Yay me, another chapter.
Thank you for all the reviews and support so far, slowly but surely I'm cranking this fic out.
Bridges
Yoruichi leant forward her elbows resting on the large oak desk in front of her; it was heavy and polished to such a high degree that she could easily see her face reflected in it. She was pretty sure that oak shouldn't ever have been polished like that, but then her father had strange tastes. This was his old office and she hadn't had a chance to redecorate it yet. She had a feeling that, apart from the tedium of the work, one of the reasons she so stringently avoided the office was because of its décor.
The desk sat in front of large windows that were in desperate need of a good clean, one wall had a long line of shelves packed with books. Only the book case closest to the desk looked as though its contents were used; the books worn and peeling. The other books were purely for decoration. The opposite wall was frankly an offence to Yoruichi's senses. A large and obscene tapestry was hung in the centre depicting her family tree, the elegant calligraphy tracing from the top of the fabric and dwindling down to rest finally on her own name. It cut a lonely figure beneath so many other names.
Yoruichi bent her head forward and narrowed her eyes at the well polished desktop. It was almost as good as a mirror.
"You're not taking this seriously, Yoruichi-San."
"Sure I am," Yoruichi replied raising her head and smiling. "I always take my work seriously."
Her assistant, Yadomaru Lisa, sighed in annoyance. "Then would you please make a decision." She was carrying a large file stuffed with paperwork that Yoruichi just knew she would be forced to read.
Yoruichi looked at the two offending pieces of paper that so urgently required her attention. They were photographs, one of her and her father standing in front of an old fashioned fireplace; his hand gripping her shoulder and both of them looking thoroughly miserable, the second was just of her father glaring at the unfortunate photographer. One of these would end up being the company Christmas card this year.
"They're not very festive," Yoruichi commented. "Couldn't we have had a picture of Santa? Or a snowy landscape perhaps."
"No," Lisa answered. "Besides what does it matter? Half the employees don't even celebrate Christmas."
"Not in the Christian sense, no," Yoruichi sighed and picked up the picture of her and her father. "How old is this photo? I look very young in it." She must have only been in her mid-teens, her hair was short and unkempt and her eyes had a wide-eyed innocence about them.
"We did arrange for a new photograph to be taken but you didn't show up."
"Whoops," Yoruichi said with a grin. "I'm sure I had a good excuse."
"Your excuse was that you were, and I quote: 'Getting some.'"
"Like I said; a good excuse."
Lisa folded her arms in front of her and started tapping her foot impatiently. She had been Yoruichi's assistant for a nearly a year now, and the fact that she had lasted this long was a standing testament to her ability. Yoruichi shouldn't have been surprised at the woman's organisational skills, or her capacity to put up with the Shihouin's indifferent manner. After all Yadomaru Lisa used to be Kyoraku Shunsui's assistant manager at the Eighth bar, and if she could make that man work then handling Yoruichi must have been a walk in the park.
"Just pick one already so we can get on with the next order of business."
"I'm voting for the one of just him," Yoruichi said handing the photo up to Lisa. "He looks scary as hell, and I like the thought of him scaring the crap out of his employees."
"Very well," Lisa took the photo from Yoruichi's out stretched hand. "Next: your birthday."
Yoruichi groaned. "I'm not having one," She said. "I've decided to stop aging here, twenty-four suits me fine."
"Twenty-five isn't much different to twenty-four," Lisa pointed out. "Except that you'll officially be a Christmas cake, but we always knew that you would be."
"Ha ha," Yoruichi dead panned. "I figured I'd be going round the Gotei 13 for my birthday, same as last year and same as the year before that."
Lisa nodded in agreement. "Starting with a meal at the prestigious First bar," She pulled out a sheet of paper from the file she was carrying and handed it to Yoruichi. "Here's the seating arrangement."
Yoruichi took the sheet of paper and scanned it. "Why is Byakuya sitting next to me?"
"He's not, Urahara-San is."
Yoruichi sighed. Her and Kisuke were sitting at the head of the table but directly to her right was Byakuya; Kuukaku was placed to Kisuke's left. "Where's Soi?"
