AN: This is not the last chapter, the next one, obviously being the end, and maybe one after that a brief epilogue and prologue to my next story. It all depends on how much support I get for this one, seeing as I'm not all that popular in the community I wanted to start off small. Plus I enjoy getting email alerts of reviews :3
Wewt, long chapter ftw! I tried to squeeze this in for Soi's birthday on the 11th but I finished an hour too late lol. Oh well, happy birthday anyway.
Chapter 13, The Organ Plays a Solemn Note
There were many nights Yoruichi had stayed awake upright in her bed, hands crossed tightly over her folded knees. Many nights, where she had stared blankly at the wall in front of her, fear grabbing at her chest, constricting the flow of oxygen to her blood cells. The dark wasn't her problem, it was the shadows lurking in the quiet corners that the naked eye could not distinguish which scared her most of all. Being the victim of physical abuse as a child she had learned that no place was safe and in order to protect herself she could not leave her back open, not even while she slept. Of course she secretly wished her lack of energy would take over and force her mind into unconsciousness where she could sleep without fear of being harmed. Only tonight, it was not fear that gripped her, it was anxiety, restlessness and unease, for tomorrow night, if she could wait long enough, Soi would either be with her, or Soi and her, would be dead.
In reality, not much of it made sense, the assassination had failed on her mothers part, and since it was quite obvious that the Shihouin's only daughter would risk her life for Soi- what was the point in Soi remaining alive? Perhaps there was still hope that Yoruichi would submit to defeat and go quietly, or at least the girl had prayed it so.
The only problem, the woman came to conclude, was that tomorrow would be an amazing time to wait. The adrenaline had already ravaged her muscles raw in the anticipation of sunrise, and in the morning she would be too tired to fire her weapon properly. This thinking all lead to one rash conclusion: Yoruichi would sneak out and rescue Soi tonight.
Gently getting out of bed, she stealthily made her way to her backpack, zipped it up and slid it on, noticing the slight weight difference which she determined to be the result of such a long day. Grabbing her gun with attached silencer, and noting that she had packed up her weapons the previous few hours, she made her way to the door, looking back at Kukaku, whose limp state had revealed her dream induced slumber. "You going to be pissed when you realize I'm gone." It was a whisper, slightly audible among the opening and final click of the hotel door.
There was always something about the gentle purring of a car that relaxed Yoruichi while she drove. It was one of the main reasons her vehicle at home had more than a hundred thousand miles on it, a lot considering she bought it only a few years ago. The bright street lights shrouded the area in a blinding shade of yellow, reminding her to stay alert, despite the fact that no cars were out on the road this late at night. Hands suffocating the steering wheel she sat in silence, refusing to turn the radio on afraid it would rile her up.
The car came to a stop about a block away from the warehouse. A long slender figure stepped out throwing on her bag and crept across the street, watching out for approaching figures, or glints of metal. Bushes did well to hide her shadow, and eventually she made it around to the side of the building. Considering it was night time one would think less guards would be on duty, but it is more likely for an enemy to plan an attack at night, therefore she noticed as she leaped to the first rung in the fire escape, that men were standing out front, almost asleep. If only the damn metal didn't creak so much under her weight, it was making Yoruichi uneasy that someone would suspect her.
The blinds at the first platform were drawn back, and the inside of the building was clearly visible, she had to time her sprint carefully or someone inside would notice a mysterious leg dangling in the air. Upon reaching the top, she inhaled a deep breath, shaking off the feeling of regret. Second guessing herself now could mean a lot of pain, and a lot of problems. The knob on the roof linking the inside with the outside of the building was locked, but there was no way in hell she was going through the front door. "It's never that easy." Her foot drew up to her stomach and she let out a powerful kick into the side of the door near the lock. The sound vibrated through her muscles, and she kicked again, finally it flew open with a loud crash, and she ran around the small rectangular architecture, leaping on top, and crouching down over the ledge, gun ready.
"Hey, you hear that?"
"Huh?" Both men had their backs to a wall, leaning. One was barely awake, the other had been reflecting on how the hell he'd ended up as a henchman. "Whatcha wake me up for?"
"There's somethin on the roof, go check it out."
"Why I always gotta do it, you never get off your ass."
"Yeah wells I never gotta, you always do it for me."
"Bastard, do it yourself."
"Hey." The shorter guy stood up real tall as to get closer to the face of his companion.
"You get the nerve to stand up to me and you can sit back on your ass. Until then you get the hell up there and tell me what made that sound." The taller man reflected on this a second and opened his mouth to talk, but apparently nothing made contact and he turned around lurching up the small staircase to the roof.
