Disclaimer: Still don't own Bleach. Barely holding onto my sanity in fact.


Soi Fon tamped down hard on the bite wound in her torso, almost as hard as she glared at her savior. "I wasn't expecting you to show up," she snarled.

Yoruichi looked down on her the way she always did nowadays, and Soi Fon's growl grew. Pity, it was always that look of greater sympathy, as if Yoruichi was extending her an act of mercy each and every time they met. "Why not? I saw you were in pain and wanted to help. Is it so hard to believe that I care about you?"

Soi Fon bit back her response. Yes, it was hard to believe. She had over a century's worth of evidence to support her too, but that wouldn't change the fact that Yoruichi was here, guarding the door, and she was slumped against the wall. "Of course," she tried to shrug off the venom in her voice, but the motion triggered too much pain in her side. "After all, a captain this injured by a mere hollow isn't fit to lead the stealth corp."

The older soul reaper's face softened further into pity. "We all make mistakes." She crossed the room and knelt down to Soi Fon's level. "And it wasn't just a mere hollow; it was an Adjuchas."

"No matter, I should have known going out tonight was foolhardy." Soi Fon turned her gaze to the apartment window. Outside drooped the harvest moon, a dark orange slowly bleeding pale into the last dregs of the night. "But I suppose I had orders of my own," she cut off Yoruichi's counterargument. Kyouraku had sent all of the ranking officers to guard various cities across the globe. She should have known her assignment was intentional. She had thought as long as it wasn't Karakura Town, as long as it wasn't near that man, she would be safe, but Yoruichi wandered. She always wandered, never moored to the same place, the same person-

Soi Fon hissed.

"Are you okay?" Yoruichi's hand flew to her abdomen, where Soi Fon's hands were already applying as much pressure as they could.

"I'm fine." Soi Fon shrugged the cat-woman away. "Even someone like me knows some basic kaido."

"…Of course you do," Yoruichi whispered. "Don't think I've forgotten who tended to me on the battlefield."

The captain's face darkened. Why did Yoruichi have to bring that up now? She had been so eager to please back then. Even if it was just the pale shadow of a fourth squad member, she had practiced countless nights on her own body trying to find ways to soothe her mentor's pains, anything to lift any burden from Yoruichi's shoulders.

She had been a naive fool. To even entertain the notion that she could help in any meaningful way, to think her efforts mattered to Yoruichi, was the height of folly. And in throwing herself at such a ridiculous goal, she had ruined herself. All for a woman who hadn't bothered to think twice about eloping with Urahara…

The woman in question leaned in further, all the way down to Soi Fon's ear. "Will you… let me return the favor?"

Soi Fon sighed. "Will you let me say no?" Whether she consented or not was of no real consequence. Yoruichi always did as she pleased. She didn't even protest as the older soul reaper slipped her hands under her body and lifted her bridal-style.

"No," Yoruichi affirmed, murmuring. "It's my fault you were injured anyway."

Soi Fon stayed silent.

"You wouldn't have gotten injured if you hadn't sensed me coming," she whispered, laying the smaller soul reaper into the apartment's lone couch. "Why didn't you say anything, Soi Fon?"

Hearing Yoruichi say her name roused the captain. "What does it matter?" Soi Fon hated mentioning her weaknesses, and she had tried so hard to wrap everything up before her old mentor had arrived. It had made her sloppy, wanting to escape, wanting to impress the other woman still.

"I hurt you again," Yoruichi breathed and pried away the clotted fabric glued to Soi Fon's wound.

"This? This is nothing," Soi Fon snorted. "My just desserts." She paused as the older reaper's kaido began to stitch together her flesh faster and more smoothly than she could have ever managed. Her mentor was still ahead of her. She would never catch up with the Goddess of Flash. Better at kaido, better at shunpo, better at hakuda and kido…

"Don't say that."

"Why? It's true." Soi Fon caught Yoruichi's gaze and was surprised to see how wet the other woman's eyes were.

"You don't have to keep beating yourself up, Soi Fon. It's not your fault that I left."

Soi Fon's breath caught. "Well, it's not yours either." So where was she supposed to lay her guilt? She had spent so long carrying everything between them, how could she stop? It had become a comfortable weight, the thing driving her forward. She hadn't been good enough for Yoruichi, not even for a goodbye. She hadn't been good enough for captaincy, not even as a lieutenant. The constancy of Yoruichi's absence had reminded her how much she despised herself, of how little she had existed outside the other woman. And so it had become her one wish to exceed the other, to eclipse her predecessor so that everyone forgot the traitor's name, so that the reverse was true and she could finally be free of the woman.

