damned_institute | Day 25: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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Day 25: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

The concept of gardening in the greenhouse was not one that Hitsugaya was particularly fond of. It was likely exceptionally warm inside, whereas the young captain had a preference for cold climates. He also needed to make himself available for anyone who happened to want to speak with him. The sun room overall seemed the best choice.

As a warm and cheerful nurse led him into the sunroom, he glanced around. At the moment he was the first one there, which was good, as it meant he could keep an eye out for one of the many individuals who had expressed curiosity about the 'arts and crafts' division. It also meant he could watch out for Omi or this Hellsing woman. He excused himself from the nurse and proceeded to a seat that gave him a good view of the entrance. If not for the fact that he was being held here against his will, he might have felt happy. Real rice. He hadn't had time to eat as much as he had hoped, what with his meeting with Mustang, but he still ate a lot more than he'd had the opportunity previously. Even Momo seemed to be acting more like normal.

As unpleasant as the day had begun, it was turning out to be a good day.

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It was a rather subdued Rangiku who entered the Sun Room after lunch. Gin had given her a lot to think about with his explanation, after all and she still wasn't entirely sure what to think. Complete hypnosis. It had kept Aizen's treachery entirely hidden from even the most powerful shinigami for so long, was it really such a stretch to believe that it could be used to force someone to serve him? And the worst was, she didn't think it would even change anything if the others knew.

She forced a smile as she walked past Hitsugaya, waving at him and then going to sprawl on one of the couches. She'd talk to him when he was finished, tell him what they'd found last night.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/143962.html?thread=9732186#t9732186)]

It was entirely unsurprising that Matsumoto was sprawled in the position she was in. He half expected her to be asleep. It seemed like his Vice Captain spent more time dozing than awake at times. Still, it was good to see her. He had been so busy interacting with others that he had very little opportunity to talk to any of the other shinigami, Rangiku the least.

"Matsumoto," he said as he quietly approached. His expression was stern, as usual. "I'm ready for your report."

He remained standing for the moment, waiting for her response.

Rangiku cracked one eye open when her captain addressed her, a lazy smile curling across her lips. The familiarity of it was kind of comforting. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaning back against the arm of the sofa. It wasn't exactly a formal position and not really a respectful one for delivering reports, but it had nearly always been this way.

"Taicho!" she said brightly and then tapped her lips as though trying to remember what she was meant to say. She did remember of course. "We found the pharmacy on the second floor so I have a decent supply of various drugs and some syringes. But then nightshift ended." She sighed dramatically at that, flopping back against the couch's arm.

Of all the reports, hers was by far the briefest. He wasn't surprised. "That's it?" he said in his usual grumpy tone.

He still remained standing. As much as he'd like to linger and talk about Momo, there was a lot that needed to be done before tonight. "Tonight I'll be sending you for requisitions. From now on I'll be using the term 'basketweaving' for requisitions and 'sumi-e' for exploring. We'll be looking to designing a full code soon. Also..." he paused for a moment. Here was the difficult part. She was one of the best vice captains in the Gotei 13, but Renji had done so much and made such efforts. Best to just be official about it. "We have to have a clear chain of command among the shinigami here. There are too many Vice captains for the amount of people here. While you will of course keep your rank and the respect, in the arts and crafts division, Abarai-fukutaicho will be second seated. You will be third, Hinamori, fourth, and Kuchiki, fifth." He smiled slightly. "Less work, same privilege. Suits you fine, I'm sure."

She pondered for a moment before speaking again. "There was a man who claimed to be a doctor there too. And the patient's possession room is useless. Just things belonging to the fake lives they claim we had." Admittedly, she hadn't been there personally, but she trusted Gin enough to believe him on that one.

She listened to his orders and nodded sharply. "Basketweaving, right. Am I taking anyone with me?" She doubted she'd be going alone, considering how many people needed protection here.

It did indeed suit her just fine. Rangiku waved dismissively and nodded. "Renji's been here longer and he's the one with all the loyal subjects. Suits me well enough. I'm still your Vice-Captain so that's the important thing." It wasn't as though the rank would have much effect in this place anyway. She didn't mind taking orders from Renji as long as it helped them here.

Hitsugaya nodded. Odd that he had gone to the patient possession's room and not seen her. He'd noticed Gin's presence, though...

"Anything we could make a weapon out of?" he asked. That was the practical point.

He glanced over to Renji..who was promptly taken away. "Well, Abarai and I were going to talk about assignments, but he seems to have been taken away." He shrugged. "We'll give you a team. One of Mustang's men mentioned something about some kids needing looking after. How do you feel about babysitting?" If not, he could always give her Jean and take on the kid himself.

