AAaahhhh!! As an artist it’s always such a joy to see character sketches as those can give out details that might have been hard to figure out when watching the finished work or just seeing additional stuff…omg.
Does anyone have translations of the notes on some of them?
Synopsis: “My whole time as a shinigami I dreamt of being Aizen’s vice-captain. However, I now have different goals. I think I would want to become a greater kido master—and who knows, maybe one day teach at the Academy.”
“You would be an excellent professor Hinamori. Everyone says so,” he affirmed, recalling her earlier training session with Ichika.
She tucked her hair behind her ear. It had grown longer and was falling out of her side clip. “They’re just being nice.” She paused, her brown eyes far off somewhere.
…
In the quiet of the winter night before the fireworks burn, the two childhood friends reunite to share thoughts about the future.
Word Count: 3200 words
Setting:few years after the epilogue of Bleach
Prompt:Hitsuhina Day 2022 - Kido, A Quiet Moment
Authour’s Note:Happy Hitsuhina Day everyone! I’m super excited to share this one with you as I’ve been sitting on it for over a year now. But when I saw the prompts, I knew I had to finish it up! It has a couple of my own headcanons that I’ll mention briefly on my thoughts of what happens to our beloved characters, particularly Momo, after the epilogue of Bleach :)
Hope you enjoy!
Also shout out to EXO’s White Noisefor helping me set the mood & finish this :)
—
Toushiro was not one to meander: meandering meant one did not have purpose and was prone to wasting time.
But he had found himself wandering towards the Fifth headquarters. Not to deliver paperwork. Or to meet Hirako-taicho. No…he was just conveniently walking by, in the secret hopes to see if his childhood friend was free to stop for afternoon tea. He had only been on the receiving ends of her out of office hell butterflies and hadn’t had the chance to personally talk to her as to why she had been so absent of late. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he had missed seeing her smile, listening to her stories about mundane topics and even hearing the childish moniker “Shiro-chan”.
And to Toushiro’s surprise, did he not just find her but a whole crowd from her captain to Abarai-fukutaicho and his own vice-captain watching from afar as she was practicing out in the Fifth Division’s courtyard with Ichika.
“Matsumoto, what are you doing?” Toushiro asked, irritable because she was overdue from her break thirty minutes ago.
“Shh, Taicho! Hinamori-chan and Ichika-chan are training!” Rangiku shushed as Momo and Ichika talked in the distance.
He raised his eyebrow. “And why do you have to watch?”
Renjii piped up to his friend’s defense. “Matsumoto hasn’t been here long, Hitsugaya-taicho. She came to drop off papers for me, but I wasn’t in the office.” Toushiro scoffed at the told-you-so look from his vice-captain.
“They’re almost finished so you might as well stick around,” Hirako drawled with a casual shrug thrown over his shoulder at the shorter captain.
Though he was not one to conform to slacking like the other bystanders, it was his first time seeing Momo in person in a while, so he just stood silently and watched from afar as the duo continued with their kido session.
“Ichika-chan, is it okay if I adjust your pose?” The girl nodded her head furiously, as Momo stepped closer, gently taking her arms. “You want these to be parallel to the ground, and then position your hands…like this…”
Even from the distance, Toushiro could see that the crimson blush on Ichika’s cheeks was fading and she was relaxing with Momo’s teachings. He always knew that Hinamori had a calming presence, but he had never seen it happen so quickly and smoothly in someone else—particularly one who was so young and flustered.
“Is it like this?” the little girl asked meekly, as she demonstrated her stance.
“That’s great, Ichika-chan! Just focus on widening your stance and moving your shoulders back…like this,” Momo encouraged as she gently adjusted the young girl’s shoulders. “You got it! Now give it a shot!”
The onlookers watched as Ichika chanted the familiar words. While initially she had stumbled over the mantra, she finished with confidence as the light steadily grew from her palm before flying out. Within a few moments, the target was smoking grey wisps from the singe of the red cannon ball.
Momo clasped her hands together. “Amazing job, Ichika-chan!” The little girl beamed as Renjii gave a proud clap and Rangiku whistled in accord. Toushiro glanced up at the corner of his eye, to see the laid-back captain nodding in approval. “In no time she’s going to surpass all of us,” Hirako said with a sudden graveness that it made Toushiro wonder if was speaking about more than just the young girl.
