A/N: I tried to make reactions seem reasonable and natural, which is why I'm a little late on updating. There was a lot more planned for this, but I had to cut out a majority of it because it was dramatic but really made no sense and was not a plausible reaction. I like to try and keep things realistic but you know, sometimes those lines have to be bent and blurred a bit for anything to be interesting. It feels like my hold on the different characterizations of each person is slipping a bit, so I'm going to try and reposition myself on this topic.

She found a note on her door that night that told her to meet at the Tenth Division House in the morning. She wasn't surprised to find it but… she couldn't help but to admit that she was curious about it. From what she could tell, it wasn't Hitsugaya's handwriting and it wasn't Matsumoto's either… so it had to be from someone else… but who? Regardless, it was sealed with a Captain's mark, so there was very little chance that it was some kind of hoax- not to say that someone would even dare to pull something like that.

Either way, there was only one way for her to find out.

So by the time the sun had fully made itself visible in her window… she set out on her way.

It felt odd to actually be outside, although she had really only limited herself to the early mornings and late evenings when the number of people had drastically decreased, still though… she almost missed the soft breeze pushing through her brown locks; she, however, did not miss the increasing bitter cold in the wind now. Winter was just around the corner now… and as much as she had enjoyed the snow at one point, she wasn't entirely sure if she would be able to enjoy it as much this year. She tried not to deal with the slight regret in missing out on the annual snowball wars but, it was much safer if she didn't participate this time; next year however, she would make up for the lost time.

Stuffing her hands in her pockets, she pulled her light coat closer around her to shield herself from the cold and… well to slightly conceal the bump in her uniform. Well, she was almost there, so maybe now she could get some answers out of this.

"Momo."

She stopped in mid-step as someone behind her called out; she hadn't planned on running into someone else… Slowly, she turned herself around to face the Lieutenant- now temporary Captain- a few yards from her. "… Hisagi, what a pleasure to see you again. How have you been?"

That empty look on his face said he wasn't going to answer her questions.

"Let me ask, are you going to betray us too?"

She couldn't afford to look surprised that he knew- of course he was, he was technically a substitute Captain just the same as she was. "Hisagi, I know you're upset… but that's not a fair assessment. That doesn't even make sense." she retorted lightly; feeling just the smallest hint of discomfort around his presence now.

"How do we know he's not just coming back for you? How do we know this isn't some part of his grand master plan?"

She narrowed her eyes at his words and placed one foot behind her. "That's ridiculous. Look, I know a lot of us are still hurting over that- I know that you and Kira are, we all had to go through that personal betrayal… but that's just… I can't believe you would say that…"

"What else am I supposed to say? It seems like this whole thing… couldn't be just a coincidence."

He was serious about this.

"If you're going to talk like that then I'm going to have to ask you to move away from me; and stay away from me as well."

"What, so you think I'm a threat now?"

"It's very clear you're in distress about this, a lot of people are but I will not put myself in risk just because you want to take something out on me. If you think I planned this, then you're wrong."

"And how do we know that you didn't plan this?"

"Well I sure as hell would've planned it a lot better than this." she answered swiftly. She watched as he showed little reaction to her remark and only continued to stare at her like she was some kind of monster. She didn't know what his specific problem was but she didn't want to stay around and find out. There was a difference between being rationally upset and irrationally upset- and to be honest, she thought he was pushing in on the latter of the two. "If you'll excuse me, I have some other things to attend to for now; if you want to continue this discussion, then so be it- I'll see if I can find the time for it." she turned away and started back along her previous path but stopped the moment he flash-stepped in front of her.

"And how do we know that you're not just using this to put yourself into a position of weakness to trick everyone?" he continued.

"That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other tasks to attend to; I will deal with you later." she repeated as she moved to go around him, only to have him block her path once more. "Are you just trying to provoke me? Because it's not going to work, now will you please leave me alone."

"Don't you think the city has gone through enough already? And now you want to add even more fuel to the fire."

"There's no helping you, is there?" she remarked as she moved to go around him once more. "I'm sorry you have to feel the way you do, but there are some things that are out of our control and unfortunately, we have to deal with the consequences; I thought you would be mature enough to know that."

"Perhaps so and perhaps not." he replied; his fingers catching hold of her arm as she attempted to go around.

"I'm going to give you a very short amount of time to let go of me."

"I just want to get one thing straight-"

A soft gasp left her in a hurry as she watched the Ninth Lieutenant seemingly disappear from in front of her; the heavy thud that followed seconds later lead her to turn and spot where his form was now flat to the ground- a few yards from where he had previously been.

"I apologize, Lieutenant Hisagi, but perhaps the one thing to get straight would be the cracked radius and ulna of your forearm; I would advise that you seek immediate medical attention for the break, we would not want the bones to heal improperly- it would require another breakage in order to set them correctly again."

Why did she not feel surprised to see the Twelfth Lieutenant walking past her now and towards the fallen man?

"Nemu, what are you doing here?"

"You gave Lieutenant Hisagi plenty of warnings to release you and he did not abide to either of the warnings; seeing how your current condition does not allow for you to confront combat, I decided it would be in my best interest to step in for you." She answered; pausing enough to put herself between the two. "You are not hurt, correct?"

"No, no it was just a simple argument, that's all." Momo defended. "Did you really break his arm?"

"Yes."

"Why do you sound so satisfied with that answer?"

"Hey, hey! What's going on over here?" she looked up at the sudden shouts but let out a sigh of relief as she spotted just Matsumoto running over to join the scene. "Hisagi, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just a broken arm… thanks to that artificial freak." he muttered in answer as he carefully pushed himself to his feet; he held his right arm against his chest as the clean break in the conjoining bones throbbed with heated pain.

"Nemu!"

"It was a necessary action."

"Violence is not a necessary action." Matsumoto sighed.

"I do not understand."

Sighing, she rubbed lightly at her temples as one confrontation seemed to lead into the next. "Look, let's just not get carried away with this okay? Nemu, you come with me; Matsumoto, can you take Hisagi to Division Four to get that break looked at? I have a lot I have to do right now so I will deal with all of this later."

"Hinamori!"

It felt like a rush of heat flooded her body as she turned back to see two more figures approaching the site; the last thing she wanted was even more company to join this little 'confrontation.' Maybe it was Tobiume making her appearance now but it felt like her entire body was being set aflame. "Kira, Renji, I'm afraid if you get anywhere closer to me, you'll end up like Hisagi over there- so please, whatever you wish to discuss, save it for later. Today is not the day to be speaking to me about this."

"What the hell is going on?" Matsumoto started as she looked around at the sudden collection of people around them now. She didn't know what the hell was going on when she walked over to see Hinamori, Nemu and Hisagi but now with Kira and Renji's sudden appearances… she just… something was going on. Hell, this was one of few times she had seen the girl outside- wait… wait, that was it. Did they really just show up to harass her about it? Well now, she was hoping there was another reason to it but, not a single one was coming to mind. "I would like some answers as to why the hell everyone decided to show up here and now at this given time; I know for a fact that half of you don't even typically gather around here at this time- there's no reason for you to. So someone here needs to shut up and start talking."

"And how do you know we didn't just come here to meet up with Hisagi?" Renji questioned.

"Maybe I would if I didn't think you were a load of shit."

"Look, I need to get out of here and if you guys want to stay and talk, then so be it." Hinamori sighed as she attempted to leave the bickering group behind her.