damned_institute | Day 29: Chapel

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Day 29: Chapel

Hiei didn't give a damn about religious services, meditation, or pretending to be social. The always sudden waking after night put him in a bad mood, this one particularly so. Even with Kurikara licking him like some perverted moron, the warmth the dragon provided was welcome in Hiei's bed, and missing when he woke, giving the surrounding air a greater sense of chill.

But the perfect thing to relieve his anger might just be making an appearance that morning, and that at least gave Hiei hope for a decent day.

Hopefully Kurikara and Kurama both would be clever enough to figure it out for themselves. Without hesitation, Hiei demanded to be led to the temple, taking a seat in one of the rear pews. Humans had a way of overdoing things, and this place wasn't really much exception to that. Granted Hiei's limited knowledge prevented him from realizing there were much more outrageous churches, but to the demon, the colored pieces of glass and polished wood seemed to be much.

It didn't matter, however. Either could be turned into weapons, perfect objects to slice into that damned head doctor's throat or bash in his skull. That was a thought worth grinning about.

[Feel free to pester. Just, uh, be aware that he's not exactly nice.]

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Renji looked up as Hitsugaya approached. He gave the captain a respectful nod, glad as always that Hitsugaya was interested in business and not light conversation. The fewer times people asked him what had happened to him last night, the better, as far as he was concerned.

"Yes," he said. "Allen talked to me yesterday, right before the day ended. There's a girl here from his world that sounds like a real monster. He's worried enough that he's actually talking about it, so I'm thinking she's pretty bad. She's killed people in his organization before." He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest, his movements slow and deliberate. "From the sound of it, the best course would be to destroy her, since it's not like we can redeem her right now. For whatever reason, Allen's really against that." He sighed, feeling annoyed about it all over again. "So I'm supposed to go with him today to talk to the girl and make sure she knows she'll get no mercy if she hurts any of our people. And that even if Allen's soft, the people that'll be executing her aren't."

Renji wasn't terribly happy about the compromise, but again, he was more worried that Allen would turn on them if they didn't go this way. And who knew. Maybe Allen was right, and not just being soft-hearted. He just hoped that was the case, because unless Hitsugaya decided to take an underhanded course, they wouldn't be acting until someone was already seriously injured or dead.

Hitsugaya nodded slightly, listening to Renji's report. While it wasn't about what had happened to him last night, it didn't matter. If it was important to their success in the institute, he trusted Renji would tell the captain.

"That seems like a fair compromise," Hitsugaya stated. "It doesn't surprise me that there are some unsavory characters here. Ichimaru's here, after all. Let me know what she looks like, so we can all keep an eye on her."

Renji nodded, and repeated what description he had of Rhode from Allen. "I'll give you the details of it later once we've dealt with her," he said.

He paused for a moment; there was something else he needed to tell Hitsugaya about, however. "The person that got put with me'n Rukia last night," he said, "Fai. If he's sticking with the division, he needs to be watched and shouldn't be trusted. Far as I can tell, he's a damn liar." He frowned. "Won't even answer simple questions clearly, let alone the stuff that's important. When we were heading outside to take the alternate way to the kitchen, he tried to stop us from going out there but lied about why at first. Ended up there was one of those monsters that look like people out there, but getting anything out of him was like pulling fucking teeth, and he only answered after I called him on lying." His frown became a scowl. "Guess the monster looked like someone he knew, but he wasn't even real clear on that. I checked it, it didn't have a soul, and I had to kill it. After that he lost his shit and used some kind of magic. Which injured Rukia." That was the part that pissed him off the most. "And I think he's got some kind of death wish."

Hitsugaya nodded slightly, thinking that the description seemed a lot like the crazy woman who kissed him. "I think I've...met her...before," he said, the mixture of disdain and confusion evident in his town.

He pondered Renji's words about Fai. "He already bowed out working with us," he said. "But I'll let Mustang know as well."

Renji frowned, then nodded. If Hitsugaya already knew who they were dealing with, that made things a lot easier. And it sounded like she hadn't made a great impression on him, which made him trust Allen even more.

"Alright," he said. "That's all I have. Didn't get fuck all done last night." He couldn't help but feel thoroughly disgusted with himself.

He frowned again. "To be honest, I don't know how useful I'm going to be tonight. I'm not moving too well right now." He hated admitting it, hated just how damn weak it made him sound, but he also had to be honest about what kind of shape he was in. His pride also wasn't worth getting his teammates hurt if he couldn't protect them. "River's askin' to do something with me tonight. Don't know what."

Hitsugaya nodded. "I trained Fowl, but that was the extent of my productivity. It was alltogether a frustrating day...night." He corrected himself of that slight slip. No, he wasn't going to talk about how annoying the day had been. The night was bad enough.

"I don't think anyone got much done last night. Landel's little surprise certainly threw off our plans. Maybe we need to plan on a backup of some sort." He shrugged absently.

Mention of River made him tense slightly. He couldn't understand the woman. "It's up to you," he said. "I'm sure Rukia, Sora, and Kairi will be fine by themselves if you have other obligations." He intentionally avoided the implied tone in Renji's statement...that he was actually too injured to help out. Other obligations sounded more noble.

Renji nodded, grateful that Hitsugaya had spared what little dignity he had left. "Thank you, sir," he said. "I'll... let you know for certain later." He had to hope that maybe he would stop hurting as the day wore on, but he doubted it. This had been something that no amount of healing could touch, and he found that frightening.

