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Sorry about the long wait, but I had classes to attend, and exams to take, and jobs to look for.
I also watch Revolutionary Girl Utena between my last update and this, which also contributed to the delay because after I finished that series, I spent about a few weeks wondering the streets in a daze yelling unintelligibly at passer-bys.
It's amazing how important location can be.
On the ground, sand was nothing more than finely ground stones, something that most people pay no attention to on normal days and a nuisance when the wind picks up.
But here, inside a wax tube filled with gunpowder, sand could mean the difference between life and limb. It was a lesson Kukaku Shiba had to learn the hard way.
The sand was packed into the tube in between the layers of explosives. The tightly packed and inert substances acted as a stabilizer that prevented misfires and explosions during storage and transportation, which was especially important once the explosives had been stored for some time and the contents had shifted.
Gently, Kukaku compacted the last layer of sand in the wax tube that would soon become a firework with her thumb, which was held upright by a small vice between her crossed legs. She fed a fuse into the powder and capped it. Slowly, she unscrewed the vice and removed the firework, which at the moment looked suspiciously like dynamite, and put it to the side. She would add the fins later.
Letting out a satisfied sigh, Kukaku wiped the perspiration from her forehead. Her dirty fingers left ashen streaks across her skin. She reached behind her and grabbed the bottle on the table. It was a brand of whisky that Ganju had brought back from the World of the Living. Much better than the stuff that you could get around here. Kukaku was beginning to regret her latest move. No one here seemed to know how to make a decent drink.
Once she finished her drink, she replaced the bottle with another wax tube, this one empty. Next to her was a stack of leather pouches, all filled with different mixtures of powder denoted by the drawstring. Without any particular process, Kukaku chose one and emptied it into the tube.
"…down the hall and to the left." She heard the distant voice of her brother direct. She was about to shout at him, to ask who was in her house, but the need quickly disappeared.
"Yoruichi!" Kukaku greeted boisterously as the woman rounded the corner into the room. "I was beginnin' to think ya would never find the place."
"I hadn't expected you to post up in this neck of the woods," Yoruichi replied, throwing herself down on a large cushion on the floor. Kukaku had chosen to move to one of the upper districts, much closer to the nearest populated area than she tended to be.
"I was gettin' sick of havin' to walk three fuckin' miles just to get somethin' to eat." Kukaku got up and walked over to an ice-chest along the wall. "These rich bitches will just have to learn how to deal with a little extra noise for a bit." She reached into the chest produced a brown bottle of beer and began the motion of throwing it to Yoruichi.
"No thanks!" Yoruichi waved her hand. "I've already met my alcohol quota for the decade."
"Fuckin' lightweight…" Kukaku mumbled and carelessly dropped the bottle back into the chest and closed it. "So what's goin' on with ya?" She grabbed her bottle and sat down across from Yoruichi, not bothering to grab a cushion for herself. "I'm guessin' I don't get to shoot a bunch of kids out of a canon again."
"Nope." Yoruichi propped herself up on her elbow so she wasn't staring at the ceiling while talking. "I just came by to-"
"Holy shit!" Kukaku gaped. "The fuck happened to your eye?"
"Why does everyone freak out when they see it?" Yoruichi sighed. "Sui punched me, okay? You can stop panicking now."
"She finally got sick of ya jerking her around and knocked ya around a bit?" Kukaku punched the air as she spoke.
"You too?" Yoruichi fell back on the cushion and clutched at her hair. "If I was so obvious about everything, then why didn't anyone say anything?"
"It's more fun just to watch ya fuck up," Kukaku replied, not missing a beat.
"You're a true friend." Yoruichi let out a wry chuckle. Kukaku took another long swig form her bottle before speaking again.
"So what's the deal, ya got a thing for stumps now?" Kukaku smirked.
"Excuse me?" Yoruichi cocked an eyebrow.
"I don't remember ya getting' so worked up over her back in the day." Kukaku replied. "Now that she's only got one arm suddenly she's worth crying over?" Yoruichi's face soured, but Kukaku continued. "Is that why ya came here? Lookin' for your consolation prize?" She wiggled what remained of her right arm. "Ya want me and Sui to run a stump train on ya?" That last statement was met with a deadly glare from Yoruichi and a surge of her reiatsu that made the blood in Kukaku's ear's pound.
"Alright, alright, sheesh," Kukaku relented, lifting the bottle to her mouth. "Fuckin' clam jouster can't take a fuckin' joke…" She mumbled, downing the sound in liquor. "What are ya planning to do now?"
"I don't know," Yoruichi sighed. "But I feel like I need to do something."She scrunched her nose as an errant strand of hair fell on it. This gave her an idea. "You still hair burning?"
"I haven't done one of those in a long-ass time," Kukaku replied.
