Hunted

The Storm

"Hey," Yoruichi managed to say through a shaky breath after Kukaku had closed the apartment door behind her.

"Hi." Soifon returned the greeting though remained where she stood rooted to ground very aware she was completely out of her element. The fact that Soifon appeared lost and uncertain at what do gave Yoruichi the boost she needed to tell Soifon otherwise both of them would just be stuck awkward silence for the rest of night.

"I don't know how you will take any of this, I'm prepared for the worst but it will be easier if I just get it all out in the open now and go from there so I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you what happened and you'll need to know a little about the life I used to lead too." Yoruichi began making a mental checklist of all the important things that she would need to explain to Soifon and parts would be irrelevant

"Alright…start whenever you're ready." Soifon sat down beside Yoruichi and tried to force herself to relax with no luck.

"I told you I had some fans that went a little crazy yeah?" Yoruichi looked at Soifon nervously who nodded in confirmation. "Well they weren't really fans…they were more like enemies and it wasn't just a few…it was a whole bunch of them, one could argue it was an organisation bunch of them." Yoruichi took her time in choosing her words carefully and she tried her best to downplay the difference between 'a few fans' compared a crime organisation.

"Why would you have enemies on such a large scale?" Soifon finally spoke after she had a minute to process the very large difference between the first explanation of 'a few fans' when compared to the second one of 'an organisation.'

"And that's where this becomes a bit tricky. I told you I was a model, I was a really good one and that's an understatement. I was encouraged from a very young age to take to the spotlight and unlike most kids my parent's were-are rich and my father was all too pleased to have one of his children reach a new level of fame to bring to the family name which was another contributing factor as to why I was so popular, I was a potential gateway into the Shihōin lifestyle. Something I'd like to mention now is some of the stuff I'm gonna to reveal makes me feel sick with the way I was back then I – I just want you to remember that I've changed since then and I'm no longer like that ok. "Yoruichi interjected swiftly, her fears of Soifon abandoning her had grown with every word she spoke. Soifon nodded to show that she understood and gestured for Yoruichi to continue.

"As I was saying rich family meant that I wanted for nothing and with each passing day my fame grew and grew that by the time I turned thirteen I could no longer think of things that I wanted and the only reason I retained any kind of sanity was thanks to Kisuke and Kukaku along with the rest of the gang, one of which works for you I might add."

"Two," Soifon corrected. "If you're referring to Nanao, Shunsui works for me too…if you can call what he does work." Soifon tagged on afterwards still surprised that she had kept him on for so long but then again Nanao made up for all that he lacked and Soifon wasn't going to lose Nanao anytime soon if she had anything to do with it.

"Huh…I'm really gonna have to go see those guys. Anyway we got up to all sorts of pranks, heists and all sorts of general chaos that teens get up to with unlimited funding. When all of us were together we were an unstoppable wrecking ball…until the day we got caught that is. I snuck into my dad's office one night and found some rough plans to a building so naturally I told the guys and we broke into the place. The plans we had though were old, security had been bumped up and we were caught before we even made it to the front door, we were arrested and my dad paid for us to be released. I was expecting him to tell me off and go on about how I brought shame to the family name." Yoruichi recalled entering her father's study after he had one of his workers pick her up from police station.

Yoruichi kicked open the doors to her father's study, any other time she would have been respectful and knocked but her night had turned into a disaster and the fact that her father had stepped in to rescue and solve everything for them just seemed to be another way for him to show just how little she had grown compared to everything he had accomplished.

"Alright pops give me your speech on how I've let you down so I can go to bed and be done with this crappy day." She spouted to her father who was stood with his back to her by his roaring fireplace.

"Pops? That's new. I don't like it." He mused out loud and turned to face her, all of his features were hidden in the shadows of the fire light that licked at his silhouette. Yoruichi rolled her eyes, "I can tell your patience has long gone so I'll get straight to the point. That building belongs to a…former partner of mine and he has something of mine and I want it back."

"Why are you telling me this?" Excitement started to boil deep within Yoruichi's very core, her father was revealing information to her about his kind of work and was possibly offering her to work for him at the way this was looking.

