Title: Eyes On Me – Part One
Date: 4 December, 2009
Words: 3207
Characters: Rangiku, Tōshirō, Soi Fong, Juushiro, Unohana, Yumichika, Isane, and others mentioned throughout
Pairings: Rangiku & Toshiro, Ukitake & Soi Fong, Yumichika & Isane, implied Unohana & Zaraki (if you know me well enough, it's implied, hahaha)
Summary: Someone is in love, someone is in denial; the saying is "Distance makes the heart grow fonder." Hopefully Soi Fong can realize her fondness before it is too late.
Inspiration: The song "Eyes On Me" by Faye Wong, from the FFVIII soundtrack.
Rating: PG to PG-13, as of yet. No lemons/limes planned, but, who knows? Lol.
A/N: This is going to be a series of one-shots, sort of, featuring Ukitake and Soi Fong. It is based on each different verse/chorus of the song "Eyes On Me" by Faye Wong (from the FFVIII soundtrack).
The update is just to let everyone know I'm still alive. I did take Thanksgiving weekend off (I wanted to rewrite a lot of the next few chapters for One Night, One Lifetime anyway) and the next week my sis and her twin girls (who are a grand total of three months old) moved in with me. So, things really haven't left any room at all for updates. But, I promise to get back on that ASAP. In the meantime, please enjoy a couple of chapters!
Happy reading!
-Rachel Noelle
oOoOo—RN—oOoOo
I never sang my songs
On the stage, on my own
I never said my words
Wishing they would be heard
I saw you smiling at me
Was it real or just my fantasy
You'd always be there in the corner
Of this tiny little bar
Some of the ladies in the Shinigami Women's Association finally convinced her to start going out with them occasionally. For the first few nights she was wary, they'd never done something this… nice for her before. But that fifth night she went out, somehow Matsumoto convinced her to drink, which led to both of them being sloshed, and somehow, somehow, Matsumoto convinced her to sing karaoke.
Oh dear god. She'd never been more embarrassed in her life. She swore her revenge on Matsumoto the next day when, at the taicho meeting, she was getting some very funny stares. Only one of the other Taichos' looks seemed… off.
So, of course, in response she glared right back, quite unhappy that he was looking at her like that.
After the meeting, Hitsugaya approached her, looking apologetic and embarrassed. "Erm, Soi Fong taicho?" he asked, almost shyly.
She had no time for games, she had a division to lead. And her troops were falling behind in their training schedule as the clock ticked by. "What?" she snapped, perhaps more peevish than she intended. If the hangover wasn't bad enough, she had had to suffer through the boring as hell meeting, and now the brat was stuttering around in front of her.
"I just wanted to say that, um, I'm terribly sorry I wasn't there last night. I knew I should have gone with Matsumoto, and it's my fault she dragged you into an… undesirable situation. I just want you to know that I intend to accompany her from here on out." Hitsugaya tried to offer some sort of apology and support.
Soi was, to say the least, floored. No one offered apologies or anything like that. Not to her, at least. Not without her demanding them. "Oh… uh, it's okay," she dumbly shook her head, trying to get everything straight and figure out just what had happened.
The week only got weirder from there.
Despite it all, she quite liked the idea of having friends, especially girlfriends to hang out with and chat about everything from boring paperwork to periods. It suddenly made her life ten times more bearable.
So naturally, and despite the coaxing to get to the karaoke machine previously, she agreed when Matsumoto sheepishly apologized and asked if she'd like to go out again the next evening.
"Though you do have such a lovely voice," Matsumoto complimented. "But, don't worry. Taicho's coming tonight so, you know, maybe he can keep me from saying something that I shouldn't." She smiled at the other woman, trying to be polite and cheerful.
Soi felt her cheeks pink up. That was uncharacteristic. "Erm, thanks." She tried to add a touch of her usual 'I don't give a damn' attitude, but by the way Matsumoto's grin grew, she guessed it probably didn't work.
That evening found Soi, Matsumoto, Hitsugaya (true to his word), Isane (a new recruit to Matsumoto's gang, just as Soi), and the group that originally hailed from the eleventh division, plus Hisagi and Kira seated at a table in a bar in Seireitei. This wasn't so terribly awkward, unless you counted the fact that Matsumoto and Hitsugaya kept making eyes at each other. The strange thing was the duo in the corner just across the way.
Actually, the duo itself wasn't unusual, as it happened to be none other than Kyoraku and Ukitake, but the fact that she was certain Ukitake kept looking to the large table the group occupied was the unusual bit. Soi was seated by Isane, and Ukitake's gaze kept traveling to their direction. She was certain that he must be looking at Isane, because who in their right mind would care to be looking at her?
