Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. As if that wasn't already obvious.

Among the Dust

Yoruichi groaned loudly, her head was ringing and her vision was mostly blurry, she could only see out of one eye. Shifting to one knee, Yoruichi kept a hand on the ground to steady herself.

What happened?

She had been fighting Aizen. She had been losing. Gradually, the longer the fight had been dragging on the worse she had been using up her reserves of strength and the damage she had been inflicting upon Aizen becoming less and less. She hadn't let up though, she had carried on going – Kisuke had assured her that they only needed to inflict the right amount of damage and then his kido spell would do the rest.

She wiped her hand across her face and winced. There was a cut across her forehead and it was bleeding quite badly. The blood was in her eyes, and it was probably what was half blinding her. At least she hoped that it was the blood. The other option was that she was out an eye and that really wasn't an attractive proposition.

Her limbs ached from blocking Aizen's lazy attacks, but she forced her arms and legs to work and slowly she pushed herself to her feet. It had been a long time since she had taken such a beating, and her body wasn't used to it. She raised her head and looked about her, surveying the damage.

Aizen was gone. That didn't surprise her at all. So had Ichigo and Isshin, and that didn't surprise her either. Ichigo had been the last one standing and if Isshin's body was half as hard as his head then whatever Aizen had hit them with probably had done minimal damage to him. No Isshin, no Ichigo…

Kisuke?

She spun round, trying to locate her long-time friend. It was a mistake. The word spun in the opposite direction to her and she stumbled. Thankfully someone caught her by the elbow and stopped her from falling.

"You alright?"

She sighed in relief. It was the only moment of weakness she allowed herself. It was straight back to business after that one little slip.

"What happened, Kisuke?" She asked, her voice hard and determined, betraying none of the pain and confusion she was feeling.

"I might have miscalculated," he admitted. He seemed to be fine; a little dusty and bruised, but no permanent harm done. "It would appear that a much greater force will be needed to damage Aizen sufficiently."

She nodded. "I take it you have a plan." He always did, the problem was he had a very bad habit of not sharing his plans. Yoruichi had learnt over the decades that you just had to figure them out as you went. Thankfully, Kisuke usually made allowances for the participants in his plans not actually knowing exactly what they should be doing.

"Of course," he answered, smiling softly. "I'm going to Soul Society. I'll leave things here with you."

Her frown intensified. "What? They don't need me here. I'm no medic."

"You need one though," He replied softly. "I've cracked a couple of ribs, I'll be fine. Looks like you took a full blow to the noggin. Stay here; you won't be needed for what happens next."

He left. She just stood there and watched as he shunpo'd away and opened a senkaimon, leaving for Soul Society. The bastard had left her here like she was surplus to requirements. That was mildly infuriating. All that hard work that they had put into defeating Aizen and she was going to sit it out on the side lines and miss the whole show.

She took a step back, her legs felt unsteady, and she tried to turn. Black spots blurred into her already blurry vision and she stumbled once more. If she was going to fall, she was going to fall onto her back rather than her face, she decided. She twisted, gritting her teeth against the pain and felt herself begin to fall, only for her descent to be halted by someone behind her. A rough hand was clasped to her side, and Yoruichi could feel the warmth of a body against her back. Whoever it as grunted with the effort. That seemed wholly unfair. She wasn't that heavy after all.

"Are you alright, Yoruichi-Sama?"

Yoruichi closed her eyes briefly and let out a long breath. Really, she should have known who it was.

"Soifon," she replied quietly. "I'm fine. I should be asking you the same question." She had after all watched from afar as Aizen had cut her former subordinate down and she had a rough idea of the damage done to the young captain. Yoruichi stood up straight and, with great effort, turned to face Soifon.

She looked a mess. It was the only way to describe her. Even through her hazy vision Yoruichi could easily make out the damage that the conflict had wreaked upon the younger Shinigami. Her arm was missing, cut mid-way through her bicep, ending in a bloody, bandaged stump. Yoruichi had known this already having seen it from afar, but seeing it up close now was a whole different matter. Her Shihakushō was hanging open, the front of her shunko outfit lying down her front, dried blood caked to her exposed stomach. Even more bandages were wrapped tightly across her chest and right shoulder. She was covered in bruises and scratches, small cuts and other minor injuries. Her face was streaked with dirt and blood and sweat, her hair slicked to her face. She looked far worse off than Yoruichi felt.

