HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS.

Okay, I said the next chapter was coming, no matter how slowly, but I didn't mean this slowly aklsjdfs;a

Well, it's been over an entire year, and this story is nearing its second birthday in July. I completely abandoned writing this story in April or May of last year, and this is what I had still lying around in the TGKS document. It's completely unedited and I haven't read over it, but I want readers to have it as an apology from me, because I feel like I've disappointed some because I won't be updating ever again ;o; I'll also stick everything that was in my scratch pad for this fic, since there's parts I intended to work my way up to, and some deleted scenes.

Thanks for reading. I can't believe that even after being gone from for more than a year, people still read my stories. I'm entirely flattered and humbled. Thank you thank you thank you m(._.)m I've actually moved on to writing for a completely different fandom (Kpop anyone? SHINee? Exo? Look guys, I still write! www(.)asianfanfics(.)com/profile/view/143548), and I don't read Bleach anymore ;-;

Anyway, thanks again.

It's been real, everyone. Stay well, ok?

~sfj

Shuuhei fumbled with his now-heavier key ring, unlocking Matsumoto Rangiku's door with its newest shiny silver addition. He twisted the doorknob with his keys still in hand, and pushed open the door with his rear, his hands full with a package. It was their first Christmas together, and Shuuhei hoped that Matsumoto would like the gift he had gotten her. He set the package down at the foot of the couch, and shut the door. "Rangiku?" He called into their apartment as he unzipped his jacket, took off his shoes and hung his scarf on the hat stand. "I'm back."
"Welcome back!" She replied. "I'm in the bedroom, I'll be out in a minute."
"Okay." Shuuhei said, and wandered to the kitchen to rummage for ingredients for cake. He pulled the tub of flour out, and the baking soda and sugar. He accounted seven eggs, half a quart of milk and two sticks of butter in the fridge, but no heavy whipping cream or strawberries. We're gonna have to go to the store, he made a face, and shut the fridge to pull open the spice drawer.
Matsumoto padded out of the bedroom in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, her own package in her hands. "Hey you," she smiled, giving Shuuhei a kiss on the cheek with the triplet scars. "Making a cake?" She went to the living room and set her package on top of Shuuhei's.
"Yep." Shuuhei shut the spice drawer. "But we need to go to the store for some things."
"How bad is it outside?" Matsumoto peeked out the curtains at the snow-encrusted outdoors.
"It's pretty snowy, but the store is close. We could walk." Shuuhei peeked out the curtains too.
"That actually sounds kind of fun!" Matsumoto giggled. "A Christmas Eve walk in the snow."
Shuuhei broke into a smile. "Let's do it."
"I'll go get my boots!" Matsumoto grinned, and skittered to their tiny genkan to put on her rubber boots. Shuuhei sat down next to her, and put on his own hiking boots, lacing them tightly around his ankles.

