Rangiku hadn't known what to make of the letter when it had arrived. She'd wanted to burn it, wanted to rip it apart, but as she stood ready to do damage to the paper, her hands shook and the need for comfort eventually won out.

She was so angry with him.

Rangiku didn't think she could ever let the anger go, but the anger burned along with the passion in her heart. You could be angry with someone and still love them so achingly at the same time. It was horrible, she wished the anger could win out, could burn the love for him out of her chest. For once in her life, Rangiku was suddenly jealous of hollows and the lack of a heart in their chest, how she wished she could be empty too.

It had taken her a while to decide what to do, but ultimately she decided to do as his letter instructed. She spent so long trying to decide what to wear as she would have done every other day she'd go to see him. If she wore her uniform, she'd be giving a clear statement that she didn't care enough to change, that the letter had meant nothing more to her than another piece of paperwork. However if this letter was the beginning, the beginning of him building compassion, then Rangiku wanted to encourage that. She wanted to wear something she felt comfortable and powerful in, so decided against wearing anything he'd bought her.

Rangiku selected a red dress that she'd bought while shopping with Orihime in the world of the living, it was a gift to herself, a middle finger up to all men who wouldn't be able to have her in it. That message would continue tonight, she wasn't about to soil her dress with memories of what could have been. She stared at her reflection, the light that normally stared back at her from her eyes had diminished. The sparkle in them had dwindled and died since he'd chosen Aizen over her.

'Just get through tonight,' Rangiku sighed to her own reflection, 'then we can put this behind us.'

Somehow she knew it wouldn't be as simple as that, their relationship never was. She straightened up and threw her bag over her shoulder. It contained the letter he'd wrote to her. Leaning against the door was her zanpakuto which she lifted as she stepped outside, there was no way she'd have the strength to face him entirely on her own and though she knew she'd never be able to use her blade against him it made her feel better having Haineko by her side.

The maggots nest was located in the North West section of the second squad and would take Rangiku a whole day to walk there, so she opted for shunpo.

'We've been expecting you,' one of the guards told her simply when she arrived. Rangiku wondered how Gin had managed to sway this meeting. She wasn't looking forward to being gaped at by all the souls who resided in the nest, alas, the guard led her to a room at the side. The chamber was obviously meant to be an interrogation room. The walls were made of cold hard steel, and the guard instructed her to wait inside while he fetched the prisoner.

Rangiku waited, impatiently, her foot tapping on the concrete floor and her painted nails drumming on the steel table. Gin was led inside and she was rather impressed at how well he'd scrubbed up considering where he'd been kept. Gin showed up in black suit, the shirt of which was a faint lavender colour matching his hair.

'Do you want him with or without the restraints?' the guard asked, nodding at Gin's hands where he'd been secured with the spiritual repressing restraints.

'Without,' Rangiku sighed, despite their history, she knew that Gin would not hurt her physically. All the worst damage he could possible do, he'd already done to her heart.

'Alright,' the guard sounded unsure, but removed the rock binding his hands before ducking out of the room. She knew that the other side of the door was being guarded and unless they kept their voices down, their conversation wouldn't be private.

'Sorry ah couldn't take yer out for dinner,' Gin said, grin present as he slipped into the seat opposite her.

Rangiku gave him an unimpressed and flat stare back which had him swallowing whatever other witty retort he had been about to follow up with. They stared at each other for a while and eventually his eyes travelled over what she was wearing. His shoulders seemed to deflate and his posture suggested he'd given in.

'Yeh look beautiful,' he murmured and Rangiku felt like his blade had pierced her heart.

'Why did you write me a love letter?' Rangiku asked as she pulled the note from her bag and tossed it across the table at him. Gin's pale eyebrows knitted together, his long fingers picked up the piece of paper and his eyes scanned across the surface as he read it. If Rangiku didn't know any better, she'd have said he had been on the verge of denying that he'd wrote her anything, but thought better of it.

