Darkness

Chapter 35

"Shiro-chaaaaaan!" Momo called, running up to her best friend.

"Stop calling me Shiro-chan, Bed-wetter Momo!" Toushiro retorted.

"I don't wet the bed anymore…" Momo said, her cheeks turning red.

"Whatever. What did you want anyways?" Toushiro said irritably.

"I got accepted to the Shinigami Academy! Don't you remember me telling you earlier that I'd be getting a reply soon? Well anyways, now I'm going to be living at the dormitories in the Academy!"

"What, so you won't be living here anymore?" Toushiro asked in surprise.

"Are you sad that I'm going to be going away? Don't worry, my classes won't start for a few weeks, so until then you can have me all to yourself! Besides, while I am at the Academy, I'll visit you as often as I can!" Momo said cheerfully.

"Like I care. You can stay there for all I care," Toushiro said.

"Don't be so grumpy, I know you're going to miss me Shiro-chan!" Hinamori leant down and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Toushiro smiled a little, but quickly forced himself into a scowl.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Don't call me Shiro-chan!"

Hinamori's eyes slowly flickered open. She couldn't seee anything at first, with everything appearing as a blurry smudge. What had happened? She had been fighting Matsumoto when Izuru and the others showed up, and then…that was right, Ulquiorra discovered her.

Her eyes shot wide open, only for her to quickly close them again due to them not being adjusted to the light. Where was she? Ulquiorra knew about her plan, so it was over for her. He would report it to Aizen, and she would be killed. Everything she had worked for would be destroyed. For what purpose had she done everything? Wait…how was she even alive? What was going on?!

"Captain-commander Hinamori?" a voice said. Hinamori opened her eyes slowly. Her vision was still blurred, but she could see two figures outlined against an orange glow. Upon focusing harder, she realized that it was Nemu and Orihime.

"You…" Hinamori said, "Ulquiorra took you to save me? Why, didn't he want me killed?

"Ulquiorra didn't summon me, it was Nemu," Orihime said.

"What?"

"Ulquiorra is dead, killed by Captain Unohana," Nemu said, "Now that Mayuri-sama is no longer alive, I will be serving you."

"And what about the others?" Hinamori asked.

"They fled with Unohana," Nemu explained.

"Isane too?" Hinamori asked.

"No," another voice said, "I am still here." Hinamori squinted her eyes to see Isane Kotetsu standing off to the side.

"I thought you would have taken the opportunity to flee. It seems you really are on our side," Hinamori noted.

Isane stared blankly at the ground.

Unohana sheathed her sword, having just defeated Ulquiorra. She bent down and picked up Rukia, taking care not to injure her already mangled arm. Iba carried Yachiru, and Ikkaku helped Matsumoto to walk. They went up to the hole in the wall from which they broke in.

"C-Captain Unohana…" Isane said suddenly. Unohana turned to look at her Vice-captain.

"Isane…good work keeping the division safe."

Isane subconciously shook herself, trying not to appear suspicious.

"Well, it now seems that we'll have to be a bit more careful," Hinamori chuckled, "After I have healed, prepare a connection to Aizen. I think it's time we invited him over."

---

Unohana set Rukia down on a blanket, with Byakuya kneeling down next to her.

"Rukia…can you save her," he asked.

"I don't know," Unohana said sadly, "She is in bad shape and has lost a lot of blood, not to mention all of the poison. I'd put her chances of survival at about thirty percent, even with expert healing.

"I knew I should have gone with her," Ichigo said, clenching his fists. Nearby, Yachiru, Iba, and Matsumoto were also lying down, healing from their injuries. Ikkaku was sitting down at the base of the tree, staring at the reformed Ruurikujaku, the zanpakuto of his old friend.

"What about you, Retsu," Ukitake asked, "How did you survive, I was certain that you had been killed."

"I was badly injured, yes, but I was able to turn that into an advantage," Unohana said, "By appearing to be dead, I was able to move around more easily, and get to the bottom of what they have been doing. The truth isn't pretty."

"What are they planning on doing?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Well, to put it most basically, the Harvester is the key element to their plot. I assume you felt the tremor earlier and saw the flash of light. That was the test phase of the Harvester. With it, Aizen will be able to open a portal to the dimension of the Spirit King. Unfortunately for him, Hinamori is planning on prematurely closing the portal, trapping him in that dimension," Unohana explained.

