Reciprocity Neither Soi or Kisuke said anything as he drove. That suited her just fine, since she was too occupied with recovering from the shock of what had just happened to her. The evidence of her assault was fairly clear-- the two halves of the bottom of her dress pooled around her on the cloth carseat, and along with the bruises on her face and the specks of blood on her cut lip there was a purple ring where one of her assailants had grabbed her just below the shoulder. And while there was no mark from being nearly strangled to death, Soi rubbed her throat anyway, still feeling like she couldn't breathe. After a few minutes they pulled up to the front door of her house, and still maintaining the silence between them unlocked the door and walked inside. "Oh, is that you, Soi?" the girl's father called jovially as he walked into the entryway. "...I thought you would be home later tha--" his greeting disappeared into a horrified silence as his eyes met his little girl's disheveled appearance, and though it normally took him a few seconds to cross from the kitchen to the front door he had his arms around Soi in the blink of an eye. "Soi! Oh my God, what happened to you?!" "...She was walking home and she got attacked. I don't know all the details, though," Urahara said simply, before the girl had a chance to even open her mouth. "Oh, dear God...look at your face! How bad is it?" "Dad, I'm fine..." Soi answered stoically as she tried to slip out of her father's bearhug but the older man refused to let go. "Did they touch you? It's okay if you want to tell me, we can call the police and they'll find them..." "...I'm okay..." "Look, I let me get an icepack for your eye and then you can tell me what happened--" "DAD, I'M FINE!" Soi's father froze, blinked at the sudden elevation of the quiet freshman's voice, and after a moment Soi visibly relaxed. "...I...I'm sorry...I just..." "It's okay," Urahara said as he placed a hand on Soi's shoulder and pulled out the cellphone he kept in his back jeans pocket. "...I already called the police and told them to come here; I'm gonna let Yoruichi know what's going on real quick, all right?" "...Yeah..." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "...And how many of them were there?" "T-three," Soi answered calmly, even though the presence of a handful of policeman was making her feel rather intimidated all over again. The officer seemed nice enough, but he spoke so gruffly and with such an air of boredom that she had to wonder if they actually cared enough to do anything. "You said before that you were walking down 25th, correct? Why were you alone at night?" "I...I didn't think anything like this would happen," the girl said with just a bit of an edge to her voice: it seemed like they were trying to make HER look responsible for this. "...I was just leaving the dance at Rukongai and after a while this tall one with a crew cut came up behind me and asked what time it was--" She was interrupted as the front door swung open and every face in the room turned to see Yoruichi standing there, cheeks red from the cold but sweat running down her face regardless. It would have taken nearly an hour to get here from Yoruichi's house, but the fact that barely twenty minutes had passed since Kisuke had called meant that she had run the whole way here. "Excuse me, Miss," the officer who'd been questioning Soi said in an authoritative tone, "...You can't just barge in here like th--" "It's all right," Kisuke said as he stepped forward. "She's a friend." Yoruichi was still silent, staring at Soi as if assessing the damage for herself. The policeman nodded, even though he occasionally cast the new arrival suspicious glances every once in a while-- as if he'd seen her somewhere else but couldn't think of the time and place. "Well, anyway," the officer said after a few more questions, running over the list of details Soi had given and the three composite sketches his partner had made, "...We'll be on the lookout for the one who ran off. We saw the other two lying in the street on our way here and there's a car taking them to the station right now." "Thank you very much," the patriarch of the Fong home said sincerely, but they merely tipped their caps and headed out, casting another confused look of recollection at Yoruichi as the door shut behind them. "...Don't worry," Kisuke said once the flashing of police lights had backed away from the house and had retreated into the darkness. "...I'm sure they'll be able to find the g--" Before he could finish Yoruichi crossed the room and without the slightest bit of hesitation punched Kisuke straight in the face. Soi and her father both recoiled in surprise at the sudden display of violence from Yoruichi, and while the punch had certainly made him stagger Kisuke eventually succeeded in regaining his equilibrium. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?!" Yoruichi snarled as she grabbed the lapels of her friend's shirt. "YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULDN'T LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO HER!" "Y-Yoruichi, listen-- it wasn't my fault she decided to go home when she did! I just walked in there and she was gone!" "YOU THINK THAT'S AN EXCU-- OH, GODDAMNIT, I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE STAYED! TO THINK I TRUSTED HER SAFETY TO Y--" "Yoruichi-san...really...I'm fine," Soi interrupted calmly, and to Kisuke's surprise his friend loosed the death grip she had on his shirt. "...I should have just waited for the limo to come back. It's my fault." At these words Yoruichi looked at the freshman, her topaz eyes taking in the bruises and the tattered state of her attire. Without thinking about it she slowly placed her hands on Soi's shoulders, squeezing them gently but at the same time, tight enough to suggest that she was afraid to let go. "...Don't say that. Don't EVER say that. NO ONE has the right to do what they did to you. Do you understand me?" In spite of the situation Soi felt her insides flutter from both the contact and the subdued intensity of the older girl's gaze on her. It was so strange to see Yoruichi like this... like she was scared out of her mind with worry. Soi nodded and Yoruichi finally let go, leaving the indent of her fingernails in the skin as she backed away. An uncomfortable silence fell for a moment that was punctuated by the clamorous ringing of the phone in the kitchen. None of them had any intention of leaving Soi, but after a few rings her father acquiesced and headed to the kitchen. "Soi, it's Isane-chan," he called after a moment. "She said she was worried when she noticed you left the dance, and she wanted to make sure you got home okay..." "Can you tell her, Dad?" Soi asked stoically as she walked up the stairs. "...I'm going to change." "But Soi--" "...Please Dad," Soi said as evenly as she could. "...I don't feel like talking about it anymore. I'm just tired...okay?" When she heard him talking into the phone she continued trudging up the stairs, throwing herself on the bed when she reached her drafty room. She sighed after a moment, as if letting out a breath she'd been holding for the last hour. To be honest, she really did feel exhausted, but at the same time she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep for hours. She HAD been able to protect herself, but just the thought of how those men had touched her... she couldn't move, didn't want to; she just lay against the pillow in her torn dress and prayed for sleep to be merciful and overtake her. "Hey...mind if I come in?" Yoruichi's voice inquired from the other side of the door while she rapped the wood lightly with her knuckles. Soi half wanted to be left alone right now, but knowing Yoruichi she would probably just wait outside for her to eventually come out. "...Sure." With a creak Yoruichi pushed the door ajar, walking quietly over to the bed and, saying nothing, sat on the edge beside where her friend's face was resting. For a moment they were quiet, Yoruichi reluctant to speak and Soi too tired to think of anything to say. She had nearly nodded off when she felt Yoruichi's hand running through her hair. Normally she would have gone into panic mode from this sort of contact from her crush, but somehow it made her feel calm instead-- at peace. "...Soi..." Yoruichi finally whispered, continuing her gentle show of affection especially since it was aiding her own jangled nerves, "...did they..." Soi wondered for a moment what Yoruichi was asking before comprehension hit her and she gave the simple answer. "...No. I managed to get them off before... before it happened." Yoruichi gave a small chuckle as she began to make slower, more delicate explorations of Soi's thick short hair with the palm of her hand. "Well... thank God you decided to come to Karate after all." To her satisfaction Soi gave a quiet laugh at the joke, and Yoruichi had to pull her eyes away from that delicate smile to hide the softness creeping into her features. Even now, with an ugly purple lump on her small face, Soi still captivated her, as if telling Yoruichi that Soi's beauty had nothing to do with the way she had happened to look tonight. "So...You followed me to the dance?" Yoruichi was about to ask what her friend was talking about when she suddenly remembered her slip downstairs. "...Look, Soi-- I'm sorry, I was just--" "Thanks, Yoruichi-san." The upperclassman was about to go into a lengthy apology when the last words she expected to hear right now came out of Soi's mouth. What Soi couldn't say was how glad it made her to know that Yoruichi would have come to something she abhorred for HER sake. "I just wish... I wish I hadn't lost it." "Huh? Lost what?" "...Mom's necklace," Soi whispered remorsefully as she shifted over (not enough that Yoruichi's hand had to leave her head) to reveal bare skin where the jewelry had