'Ah wanted to see yer again,' he shrugged casually and placed the bit of paper down on the table.

'I can't keep doing this, Gin,' Rangiku worked hard to keep the emotion out of her voice, 'this little game of cat and mouse that only you seem to understand the rules of.'

Gin clasped his long fingers together on the table, his eyes fixed on her as Rangiku stared determinedly back.

'Ah know,' he said, 'no more games, Rangiku, ah promise. Ever since ah saw yeh lying there, half starved, ah vowed to do everything ah could to protect yeh. Ah understand that my actions haven't always come across as such, but ah'm done trying to fight this. Ah love yeh, Rangiku, ah always have.'

As Gin spoke, his voice was strong and didn't wavier, he was resolute in his decision.

'Don't,' Rangiku shook her head, feeling the tears threatening her once again, 'don't sit there and pretend like you know anything about love, Gin.'

Hurt flashed across his face, but it was gone in the blink of her blurry eyes.

'Ah know that yer probably the most beautiful thing ah'v ever seen in all my lives,' Gin replied after a few moments, 'ah know that only you can make my heart flutter in my chest. Ah know what it's like to wake up next to yeh, with the taste of yeh still on my lips and know it'll never be enough-'

'Please stop,' Rangiku begged, the first of the tears spilling from her eyes as her heart finally gave out. Gin refused to listen, he kept going.

'Ah know what it's like to want to die for someone because their safety is the most important thing in the world to me. Ah know what it's like to wish to be a better man for someone else,' Gin stopped, his fingers coming apart and he stood from his chair, walking his way around the table. Rangiku felt trapped, suffocated by her feelings for him, her heart locking her in place in her chair as he bent down to be eye level with her.

'Maybe ah don't know love, but ah know what it's like to love you.'

His hands found either side of her face, his thumbs stroking away the tears that spilled from her eyes. Rangiku raised her hand to wrap it around one of his and then he was leaning down. Gin captured her lips in a press that was so familiar, so heartbreakingly him that Rangiku melted against his touch. He kept the kiss light, not deepening it without her consent and Rangiku parted her lips to draw his flavour back into her mouth. It was a taste she was so accustomed to, the taste that once reminded her of happiness and longing. Gin pulled back, pecking her lips once more before leaning away from her. She melted against his hand, which still cupped her cheek and let her heart try and settle back into a normal rhythm before she replied.

'I had so many hopes for us, Gin,' she murmured, 'the hope of a family, of a life together. It all ended the instant you took off with Aizen, how can I ever trust you not to leave me again?'

Gin gazed at her for a long time, contemplating his words. 'Because ah know better now, ah never should have made those decisions without you.'

He picked up her other hand in his. She could feel his calloused fingers stroking the skin on the back of her hand. 'Ah understand that now, whatever happens from here, ah'll decide with you.'

Rangiku smiled sadly, 'and how are we meant to have a life with you living here in the maggots nest?'

'Ah'll write yeh every day,' he grinned, 'just like that letter,' he nodded to the table where the piece of paper sat.

'And… the future?' she asked tentatively.

'If Kurotsuchi can get out of the maggots nest, ah think ah stand a pretty good chance,' he grinned.

It was probably a pipe dream, Rangiku doubted Yamamoto would ever let Gin see the light of day again, but she wanted it to be real. She wanted so badly for it to be real.

Rangiku took a deep breath, letting it out across his lips, 'I suppose we can try to start again. But know this, if you ever break my heart again,' she glared at him, 'I'll walk away and I won't ever come back.'

'The day ah ever hurt yeh again, is the day ah cease to live,' Gin promised. Rangiku smiled at him, and then she was kissing him again.

The guard knocked on the door, reminding them of their dwindling time together. Time they spent trying to be as physically close to each other as they once were.

So what if she ruined her dress for him? It would be worth it in the end, if he kept his promise.