I do not own Bleach

Chapter 32 Found

Ulquiorra closed his eyes as he and 5 made their way through the corridors of Los Noches. Aizen was waiting, and it was his job to report. He checked on Hinata's link and then dampened it in order to prepare for his report. Aizen could not know that Hinata had been present while they'd been in the world of the living.

"Ah," Aizen said as they entered, "welcome back. Now, please enlighten us, Ulquiorra. Spare us not even the slightest detail."

"Yes sir," Ulquiorra said emotionlessly as he reached for his eye. He had discovered that he could relay information by crushing his own eyeball, and since his powers focused less on strength he was able to regenerate faster than his companions. The eyeball crumbled in his hand, dispersing through the room as he said, "Now, be my guest. Use me to your heart's content."

Aizen smiled as the scene was relayed to those in attendance. "I see," he said, watching as Ichigo was unable to overpower them. "Then that means the reason you chose not to dispose of him was because you felt he was worthless?"

"Yes," Ulquiorra answered blankly.

"Don't give me that!" Espada 6 burst out. If I ran into such a weakling, I simply would've eradicated I'm with a single blast."

"Grimjaw," Ulquiorra said, turning to face the other Espada. There were other Espada of lower rank that agreed with 6. Ulquiorra managed to keep his face straight, listening to their complaints and abuses. Under all costs, he had to appear to be Aizen's most loyal, most trustworthy arrancar.

. . .

Isshin sat beside Hinata's bed, gently running a hand through her hair as he listened to Ichigo through the open window. The Shinigami were going their separate ways: Rangiku was going to Orihime's with her Captain following discreetly, Ikkaku and Yumichika were wandering the streets, Renji was going to try his hand with Kisuke (the poor soul), and Rukia was left to decide where to go for the night. It had been noisy with all of them in Ichigo's room. Isshin was grateful that Hinata had been able to sleep through their racket.

Hinata rolled in her sleep and grabbed Isshin's hand; her hands were so small and soft, just like her mother's. Isshin smiled and closed his eyes, listening to Ichigo and Rukia bicker down below.

"Why can't I stay here?" Rukia demanded.

"Hinata's sleeping. You can come back tomorrow and ask her when she's awake. For now, find somewhere else to freeload!" Ichigo growled.

"That's not fair!"

"My dad made that rule. He said you needed Hinata's permission."

"But –"

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Rukia."

Rukia cursed while Ichigo went back inside. Isshin listened to him climb the stairs. With a sigh, he decided to get up and check on the girls. He bent to kiss Hinata's forehead and gently withdrew his hand from hers before slipping silently from the room.

. . .

A garganta was opening. Hinata rolled out of her bed, heart racing as she checked for Ulquiorra's spirit pressure. She found his thread, but it was still in Hueco Mundo and he had done something to weaken their link. She frowned and went to the window, leaning out as she searched for the garganta. There were several hollows . . . no, arrancar . . . there were several arrancar coming through the garganta.

Hinata frowned. Why had more arrancar come here? She rushed to her closet and quickly pulled on normal clothes. She burst out into the hallway the same time as Ichigo did. He had sensed the arrancars' spirit pressures too. He turned and looked at her, concern flashing across his face.

"Stay here," he told her, dashing back into his room to grab his soul reaper badge.

"Yeah, right," Hinata muttered, pulling her hair up into a bun with Uryu's chopsticks. She could sense Ichigo leaving through his window and was headed the same direction as Chad; there was a hollow headed his direction.

Hinata checked on the others before slipping out of the house as well. The Shinigami were all on high alert; they would be able to handle whatever came their way. Hinata's target was different. She wanted to see the leader of these arrancar. They weren't very far away. She pulled her cloak around her, silently thanking Nikko as she searched for the strongest of the arrancars' spirit pressures.

She found him crouched atop a building, watching as fights began to ensue. He was a strong one, but he wasn't as strong Ulquiorra. The thought made her smile as she crept closer and examined him. He had blue hair and a wide smile. He reminded her of Kenny a little bit; this arrancar was in it for the fight. His mask covered his jaw on one side of his face and he gave off the aura of a wild jungle cat. The arrancar was laughing as he watched his friends target different people.

Hinata was momentarily distracted when she noticed a spike in Chad's spirit pressure. Ichigo had made it just in time to save Chad; he was still recovering from his previous injuries. However, she could sense a feeling of abandonment coming from Chad. Hinata frowned; what had Ichigo said to Chad to make him feel so useless?

The arrancar she was watching was suddenly moving towards where Ichigo was. Chad had run away from the scene just as Rukia had arrived. Hinata smiled when she sensed a mod soul restrain Ichigo; serves him right for making Chad feel bad. The arrancar Rukia was fighting was soon killed. Before long, Hinata and the lead arrancar arrived at a rooftop looking down on Ichigo, Rukia, and Rukia's mod soul. She could feel the arrancar beside her growing excitedly.

