[Log] Gin Ichimaru, Rangiku Matsumoto
Title: Winning the Wager (Part 1)
Characters: Gin Ichimaru (lcpdragonslayer), Rangiku Matsumoto (some_scribbles)
Timeline: February 18th, 1950
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Gin learns that Ran isn't just good at darts - she could probably beat anyone at darts. As the loser, the Capo Bastone promises Ran that he'll teach her pool... but maybe she'll bake him cookies as a consolation prize after all.
The Black Sheep was an old Irish pub which had been on 3rd St. forever. It wasn’t the sort of place Rangiku came to regularly, as it was all the way on the east side, and usually full of honest dock worker types with families. She didn’t like taking their money in a game, so this was one of the spots she and Shuuhei would come to when they wanted to have some fun. That worked out well, because she had every intention of winning against Gin when he showed up, and she’d hate to blow her cover anywhere else.
She’d gotten there before him, and she was sitting at the bar sipping her bourbon sour, making small talk with Mac as he poured out some rye in an attempt to keep herself from watching the clock as the hands approached nine. The jukebox was playing out some low jazz and the cigarette smoke...and the waiting...was starting to make her want a gasper.
Gin’s necklace was heavy on her neck, just as it had been when he’d stopped by on Friday long enough to drink a malt and make plans for that Saturday evening. They’d settled on nine, which had left Ran enough time to change into a cute little blue number and grab a bite to eat. She wasn’t dressing up for him, she just liked to wear something nice when she went out.
Rangiku ran a hand up the chain around her neck in a movement which was quickly becoming a habit. She’d worn the necklace every day since Valentine’s and had taken to fingering the pendent absently when Gin snuck into her thoughts.
His gift was one of the reasons why she was so looking forward to tonight. It hadn’t been fair, him getting her something like that. She hadn’t got him anything. And while she couldn’t think of anything to give Gin that he would like, well, not which she could afford, anyway, she had thought of something.
She remembered the way Gin had studied her pictures. And maybe it was silly, but she couldn’t help but think that maybe, maybe one of the reasons why he had given her a necklace was so she’d be reminded of him. Like he was there, even though he wasn’t. And while she couldn’t give him anything big, she didn’t want to catch the attention of the mafia anymore than he wanted her to, thank you very much, she didn’t mind the challenge of drawing him something small, something that would fit in that wallet of his.
It hadn’t taken her long to come up with the concept of a contented fox curled on its side with Gin’s smile on its face. She had hesitated for far too long before adding the completing touch of a kitten flopped on top of it, sprawled the way she so often had when they were younger. It made the picture right but at the same time…she didn’t want to be around when he saw it. Maybe that was yellow, but that was the way it was. She’d just have to think of some other way to give it to him.
It had been an unusually relaxed day, today. Gin usually did the real kind of work he was supposed to be doing during the weekends, but today there was not much to be done. Nothing really came up, and the little things that needed taking care of were either covered by Aizen or Ulquiorra.
He had slept in this morning, waking up in time for Aizen to take him out to lunch. Somehow, sleeping in made him more tired than if he had slept the normal hours, but by the time it came to early evening, he was back to his usual self. He had not forgotten that he was going to be meeting Ran at night at the Black Sheep - it was, in fact, the highlight of his day. He had never got to properly meet Ran on a weekend before, and she seemed rather keen on the idea as well when he talked to her about it yesterday.
He didn’t really lie to Aizen when he left the house - there would be little point in doing that. He just told him that he was going to go out to a pub with a friend. He often went out to drink and play pool and Aizen didn’t question him about it, which made things a lot easier.
It wasn’t that he wanted to hide the fact that he was with Ran from Aizen, but... he didn’t want to make things more complicated than they already were.
He made it to the Black Sheep - just a few minutes late, because he took the wrong turn, but nevertheless, he was there now. He scanned the room for any familiar faces, and found Ran sitting on one of the stools by the bar. Before approaching her, he made sure that there were no more familiar faces (the last thing he wanted was for someone to come up to him tonight).
It was looking pretty good so far, so he made his way over to Ran with his hands in his pockets, making no secret of his approach.
“Ya waited long?”
The clock had shifted past nine, not that she noticed, and she said something which made Mac laugh, though she couldn’t remember what it was. It was ridiculous to be anxious. He’d come, he said he’d come. Even if he didn’t come, she was dressed up and out on the town and she’d have a good time. Rangiku’s fingers stole to her necklace and she started rolling it back and forth between her thumb and middle finger.
Except, of course, if something happened. Gin wasn’t exactly in the safest line of work. And if something happened, would she even know?
She let the necklace fall back and lifted up her drink instead. She knew better than to think like this, but…what if…
Taking a sip of her giggle juice, Ran set the drink down on the bar with a soft clink. She took a breath and was about to continue her conversation with Mac when out of the corner of her eye she saw the door open. Gin.
She felt a hot flush of anger at seeing him standing there with a smile on his face, pausing just long enough to indicate that he was scanning the room. Taking his own sweet time. Didn’t he know she’d been worried?
Rangiku glanced up at the clock. It was just seven after nine. She gave a soft laugh. She was being ridiculous. After all, it wasn’t as if Gin was the only man she knew in a dangerous occupation. By the time Gin made his way over to her bar stool, she’d regained her sense of equilibrium.
Still. She turned just enough on the bar stool so she could greet him with a smile. “Who’s counting?”
Working off the mixed feelings that he was here and sound, that he had come, Ran decided to do what she would have regretted not being able to do if her worst fears had come true. She slid off the stool and stepped in front of him. A small, wistful smile lit her face. “I’m glad you made it.”
Rangiku stepped closer and slipped her hands around his waist, giving him a welcoming hug. She shifted her head to rest it against his chest for a moment, reveling in his presence, his safety, before shifting back in preparation to pull away.
Mm? Gin tensed up a little when Ran moved from sitting at the bar stool to clinging on to him. What were they doing - what was she doing? Why this all of a sudden? More importantly - why was he going lax again so quickly?
He was too stunned, so he stood there, his hands still seated in his pockets, even as Ran pulled back. He had recovered after a second, though, and he blew some silver strands of hair out of his face, his smile widening.
"'Course I made it. Been lookin' forward to it all day~" 'Though, you could have just waved' he left unsaid. He appreciated the gesture, and anyway he wouldn't want to say something wrong when it was only the start of the night.
"I'm guessin' that's bourbon," he said as he slipped onto the bar seat adjacent to Ran's. He remembered her telling her a lot of random things, like liking bourbon, and liking red.
“Good guess,” she smiled, sliding back onto her seat and ignoring the faint part of her that was screaming at her for that hug. Though whether or not it was yelling at her for doing it in the first place or for letting go so quickly, she wasn’t sure-and it didn’t matter because she was shaking it off anyway.
Leaning an elbow on the bar, she planted her chin in her hand and shot a grin at the world in general. “Tiger’s Milk for my friend here, Mac.”
It probably shouldn’t have filled Ran with the huge amount of smug satisfaction that they knew each other’s favorite drinks. It was a normal thing for friends to know. But just regaining that much familiarity with Gin filled her with glee.
