Captain-Kitty: Hello and welcome to chapter 10 of Cat vs. Wolf
Akara: wow 10 chapters and still going
Captain-Kitty: I can't believe it, but I'd like to apologize for it being so late, I had to leave the house last weekend, and I've been sick, so it kept being pushed back
Akara: we hope you can forgive us *bows*
Captain-Kitty: please enjoy *bows*
The sun hadn't even risen when Yoruichi and Akara woke up; it was still dark so the darkness made perfect cover.
"Ready to go, its gonna be a long run" Yoruichi said quietly, the only thing she was looking at was a pair of smoldering blue eyes. Akara had changed into her wolf form since she had a better chance with three better legs and one bad leg then two legs and one bad.
"Fine by me, let's get going" Akara said before trotting off toward the ledge. Yoruichi followed closely behind her, only she took to the tree tops in case of an attack came, that way if Akara needed help, the enemy wouldn't expect an aerial attack. It was about an hour's walk, and during that time Akara and Yoruichi were both going over the plan they spent a third of the night correcting and arguing about. Once they had arrived to the ledge they hid behind a massive tree that seemed to lean over and stretch across the darkened canyon. It stretched out about seven feet out, and its branches were covered with thick dark green leaves, which meant perfect cover before they took off.
"Ok, you remember what to do on how to get to the other side right; this run will take a lot more speed" Yoruichi said as she walked effortlessly onto the seemingly steady trunk of the tree. Akara snorted as she clawed the ground to get a better grip.
"See you on the other side" Akara said before backing up a few feet and taking off like lightning. She dove right off the tree and began free falling, but once she was gained control of herself, she leaned towards the wall and began to sprint down the cavern wall. She knew that if she maintained her speed, she would have little chance of losing her grip. Back on the ledge Yoruichi, was getting ready to follow Akara down the ledge, but for a moment she stared at the evenly lighten stronghold. So many emotions ran through her mind, but fear, hope and anger dominated in the end.
"I'll be there soon little bee, hang in there, I know you can" Yoruichi mumbled to herself before she copied Akara's movements and dove off the cliff and began to speed down the rocky wall. Her emotions were her flames of motivation.
Within the stronghold and down in the dungeon Soifon was currently hanging. Her head was head was hanging low and she was breathing slowly. If anyone asked how she could sleep hanging the way she was, you probably couldn't get an answer, but regardless, Soifon was currently or supposedly sleeping. But the truth was she was in meditation. She was trying to call Suzumebachi, but since they were so far apart it had proven difficult for her.
"Rise and shine beautiful" an almost sullen called as the cell door opened. Soifon opened her eyes and saw Hiroka walk in, but she had a long thick black leather whip coiled around her arm and shoulder like a boa constrictor. She knew the purpose of the whip, and she knew it might hurt, but Soifon didn't honestly care, she's had experienced more pain in 100 years then what she was about to receive.
"Hello Hiroka, well I suppose it's time" Soifon said emotionlessly as Hiroka walked in. As she approached, Hiroka sighed,
"I suppose it is" Soifon said then Hiroka groaned,
"I was really hoping this day wouldn't come, but your friends came earlier then I was hoping, so I really want to apologize" Hiroka said as she unfurled the whip. Soifon said nothing and closed her eyes, if she didn't see it coming, then maybe it wouldn't hurt as bad. Hiroka raised her whip and prepared to crack the weapon of choice, and then she too closed her eyes before a sickening crack exploded into the room. Accompanying the crack was a quick loud yelp. The whip had hit the Captain's stomach and tore a shred of cloth away, but in its place was a bright red welt.
Soifon felt the sting of the whip and the pulsing pain of the newly planted welt, but she did not cry, yes she screamed, but did not cry, she had felt more pain than this, but it hurt nonetheless.
"Ok, that hurt a little more than I thought" Soifon thought to herself as another welt claimed her stomach as its own.
"I'm sorry" Hiroka whispered as she kept whipping the bound and helpless woman. With every whip came an excruciating scream of pain, a loud strained yelp or a shriek.
From what Soifon had counted she had received over twenty hits on her stomach, some hit the same place. Possibly four on both her arms, and at the moment her legs were being mercilessly attacked. It hadn't been an hour, and already blood was beginning to coat and stain Soifon's skin and the remnants of her once beautiful black uniform. The floor was decorated with black shreds and ruby red dots and above the pile, Soifon was panting slightly, breathing was starting to become difficult, and she was losing blood.
"I can't. . . ." Hiroka said before dropping the whip and backing away to the closest wall. Soifon looked up to the currently distressed woman and said,
"Whats wrong" Hiroka was going to speak up but a blue flame had erupted in between the two. Kuto had come, and when the flames had gone, kuto did not look pleased.
