Chapter 14 is done! I know it took a really long time but with school and work i could never find the time. Well anyway, read and review as usual.
Chapter 14: Sweet memories
"What the hell do you want from me?" Soi asked annoyed while closely watching the arrancar's movements. He was quite tall and muscular with bright green eyes and purple long hair. His head was partially covered by a white spikey helm.
"Don't act so innocent shinigami!" Navarro cried out. "You and your pathetic friends are responsible for the death of my brothers!"
"Well, killing hollows is what we shinigami do." Soi smirked while reaching for her zanpaktoh. "Sting to death, Suzumebachi!" Soi quickly released her sword and dashed at the arrancar who smoothly dodged the attack.
"If you don't mind, I like to end this quickly. I still got other asses to kick." Soi said in a cold voice. The arrancar just grinned and drew his own sword. The two clashed several times without one being more in the advantage. After about 50 bouts they paused and the arrancar started laughing.
"You're pretty pathetic shinigami. Your attacks are as dangerous as a mosquito bite."
"Maybe so, but they still hit, and that's what matters." Soi smiled while pointing to the arrancar's chest.
"Wh-what's this?" Navarro stammered confused when he saw the black butterfly mark on his chest.
"That's my zanpaktoh's special ability." Soi grinned confidently. "One more hit on that exact same place and you're dead. You might as well give up now."
The arrancar bursted out in laughter, which angered Soi Fong. "What's so funny asshole?"
"Oh... it's just... I do love people who arrogantly explain their so-called superior abilities and presume that they are flawless." Navarro chuckled while wiping some tears from his eyes. "Unfortunately, your ability won't work on me again. Defend, El Erizo!" (AN: erizo is Spanish for hedgehog) Soi's eyes widened as thick white spikes started covering the arrancar's entire body.
"Do you like my new coat shinigami?" Navarro grinned. "There's no way you'll be able to scratch my beautiful skin again. And this coat can do more than just defending."
Before Soi could respond Navarro had curled up into a spikey ball and charged at her. She quickly dodged the attack and tried to stab him. Her attack had no effect whatsoever on the thick armour.
"I told you it wouldn't work shinigami!" Navarro yelled triumphantly as he came charging at her again. Soi dodged it again but suddenly felt a stinging pain in her waist. When she touched her waist her hand was covered in her own warm blood.
"You are being too relaxed woman!" Navarro laughed mockingly. "The first time I attacked my spikes were at their shortest. However, I can change their length anytime I want. If you had paid more attention you should've seen that they were longer than before."
"Dammit..." Soi cursed as she tried to keep the blood from gushing out of her wound. She tore a long strip from her white captain's coat and bandaged her wound.
"Hmpf, a useless effort. When I'm done with you, you'll have more holes than Swiss cheese." Navarro smirked.
"Aren't you being a bit too confident?" Soi smiled calmly. "First you give me a lecture about overconfidence and now you act like you already won."
Her calm, belittling tone infuriated Navarro and he charged at her, his deadly spikes ready for the kill. "Hah, talk all you want woman, but this is the end for you!!"
Soi Fong's smile disappeared and she dashed straight at Navarro. Suzumebachi started to glow brightly and the two opponents clashed, creating a huge explosion in the air. When the smoke had cleared, Soi was pierced by several white spikes in her shoulders and chest. She coughed up some blood and looked at Navarro. His eyes had turned white and a small stream of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
"Never... underestimate... the strength of a captain of the Gotei 13." she stammered as she pulled back Suzumebachi from the gaping hole in the white spikey armour. She had managed to break though the sturdy defense and hit the butterfly mark, sealing the arrancar's fate. Navarro let out one last shriek before crumbling to dust.Soi sheathed her sword and took some time to catch her breath. Her wounds had stopped bleeding but it still hurt a lot.
"Well... at least the arrancar are all dead now..." Soi sighed a little annoyed. Even though she had won, she was irritated by the fact she had so much trouble with the arrancar.
"Now to return to the matter at hand: killing that disobedient worm..." Soi continued her way, ignoring the pain from all her wounds. Her mind was only fixated on one thing: Yugo.
It took Soi Fong quite some time to locate her missing subordinate. Her wound has stopped bleeding but still prevented her from moving swiftly. When she finally spotted him, he was floating before a window of an apartment. The window was open and Soi faintly heard some music playing. She watched him for a moment, trying to figure what he was doing. He seemed to be listening to the music that came from the apartment.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Soi yelled to her subordinate. Yugo turned around and startled.
"Taichou...wh-what are you doing here?"
I was just about to ask you the same thing." Soi replied in a cold voice. She floated down next to him and looked through the window. Inside, a young girl with long brown hair was playing the piano. She played beautifully and Soi forgot her anger for a moment and listened to the soothing tune.
"It's good isn't it?" Yugo said softly when he saw that his captain was entranced by the girl's music. Soi nodded and kept listening. When the girl finally stopped Soi turned her full attention back to Yugo.
"Alright, start explaining what this is all about." she started when suddenly a stinging pain shot through her body.
"Taichou you're hurt!" Yugo gasped while coming to his captain's aid. He carried her and flew down to the street. He helped her to a bench where she sat down. When she had somewhat recovered she turned to Yugo again. " I'm fine now.Thanks."
"What happened to you?" Yugo asked worried.
"I ran into the last of the arrancar on the way here." she replied casually,trying to hide her pain. "But he's dead now."
"So that means they are all gone... well done taichou!" Yugo sighed relieved.
"Don't think that your flattery will help you one bit." Soi replied annoyed. "You've still got a lot of explaining to do."
"I will taichou but first we have to get you back to the shop. You can't run around with those wounds forever." Yugo said while helping her on her feet.
"I can manage alone." Soi grunted, pushing away Yugo. Unfortunately gravity seemed to disagree with her and Yugo was just in time to catch her when she fell to the ground. Soi reluctantly wrapped one arm around Yugo's neck.
"Fine, you can help me to the shop." Soi mumbled embarrassed. "But I don't want Yoruichi-san to see me being carried like a little baby, understood?"
"I understand taichou." Yugo smiled. "We'll stop when we're almost at the shop and you can walk on your own from there."
Soi just nodded and the two left for the shop. As Yugo didn't dare to use shunpo, it took quite a while before they reached their destination. Luckily Soi Fong had somewhat recovered by the time they arrived so she could enter the shop by herself. They were greeted by Tessai who immediately started tending to Soi Fong's wounds.
"Thank the heavens that you two are alright." Tessai said relieved. "When we felt that strange reiatsu Urahara-dono and Yoruichi-san went out to investigate. You must have just missed them."
"There won't be anything left to investigate, I already killed that last arrancar." Soi replied.
As expected from a distinguished captain like yourself Soi Fong-dono!" Tessai praised her. "Yoruichi will be proud of her pupil."
"Are you done?" Soi asked, slightly blushing.
"Yes, you should be okay as long as you don't move around too much." Tessai replied while making a solemn bow.
"Good. Now would you call Yugo for me please? I have something to discuss with him."
"Very well." As soon as Tessai had left room, Soi Fong tried to sit up straight. After the third attempt she finally managed to get up. At the same time Yugo entered the room.
"Are you feeling better taichou?" he asked with a worried look in his eyes.Soi Fong sat down on the edge on the bed.
"I'm fine. Take a seat Yugo." Yugo hesitated before he took a chair and sat down. He knew what this was going to be about and he felt a bit uneasy. Soi Fong observed him for a while as he shifted nervously on the chair.
"I'm going to ask you some questions Yugo and I want full answers. If I find out that you are lying, I'll personally send you to Hueco Mundo.Understood?" Soi kept her piercing eyes fixated on her unfortunate subordinate as he nodded.
"Good, let's begin shall we? Who was that girl?"
Yugo sighed and lowered his head. "She's my sister. Her name is Kaoru."
"Your sister huh? Didn't you know that shinigami can't have contact with living people, even their relatives?" Soi said in a stern voice. "You can be severely punished for that."
"I don't care!" Yugo replied louder than he had planned. He knew that his captain was still watching him and didn't dare to look her in the face. Soi Fong mumbled something incomprehensible and shook her head.
"Why did you want to see her?" She asked.
"Because I promised." Yugo answered bluntly.
"And why did you make that promise?" Soi asked impatiently.
