damned_institute | Day 29: Courtyard

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Day 29: Courtyard

Hiei easily grew sick of the same walls--not to mention the same idiots always within those walls--and while not perfect, the chance to go outside was better than lingering in the boundaries of that damned prison. So when the chance came, the demon was quick to leap on it, heading outside almost quick enough to make a nurse wonder if he was attempting escape.

Almost.

But there were things Hiei had to take care of before he left this place, and first came sorting through his thoughts. Kurama was gone; the demon was sure of it, even without the use of his Jagan. The fox was one of the people Hiei was closest to, one of the few Hiei would admit being close to, and his presence weighed heavily on the demon, nearly as heavy as his absence.

It made him angry, that Kurama had vanished. Be it by escape or some other circumstance (which Hiei barely considered possible, only by his own refusal), the fox should be there with him, fighting with him. That was how they worked, supposedly. As a team.

Now Hiei would have to do without. And he would be fine with that, eventually. For now it was annoying, but that would pass. Perhaps quicker with a nap, and the demon moved under one of the trees. He didn't care that it was colder in the shade; his contrasting origins mixed with his stubbornness kept the weather from bothering him too much. Closing his eyes, he relaxed against the bark, as much as he could given the circumstances, and hoped for a lack of bothering.

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Momo's voice was low and a bit eerie. "Strong enough to try to kill the slimy snake I hate or was it simply a means to follow after Aizen-sama without cutting my own throat?"

She paused, opening her eyes to look up at Hitsugaya. "I don't know the answer to that question. My death was my own fault."

She...she thought she was dead again? Hadn't they solved that? Aizen must have dragged the question back from the grave. "You didn't die, Momo. You're still with us, we're all just trapped in this hellhole."

"How do you know we aren't dead? You think we aren't, I know that, but how do you know? Do we know what happens to shinigami when they die? Do we know what happens to a soul between reincarnation and birth? We don't. Maybe this place is what happens."

She shook her head, a little frantic. "You don't know what happened in the Chamber back then. You don't know what's going on here." She pulled on his shirt. "You can't give me anything to hold onto."

"I'll give you whatever you need if you'll just believe in me," Hitsugaya said, his voice a mixture of sternness and desperation. "I saw you after Aizen...I saw you better and well and in the care of Yamamoto. You don't make that up. They're playing tricks on us here, but we're not dead. We just aren't."

Momo raised her hand to Hitsugaya's face and caressed his cheek. "No... you won't," she said sadly. "I do believe in you; that's why you're here." She was referring to this mental prison she may have fabricated him into, not Landel's itself, though he had no way of knowing that fact.

She let her hand fall back to her lap and she bowed her head. "Ne, Shiro-chan? You know, I'm never going to be the girl I was before." Her eyes moved back and forth a couple times. "I think, in a way, she might really be dead."

The feel of her hand against his cheek made him feel uncomfortable, but he wasn't about to let that be known to her. He still wasn't sure about how he felt about her, and he wasn't entirely comfortable dealing with it while in this prison. Still, she needed him, and he wasn't going to shun her now.

"We all have to grow up sometime," he said. "I don't know what Aizen did to you. I never knew him like you knew him. And I don't know what it's like to be betrayed like that. But you're going to get through this, damnit. Stronger, maybe, but you're going to learn how to deal with this."

"Maybe," Momo echoed.

"I'm... broken, Shiro-chan. Little jagged pieces. I'm sorry if you get cut on them," she told him, her gaze down.

"I'll still do what needs to be done. Don't have much else left."

"Don't worry about me," he consoled her. "Just do what you need to do to get back on your feet. Take tonight off if you need it."

He stood up at this point, feeling uncomfortable with this much intimacy, yet at the same time wanting to be there for one of the two people in his life that meant the world to him. "Let me know what you need, and I'll see that it happens." ...if I can.

Momo's face fell a little as Hitsugaya stood up and she felt the absence of his arms around her. After a moment, she gestured o her shoulder. "I can't wield the katana I have like this and I'm not confident in my capacity to lead at the moment." Her eyes dropped. "It would be something close to a death sentence to put anyone in my care. I can't even trust myself," she whispered. "Not after..."

