Ring around the rosy, a pocket full of posies, ashes to ashes, we all fall down. [COMPLETED]

[death-lily.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Matsumoto Rangiku, Ichimaru Gin, Kurosaki Ichigo, Kuchiki Rukia, Zaraki Kenpachi, and anyone else at the Morem o Lisboa who might want to join in.
Content: Ran checks up on Gin, and quite possibly courts trouble. Ichigo having chatted with a certain Rukia through the network, decides to go downstairs to meet her at the lobby. Kenpachi, on the other hand, is enjoying the fact that is he is dry and indoors.
Setting: Morem o Lisboa [M4].
Time: Thursday really early morning.
Warnings: Gin, Kenpachi, Ichigo and Aizen -- in one room.





Ran set her hand against the wall and sighed softly, feeling fatigue slowly sinking in. The day had turned out longer than she had hoped, and the opportunity for some real shut-eye was still just beyond her reach.

She sluggishly descended down the steps, fully aware that she was going to check to see if he was still lingering outside. Halting for a moment, she wondered if it was even wise to actually sate her curiosity.

It was now nearing roughly three hours past midnight -- roughly three hours since she'd snuck him some leftovers. After their little encounter she'd slipped back into the hotel to distract the kitchen staff with a little bit of conversation as she pocketed half a loaf of bread and some hard-boiled eggs under the counter. She gone back out shortly, with the random excuse of having dropped something. The last thing she remembered was handing the edible items over to Gin before promptly heading back inside to see to her own comforts: a bath -- a long, warm one under the shower spray wherein -- no, she did not cry.

She set her hand on the handle and paused, attempting to convince herself that it would only be an empty alley way. Gin would be gone, as always, with only the shadows left behind.

Still.

It couldn't hurt to look.

Comments

[godmodd.livejournal.com]

Well, enough was happening that Aizen certainly had to evaluate what had just happened. For one, the boy Ichigo Kurosaki stormed down the stairs and rushed straight at him in pure rage. He was… a very interesting one to say the least. A hard face to forget. The ex-captain then glanced over at the hulking brute Kenpachi. Still the same vicious creature as ever.

But Gin? It seemed that this time Aizen would have to do without his help. ‘All’s fair in love and war.’ Wasn’t that the saying? Mentally the shinigami shrugged. That only meant that he would have to amend his plans but it seemed that this way they would be even more successful.

But overall, these five shinigami had one thing in common: a hatred towards Aizen. Again, this was something to be suspected. How could one trust another after such a large conspiracy. But he had won and he shall win again. This would only take time…

“Hmm…?” The shinigami murmured in reaction to Ran’s shout. “Why would you want to move outside in the rain?” He asked with perfect innocence. For one, he doubted one person would want to be out in that torrent of water… that and he doubted Gin’s true plan was to protect the hotel by all means.

[shinigamicoda.livejournal.com]

'Kuso.' Rukia swore inwardly, watching as everything went to hell in a handbasket (metaphorically speaking of course). Matsumoto was quite possibly in very real danger, Aizen was pulling an innocent act and Zaraki was charging headlong at the Ex-captains like a rinocerous. Great, just freakin' great.

Suddenly Rukia heard the sound of a dull 'thump' and the familiar sound of a sword being drawn. Taking a chance, she glance to the right to see Ichigo darting in with Zangetsu drawn. Where the hell had he been!? Picking flowers!? She scowled before taking a few steps forward in a vain attempt to stop Ichigo, only to be halted by the strangled sound of Matsumoto's voice. Turning, she looked up at the fukaitaicho and stared, nodding after a few seconds.

She cast a quick glance to the orange-haired Shinigami before placing herself between him and his goal, firmly planting her feet. "Ichigo! Wait a second!" She shouted over the howl of Zaraki's insane and uproarous laughter. She'd be dammned if Matsumoto and her could get the Captains out of the hotel by themselves.

[kurosakionefive.livejournal.com]

Gin's disappearance with Matsumoto out of the lobby was of almost no concern to the boy- Fine. Let the fox run. They could all catch him later. The more important target was still here and, he had to admit, was doing a pretty damn convincing job trying stop all of them from attacking. If he didn't know any better, he would have actually listened to the guy; but he did, so Ichigo continued toward the traitor unfaltering, swinging Zangetsu down in a wide arc.

