I do not own Bleach
Chapter 25
Despite Hitsugaya's best efforts in keeping the matter a secret, word of Momo's achievement of Bankai soon spread throughout Seireitei. By the time Momo woke up that afternoon, everyone knew. It came as a shock to most shinigami, who were unaware of Momo's extreme boost in reiatsu. To them, it was amazing how a Vice-Captain could suddenly attain Bankai. People had all sorts of reactions.
In the Fifth Division, the atmosphere was full of excitement. Now that their Vice-Captain had obtained Bankai, it was only a matter of time until she was promoted to Captain. They all looked forward to that, for it would mean that they would regain their glory that they had lost in the absence of a Captain.
Captain-Commander Yamamoto was very pleased with this new development. The Seireitei now had another Bankai-user that could fight against Aizen. With his powerful arrancar army, Aizen would not be defeated easily, and Momo could tip the balance in Seireitei's favor.
Hitsugaya had many emotions. He was glad that Momo had attained such a great level of power; he was worried that this would put her in danger; and, although he didn't admit it himself, he was a little upset because this meant that she needed his protection less now. Overall though, he was very happy for her.
Renji was happy for his old classmate. He visited to give her a few quick pointers on the initial use of Bankai, warning her of his and Ichigo's experiences of using Bankai too fast too early.
Kenpachi was very pleased that she had managed to reach Bankai. Even though he only trained her for a day, he considered her to be something of a student, and felt a bit of pride in her. Momo in turn thanked him, for it was his training that helped her to unlock a greater extent of her powers.
Matsumoto took her congratulations to a new level, and promptly organized a 'Bankai Party' to be held that night, despite Momo and Hitsugaya's protests. She promised them that it would be terrific, and she organized it so quickly that Momo had little choice but to attend.
One person was not celebrating. Ruby lied in her bed crying. She had just received Aizen's latest order and she had no choice but to obey it. She would have to kill Momo. Killing Hanatarou was completely eating her up from the inside, she wasn't sure if she could handle doing it again. At this thought pain began to creep through her body, as if finely pointed fish hooks were being carefully slid into her skin, ready to be painfully ripped out if she had any further thoughts of defying Aizen. Ruby quickly amended her thoughts; of course she could kill Momo for it was Aizen's will.
As she thought this, the pain receded. She cried to herself, she was not even free to think for herself. She wanted so much to die, to simply stop the suffering, but she could not. If she were dead she would be unable to carry out Aizen's orders.
Ruby cursed herself for being so weak that she was too weak to resist this. Logically, she knew that very few would be able to stand against Aizen after what she'd been through, but emotionally she blamed herself and her weakness. Because she couldn't resist Aizen's orders Hanatarou was dead and Momo would be dead shortly. She wondered how much longer this would go on; how many friends she would have to kill?
But her feelings didn't matter. It was Aizen's command that she would kill Momo Hinamori, and tonight she would do so. The choice was not hers to make. She could only cry.
The party that Matsumoto organized was almost ready. Located in a spare room of the Fifth division, it had all sorts of things to do and all of Momo's friends were coming. Matsumoto, Renji, Hitsugaya, and Kira would of course be there. Ichigo and Orihime were invited as well. Shunsui Kyoraku originally wasn't going to be invited, but seeing as he would come anyways, they decided to invite him. Others who would come included Hisagi, Ikkaku, Rukia, Ukitake, Kiyone, Sentarou, Shingo Kusanagi and several other members of the Fifth division.
After everyone had arrived, the party started. People congratulated Momo and gave her words of encouragement when they arrived, but overall Momo wasn't really the focus of the party. Most of the other people were eating, talking, playing cards, and drinking sake. Momo didn't really mind, for she enjoyed seeing her friends happy, but she was somewhat bored. At first she had Hitsugaya to talk to, but a drunken Kyoraku put a Kidou spell on Hitsugaya's Captain's Haori to make it start flying around. Hitsugaya ran out to retrieve it, leaving behind a bored Momo.
Momo sighed. It wasn't that she was selfish, but this was her party so she felt that she should be playing a bigger part in it. She sighed again and looked over at a nearby table with several bottles on it. She'd never tried Sake before…
Hitsugaya chased his Haori around the Fifth division. He felt strangely vulnerable without it; a lot of his authority came from it. Without it, he just looked like some kid. It wasn't particularly fast, but it always was just out of his reach. It would hover infuriatingly close to him before darting higher into the air.
Finally, he caught it and returned to the party. When he arrived he didn't see Momo. He began to look around for her. When he passed around a corner, a figure that jumped onto his back. It was Momo.
"Momo! What are you doing?" Hitsugaya yelled.
"Hey," Momo said, her voice slurred, "I always gave you the horsy ride when we was little! Its your turn now Shiro-Chan! Giddyyup!" She kicked him in the sides.
"Momo what on earth are you doing? Wait, are you drunk!?" He said exasperatedly. As if he needed to ask.
"Come on Shiro-Chan, you gotta give me my horsey ride!" Momo said playfully.
Hitsugaya's legs were wobbling, were he not a captain he would have fallen over already from the larger girl clinging to his back. "Momo, get off of me! I can barely stand up!" He said.
"Awwww, come on," she said, shaking his shoulders. At this point, Hitsugaya couldn't stand anymore and came crashing to the ground.
"Let do that again!" Momo said excitedly. Luckily, Orihime had heard the crash, and she arrived to rescue Hitsugaya before Momo could make him give her another horsey ride.
"Momo, come on, you should go home now." Orihime said, helping Momo up. From the floor, Hitsugaya muttered his thanks to her, unable to stand up quite yet.