Once both of them were sufficiently bundled up to bear the Sapporo cold, arm in arm, they promenaded down the street, tiny flecks of white swirling around them. Shuuhei scuffed his feet, leaving long trails of gray concrete behind himself. "I wonder how Gin and Izuru are doing in Yokohama." Matsumoto wondered aloud.
"I'm sure they're doing fine." Shuuhei sighed, nestling closer to Matsumoto.
"Do you ever think that Izuru might be uncomfortable with Gin?" She mused, laying her head on Shuuhei's shoulder. "I mean, I haven't known Izuru for that long, but he never really struck me as the kind of person who would go for a guy like Gin. Gin has been my friend the longest, but he does have some qualities that aren't that great." She slipped ever so slightly, and clung tighter to Shuuhei's jacketed arm.
Shuuhei kept Matsumoto standing, his breath fogging in the chilly air. "Like what?"
"He disappears," They approached the store, and the automatic doors slid open. "Did you ever notice it?"
"Yeah, I guess I did. He was well known for his truancy." The produce section came first, and the two gravitated towards the much picked-over case displaying strawberries in clear plastic packages. Shuuhei picked up one of the cartons, and looked it over carefully. Spying a decomposing berry, he set it back down. "He never really came to class. At the time, I think that all the teachers had suspected him of smoking on the school's roof." Matsumoto joined Shuuhei in strawberry inspecting, pulling her knit hat off her head. "Which he might have been." Shuuhei found a package of strawberries that were all red and not decaying, and steered Matsumoto in the direction of dairy.
"That could have been." Matsumoto exhaled as Shuuhei pulled open the cooler's door to get whipping cream. "But what do you think of Izuru and Gin together?"
"I don't think anything." Shuuhei grunted, and wandered over to the baking aisle to get powdered sugar for the frosting.
"Oh, come on, Shuu. You can't tell me they lack passion."
"I'm not saying they're dispassionate," Shuuhei said, scanning the shelves for the cheapest bag of confectioner's sugar. "But I'm not the most pleased with their relationship, either. Izuru is my friend and Ichimaru is not. It's pretty simple."
Matsumoto tsked. "You know, I've always admired Izuru's passion. He's a big person with a lot of pride under that meek exterior. And he has a ton of passion. He would probably kill if it came to something he really cared about."
"That'd be a sight to see." Shuuhei laughed, and they paid and stepped out into the freezing cold again. Matsumoto stuffed her hat on her head, and Shuuhei lightly swung their bag of groceries back and forth.
Matsumoto giggled, and twined her fingers with Shuuhei's. "It would be, wouldn't it. Izuru is a softy, like you."
"Like me? You think I'm soft?" Shuuhei bumped against Matsumoto in a friendly manner, smiling widely.
"You're a giant teddy bear!" She snuggled close to him, and the snow began to fall heavier around them. They chuckled, snow settling on their shoulders. Enjoying the walk, Matsumoto turned her face to the sky. Snowflakes clung to her eyelashes, and her cheeks were pinched with pink warmth.

Izuru and Ulquiorra broke apart from their kiss, and quickly stepped away from each other. Izuru shut the van's door, and Ulquiorra locked it, the two of them shuffling into the mudroom. Putting on his game face, Gin broke into his manic simper, skittering in front of Izuru. Make 'im think I didn't see, Gin reminded himself.
"Kira, I'll take the cake into the kitchen." Ulquiorra said in a dead voice, holding his hand out. Izuru placed the handles of the brown bag in Ulquiorra's hand, and Ulquiorra disappeared into the rest of the house.
"Ya got a cake?" Gin asked, taking both of Izuru's hands in his own and placing a chaste kiss on his nose.
Izuru blushed. "Yeah."
"What else did you get?" Gin nosed, attempting to sneak a peek in Izuru's other bag.
"That's your gift!" Izuru cried, putting his hand behind his back.
"I won't peek, then." Gin smiled, putting their foreheads together. He tipped Izuru's chin up with spidery fingers, and asked for a kiss with ardent lips. Izuru complied, realizing that he preferred Gin's kisses to Ulquiorra's. It was much harder to kiss someone who was shorter than you. And besides, Gin was much more gentle and subtle with his passion. Their lips lingered in each other's warmth, Gin's silver hair tickling Izuru's slim nose. "Merry Christmas." Gin whispered into Izuru's mouth.
Izuru turned rouge. "I should go wrap your gift." He breathed.
"I'll go eat th' cake y' brought back." Gin enfolded Izuru with his lanky arms.
"Save some for me." Izuru smiled, and Gin released him. "I'm the one who picked it out."
Separating, the two went to do the things they had said. Izuru came back with a simply-wrapped gift, and set it with the other presents in the living room. He drifted into the kitchen, and was beckoned over to the kitchen's island, where the cake was already being mutilated and served to salivating boarders and family members. Izuru was handed a plate with a generous slice of cake and a fork, and contented, he sat at the only open stool between Tia and Gin. He ignored Ulquiorra eyeing him hungrily, and bit into the spongy vanilla cake with as wide a grin he could manage around his fork. He watched Nel as she giggled with glee and attempted to feed Grimmjow cake with her bare hands, having abandoned her fork after the first five bites. She purposefully missed his mouth and took pleasure in smearing whipped cream and cake on his cheek. Grimmjow smiled despite his displeasure, and licked cream off his lips.
Later that night, Gin and Izuru crawled into bed together with bellies full of Christmas cake and hot chocolate. Gin stealthily snaked an arm around Izuru's waist, pulling their bodies close. "Merry first Christmas with me," he whispered into Izuru's pinkening right ear.

