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The Sun and The Moon
Something In My Heart by Royksopp
Isane woke up the next morning to the beginning of an exceptionally boring Sunday. She began with breakfast and a shower, then washed and folded the laundry. After that she attempted to clean and organize her apartment but this task failed to keep her focus. So instead she went for a walk after which she lounged about restlessly, achieving nothing.
Wanting to relieve her boredom she contacted Rangiku and asked if she was down to go out that night. Rangiku, always in the mood and having experienced a rather tiring and boring Sunday filled with work that she had delayed until the last day possible, accepted the invite. They decided to invite Rukia and Kiyone as well and thus a couple hours later the four of them found themselves gathered in a bar that to Isane was surprisingly busy.
"Why are so many people out on a Sunday?" She asked as they made their way through the crowd, she and Rukia in the middle, flanked by Rangiku and Kiyone.
"I dunno, why are you out on a Sunday?" Rangiku asked teasingly.
"Oh. True." Isane said with a tone of slight embarrassment.
Rukia laughed at her.
Isane frowned a small frown at her and said hmph.
Kiyone and Rangiku looked at each other with a glance of understanding.
They arrived at the bar and Isane bought them all a round of drinks. Then they found a table for four by the wall and away from the central area of commotion, the table situated between two diner style benches.
Rangiku took the innermost spot as did Kiyone who sat across from her. Isane slid in beside Rangiku and Rukia took her seat in the last spot remaining across from Isane.
Rangiku sighed then took grasp of the cold perspiring glass of her beer.
"You look tired." Isane commented.
"Well damn."
"Whaat."
"Rude."
"She's not wrong though." Kiyone said then casually took a sip.
"You too!? I guess the Kotetsus are just fucking rude today."
Rukia laughed catching Rangiku's attention.
"What do you think?" Rangiku asked. "Do I look as terrible as they suggest?"
"No. I think you seem tired more so than you look tired." Rukia responded.
"Yeah!" Isane said trying to save face. "That's what I meant."
"Chill." Rangiku responded. "Don't worry so much, I'm only messing with you. In any case, I have full confidence in my unfading beauty." she said with a playfully dramatic flick of her long red hair.
"By the way," she continued while gesturing back at Rukia. "that new haircut is nice."
"Mhm." Isane agreed.
"Hella cute." Rangiku further commented.
Isane shifted uncomfortably upon being reminded of Rukia's beauty and looked at her. Rukia smiled then swept her hair to the side while holding her gaze. Isane averted her eyes, overwhelmed by the flirtation as Rukia looked back at Rangiku and thanked her for her compliment.
At this point, even though it hadn't been discussed openly by all present, the tension between Rukia and Isane was fully apparent and noticeable. Rangiku and Kiyone found it amusing, Isane felt antsy, and Rukia was oddly calm and comfortable.
"So." Isane said after downing a good quantity. "What have you been up to today?" She asked Rangiku trying to get to the bottom of the woman's tiredness and change the subject to a more mundane one.
"Work. Hard boring work. Lil-Shiro forced me to finish my paperwork. It's due tomorrow so I had to do it all in one day."
"Procrastination." Rukia commented taking a break from her slow and small two handed sips which she took while holding the glass with both hands.
"Yeah, it's so boring though y'know."
"I guess." Kiyone and Isane said in perfect unison while Rukia just shrugged in response.
"It doesn't bother you?" Rangiku asked.
"I don't do paperwork." Rukia explained.
"Oh yeah..." Rangiku said, recalling that for some reason Rukia was still unseated and thus did not have such responsibilities.
"Me and Sentarou split it down the middle." Kiyone said.
"And my captain and I delegate most of the paperwork to Lemura."
"Hah! Delegate! Y'all are lucky." Rangiku said. "In the end, if I just did my work on time I wouldn't suffer like this."
"Or you could delegate it." Isane suggested.
"Lol. I might try that." Rangiku responded. "By the way did your captain do her usual gardening today?"
