Disclaimer: Not mine.
Identities
How could he?
How could he?
Aizen-taichou…had been murdered. Murdered and left pinned to the wall like a butterfly pinned to paper.
And Shiro-chan had done that.
Shiro-chan!
Hinamori had never wanted to believe her Captain was wrong before. But he was right again. Shiro-chan was here, threatening Ichimaru-taichou and Kira-kun.
She landed between Ichimaru-taichou and Shiro-chan and drew her sword. She had to do this. Had to.
She levelled her sword at his throat.
"Hina…mori…"
How could he look so shocked?
He'd done it! Why should he be surprised that she had found out? He'd had his own lieutenant give her Aizen's letter, even!
And he still denied it, insisting there was something wrong, even as she attacked him. That Aizen-taichou hadn't written the letter. And yet Shiro-chan looked so outraged at her accusation that for a moment she believed him, even though her captain had said he was guilty.
She stopped her assault, tears running down her face.
"I don't know what to do any more…"
She didn't know who to believe any more.
Aizen-taichou was her captain. Her hero. All the work she had done, almost since her first day of classes, had all been to get closer to him. Aizen-taichou was clever. He knew about people. He wouldn't- couldn't- have made such a big mistake.
And yet…she had known Shiro-chan for years and years. They had been friends since she'd caught him stealing watermelons from her small garden. He'd shared most of her afterlife. But since she'd begun her Shinigami training, their friendship had faded somewhat. The demands of training took her away. And it had become worse when Hitsugaya-kun himself decided to become a Shinigami.
She had changed since their childhood in the First District of Rukongai.
So had he.
Somehow, Hinamori had missed it.
He wasn't the rude, stubborn kid she'd been friends with in Junrinan. He was solemn, and determined, and a Captain.
She didn't really know him any more.
His words to her, his warning about the Third Division, now sounded horribly like a threat. "Watch out for Third Division. Especially when Aizen goes out walking alone at night."
She'd trusted him. She'd been wary of the Third Division, even Kira-kun, and still her Captain was dead. Because she had mistaken a threat for a warning.
When had Hitsugaya-kun become so cold? He could be planning to destroy Soul Society for all she knew, she realised.
Hitsugaya-kun was shouting again, at Ichimaru-taichou. Accusing Ichimaru-taichou of everything Aizen-taichou said that Shiro-chan had done. There had never been any reason to think Ichimaru-taichou or Third Division suspicious. Just Hitsugaya-kun's word. Just Shiro-chan's word.
He had done it. He had murdered Aizen-taichou. And he wasn't Shiro-chan. Not any more.
She leaped into the air to meet his attack on Ichimaru-taichou with one of her own. His expression didn't change. His eyes barely flickered her way before a heavy blow connected with her face.
He was so cold now…
She had no control over her fall. She was blacking out, she knew. He had hit her so hard.
He really wasn't Shiro-chan any more.