This story is inspired by MoonPrincessAya's picture Broken Inside on Deviantart. She owns the right to that picture, don't steal it or I'll come after you! D:

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SennaxIchigo fanfic, if you don't like that pairing then don't read it!

CH1

Stop…

She held her hands tightly to her ears, trying to drown out the sound of screaming and shouting coming from downstairs.

Please, stop…

Tears poured down her cheeks as she curled up in the corner of her bedroom. The sound of breaking glass reached her ears even through her hands, making her flinch hard.

Stop…!

"No! You leave her alone! She has nothing to do with this!" Her eyes shot open at these words, and she could hear the stomping footsteps come up the stairs and toward her room. She quickly scrambled to her feet and fumbled for the doorknob, trying to lock the door to keep the incoming threat from getting to her. The doorknob was furiously shaken as the man on the other side of the door tried to get in, and he slammed his fist on the door,

STOP!

"Damn it, Senna, open this god damned door NOW!"

"No!" Her voice was panicked, bordering hysterical. She screamed as the man on the other side of the door slammed himself against the door, using his shoulder to try and break through.

Another set of footsteps ran toward the room and she could hear a struggle on the other side of the door,

"Please! Just leave her alone, please! She doesn't deserve this—AH!" Senna jumped and quickly looked up as she heard glass breaking; the vase of flowers on the table in the hall had crashed to the ground as the woman was thrown into it.

"MOM!"

Another slam against the door game, and Senna screamed again before backing away from the door, praying that the man on the other side wouldn't be able to get through.

Click

Dammit… she forgot that he had a key…

Why? Why were her prayers never answered?

The door unlocked and within the next moment, Senna was thrown to the ground. She quickly curled into herself and brought her arms up to try and protect herself from the blows that continued to come.

Why? What did she do to deserve this?

This wasn't the first time this happened… In fact, it'd been a reoccurring thing for a while now. Her father was a drunk… a violent one at that. He would often be out late at night drinking the night away, and then would come home and end up beating her or her mother… There was a time when she knew there was more that he did to her mother, but she didn't want to think about it…

After a moment, she managed to scramble to her feet with the help of her mother and run out of her room and down the stairs. Her father now turned to her mother, slamming his fist down onto her instead,

"You bitch! Why the hell did you let her get away from me?"

Senna stumbled down the stairs, reaching for the phone on the counter to try and call someone—anyone…

But before she could get close to it, she let out a yelp as pain shot through her foot, having stepped on shards of glass. The action caused her to slip and fall to her hands and knees, but this just made the shards of glass embed themselves into her shins and hands. Tears pressed forward through the stinging, and she swallows hard, unable to move from the sheer pain. She quickly turned around as the man she was running from scoffed,

"You stupid girl, now look what you did. Get over here, now." She tried to crawl away, shaking her head in fear before she jumped as he screamed at her,

"God, dammit, Senna, I'm not gonna say it again! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE! All you're doin' is making that glass dig even deeper into your skin!" Senna stared up at him, swallowing hard before she nodded.

She stared ahead blankly as glass was pulled out of her legs, feet, and hands with tweezers. He wasn't being rough about it, or even being rough with her… In fact, he was being as gentle as possible…

Why was he doing this…? It was times like these that Senna wondered if he really did still care about her… still loved her… Was that even possible?

Nearly an hour later, that possibility seemed to completely disappear as Senna was huddled in the corner of her room again, sniffling and sobbing as screams sounded out from downstairs again. She locked her door and stuck a chair in front of it to keep him from getting inside again.

She frowned and stared at the ground as her mother helped her put on makeup, covering up the purple, blue, and yellow spots on her face and neck. Luckily, the bruises and bandaging on her arms from the glass would be covered by her new uniform… though she didn't have socks that were high enough to cover up the bandages on her legs…

She'd have to stop by the store later that day to buy some tights…

Today was the start of a new school year; with a new school and new people… She hoped that maybe she could start over… maybe she could try and make her life a little less unhappy.

"Close your eyes, honey." She did so, and her mother tried to cover up her black eye as best she could

"… I hate makeup, mom." And she did. She hated it with a passion. It showed people that she had something to hide, that there was something horribly wrong in her life that she was too ashamed to show, and thought better to simply cover it up.