No more than half a dozen feet away from Aizen or so, Rukia seemingly stepped out of nowhere directly in between himself and the ex-taichou, shouting at him to stop. Instinctively he moved the blade a fraction of an inch to the side and halted abruptly in front of the other shinigami, the sword narrowly missing her and slamming into the ground.

Ichigo glared at Rukia as he yanked the blade out of the floor. "What the hell did you think you're doing, suddenly stepping in like that??"

[shootxtoxdeath.livejournal.com]

Time seemed to slow when it rained. From out here, the battle inside looked strange. He felt detached suddenly, almost as if the whole ordeal wasn't happening. But it was, and maybe that's why he felt so out of it. Aizen was here, in Paixao, and of course, everyone was out to kill him. Gin had made a contract with his former captain, sealing the deal that now lay in Aizen's favor.

Ran.

She was here too, and for only the brief minutes he spent with his friend, his mind was already muddled with nostalgia and an unfamiliar ache that put pressure on his chest. His beloved middle-grey choices had fled for the black and white paths that lay right in front of him, figuratively speaking. Go with Aizen to ruin everything he had been so precariously trying to rebuild, or go with Ran and hoped everything would turn out for the best. That is, if Aizen didn't take his heart out with his bare hands upon seeing Gin turn his back on him. There was also the fact that if he broke his side of the contract, Aizen would have no qualms about breaking his. Leading straight back to Ran. She would die, probably killed in some horrible way in front of his eyes, and then Aizen would kill him.

Not exactly pleasing to the mind. His eyes darkened at the thought. No way he could risk losing Ran, she was completely innocent in this whole charade. It was unfortunately by default that he would be choosing the blackened path once again. Then again, he wouldn't be doing it completely by choice this time. Only by circumstance. Yet, he couldn't let that slip to Aizen--- and he had to tell Ran somehow. It was bad enough how he had left her confused and worse for wear the first time. If he did it a second time, she was sure to never forgive him. So he'd have to change the proverbial script this time. He'd go with Aizen, sure, but it wouldn't be the one-way taking that had happened last time. Oh no, Gin would be keeping ears out for whatever slipped past Aizen's mouth. To call it undercover spying would be unseemly, so he just thought of it as... payment for his services.

Now all that was left was to tell Ran. Without letting anyone else know, of course. That would be tricky. Then again, Ichimaru wasn't known as the "fox" just because of his looks.

Tricky was his forte.

[sinister-eleven.livejournal.com]

Take the fight into the rain? Yeah, that was a sharp idea. Kenpachi shrugged his heavy shoulders at Aizen's question, hissing at the blatant ignorance of his fellow Shinigami. Yes, let's protect a BUILDING. Let's give the two renegade traitors an easier escape. Let's tamper with mobility on rain-soaked ground and botch up visibility in a downpour. Especially for the guy who was currently seeing out of one eye.

Kuchiki had pulled Kurosaki to a stop. Grand. "Oi. Kurosaki! Enough with the hold up and the sweet talkin'. We ain't gonna have all day to deal with these two shitheads, even if we gotta take this outside." He hissed again at the thought. He swung the zanpakutou in frustration, the sword itself cutting a wing chair clean in half, the reiatsu surrounding the blade blasting a sizable gash in the floor. To hell with the building. It was something that could be fixed with a little paint and some nails. This was a chance Kenpachi wasn't going to miss because they were afraid of not having a place to sleep at night or a few civilians getting killed.

His laughter died abruptly as Kenpachi threw himself at Aizen in a full body charge, zanpakutou held at the ready.

[godmodd.livejournal.com]

The loud and rather overwhelming roar of Kenpachi echoed throughout the whole lobby. Aizen inclined his head backwards only to see the giant rushing at him with the look of a madman written on his face. That was one thing about Kenpachi… you could always rely on him to be the same person he always was (though that person you had to be extremely careful around).

The still very wet and dripping shinigami unsheathed his zanpaktou, Kyouka Suigetsu, with an elongated scraping noise against the scabbard at an alarming speed, even on so fast as to match Kenpachi’s movements. He lifted the rather ordinary appearing soul cutter long-ways with one hand supporting the unsharpened end of the blade in order to block the attack.

The clash rang high and reached even the depths of the intricate ceiling of Morem o Lisboa.

Kenpachi’s weight was a surprising amount to hold back, even when one was capable of defeating the captains of the Soul Society. Aizen strained for a moment before changing his footing to a more stable position. There we go. Small changes can relieve amazing amounts of weight, you know. He looked at the scarred captain through those thick-rimmed glasses with seemingly apologetic, golden eyes. He had no wish to fight at the moment. If he wanted to truly instigate something, he would have done it as soon as he had walked through the burly doors. That… and this type of combat wasn’t his style.

