Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach

Chapter 25

Escapes

This feeling...how would one describe this feeling of...is it weightlessness? It's ethereal, like being suspended in the clouds, floating freely and unhindered by anything.

...That's not quite right though, it's not really like floating, it's more like... a feeling of being stuck in time. A sensation of being suspended in a single place unable to move or open your eyes so that you might see where it is you are.

There seems to be only darkness on the other side of my closed eyelids and I don't want to open them for fear that the darkness might devour my very being.

I can't seem to feel anything aside from the feeling of being suspended in some forgotten period of time. Feeling seems to be the only sense I have, even if it's only acute, for I cannot hear, taste, smell, or see anything, of course my eyes are closed, but even then I cannot see anything.

As if to prove me wrong, a flurry of images suddenly whirls through my mind so quickly I almost feel nauseous, the images move with such a fierce intensity that I can only barely grasp what they are showing me.

A body, broken and bloodied laying in a puddle of crimson blood.

Smoke rising in a billowing black cloud from a ruined building.

A ring of fire that surrounded three people.

Rubble, glass, bricks, pieces of trees and even people flying through the air as an explosion ripped apart a building.

A smiling face of someone who looked vaguely familiar.

The image of a strange creature shrouded in darkness.

Just as suddenly as they came, the visions that flashed before my eyes disappeared.

I can feel pain now.

I can feel it in my entire body, like some poison is slowly but effectively burning through my muscles.

Why?

Why can't I move?

Where am I?

Who am I?

What am I?

What is this strange sensation? It's different from the first one, the feeling of weightlessness is still there but there's something else too...

Cold.

...I'm cold.

It's seeping into my bones now making my mind...feel...slow...

Everything is...slowing...

Is that... even... possible?

Can time really slow where it doesn't seem to exist?

I need to open my eyes, I need to see. I don't want to be trapped in this never ending darkness any longer.

How long have I even been here?

Minutes, seconds, hours, months.

There it is again.

Pain.

God, it...hurts... Please, make it stop...

Why do I feel as though I'm on fire, as though my entire body is broken?

Do I even have a body?

I can't feel it, I can only feel... pain... and...nothing...Just that feeling of being lost in time, but I can't feel, really feel anything else...

I am nothing but a vague consciousness. Which means I must exist, right?

But in what form do I exist?

I must open my eyes, even if the darkness takes me, I must...

Open...my...eyes...

I can see... I think... It's blurry and unfocused.

As if I were looking through a glass filled with water. The images are distorted, just blobs of color.

I see...

Tubes. They're clear and they seem to be attached to something...

An arm. They're attached to a pale arm that's suspended in the air.

My arm.

But why can't I feel it, why can't I move it? Why are there tubes in my arm?

And if I'm suspended in the air then why don't I feel anything, cables or strings, holding me up right?

A slight involuntary twitch of my wrist sends little bubbles floating upwards, away from me.

Bubbles? Why are there bubbles?

It's then that something in my head seems to click.

Water.

I'm in water.

In a sudden rush I can feel my entire body and I can feel the mind numbing pain. It doesn't seem to come from just one place. It's everywhere. I can feel my body as it begins to spasm uncontrollably.

I cry out but it's no use, even if I had a voice no one would hear me. I can feel the mask that covers my nose and mouth, not thinking I reach up and pull it off. As I do so the tubes in my arm come loose and little ribbons of red begin to trail from the ripped flesh.

The pain is getting worse and my body thrashes about, I try to stop myself, but I can't, I just keep thrashing around.

The blobs of color that I had seen seem to be moving around quickly, frantically.

A sudden coldness creeps into my body and I can feel the thrashing of my limbs quiet and slow and then stop altogether. My eyelids begin to close once again and I find myself drifting back to the world of darkness, only now, I welcome it.

Sucking in a deep breath Senna shot up in the bed she was in, clutching at the brown blanket that was draped over her. Sweat dripped down her forehead before falling to the blanket, darkening a small patch of the fabric. She tried to swallow but found her throat was too dry. Her breathing was ragged as she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them before lying her hot forehead upon them.

"What the hell was that?" she whispered to the darkness.

"A memory."

Senna looked up and to her left.

"Kurohineko," she said uncertainly.

The large, graceful cat regarded her with her gold eyes. She lay on the top of a large wooden table, her long tail hanging over the edge and flitting around carelessly.

