Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 70 - Died and Crossed Over

'What a happy family... my dad was also...'

A flash of memory surfaced, her life as a human. Senna's eyes went distant. What lived in that memory wasn't warmth or harmony. It was arguments. Violence.

"Something wrong, Senna-chan?" Masaki noticed immediately, waving a hand in front of her face. "Did you remember something? You don't have to push yourself. Until you've fully remembered, you're welcome to stay here as long as you need."

"And for what it's worth—Ichigo really does like girls. That just now was only a joke."

"...Ah. Okay." Senna came back to herself and broke into a wide smile. "Then I'll be in your care."

Yuzu led Senna to the room Rukia Kuchiki had stayed in before. It had already been tidied and was ready to move into at any time. Masaki had figured from the start that where there was one, there would be two, who knew when that son of theirs would drag someone else home, and sure enough, here they were.

"Hey." Isshin Kurosaki, who had been silent this whole time, spoke up. "Strictly speaking, it's very difficult for a Soul Reaper in spirit form to lose their memories. Their structure is fundamentally different from a human's."

"And the feeling I get from her is off. Right now, she is not in a Gigai."

"Hmm..."

"Well, isn't Ichigo happy?" Karin Kurosaki said suddenly. "Hasn't shown it, but I can feel it."

"It's like when he found out Yasutora had special powers—that feeling of finding someone like him, finding another place to belong. Not as strong as it was with Yasutora, but more pure. That kind of feeling."

"...Well, let him be." Masaki, as head of the household, made the final call. "Ichigo has grown up. He has his own judgment now. We don't need to worry about his every move—he should be responsible for his own decisions, shouldn't he."

"We just watch over him. If it gets to be too much, we go help. That's our responsibility as parents."

The next morning.

Sunlight slanted in through the window and fell across Senna's face, pulling her out of sleep.

She opened her eyes reluctantly, rubbed them, and stared up at the ceiling with a blank, unfocused gaze. It took a good while before she registered where she was.

She climbed out of bed, changed out of the Kurosaki family's pajamas, put on her own uniform, checked herself in the mirror, straightened her outfit, and went bouncing out the door.

"Oh, you're up." Ichigo came face-to-face with her and called out a greeting. "Go wash up first. Breakfast is already ready."

"Okay!"

School had just started, but today happened to be Saturday, so there were no classes. After breakfast, Ichigo took Senna out.

Under Masaki's deeply meaningful gaze, Ichigo announced he was taking Senna for a walk to see if she might remember something. It was absolutely not a date. Absolutely not.

The early September weather had lost its edge. The eight or nine o'clock sun had completely chased away the slight morning chill, and the sunlight on their skin carried a faint, easy warmth.

"By the way, Senna, your abilities seem pretty solid." Ichigo said, out of nowhere. "A girl with strength around the lieutenant level is genuinely impressive."

"I don't really understand any of that. I just draw on my strength by feel." Senna's eyes wandered. "Instinct, I guess. That's what it is."

"Instinct, huh... well, you still have a lot of room to grow." Ichigo thought about it. "Among Soul Reapers it's basically men strong, women weak. Whether captains or lieutenants, males make up the majority."

"That's because men are the ones who care so much about strength."

"That... you can't really say that, can you?"

"That's exactly how it is. Did that pretty girl of yours ever care much about her own abilities?"

"Of course. Both Orihime and Tatsuki have their own training." Ichigo laughed. "Orihime isn't great at combat, but trains hard."

"As for Tatsuki, national runner-up in women's high school karate. If it weren't for a certain incident, the championship was all but guaranteed."

"Are you all battle maniacs?" Senna muttered under her breath. She bounced along for a bit, then suddenly asked, "Hey, Ichigo, do you like that type."

"Girls with powerful abilities."

"Hmm... not particularly." The sudden turn toward romance left Ichigo a little flustered. He turned it over in his head before answering. "I don't really think about that kind of thing right now... if I had to say something..."

"Someone who strives toward a belief or a goal they hold in their heart, I like that kind of person more."

"...Is that so." Senna turned to look at him and broke into a bright, open smile. "I understand."

With that, she went bounding off ahead, looking all around her, hunting for anything familiar or anything that caught her interest. Senna would later admit it was mostly the latter, as for the former, she'd leave that to fate.

"...What is even going on."

Ichigo scratched his head. He had no idea what had just happened. He figured his most notable quality was his strength, so he had tried to open a conversation from there, he never expected it to suddenly veer into romantic territory, and then just as suddenly end.

Ichigo had only recently turned sixteen. Romance was basically a foreign concept to him.

For the entire day, Ichigo accompanied Senna as she wandered. She seemed interested in everything, running all over the place. Whenever something caught her eye, she would dart over for a look, then, once the interest died, go bouncing off again.

And so Ichigo became an emotionless escort machine. Nothing to say, just walk. He kept at it the entire day.

Several times he lost track of Senna completely, his heart lurching each time, terrified that the unidentified group from the day before would suddenly appear and snatch her away.

"By the way... is there really not even the slightest familiar feeling..."

Night fell quietly. Ichigo had been on his feet from morning until evening, and even he, as confident as he was in his own strength, was starting to feel it. He finally understood why his old man sometimes put up such a fight about going shopping with his mother. This was not a human activity.

"Just a tiny bit."

Without realizing it, Senna had drifted near a cemetery. A few flashes passed through her mind, a funeral, a middle-aged person clutching a black-and-white portrait frame, grief plain on their face.

"My... funeral...?"

The grief showed on her face. The Senna who had been so full of life just moments ago went quiet and heavy all at once. Inside that black-and-white frame was her own likeness.

"Well, obviously." Ichigo scratched his head. "You're a Soul Reaper now. Either you were born in Soul Society, or you died here and crossed over."

"Going by the uniform you're wearing, there's no question, you definitely died and crossed over."

"Hey! That is a terrible way to put it?!" Senna couldn't help but fire back. "What do you mean 'died and crossed over'? You, of all people..."

"I'm stating a fact." Ichigo spread his hands. "You died and went to Soul Society, 'died and crossed over' fits perfectly."

"Besides, judging by how you look, you haven't been dead that many years, yet you already have spiritual pressure around the lieutenant level. You're quite a talent, Sen... hm?"

The words of praise cut off. Ichigo's brow furrowed slightly, his gaze snapping to the space behind him, uncertain and sharp. From that direction came a faint ripple in space.

➤ Next: The Shinenju? No—She Is Senna