Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach

Chapter 34

Just the Beginning

Senna was back in the gigai her brother had provided her with, dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a black tank top she had found in a drawer. She was lying on her back in the single tree that his quaint little backyard held. Her hazel eyes stared up into the star misted sky, but they were dead and lacked any emotion. There was no enjoyment for her in the peaceful solitude, no feeling, aside from the dull ache that signified yet another headache was coming on.

It had been almost two weeks now since she had been left behind in the living world while everyone else went to save Soul Society from the Bount. Even the ones they had called Ryoka were now protecting Soul Society, they were human, they didn't belong in that world. She did. She wasn't human and she didn't belong, nor like it, in the world of the living. She was useless here. Fighting, protecting, serving her home, that was what she was trained to do, what she loved to do. Yet here she was, lying in a tree as her comrades fought to save their home, her home, and she could do nothing for fear that she might accidentally lose control of herself and her own power.

Lonely was one way to describe her. She rarely talked, she rarely did anything aside from sit in the tree and stare up into the sky at all hours of the day and night. Distancing herself a little she figured was for the best. The headaches were becoming more frequent and little by little she felt as if her self control was slipping with them. The voice she heard came to her more frequently, usually only when she had a particularly bad headache, but it still came nonetheless. She continuously pushed it down and locked it away, but it kept surfacing. Every time it did, she felt a little more dread fill her.

She dreaded the thought of what was inside of her and what it would do if somehow it did manage to get out.

'Hollowfication. The idea has been around for quite sometime...Any Soul Reaper that has attained the powers of a Hollow call themselves...'

"Vizard, the masked army," Senna whispered as life seemed to suddenly fill her eyes once again as she recalled Aizen's words to her that day on the Sokyoku Hill.

'Shinji was one of the eight that transformed successfully...'

'The others that disappeared were Captain Muguruma, his lieutenant Mashiro Kuna, Tessai's assistant Ushoda, I think. Then there was also captains Aigawa, and Rose. Our lieutenant, Hiyori, and Shinji too. All eight of them disappeared at the same time.'

'One of the eight...Transformed...'

"I really am dense. How did I not see any of this?" she murmured.

Senna shot up from the branch and flew inside so quickly that she startled Kisuke. It's hard to actually scare him, but she had succeeded and he was covered in steaming hot green tea and so was the table. He had spit out what he was drinking, choked on what he was trying to swallow and had spilled the rest.

"Senna," he choked out as he pounded against his chest.

"Eight," she stated.

Kisuke blinked at her, not understanding her rather simple statement. She seemed a little excited over something, he wasn't sure what, but he had a bad feeling about it.

"There were eight high ranking Gotei Thirteen members that disappeared, all at the same time. Shinji was one of them. You were accused of helping them escape as well as creating gigai that hid spiritual pressure, which you've already said you did. You were exiled not long after the eight disappeared. Aizen told me there were eight that called themselves Vizard. Eight that had transformed from normal shinigami to shinigami with the abilities of Hollows. I was too busy trying to kill the bastard to fully realize what he was saying, but Shinji and the other seven...They're all Vizard," she said quickly.

Kisuke stared at her unsure just where this was going. "What else did he say?"

She ignored his question, but the fact he didn't deny any of it didn't escape her attention. Her eyes focused in on him, she seemed mildly angry and he fidgeted slightly. "They're like me, aren't they?"

"That's impossible," he replied dismissively.

"Then tell me how it is that I keep hearing a voice that isn't mine. Or why I feel as though I'm not always in control of my own body. Why, Kisuke?"

"You're not like them."

"So you don't deny it? They are Vizard, they are Soul Reapers with the powers of Hollows?"

"Yes."

"Where are they? You helped them escape didn't you, you gave them gigai that could hide spirit energy."

"I don't know where they are, but I did help them escape. Central Forty-Six wanted to kill them," he said seriously.

"Why?"

"They weren't natural of course. They have the power of the enemy, that makes them the enemy," Kisuke answered.

"Of course it does. Anything that Central Forty-Six doesn't understand is the enemy, right? Just like I was," Senna said crossly. "If I'm not like them, then what am I?"

"My sister."

