Chapter 7

"Hey, Ichigo?"

Senna looked over at her friend, smiling at the way he immediately turned to look at her. Her hand remained locked with his own, and her arm remained pressed against his side. And he hadn't made even the slightest move to push her away. She knew her face was bright red, considering that they looked like nothing more than a teenage couple out on a date. As much as she had joked about that when they met up...

We aren't...we aren't like that, are we? Mom teased me about it but I...

"What're you asking about now, Senna?" Ichigo's gruff voice knocked Senna from her musing, his own eyes looking away from her. His free hand scratched at his brow, the taller boy clearly understanding what it looked like as well.

Yet, he still made no moves to change position. Somehow that just made Senna blush even harder.

"Er-I was going to ask about Urahara!" Senna scrambled to answer, trying to fight her embarrassment...and the contentedness she felt right now. "Why do you trust him so much? He's kinda...strange. And that's coming from me!" She couldn't help but smile, at the snort that got from Ichigo. "I mean, he knows things. Even things we don't!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes, despite his own amusement being pretty obvious. "That's what Urahara does. He knows more about me than I do, half the time. Trust me on this Senna. Don't try and assume you know something that he doesn't." With another dry snort, Ichigo looked at Senna out of the corner of his eye. "He probably knows it already and can tell you a thousand ways he knows it better. I think it's how he gets his kicks."

"So he's a know-it-all?" Senna summarized with a wide smile.

Unsurprisingly, Ichigo didn't bother with a response to that sentence. He just smirked a bit, and continued walking forward. Senna giggled a little at him, and tightened her grip on his hand. The two of them walked through progressively emptier streets, and down ill-kept alleys. She only barely recognized the various old houses and shops they strode past. The last time- the only time -she'd been through here, with Ichigo, Senna hadn't really been in any condition to pay attention. Everything had been a blur that day and walking to Urahara's shop had been no different.

Now? Well, now she saw just how run-down this area was. They were well-past the newer areas of Karakura and into one of the old districts. Urahara didn't want people finding him, did he? Or maybe he was just weird and liked being out of the way of anyone.

Ahhh...maybe he wants to hide his experiments! Didn't he say he had a secret lab? Or was that Ichigo who told me that... Senna giggled again, breaking down into helpless laughter at the dry look Ichigo sent her way. I guess that Urahara just wants to hide from people. I get that! I like being alone sometimes too, like when I'm on the roof or in the...

Fighting down the headache she always seemed to get when she thought about her time with Ichigo, Senna let her laughter trail off. "Ichigo? Do you think he can actually help us? I mean, I barely remember anything and I don't know if there's anything he can do about that..."

"Eh, Urahara is an ass, but he knows what he's doing." Ichigo shrugged his shoulders, as the pair rounded a final corner into a wide courtyard. A courtyard with a dingy, run-down old wooden shop at the end. "If anyone can figure out what's happening to us, it's him. I trust him for that at least."

"Bastard will want something out of it, though."

Ichigo said that under his breath, and he probably hoped that Senna wouldn't hear it. She did, but she didn't comment on it. She just clenched his hand, and sucked in a deep breath. Moment of truth time, right?

"Oi! Urahara!" Ichigo didn't seem to be nearly as nervous as Senna, since he just raised his free hand to his mouth and belted out a yell at the old shop. "Get your ass out here already! I know you already sensed us!"

"Geez, do ya have to be so loud, Strawberry?" It wasn't Urahara who answered the shout, but a short red-haired kid, who grumbled as he stumbled out of the shop. His eyes were narrowed in more than a little anger. "The boss is in the back, settin' things up for you and the girlfriend. Didn't need to yell about it."

Rolling his eyes, Ichigo returned the kid's glare. "Yeah, whatever, brat. Shouldn't you be in school or something?"

"Shouldn't you be in school or somethin'?" The kid parroted back, clenching his hand on a broom in his hand. "God, you're almost as bad as the mooch-"

Before the kid could mouth off any more than that, a massive hand came down on his head and knocked the arrogance right out of him. Along with the broom. "Jinta. What have I told you about insulting our guests?"

