FOUR SEASONS OF A DEATH GOD: SPRINGTIME IN SOUL SOCIETY

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. This is just a fanwork.

Rating: M (Adult theme, sexuality, nudity, and violence.)

Alt Timeline - Multicharacter-centric - OCs

A/N: I wrote this story in French a while ago back in 2012. I don't know why I am coming back to the Bleach fandom after years of absence. It just may feel therapeutic to me that I finish this and leave an offering of sorts to my fellow Ichiruki fans. I was just the biggest fan of the series, having devoted ten years of my life to it when Kubo lost me with the Fullbring arc. I did continue reading a bit deep into the Quincy War. I dislike almost all of it, including the horrible rushed ending. Know that I lean for IchiRuki and that Orihime, as Kubo wrote her, irked me most of the time. I mean the girl is not that bad, and I could get on board with their ship if only she had one meaningful conversation or a big moment with Ichigo. But we're not here to dwell on this. This is just what I wanted to see in Bleach. I am crazy about character development, and so you will see lots of them in this, characters you will see evolve, grew and...change...

It's starting from chapter 414 of the Manga. The end of Aizen Arc. This fanfic does not follow a particular ship. Like I said, I am a die-hard Ichiruki. But as I tend not to bash characters, then Orihime fan you can also read my fic without being afraid. I have two deaths I regretted Gin and another certain someone. In writing this story, I especially gave myself the opportunity to have the story I wanted to see as selfish as it sounds. I published hoping someone else may enjoy it too. I think Tite Kubo has a knack for creating individualities. I respect his genius.

While I was translating the whole story, I made some heavy editing at times from the French version. So if you already read it, you may find some differences here and there.

-1-

HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

Ichimaru Gin

Former Commander of the Arrancar Army of Aizen Sousuke

Former Captain of the 3rd Division

Childhood friend of Matsumoto Rangiku

Wanted "Dead or Alive" in Soul Society for High Treason, Attempted Murder and Conspiracy ... But the day is not over.

He stared at the tiny opaque pearl with an air close to religious contemplation. The Hōgyoku. It seemed almost insignificant in the palm of his hand. The mischievous smile on his face disappeared. A veil of sobriety tinted the turquoise of his eyes as he watched the object. Time seemed suspended as the sphere rolled again in the palm of his hand. It was the black pearl that started this war. He could feel it vibrating between his fingers, rebellious and tenacious, an independent sentient entity.

Gin Ichimaru had it in his hands.

His revenge.

Over the past century, he had done more than desire it. He had built a life where the black pearl was his only concubine where there was nothing else. No other was entitled to his thoughts. Nothing else had room or importance. Nothing? In fact, let's not be too hasty.

She ... Her heady perfume, a mixture of jasmine and rose, with a definite air of autumn was heavy in the air like a reminder that he could never evade her. Speaking of the wolf? He could recognize her reiatsu signature amongst a thousand. It was so distinctly calling to him.

"It looks like I made it just in time. "

The audacity of this woman could have at other times, and different circumstances made him smile. But here he was, and all he wanted to do was drag her by the hair kicking and screaming back to the Soul Society. Ran-Chan never made it easy for him. He did not foresee it in his plans. Rangiku Matsumoto had always been an unknown, a mathematical factor, and a cause already lost. Whenever she was nearby, he had all the trouble in the world keeping his cool. He kept his spiritual pressure intact by habit. He even managed to keep his smile in her presence. But when they were so close to each other, his ideas were never very clear.

"Captain Aizen, I apologize for my friend getting in the way! I will take her over there. "

There was no hesitation in his voice, only an excess of politeness very far from his personality. But again, he had these moments. Aizen did not seem to mind. The man was still feeling the effects of his victory over Urahara.

"I don't mind. We have time in front of us anyway."

Gin immediately bowed in a respectful gesture. For a second, he let a mischievous smile spread across his lips again.

" Are you sure? This is not a problem? "

Despite his dilated pupils and his smirk, there was not the slightest trace of emotion on Aizen Sousuke's still half-shinigami face.

"Not at all. "

Aizen had uttered the words with enough detachment to warn Gin that the minutes that would follow would be decisive. His next actions were already under review. Gin disappeared for a fraction of a second, hugged Rangiku and teleported them the next moment on the roof of a building twenty kilometers away.

