Spring Storm
(A collaborative work by Timewaster123456789 and Spunky0ne)
Time, thank you for all of your hard work on this. It's a pleasure to write with you!
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A rainy day in Karakura Town is the impetus for some soul searching and a little bit of well-intentioned mischief…yaoi, yuri…Kisuke/Tetsuya, Yoruichi/Soi fon
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Chapter 1: It's all Water in the Koi Pond
A little flicker of the lights in Kisuke's laboratory made the Karakura shopkeeper look up from the monitor he was observing, and his pale grey eyes looked out the window and into the oddly cloudy spring sky. The thunder that followed was distant, more a purr than a rumble, and Kisuke smiled as he sensed the return of the one whose emotional state might well have been the impetus for the arrival of the late spring storm.
Today is, after all, the anniversary of the loss of his husband and their stillborn son. Tetsuya will have spent the morning in the family cemetery at Kuchiki Manor, where the two were buried, offering prayers.
Kisuke made no move to leave the laboratory, instead opting to give his lover some space for his mourning, and himself some time to reflect over the mountain of work he had gleefully shoved aside to explore his new, and much younger, lover's beautiful body.
I wonder if he told Byakuya we'd been up to more than Tetsuya assisting in the little situation in Hueco Mundo. Probably, the two extra days Tetsuya spent here should have given ol' Byakuya-bo a clue. Then again, he might wonder why I would finally decide to do something like that. I haven't had a lover in a really long time. I wasn't planning to be seeing a guy so much younger than me. But, Tetsuya is different. An old soul, and a gentle one. I'd say broken, but even after being practically raised inside the noble's prison, he managed to learn how to function in noble society.
What I wonder is how Tetsuya could go through all of that and not just hate them.
I've been on their bad side too, when they were so gullible that they fell for Aizen's bullshit and they blamed me for the Visoreds' hollowfication. Shoot first and ask questions later was their way of handling things.
Eh, I'm better off here anyway. It's quieter, except of course when there's a situation. And I don't have anyone hanging over my shoulder, telling me what I can and can't do. I've already been banished for life from Soul Society. What more are they gonna do to me?
He turned his attention back to his work, a softly beeping monitor, his open laptop, an odd collection of bubbling concoctions in different containers. He managed to occupy himself for another hour, but when the door to the shop remained closed and Tetsuya still did not seek him out, he extended his senses and found Tetsuya's reiatsu radiating quietly in the gardens, near the koi pond. He left his work and headed outside into the gently falling rain. As expected, he found his lovely partner lying on his stomach in the wet grass, propping his chin on an elbow and watching the fish swim about. He knew better than to ask if Tetsuya was okay, but just ignored the rain too and laid down beside him.
"I missed you," he said, smiling, "I'm glad you're back."
"It's good to be back," Tetsuya said, returning his smile as the shopkeeper's lips sought his, "You know, you're getting all wet."
"Well, you're soaked already."
"I like being wet."
"I noticed," Kisuke said, smirking and kissing him again, "and if you like being wet out here, I'll bet you'd love getting wet in my shower, where the water is hot and there's a nice steam in the air to breathe."
"That does sound enchanting," Tetsuya sighed, "but I think I need a little bit longer."
"Hat for your thoughts?" Kisuke asked sensing Tetsuya's continued melancholy.
He was usually not quite this out of sorts even on such a day as the anniversary of the loss of his family. Tetsuya smiled sadly as Kisuke's floppy hat dropped on his head and slid down over his eyes.
He was silent for a long moment and Kisuke was becoming seriously worried when he let out a little breath and spoke.
"I saw something and…I don't know if I should do anything about it or…well, it's none of my business really. It just…"
The shopkeeper smiled devilishly.
"When the choice is between doing something and not doing anything, action is always preferable."
He repressed a shudder at the memories of the visored experiment. Never again would he be dragged along by the currents of fate like a hapless kitten.