"If you're anything like me the fact that you were caught tonight must feel like a black hole burning through your pride as a Shihōin." He grinned when Yoruichi flinched at this and he knew that not only was he right, he had said exactly what she needed to hear in order to do what he wanted. "How about we go pay them a visit together with all of your friends once again hmm?"

"He played me right into the palm of his hands, it's a common theme in my family," Yoruichi smiled and Soifon wondered how the hell anyone could smile at such a twisted relationship. "I jumped at the opportunity and with my father's help he set up a meal where I went with my mother and father to apologise to the owners while my friends got in through the backdoor I unlocked when I popped to the bathroom. My family provided the distraction while my friends located the safe and left with its contents while I simply thanked the family for letting me take the time to formally apologise for my past actions."

"All of this was done with your dad's permission?" Soifon double checked, her mind already reeling at the relationship between father and daughter.

"Oh yes and many, many more. The robbery though was just a test, he gave us a few more like it and eventually he started giving us the real jobs. He used my successful career as a model to get in anywhere his name didn't do so straight away, I'd flash a smile here and there to keep the host busy while my friends worked in the background finding all the information he asked for, blackmail, bank accounts, drugs you name it, together we brought down my father's rivals from within and they had no idea what hit them. This all started around the time I was thirteen so when my fifteenth birthday came along you can see why I felt invincible, in the public eye I was famous model, daughter and heir to the Shihōin estate and the underworld referred to us as 'The Kiss of Death' since if we were sent after someone that was the result."

"Y-You killed…people…" Soifon interrupted, not able to keep quiet at that point.

"Not directly." Yoruichi gave her a sensitive look, "It was more a case of people we got information on for my father would vanish and we just didn't think about the how or the why…maybe it's because we didn't want to. Either way we caused the deaths of people, just not directly." Soifon nodded silently and when she didn't say anything else Yoruichi continued. "Let's see fifteenth birthday was when I bought a club – no I had two clubs by that point I bought another or more like I cheated my brother's club away from him. Same kind of tactics we used with everyone else and I did it to get back at him for something trivial I can't really remember…I think he crashed one of my cars I'm not certain there." Each new fact Yoruichi revealed about the kind of life she had grown up in was making Soifon's head explode at how casual it all was to Yoruichi who owned several clubs, cars and god knows what else all by the time she was fifteen. "One of the reasons my brother loved this club was because it was an underground club and the rules were anything goes so don't kick up a fuss if you get in over your head and I do mean anything." Yoruichi stressed the last part hoping that Soifon would let her imagination go wild at this point to save her the need to give some examples, "It was just like any other club, it sold booze, had a dance floor, some private rooms for use though most people just did whatever they liked wherever they liked, drugs were taken and bought openly. I mean it Soifon that place was heaven to those who wanted to live out their darkest desires and beyond." Yoruichi internally shuddered at some of the stuff she had seen go on in that place and if she could the first thing she'd do would be to shut that place down.

"Go on." Soifon prompted in a reserved tone and her stoic expression meant Yoruichi couldn't tell how Soifon was handling any of this news.

"This club became our base of operations as it were and we had a nice set up there, summer had started and we were looking for something to do. Heists required months of prep work since anyone worth robbing had invested heavily in advancing their security against attacks, most of the time we still successful but one night things took a turn for the worse." Yoruichi took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves now that she was getting closer to the events that lead to her being placed in hiding for her own safety. "The best way to describe what went wrong with our plan was that they knew we were coming, Kisuke's hideout was found which resulted in him being shot, Kukaku was closest so she evacuated him which took her out of field. That left five us remaining; Kenpachi one of our fighters went rogue the second he realised Kisuke wasn't there to bark orders at him and stormed the place fighting anyone he came across. I foolishly continued towards the server room and went rogue in my own way. Nanao did her best to take over from Kisuke and gave instructions to Shunsui, myself and…and Kaien, Kukaku's brother." Yoruichi leaned back against the chair now that she was reliving every moment of that night and like always it overwhelmed her every time, "Hindsight is a bitch."

"I know that feeling well." Soifon muttered under her breath.

