Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach
Chapter 8
Barriers
The day dawned bright and clear and Senna yawned lazily, slowly pushing herself up and out of the warmth and comfort of her bed.
She walked into her private bath, rubbing at her eyes tiredly while she turned on the shower. It only took her a few minutes to shower before she walked back into the main room. She was dressed and pulling all her hair into a messy bun, secured by her chopsticks.
"Already, damn," she sighed when she heard a knock at her door. Tucking her zanpakuto into her obi, she swung the door open to see Hisagi standing outside with a serious look on his face.
"Ready?" He asked shortly.
"I suppose," Senna answered with a bored shrug, pulling the door shut behind herself and following after Hisagi.
They walked outside and into a clearing a little ways from the Academy where there was a Senkai Gate waiting for them. In front of the gate stood two other students who Senna figured where the other sixth years that would be leading the mission to the world of the living.
"This is Kanisawa," Hisagi said pointing to a rather short, brown haired girl. "And this is Aoga," he said indicating a tall, bulky, dark haired man.
"Senna," she greeted in an uninterested tone with a quick wave of her hand.
"We're the sixth years who'll be leading the first year students into the world of the living. There's already a barrier team there creating a safe environment for the combat training," Hisagi informed her.
She nodded.
"We're just waiting for the students now," she heard Kanisawa say, but she ignored her and wandered off. She was there to observe only, not fraternize with the other students and possibly hinder them in some way.
When all of the students had shown up only a few minutes later, Senna sighed and wondered when they would get on with the training. She was rather bored, but still anxious and wanted nothing more than to get the little field trip over with. The strange feeling she had gotten the night before hadn't subsided, something still felt off and it was making her fidgety.
'There is a barrier team there, they are taking precautions, so everything should be fine.' It wasn't like her to get worried over something like this. 'It's ridiculous,' she scolded herself, trying to shake off the feeling of something being wrong.
"Ok, first we'll start with simple introductions."
Hisagi's voice snapped her out of her anxious thoughts and she looked up to watch the brown haired man and his friends introduce themselves and explain the way the training would work.
"I'm sixth year Shuhei Hisagi."
"I'm Kanisawa," the small girl called from Hisagi's left.
"And I'm Aoga," the tall man to Hisagi's right said.
"The three of us will be your guides," Hisagi continued.
Senna was distracted by some murmurs in the crowd of first year students. When she looked around to see what was going on, she saw Kira and Renji talking amongst themselves while pointing at Hisagi.
"Ok, starting now we'll have you conduct activities in groups of three," Kanisawa instructed the group. "Look at the cards you picked earlier and form groups with the others who have the same symbol."
A few minutes later all the students were in their three person groups and ready to depart for the world of the living.
"There are sixth year students awaiting us in the living world, they have created a barrier surrounding an appropriately sized area," Hisagi explained while looking around the groups.
"You will conduct combat training in this area," Aoga stated.
"We sixth year students will prepare an easy location to fight in, but will not assist you in anyway," Hisagi finished.
'He takes this seriously, that's good,' Senna thought staring at Hisagi, whose outward appearance seemed to clash with his somewhat serious nature.
"And what's she doing here?" She heard a familiar, gratingly annoying voice ask.
"Shut it, Renji. I'm here to observe and make sure you don't blow anyone up," she snapped with little emotion in her voice, aside from a slight trace of irritation.
"Senna," Hisagi said sharply to Renji. "Is also coming along to observe. She is your superior, remember that."
Renji just glared at Senna, she smiled a little and wagged her fingers at him.
"Now let's go," Kanisawa called.
With that they began walking through the Senkai Gate and into the world of the living.
Senna spent her time flash stepping around on the rooftops of the buildings, stopping occasionally to watch the students slay their dummy hollows. No one seemed to be having too much difficulty and there had only been a few minor injuries so far.
'Something doesn't feel right.. Can you sense it too, Kuro?' Senna thought while grasping the black hilt of her zanpakuto.
'Yes, I feel it, and it's close,' Kurohineko hissed in reply.
Stepping onto a thin pole that protruded from one of the rooftops, Senna looked around and saw Renji walking back to the rally point along with his team, Kira and Momo. Momo stopped walking for a second and turned around, looking hesitantly for something, but there was nothing there.
"So you feel it too, huh?" Senna whispered. She growled softly and then began to flash step towards the barrier team's look out point.
If anything had gone wrong they would have informed the others. She figured she had nothing to worry about, but to quell her own anxiety she figured she'd check on them herself. She came to a sudden halt on a rooftop a few buildings away from the barrier team's look out tower. There was an ominous scent on the air, the scent of...
'Blood,' Kurohineko growled.
