Ahhh so tired. Stayed up too late, again. I meant to go to bed 3 hours ago. I almost forgot to write this, then I was all "hmm.. maybe I'll just go to bed..." But then I went "no! I must be a good writer and keep my promises!" So I whipped this out, and it ended up being one of the longer drabbles for sure.

Thanks to: Stebbins -Stella-, blackteaplease (I'll be posting your one-shot tomorrow! XD), capslocknanao, Blueberry Absinth, AppleDoodle, CrossroadsofLife, Renji's Girll, LilyGirl101, gaarasracoon, Sonozaki-sama, Beautiful Nightmare07, PunkRockHolly, Solar Kitty, Ayamichan34, and katiegirl101199, and to all the other readers! Love you all!


96. Reality

Gin wondered if he could just take Rangiku's hand and step through the senkaimon again. He could exit into soul society or hueco mundo and just keep walking. Eventually, they could reach somewhere beyond Aizen's reach, beyond everyone. Then Rangiku would be safe, and he would be as well.

The trouble was, Rangiku would not stay by his side if he did that. She would not even go through the senkaimon, he was sure. He did not even think about escaping alone. That would be worse, perhaps, than staying at Aizen's side.

Gin wondered if it was too late to be an honorable man. He had spent all of his time being nothing of the sort; he was trouble, a nuisance. For a moment, Gin took Rangiku's hand and squeezed lightly; her hand slid away, arms wrapping around him for a brief moment.

He had her trust, maybe even her love. "We jus' need ta stall 'til th' weird ryoka kid shows up. Think he an' his ol' man are plannin' somethin' an' if anyone can do something', it'll be those two."

"Are you really on our side now?"

"I'm on your side, Ran-chan," he said. "So I'm on whatever side you are."

Aizen finally turned the corner and looked on at the pair, something like amusement on his face. "What do we have here?"

"Jus' debatin' what ta do with 'er, Aizen," Gin said. "Was thinkin' ya might wanna start a harem or somethin' and if ya did ya'd hafta have the most beautiful women in seireitei."

"Just in seireitei?" Rangiku said, looking peeved. "In seireitei, the living world, Hueco Mundo, the universe. I'm clearly the most beautiful woman of all. I mean, look at me! Look at these!"

Gin could scarcely fight off a blush as Rangiku waved to her breasts and let her uniform slip open further. Aizen, too, stared. Gamble after gamble Gin seemed to be making, and the gambles were all long shots, nothing with good odds at all. The only thing he had to keep him going was the slim chance of a pay out, and if he succeeded, well, even then the payout might not be the best in the world. It might end with him sentenced to death by seireitei if not death by Aizen.

Gin began rambling about harems and attractive women and Aizen went along with it. The ex-captain wondered if Aizen thought Gin was trying to start a harem with Rangiku because he did not want her dead. That worried him too, but there was little else he could do about it.

The Kurosaki men showed up abruptly, appearing in space in front of them. Gin's tongue felt dry from talking nonsense as nerves slowly overcame him. For a moment, Gin felt safe, but then terror slid underneath his skin. He knew not even Rangiku or Aizen could tell he was afraid, but he was terrified. Death frightened him terribly, and here, he was trying to face it as something near inevitable.

"Ahh, if it isn't Kurosaki-kun, back to play," Gin said in a sing-song pattern. He drew his sword. "I guess ya didn' have enough, huh?"

"Not until you're dead!"

Gin wondered if Kurosaki would possibly take back his words. Instead, Isshin blocked Gin's sword. Well, that was interesting. Perhaps this meant something had changed, if Ichigo was to go up against Aizen. If something changed, perhaps there was hope.

All at once, Gin released Kamishini no Yari. The shot was perfect; it did knick Isshin's shoulder, but more importantly, the blade shot through Aizen's heart and out his back. Something like glass seemed to shatter back.

The hoguyoku. Gin pulled back his sword even as he felt Aizen's power slam into him. It send him flying back and down. But Gin decided it was worth it; after all, in the end he had saved the one person who mattered the most; Rangiku.

Because Gin knew something about his blow to Aizen; it had made the man mortal. And a mortal man against Ichigo Kurosaki stood no chance.


I'm getting sadder and sadder... I don't wanna stop talking to all of you guys, I'm gonna miss you. Everyday I looove checking my e-mail now, where before my e-mail was usually empty, save spam :( What are some of your favorite manga series? I'm looking for new ones at my library right now (I can order books from anywhere in the country, it's really awesome so I have a huuuge selection!). Anime? Uhh.. I can't think anymore, too sleepy. Anyone else have questions for me to answer/ask?