Mac arched an eyebrow at her in a silent questioning of her word choice, and Ran rolled her eyes. He laughed and moved to put together Gin’s drink.
Rangiku turned her attention to the man beside her. “So. Having a good weekend so far?”
For some reason, Gin found himself mildly surprised that Ran knew that he liked drinking Tiger’s Milk. He did tell her sometime ago, but perhaps a part of him did not expect her to remember it.
“A good weekend? Mmm… I guess. Slept in today, had lunch n’… bummed around for a bit. Weekends’re usually pretty busy but not today,” he said, and he turned to look briefly at his brandy and milk cocktail the bartender had just made.
“What about you?” he asked as he reached over for his drink, taking a sip. “The malt shop was open today, right? Was it busy?”
“Mmm, yeah, Saturdays are always busy,” Rangiku took another sip of her drink. “It’s a good thing, though. Helps to pass the time when you’re looking forward to something.” She winked at him.
Mac returned and placed Gin’s drink in front of him. “So are we gonna get to see you play tonight, Rangiku? Or did you come all this way just to see my handsome face?” He put a hand up to his jaw, framing his salt-and-pepper stubble.
Rangiku laughed. “Always an added benefit, Mac. But Gin and I do have a bet to settle.”
He laughed and his gaze shifted to Gin. “She talked you into settling a bet with darts? Bad luck for you, mister.”
"Eh?"
Gin scratched the edge of his eyebrow a little. He felt like he was missing something here... What was wrong with playing a game of darts with Ran?
"Well, we dunnoe until we try, right?" Gin said, smiling. It wasn't really a bet anyway - it wasn't like he wouldn't teach Ran pool if she lost. He took another sip of his drink. It was nice - Tiger's Milk tended to taste a little different depending on where he went, but the one here tasted... quite a bit different.
"So, what's yer secret ingredient?" Gin asked, wrinkling his nose a little as he peered into the drink. "I won't tell anyone~" he said, grinning as he leaned in a little.
The bartender gave him an assessing look for a moment before leaning in a little as well, a grin on his face.
"No sugar, mister. I put condensed milk instead."
"Huh~ That's pretty clever," Gin said. "Tryin' ta kill me wit' diabetes before we settle the bet, hm?"
Mac laughed, “I’d be doing you a favor, bo. Hope you didn’t bet something you can’t afford to lose.”
“Mac!” Rangiku interjected. “What are you trying to do, give me a bad name or something? Keep that up and you’ll scare him off.”
She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and addressed Gin, “‘Sides, if you’re living off cookies and chocolate malts, it doesn’t seem like a little drink with me is gonna hurt you any.”
Mac smiled at them, “Sounds like she’s got your number, bo. I take it back-you’re lucky after all.”
He moved to see to another customer and Rangiku felt the sudden urge to ask for another drink. But that would mean calling Mac back, and really she just felt like smacking him for putting his nose in where it didn’t belong. What happened to the bartender code? Distracting Gin would be a much better option, and her urge for a smoke had increased. He carried papers on him, she remembered.
She nudged his arm with her elbow in a friendly fashion and asked, “So what’s a girl gotta do to bum a gasper off an old friend?”
Something he could not afford to lose...? That sounded... ominous. Just how good at darts was Ran?
A gasper? That was an interesting request. Gin reached deep into his pockets and pulled out what he had. Cigarette paper, a packet of tobacco, a lighter. He didn't have filters, though.
"Mmm. I roll them myself, so all I have are the tools."
He placed the items on the bar counter and pushed it a little ways down the counter, over towards Ran. He figured she might want to make them herself, given that people often put however much tobacco they want, and rolled it their own way, and the like...
“Thanks.” It had been a long time since she’d had to roll her own cigarette. Something in her balked at just asking Gin for help, and an echo of the past-‘Can you do it for me?’-was enough to make her determined to do it herself.
Sliding out a sheet of cigarette paper was simple enough, but how much tobacco should she put in? Ran’s eyebrows furrowed and she unconsciously bit her lip as she considered. A long thin line would be best, probably?
She opened up his pouch and carefully tilted it out over the paper. It had been a long time since she’d even seen loose tobacco up close, and she let out an exasperated breath when it didn’t immediately come out of the pouch. Ran gave it a cautious shake, and a substance that looked like nothing more than loose tea leaves fell out in a sudden clump.
Damnit, she was making a mess. Setting the pouch back down, she took up the edges of the paper in an attempt to smooth the tobacco across the length of what would, hopefully, become her cigarette.
Gin tried to focus on his drink, grinning into it, but he could not help occasionally casting his gaze to the side, looking at Ran try to make her cigarette. Maybe he should have done it for her.
After a few more moments of casting sideways glances at her, Gin chuckled as he placed the glass onto the bar counter. There was too little tobacco, and at this rate, she would get more everywhere than actually onto the cigarette paper.
Swallowing and wiping his hands on his pants, he reached over for Ran's hands.
"I'll do that for you," he said, and he retrieved the cigarette paper from her hand. He tipped the tobacco off the paper and started again, pinching some tobacco and sprinkling it over the paper. Rolling it one way, he rolled the cigarette up the other way and licked a thin line over the paper, sealing the cigarette.
It was a lot smaller than a factory-made cigarette, but without the filter it was definitely stronger than what Ran might have been used to. He held it out to her with a smile and a bit of a tilt of his head.
His laugh got her back up, but at the same time loosed some sort of hazy feeling which distracted her long enough that he was able to slip the paper out from her grasp. She wasn’t sure what was more irritating, the fact that he’d taken it from her or the fact that a part of her was relieved, was comfortable, was glad because he had done so.
That was a dangerous way to think. She couldn’t afford it.
Still, she couldn’t very well demand he let her waste his tobacco while she tried to figure out how to roll it herself. Well, she could, but it was a bit late now. So Rangiku settled in to watch the way Gin did it, so that if there was a next time she wouldn’t have to depend on him.
His movements were practiced and fluid, his long fingers nimble, and he made it look so easy. She let out a frustrated huff. So pinching out the tobacco was the secret. If she had known she could put her hands in-but still, he rolled the paper much tighter than she would have managed.
Rangiku blinked, several times, when she watched him seal it with a quick flick of the paper over his tongue.
He’d…licked it. And now she was supposed to put it in her mouth? And he was giving her that look. The one with the small smile and the head tilt that she had always found so hard to turn away.
All the same, her instinctive response was to tell him to have that one and she’d roll herself a fresh pill. One without…Gin spit.
“Thanks…” she hesitated. Anything she said to draw attention to the fact that she was uncomfortable would be…more telling than she was comfortable with. After all, in that relentlessly honest place in herself, she knew she wasn’t uncomfortable with it because it was gross; she and Gin had drunk from the same cup, figuratively and literally. And since it seemed like he had been teasing with that raincheck thing, it was better to avoid anything like that subject all together.
So Rangiku gave him a grin and shook her head a bit ruefully, “I didn’t mean to make you go through such a bother.”
She took it a bit awkwardly-it was smaller than she was used to and…he had licked it. Well, seeing as he was such a helpful mood, Ran placed the cigarette between her lips and leaned forward, waiting for him to light it.
