"Hinamori-dono? Lieutenant?"
Hinamori's eyes snapped open. She was laying in her bed in the barracks, someone must have moved her there after Aizen put her to sleep. She sat up, hanging her legs off of the left side of her bed facing the entrance, and looked at the short, skinny blonde man who had woken her up.
"How long have I been asleep, Hidaka-san?"
The fourth seat grinned slightly, although he kept his hands in their usual place, behind his back. "Over 21 hours." His smile disappeared. "Whatever else one might say of our former Captain, his spells are incredible."
"Former Captain? What did I miss, Armin?" Hinamori stood up sharply, forgetting formality in her alarm. Hearing Aizen described as a "Former Captain" was not something she had wanted to wake up to.
"There's no easy way to tell you this, Hinamori-dono, so I'll say it all at once. Aizen Sousuke has left Seiretei to join the Menos in Hueco Mundo. Ichimaru Gin and Kaname Tousen accompanied him. He nearly killed Captains Hitsugaya and Komamura, Lieutenant Abarai, and the Ryoka leader, Kurosaki Ichigo."
"What?!" Hinamori recoiled in shock and tripped back onto her bed. She was put a hand on the mattress behind her to steady herself. He said he had a very good reason. What reason could possibly be good enough for THAT? What the hell is going on? No use worrying about it, I'm about to find out. "Wait, Hidaka-san, did you say that he tried to kill them?"
"They all survived, yes." He looked at her, deadly serious.
"Doesn't that seem odd to you? Didn't you wonder how Captain Aizen, especially after revealing that much power, could fail to kill someone?" She had already made her decision, and it honestly hadn't been hard. Her captain needed her now more than he ever had. If she abandoned him now, she could never forgive herself and she knew it. The only question was, would she be going alone?
"What are you implying, Hinamori-dono? That he was not actually trying to kill them?"
"It's the only thing that makes sense!" She cried, jumping up and beginning to pace. The feeling of the softwood floor on her bare feet helped her to focus. Hidaka simply stood stoically in the doorway, watching.
Despite the official leadership structure of the Gotei Thirteen, every Division's internal workings were unique. No one in the Seventh Squad would ever say that they considered their Lieutenant anything more than the second strongest among them, and it was common knowledge that their Fifth Seat filled his leadership role within the Division. The Fifth Division didn't follow the structure to the letter, either. They had three people whom they would consider their leaders; Captain Aizen, Hinamori herself, and the young man she was currently talking to. He was a few years younger than she was, but had already earned the entire division's respect for his intelligence, cool head and total lack of fear. He wasn't powerful enough to get Lieutenant's rank, and he wasn't the type who could inspire soldiers to fight to the death. In fact, he was often incredibly short-tempered and brusque. Despite that, in the heat of battle, Hidaka Armin was the one the lower officers looked to for split-second decisions. If she could get him on her side, she could easily sway the whole Division.
"Even if you are right, Lieutenant, it doesn't change the fact that he betrayed us. Or do are you saying he didn't?" It would be a good idea to get straight to the point. She wasn't going to be able to convince him one way or the other. Either he would come or he wouldn't. At least this part's easy.
"That's exactly what I'm saying." She stopped pacing and looked the fourth seat in the eye. He was one of the very few people in Seiretei who were about her height. "Before he left, Captain Aizen told me that he wanted me to follow after him when I was ready. He also told me that any other member of the division who wanted to join him was welcome, as well."
Hidaka stood back, shocked. "I don't think I need to ask what you're planning to do."
Hinamori stood still, keeping her eyes locked with his. She needed him to commit before she went to the rest of the Division. Without him, my job gets that much harder. Time to put him on the spot, I don't have any time to waste. "I think you've already guessed my plan. My loyalty is to Aizen Sousuke, above everyone and everything else. What about you, Hidaka Armin? What will you do?"
He paused for a split second. Then, he returned her stare with determined pride in his eyes. She knew for sure what he was going to say now.
"I have always followed Captain Aizen, and I have always followed you. Both of you have my unconditional support. Come, let's tell the Division that, just like our Captain, Seiretei itself is too small for us!" He almost shouted the last words in his excitement, then grinned. "Frankly, Lieutenant, Yamamoto's moronic handling of the entire Ryoka situation made me want to tear off after the Captain, anyway."
Hinamori laughed and put her hand on Hidaka's shoulder. "Go," she said, "ring the Division's meeting bell. I want everyone in the barrack's main hall by five minutes!"
"Hai!" He flash stepped off down the corridor, Hinamori went the other way, to the main hall. She arrived there in a few seconds, and looked around the huge room. It had a large, slightly raised platform next to the north wall, the rest of the room was bare except for the huge "Fifth Division" hangings on every wall. Only the person on the platform could stand, everyone else had to sit on the blue-carpeted floor. A medium-pitch gong rang out from somewhere to the west. The Division was gathering for the most important moment of their lives.
