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The Hyacinth is a mid-sized bar that two centuries or so ago made a half hearted attempt to rise above their reputation of cheap beer, decent plumbing and a scrupulous disinterest in who occupies their private rooms by taking on the feel of a british pub. The back rooms became terribly lit booths. Things creak. The bar serves several kinds of imported beer. There’s always something being fried. They stay in business because it’s the only place within a mile of the 2nd you can have an unrecorded conversation. Not that they don’t know anyway, you just won’t be on tape. Soifon knows what you’re doing in her backyard, pretending otherwise is a fool’s game.
In fact Rangiku made a pass at, at least three members of the 2nd on her way here. Partly because she wanted to, partly because it’s the sort of thing that makes everyone stop looking at her.
Nanao is already there -drink in hand, half eaten biscuit discarded- seated awkwardly in the booth, hand tight on her own thigh. Rangiku frowns.
Nanao gives her an ill looking smile and with thumb and pinky makes a motion that means ‘sit down’ and then a few more complicated ones that mean ‘someone is listening, someone we don’t want to be heard by’. Rangiku sits a tad more easily than Nanao does and raises her hands to reply. Nanao holds out her palm to stop her and casts something that makes her skin tingle and her mouth dry.
‘I’ve put an illusionary kido over the top of theirs.’ Nanao says quietly. ‘It will break the moment someone opens the door but otherwise if we stay quiet no one can hear us.’
Rangiku sighs and sweeps a lock of hair over her shoulder. ‘Do they know?’
‘No.’
‘Then why-?’
‘This isn’t our usual booth.’
Rangiku frowns. ‘Should we rearrange?’
Nanao shakes her head. ‘This Patrol Group leaves in the morning. If we’re going to hear anything it’ll be tonight. Kinoshita brought his entire squad with him.’
‘Oh? Including Ueno?’ Rangiku smiles. Ueno is very handsome.
Work Nanao, who is not so much Rangiku’s friend as she is her exasperated companion, would sigh and rap her across the knuckles for her lack of diligence. Nanao who is not at work and therefore not the thin barrier between the rest of the world and the almost literal force of nature that is her Captain, smiles back and raises a finger to her lips. With a careless flick of Nanao’s hand, Rangiku feels the barriers between this booth and the one next to them fall.
Rangiku can’t help it, she makes a noise of excitement and warning. Raising her fingers she makes a motion to check with Nanao if she’s still okay to do this. Her fingers aren’t quite as fast at it. Before Nanao can reply the voice of the 1st Division 5th Seat, Kinoshita Yosuke comes through sharp and clear. For a half hour it’s the business of hunting hollows across the mountains far outside Seireitei, where there’s nothing like the Gotei and the Central 46, just groups of specifically trained shinigami living in hostile country for months on end. A basic law unto themselves. Then it turns to the small talk of men who know each other well, who’s kid is doing what, who’s girlfriend sucks, who’s boyfriend’s an idiot. Who out of the captains and lieutenants they would fuck. Rangiku, like always, takes that in a landslide.
‘Don’t look so smug.’ Nanao whispers. They’re pressed together against the wall so it’s no trouble for Rangiku to learn over and blow across her ear. Nanao sighs.
Finally the conversation goes where they’d been equal parts hoping and dreading.
‘It’s still not a bad plan.’
‘Kinoshita, if Aizen couldn’t do it-’
‘No, not that bit, and I don’t want to do it, Chiba.’ Kinoshita says chidingly. ‘You know how messed up Seireitei is. With the Winter War and the 12th’s experiments things are tipping out of balance. You know most of the Gotei only looks to the first 100 districts and the living world. Meanwhile you have our patrol groups taking care of everything else.’
‘It’s too far out.’ Someone says tiredly. ‘They’d lose too much man power.’
‘The nobles would.’ Someone else says, ‘the rest would live with less fear and better conditions.’