"What happened to your shoe?" Yoruichi asked, her gaze finding its way to Soifon's feet.

"I lost it," Soifon replied.

"Oh," Yoruichi muttered. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth as she felt blood trickle from the cut to her head. She could feel it running down her neck, warm and sticky, her scarf clinging to her skin.

Soifon's breathing was labored. She looked tense, and her right arm twitched occasionally, Yoruichi suspected that Soifon was restraining herself from holding her stump. "You require medical attention," Soifon said. "Captain Unohana is still seeing to Captain Kyoraku, but I am sure that once she has finished with him then she will attend to you. Unfortunately it would appear that we cannot yet receive full aid from the Fourth Division."

Yoruichi turned her head towards where she could feel Unohana Retsu's reiatsu. Yoruichi had thought that the Fourth Division were supposed to be on stand-by, waiting to enter the fray through a specially placed senkaimon that was hidden by a barrier. Either she was mistaken or something had happened to interfere with it. Aizen probably, but she wouldn't have put it past Kisuke to have done something to stop anyone from following him to Soul Society.

She exhaled loudly. "No, not yet," she said, "There are others who require aid more than I." She smiled when she saw Soifon's concerned and skeptical look. "I'm fine, Soifon. Really, I am."

Soifon nodded sharply. She still looked concerned but there was something else in her eyes; resolve and respect. She wouldn't question Yoruichi further and would accept her decision without condemnation, even if she didn't agree.

"I take it that you and Urahara-San have a plan."

Yoruichi nearly winced at that. "He has a plan. My part in it is finished."

Soifon stared at her. "You don't know where he has gone to?"

"I assume Soul Society." Yoruichi wiped more blood away from her face. "I don't know what he plans on doing there though." At least she was being honest there. She didn't particularly like lying at the best of times, and she certainly didn't enjoy lying to Soifon who would take her lies at face value.

Soifon nodded sharply. Her face was set in grim determination and she stared at the spot where Kisuke had disappeared from.

"He'll be fine. Kisuke knows what he's doing."

"It would be nice if he were to share with the rest of us exactly what he is doing."

Yoruichi did wince at that. And then she sighed loudly. Soifon turned to her and watched as Yoruichi half-walked half-stumbled over to some rubble that would make an acceptable seat. Yoruichi sat down and this time her sigh was one of relief. She hadn't realized how much her legs were aching.

Soifon followed her but stayed standing. Without saying anything she ripped a couple of strips of fabric from her ruined uniform. She handed one to Yoruichi and then roughly folded the other into a wad and pressed it gently to Yoruichi's head.

"I'm not good at healing kido," Soifon admitted. Yoruichi felt the warm tickle of kido prickle her skin nevertheless, and she could see Soifon's lips move as she quietly chanted the spell. "You're lucky. I thought perhaps that you'd have at least fractured your skull, but it doesn't appear that way."

Yoruichi shrugged. "Still hurts."

"I think it's his reiatsu. It's interfering with a lot of the healing and seems to have made many injuries a lot worse than they should be."

Possibly explained why Yoruichi was having such a hard time stemming the blood flow. Usually her own reiatsu would take care of injuries such as this and she'd be able to continue fighting. She wondered if it was only Aizen's reiatsu or of it had also been the interference of the hogyoku as well.

"Did he know?"

"Huh?" Yoruichi looked up to Soifon. "Did who know what?"

"Urahara-San," Soifon clarified. "Did he know that Aizen had fused with the hogyoku?"

"He..." Yoruichi took a moment to think over what she was going to say here. She didn't want to accidently damn Kisuke. "He theorized that it was possible. I don't think he actually expected Aizen to do it though." The lie fell so easily from her lips and it tasted bitter.

Soifon nodded but Yoruichi could see that she didn't believe her. "Only if he did, then that would mean that he knew that we stood no chance against him." She dropped the blood soaked wad of cloth and took the spare strip from Yoruichi, folding it neatly before pressing it to the cut. "We knew the dangers of Kyoka Suigetsu, knew that no matter how hard we fought that he still had us under hypnosis," her words sounded bitter and angry, "but we fought anyways. There was still a chance, no matter how slim that one of us might get in a killing blow or at least be able to wound him enough so that Kurosaki could take over."

"Soifon..."

