The sky was a very sad colours that day. There was no bright yellow sun or soothing blue sky, only grey storm clouds. At least the rain wasn't falling. Even the brown trunks of that green grove beside the road seemed darker than ever.

These dark colours seemed to cry for the poor little girl lying on the side of that road.

Her stomach growled. Her hunger was terrible. She no longer counted the days since the last meal she had eaten. By now she didn't even remember when.

It was the sight of that little girl with golden hair and a wrinkled and torn dress that was observed by the gaze of a boy who seemed to be the same age. The boy had short silver bob hair that fell into his face, hiding his small eyes. Those little eyes were the most noticeable detail of the small boy.

“Eat up…” The boy said, holding out a dried persimmon that he was holding before trying to explain… “If you've collapsed from hunger, you must have some spiritual power.”

"You too…?" Tried to ask the girl in a weak voice.

"Yes. Me too." Replied the boy trying to smile even though his small eyes looked disturbing. “Ichimaru Gin. Pleased to meet you."

“Gin… that's a weird name.” The boy skipped a beat at those words. But it wasn't for the words. He skipped a beat at the smile on the girl's face. She was beautiful. “I am Rangiku Matsumoto.”

The whole scene itself gave colour to a grey and sad day. But it didn't matter how much colours that day had. Not for the third kid who was approaching that scene.

The third boy had black, curly hair that fell to his shoulders almost in the shape of ringlets. His gait was confident, straight and without a care in the world. Him except hunger.

The two kids, the silver-haired boy and the golden-haired girl, who had sat down eating the persimmon, were startled by a loud noise and turned to see this boy approaching. The noise was nothing more than the rumbling of his stomach.

“Do you happen to have any more food? I don't know how long it's been since I ate... eh eh eh" he asked, almost apologetically, holding his hand behind his head and giggling out of embarrassment.

Gin cocked his head to the side and highlighted a quantity of dried persimmons he was holding in his hand.

"Certain. Do you want one?”

"Oh yes! It would be wonderful!" The newly arrived boy nods strongly. “But what are they?”

“Mm… they're persimmons. Ever seen them?”

“No… I've never seen anything.”

Only then did the two boys from before realize the boy's problem. He was blind.

“Woah!” The girl, now recovered thanks to the food, seemed to be emotional. “But then how could you walk so confidently? It seemed snobbish, but now it seems really cool since you're blind!”

“Tsk… I who showed up with food should be cooler…”

“What did you say Gin?”

“Nothing Rangiku. I was just curious to know how he managed to have such a confident gait."

“Hahaha you're both funny... I haven't laughed like that since I died.”

At that point silence fell.

Gin tilted his head. “Do you remember when you were not yet a soul?”

"Certain. You know?"

“Nope.” "No."

“So, I'm strange. Hahaha”

"Come on! Weird boy! Tell us! How can you see if you are blind?”

To the question of the girl, the blind boy did not answer immediately.

He thought back to the first times he found himself in this mysterious world that he understood to be the afterlife. He thought about the difference in the quality of the air and the feel of the grass under his feet. However, he thought back above all to the awareness of that period.

He didn't know what happened, the only thing he knew was that he knew. It's weird and sounds like a play on words, but it wasn't. He didn't know how he did it, but he walked straight and he knew he was walking straight. He couldn't see it, but he knew that to his left after three steps he would have a large tree, so he took three steps to the left and touched the tree with his hands.

"I do not know. I don't see, but I can see. This has been as long as I've been here. I still have no idea what colours are, yet I can see that you, my dear girl, are sitting, while you creepy boy are standing and giving me too much attention for me to feel comfortable. It's as if you see outlines without what's inside. I don't know if it's clear. Basically, I know that things have shapes, well… ahhh damn it's not easy to explain.”

“And I would be the creepy guy. You're funny little boy.”

"Hey! I'm blind, not a kid!”

The two boys took a step forward, but were suddenly stopped by the girl.

“Stop! You males! You don't even know each other and you're already starting to argue! I'm sure life with you will be a real mess!”

The two boys blinked in confusion… or at least they should have. One is blind and has not opened them at all, the other has them so small that they seemed closed. However, they at least raised their eyebrows.