been before. "One of them grabbed me when I tried to get away, and then..." "...Who cares about that?" Yoruichi said seriously even though she knew how precious the stone was to Soi. "The important thing is that you're safe. I'm sure that's what your Mom would rather have anyway." I know it's what I'D rather have, she thought idly as she scooted closer to Soi. The freshman eventually nodded, resting her head back on the mattress and finally slipping into a much more peaceful slumber than she would have expected. Yoruichi knew that Soi hadn't suffered irreperable pain, but seeing her friend like that didn't fail to light a violent fire within her. It didn't matter if the police were searching for the guy who'd run; he would probably leave town, maybe the whole prefecture before he could be caught up with. Yoruichi didn't care what had to be done, how far she needed to go. No one had the right to treat Soi like that, to even lay a finger on her. She wanted to find whoever was responsible for doing this and make them pay for it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- By Monday the swelling on Soi's face had receded, mainly due to a diet of painkillers and icepacks that her father had prescribed. She didn't have to worry about the bruise on her arm since the uniform covered that up, and Yoruichi had found some make-up that matched her skin enough to serve as camouflage for the marks on her face. Even so, when she walked through the doors of the school she was surprised to find that nothing was known in detail about the attack. They had heard vague reports from the news but since Soi and her father had requested that the police not give out any information about them the victim had remained anonymous. "...Think I should keep an eye on her?" Kisuke asked as he and Yoruichi watched Soi wave them goodbye in the hallway. "I mean, odds are someone here knows about whoever attacked her..." "You think I haven't already tried that?" Yoruichi asked with a light scoff, turning to climb the nearby stairs. "...She said she didn't wanna be 'shadowed' again today." "Hmph. I swear," the blonde said while he grinned for the first time in a few days. "That girl's somethin' else, for a kid." "Yeah," Yoruichi said quietly. "...She really is." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "...Well, I guess that's the end of class," Aizen said with a bit of surprise as the bell rang, staring remorsefully at the blackboard full of practice equations and still not anywhere near finished on his explanation of the process. "I suppose I'll have to cut the homework for tonight a little short. I know you're disappointed--" he grinned as the class raised a cheer, then motioned for them to remain in their seats for a moment longer, "...But if you just remember to do 11-43 on pages 211-213 that'll be enough until tomorrow, okay? Dismissed." As if they were sitting on springs the class instantly got up, talking amongst themselves while they headed to lockers to retrieve books in preparation for the next class or else to find friends for lunch. "Man, THAT'S gonna be a load off," Kuukaku said with relief as they filed out slowly. "...I'm already swamped for tonight from my MORNING classes, for God's sake." "Yeah, but it's not like you're gonna do it anyway..." Yoruichi smirked at her friend. "Hey, that's an unfair assumption--" "Oh, Miss Shihouin," Aizen interrupted the girls as they passed his desk, "...I'd like to see you for a moment, if you don't mind." Yoruichi and Kuukaku gave each other confused looks before the former stepped out of line and told Kuukaku she'd see her in the cafeteria. Once the class stepped out and Aizen had gone about the task of assembling the papers he'd collected from them she spoke up. "So...What did you want, Aiz-...Aizen-sensei?" she finished grudgingly. "Oh, not much...a student turned in one of your books earlier today and I wanted to get it back to you. Here, let me get it out of the closet..." Aizen turned around to the small room behind him full of extra textbooks and boxes of chalk, digging through it as if he'd forgotten where he'd placed the thing. Yoruichi sighed, lamenting the impending absence of decent sandwiches and eager to see if Soi was doing all right when the half-folded paper on the math teacher's desk caught her eye. It was in the middle of the Local News section, a minor story due to scant details and few pictures but there it was; a brief story about the punks who'd attacked Soi over the weekend. She casually brought the paper towards her, twisting it rightside up to get a better look at the photos of the two who'd been caught. They were pretty much as Soi had described, but below them, wedged between a column of text, sat another picture; a sketch of what the caption stated was a tattoo the two of them had in common, and vaguely suggesting that they were part of a small-time gang. Slowly, Yoruichi's eyes widened, recognition hitting