Wow. My sincerest apologies for the delay in this update. Last year was one of the biggest years of my life. I bought a house, got promoted, and now have a boyfriend. This made life really busy. Also I am still dealing with the tendonosis issue, so it makes coming home and writing a difficult ordeal after a long day at the computer. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chappie. All my love to Kubo-sama, whose characters I have borrowed. This chapter was not beta'd. I was too impatient. If you would be interested in beta'ing this story (solid grammar skills and knowledge of the Bleach universe is preferred), please contact me. Happy reading!


Heart pumping, Matsumoto let out an anxious breath as she approached Kisuke Urahara's candy shop. How it managed to stay in business in the human realm with such nasty-tasting products was a mystery to her, and that was saying something considering her taste. Though, she could not deny that with all his talents, Seireitei had lost a valuable asset when they'd kicked him out. It didn't appear to faze him much. He seemed to enjoy his life, he was still inventing new things, and he served a purpose in the human realm. She chuckled to herself as she shifted her bags into one hand and knocked on the screen door.

"Hello-ooo!" she sang. "It's me, your favorite shinigami!"

A shuffle of feet. Then, Tessai's face appeared behind the screen. "Rangiku-san, come in."

They lost a good asset in Tessai, too, she thought.

She plopped her things on the living room floor and removed her shoes. "Orihime. Is she here?"

"Inoue-san!" Tessai called. "You have a visitor!"

Within a few moments, Orihime appeared in the doorway. Rangiku tried not to let the surprise of Orihime's appearance show on her face too much. She'd seen pictures from when Orihime had first returned—all part of the documentation she'd received in the report Nemu had given her. Orihime looked healthier than she did in those newspaper articles, but she knew from experience it took a while to regain an appetite after such an ordeal.

Matsumoto could feel her eyes watering as she threw open her arms.

"I'm so glad you came to see me!" Orihime cried as she ran to Matsumoto, her glossy eyes matching Matsumoto's.

When Matsumoto pulled back at last, she found Yoruichi in the doorway crossing her arms.

"'Bout damn time you showed up," Yoruichi said, a smirk on her face.

"You know how it is in Seireitei," Matsumoto replied, dabbing at her eyes carefully so as not to mess up her makeup. I wanted to come sooner, but they've been on pins and needles after the war. It took me three months just to get clearance to come here." Not a lie.

Matsumoto turned to Orihime. "I'm really glad you're here."

Orihime nodded.

"We were just about to eat," Tessai said. "You're welcome to join us."

"You know I won't ever turn down free food!" she said, finally stepping away from Orihime. "I really needed to get out. To see you," she said, holding Orihime's chin between her finger and thumb. "And…selfishly, the sales are so good this time of year," Matsumoto went on, ruffling her hair and checking her makeup in a nearby mirror. "So I begged my Taicho to let me come, and he finally did." There was the lie. "Sometimes I think he lets me go so I stop annoying him." She gave a little chuckle and kept her eyes on the mirror. "But it's been really quiet in Seireitei lately, thanks to Ichigo. And Kisuke using his seal."

"I do what I can," said Urahara, appearing out of nowhere next to Yoruichi.

"There hasn't been a peep in months! Everybody in Seireitei is starting to get bored." Matsumoto paused, carefully considering her next words. "The only person with any sort of interesting life is Kurotsuchi-taicho, what with his creepy experiments. The open door to Hueco Mundo is a goldmine for that guy."

"Lucky, lucky," Kisuke remarked.

Matsumoto groaned. "I should have remembered your idea of a good time is sitting in a lab all day long!"

She glanced at Orihime once more.

I need to get her alone.

.oOo.

After a delicious lunch prepared by Tessai, Orihime and Matsumoto arrived at the main shopping center in Karakura Town. Matsumoto was right, Orihime noted as she glanced at the prices on the sale rack. 70% off on a number of items and in a series of stores. It was a good thing she'd had a job over the past few months. She consistently tried to give Kisuke money for rent during her stay, but he wouldn't have it.

"Just keep bringing those leftover treats from the shop," he would always smirk when she made her offer, his smiling eyes hidden beneath the rim of his hat.

So she just saved her money. Maybe she'd take a trip to visit her aunt one of these days. After learning of how quickly her aunt had acted in subletting Orihime's apartment, she hadn't gone to see her aunt right away. She needed more time.