Really, it boiled down to whatever worked.

And she was right. Rank didn't have much effect, but based on how Momo was acting, he was worried. "Keep an eye on Hinamori," he said as she agreed. "She thinks she should be treated like a captain." That wasn't the only thing bothering Momo's childhood friend Hitsugaya, but it was the only thing Captain Hitsugaya saw as a concern. He shook his head in frustration. "I don't know what's going on in her head."

She shook her head. "Clothes mainly. Toys. They do a good job of keeping up the charade as I assume they wouldn't allow weapons to be kept on the premises." It was still disturbing to see the disparity between what they claimed to be, and what really happened.

She glanced over when Hitsugaya did, seeing Renji be led away. He looked an utter mess. "The girls I was with last night worked well," she said with a small smile. "I have no problems with babysitting if needs be." Really, Raven and Namine had been most helpful.

Ah, here it came now. She sort of wished that she could just sit them both down and and tell them what was going on, but she knew they'd both deny it fervently and then things would be even worse. First love and all that. "She's a very capable vice-captain. I think she's just a little concerned that you don't see her as such."

Hitsugaya nodded. "Not much we can use, then," he admitted. "Still, I'll have a team check it out and see if there's anything salvageable." Truth was, if she was getting her information on Gin, he couldn't entirely trust it.

"I haven't heard from either of the girls you worked with last night. They may have made other plans. Just keep an eye out on he board for your team."

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes at Matsumoto's response regarding Hinamori. "She should know how I feel by now. We grew up together. She'd be dumb not to know."

"The clothing can at least make bandages or bags for carying materials," she said consideringly. "Otherwise, I'm sure some people might want things other than these to wear." She gestured to the drab grey outfits. "And I think some of the youner people might appreciate the familiarity of some of the things there." Not strictly useful, but morale was important too.

"I'll keep an eye out. And I've seen Namine around today at least. None of us were injured so that's one thing less to worry about." Taking unarmed, defenceless children into potentially lethal situations was not something she was fond of, but at least she could protect them if they were with her.

"And with you ordering her to call you Captain all the time and placing such emphasis on rank, it can be easy to give the wrong impression," she said, torn between amusement and exhasperation. Children the lot of them. Maybe she'd just get them both drunk when they got back and lock them in a room together. Hormones would have to take over then, right?

Hitsugaya nodded. That was what made them a good team. He would have never have thought about children wanting to play with toys while they were trapped here. "Good point. I'll send a team to see what they can find."

He raised an eyebrow. "Better her think about my rank than think about Aizen," he said. "Or how she tried to kill me. She doesn't need to worry about that junk, and it's only going to make her feel bad again." He shook his head. "And who is she going to come crying to when she does have to think about Aizen?"

It was true. Even when he outright told her that he didn't want to hear it, she had always come to him when she wanted to talk.

"It's a shame no-one from the Fourth is here. Some of those drugs in the phramacy would be very useful I'm sure. I just don't know what most of them are." Not that she really wanted anyone from any of the other divisions here (except, possibly, the Eleventh. They'd probably enjoy it. Still, she'd bet on Unohana-taicho over just about anyone else, even with powers subdued.

Rangiku sighed at her captain's obstinate nature. Honestly. "Maybe she'd want to talk to her friend rather than the captain of the Tenth. And what she needs most now is to feel that she is supported and trusted to take care of herself." Without certain captains jumping at anyone who even looked at her funny, although she didn't say that of course.

She shrugged. "And sooner or later she's going to have to think about it. Otherwise she'll never come to terms with it."

Hitsugaya glanced away. "I don't have time to be anything but Captain of the Tenth. Not here." Not anywhere, really. With every extra assignment that he volunteered himself for back in Soul Society, he rarely had free time. There was always something that needed to be done to make everything run smoothly, and in the Captain's mind, if he didn't do it, no one else would.

"In the Sereitei, Yamamoto-sotaicho made sure she didn't have to do anything while we prepared for war. She's not in a condition to work while she's thinking about Aizen, and he knew that. We don't have that luxury here. There's too few of us, and there's too much that needs to be done."

"War?" Rangiku said with surprise, looking at Hitsugaya sharply. She didn't know that things had got so bad. "The last thing I remember is driking with Kira and Shuuhei." She frowned pensively. "This timeline thing is bizarre." So her captain obviously came from much further along. Hinamori had still been in her coma with no signs of waking from what Rangiku remembered.

"Unfortunately," she continued dryly. "Lots of things don't wait until we have the luxury of time. This is probably one of them." Things like that had a habit of cropping up and paralysing you at the worst moment possible. What if she'd held onto him for just a second or two longer?

