~1~
Smile
A child of an uncommon beauty was sitting on the top of the mossy rock. It sat there for the whole days, spending his time in solitude under the distant sun. He differed too much from the others so that they would want to deal with him. From under the silvery hair, the shining eyes were looking as if they could see more than others. The delicate features were marked with the suffering that no-one should experience in the world people called Paradise. Yamamoto-Genryūsai knew that Soul Society had stopped being Paradise long ago and its future was heading into quite opposite direction.
Yamamoto-Genryūsai had lived since very long. His powers had grown so much they allowed him to see the future. At first, from the vague visions, then from much more detailed prophecies and images, Yamamoto-Genryūsai had learned that doom was approaching. Soul Society was to get involved in the final battle - and completely nothing awaited after that. Yamamoto-Genryūsai knew well that nothing would last forever, but he had faith that the final end couldn't be brought by the treason of one of the world's pillars. He didn't accept this - so he decided to fight the future. He explained that, since he had been given to see the upcoming chaos, he had been given the power to stop it, too. The Power guided him here, to the Southern Rukongai, to the village - neither poor, nor rich - and to the child that was sitting on the top of the big rock and regarding the world with far too experienced eyes.
"What is your name, child?" asked Yamamoto-Genryūsai, his words echoing in the eternity.
The boy looked up at him with his shining eyes and answered, his voice ringing with sorrow.
"Ichimaru Gin."
Yamamoto-Genryūsai shuddered, feeling the fingers of the Power on his shoulder.
"Why do you pass your days here?" he went on, with the answer already in his mind before he could hear it spoken loud.
"For I am alone," and there was more behind these words: I have no-one who wants me.
"If you spend your life here, you will continue to be alone," pointed out Yamamoto-Genryūsai, and he was right.
The boy looked at him attentively, but he didn't seem to be shaken by the old man's comment.
"Even if I leave from here, nothing will change," he said in a clear tone, but there was the first note of the uncertainty in his voice. He was a child, after all.
"You don't know the future," summed up Yamamoto-Genryūsai in a tone experienced by the millennia, past and future. "I do."
This interested the boy; his features livened up. A bit.
"You know my future?" he asked, and his voice rang silverly with a life, too.
Yamamoto-Genryūsai remained silent for a moment, waiting for the Power's suggestions.
"I know what it can be like."
The boy was waiting in silence.
"You may meet the people and you may rejoice. You may lose the people and you may suffer. You may command the people and you may serve them. You may believe in people and you may die for them."
The boy's eyes were wide open as he was absorbing every word.
"You only need to rise from this stone."
Gin shrank. He had built a shelter around this rock that only the grass snakes, the forest butterflies and the quick squirrels could breach. He already knew that everything else left only the emptiness tearing up his heart. Only... he was a lonely child that longed for other people's closeness.
"Yes, there are people in my visions, all around," said simply Yamamoto-Genryūsai. "You won't be alone, though you'll have to be alone. Is it enough?"
Gin was staring at him and considering these words; the sun was rolling over the skies.
"Tell me more, please," he said then.
And so Yamamoto-Genryūsai told him about the calamity that was to be brought down on Soul Society by one of its pillars whose name and face were still hidden in the mist. Yamamoto-Genryūsai rest assured, for he knew the Power would draw the foggy curtain in due course, revealing everything to them, and lead them straight to the goal. He told about his plan of creating the twin pillar out of Gin, a pillar that would prevent the world from collapsing. He told about the path filled with duties, suffering, contempt and betrayal. He told about the innocent life that Gin would take off for a world's sake.
Gin wept then, silently, the tears leaving on his pale face a mark, shining in the light of the rising moon.
"I'll grant you a power so they could be reborn in a better form," Yamamoto-Genryūsai comforted the boy, which, at least, stopped the tears from flowing, though it didn't ease the pain in his heart. Gin's soul was always to cry when his Shinsō would cut the thread of somebody's life.
"If you choose this path, you will meet people for whom you will become important," and it was the greatest truth of all that Yamamoto-Genryūsai told that day.
And then the dawn broke, and there was nothing left to say. Yamamoto-Genryūsai rose up from the grass on which the dew glittered in the light of the rising sun.
"If you decide to make this sacrifice for the world, come to Seireitei. Everything will wait for you there."
Gin nodded thoughtfully, still regarding the pale moon with his shining eyes.
Yamamoto-Genryūsai turned to leave and follow his own path, when the Power seized his robe for the last time, stopping him once more. He looked at the boy, filled with the light of sun and moon now, and spoke:
"Smile. Never stop smiling. Let the smile follow your each step, and let everyone see it. Smile. Let them see only your smile."
And he left.
He knew that the only one sincere smile of Gin Ichimaru would accompany him regardless the future.