Date
"You look really beautiful tonight, Rangiku."
"Do you think so?" Rangiku giggled, blushing gently and trying to hide her smile.
She was dressed up tonight – a summery frock from the Living World, with some strappy sandals. Her pink lipstick matched the pink flowers on her dress and her hair shined in the sunshine.
"Of course," Shuuhei nudged her gently as they walked, "but you always look beautiful. You're the hottest woman in the Seireitei."
Rangiku smirked, "That's just Haineko's effect."
Inside her mind, the ash kitten purred appreciatively at the compliment.
"Well either way, I'm glad you asked me out tonight," Shuuhei laughed.
Yes, Rangiku had asked Shuuhei out on a date. She was back in the dating game, and it was… well, it wasn't going well at all.
Gin had broken up with her over six months ago, and Isshin – sick of seeing Rangiku moping on her ass in the office all day – had told her to go out and meet up with someone. Of course, he had meant a girl friend of hers, but Rangiku had made up her mind. It was time she got her mind off Gin and onto someone who would treat her better, or at least could provide a temporary distraction from her heartbreak.
She wasn't sure she was ready to find another boyfriend just yet, but Rangiku figured she hadn't dated in years, so it was time she went out and built up some dating confidence. Not all men were assholes, right?
The only thing was that, well, all men were assholes.
Rangiku had asked out or been asked out by six different men in the last month, and all six of them had stood her up, or run off mid-date and not returned. When confronted later, they all seemed rather nervous, and refused to tell her why they had ditched her, like they were scared of her or something.
How could they be scared of her? Rangiku was a treat, even at her worst.
She suspected Gin may have been involved, but she had little proof. She had even tried dating unseated officers that Gin would never have met before to throw him off, but regardless of whether they were lieutenants like her or unknown soldiers in random divisions, every single one of them had left her all dressed up and alone in the first half of their date.
Shuuhei Hisagi was lucky number seven. Rangiku had hope for him, though it was a little strange going on a date with one of her closest friends. Shuuhei had known her for decades though and that meant he knew her well – he had seen her at her best and at her worst, and he was well aware of her history with the captain of Squad Three. Rangiku didn't think he could be scared off so easily.
"Where do you want to go tonight?" Rangiku asked. Shuuhei had just picked her up from her quarters and they were heading towards the South Gate of the Seireitei.
"There's a new bar inside our gates," Shuuhei told her and Rangiku nodded keenly – any place that had alcohol and lots of it was her kind of place. "They have a great outdoor set up, so we can sit in the sun while it's still up."
They headed towards the bar and when Rangiku reached it she recognised it as one Renji had been gushing about since it sat just outside the Sixth Division Barracks.
"Why don't we sit here?" Shuuhei gestured to a table. Rangiku nodded and he led her over, and the Squad Nine Lieutenant earned himself some chivalry points when he pulled out a chair for Rangiku and pushed it in behind her.
"I'll go get some drinks to start us," Shuuhei smiled at her and Rangiku caught his wrist quickly, bringing him back to the table.
"Let me get the first round," Rangiku offered, standing up again. Shuuhei protested, like a gentleman, but Rangiku wouldn't have a bar of it. "Please, I did ask you out tonight."
Shuuhei's blush was faint but his grin couldn't be stopped. After a moment's hesitation, he relented and sat down in the other chair. Rangiku nodded in satisfaction and grabbed her purse, ducking inside the bar to order drinks.
The place was busy, bustling with Soul Reapers celebrating the end of the working week with their colleagues, friends and even a few with their dates for the evening. Rangiku smiled and waved to a few she knew as she made her way to the bar, ordering two cocktails and a bottle of sake. That should be enough to get them started, thought it certainly wouldn't be enough to last them all night as both she and Shuuhei were big drinkers.
The bartender made the drinks and Rangiku paid, she managed to get the lot into her arms and she turned, carrying them back out to where her date was…
Missing?
Rangiku's smile turned to a frown as she put the drinks down on the abandoned table. Shuuhei was gone, no trace of him left behind. In fact, others who had been sitting outside were gone too, not that there had been many to begin with.