He did not have time to hear Aizen's last words. But if he had learned anything from his master after all his years of servitude, one should never lower his guard. Aizen had always known what Gin felt for her. It was the only thing Gin had not managed to erase over the years. Aizen knew what she meant to him. His heart. His conscience. The Joker.

Her body was naturally bending against his, sharing an instinctive intimacy, her wide eyes torn between horror, nausea, fear, disappointment, hatred, and all these things Gin genuinely did not like to see in her lapis-lazuli irises. She struggled firmly trying to draw her zanpakutō. He could predict all her moves. She groaned against him. Her hot, sweaty body slipped between his hands. Before she managed to get Haineko out of its holster, he released her. She fell back on the roof with the grace of a cat and gave him a feral annoyed growl as a bonus. He moistened his lips in response. His brain was already doing the uttermost imagining what other sounds she could make.

"You can barely stand. Why did you come?" He said to her without giving up his smile.

Her eyes flashed in his direction. Her mane danced frantically in the wind. Several times she leaned forward. She was not bothered by his spiritual pressure. He had kept it to a minimum. No, this constant pressure like a weight on her neck, Rangiku owed it to Aizen. And he hoped that it had at least the merit of making the young woman reflect on the difference of power. She staggered toward him slowly.

" I opened a Senkaimon as soon as I felt your reiatsu disappear, after all, I know the coordinates of Karakura well."

His smile vanished. Chilling.

"I did not ask you how you got here. I asked why you came here when you can barely stand up? "

A few drops of sweat dripped down her neck into her breasts. She pushed a strand of blond hair back all defiant and ready to die. He smiled again amicably.

" I came for you."

Gin's lips twitched in a straight line. What in the bloody fucking hell was wrong with this woman?

"I can finally ask you ... " She paused for a moment during which she stared at him carefully as if to finally print his face into her memory. At least he imagined her doing just that. He imagined presumptuously that she would want to keep at least a few things from him when all this was over. It made him smile.

No, Rangiku was staring ardently because she was looking for a few things in his eyes. She was perhaps looking for signs of remorse. Gin hated to disappoint a friend. He smiled even more like a fox.

"Why did you betray Kira when he had so much faith in you?" He cut her off immediately with a sneer.

"Are you serious? Is it really Izuru's faith that I betrayed? When you say "he had so much faith in you" we're not really talking about my lieutenant, am I right?"

Gin let his irritation known in the guise of a sigh. She really wanted to talk about another man. The world could end in a minute, and his favorite girl was asking him about another man. One had to appreciate the irony of it all. He released his reiatsu at the same time. The atmosphere darkens immediately. His spiritual pressure rose gradually, and the building started to move beneath their feet with debris soaring in the air. Rangiku widened her hazel eyes with horror. He was expecting the change in mood. It was always like that when he allowed her to enter his universe.

Nevertheless, she recovered quickly from the shock. She took some bloody resolutions about their future it seems. It was time to move on to something else.

"Ah, I really do not know why you came! "

Big, clear, limpid tears threatened to fall. But Rangiku Matsumoto stubbornly refused to shed a single tear in front of him. It was a bit melodramatic and not to his liking. Gin made a shunpo and found himself a few inches from her face. He heard her inhaled sharply at their sudden proximity and gorged himself with her scent last time. Jasmine.

There was no way to postpone this moment. Sorry, Rangiku! He had to perform a final act of treason to accomplish his dark designs. He touched the locket on her neck, his fingers sliding softly against her curves. Her life was pulsating under his fingers. Their eyes met. The desire in her eyes, her half-open lips ... his own lust ... Their reiatsu furiously collided. His was stronger, and it suddenly engulfed everything around them like an ocean wave in a storm. She winced at the effort she had to make to keep breathing. It was usually the point where he stopped himself. But just for today, he wanted to be entirely transparent with her. He wanted her to really see him as if it was the last time. Buildings around them crumbled to dust. Her breath caught in her throat painfully, her little fingers shaking around Haineko. She turned her gaze to him once more with this air of defiance when only a light breeze could make her collapse. The air around them was unbearable. She hadn't know spiritual pressure like that since... She was searching for a point in comparison it seemed to him, and Gin saw the exact moment when she realized she could find none. It was the worst betrayal of all.

