Author's rambling:
Sumimasen!! Has been some time since I last updated, but I had quite a lot to do. Hope you'll enjoy this chapter!
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Sometimes he wondered.
Why was he here again?
How had he died in the real world?
Did that ominous world actually exist?
They were all like shooting stars. They appeared with a bright light and without a defined course, with no aim. Disappearing into nothingness with no-one having taken notice of its existence.
He would look at the sky – no matter the hour, no matter the weather- and frown at nothing in particular.
Had he been born into a caring family? Been embraced in warm, secure arms? Been loved by a mother?
For the sake of it, he couldn't remember. Sometimes he thought he could see a pair of blue eyes when he closed his own and concentrated hard enough, but that was probably more his imagination than reality.
What he did remember, was a time, when he had just gotten the nag of playing cards in one of the many dilapidated gambling shacks. He had been able to win some money; not enough to survive, but he had been intent on getting better.
He had been aware of the danger. Desperate men surrounded him, ready to kill for a crumb of dry bread, but he hadn't been any better. A stray dog that had been abandoned by the world, eyes hollow with the knowledge that he had been left alone.
"Number?"
The dark voice of the man in front of him had pulled him out of his musing.
"What?" He had asked back in hope the man would explain the rules of the game he had never played before until then.
"The dices! Say a fuckin' numba or get da hell outta here, brat!"
A number? Staring at the box where four dices –two blue and two brown- were resting concealed in the dark, he had started to doubt his luck once more.
"Patience's runnin' thin, kid!" The man had growled dangerously and the men around him –their bets all been placed already- had started to mumble abuses and threats. "Any lucky numbas? Random, system or date of birth?"
Date of birth?
"10 and 9." Was all he had replied, having ignored the nerved sigh from the bulky man.
A shocked gasp and then swearing. The men around him had all lost and with a disbelieving look, he had stared at the two pairs of rectangular pieces of wood.
"Ya win, shrimp… now get da hell outta my sight!"
With a hand full of money, he had left.
10, 9.
The date of the morning he had found himself in Soul Society.
His birthday.
Sighing, Gin pried his eyes away from the blue sky and instead stared at his short sword where it was lying in his lap, the s-shaped cross guard glimmering in the light of the fading sun.
Scratching the back of his head, he got up from where he had been sitting on the hard ground in front of the shack, picked up the katana and dusted off his behind with his free hand. He could smell something edible nearby and knew that Rangiku was almost finished with the preparations for their meager meal.
Entering their home, he slipped out of his sandals and knelt down beside the young girl.
She was crushing herbs in a mortar, her gaze so intently fixed on the task at hand, that Gin had to smile to himself.
There weren't any cakes around, but her cooking was just fine with him.
"Hey..." He suddenly asked, gnawing at the inside of his cheek as he watched her out of the corner of his eyes. "When's yer birthday, Rangiku?"
He was curious. The two of them had teamed up almost a year ago, but still, there was so much they didn't know about each other. The only thing he knew was that he felt content around her… maybe even happy…
"I don't know." She replied after a short moment, turning away from him with a sad look. "Until I've met you, such things have held no meaning to me." The girl continued, fidgeting nervously with the mortar as she felt his gaze on her.
Making a befuddled face, brows high on his forehead, he suddenly felt bad for having brought up the topic at all. She was obviously feeling uncomfortable and he had been the reason for her ruined mood.
Gin wanted to make her feel better.
"So then yer birthday's gonna be on the date we've met the first time." He declared with a slight smile, totally content with his solution.
He watched as her eyes shoot up from the floor, emotions ranging from hope to surprise and incredulity intermingling.
"So?" He asked, head cocked to one side. "Good thing, ne, Rangiku?"
The corners of her mouth turned up into the ghost of a smile.
"Yes. September 29th is just fine."
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FINIS?!
My go and that scene and finally back to the fact we know out of Kubo-sensei's manga.
Next part in progress, which'll get us back to my version of past events XD