"Wait, so couldn't we just wait until she's trapped Aizen to attack?" Renji asked, "It will be a lot easier to just deal with her than to fight Aizen and the espada."

"We can't do that. In order to create the portal, the Harvester gathers the life energy of all living things in a certain area. Hundreds of thousands would be killed, and Aizen would still kill the spirit king. Then there's the issue of the creatures that Hinamori is creating. She no doubt intends to use them to wipe out the shinigami, and I have no doubt that she will if given more time. We absolutely must stop both her and Aizen before they are able to complete their goals. I recommend that we infiltrate Seireitei and stop them as soon as possible. We will have to stop both at the same time however, or the results could be catastrophic."

"Urahara predicted that something like this might be going on," Yoruichi noted, "We'll have to simultaneously take out not only the Harvester and those creatures, but Aizen and his allies as well."

"I'll take out Hinamori," Hitsugaya said, "I have…the responibility. I am partially responsible for all of this, and I need to fix it."

"She was your friend," Ukitake noted, "Do you really think you could hurt her, the girl you always swore to protect? If necessary, would you be able to kill her?" Hitsugaya hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"It is because she is my friend that I must be the one to stop her."

---

Hinamori carefully trimmed her hair. With that damned Matsumoto cutting away portions of it, she had to even it out so that it looked proper. To make things worse, she had an address to the other Shinigami she was scheduled to give before Aizen came. Ulquiorra had not told anyone of her treachery, but she knew that the sooner her plan was put into place, the better.

She looked at herself carefully in the mirror, deciding that she had trimmed her hair well enough. She grabbed a cloth like the one she used to wrap around the bun she wore her hair in, but holding it up and looking into her reflection, she decided that the style didn't really suit her anymore. She was after all a changed person. Her face was not as round and youthful as it once was and her hair didn't have that same feeling that it once had. It just seemed wrong on her now that she thought about it. Sighing, she tossed the cloth away and tied her hair back normally. While doing so she noticed something.

On the back of her left hand was a small speck of blood. Examining it, she saw that there was no wound on her hand, so she determined that it must have been from one of the others earlier. That's right, it must have been from when she stabbed Kira, the blood ran all over her hands then. Still, it was strange that it was still there, as she had washed herself off earlier, and it seemed that she would have noticed it before.

She moistened a washcloth and rubbed at the little speck of blood. When she removed the washcloth, she realized that it was still there. Frowning, she scrubbed at the spot of blood even harder, but with no results. Putting soap directly onto the back of her hand, she rapidly scrubbed away at it, but still the blood remained there. Growling, she took off the lid to the soap dispenser and poured it over her hand, rubbing it all over.

Still, the speck of blood did not disappear. As she glared at the speck of blood, there was a knock on the door.

"What? What is it?" she said irritably. The door creaked open and Isane walked in.

"It's time for your speech," Isane said.

"Fine, but first I need your help getting this blood off my hand, it won't come off no matter how hard I try!" Hinamori said, "Get me some stronger cleaning fluids to wash it off with."

"I don't see any blood on your hand," Isane said.

"What do you mean? It's right there!" Hinamori said, pointing to the bloody spot.

"No, there's nothing there," Isane said. Hinamori growled.

"Fine, if you're just going to play games with me I'd might as well leave," she said, standing up and stalking off.

---

"My fellow Shinigami, Sousuke Aizen is the way of the future!" Hinamori announced to the crowd, "He has overthrown the corrupt, incompetent leaders of Seireitei and will soon reign over the universe as the benevolent keeper of justice and peace!"

To Hinamori's sides were Isane, Nemu, and Hisagi. Hinamori did not particularly like giving these speeches, but they were necessary to help keep the Shinigami in line.

"Some fools try to oppose Aizen, but only because they are too blind to see his glory! He cares enough for you all that he sacrifices his own well being for the good of the universe! He is a kind and compassionate man who only wants the best, but if you oppose him, do not expect any mercy!"

Hinamori loathed giving Aizen such praise, but it was necessary to maintain the appearance of a loyal supporter. Since Aizen would soon be gone anyway, this indignity didn't matter.

"Yes, Aizen's rule will be just and fair, and we must all-"

"Vice-captain Hinamori!" a voice called out from the audience. Hinamori swiftly turned, infuriated that someone not only interrupted her but that they had called her by her former title. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Vice-captain Hinamori, why? Why did you kill me?" said a short, brown haired girl.