Matsumoto's shrill cry snapped Orihime out of her thoughts. "Oooooh this one's cute, don't you think?"

A bright pink mini skirt. Really mini.

Orihime nodded brightly. "It suits you!"

"I really think so. I think I'll take one in electric blue, too. They're half off."

Orihime just turned back to the sale rack, consciously heading towards the smaller sizes. If she was honest with herself, she didn't feel like shopping right now. But she did feel like being with a friend.

"Hey, let's get ice cream after this, yeah?" Matsumoto suggested.

"Oh, that sounds so good on a day like this!"

"Great!"

Thirty minutes later, the two of them headed towards a secluded location among a sea of tables and chairs. Orihime made herself comfortable as she licked her chocolate treat with mint sprinkles and watched the crowds buzzing about. So full of life. She didn't realize how much she could miss simple pleasures like shopping for fun and picking her own clothes. She must have gone through at least ten different dresses—all exactly the same—in her time at Hueco Mundo. They were washed, pressed, and ready for her on a daily basis. No variety. All part of the control Aizen had over his keep. She realized this trip with Matsumoto was the first pleasurable shopping day she'd had in over a year. She didn't count the initial ones where she'd rushed to buy a new, properly-fitting wardrobe just after her return.

"What are you thinking about?" Matsumoto asked as she ran her tongue along her own treat—a double scoop, vanilla and strawberry with chocolate sprinkles.

"I haven't been shopping like this in over a year," Orihime answered, keeping her eyes on a little girl about five years old skipping to her mom.

"Wow. I think I'd die."

Orihime chuckled. "I almost did."

After a brief silence, Orihime looked towards Matsumoto and was startled to see her crying.

"Hey! I'm OK now. I was just…being honest."

"I'm really sorry it took me so long to come and see you. We all…lost people in the war," Matsumoto said, her eyes now fixed on the same little girl taking her mother's hand. "This is my first shopping trip in a while, too. It took me a while to get back into the shopping mood."

"You must have lost someone really important to you if it meant no shopping," Orihime tried to joke. The words came out flat.

Matsumoto's eyes continued to follow after the little girl.

"Who did you lose?" Orihime asked, her voice quiet.

"Gin." It sounded as though Matsumoto hadn't uttered his name in months.

"He had smiling eyes," Orihime noted.

Matsumoto nodded, her eyes distracted by the crowd of teenagers now walking in front of the girl and her mom. "Yes, he did. It was one of the things I loved most about him. He was always so calm about everything."

Orihime knew what it was to grieve in secrecy—as Matsumoto must have been doing. "I'm sorry," Orihime consoled. She meant it.

"Thank you."

The two continued eating in silence until Matsumoto spoke again. "What was it like?"

Surprisingly, other than Jinta and Ururu's prodding questions here and there—which Orihime always answered politely but briefly—this was the first time anyone had asked Orihime this question.

"It was…always a little colder than comfortable. I never got used to it. It was also really quiet. Sometimes, when I retired for the night, I heard absolutely no sound at all until Ulquiorra knocked on my door with breakfast."

The words came out so easily with Matsumoto. Finally, someone Orihime could relate to.

.oOo.

What an opening, Matsumoto thought. She'd nearly choked at hearing Orihime bring up the arrancar.

"Oh? He brought you breakfast?" she asked as calmly as she could.

"He arrived with the servant, usually. And then he stayed to make sure I ate everything. The food there wasn't really that great, but it wasn't terrible."

Wow, she's being polite. If Orihime didn't like the food, it must have been really bad, Matsumoto thought. "What did you do all day?"

"In the beginning? Nothing. I almost went crazy. Then…mostly training."

"Training?" Matsumoto innocently asked, well aware of all the details behind Orihime's capture.

"Yeah. They told me if I wanted my friends to live, I had to join them. So I trained with Ulquiorra for a while. Basically they just wanted me to be able to handle large amounts of reiatsu entering my system. For when they would use the Hogyoku on me to turn me into an arrancar."

"Wait, what?"

"They wanted to use the Hogyoku on me to hollowfy my abilities."

"How? If you're not a soul? Or even a hollow?"

"I don't know. Aizen told me it had never been done. I was going to be some kind of experiment."

"Orihime, what if something terrible would have happened to you?"

