Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, and I don't own the stories that the characters are falling into.
Momo Hinamori was walking down the main street in Sereitei curious as to where everyone had gone off to.
"Where is everyone?" Momo asked herself looking into all of the courtyards up to the fourth division.
Sereitei had been quiet for the past few hours and she was starting to worry. While she sat in her room reading a few books, she noticed that Captain Unohana hadn't stopped by that day. Ever since Momo had been cleared to leave the fourth division medical buildings, Captain Unohana had been by every afternoon to check up on her and see how she was doing. Momo was improving but she still had a long way to go: Aizen did a lot of damage to her psyche and everyone was worried that she would have a mental breakdown. So far everything had been going well, until today when Captain Unohana failed to stop by her room. Come to think of it, nobody had been by and it has been unusually quiet. Suddenly that silence was broken with the panting and wheezing of a soul reaper running down the street.
"Iba," Momo called to him as he paused running in place beside her. "What's going on?"
"Bad things, Lieutenant Hinamori," Iba panted then he sped off toward the Seventh division.
"What kind of bad things?" Momo cried running to catch up with him. As she passed the sixth division courtyard, a shadow passed over her blocking out the sun. She looked up and screamed at the red smoke that stretched above then slammed down swallowing her whole. The smoke sped down the streets of Sereitei with more ferocity and greater speed in search of more souls.
. . . . . . .
Momo opened her eyes only to blink at a grand bedroom all around her with a large oval mirror erected on a wall just in front of her. Looking around her, Momo spotted a king size bed with deep purple bed curtains hanging down from the rods of the canopy. The bed was covered with deep blue covers with gold clinging to the seams and gold pillows adorned the head of the regal bed. Momo dropped her hands from her mouth and felt a strange fabric on her waist. Looking down, she gaped at the dress she currently wore: a floor length blue dress with purple sleeves ending in white, stiff cuffs and a purple belt around her waist. She also wore a black cloak that draped over her shoulders covering half of the dress. Momo looked up to the mirror and blinked at the small crown that was sitting on her head above her hair pulled back into a bun held together with alternating streamers of purple and gold.
"What's going on?" Momo asked and nearly shrieked when words appeared in the ordinary mirror.
"'Repeat after me: Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the fairest of them all?'" Momo read aloud and nearly shrieked when a face appeared on the screen.
"Lieutenant Hinamori," the face of Yumichika appeared in the glassy background of the inanimate object. "How did you get here?"
"I don't really know," Momo squeaked as she slowly backed away until she tripped into a vanity chair directly behind her. "I think I need to return to the fourth division because of hallucinations." Momo exclaimed to Yumichika in the mirror.
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Hinamori, but this is no hallucination." She looked up to him with wide eyes. "What you are experiencing is very real, I regret to say."
"So, that red smoke was real too?" Momo asked blinking as she thought back to the red mass that engulfed her. Even now she shivered at the memory.
"Yes, in fact that is how the rest of us were trapped inside of this world, or "worlds" as it turns out." Yumichika continued to explain.
"How did this happen?" Momo asked as she remained seated in the cushioned chair, she feared her legs would give out on her if she tried to stand.
"Ichigo Kurosaki read a spell from this spell book he had purchased and sentenced most of the soul reapers and many humans into this cursed dimension." Yumichika growled with a very ugly tick mark pounding on his forehead. "In each world we come in different forms. Apparently in this world I am a mirror." Yumichika looked around the frame and frowning that he could not look at his own reflection – who knew mirrors could not peer back at their own reflections.
"Ichigo?" Momo asked in confusion. The name sounded familiar but she didn't know who he was.
"Oh, that's right. You've been out on medical leave for several months. I had forgotten," Yumichika looked down to the floor in shame before he continued. "Ichigo Kurosaki is the substitute soul reaper station in Karakura. He saved Rukia during the time that Aizen tried to have her killed in order to retrieve the Hogyoku." It was Momo's turn to stare at the floor in shame as those painful memories returned.
