Yoruichi yawned into the back of her hand. It had been a long day to cap off an excruciatingly long week. All this week she had been going into work earlier than normal and leaving hours later than she normally did. She was starting to forget what daylight looked like and her sense of time was completely gone. It was something she was going to have to get used to though. If she got the job of Chief Operations Officer then long days were going to be her life, so would working weekends, and she could kiss her holidays good-bye since she'd always be needed by the office. It was a bit of a depressing thought.

"Somehow, I don't think you're paying attention," Shinji said giving her a flat stare.

Yoruichi looked over to him. He was stood in front of a board that he had scribbled various things over, in an attempt to fill her in on all the things she needed to know to impress the board. As far as she could tell, this was all the board members who she should be sucking up to and the best way to go about it.

"I am," she said, stifling yet another yawn. "I'm just beat. We've been at this for hours now."

"You think that little snot from my department is gonna care that you're feeling a bit tired? He's probably busy sucking up right now."

"Do we have any coffee?" Yoruichi turned around. Kisuke was sat on the table behind her. He was busy playing cats-cradle with Hiyori. From what Yoruichi could tell he had made a mess of it and Hiyori had that look in her eyes like she was going to thump him. "Kisuke!" Yoruichi yelled.

"Huh?" His head snapped round to face her. "What is it?"

"Make me some coffee," she told him.

He pulled a face. "Don't you have an assistant to do that for you?"

"I sent him home ages ago."

"Is that because you suspect him from passing on information to the rival?" Kisuke smiled as he spoke. He was the one who had pointed this out to Yoruichi, so he was feeling fairly smug that it had turned out he was right.

"If you find a way for me to fire him, then I'll promote you to being the guy who fixes the photocopier."

"Gee, thanks!" He unravelled the string from his fingers and tossed it into Hiyori's lap.

"You messed it up!" She yelled in protest.

Kisuke shrugged. "It was already messed up," He sauntered across the office towards the coffee machine. "I take it everyone else wants a cup too."

There was a collective chorus of agreement from the occupants of the office and Kisuke groaned.

Yoruichi was still surprised how many had turned out to help her for this. She scanned the room; eight in total, from all over the company. They were being quite vocal about their support too. If she failed, they would in all likelihood lose their jobs. That was another depressing thought.

She looked to the clock on the wall. It had just gone Eight PM. Was she going to be stuck here all night? It was Saturday tomorrow and usually she'd have a lie in to look forward to, but Shinji had already insisted that she come in then as well. He'd allowed her to come in slightly later than usual, but still... It was starting to look like Sunday was going to be her only day off, and she was going to waste it catching up on work, so it wasn't really going to be a day off at all.

She had told Soifon that nothing would change right away, what a laugh! She hadn't seen the girl all week. It surprised her how much of an effect not seeing Soifon had on her. She missed her.

Kisuke handed Yoruichi her cup of coffee and she mumbled her thanks.

She missed the sex; she corrected herself, not the girl, but the sex. Because that was what their relationship was all about. There were no feelings involved. It was purely physical.

The thought made Yoruichi want to sigh. Maybe, just maybe, she missed Soifon's company. She did enjoy spending time with her.

Yoruichi's phone hummed and she fished it out from her bag. The universe was intent on playing a joke on her she decided as she watched Soifon's name flash across the screen. Dropping the phone back into her bag, Yoruichi sighed. She didn't have time to talk to her right now.

"Ya still not paying attention!" Shinji called over to her. "How'd ya expect to learn all this if you're not paying attention?"

"I am," Yoruichi protested weakly. "I'm just surprised is all. I mean, who'd have thought that the way to get such an important position in the company was all down to ass-kissing rather than proving that I can actually do the job."

He grinned at her. "When did being competent at your job ever have anything to do with it?"

She sipped at her coffee. "Can we hurry this up? I have places I want to be."

"She means she wants to go home," Love called from behind her.

"Like the rest of us," Rose added.

"Fine!" Shinji turned to the board and began wiping off all the information he had scrawled across it.

Yoruichi smiled for the first time all day. She retrieved her phone from her bag. She had one missed call from Soifon. Yoruichi set about texting her, telling her that she'd be home in under an hour if she was free. Though it was getting on to be pretty late. She didn't really expect Soifon to want to call round, especially since Yoruichi had largely ignored her for most of the week.

But Yoruichi could use some stress relief round about now, and she knew from experience that Soifon provided the best form of stress relief.

"I can't believe I'm letting you drive my car," Yoruichi mumbled sleepily. She watched the people and traffic, the lights of the streets go by as she and Kisuke drove home.

