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Chapter 35 Leaving the Nest

Hinata was bored again! She sighed; it was currently Ichigo's turn to train. They were trying to help him keep his hollow mask on for longer. Currently he was only able to keep in up for around four seconds before it would crack and disappear. It was silly how they were trying to lengthen how long he kept it on by having him fight. That was the slowest way! Hinata gave another sigh and she propped her chin on her hand and leaned forward as once again Ichigo's mask dissolved.

Hinata had had a turn herself after she had stopped crying. They had decided to let Hinata go first, letting Ichigo get some rest before letting him try. Hinata had agreed because Ichigo had looked so tired.

First they had told her to put her mask back on, so she had. Then Jumpsuit had started to try and kick her. Hinata had kept dodging until Daffodil had joined in. Hinata had given a squeal of excitement: "Are we playing chase?!" With that she had run off. It had been so long since she had played! The longer the game dragged on, more and more of the vizards had joined in trying to catch her and the more fun she had. The vizards at intervals would put their masks on and try and catch her, but she would always slip just out of their reach. They all seemed to be getting frustrated because they couldn't catch her. In the end, they all collapsed from exhaustion before any of them could touch her.

As they lay on the ground, Hinata stood over them looking down. "Don't be so sad, even Ulqui has never caught me before!" All of their eyes went wide.

Hachi, who had just watched, spoke up, "She's had her mask on for longer than even Mashiro."

All the vizards looked over to see Mashiro curled up in a ball sleeping. As they watched, her mask slowly began to dissolve off her face.

Hinata tilted her head to the side not understanding what they were talking about. She felt a faint whisper of Nikko talking to her, "Let your mask go." Hinata did as she was asked. Once again there was a flash of light.

Hachi looked down at the timer he had been holding. "Fifteen hours and fifteen minutes!" he declared with slight awe in his voice.

Since then Hinata had been sitting on the side line. Heaving another sigh, she fell backwards until she was lying on her back in the sand. She didn't know how long she had been down here anymore. Her mind wandered to her friends as she lay on the sand. Suddenly she popped up. Chad! She had forgotten that she had promised to help Chad train! In the next moment she was gone, slipping out of the protective barrier that Hachi had placed around the warehouse.

. . .

Hinata was almost to Uncle Kisuke's when she realized that Chad was with the Pineapple man. She stopped and cocked her head. It seemed that Chad was training with the other man. She sent another look towards Uncle Kisuke's shop before turning and heading towards home.

Hinata found her dad sitting at the dining table staring out the window. He looked so sad and resigned that Hinata just ran over to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. He stiffened for a bit before he turned around and saw who it was. Tears began to well in his eyes. He moved so that he was facing her and hugged her tightly as he hugged her back, crying into her hair.

"What's wrong Daddy?"

He just kept shaking his head as he hugged her. "I thought you were gone."

Hinata gave a giggle. "No, silly, I was spending time with some friends."

"It has been days since I last saw you, and Kisuke said you were hurt, and then you ran away. I didn't know what to do!"

Hinata felt that he just needed her. So she grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the couch where they sat down cuddling as they watched Sailor Moon.

. . .

Hinata stood atop a nearby building looking down at Uryu's hospital. She could feel Uryu training with his dad inside. Hinata smiled; this is where Uryu used to take her to train as well.

Uryu was trying so hard. She could feel the improvement he had made. Sitting down with her legs swinging over the building's edge, she dug in her bag and pulled out the notebook Uncle Kisuke had given her when she started school. Feeling Uryu's progress, she carefully wrote out a note of encouragement.

A moment later she slipped into the hospital, moving unseen through the halls until she came to the door leading to where Uryu was. Using a slight bit of spirit pressure, she stuck the folded note to the doorway and walked away with a smile.

. . .

Chad strolled out of Kisuke's shop massaging his knuckles. Renji had been pushing him hard over the past several days. He reached the edge of the yard before Kisuke came running after him, clogs clacking noisily as he called out. Chad turned to face the odd shopkeeper in surprise.

"Hinata," Kisuke panted.

"What about her?" Chad grunted, surprised.

"If you see her, tell me," Kisuke said with a bright smile.

Chad grunted in response and headed towards the park, leaving Kisuke merrily waving his fan from the shop's entrance. Renji didn't like giving Chad long breaks, but they had agreed to allow him to go to the park and wait for an hour for Hinata. He had started to grow concerned when she didn't show up the first day, but she had made a promise and he knew she always did her best to keep her promises.

When he reached the park, Chad was only a little surprised to see Hinata on the swings, swaying slowly back and forth as she watched for him. When he came into sight, she sprung from the swing with a bright smile and ran to throw her arms around him in one of her bone-crushing hugs.

