I do not own Bleach

. . .

Chapter 6 A Trip to the Dojo

Hinata looked up at Ichigo's school. She took a deep breath smelling the fresh air of the world of the living. She wanted to stay outside and play, but Ichigo was inside the school building. She smiled and skipped through the doors, humming to herself as she peered into the classrooms. Every now and then, an activity would catch her eye and she'd slip inside to see what the class was doing. After a few minutes, she would then move on and continue skipping down the hallway.

As she neared Ichigo's classroom, she peered into the classrooms where she'd taunted the bullies last time. She would enter their classrooms and nudge their pencils or blow on the loose pages of their books, giggling when they'd straighten in their seats, eyes wide. One of the boys had yelped when she'd knocked his pencil off of his desk, causing the teacher to yell at him. Happy, she continued on to Ichigo's classroom.

When she found him, he was leaning forward with his elbows on the desk, staring at the board. She glanced at it, listening as the teacher reviewed complex multiplication tables. She listened for a moment, remembering the numbers she had learned from yesterday. She had encountered another classroom earlier where the students were learning simple times tables, like two times two and so forth. After a few minutes, she was able to keep up with the other students' responses, and lost interest again. Instead, she snuck across the room towards Ichigo's desk.

She curled her fingers around the edge of the desk and then slowly raised her head over the edge as well. "Peek-a-boo!" she teased, giggling when Ichigo leapt back, toppling his chair backwards.

"Kurosaki! Pay attention!" the teacher yelled, glaring in their direction.

"Yes, sorry," Ichigo said, pulling his chair back upright. "Don't do that," he whispered to Hinata.

"But it's funny!" she said, smiling brightly.

His expression softened slightly. "Not in class, I'll get in trouble."

"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry, Ichigo."

He smiled and then turned his attention back to the board. Hinata went to look out the window beside Ichigo's desk. Down below, she spotted a hollow searching the school grounds. She looked back at Ichigo, wondering if she should disturb him again, then back down at the hollow. While Ichigo was inside, he wasn't in any danger. However, Hinata didn't like the idea of waiting until Ichigo left to destroy it. She looked up at the open window, trying to judge the distance to the ground two stories below. It wasn't a difficult jump.

Smiling, she tugged on Ichigo's pant-leg. "I'm going to go hunt monsters," she told him, pointing out the window. "I'll come back when I'm done."

Ichigo nodded, and then watched as she climbed onto the windows ledge and jumped. It crossed his mind that they were two stories up, but he reminded himself that she was imaginary, so she'd be fine. Meanwhile, Hinata summoned her sword as she fell towards the hollow. It didn't even have time to look up before she sliced it clean in two. Rather than tumbling through the hollow the way she had last time, Hinata did a perfect flip, landing on the balls of her feet.

"Thank you, Nikko," she whispered to her sword, which glowed faintly in response. She decided to search the yard until school was over. Ichigo wouldn't be any fun while he was in the classroom. When she couldn't find any other hollows, she wandered over to the playground and entertained herself on the swings, seeing how high she could go before jumping to the ground. When the bell finally rang, she skipped back to Ichigo's class, humming again.

When she got to the doorway, she discovered the black-haired girl talking to Ichigo again as he packed up his bag. She slowly walked closer, listening.

"I'm not going to go easy on you today, Ichigo," Tatsuki told him, punching his shoulder lightly.

Ichigo looked up, spotting Hinata as he answered Tatsuki. "You never do. Just wait; one of these days, you'll be the one asking me to go easy on you."

Tatsuki laughed. "That will be the day that pigs fly. I'm the best in the dojo. See you there!"

"See ya," Ichigo said, watching her leave, and then smiled at Hinata. "How was monster hunting?"

"I only got one," Hinata told him, pouting. "I guess they're all scared of me!"

Ichigo laughed. "Yes, you're terrifying, Hinata," he teased, ruffling her hair.

"What are we doing today?" she asked excitedly. "Can we play?"

"I'm going to the dojo now. It's where I learn to fight and protect others."

"Can I learn to protect people there too?"

"Yeah, but we have to go now or we'll be late," Ichigo said as he grabbed his bag off the ground throwing it over his shoulder, "and the instructor will yell at me."

Hinata smiled and took Ichigo's hand as they left the school. The dojo wasn't very far away. Ichigo made her wait on a bench while he went to change into his gear. She looked around at the other students who were stretching and spotted Tatsuki in the far corner of the room. There were mats all over the floor that looked soft and made Hinata want to go roll around on them, or climb on the ones stacked against the wall.

Ichigo came back before she could test the mats out, however, and led her onto the mats to stretch. He showed her how to do all the stretches, smiling when she did the poses perfectly. He knew she was more flexible than he was, but she still smiled brightly when he whispered instructions as they moved into a new stretch.

Soon they were called into their separate classes. Hinata stood next to Ichigo, imitating his posture as they began the beginning exercises. Tatsuki stood on his other side, moving with perfect form as usual. Hinata mostly watched Ichigo, but would look over at Tatsuki on occasion. After they finished their exercises, they broke up into pairs to practice. Tatsuki was paired up with another girl while Ichigo was paired up with a boy that was just a little bit bigger than he was. Backing out of his way, Hinata watched Ichigo spar with wide-eyed awe.

