damned_institute | Night 37: Main Hall 2-West

Hokuto's heart nearly stopped, and her stomach lurched strongly enough so she had to take a step back. She saw Senna fall, but she was frozen to the spot. Finally, she managed to say, just loud enough to be heard, "Momo-chan..."

She wanted to go forward and hug her, but seeing Hitsugaya's torn body in Momo's arms made her--hesitant. She looked at him briefly, and then quickly away; she felt sick enough as it was.

If either girl was expecting a response from the small shinigami, they would be disappointed. Momo did not hear them as she held the burnt and chewed up body to her. The tears still fell, but the loud sobbing had gone away as she was simply too exhausted to cry that hard anymore. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she vaguely noted the presence of the shinigami she did not know, the one she wasn't familiar with.

She didn't care. She didn't respond. She simply sat there, covered in blood that was not her own, with her face buried in that one unsoiled patch of hair.

Some kind of sanity pushed at Senna, the same kind of mantra that told her that staying stagnant was wrong, and if she keep moving, if movement would keep occuring, things could somehow become better.

...She wasn't stupid. Things wouldn't magically be okay. But things could try to heal, if they moved from this place.

Senna crawled forward a few feet, slowly, like she was approaching an animal. One of her hands slid in something, and she ignored it entirely as her stomach lurched violently. She was resolutely not looking at one place, not accepting that that was once a person, once someone she knew. She would concentrate on those who were alive. What had Hokuto called the Shinigami? "Momo-san..." she tried weakly, and went to put her other hand on the Shinigami's shoulder. "Momo-san... maybe you should... come away a little...."

Edited 2008-12-30 02:59 (UTC)

Hokuto swallowed hard; this was not the time. She felt awful in every sense, but Momo had to be feeling a million times worse. Taking a breath, she came forward and walked quietly to Momo's side, sitting down slightly behind her. Having her view of Hitsugaya's body blocked helped, at least a little.

"Momo-chan..." she said softly, leaning forward. She was close enough for Momo to feel her breath on her neck, but she didn't want to startle her. "We're here." She glanced at Senna and shook her head slightly; unless something attacked them, Momo didn't want to go, and she wouldn't react well if they tried to make her.

Physically, Momo noticed the hand on her shoulder and the breath on the back of her neck. Mentally, though, the vice captain was still lost. She was still reeling in emotion, floundering for something that might make sense. First they'd brought Aizen to her. Then they'd taken Renji from her. Now... now they'd taken Hitsugaya from her, right after the two had finally gotten their feelings out to each other.

What else were they going to take from her?

In the end, it was only the feeling of a shinigami's reiatsu right next to her that brought about any sort of response. Slowly, Momo reached her left hand up to clasp around Senna's wrist. There wasn't much of a grip given the cast on that particular wrist, but it clearly showed the firebird drawing the vice captain had done on it. Sadly, the beautiful image of the bird was marred by Hitsugaya's blood.

She still did not say anything.

Senna nodded at Hokuto, the emotions mixed on her face. She would defer to Hokuto in this--she had said Momo and her were close, and Senna had no idea how to go about any of this.

Then the Shinigami reached up and grabbed her wrist.

Senna was edgy enough tonight; Orihime's touched had startled her. And she wasn't sure if the Shinigami's touch was for comfort or a warning. But Senna stayed still, much like one who was in front of a poisonous snake. If you didn't move, or moved very slowly, they might not strike.

She hesitated, then gently tightened her grip on Momo's shoulder. Senna might not know her, but Momo didn't deserve this. "We're here," she said softly. "You're not alone."

Hokuto put a hand on Momo's other shoulder, trying to ignore the blood; she was already sitting on her heels in it anyway. (If she slipped, which was fairly likely--well, she felt sick enough even without thinking about that.) "Yeah," she said softly.

She knew they wouldn't have much luck pulling Momo away from Hitsugaya's body and thus probably shouldn't try, but... willpower only got her so far. Ugh. Hokuto was starting to keep her head down in case she threw up.

Still not a hardened warrior. Maybe I should... give them some privacy... She knew she was doing pretty well considering... still, she could hold on for a little while. Momo might need her.

Hokuto was there, Momo finally noticed. The vice captain wished she wasn't. Hokuto was human and this much blood... Hokuto shouldn't be there. Momo knew this, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. To the two with her, it appeared as if Momo was ignoring Hokuto. That wasn't true, but at that moment, she was only capable of focusing on one thing at a time. At the moment, it was the hand on her shoulder, the wrist she was touching, and the shinigami it was attached to. Just as slowly as when she first moved, Momo took her hand off of Senna's wrist.

