Wish 35
Rangiku the Judge
"Shit." Gin said. "I forgot to tell Rangiku."
"Shit is right, Hitsugaya Gin! Why is our son crying?! He sent out a burst of spiritual pressure, and I came as fast as I could! Now tell me what you have done!" Rangiku demanded. Out of fright, Gin's grip on Toshiro disappeared and the boy broke free, running to Rangiku. He flung his arms around her midsection and cried into her stomach. Her eyes went wide for a moment, looking at her son. The they hardened again when she looked up at Gin.
"Uh...I'm gonna go now..." Urahara said, inching towards the door. As soon as he got to the door, he quickly said, "Good luck, Gin-kun! I'm praying for you!" After he said that, he ran down the hallway as fast as he could. Gin gulped when he saw the anger reflected in his wife's eyes.
"Ra-ran-chan! There is a perfectly good explanation!" Gin cried, waving his hands in front of his body.
"There better be." she growled, wrapping her arms around her son.
"I'm guessing now's a bad time..." Isshin said from the doorway. The small family all turned their heads to look at him. He was grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.
"Isshin-san-taicho! Thank goodness you're here!" Gin yelled, standing up.
"Uh..." Isshin responded, not sure what to say. "How about we go talk in my office..." he offered. Rangiku picked up Toshiro, his legs wrapping arounf her waist and his arms around her neck. She turned around to follow Isshin, and that's when Gin saw it. The boy had a smirk on his face full of malice with pride and satisfaction gleaming in his eyes (you know, the one picture with him asking you to come closer with his finger? No? Look up Toshiro smirking).
'That blast of reiatsu wasn't to escape. It was to get Rangiku over here. The little turd...' Gin thought to himself, staring his son in the eyes as he followed Rangiku, frown on his face. Toshiro reached up with one of his hands and wiped away a few tears, still smirking at Gin with satisfaction.
'He knew Rangiku would be mad if she saw him crying while I was watching him. It's easier to explain things to Rangiku before she gets angry, not during or after. He knows that from when I've been in trouble with Rangiku before.' Gin continued thinking, placing his hands in his shinigami robe's sleeves.
'He takes after you.' Shinso stated bluntly.
'What's that suppose to mean? He takes after Rangiku more than he does me.'
'Eh, not in everything. He is a little genius like you. I'm not surprised that he came up with this plan on the spot. You're good at coming up with plans on the spot too, even though yours don't always work. He's also very insightful and intuitive. Besides, you can't blame this on him anyway. You're the one who forgot to consult the mother cat.' Shinso stated.
'How could I forget the most important part?!' Gin asked himself, letting his head fall dejectedly.
'On the other hand though, she might understand why I sealed our son's reiatsu. Do you think she'll believe me if I tell her he made my office unusable and blew up his door?'
'Maybe. You do have proof and witnesses.' Shinso replied. Gin lifted his head up at hearing that, smiling. He smirked back to Toshiro and the boy's own smirk faultered. He settled for a frowna and glaring at his supposed father, moving his head closer into Rangiku's neck. This left Gin only seeing his son's hard turquoise eyes and slightly spikey hair. Once they exited the twelfth division, Isshin took off in a shunpo.
"Hold on, Toshiro." Rangiku told her son. Said boy scrunched his eyes closed and hung on tighter to Rangiku. She followed after her captain and Gin followed after his wife. When Gin opened the tenth division office door, he found isshin sitting at his desk working, and Rangiku hugging their son rather tightly in her lap on the couch.
"Strength, Ran-chan." Gin reminded her, sliding the door closed behind him.
"So good of you to join us, Gin." Rangiku growled, an Unohana smile on her face. Toshiro smirked at him again when he noticed Gin shiver after recieving Rangiku's smile.
"Why don't you take a seat." she offered. Gin hesitantly sat down next to Rangiku.
"Our dear son tells me you sealed his reiatsu for no reason. Why is that?" she asked sweetly. Toshiro shrunk away from her slightly when he heard her use that voice. He never did like being on the recieving end of that voice.
"Um...well... It started last night." Gin began.
"What started last night?" Rangiku puched.
"Oh. I bet I know what you're heading to. You have a better chance of survival now." Isshin commented from his desk. Gin gulped at his remark, feeling a little but more releaved.
"He started using rather high kido spells without the incantation." Gin said. Rangiku raised an eyebrow at him, indicating for him to start from the begining.