If it had been her first rodeo, Rangiku would have sat for a while, hoping he would return. Maybe he had ducked to the bathroom, or seen a friend inside? She would sit for maybe twenty minutes, half an hour, maybe even an hour, but it didn't matter because he wasn't coming back.
She had just been ditched by date number seven – her lucky number seven that she had held out hope for.
Rangiku huffed, and threw back the two cocktails before snatching the bottle of sake up (waste not, want not) and stalked back towards her barracks. At this stage she didn't know if it was even worth confronting Shuuhei when she saw him next. The others had all cowered and refused to make eye contact, making up stupid excuses for why they had left ('oh I forgot I needed to sort my sock drawer', 'I needed to feed my pet rock', the list went on and only got worse) – so why would Shuuhei be any different?
Rangiku was far beyond self-conscious or upset now – she had moved right to pissed off.
There was no way that she was the problem here. Gin had to be involved and if she could stand to be in his presence, she would have marched right up to him and punched him in his stupid grinning face.
Too bad she couldn't even look at him without feeling ready to cry.
Sighing in frustration, Rangiku marched to her captain's private quarters – it was time to bring in the big guns now.
She knocked, rather aggressively, on Isshin's door.
The man opened the door and leaned against the frame with a tired expression.
"It's not enough that you hassle me through the week," the captain sighed. "Now you have to come to my quarters on my nights off?"
"Sorry, Sir, but this is an emergency," Rangiku barged in, making a beeline straight for the couch in the living room which she immediately flopped on.
There was a resigned sigh from the hall before Isshin's familiar footsteps followed her into his living room.
He sat in the arm chair opposite her, a book discarded on the table, with a half empty cup of sake beside it. Rangiku scooped up the cup and topped it up with her sake from the bar, and took swallowed it all in two gulps, before filling it up again.
"So what emergency calls for you to barge into my living quarters on a Friday night," Isshin drawled, "when I stated explicitly today that I was going to have a quiet and peaceful night without interruption?"
"I have just been ditched my by seventh date, Captain," Rangiku told him seriously. "Seventh."
Isshin blinked before he frowned. It wasn't the first time she had mentioned it happening. In fact it was now the seventh time she had mentioned it to him.
"Again?" Isshin asked, voice disbelieving. "Hisagi?"
"Yep," Rangiku smacked her lips, taking another swig from the sake cup. "I went to the bar, came back and he was gone."
Isshin leaned back in his chair.
"You've got to stop leaving them alone for a start," Isshin told her. "That seems to be when they're running away."
"I can't be with them the whole night," Rangiku sighed. "One of us will need to go to the bathroom eventually, or the bar, or whatever other reason."
Isshin sighed lowly, "And you're certain it's Gin?"
"What else could it be?" Rangiku shrugged, running her hand through her hair.
Gin had some nerve trying to stop her dating when he was the one that ended things between them. The thought of it made her angry enough to cry, and that was almost worst then crying because she was sad.
"Do you want me to talk to him?" Isshin asked, though he looked apprehensive.
Rangiku didn't blame him – Isshin had tried to stay pretty neutral to the whole thing. His lieutenant's romantic ventures weren't something to get involved in, especially when the other half of the romance was high ranked colleague and things had turned ugly. However, even though Isshin claimed he wasn't going to take sides, Rangiku knew his loyalty laid with her.
"I just want to know if it's him," Rangiku stared down into her sake cup. "I'm trying to move on, Captain."
Isshin nodded, smiling weakly at her.
"Why don't you arrange another date," Isshin suggested a moment later, "and I will go see Gin while it's on. If it is him, I might be able to keep him distracted."
Rangiku thought about it and eventually agreed with a nod. Isshin promised not to mention anything about Rangiku or the disastrous dates to Gin, he was going to take some paperwork over there and just keep him distracted for the duration of the date. Rangiku would owe him dearly if it worked – Isshin surely wasn't going to enjoy spending a couple hours with the 'snake' Captain.
"Thanks, Sir," Rangiku smiled at her captain, getting to her feet. "I'll let you know what the arrangements are tomorrow."