"I should have known it was a trap when there were no guards posted by the servers, I thought they were chasing after Kenpachi or Shunsui only the moment I entered the room with Kaien the door locked behind us and a bunch of them appeared from hidden doors all along the room. We were out numbered and trapped on the third floor of the building; we did well and held them off for a good while even took out a bunch of the computers too but for every guy we got rid of another sprang from the walls and took their place. We slowly got worn down to the point where even the weakest of the bunch were able to land some serious blows. That's when Kaien told me to jump out the window."

Yoruichi ducked under the incoming kick from the next guy that had leapt at her and shoved him away from her when he lost his balance, she'd have preferred to have given him a swift kick to his jaw to break it but she couldn't spare the energy on such a move when another man was already lining up a blow to her head. She jumped backwards to avoid it and ended up back to back with Kaien who was panting heavily from exerting so much energy.

"We're not gonna last much longer and things will get ugly from there on." He grunted whilst deflecting a flurry of blows from his attacker.

"I'm well aware of – that!" Yoruichi blocked a blow to her head right when another kicked her in the chest and knocked the wind right out of her lungs. "I don't see a way out, you?" she gasped back and lashed out against her attackers infuriated that they were getting the better of them by numbers alone.

"The window!" Kaien managed to whip round the guys attacking him and dragged Yoruichi with him, she used the extra momentum to knock one of men fighting her clean off his feat with a direct blow to his head. Any other time Yoruichi might have tried to argue about how they were on the third floor but if it meant getting away from the never ending swarm of fighters it was worth the risk. The closer the two of them got to the window however the more their attackers pushed their advantage till Yoruichi and Kaien struggled to keep them at bay let alone have time to climb out the window.

"Go I'll hold them off for you!" Kaien shouted after he pulled a man off Yoruichi who had been attempting to strangle her.

"You'll be right behind me yeah!" Yoruichi used her current opponent's weight to smash the nearest window open, incapacitating him at the same time.

"Of course. Go!" Kaien gave Yoruichi an extra shove out the window before the next attacker tried to grab hold of her to prevent her from escaping.

"Shit." Soifon whispered at how insane this all sounded even though she was fully aware that every word was true. "What happened to Kaien?" Soi was a little scared to know the answer but curiosity got the better of her.

"He didn't jump out the window after me and I don't have the best memory of events after that. The fall took whatever energy I had left, the headset we used during the missions got knocked off when I landed and I kept blacking out. I remember trying to get to the forest but I was mess I don't think I even got clear of the house before I was found. At first I thought I was safe when I woke up, my brother was there it was only when he started talking that I realised I wasn't. He had set us all up because I had pinched his precious club from him I guess he never got over it."

"W-what happened then?" Soifon began to feel very uneasy and wondered if she'd prefer to not know what took place after Yoruichi had been caught.

"Oh the usual power play I guess, he gloated, knocked me around a bit, the bastard was lucky I had broken bones, a concussion and no energy to put up a fight." There was a strong sense of bitterness to Yoruichi's voice from not being able to fight her brother for real. "I don't know how long that went on for but I never felt scared during it. I was under the impression that once he had gotten bored with gloating he'd eventually take me to a doctor, get me patched up and send me on my way like we always did to one another. It was only when a different man entered the room that I truly felt scared." Yoruichi tightened her fists against the fear that had gripped her that very day.

Yoruichi shifted carefully on the sofa she had no idea which bones were broken but every inch of her body cried out in agony and she hoped her brother would return so that she could be taken to the hospital sooner rather than later. Yoruichi drifted in and out of sleep while she waited for her brother to return with no sense of how much time was passing until the sound of the door knob turning gave her something to focus on.

"Ok you win. I'll give you back your precious club-" Yoruichi stared to say until she realised that the person entering the room was not her brother. At first she had no idea who he was and for a brief moment believed he may have been some sort of doctor.

"I was lead to believe she was in better condition than this. She looks like she's on her death bed." The man took one look at Yoruichi and sneered in disgust, a cold shiver ran through Yoruichi from the way this man glared at her. It was then that Yoruichi spotted her brother behind the man and wondered just what the hell was going on.

"The way I see it you're getting a great deal, not only do you get to beat her up you get to see her at her lowest point for free." Her brother smiled in earnest at the stranger only he was no longer a stranger at all, Yoruichi remembered who he was and for the first time in a long time she felt the cold grasp of fear tighten its hold upon her heart.

