The Black Sun Rises
My pain unheard
As the scars lay hidden
- Bleach avatar
Hina wasn't quite sure when the sudden change of heart had happened to the two lesser Espada, but she was grateful for the company. Stark and Lilienette had decided to work together with her for they believed that that was the smartest choice for them. Stark seemed convinced of darker tidings to come and she was apparently the one to side with. This made zero sense to her, but whatever. The job becomes easier when there are others to do some of the tasks for you.
At the very moment Hina was not in the company of the other two Espada. She was on her way to visit the mystic healer in Las Noches to check up on her and see if the repair of the music box was finished. She needed it soon.
"Hello, Orihime!" She poked her head in through the doorway, nearly giving the young woman a heart attack. Hina felt a small bop on her head as one of the fairies delivered the blow.
"Who the hell are you, to burst in here without so much as a warning and scare her out of her mind like that?! If I didn't have to wait for her command, do you know what I would do to you? I bet not! I would-"
The young man's ranting was cut short by his mistress's voice. "Tsubaki-kun, its fine. Really. We can trust her. Please stop…" She seemed quite honestly exhausted. There were no circles outlined under her eyes, but rather her entire body seemed to sag under the weight of her clothing. Heck, her clothing sagged under the weight of her clothing. Everything about her body seemed to hang, even her drooping hair, even her eyes seemed down.
The small person 'hmph'-ed and flew over to Orihime.Hina took a quick look around her. All six fairies had been released from the hairpins, most likely to get some exercise.
Orihime soundlessly picked up something wrapped in cloth. Pulling it back showed the music box, damaged as though it had never been so. Hina picked it up and looked it over. She opened the lid slightly to look inside but to not start the music. She may remember, but she hated doing the actual remembering.
She inspected Orihime again. She nodded in decision. "I'll get Stark to come by and take you out for a while. I'm afraid I'll be busy for some time, so you'll be in his care until further notice. Ok?" She tried smiling slightly at the end of her sentence but gave up when she noticed Orihime was unconvinced. With a hasty goodbye, she left.
She travelled down the hallway until she reached her room. She needed to stay close to Orihime every chance she had, so she had accepted a room rather close to hers. Arrancar didn't need food and could go for extended periods of time without sleep, but would eventually require rest. She sent out a fast and complicated set of reiatsu bursts that acted like a key to the door. In the end, she just pushed it open.
There wasn't much to look at. There was a desk, bed, chair and a few odd objects to brighten it up from the constant white. Nothing special. The only thing that stood out was a small black device on her desk. Striding over to her desk, she sat down and placed the music box gently on the desk. She needed to place the communication device inside of the music box, but that would start the music. Biting her lip in annoyance, she finally decided to get it over with.
The melody was soft and gentle, but each cord struck a nerve in Hina's system. A memory came with each note.
"Shiro-chan~! Its not funny, give it back!" A young Momo stomped her foot on the ground in childish anger as an even younger Hitsugaya stuck his tongue out at her.
"No way! A bed-wetter doesn't need a great food like this!" Hitsugaya took a long bite of the watermelon piece that was supposed to be Momo's as she screeched in anger.
--
"Are you okay Shiro-chan?"
"It's just a scratch! You don't need to make a fuss. I don't want the help of a bed-wetter anyways."
"That's mean!"
--
"Shiiiiiiiirrrrrooooooooo---"
"Don't call me that! Bed-wetter!"
"I don't do that anymore! Besides, you got us lost!"
"We're not lost. We're taking the long way."
"There is no long way!"
"Yes there is!"
"No there isn't!"
--
"You idiot! I told you, dancing in the rain will just get you sick! Why do I have to put up with this anyways?"
"…I'm the only one who knows where the watermelon fields are."
"………………I hate you."
The girl giggled before sneezing again.
--
"Toshiro I….love you…"
"Momo! No!"
--
As the music came to a halt, so did the pain. Groaning into her hands, she looked up and sighed in relief. The mechanisms had stopped turning.
Letting her hood fall back, she went to work instantly on attaching the device to the inside of the lid. Seventeen minutes later, she was done. Pushing it close, she went to find Lilienette.
She had a job for her.
--
"I don't get why you want to talk to the brat." Stark yawned and rolled over to look at the shinigami/hollow hybrid. She wasn't looking at him, but rather a spot on the wall that was apparently very interesting.
Not missing a beat, she replied, "I want to seal away my hollow side."
Stark sat up in surprise. "You know about it?"
"Not really," she glanced over at him from the corner of her eye. "That's what I want to find out. I never looked into it before because I wanted to regain all my memories first. I didn't know if it was a life I would want in the end. I do now."
"But why?! If you hate the Hitu…Histugi….Hitsuja…the kid, why do you want to go back to him?"
"I can't stay here." She sighed almost miserably. "I dedicated my being to figure out the shinigami girl's life. I knew I could never pick up where she left off but I wanted to know anyways! I really don't want to put up with the disappointment, so I might as well give her her life back. When my hollow is sealed away, Hina Sazuki will disappear."
"Wrong." He smirked up at her. "Sealing the hollow away doesn't mean killing it. It means you will just lay dormant as this shinigami girl restarts her life. Momo Hinamori will not remember her time as you, Hina-chan, but you will when you wake up from time to time. We already have one Espada as proof."
She gave him a weird look. "Proof?"
"A former colleague of mine didn't want to be an arrancar anymore. She was tired of this place, and wanted to be a shinigami. She loved those guys for whatever reason, so I let her be one. Her appearence took on an age between the two she had, and she lost any memories of being a hollow. She seems happy, at least." He folded his arms behind his head satisfactorily.
"Oh…" She blinked slightly and seemed to enter a sort of dazed trance. Suddenly remembering, she asked, "What did you do to change her?"
"Don't try," he just mentioned. "The hogyogoku isn't around anymore. We can't repeat what we did with her. Hey!" He glared at her childishly. "You distracted me! Answer the question!"
"The archives in the Seireitei are well supplied. It seems like a good place to start, and having a shinigami look into it sounds better than sending an arrancar in such a protected area, right?" She answered bluntly.
"What makes you think he'll do it?"
"He cares about Momo Hinamori obviously. Even if she was only his friend, I'm sure he'd like to have his friend back."
"You're cruel Hina-chan. Real cruel. But hey, you're better that way."
"What?"
"Have you thought of what Momo Hinamori would feel if she was in Soul Society and discovers she's been dead for two years? How would that feel?"
"She knows when to appreciate second chances. Think about this now; I have been in existence for a grand total of two years. Rather than making my own way in the world, I chased the lives of a mindless killer and the sob story of a shinigami child. I am prepared to give up anything I've known for sure so this girl can see how it should really end. Does this sound like the ideal lifestyle? Does it sound like I feel happy?"
"Touché. However," he pushed himself onto his elbows, "you can't do this alone girly. Sure, me an' Lilienette are helping you, but three isn't a very useful number in battle, especially when you don't know what you're dealing with. We need firepower!"
"Of course I know that. I already have someone in mind."
--
Lilienette thought the fourth division was the most screwed up place she had ever seen.
In one room, some Yamada guy was having the shock things used on him. Wonder what happened to the sucker.
In another room, some red head was being beat up by some raven haired chick for passing out in the gutter. Accusing him of drinking. He obviously had bad choice of girls.
In yet another room, he was there. She recognized him instantly. It was the same, infuriating bastard who refused to fight her five years ago! If not for the fact that she was on a mission (and would undoubtedly lose anyways), she would go in there and kick his ass.
It took her twenty minutes to figure out she was in the wrong squad.
It took her forty minutes to find the tenth squad.
It took her two to find Hitsugaya's room and get in and out before he noticed.
It was much easier than she thought it would be originally.
--
Funnily enough, it had been Hitsugaya to find the unconscious Renji Abarai.
After yet another captains' meeting in which Byakuya Kuchiki was filing a complaint against the rowdiness of the eleventh, resulting in another pointless argument, Hitsugaya was just about exhausted. Physically, he was perfectly fine. Mentally, he had been taxed by the stress of the last few days' hardships.
He had also been perplexed by the disappearance of the fifth's captain. Usually, he was quite confident that he could beat the sixth's captain still. He would attend every meeting, never minding how ridiculous the point of it was. He worked hard to keep the company alive and thriving, though Hitsugaya suspected it was more to Hinamori's memory than as a competition to his former captain. Missing out on something like this was completely out of character.
He guessed it made sense that he would only be delayed if he was unconscious in a ditch.
It was not his job to scold the former street dog. That was reserved for Rukia Kuchiki. Instead, he decided to find Matsumoto and demand if she had anything to do with it. After making sure the young noble girl was aware of the situation, he went on his way.
After a long discussion with her, he finally consented to her claiming to not have anything to do with it. Weird as it sounded, she was sincere.
He supposed it made somewhat sense though, when he found the music box on his desk in his private quarters.
He really should have suspected her hand in almost everything he did from then on. It was fairly obvious he wouldn't be able to get any paperwork done either. He sighed. Putting the music box down, the lid popped open, and rather than music flooding out to drown him in memories, a holographic projectile created a very life-like image of Hina Sazuki (A/N: Think Star Wars, but in colour!).
"Took you long enough didn't it?" She spoke out sarcastically, and Hitsugaya growled.
"I'm going to break this music box unless you have anything worth saying," he spoke in a low, threatening voice, the dragon baring his teeth.
"I have a question," she cocked her head to the side, as though waiting for him to do something. When he never said anything, she continued. "If there was a way, would you bring Momo Hinamori back?"
"Do you need to ask?" This was a serious blow to his heart and she undoubtedly knew it.
"I can do it. I know how," Hitsugaya snorted. Like hell she did.
"I'm not joking! I'm serious. There's a way for her to come back to her normal state. I don't necessarily know how to exactly," he rolled his eyes. She glared. "I know that archive slash library thing in Soul Society has a lot of documents. I can't go there, nor can I have anybody sneak in. therefore, you are a perfect candidate."
"I hold no loyalties to you. I have no reason to do such a thing." He turned to pick up the music box.
