope you don't mind hangin' out at the flat, I have some things I hafta do first." He dropped a kiss on her head.

Gin walked nonchalantly, free hand in his pocket, the corners of his mouth perpetually turned upwards. Rangiku looked up at him discreetly. She couldn't shake Toshiro's words from her head, "You're dating a guy that you don't even know." What did that even mean? Sure she didn't exactly know where Gin graduated but it didn't matter. Did it…?

"...Gin?"

"Mmm?" He cracked a light blue eye to look down at her questioningly, without breaking their walking pace.

"Where'd you, you know, go to university?"

"Funny question really, I've been ta a lot of universities. I can't exactly pick one."

He was avoiding the question Rangiku noted and narrowed her eyes. She could tell by the way the sliver of his light blue eye had disappeared from sight, an even broader grin covering up his past, concealing it.

"But where did you finish university?" She pressed, refusing to let go of the subject just yet. She wasn't going to lose her friendship with Toshiro in vain. The fact that Toshiro had been so adamant about her choice in a man, struck an uneasy chord within her. Toshiro tended to stay out of her love life and he'd never told her who she should or shouldn't date before...If she turned out to be right and that there was nothing wrong with Ichimaru, she'd just tell Toshiro so, and maybe they could just get over this misunderstanding. But if Toshiro was right… Rangiku shook her head slightly, not really wanting to think about that. If Toshiro was right, then she was going to have to eat a lot of crow. Her jaw ached at the thought.

"Why'd ya want ta know?" Gin said finally, they'd slowed down without her noticing, petering to a close halt.

"I don't know, I just don't feel like I know you well enough. I mean you know which university I go to. It's not a big deal. I just want to get to know you better." She argued.

"...And ya think by knowing where I graduated from, that'll make ya know me better?" Gin asked amusedly. She scowled, he was making fun of her again.

"..."

"Fine," He relented, seeing no change in Rangiku's expression. He knew that once Rangiku set her mind on something there was no way to shake her off, of course that had been the root of several petty arguments, but it was nothing he couldn't talk his way out of.

"If ya must know, I graduated from Las Noches University. Happy?"

Rangiku nodded and didn't press the question further, but a sense of foreboding started to fill her being that was getting harder and harder to ignore. LNU was notorious for accepting juvenile delinquents and students with "special needs" who needed extra attention and care. Most of the people she knew from LNU were renowned drug dealers, druggies or both and she knew this because… because… She closed her eyes, trying to stop going down the path her mind was taking her to once more. It was a fact, if you wanted something illegal, you got someone from LNU to do it. But that didn't mean that Gin had to be part of it, you could attend university without getting influenced by your peers, right? ….Right?

Gin paused by a door that was a peculiar shade of green.

"... I didn' expect company t'day, so the flat is a little messy. I've yet to clear out the filth." He said apologetically, hand on the knob of the front door. "I hope ya don' mind."

She shrugged, her apartment was plenty messy as well. Through her cloudy doubt, she couldn't help but feel a slightly grain of excitement well to the surface. They'd been dating for several weeks and Gin was a well known presence in her apartment now, often eating staying to eat breakfast with her and Nanao but she'd never been to his flat. She didn't want to impose, especially as he kept making excuses and reasons why his flat wasn't to be visited, but now that he'd invited her, she sure wasn't going to pass up this chance to peek into a slice of Gin's life. A home told a lot about a person, y'know.

He opened the door and ushered her in.

Immediately she noticed the strong musky, male scent that permeated the space. It smelled like Gin, only a hundred times stronger. She could tell that he'd had the flat for quite some time to make it smell so like him. She breathed in deeply, catching a small undertone of something that smelled a bit like…

"Dried grass…?" She murmured.

"Dried grass, the lady says!" A voice sounded from her right, as she rounded the corner.

Sitting at a round table were four boys-about-to-be-men, with their clean shaven faces and lean bodies, seated around a table lit by one dim lamp that hung overhead.

Rangiku stopped in her tracks, looking to Gin as to what she should do. She wasn't expecting company. She didn't know what it was, maybe it was the dark, hazy atmosphere in the room that made it hard to make out the expressions of the occupants in the room, but she felt as exposed as ever, knowing that four pairs of eyes were checking her out extensively. Instinctively, she pulled her jacket around her form closer as if to shield herself from their burning gazes. Rangiku backed away slowly and bumped into Gin's chest.