"Well, after I came and picked Toshiro up, we went out for lunch and then to the baths. He put up quite a fuss about the baths. Didn't want to go in. I eventually got him in though and Ukitake-san, Kyoraku-san, and Kaien-dono came in shortly after we did. Toshiro was shocked to see Kaien, saying he thought he was dead. He then rather upset for no reason and all the water started to ice over in the room. I poured hot water on his head to rinse out the rest of the shampoo and the ice disappeared. He decided to go into the cold bath instead of the warm, and-" Gin said.
"Speed it up a little, Gin." Rangiku interrupted.
"Ah...yes. Anyway, once we left, we went and bought some watermelon. I lost sight of Toshiro in the crowd for a minute before I saw him again. A suspicious man was standing next to him and Shiro was about to talk to him. I got there and the man disappeared. We bought the watermelon and went back to my office. We had a little talk about strangers, then he went and looked at the scrap book you made for him. For some reason, he threw it against the wall and I put it away. He then shot me with Sho, then performed Daichi Tenyo. My office is now destroyed, and we had a long talk at home after Izuru, Hisagi-san, and Renji-kun helped me subdue him."
"You did what?!" Rangiku asked, looking down at the boy in her lap. He looked down to his hands which were fiddling in his own lap.
'This isn't going the right way. She won't be mad at Ichimaru if she thinks I brought this on myself.' Toshiro thought, biting his lower lip.
"There's no possible way that our little Toshiro could use something that powerful, with or without an incantation." Rangiku then stated. Toshiro smiled at this.
'Maybe she won't believe him afterall.' Toshiro hoped.
"No, Gin-kun isn't lying, Ran-chan. I saw it too. Toshiro here made a real mess of things." Isshin said. Toshiro narrowed his eyes and glared at Isshin.
'You aren't helping!' he wanted to yell. He didn't though, for the small chance that Rangiku would believe him.
"You will have to show me later. What else happened?" Rangiku inquired.
"Hmm...Isshin-san-taicho brought over the forgotten watermelon and we chatted for a few minutes. We-no, I made dinner and asked him to set the table, so he climbed up on the counter to get the plates. I took him down of course, but we repeated that a few more times before I gave up sat him back down at the table. After dinner, he wanted watermelon but didn't eat his green beans, so I said no watermelon and he stole it by using shunpo. He couldn't eat it without cutting, so he came back for a knife and I caught him, then he ate his green beans, then helped clean up, then had watermelon.
"Before bed, we played a version of twenty questions and chess. I didn't get much out of him, as he said he learned the high kido and shunpo from books, but he's lieing as he hasn't had time to read in the past few days. After chess I had to make him get ready for bed. He refused to use the toilet with me standing there, so he went to bed and I locked the door, fearing he might try and runaway like he did Tuesday ni-oops." Gin said, realizing he let slip that he knew about the boy's failed escape attempt.
"What...?" Rangiku asked, looking down at the boy in her arms.
"You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!" Toshiro shouted, turning his head towards Isshin.
"Ah, I said I wouldn't tell Rangiku-san, but I didn't promise that I wouldn't tell Gin-kun..." Isshin replied. Toshiro didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't say anything about telling Gin.
'Damn it! I should have paid closer attention to what he was saying!' Toshiro chastisised himself.
"Rrr... Continue." Rangiku demanded, tightening her hold on Toshiro. He let out a small squeak. He was in trouble now, not Gin.
"Sorry, Shiro-chan. I didn't plan on telling her until later. Anyway, he blasted a whole through his door with Sho so he could use the bathroom. Then we woke up and I brought him to the twelfth to have his reiatsu measured and temporarily sealed. He was useing it to do bad things. Bad things have reprecussions." Gin continued, shrugging.
"What did his reiatsu measure at?" Isshin asked.
"Last month it was barely a seated officer level, and before we reduced it to twenty percent, it was at the level of a fifth seat." Gin sighed. All was silent for a few minutes, everyone waiting for Rangiku's verdict. Finally, she sighed, loosening her grip on her son a little.
"I am very upset with you, Gin. I see why did this, and I know you meant well, but you should have consulted me first. I seriously think you should have spoken to him about his behavior first before using Genkei Reiin on our son." Rangiku said to Gin, who's head was hanging in shame of being lectured. While Rangiku was lecturing Gin, Toshiro had slipped out of Rangiku's hold and was slowly inching towards the door.