"I don't want to bother with my boring childhood memories taichou. Can't we just go back to Soul Society so that I can be punished and everyone can get on with their lives?" Yugo got of his chair and was about to leave the room when Soi Fong jumped up and grabbed him by the arm. She dragged him back to the chair and ordered him to sit down.
"You are going to tell me everything even if I have to beat it out of you." Soi said firmly as she sat back down on the edge of the bed. She touched her wounds for a moment and bit her lip. She still couldn't move properly. If Yugo had resisted he could've just run away.
"Are you okay taichou?"
"I would be if you stop acting like an idiot and start talking." Soi Fong replied slightly annoyed.
"Fine." Yugo sighed. "It all happened when I was still alive. I lived here in Karakura Town with my parents and sister. We weren't a wealthy family but managed to survive. Mom and dad always had to work late so me and my sister had to take care of ourselves. Kaoru was always going on about how much she liked music. She made her own songs. She even made some about me. She liked to tease me by singing them out loud when we went to the supermarket or at school. But most of all she wanted a piano of her own. Unfortunately our parents couldn't afford one so I decided to get one on my own. I got a job after school and saved every penny I earned. It took me quite a while but finally I managed to buy a second-hand piano. It wasn't very beautiful and sounded somewhat false but Kaoru was absolutely delighted. She practiced every evening while I was listening. One evening she said to me that if she could play well enough , she would make a song for me and that she wanted me to be the first to hear it."
Yugo paused for a moment and cleared his throat. Tears were welling up in his eyes but he forcefully held them back. Soi Fong noticed his sadness and wanted to say something, but didn't know what. After some time Yugo started talking again.
"Just at that happy I got seriously ill. I was rushed to hospital and the doctors told my parents I had a dangerous infection on my lungs. Even though my parents spend all their spare money on doctors and medication, my condition got worse. Kaoru often came to visit and she was pretty upset. I tried to cheer her up and said that I was going to be okay. I promised her that I would come home soon and that I would listen to her songs. One week later I died in the hospital."
Yugo took a deep breath and forced a smile. Tears were running down his cheeks and and dropped on the floor. "The whole time I was in Soul Society I thought about Kaoru and how I broke my promise to her. There were times that I wanted to kill myself if I hadn't already been dead. The only reason I became a shinigami was to get chance to go back to the real world and go listen to my sister's song. Thanks to you taichou, I finally got that chance. I don't care what happens to me after this. I'm just glad that I had the chance to listen to Kaoru's songs one last time."
"So you're giving up just like that huh?" Soi said calmly. "Some brother you are."
"What the hell do you know!" Yugo snapped back, infuriated by Soi fong's reply. "Are you saying that I was bad brother for Kaoru?"
"I wouldn't say bad, spineless and scared would be more appropriate." Soi replied casually. Yugo jumped up from his seat and punched Soi Fong in the face. When he realized what he had done he quickly got on his knees. "I-I'm sorry taichou, I-I didn't..."
"I'm glad you finally show some backbone." Soi smiled while rubbing her jaw. "Maybe there's hope for you yet."
"I-I don't understand taichou, what do you mean?" Yugo asked.
"I didn't mean to offend you Yugo." Soi said softly. "You have been a great brother to your sister. You're a kind and helping young man, maybe even too kind. Do you really think that Kaoru would be happy if she knew that you're just going to give up your life like that?"
"What life? In case you have forgotten, I already died." Yugo replied cynically.
"And what about your life as a shinigami?" Soi asked. "Are you just going to let all those years of training and hard work go to waste? You have a lot of potential Yugo, and I for one do not allow you to throw all that potential away."
"How do you mean?' Yugo asked confused.
"Normally I should punish you for your actions" Soi said while getting up "but considering the situation I'll let you go free. And if you chose to stay in my squad I'll promote you to third seat."
"And if I refuse?"
"I can't force you to stay so if you decide to leave you are free to do what you want" Soi sighed. Yugo pondered for a while before getting back up to his feet.
"Fine I'll stay, as 2nd squad's third seat."
Glad to have you on board." Soi Fong replied relieved.
"Oh and um.. sorry that I hit you taichou." Yugo apologized blushing.
"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll think of something to make you pay." Soi Fong smiled wickedly. "But for now I'm glad to have you back."
Alright thx for reading!
Plz stay tuned for the next and last chapter: A cause worth fighting for