Hopelessly Devoted to You (Gin Ichimaru love story)

Chapter 6

Rangiku took a deep breath before she continued. "Head Captain waited a week more before sending out a search party. After they left the thirteen court guard squads were informed the following day of their return. They couldn't find Kira-san, but they found four lifeless soul reapers."

A noticeable tear slipped from her eye which she brushed it quickly. I felt bad for her, seeing as maybe this was the reason Captain Ichimaru wasn't out and about. He too was awaiting the return of his lieutenant. I lifted my arm, placing my hand on her shoulder.

She looked down at me with a somber gaze. "I know what it's like to wait for someone to return. But they haven't found his body right? So who's to say he isn't out there training or figuring out something that could help Soul Society? Don't lose hope, not yet Rangiku."

Rangiku smiled, wrapping her arms around me and holding me too close to her chest area. "Ra-Rangiku, I-I can't br-breath!" I could hear Rangiku giggle a little as her arms fell back to her sides. I was slightly shocked to see the mistress with a small smile along with a few stray tears falling onto her cheeks. "Thank you, Neko. I needed someone to tell me that."

A genuine smile appeared on my own face, happy that she didn't have to worry, at least for a little while. "You're welcome Rangiku."

Rangiku rubbed the tears away as I looked up at the sky, finding the sun heading over the horizon with shades of red and orange painting the warm atmosphere. A stunned expression appeared on my face. That time already!?

"Listen Rangiku, I have-" "To go. I didn't realize I would keep you so long." She gave me an apologetic look. I waved it off. "It's fine. Besides, it was nice meeting you." That was in fact true considering I thought she would have been the bossy type, but she was probably still capable of acting that way.

"You too Neko. See you around." I watched Rangiku walk off to Squad ten barracks which made my mouth drop. Somehow I had ended up on the other side of the Seireitei which was a long way from Squad five. Dang, it.

I began sprinting in the direction of Squad five, figuring if I used flash step to get there I would make a mess of myself. I thought about what I had said to Rangiku about waiting for someone to return.

Back when I lived in Rukongai at the age of four I was always waiting for my family to find me. No one had ever told me that I died in the world of the living, but after a while, I was able to figure that out. Still, I would always end up waiting for the female caretaker I had named Mizuki who would come home at the end of each day.

Mizuki was a kind-hearted woman that had found me alone in district sixty-four of North Rukongai. She welcomed me into her small one-room home which was made entirely of wood on a seemingly unsturdy foundation.

On dozens of occasions, I was beaten and bruised by older soul reapers in the area. They would take the food I had managed to scrounge up or beat me for fun while Mizuki was away, scavenging for food in dangerous but more plentiful parts of the Rukongai where I couldn't go. Even Mizuki would come back beaten at times.

The situation got worse when she brought her new "boyfriend" Sora home a few years later. He seemed like a nice man at first, but I would soon learn that he was only putting on a show. When Mizuki would leave me alone with the man he would demand me to steal food or items from others in the area. If I didn't succeed or I refused he would beat me and the bruises I was given wouldn't fade away for weeks.

If I told Mizuki it was Sora who had given me the wounds on my body he would kill her. I didn't want to risk Mizuki's life so I kept that promise knowing what the man would do to her if I let it slip.

After that Sora didn't come around often, probably off with some other girl I presumed. Mizuki told me that he was finding new ways to earn money in the poor town. Of course, she believed that since she didn't know the foul man for who he actually was. That would all change on one dreadful night.

The night he would took everything from us.

Mizuki and I were sleeping soundly with rag-like blankets draped over our bodies. The snow outside the poorly built structure roared like a hungry lion. It was around midnight when my eyes happened to flutter open, seeing the outline of someone standing in the now open doorway.

A long crooked dagger caught my attention as my aqua eyes widened. It was Sora.

Sora's messy brown hair was matted from the blood that was already there before coming home that night. The putrid smell of alcohol on his dirty olive-green hakama filled the small room, making it almost unbearable.

I tried desperately to awake Mizuki but was thrown roughly to the side by the man's foot. He grabbed ahold of me, dragging me to a wooden support beam in the middle of the home. I tried to resist but the rope he used to tie me against it rubbed painfully against my body, leaving hot burns when I struggled.

I was forced to watch the woman I had known as Mizuki die in front of me as Sora rushed at her, plunging the dagger into her stomach after she had awoken. She coughed up blood as I screamed for him to stop. He pinned her to a wall, trailing large gashes across her body before finally delivering a fatal injury to her throat.

After he was finished killing Mizuki his deep brown eyes trained on me, a psychotic look within his irises.

I squirmed as he kneeled down in front of me teasing me by putting the sharp blade to my neck and face with a mocking grin. Hot tears fell onto my cheeks as he began breaking the delicate skin. He started off by cutting my wrists, enjoying the sounds of my petrified screams as I struggled to escape. My weak attempts made his sinister grin widen in amusement.

Sora then dug the dagger into my arms, legs, and body, watching the oozing liquid spill onto the dirt ground. He tore the teal-colored hakama that I had received as a gift from Mizuki, blood now tainting its soft fabric. After my eyes grew heavy from blood loss he cut the rope away, knowing I was too weak to do anything now. He considered killing me right then and there with the blade he held in his tight grasp but decided that I deserved to die a slow, painful, death.

Sora flung the door open, dragging my body through the heavy snow outside. A trail of my own blood dripped from my deep wounds that left a permanent red color stained into the once pure white snow. After he took one last look at my body he smirked, seeing a pool of blood forming around me.

He left me to die where he thought no one would ever find me. To this day I still have scars across my body where it didn't completely heal but luckily they remained hidden under my uniform. I always asked myself why I didn't die. It was the sixty-fourth district of Rukongai after all which meant it was a long distance from the Seireitei. No soul would have ever found me in a cloud of snow that thick either.

My scars and the life that I was supposed to have lost reminded me why I actually became a Soul Reaper. Of course, I wanted to be dependable and such, but I didn't look for praise or anything that represented me as what people would call a prodigy. No, I didn't become a Soul Reaper for any of that.

I became a Soul Reaper because I didn't want to see another soul on the brink of death like I was. I wanted to become strong enough so I could save the ones I loved. I wanted to protect those who didn't have the strength to fight anymore. Even if it meant that I'd lay down my life.

That is why I became a Soul Reaper.