For Gin, things simply escalated all too quickly.
Not even a few seconds ago when he brought a well-packed lunch for Rangiku, added with the fact that he was being tailed by the pair of Shinigami, one of whom was nice even to hand over his lunch without hesitation. Though he didn't figure out why they were following him, now he has no chance of knowing that.
Not when Rangiku entered in a gossip session with the blonde Shinigami. Her partner was in a similar situation as him, staring at the two girls with a blank expression. Their eyes met for a brief while before both of them moved out of what Gin would call his home and jumped on the roof of an abandoned warehouse.
"I want to thank you on behalf of myself and Rangiku for the food." Gin was the first to break the silence between them. "She might have starved to death if not for the food."
"Don't sweat it. If you want I can bring extra lunches for you whenever I am around the area." Suzaku assured. His sister wouldn't mind cooking a little extra, especially if he adds on the fact that he is helping someone with the food. "I grew up around here so I know what kind of problems you go through on a daily basis."
"You don't need to do that." While his face mostly remained expressionless, Suzaku could guess that the silver-haired boy was taken aback by the sudden gesture of kindness offered to him.
"Like I said, it is not a big deal for me. Plus my sister wouldn't mind extra cooking." The male Shinigami said in an attempt to ease off any kind of worry on the boy's mind.
"If you say so.." Gin was still unsure about this but chose to trust the man in front of him nonetheless. It was because he could feel that he was different from rest of the bunch here in Rukongai.
What he felt from Suzaku's words was honesty and not deceit. He had always assumed and at times saw it with his own eyes that adults are always deceitful and wicked. They hide their true intentions behind their sugarcoated words, revealing their true nature at the most unexpected moment.
'Maybe there are nice and honest people out there as much as the wicked ones.' Keeping his thoughts to himself, Gin went on to fully introduce himself. "My name is Gin Ichimaru."
Though he was slightly taken aback by Gin's change in demeanor, the Shinigami appreciated the change. "Suzaku Kudo."
"Say Suzaku, I can call you Suzaku right?" Gin was a little hesitant on calling someone by their first name right off the bat. It was different when it came to him and Rangiku, given they always called one another by their first name.
A carefree nod from the black-haired male eased him off his worries before he proceeded to ask what he wished to know. "How is it being a Shinigami?"
"Are you interested in becoming one?" Suzaku responded with a question of his own.
"I don't know yet. I just got curious about Shinigami and what they do after hearing from Rangiku." Gin answered. "She told me how she was saved from the Hollow."
Judging from their reactions when they met each other a few moments ago and Rangiku's friendliness with Matsuri, Gin deduced that these Shinigami were the ones that saved her from the Hollow on that day.
"I guess our job circles around killing Hollows, purifying souls and monitoring the Rukongai every now and then." Suzaku answered with a shrug. "I have no idea what the Captains and the upper-seated officers do. I am still a rookie."
"Hm." The answer didn't pique the silver-haired boy's interest at all. It was a vague answer and fair enough, coming from Suzaku's positioning. From his words, it was clear that he recently became an official Shinigami and has a long road ahead of him.
"Still," Suzaku went on, believing that he needs to give the curious boy a satisfactory answer to his question. "I will put it as a life-changing experience for anyone. While it is a job with danger to life, it also has its own perks. Most importantly, it does provide a roof above our heads."
"I see, I will think about it." Gin replied.
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It was almost dusk when the Shinigami bid their goodbyes to the two kids, with Suzaku promising them that he would be bringing tastier lunch than this one for them. Matsuri added on by promising that she would try and make lunches for them too, which made Rangiku look up to the blonde's cooking while Suzaku's doubt about his classmate's cooking skills turned into concern for his own stomach.
He had no doubt that he would be used as a test subject to her cooking. An unavoidable fate.
"Do you have any prior cooking experience?" Suzaku finally inquired as they made their way to the next district in their tab, using Shunpo in order to cover up long distances.
"I don't but there's nothing stopping me from learning. All I need you to do is tasting." Matsuri replied, feeling quite confident in herself.
'Saw that one coming from a mile away.' Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, the male let out a long sigh that he had been holding in. "What are my chances of survival?"
"Sheesh! You really have no faith in me." Matsuri complained at her partner's lack of faith and enthusiasm.
"You used to mix up Kido incantations in class!" Suzaku reminded. "How can I be sure that you won't mix up the ingredients?"
"Hey! I don't do that anymore! And the incantations sometimes are too long and tough to memorize." The blonde defended, a flustered expression on her face. "Cooking can't be that hard."
Suzaku chose not to comment on this topic anymore. Since his own expertise in the kitchen lay in just being able to boil the milk to the required temperature and making decent tea, he knew it would be better off not challenging a woman's ego when it came to cooking. Even if they don't know anything about it, they will still try it. It would be better to accept his fate with the satisfaction that he won't be meeting his death in the hands of a Hollow but due to experimental tasting.
Not the most glorious death for a Shinigami but definitely not the most painful either.
Soon enough the two Shinigami arrived at the designated district. The living conditions in this district which was widely known as 'Hanging Dog' was the complete opposite of how the District #1 was. The conditions of people here were worse than the place where Suzaku grew up or the place where Gin and Rangiku are currently residing.
At the very least, the people in the 60s districts have a roof on their heads. In the district after 70s people simply lay around on the streets or under any shaded area they found. Houses were a luxury.
