.Cat.94: hello and welcome to chapter eight, I would like to thank my loyal reviewer YoruichiXSoiFon1 for giving me my new protection bracelet, I have a feeling I'm going to always need it *puts the bracelet on*
Yoruichi: it looks nice on you
.cat.94: it does, and now when Soifon comes back and tries to hurt me I shall be safe HAHAHA
Yoruichi: yeah but I'm not looking forward this chapter
.Cat.94: why not
Yoruichi: I have to travel with an ugly dog
Akara: right back at ya honey cats are hairy, stupid and man are they ugly! XD
.Cat.94: you ripped off the hyena's line
Akara: yes I did
.Cat.94: oh well Yoruichi please do the disclaimers
Yoruichi: No
.Cat.94: Do it or Soifon won't come back
Yoruichi: NO! Captain kitty doesn't own bleach or me just Akara and the enemies!
.Cat.94: was that so hard? Anyway please enjoy
"I can't believe we have to walk" Yoruichi complained loudly as they walked down a dirt path. They were a few miles away from Seireitei and Yoruichi knew they could be farther out then they were now, but Akara was slowing them down.
"Ah shut up, the only reason I'm not running at the speed of sound right now is because Unohana said that my facture hasn't healed all the way and she didn't want me to risk it getting worse" Akara said as she hit Yoruichi in the arm with her good hand. Yoruichi planned to hit her back but decided to be the bigger person and let it go.
"Walking is so boring" Yoruichi grumbled but Akara smiled,
"Well I've always appreciated walking; you can take your time to see everything around you and appreciate its beauty" Akara said but Yoruichi ignored her. At least until Akara added,
"At least that what Soifon taught me" Yoruichi blinked in astonishment.
"Did she really say that?" and Akara nodded causing her black hair to bounce slightly.
"Uh huh, we were both coming back from a small mission, I wanted to get back home fast and tell my mother what Soifon and I had accomplished, but Soifon said that if we ran then we would miss out in seeing our surroundings" Akara said with a gaze that seemed to going back into that memory. Yoruichi thought about it and decided to look around. They were surrounded by lush green trees and random colored flowers that littered either side of the path. The sky was clear as it could be and birds sang as they flew by.
"Wow, it really is nice, Soifon was right" Yoruichi thought. Akara caught Yoruichi's facial expression.
"See I told you so, well Soifon did actually" Akara chuckled and Yoruichi rolled her eyes. After a few hours of walking, Yoruichi and Akara had made it to a small village. It was a rather thriving place despite the location, which just so happened to be in the middle of a very large open grassland that had the one large road going through it.
"Wow, looks like a nice village, but I don't want us being distracted while we're on this mission" Akara said before she transformed into a silent blue cloud, but when the cloud disappeared there wasn't a massive wolf, but instead a small black and blue puppy. She was a mutt of some kind but she was cute. One of her ears was slightly bent over.
"I didn't know you could do that" Yoruichi said and this caused Akara smirked the best she could in her puppy form.
"There's a lot you don't know about my talents, but this transformation will only last for so long" Akara said, Yoruichi didn't feel like being watched by people either so she changed into her usual black cat form. Akara picked up Yoruichi's clothes and in her own way, folded them up and tossed them on her back.
"Let's get going shall we" Yoruichi said as she ran to one of the huts and jumped to the roof. Akara rolled her eyes,
"Show off" then she began her bouncy puppy trot through the village.
Meanwhile back at the Stronghold Soifon was being kept at; Hiroka was bringing a plate of food down to Soifon's cell. She liked having Soifon around, and she wouldn't be as fun if she was starving. As she opened the cell block she saw Soifon thrashing around in her chains.
"I don't see why you're doing that, you'll only hurt yourself" Hiroka said and Soifon glared at her and scoffed.
"What are you doing here" Hiroka put up the plate of food to Soifon's eye level,
"I wanted to let you eat, I figured it's been awhile since you've eaten" Hiroka said as she set the food down. Soifon gave her a look of suspicion before it was shared with the look of irritation.
