Gin noticed a figure standing outside the hut, waiting for something. As he got closer he came across a familiar face as a small breeze hit his face. Piercing ice cold eyes bore into him while he felt the atmosphere becoming colder as he came to a halt waiting for the opposite party speak."Where have you been?" Interrogated Itsuki as he tried to discern Gin"s thoughts.
"Out" was the only reply he got, not continuing any further as Gin returned to his usual smiling face.
Irked by the response, a small twitch found its way to Itsuki"s mouth as the silent stare-off resumed.
"We"ve been worried, especially Rangiku" Continued Itsuki,
"Is there something you"re not telling us?" He tried to get Gin to speak but alas failed to do so.
Unknowingly, Itsuki had come to see Gin as a brother and best friend explaining his worry alongside Rangiku. Although he had a good impression of him before, that was only to a character in the anime and manga. The same could be said for Rangiku as he now thought of her as someone that he needs to protect. Him being an introvert in the past and his distaste of crowds, preferring to be alone in a quiet place, made it difficult for him to make friends. Along with his new mystic eyes, there was a slight fear he may harm another being.
All of this resulted in him building a subconscious wall around his heart, keeping everyone at arm"s length. This was shown when he went to do miscellaneous tasks for some Kan, his cold look kept many people from approaching him and those that did converse with him were quickly thrown off by his short responses.
However, in just the short span of a month, both Rangiku and Gin had somehow burrowed themselves behind the said wall, safely taking some place in his heart.
Now back to the situation at hand.
Gin finally showed some change on his face when Rangiku"s name was mentioned as his narrowed eyes slightly opened. Itsuki let out a mental sigh when he finally got some response from Gin, his gaze slightly softening.
"Can you at least tell me why you have been arriving late?"
Itsuki was once again met with silence as Gin slowly opened his eyes and deeply looked into his best friends eyes. Although Gin has only known him for a month, he had eventually come to like this ice block seeing him as his little brother similar to how he sees Rangiku as his little sister.
He saw worry for himself and some other inexplicable emotions, but mainly worry, slowly letting out a gentle smile.
This genuinely shocked Itsuki, his eyes slightly widening with no further changes to his face. This was the first time he had seen a genuine smile on Gin as his eyes radiated warmth. He felt like his big brother was telling him not to worry. This only lasted until he saw Gin making his way towards the hut. As Gin pa.s.sed him, he heard him speak,
"As long as I can get back what was taken from her"
This was the first and only time where he initiatively spoke in this whole conversation. Unknown to Gin, Itsuki knew what Gin was talking about.
Itsuki knew that a few days ago he must"ve encountered Aizen receiving a small ball of energy from three Shinigami, placing it into a gla.s.s container that contained the Hōgyoku. The same three Shinigami that left the area where he later found Rangiku collapsed, holding a small ball of energy. After concluding that Aizen must be the leader, Gin set a resolve to kill Aizen and retrieve what was taken.
After remembering the original story line, Itsuki turned around and saw Gin entering the hut and laying down. He soon did the same, but instead of falling asleep he started meditating as he felt his imminent breakthrough of memory part.i.tion. Time slowly pa.s.sed by as Itsuki was meditating when suddenly a click was heard and a whole new set of thoughts gushed in like a tsunami. Taking some time to get used to this Itsuki had finally broken through and achieved his fourth part.i.tion. Now there were a total of 256 thoughts or processes working towards one goal.
Apart from that he realised that he was now able to accelerate his thoughts by two folds, three times than normal. That night he had a rare blissful sleep knowing that these peaceful days were soon going to be over.
Since then a couple of days have gone by and life continued as normal. However, Rangiku got increasingly worried until she finally couldn"t take it anymore.
Itsuki was practicing the Hiten mitsurugi-ryu with a couple of bamboo sticks he found, when he noticed Rangiku preparing to leave.
"Where are you going, Rangiku" Questioned Itsuki as he came to a standstill.
"To find Gin" Came the short reply putting on her sandals as started walking in the general direction where Gin always went towards.
Knowing he cant stop her, Itsuki quickly dressed up to ward off the cold and quickly followed after. He knew that this must be when Gin decides to join Shin"ō academy.
After a few hours Rangiku and Itsuki stumbled upon Gin draping a Shinigami"s shihakuso, with some blood smeared on his face.
"Gin! What are you doing? Why are you wearing that?" Questioned a shocked Rangiku. Itsuki just kept quiet in the background and watched the scene play out. None of them found this weird as he was never one that talked a lot, only talking when needed to do or when wanting to know something. Apart from that he stayed silent and only gave short yet concise words.
With his back facing Rangiku, Gin stated
"I"m gonna become a Shinigami"
Stunned by his response, Rangiku"s eyes grew wider,
"I"m gonna become a Shinigami and change everything"
A small gasp escaped Rangiku"s mouth, as Gin continued
"So that you never have to cry again, Rangiku" The young boy declared as if making a promise to himself.