I do not own Bleach

Chapter 13 The New Student

Hinata dug through her school bag to make sure everything was there before turning to give Ulquiorra a goodbye hug. He'd been awfully quiet lately when she would come home from school, but when she had asked what was wrong, he had just patted her head with a smile and told her to worry about her studies. She kissed his cheek and waved happily as she vanished through the garganta.

She was early to school today, so she skipped to class humming to herself. Tatsuki and Orihime were early too, as was Chizuro. After Ichigo had threatened her, Hinata had been careful to avoid the girl, keeping quiet every time Chizuro had attempted to jump her. Tatsuki was currently keeping Chizuro off of Orihime.

"Good morning!" Hinata said happily, bouncing over to them. They all welcomed her with bright smiles.

Before long, the class began to fill up. Hinata looked around for Ichigo, but he didn't seem to be in school today. Before class started she walked over to Chad, frowning, to ask if he knew where Ichigo was. Chad shook his head, wishing he could tell her differently. He didn't like it when her smile disappeared. Taking her seat, Hinata glanced over at Uryu, but she knew Uryu didn't care much for Ichigo. With a sigh, she put her arms on the desk and put her head down. Where was Ichigo?

"We have a new transfer student today," the teacher announced, causing Hinata to look up, curious.

There was a short, black haired girl standing at the front of the class, smiling as the teacher introduced her as Rukia Kuchiki. Hinata stared at the girl, a chill running down her spine. Uryu had also straightened up in his seat, but he was now cleaning his glasses with the edge of his shirt. Hinata sank back in her seat, feeling uneasy. She wished Ichigo was here.

. . .

Hinata tackled Ichigo when he finally made it to school in the middle of the day. He stumbled back as she flung herself at him, startled by her enthusiasm. "Where have you been?!" she cried, the concern obvious in her voice. He felt . . . different. Something had changed while she'd been in Hueco Mundo. She couldn't quite place what it was.

"Overslept," he said, pulling away from her.

"Good morning, Ichigo," a sing song voice greeted him, making both Hinata and Ichigo jump.

Hinata turned to glare at the new girl, Rukia, while Ichigo stared open-mouthed.

"You!" he said. "How are you . . . but you . . . I . . ."

"Can I talk to you for a moment please?"

Hinata stared as the new girl grabbed Ichigo's wrist and dragged him out of the classroom. She didn't like it, but she didn't understand why. She went as if to follow but Uryu blocked her and leaned in close, whispering in her ear, "Watch out for her."

Hinata stared at Uryu. "What?"

"Just . . . watch out for Rukia."

Hinata didn't see much of Ichigo for the rest of the day. While in class, Hinata kept fidgeting in her seat, trying to figure out why Ichigo felt different. Something about him seemed . . . stronger? No, Ichigo had always been strong. Something in his spiritual pressure had changed. And then there was Rukia. Rukia made her uncomfortable, especially after Uryu's warning. The girl had also been giving Hinata weird looks with a scrunched brow. Rukia had claimed the desk right next to Ichigo's, and Hinata didn't like how close she was.

As soon as the bell rang, Hinata jumped up and turned to talk to Ichigo, but found Rukia blocking her and telling Ichigo he needed to come with her. He shot Hinata an apologetic smile as Rukia once again dragged him out of the room.

Hinata's eyes began to fill with tears. She wanted to follow them, but she couldn't bring herself to do so as she fell to the floor, crying. Why was Ichigo ignoring her? As she cried, she felt several hands touch her. Uryu had his hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently; Chad was patting her on the head; Orihime was kneeling in front of her, pulling her into a hug.

Tasuki grabbed her other shoulder, looking out the door and muttering, "I'll kill Ichigo."

She cried harder and clung to Orihime.

After several minutes, she had finally calmed down. When they felt that she would be okay, they walked to the corner and talked about what they could do to help her. It was several minutes before they walked back over. Orihime dropped to her knees again in front of Hinata, grabbing her hands. "Hinata, Tatsuki and I are having a sleep over this weekend and we wanted to know if you would come with us?"

Hinata sniffled. "What's a sleepover?"

Orihime smiled as she explained: "You and Tatsuki will come to my house and we will have dinner, watch a movie, play games, and stay up late before going to sleep at my house!"

Hinata looked up. "That sounds like fun. I'd like to come."

Orihime hugged her and cheerfully chirped about all they would do and the fun that they would have.

. . .

The rest of the week passed in a blur; Rukia was taking all of Ichigo's time. They would vanish during school sometimes, and after school he would vanish again. Hinata became quiet. All of her friends were worried about her, and Ulquiorra was concerned as well. Her inner world was midnight black with just a sliver of a moon shining. When she visited, she would hug and cry on Masaki's shoulder.

A couple times it looked like Ichigo was coming over to talk to her, just to be dragged off by Rukia. Keigo had been smashed through the wall by Tatsuki when he had made a comment about Rukia being Ichigo's girlfriend. Tatsuki had even attacked Ichigo on multiple occasions and yelled at him for being an idiot.

The only thing that kept Hinata moving through the rest of the week was the sleepover that was coming up. She had told Kiskue about it and he had given her a bunny onesie that he told her she would need to sleep in.

She had her overnight bag packed. She gave a small smile. She had told Ulquiorra that she wouldn't be coming home tonight. He had been worried, but had said that it would be okay.

. . .

Hinata knocked on Orihime's apartment door, shifting her wait from foot to foot. She was excited, but nervous at the same time. She heard Orihime call from inside, and a moment later the door opened. Hinata found herself on the receiving end of a bone-crushing hug for once; it was nice. Hinata locked her arms around Orihime and just appreciated the feeling of being hugged. It had been a hard week.

