I do not own Bleach

Chapter 19 – Rukia's Betrayal

Kisuke muttered under his breath as he examined Hinata's gigai. That idiot quincy boy had nearly caused its destruction with that hollow bait of his. At first glance, it had seemed that the gigai had sustained little to no damage, but upon further examination, the gigai was a mess. Cursing all quincies, Kisuke tinkered around as he readjusted here and there. Hinata was stronger than he gave her credit for. Sometimes he almost forgot that she was a hollow.

"Uncle Kisuke!" Hinata called, peeking into his work room. "Are you done yet?"

"Not quite, my dear," Kisuke said as cheerfully as he could.

Next thing he knew, Hinata had jumped on his back from behind, her arms wrapping around his neck. "Ichigo and Uryu will be mad if I'm not at school tomorrow."

Kisuke sighed, turning to smile at her. "I'll be done before tomorrow, dear, I promise. Your Uncle Kisuke is a miracle worker. Did Tessai give you your candy?"

"Yep!" she said brightly. "He made me eat my vegetables first, though."

Kisuke laughed. Tessai had taken a great deal of care to teach Hinata proper etiquette, manners, and nutrition. Unfortunately for Tessai, Hinata had a supreme sweet tooth. "Poor Hinata," Kisuke sympathized. "Next time I'll make your dinner."

Hinata smiled. "Promise it will be finished tomorrow?"

"Promise," Kisuke said, hugging her before shooing her. "Now get out so Uncle Kisuke can work."

Hinata kissed his cheek then bounced happily out of the room.

. . .

Uryu stole glances at Hinata and Ichigo throughout class. Hinata was smiling again like her usual self, babbling happily about whatever happened to be on her mind at the moment. Ichigo still irritated him, but they'd come to an understanding; Hinata's happiness was the most important thing to both of them. He smiled as she tossed her long orange hair over her shoulder, throwing a smile his way. Somehow, he and Ichigo would have to make this work.

. . .

Rukia was acting strange. Ichigo almost didn't notice, except Hinata had asked him why Rukia was being so quiet today. He spent the rest of the day wondering what Rukia was up to, oblivious to the fact that Uryu had joined them for lunch. Rukia had joined Orihime and the other girls in their class for lunch today, and it worried Ichigo.

"Ichigo!" Hinata said, jumping on his back. "Aren't you listening?"

"Hmm?" Ichigo asked, distracted.

"I've been trying to tell you about the new candy Uncle Kisuke gave me!"

"That's nice," Ichigo said, glancing over the roof's edge again.

"You're not listening, Ichigo," Hinata pouted.

"Don't worry about it," Uryu said, tugging on Hinata's hand. "His skull's too thick, even you can't get through."

Ichigo missed the entire exchange.

. . .

"Are you coming to practice today?" Uryu asked Hinata.

"Not today," Hinata said, grabbing Ichigo's hand. "I was going to walk him home and then I promised Uncle Kisuke I'd stop by his shop." She looked up at Ichigo. He was still distracted.

Uryu left them soon after, and Hinata walked Ichigo home in silence. She hummed to herself, swinging their hands between them. Over the years, she had learned when Ichigo wanted to talk about what was bothering him and when he wanted to keep to himself. She was just happy to be spending time with him again. It had been a while since she'd gone home with him.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Ichigo said, giving Hinata a quick hug once they reached his house.

"Yep!" Hinata said, kissing his cheek. "Take care, Ichigo!"

Hinata took her time walking back to Kisuke's shop, picking flowers along her way. As she went, she kept tabs on everyone's spirit pressure. Ichigo had been so distracted all day that it worried her, and Uryu was acting a little weird too. Rukia had been acting strange all day, and had vanished immediately after school. Hinata could feel Rukia wandering around on her own, but decided to just keep tabs on her for now. Humming, she walked into Kisuke's shop, sticking a flower in Ururu's hair and attempting to hug Jinta before wandering into the back of the shop. Uncle Kisuke wanted to check her gigai again to make sure it was working okay.

"You can go home if you'd like, my dear," Kisuke said once Hinata was free of the gigai. "This may take a while."