“How did we come to the conclusion that all three of us would live together? Can you explain this to me, blind boy?”

“I'm sorry but I didn't understand anything either, creepy boy.”

The girl then placed her hands on her hips and exposed her torso forward. “I am the boss from now on, and if I say that you are with me then you are with me!”

“Hey creepy guy, did you notice how she seems to have bigger tits in this pose?”

…

“You knocked him out with one punch, you're really strong Rangiku. Of course, picking on a blind man..."

“Pftt… I'm pretty sure the he sees enough of what's important, Gin. Right..."

“Ha… Hakuhito… Ha… Hayato… this is… Ha… my name…”

“What a horrible name.”

That was the first meeting between three boys who immediately became friends. Almost. Well I can't say for sure, but maybe it will happen. No, it is not true. It will definitely happen, otherwise we wouldn't have started our story from that chance meeting.

“Even though that world was the afterlife, known as Soul Society, it was considered a paradise, in reality life flowed practically as in the world of the living. Aside from very slow aging, much to Rangiku's delight, and the fact that most people never went hungry, life was pretty much the same.

The same life if you were poor like beggars, with the appearance of three children, who because of their spiritual energy actually felt hunger, and always having to hide from the bad guys who tried to take a pretty girl like Rangiku and sell her to the 'respectable' people of the richer neighbourhoods.

Okay, we can say that it wasn't exactly a paradise for the three kids, but at least they weren't being eaten by Hollows, right?

The bad guys were often souls without any spiritual strength anyway, so they were beaten quite easily by the two boys... although sometimes they ended up fighting each other... and then they were beaten by Rangiku. But this is the natural order of things. Males will always be submissive to a beautiful woman.”

“Do you know that you're really creepy telling our life in the third person like this, Hayato?”

Hayato was startled by the sudden interruption of the golden-haired girl.

During this period of time, even though years had passed, their appearance had actually not changed at all. Not that Hayato could tell. He was basically blind.

“Changing the subject… do you know where Gin went?”

“I don't know my beautiful blooming rose. But when you're so close to me I can't help but wish I had my sight only to lose it again in yours... OUCH! Why the hell are you hitting me! I was going to say 'eyes' this time!”

“Yes of course no. And I never hit you.”

The girl with the innocent look and the red knuckles of her right hand, for absolutely no reason, walked away humming a tune under her breath.

“But it's not fair that that bad guy always goes off alone and leaves us here. At least he would tell us where he is going! But no! He's really evil, as soon as I see him I have to give him a nice pat of affection!”

“AH! You just admitted that you're the one hitting us!”

“Nope! Never done."

"But..."

"I said no."

Hayato had the strange impression of a gigantic shadow (cat-shaped? No, he must have seen wrong...) rising behind the girl.

“Of course, my sweet girl, I must have definitely heard wrong.”

The two stayed a while longer chatting happily in their sturdy shack that they have called home for a few years. It was a ramshackle old shack, but at least it was sturdy and protected them from the winds and rain. Sure, sometimes they had to watch out for some nails sticking out or some floor beams coming loose, but otherwise he was fine.

Whether it's fantasy or not, among the three boys, the one girl was practically the only one who managed to get hurt in these occasional situations. Gin, who always kept his eyes half closed, had reflexes that were too exceptional to be able to hurt himself, and Hayato, who was truly blind, was the one who had the least problems of all. He could sense any change in the shack without even understanding why he was able to.

While the two were chatting, the door suddenly opened and a ragged Gin calmly entered, carrying some apples and even a bundle of bread.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Before he could speak, however, Rangiku started lecturing. "You're gone. Still. Without telling us where you went. Still."

The boy calmly placed his food on the table that was on one of the walls and then with amusement in his voice began to speak.

"So?"

You could see a vein pop out of the girl's forehead at that response.

“Leave him alone Rangiku. The creepy guy can take care of himself… sometimes. There's no need to worry about him."

“But who cares about whom?! I don't care at all!"

"You are right. Shut up blind boy! You're the last person who should be talking."

“Ahahah Here is the famous calm of the dark Gin that is shattered”

The boys spent their time chatting and the days went by. Happily ever after… until that damned day…

OMAKE – Spending time playing.

