Rangiku had eyes in every part of the city. No one would ever admit it, but prostitutes made the best spies – they had access to men from every level of society. She found no shame in using her assets to her best advantage – she now serviced every teacher at the Academy at least once every two weeks. She felt it was her duty to keep a watch on the disappearances.
She knew every time Gin picked a new one – and soon after they were picked, she would try to warn them. But she was a woman, and for that her words held no meaning.
She only hoped that his new little blondie would be more open. He wasn't yet entirely in Gin's grasp – it might be early enough to save him.
So one day, after classes, when she was sure that that man wouldn't be there, she waited for him in the shade of the eaves.
"Kira Izuru, may I have a word with you?"
Kira frowned, but had become accustomed to odd happenings, and stepped over to see what she wanted.
"I have a meeting to attend, so please make it brief."
"With Gin, right? That's why I'm here."
Izuru stiffened.
"How do you know about Ichimaru-san and my meeting?"
"You'n him? It's an open secret. Listen, Izuru, that man's bad news. Get out while you still can. I'm Rangiku, by the way," she added as an afterthought.
This woman's informality with him – calling both Izuru and Gin by their first names without prelude – made Kira uncomfortable, in a way that reminded him too much of Gin. He paused.
"Then why is it that you are such good friends with him, Rangiku-san?"
She paused, taken aback, before slowly smiling.
"You're a smart one, aren't you? What tipped you off?"
"You both have a very similar way of invading a person's personal space."
She laughed.
"Guess we do, don't we. Gin and I go way back." She sobered. "That's why I can tell you to be careful around him. I seriously doubt it's a legal assistant he's after."
Kira blinked.
"Then what is he looking for?" For the first time, a bit of nervousness slipped into his voice. Unsurety. And for the first time, she saw exactly what it was that Gin wanted.
She sighed.
"Nevermind, kid. You'll see sooner than you think." A pause. "What do you say the two of us go out and have some drinks tonight?"
"Only if you pay."
She laughed again, and slapped his back in a way that made it obvious she had grown up around men.
"I like you already, kid."
---
A few nights later, Gin was back at Matsumoto's brothel.
"Hey, Ran-chan," he said as he plopped lazily onto a cushion in the corner of her room. Rangiku looked up from her book – the Tales of Genji – shut it, and sat up. Not one to dance around an issue – Gin's exact opposite in that regard – she wasted no time.
"Gin, I met your latest plaything a few days ago. Izuru."
There was a silence, and neither looked at the other.
"He's a good kid. What do you want with him?"
There was another pause.
"Izuru-chan? I don' want anythin' from 'im."
"Nothing he doesn't want himself, right?"
"Nah, I have no plans for'm. I really like the kid, believe me or not."
Rangiku sighed.
"So he's to be yours, then? A personal prize?"
"He's a challenge, Ran-chan. Has a mind of 'is own, this'n. Not needy." He grinned. "But I think that when he falls, he's gonna fall hard."
It wasn't apparent whether he was referring to falling in love or falling from power.
Rangiku frowned.
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of." She paused.
"Don't hurt that boy. He doesn't deserve it."
"Don' worry. I'll be gentle." He paused. "I think he's gonna be a keeper."
Rangiku smiled slightly, mildly relieved. She put her book on the table, then slowly removed her haori.
"You come here for a reason, then?"
---
"So. Ran-chan tells me you two've met."
Kira flushed slightly, unable to tell if Gin was unhappy or not.
"Yes, we have. She is an interesting woman. We had a drink together."
"Maa, you didn't invite me, Izuru-chan?" Despite his informality, he never complained when Kira called him "Ichimaru-san."
"I'm sorry, should I have?" Ichimaru's presence in Kira's life had begun bringing out the boy's innate desire to please, a trait almost forgotten under his bravado.
Gin put on a rather convincing frown.
"D'you not like my company, then? Izzat it?"
Izuru flushed.
"That's not it at all. I… well, Rangiku-san invited me and I accepted."
"Invite me nex' time, then?"
"…Alright."
Gin's smile returned. Slowly but surely, he took control of the boy's life.
---
Gin rarely visited Aizen's office, but on the few occasions he was summoned, he knew it would be important.
"You wanted me, Aizen-taichou?" He knelt in front of Aizen's low desk, watching a young, dark-haired woman come in with tea.
"Yes. I wanted you to meet my new girl, Hinamori Momo-kun. She is to replace you, when you are promoted."
This was the first Gin had heard of any promotion.
"Aww, do I gotta leave ya?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, one of our captains recently, and with little notice, departed his post. We require a man to fill his position."
The girl left the tea on the desk, bowed to Aizen, and left as quietly as she had come.
"Unfortunate. Yeah." Gin grinned, and changed the subject. "Sure got an obedient one, ne?"
Aizen smiled darkly.
"Yes. She is enamored with me, and as such I find her to be particularly useful."
Gin's eyes glinted.
"They always are, aren't they?"
