Blue-cat-94: Welcome back! I really missed you guys!
Soifon: I didn't.
Yoruichi: Aw be nice little bee.
Blue-cat-94: well I went over the reviews and honestly I didn't think I'd get that many. And also I saw a few that didn't like the story, but hey you can't win them all and I'm ok with that. I like my story and I'm going to continue it.
Yoruichi: well spoken
Soifon: yeah that's great let's move on shall we?
Blue-cat-94: also I forgot to mention that most of the characters will be a bit Ooc Hahaha.
Soifon: leave it to you to forget that kind of detail
Blue-cat-94: that's very mean I hope you know that, anyway Yoruichi please do the disclaimers
Yoruichi: blue kitty doesn't own bleach or its characters
Blue-cat-94: just the oc's please enjoy
"Akara is that you" Soifon said starting to shake as she took another step closer. Akara smiled and said
"I'm back"
After what seemed like an hour Akara finally let out a squeal of joy and lunged at the shocked captain. Normally Soifon would have moved, but her thoughts were still registering the current situation, so she was knocked to the ground. The wolf's tail wagged rapidly, as she gave Soifon the best hug she could give.
"Oh China Bee I missed you so much" Akara exclaimed. Soifon blushed and patted her friend on the head.
"I missed you too Kara, but please your really heavy when you're in this form and I'm losing oxygen" Soifon said starting to rasp slightly. Akara smiled sheepishly showing all her teeth and fangs. She quickly got up and offered a massive paw to help Soi up. But Soifon got up on her own and patted the dust and grass off of her. All the while Yoruichi was watching the scene play out with a hidden sneer.
"Since when did Soifon befriend a wolf" Yoruichi thought to herself in wonder. She hated dogs or anything that resembled one or was related to them. But her sneer faded to a slightly hurt confusion.
"And why didn't she ever mention her to me" Yoruichi continued, slightly bothered that Soifon kept something like this from her. Another thing that bothered her was that this mutt was calling her a nickname that was dangerously close to her own nickname. But what really bothered her was that the name Akara sounded horribly familiar, but she couldn't place her finger on why it did. But the matter wasn't important at the moment, so she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind. Then she cleared her throat loud enough to make both Soifon and Akara look her way.
"So I'm guessing you were the one making all that howling noise for the past month" Yoruichi asked. Soifon looked at her waiting for the answer. Akara nodded before she answered,
"Yes it was me; I didn't want to come home unannounced, so I tried to make my presence known in a more . . . . . polite way" Akara said with a wolfish grin, and Soifon scoffed in disapproval.
"Yes, well because of your howling, for the past month none of the captains or any other squad members of the court have gotten a decent night's sleep other than me and they are losing their focus when they work" Soifon scolded, but Akara brushed it off lightly.
"Well since we've accomplished our mission, how about we head home its cold and I'm tired" Yoruichi said suddenly. Soifon nodded before letting out an unwanted yawn. Yoruichi had a point; they had both had a long day of preparations and other events; so going home for the night sounded pretty good in Soifon's opinion.
"I agree, lets return to the Seireitei and I'll report what we have discovered, you'll have to come with us Akara; I'm sure Commander Yamato will want to see you" Soifon said preparing to Shunpo back, Yoruichi walked up beside Soifon and did the same. This gave Akara an idea.
"I have an idea, how about we race home" Akara said with a flare of excitement in her dark blue eyes. Soifon noticed the flare in Yoruichi's eyes also and sighed. She knew how competitive the cat woman got when it came to any kind of race or game. Soifon sighed, she knew Akara liked to race also, and if she said no, Akara would pester her until she agreed. And it being dark and cold, Soifon decided to race.
"I like a good race, I'm in" Yoruichi said excitedly. All Soifon did was give a quick nod and faced the direction home.
"On your mark" Akara said getting ready to sprint, she was practically leaning on the balls of her paws and her claws ravaged the dirt in anticipation. Yoruichi was simply standing, but you could see her excitement growing as the seconds counted down. Soifon was also standing, but she just wanted to go home, she had just remembered that she had an important document she had forgotten to send to the fifth squad.
"Get set" Akara said shifting her weight back as if getting ready to pounce. Yoruichi made no movement and Soifon also did not move.
