Déjà Vu
Soifon stared up at her bedroom ceiling for 5 minutes longer than she usually allowed herself but today was going to be a long day and she felt that those extra minutes were going to be needed in order to deal with this unusual break in her routine. With her thoughts back on the day ahead of her, Soifon got out of bed and dressed herself in her standard captain's uniform only now she finished a lot earlier then her schedule was used to due to the change in her hair style. This saved Soifon time in the long run during her days except it had taken a few extra hours added onto her training routine to adapt to how much lighter she felt for the first couple of weeks or so, plus it served as a reminder as to how much hairstyles can affect movement for her as well.
Usually after getting dressed, Soifon would head to the barracks kitchen and have something to eat but the thought of trying to stomach a meal and put up with that man in the same day put her off eating entirely so instead the captain of squad 2 focused on the reason as to why this day was happening in the first place as she flash stepped outside and that was Yoruichi. Yoruichi had approached her with an official form to grant Kisuke the rights to test something he had created in the Soul Society. At first Soifon was going to decline the request instantly however that changed when Yoruichi revealed that she'd be tagging along for the ride which meant more potential time with Yoruichi and any time with Yoruichi was worth putting up with Kisuke.
There was no surprise that Soifon was the first to arrive at the designated testing grounds for whatever the evil genius had invented this time. It was set outside the walls of the Seireitei and out in the wasteland that surrounded the city. It had not taken the captain long to reach it but looking behind her now, the city looked like a tiny dot on the horizon where she hoped it would be safe from whatever was going to be tested. If Kisuke thought it was too dangerous to try in the human world then the effects could be just as deadly here which is why Soifon had chosen such a remote area where no one could be potentially blown up. A quick glance around confirmed to the captain that she was indeed the first and only person there so now all that was left was to play the waiting game and sure enough, right on cue, a squadron of shinigami appeared half an hour later and began setting up powerful kido barriers within the surround area. Soifon was taking no chances with this madman and his crazy experiments. Left playing the waiting game yet again once the barrier had been secured and the team of shinigami returned home after completing their job, Soifon sat down on the ground and cleared her mind in order to meditate, again making great use of time available to her while she waited for Yoruichi and Kisuke to arrive.
Nervous? Suzumebachi's voice buzzed from the depths of her mind.
A little. Soifon admitted, "I have no idea what he intends to set off; his report was sketchy at best. I should have denied him."
Yes you should have. As head of Security it was your job to tell him no and instead you gave him full permission to blow up the Seireitei…Good job.
He won't blow up the Seireitei. Soifon countered.
When it gets rebuilt, who do you think they will get to replace you? Suzumebachi mused happily to herself.
Enough. We have company. Soifon ended their communication and snapped to attention to see Kisuke and no one else resealing the barrier now that he passed through it.
"Good morning Captain Soifon. I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long." Kisuke smiled brightly at her liker they were old friends.
"I was prepared for you being late." Soifon stated after concealing her disappointment at not seeing Yoruichi anywhere.
"Well what's the point of sticking to a schedule all the time?" Kisuke dismissed the accusation off with a wave of his hand and busied himself with hunting through the inner pockets of his robes.
"Fine. Now get this done and over with already so I can return." Soifon commanded eager to get to the more important tasks of her day.
"Oh don't go getting all upset now just because she isn't here. Yoruichi told me to pass along a message to you saying that she'd catch up with you later at some point." Kisuke grinned happily at Soifon who quickly looked away from the scientist.
Am I that easy to read? Soifon questioned, fully aware that she could feel herself blushing from someone else acknowledging her relationship with Yoruichi.
When it comes to Yoruichi, yes. Suzumebachi chimed in happily.
"Ah here it is." Kisuke called out in triumph and Soifon could see a small metallic object in the shape of a rectangle held in the palm of his hand.
"What is that?" Soifon asked, eyeing the device with caution since she was all too aware that anything could be stored inside that object.