As she watched the other couples spar, Hinata decided that she wanted to test out the moves too. She found a boy returning from the drinking fountain and went to try one of the new kicks she had learned on him. It was a side-swipe that made her crouch low and extend her leg out as she spun. She caught the boy from the front, causing him to tumble forward with a loud cry. The other groups stopped and turned to stare at the boy.

"Are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"Did you trip?"

The boy shook his head as he regained his feet, obviously confused. "I guess I tripped," he said looking around, but didn't see anyone near him.

Hinata turned to beam at Ichigo, but he had his hand over his face. His shoulders were shaking. Hinata went to him to see what was wrong. She could see that he was trying not to smile as he scolded her: "You can't do that in here. They can't see you. It's not fair to attack an opponent when they can't see you."

"I just wanted to practice, just like you!"

"That's fine, but don't do it in here. Watch, and then you can practice on me later."

"Ok," she said, hugging his legs and then finding a spot to sit and watch him.

After a few more rounds with their current partners, Ichigo's class was told to switch partners. Hinata watched as Tatsuki took her stance in front of Ichigo. Hinata watched, fascinated as Ichigo dodged her first couple of strikes and blocked a few others. Then, in the blink of an eye, Tatsuki had Ichigo pinned to the ground. Hinata frowned. Why had Ichigo let her beat him?

"Again," the instructor called.

Ichigo rolled back to his feet and took up another stance. Hinata watched as three more rounds progressed, each of them ending with Ichigo on his back and Tatsuki standing over him, offering a hand. The more she watched, the more she disliked how Tatsuki kept beating him. When they took a break, Hinata went to Ichigo and tapped on his shoulder.

"Ichigo, why does that girl keep beating you up?" she asked.

"Who, Tatsuki?" Ichigo said quietly, glancing over at where she was sitting. "She's not beating me up. I'm just not as good as she is yet. One day, though, I'll be able to beat her."

"Oh," Hinata said, looking at the girl again. "Why is she better than you are?"

Ichigo shrugged. "She just is."

"I don't like it."

Ichigo smiled. "Its okay, Hinata. One day I'll be strong enough to protect everybody. Until then, I'm going to lose to Tatsuki because that's the only way I'll get stronger."

"Ok," Hinata said, smiling.

"Who are you talking to, Ichigo," Tatsuki asked, coming up behind Hinata.

Hinata looked up at her, wondering if she'd be able to take Tatsuki on, but Ichigo had said not to practice on anybody but him. Instead, she circled around the girl and then circled around Ichigo and circled her arms around his neck. He had been sitting on the floor, and looked up at Tatsuki now as his face turned red and he answered, "I wasn't talking to anybody."

"Yes, you were," Tatsuki said.

Ichigo glared at her. "I was not. I was talking to myself."

"Uh-huh. Sure you were. Ready to go again?" She offered Ichigo a hand.

Hinata watched the rest of their lesson. Ichigo sparred with a couple other kids, winning some of his matches and losing others. By the end, Hinata had learned a lot of new moves. At one point during one of his matches, she had walked around the dojo and watched some of the older students. She didn't attack anyone else, but she found a corner of the mat that nobody was sparring on and practiced some of the moves she saw the older students using. Satisfied that she could copy them, she returned to watching Ichigo.

After he said goodbye to Tatsuki, Ichigo joined Hinata and walked outside with her.

"What now?" Hinata asked, bouncing happily.

"I have to go home and do my homework. You can walk home with me though." He held his hand out to her, expecting her to grab it like she normally did.

Instead, Hinata made sure nobody was around before grabbing his hand and flipping him over like how she had seen the older students do. There was a patch of grass next to the sidewalk because they were near the park. Ichigo looked up at her in surprise from where he now lay in the grass. Hinata bent over him with a big smile.

"Did I do it right?" she asked, proud of herself.

"Yes," he said, returning her smile. "Warn me next time, though. You're lucky there was grass here this time."

She laughed. "I wouldn't hurt you, silly. You said I could practice on you."

"I did," Ichigo agreed, "but tell me ahead of time that you want to practice." He rolled to his feet and offered his hand to her again. "Let's go home."

"Okay," she said, taking his hand. As they walked, she told him more stories about playing games with Ulquiorra and about the new things she had learned while she walked around the classrooms at school. He smiled and listened to her babble until they stood outside his house. He was amazed by how much energy she had after all her adventures today. Distracted, he almost missed her question. "How long was I gone this time, Ichigo?"

"What?" he asked, startled. "Oh, you were only gone for a month this time. Why?"

"I like coming to see you," she said, hugging his knees. "I don't want you to be sad."

Ichigo bent to pat her head. "I'm not sad when you're with me, Hinata."

"I know," she laughed. "That's why I come to see you! I want to take all your sadness away so you can be happy all the time."

"So why don't you stay this time?" Ichigo asked.

Hinata looked up at him, thinking for a moment. "Ulquiorra would miss me too much if I stayed here. He needs me too. He doesn't like it if I'm away for too long."

Ichigo smiled. "You must love your brother a lot."

"Yes! I love Ulqui, and he loves me too!" She cocked her head to the side, listening. "I have to go now. I'll come back soon, ok?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said, watching as she backed away waving. "Come back soon"

Then she was gone.