Rangiku remained at the wake for her small taicho the entire time. She saw a lot of people come and pay their respects, but there was one person she had expected to come who in fact hadn't come at all. She wasn't sure whether to be simply angry that Kurosaki Ichigo hadn't come or to be down right insulted. She worked with Nanao to clean up the room and the few items that were left, her throat catching in part because she wanted to cry over how sweet people had been, but on the other hand she wanted to rant about Ichigo's carelessness at not coming.

Nanao noticed the way she moved. "Is something the matter Rangiku?"

"You would think that Ichigo would have come, but he hasn't." The woman stuffed another item into her bag.

"Perhaps he has his reasons."

"Reasons? I thought he cared about my small taicho! I thought that he thought of my taicho as a younger brother. I thought I could trust him of all people to be here. Even Rukia was here."

"Rukia is also a fukutaicho of the Gotei Thirteen and would have been expected to come. On top of this she is a member of the Kuchiki family."

Rangiku stopped. "You know what I meant! He..." The woman closed her eyes as she had not more to pick up. "He should have been here. I don't understand why."

Nanao sighed, crossing her arms across her chest. "Come on Rangiku. Let's go and get a drink. You've been waiting to cry into a glass of sake all day. It's a wonder you lasted this long."

The busty female tossed her bag aside and followed after Nanao, a frown on her face as she looked back at the memorial. The amount of things left was staggering. They closed the door for the night and slipped away. The next morning she awoke, her head hurting a bit. Brushing this aside she got up and headed to the division kitchens, barking some orders at the other division members. She carefully set about preparing a meal for two. One of the division members looked at her in a concerned manner. "Matsumoto Fukutaicho... taicho's gone."

"I know. I'm going to go and visit Ukitake Taicho today. There are some things I need to discuss with him." The woman slipped out and arrived at the first, being told that Ukitake was out by his koi pond. She headed towards the pond and knocked on the door. "I see that you're not feeling well today."

"It's rather hard to feel well when we've lost such a precious life." Ukitake smiled at her, but she knew it was fake. "That child had such a kind heart and such a wonderful innocence. Come and sit."

"I made you breakfast." The woman sat down near him.

"Rangiku, you really didn't need to." The man smiled at her while taking his own bento.

"I had to. There are some things I need to talk to you that really are things that should be talked about over a meal." Rangiku looked at the ground.

Ukitake paused. "So you're not just asking me about duties you need to take care of now that he is gone. There is more to this."

"Yes. I'm not saying I wouldn't turn to you for questions. There..." Rangiku paused. "There is something you need to know. Truth is it is something that will hurt you more, but if you were to find out I didn't tell you I think it would hurt more."

"If it is that important then do tell me."

"When I showed up on the battlefield I saw my small taicho's eyes Ukitake." She watched the man suddenly frown, not liking where this was going.

"They were dead because he had died."

"That's not..." Rangiku paused. "Seeing his eyes dead like that was painfully. Even more painful was that I realized how much he looks like Gin. I'd been pushing that feeling to the back of my head ever since I first met taicho. After Gin disappeared the feeling kept getting stronger and stronger. I couldn't deny it anymore when I saw him there. Ukitake... how can someone forget their own child like that?"

Ukitake simply stared at her and she looked away. A smile spread on his face and he reached out his hand to touch Rangiku's. "There are many reasons why people forget things. There are painful memories I want to forget, but at what cost?" The woman looked him in the eye and he continued. "I for example want to forget so badly that this child died and I couldn't do anything to save him. If I forget that he died though what is the cost going to be? My memories of Shiro-chan? I don't want to forget him."

"It's not fair that I didn't remember until the end. I didn't even get to tell him the truth and now he's gone like Gin."

The man patted her hand. "What is fair is that child got to die in his mother's arms rather then all alone. It's not much of a consolation, but his worse fear of not belonging, of dying alone. It didn't end up fulfilled, did it." Rangiku smiled despite the fact the tears were coming down. She watched them drip onto the floor while the older man gently held her hand and let her cry.

He said something else to her. "Thank you too for sharing this with me. It always bothered me that child had no parents. How could someone not love that child?" There came a pause. "Truth of the matter is a lot of the people growing up never gave him a second chance because of his looks, so they never got to learn how loving and kind he was." Ukitake sighed. "I have to also admit I have some inkling that there was some relation to Gin, but never could put my finger on it."

