damned_institute | Day 28: Bus 2

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Day 28: Bus 2

Momo tugged on the collar of the light blue sweater she was wearing as she followed her nurse to wherever these buses were, winding her hair up into its customary bun as she went. It was an odd feeling, knowing she was about to go outside of the institute's borders. Maybe the Head Doctor was about to make an error and the shinigami, as well as everyone else, would no longer be limited and they could finish what they started several nights back.

That was probably too much to hope for. She was feeling better this morning, even with the blood moon, and was mildly looking forward to the bus ride. Captain Jack said he was going to be here this morning and even if it wasn't customary breakfast in the cafeteria, she's be satisfied with him sitting next to her on the bus.

The nurse handed her a muffin, some napkins, and a small box with a straw. She stared at this box for a moment before shaking it. From the sound it contained liquid. How odd... Momo wasn't sure why they would but liquid inside a small paper box - it didn't make any sense to her and she wasn't sure how one was supposed to get it out of the box.

Clambering onto an empty bus, Momo chose to sit in the very back near the emergency exit. Maybe she could force her way out of it as they were moving and escape the limiter enough to come back and level the institute, freeing everyone. Or maybe she just wanted to be able to see everyone that was on the same bus as her. Wishful thinking versus reality.

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Today was starting off much better than the last for Ururu, even if it was scary when she woke up. She didn't remember coming back to bed or falling asleep at all, but there she was, so it must have happened at some point.

Ururu didn't like forgetting things so much though.

Before she could really think about it, a nurse came in with new clothes for the girl. They weren't what she usually wore, but Ururu certainly liked this outfit better than the uncomfortable grey things: a soft pink sweater (far too big for her) with a picture of a puppy face on the front, a white pleated skirt, pink knee high socks, and white tennis shoes.

"Oh, you're so cute, Karen!" The nurse smiled, leading the girl to the bus. None of her friends was there that she could see, particularly not Kisuke-san. Ururu was really starting to get worried, but before she could ask, the nurse led her to a brightly dressed boy.

"Here. Young Tommy is about your age. Why don't you sit with him?"

Then the woman was gone, leaving Ururu to look at the other child, who didn't seem to be a child at all. No, he was something much more familiar to Ururu.

"Um. You're a Shinigami, right?" Ururu fidgeted nervously. A good Shinigami, or an enemy? "What's your name?"

Hitsugaya shot the nurse an irritated glance before resuming to investigating the juicebox. Based on the words on the outside it contained some kind of beverage inside, but how the hell did he get into it without losing the fluid itself? It was frustrating.

Then the girl mentioned that word. Shinigami. He blinked, then glanced over at her, surprised.

"How do you know about Shinigami?" he asked suspciciously, hesitant to reveal his name until he knew who this little girl was and, more importantly, what she knew and who she worked for.

It was a bit concerning when the boy didn't tell her his name, but that could have just meant he was worried about the enemy too. Ururu could certainly understand that particular fear.

"Kisuke-san told me about them." That was safe enough to mention, wasn't it? Ururu moved into the seat next to Hitsugaya, and peeked inside her own bag. "My name's Ururu."

Hitsugaya blinked a few times. Kisuke-san. Urahara, former captain, right? And Ururu...she had made some mention on the boards about Urahara being here previously. He hadn't seen the man, but he wasn't entirely sure if he would recognize him if he saw him.

"Hitsugaya Toushiro," he said in response to her question.

Ururu nodded slowly, remembering the name. "You're the one who wanted me to ask Kisuke-san to talk to you."

The girl hadn't done it yet, however; she hadn't seen Kisuke-san since the boy beside her posted his request. Her head tilted forward, her worry as pressing as ever.

But she was also curious, and tilted her head to take another look at this Hitsugaya. It didn't take long for her to get an opinion of him, and she nodded slightly before speaking, her voice perfectly innocent.

"Are you sure you're a real Captain? You're really small, Hitsugaya-kun."

"I am," he replied.

Already he could tell he wasn't going to like this girl. He scowled at her. "What is wrong with you?" he snapped. "I've been a Captain for years now. Why would I lie about what I am? Idiot."

This was why he didn't go into the real world if he could help it. At least this girl wasn't trying to flirt with him.

Ururu instinctively drew back, the barrage of insults very familiar. Hitsugaya-kun was a lot like Jinta-kun, yelling at her like that. It made her wish for Tessai-san to show up.

Hitsugaya-kun probably didn't do his chores either.

"But you're even shorter than I am." Ururu winced, clutching her lunch bag to her chest. "Kids usually do chores instead of being Captains, don't they?"

