Chapter 3
"Me? I'm a teacher at Ouran Elementary School." A man that passed by spoke through his mobile phone.
That voice.
Thoughts of him ran through her head. There was no way it was possible. He was dead. She wasn't exactly there to see it but if he was actually alive, what would he be doing in the human world anyway? Walking around as one of them. A second, more plausible explanation was that it was reincarnation. That would explain the likeness to him.
Hinamori rubbed her head with the palm of her hand. That can't be it. It has only been slightly over 10 years. Humans aged exponentially faster than the souls from Soul Society, but 10 years from birth he wouldn't look like a grown man in his mid 20's already.
It had been a long time since she was in the living world but how could she be so rusty on simple human facts. She let out a heavy sigh. What if it was neither of the two and just a coincidence. But with glasses and a captain haori, he was a mirror image of a younger Aizen.
She couldn't let it go. Hinamori quickly ran down the street and turned the same corner. Her feet stopped moving when she saw she entered the shopping district with dozens of shops to the left and right. Crowds of people walked back and forth, in and out of stores.
The girl hoped to find the man again as she walked down the pavement. She glanced through the windows of the stores with the chance he was in one of them.
"This is crazy. I should head back." She told herself as she realized she had lost him already and was beginning to feel like a stalker.
Back in the Seireitei, Hinamori personally reported the findings of her mission to Sōtaichō. There was a long pause as she stood in front of his desk, waiting for his response. The old man has his eyes closed while one hand stroked his long white beard. She couldn't help herself from getting a bit inpatient. What is he waiting for, she wondered. It was a simple report, a open and shut case. All this time wasted and she could have been training for bankai.
A weird snort came from the back of her conscience.
Yes, Hinamori. You could have achieved Bankai with the ten minutes you've spent here.
And you'll bite your tongue when it happens?
Another weird snort, this time louder.
"Please deliver this to Squad 12 to be examined." Sōtaichō nudged the unowned zanpakutō on his desk towards Hinamori.
She bowed and picked up the zanpakutō and turned to leave.
"Afterwards, please prepare for your new mission. You will be taking over the vicinity of Karakura in his place." His raspy voice cut the air.
"Hah?" She whipped around in surprise.
Sōtaichō looked up at her. "Is there a problem? If I remember correctly, you requested for more mis—"
"Ah! No—no problem at all!"
"The attacker was not a simple hollow. I need a high ranked officer to patrol and hopefully eliminate the problem."
She bowed again. "I understand. I'll be on my way."
After she delivered the zanpakutō to the 12th division she stopped by Hitsugaya's office. She knocked on the door and slid the door open without waiting to be invited in.
"Matsumoto-san?" It was an unusual sight to see the fukutaichō sitting at a desk doing paperwork.
Matsumoto looked up at her. "Ah! Hinamori!" She perked up excitedly, now she has an excuse of why half a sheet of report was done.
"Are you feeling alight?" Hinamori asked.
"Just fine. Why?"
"Because you're doing paperwork."
"Now that you mention it.." Matsumoto placed the back of her hand up against her own forehead. "I do feel a fever coming on. I don't think I can continue the paperwork."
Hinamori giggled softly and Matsumoto gleamed a smile. It was nice to see Hinamori back to the way she was before the whole Aizen fiasco. In fact, she seemed even better. With Aizen around, she was always so serious with her work, making sure he didn't lift a finger even though it was her job to assist. Without him, she laughed more and smiled more for herself.
It took a while after Hinamori was released from the hospital for her to stop apologizing to Matsumoto for attacking her with the kidō. Every time she saw Matsumoto, she would quickly bow and apologize. Even though Matsumoto told her to forget about it, she could still see the guilt in her eyes for hurting her friend. Eventually, Matsumoto had to threaten her she would never speak to Hinamori again if she didn't stop and forget it.
"Taichō is out on an errand and then lunch." Matsumoto didn't bother to ask what Hinamori was doing here as it was obvious.
"Oh, ok." Hinamori proceeded to tell Matsumoto of her new mission. "Could you pass it on to Hitsugaya-kun for me? I must leave right away."
