I posted this chapter yesterday but it seems I made a huge mistake. I've only seen the anime and never read the manga so I had no idea Nanao and Kyoraku were related—so I've changed Rangiku's plans—also I'd love a suggestion of someone she could set up Kyoraku with, just because he'd drive whoever it was crazy and that's always funny.

"I think we ought to make a shinigami wives club," Rangiku declared, setting a tray of snacks on the low table that took up nearly half of the room. She was using the second room of her tiny home to host Miyako and Hisana. The futons were stored in the closet, along with all the clothes except one of Toshiro's kimonos which had to hang on a rack against one wall to dry, as it was raining, again. There was also an overflowing box of toys in the corner. She would have liked to have blamed her son for the poor state of her housekeeping, but as her friends had already walked through the front room which was in a permanent state of chaos, she really didn't have any ground to stand on. The walls of the room were lined with shelves crammed with books, both Gin's ancient tomes, probably mostly permanently borrowed various libraries and collections, and the manga she herself had gotten hooked on during a trip to the World of the Living. Then there were all the human foods Gin habitually collected, boxes of chocolate, and cases of Coca-cola, and chewing gum, and anything else that struck his fancy at the time piled in the lower kitchen and entry as there was absolutely no other place for them. The was one cabinet full of cooking supplies that Rangiku had spent an hour trying to organize before giving it up as a poor job, and in what little space was left in the eight mat room Toshiro was spread across the floor with one of his father's books on kido, and Rangiku didn't dare ask him if he understood it because she was afraid of his answer.

Hisana tried to protest, "I'm not a shinigami."

"But you're married to one and that's the hard part," Rangiku told her.

"I don't think there are enough of us to make a club," Miyako said.

"There're at least a hundred, maybe two hundred. That's more than enough for a club," Rangiku argued.

"Well, they might be willing to make a club," Miyako said. "But they wouldn't want us in it."

"Why not?" Rangiku demanded.

"We're officers, and wives of officers," Miyako said. "I don't know how you haven't noticed this, Rangiku, but there are two different types of shinigami, officers and everyone else, and we just don't mix. I know you don't believe in that sort of thing, but I've tried to talk to other women, unranked women who've been married for years and have kids and everything. I feel like maybe I could learn something from them, but no one would give me anything more than a 'yes, ma'am' 'no ma'am' 'anything you say, ma'am'. It's just annoying, and I'll bet it would be even worse for Hisana-san. We're apparently very important people."

"Well, damn," Rangiku said. "I don't know how anyone could think I'm important. I still carry the stench of Rukongai. Just ask Captain Kuchiki-sorry, Hisana-chan, but it's true. Every time he comes into a room I'm in he sniffs like there's something unpleasant in the air."

Hisana looked embarrassed, but she couldn't argue. It was only too true. Byakuya was no longer outright hostile toward her for Hisana's sake. Rangiku had been only to right about the general reaction of the nobility to his wife, and while many ladies visited for the honor of being hosted by his wife, Hisana had not made any real friends among them. Rangiku and Miyako were the only real friends she had in Seireitei. So Byakuya wasn't even rude to Rangiku anymore, but he never quite let her forget that to him she was little better than the scum that clung to the bottom of a poorly cleaned bath. "I don't think he does it on purpose," was the best Hisana could manage.

Rangiku laughed. "I don't mind. I did my very best to get on his bad side. I really can't expect him to like me now-but if there aren't enough wives to make a club then I've got an even better idea for a club. We can be matchmakers and get a few of these boring old captains some romance in their lives."

"You're serious?" Miyako said, after a few moments staring at Rangiku as if she'd suggested they all shave their heads, strip down naked, and run through Seireitei singing a marching song.

"Why not?" Rangiku demanded. "It would be fun, and you know some of them actually deserve to have good women in their lives."

"And there are a few I'd never ask a woman to go within five miles of without a couple bodyguards," Miyako answered.

"Who?" Rangiku demanded.

"Captain Kurotsuchi," Hisana said breathlessly. She'd met the captain at a recent shinigami event and had turned into a trembling mess within moments of saying "good evening" to him. Byakuya had furiously demanded to know what the scientist has done to her, and the two had very nearly come to blows

Gin had started taking bets, and nearly everyone was disappointed when Unohana had calmed everything down. She had checked Hisana for any signs of poisoning, and in the end had reminded Byakuya that his wife was currently in a very delicate state. Rangiku, who'd already known that, had bet heavily on Byakuya.