"Ahem," Yumichika brought her attention back to their situation. "Well in any event, Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenant Matsumoto, Ikkaku and I were sent down to the world of the living in order to protect that city should anyone attack." Yumichika waited for Momo to nod her head in agreement.
"It turns out that while Captain Hitsugaya was staying in the world of the living he met Karin Kurosaki, Ichigo's little sister, and has developed a relationship with her. Ichigo has gone mad at their relationship and is the reason we have all been hopping from world to world until we can find a way to get out of this dimension. It appears that you, Lieutenant Hinamori, have been dragged into this dimension and so are trapped along with the rest of us." Yumichika completed the summary of the events up until their present world. He nodded his head while Momo sat in complete shock.
"Toushiro likes someone," Momo whispered to the floor curious as to why her heart seemed to crack at this piece of information.
"Yumichika, I would like to see this Karin Kurosaki." Momo requested surprising Yumichika at the severe tone ringing from her voice.
"Very well my queen," Yumichika answered making Momo blush until she felt the crown on the top of her head. Since she wore a crown, it meant that she was a queen in this world.
"Here she is," a picture of a young black haired girl in a short sleeve kimono that had been torn and dirtied with use and scrubbing the steps of a palace with an old scrub brush. She didn't seem to mind the work while she scrubbed the marble even harder causing more soap bubbles to curdle out from the sides of the brush. She jerked her head up and a smile lit up her face as recognition of a person walked up to her. The person who approached her was Toushiro Hitsugaya wearing a white puffed shirt and brown riding pants above his black booted feet all while a dark blue cape blew around his shoulders in the breeze. He removed his feathered cap and pulled a black and white round ball from behind his back. It seemed that this ball caused her more joy as Momo watched her face light up in excitement. Momo growled in the back of her throat when Karin leaned toward Toushiro as he whispered something in her ears. It was then he bounced the ball up to a second story window to Karin's annoyance and Toushiro only smiled back to her.
"ENOUGH!" Momo shrieked shocking Yumichika with the force of her yell and her hands shaking slightly in a quiet rage.
'He can't possibly like her! He can't!' Momo furiously thought as she heard the front door slam shut and hurried footsteps run into a room one floor directly below her.
'She can't even walk quietly. I doubt that she has any manners. Why would he even give her a second glance?' Momo fumed in her mind as Karin seemed to rummage in the room harshly throwing objects aside. Tables squeaked with the speed and force she used to throw them aside in her haste.
"I can't believe him!" Karin complained looking for her soccer ball. "He took it from me in the first place and has the nerve to bring it back saying that I had forgotten it. Ha! I don't know what kind of servant he is with the way he dresses. He tries to look smooth and from a higher family, but he can't be anything more than a farmer's son." Karin continued complaining tossing more items around the room to search under the bed.
"Oh man, I can't find it." Karin pouted with a huge frown pulling at her face. She turned from the room grumbling quietly under her breath.
Back in the queen's room, Momo was continuing to stew in the scene she just witnessed.
"Yumichika!" The mirror started at her call since she had been so quiet for the past several minutes. "I want to know the exact relationship that Toushiro and this Karin have developed." She ordered with a glare burning holes in the glass as if she dared him to deny her request.
"Yes, my queen," Yumichika recovered from his surprise "Karin and Captain Hitsugaya have been dating for the past several months." Momo stood in shock for several moments as this news sunk into her mind.
"Dating?" Momo whispered.
"Yes, my queen, they have very deep feelings for each other. I must say it has helped Captain Hitsugaya to develop a lighter mood and he has calmed down so much since they began dating. However, as I said before Ichigo had gone mad especially when he couldn't scare Captain Hitsugaya away." Yumichika smirked as he thought, 'as if a mere mortal were able to scare off a captain of the Gotei 13.' He quickly shook his head focusing to the matter at hand.
"This led to the spell he called down upon everyone. If my understanding is correct, the spell erased their memory of each other. In each of these worlds, they meet and develop a strong relationship just as before the spell, but then the spell is repeated and we are sent off again and it all starts over again." Yumichika shook his head from side to side at the confusion of the situation.