"Well to be perfectly honest…I'm not entirely sure." Kisuke admitted with a sheepish smile.
"How can you not know?" Soifon turned on him, ready to call this whole test off at any second.
"I made it in my sleep a few days ago and I haven't been able to work out what it's meant to do. So the only option left is to see what it does in person." Kisuke concluded and pointed the unknown device ahead of him and prepared to push a small silver button on its side.
"Wait! Urahara!" Soifon shouted and lunged towards Kisuke in order to stop him now that she knew he had no idea what was going to happen. Soifon collided into him and the two were sent crashing to the ground only she wasn't in time to stop Kisuke from pressing the small button. In a split instant, all the air around them roared past them and it tore at their clothing with enough pressure that it kept them both pinned down to the ground as it created a deadly cyclone around them.
"What-what is happening? Kisuke!" Soifon yelled at him, unable to see more than a few feet in front of her due to the cyclone sucking up the desert sand that was now cutting through her skin at high speeds.
"It seems to be creating a tornado of some sort!" Kisuke shouted over the roaring winds from somewhere to the left of her.
"Make it stop!" Soifon covered her head with her arms in order to provide some protection from the onslaught of the deadly sand. A blindly white light exploded from the left of her where she believed Kisuke was and she felt the push on her body from a shockwave of air that passed over them mere seconds afterwards. It dispelled the cyclone tearing up around them and returned the area back into the peaceful desert landscape it was before. Soifon remained still and tried to assess the situation as best she could. Sand was falling from the sky in surprising amounts now that the tornado was no longer around to keep whipping it all over the place so she quickly stood up to avoid being buried beneath the stuff and was again surprised to find that her entire body was sore and covered in tiny scratches from where the sand had cut her. "What did you do?" Soifon turned on Kisuke, noting with great displeasure that sand fell out of her hair as she did so.
"I pushed the button again." He stated simply and patted himself down.
"…You are very lucky it only created a tornado." Soifon growled through a clenched jaw.
"I'd say we're lucky that the button stopped it." Kisuke chuckled to himself as he freed sand from his robes.
"I'm done here." Soifon flash stepped over to the edge of the barrier and exited the area, leaving Kisuke behind by himself.
Rumours quickly spread through the Seireitei that anyone walking through the streets did so at their own risk since the captain of squad 2 found fault with anyone who crossed her path and made sure to double their work flow for the day which had given Yoruichi even more of a reason to catch up with the captain now gone rogue. Luckily for Yoruichi, this proved an easy task since Soifon was not trying to conceal her location, she was getting closer to the 2nd Division but what intrigued Yoruichi the most about what had happened were the random patches of sand she stumbled across as she followed Soifon's path. No doubt it was linked to why her little bee was in such a bad mood and Yoruichi made a mental note to thank Kisuke since it took some time to get Soifon to relax as it was without her being angry as well.
Yoruichi flash stepped inside of the walls of the 2nd Division and landed neatly in the courtyard where Soifon had previously been which did not bode well in Yoruichi's mind. Soifon must have known she following her and didn't wait for Yoruichi to arrive like she usually did. What have you gotten me into Kisuke? Yoruichi sighed mentally and pushed off the ground in the direction of Soifon's quarters and actually found herself running through the many different ways in which she could attempt to calm her little bee down the closer she got to the shoji doors which now stood between them. I've done nothing wrong; all I have to do is get her smiling again. Yoruichi coached to herself and tried to recall if there was anything she had done wrong recently that Soifon might turn this into but the two of them had been doing just fine, not perfectly, every couple has their ups and downs but they were doing alright so far. Despite not being "out" as a couple yet, it's a common rumour that the two have been seeing each other before the battle against Aizen and since his defeated, they have been able to enjoy more time together without the planning of a war getting in the way.