When Matsumoto stood, declaring she was going for more to drink, she paused at the edge of the table by Soi's seat. "You know, Ukitake-san has been looking at you all evening. You should go and say hello." And before Soi could retort that Matsumoto was utterly and completely out of her mind, the other woman was gone (a not altogether unhappy Hitsugaya trailing behind her).
Soi absolutely refused to believe it. Even though all the other people currently sitting with her at the table seemed to notice it, too. "He was in here when you sang with Matsumoto," Isane leaned over to whisper, hoping she could encourage Soi to 'live a little,' "And he's been staring at you since. I think he's waiting for you to acknowledge him before he embarrasses you or something."
Soi stared at the healer as though she'd suddenly grown three heads. That was impossible. The great Casanova Ukitake didn't take to women like her. Actually, men usually took her… hero worship for Yoruichi for some sort of lesbian love and strayed away from her. And besides, she didn't want some notorious playboy chasing her. What good would that do her, to be wooed and left?
From the corner of her eye, Soi could see Matsumoto dancing up to the table Ukitake and Kyoraku sat at, an uncertain Hitsugaya trailing in her wake. Soi had a sudden image of a puppy following its master, somewhat cute and confused, but loyal no less. So, that's why he kept her around? For all of his complaints about her, he did see something in her, perhaps more deeply than any other man. Soi smiled widely to herself.
Isane caught the unusual sentiment on Soi's face and desperately tried not to stare or hang her mouth open. Isane managed to hide her surprise by the time Soi returned to facing the same direction.
Matsumoto mentioned that Ukitake bid hello to everyone when she returned to their table. Apparently she'd asked Ukitake and Kyoraku to join, but they politely declined due to seating availability. Matsumoto, of course, declared he didn't want to upset Soi. Soi's cheeks and ears went pink again, but she tried to act as though she didn't notice anything.
When she made it home that night, happily buzzed but not sloshed, Soi fell onto her bed, unable to get the thought of Ukitake Juushiro out of her mind. She had no clue what was happening to her, why she was suddenly unable to stop thinking about the more mature of the two white haired taichos, but she couldn't fully say she didn't like it.
When she finally drifted into sleep, Soi dreamed a string of small dreams, mostly memories of every time Juushiro looked her way, each time he stared at her from across the bar, the conversations he'd forced between them the last few weeks. When she woke she went immediately to Unohana, thinking she must be sick.
Unohana just smiled and assured Soi she was, indeed, not sick before telling Soi to just get some rest. She'd have told the poor young woman her verdict, but, she felt Soi needed to work it out for herself. Or, she'd probably eventually give in and ask some of the other female friends she'd made.
Soi went about her regular duties, spending a majority of her time trying to shove the idea of Juushiro (when did she even start referring to him like that?) to the back of her mind.
For the next month, where she was, so was he. Always watching her.
oOoOo—RN—oOoOo
My last night here for you
Same old songs, just once more
My last night here with you?
Maybe yes, maybe no
I kind of liked it your way
How you shyly placed your eyes on me
Did you ever know?
That I had mine on you
About a month later Soi thought she'd overcome her unusual problem with Juushiro constantly being on her mind. Until he didn't show up at the club she and her friends frequented.
She sat at the usual table with the usual gang, unable to concentrate on the slightest bit of the conversation because she was worried about Juushiro. Where was he? Had he fallen ill? He made it to the meeting earlier in the day, but maybe he'd become too sick to accompany Kyouraku out? Or was he out with another woman somewhere? Soi quickly forced herself to shove the jealousy accompanying that thought aside.
Matsumoto and Isane noticed the worried look on Soi's face, and turned concerned faces to the other woman.
"Soi Fong-san? Is something wrong?" Isane asked. She, for one, enjoyed the casual setting and company of the other woman. Who would have guessed previously that Soi was such a friendly person beneath it all? Well, perhaps friendly was too loose a term, but, definitely much kinder once you got to know her.
Soi looked confusedly to Isane, trying to register what the other woman had asked. "Hmm? Oh, no, nothing's wrong." She finally managed a weak reply.
"She's worried about Ukitake-san," Soi heard Matsumoto whisper to Isane. Isane's face lit with realization.
"I am not," Soi defended sharply, a blush uncontrollably creeping onto her cheeks and ears.
"Of course not," Matsumoto responded with a disbelieving tone.
