Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

This is a companion piece to Like Brothers and Like Strangers, but can be understood without reading either. Just know that in this "universe," Ulquiorra and Toshiro are brothers and that Ulquiorra's name was "Katashi Hitsugaya" as a human. Also, Ukitake pretended to be their "uncle," although he was still a Shinigami.

Enclosed

…

"Bind, Murciélago."

…

Ukitake sprinted as fast as humanly possible and then some. If he could have, he would've shed the gigai and used shunpo all the way there. As it was, the false body's weight was dragging him down with its heavy feet and limbs. His white ponytail hit his back repeatedly to the tempo of his run.

A section of the school down the street had just collapsed.

Katashi was inside.

A tight grip was maintained on his soul candy should he need to rescue his young charge. This grip increased as the rubble came into sight. People were swarmed around it, mostly children who had been in the school and parents who'd come upon hearing the news. Toshiro and Katashi's parents would be on their way along with their youngest boy. Ukitake couldn't waste that time waiting for them.

Flying through the rescue workers, Ukitake searched for that familiar head of black hair and vibrant blue-green eyes. So many of them were covered with soot, it was a difficult process.

"Is Katashi Hitsugaya here?" Ukitake asked the teacher.

Panicked and despairing eyes met his. The woman shook her head. "He's one of the only three students not accounted for. I'm sorry."

Ukitake raced off to the side of the mayhem and popped one of the pills into his mouth without a second to spare. His spirit exploded out of his body. Now invisible and at full strength, he was able to get past everyone and to the building. He slipped into the hallway leading to the destruction, picking his way through with speed and precision.

"Katashi!" he yelled, knowing the boy might be able to hear him. He'd never contacted Katashi in his Shinigami form before. There was also the possibility that his spirit was no longer attached to his body. He screamed louder. "Katashi, are you in here?"

Faint coughing caught his attention. Ukitake rushed off to where he heard it. A wall of debris was blocking his way. Placing his hands in front of him, Ukitake remembered another reason that it was good to come in as a Shinigami: kido.

He whispered a quick chant under his breath. The rocks soon shifted from the entrance to form a gap just large enough for him to squeeze through. A cough jolted his frail lungs upon entering the dusty room. This would not be good for his sickness, but he needed to find Katashi.

Three small masses appeared in the corner. The missing students. He rushed to the one he knew to be Katashi and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying not to jostle him too much. "Katashi, can you hear me?"

One dull green eye cracked open. "U-Uncle Ukitake?"

Ukitake paled to nearly Katashi's current color. The boy almost never called him "uncle" unless…

"We're going to get you out of here, okay?" Ukitake assured. He picked his "nephew" up gently from where he was trapped under the rocks. "Are you hurt?"

"Not much," the eight-year-old denied. "What happened to…to Nobu? And Ronin?"

Ukitake looked to the other two boys. He felt for any life force and realized there was none. Their soul chains had been snapped.

"They're dead…aren't they?" Katashi coughed. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't…didn't mean to. It just…happened."

"What happened?" Ukitake asked as he began to pick his way out of the mess. He would find their souls later if whatever did this hadn't consumed them already. For now, he just needed to keep Katashi awake and talking.

The boy paused a moment to get air into his lungs. "I got mad."

"Katashi, what on Earth are you talking about?" Ukitake wondered.

"Ronin was picking on Nobu and me," he wheezed. The dust hurt his lungs. "I told Ronin to stop, but he wouldn't, so I pushed him. Then he pushed me back and we started to fight. I felt really weird."

Ukitake had led them into the safer section of the building now. "Were you sick?"

"I think so." Katashi's voice was a whisper now. "It was like there was a whole ocean around me. I wanted to stop fighting, but Ronin hit me and…the roof fell down on us."

They came to a halt just short of the exit. Ukitake placed the boy on the ground where a rescue worker would be able to see him. He sat down to wait it out, gazing directly into Katashi's eyes. They boy's head was leaned on his shoulder for support. One hand drifted to the black locks.

"Did you see anything scary?" Ukitake wondered.

Katashi shuttered. He was cold…

"Katashi?" Ukitake prompted.

"When the school fell on us, Nobu got hit and I couldn't move. I was right next to him and…and he was dead, Uncle Ukitake. My best friend is dead! He..he…he…"

At this point, Katashi was breaking into hiccupping sobs. The Shinigami felt his heart shatter. "Sh," he whispered. A rescue worker was coming now. "Someone's coming to get you now, alright? Just go along with them. They'll take you to your mother and father."

"Okay," Katashi agreed. "Uncle Ukitake?"

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Why are you dressed so strangely?"

But at that point, the team had finally come. "Where are you hurt?" one of them asked.

"Not me," he answered. "Nobu and Ronin. They're d-dead. Over there."

"How did you get over here?"

Through his dry lips, Katashi managed to croak, "Uncle Ukitake saved me. See? He's right…here."

"Kid, there's no one here," the worker replied. He called over his shoulder, "Quick! This one's hallucinating!"

Katashi cast a confused glanced over to the side where his uncle should have been. However, all he caught was a flash of white among the sea of ruins.