"I don't think so, in fact I haven't seen her since Friday." Isane responded as Kiyone looked down at her buzzing and vibrating Denreishinki and made a face of annoyance.
"What is it?" Isane asked.
"Nothing Hanataro is just so clingy."
"Oh you and him are…" Isane said.
"Yeah." Kiyone responded.
"You didn't tell me about this." Isane complained.
"Am I supposed to?"
"Well it would be nice to know." Isane retorted.
"Ugh you sound like mom." Kiyone complained. "I take it you disapprove then?"
"No, it's just…"
"…surprising." Rangiku said finishing off what Isane was hesitant to say.
"Oh but he's so sweet though." Rukia interjected in his defense.
"Yeah but he's, just, a bit unmanly." Rangiku explained. "I think that's why we, or rather Isane and I find it a bit surprising."
"Ehh he's not unmanly, he's just meek." Kiyone responded.
"He can be brave when he needs to be." Rukia commented.
"Yeah," Kiyone said. "plus he fucks like you wouldn't believe."
Rangiku laughed loudly while Rukia chuckled in a more reserved manner and Isane said "Oh my god," going red in the face, embarrassed on her sisters behalf.
"Hey these things are important." Kiyone said.
"They are." Rangiku agreed.
"One less thing to teach the boy."
"Teach him?" Rangiku asked.
"Yeah like how to leave me the fuck alone when I'm out with friends for one." She said texting furiously.
Rukia laughed a bit louder this time and surveyed the table finding everyone's pint empty.
"Another round?" She offered.
"Sure!" Rangiku said always eager to have someone else buy her drinks. "But look at you, you've barely drank yours." She said pointing towards Rukia's pint of which only a quarter was consumed.
"I know. I drink slowly. Beer is very filling."
"Why not drink liquor then?" Rangiku suggested.
"Too strong." Rukia responded. "I barely drink so everything is kind of strong. Anyway I'll be right back." She said rising up and setting off to the bar.
Isane watched her walk away until she disappeared into the crowd then looked back and found Kiyone and Rangiku both giving her this look (¬‿¬)
"You NEED to make a move." Kiyone said.
"Yeah. The tension is ridiculous. The both of you holding back and everything." Rangiku said.
"But… I don't know…"
"C'mon sis this is what you do: get a couple shots in the both of you to loosen up then take her home and…"
"Stop it Kiyone! I'd never do that plus I'm going home with you tonight anyway." Isane exclaimed alarmed at the suggestion as Rangiku laughed.
"Eww what the fuck?" Kiyone said causing Rangiku to laugh once more.
"You know what…. I... ugh." Isane said deciding not to fight her sisters unrelenting teasing.
"Your sister is a fucking riot." Rangiku said to Isane.
"We should hang out more." Kiyone suggested to Rangiku.
"I'm totally down." Rangiku responded.
And with that Rukia returned carrying three more pints with Momo and Tobiume in tow.
"Look who I found." she said.
"Oh hey! Come sit with us." Rangiku invited as Rukia placed a glass in front of Kiyone, Rangiku and finally Isane.
"Thank you." Isane said.
She glanced at Momo and Tobiume who had taken a seat beside each other and seemed so close and comfortable and felt inspired. So she scooted over closer to Rangiku then reached across the table to slide Rukia's glass to her side and just looked at her.
Rukia smiled and took a seat beside and right up against her.
And now she sat rigid, thigh to thigh with both Rangiku and Rukia now. But she took no notice of the contact with Rangiku or the conversation going on between everyone else at the table. There was only the warmth of Rukia's leg, that pale pretty leg obscured from sight by the fabric of her clothes. Belonging to that pretty girl who so unsettled and excited her as of late.
"You good?" Rukia asked placing a hand upon Isane's knee and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Yeah." Isane said with racing heartbeat as she - emboldened by Rangiku and Kiyone's words and wanting to touch, feel, and explore - placed her hand atop Rukia's and gently ran her thumb across its side.
"I'm great." She said almost whispering.
"Good." Rukia said equally softly as she turned her palm to face Isane's leaving it up to her to decide whether to interlock their fingers.