"To me, it was worth it. I was scared, and I wanted to buy time. I wanted to save my friends…there were a lot of things I wanted."

"So what was your training?"

"Ulquiorra exposed me to a bunch of reiatsu. A little more every day."

Matsumoto was surprised at how much information Orihime was willing to reveal. Perhaps it was just the right place at the right time. Perhaps Orihime was finally ready to talk. Perhaps it was the ice cream putting her in good spirits. Whatever the reason, Matsumoto was both grateful and filled with self-loathing.

"Wow. They gave us reports about him during the war. His rank was pretty high. Aizen must have really trusted him not to harm you."

"Ulquiorra always knew when to stop. He always knew my limits, what I could and couldn't do. When I finally escaped from Hueco Mundo, my abilities had improved substantially. I was able to heal faster. And…I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like there's potential for new abilities in me, somewhere. He really pushed me."

"Really? Wow. So…were you two friends?" Maybe it's too soon to ask that?

Orihime let out a soft chuckle. "No. Not like that."

"Really? Even though he did all that?"

"He was just following orders," Orihime said tightly. Matsumoto swore she heard a waver in Orihime's voice.

A pause. "Are you sure, Orihime?"

At that, Orihime turned to Matsumoto and looked at her with tears brimming in her bright eyes. "Rangiku-san…"

"Oh, Orihime…you care for him, don't you?"

Orihime turned back to the crowds, face reddened and grimacing. She wiped away her tears and nodded, words clearly lost.

Matsumoto knew. She knew Orihime's pain. Matsumoto also knew that death in battle was a dignity. Even for an arrancar, even for someone like Ulquiorra who seemed to believe so thoroughly in meaninglessness, was repulsed by the idea of his own existence being in vain. He asked a shinigami, of all people, to end his life for a comprehensive, dignified defeat. To meet death squarely in its face—rather, to return to it, as was the nature of hollows. As a soldier of high ranking, Matsumoto understood. Resurrection was a slap in the face, and as much as Rangiku wanted to see Gin again, she would never rob him of his dignity. So to ask Orihime to do such a thing…Matsumoto had great difficulty engaging with Orihime any further.

"Orihime, have you ever thought about…"

"Yes."

Wow. So Orihime has thought about resurrecting him. So either she can't do it or she won't do it.

"Have you tried?"

"No. He asked Kurosaki-kun to take his life at the end of everything. He would hate me for bringing him back to life. There wouldn't be anywhere for him to go. What would he do? Where would he live? He was so loyal to Aizen. He had no memories of anything before Aizen. I just don't think he would find any meaning to doing anything with his life, if you could even call it that."

"But…could you do it?"

"I mean…I guess I hadn't thought about that." She paused. "I don't know if I could do it here, in the human world."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I was in Las Noches, there was a hollow that got killed by one of the Espada. I felt sorry for her, so I healed her. Resurrected her. But the atmosphere in Hueco Mundo, as gloomy as it is, is full of spirit particles. So it's really possible that it increased my abilities. I don't know if I'd be as powerful here. I couldn't resurrect Tsubaki on my own. I had help. But in Hueco Mundo…I don't know. Ulquiorra's training probably played a big part, though. It could be a mixture of reasons why I was able to help Menoly."

It had crossed Matsumoto's mind that Orihime might need to be taken to a location with a dense reiatsu atmosphere, but this was just speculation. She was also aware of Kisuke's hidden training ground that mimicked the otherworldy realms. She wondered if that would work, too. Still, Orihime seemed to have little appetite for the task.

"So you wouldn't even consider…" Matsumoto's stopped as she saw Orihime's shoulders tense up. Too far. And remarkably awkward. Why would a Vice-Captain of Soul Society be asking after the resurrection of an enemy? She held her breath, simmering in her self-disgust.

What if she just…told the truth? Captain Mayuri couldn't have been as smart as she'd always believed if he sent her on a mission like this! She just couldn't stand any of it anymore. As much as she liked spending time with Orihime, this whole trip was one giant farce. And here she was, knowing exactly how Orihime felt, asking Orihime to do what Matsumoto herself would never even consider.

"I can't do this anymore."

Orihime seemed to snap out of her thoughts. "Are you tired? Do you want to go home now?"

I don't give a damn how much trouble I'll get in. She deserves to know the truth after the hell she's been through.

And with that, Matsumoto started talking.