"Are you coming in or not?" Soifon called from inside her quarters, causing Yoruichi to visibly wince from the agitated tone in Soi's voice. Braced for another onslaught about how incompetent Kisuke was, Yoruichi slid open the door and stepped inside to find Soifon, her back to Yoruichi, stood in the centre of the room shaking her captain's haori with sand being scattered everywhere.
"So…how'd it go?" Yoruichi decided to bite the bullet and get it over with.
"I'm lucky I wasn't buried alive." Soifon continued to keep herself busy in freeing her clothes from as much sand as possible.
"Was it really that bad?" Yoruichi moved closer to Soifon in an attempt to wrap her arms around her little bee.
"Did you know he had no idea what was going to happen?" Soifon threw her haori on the ground and turned on Yoruichi and ignored the fact that she had made the goddess flinch from her sudden outburst, she had to say everything she could while she had the chance. "Because if you did, you willingly put me in danger and for all you know that thing could have killed us!"
"I didn't think it would be that bad." Yoruichi spoke carefully, completely taken aback by Soifon's accusation.
"That's part of the problem Yoruichi, you don't think. So long as you get what you want, the rest of the world can sort itself out." Soifon lashed out again and instantly regretted doing so, her anger was getting the better of her but it was providing her with courage to actually say any of this.
"Wait what?" As often as Yoruichi had tried to get Soifon to stop calling her 'Yoruichi-sama' it hurt that Soi had finally granted her request in this situation.
"You heard me Yoruichi; you're so busy planning things to suit your own schedule you forget that other people may feel differently and want something else instead." Soifon managed to correct her earlier statement into what she actually meant. "I'm done playing to your timetable."
"H-how long have you kept this hidden from me?" Yoruichi managed to ask while her brain played catch up on the situation.
"Why should that matter?" Soifon looked straight at her and Yoruichi could tell that Soifon was completely serious. "I'm saying it now."
"Well - the whole point of having a partner is so you don't need to hide things from them, particularly when you have a problem." Yoruichi explained while trying to keep a level head despite the jab in her heart at how Soifon seemed to have forgotten that's one of the reasons that brought them together.
"Then maybe I don't need a partner anymore." Soifon retaliated before she had time to think.
Yoruichi didn't say anything this time and they both stood in silence, both absorbing the meaning of those words.
Yoruichi was unable to comprehend any of what just happened, they had been doing fine or so she had believed and after learning that wasn't the case, any chance of being able to try and fix things had been taken away from her. She hadn't even been given a chance to work things out or find out what had caused any of this that Yoruichi could only look at Soifon while a storm of emotions raged within her. Soifon was also playing catch up with the situation and coming to terms with what she had said, she knew the moment the words had left her mouth that she hadn't meant them at all, she had lashed out at Yoruichi yet again and she knew her time at rectifying the situation was quickly running out as Yoruichi looked more heartbroken with each passing second.
"Wait I -" Soifon reached out to Yoruichi who stepped away from her while shaking her head in disbelief. "I didn't mean it-" Soifon tried again but it was too late, Yoruichi used her trade mark flash step to vanish from the room before Soifon could get the words out. "Fuck…" Soifon ran her hands through her hair in exasperation and leaned against the wall, "What have I done…" she mumbled and allowed herself to slump down the wall to the ground in defeat.
There were many possible ideas that Soifon was able to think of while she remained sat on the floor, most of them were how she shouldn't have taken out her anger on Yoruichi or about keeping her big mouth shut and try to be happy with the times she could see Yoruichi, even if it did mean putting up with Kisuke or someone else all the time.
Or you could have tried explaining things to her in a calm manner. Suzumebachi chimed in as usual although there was a softness to her presence this time when compared to their usual conversations which Soifon was highly grateful for.
Please not now…Soifon didn't need someone else to tell her how she could have handled as well, she was doing a good job of that herself.
