I do not own Bleach

Chapter 28 A Family

Hinata laughed as they ran through the Senkaimon. Once again, it was melting as they passed through. The whole group was yelling at each other about the state of things. She was laughing so hard she didn't notice when they exited and her foot met air.

Her laughter continued as they fell and they yelled. A flash to her right drew her eye and she saw a massive net flying towards them full of Uncle Kisuke's spiritual pressure in it. She watched with curiously as it wrapped around them.

She could hear Jinta give a yell, "Yeah! Here it comes! I've got you this time, Hinata! Jinta Homeru. . ."

She could feel Tessai's arms wrap around them as he yelled, "Tessai death catch!"

As the net folded out into a carpet Hinata was still laughing.

"Welcome back everyone," Uncle Kisuke called out from the front with a sing song voice.

Hinata skipped over to Uncle Tessai who was holding Jinta as Uncle Kisuke and Ichigo talked. Jinta was frantically trying to escape. "Oh Jinta!" She grabbed him from Uncle Tessai's arms, hugging him and swinging him around as he yelled to be put down. When she was done, she jumped into Uncle Tessai's waiting arms. "I've missed you, Uncle Tessai." She said into his shoulder.

He rubbed her back. "I missed you too." With a final squeeze he let her go.

She walked over to Ururu who hugged Hinata with a shy smile. "I missed you," Ururu said in her small voice.

Hinata then turned back to Uncle Kisuke who had just finished talking to Ichigo and was watching her. She ran up to him and he opened his arms. The force of her run almost threw them off the rug, but Ichigo grabbed Hinata, hauling them back up before returning to his conversation with his friends.

"I'm glad you're safe," was all he said as he hugged her tight. They sat like that for several moments before Uryu called out that this was his stop.

Uncle Kisuke lowered the rug closer to the ground.

Hinata gave Uryu a hug, before stepping back.

Ichigo called out, "See ya Uryu. Let's do it again sometime."

Hinata gave a giggle at Uryu's reply as he sent a smile her way. "Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten, you're a soul reaper and I'm a quincy. The next time we see each other we will be enemies." He sent on final smile towards Hinata before jumping off.

Chad had grabbed Ichigo who looked like he was about to jump off the rug to get Uryu. "Why that lousy. . ."

Uncle Kisuke and Tessai both followed the boy with murder in their eyes.

Hinata gave a cheerful wave. "Bye Uryu; see you at school!" He gave a wave back at her.

They dropped the others off along the way until it was only Uncle Kisuke, Uncle Tessai, Ururu, Jinta, and Hinata were left on the rug. Hinata was sitting next to Uncle Kisuke with her head resting on his shoulder. They were about halfway back when she felt a pulse. She looked down to see the badge that Jushiro had given her. She pulled it out to look at it again as she raised her head off of Uncle Kisuke's shoulder.

He looked over at her movement and his eyes darkened. "Where did you get that, Hinata?"

She looked at him before looking back. "Jushiro gave one to me and Ichigo when we left."

Kisuke mumbled something under his breath before saying, "Can I see it?"

She nodded it as she handed it over. "I need to do a few things and then I can give it back to you."

Hinata nodded. When they made it back they packed the rug once again into a capsule that Ururu could launch. Hinata was standing there, not sure what she should do when Uncle Kisuke appeared at her shoulder.

"You can't go home with Aizen in Hueco Mundo."

Hinata gave a nod. "Can I stay here?"

Uncle Kisuke seemed to think about it for a long time before sadly shaking his head. "With the soul society knowing where I am now, it would be bad for them to know that you are with me. Let's see if Ichigo can take you. We can ask him tomorrow. For tonight it is safe to stay here."

. . .

The next morning Uncle Kisuke gave her back the badge and told her it would be safe for her to hold it now. "Also, Hinata one of my friends is going to start school soon. You should be nice to him."

"I will Uncle Kisuke!" Giving him a hug, she dashed out the door to go to school.

Hinata quickly found Ichigo who hadn't gone into the building yet. "Ichigo!"

He turned in time to receive her hug. "Hey, Hinata."

She smiled up at him.

"You know, it's nice to just be back as school." He cast a look down at her, "Just like how it use to be."

She giggled, "Well almost!" He chuckled to before she continued, "Ichigo, can I stay at your place?"

"Huh?"

"I can't go home right now; it's not safe, and Uncle Kisuke said it's not a good idea to stay with him for now."

Ichigo looked at her with concern. "What about your brother?"

Hinata shook her head. "He was the one who told me it wasn't safe anymore."

Ichigo nodded his head. "Okay, that should be fine. I can't see why Dad would say no."

The rest of the day passed like any normal school day. With Chizuru's attacks, Keigo's rowdiness, and Chad's usual silence it was just like before. Ichigo left class several times when hollows appeared, but Hinata's never went off. Orihime and Chad were quick to follow Ichigo when he left.

When school ended, Ichigo grabbed both Uryu and Hinata and pulled them into another class room before with an unhappy look on his face. He then pulled out a very unhappy lion with stuffing falling out of his head.