"Don't start with the avoiding the questions thing. Aizen already told me I was like them, that I was the first and I could be called their queen. Why would he say that if it weren't true?"

"I never said it wasn't true, just that you're not like them. A queen isn't like the people she governs now is she?" Kisuke replied with a cryptic smile as he sipped at another glass of hot tea that he had poured for himself.

"What do you mean?" Senna asked with guarded curiosity.

"What is a queen?"

"A ruler," she replied with a look of incomprehension and slight annoyance.

"Yes, but there's more to it than that. What is expected of a queen?"

Senna grunted in aggravation. "I don't freaking know."

"Perfection. She is expected to be perfect at everything she does."

"So what are you saying? That I'm the "perfect" Vizard? And if so, does that mean you're admitting that the thing in my head is indeed a Hollow and I was just too dumb to put the pieces together, even after what Aizen told me?"

"I wouldn't use those words exactly," he said as she as he tapped his chin with his fan.

"What am I?" Senna asked bluntly.

"You are a shinigami of co-"

Senna's hands flew down on the table and Kisuke had to quickly grab his tea before it spilled all over him again.

"I'm not in the mood for your ability to dance around questions with answers that have no actual meaning. What am I?" She growled.

Kisuke sighed and removed his hat. "Have you noticed the fluctuations in Ichigo's spirit pressure?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" She snapped.

"Have you?"

"Yes. I noticed something odd when he was fighting Kenpachi, it was weird, but somehow familiar. It was like his reiatsu went from harmless to harmful in the span of a second, it was a dark feeling, heavy," she said with a shrug.

"Ichigo is a Vizard. He doesn't know it just yet, but he is. He's still fighting the Hollow in him and if he loses, it will devour him, and he will have to be dealt with as a Hollow."

"Your point?"

"You're changing as well, but not in the same way. The hollow that lives in you didn't get there the same way. With Ichigo you could say it was forced into his soul out of necessity. With you, well..."

"Well what?"

"It's always been there."

Senna started slightly and gasped in surprise. "That's not possible. I would have noticed it.. I would have...Shinji," she said as understanding dawned clearly on her face. "You had Shinji erase all memories of it. That's why I don't remember all the mishaps, all the things that went wrong. You erased my memories of it. All of it."

Kisuke nodded solemnly. "I don't know how it got there or why it's there, but you didn't start exhibiting any odd behavior until about ten years after joining the Twelfth squad. In all the tests and experiments it seems that we somehow awoke it. How you didn't notice sooner, I don't know, but it was dormant until the time when you nearly destroyed your favorite training ground. It was the worst of the losses of control for you, at the time anyway. They got worse as time wore on."

"How did you get rid of it the first time then?"

"We didn't. You did. You managed to beat it and suppress it on your own. I had Shinji erase your memories of the events in hopes that if you forgot about it then perhaps it would stay hidden. It seems though that your Hotaru and the Hollow are closely connected. When you nearly killed yourself, you broke the walls in your mind that you had created to hold it back."

"How do I put them back? How do I get rid of this thing?" She asked frantically.

"I don't know. You have to fight it, and win. It's just that I don't think it's quite the same as it was a hundred years ago. You're stronger, so is the Hollow in you. I don't know that you could do it alone."

"Where is he?" Senna asked, her voice was shaking as she spoke from a mix of anger and uncertainty.

"Who?" Kisuke asked, perplexed.

"You know who," she barked. "Shinji, where is he? Where are the ones that call themselves Vizards?"

"I don't know."

"Liar," she yelled.

"Senna, calm down. When the time comes, he'll find you himself. If he hasn't already," Kisuke replied calmly and easily.

"If he hasn't already?"

"He would know your reiatsu anywhere, do you think he'd ignore it? Especially if his dear first love is-"

"Oh, shut up," Senna grumbled before stalking from the room and out of the building.

Hisagi stood in the front of Kisuke's store between two of the racks of brightly packaged candy. He looked annoyed, very annoyed. His hands were crossed over his chest and he was leaning back slightly as he stared at the smiling and chuckling blond before him. His eyes twitched slightly when the man rubbed at his scraggly cheek nervously.