"You're far too tired to drive," Kisuke replied. He rolled to a stop at yet another set of lights. "I didn't want to die such a lame death as my sister falling asleep at the wheel."

"I wouldn't have," she replied, and then yawned.

Next to her, Kisuke chuckled. "Is this really worth it?"

"Of course it is," she replied. "Second from the top, Kisuke. The next logical step is CEO."

"Yamamoto is showing no signs of slowing down," he replied. "I think that man is going to live forever, so I doubt that you'll ever be CEO. Still, COO is one hell of an achievement. I suppose your dad will be proud."

"I guess," Yoruichi said. "He wouldn't even give me a job in his own company." That wasn't strictly speaking true, he just wouldn't give her the job she wanted. It was quite easy for her to see that he would never have promoted her up through the ranks, even if she did deserve it. She'd have been stuck in a low paying job, typing up notes or something equally as boring, like manning the phones. She shuddered at the thought.

"Have you told him yet?"

She shook her head. "I'll wait until I actually get the job," she said. "Although, I expect Yamamoto will probably tell him." She yawned again, this time though she flinched back as Kisuke stuck his finger into her mouth. "What the hell, Kisuke!" She swatted his hand away.

"Heh, yawn-raped you."

She rolled her eyes at him. "The lights green, moron," she pointed out.

They set off again, but had only been gone a short distance before Kisuke slowed down once more.

"What you doing?" Yoruichi asked. "There's no light here."

Kisuke was turned away from her though and was staring out the window. He rolled it down and stuck his head out. "Oi!" He bellowed. "Soifon! You want a ride?"

Yoruichi perked immediately. The car came to a stop. Kisuke still had his head hanging out of the window.

"Stop ignoring me! I know you can hear me!"

Yoruichi rolled her eyes. "Kisuke, she's hardly going to get into a car with you, now is she?" Opening her door, Yoruichi stepped out and looked over the top of the car. Sure enough Soifon was standing on the other side of the street scowling at Kisuke.

"Soifon," Yoruichi called out. The girl raised her head and looked directly at Yoruichi. "You want a lift or not? Since I assume you're heading in the same direction as us."

Soifon kicked at the ground a moment, before crossing the street to the car. Yoruichi smiled and sat back down. A moment later, Soifon was sat in the back and they had set off again.

"I guess you've had a busy week," Soifon said sullenly.

Yoruichi laughed lightly. "You could say that."

"It's been insane," Kisuke added, "unnecessarily insane. I honestly don't see why she needs to put this much seemingly pointless work into this."

Yoruichi shrugged. "Just the way it goes," she turned in her seat and looked back at Soifon, smiling. "Did you miss me?" Yoruichi wasn't quite ready to admit that she'd missed her, for now she'd settle for hearing that Soifon missed her.

Soifon shrugged. "Not really."

"Harsh," Yoruichi turned back around. "You'll hurt my feelings, Soifon."

"Somehow, I doubt that."

Yoruichi couldn't help but laugh at Soifon's moody tone. She knew that she'd be pouting by now, her bottom lip stuck out and her arms folded across her chest. She'd look absolutely adorable.

"You missed me enough to head on over," Yoruichi said. "Lucky for you that we were passing by, we've saved you the walk."

"I was enjoying the exercise."

She always has to be so difficult. Yoruichi grinned though and twisted round in her seat to face Soifon. "You can still walk, if you prefer."

"I'm pretty comfy now," Soifon replied smartly. "So I think I'll stay."

"Thought as much," Yoruichi said, still smirking. "Kisuke stop somewhere for food first, I haven't eaten since lunch time."

Yoruichi juggled the pizza box in her hand round so that she'd be able to get her keys. Annoyingly, with her bag in one hand, the pizza box in the other and also her phone tenuously gripped by the hand that held the bg, she was unable to do it.

She sighed. 2Soifon, could you get my keys?"

"Where are they?"

"My jacket pocket."

Soifon hesitated, her hand held out in the air before her.

"Inside pocket," Yoruichi told her, "left hand side."

"Right, right," Soifon muttered. She reached under the precariously perched pizza box and slipped her hand into Yoruichi's jacket. She rummaged for a moment and then retrieved the keys. "You could have just asked me to hold your bag or something," She said with a slight blush.

"Now where would be the fun in that?" Yoruichi asked innocently.

Soifon opened the door and held it for Yoruichi, following her inside where she kicked off her shoes. Kisuke had opted not to join them, instead he had made off with Yoruichi's car proclaiming that it was a babe magnet and that he was going to try his luck.