---
"Izuru-chan, I have a proposal for ya. Wanna join the government? Workin' under me, o'course."
Kira looked up from his schoolwork, hope radiating from his face.
"Really? Could I really, Ichimaru-san?"
"'course. Thataway your school wouldn' be takin' all our time, huh? And it's Ichimaru-taichou now, actually."
The boy smiled, glowing.
"It would be an honor, Ichimaru-taichou."
Gin saw a mark of progress in how substantially Izuru's response differed from the last time he had given the boy an honor.
---
Occasionally, Gin would bring Kira along on his outings with Matsumoto.
She was glad to see that Ichimaru cared for the boy on at least some level, but the boy's growing acquiescence worried her some.
In everything he did, he had started looking to Gin for approval, for reassurance. He smiled less and blushed more. It had only been worse since he had been given a job to work under Gin.
She realized that the process was complete when he began to walk two steps behind his Ichimaru-taichou rather than beside.
---
Gin knew his boy was ready – perfectly dependent, now. He needed Gin like he needed air. Time apart from his captain was like a punishment. He cast down his eyes when anyone but Gin spoke to him, and walked in a subordinate's place rather than an equal's.
But most importantly, Gin saw the unguarded adoring looks that Izuru gave him when he thought his captain wasn't looking.
The boy's blind loyalty thrilled him. He would learn whatever his captain had to teach, and he would teach his Izuru about love.
Kira would soon learn that there could be no love without pain.
---
Three weeks later, Hinamori Momo was found dead, naked, with a stab wound in her chest, and "Death to the Patriot Swine" carved in poor hiragana on her forehead. Upon closer examination, some of the blood could be seen to come from small cuts all the way up and down her small body. The fact that they had bled meant that she had been alive at the time.
Aizen Sousuke cried at her funeral, but Gin refused to attend. He was, after all, incapable of tears.
A hundred miles away, a boy called Hitsugaya Toshirou grasped her last letter, livid with an uncontrollable rage.
---
After the incident with the murder of that poor girl downtown, Rangiku had begun to keep a watch on as much of the city as she could without sleeping with every man in Tokyo. Gin insisted that he had had nothing to do with the child's death, and it didn't seem a lie, but she was still suspicious.
So, when she heard of a young sword corps officer asking around in the lower quarters about Ichimaru Gin, she couldn't help but get involved.
They met, thanks to one of her informants, in front of the university. He was younger than she had expected, maybe seventeen or eighteen, with a shock of pure white hair that didn't quite fit in his uniform cap, and a look on his face that spoke of murder.
"I'm Lieutenant Hitsugaya Toshirou. A man I met said you had information for me?"
"Matsumoto Rangiku. A pleasure. And that depends on what kind of info you're looking for, and why."
He paused, collecting himself.
"Right. I need any information you can give me about Ichimaru Gin."
Rangiku raised an eyebrow.
"He wears red fundoshi, his favorite flavor of mochi is cucumber, and he likes to play with string and skip work." She smirked. "Gotta be more specific, Shirou-chan."
Suddenly his fists balled, and anger erupted in his face. His eyes made it clear that he was playing no games.
"The only one allowed to call me that is Momo, and she is dead, probably killed by this man you're trying to protect. If you have information for me, I want to hear it. If not, do us both a favor and leave before I lose control of my temper."
Rangiku sobered instantly.
"What would you say to getting a drink with me?"
---
Matsumoto downed her first cup of sake almost the second they sat. She turned to look at Toshirou, who was determinedly looking anywhere but her breasts, and decided that this kid might be worth risking something for.
"I could be wrong, but I don't think Gin's the one you're looking for." She watched him intently after setting down her cup.
"What makes you say that?"
It was clear that Hitsugaya did not trust her. She didn't blame him – she had personal knowledge of the man who he thought had killed his… friend? She smiled a little, sadly, realizing that the girl he cared so much for must have been a lover. How quickly a perfect life could be disrupted.
"I dunno. A hunch, let's call it. What makes you so quick to condemn him? You've obviously never even met the man."
He pulled out a crumpled, much-read letter.
"Momo wrote me regularly. She was working in secret for the government, so I don't know where to start asking – the one thing she did say was that a man named Ichimaru Gin occasionally visited the office where she worked. He scared her, enough to write about it. She was not easily frightened."
Matsumoto sighed, cursing Gin's quirks and his tendency to smile all the time like he had something to hide. She knew he did, dammit, but that sort of thing was what got people convicted for crimes they never committed.
"He has that effect on people he doesn't care to impress." She paused. "Momo was your girl, wasn't she?"
He bit his lip discreetly.
"Never officially… When she came back, though, I was going to…"
He caught his breath and changed the topic.
"At any rate, how do you know so much about this Ichimaru guy?" he asked suspiciously.
"Gin and I go way back. He saved my life once, took me in when I was starving. Treated me like a real human being instead of just a kid. Just a woman."
Her meaning was clear – the man had a heart. She took a sip of her newly refilled sake cup.
"I don't think he could have killed her in cold blood," she said quietly.
