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After a breif delay in which this chapter was taken hostage and hused as leverage to get CaptainYoruichi to finally finish up her seminal Forced Perspective, here is Chapter 6.
Not much else to say. Go read Forced Perspective!
Kyoraku's eyes opened almost as suddenly as the perpetually unsecured backdoor to his villa. Not that opening his eyes helped matters much, since the only light in the room came from the now opened door.
"Kyooooooraaaaaakuuuuuu?" The slurred cooing of a woman's voice wafted through the silence, followed by the sound of the crinkling of papers and rattling of cups as the woman's feet kicked away the debris in her path. "Kyooooooraaaaaakuuuuuu?" The woman called out again.
This hardly being the first time something like this had happened to him, Kyoraku fumbled around in the dark for a few seconds until he found the switch to the lamp near his bed. The intruder was staggered by the sudden flood of light, though Kyoraku would have been too, had he been standing.
It was Yoruichi staggering towards him. Her orange jacket was open and stained and in her right hand was a bottle. Most surprising, however, were her eyes. They were puffy and bloodshot, like she had been crying and around her left was a dark ring of bruises.
"Yoruichi?" Kyoraku mumbled groggily, not thoroughly convinced yet that he was actually awake.
"Mmmmmm," was Yoruichi reply. Now that she was closer, he could see that her skin was flush. "Toonite isa very speshal nite," Yoruichi was standing on Kyoraku's bed now, a foot on either side of him. She took a swig out of whatever was in the bottle. ""Because toonite," Her legs gave out and she fell onto Kyoraku's stomach, knocking the wind out of the man and finally convincing him that he was awake. "I'm all yours." Yoruichi lowered her face closer to his, but violently jerked it away when she felt the bristle of his beard.
"Yoruichi," Kyoraku sighed, not even trying to hide his disappointment. The smell of her breath absolved what little mystery there was as to the contents of the bottle. "You're drunk." He uttered the phrase every person dealing with an inebriated individual was obligated to say at least once.
"I thought that's how you liked your girls," The words practically fell out of Yoruichi's mouth.
"Yeah," he nodded, "But I also like my girls to not be into other girls." He picked her up and slid out from under her. "I like the pretend lesbians that are only doing it for attention, not the real kind."
"Just fucking shove it in me!" Yoruichi screamed almost rabidly, grabbing onto Kyoraku before he could but a safe distance between them. "Make me not want her anymore!" On the last word, she broke out in a wailing sob, relaxing her grip enough for Kyoraku to break free.
Kyoraku watched in utter bewilderment as Yoruichi curled into a tight ball on his bed, crying like he couldn't honestly remember seeing a woman cry before
Wanting to remedy the situation before someone heard a woman sobbing in his room and assumed the worst, Kyoraku went to his desk and started searching in the pockets of his haori, which was just thrown on top of a pile of neglected papers. After a few seconds of rummaging, he produced a small pouch. Loosening the draw string, he produced a small pill and took it over to Yoruichi.
"Up we go," Kyoraku grabbed Yoruichi by her shoulders. The tears had started to subside but she was still shaking and appeared to be on the brink of hyperventilating. "This," Kyoraku held the pill up for Yoruichi to see, "will sober you right up. Put it in your check and close your teeth." He instructed and handed the pill to her. She hesitantly took it, placed it in her check, and closed her mouth.
How loud the pop that accompanied Kyoraku's palm against Yoruichi's cheek was almost as surprising as the force of the hand. The pill in her mouth broke against her teeth, and Yoruichi could feel a fizzing in her mouth, a fizzing that spread down her throat and through her whole body, neutralizing the alcohol.
The effects were almost instantiations. The alcoholic flush drained from her cheeks as her eyes refocused and her head stopped bobbing and rolling.
"Couldn't you have just told me to bite it?" Yoruichi finally asked after some two full minutes.
"You looked like you needed that," Kyoraku replied as he pulled out the chair behind his desk and pushed some papers off of it so he could take a seat.
"Yes, my face needed some more abuse." She rubbed her cheek tenderly.
"Yeah, that's a mighty fine shiner you've got there," Kyoraku grabbed a cup and bottle and poured himself a drink. "Mind explaining how you got it?"
"I'd…rather…" Yoruichi turned away from Kyoraku's gaze. Her cheeks reddened.
"Five minutes ago, you stumbled in here drunk and begging me to 'shove it in you' and then you started crying. We're well past that, Yoruichi." Kyoraku chastised before emptying his cup.
