To An End

Chapter 8

I hate fights, Orihime thought. Everyone gets hurt, and I’m too weak to help. Ichigo nearly died again. She finished up Renji’s arm; it was one of the hardest healings she had ever attempted. Without any original bone or flesh, she had to reconstruct the tissue from scratch, and then start the blood flow again. She sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow.

Renji grunted in thanks, and Orihime said, “You’ll need to sleep for a little while; possibly not use the arm for a day or so.” Head turning towards Ichigo, she saw that he was sleeping, snoring loudly, and Rukia had left.

Walking over to Urahara, she made a decision. “I want to get stronger! I-I want to be able to fight in the war! I’m tired of,” she choked on a sob from uprising emotion, “watching Ichigo and the others get hurt while I stand around on the side lines. Teach me to fight.”

Urahara looked at her from behind his glasses. “Orihime,” he said softly, “in this war, there won’t be a place for you.”

Caught off guard by his response, she looked up at him, soulful eyes pleading. “Wh-what?”

“We can’t afford to have someone without resolve to kill on the battle field. Or even with the fourth squad healers.” He said it coldly, or at least that is how it seemed to her. “You couldn’t even throw Tsubaki at that Espada. Killing regular hollows is different. You need to be able to kill them even if they look human, because that is what Arrancar are. Ichigo, and the others, would be too worried about you to fight.”

Orihime felt that Rukia’s spiritual pressure completely left the building. “I’ll find that resolve and get stronger,” she replied fiercely, eyes gleaming with tears. She pushed past him, and ran fast as she could out of the door.

She sought out for Rukia’s spiritual pressure and ran toward it. Eventually, Orihime could feel that she was getting closer to Rukia. SShe bust throught several doors searching for the shorter girl. “Orihime! What are you doing here?” Rukia asked, not having felt her spiritual pressure until she saw the panting girl before her. They were in Ichigo’s room. Orihime panted in exhaustion from running so far so fast. Rukia had been writing Ichigo a note saying she was leaving for the Soul Society until the winter war would start.

“Where are you going? You just left!” She nearly screamed at Rukia, taking her frustration at Urahara out at the girl before her.

Rukia told her the truth. That she was leaving for the Soul Society to become stronger, and what surprised her was that Orihime wanted to tag along. “Orihime, this is to get strong enough fight for hours. And this month should let me get back to my normal strength.”

“I need to get stronger to. I want to be able to fight, fight hard enough to kill the hollows, and heal faster. It took me fifteen minutes to heal Renji’s wounds; in war I’ll need to be able to heal others wounds while protecting and fighting! I’m,” she paused in a failing attempt to hold back tears, “I’m too weak. And I want to protect Ichigo!”

Rukia looked down at her. Orihime was a blubbering mess. She was on her knees, orange hair draped across her face as fat tears pelted down her face onto the floor below. “Let me finish this letter, and we’ll leave,” she said, no emotion was found on her blank face as Orihime looked up at it.

Orihime stood up, trying to compose herself. Rukia set the pen that had just been in use down on the desk. “Let’s go. Time is wasting.”

It had been three days since Senna had experience the weird dreams…memories…whatever the hell they were. Ichigo was in some of them. Was this a past life? Senna had always though reincarnation was possible on some level. Had they been lovers? Villains? Or had they just been friends?

She hadn’t seen Ichigo, or anyone that he normally talked to in the past few days. She talked to this one guy, who seemed to be a real pervert, and he said it was normal for Ichigo to miss a lot of school and even to leave in the middle of school. “Yeah, he and that Rukia chick and dude that calls himself Renji, you know the one that looks like a baboon, just get up and leave class all the time. One time, he, Rukia, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime all left school for like a month. They had a ton of homework when they got back, though.”

She had said a quick thanks then left him alone. All the time he had been talking to her, he had stared at her chest. Pervert, she thought. But at least he told me what I wanted to know.

She walked hurriedly to the school library for her next class. She and the other students were supposed to be typing a portfolio piece, but she decided that could wait. Okay, so what was one of those thingies I had never heard about in that dream? She didn’t fully understand why she was wasting her time searching things from that dream, but it had felt so real to her that she had to. Oh! I remember one; it was “Soul Reaper”.

She typed “Soul Reaper” into the Google search bar and was presented with several thousand articles and websites in “0.2 seconds” from what the screen said. She scrolled down to the site that looked the most promising.

