Maaan am I tired. And I have to be up in less than six hours, ugh. Then I was a little crazy and volunteered to pull a double at work on the busiest day of the week when the weather is fabulous and there's a big fight on to attract even more people. I'm gonna die, haha.

Thanks to: blackteaplease, CrossroadsofLife, Blueberry Absinth, Renji's Girll, gaarasracoon, cy-grl, Beautiful Nightmare07, Care Bear on Fire, Solar Kitty (remind me tomorrow to edit 71 and to read allllll your stuff that I've missed haha! oh, and to work on ToF if I have time. ack.), and PunkRockHolly.


70. Versus

It was chaos, everywhere. Rangiku was getting through it all with sake and many long naps. She woke up and stared for a moment. He had been in her dreams; the day she had first met Gin. He had changed her life, entwining her life with his forever.

"Did you sleep well, Matusumoto?"

"Captain," Rangiku said. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Idiot, the office if not your room," Histugaya said. "Since you're up, hurry up and help me with this. I'm dead tired."

"Well, Captain, you were the one who volunteered to take over all the paperwork for the fifth division."

"Oh, shut up," Hitsugaya said and shoved a handful of papers at Rangiku. "Take these to your desk and finish them."

"There are only this many left? Wasn't there a lot more?"

"Shut up and work already. Go. Go!"

Rangiku looked down at the papers silently for a long moment. "I… How long did I sleep?"

"Never mind that," Hitsugaya said and gulped down some tea. "Seeing your colleague and a junior fight like that… It probably puts you in a tight spot, doesn't it?"

"My colleague?" Rangiku asked. Hitsugaya, along with most people, had no idea the full extent of her relationship with Gin. They had always kept it quiet. Now she wondered why. "Captain, do you really think that Captain Ichimaru Gin—"

Someone burst into the room calling for them. Three lieutenants had escaped their holding cells. Abarai, Hinamori, and Kira had done the unthinkable. It seemed like everything was falling apart around Rangiku, since all the trouble started with the ryoka, but it was not just the ryoka. It was so much more, and Rangiku could not even begin to think of it all.

Rangiku followed Hitsugaya to Hinamori's holding cell. It was not unexpected, given him much Hitsugaya cared about Hinamori, however, she herself was excruciatingly curious about Kira's cell. After all, he was one of her drinking buddies.

At the cell, the guard apologized profusely, but Hitsugaya brushed it aside. He was a fair man and knew that the fault did not lay in the guard at all. "Matsumoto," he said. "You go back first. I'm going to help Hinamori."

Rangiku's heart felt like it was falling out of her chest. She knew who Hitsugaya believed he was meeting. She could not stand it, and began to head back. Then, she felt a spike in spiritual pressures. Captain level. Her own captain, and the very man she feared it would be.

Rangiku arrived in time to see the chain on the end of Hitsugaya's shikai wrap around Gin's arm.

"Shoot him, shinsou," Gin said, breath soft and dangerous, eyes open, focused on Hitsugaya.

Rangiku's captain ducked away.

"Are you sure? If you dodge it, she will die," Gin said.

Rangiku moved. She heard Hitsugaya scream his friend's name. She knew exactly how powerful shinsou was, and that at this point, Gin could not stop it. She prayed the move was supposed to merely call Hitsugaya back from the fight instead of aimed at hurting Hinamori, even as her zanpakutou flew up.

"Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya cried out.

Gin was silent, his perpetual grin gone.

"I'm really sorry… I was going to head back as you instructed but I felt the spiritual pressure of Hyourinmaru, so I turned around," Rangiku said. "Please put away your sword, Captain Ichimaru." In public, that was the way they spoke anyway. So what if she emphasized the words "captain" and "Ichimaru." She was angry with him. She had every right to be. What on earth was he doing?

He watched her, saying not a word.

"If not, I will be your opponent."

Abruptly, Gin grinned and his sword retracted. He turned away from her. He advised Hitsugaya to take care of Hinamori. Rangiku watched his back. She knew absolutely that Gin was about to disappear, and he was not going to tell her where he was going or why. He never changed that way.


*sigh* This one I hated writing because I had to look stuff up in the manga, and, well, we know where this one is leading.....