"Yoruichi?" Soifon prompted softly, unsure if she should reach out to her or not in case she caused further distress to her but Yoruichi had been silent for over a minute now, "Yoru-" Yoruichi drew in a unsteady breath of air and returned her thought process to the present. "Yoru are you ok?" The sympathy flooding Soifon's voice helped Yoruichi focus on the fact that she was with Soifon, not back in that room and it did more for Yoruichi than Soi would ever be able guess.

"Yeah, yeah I-I'm ok." Yoruichi ran her trembling hands through her hair and breathed through a deep sigh. "That man was someone who we had targeted. I personally destroyed his marriage by making him fall head of heels in love with me and in return I quite literally blew up his workplace and house simultaneously." Soifon dropped her head into her hands with this latest revelation, she was so conflicted over all of this, part of wanted to know if Yoruichi just went looking for trouble and tell her off for playing with people's emotions only she couldn't get angry at Yoruichi for doing what she was taught by her family. "Don't worry, he got me back." Yoruichi half smiled at this, it was vicious cycle back then and she was so very glad to be free of it.

"Don't say that." Soifon scrunched up her face in disgust, "I didn't mean that you should have been punished." Soi tried to explain but Yoruichi dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

"I know but he did, I could barely sit up without being in pain, I doubt I could have even fought off a child let alone a grown up man."

"I don't think I want to know the details." Soifon interrupted her quickly, the nausea she had felt earlier on in the conversation was coming back twice as strong than before from the direction this was headed in. "Did he – did he…" Soi's morbid curiosity got the better of her, "Did he hurt you?" Soi couldn't bring herself to say the word, all of what she had learned so far must have been catching up with her and none of this was what she expected.

"Yes." Yoruichi confirmed. Soifon stood up instantly and shook her arms loose from the tension that had built up inside of her; she paced back and forth in front of Yoruichi and breathed in deeply. The image of Yoruichi being hurt and unable to protect herself all because her brother wanted to get back at her made Soi's blood boil with anger.

"Your family is insane!" Soifon finally blurted out and collapsed back on the sofa, "You were fifteen."

"I was closer to sixteen by that point but yes my family is insane." Yoruichi agreed.

"Do I want to know what happened next?" Soifon asked although she was resigned to hear the full story.

"Most likely not but once he had his fun he left me alone in the room, I spent most of the time after that sleeping. I can remember a bunch of people picking me up at one point but even when I opened my eyes I couldn't see anything they had blindfolded me. Next thing I remember is being transported in a vehicle, the blindfold was never removed so I couldn't even describe what the interior looked like. Some medical guy saw to me and injected me with something quite a few times…I'm guessing medical since the next time I woke up I was trapped in a wooden box but I was covered in bandages, my leg was in a crudely made cast and the only time I was taken out of this box was when my health got evaluated. I never saw his face, the blindfold was never removed and the few times I took it off whilst in the box I was beaten."

"I knew I didn't want to know what happened." Soifon mumbled to herself.

"That was my routine for a long time. I didn't know it at the time but they were waiting for my more severe injuries to heal. The only way I learnt how to tell the time was from the visits I'd get from Darabah, the man I mentioned earlier by the way. He liked to come down once a day, the time changed but he made sure he saw me once a day to gloat and to torture me a little while before locking me back up in that-" Yoruichi gulped at the thought of being put back in that thing again, "In that box." The pause registered with Soifon and the way Yoruichi had freaked out in the lift from one of their very first encounters clicked into place in the back of her mind.

"Yoruichi can I ask you something…how long were you kept in that box?"

"Just under three years." Yoruichi 's voice was barely above a whisper and she did her best to focus on Soifon's presence now that the horrors she had endured started to edge into the forefront of her mind. Soifon's eyes widened at that revelation and revulsion darkened her expression at the thought of what Yoruichi had been put through. "Darabah wasn't my only visitor; once I was in a stable condition I realised Darabah was essentially renting me out to anyone who paid the right price."

"I don't think I want to know-" Soifon felt physically ill at how Yoruichi was essentially treated like an object, Yoruichi continued to speak like she was on auto pilot.