"But with him being fused with the hogyoku we didn't even stand that chance," Soifon continued and her voice shook. "It didn't matter what we did, he would have defeated us no matter what. And if Urahara-San knew that Aizen had fused with the hogyoku and he did not share that information then he sent us to our deaths. He knowingly lined us up as sacrifices and I cannot see for what reason he would do that."

Yoruichi reached and took hold of Soifon's wrist, moving her hand away from her head. She looked into Soifon's eyes and saw the anger there and the confusion and something else that scared Yoruichi. She saw the question that Soifon would ask next, she saw the line of her thoughts and the fear that Soifon had figured out something so terrible she was afraid to speak it.

"If Urahara-San knew this and he willingly let us fight, knowing we had no chance..." she stared at Yoruichi. "If he knew. Then you knew as well."

Yoruichi closed her eyes briefly and let those words wash over her.

"Did you?"

Yoruichi opened her eyes. She was still holding Soifon's wrist. She loosened her grip and slid her hand to Soifon's hand, holding it gently. "It was one of Kisuke's theories. He knew it was possible, but I don't think that he fully comprehended what it would mean. I don't think he knew that it would give Aizen regenerative abilities."

Soifon frowned at her. "You knew?"

Yoruichi nodded. "I knew the theory."

"And neither you nor Urahara-San thought to share this little theory with the rest of us?"

Yoruichi didn't know what to say to that. "We didn't expect him to actually do it."

More lies, they were fast becoming so easy to say to Soifon. Kisuke had known that Aizen had fused with the hogyoku and he had devised a strategy to defeat him if such a thing happened, a binding kido that he had invented himself. He had warned that if Aizen had already begun the transformation then there was a chance that they would need to hit Aizen hard enough so that hogyoku would stop working for him. That was exactly what she and Isshin had been for. The Gotei 13 and the Vizards were not a part of the plan. Soifon was not a part of the plan. The only purpose they served was to take out the Espada and possibly Tousen and Ichimaru.

She looked at the ruined remains of Soifon's arm. Suddenly Kisuke's brilliant plan didn't seem quite so brilliant. There was nothing Yoruichi could have done to prevent that though. She had watched it happen and she hadn't done anything, she had trusted that Soifon would be able to handle herself in her battle. She had handled herself well, but she had still lost. Yoruichi didn't really want to think about what would have happened if Hachi hadn't shown up when he did.

Yoruichi sighed. "What happened, happened, it's in the past now."

"It's so easy for you to just let these things go."

It had to be, Yoruichi probably would go a little bit mad if she thought about them too much. "Even if we had shared the basis of the theory with you, it wouldn't have made any difference to the battle."

"Probably not," Soifon admitted. "But we wouldn't have been fighting blind. We'd at least have known what we were fighting against."

"I'm not going to apologise."

"I know you're not." Soifon almost looked as though she was smiling. It could have quite easily have been a grimace though. "I wouldn't expect you to apologise for anything."

Yoruichi actually laughed. She wished she hadn't, her head spun and white streaks flashed across her vision. She swayed where she was sitting. Soifon's caught her and stopped her from falling. Yoruichi chuckled softly. "You don't have to watch over me."

"I clearly do. You'd have fallen over by now if I wasn't."

Yoruichi once again took hold of Soifon's wrist. She raised her head and looked up the the young woman. She smiled. "I'm sorry, Soifon," she said sincerely, "for a lot of things, but not for everything."

Soifon's eyes widened. "Y... you didn't have to..."

"It was worth it just to see the look on your face."

Soifon's eyes managed to widen further, and then she laughed.

"Forgive me?"

Soifon shook her head, but Yoruichi knew she hadn't meant it as a no. Soifon sighed. "There's nothing to forgive. As angry as I am, I understand the need for what you did. For what he's done. I just wanted some honesty." She shrugged, only her right shoulder lifting with the movement. "AS you said, it wouldn't have changed the outcome of this battle. It wasn't the hogyoku that defeated us."

"At least you saw what hit you," Yoruichi said. "I was looking at Aizen and then the next thing I remember was being face down in the dust. I don't even know what he did."

Yoruichi was surprised when Soifon sat down next to her. She let out a long heavy breath. "I take it that Urahara-San has a plan."

"Yeah, I guess," Yoruichi replied. "I don't know what it is though."