Tetsuya looked at him for a long moment with those eyes that could look into your soul. Well, they seemed to be able to. He was pretty sure that if Tetsuya could actually see into his soul, the poor kid would never have come within fifty feet of him.
Tetsuya sighed again softly.
"I saw Soi fon taicho. I didn't mean to be a creep. I was invisible because…well I just was."
Urahara knew it had been to keep anyone who might be staying there from asking questions he wasn't up to answering.
Given the choice, Tetsuya would probably just be invisible all of the time. He learned early on in the prison that attracting attention usually meant getting the wrong kind of attention.
So, that begs the question, why did he become visible for me?
Tetsuya swallowed hard and continued.
"I heard crying and I thought someone was in trouble, so I entered the room and I saw Soi fon taicho sitting there. She had a little stuffed cat on her lap and she said 'I love you, Lady Shihoin. Why can't you notice me? I try so hard and…' then she saw that the door was open. I left before she could figure it out but…"
He looked a little scared and Kisuke didn't blame him at all. Yoruichi's rabid little fangirl scared him a bit too.
"I know you didn't mean to invade her privacy," he said gently.
While that was par for the course for himself (God, the things he could do with invisibility…), his sensitive partner obviously felt guilty.
"You just wanted to help, right?"
Tetsuya hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Maybe we can," Kisuke suggested, being extremely careful not to smirk, lest his sweetheart figure out exactly what he was up to.
Tetsuya's eyes widened.
"No if…"
"Without her finding out it was you," the shopkeeper added, "Just a little…string pulling to make things work out," he reassured.
Tetsuya looked back at him skeptically.
"No offense but your plans…"
Kisuke laughed disarmingly and waved the objection off.
"Just a little nudging for their own good. I defeated Aizen I think I can handle a little matchmaking."
"Kurosaki-san defeated Aizen," Tetsuya pointed out.
Kisuke glared playfully, "It was my plan though."
Tetsuya sighed again, but he was smiling.
"C'mon," Kisuke invited him, "We can scheme together while we warm up in my shower."
"I will not be part of any silly scheming," Tetsuya chided him.
"Okay, we'll just have sex and I'll scheme. How's that?"
Tetsuya pulled off Kisuke's hat and dropped it back on the shopkeeper's head, pulling it down over his face.
"Sex will be fine, but absolutely no scheming!" he said sternly.
"Riiight," Kisuke drawled, "Not like I can scheme very much when I'm making love to you."
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Soi fon sniffled pathetically and wiped her eyes. Whoever had been spying on her, she was going to find and kill them. She wasn't head of the Keigun for nothing. Swiping the last of the tears from her cheeks, she went to seek out her idol for training. It was better than nothing and she wanted to clear her head before she went looking for her spy.
Luckily for her, she found Yoruichi already in the training room and she froze for a moment to watch her mentor's sweat slicked body, all thoughts of angst banished instantly. Yoruichi moved with fluid, unnatural grace. She extended one leg in a lunging punch, her leggings showing off every muscle of her toned thighs, curving to hug her butt before she stepped forward again. She wasn't wearing her standard orange coat and as she spun to throw an elbow at her invisible opponent, Soi fon's eyes honed in on the beads of sweat running down her tanned chest before the glistening droplets disappeared under a black tank top.
"Soi fon-kun," Yoruichi said, giving her longtime associate her usual friendly smirk.
Soi fon snapped back to reality, blushing furiously and dropping to her knees.
"May I join you, Yoruichi-sama?" she shouted in a completely formal and subservient tone.
"Of course," Yoruichi answered, shaking her head ruefully. "What do you want to work on?"
"Could you set up the training targets?"
"No problem," Yoruichi replied and she flash-stepped to the control stand.
Three targets rose from the floor and Soi fon shot two with kido, leaping at the third with a jumping kick. Yoruichi ran the simulation well and Soi fon felt sweat pouring down her face as she channeled all of her anger and pain into the task at hand. She was panting by the time the simulation ended.