"Kuon!" Hinata flew forward and grabbed her friend.

He hugged her back with tears in his eyes. "Hinata! You're safe! You will never believe what those terrible people did to me!"

Ichigo peeled Kuon off of Hinata and handed him to Uryu. "Can you fix him?"

There was an evil glint in Uryu's eyes as he pushed up his glasses, taking Kuon in his hand. "I'll see what I can do."

Hinata clapped as the needle flew through the air. When it was done, Kuon stood before them with a bonnet lined with little flowers. Hinata squealed and hugged him tightly. "You are so cute, Kuon!" There was a rise in dark energy in the room as Kuon was ripped from Hinata's arms. The needle went flying again. Kuon gave cries of pain. When it was all done, Kuon looked the same as he used to except for a quincy cross on the back of his head.

Kuon, who looked to be slightly out of it, looked up at her. "What did I look like before?"

Hinata set out describing it as Ichigo and Uryu talked. When Hinata was done she picked Kuon up and sat him on her shoulder. She gave Uryu a hug and thanked him as did Ichigo. Ichigo went to ask him a question but stopped half way.

"What?" Uryu asked.

"Never mind, sorry," Ichigo finished.

Uryu shrugged and gave a wave over his shoulder as he left.

"You noticed?"

Ichigo turned to look at Hinata. "What?"

"Uryu lost his quincy powers."

Ichigo gave a sad nod. "Yeah." They sat in silence watching Uryu from the window as he left. "Well, let's go get your stuff from Urahara and then we can go home."

. . .

Ichigo looked down at the bag of Hinata's stuff. It was kind of sad that it was only this much. He looked down at her; she was carrying a pillow and singing softly. That was one of the things he loved about her was the fact that she was grateful for what she had and rarely stayed sad. His house had just come into view when he turned towards her. "I should probably warn you my Dad is a little crazy, so don't be freaked out by him."

She smiled up at him. "I'm so excited to finally see him after all this time!"

"We shall see," he mumbled under his breath.

When they got to the door he looked at it for a moment. "Here we go." He looked down to see her smiling up at him still. He opened the door and put her bag down. Then, as she went to take off her shoes, he gently pushed her into the corner against the wall. She looked at him in confusion. He smiled back. "I'm home." He called out as he began to take off his own shoes.

Hinata had just reached down to take off hers off again when she heard a resounding, "Ichigoooooo!" followed by a black and white figure flying through the air towards Ichigo. Ichigo raised his arms and grabbed the foot of his assailant. "Well done my boy you have gotten better, but you have not passed me yet." Hinata watched with wide eyes as a volley of strikes flew through the air. He was moving so fast it was hard for her to get a good look at him.

Ichigo let out a growl, "Dad, we have a guest!"

And just like that the man jumped back and Hinata was able to see him clearly for the first time. He was a tall man like Ichigo with black hair, a smiling face, and kind eyes. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a white doctor's coat. His eyes widened as they fell on her.

Hinata squealed before rushing towards him and giving him a hug.

Both Father and son looked shocked as the girl hugged him. He quickly returned the hug. "Why, who do we have here?"

Ichigo spoke up, "This is Hinata; she is a classmate at school. She's having trouble at home and can't go back. She asked if she could stay with us until she can go back."

Isshin looked at her; there almost seemed to be tears in his eyes. He gave a small nod before answering, "Of course she can! And as such, she is one of my daughters!" He lifted Hinata into the air and swung her around. Her laughter filled the air. He had only spun her a few times before she was ripped out of his arms. He looked with confusion at his arms before looking to see Ichigo holding her in his arms.

"You were going to ram her into the wall, Dad!" Ichigo hissed at him, arms protectively wrapped around Hinata's head.

"What's going on?" Karin called out as she peeked around the wall. Yuzu poked her head out just below Karin's.

When Karin's eyes fell on Hinata, they widened before she began to look back and forth between her and Ichigo.

Yuzu didn't seem to notice because as soon as she saw who it was she ran up to Hinata. "Are you okay?"

Isshin was immediately at Hinata's side looking her up and down. "Are you hurt? What happened?" He was blabbing questions off so fast that Hinata's head was spinning and she couldn't answer any of his questions.

Ichigo gave a sign as he pushed his dad off Hinata before turning to Yuzu, "What do you mean, Yuzu?"

Yuzu blushed. "Oh, sorry, this is the girl that brought the big man who was hit by a car several weeks ago. When I went to go out and get her, she was gone."

Ichigo turned back to Hinata. "You carried Chad?"

Hinata gave a nod of her head, "He was hurt and she helped me carry him to your clinic."

"You were here before?" Isshin asked.

Hinata gave a nod, "I've been over a lot."

"How have I never seen you?"

Hinata shrugged, "It just never happened."

"So what's going on?" Karin interrupted again.

Isshin looked to his daughters and ran towards them only to be met by Karin's foot to his face. Hinata clapped as he was able to talk around the foot. "Hinata is going to stay with us for a while until she can go home again."

. . .

