Author's rambling:

Thanks for the reviews guys! I appreciate your opinion a great deal and hope you'll be happy with this part as well.

Now r&r!

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The two children were sitting beside each other with their backs against the rough wooden wall, enough space between them to allow another three kids their size to join their merry, silent gathering.

The girl had her legs drawn close to her flat chest, her chin resting on her scraped knees, as she stubbornly stared ahead at the small fireplace, the last clouds of grey smoke rising from the extinguished coals.

"So…" Gin had never been good at starting conversations.

Having lived in a world like Rukongai did that to one's social abilities and after a while, the only words that would sometimes leave one's mouth were curses, abuses and screams of pain. He had given up on the latter after his second broken hand and the umpteenth broken rib.

The girl eyed the still figure sitting somewhere in her peripheral vision carefully, feeling new anger bubbling dangerously in her stomach.

The two of them had only recently found out about each other's existence and had been together (in not so close proximity…) ever since, having found a shack at the edge of the district behind a tree line. It was the closest she had come to calling any kind of accommodation (ranging between a simple bed made of branches to a shack that had formally been a toilette) a safe place. Well, relatively safe…

Why they stuck together? Even after several nights of contemplating and grumbling, she hadn't come up with one single explanation so far. It was just that… he was different.

"Uhm… " Gin tried again, either totally oblivious to the glare the girl was directing at him, or plainly ignoring it. His lips parted and closed rhythmically as he thought hard about his options. What could he possibly say to a near-stranger, that was, to cap it all, angry with him for… why was she actually angry with him?

"Why're ya angry, Rangiku?"

It was still strange to hear him mutter her name in a way that sounded almost as if they had known each other for a very long time. Too familiar. His voice implied that he knew her. But no one knew her. No one… She shook off the feeling with a motion of her head and straightened visibly, sitting cross legged as she stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"You could have died, you moron!"

Eyebrows rising to unknown heights in bewilderment, Gin watched her perplexed as her jaw muscles clenched and unclenched. His mouth formed an "Oh", but no sound left his lips for a rather long second.

"I… what?" He really had no clue. Which moment exactly was she referring to anyway? When he had stolen the meat yesterday? Or when he had had to swim across the river this morning to escape that masked monster?

"Never go into one of those gambling shacks again!"

Oh. That one.

He got up with a sigh, silvery hair falling across his eyes as he made his way to the smoking fireplace. With a stick he poked the gleaming coals absently, his already dirty hands turning even grayer with the dust.

"But I won us some money, Rangi-"

His eyes caught sight of her tired face, streaks of dirt coloring her cheeks and forehead blackish and a long gash from the time before they had met ran down from her left eye to the corner of her mouth. Her tired orbs stared back at him and for the first time in, well, ever since he could remember, Gin felt bad for having caused someone to worry about him.

The stick was forgotten momentarily.

"I'd rather get nothing to eat, than watch you getting killed by those monsters." She pressed out and with an air of finality, she got up, tied her golden red hair into a bun and walked out of their 'home' into the cool afternoon. Her poorly sewn yukata barely reached above her knees and Gin felt a tightening feeling in his guts as he remembered a picture of a girl he had seen with one of those men earlier.

What was it with him and that girl, Rangiku?

He listened to her retreating feet for another while until he could barely feel her reiatsu anymore. She had never gone far enough away from him for his senses to loose grip on her energy pattern.

Sighing, he let himself fall back on his hunches and stared at his dirty, skinny hands.

"I s'pose it's way easier to sell my soul than yers…"

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FINIS?!

Thanks for reading so far!

I've already planned the next few chapters and lets just say… hmm… I'd love to see that in the manga! Ikorose, shinsou!