her as she stared at that simple design, at the only other person she'd seen with that tattoo... "Here it is! You're taking Japanese history, correct?" He held the textbook out with her name printed along the side, but Yoruichi said nothing. "...Miss Shihouin, is something-- oh... you're reading about that attack?" "Y-yeah..." Yoruichi muttered as she took her lost History book back, not even aware of the weight now straining against her unprepared arm. "Terrible, isn't it? And they say it was someone at OUR school who did it, too...though they don't look like they'd be smart enough to pull something like that off on their own..." "...No...they don't...L-listen," Yoruichi managed, the energy drained from her eyes as she reflexively hitched the book up under her arm. "Thank you, Aizen-sensei, but...I really need to be going..." "Oh, yes! I'm sorry about that-- your friends are probably waiting for you, aren't they? Well, go on, I won't hold you back any longer..." He shooed Yoruichi out with a wave and a friendly smile, which melted into a more malevolent glare once she turned the corner. The newspaper had done the hard part for him, and now all he needed was for Yoruichi to dig her own grave. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Yoruichi's fist clenched and unclenched as she felt her feet carry her to the cafeteria; she felt a bit like she'd been possessed, as if her body was acting without her brain's commands. She couldn't believe it could possibly be so simple, that he would have even tried to pull something like this off, and to SOI, who she'd explicitly warned him to stay away from. But if it was to be someone, why wouldn't it have been him? Why couldn't she have known better than to even give him the benefit of the doubt? But she had to be sure. If she saw him...she had to be certain that she had seen that mark on him before she did anything. "Hey, Yoruichi!" Kisuke called, putting down his bowl of ramen while Soi followed suit with her homemade salad. The freshman opened her mouth to greet her paramour but was halted when she saw the coldness with which Yoruichi greeted them, sitting down with a plop. The two prior occupants of the table glanced at Yoruichi curiously, at the pensive look on her face, and while Urahara was more than prepared to let this sleeping dog lie Soi glanced at her with concern. "...Yoruichi-san...Is something wrong?" "Huh?" the older girl blinked, forcing herself to relax as she tried to keep her friend reassured. "...No, I was just thinking about my homework, is all..." She grabbed one of the napkins sitting in the table's center and began to occupy her hands with it, folding it absentmindedly and feeling far too queasy to even consider eating at this point. They were silent for a while, sensing Yoruichi's unease, until the upperclassman noticed a flash of short gray hair walk into the nearby boy's bathroom. He'll be alone, she thought to herself. But... she nearly stopped herself before she glanced at Soi, at the slight blotch of purple still visible beneath layers of make-up, before logic abandoned her entirely. He didn't deserve even the slightest bit of mercy from her. None. "...Excuse me," Yoruichi said hurriedly as she got up. "...Little girl's room, you know..." Soi glanced at her friend for a moment while Kisuke nodded, then turned back to her meal just as she walked through the door beside her stated destination. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Gin sighed as he washed his hands off, letting the warm water run over his knuckles and converge again when it hit the sink basin. He pulled the handle of the paper towel dispenser a few times absentmindedly before he noticed it, a pair of dark legs peeking out from beneath a pitch-black knee-length skirt. "Hey, girly, this's th' guy's room. Can't ya r--" "I told you to leave her ALONE, Ichimaru." At that, Gin looked over to actually see who was there; Yoruichi was only a few feet away from him, one of her palms coiled into a fist and her goldenrod eyes illuminated with fury. He flinched slightly at the degree of anger he felt emanating from her, but uncertain as to why he merely gave her a disinterested grin. "What're ya talkin about, Shihouin?" Without another word Yoruichi stomped over to him and grabbed the sleeve of his right arm, pushing it back to his elbow. There it sat: the tattoo of an elongated diamond with the Japanese character for '3' within its borders. That was also the last intelligible thing she registered before she placed her other hand on his wrist and broke it brutal efficiency. Gin's eyes widened, he threatened to scream out but Yoruichi smashed her fist into his face, breaking his nose with even less effort. "...You worthless fucking bastard..." Yoruichi whispered, though it bore as much power and loathing as if she'd screamed it. Gin looked up, hoping that there was some semblance of reason in Yoruichi's unprovoked actions but she