“Ah, Ichika-chan, your hair is getting loose! Let me tie it for you,” Momo said, moving around swiftly and combing the red hair together with her hands. “When I first started out too, my hair would get in my way but someone gave me a cloth for my hair—to protect myself from getting hurt.” Ichika remained silent with a light blush dusting her cheeks as the fifth lieutenant tied the ribbon securely twice before tucking fly away behind the little girl’s ears.
“You’re making great progress,” Momo bent down to look into her violet eyes, “and in no time you’ll be as good as your mom!” The girl broke out into a wide tooth smile and rushed onto Momo with such an affection that the older girl couldn’t help but return back.
“Ichika-chan is doing really well! She’ll be well prepared for the academy,” Rangiku said with a proud smile, as the bystanders watched the two from far. “It’s all thanks to Hinamori,” Renjii affirmed. “She’s Ichika’s favorite. Though Ichika respects Ikkaku, he gives her a hard time. But Hinamori never rushes her and pushes her at her own pace.” Shinji collapsed down on the balcony. “She’s the patient one between the two of us—the new recruits love her,” he grumbled half-heartedly.
“She always had a way with the underclassman and younger souls,” Renjii agreed. “She’ll be great with her own kids.”
Rangiku turned to her captain, who had remained silent and watched Momo from afar, with a cheeky grin and devious look in her eyes. “With her own kids, hmm?”
—
At the balcony’s edge, overlooking their garden, she was sitting with her long hair down. Though her back was turned to him, his heart still picked up to see hair flowing down, almost to her waist. Even from the distance, he could feel her warmth reiatsu pulling him forward.
Peeking out from the crook of her elbow was the smallest head of white hair. As Toushiro opened his mouth, she turned her head and all words were lost as she beamed at him.
“Toushiro! You’re home early!” Momo gestured with her head for him to come forward. She looked down in her arms, the love evident in her eyes.
“He’s finally asleep,” Momo whispered as she leaned forward to kiss the little boy’s forehead. “He looks just like an angel in his sleep.”
Without any control, he felt his arm move around Momo’s shoulder before pulling her in. Toushiro felt her body settle against his, as if they had sat like this, many times before.
“Anata,” her long eyelashes fluttered as she sighed into his cloak, sending shivers up his spine.
“I need to go finish the paperwork. Matsumoto don’t dawdle for too long.” Toushiro flushed crimson and shook his head, quickly removing himself from the premises and smug looks from his vice-captain and the fifth captain.
—
“Ahh Shiro-chan! Over here!” Momo waved enthusiastically.
“Hinamori! Not too loud!” He looked side to side, hoping that no one was around to hear. They were on one of the rooftops of the 10th division barracks, a little far off the main commotion. It was just far enough to hear the bustle from the festival but have a private moment. String lights hung from building to building, guiding excited guests through the different stalls that dotted the streets. It was truly one of the few times where the whole city had seemed to sigh in relaxation and revel in the festivities.
“But Hitsugaya-kun, no one is even here,” Momo said matter-of-factly.
He unwrapped the scarf from his neck as he scoffed, “That doesn’t matter.” He wrapped it around her neck. “Also, how many times do I have to tell you,” he tied a knot, “don’t come out here without a scarf.”
“It’s not that cold!” She lifted the scarf to her nose and smiled in content. “But thank you Hitsugaya-kun.”
He nodded in acknowledgement as he sat down besides her. There was a chill in the air and their breaths puffed out little whispers of smoke. The last light of the winter sun had started to fade away as the stars began to twinkle hello.
Toushiro sighed. It had been a while since they had properly seen each other.He had been swamped with paperwork as the end of the year approached. They had seen each other in the general captain-vice-captain meetings but only quick hellos and byes. Besides the time he had observed her train the younger Abarai a few days ago, Toushiro hadn’t had the chance to see her outside of quotidian duties and simply catch up.
So, when Hinamori had asked him to watch the winter festival fireworks together, he was more than happy to oblige. As the time settled in, he couldn’t ignore the sense of anticipation that brewed inside him. Even Matsumoto had noticed it, giving him a look at of the corner of her eye and a knowing smile as he finished his work a little more quickly than usual.