"I…" Yoruichi's protest died in her throat, and for the first time, Soi Fon felt how heavy Yoruichi's own guilt must have been.

Slowly, the soothing waves of Yoruichi's kaido faded, and the older soul reaper propped Soi Fon up into a sitting position before kneeling on the floor again.

Soi Fon straightened her back stiffly. "Thank you."

Yoruichi didn't meet her gaze.

"I'll be fine now. You can go." Leave, please.

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then I can't force you," Soi Fon fought to keep her voice level. "Despite what you might think, I'm not a fool, Yoruichi. If you wish to stay, then I am in no state to protest it." She turned her head away from the other woman as she spoke. Still planted firmly on her knees, Yoruichi's presence ate through her own anger, the other woman deferring to the younger for the first time in Soi Fon's memory.

"I don't mean it like that." Soi Fon felt Yoruichi's hands grasp her own.

"Then how, pray tell," Soi Fon grit her teeth, unwilling to shake off the cat-woman, "do you mean it?" It would have been so much easier to pull away, to throw Yoruichi out of the apartment. She knew that the former captain would not struggle, not when Soi Fon was still recovering, and that burned at the current captain's pride. She was always being looked down on, always being underestimated.

"I…" Yoruichi's explanation withered. "I don't like repeating my mistakes. Not when I can help it."

The second division captain raised a cruel eyebrow. "Mistake?" she lashed out. "Is that what you call it? I don't think you had any qualms after leaving with the ryoka or living with Urahara after that."

"I was training!" Yoruichi protested. "I was helping them prepare for Aizen, I-" Her voice caught. "I'm sorry." Her apology was small.

"Is that it?" Soi Fon felt distant from her own words, surprised at how cooly she accepted Yoruichi's explanation. Perhaps it didn't matter anymore. Yoruichi could say anything she wanted and she still wouldn't be able to undo that century of lost time.

"…No," Yoruichi whispered. "I just- I don't know how to say it!" Soi Fon winced as Yoruichi's grip nearly crushed her hand. "Everything between us, everything that I've done to hurt you, I can't take it back, I can't just ask for us to start over, but I…" Yoruichi bowed her head. "I don't know. I don't know!"

"What are you expecting?" Soi Fon murmured, half to herself and half to Yoruichi. "What do you even want from me?" What are we?

"I don't know," Yoruichi repeated hollowly. "I don't want your forgiveness. I don't want to keep pretending like I didn't hurt you. I-"

"Stop." The second division captain's eyes turned steely. Hurt? Yoruichi hadn't just hurt her. She had destroyed Soi Fon, rejected everything that had made the younger soul reaper herself by leaving- by abandoning her. And yet, that wasn't what infuriated the proud woman the most. "Yes, you hurt me," she growled. "But I'm not such a fragile being that I would shatter from your heartlessness."

"Soi…"

"Do not underestimate me, Yoruichi Shihouin." The second division captain stood, wincing and casting aside Yoruichi. Why was she like this? Constantly turning from indifferent, to heartbroken, to enraged, it sickened her. When she was around Yoruichi, her emotions flailed helplessly.

During that lonely century, her feelings had held their course. Yes, she was devastated and that devastation burned into hate, but at least the change had been slow. Without her guiding star, without Yoruichi, she had craved control, wrestled her rebellious heart into submission, and her heart had submitted at last. But now the traitorous organ lashed out, as if emboldened by Yoruichi's return. "I am not the girl you abandoned to the Seireitei and Shihouins."

How many trials had she endured to become a captain? Not just the promotional test, but the hundreds of assassins sent by her former mentor's family, the thousands of hours spent under Central 46's scrutiny, the millions of eyes upon her as she beat her way up the ranks. She was not a formal member of the punishment force, nor any branch of the stealth corp; she was not enrolled in Shin'o and had never been admitted to the Gotei 13. For all her family's vows and service, she was an outsider.

They could not abide a minor noble taking their traitor princess's crowning achievement. No, only a Shihouin could unite the stealth corp and the second division. Only a Shihouin was fit to rule.

Oh, she knew how deeply their emotions ran. They were the same as hers.

How she had craved Yoruichi's position. How she had craved her status, her recognition, her power, as if those things would make up for the woman's own absence.

"So do not address me as if you know who I am, as if you know what I'm thinking or what my limits are, Yoruichi Shihouin." She stressed the family name, branding the princess in front of her. "If you have something you want to say, just say it. I'm tired of showing my heart so that you can plan your words. I'm tired of being the vulnerable one."

That was it. That was the heart of it. Soi Fon was tired, tired of her emotions, of her longing, of her inferiority, of her servile habit, of her always chasing after Yoruichi for approval. Whether it was as her bodyguard or to claim her legacy or to finally surpass the woman in front of her, she was always breaking herself to hear even the slightest bit of recognition, of respect, from her former captain.

"I want-" Soi Fon heard Yoruichi's response catch in her throat. "I want you." Her voice cracked and Yoruichi seemed to sink even deeper into the floor beneath Soi Fon's feet.

Soi Fon stumbled. Yoruichi wanted her? Why? What did she offer the exiled princess?

"I want to hold you, I want to kiss you, I want to stay by your side and make sure you're never hurt again. I want to apologize until you understand that I never wanted to hurt you." Yoruichi's voice burned, her tears acid, and Soi Fon realized the princess was an ugly crier. "I want you to trust me, I want to be your everything, I want to stop being so hung up on you, but I just can't move on."

And never had Soi Fon ever imagined that Yoruichi would be the pitiful one between them. Even a confession wasn't as shocking as this role reversal.

Yoruichi sniffed, failing to collect herself. "You probably think I'm a vile woman now." Her hands knotted themselves together, as if she was trying to wring her anxiety out of them. "But I want you in that way, Soi Fon. I've always wanted you like that." She grimaced. "That's why I left. That's why I never said anything.

"I'm a disgusting excuse for a teacher. How could I ever admit something like that? When I was so much older and in charge of you and your family? How could I ever state that I was in love with my student when you put so much blind faith in me? I thought-" Yoruchi hiccuped. "I thought that it would be enough to stay by your side. I thought I could be content with that, but when Kisuke was imprisoned…" She shook her head so violently, Soi Fon thought it might fly off her neck.

"I realized I couldn't do it. I would ruin you. You had already become so dependent on me, if I took you away from your family, if I stranded you in the living world with me…" The thought died on her tongue. "I loved you too much. I would mold you into someone who couldn't live without me, and you didn't deserve that. I couldn't trust myself to say goodbye without asking you to come."

Soi Fon's stomach lurched. "So you took that choice from me."

"I didn't want to become any more of a monster than I was," Yoruichi moaned.

"And what about now?" Soi Fon snapped. "What's your excuse now? What's your excuse after we fought under Sokyoku Hill? Did you think I could hate you more than I already did? Did you think I would just come to forgive you if you eased your way back into my life like nothing had happened?"

"I-"

"Or did you give up on me?" Soi Fon gagged. She didn't know whether it was from disgust at Yoruichi or herself. "You say that you want me and yet you hid behind excuses and half-truths. How could you ever expect me to return your feelings with such noncommittal actions? And you call that love!"

"I knew you'd hate me," Yoruichi whined. "And even if it was only half-baked and distant, I thought that was better than you despising me." She groaned. "At least then, I could still be part of your life again…"

Again? Soi Fon ground her teeth. Again? "I told you already," she whispered, breath furious. "I am not the girl you abandoned. Don't you dare treat me like her." She was no longer that pathetic servant. Soi Fon refused that identity. She hadn't suffered and fought for a century to be reduced to that state again. "Do I look like I'm a child? Do you think me a student of yours still? Am I not a captain? Am I not the leader of the stealth corp?" Soi Fon's voice grew with each question, fury reclaiming the titles she had tossed aside under Yoruichi's shadow. "Do you think I still hold that blind admiration and undying loyalty for your name after everything you've put me through?" She hurled the accusation at the woman in front of her.

Soi Fon didn't know if she returned the Shihouin's feelings. She didn't know if she even could feel the same way as Yoruichi. But why couldn't Yoruichi see her? That was all Soi Fon had ever asked of the Shihouin princess, to see Soi Fon, to see what she could do for Yoruichi, what she would do, what she had done without her.

The silence stretched long between the two women as Soi Fon's tirade settled into mute frustration.

Yoruichi barely stirred, frozen from Soi Fon's outburst, and Soi Fon wrestled with her breath, trying to bring herself back down from her rage.

Then finally, Yoruichi asked, "Can I… can I hold you?"

Silence resumed its reign as Soi Fon held the request. Why? Her jaw clenched. Why was this how things had turned out? After so many years, this was how the Shihouin finally met her? Soi Fon hadn't expected anything grand, hadn't expected to feel satisfied, hadn't even expected to win if she was honest with herself. But this? This was cruel.

The woman prostrating herself before the second division captain was not Yoruichi Shihouin.

"Just do whatever you like," Soi Fon growled.

There was no satisfaction in this. The woman in front of her was just pathetic.

And she was just a prize.

The thought sickened her. After everything, the reason Yoruichi had kept invading her life was merely for her body. The Shihouin didn't see her so much as the person she had been made out to be in Yoruichi's head. Over a century of strife and hate for nothing.

So what did it matter what Soi Fon wanted? Let Yoruichi do what she always did. There was no need for Soi Fon's approval, if Soi Fon wasn't the one Yoruichi wanted.

Soi Fon's chest burned. Wanted. She had wanted to be wanted, wanted to be the target of Yoruichi's gaze. Maybe there had been something foolishly romantic in that notion decades ago, but she had whittled it down to just one desire. She had wanted to be equals.

The captain's eyes snapped open in confusion.

No… that was right. Much less than eclipsing Yoruichi, she had wanted to stand proud next to her. What was the point of erasing Yoruichi's name when she wasn't even there to begin with? She had wanted to stand eye-to-eye and then prove herself, prove that she deserved to live as her own person, as her own captain and commander.

Not this. Not this horrible imbalance between them now. She didn't want to be a doll of the girl Yoruichi loved, and she didn't want to be the idol with Yoruichi's heart in the palm of her hand.

Yoruichi stopped halfway to hugging the captain. "Are you… sure?"

And the way her voice trailed made Soi Fon snap.

She had already dashed Yoruichi to the floor with the palm of her hand before she even registered her outrage.

Especially not this.

This wasn't Yoruichi.

"Can I? Are you sure? Mother, may I?" she spat derisively. "What happened to you? Who are you?! Not Yoruichi Shihouin!" she roared. "Would Yoruichi Shihouin grovel and beg? Would Yoruichi Shihouin be so weak?!" She turned on her heel. "Make up your mind! Do you want me or do you not? If you really cared about me- if you really loved me, you wouldn't be so timid! What kind of love is so fragile as yours?!"

To hell if she was an object.

To hell if she was an idol.

But even then, even then, she still wanted something behind Yoruichi's gaze, some kind of passion. Without that, even being a doll was meaningless.

Soi Fon kicked off the floorboards and rocketed out of the apartment.

It was a mistake, one she knew she would regret. The wound in her abdomen was already straining against the tender flesh only recently sewn back together, but Soi Fon didn't care.

She lashed out with Suzumebachi, trails of hollows imploding behind her.

Let them come, let them come. At least there was meaning in this. At least there was something driving these hollows to attack. They could smell her blood, still staining her haori, and the harvest moon was driving them into a frenzy.

"You're being unreasonable," Suzumebachi hummed. "Why not give her a chance?"

Soi Fon snarled and slashed straight through another Menos.

"Is it not better than leaving things the way they are? With you stuck in this half state of not knowing why she continues to haunt you? She clearly cares."

Her shunpo blazed, and the town disappeared from around Soi Fon. "I have no use for cowards." No use for someone who was so unsure of her worth that they couldn't even approach her without shattering.

"That's ironic coming from you-"

Soi Fon rammed her blade through the next hollow and buried Suzumebachi in the building behind it. "Enough." Her shunko roared, reiatsu daring the entire area to fight her.

They swarmed her, disintegrating against the gale of her fury.

She bashed another Menos, shearing away its mask in her grasp before she could properly crush it with her own muscles.

Another Adjuchas, Soi Fon lunged for its forepaw-

Her side tore open.

She tucked in on herself, rolling out of Adjucha's counterattack.

"Aren't you just running from Yoruichi too?" Even separated, Soi Fon could never silence the criticism of her own soul.

"Shut up," Soi Fon growled and pounced at the adjucha's, blood and reishi still pouring out of her.

"You built up your own image of her, and now you're scared to tear down your own stupid notions of who you think she should be. If the woman you chased after all these years isn't real, then what does that make you? Nothing but the echo of a lie."

"I said shut up!" Soi Fon screamed, her shunko growing to a fevered pitch. By now she must have been calling all the hollows in the prefecture, not just the town.

"Do you think this tantrum of yours will solve anything? Has giving into your rage ever solved anything?"

The second division captain howled. "And has lecturing me ever helped you, you stupid sword?!" She hated her, hated Suzumebachi too, that wonderful name that she had discovered with Yoruichi. She resented it, resented how it had become her mentor when the other left, resented how it was always right, how it always knew who she was and how it would never shy away from showing her just how disgusted she was with herself. Her bankai was the pinnacle of that.

The Adjuchas lunged at her, jaw gleaming in the dying moonlight, and Soi Fon knew she wouldn't be able to dodge. She was too distracted, too exhausted from herself and reishi-loss.

Its fangs buried themselves deep in her shoulder and she felt something snap.

"You!-" she groaned and tried to raise her other arm to lock its head and tear it off, but her shunko faltered, winds unsustainable under so much damage.

Dammit… Soi Fon mouthed as her eyes grew dark. Just before sunrise too.

"Soi!"

Dimly, Soi Fon registered Yoruichi's scream.

Dammit.

She felt her body jostle and drop. Something like burnt flesh crossed her and suddenly, she was being cradled in the other woman's arms.

"Hang on, Soi! I'll get you somewhere safe."

Damn you. Yoruichi. So now she finally had the energy to act like she cared… Soi Fon wished she had the energy to glare at the older soul reaper.

Suzumebachi's words clattered in her mind, and Soi Fon caught something like panic seared into Yoruichi's face. Something like fear. So that was who Yoruichi was…

"Hang on, Soi. Don't die on me. Don't you die on me!"

The familiar warmth of Yoruichi's kaido lapped at her shoulder.

Dammit. Soi Fon's eyelids fluttered closed. Why did that have to be the final thing she saw?…


The second division captain woke up in a panic and was quickly humbled by the agony in her right side. Bandages were wrapped from her shoulder to her hip, nearly cutting off the flow of reishi in her body. Soi Fon gasped and submitted to her body.

Where was she? Her eyes cast miserably about for clues.

Someplace safe. The sun had fully risen now. Someone had tended to her wounds and healed her from the brink of death. Unohana? No, she had been dead for years. Then her successor, Kotetsu? Soi Fon strained for a reiatsu confirmation.

Then her eyes landed on the bedside.

Yoruichi.

Her heart sank.

"What were you thinking?…" she groaned against her pain.

"Mm?" Yoruichi's face twitched. She blinked, also bewildered in the morning sun. Then she straightened, as panicked as Soi Fon had been. "Soi?"

The second captain sighed.

"Are you okay?"

Soi Fon held her breath. "No," she finally answered.

"Are you-"

"Why did you save me?"

"What?" Yoruichi seemed stunned. "Of course I would-"

"Why did you save me?" Soi Fon repeated, softer. "After everything I said last night."

Yoruichi froze. "It's not like that's a good reason to let you die…" She attempted a smile.

Soi Fon studied her face in the morning light. It was fragile. Yoruichi was fragile and weak, not in the sense of battle, but the entirety of her emotions were brittle.

And she had still chased after her.

Suzumebachi had been right, Soi Fon winced. She had been blinded by what she had wanted from Yoruichi without understanding who the woman even was.

"You could have dropped me off with the fourth division. You're quick enough to make the trip."

Yoruichi's smile faltered. "I panicked. You were a mess."

"Why?" Soi Fon groaned. "Why do you care in the first place?" She already knew the answer, that look of terror on Yoruichi's face as she had clutched her body.

The older woman shut down, the morning light draining out of her face. "I didn't want to lose a second with you if I couldn't save you." It was a tiny whisper. "I told you, right? I'm a monster."

It was a simple, selfish answer, and for some reason, Soi Fon didn't mind it at all. At the very least, it felt real. Last night, everything had been so taut, as if the world had been pulling apart at the seams. She had forced Yoruichi to confess, and the memories shamed her.

But she had wanted to know. She still wanted to know. Why? What did they even owe each other after all this time? There was so much false weight hanging over them.

"What am I to you, Yoruichi?" Soi Fon shuddered as she forced herself into a sitting position.

"I…" Yoruichi's protest died as Soi Fon finally settled against the headboard. "You're… the person I love, or at least I want you to be. You're my precious student and my deepest regret and…" She knotted her hands together. "My biggest mistake." She sighed. "And you're the captain of squad two, the commander of the keigun. You're a beautiful, accomplished woman, and you've done what I couldn't with your position…"

"And who do you think you are to me?" Soi Fon chewed on Yoruichi's answer. It was everything she had expected, and yet nothing at all that she had hoped, even the praise.

Yoruichi shook her head. "Maybe a traitor or your teacher or your lousy predecessor. Maybe I'm that woman who broke your heart and ran off with some guy, but…" she squeezed her eyes shut. "Even that seems self-indulgent."

"I don't know," Soi Fon answered.

"What?"

"I don't know," Soi Fon repeated. "I don't know who you are to me anymore." She turned her gaze down to her own hands. "And I don't think I should really be who you think I am to you either."

Yoruichi's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?" A trace of last night's timidity crept into her voice.

No, Soi Fon reminded herself, fear. For Yoruichi, what she was saying was tantamount to a second exile. "I mean, we're actually strangers right now, aren't we? We haven't got a clue as to who we are." She allowed herself a small smile.

Yoruichi had run out to save her, that was a start.

"More than a start," Soi Fon heard her zanpakuto snark.

That was true too. These bandages were proof enough of that. Maybe… maybe she was someone who actually mattered to Yoruichi, not just faint memory but a life that could be snuffed out in an instant.

"But I'm willing to try again." Soi Fon looked back up to meet Yoruichi's gaze. "If you'd like to as well."

The cat woman blinked, then started. "Does that mean?…" She couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

Soi Fon nodded. "My name is Shaolin Feng. Would you like to start over with me?"


A/N: Ah… October. My favorite(?) time of the year? At least, it's certainly the time of year where I start feeling like I need to write more. This time, I wanted to write something a little spookier, so I set the story during the harvest moon! There's actually a bunch of different things the harvest moon could bring, but I thought about the classic connection between monsters and moonlight and decided that I would let some hollows rampage around the world for the soul reapers to handle.

I also wanted to return to YoruSoi (surprise, surprise)! It's been a really hectic few months, and I do plan to come back to Recontract so please be patient with me. Lately, I seem to have lost the ability to write. Even this fic came out pretty sloppy… But putting that aside, I think I at least hit upon something new in the YoruSoi dynamic for me at least.

I think I've bemoaned the fact that I tend to retread plotlines and emotions when writing YoruSoi. It's usually some combination of abandonment angst and inferiority or guilt for abandoning the other. Sometimes there's love before Turn Back the Pendulum, and sometimes they find it afterwards. There's usually a confession too. But as I was writing this, Soi Fon just got angrier and angrier. It made me realize that, yeah, Soi Fon really is an angry person. It's pretty much her default response to trauma, but I've never really written her as angry. Frustrated, annoyed, confused, broken, depressed, resigned? Yes. But angry? Maybe there have been a few moments, but it's never been her primary emotion. Even if she says it is, I've usually internalized that as a mask for her deeper feelings.

I'm still pondering that phrase from my return fic, "Justice for Soi Fon." In "Shadows" that meant Soi Fon leaving Yoruichi behind and putting herself first, and in Yoruichi fics, that usually means Yoruichi taking responsibility for her actions and trying to make amends and support Soi Fon (though no one deserves forgiveness. The only person who can forgive someone is the person hurt in the first place).

But here, I thought maybe Soi Fon should stand up for herself in a different way. I wanted her to say things clearly and most of all, I wanted her to realize not that she wanted Yoruichi's love but that she wanted her respect. I'm guilty of this as well, but all too often I think we show Soi Fon as a victim only, when she's really much more. I might even make the argument that she's the character that changes the most throughout Bleach as you get to know her. Before being a couple, I wanted to recognize Soi Fon as her own character.

In the end though, I guess it's still kind of formulaic in its structure. YoruSoi in a tense situation that forces their emotions to a head, a confession and rejection, and then a morning reconciliation. Believe it or not, my initial draft of this fic was much fluffier. I even titled it "Sanctuary" because I wanted it to be about Soi Fon finding comfort in Yoruichi despite their unresolved relationship, but then of course, I wanted Soi Fon to vouch for her own pride as well.

That's why this is a two shot! I'm planning on uploading a second chapter in November, so please look forward to it! Finally, I'll get to write some fluffy, cuddly, giggly yuri… !

Oh and Recontract is still in the works. I'm rewatching/reading the Hueco Mundo arc to find my motivation again so we'll see our disaster sapphics there soon too!

Please leave a review if you enjoyed reading and you're excited for things to come! They'll help me drag myself out of this creative bog, I promise.