Death and the World Beyond

The thought that souls are lead to the world of the dead is commonly portrayed in ancient myths as well as modern story lines. People who fear death have called these escorts “Grimm Reapers”, whereas others of religious views would call them angels. I believe a more proper term would be to call them “Soul Reapers” since they are thought to collect souls and deliver them to the land of the dead. Another thought, especially around centered around religious folk, is the idea of a place for the good and the bad. Most think, and I myself included, think that evil people go to a place of torment, Hell or Hades as it is commonly referred to. But what about a place for the good? Heaven is too peaceful of a thought. Since souls are thought to be gathered there, I believe that they create a society. So thus the “Soul Society” comes to mind.

It was another phrase she had heard in her dream! She couldn’t believe it. If any part of this article was true, then it could answer a lot of her questions. She couldn’t wait to see Ichigo to ask him. Giddy she read on, but found nothing of interest.

The final bell of the school day rang, letting out the students. Senna gathered her books and bag, and ran out of the library. On her way to her locker, she didn’t look straight ahead and ran into a tall, dark skinned upperclassman she had seen Ichigo hang out with once.

He muttered an apology but she said, “Hey! Wait! Stop for a second!” He turned around silently. “You now Ichigo Kurosaki, right?” He nodded. “Good! Can you take me to him? I need to talk to him.”

“No one knows where he is,” was all he said. He’s quite and mysterious…maybe I should follow him. Senna wanted answers and she knew she would get them one way or another. She mouthed a small “O” and the man headed on his way.

She continually stayed behind him until he entered…a shop. That’s strange; I expected a house or something. Senna followed him inside after letting a few minutes pass. The store was strange. She saw oddly shaped knickknacks on the tables. She ran her hand across a bottle that read “Soul Candy”.

“Can I help you with something, ma’am?” She jumped at the sound of the voice and turned to see a man in a black kimono and a white-and-green stripped hat.

“Uh, um…” Dang it what do I do, what do I say? “I want to buy one of these, ‘Soul Candy’ thingies.” She started to pull out a wallet.

He laughed. “You don’t even know what that is, do you little girl. Say, you do look familiar.” He grinned like a cheshire cat. I’m gonna be killed! This freaky old man is gonna rape me the kill me! “I’m not going to hurt you. Just ask why you were following my friend.” She felt the ground shake and jumped.

“Sorry, he’s down there training. Why were you following him?”

“He’s friends, I think, with Ichigo Kurosaki. I’m looking for him. Ichigo, I mean. I’ve been having these weird dreams lately; they almost feel like memories.” She spilled; she decided she might as well tell the truth now that she was caught.

“We don’t know where he is. And now, who are you?”

“My name is Senna.”

His eyes went wide as memories of her flooded through his mind. He thought she looked familiar, but had no real memory until she said her name. She was the Shinenju, and she didn’t know it. He didn’t know if she knew she was once a shinigami or not. That was six months ago though, he questioned himself, how could she have grown to the age of sixteen in six months?

It took him a few long minutes to figure out the answer. It had been Aizen and the Break Down Sphere. Making hollows into Arrancar was only part of its power. It could restore memories, speed up, or slow down, time, in the theory at least.

“What’s a ‘Soul Reaper’?” she blurted out. And at that time, Urahara knew that he would have to explain everything to her.

“…So…. I need to become a Soul Reaper, is that what you’re saying?” Senna asked, mind swirling with her new knowledge of the worlds of the living and the dead. “I was - am? – the Shinenju?”

“What you are, or what we think you are, is human. But you have a strong spiritual pressure, and since nothing has developed to make me think of you as a normal human, you have the potential to become a shinigami. The question is, do you want to be one?” Urahara was considering how to make her into one. The easiest, but certainly not the most timely way, would be to kill her and have her sent to the Soul Reaper Academy for training. Or he could send her through the same hell Ichigo did. He decided on the latter as she gave her answer.

“I want to help Ichigo!” She answered, knowing that this would lead to more time with him so that more pieces of her past could be revealed. Senna didn’t fully understand the logistics that came with becoming a shinigami, but she was fairly sure she could learn. “I want to fight to protect others,” she thought aloud; her thoughts sobered her burst of enthusiasm she originally had.