"Hiroka, why haven't you finished your job, the enemy will be here today, and you are not finishing your assignment" he said coldly, Hiroka quickly turned to him but said nothing. Kuto scoffed,
"I figured this would happen, so I asked our master if I could take your place, and he agreed" Hiroka's eyes widened,
"No, you can't do that" she yelled, but Kuto raised his hand, suddenly a blue ball sprang from his hand and hit Hiroka square in the stomach, she jolted before falling to the ground. She had been temporarily paralyzed.
"Your affection for this soul reaper has gone on long enough; master has deemed you a liability and are now stripped of your rank, once Akara arrives and the spirit is obtained the master will dispose of you" Kuto said harshly as he walked up to Soifon, who was currently shocked the scene that had just played in front of her.
"You, since you are the bait, we need to make you more appealing" Kuto said creepily before breaking all of Soifon's chains. But once she touched the ground, Soifon took the opportunity to fight. So she quickly took her stance and shunpoed into action. Kuto, who was shocked, did not see the countless kicks and punches being dealt. Though, being in her current state, Soifon wasn't as quick as she normally was. But she still couldn't be seen by the blue haired man.
"Time to get out of here" Soifon thought as she decided to give Kuto a nice round house kick to his head. Kuto was sent flying to the back wall close to Hiroka was currently laughing at the injured fighter despite her situation.
"Nicely done Captain, but I suggest you escape soon before. . ." but Hiroka didn't get to finish, Kuto had shot her with another blue orb and she fell supposedly unconscious again. Soifon glared at Kuto before Shunpoing to the door. But almost as quickly as she ran, a hand grabbed her forearm and pulled her back.
Meanwhile deep in the cavern, Akara and Yoruichi were running up the other side of the canyon. It had been an hour since they bravely dove off the other side of the ledge, but now they were so close. Yoruichi, who throughout the entire run had thought about nothing but Soifon, and what her captors were or had done to the Captain,
"I'm coming honey bee, hang on and I'll get you out soon, I'm almost there" Yoruichi thought as she widened her strides to pick up her pace. Akara, who had been a few feet ahead of Yoruichi since she had gotten a head start; saw that Yoruichi was starting to pick up her pace from the corner of her eye, she had to focus on not falling.
"Look I know we're almost there, but you have to keep your original pace, that was part of the plan remember" Akara called from over her shoulder. Yoruichi snorted and reluctantly fell back to her ever lightning speed.
"I can see the top, get ready" Akara said as she began to slow down. Yoruichi glared at the top with a fiery determination as she slowed her pace as well. And in a blink of an eye, the duo had lightly touched the land. At last they had reached their destination.
"We made it" Akara smirked and Yoruichi nodded,
"Right, now that we're here, we need to transform so we can't be noticed easily" Yoruichi said before changing into her ever famous black cat form. Her clothes fell into a heap under her paws and she dragged them into a nearby bush that was conviently located outside the walls of the castle. Akara on the other hand had returned to her puppy form, seeing it was smaller than her giant wolf size.
"Right, when we get Soi, we return to this spot and leave never to return" Akara said and Yoruichi nodded in agreement.
"Yes, first we get in, then we split up to see what we can find" Yoruichi said with her now manly voice. Then without another word the two snuck off to find a way in.
Back in the cell, Soifon was lying on the ground looking almost half dead. Somehow Kuto had managed to beat Soifon up, she had bluish marks growing on her arms, back, legs, and her neck lining. Blood was slowly streaming out of her mouth at the moment, and she was struggling to get up. Close by, Hiroka still lay unconscious. Soifon was glaring at Kuto who stood over her with an air of superiority, and it made Soifon even angrier.
"Well Captain, I must applaud you, normally after a fight with me, you'd be long gone" Kuto chuckled as Soifon staggered slightly back up to her feet again.
"I-I was trained for this type of situation" Soifon smirked weakly before spitting some blood in Kuto's direction, Kuto scoffed,
"Oh really, well I'm surprised a captain of your ranking could be held captive for this long, wow, your Commander must be ashamed" he taunted before he was kicked brutally in the stomach and punched a quick dozen times in the face by Soifon. Quickly, she swept her leg under his feet and managed to knock him down before barraging him with more kicks, punches, and combinations of the two. And for a good five minutes, she kept it up, despite her throbbing pain.
"I have to get out of here" Soifon thought frantically, so she, without thinking about it, picked up the unconscious Hiroka and shunpoed as fast as her currently bleeding legs could carry her. Surprisingly Kuto hadn't chased after her, but that wasn't her main concern at the moment. All she cared about at the moment was finding a way out of the dungeon and out of this nightmare of wherever she was.
