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The Reaction

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The muscles bunched under the pale and toned skin of her arm trembled with irritation and ire as she snapped the thin pencil in half with merely her thumb. Tossing the cheap black phone back onto its receiver, Soi nearly failed to restrain the urge to tear down the four, felt covered, grey walls that enclosed her.

Cigarette, she thought urgently like a surgeon listening off the tools he needed to save an innocent life. Now.

The un-oiled joints groaned from underneath her as she swiveled herself towards the thin opening in her cubicle. It wasn't often those wheels moved, and when they did, they burst through the aggravating and anything but comfortable silence that swam through the office like a life-threatening plague. She lived the life of a workaholic; she was surprised that her fingers didn't mold to the worn, wordless keys of her out dated computer or if the headset that had set a painful bruise on her ear didn't cement itself there.

Ripping the Marlboro's and Zippo from the pathetically tidy drawer of her desk, she took off, nearly running, to the back door. She barely had time to see Koji before she found herself becoming friendly like a horny school boy would be to his prom date with his hard—and a rather rough landing pad— pecks.

"Whoa, beautiful. Where you off to?" Koji practically squealed as he lifted her like a doll from his chest and smoothed her short hair. He glanced down at what she was clutching and flipped his chin length blond hair in near disgust. "Those things will kill you, darling. And not in a clean way either." He sighed heavily, looking Soi over, making her more and more uncomfortable by the second. "Let's go have one, shall we?" The corner of Soi's thin lips twitched up before they ran, shushing each other playfully as they tripped other their feet, the walls, and flat surfaces.

"Ugh. But you know a man, they think with their head 24-fucking-7. And not the one on their shoulders, not that it's useful anyway. It's in the wiring I think. Is there not one decent man out here?" Koji exhaled a great puff of smoke in to the sky, his hand curled elegantly around the stubby cancer stick to the left of his ear.

"No, Ko-Ko. There isn't" Soi eyed him carefully until he got the joke before he scoffed and flipped his hair in the other direction as she laughed at his feminism. "And no, I don't know men, which is why I don't prefer them." She took a long, nearly painful drag from her cigarette before tossing it into one of the over-stuffed smoke catchers that lined the outside of the building. "Unlike other people I know." She murmured under her breath, positive that he could not hear her; but when was the last thing she was positive about anyway?

"Oh, ho, now. I know that tone. She called you again, didn't she?" Soi rolled her bright, glowing, and rather pissed off eyes at him as she leaned against the brick next to him and lit up another.

"That bad, huh?" He winced. They were practically mirror images of each other; opposite arms across their flat stomachs holding their elbow where they held the filter within sucking distance and one foot planted against the wall behind them. As if they had planned it, they pulled a crooked hand through their short dirty blond boyish hair. "Damn you are pissed!" Koji giggled. "I can feel your blood boiling. Away with you!" He pushed her playfully away. "It's too hot to be fuming!"

Soi let only a smirk leave its temporary imprint on her face before she zoned out, staring off into the tar that rippled as water would… like water in a community pool, deserted of all the lethargic occupants of the apartments and the workaholics… leaving only one person to go skinny dipping. She shook her head, trying to rid the image from her head by sheer force of will, but it had been imprinted to the back of her eyelids. She could not rest without thinking of the smooth, dark skin, the frighteningly dangerous golden eyes, and that voice… the one that had serenaded her millions of times before, the same voice that sparked so many fights and so many tearful embraces. Soi shook her head again, more violently this time, looking for a distraction, like nausea, anything to divert her thoughts.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa, baby girl. Whoa!" Koji pressed his massive hands on either side of Soi's head and stopped the flailing of black strands and two long braids behaving as whips. "You'll hurt someone doing that." He eyed her closely like he did as he disapproved of her smoking before he eased her tense body back against the wall. She pushed his hands away from her, being far from harsh, but still a little irritated.