‘There are reasons-’
‘Are they good enough?’ Kinoshita says. ‘We’ve lost over 70 people from out patrol group in the last 2 years. They’ve been replaced with shinigami who die just as quickly. Aizen would have killed us all but he would have killed all of them too and he would have done it for a reason we could sympathise with. Then we could have someone who understood.’
‘He did kill them.’ Someone else whispers.
‘And they were replaced immediately.’
‘Can you imagine if we had someone sympathetic to us in there?’
‘No.’ Kinoshita says, ‘our wants are too divergent.’
‘But we’re going to fight for them anyway?’ Chiba says, slamming his fist on the table, ‘we’re not the goddamn Gotei!’
‘Shut the fuck up Chiba! We’re right near the fucking 2nd, what kind of stupid are you!’
‘Fuck you Ueno.’ Chiba subsides though, the conversation drifting away from anything that could be considered treason.
Nanao raps her knuckles against the wall and concentrates on redoing all of the 2nd’s spy network, the work around Kinoshita must have put up, and finally her own work.
‘So,’ Nanao sighs as she relaxes, picking up her cup. ‘The Patrol Groups for the 200th to 230th districts don’t consider themselves in the Gotei.’
‘Can you blame them? Each mission takes upwards of 8 months, they entirely missed Kurosaki wrecking the place. They barely got anything out of that. Most of their work can be done by the lower seated members of any given division so the more power hungry among the ranks will never respect them. I’m sure if you asked Kuchiki and Zaraki they’d consider them all but useless.’ Rangiku takes another biscuit and chews it noisily. They are really weird in a great way. ‘They didn’t mention her though. Your mysterious Izanami. Maybe she isn’t involved in this.’
‘Matsumoto,’ Nanao clucks her tongue.
‘Call me Rangiku, I call you Nanao.’
‘Too many do.’ Nanao says dryly, ‘You’re going to wake up with ants if you don’t brush that off.’
Rangiku looks down at the mess of crumbs between her breasts and all over her uniform. She shrugs. ‘More for later.’
--
It started with the hands. Rangiku likes hands. Mostly she likes them on her but she’ll make exceptions for less immediately pleasurable pursuits. Such as the movement of her Captain’s fingers on his sword while they wait for the seated members of their squad to assemble, or Hinamori’s on her calligraphy brush trying to meet the standards set by Aizen. Before of course. Always before.
It’s After Aizen now, and Rangiku is watching Ise Nanao beat the everloving shit out of the foremost kido user in her division.
After Aizen, several divisions opted to trade skill sets and train their higher skilled officers together once a month, rotation allowing (notably both the 11th or the 6th refused with the exact same reasoning; that any weakness was the fault of the Division in question and not to be borne by anyone else). So far it’s been everyone with the 3rd and the 5th, the 10th and the 13th, and the 4th, 7th and 9th. Today it’s the 10th and the 8th and kido. Most divisions have kido specific users littered throughout their ranks but between an almost prejudice towards those that fight with spells and the ever twisting politics of secretive branches of the Gotei, most of those above 9th seat are mid-level users at best.
Except, of course, for Ise Nanao.
Rangiku and Nanao are friends on a superficial level. Rangiku is friendly by nature and Nanao loves a good get together when she isn’t required to be the responsible party. They both like shopping, not to mention the SWA work.
She told what’s-his-name before the match that he was probably going to lose and that there was no shame in that. He’d sneered at her, with that particular look that said some of this was motivated by a sincere opinion on the worth of women, and said he’d never let the Captain down like that. Rangiku bit her lip, mostly to stop from pointing out that Toushiro hadn’t even bothered to show up. When the battle started there was a lot of murmuring from the crowd: how could Kyouraku have allowed someone like her to become lieutenant and on her back and where is her sword, real shinigami don’t even use kido. Which, pfft, that would be why they’re unseated. Real tacticians don’t dismiss anything. Rangiku can say with certainty that no one can stay in this position for long if they don’t have the skillset.