"So, you're saying in this world that Karin and Toushiro don't know each other." Momo inquired.
"That's right," Yumichika answered then blinked at the devious smile playing on Lieutenant Hinamori's lips.
'Then I can just end this 'relationship' before it can start. Toushiro will never know and he won't care when she is gone.'
"Thank you, Yumichika. That will be all." Momo swiftly turned from the mirror as the face faded into the reflective piece of glass so only the room and her standing in the center showed in the oval frame.
"Now to take care of this Karin Kurosaki.," Momo growled as she stormed out of the bedroom to figure out exactly who was in this castle.
Karin ran back to the stairs to continue scrubbing after she finally found her soccer ball and returned it to her room.
"Now to finish these stairs before supper," Karin mumbled as she bent back down to the concrete. A little bunny came bounding up to the stairs and landed in Karin's lap.
"Karin! I'm so glad that I found you." The bunny exclaimed. Karin stared at the bunny then screamed throwing the creature to the ground.
"What? Whoa, Whoa," the bunny waved his hands around as she looked up to her. "It's me, Isshin." Karin blinked and grabbed a broom that lay nearby. "I'm your father," the bunny stated causing Karin to frown.
"Look I don't know if you've eaten some bad carrots or something, but you can't be my father since you're a bunny rabbit and I'm a human." Karin pointed out while still holding the broom preparing to attack.
"You forgot, again." Isshin, the rabbit, moaned with large tears falling from his eyes before he hopped away into the woods.
"Karin," the voice of the queen fell on the girl's ears as she lowered the broom and watched Queen Momo descend the steps.
"Yes, my queen." Karin answered and Momo paused for a moment as she was still getting accustomed to being labeled a queen.
"I want you to go out into the woods with Tetsuzaemon Iba, the hunter. You are to collect berries and game for dinner this very afternoon." Queen Momo demanded of the younger girl.
"Yes, my queen." Karin answered. It looks like supper would have to wait a little while longer. Karin ran inside and quickly changed in a simple brown skirt and yellow shirt ensemble. She threw her brown riding cloak over her shoulders as she hurried out of the room and sprinted to the gates where Iba waited on his dark brown horse.
Queen Momo looked on from her bedroom and a cruel smile darkened her face at the ease of this plan to eliminate her rival.
Iba helped Karin onto her horse, a small white stallion, before he jumped onto his own steed, a dark brown stallion with a long stripe from his eyes to the tip of his nose. She followed the hunter out into the woods. As they rode, Karin couldn't help feel the "eyes" staring at her from the woods. She wanted to go up to whoever stared at her and punch his lights out for peeking on her.
"Here we are." Iba suddenly pulled up at a meadow where many berry bushes lined the edges of the forest and a few birds took flight from the trees overhead. Karin jumped down and let her horse nibble on the grass as she walked up to the berries carrying a small brown wicker basket.
Iba watched her as he stepped down from his larger steed. The queen's message played through his mind.
-Flashback-
"I want you to take Karin out far away into a meadow to find some game and where she can pick berries."
"Yes, my queen." He nodded his head in obedience.
"But, before you return I want you to have an 'accident' where Karin is killed."
"What?" He stared up to her in shock.
"You heard me, I want you to take her into the woods and have a 'hunting accident'. It happens all of the time, Tetsuzaemon. You mistook Karin for a deer and stabbed her in the back or shot her with an arrow in the back. You may take your pick of the method of her disposal. Either way I don't want to see her face ever again. I don't want anyone else to see her face again come to think of it." The queen's vicious smile displayed the seriousness of her request.
"My queen I am not comfortable with this request." He admitted his disapproval to which Momo only frowned before her lips took on a smirk that only Aizen could pull off.
"Then, I suppose you shall disappear in the very near future should the two of you return." He gulped because he didn't want to die so young. He still had so much to live for: he wanted to be a mighty warrior, to be married, he also longed to see children, and to see them grow up to be mighty warriors.