Yoruichi made her way into the living room and dropped the pizza box down on the table. She wrestled off her jacket and tossed it aside and then, quite literally, kicked off her shoes. One of them clattered against the wall noisily before dropping to the ground. She undid the top few buttons on her shirt and then sighed with relief.

Looking up she found Soifon watching her. "What?" Yoruichi asked.

"Nothing.

Yoruichi gave her a quizzical look. Pulling out her hair tie, Yoruichi ran her fingers through the length of her hair, ruffling it out. "That feels much better," she said.

Soifon was still watching her, an odd expression on her face.

"You're starting to creep me out," Yoruichi told her with a slight smile.

Soifon looked away, pink patches evident on her cheeks. "Sorry," she muttered. "I didn't mean to. It's just... Your hair looks nicer down is all."

Yoruichi raised an eyebrow at that. "Is that right?" She smirked and turned away, deciding to not embarrass Soifon any further. She opened the pizza box and grabbed herself a slice, taking a healthy bite from it. "You want some?"

"Um, yeah okay," Soifon answered. She joined Yoruichi at the table, taking a seat next to her even though Yoruichi was still standing. "Aren't you going to sit down?"

Yoruichi shook her head. "Not yet, not until I've finished this."

Soifon shrugged in response and grabbed another slice of pizza. It surprised Yoruichi how much she was having and how quickly she was putting it away. From the look of the girl you'd hardly think she ever ate, she was slim to the point of being skinny. But that was just her youth, she'd probably outgrow it, she reasoned. It didn't help that Soifon wore such baggy clothes that hid her frame beneath them. Tonight she was dressed in scruffy looking jeans that were too long for her, a t-shirt was tucked beneath a zipped up hooded jacket and she oddly enough wasn't wearing any socks.

They finished eating the pizza in silence and it wasn't until then that Yoruichi hobbled away from the table and sat down on the couch, wincing slightly. "Jeez, my feet really hurt," she complained.

"Maybe you should wear more comfortable shoes," Soifon suggested.

"I'll keep that in mind," Yoruichi replied. She grabbed the remote for the television and flicked it on. "You going to stay over there all night?"

"I might."

"If that suits you," Yoruichi grinned, "but while you're over there, do you feel like putting a DVD on or something?"

Soifon rolled her eyes but Yoruichi could see that she was smiling. It only took her a moment to grab something from the shelf and then shove it into the player. She sat down next to Yoruichi on the couch and grabbed the remote from her.

"I hope you put something good on," Yoruichi said.

"Does this mean you own DVDs that aren't good?" Soifon wondered.

"I might," Yoruichi grinned. She turned her head and watched Soifon while she settled herself down into the couch. Soifon was leaning forward slightly, her elbows resting on her knees and apparently engrossed in the movie that playing. "Hey," Yoruichi shuffled over to Soifon, reaching out her hand towards her, not really enjoying that Soifon was ignoring her in favour of a subpar movie. She took hold of her arm and pulled her towards her. Soifon hissed in pain and jerked her arm away, holding it close to her.

"What?" Yoruichi looked at her in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Soifon said quickly.

Frowning, Yoruichi stood and moved to stand in front of her. "Soifon," she said in a low voice. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," She replied. "I just have a sore arm. It's nothing to get in a flap about."

Kneeling before her, Yoruichi tugged down the zip on Soifon's jacket, ignoring the girl's protests. Yoruichi gently pushed it back from her shoulders and inspected Soifon's arm. Her left elbow and bicep were colored a deep blue and purple from a fairly recent and nasty bruise.

"What happened?" Yoruichi asked quietly.

"I fell," Soifon replied with an indifferent shrug.

"You fell?" Yoruichi repeated. "Just on your arm? On your upper arm?" She met the girls' eye and let her see the scepticism there. "If you tell me next that you walked into a door, I'll smack you myself."

Soifon glared at her. "I fell off the balance beam," she said, a hint of disgust in her tone. "You know what one of them is? For gymnastics."

Yoruichi remained silent for a moment and then let out a long breath. "If you say so," she said finally. "But you're sure? I thought you'd given up gymnastics."

Soifon shuffled back from her, zipping her jacket back up. "I went back this week," she explained. "I didn't have much else to do and the team captain has been bugging me for a while." She frowned suddenly. "How did you know that I did gymnastics?"

Yoruichi froze as she realized her error. How did she know that Soifon did gymnastics, because the girl sure as hell hadn't told her. It couldn't possibly be that she had spied on her.

