Away From You
Summary:(Part One of the Model Series) Bad days were rare for a top model, but she was always lucky to have something to cheer her up. Slight HitsugayaXMatsumoto, Implied: one sided HitsugayaXHinamori, MatsumotoXIchimaru, UkitakeXUnohana
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters.
IV. Bad Days
Matsumoto Rangiku would never go inside a coffee shop as long as she lived.
The day was exceptionally bright and later that night she would be going on a date with another famous model, Ichimaru Gin. Today was supposed to be perfect. She wanted to blame her secretary first, because she had gotten sick and didn't get her the coffee she drank every morning. So she was forced to get her daily source of caffeine herself.
Now look where that got her.
Her close friend, Ise Nanao, stood wide-eyed at the sight of coffee dripping down from the busty woman's yellow blouse. Everybody had turned to see the source of the sudden scream, and all eyes were on the two models. Nanao held out her hand and lifted her friend to her feet. "C'mon Rangiku. We can always get you a new blouse…" The other woman's expression was in a state of shock. "Sorry." Nanao muttered, realizing her mistake.
When they got back to the car, Nanao handed her an extra shirt she carried and waited for her to change. "Ouch, that must've hurt." Nanao commented when she saw a burn mark on Rangiku's stomach. "You won't be doing any swimsuit shoots for a while."
"Shut up, Nanao."
"I'm just telling the truth." The woman responded, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. They drove to the area of their next shoot, where they saw a group of individuals setting up. "You coming?" She asked when Rangiku had remained in the car.
Rangiku nodded and followed after her friend to the make-up artists. "Good morning, Rangiku-san." She turned her head and saw Abarai Renji, her personal make-up artist. "I thought you were going to wear your favorite blouse today?" He asked with a smirk, knowing something was wrong. Her steely eyes glared at him, but the redheaded man merely grinned. His expression turned serious as he began to apply make-up, dropping a few comments about her skin.
Finally when her name was called for her shot, a long white-haired man stepped out from behind the camera. "Rangiku-san, how are you?" Ukitake Juushiro asked brightly, shaking her hand. Rangiku nodded as she took her pose. Photo after photo, another white-haired male watched and noted the woman's movements. When he stepped out of the shadows to get his photo taken, his aquamarine eyes released a certain quality of confidence. The strawberry blonde normally did not take notice of other models, but this man seemed to make that extremely difficult.
"Hitsugaya-kun, it's a pleasure to be working with you." Ukitake said with a smile.
The model nodded. "Same here. Thank you for the opportunity." Rangiku didn't recognize the man's fine features. He's probably new, she thought, it's going to be hard for him to get a good start against Gin. However the man shocked her and all of the other workers with his professionalism. Every photo was like artwork, different but all beautiful. Finally when his film was done, the crowd applauded the newcomer. "Thank you very much, Ukitake-sensei."
"Of course, Hitsugaya-kun! Those photos were magnificent, especially for your first time."
"Thank you."
Nanao noticed the amount of attention her friend paid to the new model and arrived at her side. "Hitsugaya Toshiro, the newest model in the business but a real prodigy." She explained. "I heard he's only modeling for the money."
Rangiku smiled, "But so are we."
After the shoot, Nanao went ahead to meet with her boyfriend. Rangiku waved from her chair in the dressing room as she disappeared through the door. The model sighed, as she slipped into the dress she would meet Gin in. "I wonder if Gin looks that good when he's at his shoots." It was ironic how they were together, but never worked together. She walked outside of the studio and as she headed into the car spotted Hitsugaya.
He leaned against the wall, holding a cigarette, and staring at the dark sky. The city was too bright to see any stars, but it was almost as if he could see them hidden in the dark sky.
"Hitsugaya-san?"
His icy blue eyes focused on her. "Matsumoto-san," He addressed politely, the cigarette fell from his fingers and he grinded it against his foot. His eyes took notice of her dress and he asked, "Planning on going on a date?"
"Yeah. With Gin." Right then her cell phone rang and she heard Gin's voice.
"Ran-chan… 'Mm sorry, but I gotta cancel. You 'kay?"
"Oh. It's fine." She replied.
"'Kay, I'll make it up later. Promise. Bye." He hung up, and Rangiku slowly put away her cell phone.
"Never mind. I'm not going on a date." Hitsugaya seemed a bit surprised, but nodded anyway. "Do you smoke?" She asked, her eyes lingering on the grounded cigarette.
He shook his head. "I tried, but the heat was too much for my liking. You?"
She shook her head as well. "It's bad for the skin. I used to as a teen, but I stopped when I started modeling."
He nodded, and they stood in silence until he asked, "Why did you start modeling?"
Rangiku stood silent and thought about it. Finally she answered with a sad smile, "My parents." His mysterious aquamarine eyes stared at her. "We were poor and struggling. It was so hard for us to live, so I tried to earn money and I found out all I could do was modeling. However, with my lack of experience all I could do was lingerie. You could say that when my parents found out, it was more than disgraceful for their daughter to do something like that." She said sadly.
"That's not right!" Hitsugaya shouted; his hands clenched into fists.
Rangiku smiled at him gently, realizing his kind nature, and asked, "Why did you start?"
He stared up at the sky and replied, "For my best friend, Hinamori Momo." He turned to look at her more seriously. "She's had heart problems all of her life, and neither of us have parents. Ukitake-sensei's girlfriend is her doctor, Unohana-sensei." The name rung a bell to Rangiku, she had seen the older man's intelligent, graceful girlfriend on many occasions. "She knew that if Hinamori were to stay alive, she would need surgery. However, neither of us have much money since we're both only college students. That's why she asked Ukitake-sensei if he could give me a job and here I am."
The way he spoke so fondly of her… was almost like how she spoke about Gin. He was the person who had always been by her side no matter what, despite the fact they had both been distant the past few days. "Are you in love with her?"
He let out a deep chuckle. "If I were then I've already lost since she likes someone else… Aizen Sousuke. She was his secretary before she was hospitalized and even now she's still in love with him."
"I'm sorry that she's blind to not notice a great guy like you."
He finally smiled at her and when he did it changed his features entirely. "Thank you, Matsumoto-san. Actually, would you like to go get coffee with me?" He noticed the sudden stiffness in her body and recalled what a redheaded make-up artist had told him earlier. "Or if you'd like, we can go have dinner."
A smile broke out onto her face as she replied, "I'd love that, Hitsugaya-san."
This one shot had a lot of pairings... Well, this chapter will also be put into my AU one shot collection: Picture Perfect.