What’s-his-name starts by calling out three different spells in the same incantation, which is difficult and he does admirably with much attention from the crowd, only for Nanao to simply raise her hand and make two cutting motions with her hands stopping the spells immediately. What’s-his-name flash steps forward bringing his hands together for a binding kido. Nanao moves out of his range and flings six shots of pale orange light at him, he dodges all of them and changes tactics, getting in close and throwing a clump of dirt right into Nanao’s eyes. Nanao, startled, jumps back and straight into what’s-his-name’s second binding, long purple ropes crawling diagonally across her body. This she dissipates by unleashing a small amount of her reiatsu and delivering a powerful hit to the ground with her unbound foot. Some of the newer recruits gasp, Nanao closes her eyes and under her breath begins to incantation for something Rangiku hasn’t even heard of. With one hand she makes six motions in the direction of whats-his-face, but with her other, behind her back...
Well
That’s interesting.
What’s-his-name grins and throws up a barrier between him and Nanao. Nanao continues her chant and throws four more symbols to the north, south, east and west. Then she slams her hand to the ground.
‘...that which moves out of sight, moves eternally, and weeps with the tears of the buried gods. Reverse!’ Nanao shouts. What’s-his-name’s grin drops right off his face, a second before his barrier crumbles and he’s hit from four directions with poles of light, piercing his arms and his legs, the light disappears and a moment later a series of sickening pops rings out and he falls to the ground, limbs dislocated. The audience is alternatively silent and loud. Rangiku is still staring at the hand behind Nanao’s back, locked in the symbol of the crane with a slight variation that Rangiku knows is from the worst parts of the 70th districts of Rukongai.
Dismember.
Nanao huffs and takes off her her glasses and cleans them on the her uniform. ‘That kido is still in development and can’t be used by anyone without a certain level of proficiency.’
The 8th goes wild.
Captain Kyouraku comes up behind her, obnoxiously loud, and claps her on the shoulder. ‘That’s my Nanao, eh?’
Rangiku smiles and gives a cheer as well, there’s never a good enough to take the cheer out of anything. ‘I told him he’d lose. Nanao is just that good.’
Kyouraku smiles and wanders off to undoubtedly be told off for something. Rangiku really doesn’t know how he does it, it’s so much easier to just avoid those exasperated voices. Sure enough a moment later there’s a slap and a whine and another slap. She raises her hand to her face and wiggles her fingers and counts off the hand signals she’s sure of. Find. Hold. Dismember. There were more she couldn’t make out but one thing seems reasonably certain-
Ise Nanao uses Whore’s Code in her kido.
--
This is how they end up becoming -better, drunker- friends.
‘-Are you accusing me of treason?!’
‘Of course not, just doing things that are treason like-’
‘ -is that somehow better? ’
Or, more accurately, Rangiku tricks everyone into taking her out drinking and then tricks everyone into leaving her alone with Nanao at the Hyacinth with Nanao three sheets to the wind and Rangiku wondering if there was anyone she could bully into buying her next round.
‘Maybe I should go,’ Nanao says miserably from the other side of the table.
‘Hmm? It’s awfully far from here.’
‘Journey's end the sooner you start them.’
‘But they end faster if you never take the first step.’ Rangiku says absentmindedly, slim pickings tonight. Why hasn’t she made a permanent drinking buddy at the 2nd? It’s such an effort to seduce someone for just one night of drinking.
Nanao makes an adorable noise and then flops forward. Rangiku places her hand under her cheek so her face isn’t pressed to the cold table. Nanao makes another cooing noise and mumbles something a little lyrical.
Rangiku takes Nanao’s hair down and raises her hand to order her own damn drink. ‘Why don’t you come out more often?’
‘Don’t want to give him any ideas.’ Nanao grumbles, ‘and it’s never that much fun.’
‘Drinking with your captain is always fun.’
