The truth behind the smile
Disclaimer: I own nothing!!
3 days before the execution
They made a low key arrival, being met at the gate by Ukitake and Rukia only. As they walked back to squad thirteen, where they were suppose to stay for the duration of their visit to Soul Society, Rukia filled them in on all that had happened and all that was going to happen. They listen intently, their hearts growing heavy and sad with every new details. It was no surprise then when Inoue Orihime, vaguely recognizing the area they were in, suddenly said, "I think I'll go see Hitsugaya-kun, Squad ten is near here isn't it?"
"Yes," said Ukitake, "The barracks at the end of this path," pointing to a path to their left.
"Want me to come with you?" offered Ichigo.
"No that's ok," said Orihime, waving her hands in front of her, "I'll meet you all later," with that she took off towards squad ten.
When she arrived she found Hitsugaya sitting on the sofa Matsumoto often slept in. He was alone, Hinamori having been forced to return to her squad to take care of a few things. He was just sitting their staring at the opposite wall. He didn't react when she entered the room or acknowledge her presence when she sat down next to him. He was completely and totally locked inside his own thought and mind. It was not till Orihime silently pulled him towards her and pressed his face to her bosoms that Hitsugaya abruptly became aware of his surroundings. At first Hitsugaya suffered from a moment of delirious happy confusion where he thought that his Vice-captain was alive and back with him, but the next moment the truth of the matter hit him. No, these were not the ample bosoms of his loyal lieutenant, which were the first things he encounter that day, the day he first met her. They day he came rushing to his defense when that shop keeper was rude to him. These were not the breasts of Matsumoto Rangiku, but they were soft, they were warm and they unfroze the tears in his eyes. If only because remembered how she would always offer her chests as a source of comfort, "Just cry all you want on my chest," Matsumoto would say and at that moment Hitsugaya swore he heard Matsumoto's voice say just that.
Slowly he began to sob, "Just cry all you want on my chest," said Orihime, "That's what she said to me once. The first night she and you stayed with me. I cried and cried into her chest till I had no more tears left. I felt better after that. So cry, Hitsugaya-kun, cry and hopefully when all the tears come out, you'll feel a little better," she whispered.
Hinamori watched from the doorway, she had just returned and the sight before her filled her with jealousy, not to mention feeling of deep inadequacy. It wasn't that she thought Hitsugaya and Inoue Orihime had a thing happening. No, it was more that Inoue Orihime, a human girl who had known Hitsugaya barely two years could accomplish what Hinamori had failed to do. She had gotten him to start expression his grief within moments of coming to soul society. What's wrong with me? wondered Hinamori, Why can't I do anything? What was it that Captain Aizen used to see in me? He saw something in me. I am sure he did.
About mid-afternoon Zaraki Kenpachi made his way to Sougou Kyuugo Tsumesho and unsurprisingly found Captain Unohana sitting in the garden sipping tea, as she usually did. She on the other hand found his appearance more than a little surprising, "Isn't it about time for your afternoon nap, Kenpachi?" she asked him as he came to sit besides her.
"Can't sleep," he grunted out.
"What's keeping you awake?" wondered Unohana.
"Guilt," replied Kenpachi simply.
"Guilt?" repeated Unohaha in some surprise.
"Yeah," said Kenpachi with a sigh, "Yachiru got me to counter sign the adoption paper's for Ichimaru's babies. Kyoraku's adopting them. Didn't really think about it when I signed it. But as I was trying to sleep I thought to myself, Kira's going to be even more gloom and doom after this. It's making me feel kind of guilty and I feel stupid for feeling guilty. It's not like I don't think Kyoraku won't be good for them."
"I didn't know Captain Kyoraku was going to be the one adopting," said Unohana, "But you are right, he will be good for the babies and the babies will be good for him. It is," she sighed, "Unfortunate the Kira will get hurt over this. But that can't be helped and I wish there was someway Kira could be in their lives. I think he would like that. But..." reluctant to speak ill of anyone, Unohaha didn't complete the sentence.