Making an absolute mess out of the kitchen together, Matsumoto and Shuuhei followed no recipe in particular to make a spongy white cake to top with whipped cream and strawberries. It wasn't the most beautiful thing that Shuuhei had ever baked- and he had baked some pretty beautiful things- but it tasted like heaven and there wasn't anyone else he'd rather share it with than Matsumoto. They sat down on the breaking-down couch, accompanied by frilly rose pink pillows, each with a slice of homemade Christmas cake. Contented by the domesticity of it all, Shuuhei bit into his cake.
"Damn it all." A teen voice grumbled from outside the apartment, and Matsumoto's front door creaked open, a short, white-haired young man stepping in from the cold. His cheeks were chapped pink and a teal scarf was wrapped at least twenty times around his neck. His red fingers had no gloves, and they were shaking like leaves.
"Toushirou!" Matsumoto exclaimed, straightening up. "What happened? You look frozen!" Toushirou untangled himself from his scarf, and kicked off his shoes. He put his shoes by the door and hung his scarf on the hat stand. "Grandmother and I had a fight. The grouchy old hag…"
"Will everything be all right?" Fussing to resituate herself, Matsumoto pat the couch cushion neighboring hers, beckoning Toushirou to come sit next to her.
Toushirou plopped down with an elaborated sigh. "We just need some space. She thinks my education is so important, but when it all boils down, none of it is going to matter in the end." His voice dripped with sarcasm, and he folded his arms. "I mean, what good is schooling going to do me? I should just find a wife and settle down, or become a mechanic or something."
Matsumoto thoughtfully took a bite of cake, and Shuuhei raised his eyebrows, feeling somewhat intruded upon. "That's a sour outlook to have on life." Toushirou shrugged at her comment. "School is important, 'Shirou, and you're really smart. You could become a graphic designer. Or you could study music. I know you like to play drums."
"Yeah, but where am I going to go in life if all I can do is play drums?" Toushirou frowned.
"You're talented, kid, don't let it go to waste. Your grandmother's words have truth to them."
Toushirou harrumphed and turned his glare at the wall. "I'm still not going home."
Matsumoto shrugged, and Shuuhei furrowed his brow. "Fine then, stay here."
"Wait, you're just going to let him stay here?" Shuuhei interjected, offended. His eyebrows pushed together, and the corners of his mouth turned down.
"Of course I'm just going to let him stay here. Where else would he go?" Matsumoto prodded at her cake, and stuffed another bite into her mouth.

Everything from here down is from my scratch pad ^^ I've forgotten where everything fit in exactly, so feel free to make whatever sense of it you like~