"There were a few perks to this it allowed me to tell the time better and it kept me from being shut away in that box. I think Darabah worked out that I actually preferred to not be in the box over whatever his next customer wanted that he took a personal joy in making the box as horrible as possible for me. One particular time it was filled with broken glass and he locked me in there for three days with no food or water and I can still see the gleeful pride on his face when he finally let me out and I begged, pleaded with him to not put me back into the darkness." Yoruichi voice cracked on the last word, she felt numb and cold and all she could see was her captor looming over her as he tightened the shackles on her wrists trapping her in the box once more.

"Please don't." Soifon whispered desperately. While she wanted to know what happened a larger part of her did not want the exact details since the more she heard the tougher it was for Soifon to fight against the urge to storm out the place and use every connection she had to track down this monster and kill him herself.

"I err sorry; I get a bit lost in it sometimes that's all." Yoruichi mumbled apologetically having interpreted Soifon's desire for her to stop as a sign that she wanted nothing to do with her and the burden that her past presented. "Erm I guess the next thing really is when I was rescued and – and one other incident but he's the main reason why I'm in hiding since he was never caught if you don't want to me to continue." Yoruichi tried to summarise the rest of the events as quickly as possible.

"No continue Yoruichi…" Soifon clenched her jaw and made a solemn vow to herself that Darabah would pay for what he had done.

"Err m-main reason I knew how long I was kept there for so long was only because Darabah created a-a kidnapping anniversary type of celebration… each time he'd do his best to one up the previous year and he was busy brainstorming ideas off my reaction for the next one when he got pulled away by a phone call. He returned saying that someone had offered a hefty price for a session with me if it could happen that day, normally he would have made them wait since it was close to my b-box time as he called it but he was feeling generous and let me stay out longer. A few hours later a hunched over man came into the room, his face was hidden behind a mask it wasn't the first time Darabah's customers hid their appearance for their own safety. I retreated into the depths of my mind like always in an attempt to drown out what would take place that I barely even noticed the fact that the man just stood and looked at me for ages without doing a single thing to me."

When nothing happened Yoruichi looked back at the man a little surprised that he wasn't touching her or beating her like the usual lot instead the hunched figure seemed to advance upon her as if he was in some sort of trance. Yoruichi assumed he was high on some kind of drug since he reached out to her with a very unsteady hand and gently ran his rough fingers over her cheek cupping her face like she was a delicate flower. It was first time in long time that anyone had treated her so carefully that tears formed at the edge of her eyes over so such a tiny thing.

"Y-Yoruichi?" The man whispered as though he had seen a ghost. Yoruichi gazed back at the man's face as he pulled the ski mask over his head. There were no words Yoruichi could think of to describe how she felt at seeing him there right in front of her again, she didn't even want to know he found her nor did she care, Yoruichi's tears overflowed and she simply cried out of happiness at having Kisuke beside her again. The sight of Yoruichi crying with a smile on her face broke the last bit of will power that held Kisuke together and he threw himself on her and pulled Yoruichi into the tightest hug he ever gave her, his own tears flowed freely down his face as he swore he'd never let her out his sight ever again.

"I have no clue how long we stayed like that and it was Kisuke who made the next move. He cut me free from the rope, wrapped me up in his coat and pulled me into another hug. He made a phone call on the phone he had smuggled inside with him and kept reassuring me things were going to be ok now and that he was getting me out of that place. I'm annoyed to say that at this point I fainted, Kisuke explained later that it was due to fact that I knew I was safe, my brain realised it could finally shut down and get some real sleep compared to the panicked sleep I had been getting. Kisuke had called in the cavalry and Kukaku with her army of officers and agents swarmed the place, my evacuation was made top priority since they had gotten close to catching him once before but he slipped away and moved locations. I had no idea I had been moved, there was many a night where he had his men kick and bang on the box to scare me and I was drugged on a frequent basis I never even considered the possibility I had been moved to a different location."

"What happened to Darabah?" Soifon's expression was grim yet there was a fire of determination that burned deeply within her eyes.

"He managed to escape in the time it took for Kukaku and her men to bulldoze their way through his guards in order to secure their hold on me."

"He's still out there?" Soifon's vision narrowed and her expression darkened, the sight sent goose bumps up and down Yoruichi's spine and it scared her to see such a dangerous appearance upon Soifon.

