Liking Oneself II
Thank You
~Prolog

Rangiku woke up in the morning and headed to her division office to get some paperwork done. The words her small taicho said to her remained in her head. "Foe the things you care a lot about, you put a lot of effort into." She slipped into the office in time to see her young taicho up early, the camera still on his desk, jotting down some notes.

"Taicho?" She smiled as his small head darted up. "How are you this morning."

"Fine. Better." His teal yes darted back down to the list he was working on.

"Better... could you elaborate on that?" Matsumoto walked over so that she was standing behind him.

"Better as in... I still don't like myself, but I am going to try and start liking myself. It's rather hard. I also don't feel as depressed as I was, though not at all like I want to be." Toshiro felt her arms wrap around his neck. "Thank you for making the video, and no matter how much I complain, keep hugging me. Just don't... suffocate me in the process."

Rangiku's hand reached up to play in his soft hair. "What are you doing?"

"I owe... other people a thank you." The small boy paused, suddenly reaching up to hold onto her arm. "Matsumoto... what is wrong with Ichimaru Gin?"

"What do you mean?" The busty female found herself flinching.

"He... I saw the video. Before the Winter War, he was his normal self. Now... he's dark." Toshiro stated.

"He's hurting." Rangiku placed her chin on Toshiro's head. "He wanted to be the one to stop Aizen, just like you wanted to be the one. Except... he'd been wishing that for many, many years."

"I'm working on finding ways to thank people." Toshiro took a deep breath. "He's hurting more then me right now."

"Taicho... I kind of would rather you don't go and see him." Matsumoto stated, then added to what she had to say. "Maybe eventually, but right now he's not himself. I don't know how he's going to act.'

"He has something he wants to tell me though." Hitsugaya closed his eyes. "I don't understand why, considering I never thought of him as someone I cared much about, not like you, Momo and Granny, but... something upsets me about him being this way. I want to do something about the way he is."

"I was thinking you would say something like that." Rangiku took a deep breath. "If you do, go with caution.