I spent the end of the summer, Thanksgiving break, Winter break, and now February Break to reread/rewatch Bleach and Naruto. Anyway, here's a fic I have been working on since November, but never had the time to finish until this February Break. I have a few more Bleach fics I need to finish and upload, and then hopefully I'll start making Naruto fics, maybe NejiTen and ShikaTema focused ones...ENJOY, especially since it seems almost every Hinamori fanfic displays her as a lovestricken idiot, and she's not that...ALL the time lol.
"Snap, Tobiume!"
Hinamori took a step forward, her right hand softly letting go of her sword, which was all in its glorious shikai form. With a soft but firm and effective swing, she slashed off the four left limbs of the large, crimson, spider like hollow in front of her, chanting out a fireball kido as well.
As the monster gave out a surprised shriek, the shinigami jumped and pressed her weapon's hilt to the forehead of the creature. She wasn't expecting the hollow to have that much strength, but nevertheless, the hard training of Seireitei prepared her for instances where the tables could be turned.
"May you rest in peace, hollow…"
The kido expert didn't watch the now purified monster disappear, and instead shunpo'd her way to the playground that was five blocks away from the long, quiet neighborhood street where she'd been fighting the arachnid. She jumped up unto the platform of the slide set, which there crouched a scared ghost that Momo guessed was no more than seven or eight when they died.
"You can come out now," the brown eyed sword wielder said in her usually high-pitched, kind voice, her sword back into its handle that was on her side. She extended her left hand out so that the boy could grasp unto it, which he did after half a minute of understandable reluctance.
Hinamori picked him up and jumped down softly, where she positioned the boy unto the set of swings right next to the slide. She went behind him and swung him forwards and backwards, and asked after a while, "Are you okay? What's your name, sweetheart? It's alright if you can't respond," and she was surprised at how motherly she sounded.
The child didn't respond, at first. The teenager didn't pressure him to say even his name, and just kept pushing the metal chains holding the plank of the swing-set, and listened instead to his slowly increasing jolts of happiness due to the immense speed. It reminded the 5th squad member of when Hitsugaya and her would make do with the swing they created with tree branches and chopped up wood at his grandmother's house. Lately, Momo had lots of memories regarding what was the past.
After five minutes of swinging, the child jumped off the swing and walked around the set, and faced the taller spirit. "My name is…Sosuke."
Hinamori's soft eyes bulged up at that name. It was the same name that her former captain Aizen Sosuke bore, said man being a traitor that tried to end her life twice, although her eyes went back to normal after a second or two- she had long since recovered from the grooming the traitor had put her in for the doe-eyed girl to be infatuated to a deranged degree.
It had been fifteen years since Aizen was defeated, and with that came Shinji Hirako, the leader of the Vizards that were wrongfully exiled by the hands of Sosuke Aizen, returning to his position as the 5th squad's captain. Shinji being wacky but not with any true maliciousness or corruption helped the brown haired girl get over the fact that Aizen not only tried to kill her himself before, but later even made an illusion to trick her dear childhood friend into doing it.
Those times were quite dark- the short girl was much too easily infatuated and naive, back then. Aizen...groomed her. He instilled a brainwashing into her even without showing his Kyoka Suigetsu right away, from the moment he met her. The brunette took the admiration in her soul and used it to set his plan into motion, without even an inch of consideration for the damage he done to her. Although he was a warm-hearted, amazing savior to her, to him, she was just a small chess piece.
The kido expert didn't really think about it too much though, now that the former leader of the Vizards was her superior. Her time under Hiroko was a thousand times more professional and genuine, even if he was rather lazy at times, would sometimes flirt with some of the female members of the squad that were close around his age, even having the nerve to flirt with the fourth squad's shy captain, and constantly depended on her to finish the paperwork.
'At least Shinji never tried to mock, harm, or kill me,' the black haired shinigami thought to herself as the boy in front of her jumped off the seat of the swing-set.
"I... I'm r-ready to go now, onee-sama," the spiritual child stuttered out. He walked around the swing to go in front of her, and opened up his small arms, which fidgeted with slight fear. Hinamori patted him on the head, and got ready to teleport to Rukongai.
XXXXXXX
"Mommy!"
Momo couldn't help but smile widely as the boy jumped into the arms of a young woman. The shinigami had three hours before she had to come back to do the paperwork that she just knew Shinji didn't start on, and sped through certain districts of the ghost filled world to find the boy's mother, who died three years before.
Along the way of going through the many underfunded towns, Momo had made small talk with the little Sosuke she was escorting to a new home. According to the boy, he was eight years old and died from an illness that his mother succumbed to, although, while the woman was born with the sickness, it didn't show up on the boy until his eighth birthday, which was January 3rd of the current year.
They found his mother in Rukongai 73, and although it was nice to see a family reunited once more, Hinamori felt her heart sink in slight remorse in how the two family members could only be reunited in death, especially since the child stated that not only was his father still alive, but he had sister four years younger than him, and that girl was too young to really remember him or his mother.
The brown eyes girl also felt that every second of her staring at the bittersweet reunion made her recall her life as a human long ago, and how she also died when she was at the age of eight, though hers was due to her village being burned (How ironic!) to the ground by an enemy town.
After two more minutes of watching over Sosuke and his mother, the lieutenant waved her hand at the boy, smiling at how he enthusiastically waved back and how his mother gave an elegant bow of gratitude, and started to walk back to Soul Society.
Hinamori was fine in shunpo, but nowhere even close to the ranks of Yoruichi or even Byakuya, and thus felt quite fatigued at all the spiritual pressure thrown out at the "shortcuts" she took around the first seventy-two Rukongai districts, which literally took her two and a half weeks to complete.