"Aww, come on Tessai! Didn't you hear him shoutin' his head off?"

Towering above the kid, Urahara's helper crossed his arms and wore a stoic frown. His eyes were hidden behind his glasses, as he looked down upon the kid. "Jinta. Finish your chores, then you may talk with Mr. Kurosaki about his...habit to yell."

"Yeah yeah..." Jinta muttered, picking up the broom and glaring daggers at Ichigo. Who just returned the expression with his typical scowl.

As for Senna? She just watched everything with wide eyes, feeling like she was missing something...as she often did, these past few days. There was a dynamic here and she had no idea what to think about it. Other than being amused, anyway.

"Who was that kid, anyway?" Senna asked, looking between the sulking boy and Ichigo. "You know him?"

Ichigo scowled, "That brat has been working for Urahara as long as I've known him. He's always been a little pain, from the moment I met him. I just ignore him."

Putting action to words, Ichigo ignored the sputtering from the redhead, and walked straight into Urahara's shop. Senna, having not let go of his hand even once, followed along. Back into the shop where she knew answers were waiting. Answers that she may...may regret knowing.

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"Welcome back, Ichigo and friend!" Urahara tipped his hat, when the pair of teenagers entered into the training ground. "Careful now, I wouldn't want one of you to get hurt, now would I?"

He put a bit of humor into his words, though he didn't necessarily feel it. About all he felt, actually, watching Ichigo carefully climb down the ladder with Senna right above him? Regret. In days past, Ichigo could have simply grabbed the girl and jumped down with her. Not a care in the world, because even his human body was sufficiently durable with latent-spiritual power to tank the fall. He couldn't do that now. His body was as peak as any normal human could get but...even that wasn't enough to do something like jump into the training room.

Regret. Even after everything, not a feeling I am accustomed to. Or fond of. Urahara let his hat hide his eyes, and by extension, what he was thinking. I suppose I deserve it for using Ichigo as a weapon all that time. Even so, I am hopeful that we may yet restore his powers. An ember can light a blaze, and the 'spark' in the metaphor may well be the former Shinenju. Certainly she has power all her own.

A power that, despite himself, Urahara was quite interested in examining. So he cupped his hands to his mouth, and shouted up at the pair. "Come on now! We have work to do, and I don't want to keep you too long! You have lives outside my humble shop, I'm sure!"

"Make up your damn mind, Urahara! Do you want us to be careful or quick?!" Ichigo shouted back, and that alone brought a little salve to Urahara's wounded feelings. It was more emotion than the teenager had shown in months.

"You know better than to ask that question, Ichigo!"

Chuckling at the way the boy grumbled at him, Urahara shifted his hidden gaze to the girl who stepped off the ladder beside his student and friend. The girl with purple hair and orange eyes, looking at his training room with obvious awe in her expression. As nice as that was for his ego, he ignored it for the moment. Instead, he took in a breath and reached out with his senses to brush against the girl's soul.

"Hmm...her power is..." Urahara clicked his tongue, and frowned just a little. "There's a sensation I haven't felt in a long time. She'll be a nice challenge."

The girl's power was hiding, just beneath the surface, and she had no idea about it at all. She was kind of like Ichigo. A human with dormant powers, just waiting to be woken up. The difference between the two was that Ichigo gained his power from being the child of a Shinigami and a spiritually aware human. Not just any human, but a powerful pure-blooded Quincy at that. Not that Ichigo knew that little tidbit, and Urahara wouldn't be the one to tell him.

Isshin, you will have to tell your children everything eventually. I won't keep your secrets forever.

That aside, and back to the girl...she was a different beast, and one that had all of Urahara's attention. He'd made discreet inquiries into the girl's family, once Ichigo had brought her to his shop. Not only were her parents not spiritually aware, they were as normal as any human could possibly be. No Quincy blood in the entire family tree, and no latent power like that one fellow who kept inadvertently creating Hollows. By all logic, Senna Yagiri should have no power whatsoever.

