Hunted
The Invitation

Yoruichi stood leaning against Kukaku's car observing the quiet streets while she waited for her friend to come out of the building. She had thought about going inside to wait but she chose to bask in the peaceful scenery. It was one of those pleasant Sunday evenings where even the city centre was sparsely populated, mainly due to most places being shut by now and it was rare to find the normally busy area so quiet and calm. She pulled out her phone to check the time and saw that she had been waiting for quite some time now and she had to cancel her plans with Sora for the day just to make it on time, something she knew Sora was going to chew her out over later since it was technically their one month anniversary together.

Yoruichi on the other hand couldn't tell if she liked the interruption or not, it was no secret that Sora wanted to advance their physical relationship further except not feeling ready for that just yet, Yoruichi was holding off her advances to the point that Kukaku was now openly teasing her over it and calling her a prude. Not that she really minded the jokes but what was starting to concern her was how she was so jumpy around Sora when things became more intimate between them both. It was very unlike her usual self and she was having difficulty finding out why this was the case.

Just then, she spotted Kukaku exit the building lazily adjusting her jacket, a scowl formed across her brow when she spotted Yoruichi leaning against her car.

"Nice to see you too." Yoruichi commented, wondering what she had done this time to earn that look as Kukaku approached her.

"Couldn't you have worn something a little less showy?" Kukaku suggested needlessly, knowing full well by now that Yoruichi would act, do and wear whatever she wanted despite their 'advice' as the woman in question would word it.

"Fine, next time I'll wear the brown trench coat with the collar turned up, complete with shades and the hat." Yoruichi joked, knowing that Kukaku would give up this topic sooner or later so they could discuss the real reason she had wanted to meet up with her.

"You know how big a hit you are... we don't need someone recognising you." Kukaku leaned back against her car beside Yoruichi and smirked at the image of Yoruichi doing just that and how she would most likely stand out even more if she did dress that way.

"I can handle myself." Yoruichi stated seriously, Kukaku simply nodded at this. There's a moment of silence between them both; Yoruichi is gazing up at the mixture of orange and reds in the sky from the setting sun while Kukaku has her arms folded neatly across her chest, her eyes were unfocused on the ground, more preoccupied in thoughts then on the scenery.

"He wants to meet her." Kukaku informed Yoruichi, finding it easier to get straight to the point instead of dancing around the subject.

"That took a lot longer than I thought it would." Yoruichi was genuinely surprised by this.

"It wasn't easy keeping it quiet all this time so be grateful." Kukaku sighed as she recalled the amount of rules she had broken just to give Yoruichi this long.

"Awww, you went to all that trouble for little old me?" Yoruichi put on a sickeningly sweet innocent expression to go along with her statement. Kukaku shoved Yoruichi playfully away from her to knock the stupid look from her face.

"We reminded them that you're...less rebellious when you have some sense of privacy." Kukaku explained with a grin. Yoruichi broke out laughing at the choice of words used.

"Alright, I'll play nice this time. What, where and when?" Yoruichi asked once she had calmed down from her laughing spell.

"Evening meal, his place and this Friday coming at 6pm. Nice and simple, just the way you want it right?" Kukaku asked, glancing at Yoruichi to see her reaction.

"Oh please, since when is anything simple when it comes to that man, you gonna be there?"

"Ha, good point and yep, all part of the deal." Having completed her task in telling Yoruichi all of this, Kukaku pushed off from her car and unlocked it, "Now that the official stuff is out of the way, need a ride anywhere before I head home?" Kukaku climbed into the car though waited for Yoruichi's answer before she pulled the door shut.

"Wait so that was all this was, couldn't you have just told me this over the phone? You do realise how much trouble you've got me into with Sora right?" Yoruichi complained though headed round to the passenger door all the same which Kukaku unlocked for her.

"It's good to liven things up a bit now and then." Kukaku teased, sticking her tongue out at Yoruichi for added effect as they shut their doors and she started the engine. "Where am I taking you then?"

"Your place." Yoruichi stated simply and seeing Kukaku about to protest cut her off, "Don't start ok, the police have been conducting nightly raids for the past week around that area and I haven't been able to get a decent night's sleep since."

"Alright, you can stay for a few nights...I'm sure you're just saying that to get away from that place again." Kukaku muttered as an afterthought.

"You would too if you had to live there." Yoruichi countered and Kukaku knew this would be true.

"I'm sorry," Kukaku sighed truthfully, "I know you don't want to be there but I can't help you out of it either."

"...I know." Yoruichi was caught off guard by the change of mood though it was comforting to hear it said anyway and the two settled into a comfortable silence for the rest of the car ride.

Nothing out of the ordinary took place at all as the days slowly passed by. Yoruichi was able to get Sora to forgive her easily enough and the prospect of officially meeting one of Yoruichi's friends on Friday seemed to come across as a sign of commitment to Sora and she gladly agreed to the evening meal. Yoruichi had believed it would have taken some coaxing to get her to go along with it but ended up wondering how Sora was so excited over the prospect, it was just a simple evening meal with two of her friends, one of which she had already met before as well that Yoruichi actually began to wonder if there was something wrong with herself not feeling more enthused about Sora meeting them.

This was exactly why she was feeling nervous as she stood by the main window in the living room of his house watching the main road for signs of Sora's blue car on Friday evening at 5:53pm. Sora was coming straight from work so they had agreed to just meet up at the house. She remained by the window for some time and she continued to remain still even as she felt a presence move behind her. She could still hear Kukaku playing some game hooked up to the TV which only left one other person.

"What are you doing Kisuke?" she questioned him with a blank expression when his head popped into her field of version, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"I'm trying to see what you're so tense about." He replied fixing his eyes on the window to peer outside just as she was doing. Yoruichi moved her left arm and slammed the back of her fist straight into his nose. Kisuke recoiled from the blow, rubbing his nose in an attempt to lessen the pain.

"What was that for Yoruichi-san?" he whined, his voice was highly distorted since he was holding his nose.

"She didn't want you sneaking a glance at her boobs ya perv!" Kukaku laughed from the sofa, still frantically pressing buttons on the controller during a battle scene.

"Oh that's not fair; you know I have eyes only for you." Kisuke chimed back after he was certain it was not broken.

"You get to watch me walk away then." Kukaku replied back without missing a beat and managed to stick her tongue out at him for good measure while killing one of the bad guys in the game.

"Well you two have gotten meaner since we last together." Kisuke complained, "I would have thought being in a relationship would have softened you up some." He directed this back to Yoruichi who was still standing on edge by the window.

"You think a lot of things." Yoruichi mumbled back, not really paying much attention to either of them.

"Was she always like this before dates?" Kisuke questioned, confused by her odd behaviour, normally she was...well normal, cool, calm, overconfident, making jokes and relaxed. It was the first time she appeared stiff, rigid and tense while waiting for someone to arrive.

"Nope and you're not seeing things either. I call it Sora-itis." Kukaku answered, still glued to the game.

"You guys are going to hold off the interrogating and behave right?" Yoruichi interrupted before Kukaku could become more inventive with her jokes.

"Would you relax, we're not going to kill her." Kukaku replied, "I have met her before remember."

"And you?" Yoruichi locked her eyes with Kisuke's to try and read through his facade, knowing full well his poker face was extremely difficult to see through when he wanted it to be.

"I'm here to meet your girlfriend and make sure she's not some crazy loon you picked off the street, not to kill her." Kisuke raised his hands up in mock surrender under her intensive stare.

"She does seem to be genuinely normal." Yoruichi answered...a little too normal. Yoruichi froze; startled by her very own thought that appeared out of nowhere. There's nothing wrong with that! That's what I want; she quickly countered and tensed up, half expecting another snide little comment from the back of her mind to jump out again except she was greeted by silence.

"That's normally the case. They don't pop right out with the psycho killer routine." Kisuke told her and Yoruichi was certain she caught a knowing glint in his eyes, almost like he had heard her very thoughts just then.