"Where is she?" Hisagi asked again.

He had been sent to retrieve Senna by Head Captain Yamamoto. It seemed the Bount, Kariya, the leader of the group and at the moment the last one alive had a plan to destroy Soul Society using ancient devices hidden beneath Seireitei. There were many Soul Reapers in the process of finding and sealing them, but they didn't have much time and Yamamoto wanted Senna's help in sealing all of them. They had been given one day to live, one day to try and seal them all. He wasn't sure how many there were, he hadn't bothered to stay and listen to that part.

The devices were known as jokaisho, and they had been used to create spirit particles in experiments a long time ago. When one had blown up after too much pressure had been put on it, one tenth of the Seireitei had been destroyed. The Bount had been brought unwittingly into existence by the spirit particles released. Now Kariya was preparing to blow them all up, using the seal that was on his own body and that he had used to activate one of the jokaisho already. Soul Society would be utterly destroyed if that happened.

"Well, you see..." Kisuke began but then trailed off.

"She's needed immediately. I can't feel her spirit pressure here, where is she?"

"I don't really know," Kisuke finally replied with a wide smile. "Would you like some tea, I have-"

"You don't know?" Hisagi repeated, his voice growing serious and his eyes no longer annoyed.

"She sort of left," Kisuke said as he waved his fan towards the door.

"When?"

"Uhh..."

"Three days ago," Jinta said as his red haired head popped out from behind the screen to Kisuke's right before disappearing again.

Kisuke chuckled nervously at the stern set of Hisagi's jaw and the way his eyebrows had drawn together.

"Three days ago?" He asked calmly.

"You see we sort of had a fight, nothing big mind you. Just a normal brother sister spat. She'll be home soon," Kisuke sang nervously.

"She would have been home soon, if she were here," Hisagi replied, his voice even and controlled as he spoke.

Kisuke chuckled again and scratched at the back of his head.

"Did she leave in the gigai?"

"No, she left it in her room."

Hisagi nodded and turned to leave.

"You may want to seal them without her help, Lieutenant. She was in no shape to help when she left here," Kisuke said, his voice more serious than it had been.

With a quick glance over his shoulder Hisagi leapt away from the shop and began to leap from roof top to roof top in search of any sign of Senna's spiritual pressure.

Senna was lying in a tree in a deserted park in a more run down area of town. Her hair was down and floating around her in the breeze that blew the chill night air through the thick canopy of the leaves around her. She sighed and closed her eyes, the sky just wasn't the same here. It was too bright in the city and most of the stars were barely visible on most nights.

She had left three days ago and had ran through the entirety of the city in search of any familiar reiatsu, namely Shinji's. She had yet to find anything.

She was tired and her head was beginning to ache so fiercely that her eye sight was blurring. Stretching her neck from side to side, she winced at the many loud cracks she elicited from the movement.

Her eyes snapped open as a familiar energy entered the town. She immediately cloaked her own and sat up, turning her head in the direction of her brother's shop. Hisagi had just come to the living world and he would likely be there for one reason. Her. She wasn't ready to go back yet, to her brother's home or Soul Society.

Leaping gracefully down from the tree Senna groaned as she connected with the ground, the slight jolt had sent a blinding stab of pain through her head.

"Shut up," she muttered darkly as the now familiar evil chuckle resonated throughout her head.

Another cackle followed the first and Senna growled viciously.

"But he's here to ask for your help," the layered voice said smoothly.

"I don't care," Senna replied as she began to walk through the park towards a section of old run down warehouses. She had explored some of them but not all, and there were quite a few. The further she walked, the darker her surroundings became and the more dilapidated the buildings became.

As she walked her eyes took in the closely built buildings and the faded paint on their concrete walls. She saw and heard as several rats scattered from some old trash on the ground as she approached. It was then that she noticed that there was a large gap between two warehouses. It was odd since there didn't seem to be any indication that the building that had previously been there had been demolished. In fact, it was almost as if there was never a building there at all, but she knew that couldn't be right. Why would whoever had built the warehouses leave a gap between these buildings, but not the others?