"She's not invited."
"Like hell she isn't!" the Goddess protested.
"She didn't attend last year."
"She was in China!"
"And I seem to remember that you didn't miss her all that much," Lisa smirked. "In fact I seem to remember you enjoying the attention of several young ladies and-"
"Enough!" Yoruichi cut her off not wanting to be reminded of her past infidelities. "I want Soi there."
"Alright. But she'll have to sit further down the table."
"Why? I'd prefer it if she sat up next to me."
"Shihouin-Dono was quite adamant that Kuchiki-San would sit next to you," Lisa explained. "And the Kuchiki's agree. We want to give the impression that there is something going on between you two. You're families have strong ties and we want to strengthen them."
Sighing Yoruichi glanced back over the seating arrangement. "My father isn't on here."
"He decided that you would probably throw a hissy fit if he deigned to attend."
"Hissy fit?" Yoruichi raised an eyebrow at her assistant's choice of words.
"Yes, hissy fit," Lisa confirmed. "Like last year. I heard all about it, apparently you made quite the fuss."
"I didn't throw a hissy fit," She leant back in her chair and crossed her arms. She had, admittedly, suffered from a rather childish outburst and had refused to attend if her father was there, but then as far as she was concerned he was banned from all of her birthdays.
"You've been throwing a hissy fit for nearly two years now," Lisa pointed out. "It would be a lot easier if the pair of you just made up."
"Not a chance."
"It's bad for business having you both fight like this," Lisa plucked the seating arrangement from Yoruichi's fingers. "I'll add Soi-San to the table, is there anyone else you want there?"
"Not really."
"I don't need to tell you and Soi-San to keep your, uh, activities to a minimum on the night, do I?"
Yoruichi glared at her. "That is really rich coming from you, you sexual miscreant."
"I am not a sexual miscreant! I'm just curious." Lisa huffed. "Besides, I am discreet with any and all of my normal sexual activities."
"It's a wildly known fact that you'll try anything at least once," Yoruichi smiled slyly. "I should know that better than anyone."
"Yoruichi-San, you were not my first furore into lesbianism," Lisa replied pushing her glasses up her nose with a single finger.
"I was thinking I was more your first rape victim."
Lisa gave her a hard stare. "That isn't funny."
Yoruichi shrugged the smile still on her lips. "I never said it was."
"Just keep your rampant lesbianism under control," the bespectacled woman told her. "You're actions reflect on your family and on the company. The investors certainly don't want to know that the heir to their precious commodity's favourite hobby is finger-fucking her way around the city."
"Finger-fucking?" Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. "That's a novel way of putting it."
"I like the alliteration; it rolls off the tongue nicely."
"Hmm," Yoruichi placed her elbows on the desk; her fingers intertwined and rested her chin on the back of her hands. She frowned down at her desk and the pointless clutter that adorned it.
Lisa sighed. "Don't pull that face," She said moving over to the desk. "You know that I don't have a problem with it."
"I never said you did."
"Then stop looking so depressed," She pulled a small folder from the enormous file she was carrying. "Here are some boring financial reports that need your attention. It's all been taken care of already, you just need to sign in the right places and hand them back."
Sighing, Yoruichi took the folder and set it down on the desk. She could feel Lisa's eyes on her as she opened the folder and glanced at the first report. Thankfully the office phone buzzed before she could get stuck into it.
"Shihouin-San's office," Lisa said clicking the button for the speaker-phone before Yoruichi could. "What is it?"
"Do you have to sound so short?" Yoruichi asked her assistant.
"Uh, Shihouin-Sama," the small nervous voice of the receptionist said.
"San," Yoruichi corrected her. "Yoruichi-San will do."
"Oh!" the girl squeaked.
"Now you've gone and flustered her," Lisa admonished the Shihouin heiress.
Yoruichi shrugged. "What is it?"
"Well, there's a very irate Chinese girl here," the receptionist continued. "Um, she says she wants to see you. Should I call security?"
Yoruichi grinned. "Nah, just send her up," She paused. "Tell her to take all her clothes off first though."
The receptionist started stammering and making flustered noises.
