Chapter 9

"Wow, that geek is DJ Raging Hornet?"

"She's dating Yoruichi-Sama? I guess it's okay because she's a club deejay..."

"Look at how stuck up she is! She won't even respond to people who are calling out to her!"

"She's a celebrity now? Incredible..."

Soifon tried to block out the voices as the school bell rang to release the high school's students, but it was futile, there was too much pain, the loss of her freedom weighed heavily on her. It hurt more than anything had. More than her mother's death, even more than her father's betrayal. After shutting her locker and exchanging her slippers for her regular shoes she pushed through the hallways as quickly as she could before reaching the front of the school, along with a huge crowd of paparazzi.

The moment they saw her the scene became as crazed as a feeding frenzy, these people were like sharks, each screeching questions for her to answer and ready to feed and regurgitate the answers to their liking. Soifon froze and tried to run back into the school to find the doors clogged with students trying to see how their deejay will respond to the underbelly of celebrity life. Soifon didn't disappoint. She stood stock still, stuck between both groups of savages before dropping into a runner's crouch. People stared in wonder before Soifon took off like a bolt of lightning, weaving in between paparazzi before they knew what had happened. Those in news vans seemed amazed as this girl rushed past, arms and legs pumping as fast as pistons. The guys in the van immediately started pursuing the celebrity, explaining every second of the chase live to the viewers at home.

Soifon felt as if she couldn't breathe as she ran, but she pushed on harder, her legs burned with fatigue, her throat was dry and hurting as it tried coat itself with protective mucus again, her shoulders stiffened with pain as she moved her arms in time with her legs. Her eyes began to burn with tears, maybe it was from the wind blowing into her eyes, maybe from the pain in her limbs, or from something else. It didn't matter as she wiped them away fiercely, right now was not the time.

Soifon finally saw it after running a few minutes, the vans yelling after her to stop. Her safe haven was finally just few moments away. She was about to cross the street to get into El Sonido, but those damned news van screeched to a halt before she could cross, dozens more paparazzi cars were arriving. Soifon didn't stop though, she couldn't, this was the only way to touch her freedom again, by getting away from these damn paprazzi bastards and into the only place she could ever feel safe again.

She ran straight for the van jumping onto the hood of the van and running across it, jumping back down on to the street and just dodging the hell of parked paparazzi trying to open doors in the cramped area in which they had grid locked themselves. She ran for the door as they circled around like vultures, finally freeing themselves from their cars, and as Soifon reached for the door, it opened, silk soft hands pulled her in as someone brushed past her to the outside.

"This is private property! Leave at this moment or I will call the police!" Isshin's voice sounded strong, angry and powerful behind her as the door closed to obscure the inside of the club from the paparazzi outside.

Soifon fell fast against whoever was holding her as her brain tried to catch up with her actions. She was out of the public eye, she could be herself now, she was with her family, it was safe, it was finally safe. She was hit with a wave of emotions as her walls came down. Sadness panged with complete despair. It started with a small sob that turned heart-wrenching, pain held fast, her eyes burned and fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

"It's gone, it's gone, it's gone. Everything is ruined, they'll want to own me now, they will think I belong to them now," Soifon kept repeating, over and over again through her sobs, completely broken, she felt completely broken.

And her family turned to look with contempt and anger at the person who dared to hold their family member, the one who had brought this upon their family member. None said a word for fear of losing their job, but they all had glares upon the woman. Yoruichi did not flinch, she welcomed the glare and she felt the rising of a foreign feeling she had never really had before this moment.

Self-loathing rose like the bile that was rising in her throat. Hatred burned her and she only defied her employee's wishes and held the younger woman tighter.

It was dark now, and the light was dim as Soifon opened her eyes. They were still blurry from her crying episode as she sat up, rubbing the tears from her eyes, wondering if she cried herself to sleep. She felt fatigued, her muscles ached from pushing them too hard. Her head shot up as she heard footsteps, pain erupted and she shut it away, opening her eyes again she made out Yoruichi's form in the dim light, walking forth toward the bed. Soifon felt like screaming, but she found she couldn't. She could only stare into the woman's golden eyes, sad with regret, tortured as she stood by the bed.

"I'm sorry."

The words came out strained, like words from the mouth of a person that had not spoken them in years. Soifon decided to look at the sheets and wait to see if there were anymore words that came with the apology.

"... I-I said I'm sorry... I never apologize to anyone, so can you please say something?" Yoruichi began to feel awkward as moments continued on in silence.

Soifon looked up, a cold stare in her eyes, "Why should I forgive you?"

Yoruichi flinched, "... I... Don't know."

Yoruichi felt worse and suddenly found herself locking her golden eyes with Soi's stormy gray ones, as impenetrable as cold steel, but they seemed to soften as an unheard conversation slid through air.

Remorse showed in Yoruichi's face, eyes slightly shining, I wish I could take it back.

Soifon bit her lip, soft contempt for the message conveyed, You can never take it back.

Yoruichi groaned and a short look of determination entered her eyes, I know, but I can try to make things right.

"Well, I guess you can. The damage is done though, I can't see you doing anything about it anymore. But it's no use to hate you for it," Soifon said softly, her eyes still holding Yoruichi's stare.

Yoruichi only responded with a nod and sat down on the bed watching Soifon closely.

"Wh-what?" Soifon muttered, slightly unnerved at the attention.

"I didn't notice it that well before, but you are a beautiful young woman."

Soifon blushed bright red and shifted her vision away, these compliments were probably to lessen the tension between the two, but she still felt embarrassed at how nice it felt to hear that.

"Thanks, I guess," Soifon muttered.

Yoruichi sighed and looked toward the ceiling, "You up for deejaying tonight? Or is it too soon?"

"It's never too soon. That's table is the only thing that keeps me sane," Soifon admitted with a bit of a lopsided smirk.

"Are you going to go like this?" Yoruichi gestured to the still uniformed girl, "because the club opens in a half hour."

Soifon blinked and looked down at herself, sighing she looked back up, "You know I haven't really thought about it, but now I don't have to look like a guy and gargle saltwater..."

Yoruichi ruffled Soifon's hair, "Heh, look at you finding the silver lining."

Soifon shrugged and before sending a small glare at Yoruichi for treating her like a child she spoke, "Actually I'm sort of disappointed, I sort of liked cross-dressing, I am still happy I done have to gargle saltwater anymore..."

Yoruichi let out a short laugh and nodded, "Okay cross-dresser, get ready for the rush, I'm going to go survive the hatred from my employees and put up Renji and Ichigo as bodyguards for you so they don't swarm you."

Soifon nodded, "And as soon as I change I'll go and convince them you're not worth hating."

Yoruichi smiled slightly, "That'd be nice."

Soifon nodded, "How unlike me."

And the two shared a friendly look, days behind them as the present once again became important and they walked to do their proper jobs.

A/N Okay I know this is late, REALLY late, but you know familiar losses, they tend to knock you out of whack and unfortunately I still think my creativity is still screwed up, so it may be a while before the next chapter, but I promise I will get this done, and if you haven't already voted, please look at the poll on my profile and leave a review. Have a good day guys.