He cleared his throat. "Have you seen Mo-- Vice Captain Hinamori yet?" he asked. "'m kinda worried. Since she was having some problems yesterday."

Hitsugaya nodded. "Just post a note on the boad. I'll be certain to get it."

He visibly stiffened at the mention of Momo. She was having problems yesterday...that much was for sure. "Since when?" he asked, his voice cold and distant.

Renji shrugged. He'd half intended to get in to this, and now he just had to trust his instincts, play it cool. "Eh, she was pretty upset after the... thing," he said. "And when I talked to her, she was sedated." He shrugged. "Women. They never make any sense."

"That's for sure," he mumbled. It had to have been the drugs that made her so...weird...right? He'd never seen her drugged up, so it could've been that. "I don't know what got into her. I've never seen her like that."

"Oh, she say some weird stuff to you too?" Renji asked, doing his best to sound merely curious. "People say weird stuff when they get hit with these drugs. Just kills that filter between the brain and the mouth." He rubbed the end of his nose, looking vaguely embarrassed. "Worse than getting drunk."

Hitsugaya nodded slightly at Renji's suggestions. "She didn't make any sense," he said. "So it must have been the drugs. She seemed to have a rough time of things yesterday. First Byakuya, then..." he realized he had gone a little too far and cut his sentence short. "It had to have been the drugs. I don't think mo...Hinamori-fukutaicho has a lot of experience with being on anything like that."

"Not like any of us really do," Renji said. "Though man, in the Academy, she sure could put it away if she felt like it." He chuckled, though frowned shortly after. "Something else happen to her?" he asked, worried. Like her confrontation with Byakuya hadn't been enough of a mess.

This was ~not~ a conversation he wanted to get into with Renji, but there was no point in hiding it now. It'd be foolish to try and play off something so insignificant, and he was no fool. "The reason I know the woman...Rhode...if it's the same person I think it is. She snuck up behind me and kissed me while Momo and I were talking. Momo..." he shook his head slightly. "...she went berserk on the girl. I still don't know why. But that's why she was drugged."

Renji simply stared at Hitsugaya for a moment, as if wondering if this was some kind of joke. "Oh," he said. He firmly squashed the urge to ask the question he would have been a big enough bastard to ask almost anyone else - was she any good? - and instead nodded thoughtfully, looking toward the front of the chapel. "Oh," he said again. "Well then. That all makes sense now."

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow in Renji's direction. Was he privy to some secret knowledge he wasn't? After all, none of it made any sense to him, and he was normally the first to pick up on the subtle nuances of things. "How does any of that make sense?" he asked, his tone at once irritated and genuinely curious.

"She's a woman," Renji said, as if that explained everything. "They get like that, sometimes. Like... you know, like dogs when you threaten their territory. Allen's problem child is lucky she's not dead, really."

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow in Renji's direction. "Their territory. Right." Since when was he Momo's territory?

Women were odd.

"Right," Renji agreed. He sighed. "Women are so fuckin' strange," he said. "They never come out and say what they really want. It's always some mysterious... thing."

Hitsugaya nodded slightly in agreement. Normally he wouldn't be quite so open with anyone, but it was nice to have a chance to vent about the oddities of the day. "She told me to talk to Matsumoto, as if she'd somehow understand," Hitsugaya added. He sighed. "As if she expects me to go on some kind of scavenger hunt just to understand what she wants out of me."

Renji snorted. "Well... Matsumoto's another woman, so maybe she'd get it. And she doesn't play the mysterious game so much... I guess." He rolled his eyes. "How much courage does it take to just out and say something? You'd think it was the end of the world, the way they act." He shook his head. "Like we can read minds or something."

Hitsugaya humphed. "I'm not going to play games with her. I never have. She used to do this when we were kids. She'd come home from the academy and act as if I should be surprised to see her, when I knew she'd come home every chance she had. She always came home."

Renji nodded, filing that bit of information away for future consideration. It was interesting, that was certain. "She talked about you, when we were in the academy," he remarked, then sighed, again the sound of a man put-upon by women. "They make us too complicated, in their minds," he said. "Guess maybe they think we're like them, never being straightforward." He laughed. "Rukia spent forty years convincing herself that I didn't miss her or care or anything." The laugh died away. "But since I was thinking the same shit, maybe I was taking a page out of her book for once, and being dumb too."

"She talked about everything," he said. "When I ended up going to the academy, I had no problem finding anything because she was so damn insistent on telling me every little detail that happened in her life. You couldn't get her to shut up."

Hitsugaya made a halfhearted shrug. "Eh, so you were dumb. Those closest to me are all idiots. It seems like you resolved your issues in the end, at least."

Renji laughed. "So you got a head start." He found that very amusing. Not that Hitsugaya had needed any other advantages, from what he heard.

He snickered at Hitsugaya's remark. "We're all fuckin' idiots some time or another, sir. Wise man's the one that notices when." There was no cuteness or implication in his tone; it really was just what he thought. "Yeah. Managed to stop being dumb eventually." He smiled, mostly to himself; for a moment, he convinced himself to not think about all the other things, to just think about what he and Rukia had promised each other. That was one thing that was always good, no matter what.

Day 29: Chapel

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