Karma and Repentance

By Arukan

Chapter 1: A Moment for Hinamori Momo

Karakura town was silent, the Urahara Shop was quiet, and the Kurosaki residence was shrouded in a noiseless vale. From the shadows darted a figure garbed in black, holding in their hand a drawn sword, they looked up towards the moonlight as a fell shadow appeared. A piercing scream rang through the night, though no one without considerable reiatsu would have felt it.

Throughout the city, the senses of the few reiatsu aware peoples piqued for a moment and then dulled. This feeling was not vital, it was not something incredible, quite ordinary for even the small city. A couple of shoulders shrugged or brows furrowed in sleep and there was no more minds paid to the cry.

Nevertheless, the figure was not afraid; they moved their sword up and deflected a shot at their heart. The figure turned and bolted up a house roof and smashing footsteps followed, crushing the roof under their clawed hooves. What would appear to be nothing was a hollow, an impure soul, chasing after one charged to purify those impures.

The shinigami turned to deflect another blow, throwing her enemy back as black hair feel from a slashed bun. The thin shinigami raised her soul slayer and pointed it at the hole in the hollow's chest. "Stay back, fell fiend!" She yelled in a high, somewhat alarmed voice. The hollow only laughed, saying nothing. It looked at her through blazing red eyes in its mask. The shinigami waived a little and found herself slammed into a nearby wall with a powerful fist.

The shinigami got up, but shuddered as she stood still reeling from that hit she had just taken. Her body shook for a moment more and she cleared her head. She'd been a little muddled, and even with the alert that a hollow was nearby, she had not been totally ready. She'd been lax in her duties for too long, she wiped her brow as the hollow's booming, and echoing voice shattered the silence of their standoff.

"Mufufu! Small shinigami, you little fool!" the hollow taunted. "Are all the adults away on real missions?" He continued to taunt. The shinigami rose, unhurt, and with rage in her eyes pointed her sword at the beast.

"That's it….no mercy….Snap: Tobiume!" She yelled a red light engulfed the street, bathing her and the hollow in a crimson glow. "I am Hinamori Momo, lieutenant captain of the fifth protection squad!" The hollow backed up warily for a moment.

"A…lieutenant?" he scoffed, underestimating the appearance of "little Momo." Without any more hesitation, he charged forward. The hollow's hooves pounded once, twice, three times against the pavement of that dark road before a ball of light consumed him, the mask smashed first, and the entirety of the hollow's body disintegrated.

Hinamori huffed a little bit, Tobiume changed back as she sheathed it, turning around. She walked back along the alabaster walled road, running her hand along the divider. "What a day…" she thought, remembering the ten hollows she dispatched. "Aizen-sama," she whimpered, imagining that bespectacled hero she once knew, his visage now replaced with that vision of evil she witnessed as he fled soul society. She was tearing only slightly, her black sleeve dabbed at the wetness, drying her eyes.

With a slow step, Hinamori returned to her gigai, hidden nicely behind a bush near where she first spotted the hollow. This human doll of Hinamori was dressed in a way she could only dream of dressing back home. She wore a blue skirt that fell past her knees; flowing with a white ruffle at the bottom, lacy, frilly, so fancy, it made her giddily squeal when she first spied it in the store.

Her shirt was plain, a black, tight tee, it had a ruby neckline and sleeve edges. Across it was emblazoned: "Heart Reaper," which Hinamori thought was utterly ironic. She adjusted what had bee mussed by the quick flight from gigai to soul form and stepped from the bushes, looking around to make sure no one was watching. When she was sure she was safe, she walked silently back to the tent in the woods she had been "assigned."

Rukia had used this tent when she was stationed there, before she came to live with Ichigo Kurosaki. The tent was large, and was comfortable, but very lonely. At least it was quiet, and it gave Hinamori more time to think than most people would ever ask for from any job.

She sat on the mattress, very plush and easy to fall asleep on, and took off her shoes and socks. She sighed, and her skirt came next. In just a pair of canary yellow panties and her black top, Hinamori sat back down on the bed and finally reclined, pulling the bunny covered sheet over her and looking up at the roof of the tent.