"I'm joking," Yoruichi said. "Just send her up." She hung up on the receptionist and laughed.
"You won't be laughing in a minute," Lisa said. "It sounds like you're in trouble."
"I'm always in trouble," the Goddess smiled. "And Soi's always angry. For her birthday I'm going to send her on a course."
"You think of the most romantic gifts," Lisa deadpanned. She stepped back from the desk. "I'm going to stand out of the way. Just in case."
The door to the office banged open and Soi stormed in, a very angry expression on her face. "You!" She bellowed at Yoruichi pointing her finger. "What the hell did I tell you?"
"Um, you tell me a lot of things," The Goddess said slowly in a bewildered tone. "You might have to be more specific." Truthfully she had a fairly good idea what this was about and thus felt that she could afford to tease her girlfriend a little. "I mean, I can't be expected to remember absolutely everything that you tell me, can I? That would just be silly."
If it was at all possible Soi looked even angrier. Her arm flung forward and for the first time Yoruichi noticed that she had something dark in her hand, or was probably would have been a better term since the small Chinese girl had just thrown the offending object directly at the Shihouin princess's head. Yoruichi didn't react, there was no point; Soi had the accuracy of a ninja. Yoruichi's vision was engulfed by the fabric of what Soi had been holding, thankfully it had landed so that the soft underside covered her head rather than the heavy leather that she knew adorned the other side.
"Does this mean you don't like it?" Yoruichi asked calmly from beneath the jacket.
"I told you not to go buying me anything else!" Soi raged.
Yoruichi shrugged. "I saw it and thought of you," She pulled the jacket off of her head and set it down neatly on the desk taking time to straighten the sleeves out. It was made of thick black leather and had a yellow stripe running down each arm. "You know, you really shouldn't go snooping."
"I didn't go snooping!"
Yoruichi stopped and looked up feeling momentarily confused. "Then how did you find it?"
"It wasn't difficult," Soi replied her voice still raised. "Since you left it out on the bed."
Yoruichi turned to Lisa. "What part of 'hide it' did you not understand?"
"I'm not an errand monkey," the assistant replied. "I picked up the jacket as a favour; I'm not going to take time out of my day to wrap gifts for you and to hide them."
"You're my assistant," Yoruichi pointed out. "What else do I pay you for if not to do these little chores for me?"
"You don't pay me at all," Lisa retorted. "Your Father does. Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do then watch your soap opera dramatics." She strode out of the office closing the door behind her.
Soi was still glaring at Yoruichi, her arms crossed in front of her.
Yoruichi smiled. "You look cute when you're angry."
Soi looked taken aback a small blush forming on her cheeks.
Standing up, Yoruichi walked around her desk and leant back against it; facing Soi, she was wearing a long heavy dark coat that made her look even smaller than she was. "Do you not like it?"
Soi sighed. "It's not that I dislike it," she said. "I just don't want you buying me random gifts."
"It was going to be your Christmas present."
"I thought the scooter was the Christmas present?"
Yoruichi shrugged. "Can't they both be?"
"That's not fair," the small girl complained. "I can't afford to buy you presents."
"Even if you could, what would be the point? If there's something I want, I'll just buy it myself." Yoruichi cocked her head to the side and smiled. "Besides, it's enough just having you around."
"That was a horribly corny line," Soi told her, but Yoruichi could see the faint blush on her cheeks and the slight dip in her head that told the heiress that she'd just successfully embarrassed her girlfriend.
"Come here," Yoruichi waved her over.
Slowly Soi walked over to her and Yoruichi took hold of the sides of the long coat that Soi was wearing. It must have been cold outside; her nose had a slight pink tinge to it.
Yoruichi planted a quick kiss on Soi's lips and smiled. "Still pissed with me?"
"Yes."
"Urgh!" Yoruichi rested her head on Soi's shoulder. Her hands roamed up Soi's coat undoing the buttons as they ascended. She pushed the coat open and rested her hands on Soi's slim hips. Beneath her coat Soi was wearing loose fitting jeans that hung low on her hips, coupled with the small shirt she was wearing; Yoruichi had a perfect view of her lower stomach. Smiling, Yoruichi hooked her fingers over the waistband of Soi's jeans and rubbed her thumb against the soft flesh of her abdomen.
"Enjoying yourself?" Soi asked.
"Always when I'm with you," Yoruichi answered sincerely. She smiled when she saw the blush return to Soi's cheeks. She pulled Soi closer into her and kissed her. Yoruichi's head tilted and she sighed into the kiss when she felt Soi's hand slide up her thigh, her own fingers tightening their grip on the waistband of Soi's jeans.
Something had changed, she realised. She wasn't sure exactly what it was yet, but this felt different, she felt different. There was still that old familiar feeling that only Soi seemed to be able to evoke from her, so akin to static making her shiver and her hair stand up on end. And now there was something new, something that had her completely intrigued. Her hands danced around Soi's waist to her lower back and she pulled her closer, pressing their bodies together, eager to see if she could exploit this new feeling. She wasn't disappointed; the closeness brought a warmth that hadn't been there before. Or perhaps she had just never noticed it.
She ended the kiss and pressed her face into the crook of Soi's neck, inhaling her scent and tightening her arms around her waist.
She felt Soi stiffen slightly. "Is something wrong?" The younger girl asked.
"No," Yoruichi murmured into her neck. "I just felt like…" She paused unsure about what she was going to say. She kissed the pale skin of Soi's neck and lifted her head to look Soi in the eye. "Nothing's wrong."
Soi frowned slightly but nodded all the same and then leant back in and brushed her lips lightly against Yoruichi's. "Are you free now?"
"I can take a couple of hours off," Yoruichi replied.
Soi smiled. "Lunch?"
"Excellent idea!" Yoruichi grinned and pulled Soi in for another kiss. "I'll go tell Yadomaru and then we can go. Actually, it'll be more fun if I don't tell her."
"You'll drive the poor woman insane," Soi said.
"She's driving me insane," Yoruichi dropped her arms from Soi and rubbed her temples. "I swear she goes out of her way to find me the most boring jobs."
Soi stepped back and started buttoning up her coat. "Oh!" She exclaimed her head snapping up. She looked at Yoruichi intently. "What's with the receptionist here?"
Yoruichi shrugged. "What about her?"
"Well she looks freakishly young, and also kind of like she was about to burst into tears at any moment."
"Really? I've never taken that much notice of her," Yoruichi didn't want to mention that harassing the receptionist over the phone was probably her favourite work-time hobby.
Soi shrugged. "I just thought it was weird. You'd think someone who had to deal with the public all the time would be made of sterner stuff."
Yoruichi placed her hand on the small of Soi's back and steered her from the office. "As long as she does her job, I don't care if she's spends her time bawling her eyes out," She closed the door behind them. A few people stared over at them as they walked along the corridor towards the elevator. She wasn't sure if they were staring because she was the owner's daughter or because she had her arm around Soi's waist, but then, she didn't really care either way.
"Where do you think you're going?" An irate voice demanded.
"Wonderful," Yoruichi muttered. She turned to face her assistant. "For lunch, would you like me to get you anything? Coffee? Porn?"
"Hilarious!" Lisa barked flushing angrily. "Have you done those finance reports?"
"I'll do them when I get back," Yoruichi pressed the button for the elevator. A few workers were wandering over attracted by Lisa's raised voice. "Now go sit in my seat and keep it warm for me." The doors to the elevator opened, Soi and Yoruichi both stepped inside. Yoruichi gave a smiled and wave to her infuriated assistant as the doors closed.
/\/\/\
Turning on her heel, Yadomaru Lisa stormed back up the corridor knocking down employees as she went. She turned sharply and straight into the small receptionist who was over laden with papers. Lisa slapped them out of the small girl's hands. "Excuse me, Hinamori-Chan!" She barged past the flustered girl and banged open the door to the Shihouin office. The finance reports sat untouched on the desk and she ignored them, they were of no importance. She went to the desk and picked up the phone punching in the number she knew by heart. It rang twice and then a tired voice answered.
"…hello?"
"She's left," Lisa said in a clipped tone.
"Huh?"
"I said; she's left."
