I do not own Bleach

Chapter 14 The Cursed Parakeet

Ulquiorra had become antsy lately. Even before her stay at Orihime's house, he had been acting secretive. He never left her side when she was in Hueco Mundo, but she felt that when she was gone, he would run off. She had asked him about it, but he always brushed it off or changed the topic. Once, he had even started a game of chase with her when she refused to drop it.

Now she sat on the roof of their cave watching him. She thought he wouldn't let her go back after the sleepover at Orihime's, and so was shocked when he had told her it was safer for her in the world of the living than it was for her to linger in Hueco Mundo. He wouldn't say more so, she had taken to observing his spiritual pressure when she was at school. It always seemed to be tense and on guard, a couple of times she could almost feel another's spiritual pressure mixing with his, but she could never grab it and didn't recognize it. She gave a sigh before hopping down giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek before heading off to school.

. . .

When Hinata got to class she was surprised that she had beaten Uryu and Chad. Uryu was always early and waiting for her to see if she had been practicing, and Chad was always at his desk and would send her a smile. She could sense Uryu on the first floor like he had just gotten to school, but she couldn't sense Chad anywhere near the school.

As all her friend trickled into the classroom, she felt her uneasiness grow. Chad still wasn't there when the bell rang.

. . .

For lunch Hinata, Ichigo and Rukia all went to the roof. Hinata took up her customary spot on the railing just looking out over all the trees and grass. She could never get enough of the color green. Uryu had told Hinata long ago when she had invited him to join them that he couldn't stand Ichigo and would never have lunch with him. She still invited him on occasion, but he always said no. Tatsuki and Orihime had decided to have lunch with the other girls in their class and had invited Hinata, but she turned them down because her time with Ichigo had become short since Rukia had shown up, and she would rather spend her time with him.

She was still worried about Chad, but there was nothing she could do while she was at school.

So here they were on the roof with Hinata looking out over the lawn with Ichigo with Rukia on her other side facing in towards the school. They were talking to Mizuro and Ichigo was warning Rukia to stay away from him. Hinata watched out of the corner of her eye as Rukia tried to figure out how to get juice out of her juice box. Ichigo had brushed off Rukia's earlier question, telling her to stick the straw into the box. Keigo had come up then, but Hinata tuned him out as she watched Rukia continue with her struggle. Hinata had just moved over to show Ruika how to use her straw when Keigo yelled.

Hinata looked up to see a tall boy with bleached hair who appeared to have kicked Keigo.

"Yo Kurosaki." The bleach-haired boy said.

"O…Ooshima!" Kegio almost seemed to be shaking, "They lifted your suspension. . ."

"I'm not talking to you," Ooshima said as he pushed Keigo out of the way. "Hey, Kurosaki, when are you gonna dye your hair? With that bleached hair and drooping eyes, you're copying me."

Ichigo was about to say something when a sing song voice caught all of their attention: "It's not dyed, silly. His hair is naturally that color." As Hinata spoke, she also threw her bright orange hair over her shoulder. "Also, why would he copy you? Ichigo is too cool for that." She looked away from the bigger boy and went back to showing Rukia where to push the straw in.

Ooshima glared in the direction of the voice, but stopped when he saw who was speaking. It was a beautiful, tall girl. She had even bleached her hair to match his! He was so focused on her body that he didn't even hear what she said. "Hey, Baby!" He sauntered towards the unknown girl. "I see you dyed your hair to impress me."

No one present expected this turn of events. Hinata didn't seem to be paying attention as he walked over towards her. Rukia gave a shout of joy as she got her straw into her box. Hinata clapped as well, smiling. Ooshima seemed to realize at this moment that she was ignoring him. He reached out to grab her arm when all of a sudden a hand descended on his shoulder. Turning, he found himself face to face with Ichigo.

There was a deadly glare in his eyes. "Don't touch her."

Ooshima gave a smile. "That's more like it."

At that moment, Keigo jumped between them, trying to stop the fight. Hinata had turned in time to see Ichigo grab Ooshima. She watched with curiosity as Ichigo kept threatening Ooshima and Ooshima kept taunting back. Eventually, Ooshima jumped back, "Heh, as I thought. I knew that one day I'd have to settle things with you for good. This is perfect! Right here, right now I'm gonna kick your arse!"

