Rangiku's dating code

"Now, now, Ran-san, she needs rest." Kyoraku Shunsui smiled at the busty woman, who was trying, in vain, for over 15 minutes to get into Ise Nanao's apartment. "I'd love to let you in, but Hitsugaya-kun snuck in some documents and I'm concerned."

"And pray, how did he sneak documents in?" Rangiku asked in her sweetest voice. "I know you men have deep pockets, but…"

"Hid then under his shirt. Could you believe it?" Kyoraku waved his hand dramatically "And here I am, throwing so much effort into making my sweet Nanao-chan rest and…"

"For the last time, I am not your Nanao, and if you call me '-chan' again, Kyoraku-san, I'll make you suffer!" the door to her friend's apartment was flung open to reveal a furious Nanao, wearing nothing but a bathrobe and a pair of headphones draped over her neck. "And if you do know my friend, as you pretend to, you'd know she wouldn't be hiding any documents under her shirt and if you weren't so blind, you'd have noticed it too."

"Oh, my Nanao-chan cuts me!" Kyoraku whined, but when she opened the door for Matsumoto to pass, he tried to butt in too.

BANG!

"Nan-chan, slamming the door into his face is so ru~ude." Her friend sang "Why not let him in? It's not like we'll be discussing matters regarding national security."

"I'm half naked, Rangiku." Came the dry reply

"You shouldn't have come out in the hallway half-naked then." The latter grinned "Though it suits you."

"And miss having my best friend over for coffee on Saturday?"

"I would've held off a little for you to put some pants on."

"Whatever. I've done enough compromising things in front of this guy to have him in my house." Nanao said, her good mood evaporating from her like water in a hot pan.

"But Nan-chan, he must've already seen your house. And what do you mean by 'compromising'? You kissing him or you fainting in front of him?"

"Both. I can't let him see me like this."

"What's so wrong about it? And he likes you."

"Excuse me?"

"He likes you, Nan-chan. He's singled you out!"

"Why did that just sound like something perverted?" Nanao rolled her eyes as she fixed breakfast, before throwing a concerned glance at Matsumoto "It's not…what I think it is, right?"

"Nanao, how could I have raised such a dense girl!" cried Rangiku, throwing her arms around her friend and pulling her face into her infamous cleavage "Everyone knows the only way to get a man is for him to single you out!"

Nanao broke away calmly to get the cinnamon rolls out of the oven and quickly placed them in three separate plates. Rangiku noticed (with some glee), that Nanao poured some coffee in a plastic cup and quickly placed it along with one of the plates on her threshold, before she closed the door.

"Is that an apology or an offer of peace?"

"He has been standing there for over three days." Nanao shrugged "And what do you mean 'to single you out'? I thought both parties had to be consent for a relationship to blossom."

"You speak like a matchmaker, Nan-chan. But you really are wrong. Take a couple on the street, and you'd see that they are usually very ordinary looking. What gives? The answer is that the woman has made herself stand out, and the man has singled her out."

"So why does the man have to be the one singling the woman out?"

"Because they're the ones proposing, right?" Rangiku laughed "In some way, the lady has made herself interesting to the man, and he has decided that he wants to get to know her better. It makes perfect sense. On the first couple of dates, nobody doesn't really expect anything, and if you're interested, you do something to keep the other's attention. After the third date, it's already turned into a relationship of some sorts and you're free to be yourself."

"That's a theory that has plenty of loopholes in it." Nanao stated calmly, while she sipped her tea "For starters, wouldn't it be lying if you're not yourself from the beginning."

"Come now, you don't tell the story of your life over the first date. You can't know the person, or the things they choose not to tell you. Besides, it's proven statistically. 96 % of the men I have dated have been the ones to engage contact, with me catching the eye of 28 % of them, with me being myself all the time with 12 % and with the other 56 % I had done something on the first date ,but afterwards, I has totally myself."

"When did you put all these numbers together?"

"When I got sick last winter. I checked my dating log and toyed with the calculator. It was fun. But, more importantly, those 12 % were my first boyfriends, and they weren't exactly what one would call a successful relationship."

"But even being yourself, you're extraordinary." Nanao pointed out "And what about that 4 % that hadn't engaged contact? Are you referring to Hitsugaya-kun?"

"No, Nan-chan. I told you, I'm not engaging him in a relationship of any sorts."

"Oh, so you can snoop into his personal life and not engage him in a relationship? Rangiku, I think he's seriously fallen for you." With that, Nanao quickly told her about Hitsugaya's visit from the other day and watched her friend's eyes become as big as plates when she realized their associate's visit hadn't been only about paperwork.

"But Nan-chan, the fact that he asked about me…"

"Rangiku, the only person who asked about you…who came to me about you, was Gin. And despite the fact that he ran, he did love you. And I never imagined that someone would do that again."