"Stop being a big brother, Ko." She tousled her hair before taking another long drag and puffing the smoke deliberately in Koji's face. "Big sister suits you better." He opened his mouth to protest, but that stricken look of reject slowly transformed into a sense of pride or satisfaction. Soi laughed once and hard at him, surrogate blood since before she had ever met Yoruichi. He had watched her go insane, find inner peace, loose it, find it once more, and make one false promise and threat after another. Koji was fully aware of the affect Yoruichi had on Soi, even if Soi hadn't come to her senses.

"Why do you love her?" He asked once the flaming embers within the company rolled paper had long since been blown out and they both rest in silence, waiting for the end of their fifteen minutes so they could return to the monotonous way of life that lay just beyond the doors behind them. Her ears perked and her eyes sparked bright and furious to the point Koji feared for his unbroken bones and his bruise-less skin.

"I never said I love her." Her words held warning, poison, and sheer hatred. Through all of the emotions she had been forced to endure, one after the other, the burning hatred she had expressed was nothing compared to the short fuse that burned before him. He had never seen her eyes like this, even when Yoruichi had to break the news to her the first time. This was the kind of hate that piggybacked that of pain. It was short lived, but extremely intense. Instead of pressing the issue and risking a crushed nose, Koji put up his hands in mock surrender.

"Calm, Fire Starter! I do not wish to be burned alive." He nudged her, desperately trying to make her laugh, or even smirk, but it was a lost cause. He had messed with her most personal crisis: Yoruichi Shihouin, a mistake he would be sure to never make again. But she stay immobile, made of brick, blending into her background and letting all conflicting emotions battle within her, letting them use her flesh, her blood as the battle ground, her soul as the ammunition. She was Sweden. Soi, all throughout her life, had refused to take a side within her; she went with whatever anyone told her. With Yoruichi, she felt as if she were free, that nothing mattered, that life was an eternal summer vacation to be burned up and wasted in whatever way the child-like occupants saw fit. Chuckling to herself, or rather at herself and what she had allowed herself to be turned into, she looked at Koji, somewhat surprised that he was still there. A crooked smile was pasted poorly over a face of mock fear, his brow cocked in worry.

"Therapy: Invest. Maybe they will give you meds… or a jacket. You like hugging yourself right?" To avoid the flying fists, he ducked back into the door of the dreaded office, blew a raspberry against the thick glass of the door, and ran off to his tiny cubicle where his free and fun loving attitude would drop from his personality and be replaced with numbers and guidelines for the next four hours.

She laughed again; this time from deep within, the laugh shook her body and brought tears to her eyes. Everything she had felt once she saw Yoruichi's phone number flash on her caller ID to the point where she had set a date for later that night came bellowing out. In this crazy stage of euphoria, every ounce of pain she had felt for herself, for Yoruichi, for Koji, for the sad little abused puppy dogs on the commercials with Sarah McLachlan playing in the background flushed out of her system, detoxing her soul, as it spilled onto the concrete.

He might be right. She pushed herself through the clear doors of her daily hell. Though, any other day, she would be lifeless, thoughtless, and essentially useless for anything other than answering phones and balancing sales of tasteless wardrobes and tacky purses, she evaluated her sanity. Fingers hit buttons, numbers lit up, the world shrunk and grew in the elevator: daily miracles in which she had begun to unconsciously ignore. Was she truly losing her mind for Yoruichi? Was Yoruichi worth her mind, her soul, even… possibly… her—

"No. I. Do. Not. L… She's Yoruichi. She's… a child, a friend… a fuck-buddy, nothing more… nothing more… nothing more." She mumbled to herself as she stepped out on her floor.

"Really? Nothing more, eh?" The voice jarred Soi, knocking her out of her own reality and plummeting her flailing person into everyone else's. It was that of Ava Meadows, the secretary. Seeing the man that worked only a few feet from Soi every day, she had been trying to get Soi in the sack ever since she found out she liked to "rock the rainbow". She was a sleaze; a hot sleaze and she knew it; even was proud of the fact, which is possibly the most dangerous thing to have around a weak-willed person.

