5Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. If I did, I would have made this pairing come true.
Author's Note: When I covered over a 100 chapters in a span of day, I got a lot of inspiration. I loved Rangiku x Gin from the very moment I saw their relationship. For the reason that I felt so terrible when it turned he was good (the bad guys I crush on always end up being so) and he died but at the same time there was such breath-takingly painful beauty to the tragedy and it fascinated me to no end. I wonder how Tite Kubo creates such connections among fictional characters.
That made up my mind. Here's a tribute to a woman whose renowned beauty held no candle to her inner strength and the man who set out to protect her regardless of the cost. They deserved happiness.
Pairing: Rangiku x Gin
Setting: Follows canon mostly. Chapter 423.
The One That Got Away
~.~
You idiot. You big dumb idiot.
All I ever wanted was you. I didn't want revenge on Aizen and his thugs for what they did to me. It led you to me didn't it?
We were good together, I was happy when I was with you. All of a sudden existing mattered, I started caring- started living.
You left often, you never told me where or why but you always came back. And that was good enough for me. I had faith in you; that you would always come back, that you would never leave me alone. Then one day I saw you in Shinigami clothes. I couldn't understand why- why you'd want to join the Academy, why you'd leave me behind.
Now I do. It's been so many years since that day and yet until you were on your death bed you didn't admit it to me. Did you think that I wanted this? Revenge didn't matter. I wish you had told me back then so I could have stopped you.
You wanted to change things so I wouldn't have to cry anymore. I wonder if you knew that I've never cried about anything as much as I cried over you Gin. The days you were gone before I decided I was going to follow you, when we both became colleagues again seated officers but you acted like you barely knew me, after you betrayed soul society and I feared to meet you in battle (I knew only one of us would survive), when I found you half-dead.
You were the person I cared about most. All you had to do was stay with me. That would have been good enough Gin. I would have been happy for as long as I lived if I had you by my side.
You did it all for me. Maybe you did love me after all. I know I loved you. I wish I had told you but I couldn't. How could I tell you when you were always leaving me? I thought it wouldn't make a difference to you. You were always so mysterious in Seireitei I thought maybe I didn't know you as well as I once thought I did. The doubt only strengthened when you sided with Aizen.
I couldn't stop loving you- it didn't matter that you were the enemy. I just couldn't. I wanted to know why you did it, although it didn't matter much. If you really did hate soul reapers that much why did you join them? If you were such a monster why did you save me? If you wanted to leave so bad why didn't you take me with you? No I don't think I could have betrayed my comrades, even though now I know that wasn't your true goal, but I would have came Gin. Anywhere you wanted.
I've seen that loneliness in you but you refused my company when I tried to help you, always polite and in that endearing tone. That voice of yours- sometimes I hate it and sometimes I love it.
You've pained me so much, but Aizen maimed me more when he took you away from me. It hurt more than wound I had ever received.
They say it is better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all. Maybe that's true. I wouldn't give up my memories of you for anything Gin.
You didn't leave behind anything for me to remember you by but that's alright. I won't forget you; I will always have a place in my heart for you. I know you'd want me to move on, to be happy and I will. I'll get stronger so the next time someone I love is in danger I'll be able to protect them.
If I had been strong you wouldn't have had to do any of this. But that's alright. The past is the past. I'm grateful for whatever we had together.
I bet Toshiro's worried about me. He's always worried about me when it comes to you.
You're gone, you're really gone. It took a while for that to sink in. Back at Karakura town when I held you as you lay dying on the ground, I felt so helpless. I didn't care what happened- to me, to the world. All I could think about was you.
You opened your eyes to look at Ichigo, then you closed them. I asked you to let me see them again one last time. You granted me my wish and touched my cheek and told me you were sorry. I kissed you even as your lips turned cold.
"I'm sorry too," I whispered, though they fell on your deaf ears. I am sorry that things didn't work out for us.
In another life, it'd be different. It'd be you and me against the world. I wouldn't let anything come between us. I would make you stay with me.
At least that way, I wouldn't have to say, that you were the one that got away.
~.~
I've always loved the idea of Gin x Rangiku and believed they deserved a happy ending. Too bad the best romances are tragedies. I think she's going to get stronger now.
Reviews please!
~Alexxis T. Swan