“It’s been a while, since we’ve done this Hitsugaya-kun,” Momo said. “Thank you for agreeing to watch the fireworks for me.”
She realized too. “Well, I’m not the one that’s working more outside my position. Is Hirako not giving you enough work?”
She set her shoulders back and gave him a pointed look but he could hear the teasing in her voice. “Hirako-taicho is giving me plentyof work, Hitsugaya-kun.” She smiled in content. “But he’s also encouraging me to try new things that I’m interested in.”
“Like what?”
“Ahh, I didn’t get to tell you, yet! Wow, it has really been a while since we’ve talked!” She tugged at her lieutenant badge. “We had a meeting where we discussed goal settings and he explained to me the importance of picking specific areas where I wanted to grow and write it down so we were both clear on how I should improve myself.”
Toushiro raised a skeptical eye brow. “He asked you to write down your goals?” Though they were not close, he thought it was out of character for the seemingly laid-back captain.
“I know, I know it seems a little out there,” Momo laughed. “But while he was in the World of Living, he worked in some corporate positions so I guess he adopted more strict human practices of work management.” She tightened the scarf around her neck, her eyes slightly downcast. “I think it’s also because he blames himself as a captain for not being attentive with his previous vice-captain…”
Toushiro could believe that. At the battle of the fake Karakura town, he remembered the anger on Hirako’s face when he came face to face with Aizen. He hadn’t known the full story at time but there was loaded history behind the look of contempt the current 5th captain had for Aizen—something that Toushiro shared with greatly.
He’ll never forget the boiling rage that erupted within as Aizen goaded him for swinging his blade out of fury. Though he regretted rushing into battle so quickly, he couldn’t deny the contempt he felt when the traitor mentioned Hinamori. As more time passed and he reflected back on that battle, he realized that there may have been another feeling that had sourced such a visceral reaction when it came to the sweet eyed girl.
Toushiro cleared his throat. “So, what did you write down?”
“I’ve always wanted to improve my kido. I have never been able to do greater than Bakudo 73 but it would be amazing to perform a level 90 or higher! And to think of the kind of combinations that I could create!” Momo looked up at the sky. “Last time we went to the World of the Living, he introduced me to Hacchi-san—who used to be the kido-corps lieutenant—and wow, he’s amazing Hitsugaya-kun! Did you know that can perform Bakudo 99? He’s so gentle and knowledgeable, it feels like I’m in the academy!”
Toushiro watched as Momo continued to talk eagerly, her arms moving from under her scarf to demonstrate the different hand movements she learnt. He couldn’t remember the last time she had seem so excited about something, where her eyes lit up and the smiled widened. It eased him inside to see her so motivated— the last time was when she had decided to become a shinigami.
“Don’t take on more than you can handle Hinamori.” Though she was smiling, he could start to notice the faint dark circles under her eyes.
“Wow,the Hitsugaya-taicho is telling me not to overwork myself!” Momo laughed. “That’s truly one for the books.”
“Don’t mock me,” he scoffed, crossing his arms and fixing her with a stare he had patented for when the new recruits had stepped out of line or his vice-captain had taken out a bottle of sake past her break time.
But it did little the dissuade the smile off of her face. “Thank you. I promise I’ll take care of myself—that’s why I invited you tonight!”
If Momo noticed his red ears, she didn’t say anything and continued on. “We’ve had so many battles— but there’s still so much work to do. Hacchi-san wants to get stronger, so many people do. Kira-kun has found new training methods. Hirako-taicho is spending more time with our recruits. Even Abarai-kun is taking on more work.”
The street lights began to slowly turn on, and the festival thrummed with excitement. But Toushiro paid it no heed, as he watched the girl next to him, slowly picking at the stray strands from his scarf.
“Renjii has trained so hard. Now, he has a family to protect. Ichika-chan is doing amazing and I know will follow in her parents’ footsteps. But it just reminds me how much is at stake—how much more I have to lose.” She turned to look at him and Toushiro saw a quiet determination he hadn’t before.