She shook her head a little. "Please allow me to report about last night and clear up the confusion on the board this morning."

Hitsugaya nodded slightly, feeling infinitely more comfortable now that they were talking about their duties. "Go ahead," he said, wondering how many people had seen their display.

Momo forced herself to focus on the previous night and not Aizen or anything he'd said or the fact that hitsugaya was no longer holding her.

"Hokuto and I armed ourselves and I found my uniform in my room and Hokuto found an... outfit as well in hers. We retrieved Signum's sword and her coat and made to meet up with both her and Saber," Momo began, her report choppier than normal. "Upon reaching the front entrance of the building, we encountered Saber whom was engaged with an enemy from her previous existence. His name is Gilgamesh, though it is best to refer to him as Archer, and he is in servitude to the head doctor - not a brainwashed prisoner."

"Given the severity of the impending battle, one that Saber would not leave and I would not abandon Saber to, I made the decision to split my team into two, giving Signum a field promotion into a commanding officer and placed Hokuto under her care. The battle with Gilgamesh was no place for Hokuto, so she carried the orders to Signum to try and escape the grounds outside by the buses." She paused wondering which to continue with.

"Gilgamesh is extremely powerful, tremendously arrogant, and he has chosen to specifically target Saber, trying to get her to either join the head doctor's side or die. He... treats her almost as if she is his property. I do not believe he will leave Saber alone. He... he shot me in the back with something similar to kidou. I tried to cast a bind on him, but I don't know if worked or not as I blacked out."

"As for Signum's team, she reported to me that they reached the outer wall with little resistance to find it topped by barbed wire. They didn't get a chance to examine the gate, but it is the knight's personal opinion that it is an avenue of escape worth pursing further." She looked up at Hitsugaya. "Taichou, I trust Signum with my life and, more importantly, with Hokuto's life, that of a common human. I have full confidence in her and we need more team leaders. I would like her field promotion to stand, as she is willing to step up and meet our high expectations, as well as the division of my team with Hokuto under her command and Saber under mine."

Hitsugaya nodded slightly, listening to her report and trying not to focus on what they had just talked about. "I'll see to that in the future. For tonight she'll lead your team in your absence. As for Gilgamesh, we'll be sure to keep an eye out for him. I don't recall seeing mention of his name on the board, but I may have overlooked it. We should warn anyone who'll listen."

He paused slightly, doing his best to compose himself. "Is there anything else to report?"

Momo nodded. "Saber spoke of him on the board about last night's monsters. She called him 'Archer' in it. Gilgamesh is his real name, but it is my opinion that using his real name with him would make him take a personal interest in whomever used it." She sighed. "I saw his spirit threads. If he continues to hunt my knight, I am willing to track him with a strong assault team to try and destroy him. He needs to die and I cannot tell you more about it without betraying my knight's confidence."

As for anything else... "There was another man with Saber and I last night. His name is Sparda. He is armed and is a trained warrior. I need to speak with him tonight. I will see if he wishes to join us."

"Dinner's coming soon," he guessed. In truth it was nigh impossible to tell what time anything happened here. During the day it made more sense, but even now time seemed more fluid than back home. "Unless you plan on hunting him down during the night itself, it might be wise to seek him out now." A part of him didn't want her to go, but the rest of him had to focus on duty before anything else. His duty, her duty. That took priority.

Momo looked around the courtyard to find Sparda talking to an older woman. She nodded over at him. "He's over there. I don't want to interrupt, but you are right about the time."

She raised her hand up, hoping Hitsugaya would help her get to her feet. "Oh, and Hokuto's twin brother is here. I have to talk to him. He wants to make sure his sister is in good hands."

Hitsugaya took her extended hand to help her to her feet. Hokuto had a twin brother. Interesting. "Is he interested in joining Arts and Crafts as well?" he asked.