Every noble house had its own specialty. The Shihoins were said to be able to craft treasures for the heavens while the Shiba clan were the masters of fire. They were so adept in its manipulation that not only were they ale to harness it for grand displays, but also use it in mundane chores, such as cutting hair.
"I'm sure it's like riding a bike." Yoruichi waved off the concern.
"Maybe," Kukaku shrugged. "But those are a helluva lot easier to ride when you've got two hands and are sober."
"I'm confident in your abilities." Yoruichi sat up and straightened her hair out.
"You're serious, aren't you?" Kukaku asked. Yoruichi nodded. "Fine, give me a minute." Kukaku sighed and left the room. A few moments later, she returned with an elaborately embroidered bag. She dropped the bag roughly on the ground. Bending down, she opened the bag and removed several large candles and some matches.
"Scented candles?" Yoruichi breathed in the aroma as Kukaku lit them. It smelled like vanilla. "Didn't think you were the type." She smirked slyly.
"Bitch, do you know how bad burning hair smells?" Kukaku shot back. She removed a bundle of longer sticks coated in a thin layer of wax and sat behind Yoruichi, who untied her pony tail, unleashing a torrent of purple locks. "Fuckin' hell," Kukaku breathed. "Ganju! Get in here! I need an extra set of hands!" While they waited for Ganju, Kukaku began running a comb through Yoruichi's hair, untangling a few knots. "So, how do ya want it?"
Rei couldn't help but wonder if she had something to do with the indifference the members of the Second were treating her with.
Normally, when someone from the Fourth was caught outside of the infirmary, and especially when they were caught alone, they were endlessly harassed and sometimes assaulted, just so the other divisions could prove their superiority over the one division that didn't participate in active combat.
And yet here Rei was, walking among some of the most deadly and ruthless men and women in the Seireite and they weren't so much as throwing a dirty look her way. Rei liked to think that her relationship with Sui-Feng had instilled a greater respect for the Fourth through the two divisions she controlled.
The mess hall was empty as it normally was at this time. Rei had been shocked when Sui-Feng had invited her start taking her lunches with her. Normally, Sui-Feng was very worried about how people may perceive them.
"Officially, you are still my nurse," Sui-Feng had said. "And since I have just recently assumed full active duty, it would only make sense that you would wish to check in and make sure I am handling the transition well. I also take my meal at the end of the lunch rotation, so there will be very few other's eating at the same time."
That was more than enough to convince Rei, and so the two had eaten their lunches together for the better part of the last week.
"Afternoon, Taicho." Rei put on her best clinical voice as she sat down across form Sui-Feng, who acknowledged her presence with a nod. "How are you feeling thins afternoon?"
"Fine," Sui-Feng replied between mouthfuls of rice. Rei smiled and began to pick at her own tray of food. Had she been talking to anyone else, the silence that followed the brief exchange would have been off-putting, but one didn't go to Sui-Feng for the conversation.
"Feeling daring today, you two?" Though Sui-Feng didn't show it, she was just as surprised as Rei was to hear Yoruichi's voice.
"Yoruichi!"Rei let out a sigh of relief upon realizing who had caught them. "You nearly scared me to death!"
"Half the fun of being in the Onmistukido is sneaking up on people," Yoruichi replied as she sat down next to Rei with her own tray of food in hand.
"Goodness! You cut off all your hair." Rei and Sui-Feng both looked on at Yoruichi's new hairstyle. Her hair was slightly longer than it was a little over a century ago, falling just below her jaw line. Unlike a century ago, it was uniformly long around and laid flat on the sides, instead of flaring outward.
"I don't normally keep it as long as you saw it, and with all the stuff going on, I hadn't had the time to get it cut. And besides, I hear bobs are in style now."
"Really?" Rei ran a hand through her own short hair. "It looks good."
"Thanks," Yoruichi smiled. "What do you think, Sui?"
"It looks…" Sui-Feng only gave Yoruichi a quick glance before returning her eyes to her food. "Practical."
"Is that any way to compliment a lady?" Yoruichi huffed. "Is this how she talks to you?" She turned to Rei. "And who are you to talk about practical hair anyway?" She ribbed.
"You know, I've always wondered about those rings," Rei said thoughtfully.
"The-" Sui-Feng started, but was quickly interrupted.
"They're your grandmother's, right?" Yoruichi cut-in quickly.
"Yes." Sui-Feng returned her gaze to her plate, unfortunately, it was nearly clean.
"That's sweet." Rei smiled. "What are your plans for the afternoon, Yoruichi?"
"I didn't really have any." Yoruichi shrugged. "What are you two up to?"
"I have to go back to the Fourth for rounds after this," Rei replied with a hint of disappointment.
"I had planned on training myself for a time before overseeing drills," Sui-Feng said flatly, hoping that Yoruichi would find the prospect unappealing. Yoruichi wasn't one for doing things unnecessarily, and Sui-Feng was almost positive that Yoruichi though that any more training on her part was unnecessary.
