***Alrighty! Second chapter is up! In all honesty I've had about seven chapters done since before I even posted the story, but i have been procrastinating on posting them. I'm sorry to the few people who actually liked and followed my story and I can and will do better ;)

To my anonymous reviewer: Thank you! Also, I am trying to stick to the story line as best as possible, which is why it has taken me so long to post chapters. I want to stay in Kubo's verse, for lack of a better word, and I want to use accurate information like dates, the ever-elusive age scheme of the Soul Society, and information from TBTP arc (which is arguably my favourite arc as Keisuke is hands down my favourite anime character ever!) which i think is very important to understanding Gin. Aizen and Tosen will be mentioned as well. The only extra character is Asuna.

Also, I'm going to be doing time skips. Lots of them. I try to stay in the same time with each chapter, but I will try to point out as clearly as possible all of these skips. Also, because there is much debate about age, I am going to go with a popular speculation that 10 years = 1 SS year.

Happy reading!***

180 years ago...

He knew from their first kiss how she felt about him. Even though it was just a little peck, her nervousness and pink flush on her cheeks had told him enough. He was old enough to tell these things after all.

"How old are ya anyway, Ran-chan?" Gin said with his signature slit-eyed grin.

"Old enough," she nervously giggled and he moved in closer, enjoying his little taunt. When he finally did it, though, he regretted it instantly.

She likes me, darn it! His left eye opened to reveal his sky blue iris before swiftly closing it again. Rangiku took no notice.

"Speakin' of," he sang, "your birthday is coming up soon."

She laughed. It always made him happy to make her laugh. He felt the warmth of it on this pale, papery skin.

"And yours is tomorrow, Gin. Did you think I'd forget?"

At this he waved his finger. "Tsk tsk, Rangiku. I hope ya didn't go an' buy anythin' for me. I'd hate to see ya waste the money we been savin'."

"Too late!" She was bouncing on her knees. Gin noticed, or at least noticed that he had been noticing that she was getting older; more womanly. Years of living together had definitely changed them both.

"Oh, Ran-chan..."

"Gin, shut up!" His smiled widened. The only thing he liked more than her laugh was her mouth. She could be quite vulgar when she wanted to be. They were both little brats from Rukongai, so it was expected.

"It's getting late, Gin. Can we sleep now, please? It's your birthday tomorrow and I won't allow you to stay up past midnight."

"You're one bossy lady, aren't ya, Ran?" he walked over to where he stored the cot when they woke up. There wasn't enough room to keep it on the floor without constantly walking over it and getting it dirty. They lived in a glorified doghouse.

He spread it out across the floor and let Rangiku hop in first, as she always did since they'd lived together. It was one of their rituals: She'd hop in, wiggle around a little bit, and when she'd settled on a comfortable spot on her left side, she'd lift her right arm up. Only then could Gin lie down next to her and hook his arm beneath her own. They kept each other warm at night this way. Gin realized that he had never minded the cold until she came. In the early days, when she'd get up in the middle of the night and sit outside of their home, he always knew. She'd thought it was silly and he learned to control it eventually, but he always woke up the moment the warmth of her back left his chest.

This time, it was Gin that got up in the middle of the night. He knew he would not wake her – she was a damn heavy sleeper. He could tell by a quick glance out the window that it was well past midnight: it was his 12th birthday. He looked back to his sleeping friend. Rangiku's hair was matted but still smelled like sweet grass. As he gently moved to get up, he noticed that his hand had ventured too far up Rangiku's body as they slept. Thank god he'd woken up! He wasn't some kind of pervert! It had just…happened.

Through her thin shift he could feel that her body wasn't just skin and bones as it was when they'd first met. She had a thin layer of fat on her now. He pinched her abdomen softly between his thumb and forefinger, smirking triumphantly at having taken care of her so well. Before he could get up, Rangiku shifted in her sleep, now lying with half of her body over him. Gin lay flat on his back and Rangiku's head nestled into his neck. Her hands covered his face and her left thigh crossed over to land on own slightly muscular ones. He felt her nestle her leg into his body to get into a comfortable position, she smacked her lips together and went back into a deep sleep. Gin, surprised, and slightly relieved that he hadn't been caught pinching her fat, didn't move her. In fact, save for the hands in his face, he was more comfortable this way. The warmth of her chest and the inside of her thigh was something different, but welcome and he drifted back off to sleep, thinking of what presents awaited him.

"Wake up, sleepyhead! It's your birthday!" Rangiku had gone out early to buy bread, milk, and fruits for breakfast. She had even bought some dried persimmons, their favourite.

Gin rubbed his eyes, even though they were still in their signature slit, his grin had downturned.

"Oh,Ran… ya shouldn't have! All of our money must be gone now."

"I didn't use any of it Gin! I did some chores earlier on this week for some of the shopkeepers. They gave me this as payment."

Gin's grin returned. Not because they still had all of their money left, but because she'd been thoughtful enough not to use it.

"Oh!" Rangiku sudden outcry jolted Gin out of his thoughts "I know you don't really like to celebrate your birthday, so I thought we'd get it all over and done with now, then we can go about the rest of our day like we always do," Ran pulled out a plain wooden box with a metal clasp. Gin new something quite expensive was inside.

"Ran," he sighed, "How did ya…?"

"Shh," Rangiku cut him off and knelt down beside him, offering the box out to him. "Open it."

Inside was a ring of plain copper, but in it was set a magnificent opal sphere, mostly pink in colour. Gin opened his eyes wide and Rangiku noticed.

"What is this?"

"The stone is supposed to bring us good luck. It's called tourmalini, or something like that," Rangiku wasn't too confident in her response.

But Gin couldn't care less. All that he saw in that pink opal was the ….thing. That thing that Rangiku had had taken away from her when he found her lying on the ground primed for death. And that man, handsome and grotesque all at the same time. Even before he'd known her he knew he would spend his whole life getting it back: Her true power.

He never told her about it. And he hadn't been telling her a lot lately. Like how he had finally met that son-of-a-bitch Aizen, and how many people he'd killed, just for her. He doubted he'd ever tell her. He also doubted whether or not he was staying true to his objective.

But not now. The opal orb did something for him. It re-awakened his passion for his purpose. It didn't matter to him if it took him 1000 years to do it, he'd get Ran-chan back her power.

Slit-eyed grin reinstated, he said, "thanks Ran. I do appreciate it. But pink ain't really my colour." he could see the corners of her plump mouth tighten, her beauty mark shifting a little as she did.

"Oh, come on Rangiku! I'm not getting' rid of it! I'll put it away for safekeepin'. I don't want anyone to know we have it an' try to take it from us." He put the wooden box underneath a loose floor slat, hoping that his lies would do the trick.

"After all, I don't have to be wearin' it to have good luck, do I?"

His last words seemed to cheer her up enough.

"Hey! Why don't ya help me catch some fish to eat with all this yummy food, huh?" Rangiku's frown turned into a smirk as she reluctantly agreed to go fishing.

"But since it's my birthday… I think you should do all the fishin'."

"Gin!" Rangiku yelled. He loved to see her get frustrated too.

And it wasn't that he minded fishing. He liked it very much, actually. He just wanted to get her tired enough to that he could pinch her again tonight. It was just like the first time they shared his cot; he would forever miss the warmth of her thigh and chest if she didn't sleep on him the way she'd done last night.

When he thought about it, it was the only birthday present he really wanted.