Chapter 7- Turn and Turnabout
Despite her exhaustion and sores from getting their affects back from last night's bandits, Matsumoto got up before Gin did and started to get breakfast ready. The pair have made it through the deserts they first met in and found themselves, broken by the occasional town, to be in wooded and forested areas. After foraging for berries and gathering dried firewood, she got a fire up and roaring in no time and almost an hour later, smoked meat and a kettle of boiling water started the morning off for Ichimaru and Matsumoto.
"Ran-chan, Ran-chan." Ichimaru said the following morning over yet another breakfast of green tea and beef jerky. "Yer' a strong fighter, I'll give ya' that."
"Thanks. It had me beat though." The thought of the fight woke up all sorts of pains. She took very few hits, they hurt too, but more came from overextending her own strength.
"I'm sure."He drew his soul slayer and cut another piece of jerky and chewed contently. "How are ya' feelin' this morning?"
"Tired and sore. But I'll manage." Matsumoto replied.
"That's good to hear." Ichimaru said simply and sipped his green tea. "Ikorose, Shinsou." Gin's soul slayer shot toward Matsumoto. A second later, she would have been stuck in a similar manner as the breakfast they were having but a flashstep later, Matsumoto Rangiku was standing in a tree and jumping through the branches, exploiting Gin's sword's weakness of hitting only one target at a time.
"What are you doing, Gin!?" Matsumoto demanded. The unexpected flashstep and the exhaustion from last night's fight took a toll on her physical prowess.
"Neva' let yer' guard down, Ran-chan. Not all yer' enemies will fight fair. Very quick though, I'll give ya' that." Gin retracted his sword from the ground and pointed at the tree Matsumoto hid in.
"Ya' need to be in better shape, Ran-chan. And furthermore." He shot his soul slayer at the tree's trunk and cut it down. "Ya'gotta keep movin' in a fight-"
"GROWL, HAINEKO!" A cloud of really fine ash shot toward Gin. He flashstepped away, the tree he hid behind shattered.
After the dust settled, the ash started to cut at Gin's throat. A forty foot long blade also extended from Gin's sword and made enough contact to draw blood on Matusomoto's throat also.
"Wheew. Sca-ry." Gin said and retreated the blade. Matsumoto waited till he sheathed it and put it on the ground in mock surrender sheath her own blade.
"What'll you do better next time around, Ran-chan?" Gin asked as he walked back to the site of breakfast.
"I don't know." She was shaking yet again, not just in exhaustion but also in fear of this pale, skinny, silver haired youngster. She got lucky this time around but he was insanely fast and she very much believed that if he could have a blade on her throat so precisely between the commotion of a falling tree and her own attack, he could have shot her out of the same tree easy as picking a leaf from a sapling.
"Well, look back at what happened so far, Ran-chan. What'd I do? I used surprise. I used your fear against ya'. Your sword's ash form had me, but if I was an assassin to kill ya' no matter the price, I'd have ya' too. There's more of course, but we'll work on giving ya' the ability to capture."
"To capture?" Matsumoto was puzzled.
"To capture." Ichimaru said again. "Six rods of prison light." Followed up Gin, not missing a beat.
Six wide but thin blades of light pinned Matusmoto suddenly. "You asshole! What's the matter with you this morning!? Gin, you better make sure I don't get out of this or I'll snap your puny little neck you motherf-"
Gin's blade was drawn and on Matsumoto's neck again. "Watch yer' words, Ran-chan." Gin's grin widened.
"W-what are you doing!?"
"Jus' playin'!" Gin sheathed his sword and patted Matsumoto's back casually. "Ya'll learn this spell today." He chuckled lightheartedly and added. "But till ya' do, why don't ya' be a good girl and stay captive, hm?"
"Just where do you come off thinking-" The six rods of prison light squeezed harder on Matsumoto's mid-section causing her to gasp and quiet her tirade.
"Carriage of thunder…this is the part ya' repeat after me, Ran-chan."
"Carriage of thunder." Matsumoto said reluctantly. And until afternoon, Matsumoto learned the capture spell "Six Rods of Prison Light".
As the sun was past it's highest point in the sky and started to lean toward the west, Gin asked her "Now recite the whole incantation. If you get it right this time, we can get water and call it an early day today, Ran-chan. Tis' all up to you now." Gin said with humor.
"Carriage of thunder."
Pause. There was some muttering as Matsumoto tried to recall the incantation.
Bridge of a spinning wheel.
Pause. Yet more muttering.
With light,
This time, there was no pause. Matusmoto instead said "Divide this into six!" followed by a
"Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south*!"
Gin's smile and good humor disappeared as six rods of light held Gin in place. As the capture spell took hold, Matsumoto dropped to the ground, still held captive by Gin's spell, and had her back and open palms facing Gin. The Shot of Red Fire Attack spell formulated in her palm and raced toward the now incapacitated Gin.
An explosion of dust and burnt fabric blotted out Matsumoto's view for a moment. She expected quick and swift retribution for her ruse and underhanded tactic but instead, was greeted by freedom as the six rods of light were gone and a proud, happy, though badly burnt Gin greeted her.
Ichimaru Gin clapped his hands slowly and deliberately. "Well played, Ran-chan. Well played. Danku." The prison beams holding Gin captive vanished. He shrugged. "Ya' got me!"
"You deserved it, mister!" Matsumoto said with a vindictive gleam.
Ichimaru laughed sheepishly. "Yah, Guess I did, didn't I? You're my first and probably best pupil, Ran-chan."
"Now you're just kidding around." Matsumoto said but could not help feeling just a little flattered.
"Do I look like I am?" Gin said and pointed at his face. His signature grin still there, his eyes, still closed. Both of them laughed easily again like old friends who have known each other inside and out.
"What do you mean by first pupil?" Matsumoto asked Gin.
"I am going to be captain over there." He pointed towards the middle of Soul Society. "I got lots to do before I can make it tho'."
"Gin, if you have lots to do, then it's even harder for me!" Matsumoto replied solemnly.
"Ya'll be just fine, Ran-chan. You know to trick an opponent, you can spot openings, and you combine what you'll learn. You'll be going places, Ran-chan. Besides, the things ya have to do are not…the same as the things I have to do."
Matsumoto Rangiku did not pay that last statement much mind at the time later that night, she found herself thinking about what those different things are. She dismissed the thought as being idle and keeping her from sleep yet in the backburner of her mind, not knowing what things Gin was referring that needed to be done bothered her.
The man with glasses and brown hair got up from his chair and stepped to a window and opened it. The room he is standing in is a laboratory with hollows and shinigami held captive in large glass containers. He recently finished his work and had the energy in him to do more but like Gin and Rangiku, chose to end on an early night.
A black butterfly flew in and landed on the brown haired man's finger. "It is time, Ichimaru Gin." He said to the butterfly. It flew out the window again as a breeze blew inside the otherwise hermetic laboratory.
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*- The last part of Hadou 31's Incantation. The entire incantation is "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bares the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"
What do you all think? It took me a while to write this because I could not see where to take the story after a while. I am at the moment working on another GinxRan fanfic right now and should have a first chapter up in the near future. Please rate and review everyone!