"Y-yes." Yoruichi gulped uncertain of what Soifon would ask or do next, if she didn't know any better Yoruichi would have thought that Soi was going to hit her at any given moment.

"You said there was one other incident. Tell me about it now." Soifon did not notice that the demanding tone in her voice made Yoruichi visibly flinch. The retelling of her past always left Yoruichi feeling raw and exposed in a way that made her feel weak and defenceless so Yoruichi did her best not to hold it against Soifon.

"Err – well I – I guess after all that died down and I was fully recovered I was put under witness protection, Kukaku pulled some strings so it was in a different country altogether they weren't taking any chances now that they had gotten me away from him. We moved countries once every year or two though we stayed in England for four years and that's where I met Ren."

"Ren?" Soifon repeated distastefully.

"Yeah. My life felt out of my control by this point it's the reason why we stayed in England for so long, Kisuke thought it would help with the whole healing process if I was able to establish some roots. He started to encourage the idea of me dating someone and I did just to shut him up, Ren was a cute coffee maker at one of the places we visited often. She was quite happy to accept my offer for a night out and things progressed from there, she had come over to study and she was trying to pay off her debts while going through night school. We'd been dating for some time and she started dropping the hint for sex, the first time I submitted to her I freaked out and attacked her right in the middle of said act, she called Kisuke since she couldn't get anywhere near me without getting hurt and together they calmed me down. That night Kisuke helped me explain my past to her and she said it was not going to cause any issues between us. Time passed and little by little we made progress to the point that I was finally able to sleep with her." Yoruichi glanced sideways at Soifon and hoped this topic wasn't causing her too much distress. "I awoke the next morning tied to the bed and gagged, Ren was sat watching the television. She heard me struggling and revealed that she had been contacted by a man who worked for Darabah the moment our first date ended, if she did as he instructed all of her debts would be wiped away within a matter of hours and have enough money to set her up for the rest of her life. Ren agreed and followed his orders down to what outfit she should wear when she went on dates with me…he waited until I was finally able to be intimate with someone again before he sprung his trap, she made certain to stress that point I guess it was just another way for him to mentally torture me."

"That bastard!" Soifon's stoic demeanour slipped and she slammed her fist against the sofa causing Yoruichi to jump, "Sorry." Soifon quickly mumbled and tried to compose herself once more.

"It's – it's ok…erm anyway Ren told me that a bunch of his guys had been contacted and it was only a matter of time till they arrived to come collect me however a few things were different that worked in my favour. Plans had been set in place for when a second attempt was made and Kisuke created a number of handy things to help me if I ever felt scared and was separated from help. Ren went back to watching her TV and I managed to free myself from the restraints she had used. I reached for my clothes, activated the distress signal on the tracer I had been given, got out the taser gun I always carried with me and took her out. I sprinted out the apartment and dived into the first shop I could find. Kisuke called me while I was running out the apartment and kept me calm till he arrived with the police. Ren was caught and Darabah's men were caught too, once I was no longer needed to ensure they got locked away arrangements were made to move to America. We stayed in America for nine years though we constantly moved from state to state, one dreadful year was spent living in a camper van and as bad as that was I'd pick that over this gloomy place." Yoruichi looked around the horrible run down flat she was forced to call home now, "At least the camper van had a decent shower."

Yoruichi looked at Soifon and waited to see if the stoic woman had another question for her and when Soi didn't say anything Yoruichi went on to explain that since nothing happened in the nine years they were in America the powers that be determined it was safe for Yoruichi to return to her home country and that's how she ended up back here although with a highly degraded living expense to ensure that she stayed hidden and out of the public eye.

"You haven't said anything in a while – you ok?" Yoruichi already knew that it was a dumb question but Soifon's silence was beginning to make Yoruichi think the worst was going to take place and she needed some sort of sign to be proven wrong.

