Gin leaned over to one side till his head was nearly upside down when he crossed into Rangiku's line of sight. "Hello," he said, waving and smiling pleasantly.

Rangiku was laying across their bench, her feet, arms and head all hanging over the edges. Her hands and hair draped pitifully upon the grass. She looked excessively and dramatically miserable, and, to Gin's thinking at least, disturbingly attractive.

"Oh, it's you," she said, dully, not even trying to sit up.

Gin's mouth fell open. "That's not nice, Ran, not at all. Here I've been looking for you for at least five minutes just because your friend, Shiba's girlfriend, is worried about you, and all you've got to say is 'oh, it's you'? Doesn't all my effort at least rate a 'hello' or maybe a 'my dearest, you light up my world the moment you appear' or some sort of friendly greeting?"

Rangiku fought back the urge to smile as she carefully turned herself over so as not to fall off the narrow bench. "Five minutes?" she asked, folding her hands under her chin.

Gin dropped down onto the grass in front of her. "I checked that little bakery you like so much first. You've been eating a lot when you're upset recently."

"Don't you know you're never supposed to tell a woman she's eating too much?" Rangiku asked.

"I didn't say you've been eating too much. I think you'll probably have to eat a great deal more before you start to resemble a whale. That is the goal, isn't it? To be whale-like and wobble a bit when you walk so everyone gives you plenty of space and does their very best not to annoy you because they are honestly afraid you might eat them?"

Rangiku smiled. "I don't think I'll eat you. You've always looked like you'd probably be stringy and dry."

"I think so," he agreed. "I'm a bit skinny, but you'd probably be delicious; you've got just the right balance of fat and muscle. I've always been tempted to take a big bite right out of your thigh."

Rangiku sighed. "Well, the muscle is probably not going to be there much longer. Unohana's benched me. No practice, no kido, no missions, not even routine guard duty. I can 'oversee' training, carry messages-no shunpo-and do paperwork. At least she said I shouldn't sit at a desk more than two hours at a time. I think I'd kill myself if she'd stuck me on desk duty. I really do. I'm going to go crazy as it is. Four months without ever using Haineko! And then, after the baby's born, I'm on leave for a goddamned year! A year! And she told me that like I should be thrilled! And 'many mothers decide not to come back at all'," Rangiku added the last bit in a fair imitation of Unohana's voice.

Gin tilted his head to one side, listening patiently as Rangiku complained, but when she finished he carefully brushed her hair out of her face and gently kissed her forehead. "Unohana frightened you," he said softly.

"The baby might have some problems," she said, fighting back tears. "Cause reiatsu can do things to it while it's growing. She said you can't really predict it. Sometimes it can even be good, but you just don't know, so usually they place barriers on pregnant women in the Gotei to try to limit the exposure, but they should have started months ago. There's no way our baby, growing right in the middle of Seireitei, could be unaffected. We just have to wait till its born to see what I did to it. What sort of mother am I, Gin? I'm hurting my baby before it's even born."

"Is that what Unohana told you?" Gin asked, his hands, stroking her face and head were gentle, tender, and loving, but his voice, spoken so softly and carefully was like ice.

"No, Gin," Rangiku said quickly, grabbing hold of his wrist. She knew that voice. That was how he sounded when she'd been hurt, and he was planning to do something to protect her. Only she didn't need protecting any more. "She never said it was my fault, not once. And she's doing everything she can to help. She put this barrier on me-doesn't it feel strange? And she's sent someone to put an even stronger one on my room. She's going to help us. She really is."

"She shouldn't have upset you," Gin said a little stubbornly.

"She didn't. I upset myself. I should have gone in months ago. I guess I'm just as much in denial as you are."

Gin's smile returned. "I'm not in denial."

"Really, then what have you done? Other than giving people who stare at me really nasty looks?"

"That's pretty much the only thing I can do at the moment. Growing a new person is a strictly one woman job. I have been doing my best to keep you fed; in fact I think I may have something I picked up for you while I was in the world of the living yesterday," he said, patting his shihakusho like he was trying to find something he had stowed away earlier.

Rangiku sat up with a sigh. "Really, Gin? Food, that's all you want to contribute? I thought you said you wanted to take care of us. I guess I read more into that than I should have. I don't know what I was thinking. You aren't-"

She broke off as he raised his open hand to her. A diamond ring lay on his palm.

"What-"

"It's an engagement ring," he explained, without a trace of the emotions Rangiku thought ought to accompany a proposal. "Just like you told me about after the first time you went to the world of the living. Seems like a funny tradition to me, but you said it was romantic. I thought you might want one."

