I do not own Bleach

Chapter 21 Adventures in the Seireitei

Hinata watched as Gin opened his eyes wide and looked around for a moment. "Hinata? Did I miss one?" Once satisfied that he hadn't missed anyone, he closed his eyes and began to walk away. Hinata gave one last look at the gate and felt to make sure that her friends were okay before she followed Gin into the Seireitei.

Hinata just followed him quietly. She didn't know what to do with Gin, but she wanted to help him. They had only walked for twenty minutes when a loud voice boomed out over the Seireitei: "Attention all Captains! Attention all Captains! Your presence is required for an emergency meeting." Gin didn't even look up, but once again she felt his spiritual pressure rise. She tilted her head. He seemed to go slightly slower to her this time as he walked. As they drew closer to the center of the Seireitei, she could feel her uncomfortableness grow since she had entered the Seireitei. It was like a dark presence had infected the place and was reaching out to all the corners. When they got to the foot of a large building, she looked up. The source of the darkness was coming from this building. She couldn't bring herself to enter and get closer to it, so she reached out and touched Gin, connecting him to her. He stiffened under her touch and swung around, trying to grab her, but she was already far enough away that he couldn't touch her. He opened his eyes again and appeared to be looking around, trying to find her. When he didn't, he turned around and entered the building.

Hinata wasn't sure what to do, but she didn't want to be here when the dark spiritual pressure came out, so she left. She traveled for several minutes before the sound of swords clashing caused her to go to a building with a big eleven painted above the door.

She felt an interesting spiritual pressure coming from one of the back corners by itself. She hopped from head to head to get across and she gave a giggle as a bald man at the front of the group yelled at them to straighten up!

She found the spiritual pressure as he exited the room. He was a little taller than her with chin length black hair along with an orange piece of cloth wrapped around his neck, but what set him apart from the others she had seen was the fact that he had two red feathers sticking up from his eye brow and two yellow ones coming from the corner of his eye. She found it all very pretty.

She felt her cloak slip. "Pretty."

The man jumped, turning around with his hand at his sword. "Who are you?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm Hinata, and I love the way you look!"

His eyes went wide before a smile broke across his face. "I'm so glad that you noticed! All the bone heads here never seem to be able to appreciate the beauty that I have!" At Hinata's nod he continued, "My name is Yumichika." He seemed to pause then as he looked her up and down. "You know, my dear, with a little help you would be able to be beautiful like me. Wait here!" He rushed back into the room. Hinata peaked around the corner to see things flying through the air before he stood up triumphantly. "Here, we can start with this." He pushed some clothes into her hands before pushing her into another room. "Try them on!"

Several minutes later, Hinata came out. Yumichika seemed to squeal at the sight of her. He rushed over and began pulling on her clothes until she was perfectly wearing a Shinigami black robe with a yellow scarf wrapped around her neck. Yumichika pulled gently at her hair, which had been tucked into the scarf. He looked her up and down. Nodding he said, "It looks good, but we are missing something. Wait right here." He went back to throwing things through the air. Something red flew past her face; she reached out and grabbed it. It was a red feather. A second later, her hand shot out again, pulling a yellow one out of the air. She looked at them before putting them together and placing them under her hollow mask so they hung in her hair.

"What about this?" she called out to Yumichika, who looked up and smiled again.

"Perfect! My dear, you are beautiful now!"

"Hey, Yumichika!" a load voice called out from down the hall. "You slacking again? Get out here!"

"Well, Hinata, it appears that it is time for me to go. Feel free to stop by again!" he called, sending a wave over his shoulder before he left.

. . .

Hinata was skipping down the streets smiling as she passed Shinigami giving each of them a cheerful wave. They all stared after her like they weren't entirely sure what had just happened. She had just started humming when she rounded a corner and was surprised to see that there was a Shinigami squatting in the middle of the path.

She skidded to a stop but the Shinigami didn't even look up. He was intently focused on whatever was in front of him. "What are you doing?" She asked, leaning in.

The boy gave a yelp and jumped up, turning to face her and moving to block whatever was behind him. "Wha. . . What do you want?" The boy stuttered out; he looked like he was shaking.

Hinata gave a small laugh, "I just said, silly!" She tried to look around the boy, but he would move with her to prevent her from seeing. When she stood on her tippy toes, even though she was taller than him, she still couldn't see. She gave a sigh. "Why won't you show me what you were doing?"

He blushed. "I. . . I wasn't doing anything."

As he was stammering, Hinata took her chance and ducked under his outstretched arms. Before her was a simple yellow flower that was growing out of a crack in the sidewalk. "It's so pretty! Why were you hiding it?"