‘You’re like him, you’re all...’ she shudders dramatically, ‘hedonistic.’
‘I wouldn’t say that, at least for myself. Your captain is definitely an ‘of the moment’ kind of guy. That’s not a bad thing.’
‘But for over a 1000 years? Isn’t that enough moments to not want to live in them anymore?’
‘Maybe,’ Rangiku accepts the bottle, and ignores her usual custom of drinking straight from the bottle and pours herself a cup. Nanao sits up and squints at the bottle before tapping the second cup. Rangiku pours her less than half. ‘But when you’ve come from somewhere where all of it’s bad, it’s nice to live in the now.’
‘Is it?’ Nanao frowns. ‘I’ve never tried that. Though I suppose it’s too late to now.’
‘Why?’
‘You’re from the outer districts aren’t you?’
Ah. We’ll be rattling those ghosts tonight then. ‘So far out it doesn’t even have a name. Gin found me after I’d come pretty far in.’
Nanao takes the mention of Infamous Bastard Gin on the chin. She sniffs.
‘The thing is,’ Nanao sips her tiny portion of sake. ‘The thing is, that I am very good at kido. Very good. And when I’m drunk I remember where I came from. And those two things shouldn’t mix.’
‘I saw you with your hand behind your back.’
‘Oh?’
‘Hmm, who was it then? The Dogs? The Demons?’
Nanao glares at her. ‘Fuck you.’
Rangiku laughs, soft and tired. Memories of Gin come to the front, memories of persimmon in the 45th district, the spices in the 21st, the resort in the 14th and being left there for two weeks when Gin left for the academy entrance exams. Two weeks spent rationing because she was too young and too old, too knowing of what would happen if Gin didn’t come back for her. It’s the unspoken horror of the Gotei, what those who came from beyond the walls know that those born within can never understand, and worse, can never truly deal with or talk about. ‘You think I don’t know?’
‘How could you?’
‘I’m a very pretty woman, Ise. And I was born somewhere worse than Zaraki. ’
Nanao relents. ‘I was born to it. Lucky birth in the 81st district. I needed to eat so they bartered little pieces of kido and what not to get us into better districts, I’ve been doing it since I could talk. And yes, because I didn’t know the proper forms for the hands I used the Code to supplement. I was taught to.’ Nanao narrows her eyes, kind of. It’s very squinty. ‘Fair barter.’
‘It was The Dogs.’ Rangiku says.
Nanao sits up straight by sheer force of will and pours both of them a drink. ‘To getting out.’
Rangiku drinks hers in a flash. Pours herself another. ‘You know it is technically treason.’
Nanao’s glasses flash. ‘ Treason?! ’
--
The next time they end up at the Hyacinth is after Gin is posthumously sentenced.
He was given a lifetime for each member of the 3rd and his haori is to rest there to remind everyone of what happened, and, she supposes, to doom the 3rd forever and insure they never achieve closure. Very symbolic. Very fucking noble. They ripped poor Kira to pieces over it. Apparently he should have stopped it somehow. Apparently, the Central 46, most of whom never served, have a better idea of how a Captain-Lieutenant relationship works than anyone actually in one. The thought of raising her sword to Toushiro is difficult let alone someone like Kira raising it to Gin. Kira is on suicide watch, well, he has been the entire time. It’s just more urgent now.
Now that pisses her off something vicious. Gin was a son of a bitch and she knew that. She knows he was as kind to her as he was capable of being and she accepted it stopped somewhere that would scare the pants off others. But she didn’t know Kira was in love him. She didn’t know that Kira didn’t know.
She needs to go, she needs to leave, she needs-
She turns on a dime and waves off her captain, he frowns but makes no move to stop her. He’s blowing just as cold as she is hot. It’s not fair to be around each other right now, when he’s so grimly victorious and she’s so very not. ‘Nanao, come out with me!’
