2. Love

Characters: Hitsugaya Toushiro, Ichimaru Gin, Matsumoto Rangiku, Aizen Sousuke

Pairings: AizGin, GinMatsu, HitsuGin

Rating: T+

Summary: Rangiku had once told him: that was love. And he couldn't stand it.

As a child, Ichimaru Gin fell in love twice.

Once with Matsumoto Rangiku:

But there was no question to that one.

Her pale skin, orange hair, baby blue eyes, adorable mole, thin waist, delicate ankles, small shoulders, radiant smile, strong spirit….he could go on and on without stop.

Loving her had been as easy as breathing.

The second time was with power.

Or he should say, power incarnated:

Aizen Sousuke.

There was a thrill being with the man. Knowing he was the only one who truly saw beyond that Buddha-like smile made the child him shiver in a delight that loving Matsumoto Rangiku never gave him.

As a child, he measured love by comparing his affections to how much he loved Matsumoto Rangiku.

This affection for power and he who wielded it grew into something he never felt before. A strange tormenting and suffocating something.

So one night, when he had still been the man's vice captain, Ichimaru Gin experimented.

At the time, he remembered a certain eagerness that he now relates to Hinamori Momo.

At the time, he recalled a certain loyalty that he now relates to Kira Izuru.

At the time, he felt that he could love his captain.

So he did the only thing that he remembered from his time in Rukongai.

He seduced Aizen Sousuke to sleep with him.

And his captain obliged.

The whole process was…gentle.

Every caress and lick made him shiver and moan. Every kiss made his head spin into the clouds. Every pinch and brush made him whimper and gasp.

The preparation had been so careful that when the penetration came everything just felt heavenly. None of the ripping, tearing, bleeding that he had been expecting.

That night, the man cleaned him off with a cool towel and lay next to him whispering loving endearments.

To say the least, Aizen Sousuke had been the perfect lover.

And that's why that night, after the other's breathing evened out, he ran.

Ran and cried.

He couldn't stand it.

He couldn't stand the gentle touches, the gentle caresses, the gentle kisses, the gentle probing, the gentle—just the whole gentleness of everything.

It felt wrong.

If he were with Matsumoto Rangiku, Ichimaru would practice the same caring and loving gestures as Aizen did to him. In fact, he would willingly throw himself into a pit of venomous snakes if he caused her any discomfort.

But…

He couldn't take that gentleness.

Not on him.

It wasn't because it was Aizen Sousuke.

(He's gotten around a little more than that.)

It was the kindness. It was the caring. It was that quiet whisper of a touch on his skin. It was that feather light caress on his cheek. It was the soft ephemeral kisses on his lips. It was the feeling of fleeting happiness in his heart.

Rangiku had once told him: that was love.

And he couldn't stand it.

"What did I say about thinking about others during our time?"

A deceptively gentle hand massaged his scalp as the sharp blade of Shinsou teased the flesh just above his collarbone.

"Toushi—"

The hand suddenly yanked at his hair forcing his neck to stretch in a rather uncomfortable position.

"Toushiro ja ne."

The blade pressed hard enough to start a thin red line.

"Hitsugaya-taichou da."

Strangely.

"Ha-hai."

Ichimaru Gin couldn't see love as anything but this.

-END-

A/N: Yes, this was one product of my trip to Tibet. O.O While we were driving around in the sinuous mountains, I was thinking up this story and jotting the original down on a torn paper napkin.

Ah, that place really was beautiful. Snowy mountains and green grasslands. The contrast made my heart soar. And then (when I wasn't writing this and others) I was reading Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Reading a good book with the grasslands spread out ahead of you and the snowy mountains in the distance while listening to the Top Chinese Internet Hits.

Ah.

Okay, the last one was a bit out of the loop. XD But that was the only thing I had on CD that would play in the car. (Drat! Should have brought some Chopin or traditional Tibetan music!)

But that trip really was worth it. Any chance to go to Tibet. GO. It really is a must see. Some of the sights will take away your breath, figuratively and literally. The altitude was, at the best, tolerable (3000m-5000m) but eh, I rather like ground zero.

Before I do my usual 'thanks for reading and please review,' I made a mistake on my previous story "Creation." The Tibetan people believe that the Himalayas (including Mt Everest) is a female deity. So in all technicalities, the last story also was gender bending. XD

Okay, enough of my ranting about my trip and what not!

Thanks for reading and drop a review!

~sodesne