A bother? Rolling a cigarette? Was Ran kidding? He had done it so many times before that he did not pay any attention to rolling it. He just. Had the final product done before he really noticed anything.
He reached for his lighter on the bar counter and flicked the lid open, revealing a small flickering flame. He held it out to the end of Ran's cigarette and made sure it lit before flicking the lid close and placing it back onto the counter.
"Might be a lil' stronger than what yer used to," he said offhandedly, rubbing his jaw absently. While it was true that most people smoked filterless cigarettes, Gin got his tobacco from the tobacco shop near the office, and it was stronger than the standard stuff.
Rangiku arched an eyebrow in acknowledgement of his warning and leaned back, taking a cautious puff. The smoke filled her lungs and her eyes widened. Ho-ly.
She felt the urge to cough rising but stubbornly held it back, blowing out a long stream of smoke instead.
“You weren’t kidding,” she laughed, blinking a little as the gasper went straight to her system. Oooh, boy, hello world. “I think I’m good now.”
She handed the cigarette back to him, noticing that her lipstick had left a mark on it. Well, if she didn’t mind his spit, he shouldn’t mind hers.
“How do you smoke this all the time?”
Gin found himself chuckling as Ran’s eyes lit up after taking a puff. He had warned her! But at least she didn’t cough.
Good after one puff? Gin smirked, but took the cigarette from her, gazing briefly at her lipstick mark before placing the cigarette between his lips. It wasn’t like it tasted any different - if it did, the nicotine definitely killed off any other tastes.
He reached over for his items sprawled out over the bar counter and slipped them back into his pocket. He turned back to look at her, and shrugged.
“Used to it, I guess,” he said, the small cigarette wiggling between his lips as he spoke. He had to admit that the first time he had a cigarette like this was like the first time he tried black, sugarless coffee after a lifetime of half milk coffee, half chocolate and three sugars. But over time, he got used to the harsh taste.
Sometimes it reminded him of the way things used to be.
But anyway, this wasn’t the place nor time to be thinking about this.
“Next time I’ll carry around some factory-made gaspers for you,” he joked, grinning with the short cigarette sticking out from the side of his mouth.
Her brain was so charged from that one smoke that the words ‘next time’ totally failed to evoke her usual cynicism. Besides, they had a bet. Gin was no welcher.
She waved a hand, “It’s not like it’s a regular thing.” All the same, her eyes cut to his and her lips curled up, “But I like Marlboros.”
Ran felt like spinning around in her chair. The sudden rush of energy wasn’t unexpected, but Ran hadn’t thought it would quite so much.
And on top of everything else, she was buzzing from the fact that Gin was sitting next to her. It was just…nice…to be with him like this. Light and easy, with nothing hanging over them which they couldn’t ignore.
Draining the rest of her drink, Rangiku set the glass back on the bar with a satisfied sound. Glancing around she noticed that the dart board was free, but it wouldn’t stay that way much later into the evening. And she didn’t really want to play with anyone but Gin.
“So do you want another drink or are you ready to get to the main event?”
Marlboros, huh. He would have to remember that one…
Gin eyed what was left of his Tiger’s Milk, tilting his glass a little as he contemplated. Ran had finished her drink, and she didn’t seem to want another one. He would be good after this one, as well, so there was no point hanging around for another one.
Taking a drag, he held the cigarette between his index and middle fingers, flicking some ashes off as he blew smoke to the side into the air.
“I’ll be fine after this one,” he said, his smile widening as he finished his drink all in one go.
He slid off his chair, placing the cigarette back between his lips before sliding his hand back into his pocket.
“Let’s go.”
She nodded and planted her hand a little further down on the table, “Hey, Mac! We’re gonna go play. We’ll settle up after.”
Mac turned his head from the other side of the large square bar in the middle of the room and waved in acknowledgement.
Rangiku slid off the stool and joined Gin in walking over to the dart board. It was hanging against the wooden wall, well away from any of the long wooden tables placed parallel to the walls of the bar. The board was eye level when she approached it to remove the bag of darts hanging by a nail beside it.
Ran opened the bag as she walked back to Gin and glanced inside. There was a jumble of different fletchings; red, blue, green, and white. She held the open bag out to him so he could pick his color first.
“So, the bet was you get to pick any game of darts you want. You win, and I bake you dinner and chocolate chip cookies. I win, you take me out and teach me how to play pool.” She smiled at him, “So what’s the game gonna be, Gin?”
He eyed up all the different coloured darts in the bag, and went for the white ones. He picked all the white-marked darts out, placing them onto the high table to his side.
Gin wasn't really good at playing darts. He tended to stick to pool when he went to pubs. And, well, both sports weren't exactly the kind of 'sports' he was encouraged to play. Anyway, if he was lucky, he could hit the occasional bullseye. He may not be good at hitting the bullseye when he aimed for it, but that was a totally different story when it came to the rings and wedges.
Luckily, not every game involved hitting the bullseye.
“Mmm, I dunnoe. I don’t really play darts… n’ I’m really bad at everything people try ta teach me,” he said, grinning a little even though he probably looked a bit silly right now, having accepted the challenge.
“How 'bout High/Low?” he asked. High was a lot easier to play than Low - would be rather funny if she threw three double bullseyes - but, really, he didn’t mind what Ran chose to play.
High/Low, huh? It was usually played with more people, but Ran supposed they could figure a way to work it out. She took the bag back and started digging through it for the blue darts. “Well, I’m sure not gonna try to teach you. I aim to win this bet,” she paused and looked up at him and grinned. “Hey, that was funny.”
Beaming self-contentedly, Ran returned her attention to the darts in the bag. Red, green…where was that final blue dart? “So how do you want to do this? Set up a number of rounds instead of elimination? And do you want to play High or Low,” ah, there it was. She held her final dart up in her hand triumphantly as she finished, “or do a round of both?”
"Hmm... I dunnoe. I guess we could play High," he said. It was easier, and either way, if Ran decided to throw three double bullseyes, he would lose anyway.
"N' we can play, say, five rounds?" he suggested. Five was enough to possibly luck out, and not enough to embarrass himself too badly. So long as all the darts stayed on the board, everything should be fine.
"Ya really wanna learn how ta play pool, huh."
Rangiku abruptly turned away so that Gin wouldn’t have an unobstructed view of her best impression of a fish out of water. As she proceeded to try not to choke on thin air, she cast some very grumbly thoughts in his direction.
Of course she wanted to learn how to play. The hell kind of question is that? She set her jaw and walked forward to hang the dart bag back on the wall.
And it wasn’t just about the game. Rangiku took a deep breath. He probably didn’t want her there, in even the smallest part of his world. And that was just too bad, wasn’t it? Because she was going to win.
A slow smile spread across her face, and when she turned and walked back to Gin she had a little extra sway in her step. “Let’s just say that I feel…highly motivated.”
She came to stand beside him and continued with that same coy smile curling her lips, “So would you like to play High? Or Low?”
Gin had first learnt pool by watching others play, and then being dragged into games. It had been fun from the outset, and after a few games, he had gotten a lot better with estimating how hard he should hit the ball, what kinds of sticks to use and the kinds of angles he should shoot at.