"Blood," Senna repeated slowly, frowning.
It was while she was making her way closer to the lookout tower that the radio around her neck crackled to life.
"This is Hisagi at the rally point. Barrier team what's your status?"
Senna sighed as she looked down at one of the barrier team's men. He was dead. They were all dead, their blood in pools around them. She heard Hisagi's voice yelling into the radio and stopped studying the bodies of the dead to listen.
"Barrier team can you hear me? What's wrong?"
"They can't hear you anymore, Hisagi," she said calmly into her own radio.
"Senna?" He yelled.
She didn't respond.
"Senna, answer me!"
"Hisagi, get everyone out of here. Now," she ordered him, her voice still calm and in control.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Just do as I said, dammit," she snapped back, quickly losing her patience. He knew her reason for being there and he knew she was his superior. If she said to leave he should know to do so without question. "And call Soul Society for back up. I think I'm going to need it." The last part was said as if it were an afterthought. Jumping from the tower, she sped off in the direction of the rally point.
"Alright, but-" he began to reply but was cut off by the Kanisawa girl.
"Hisagi!"
And then a piercing scream that made Senna flinch.
"Dammit!" She yelled, picking up her pace and flashing stepping as fast as she could to get to the students that were in danger. "I should've gone to the rally point as soon as I felt that strange presence."
She growled, narrowing her eyes, she hadn't felt any spiritual pressure since she had seen Renji's team and that made little sense to her. Hollows possessed spiritual pressure so why was it that she couldn't sense them? They were obviously there, somewhere, but she had no idea where or how many there might be.
'Just what is going on?' She wondered.
Upon arriving at the rally point, she saw a huge greenish Hollow facing off with Hisagi. The young man was bleeding above his right eye and was a bit wobbly on his feet. No doubt the impact he had taken against the wall he was leaning on had something to do with his unsteady state.
The Hollow moved to attack again, this time aiming its horn like claw for Hisagi's head.
With no hesitation and nothing but determination and faith in her own abilities, Senna drew her zanpakuto and stepped in front of Hisagi. There was a screeching noise and a grunt from Senna as the Hollow's claw scraped against her sword throwing a shower of sparks into the air. She was pushed back a few inches by the sheer power of the collision, stopping when she felt her back begin to press into Hisagi's chest. The Hollow retracted its claw, howling angrily at the interruption.
"Get out of here, now," Senna said, glancing over her shoulder at Hisagi.
"I can't just-"
"I SAID GO!" She shouted furiously at him. "I can handle this. Get the students out of here, they're your responsibility. So go!"
He made no move to leave, angering Senna further. She growled under her breath at his stubbornness, it wasn't like he could be of much help to her in his current state. "Stay out of my way then."
Turning to face the monster once again, her zanpakuto gripped in both hands and held out in front of her, she took up a defensive position and waited.
As soon as the huge Hollow moved to attack her once again, she dodged its blows quickly, leaping gracefully into the air to slice its chest open. She landed swiftly on the ground as the Hollow howled in pain and rage. Knowing there was no time to waste since she had a feeling that there were more Hollow in the area, she ran at the Hollow in front of her as it howled. Leaping high into the air, swiping her zanpakuto at its mask, she smirked when she felt her blade make contact, but frowned when the white mask only cracked slightly. Attempting to land before leaping up for another blow, the Hollow struck out at her wildly. One of its claws slammed into her and she was thrown through the air, forcefully bashing through a wall, landing in a pile of debris and rubble.
"Senna," she heard Hisagi yell through the ringing in her ears.
She slowly picked her way out of the rubble, taking her time to stand back up. Rough, dry coughs forced their way from her lungs, forcing her to grab her ribs as pain swept through her. A thin line of blood seeped out of the corner of her mouth when the coughing subsided.
"Hmph, is that all you got, Hollow?" She taunted with a sneer, wiping the blood away with the back of her hand.
She ran out of the building in time to see three students, Renji, Kira, and Momo simultaneously fire off Hado 31, red flame canon, at the Hollow. Hisagi was with them, he said something to them she didn't hear and they ran off down an alleyway, leaving the Hollow screeching in pain.
'Well, I suppose this is my chance, you ugly piece of crap,' she thought as she charged at the writhing hollow.
"Mezameru, Kurohineko," she yelled pulling her zanpakuto from its sheath that was engulfed in black flames, the blade and handle changing shape and color. The blade turned a shiny black, while the hilt become red and black with a ribbon of each color twirling in the wind.
Once again she leapt into the air, gracefully arcing her sword towards the Hollow's mask. This time there was a cracking noise and a high pitched howl from the Hollow when her blade made contact, ripping through mask and flesh. She landed back on her feet as the Hollow began to disintegrate and disappear.