But she had seen the kinds of marks the girl was left with before, on Kira. The thought made her shiver.
Hitsugaya watched her, ready for any sign of a lie, and found none. He cleared his throat to break the silence.
"That leaves me with nowhere to start looking." He cast his eyes down, disappointed.
She sat straight suddenly, and downed the rest of her cup.
"I'll help you out then, kid. We'd make a perfect team – my boobs are too big for anyone to take me seriously, and you're just too young. Maybe together we can get something done."
Toshirou couldn't help but smile at that. They had no hope. None at all.
---
The next day, they met up again. Matsumoto knew that Gin, and maybe Kira, would be visiting that day, and she thought she'd start by asking some questions.
Hitsugaya looked around the street awkwardly, trying conspicuously not to be noticed in his civilian garb. Matsumoto grinned and grabbed his hand energetically.
"You're my boyfriend if anyone asks, 'kay?" She winked at him playfully as he blushed. The young ones were so much fun to play with.
He refused to grace that with an answer.
She bounced off down the street dragging a sullen Toshirou behind her, in the direction of her brothel, perfectly aware that moving like that accentuated the advantage of her breasts. That only made her laugh.
When they arrived, she found Gin squatting on a rock, lecturing a bemusedly smiling Kira about the wonders of spinning tops.
"Hey, Gin, Izuru."
"Heya Ran-chan." He stared suspiciously at Toshirou, who kicked the dirt awkwardly. "Who'zat?"
"This's Toshirou. He's my new boyfriend. Cute, huh? This's Gin, sweetie, and the pretty blonde is Izuru. Say hello."
"A pleasure to meet you," Hitsugaya grumbled, unhappy with the general situation, and with having to bandy words with the man who might have killed Momo.
Gin's smile didn't leave, but he sensed a lie.
"Nice t' meetcha, Toshirou. I hope you'n my Ran-chan are havin' fun."
Rangiku sensed something very similar to aggression emanating from them both, and decided that the time was ripe for a subject change.
"Yes, yes we are. Very much." She smiled brightly, but Toshirou spoke before she could continue.
"I heard about that girl from the secret operations department. That must be something of an embarrassment to your division. It's your job to prevent tragedies like this. Did you know the girl?" he asked in a very hostile and pointed sort of way.
Rangiku sighed. That was hardly the way to begin a polite conversation. There was nothing she could do about oncoming calamity now. She should have warned him beforehand not to speak, dammit.
"Saw her once or twice. Seemed like a good kid." The hostility intensified.
"Know who did that to her?"
"Nope."
"Any idea who'd know?"
"Secret operations tends to keep their operations, y'know, secret."
The feeling intensified until poor Izuru looked like he might faint, and Matsumoto knew that she had to step in.
"Sorry for the interrogation. Toshirou's a junior reporter, and hopes that this story might be his big break."
Gin fired her with a look that said he knew she was lying, but she refused to break face. She had no illusions about whether or not he would believe her, or even how much time that ploy would buy. It might save Toshirou, but now it was her head on the chopping block.
"Rangiku, wouldja mind comin' inside with me for a minute?" When he used her real name, she knew it was serious.
Suddenly, her voice caught in her throat and all she could do was nod wordlessly at Kira and Hitsugaya before following him in. Once they were in, he clenched a fist and turned to her forcefully. Angrily.
"Why the questions 'bout poor Hinamori-chan, now? Why th' lies, Rangiku? I thought we had an accord."
After all, he didn't lie to her. She sighed.
"Fine. Toshirou's a cop, sword corps. Momo was his girl. I offered to help him out, to find out who did it. The kid was desperate, Gin. He thinks you did it."
"Does he now. Do you?"
She bit her lip.
"No, I don't. I believe you when you tell me something. But at the same time, I know that you're hiding something. So I thought that you would be the best person to ask, for a start."
There was a long silence, in which Gin's emotionless expression slowly slipped into a frown.
"Don' do any more askin', yeah?"
There was another silence.
"Why not? Give me one good reason not to."
"I don' wanna see ya hurt, Ran-chan."
There was only one reason he'd say that. She couldn't prevent a cold shiver from running down her spine.
"I'm a whore. I'm not valuable enough to kill." She realized slowly that she should have cared more that Gin's anonymous superior felt she was a threat.
"Depends on what scale you're usin'."
If she had been worth enough to be a threat to that great man, then she was valuable enough to kill, especially if she started asking awkward questions. She refused to let that knowledge frighten her.
"I'm not going to run away screaming, if that's what you think. There's a crazy man out there, possibly in the government from what you're saying, and if you think I'm going to just let this slide then you'd better think again. I thought you knew me better than that."
Gin's smile slowly returned.
"I do, Rangiku. I know ya too well." The threat of death had never phased her, after all.
Suddenly, he reached out and put his hand behind her head, and pulled them both into a hot, hungry kiss, unlike anything they'd shared before. She couldn't really say that she minded.
Because every movement was like an apology.