She stared at the space a little longer before turning away. If she had looked just a little longer she would have seen the stray dog that gave the space a wide berth as it passed by, or the way the bugs did the same. She never noticed it, instead as she turned her senses were alerted to the presence of a Hollow nearby.

Cocking her head to the side to get her bearings and to locate the hollow, she paused before leaping on to the roof of the nearest warehouse and taking off. Unsheathing Kurohineko as she approached the massive Hollow, Senna descended upon it in a graceful leap as she jumped from a nearby treetop.

"Mezamaru, Kurohineko," she breathed as she brought her blade down upon the hollow's mask.

There was a loud screech as the hollow bucked and her blade struck it in the shoulder instead of its beetle like mask.

"Ejiki," she ordered coldly as she stabbed the ground before her with the tip of her dark sword. Twin black flames danced noiselessly down the blade before fanning out around the Hollow, entrapping it in a silent, churning wall of dark flame. She smirked as the Hollow roared and ran at her. "Sorry, but you're already dead."

There was a cold woosh of air as the black flames around her shot towards the hollow. Howling in surprise and pain, the hollow blew apart as the flames touched it, black crystals rained down in the air before disintegrating.

"We really don't use that move enough," Senna said as she pulled Kurohineko from the ground and released it before sheathing it at her side. It was one of Senna's favorite attacks to use, it was quick and though she liked close range combat at times, it wasn't her specialty. The black flames of Kurohineko were always silent and could easily kill their prey without them ever hearing anything but its own breathing. Not only did they move silently, they were not hot. They did not kill by burning, it was the opposite really. They killed by draining all the warmth from their targets until they turned into a pile of black ice like crystals. It was not exactly painless, but it was quick enough that one wouldn't usually have time to register the pain as their body went numb and shattered.

As she turned to leave, she sucked in a deep breath as the image of a pale face surrounded by black hair with black eyes and sharp teeth behind red lips flashed before her eyes. She stumbled slightly, but remained standing.

There was a loud rumbling chuckle throughout her mind and she shook her head in an effort to banish it and send it back to the recesses of her tortured mind. It didn't work, the laughing only intensified and she fell to her knees clutching her head in pain and terror.

"No," she said shakily. "Back the hell off."

Dark eyes narrowed and corned over to where he had felt a sudden surge in reiatsu. It was the same reiatsu he had felt when Senna had attacked him and tried to kill him over two weeks before.

Flashing in the direction of the surge, Hisagi kept his guard up and his hand near the hilt of the sword at his waist. He flashed past several old warehouses before coming to a stop on the top of a telephone post. Below him, on the street, was Senna, her bear back to him as she bent over, clutching her head in pain. Her dark hair was spilling over her shoulders, floating around her lazily in the stir of pressures around her body.

He frowned not knowing exactly what was happening to the woman below him. She was in pain, that was obvious, but what was causing the pain? He didn't know, but something in the heavy feel of the reiatsu she was unleashing told him he didn't want to know.

Stepping off the pole and landing quietly on the black asphalt of the street, he walked forward until he was directly behind Senna. Her body stiffened as he neared her, but she made no attempt to move.

"Senna?" he asked cautiously.

She cocked her head to the side at the sound of her name, but still didn't move.

"Shuhei," she whispered questioningly.

"Yeah it's me," he said as he crouched down behind her. "What are you doing out here, Senna?"

She shook her head slowly. "Trying to find him, but I haven't been able to. I need to though. I don't...I don't want to... to lose..."

"Lose what?" Hisagi asked a little more forcefully than he had meant to, but she was trembling as she spoke and she wouldn't look at him.

She took in a shaky breath before doing something that he would never forget. He had seen her cry, once, after the funeral for Kaien Shiba. Then it wasn't disturbing or unnatural, it seemed right that she cry, even if just a little, for the friends she had lost. This was different, it was disturbing. She fell forward, burying her face in her hands before letting out a shrill cry that was full of so much suffering it nearly broke his heart to hear it.

Stunned into silence, all he could do was put his arms around her and hold her to his chest as she cried with no restraint. He rocked her from side to side as he rested his head on hers and waited for her sobs to quiet down. When her sobs finally died down he tried to pull away from her so that he could pick her up off the street, but she clutched on to his bare arm so tightly he knew there would be bruises later and refused to let him release her.