"And you." Rangiku said, directing her attention to her son. Toshiro froze, feeling her eyes on her back. "Get back over here so I can speak to you properly." she instructed.
'Hyorinmaru... I wish you were here. It's like I'm third-seat all over again.' Toshiro sighed in his head. He dejectedly turned around and walked back towards his parents sitting on the couch, keeping his head down.
'Ichimaru's suppose to be the one in trouble, not me. Maybe I should try crying again.' Toshiro continued thinking. Rangiku took his small hands in one of hers and used the other to lift his chin up. She gave a small frown and her eyes filled with pity. Her son was lightly crying. She sighed and closed her eyes, pulling him into a gentle embrase. Toshiro looked over Rangiku's shoulder at Gin and gave him another smirk, causing Gin to flinch for some reason.
Isshin gave a small smile and closed his eyes, shaking his head. 'The little brat's a pretty good actor. If I ever have kids, I hope that they're a bit like this Toshiro. It would make more interesting. Still can't tell if I like this new Toshiro or the old one better.' Isshin thought.
"Well, shall we show the judge the evidence against the prosecution?" Isshin asked with a smile.
"Since when did this become a court case?" Toshiro grumbled, breaking Rangiku's grip as he backed away.
"Sure." Rangiku replied, rising with Gin from the couch.
"If this is court, then I'm not on trial here if I'm the prosecution. It's Ichimaru since he's the defence." Toshiro stated, crossing his arms and turning away from the three adults.
"I want to see for myself if you really destroyed your father's office." Rangiku said, grabbing Toshiro by the crook of his elbow and pulling him along. Gin and Isshin followed a few feet behind them.
"Oi! I can walk on my own!" Toshiro protested, struggling weakly against the woman. She ignored his protests and continued on her path to the third division, shinigami jumping out of her way.
"First thing she hears when she comes back is that her husband has sealed son'e reiatsu, then that her son ruined the third division office and his door. Don't forget that you also told her that Toshiro tried to sneak out two days ago. You're on a role Gin." Isshin said, giving the younger man a thumbs up with a smile, one eye closed. Gin sighed in response looked away from the man. After half an hour of walking, they finally made it to the third division.
"Why didn't we just shunpo here?" Toshiro questioned. None of the adults answered him, in all honesty though, shunpo may have slipped their minds.
"Welcome back, taicho!" the guards stated, bowing to Gin.
"Hn." Gin replied, nodding his head once. Once inside the division, Rangiku released Toshiro and he staggard a few steps away. One he steadied himself, he crossed his arms and looked away from the three.
'Once Matsumoto sees the evidence, she'll surely side with Ichimaru. I can't have that. Ichimaru is the one who needs to suffer for stealing Hyorinmaru away, not me for blowing up a few things. Okay, that didn't sound right.' Toshiro thought, following behind Rangiku with Isshin and Gin behind him. Once they came to the office, Rangiku gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.
'That reaction isn't in my favor.' Toshiro thought, taking a step back to retreat. Only problem was, his supposed father and Isshin were behind him.
"Ah! Rangiku-san!" Izuru shouted in surprise, the vase he was carrying almost falling out of his hands.
"Wha-what happened?!" the woman cried.
"I think you should ask your son that question." Renji mumbled, placing some books back on the bookshelf. Rangiku worled around and Toshiro flinched slightly, waiting for her to yell at him.
"Toshiro? Did you really do all of this?" she asked quietly, looking down at the boy with a crestfallen expression. Toshiro shrunk back a little.
'Why isn't she yelling? She always yells when she's upset with me. I think this is actually worse than her yelling at me. I mean, she looks disappointed in me.' Toshiro thought biting his lip. 'Should I agree, or deny it?' he continued thinking. It was then that he remembered Hyorinmaru's words to him.
'You can either resist and act like a child, which you are doing, or be brave and do this like a man. Accept these concequences like a man, and we'll be in touch soon.' the zanpakto had said. Toshiro sighed and looked up at Rangiku.
"Yes. I did it. I destroyed Ichimaru's office, happy?" Toshiro responded. He noticed that Rangiku bit her bottom as she thought about something.
'Ichimaru was right when he said I bite my bottom lip like she does. Lots of people do that though, so that can't mean anything.' Toshiro said to himself.
"Please show me the door that he used kido on." she said, turning to Isshin and Gin. They both nodded and began to walk away. Rangiku looked back at the big whole in the wall before sighing and following the two men, her son walking along slowly behind her. Once they arrived at the house, they all entered, Toshiro remaining in the door way of the the front door.
