A/N: I redid this a little, not to many edits.
I own nothing.
Isshin Kurosaki froze. He was in the middle of an argument but, his daughter, whose decision clearly shocked him, had vetoed him and gone to the dark side!
At least this is what Momo thought happened.
She watched as the father looked at his daughter, clearly ready to collapse in a heap and bawl. As he was, something flashed between them and he stopped. He stood up, and said 'okay', like there had been absolutely none of his antics.
So the group had retreated into the shop with a clear "Spectrrreeee! If you want to, follow us in! You're perrrrfectly safe!" from Urahara. She was a little bit scared of the strange glint in his eyes when he said 'safe', but this was too good an opportunity to pass up. What if those girls really could see her? Then she and Ichigo would be able to get help out, and her life could turn back to normal.
And speaking of Ichigo, he would be wondering where she was. She really hoped he didn't come here. If this didn't work, and he found out, he would be even more devastated than before, and Ichigo had had enough. They both had. And she was pretty sure any disastrous occurrence- or lack thereof-would be easier to handle if she didn't have to worry about him too.
She followed them in.
When she found them, they were all sitting around a table in the back, Yuzu & Karin each watching the glass of brown goo in front of them suspiciously. Or at least Karin was suspicious, Yuzu looked like she would cry if she drank it. Their father was watching that bit none too happily, but he was calm.
Urahara was busy explaining exactly what it was (Momo was glad she wasn't in their position, let's put it that way), what it supposedly did (too much science talk for Momo), and what they should expect after drinking it (If the spectre had decided to come in, they should see a shape materialize slowly, and eventually become as clear as the people around them).
It took a while, so Momo had taken a seat squeezed in between Orihime, who was directly across from the twins, and Chad, so as to be easy for them to see if it did work. She really wanted it to.
"Okay. So can we drink the stuff now?" Karin asked, getting a bit impatient. Urahara looked at her, having just finished his rant. He nodded.
"Whenever you're ready."
Both girls immediately grabbed the cups and drank the contents as quickly as possible, wanting it over with. They both surfaced 5 seconds later, hacking and coughing with their eyes shut, before sitting up and looking around.
Momo waited anxiously along with everyone else in the room, who were all leaning forwards in anticipation. All were watching closely as Karin surveyed every inch of the room, with Yuzu looking hard at all the people.
Beside her, Orihime was looking around nervously, shifting her weight incessantly. Momo had to admit, even for these people, who were all very familiar with ghosts and invisible beings, this was kind of creepy. Eventually Skinny-one wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his side, where she calmed down. Sincerely thanking the guy in her head, Momo looked back at the twins.
Karin's stare was on the back wall, and completely blank. Yuzu had her eyes closed. Both looked like they were waiting for something inside them to stop.
Jinta, of course, was the first to break the overall silence in the room, by getting up from his seat halfway around the table from Momo and walking over to Karin, waving his hand in front of her face viciously.
"Yo, you there? It's been like, 5 minutes."
"It has?" A smaller voice asked, from beside him. Jinta jerked his hand away. "I feel really weird. Like something inside me is trying to find a place."
"Ah, that's normal, Miss Yuzu. Try opening your eyes, and see what you see." Urahara chimed. In response, both twins jerked up a bit, and sat there blinking for a minute or so, obviously not seeing anything in particular.
Momo sat forwards, and decided to try talking and moving, to help them out a bit.
"Hello? Can you hear me better now?" She said, to them.
Karin snapped her gaze over to her.
"I just heard it talk. And I can see an outline. Right between Orihime and Chad." Both looked between them, then at each other.
Yuzu leaned forwards, her eyes apparently adjusting better.
"Um, Spectre-san? What is your name? I don't know what to call you. You look like a girl right? With hair in a bun?"
Momo nodded, thinking that she couldn't see she was a shinigami yet.
"My name is Momo. I know all you people."
Both girls eyes widened.
"You know us?" Karin asked, astonished.
"Wait, what?" Urahara interrupted. "What did she say?"
Yuzu replied, turning to him. "She says that she knows us."
"But what was her name?"
"Momo-san."
Every single person, but for the clueless twins and Momo, froze in shock.
"Mo-mo?" Orihime whispered, "Hinamori Momo?"
The twins looked to Momo, whose face they could now see.
She nodded then said, "Yes. That is my name. I was the fifth division lieutenant, Hinamori Momo."
They gaped at her, and everyone else in the room looked at the spot they thought she might be. It was terribly unnerving.
"Karin? What did she say?" Jinta asked.
"She said... she said yes. That's her name. She says she was the fifth division lieutenant in Soul Society."