"Which is why I don't understand why it took so long to do this, if you wanted to make sure I was safe shouldn't you have checked her out straight away like all the others?" Yoruichi continued to study him suspiciously, this whole evening felt off to her and she was still getting nowhere in trying to find out why.

"As Kukaku said, we wanted to allow you some extra privacy." Kisuke smiled back at her happily and she knew there was some other reason hidden deep within that warped mind of his that he would no doubt reveal when he felt the time was right as always.

"Let's not all jump up at once but your girl's here." Kukaku chimed in during the brief pause in the exchanges between Yoruichi and Kisuke. Both Kisuke and Yoruichi turned to look out the window at the same time to see Sora getting out of her blue car. She was still dressed in her work clothes though instead of a skirt, she was wearing a pair of black trousers and was busy freeing her hair from the tight bun it had been in all day as she spotted Yoruichi through the window and waved to her happily. Yoruichi smiled back then moved out of the room to go let her in though she quickly turned on Kukaku and Kisuke.

"Remember, behave. Both of you." She told them sternly once again before racing to the front door.

"And the games begin." Kisuke muttered quietly with a grin, Kukaku rolled her eyes at this and continued to play her game while they could overhear Yoruichi greeting Sora and welcoming her inside and it wasn't long till they both popped round the doorway together. Sora stood smiling brightly at them both with her arms wrapped around Yoruichi's possessively, Yoruichi stood with a crooked smile scratching her head sheepishly unsure of what to make of the death grip her left arm was currently locked into.

"Hi everyone!" Sora beamed enthusiastically, practically pulling Yoruichi further into the room along with her. Kukaku just grunted in response, she was in her gaming mode and nothing would disturb her till she completed the current level. Kisuke offered his hand to Sora for a handshake. "Oh you won't believe the day I had at work today, some client flipped out just because we wouldn't agree to the contract he wanted and actually tried attacking our boss in the meeting - and you are?" Sora paused recounting her story to officially meet Kisuke who was still standing with his hand out ready to shake hers.

"Kisuke," he answered happily and ended up letting his hand fall back to his side since Sora seemed unwilling to release her grip on Yoruichi. "Was your boss alright?" he prompted.

"Of course, our security is top rate," she boasted proudly. "He was stopped before he even got halfway across the table but god, the amount of paperwork it brought up. I had to locate all the legal files to make sure it couldn't be twisted on us and then we wanted to press charges –"

"Sora -" Yoruichi piped up, her arm was starting to go numb from the lack of blood circulation.

"It was one big mess and everything had to be done instantly, so of course everyone is running around like headless chickens with the people lower down looking to me for help while I've got the big guys harassing me to sort everything out in time and -"

"Sora I'm getting a drink, you want one?" Yoruichi jumped in, a little louder this time round to grab her attention.

"Oh I'll come with you."

"Nah its ok, water right?" Yoruichi managed to free her arm from Sora, who let go of her rather reluctantly. Yoruichi shook her arm slightly to bring back feeling in her fingertips as she walked off to the kitchen after Sora confirmed she did want water.

"That all you want...water? Wouldn't you prefer something stronger after the day you had?" The request for water had spiked Kukaku's curiosity enough to make her break out of her silent gaming mode.

"Oh I don't drink. Can't stand the stuff personally and it doesn't serve any purpose." Kukaku's eyebrow twitched at hearing Sora's opinion of one of her favourite past times. Drinking was an excellent way to wind down after a long day of working and it only got better when you had your friends around for a good laugh she thought defensively. You know if it wasn't for that...stuff, Yoruichi wouldn't have looked twice at you. Being true to her word though, Kukaku returned to her game without saying any of this out loud, she had promised to be good and everyone was entitled to their own opinion.

Sensing the pause in conversation, Kisuke clapped his hands together to get the ball rolling again, "Well I sh -" Before he got another syllable out, Sora cut him off.