And she did, then looked at Rukia as if to make sure it was ok.
In response Rukia smiled at her and squeezed her hand. Then she looked away from and engaged in conversation with a bubbly Tobiume.
Finally, Isane relaxed. Comfortable in her and Rukia's secret affectionate touch. Excited at the idea that no one at the table knew they were holding hands beneath the table.
But she was wrong for Rangiku had watched their entire moment unfold.
Rangiku turned her gaze away from the girls beside her and looked down at her cold sweating glass. Conversation drowning out, she ran a finger across it, leaving a clear streak behind in the moist condensation.
She found it beautiful, that simple largely nonverbal exchange, their budding intimacy. She looked up at Momo and Tobiume across from her, gleeful as ever and perfect together. And Kiyone who frustrated and annoyed as she was right now surely found satisfaction in her union. In this moment Rangiku felt lonely. She was the odd one out, the only person at the table who didn't have anybody. No one to love and share tender moments with. An isolated island of emotion whose shores were battered by the eroding waves of betrayal, regret, and sorrow.
Though she told herself that she didn't care for love, that she was satisfied being single, she longed now for nothing else. She looked back at Isane with her messy silver hair and her mind went back to him, the man whose name was that of a color.
She drank some more and remained involved in the conversation, maintaining an unnoticeably artificial cheerful air, but her wandering mind persisted and soon she simply wanted to be alone. So she left, making the excuse that she was tired and wished to go to sleep and wandered off.
She was thinking about him again as she occasionally would. She recalled how from the beginning she was able to see the subtleties of his evolution into what he became, how he went from being merely a strange boy with a curious smile to being a boy who seemed angry withdrawn and secretive, whose smile seemed ever more like a mask.
She remembered when he declared his intention to join the Gotei 13, a group she was at first wary and distrustful of, and become a Shinigami for her sake. Shinigami. The very name made her feel uncomfortable with its pretentious air of grimness. Somehow this move seemed to corrupt him further for the higher he rose in skill and rank the farther away from her he drifted.
She remembered his eyes one day, eyes she rarely saw, and how they had changed. How in that moment when he hugged her tight and told her with a tremble in his voice that he had been promoted to the third seat of the Fifth Division.
They slept together that night for the first and only time. She had tried to persuade him to have sex with her many times before but he had always refused her advances. She assumed he was just nervous he wouldn't perform well in bed, or perhaps that he simply did not find her attractive. But she was wrong for when the robes covering her body fell to the ground his face immediately changed. Gone was the mocking smile, and opened were his eyes. And in them she saw at first amazement and admiration, a reassuring sight.
He seemed timid as he carefully touched the soft flesh of her boobs. He looked at them as if they were strange objects, a pair of completely foreign new discoveries. But he was clearly attracted to her and this made her oh so happy for she was attracted to, no, in love with him and yearned for nothing more than her feelings to be returned. Her happiness soon faded though for when he began to feel pleasure she began to see deeper into him than she ever had before.
She saw pain and fear take hold in his eyes and perceived a fight begin to rage within himself. He trying to keep up his façade, his thinning veil, as it steadily faded with the building of his sexual arousal. She saw that he was trying to hold something back and bury it deep within him. Keep it hidden from her and the world. She didn't know what it was but she knew that if she saw it, it would scare her. So instead of staring deeper into his twitching pained face she pulled his head down so she could kiss his neck and held it there, close to hers.
They remained like this, his face buried in crook of her neck, breathing heavily into the sheets as he thrusted away, she staring at the ceiling, pretending to feel pleasure as she wondered who it truly was that was on top her, this young man that was so close yet felt so far.
And then he came. He pulled out, an unnecessary move as he was wearing protection, and shook and shivered as he held onto her body tighter than ever, steadying himself. She felt happy for him, happy that she could give him such pleasure. Then he lifted his head and looked into her eyes. He smiled, a genuine smile and one of the few she would ever see from him, and he kissed her.
