paixaorpg | Propositions [Complete]

Entry tags:

Propositions [Complete]

Character(s): Ichimaru Gin, Matsumoto Rangiku
Content: Two estranged friends catch up, wondering how they ended up in such a weird situation.
Setting: Morem o Lisboa-ish
Time: Late Monday night
Warnings: None, maybe some cursing on Ran's part later? Fluff~

Gin sat on the rooftop of the building across from the Morem o Lisboa, head tilted back, looking at the intricate ceiling above Paixao. This place-- he didn't quite understand it, and honestly, the ex-captain didn't know if he wanted to. All he knew was that he wanted to be away from Aizen, even if it killed him. Sure, he was afraid (read: terrified) of death, but he felt so confined with Aizen, almost like he wasn't living at all anyway. And so, he returned to his friend, his dearest Ran. It was odd, how the scene had played out from earlier. Shinsou had clattered to the ground, Hitsugaya had mostly forgiven him, and well-- Ran had looked at him with so much confusion written in her features.

It had tugged at what was left of his heart.

See, she had a special place with Gin. He could just as well tear down the entire world without so much as a second glance, but if he so much as even made her whine, it felt like his world collapsed every time. So now he was sitting here, waiting. For what, he didn't exactly know. He was hoping for a response of some sort, he supposed. After all, Ran still had that little present. Vaguely, Ichimaru wondered if she had opened it yet. The skinny man really hpoed she had, because what was in there--- he meant every bit.

Even if there were no words.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She took the hard way -- the human way up. She climbed the ladder and pretended that she was just as she appeared, no shinigami skills, no flsh-steps that allowed her to leap nimbly from one building to the next. Just a woman some twenty-odd years and every bit as mortal as the rest of the populace on good, old earth.

It helped her think.

"Do you plan to brood here all night?" She asked.

It also delayed the obvious.

Her hands should hurt, but they didn't. And her face was chilled by the wind. Other than that she was fine. And if she didn't pay attention to how her heart seemed to be holding it's breath (if heart could, for that matter, hold breaths), she'd really believe that she was.

Fine. That is.

They'd been on rooftops before, some of them nicer than this one. The scene was similar too, though reversed this time around. As it were, it was she more often than not who preferred to sit above what she could of Seireitei to achieve a moment of peace for herself and for her thoughts. Consequently, it was more often Gin who ambled by to check on her -- or to tease her. Whichever came first.

"Gin," she started and then stopped there. The swatch of cloth was tucked on her shoulder, beneath the cloth of her gi. It made it presence known in an unobtrusive way, just by being there, while she watched his back -- and the way the wind ran it's unseen fingers through his hair.

He'd gotten tall. She thought suddenly. And that was her most grevious error.

Ran's voice brought him out of his steady brooding (what she would label as brooding), making the ex-captain turn just slightly to see her coming up the ladder. Normally shut eyes were open now, he didn't feel any particular need to keep the charade up. As it were, neither did she, it seemed. He watched a moment more as the blonde struggled to start, only ending before she could.

"Hav' a seat." A flattened palm patted the empty spot next to him. It had certainly been a while since he had been able to sit and talk with his old friend-- the pang of the thought made his heart ache just a little more. The late night plots with Aizen and Tousen had previously filled his evenings, causing him to see Matsumoto less and less.

Yet somehow, here they were-- just the same as before.

It was funny how fate played her cards, because although the setting was almost identical, they had switched roles. Ran was doing more finding than he was.

"Didja unwrap m'present fer ya?"

"Uhm..." she started, "no." She shook her head, a fitting gesture to accompany the word. Her right hand was over the little bulge in the side of her belt, where the box was tucked safely for now. "I haven't."

She wasn't sure if she wanted to sit by him, for fear that that would mean that things were fine now -- because they weren't, or wouldn't be for some time still. They might not have been on Soul Society, or even Earth, but her responsibilities to mete justice out and his responsibilities to accept judgement (which when she thought about it really, he probably would sidestep in his own little way) still took precedence over a great many things.