I can tell that you've never been true to me

It only needed a second to remember the reason why he was about to commit the irreparable. He leaned in her ear again. It would be hypocritical of him to say that she was the reason he followed Aizen.

I can smell that you're acting so fearfully

I can hear what you're hoping I want to hear

I can feel the alarm bells ringing in me

I can touch, but I know you do not feel a thing

I can pray, but I know you commit a sin

I can sense now it's all become clear to see

"Listen, Rangiku ... You're in my way. "

He brandished his zanpakutō a few inches from her face. Rangiku remained frozen and breathless. Then he noted the precise moment when she realized he was not joking. A glimmer of warning crossed the clear of her pupils. Her fingers searched for Haineko. Surprise prevented her from making any sound, and she gave up the idea of using it. His hand brushed her face softly. Gin Ichimaru opened his eyes as well. For a brief moment, a rare instance, the blue of the sky had been injected into his eyes, as clear and transparent as his betrayal. He whispered in her ear. She never knew if he had just told her "I love you" or "Farewell." She also did not know if he had released Shinsou.

She just knew that she did not have time to call forth Haineko. A whitish aura enveloped their faces everything faded around them.

Gin let the young woman slide on the floor gently. Haineko, still in its sheath, fell back to the ground in a macabre symphony. Gin looked down again. He pushed the scabbard with his left foot and smiled cold-bloodedly.

You're no good, and you mean no good

Treacherously!

" I'm back, Captain Aizen."

" What did you do with her?"

"I killed her."

He had pronounced those words without departing from his usual mischievous smirk. He declared them with such a finality... a deadly finality... As if he hadn't left his heart bleeding in some alleys years ago.

After contemplating his words for a few seconds, the distrust in his mentor's features dissipated. Aizen turned to him emotionless.

"I no longer feel her reiatsu."

Gin nodded slowly.

"But I'm surprised, I thought you still felt some kind of attachments for her."

Gin moved with the languor of the snake, his coat whipped the air noisily in its wake.

" Attachment? Of course, I ain't got nothing like that. I told you when I met you for the very first time. I'm a snake. My skin's cold. I do not have a heart. I crawl around looking for prey with the tip of my tongue. When I found one I take a likin' to, I swallow it whole. That's the kind of creature I am. I told you that, didn't I? "

Gin circled the man, his hands behind his back. Aizen took the time to digest his words. It was as if he was putting it away in the corner of the computer that served as his analytical brain.

"I swear... I've about grown tired of playing cat-and-mouse."

They both turned his attention to the group of high school students.

"What are you gonna do after you kill the kids?"

Gin heard the metallic whistle as Aizen unsheathed Kyouka Suigetsu, it was a rare sound.

"I'll hang their corpses out of town in a place they can easily be seen, and then I will set about creating the Royal Key."

Gin nodded squarely as he gripped the blade of his mentor. It sounded like a plan.

"If that's the plan, I'll be the one taking care of the kids."

"Gin, it sounds good to me."

With his usual smirk, Gin knew dinner had just arrived. Now he had it in his hand. This insignificant little thing. There was no one to get in his way. He had had centuries to plan his revenge. He had had centuries to learn to tame the anger inside him. Removing from Aizen what he wanted most in the world was like payback. For a few seconds, Gin Ichimaru let himself believe that the artifact burning the palm of his hand could really create the world in which Rangiku would smile again.

But it was a lie. Something was wrong. He spread his fingers and winced in pain. The Hogyoku vibrated in his fist. Gin naively believed that he had succeeded in becoming a snake to better devour his prey. He had made his Bankai the pivotal element of his vengeance. Like a snake, he had wanted to strike at the most opportune moment. Kamishini no Yari had pierced Aizen Sousuke's chest, left a small blaze of steel in his heart, and its poison had sought to destroy every cell in his body. It took centuries to prepare. To prepare to leave his heart for dead on the roof of a building.

How ironical again that he had just left her as he had found her that morning in the middle of the woods, ravaged by pain. Aizen had no idea what he and his henchmen had done to him by attacking Rangiku. Rangiku's innocence tainted the ground. They were not content to take a little of her spiritual pressure. They had to piss and stain on what was his. Unforgivable.