"GO!" Akara called and within a second the only thing remaining was her voice calling go and a few leaves fluttering in the sudden wind. Deep within the forest Yoruichi had the immediate lead, but Soifon was merely ten meters behind her. They had taken to the tree tops hoping to get some kind of advantage. And for a good while it seemed to be that way. Yoruichi was barely touching the almost invisible tree branches, more than anything she seemed to be flying. Soifon had admired her former teacher for that kind of skill at one point in time, but now it seemed like a normal thing to the woman of Chinese descent. She was doing the exact same thing, but to keep her focused, Soifon had decided to count all the tree branches she had touched whenever she ran like this. So far she had touched only three branches. Her record from the past was five touches. This was good because they had almost reached the outer wall of the Seireitei. Taking in a deep breath, Soifon began to speed up even more slowly starting to catch up to Yoruichi.
When the wolf named Akara said go, Yoruichi had taken off. For a moment she Akara running, but then she disappeared in a blink of an eye. This amazed Yoruichi secretly, she had figured out that the dog was fast, but if it were possible, Yoruichi had begun to think that the wolf was faster than her.
"Yeah that'll be the day" Yoruichi thought out loud as she took a quick deep breath. Not wanting to be defeated, Yoruichi tried to quicken her pace. For some odd reason, she felt like she wasn't touching the branches. For Yoruichi it felt like flying, in a childish sort of way. Taking a quick glance behind herself Yoruichi saw Soifon a good ten meters behind her, and her feet were hardly touching the branches as well. Yoruichi was happy that Soifon could be almost as fast as her. To her it meant that her past teachings had an effect on the younger captain. Even if the results had lead to their big fight. But she was happy all the same.
"Man if I didn't know any better I'd say Soifon was starting to catch up" Yoruichi said quickly glancing back again; they were nearing the outer wall of the Seireitei. But for some reason Akara was nowhere to be seen. Until they were a mere minute away from stopping; a flash of black caught up to the goddess of flash and Soifon.
"Hey guys, did you miss me" Akara asked. Shock was the only thing Akara saw on Yoruichi's face. Almost no one was as fast as them, and this mystery dog had easily caught up. Soifon simply rolled her eyes playfully; she had always known that Akara was a fast being. So it was no surprise that she had caught up. Back in her cadet days, Akara and her always raced when the opportunity showed itself.
"I was wondering when you would show up, I was beginning to worry that you became slow in our time apart" Soifon teased, as her already quick pace suddenly got faster. Soifon was quickly gaining up on Yoruichi, and Yoruichi also quickened her speed. The three women practically vanished and as they finally reached the wall, the winner was an actual tie between Akara and Yoruichi. They were all starting to sweat and Akara was panting lightly.
"That was pretty fun" Yoruichi panted slightly, Soifon agreed silently. After a quick minute to catch their breath, the three women entered the Seireitei and headed back to Soifon's division. Once they arrived and had entered Soifon's office, Soifon turned to Yoruichi and said,
"I think it would be best to report to the commander now, so while we're gone, Yoruichi please behave yourself" Soifon said over her shoulder as she and Akara left. Yoruichi snorted as she went to Soifon's quarters and entered her bathroom to take a bath.
"Since when do I not behave" Yoruichi said feeling insulted at the request. As the water filled up, Yoruichi couldn't help but feel that she knew the dog personally. But the deeper she thought about it, the harder it was to figure out. Sighing Yoruichi shed her slightly sweaty clothes and sat in the inviting water.
Meanwhile Soifon and Akara had just arrived to the Commander's office. Soifon straightened herself out and fixed up her slightly messed up hair. She hated when she got like this, but it came with the job, so Soifon didn't complain that much.
"Soi you look fine" Akara said kindly. Soifon, for maybe the third time this evening, rolled her eyes.
"Well you know how I am when I report to a higher ranking officer" Soifon stated, and Akara nodded.
