Welcome back to Instead of Glass, There was Ice!
Yikes, it's been nearly a year since I last updated this. I've really been letting this one go...
Sorry to anyone who was looking forward to where I was going with this.
I'm going to try to keep updating this, but I can't guarantee how often I can do that since my life's pretty busy at the moment.
But I do promise to make an effort to write when I can.
So without any further delay, here's chapter 3
Chapter 3:
Hinamori barely got any sleep that night. Whenever she'd try to close her eyes, flashbacks of the last 24 hours would jolt her awake. Memories of the Aizen's letter… the trial… and of her childhood friend, surrounded by a bunch of unconscious bodies with an indifferent look on his face…..
That last one hurt the most.
When it was finally time for her to get up and get ready for the long day ahead of her, she did so with little enthusiasm. In fact, her body seemed to move on its own out of habit, her mind elsewhere. She barely even heard the repeated knocks on her door, confirming if that she was ready for the day's journey. And when she finally mustered up the courage to open the door and face the day, she was met with two unfamiliar faces who looked like they'd much rather drag her to the Maggot's Nest then escort her to the world of the living. And Hinamori was pretty sure that they were only the first set of unwelcoming faces that she was going to have to face before the day was over.
Without so much as a word, the two guards abruptly turned around and began to walk back along the corridors of the 5th division. They didn't even bother to look back once to see if Hinamori was actually following along behind them as they made their way to their next destination. Though the idea of simply not following them did cross her mind, the lieutenant was quick to shrug it off and join her escorts. As rude their behaviour was, at least they didn't try to handcuff her like the criminal they assumed she was.
During their walk to the gate, Hinamori couldn't help but notice the looks she getting. Although she tried her best to resist the temptation to look around, she still managed to catch the odd glimpse of people stopping and whispering to each as she walked by. And although she couldn't hear what exactly they were saying, it didn't take a prodigy to know that it wasn't anything nice.
When the gate finally came into view, Hinamori was shocked to see two faces that she actually recognized, both of which were shooting reassuring smiles her way.
"Hinamori-kun, you're finally here!" Kira yelled as he waved her over. "I was starting to think you weren't going to show!"
"Um, Kira, I don't think she had much of a choice" Abarai replied with a quick sigh before turning to face his newly arrived friend. "It looks like you've had one hell of rude awakening this morning" he added as he shot a quick glance at Hinamori's escorts. "Don't worry, you don't look that terrible".
Before Hinamori could respond, she was tackled from behind and pulled into a hug. "Don't be rude, Abarai" a feminine voice said. "Even with only a few hours of sleep, she still looks much better than you."
"R-Rangiku-san?" Hinamori stuttered. "You're coming too?"
"Yup!" Matsumoto happily replied, giving the fifth division lieutenant quick squeeze before letting her go and facing her. "You didn't think I was going to let you guys go on a trip without me, did you?"
Hinamori didn't know what to say. For the last few hours, she had felt so utterly alone. Her world falling apart around her. And now, she was surrounded by nothing but warm and welcoming faces… Surrounded by people who truly cared about her and believed in her...
She then thought that maybe, just maybe, things might be okay.
"Oops, looks like we missed the heartfelt reunion, Kuchiki-san" a playful voice stated, breaking the loving atmosphere in the air. "And here I was so looking forward to it. Oh well!"
Hinamori suddenly felt a pit in her stomach. Turning around, she saw Ichimaru and the younger kuchiki sibling walk towards them. All it took was one look at the 3rd division captain's face to be reminded of the situation she was in and how she had gotten into it. Out of all the available captains of the 13 court guard squads, why did their supervising captain have to be him? Could her luck get any worse?
"Looks like we'll be relying on your human expertise for this one, Rukia" Abarai said with a smirk as he broke the tension in the air and greeted his childhood friend. "Try not to screw it up, okay?"
"Oh, please, Renji. We all know the only screw up here is you" the short girl quick replied with a smirk of her own. "Trust me, no one understands humans better than I do."
"Alright, everyone, let's get moving" Ichimaru stated as he ushered everyone towards the gate. "We have a long day ahead of us, after all."
With one last look at the word she was leaving behind, Hinamori joined the rest of her comrades and stepped through the gate to commenced her journey to the world of the living.
Once they got their gigais at Urahara's shop, Kuchiki informed them all of the cover story she came up with for their mission. In order to blend in with normal human society, she suggested that she, Kira, Abarai, Hinamori, and Matsumoto should pose as high school students at the school Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends attended. Ichimaru, due to his older looking appearance, would pose as the school's new teacher. This way, not only would they be able to blend in, but it also meant that they would be constantly near the substitute shinigami, who Kuchiki assured would gladly help out if anything happened.
Hinamori wouldn't have described Kurosaki as "happy to help" when the group of them dropped by his school unannounced, but that was just her opinion….
When the lunch bell rang to signal their one hour break, Hinamori was quick to try and get out of the stuffed classroom. With the chaos their busy morning getting settled into the world of the living, she needed some down time to herself. But when she tried to leave the classroom unaccompanied, she was stopped by a chilling voice.
"Now, now, Hinamori-kun, where do you think you're going?" Ichimaru called as he approached her with one of his infamous smiles. "Don't ya know you're not supposed to be on your own? We can't risk anything bad happening to our lovely little hostage- I mean comrade, now, can we?"
"Ichimaru-tai- Err, I mean, Ichimaru-sensei is right!" Kira was quick to add in before Hinamori could reply. "What if he hurts you when you're alone?! There's no way I'm letting that filthy traitor get his hands on you, Hinamori, so don't you worry about a thing!"
