Gin Ichimaru
a past revisited
Rangiku is a strong woman. She's determined to fight for what she believes in and would never let personal feelings get ahead of professional work. That being said, there were two instances when Rangiku's calm facade betrayed herself: she seemed so stressed out that even her clumsy little boss was prompted to murmur kind words.
Both cases involved a man named Gin Ichimaru, ex-Captain of Division 3.
Once upon a time, Rangiku's world was composed of nobody but Gin. She was still a little girl, almost starving to death in a poor Rukongai district one day. Then Gin appeared, with a bag of food and a shabby but still livable shelter to share. He even gave Rangiku a birthday, an identity to live up to and a place to call home. As we were to learn later, Gin the Soul Reaper can hardly be called a kind person. Yet to Rangiku, Gin is someone she can't easily cast out of her life: he's the man who gave Rangiku a meaning to be strong and possibly the only person she's willing to call family.
Gin's recent departure to Hueco Mundo was a shock to everyone in Soul Society and left nothing short of a scar in Rangiku's heart. There were certainly hints about Gin's betrayal even before the last battle at Soukyoku, besides Rangiku was already used to Gin's habit of randomly disappearing without notice through their life together in Rukongai. In other words, Rangiku relied on her fear - that Gin would eventually go far beyond her reach - to prepare herself for the worst scenario. However, the fact that Gin actually voiced goodbye before leaving for another world struck Rangiku hard. Sure, he had disappeared plenty of times from Rangiku's side before, but he always came back. There was an unconscious (or was it really?) confidence that as long as Gin doesn't speak of farewell, the race of hide-and-chase between the two will not end. But such rule is broken now, as if an important part of Gin and Rangiku's strong bond vanished, opening a big hole in Rangiku's life - all too abruptly.
Another face
Everything above covered what I consider to be Rangiku's feelings for Gin, but what about the other way around?
Gin Ichimaru is a man of mystery. Despite his popularity in the series, there was hardly any backstory about him unless through another person's eyes - mostly Rangiku and occasionally, Aizen. If Aizen's lust for power and Tousen's strange sense of justice are what made them the "bad guys" of Bleach, what about Gin? Nobody except himself understands what he really wants, though it's clear that he only treats everything either as a tool, or as something he'd like to surpass one day - and in the end, throwing them all away. Cruel and calculative are both good adjectives for Gin's character, which I suppose nobody could deny, including Gin's so-called comrades.
But I say we give Gin a benefit of the doubt, who might be merciless but not entirely heartless. In fact, Gin had always been a man of his words to Rangiku: while he avoided most of Rangiku's questions and blame, he would never try to explain or cover up any of his wrongdoings in front of her; while he never told Rangiku about any of his ideals in life, he would not leave her side completely until he says goodbye directly to her face. It's hard to explain why, but I can't help but feel that while Gin would not let Rangiku step into his emotional wall, he would not push her much far either, which happens to be what had haunted Rangiku all these years. Was it a part of his cruelty or a kindness, however twisted? Nobody knows.
A weakness?
Up to this point, every sign of human milkiness ever found in Gin is directly linked to Rangiku. As we know, Gin is never without his sly smile in front of everyone unless Rangiku is involved, whose presence alone is enough to break Gin's poker face. An interesting case study would be Gin's actions during the Soukyoku battle, which refers all the way back to the case of Hinamori. When Rangiku shielded Hinamori from Gin's sword, the man was clearly distraught - even if only for a split second - and immediately withdrew. He must have realized then: Rangiku will always be there to lend a hand to Hitsugaya even if it costs her own life. But that seems like the last thing Gin would ever want to happen. As a result, he dispatched Kira to divert Rangiku's attention while luring both Hitsugaya and Hinamori to Aizen's side by the same order, effectively having both of them slayed while keeping Rangiku at a safe distance. The fact that Kira didn't stand a chance against Rangiku was probably clear to him since the start.
In summary, Gin was able to accomplish two things through his plans: one being Aizen's order to trap Hitsugaya and Hinamori, one being his own wish to impose minimum physical damage on Rangiku, the latter ensuring that a personal farewell between them was possible at last minute. Then as we know - the only rueful smile Gin had ever shown in the whole series with an apology to follow. What does such entail? Gin made it clear that he doesn't want Rangiku to be hurt, at least not by his own hands. The exact reason remains unknown, but each of Gin's action, no matter how brief, speaks more about Rangiku's position in his heart than words.
We don't know what the final battle would bring to both parties and I don't want to classify Gin and Rangiku's relationship with a clear genre at this point. That being said, I'm looking forward to a proper conclusion to their story some day - hopefully tearless.