I do not own Bleach

Hey all! It's a day late, but we wanted to step away from the story and give a cute little Valentine's Day Chapter, so we hope you enjoy! Also this week while be crazy for us and we may not be able to post every other day for the next week.

Extra Chapter: Valentine's Day

Kisuke grinned as he added the final touch to the decorations around the shop. Hinata's lunch sat on the counter wrapped in a pink ribbon and containing a secret Valentine's Day surprise. Just as he was climbing down from the stepstool, Jinta walked into the main room rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The little red headed boy's eyes widened when he saw the explosion of red, pink, and purple strewn across the shop.

Before Jinta could say anything, the shop door opened with a loud bang as Hinata trilled, "Good morning!"

"No!" Jinta hollered, fleeing the room. "Stay away from me!"

Hinata pouted, then bounced over to Kisuke who smiled and welcomed her with his usual morning hug. "Good morning, my dear!"

"Good morning, Uncle Kisuke!" Hinata looked around the shop with a bright smile. "The shop looks really pretty today!"

Kisuke laughed. "That's because it's Valentine's Day, Hinata! Happy Valentine's Day!"

Hinata's head tilted to the side in confusion. "What's Valentine's Day?"

Kisuke waved his fan, grinning from ear to ear as he spun around the shop. "Valentine's Day is a day to express love. You give gifts to people you like such as chocolate, flowers, or teddy bears!"

Hinata's eyes widened with excitement. "Really? There's a day where people give away chocolate?!"

Kisuke chuckled. Of course the only word Hinata heard about his explanation was 'chocolate.' He ushered her towards the counter where her lunch sat. "You're going to be late if you don't head to school."

Hinata grabbed her lunch and then turned to kiss Kisuke's cheek. "Thank you, Uncle Kisuke! I'll see you tonight!"

. . .

Orihime bounced on the balls of her feet while she waited for the others to enter the classroom. She had arrived at school super early with little boxes of her special homemade chocolates. Tatsuki had been the first to come, tucking the chocolates away in her bag with a mumbled thanks. Then had come Chad, Uryu, Keigo, Mizuiro, Rukia, Hinata, and at last Ichigo.

When Hinata had walked in, Orihime attacked her with a massive bear hug. Eyes bright with excitement, Hinata had immediately opened the box of chocolates and popped one into her mouth. Orihime waited breathlessly as Hinata chewed slowly, her face thoughtful.

"Delicious!" Hinata exclaimed with a bright smile, quickly popping the second chocolate into her mouth. "You're such a good cook, Orihime!"

Orihime blushed. "Thanks, Hinata. I'm glad you like them."

Hinata giggled. "I think this is my favorite holiday! I love chocolate!"

"You're going to get a stomach ache if you eat too much," a familiar voice scolded, making Orihime jump. She turned and found Ichigo scowling at Hinata.

"There's no such thing as too much chocolate, silly," Hinata told Ichigo with a bright smile. "Uncle Kisuke gives me chocolate all the time!"

"Umm . . . Happy Valentine's Day, Kurosaki-kun," Orihime said shyly.

"Huh? Oh," Ichigo said, glancing down at Orihime. "Happy Valentine's Day to you too, I guess."

"I . . . I brought you chocolates!" Orihime bowed, her face red as she held out the little box she had prepared especially for Ichigo.

Ichigo shook it gently and then turned to offer it to Hinata. "You want these?" he asked.

Orihime felt like crying, and was startled when Hinata hugged Orihime and said, "No, Ichigo, I don't want those. Orihime gave them to you! Don't make her sad by giving them away!"

Orihime turned and hugged Hinata tightly. "It's okay. You can have them if he doesn't want them."

"No," Ichigo said, shaking the box again. "Thank you for the chocolates, Orihime. That was rude of me. I'm sorry."

Orihime turned around in surprise. "Oh! No, that's okay!"

Hinata smiled as she punched Ichigo's shoulder. "You better be nice today, Ichigo."

Ichigo flinched and rubbed his arm. Together, he and Orihime watched as Hinata skipped happily to her seat.

. . .

Uryu leaned against the school gate, waiting for Hinata once school got out. All day he had watched boys approach her asking for chocolates or handing her letters. At lunch, Hinata had asked him why the boys kept acting weird, but Ichigo had dragged her away before Uryu could say anything. Progressively, Uryu had become more and more irritated throughout the day. Why were all the boys coming forward and confessing to her now.

"Bye, Ichigo!" Hinata called, skipping happily through the school yard.