"Ise Nanao eh?" said Kenpachi, "Yachiru was babbling on about how 'Nana' doesn't like 'Foxy' and is being unfair to 'Foxy' and 'Izurun'. But that isn't exactly stopping her from helping 'Nana'," Unohaha just nodded. After a moment Kenpachi sighed again, "I wish these things were as easy as cutting."
"And I wish it was as easy to heal emotional cuts as it is to heal physical ones," replied Unohaha. She fell into silence but the next moment both she and Kenpachi were distracted as they heard the faint sounds of shunpo not that far from them.
Kenpachi stained his rather limited reitsu sensing skills before saying, "Iba and Abarai, remind me to teach them a lesson about what happens to nosy vice-captains who eavesdrop on captains," he said, his face lighting-up at the prospective of fighting those two. Especially Abarai, who now had bankai. Unohaha smiled and returned to sipping her tea, mentally resigning herself to do some major healing on both Abarai Renji and Iba Tetsuzaemon.
"Kira!" cried Renji as he threw open to the door to his office, "Grab whatever you have prepared for the adoption of the Matsumoto's kids and come quickly!"
Kira blinked, "What? What happened?"
"We'll explain on the way but we need to go see Captain-commander Yamamoto right away!" said Renji, as Iba nodded frantically behind him.
By the time Ise Nanao came to squad ten, Hitsugaya tears had stopped and even though his eyes were red he had progressed to the point where he found himself talking about Rangiku with Hinamori and Orihime, "Every time she woke up she would ask what I was doing in her room," he said, "She never seemed to remember that this was the office and the sofa wasn't her bed. I often wonder how she could do that. She didn't have a sofa in her room and her bed is huge."
"Perhaps she dreamt she was in her room," offered Orihime, "I mean, sometimes I dream that I am a robot just before I wake-up and when I do, I wonder where my booster rockets are!"
Hitsugaya smiled at that, Hinamori just looked confused. Nanao cleared her throat, "Forgive me Captain Hitsugaya but I was wondering if I may have a few moments of your time."
"Is it about the adoption?" asked Hitsugaya, suddenly full of eagerness "What do I have to do?"
"You just have to counter sign his form," said Nanao as she presented the application to Hitsugaya, "But you should know Captain, I am not the one adopting the children. Captain Kyoraku is."
Hitsugaya was startled but it was Hinamori who spoke, "Captain Kyoraku? What does he want with that snakes..."
"Hinamori!" chided Hitsugaya, "They are Matsumoto's children and I am glad Kyoraku had decided to adopt them. He'll be a great father to them and you'll make sure they have the mother that they need won't you?" he asked of Nanao.'
Nanao smiled, "Of course and I'll make sure they get to know the mother they should have had too," she assured him, "Besides, they will have you as well and everyone else who was Rangiku's friends," she said as she looked first at Hinamori and then Orihime.
Hinamori found that she didn't much like the idea of spending time with the kids. Orihime on the other hand, said with a bright smile, "I'll cook for them! I mean," she added hesitantly, "Most people don't like what I cook but Rangiku-san used to love it! I am sure her children would too!"
Nanao smiled, "As long as they don't take a liking to powdered green tea we'll be fine."
Hitsugaya signed the papers. "Done," said Hitsugaya, "When are you going to go see the Captain-commander?" he wondered.
"Captain Kyoraku is already there. I'll head over with the paper now," explained Nanao.
"I'll come with you," said Hitsugaya getting up.
Orihime also got up, "Where are the babies? I wanted to see them."
"They are at squad eight," said Nanao, "Captain Soi Fon is watching them. Urahara Kisuke and Shihoin Yoruichi were also there when I left. If you want, you can go now and see the babies with them."
Orihime smiled, "I'll do just that," turning to Hinamori, "Do you want to come to, Hinamori-san?"