"… I know, sweetheart. But it's for the best."

Her mother picked out a ribbon for her to tie her hair up with for her first day; it was a simple yellow ribbon with triangle tips at the end. It wasn't really a color she liked, but she wasn't about to tell her mother that. Not when she seemed so happy when she had it on.

"There. You look beautiful." Senna frowned a little at the smile on her mother's face. She knew that she was just saying that. You could still see the signs of bruises showing through the foundation and powder, and her eye was still visibly swollen. Senna sighed and looked down before getting on her jacket, grabbing her bag and heading out.

"Oh, Senna! You got into Karakura High, too~?" Senna blinked and turned before grinning widely at the sight of one of her old 'friends' from middle school. Although she could see in the girl's eyes that same expression she was used to.

The girl had noticed the bruising on her face, most likely. Senna knew she was trying to hide the horrified look that crossed her face, but she wasn't doing a very good job of it. Senna frowned inwardly, but covered it up with a grin, answering to the girl's previous remark.

"Yeah! That's great! We get to be in the same school! Although I didn't see you on my class roster… so I guess we're in different classes."

"Yeah… that's too bad… but we can see each other at lunch, right?" Senna nodded and grinned before waving as the other girl went off to her classroom. She sighed and looked down, frowning a little bit.

She'd wanted to ask Senna what was wrong. But as usual, she didn't ask. Why wouldn't anyone ever ask her what had happened? Why she'd gotten the bruises on her face…? Were they too scared? Were they content with simply assuming what happened?

She stared at the ground as the kids around her kept walking around her, heading this way and that… as if she didn't even exist…

Even if it is a new school… it's still as lonely as the last…

Lunch came fairly quickly. After waiting for a little while for the girl who said she'd meet up with her, she sighed and decided to look around a bit. It was obvious the girl didn't want to see her, and no one else in her class seemed to pay her any mind.

She walked through the halls, the classes all bustling and buzzing with teenage chatter. Some people passed her in the halls, with the campus being open for lunch and allowing the kids to roam around. That is one thing that was nice about this school. Her middle school didn't let them do that.

She found herself up on the roof after a while, a faint breeze blowing by. She smiled faintly as she looked up at the sky, sighing deeply and closing her eyes. She'd always loved high places. They made her feel free; free from pain, and free to do whatever she wished. It was like everything made sense when she was high up.

It wasn't until a moment later that she noticed there were other people up here. Two boys stood a little ways off, leaning on the railing that prevented people from falling off the building. One of them had a simple, brown style; he didn't seem too extraordinary. But the person who quickly caught her attention was the boy beside him. It wasn't simply the fact that the guy was taller than average for his age. No. It was the fact that the boy had bright. Orange. Hair.

She couldn't help but stare at him. Wasn't dying hair against school regulations? Well, sure, Senna's hair was a purple-ish color, but she could pull it off to be a shade of black… but orange?

"Hey, Ichigo~ I think you have a new admirer." The boy with brown hair grinned widely and snickered

Senna tensed up, her face turning a light shade of pink as the orange-haired male blinked at his friend before turning around and looking at her. She panicked a little, fumbling around before she bowed low,

"Excuse me!" with that, she quickly ran off, heading back inside and trotting down the stairs.

Dammit! Why the hell was she staring so long? She couldn't exactly tell him she was staring because of his hair color, could she? That'd be beyond rude!

The rest of the school-day seemed to pass by a lot more slowly than the first half had. She got her things together after the bell rang and headed toward the entrance to the school.

Maybe this wouldn't be a new start after all… everything was still the same as it had been, before…

She blinked as a commotion could be heard coming from the gate to the school. A few people were whispering as she passed, and she could make out a few things the kids were saying.

"Another gang's blocked up the entrance."

"Seriously? On the first day of school?"

"I heard it was that Ichigo kid."

Ichigo? Wasn't that….?

Senna couldn't help but go see what was going on. She walked outside to see what was going on before her eye started twitching as a guy about 3 times bigger than her was sent flying.

It was a fight that seemed more one-sided. Guys from another school kept getting sent flying this way and that, and in the middle of that mass of gang members was a patch of bright orange hair, and Senna sagged faintly, eye twitching.

"It is him. No wonder why his hair was bright orange. He's a freaking delinquent. He wouldn't care about the code of conduct, anyways."