Isshin nodded as he stood and walked her to the door.
"Since you're not going to be out tonight, you can go finish the paperwork," Isshin smirked, opening the door for her.
Rangiku cringed; he had that return favour lined up and it was probably the only reason he had agreed to help.
"Fine," Rangiku muttered. "Only because you're helping me with this."
"It's also your job, Rangiku," Isshin sighed. "If Toshiro is still working, send him bed."
"It's still daylight?"
"And he's a growing boy."
With that, Isshin shut his front door quickly, leaving Rangiku's argument dead on her tongue. Rolling her eyes, she ambled slowly towards the office, feeling no need to rush to get there. She was supposed to have a hot date tonight, not a boring one at her desk.
She arrived at the office to find Toshiro still working. Her captain had been right but neither of them had been surprised.
"Another bad date?" the third seat asked when she entered, his teal eyes sweeping her modern human look before jumping to the clock to confirm the time.
Rangiku sighed and nodded.
She approached the desk, gesturing for the third seat to get up.
"I have been sentenced to paperwork," Rangiku huffed. "You've been sentenced to bed."
"It's still daylight?"
"And you're a growing boy."
Toshiro's face was if she had deeply offended him and Rangiku couldn't help but laugh.
"Captain's orders, Toshiro," Rangiku chuckled. "If it were up to me, I would let you do all the paperwork and I'd be the one going to bed."
Toshiro pouted, getting out of the chair.
"Can I at least have a tea and read for a while?" he asked, those teal eyes wide with hope. Rangiku could never refuse them.
"Okay yes, but decaffeinated tea only," Rangiku told him, frowning as she heard how motherly she was sounding. She didn't like that, she preferred her sisterly role.
With far too much excitement and energy for a kid about to go to bed, Toshiro rushed off to the office kitchen and returned a moment later with a tea – two teas actually, and he placed one in front of Rangiku.
"Got anything stronger?" Rangiku muttered, frowning down at the paperwork Toshiro had been working on. It made zero sense to her.
"Caffeinated tea?" Toshiro offered then, though he would have known she meant something more alcoholic.
Rangiku rolled her eyes at the boy as he smirked and turned away, settling himself on the couch with a book way thicker than Rangiku would ever read on her own.
Sighing, the lieutenant turned back the paperwork to stare at it a moment longer. It still didn't make sense so she put aside and grabbed the next sheet. That one didn't make sense either, so again she grabbed the next. This continued for several more minutes, each form and report she picked up more complicated than the last. Eventually she gave up with a loud huff.
"I can't do it," she said simply, pushing the paperwork away and getting up from the desk. She circled around her captain's desk and retrieved some sake out of his cabinet before she made her way to the couch.
Toshiro was still reading, his tea cup now empty, as she sat down opposite him. She eyed him.
"Didn't I send you to bed?"
"Didn't Captain send you to do paperwork?" Toshiro retorted, a sliver of a smirk playing at his lips.
That kid was far less innocent than he seemed. Rangiku smirked and chuckled – he had a point.
"You should go to bed though," Rangiku teased the boy. "Children who sleep more, grow more."
Toshiro sighed and closed his book with a snap. Those teal eyes turned to her, laced with mischief.
"How about I don't go to bed," Toshiro suggested, "and you don't do the paperwork. Let's play Spinning Tops."
Rangiku chuckled, seeing the boy's eyes light up as he reached for the Spinning Tops set under the coffee table that he and Isshin regularly played with together.
"Disobeying a captain's orders?" Rangiku teased again. "My, my, Toshiro. I must be rubbing off on you."
Toshiro rolled his eyes, taking the time to explain that it was the weekend now, so he had all day tomorrow to sleep and would even do the paperwork, so Rangiku didn't 'mess it up'. Isshin would never know, because he usually spent weekends at home at Shiba Manor. It was a Class A Rangiku plan and she supposed she had rubbed off on that kid. In the wake of her breakup with Gin, she and Toshiro had spent a lot of time together – the young third seat who was like a little brother to her wanting to keep her mind off her heartbreak. It was cute actually, and Rangiku enjoyed it, though she could see now that she was a terrible influence on the kid.