A pause while the person on the other end took their time in figuring out what she meant. "Who is this?"
"Dammit Shinji!" Lisa shouted. "It's Yadomaru!"
He chuckled softly. "I know," he said his voice brightening. "I was just playing around. So Yoruichi-San left?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"And what?"
"Was she with anyone?"
"She's with Soi," Lisa replied. "You should send-"
"Nah," he said with a slight yawn. "She'll be fine."
Lisa paused and gripped the receiver tightly. "Shinji, she's not supposed to go anywhere unsupervised."
"She'll be fine," he repeated.
"I'm calling Kensei."
"Fine then, ignore me."
"I am!" She hung up on him and took a moment before dialling the next number. Sometimes Shinji was too relaxed.
/\/\/\
"Do you have to do that?" Soi asked with a distasteful look.
"Yes," Yoruichi replied flicking the flint of her lighter. She lit the cigarette in her mouth and took an extra long drag exhaling the smoke with relish. "Ah, that feels better."
"They'll kill you in the end," Soi turned from her and hopped nimbly up onto the wall that ran parallel with the path. They had finished lunch sometime ago and had decided to take a stroll though the park since Soi didn't have to be back in college for a few hours yet, and Yoruichi just didn't care if she made it back to the office or not. The chill air seemed to have discouraged most people from venturing outside and so the park was nearly empty.
Yoruichi looked up to Soi and shook her head. "And your lemming-like leaps are a sure way to ensure a long life?"
She shrugged. "At least it'll be a quick end," She stopped momentarily and placed her right foot in front of her left. "Lung cancer is a slow painful way to go."
"Don't care," She replied.
Soi took a few quick steps and then flipped forward, her left hand pushing against the stone, carrying her right over and back onto her feet. She turned back to face Yoruichi a cocky smirk on her face. "Yeah you do," She said. "You just can't stop."
"Excuse me?"
"I said; you can't stop," Soi walked backwards along the wall keeping her eyes on Yoruichi. "You don't even like it really. The only reason you still smoke is because you can't quit."
Yoruichi took the cigarette from her lips and looked at it. Shaking her head she took another drag from it. "I know what you're doing," She told Soi.
"And what's' that?"
"You think that if you make it some sort of challenge, that if you appeal to my competitive side, you'll get me to quit."
"Guilty."
"Won't work," Yoruichi took yet another long drag on the cigarette. "You're about to run out of wall by the way."
Soi spun round and quickened her pace. The wall did indeed end as it came to where two paths crossed one another. A single bollard was placed in the centre of the second path. Soi skipped from the wall and to the bollard and then across to the wall on the other side. Yoruichi quickened her own pace to catch up. "I thought I told you to take it easy," She said.
Soi stopped and looked down to her. "I have been taking it easy," she said. "My arm's fine."
It hadn't even been a full week since Soi had injured her elbow; the bruise was still there covering nearly her whole arm. Yoruichi had insisted on taking her to the hospital to have it X-rayed, and Soi had complained the whole way. It was just badly bumped, but Yoruichi still didn't like the idea of her risking a serious and lasting injury.
Yoruichi's pace slowed as her mind drifted back to the previous weekend. She wasn't sure how long she and Soi had spent just sitting on the floor and not speaking, but when they had finally gotten up it was dark outside. She had expected them to enter into another awkward conversation, but Soi had simply kissed her and said goodnight before going home. Yoruichi had spent the next hour pacing round her apartment not knowing what to do, but unable to sit still.
While she had been pacing Soi had phoned her and asked if she could phone her back, which she had done immediately. They had spent the night talking to each other about everything and absolutely nothing until it was time to go to bed. The next morning Soi had turned up and asked if she wanted to spend the day together. A pattern had developed between them. This past week they had spent every day together, meeting up at every spare moment they had. And yet when it came to the end of the evening they both retreated to their respective apartments and spent their nights alone.
Yoruichi chewed on her lip as she mulled that thought over in her mind. She looked up; Soi was still walking along the wall.
"... I'm not sure what the hell she expects me to do about it!" the small Chinese girl ranted. She stopped and spun on her heel to face Yoruichi. "I mean, what can I do?"