“It's amazing how unfair it is to think that it's OK to put the blind boy to search while you are playing Hide and Seek.”

Hayato said walking confidently as he avoided the trees in the grove near their shack.

"Shut up! It is you who have too unfair an ability! It's no fun playing with you when you can literally sense where we are!”

Hayato smiled as he heard the screams of a little girl coming from behind a bush. Then with a slow and calm step he went around.

“It doesn't serve my perception at all if you shout so much my sweet heavenly fragrance.”

Rangiku didn't blush in the slightest at the compliment, but simply smiled.

Before doing a pirouette on the tip of his right foot and hitting Hayato's face with the other heel.

“I told you to shut up! I play how I want! And now I have won!”

Hayato's body flew into a tree and he slammed his back into it, then slid gently towards the ground.

“You're just two really funny people.”

“AHHHH”

At Gin's sudden voice behind Rangiku, the girl was greatly frightened.

The boy lying on the ground instead limited himself to raising a hand in greeting.

“Hey Gin. I hadn't seen you... not that I see much! Hahaha”

“We're not even halfway through the chapter and your sight jokes are already getting tiresome.”

“Hey creepy guy, what do you mean by that, huh? Do you want to argue? Get it done! I can't wait to tear you into little pieces!”

At that moment the loud sound of two shots was heard.

Then, there was strangely a girl with an angelic face humming and two boys with a strange growth on their head (a bump), which, if you were to ask Rangiku, had grown for no reason.

“So you learn to make stupid jokes before you start arguing.”

The two boys looked at each other.

“So you're basically admitting to hitting us… right?”

“I know nothing, blind boy. You should learn the beauty of silence, Hayato.”

“What are you two talking about in the back?”

“Hahaha absolutely nothing, my beautiful ray of hope under this grey sky.”

That day, when they returned to the shack, Rangiku was in a very happy mood, while strangely there were many bumps on Hayato and Gin's heads...

Hayato sat with his back against the outside wall of their shack. There was a beautiful yellow sun that warmed his skin and illuminated his face. The green forest seemed vibrant with life and a fresh breeze could make it extremely calm.

Gin had gone somewhere for a walk. He was too far away for Hayato to be able to grasp with his special senses. But with those senses he could still hear Rangiku inside the shack doing… well, girl things. Better not to go into details.

Up until now everything was normal.

What was not normal was the presence of three spiritual energies that were approaching with calm but determined steps towards the direction of the shack.

In recent years, Hayato had focused a lot on improving his perception. Since he was absolutely blind before he died, although he still couldn't see now, just the ability to perceive things sent him into ecstasy. In addition to his increased perception ability, he also managed to improve his other senses, such as hearing.

For this reason, he could hear brief traces of the conversation that took place between them.

“…why should we take…”

“Who knows what Lord A… from these midges…”

“What do you care, we have a mission so…”

The three men quickly arrived at the location of the shack.

“Hey brat. I see you're alone now. What happened to your friends?"

Said the first of the three, the man in the centre with shoulder-length hair.

“Since you look like a blind child and therefore maybe you can’t see it, I will be specific. We are Shinigami, so be a good boy and tell us everything right away."

The guy to the left of the long-haired man came forward, a bald man.

“If you behave well, maybe we'll even go easy on you, what do you say, huh?”

Finally, the boy with short hair on the right also spoke.

Hayato didn't speak at first. However, when he sensed inside the shack that Rangiku was still busy doing her own thing, he smiled and started talking with a smile on his face.

“Obviously kind Shinigami gentlemen. My friend is down at the river getting some water to clean her clothes, while my friend is somewhere far away doing some odd jobs so we can pay for some improvements on our humble shack. Poor blind me was left here alone to hold the fort.”

He knew that Gin had gone to look for food but he tried not to say the words food or drink in any way, he didn't want to give the idea to these shinigami that he had spiritual potential. Furthermore, from the first man's words he understood that it was useless to say that he was alone, because he could say that he had been seen at least once with Gin and Rangiku. He really hoped that a blind man alone in a poorly placed shack wouldn't be found tempting.

“Did you hear that guys? So, there's no one in that shack..."

“Yeah, yeah… so we're not feeling that reiatsu at all from there… nono.”