Yoruichi approached and handed her a bottle of water. This close, she could smell Yoruichi's distinct scent of warm fur and vanilla soap mixed with a musk of sweat. Yoruichi nudged her with the bottle and she took it gratefully, blushing again though she doubted her goddess noticed under the flush of exertion.
"You're fired up today," Yoruichi said, grinning at her.
"You're surprised?" Soi fon asked with a fierce smile and took a drink, noticing belatedly that her knuckles were bleeding.
"Did something happen?" Yoruichi asked with an elegant raised eyebrow.
"Someone sneaked into my room,"
Yoruichi's eyes widened.
"You were attacked?"
"What? No, I was awake anyway. They were just spying."
Yoruichi wore an odd calculating expression but said, "You want me to kick Urahara-kun's ass?"
Ah so it was him.
"No, I'd be more than happy to," she laughed and her Yoruichi-sama laughed with her.
It was nice.
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Kisuke took a short detour into his clothes closet, not so much to ponder what to wear as to let Tetsuya undress and climb into the deliciously hot shower. As much as he would have liked to see his lover undress and step in, it was oddly satisfying to stand in the closet, imagining those soft, gentle fingers slipping beneath the edges of his soaked house guard's uniform, peeling away the wet folds to reveal broad expanses of lovely, pale flesh that was soon to be the amorous shopkeeper's playground.
He found everything about Tetsuya desirable. From the waves of misbehaving black hair that he could scarcely keep under his control, to the wide sapphire eyes that exuded an innocence that even years in the noble's prison couldn't steal. His soft skin looked near perfect, but Kisuke knew from closer examination that the young man's back, arms, bottom and legs still bore barely visible scars that no healer had been able to completely erase. And there was one particular scar that ran along the right jawline of Tetsuya's face that his lover explained, a guard had been killed for giving him.
Tetsuya was basically the property of one man, once he was an adult, and that man loved and hated Tetsuya's beautiful face. I wonder if that man is the reason that Yukihana Naoki didn't live to step one foot outside of the prison.
But, that's in the past.
Tetsuya told me that with his husband and child gone and the prison days behind him, he doesn't want to dwell on what happened back then. He is free and safe under Byakuya's careful watch. Orochi wouldn't dare touch him now…which is good. Because if anyone ever hurts Tetsuya again, I can think of a million different ways to make them pay. And unlike a less ruthless man, I wouldn't hesitate.
Kisuke took a deeper breath, coming back to reality and grabbing a soft yukata, then he left the closet and headed into the steamy bathroom. Tetsuya was already in the shower, at home under the wet spray. Those graceful fingers ran slowly through his wet hair and little swirls of steam marked his slow exhales. Kisuke crept forward, enjoying the sight of his lover's body behind the misted glass, then he opened the door and stepped inside, taking up a position behind the younger man. His arms wrapped around Tetsuya's slender waist, fingers sliding along his slim, white belly, then playing in his dripping navel. He nuzzled underneath several strands of untamed hair to bite down tenderly on a pale shoulder. Tetsuya's head tilted back and he reveled in being held in a way that was not at all possessive, that managed to be loving, but respectful of his choice to stay or go.
Urahara-san is careful not to make me feel restricted.
He blushed darkly as he thought back to what had recently started their current affair.
Tetsuya couldn't help but notice how, ever since he had arrived and presented himself to the shopkeeper for the current mission, Kisuke's inquisitive grey eyes couldn't seem to see anything but him. Several times while discussing the parameters of the mission they'd been given, he'd had to clear his throat to refocus the distracted elder man. Tetsuya wasn't so innocent as to miss that Urahara Kisuke was definitely smitten. What he couldn't decide was whether or not he should encourage the man.
On the one hand, Tetsuya was in awe of the Karakura Town shopkeeper. It had, after all, been Kisuke who had found a way to turn the use of the garganta to the shingamis' advantage in the war. And of course, he had been the one to devise and deliver the special kido that ended up snaring the weakened Aizen, once Ichigo had beaten him down. Yes, Kisuke was a legend, though in some sense, a dubious one, and Tetsuya couldn't help but be attracted.