If he weren't so frustrated over Momo, he probably would have made a crack about Matsumoto remembering drinking as the last thing that happened. "Yeah," Hitsugaya said moodily. "Hinamori just woke up for her...for me she'd been awake a few days at least. And..." No, he wasn't going to mention that she blamed Gin over Aizen. He still didn't know what to do about that. "...we got a decent idea about what Aizen's planning. I was travelling back to Soul Society to prepare for the war when I wound up here."

Matsumoto's words were getting to him, even if he didn't want to admit it. "I guess I should talk to the brat," he admitted. "Sooner than later."

That he didn't grumble about her indulging in the occasional alcoholic beverage said something about his mood. She couldn't really blame him though, especially not when she heard what he said. "It does go so far then," she said solemnly, taking on a much more serious expression. "It seems odd. We were only just licking our wounds and coming to terms with things a few days ago for me." She just hoped that when this place was destroyed, they were returned to their own times. Maybe if she retained memories of what she was told, she could give some warning.

She stifled a smirk of amusement when Hitsugaya called Hinamori a brat though. He was one to talk considering what she'd heard about him from the other shinigami. And sometimes... just very occasionally, it was easy to remember his age. She nodded in agreement. "It's probably for a best otherwise it will doubtless come up at the most inoppertune time you can imagine."

"It does," he answered. "The arrancar attacked us and took the healer girl, Orihime. Aizen plans to take the spiritual power of Kurakara Town and pull all the spiritual energy out of it, vaporizing the town in the process. We don't entirely know all of his plans, but we knew we had a small period of time before the all-out war."

He smirked slightly at her heavy tone. "That's pretty ominous talk for you, Matsumoto." he teased. "But you're right."

A pause. Time to change the subject. "So what did Ichimaru want?"

So even the humans got dragged into it. Admittedly they were rather special humans, but still children. "I think knowing that much is enough," she said honestly. To destroy an area of that size and every single soul within it... it needed to be stopped.

"I can do ominous as well as any other seated officer, I'll have you know!" she replied mock disapprovingly. "It's a requirement."

Ah, and there was that question. She smiled wryly. It had to come sooner or later, she just wished she'd had a little more time to get her own feelings on the matter in order. He'd left her so unbalanced that she didn't know what to think. "To give me a long overdue explanation," she said honestly. She was proud to serve Hitsuagaya and lying would only damage the trust they'd built between them. "It's long and complicated and I'm still not sure what to think."

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. "Since when have you been able to do anything ominously?" he teased. "You're as ominous as a paper sack."

The fact that Matsumoto was always honest with him was part of the reason they worked so well together. As odd a couple as they were, they made the perfect team. "Explanation, eh?" he said with a dour expression. "I don't like it." It might have been a double standard, that he didn't tell her to stay away from Gin while he would have told Momo again and again that he was bad business, but Hitsugaya just couldn't see it that way.

Rangiku raised an eyebrow at that, a smile quirking her lips. "I do't know. Some paper can be pretty ominous." She knew that the stacks of paperwork which seemed to accumulate in the Tenth Division office were pretty damn ominous. They loomed. "Like requisitions reports. They're pretty ominous."

Yes yes, she knew he wouldn't approve, but he didn't fly off the handle either which was more than could be said for some other captains. "I didn't expect you to. I need to think a few things over. But I don't think we need to worry about him working against us here, not unless Aizen turns up." Something she fervently hoped wouldn't happen, although if his powers were as limited as theirs, then it might be the perfect opportunity.

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow in her direction. "It's not like you have to do them," he chided. While they loomed, it was often Hitsugaya who sat down to do them. There were certain advantages to not having a social life.

He looked quizzically at her as she talked about Ichimaru. "What makes you say that?"

"They still sit there ominously in the office, all tall and dark and threatening." Really, whoever invented paperwork, especially the kind which was required to be filled out in triplicate, needed to be introduced to the sharp edge of Haineko.

She shrugged. As well as what he'd told her, there was enough otherwise to make her think that. "We're in the stronger position for one. We're building up a network and there's enough people who trust us that he'd have a lot of trouble if we chose to cause it. We're also, in the end working for the same thing, getting out of here. And I'm sure there's enough people here who'd see working against us as siding with this place and I can't imagine that would be a safe image to have. Whatever else he may be, he isn't stupid." The enemy of my enemy is my friend could probably be used here, but she was fairly certain that they'd never anticipated a cross-dimensional hospital where the 'friend' was an enemy in their own universe. Made her head hurt just thinking about it.

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Day 25: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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