Once this "arc" is finished, I'm probably going to go back to the bits and pieces strategy. I don't know. Anyway, here's the next installment of my little Camping story.
He stepped out into the light of the moon and stopped, his stance easy, calm, as though his being there were the most normal thing in the world. His head tilted, that quirky, gleeful, almost demonic grin of his making Matsumoto feel as though she were facing a predator rather than the man she had once called her best friend.
She had to remind herself that he was a predator now.
The former Third Division captain chuckled. "Nice night, eh? All 'a stars're out...'member when we'd try'n find constellations in the stars at night, Rangiku-chan?" He laughed, and that laugh sent a shiver down Matsumoto's spine. "Dog wi' a snake for 'is tail. Teapot wi' legs balancin' on a rope. Li'l kitten eatin' a sandwich. Y'always came up wi' int'ristin' things, Rangiku-chan. Never could see half of 'em."
Matsumoto struggled mightily to keep her face impassive, tried with all her strength to not break into a run like a frightened rabbit.
Gin's perpetually closed (or were they?) eyes cracked open a bit. "...D'you just make stuff up t' make me look all serious f' shapes 'at weren't there, Rangiku-chan?"
He waited as if expecting her to answer, and while she struggled to say something – what that something was, she didn't know – her mouth wouldn't form the words. Her brain wouldn't form the words.
"S'okay, Rangiku-chan. I don' bite, ya know. See somethin' up there now?" He glanced up at the sky. "Think I see me a dragon up there. A li'l one. An' he's angry..."
He stepped backward smoothly, and had Shinsou in hand and up immediately to block Hyourinmaru's initial strike. Hitsugaya leapt to the side, readying himself again.
"...Quite an imagination," he said quietly, green eyes blazing.
Gin chuckled. "Hiya, 'Gaya..."
"Didn't think I'd see you again so soon..."
"Jus' thought I'd check in. How ya been?"
"Can't complain."
The clash of steel was as sudden and shocking as a bolt of lightning, making Matsumoto stumble backward a bit in her surprise.
Right into another person.
"...Watch yer step."
"Z-Zaraki? What the...?"
The huge captain, hair down for once, looked down at her, then back up at Gin and Hitsugaya. He said nothing for a long moment. Then,
finally...
"Kid's got skill."
Matsumoto turned her head back to look at the ensuing duel. Gin's face showed no outward change, although it was clear that he was far more focused than he had been when speaking to her. Her captain's face, however, was fixed in a grim scowl.
Hyourinmaru and Shinsou, extensions of their masters' murderous intent, screamed as they met, again and again, twin serpents dancing in the cool night air.
Hitsugaya fell to the side, rolling out of Shinsou's reach and bouncing back up almost instantly, sending Hyourinmaru in a wide arc that nearly caught the exiled captain on his left side.
Gin, still grinning, danced nimbly out of the way and his sword went flying.
Hitsugaya leapt upward, landing lightly in Shinsou's stretched blade, launching himself forward as the very air about him froze in blinding crystals of blistering cold.
Gin suddenly vanished, appearing again on the outskirts of the impromptu arena, his grin now gone. Matsumoto blanched, the sight of her old friend's face so alien and outright terrifying that she almost turned and ran again.
"Is this the best you can do?" Gin demanded, his voice a crack of thunder, just as alien as his expression. "Is this all you've done to train?"
Hitsugaya stood straight, fist tightening around Hyourinmaru's hilt. He said nothing.
Gin stalked forward, anger falling off of him in almost tangible waves. "Huh? Is this Hitsugaya Toushirou's strength? Is this how you protect her?"
Matsumoto flinched.
"...Do not deign to look down on me, Ichimaru..." Hitsugaya hissed. "Do not assume you've a right to tell me how to protect Rangiku...you who has turned his back on her."
"Aizen is her enemy, Hitsugaya-taichou...you had better strengthen yourself. If you can't defeat me, you don't stand a chance in hell at touching him."
Gin's voice was now deadly serious, devoid of his usual drawl, cold and sharp. Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You're gloating prematurely, Ichimaru. I have yet to lose."
Gin took a step back, crouching. "...Then show me."
The boy captain took a deep breath, darted his eyes toward Matsumoto's for just a split second (she saw it, but barely), and tightened his grip on Hyourinmaru.
"...Ban...kai."
The world froze.