Hinata found herself sitting next to Ichigo for dinner. It was a lot of fun eating with his family. Isshin kept throwing glances her way as if he expected her to vanish at any moment. Yuzu was happily talking away about her day and asked Hinata questions. Karin had a distrustful look in her eye, and Ichigo seemed to just be happy that it had all settled down finally.

"So Hinata, how long have you known Ichigo?" Yuzu asked.

"I met him just over five years ago!"

Isshin seemed to choke on his food then, and Ichigo reached over and started pounding on his back. Karin was nodding her head.

"How did you meet him?" She asked after it became clear that her dad was okay.

"I found him wandering around a park by himself, and I saw a monster try to eat him so I saved him!"

This time, both Ichigo and Isshin spit out their drinks. "Hey!" Karin called as both of their drinks ended up on her.

"There was a monster?!" Ichigo asked looking at her.

"Yep!" she giggled. "That's why I fell down the hill; I told you silly."

"You see monsters, Hinata?" Isshin asked in a quiet voice.

"Yep! All the time!"

A look of worry passed his face.

Dinner ended shortly after. Yuzu said she didn't need help, but Hinata stood over her shoulder watching what the younger girl was doing and asking questions. When she finally made it up to her little room, she smiled. Isshin had been so sorry about its size, but it was the only room they had. She liked it though; it was a pale yellow with stripes of pink. She climbed into her bed and was out instantly.

. . .

Isshin carefully shut the twins' door. Ever since Ichigo had been born he had taken to checking on them before he went to sleep. Masaki had laughed at him, but he couldn't help himself. He just wanted to make sure they were safe. It had become more important after her death. He found himself right outside Hinata's room. It had surprised him when he had seen her; she looked so much like Masaki. There were so many little things that seemed to be adding up, but he couldn't hope to let himself believe in his suspicions. Masaki had told him the morning of her death that she was pregnant again. The morning of her death, they had planned to tell the children that night, but Masaki had never come home.

So when the girl had walked in looking just like Masaki, he had been shocked. She couldn't be his child though. She was clearly Ichigo's age, but she had met him only a year after Masaki's death, and there was the fact that she could see Hollows, but not just see them, she could kill them! His spiritual pressure had been coming back slowly over the last year, and he could tell that the girl had power.

He gently opened the door so as not to awake her. Tears filled his eyes. She truly did look just like his wife. He checked the hall to make sure that no one else was there before entering the room.

He walked over and gently placed his hand on her head. She shifted in her sleep, pressing closer to his hand. "Daddy," she mumbled.

Tears filled his eyes again. He could feel it now. He had to focus, but he would always remember that spiritual pressure. He leaned down, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Good night, sweetheart." He left the room with a determined look on his face.

. . .

Isshin burst into the shop only to find Kisuke waiting for him with a resigned look on his face. Isshin grabbed him by the shirt, slamming him into the wall. "How long did you know?" he growled.

Kisuke arms were held out in surrender. "Calm down."

"How long?"

Kisuke dropped his arms. "I found her about four years ago."

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Did you notice?"

"What?"

"She's not human, Isshin. She's not from the soul society either. She's an arrancar." Kisuke spoke in a quiet voice.

Isshin dropped Kisuke and took a step back. What?! That wasn't possible.

"When I found her she was following Ichigo around killing hollows. She looked no older than six then. Back then her mask was bigger; it was no more than a quarter on the side of her head. If I hadn't been looking for it, I wouldn't have known myself."

"Where is her mask?"

Kisuke seemed to ignore Isshin as he continued his story. "Later that same day, she barged through the shop giving me a hug that knocked me out." A smile crossed his face. "She started calling me Uncle Kisuke after that. I watched her grow for four years." He sent Isshin a side glance. The man had fallen to his knees. "The older she got, the more spiritual pressure she had. Her mask got smaller and smaller to the point where today you would never now that she was an arrancar. Her mask are those two little white pins in her hair." He tapped the right side of his head to indicate where they were. "I made her a gigai so that she could go to school with Ichigo and his friends." He gave a chuckle, "You know, all she ever wanted was to be normal. I don't even know if she has realized that Ichigo is her brother."

"Why. . ."

Kisuke gave a small smile then looked off into the distance. "At first, I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure. You were still suffering from Masaki's death and I didn't want to hurt you any deeper than you already were. As time passed I fell in love with the little girl who called me Uncle. I didn't want anything to hurt her."

Isshin found himself crying. It was true; she was his daughter. He had missed so much of her life. He dragged himself to his feet. He wasn't going to miss anymore. He walked to the door.

"Isshin," Kisuke called out as Isshin was at the door to leave, "I need to warn you, she's not stable."

"What do you mean?"

"With her mixed heritage, her body is slowly trying to shut down."

"What!"

Kisuke gave a sad nod. "I have noticed since I started studying her. Her body can't take the strain it is under. It's why I gave her the gigai. You must have noticed that it is sucking her spiritual pressure; it's my hope to prolong her life. It seems to be working, but her powers have only gotten stronger. There will come a time when even I won't be able to help her anymore."

Isshin gave a nod. "Thank you Kisuke."