Things fell back to normal when they arrived back from Kyoto. Izuru had missed two days of classes, but the make-up work wasn't all that hard, and besides, he was in high spirits. Really! I mean, we had... Izuru refrained from thinking the dirty word. ...Fun. It screamed "euphemism". They'd done this and that and, amn, it felt good. Sure, his ass was sore as hell, and they probably wouldn't be able to do it again for a while yet, but Izuru couldn't wait. He was convinced now. He even thought about maybe coming out of the closet the rest of the way. (He already had an arm and a leg out the wardrobe doors.) True, he was sad to leave Narnia, but the world outside the closet seemed so enticing. There was Gin and gay bars and protests... the list could go on! But then he really thought about it. Out and proud seemed very out of character for him. So he pushed those worries to the back of the closet and hoped nobody would notice the foot holding the closet door open.
Okay, so maybe he wouldn't make some spectacular exit. But he did feel a lot more comfortable with Gin. They could crash on the couch together and not feel obligated to fill the air with petty conversation. It seemed that even Shuuhei felt just a little more comfortable with the two. Now that he and Matsumoto had gotten together.
Which is why Izuru didn't seem all that surprised when Shuuhei made an announcement.
"Matsumoto wants me to move in with her." He said, jamming bread into the malfunctioning toaster. "Is that okay?"
Izuru shrugged. "Do you need help moving your things?" He asked, loading jars of jam into his arms.
"So you're cool with it?" Shuuhei brought out two small plates.
Izuru shrugged again. "Yeah. But you have to take that toaster with you."
Shuuhei flashed a frown. "But Ran already has a toaster."
"Consider it a housewarming gift."
Shuuhei shook his head, and the toast popped up in a puff of smoke. "What will you do once I'm gone?"
"I'll probably rent out the top floor again, or move up to the top floor and rent the bottom out, for a change of scenery." Gin is looking for a place, but I think I might just offer him my bed. Two could fit, if we cuddle really close together, Izuru thought as he and Shuuhei sat down to toast at the kitchen table.
"Oh, okay."
Eating commenced quietly.

There was a potential renter. Her name was Kotetsu Isane, and Izuru immediately recognized her as a regular at the Starbucks. She was easily a half a head taller than Izuru, about the same height as Gin, with matte gray hair and dark charcoal eyes. She was meek and shy and down-to-earth, with a bashful smile and an easy-going personality.
When they talked over the phone about rent, they concluded that she would pay ¥60,000 every month, which was average for rent. Izuru decided that yes, he would move to the upstairs and let Kotetsu Isane take the downstairs. He explained to her that the kitchen and the living room were "community" rooms, that every other month they would switch off for who would buy groceries, if you made a mess in any of the "community" rooms, you were responsible for cleaning it up, and once a month they would pull together some teamwork to do major cleaning in the shared parts of the downstairs, including the front hall and miniscule yard. She agreed to these terms, telling Izuru they were "reasonable and very good rules". They then decided that she would start moving her things in at the beginning of the week after next, right after the term ended.

