Soi Fon POV
"So I would like you to take her back with you to Soul Society." Lady Yoruichi finished setting down her cup of tea, her golden eyes glinting in amusement at my obvious excitement on being able to do something for Lady Yoruichi. Suddenly the door burst open and a young woman appeared jumping at Lady Yoruichi, I watched in outraged bemusement as a disheveled Kisuke Urahara appeared at the door with black scribble marks all over his face and a largish sized lump on his forehead. Seeing this Lady Yoruichi just sighed, shaking her head slightly.
"Ane-chan, Kisuke-nii is trying to make Are-cat take a bath!" the young woman complained childishly, hugging Lady Yoruichi tighter. I abruptly observed her skin color which looked like a washed out version of Lady Yoruichi's, her long thigh length hair the color almost identical to Urahara's, the dark green collar with the large bell on it, the cat-like ears that twitched in annoyance as she poked her tongue out at Urahara and the long furred tail that currently twitched in a fit of outrage.
"Sorry, Yoruichi I tried to trick her into a bath but she found out," he told her sheepishly, rubbing his head ruefully "I gotta say though, she is extremely fast and packs quite a wallop when she wants too." He continued, coming into the room and sitting down at the table after greeting me, ignoring the girl's outraged hiss.
"Listen, Are if you are to go with Soi Fon here to the Soul Society you will need to get used to bathing frequently." Lady Yoruichi gently explained to the girl, Are while softly scratching her furry ears.
"But it takes forever to dry out Are-cat's fur once it gets wet," she complained drowsily, "But Are-cat'll do it if you say so Yoruichi-nee." she finished, starting to purr as Lady Yoruichi continued scratching her ears.
"Well, off you both go now." Lady Yoruichi told the pair pushing Are away lightly and giving Urahara a significant look "And Are, you should probably get out of your Gigai before you bathe." Are sighed and started to walk off, however just before she moved off I just barely noticed her body blur slightly for a second. I shook my head thinking to myself that the lack of sleep was going to my head as I hadn't had a decent nights sleep in over a week due to the overload in work. Suddenly she was behind me and whispering in my ear with a wicked look on her face.
"That's right, Are-cat's their daughter. . . Just kidding, no need to worry Are-cat's no relation to either." she suddenly disappeared as suddenly as she had come, my expression changing from shock/horror to relief. Turning back to Lady Yoruichi I started in surprise as I saw the same black scribbling's on her face as Urahara's only hers were mockingly cat referenced.
"Sorry about that Soi Fon, if one of us isn't there to supervise her she wouldn't bath properly, anyway would you like to stay the night? You look like you could use a good night's sleep." Lady Yoruichi said before sighing heavily not noticing the scribble on her face making me think that she hadn't seen the girl move either, meaning that despite the childish, comedic side she shows, she is extremely fast and most likely, just as powerful.
"Would it be alright if I did?" I asked tiredly, inwardly delighted to be near my idol for that long.
"Of course, you can if you can stand the drama," Lady Yoruichi replied dramatically before sighing again getting up and leaving after saying "Feel free to take a nap or something while I go check on those two, to make sure they haven't destroyed the bathroom… again."
I had taken Lady Yoruichi's offer at face value and it felt like I had just fallen asleep when I was woken for dinner by Are which consisted of putting ice down my Shihakushō, drawing funny faces on my face and when they didn't work sticking a wet finger in my ear and blowing after which whispering in my ear "Psst…Yoruichi-nee is gonna disappear again if you don't wake up." which made me shoot up straight flinging off Are who twisted cat-like in midair to land on her feet,
"No, Lady Yoruichi don't leave me again!" I cried only to discover a snickering Are watching me with those creepy swirling silver eyes of hers glittering with merriment.
"Just kidding!" she called out to me, as I glared at her she just smirked and poked her tongue out.
"Are ya gonna come with Are-cat or ya just gonna stand and stare at Are-cat all day." Are asked her long blonde hair glinting silver in the light, spiraling out around her as she turned and treaded out the door. As she left I noticed how eerily quiet she moved her footsteps making no noise as she moved not even making her bell jingle.