It wasn't, however, just that. There was also the fact that Kisuke, too, had suffered at the hands of the stuffy noble leaders of Central 46. That so great a man could be treated with such disregard, yet still be of a mind to help protect some of the very people who mistreated him, was not lost on Tetsuya. He was both amazed and mystified that Kisuke hadn't turned out to be as wicked as Aizen Sousuke. He certainly had the mind for mischief.
Tetsuya caught his breath as he again spotted Kisuke focusing on him for too long, and he felt a blush on his cheeks. He started to engage his shikai to make himself disappear, but as his lovely form began to fade, he felt Kisuke's hand touch his arm.
"Hey, don't do that. I'm sorry. I just…I'm not trying to creep you out. I just can't help looking at you, because you're really beautiful. Uh…how much do you think Byakuya would kill me if I asked you out?"
"Wh-what?" Tetsuya asked in a flustered voice.
No one ever asked him out. The noble girls looked down on him for his peasant blood and the peasant girls thought a noble boy would be stuffy. And anyway, he would never have dated a woman in the first place. Tetsuya shivered as he recalled the few thin, scared females he had seen in the prison. Women were a treasure in the world that he would always protect, but he couldn't even think of…
"So, will you go out with me? A drink or two? Dinner? Dessert? Sex?" Kisuke quipped, "Just kidding!" he laughed, opening a brightly colored fan in front of his face.
"Are you all right, Urahara-san?" Tetsuya asked, giving him a cutely confused look.
"You will go out with me? That's great!" the shopkeeper gushed.
"But, I didn't say…"
"Leave the details to me. I got it!" the shopkeeper said as Tetsuya sputtered but couldn't manage to get in a word of polite refusal.
Tetsuya couldn't help but be happy now that he had been maneuvered into that first night out, nor that they had moved quickly to sharing a bed. It had been too long for both of them and somehow each man knew that the other would never betray him, never intentionally hurt him. And their minds were as far from pain as could be imagined as Kisuke's smooth hands explored Tetsuya's slim torso, then slipped down between his thighs to offer a more delicious stimulation. Tetsuya's hungry lips met his for an over the shoulder kiss and Tetsuya turned and backed up to the shower wall, meeting the shopkeeper for a bout of deeper, more penetrating kisses. He slid down Kisuke's pale torso, kissing his way downward as he dropped to his knees.
"Hey, you don't have to…"
Kisuke went silent as Tetsuya's lovely mouth began to pleasure him. He felt the physical pleasure, but also little slivers of pain as he thought about just why the younger man was so adept at giving pleasure. In mere moments, he was at Tetsuya's mercy, moaning fitfully and barely able to keep his fingers out of his lover's hair. But he knew that Orochi had often grabbed those pretty strands and forced Tetsuya to submit to pleasuring him. With Kisuke and Tetsuya, Kisuke knew never to touch him while he was giving pleasure, only to happily receive, then to turn things about and to offer Tetsuya a delight that Orochi would never have dreamed of.
Indeed, Tetsuya was stunned at how beautiful it was to watch the brilliant man who had outwitted Aizen, the genius scientist who was the epitome of high intelligence slide to his knees and offer him sensations so heavenly, he felt almost guilty receiving them. And when he was nearly undone, Kisuke rose and asked his permission before gently coaxing him back against the wall, caressing Tetsuya's soft bottom and sliding his hand down one thigh, lifting it and pushing in between his spread legs, joining their bodies slowly and pausing to kiss him several times as his body adjusted.
"No disappearing now," Kisuke chuckled, bringing the blush back to the younger man's cheeks as he began a gentle thrusting, "I wanna look into your eyes while we make love."
A little laugh escaped Tetsuya as he remembered their first time together, a drunk and somewhat clumsy fall into Kisuke's bed in which Tetsuya had lost control of his powers for a moment and disappeared though their bodies were still joined.
"Of course."
