“Your gift to me?”
Was that how he managed to explain away making her think that he was dead, when clearly he was not? Fists clenched at her sides, anger clear in her body language as she forced herself to not glare at him. Gin had always been the one to hide his true emotions, even to the point where she couldn’t read him all the time. But Rangiku, she excelled in emoting, causing people to believe that she was an open book.
When she was angry, people knew.
And now, she was furious.
Finding a bottle of saké, she pulled off the cork and brought it to her lips. It wasn’t healthy, Nanao had always counseled, to reach for liquor when she was feeling so much, but she didn’t really care. ”You’re a son of a bitch, you know that?” Finally turning, ice blue eyes met the barely-seen blue of his own eyes. ”You couldn’t even let me know that you weren’t dead? So much for friendship.” So much for… well, whatever they were.
She had loved him… no, that was wrong. She still did love him, in spite of all of this shit he put her through. And she knew better, or at least she thought she did. But… He was Gin, he was the boy who had saved her so many years ago. The one who had shared a scarcity with her, who had given her her birthday. And she loved that boy, so much that she overlooked things in the man so often. Too often.
Bad habits didn’t end quickly.
“Ugh, I’m getting too old for this.”
"You don't look a day over when I first started playing this sort of game. Nah, I think you have in ya to keep this going for a long, long time."
Her rage was a wondrous thing to behold, terrifying for some, but intriguing for him. Rangiku was never something that he feared, except for when she tried to sacrifice herself for him. Then, and only then, could he feel a few kernels of distress latch onto his heart. Now that this terror was gone, he could wait while she hated, with a smile that would only continue to taunt her with its utter apathy for her emotions. This was the man she knew, the one who cared, but never in a way that could be seen as more than a snake tightening its coils.
Bad habits were both his curse, and his greatest gift. Bad habits provoked his leaving, those maddened retreats that made her hate his rotten guts. Bad habits, however, always brought him back to her, no matter what would stand in his way. For her, he would never die, and he would never let her move on. Linger Gin would, like the spirit of her dreams, or perhaps her very nightmares.
"I am forever, Ran-chan," he declared, with a gesture of his bony finger pointing upwards, as if to spite those that would dare challenge it. "And as forever, you're jus' stuck with m'. I'd say that tha's a shame, but we both know better. No matter how much ya hate m', ya can never leave.
An' so long as you keep wanting m' to stay, I will always keep coming back. That's my real gift."
Slowly, his extended arm sloped downwards, meeting a motion set by his remaining arm. They held themselves out to her, as if expecting her to return. To return to the embrace that was just as sweet as poison, and just as deadly to the constitution. This was true for the both of them, as he could feel his mind buckle under the weight of his sin, and his heart twist at the weakness he showed.
Still, he remained, to infuriate, to cajole, to hold, and most importantly, to love.