"Hollows aren't the only thing we would need to look out for right now." Matsuri stated in a low voice. She had switched back to her professional persona, keeping her cooking enthusiasm at the back of her mind right now.
"Yeah, there are cases of troublemaking citizens around these parts and beyond." Suzaku responded, constantly on a lookout for any sort of trouble. "Let's just finish our patrolling and not cause anyone any trouble."
"Right." The blonde nodded in agreement.
Both of them went ahead and interrogated some of the locals about any Hollow sightings they had for the past month or not, being humble about their questioning. The locals cooperated with their investigations, aware of the job and the power held by a Shinigami. A single Shinigami could wipe out their town if they messed up so they behaved well-enough.
From the reports they gathered from the residents, there weren't any Hollow sightings around these parts for the past few months which was a good thing for the residents.
"Let's check out the borders of this district and then be on our way." Suzaku suggested to which his partner gave a confirming nod.
Before they could move any further, they heard some commotion going down the street. Upon closely looking, they noticed a pair of a black-haired girl and a red-haired boy with his hair wrapped up in a pineapple-shaped ponytail running down at full speed. The boy held a poorly stitched cloth bag in his hands.
"Come on Renji! Run faster!" The black-haired girl shouted. Following the pair was an angry pair of shopkeepers.
"I can't run any faster with this." The boy named Renji replied, already seeming out of breath from all the running around with the added weight in his arms.
"Stop there you thieves!"
"There's no choice." The girl grit her teeth before snatching the bag from Renji and tossing it away.
Before the bag could touch the ground, Suzaku flash-stepped right next to it and caught it in his arms. He could have easily caught the kids along with the bag but he purposefully let them away. Checking the contents of the bag, he easily figured out what the matter was.
Starvation and theft in order to feed the starving stomachs was another common characteristic of the districts furthest away from the Seireitei.
"Rotten little thieves sure can run fast!" The shopkeepers already seemed out of breath as they halted in front of the black-haired Shinigami. "Thank you for getting the bag of food from them."
The shopkeeper tried to get the bag out of Suzaku's hands but before he could attempt to do it, the bag was gone from his hands and was in the safety of Matsuri's hands. "Huh? What's the big idea?"
"How much does the contents inside the bag cost?"
____________________________________________________
"That was close." Exiting an empty alleyway, the black-haired girl plopped down on her knees, trying to normalize her breathing. "We almost got caught if not for sacrificing the food."
"But Rukia, what are we going to do now?" Renji worriedly asked. While they did not get caught, the matter of fact still remained that them and their friends in their hideout are still starving. "We can't go back. There's a high chance we would get caught this time."
"You don't need to do that anymore." Someone spoke from behind them. Renji turned around, only to have the cloth bag tossed at him. With a jump, he caught the bag before looking up at the one that tossed it. "It's yours isn't it?"
"Huh?" Renji was confused at first before checking out the bag and its contents. It was indeed the bag in which he and Rukia were supposed to bring food for their gang. Not a single item had been tampered with or moved away from the bag. Rather there was more than what they had stolen from various shops.
"You are Shinigami!" The girl named Rukia suddenly perked up. "Are you here to punish us?"
From the tales she had heard about Shinigami, they were depicted both as heroes who would kill the Hollows and save the residents of Rukongai, if the creatures do invade Soul Society. But they were also the punishers for the evildoers. Some people even said that the Shinigami have a special jail for criminals inside the Seireitei.
"Nothing like that." Matsuri replied in a kinder tone, trying to ease any worries arising in Rukia's mind. "We are just here to give back what you left behind."
"Why?" Rukia inquired, narrowing her eyes. There was no reason as to why some Shinigami would help them. While she was glad for their help as now they won't need to starve for the next few weeks, it was still suspicious.
"Do people need a reason for being nice and helping one another out? Just stop thinking too much and take it." Suzaku answered with a carefree shrug. He then pointed to the darkening sky and continued. "Get going or the monsters crawling at night would take your food away."
"Yikes! By monsters you mean Hollows?" Renji didn't even bother hiding the fact that he was scared.
"If it's Hollows, they won't be just taking your meal. You will be the one becoming their meal." Suzaku added, only to further scare Renji even more, much to Rukia and Matsuri's amusement. "So I would advise scramming right now."
'I was wrong to doubt them. They mean no harm.' Rukia thought to herself as a smile crept on her face. She was too quick to judge these people who were just there to help them from their current predicament. Even if it was out of habit, it was still wrong of her to do so.
"Thank you very much for your help. We will never forget this." Rukia bowed, making even her redhead friend bow down along with her. "My name is Rukia."
"Uh, oh. I am Renji Abarai." It took an extra second for Renji to process everything but he quickly played along with it. "Thanks for saving our skin!"
"I am Matsuri Seto and this one here is Suzaku Kudo." Matsuri introduced themselves. "Take good care of yourselves and your friends."
"We will!" Both the kids replied in unison before running down the streets, waving goodbyes to their newly made Shinigami friends.
"We should be going back. We will need to write the reports too." Suzaku stated, taking one last look at the sky. The sun had almost set, with the night sky slowly taking over.
Just after he said it, a grumbling noise could be heard and Suzaku's face flushed in a bright shade of red.
"...I bet you are hungry too. Let's find somewhere to eat first."