…

4 Years Later

His breathing was labored as if the darkness had become thick enough to drown him. There wasn't any noise outside. No one to help him.

Did that wall just move?

Panicking now, he curled into himself. Yes, yes, the walls were most definitely closing in on him. He banged on the door frantically and screamed. Nothing still. He was sure that at any second, the room would crumble and he could be crushed beneath the rubble.

Something just grabbed his ankle!

Jumping, he pushed against the closest wall. Was it shaking or was it just him? No matter, he was looking for what had grabbed him. Yet all was black. He wished he was like a bat. He could use echo-location to find this monster. Already, he could imagine the reanimated body of an eight-year-old boy with brown hair and an ashen face, out for revenge. The pale body was crawling across the floor, searching for him. Why didn't you save me? Why aren't you dead, too?

His lungs pushed into hyperventilation. All the air in the room was gone. Now he was going to suffocate here, in the dark, alone, where no one would find his body for days.

He couldn't find enough oxygen to scream.

…

"Where did big brother go?" Toshiro wondered, holding on to both his mother's and Ukitake's hands.

"Midori," Ukitake spoke up, "didn't you say that this was Katashi's classroom?"

"It is," the mother confirmed. "I don't know where he would have gone."

Ukitake paused for a moment to track Katashi's reaitsu. He almost missed the faint, erratic pulse of it. Normally, Katashi's reiatsu was a steady hum with the thickness of molasses.

Midori stopped a teacher walking by. "Excuse me, have you seen Katashi Hitsugaya?"

"I'm sorry, I am not familiar with the name," she answered. "Although, I think I saw a group of students around the last room on the right."

"Thank you," Midori said.

Ukitake was beginning to get a bad feeling about this. Corresponding with what the teacher said, the boy's reiatsu was in fact coming from that direction. The group headed over, Ukitake releasing the younger Hitsugaya's hand.

"Katashi," he called upon entering the room. The reiatsu was coming from the closet. The nearer he got, the more he could have sworn he heard the sound of someone breathing. A very small, very skinny someone whom he knew very well.

Ukitake jiggled the door handle. It was stuck. Glancing behind him, he could see Midori going pale. "Katashi," she muttered. She ran to the door and started attacking it. "Katashi! Katashi, hold on, we're coming to get you."

The same teacher from before popped in to see what the ruckus was about.

"My child is stuck in there!" Midori yelled. She was frantic and Ukitake didn't blame her. After losing her husband, she wasn't able to even consider anything ever happening to either of her sons.

"I'll get a key from a janitor," the teacher said.

"Katashi's in there?" Toshiro asked. He looked frightened. Ukitake held onto the six-year-old's shoulders firmly.

"Who would have done this?" Midori demanded of the world in general.

"Mommy, I think it's the same sixth-graders who pick on him after school," Toshiro said. "Katashi used big words when I asked him about it. He said they rudi…ridu…rrr…."

"Ridiculed?" Ukitake supplied.

"That one!" Toshiro confirmed. "There was another one, too. I think it started with an 'h'."

"Harassed?"

Toshiro nodded. "I think so. He said they…harass…him because they think he's weird. I saw them push him one time, but he told me not to tell you, except I just did. Mommy, is Katashi going to be mad at me now?"

"No, honey, no," she assured. "Do you remember why they were being so mean?"

"They said his eyes were weird and he sees funny things sometimes that no one else does. His teacher says he makes it up."

Midori frowned. She remembered the conference with her eldest son's educator due to his "active imagination" and "craving for attention." A few months later, she received another call with concern about his "complete antisocial behavior."

The doctor wanted her to believe her son may have a mental disorder.

She shot the diagnosis down.

She would have known.

"Katashi?" she called again. "Can you hear me?"

"I got it!" At last, the teacher had returned with a key. She rushed to the door and unlocked it. Midori flung it open, revealing a twelve-year-old boy sitting on the floor, nearly unconscious. Midori pulled her baby into her arms, feeling his clammy white skin against her own.

"Mr. Ukitake," she said, "can you please take Toshiro outside?"

Toshiro couldn't stop staring as they were leaving. Even now, he noticed, as Katashi shook from internal trauma, not one single tear escaped.

…

Now

"Wait," Ichigo said. "Ulquiorra, you were claustrophobic?"

"Regrettably so," the pale man admitted.

Ichigo began to laugh. "I'm sorry, it's too hard to imagine. When did it stop?"

"Not until at least Menos level," he answered. "Toshiro, why did you mention that?"

"I was helping Karin with her project on phobias by supplying her with accurate information," Toshiro replied.

Ichigo started reading Karin's notes. "Hyperventilating, fainting, delusions of walls collapsing…really?"

"Yes," Ulquiorra huffed. "Now I would appreciate if we would move on from this topic. And Toshiro? Next time you decide to share an anecdote, remember that you aren't the only one with plenty of interesting stories to tell."

Toshiro blinked. "Interesting?"

"Very interesting," Ulquiorra emphasized.

Karin laughed as the older Hitsugaya brother walked away. "Toshiro," she said, "I think you've just been blackmailed."