Nanao looks up from her conversation with Kyouraku and Ukitake. They all blink at her. Ukitake’s eyes slip towards sympathy. Nope. Fuck that. She grabs Nanao’s hand and tugs. ‘I-Matsumoto wait a moment-’
‘Bye!’ Rangiku throws over her shoulder and tugs Nanao into flash step behind her. It’s a bit aimless since Rangiku is mostly thinking no and someone murder the Central 46.
Nanao uses a bit of speed and tugs them the long way around towards the 2nd. They land outside the Hyacinth and Rangiku stares at the ceiling while Nanao arranges for a shit ton of sake and a private room.
There’s some weird crackers with some weird black stuff on them as the speciality of the day. Rangiku points at them. ‘And two orders of those.’
Nanao nods even as she can’t quite wipe the disgusted look off her face.
Rangiku flops down into a chair and drinks a third of one bottle in single go. ‘Fuck them.’
‘Yes.’
Another third of the bottle. ‘He wasn’t the type to make anyone live with anything.’
‘Yes.’
‘How would you know.’ Rangiku says petulantly, tipping the last third of the bottle back.
Nanao raises an eyebrow, which is annoying. Nanao can tell because she struggles not to smile. ‘Sorry, Momo has had some similar rants. Yes is usually the right answer.’
Ah, fuck. Momo.
‘Is she-’
‘She has a dragon guarding her den.’ Nanao laughs sharply. ‘Those of us without either the protection of youth or childhood friends will have to make do with drinking.’
Rangiku frowns. That sounds like Nanao counting herself in.
Nanao tilts her head. ‘Yadomaru.’ She pauses and takes her glasses off. Without them her eyes take on an almost ultraviolet hue. ‘Lisa. She was pretty much the only friend I had as a child.’
‘One of the Visored?’
Nanao nods and pours out their drinks. ‘I’ll have her back but it won’t be the same.’
‘Gin’s dead.’
‘Yes.’
Rangiku bares her teeth. ‘They’re entombing them.’
‘Yes.’ Nanao says quietly, ‘it’s hard to live in shadows.’
Some other day Rangiku will pull that thread, today she needs the spotlight on her. ‘It’s so stupid. He wasn’t like that.’ She stops. All the things she doesn’t want to say, to someone she doesn’t want to say it too, are pressing her down. Why did she pick Nanao of all people to come out with, she should just drink at home, or with Shuuhei, or with-
You’re so loud, Haineko complains, we picked her because she lies.
Lies are stupid.
Said the liar. Haineko taunts. Liar, liar. We sleep with snakes. You knew what he was. Liar.
‘Shut up Haineko.’
Nanao pours her another drink. ‘You’re all Rukongai brats. You and Kira and Hisagi. Even Gin.’
She empties her cup. ‘Kira’s from the upper ten, but yeah. None from in the walls. You are too.’
‘Is that why you picked me?’ Nanao asks tentatively. ‘Because I know what it’s like to live outside?’
‘You don’t seem that way. I would have said you were lower nobility if someone asked.’ Rangiku muses.
‘Really?’ Nanao says happily. ‘Even knowing-’
See, Haineko croons, lying.
Rangiku nods her head in understanding. ‘So Nanao, would you ever overthrow Seireitei? Because I would. So would most of Rukongai.’
‘Matsumoto!’ Nanao hisses. Rangiku unrepentantly raises an eyebrow. Nanao taps her hand against the table. ‘Yes.’ She says lowly. ‘And I don’t think either of us are alone in that sentiment and that we shouldn’t be talking about this in the middle of the 2nd. ’
‘Why?’ Rangiku taunts, just a little, whatever this is her pity party. ‘You have a respected job with one of the most powerful men in Soul Society, you’re a kido master, you’ll definitely be a Captain if you want it. Why would you want to see this brought down.’
‘For the same reason you would. For the same reason anyone would. Soul Society is cruel and corrupt. You ran with The Dogs, the kido I did as a child has almost certainly helped-’ She puts her hand to her mouth. ‘They’ll kill both of us for saying that.’