–––
In the Second Division barracks, Captain Soi Fon heard a faint ringing from the west. As Yamamoto had ordered her, she had been listening for this sound all night. She hadn't been expecting it to come just before sunrise, though. The Fifth Division was having a meeting, and now was their chance to find out why Aizen, a clearly murderous traitor, had left his Lieutenant unharmed.
"Oomaeda," she called.
"Yesh Captain?" He spoke through a banana in his mouth. What a disgusting man, Soi Fon thought bitterly. HOW is he a Lieutenant and WHY THE HELL is he MINE?
"Put your food down, you useless pig. You know your orders, go observe the Fifth Division's meeting."
"You're so mean, Captain!" The man whined loudly, quickly hiding a rice roll in his Gi.
"Shut up and carry out your orders, Oomaeda."
"Hai, hai." The obese Lieutenant rolled his eyes disrespectfully before leaving.
–––
The Fifth Division's main hall quickly filled with excited Shingami. The news that Lieutenant Hinamori was awake and had something important to say had the whole Division buzzing with rumors. The Lieutenant smiled softly to herself as the last soldier came into the hall, Hidaka close behind. Two thousand strong in unseated officers alone were present, with the officers included, there were 2499 Shinigami in the hall. The only one missing was the Captain himself. It won't be that way for long. I'll make sure of it.
Hidaka closed the huge double door of the barracks behind him and flash stepped up to the platform, where he stood behind and to the right of Hinamori.
"Attention! Oi! Shut up!" He called over the crowd's excited chatter. "The Lieutenant has something to say that I guarantee merits your undivided attention."
I'll say this for Armin's people skills, he knows how to get attention! Hinamori was amazed at how quickly the crowd went silent. All eyes were on her, the adrenaline rush was driving her crazy. She hadn't been this nervous since her first day in the Fifth. Even battles didn't make her feel this nervous! She tried desperately to steel herself. Now or never, Momo, now or never.
"To be or not to be, that is the question I want to ask you this morning. Our situation, however, is far more promising than that of the young Danish Prince so long ago." Hinamori started with a reference to the production of "Hamlet" that the Captain had done with the squad two months ago. It had been a huge hit with the entire Seiretei, and the Captain had agreed that the fifth would do "Macbeth" next year. Even though he would certainly not be fulfilling this promise, it would bring back some of the Division's favorite memories. Or maybe he will be fulfilling it, with himself in the title role... No! I won't let that happen!
"Yesterday afternoon, our Captain left the Soul Society. You know this all too well, some of you even saw it yourselves. Although our situation may seem hopeless, we should not despair. I have excellent news. He has not abandoned us."
The Division began whispering among themselves in shock. What was she saying? Good, I have their full attention. This was starting to get easier. Words now flew from her mouth in a way she had never experience before. She stood straighter now as she faced her men, more confident than anyone had ever seen their formerly timid second in command.
"No, I say it again, he has not left us behind!" Her clear voice sounded over the chatter without raising to a shout, commanding the ears of over two thousand warriors with its presence. "Captain Aizen left with me a message for us all. We are all welcome to go and stand by his side once more. We can become much, much more than we are now. We can continue to be what we have always been, the loyal warriors of the greatest Shinigami ever born!" She let her voice rise slightly with enthusiasm as she raised her fist in the air. "That, comrades, is why I say we can choose 'to be or not to be!' We can fly to our Captain's side and, with him, seek new heights. We could bring hope and peace to the hellish lives of the Rungokai villagers. We could reshape the entire structure of Soul Society. We could put an end to the oldest war in history, the war between Hollows and Shinigami! No more would we have to watch our friends die! Nothing would be beyond us!" She paused for effect, and for another reason. She felt someone spying on them, someone who thought they were hiding their reatsu. She quickly glanced at Armin, who nodded and flash stepped away.
"Or, we can choose 'not to be' a fraction of what we could be. We can choose to be just another Division, what's more a Division without a Captain. We can find ourselves trapped in fighting for an system we all know to be obsolete and corrupt. We can choose to be agents of simple fear, more concerned with killing random Hollows than helping our own families in Rungokai!" She could see that her tactic of picking on the 46's handling of Rungokai was working to perfection. The soldiers of the Fifth Division came primarily from the poorer districts of that huge shantytown, and most of them rankled at the fact that they were not allowed to police the area, or try to bring peace to the crime-riddled city.
"We can choose to be without our Captain for the rest of our lives, knowing that we deserted him when he needed us most! We can choose," she paused, then pointed violently to the Second Division's Lieutenant as Armin dropped him onto the floor behind her, "to be spied upon for the rest of our lives, never trusted again because our Captain had the courage to challenge what we dared not face!" Hinamori allowed her voice to rise to a true shout for the first time.
