This chapter is dedicated to my friend davyn. Thanks again!!
Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I did not own Bleach. Oh and guess what?! I still do not!
Chapter 6. Vow
Hinamori walked to the office of the Shinigami Academy, were she would find out if she had passed the exams or not.
Surprisingly, she had actually found the entrance exams quite easy, but then again, she wondered if she thought they were easy because she sped through it and got everything wrong.
She was panicking so much that she almost walked right by the office, and she was lucky to have even found that, for she was so lost and had no idea where she was going.
She and all of the other first year students had been assigned dorms and roommates before they even took the exams. Then, they had slept there that night and would be told if they had passed or not today early in the morning.
The higher and older students started their classes at about 7:00am, and all of the first years needed to know if they had passed or not before then so that they could get right to class.
Hinamori thought that it was a very strange way to do things for the first day. Why give students a dorm and a roommate if they did not even pass the exams? Would they just have to go back home again if they failed? The thoughts buzzed through her head as she knocked softly on the door.
After a curt greeting was heard, informing her to enter, she bowed and stepped into the room.
A man with black-purple hair sat at a desk piled high with papers, and he looked up at her as she entered. He then motioned to a seat and informed her that she was free to sit down.
"Name?" He asked almost right away. It was not a rude or annoying voice, just the tired, and stressed out voice of a hard worker.
"Hinamori Momo, sir." She spoke clearly and sat with her back straight and her shoulders back, her eyes fixed on him and her hands in fists in her lap.
It was the only way that she knew how to be respectful and formal, to sit with a good posture and be interested.
The man smiled at her quickly and then shuffled through some papers. Hinamori thought that he was just trying to be nice, but really, he was amused and delighted at her respectfulness. No other student that he had called in that morning had been so attentive and even though it was 6:30am, this girl was as awake and as jumpy as a fawn. He had a good feeling about her…
"Ah! Here we are." He said suddenly, pulling out a certain sheet of paper.
He had been so quiet and had perked up so fast that Hinamori jumped slightly, but then remembered that she was in front of her superior and stayed quiet.
"Hinamori Momo." He said aloud, looking at the paper. "You scored quite nicely on this exam, in fact, your grade is the highest we've had here in a long time, almost perfect." He announced.
A sudden sense of pride blew over her and she relaxed her shoulders the slightest bit.
The test had mostly been about all that one knew about souls and spirits, and the districts of Soul Society. Questions also depending on location, age and if it made a difference were you wound up in Rukongai. Quite honestly, Hinamori had breezed through those exams in less the 30 minutes. The dark-haired man had gone back to shuffling papers, a small smile on his face; he had a really good feeling about this girl…
"S-Sir!" She squeaked suddenly. He looked up at her. "M-May I ask your name?" Her hands were shaky in her lap as she spoke, almost as though she were nervous.
"Well I think it's fair of you to ask. You'll need to know it since you're gonna be staying here a while. My name is Hisagi Shuuhei." He replied with another smile.
Hinamori perked up even more at his words, relief and joy washed over her like rapids. She had heard of this man, through small rumors and gossip, and she was shocked that he, the 'strongest fighter in a really long time' that everyone else had labeled him was actually so kind.
"Well actually, you look like a responsible girl, so I'll tell you something that no other student knows."
Now, she felt nervous, why her? But she heard the man out as he lowered his voice.
"In reality, everyone passed the exams, even the dimwitted ones." He spoke truthfully. "You see, all the sensei had it planned out since last year when the accident happened. It was the final semester and the students had to take their final test, which was to go into combat with real enemies, meaning Hollow."
There it was again.
That word.
That awful, terrible word; Hollow.
It was coming back to haunt her…
Her sensei continued. "But, something went horribly wrong and…and we lost all of them, but 28." He finished with a sigh of regret.
Hinamori's eyes almost tripled in size. Only 28 came back?! From afar the school was huge, but up close it was massive. It could hold nearly 1,000 people!
"It was an ambush." He lowered his eyes, as if going back to that time, and tears filled the young girl's eyes. But she quickly brushed them away; she did not like crying…
"So you see," Her sensei spoke up and looked at her again. "We had been planning all along that all of you would make it, that's why we gave all of you dorms and roommates yesterday, because no one was leaving. However, things may change throughout the school year." He concluded.
Now Hinamori understood; they were in desperate need of Shinigami this year.
Her eyes were almost tearing at the thought of hundreds of students being killed by an ambush…
Seeing her sadness, Shuuhei spoke again. "Don't worry." He said. "I swear that will never happen ever again, no one else is going to die a meaningless death as long as I'm around." He smiled kindly. Hinamori bowed her head mournfully.
"I will try my hardest not to let you down, Sensei, and I will fight for peace until I die." She vowed.
"Good, I'm glad to hear it." He said. Then he handed her a sheet of paper. "This is your schedule, classes start at 7:00am every morning. There are extra classes on Saturdays, and on Sundays there are no classes." Hinamori perked up once again.
No classes on Sundays! That means that I can visit Obaa-san and Shiro-chan every week! Well, if I have time that is.
Then, Hisagi gave her a nod that signaled that she was dismissed. She stood to her feet and bowed deeply.
"Arigatou gozaimasu." She thanked him before turning around and leaving the office.
Judging by the faint, dusky light that swirled around the windows, she assumed that it was about 6:45. So, she decided to go back to her dorm and look over her schedule.
She walked through the hallways of the school, and then dashed out the doors. The school was separated from the buildings that held the rooms; there was a boy's dorm and a girl's dorm. She silently made her way over to the girl's dorms, thankful for the lights that were positioned around the buildings that sliced through the darkness.
She was also thankful for the uniform that she had been given. It was a standard white top with a red circle near each shoulder, and a long, red hakama. She was also given socks and sandals woven from hay, and surprisingly, they did not make a sound as she walked along the cemented sidewalks.
But she continued to wear her hair in two small, shoulder-length pigtails, just for old time's sake…
She entered the girl's dorm and made her way to the third floor out of five. They were each given roommates according to alphabetical order by family name, and then they were given rooms on the five floors, starting with A on the first floor and working its way up to Z.
The hallways were dim with lights as she finally found the right door. Hinamori took a small key from her pocket and was about to open the door when it was opened for her.
"Hi Hinamori-chan!" A girl a few inches shy of Hinamori's height stood in the doorway. The brown-haired girl smiled and walked into the room, closing the door behind her.
"How are you so hyper in the mornings? I just don't understand you, Kuchiki-san." She stated. The other girl sat down on her bed, all of the jumpiness was suddenly replaced by mysteriousness.
"I don't know." She said softly, which was her normal tone. "I guess I've just always liked the mornings." Her eyes were filling with distantness as memories came over her, a small, lonely smile on her lips.
Hinamori could not believe that this was the same girl who had just welcomed her 20 seconds earlier. She quickly changed the subject, as to prevent the remembrance of past pain.
"Did you get your schedule Kuchiki-san?" She asked.
She did not actually need to ask, for only the people that got accepted received schedules, and everyone was accepted this year.
The other girl looked up and nodded.
"Great! Lets compare them to see if we have any classes together."
A/N: Yay! Done with this chapter! Yes, Rukia and Momo are roomates! Heehee!
Please review!!