Urahara smiled. She will become a player in the winter war, if I have her trained up right; unfortunately, for her to be of any use, she will have to die. “It took Ichigo two weeks to become stronger, hopefully, it will take you less.”

Lesson One

Senna smiled. Urahara had secured a secret part of the underground training room for their “practice”. He said she would pass three tests, and then hopefully, she would be strong enough to release her sword. She stretched her limbs; completely unaware of that he was sneaking up behind her.

Urahara walked silently behind her, cane raised and posed to strike her and bring out her spirit. He thrust it at her and she fell to the ground below.

“Hey! What the hell was that…for?” Her words slowed as she saw her human body. “WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?” She screeched, sounds echoing off of the stone walls.

“Nothing you didn’t agree to. You have a strong spiritual pressure, but right now, you are finding it hard to breathe, correct?” She nodded and he continued, “Right now, you are a ghost of your human self, just a normal spirit. It’s hard to move isn’t it?” She nodded again, “Good. When it is easy to move in your spirit body, your powers will have been raised.”

“So what am I supposed to do? Run around? Jump rope?” Urahara felt a smile dance upon the corners of his lips as the feeling of déjà vu settled over him.

“Why do I bother to explain? It’ll be easier when we start,” he sighed. “Get ready. Oh, and put these on; you’ll need them.” He handed Senna a pair of what looked to be boxing gloves and a head band. She put them on, feeling ridiculous.

“Now, Ururu, come on out!” A short little girl with long black hair walked out behind a boulder. Senna shot him a questioning look. What does he want me to do? Hit the poor thing? “Try fighting her.”

“P-pleased to meet you,” the little girl said, “…please don’t die.”

Senna’s eyes became wide as Ururu shot at her in a with a punch that nearly hit her. Panting for air, she struggled to run. Her spiritual limbs didn’t want to cooperate with her and Ururu easily caught up with her. Ururu had left a crater the size of a semi truck with that last hit and Senna didn’t know how it was possible.

Confused, she tried catching the little girls hit in her covered fist. She let out a terrible screech from the pain. It felt as if every bone in her hand had been shattered. “What are you?” Senna yelled as she fled as fast as she could. Ururu caught up with her again, this time missing Senna by a fraction of an inch, causing her to trip over broken rocks.

Wait a minute, am I getting faster, or is she getting slower? As she ran, she tried gulping in air, it was slightly odd, but it came easily to her, almost naturally. I may not have the strength to hurt her, but I might be able to trip her up. Thinking that, she purposefully slowed down waiting for Ururu to come flying at her. Ururu, predictably, did jump as she prepared to hit. Senna dived under her, grabbing her legs and swing her down into the dirt.

They both got up quickly, and Senna saw that a trickle of blood was leaving the girl’s nose. Ururu’s eyes filled with tears and she swung suddenly, not giving Senna a chance to block it.

Senna flew through the air like a baseball that hits a bat.”Ouch! That freaking hurt.” Urahara stared at her. “What? Do I hafta fight her again? I think a few more hits like that second one, and I’ll be dead.”

“You passed lesson one,” he said.

“WHAT? Are you blind with those glasses on? She threw me around like I was a rag doll,” she said.

Urahara ignored her previous comment. “Are you having any trouble moving or breathing?” She shook her head. “Good. I said ‘fight Ururu’ not ‘knock Ururu out’. The whole point of this lesson was to raise your spiritual power. When fighting, your spiritual powers go up making you stronger and faster. Like humans adrenaline.”

Senna processed this as she stood up. “I understand…I think.”

Urahara put his stupid face on again and slapped her on the back. “Good to see you aren’t as thick as your friend Ichigo.” He lead her on over to Tessai. “In celebration of your quick passing of the first lesson,” A nap, please let me sleep! Senna thought eagerly, “let’s move on to the second lesson.”

As he said that a tall, dark haired man brought down an axe on the chain that connected her physical body to her spiritual body. Senna hadn’t realized it was even there. How odd that he cut it…ohmigod! She wailed in pain. She was in so much pain that she hadn’t even realized she had vocalized some of her thoughts.

Lesson Two

“What did you, do to me?” Senna’s eyes were wide with pain.

“I cut your ‘chain of fate’. You can only exist as a spiritual being without it being attached to your body if you are a shinigami, otherwise you become a hollow. This is called 'corrosion'.” She couldn’t she past his glasses, but she imagined cold eyes staring back at her.

“So,” she said, “why are you going to make me into a hollow?”