"Don't go," she breathed, her voice had taken on a slight hysterical edge to it that worried him further.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said reassuringly, as he kissed the back of her head and squeezed her tighter against him. "I just want to get you out of the street and somewhere you can rest."

She nodded and loosened her hold on him. With graceful ease, he lifted her into his arms, she immediately buried her head into his chest and gripped on to his shirt. Her face was pale and her eyes looked strained. There were dark bruises under her eyes and lines from the salty tears she had shed. He was so caught up looking at her he didn't notice the person staring at them from underneath a burnt out street lamp. It was a man with chin length blond hair wearing a green and black golfer's type hat, a black button up shirt and khaki colored pants.

Frowning at the look of helplessness in Senna's eyes, Hisagi said nothing as he shunpo'd his way back to the Urahara Shoten. Kisuke was already waiting for them just outside the doors to the little shop. He turned away from Hisagi and walked back into the shop without saying anything. Hisagi followed after him as they walked through the hallways and to the room that Senna had been using. She had fallen asleep in his arms, tired from the crying and effort of pushing the hollow in her to the back of her mind.

He placed her gently down on the bed and took a few steps back, he glanced over to Kisuke who was staring intently at Senna, a worried frown on his face.

"Can you help her?" Hisagi asked.

Kisuke's eyes flicked over to the young man briefly before falling back on to Senna's sleeping form. "Not at the moment."

"What's happening to her?"

"The decision to tell you that is hers."

Hisagi scowled, but didn't argue, he looked back at Senna, torn between staying with her or going back to Soul Society. He knew he couldn't take her in the condition she was in, she wouldn't be able to help seal the jokaisho, she needed to rest. He also knew what he would do, it wasn't much of a decision. He would return home, he would do his duty to Soul Society and then come back. He was also fairly certain that Senna would be pissed off if he stayed with her instead of going back and 'kicking the Bounts asses' as she would likely say.

"I need to go. I'll be back as soon as I can," Hisagi said as he turned to leave the room. "Do what you can for her. It's painful to see her so...helpless."

"I know," Kisuke replied.

Shinji watched as the Soul Reaper with the scars and tattoos wrapped his arms around Senna and held her to him tightly as she cried uncontrollably. His eyes narrowed when the man kissed the top of her head and he grunted in annoyance when he lifted her carefully into his arms. He scowled when the man then disappeared with her held securely in his grasp.

"Who the hell does he think is?" he grumbled as he shoved his hands in his pockets and slouched down the street, grumbling the entire time.

After Hisagi had left, Kisuke had kept watch over Senna for the rest of the night. When she didn't wake in the morning or show any sign of waking, he sighed and got up to stretch. He had been sitting on a pillow, leaning against the wall for over eight hours and his muscles groaned and creaked in protest to the new movement.

Feeling it was safe to leave her alone for a few minutes he meandered his way through the house and to his own private room. He removed his hat and plopped down on to his bed, running a hand through his messy hair.

'I'm a little surprised he found her. I thought that by now Shinji would have made his move. I wonder just what's stopping him,' he thought as he tossed his hat onto the bed behind him before getting up and heading towards the shower.

He sighed contentedly after dressing in fresh clothes and putting his hat on its rightful place on his head. With a new spring to his step, he hummed to himself as he left his bedroom to go downstairs and see how the shop was doing.

Halfway down the stairs his plans changed drastically. There was a dramatic pulse of raw spirit energy and a drawn out, pain laced scream. The rest of the steps were nothing but a blur as he flew down them and around the corner to where Senna had been sleeping. His cheerful expression was gone, replaced by a rarely seen mask of seriousness and calm.

Walking into the room he saw that Senna still seemed to be sleeping, but she was tossing and turning frantically. Her hair was knotted and damp in places from the sweat that covered her brow. She screamed again and ripped the blanket that he had placed over her in two.

Kisuke's eyes cornered over to Tessai who was now standing beside him.

"What should we do?" the tall, muscular man asked as he pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"Bring her downstairs," Kisuke said as he turned and swept from the room.

