Author's Note: Bleach and its characters belong to Tite Kubo. Oh, and never EVER eat stale Twizzlers. Or chocolate Skittles either, for that matter. Man, those are terrible. Fanfiction onwards! This is Rina's perspective, this first part. Then it switches back to narration. Or well, something like that. *Shrugs* Enjoy!

Now that this might be the end, I suppose life hadn't been that bad. I mean… I'm not seeing my life flash before my very eyes or anything, but I do want to remember some parts. I was such a brat, and by no chance should ever forget how I had acted. I remember…

I was born in Rukongai, which is, without a doubt, the equivalent of a large ditch populated with blood soaked gangsters and starving beggars. A very grimy ditch, for that overall matter. It was always dirty, and the phrase "There was never enough to eat" was a severe understatement. From here on, yes, at the very beginning, my life went downhill. No, wait. I was already in a ditch, remember?

I lived there with my mother and father, unusual since couples almost never stick together in Rukon, much less even keep kids around. I nurtured a deep resentment for them, making me live in a place like that, as if they had any choice in the matter. I'm ashamed to report that I didn't even know what their names were, as survival was all that mattered at the time to me, to all of us. There was also my younger brother, Takumi, whose name I did catch since that meant one more person I had to share what little food we scrounged up with. I despised him, and I'm deeply ashamed of that too. He was a sweet kid. They were good adults. What did that make me?

Finally, a rough winter swept by, cold and unforgiving. A plague swept them all away, completely out of the blue. There was little I could have done. I was… alone. I had never known what that felt like before, and it hit me much like being smacked across the face.

I deserved it. They didn't.

Have you ever felt loneliness? It crushed me, and left me with nothing.

I started my existence in a ditch. And somehow, I had sunk even lower.

Eventually, I hardened up a bit. I constantly stole food and raided abandoned shacks, all for the sake of survival. But no matter what, life still remained the same- a miserable wreck, taunted by the fact that I had taken what little I had for granted. There was only one escape out of it, and that was by entering the Shinigami Academy.

I still don't know whether that was the best or worst decision of my life. I guess anything would be better than being stuck where I was. So I ended up in a dormitory, learned lots, failed lots, and hoped much. By a spark of unexpected talent (The kido training room was blown up on my first try) and uncanny luck, I actually graduated on my first try, and that gave me joy and meaning.

This was, of course, taken away the moment I walked into that stupid office and got assigned. Which brings me here now. About to die.

Kenpachi unsheathed his jagged edged zanpaku-to, grinning like a madman, with Yachiru clinging happily to his back.

"Stand still." She advised, while searching her pockets and withdrawing a sticky gumdrop to eat, "It makes less of a mess that way when Kenny slices you up!"

Rina's body tensed up, trying to steady her breathing. Five minutes or nothing… HERE IT GOES!

With a twisted smile, he lunged straight at her with little or no warning.

Spinning off to the other side, she quickly unsheathed her zanpaku-to, sweat already perspiring from her forehead in concentration. His cut missed her by an inch, sweeping in an almost unavoidable arc. A large gash tore through the left sleeve of her robe, bleeding profusely.

Rina grasped her uchigatana in a defensive position, trying to ignore the large cut that graced her arm.

An Uchigatana, as she vaguely recalled, was a type of sword used mainly for its speed, and for the benefit of how swiftly it could be unsheathed. So quickly, that the act of unsheathing could also be turned immediately into the act of striking. This is extremely useless against a person with the spiritual pressure like Kenpachi's, so better to use it to distract and guard.

It was not its actual name, as Rina was far from discovering that. But thankfully, the captain was no further in that process than she was. Technically, that probably didn't hinder his fighting abilities at all in the least, but it had to count for something, right?

He looked slightly annoyed at what she had done. "Don't skitter like a mouse. And what is that? My sword will cut through any defensive tactics you have like butter. Next time, take the direct hit if you're going to bore me like this. One minute!"

Lazily, he spun his sword around in circles faster than a baton being twirled, and lashed out his arm.

"Kyaaah!" She shrieked out in response, and held her stance.

The results weren't pretty. Her technique had indeed reflected part of the attack, but instead changed its direction so that it was flung straight at her forehead. The force actually sent her flying back, reeling from the shock of the blow. Also, the sharp edge of the blade had done its worst, slashing a moderate sized wound on her forehead.

Stapler, sword… I don't know how much more of this I can take. She thought, her mind almost growing fuzzy. I need to concentrate… But why bother?

Hazily, she dropped to her knees, practically at her limit.

Because I'd promised Takumi I'd live his dream. How can I live that dream if I'm dead?

THEN GET UP, IDIOT.

Whoa. She didn't think that. Either Takumi was directly communicating to her somehow, or…

No way…

Her zanpaku-to had finally decided to speak to her.

"It took you long enough!" She yelled out at her sword. "Life or death situation, bah! You should've said something to me when I was at the gate! I could've ran!"

Coward. It spoke to her, scorn mocking her in its tone. Why do you run? Can you achieve your dream from running, coward?

Truthfully, it was actually kinda cool, like some kinda extra conscience. But what aggravated her was that fact that out of all the times it could've chose to come out, it took its sweet time and spoke to her now. When she was about to die.

"Hey, at least I would've known you longer, you stupid!" What a great relationship this was turning out to be.

A few paces away, Kenpachi and Yachiru looked at each other. "What… the bloody heck is she doing?" He asked Yachiru.

"Ummmm… I think all the blood's flown out of her brain!" Yachiru replied, just as puzzled as he was. "You shouldn't have hit her so hard, Kenny! She's talking to herself!"

"Tch, I'll put her out of her misery. What a shame, she only had half a minute to go."

With that, he prepared the final strike.

Well, Coward-san. Her zanpaku-to spoke with obvious mock politeness. Shall we see your potential, or will you run away first?

Slowly, Rina got up.

"I think… I'll show Takumi how to survive." With a snarl, she lifted her zanpaku-to high up into the air. "By the way, idiot-san. What the heck's your name?"

We'll discuss that after your life or death, now, won't we?

-End Chapter 3, continuation on Chapter 4-

Author's Note: Okay, maybe THIS is the final part of introduction. I swear, I'm trying to get to the Yumichika pairing ASAP. But it's your choice, whether you wanna stick around or not. Thanks for reading, and see ya!