I followed a capering Are into the dining room and saw a really exasperated Lady Yoruichi and Urahara both with multi colored scribbles, bright snot green hair that seemed stuck in a weird shape (in Lady Yoruichi's case at least it resembled snakes which couldn't be said for Urahara). After they had cleaned themselves up to look like their normal selves we sat down for dinner, it was a blessedly normal affair with Are thankfully keeping her mouth shut, only giving me impish looks every now and then, until Yoruichi made a comment that caused Urahara to bring out a folding fan and hold it in front of his face. We had been talking about the experiment that had been done on Are when Lady Yoruichi praised Urahara on discovering a crucial piece of information that I didn't understand a word of, and Urahara brought out that fan. Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed Are's malevolent glare aimed at the fan, for Lady Yoruichi urgently motioned for Urahara to put it away. The next thing I hear is a sibilant malevolent whisper that did not sound like Are and the air went heavy with something unexplainable.
"I do not like your fan Kisuke-chan, Che!" suddenly the sensation disappeared and Are's expression changed from malevolent to annoyance so rapidly that except for that malevolent whisper you'd think it had never happened.
"Are-cat doesn't like your fan Kisuke-nii, if ya don't get rid of it, Are-cat is gonna use it as a chew toy." Are remarked to Urahara, who sheepishly put it away commenting
"Well with an appearance of Shinkirō, how could I not." He then looked expectantly at Are who stared confusedly back at him saying
"Who is Shinkirō? And why are ya all staring at Are-cat for."
Urahara looked disappointed for a moment, and I decided to ask what was up later. Well we finished our meal peacefully, retreating to the lounge room after that where I decided to ask Urahara what that comment earlier was about while Are was doing the dishes.
"What was that comment about Shin-something earlier?"
Both Lady Yoruichi and Urahara looked at me before looking at each other.
"Well, you found her so you should tell her." Urahara said.
"But you can explain it to her better than I could, Kisuke so you can tell her about it." Lady Yoruichi replied, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Very well," he sighed, leaning forwards "This is the situation, from what we can gather, Are's mind is split into two people one is Are who you know and the other is Shinkirō." Urahara leaned back watching me expressionlessly as I took it in.
"So you're basically telling me that there are two Are's right?" I questioned, alarmed at the thought of two Are's.
"No, Shinkirō is completely different from Are, it would be best if you thought of the two of them as completely separate individuals." Lady Yoruichi told me seriously also leaning forwards, bracing her arms on her knees.
"So how did this come about?" I asked in curiosity, staring at the two of them.
"Well, we don't actually. . ." Lady Yoruichi broke off, as the subject of our discussion, Are bounced into the room, and into Urahara's lap where she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head upon his shoulder, smiling at me sleepily, seeming for the first time like an innocent child rather than a devil in disguise with that sleepy look on her delicate pixie-like face that was completely enviable rather than that demonic mischief look that usually haunted her face.
"We will finish this discussion later, if you like?" Urahara asked quietly glancing down at the now slumbering Are as I nodded silently "I'll just put her into bed, the child's exhausted". With that he retreated towards what I'd assume are the bedrooms carrying the still sleeping Are like she weighed nothing, considering that she was rather tall though extremely slender.
"Well, time for a little sake I believe." Lady Yoruichi said, reaching for the bottle that I'd somehow managed to miss during my quick scan of the room when I'd first come in.
"Want some?" she asked.
I was thinking about the things they had told me last night, as I watched Are leap around in front of me within the Senkaimon as we raced through the dividing realm between the Soul Society and the Living World. The end of the passageway suddenly loomed ahead and with a delighted cry Are jumped through it ignoring or not hearing my warning not to recklessly jump out. A warning that turned out to be justified as I stepped out to find Are lying atop a winded Jūshirō who she had bowled over. I watched as Are quickly jumped up and easily lifted Jūshirō into her arms as she looked at him worriedly, panicking slightly as he started coughing violently.
"Ane-chan, what should Are-cat do?" she asked me pleadingly, her usually lyrical, slightly mocking voice going faintly high pitched with fear.
"Take him to the fourth Division, to a woman named Unohana who is the current Captain of that Division." I replied, and she took off halfway through my answer not even bothering to ask for directions. Funny thing was she was heading in the most direct route towards the fourth.