"My brother is stronger than you," Hinata said, crossing her arms as her cloak fell away. Ulquiorra was easily stronger than all the arrancars that had come with this one.

The arrancar spun around and stared at her. "How did you . . .?" he spluttered, eyes widening in surprise.

Hinata leapt off the roof, landing lightly in front of Ichigo. She could still feel Chad's sadness. Ichigo was staring at her too. She glanced up at the arrancar still on the roof, then back to Ichigo. Without warning, she slapped Ichigo, causing him to stumble back a few steps in surprise.

"You hurt Chad," Hinata told him. "Stop being mean to him. He wants to fight with you."

Before Ichigo could answer, Hinata ran off down the street searching for Chad.

. . .

Grimjaw shook his head, baffled. The orange haired girl bore a remarkable resemblance to the boy down below, and her comment had thrown him off guard. How could her brother be stronger than he was?! It took a moment for him to realize that he hadn't been able to sense any spirit pressure from the girl. He tried sensing her now, but there was still nothing. His hackles rose; his instincts screamed at him that she was a hollow, not only a hollow but an incredibly powerful one. He smiled staring off after the girl.

. . .

Hinata raced after Chad. She found him by the river under the bridge Hinata had come to know as Ichigo's and Chad's bridge. He was facing the wall repeatedly punching it. She walked up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He jerked away from her touch and turned, surprised to see her there. "Are you okay?"

He just looked at her with shock still written on his face. "What?"

"Ichigo hurt you, right? Are you okay?"

Chad gave a slow nod before shaking his head sadly. "I can't fight with him anymore. I'm too weak."

Hinata shook her head. "You're not weak Chad! You just need to get stronger!" Hinata raised her arm and flexed it.

A small smile spread across Chad's face. He reached out and gave her small arm a gentle squeeze. "Stronger, huh?"

Hinata gave an enthusiastic nod. "I'll help!"

Chad gave a small chuckle as he shook his head and looked up at the bridge. "Okay, let's get stronger."

Hinata smiled before grabbing him and dragging him away to a nearby park that was big and empty. Once there, she dropped his arm and skipped a few more steps before twirling and facing him. "I'm going to help you get stronger and to gain the survival instinct!"

"Survival instinct?"

"Yep! That way when someone comes to hit you, your body will move out of the way on its own!"

"How?"

Hinata gave a smile and drew her quincy bow. "We are going to play catch!"

. . .

Aizen sat as his screen watching Grimjaw's progress. He had sent one of his new creations, a small hollow that, like Ulquiorra's eye, was able to record what happened around it along with several other recording devices for spiritual pressure. He watched the many battles progress as slowly, one by one, Grimjaw's fraccions were taken out by the Shinigami. He sent the hollow searching for other spiritual pressures. The screen slowly slowed Grimjaw watching the Kurosaki boy and the Kuchiki girl fight one of the fraccions. When Azien looked away for a moment he was surprised to find the orange haired girl beside Grimjaw. He rewound his footage to see when she got there but was surprised to find that she seemed to almost magically show up beside Grimjaw. Even his spy hollow hadn't detected her arrival at all until she showed up on his screen.

He looked down to see the other recorded information and snatched the printed paper off, ripping it in the process. He looked at the paper before looking back at the screen as a smile started to spread across his face. He gave a low chuckle, "Well, well, what do we have here?" The paper in his hand didn't show the arrival of another human, or even a quincy. It had shown the arrival of another hollow.

Turning back to the screen he watched until the girl had left the screen and Grimjaw had engaged the Kurosaki boy in battle. With another smile he sent his spy to go and find the girl.

. . .

Chad was rubbing his hand. There was a burn across the back from where he had almost been able to hit Hinata's arrow. Hinata gave a smile; he was getting better. She had weakened her arrows so that they wouldn't hurt too badly, but it would still hurt until he was able to match his spiritual pressure with hers. The whole idea of "catch" was for Chad to be able to move fast enough to catch her arrows, or punch them as it currently was. He had finally been able to "catch" his first arrow a moment ago but he had missed dozens.

He was still rubbing his hand, but there was a smile on his face now. "Okay, I'm ready," he said with a grunt.

Hinata smiled as she pulled back her bow again. She had just released it when she felt the faint arrival of a hollow. She turned to look at it as it stared back at her. There was something unnatural about it that made Hinata's skin crawl. In a swift movement, she pulled her bow back and sent an arrow clean through it. She turned back to see Chad looking at her puzzled. She sent a smile before sending another arrow ten feet in front of him.

. . .

Aizen was laughing. So the girl had been able to sense his hollow even when all the Shinigami hadn't been able to. Not only that, she had been able to kill it quickly before it was even able to fight back. To top it off it, would appear that she was an arrancar with her humanoid form. She had been hiding right under his nose. He stared at the frozen screen she was firing an arrow towards the spy. The hollow he had been looking for had finally appeared. He had found her, and now she had nowhere to hide. He would have her as his own.