Tetsuya was sure it wasn't easy for Kisuke to keep his hands open and palms flat on Tetsuya's shoulders as they kissed and he thrusted deep into the younger man's core. Tetsuya's blue eyes went hazy with lust, then with rapture, then bliss. He gasped and shuddered sweetly as they climaxed together. Then the two held each other more gently, exchanging wet kisses until the water cooled. They exited the shower and dried off, then Tetsuya fell into their bed. Kisuke managed to kiss him on the forehead before he drifted off completely and Tetsuya wore a smile that remained as he slumbered. The shopkeeper's lips stiffened for a moment as he contemplated climbing in alongside Tetsuya, but he shook his head, sighed raggedly and left the bedroom, headed for his laboratory, his mind swiftly shifting back to his mental concoctions, not the least of which was how to solve Soi fon's problem…of course, with the added bonus of said solving being most amusing.
After much contemplation, or five minutes wondering what would be the most amusing way to accomplish his objective, Kisuke settled on creating a small pocket dimension with a training scenario specifically designed to encourage…cooperation. He had originally devised it to team build in situations where certain Shinigamis were having a difficult time working together, an idea that came to him when he heard about the fallout from Aizen's defection. However, with some slight tweaks…
He spun around, knocking a beaker off the cluttered table in the process as the lightest footstep informed him that someone was approaching him.
"Tetsuya…hey, I thought you were sleeping."
It wasn't often anyone got the drop on him.
The young noble chuckled. It was rare that his mischievous side showed, but Kisuke was working on coaxing it out. They just needed to have a talk about acceptable targets.
"Do you want something?"
Tetsuya's smile faded and he looked…less his younger self and more the old soul.
"I was just thinking…about prey animals. Some animals like to hide from trouble. The pygmy seahorse for example blends so well with its coral it's nearly impossible to spot."
Kisuke waited patiently knowing that there was a point to the seemingly random musing, though he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know what it was. Tetsuya's expression was unnerving.
"Then there's the stickleback that escapes predators by running, well swimming away erratically."
Kisuke knew what he was getting at, but he wasn't about to confirm his assumption.
"And the reason for the biology lesson is…?"
Tetsuya looked sadder but was undeterred.
"I like to hide from the memories."
Kisuke turned back to his work feigning disinterest.
"I'd noticed."
"You run like if you slow down for even a second, they'll catch you."
"I've stayed here long enough," he replied, deliberately taking the statement literally and gesturing at the shop around them, "Would you hold this?" he asked holding up a pair of stripped wires.
"I didn't mean Soul Society," Tetsuya said quietly as he held the wires in place.
Kisuke crimped the wire connector and handed over another pair.
"I mean, you're running from the memories. It's why you're always working on things and meddling and…" Tetsuya continued insistently.
"Tet, would you please shut up?" Kisuke asked forcing his voice not to shake.
He bent over the pair of wires to let his hat shield his eyes but he could imagine Tetsuya's wounded look at even the not too harsh rebuke.
Damn. But we're not going there.
Tetsuya felt like he'd been slapped and he almost dropped the wires.
What did I say wrong? he wondered.
He'd been proud of his realization and he'd thought his partner would appreciate having someone who understood.
"Tetsuya," Urahara said, startling the younger man and making him step back slightly in reaction.
Blinking back sudden tears, he grabbed the funnel Kisuke handed him and held it steady as the scientist poured liquid from a pair of beakers into it to mix in the wide mouthed glass jar on the table.
Urahara turned to grab something off the table and Tetsuya felt a dark jolt at seeing his lover's shoulders shaking visibly as he drew an unsteady breath. He longed to offer some kind of comfort, but wondered if the effort would only earn another barely restrained rebuke. Tetsuya felt Kisuke's hand touch his shoulder, but he shivered and turned his head away. Kisuke caught him under the chin and met the now stormy blue eyes more gently.
"Look, I'm sorry, I just…" Kisuke found the small electrical chip he'd apparently been looking for in the clutter and turned back around, "It's fine, you didn't do anything wrong," he said tightly.