“I’m not. This a way to make you into a shinigami…hopefully. If this doesn’t work, we will kill you,” He replied.

“WHAT? You crazy sonovabitch, I’m gonna-” She stopped herself. This was wasting time. If she was to become a shinigami, then she needed to know how long she had before becoming a hollow and then how to stop this process. “What is happening to my chain? Its eating itself, isn’t it?” He nodded and she continued, “How long do I have? Days, weeks?”

“Days…three at most. Once you are in the Shattered Shaft.”

“What’s the-” She stopped herself and let out a shaky breath. “How do I stop the chain of fate from eating itself? And how do I become a shinigami?”

“You can let it eat at you, although I don’t advise it because it will leave you weak even if you have more time. You cannot return to your body. Senna, you will have to fight yourself to become a shinigami. But once there is no chain and you have a hole in your chest, it isn’t likely you will live.” He lost all humor saying this. It was fun in a way to watch Ichigo go through all of these trials, knowing that he would make it through all of them; but with Senna, he had no real idea if she would become a hollow or shinigami.

Urahara lead her to the Shattered Shaft and before he left her fall down into it, he bound her hands to her back. He let her jump in and as she did, her chain of fate started eating at itself. “Before you die, please try to turn into a shinigami and climb up here.”

Time passed. With constant light shining down, Senna was unaware if it was day or night. Hours, maybe days passed without her knowledge. She tried climbing, or walking to be exact, up the rocky walls, to no prevail. She slept, only to be awoken by horrid pains as her chain of fate corroded.

After some time, the man who had cut her chain of fate came down and sat with her. Senna writhed in pain, cursing the world above her for sending her to this world below. And finally, there was one link of her chain left. It corroded into the air and she screamed.

I WON’T BECOME A HOLLOW! Senna refused to let her mask form, clawing at the milky substance after breaking through the bindings.

Tessai’s eyes widened. He didn’t believe she could break through the binding spell Urahara placed, but he started to cast his kido spells on Senna. He started making preparations for her death.

In Senna’s mind, she waged a war against the insanity that was seizing her mind. Darkness approached her. She pushed back with her might. I haven’t been a shinigami in this life, how am I supposed to fight this? She pondered.

Senna, listen to me, something called to her. Use me; fight the hollow that wants to take you over. Keep it at bay, because it never will die.

“What are you? Who are you?” Senna called back.

I am, the sound of the name was muffled. Use my strength. And Senna did.

The change was slow at first. On one side of her mind was sanity, stability. The other remained darkness, invisible and untouchable. The darkness moved. Torrents of wind, or what she thought to be wind, slashed at her face and arms. Senna remembered parts of her pervious life as a shinigami and focus on those.

I want to protect Ichigo. I need to protect Ichigo. Senna screamed for the last time, shattering the images before her and found herself looking at the same stone walls as before. She jumped out of the shaft easily.

She started Ururu who had been watching and yelled so that the anyone in the underground training room would hear here. “Urahara, wherever you are, I’m going to kick your ass.”

He appeared before her and said, “Marvelous job, Senna. I didn’t expect you to break my binding spell.”

“Shut up, Urahara. I remember my time as Shinenju, thanks for your help, I suppose.”

“You’re welcome. Shall we start on lesson three?” He asked, glad she had made it through the shattered shaft.

“No, you endangered my life without telling me. I didn’t you hear me, I remember everything.”

“I did the same to Ichigo. Now for lesson three…”

Urahara was ticking her off. She didn’t care how he had helped her in the past now, he put her life on the line without telling her, and she wanted him to say he was sorry.

She glared at him for a second. “Bring them to the twilight…”

Author Notes

Okay long chapter for me. I really dissapointed on this past chapter; 4 reviews people? Seriously, it was short, but feedback is needed. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and heck I'm on vacation in Florida at a Panera typing most of this. Yes, I based this chapter off of Ichigo's experience, but I changed it somewhat.

Okay people, it's time to talk reviews. for as long as this chapter is I want a good amount of reviews, like in the 10 to 15 range...(please, don't make me beg). But if you liked this chapter, take a minute to say so... I promise another chapter soon...hopefully as long as this one.

Please Review! Reviewers ALWAYS Brighten my day.

A Special Thanks To:

Flair Knight

ichigoXsenna

war90

SMO2

Thank You,

Pol-Kun