"Very much so, so do you want me to be in my transformation, or human form when we go inside" Akara asked stretching her front paws before shaking her furry body. Soifon laughed slightly,
"I think he would prefer the human version of you Kara, and so would I, cause quite frankly you reek of dog and whatever else that smell is" Soifon said pinching her nose slightly and waving her small hand back and forth in front of her face. Akara rolled her eyes before she exploded into a large black cloud. After a moment of waving the midnight cloud away from her face and the haze cleared in place of the wolf was a girl who appeared to be the same age as Soifon herself. Height wise, Akara was about four inches taller than Soifon. She too was leanly built but her muscle showed just a bit more. Her assets were average and her skin color was a light brown, due to little exposure to the sunlight. Her hair was pitch black with bright blue highlights that fell and barely brushed her broad yet feminine shoulders.
But unlike Yoruichi when she changes back to her human form, Akara was wearing clothes. She was wearing the shinigami uniform, but the only differences were that the pant legs were raised to her mid-thigh, but her legs were covered by blue knee high stockings. And the sleeves were cut off by two inches. And on her hands were black fingerless gloves that had a strange insignia of a wolf's paw holding an orchid bud. Other than that the uniform was the same. But overall her eyes were still a beautiful midnight blue, and they were currently looking at Soifon.
"Wow you've really changed Akara" Soifon said looking her friend over. Akara stretched out her arms and smiled,
"So have you, when I left your hair was much shorter and you didn't have those rings, but they look great on you" Akara said. Soifon blushed lightly.
"Thank you, but we'll save the casual talk for later, now I must report my findings" Soifon said in a sudden serious voice. Soifon spiked her reiatsu to make her presence known, and Yamato spiked his to acknowledge her and let her inside. As Soifon walked in Akara followed. Inside Yamato sat at his desk, eyes closed as usual, but he knew who was there.
"Captain Soifon, who is this outsider and how did your mission fare" Yamato asked. Soifon cleared her throat,
"Commander, I discovered that the howling had come from an old friend of mine" Soifon said gesturing to Akara. Yamato stared at the girl for a moment.
"Identify yourself child, why were you making such noise and why were you releasing such powerful reiatsu" Yamato asked calmly but seriously. Akara walked up to present herself in front of the Commander and bowed.
"Commander Yamato sir, my name is Akara Kurokiba" Akara started and before she could continue the Commander spoke out,
"You are a member of the Kurokiba family; it's an honor to meet another member of the four noble families" Akara smiled
"Thank you Commander it means a lot coming from you and I would like to apologize for my behavior for the past month, but it was the only way I knew how to get all of your attention and hoped that you would send the stealth force, but I didn't want to intrude on your headquarters" Akara apologized before she bowed again.
"I knew the Court Guard Squads had great fighters, but I'm sure that you take pride in your second division captain, she's the best of the best" Akara boasted and Soifon blushed despite her serious demeanor.
"Ms. Kurokiba, you are always allowed to come to the Seireitei, as are other members of the four noble families; and yes I am aware of Captain Soifon's impeccable skills and I'm proud to have her in the Court" Yamato stated. Akara smiled then she frowned,
"Does that include the traitor Yoruichi Shihouin, when Soifon came to find me, she was there also" Soifon sighed, she wasn't surprised that Akara was mad at Yoruichi, heck she was still mad too, but she wished Akara wouldn't bring up the matter in front of the Commander.
"I'm afraid so, she helped us in our time of great confusion and deception, so she has free access to our home" Yamato said sensing the girls hate. Akara growled for a moment, but sighed,
"Well, its fine with me I guess, well its getting rather late, if it's alright with you sir I would like to leave with the captain" Akara said. Soifon was startled at the sudden request, but Yamato huffed in agreement.
"Yes, you may go, please have a good evening Ms Kurokiba and well done on your mission Captain Soifon" Soifon gave a quick bow and a respectful thank you, and on that note, both women left the Commanders office.
By now, the moon was high in the sky and the stars shined brightly. Akara sighed peacefully,
"What a beautiful night, it reminds me of better days" Akara said and Soifon nodded in agreement. And before she spoke, she let out a poorly hidden yawn. She was extremely tired and the race back to the Seireitei had taken a lot more energy than Soifon thought it would take.
"Geez Soifon you look exhausted, you want me to carry you, you look like you're about to pass out" Akara said stopping, but before Soifon had a moment to protest, Akara had changed back to her wolf form with a silent boom and she had knelt down so that Soifon could get on.