"A couple of rounds," Rangiku relented then, plucking the hot pink top out of the collection that Toshiro had presented to her. "Once daylight goes, you're off to bed."
"Deal," Toshiro grinned, picking up the deep green top that Isshin had given him as a birthday gift one year.
Well, daylight had long disappeared and they kept playing. Toshiro's antics were energetic (she suspected he hadn't used the decaf tea), and after an hour or so of playing, Rangiku had almost forgotten about her failed seventh date.
…
Rangiku arranged her eighth date for that coming Tuesday night, and had sent Isshin off to the Third with a bunch of paperwork of Gin's 'urgent attention'.
However, Rangiku's date had never showed. Well that was lie, Rangiku had seen her date (a random unseated officer from Squad Eleven – they were brutes, but they weren't easily scared off) approaching her quarters through her kitchen window. Scurrying to get her shoes on and her lipstick into her purse, Rangiku took her eyes off the window for all of a few minutes. The man never came to the door, something turning him away in between.
"So I sat with Gin for four hours," Isshin gritted his teeth, when she told him the news later that night in the office, "for date that didn't even last four seconds?"
Rangiku shrugged, flopping back on the office couch. "Sorry, I didn't have a way to contact you."
"Soul Phone?" Isshin prompted but Rangiku shook her head – she didn't want Gin to hear her on the phone.
Isshin sent her an exhausted look, but Rangiku ignored it.
According to Isshin, Gin had been with him the Squad Three Captain's office the whole time. He hadn't left, he hadn't chased off Rangiku's newest date.
It didn't make any sense! Rangiku hadn't told anyone but Isshin about the new guy, and she had made her date promise not to tell anyone either. Granted, she didn't know if she could trust a guy that came from the Eleventh, but still, something didn't add up.
"By the way," Isshin sighed, coming to sit on the couch opposite Rangiku. "I punched Gin in the face tonight."
Rangiku choked, "You what?!"
Isshin shrugged, "He had it coming."
Something told Rangiku there was more to that story, but maybe now wasn't the time to ask. She knew her captain had done it to defend her in some way, and probably as a result of an insensitive comment from the Squad Three Captain.
Rangiku sighed, deciding she would rather not know what her ex might have said about her.
It was late now, Toshiro had long been sent to bed, but Rangiku would have loved to take her mind off her unfortunate love life with a game of Spinning Tops or whatever he wanted to play that night.
"Let's try one more thing," Isshin offered then. "Instead of following Gin, I'll follow you and your date. I'll keep my eye on the guy, and hopefully catch where it's all going wrong."
Rangiku nodded – it was the only idea they had left. She hadn't totally ruled out Gin's involvement – he could have perhaps had someone like Kira working for him.
"You're being awfully helpful, Captain," Rangiku chuckled, trying to make some sort of light in the situation that was driving her to madness.
"Well I'm sick of hearing the complaints," Isshin rolled his eyes. "I don't think you're ready to be dating at all, if I'm being honest, but I also won't have someone messing with my lieutenant like this."
"Thanks, Captain," Rangiku sighed. Isshin had told her multiple times over the last few weeks that he didn't think she was ready to be dating again, so it meant a lot that he was trying his best to help her now.
Maybe date number nine would be her lucky man, though the past wasn't in her favour.
…
Date number nine (Rangiku didn't bother to learn this guy's name), similarly to number eight, never made it to the door.
Rangiku didn't even bother getting dressed up this time, figuring if the guy made it to her quarters to pick her up, then he could wait five minutes for her to change. Alas, the guy never made it.
This time Isshin was hiding out there somewhere, his Spiritual Pressure drawn right back as he observed from a distance. This time Rangiku didn't take her eyes off the kitchen window, watching as the man approached.
She saw the moment her date stopped dead in his tracks, fear in his eyes for a moment, his hand grabbing for a Zanpakuto he wasn't carrying, before he turned and flash stepped away. She didn't see what had done that too him.