Several division members stood up and shouted in outrage. Yamamoto and the others were actually spying on them, and the fact that they had sent the much-detested, incompetent Oomaeda gave the offense an air of condescension. Now even those who had been shocked by Hinamori's "treasonous" speech were taking her side in their anger. Perfect. I couldn't have asked for better timing!
She looked behind Oomaeda at Armin quizzically, wondering how he had so quietly and easily subdued a Lieutenant. He grinned widely, mouthed, "He was eating," and pointed to a half-eaten rice roll lying on the floor next to the would-be eavesdropper. She laughed loudly and flashed him a thumbs-up. He simply nodded his thanks, the grin still on his face.
Kobayashi Alexander, the Division's seventh seat, drew himself up to his full 6 foot 5 height. "Tell us, Pig, what's your side of this story? Why were you spying on us?" The rest of the Division called out in agreement. Kobayashi glared down at the prostrate Oomaeda. His thin-framed glasses glinted in the torchlight, which only served to make the massive Russian even more intimidating.
Oomaeda was more flustered than he'd ever been in his life. He, Oomaeda, Lieutenant of Second Division and of the Secret Mobile Corps, had been discovered and captured by a fourth seat. The fourth seat of the "Dork Division" no less! (Oomaeda had come up with that himself, he was quite proud of his own "immeasurable" cleverness.)
"What are you idiots even thinking? I thought nerds were supposed to be smart!" Oomaeda decided to try to intimidate them. He blundered to his feet. "Do you think that we'll let Aizen get away? I'll tell you why you should stay, you twits! If you leave, we'll kill you! No mercy for traitors!"
"So let me get this straight," their black-haired third seat interrupted, "you're saying that the only reason we should stay is fear?" Kondo Arata jumped over to the platform and started shouting directly in Oomaeda's face. "You faggot! What kind of cowards do you think we are? Go fuck your cat, you bitch!"
Their Division hothead pulled back his fist, grabbing Oomaeda's lapel with his left hand, and roared. The rest of the squad jumped up, ready for action. Kondo would have started a full-blown brawl if Armin hadn't grabbed his wrist before he could throw his punch.
"Please control yourself, Kondo-san. We should decide what we are going to do before we do it." Kondo reluctantly backed off, never taking his eyes off Oomaeda.
"Ok, then, Hidaka-san, what are your thoughts on all this?" asked Kondo. All eyes were on Armin now.
"It comes down to a choice between our Captain and an old man who only drew his sword once when his country was attacked. When Yamamoto drew his sword, did he raise it against the Ryoka? No, he tried to kill his two best men! I would never fight for a room with 46 empty seats over our Captain, given the choice. I go."
"Sasha-dono? What do you think?" One of the youngest recruits called out for the seventh seat. Kobayashi smiled, he preferred this diminutive form of his name, and walked over to her.
"Armin-san and I have stood together since we were very young. I will follow him wherever he goes, and if he has chosen our Captain, so much the better." He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and smiled down at the girl. She was just a month out of the academy, and Sasha could see she was scared. "Don't worry." The girl's worried expression relaxed, she smiled timidly.
Enough waiting, the sun's coming up. If we don't leave soon, we'll have to fight the whole damn Seiretei to get out!
"So, Warriors of the Fifth, what is your decision?" Hinamori called.
The shout that greeted her was deafening, over two thousand voices roaring their desire to leave. I did it. I actually did it!
Oomaeda was stunned. An entire division was defecting before his eyes. He knew he had to do something, to convince them to back off. He stood up straight and shouted, "So this is how an entire Division of the Gotei 13 becomes a force of evil? Lead on into foolishness by the ramblings of a madwoman? Open your eyes, fools, Aizen is evil!"
Hinamori held up one hand to silence the uproar from the Division. They all fell silent, wondering anxiously what she would do next.
"One man's villain is another man's hero, Oomaeda. Get your gear, my friends! We travel light!"
Hello, everyone! Thank you for reading my first fic!
I'm sorry if this chapter didn't turn out very well, but I had to set up the rest of the story somehow! I tried to make Hinamori's speech as epic as possible, did I overdo it / not do enough? Please, tell me how I did! Also, this is my first try at a female POV character, tell me how I'm doing with that too (if you want to, that is!)
If you need it, here's where I'll explain my non-translations and italics. I don't like translating honorifics, it just doesn't "work" for me. Also, the word "hai" really doesn't have an English translation. It's sort of like the German "Jawohl" for those who don't know. Italics means that Hinamori (usually) is thinking the sentence.
My thanks to everyone who has already reviewed, and again thank you for reading this!