Log; Complete.

[hajikemomo.livejournal.com]

When; Mind-reading day, sunset
Rating; PG
Characters; Hinamori Momo (hajikemomo) and Aizen Souske (good_and_proper)
Summary; Hinamori goes to confront Aizen unarmed and apparently without a large part of her brain functioning. :3 (You know I love her really. ♥)
Log;

Hinamori glanced back. Tobiume lay where she'd left it, silent. The small shinigami was hit by a sense of.. sadness? Almost guilt, as she gazed at the zanpakuto for a moment. It was respecting her wishes, not moving, not materializing, and not talking. It wouldn't give her away. She returned her gaze to the City, slowly, reluctantly. She'd called him out, so this sudden apprehension... It was Kira and Hitsugaya. The things Kira looked like he was about to say, and the things Hitsugaya would say if Hinamori would just give him a chance. Which was why she took a deep breath, concealing her reiatsu. She didn't need anyone to know she'd headed out by herself, sword-less. Not tonight.

The leap from window to ground took less time than she'd hoped, and the carousel was only a few shunpyo paces away. Tempted to take the long way Hinamori shook it off, heading straight there. It was already sundown, and she'd be in trouble if she ran into any other shinigami. It wouldn't be good on a normal day, but today's curse... it had been all she could manage to avoid thinking about this moment all day, unsure as to who exactly could hear her thoughts. She hoped they'd think she just wanted to be left alone somewhere quiet to mope, and wouldn't go looking for her. Not now.

She landed, straighting up as she watched the carousel. He wouldn't lie to her and bring his zanpakuto, would he? She hesitantly wished she'd been affected by the curse, could have read minds for the day. But she couldn't, hadn't been affected, and the small girl closed her eyes, biting back a flood of emotions that were running wild in her head. She just had to get through this, get the answers she wanted.


"Hello Hinamori," said a voice from just behind her, "You wished to speak?"

He was dressed in a casual kimono, carrying a thermos of tea with him. He set out a cloth and sat down on it, pouring the hot liquid into a cup.

"Tea?"


"N-no, I'm fine." She wanted to run to him, but the memory of cold steel prevented her from moving an inch. Hinamori watched silently for a moment, gathering the strength to say what she wanted to. To ask. To beg, even, if it came to it.

But it would be small steps. She glanced away, checking for any shinigami. She really, really, really could not deal with that today. Small steps, she repeated to herself. First things first, of course. Today's curse. "Were you affected today? The whole.. hearing others thoughts curse?"


He smiled up at her warmly and took a sip.

"Oh, that's hardly important, don't you think? I'm already quite good at figuring out what's going on in someones head."

Another sip.

"In any case, why do you need to know?"


"I was just wondering." She glanced away, cheeks colouring. It was stupid to think he'd give a straightforward answer to that. Would she willingly admit she could hear someones thoughts? Probably not. She'd just have to try hard and not let it bother her.

"I... You keep- It's just, you said one thing, but you keep acting another. You fought Rangiku... You bait the other shinigami here... but... Why? I just, I need to know which part of this is real. Which part is true." Hinamori focused on the ground. It was a good enough thing to stare at, what with it's inability to talk or watch.


"In any case, I can hide my thoughts easily."

He noticed her hesitation and got up, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm not going to attack you, Hinamori. I did all that so I could keep up appearances. I'm going to do a lot of things that may not make sense to you. I'm going to say things that may sound odd, do things you find abhorrent, and lie about things a lot. That's just the nature of the beast."

He knelt down and pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her.

"You don't have to worry about things so much, Hina-chan. Think about it. It was well within my power to kill Rangiku, yet I did not."


She gasped at the contact, greatly surprised. But it didn't last long, her eyes closing in contentment at the familiar feeling. It was Aizen, her Aizen-taichou. "I can't help it... I won't be able to stop stepping between you if you fight. So... will you not? Or at least... Ichimaru... if he'd leave Kira-kun alone... I'd feel so much better about everything..."

There were tears falling that she didn't remember and she was faintly aware that she was shaking. Her world had been crashing down for so long and everyone had held back, afraid to tell her anything for fear of pushing her over... But here it was. All she'd ever hoped to have. Holding her. Telling her things would be fine. And she believed it all.


"I have barely talked to Ichimaru since being here. I don't control his actions like a puppeteer. He will do as he will. But I will refrain from attacking people."

He smoothed her hair and kissed her on the forehead, then leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

"You're the only important thing I have anymore, Momo. And it looks like we'll ALL be stuck here for awhile. No point in fighting, I suppose."

And at least that bit was true. Regardless of grudges, they were all stuck in the same boat. Well, the same city at least. Pooling resources was a better option.

"I love you very much, Momo. It killed me inside when I hurt you, even if I was trying for a non-fatal strike."


"Aizen-taichou..." She couldn't, wouldn't, refused to open her eyes. Couldn't understand fully, half afraid she was dreaming. It registered that Ichimaru wasn't following Aizen, and she thought hard on that one point, keeping it in the forefront of her mind even as she felt herself focusing on the warmth around her, giving into it. The annoyed but glad look Hitsugaya had given her the night before came to mind then, the way he smiled without ever dropping his ice mask, and Hinamori pulled back. The young captain was probably already tearing up the place looking for her, Abarai and Kira in tow. She frowned slightly at the thought, opening her eyes.

"You'll leave them alone completely, even if they come at you?" She knew Rangiku would, after all. It was getting harder to hold her back with threats of fighting Ichimaru.

Ichimaru was a whole other problem... She'd need to talk with Kira on that.


He cursed inwardly when she pulled away.

"Damn," he thought, "Maybe I pushed too hard."

He kept his face looking as thoughtful as he could

"Don't worry. I won't attack anyone, even if they attack me. I can simply avoid them. My skill is far beyond theirs."

He stepped back and folded up the cloth, then put away his thermos and cups.

"I...I can see I have made you uncomfortable. I am sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Perhaps I said a bit too much for you."


"I... I'm sorry. Ah! I mean.. I'm sorry." She blushed furiously, once again staring at the ground. He wasn't the one that yelled at her for apologizing too much, so quite why she'd been so flustered she did not know.

"It's just.. I didn't tell them I was going out. So they're probably looking for me... I don't want to worry them." She snuck a glance, reassuring herself that she wasn't making the entire meeting up.


He caught her glance and smiled at her again, giving that same reassuring grin he was so good at.

"That's fine. I'm sure you shouldn't keep them waiting."

There was an awkward pause.

"Momo...One day, let's...never mind. Have a good day."


Hinamori smiled in response, nodding slightly. "Thank you for meeting me..." She wanted to ask, desperately, to know what he was going to say, but she could already sense trouble waiting for in the form of two vice captains and a captain. "Thank you," she repeated, smiling again before using her shunpyo, heading back to the fifth building.