It wasn't difficult, really. And it wasn’t like he didn’t want to teach Ran how to play. The hard part was trying to find a place to do it without being hassled by other trouble boys. He didn’t want people interrupting their lesson - especially if they were going to start talking about stuff he didn’t want Ran to know about.
He didn’t want to have to keep things from her, but there were some things she probably didn’t want to know either. It was true that they had spent a lot of time with each other as children, but they had spent a long time apart. They grew up in separate environments - and as much as he wanted to go back to being that carefree child with Ran, a lot of things have changed since then.
And there were some changes that couldn’t be undone.
“High it is, then,” he said, smiling. “Go ahead - ya can start.”
Ran raised her eyebrows. Starting first in High gave her a distinct advantage-one that she probably didn’t really need. But then, she’d never seen Gin play. For all she knew, he could be just as good as her. So she’d take any advantage he chose to give her, if it moved her closer to getting what she wanted.
“All right,” she said, moving to stand behind the line chalked on the ground, Ran set the third dart on a small table close beside it. Carefully positioning the remaining one darts between her pointer and middle finger and the other between her middle and ring finger, Rangiku prepared to open the game with the designated simultaneous throw. It was the fletching which made it so difficult-smaller, smooth needles could be thrown as one, but the fletching demanded that the darts be far enough away so that they could fly uninterrupted.
Sighting the target carefully and planting her feet to reflect where she wanted the darts to go, Ran brought up her hand and tilted it parallel to the floor before releasing the darts in a side-winding motion. One struck a solid bulls-eye, the other landed on the 17 in the triple.
She turned and beamed at Gin, “Not bad, huh? Your turn,” and she obligingly stepped out of the way.
She might as well just save him the pain and threw both of them in the bullseye, Gin thought sardonically as he took his position. He could tell from her posture before that she could probably do this for a living. But shooting a score like that also meant that she either thought he was equally good at darts and could beat her at it, or that… she really wanted…
He twirled a dart between his fingers absently, as if it were a pen. He couldn’t help but fiddle with things as he thought, his gaze fixated on the target on the dartboard straight ahead.
“Not bad at all,” he said after a while, looking over to her as his smile widened. He needed to match or beat that score of 101, but he had three darts to throw.
Tugging his sleeves up past his elbows, he eyed the board a little longer before throwing each dart. The first one had missed the triple 18 - but at least it somehow landed in the 18 wedge, and not the 4. His next one went far too low, but it managed to stay firmly in the double 19. He bit his bottom lip and grinned when his last dart landed a hair’s width inside the triple 15. If he did his calculations correctly, he had gotten the exact same score Ran did.
“We got the same,” he said, scratching the back of his head absently. “But I think ya won, havin’ ta throw 2 darts at the same time n’ all…”
“Nah, it’s a tie. No elimination.” He was better than she thought, even if his posture didn’t indicate a lot of familiarity with the game. But then, she didn’t have any reason to suspect he’d be a slouch. Still, knowing him, he’d probably tied her on purpose. That way neither of them would win, and that just wouldn’t do.
Rangiku walked forward and retrieved the darts from the board. “Here you go,” her hand brushed his when she handed his darts back and she really shouldn’t have noticed such a small touch of skin on skin, but it nearly made her jump backwards in her eagerness to step away. Her stupid hand had no business tingling when they touched.
“My turn again,” and shoving the feeling from her mind, Ran moved to take her place behind the chalked line. She lined the darts on the nearby table to decide on her strategy-not that there was much to decide. The rules to High were simple-whoever got the most points wins. The best bet would be to triple at the 20 on the third, but that left the bulls-eyes clear, and there was always a chance that she’d miss. It would be better to take the larger target.
Ran hated to take such a hard line on Gin, but she had no idea how good he was. And this was a bet she was determined to win. One, two, three, and a perfect isosceles of blue darts found their new home in the bulls-eye. With that formation, he’d have to throw each dart directly in the center of the board to match her score, or really luck out on the wedges.
Her fist clenched once compulsively at her side. She hadn’t even thought to consider that he could beat her. She should have.
Her smile felt tight when she turned to face him. “Your turn~”
Gin was inwardly hoping that they would be hit by a tornado or earthquake right about now. It seemed that Ran really knew how to play darts. He wasn't going to be able to pull off another lucky round again.
Biting his bottom lip, he aimed for the triple 20. With the board as it was, it was harder to get the bullseye.
...Which didn't mean to say that the triple 20 was any easier, Gin thought to himself as the dart landed in the 1 wedge. No chance of winning now.
"I lose," he said, his smile widening as he slipped his hands into his pockets, making his way over to the dart board. He pulled his dart out, followed by Ran's, and made his way back towards her, holding the blue darts out.
Uh…huh. Well. It looked like maybe she’d overdone it.
Rangiku gave a small, sheepish laugh and reached out for the darts. “Thanks.”
She should have made him go first. That way she’d be able to aim for just above his score. All this trying to figure out what he was and wasn’t doing on purpose was tiring.
Well, it’s not like her purpose changed. She was going to win. She hated to make him feel bad, but…maybe she could make up for it after? A germ of an idea started to form in her mind, but it was silly to think of making up for things before she’d even won.
“I used to sneak out and do this when I was a kid,” one dart hit the triple 20. “There was only so much of the straight and narrow I could take,” bulls-eye. “But the flophouse I was boarding in had strict rules. Supposedly to keep us from backsliding,” triple 17.
She turned and gave Gin a genuine smile, “Sneaking out was half the fun. Your turn.”
A flophouse? That was giving Gin all sorts of odd ideas, so he shook his head a little to get the images out of his head.
But at least she had been somewhere safe, even if it was only for a short period of time. They probably did everything Gin could not do for Ran.
He looked at the dartboard, and how Ran had managed to hit all those tiny little ring segments. That must have been quite a bit of time ago, for her to get this good at darts. He wondered if she was purposely not throwing them all at the triple 20.
His gaze grew a little distant from the dartboard, and he guessed he threw the dart in his hand a little too hard as it bounced off the board.
He tilted his head a little.
"Ya never used to sneak around much 'round me," he noted, walking up to the dartboard, crouching down slowly to pick his dart up. He had always been the one sneaking out on her.
"Looks like yer gon' cop this one," he said, turning to look at Ran as he smiled lightly.
Rangiku winced when Gin’s dart bounced off the board. Yeah, she had definitely overdid it.
She froze at his off-handed comment. No, she had never snuck around Gin. The thought would have never occurred to her. She had everything she needed when she was with him, why would she ever want to leave? If she’d wanted to see something else, she’d just drag him along with her.
Somehow managed to relax her face before he turned back to face her, smiling of course, always smiling, as if his previous statement hadn’t been like dropping an ice cube down the back of her shirt. Fortunately, it didn’t look like a response was required, as Gin seemed ready to let his observation drop.
“Looks like,” she agreed mildly. “You want to reset?”
"No," Gin said, standing up again as he pulled the blue darts out of the board. He made his way back over to Ran, handing her darts to her.
"Winning this isn't really that important anyway," he said casually. There was obviously a lot more to be gained if Ran won this game than if Gin did.
Or perhaps he had already lost interest in the game. It could always be a combination of the two, as well.