"Very well, my Queen, as you wish." Tetsuzaemon replied with a bow as he stood from his kneeling position.
"Wait, Tetsuzaemon," he turned back to her as her dark eyes bore into his. "There is something else. To make sure she is disposed of I wish you to return with her heart in this box." Momo pulled a simple blue box with the lock being a dagger stabbing a heart. "If this is empty upon your return, then I would regret the news of your surprising demise on your next hunting party." Momo placed the box in his hands and he could almost feel the final beats of a heart pounding within the simple chamber.
"Do we have an understanding, Tetsuzaemon Iba?" Queen Momo asked as she turned from him to head up to her room.
"Yes, my queen." He had to swallow the bile that threatened to bring him to his knees.
-End Flashback
So it was with a heavy heart that he watched Karin bend down at the bushes and slowly start picking the best out to place in her basket. Iba slowly stepped up to her pulling his dagger from the sheath at his back.
'I was heading for a rabbit caught in a snare when I tripped on a root. It was an accident that my dagger stabbed the girl in the back . . . and pulled her heart out in my attempts to dislodge it.' Iba had to sit down when his knees started to go weak at this pathetic excuse. Nobody would believe that a hunter of his experience would be careless enough to trip over a root. Then again . . . accidents happen. He slowly rose and proceeded toward Karin's hunched form.
'I'm sorry for this child, but it's either your life or mine.' Iba silently apologized when he spotted two wolves come from the woods directly in front of Karin and leap over her hunched form to land between her and the hunter.
"What is the meaning of this?" The light brown wolf demanded. Iba blinked at the voice emanating from the large wolf.
"AHHH, WOLVES!" Karin screamed staring at the massive wolves growling at the hunter. One wolf was light brown with gold eyes and the second was silver with gray eyes.
"Captain Komamura?" Tetsuzaimon stuttered dropping his dagger and stepping away from the wolves.
"Yes, Tetsuzaemon," the brown wolf spoke as he advanced toward his lieutenant. "I am very disappointed in you, Iba. You should know better than to intentionally kill another human being." The brown wolf growled again.
"Kill?" Karin blinked looking around the meadow then down at the dagger. She stumbled to her feet and nearly fell into the bushes but the silver wolf kept her balance.
"All will be well, Karin. I shall not allow any harm to befall you." The silver wolf spoke to her and she was freaked out once again.
"This is too weird. First a rabbit tells me it's my father and now there are two wolves that are talking." Karin stated while she hung onto the wolf's neck to keep her upright.
"This is not an honorable thing to do. What do you have to say for yourself, Tetsuzaemon Iba?" The brown wolf, Captain Komamura, demanded of his lieutenant. Iba suddenly dropped to his knees with his fists to the ground as he begged for mercy.
"I am deeply sorry for the actions but I have no choice. It's Momo, she demands I bring back Karin's heart in a box or she'll have me killed! I didn't know what to do. I'm sorry Captain." Iba touched his forehead to the ground in deep regret and shame.
"Lieutenant Hinamori?" The silver wolf exclaimed in surprise. "I have never known Hinamori to take such drastic actions."
"Then you don't know my lady Momo." A little blue bird flitted over to land on the wolf's shoulder. Karin jumped at the bird speaking to the group.
"She hasn't been right since Aizen dropped her."
"And many are curious as to why my master is eager for Aizen's head to be placed on a stake." The silver wolf shook his head.
"Did you find her?" An orange cat jumped from the bushes. "I guess you did. Hello Karin." The cat greeted the girl. Karin simply waved in silence completely taken aback at these animals sudden speech.
"Did you doubt us, Haineko?" Komamura requested of the cat.
"No, but I'm surprised that Hyourinmaru didn't go for Captain Hitsugaya first." Haineko admitted about the silver wolf.
"My master would have been deeply disappointed if we had arrived too late, Haineko. It was faster that I come first." The silver wolf, Hyourinmaru, explained. Karin looked around at all the animals.