Which is another reason why. ‘Really? Everyone? Because that’s not very feasible. Do they know what they’re doing? Hanging Gin’s treason around the 3rd? Letting any transfers from the 5th pass? Loading it up with problem kids from other divisions?’ She pushes her drink away, too sick with the thought of what was partially done for love of her. Did Gin know? Did they understand? ‘There will be a civil war. Too many agree with Aizen. It’s like the Central 46 wants it.’
Nanao looks at her oddly. ‘How do you know that?’
‘People talk. To me. Around me. About me. ’ Rangiku puts her hand to the wall. ‘All these booths have privacy spells on them. They’re pretty easy to undo.’
‘Have you been undoing them.’
‘Not on purpose. Sometimes I’m just, you know, fooling around and we blow them right out-’
‘Ah.’ Nanao says very loudly. She looks to the ceiling. Frowns. ‘Yes.’
This is one of those rare times when Rangiku wishes for sobriety. Nanao raises her cup halfway to her lips and then lowers it. She raises her other hand and begins to chant low and fast. Her hands flash through Academy approved positions and then at the end slow into hide, steal, hide. She takes her drink after and folds her hands in her lap.
‘What if I had a secret,’ Nanao licks her lips. ‘That could get both of us sent to the Maggots Nest?’
--
Nanao’s secret is this: on a night some years ago, before Aizen and Kurosaki, Captain Kyouraku went to the Hyacinth on the night they held a western style disco party. It was a disaster. They don’t talk about it. He may have filled her underwear with glitter. Walking home from the 9th, the only division with a captain strength holding cell in walking distance with the utterly vain hope he learnt something, Nanao found a note tucked into her book. Startled that someone had gotten that close, she tucked it away and flash stepped home before opening it. The first line said Ise Nanao. The second said, I’ve come to talk about treason.
Nanao threw away the note and didn’t think about it again. At least not intentionally. Chasing after her captain leaves her in strange places. The 1st on rotation day, the long term mission leaders reporting in and their subordinates catching up on a few months, if not years, of news. The 4th after a bad day at the 11th, good nature slipping and resentment brewing. Bars, endless bars, where the unseated talk brashly about things in their divisions the upper seats would be appalled they know about. Guard shifts. Money issues. Who the captain is fucking. Who they aren’t. Izanami. Izanami wants to know when the 4th seat gets back. Izanami knows where 3rd seat keeps the money he’s been siphoning. Izanami will pay for the names of the whores the 6th seat beats.
After Ichigo rams through, and they prepare for the Winter War, another note turned up in her book. Ise Nanao, guard dog of demons. Would you like to try again?
Kurosaki drew a line right across Soul Society. Said this far and no further. Soul Society reared its ancient head and stared back. It’s up in the air whether or not something as deeply rooted as Seireitei can change. But if there’s a time for it...
Ise Nanao is not a fool. She kept that note.
Now she holds out that information like a lantern in the night.
Rangiku’s hand raises before she can stop it. She believes in Seireitei, she believes in the mission.
She’s not sure she could take another Gin.
‘Her names Izanami, and she’s either trying to break Seireitei or save it.’
Rangiku blinks. Her hand rubs Haineko’s hilt, the sword spirit opening up to her in a way she rarely does. Rangiku falls back and forward, holding place between her inner world and reality. The table under her hands is the real thing, the fields of flowers and streams she first woke up in well over a century ago is real too, if only inside of her. Haineko is crouched down behind her. This rarely happens. Haineko is too similar to her in temperament to make connecting outside of battle easy. Today, tonight, with Gin hanging from the rafters, Haineko is quiet and attentive. The wide open fields are moving under their own power. Snake holes are emerging from the ground and smoke is rising from them. Burning out. Haineko growls and the wind floods across the fields turning the flowers to ash. The wind blows again and the flowers bloom again, brighter and healthier.