It took all the strength Hinamori had not to snap at Kira. How could he possibly suggest that Hitsugaya would hurt her!? Not to mention, last time she checked, Kira had nearly gotten himself killed the last time he faced the former tenth division captain. So what made him think he could possibly stand a chance against him?
"Hey, Hinamori, how about we grab lunch on the roof, okay?" Matsumoto chimed in with the hopes of diffusing the situation before it got any worse. "I know we aren't supposed to go up there, but I'm sure we can find a way!"
Not trusting herself yet to speak, Hinamori could only nod in response before being dragged out of the classroom by voluptuous lieutenant. The 10th division officer seemed quite eager to get out of there before either of the 3rd division officers had a chance to object.
Once on the rooftop, the strawberry blond let go of her friend's arm and commenced to walk towards the railing. Taking in the view of the sky above her, she let out a sigh.
"I can't believe Kira…" she spoke with a shrug. "You'd think that with all those brains of his he would have an ounce of common sense, but I that's just too much to hope for."
"...What do you mean, Rangiku-san?" Hinamori asked as she joined her friend, choosing her words carefully along the way.
"I mean exactly what I said" Matsumoto replied. "Like taichou would ever hurt you of all people! God, ever since this whole thing happened, it's like everyone has forgotten everything they ever knew about him… I mean, sure, he could have faked some of it, but I doubt he faked everything… Taichou is still the same person he always was. He's just… Well…. Sigh, I don't know..."
"So… You still believe in him, then?" Hinamori timidly questioned, shocked to hear that someone besides herself didn't think that her childhood friend was a total monster.
"...I want to" the 10 division lieutenant replied with another sigh. "I want to believe that all those years together weren't just lies, you know? You spend so much time with a person… It's hard to believe that they're suddenly not who they said they were…. That they never were who they said they were… I don't know what's going through his head right now, or even why he's doing all this, but… There must be a reason. There's no way taichou would do all this… Put us through all this… if there wasn't a good reason for it. There's just no way."
Hinamori felt a single tear start to make its way down her cheek. Hearing someone else say the words she desperately wanted to hear washed over her as a tidal wave of relief. If someone else, someone who really knew him, also couldn't think of him as a traitor, then maybe there was still some hope left…
Some hope that maybe, just maybe, her childhood friend would come back to her.
"Oh, Hinamori…" Matsumoto whispered as she rubbed the crying girl's back in support. "It's hard, isn't it? Hearing people talk about him like that? They just don't know him like we do… or, at least, how we thought we knew him."
"R-Rangiku-san…" Hinamori muttered as she let out all the emotions she had bottle up in the last two days. "He wouldn't just leave, right? Leave me… leave us… without a reason, right? There has to be a reason!... There just has to be…"
"There's no way he would ever leave you, Hinamori. You should know that by now" Matsumoto said with a comforting smile. "I mean, if it was just me he left behind, then maybe… but… For him to leave you… Well, there's no way he would do that willingly, that's for sure. Hell, if the rest of the Seireitei thought he didn't care about you, then they wouldn't have us under constant surveillance, now, would they?"
"...Us? What do you mean us?" the fifth division lieutenant asked in confusion.
"Wait, you didn't seriously think you're the only one they're keeping an eye on, did you?" Matsumoto replied. "Sure, you're his closest friend and all, but I was his second in command. They'd be total idiots not to be suspicious of me. So by having the two of us along on this mission, they're killing two birds with one stone."
"So I guess that just makes us a couple of caged birds… huh?" Hinamori joked with a weak smile, her tears long since dried up.
"Looks like we'll just have to flock together, Hinamori" Matsumoto answered with a laugh.
By the end of the day, Hinamori was exhausted and could have collapsed on the spot. She forgot how tiring it was to be in classes all day, especially when she was desperately trying to understand what was going on. Sure, it wasn't as though she needed to pass the classes for her mission, but she had always been one who enjoyed learning new things regardless of how trivial they might be. And she also gladly welcomed the distraction the lessons provided her from the current situation.
It had been decided earlier that day that she, Matsumoto, and Ichimaru would be staying over at Inoue Orihime's house during the course of their stay in the world of the living. Abarai and Kira were to stay over at Urahara's and Kuchiki was to stay over at Kurosaki's, despite the substitute Shinigami's many protests. Although Kira had initially objected to the idea of them separating at night, which he argued to be the ideal time for Hitsugaya to make an appearance, Ichimaru was quick to silence him on the matter. And for the first time that day, Hinamori was grateful to the third division captain. As much as Hinamori liked Kira, she couldn't handle another second of him constantly bearing over her like some sort of guard dog.
When she reached the Inoue residence along with the others, Hinamori was glad that the day was finally over and she could be alone with her thoughts. So when the opportunity presented itself, Hinamori was quick to exit out of her bedroom window to relax on the rooftop. She thought that as long as she didn't go far, there wouldn't be any harm. Besides, with the window still open, the people down below would be able to hear anything if she was loud enough. So Hinamori figured she'd be safe.
Having heard earlier that day that Matsumoto harbored the same doubts that she did was a huge weight off her shoulders. Even if she was no closer to uncovering the answer as she was the day before, just knowing that she had someone else she could confide in was enough. It was one more thing that she had that she didn't have the day before. And maybe tomorrow, she would take another step forward in figuring out the secret behind her childhood friend's sudden betrayal.
"Oh Hitsugaya-kun…." Hinamori muttered to herself as she stared at the starry sky above. "Just what are you doing?"
"I'm stood here talking to you, what else would I be doing?" a familiar voice suddenly spoke, shocking Hinamori to the core.