"Hyourinmaru, I'm sorry about my mistress." The little blue bird chirped on his shoulder.
"It is no fault of your own, Tobiume. I suppose it was bound to happen at some point in time." Hyourinmaru explained.
"Still that leaves us with a very big problem." Iba broke into the animal's debates. "What are we going to do about Karin? If I don't bring her heart to Momo, then she'll have me killed." Hyourinmaru snarled and stalked toward Iba with his hackles raised. Tobiume was scared off of his shoulder at the wolf's reaction.
"Hyourinmaru nothing will happen to Karin." Komamura eased the wrath of the silver wolf.
"You could leave and not return to the castle." Karin supplied and Iba looked over her shaking his head.
"Then she'll know for certain that you're still alive and she'll find some way to have me eliminated. And I really don't want to die!" Iba whined to the group.
"AND YOU THINK THAT I DO!" Karin angrily stated to the lieutenant.
"Lieutenant Iba," Tobiume flitted over to his shoulder to give her suggestion, "my mistress said to bring back her heart, right?" Iba nodded his head to confirm the bird's words.
"Well, just give her the heart of a different animal. She won't be able to tell the difference and you can return then move away as soon as you are able." Tobiume's suggestion was the exact solution to the problem.
"That's a great idea." Iba happily agreed and he carefully replaced his dagger into the sheath under the careful watch of Hyourinmaru.
"So what do I do?" Karin asked the group.
"That's a good question, Karin." Haineko jumped onto Hyourinmaru's back and the orange cat put one paw under her chin in thought.
"You can't live in the forest." She mused to herself.
"I know where she can stay." Hyourinmaru stated as he bent down to allow Karin to jump on. "Jump on my back, Karin." She blinked at the wolf as he patiently waited in his kneeling position.
"Okay." Karin jumped onto his back as Haineko jumped off.
"Hold on," Hyourinmaru stated and Karin gripped a clump of fur in each hand just before he plunged into the woods leaving the other animals to finish up the plans for tricking the deranged queen.
Karin remained quiet as she rode on the back of the wolf. They traveled for a good distance just as the wolf stopped at a little cabin across a small creek. The cabin stood just a little above her own height.
"What type of person lives here?" Karin asked sliding down from Hyourinmaru's back.
"Very good friends who will keep you safe," Hyourinmaru explained as he led her across a little bridge to the front door. Karin knocked on the door and one little man opened the door.
"What do you want?" A grumpy three foot high miniature Kenpachi grumbled up to the human and wolf. Kenpachi had a patch over one eye and his revealed green eye glared up at the pair.
"This is Karin. She needs a place to live until Queen Momo can be reasoned with, or dealt with." Hyourinmaru lowered his voice at the end of that sentence.
"Who's there?" A woman half standing just barely three feet walked up behind the first dwarf. This little woman had her hair braided down the front of her pale blue shirt.
"We don't need anyone to bother us." A crabby voice vented from inside the small cabin.
"We have no room. Go away!" A shrewd voice broke above the other voices.
"Now, Soi Fon, we can't leave a little girl in the woods alone." A kinder voice broke into the mess.
"I don't care. No one else is going to enter this hut." The shrewd voice demanded.
"I will hear none of that Soi Fon. She may stay here." An older voice interrupted.
"I have no issues as long as she can obey the rules of this household." A far off voice responded to the mess.
"Besides, can't get any worse I suppose." A lighter voice exclaimed over the other voices.
"Very well, then come and introduce yourselves." Hyourinmaru requested stepping away from the little cabin door as four more small people came out.
"Come on, Soi Fon, get out here." A small man wearing a straw hat called back to the open door.
"No," the small female voice returned.
"Captain Soi Fon I order you to present yourself front and center this instance." A small man with a long beard carrying a walking stick ordered back to the cabin. Karin heard small grumblings as she stomped out of the cabin to stand in line beside the man with the straw hat.