The two men on the sides tried to be sarcastic, but the one with the long hair in the middle became more serious.

“Brat, there's no use trying to deceive us. We are shinigami. We are trained to feel reiatsu. We know the little girl is in there. Don't blame us if we go harder than expected now.”

Hayato slowly stood up at those words.

“Then, my kind shinigami, you should forgive me if I don't go easy on you either.”

Saying that, the boy lunged at the first man and tried to punch.

But he was just a blind boy against three trained men.

The long-haired man easily avoided the boy's punch.

"However. Not a bad amount of reiatsu you're putting out. It's not as high as what we heard from your friends, but it seems more refined.”

A kick hit Hayato's side ferociously, knocking the breath out of him and sending him tumbling into a tree.

“Why… ha… hell… ha… it's always the blind boy who gets beaten into the trees… ha…”

Hayato was on his knees after the blow he suffered, while the three men laughed.

“Go get the girl. I'll take care of this brat."

The long-haired man said.

"NO!" Hayato shouted. “I won't let you touch even a hair of Rangiku!”

Hayato quickly stood up and walked towards the bald man who was closest to the shack.

With a speed he never knew he had he approached in a very short time.

But he was still too slow compared to the shinigami's trained shunpo.

He was kneed in the stomach and then unceremoniously thrown to the side.

The three men smiled at each other and with a silent exchange they agreed not to go along with the previous idea of splitting up. Indeed, they all threw themselves at the blind boy at the same time.

Hayato found himself crashing into the shack. He had more bruised skin than healthy skin. He even had a superficial but noticeable cut that ran from his right shoulder to his left hip. It was clear that the cut had been done only for fun and not to injure mortally.

However, it really hurt.

Hayato felt pain in every part of his body. But it wasn't just there that he felt pain. He felt he was also suffering in his pride.

The sound of his body hitting the outside wall of the shack, along with all the commotion, was clearly heard by Rangiku inside that, who immediately rushed out.

The sight that greeted the girl outside when she came out was that of three men in shinigami robes laughing blissfully, while Hayato was lying on his side near the shack, with obvious blood and his face more bruised than normal.

"NO! Ha... run!... Rangiku... run!...”

He tried to say he was friend of him.

But she was too stunned to notice.

The three men stopped laughing and turned towards the girl... then smiled.

Gin had managed to get some bread that day.

He was in good spirits.

Ever since he awakened in Soul Society he had always been a lonely boy. He knew he couldn't rely on anyone but his own wits.

He was smarter than the others. He knew it.

He knew that in this world where population controls were very sparse, it was always the strongest who fared best. The shinigami who should be the police force of this world could easily be divided into three categories.

The first were the good ones who not only did their job of protecting them all well from the Hollows, but were also kind to the souls of the Rukongai. The second were those who were very faithful to their duty and apart from that they did nothing; at least they were just indifferent to other souls.

They were the third type that unfortunately he saw more and more often near where he lived with his friends.

Yes, his friends. He still couldn't believe that he had grown fond of other people. Or at least person. Rangiku was the only one that mattered to him. The blind boy was the only one who managed to break away from his mask of coldness and seriousness.

He hated him for it. Or at least he said so himself as a genuine smile covered his face.

That smile disappeared quickly, however, just like his body did when he quickly hid behind a bush. Thanks to his special training to finally win a Hide and Seek against the blind man he even managed to hide his reiatsu.

While he was hiding he saw three men pass by, laughing among themselves. From their clothes he immediately understood that they were shinigami. Shinigami of the third kind, to be precise. That is, nothing but criminals. The three laughed as they carried a ball of pink light in their hands. Even without any theoretical knowledge, Gin could tell that it was obviously reiatsu.

The problem was the direction they came from. It was the direction from which his shack was located. A terrible thought came to him.

He waited until they were no longer in sight and then quickly ran.

His deepest fears came true when he saw what awaited him in front of the shack. Hayato was on his knees, not a part of his face safe from bruising. A stab wound, definitely from a Zanpakutō, ran from his right shoulder to his left side. His clothes were soaked with blood still leaking from the cut. He seemed completely unconscious.

