Epilogue

Ten days had passed since the Shinigami and Kurosaki Ichigo had prevailed against Aizen Sosuke in Karakura town. Ichigo had lost his shinigami powers, but he still had his life. In fact, the only ones who had died, had been those of the hollow and one Ichimaru Gin and Kaname Tousen.

Matsumoto Rangiku had come close to death. She closed her eyes and brushed some of her long hair from her face. It sure felt like she had died, Gin... What a foolish person. He was always disappearing without telling her where he was going, he was always doing stupid things.

It was a rather nice day, the sun was high in the sky and no clouds threatened to ruin it. Perhaps she should enjoy it, make the most of the nice weather for it surely could not last this long. She was not in the mood for celebrating.

Despite their victory and the fact they had not lost 'one of their own', the Shinigami did not celebrate.

Rangiku laughed bitterly, putting her hand on her forehead. Of course, they all forgot about one person. "Shiori..."

As if the blow of Gin had not been enough, she learnt later the young, human girl had died also and by the time Inoue Orihime had been free to heal her, there had been nothing left to heal; and as hard as she tried...

She stared, frowning across at the crimson haired vice-captain across from her. She was positive Shiori's death would have affected him, but here he was; laughing, drinking. How could he be so callous? So uninterested, a young girl had died.

Rangiku played it out over, and over. She could have done something- prevented all of this. Perhaps if she hadn't spoken to her Aizen wouldn't have shown such an interest. What if he still had though, and not talking to her, had only settled to make the whole thing worse?

Had there been some way to prevent her death?

"Renji!" She stared firmly at him, slamming her hands on the desk when he just blinked in confusion. "How can you be so light hearted?"

He paused for a moment, debating whether to play off that he had no clue what she was on about or...

Abarai Renji let out an elongated sigh and relaxed back into his seat.

"You know she's not going to come here, right? She was a soul before, her spirit would have become part of Hueco Mundo!"

"I know that."

"So why are you acting like nothing happened?" Rangiku frowned, huffing and folding her arms in annoyance. She'd liked Shiori despite barely knowing her, she was an easy person to like. Her stuttering, her blushing, her painful shyness. Rangiku smiled bitterly again.

Renji stayed quiet. It was true, the pain he'd felt at her death hadn't even been a fraction of what he'd felt at the prospect of Rukia being dead, no, it had been much worse. Much, much worse.

At first, the pain had confused him. A simple, human girl who he barely knew; she'd risked her life, given her life protecting something important to them all... Pain was only natural, but not as much as there was.

Shiori was painfully shy, stubborn but perhaps also brave. She was pretty and... How much did he know about her? Nothing. Maybe he felt sorry for her. She had no one 'alive' to miss her now she was gone, and only a few of the shinigami really knew who she was.

Neliel had gone frantic when she'd felt it. Boy, had he been surprised when in her sudden anger and her desperation to help when the other woman's reishi had disappeared, that she'd turned into a large, rather beautiful and voluptuous woman.

Neliel had held her cold body while Inoue had tried desperately to heal her back up. He remembered the tears of frustration that had rolled down her cheeks. She'd kept trying even when she knew it was no good.

He too, wondered if there had been something he could have done to stop it. She should still be alive! Her life was taken from her without no reason in the first place! She should still be human, going to school none the wiser about any of it! She should have never been involved.

"Renji?" Matsumoto cried again, staring at him firmly.

"I have... a feeling."

She blinked a few times, frowning as she sat back down.

"A feeling?" she tutted. "You're so calm because of a feeling?"

Renji shifted awkwardly. "I don't know! I don't want to be calm, but I am!" He didn't want to be 'fine', despite knowing next to nothing and barely having spoke to her... he considered the girl his friend. "Yamamoto-taichou told me something."

Rangiku's interest perked right up and she put down her sake. Her eyes shone with curiosity, and she lent closer. What had he been told that had him so calm?

Renji sighed in annoyance, Rangiku could be so childish. Funny, really she was quite similar to Neliel; perhaps if they'd had the chance, Shiori and Rangiku would have become good friends. Rangiku was short tempered, lazy, selfish and stubborn. But she had a huge heart, she was the type of friend anyone would be lucky to have.

"He said he was doubtful she would still be in Hueco Mundo, there's a chance she came here instead."

Matsumoto let out an aggravated sigh. "But that doesn't help! She'd just become part of soul society like us when we-" What happened to Gin? Did he come here too? She closed her eyes, sighing as she steadied herself. She wouldn't cry any more over this- that man would not make her shed any more tears.

"That's what I thought too," Renji added quickly, and gently seeing her expression.

The blonde stared at him curiously, blinking as she tried to understand.

"What happened for you to... not think that?"

Renji simply shrugged. "He didn't seem as remorseful as I would have thought he would be," he stared into the cup of sake, frowning lightly in concentration. "Like I said, it's just a feeling."

Rangiku sighed, shaking her head. Basing everything on a feeling... It wasn't like him at all, and she felt like perhaps she should trust his feeling too but... but...! She could think of no further explanation.

"Where is Kuchiki-taichou anyway?"

Renji frowned. "He had a meeting with Yamamoto-taichou," he muttered. "I'm starting to wonder if there's something going on with him and Unohana-taichou." His eye twitched insanely at the thought. Unohana would kill him if she heard about that, if his own captain didn't beat him to it first.

Rangiku giggled and lent closer. "Why's that?"

Renji sighed. "The past week, whenever I've been around his estate to pick up paperwork, she's been there." Unohana very rarely made trips there, and his captain was not injured enough for 'house calls'.

Matsumoto blinked a few times fast. "I wonder... Yachiru sure wouldn't be impressed..." She wondered who was scarier- Yachiru or Unohana. She laughed softly at the thought. "Well..." She stood up and stretched. "I should be getting back before taichou gets annoyed. I didn't do any paperwork," she sighed, brushing her hair out of her face and yawning quite uninterested. "I'll take a nap first."

Renji sighed as she left. She was acting just as calm now as he was. He stayed there for a few minutes more, before he too stood up and left. It really was a nice day- perhaps they should enjoy it. Shiori didn't give her life for them to mope around.

He sighed, deciding to take a walk around the rukongai. It usually relaxed him and helped him think. Rukia was in the human world with Ichigo- funny, he was still alive but he'd lost him as a friend. Loosing Ichigo made him feel more sad than Shiori... And Shiori was gone.

Maybe there was something wrong with him.

"Heh..."

He muttered to himself as he wandered through the crowded streets. The place was surprisingly quiet, perhaps they too picked up on the feelings from outside? He sighed lightly, staring at the sky for a few moments, before he glanced back around at the people. Sometimes there were souls who'd have a good amount of Reiatsu, they'd either die or go onto become Shinigami. Though, just like usual, he felt nothing out of the ordinary, and no one barely noticed him.

He paused when he felt eyes on him, and he glanced around. He didn't like when people stared at him- he hoped they had a good reason for it. Maybe it was some interested kids who hadn't seen a shinigami before.

Renji stopped short when he caught a pair of brilliant emerald coloured eyes staring at him through the crowd. He blinked twice, making sure he was seeing things right. He smirked softly when they kept eye contact with him and the eye's owners soft pink lips too turned up into a soft smile.

Perhaps he would enjoy the beautiful day, he could see no reason not to, after all.

The End.