"Mind if I join you?" Yoruichi asked. "I need to get used to moving around without all that hair."
"A hair cut really makes that much difference?" Rei finished off her own plate.
"You'd be surprised how different it feels with two feet of hair on the back of your head missing."Yoruichi turned back to Sui-Feng." So what do you say to some sparring?"
"Fine," Sui-Feng answered tersely. As much as she wanted to tell Yoruichi to leave, it would have been strange to reject her in front of Rei.
"Alright! Let's get going." The three women stood up from their seats. Sui-Feng grabbed her tray and quickly walked away with Yoruichi following closely, leaving Rei to dispose of her tray, which Rei found she had barely touched.
Sui-Feng was surprised to see that the bamboo had grown so much since she had last been here. She had left the shoots cut down to below her knees, but it was well above her head again. It helped give the appearance that Sui-Feng didn't frequent the area.
At first, Sui-Feng had decided on using the Second Division training ground, hoping that the public area would prevent Yoruichi from making a scene. But upon remembering Yoruichi relative lack of shame, she quickly decided that she needed for them to be as far away from other people as possible.
She had hesitated at first in bringing Yoruichi to her usually training spot, but she didn't know of any other suitable areas of the top of her head and if she hesitated any longer, Yoruichi would have become suspicious. Sui-Feng would just have to deal with the fact that Yoruichi would know about her last sanctuary.
Sui-Feng was slightly amazed that Yoruichi didn't use her sudden stop as an excuse to bump into her. Walking over to the usual tree, Sui-Feng removed her haori and turned to face Yoruichi, who looked a little confused.
"I said that I was going to train." Sui-Feng said flatly. "Since you followed, I assume that you want to spar." Disappointment flashed across Yoruichi's but quickly turned to surprises as Sui-Feng took up a defensive stance. Sui-Feng's fighting style was usually aggressive. Now curious, Yoruichi took on her normal stance. With uncharacteristic caution, Yoruichi launched her attack.
By their standards, it was an arduously slow bout. While their blows flew faster than the eye could follow, their feet remained on the ground, save for when they were launched at each other.
Yoruichi was genuinely surprised by the level of skill Sui-Feng was showing. Though she was missing an entire limb, she was blocking her attacks with what seemed to be relative ease. Even though Yoruichi was putting only a fraction of the pressure on Sui-Feng that she would have had they been actually fighting, she was glad to see that the loss of her arm wasn't proving the handicap she thought it would.
The slower pace afforded Yoruichi a simple pleasure she had not been able to indulge in for quite some time; watching Sui-Feng move. And her uniform made the activity that much more enticing.
Being in control of the sparring match, she was able to bait Sui-Feng and get her to move just the way she wanted in order to thwart her attacks. Yoruichi threw a kick to the left side of Sui-Feng's head. She was rewarded when Sui-Feng stretched her arm to deflect the blow, granting her a glimpse of the side of Sui-Feng's breast that was quickly replaced by a clear and close view of the grass and dirt beneath her.
"You're distracted." Sui-Feng said as Yoruichi rolled off of her stomach and onto her back. She had swept Yoruichi's foot out from under her after the last kick. "I couldn't best you with two arms, let alone one."
"It's not my fault." Yoruichi propped herself up. "You can be very distracting." She frowned when the comment failed to elicit the flush she thought it would. Sighing heavily, Sui-Feng sat down on a nearby stump of a tree she fell with Suzumebachi.
"Satisfied with your new haircut?" Sui-Feng cradled her head in her hand. "Should I expect to find you cooking dinner one day?"
"I could if you want me too." Yoruichi replied as she scooted herself over towards Sui-Feng, resting her back on the fallen tree trunk. "Can't guarantee you it'll be any good though." Yoruichi ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing it.
"You said that you never done something like this before," Sui-Feng looked at Yoruichi. "What did you mean?"
"I was hoping you would just let that one slide…" Yoruichi laughed sheepishly. "The whole relationship thing, you know?" Yoruichi drew her knees to her chest. "Yeah, I've had my share of flings over the years but I've never had something like you and Rei have."
"Why not?" Sui-Feng asked.
"Time mostly, I suppose." Yoruichi shrugged. "Between being the head of two divisions and a clan, I didn't really have the time to get for a relationship. Plus, with being such a public figure and all, I couldn't really be open with my love of women. It would have thrown a major kink into the whole 'heir' thing." Yoruichi leaned back on the stump. "So I never really bothered getting too attached to any of my flings."
"You got attached to me." Sui-Feng replied. The words came out softer than they sounded in her head.
"Yeah," Yoruichi laughed "And look how that's gone for me."
"I have to go," Sui-Feng stood up and put her haori back on.
"Alright," Yoruichi's voice was a quite sigh. Quickly, Sui-Feng disappeared towards the Seireitei. She needed to return to her duties. She needed to leave before she apologized.