Hinata who had moved to stand by Ichigo looked at him. "What's an arse?"

Ichigo chocked back a laugh. "It's better if you don't know."

Ooshima gave a growl. "Stop talking to my wo . . .man . . .?"

Hinata clapped as Ooshima flew through the air. While everyone else was watching the flying man, Hinata ran over to the man who had thrown Ooshima.

"Chad!" She crashed into him, giving him a big hug. He patted her on the head. When she pulled back she saw that he had bandages wrapped around his head. She reached up and tenderly touched his head. "What happened?"

"My head… from yesterday . . . steel beam fell from above."

Hinata's eyes went big; she grabbed his arm and took him over to the edge of the roof and made him sit down. "You need to be careful," she chided him. It was then that she saw what he was holding in his hand. When she had felt Chad coming up the stairs, she had noticed that he had a friend with him, but now she saw that the friend was a bird.

"Hello, my name is Shibata Yuuichi! What is your name?"

"Oh, I'm Hinata Kurosaki, nice to meet you Yuuichi. Why are you in the body of a bird? Are you like Aunt Kitty?"

"It's a Parakeet. They can talk like humans. Who is Aunt Kitty?" Chad answered back.

Everyone was still shocked by what had just happened. They watched as Hinata and Chad talked. Chad was talking! He was talking more than anyone had ever heard him talk in his whole life! Hinata kept happily talking back to him, but she kept glancing at the parakeet also. It was definitely a person.

When Chad started "talking" to Ichigo, Hinata looked down at Yuuichi and in a whisper asked, "Why are you in a bird's body, Yuuichi?" The bird's eyes widened. "You are like Aunt Kitty, but it feels more like you are stuck. And your sadness is so strong I could feel it before Chad came onto the school grounds."

Yuuichi hopped off his perch and backed away to the far side of the cage. She reached out to touch him when he gave a loud cry. In a moment, Chad was back at his side.

Hinata looked up and smiled at Chad's concerned face. "I don't think he likes me," she said sadly.

Chad patted her head. "Yuuichi, you need to be nice to Hinata. She is a nice person." The bird gave a tentative nod and hopped back onto its swing. "Go ahead, Hinata," Chad said, giving an encouraging smile. She reached in and gave Yuuichi a stroke.

"He's so soft!" As she stroked him she could better feel his spiritual pressure. She felt a frown start to form on her face when the bell rang. As everyone was standing up to go back to class, she bent down and whispered, "It's okay, I will help save you." With that she jumped up and grabbed the cage before Chad could. "Can I carry him?" Chad gave a grunt and a nod. Smiling, Hinata walked down the stairs with Chad right behind her.

Ichigo watched her leave with Chad. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about this. Rukia said it was nothing but a lonely spirit, but something didn't feel right with the spirit inside the parakeet.

. . .

After school, Hinata ran over to Chad's desk. "Can I spend the rest of today with you?"

Chad looked shocked and looked over her shoulder at Uruyu, who seemed to be shocked as well. "Is Uruyu okay with that?

She tilted her head. "He said I only had to go with him on days I have time, and today I want to spend it with you and Yuuichi!"

He gave one last look at Uryu who shrugged back at him, grabbed his bag, and left. Looking back down at Hinata, who was smiling expectantly, Chad grunted, "That's fine."

Hinata jumped for joy and grabbed Yuuichi's cage and started talking. Chad gave a smile and patted her head again as they walked. He liked this strange girl who was a lot like Ichigo.

She had told him she didn't have anywhere to go and just wanted to spend some time with him, so they began walking around town. He noticed that they were getting closer to Ichigo's place the longer they walked. What happened next was so fast it was hard to explain.

Hinata's eyes got big and she yelled while Yuuichi gave a cry of despair and Chad felt a killer intent. He acted on instinct, pushing Hinata who was holding the cage. Her eyes got big as he pushed her away and she yelled again. It was then that he felt the collision. Then it all went black. When his eyes opened again Hinata was kneeing beside him, crying while still holding onto Yuuichi's cage. He heard screaming from all around. Then it went black.

. . .