"For what?" Rangiku asked, there was no way she was going to let this be another vague promise.

"For to get engaged, to get married," he answered, still in that casual, straightforward tone that sounded more like he was suggesting a walk in the park than marriage. "You are going to marry me, aren't you? I enjoy shocking all of Seireitei as much as anyone, but I still think we should make it official. Living in two different places is terribly inconvenient for our sex life."

She smiled and lifted the ring from his palm. "It's very pretty," she said, raising it to inspect more closely.

"It's only yours if you agree to marry me, otherwise I'm taking it back. It was absurdly expensive for a rock, and I'm pretty sure Urahara cheated me on the exchange rate as well-"

"You bought it?" Rangiku said in surprise. Gin had been an expert thief in Rukongai, and he saw no reason not to pick up the occasional toy or snack while visiting the world of the living. It was one of many things he was constantly being criticized for, even if he'd never actually been caught.

"I wouldn't want to give you someone else's symbol of eternal love and affection. They might have jinxed theirs anyway. It's best to start with a new one, don't you think?"

"A symbol of eternal love and affection?" Rangiku repeated, smiling at the small ring. That was the closest Gin had ever come to telling her he loved her.

"You're the one who told me that's what it was, don't you remember?" Gin said with his favorite fox-like smile hiding any real feeling. "Just my luck you'd run into some Western couple proposing on your very first trip to the world of the living."

"You know he got down on one knee to ask her," Rangiku told him. "I think that part's important."

"And I'm sitting on the ground. That's even better, isn't it?"

"And he told her he loved her and would always love her," Rangiku added, knowing just getting the ring was pushing him. Gin rarely expressed any genuine emotion at all. You could never take any liking or disliking he shared at face value. He was just as likely to be sarcastic, teasing, or even saying it just for something to say, and whatever he said, he said all in exactly the same tone, with the same smile.

Rangiku read his true intentions better than most. She knew the smiles and the jokes and the constant games were a shield for feelings that ran too deep and had been thoroughly crushed long before she'd ever met him. She knew he needed the shield. His world had never been and never would be a kind place, but every once in a while she wished he'd lower it with her, if only just for a moment.

"Do you want the ring or not? Because I am serious about taking it back, though knowing Urahara he'll probably cheat me again on the-"

"Of course I want it," Rangiku interrupted, snatching it out of his hand. She grinned hugely as she slid it onto her finger, and held it out, wiggling her fingers to catch the sunlight and set tiny rainbows dancing on the grass. "Isn't it beautiful? Everyone's going to be so jealous!"

"It is pretty," Gin agreed. "Why is it only the woman gets one? There weren't any in my size. The jeweler looked at me funny when I asked."

"You asked?" Rangiku giggled.

"Well, why not? I don't understand the tradition, and I told him so. I said if the bride gets a very pretty and expensive rock then what is it the groom gets? And do you know what he told me?" Gin said, looking up at her with a growing smile.

"What did he tell you?" Rangiku asked.

"He said the groom gets a very pretty and expensive wife, but the diamond is probably the better investment because in the long run it is both cheaper and stays pretty longer."

Rangiku burst out laughing. "He's probably right, Gin. You might want to keep the ring and forget the wife."

Gin pulled her off the bench and into his lap. "I told him that his diamonds might sparkle nicely in the reflected sunlight, but my Ran-chan, she makes her own light."

Rangiku threw her arms around his neck and pulled him to her, kissing him soundly, not stopping until the sound of soft chuckling reminded her that they were in a public park.

She pulled back, and then scrambled to her feet and dropped into a bow. They had been caught kissing in public by a captain!

Gin got to his feet as well, but didn't bother to bow but just nodded his head. "Good morning, Captain Kyoraku," Gin said lightly.

"Good morning, Gin-kun, Rangiku-chan, it is a nice morning, isn't it? Just the sort of morning to be young and in love," he broke off there and glanced over his shoulder with a worried expression on his face. "If Nanao-chan happens to come by do tell her you haven't seen me, would you? She's in a bit of a mood this morning, and I think it would be best if I found somewhere else to be for a few hours."

"Have you considered visiting Captain Isshin, sir?" Gin asked. "I understand he just received a package from his family estate. You must know they are considered the best brewery in the district, and his dear mama always sends him some of the best."

"Is that so?" Kyoraku said, looking interested. "Isshin never mentioned his family business to me."

"Captain Isshin doesn't like to brag. I've noticed that about him before. He can be surprisingly humble about certain things," Gin told him.

"Maybe I should drop in on the chap," Kyoraku said thoughtfully. "Haven't had a nice long talk with Isshin in quite a while-well, I'd best be off. Have a good day, you two, but try to remember you're in a public park."