But the thing that hurt even more was the sight of his best friend lying on the ground, behind the kneeling boy. She had a couple of bruises on her face and otherwise seemed fine. But she was also suffering and lying unconscious. There were dark lines drawn across her cheeks.

It was the first time Gin saw those signs. They were the signs of tears.

"Gin…"

The silver haired boy turned to the blind boy who was trying to speak despite his condition.

“I… I tried… really to… ha…. To defend her… for… ha… forgive me…”

Gin didn’t answer.

Then he turned and ran.

A thousand thoughts overwhelmed his mind.

Why was he rushing to them instead of thinking about helping his friends? Why was he just running to them in the first place? What would he do if he found them? Was he even capable of doing anything?

Those thoughts didn't last long. He quickly reached the three men.

He remained hidden while he watched them. The three of them were kneeling before a fourth man, holding out the ball of pink light he had seen earlier. The man, who looked mediocre, with only his glasses as his only feature, took the sphere and placed it in a glass beaker which contained another black and white sphere. The first merged into the second.

But the sight didn't matter to Gin.

His eyes were glued to the standing man with glasses.

“This man is the boss. He is the man I must kill."

The days passed.

Nothing was the same anymore.

Gin had always been silent; however, he had become even more so.

In fact, he moved away more and more often, leaving the convalescent boys alone.

Rangiku, instead of the cheerful and masculine girl she was before, began to withdraw more and more into herself to cry. She was truly traumatized.

The only boy who didn't seem to have changed was Hayato.

The boy who took the most from those men was constantly smiling.

“Come on Rangiku! Enough with that sad expression! You are my sunshine in the darkness! I want to see a smile so bright it can split stones! Even if I can't actually see it! Hahaha”

Hayato, while laughing, quickly ducked to dodge a kick... which never came.

“So serious… huh?”

Rangiku sat, hugging her knees, with her back turned towards the blind boy.

"How do you do?"

Hayato's smile widened.

"It's easy. I just need to look at you to find hundreds of new compliments."

Rangiku didn't respond to the obvious teasing. The boy was blind, obviously he was joking.

“Just look at you, Hayato… you have a very long scar on your torso.”

Hayato's smile disappeared.

“It's not your fault, Rangiku. So, don't get involved."

“Maybe not that one… but you took a lot more beatings than me… just to defend myself…”

Hayato smiled again and tilted his head towards the sky.

“What kind of colour is blue?”

The girl raised her head in surprise at that unexpected question.

“What does it have to do with it?”

“I have been blind since my birth in the world of the living. I died without knowing what the colours were like.”

“Stop changing the subject Hayato. I asked you how you can be so cheerful! Not if you know what colours were! You took a lot of beatings, you even got cut. Anything to protect me! I heard the discussion! While I was in the shack I heard them talking. I heard how you tried to send them away! If you hadn't lied to him, if you had told him where I was, it wouldn't have ended like this!”

Hayato laughed.

“I don't know what colours are, Rangiku. This is why I imagine it with my imagination.”

The boy bent down and picked up some blades of grass in his hands.

“I imagine green as leaves. A lively colour, which gives hope in life.”

He stood up and turned his face to the girl.

“Red, on the other hand, I imagine as a terrifying colour. It's as scary as fire. It expresses pain by coming out of your body like blood.”

He raised his face upwards once again.

“I imagine yellow as the heat of the sun, which warms the heart and brings joy.”

Finally, he turned to the girl again.

“Blue should be the colour of the sky… it should give serenity if you look at it… but I have never seen the sky. Even with my new enhanced senses, the sky is too huge to see. I cannot imagine the blue Rangiku.”

The girl was silent, trying to understand what her friend was trying to tell her.

“For me, for a blind person, there is nothing more terrifying than losing your imagination. We cannot see the world with our eyes, that is why we imagine it. But if we lose the ability to imagine the world, we have nothing left.”

Rangiku's eyes were wide open now.

“I'm not interested in getting hit if it's to protect my friends. I'm not afraid of that at all. What scares me is losing everything.”

At that moment Hayato turned towards where, by intuition, he knew where the Seireitei was.

“I've made a decision, Rangiku. I want to become so strong that I can imagine the blue, that I can imagine the sky. Because of this…

I have decided that I will become a Shinigami."