Hinata had seen the hollow appear and when she had tried to warn Chad he had pushed her out of the way with a small smile on his face. The hollow had appeared, slamming a hand into Chad's back before vanishing again. She was still sitting over him and crying when Ichigo's sisters came upon the scene. When Chad had been attacked, several other cars had crashed to avoid hitting Chad. The girls started grabbing people and where carrying them back to Ichigo's family clinic. Hinata grabbed Chad and started dragging him towards the clinic. She was frustrated with her gigai and how hard it was for her to move Chad. He needed help!

Hinata heard a gasp and turned to see Karin, Ichigo's sister. Her eyes were wide. As Karin had gotten older, she had seen Hinata a couple of times, but she knew she was a ghost because no one else saw Hinata. Yet here she was, dragging a large man. She sent her one more look before running and grabbing Yuzu to go and help the girl dragging the large man.

With Yuzu's help they were able to get Chad to the door before Hinata collapsed outside. Yuzu called to her, asking if she was okay.

"I'm fine, just tired. Help me." Hinata waved her forward.

Hinata heard the yelling and excitement as Yuzu called for help. Ichigo's dad was calling for him. Hinata gave a small smile. Now that she thought of it, she had never seen Ichigo's dad's face before. As she leaned to look around the corner, she found his back to her once again. As she lay there, she looked down at Yuuichi, who seemed to be crying. She needed to get him away to safety. She looked back inside one more time to see Ichigo and his dad carrying Chad down the hall. She was long gone by the time Yuzu declared that there was another girl outside the door who needed help, but by the time they got outside, the girl was gone.

. . .

Hinata had gone to Uncle Kisuke first to see if he could help, but he had been unable to. He said the spirit would have to leave the parakeet before he could do anything. He had offered to take it off her hands, but Hinata saw a glint in his eyes that she didn't like, so she said she would keep him for the night.

Since then, she had wandered the streets aimlessly, just staying on the move because Yuuichi thought it would help her avoid the hollow. He had told her his story, and she promised that she would help him get rid of the hollow. He told her to leave him, that it would be fine, but she refused to.

Chad found her about two hours before dawn. He was panicked when he found her. He grabbed her face and turned it from side to side to make sure she was okay. He gave a sigh of relief. "Ichigo would never forgive me if you got hurt."

Hinata smiled. "It's okay. I've been keeping Yuuichi safe." She held the parakeet up for him to see.

He gave a smile. "Yeah, you did."

He tried to have her give him Yuuichi, telling her that she should go home or go to school, but she refused. When he told her it wasn't safe, she just looked at him with her big brown eyes and he couldn't send her away. Thus they found themselves in an abandoned warehouse instead of at school.

. . .

Ichigo had awoken that morning to his father telling him that Chad had gone missing in the night. Ichigo had run to school and grabbed Mizuro, demanding to know where Chad was. They told him he hadn't come and that he was late.

Ichigo was getting ready to run out when Keigo spoke up. "You know what's weird is the fact that Chad and Hinata are both missing. You don't think they are together! Is she two timing Ishida?"

Ichigo only caught the first half of what Keigo said. Hinata was also missing! She had been with Chad yesterday. Now that he thought about it, Yuzu had said that a girl had brought Chad to the clinic and she was carrying a bird. Turning white as a sheet, Ichigo turned and ran out of the classroom, not even listening to what the others said. He had to find them and save them!

. . .

Hinata looked at Chad. He seemed tired. From what Yuuichi had told her, Chad had been attacked close to ten times when he had been carrying Yuuichi. When she had asked if he was okay, all he had said was that he was tough.

She felt the hollow appear. "Move!" she yelled as she jumped out of the way of its swing before it vanished again. She sighed in frustration; it never stayed long enough for her to kill it. It would appear for but a moment before jumping back into Hueco Mundo.

They ran again. Hinata held Yuuichi close to her chest. As they rounded a corner, she heard Ichigos voice yell out their names. She turned in time to see his face along with Rukia's beside him. When she moved to go towards them, Chad grabbed her arm and pulled her the opposite way. "We can't involve them," he said simply.

As they ran, Hinata noticed that Ichigo had stopped following her and was running the other way, but Ruika was right behind them. Hinata felt a chill climb her spine when the hollow appeared again, and with it Rukia stopped chasing them. She looked down to see Yuuichi crying and shivering. She looked at Chad and held out Yuuichi's cage to him and asked, "Chad can you take him?"