Soifon nodded and they both lapsed into silence. Yoruichi watched, in the distance she could make out the others all running around, trying to get medical attention, the fraught attempt to save lives. And while she watched all that she wondered at how relaxing it felt to be sat away from it all, in the cold with the dust swirling about her and with Soifon sat next to her. Despite the circumstances something about this felt so very right.

She smiled.

"Looks as though Fourth Division is finally here," Soifon said.

Yoruichi turned and followed Soifon's gaze. A senkaimon had opened and from it poured dozens of trained medical Shinigami. Soifon stood up. "I'll go fetch one to attend to you."

"Wait!" Yoruichi grabbed Soifon's hand. Soifon looked back at her. "I'll come with you," Yoruichi said, standing up too. "I can walk just fine. It's only a bump to the head, after all."

Soifon didn't say anything as they walked across the rubble and destruction towards where Fourth was busy setting up a makeshift treatment area. She stayed close to Yoruichi though, close enough so that she was occasionally brushing against Yoruichi. It was surprisingly and pleasantly distracting.

They had to wait a while, but eventually Yoruichi found herself settled down with a calm and handsome young man attending her. Soifon watched over Yoruichi until the young Shinigami turned to her.

"I think that Iemura is free if you requite attention, Captain Soifon," he said slightly nervously.

Soifon regarded him with a cool look. "I am fine, Ogido. I have already been seen to."

He seemed surprised by that; perhaps that she knew his name. He turned back to Yoruichi.
"Nearly done," he said softly.

Yoruichi's eyes travelled to Soifon. She still looked exhausted, still beaten up and no matter what she said Yoruichi knew that wasn't even partially healed. She had only done a quick fix to stop herself from succumbing to her wounds.

"You should go see Iemura," Yoruichi told her. "I'm fine her in Ogido's capable hands." The boy blushed at that.

Soifon scowled. "I do not require -"

"You do," Yoruichi cut in. "You're in a worse state than I am. It's foolish to turn down medical assistance."

Soifon's scowl softened. "Very well. I'll see if he is free." She turned to leave the tent, but stopped just before the exit. "Yoruichi-Sama, about what we discussed before."

Yoruichi raised her head and stared at Soifon. She had really hoped that she had heard the last of it. If Soifon were to tell anyone what she had figured out, what she now knew, then Yoruichi and Kisuke could be in some serious trouble. Soifon had to know that.

Soifon bowed her head. "I just want you to know that I don't blame you."

"I already figured that."

"And I won't... " She trailed off. "It's safe."

Yoruichi smiled. Soifon wouldn't tell a soul and Yoruichi knew that she could trust her to take this little secret to the grave. "I guess I'll see you back in Seireitei."

Soifon turned in surprise. "Seireitei? I thought that you would stay in the world of the living."

"Why would I do that? Seireitei is my home. Besides, I find the company in Seireitei infinitely more agreeable"

Soifon smiled. "I'm sure you do." She turned and left.

"Umm," Ogido looked slightly confused.

Yoruichi looked up to him. "So, how's my head?"

"Looking good," he replied.

Yoruichi opened her mouth to say something but paused when she felt a shift in the air, like a weight being lifted. She stood up and moved out of the tent, looking about her. Nearly everyone else had stopped what they were doing too, everyone feeling the sudden change in the atmosphere.

"Hmm," Yoruichi smiled. "It's over. I guess Kisuke did it then." Yoruichi looked to her left; Soifon was standing just outside of another tent also looking up at the sky. Yoruichi's smile widened. Soifon turned her head and looked right at Yoruichi. "Told you it'd be alright!" Yoruichi called to her, and she turned on her heel and walked back into the tent with a definite bounce to her steps.

I'm glad that you're okay, Soifon

Umm, so I had this idea for a fic and then I wrote it down and it didn't turn out how I first envisioned it. Like a lot of people I was pretty annoyed by the lack of information that was given at the end of Deicide, which left far more questions than it answered. One of my biggest gripes was that no one, not a single character, questioned Urahara's methods. He obviously knew that Aizen had fused with the hogyoku, but it didn't appear as though the other characters knew this. If I was oen of the Gotei 13 I would be pretty pissed with him for that. But then I'd be pretty pissed with hi for a lot of things.

I used Yoruichi and Soifon simply because they're my favourite characters, and also because they were probably the best to ask questions and give non-answers. Overall, I don't think even I answered anything, but it's nice that at least one character is aware and is pretty pissed about Urahara's way of handling things.

Leave a review and tell me what you think.