"For her then!" He froze. She saw her chance and ploughed on. "Why won't you help her, when she has another chance?" His fists were curling, but if she stopped now, the chance would be lost. "If you're really her friend, you would then you must save her!"
His eyes shot up to hers, wide open in frozen shock.
"Please." She used the child's voice. Her eyes filled with tears. She ducked her head, hiding her eyes behind unruly bangs. Her bottom lip quivered. It was the ultimate in pain for the young captain. She was using the pout, the one that got her out of trouble, the one that could make him do whatever she wanted. It was a double whammy in that it wasn't Momo Hinamori talking to him.
Hina Sazuki could not for the life of her understand why she felt so guilty.
"Fine." She glanced up at him. Shadows covered his face. "Fine, I'll do it. Just get out of my face." His voice was cold. She deserved no better, but she felt odd…
The device was turned off, hiding the silver haired boy from view.
For the first time ever, Hina felt like a monster.
--
Rina Arakaki was shy. So terribly, terribly shy. She could hardly speak up for herself, much less for an entire division. It really made no sense as to how she became the third seat of squad three, but she was happy. When she was happy, she was assertive. She was happy because she was in a seat close to the third captain, Izuru Kira, the man she dedicated everything for.
And, she giggled quietly, her boyfriend.
How such a thing was conceivable she didn't know nor cared. She was with him, and she was happy.
It was on a favour to her captain that she checks up on the progress of Ichigo Kurosaki's healing. The two men had never been terribly close but Kira still found the man dependable.
As it turned out, he was running a fever, but nothing more.
She looked over the captain level shinigami in slight concern as he thrashed about in his bed. He seemed to be having a nightmare. She never knew how right she was.
His eyes shot open and she eep-ed in surprise. He didn't see her though. Inching closer bravely, she wondered if she should call for lieutenant Kotetsu. There was no need. His eyes rolled back as black crept into his eyes. The amber was tainted into a bitter yellow, sending her scampering out the door. Rina knew there was no need of lieutenant Kotetsu.
"Ca-Captain Unohana!!" She screeched as she ran down the hallway.
A white robbed male stepped into the room and looked down on Ichigo in slight surprise. "Well, who's more like a Hollow now?"
Ichigo stared at him in disbelief. "Crap, why'd it have to be you?" Were his last coherent words before the mask covered his mouth.
--
A/N: The converstion between # 5 and 8 SUCKS. It must be there, but it SUCKS.
Well hi there! I hope you enjoyed this instalment of OTARD, despite it was only eight pages and 14, 597 words with spaces! **shifty eyes**
Uuh…right!
Panda-Fanda – What SONG does it play? Ah…I had the music box version of Lillium from Elfen Lied (never seen it) in my head when I added it to the story. And I am SO sorry you had to reread parts to remember what was happening. I'm such a bad updater…But glad you liked it!
hinatanaruto fan – Thanks! I'm glad you like it. Hmm…I don't think I'll say quite yet what it is…And yup, suppress the hollow. Exactly as it sounds.
unformidable trust – I'm happy you like it so far! And wow, that was a bad joke looking back, but hey, you like it, it stays! Thank you for the review.
Ai Angel – Yay! Another reviewer! Happy overload! ……………Wow that sounded dumb. Please ignore it. Well, I hope this chapter was good too!
butterfissticks – I'm very glad you liked it. Thank you for the review.
CS – Don't fret about it, I know all too well the troubles of the internet. But that's not the important thing. What's important is that someone actually felt sad from Hitsugaya's angst fest there. I wasn't sure if it was a wise idea to have it there, but I nervously left it there. No one mentioned it, so I was worried it was bad. And then THIS beauty of a review came along, and I was humming the rest of the day.
And the "calm" factor was thanks to Momo Hinamori actually. I'm only dusting over this in the next chapter, so I'll just say it. Her feelings of pain and self-betrayal when she attacked Hitsugaya on Aizen's behalf made her vow to Tobiume to cause Hitsugaya as little harm as possible. Since it was a promise to her zanpakutou it was a big deal, so when Hina lunged at Hitsugaya, she didn't have the heart to carry through.
Well, thank you so much! Really, truly, thank you!
CallMeNicole – Exactly! As the other pairings are battling it out in the forums, or sipping on some coffee laced with crack as they wonder how they came into existence, HitsuHina is slowly corrupting the minds of Bleach watchers everywhere, before long, they will have complete takeover! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!
**Drools** Wow….I love you guys so much….look at all the pretty reviews…
So any who, I have discovered something of great importance. Why Bleach is called Bleach. These are the exact words of our god…"Soul Reapers (Shinigami) are associated with the color black, but it would have been boring to use "black." "White," on the other hand, can suggest black as a complementary color. So I chose "bleach" to evoke the impression of the color white.
And since hollows are represented by white, it goes both ways.
Now, before I part with you all, I have a question I would like to ask you all:
What is your honest opinion of Hina Sazuki? Feel free to use colourful language.
Well, that's all for now folks! **eats carrot and disappears into the internet**
- Full Shadow Alchemist
