Gin and Toshiro stared across the room at each other as Rangiku collected her things and gave a last few instructions. "-and don't you dare drop him off at your division like you did last time," she commanded. "This is time for the two of you to spend together, I mean it, Gin! You can spend a day with your son every once in a while. It won't kill you."
She leaned over and kissed Toshiro on the forehead. The boy immediately threw his arms around her neck. "Me too!" he declared loudly.
"Not this time," Rangiku answered, removing him with some effort. "You stay with Daddy. You're gonna have lots of fun."
She thrust the small boy into his father's arms and stepped down into her sandals. "Daddy will play with you. Be good. I love you both. Bye bye!"
Shiro stared at the shut door with an air of despair. Mommy had abandoned him again. Life was clearly unfair.
"Alright," Gin said, squatting down and setting the boy in front of him. "New game: find Daddy, and I'll take it off." He set his hand on Toshiro's forehead. "Bakudo Two, Kage." A binding went around the boy's head, blinding him instantly.
"Off!" Toshiro screamed, pulling at the binding with all his strength. "Off! Off! Off!"
Gin stood and stepped back as his son continued to panic. "Find me if you want it off," he said calmly, stepping even further away.
Toshiro calmed down quickly. He didn't have much determination for crying. Small as he was he preferred action, and if his father had been within reach he would have hit him as hard as he could, but as he stumbled around he couldn't find Gin anywhere.
At first the blackness had been terrifying, but as he calmed he realized it wasn't quite entirely black. The world of reishi was slowly becoming visible to his desperate eyes. He could make no sense of the shapes and forms around him, but just knowing he wasn't all alone in the darkness allowed him to calm down enough to be curious.
"Find me, and I'll take it off," Gin repeated, moving to one corner of the room.
Toshiro's head swung in the direction of his father's voice, and he stumbled in the direction of the sound.
Gin forced his reiatsu to grow as strong as he dared. He couldn't have the neighbors panicking, but Toshiro would see him. He was absolutely determined the boy would learn to see him today.
He stepped to one side silently. Then he waved.
Toshiro's head snapped in his direction.
He grinned and waved again.
The boy took one step forward, then another. He reached out his pudgy little hands and took another step forward.
Gin reached down and released the bakudo as Toshiro caught hold of his hakama.
"That's not so hard, is it?" Gin said, lifting the boy and handing him a cookie he'd stored in his shihakusho.
Toshiro gave him a dirty look before he took a bite of the cookie.
Rangiku sat out on the porch watching Toshiro try to keep up with the neighborhood children. The boy was wearing an absurdly expensive red embroidered jimbei, yet another hand-me-down, that he'd already gotten muddy and hadn't suited him in the first place. Rangiku just couldn't help herself. She always dressed him in the nicest clothes she could find and as most of his things were hand-me-downs from the wealthiest families in the Gotei, she had far too many beautiful things to choose from, and the toddler, so determined to keep up with all the other children, was destroying them all.
He was barely walking, but he was sure he should be a part of the children's game. Somehow, despite being less than half their size, he knew he was a kid too. Whenever he got too far from her one of the children would come lead him back. They didn't seem to mind, and it was working better than trying to fold laundry while he unfolded it had.
"He's determined little thing," a voice said, and Rangiku raised her head. Rumiko-ba-chan had come down the road to say hello.
Rangiku smiled and scooted over to make a space for her on the step.
"A lot more so than poor Zu-zu," Rumiko added, shaking her head.
"What's wrong with Zu-zu?" Rangiku asked, looking around but not seeing the blond boy among the children on the street.
"You know his father passed last spring. It was a great shock. He didn't know his father very well since he's been living with me since my granddaughter died, but still, it's hard to lose your father, I know. But it's been half a year and I can't seem to get him to move forward. He'll do what he's told, but he just mopes around the rest of the day. He doesn't come out and play with the other children anymore. All he does is sit and read. It's like he's lost his zest for life. I'm worried about him."
Rangiku thought about that as she watched one of the children try to teach Shiro to spin a top. "Poor Zu-zu," she said softly. "He probably thinks too much, like Gin—things never bother me long 'cause I don't really think about them, but I don't know if that's better. People who think a lot, they learn all sorts of things, and they take care of the rest of us dummies by getting stronger and dealing with all the problems we never even noticed. We've just got to remember to take care of them back by dragging them out to have some fun sometimes."
"He does tend to think too much, poor boy," the old woman sighed. "I just don't want him to miss out. Life seems terribly long till you're at this end of it. Then you find yourself thinking of all the missed chances, and you want to tell all the young people not to make your mistakes."
Rangiku smiled as she watched Shiro manage to set the top spinning if only for a second. "I don't know," she said softly. "Maybe the mistakes are the best parts."
Toshiro made a very pretty picture, in a pale blue snowflake patterned kimono, standing in the snow. He turned slowly as the snowflakes danced around him, caught in an impossible current. He laughed happily, completely unaware of the scrutiny of the adults watching. His lashes and hair sparkled with ice crystals, but he never shivered in the cold.
"Fascinating," Aizen said softly. "He clearly has no idea he's doing it. I've never seen anything like it, controlling nature without use of specific kido or a zanpakuto."
Gin smiled. "Shiro is unique."
Aizen's eyes turned to Gin. The fox-faced smile was impossible to read, even for him, but he'd known his lieutenant since his childhood. His thoughts were possible to guess. "You are proud of him," Aizen said, smiling.
"I suppose so," Gin agreed. "It's natural, isn't it? To be proud of your creation? I suppose I should give Ran-chan a bit of the credit, but I'm afraid he takes almost entirely after me."
"Even in manner; he keeps his own council," Aizen answered. "I'm told that's unusual in one so young."
"Yeah," Gin agreed. "Never gonna know what he's up to. Gonna have to keep a close eye on him when he gets older."
"Not unlike his father," Aizen said. Then he stood and crossed the snow to the toddler.
He knelt beside the boy, smiling kindly. "It's very pretty snow, isn't it, Shiro-chan."
Toshiro held out a handful of unmelting snowflakes, larger than all the others, so large their lacy forms were clearly visible. "Pretty!" he declared, grinning at the captain.