Rangiku sighed. "Yeah, you are right but…I think Hitsugaya-kun also has a darker side. Like Gin. Only…with him it's deeper and more painful. I really want to heal it, but I don't want to repeat the same thing as Gin. I really don't want to lose him, Nan-chan, and if we were more than friends, I'd definitely lose him."

"Do you think Hitsugaya-kun is the type to run off on the Bahamas?" Nanao asked, her eyebrow quirked.

"No, but I am wondering if Gin chose to follow Aizen because of me. I was getting serious, Nan-chan. And you know how I am when I'm serious."

"Yeah. You're really scary."

But you're not revolting, Nanao added when she saw her friend at the door. Rangiku could get very possessive and frighten guys, but the things she did weren't enough to scare away a guy that was completely in love with her. And he had loved her, she was sure of it. That look in his eyes had been nothing like the look of those other boyfriends she had had, the ones lusting after her body without caring for a minute that there is more to her than endless legs and a huge bosom.

The only reason she could come up with for Gin's flight was that there were other things to him than her friend. Not that he didn't love Rangiku. There was just something he loved more than Rangiku.

As the door of the elevator closed behind her friend, Nanao's vision suddenly became flooded by pink and a second later Kyoraku Shunsui was hugging her like an overgrown puppy greets their master. Nanao, being prepared for such an attack, flashed out a fan and slapped him across the hands.

"Nanao-chan, that hurts!" He pulled back, but not fast enough for her liking. "Why'd you do that? Don't you love me?"

Nanao didn't answer, her eyes staring at his gaudy shirt, trying to figure out what was wrong. Somewhere in her mind, a bulb was lit.

"This isn't the same shirt as one hour ago." She stated flatly.

"Aaah, how observant you are, my Nanao-chan. I changed it after I had some of your delicious cinnamon rolls."

"You went all the way to your house?" She wasn't familiar with his address, but from what she'd heard, the Kyoraku family's mansion was in one of the richest neighborhoods of Tokyo. And while her own living complex wasn't in the cheapest of districts, Nanao was sure the ride there would take more than a few minutes….

Until she saw a door opened in the other end of the hallway, and she realized that the ride home only took a few seconds. The pink coats handing in the corridor told it all.

"You…live here?" she mumbled angrily

"Why yes. My family has more than one home in this town, Nanao-chan."

"So I suppose that if I should move out…" she mused slowly

"We have property in nearly every quarter of Tokyo so…" the door closed with a loud clack "Yes, I don't think it's a good idea either."


Hitsugaya stared at the phone with a mixture or irritation and disbelief, as if the poor machine was the cause of his troubles. Ukitake-san was asking him to check his mail, a dozen missed calls from Hinamori and twice as much messages saying "Shiro, where are you?!" were recorded, and there was a text from Matsumoto, inviting him to a dinner at her place, that was supposed to celebrate her sister's engagement.

Her tone, of course, left no room for doubt-he was to come, whether he liked it or not. And yet…it would be better if he put some distance between them, for now. Right?

Then he caught himself considering whether he should be dressed with a coat or not and gave it up-she had the voice of a siren, dragging men down into enchanted waters to meet their end. At least those poor bastards weren't thinking when they were drowning.

Well, actually, he wasn't sure. Hitsugaya paused and thought about it-were there more than one sort of mermaid there? Orthodox mythology hadn't been his favorite literary genre, and he preferred the stories of dragons better…oh, well, what's the point? If Rangiku was a mythical creature, there was nothing he could do.

As he went through some old files and quickly picked up some comfortable clothes for the dinner, his phone began to ring. Having his hands full, and not wanting to talk to Momo at the moment, he just left it like that. However, when the responder turned on, it was not his secretary's voice that filled the apartment, but a wholly different person's, which made Hitsugaya start and drop everything he held in his hands.

"Hello, Hitsugaya-san. You probably don't remember me, but we had a few lectures together in the university. My name is Ishida Uruyu and I'm calling to inform you of an upcoming class reunion…"

"Hello, Ishida-san." Toushiro picked the receiver up "I'm sorry, my hands were full a second ago."

"That's alright. It's not that important." Ishida Uruyu, a classmate from High School and also a graduate of Todai, was now the head surgeon of his father's private hospital. Many people would suppose that, with such a settled life he'd be a spoiled and obnoxious man, but Ishida's only fault was that he was too proud and shy to actually approach anyone. If he was a little more handsome, he could pass for Austen's Darcy, or even Bronte's Rochester, but he was the type of man to blend in with the woodwork and only speak when he had to. It was strange that he should be bothering with class reunions, but he did care a lot about equality and tolerance, and Hitsugaya guessed that if he didn't call, nobody else would.

"I suppose there won't be many people to come either." He went on indifferently "Though Kurosaki wouldn't miss it. Or Abarai. Those two won't miss a chance to fight over Kuchiki-san. I suppose you should come to help me break them apart."

