Lost and confused...

[donewithwaiting]

Characters: Hinamori Momo donewithwaiting
When: Event 1
Where: outside apartment building C
Style: Third
Open or Closed: Open! Come play! Or at least help the poor girl out XD
Rating/Warnings: TBA

(I'm slightly late to the party. Sorry, been busy |D)

Comments

[cant_stoptrying]

Izuru found he had far too little to do in this world where he wasn't buried in missions, reports and paperwork. He had noticed lately there appeared to be a few more children than he remembered and a fair bit of commotion as well.

He walks by one of the housing complexes and noticed a small girl sitting on the steps, looking rather distressed. She seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Excuse me," he called, approaching her. "Are you alright?"

[donewithwaiting]

Momo jumped at the voice, her instincts immediately telling her it was an adult. Adults she didn't know were not to be trusted; some of the tales she'd heard from higher districts...

When she looked up to see who it was - she figured she'd be okay so long as it wasn't the owner of this strange house - however, she grinned brightly, jumping up. It was a shinigami! They almost always stopped to help out, and Momo was so, so relieved to see someone obviously from the same place she was.

"Shinigami-san!" Momo exclaimed, running up to him. "I'm so glad to see you! I'm really, really lost." she explained quickly, stopping a few steps from him so as not to crowd him; Momo didn't want to anger him.

[cant_stoptrying]

Izuru blinked in surprise at the small girl when she jumped onto him.

"Ah... shinigami..." he trailed off. At first he wasn't sure if he had heard her right, but it is her voice that shocks him the most. He looks at the young girl with wide eyes as she continues to speak, more questions forming into his head.

He pauses for a long moment, not sure what to say. He bends down so he is eye level with the girl.

"Hinamori-kun?" He asked cautiously.

[donewithwaiting]

The man almost seemed surprised to be called a shinigami. Momo peered at him curiously for several long moments. No, he certainly looked the part, and no-one would dare impersonate a shinigami. Maybe he was just used to being called by his name.

She had to resist darting back when the man knelt down, though; shinigami or not, he was still a strange adult. Momo kept her ground, meeting his gaze with a soft, hopeful smile.

Which changed to immediate confusion as he called her by name. How did everyone seem to know it?!

"That's my name." Momo said uncertainly. "How do you know it, shinigami-san?"

[cant_stoptrying]

Izuru stared at her, his mouth hanging open just a little bit. He quickly scans her form and without a doubt she was ... a much younger Momo than the one he knew. Was this another version of her that had been pulled into this world? Then again he hadn't seen the regular, or at least closer to his present, Momo in a little while. Either way, her mindset matched her appearance, Izuru could be sure of that.

"Oh um," he looks away nervously, trying to think of something. "It...It must be a coincidence! Actually you look a lot like a friend of mine, she has the same name. Hi-Hinamori.... U-Ume."

Good one Izuru, good one. The blonde mentally smacked himself, promising he'd apologise to Momo when he saw the fifth division Lieutenant next.

[donewithwaiting]

"A coincidence?" she repeated suspiciously, but let him carry on with what he was saying. Her suspicion relaxed a little as he explained further, Momo nodding finally and making a face at the girl's name.

"What an ugly name!" she announced, then suddenly looked very troubled as a thought crossed her mind. "You say I look a lot like her, shinigami-san?" Momo asked; she'd never heard of someone looking like her before, and it troubled her to think that maybe there was someone who was better at looking like her than she was!

Without waiting for his answer, Momo continued; "Does she look prettier than I do?"

[cant_stoptrying]

"Uh huh," Izuru nodded a little nervously but relaxed when she seemed to accept his story. He had to grin at her reaction, he should have expected it really, but it was still very cute coming from the little Momo.

"Um, yes, she is taller though, and does her hair a little differently," Izuru said quickly, paincked that there was a hole in his story the young girl had spotted. He looked at her with wide eyes, cheeks going pink when she asked him her next question.

"U-Uh... N-No, of course not." He said with a smile, patting the young girl's head. "How could someone with such an ugly name be prettier than you, right?"

[donewithwaiting]

Momo listened attentively to his description, relaxing a little when she heard that this other Hinamori didn't look exactly like her.

She gave him a curious glance when he blushed at her question; she hadn't thought it was embarrassing. Momo lost that thought, though, when he patted her on the head, smiling happily at him.

"Of course!" she grinned, even though she had asked the question not a moment before. "That would be silly."

That crises averted, Momo thoughts turned back to her original dilema. "Do you know where we are, Shinigami-san?"

[cant_stoptrying]

He nervously nodded, still feeling a little odd about being around the younger Momo but slowly feeling more comfortable.

He smiled at her and retracted his hand. He would never say it in front of her, but she was cuter than ever.

The next question made him blink and he glanced around. "Oh, um..." He paused and quickly tried to think of a better answer; he knew the young girl was looking to him for guidance. "I know it is a place different to Soul Society but there are some shinigami here, so don't worry."

[donewithwaiting]

Momo returned his smile, glad that she had found one of the nice shinigami; one of the ones that were helpful to those in Rukongai, rather than looking down at them.

She tilted her head curiously at him when he appeared confused at her question. Maybe shinigami-san doesn't know where we are, either... Momo thought, somewhat disappointed.

"Oh, okay." she murmured. "I'm glad there are shinigami here, though, or else I wouldn't know what to do!"

[cant_stoptrying]

Izuru gently took her hand, patting it with his other one. He smiled warmly at her.

"Don't worry, I will do everything in my power to protect you."

He meant every last word, right down to the letter and in front of the young child his words sounded a lot less embarassing. He hoped that when she returned to normal (not thinking about how, when exactly or if she even would), she wouldn't remember this.