She skidded to a halt next to Uryu. She seemed to be glowing with happiness. Uryu pushed up his glasses and smiled as they left the school yard together, reaching to take her hand. Over the past several months since they'd begun practicing, Hinata had grown comfortable around him. Oftentimes she would hold his hand as they walked to their usual practice ground. Uryu knew that Hinata held hands with others too, but he always felt warm whenever he was holding her hand.

"Did you have a good Valentine's Day, Uryu?" Hinata asked, skipping over a crack in the side walk.

Uryu took a moment to answer. "It was alright. How was your Valentine's Day?"

"It was lots of fun!" She paused for a moment, a frown creasing her brow. "Uryu, the boys were acting weird today. Ichigo said girls give chocolates to people on Valentine's Day, but a bunch of boys kept trying to give me things."

Uryu almost choked. Had Hinata never celebrated Valentine's Day before? "Your cousin was right. Girls give out chocolates on Valentine's Day, and the boys give the girls gifts on White Day next month."

Hinata was still frowning. "I didn't have any chocolates to give away today."

Uryu smiled at her. "That's alright. You didn't know. Besides, no one said it was wrong for boys to give things out today too." Uryu blushed; he had a gift for Hinata in his school bag, but hadn't wanted to give it to her in front of everyone else.

Hinata sighed. "I wish Uncle Kisuke had told me I was supposed to give out chocolates." She suddenly smiled. "Uryu, did anybody give you chocolates today?"

"Huh? Oh, Orihime gave me some chocolates. I think she gave everyone in the class chocolates though."

"No one else gave you chocolates?"

Uryu shook his head and smiled at her. "No, but that's okay. I don't really like chocolate that much anyways."

Hinata's eyes grew wide. "You don't like chocolate?!"

Uryu laughed. "No, I like it! Everyone likes chocolate. I just don't eat very much chocolate."

"Oh," Hinata said, appeased. "I love chocolate!"

"You love everything," Uryu teased, grinning. His bad mood was gone now that he was able to talk to her alone. He wasn't sure how the rumor had started, but everyone at school seemed to think that they were a couple, and he had chosen to let everyone think that rather than correct them. The only ones who were oblivious to the rumors were Ichigo and Hinata herself. Considering the way Ichigo had been acting towards their other classmates today, Uryu was glad that Ichigo didn't even seem to know who he was.

"What are we practicing today?" Hinata asked, breaking though Uryu's train of thought. They had made it to the park where they trained their quincy powers.

"Umm . . ." Uryu said, fidgeting as he put down his bag. "Actually . . . I wanted to give you something first."

Hinata waited as he rummaged in his school bag and pulled out a small teddy bear that he had sewn himself. It had a yellow ribbon tied around its neck in a bow and little pink hearts on its paws. Uryu was very proud of his handy work and was beaming when he turned to hand it to her.

Hinata squealed with delight when she saw the little stuffed bear in his hands. "It's so cute!"

Uryu grinned as she spun in a circle hugging the bear to her chest. A tingling sensation crawled across his skin as she threw her arms around him in a bone crushing hug. "Thank you so much, Uryu! I love it!"

He blushed and pushed up his glasses. "You're welcome."

She danced around the park for a few minutes, giggling as she admired her gift. Uryu sat and watched her, their training forgotten. Why had he been so irritated earlier? Hinata wasn't interested in any of the boys at school. He had nothing to worry about.

. . .

Hinata rushed through the garganta with a box of chocolates in her hands and Uryu's teddy bear. She had left her gigai at Uncle Kisuke's shop so that she could play with Ulqui today. He was waiting for her outside their cave as she burst through the garganta into Hueco Mundo. His face lit up when he saw her, catching her easily as she flew into his arms.

"Ulqui! Guess what happened at school today!"

Ulquiorra smiled down at her. "Did you have a good day today?"

"That's not a guess, silly!"

"You got an A on your test?" It had taken him a while to understand how grades worked, but Hinata always seemed proud of her grades at school. It sounded as if she was the smartest in her class, which didn't surprise Ulquiorra at all.

"No, silly," Hinata giggled. "Today was Valentine's Day!"

"What's that?" Ulquiorra asked with a frown.

"It's a day for girls to give out chocolates to the people they like! My friends gave me chocolates, and so did Uncle Kisuke. Oh, and then Uryu gave me a teddy bear! Look!" She held her teddy bear out to him, grinning like a fool.