"Akara, you don't have to do that, you did that enough when we were younger" Soifon said not moving. Akara rolled her eyes and smiled,
"Soifon, you know I'd do anything for you, now please get on before you fall" Akara insisted. Soifon sighed in a tired, irritated tone before getting onto the massive dog. Akara put her tail on top of Soifon to keep her from getting cold and started her short journey back to the second division. They walked in silence for a while, but then Akara broke the silence,
"So you're the Captain of Squad Two and Omnitsukido? I'm proud of you Soifon and I'm sorry I had to miss your exam and ceremony" Akara said in a sad tone. Soifon sighed
"It's alright, Kara really, I knew you had to go, but now your back, so I think that's compensation enough" Akara whined,
"Well I didn't have a choice, if I had my way I would've stayed here with you" Soifon laughed tiredly.
"I wanted you too, but I don't have a say in your family matters" this made Akara scoff,
"Well that may be so, but your opinion was always important to me" Soifon smiled at the statement. So want do you want to do tomorrow bee" Akara asked. But there was no answer.
"Soi" Akara asked again as she lifted her tail and turned her head to look at Soifon. She smiled at the sight of her dear friend. She was fast asleep. Her petite hands had a soft grip on Akara's black fur and her head was buried into Akara's back with her mouth slightly open breathing softly.
"You always looked adorable sleeping" Akara told the sleeping woman. Putting her tail back on top of Soifon, she slowed her pace just a bit so she could enjoy the night air and knowing the fact that Soifon had accomplished herself in her absence.
All the while Yoruichi was currently looking through one of the windows in Soifon's living room. It was a beautiful night, and it was utterly relaxing. But the only thing that kept nagging the woman was that the girl Akara. Who was she and why was she so familiar? Her frustration became obvious as she tried to wrack her mind for some kind of answer or hint, but still everything was a blurry haze. Until a quick flash went through her mind, a quick scene of Yoruichi as a child came into view, she was with her parents at a boring meeting for the four noble families. She didn't remember any of it, except for being bored and having the urge to escape by any means possible. She also remembered that her mother said that she could go play in the courtyard if she wanted too. Yoruichi laughed as she remembered herself running out of the room as fast as her little tan legs could carry her. Once at the courtyard Yoruichi noticed a small girl with short black hair playing with a small brown dog. And as the mysterious girl turned around, the flash ended and Yoruichi growled in frustration.
"Why can't I remember who she is" Yoruichi asked herself. And before she had time to think up a reasonable answer, the opened the door and Akara came in. Yoruichi noticed that Soifon was not with the wolf and she raised a thin purple brow in curiosity,
"Where's Soifon" the wolf did not acknowledge or bother to answer the ex-princess's question, instead she went to Soifon's bedroom. Wanting an answer Yoruichi followed Akara to the bed room. Yoruichi saw a sleeping Soifon cuddled deeply into Akara's fur as Akara moved her tail. She seemed to be at peace, and Yoruichi found Soifon to be utterly adorable. Gently, Akara pulled back the covers and shrugged Soifon onto the bed. After pulling the covers up to Soi's shoulders, Akara looked at Yoruichi and padded out to the living room.
"I can't believe she forgot about me, leave it to a Shihouin to forget about something important" Akara thought rudely, as she noticed Yoruichi take one more look at Soifon and follow her out. Akara sat down on her haunches and scratched her ear before Yoruichi approached her. But before Yoruichi opened her mouth to talk to her a Hell butterfly came in. It wasn't the traditional black butterfly, it was green and white. It obviously didn't belong to the Soul Society. But, Yoruichi had a hunch on who it belonged to since it was green and white. So when it landed on her finger and started to give her its message she rolled her eyes in amusement. It was one of Kisuke's new inventions. And this one seemed to be successful. As the message continued, Yoruichi listened. But as the message ended she sighed and frowned deeply. Then suddenly the butterfly exploded with a sharp pop and disintegrated into ash onto the wooden floor. Curious, Akara spoke up,
"What did the message say" Yoruichi looked at the wolf as she scratched the back of her in a frustrated way.
"I have to go back to the world of the living" Yoruichi said with obvious annoyance. This didn't surprise Akara for some reason. She had heard from an Intel shinigami that the "great" Yoruichi Shihouin had been exiled for helping the traitor Kisuke Urahara escape arrest. And even after Aizen had revealed himself to be evil, and Yoruichi had returned. She still came and went as she pleased. And this bothered Akara to no end. But she decided to hold that thought for another time.