"How am I supposed to eat this and what did you do to it" Soifon demanded, but before she could get an answer; a flash of orange jumped all around her before it flashed but of the room and closed the door. Soifon fell to the floor; she had been released much to her surprise.
"Well, one I did nothing to the food, and two you don't expect me to feed you do you, though that wouldn't be so bad" Hiroka said as a smirk snaked its way across her face. Soifon once again rolled her eyes. She got up and stretched out her arms and legs, seeing as they haven't moved in almost an entire day and night.
"I'd rather you not" Soifon said as she did a few kicks and punches to stretch out her muscles. After a few minutes of doing this, Soifon sat down and looked at her plate of food. It wasn't anything she had eaten before, but it looked American.
"What is this" Soifon asked not looking up from her food. Hiroka chuckled,
"Well that brown meat is baked chicken, the green strands beside it is called green beans, I don't like them honestly but anyway after that is the mashed potatoes, and the brown liquid looking substance is something Kuto called gravy. It tastes better than it looks. And the bread is called a roll. All together I hear Meka call it Soul food" Hiroka said. Soifon picked up the utensil and poked the mashed potatoes before she scooped it up and slowly put it in her mouth. The texture itself was an oxymoron, it was creamily lumpy. But the taste was intriguing and left a pleasant taste in her mouth.
"Good right, well I'm supposed to watch you so I'm going to stand over there" Hiroka smiled creepily as she sashayed out of sight. Soifon shuddered as she continued to eat and form a plan on how to escape, and at the moment, her meal time seemed like the best opportunity. Once she had finished she threw the plate at the front of the cell and watched it sail and shatter into the bars.
"So I take it you didn't like the food, darn shame, Kuto made it just for you too" Hiroka said as she came into view and began pick up the pieces. Soifon glared at her and said nothing as she stood up.
"This is a strange way of caring for your prisoner" Soifon said but Hiroka shrugged,
"Master said he didn't want you hurt in any shape or form, well at least until Akara gets here anyway" Soifon stiffened slightly as Hiroka spoke.
"But until then, which I'm hoping isn't soon because I'd hate to see your beautiful skin get marred, I am your caretaker" Hiroka said and Soifon scoffed.
"It doesn't matter, I'm going to escape regardless" Soifon said and Hiroka smiled wickedly,
"Please do" then she turned to leave,
"Aren't you going to chain me back up" Soifon asked, Hiroka shook her flaming head,
"No, you've been in chains long enough, but if you really want them that badly I can do it" Hiroka said, but Soifon shook her head.
"All right then, see you later Captain" and Hiroka left, leaving Soifon free to do whatever she wanted. Her first choice was to try the door, not exactly a stealthy tactic, but she was going to check regardless. Soifon walked up the door with caution. She put her hand on the door, so far nothing happened. She pulled it open, and still nothing.
"This is too easy, something should happen" Soifon thought as she carefully raised her arm and pushed it toward the open door; And as soon as it went half way out, a large voltage of electricity surged through her body causing her to pull her back and fall.
"AH!" she hissed as her body temporarily quit on her, small things of static danced on her body as she began to writhe in pain.
"Alright, doors out of the question" Soifon thought as her vision became hazy.
Meanwhile, Akara was trotting bouncily through the busy village. Children and adults alike would stop to pat Akara's head or pet her even try to take her home, but Akara would always run off. And from the roof tops, Yoruichi was walking gracefully and snickering at Akara.
"That's what she gets, dumb mutt" Yoruichi laughed as she gracefully jumped onto the next hut and continued to her slinking. They had been in the village for almost twenty minutes and they had yet to see the exit.
"This is taking too long; we could be way farther out if it wasn't for Akara's injury" Yoruichi muttered irritably. Yoruichi's tail twitched as she neared the end of the roof she was currently on.