"Well…" Yoruichi hesitated for a moment. "It's Sui." Kyoraku's piercing gaze and her compromised position broke her resolve.
"Woo boy," Kyoraku breathed. "Lay it on me." He refilled his cup.
"I…made a move and she clocked me." Yoruichi gave him the abridged version, leaving out the more embarrassing things on her part and Rei all together. She was sure telling people about the intimate details of Sui-Feng's personal life wouldn't help the situation. And on top of that, she was relatively certain Rei was breaking some type of rule, and Yoruichi didn't feel that Rei deserved the punishment that would accompany being found out.
"What!" Kyoraku burst out laughing, nearly choking on his sake. Under any other circumstances, the look Yoruichi gave him would have chilled him to the bone, but now it only served to make him laugh even harder. "Don't give me that look, there's a lot to laugh at here."
"Really, like what?" Yoruichi's voice was an unamused monotone.
"Well, for starters, Sui-Feng gave you a black-eye for making a pass at her." Kyoraku put his drink down before he ended up choking to death on it. "That's just crazy talk!" Kyoraku erupted in another fit of laughter.
Yoruichi's expression softened as she let out a small chuckle herself. She wondered how Sui-Feng would react if she had heard that.
"Secondly," He collected himself and continued. "You made a move? You just made a move on her? There were rumors about you two a century ago and you're telling me that you just tried something a few hours ago?" He sounded less bemused and more amazed at this. Yoruichi could only sigh and hang her head in shame.
"So what should I do?" Yoruichi asked after a few moments.
"Well, if I were you," Kyoraku took a drink. "I would go and get some sleep, because waking someone who just punched you up in the middle of the night is generally a bad thing, clean up, go find Sui-Feng, take my lumps, because honestly, you deserve them, and get things sorted out."
"I…don't think it's going to be that easy," She replied hesitantly.
"Not if you wait another hundred years," Kyoraku scolded. "Oh, and no more drinking." He leaned forward and snatched the bottle in her hand away from her. "I know they call it liquid courage, but I think its best that you go at this one sober."
"Yeah," Yoruichi sighed and picked herself up. "Thanks for not taking of the advantage of…the situation."
"There's a fine line between playboy and rapist." Kyoraku replied. "I do my best not to cross it. And no offense, but I doubt it would have been worth the morning after." Yoruichi let out a small chuckle.
"Well, wish me luck," Yoruichi straightened her posture. "I'm going to need as much as I can get."
"Ah, you'll be fine." Kyoraku waved. Yoruichi only laughed wryly and left.
"Those two make the cutest train wreck." He held the bottle that he took from Yoruichi up to his ear and shook it. There was still some in it. Shrugging, Kyoraku took a swig.
What woke Rei up wasn't the sunlight streaming through the windows, because there were none, but the knot in her neck that came from her having passed the night on what was most certainly not a pillow.
Rei never found Sui-Feng to be an exceptionally warm lover. She wasn't selfish, but when it came to the softer aspects of love making, Rei always found her less than receptive.
Which was why last night was so surprising. Sui-Feng had been extraordinarily affectionate, albeit in her own way. Not only had she been the one to initiate the intimacy, but when Rei drew close to her afterwards, Sui-Feng didn't pull away like she normally did. Rei was so caught up in enjoying the closeness that she had drifted off with her head resting on Sui-Feng's shoulder.
"Oops!" Immediately shoot up with a small squeak, quickly clasping her hands over her mouth upon realizing that Sui-Feng's eyes were still closed, as if it would stifle the noise. But it was too late. Sui-Feng let out a groggy moan as her head jerked to the side, as if slapped by the noise.
"I'm sorry!" Rei apologized through her clasped hands. Sui-Feng didn't reply, but turned to the nearby clock. She cursed under her breath as she read the time.
Sui-Feng maintained her sleeping patternsso meticulously that she didn't need an alarm clock. However, this also meant that there was no safety net for when that pattern was interpreted, just as it was last night.
It took some time for the gravity of what transpired between her and Yoruichi earlier to sink past the indignant fury. And even the night's activities with Rei weren't enough to calm her mind and nerves enough for her to get some sleep. So she had passed most of the night staring at the ceiling, thinking over what had happened.
The first thought that plagued Sui-Feng was that Yoruichi had kissed her, a woman. Fondled her, even. Sui-Feng couldn't recall seeing or hearing anything that gave even the slightest indication that Yoruichi had any inclination for women, but it made some sense that she hadn't. For the majority of the time Sui-Feng knew her, Yoruichi's surname carried a significant amount of weight Sui-Feng sympathized with the need to keep things like that a secret, being in a similar situation herself.