Seeing Aizen with a hole in his heart may have been what he was aiming for, yet to witness was something else like he was suddenly aware of his lack of a contingency plan. This was strange. Things were not exactly going as planned. When Aizen turned again before his eyes, the first thing that came to his mind was that he had not apologized to her. No doubt, he probably would not have the opportunity.

Instead of suffering the pain of a thousand deaths as he should have, Aizen had not only survived, but he had also evolved. Even stronger, his spiritual pressure reached levels Gin had never seen. Unsheathing Shinsou would be useless. Before Gin could understand the incomprehensible, Aizen grabbed his arm and pulled it in a fluid motion, like a child snapping an ant's feet for fun. Gin took a few seconds to record what was happening. He had not even felt his limb parting with his body. He fixed his arm at his feet in pure shock. Aizen first morphed first into a butterfly. Then the next moment he waved Gin's arm in the air like a trophy. Life, on the other hand, was leaking on the ground, in the midst of large puddles of hemoglobin. Once, Aizen had already taken it off once. He had tried to take Rangiku, the only thing that tied him to this level of existence. He had sworn to make him pay. He had denied his heart for so long to banish all hesitation. He wanted Aizen to die preferably in agony, no matter what the price was. He did not have high ideals. He had no pretense of wanting to save the world by his gesture. Nor did he intend to fulfill any destiny. He tried to protect Ran-chan's smile. He did not know anymore. All these things seemed suddenly insignificant. The only things that had ever counted in his eyes, as naïve and cliche as they were, was to make Aizen pay for making Rangiku cry, just because he could. Kyouka Suigetsu cut again in his flesh. A new stream of blood sprinkled the ground. Aizen cut through his self-esteem again... and again. He just stood there, uncaring, not feeling any pain, his mind drifting away unaccustomed to failure. A breeze of air blew on his raw flesh. The ground turned red at his feet. His vision blurred. The ground receded under his feet. Some things kept him from falling forward. Kyouka Suigetsu was crossing his ribcage again. His mouth parted in a sigh, a trickle of blood dripped onto the dusty floor. He should have said he was sorry.

Moving his wrist nonchalantly, Aizen pushed back Gin and put his zanpakuto back in its scabbard. The silver-haired shinigami crashed into a collapsed building with violence. The captain of the third division thought back to all that he had sacrificed for this very moment and could not help thinking that someone even higher than the highest ranking in Sereitei had the cruelest sense of humor. Oh well! That was life. A new grimace stretched his lips.

Matsumoto Rangiku

Lieutenant of the tenth division under the orders of Tōshirō Hitsugaya

Childhood Friend of Gin Ichimaru

Killed by Gin Ichimaru ...

She felt herself dying in his hands. She saw death reflecting in Gin Ichimaru's blue eyes and did absolutely nothing to avoid it. Kido. You fell very low, Matsumoto! She tried to sit up and took a deep breath. She could not move, petrified, immobilized, at the mercy of Haku-Fuku just as Gin had wished. She looked up at the sky. If she was still alive, it was because Gin had wanted it so. She let out a scream of rage. How many times would she let him play with her? She, Matsumoto Rangiku, Jūbantai's Fukutaicho. She had no idea she was so weak.

Rangiku searched for his reiatsu. Her stomach contracted painfully.

"Gin! "

The scream had escaped her before she could stop herself. She prolonged it as long as she could. A long complaint tore the atmosphere. She had to ... He was hurt. She made an effort to get on all fours. Rangiku screamed his name. She cursed him. She invoked him in prayer. She would not ask him any more questions. She would savor every second he would play with her. She pleaded with him. She made the promise that if only she could free herself from this spell. She would make herself tiny in his life. She did not care about the consequences. She did not want to be here. She did not want to be without him. Still and always, he abandoned her. He always turned his back on her without leaving anything behind. She could not stand watching Gin Ichimaru's back over and over again.

Matsumoto screamed again and managed to catch the only thing that had never left her or turned her back on her.

"Haineko...Haineko ..." She murmured. "Please ... Please ... Help me!"

The snow piled up between her hands. But she was not cold at all. Her heart was so lonely. Solitude alone prevented her from being cold. She did not have to open her eyes to find out where she was, where Haineko had brought her. She was exactly where it all began, where she had seen his back for the first time.