Either way, it didn't really matter. After Ran played and won this round, the match would be decided.
Characters: Gin Ichimaru (lcpdragonslayer), Rangiku Matsumoto (some_scribbles)
Timeline: February 18th, 1950
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Gin learns that Ran isn't just good at darts - she could probably beat anyone at darts. As the loser, the Capo Bastone promises Ran that he'll teach her pool... but maybe she'll bake him cookies as a consolation prize after all.
The Black Sheep was an old Irish pub which had been on 3rd St. forever. It wasn’t the sort of place Rangiku came to regularly, as it was all the way on the east side, and usually full of honest dock worker types with families. She didn’t like taking their money in a game, so this was one of the spots she and Shuuhei would come to when they wanted to have some fun. That worked out well, because she had every intention of winning against Gin when he showed up, and she’d hate to blow her cover anywhere else.
She’d gotten there before him, and she was sitting at the bar sipping her bourbon sour, making small talk with Mac as he poured out some rye in an attempt to keep herself from watching the clock as the hands approached nine. The jukebox was playing out some low jazz and the cigarette smoke...and the waiting...was starting to make her want a gasper.
Gin’s necklace was heavy on her neck, just as it had been when he’d stopped by on Friday long enough to drink a malt and make plans for that Saturday evening. They’d settled on nine, which had left Ran enough time to change into a cute little blue number and grab a bite to eat. She wasn’t dressing up for him, she just liked to wear something nice when she went out.
Rangiku ran a hand up the chain around her neck in a movement which was quickly becoming a habit. She’d worn the necklace every day since Valentine’s and had taken to fingering the pendent absently when Gin snuck into her thoughts.
His gift was one of the reasons why she was so looking forward to tonight. It hadn’t been fair, him getting her something like that. She hadn’t got him anything. And while she couldn’t think of anything to give Gin that he would like, well, not which she could afford, anyway, she had thought of something.
She remembered the way Gin had studied her pictures. And maybe it was silly, but she couldn’t help but think that maybe, maybe one of the reasons why he had given her a necklace was so she’d be reminded of him. Like he was there, even though he wasn’t. And while she couldn’t give him anything big, she didn’t want to catch the attention of the mafia anymore than he wanted her to, thank you very much, she didn’t mind the challenge of drawing him something small, something that would fit in that wallet of his.
It hadn’t taken her long to come up with the concept of a contented fox curled on its side with Gin’s smile on its face. She had hesitated for far too long before adding the completing touch of a kitten flopped on top of it, sprawled the way she so often had when they were younger. It made the picture right but at the same time…she didn’t want to be around when he saw it. Maybe that was yellow, but that was the way it was. She’d just have to think of some other way to give it to him.
It had been an unusually relaxed day, today. Gin usually did the real kind of work he was supposed to be doing during the weekends, but today there was not much to be done. Nothing really came up, and the little things that needed taking care of were either covered by Aizen or Ulquiorra.
He had slept in this morning, waking up in time for Aizen to take him out to lunch. Somehow, sleeping in made him more tired than if he had slept the normal hours, but by the time it came to early evening, he was back to his usual self. He had not forgotten that he was going to be meeting Ran at night at the Black Sheep - it was, in fact, the highlight of his day. He had never got to properly meet Ran on a weekend before, and she seemed rather keen on the idea as well when he talked to her about it yesterday.
He didn’t really lie to Aizen when he left the house - there would be little point in doing that. He just told him that he was going to go out to a pub with a friend. He often went out to drink and play pool and Aizen didn’t question him about it, which made things a lot easier.
It wasn’t that he wanted to hide the fact that he was with Ran from Aizen, but... he didn’t want to make things more complicated than they already were.
He made it to the Black Sheep - just a few minutes late, because he took the wrong turn, but nevertheless, he was there now. He scanned the room for any familiar faces, and found Ran sitting on one of the stools by the bar. Before approaching her, he made sure that there were no more familiar faces (the last thing he wanted was for someone to come up to him tonight).
It was looking pretty good so far, so he made his way over to Ran with his hands in his pockets, making no secret of his approach.
“Ya waited long?”
The clock had shifted past nine, not that she noticed, and she said something which made Mac laugh, though she couldn’t remember what it was. It was ridiculous to be anxious. He’d come, he said he’d come. Even if he didn’t come, she was dressed up and out on the town and she’d have a good time. Rangiku’s fingers stole to her necklace and she started rolling it back and forth between her thumb and middle finger.
Except, of course, if something happened. Gin wasn’t exactly in the safest line of work. And if something happened, would she even know?
She let the necklace fall back and lifted up her drink instead. She knew better than to think like this, but…what if…
Taking a sip of her giggle juice, Ran set the drink down on the bar with a soft clink. She took a breath and was about to continue her conversation with Mac when out of the corner of her eye she saw the door open. Gin.
She felt a hot flush of anger at seeing him standing there with a smile on his face, pausing just long enough to indicate that he was scanning the room. Taking his own sweet time. Didn’t he know she’d been worried?
Rangiku glanced up at the clock. It was just seven after nine. She gave a soft laugh. She was being ridiculous. After all, it wasn’t as if Gin was the only man she knew in a dangerous occupation. By the time Gin made his way over to her bar stool, she’d regained her sense of equilibrium.
Still. She turned just enough on the bar stool so she could greet him with a smile. “Who’s counting?”
Working off the mixed feelings that he was here and sound, that he had come, Ran decided to do what she would have regretted not being able to do if her worst fears had come true. She slid off the stool and stepped in front of him. A small, wistful smile lit her face. “I’m glad you made it.”
Rangiku stepped closer and slipped her hands around his waist, giving him a welcoming hug. She shifted her head to rest it against his chest for a moment, reveling in his presence, his safety, before shifting back in preparation to pull away.
Mm? Gin tensed up a little when Ran moved from sitting at the bar stool to clinging on to him. What were they doing - what was she doing? Why this all of a sudden? More importantly - why was he going lax again so quickly?
He was too stunned, so he stood there, his hands still seated in his pockets, even as Ran pulled back. He had recovered after a second, though, and he blew some silver strands of hair out of his face, his smile widening.
"'Course I made it. Been lookin' forward to it all day~" 'Though, you could have just waved' he left unsaid. He appreciated the gesture, and anyway he wouldn't want to say something wrong when it was only the start of the night.
"I'm guessin' that's bourbon," he said as he slipped onto the bar seat adjacent to Ran's. He remembered her telling her a lot of random things, like liking bourbon, and liking red.
“Good guess,” she smiled, sliding back onto her seat and ignoring the faint part of her that was screaming at her for that hug. Though whether or not it was yelling at her for doing it in the first place or for letting go so quickly, she wasn’t sure-and it didn’t matter because she was shaking it off anyway.
Leaning an elbow on the bar, she planted her chin in her hand and shot a grin at the world in general. “Tiger’s Milk for my friend here, Mac.”
It probably shouldn’t have filled Ran with the huge amount of smug satisfaction that they knew each other’s favorite drinks. It was a normal thing for friends to know. But just regaining that much familiarity with Gin filled her with glee.
Mac arched an eyebrow at her in a silent questioning of her word choice, and Ran rolled her eyes. He laughed and moved to put together Gin’s drink.