The second, more confounding thought was the fact that Yoruichi had kissed and groped her. Sui-Feng couldn't deny that there had always been some vague flirtation in the way Yoruichi acted towards her, but that was hardly anything noteworthy. Yoruichi was a notorious flirt. And when Sui-Feng did confess her feeling for Yoruichi to her, she had been all but rejected.
There were so many questions. Why her, why now? Nothing made sense, and it was driving Sui-Feng insane.
Sighing tiredly, Sui-Feng sat up slowly, grimacing in pain as she put weight on her arm to support herself.
"I kind of slept on it." Rei said sheepishly. "I'm sorry."
"Its fine," Sui-Feng replied, rolling her shoulder to stretch it out. "I'm going to get clean-up." She slid out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Dreamily, Rei fell back onto the bed, enjoying the warmth. It was times like these that Rei liked to pretend that Sui-Feng hadn't lost her arm fighting beings that she couldn't have even survived the presence of, let alone combat.
Sui-Feng always took depressingly short showers to Rei, so it wasn't long before she re-emerged from the bathroom. Rei did her best to try to be discrete as she watched her get dressed.
"Do you want me to make you something?" Rei asked as Sui-Feng tied the sash around her waist. Quite a feat to watch her do one-handed.
"There's no time." Sui-Feng replied, shaking her head.
"Oh," Rei slouched, a little disappointed.
"I have to go." Sui-Feng tied Suzumebachi to the small of her back and headed for the door. To Rei's surprise, Sui-Feng paused for a moment in the door frame. She looked back, seemingly to say something, but only for a brief moment before she turn back and left.
It really disappointed Yoruichi that staring at something for long enough didn't allow you to exert control over it. Then again, it was probably best that people couldn't do that, because if that were possible, the shoji to Sui-Feng's office would have already burst into flames ten times over by now.
Yoruichi spent the better part of the last hour staring at that shoji. She could feel Sui-Feng on the other side, likely filling out some paperwork. That's what she normally did after lunch. She wondered if Sui-Feng could sense her. She wasn't making a consorted effort to conceal her presence, but then Seireitei was a busy place and it was easy to miss someone if you weren't looking for them. And she was almost positive Sui-Feng wasn't looking for her.
Okay, you can do this, Yoruichi mentally psyched herself up for the twentieth time. You've done worse things than tell someone that you have feelings for them.
Clenching her fists, Yoruichi finally took the first step. Her foot felt like it was made of lead. And so did the other. Each step took so much effort that it would likely look hilarious for anyone watching.
It took four agonizing steps, but Yoruichi finally made it across the short walkway and up to the door. Her arm felt just as heavy when she lifted it to open the shoji. She was ashamed to find that her hand shaking.
As soon as she placed her palm on the wooden frame, Yoruichi felt a tight knot in her stomach; a violent twisting that sent her doubling over, clenching her stomach and clasping her mouth. Quickly, she bolted around the corner and into a small alcove between some buildings and vomited; mostly bile and sake, since she hadn't gotten around to eating yet today.
I really am pathetic, Yoruichi thought, wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her jacket while she caught her breath. Then she remembered that someone from the Fourth would likely be dispatched to clean that up, and that someone might potentially be Rei. Yoruichi wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.
Stowing her soiled jacket in a nearby crate, Yoruichi marched back to Sui-Feng's office. Again, her hand hesitated. Again, she felt that knot, but she was able to ignore it this time. Gritting her teeth, she slid the shoji open and stepped inside.
As painful as everything before was, it paled in comparison to now. Sui-Feng was in fact sitting behind her desk with several papers in front of her. However, her full, withering attention was focused intensely on Yoruichi.
It didn't last long, though. As intense as the anger on Sui-Feng's face was, it left just as quickly, replaced by a startling impassiveness.
"What do you want?" Sui-Feng lowered her gaze back to the forms in front of her. The apathy in her voice stung Yoruichi harder than all the rage in the world. She saw the black ring around her eye but choose not to say anything about it, mostly because she didn't know how she felt about it. Part of her was ashamed of herself for marring that beautiful face, but the rest was equally proud that she had been able to leave a mark.
"Hey Sui," Yoruichi did her very best to sound like her typical nonchalant self, but her nervousness and apprehension was clear in her voice. It was a strange thing for both women to hear. "I…I came here to say I'm sorry." She took a few hesitant steps until she was standing directly in front of Sui-Feng's desk.