Once inside, Orihime started babbling again about the activities she had planned and what dinner would be. Tatsuki was already sitting on a cushion in the main room. She greeted Hinata with a smile and asked Orihime if she needed help cooking, but Orihime just waved and said she would be fine. Tatsuki had a concerned expression on her face that Hinata didn't understand. Moments later, however, Tatsuki had begun asking Hinata about karate again and demonstrated some of the new moves she had been learning.

Before long, Orihime brought dinner out, a look of pride on her face. Tatsuki excused herself and went to grab a bowl that her mom had sent with her. The concerned expression had returned to Tatsuki's face, but Hinata was distracted by the wonderful smells filling her nose. "What did you make?" she asked, a little bit of excitement returning to her eyes.

Orihime smiled. "I made a strawberry rhubarb stir fry with beef and bean paste. I made some rice balls too!"

Tatsuki coughed and pulled the cover off the bowl she had fetched. "My mom sent some ramen she thought we might like."

"Oooh!" Orihime said, her eyes growing wide.

Hinata bit into the food Orihime gave her, taking a moment to savor it. Tatsuki made another coughing sound, but was eating every bite on her plate. "This is really good, Orihime!" Hinata said happily.

Tatsuki's eyes went wide but she remained focused on her own food.

The night was full of fun and new things. It was getting late when Hinata left the room to go and put on her bunny onesie. She happily pulled it on, enjoying how soft it was, when she felt a subtle change in spiritual pressure. She had noticed since she had arrived that something was watching them, but it had always stayed just far enough away that Hinata wasn't able to pin it down. There began to be crashing sounds from outside the door and she heard Orihime and Tatsuki's talking stop. Then it was quite.

It was then that Hinata felt the appearance of a hollow, followed by Tatsuki calling Orihime's name, scared. Pulling up the zipper, Hinata ran from the bathroom to see Orihime's spirit floating over her body, looking confused. She barely had time to dodge as an arm came swinging towards her. Tatsuki was across the room, bleeding, and looked like she had been tossed around.

"Hinata," she yelled, "there is something here! But I don't see anything."

As soon as she spoke, the hollow turned back to her. Faster than Hinata was able to stop it, the hollow grabbed Tatsuki and slammed her to the ground. Hinata screamed, running towards it. Orihime did the same, knocking the hollow away from Tatsuki, but not before she passed out. Jumping on its back, Hinata put it in a head lock like Ichigo had taught her to. She frantically tried to think of what else she could do. Orihime was shaking, holding onto Tatsuki. Hinata needed to get rid of the hollow, but she also needed to protect her friends. She would have to let it go to use her Quincy powers, and in that time it might eat Orihime!

At that moment Orihime looked up and saw her. "Hinata!" she yelled.

Hinata gave her a smile before the hollow jumped back, smashing her into the wall. She felt herself coughing up blood, but she didn't let go. It gave a roar. Orihime was yelling! Hinata couldn't let go. It smashed her several times before she felt her arms finally give way and she sled down its back. It grabbed her and threw her across the room. Then it went over to Orihime and seemed to be talking to her. Hinata couldn't get up; she tried to stand, but her leg wouldn't work. She was trying to summon her bow when she felt a familiar spiritual pressure approaching fast. As soon as she knew it was Ichigo, her bow collapsed. Hinata slumped once again, falling to the ground.

Hinata watched through half open eyes as Ichigo appeared. She was shocked when she saw him in the black robs of a Shinigami. But . . . but Ichigo couldn't be a Shinigami! All she could do was watch from the sidelines as he fought. When he was thrown out of the window and the hollow grabbed Orihime, Hinata tried to get up again, but her leg collapsed beneath her. She could feel the short girl, Rukia, outside by Ichigo. Hinata was forced to watch to the very end. When they went outside again, she dragged herself to the hole in the wall so that she could watch. She watched helplessly when Orihime sacrificed herself to protect Ichigo. She watched all the way until the end when the hollow, who was Orihime's deceased older brother, grabbed Ichigo's sword, killing himself.

Hinata fell to the ground and closed her eyes when they came back up to the apartment. She felt tears of frustration fall as she realized just how useless she had been. She would become stronger, strong enough that she would be able to protect her friends. As she lay there, she felt a slight change in spiritual pressure as they put Orihime back into her body.

Rukia seemed to be telling Ichigo about how she would replace everyone's memory so that none of the girls would remember what had happened. Then, all of a sudden, there was a high pitched squeal followed by Hinata being smashed in a bone crushing hug and someone rubbing their face against the side of her head. "Chappy!" Rukia squealed.

"Hey!" Hinata heard Ichigo yell as he ran towards them.

Hinata's face contorted in pain from Rukia's assault. Then all of a sudden, the bone crushing hug was gone and Hinata was being picked up with care. She heard Ichigo hiss, "Part of the deal was that you leave her alone, Rukia."

Rukia mumbled something Hinata couldn't hear. Her body really hurt.

"I think she has been badly hurt. Can you help her, Rukia?" Ichigo asked, concerned.

Hinata was then covered in a warm blue light before all went black.

. . .

The next day at school was an adventure. When they woke up the next morning, they were all tucked into bed, but there was a huge hole in the wall. Neither Tatsuki nor Orihime remembered what actually happened. Orihime went around telling everyone it had been a sumo wrestler with a gun who blasted a hole into her wall. No one believed her even though she insisted that it was true.

Hinata, on the other hand, was faced with a whole new problem. Ruika seemed to have a whole new interest in her. She followed her around and always looked like she was thinking, trying to place her. She had also taken to chasing Hinata around the school with a pair of bunny ears, begging her to put them on, with Ichigo chasing behind and yelling at Rukia to leave Hinata alone.

It was just a normal day at school.