A/N: So, if I have any fans left, I'm sorry this took months to upload. I've got bits and pieces of this story together but its taking me forever to sew it all together. This is a short chapter, actually I've had this piece of writing done for ages but wanted to combine it into the next chapter. I figure I might as well get it out there, maybe it'll motivate my writing a little bit. Cheers and Happy New Year, readers!
Everything about their arrangement was perfect – except each other. In the moments when he would stroke her hair out of her face, or she would carefully undo his shihakusho, she saw the same look in the reflection of his eyes: a mutual appreciation and longing for one another; the closest one could come to romantic love without giving it that weight; an imitation, an impostor of love that neither one of them was willing to deny.
Her only mistake was to think that Gin would let it last.
"Byakuya," she said, half sleeping.
"Yes, Ran?" He felt more comfortable with her now; more natural. Sure, they still had their long passionate soirees together, in discreet hotels now that training season had begun, but he felt best being delicate with her. Now his chest was up against her back, while he ran his fingers down the inside of her thighs.
"I've got to go home soon, hon."
"It is 4 am. I was expecting you to leave sooner, actually – "
"I mean, home. I've got to go see her."
"Oh," it dawned on the Captain that she meant she had to go see her daughter. For a while, he had to admit, he'd forgotten that there was an outside world: Hisana and Rukia mattered to him dearly, but one was dead and one was too busy to realize that that redhead with the tattoos from squad 11 had feelings for her. Rangiku Matsumoto, drunken seductress that she was, was the only thing that made him feel he wasn't alone. In his selfishness, he forgot that she had others that depended on her too.
He forgot that she was married.
And dismissed the possibility that he was a regular soul that was at home with their daughter.
He felt an immediate urge to slice something with Senbonzakura.
"…in the middle of a village west of Inuzuri…."
"What?" Byakuya jolted back to reality, aware that Rangiku had been talking to him.
She smirked, "I asked you to come. At least a couple of nights. You could, you know…. Sneak through my bedroom window so we don't get caught."
Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "You're inviting me over? What about your daughter?"
"That's why you gotta sneak in, silly! Asuna will be sleeping by then."
"Kuchikis don't 'sneak in', Mastumoto." He always called her Matsumoto when we was displeased about something.
Asuna. Knowing her name made her all the more real. Made Rangiku's marriage all the more real….
"So, you don't live with your husband?"
"Are you fucking kidding me!? We're separated. I've told you that. If you think I'd lie about that just to get some action – "
Byakuya quieted her the best way he knew how: In the time of a flashstep he parted her legs and entered her full-force, sending a strong current of spiritual pressure through both of their bodies.
Gasp! She sucked in her breath, wide-eyed as she clutched on to the captain's hips.
"You're to go home soon. I understand that. But now's not the time to talk about this."
Rangiku nodded. She let her hands gently drop to her sides, feeling the pulse of spiritual energy drop as he spoke to her. He was electrifying every part of her body with his; but his words made her feel numb inside. She tried to cancel it out by moving her body against his.
"Ran – "
"Shh…" And she kissed him as she moved rhythmically against him, sending a stronger and more pleasurable current of spiritual pressure through her.
He lurked in the shadows, hoping that she would be out of the hotel room soon enough –hoping that it wouldn't be one of the nights she stayed late. He could feel his rage threatening to break his immovable grin so often now that he had tried using kidou once or twice to help him keep it there.
She emerged from the little inn – she always came out first, cloaked in a black cape with an edge of her pink scarf showing. That's when he had figured out she was having an affair. No – affair wasn't the right word. They had been separated for some time. Estrangement, perhaps it was called.
He followed her. Out past the lit street with open bars and restaurants. Out past the homes that lined the walls of the Court of Pure Souls. Out of the Seireitei itself. He knew she was headed home – to her house. He knew he wasn't allowed to be there. For the first time in Gin's life he felt as if his face lacked any sort of expression – it was the closest to looking guilt-ridden he could get.
He slowed his pace the closer he got to the place where she lived with her daughter, their daughter. He couldn't do that to Rangiku. He knew that she didn't get to see Asuna that often, being a lieutenant in the Gotei 13 was a busy job.
Gin lay down in the grass, finally giving up on trying to catch his wife. Can I even call her that anymore? Since when did I start calling her my wife again? Gin, obviously troubled, lay down in the tall grasses and careful to maintain the suppression of his reiatsu even at rest.
How could she not have sensed it? Is she losing her knack for this? Or did he just screw her that good?
He wouldn't have caught her if she didn't slip up. Not once had she ever called him Gin in public, but on his way to a captain and lieutenant's meeting a few months ago, she'd accidentally called Captain Kuchiki by his first name.
"I'm sorry, Captain Kuchiki!" she blushed.
"Don't apologize, Ran. Just don't do it again."
Ran. They thought they'd been out of earshot but Gin's hearing picked up on the nickname he'd given her when they were children. A name he only used when -
It took everything for him not to stab Kuchiki in the back with Shinso.
Gin's thoughts on the matter were enough to put a scowl on his face, but it soon returned to its characteristic grin when he thought of a thousand ways to harm the Kuchiki heir. When his plans with Aizen came to light, Kuchiki would be first on his kill roster.