Rangiku turned her attention to the man beside her. “So. Having a good weekend so far?”
For some reason, Gin found himself mildly surprised that Ran knew that he liked drinking Tiger’s Milk. He did tell her sometime ago, but perhaps a part of him did not expect her to remember it.
“A good weekend? Mmm… I guess. Slept in today, had lunch n’… bummed around for a bit. Weekends’re usually pretty busy but not today,” he said, and he turned to look briefly at his brandy and milk cocktail the bartender had just made.
“What about you?” he asked as he reached over for his drink, taking a sip. “The malt shop was open today, right? Was it busy?”
“Mmm, yeah, Saturdays are always busy,” Rangiku took another sip of her drink. “It’s a good thing, though. Helps to pass the time when you’re looking forward to something.” She winked at him.
Mac returned and placed Gin’s drink in front of him. “So are we gonna get to see you play tonight, Rangiku? Or did you come all this way just to see my handsome face?” He put a hand up to his jaw, framing his salt-and-pepper stubble.
Rangiku laughed. “Always an added benefit, Mac. But Gin and I do have a bet to settle.”
He laughed and his gaze shifted to Gin. “She talked you into settling a bet with darts? Bad luck for you, mister.”
"Eh?"
Gin scratched the edge of his eyebrow a little. He felt like he was missing something here... What was wrong with playing a game of darts with Ran?
"Well, we dunnoe until we try, right?" Gin said, smiling. It wasn't really a bet anyway - it wasn't like he wouldn't teach Ran pool if she lost. He took another sip of his drink. It was nice - Tiger's Milk tended to taste a little different depending on where he went, but the one here tasted... quite a bit different.
"So, what's yer secret ingredient?" Gin asked, wrinkling his nose a little as he peered into the drink. "I won't tell anyone~" he said, grinning as he leaned in a little.
The bartender gave him an assessing look for a moment before leaning in a little as well, a grin on his face.
"No sugar, mister. I put condensed milk instead."
"Huh~ That's pretty clever," Gin said. "Tryin' ta kill me wit' diabetes before we settle the bet, hm?"
Mac laughed, “I’d be doing you a favor, bo. Hope you didn’t bet something you can’t afford to lose.”
“Mac!” Rangiku interjected. “What are you trying to do, give me a bad name or something? Keep that up and you’ll scare him off.”
She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and addressed Gin, “‘Sides, if you’re living off cookies and chocolate malts, it doesn’t seem like a little drink with me is gonna hurt you any.”
Mac smiled at them, “Sounds like she’s got your number, bo. I take it back-you’re lucky after all.”
He moved to see to another customer and Rangiku felt the sudden urge to ask for another drink. But that would mean calling Mac back, and really she just felt like smacking him for putting his nose in where it didn’t belong. What happened to the bartender code? Distracting Gin would be a much better option, and her urge for a smoke had increased. He carried papers on him, she remembered.
She nudged his arm with her elbow in a friendly fashion and asked, “So what’s a girl gotta do to bum a gasper off an old friend?”
Something he could not afford to lose...? That sounded... ominous. Just how good at darts was Ran?
A gasper? That was an interesting request. Gin reached deep into his pockets and pulled out what he had. Cigarette paper, a packet of tobacco, a lighter. He didn't have filters, though.
"Mmm. I roll them myself, so all I have are the tools."
He placed the items on the bar counter and pushed it a little ways down the counter, over towards Ran. He figured she might want to make them herself, given that people often put however much tobacco they want, and rolled it their own way, and the like...
“Thanks.” It had been a long time since she’d had to roll her own cigarette. Something in her balked at just asking Gin for help, and an echo of the past-‘Can you do it for me?’-was enough to make her determined to do it herself.
Sliding out a sheet of cigarette paper was simple enough, but how much tobacco should she put in? Ran’s eyebrows furrowed and she unconsciously bit her lip as she considered. A long thin line would be best, probably?
She opened up his pouch and carefully tilted it out over the paper. It had been a long time since she’d even seen loose tobacco up close, and she let out an exasperated breath when it didn’t immediately come out of the pouch. Ran gave it a cautious shake, and a substance that looked like nothing more than loose tea leaves fell out in a sudden clump.
Damnit, she was making a mess. Setting the pouch back down, she took up the edges of the paper in an attempt to smooth the tobacco across the length of what would, hopefully, become her cigarette.
Gin tried to focus on his drink, grinning into it, but he could not help occasionally casting his gaze to the side, looking at Ran try to make her cigarette. Maybe he should have done it for her.
After a few more moments of casting sideways glances at her, Gin chuckled as he placed the glass onto the bar counter. There was too little tobacco, and at this rate, she would get more everywhere than actually onto the cigarette paper.
Swallowing and wiping his hands on his pants, he reached over for Ran's hands.
"I'll do that for you," he said, and he retrieved the cigarette paper from her hand. He tipped the tobacco off the paper and started again, pinching some tobacco and sprinkling it over the paper. Rolling it one way, he rolled the cigarette up the other way and licked a thin line over the paper, sealing the cigarette.
It was a lot smaller than a factory-made cigarette, but without the filter it was definitely stronger than what Ran might have been used to. He held it out to her with a smile and a bit of a tilt of his head.
His laugh got her back up, but at the same time loosed some sort of hazy feeling which distracted her long enough that he was able to slip the paper out from her grasp. She wasn’t sure what was more irritating, the fact that he’d taken it from her or the fact that a part of her was relieved, was comfortable, was glad because he had done so.
That was a dangerous way to think. She couldn’t afford it.
Still, she couldn’t very well demand he let her waste his tobacco while she tried to figure out how to roll it herself. Well, she could, but it was a bit late now. So Rangiku settled in to watch the way Gin did it, so that if there was a next time she wouldn’t have to depend on him.
His movements were practiced and fluid, his long fingers nimble, and he made it look so easy. She let out a frustrated huff. So pinching out the tobacco was the secret. If she had known she could put her hands in-but still, he rolled the paper much tighter than she would have managed.
Rangiku blinked, several times, when she watched him seal it with a quick flick of the paper over his tongue.
He’d…licked it. And now she was supposed to put it in her mouth? And he was giving her that look. The one with the small smile and the head tilt that she had always found so hard to turn away.
All the same, her instinctive response was to tell him to have that one and she’d roll herself a fresh pill. One without…Gin spit.
“Thanks…” she hesitated. Anything she said to draw attention to the fact that she was uncomfortable would be…more telling than she was comfortable with. After all, in that relentlessly honest place in herself, she knew she wasn’t uncomfortable with it because it was gross; she and Gin had drunk from the same cup, figuratively and literally. And since it seemed like he had been teasing with that raincheck thing, it was better to avoid anything like that subject all together.
So Rangiku gave him a grin and shook her head a bit ruefully, “I didn’t mean to make you go through such a bother.”
She took it a bit awkwardly-it was smaller than she was used to and…he had licked it. Well, seeing as he was such a helpful mood, Ran placed the cigarette between her lips and leaned forward, waiting for him to light it.
A bother? Rolling a cigarette? Was Ran kidding? He had done it so many times before that he did not pay any attention to rolling it. He just. Had the final product done before he really noticed anything.