"Oh I never got done telling you about my day, where was I...Oh now I remember, yes. Everyone was hounding me to get everything done in time. Luckily I had Nanao there for help; seriously don't know what I'd do without her to keep order sometimes -"

"Nanao?" This time Kisuke interrupted her, he was certain that name rang a bell or two.

"Yes, Nanao Ise. She's also a PA like me and together we practically run the company. I joke of course but she does answer only to the boss...well she has two in a way but that's, oh it's a long story but really she does just have one overall, there are sub headings for each department you see and -" At this point, Kukaku had gotten sick of listening to Sora ramble on and turned up the volume of her game which worked at drowning out the one sided conversation for now.

"What have I missed then?" Yoruichi announced as she strode back into the room with Sora's glass of water and her own glass of Pepsi. Kisuke spotted Yoruichi watching him carefully as she returned, as he was her, she had taken a lot of time in the kitchen preparing two simple drinks.

"Sora was just telling me about her job and the work she does there." Kisuke explained. Sora gave Yoruichi a quick chaste kiss as a thank you for fetching the drink and refrained from reclaiming Yoruichi in her possessive clutch. He believed this was mainly due to the drinks being in the way more than anything else. "By all means, please continue ladies," he added with a sly grin, referring to their kiss. "Just continue to act like I wasn't here and don't mind the camera being set up."

"That's all you're getting, I refuse to encourage your crazy fantasies." Yoruichi glared back although she refrained from hitting him despite wanting to, it was all in good fun but she didn't think Sora would get that and would most likely think she was a violent person or something. Kisuke's sly grin increased when the expected jab did not occur and seeing this only made Yoruichi feel more uneasy about the evening. She was certain he was up to something but what...what are you thinking Kisuke? Yoruichi fixed her eyes on the deceptively aloof man while he continued to talk with Sora, studying him carefully, she was determined to work out his scheme and beat him to the punch as the saying goes.

It didn't help the matter at all when he would glance at her every now and then and he actually stuck his tongue out for a split second at one point. He knew she was watching him and was making fun of that fact, baiting her into a confrontation and when Kisuke declared he was thirsty; Yoruichi had every intention of following him into the kitchen to question him that she visibly jumped when a set of fingers entwined themselves with her own.

"Tense tonight huh?" Sora murmured close by her ear. How long has she been standing there? – Oh great job Yoruichi, top points for forgetting about your girlfriend. Yoruichi could have faceplamed herself for this. "I'm sure I could help you relax back at my place later on." Sora continued softly, giving Yoruichi's hand a gentle squeeze. Yoruichi made herself smile back at her warmly in hopes of covering up any surprise she might have shown at seeing Sora that close to her. Kisuke chose this moment to reappear into the room complaining about how Yoruichi had taken the last of the Pepsi. His sudden appearance startled Yoruichi into stepping back from Sora and breaking the hold on her hand. Not that she minded the interruption, in fact she was a little relieved as it gave her more thinking time to come up with a decent excuse to delay Sora's suggestion yet again, particularly since the constant hints were starting to make it feel like she was being pressed into it. Sora looked at her questioningly; Yoruichi gave an apologetic smile after inclining her head at Kisuke, indicating towards him to which Sora nodded back at her understandingly forming the word 'oh.'

A huge explosion made everyone focus on Kukaku who swore her head off at the same time except she managed to refrain from throwing the controller half way across the room out of anger.

"Bloody tank! I just found the RPG!" she shouted at the screen as the last check point loaded, "Oh never mind, it put me right next to it." She grinned wickedly.

"I did warn you about that tank." Yoruichi rolled her eyes at this with a chuckle.

"What is that?" Yoruichi blinked at Sora, uncertain if she heard the distasteful tone in Sora's voice or not.

"It's a game, you want a go?" Kukaku asked, Yoruichi couldn't tell if Kukaku had heard the tone used either so she assumed she was just hearing things.