I know…it's just that you've been sat here a while now and thinking about the things you could have done isn't going to get you anywhere. Soifon knew that Suzumebachi was right there but how was she supposed to focus on work after destroying one of the best things that would ever happen to her. Then try looking for her, Suzumebachi suggested though Soifon didn't see how that would work either. Yoruichi's presence vanished soon after she left Soifon's quarters which meant Yoruichi did not want to be found, she could be anywhere and the search would be made even more difficult if she had transformed into her cat form. It's better than sitting around and doing nothing, Suzumebachi countered and Soifon knew she had a point there.
"Alright I'll try to find her." Soifon agreed although she had no hope whatsoever in actually being able to find Yoruichi, she allowed Suzumebachi to guide her throughout the Seireitei checking all sorts of places that Yoruichi was known to visit and some more unusual places that no one went to just in case. The search proved pointless though since Soifon was correct, Yoruichi did not want to be found by Soifon and there was no sign of her, cat form or not, the only thing searching did do was keeping Soifon's mind busy which was what Suzumebachi had wanted to do in the first place. This is pointless. Soifon thought after scanning the surrounding rooftops for signs of a black cat, I'm just wasting time doing this.
What else do you want to do then? Suzumebachi prompted. Soifon thought through her tasks for the day and the only one that slightly appealed to her was writing up the report and dealing with paperwork.
That way I don't have to deal with people… Soifon concluded with no enthusiasm at all.
That sounds like a good plan. Suzumebachi agreed and Soifon pushed off the rooftop and headed back to the 2nd Division barracks where she remained locked up in her office for the remainder of the day, refusing to see anyone who was brave enough to knock on her door.
Word soon spread around squad 2 that their captain wished to be left alone and it came down to the seated squad members to run the place since Omaeda used Soifon's absence as an excuse for a day off. Luckily the 2nd Division members were well trained and were soon able to sort out the initial shock of having no captain or vice-captain around. News of squad 2's predicament became the talk of the day within the Soul Society amongst those who liked to gossip and that's exactly how Yoruichi found out about the division grinding to a gradual halt as a group of shinigami joked about what had happened as they passed a certain black cat that appeared to be sunbathing in the last hours the sun had to offer for the day on a window ledge. Curiosity got the better of Yoruichi and she made her way over the 2nd Division where she was able to see for herself that the division had in fact been leaderless for the entire day.
Yoruichi remained on top of the walls that ran around the 2nd Division and thought long and hard about what she should do while she looked in the direction that would take her to Soifon's quarters. Her original plan was to leave Soifon alone for a good few days before confronting her again, allowing both of them plenty of time to calm down since it was very clear to Yoruichi that Soifon regretted her actions instantly. Proof of this was shown when Soifon tried to reach out to her and take it all back, the only reason Yoruichi had fled the room was because she had been hurt by Soi's words and her instinct was to fight back but that would have just made the situation worse. Yoruichi felt even worse about leaving without being able to explain that she needed some time when she sensed Soifon moving all over the Seireitei, obviously trying to find her but Yoruichi wasn't ready yet. Using one of the reasons as to why their relationship started in the first place as a negative hurt Yoruichi a lot more than being insulted and she needed more time to get control of her emotions again.
What Yoruichi didn't factor in was Soifon ignoring her duties as a squad captain, which could be overlooked by the other captains for a day or two but if it continued without sign of improvement, Soifon would be put under investigation and a review board to see if she was still worthy to fulfil the duties of captaincy. It wouldn't have been that bad if Omaeda was a more competent lieutenant but he had ran off the moment he realised he could get away with it and Yoruichi believed he would keep enjoying his time off for as long as he thought he could get away with it. Yoruichi also knew that the pressure of a review board on top of having to repair a relationship would be a lot for anyone to deal with so the sooner she spoke to Soifon, the better it would be for the captain in the long run. I'll have to do first thing tomorrow, Yoruichi decided since she still felt very raw from their earlier encounter to face Soifon at the moment so the black cat retreated from the 2nd Division for now with plans to return in the morning set firmly in place.