"Uh... you must have mentioned it at some point," Yoruichi said. She stood up and turned from Soifon. She cursed herself for her slip up, there was no way that Soifon would understand why she'd gone snooping around in her business.

"I don't remember that," Soifon said. "I guess I must have though. How else would you have known?"

"Exactly," Yoruichi said. She set about clearing up the empty pizza box, trying to find something to do to keep her hands busy. "So... What other clubs are you in?" So long as Jushiro was right in what she'd told her, then Yoruichi already knew. But if she had Soifon tell her then it would stop anything like this happening again.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just interested is all," Yoruichi turned round, her arms folded across her chest. "Why must there be an ulterior motive to everything I ask you?"

Soifon shrugged. "I also did track and calligraphy," she said, which matched what Jushiro had told Yoruichi. "I wanted to join the photography club but couldn't."

Yoruichi looked at her in surprise. "Why not?"

"I didn't have a good enough camera, or so they said," Soifon explained. "My brother had a decent enough camera but he wouldn't let me borrow it, and my dad said that he couldn't afford to buy me one as well. And then my parents won't let me get a part-time job so it's not as though I can earn the money myself to buy one. So yeah, it never happened."

"Oh," Yoruichi stared at her a moment. She wasn't sure if she should ask the next question. "Umm... Could you not use your brother's camera now?" It wasn't as though he needed it.

Soifon shook her head. "My dad threw it out."

"I see," Yoruichi said. The conversation felt as though it had taken a much more depressing turn. She was half-tempted to offer to buy Soifon a camera, but she knew that the suggestion wouldn't go down well at all. Instead she yawned into the back of her hand and Soifon shot her a half-amused look.

"Tired?"

"Very, actually," Yoruichi replied with a smile. "It's been a hectic week." She moved back to the couch and sat down next to Soifon, turning her attention to the TV.

"If you're tired then maybe I should go."

Yoruichi shook her head. "No, I'd rather you stayed," she replied. She turned head slightly; gazing at Soifon from the corner of her eye she could see that there was a rather pleased smile to the girl's features. Yoruichi smiled softly at the sight.

Soifon yawned and rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her palm. The movie had finished ages ago and she was currently flicking through the channels not really paying attention to anything much. Yoruichi had fallen asleep quite some time ago, not even making it to the end of the movie. Her head was currently laid in Soifon's lap, her face pressed close to her stomach and one of her arms was wrapped around Soifon's waist. Soifon looked down at Yoruichi; she looked really peaceful when she was asleep.

Soifon wasn't at all surprised that she had fallen asleep. The woman had looked beyond tired. There were dark circles under her eyes and she had constantly been fighting off a yawn. It seemed stupid to Soifon to be putting that much effort into something that was clearly just going to burn her out.

Still, Soifon yawned again. She could actually do with going to sleep herself, but she didn't want to wake Yoruichi up. She leaned back into the couch, her hand resting on Yoruichi's shoulder. Peering down, Soifon carefully brushed the hair back from the older woman's face.

"Stupid," she whispered. "It'll only get worse if you keep it up."

Soifon couldn't help but feel a mixture of disappointed and resentful. She hadn't seen Yoruichi all week, which meant that she'd been stuck at school and forced to spend her evenings with her parents. It wasn't helping things that she still wasn't speaking to Isane. It meant that she didn't really have anyone to talk to.

Her thumb brushed across Yoruichi's cheek and the woman mumbled something in her sleep, pressing her face closer to Soifon's body.

She'd been hoping to spend the whole weekend with Yoruichi, to make up for the lost time during the week, but it looked as though Yoruichi was going to be busy. The disappointment she felt was powerful. It felt like Yoruichi had chosen her job over Soifon; it was as though Soifon was going to eventually be forgotten about. But then, it had to happen eventually, right? And at least this would get Isane off of her back and hopefully stop the rumors that were spreading around the school about her.

Soifon sighed and sunk lower in the couch. She pulled Yoruichi closer, careful not to wake her up.

She'd rather Yoruichi just gave up on her bid for promotion. She'd rather put up with the rumors at school and Isane's constant worrying. It all felt a lot simpler with Yoruichi. Everything seemed easier and more complicated at the same time, but it felt right and that was the difference. Ultimately, she felt confused. She just knew that she'd rather have Yoruichi in her life than anything else.

Pretty quick update this time. This chapter just kind of wrote itself (I like it when that happens). I know that compared to the last chapter this one didn't really feel as though it had the plot progression, but it did have some fairly important bits in it.

Thanks again for the reviews.