"Dumb jerk, always makin' me do all the work. One day I'm really gonna let him have it, I'll knock him right between the eyes, we'll see who's afraid of who then." He stopped at the doorway and looked out on to the roof. "Just as I thought, there ain't nothin' here." He turned back around to head inside, but a pair of legs caught him under the shoulder blades and propelled him into the wall parallel to the entrance. The loud thud alerted the smaller thug who turned quickly to the stairs, holding his gun ready.
"Hey, you fall down the stairs again dumb ass?" He reached the top and noticed the man unconscious, face plastered against the wall in front of him. "Hey." He poked his friend with the tip of his gun. "Wake up stupid." A sharp pop bounced off the small corridor as a small piece of metal lodged itself in the smaller mans skull. He sunk to the floor, blood splashing against the side as Yoruichi stepped over the two, her gun pointed at the foot of the stairs, and she silently tiptoed down.
Kukaku sat up in bed, rubbing the sand out of her eyes, she stretched and swung her feet over the edge, finally getting up and limping to the bathroom. After washing her hands, she checked the time on her watch, and growled. "Damn it Yoruichi, you were supposed to wake me up thirty minutes ago, it's my shift-" She glanced over at the bed next to her and noticed it was already made, and empty. "You crazy bitch…" She ran out of the room pounding on every door like a mad woman.
Other than those two guys, the 5th floor was completely empty, which to a woman who was ankle deep in hope, was not a pretty sign. Fortunately she wouldn't allow herself to be completely overwhelmed with fear. Reaching in her jacket pocket, she pulled out Kukaku's tracker and stood with her back at the wall, glancing down the hallway as she determined which room Soi was in. At the far side of the building, 3rd floor, just like the blueprints had said. If she ever made it out alive, she would have to recognize her friend wasn't as dumb as she acted.
The stairwell door creaked slightly while she pushed it open just enough to peek inside, then shouted down in the deepest voice she could, trying to imitate the shorter man she had heard in the hallway. "Hey, get your ass up here." After 15 seconds of no response, she entered all the way and looked down. Where the hell was everyone? 4th floor, empty. Yoruichi screamed out in frustration and turned around, back down the stairs. 3rd floor, empty. She sprinted down the hall, kicking the last door in, and stopped. There inside a body, bound by coffee colored rope, head once tilted downwards rose up to meet her eyes -silver pools, the ones she chased after in her sleep. "S-Soi?" Unable the talk the figure forcefully threw her head side to side, thrashing about. Yoruichi ran forward and hugged the girl, then backed up and brushed the raven hair out of her face, yanking off the cloth that bound her mouth shut.
"Turn around!" Blackness.
"Deary, wake up now. If you sleep much longer you'll ruin the fun." Hazy vision blurred her sight, finally the yellow irises focused on its mothers figure. Nonsense rambled its way out of Yoruichi's mouth as she struggled to remember.
"Soi!" Her head turned quickly to the right, a wave of calm surged through her now. "Soi, I'm so sorry."
"Yoruichi, how nice of you to join us. Why, Soi and I were growing rather bored here all by ourselves. She's not much of a talker you could say." The free woman stepped casually to the shorter girl and rested her hand on Soi's jaw and stroked it. Yoruichi made to get up but realized she too was bound in ropes.
"Don't touch her." The gold in her eyes turned a dark orange as rage seeped through the pupil.
"Now hold on a second, I'm not going to hurt her… yet, anyway. We still have our arrangement do we not?"
"Fuck you, the deal's off."
"Oh is it now?" Yoruichi's mother reached into her belt and pulled out a short steel blade, turning it in the light. "Such a pretty face this girl has, I understand why you're attracted to her." She held the blade up to Soi's cheek, the girl under her struggled to tilt her head backwards avoiding the object until a hand held her throat. The knife seeped slowly into her skin; muffled cries of pain rang out, as it was brought across and down her jaw, crimson dripping off her chin. The woman next to her could no longer control herself and pulled with everything she had against the ropes that bound her. Two men stepped out of the darkness, but a hand held them at bay. "It's alright, she's not going anywhere."
Turning her attention to Yoruichi, the mother drifted back, pointing the knife at her neck. "I suppose you're wondering why I have only a few guards up here, but honestly it's not that hard to guess is it? You've always done things on your own, it's in your nature, I never expected you to come with that sorry excuse for a gang you have. I suppose eventually they'll have noticed you were gone, in which case I've stationed the majority of men on the first and second floor. I doubt anyone will make it this far anyway." She smiled slyly and grabbed her daughter by the chin. "It's a shame you turned into a faggot, you really would have had attractive children."
