Author's notes:
Been a long time. Sorry. Life happens. Hope you like this… XD
Beware of spoilers for that chapter with Hitsugaya's past!
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"So… "The guy in front of her started, playing with the obi wrapped around his mid-section nervously. "Is there a chance you'd go on a date? With me… tonight?"
"No."
Turning around swiftly, she proceeded down the hallway, suppressing the need to roll her eyes at that jerk's hundredth attempt to get her to go out with him. If he dared to ask her one more time, she'd help him to a date with a member of the fourth division.
Apart from that little annoyance, Matsumoto was feeling rather good this morning.
She had just returned from Rukongai, having picked up that little white-haired snotty-nosed brat who was carrying around an insanely huge chunk of reiatsu. She'd met him only two days ago and her women's intuition told her that having gotten him out of that ghetto, was a good deed she would someday benefit from!
Maybe some higher-ups would hear that it had been her doing and give her a reward! Less paperwork would be just fine…
Smiling gleefully, the well bestowed woman turned a corner and walked out of the tenth division building into the open, bowing slightly when the third seat passed her with a stupid grin covering the better half of his even more stupid looking face.
Seireitei was a good place to live.
After academy, she'd been immediately assigned the rank of the fifth seat of the tenth division and was confident to climb the ladder even further even though she'd joined the Gotei 13 only a month ago.
Her captain was a strange guy, never wearing his captain's robe, but rather having it tied around his arm. He always wore a smile and apart from his mannerisms concerning true love (he'd go on and on about that for hours if one actually dared to bring up the topic and Kyoraku-taichou and he could often enough be seen in the bars swooning over their idiotic images of the perfect woman), he was a trustworthy man.
Right now, she was on her way to deliver some letters from her captain to the captain of the fifth division.
Aizen-taichou was said to be a pleasant person. Always nice to his subordinates and actually the total opposite to the captains of the 11th and 12th divisions (which couldn't be too difficult, anyway).
She hadn't met him in person until now and was slightly nervous, considering she was about to face one of the 13 captains! If she did well, she could leave a good impression, though she'd be feeling strange if another captain would possibly count to her drinking buddies (her captain and Kyoraku-taichou were such hoodlums sometimes and she hated dealing with Ise Nanao when it came to her drunk CO!).
Jumping onto the next roof, she did a few shunpos and soon found herself in front of the fifth division sleeping quarters.
In the wildly growing grapevine of gossiping shinigami she'd actually heard some rumors concerning the 5th.
Their old captain had died along with several other taichous and fukutaichous in an accident kept secret by the soutaichou himself, but it was said, that the former leader of the 12th division and the research facilities had had his hands in the incident.
About the current fukutaichou, she knew little to nothing.
A strange guy with a creepy smile (and a body to die for), she'd heard once, but she hadn't been interested in any details back then, having had enough to do with getting along with her fellow colleagues in her own division. Matsumoto had yet to find the time to get familiar with each and every seated officer.
Maybe she'd leave her drinking buddies Shuhei and Iba-san alone tonight and do some researching…
A group of snickering women passed by without as much as noticing her, but Matsumoto didn't particular care about being stopped by every shinigami who happened to notice her fifth rank.
Looking up, her blue eyes settled on the broad emblem with the kanji for five on the wall of the division's headquarters. Inside were the offices of the seats below two and behind the building, the private office of the taichou and fukutaichou were situated.
Taking a deep breath, she walked past the building, heading straight towards the private office where she was to deliver the letters personally signed by her taichou to either directly Aizen-taichou or his 2IC.
Kneeling down, Matsumoto knocked on the frame of the sliding door and bowed low.
Frowning, she suddenly felt a strangely familiar reiatsu advancing towards her from the other side of the door.
Someone fumbled for the frame of the sliding door and in the next second, she was staring at the pure white tabi socks of her opponent.
Imprints of sandals leading away from her…
The gentle energy she had been looking for for so many lonely years engulfed her in a warm soothing embrace and her orbs closed reflexively. The energy signature changed so abruptly that she had to blink in surprise. It had retreated from her as if washed away by the wind and she could instead feel the oppressive silence hovering around the pair.
A picture of a smiling boy and she felt the first tears prickling at the back of her eyes.
