A.N.: I wanted to post something today, and wanted to make it short and fluffy (just to try out different things). So here you have it! By the way, "Here, There and Everywhere" is a song (short and fluffy) by The Beatles. I don't own it nor Bleach or anything, really.

Here, there and everywhere

Not that Soifon had ever thought too much about love over her long, yet young, shinigami life. If anyone would have asked her before, though, she might have said many things about love - that it was a waste of time, that it was a weakness, that it was a distraction. She might have remembered her once tormented, unreciprocated and unacknowledged love towards her lady, Shihouin Yoruichi, even if she would try to stifle the thought and keep her pride and sanity intact through denial. But she would never have thought it could feel like tranquility, like complete peace.

Never anyone asked her opinion on love, though - at least, not directly, as anonymous declarations on paper never got much thinking out of her past of how would be most appropriate to get rid of such trash. As it was, it was a long time - a little more than one hundred years - before she could give the matter some careful thought, and reach new, unexpected conclusions. And the first one was: even though you could fight it, you couldn't keep love from seeping it's way into your life, changing it for better or for worse, but becoming a part of you and never letting you go.

Here, on her knees on the ground, Yoruichi's head laying on her lap and her own fingers running softly through her hair, just like so many years ago, Soifon kept thinking about those things while admiring the beautiful sleeping face once more. If she had to surrender to love in this moment, so be it, in her opinion; just may these peaceful feelings go on forever.

The second conclusion she reached while letting her fingers softly touch dark, smooth skin under dark, silky hair, was that surrendering to love wasn't nearly as scary as she once may have thought. Maybe it could be the passing of time, and her maturing with it; maybe it was just the comforting weight pressing on her lap on that quiet evening. But if fighting it had changed her life for worse, maybe surrendering could change her for the better. Maybe if she had done that from the beggining, not calling her love any other thing - like duty, like admiration, obsession or worshipfulness, but calling it for what it was, love, only love; maybe then it would have been easier for her to understand the pain she felt by the lack of that presence, maybe she could have let it guide her away from the path of hatred she ended choosing.

As her hands were still on their task of soothing Yoruichi's sleep and her eyes stayed fixed on her closed ones, Soifon knew it didn't matter what would happen tomorrow. She would get there eventually, and the only certain thing was that that love would still be with her, even if the other's presence might not. For that love she would keep fighting and this was a comforting thought. For that love, too, she might feel incomplete every time the other was away, and now she could accept that - to forever live, not for vengeance, but for that feeling; to forever be happy, knowing there was something truly pure and constant in her life; and to forever suffer for it as well.

"Hi, there", a low, sensuous voice said, as golden eyes opened to look at the compenetrated face staring back. Soifon could see her love reflected right back from those mesmerizing mirrors, and wondered if Yoruichi could see her own loving expression reflected in her darker ones.

Her third conclusion about love - this one not completely conscious, as a gentle hand brought her face steadily close to smiling lips - was that it existed, no matter how or when, and that was all that mattered.

Lyrics:

Here, There and Everywhere

To lead a better life
I need my love to be here

Here
Making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can
Deny that there's something there

There
Running my hands through her hair
Both of us thinking how good it could be
Someone is speaking
But she doesn't know he's there

I want her everywhere
And if she's beside me
I know I need never care
But to love her
Is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing
That love never dies
Watching her eyes
And hoping I'm always there

To be there
And everywhere
Here, there and everywhere