Hitsugaya laughed dryly "I'd rather not. Kurosaki's more likely to get into a fight with me than with Abarai if I come."

"What's wrong with you two?" Ishida sighed warily on the phone. Hitsugaya could almost hear him readjust his glasses. "You two used to be best friends back then, and now Kurosaki won't even mention your name. I just finished talking to him, and when I told him who am I calling next, he begged me not to say anything on the subject when we meet."

"You're going to visit them?" suddenly, he felt edgy. They hadn't related the affair to anybody but themselves, but if Ishida got suspicious…

"Well, yes. His sister's…erm…confinement…is drawing near, and he wants me to make sure that everything's fine. Kami knows why, their father's a doctor himself, and I'm no midwife, but I suppose he gets worried every time somebody mentions labor. Though Karin-san is more likely to beat the shit out of them for fainting on her or cowering like sissies…."

The white-haired man listened no further. He just stared at the blank wall and breathed evenly. Confinement. Labor. So it really had been Karin….And they didn't want to see him again. They didn't want to risk any reminiscence of those events that had been, in the past, so painful for them. Of course. Why should they?

"Thank you for telling me, but I don't think I'll make it." Then he added in a warmer tone "It'd be nice if we could meet."

"Yes, indeed, but…" Ishida's voice was cut off abruptly when Hitsugaya hung on him. Then, on a lark, he put his shoes on and stormed out of his home, his steps taking him through the warm afternoon towards Matsumoto's apartment.

It was still really early to go anywhere, he told himself. He stopped several times and debated whether he should go back and call in sick, or continue his stride. The prospect of going back to his place made him stagger with pain. No, he couldn't go there, not for anything in this world. Hitsgaya imagined spending the night alone, pacing between the indifferent rooms, agitated, and suffocate more and more.

He passed a flower shop and wondered if he should get something for the girls. After all, it wasn't polite to come empty headed to a party. The message said that it was an informal dinner, which meant that Nanao and Orihime would probably be the only ladies present.

Hitsugaya approached the vases and examined the flowers in them. Poppies, lilies, irises, his sight was suddenly filled with bright colors and the smell of summer. What would they like? He knew every flower had a special meaning to it, and he didn't want to make the wrong impression. Nanao-san would probably like lilies, and given Orihime's cheerful personality, sunflowers or poppies would suit her best. He ordered two bouquets of three to the lady behind the counter, and while she took them inside to be wrapped, he examined the stands critically in search for something to fit Matsumoto.

Lilacs or cornflowers would really go with her eyes, but they seemed to frail and…depressed. On instinct, he dismissed quickly anything pink, and wondered if he should get a fruits basket, and then he spotted a few large pots, filled entirely with roses. There were white ones, like fresh snow, and yellow ones, like satin sprinkled with gold. But the red ones predominated. Bright red, dark red, roses that said "I love you, I'll be faithful to you to my last breath". Hitsugaya stared at them blankly, wondering how the hell could someone come up with something so stupid.

How could the color of a flower actually tell with certitude the feelings of someone? There were so many red roses on display because people used them all the time, not because they were wanted. Cheating husbands deceived their wives with bouquets, or turned the heads of their young mistresses when the flowers were accompanied by an expensive gift. People used them like a trading coin for love.

Suddenly, he saw it again. The tree which was crashing the car down was slippery with rain. Glass was spilled all over the ground, as if it was raining diamonds. Nature had won over men-their car was deformed so badly one couldn't tell what it was. He had tried to get Karin out, to ease her pain as much as he could, but nothing seemed to help her. But perhaps she was lucky, she wasn't awake to experience the pain. The pulse was failing, her face was ashen white, and the blood…the blood was everywhere. On his clothes, on his face, on his hands. Dark, bright, the same color as the petals of those roses he gave her earlier that day. Red….red…red…

His head snapped up when he felt somebody's hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Matsumoto's face…or a part of it. He hadn't noticed when he had kneeled on the ground.

"Hitsugaya-kun, are you alright?" Matsumoto asked, putting down the grocery bags and kneeling next to him "Are you sick?"

"No, I'm fine." He shook his head hastily "I just…just…saw this…interesting flower and…erm…" his eyes traveled to the pot of tulips on his right "And I thought they would suit you. Excuse me…" he called the lady "Could you make another bouquet please. Yes, with five of those. Thank you."

He ran a hand though his hair and realized that he had broken in cold sweat. That hadn't happened in years…

Still sitting on the ground, Rangiku looked at him questioningly "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, great." He nodded "I was just…making a hard decision."

"You make hard decisions every day and yet you can't decide on what flowers you're going to buy?" now she felt more confused than ever. Unless…that was a symptom.


A/N-I'm watching too much House MD lately. Btw, Teal'c' s name is spelled very variously over the net, and in my country, we have a diffeent alphabet, so I hope you'll forgive me for the spelling mistake in chapter 4.