"You were remembering," Kurohineko said to her.

"Remembering what? I've never been through anything like that, Kuro," Senna countered.

"Are you sure?" the cat asked.

"Yes, of course," Senna replied.

"If you say so," Kurohineko stated blandly.

"Why are you here anyways? Were you worried?" Senna asked a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

"Of course not. I'm bored and would like out of this cell," Kurohineko told her.

"Cell?" Senna asked.

"Don't you remember?"

Senna looked around and was surprised to see she really was in a cell. A rather small one.

"Crap," Senna muttered as she remembered her fight with captain Kuchiki while trying to protect a Ryoka and save a convicted felon. "Way to go Senna."

"I take it you remember?" Kurohineko asked, amused.

"Well, I'm already in trouble so I suppose breaking myself outta here won't hurt," she shrugged as she tossed the blanket off herself and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Who healed me?"

"The woman with the kind face, Unohana," Kurohineko answered.

"I thought so, I barely feel anything," Senna said as she looked down at her right side. She was wearing a white sleeping robe since her uniform had basically been destroyed and her arm was bandaged, as was her side and leg.

Walking over to the table that Kurohineko was lying upon, Senna sighed. "You may want to return for this," she suggested.

"Fine, but I expect to be let out again soon," Kurohineko huffed.

"Whatever, just hurry up," Senna snapped.

A soft red glow lit the room for a moment before it faded to reveal Senna's sheathed katana.

"What were they thinking putting my zanpakuto in the cell with me and not even using cuffs to even try to drain my spirit energy? Idiots," Senna muttered, grabbing Kurohineko and walking towards the front of the small cell.

She poked her head through the bars and looked around. The hallway was dark and deserted.

"Are they serious about trying to keep me here? Because this is ridiculous," Senna observed, taking a step back from the bars. "It's like they knew I'd try to escape and aren't trying to stop me. Oh well, just makes it that much easier for me."

Taking a step back, Senna placed both hands before her, palms facing outwards and her thumbs and pointer fingers creating a sort of triangle. Blue energy swirled to life in the center of the triangle she had created with her fingers creating a small but dense ball of energy. Once the energy had condensed it shot towards the metal bars of the cell with a soft whirring sound.

Senna lifted an arm to shield her face from the pieces of metal and concrete that flew through the air as the energy tore through the bars, leaving a large gaping circle for her to walk out of.

As soon as her bare feet stepped out of the cell she could hear the sound of shouting and people running to find out what had happened. Knowing that leaving by the door was out of the question Senna quickly shot a blast up towards the ceiling and jumped through the opening, avoiding most of the falling debris.

Swatting the dust out of her face, she didn't waste anytime in getting the hell out of there. Looking around to get a feel for just where she was she realized she had been in the jail of the Fourth squad.

"Captain Unohana is going to kill me," Senna muttered as she looked at the damage she had done and scratched at her head before flash stepping away from the scene as shouts drew closer to the building.

Masking her reiatsu and moving quickly, Senna made her way to the barracks of the Eleventh division. She needed to put on some actual clothes and get out of the thin white sleeping robe, she also wanted shoes, running around barefoot really wasn't pleasant.

Instead of taking the quickest and most direct route there, which would take her past the First division, Senna took a slightly longer path. She cut through the Fourth division before veering to her left and around the division headquarters. There was no one on the dark path she was using and she was able to move quickly and arrive at the door to the barracks in under five minutes. Moving as gracefully as a cat, she made her way silently into the barrack and to her room. Yumichika and Ikkaku's spiritual energies weren't present and she figured that they must still be in the hospital.

Setting Kurohineko down on her bed Senna pulled on the obi that held the white robe shut and let it come loose and fall to the ground, followed by the robe itself. With a sigh she looked at her bandaged arm and leg. Her torso was also wrapped in white bandages as well which she began to slowly unravel as she walked into her bathroom. Once the bandage was off she noticed that though the cuts had healed nicely and were in no danger of reopening they had left several marks on her once flawless skin. There was no doubt in her mind that her arm and leg would have the same slash marks too, only much worse.

"Bastard," Senna grumbled as she walked out of her bathroom and to the little wardrobe that held her clothes.