"No," Momo said as she got to her feet, swaying a little as she tried to find her center of balance. "He's the lone wolf sort, but there's someone else he knows here so he's not going around alone. He's an omyouji, so he's familiar with shinigami and spirits."

Instinctively Hitsugaya reached a hand out to support her as she swayed, but he dropped his hand after a couple of seconds. "I see," he said. "Good work, then."

And there it was. That awkward silence as Hitsugaya found he didn't know what to say to her. He didn't want to bring up Aizen again...he just wanted her to get better.

Momo shifted her weight on her feet a bit at the silence. She gave Hitsugaya a long look, her brow furrowing slightly. She started to turn away.

"Thank you, Shiro-chan," she said, pausing a moment before she continued on toward where Sparda and the older woman were talking.

[dropping down to Sparda's thread]

After Sai found more suitable company, Gin waited patiently to speak with Toushirou. Patience, after all, was one thing he had in spades. Well-laid plans didn't happen overnight.

It seemed Momo was having some trouble. While he couldn't hear their conversation, it was obvious as it had been before just what manner of relationship the two shared, whether they were keen on owning up to it or not.

Once Momo was engaged in conversation with another group, Gin took the opportunity to move. As tempting as it was, he had to remember not to tease the young captain. After a spectacle like that, a few wrong words could cost him.

"Taichou," he addressed the boy. His smile was muted, but never quite seemed to leave his lips. "A word?" The young captain was a stickler for rules and discipline in spite of Ran. Being concise and to-the-point, however, was not his strongest point. With any luck, they'd find some middle ground.

He was going to say something to Momo, but nothing seemed to work. Instead he just looked away for the time being, wishing that things with Momo didn't have to be so damned complicated.

"Ichimaru," Hitsugaya said, trying not to immediately snap as his once most hated enemy approached. Ichimaru was an ally again, and he had to treat the viper like an ally if they were to make this work. "I'm listening." Even if he really didn't want to and instead would have liked to go hide somewhere until dinner, where he could maybe get some sleep....

...except he had promised Renji he'd made some more maps for people. Fuck.

He took a few steps closer, though he was careful to avoid making things too uncomfortable. He had to remind himself once again that things would likely not go well if he said many of the things he wished to.

"I'd be inter'sted," he began. "In assistin' with th' more a' the strategy n' plannin' for Arts n' Crafts." He didn't have to tell the young captain that he was well-learned in those areas, he'd already seen that particular skill in action as had the rest of the Gotei 13. "Think I could help move thin's along jus' a little faster."

No doubt the boy still remembered his comments from the other day, but this time, he wagered they'd have more impact than a last minute jab. "'Course, I c'n always make sure t'run it by y'all first. In case havin' a mind reader set on me jus' ain't enough," the last was said with some humor, though he didn't expect Toushirou to so much as crack a smile.

As expected, Hitsugaya didn't crack a smile. Even if he had found it amusing, he was in too sour of a mood to be entertained by anything. He took a seat back down on the bench. "Alright," he said. For all of his treachery and deceit, Ichimaru did have similar talents to Hitsugaya in the ability to organize and plan, even if his talents were a little less dishonest. "You want to help assist. What ideas do you have that can help us get the hell out of here?"

He just wanted to go home, where things weren't as confusing. Funny, that. To think that dealing with the drama and confusion in soul society would be a welcome relief from this hell.

"Way I see it," he explained. "Y'all are plannin' stuff jus' t'get by each night. Maybe a lil' more. With all the people y'got, there must be a half-decent map, ne? So what's it t'be after the explorin's done?" It was an honest question, as honest as he was capable of at least. He wanted to know what the boy's strategy would be next, if he had one at all.

He wasn't finished yet though. He let the captain stew on it for a moment before moving on. "I just ain't sure y'all are usin' what y'got as best as it can be, ne? They got us on th' run all night, be nice t'return the favor."

True, he hadn't quite answered the question yet. He was always a little roundabout when it came to such things. "T'give you any worthwhile ' more detailed ideas, I'd have t'be privy to more inf'mation."

Day 29: Courtyard

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