Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach

Chapter 6

Senna's Assignment

Senna was again lounging lazily in her usual spot in her tree. It was her day off and she had every intention of enjoying it to the fullest. The peaceful surroundings and the solitude were a welcome respite from the training grounds and crowds of sweaty, leering men of the Eleventh squad. Being so peaceful and quiet, it didn't take very long for her to drift off into a light sleep.

"What the hell are you doing, Senna?" A voice called, awakening her from her brief moment of rest.

Looking down from her spot high amongst the branches, she saw that the voice belonged to none other than Kaien Shiba.

"I was sleeping," she replied languorously, yawning and stretching a bit.

"You look like a cat when you do that, you know," he stated while grinning at her. "You're almost as lazy as one too."

She raised her eyebrows at him and shrugged it off before jumping nimbly out of the tree and landed just a few feet in front of Kaien, who was a good few inches taller than her.

He just continued to grin at her. It was a knowing grin, he was hiding something.

"What are you up to, Kaien? I'm not in the mood for surprises," Senna said while looking at the dark haired man suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing. Captain Ukitake needed to speak with you. It seems the Commander General has need of your skills." Kaien was snickering after the last part, but Senna just ignored it and kept staring at him with a suspicious frown.

"Any idea why he would have Captain Ukitake talk to me instead?" She inquired, crossing her arms over her chest, she was trying to be polite but was failing miserably.

Kaien's smile got bigger, if that was even possible at this point. "None at all."

He was lying and she knew it.

'Fine, two can play this game,' she thought.

"Ok, fine, but I'm not going unless you race me there."

"Race you? Why?" Kaien wasn't smiling any more. Now it was Senna that was up to something and that didn't bode well for him.

"Oh, you know me being lazy and all, just thought I could use the exercise. Plus, if I win I get to have Yumichika dress you as girl and take pictures to show everyone in the Seireitei." Senna smiled up at Kaien, a slight twinkle in her eyes.

"All right," he replied after a slight hesitation. "If I win then Yumichika gets to give you a makeover. It's not often, well ever, that anyone gets to see you look like a girl."

Senna resisted the urge to poke his eyes out with the nearest stick and continued smiling. "Fine."

"You'll lose, you know you've always been slower than me."

Senna grinned at his comment. "On three then," she said as the two prepared to take off. "One, two, three!"

Senna flashed stepped away quickly, laughing. Kaien, however, could only stand dumbly in place, staring after her as she sprinted away.

"Hey, that's cheating!" He called after Senna, who was already out of his sight. "Her and her damned kido," he mumbled.

Poor Kaien was rooted to the spot, unable to move and it would be ten minutes before the binding spell Senna had used was released and he was able to move again.

Kaien thought about their little bet, he really wasn't looking forward to being dressed as a girl, but figured if he got back in time to see the look on her face when she found out just what Yamamoto wanted from her, then maybe that would make him feel a little better. He made his way back to the Thirteenth Division and to the meeting room that he knew his captain and Senna would be in.

"No," he heard Senna say stubbornly.

Sliding the door to the room open, Kaien stepped in just in time to see Senna set down some papers she'd been looking through. He shut the door behind himself and sat down next to her.

"I'm afraid it isn't up for debate," Ukitake replied, slightly apologetic. "It's an order, more or less."

Senna looked like she was going to break the tea cup she had picked up to sip from. Her face was red with anger and her eyes were narrowed defiantly.

"No," she stated again, more forcefully. She was trying to keep her anger in check and was finding it to be very difficult.

"It's only temporary, Senna," Ukitake assured her, hoping it would help to placate the angry woman.

"And it's not like you have anything else to do," Kaien added, getting him a death glare from Senna. He shrank back a little, a death glare from Senna was scary and he wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"No," she hissed again, setting her tea cup down she crossed her arms stiffly over her chest and since she knew it wasn't Ukitake's doing and she had no real reason to be angry with him, settled for glaring at the floorboards.

"I already said that you have no choice. It wasn't a request, Senna," Ukitake stated firmly. He could understand her reluctance, but she was not in a position to question the orders of the Head Captain. "You will report to the Soul Reaper Academy in two days' time, you will be given lodgings there so you won't have to commute daily. Here."