She was bisexual, they found out, and had a major crush on her coworker, Unohana Retsu, the head nurse in their department. Whenever Isane would talk about Unohana, her eyes would fill to the brim with adoration.
She also invited Izuru and Gin to the gay alliance club she went to on Thursday nights. It was on the university campus, and the teacher who headed the club was actually Izuru's Trigonometry teacher, Szayel Aporro Grantz. A flaming one, he was.
He sat cross-legged on the table top, wearing a skin tight crimson cashmere sweater, light washed skinny jeans and gray Converse tennis shoes. It had initially shocked Izuru to see his professor wearing something other than shiny shoes and dress clothes. So he averted his eyes and glanced around the room at the rest of the attendees. There was Isane, of course, and Gin, and lots of other people Izuru recognized but couldn't name.
"Okay!" Professor Grantz announced in his loud tenor voice. "Isane-nee-chan brought in new members today, so we're going to go around and introduce ourselves!" He flipped his pink hair out of his face. "I'm Szayel Aporro Grantz. Please don't call me Professor Grantz here, I'm not here to teach. Okay, so let's go counter-clockwise, starting with my older brother here." He gestured to a man with very long blond hair.
"I'm Yylfordt. Grantz. Szayel's brother." He said with a wave and wide eyes.
After him came a very short younger-looking man with messy black hair and a skinny braid that hung to the middle of his back. He looked up with buttery yellow eyes. "Ggio Vega," He said. "Welcome." He smirked.
Next was a man that Izuru saw on campus quite often. He had chin-length silky black hair, steely gray eyes, and red and yellow feathers on his upper lashes and eyebrow on the right side of his face. "I'm Ayasegawa Yumichika." He gave a conceited smile.
Next came Isane, then a short woman with sharp eyes and flippy black hair. "Shaolin Fon." She sneered.
Charlotte Cuuhlhourne introduced itself next. It was hard to tell if he/she was a man/woman. He/she wore a mini skirt and fishnet leggings, and a deep V-neck shirt with "sexy" written in silver rhinestones on the front. Fortunately Izuru and Gin were able to govern from the timbre of Charlotte's voice that he/she was most definitely a man. Charlotte gestured dramatically for the butch girl sitting next to him to introduce herself. Her name was Apacci. "It's just Apacci. I don't have a last name that I'm aware of." Her left eye was outlined heavily with pink eyeliner. Izuru wondered if maybe she'd forgotten to do the other eye that morning, then he realized that one eye was ice blue and the other was a deep amber. The eye outlined in pink was the amber one. Apacci nudged the girl next to her, who introduced herself as Sung-Sun. Sung-Sun's hair was long and a murky green-black, and her eyes were lavender. It appeared she had borrowed Apacci's pink eyeliner to draw three dots that decreased in size as they traveled down from her right eye. Apacci and Sung-Sun held hands.
"Luppi Antenor!" The guy next to Sung-Sun sing-songed, holding his arms out in a "v", the arms of his white shirt much too long and covering his hands and then some. The long-haired blond next to him made a face of disgust, and introduced himself.
"Findor Carias." His gray eyes were outlined in lavender.
Izuru was next. He gulped and waved faintly. "Kira Izuru."
Gin looped his arm around Izuru's shoulders with a sly grin. "I'm Ichimaru Gin." Gin's move to draw Izuru closer elicited multiple "aww's" from the smallish group.
"Ugh, I hate being single!" Luppi whined, pounding his fist on his knee. He folded his arms.
"I'll take you out sometime." Yylfordt offered.
Luppi snorted. "Yeah, you wish."
Szayel Aporro clapped his hands together. "All right! Let's get to business. Does anybody have anything they want to share today?" His caramel eyes were bright.
Luppi's hand shot into the air. "Oh, pick me!"
"Luppi?" Szayel's eyes seemed to suddenly grow tired.
"Shit, I forgot what I was going to say."
"Let us know when it comes back to you," Szayel Aporro said with a smile. "Anybody else?" Shaolin Fon tentatively raised a dainty hand. "Shaolin?"
"Yoruichi-sama returned my calls." She dropped her hand back into her lap. "She said we could go get lunch on the 20th."
"That's great, Shaolin!" Szayel Aporro boomed. The group members nodded emphatically with their support. "Do our new members have anything to share?"
Izuru shook his head, but Gin leaned forward with something to say. "We just got back from a trip ta Kyoto, where I ran into an old friend from th' GSA club we had in high school."
"Wow," Szayel Aporro said. "Impressive. It's always nice to run into old friends."
"You bet." Gin nodded.

[Note: This was written to make TGKS sound like it was a film XD I thought it was funny at the time, but I'm not too sure anymore lol]

The director looked up with dread at the rumbling sky, and a fat rain drop landed on his rimless glasses. "Hey everybody," He said into his megaphone. "We're going to have to postpone the Kyoto cemetery scene." There was heated grumbling as the cast and crew helped set up tents and covers to protect themselves and the equipment from the rain. Izuru zipped up his rain jacket and cracked open a bottle of water, preparing himself to wait out the storm. He watched as the director and the producer put their heads together and discussed what to do while it was pouring water from the skies. "Okay!" The director boomed after a moment or two. "We're going to have friendship building with all the cast members! Extras included, so get your butts over here." There was groaning as the cast gathered under a canopy.
Several "ice-breaking" activities later (which were pointless, being as the cast had gotten to know each other months ago when filming began), the rain cleared up, and everybody was pumped to start filming.