"No thank you," said Hinamori, her tone more then a little cold, "I have work to do." Orihime smiled and turned away. Hitsugaya and Nanao where too pre-occupied to take notice of her cold manner, which only served to make Hinamori even more upset.
"Hisagi-san drank so much that he passed out," explained Renji as they shunpoed to squad one, "But given he had been drinking non-stop since last night, Iba-san and I thought that he must have gone past his bodies limit to handle alcohol and took him to squad four as a precaution. Turns out we were right. If we had delayed even ten minutes Hisagi-san would have died."
"Which earned us an earful from Captain Unohaha," Iba interjected, "She demanded what kind of friends would let a friend do that to themselves."
"Anyway, we stayed with Hisagi-san," said Renji, "About half an hour ago now, we got something to eat and decided to eat in the garden. That's when we over-heard Captain Zaraki and Captain Unohana talking. Captain Zaraki said that Yachiru had gotten him to counter-sign adoption papers for Rangiku-san's babies."
"But we already knew that was going to happen," Kira pointed out, "Why the sudden rush?"
"We thought you were up against Ise Nanao," replied Iba, "You ain't. Captain Kyoraku is the one doing the adopting. Your only hope now is to plead with the Captain-commander and hope like hell he puts more weight on the fact that Captain Kyoraku is a womanizing drunkard and not on the fact that not only is Captain Kyoraku a noble from a wealthy and influential clan ranked just blew the four Great noble houses but also that Captain Kyoraku is like a son to the Captain-commander."
"I got to say, Kira," said Renji, "I can't think of anything you can say or do to convince Captain-commander Yamamoto. But I knew you would hate yourself if you didn't try."
"I have to succeed," stated Kira, sounding desperate, "I just have to!"
However, when they got there, they were met by a pleased looking Hitsugaya outside of Captain-commander Yamamoto's office, "It's to late," he informed Kira, "It's all been decided. Captain-commander had no objects, especially after he saw that the adoption request was counter signed by almost all the captains."
Kira stood there reeling, "Why?" he whispered, "Why not me, Captain Hitsugaya? Why did you support his bid and not mine."
"Because you would have let them... no you would have insisted that they keep his name. Little Rangiku would have been Ichimaru Rangiku. You probably would have named the boy Gin! Ichimaru Gin... that boy is having that disgusting name over my dead body," declared Hitsugaya.
"Matsumoto-san wanted to name him Gin!" cried Kira, "Captain wouldn't let her. I would have... I would have named him what captain wanted."
"And what name did Ichimaru want to give his son?" wondered Hitsugaya, Kira mumbled something, "I didn't catch that."
"Souske," whispered Kira a little loudly then before.
Iba shook his head and Renji shot his dear friend a sad and sorry look. Hitsugaya looked at Kira with utter disgust, "I am not letting that traitor's taint touch those kids," he informed Kira, "He would have killed Hinamori if Matsumoto hadn't arrived in time. That's not something I can ever forgive. More importantly, I owe Matsumoto a lot but especially I owe her the life of one most dear to me. I won't let her children suffer because of him. Don't get in the way Kira," Hitsugaya warned, "Get in the way and I'll kill you myself!"
"Captain Hitsugaya!" cried Renji in protest but Iba stopped him from going further with a hand on his shoulder. Hitsugaya shot them all a reproachful look and turned away to leave.
"Don't escalate this Abarai," said Iba, "Go in and see the captain-commander anyway, Kira. You said you wanted to try even though the decks were stacked against you. So try," he added after Hitsugaya was out of earshot.
Author's note: I was going to add a few more things to this chapter but I think it's long enough as it is. So the next chapter will still be "3 days before the execution". *sigh* which means this story is going to get even longer. *sigh* I am so never writing another GinxRangiku fanfic (which basically mean no more Bleach fanfic) after this. Well at least I won't write another one for a very, very, very long time. But that's for later. First need to finish this! Thanks for reading and for all the reviews.