"Shinigami," she said in a quiet voice that not even Hokuto would recognize, a voice full of nothing but an echoing void, and pointed down the hallway where the necrits had run off. Should either girl look down that way, the three points where her binding spell had hit the walls still smoldered a little. Momo didn't have the energy to pursue them, but she had only one thing right then that she wanted almost as much as having Hitsugaya alive in her arms.

"Kill them."

It said something about her mental state when 'Shinigami' didn't register as her for a minute.

Senna blinked for a moment, then, confused, looked at Hokuto. "Uh...?"

If it made Momo a little better though, she'd do it, just this time. Senna stood shakily, averting her gaze quickly from the gore it had landed on. Adjusting the spear in her hand, she took a few steps forward and peered into the dark.

There was nothing there. Nothing at all.

Uneasy, she looked back down at the Shinigami on the floor. "There's nothing there, Momo-san."

Hokuto looked too, gaze flicking quickly from Momo to the hall to avoid seeing any more of Hitsugaya's body than she already had. She didn't see... wait, what was that? Movement? She stood up carefully to look, and realized the walls were damaged. Momo's work, most likely.

She tried to kneel down again, but lost her balance and had to move fast to keep from falling. She managed, but in the process automatically looked down... and saw her shoe nudge something that looked like a piece of skin. Or an internal organ. Bile surged in her throat and she bolted, trying to get to somewhere out of the way. She skidded again on the blood, and guts, when she stopped, but managed to stay upright by catching herself on the wall. She barely managed to lean over before she threw up, gagging so hard she nearly choked. When she'd finally stopped retching she staggered backwards, then moved enough to lean against the wall in a relatively clear spot.

She was shaking, tears running down her cheeks, and try as she might could not pull herself together enough to keep a lookout. Senna wasn't in the greatest shape either, but hopefully she had it in her to protect them all; Hokuto just couldn't. She could probably obey orders, but she wasn't in any shape to act on her own.

Momo stared after Senna as the other shinigami made her way down the hallway. She had a hard time focusing on it with only half vision and the pounding headache that was making her see white spots.

"Nothing..." Her words were quiet. The hallway was quiet... until Hokuto threw up.

The sound actually made Momo flinch a little and she brought her hand to her temple, squeezing her eyes shut. "Do you... have a name, shinigami?"

Senna was more than confused. It seemed as if Momo had just shut off all of her emotions in less time than it had took for...

She glanced to the side. Well, for Hokuto to lose her dinner.

She wasn't complaining about the change of pace though. Unemotional sad girl compared to breaking sad girl was preferable right now, and it gave something for Senna to focus on, which was something she was thankful for.

"I'm Senna, Momo-san." She didn't speak other than that. The Shinigami seemed like a ticking time-bomb, and for once, Senna wasn't inclined to give it a nudge to see what happened.

Hokuto was sure she should go closer again, but... no way. She looked around, at least; she wasn't sure she'd notice if a rotting direwolf stalked into sight, but she was trying.

I'll apologize later... New or not, this was no way for a warrior to react. As inexperienced as she was, she wasn't a total newbie, and did her best not to act like it.

The vice captain had indeed shut her emotions off for the moment. She was almost as bad as when she'd shut down after her visit from Aizen. Almost. Sadly, the only one to have seen her in that state was not dead in her arms.

"Senna-san," she repeated slowly. "You are... the unassigned one. New recruit from Academy, yes?"

Again, those that knew her wouldn't have been able to identify Momo by voice alone. This was not the voice of the cheerful, compassionate vice captain they all knew. No, this was a broken shell that had been glued back together once already There might not be enough adhesive in existence to put her back into shape this time.

Momo turned her head toward Hokuto, but all her friend could see was the scarred and lifeless eye. The vice captain knew she was there; she didn't need to see her. She just needed the girl to know she was being addressed when Momo spoke her next word.

"Leave."

"Uh..." And here was the catch again. The same thing that had caught when she tried to explain herself with... Hitsugaya. Senna couldn't... wouldn't... lie. But she would not reveal herself a second time. So what was she, if she was a Shinigami that had never gone to the Academy?

A shock of orange hair gave her her answer. But could she pull it off?

"Actually, Momo-san..." Senna tugged at her hair, nervous in oh-so-many ways. "I've never been to the Academy." Truth. "I became a Shinigami for the first time in the human world." Truth. "I'm more like... um, Ichigo."