Rangiku breathes in, ash and sake and night blooming flowers on her tongue. ‘Well, maybe we should find out which.’
--
Most days Rangiku forgets how bloody old everything around her is. The walls are as old as the Captain Commander, the barracks are only slightly younger. The streets of Seireitei positively howl with history some nights. A million ghosts shifting from foot to foot, life to life. She’s old too, which is irritating to remember. Toushiro, for all that he is determined to have the gravitas of the Captain Commander before he has an appropriate amount of facial hair, makes it easier. He’s still young enough to worry that he’s not old enough .
Speaking of-
‘Captain.’ She sing songs, she’s not drunk, and one day it will occur to him that after a century of drinking she actually cannot get that drunk before 10am. ‘Where is my captain!’
‘Not in his office, doing his work.’ Toushiro’s low voice grumbles. ‘Certainly not putting more work on your desk for you to do before noon. ’
‘That’s much too soon.’ She flops into her desk and takes a sip of whatever was in her cup from yesterday. Toushiro’s eyes narrow and he leaps from his desk
‘Yes,’ he dumps out her cup, which was full of sake, ‘it certainly is.’
‘You’re so much fun.’ Rangiku says, and means it when she smiles at him. Toushiro doesn’t smile back but his reiatsu lightens from its usual state of vague agitation. It drops again, coating hers in a vaguely proprietary fashion. Haineko laughs in her head, curling herself up and going to sleep. That’s something that will embarrass the hell out of everyone; the way in which constant companionship changes the relationship between reiatsu. Usually two powerful reiatsu’s reject each other and attack each other until the more dominant one can take up enough space.That’s one of the reasons they scout the Rukongai for powerful souls. If they can’t control it eventually things go sour. Even the best trained captain class shinigami leaks power, it can be monstrously uncomfortable to be around them when they aren’t keeping it in. For her part she can’t remember the last time her captains did anything more than than show his irritation and affection for her. As a test she flares her reiatsu, the smell of Haineko’s warm fur in the sun and the floral scent she wears sharpens for a moment, before it subsides in a fall of ice and the scent of sun burning through frost.
‘Matsumoto.’ He says flatly. That’s the tone that lets her know he knows something is going on but if she’d rather not talk about it he’ll let it go. That one’s only come about since Gin.
‘Just checking!’ She chirps, and actually lowers herself to consider doing her work. There’s so much of it. And so much sun outside.
‘Matsumoto.’ This time he flares. The rumble of something dragon-like thrums across her chest. Fine then. She’ll stay inside today.
Still, after this she’ll go embarrass Abarai. He’s so easy. Any talk of spending all day wrapped up in Kuchiki will send him off the deep end. Nanao will definitely yell a lot. Shuuhei too, for a lark. He’ll forgive her anything. Kira...no, not Kira. And Hinamori. Maybe someone should talk this out with her. In all likelihood she’s too young to know what that kind of immersion means.
Her eyes drift down to the form in front of her. A request for twelve personnel from the 1st. She makes a displeased noise; you don’t ask for other people’s squad members.
Toushiro makes a sympathetic noise. ‘More deaths from the 1st. The Patrol Group want some of our soldiers.’
Rangiku turns that over in her head. Is this related to what she and Nanao overheard? Did Kinoshita decide to make a move? ‘It’s hard work.’
‘So I should send you?’
She gasps. ‘You wouldn’t.’
‘If I thought it would work.’ He says, which actually means he wouldn’t, not even if the Captain Commander said so. It is a truth in the Gotei that captains and lieutenants do poorly without each other. ‘No, they’re investigating it. It seems the bodies disappeared.’
‘They do that.’
‘Not with half their personal items and half a year’s rations.’
‘Deserters?’
‘Or raiders. Turn coats. Why they would steal bodies is beyond me.’
They wouldn’t. But, Rangiku muses, there are those that would.
Time for her and Nanao to go out on the town again.