"This is ridiculous" Akara muttered as she dodged another oncoming child. She had been dodging and weaving through people ever since she and her, not so much a traveling companion, but more of a traveling pain in her tail; had entered the village. And to top it off she had to keep Yoruichi's clothes from falling and getting dirty. Though in Akara's mind, she wouldn't mind leaving them behind, they were adding weight to her back. Akara leapt over a child's back as he knelt down in front of her path.
"I need to Shunpo now, I don't care if it hurts later" Akara thought as she exploded into a cloud and shunpoed out of the village. Yoruichi had laughed at the scene at hand and she quickly followed behind. Once outside the village, Akara leaned against a single tree in the vast grassland far from the village and slowly slid down.
"Darn it, maybe I should've kept walking" Akara groaned as her injury started to throb.
"Well well, what ever happened to walking" Akara heard a teasing voice say. Akara looked down to see Yoruichi wearing a teasing grin and her tail swaying in amusement. Akara glared at her,
"Go shove it in your litter box, I couldn't take it anymore, those people were too affectionate, by the way here's your clothes" Akara said as she dropped Yoruichi's clothes in front of the cat. Yoruichi didn't speak as she changed back to her human self and picked up her clothes and changed in wide open area.
"Wow that's pretty brave to get dressed in broad daylight" Akara said as Yoruichi shrugged her jacket on.
"Well there's nobody around, so there's nothing to worry about" Yoruichi shrugged. Akara climbed up the base of the tree as she stood up. Once she had her footing she let go of the tree,
"Well, no point standing here, let's get going, we have to find the Shadowed Forest anyway, at least that's you said" Akara said as she started walk down the dirt path once again and Yoruichi was close behind. As the day went on, Akara and Yoruichi walked in utter silence and occasionally striking up a conversation about Soifon from the past and the events they went through together.
"Yeah, and this one time Soifon and I were having a sleepover at my house, we played a few games, of course she always beat me at this one game called Chess, I could never understand how to play, but anyway; then we would go outside and find constellations in the sky" Akara said as she fell into her memories. Yoruichi said nothing, because she knew if she did, she would regret her words. So she let the wolf continue,
"That reminds of this one constellation Soifon found, I could never find it, but she said she found one that looked like a cat playing with a bee" Akara said. Yoruichi smiled at the thought of the constellation,
"Did she really" Yoruichi asked and Akara bobbed her head up and down,
"That's right, and whenever she saw it, she would sigh it wasn't sad, but I could never figure out what kind of sigh it was" Akara said throwing Yoruichi a look. The conversation ended and a long thick silence replaced it and followed the duo until sundown.
"Its sun down and we still haven't found the stupid forest" Akara grumbled, her leg was killing her since they didn't stop that day. Yoruichi was deep in thought and hadn't noticed the day shifting at all.
"Huh, yeah" Yoruichi said. Akara growled to herself. Another four hours went by and the entire land was coated in pitch black, the only light source was the moon, its gentle light glowing and making everything more visible.
"I think we should stop soon, it's getting late" Akara said, Yoruichi snorted,
"Yeah right, you expect us to camp out in the middle of this open land, we would be vulnerable to open attack, especially if we start a fire" Yoruichi said, but Akara shook it off,
"Apparently, you have forgotten who we are, we can handle any attack that comes our way" Akara said before falling to one knee, her leg had given out on her.
"Plus I've gone past my walking limit" Akara said as she tried to stand again, but failed instantly.
"Well, I think we can go about another mile, let me carry you" Yoruichi said. Akara stared at her with clear disbelief,
"What are you doing" Akara asked as Yoruichi knelt down in front of Akara.
"Well I want to find some kind of cover, and you limping like an injured dog isn't going to get us anywhere, so I suggest you get on, or I leave you here" Yoruichi stated, she wanted to keeping, every step they took, was one step closer to Soifon. Akara slowly got onto Yoruichi's back, and once she had a good setting, Yoruichi stood up and shunpoed out of sight. After a few minutes, Yoruichi had stopped in the beginning of a forest.