"I told ya, I've yet ta clear out the filth." He murmured in a carrying whisper that was clearly meant for all the people in the room. His arm snaked around her waist protectively as he brought her closer to the table. The guys let out an appreciative laugh, not bothered in the slightest how they were openly insulted.

"Here, I'll introduce ya. From the right- Aizen, Kira and Luppi." Gin said nodding at each person. The guy named Luppi was staring at her intensely, well staring at her curvaceous chest to be precise. She glared at him pointedly and turned away slightly, trying to block Luppi's view.

"And whose that?" Gin mumbled, squinting at the fourth person hunched over at the table. "Aizen, did ya bring that pet o' yours again? How many times have I told ya he gives me the creeps?"

"He's incompetent on his own." A deep voice said simply, Rangiku turned to the source, a fairly well built young man with glasses sat calmly at the head of the table, drinking something from a teacup.

"That's Wonderweiss." Gin added to her, "Don't sit next to him."

After a scuffle of the addition of chairs, Rangiku ended up sitting between a quiet guy called Kira and Aizen, while Gin sat comfortably between Aizen and Luppi.

For awhile, no one said anything. The only thing that could be heard was the clink of Aizen's cup against the table, and Wonderweiss's peculiar whines and moans, as he played with the ends of Luppi's long sleeves. Rangiku felt so awkward, she didn't know any of them and they didn't seem to take a particular interest in her either. Well Luppi did, he was still staring at her chest, but somehow she felt that crossing her arms over them just made things worse, which proved to be true as Luppi's grin grew even more lewd.

"Ran's interested in where people go ta university, helps her get ta know them better, apparently." Gin broke the silence lightly, looking at her through slitted eyes, in an almost challenging way. She blushed, Gin knew exactly that wasn't what she meant. He knew that question was meant for him, and him alone. It was meaningless to everyone else.

However, brief introductions were made and it turned out both Aizen and Gin had graduated from Las Noches at the same time, Luppi was still a junior at LNU and Kira was a freshman at Seireitei… And well, Wonderweiss hadn't even graduated from highschool yet.

"Rangiku chan," Luppi said with a devious smile, "D'ya like snakes?"

Before she could say she was deathly afraid of them, Luppi stood up and disappeared into the dark kitchen. She'd forgotten that Gin owned a snake, she remembered with a sinking heart. She hated reptiles. Aizen just sat calmly, sipping his tea, but his calculating eyes were riveted on her face, gauging her reactions. A sound of a glass top sliding and a rustle of something was heard. When Luppi came back, he was stroking a medium sized white snake that had coiled itself around his arm several times.

The snake hissed, it's tongue flickering, tasting the air- and Rangiku's growing apprehension.

"Be gentle with Sasha." Gin warned, eyes trained on his beloved pet.

Luppi walked towards her still, crooning at the snake softly. He raised his eyes to her, smirking. Rangiku tried leaning away as far as possible so she wouldn't have any contact with the serpent, but Luppi came closer still.

By now, she was less than thirty centimeters away from the reptile, who had taken a keen interest in her, beady eyes watching her closely. She felt a cold sweat drench her skin as she maintained eye contact with the snake.

It suddenly reared it's head and the swift movement had Rangiku shrieking and nearly falling into Kira's lap.

"Enough!" Gin stood up and cajoled the snake into hand, putting her back in the glass tank quickly. He shot Luppi a glare but Luppi didn't care as he just laughed and took his place at the table again.

"Don't worry about Luppi, he does that to every newcomer." Kira whispered, smiling shyly from under a curtain of blonde hair. "Sasha's harmless really, the most she'll ever do is hiss at you."

Rangiku could only nod, the fear prompted adrenaline was making it hard for her to talk and summon words to communicate.

"Hey, Kira, you going to play?" Luppi interjected suddenly, not caring whether he was interrupting or not.

Rangiku looked up, without her noticing, a deck of cards were laid out on the table in an interesting formation, and glasses were filled with a clear something that was obviously not water.