"When do you have to go" Akara asked.
"Now actually, but I'll be back when I can, tell Soifon I said bye" then the tanned woman disappeared leaving a somewhat gentle breeze behind her. Once Yoruichi's reiatsu was gone Akara growled.
"I hate that woman, she doesn't even realize how much she's hurting her" Akara thought, but before Akara had time to continue her inner rant, she picked up the sound of whimpering coming from Soifon's room. Quickly she rushed into Soifon's room and saw that Soifon was tossing in her bed.
"Why did you leave me" Soifon whimpered into the darkness, Akara trotted up to the restless woman's bed and gave her a pained look. The poor thing must have been having a nightmare about her younger days after she left. The sudden smell of salt wafted past Akara's sensitive nose. Soifon was crying, so she gently nudged her nose to Soifon's cheeks and swept the tears away.
"Oh China Bee, I hate when you cry, especially over that Shihouin woman" Akara whispered. Changing back to her original form, Akara took her shoes off and slid into bed next to Soifon. She pulled the distressed girl into her arms and wrapped them around her protectively. After a while the whimpering ceased, much to Akara's pleasure, as Akara was almost asleep. Taking one last look at Soifon, Akara smiled sleepily and whispered,
"Don't worry Soifon; I'm here now, so you won't have to suffer anymore" then she leaned up to Soifon's face and gave her a kiss on the cheek just before falling asleep.
In the world of the living Yoruichi was glaring at her friend who was holding his fan in front of his face to hopefully hide himself. But it didn't work,
"What was so important that you made me leave Soifon that early Kisuke, I didn't get to say goodbye" Yoruichi growled. Kisuke put the fan down and looked at his best friend. He knew she was angry with him, but he had to talk to her about something.
"I understand your upset, but I had to talk to you" Kisuke said with his usual care-free attitude. Yoruichi grumbled something inaudible.
"Well, talk to me then" Yoruichi glared.
"Word on the street is that one the daughter of the Kurokiba family has returned from a major event" Kisuke said without hesitation to start the conversation. Yoruichi grimaced at the name Kurokiba. She hated everyone hate shared that name. Growing up she was told the Kurokiba's had been enemies since each of the four noble families were founded. They rivaled in everything. From fighting skills to garden, you name it, and they've probably tried to outdo each other in it. Both families each had their victories over each other, and the same for the shames as well. "Yeah what about her" Yoruichi sneered. Kisuke smiled,
"She returned to the Soul Society awhile back, so I was wondering if you knew anything" Yoruichi shook her head.
"Strange, Soifon told me that a strange howling started a month ago, but I doubt that has anything to do with that Kurokiba girl" Yoruichi said.
"Actually, that you mention it, the Kurokiba family spirit deity is the wolf, and every generation one Kurokiba child is able to change into a wolf that fits their characteristics" Kisuke mused aloud. Strangely, Akara flashed through Yoruichi's mind.
"What's her name" Yoruichi asked as the realization slowly dawned on her.
"It's Akara, its rather fitting if you ask me" Kisuke said. Finally the realization hit her harder than a ton of bricks.
"I met her" Yoruichi said as her eyes widened in realization. Then a flood of memories rushed through Yoruichi's mind. She remembered that she and Akara always had battles of every kind whenever their families met up for some kind of meeting growing up. Of course most of their battles were physical, and at the end, they were always bloody. Sometimes one of them couldn't leave their room for about a week or so. Then another realization hit her. Akara had touched Soifon. Akara touched HER Little Bee.
"Uh, are you okay Yoruichi" Kisuke asked as Yoruichi's reiatsu suddenly spiked causing a vase to break somewhere in the house.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure you can solve it without breaking my property" Kisuke said, his voice cracking a little bit. Yoruichi looked at Kisuke and took a deep breath before her reiatsu died down.
"You're right sorry; but it's just that Soifon's friends with that ugly dog breathed beast woman" Yoruichi grumbled. Kisuke blinked in surprise. Was she what he thought she was? To test his theory, he decided to ask her a few questions.
"Really, how do you know" Kisuke asked. Yoruichi began to explain the mission Soifon got and how she got to go with her and do a few things before that. But when they went on the mission, it turned out it was Akara and she had returned.