It's a good thing she doesn't need to eat, and it's also a good thing that she only had to go back to the modern world just this once because most of the lower ranks of her squad were on longer trips to other towns in the living world, and the ones available weren't as good with children as she was. A perfect quality for a lieutenant.
When the tired girl got to the end of the bridge, her eyes widened significantly. Sosuke...as in Sosuke Aizen, was standing there. All the bindings that prevented openings of his reiatsu were wrapped around him, and Hinamori's eyebrows furled in confusion and disbelief.
'I...I must of really lost energy from going around the districts.'
Her former...captain had the sickening, irritating smile that was as mendacious as any "bonding" the ebony haired girl had once thought they had. Sosuke took a few steps forward, his similar to her own chocolate other focused directly on the petite female.
"Momo, you seem so shocked to see me," began the traitor of Soul society, "surely you could at least show a little gratitude for my safety?"
Said young woman in question grimaced and took a step away. In turn, Aizen took a step forward, and asked with a clear tone of cruel sadism, "Do you not remember that 'Gin forced me' to do all the things I did?"
Momo's eyebrows went downward in annoyance, and she gritted her teeth so roughly, it seemed as if she could spark a fire from her mouth that surpassed the one from her zanpakuto. After a while, she said in a gentle yet solid tone, "Your lies and ways to manipulate others...How disgusting, Aizen! I am far too old to ever fall for your facade a third time."
The former captain of squad five for a moment, before he went back to his irritatingly peaceful expression. "Well, well, Hinamori, you have clearly development under Shinji's eyes. Or perhaps you are bow infatuated with him, huh, Hinamo-"
"I would never do something so low. I am not the same child that used to fall right into your webs of lies, traitor. You disgust me."
The older soul reaper took exactly a whole minute to respond, as he couldn't seem to get out of the wide eyed, astonished facial expression he made the minute Momo interrupted him. Momo smiled at this, and it wasn't the usual cheerful, youthful one she did, but a bumptious one that would've been one Aizen would do.
"...You've grown, Momo."
"And you haven't at all. I'll make sure to tell Kyoraku-taichou about this."
Silence for barely a second, and Aizen is suddenly in front of his former lieutenant. His glare is strong and menacing, and although Momo internally feels bits of fear, externally her face is as expressionless as can be. "Interesting, Momo...This is certainly a side of you I'd never would've expected. I guess a 'chess pawn' isn't a role or nickname I'll be able to call you anymore, hmm?"
Hinamori simply walked up to Aizen, her sword to his neck. The brunette male was able to make a comment on how he guess he was wrong about her not being the same naive teen that would get out her sword, or hands into kido position in some cases, to protect someone before using her brain to check if the situation is not a deceitful one. However, the traitor realized that she didn't hold it in an angry way like she would've to Gin, or a sad and hurt way like Gin stated the girl had done to Hitsugaya.
No, she did it like he was a simple male to bring into custody. Her deadpan look was as if she was bored of his antics, which almost irritated the tall man. After all of the times she foolishly showed her feelings due to how much she admired the lying man, she apparently now grew enough to have no sorts of reaction. It as if she only got her sword out because, as a soul reaper, she was trained to hold intruders captive until further notice.
The tables have turned, and at this quick realization Aizen laughed loudly. More or less, Hinamori had the same aloof look, the only thing changing when Hinamori saw the panicked look of Rukongai citizens from many feet behind her former captain, as she remembered that they weren't the only people in the scenery.
"If only you were like this when I was still your beloved captain," the disgraced man crooked out, only stopping his afterwards continuation of fiendish cackling when a white haired boy, who was instantly identified by both soul reapers, appeared behind the taller of the two brown eyed spirits.
"Aizen."
"Hitsugaya," Aizen responds without an inch of shock or anger, which Momo knows was specifically to piss off the youngest captain, who thrived for people to be surprised at how firm he could be, despite his age.
Toshiro growled and glared at Aizen, gave a worried and calm look at his childhood friend, and then went back to glancing angrily at the tall traitor in front of him. "Traitor Aizen, I have no idea on how you got out, but you are immediately coming back."
The only female of three doesn't know why, but she decided at that point to look back at the good Sosuke, who she could see from a far away distance walking to a poorly made house that was close to the border between Rukongai 73 and 74. She felt a tad sad for the poverty the child lived in, and felt weird inside on how she felt no emotion towards a familiar criminal that could've hurt her at any time.
If she could in fact have a reaction to the situation, the under four foot, eleven inches in height teen was sure she'd let out a shriek, whether it be one of passion or biwilderment. Yet...She felt nothing. She long removed any delusional yearning for her once beloved captain to be under Ichimaru's control, or just confused by his strange motives.
The feeling was something she knew that she usually should've been worried about, but, in a way, the calmness made the girl have a sense of self improvement. Hinamori was not the young, too pure for her own good lieutenant like she was many years ago, and the feelings in her heart weren't anything that could be considered problematic.
No, this was something good. Good for her, Toshiro, and especially the Rukongai 73 residents, who stopped their panting and worrying, the poor group instead with looks of relief.
When Momo stopped mentally thinking about her internal inspections, she realized that she must've awkwardly been standing there for at least ten minutes, because she sees her Shiro-chan waving his hand in front of her, his face puzzled at why the kido expert awkwardly was in the same position.
Later that day, the captain of the tenth squad told her that Sosuke Aizen was properly set back into his imprisonment, and that he was worried about her well-being, wondering if she was reverting back to being the naive little girl that was wrapped under Sosuke's fingers. Hinamori ensured to him that nothing was wrong-
After all, what does not exist cannot engulf you in its crimson flames.