" He's gone again, isn't he?" Shouted her Zanpakutō with disdain. Rangiku kept her head down and let her tears run down in the snow. Haineko shrugged impatiently.

"It was all so predictable. You are alive. That's already it."

The feline princess climbed onto the roof of the cabin, where years earlier, Gin and Rangiku had cohabited. The cat yawned lazily and curled up on the shaky roof of the shelter.

"I could not do it. I am not strong enough. I want to be strong enough. But I cannot do it alone."

"If you keep crying, you'll make tiny wrinkles on your forehead, old woman." Haineko purred sweetly, checking her claws lazily.

" Help me! Do not stay here! Do not stay idle!"Rangiku pleaded.

"Nothing compels you either to remain prostrate there like a fool.

Rangiku realized that Haineko was right. Haku-Fuku did not work in her inner world. She finally straightened up, feeling a bit shaky. Haineko welcomed her efforts with a round of applause.

" Progress is being made."

"Are you not going to help me?"

"Depends if it means I have to save the snake... I'm not ready to waste my time."

"Haineko. I did not ask you until now, I let you idle and waste your potential and today ... "

Haineko looked at her severely. She gave the most feral glare, her irises incandescent as if someone had cracked a match.

" You asked me everything, and I gave you everything, Rangiku Matsumoto. We have suffered your ingratitude. You are the only one to have wasted your potential ... Must I say ours... You do not know how to listen. You never see anything. You do not want to see anything. Have you ever opened your eyes to the darkness he hid inside him? "

Rangiku stepped back. Haineko roared like a lioness.

"No? You are such a burden, old flappy skin! Your jeremiads I found unbearable! You are not a princess! You are not even my master! It's not because you order that I obey! I obey because I want it!"

" I want to wake up ... Help me wake up from this! "

Haineko turned her back on Rangiku.

" Let me wake up! Haineko! Now !" Rangiku muttered.

"If I were you I wouldn't want to open my eyes right now... Maybe that monster was merciful to you for the first time."

"I'll save him with or without your help!"

"Really?" Rangiku nodded.

"With what magic are you going to fight Aizen Sousuke?"

"He is my life."

"No! I'm your life, Rangiku!"

"Gin, he gave me a reason to be... How many times did he pick me up on the floor half dead? I cannot remember one day when I did not know him. You do not remember it, but it's thanks to him that I found you! I would never have known who I was if he had not appeared in my life. What I am is because of him..."

" I remember perfectly, Rangiku. I remember for both of us."

"So you know I cannot live without him. I can watch him walk away. I can watch his footsteps in the snow. But I cannot lose sight of him. If I have to upset the rotation of this universe for him, I would ..."

Haineko jumped up to her.

" Really? "

" Without hesitation. "

"Even if it kills..."

"At least I would not lose him from my sight."

Haineko opened her mouth.

"You said the magic word, old hag! Good luck, Dumbass!"

A cloud of ashes enveloped Rangiku. The cloud dispelled in the air, she opened her eyes. She swept her tears with a shivering hand. She let herself roll to her side to catch her breath. The sky was blue without the hint of a cloud. She gripped Haineko's pommel forcefully and used it to get up.

"Thank you Haineko."

She murmured, staring at her zanpakutō. She straightened and leaped into the air. Her shunpo was not usually as fast as a captain's, but at that moment nothing could have stopped her from joining Gin. The ground trembled, and there was vibration in the air. An explosion sounded far away. A cloud of dust rose to the sky. Her stomach turned into knots again. Rangiku disappeared again and reappeared a tenth of a second later at Gin's bedside. She approached slowly, lest, at the slightest false movement, he disappears as if he had been all these years only a mere figment of her imagination. His right arm was torn off she found in horror. The gaping wound in his chest bled profusely. He was losing blood at a rapid pace. She put her hands to compress the artery before noticing that the arm was the least of her worries. His torso was cut all the way down. There was a hole the size of a coin where she could see his organs. Rangiku suppressed a howl of horror, ears in her eyes. Without opening his eyes, he touched her hands with bloody fingers. His lips had turned a pale violet and crimson, his eyes distinctly unfocused and dazed. She had arrived too late. No ! Impossible!