But outside of the castle, two animals were lurking in the shadows. Yoruichi had found an aged part of the wall and had managed to push a few of the bricks out without making too much noise. So at the moment, Yoruichi and Akara were stealthily slipping past guards that had arrived around the time the two had made it past the wall.
"Okay, by the way the guards are arranged, I think we're at the front door" Yoruichi thought with a smirk and a lazy swish of her long black tail. She had situated herself as closely as possible onto one of the trees in the front courtyard about ten feet from a small batch of guards, who were discussing something unimportant. But then something caught her attention as a new guard came running out yelling,
"The prisoner has escaped, search the grounds" Yoruichi smirked, as she heard that Soifon had escaped custody, not that it surprised her of course. But that did mean finding her would be a little more difficult seeing as she's on the run and all, and not only that, the whole castle would be looking for her also. Yoruichi chuckled to herself.
"It's nothing more than a dangerous game of hide and seek" then she took a running start before leaping out of the tree and back to where she had left Akara before scoping out the area.
"What did you find" Akara asked quietly as Yoruichi sat on her haunches.
"Well, we're the front courtyard, so we'd be basically walking through the front door" Yoruichi smiled cattily,
"Barging in through the front door huh, well sometimes it's best to walk straight in" Akara chuckled, then Yoruichi raised a paw in front of Akara as a gesture to say she wasn't finished speaking, and immediately Akara hushed herself before Yoruichi continued.
"Also, I heard one of the guards say that Soifon had escaped their custody, so now she's on the run" Yoruichi said and this made Akara's tail wag in excitement.
"Good old Soifon, this will make finding her so much easier now" Akara said with a joyful vigor. Once again Yoruichi held a paw up,
"Listen to me now, this new shred of information has slightly altered our plan, now we'll have to search everywhere with everyone in the stronghold looking for her too, so we cannot afford any slip ups" Yoruichi warned.
"I understand" she said before looking up at the castle wall, and then something caught her azure eyes.
"Hey check it out, there's an open window up there" Akara said pointing a small blue paw at a window on the second floor. Yoruichi followed her paw and also saw the window.
"Well, looks like you found our way in" Yoruichi said,
"Yeah great for me, but how are we gonna get up there" Akara asked quietly shouting exaggeratingly.
"I know cats can climb impossible heights but I'm a wolf at the moment, so I can't do that" Akara said before Yoruichi rolled her golden eyes. Thankfully she had thought about this beforehand.
"Relax stupid, I thought about this and I came up with an easy solution" Yoruichi said as she raised one of her paws and looked over it. Akara's right ear twitched in anticipation,
"Well what is it" Akara asked expectantly.
"Easy, just go back to your human form for a minute and once we're inside change back" Yoruichi stated like it was the easiest thing in the world. This left Akara dumbfounded for a minute before she flapped her tail in agitation,
"I could've thought of that, come on" Akara said as she quickly jumped onto her paws and hurried to the closest tree near the wall where the window was located, and Yoruichi slowly got up and followed close behind quietly laughing to herself.
"Hah, that wasn't even it, but she fell for it nonetheless" Yoruichi thought to herself as she put a swagger to her already prideful stride.
Back within the walls, a determined and slightly scared Soifon was running through random halls with her unconscious ex- caretaker, and seemingly impossible to confirm ally. She had been running for a good ten minutes and despite her continuous lack of blood and the excruciating pain in her legs, back and arms. Soifon had managed to persevere her attempt to escape. But as she turned a corner and came across a large case of stairs, Hiroka began to stir.
"Ugh, where am I" she murmured as Soifon leapt off the top of the case and somewhat flew down almost a third of the staircase before roughly landing on her feet and continuing her rush.
"Well, it's nice to see you wake up, maybe you can help out of here" Soifon said as she began to skip a few steps with each stride. Hiroka slowly fixed her gaze to her surroundings, and a flash of familiarity registered into her hazy mind.
"Well, as of now, you have managed to make it to the west wing of the underground level, which means you've almost made it to the stairs to take you back to the ground level, so when you reach the end of the stairs take a right then go down the hall, turn left and you'll make it to the stairs" Hiroka said as Soifon made it to the bottom of the staircase and immediately followed Hiroka's instructions and turned right. After a good five minutes the duo had made it to the staircase which would take them to the ground level. But unfortunately the wounds were finally taking its toll on the Captain and she collapsed at the base of the stairs and Hiroka tumbled close to her.