I couldn't be…
"F-fifth seat of the tenth division, Matsumoto Rangiku, reporting in the name of the captain of the tenth division, Ku-"
"Rangiku?"
Taking a shuddering breath, Matsumoto lifted her head and stared up at the obviously shocked face of Ichimaru Gin.
The letters fell out of her shaking grasp and a thick lump rose in her constricting throat. 'Don't cry.' She told herself, feeling for the securing presence of Haineko.
They stared at each other for what seemed like years, her body absorbing every ounce of reiatsu evaporating from his being as if she had finally found water on a voyage through a vast desert.
"Ran… when… why…"
'Why?'
She had asked herself that simple question so many times that she felt like crumpling right then. Ever since he had left her alone that night. Every time a bill of neatly folded money was lying beside her head at the end of the month, a familiar warmth still clinging to them.
She had asked herself 'why' after she had found out about her zanpakutou. About his zanpakutou. When she had moved to a better district close to the walls of Seireitei with the money of the stranger.
Why had she been alone?
"Gin…"
"Gin. Won't you allow her to stand up already?"
The gentle, slightly bemused voice of a man interrupted her and with a startled frown, Matsumoto suddenly realized that the captain of the fifth division was standing right behind his 2IC, arms folded in front of his broad chest.
With his lean figure and lost frown, Gin looked so much younger and inexperienced than his captain, but with Aizen-taichou's words, his demeanor changed as well.
"Ah, sorry, sorry, Rangiku-chan. I was kinda surprised ta find sucha beautiful birdie sittin' on this dull grounds."
Something inside of her tore apart with such force, that she couldn't speak for another few seconds.
What had happened?
"Ya surely came ta gimme those letters, ne?" His voice was still the same with that melody she had found so strange when they had first met, but had come to love over the time and longed for later when she walked the path alone. It had become deeper with the years that had passed, though a strange undertone implying playfulness was flowing from his lips, as if he was humoring her.
And that fake smile.
Where had Gin gone?
"Yes, Ichimaru-fukutaichou. I am deeply sorry for losing focus and needing more of your precious time than necessary." With that she picked up the almost forgotten letters, got up from the wooden planks and bowed slightly in front of the two tall men.
Handing over the letters, she tried not to notice their fingers touching and inhaled his subtle scent.
"If there is nothing you need from me, I will take my leave now. I hope to meet you again in the future, Aizen-taichou, Ichimaru-fukutaichou."
Bowing once more, she turned on her heels and walked down the alleyway stiffly, feeling his eyes upon her back until she rounded the next best corner she could find.
After a few minutes she came to a halt somewhere at the beginning of the fifth division's sleeping quarters. Looking around she found herself standing alone in the street, hands trembling as her heart thrummed a relentless rhythm against her ribcage.
She had found him. After all those years of searching and yearning, she had found him here in Seireitei; fukutaichou of the fifth division.
Why was she still feeling so lost and lonely?
Her shaking hands balled into fists as Matsumoto felt anger bubbling dangerously inside her stomach, hot tears springing to her eyes for a reason she had yet to understand.
"Damn idiot…"
"Ran."
Startled, Matsumoto's head shot up. He was right behind her, having appeared seemingly out of the nowhere. Mere inches parted them, the warmth of his lean body so close that it reminded her once again of all the reasons why she had been looking for him, never giving up, never faltering in her steps.
She didn't turn around. Whether because she was ashamed of the brimming tears blurring her vision or because she was afraid he would disappear again, Rangiku couldn't tell.
"Forgive me."
The impact of those words made her shudder.
"I couldn't come back ta save ya." There was a long pause, but there was no other sound except for the gentle whisper of the wind. Or was it his breath tickling the nape of her neck?
"Ran… I wish I'd been able ta see ya smile only one more time… Please… Stay away from me."
He was gone before the last syllable had left his lips, making Matsumoto wonder whether it had all been a dream after all. The reiatsu vanished as a gust of wind engulfed her, leaving behind another painful memory.
"Idiot." A tear cascaded down her cheek as she bit her lip hard. "I'm always the one being left behind."
Walking back towards her quarters, she forgave him yet again.
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FINIS!?
Another chapter? Dunno, yet…