A tear ran down her face as she kissed back. A tear of happiness for in that kiss unlike in the empty and mechanical coital disaster that just transpired there was passion and emotion. She knew then that he truly loved her, and that two fires burned within him. The fire that burned with love for her and the other one of which she only caught a glimpse. Something was truly wrong with him but at least he loved her as she loved him. And that, was enough to satisfy her then.
This was one of the three moments in which she truly felt closest to him. The first being when they first met, this union the second, and his death in her arms the third.
Walking a somewhat arbitrary path through seireitei as her mind went on this independent journey through her past with Gin, she returned to the present when she looked around and found that she had strayed close to the Fourth. Feeling very much sad and alone, she recalled the calming comfort Unohana gave her and thus the desire for her companionship took hold.
"I shouldn't." She thought to herself. "It's late and I've been drinking. I haven't even been invited."
But the longing was as strong as her solitude and so she set on the path to Unohana's house just to see if the lights were on.
She soon arrived and found them off.
"Good." She thought to herself as she looked at the simple structure. Relieved that she wouldn't be bothering her while simultaneously sad that she wouldn't be able to see the sweet captain.
"I guess I'll just go home then." She thought to herself wishing Unohana a good night's rest.
And so she turned around to go back the way she came and nearly jumped out of her skin four behind her she saw none other than Unohana herself.
"Hello Rangiku-san." She said. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"Hi." Rangiku said with a relieved smile, instantly being made comfortable by Unohana's presence.
"Just passing by or did you wish to see someone? It seems Isane is out."
"Just passing by and yes Isane is out. She's with Rukia and some friends. I just left them."
"You left? Why?"
"I didn't feel like drinking anymore."
"Uh oh." Unohana said teasingly.
Rangiku laughed. "Don't worry, I'm just buzzed. Plus I usually don't get carried away as often as it may seem."
"Buzzed, I like that word." Unohana commented. "And good that you aren't putting your liver through that much abuse. Too much and you'd have to come see me way more often."
"Ehh that doesn't sound so bad."
Unohana smirked. "The pain of cirrhosis is though. Anyway I can tell you're not drunk, I was just teasing. Still, you're welcome to come inside for some tea if you wish, the sweet kind of course." she offered, clearly seeing that Rangiku had come for the sole purpose of seeing her.
"That would be wonderful." Rangiku said thankful that she was getting what she wanted.
"Do you like chamomile?" Unohana asked as she handed some of her grocery bags to Rangiku.
"Yes." Rangiku said. "Wait, you don't grow chamomile too do you, I don't recall seeing it in your garden."
"I don't. I prefer to pick wild chamomile. Every picking produces a slightly different tasting tea and I wouldn't get that variation of flavor if I grew it myself in the controlled environment that is my garden." Unohana explained.
Rangiku smiled, finding beauty in the thought of Unohana roaming about looking for flowers to pick and later brew and she looked forward to the tea to come. Both because of its fresh and exotic source and because Unohana would be brewing it, thus ensuring that it would be of quality.
They made their way inside and put the bags on the table.
"I'll be back shortly." Unohana said moving to go freshen up.
"I can put this away for you if you want." Rangiku offered.
"You know where it goes?"
"No but I'll figure it out."
"Ok. Thank you for your help."
Rangiku nodded in response. Unohana smiled appreciatively and disappeared into her room.
Alone again, Rangiku wondered if it was ever possible that she and Gin could have had a normal life together. If there existed even a single branch in the tree of time in which they were a normal happy couple. Their love for each other openly declared and thriving with mutual satisfaction. No hidden dimensions of character. No mysterious disappearances, or unanswered longings. She sighed, thinking to herself that there probably wasn't as she mindlessly put Unohana's groceries away.
Then she set to work on the produce. She opened the bag and saw in one of the transparent plastic bags 4 bright orange persimmons.
She pulled the bag out and stood staring at it, transfixed. The very sight of the fruits saddening her further.
Then Unohana returned.
"They're ripe and still sweet would you like to share one?" she asked.
"No I," Rangiku began but stopped when she saw that Unohana was wearing a comfortable looking loose white shirt that did nothing to hide the scar on her chest.