"I thought you said it was finished," Hinata pouted. "It is a little stiff though."

"Oh, it works," Kisuke said with a smile, "but I want it to be perfect, and it's not perfect yet. Go home and you can pick it up in the morning."

Hinata sighed. "If you say so, Uncle Kisuke." Then she smiled and hugged him. "See you soon!"

. . .

Ulquiorra was waiting for Hinata's return, pacing as he felt her enter the garganta. He needed to tell her that it wasn't safe for her to spend a lot of time in Hueco Mundo anymore. Aizen had been gathering arrancars and vastolordes by the dozens ever since she had killed Yammy, and he had all of them searching for her. It made him nervous. Before long, she skipped out of the garganta right into his arms, hugging him.

He held her close, searching for the other spirit pressures nearby and deciding they needed to move. Starrk and Lilynette were the closest, but Ulquiorra didn't want to run into them right now. "Let's go," he told Hinata.

"Are you okay, Ulqui?" Hinata asked as they hurried to the cave they currently called home.

Ulquiorra gave her a weak smile. "I'm fine, Hinata. There are just some dangerous people out and about right now."

"You're worried about something."

Ulquiorra hated when she was observant, and it was getting harder to distract her when he didn't want to tell her something. "Its fine," he lied. "Everything is fine." That's when he noticed that she was distracted too. "Are you okay, Hinata?"

She shook her head, frowning. "Ichigo and his friends are acting weird."

They slipped into their cave while Ulquiorra thought this over. He didn't understand humans very well, so he didn't know what Hinata was concerned about. Whatever was bothering her, he still felt that she'd be safer with the humans than she would be in Hueco Mundo. He debated telling her the truth when she suddenly sat up ramrod straight. "What's wrong?" he demanded.

"Rukia . . ." Hinata whispered, then frowned. "No, she's fine." Hinata shook her head, her sword suddenly materializing in her hands. She held it close and closed her eyes, then smiled up at Ulquiorra. "I'm alright," she told him.

Ulquiorra decided to tell her about the other arrancars. "Hinata . . . I think you should stay in the human world for a little bit. The other arrancars . . . they're looking for you."

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "If they're looking for me, why can't I meet them?"

"It's not safe!" She looked startled at the sudden fear in his voice. "It's not safe," he repeated in a gentler tone. "Some of them are nice, but other arrancar aren't very nice at all. When you killed that other arrancar, everyone noticed and want to know who did it."

Hinata stared at him. "You mean I have to leave you?"

"No, that's not what I said. It's just dangerous right now. I'll come get you when it's safe to come back. They should calm down in a couple of days. Until then you can't come back to Hueco Mundo."

"Oh," Hinata said, looking sad. She hugged Ulquiorra. "I don't want to leave you, Ulqui! You get so lonely when I'm away."

"It will only be for a little bit," he promised, hugging her back, wishing he didn't have to send her away. "I just want you to be safe."

She kissed his cheek, looking sad still, and then stiffened again. "Uryu!" she said, looking scared. "Ulquiorra, I have to go! Promise you'll come get me?"

"I promise," Ulquiorra said, watching sadly as once more she vanished through the garganta.

. . .

Kisuke looked up, startled when Hinata ran into his back room, worry written all over her face. "What's wrong, Hinata? I thought you went home!"

"You need to go help Ichigo," Hinata said, tugging on his arm. "He needs to go help Rukia!"

Kisuke had noticed when Rukia had run into other Shinigami, but he had been too focused on Hinata's gigai, and so had dismissed it. Now he noticed that Rukia was with a captain and a lieutenant. Suddenly, Hinata's concern didn't seem so out of place.

"Stay right here," he told her. "I'll go get Ichigo. Don't move!"

. . .

Hinata paced around, glancing at her gigai. Uryu had wandered off while she had been talking to Ulquiorra, and now he was meeting up with Rukia and two strange people with very strong spirit pressure. Uncle Kisuke was at Ichigo's house, but Hinata had a bad feeling about everything. Looking at her gigai again, she slipped into it and took off, headed to Ichigo's house. She needed to help him!