"Nelani…" Hinamori whispered in shock. She quickly attempted to regain her composure, "I-uh- sorry for that interruption. As I was saying, Aizen is just and kind, but is not afraid to punish those who dare to go against his glory! I'm sure you all have seen-"

"I loved you like an older sister!" the girl who looked like Nelani said, "You were my mentor, my friend, my Vice-captain! I devoted my entire life to you! Why did you do it? Why?"

Hinamori began sweating and feeling hot. All of the people around her suddenly seemed to box her in, trapping her in this place. She began breathing a bit faster, trying to finish her speech.

"As-as you all know, Aizen is capable of strictly…strictly punishing you, but he-he only does this for the s-sake of justice, it is not his intention to-"

"What happened to you? The Vice-captain Hinamori I knew would never do anything like this! Why are you doing such horrible things?" the girl said.

Hinamori began to panic, who was this? It couldn't be Nelani, that was impossible! Nelani was dead, killed by Hinamori personally! What was happening? Why weren't the others reacting to it? Were they in on it? Was this all a hoax to get her to crack? More importantly, whoever it was, how did they know that she killed Nelani?

"I-I know y-you may have con…concerns, b-but-"

"Vice-captain Hinamori, please answer me!" Nelani shouted, "Why did you kill me?"

Hinamori backed away from the microphone, beginning to shake and hyperventilate. Nelani…no, it couldn't be, that was impossible!

"I…I'm afraid I must go now!" she said hurriedly, running off the stage.

---

"Are you sure it's okay for me to leave her?" Byakuya asked.

"There is nothing you can do for her. The beast's bite apparently has bacteria, and she has a fever right now," Unohana said, "I'll stay with her and Yachiru, but you would serve her best by going and fighting for all of Soul Society."

"Very well," Byakuya said, standing up to join the others.

"Okay, let's go over the plan one more time," Ukitake said, "Upon infiltrating Seireitei, we will split into two groups. Captain Hitsugaya, Vice-captains Matsumoto, Vice-captain Iba, Vice-captain Abarai, and Third-seat Madarame will destroy the voornx cloning facilities and Rei'djin laboratories. Meanwhile Captain Kyouraku, Captain Kuchiki, Yoruichi Shihouin, Ichigo Kurosaki, and myself will go to destroy the harvester. It is highly likely that we will end up facing Aizen, the espada, and Hinamori, so make sure to be on guard. Understood?" Everyone nodded.

"Good, now let's get going," Yoruichi said.

As they began walking towards Seireitei, Hitsugaya looked off into the distance. Hinamori…I'm coming to stop you.

---

"Come on! Come off!" Hinamori muttered as she scrubbed at the speck of blood on her hand. It had been three hours since she had locked herself in her room. She was still deeply shaken and confused by the appearance of Nelani earlier. She had no idea who or what it was. Why didn't anybody react to her? Were they playing a trick on her? Were they all conspiring against her? If Nelani really had been there…no, no that was impossible! Nelani was dead. Maybe it was one of Aizen's illusions. No, Aizen was in an entirely different dimension, he couldn't have done it. What the hell was it though?

Hinamori angrily slapped her own hand, ignoring the pain the action caused. She had done everything, but it wouldn't come off. Even as the skin around it was rubbed raw by the scrubbing and caustic chemicals she had used in an attempt to wash it off, the little speck of blood was still there.

"Stop this," she whispered, "Stop mocking me! Come off!" She clawed at the back of her hand and slammed it against the wall. She shook in anger as she hysterically tried to get the blood off, her mind devoid of all other thought.

"Fine!" she yelled at it, an insane grin spreading across her face, "I'll make you come off!" She placed her arm on the edge of the sink. With her free hand, she drew her katana and raised it above the arm.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door, causing Hinamori to jump and snap out of her manic state.

"Um, w-who is it?" she asked, shakily sheathing her sword.

"It is me, Captain-commander Hinamori," the voice of Nemu said, "Aizen has arrived and requests your immediate presence.

"Yes…very well," Hinamori said, "Tell Aizen-sama that I will be there right away."

When she heard Nemu walking away, she took a deep breath to calm herself. This would all be over soon. Soon both Aizen and all the others would be gone. Yes, she would only have to wait until then.

Thank you for reading! Thank you to Assault Godzilla, Dwellin, snoopypet, argella1300, animelover24271, AznVKai, PrincessOfHeartsNYP, Merciless Ruby, DW64, and Sunset Rainbow for reviewing! Please review!