Her eyes immediately went to it, then jumped back up to Unohana's eyes as she felt that hers strayed upon something that shouldn't be seen.
Unohana understood and stated simply "You've already seen it so I see no need to continue hiding it from you."
"You prefer them dried don't you?" Unohana asked gesturing back at the fruits.
"Yes." Rangiku said. "It was Gin and my favorite."
"You don't like them anymore?"
"I still do. But I can't eat them. The sadness of the memories their consumption elicits far overshadows my enjoyment of the fruit. Yet, when I go out shopping and I see them for sale I want to buy them, I consider buying them but never do. It feels wrong to eat them alone. Maybe I should just buy a bunch of the green ones and eat them until I absolutely hate the fruit."
Unohana laughed at Rangiku's suggestion.
"And I take it that it's these memories of him that have you down now." Unohana said as she rinsed and filled her teapot.
"Yeah. But I didn't come here to vent to you."
"So you did come to see me."
"Yeah." Rangiku said then looked down feeling guilty.
Reading her emotions Unohana said "Seeking the comfort of a friend is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of. I invited you in because I saw that you sought that comfort, and if you wish to talk I will listen."
"Thanks Retsu." Rangiku said. "There's nothing really to say though. This just happens my mind just, it returns to him. Remember that night Isane and I got fucked out of our minds?"
"Fucked out of our minds!?" Unohana said with a laugh. "I love the way you say things. Yes. I remember. Why?"
"She said after explaining why it was that she was down that she simply needed to forget everything that transpired between you two. And to that I said "Never forget, only move on." I said those exact words and I meant them. I try to follow them myself. But in times like this I wish I could forget about him or at least forget his truth."
"His truth?"
"Yes, shortly before his death I asked him "Why?" Why he did what he did and why he was doing what he was doing."
"What did he tell you?"
"Nothing at first. He knocked me out, Hakufuku of all things, and then went and tried to Kill Aizen all on his own. And he failed."
"After I woke and gathered myself I went to him and held him. He lied in my arms, defeated and discarded, and he said "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't kill him for you.""
"Confused, I asked him what he was talking about and he told me that years ago when we were young and poor back when we first met, men under Aizen's command took something from me and that that day he swore he would get his revenge. That he would kill Aizen for doing me harm. And he said that this was the only way, that he had to wait, not only to become strong enough to challenge him but to gain his trust as well. I asked him, what about the world? What about our world that he did so much to destroy? And he said that the world was destined to burn and that it would become ash with or without his efforts. But, that if I was happy, if I didn't cry, then all would be ok. He said the same thing he said when we were kids."
"He betrayed everyone for you." Unohana said understanding the full picture now.
"Yes. All those people he hurt, all those people he killed, he did it for me and out of this hatred that was born so long ago and had stuck in his heart." Rangiku said with tears gathering in her eyes.
"When they left us and went to Hueco Mundo, the day they tore a hole in the sky on Sokyoku Hill, I finally accepted that he was, as he would claim with his mocking face, a snake. A solitary murderous creature that didn't and couldn't love. But that unlike a snake a snake, he killed not because to but because he enjoyed the act. And that he wished for nothing more than to burn this world to the ground. Imagining him like this, as some sort of murderous empty psychopath helped me move on. I was a fool to ask him why because finding out that it was all for me hurt more than not knowing. He was a murderer and a traitor and a psychopath to whom the world meant nothing, but he loved me. And in that moment as I held him I loved him just as much as ever."
"I just…"
"I don't…" Rangiku said starting to cry.
"Shhhhhh." Unohana said, silencing her as she pulled Rangiku into a tight consoling embrace.
"I understand." She whispered as Rangiku sobbed into her shoulder.
Rangiku gathered herself a bit, and pulled herself off of Unohana.
"You know what his last words were?"
"What were they?" Uhonana asked.
"Let me go, snakes aren't supposed to die like this, we're supposed to die alone."