Rangiku suddenly wiped the tears away from her face. "Feel free to come by the shrine. You're one of the people who asked for it to be left open, aren't you?"

Ukitake frowned. "I apologize for such a demand being made. Despite the fact I wanted it left open I wasn't the one who requested it. There are a lot of people, particularly in your division that are hurting over this particular loss." He took a deep breath and patted her hand again. "Since you are that child's mother there is something important I need to talk to you about. There is a chance you won't like it, but you do need to know. I'll speak to you about it eventually."

A knock came on the door and Rukia slid the door open. The female blinked a couple of times. "Matsumoto Fukutaicho?"

"No need to bring me breakfast today Rukia. When I'm finished I'd like you take the dishes back to the tenth division. For now could you keep Rangiku company back?"

The female nodded and Rangiku grabbed her own bento knowing she had other things to do. Rukia followed her and suddenly apologized. "I'm sorry Ichigo didn't come yesterday. I'm one of the people who asked if the shrine could be left open, so he could pay his respects. That... and..." The small female paused. "... I don't think one visit will be enough for him even after his minds no longer muddled."

"Rukia... it bothered me that Ichigo didn't come. Do you know why?"

"He's blaming himself for one thing. For another he's still trying to wrap his head around the fact Hitsugaya Taicho is gone. But that isn't it." Rukia took a deep breath. "There is already talk about Ichigo replacing Hitsugaya Taicho in your division."

"I'd rather it be him then anyone else. Taicho would rather it be him despite the fact he was still under the belief that our previous taicho was coming back." Rangiku looked forward.

"Right there is the problem. Ichigo doesn't want to replace Hitsugaya Taicho anymore then I wanted to replace Kaien-dono. Some of the captains are already talking about it."

"Does this include Ukitake?" Rangiku felt almost betrayed for a brief while.

"They discussions he and Kyoraku have had have been about the comments others have been making. That, and I asked my taicho privately about the matter. Or I tried to. He was rather closed lip about the matter except for the fact he feels it isn't fair to make Ichigo take the position just yet. Which means that he does expect Ichigo to take the role as well. Even my brother thinks so. For some reason he thinks the Shiba clan should force him to take the position. I don't understand why."

Rangiku paused. "It's complicated Rukia." They arrived at the division and stepped into the offices where Rangiku set her bento dish onto one of the desks. Her hand traced the desk carefully, glad that their world had reappeared after the Quincy king had been defeated. This unfortunately left a lot of memories to deal with. "I guess it's time to clean out his things."

"You mean Hitsugaya Taicho?" Rukia's voice strained.

"Yes. Sadly I do."

"I could help."

"No. I want to do this myself." Rangiku looked at the desk, her head then darting up. "You could though get me some boxes. Have some delivered to the captain's quarters too."

"Are you really sure about getting rid of his things before a new captain is to come in?"

"I'm not getting rid of them. I'm keeping them. Well, most of it. There is likely a few things that I think taicho would want certain people to have, so I need to make sure they get to those people as well."

"Thank you for letting me help even this much."

Rangiku sat down at the desk and carefully opened up the bottom drawer. There was a sketchbook in the drawer as well as other items like his collection of rocks. The smell of the division flower caused her to pause when she opened the top drawer. Curiosity got the better of her and she carefully pulled the papers out to see that her small taicho had take the time to dry and press the division flower to a particular envelope.

She stopped short upon seeing the name listed on the front in nice, neat calligraphy. "Karin... what would he have..." She slipped the paper out of the envelope and saw more flowers pressed to the paper. Her eyes scanned the letter.

"I've been thinking a lot lately about our friendship. I'm honestly not good with words particularly when it comes to my feelings, so I finally settled on paper to put them down. I apologize for the flowers as I know it isn't your kind of thing. It felt appropriate due to what I have to say as well as the fact this is my division flower. To be honest I'm not sure about my own feelings. It feels like more then friendship, but I'm not sure as I've never really had friends. I do want you to know how thankful I am for being able to have you as a friend. It's not something I want to lose."

The letter was then signed. Rangiku closed her eyes. "Oh taicho."

"He came so close to confessing, didn't he?"

"It really isn't fair Haineko. And I'm not sure whether to call this close or not. He could mean sibling like friendship as well. Him coming close to confessing... that may just be my wishful feelings on this."