Well. All things considering, that was sort of true as well.

Senna looked over at Hokuto, more nervous than she was a second ago. Would she actually leave her friend?

Edited 2008-12-30 05:36 (UTC)

"What?" Hokuto looked at her, honestly confused. Was there something Momo needed to say, or do, that was a shinigami secret--? Being an intended new recruit didn't give her any privileges, of course, but...

And, honestly, she didn't know where they were. Upstairs, obviously, but while she'd been here before she couldn't remember the layout at all.

Besides that, she wanted to stay, for Momo's sake.

"Leave," Momo repeated, her voice not changing. "I will not tell you again."

It seemed callous to order her friend away like that, but Momo was more concerned about her safety than she did about being nice. The shinigami was broken and some things... they just were overlooked in her haste to keep one of the few people she had left safe - the human, the one that needed protected more than anything else right then as duty was still part of Momo.

Turning her head back toward Senna, Momo rubbed her temple again and shook her head some in an attempt to clear away that nasty headache. It didn't help.

"You are... like the ryoka..." Momo forced herself to think that through. She really didn't know anything about how the ryoka had become shinigami other than it had something to do with Rukia transferring her powers to a human - a crime - temporarily which had happened to NOT be temporary for some reason. "Tell me... about your zanpakutou."

She shot Hokuto an altogether desperate look, one that said, if you knew Senna, please don't leave me with the potential crazy and murderous Shinigami. Or, damn that looks good, you should give me that hamburger. Equally desperate situations there.

"Yeah, I am," she responded evenly. That went smooth. "Mirokumaru can control and create tornados once it's released."

Senna looked over at Hokuto again. "Um. Shouldn't she stay? You guys are friends, right?"

Hokuto nodded, and took a few breaths. She wasn't sure what was worse, the smell in the area or the taste in her mouth. "We are. If you won't tell me to leave again, Momo-chan--good. I'm not going anywhere without you." It would have been nice if her voice wasn't so weak, but she would take what she could get.

Friends didn't abandon friends. Especially not in times like this.

"That name... Mirokumaru..." Momo's voice trailed off as her brow furrowed. She couldn't place it, but there was something about Senna's zanpakutou that sounded familiar. Like she had heard the name of it sometime before... a long time ago... maybe back when she was still in the Academy. It didn't make sense to her and... she didn't care enough to try and place why it sounded so familiar, especially when Hokuto refused to leave.

Momo's eye twitched. "Sumeragi-san..." The vice captain's voice was low and warning, yet still void of emotion - for now.

Senna glanced at Momo nervously. "Yeah. Mirokumaru."

Hokuto seemed to be standing her ground, and for the Senna gave her credit. ~~The girlfriend of Alita had to be pretty hardcore, after all.~~ Senna didn't say anything, and just let the two sort it out.

Though she did sneak Hokuto a smile for reassurance. No matter what Momo said, having friends by your side was always better.

I am so going to regret this. "Friends--and teammates--stick together." Hokuto raised her chin and looked Momo in the eye; she knew exactly what she was doing, and damn the consequences.

And as she'd told Momo some time ago, that mindset was nothing new. The shinigami should know by now just how stubborn Hokuto could be, and how loyal.

"..."

Lucky for Senna, Hokuto had grasped all of Momo's attention save for the portion she had dedicated to the body of her beloved. She did not notice the other shinigami's nervous look. As for Hokuto, the vice captain's eye twitched again and she turned her head to look toward Hokuto again, still only gracing the girl with her dead eye.

"They should, but they never do," she replied, her voice finally wavering a little as a small amount of some emotion made its way into Momo's voice. "It's a lie... it's all a lie. Promises... Lies."

Senna was going to just let them sort it out, but she couldn't stay silent to something like that.

"It's not always a lie." She had the memories of heartbreak and loss; she didn't just believe everything was candy and roses. "People are there for you the best they can be."

She looked vaguely in the direction of Hitsugaya's body, letting her eyes unfocus. "They do the best they can. They try their hardest... to protect you."

"And if I chose to leave, what would that make me?" Hokuto pointed out. She was here for Momo... if her friend wanted her to be or not.

On a more practical level, she wasn't in any shape to leave alone. She was leaning against the wall for support, still shaking slightly, and fighting to keep from throwing up again; she'd already brought up so much stomach acid that her throat hurt. Anyway, all that mattered was she wasn't going anywhere.

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