seemed well beyond the reaches of human compassion at this point. In fact, she almost looked like she was enjoying this; there wasn't even the slightest hint of a smile on her face but her eyes gave her satisfaction away. "What the...hell're you doin?!" Gin growled, not willing to show weakness even though he knew full well what she was capable of. "I don' know nothin' abou--" He was silenced by his own scream as Yoruichi, who'd by now grasped his other hand, snapped his index finger with her thumb. Then another, and immediately afterward his pinky finger was hanging limply on his hand. "I don't care if you admit it to me or not," she whispered in a voice like ice, sending a chill down her prey's spine as she clutched his face and slammed it into the side of one of the sinks, leaving the stain of blood from his broken nose there and sending another spray of the stuff onto the immaculate tile floor. "...I don't even care if I get caught. But I will NEVER let ANYONE touch a hair on her head again." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh, there you were!" Urahara grinned as Kuukaku waved them a greeting, then sat down with her lunch. "We were starting to think you'd gotten lost." "Ha, ha," the snarky girl answered with just as much sarcasm. "Just let me eat in peace...Hey, where's Yoruichi?" "...She went to the bathroom," Soi answered, setting her fork down in the remainders of spinach and carrots. "Are you sure? I was just there-- didn't see her at all." At this information Urahara blinked, certain he'd seen her go in one of the doors but shrugged his shoulders regardless. "Oh well. I'm sure she'll come back in a few min--" "Hey everyone! There's a fight in the boy's bathroom!" As fast as everyone in the cafeteria headed for the washroom as the anonymous boy ran out, Kisuke and Kuukaku were still the first to reach the threshold, with a bewildered Soi Fong bringing up the rear. "Hey! Guys, do you know someth..." Soi yelled while forcing her way through the crowd and through the narrow opening, but her voice disappeared once her eyes met with the bathroom. Blood was smeared across the floors before the sinks, like some macabre take on an abstract painting, and Yoruichi herself was there, kneeling over someone she eventually realized was Ichimaru, his face unrecognizible due to being covered in red and Yoruichi's continual efforts to smash his face into the tile. While all she could do was stand there, horrified by what her sempai was doing, Kisuke ran forward, clutching at her waist and pulling her back. "Yoruichi, stop it! You'll kill him!" Within moments she knocked him off her like he was a child three times smaller as opposed to a man twice her weight, and began beating Gin anew as if that very ends was what she had intended. She seemed utterly beyond reason now, like a demon unrestrained, and before he could make a concerted attempt to pull her off with Kuukaku the sound of knuckles colliding with bone suddenly stopped. Yoruichi blinked to find Soi leaning against her, holding her arm back in midswing with all her might. She turned her angry eyes at Soi, as if trying to tell her through them why she was doing this, that she needed to punish him further. She could only stare at Soi's eyes, gentle and pleading as she leaned against her, for a moment before her fist relaxed and she let it fall to her side. She gasped for breath as she got up, her blind rage subsided to the point where she didn't even feel compelled to kick the cringing boy as Soi guided her away from the bloodied room. "Excuse me! What's the meaning of th-- Miss Shihouin!" Soi blinked to find a teacher standing at the edge of the crowd, a man who briefly reminded her of Uryuu except that he had platinum hair instead of jet black. "...Come with me," he said as he reached for her and the mass of students instantly split, as if afraid that the young woman covered in Ichimaru's blood would turn on them and do the same. He pulled her with such force that Yoruichi was extricated from Soi's grip, and was halfway across the empty dining area when he turned around, logic replacing his hasteful shock. "...Someone take that boy to Unohana-san. And you two--" he indicated Soi and Kisuke with a slight wave of his hand, "...follow me. We'll need you for witnesses when we talk to the Principal." "Urahara-san..." Soi whispered as they walked away from the shocked people, Kuukaku having taken it upon herself to retrieve Gin, "...What's going to happen to Yoruichi-san? I've never seen her like that before..." "I have," Kisuke answered simply, staring at his friend as she followed Ishida-sensei into the north end of the building. "...But it's been a long time since she did something like this." Soi tried to ask what he meant by that, but before she could get the words out the blonde increased his pace, forcing her to do all that she could to keep up with him.
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