"See, it's not so bad." A man with medium length black hair exclaimed to her but she disagreed.
"No this is worse." She growled between clenched teeth.
"Is this worse than butterfly wings, a flowing dress, and magic dust?" The man with the straw hat asked and the woman blushed a deep red in shame.
"So who are you guys?" She asked and the little men and women presented themselves from left to right.
"Kenpachi Zaraki." Dwarf with spiky hair having small bells attached to the tips with deep red shirt and brown pants.
"Retsu Unohana." Female dwarf with hair braided down the front of her light blue shirt and brown skirt.
"Byakuya Kuchiki." Dwarf with medium length black hair with silver pieces along his bangs and wearing a yellow shirt and brown pants.
"Genryusai Yamamoto." Dwarf with long white beard and walking stick with a deep blue shirt and brown pants.
"Jushrio Ukitake." Dwarf with long white hair with a green shirt and brown pants.
"Shunsui Kuoraku." Dwarf with straw hat and bangs on left side of face with a pink shirt and brown pants.
"Soi Fon." A female dwarf with hair in pig tails wearing an orange shirt and brown pants.
"Hi. My name is Karin. It's nice to meet you." Karin answered with a small wave. The little people responded in kind except for the pink shirted.
"Let's just get inside and eat." Soi Fon grumbled and ran inside before anyone could argue.
"You shall be safe here, Karin." Hyourinmaru exclaimed pushing her toward the little cabin with his nose.
"Okay, bye Hyourinmaru." Karin waved to the silver wolf as he returned to the woods.
Omake
*Haineko runs to catch up with Hyourinmaru.*
Haineko: Deal with Momo Hinamori? Would you really do such a thing, Hyourinmaru?
Hyourinmaru: Yes. She threatens the one that my master is enamored with. As far as I'm concernted she should be frozen alongside Ichgio.
Haineko: Where is Ichigo anyway?
*Look up to castle garden where stone figure of Ichigo holding bowl with water pouring out of cup into fountain with birds sitting on him and doing what birds do.*
Haineko: He's a fountain.
Hyourinmaru: Yes, although I would have preferred he be turned into a gargoyle.
Haineko: But a fountain?
Hyourinmaru: Yes, is that a problem.
Haineko: No, but I wonder . . . *bird poop lands on Ichigo's eye* if the bird droppings will disappear or if they remain when he's defrosted.
Hyourinmaru: I hope they remain.
Haineko: Hyourinmaru!
Hyourinmaru: What? *looks over to Haineko perched on a bench.*
Haineko: You're unbelievable.
*Tilts one ear in confusion toward the little orange cat.*
**On a continent far from Japan**
Raven: I can't believe you entered my room and took my book. Now where is it?
Beast Boy: Hold on, I think I have the receipt around here somewhere.
*Beast Boy goes into closet and throws clothes, shoes, bones, pillows, bouncy ball, Silkie, and other undistinguished items to pile up around Raven.*
Raven: I will not touch anything that comes from that closet.
*A small cat is thrown past Raven to run down the hall.*
Raven: That explains all the disappearing tuna.
A/N: Okay here is the next chapter. I chose Snow White because I wanted to and I couldn't think of another one that would fit with the characters that "fall" into the red smoke. I apologize for making Momo evil in this story but I had to give the Queen a reason to want to off Snow White. The only reason I could think of was because Momo may have feelings for Toushiro but she has lost him forever to Karin.
***Warning small rant: I mean seriously. She believes Aizen who she only knows for a couple of years at the most (or however long she knew him) over Toushiro who she's known practically her whole life. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that you trust the person you've known longest. Since she didn't, she doesn't deserve Toushiro Hitsugaya. End Rant.*** Okay I'm done.
Let me know what you think of this chapter. I know it's not as funny as my other chapters, but I couldn't think of any real serious humor to add anywhere. Either way let me know what you think of this story and I want to thank all of my lovely readers for your wonderful suggestions. I'll see you guys when I get the next chapter up.