"While I will agree with you that he is a delinquent… believe it or not, that is his natural hair color." Senna jumped and turned, blinking as she saw a boy standing beside her, pushing glasses up his nose to keep them from sliding off. Before she could say anything, the boy walked passed her and toward the mob that was ganging up on Ichigo, taking down one that would have punched his head off. Ichigo turned and glared comically at the other boy,

"Dammit, Uryu, I can handle myself! Get lost!"

Senna sighed and sweatdropped as the two squabbled while in the midst of fighting off the other boys. Were all guys in this town like this…?

She looked down at her watch before her eyes widened. She needed to get to the store quickly to before getting home. If she wasn't home, soon, she knew that her father would go off on her.

She examined the fight before her before managing to find an opening that she could slip through to get out of the gates. She carefully snuck over and tried to time it before she made a run for it, managing to get passed the fight and slip just passed the gates. She sighed in relief, taking a look back at the fight again before turning, going to head toward the store.

"Watch out!" She blinked and turned before crying out as she was knocked to the ground; a guy having been knocking into her. Her eyes shot open quickly before closing tightly again against a pain that shot through her. She'd landed on her hands and knees, and this opened up the wounds on her palms and shins, again.

"Hey! Are you okay?" The orange-haired boy came running over, kicking the guy that had flown at Senna away before turning to her. His eyes widened nearly to their fullest when he saw the white knee-high socks she was wearing start to stain red. A curse escaped his lips before he quickly scooped her up, carrying her bridal style as he turned to the boy with glasses,

"Uryu! Take care of these guys, will ya?" The other boy sputtered before growling,

"First you tell me to mind my own business, and now you're shoving your problem onto me? Make up your mind, Kurosaki!"

Ichigo wasn't even paying attention through, simply running into the school toward the nurses' office as he carried Senna. Senna growled a little before hitting him, trying to get him to let go,

"Put me down! I'm fine!"

"'Fine' my ass. Come on, we're getting you to the nurse's office." No matter what Senna did, he just wouldn't listen. After a while, she gave up.

"What the hell happened to you?" Ichigo was starring at the state of her hands and legs, not believing all of the cuts in them. Senna looked away, frowning deeply,

"I don't see how that's any of your business. I don't even know you." Ichigo grumbled in annoyance as he re-wrapped her hands and legs,

"Well you don't have to act like a brat." Senna pinned him with a glare at that comment but said nothing. She stared at the clock, swallowing thickly as she watched the second-hand tick away the seconds… each second only seeming to spell out her punishment for being late at getting home…

"What's your name?" She blinked before turning and looking at Ichigo before making a face,

"Isn't it polite to introduce yourself first before you just ask someone's name?" even though she already knew his name…

Ichigo snorted, shaking his head,

"… Fine. My name's Ichigo Kurosaki."

"… My name's Senna." Ichigo raised an eyebrow as he looked up at her,

"What, no last name?" Senna simply looked away, saying nothing else. Ichigo looked at her for another moment before huffing a bit, shaking his head. He tied off her bandages before standing up,

"There. That better?" Senna looked down at the bandaging, blinking

"Wow… How did you learn how to tie bandages so well? It almost looks professionally done."

"My dad owns a clinic. I help out with things every now and then."

"I see…"

"… What does your dad do?"

Senna's eyes widened, and she stared ahead, swallowing hard. Did he know? Did he assume that this is how she got these wounds?

She quickly rid herself of her panic before looking up and smiling widely, holding a finger up,

"My dad's really cool. He owns his own business, too!"

No he doesn't. He's just a simple accountant…

"Oh, really? That's cool." Senna nodded at Ichigo's compliment before reaching over and getting her shoes, deciding to put them on without socks… she really didn't feel like going around with blood-stained socks.

"I have to go now… thanks, Ichigo."

"… Don't mention it… You sure you're okay?" Senna gave him a wide grin

"Of course! It just stings a little, that's all! I'll be fine~"

No you won't, you idiot. It hurts too much to even move…

She managed to get her shoes on before standing up and grabbing her bag, turning and grinning at Ichigo before heading off. It was already 4…

It looks like she wouldn't be able to buy a pair of tights after all…

But… he was nice… for once someone actually asked me what happened.