Gin never particularly cared about time, at least in the standard sense. As a Shinigami he was nearly immortal so there was no need to worry about aging for at least another 100 years. He tended to measure time in relation to events so for a long portion of his life, time seemed stagnant because he skated by never affected by the world around him. However whenever he was with Toshiro time seemed to speed up because the boy was constantly doing something new or achieving a goal he set for himself. He was a storm that seemed intent on dragging Gin along and Gin was fine being carried by that freezing wind, anything to feel alive.

Gin waltzed into one of Seireitie's market places and stumbled across Toshiro eating takiyoki from a vendor in what he could only describe as an aggressive manner. He was honestly surprised to see Toshiro out of the office midday, as the boy generally ate lunch in his division. Toshiro seemed to notice him a few moments after Gin had and approached him without hesitation. Normally Gin would be happy that Toshiro was so quick to go to him, but the white haired 5th seat seemed agitated in a way that extended beyond his usual frustration at his workload and co-workers.

Before Gin could ask what was wrong Toshiro demanded, "Ichimaru, did you ever have to teach at the academy?"

The question was out of the blue, but Gin answered, "O' course Shiro, afta' ya hit fifth seat ya gotta teach at leas' one class fo' a semesta'." Gin was too confused to remind Toshiro not to call him Ichimaru, but he considered it a plus that he wasn't being referred to as Vice-captain again, that had taken a lot of work.

"I'm aware of the rules, but I thought if anyone could avoid doing the work it'd be you," Toshiro explained, "or Matsumoto," he added as an afterthought.

"Well, Ah only taught fo' one day, afta' that they banned me," Gin explained with a careless shrug as if being banned from the academy Shin'o academy wasn't important.

"How did you do it?" Toshiro actually looked excited at the prospect of being banned from teaching any more.

"Ahm not meant ta be a teacha', Ah guess," Gin just grinned thinking back to how he terrorized the Shinigami in the making, "Mah style mighta' been ova' the top and violent." Toshiro rolled his eyes at Gin's sadistic grin.

"Do you think there is a way I can reproduce your results and avoid teaching?" Toshiro sounded slightly hopeful and Gin fought off a smile.

"Why're ya so agains' teachin'?" Gin wondered if he had bad memories of the academy or something to that effect.

Toshiro mumbled something and flushed slightly.

"Yer, gonna need ta' be a bit louda', Shiro," Gin felt a true smile breaking through, Toshiro could really be adorable sometimes.

Toshiro huffed before carefully responding, "My students are a bit," he paused for a moment, "unruly?" It came out like a question and left Gin even further confused.

"Unruly?" Gin intoned not entirely sure what that was supposed to mean. The age range for academy students varied greatly because one could join at any age once they passed the entrance exam which people frequently failed and retook. He doubted the older students would be extremely disruptive, he was slightly worried that maybe people were disrespecting Toshiro because of his age. He was a fifth seat and deserved all the respect that came with the title; if anyone, student or not, was bothering him Gin was planning on destroying them.

"Some of the students are making unwanted advances," Toshiro finally admitted and Gin froze for a moment before bursting out in laughter. He was nearly literally frozen by Toshiro who immediately became annoyed at him. "Sorry, Shiro," Gin tried to get his laughter under control, "Ah didn' realize ya were so popula'."

Toshiro was blushing, but the red on his face didn't match his flaring icy reiatsu which was beginning to draw attention. Gin sobered immediately and quickly whispered, "Get ya'self unda' control, Shiro." It wouldn't do to have the entire area frozen just because he was teasing Toshiro and he knew that lack of self-control would upset Toshiro more than what Gin was saying.

Toshiro quickly realized the problem and reigned in his reiatsu before shunpoeing to the rooftops. Gin assumed he was meant to follow him so he trailed behind the younger genius until they were in a more secluded spot in the nearby woods.

Toshiro started speaking the moment the two touched down on the grass, "The problem isn't just the students making advances, everyone is unprofessional and it's honestly insulting."

"Shiro, ya mighta been a top notch studen', but not everyone can be like ya. They're probly' jus' as bad in otha classes," Gin responded relaxing slightly, "but if ya wan' I'll go ta nex' class unda' cova' an watch."

He was happy to hear Toshiro laugh slightly, "Under cover?"

Gin nodded in response and added, "ya jus' gotta show em whose boss."

"I can't hurt them," Toshiro gave him a wary look, assuming the worst.

"No, jus' flare yer reiatsu. Ya seemed happy ta do it in public befo'," Gin reminded of his incident in the market just minutes ago. Toshiro huffed, slightly annoyed, but nodded his head.

Gin was fairly happy with the interaction, Toshiro was rarely so open with him and he certainly wasn't the first person Toshiro turned to when he had problems. He considered it a step in the right direction.

Gin was always fascinated at Toshiro's love of his school. His own memories of the academy, however fleeting they might be, weren't nearly as positive. He made no attempts to make friends and because he moved through the curriculum so quickly he never actually shared a class with Rangiku. He was just the creepy genius who scared anyone who dared get too close.