Soi stood abruptly and stalked off to the bar. Yes, she was curious as to why he hadn't shown, as had become his custom. But, she wasn't worried. Right? She wondered if her zanpakuto would have any consolation to offer, but Suzubimaki wasn't exactly one for unnecessary chatter. Soi sighed to herself and ordered another drink, still inattentive to the immediate surroundings.
Some minutes later Soi finally made it back to the table, and resumed her seat. Where she had previously been seated beside Isane, now Yumichika sat, with Isane one seat down. Yumichika was chattering on about some new hair product, and how it would make Isane's hair shine brighter than it already did, so Soi found it easy enough to focus her thoughts elsewhere.
Who did a woman go about speaking with on matters of the… heart? She felt incredibly silly even imagining speaking with Isane, or even Matsumoto. Maybe she could schedule a counseling appointment with Unohana? But, how many people were bound to be desperate enough to do something like that? Unohana would just worry for her sanity, thinking she had nothing of a friend anywhere.
After much deliberation, and trying to decide if she should contact Yoruichi for something like this, or if the other woman would just laugh her ass off, Soi decided just to brave it with Isane. At least Isane was with the Fourth Division, and maybe she wouldn't go spilling Soi's worries all over Seireitei.
Not that she had much to worry with Matsumoto anymore. Since Hitsugaya had become a regular at the bar with them (she never would figure out how Matsumoto convinced him to do that) Matsumoto was pretty well behaved. In the sense that she wasn't such a gossiper anymore, at least with Hitsugaya around.
But, Isane it was. What if she was getting sick mentally? Perhaps Isane could tell her.
When the small group went their separate ways that evening, Soi pulled a tipsy Isane away from Yumichika, and scheduled for the healer to drop by her office the next day. She watched the two walk off together, wondering if what they had was contagious, and if it really did make one stupid. If so, she didn't want any of it.
So, when Soi woke the next morning with worry still sitting in the pit of her stomach and a crick in her neck, she simply knew it would be a bad day. And when Isane was an hour late for their appointment, because she'd been 'visiting' with Yumichika, Soi's suspicions of a bad day were confirmed.
"I am so sorry, Soi Fong taicho," Isane began as soon as she arrived. "I was visiting with Yumichika-san and I lost track of the time. The eleventh division barracks don't have any clocks, ma'am."
"It's fine," Soi quickly dismissed the tardy and bid Isane to have a seat.
"Soi Fong taicho, how can I help you?" Isane asked after a beat of silence.
Soi nervously began speaking about her symptoms, hoping Isane could help identify them. She told the healer of her inability to sleep some nights, with Juushiro heavy on her mind, the trouble she had concentrating whenever she was in a meeting and he had to miss, or, when she was in a meeting and he was there. Soi finally managed to spill about her troubles at the bar the previous night.
"Can you tell me what his birthday is?" Isane asked, voice that of her usual, professional self.
"December 21," Soi replied, not even thinking. She looked surprised at herself. How did she know that? Sure, she had access to all of the information files for all of the Gotei 13 members, but that didn't seem something she'd commit to memory.
"And how do you know this?" Isane questioned Soi again.
"Last week, when we were leaving First Division meeting hall, he walked with me to the gates of my division. Why?" Soi was incredibly confused. She just knew she was sick. Something she happened to catch had made her mind ill.
"Erm, well… Soi Fong taicho, I'd suggest you speak with Matsumoto fukutaicho. She's very helpful with this. In fact, I think she's helped just about all of the members of the SWA, including Unohana taicho. Perhaps I can schedule you an appointment with her?" Isane desperately wanted to help Soi, but Matsumoto was the resident expert in affairs of the heart.
Soi Fong was confused tenfold. "Why would I want to see her? Am I not sick?" Soi asked.
Isane smiled kindly and shook her head lightly. "Some might refer to it as sick, but it certainly isn't a mental instability. It sounds more to me like lovesickness."
Soi scoffed. Isane recognized the signs of denial, still smiling softly. "Love is for fools," Soi muttered. Isane simply shrugged.
"I believe it all depends on whom you ask. But, if that is everything you require of me, I ask to take my leave," Isane bid Soi goodbye, still smiling. "Though, I do recommend you speak with Matsumoto-san."
Another week passed with no Juushiro. There had (amazingly) been no meetings called, so Soi could not know if he was sick or out on a mission, or anything else he might be occupied with. She comforted herself with the thought that at least if he'd died, everyone would know about it.
