Urgh. It deleted all my added stuff in a failed save. I nearly forgot to upload this actually, even though wrote a new drabble today (have written one or two every day since I started! I'm slowly going through and making notes for each drabble so I know more about the time line and don't freak out about a theme. Anyway, I'd better hurry this up and go to sleep; I'm up too late again, and I have work in the morning (again). But I'm off Wednesday! And Friday! yay!

Thanks to: Mihara-chan and MissTeak. MissTeak gave me v-day chocolates, yay! Also, I think my fanfiction account kind of screwed up my reply to your review question, so I'll just repeat it here. The comment was in a soul society arc episode, during a time Gin was talking to Kuchiki, I think.


9. Opportunities

"Ah, Ran-chan?" Gin said, standing in front of a door. "What're ya doin?"

"Going in the store?"

"Tha's the wrong door."

"It is?" Then Rangiku noticed the strange symbols on the door, and wondered if she had been caught. Thee was one thing that Gin could do that seemed like magic to Rangiku. He could read. The strange symbols made words to him, and she did not understand it at all. She was too proud to ask him to teach her.

Gin frowned. "Do ya know what the sign says?"

"Of course."

"What's it say?"

Rangiku knew Gin was definitely onto her then, but she was afraid he would make fun of her. He was always so much smarter than she was. She hazarded a guess, "Exit only."

"No, no it don't. It's 'employees only'," Gin said. When he spoke again, his voice was subdued. "Ya can't read, can ya? Why didn' ya tell me?"

Rangiku shrugged, and stared at the ground.

"Ran-chan, you buy the thread, and head home. I have somethin' I gotta do," Gin said and walked off waving, "Bye-bye."

She chewed on her lip, but did as he told her.

Later, Gin returned. "Look what I got ya." He held out a parcel wrapped in a small piece of cloth.

Hesitantly, she took it from him, unwrapping the package. It was a book, her face fell, and she stared at it mutely.

"I'm gonna teach ya to read," he said.

"Oh."

"First, I gotta teach ya the symbols. We'll start with hiragana, then katakana," he said. "We'll worry about kanji later. When ya can read the book ta me, I'll get ya a present."

"Really?"

"Yup," he said. "Now c'mon outside wi' me."

Rangiku followed after him, and together, they began tracing letter after letter in the dirt. She practiced making the sound the symbol represented, and Gin was patient and kind no matter how many times she asked after the letter.

It was slow progress learning all the symbols, and sometimes, Rangiku felt like it was all so jumbled together that she could never get it right. But eventually, individual letters made sense to her. Then Gin began teaching her to read words. That Rangiku took to easily, though sentences were harder; she had to sort everything out.

A month later, Rangiku read the book aloud to Gin. She could tell it was meant for an early reader, but she felt so proud when she finished it. The world around her made a little more sense.

"So, whatcha want fer your present?"

"A harder book, I want to read as good as you!"

Gin laughed. "Tha's my girl."


I wasn't sure about this one, but I was wondering how Rukia learned to read since she was a lil' baby in the rukongai and never seemed to have formal schooling, so it sort of stemmed from that. Let me know what you think!

Reviews are my candy! Don't forget, if you have drabble ideas, tellllll me, there's a GOOD chance it'll become a drabble!