"I need to do two things. I should just go, I should just get up and go and never see you again. I'm not even thinking about how I feel about all of your past it's purely based on the fact that he is still out there and you have to stay hidden. I don't see how you, how we can be in a relationship and you remain in hiding. I am a public figurehead, I'm the leader of a highly successful business corporation, I have news interviews or some kind of media coverage happening daily and then there's the big events like that party where we met again." The realisation of this hit Soifon more once it she said it out loud too. "Yoruichi I don't see how you could be in a relationship with me and not have your photo splashed across some news article the very next day. I mean come on the paparazzi will be spoilt for choice as far as the headlines go, Balance Industries led by a lesbian, oh who's dating the most attractive woman you'll ever see and just happens to be a long lost star? I mean the only thing we're missing to complete the story is some sort of apocalypse that we've saved the world from!" Soifon finished in exasperation. Yoruichi had lowered her head, her long hair fell around her, hiding her sad expression from Soifon when she had said she should just go although Yoruichi did crack a smile upon hearing Soifon call her 'the most attractive woman you'll ever see.'

"What's the second thing you want to do?" Yoruichi asked with barely any emotion she had resigned herself to the fact that Soifon was going to go since everything she did say made perfect sense. It would be very difficult for Yoruichi to remain safely out of the public eye around Soifon.

"The second thing I want to do is to hunt down Darabah and kill him myself." Soi dug her nails into the palms of her hands while picturing herself strangling the life out of that man.

"You and me both," Yoruichi chuckled half-heartedly.

"I'm serious Yoruichi. I'm going to kill him." Soifon managed to say through a clenched jaw, Yoruichi just blinked at Soifon in disbelief.

"Soi…" Yoruichi reached out to Soifon cautiously.

"No," Soi flinched away from Yoruichi's hand, all she felt was anger towards the monster that had hurt Yoruichi, "He needs to die." Soifon stood up and headed towards the door, Yoruichi raced after her and pulled at Soifon to stop. Without even thinking Soifon pushed Yoruichi backwards and out of her way with more force than she intended and Yoruichi toppled over. The loud thud and Yoruichi's moan of pain rang alarm bells in Soi's mind and she turned to see Yoruichi sprawled across the floor with a dazed expression. "Yoru – I Oh god I'm – I'm sorry." In an instant all the anger and hatred she had felt faded away and was replaced with guilt that Soifon collapsed to all fours in front of Yoruichi and continued to apologise even after Yoruichi reassured Soi that she wasn't hurt. "I-I just…" The storm raged on inside Soifon from everything Yoruichi had told her so much so that she was rendered useless, unable to pick a single emotion or decision to act upon. "I don't know what to do."

"I guess if you're leaving then Kukaku will be in touch with some legal stuff." Yoruichi was emotionally drained from retelling her past that she didn't have any willpower or strength left to try and change Soifon's mind at this point.

"No it's not that I really don't know how to handle this type of thing alright. I have no experience with this stuff, not with what happened to you I mean us… shit I don't even know what I'm trying to say anymore." Soifon got more frustrated at her own incompetence when it was clear Yoruichi did not understand what she was trying to say. "Logically I should leave you…for your own safety." Soi gripped Yoruichi's knee to show some sort of support, I don't want to go." Yoruichi looked up at Soifon utterly astonished by those last five words.

"You don't?"

"I don't" Soifon looked away from Yoruichi quickly; it was difficult enough trying to work out how to do this without Yoruichi's golden eyes looking at her hopefully, "I mean I do but I don't," Soi ran her hands through her hair out of frustration. "Look I like being with you, the-the phones calls you make when I'm at work they-they make me happy and it's like I said when we were stuck in that lift." Soifon paused and gathered as much courage as she could muster, "It. Feels. Right." Soifon finally turned back at Yoruichi and held her gaze, "Being with you." Tears filled Yoruichi's eyes and threatened to fall across her face at Soifon's simple yet powerful statement though it looked like Soifon wanted to continue speaking so Yoruichi restrained herself from making any comment on the matter for now.

"I'm not going to lie or hide the fact that your past scares me and I don't think I've come to terms with any of it. I will need some time but that doesn't mean I'm leaving you." That was the finally straw that tipped Yoruichi's emotions over the edge and she all but fell onto Soifon and hugged her. Taken aback by the embrace Soifon was frozen in place for a good few seconds before she finally wrapped her own arms around Yoruichi and pulled her closer into her body.

"You know for all the times you say you have no idea what you're doing you said exactly what I needed to hear." Yoruichi whispered through a tear stained smile.