She was thankful that she had another pair of the special ops pants as well as another of the backless shirts. She couldn't find anymore of her red wraps, all she could find was a white tube top she had no idea she had. Shrugging she slipped into the garment, at least it covered the areas that the backless top didn't.

With a resigned sigh, Senna quickly dressed and slipped on pair of black shoes.

She was just tying a white obi around her waist when a sudden explosion rocked the walls of the wooden building.

"What the hell was that?"

Seconds later another, smaller explosion tore through the air.

Grabbing Kurohineko, Senna ran out of the building and towards the explosion. It had come from one of the walkways between the Eleventh and Twelfth Divisions and she could see a small amount of smoke rising into the darkened night sky.

"Kurotsuchi," Senna hissed through clenched teeth as she neared the area, she could feel the man's reiatsu and it angered her. She had never liked the man that her brother had brought into the squad, he was creepy and didn't care about anything but his experiments.

Jumping onto a wall and then onto a blue tiled roof of a small building Senna was able to look down on the scene. Blood was everywhere, staining the walls, ground and even parts of the rooftops.

Senna clenched her fists, she was no fool, she knew what Kurotsuchi had done without having to ask.

Kurotsuchi and his lieutenant, Nemu, stood off to the left while to the right were three people, all dressed in the standard shinigami uniform. She noticed though that only one was an actual shinigami and he was from the Eleventh Division, she couldn't remember his name just that Yachiru would always call him Maki Maki. The other two people were the Ryoka she had met the other day, Uryu and Orihime.

Orihime was knelt over Maki Maki and she seemed to be crying while Uryu stood and was defiantly facing captain Kurotsuchi.

'He's not going to let me interfere in this battle,' Senna thought as she watched the Quincy carefully.

Kurotsuchi was talking to the girl named Orihime offering to make her one of his research subjects, Senna growled. She wasn't going to let the bastard anywhere near the girl if she could help it. The girl didn't exactly mean anything to her but she knew what it meant to be one of Kurotsuchi's test subjects. The evidence was in front of her, splattered on the walls and in the craters on the ground.

The captain made an attempt to grab the girl, but the Quincy moved quickly and was standing behind him, his bow held at the ready before him.

"A Quincy, hm. I've already completed my research on your kind," Kurotsuchi said, his voice reminded Senna of nails being dragged over a chalkboard. "I'm no longer interested."

"Not interested, finished your research," the Quincy repeated.

Senna sighed. 'He's really not going to let me have any fun with Kurotsuchi now,' she thought. 'Oh well, maybe next time.'

"What do you mean? Who are you?" Uryu asked.

Senna leapt down and landed beside the girl that was still leaning over Maki Maki.

"He's captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi of the Twelfth Squad. Known for his extreme methods in research," Senna said.

Uryu glanced at her but kept his bow trained on Kurotsuchi. "You again, what do you want now?"

"That's awfully rude. I remember helping you earlier," Senna responded somewhat bitterly.

"Senna Ur-"

"Don't go there, Kurotsuchi," Senna warned.

"You're interfering, but I don't mind. I've wanted to get my hands on you again," Kurotsuchi taunted.

"You won't be laying a finger on me. You never could and you never will. Unless of course you'd like to deal with my brother and Ukitake," Senna answered with a smile.

"Oh well, what a pity. I guess I'll just kill you then," Kurotsuchi replied.

The spirit pressure of the captain suddenly sky rocketed and judging by the reactions on Uryu's and Orhime's faces they hadn't expected to meet such a powerful opponent.

Senna frowned, she didn't know what to do. She wanted to help fight Kurotsuchi but she knew that she was still somewhat weak and wouldn't last long and would be more of a hindrance than a help.

"Orihime, get our of here. Run," Uryu shouted.

"No, I want to fight too," Orihime said, but she was shaking from the amount of spiritual pressure that was being released, she would collapse soon if she didn't leave.

"No," Senna said to her. "He's too strong for you, you would only be in the way right now."

Orihime looked at her surprised and sad, her head fell and Senna thought the girl was going to cry.

Senna sighed, "I'm not saying you're useless. Just that right now, it would be better for the three of us to go. I'm not fully recovered yet either and we would just get in your friend's way. He also doesn't seem like the type who wants help, especially from a Soul Reaper, am I right?"

"Yes," Uryu replied. "Now get her out of here."

