I do not own bleach

Chapter 39 Objective

Kisuke Urahara couldn't remember the last time he was this mad. He was actually shaking from anger as he glared at Hinata from under the brim of his hat. Ichigo likewise was glaring at her from the entrance to the yard. If he weren't so angry, he would have felt sorry for the poor girl. She should know better, and yet her innocence kept driving her to do the stupidest things.

"Hello?" Ishida said, trying to get their attention.

"She needs to go home," Ichigo growled, his fists clenching and unclenching. "It's not safe for her to come with us this time."

"And why not?" Ishida argued. "She's a fantastic fighter, stronger than all of us combined, and you know it! Give me one good reason why she shouldn't help us!"

"Aizen wants her," Kisuke said darkly. "It is because she is stronger than all of you that she can't go."

"What would Aizen want with her?" Ishida laughed.

"It's none of your business why," Ichigo growled.

"Because she's a hollow," Kisuke said bluntly. Ichigo paled and Ishida spun to face Kisuke.

"What was that?" Ishida asked, his already pale face going a shade whiter.

"Hinata Kurosaki, is not a Quincy, fool boy. She is a full-fledged arrancar. You're an idiot if you hadn't noticed the pieces of her mask always attached to her –"

"That's enough," Ichigo growled. "It doesn't matter what she is. She's not coming."

"Arrancar?" Ishida whispered, glancing at the orange haired girl clinging to his arm. She looked back at him with wide eyes. "Is it true?" Then he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. That's still no excuse for her not to come."

"Hinata," Kisuke said, his tone going flat, "can you leave your gigai right now?"

Hinata wouldn't meet his eyes. "I tried yesterday, but something was wrong," she whispered. "You hurt me, Uncle Kisuke."

Kisuke nodded. "I knew that they would try to take her back to Hueco Mundo with your friend Inoue, so I fed her a chocolate that temporarily is fusing her to her gigai and making it so that she cannot return to Hueco Mundo. Aizen is seeking out all of the strongest arrancar, and Hinata is the strongest one of all. I don't know how Aizen found her, but he desperately wants her. If she goes to Hueco Mundo, we'll be handing her directly over to Aizen."

Ishida pushed his glasses up his nose and scowled at Kisuke. "She would never turn herself over to Aizen."

"I'm doing this for her protection!" Kisuke finally yelled.

"She's not going," Ichigo said again, brushing past Hinata and Ishida and into the yard. "Chad, let's go."

Hinata was sobbing now. "It's not fair! I want to fight! I . . . I . . . I know my way around Hueco Mundo!"

Ishida stiffened beside her. "Home," he whispered. "Hinata, Hueco Mundo . . . is your home?"

"Are you coming or not, Ishida?" Ichigo growled from the doorway.

Ishida grabbed her shoulders. "I wish there was something I could do, Hinata."

She sank to the ground, crying. He gave her a bewildered look, then dashed after Ichigo.

Kisuke watched Hinata cry, at last feeling sorry for his harsh words. Another movement at the edge of the courtyard caught his eye. Isshin had finally come for her.

. . .

Isshin watched Urahara disappear into his shop before moving into the courtyard and scooping his little girl into his arms. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as she sobbed into his shoulder. "I know, baby girl, I know," he whispered, patting her back as he waited for her to calm down. Kuon crept up behind him, hesitant as he lay a hand on Hinata's head.

At last, her tears dried up and she looked into her father's face. "They left without me. Daddy, why won't they let me fight?"

Isshin took a deep breath. "Because it's not your fight, Hinata. You'll have your chance though. Another fight is coming."

She tilted her head to the side, confused.

"I'm going to train you from now on, Hinata. How about that? Can daddy train you?"

"What?!" Kuon gasped. "Sir, you can't –"

"Don't tell me what I can't do!" Isshin snapped at Kuon. "What do you say, Hinata?"

"You'll let me fight?" she whispered.

"That's right."

"You'll train me?"

"If you let me."

A slow smile crept across Hinata's face. "I want to train with you, daddy."

Isshin pulled his little girl to her feet and squeezed her hand. "Then let's go train."

. . .

Ulquiorra frowned as he watched the Inoue girl. Something about her reminded him strongly of Hinata. He twisted the bracelet around his wrist as he tried to place what the similarity was. Could it be her fierce determination? Or the innocence that seemed to shroud the girl? Whatever it was, it made him feel guilty for taking her. And yet . . . orders were orders.

"Where is the other girl?" Aizen had asked when Ulquiorra had returned with only the Inoue girl. "The red headed arrancar, where is she?"

Ulquiorra had stared at him blankly. "Something went wrong. She wasn't able to enter Hueco Mundo. It's quite possible that she is dead."

"No," Aizen had mused. "She wouldn't be dead. She's too strong for that."

Ulquiorra had left Aizen to his mutterings and scheming.