Her gigai was too slow, so she used Hirenyaku to get there faster. Ichigo was already gone, and Uncle Kisuke was slowly following Ichigo's spirit pressure. "Uncle Kisuke!" she called, running to him when she froze. Ichigo wasn't going to make it in time. Uryu was hurt! She grabbed Uncle Kisuke's arm and tried pulling him, but he held her in place.

"Hinata, stop," he said sternly.

"Ichigo needs help!" she cried, tears running down her cheeks. "They hurt Uryu, and they'll hurt Ichigo too!"

"Bakudo 61," Kisuke whispered, releasing Hinata. The bright lights she sometimes used as a skirt suddenly bound her arms to her side. She tried to pull free like she had before, but her gigai was too weak to break the kido. She looked at Uncle Kisuke in surprise.

"Uncle Kisuke?"

"I'm sorry, my dear," Kisuke said, "but you can't help Ichigo this time. He needs to fight this battle on his own."

Hinata was crying now. "He's not ready, Uncle Kisuke. They're going to hurt him! They already hurt Uryu!"

"I know he's not ready," Uncle Kisuke said, peering into Hinata's eyes. "He needs to lose this fight, Hinata. If he doesn't do this on his own, he'll never get stronger. You can't help him this time."

Hinata didn't understand. "Ichigo can't lose," she sobbed.

"Yes, he will," Uncle Kisuke said, grabbing Hinata's shoulders and directing her towards Ichigo. "We'll be there when he's finished, but we can't help him." Hinata stumbled forward, walking awkwardly because of the Kido binding her. Uncle Kisuke was scaring her, but she couldn't do anything about it.

. . .

"You are just a human," Rukia said darkly, glaring down at Ichigo. "How dare you grab my brother like that. You better learn your place!"

Kisuke and Hinata stood in the shadows, watching as Ichigo lay bleeding in the street, staring up at Rukia. Kisuke had wrapped Hinata in his cloak to suppress both of their spirit pressures. Hinata had nearly managed to break his Kido on their way to find Ichigo, and it had taken all of his power to keep her restrained. He felt bad restraining her, but was grateful that she had returned to the gigai before ignoring his orders and following him. He wouldn't have been able to restrain her if she were in her spirit form.

"You don't know when to give up, do you?" Renji Abari said, talking down to Ichigo. "Listen, the more you move around, the faster you'll find yourself dead."

Kisuke watched the exchange silently, holding Hinata close. She was shaking partly from crying and partly from anger.

"Take even one step, or try to come after me . . . and, if you do . . . I'll never ever forgive you!" Rukia yelled at Ichigo.

"I've shattered his soul chain," Byakuya Kuchiki said, explaining that Ichigo's soul reaper powers were gone. "Even if he does survive this attack, all of his powers will be lost."

"No!" Hinata whispered, but Kisuke held her tighter.

"It will be alright," Kisuke whispered. "They'll leave in a moment, and then I'll help Ichigo. This is important though."

It had begun to rain as Captain, Lieutenant, and Rukia walked away from Ichigo. Renji opened the Senkaimon leading back to the Seireitei. Ichigo watched, unable to move. Finally, Kisuke let Hinata go and approached Ichigo. He released the Kido binding Hinata, but she didn't move. She was still in shock. Yoruichi had joined them at the very end and now rode on Kisuke's shoulder. Kisuke had pulled out an umbrella and now held it over Ichigo, who looked up at him, and then passed out.

There was a cry from Hinata. She ran over to Ichigo, shaking. She looked at Uryu too, who lay a short distance away, attempting to get up.

"Its okay, Hinata," Kisuke said, grabbing her hand. "They'll both be okay."

Hinata sniffed, looking up at him. "Rukia betrayed us."

"No," Kisuke said. "Rukia just saved your brother."

She looked at him, confused. He smiled to ensure her that it would be alright. "We'll help the quincy first, then we'll take Ichigo back to my shop and fix him up there. Everything will be alright. I promise. Ichigo will be good as new when I'm done healing him."

"Okay," Hinata whispered, looking down at her brother.

Kisuke smiled, and then proceeded to heal the quincy boy while Hinata sat next to Ichigo, holding his hand.