"Fine, apology accepted." Sui-Feng didn't look up from the requisition form.
"That's…it?" Yoruichi blinked.
"We both know that you would have kept badgering me until I forgave you." Sui-Feng moved the form to the pile of other completed forms. "This saves us precious time."
"I'm serious, Sui." Yoruichi's voice regained some of its confidence. "I came to tell say I'm sorry for…well…everything."
"You're sorry?" Sui-Feng finally looked at Yoruichi, meeting her eyes. "You're sorry?" She let out a vicious laugh that made Yoruichi cringe. "Is that really all that you have to say for yourself?" She asked incuriously. Yoruichi could only shift uncomfortably. "I tell you that I love you and…"
"Dammit Sui!" Yoruichi's fist came down so suddenly and with such force that everything unsecured, including Sui-Feng, jumped. "Why did you have to go and say it?" She was leaning on the desk now with both hands on its surface, so that her head was at the same level as Sui-Feng's. "Of course I know you love me. Everyone knows! You're not exactly subtle about it!"
"So…you really knew…" Sui-Feng mumbled. There had been part of her that always entertained the notion that she had overacted to a slip of the tongue. That perhaps Yoruichi simply hadn't known what to say and had fallen back to teasing her because that's what Yoruichi always did and Sui-Feng simply hadn't gotten the joke at the time. "What type of person does that?" The anger returned in full force. "Strings along someone they know has feelings for them like its nothing?"
"The kind of person who's scared, okay?" Yoruichi's indignant fury of a few moments ago melted away almost instantaneously. "The kind of person who's never done something like this before, and doesn't know how!"
Sui-Feng had never seen Yoruichi like she was now before. Her hands retreated for the desk, revealing bruises in the lacquer where her fist had come down, and she had crossed her arms under her chest as if she were hugging herself. Her normally square shoulders were hunched and her face was turned away from Sui-Feng and towards the ground. For once in her life, Yoruichi looked vulnerable, and that was mildly terrifying to Sui-Feng.
"What are you saying?" Sui-Feng almost whispered.
"When you said…that, I was angry at you," Yoruichi replied. "Angry and jealous. Because it's something I've wanted to say for a while, but I've never been able to bring myself to." Yoruichi was too busy staring at the floor to see how wide Sui-Feng's eyes were now. "Really, I didn't think it needed to be said. I always thought we would just…happen eventually, you know?" She finally looked up for confirmation, but all she got was frozen astonishment.
"What are you saying?" Sui-Feng asked again, this time louder and more deliberately.
"I'm saying that I," Yoruichi hesitated. "I…love you." Saying that phrase was not a liberating experience like the movies made it out to be. Her whole body felt like a raw nerve waiting to be pinched.
It took all of Sui-Feng's self control not to laugh. The one time in her life she thought she had actually taken positive steps in her life had to have been now. The irony was almost too good to let it go to waste.
Instead, Sui-Feng didn't say anything. Her only response was to slump in her chair. Neither of them spoke.
"So, what are we going to do?" Yoruichi finally asked. This was not the reaction she had expected.
"What makes you think there's anything that needs to be done?" Sui-Feng replied. "I'm with Rei now." Yoruichi couldn't help but hear the lightest shade of bitterness in her words. Or maybe she just wanted to hear that.
"You wouldn't have punched me if it were that simple," Yoruichi retorted. She was right, and it made Sui-Feng angry. She should be over her. Twice now, Yoruichi had broken her heart, and yet still, she felt the same.
"Look, Sui," Yoruichi's voice almost sounded pleading. "I know things haven't been exactly great between us for a long time now, but you've got to believe me when I tell you that it wasn't my fault. Aizen's done and I'm not a fugitive anymore. We can go back to the way things were before."
"What, with me as your eager lapdog?" This time, the bitterness in Sui-Feng's voice was obvious.
"That's not what I meant!" Yoruichi tried to repair the damage.
"Then what did you mean?" Sui-Feng locked her eyes fiercely with Yoruichi's.
"I…" Yoruichi's shoulders slumped as she gave up her response. No matter how hard she tried, it seemed that everything that she said only made the situation exponentially worse each time.
"Please, just go." Sui-Feng voice sounded weak as she cradled her head in her hand. She never wanted to see Yoruichi again. She never wanted her to leave.
Yoruichi acquiesced, slowly taking steps towards the door.
The silence made Sui-Feng's frustrated scream seem louder than it actually was as she brought her own fist down on her desk, the low thud of Yoruichi's replaced by the sound of splintering wood.