But she gave in. She sat down at his side as if nothing was wrong and they were back months and months before the whole mess at home had broken out.

"I should club you over the head. Drag you back to taicho and have him deal with you." She told him, a frown creasing the space between her eyebrows. She might have reached for the box. It's presence was hard against her side and it had apparently no intention of going away, but instead she reached into the shoulder of her gi and pulled out the piece of torn cloth from their yesterdays.

"I thought you threw this away." She said simply. "I really thought you did." Time had yellowed it's edges. It even looked like he'd washed it at least a couple of times. What more secrets had he kept from her? At least this one was a pleasant one and not the we-plan-to-take-over-Seireitei-and-the-world kind.

"Mmmm? Why woul' I throw away somethin' from Rangiku?" He gave her a curious look, although he was a bit hurt that she insisted on changing the subject so much. Ah well, she would get to it in due time, he knew she would. All he had to do was give her time and space. That was the way she had always worked, so why should he be surprised?

Then again, this was the first-- no, second-- time that he felt so strongly about his decision. A small smile curled his lips up as he realized that both times involved his beautiful childhood friend. The day he had found her, laying on the dusty ground, near death--- she had stolen his heart away.

She hadn't given it back.

So even though he had fooled himself into thinking that he wanted what Aizen had proposed, he really hadn't. It was a joke, a big lie. Sad, because he had wasted precious time, and now here he was, trying to correct the biggest mistake in his life. Or rather, afterlife. Gin tilted his head to look at her, green eyes soft, but guarded.

Ran sat, with that little piece of cloth in her hands, thumb running over the thread-bare surface. All he was about to say he choked on, biting back words, extending the silence.

For now, he was content to remain quiet.

Why indeed. She smiled to herself, a somewhat happy smile, though more thoughtful than that. "I just thought you would." She murmured softly. "It was filthy, afterall."

Seeing no way to get around it, she awkwardly pulled out the box. "Gin..." It seemed so small in her hands. SHe held it in the center of her palm, her fingers only slightly curled, but not enough to hold it tightly. If she wasn't careful, it might tumble to the ground. But she was careful. Matsumoto Rangiku was always very, very careful.

"What is this?"

"S'a present, o'course. If'n I told ya wha' it was, it'd ruin th' surprise, ne?" He gave a soft smile, one more reminiscient of his childhood days. As much as he was wanted to tell her exactly was in the box, he wouldn't. Gin wanted to see her reaction to it more than anything else.

"Go ahead, open it."

"But you don't give me presents..." I give you. Last words she kept to herself as she murmured the words softly, proceeding to unwrap the box in her hands. "What's the occassion, Gin?"

The wrapping came off easily, but she took her sweet time. Being so high up never bothred her, but having to race down after the gift if it fell would be an inconvenience on both their parts.

She had to be very, very careful that her hands didn't shake so much.

"Maaaa~~ Wha? Can' I jus' give ya a present?" He smiled lightly, the expression not completely reaching his eyes. Gin watched with boyish impatience as the blonde carefully unwrapped the gift, hands shaking out of--- nervousness maybe? The ex-captain dared not guess.

"Because you don't just 'give' presents to people." She offered him a smile, the jibe not unkind, just stating fact. It was the truth. As children she'd been the one to share things: a pretty rock, her thoughts, an idea. Gin had always been the more secretive of the two of them; not that she minded terribly. It was the way of the world, the way thing just were.

Her hands stilled for a moment as a memory flitted past her eyes brief but clear and concrete. She looked thoughtful for a moment, thinking back to earlier years in the academy and to far more simpler times. They'd been peers, best friends, had competed with each other if only because the pressure made them both excel.

And now things were different. Not better. Never better. And she found herself wondering why hitsugaya-taicho had assigned her to this.

She shook her head as if the motion would shake away the memory, the thought. "But that's neither here nor the..." the last word should havebeen 'there', but her voice trailed away as her fingers opened the box to see what was inside.