He reached for his lighter on the bar counter and flicked the lid open, revealing a small flickering flame. He held it out to the end of Ran's cigarette and made sure it lit before flicking the lid close and placing it back onto the counter.
"Might be a lil' stronger than what yer used to," he said offhandedly, rubbing his jaw absently. While it was true that most people smoked filterless cigarettes, Gin got his tobacco from the tobacco shop near the office, and it was stronger than the standard stuff.
Rangiku arched an eyebrow in acknowledgement of his warning and leaned back, taking a cautious puff. The smoke filled her lungs and her eyes widened. Ho-ly.
She felt the urge to cough rising but stubbornly held it back, blowing out a long stream of smoke instead.
“You weren’t kidding,” she laughed, blinking a little as the gasper went straight to her system. Oooh, boy, hello world. “I think I’m good now.”
She handed the cigarette back to him, noticing that her lipstick had left a mark on it. Well, if she didn’t mind his spit, he shouldn’t mind hers.
“How do you smoke this all the time?”
Gin found himself chuckling as Ran’s eyes lit up after taking a puff. He had warned her! But at least she didn’t cough.
Good after one puff? Gin smirked, but took the cigarette from her, gazing briefly at her lipstick mark before placing the cigarette between his lips. It wasn’t like it tasted any different - if it did, the nicotine definitely killed off any other tastes.
He reached over for his items sprawled out over the bar counter and slipped them back into his pocket. He turned back to look at her, and shrugged.
“Used to it, I guess,” he said, the small cigarette wiggling between his lips as he spoke. He had to admit that the first time he had a cigarette like this was like the first time he tried black, sugarless coffee after a lifetime of half milk coffee, half chocolate and three sugars. But over time, he got used to the harsh taste.
Sometimes it reminded him of the way things used to be.
But anyway, this wasn’t the place nor time to be thinking about this.
“Next time I’ll carry around some factory-made gaspers for you,” he joked, grinning with the short cigarette sticking out from the side of his mouth.
Her brain was so charged from that one smoke that the words ‘next time’ totally failed to evoke her usual cynicism. Besides, they had a bet. Gin was no welcher.
She waved a hand, “It’s not like it’s a regular thing.” All the same, her eyes cut to his and her lips curled up, “But I like Marlboros.”
Ran felt like spinning around in her chair. The sudden rush of energy wasn’t unexpected, but Ran hadn’t thought it would quite so much.
And on top of everything else, she was buzzing from the fact that Gin was sitting next to her. It was just…nice…to be with him like this. Light and easy, with nothing hanging over them which they couldn’t ignore.
Draining the rest of her drink, Rangiku set the glass back on the bar with a satisfied sound. Glancing around she noticed that the dart board was free, but it wouldn’t stay that way much later into the evening. And she didn’t really want to play with anyone but Gin.
“So do you want another drink or are you ready to get to the main event?”
Marlboros, huh. He would have to remember that one…
Gin eyed what was left of his Tiger’s Milk, tilting his glass a little as he contemplated. Ran had finished her drink, and she didn’t seem to want another one. He would be good after this one, as well, so there was no point hanging around for another one.
Taking a drag, he held the cigarette between his index and middle fingers, flicking some ashes off as he blew smoke to the side into the air.
“I’ll be fine after this one,” he said, his smile widening as he finished his drink all in one go.
He slid off his chair, placing the cigarette back between his lips before sliding his hand back into his pocket.
“Let’s go.”
She nodded and planted her hand a little further down on the table, “Hey, Mac! We’re gonna go play. We’ll settle up after.”
Mac turned his head from the other side of the large square bar in the middle of the room and waved in acknowledgement.
Rangiku slid off the stool and joined Gin in walking over to the dart board. It was hanging against the wooden wall, well away from any of the long wooden tables placed parallel to the walls of the bar. The board was eye level when she approached it to remove the bag of darts hanging by a nail beside it.
Ran opened the bag as she walked back to Gin and glanced inside. There was a jumble of different fletchings; red, blue, green, and white. She held the open bag out to him so he could pick his color first.
“So, the bet was you get to pick any game of darts you want. You win, and I bake you dinner and chocolate chip cookies. I win, you take me out and teach me how to play pool.” She smiled at him, “So what’s the game gonna be, Gin?”
He eyed up all the different coloured darts in the bag, and went for the white ones. He picked all the white-marked darts out, placing them onto the high table to his side.
Gin wasn't really good at playing darts. He tended to stick to pool when he went to pubs. And, well, both sports weren't exactly the kind of 'sports' he was encouraged to play. Anyway, if he was lucky, he could hit the occasional bullseye. He may not be good at hitting the bullseye when he aimed for it, but that was a totally different story when it came to the rings and wedges.
Luckily, not every game involved hitting the bullseye.
“Mmm, I dunnoe. I don’t really play darts… n’ I’m really bad at everything people try ta teach me,” he said, grinning a little even though he probably looked a bit silly right now, having accepted the challenge.
“How 'bout High/Low?” he asked. High was a lot easier to play than Low - would be rather funny if she threw three double bullseyes - but, really, he didn’t mind what Ran chose to play.
High/Low, huh? It was usually played with more people, but Ran supposed they could figure a way to work it out. She took the bag back and started digging through it for the blue darts. “Well, I’m sure not gonna try to teach you. I aim to win this bet,” she paused and looked up at him and grinned. “Hey, that was funny.”
Beaming self-contentedly, Ran returned her attention to the darts in the bag. Red, green…where was that final blue dart? “So how do you want to do this? Set up a number of rounds instead of elimination? And do you want to play High or Low,” ah, there it was. She held her final dart up in her hand triumphantly as she finished, “or do a round of both?”
"Hmm... I dunnoe. I guess we could play High," he said. It was easier, and either way, if Ran decided to throw three double bullseyes, he would lose anyway.
"N' we can play, say, five rounds?" he suggested. Five was enough to possibly luck out, and not enough to embarrass himself too badly. So long as all the darts stayed on the board, everything should be fine.
"Ya really wanna learn how ta play pool, huh."
Rangiku abruptly turned away so that Gin wouldn’t have an unobstructed view of her best impression of a fish out of water. As she proceeded to try not to choke on thin air, she cast some very grumbly thoughts in his direction.
Of course she wanted to learn how to play. The hell kind of question is that? She set her jaw and walked forward to hang the dart bag back on the wall.
And it wasn’t just about the game. Rangiku took a deep breath. He probably didn’t want her there, in even the smallest part of his world. And that was just too bad, wasn’t it? Because she was going to win.
A slow smile spread across her face, and when she turned and walked back to Gin she had a little extra sway in her step. “Let’s just say that I feel…highly motivated.”
She came to stand beside him and continued with that same coy smile curling her lips, “So would you like to play High? Or Low?”
Gin had first learnt pool by watching others play, and then being dragged into games. It had been fun from the outset, and after a few games, he had gotten a lot better with estimating how hard he should hit the ball, what kinds of sticks to use and the kinds of angles he should shoot at.