"Yes, sir," Rangiku said, still feeling a little overwhelmed speaking to a captain she barely knew, even if he did have a reputation for being the most easygoing of the bunch.

"Have a good day, Captain," Gin said, waving as the colorful captain vanished in the direction of the Tenth Division.

"You know very well that the only reason Captain Isshin doesn't tell everyone about his family brew is because he doesn't want to share. He's going to be really annoyed with you when he finds out you were the one who let Captain Kyoraku in on the secret," Rangiku said.

"But as he already hates me that doesn't make much of a difference; he's not going to support me for the Third Division," Gin answered. "but if I can get old Kyoraku on my side, I've got Ukitake as well, and maybe even the General. They say he thinks of Kyoraku as a son."

"You're still thinking of the Third?" Rangiku said.

"Still need to refine my bankai and win over a few captains, but I think, in a decade or so, it will probably be mine. I was a little worried about Shiba-kun; he was all the talk of the Academy, but, like every member of the Thirteenth, he adores his captain, wouldn't leave the division for anything. And with Ukitake's health like it is, he's running the division anyway. When Ukitake finally finishes coughing up his lungs they'll make Shiba captain of the Thirteenth. It's just the sort of nice smooth transition everybody likes."

"What about Ikkaku in the Eleventh? He and Yumichika just showed up a few years ago, and they've beaten their way to the top of their squad like it was nothing, risen through the ranks even faster than you did."

Gin smiled. "Ikkaku's good. I wouldn't want to face him in a fair fight, a bit too much like Kenpachi, and you know how much I hate bleeding, but I think I could take him if I had to. No, there's really no one else even close to captain at the moment. I'll just have to keep an eye on the new graduates."

"You're very confident," Rangiku teased.

"With good reason. I am the child genius who graduated the Academy in a year. Captain Aizen expects great things from me, and he's not the sort you disappoint."

"I thought you disappointed him every day, speaking of which you've probably got paperwork you're supposed to be doing right now."

"So have you," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but no one actually expects me to get it done. Your captain still lives in hope."

"Shows what you know," Gin answered. "The disappointment of a lieutenant with a pregnant girlfriend is outweighing all other disappointments at the moment, and I've got permission to go chasing after you any time I'd like. He's even offered me time off to find us a little house. I think he's getting a little desperate. Man of fine, upstanding moral fiber like himself can't figure out what the delay is."

"What is the delay?" Rangiku found herself asking. Immediately, she jerked her hand up to cover her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that. She'd promised herself she wouldn't pressure him. SHe didn't want a husband who'd only married her because he was expected to.

Gin's smile only grew. "Well, I had to get the ring, didn't I? And don't you think it's fun to see all the different reactions? Kyoraku looked jealous, the captain of the Second Division looks at me like she could happily take off my head, lot of your division's the same, with Shiba's girlfriend barely able to look at me at all, even when she came to get me today. She detests me. She doesn't want me anywhere near you, and yet she really thinks we should be married already. It's a bit contradictory, isn't it?"

"Her name is Miyako, or Seya-san to you," Rangiku reminded him. "Not Shiba's girlfriend. Would it really hurt you to learn the names of my friends?"

"But you have so many, and I'm very busy. You know I'm a lieutenant now. I have to learn all the names of everyone in the Fifth Division, and I really just don't have the time to learn any more. Tell you what, if you will get rid of all of your friends who aren't in the Fifth, I will learn all your friends names."

Rangiku raised an eyebrow at that. Now she knew he was just making excuses. "Right, you went to the Academy an illiterate street urchin from Rukongai and graduated a year later with a perfect shikai and the ability to read even the most advanced kanji without stumbling, but you can't learn my friends names. Knowing you, you probably already know all of their names and just call them by annoying titles to irritate me."

"Aaw, Ran-chan!" he exclaimed, managing, somehow, to look genuinely distressed. "You know it spoils the game when you say it out loud. Now I'm going to have to find something else to do!"

"To annoy me?"

"Maybe," he said with a shrug.

"I think infinitely putting off getting married is plenty annoying without you finding other things to add to it."

"If it really matters to you why don't we just go down to the Seireitei records office and set up a family roll. We can't afford a wedding anyway. Soon as I find a house we can move in, and it'll take everyone at least a week to figure out we're already married, could be funny, especially if we could get our captains not to say anything."

"You're saying we should get married today and not tell anyone? Because it would be funny?"

"Why not? Come on, Ran-chan, we never do anything fun together anymore, just the two of us," Gin begged.