Orihime guided Momo to her apartment. She took her to her bedroom and helped her get into her nightclothes. She gave her a glass of water and told her to drink it and go to sleep. Momo complied and quickly fell asleep. Quite tired herself, Orihime walked out to the couch and fell into a deep sleep.
After Momo and Orihime were asleep, a figure crept into the apartment. She went into Momo's room where the girl was sleeping restfully. Ruby took out her sword and prepared to do what she had intended to do. She was going to kill Momo Hinamori.
A tear slid down Ruby's cheek. Seeing Momo lying so helpless like this, completely unaware of her imminent death, made Ruby unbearably sad. Walking over to Momo's side, she lifted the sword and positioned it over Momo's heart. She wanted this to be as quick as possible for Momo. She hoped that Momo wouldn't be alive long enough to realize who was killing her.
"I'm so sorry Momo," Ruby said in a barely audible whisper, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I hope you would forgive me." A pain shot through Ruby, she was wasting time. The pain was horrible; she had to end it.
Ruby gripped the sword and raised it slightly, preparing to plunge it into Momo's heart. Closing her eyes, she brought the sword down. She felt it pierce Momo's chest and go through her with a horrible wet crunch. She felt some of Momo's warm blood spatter onto her hand. She heard Momo giving a pained gasp followed by a raspy, drawn out breath. Then there was silence.
Ruby's eyes overfilled with tears. She had done it, she had killed Momo. Sweet, innocent Momo was now dead. First Hanatarou, now Momo; she was being forced to kill her friends off one by one. She knew that the pain from her conditioning was gone, but she was now in even more pain than before. The feeling of having killed her friend was unbearable.
Ruby opened her eyes and she realized with a shock that Momo wasn't dead. Her sword had stopped an inch above Momo. Momo continued to breath peacefully. The pain from before returned, urging her to kill Momo. But Ruby couldn't do it now. She removed her sword from above Momo and placed it in its sheath.
The pain consumed her, but she did not give into it. It was not nearly as bad as what she had felt in those few moments that she thought she had killed Momo. She would not do this anymore, she refused to serve Aizen anymore. The pain exploded within her, but she refused to let it control her. She staggered out of Momo's apartment and prepared to set things right.
Momo woke up the next morning with a throbbing pain in her head. She vaguely remembered drinking a whole bottle of sake last night. Cursing to herself, she got dressed and walked out of her bedroom. The appealing scent of eggs and sausage greeted her. Orihime stood in the kitchen, preparing the food. A large plate of scrambled eggs and sausages sat on the counter.
Orihime looked up. "How are you feeling?" she said.
"Uuuuhhhh," was all Momo could say.
"That bad, huh," Orihime said. "Well have some food, hopefully you'll feel better."
Murmuring her thanks, Momo took a large plate of scrambled eggs and ten sausages. She promptly ate them, just as Orihime had finished her own batch.
"Thanks," Momo said, "I really feel a lot better now,"
"Your welcome, but why didn't you put any toppings on?" Orihime said.
"Toppings?" Momo looked and realized that there was a large number of unusual toppings on the counter. Orihime proceeded to add them to her scrambled eggs. After mixing caviar, taco sauce, peppermints, and crushed pop-tarts into the mix, she drizzled a large amount of chocolate sauce onto it.
"Now that's how you're supposed to make scrambled eggs," Orihime said, a hint of pride for her creation in her voice. Momo watched Orihime eat the disgusting concoction. Momo put her face in her arms, unable to watch Orihime eating this stuff. After the noise of her eating ended, Momo lifted her head up to find that Orihime had gone back to sleep on the couch. Ichigo was right, Matsumoto was having a bad influence on this girl.
Standing up, Momo prepared to go to her office in the Fifth division. When she walked out, there was somebody waiting for her. It was Ruby. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was horribly pale.
"Ruby!" Momo said, shocked at her friend's appearance, "What's wrong? Why are you here?"
"Momo…I-I'm so sorry," Ruby whispered, "Goodbye." Bloody spurted from Ruby's nostrils and she collapsed to the ground.
Momo screamed. "Ruby! Ruby! Wake up!" Orihime came running out at the sound of Momo screaming and froze at the scene before her. Momo turned to her. "Orihime watch over Ruby. Ruby, don't worry, I'll go get help!" Momo ran towards the Fourth Division.
Ruby lied on the ground, her vision blurry. She was completely engulfed in pain. Every cell in her body seemed to scream. Her skin felt like it was being torn off with white-hot tongs. Her head felt as if a spike were being pounded into it. This was the worst pain she had ever been in. Well, the second most. The most pain she had ever been in were those few moments that she thought that she had killed Momo. Compared to that, this was nothing.
Nevertheless, Ruby knew that because she had so fiercely resisted Aizen's orders, she was now dying. The pain was to an extent that her body was being physically injured. But Ruby beared it, for she knew that this nightmare would be over in several minutes. She was in a way glad that this was finally over, and she was happy that she would die free of Aizen's control.
Ruby slipped her hand into the front of her uniform and partially pulled out a letter. She had written the letter the previous night. It explained everything that had happened to her. She had stayed up all night writing it. The pain attempted to force her to stop, but when she thought of the way she felt when she thought that she'd killed Momo, she was able to muster the resolve to write it. Now everyone would know of her traitorous deeds. She only hoped that her friends would not judge her harshly.
As the pain began to go away, Ruby knew that death was near. She did not fear it, for she was dying free. In her mind she smiled as her vision faded.
Thank you for reading! I know that I had a lot of you scared when Ruby 'killed' Momo. Sorry about that, it just didn't seem logical for her to simply have had a change of heart all of a sudden, so I included that so that Ruby would realize how it would feel if she killed Momo. Thank you to girl-of-anime, shirochanxmomo1220, Kazeek, Bethany, iceypeach, ccccookie, and Snowy Peach Tsubasa. Please review!