Ulquiorra wrinkled his nose; the bear smelled like humans. Quickly, he smiled and patted her head. "That was very nice of him."

Hinata beamed, bouncing in place. "I brought you chocolates, Ulqui!"

Curious, Ulquiorra put one in his mouth. It took all of his effort not to spit it back out. Did Hinata really like this human food?

"Do you like it?"

Ulquiorra struggled to swallow and then smiled at her. "It tastes . . . great, Hinata. You should eat the rest though."

She happily popped one of the human sweets into her mouth and spun in circles with the bear clutched in her hands. After a few minutes, she stopped and flashed a grin at Ulquiorra. "Catch me!"

Ulquiorra blinked in surprise and in that time Hinata was already three dunes away, her laughter drifting through the air. It had been a long time since they'd played chase. Grinning, Ulquiorra took off after her. He had been getting faster as he'd practiced fighting with Starrk and Lilynette while she was at school, and he wanted to see if he could keep up with her today.

Two hours later, Ulquiorra collapsed beside the sandcastle they had built at Christmas . It was no use; Hinata was as fast as ever, always staying close enough to taunt him, but staying just out of his reach. Ulquiorra had a feeling that Hinata held back whenever they played chase. After resting a moment, he got up and began to wander in the direction he'd last sensed Hinata's spirit pressure. It seemed that she was playing on her own while she waited for him. He smiled and sped up, hoping to surprise her.

. . .

Starrk froze causing Lilynette to walk into his back. The girl cursed, kicking the back of his legs, but he ignored her as he scanned the horizon. Maybe he had imagined it, but he'd felt a small amount of spirit pressure nearby. Turning, he saw it! There was a flash of orange in the distant dunes with the same spirit pressure he had sensed earlier.

"Come, Lilynette!"

"Huh? Why?"

"I think I found her."

Lilynette perked up. "Then what are you waiting for, stupid? Let's catch her!"

Together they took off through the dunes at full speed. Every now and then Starrk had caught tiny bursts of her spirit energy and took off in a desperate attempt to catch a glimpse of this phantom arrancar. Maybe today they would catch her.

They crested a dune and Starrk stopped to scan for a sign of her, but he had lost her. Lilynette slid past him, unable to stop in time and went tumbling down the hill yelling curses up at him. There was a loud crash and Lilynette yelled out, "That hurt! What is this stupid castle doing here?!"

Intrigued, Starrk rushed down the hill and found his companion sprawled on the sand at the foot of a massive castle made out of sand. Hesitantly, he reached out and pushed against the sandy wall. To his surprise, the "sand" castle was as solid as stone. Amazed, he circled around it checking for weak points. The entire castle was made out of pure sand and spirit energy – her spirit energy!

"Lilynette! She made this castle!"

"What?" Lilynette came around the corner and stopped in front of the castle's sandy doors. She grabbed the handle and tugged on it, using her feet to pull on the door, but it didn't budge. Starrk moved to help her, but the door wouldn't open for him either. Starrk stood back and studied the castle with amusement.

Without warning, Starrk began to laugh. "Oh, she's clever. For all we know, she's hiding in there."

Lilynette looked up at him in confusion. "How can anyone possible open that door?"

"Exactly," Starrk laughed. "No one can." He walked away chuckling with Lilynette trailing behind him. After a few minutes of wandering, he felt a small burst of spirit pressure once again. Excited, he rushed off. Before long, they came to a flat expanse of sand where a familiar figure stood. Starrk slowed and looked over the valley with an amused expression on his face.

"Whoa," Lilynette whispered, eyes wide as she stared down at the massive drawing in the sand. "What's Valentine's Day?"

Starrk shook his head. Down below was a massive heart etched deep into the sand saying, "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY HUECO MUNDO!" with a bunch of smaller hearts surrounding the large heart. "I don't know, but she did this. Look, that's Ulquiorra."

They slid down the dune and came up to Ulquiorra who turned and scowled at them. "Can't catch her either?" Lilynette asked, kicking at the edge of the heart.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ulquiorra said coldly.

"Valentine's Day . . ." Starrk said slowly, as if reading it for the first time, watching Ulquiorra's face.

"Supposedly it's a day about love –" Ulquiorra began, but snapped his mouth shut instantly and glared at Starrk. "I don't know what it is."

Starrk just laughed and proceeded to follow the solemn arrancar as he walked away from the girl's drawing. He didn't mind that she had eluded them once again. He now had a better idea of her connection with Ulquiorra, and that made him extremely happy.