The rain fly was always drawn on the tent, Hinamori learned to do that after the first rain soaked everything she had inside. The darkness of the small wooded area in which her tent was hidden was like a safe grove.

Hinamori waited a couple of minutes, as she did every night, before opening her eyes again and slipping her hands into the sheets. Hinamori stood still once more. Her face blushed after a moment and she whimpered, her eyes closed tight and then opened slowly, Hinamori turned on her side and fell asleep.

The next morning did not come quick enough for Hinamori, and before the sun had risen, she was sitting up in her bed, wiggling the sleep from her toes and legs. On her hands and knees she searched for something to wear, her bottom wiggled back and forth, as she searched here and there, finally finding a loose pair of black baggy pants. She slipped them on in a fumbling manner inside the tent before putting on her socks and shoes once more, stepping out onto the dew laden blades of grass just as the sun was rising.

"Good morning," She said to herself, as if talking to the sun. She stretched her arms to the sky and checked her pink little phone that doubled as a hollow detector. There were no calls, and no hollows to be had. She actually sighed despondently; always quite bored in the morning, despite how mature she tried to act. Hitsugaya would reproach her for such behavior, and she would still call him "little whitey" instead of a proper term for someone of higher rank.

She found herself in the center of town by mid-day, not a hollow yet, unlike the three she had fought the day before. Hinamori had grown to indulging her gigai whose hunger was more wanting than needing. She walked into the bakery and sheepishly looked around. The storeowner's daughter saw Hinamori walk in and began to wave.

"Hello Miss Hinamori!" She shouted, smiling with a smile as sweet as the donuts and cinnamon rolls on the shelves behind her. In the weeks Hinamori had been installed in Karakura town, she had come to bakery often, and was a regular sight to the girl standing behind the counter. She waved back; her smile was weak, not forced, but uneasy. She had a hard time connecting with people, especially mortals.

"Hello, I'll just have the usual stuff today," she said quickly, as low as she could, even though they were the only ones in the bakery. The girl nodded and set off to work.

"Here you go, Miss Hinamori, two donuts and a cinnamon bun," She handed a white bag to Hinamori who blushed.

"Please, just Hinamori, or even Momo, its okay!" Hinamori said with that flush visage of hers. The baker's daughter shook her head.

"No no! That would not be appropriate!" She said smiling brightly as Hinamori left the store, unable to curb her gigai's craving, opening the bag, and sticking a donut in her mouth as she pushed out into the street and walked nonchalantly down the road.

By that time, it was getting dark, a hollow had still not appeared yet, nor had she done anything of real merit. She had begun to read a book in the park, but did not really get interested and retired back to her tent early, sitting in the small area aside from the mattress, and pondering the day, and boredom. She wondered if there would be a hollow she could not handle soon, and what she would do in that situation. "Who would come to save me?" she thought, oddly enough, thinking about it with a smile.

Hinamori didn't go to sleep right away; instead, she got on her jacket and went back outside, into the cool night and into the lit city, walking aimlessly in the busy Saturday night streets, feeling a little alone as she watched couples meander by. A sigh escaped her lips every so often as she found herself wandering past the busiest romantic restaurant in town. She saw all kinds of couples there and loathed her lonely assignment more than ever.

With a great heaving sigh, Hinamori walked into a small convenience store and looked for something to buy. She settled on ramen, and walked to the front. The cashier noticed her not, and cared not as she handed him her meager stipend and she was on her way. Like many people, she sat in front of the convenience store and ate her ramen right there. It was spicy, not a favorite of hers, but it was better than some of the things she had tried, just for the sake of her gigai's seemingly malfunctioning hunger.

As Hinamori finished her meal, another person not even a few blocks over was finishing hers and readying for bed. Inoue Orihime bowed to the picture of her older brother and pulled out her futon, she had a big Sunday ahead of her. Hinamori didn't have much to do on days without hollows, but Orihime was always bubbly and busy, and Sundays were no exceptions to the rule.

So two heads touched pillows and their owners' eyes closed. Hinamori actually forwent her usual nightly ritual and just feel asleep, somehow exhausted, even from that rather complacent, dull day.