"You came back," Chad said, hugging her back.

"I promised I'd train with you, silly," Hinata giggled. "I'm sorry I forgot."

"That's alright," Chad said, relieved to see that she was safe.

"How is Pineapple man?" she asked, bouncing away and prepping her quincy bow.

Chad smiled. "He's doing just fine. He's helping me get stronger."

Hinata let an arrow fly, closely followed by another. "You're getting faster," she giggled as Chad dove for the second arrow after successfully catching her first one. She increased the amount of spirit pressure to match Chad's before firing again. For the rest of the hour she gave encouragement and cheered as Chad continued to catch her arrows. He only got burnt twice when Hinata increased the pressure she put into her arrows, but the burns were very minor. When he said he had to return to Kisuke's she gave him a quick hug and promised to meet him the following day.

. . .

Kisuke sped out of the shop, realizing too late that Chad's hour was almost up. Hinata had shown up, finally, and he wanted to talk to her. He raced to the park, passing Chad in a blur, and stumbled to a halt just behind the orange haired girl. She turned around with a bright smile, arms already reaching for a hug.

"Thank goodness you're safe!" Kisuke cried, pulling her close and then gripping her shoulders to look her up and down. She looked the same as always.

"I was with Ichigo and Daffodil," Hinata said, her eyes wide with surprise. "Is something wrong, Uncle Kisuke?" Her head tilted to the side, her expression innocent and full of concern.

"Yes," Kisuke said, tugging the brim of his hat down. "I wanted to warn you. Aizen . . . he's after you. He knows you're an arrancar."

Hinata frowned. "The scary man is after me?"

"You need to be careful, Hinata. His interest in you is very, very bad."

"I'm always careful, silly," Hinata said with another dazzling smile. The sun was setting just behind her, causing her hair to look like a blazing fire around her face. "The bad man won't catch me."

She hugged him and kissed his cheek before she skipped away. Kisuke watched her go, the knot in his gut tightening. "Be safe," he whispered after her.

. . .

Hinata stood looking over her sandcastle. She had snuck into Hueco Mundo so that she could pick up some of her things before heading back to the human world. A sad look crossed her eyes as she looked around at the endless plains of sand that surrounded her on all sides. After such a long time in the human world, which was full of colors, the dunes seemed to cry out for color. She reached out to see that Ulqui was still far away before entering the sandcastle.

She passed through the wall of sand with just a little bit of spiritual pressure. She took a deep breath once inside. Her castle had always smelled different from the rest of Hueco Mundo. Outside it smelt of death, blood, and hollow; inside her sandcastle smelt of flowers, love, and the world of the living. Skipping, she ran over to one of the nearby trunks and threw back the lid to see what was inside. It was full of colorful fabrics all of which she had worn when she was little. Shutting the trunk, she skipped to the next. Thus it continued for the next several minutes as she opened them all. In the center of the room she had started a small pile of all the things she planned to take back with her. As she closed the last trunk she felt a soft breeze touch her face. Startled, she turned to face the breeze. She was surprised to see another trunk that was hidden in the back.

Walking over, she lifted the lid back and was surprised to find a large worn blue coat. Hinata carefully pulled it out, looking it up and down. She couldn't remember the coat or where she had gotten it from. She felt a strong attachment to it though. Slowly she pulled it up to her face and took a deep breath. Her eyes widened as she took another deep breath. It smelt of home. When her dad had left the house, she had looked around and had found a box of her mother's stuff that he had hidden in his room. It had smelt of Lilacs, light, and oranges.

"Mom?"

Masaki, who had been watching the whole experience from inside Hinata's inner world, spoke up, "Yes, it is mine."

"But. . . How?"

Masaki gave a sad smile. "I was wearing it when I died. It came through with you to Hueco Mundo. It's what Ulquiorra found you wrapped in."

There was a long pause as Hinata continued to look at the coat before gingerly putting it on. Pulling up the lapel, she took another deep breath. "Thank you," she whispered.

She was still just holding the coat tight and breathing in deeply when she left the castle.

She was so engrossed in the coat that she didn't notice the watching eyes until they spoke. "Why hello."

Hinata stiffened as the smooth voice wormed its way past her happiness. Her eyes lifted to see the scary man everyone called Aizen. He stood before her dressed all in white like Ulquiorra had been when she last saw him. Before he could speak again, Hinata instinctively drew on Nikko's power and dropped her cloak about her, vanishing from sight and fleeing just far enough to open a garganta and escape once more to the world of the living.