"Ow" Hiroka said, but Soifon said nothing, she had lost a huge amount of blood and her wounds were throbbing from all her running.
"I can't move" Soifon mumbled weakly, and Hiroka looked at her before getting up as quickly as she could. Soifon needed help, and fast.
"C'mon honey, you gotta get up, your friends are gonna be here soon" Hiroka said as she lifted up the weakened Captain and easily threw her onto her back. But then a thought came to her head.
"But I think they'll find you easier if you had your reiatsu, once we get up there, I'll release it and they'll be able to get you out" Hiroka said before flashing up the stairs.
"Come on, Akara your human now so get up here" Yoruichi hissed from the window sill. She had made it up almost ten minutes ago, and she had been, as quietly as possible, yelling at Akara to get herself up the wall. But for some reason, Akara wouldn't move from her current position, which was a branch about five feet away and below the window.
"Yoruichi, apparently you've forgotten about my leg, if I jump and land on this leg, I won't be able to help ward off the guards if they find us" Akara said quietly jabbing a finger at her still injured yet useable leg. Yoruichi rolled her eyes,
"If you don't get up here, I'm going to make it worse, we've come too far for you to stop here, now get up here" Yoruichi hissed with her black fur rising. Akara sighed, she knew Yoruichi was right, they had come all this way so one injury shouldn't stop her.
"Alright move" Akara said before jumping off the branch and onto the window sill which Yoruichi had quickly moved from, not even a second ago. And Akara was lucky enough to land on her good foot.
"Ok, we're in, now let's meet back here at this spot when we get Soifon" Akara said as she changed into her puppy form. Yoruichi nodded and ran to the left while Akara went to the right.
"Okay, so far it's been an endless hallway, though I do like the paintings" Yoruichi said as she gazed at pictures of seasonal trees and sceneries as she quickly and swiftly crept by them. Soon she had managed to find a staircase the seemed to lead down, but she also saw another set that led up. Perplexed, Yoruichi simply stood there and began to consider her options and scenarios for each staircase. Her right ear twitched and she slipped into a shadowed corner as quickly as possible.
"Oh I hope the other guards haven't found the prisoner yet" a young looking guard mumbled. He looked new to Yoruichi considering his height and features. He had stopped in the very spot where Yoruichi had just left. But he didn't stay long; he heard somebody shout something and immediately ran off. After a moment Yoruichi came out of her spot and decided to take the staircase that led down.
Meanwhile Akara had been more fortunate; the hallway she had come across had a marble staircase that obviously led upward. Not wanting to go so quickly Akara looked around the small open area. She saw that the walls had lovely Chinese painting wall scrolls hanging from one wall. Underneath the hanging scrolls was a mahogany table with a few oriental decorative eggs and a small bonsai tree. On the other side, it seemed like a mirror had been set in the center of the room, because on the other side the decorations were exactly the same.
"Interesting designing, though I'm more of an English décor kind of person" Akara said as she took a trip down the stairs. Suddenly she heard guards coming her way, so Akara retreated and went to hide underneath one of the mahogany tables.
"Come on, I know she's here somewhere" one of the guards
"Kuto said if we find her, we can get a promotion" another one said as they rushed by. Akara rolled her eyes as she waited for the right moment to come out of hiding and continue on.
"Okay, we made it honey, now I can release your reiatsu again, but once I do, make sure you compress it; otherwise everybody here will know where we are " Hiroka said as she reached into her sleeve and pulled out a small vile filled with a clear liquid. But in the center was a small mint leaf. She handed it to Soifon.
"Here drink this, I swear it's just water with soaked mint" Hiroka said as Soifon had slowly opened the vile and even more slowly put the glass to her lips and swallowed the antidote. And almost immediately a large mass of built up Reiatsu flowed out, but Soifon remembered what Hiroka said and concealed it quickly.
"Geez that was heavy" Hiroka said a quiet laugh as she picked herself up.
"But we can't stay here, someone might find us, so we have to find you a place to hide" Hiroka said as she fell to one knee and helped Soifon to sit up.
"Thank you" Soifon mumbled as her eyes began to close.
"Hey now, don't pass out on me, if you do I don't know if you'll wake up" Hiroka said as Soifon opened her eyes again.
"Hmm, well since your bleeding all over I think I should close one of those wounds, how about it" Hiroka asked nicely. All Soifon did was nod as Hiroka stood up and pulled Soifon to her feet.
"I know where we are, so I need you to hide for a minute, I have a little stash of medical stuff just one hallway from here" Hiroka said as she guided Soifon to an underneath part of another staircase across the room. Once she had been put in the darkest part of the stairs, Hiroka promised to come back as quickly as possible before flashing off.
