Tired today, dunno why. Blah.

Thanks to: MissTeak, Sensei7, coolbeanz, and SwirlzSmile, you guys rock


22. Rebirth

It was the day Rangiku had been dreading for weeks. It had been her second most dreaded day until she had taken the entrance exams, then it took first place. Today, the exam results were listed, and the list of students accepted to the shinigami academy would also be posted.

Gin was humming.

Normally, Rangiku loved it when he sang. Today, it grated on her nerves. He was calm, happy, reassured. It somehow made her more worried than ever. She had not even finished some of the sections on the exam, but that was something Rangiku was not able to bring herself to tell Gin. Not when he was debating whether or not he got two questions wrong on the entire test. The rest he was sure he had gotten right.

Gin assumed Rangiku did at least nearly as well.

She felt like throwing up.

"Here, put on yer good kimono," he said. By good kimono, it simply meant relatively new, long enough, and freshly stolen.

Putting the kimono on became an event for her; she took her time and adjusted the sleeves just so and tied the obi half a dozen times before she was satisfied.

Or rather, before Gin lost all patience. By the third time she tied her obi, he was telling her to hurry up. As it was, he wanted to be there an hour before the results were posted; he wanted to see them first, not have to fight through a crowd, waiting, fighting to see.

"Ya know what? It's fine. We're going, now," Gin said as she moved to untie her sixth try. "Ya look pretty, real pretty. Like a girl."

"I always look like a pretty girl."

"Well, even better than normal then, how's tha?" He said and tugged her towards the door.

Rangiku dragged her feet and let herself become distracted by carts of anything. She had never known how interesting cauliflower could be before. Then Gin would realize she was not by his side and hurry back to get her. For once, she wished he would leave her behind, as he so often did. The problem was, she never knew where he was going when he did that. This time she did, and he wanted her to go too.

"Yer afraid to see," Gin said a few minutes after he pulled her away from wrinkled potatoes.

"Of course not!"

"Yer a bad liar."

"What if I don't get in?"

"'Course you'll get in."

Rangiku wondered where he got that easy assurance, how he found that certainty. "You'll get in. I might not. What then?"

"We'll figure it out," he said, leading her forward. "It'll be fine. Promise."

"Not if you're in the academy and I'm stuck here alone."

"Now yer whining."

That shut her up for the rest of the walk, but Gin wrapped his hand around hers. It was warm and comforting, but she wondered if that same grip was also meant to keep her from running, not that she could out run Gin; he was too tricky.

The walk seemed to be over in a heartbeat, but when pieces of paper were nailed up on a wooden wall, Rangiku realized Gin's hand had been nearly all good intentions. He had made the walk longer so she would not have to wait, worrying and staring at that board for long.

When Gin pulled her to the board, Rangiku scanned one list while Gin scanned the other. Immediately, Gin let out a whoop. She made it to the bottom of the list and nearly threw up. There was no mention of a Matsumoto Rangiku, even on the wait list.

"Ya didn't look at the advanced class list, Ran-chan," Gin said.

"Why would I?" She knew she sounded petulant, but she could hardly stand being there that moment.

"'Cause tha's the class you're in."

Now she heard the playful, excited notes that betrayed his serious tone. "…What?"

"See?" He pointed a long, slim finger at her name on the advanced class list. "Same as me."

Rangiku started crying and threw her arms around Gin; she did not care that they were surrounded by people, even nobles.

"Ahh, Ran-chan, ya shouldn' cry," he said, patting her back. "Should be smilin' all happy like."

"I am," she said. "Laughing and crying. I can't believe it."

"I can," he said. "Gonna be a whole new life for us now, just like we dreamed."


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