Startled, the boy turned to see her kneeing next to the flower. He knelt down next to her, casting her a sideways glance before he went back to digging around the flower. "Most other people would make fun of me or would just step on it and laugh at me."

Hinata gave a gasp. "That's so mean!"

He nodded his head as he stood up with the flower in his hands. "I know. My name's Hanataro Yamada, by the way, what's yours?"

"My name is Hinata Kurosaki! Hanataro, why do you care about the flower if others don't?"

He gave a little sigh and smiled up at her. "It's probably because I'm in the fourth. I just can't stand to see something die, and it was so beautiful I just couldn't let it die."

"Can you heal things?"

Hanataro jumped a little. "Why of course! That's what the fourth does!" He seemed to stand tall and yell this at her, but when he realized what he had done, he took a step back and his shoulders slumped. "Sorry about that."

"Are you good?"

"Well, ummm . . . I am a seated member . . . and Captain Unohana says I need to keep working . . ." he mumbled, but then his chest puffed out proudly, "but that I will be great one day!"

Hinata gave a smile. "If I ever need healing I will make sure to come to you," she said proudly. She reached out and gave Hanataro a big hug, attaching a spiritual tread to him. At that moment, she felt that Gin had left the building along with several other strong people who were separating. "I have to go; see you later Hanataro!"
. . .

Hinata stopped in her tracks, looking up at the building in front of her. It had a big letter eight right above the door. When she had left Hanataro she had felt the draw of someone with a large amount of spiritual pressure. It had taken her a while to get here because she had gotten side tracked a couple of times, but as she stood before the door she could feel the spiritual pressure inside. She was in the right place.

It was hard to describe what drew her to this one. She would almost say that it was a feeling of deep regret, but there was something more to it then she could feel. She allowed her cloak to cover herself again before she entered. As she walked, she saw a severe looking woman with glasses pass her saying something about a drunk.

Hinata gave a smile; she was almost there. She had just turned the corner when she saw a bright pink kimono with flowers. She was so excited that her cloak dropped. She raced forward, hugging the pink kimono from behind! She let out a squeal, "It's so pretty!" She felt the form beneath her embrace stiffen before it relaxed again. She was surprised when a man turned to look at her with a large straw hat on his head and a rough beard.

"Why, what do we have here?" he said with a smile.

Hinata smiled back. "I love your pink Kimono!"

He gave a chuckle. "Do you, little lady?" Hinata gave a vigorous nod. He chuckled again. "Well then why don't you come around front so that I can talk to you?"

Hinata jumped off the man's back and walked around him to flop on the floor in front of him with a big smile on her face. The man seemed to have a twinkle in his eyes. "Well, it might be a little late for introductions, but my name is Shunsui Kyoraku. And what might yours be?" He tilted his hat towards her.

She giggled, reaching out and gently tapped his hat herself. He seemed surprised by this. "My name is Hinata Kurosaki!"

"Well, Miss Kurosaki. . ."

"Hinata!" she corrected with enthusiasm.

He gave another chuckle. "Well then, Hinata, might I ask how you got in here?"

"I walked in!"

He tipped his hat again, smiling, before looking up. "What squad are you?"

"I'm in Gin's."

"You're in Caption Ichimaru's squad?"

"Yep, I'm in Gin's!"

Shunsui raised an eyebrow, "and what brought you here, Hinata?"

"I was looking around while I waited for him."

"Well, he should be back now that the caption's meeting has ended."

Hinata looked at him before turning and facing where she could feel Gin's spiritual pressure, and she frowned. "He's with someone not nice right now."

Shunsui tipped his hat up. "How do you know?"

"There is a mean spiritual pressure with him right now, and I don't want to meet the mean person."

Shunsui reached out his own spiritual pressure; it was almost at its limits before he found Gin's spiritual pressure. He had a puzzled look when he turned back to Hinata. "Captain Ichimaru is not with a bad person. He is with Caption Aizen, one of the nicest captions we have."

Hinata shook her head, shivering. "No, it is a nasty spiritual pressure. It makes me feel sick just being near it."

Shunsui wrapped her in a half hug, pulling her closer. "You don't have to fear him; he is a good man." She shook her head. He gave a sigh but held her close. He had a lot to think about. He felt that the girl didn't quite belong in the Seireitei, but at the same time she seemed to fit right in. He looked down at her; she was looking out the doors at the setting sun. He gave another sigh. If they had had such an exemplary Shinigami like her in the third division, he would have thought Gin would have said something. They sat like that until Shunsui heard Nanao stop outside the door. In that moment, Hinata moved. Faster than he could grab her, she was on her feet and standing on the balcony.