"Then, why are you angry?" Tetsuya asked, his voice hard.
He didn't like being lied to at all.
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are," Tetsuya replied, fully aware of how childish the argument was, "Do you think that I wouldn't know something like that?"
He was right.
"Just forget it, okay? I'm sorry I snapped at you," Kisuke said, tightening the tiny screws that secured the little chip to the rest of the contraption that'd he'd said was an 'x.5 dimensional generator'.
"Right. Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"Not at the moment."
Tetsuya nodded and walked out, still confused and hurt, but no longer believing that Kisuke was mad at him. At the door, he looked back over his shoulder and saw Kisuke with one arm braced on the work table, wiping his face with his sleeve.
Huh?
Tears?
I would go to him, but I would probably just get pushed away again.
There is still so much that I don't understand about him. I know that someone really hurt him. He was betrayed by more than Aizen Sousuke and Central 46. But, there's no talking to him when he's like this.
I should be getting back anyway. Byakuya-sama, at least, needs me. I shouldn't have let myself be distracted from my mission.
I wonder if he'll even notice that I've gone.
Tetsuya returned to the room he had shared with Kisuke, grabbed his pack off the shelf that was littered with Kisuke's porn mangas. He left the room and headed down to the underground training room, where he opened a senkaimon and left Karakura Town behind still wondering what he had missed.
It was almost odd returning to Kuchiki Manor yet again in that same day, his heart now aching over his late husband, but also his new lover.
"Ah, you are back," Byakuya greeted him, "I am sorry that I did not see you this morning. Things were busy at the division. I trust that Urahara didn't give you any trouble, then?"
"Ah, no," Tetsuya said, trying not to blush, "He was…quite accommodating."
"He had better be," the Kuchiki leader huffed, shaking his head and looking down at the papers in front of him.
With most other people, Byakuya wouldn't have been so direct, but the cousins had long shared a comfort level with each other that rivaled that which their late fathers had once shared.
"I am always only one insult away from killing that man," Byakuya commented dryly.
Tetsuya swallowed hard and nodded.
"I assure you, there is no reason for you to kill him."
Yet.
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"Hey Yoru-san," Kisuke's voice called out.
Yoruichi turned and took a swing at him that he dodged nimbly.
"What was that…?"
She kicked him in the shin.
"Ow," he moaned, playfully rubbing the sore limb, "What'd I do?"
"Spied on Soi fon."
"I didn't."
"Sure. What do you want anyway?"
"I was just wondering if you and Soi fon would test out that team building scenario I've been working on."
Yoruichi stared at him, immediately suspecting that there was more to the request than he was letting on. Call it female intuition or simply experience dealing with Kisuke on a regular basis.
"Maybe. What's the catch?"
"No catch," he replied with a ridiculously innocent look.
She snorted derisively.
"Right. I'll ask but, Soi fon hates your guts right now."
"She always hates me and I told you I didn't do anything," Kisuke muttered as he turned away.
He was careful not to let on who the real and cutely unintentional culprit was.
Yoruichi didn't believe him a bit and caught him in the ribs with a kick. He grunted and she kicked him in the back, throwing him down the hall. Laughing to herself, she continued on her way. After picking up supplies, namely food, which Kisuke always seemed to forget about when he was caught up in some knew experiment, she returned to the shop and tracked Soi fon's reiatsu to the girl's room.
She knocked and heard the mattress sproing as the occupant leaped to her feet. Yoruichi frowned. It hadn't occurred to her that she might be interrupting 'something'.
"It's me," she called.
Soi fon squeaked and there was some hurried rustling before the door opened.
"Sorry if you were in the middle of something," she said entering, confused that there wasn't anyone else there, despite Soi fon's clothes being disheveled, as though they'd been hastily pulled on.
"Not at all," Soi fon said, blushing furiously, "I was just…meditating."
"Ah. Kisuke-kun wanted to know…" she saw the other woman's face transform into a snarl, "…if you wanted to test a training scenario with me."
Soi fon's face morphed into one of near rapture.