"Talking to yourself again, are we?" Ava asked playfully, tossing her pen over her shoulder while rolling her wad of gum around in her mouth.

God knows what's been in there, Soi snickered to herself as she tried to pass the vulture that was perched, for some reason she had not come to realize, so close to the only escape on the floor. Probably every hot dog in this office, well... excluding Koji. Maybe even a few peaches too...

A clawed talon reached out and swooped up the crook of Soi's arm as she attempt to make a break for it. "Now where is the fire, Sweetcheeks?" Ava purred—or growled, Soi couldn't decide—as she pulled Soi closer to her. Once again, Soi caught herself looking Ava over, assessing the decisions other than what Yoruichi made for her. Her lover's game was played with such precision, everything that happened was intentional, every scream, every sudden burst of anger had been deviously depicted the night before. Ava, Soi had repeated to herself many lonely nights before once Yoruichi had left her sights, could be my secret weapon. A factor that she wasn't expecting.

Ava, having the mindset of a teenager, never really grew out of the style, though her clothes told a different story. While Soi stood across from her in plain black jeans and a pink and white stripped button down, Ava sat, casually displaying her bra-less cleavage with a very distasteful, plunging V-neck, as she worked her tongue around the crude, indefinable pink wad. Her skirts, as if they were not short enough to make you hate the female form for a split hour, was always hiked up in the back, especially when she stalked out of the boss' office.

"I'm just going to check if there is a fire in my desk." She smiled politely at the horny single mother of three bastard children before yanking her arm away from Ava's unwelcome hold, never too soon. "Or to see how hard it would be to start one." Soi shivered as she slumped back to her desk, feeling the venomous eyes of The Slut on her ass as she scurried out of sight. The unmistakable gust of blond ducked behind a chin-level felt wall, obviously observing the attack and, as Soi passed, got a sticky note slapped on her ass followed by a girlish giggle she could have mistaken for a fourth grader. As she sat at her desk, already twenty times happier than she was two seconds ago and a million times that nearly twenty minutes ago, she peeled the green glue from her bottom and read the note Koji had pinned to her.

Crap! Now the crazy lady has AIDS. You think Devil Woman would be expecting that one?

Smiling, she picked up the phone that had started ringing the second she sat. It was almost a miracle how Koji was on the same frequency as Soi, especially since she switched channels fifty two times a minute. He truly was the bigger sister Soi never had, something she had thought Yoruichi would be, but, inevitably, Soi grew, then Yoruichi became the younger sister, having Soi wait on her, hand and foot. From any other perspective, have it been happening to anybody else, Soi would have laughed for their sake as they slaved around for the one they supposedly loved, but were really two favors away from being thrown away with the thousands that had been used before. Regardless, if ignorance was bliss, why did Soi feel so pathetic and ill?

"Stop reading my mind, you loser." She laughed, expecting Koji to squeal and rattle off one of his trademark punch lines.

"Excuse me?" An ecclesiastic-like voice broke through the grumbling connection, frail, innocent, and sounding within minutes of dying… or praying.

"Oh, my apologies, Ma'am. It's these phones, so hard to transfer calls. Let me start over. Juniper and Holmes Life Insurance, this is Soi and how may I not insult you today?" This derived a chuckle from the clearly ill elder before she threw herself and Soi into a likely two hour conversation on how technology has drastically changed in the last two hundred years the bag had been alive. Just as she was about the scratch her own eyes out for something to do, Soi noticed the text box pop up in the window of her email. Koji! Thank god, Soi sighed inwardly.

Ko: I… didn't call you

Soi: Thanks for the warning. I just called Mother Teresa a loser.

Ko: rotflmao

Soi: what did you call me?

Ko: God, you ancient hag. Nvrm.

Soi: What's 'nvrm'?