"Sure, why not." Kira accepted a small pile of cards.

The game started, and the more she watched the more confused she became. It was clear that the game had nothing to do with the suits, or the numbers or even the colour of the cards. At first she'd tried to follow, wondering why Luppi would suddenly cackle in glee or why Kira would groan in frustration. Aizen and Gin seemingly had the best faces of all, for Aizen's expression never changed, eyes glued on the cards that he held in his hands protectively, while Gin flashed the widest grin in his repertoire, not giving his hand away at all.

Rangiku grew tired and isolated as the game seemingly escalated, and she was left to stare into the game like a child staring into a toy shop. The sidelong jibes, insults and bursts of laughter that followed made her feel like she was the only one not included in the private joke. She raised her eyes to Gin, trying to communicate her discomfort but he was absorbed within the game, resting a hand on Aizen's shoulder as he provoked Luppi into throwing down yet another card.

She desperately wanted Gin to stop playing and come over, but she knew that was completely out of line especially with his friends here. She wouldn't ask for his attention, she decided. She'd wait till it was given to her.

Someone lit a blunt and it was passed around. She refused and was surprised when Kira took a small drag. The overpowering, sweet grassy smell was starting to make her feel dizzy and slightly nauseous. A feeling that she hadn't felt for a long time. Her fingers itched to grab the bottle of Patrón that was sitting comfortably on the wooden table top, strewn now with ash and cards. Rangiku growled inwardly, she swore she wouldn't drink anything stronger than 15% and she wouldn't. All it took was iron fist and a steadfast heart...right? No matter how tempting, how inviting, the quality tequila was calling to her, she refused to give in. She clenched her fist and resorted to an old habit of distraction. She picked up a strand of her strawberry blonde hair and started looking for split ends.

The game wore on, with Kira becoming louder and more vocal with each glass of alcohol. Luppi had stopped smiling and had started swearing, threats becoming more and more violent. At last, the game came to an impromptu end when Wonderweiss had accidentally banged into the table, knocking over the open bottle of Patrón, spilling alcohol all over the cards. No one seemed to care or reprimand the confused boy as he wandered towards the window aimlessly. Rangiku secretly thanked Wonderweiss for ending the game, but briefly wondered whether he'd done it on purpose. One thing was for sure, if he hadn't done it, she certainly would've.

Gin tossed his cards into the center of the pile of sopping cards carelessly.

"Clean it up. My house, my rules." He stood up and stretched, finally looking down at Rangiku. The twinkle in his eye told her to follow him.

She did.

Gin's room was stained a dark inky blue, as the sun sank deep into the Earth waiting for another day.

Before she had a chance to take in the decor, he'd nudged the door shut with his foot and had scooped her to him, her back flush against his chest.

"'M sorry about that, sweetheart. I'm all yours now." He whispered against her neck, kissing it, smoothing down her flustered feathers of wrangled emotion gently. "I'll make sure they won't be here next time." He turned her and kissed her swiftly on the lips.

Gin pushed her back down on to the bed and started working on unbuttoning her blouse. But Rangiku just couldn't get into the moment. With the exception of Kira, she had to admit she didn't really like Gin's friends. They brought forth feelings of nervousness and apprehension. It was all feeling too uncomfortably familiar and she couldn't shake Toshiro's words from her head. You're dating a guy that you don't even know. The card games, the alcohol, the weed. It was all too fucking familiar and suddenly she was struggling to breathe as she forgot what it was like to stay sober.

"Gin." She gasped, and not just because his mouth had freed a naughty nipple from her bra.

She couldn't ignore the hushed whispers that Aizen and Gin had been trading all day, the privatised looks and glances. She knew what they meant. She'd seen them all before. It was all a horrid rendition…

But until anything was said, nothing could be proven.

Gin's inquisitive fingers were stroking at her skin softly, nudging material aside, finding softer and sensitive flesh as they crept up her ribcage like a delicate ladder.

Rangiku exhaled deeply as his fingers came to stop atop her breast, teasing the puckered skin there gently, but she didn't feel anything.

She knew she had to know.

There was no way she could live, without knowing.

"Gin, do you deal?"

TBC