"But for some reason when Akara jumped onto Soifon and hugged her, I felt this strange pang in my chest. It wasn't pain, but it was kinda irritating. I mean when I came back, she didn't hug me" Yoruichi mumbled irritably. Yup, she had just proven his theory correct; there was just one more thing to say.
"Yoruichi" Kisuke asked. Yoruichi looked at him as a sign of acknowledgment.
"Yeah, what" she replied.
"Tell me something, do you need some peanut butter?" he asked. This rewarded him with a bewildered look from his tanned friend.
"Uh. . . . No I don't, why would I need peanut butter and what does that have to do with this situation" Yoruichi asked.
"Cause girl you are jellin so bad you could make a sandwich" Kisuke said before getting punched by a very embarrassed Yoruichi.
"What the heck was that, Oh my gosh Kisuke, that was the worst thing I've ever heard you say" then she left and went to her room. And on her way up she yelled about never hearing such a horrible line in her life. Kisuke rubbed his cheek,
"Well I thought it was a good one, but it's true, she's as jealous as they come, and I have a feeling this could get ugly. And I guess I'll have to discuss the serious matter later then" Kisuke said getting up to fix up his now swelling cheek.
The next afternoon, Yoruichi woke up feeling good until the memories of the previous day and night came back. Yoruichi growled that the thought of Soifon and Akara spending the day together, and it irked her to no end. She spent half the day in her cat form walking around Karakura town hissing at anyone who came near her. Except for kids, because she hated scaring kids and it made her feel terrible if she did.
"Stupid dog woman, stupid dog woman for coming back and trying to make back MY Little Bee" Yoruichi mumbled in her deep male voice. She was so much in her mumbling that she failed to notice that she walked into an alley and into large stray dog. It was mixed breed, but it looked vicious and hungry.
"What are you looking at ugly" Yoruichi hissed at the dog. But it did was charged at her with snarling fangs. Sighing she leapt onto a nearby trashcan and avoided the dog. Though she could have easily harmed the dog, she wasn't in the mood for a fight; just walk around and grumble about her problems. So when the opportunity was available she snuck out from behind a row of trashcans.
"Ha dogs are so stupid" Yoruichi purred triumphantly as she pranced down the street. But after about five minutes she got bored, and decided to go visit Ichigo. Guessing by the time he was probably either in his last period or second to last. And since she didn't know which class he was in, she decided to wait for him. So she walked in the direction of the school and waited for him on the wall that surrounded the school.
After about two hours, the final bell had rung and students poured out the doors. Of course spotting Ichigo wasn't the hardest thing in the world. All you really have to do is find a moody boy with bright orange hair. And after a good minute Yoruichi found him walking with Chad and Orihime. Quickly and quietly Yoruichi leapt off the wall and lunged at the unsuspecting substitute soul reaper. And under a second she had landed on his head,
"Hello Ichigo" Yoruichi purred. Ichigo yelled in shock,
"Yoruichi you scared me" Orihime smiled brightly as she always did,
"Hi there Yoruichi-san it's nice to see you again. And Chad gave a silent nod.
"Hello everyone, I was actually hoping to talk to you Ichigo, but now that I think about it, I believe I should talk to Orihime" Yoruichi said swaying her tail lazily and she leapt onto Orihime's shoulder.
"Alright then, see you guys later, I gotta go help my old man at the clinic today" Ichigo said turning in the direction of his house. Orihime waved goodbye as did Chad, and the trio walked together until Orihime made it to her street, then she once again waved goodbye to Chad and headed home.
"So Yoruichi, what did you want to talk to about" Orihime asked not taking her eyes off her path.
"Well Orihime I actually have a problem and I was hoping you could help me" Yoruichi said rather embarrassed. Orihime smiled
"Of course, you helped us when we had a problem, so I'd love to help in any way I can" Orihime smiled as she approached her apartment door.
"Thank you Orihime, you truly are a good person" Yoruichi said as they entered the door.
Blue-cat-94: okay that's it for now, I hope you enjoyed it. Also I wanted to say that I'll be updating every two weeks, I know it seems long, but I usually end up changing things, and then I end up rewriting the whole things. Ha ha well please leave a review
Akara: see you next chapter! XD