"Sure why not," Senna replied with a shrug. "You two, let's go," she said as she looked down at Maki Maki and Orihime, "Now."

The two stood up and Maki wasted no time in running away, but Orihime stood still, watching Uryu sadly.

"Take the girl and go," Uryu shouted at her.

"Jeez, yes sir mister grouchy pants," Senna grumbled. "Time to go." Senna grabbed Orihime by both arms and leapt on to the roof top of a building.

Kurotsuchi, not wanting to let his possible experiment get away, shot his arm out towards them. He had made many modifications to his own body, and his arm was able to extend from his body like an obscene jack in the box.

Senna grabbed Orihime again and leapt down from the building running after Maki Maki, there was a loud crash from behind her and she looked back to see that the Quincy had shot Kurotsuchi's spring like arm off.

"That bow is pretty useful," Senna said.

"Let me go," Orihime cried as she struggled against Senna.

"No way. I know what the deranged, psycho, mask wearing freak likes to do to his experiments. Trust me you do not want to get involved. Don't worry about your friend, he seems smart he should be just fine," Senna assured as she continued to haul a struggling Orihime away.

She quickly caught up to the fleeing dark haired and mustached Maki Maki with Orihime still struggling to get out of her grasp.

"Here you hold her before I knock her out," Senna told him as she shoved Orihime at the man.

"Wha!"

With a glance from Senna, he knew not to argue and so he lifted Orihime and slung her under his arm. The girl bit him and he yelped before bringing a hand down upon her neck and knocking her unconscious.

"I thought I said I didn't want to knock her out, oh well," Senna muttered with a shrug.

They reached a stairwell that led up to the Eleventh Division's main courtyard and began trekking up them. Halfway up the stairwell the little pink haired Yachiru appeared and looked at them with a confused expression.

"Whatchya got there, Maki Maki?" Yachiru asked as she stared at the unconscious girl in his arms.

"Well you see she just sorta, uh, popped up," he said.

Senna arched a brow at him.

"She popped up?" Yachiru asked her girly voice rising with interest.

"Yeah, she, uh, popped up-"

"I found her and I thought you might want to have your very own doll," Senna spoke up.

Yachiru blinked over to Senna. "Hey, Choppy! Aren't you supposed to be in jail for helping the Ryoka?"

"Of course not," Senna answered with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Isn't that a Ryoka?" Yachiru asked as she pointed at Orihime.

"Well..." Senna started.

"It is. You brought me a Ryoka to play with. Does she have any candy?" Yachiru asked.

"Um, I don't know," Senna replied.

"Oh, well. Lets take her to see Kenny, she might know where Itchy is," the girl said happily before spinning around and bouncing away.

"Ok so lets go," Senna said to Maki Maki who looked nervous and confused.

He nodded and followed after Senna who was now walking behind the bubbly pink haired lieutenant.

They followed her into a large wood paneled building and into a large rectangular room. Aramaki, Senna learned, not Maki Maki, set the unconscious girl down on a bed that was against the far wall.

Captain Zaraki came into the room shortly after and glanced at Senna before losing interest and looking at the girl on the bed.

"Who's she?" he asked.

"Maki Maki found her and brought her to me. She's a Ryoka," Yachiru chirped.

"What did you do to her?" Zaraki asked and looked at Senna.

"I didn't do anything actually," Senna answered looking a slight bit offended, but not really surprised.

"Uh huh," Zaraki replied.

"I'm going to go now," Senna said and headed for the door.

"You're staying," Zaraki ordered as he sat in a wooden chair.

"Ok, I'm staying," Senna replied, turning around and taking a seat on a bench against the wall nearest her.

The room was quiet and she wound up falling asleep, which she was trying not to do since her lieutenant was known for pulling pranks on people when they were asleep. Luckily for Senna though the little girl had fallen asleep out of sheer boredom as well.

"What? Hisagi kissed Matsumoto?" someone shouted.

"I'll kill the bastard," Senna yelled, her eyes flew open and she jumped up from the bench.

High pitched laughter reached her ears and she turned to glare at Ikkaku who was laughing so hard he was crying and Yumichika was giggling at her from behind one of his well manicured hands.

"I'll kill you," she growled at Ikkaku before lunging at him.

He side stepped her punch while still laughing at her, which only pissed her off more.