“My whole time as a shinigami I dreamt of being Aizen’s vice-captain. However, I now have different goals. I think I would want to become a greater kido master—and who knows, maybe one day teach at the Academy.”
“You would be an excellent professor Hinamori. Everyone says so,” he affirmed, recalling her earlier training session with Ichika.
She tucked her hair behind her ear. It had grown longer and was falling out of her side clip. “They’re just being nice.” She paused, her brown eyes far off somewhere. “But I could imagine myself as a teacher first before a mother.” Momo laughed. “Now that seems out there.”
He gulped, almost afraid to say the next words. He didn’t know what she was going to say, and there was a part of him that felt like his heart was on a precipice.
“Have ever you thought about it…?”
Momo glanced down on her midrift, rubbing her hand down as if she were imagining a bump. “I don’t think I’m there yet…There’s nothing great about being young and naïve when I have so much to learn. There’s still a lot more I want to accomplish.
“I’m still growing and learning, but I cannot wait until I become an adult.” She smiled at Toushiro. “Maybe one day!” Her eyes drifted out towards the stars, “And if I do have one…I think I would want a girl.”
His eyes widened in surprise. She had never mentioned anything like this before. “Why a girl?”
She chuckled mirthlessly. “I think I would want a girl so I could teach her how to stand on her feet and become strong. So, she could learn from my mistakes.”
“Hinamori…” He looked at her, hoping his eyes communicated his determination. “You have gotten stronger, more than you think.”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, “Not enough.” She shook her head, as if brushing the melancholy aside. “Anyway! Enough about me!” She pointedly turns to him with a mischievous look in her eyes. “What about you Hitsugaya-kun?”
“Me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Well yeah—you! Have you ever thought of having children?”
He could feel the blush on his cheeks rise to the tips of his ears and he quickly looked away. “I-I haven’t thought about that!!” Toushiro crosses his arms. “I don’t think about those things.”
She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “Hmmm, I don’t think you’re telling me the truth…” Momo teased.
He choked back a quick retort. “I am!”
“Well! If you had a child, I would hope you have a boy.” She stares at him with a far-off look that makes him heat up.
“And why’s that?”
“I would hope they have your white hair! I could ruffle their hair like I did when you were younger and they would be so cute to hug!” She smiles sweetly, “But I would love any children of yours Hitsugaya-kun!”
“W-what?” he sputters. He was certain now that his face was red.
How can she say things like that? It didn’t help that was precisely what he was thinking about—and what Matsumoto and Hirako teased him about.
She bumped his shoulder. “Don’t blush, don’t blush.”
“I am not blushing!” Toushiro responded indignantly.
Before Momo could respond back with a retort, the loud clap of the firework erupted in front of them. Whatever was left unsaid, fell into the silence between Momo and Toushiro as their gazes were arrested by the bursts of colour in the dark night. Though they both remained quiet, the two childhood friends felt a comfort that was long overdue. It had been a while since they had gotten to sit down, just the two of them, without the foreboding worry of danger.
Toushiro was the first one that broke their gaze as he watched Momo stare openly at the bright lights. He could see the bright red and yellows reflect on her skin, casting her in a warm light, as if she were lit up with Tobiume’s rieatsu. He didn’t know if it were possible, but the fireworks seemed to be brighter in her hazel brown eyes. Toushiro knew that there was a period of time where the warmth in her eyes had disappeared, after she had woken from her coma. Though Momo had picked herself up and fought bravely, her eyes had still looked like she was going through an inner battle.
Now, it was as if a spark had reignited and though it was the middle of the night, Toushiro felt that he could see the sun start to rise in her eyes.
She turned to him to say something but stopped. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
He snapped from his reverie, embarrassed to be caught openly admiring her face. “I wasn’t looking at you,” he responded smartly. “Also, it’s late and you should go to bed.” When she didn’t seem to believe his response, he quickly stated, “It’s captain’s orders.”
Momo continued to look at him as if she wanted to say something, but shook her head as if she decided against it. “Well,” she picked herself up and dusted her uniform. “You’re right. Thank you for listening to me…Hitsugaya-taichou.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You never call me that.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Thought I would give it a try. Will you walk me back?”
Toushiro scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Of course, what else?”