"Geez, I should've closed my eyes" Akara said as the world spun around her, Yoruichi snickered quietly at her, then she looked at the vast vegetation in front of her.
"Looks like we made it" Yoruichi said, Akara shook her head to hopefully shake away the dizziness; it worked, but not a lot. She looked where Yoruichi was and saw the large forest. The trees were tall and demanded they were noticed, which they were. But something seemed off about this forest. It was dark despite the moonlight, and the thickness of the forest seemed to explain it, and another thing seemed to make the forest ominous, it was silent. There was no sound anywhere, and it made Akara shiver.
"Looks like we found the Shadowed Forest" Akara said in slight discomfort, Yoruichi grinned,
"Yes we did, so I suggest we get going, the sooner we get in there, the sooner we get out and the closer we get to Soifon" Yoruichi said as she began to walk, rather bravely, into the darkened forest. Akara, although nervous, followed close behind.
Within a rather difficult half an hour, Akara and Yoruichi had stumbled into a small clearing.
"I can't see a thing" Akara huffed and Yoruichi hummed,
"Its days like these that I'm glad I'm a cat, let's stop here, it's a clearing" Yoruichi said as she stopped. Akara stopped short and hit the ground,
"Thank Kami, I'm tired" Akara yawned. All was quiet for a moment before Yoruichi gave off a sudden battle cry and shot her Shunko off into the sky, this caused Akara to jump slightly.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING" Akara yelled, but before she could get her answer it started to rain branches and leaves, and once the green rain had stopped, the moon sat above them, sending in its gentle beams.
"I can't sleep without a nightlight" Yoruichi grinned wildly and all Akara did was look at her with a look of incredulousness.
"Are you serious, you could've attracted something to our location" Akara shouted, this made Yoruichi laugh,
"Apparently you forgot who we are, we can handle any attack that comes our way" Yoruichi said as she used Akara's previous words against their owner. Akara growled,
"Don't use my words against me, any way I'm going to sleep" Akara huffed as she exploded into her massive wolf form. Akara limped to the base of one of the few trees that littered the clearing and made a few circles in one general area before settling down.
"Wow you actually do that dog thing" Yoruichi asked as she followed Akara's path and leapt up onto the lowest branch of the tree.
"It's . . . a . . . habit" Akara yawned, before her midnight blue eyes began to fall. Yoruichi changed into her cat form, and placed her clothes underneath her, almost like a nest, but she didn't want to lose them either. And soon, both cat and wolf were fast asleep.
(Yoruichi's P.O.V)
I heard a soft giggling noise as I woke up, strange, I could've sworn I had just fallen asleep. I looked around, and saw that I wasn't in the tree anymore either. Not only that, but the forest was gone too, instead I was in the . . . Second Division? Odd, what am I doing back here; I walked down the cat walk and saw that I was heading toward Soifon's office. I heard the giggling again, and it was oddly relaxing. I followed the sweet sound, until I had found myself in the front of the office door. I opened the door and saw that the giggling had come from Soifon's desk.
"Soi, is that you" I asked with a high hope, but instead of an answer a grey cat leapt up onto the desk from behind. Strangely enough the cat was smaller than most full grown cats and her eyes were an oddly relaxing stormy grey. She had a pair of rings on her front paws and they shined marvelously in the lighting. On her back paws she had two white ribbons that wrapped up to the middle of her legs.
"You look a lot like my friend" I told it and the cat nodded. I blinked slightly surprised; I didn't think she could understand me.
"Wow you can understand me, that's pretty cool" again the grey cat nodded,
"Of course I can understand you, all cats can understand humans, even if we can't talk back" the cat said and it sounded a lot like Soifon.
"Soifon?" I asked; the Soifon cat looked at me like I had grown antlers on my head.