Hitsugaya sighed as she made the age old mistake of considering him a child, ignoring the juice box in his hands for a moment and glancing out the window. As if getting this treatment from the nurses wasn't bad enough. "I'm over a hundred years old. I'm hardly a child anymore. Don't mistake my height as an indication of my age."

Ururu nodded slightly. That made sense, then, since Shinigami were older than they looked. Kisuke-san had said that once, but she hadn't realized until then exactly how much older. "Oh. Okay then."

Relaxing quickly after Hitsugaya-san stopped yelling, Ururu pulled out her own juice box. Without much thought (because really, how hard was opening a juice box?), she poked her straw in, falling silent as she sipped some of the drink.

Hitsugaya glanced back to see her drinking from her box with the straw from the side. How the hell did she do that? He glanced back to his own box, now feeling both confused and incredibly inept. Captain Hitsugaya of the 10th Division. Wielder of the strongest ice-based zanpakuto on record, known by many as the golden boy for his natural affinity with all four martial arts of the shinigami. Defeated by a juice box.

He pulled out the straw from the wrapper, determined not to be outdone by some random girl, and stabbed the straw into the box. No luck. He tried several more times, but still it didn't seem to want to go in. After about thirty seconds of frustration, he glared back at Ururu. "How the hell do you open these things?"

Ururu had to pause for a moment, not understanding exactly what Hitsugaya-san meant. Then she saw the poor beat up juice box, along with the bent straw...and it made even less sense.

This guy was a Shinigami Captain?

"You don't know how?" And he'd called her an idiot. She set her own box on the seat, then reached out to take Hitsugaya-san's set. In less than a second she offered it back, straw sticking up from the hole. "It's not hard."

"We don't have these in Soul Society," Hitsugaya said defensively. Anything could be tricky if you've never seen one before. He took it back from her gratefully, although felt a little ashamed that he hadn't figured it out himself.

"Thank you."

Now to sink into his seat and wish for death.

Ururu nodded slightly, though she thought that even considering that fact, he should have been able to figure out something as simple as a juice box. But Hitsugaya-san looked embarrassed enough, and Ururu knew well what it felt like to make mistakes.

She'd made plenty of them.

"Um." The girl took another sip of her juice, deciding just what she should say next. "Did Kisuke-san talk to you? I haven't seen him since yesterday."

So Urahara appeared in Landel's and then seemed to disappear from sight a day later. It was possible that he just was lying low, even from this girl. It was also possible that something had happened to him, although Urahara was clever enough from what he had heard that this seemed unlikely.

"No," he replied. "I haven't seen him here at all, but it's likely he's just on one of the other busses."

"I hope so." Exploring a strange town would be weird enough, but Kisuke-san had told Ururu to stick by him. And she had so many things to tell him, like how Yoruichi-san was there, along with Orihime-san and so many of the others.

"What do you want to talk to him about?" Ururu picked small bites off her muffin, looking to Hitsugaya-san curiously. Kisuke-san would definitely want to know everything he could, so Ururu would make sure to find out, and report back to him the moment she saw him.

She just hoped she could remember everything.

Hitsugaya enjoyed the juice, although it couldn't be clear by the look on his face. "About our organization," Hitsugaya said calmly as he pulled out his own muffin. The bus had started moving, and he watched the trees rush by with curiosity. He didn't expect that they would be able to escape today, but it would be vital to catch as many details about their surroundings as possible. Every detail could be a piece of the puzzle. It was only a matter of finding out.

"We need to organize the patients and work together. I don't know Urahara-san's plans, but it would behoove us all if we worked together in this."

Ururu watched Hitsugaya-san watch the trees, her aisle seat not affording her quite the same view as the Captain. She wasn't thinking so much about puzzles and details as she was about organizations and working together. She knew Kisuke-san knew a lot about the Soul Society, and used to be really important there. But he'd never given her too many details, and she never asked, because it didn't seem important.

He was Kisuke-san, and that was good enough for Ururu.

"I don't know what Kisuke-san is going to do yet." She looked down at her partially eaten muffin, hoping that maybe he'd have come up with a plan. "I don't know if he'll want to work with Soul Society. I don't think they get along very well."

She took a bite of her muffin, chewing thoughtfully. Kisuke-san would come up with something eventually, and that was comforting for Ururu. Whether or not he worked with Soul Society didn't matter to the girl.

Kisuke-san was Kisuke-san, and Ururu would follow him, no matter what.

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Day 28: Bus 2

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