"Umm..." Yoruichi realised that the whole time she had been thinking Soi had been talking.
Soi raised an eyebrow. "You weren't listening, were you?"
"I was," Yoruichi insisted. She tried to recall anything that she may have heard Soi say but drew a complete blank. She sighed in defeat. "No, no I wasn't. Sorry." She held her hands up apologetically. "What were you saying?"
"My brother was arrested."
"Oh!" Yoruichi actually wasn't all that sure what she should say to that. "Why?"
"There was some sort of riot and he punched a cop in the face."
"Well that would do it," Yoruichi said. Dropping her cigarette on the floor, she stubbed it out with her heel. "No chance of him being released?"
"It's doubtful. I'm sure my father will work something out though, he usually does," she hopped down from the wall. "My mother wants me to go home."
Yoruichi stared at her. "What?" She couldn't read the expression on Soi's face which scared her. "For a visit?"
Soi shook her head. "No, she wants me to move back." She explained. "She says that it's important for the family to be together in times of crisis."
Yoruichi's mouth had gone very dry. "Oh," She managed to utter. She pulled her cigarettes out of her bag and put one to her lips.
Soi stepped towards her and snatched it from her, dropping it to the ground. "I told her that I couldn't," She explained. "I said I was too far into my studies to give up on them now."
Yoruichi let out a sigh of relief. "You scared me there for a second."
Soi was giving her an odd searching look. "Since when do you get scared?"
"I don't usually," She admitted. "Was your mother angry?"
"She started crying and complaining that I don't care about the family," Soi made a disgusted noise. "Tengfei was stupid enough to get arrested, I don't see how that's my problem."
Yoruichi didn't even to try and place in her mind which brother Tengfei was; she hadn't ever bothered to learn any of their names since Soi very rarely mentioned them. "Aren't you worried about him?"
"I'm more worried that my father will try to force me to go back to China," she said. "I don't think he will, but he was against my moving to Japan in the first place." She looked away.
"Hey," Yoruichi took hold of her hand. "I'm sure that he won't. And if he does, then I'll just have to buy you off of him."
"Buy?"
"Yeah," Yoruichi grinned. "I'll buy him a couple of rice fields in exchange for you."
Soi gritted her teeth and literally shook with rage. "What the hell?" She shoved Yoruichi away and spun on her heel marching away.
"Would opium fields be more appropriate?"
"Fuck you!" Soi shouted over her shoulder.
Yoruichi laughed and hurried after her now very disgruntled girlfriend. She threw her arms around her and pulled her back into her. "I'm only joking," She said burying her face into Soi's shoulder. "And he won't force you to go back to China, okay? I won't let him."
She felt Soi relax back into her. "Why couldn't you have just said that in the first place instead of being an ass?
"Because you look cute when you're angry," Yoruichi replied with a smirk. She kissed the side of Soi's head. "But I do mean that, I won't let them force you to go back. So stop worrying about it, okay?"
"Yeah," Soi turned her head to face her, they were millimetres apart. "Thank you."
Yoruichi smiled and pressed her lips against Soi's, holding her tight. It was there again, that static feeling that made her tingle, the flutter in her stomach; and that new feeling so much like warmth that seemed to engulf her very being. Somewhere in the back of her mind the Goddess decided that that was the best feeling.
For some reason this chapter just didn't want to end! It just kept going and going, and it wasn't even going anywhere. I had to force myself to stop otherwise there would have been another 1000 words of pointless dialogue. This fic is already overloaded with pointless dialogue; it certainly doesn't need any more.
The title of this chapter is fairly pointless too. I couldn't think of a good title so told myself that the next song to play on my comp would be the title no matter how dumb it would sound. The Song was Bridge to Canada By the Noisette's, I decided to cut the Canada part off though. If you squint you might be able to see a tenuous link between the title of the fic and the content. Probably not though.
Also, never under any circumstances should you ask if you can buy a Chinese person (or any person for that matter) they won't find it half as amusing as you do and you will be banned from their restaurant.
Thank you for reading! Reviews are always appreciated.