Huffing and stalking out onto her front porch, Rangiku found Isshin leaning against the side of her quarters, a mildly entertained expression on his face.
"Tell me you saw what scared him off?" Rangiku pleaded with the man – she was at her wits end over this. She couldn't do ten failed dates, she just couldn't. At this rate she was going to have to pack up and head to the nunnery.
"Oh yes I saw it," Isshin nodded, a slight smirk at his lips.
"And?" Rangiku prompted, not in the mood for Isshin's sarcasm tonight.
"And your dates are scared of a child, Rangiku," Isshin told her with an amused tone. From behind him, Isshin pulled out a very disgruntled Toshiro, holding the child up off the ground by his the back of his uniform shirt. "Here's the guy messing with your dates."
"Toshiro?" Rangiku blinked, confused.
The boy hung by his uniform, twisting to try and reach Isshin's hold on him. His face was bright red, teal eyes refusing to meet her blue ones.
"Go on," Isshin prompted the boy. "Show her."
The boy shook his head and continued twisting, until Isshin reminded him that he wasn't going to put him down until he showed Rangiku whatever it was.
Reluctantly, Toshiro stopped struggling and was thrust out in front of Rangiku so he was closer. Teal eyes finally met her for a second before they suddenly started glowing. His eyeballs went a vibrant blue and glowed, pulsing with light, while his skin turned silver and almost scaly. His hair stood up in all directions and creating sharp spikes. Rangiku flinched back a moment, a deep frown on her face.
Toshiro looked demonic.
"Do the growl thing," Isshin ordered happily.
A deep hiss left Toshiro's lips then, starting almost snake-like before growing into something that was far closer to a predatory growl. His teeth were bared, and now looked like they were all incisors – each tooth pointed and sharp, like he was ready to tear someone's head off their neck with his teeth.
He looked terrifying, like a demon. No – like a dragon.
Rangiku felt a shiver roll down her spine.
"Okay, that's enough," Rangiku stepped back. "That's disturbing."
As promised, Isshin put Toshiro down then when he changed back to his normal appearance, but didn't let the kid run away, pulling him back to stand in front of the captain, Isshin keeping his hands tightly on the third seat's shoulders.
"Very disturbing," Isshin agreed before he looked down at the boy. "How did you do that?"
"It's Hyorinmaru coming out," Toshiro admitted reluctantly, his face redder than Rangiku had ever seen it – even redder than the time he had accidentally called Isshin 'Dad' in front of the whole Squad.
"I haven't heard of that happening before," Isshin looked at Rangiku with a mildly concerned expression. "I'll be looking into that further."
Rangiku agreed but what she really wanted to know was why her little third seat was sabotaging her love life.
"Why are you chasing away my dates, hm?" Rangiku asked the boy, staring down at him, though Toshiro decided the porch was far more interesting to look at.
"Don't tell us you've got a crush on Rangiku," Isshin teased Toshiro when the boy refused to give an answer. "She's way too old for you, Kid."
"Hey," Rangiku called, offended by the 'old' accusation, as true as it was.
Thankfully, Toshiro seemed just as disgusted by the idea as she was.
"No!" he hissed, struggling again in Isshin's tight grasp. "That's not it!"
"Then why?" Rangiku prompted, growing tired of the games.
"Because you're not ready!" Toshiro shouted at her then, probably louder than he meant to. "All you do is cry now because of him."
The 'him' was spat with venom, and Rangiku didn't have to guess who he was talking about.
"He makes you cry, even now," the boy continued to rant, "and you're desperate to go on more dates with more guys that are just going to make you cry too? That's stupid."
Rangiku swallowed and regarded down at the boy who was once again looking away from her. She sighed deeply and crouched down to his level, glancing up at Isshin briefly. The captain seemed surprised too, but also like he agreed – though he had been pretty vocal about telling Rangiku she wasn't ready to be dating again. Perhaps Isshin's idle comments had landed with at least one of his subordinates.
That, or Rangiku had simply cried too many times in front of her child third seat. Both real possibilities, when she recalled the night of the initial breakup when Toshiro and Isshin had spent all night in her bed with her, comforting her.