"Right up till the bitter end he kept that goddam snake thing going. Right at the end trying to push me away like always. And I'm left here, unable to move on, wondering how someone becomes that broken, and why I had to love him that deeply."
"Some people are just born broken Rangiku and others just become that way. And I feel like the fact that you could love someone that broken so deeply says something special about your heart."
Rangiku sniffled and smiled an affectionate smile. "Do you always know what to say?"
Unohana smiled and squeezed Rangiku's shoulder and said "No. But the water is boiling so let's make tea."
Rangiku laughed and said ok, then wiped her eyes dry. She opened the cupboard and took out the appropriate cups while Unohana fetched the bag of dried chamomile and opened it up.
"Smell." She said holding the bag out below Rangiku's nose, exposing her to the sweet herbaceous aroma.
"Amazing." Rangiku said. "This is literally a bag of dried flowers."
"It is." Unohana said enjoying Rangiku's simple fascination.
"There's something beautiful about that." Rangiku said, clearly moved by the bag of hand-picked tea.
And so Unohana set to work brewing it then let it steep.
"You haven't told anybody Gin's story have you?" Unohana asked.
"No." Rangiku said. "He probably wouldn't want anyone to know this truth. And anyway I don't want to be known as the one he destroyed so much for, the one he left behind. You're the first person I've told, probably the only person I will ever tell."
"I see. You know, I too was left behind by someone I was close to. I loathe to call her the love of my life but that is what she objectively was. Come now though, our tea is ready. Do you take yours with lemon, sugar, or both?"
"Just lemon for this, I don't want to mute its flavors with sugar." Rangiku responded.
Unohana smiled liking Rangiku's taste then asked "Have you put the lemons in the refrigerator yet?"
"Not yet, they must still be in the bag." Rangiku said opening it up again to look for the lemons. "Here they are." She said handing them to Unohana.
"I'll finish putting the produce away while you slice the lemon then." Rangiku said.
"Ok. Thank you." Unohana said then put away the sugar cubes which neither of them had any interest in and instead pulled out her trusty cutting board and a knife as well as two additional saucers on which to place the teacups and lemon slices.
"Inside or outside?" Unohana asked as she chopped.
"Outside." Rangiku said. "You like the outdoors and the tea will keep us warm."
Unohana laughed "Ok." She said. "Outside it is."
And so they finished their preparations, Unohana fetched a warm looking robe and draped it over her shoulders and they made their way outside. Unohana carrying a tray with the teapot and the cups and lemons, Rangiku opening the doors along the way. They sat at the bench and Unohana poured Rangiku a cup and handed it to her and then poured one for herself.
She sat back and stared at Rangiku who upon receiving the steaming cup and thanking Unohana for it closed her eyes brought it to her face and deeply inhaled its vapors. Then she brought the cup to her lips, took a sip, and burned herself. She blew on it, then took another sip, swallowed it, and smiled a satisfied smile. Then opened her eyes again to see Unohana staring at her.
"What?" She said. "I was experiencing it."
"And how was the experience?"
"Good. There's so many layers to it. I probably shouldn't swallow it so fast."
"I'm glad you like it." Unohana said as she finished squeezing her lemon into it and took a couple sips then stared off into the sky.
"Your story." Rangiku reminded her.
"Oh yes. Though different from yours, it began in the same way. She, starved half to death, me, a girl who was a bit older than she was and who had only started to discover how to survive alone. I remember when I found her, she was so skinny, skeletal almost, but she had the most beautiful long black hair. Like mine in color, but significantly straighter and far more beautiful."
"More beautiful?" Rangiku asked challenging Unohana's claim as she looked at Unohana's long wavy locks.
"Stop it." Unohana said with a chuckle, laughing slightly uncomfortably in response to Rangiku's flirtation.
Rangiku giggled and took another sip burning herself as she did so.
Unohana continued. "Anyway I took care of her, nursed her back to health as best I could. We became friends and soon lovers. She was the smart one, the one who knew how to weave her way into anyone's heart and mind, while I was the strong one, the one who always protected us. We were two girls, alone in this world, becoming women all on our own."