"Be careful, Hinata," he whispered now as he watched his charge through a window on the door. He knew that she wasn't dead, though the episode from yesterday had almost sent him panicking and blowing his cover. The attempt to bring her to Hueco Mundo had almost killed her. He knew through the link that they shared that she had survived, but he still worried. "Stay in the human world just a little bit longer."

Footsteps down the hallway alerted Ulquiorra back to attention. He could feel it too. The Kurosaki boy had finally arrived, and, as usual, he was leaking massive amounts of spirit pressure. Ulquiorra sighed and went to assume his position. It wouldn't be long now before Aizen made his move, which would leave Ulquiorra second in command of Hueco Mundo in his absence.

. . .

Isshin brandished his wooden sword, watching Hinata carefully. Her stance and confidence still surprised him at times. This was his little girl. She shouldn't have to be battle ready or even know how to use her sword. Urahara's little trick of trapping her in the gigai made training difficult, but at the same time he was grateful that her abilities were contained for the time being.

He had heard all of it. Urahara's anger, the Ishida boy's incredulity, and how his little girl had nearly died. He was surprised to find that he wasn't angry with Urahara; he understood that the man had been doing what he had thought was best for Hinata.

"Ok, Hinata," he said. "I'm going to teach you Getsuga Tenshou."

"Ichigo's used that move before," Hinata said thoughtfully.

Isshin only let this startle him for a minute. Of course she had seen Ichigo use Getsuga before. It was a hereditary move of the Shiba line. "Do you remember how Ichigo used it?" he asked.

"Yep!" she said with a bright smile. She raised the wooden sword over her head and brought it down in a quick, sweeping motion and called out, "Getsuga Tenshou!"

Though her powers were suppressed by her gigai, she still held an incredible amount of spirit energy. With the slash of her sword, and large gust of wind sent sand flying in Isshin's direction. He raised his arms to shield his face and smiled.

"Good," he told her once the sand had settled. "We're going to practice that some more. When you get tired, we'll go home."

"Ok, daddy."

Up above the practice area, the Vizards watched on as spectators. Hiyori sniffed and glanced up at Shinji who was watching with narrowed eyes. "You know what this means, right?" she asked.

The others all looked to Shinji too.

He straightened and met their eyes. "Ah, crap," he muttered.

"What are we going to do?" Love asked.

"What else?" Hiyori snapped. "We're going to fight of course!"

"Nothing else to do," Shinji sighed. "She's family, and Ichigo is too. We fight with our family."

. . .

Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu were having the strangest experience of their lives. They had barely escaped an underground chamber after battling three very strange arrancars, run through more sand than any of them cared to recount, and run into the strangest creatures of this blackened world. Their leader was a girl who seemed to be about six years old named Nelliel, or Nell for short. After all they had learned of arrancar in Hueco Mundo so far, Ichigo had been surprised to find that Nell was nearly harmless. Along the way, they had also come across Rukia and Renji, who had come to join their fight.

"Itsigo!" Nell slurred, clinging to his sleeve. "Where are we going?"

Ichigo, for some reason, found that Nell reminded him of Hinata. He shook the thought from his head as he looked forward and pointed towards the massive building ahead of them.

"Oh!" Nell gasped, fear suddenly clouding her face. "I don't want to go there Itsigo! Don't go in there!"

"We have to," Ichigo scolded her. "My friend's in there, and we're going to rescue her."

. . .

Nikko shuddered, pulling back from Hinata as she explained what her father had told her. "That's a very risky move, Hinata. Are you sure?"

Hinata nodded. "Daddy said that the final Getsuga Tenshou was the only way we'd be able to defeat the bad man. When Ichigo gets back, he's going to teach it to him too."

Masaki looked between Nikko and Hinata with a confused expression. "What is the final Getsuga Tenshou?"

Nikko twisted her hands in her lap. "Getsuga is a move that runs in Isshin's line. It is Ichigo's most powerful move. The final Getsuga Tenshou gets its name from the word 'final.' This means that once it's used, Shinigami powers will fade away, leaving a husk behind. Isshin wouldn't suggest it unless the situation were desperate."

"You mean, I won't have my powers anymore?" Hinata asked.

Nikko sighed. "I don't know. But using it means . . . Hinata, when you fight, you use my power. As your sword, you rely on me. The final Getsuga is a battle move that requires that you don't just use my power, but you become me. We would merge as one, fighting together under our full power. That's why it's dangerous. That's why there's a chance . . . that you'd lose your soul reaper powers."

Hinata frowned. "Does that mean that Nikko would go away?"

Nikko was surprised when a tear splashed into her lap. "Yes, Hinata. If you lose your soul reaper powers, then I will fade away."

"I don't want that!" Hinata cried. "I'll tell daddy to find another way."

Nikko gave a shaky laugh. "There might not be another way."