Momo smiled as he stood beside her, and he noted how he was now at eye level with her. In due time he knew he would tell her more one day. But for now, he’d be content to walk alongside her as the fireworks crawled higher and brighter, before fading out into the pitch-black sky. For even though the future was uncertain, they knew they would be at each other’s sides, cheering each other to be stronger individuals.
—
Author’s Notes: Some of my headcanons: Momo totally trains with Hacchi-san! Being Shinji’s vice captain, I’m so sure he’ll introduce them together on one of their World of Living trips :) I would love to write a fic of them training together :) I also totally imagine her in the future someday having the opportunity to treach at the Shinigami Academy and further down the road be offered the Kido Corps Captain position!
Also another headcanon that I took from Fruits Basket, is that Toushiro waits until he’s taller than Momo (without the Mature Bankai haha) to tell her how he feels haha (In the meantime, he’ll just fantasize about their future together haha)
One of the letters we got asked for that Alphabet Ask Meme was about favorite relationships in Bleach, but after spending a full textbrick listing my top 90 favorite Bleach relationships it felt excessive to elaborate within the meme. But since one of my other ask meme answers was about wanting to see more Hitsugaya on my dash, lol, I should try to be the change I wish to see in the world. So…
Hinamori and Hitsugaya (Vol. 1)!
The first time we see them together, Hitsugaya is the third captain to mysteriously appear and comment on Renji’s state of dishabille post-Ichigo. Because like, at this point we know two things about Hinamori:
very fond of her captain
willing to start a shouting match with Byakuya to defend her friend Renji’s honor
We don’t really know that much about Hitsugaya. Mostly, that Renji thinks it would be a pain to serve under him. (Bear in mind Renji’s own captain, the one that he agreed to serve under, showed up to this scene purely to insinuate that Renji was honorless dirt and deserved prison, and like, I can’t imagine Renji would have expected Byakuya to respond differently.)
But in contrast to Byakuya, the first sustained Hitsugaya appearance we get is actually Casual Friday Hitsugaya:
Not that the way Hitsugaya regularly talks tends to be hyperformal, especially since he’s usually interacting with subordinates. Most of the time, he talks like any shounen anime boy. But to me this first intro feels like, REAL casual lol. The guy is elongating vowels and dropping syllables and casual katakana-ing all over the place. This is “Ichigo and Rukia have a rambunctious comedic aside” casual.
I love Casual Friday Hitsugaya deeply, as a general entity. But the reason I bring him up here is because this is the first time we see Hitsugaya and Hinamori interacting, and to me, it instantly lets us know that they have a very close relationship. They’re not just some rubbernecking captain and someone else’s friend. There’s more here.
Tragically, I have not documented every time Hitsugaya has ever said anything (…yet), but Casual Friday Hitsugaya seems pretty rare. We see him here, when he’s talking to Hinamori in confidence. The other two times that come to mind are when he’s talking to Matsumoto in confidence and intentionally trying to keep things light (after Ichimaru and Hinamori cross blades), and also once when he’s alone and just talking to himself (about Matsumoto). The Advance Team arc was basically Aloha Shirt Week for the Gotei 13, but even then Hitsugaya did not call on Casual Friday Hitsugaya. Three months of hell adjacent and the whole time his register of language pretty much stayed between “typical shounen anime boy informal” and “slightly more distant/authoritative.”
Casual Friday Hitsugaya is private, and he really only belongs to two people—Hinamori and Matsumoto. An entire register of language preserved for special occasions–that just warms me. It’s not Hitsugaya’s the only one who ever gets that casual, or that it’s like,innatelya big deal—but the facts that 1) this is how we MEET him, almost in diametric contrast to how we more regularly see him, and 2) he seems to have a really clear, regimented idea of how he’s going to be, in what register he is going to exist, with no mixed-use middles, is something I get a lot of mileage out of.
Something else that stands out to me about that first convo between the two of them is that Hitsugaya calls Aizen “Aizen no yatsu,” to Hinamori’s face, which LOL. HITSUGAYA. Rude??