"Hey now, I'm a big girl," Rangiku told the boy, capturing his gaze. She took his hands as Isshin slowly let the boy's shoulders go. "I might get hurt again, I might even cry, but I can't be scared forever. I need to move on, and how can I do that if you're chasing away my dates?"
Toshiro said nothing, his eyes piercing her uncomfortably.
"And if I do cry again," Rangiku continued, "then I know you and Captain Shiba have my back. We look after each other, right?"
Toshiro looked like he wanted to say more, like he had another argument lined up, but was struggling to get it out.
"What's the matter?" Rangiku asked, sensing Toshiro wanted to say something else.
"I think he's a little jealous," Isshin supplied then, ignoring Toshiro's immediate outcry of 'no way!' Rangiku glanced up at the captain questioningly before Isshin shrugged and continued. "Since you and Gin broke up, you have been spending more down time with Toshiro. I think he's worried he's going to lose that."
Toshiro made to move then, but Rangiku kept a strong hold on his hands, even has they grew colder and colder.
Realisation settled with Rangiku then, the lieutenant making a silent 'ah' face. She and Toshiro had been spending more time together, especially outside of their Soul Reaping responsibilities. He had been trying to cheer her up for months with games and books, sometimes other hobbies. He had even lain out in the sun with her for hours at a time so she wouldn't feel lonely while she tanned. They had grown even closer than before, Toshiro opening himself up to be more fun and carefree around her, while Rangiku had grown an interest in which books he was reading, getting him to give her a rundown chapter by chapter so she wouldn't have to actually read it herself.
Admittedly, the extra time they had spent together was the one blessing to come out of her breakup.
It made sense that Toshiro thought he was going to lose that if she started dating again.
Smiling softly, Rangiku brought the boy in for a hug, the ice wielder cold and reluctant in her hold but not fighting her off.
"You're still my number one," Rangiku told the kid.
Isshin scoffed in mock offence, "Now I think I should be jealous."
Rangiku ignored the comment and squeezed the little third seat tightly.
"We're not going to stop hanging out," she told him before she swallowed, "and maybe I will take a longer break before I organise any more dates."
"Really?" Toshiro asked, and Rangiku's heart clenched hearing how small his sounded.
"Yes, I promise," Rangiku chuckled, "but only if you promise me that when I am ready to date again, you won't scare any men away."
"I won't scare them…" Toshiro conceded, mostly, "but I won't make it easy for them either."
Rangiku rolled her eyes and pulled back out of the hug. A slight smirk was on Toshiro's face now, and it was good to see even a hint of a smile on the boy's face.
"I am such a bad influence on you," Rangiku grinned.
Toshiro shrugged, like he didn't care.
Isshin shot Rangiku a look that said he agreed with her statement, and that she needed to be a better role model for their third seat.
Releasing his wrists, Rangiku stood up.
"Well my date tonight is ruined," Rangiku shot Toshiro a playful glare. "How about we head inside for a family game night? Cluedo?"
Cluedo was a board game from the World of the Living that Isshin had brought home one time. Toshiro was the only one out of the three of them who really seemed to understand it, and he almost always won, losing only occasionally to Isshin. Rangiku was hopeless at it, but she was happy to see her two men win tonight.
After all, they had spent the last six months looking after her.
"I call Professor Plum," Toshiro's eyes lit up and he ran inside to Rangiku's living room.
"I'll be Mrs Peacock," Isshin called after him, winking at Rangiku quickly before he followed the young third seat into the Lieutenant's Quarters.
Rangiku bit back a grin, rolling her eyes and heading back inside.
"Well I am Miss Scarlett, of course."
Rangiku entered the living room to find Toshiro and Isshin setting up the board game enthusiastically. She watched them as she went about making a fresh pot of (decaf) tea for Toshiro, and grabbed a sake bottle for her and Isshin.
She supposed she could take another few months before she tried dating again. She would rather have nights like this anyway.
…
Next up, another request for RainbowStarMountain! Oh yessss, we're having a bit of a run in with the Captain of Squad Twelve…