"You said Karakura Town, right?" Hinamori nodded.
"Theres a man that owns a shop there. His name is Urahara Kisuke (if I remember correctly), get a gigai from him and buy me the best sake there is!" Matsumoto shoved some money into Hinamori's hands.
"The sake here isn't enough?" Hinamori asked as she was pushed out the door by Matsumoto.
"There's no such thing as 'enough'! Now don't forget, ok?" She waved Hinamori 'bye' with a big smile.
The gate appeared in the sky of the real world. Hinamori stepped out and as soon as both her feet where out of the gate, it closed and disappeared. She stood in the sky and looked at the sheet of paper of the crudely drawn map Matsumoto gave her to find Urahara Shop.
Somehow, Hinamori managed to fellow the map quite well. She landed swiftly in front of the shop. It stood out because it wasn't a modern building that she had expected it would be.
The front door slid open. "Welcome." A girl with dark hair and tied in pigtails stood at the doorway.
"Hurry up and invite them in, Ururu!" A boy with red hair appeared from behind her rubbed his knuckles on her head.
"Ouch! Jinta!" The girl winced.
"Well, are you going to stay out there?" He looked at Hinamori.
"S-sorry for the intrusion!" Hinamori walked up to the door and followed behind the two that led to a room with a table. She sat down on a pillow and waited quietly.
The doors on the other side of the room slowly slid open. She turned her head to the left to greet whom ever was coming. She stared at the doorway, no one was there.
"Ah!" She gasped in surprise and blinked a few times to make sure what she was seeing was real. A tray floated in the air, inches off the ground, with a tea cup. It slowly made it's way to the table where she sat. She watched as the try slid on the table. This place is amazing! She thought to herself.
Something small and green appeared from behind the tea cup. It took the tea cup and placed it front of Hinamori.
"It was a modified soul in a doll! Here I thought the tray was magically floating!" She giggled and picked him up. "Kawaii!"
The green turtle plushie blushed.
"His name is Nova." A man with a green and white striped hat smiled behind the fan he held in front of his face.
Hinamori stood up and bowed to properly greet herself. "I'm Hinamori Momo. Lieutenant of Squad 5. Pleased to meet you."
"Ah. A lieutenant. We haven't had such high ranked officer in a long time and a cute one too! Urahara Kisuke at your service, my dear."
Urahara sat down across the table while Hinamori held Nova in her lap. "In need of a gigai?" He asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Unfortunately, I don't have one ready at this moment. If you could give me some time, I'll have one for you as soon as possible."
"That's no problem. I'm stationed here for the time being. Please take your time."
"I'll get on it right away." He smiled a mischievous smile behind his fan. Hinamori didn't notice as she was playing with Nova.
After Urahara and Nova left, Hinamori sat alone the room. She wasn't sure how long it would take so she decided to take a tour of the city. Hinamori stood outside the shop, unsure of where she should start. She then remembered that man. Still curious about him she headed back to the wooded area where she found the zanpakutō. There was a school nearby, an elementary school. She remembered the sign that said 'Ouran Elementary School', the same one where the man said he worked as a teacher.
It was recess time at the school. Little kids were playing all across the playground, on the blacktop, and in the small grassy field. Hinamori found a tree just off the edge of the playground and sat down in the shade of the tree. A small group of kids were playing and suddenly ran off when a girl came up to them. The little girl looked sad that they did not let her join their games, something Hinamori knew all too well of. The little girl started to cry.
Just then, the man—the teacher walked up to the little girl and gently patted her head with his hand. He said something to her but Hinamori was too far to hear. It must have been very nice as the little girl stopped crying and smiled up to him. He responded with a gentle smile of his own. Hinamori was in awe at how much the scene reminded her of Aizen and herself. Anytime she was troubled he would put her at ease with his warm hand on her head, patting away her worries.
The school bell rang and the little students ran inside the building. Within minutes the noisy playground was quiet. Hinamori closed her eyes, the sound of a piano was making it's way to her ears. A beautiful melody. It was calm like a lullaby. Even in the shade, the blanket of warmth by the noon sun covered her body and the lullaby of the piano caused her to slowly drift into a slumber.