Soifon slowly woke up the next day feeling very confused. She vividly remembered not going to bed last night and had expected to wake up feeling very stiff and weary from having fallen asleep at her desk but instead found herself feeling very comfortable in her bed, fully clothed in her nightwear robes. The only thought that stopped her from freaking out was the possibility that Yoruichi had returned at some point during the night, found her asleep and put her to bed as it wouldn't have been the first time. The flaw to this being the case was that Yoruichi had never once changed her out of her uniform on such an occasion except there really was no one else who would have been brave enough to enter her quarters, let alone put her to bed after having done so.
Desperate to confirm whether or not some stranger had indeed invaded her privacy, Soifon wracked her brain for ways to identify if it had been Yoruichi who put her to bed when she remembered her uniform. Soifon leapt out of bed and rushed over to her storage cabinet to find that her uniform was folded exactly the way she did it and her captain's haori was neatly hung up. It was Yoruichi, Soifon mentally sighed in relief since again only Yoruichi knew where and how she stored her clothes. Any temporary relief Soifon felt at her theory having been proven right was replaced by her cheeks burning up into a blush at the realisation that Yoruichi had dressed her for bed despite what had happened between them which drove Soifon to the conclusion that Yoruichi had wanted to talk but having found her asleep, put her to bed instead. Soifon felt a new sense of hope wash over her like a breath of fresh air and she was filled with a new purpose to get through her daily tasks as past experiences had taught both Yoruichi and Soifon that it was easier to get time to themselves after the work day had ended so that was when Yoruichi was most likely going to show herself again.
With new energy burning through her veins, Soifon was eager to get her day started and she swiftly changed into her uniform though left her captain's haori behind this morning as she wanted to start the day off by training to make up for the fact that Kisuke's testing failure had replaced her usual sparing practice the previous morning. What pleased Soifon even more that morning was that she was not alone in the training grounds of squad 2 as some of the more dedicated members were there as well and she been able to work up a good sweat by sparring with one of her seated officers by the time a messenger arrived and interrupted their battle.
"What is it?" Soifon asked after having thanked the officer for the sparring match.
"Forgive the intrusion Captain but you requested to be informed of when the barrier had been completed." The messenger knelt before her.
"Barrier? What barrier?" Soifon asked, genuinely confused as to what the messenger was talking about since she couldn't recall any reason for a barrier being set up today or this early in the morning.
"The barrier to set up the testing ground for Urahara's invention Captain." The messenger informed her without delay.
"What?" Soifon raised an eyebrow, wondering if she had heard the man correctly.
"He's expected any moment now Captain."
"That happened yesterday." Soifon corrected him and wondered if the man had come down with some kind of illness or if he had been drinking on duty.
"Err it's scheduled for today Captain. You gave out orders to have a barrier set up in the western wastelands and to be told of its completion should you not be present at the time." The messenger explained, feeling very confused as to why he was explaining this to his captain in the first place.
"No that was yesterday at half past six in the morning. I was there for the completion of the barrier and witnessed the testing of Urahara's device. It created a strong tornado of some sort that was dispelled by the device in question so do not attempt to tell me that I am wrong-" At that moment a Hell Butterfly came into sight and landed on the messenger's shoulders and after a moment or two, no doubt having relayed its message to the man, it flew off the way it had came from. "Well?" Soifon asked him impatiently.
"Urahara Kisuke has arrived at the testing grounds Captain." The messenger gulped, worried that he was going to be reprimanded for following through with her orders since his captain seemed to be acting quite strange this morning. The man also wondered if she should go to the 4th Division for a medical check-up though made sure not to voice his concern to Soifon otherwise he'd be the one spending the night in the infirmary.
"What the hell is that man playing at now?" Soifon grumbled to herself and kicked off the ground as hard as she could and used shunpo to exit the grounds before the confused messenger could even blink.