"Goodbye Shunsui!" With that she jumped off the ledge.

He was looking over the edge trying to find her, but as soon as she left he realized the entire time she had been there he had never felt her spiritual pressure. He didn't turn when Nanao finally entered the room. She paused for a moment in surprise when he didn't run towards her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He looked over his shoulder at her before looking back down at the ground for the bright orange hair. "Looking for a ghost."

. . .

Hisagi sat swinging his sword. He had long since been drenched in sweat. His breath came in ragged gasps.

"You know you are hurting him."

He swung around with his sword raised. On the wall looking down at him was an orange haired Shinigami with a yellow scarf. How had she been able to sneak up on him? "Who are you, and how did you get in here?"

"Your soul is at war with itself."

"What?"

She jumped off the wall, landing in front of him before reaching out and lightly tapping his sword. "Your Zanpakuto is crying out in pain. It wants to be united with you, but you fear and hate it. The only way it knew to save itself was to respond in the same way. If you don't stop it will eventually rip your soul apart."

Hisagi took a step back, looking down at his sword. He had felt the slight hum it had given at the strange girl's words, but when he looked up again to question her, he found that she was gone!

. . .

Hinata had only been walking for a few minutes when she heard a squeal. Startled, she looked up to see a pink and black form grab her, pulling her face down into something soft and squishy. She was still sitting there when she realized she couldn't breathe! She pushed back against her assailant, but the person seemed to be happy and was swinging her from side to side. Just when Hinata thought for sure she would die, she was let go. She fell to her knees taking in several deep breaths. When she looked up she was surprised to see her attacker squatting in front of her, barely five inches in front of her. Hinata threw herself back. She took a good look at the woman in front of her.

It was a tall woman, probably taller than Hinata was, with long, wavy blonde hair and wearing a pink sash. Hinata didn't feel any animosity from the woman, just sadness. When see looked closer, she could see that she had a small tattered cord of spiritual pressure attaching her to another. Hinata followed it and was surprised to see that it was attached to Gin. So this is why he was so sad!

"Did you know that you are super cute!?" the woman in front of her said. "My name is Matsumoto Rangiku, but you can just call me Rangiku. How long have you been here? Why have I never seen you before? Can you drink? Perfect, come with me!" Without another thought, Rangiku had grabbed Hinata and began to drag her off.

A few minutes later, Hinata found herself across from Rangiku in a small building with a few other people. Rangiku kept tossing back glasses and was getting redder and redder in the face as time passed on. Hinata had looked in the cup she had been given, but remembered Uncle Kisuke and Aunt Kitty had tried to give her some at the beginning of the year. Uncle Tessai had said she wasn't old enough. So Hinata just watched Rangiku drink more and more.

"You should join the women's association," Rangiku slurred.

Hinata just smiled; she had found that usually seemed to make the other woman happy even though Hinata had no idea what half of the things she said were. She found that even though Rangiku was weird, she was sincerely nice. It hurt her though as she watched her drink more and more. It felt that Rangiku drank to hide from the pain that she had because of Gin.

The sun looked to just be starting to come out when the man behind the counter told them they had to leave. Rangiku was so drunk that Hinata asked the man where she lived so that she could take her home. With directions to a building with a number ten above the door, Hinata took off.

She led her in without much problem. There had been several Shinigami along the way who had offered to take Rangiku from her, but when they spoke, Rangiku would grab her arm and say no! Hinata giggled at this each time. When she had finally gotten her to her room and tucked her in, she felt a small but powerful presence approaching. Hinata had just stood up when Rangiku's door was flung open.

"Matsumoto!" Hinata watched as a small, white haired boy with a white cloak like Gin's entered the room. He seemed surprised to see her as well. He reached as if to draw his sword. "Who are you?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

Rangiku sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Why are you yelling so early in the morning?"

The boy looked like he wanted to strangle her, but kept back as he watched Hinata. "Who is this, Matsumoto?"

She looked over to see Hinata. "My friend. I met her last night and her name is. . ."

The boy gave a growl. "You don't even know her name!" He rushed forward and began to hit her on the head. Hinata, not feeling any true animosity from the boy, gave a small giggle as she edged towards the door. As much as the boy would never admit it, he truly cared for Rangiku.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Hinata looked back at the boy. "I'm going back to Gin."

His eyes opened wide before narrowing. "What do you want with Caption Ichimaru?"

"He's my captain."

His eyes remained narrowed. She was just about out the door when once again he called out, "What is your name?"

"Hinata." And with that she was gone.

. . .