"Would you three stop your bitching?" Zaraki asked, well ordered, nicely for him anyways.

"You'll pay," Senna hissed as she leaned against the wall near the bench.

Yumichika and Ikkaku sat down on the bench, Yumichika was closest to her and he turned to look at her with a strange smile.

"What?" Senna asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing," he answered and turned away.

The girl, Orihime, had woken up and she was sitting in a chair a few yards in front of Zaraki. She was quiet and just seemed to be confused about why she was there.

"What's your name, woman?" Zaraki asked.

"O-Orihime," she said quietly.

"And you're a friend of Ichigo's, right?" Ikkaku asked.

"Yes," she answered.

Senna tuned out the rest of the conversation until she heard Yumichika muttering to himself. Looking down she saw that he was leaning forward slightly while chewing on his thumb nail.

"She's so beautiful," he said to himself.

Frowning, Senna slapped him on the back of the head.

He fell forward slightly before turning to glare angrily at her. "What?" she asked.

"You're beautiful too, you know, so don't worry," he replied.

Senna smacked him again.

"Ow," he whined while he rubbed at the back of his head.

"Knock it off you two," Ikkaku snapped at them before turning his attention back to Orihime."So Orihime, do you think Ichigo's still alive?"

"What are you talking about, fool?" Zaraki answered. "Of course he is and he's getting stronger as we speak. Sounds like fun to me. I'll help you girl because I have a feeling that if I stick with you I'll definitely see Ichigo again."

Senna knew he was right, not just about the chances of seeing Ichigo again if they helped Orihime, but that Ichigo was indeed trying to get stronger. She knew where he was and what he was doing. She could sense his spirit pressure in the area of the Sokyoku Hill, which meant he was in the training ground that her brother had built. Yoruichi was with him and she knew that the woman must be pushing Ichigo very hard at the moment.

Pushing herself up from the wall Senna made for the door.

"Where are you going?" Ikkaku called after her.

"Out," she answered.

"I thought I told you that you weren't going anywhere," Zaraki called to her.

Senna's shoulders slumped. "What am I, a prisoner?"

Zaraki grinned at her. "Well-"

"Nevermind," Senna said quickly. "I'm staying."

"You're such a wimp," Ikkaku told her when she sat down in front of Yumichika to lean against his knees.

"Shut up," Senna grumbled. "That man scares me and I really don't wanna know what he would do to 'prisoners' alright."

"He's teasing you," Ikkaku said.

"Yeah, well it's creepy," Senna answered, pouting slightly.

Yumichika began to comb his fingers through Senna's hair and inspect parts of it.

"You should wear your hair down more, it looks nicer that way. Although you do have some pretty bad split ends," he said, shivering while he held up a few strands.

Senna sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not as much of a girl as you are," she mumbled.

Yumichika tugged on a few strands of her hair.

"OW!" Senna yelled before tilting her head to glare at the man.

He smiled sweetly. "Sorry."

"Stupid jerk," she grumbled before he tugged on her hair again. "Dammit, Yumichika."

"Sorry, there was a knot. Do you even ever brush your hair?" the man sighed. "Hisagi must like his women rough around the edges."

"Yumichika," Senna growled.

Ikkaku started laughing.

"Shut up," she snapped. "There's nothing between Hisagi and I, now shut it."

"Then why'd you get so pissed when I said he had kissed Matsumoto?" Ikkaku asked.

"I was having a dream about my brother," Senna lied.

"You're a horrible liar, Choppy, even I can see that," Yachiru chirped with a giant smile.

"Did I mention I bought you some confetti candy?" Senna asked.

Yachiru's eyes grew large and she ran to Senna. "Where is it?" she asked, drool beginning to pour from the corners of her lips.

Senna smiled and looked to Ikkaku who saw the evil glint in her eyes and started backing away.

"Ikkaku ate it," Senna said.

Yachiru turned to the bald man and little pink flares of reiatsu sparked around her.

Ikkaku then decided it would be best to leave and so he stood and made for the door, but not before Yachiru had latched herself onto his back.

A series of yells, yelps, and cries for help were heard just outside as Yachiru attacked or maimed or maybe even killed Ikkaku because when she returned a moment later everything was eerily quiet outside.

"That was pretty mean," Yumichika stated. "Good job, you made me proud."

"Thank you."