My Sunshine, My Strength
Open Communication

Rangiku thought about her small taicho's words carefully after she let him slip away. She continued to sit on the couch thinking carefully about what she should do about the situation with her small taicho. She wanted to make everything better for the white haired child, but nothing came to mind. She eventually got up to finish the paperwork. When she finished the paperwork she headed to the kitchen to prepare some food for her young taicho.

She walked to the room with the trey in her hands. She knocked on the door with one hand and a mutter was heard from inside of the room telling her to come in. She opened the door to see the child taicho sitting on his bed. His knees were pulled up to his chest, and his arms wrapped tightly around his legs while his chin rested upon the top of his knees as he stared at the wall. "If you've come to tak about it Rangiku the answer's no."

"No. I just came to see how you're doing and brought you something to eat. I have some things to do." The woman watched as the boy moved slightly so that he no longer clutched his knees. A frown spread across his face. "Wait? What ever is the matter?"

"Where are you going to go Rangiku?"

The fukutaicho of the tenth division took a deep breath. "You're worried about me leaving?"

Toshiro swallowed visibly before looking at the ground. "I'm worried about knowing where you are."

"I see." Rangiku stepped over to the small taicho and sat down by him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the boy scoot over to the head of the bed to get away from her. She let out a sigh as the boy leaned up against the wall. "I know that subject is off limits, but how about telling me why you're worried about not knowing where I am?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know."

The young taicho's voice strained. "Look. I don't know why. I don't know why I'm worried about not knowing where you are anymore then I know why I keep going over to the Quincy area."

The woman leaned back on the palms of her two hands. "Why don't we try to figure that out?"

She turned her head to see the boy's eyebrow's shoot up. Toshiro let out a light laugh. "Hold on. I don't have any clues in regards to the Quincy and why I'm going over there. I honestly don't."

Rangiku reached up one hand to touch the boy's head. For some reason she knew he was lying, and that he knew something. "I got that. I'm talking about the fact you want to know where I am."

"I know. I wander off and don't let you know where I am going. That's rather ironic."

"I'm not worried about that. It's my job to worry about where you are. It's not though your job to worry about where I am." She watched as the small taicho suddenly looked her in the eye as his mouth twisted down into confusion. She let out a laugh. "What?"

"Isn't it my job as your taicho?"

The strawberry blond felt the corners of her mouth twist up into a smile. "I guess you could say that is a part of your job. I think your job is more along the lines of keeping track of your subordinates for work purposes. We're talking about something else entirely."

She watched as Toshiro moved into the position he was sitting in when she first came in. One are became relaxed at his side while his head tilted to the side as he carefully thought about what she said. After a few minutes he spoke up in a rather calm manner. "What you say makes sense. Why is it your job to worry about me?"

Rangiku froze then and saw the boy's eyes widened. "I revealed something I shouldn't have."

"Matsumoto?"

"Well..." The woman turned her head around. "Technically I'm your legal guardian."

The fukutaicho of the tenth waited for a negative reaction from the boy. The sound of his voice after a few minutes indicated he was calming down. "That again makes sense." A sigh from Toshiro caused Rangiku to turn her head to see her small taicho was thinking some more. "I guess then the reason I'm worried is because you are technically my legal guardian. What would happen say something were to happen to you or for some reason you were no longer my legal guardian?"

The woman reached up to twist a strawberry blond lock as she thought carefully about what the boy said. She leaned back again on her palms and looked up at the ceiling. "What would happen?" Rangiku looked up at the ceiling. "I've not thought much about that, but I guess I should think about what will happen to you."

"It's not about what will happen to me."

Rangiku blinked a couple of times before looking at the small taicho. "It's not?"

"No. I have quite a few people to take care for me if something happens to you."

Relief washed over Rangiku as she looked back up at the ceiling. "Yes. There are quite a few people who will take care of you." She felt her shoulder relax allowing her to look at the boy. "What then are you worried will happen?"

Toshiro stared off into space for quite a bit of time. The boy tilted his head finally. "I don't know. I guess I could say it's a feeling of disconnection. I don't want to feel that way."

"Disconnection?" The fukutaicho of the tenth leaned forward. "Have you ever felt this way before?"

"Yeah. I'd say I have."

"When?"

"Recently." The boy's voice strained indicating he no longer felt relaxed.

Rangiku stood up letting out a sigh. "I see this conversation is upsetting you so we'll continue talking about it later."

"Wait? Why are you leaving? Where are you going?"

The woman turned her head to look at the child. "I'm leaving so you can rest and relax. We've got a long day at work tomorrow. As for where I'm going... I'm going to try and figure out some things."

"Yes. But where are you going?"

Rangiku paused as she heard her son's voice suddenly strain. She turned her head to look at the boy to see he tensed up even more. He even moved forward slightly. "Going? I don't know yet?"

"Not the Quincy?"

The woman took a deep breath as she saw Toshiro swallow as if he was guilty of something. "Taicho? Did something happen while you were over by the Quincy."

"Nothing..."

"Nothing?"

"I might have frozen something."

"That it?"

"A toilet ended up blown up. That wasn't me though. That was someone else."

"Is the reason you don't want me to go over there because you don't want me finding out?"

"Maybe."

"I just figured out didn't I?"

"Sort of." The boy let out a sigh before flopping down onto the bed. "Can you promise me you won't go over there?"

Rangiku felt her eyes go up. "No. I can't promise I won't go over there. You do realize you're just making me more interested in going over there?"

Toshiro let out a sigh and covered his eyes. "I guess so."

A smile crept across the woman's face as she reached out to touch the small taicho's shoulder. "You know something?"

"I know a lot of things, but that doesn't mean I can read your mind."

A laugh escaped her lips. "I simply want you to know the conversation we had went well."

The child taicho uncovered his eyes and looked at her. "Really? That's..." Toshiro's head flopped back onto the bed. "I don't get it. How is this conversation different from our usual conversations?"

"You're actually being more open with me then you usually are?" Rangiku watched as one of his eyebrows went up at this comment.

"Is that really a good thing? I mean..." The young taicho looked away. "... I can't imagine being open in ones conversation with the Quincy is a good thing."

"That..." The strawberry blond started to let out a sound of frustration, but then simply frowned and shook his head. "Don't worry about that. In fact, don't worry about anything right now. Just relax."

Rangiku let out a sigh before slipping through the door closing her small taicho's door behind her.