“I’m sorry,” Aizen apologized. “I do not wish to fight you.” This statement had every ounce of truth in it, though the reasoning behind it was indeed questionable.

[godmodd.livejournal.com]

The shinigami smiled the same convincing smile that he seemed to be very well known for. “Of course,” he answered. The quick mind of Aizen was always the same: it came to solutions at alarming rates. Kenpachi’s mind wasn’t one to change either. It still leapt before it looked and ignored any consequences. It only cared to get what it wanted… which was normally violence of some sort. The eleventh captain was always a bit of a puzzle to Aizen. How could someone live on such a one way road?

The tawny haired Aizen sheathed his blade after Kenpachi leapt away. “Feel free to put your own sword away. It seems that Morem o Lisboa was a bad choice of lodging for tonight.” With smile unchanging, Aizen turned and made his way for the door. Before exiting, he turned and said, “Pehaps I have made a mistake coming here tonight. Farewell for now…”

With a heavy slam of the doors, Aizen left the hotel. He said he didn’t want a fight at the moment and he meant it. Kenpachi, however, seemed to think differently.

With rain beating on his back, the shinigami made his way down the very empty streets of Paixao now. He would see everyone again in a short while anyway. Now simply was not the time. And timing was everything, you know.

[shootxtoxdeath.livejournal.com]

Gin slid quietly past Aizen and Kenpachi, whic by all means, was quite simple to do. Both were more wrapped up in themselves to actually notice anyhow. The ex-captain tugged lightly on a piece of cloth tucked under his belt. It was ragged and grey, with a light pattern traced on to it. That pattern had been brighter and more pronounced at one point, but the years had worn it away.

"I toldja we'd get outta there real easy Ran!" his smile was easy, easier than it was now, of course. He had been out of breath that day, as he and his beloved Matsumoto had been running from the person they had stolen some clothing from. A much younger Gin was just ahead of the blonde, head tilted back to see how she was faring. There was a familiar stubborn expression on her face-- she was a trooper. Unfortunately, because of this distraction, the normally graceful Gin took a spill over a rock... and scraped his knee. It had hurt something terrible then, but now that he looked back on it, it hadn't been that horrible. Perhaps he had been turning the theatrics on to get the undivided attentions of Rangiku, but he didn't remember now. Attention he got, certainly, as she bandaged him up with a torn piece from her worn yukata.

Even after it healed, Gin kept it.

Squinted eyes flicked over to the door, where Aizen looked to be making a hasty exit. A skinny hand dropped the cloth subtly, close to where his friend was standing.

"Looks like'll be seein' ya. Thanks fer th' dance Kenpachi~" His smirk curled up the ends of his lips, as per usual. A few steps back took him out through the door and into the pouring rain, where he then caught up to Aizen's quickly retreating back.


((OOC: And here's my contribution to the end. Skwinks, we can discuss what we want Gin and Aizen to do from here. :D))

[sinister-eleven.livejournal.com]

Kenpachi growled like the nastiest kind of junkyard dog, starting after Aizen, his zanpakutou still unsheathed. The minute he exited the hotel, the rain soaked him to the bone, the bells in his hair jingling as the rain struck them. Even though the streets were empty (what person in their right mind would be out now anyway?), the Shinigami soon found that Aizen ...well... he was nowhere to be found.

With a desperate howl, Kenpachi swung the blade in frustration, ignorant of the slice it carved in the cobbled street. Let the sweet little citizens worry about the mess. He was thrice denied a fight, and like the saying goes, even Buddha lost his patience after the third time. With fingers practically crushing the hilt, Kenpachi slid the zanpakutou into its sheath, hand shaking violently as he did.

Ignorant of the rain that trace fat runnels down his skin, Kenpachi turned his head back to the still-open door of the hotel. It was an effort to speak, his voice grating through his bared teeth. "Back later." It was a simple statement, almost a command. Zaraki Kenpachi needed a walk, a fight, a drink, something. He was already on the frayed ends of sanity, and sometimes, enough was just enough.

Sliding the sword into the ties of his hakama, Kenpachi stalked off, a rain-drenched phantom, a killer on the road, a rider on the storm (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=41IEEB7S).

[death-lily.livejournal.com]