Ukitake picked up a manila folder and handed it to her. She refused to take it and looked away indignantly.

He sighed. "Senna, I know you don't want to do this, but it is only temporary. Once the kido teacher you're filling in for is well again you can leave."

"I'm not a teacher, Ukitake. So why me?" She asked rather loudly, her anger still getting the better of her.

"You were considered a genius when it came to kido. It's not that surprising really," Kaien spoke up with a shrug.

"You and I both know it had little to do with genius," she replied, sighing in defeat.

"That may be true, Senna, but you are gifted and I think you'd make a fine teacher," Ukitake told the girl who was beginning to understand the fact she had no choice.

"Just don't blow anything up," Kaien chuckled, earning himself a rough smack to the back of his head from Senna.

"At least you're aware that's a possibility," she grumbled, looking away from Kaien who was rubbing the back of his head.

"That was a long time ago, Senna, you're much more skilled now than you were, what fifty years ago?" Kaien remarked, remembering the events that led to their meeting.

It had been a normal day and Kaien's day off. He was headed to see his brother and sister, he was almost there, too, when he felt a strange surge of spiritual pressure. It was coming from an area not too far from where he was in the woods. Curious about the strong pressure he felt, he flash stepped his way to the source and was stunned by what he saw.

There was a young woman, she was thin, her long brown hair was dirty and tangled in places, her clothing was torn and ragged. She was surrounded by three men.

There was something weird about the scene though. The men weren't attacking her, but looking at her as if they were scared. A few moments passed before he understood why they were all staring in fear at the young woman they had cornered.

There was a strange presence emanating from her, you could actually see it around her body. A blueish light had settled on her upper back between her shoulders and a little around her upper arms. The light seemed to move and swirl around her like water.

"What, are you boys scared now?" She asked the men nonchalantly.

"Huh, you wish," snorted one of the men, snapping out of his scared stupor and scowling at the brunette.

"Let's have some fun boys, this one's feisty," the same man said with a dark chuckle.

When the men charged forward to attack the woman, Kaien prepared to intervene, but stopped to stare in awe at the young woman. She had merely waved her hand at one of the men running at her, but never touched him, and he was thrown back about fifteen feet to land in a stunned and confused huddle against a tree. Angry over seeing one of their companions hurt, the other two men attacked her together. She wasn't a skilled fighter, that was apparent when one man managed to hit her hard in the face, knocking her off her feet and sending sprawling onto the forest floor.

Slowly lifting her small, malnourished body from the dirt, she wiped the small trail of blood from her lip and narrowed her eyes at the man who had hit her. A growl leaked from her throat and then everything happened so fast that Kaien wasn't sure just what had happened.

The woman was on her feet again, breathing hard and looking at the man who was directly in front of her. The reiatsu that was being released by her was beginning to grow unstable. The blue light that surrounded her started to swirl around her erratically, twisting and writhing as her anger became palpable. It was that anger that was making her lose control of the power she possessed and Kaien wasn't sure what would happen if she didn't calm herself down, though he doubted it would be good. As he continued to watch, she lifted her hand from her side in what seemed like slow motion.

Seconds later, Kaien was forced to shield his eyes with his arm, wondering what had happened as dirt, rocks and chunks of nearby trees exploded and rained down upon him. When the dust had settled, he saw the two men who had tried to attack the brown haired girl where unconscious on the ground, their backs dusty and covered in debris. The woman was unconscious as well. She was laying on her side, her dirty, matted hair hanging over her face. As Kaien approached her he saw that the back of her shirt was gone, it looked like it had been burnt off.

'I can't just leave her here,' he thought while frowning down at the body at his feet. 'But what was that power she used? It could be dangerous...'

After an inward struggle of whether or not to leave her be, he gave in and with sigh knelt down to pick her up from the forest floor. With nowhere else to take her, he took her with him to his family's home.

His sister had been a bit unhappy with him for bringing a random stranger into their home, but seeing the innocent smirk on her brother's face she had scowled and agreed to look after the thin girl. They discovered that her name was Senna and that she couldn't remember much of anything from before the incident in the woods, she knew her name and she knew that she had been wandering for days, but not much else.

