I do not own Bleach

This chapter is a little different in the fact that it takes place over the space of four years and is the important encounters that Hinata has along the way.

Chapter 8 A Series of Short Encounters

Hinata crept quietly behind Ulquiorra. He had told her to stay put while he went out patrolling, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. It was fun hiding from him, and she wanted to see how long it would take for him to notice that she was following him. Ulquiorra, Nikko, and Masaki had all been teaching her how to hide her spirit pressure, so every now and then she would let some of her spirit pressure leak so that she would seem to be a lowly hollow.

She watched as Ulquiorra crested a sand dune just a short distance ahead of her and decided to have some fun before catching up to him. Cresting the dune she was on, she jumped and turned so that she could surf down the other side of the dune. She misjudged her landing though, and fell forward, rolling in a tumble down to the foot of the sand dune towards a small crevice. Laughing, she jumped to her feet and dusted her new dress off.

She'd just had her birthday and Ichigo had given her new clothes again. She had grown several inches in a year, making her old dress too short to wear anymore according to Ichigo. When he had asked her for her favorite colors, she had listed off every color she could think of. His eyes had gotten big and he quickly told her to pick her three favorites. She had to think, but in the end she had picked purple, green, and yellow. He'd given her three dresses in her favorite colors! She was currently wearing the purple one, and with the body of a seven year old human, it fell perfectly at her ankles. Ichigo said he had gotten her a long one because at the rate she was growing, by next year it would be at her knees.

Hinata gave a twirl while she looked around, sensing for Ulquiorra. It was then that she realized she wasn't alone. She saw a vastolorde staring at her. The vastolorde was powerful, but Hinata sensed that she was lacking a purpose. "Hello," Hinata said, giving a little curtsy.

The vastolorde looked startled at the introduction and took a step back. "Who are you and where did you come from?" the vastolorde said.

Hinata had a feeling that she shouldn't tell the vastolorde who she was. "I'm No One. Who are you?"

"I am Tier Harribel," the vastolorde responded.

Harribel kept looking at Hinata as if searching for something. It was then that Hinata noticed that Harribel was missing something, and she wasn't sure what it was. She felt that Harribel needed something to be able to sacrifice herself for in order to be whole. She tilted her head. Sacrifice wasn't something she could help her with. She could see the pleading in Harribel's eyes for help.

"Do you wish to be able to help others?"

"Help others?" Harribel seemed to roll the words off her tongue as if tasting how they sounded. "I would like to help others I think. Can I help you?"

Hinata smiled. "No, I have brothers to protect me, but there are some smaller hollows over there who are in danger right now." Hinata pointed off behind Harribel.

Harribel turned around; it took her a moment to also be able to sense the struggling hollows. "I can sense them. I think I will try and help them." She turned to face the girl, but Hinata had gone.

. . .

Starkk and Lilynette walked slowly across Hueco Mundo. It had been ages since they had come across anybody they could talk to, and they had nearly forgotten about their encounter with the young vastolorde, Ulquiorra. Starkk sensed a hollow nearby, but its spirit pressure dissipated before it came into view. With a sigh, Starkk sat down on a nearby rock.

"What are you doing?" Lilynette screeched, realizing that Starkk was no longer walking with her. "I finally get you to do something, and you're already giving up!"

"Calm down, Lilynette," Starkk said, stretching lazily.

"That's so lame, Starkk. Sitting is boring!" She aimed a kick at Starkk, but paused when she saw a flash of movement on the dune behind him. "Starkk, look!"

Starkk turned to follow Lilynette's gaze. It was the orange haired child arrancar again. She waved at them.

"Who is she, Starkk?" Lilynette asked.

"I don't know," Starkk said, standing up "Let's go find out."

The girl was already on the move when they started towards her.

"She's fast," Lilynette said, surprised as she picked up speed to race alongside Starkk.

"Yeah," he said, speeding up. Last time he had spotted the child arrancar, he hadn't sensed any spirit pressure, but now she was emitting a very weak spirit energy. Every time he thought they had gained on her, she would change direction and zipped off again.

"Starkk, she's getting away!" Lilynette whined.

"I know," he said, frustrated.

After another few minutes, the girl had completely vanished. Lilynette was panting; it had been a while since either of them had run that fast. Starkk turned in a circle, trying to find the girl's spirit pressure, and was startled to sense another spirit pressure nearby. The presence was familiar.

"Come, Lilynette," Starkk said, headed off towards the familiar presence.