"I have better things to with my time than to play children's games." Sora stated simply. Oh no, a cold chill ran down Yoruichi's spine and she preyed desperately that Kukaku would not overreact since gaming was one of safest ways for her to experience her favourite hobby: blowing things up. It didn't help matters at all that Kukaku was a closeted movie/game expert in the action genre.

"What's your stance on movies?" Kukaku paused the game mid gun fight so she could face Sora. Yoruichi was unsure if she should step in or not before things got worse; it was never a good sign if Kukaku found a reason to stop during a battle, 'I hate breaking the flow' was what she always claimed.

"Oh that depends on the film itself; while most turn out to be dull there are occasional ones that surprise." Sora explained and Yoruichi recalled the few times they had gone to the cinema, it had taken a lot of convincing to get Sora to join her and even when she did agree, she seemed set on having a bad time that Yoruichi just stopped asking. Remind me again, why are you dating her? That evil little voice in the back of her mind piped up again. Shut up, things are good with her; we've had some really nice times together! She countered again only this time, the voice didn't remain quiet. Nice? You really want to settle for its nice? Yoruichi was frozen by her thoughts again when she realised that only one word basically summed up her entire relationship with Sora: nice. There were no fireworks, no instant connections and there were times where they didn't get along but it was still nice...and way better than nothing she concluded.

"What do you mean by that?" the shocked tone in Sora's voice greeted Yoruichi after tuning back into the conversation.

"Basically just that, I have to protect her ass night and day so I find games very relaxing, it's a break from reality." Kukaku explained defensively. Yoruichi just stared at Kukaku with her mouth hanging open, just how much did I miss? What did you tell her!

"Is it really that bad?" Sora turned on Yoruichi who, completely lost at the turn of events, smiled nervously back.

"Currently no, things have been quite calm I'm pleased to say." Kisuke came to her rescue, "So if you do spot anyone suspicious, do feel free to tell either one us and we'll look into it to be on the safe side."

"You really get stalkers?" Sora's bright eyes were shinning with concern, she sounded horrified.

"Oh," Yoruichi caught on. "Erm yeah, I've had a few people cause trouble in past. Actually had some guy try something about a month ago now, if it hadn't been for So-someone showing up it could have gone very wrong." It wasn't the first time Soifon had crossed her mind the past month, it happened more than she cared to admit but it unsettled her more when it happened around Sora. This was due to the thought that seemed to crop up along with it, if it wasn't for Sora I might not have given up on Soifon so easily...

"That must be terrible." Sora exclaimed and she practically dived on Yoruichi, wrapping her arms around her and buried her head into Yoruichi's shoulder. Yoruichi however remained stock still, her mind was going into overload and the arms that meant to be comforting were stifling her. "Are you alright?" Sora leaned back to get a better look at Yoruichi when she didn't return the hug.

"Think I'm just feeling a bit off...need some water or something." Yoruichi mumbled and set off for the kitchen, vaguely aware of Kisuke tagging along behind her.

Kisuke had remained silent at first, engaging Yoruichi in light casual conversation though she soon found out what he had been thinking the entire evening when he closed the kitchen door and asked one simple question.

"Yoruichi is this even worth it?"

"Of course it is." Yoruichi defended instantly

"I get the impression you're not really into her." He didn't need to list any examples on why he thought this, for a while now and especially her thoughts and behaviour from tonight defiantly made Yoruichi feel like she hadn't treated Sora as a girlfriend at all. "And on a personal note, I would prefer to not go through the hassle of all that paperwork only to find you two have ended a week later or something."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." She muttered sarcastically as she leaned against the kitchen counter top in the centre of the kitchen.

"She could become a liability to you."

"That would be the case with anyone," she pointed out. "We've had some really nice times," There's that word again; she dipped her head forward as she frowned at her treacherous mind. "Is that such a bad thing to have?" Yoruichi asked, curious as to what he would say.

"Not at all, many people have settled for less. I'd say it depends on the person in question and if they could settle for that."

"What do you think of her?" Yoruichi looked back up at him, waiting for his answer.

"She's..." he paused: a grin crept across his lips, "...nice."