I must stop drinking during the week. I must stop drinking during the week. Izuru repeated this mantra over and over as he ran to his class. He was sure Professor Kuchiki was going to skin him alive, being as today was a test day, and being late on test days was unacceptable. I must stop drinking during the week. He burst through the classroom door and slunk to his seat, throwing his backpack down next to his chair. Professor Kuchiki was just beginning to pass out the tests, his face hard and stern as he forcefully slapped a copy down on Izuru's desk. Izuru flinched and ducked his head, making himself small. The man had a very intimidating presence, his black suit and black tie completing the incriminating look. His dark eyes pierced the air as he shot Izuru one last dirty look before continuing on down the row of desks. Izuru grudgingly wrote his name, put his pencil to paper to answer the first question then realized something very important.
He hadn't studied.
Wilting, he answered as best he could, hoping that the answers he yarned out of thin air would suffice. He put his pencil down and slumped onto his desk in defeat. I must stop drinking during the week. Professor Kuchiki pulled the papers out from under Izuru's cheek, and set it on top of the pile of other tests he was collecting.

Why had Gin taken a sudden interest in him? Izuru had never even seen Gin before, and yet Gin was interacting with Izuru as if they were good friends. But somehow, Izuru wasn't uncomfortable with it, and he might even like to actually be friends with Gin. He flicked his eyes at Gin's smiling face.

In a small way, Izuru subconsciously hoped that Gin might be one of those few people to believe him when he said that he was truly happy. He maybe needed someone like that, a friend to rely on. Maybe they both did.

He made no move to shake Gin's arm off. It was actually rather comfortable.

"Gin, how long have you watched me here at the cemetery?"
"Long time." Gin answered simply, shifting to his other foot. "Long enough to know that your hair ain't always been that long. Or that you've gotten taller. I watched you from far away when them folks and you first brought your parents' ashes. I watched the look on your face."
"What did I look like?"
"Wretched." Gin lurched forward, tracing Izuru's cheekbones with his pale thumbs. "Your cheeks were hollow and pale, your arms were too skinny, you walked with a hunch. And your eyes were not blue." Izuru tipped his chin up to look Gin in the half-closed eyes. They shuffled closer together. "They weren't."
"But my eyes have always been blue." Izuru protested.
"They didn't turn blue til I talked to you the first time. Before then, they were the color of death. They were lifeless."
"I'm not sure I get what it is you're saying."
"I think you love me, Kira Izuru."
The first time Gin calls Izuru by his full name knocks the wind out of Izuru. A flood of red heat rushes to the cheeks Gin is tracing arcs on with his thumbs.
"Well, is it true?"
"To an extent. I mean, I'm learning..."
The answer was good enough for Gin.

"Gin, how long have you watched me in the cemetery?"
"Not very long." Gin shifted to his other foot. "It hadn't even been two weeks before we chatted for the first time."
"Really?" Izuru wrapped his lean arms around himself.
"Talking to ya for the first time was really hard for me." Gin looked away with his sly smile.
"It was? I just thought you were creepy."
Gin laughed lightly at that. "Do you love me?" He asked after they'd sighed in unison and taken a long, mellow pause.
Izuru flushed, and Gin coveted the warmth behind his cheeks. "I don't know. I mean- I guess I'm learning."
It was a good enough answer for Gin.

American pop music blared from the living room, and the sound of old school video games was coming from the television and the Nintendo 64. In the midst of it all, Izuru sat on a modular white leather chair, ramrod straight, nervously eyeballing the fluffy white Persian cat that was flicking its tail back and forth as it watched Grimmjow and Nnoitora play two-player Tetris. Any moment now his allergies would kick in and he'd be sent into a fit of sneezing. Any moment now. Grimmjow threw his controller down and cussed, and Nnoitora threw his arms up in a victory stance. Grimmjow stood up and sulked over to the Persian and scooped it up. "I'm not a loser to you, right, Pantera?" He crooned, scratching it behind its ears. It purred, and the hair on the back of Izuru's neck stood up, his nose beginning to tickle.