"Gin! Gin!" He did not move. "Please, Gin! Open your eyes?"

His lips moved at last. A faint gurgling sound escaped his throat and more blood.

" I am here. I'm here. It's okay ... You're going to... be fine... Orihime ... She ... She ... Captain Unohana ... Someone... Anyone... Oh, open your eyes!"

Rangiku turned his head to the sky. Anybody? She would accept the help of anyone? He did not open his eyes but cracked a smile instead. What he said afterward froze her blood.

"Sorry, Ran-chan! "

He apologized.

"No! No! No! Do not apologize. Not now! Please, do not apologize ... You bastard! You cannot do this to me!" Rangiku screamed and sobbed incoherently.

Please, she was losing him. A throbbing pain stung her chest. She squeezed his hand firmly determined not to let him go. Aizen's silhouette loomed behind the young woman, menacing and dark. But Rangiku did not care. "Gin! She turned to Aizen. She had no more pride, no more self-love, nothing. She begged him. The look of the former captain of the Fifth Division did not waver in the face of her distress.

"Gin!"

She held onto Haineko tight. She had not wanted this life. Becoming a shinigami had never been part of her dreams. She was already entirely happy to stand beside him. And then, one day, he was gone, leaving behind him only footprints in the snow. She had no choice but to follow him. It turned out that she liked working in the Gotei 13. She liked to be helpful while still keeping an eye on his back. How could she wake up in a world where he no longer existed? Why couldn't Aizen finish her? She could feel his sword behind her neck. He should do it. Just do it. It would be less painful, a gentler death.

Gin's eyes widened, and she felt him stir. More blood seeped through him painting the collapsed walls red. He was staring at her now with this sense of dread, pure, unaltered fear as if death itself was nothing but seeing Aizen's sword grazing her neck could literally destroy him. She felt suddenly relieved.

Rangiku raised her head and was surprised to find Ichigo Kurosaki standing there. There were a few things different about him, though she could not put the finger on it right away. For Aizen, she was nothing. He seemed to have found another prey in Ichigo. Her happiness counted for no one. She saw the sky reflected in her crystalline pupils. Gin was watching Ichigo too. Perched on a pile of rubble, Ichigo Kurosaki, 16-year-old substitute Shinigami seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. When you looked carefully, he was carrying his father. But there was no trace of what he once was. Nope, she saw nothing of the young man she had come to know during her short stay in the human world. It was all for the sake of saving the universe. She turned to Gin again since she recognized this strong determination. Ichigo put his burden down. For reasons unknown, she could not follow any of the conversations between Aizen and the high school student. She could only hear Gin's heart losing its rhythm like a broken music box. The time to blink, Aizen and Ichigo had disappeared. She looked down at Gin. His head bent over to the side, he looked at her, his blue eyes shining one last time with mischief. How dare he smile? How? How dare he leave her smiling? This man!

She rebelled and heard Haineko roar in her sheath. She released her zanpakutō with its first command.

" Unare, Haineko!"

The blade of her zanpakuto dispersed in a cloud of ashes. The millions of ash particles circled around them at high speed. Then as if she woke up this morning it came to her. "River of fire, Molten lava."

The ground began to tremble beneath them. Gin tried to move his head. Too weak, she saw him open an eye. His smile was gone. It was a good start. He tried to catch his hand. Does anyone want the truth? Forget all the vanities and whimpers of an old woman! If Gin dies, Rangiku Matsumoto's puzzle will find a way to survive. She would wander aimlessly, party often, and find a way to laugh when her captain broke a cup of tea. She would pretend to be a proper shinigami. She could do all that. With Haineko. She could survive. It was the only thing she could do after him. But it was not enough. Surviving was just not enough. It was not really what she wanted. She did not want a life without him. The rubble vibrated beneath her feet, and she watched Haineko jumped easily from pile to pile.

"Foolish old Hag! Did you just call me here?"

Blood was seeping through her nose, Rangiku smiled and nodded proudly. A red aura enveloped the atmosphere. You trust me? The question came out of nowhere. Who was she talking to? She felt her surge of raw reiatsu coursing through her veins.