Toshiro on the other hand seemed to love everyone and wanted to be loved in return hence his constant babbling about his school life which Gin had to fight himself not to be jealous of.

"...and then I went on the swings with my friends and then played tag and then we went back to class and then we did math, which I usually don't like, but the teacher let me answer a question on the board and I was right and then," Toshiro was speeding through his words without taking a breath and Gin felt the need to stop him before he ran out of air.

"Anythin' goin' on outsida' school?" Gin asked gently as the boy took a few breaths before launching into another story as he snuggled up against Gin on his bed. Gin ran his hand through the boy's hair as he listened to the adventures of a human child.

This domesticity was what he was living for and willing to fight for.

Two days later Gin found himself in the back of the classroom watching students file into the room, he received some weird looks, but his glares were enough to keep the students from actually bothering him. He hear whispering and was able to catch a few words from different students:

The teacher's cute

He's a shrimp

I can't believe he's a fifth seat

Shouldn't he be in the academy

I wonder what his zanpakuto is

What can he even teach us

Gin found himself growing annoyed, but the whispers tapered off as Toshiro walked in with a frown on his face, his eyes scanned the room and landed on Gin for only a few moments longer than the rest of the students, but it was assurance that he knew Gin was watching.

Gin watched as the lesson proceeded and he saw what Toshiro meant, the students weren't paying attention. Granted a class on kido that didn't involve practical application was a bit dry, but he was still fascinated by Toshiro's teaching. He was remarkably confident when he spoke and had an air of self-assuredness, but Gin could sense the fluctuations in his reiatsu that indicated his emotional state didn't completely match his calm exterior. He doubted any students noticed, but he could slowly sense Toshiro growing annoyed at the lack of attention and the whispering that wouldn't stop.

Gin wasn't sure exactly what made Toshiro snap, but one moment he was writing something on the board and the next he whirled around to face the class. "Enough," he growled and Gin wasn't sure if he was imagining the reverberation of his inner dragon in his voice. The class froze in surprise and stopped moving altogether when Toshiro raised his reiatsu to the point where he was crushing the weaker students. Gin knew he pushed Toshiro to exert his will over the class, but he wasn't sure if he liked this Toshiro.

"While I am in charge I expect you to listen to me," he glared as if waiting for a response. He lowered his reaitsu and pointed at the door, "Class is being let out early, leave now." Once the class filed out, he sank into his seat in front of the teacher's desk and stared blankly at his desk. He began to speak as Gin slowly walked to the front of the room, "I overdid it, didn't I. They're terrified of me now." He laughed bitterly and Gin realized his mistake.

Gin didn't particularly care if people were scared of him, but Toshiro under all his layers of ice was truly an emotional being and wanted to be accepted. Trying to scare a class into submission was a horrible suggestion, and Toshiro trusted him enough to try it. He failed him, once again. He claimed to know Toshiro and still he made such stupid mistakes, Toshiro wasn't a mini version of himself, he was so much better.

"Shiro," Gin began carefully.

He was interrupted as Toshiro continued to speak as if he didn't notice Gin, "When I looked at them, I felt like I was back in Rukongai surrounded by people who whispered behind my back. Now history has repeated itself and they all hate me too."

"Toshiro," Gin tried to be firm, "they dun' hate ya."

"Gin, everyone seems to hate me," Toshiro looked at him displaying a rare type of vulnerability and for a moment he could see a scared child in front of him, not the serious shinigami he wanted so desperately to be seen as.

"Well Ah dun hate ya, so thas' a start," Gin rested a hand on his shoulder trying to convey some type of support.

Toshiro managed a small smile, "Yeah I guess that's a start."

"Maybe jus' try gettin' along with em," Gin offered, "Ah couldn' do it, s'not mah personality, but everyone hates me an' Ah'm fine with tha'." Gin didn't catch his almost word for word repitition of Toshiro's earlier statement.

"Well I don't hate you, so that's a start," Toshiro repeated Gin's words before smirking and walking out of the classroom.

"Ah guess it is," Gin watched him walk out and waited a few minutes before leaving the silent classroom.

The next time Gin saw Toshiro he was walking with a few of his students, Gin saw their smiles and decided that this time Toshiro didn't need any help. He was happy to see the boy could get by without him, but he was a bit depressed that Toshiro seemed to be better off without his meddling. Though he guessed that people were happy to get to know him as long as he opened himself up to them. Maybe it was a lesson for him in the future, Gin could serve as the warning for what could go wrong with a genius and Toshiro could learn not to be as awful as him.

Still whenever Toshiro smiled at him, he felt like less of a terrible person.

A/N

Behold, I have returned. For real though, I'm sorry for not updating in a while. I've been really busy and unmotivated.

So a bit of time has jumped and Toshiro is now the fifth seat. Gin is helping Toshiro be a more open person than he was in the canon timeline and Toshiro continues to soften Gin. Major changes to the story line won't happen until we reach the timeline featured in the anime because some things need to stay roughly the same. Anyway you'll see when we get there.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think.