"How did you know my name" she asked and I opened my mouth to speak but she interrupted me and spoke first,
"That does not matter, anyway, have you seen a black dog anywhere around this area" she asked and I shook my head.
"No I haven't sorry, why, is this dog important or something" I asked her and she nodded,
"Quite, you see the black dog I'm looking for is my best friend, I haven't seen her since yesterday and I wanted to tell her something important" I felt bad, this cat was looking for her best friend and she had no clue on to where she could be, strangely it sounded familiar, but not that familiar. Her ears were flattened and her body seemed to deflate a bit, and her stormy eyes seemed to get darker. I hated seeing people sad and talking animals were no different.
"I'll tell you what, how about I help you find her" I asked giving her my best reassuring grin. The cat instantly cheered up and she smiled the best way a cat could.
"Really, thank you so much, I know I can find her if I have another person helping me" she said excitedly.
"Great, let's get going then" I said and the Soifon cat leapt off the desk and bounded for the door, I opened it and she dashed out, I quickly followed her. As we walked around the division I noticed that the Soifon kitty, had a graceful walk, heck more like regal if someone had asked, and it resembled Soifon's walk almost perfectly. I sighed dejectedly, I miss Soifon so much, and this cat that looked like her didn't help at all.
"Is something the matter" the cat asked me, I guess she heard me sigh.
"No I'm just a little tired, is all, I think a nap would be good right about now" I said smiling and the cat, and much to my surprise she giggled,
"You sound so much my like my friend, she does the same thing" she chuckled,
"Sounds like my kind of dog, though i dont like most dogs, whats her name" when the cat stopped giggling she spoke and I was extremely shocked to hear the name,
"It's Akara, she's amazing, and we've known each other since we were little" she said proudly and I felt my heart sink, she's looking for a dog, something seemed out of place, but I couldn't place it.
"By any chance did you know a cat" I asked hoping for a yes. Soi cat's pace slowed and her ears fell,
"Yeah I did know a cat; she was my friend too, but. . . ." Soi kitty went quiet,
"What happened "I asked fearing I knew the answer already,
"She left me" she said in a slightly trembling tone, and my throat tightened.
"S-She didn't say goodbye" the cat whimpered as her tail hit the floor and her ears drooped.
"I'm sorry about your friend" I said with a sudden dry throat, the feline laughed sadly,
"It's alright, but can I tell you something" she asked,
"Sure, g-go ahead" I mumbled. The cat turned around to face me her eyes were filled with pain and sorrow.
"I really liked my other friend, she meant the world to me, but I had to tell her something, it was so important I couldn't hold it in, so the I planned on telling her the day she left, but when I found out she had disappeared, I never got to tell her" she said with unshed tears threatening to spill over.
"What were you going to tell her" I questioned quietly, I was starting to feel sick and the feeling of slight déjà vu was coming into place.
"I was going to tell her I loved her" the cat whispered, but I heard it loud and clear. I felt an odd feeling wash through the atmosphere, and it was very uncomfortable. Suddenly a loud continuous bark broke the silence, Soi cat and I looked up to see a large black and slightly blue dog running towards us, and it looked a lot like Akara. Instantly the grey cat cheered up and ran to the dog.
"Oh Soifon I'm sorry I left without telling you, a family emergency came and I panicked, I'm so sorry" the Akara dog said as her ears flattened and her tail went between her legs. I chuckled at the sight, at least until Soifon kitty nuzzled her, what the heck, and I thought cats and dogs were mortal enemies.
"It's ok Akara, and I wanted to accept your offer and go live with you, you're everything to me now" Soifon said in a loving tone and I wanted to kill that dog, and then she turned to me,
"Oh, Akara this is" and just she was about to speak Akara yelled,
"YORUICHI. . . YORUICHI WAKE UP"
(Normal P.o.v)
Yoruichi woke up with a start, she quickly scanned her surroundings, she was still on her branch, but she was sprawled out in a huge disarray instead of her usual formal laying position.
"Oh Yoruichi, so glad you could join the living, now would you be a dear and help me get this Hollow" Akara yelled as she Dodged the hollow's dragon like tail. Akara was in human form and Yoruichi saw that the Hollow had taken its right arm and swung it at Akara, but she swiftly jumped onto the monster's arm and jumped off behind it. Yoruichi looked and saw the large reptilian Hollow and its pasty mask. It was now currently trying to swing its extremely spiked tail at Akara, but she leapt up just high enough to make the tail miss by several inches.
"It was a dream" Yoruichi said dazed, and then her mind clicked,
"And there's a Hollow" Yoruichi quickly changed back and got dressed to help her travel companion, though in secret she'd rather call her a traveling pain.
"About time" Akara said as she gave the Hollow a swift kick to its back leg, causing it to fumble slightly. Seeing an opportunity Yoruichi used her Shunko and hit the Hollow's mask. The mask cracked jaggedly as it broke off and dissolved.
"What happened, and where did that Hollow come from" Yoruichi asked bewildered. Akara scoffed,
"Well, we were both asleep, but I woke up because you kept meowing about something, you kept saying don't go, and stuff like that, anyway, I was going to move to quieter spot, then you released a lot of Reiatsu, holy cow I could barely walk, then I heard a Hollow from a distance away, I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't budge" Akara explained and Yoruichi only nodded.
"Sorry, I had this crazy dream, I can't even explain it" Yoruichi said trying to remember what had happened. But nothing but a haze filled her mind.
"Well, since were awake, you want to go back to sleep, or continue this journey of ours" Akara asked Yoruichi yawned,
"As much as I want to get going, I don't think I would be usual to Soifon's rescue mission if I was tired" Akara nodded in agreement,
"Alright then, let's go back to sleep, but please, try to be a little quieter" Akara said as she yawned and changed back into her wolf form and padded back to her spot at the base of the tree. Repeating the process she had performed earlier that evening, Akara finally laid down and closed her eyes. Leaving Yoruichi to look up at the star filled sky, the moon looking down on her,
"What was that dream about, I remember the cat saying she wanted to tell some other cat something, I think she said. . . . ."
"I love you" a gentle voice whispered as another gentle breeze blew by. Yoruichi sighed,
"Yeah that" then she retreated back to her spot in the tree. The next day Akara and Yoruichi traveled through the darkened forest, occasionally bumping into trees stumbling over tree roots and bushes not to mention each other. But eventually they made it out alive, and ready to kill each other.
"That was terrible" Akara muttered as she pulled out several leaves out of her midnight hair.
"I hope we never have to go back in there, I swear I felt something lick me" she said shuddering but Yoruichi just shrugged,
"I don't really care, we're out of there and that much closer to Little Bee" Akara shook her head as more leaves fell out,
"That's true, next is the Twin Rivers correct" Akara said and Yoruichi secretly shuddered, she hated water, but being a cat will do that to you.
"Sweet action, I love water, especially when you get to swim" Akara grinned.
"Of course, you mutts always loved to swim" Yoruichi said bitterly and Akara blew a raspberry,
"Very mature Kurokiba" was Yoruichi's response to the childish antic, but there was no reply to her remark.
"Come on floor rug, we aint got all day" Akara called, she was several meters ahead of Yoruichi and still going. Yoruichi flashed up to the ever walking Kurokiba and the two continued forward.
.cat.94: man that took awhile, had midterms this week so computer time was limited -_-'
Yoruichi: I know, you complained a lot
Akara: I know, she went on and on about why she had to test I was going crazy
.Cat.94: ok I get it! I'm just glad we don't have to test anymore, and best of all I get a three day weekend baby!
Yoruichi: Sleep time!
.Cat.94: that's what I'm saying! Well it's time to go
Akara: thank you all for reading
Yoruichi: we'll see you next time and please review
All: BYE!