Around her, the landscape changed. Several rocks were thrown into the air. Rangiku closed her eyes. She let herself be consumed by her reiatsu. May Haineko burn ... Let her boil ... And with her all the love she had for Gin Ichimaru ...

A giant cloud of ashes manifested behind her until it was everywhere, the center of the monster consisted of red feline eyes and sharpened teeth. The temperature was boiling fast in the epicenter as Haineko ignited every gas particles in the atmosphere.

Rangiku let Haineko guide her fist, and in the same motion, she embraced without hesitation what she was. The day that Gin, wrapped in a shihakusho far too wide for him, had announced that he would become a shinigami. She had, in turn, embrace the cause. She had embraced it all, never half-liking, Rangiku had become a shinigami, too. She was a grim reaper.

"Ban-kai!"

The ashes formed a compact sphere, contracting following the rhythm of the heartbeat of the young woman, brutal, wild.

"Shinkunofue... "

The heavens turned white again. The scarf around her neck turned black.

"Last bonfire... "

"Is this your wish?"

The Ash monster contracted behind her.

"It is my wish. Yes, let's have a last bonfire Haineko." She mentally told her Zanpakuto.

"Goodbye, old Hag!"

"Goodbye Haineko."

The ashes formed a compact sphere, contracting following the rhythm of the heartbeat of the young woman, brutal, wild. The heavens turned white again. Her hands in his silver hair, Rangiku raised her head to the sky. Her eyes took the color of gold, glittering in the darkness.

"Last bonfire: Akarui Hikari Bāningu."

The universe seemed to freeze in a gray tone for half a second. Ichigo and Aizen remained frozen in the air. Tatsuki froze her hand a few inches away from Keigo to pull him away from where the shinigami woman was. Gin's eyes widened with stupor. What had she done? Such a reiatsu! She had never been so beautiful! Gin knew fear. As he was about to leave her behind, he knew fear and regrets ... And ... A black veil of ashes colored Rangiku's blonde hair black. Her reiatsu ... He exhaled his last breath and his body, stretched to the extreme, convulsed by leaving behind particles of reiatsu. Their pupils both opacified like black ink. The hand of the former captain of the Third Division fell to the ground softly. Haineko lit up the sky; the air became almost unbreathable. Neither Tatsuki nor Keigo had been able to free themselves from the gravitational force that had nailed them to the ground. The centrifugal force caused the swirl of ash to rush towards the ground. Just as fast as the cloud had climbed, just as quickly, it was again sucking to the ground. An explosion of light swept the city for a second while the tornado fell on the entwined bodies of Matsumoto Rangiku and Gin Ichimaru.

A deathly silence fell on the city. The ashes fell again in a thin shower. Rangiku exhaled one last time and fell back on Gin. The couple disappeared under a shroud of ashes.

Tatsuki lost her balance and fell back to the ground dragging Keigo in his fall. Without knowing why the girl burst into tears and snuggled into the arms of her classmate. She snorted before taking a deep breath. Keigo moaned.

"What just happened?" "

Do you think I know?"

"Where's Ichigo?"

Tatsuki shrugged again.

" Are they dead? They look dead. "

She shrugged again. A new explosion this time, more powerful, shook the ground again. And Keigo was propelled back with force. Izuru screamed and burst into tears as well. Then, it was once again the heavy silence that prevailed, only to be interrupted by the hoarse sobs of the redhead with glasses. Mizuihiro took a few steps towards the couple.

" Mizuihiro? What are you doing? You lost your mind?" Tatsuki worried.

"I do not think you should do this ..." Keigo said.

The little brown boy stepped forward anyway.

"Do you hear that?"

"No, I do not hear anything," Tatsuki muttered.

"I think it's over. I feel ... I feel it's over. That means Ichigo is alive, right? "Tatsuki grabbed Keigo's hand and joined Mizuihiro bravely. The rain of ashes had stopped. The sky was cloudless and blue again. She looked at the embracing couple. Neither the man nor the woman had moved, buried under an impressive layer of ashes. Tatsuki remarked absently that the man had his arm reattached.

Shinkunofue *: Crimson whistling claws

Akarui hikari bāningu*: Burning bright lights

I used Google so the translation may not be accurate. I wanted some things that sounded like Bleach lol.

Next chapter = Evolution