She had been allowed to stay there with Kaien's family, who were a bit strange but nice enough and she was thankful to them for taking her in. She helped out wherever she could and tried not to be a burden to the strange, but close knit family. It didn't take long for her to start feeling as if she were part of that family and begin to form bonds with all three of them. Kaien, his sister and his young brother.

It was only a few days after Kaien had found her and taken her home that he had brought his captain, Ukitake, meet the girl. The two quickly developed a very strong bond, Senna liked to spend time around the man, finding his presence to be very calming and relaxing. Ukitake felt a need to protect her, she was strong, he could sense that, but she was also very naïve and innocent.

It wasn't long after that initial meeting with Ukitake that Senna was accepted into the Soul Reaper Academy and was shortly after adopted by Kisuke Urahara, as his sister. Ukitake had advised this since she had no family, and Kisuke was very skilled at coming up with all types of training methods that he thought would be useful for Senna. After all, she was no average Soul Reaper and she needed someone who understood that and would be able to help her harness the powers that flowed through her.

"If the old man thought you'd hurt someone, he wouldn't be giving you the job," Kaien said after snapping himself out of his memories and shrugging.

"It doesn't change the fact that I don't want to do it," Senna retorted childishly.

It was silent for a few minutes before Senna finally sighed and picked the papers up from the floor that Ukitake had tried giving to her.

"Try to think of it as a vacation from the Eleventh Division," Kaien told her as he walked her back to her squad after she had scanned through the folio detailing what exactly was wanted from her.

"Kido is frowned upon in my division. It's considered a cowardly way to fight," she replied, still not pleased with having to be a substitute kido teacher. She liked what little free time she had and she liked to spend it being lazy, something that wouldn't be possible at the Academy since it was highly unlikely she'd ever have free time.

"Well, the Eleventh has strange ways of doing things. Kido is part of you so they'll have to deal with it now, won't they?" Kaien smiled, nudging her arm playfully.

"Yeah, yeah. It seems I won't have time to get Yumichika to give you your little makeover so you're off the hook. For now," she said, grinning wickedly at the now drooping lieutenant. They had reached the gates to the Eleventh Division, Senna waved a hand at Kaien who waved back sulkily and walked away.

Senna was walking to her room, not paying too much attention to her surroundings and was startled out of her inner world of grumbling to herself over being forced to teach kido when someone spoke to her, startling her out of her thoughts.

"And where have you been?"

"I was meeting with Ukitake," she replied casually.

"Why?"

"None of your damn business," she spat at him, not meaning to be harsh, but unable to help it. The last person she wanted to know that she was teaching kido was Ikkaku.

"Oh, really?" Another countered curiously. "I heard the captain mumbling something about you being a substitute teacher at the Academy."

Senna turned her head towards the voice to see Yumichika smiling pleasantly at her from the doorway into their barracks.

She stared at him blankly for a moment before, shrugging a shoulder. "So?"

"Teaching. You?" Ikkaku snorted, pointing at her and laughing as if he had never heard anything so funny in his life.

"I believe you're teaching kido," Yumichika stated conversationally while studying his nails.

Senna settled for nodding and not replying verbally.

"Kido?" Ikkaku snapped, his laughter halting as he stared at Senna, wide eyed and disbelieving. "You're gonna teach kido?!"

"Yes, kido. Gotta problem with that, Ikkaku?" Senna growled threateningly. Her anger was growing every passing second now and she was glaring at Ikkaku, daring him to say something more so she would have an excuse to clobber him then and there.

"Uh, no," Ikkaku replied quickly. He really didn't want to anger her anymore, she could be scarier than Yachiru sometimes and he knew by now that to push Senna too far when she was angry like this was very bad for his health.

"Good," she sniffed haughtily, walking past the two men and into the barracks to her room.

"If what I've heard is true... Then our little Senna is actually beautifully skilled at kido," Yumichika said to Ikkaku, watching the man's reaction.

"Is she now?" Ikkaku replied blandly.

"Yes, she apparently has mastered almost all of the known spells and more, something to do with her time spent in that unsightly Twelfth Division."

Ikkaku just shrugged and took another swig from his sake bottle that was beside him. It did seem strange that she was a master at kido when he had never seen her use any type of kido at all, nor mention the fact that she was a master at it or could even use it. Then again, she probably had her reasons and that wasn't his business.

~A/N~

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