"I'll stay out here with Shiro-chan. His door is leaning against the wall in the hallway." Gin said, sitting down on the couch. Toshiro and Gin both heard Rangiku mutter something before entering the hallway.
"I hate you." Toshiro said to Gin, crossing his arms and glaring at the man.
"I know. I got that feeling on Monday when you started talking about how everything isn't as it's suppose to be." Gin replied, setting his chin in his hands, elbows on his knees.
"I hate you even more now." Toshiro responded, not moving from his position in the doorway.
"Gin?! Why is the bathroom door missing?!" Rangiku shouted from the hall way.
"Well, Toshiro says that someone stole the bathroom door, and I say the door is on a vacation!" Gin yelled back.
"I never said that!" Toshiro butted in.
"Yeah, ya did." Gin told the boy.
"Oh? And why would the bathroom door be on a vacation?" Rangiku inquired, stepping back into the living room.
"'Cause Shiro-chan's shy." was Gin's response, smiling innocently at his wife. Rangiku covered her eyes with her hand and shook her head back and forth.
"I am not shy! I just like my privacy." Toshiro said, cheeks puffing out a little as he pouted slightly.
"Well, have you reached a verdict, Mrs. Judge?" Isshin asked, standing next to the woman.
"I believe I have..." she growled. She sighed before standing up straighter and removing her hand from her face. She turned her body towards Gin and crossed her arms under her chest, staring at her husband rather coldly.
"First of all, is you, Gin. You have gone a bit too far with our son. You should have spoken to him and consulted me before putting Gentei Reiin on him. Secondly, you had no right to take the bathroom door down. I understand why you locked Toshiro's bedroom door, as he tried to runaway apparently, but I don't understand why you didn't just leave him to use the bathroom on his own." Rangiku ssid.
"In other words, your charges are as follows; taking down a door that should allow people privacy without a very good reason, not allowing your son privacy, forcing a limiter on your son without trying a less drastic approach first, and neglecting to talk to your wife about it. Do you have anything to say in your defense?" Isshin asked. Toshiro raised an eybrow at the odd scene in front of him.
"When you put it that way, I guess not." Gin replied.
"Then how does the defendant plead?" Isshin asked.
"Umm...Guilty?" Gin said, unsure of how to answer.
'This is like they're actually in court. It's actually kind of funny...' Toshiro thought.
"Alright, I find you guilty of forcing a limiter on our son, and not speaking to me about it. As for the whole privacy thing and locking Toshiro's door, hmm... It's rather minor compared to the limiter, so we're just going to throw that out the window. As for your punishment, you are to put the bathroom door back in it's place, make breakfast for the next week, and sleep on the couch for a week." Rangiku declared.
"Aww... Really Ran-chan? I already make dinner every night. Kicking me out of bed too? That's just cruel!" Gin whined to his wife.
'That's not a punishment! The door should have never been taken off in the first place, we all know we'll live if Ichimaru makes breakfast, and he shouldn't be sleeping in Matsumoto's bed in the first place! He should have a harsher punishment! I would say death, but that may be a little too extreme.'Toshiro thought.
"And you, young man." Rangiku said, turning towards Toshiro, shocking the boy out of his thoughts.
'Great. Now it's my turn.' he thought bitterly.
"First of all, get back in here and shut the door." Rangiku said. Toshiro bit his bottom lip but did what he was told. No need to make Rangiku even more upset with him.
"Where do I begin? First, you apparently tried to run off Tuesday night. Second, you destroyed your father's office with kido and shot him with Sho. Now I'm being told you blew up part of your door. The list of things you have done is shorter, but each of them is much worse and are not tolerated. I may be upset at Gin for not consulting me, but I am even more upset with you for using kido to hurt people and damage things. What do you have to say for yourself?" Rangiku reprimanded.
"How could whatever I did be worse than what Ichimaru did?! He stole him away from me! He can't do that! That's the worst thing he could possibly do!" Toshiro shouted, not liking that she thought what he did was worse.
"What did Oto-san take?" Rangiku asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Actually, Ran-chan. I forgot to mention it earlier, but Toshiro had been talking with his zanpakto." Gin mumbled, getting quieter as he continued speaking.
"I can't believe that, Gin. Toshiro's too young to have a zanpakto." Rangiku replied, not bothering to turn around and speak to Gin directly. She focused on her child instead. He looked like he was seething.
