- Someone asked me if I would care to write more about what happens after the 'Curiosity and the Cat' story; I'm more than happy to keep writing about it, so I decided to post this, followed by little short-fic types chapters.

--

Shamed

She had been dragged back. No time to sit and cry, she had a duty and image to keep up. And she had a large pissed off family to answer to. They stuck her in a guest room, after that display who knew what she hid in there? Shaking slightly, Yoruichi let herself fall onto the bed. She had to pull herself together before she faced them. She needed to pull herself together, because Kisuke had asked her not to worry. She wrapped her arms around one of the posters of the bed. He hadn't told her. Was that what he had been working on, when he would disappear from her? It was amazing what the man could hide.

Forcing herself to stand, Yoruichi told herself she could keep going. Hiding herself wouldn't be an option, though those around her would probably want to hide her existence for a while. She wouldn't let them, she would continue training, try and master her newest technique and pretend it never happened. How she would pull off the last part she had no idea. There would be many whispers and questions, probably insults too.

It didn't really matter where Urahara had stood, he wasn't someone she should cry over as he left. Her strong legs buckled and she fell back to the bed. Damn it, she was better then this! She practically scratched away the new tears, and forced her unsteady legs to hold her up. Nearly stumbling on her way to the mirror, Yoruichi was glad her clothes hadn't rumpled, or that her eyes hadn't turned to an unmanageable shade of bright red. Pressing her sleeve to her face to wipe away the moisture, she pulled her hair out its ponytail.

She stared at her reflection a moment longer before putting her hair back up. Clearing her throat to test that it was ready for speech, Yoruichi took a deep breath. Her attention went down to her hands. One trembled slightly, and she balled it into a fist. The tremor wasn't followed by another one, so she relaxed her hand. Yoruichi managed to hold herself straight for a moment, before her body slumped and she wrapped her arms around her body to hug herself. She drew a deep breath, trying to catch the scent of Kisuke, she had no idea when she would see him next. When he would be able to hold her again.

The opening of the door was the only warning she had to pull herself straight again. Turning around, she was surprised to see who had come to talk to her.

"Byakuya?"

He gave her a sad look. Well, all of his expression were sad now, ever since his wife had become ill, but this time she could tell they were sad for her.

"I knew you were friends with him," Byakuya wouldn't use Kisuke's name, they never got along. "But seeing you like that was different."

"I'm sure it was a surprised for everyone." She was proud that her voice hadn't broken.

He came farther into the room, and closed the door. "I can talk to you for five minutes Yoruichi, until someone comes to yell at you."

"I assume getting in wasn't easy."

"Getting in was easy, being able to say something was the hard part."

"They were going to have you stand quietly in the background?"

"Yes, and those hard fought five minutes aren't going to be wasted talking about that."

She crossed her arms and held them close to her chest. "What are they going to be used for?"

"I don't care that what you did shamed your family."

Ah yes, the terrible shame she was supposed to be feeling. Could they really expect her to feel that? If anything, she was ashamed of them.

"I'm here to see how this going to affect you, and start the good rumors before people revolt."

How she was affected? Her tense arms trembled, and she had to take a deep breath to stop herself from crying again. She was stronger than this! Before he left Kisuke had told her he was sure she could pull through, though she wondered if it was a cruel joke the universe was playing on her. A silent tear managed to escape, Yoruichi was glad she wasn't sobbing.

"Yoruichi…" Byakuya had walked to her side in the time she was battling with herself.

She gritted her teeth. "I'm supposed to ashamed, I'm not."

In the minute he had left, Byakuya hugged Yoruichi.

--

- Hmm.. I think the reason I really like this is because I got to write Byakuya with a nice personality… Though, Yoruichi's struggle was an interesting challenge too.