They crested another hill and found the young vastolorde standing in the valley below them. Starkk, noticed there was something different about the hollow though; Ulquiorra was now a full-fledged arrancar. Starkk slid down the sand with Lilynette right behind him.

"Hey!" he called.

Ulquiorra turned around, wide eyed. He had sensed their approach, but he had been too preoccupied with following Hinata's spirit pressure to mind how close they were getting to him. "Oh, it's you two," Ulquiorra said.

"Did you see her?" Lilynette asked, bouncing with energy. "The orange haired arrancar? She came this way."

Starkk kicked Lilynette to shut her up. "We haven't seen you in a while. I almost thought we dreamed you up."

Ulquiorra turned and started to walk away. "I've been busy."

"Hey!" Lilynette yelled, but Starkk covered her mouth.

"If he doesn't want to talk, we'll just follow him around for a bit. It's not like we have anything better to do," Starkk told her.

Ulquiorra glanced back, but kept walking with a sigh. They were following him; eventually they'd get bored and leave him alone.

. . .

Ichigo walked out of class, saying goodbye to Tatsuki, and found Hinata waiting for him. As she had gotten older, she had visited more often. Some days she would sit in class with him, and other days she would wait to walk him home from school. She'd had four birthdays now, and looked about twelve years old. Normally, Ichigo would greet her with a smile, but today he was distracted. He managed to give her a half smile as she took his hand.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" Hinata asked.

"My new friend, Chad, I told you about him last time, didn't come to school today and I'm worried that my enemies are after him because he helped me last time," Ichigo said, taking a detour from his usual route home.

Sensing his urgency and worry, Hinata picked up her pace to match his as they ran towards the river. Ichigo was almost crushing her hand in his, but Hinata didn't mind.

They found Chad under the bridge tied up and surrounded by a group of hoodlums. She watched as another one punched Chad. She felt her spiritual pressure flare. How dare they hurt Ichigo's friend!

Ichigo relaxed his hold on her hand before giving it a light squeeze. "Its okay, Hinata. This is mine and Chad's fight; you can sit this one out."

She looked up at his face; she could tell that he was serious and that it was something that he needed to do. Sighing, she gave his hand a light squeeze back. "I want to help, but I'll let you fight this one."

He looked surprise that she wasn't offering to fight. "Thanks," he said.

As she let go of his hand, he raced off to rescue his friend. She followed at a slower pace. She watched as Ichigo jump kicked the man who appeared to be the leader. He took the leader's phone out of his pocket and called for an ambulance. "How many ambulances?" he asked as he slowly counted off the men, "One, two, three, four, five!"

Ichigo dived into the battle, a manic grin on his face.

By this point Hinata had made it to the bridge. She appeared to dance as she avoided the men who were rushing towards Ichigo. She finally made it to Chad and squatted down in front of him. Chad didn't look like the other kids in Ichigo's class. He was really tall with dark skin and brown hair. She reached out to feel his spiritual pressure and gave a smile. He had a strong pressure that was gentle; he would be a good friend for Ichigo.

She sat there for only a few minutes before Ichigo came over and flopped on the ground at Chads feet holding up a medallion. "I think this is yours, Chad."

The bigger boy seemed to be shocked at what he had just seen and kept looking at Ichigo.

Ichigo gave a small laugh before saying, "I think I have an idea, Chad. How about you just stay who you are, never throw a punch for yourself. Instead, throw those punches for me, and I'll throw my punches for you. If there is ever anything so important that you will protect it with your life, I'll protect it with mine as well. What do you say?"

Chad, after a moments pause, said, "Sure."

Ichigo smiled and closed his eyes.

Smiling, Hinata reached out, touching Chad and Ichigos knees, connecting them together to seal the promise.

Chad smiled at the warmth that spread throughout his body.

After releasing Chad, they left.

"Dad's gonna kill me," Ichigo said as they began to walk home wiping at the blood on his face while Hinata walked beside him.

"Your friend is really nice," she told Ichigo. "I like him."

"Chad?" Ichigo asked. "Yeah, he's a great guy." Ichigo said, smiling, "but for the life of him, he would never hurt a fly to protect himself."

Hinata was glad to see Ichigo smiling. Even though Ichigo had been hurt, she felt that it had built a strong relationship between Ichigo and Chad, and she was happy Ichigo had made another friend.

"Thanks for letting me fight for myself," Ichigo said.

"I didn't like it," Hinata admitted, "but I'm happy you're okay. Besides, Chad said he'd protect you from now on."