"He doesn't count!" Rangiku said. "I'm not even sure he's a he and not an it."

"Rangiku!" Miyako said.

"I mean like Captain Ukitake," Rangiku said. "And my captain. I think they'd both be so much happier if they had families. It's the silliest of all prejudices, this assumption that women will distract them from their duty as shinigami, that somehow a married man could not possibly be as good for the Gotei as a single one. I personally think that our husbands are proof that that is absolutely not the case."

"It's how the General likes things," Miyako said. "And it's not a good idea messing with the way he wants things to be."

Rangiku waved her hand dismissively. "What's he going to do? He can't make falling in love against the rules. I'm going to start with Captain Ukitake. He always seems just a little bit lonely to me, and it's not like he doesn't have plenty of friends. I think he's just never found the perfect girl so I'm going to find her for him."

Miyako and Hisana exchanged worried looks. "That could go really badly, Rangiku. Don't you think if you're going to play with people's love lives you should start with someone a little tougher, like Captain Isshin?" Miyako suggested, uneasily.

"No," Rangiku said. "Ukitake is older so he gets to be first."

"What about Captain Kyoraku? He'd love to be set up with someone," Miyako suggested.

"It'll be tricky finding him someone he doesn't drive just as insane as he drives Nanao—why don't you want me to set your captain up with anyone? Don't you think he deserves someone?"

Miyako sighed. "Most people don't know this, but he was in love with someone once a long time ago, and they were going to get married, but something happened, and he was really hurt, and I don't want that to happen again."

Rangiku nodded. "I know. She was a member of Division Four, and when he got really sick she started treating him like a patient all the time, and in the end she decided she just didn't feel the same about him as she had before, but that was probably a good thing, because Ukitake didn't want a nurse; he wanted a wife, so it ended mutually. It's not the sort of tragedy that scars a person for life. It just happens sometimes; things don't work out. I really don't think he was hurt nearly as badly as people seem to think. He probably just thinks that women can't see him as anything more than an invalid so he doesn't try."

Miyako stared at her. "How do you know what happened? Even Kaien doesn't know what happened. All the captain ever told him was that he was engaged once but it didn't work out."

"I happen to be married to the biggest snoop in Seireitei," Rangiku answered, smiling proudly. "If I ever need to know anything I just ask Gin. It's very handy."

"Did you tell him you were thinking about playing matchmaker?" Miyako asked.

"Of course not. Either he'd refuse to tell me anything or he'd want to help, and he'd want to make the biggest mess he could possibly manage of the whole thing. He'd probably post a help wanted ad, 'Needed: Wives for Captains' or something ridiculous like that. I want to make people happy, not into entertainment for Gin."

Hisana smiled at that. "You do have a very kind heart, Rangiku."

"Maybe,' Miyako said, looking quite a bit more skeptical than Hisana. "Or maybe you like playing with people just as much as Gin does. You really should just mind your own business."

Rangiku shook her head. "I suppose that means you're not going to help me, Miya-chan?"

Toshiro was watching his father like a hawk, memorizing the movements of his hands and the simple words of the chant, but more than that he was watching how Gin's reiatsu and even surrounding reishi changed and responded to the chant. The power was there and shaped before Gin ever called out its name. "Hado 1–Sho."

Toshiro's eyes narrowed. It looked simple enough, but things never were quite as simple as his father made them look. The little boy took a deep breath and repeated the words, looking to Gin to confirm he had them right.

Gin smiled and nodded. "Go ahead," he said.

Toshiro raised his hands and concentrated on reiatsu as he spoke the words of the chant. He could tell before he had finished that he'd failed. He couldn't make his reiatsu work like that. He didn't even know how to begin.

But his father just smiled and said, "Try again."

For two hours he just stood there, trying again and again. Anytime he started to slow down, his father was there with some new, mocking comment. "Maybe this is too hard for the little boy." "Maybe it's time to take him home to Mommy." And every time Toshiro would pull together every ounce of his considerable determination and try again.

Then finally, finally it worked and a one small blast of kido knocked back a couple of stems of bamboo. Toshiro was too tired to do anything but let his arms fall to his sides.

"About time," Gin said, as though having a child barely old enough to read learn kido was nothing. "I was afraid we were going to be here all night. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

Toshiro said nothing as his father picked him up and shunpoed back to Seireitei.