"Well, at least that's over with," Senna said only to suddenly notice the spiritual pressure of more Hollows in the area.
"Dammit," she growled running off towards the spiritual pressure.
She was approaching the area she could sense the spiritual pressure in when she noticed Hisagi, Renji, Momo and Kira huddled together. They looked like cornered mice. Hollows were beginning to encircle them and there were at least nine very large ones, they had a reason to look frightened. The Hollows hadn't attacked yet, but Senna knew it wouldn't be long before they did. It was in their nature.
Almost as soon as she had finished the thought, one of the Hollows opened its mouth and began to gather spirit particles, preparing to fire a cero.
"Well, I guess have no choice then," she whispered from behind the frightened four as she sheathed her zanpakuto.
The group turned their heads towards her in surprise.
"Senna?" Hisagi asked, looking at her worriedly.
She ignored him, quickly stepping between the four students and the Hollow that was preparing to fire its red cero.
"Hotaru," she murmured quietly, closing her eyes briefly. A familiar warmth was encircling her body and though she couldn't see it she knew that her special abilities with kido had not abandoned her.
The four students could only stand there, entranced while her body was being encased in a blue light. It had started at her feet and was now settling upon her shoulders. The fabric of her shirt was being torn to shreds as it did so. The light almost looked like wings, the way it settled near her shoulders and arched outwards away from her body.
Taking a deep breath, Senna pushed her hands out in front of her body.
"What are you doing?!" Renji yelled. "You're gonna be killed!"
"If I die, then I die," she stated simply. Turning her head she smiled at him, a soft, reassuring smile.
In that moment everyone saw Senna for who she was, or had been at some point. She was beautiful in that instant, not blank or bored, or angry. She almost looked content, happy.
"It's gonna fire!" Momo cried out, pointing behind Senna.
Senna closed her eyes and concentrated on engulfing all of them in the blue warmth that surrounded her. There was a strange magnetic ripping sound as the hollow finally fired the cero. In reality it had been seconds since she had stepped in front of the group.
They were suddenly engulfed in bright red light. Momo and Kira screamed, raising their arms to shield their eyes from the red light that was surrounding them. Renji and Hisagi just blinked in astonishment and kept their eyes trained on Senna. The brown haired woman was standing there, head bowed, arms raised slightly at her sides, while beginning to breath rapidly. It was obvious to the two men that whatever technique she was using was taking a heavy toll on her physically.
After several seconds that felt like they had lasted for hours, the red light around them dissipated.
"What? H-h-how a-are we still alive?" Kira cried.
When Senna's arms dropped to her sides, the blue barrier around them shattered in a flash of bright light. She breathed in deeply, turning to face the hollows around them, unsheathing her zanpakuto with every intention of attacking. It was her duty as a Soul Reaper to kill Hollows and it was her duty to protect anyone weaker than herself. Just as one was about to attack, a long blade sliced effortlessly through its mask. It disintegrated before it could even howl in pain, if it had even felt pain.
"G-Gin?" Senna stuttered turning around to see a man with blueish gray hair, eyes that appeared to be closed and a grin stretched across his pale face walking forward. In front of him was a man with brown hair and glasses and a white captain's haori. "Captain Aizen."
"Well, you all did great. It's a good thing you had Senna along," Captain Aizen of the Fifth Division said, patting Momo on the head reassuringly. "Rest now, we'll take care of the rest."
Gin walked forward, grinning face turned towards Senna. "Your hair looks good like that, Senna. now go watch the kiddies, hm?"
Senna looked at him oddly and then realized her hair was floating around her freely. She ran a hand through her long, unrestrained hair with an almost sad expression on her face. Her chopsticks were gone.
'They must have fallen out when I went through that wall,' she thought.
Gin walked past her, followed by Captain Aizen, who smiled kindly at her and went to deal with the Hollows.
Senna began to walk back towards the group she had protected, but found she was a bit wobbly and her vision was blurring badly. She fell to her knees a few feet from the stunned group unable to keep herself upright and only able to see blurred colors. Hisagi and Renji reacted first, running towards the fallen girl.
"Hey, are you all right?" She heard Renji question gruffly.
"I think she used almost all of her spirit energy in making that barrier," Hisagi said from beside her. "I felt the change in her reiatsu when she released it."
'I haven't used that technique in almost forty-two years. Which is also why I actually called it, that isn't normally necessary. Of course it would be physically draining,' she thought. 'But hopefully I didn't over do it.'
Her thoughts ended when a blackness so deep it blocked out all of her senses washed over her tired mind.
~A/N~
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