They walked the rest of the way home in silence. Ichigo looked down at Hinata. She was maturing at a remarkable rate. Over the past couple years, Ichigo had begun to see ghosts and interact with them. He had come to realize that Hinata was not imaginary, but she also wasn't like the spirits he came across. It didn't matter to him what Hinata was; she had said her purpose was to chase his sadness away. He was grateful for her; she was truly a ray of sunshine in his life. He watched her now as she waved goodbye and vanished into the sunset.

Ichigo smiled. Today had been a good day.

. . .

Hinata bounced into Kisuke's shop, singing a song she had heard Ichigo listening to the other day. Kisuke was never surprised by her visits anymore; he couldn't keep her out even if he tried. After the first couple visits, he had started giving her candy samples.

"Oh Uncle Kisuke!" she called in a sing song voice.

"I'll be out in a minute!" he called.

Kisuke was examining the data on his screens while taking a sample of Hinata's spirit energy once more. She had amazing control over her spirit energy, but she let just enough leak that he was able to track her growth and progression by taking samples when she came to the shop. He had judged from her growth rate that his experiment would be ready by the next year. She was currently about the size of a fourteen year old, and would be about the size of a fifteen year old by the end of summer if his calculations were right.

He'd grown use to this strange arrancar child. Her existence was still an anomaly, but he had learned to look past what she was and see her for who she was. He'd never met a kinder child and had grown fond of her gentle nature. Smiling, he went out to greet her.

. . .

Nel walked across the sand dunes of Heuco Mundo admiring the moonlight. She was one of the few arrancars in Heuco Mundo, but she didn't mind walking alone. Her fraccions were off doing the assignments she had given them and she was taking the time now to just enjoy the night air.

"Look out!" a voice called, and an orange blur hurtled past Nel smashing into a nearby sand dune sending an explosion of sand into the air.

Blinking in surprise, Nel found a young teenage girl emerge from the pile of sand. The girl stood up, shaking her long orange hair. She then turned sharply and prepared to race off again. However, the girl froze where she stood when she saw Nel and looked up at her with wide brown eyes.

"You're pretty!" the girl said.

Nel felt oddly touched by the young girl. With a start, Nel realized that the orange haired child was an arrancar as well, but the only sign of her mask was two slim white bones that seemed to hold back the girl's bangs like clips. "Who are you?" Nel asked.

"My name's Hinata Kurosaki!" the girl said proudly. "What's your name?"

"Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, but you can call me Nel."

"Nel," the girl said, sounding it out, then smiled brightly. "Do you like games, Nel?"

"What?"

The girl appeared in front of Nel in a moment, touching her lightly on the arm. "You're it! Catch me if you can!" With that, the girl raced off laughing.

Nel was moving before she knew what had happened. The girl arrancar, Hinata, had run off with an amazing speed. Nel zoomed after her, feeling a childish pleasure at the chase. She could sense a small spirit pressure coming from the child, but instinct told Nel that Hinata would be a formidable opponent if she ever decided to fight. However, the girl seemed to have no interest in anything other than their game, and Nel could sense no intent to kill from the child.

Hinata made a sharp turn and zoomed past Nel, catching her off guard, and then froze a short distance away.

"Uh-oh," the girl whispered, looking up into the eyes of another arrancar.

Nel met his gaze; this arrancar did have murderous intent.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice cold and low.

Before Nel could answer, however, Hinata spoke up. "Don't be angry, Ulqui! She's my friend!"

"I told you to be careful," the arrancar scolded her.

"Excuse me," Nel said, approaching slowly, hands out so that he could see that she meant no harm. "I'm Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, or Nel for short. I meant no harm; she asked to play and I agreed."

"See, Ulquiorra! She's nice!"

Ulquiorra shot Nel a distrustful glare as he slid an arm around Hinata's shoulders. "We're going home."

"Wait!" Nel said, reaching out. "Please . . . it's nice to meet others. There are so few of us."

Ulquiorra turned, his expression softening ever so slightly. Hinata ducked under his arm and ran to give Nel a hug. She was surprised for a moment before she also wrapped her arms around Hinata with a smile. It was different, but it felt nice.

"Please," the male arrancar spoke.

She looked up and met Ulquiorra's gaze.

"Don't tell anyone about her."

Nel found the words falling from her mouth before she could think through his request. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Ulquiorra gave her a brief nod and a look that said "if you tell others about her, I will find you." Then the orange haired arancar and the green arrancar vanished into the distance.