"Shut up." Soifon whispered back endearingly. "What happens now?" she asked while she tried to calm down, Soi was without a question on edge from learning about the horrors Yoruichi had been put through and Soi was still convinced that leaving and never seeing her again was the only option for Yoruichi to stay safe.

"Sleep." Yoruichi stated simply, "I feel utterly wrung out and in much need of rest. I may not act like it most of the time but what he did to me does still have an effect, especially after just retelling it all. Plus I've still got this stupid thing to recover from now." Yoruichi withdrew from their hug to gesture annoying at the area where she had been shot.

"A lot of normal days wouldn't be amiss either." Soifon noted after she remembered the fact that Yoruichi had been shot right in front of her four days ago.

"Kukaku would argue that you're normal days were over the second you met me - Kukaku! She's still outside!"Yoruichi started to get up when Soifon stopped her.

"I'll get her; you need to sleep and so do I." Soifon went to the apartment door and looked for Kukaku outside who was by the entrance to the stairway.

"Hey. Are we ok?" Yoruichi's voice was hoarse from having talked for so long along. Soifon paused and looked back into Yoruichi's shimmering golden eyes.

"I think so," Soifon confirmed and with a small smile wished Yoruichi good night then walked outside and headed to where Kukaku stood leaning against the railings overlooking the car park. "Thanks for giving us some space…she told me everything so you're welcome to go back to her, she needs you." Kukaku who had her arms folded on the railing glanced at Soifon from the corner of her eyes and made a quick succession of nods as she processed Soi's choice of words.

"She needs me…" Kukaku repeated thoughtfully to herself. She turned to focus on Soifon with a narrowed expression; Soi felt like every inch of herself was being examined under such a stern gaze. Kukaku leaned back from the railing without taking her eyes of Soifon, "What about you?" Soifon's natural business diplomacy kicked in without her realising Soi had squared herself up against Kukaku's interrogation. It was when she was about to speak that Soifon registered the fact that she wasn't directing a board meeting or dealing with a rival company, it was Kukaku who just happened to be Yoruichi's best friend. There was no reason to be defensive around Kukaku and her usual way of dealing with people would not help matters plus any attempt to hide how she really wanted to act would be pointless if Soi was to spend time with Yoruichi Kukaku would most likely be there too and would see her acting differently so Soifon relaxed her posture. She placed her hands in her jacket pockets for warmth and hunched up her shoulders to try and keep her neck warm too since she was still wearing her suit from work and had left her coat in her car.

"She needs someone who knows how to help her…I mean I still haven't fully processed it all, my first reaction was to try and find this man so I could kill him, I'm still tempted to do so. I have no idea where or how to even begin helping her – how do you even move past that type of thing…I really have no idea what she expects from me when I don't know what to do."

"Treat her…the same way you have been treating her. That's all she needs." Kukaku advised after giving it some thought, Soifon was caught off guard by the honestly in Kukaku's voice that she made mental note to refer to it later on. "On second thought you might want to try smooching her a little bit more." Kukaku grinned playfully. Soifon's face turned bright red and she instantly looked away from Kukaku who laughed at her, Soi thumped Kukaku on the arm when she couldn't think of any comeback while her face continued to glow bright red. "Alright, aright I'll leave you be." Kukaku chuckled and headed towards Yoruichi's apartment, "I'll see you around Soifon." Kukaku waved goodbye to Soifon and entered the flat which left a blushing Soifon hurrying down to the car park, eager to get inside and turn the fan on to get warm.

A/N: I am alive! How was that for chapter?
Any good?
Did you guys like it, hate it or was it boring?
Or was it too interesting?
Let me know how you felt about it!
I'll correct it later on in the day once I've had a break from looking at text all night and after I've watched the new Star wars movie which I'm running late for so gotta go!
Edit:I think I got most of the spelling mistakes, I'll double check also the main reason it took me so long to get this chapter done was because I could not for the life of me work out how to get Yoruichi's past across. If it should be done all in flash back mode but that required too much information that wasn't really needed but having it all through a conversation didn't seem right so I think I found an decent balance. I think I wrote out 5 different version of this chapter and then scrapped them when I felt it didn't work they way I wanted. It was a difficult chapter to write.