Unohana stared off into dark sky like she was looking for something in it, starlight and the moon shining onto her face. Then she continued. "She loved me, and I loved her. I remember I once looked out into the night sky as she laid with her head in my lap and I compared her to the moon. I called her my guiding light through the darkness. And she, not to be outdone and knowing just how to pull upon my heartstrings, responded by calling me her sun. She said that the moon, as bright as it may seem, merely reflects the light of the sun and that I was more like the giver of life to her earth than she was the bringer of light to my night skies.
Anyway, that's what she said. She must have fallen out of love, or perhaps she never loved me at all, for after 600 years together, I caught her in someone else's arms. She looked at me, straight into my eyes and said with an unwavering voice "I am the crescent, the moon whose true form is hidden behind shadow, and I have chosen a new orbit." and soon after that she was gone."
"Where did she go?" Rangiku asked.
"There." she said pointing upward.
"She passed away?" Rangiku said with a saddened voice.
"What? No. She got promoted to the Royal Guard."
"Oh, wow!" Rangiku said as she looked up at the sky for a moment and imagined what lie beyond, all the way up there where Restu's former lover was in that place, the only plane of existence she had never seen.
"It brought her so much pride, to come from nothing, rise from the dirt as you and me and she did, and be invited to walk in the Kingdom of The Sky. To learn, grow, and develop so much that she would be recognized by the King of Souls himself."
"At the time however I felt so angry and betrayed and alone. I couldn't understand how she could leave me behind like that and take someone else as a lover after so much time we spent together. But time passed and I moved on. I came to understand her desire to go, and honestly, if I was in her position I would have probably gone too. And I forgave her betrayal. A betrayal that pales in comparison to and is completely different from the one that you faced, but one that broke my heart nonetheless."
"You see Rangiku, there are some wounds that only time can heal. So cry if you need to, allow the throes of pain, sorrow, and even resentment to take you. But don't try and force yourself to move on. Don't wish that the past wasn't what it was. And don't question the wisdom of your own words."
"Never forget, just wait, and in time you will move on." Unohana said.
Rangiku stared at her for a moment and a tear fell from her eyes. She wiped it away, put her cup down and stood. Reaching out to Unohana requesting a hug as another tear fell, twinkling in the starlight.
"She must really like hugs." Unohana thought to herself. "Or maybe she just likes hugging me. Oh no, she's crying again." And so she stood and let herself sink into Rangiku's arms.
"Why the tears?" She asked softly whispering into Rangiku's ear.
"Your words, your story, your advice, they struck a chord in me and I just feel really close to you right now." Rangiku whispered.
"I'm glad." Unohana said as she hugged a little tighter, happy that she could bring Rangiku comfort.
Then Rangiku let her go and looked down at the scar on her chest.
"She didn't give this to you then?" She asked as she softly touched it.
"No. Someone else did." Unohana said developing goosebumps both from the cold and the memory of his blade's penetration triggered by the touch of Rangiku's hot fingers.
Seeing the goosebumps, Rangiku withdrew her hand and wrapped the fabric of Unohana's robe tighter around her body.
"You're cold." Rangiku said.
"A little bit." Unohana responded as she looked at Rangiku's face and thought to herself that if she was younger and more reckless she would probably step forward and kiss her. So tender and sweet it would be, to accompany their emotional closeness of the evening with physical closeness.
Instead she decided that the time had come for her to put an end to the development of Rangiku's affections toward her and erect a wall between their hearts. The time had come for her to tell Rangiku the story of who she really was, the story of Yachiru Unohana.
"Rangiku." She said.
"Yes Retsu."
"If you aren't too tired I'd like to tell you the story of how I got this scar and the full story of my past."
"Of course." Rangiku responded. "You made time to listen to and be with me tonight so how could I say no to you?"
"Ok. Let's go inside then. The cold is getting to my old bones."
Rangiku laughed and they made their way back indoors. They refilled their teacups and Unohana began while Rangiku sat tired but attentive and listened, fully attuned to that soft sweet voice.
. . .