Authour’s Note: Hello, it’s been a while! This year has been a slow start for me in terms of writing and I haven’t been able to work on my longer WIPs. However, I had a little burst of motivation to finish this short snippet, based on the song “lmly” by Jackson Wang. I imagine that this would be a scenario in my Hitsuhina College AU :)
—
“I’m sorry,” he starts softly, followed by an aggravated sigh. “You weren’t meant to find out that way.”
Her heart hitches in her throat to see her dear friend so conflicted. What would usually comfort her as the sight of him confident and in charge behind the driver’s wheel her now unnerved her to see him so restrained and remorseful. It scared her to see him uneased—and it scared her more that it was her fault.
The words are on the tip of her tongue, but they sound so heavy that it just falls out clumsily. “…then what happens now?” She wrings her fingers and clutches them to her chest tightly, not knowing where she should really put her hands. His car which would have been like a second home now seemed like such foreign ground; the arm rest between them seemed to separate them miles away from each other.
She can see the furrow of his brown deepen. “This doesn’t change anything, Hinamori,” he gritted out. “You’ll leave for the summer, and go do your internship. And when you return, we’ll be back to normal.”
“But Shiro-chan…can we ever go back?”
The lights of passing cars flash by, running across the stoniness of his face and down his arms, still holding the wheel too tightly. A police siren echoes in the distance, soft and wailing. She hears the steps of people as they walk through the rain puddles, heading home after the turbulent storm. Though she was afraid of thunder, Momo was even more afraid of the brewing tempest in the car.
“Yes. We will,” he stated with determination. “We’ll move on and just forget that it ever happened.”
But she knew that he was lying. Too much had happened, and it all came out one late night, over drinks too many and a friend that overshared. And even though light buzz clouded her thoughts, she couldn’t ignore the way his teal eyes had widened in shock, while the room continued to laugh in a drunken stupor. He escaped in a hurry, and she had to follow him out; as she slammed the door she caught the glimpse of Rangiku resigned eyes, and it only deepened the pool of anxiety inside herself.
She had feelings for him, she believed that soundly. He was her constant support, a guiding voice during all the ups and downs of high school and now college. But, imagining anything more than friends left her with the quiet thought that her dear friend would disappear, leaving her alone.
“I can’t—I can’t leave you loving me,” she sniffles and looks up at him, “it would break my heart.”
His emerald eyes are tired but he holds her gaze. “Hinamori, it’s too late for that—but that was never your fault.” He looks down and fingers the dragon charm on his car key, a birthday gift from her seven years ago. “It was inevitable to happen—but that is my problem to deal with.” His knuckles tighten around the wheel of the car and stares resolutely straight ahead.
She swallows thickly, the tears stinging at her eyes. The excitement that carried her throughout the last days was now filled with regret that she didn’t notice her dear friend’s true feelings, not now, not the past couple days and not even the last years. But, a little voice pipes in her head, maybe she always knew—for in the end, there is no drug quite like denial.
That thought jerks her out of stupor and flings the door open, the smell of rain and cold air bringing her back to reality. “I guess this is goodbye, Hitsugaya-kun,” she quickly says before slamming the pavement running to her apartment, knowing that after tonight, they wouldn’t ever be the same again.
—
Authour’s Note: A little angsty for sure. Partly because I feel that if Momo were to ever find out that Toushiro had feelings for her in canon, she would first deny them — particularly, if it came at a point that she hadn’t full recovered from her trauma. I think the desire to keep everything the safe and same could outweigh the realization of any newly developed feelings. It’s something I would like to toy with in writing :)
Synopsis: “Hinamori, why are you still awake?” Momo looked behind herself, “Oh, Shiro-chan you’re here.” She turned back to her paperwork. “You should go to bed. I just need to complete some last revisions on this syllabus.”
…
Hinamori is overcome with nerves as she prepares for a new position as a lecturer at the Shinigami Academy.
Word Count:
790 words
Setting:years and years after future musings; established relationship
Authour’s Note: As I had hinted at with my previous Hitsuhina 2022 Day fic, this is a short sequel to “future musings” which builds off on the goals that Hinamori had wanted for herself. I actually had an idea for this after reading Harry Potter lately; particularly with the academic setting and thinking about syllabi and courses as well as how professors bring their own personalities in them :)
I had such a difficult naming this fic! in my wip’s this was called “cold feet”, which is what first came to me but upon further reflection that’s more of specific nerves.