"So tired" Soifon mumbled, but her mind told her to stay awake.
"Come on Soi, you can do it, you've been through worse than this" Soifon said coaching herself to stay awake. But her body was fighting her mind, and winning. But she was trying. Suddenly she heard something coming from out in the room.
"Hiroka" Soifon whispered. She got no answer, she waited another moment and the same noise sounded again. Feeling a sense a danger, Soifon wanted to stay back and wait for the source of the noise to go away, but something else told her to check it out. So, using as much energy she had, Soifon managed to get on her hands and knees and quietly crawl from her spot and peer around the corner, what she saw made her smile brightly despite her injuries. It was Yoruichi, and at the moment she was inspecting the small puddle of blood where Soifon had once been.
But she noticed that Yoruichi's ears were down and her body seemed slumped over. Was she sad? Suddenly she heard a small whimper come from the cat.
"Yoruichi" she whispered to herself. Suddenly Yoruichi began to speak,
"I'm too late" she said before she began to cry kitty cat tears. Soifon was surprised at her formal Captains appearance; she had never seen Yoruichi cry before.
"Does she think I'm dead" Soifon thought to herself. She felt the sudden urge to run out and assure the grief stricken cat she was okay, well, severely injured, but ok nonetheless, and leave. But given her condition, walking was a no go. So instead she slowly crawled out. And about halfway across she whispered,
"Yoruichi" before her energy left her and she collapsed. Yoruichi immediately snapped her head in Soifon's direction and gasped before transforming back to her human self.
"SOIFON" she practically yelled, tears still in her eyes, before running up to the injured Captain and rolling her onto her back so she could see Soifon. Yoruichi gasped at the sight. Soifon was covered head to toe, in welts, bruises, of practically every color, cuts both shallow and minor. But was worse was that she was covered in her own blood. And suddenly a red rage filled her body,
"Soi who did this to you" she asked her gently but Soifon could hear the anger in her words.
"Kuto, but that doesn't matter at the moment we have to find Akara and get out" Soifon said as she had the sudden strength to stand, but her injuries refused and caused her to fall back down. Yoruichi looked at her like she had just grown three tails of various colors.
"Kuto" Yoruichi hissed as the memory of her encounter with him in the emergency Captain's meeting flashed through her mind. Thinking back, she wished she had killed him.
"I'm going to kill him" she vowed to herself before scooping her up.
"Come on, the sooner we find Akara, the sooner we can get you help" Yoruichi said but before she could take a step, a flash of orange appeared in front of her.
"Hiroka" Soifon said without a hint of surprise, but Hiroka seemed angry, but shock was obviously in her voice,
"Whoa, who's the naked lady" Hiroka asked as she set down her newly obtained medical stash. Soifon chuckled weakly at this,
"Hiroka this is Yoruichi, Yoruichi, this is Hiroka" Soifon said and both their eyes widened at the same time.
"Hiroka!"
"Yoruichi!" the two said in unison. There was a silence for a moment, then Hiroka spoke first,
"Well, I suppose it should be an honor, meeting the famous Shihouin" Hiroka said but before Yoruichi spoke Hiroka spoke again,
"Of course I'd be lying if I said that, but you know what, before we have some kind of fight, I suggest we get Soifon fixed up a bit, she looks terrible" Hiroka said before Soifon protested with a somewhat childish hey, as a response to her insult.
"You know I don't mean it, now come on, I have a feeling we're gonna have company soon" Hiroka said before walking to the wall farthest from the newly reunited pair. She put a hand on the wall before swiping her nails across. After a moment a secret door opened, much to Yoruichi's surprise.
"Come on we don't have all morning" Hiroka hissed before Yoruichi, with Soifon now in her arms, quickly followed Hiroka into the unknown room.
"Hey, can I ask you a request" Hiroka asked Yoruichi as she closed the door and went to a closet close by.
"Depends" Yoruichi said warily, then suddenly a uniform similar to Hiroka's was thrown at her.
"When you set the Captain down, please put some clothes on" she said, and Yoruichi rolled her eyes. She just couldn't catch a break. Even in the middle of a reunion.
Captain-Kitty: again I'm sorry about how late this chapter was, life just got a hold of me for awhile
Yoruichi: yeah whatever I got my little bee back *snuggles Soifon*
Soifon: yeah it's nice to be back *glares at kitty and draws Suzumebachi*
Captain-Kitty: I'm not worried; one of my faithful reviewers gave me an object of protection!
Soifon: oh really,
Yoruichi: yeah it's true, but anyway please review and hopefully the Captain will get the chapter up sooner.
Captain-kitty: I promise I will, good bye for now *waves*