Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo owns Bleach. If I owned Bleach, YoruSoi would be canon.
"You're really going at it, huh?" Ichigo surveyed their yard which was littered with cardboard boxes, bits of old furniture, and most curiously of all, dry twigs. Those were the painful reminders of failure, the many times Soi Fon had accidentally slammed into a tree while flash stepping.
"Yep," Soi Fon landed next to him, wincing. She'd been up since dawn at Suzumebachi's insistence, not that she wasn't also aware that they were running out of time, and judging by her success rate navigating the makeshift obstacle course the two of them had set out, the rest of the afternoon wasn't going to be enough either.
Ichigo scanned her face. "You should come inside and take a break. Kaido can only take you so far, and dad's just a normal doctor. You need some actual rest, Soi."
Soi Fon's shoulders slumped. "In a second…" Suzumebachi was also panting. Even transformed, they were still pooling their mana, and they were reaching their limit. "Still got enough for one last burst?" It was a desperate kind of training, Excavation, depleting all your mana and carving out even more so that when you recovered you'd have a larger reserve, but they were running into the same kind of electrical shortage as yesterday. Suzumebachi nodded.
"At least come inside for lunch. You've been out here all morning!" Ichigo made to grab his adoptive sister by the collar.
"Hold on!" Soi Fon threw up a hand and struggled upright. "Just let me try one last thing, okay?"
Ichigo frowned. "You promise you'll go in afterwards?"
"I promise!" Soi Fon doubted whether she'd be able to walk in herself, but that was beside the point.
"Alright," Ichigo shook his head. "Go on and do what you like."
"Hold on, I need you to spar me." Soi Fon straightened and leveled out her breathing. It took more strain than she would have liked to admit, forcing her body to control itself instead of clawing for air.
Ichigo blinked. "What?"
"You heard me. I need you to spar me."
"You're clearly not in any condition to spar, Soi Fon!" That was one thing about Ichigo, he cared. She knew that he was already beyond her even without her exhaustion. Hell, Ichigo was the first years' rising star, but she had to try.
Soi Fon assumed a fighting stance, arms raised. "You've fought her before, right? I need to know…" She took a deep breath and held it. "Just how far I really am from her."
"Ghk!" Ichigo blocked Soi Fon's round house on instinct. "Soi Fon, come on!"
Not fast enough.
Soi Fon retracted her leg, finishing her spin into a hook kick with her other leg. "Come on, yourself. I know you can't use that old man sheathed, so you've already got a handicap!"
"Soi!" Ichigo blasted her away with a shockwave, not even a real Getsuga Tensho. "Knock it off!"
Soi Fon flipped backwards, catching herself and flash step launching herself back to Ichigo. "Hyah!"
"I said!" Ichigo parried. "Knock it off already!"
Soi Fon's eyes widened, feet already pivoting to dodge his follow up.
"Not fast enough!" Suzumebachi screamed in their head.
They were running on empty.
Sparks erupted from Soi Fon's feet, rocketing her around her brother.
Ichigo whipped around to catch Soi Fon's counter only to catch her instead. Soi Fon collapsed into his arms weezing. "Whoa, what was that?" He propped her up on his shoulder.
Soi Fon gasped for air. It was entirely too hard to think at the moment. Suzumebachi also uncoupled from her, reforming as her natural sprite self around Soi Fon's fingers. "I have no idea," she mumbled.
"Honestly…" Ichigo sighed and dragged his sister inside. "Yuzu is going to throw a fit when she sees you like this."
Soi Fon woke up to the smell and sound of frying meat. Her legs felt leaden. Her whole body felt leaden. She cranked her neck to the side. Next to her on the pillow, Suzumebachi was curled up in a ball, still asleep.
Soi Fon blinked and tried not to groan. She had the vague memory of going inside for lunch and taking a nap before going back out to train again. She must have collapsed sometime during her afternoon session.
"Hrmmm," Suzumebachi's face contorted. Soi Fon shuffled away from the sprite to give her more room. Sleep seemed to be dampening their mental bond for the moment, but she could still see the pain written across her familiar's face. In retrospect, it was pretty amazing that she was lying here this peacefully with Suzumebachi when they hadn't even known each other a week ago. She had heard of familiars bonding quickly, but it still seemed unreal.
But maybe this was to be expected. With Yoruichi in the picture, they had a common desperate goal and they were both wearing themselves down to the bone to reach it. At least Suzumebachi seemed to be venting her energy into training instead of directing it at Soi Fon, and the training itself seemed to brighten her mood. She was in her element instead of waiting around on standby during class. It reminded Soi Fon of her past self, after her family had collapsed and Zaraki and Yachiru had brought her into the gang. Exhaustion had a certain smack of satisfaction.
And Soi Fon also suspected Kyouraku had an ulterior motive when he had told them to pool their mana. Of course it was less sustainable than individual contributions to spell costs, but it also brought their minds uncomfortably close. Each time Soi Fon flash stepped, each time she conjured a basic shield or reinforced her limbs, she could feel her familiar's frustration pulse. It was a corrosive anger. She didn't know whether it was directed at her own mistakes or Yoruichi, but Soi Fon could feel her familiar's emotions leaking into her mind. Images of Yoruichi sprang up unbidden. Yoruichi yelling at maids, Yoruichi teasing Byakuya Kuchiki, Yoruichi lazing around in the sun, Yoruichi punching clean through an old growth tree, the splintering of wood and scent of fresh sap, and…
"I don't wanna play with you, Suzume! I've got better things to do than chase you around! You're too slow anyway!"
"What do you mean you take two hits? That's lame! I thought dad made sure that you were the best! Ugh whatever, I'll just get Kisuke to make me something. He and Benihime always have something worth looking at."
"Can you just shut up? Why would I summon you when you just get in the way?"
Well, if those memories could get through, Soi Fon wondered which of her memories were slipping into Suzumebachi.
"Oh, you're awake." Renji opened the door to Soi Fon's room wearing a mint green apron. "Dinner's ready. Ichigo and the others have cleaned up their spots, so we can eat now."
Soi Fon snickered. "What's with that?" she whispered, looking over Renji's outfit.
Renji scowled. "You know I can cook, right? And with you training yourself to death, it's not like we can leave dinner to you."
"Yeah, yeah," Soi Fon winced and heaved herself upright. She hadn't even been working her upper body as hard as her legs, but her arms burned with the effort. "Whew, I might need another round of Kaido before I collapse tonight."
"You want me and Ichigo to try healing you?" Renji raised an eyebrow and held the door open for Soi Fon while she scooped Suzumebachi up in her hands and stumbled out of her bed.
"Every bit counts. Tomorrow's the match."
Renji shook his head. "I still can't believe you're going through with this."
"Well, I am, so there." Soi grasped the handrail and started limping down to the living room. "I don't see why you're so surprised though. It didn't stop you from taking on Byakuya."
"That was different! Rukia got involved as well, and I had Ichigo to back me up! Even a few of the professors were adjudicating!"
"Uh-huh," Soi Fon grinned and collapsed into her seat at the kitchen table.
"And you're in a solo match!" Renji started scooping out bowls of rice for the two of them.
"You can come and watch me kick that Shihouin's ass if you're so worried."
"You're that confident?" He set out the bowls and walked over to the kitchen proper to grab tonight's stir fry.
Soi Fon laughed. It hurt. "I'm trying to be. Hey, can you grab a small plate while you're over there for her?"
"Your familiar? I didn't know she needed to eat."
"Every bit counts."
Renji shrugged and bent down to retrieve a plate from the cupboard. "You think you can catch up to Yoruichi that quickly?"
Soi Fon's arms wobbled as she reached out to pick up a strip of beef from the stir fry. "Maybe. I think I've gotten faster." She had definitely gotten faster, but fast enough? Even with Suzumebachi's rogue memories she couldn't tell. It had never seemed like Yoruichi Shihouin actually tried anyway. She made everything look effortless. It was like she was trying to portray the haughty grace of a noble in every step. Maybe if Soi Fon could reliably pull off whatever she had done against Ichigo before lunch, she could surprise the Shihouin and tag her, but even after more training, the pair of them hadn't been able to replicate the movement. It was unconscious, or at least, it didn't certainly feel like she was in the one control of those moments, as if it wasn't her magic. Soi Fon swallowed.
"Mmm?" Suzumebachi's eyes fluttered.
"Morning," Soi Fon nudged her. "How'd you sleep?"
"Not long enough…" her familiar grumbled.
Soi Fon suppressed a chuckle. It was weird being on the opposite side of the exchange. She had plenty of experience waking up earlier than everyone else in the household, but the past couple of days, Suzumebachi had been punting her out of bed. Their time together had stretched, making it feel like months instead of days. "C'mon, we've got dinner. I'll feed you."
"Hmph… I can feed myself," Suzumebachi winced and stretched her arms. "I'm not in that bad of shape yet!"
Soi Fon shrugged and served some of the stir fry onto the sprite's plate. "Suit yourself."
"You two really are unbelievable…" Renji mumbled.
Soi Fon looked over at him. "Desperate times and measures, right? Though I heard that you've been talking about us to Isane…"
"What's with that look? She's my friend too!" Renji started shoveling his dinner into his mouth. "Besides, Rukia's been trying to study more Kaido from her."
"Only because you injure yourself too much," Soi Fon grinned.
"Hey! I don't want to hear it from you."
"I usually keep out of the infirmary. Don't you get a free sundae the next time Prof. Unohana sees you?"
"Oh, shut it. I can't believe I was feeling worried for you!"
Soi Fon laughed.
Soi Fon opened her eyes. Sunday. Her pupils constricted. 4 am Sunday.
"You awake too?" Suzumebachi fluttered down to Soi Fon's pillow.
"Yeah." Their match was at 10. She should have just rolled over in bed and tried to go back to sleep, but she couldn't. Soi Fon was used to anxiety. That was normal. She was used to adrenaline too. She'd had plenty of that before the Kurosaki's had taken her in. But this wasn't one of those things. Those made her stomach churn and her heart race and her muscles clench.
This made her body burn.
Panic.
What had Suzumebachi been dreaming about?
"We should get up," she thought.
"You sure?"
"Are you going to be able to go back to sleep?" Soi Fon felt her familiar shake her head. "Then let's get started for the day. The longer we're in sync, the better chance we have of taking her down." Something cold dropped in Soi Fon's stomach as she mentioned Yoruichi. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Suzumebachi rolled her shoulders and landed on Soi Fon's palm. "I just didn't think this was how I'd spend my last day on the Front Side."
"Hey, we've got this." We have to, Soi Fon kept to herself. She sighed as Suzumebachi melted into golden light and reformed around her fingers, a fresh set of black gloves. Its gilded thread caught the morning light leaking into Soi Fon's room. Suzumebachi had become a familiar weight, she almost felt exposed without the gloves now.
Soi Fon splayed her fingers and got out of bed, dressing for the match. A pair of old jeans, sturdy enough for the underbrush but worn out enough to not worry about restricting her movement or if they got torn up. A plain gray T. A dark yellow hoodie and a beat up denim jacket. Yoruichi had reserved S2, which was stuck in its autumn cycle right now, maybe the faded colors would help her blend in, and the layers wouldn't hurt. She could always lose them if it got too hot.
Soi Fon paused before picking up the jacket though. It was one of the few things she had kept from first year, mainly because it had been one of the few things she had been wearing when she had arrived at the school infirmary.
"Zaraki and Yachiru miss you."
She wondered. She hadn't seen either of them since then. Of course, that was partly her fault, picking up all the classes she knew they wouldn't be interested in, except of course for the obvious one. That class was taken out of her hands.
But losing your family was always hard.
Soi Fon slipped her arms into the jacket and sighed.
"Alright, let's do this."
A/N: And cut! It's a bit of a short chapter compared to the last two, but cut me some slack. It's hard writing a training chapter! No wonder everyone does a training montage in movies and manga. I didn't feel like going over Soi Fon and Suzumebachi drilling flash steps over and over again. Besides, this is still around the same length as the first chapter!
Actually, looking back on this, I didn't really allocate a lot of time for them to train together, did I? Only two days? But I don't think this Yoruichi would really have let them have time to get it together. At least it lets me move things along! If Soi Fon and Suzumebachi manage to pull a win out of this, we'll have to see how in the world they closed that gap… That's a big if though!
I also feel like I'm setting up so many things that I'll just never get around to resolving… How very faithful to the source material! If you do have questions, feel free to leave a comment and remind me! Actually, please leave a comment anyway! I always enjoy reading them.
And with that, I'll see you guys next time. I hope you're looking forward to the big match!