Silence.
Orihime burst into tears again, then turned to the spot she was and smiled, shock and awe, yet extreme happiness radiating from her in extreme amounts.
"Are you alright?"
"What happened?"
"Momo! I'm so happy!"
"How did you get here?"
Everyone had given up on asking her through Karin or Yuzu. Questions bombarded her from every side. She quickly stood up, and jumped across the table to right in between Yuzu and Karin. They looked at her, startled, but everyone else was still yelling at the spot where she had vacated. It was kind of funny, to the twins. They had to work not to laugh.
"Can you please ask them to be quiet? They're kind of scaring me." Momo asked her bodyguards.
Karin nodded a then let out a ear-killing whistle.
"Hey, people. You're scaring her. She came over here," Pointing to Momo.
All stopped, then turned slowly.
"Hey, I can see all of you now!" Yuzu exclaimed to Momo. Momo smiled at her sweetly.
Karin was still acting as the manager. "Okay. Now one at a time, and maybe we'll actually get somewhere."
Urahara looked pointedly at Momo. "I'll start. Hinamori-san, could you please explain why you are sitting here before us, instead of being dead?"
With Karin & Yuzu translating, Momo told them the whole story, except the parts about Ichigo. If she had any mischief left, she would make this work.
It was kind of sad, because the further she got in, she could see practically everyone deflating when he was not mentioned. But she persisted. It would be worth it later.
Ichigo, meanwhile, was completely oblivious that all this was happening. He was busy pacing, since it had been hours since Hinamori left, and he was getting kind of worried. What if some weird, halfway-in-between-eating-hollow had taken her by surprise and eaten her, since she couldn't use her sword? Neither of them could. But still. It would suck if his only companion got eaten.
"ICHIGO!" Nearly jumping out of his skin, he turned around. There she was, leaning against Orihime's door frame, huffing and puffing like she was being chased. "We have to go! Now! Come! Quick!" He didn't get what she was so excited about. There really wasn't much worth being excited about anymore, and it was really out of character for her. His confusion must have shown, so he hesitated slightly.
His mistake, though, because when she saw him hesitate, she got more agitated then he had ever seen her, and therefore jumped up to him, grabbed the back his shihakushou collar, and dragged him out, yelling something about "You'll be glad! It's so wonderful!"
Back at Urahara Shouten, everyone was basically in the same position as before. They were pondering and talking quietly about what Hinamori had said. Once she had finished her explanation, she had jumped up, according to Karin, after telling them she was going to go get her companion.
At this point, they weren't sure if she was talking about a person or a rock or a hollow, because she had absolutely refused to talk about this mystery person, only talking about herself, and her story. About 10 minutes after she left, though, Yuzu reported hearing some banging around in the shop, so they all went out to investigate.
Momo was wrenching the door open, dragging behind her...
"No. Way." Karin said, jaw dropping. Everyone looked at her worriedly, and Yuzu, who was on her knees, hands over mouth.
"What is it?" Orihime asked, touching their shoulders. They just kept staring, before, Yuzu worked herself up to her feet, stumbling around a bit, before rushing forwards and screaming, "BROTHER!"
Ichigo's head whipped around, forgetting his struggling at being dragged into the cursed place, to see his sisters running towards him, arms held out. Yuzu was crying. He held out his arms too, and, miracle of all miracles, they didn't just pass through him. They could hug him. He hugged the girls like he had died. Which, pretty much, he had.
Momo just stood back, smiling to herself, watching the heartwarming scene in front of her. Even Karin was sobbing her eyes out, into her brothers shirt.
The people behind her, however, didn't know what to think. They had heard Yuzu scream 'brother', and now both sisters were sobbing into someone who they couldn't see.
That left very little room for choices.
"Could it really be?" Orihime whispered, wonderingly.
Karin detached herself from the blank space, and looked at them.
"It is!" She smiled, probably a first and last from Karin (crying while smiling. Or just crying).
Yuzu was still sobbing, meanwhile, and while Ichigo looked fondly, and amazed at them, he started to wonder what the heck was happening. For this, he turned to Momo. He didn't even need to ask the question.
"I came over here earlier, just as they were arriving home. Yuzu saw something, then Karin did, and it turned out to be me, and Urahara gave some enhancer thing, so now they can see us and hear us. I didn't tell them about you."
He just nodded, figuring out why she had been so excited. "Thank you." He whispered. Momo couldn't believe it, it was so out of character for him. She just stared.
A/N: This is the story I decided caught my fancy for a little while, so expect a new chapter soon!
