it feels good to not be so sick anymore! thank you so amazingly much to everyone who wished me better health, your kind words made so much of a difference: envy01, Lioness020, DemonSong10, Bad one, seesawing, XxZeroKiryuuxX, AlterEgoErin, M80theWOLF, Masashi5920, Yoru Hana1, Bad Girl762, Yorusoi, yoruichichick7, BladeMaster357, manana, BioDragon. This chapter AND the next is dedicated entirely to you guys, and i talked the girls into a rather nice ending for this chapter too! -laughs-
that being said, next chapter is going to be the final one. I've got the ending planned out quite well, and hopefully the girls will stick to what i have in mind, hehe. i'm sorry this is kinda a short chapter, but i needed a bridge from Yoruichi's (unexpectedly) severe injury to where i plan to leave us at the end. the next chapter will probably be nearly double the length of this one, at least, so we all get sent off with a nice full chapter. I'll get working on it real soon, cause i've got a plot idea i really want to explore for a new story. if anyone likes harry potter and H.P. Lovecraft mythos stories, you might want to author alert me in the next few weeks. -grins-
okay, on with the show! enjoy!
Yoruichi awoke slowly, stirring just a little before cracking one eye open slightly. Her sleep-blurred vision informed her that she was in her room, tucked warmly into her futon. The play of shadows against the midday light shifted, alerting her to another presence with her.
"The sleeping princess finally awakens," Urahara drawled from his perch on the windowsill. "And here I was beginning to think she'd need a magic kiss."
"Try it and I'll tear those lips right off," the girl groused, stretching lightly before hissing in pain. She reached down to her torso and felt thick bandages wrapped around her middle.
"It's been two days already," Urahara said quietly. "Quite a bit of work to get that thing out of there, mind you. A little bit up and to the left and it would have hit your heart. It just barely missed your lungs as is." Yoruichi paled slightly, laying back down and staring at the ceiling.
"Guess there wouldn't be any waking up from that, would there?"
"Nope."
A few silent minutes passed, Urahara staring idly out the window while his old friend digested the information. After a little, he stood up and walked to the exit, pausing in the doorway and speaking without looking back.
"She's asleep right now, I had to drug her a bit because she was refusing to rest until you woke up. Probably shouldn't have reminded her that I had no clue when that would be," he chuckled lightly as he rubbed a lump on the back of his head. "I believe she's ahead of you by about eight now. I'd suggest you have her meditate on whatever skill her shikai grants; I felt the hollow's reiatsu from here, and if she destroyed one of that level now, she'll be as strong as us in time." The man made to leave again.
"Hey."
Urahara stopped and turned his head, his eyes just visible under the brim of his hat.
"Thanks," Yoruichi said quietly. 'For everything,' her eyes silently added. Urahara flashed a small lopsided grin and was gone, leaving the girl to her thoughts about a small black haired guardian angel.
It was several hours later before the door slammed open and a black robed blur exploded into the room, instantly in its knees and facedown by Yoruichi's head.
"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryYoruichi-sa-"
"Soifon, finish that last word and I'll give you something to be sorry about," Yoruichi gritted out. She instantly regretted it as Soi turned her tearstained face up to meet hers.
"B-But I failed you," she whispered brokenly. "I was supposed to protect you, no matter what… I was supposed to and I didn't and then you got hurt and wouldn't wake up and Urahara said he didn't know when you would and you were bleeding and weren't getting better and-"
"Soi?"
"H-Huh?"
"You're rambling."
"I-I know." Both girls chuckled lightly, Soi's coming out more like a sinusy sob.
"Soi, I first want to remind you that it was my choice to protect you. My choice, do you understand?" Yoruichi waited for a nod from the crying girl before continuing. "If the attack had been at me, would you have done the same?"
"Of course!" Soi exclaimed without hesitation, making Yoruichi smile warmly.
"And would you have felt that it was my fault you were hurt?"
"Well, no, but-"
"And why would you do something like that for me?"
"Because I l-" Both girls froze, staring at each other with wide eyes as blushes slowly grew on their cheeks. After what felt like hours, Yoruichi coughed and bravely pressed on.
