Gin stepped through Aizen's Senkaimon into Soul Society and drew in a deep breath. "It's good to be back," he declared, smiling at Tosen's always serious expression. "Have you noticed how the World of the Living's really started to smell?"

Tosen did not even answer him. Instead he turned to Aizen as he stepped through the gate. "Was the arrancar's progress as you had hoped?" he asked.

"Disappointing if you ask me," Gin said, as he pulled off the reiatsu suppressing cloak. "All this time, and they still can't take out a captain at a tenth of his power."

"Don't underestimate my arrancar," Aizen said, softly. "Once we locate the hogyoku the real experiment will begin. There's every possibility that it will enable me to create arrancar a hundred times more powerful than the playthings I have created thus far. It is a unique and extraordinary substance; its power only limited by the strength of its wielder."

Gin grinned hugely. "Sounds like fun." Then his smile faded abruptly. "Damn, is that dawn? I hate the time distortion in the INBETWEEN SPACE. Any idea how long we've been gone?"

Light was beginning to grow in the eastern sky, a tinge of yellow against the velvet blue.

"Seventeen hours," Aizen told him. "You'd better hurry home. You're going to be late."

"Course I am. Always told her she should've married a better man than me," he smiled again, and said, "Bye-bye," before vanishing abruptly.

Gin stepped into the room and smiled at the peaceful picture of Rangiku resting against a pile of pillows, her golden hair tumbling down like a halo around her. Toshiro was curled next her on one side, holding her hand even in his sleep. On her other side, sleeping in the circle of her arm, was a tiny bundle with a little pink face and a crown of smooshed yellow curls.

Rangiku opened her eyes slowly. She looked tired but content, and she smiled slowly. "I can't believe you went to work," she said softly.

"Toshiro took all night," he said, knowing it was a weak argument. He'd told her he was going to check out rumors of an unusual hollow in West Rukongai nearly eighteen hours ago. Unohana had even tried to stop him, telling him she thought this birth would be faster than the last, but he had ignored her warning. No, he'd gone because Aizen asked, and there was no other choice. But there was no defending it; he was an awful husband.

But Rangiku wasn't even annoyed with him. She smiled hugely and asked, "Did you get your hollow?"

He shook his head. "No luck."

"Then why don't you come say hello to your new son?"

Gin crossed the room and sat down on the tatami beside the crowded futon. He smiled at the golden-haired infant. He looked so normal. He had none of Toshiro's strange coloring; he was the splotchy pink of a proper new baby, and he had almost no reiatsu at all, just enough not to be mistaken for someone else's baby.

"Seems pretty good," Gin said, touching one of the baby's cheeks. It was a perfectly normal temperature. "What are we calling him?"

"Pretty good? I'll have you know I spent nine months working on this little guy," Rangiku declared in a fake defensive tone.

"He's perfect, Ran," Gin said. "Absolutely beautiful."

She smiled hugely. "I know. I did everything right this time, didn't I?"

"The first one turned out pretty good too."

"I know that! Shiro-chan's perfect and Kin-chan's perfect. We have an absolutely perfect family!"

"Kin-chan?"

"Kinta, because of his gold hair. Don't you think it's perfect?"

"Yes, Ran, it is. Everything is perfect," Gin answered, and he meant it. If he could somehow have made this image of his life reality he would have. If he could simply have erased all the lies and schemes and games he would have, but that wasn't a chance anyone got. And even with all the darkness that was constantly creeping around the edges of his life, he really was happier than he'd ever expected he could be.