Finally, the next Friday afternoon, Soi hunted down Matsumoto. Hitsugaya looked worried when the Second Division taicho stepped into his office, and twice so when she requested an audience with his fukutaicho.
Hitsugaya directed Soi to have a seat on the sofa while he sent for Matsumoto. Matsumoto was out buying new brushes and ink, and should be back soon, but Hitsugaya and Soi both knew of the buxom vice's reputation with such tasks.
Luckily for Soi's nerves she was only forced to wait on Matsumoto for a few short minutes. In the meantime Hitsugaya kept trying to decipher Soi's cryptic reasons for seeking Matsumoto out, and trying to apologize if she had done something… unintelligent again. He knew Matsumoto knew better, but he still felt terrible about the karaoke thing.
When Matsumoto returned, Soi requested her presence in the Second Division office, as she wanted a private audience. She felt incredibly silly and immature for even thinking she needed help, but, if Isane said Matsumoto was the woman for the job, Isane must have been right. At least Soi hoped the healer hadn't lied.
When the two women were safely behind closed doors, Soi finally let Matsumoto in on the big secret. Matsumoto's grin grew wider and wider as Soi recounted her 'problems' the same way she'd told Isane.
Matsumoto looked contemplative momentarily before asking, "I forget. What color are Ukitake-san's eyes? I was discussing it with Rukia-chan, and we couldn't remember."
"They're brown. Why?" Soi answered, not thinking of the fact that she even responded to Matsumoto's query.
Matsumoto grinned the widest Soi had seen yet. "I knew it. You're in love," Matsumoto sang the last word, looking excited and ready to cheer for Soi. In lieu of cheering, Matsumoto stood and grabbed the smaller woman in a bone-crushing hug. "You need to go visit him. He's been ill. I don't think it's been too bad, but he hasn't felt like leaving his rooms. I'm sure he'd like some company from the woman he's been watching for over a month now."
Matsumoto gave her command to a stunned Soi and traipsed out the door, muttering something about paperwork. Soi ignored her, trying to gather her own thoughts instead.
So, why would something like this suddenly happen to her? What had she done to inflict this ailment upon herself? Hearts were fickle, useless things after all. Her heart, which she'd sworn only to dedicating her life to the service of Yoruichi had betrayed her. It broke her promise to herself to never let another person affect her in such a way that it made rationality look stupid. She was a logical person, and love and logic did not belong together.
Soi wasn't sure who was more surprised she showed, herself or Kiyone. When Soi marched up to the doors of the Thirteenth Division, repeatedly telling herself she was simply here to inquire to his health, because she was worried about her fellow commanding officers (which she knew was a lie, but, she refused to believe the truth), Kiyone and Sentarou actually ceased fighting and directed her to Juushiro's quarter's.
Unlike the mazes that made up the Twelfth and Second Divisions, the Thirteenth was quite easy to navigate. Soi found Juushiro's door quickly enough, taking a moment to admire his pond and gather her courage to knock on the door. He must have sensed her, for Juushiro opened the door as Soi was still standing, staring at a lily pad.
"Er, Soi Fong-san, how can I help you today? You'll have to pardon my appearance, I've only just awoken from my nap," Juushiro greeted politely, and extended an invitation inside. Soi nervously stepped around him.
The room was relatively small, nothing like her own quarters. She could see doors leading to a small bathroom, kitchen, and what she presumed was the bedroom. Juushiro bade her take a seat on a tiny sofa as he shuffled off to gather a teapot and cups. The tea was nice, but Soi wished she had a few shots of sake in her to help the abnormal nerves.
"It's a pleasant turn of events to be surprised with such a visitor. Most often it is only Kiyone and Sentarou for company, and their quarreling makes one weary after too long," Juushiro tried to make conversation, sensing Soi was uncomfortable with the situation.
"Oh, I suppose," was all the response Soi offered. Juushiro cast about his mind for a topic, nothing really seeming to appeal to him. There wasn't much by way of meetings or work to discuss, and he felt he should be opening a conversation with something more than the weather. How many years had they known one another, after all?
"I just decided to come by… because…" Soi stopped mid-sentence. Why had she stopped by? To ask of his condition, yes, but, that was not in her character to do. She wasn't going to confess her undying love, was she? Of course not. She wasn't in love with him. Even if both Isane and Matsumoto declared she was. But, was she ready to admit that she noticed he hadn't been at the bar lately?
oOoOo—RN—oOoOo
A/N: So, I was just looking, and I totally screwed up the character list on the last chapter. Oops. I'll get it fixed. In the meantime, please ignore it. 8-)