"B-Because we're… i-important to each other, right?"
"Right," Soi answered, a little too quickly to sound casual.
'Smooth, Soi…'
"You could just lean over and kiss her, you know."
'Can't you be serious for twelve seconds?!'
"I was being serious…"
'…'
"W-Well Soi," Yoruichi continued, looking down shyly and blushing faintly again, "my reasons for what I did are the same as yours would be… S-So, no more blaming yourself, understand?" A smile slowly spread across Soi's face as she nodded.
"H-Hai, Yoruichi-sama," she stammered out around a joyful laugh, tears of a different kind falling down her cheeks. The older girl smiled in return and nodded.
"Good. Now, lay down with me and keep a poor injured girl company, will ya?" Soi blushed but was all too happy to comply, easing gently under the covers with her mentor. She longed to cuddle tightly against the other girl but refrained from doing so out of fear of hurting her. The pair lay silently for a few minutes before Soi spoke up.
"What was your other reason?"
"Huh?"
"You said you first wanted to remind me it was your choice, so that means you had other reasons, right?"
"Oh. Umm, I forgot," she said blankly, making Soi sweatdrop. "But it was sure the fast track to getting you in bed with me, wasn't it?"
"W-What?!"
"Oh lighten up, you prude! And could you get candy cane hat in there to make me some soup when you get the chance? Surgery takes a lot out of you…"
"Surgery?! He told me it wasn't that serious!"
"Whelp, from what these bandages are telling me, he was inside me at some point."
"…"
"Soi?"
"We're going to need a new set of rice bowls in about ten minutes."
"Soi, get back in here!"
Yoruichi recovered slowly but surely. Two days later she was finally up and moving around again, although she could handle little more than walking to the kitchen for meals before needing to sit down and rest. The girls had reverted to a shy kind of tension whenever they were in a room together; both knew the truth of the other's feelings but neither knew exactly what to do next. Matters weren't helped by Urahara's knowing looks and saucy winks either.
"OWW! Dammit, what was that one for?!"
"If I hear one more joke about the many meanings of the word 'cat' I'll start finding bigger things to throw," Soi ground out, glaring daggers at the researcher. Urahara squeaked and scrambled out of the room, one hand on his head to keep his hat in place. Yoruichi just chuckled and shook her head.
"Was that really necessary?"
"No, but it was fun," Soi admitted, a small but wicked grin on her face. Yoruichi rolled her eyes and giggled, letting the issue die.
"How goes the work on your shikai?" she asked seriously. Soi grimaced a little and shrugged.
"Well, I finally understand what it does," she explained. "It's just a matter of maintaining the ability." At Yoruichi's questioning gaze Soi smiled and continued, thinking about how cute the other girl looked when curious. "Suzumebachi kills its target if it strikes the same place twice – the first strike creates a crest, and the second strike destroys the target completely. Right now though, I can only hold one crest at a time, and they fade after about 5 minutes," she finished dejectedly. Yoruichi nodded appreciatively and squeezed Soi's shoulder gently, wishing she was healthy enough to do more. 'Give it another day or two,' she reminded herself.
"Soi, that's a very amazing power, and you should be extremely proud of it." The purple haired girl grinned inside as Soi blushed adorably. "An ability like that is going to take a rather long time to master, but when you do master it, I have every confidence that you'll be as strong as I am." Soi stared at her in disbelief.
"At least as strong as I am," Yoruichi pressed on. Soi sputtered incredulously and attempted to deny the praise, but was silenced as Yoruichi scooted closer (with some effort) and planted a small, gentle kiss on her cheek.
"I'll be right here to help you the whole way, I promise," she whispered gently, wrapping her arm around Soi's waist and laying her head down on the girl's shoulder. Soifon was scared her blush would catch Yoruichi's hair on fire, but she gently hugged the girl back as she laid her head down atop her spiky violet locks.
"I think I feel a bit better now," Yoruichi said quietly, almost to herself. She gazed out a window idly, noticing the clouds gathering, and suppressed a shiver at their dark gray color.
'But if that's a storm coming, I don't know if that'll last for long,' she thought worriedly as she rested in her best friend's embrace.