"Yet, here you are, with enough latent power to be a seated officer. Quite fascinating, really." Urahara muttered to himself, as the pair of teenagers began walking toward him. His main goal was still to salve his own guilt over what had happened to Ichigo, but he had found another goal. Another reason for doing this. "I am going to enjoy figuring out what makes your power tick, Shinenju."

"You say something, Urahara?" Ichigo called out, narrowing his eyes at the 'humble shopkeeper'. "I know that look. Don't tell me you're planning on making me wear that stupid headband again, are you?"

Oh Ichigo, you never have been able to guess my motives. Urahara gracefully ignored the times that his student had seen right through him. "That 'stupid headband' was one of my greatest inventions, Ichigo! You surely would have died had you not worn it!"

"Yeah right, that thing didn't protect me at all." The teenager grumbled, sending a glance at his friend. "And don't even ask about that, Senna. I don't even want to think about it."

"But..." Senna looked with wide orange eyes at Ichigo, a bit of a pout on her lips.

"No!"

Urahara hid a smile behind his fan. Even without deciding to do this, he imagined the two would have done a lot of good without power. Ichigo would certainly become more like his old self. He already had. Still, though, work waited to be done. "At any rate, I have no intention of repeating your old training, Ichigo." When the teenager turned back to him, Urahara shrugged and waved his fan a little bit. "That training worked because you had latent power to draw out. Ururu trained your body to handle your power. We can't do that if you have nothing to train."

Harsh, perhaps, but the truth. Urahara felt a pang of his own guilt, at the way Ichigo's scowl deepened and his hands clenched. It was, after all, his own fault that the teenager had no power to draw out. He was too weak to defeat Aizen, and had relied on Ichigo becoming strong enough to do it in his stead. The only way even Ichigo had become powerful enough...it didn't bear thinking. Urahara knew he would be completely lost without his powers.

"So what, then. You can't give me my powers back?" Ichigo's voice was bitter and filled with honest frustration. "Fine, I already knew I wouldn't get those back. Can you at least help Senna?"

"Ichigo..." Senna stared at him, her voice soft when she reached her hand out to grasp his arm. "Maybe I can help you? You've been helping me, after all! I'm sure there's a way to get your power back. There has to be!"

Turning to look at her, Ichigo's eyes were filled with an old pain. "No, there isn't. Zangetsu told me if I used the Final Getsuga Tensho that I would lose my power for good. There's no taking that back, is there, Urahara?"

The final words were spoken with his eyes staring at Urahara even if his face didn't move. His scowl firmly in place.

"Weeeellll..." For his part, Urahara waved his fan again. He didn't miss how Ichigo's eyes narrowed at him. "This is all uncharted territory, I'm afraid, but I have some ideas on ways to restore your power. All experimental, of course, and I can't say for sure that any would work. Though..." Here, the old scientist chuckled. "That's half the fun in experimenting, isn't it?"

Ichigo stared, and spoke with a deadpan tone. "Who said I want to be your guinea pig?"

"The way you've been moping without your powers?" Urahara shot back, though with no heat. He still felt too responsible for the situation to do that. "At any rate, I feel the most likely solution will come in helping your friend regain her own power. She is similar to how you were, as her own power is just beneath the surface."

"My...own power?" Senna blinked, looking down at her hands. Well, hand. One was still clenching Ichigo's own. "I kinda remember having powers now, but I thought all of that was gone? You said that last time I was here!"

Urahara nodded, "Indeed, the power of the Shinenju is gone. I also mentioned you had some level of power left, the last time we met. That power is what I hope to bring out. Though I will warn you..."

Red light flared around Urahara, as he lifted his cane up and smiled at Ichigo and Senna.

"...my training is not the nicest in the world."

All Senna could do to respond, was hold Ichigo's hand tight and squeak out a simple, "Eeep..."

As my muse is being difficult on the things I was planning on working with, I came to this since my muse was actually being cooperative with it. Same as usual, not a horribly long chapter, but hey. At least I was able to write something, is how I look at things.

We'll get into the actual training next chapter.