"Shut up. All my life I've obeyed you and done everything you asked. You abused me and never treated me with respect. Is it any wonder I grew up to be so rebellious? Why I got in so many damn fights. Maybe if you hadn't been such a sorry excuse for a mother, things might have gone your way. But unfortunately I'd rather die than listen to another fucking thing you spew from that garbage you call a mouth." She lunged forward in her chair, the knife at her neck slicing through the ropes around her arms and she untangled herself, jumping forward and tackling the other women. Soi's eye lit up and she watched the brawl on the floor as the two men on either side stepped forward, taking aim. Yoruichi rolled over, pinning herself to the bottom to avoid the gunfire, and launched the figure on her at one of the men, rolling back on her palms, and springing up from the ground to sweep the feet out from under the other. His gun dropped to the floor and she picked it up, shooting him in the head and lifting his body as a shield. "How does it feel to be on the loosing team?"
"You tell me." Dark fingers motioned forward and the man behind her stepped up, pointing a gun to Soi's head.
"Ok, stop, I give up." Yoruichi aimed the gun at Soi. "If anyone does it… it has to be me."
"Yoruichi what are you doing?"
"You're stuck now aren't you mom? If I kill Soi you have no other bargaining chips left. It's all over."
"You wouldn't dare." Yoruichi fired and the bullet just nicked the side of Soi's chair. The frightened girl looked up in disbelief, the cloth that had been removed earlier had been retied, and her eye's searched Yoruichi's, but the yellow orbs just stared, half dull and full of regret.
"You're right... I can't do it." She set the gun on the floor and backed away from it.
"Move." The man turned around and gave the older Shihouin his weapon and stepped forward cautiously, eyes switching back and fourth between the metal on the floor and the woman across the room. He leaned forward grabbing it and Yoruichi ran at him, sliding under his legs, kicking the gun to the middle of the floor as her mother fired, piercing the flesh of her goon, and he dropped with a thud. More bullets were fired as the daughter rolled across the floor, jumping up and punching her mother in the face. They both ended up tangled in a brawl.
"Soi." Yoruichi yelled out to the sitting girl. "Get the gun." The shot fired earlier had sliced through the main rope on the chair releasing the smaller woman and she got up, grabbing the gun and aiming it at the two on the floor. "Shoot it."
"I can't you're in the way."
"Just shoot it!" The barrel of the gun exploded in a roar as the spiraling bullet penetrated through the back of Yoruichi's mom. The weapon hit the ground with a clatter as Soi sunk to her feet, breathing heavily.
"Yoruichi, I got her." Soi looked up to notice two figures were lying down, motionless across the tile. "Y-Yoruichi…" Her body started trembling, and she crawled over, kneeling at the bodies, picking the older woman up by the collar. The door to the room burst open and Kukaku entered, gun ready.
"Soi, what are you-"
"This isn't a game, Yoruichi… please… stop messing around." A dark hand came up and rested at Soi's jaw, wiping away the blood. Soi looked up into half lidded eyes, tears streaming down her cheek.
"You know, in Japan, some believe that when your body dies, your soul passes into a realm of spirits. This place is guarded by powerful warriors who vow to protect the people of this world and their own from dark beings."
"Why are you telling me this… you're not dying" A pale hand rested against Yoruichi's abs, and she felt the moisture, the flow of warm liquid.
"Don't kid anyone Soi. Hey look at me. You killed my mother; I'm extremely proud of you, don't let this remain on your conscience."
"No you can't… we… why?"
"Soi, on the other side. I'll look for you."
"No you won't because you're not going. You can't, you said you would take care of me! You're a liar."
"Please don't."
"Please don't what? I need you; I've always needed you… Yoruichi I think I-I might actually l-love you."
"Soi…"
"Then promise me."
"Promise you?"
"If you find me on the other side, promise you'll never leave me again."
"Soi, I-"
"Do it, please, Yoruichi…"
"I promise… little bee." A wave of fire collided with Soi's temple. Searing pain bled through every pore on her body, a life times worth of images flashed through her head, and then paused.
"Hey Soi, come here for a second." The young girl walked over to her friend out of curiosity.
"Whatcha want, Yoruichi?" Little dark hands opened, releasing a small butterfly that drifted up and tickled Soi's nose.
"You know your name means bee right? In Japanese."
"Yeah, my father and mother were born in Japan, they moved here before I was born. Why do you ask?"
"I think it's cute."
"Don't tease me, Yoruichi." Soi pouted.
"I'm not." The older girl leaned forward and kissed Soi on the forehead. "I like it, little bee."
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