I do not own Bleach.

Chapter 37 Trapped

Kisuke pushed his hat up as he looked at his masterpiece. It had taken a month, but it was finally ready. It looked like a small chocolate ball. He gave a sigh; he didn't want to do this, but it would be the only thing that would prevent her from going to Hueco Mundo. He heard the jingle from the front door followed by Hinata's cheerful voice announcing her arrival. Kisuke pulled out his fan and gave a smile as he rounded the corner to see her.

With a smile, she rushed towards him as he opened his arms to receive her hug. His planted feet helped prevent him from being pushed back. He ruffled her hair before speaking: "How are you my dear?"

Tilting her head back, she looked up at him. "I still want to fight!"

He looked down at her. "Nope! But I have some new candy for you to try."

She gave a pout at his nope, but cheered up at the mention of candy. "Really?"

"Yep!" He pulled out a bag that he had dropped the small chocolate ball into. As he handed it to her, she quickly grabbed the bag and started to eat. He watched as the chocolate ball vanished. "Are you here to train with Chad again?"

She looked up from her candy to give a nod. "I promised him I would help him get stronger, and you and Ichigo won't let me train with anyone else." She gave him a glare before her attention was once again captivated by the bag of sweets.

. . .

Ulquiorra walked down the hall back towards his rooms. The time had come. Aizen had finally given him the order to go and catch both Hinata and one of her friends and bring them back to Hueco Mundo. For the past month he had tried to think of ways to not bring Hinata back, but he couldn't find a way that wouldn't make Aizen suspicious.

He had sent the others to cause a distraction while he grabbed Hinata's friend who had been spending time in the soul society. Fingering the bracelet around his wrist, he let his mind go blank so he could focus on the task at hand.

. . .

After training with Chad, Hinata had been on her way home when she felt a Garganta open followed by a sharp rise in hollow spiritual pressure. Turning sharply, she raced back towards Uncle Kisuke's. She was halfway there when she felt one of the hollows engage with Ichigo. She slid to a stop and turned to face where Ichigo was. The Vizards were nearby, and they would help him if he needed it. Turning, she continued on to where her other friends were. She was almost there when she felt a rise in the hollows' spiritual pressure, followed by a rise in Toshiro's spiritual pressure. Hinata rounded the corner to see Toshiro falling from the sky. Running, she slid and was able to catch him. As he landed in her arms, her head jerked back to where Ichigo was. He had been hurt and was also falling. Hinata carefully placed Toshiro on the ground. She wanted to help Ichigo but her friends here needed her help as well. Rangiku, Ikkaku, and Yumichika seemed to be having a hard time with their opponents. Jumping to her feet, she raced off to get closer, summoning her Quincy bow as she ran.

She watched with horror and determination as the hollow pointed spikes at Rangiku. Drawing her bow, she released an arrow only to watch as something else got there first. She turned to see Uncle Kisuke standing there with his sword drawn, smirking up at the hollow. Another hollow was sneaking up on Uncle Kisuke. Hinata barely had started to cry out a warning when Uncle Kisuke turned just in time to see the hollow, his eyes going wide as he deflected it with his sword. Hinata, finally close enough, dove towards the small hollow tackling him to the ground.

They rolled a couple of times before Hinata ended up on top, glaring down at the hollow in front of her. He was a young arrancar with a bat shaped mask on his head. What threw her off though was a sense of familiarity that she had with him. There was also the fact that he felt empty. Not like how Ulqui felt, but it was as if he had lost everything that made him an individual. He stared up at her with a childlike intensity. He raised his hand as if to touch her. She quickly moved her head just in time as she felt the brush of a bara against the side of her face. It threw the hair on her left side up in a fan.

The arrancar's eyes got even wider. His still outstretched hand touched her hair as it fell back down. "That's not very nice," she said.

"Hinata!" She turned to see Uncle Kisuke with wide eyes running towards her and his sword drawn. He started to swing his sword just as the other arrancar with eight tails swung out at him, knocking him over. This caused the energy blast he had been releasing to fly towards them. Tightening her grip on the child arrancar, Hinata throw them out of the way. The child arrancar's eyes followed the energy attack as he gave a coo. Then his eyes went back to her as he once again reached up towards her hair, holding it in his hand.

She didn't feel any evil intent coming from him. She quickly swept him up in her arms and ran over to where Uncle Kisuke was. She felt the cooling of the air as Toshiro once again joined the battle. Uncle Kisuke was just starting to rise from the rubble of his shed. When his eyes met hers, he lunged forward as if to grab the arrancar. Hinata easily turned to the side as he flew past, his hand brushing her back. He tried a few more times before coming to a stop and looking at her.

"Hinata, put the arrancar down."

Hinata tilted her head as she looked at him. "Why?"

"Hinata, he is dangerous. You need to put him down." He was slowly walking towards her.

Hinata pushed her head out of the way as once again the young arrancar sent off a bara. She looked down at him. "That's not nice." He smiled up at her as once again he started to play with her hair. "See, he's not dangerous. He's just a young child who needs to learn."

Uncle Kisuke gave her a strange look, but had stopped approaching her. Hinata turned to face where Ichigo was. Feeling that her friends had it in hand here, she raced off towards Ichigo. Uncle Kisuke called out to her, but she kept running. She felt the moment Ulqui arrived; he seemed to be extremely conflicted and sad. Hinata felt herself go faster as she tried to get to him. As she rounded the comer, she saw that Ulqui had stabbed the blue arrancar that had been there when Ichigo had hurt Chad's feelings. Their eyes met, and his asked for forgiveness.

"The mission is complete. We're going back."

Hinata found herself and the young arrancar surrounded by a white light that seemed to circle them.

"NOO!" Hinata turned to see Uncle Kisuke standing just outside the light.

Smiling Hinata walked over to him, only to find that she couldn't cross the light. "Uncle Kisuke?"

"Hinata!" Turning, she saw Ichigo running towards her.

She was about to say something when her feet started to lift off the ground. The child arrancar turned his head up, and he began to coo and smile up at the garganta that had opened above them. Hinata tried to throw herself against the barrier that was around her, but all it did was throw her back to the center. She looked over to see Ulqui also in a light just like hers with the blue arrancar. His eyes, still filled with sadness, pled for forgiveness. She could hear Ichigo yelling up at her and Uncle Kisuke's fear radiated strongly.

They were about to enter the garganta when Hinata felt like she had hit a wall. The arrancar child began to lift out of her arms and he looked down at her in confusion, reaching out towards her. He grabbed some of her hair. But as soon as his body passed through the garganta his hand became stuck. Hinata also found herself being pressed even harder into the invisible wall. She could feel her gigai taking damage as it struggled to stay together against the pressure. The yelling from below increased as others gathered below. Hinata found a scream building in her throat from the pain that she was in. The last thing she saw was Ulqui pulling the young arrancar from her hair with eyes wide with fear.

The garganta closed and she began to fall back down to Karakura as the world went black.