He gave a nod and grabbed the cage. The moment it was in his hand, Hinata stopped, turned and ran back the way that they had come. "Hinata!" he yelled at her, skidding to a stop. He went to turn to follow her, but looked down at Yuuichi first. He had promised to help Yuuichi to save his mom, but he had also promised Ichigo that he would protect what was important to him. He heard a sound like an explosion behind him. He gently placed Yuuichi on the ground. "You stay here; I'm going to help."

Yuuichi cried out for him not to go, but all Chad did was put him up on the wall before running after Hinata.

Hinata got there in time to see Rukia throw Kido at the hollow, but it didn't do any damage. Hinata couldn't watch as it attacked Rukia. She had to do something, but she couldn't let Rukia know that it was her. She had pulled out her bow when Chad arrived. She timed her arrow to hit it when Chad did, but to hide the arrow from Rukia, the angle was wrong. However, her arrow combined with Chad's punch threw the hollow all the way down the street. She mumbled under her breath, "How dare you hurt my friends!" She got another shot out and the hollow was visibly shaken, thinking all the damage was coming from Chad. Hinata gave a smile.

When the hollow took to the sky, she glared up at it, but gave a smile when Chad hit it out of the sky with a power pole. She felt when the hollow summoned its minions and her eyes narrowed again. She needed to end this now before it got worse. She could feel that Ichigo was on his way, but he wouldn't make it in time.

The minions jumped on Chad and Rukia, pinning them to the ground. As soon as the hollow started talking about eating them, Hinata lost it. Her spiritual pressure rose, causing the hollow to fall to its knees. Rukia let out a gasp of surprise. Chad looked around confused, before forcing himself to his feet, throwing off the hollow's minions with a load roar. She cracked a smile. She left her gigai, walking up behind Rukia and knocking her out, before facing the hollow which was shaking.

"You chose the wrong people to attack!" Her voice was low taking on aspects of her hollow nature.

Its eyes went wide. "It can't be! You. . ."

She didn't let it finish as she quickly swung Nikko down, silencing the hollow. She watched it cry and beg for mercy as it was pulled back into giant doors that had appeared. Once its cries had stopped and the door vanished, she lowered her spiritual pressure. When Hinata turned around, she found Chad was by Rukia's side, holding her wrist and giving a sigh of relief by what he found.

She walked over and gently touched his arm. His eyes went wide. Even though she knew he couldn't hear her she whispered, "Thank you!" With that, she walked back to her gigai. Chad must have heard rustling in the bushes because he ran over, beating her to her gigai.

"Hinata!" He cried picking her up, but when she didn't wake up, he panicked. She watched Chad carry her over to put her beside Rukia who was still out. She just watched for a few minutes, confused as she watched Chad grab her wrist for a minute before he began to push on her chest with a desperate look in his eyes. She tilted her head.

She then heard footsteps approaching. Lifting her head she saw Ichigo round the corner. There was a look of determination on his face, but he skidded to a halt when he saw the scene before him.

Hinata was waving cheerfully at him; signs of a battle were ever where; Rukia was laying on her back, and Chad was desperately preforming CPR on another figure. Ichigo ran to Chad's side, asking him what had happened. Chad seemed to be crying as he told Ichigo he was sorry. Ichigo looked down to see the body he was preforming CPR on was Hinata's. Surprised, he looked back at her before looking at the body in front of him again. He stood. "I'll be back."

He walked over to Hinata and whispered to her, "What are you doing?"

"I was protecting them."

His eyes got wide. "You can't! What if you got hurt or where killed?!"

She looked up at him with big eyes. "It's okay. I won't get hurt."

"What if Rukia saw you!"

"Don't worry, she didn't see me!"

All he could do was shake his head. "You should get back in your body. Chad thinks you're dead."

Hinata's eyes got big this time as she ran to her gigai, jumping back in. She found it uncomfortable and coughed as she sat up. Chad gave a cry before grabbing her in a hug. "You're okay!" He cried over and over again.

When Rukia finally woke up, she found three faces looking down at her with concern. She couldn't remember anything other than a moment of pain behind her head before she had passed out.

. . .

When Hinata went home that night she was met with an Ulquiorra who was angry that she hadn't come back last night, and because he had felt her spiritual pressure rise all the way from Hueco Mundo. Hinata was so happy to see him though that she just jumped at him, giving him a great big hug. For the first time ever, he didn't return her hug.