Tessai nodded before turning towards Senna. Using kido to bind her limbs together, to keep her from hurting him as he carried her, he lifted her effortlessly into his big arms and carried her from the room.

She was beginning to wake when he landed on the hard packed dirt floor of the basement. Her eyes blinked open and she growled at the restraints that bound her.

"Boss?" Tessai questioned.

"Put her down and then go upstairs. Take care of Jinta and Ururu, don't let them down here," he said as he pulled his hidden sword from his cane.

He had brought Senna's zanpakuto as well, it was a few feet in front of him, lying on the dirt.

Tessai set Senna down, her dark eyes narrowed and she snarled at him as he backed away and went to do as he had been told.

Growling, she turned her head to Kisuke whose eyebrows were set in a grim line as he held his sword before him. When her eyes landed on her zanpakuto a feral grin spread across her face and she broke free of the weak kido and flew towards the sword, cackling wildly.

There was a loud screech as sparks flew through the air as steel met steel in a violent, earth shaking clash.

Senna hissed and leapt backwards, crouching slightly as she circled Kisuke who didn't move, only watched her cautiously.

"Are you going to fight or not? I'm getting bored," Kisuke said.

A dark, raspy chuckle escaped Senna's parted lips. "Now you know how I felt all these years." The voice wasn't Senna's, however, it was deeper and there were a mix of voices layered together that came from her mouth.

"Yes, I suppose it must have been awfully boring being the forgotten one," Kisuke replied lightly.

Senna growled and leapt forward, slashing and hacking at Kisuke, but unable to land a successful blow. Leaping away she snarled before lunging at him again, a whirlwind of dust and energy roiled around them as their swords connected again. With a loud rumble, there was an explosion as the two energies met and pushed against the other forcefully.

"I see Senna has gotten a lot stronger," Kisuke remarked as the dust settled.

"The little bitch was good for something at least," she replied as she wiped at her cheek, only to growl when she brought it away to see that she was bleeding from a small cut he had inflicted. "You would kill your own sister?"

"You're not my sister, so there's no problem in killing you."

"Twisted logic, don't ya think? I'm using her body. If I die, she dies. And vice versa."

"That may be true, however, I don't plan on killing her. I would kill you but, Senna will be doing that part. I'm just here for your amusement in the meantime."

"You sound awfully sure of that."

"Well, of course, Senna's my sister. Plus, she's in love. Women in love can be quite scary," Kisuke said playfully.

"Hn. Love," the harsh voice spat from Senna's lips. "Useless emotion. It clouds the mind."

"Maybe. Doesn't change the fact that you're in love."

"I'm not in love."

"Oh, but you are. If Senna dies, you die. If Senna loves then-"

"Stop saying her name," the layered voice screeched.

"Why?" Kisuke asked innocently.

Tilting her head back and letting out a loud howl she charged at Kisuke yet again. They fought for what seemed like days before Senna's body began to shake and tremble from exertion. The Hollow controlling her wasn't pleased with this and snarled angrily.

"Tired so soon. I was beginning to have some fun," Kisuke pouted as he looked down at Senna's body, that was knelt on the ground trying to catch her breath.

"Bastard," she yelled pushing herself up and trying to attack him again, but she fell to her knees with an annoyed grunt.

"All bodies have limits. You have reached hers," Kisuke stated.

"Shut up," she growled.

"Fight it, Senna. Fight it and don't let it win, you never were a good loser anyway. So don't lose," Kisuke said.

"It's really no use trying to-ah.."

"Trying to what? Talk to Senna? But you are Senna. You're my little sister, remember?"

The ground shook and heaved as Senna clutched at her head with her left hand, she dropped the sword in her right, her nails digging into the hard earth beneath her.

"Of course I remember, jackass," Senna's voice snapped.

"Shut up," the voice of the Hollow ordered.

"Not today. You're not taking me over today, now go away."

After a few seconds of nothing happening Senna's whole body went limp and she fell face first into the dirt. Kisuke frowned down at her, she was bruised, bloody and altogether a mess. He sheathed her zanpakuto before sighing and picking her up so that he could return her to her room. He knew this wasn't the end of the Hollow in her soul, it was just the beginning. But at least she was fighting now.

~A/N~

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