A shadow loomed over her sleeping body for a second and quickly disappeared.
Hinamori woke with a slight daze. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked at the sun, her small nap turned out to be two hours long. She quickly returned to the Urahara Shop. Her gigai might be finished.
"Urahara-sama is out. He left your gigai in your room." Ururu escorted Hinamori down the hall to a room.
"My room?" Hinamori questioned. Had he expected her to stay here? She never mentioned it, but she did need a place to stay.
"You do need a place to stay, right?" Ururu approached the door and stopped to ask before opening.
"Yes, but—"
"A freeloader?" Jinta appeared from behind and interrupted her. "Why do we keep sheltering freeloaders?"
"I'm not a freeloader." Hinamori retorted, somewhat annoyed. "I'll pay for it."
"Keh. Suit yourself." The red-headed boy walked off with his hands in his pockets.
Ururu slid the door open and closed it after Hinamori stepped in. Hinamori saw her gigai leaned against the wall wearing a white yukata. She was rather surprised it looked exactly like her. The gigai the 12th division loaned out were all the same. All female and male gigai looked the same, like mannequins at a clothing store. How did he know her sizes?
Hinamori bent down and picked up a note left on the floor beside the gigai.
Hina-chan,
Here is your gigai. It was short notice so I didn't have any other clothing and you're a different size from Ururu so she can't lend you her clothes.
Luckily, I found this one outfit in the closet! It's your size!
She looked up from the note to the outfit hanging in the closet.
"Heh? Do they normally wear this?"
After she put on the gigai, she dressed herself with the outfit Urahara left and tied her hair in a loose bun.
Hitsugaya stood outside the door of the shop. "It's been a long time, Hitsugaya-taichō."
He turned around. "Urahara."
"Come, come! It's a rarity to have two special guests in one day!" Urahara walked up the porch and knocked on the door.
"Why are you knocking? It's your shop." Hitsugaya glared at Urahara smiling behind his fan.
"Welcome home, Urahara-sama"
"What the—Hinamori! What are you wearing!" Hitsugaya yelled at Hinamori who wore a maid outfit. The skirt came down to her mid-thighs and she had white knee-high socks, complete with black shoes and a white frilly hand band.
"Hitsugaya-kun! What are you doing here?"
"Why are you wearing that?" A vein on Hitsugaya's forehead popped up.
"Um. Urahara-san said he didn't have anything else for me to wear on my gigai. And since he's letting me stay here, he asked if I could answer the door. Did I do it right?" She turned to Urahara whom was wiping a tear of joy from his eye.
"Hina-chan! Moé!" He clasped his hands together.
The three of them sat down at the table and Nova entered the room with tea cups.
"So, Hina-chan. How does the gigai fit?" Urahara asked, ignoring the annoyed Hitsugaya to his left.
"It fits very well. It's amazing how you got my sizes so well without measuring or anything!"
Urahara fanned himself, gloating. "It's my special talent of mine. Do you like the clothes as well?"
To Hitsugaya's surprise she nodded her head. "It's very cute. Although, I didn't see many humans wearing this."
"Oh, it's a very special outfit. Only cute girls like you can wear it."
Hinamori blushed and smiled. Hitsugaya slammed his hands on the table and stood up. His cup of tea knocked over, Nova promptly came with a towel and cleaned it up.
"What's wrong, Hitsugaya-kun?"
"Come on, we're going shopping." He grabbed her hand.
"Hitsuguya-taichō, don't you need a gigai too? I still have yours in storage."
"If you haven't noticed, I grew!" He snapped at Urahara.
"Oh my. You have. Give me a moment and I'll have a new one for you!" He pranced out the door, still high on the joy Hinamori gave him at the door.
"So much for your 'special talent'." He scowled.
Hinamori blinked at Hitsugaya, did the vein just get bigger?
Jinta was referring to Renji the freeloader. In the anime it was hilarious!
Thank you for reading/reviewing!