Hope you enjoy!
—
“Hinamori…” Toushiro called out softly.
The brunette continued muttering to herself as she shifted papers, dipping her brush into the ink well, and furiously rewriting new points.
The captain sighed. He knew when his girlfriend was deep focused on a task, there was no breaking her concentration. The tiger of paperwork nickname held up even with work outside of the Gotei 13. He glanced at the clock. Considering the hour, and how early she needed to be up tomorrow, he knew he had to try to stop her from working later than needed.
Stepping behind her, he draped a blanket around her shoulders. “Hinamori, why are you still awake?”’
Momo looked behind herself, “Oh, Shiro-chan you’re here.” She turned back to her paperwork. “You should go to bed. I just need to complete some last revisions on this syllabus.”
“Hinamori, you’ve been working on your syllabus for the past two weeks. I’m sure it exceeds all expectations.”
“I know, I know! But I’ve sent a draft to Haachi-san and also conferred with Nanao-san about possible amendments to the current Soul Reaper Academy syllabus for intro to kido and they sent me back revisions that I need to look over.”
Hinamori had been offered a guest lecture position for the Soul Reaper Academy’s Intro to Kido lesson. While initially very much over the moon at the opportunity, the fifth division vice captain had been pouring over texts from the Archives and on video calls with Haachi in the Human World as she designed the new curriculum for the developing field of Kido research.
“I also want to include some new material that’s come out…Haachi-san thinks it may be too contemporary but I’ve read the papers and it seems like the direction that kido combat is going.”
“If you feel it’s appropriate, you should include it in.”
Momo threw her hands up, the ink splashing her cheek. “Yes, but I don’t want the higher ups to think that I’m just throwing the canonical law to the side!”
Seeing the comical look of ink marks on his girlfriend’s face, Toushiro knew she had enough.
“You were chosen because you not only understand what is important of the past to teach but also the need to bring a new perspective. You will be fine.”
She reached for her phone. “Maybe I should make a call to Hachi-san—”
Hitsugaya grabbed her hand holding the phone. “It’s past midnight, Hinamori.”
“But—”
He cut her off with a quick kiss. “Hinamori, you need to sleep.” He blew out the candle. “I’ll wake you up early, tomorrow so you can make one final look at your syllabus draft,” at Hinamori’s start of protest he continued on, “—which I am confident will be one more than enough.”
Lifting her up in his arms, he continued forth. “Get some rest and don’t let the nerves get to you on your first day.”
Momo sighed, knowing he was right, and slumped her head in defeat against his shoulder. “What would I do without you, Hitsugaya-kun?” She yawned, her eyes already fluttering close.
“Let’s get some sleep first…”
…
“Guess what Hitsugaya-kun! My students are one of the top ones passing their practicals!”
A few months later, she had bounded into his office, as he was finishing the last of the paperwork before wrapping up for the night. Though late, it couldn’t conceal the apparent glee on Momo’s face as she shook the papers in her hand.
“Really?”
She tucked her hands under her chin! “Yes! And so much so that because of my new syllabus, they’re thinking of having me lead a syllabus review for other courses! I can introduce new readings and research…”
“Now, who was the one that was nervous on her first day?” He teased as he took her hand in his, softly drawing circles with his thumb.
“I know, I know,” she acquiesced. “I just can’t believe that I impacted students! To be able to impart knowledge and change the way we teach our future shinigami! I feel goosebumps just thinking about it…” She trailed off and looked to her boyfriend who had a thoughtful expression on his face.
“What?” Momo stopped, the smile still lifting her cheeks.
Toushiro shook his head. “You got this day dream look in your eyes…”
She blushed furiously and he found her so endearing he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her towards him and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “You are incredible, Momo. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Momo smiled and tucked herself in to his embrace, relishing the feeling that of whatever change she would create out in the world, her constant support was always at home with her.
—
Author’s Notes: I can definitely imagine Momo being that type of person that would try her best in her own personal endeavours to such a degree of perfection that it could be borderline ridiculous haha But it’s nice to think that Toushiro probably grounds her :)
