I now have fifty-six reviews.

Life of Simplicity
~Simply Thinking~
*Matsumoto*

A mother, in truth, should never fear for the safety of their child. This is especially true, when it comes to the idea, of fearing the child's safety, due to the other parent. At first, it had started off, as something simple, with no idea that there was a child out there, that she needed to protect. Truth of the matter was, she had given up on that dream, when Gin had told her, the baby had been born dead.

She had some hankering though, when she had in fact met the small boy, who was now her taicho, that he had in fact belonged with her. She had that urge, to smother him, with motherly affection. Because she thought it was because of her broken heart, from when she had thought her child had died. She pushed it down, because in truth, making Hitsugaya Toshiro a replacement, wasn't fair. Then… Gin said those words.

"I said leave my son out of this!" came his response, which caused Matsumoto's head to shoot up, her eyes suddenly go wide. There was only one child that Shinji and Gin would both know about, and that was the child that she had happened to lose. She felt the pain rise in her chest, realization hitting her, about all the lies Gin had told her, and that they hadn't been a few minor ones. There was more then she expected.

"Your son?" Was what she said, after she threw the vase at the two males' heads. She had wished, for a few seconds, that it had actually hit Gin in the head. But truth of the matter was, they both had dodged. She had spent, over a hundred years, believing that she had lost a baby girl, when in truth her baby boy had been alive. She had also spent over thirty years, wanting to hold and love that child, with all she was worth.

This of course, led to an argument brewing between the two of them. She lost track of everything around her, else she wouldn't have needed Gin to let her know that Toshiro had snuck behind her, that he had almost heard her blurt out something that would have hurt him more then anything else she could have possibly said to him, simply because the news would come to him in the wrong way. But it really took her own son, calling her name, to jar her.

"Taicho? How long…" Her head turned towards the small boy, taking in everything. He had a scratch on his cheek, and he looked tiered, not to mention, now that she was paying attention to his rieatsu, he was possibly in one of his depressed states, where he was feeling down on himself. She wanted to tell him, right then and there, but thought it not the best time.

Even after she had indicated that it was a private conversation, she couldn't help, but see the worry in her eyes. She had always wondered, what he had thought of her. A mother figure, a mentor, an annoyance. She was now personally hoping he didn't ever, at one time have a crush on her, because that in truth would have been embarrassing.

She saw Gin step up suddenly, only to have her hopes of him intervening to agree with her, her former friend suddenly began to examine the cheek of the small boy. When Gin had asked, who had hurt their child, she felt her chest pound. She had heard enough, and been around Gin enough, to know just how dangerous he really was. She also, didn't know if he would hurt Toshiro, as he had attacked the boy once before, before he defected with Aizen.

Thus, she shoved between the two of them, and ordered her small taicho, something she rarely ever did, unless it was for his own good, to leave. She also blocked Ichimaru from leaving, and following the small child. He started to beg her, and yet she didn't relent, thinking this was something about his ego, his pride, not to mention, the fact that he could at times be quite sadistic. That was until he told her, he thought someone was trying to kill Toshiro.

She now stood against the wall, trying to think of exactly what it was, that had set Gin off. His zampaktuo, was off in the far opposite corner, while he hunkered down in the chair, rocking slightly back and forth, muttering something under his breath. She had remembered, she had mentioned that it was just a scratch, before he started going on about someone trying to kill Hitsugaya.

Every so often, he would raise his head, and glance towards the door, or the window, his eyes completely open. She saw in those eyes, that he wasn't completely there, and she couldn't help but wonder, if her deduction that she had never known him was wrong, that in truth, the Gin that she had once known, had gone somewhere else.

"Ne… Gin…" she finally spoke up.

"Ehh… Ran-chan?" his tone was rather childlike, pitiful… creepy in its own way.

This caused her to swallow, and she placed a hand on her own zampaktuo. "Why do you think someone is trying to kill Shiro-chan?"

"Because… it's just like that night. I told Shinji taicho, he didn't…" however, she suddenly saw Gin's head dart down, and for him to clam up.

She shook her head, wondering if it was simply the scratch that happened to have set him off, or if there was something that Gin's first taicho had said. However, before she could say anything, Ichimaru shot of a shot at the wall, a rather mild and weak spell.

"Matsumoto?" This caused Rangiku to turn to find Isane standing there.

"Please… go get his former taicho," Rangiku suddenly blurted out, thinking that one man, might be able to help. Gin was likely only to get worse otherwise.

I won't update, until I have fifty-six reviews.