"How many times must I tell you people?! I am not a child! I am a captain of the gotei thirteen. I am not some child that needs to be coddled and constantly looked over. I-I don't need parents." Toshiro said. He had started out strongly, denying that he was a child. As he continued speaking though, he became less sure of what he saying. He was a captian of the gotei thirteen, right?
"You don't sound too sure there, Shiro-chan." Gin said, starting to stand up.
"Shu-shut up! I didn't ask for your opinion!" Toshiro continued yelling.
"Toshiro," Rangiku said, placing her hands on the child's shoulders. "Why did you destroy your father's office?" she asked softly.
"This isn't real! It's impossible! It can't be!" Toshiro shouted, moving away from Rangiku. He backed away from the three until he hit a corner. "It can't be real. I died, alone and unwanted. Yet-yet this all seems so real. The people, the touches, the photos, even the birth certificate looked real. It's impossible though." He continued, slowly sliding down the wall untill he hit the ground, hands fisted in his hair.
"Oh, Toshiro..." he heard Rangiku say. She walked over and sat down next to him, pullig him into her lap. Toshiro struggled, not wanting to be comforted. To him, if he was comforted, he would surely start believing that everything he knew to be true was a dream. He couldn't break free though, as she had a strong grip. Rangiku slowly began to sway and began humming a tune, a familiar one, but not the one Gin had hummed the previous night. The humming slowly turned into singing.
"Nen-nen yo okorori yo
suya-suya to oyasuminasai
nen-nen yo okorori yo
yasashi hito ni sodachimasu you ni
Kami-sama arigatou,
enjeru (angel) mo arigatou
nen-nen yo okororiyo mama no mune de oyasuminasai" she sang
"You don't mean me, you can't! I'm not an angel! They say I'm a devil's spawn!" Toshiro cried out, struggling harder, a few tears escaping his eyes.
"Nen-nen yo okororiyo
uya-suya to oyasuminasai
en-nen yo okororiyo
ruseru hito ni sodachimasu youni
Kami-sama arigatou
derai wo arigatou
nen-nen yo okororiyo
mama no mune de oyasuminasai"* she finished. By this time, Toshiro had stopped struggling and was quietly trying to get his costant stream of tears to go away.
"Toshiro...You are NOT a devil's spawn. You are a little angel. Our little angel." Rangiku told her son quietly. Hearing this made him pause.
'They-they think I'm an angel? They actual want me?' he thought, looking up at his mother with big turquoise eyes filled with tears.
"Yo-you're lying. Who would want me? I'm a freak of nature, as everone says. What's your word against hundreds of others?" he mumbled in response.
'It's impossible for anyone to care about me. What was I thinking?' he asked himself, looking back down to the floor.
"Could you let go now? I want to be a lone." Toshiro said. It was silent for about five minutes before he recieved a response.
"No." Rangiku said. This caused Toshiro to flinch. He had expected her to let him go.
"Why?" Toshiro asked, not really wanting to hear her answer.
"I will not let you go until you stop thinking that nobody loves you. I'm fine with you thinking that everything here is a dream, but I am not fine with you thinking that nobody loves you. We all love you, Toshiro. Can't you see that?" Rangiku asked, looking over to Gin. She beckoned the man over to where she was sitting with their son. Isshin got the hint that it was time for him to leave and made his way towards the door.
"No. I can't see that." Toshiro replied, shadows covering his eyes.
*I sadly do not know the title to this beautiful lullaby! D,X I also do not own the song. Here's a link if you wish to hear it. I recommend it. watch?v=68xu7uxsAgY
A loose translation by punklavender in the comments was:
Time to sleep, time to lie down
sleep peacefully, good night
time to sleep, time to lie down
let this child grow up to be a gentle person
thank you, god
thank you for angels (aka: the child)
time to sleep, time to lay down
good night, sleep at mommy's bosom
Time to sleep, time to lie down
sleep peacefully, good night
time to sleep, time to lie down
let this child grow up to forgive others
thank you, god
thank you for the people I've met
time to sleep, time to lie down
good night, sleep at mommy's bosom
Hmm...for some reason, I didn't like the middle section that much. Also seems I'm moving more into angst or suspense than humor. Should I change the humor label? If so, to angst or suspense? I liked the last part of the chapter though! I think it was my favorite part. I don't know why though... Eh! Something's weird with the edit feature on here! The spellcheck is gone and it looks kind of weird! Anyone know what's wrong with it?!