Gin looked over his shoulder for what felt like the hundredth time today. He had felt like there had been someone following him since he had locked the Ichigo boy outside. There was also the fact that they had all called out for someone who he hadn't seen. At one point when he had been with Aizen, he had even felt what he would describe as a gentle tug on his spiritual pressure.

As it was, he stood in the door of his office looking out at the rising sun. Another day of deceit lay ahead. According to Lord Aizen, it would begin today. All their plans he had been carefully laying down for years would come to light in the next few days. He turned leaving the light in favor of the darkness that was his office. Sitting at his desk, he gazed at what was left of the stack of paper work.

"You are hurting her."

He stiffened slightly before plastering his small narrow smile on before turning to see a Shinigami who appeared to be a teenager with feathers in her long orange hair. He couldn't help opening his eyes slightly more for a better look. It was definitely the girl that had been driving Aizen crazy over the past several months because he could never find her when he wanted to.

"You look better when your eyes are open." His eyes flew open at this. "See, they are a beautiful blue! She misses them a lot."

He closed his eyes to slits once more before leaning back leisurely, even though on the inside he had been unsettled. "And who might that be?"

"Rangiku." The girl stated mater of factly.

He had to force his eyes not to open in surprise. "Oh, you mean the large breasted woman under the child captain?"

"No, I mean the woman who you love, but are killing on the inside because you are trying to protect her without her knowing."

This time he jumped up and flew to where she was standing only to find that she was gone.

"You are doing all you can to protect her, but slowly you are killing the link that connects you together."

He turned to see her standing by his desk now. "What do you mean?" He hated the fact that he could make out a trace of fear in his voice.

The girl closed her eyes and waved her hand before reopening them. To his surprise, soul ribbons appeared, filling his office. His eyes opened wide again as slowly the ribbons began to vanish until there where only a few left in the room. She walked up, pulling a red ribbon that looked like it had been eaten by acid. "This is your ribbon." His eyes went big as she handed it to him. She then grabbed a small thread that was attached to his ribbon. He followed it with his eyes to another ribbon that seemed to slowly be melting away. She grabbed it and handed it to him as well. "This is her ribbon."

Gin almost dropped it. No, this couldn't be her ribbon, but even as he thought it he could feel her spiritual pressure coming from it, dragging him towards the tenth division. He looked back up at the girl. "Why does it look like mine?"

She reached down and held up the thread. "This thread is what makes it that way. You are both connected together. Because you are stronger then she is, your spiritual pressure travels the thread occasionally to maintain it. Your wellbeing is passed to her. Because you are hurting yourself, it is hurting her." She gently grabbed Rangiku's ribbon from him. "The only way to heal it is to heal yours first."

"I can't though. This is to save her!"

"By you trying to save her, you are slowly killing her."

Gin frantically tried to look at anything but the sad ribbon in front of him. What he found was surprising. There was a second thread attached to his ribbon, but it had several colors instead of just red. He followed it to a large ribbon of red, white, blue, and black. How had he not seen it before? He reached out to touch it before a hand appeared on his arm, stopping him. "That's my ribbon."

"Why am I attached to yours?"

"Yesterday when I meet you I attached mine to yours."

Yesterday? He hadn't met her. . . he remembered the cries of Ichigo and his group as the gate closed. "Hinata?"

"Yep!"

But that was impossible! He would have seen her! How had she been there much less been able to attach herself to him? As he looked at her ribbon his eyes went wide again. Her ribbon had countless threads that come off dozens of other ribbons, if not more. When he looked, he could even see one coming off of Rangiku's ribbon. He was still looking at the ribbon when it vanished. He looked up at the girl.

"Rangiku is my friend, and you are as well. In order to help you both, you need to change. Stop hurting her."

He just looked at her. "I never meant to hurt her."

At that Hinata reached forward, giving him a hug. "I know. You wanted to help her, but you never would have if you had known the pain it would cause."

Gin sat like that for a long time. He didn't pull away until he heard Kira coming down the walkway. At that moment, Hinata pulled away from him. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before she ran to the back of his office and out the window just as Kira opened the door.

. . . . . . .

Author Notes

So we realized that people have been asking a lot of questions and we haven't had time to answer them so here are some answers.

Lizyeh2000: Thanks for following. Ichigo and Hinata won't be a couple because they are siblings.

Lifethroughanotherseyes: Uryu finds out that they are siblings because Kisuke in chapter 19 after Rukia is taken says: "Rukia just saved your brother." Uryu is awake at this time and hears it. So in regards to why no one saw her in the alley is because of her cloak. Her cloak does make her invisible, she is just not aware when she is hiding in the alley that she is using it. On the topic of Kuon, he was looking for her but just never found the alley.