It wasn't difficult, really. And it wasn’t like he didn’t want to teach Ran how to play. The hard part was trying to find a place to do it without being hassled by other trouble boys. He didn’t want people interrupting their lesson - especially if they were going to start talking about stuff he didn’t want Ran to know about.
He didn’t want to have to keep things from her, but there were some things she probably didn’t want to know either. It was true that they had spent a lot of time with each other as children, but they had spent a long time apart. They grew up in separate environments - and as much as he wanted to go back to being that carefree child with Ran, a lot of things have changed since then.
And there were some changes that couldn’t be undone.
“High it is, then,” he said, smiling. “Go ahead - ya can start.”
Ran raised her eyebrows. Starting first in High gave her a distinct advantage-one that she probably didn’t really need. But then, she’d never seen Gin play. For all she knew, he could be just as good as her. So she’d take any advantage he chose to give her, if it moved her closer to getting what she wanted.
“All right,” she said, moving to stand behind the line chalked on the ground, Ran set the third dart on a small table close beside it. Carefully positioning the remaining one darts between her pointer and middle finger and the other between her middle and ring finger, Rangiku prepared to open the game with the designated simultaneous throw. It was the fletching which made it so difficult-smaller, smooth needles could be thrown as one, but the fletching demanded that the darts be far enough away so that they could fly uninterrupted.
Sighting the target carefully and planting her feet to reflect where she wanted the darts to go, Ran brought up her hand and tilted it parallel to the floor before releasing the darts in a side-winding motion. One struck a solid bulls-eye, the other landed on the 17 in the triple.
She turned and beamed at Gin, “Not bad, huh? Your turn,” and she obligingly stepped out of the way.
She might as well just save him the pain and threw both of them in the bullseye, Gin thought sardonically as he took his position. He could tell from her posture before that she could probably do this for a living. But shooting a score like that also meant that she either thought he was equally good at darts and could beat her at it, or that… she really wanted…
He twirled a dart between his fingers absently, as if it were a pen. He couldn’t help but fiddle with things as he thought, his gaze fixated on the target on the dartboard straight ahead.
“Not bad at all,” he said after a while, looking over to her as his smile widened. He needed to match or beat that score of 101, but he had three darts to throw.
Tugging his sleeves up past his elbows, he eyed the board a little longer before throwing each dart. The first one had missed the triple 18 - but at least it somehow landed in the 18 wedge, and not the 4. His next one went far too low, but it managed to stay firmly in the double 19. He bit his bottom lip and grinned when his last dart landed a hair’s width inside the triple 15. If he did his calculations correctly, he had gotten the exact same score Ran did.
“We got the same,” he said, scratching the back of his head absently. “But I think ya won, havin’ ta throw 2 darts at the same time n’ all…”
“Nah, it’s a tie. No elimination.” He was better than she thought, even if his posture didn’t indicate a lot of familiarity with the game. But then, she didn’t have any reason to suspect he’d be a slouch. Still, knowing him, he’d probably tied her on purpose. That way neither of them would win, and that just wouldn’t do.
Rangiku walked forward and retrieved the darts from the board. “Here you go,” her hand brushed his when she handed his darts back and she really shouldn’t have noticed such a small touch of skin on skin, but it nearly made her jump backwards in her eagerness to step away. Her stupid hand had no business tingling when they touched.
“My turn again,” and shoving the feeling from her mind, Ran moved to take her place behind the chalked line. She lined the darts on the nearby table to decide on her strategy-not that there was much to decide. The rules to High were simple-whoever got the most points wins. The best bet would be to triple at the 20 on the third, but that left the bulls-eyes clear, and there was always a chance that she’d miss. It would be better to take the larger target.
Ran hated to take such a hard line on Gin, but she had no idea how good he was. And this was a bet she was determined to win. One, two, three, and a perfect isosceles of blue darts found their new home in the bulls-eye. With that formation, he’d have to throw each dart directly in the center of the board to match her score, or really luck out on the wedges.
Her fist clenched once compulsively at her side. She hadn’t even thought to consider that he could beat her. She should have.
Her smile felt tight when she turned to face him. “Your turn~”
Gin was inwardly hoping that they would be hit by a tornado or earthquake right about now. It seemed that Ran really knew how to play darts. He wasn't going to be able to pull off another lucky round again.
Biting his bottom lip, he aimed for the triple 20. With the board as it was, it was harder to get the bullseye.
...Which didn't mean to say that the triple 20 was any easier, Gin thought to himself as the dart landed in the 1 wedge. No chance of winning now.
"I lose," he said, his smile widening as he slipped his hands into his pockets, making his way over to the dart board. He pulled his dart out, followed by Ran's, and made his way back towards her, holding the blue darts out.
Uh…huh. Well. It looked like maybe she’d overdone it.
Rangiku gave a small, sheepish laugh and reached out for the darts. “Thanks.”
She should have made him go first. That way she’d be able to aim for just above his score. All this trying to figure out what he was and wasn’t doing on purpose was tiring.
Well, it’s not like her purpose changed. She was going to win. She hated to make him feel bad, but…maybe she could make up for it after? A germ of an idea started to form in her mind, but it was silly to think of making up for things before she’d even won.
“I used to sneak out and do this when I was a kid,” one dart hit the triple 20. “There was only so much of the straight and narrow I could take,” bulls-eye. “But the flophouse I was boarding in had strict rules. Supposedly to keep us from backsliding,” triple 17.
She turned and gave Gin a genuine smile, “Sneaking out was half the fun. Your turn.”
A flophouse? That was giving Gin all sorts of odd ideas, so he shook his head a little to get the images out of his head.
But at least she had been somewhere safe, even if it was only for a short period of time. They probably did everything Gin could not do for Ran.
He looked at the dartboard, and how Ran had managed to hit all those tiny little ring segments. That must have been quite a bit of time ago, for her to get this good at darts. He wondered if she was purposely not throwing them all at the triple 20.
His gaze grew a little distant from the dartboard, and he guessed he threw the dart in his hand a little too hard as it bounced off the board.
He tilted his head a little.
"Ya never used to sneak around much 'round me," he noted, walking up to the dartboard, crouching down slowly to pick his dart up. He had always been the one sneaking out on her.
"Looks like yer gon' cop this one," he said, turning to look at Ran as he smiled lightly.
Rangiku winced when Gin’s dart bounced off the board. Yeah, she had definitely overdid it.
She froze at his off-handed comment. No, she had never snuck around Gin. The thought would have never occurred to her. She had everything she needed when she was with him, why would she ever want to leave? If she’d wanted to see something else, she’d just drag him along with her.
Somehow managed to relax her face before he turned back to face her, smiling of course, always smiling, as if his previous statement hadn’t been like dropping an ice cube down the back of her shirt. Fortunately, it didn’t look like a response was required, as Gin seemed ready to let his observation drop.
“Looks like,” she agreed mildly. “You want to reset?”
"No," Gin said, standing up again as he pulled the blue darts out of the board. He made his way back over to Ran, handing her darts to her.
"Winning this isn't really that important anyway," he said casually. There was obviously a lot more to be gained if Ran won this game than if Gin did.
Or perhaps he had already lost interest in the game. It could always be a combination of the two, as well.
Either way, it didn't really matter. After Ran played and won this round, the match would be decided.