Ko: This user has signed off

"Oh yes ma'am. I do hate how large the TV screens are…Yes, kids should read more…No, I have never heard of that author, ma'am…Oh, really…" The conversation never seemed to end. With years of experience and reluctant skill that she had absorbed with the stoned of all stoners and the master of all Yoruichi's, Soi slowly worked her way back towards the issue of Life Insurance, something that would be coming in the mail very very soon for this woman's family. "No, I don't think I'll be a good match for your nephew…No, no, ma'am, I understand. As soon as you remember what you called for, I'll be here…Yes, I promise…You too, ma'am." She scribbled "Shoot Me" on a paper football and nonchalantly tossed it over the wall that separated her and Koji. Seconds later, her head was mistaken for a large translucent backboard as a paper ball was pelted off the back of her head as if the buzzer was seconds from sounding and the last three points were the difference between being a winner and pathetic loser.

NO! Yooooou gooot a daaaate toooniiight…

"Don't remind me", she grumbled, but it was too late. Yoruichi's name was already teasing her tongue, her face on her lids, and the crippling need of nicotine was in her veins at the mere anticipation of seeing her again. What was happening to her? She used to be stronger than this… used to be.

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The night is deafening when the silence is listening and I'm down and my knees and I know that something is missing. Because the back of my mind is holding…

The music that swam in the lavish penthouse seemed to drown out the anxiety in which kept Yoruichi close to the phone, one foot out the door. It was two hours till her long awaited date with her beloved Soi, whom she had not seen in weeks, much less touched. She desired to feel those long arms around her, those soft hands upon her, those dark eyes judging her, psychoanalyzing her, failing to figure her next move. Without Soi in her life, there was no frivolous joy, nearly nothing had purpose, and when it did, it was… boring. In her world of black and white cocktail parties and ass kissing, Soi was the only one that she could look down on, the only tool she had to break out of the ordinary and let her true colors shine, if only to one person.

Restless, Yoruichi ran around her overprized home, still neglecting to dawn clothes for the occasion, throwing every bit of visible clothing, magazine, particle of dust, and every discarded pair of panties into a room in which Soi would not be tempted to enter. Temptation, a favorite in Yoruichi's arsenal of assault weapons. If everything failed to cripple Soi, temptation always overtook her. Only a few times had Yoruichi been afraid of losing her, and the game, forever, but it didn't last long; Soi always came back around.

Her rich hair cascading halfway down her back cluing to her temples and was matted down the elegant curve of her spine. Though her teen days, where years behind her, her body still held the mold that any man or woman would give their life for. Her breasts, gracious and firm, held high on her chest as they did the day she met Soi. Her stomach, tight and flat and her skin darkened healthily from the sun and lack of occupation. She knew how she looked and how the people on the street stared at her shamelessly, which is why she took pride in crashing in Soi's arms, twirling, grinding, practically fucking her wherever they were. It drove Soi absolutely wild and that's what excited Yoruichi the most.

When the phone buzzed, it was already in Yoruichi's hand as she fixed her soaked hair, still wet from her shower as if Soi could see her. Clearing her throat, she spoke, sweet and sultry. "Hello?"

"I am getting off work. I am going to go change first. Can you tell me where we are going so I can dress appropriately?" Soi's distorted voice requested. Yoruichi could tell she had been screaming. Whenever Soi got unbelievably frustrated, she would make her way to the closets, smallest, most isolated four walls she could find and scream until her face turned blue…or until she passed out. Just another quirk about Soi that drove Yoruichi absolutely berserk; just another reminder of how absolutely in control she was.

"Don't be nervous, love. Everything will be… fun tonight. Please trust me. I wouldn't let you down, darling." Yoruichi purred in a way that drove her "play thing" wild.

"I am not nervous; just… tired, I guess." The Play Thing mumbled into the receiver, clearly occupying her hands as she did during the previous phone call. There wasn't much, though, that she could use to escape. After all, she was driving and her only tickets that she ever received, Yoruichi was relaxing deviously in the seat next to her.