"Definitely, Yoruichi-sama!" she said breathlessly.
She had yet to figure out how to break the girl of 'sama' crap, but at least she'd stopped dropping to her knees every five seconds. Yoruichi didn't want that, not out of respect at least. Something caught her eye and she saw a black plushie sticking half out from under the bed. She hid a smile, Soi fon didn't seem like the plushie type. It was nice to see her indulging her softer side though.
The next thing the two knew, they had arrived in Kisuke's lab and were standing in a large closet-like enclosure. Yoruichi had a mass of controlled kido around her hand to provide light. Kisuke was tinkering with a small metal contraption that looked like a typewriter hooked with wires to a container of sparkling purple and green fluid, which in turn was connected by a hose to a thick metal disk on the floor. Soi fon stood at her mentor's back, giving off waves of anger like a wet cat.
"Okay," Kisuke said, still bent over the instrument. He flicked a switch, waited a moment, and an orange light came on. Then he flicked another. The machine began to hum and the fluid in the jar decreased slightly.
"Just stand on the disk and…" he said, and Soi fon followed Yoruichi onto the disk. "and in a moment…"
Nothing happened.
"Two tops," Kisuke amended.
"If this thin…" Soi fon began.
The air rippled around them and there was an odd sensation of being simultaneously squished and stretched. A blinding flash of light surrounded the two women and when Yoruichi had blinked her eyes back into working order, she found herself surrounded by forest. Forest and hostile reiatsu.
"Duck!" she cried and Soi fon hit the ground as she shot kido over the younger woman's head at the hollow behind her. Soi fon darted off without rising from her crouch, firing kido along the line of advancing hollows. Yoruichi spun around and brought all of her considerable hakudo skill to bear on the hollows forming the opposing flank. Kido rained around her as she twisted. Soi fon, she decided, must have taken to the trees. Her aim was true, though, and Yoruichi didn't get so much as singed as she danced among the enemies.
They kept coming though, and as she spun, using her momentum to throw a hollow off balance, she wondered if something had malfunctioned. She wouldn't trade Kisuke's friendship or reckless personality for anything, but he wasn't exactly known for his conscientiousness (not that she was either), probably why they always wound up in these messes together. Despite her considerable endurance, her muscles were beginning to tire. They could run, but to where, and how long could they keep it up?
Soi fon dropped to the ground behind her and grunted as the cero that had been about hit Yoruichi hit her instead.
"Shit!" Yoruichi hissed between clenched teeth as Soi fon fell.
She redoubled her own efforts, pushing her fatigued muscles past their limits as she defended her fallen protégé, but it seemed that they had already turned the tide. She dropped hollows left and right and none came to fill the gaps, until sometime later the last one faded away in death. She dropped to her knees, panting, but almost as soon as she did, hauled herself back to her feet. She picked up her protégé and, trying to ignore the fluctuating reiatsu, staggered through the forest in search of shelter.
She had to hurry. Her body felt ready to give out and she finally settled on a small pool edge enclosed on two and half sides by cliffs. It wouldn't leave them trapped, but would still protect their backs, keep off the wind and the cliffs would make a good sentry post.
She gently lowered Soi fon from her aching arms and fell to the ground next to her, examining the injury. Her right flank was badly burned with a surrounding bruise that probably meant a broken rib or two, plus there was a possibility of concussion, if it was the fall and not pain that had knocked her out. Soi fon caught the hand she reached out to perform the healing.
"S'kay I can wait. Rest," she said eyes filled with adoration.
"Since when do you give me orders?" Yoruichi asked smiling as she began the healing kido.
Soi fon gasped and looked so horrified at her 'mistake' that Yoruichi had to laugh. Her hand shook with relief as much as strain as she healed the worst of the damage. Then settling the sleeping Soi fon back against the cliff wall, she forced her aching body up the cliff to keep watch.
Urahara-kun, she mused silently, her feline eyes glowing ominously, when we get back, you are going to wish you'd never picked up that first goddamned test tube.