Chapter 8- Beneficial Arrangements

"Yer orders, captain?" Ichimaru knelt on one knee, fist on the ground. His posture is one of servitude and servanthood, yet his expression and tone was one of amicability, and perhaps, equality.

The brown haired man chuckled. "No one is around, Gin. Forget the formalities, you know we're peers."

"Aizen, yer orders?" Ichimaru stood up.

"My reiatsu's too much for the task. Here's the bait." Aizen tossed Gin what looked like a pouch of white crackers. "It's slow work, but no less important."

"Consider it done, captain." With that, Gin flashstepped away.

Aizen shook his head and chuckled. "Habits die hard."

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"What do you mean "get a job"?" asked Matsumoto tensely. She didn't want to betray fear of the unknown or express attachment to her now constant closed-eyed companion.

"It's like this." Gin's smile widened. "Learnin's toolmakin', if ya will. Ya learn and ya learn, but it's pretty pointless if ya don't use what ya learn, kno' what I mean?"

"No?" Matsumoto raised an eyebrow.

"Ran-chan, ya know how to walk, right?"

"Yeah? Where are you going with this?"

"Well, it's pretty stupid ta kno' how to walk but still cry and throw a fit everytime yer hungry, right?" Gin laughed at his own comment and said in a lower, but definitely audible voice. "woulda left ya a long time ago if ya did."

"You want me to get a job so you can leave me here!?" Matsumoto scowled loudly.

Gin continued to walk but put his hands in his pocket and pulled out three coins and two crumpled bills. He stopped in front of a sake bar. "We got nah money, Ran-chan."

FWAP! A roundhouse kick was inches away from impacting with Gin's midsection as he dodged the blow. "LIKE HELL YOU DON'T!" The kick, while not successful in inflicting pain, was not fruitless either. Out of Ichimaru's long sleeves came a pouch of money. Matsumoto dove to get the coins, but not before Gin used his sword's shikai to push the loot out of reach. The scuffle started to draw attention, and would have formed into a full spectacle if not for four men running out of the bar.

"QUICK! CATCH THEM! THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS ARE DINING AND DITCHING!" Rangiku stopped taking shots at Gin and looked at the barkeeper yelling for the miscreants to be caught.

"Should ya really be fightin' me? Those criminals are about ta deprive that hardworking man his keep. Could ya let that slide?" Gin whispered in her ear.

"This ain't over, Gin."

"Two for the each of us?" Gin suggested. Matsumoto flashstepped away, hot on the fleeing men's heels. Ichimaru on the other hand took a few steps back and drew his sword. "Ikorose, Shinsou."

The blade pointed at the direction of the running men's direction glowed white and shot forward, a beam of light illuminating dim street. At the end of the street, a slower man dove to the side to avoid the blade, tripped over several garbage cans, and caused a loud racket as cans rattled against each other and on the hapless delinquent. The blade's work is not done however. The blade gashed open a wide, but shallow would the upper leg of a faster runner, causing him to cry out in pain fall. Matsumoto, not willing to be shown up by how quickly Gin caught his two crooks, relentlessly chased down her quarry as well.

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"I could not thank you two enough for catching them!" the stout, balding bartender said to Matsumoto and Ichimaru. "How could I ever thank you two?!"

Matsumoto humbly smiled and told him it was nothing, crooks shouldn't get away with drinking and not paying.

Gin, however, had a proposal. "Let us work fer ya. I think what ya just saw's a testament to our abilities. We could run down non-payin' customers when they come around. This looks like a nice place. Shame ta see it become otherwise, right?"

The bartender was puzzled. "And if the customers behave?"

Ichimaru chuckled. "Wit' my smile, it's impossible fer me to be a bad waiter." Ichimaru motioned to Matsumoto. "And wit' her figure..." (Matsumoto blushed)...it's impossible fer her ta be a bad bartender. Ran-chan an' I've been lookin' fer work. We could make this arrangement a mutually benificial one."

Upon realizing this, the bartender exclaimed they are hired.