Of Birthdays and Siblings

Office Problems

Note - This is a copy of the original note at the beginning of the story which i started in November 2012.

I'm also working with the crack theory that Gin + Ran = Toshiro & Bambietta, which makes up for one really messed up family. Who knows if I'll make fifty thousand or not. Contains spoilers for chapter 514. This is also AU to the final arc.

Since this is a NaNoWriMo project and there is a chance that people not familiar with the Bleach fandom will read it, here is a brief synopsis of the Bleach fandom. The story revolves around Kurosaki Ichigo, a fifteen year old who can see spirits. He ends up becoming a Soul Reaper who stops Hollows from eating spirits and helps the spirits pass on. Rukia, whom he stole his powers from was almost executed by Soul Society, the place that spirits end up going.

The shinigami happens to be run by the Gotei Thirteen, which is headed up by thirteen captains and their subordinates. Hitsugaya Toshiro is the child genius who happens to be the youngest captain ever. He believes that he died on a plain of ice and his zampaktuo (his soul blade) is an ice dragon. Matsumoto Rangiku is his fukutaicho and Ichimaru Gin is the former traitor turned captain. It is unknown if he is dead or not.

The Vandenreich are Quincy, who are supposed to have died out a long time ago. Bambietta is one of their members and Juhabach is the leader. Presumably the difference between Quincy and Shinigami is the fact that Shinigami pass Hollows on while the Quincy destroy them and remove them from the cycle of rebirth. They are currently attacking Soul Society in the Manga, but there is reference to peace and whether or not they are the real enemy.

...

A soft and delicate snow fell outside of the tenth division office as Toshiro worked on the many stacks of paper work. Tomorrow was guaranteed to be a long day, not to mention a day he honestly wasn't looking forward too. A warm sensation suddenly touched his cold reiatsu and he glanced up in time to see his fukutaicho coming into the room with various packages.

His bright teal eyes glanced up, but he didn't say anything as she began to unpack the Christmas decorations. Glancing back down at his work, he found himself letting out a sigh at how much he had left to do. This caught the attention of his fukutaicho, who suddenly took the time to look up at him. "Taicho... are you all right?"

"Am I all right?" The preteen glanced up in irritation, wishing that puberty would finally kick in for him. "You're not doing any paper work again and have left me with all the work."

"I'll make a deal with you." A smile spread across Rangiku's face. She found herself heading over with a box of decorations. "If you do the decorating this year, I'll take the paper work."

The small taicho found himself suddenly grimacing. The idea of having to look at any of those sparkly green and red decorations any sooner then he had to was nauseating. The day that they were meant to celebrate was second on his least favorite days of the year as it reminded him that he came from nowhere and had no one prior to granny finding him, however she did find him. "No."

"Why not? Decorating for Christmas is a wonderful thing to do." Rangiku suddenly leaned over so that her face was near his and he could smell the peppermint on her breath. "You need to learn to have some fun. If you do, I'll take on some more of the paperwork. But until you do, having to do all the paper work is your punishment for not acting your age."

One white eyebrow suddenly twitched and Toshiro found himself wishing he could push her face away along with her nasty breath. He also found himself getting a good look at her chest area, which caused him to glance away from the woman. "Your breath stinks."

"But I haven't been drinking. I don't get the egg nog stuff until the twenty-forth anyways." The woman suddenly leaned forward and lay on the desk. "Hey, taicho... what do you want for your birthday."

The dreaded words finally came out of her mouth and he found himself letting out a deep sigh. "I don't want to hear about my birthday again Matsumoto. There is no point in celebrating."

"Excuse me!" Rangiku's voice suddenly rose in volume level slightly. "Birthdays so are important!"

"Why?" Toshiro glanced up and looked into her baby blue eyes with his bright teal ones, wondering if she would in fact give him an answer.

"Why?" The busty female startled, before pulling back from him slightly, allowing him to be free of the candy cane breath he disliked so much.

"See... you can't give me an answer. Unless you are fortunate to know your real birthday, they have no meaning to them." Toshiro lifted up a piece of paper to work on next, only to flinch when Rangiku slammed her hands down. He looked up in time to see that she was quite angry.

"That so isn't true." Rangiku glared at him, before folding her arms across her chest and pulling back. "Did you ever stop and think that someone choose that as your birthday? The date has special meaning to someone out there, doesn't it?"

Another sigh came out of the boy's mouth and he found himself leaning on his arm. "Matsumoto... what kind of nonsense are you talking about now?"

"It isn't nonsense. Gin gave me..." The woman suddenly paused, realizing that she had brought up a subject she found herself leery to talk about.

"Why hold onto a date that someone whose deserted you and has forgotten all about you. If he is alive, why hasn't he returned?" The boy worked away at the paper work. "Please, I would rather avoid this subject matter."

"The subject of Ichimaru Gin, or the subject of you not wanting to celebrate your birthday?" Rangiku snapped the words out, causing him to suddenly pause and almost glance up. However, he found himself getting back to his work and choosing to ignore her. "Don't get me wrong here, but if he is dead he can't help coming back. If he isn't, he has to go through a trial and I would have to go through losing him that way."

"Soul Society has changed. He wouldn't be convicted as a traitor as he played both sides." Toshiro continued at a steady pace.

"How is he supposed to know that? How is anyone supposed to know something like that when they haven't been around like we have? You and I both know neither one of us expected such drastic things to occur. I hate to say this, but you're being a spoil sport about the whole thing. Someone gave you that birth date because they cared about you. Did you ever think that was the day your granny found you and took you in?"

Toshiro suddenly felt the muscles in his shoulder tighten. He stuck his brush back into the pot before turning to Rangiku and giving her a dark look, his teal eyes losing their brightness due to his anger flaring.

"Did you ever stop and think that day, even if it was the day she found me is the day my parents, the two people who are supposed to take care of you and love you in this world just so happened to abandon me? I'm sorry Matsumoto, but I can't take this as simply being and issue of someone caring enough for me because of that."

"Taicho... I..." The woman pulled back, her eyes glazing over slightly.

"I figure my parents got tired of the people around us commenting on how much of a freak I was, what with my hair and eye color being the way it was. So, they took me out into the snow during a storm and left me there to die. How else would I have such a vivid memory of dying that way? That's all I remember about my past Rangiku and I really don't want to remember anymore."

"But..."

Toshiro glanced up into her face, his voice calming slightly. "You aren't going to cry on me are you?"

"Why haven't you told anyone this before?" Rangiku's lip trembled.

"Because I didn't think anyone would care about it."

"But I do care. Your birthday is important to me because it means its one more year that I've been with you and proof that you're still alive."

Toshiro paused, before looking up at her, a rather sad look in his eyes. "I don't mind if you celebrate it, but I really don't want to celebrate it, or Christmas. It reminds me way to much of what I am missing."