"No. You are. You don't use contractions whenever you're nervous." Her teasing tone dropped and was drenched with pity and rejection within seconds. "Do you not want to see me? I understand if you don't. I mean, who would after all I've done? I—I'm sorry Soi. It seems I have wasted your time." With mock insecurity, Yoruichi was inches away from the End Call button so she could count down the time it took Soi to call back and apologize for things… she's not quite sure she had done.

"No. No, Yoruichi. I… I am—I mean… I'm sorry. I do want to see you, it—it's all I have been thinking about. Well, that and cigarettes…" Yoruichi could practically hear the question marks popping up over her head, not knowing exactly what she meant or how far she had actually pushed Soi, but sure that she wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "I have to change out of office clothes. Help me here." She pleaded as she punched the gas and went soaring down the road. Yoruichi winced as a passing car zipped by, sounding dangerously close, with a rather pissed off driver; she smiled.

"Well… who said you had to wear clothes? You can just come over here and—"

"No." Soi quickly interrupted, surprising the usually dominant and strict Yoruichi. "I've told you before. I won't me you there. Anywhere but there…" In her voice lay an undertone of desperation that Yoruichi had not heard for so many years. This wasn't a request; she was begging for mercy.

"Well… at least we're using contractions again. That's a good sign. Look, love. Anything you wear, you will be absolutely gorgeous. When I say we're going out, I mean we are going out, understand?" Soi remained silent, suppressing something that would likely show in her voice, flattery, embarrassment, realization, or even… arousal? "I can hear you blushing again." Yoruichi teased, listening to the short gusts of air that came with the cars that passed faster and faster.

"Where will I meet you?" Finally, she had heard a smile creep across her lover's face as she whispered, keeping the rondevu as confidential as possible. If there was one thing Soi hated more than Yoruichi, it was publicizing her personal life; something that Yoruichi took pride in, her own personal hobby.

"Where we first made love. Don't you remember? That night… those drinks… you just had your heart broken and—"

"Yeah! ...yeah I know where you mean. I—I remember." Soi's voice trembled as Yoruichi pictured her hands doing the same as her knuckles turned white, curled gruesomely around the shabby steering wheel.

"You have… and hour and fourteen minutes." Soi, Yoruichi was sure, was breaking almost every traffic law in the city of New York, face red, jaw muscles quivering from exhaustion, and teeth shining as they were ground together.

"Fine." She chuckled, never reluctant to heed to Yoruichi's will.

"I love you, Soi." With that the line went dead and Yoruichi laughed, thinking off all the time she had told Soi and how her face had contorted, not knowing what to feel. On more than one occasion, it was anger or distrust, but usually, it was of surprise and shock, something she thought she would never hear, though she was reminded of it almost every day.

"I'll make you say it. Better yet, tonight, I will make you scream it." She grabbed a string of priceless pearls that hung around a picture frame. Tossing it out of her way like a piece of unsightly garbage, she grabbed the frame that held a picture of both Soi and Yoruichi, casual friends at the time, in their square navy hats and matching robes, clutching a faux aged scroll. She stared sympathetically at their earlier—and frankly easier—years. Yoruichi's arms were around Soi, she had surprised her by creeping up behind her. The darkening red spilled across her cheeks and her steel eyes shone as they looked up to their assailant. She laughed at the memory before she ripped out the metal back from the silver tiffany and peeled a folded note from the back of their photo. Carefully and almost meticulously, she positioned and repositioned the paper football next to her keys that lay on the table in front of her.

"You did say it once…"

A/N: Well… I think I like it, but you guys be the judge. AT LEAST three comments and I'll write another chapter. Thank you to all who have read so far. Even the sallow number of hits is enough to boost my confidence enough to leave the story up. My main concern is that I don't have the characters calibrated to their original personalities, since this was a different story with different characters. Suggestions?