They managed to get through the rest of the evening without further incidents, excluding Sora's dislike for the way a certain dish had been prepared when it came time to eat. Yoruichi wondered what had taken place between Kukaku and Sora during her time in the kitchen since Kukaku had adopted to follow the 'If you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all' plan and kept sending death glares at both Kisuke and Yoruichi for banning alcohol for the night since they didn't want Sora feeling left out. Kisuke continued as before and encouraged Sora to keep talking which he soon found out took no effort at all since she seemed to have an opinion on practically everything and the rare occasions she didn't, she would simply talk about someone who did. This left Yoruichi doing her best to pay extra attention to Sora in an attempt to make up for basically ignoring her earlier even if she did feel torn over her feelings for Sora and as the night approached, Sora reminded Yoruichi of her suggestion to spend the night at hers, which Yoruichi kindly turned down by saying that she still felt weird and was gonna stay at Kisuke's for the night since she wanted to get plenty of rest.

"That's fine." Sora smiled, "I'll call you sometime tomorrow yeah?"

"Sure, I'll charge my phone so it's ready." Yoruichi waved goodbye to Sora as she headed down the pathway.

"Oh wait! I nearly forgot – you know that party I mentioned a bit ago?" Sora called back to her.

"Yeah." Yoruichi nodded, "It's coming up soon right?"

"Yep, just wanted to check you were still free to be my date for the night." Sora had reached her car and was now waiting for the confirmation before she got in to leave. Yoruichi hesitated, I already said yes so no point backing out of it now...plus she'd want to know why and I'm just too tired to think of a good enough reason right now anyway. Not content to stay quiet any longer that evil little voice resurfaced, having doubts about your girlfriend again? Not in the mood to argue with herself any more, she chose to ignore it this time round.

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten." She confirmed and watched the smile brighten on Sora's face and she blew Yoruichi a kiss before she vanished inside her car to go back home. Yoruichi pretended to catch it and went back inside and found Kukaku opening a beer bottle in kitchen looking very irritated.

"I think that was quite ni – Good, it was good." Yoruichi corrected herself, determined to not use that word again.

"Depends on what you class as good." Kukaku grunted, "Does she ever shut up?"

"Ha, yeah, she does like to talk which suits me just fine since I like to listen."

"Yoruichi even I like to listen when the conversation actually has a point but all she does is waffle on about nothing."

"There's nothing wrong with that, it's called chit chat." Yoruichi explained, feeling more like she defending Sora now.

"It's called bull shit with a capital BS." Yoruichi frowned at Kukaku's use of language.

"As I recall, you're the one who told me to call Sora and you found her in the first place." Yoruichi pointed out.

"Clearly I had to be drunk to do that." Kukaku stated resentfully

"You saying I should dump her now?" Yoruichi rubbed her temples, it had been a long night and she didn't have the energy needed to work out what had caused this rift between Kukaku and Sora right now.

"No, not at all, she's a keeper Yoruichi, really...just keep her someplace else." Despite being serious Kukaku chuckled at her own comment.

"This is because we didn't let you drink, right?" Yoruichi rolled her eyes at her friend's behaviour though was glad the tone of the conversation had lightened up.

"...Partly..." Kukaku played along, taking a swig from the bottle with a small grin.

"Alright K...I'm – I'm just gonna turn in for the night." Yoruichi decided to call an end to the conversation before it got serious again; she could approach the subject later when they both had more energy and could think more clearly. Kukaku nodded goodnight to Yoruichi as she left the kitchen and headed for the guest room ready to just collapse into sleep after what had been a surprisingly exhausting evening meal.

A/N: Sorry I missed last week's update but like I said, I was extremely busy plus I had some problems trying to work out Sora's character for a while too.
If you do have any suggestions or tips on how I can improve my writing, do feel free to let me know. I'd like to get better at this :D
And finally, I hope you enjoyed this update :D
P.S In case anyone was curious, Kukaku is playing Uncharted 2 (Huge Uncharted fan since game 1 and got my copy of number 3 pre-ordered!)