Working Hard! (Hono/Momo)

“These two men are having a dispute over some bought goods and it’s taken a rather nasty turn.” The petite woman replied, offering a small smile to the Shinigami, a slightly amused look in her eyes. “I was about to handle things myself but perhaps it’d be better if I leave it to you instead. I wouldn’t want to get into trouble for doing the Gotei’s job, after all.”

“I don’t need Aizen’s bitch getting involved. Piss off!” The taller of the two men spat, giving Momo an aggressive look. “Go back to your little hovel and stay there you b…”

The man found himself on the ground before he knew what had hit him, completely immobile and unable to move a muscle. All Momo had done was point a finger in his direction and yet it was all she’d needed to do to knock him off his feet. The smile had disappeared from her face and when she spoke to him, her tone was anything but friendly, uttering the spell after the fact. “Bakudo 1: Sai. You will not talk to me in that fashion again. Do you understand me?”

Turning to the Shinigami, she’d shake her head. “I’m sorry about that.”

Scratching her head in an absent minded fashion, Momo replied. “Force of habit, forgive me. I’ll let him up if he promises to be good but I doubt he will be. I’ve seen this one cause problems before around here and he’s always causing trouble with the locals, myself included. I’m not sure what his problem is but it would be nice if he’d just get lost for a while.”

Judging from the language that started coming out of his mouth at that point, it didn’t seem like he’d calmed down, causing Momo to sigh.

The other man, however, seemed to know that it was time to go and with a brief nod to both women, he’d be off down the road without another word. Momo was thankful that at least one of the men had sense and sighed slightly in relief. Perhaps this could be sorted without any more violence although in the back of her mind, Momo couldn’t quite let the more angry man’s insult go. Even now, after so long, it stung to hear that horrible nickname.

Since the pinkette was the one in charge, Momo would ask her. “What should we do? It doesn’t look like he’s cooled off.”

There was a raising of the brow from Momo as she watched the Shinigami work. She was awfully aggressive although that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Still, it gave the petite woman a moment of insight into the workings of the pink haired Shinigami and aroused her curiosity. She’d met quite a few Shinigami lately, many who’d sought her out personally and while she was comfortable in her decision to not return to the Gotei, Momo couldn’t help but try and discover just how life was in organisation now, compared to how it’d once been. Sadly, the stories she’d heard hadn’t exactly been pleasant and Momo had been startled by the sheer…lack of care in some instances.

Playing along with the pinkette, Momo would keep the man still, her spell easily keeping him down despite his attempts at resistance. There was little chance that he’d break out of any binding spells, let alone one cast by someone of Momo's calibre.

The man looked up at Hono, anger still blazing in his green eyes for a moment or two, before it seemed he finally realised the position he was in and wilted under the Shinigami’s menacing gaze. “All right! I’ll go! Just let me up!”

Momo had to hide a smile, clicking her fingers to release him from the spell. He didn’t hang around either, running off without a word, seemingly scared to death.

The brown eyes of the kido expert would turn to Hono, allowing herself to chuckle then. “You certainly have a way of dealing with troublemakers.”

“I made it myself.” Momo replied with a soft smile. “I find working on Kido fun since I’ve got plenty of free time, that’s what I spend it doing. My name’s Momo Hinamori, I used to be a Lieutenant in the Gotei but sadly things didn’t go so well for me while I was a member and I ended up leaving. So, I just develop Kido by myself now and do a little teaching on the side. I don’t have a school or anything, it’s just for people who want a little private tutoring.”

Looking at the pink haired woman, she’d ask in return, chuckling again. “You’re not actually all mean and serious though, right? It’s just an act, yeah? It looked like you were going to kill him for a second there.”

“You just ask.” Momo chuckled yet again in response. “More often than not, Shinigami hear about what I do and then visit me at my home. Sometimes they wish to learn new spells and other times they want to learn something more difficult like chant skipping or manipulating their Kido. I’m happy to help with whatever they need and I’ve even been known to help out the odd high ranked Seat from time to time. I teach in an informal way and it’s more about creativity than just memorising chants in your head. I kind of think of Kido as art.”

“You’re a feisty one, aren’t you?” Momo commented after listening to the Shinigami explain herself. Her tone wasn’t dismissive or anything though, having come to appreciate the different personalities of those she met among the Gotei. “I can see how scaring them off can work even though I prefer a good old binding spell rather than bashing their brains in if things turn hairy.”