"Gin...?" She turned her eyes to him. What was this?

Gin had been silent as he watched his friend open up the little box. Sure, she had asked him a question beforehand, but he felt that the silence between them answered enough for him. He would be patient for this, although there was this feeling of anxiety as she paused, probably remembering something. After a small head shake, his blonde friend resumed the task, cutting off her words in the process.

And then another inquiry.

There were not many times where he could be ridden speechless, but this was one of them. Vagurely, he wondered where all his planned words had fled to. So, instead of a suave proclamation, Gin's words came out in a tumble.

"I had been hoping, a very long time ago, that one day I would marry Rangiku. But I don't know anymore if Rangiku would like that very much."

She doesn't know what to say, what to do. The piece of jewelry looks back up at her as if expecting her to say something -- anything. I had been hoping, a very long time ago, that one day I would marry Rangiku. Marriage? Was he insane? Obviously, since this was the very last thing she or anyone else, for that matter, would expect from Ichimaru Gin.

She shuts the box and turns a glare towards him. "Is this a joke, Ichimaru?" She falls back to calling him by his last name, a habit she started back when they were in teh academy. "This isn't funny." She pouts, hurt backing her gaze. "You're not being funny."

He looked away when she glared at him, blue eyes burning hotly. She hated him. What else had he been expecting when he gave her the gift? Gin decided he had been fooling himself into thinking that she'd be perfectly fine with the proposition.

"O'course it's not funny. I wasn' jokin'." The ex-captain stood then, not wanting to stay within the sights of those eyes. They were filled with anger for him, and that was all he should've expected. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Sorry ta bother ya. Keep it if ya wan'." And with that, he started stepping down the ladder, dropping off halfway through and landing lightly on his feet. A few short shun-po steps later, and the building where they had sat was out of sight. But not out of mind.

She would never be out of mind.

It took her three seconds to recover, but it also took that much time for him to leave her side quicker and farther than she might have liked. It hurt more. It hurt so much more to have him that far away.

She rose and caught up, each step faster than her own heartbeat until she felt her fingers curl around the sleeve of his gi. "Gin," she murmured softly, her voice uncertain. Taicho had told her to keep him in sight. She wanted to keep him in her sights. Her hand slipped into his, and the thought of him drawing Shinsou on her crossed her mind briefly.

Well. At least she'd have time to ask. Somehow.

When she curled those fingers around his sleeve, Gin had felt the vaugest of urges to pull away. But then her hand was in his and he knew that was it. She meant too much to pull away so easily. The uncertainty in her voice made him turn, head tilting curiously. It had been the beginning of something, and the ex-Captain did not like to leave things unfinished.

"Ran...?"

"I have to keep an eye on you." Somehow there was no other way she could see for him to take that than badyl. "Captain's orders." But at least she was being honest. And she wasn't done with being honest just yet. "I won't deny that I want to be around you. But let me think at least of what you've just given me."

Surely he might understand. If not, well then things would go sour very, very fast.

"Please?"

She slipped her fingers through the spaces between his. Firm. Sure.

Oh hell.

His lips thinned into a flat line, the ends curling downwards subtly. Sure, he understood the situation, but it didn't mean he had to like it. Gin simply nodded at her response, mind already swirling the possibilities around. The ex-captain supposed that both of them needed some thinking to do. She, because of him, and he because of--

--was she holding his hand? An eyebrow arched curiously as he returned the motion, long fingers twining through the spaces of her own. Her hands were soft, but her grip was firm, there was no hesitation to be seen. Smiling with an uncharacteristically soft grin, Ichimaru gave her smaller hand a comforting squeeze.

"Maa, yannow I can' say no to ya, Ran."

She smiled at him, feeling her heart loosen in her chest -- something that she hadn't felt since back in the day when things were simpler for them both. "Where to?" She asked softly, her eyes turning to scan the rooftops of the city.

When she looked back to him, a strand of her long hair slid along the underside of her chin. "Where you go, I go."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Propositions [Complete]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject