Rain--The Cat's Natural Enemy It had only started to sprinkle a little, but even so Yoruichi ran for the school entrance, leaving behind the much slower Urahara in her wake. She could tell just from the sky that it was going to rain today and rain hard-- the last few days had been gradually darker and cloudier, not to mention the distinct fragrance of lightning on the air was a dead giveaway to the athletic upperclassman. "D...damnit...Yoru-chan...wh...why do you...always have to...do that?" Yoruichi turned at the sound of Kisuke's voice and prepared to punish him for using her nickname, but seeing that since he was doubled over and clutching a stitch in his chest from trying to keep up with her, decided to take mercy on him for once. "I...can't believe that you STILL haven't gotten over this. How many years has it been, already?" "Hey, if you're gonna get bitchy I don't have a problem with kicking your ass," the tall girl said with a teasing grin, but Urahara recoiled all the same. "H-hi, Yoruichi-san, Urahara-san!" The duo smiled at Soi Fong as she walked up, and Yoruichi felt a slight leap that she dismissed as simply being glad to see her friend. It had been a few days since the ugliness that had transpired in the gym, and by now things had returned to normal between them. Even though it had ultimately been little more than a misunderstanding, Yoruichi still felt glad that Soi trusted her again. "Hi, Soi Fong!" "Hey, shrimp! How're you doing?" Soi frowned slightly at Urahara's greeting, but shrugged it off when Yoruichi assured her that he was just being stupid. "Oh, I'm all right. I'm just glad that it didn't start raining before I got here-- I probably would've gotten soaked." "Well, I hope you at least brought an umbrella," Urahara said as he looked in Yoruichi's direction with a wry grin, "...Because it's supposed to pour ALL DAY TODAY." Soi gave him a curious look before turning to Yoruichi to see that she had a very agitated expression on her face. "...Yoruichi-san? Is something wrong?" "Oh, uh...nothing," Yoruichi answered quickly, haphazardly throwing a smile on in the hope of avoiding having to answer. Soi was willing to grant her friend the privacy she desired until Urahara spoke up. "Oh, you mean that Yoruichi hasn't told y--" "Shut UP, Kisuke!" the upperclasswoman growled, an uncharacteristic amount of urgency in her voice. "You see, Soi-chan," Urahara continued, the placing of the freshman between him and his female companion giving him confidence to proceed, "Yoruichi has a very intriguing phobi--" "I told you to SHUT UP, DAMNIT!" Yoruichi said in a snarl, trying to get at Kisuke to silence him, but he managed to slip through her fingers like water. "Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of, Yoruichi--I'm sure that a lot of 18-year olds are afraid of rainstorms." The secret out, Yoruichi sighed in defeat, her face turning red as she turned away to look at the wall. For a moment, Soi could only stare at the back of her friend's head, unable to process that the invincible Yoruichi could possibly have any sort of insecurities. "Um," the petite girl started cautiously, "...Is that tru--" "Look, I'm not AFRAID of them," The upperclassman grumbled as she continued walking, too embarrassed to look either of them in the face. "...I just don't like rain, is all." "...Don't forget thunder, too," Urahara quipped with a smile still on his unshaven mug. "I remember that she wouldn't come on this one class trip because she was afraid that the plane would get hit by lightni--" "THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO, YOU DAMN IDIOT!" Yoruichi shot back, then whacked Kisuke so hard on the head that he actually stumbled over, a reaction that in turn made Soi suppress a chuckle. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Now then," Rukia called to the rest of the beginners as they finished their warm-ups and were seated on the floor, "...Kichiki-sensei has decided that the first opportunity you rookies'll have to test for Yellow belt is going to be this Friday at 5:00." After allowing the greenhorns a few moments of excited chatter, the diminuitive Brown-belt raised her hand to signal for silence. "Now, I'd like to remind all of you that you'll only have a couple chances to do this in a group setting: the time on Friday and then on Saturday at 9:00. After that, then you'll have to ask one of the Black belts to give you a personal test. And trust me--they'll all be much more critical of you if you're being tested one-on-one. In either case, I trust that most of you--" she took an opportunity to glare accusingly at Keigo, who was too busy daydreaming to notice, "...will do well enough to make me proud. You've been doing this for a quite a while now, so don't let your efforts go to waste. Is that understood?" The students all gave a nod in the affirmative, which satisfied Rukia greatly. "All right-- let's go over the basics, then.""So...Are you looking forward to Friday?" Yoruichi asked Soi as they left the locker room an hour later. "Oh, uh...well, I guess..." the freshman answered casually, but in truth she was literally counting the days until she could take the test. It had been a long time since Soi had felt a real sense of accomplishment as far as athletics were concerned, and the idea of acquiring something to show for her efforts excited the young girl. She'd even been practicing a little at home, though in truth she did a lot better when Yoruichi went over the routines with her. "Aw, damnit," the senior muttered to herself when they opened the gym door to see that the rain was still coming down in heavy waves. "I was hoping it would've let up some, but..." After a few moments of indecision, Yoruichi sighed and pulled a collapsible red umbrella out of her bookbag, snapping it open with a click as she stepped outside, followed quickly by Soi as she opened up a much older one with a plain black covering. The freshman nearly yelped as the wind threatened to yank the portable shield out of her hands, only succeeding in keeping a hold on it thanks to a quick reflex. "Hey, you doin' all right?" Yoruichi called back, looking over her shoulder at Soi Fong. "Y-yeah, I'm fine!" Soi answered as she ran to keep pace with her friend. They proceeded quietly to the street corner, speaking only to say their goodbyes and turn away from each other. Yoruichi didn't give the freshman a second thought until she heard a snapping sound behind her followed by "Oh, damnit!" Upon turning around, she saw Soi running in the street, chasing after what looked like the wind-wrecked remains of a black umbrella. After a few minutes in which she was completely soaked to the bone, Soi gave an angry huff and abandoned the attempt to catch her now-useless weather shield, then to Yoruichi's bewilderment continued on her way home. Yoruichi stared at her forlorn companion for a few minutes before she started running in Soi's direction. Damnit... Soi walked at a steady pace as the merciless elements continued to beat down on her, knowing that her house was too far away to bother with running. She silently cursed the wind that had carried her umbrella away, but not as much as the cold rain that was making her shiver so badly that she clutched her own shoulders in an attempt to keep warm. She was so focused on how miserable she was that she barely noticed Yoruichi until she felt a strong hand grab her by the shoulder and into the shelter of a red umbrella. "Y-Yoruichi-san?" The freshman asked in surprise to the last person she expected to be here right now. "What are you--" "...Now you didn't think that I would let you walk all the way home in this crappy weather like that, did you?" The older girl asked with a smile. "Here, try and stay under the umbrella--you'll get sick if you get any wetter." Soi began to protest, but when she noticed that Yoruichi's arm was still wrapped around her in an effort to keep her from falling outside the the circumference of the umbrella, she felt any complaints she could have had leave her. Instead, she quietly allowed Yoruichi to shelter her, gradually becoming aware of just how warm the other girl was. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well, here we are," Yoruichi said after a little while (even though it had been over 25 minutes, it seemed too short to Soi) when they arrived on the freshman's doorstep. "Uh...Thanks for walking me home," Soi blushed, suddenly aware of how what she'd just said made it sound like they'd been on a date, a concept that she felt oddly confused over. "Hey, no problem. Won't do you any good to get sick for your test, would you?" The younger girl gave agreed with a nod of her head, then turned around to go inside when Yoruichi pulled on her sleeve. "Oh, and here, take this--I hear it's supposed to rain again tomorrow." Soi blinked at Yoruichi's umbrella, handed out to her and packed into its original form. Before she could even refuse to the object, Yoruichi shoved it into her hand with a mischevious grin and dashed off, knowing that if she lingered then Soi would just try to give it back to her. For a few minutes Soi just stood on the somewhat dry step, watching as her friend became a very wet speck in the distance, then felt a smile creep onto her lips as she turned and went inside. Maybe the rain wasn't such a bad thing after all... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This time it was Soi's turn to worry. As she sat in class on Friday, she couldn't help but think about where Yoruichi was. She hadn't seen her the day after the big rainstorm, which had been on Tuesday, and had been conspicuously absent from classes for the rest of the week. She hadn't had a chance to ask Urahara about it, since he seemed to be either working or skipping class these days. ...Did something happen to her? She knew that Yoruichi was more than capable of taking care of herself, but all the same she couldn't help but feel uneasy. On top of that, she would have felt better about the impending Karate test if her friend had been there. Well, I guess I'll just have to go ahead and try... Soi was heading for the exit when she heard a voice calling her name. "Hey, Soi Fong! Wait up!" The Chinese girl looked down the hall to see a very recognizable redhead dashing towards her, coming to a stop a few feet away. "...Matsumoto-san?" the freshman asked, unable to conceal the surprise in her voice. It was one thing for Yoruichi to look for her, but for someone she barely knew like Rangiku to seek the petite girl out seemed quite out of the ordinary. "What are you doing here?" "Oh, good, I'm glad I found you! You're Yoruichi-san's friend, right?" "W-well, yeah..." Soi answered uncertainly, her gut telling her that Rangiku was looking for a favor. "Finally!" the well-endowed woman breathed a sigh of relief as she handed a two-inch thick stack of papers to Soi Fong, who took them with wide eyes. "I was getting really desperate; I'm so glad I ran into you!" "Hey, wait! What the hell is all thi--" Soi began but Matsumoto hurriedly interrupted her. "I'm really sorry to do this, but I'm in Yoruichi's homeroom class, see, and the teacher asked me to give these to her since she's been absent but I don't know where she lives and I haven't been able to find anyone who knows where her house is and so if you could give these to her then I'd really appreciate it!" Soi blinked, uncertain she had understood anything the senior had said to her; she was speaking at a mile a minute and her brain was struggling to catch up. "H-hold on a minute! What makes you think that I know where she--" "Oh, sorry!" Rangiku said distractedly as she glanced at her watch. "...But I really need to get going! Sorry about this; I'll make it up to you I swear!" "But I--" Soi started to argue, but Matsumoto had already ran down the hallway and out the exit, rushing to wherever it was that she needed to be so quickly. The freshman stared at the ream of missives and homework that had, as of now, been passed down to her. "...How the hell am I supposed to know where she lives?" Deciding that sitting here wasting time would get her nowhere, she gave a sigh and decided to start by asking the records office.
Back to The Cat and the Bee Index - Back to Bleach Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction