Author's notes:
Frigging goodness, I've finally gotten my Gin cosplay. I'm in Hueco Mundo. Oh, and my sister got a heavenly cosplay, uhm, I meant an Aizen one X3 Now we are the evil duo o…
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A long slender finger slid across the smooth black surface of the control panel seemingly aimlessly, the reflection of the pale hand following in its wake. A small inaudible sigh escaped Gin's lips as he rested his chin in the open palm of his other hand, staring at the screen hovering in midair.
If anybody had told him beforehand that Hueco Mundo was that boring, he'd have brought… stuff along. Some books maybe or someone he could actually talk to who wasn't a totally wacko espada, a sucker for ultimate justice or a power monger with a full-blown God-complex.
He could spontaneously name at least a dozen people without a second thought.
The finger made a U-turn on the black surface, lazy gaze staring at the slightly transparent screen right in front of his face.
Gin was bored. Out of his skull. And he had nothing productive to do. Which meant he had a lot of unoccupied time at hand. And that equaled thinking.
And that was a bad thing. His mind was a taboo zone lately. Well, lately being exactly the moment he had stepped through the garganta and into the hollow world.
The eerie, obnoxious voice of his black and white twin double snickered contently.
It had always been there, mind you. There hadn't been one day ever since it had suddenly appeared in his head back in Rukon that it hadn't tried to gain control, drop unnecessary comments, curse him, yell at him, provoke him to fight.
And if it had kept silent, Gin had been cautious. What was it planning? Attacking in an unguarded moment? Killing shinsou completely? Collecting strength? Plots, schemes, conspiracies.
Chuckling humorlessly, Gin found the mental picture of a black and white Aizen unbelievably fitting. That man was truly their king. Sitting on his throne in all his glory and seeing down on them, using their lives like chess figures. A hollow king if there had ever been one.
God bless Tosen couldn't read minds or that clown would be having seizures by now. No one dared and talked bad about his beloved knight of justice and if he found out Gin had been thinking about such blasphemy , he'd be having a field day rambling on and on about justice this and least bloodshed that.
His twin grinned widely, the spot of compressed darkness expanding within his consciousness. Gin had gotten used to it somewhat, even though the hollow energy surrounding him like a second skin and all those freaking espada and arrancar in his close proximity were somehow functioning as a booster for that damn grinning reflection in his mind. It came out more often and resting and sleeping had by now become a gauntlet run.
It had actually started already around the time Aizen had decided to put his evil plan into motion and had killed the 46.
It had been extremely exhausting.
Gin do this, Ichimaru-taichou do that. Helping Aizen with his plan, being the evil guy in public, holding up the farce, playing the 46 every few days, doing the normal chores of a captain. Secret meetings with his heavenliness, official gatherings with the captains of the Gotei 13.
Add sleep deprivation, hunger and irritation and you get a ready to explode, slightly wrecked mind. And his alter ego was there, looming in the blackness, stalking him, greedily awaiting his chance to stab him from behind and take over.
It was too damn easy to let control slip out of your grasp for a second, especially when you were fighting a life or death battle with the shrimp captain. And that hollow inside him was only too happy to oblige.
Gnawing on his lower lip (an very uncharacteristic trait, only very few people knew about), Gin eyed the screen and then the black control panel, his index finger gliding across the surface and drawing an imaginary 'p'.
Fighting the child prodigy had been quite intense and tiring, the murderous intent having evaporated from the short captain in very lively spurts of crimson energy. How that much hatred could come out of such a small body was still an amusing mystery to Gin. He still felt slightly proud Kira had been able to keep up with their combined amount of reiatsu back then and hadn't collapsed straight away.
Unfortunately, that day had been somewhat the climax of exhaustion and Gin hadn't been too fond of the prospect of losing against the angry kid (Aizen would have never allowed him to live it down) and that dark voice had been oh so tempting.
"Let go."
So he had.
Gin could have easily killed Hitsugaya back then. The captain of the tenth division would have had not the slightest hint of a chance against him, but with the hollow unleashing its power, the thought of playing dirty had gained a much more appealing quality.
Momo-chan had been an easy enough target.
With love involved, conviction degenerates to desperation and mankind turns into a clump of helpless madness.
Gin could still hear his own voice yelling at his clouding mind to stop, even while shinsou's blade extended with unbelievable speed towards Hinamori's unconscious form. And then she had been there.
Haineko cracking as she saved him.
The grip around shinsou's hilt had tightened, the inner battle raging as Gin fought to gain the upper hand and banish the other him back into the black spot.
"Please lower your sword, Ichimaru-taichou." It had hurt to hear her slightly shaking voice. It had hurt to see the desperate plea in her eyes.
"If not, I will be your opponent."
He would never hurt her. Never. Never.
The conviction of that knowledge shining in her orbs had made him feel vertiginous.
It had been that moment that he had remembered the reason why he was walking that path. The hollow wouldn't stay silent forever and as long as Rangiku's life was endangered by his existence, then nothing held any meaning and everything did.
She was the sole reason for what he had been doing all those decades. Working, training, submitting, crawling.
Gin would conquer the darkness and protect her from himself. And if it meant following Aizen and gaining the King's Key, then he would cross the river of blood. Because protecting her was all he wanted to do. All he could do.
The lazy finger drew an 'o' onto the black panel and Gin looked back at the hovering screen with spiked interest.
The until then extremely patient figure he had been following for some ten minutes now, had stopped deathly still in front of a door and the reiatsu sensors in that corridor suddenly showed extreme activity (they wouldn't have been necessary, because the sudden increase of killing intent was palpable through the thickest walls).
Grinning widely, Gin sat closer to the screen, suppressing a snicker when the figure pulled out his sword with such ferocity, that the pillar to his left exploded just like the wielder did then.
"ICHIMARUUUU!!!!" If Grimmjow put any more anger into his voice, even Aizen would shudder in fear.
"Come out!! I'm gonna rip that fuckin' grin outta your mug, you bastard!!"
Chuckling openly, the silver haired ex-shinigami pressed a button on the panel and watched as another corridor opened up beside the door, the espada storming through the entrance and yelling extremely colorful abuses and threats at his non-caring surroundings.
Right on cue, the reiatsu of an all too familiar blind guy came closer, Gin heaving a heavy sigh at what was sure to come.
How he loved the corridor manipulation system! With no sane being around to talk to, it was practically the only free time activity he had. This had also caused most espada to absolutely distaste him and Gin could name a few who would love nothing more but to kill him.
Oh, and there came another potential back-stabber.
Smiling widely, the tall man turned around in his chair and watched Tosen enter the control room with a face that spoke volumes.
"Came ta talk 'bout ole times, Tosen-san?" He asked in a honeyed voice.
Gin really regretted having not had such a cool device back in Soul Society. He would have had field days playing with the corridors of the Kuchiki manor and only the thought of Byakuya-niisama losing his aristocratic cool was enough to bring an even brighter smile to his lips.
"I do not know why Aizen-sama tolerates your mere existence." Oh, here it came. "But be assured, I shall show you justice one day."
Gin waved his unoccupied hand at his 'comrade', his eyes already straying back to the screen where Ulquiorra was staring expressionless at a door that did no longer lead to his quarters.
"I'll be sure to listen, Tosen-san."
The temperature dropped a few degrees and the other man turned on his heels and vanished again.
Now honestly.
Why had nobody warned him? He could have brought magazines.
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FINIS?!
Another chapter.
Review anyone?