...So She CAN Smile! Soi was a bit surprised at how little had changed. No one seemed to know or care about what had happened to her outside of her father, who'd made a few inquiries regarding the still-tender bruise but let the matter drop when she insistently fed him the same fib about injuring herself by means of clumsiness. On the way to her locker at school the next day, a grinning Ichimaru had met her and, looking around shiftily to be certain that her rescuer from before was not lurking around, snatched her lunch box and sauntered away without looking back. The petite girl hadn't expected Gin's retribution to be so underwhelming, but this was undoubtedly not the only torture he had in mind for her. But like always, she shrugged it off and went to class as if nothing had happened. Well, I'm just glad that SHE wasn't there...I probably would've gotten a lot worse... For a moment she spared a thought for Yoruichi. Even though she had anticipated that the upperclassman would forget about her, and in fact had been counting on it, Soi couldn't help but feel a slight pang of disappointment that she hadn't seen Yoruichi at all. She shook her head, as if to rid the thought from her brain forcefully. Come on, Soi Fong. You didn't even WANT to see her again, remember? She had half-wanted to ask her fellow classmates about the dark-skinned girl, but decided that between the idea of the reserved Soi Fong actively participating in conversation and giving the impression that she somehow knew an upperclassman, there would be too many awkward questions. After some thought, she made peace with the idea. ...Besides, that girl just seems like trouble, and that's the last thing I want. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A few hours later, she casually sat at her desk during the lunch hour, a rock of tranquility in the sea of bustling activity and gossiping students. With no meal to distract her, Soi was busy reading her book again, ignoring the occasional glance in her direction from other freshman at her unsocial behavior, or turning down tentative attempts at giving her company with a few cold upward glances that made it clear she didn't want to be disturbed. The story's action was rapidly reaching a high point and she was so absorbed that the sudden sound of her name being called out made her jump. "SOI FONNG!" The passive girl's eyes widened exponentially as she suddenly recognized the carefree voice she had heard only yesterday. She glanced over her book slowly. ...It couldn't be... "HELLO! IS SOI FONG HERE? HELLOOO!" Sure enough, it was, to Soi Fong's utter shock, her rescuer--Yoruichi Shihouin-- standing in the doorway of Class 1-B with that Cheshire-cat smile all over her face again. By now the entire class had noticed the woman who had intruded on their lunch period, and Soi could feel the eyes of just about every student boring into her, as if waiting for her to respond. All the flustered girl could do, however, was shield her face with her book and hope that Yoruichi wouldn't notice her and would go away. Unfortunately for her, Yoruichi spotted her head just over the top of her book. "Hey, there you are!" she said cheerfully as she walked towards Soi Fong's desk, her graceful movements catching the attention of every male in the class (and even a few of the girls). When she heard the footsteps stop just to her right, Soi tentatively looked up, wondering what could have possessed the upperclassman to come looking for her in her own classroom. "W...what is it?" She said as evenly as she could, which was a feat considering that she was burning red from embarrassment. To put the great big cherry on the top of this humiliation sundae, Yoruichi held up a small bento wrapped in a striped black-and-yellow napkin, which the girl suddenly recognized as the lunch box Ichimaru had filched from her earlier that day. D...Did she...? "I saw you drop this. It's yours, right?" Soi Fong was about to ask what she was talking about when she caught the slight wink in Yoruichi's eye that told her to play along. "Umm...Yes..." "Well, here ya are. Just be more careful next time, all right?" Yoruichi handed the bento to Soi with a grin, then turned and left without another word. The dark-eyed girl barely had time to register what had happened when the room exploded into a loud clash of questions and exlamations, all of them aimed at her. "What the--?" "That quiet kid--how did she...?" "Hey, how do YOU know Yoruichi-sama!" "I...I'm sorry, I don't..." Soi's eyes darted back and forth between the teens who were ganging up around her, eager for information that an introverted girl like her wasn't collected enough to answer. "...Wait...did you just call her 'Yoruichi-sama?'" the Chinese girl asked uncertainly, wondering if it was some kind of joke. She cringed as the onslaught of voices began anew. "Of course! Everyone calls her that!" "You mean you didn't know?" "Yoruichi-sama is only the most popular student in this whole place!" "And rich too, from what I hear..." Soi didn't want to admit that she was glad to finally know something about Yoruichi, so she simply sighed and put her book aside, knowing that there would be no way for her to finish it today. And it was getting good, too... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "...Ya tryin' ta make me look lik' an idiot, is that it?" Ichimaru was leaning imposingly on the lockers, blocking Soi Fong's path out of the school. With classes over for the day, there were people swarming around them but all of whom were too caught up in what they were going to do later that they took no notice of the bully and his quarry. He wasn't even bothering to put up his trademark sneer now, he looked genuinely irritated and it showed on his face. "I don't lik' havin' ta beat people up, but ya know that I won't take bein' treated disrespectful by a freakin' freshman." Soi felt the heat of his gaze but looked off to the side almost casually, which infuriated him further. "Hey, you--" he grabbed her by the scruff of her collar and forced her to look him in the eye, "...If ya think that I'm gonna put up wit' this--" he suddenly stopped, and after a few moments, let go of her. Soi furrowed her brow confusedly at his sudden change in behavior, unaware that Yoruichi was standing a few paces behind her, giving Gin a smile and wave that made her presence more than clear. Not wanting to deal with his deceptively strong peer again, Ichimaru turned and headed out the door with the mass of students. Soi Fong didn't have much time to ponder the bizarre occurence she had just witnessed when she heard that voice again and it all suddenly became clear. "...Hmph. Guys like him are like bad dogs-- a little discipline and they'll eventually learn." The Chinese girl turned to finally acknowledge Yoruichi, but instead of being grateful, her thoughts went bitter. "Why are you here? Don't you have any friends your own age, Yoruichi-sama?" When the dark girl's smile dropped for the first time since they had met, Soi slapped her hand over her mouth, afraid she had gone too far. Unlike Ichimaru, however, Yoruichi only sighed and gave Soi Fong and exasperated glare. "Oh, for the love of God...don't you start calling me that, too. I HATE that nickname." Hmm...Well, I guess she isn't as stuck-up as I thought, Soi mused to herself. "Look--" Yoruichi said as she shifted the bookcase in her hand from her side to over her right shoulder, which made the tiny kitten keychain attached to the zipper shake around wildly, "...I don't know how, but it looks like we got off on the wrong foot a bit. Don't let any of that 'princess' bullshit fool you-- I'm not as shallow as you're probably thinking." To her satisfaction, Soi's face instantly turned a rose color, as she had in fact been thinking along those very lines regarding the upperclasswoman. "...I apologize, Shihouin-sa--" "Just...don't." Yoruichi silenced her with an open palm. "Listen, Soi Fong...I'm not doing this to pick on you or cause you problems-- I can tell you've got your fair share of those. I just thought you were...interesting." ...'Interesting?' Soi thought with a bit of anger. Does she think I'm some kind of science experiment or something? "So, I thought I'd make an effort to try and get to know you. Who knows, we might hit it off. How about you try to get to know me before you reject my friendship, eh?" "...Well..." Soi Fong finally spoke up, looking the other girl square in the eye, "...I guess you're not as weird as I thought you were." Yoruichi couldn't help but chuckle at that. She'd been called many things by her fellow students, but 'weird' was certainly an unfamiliar one. "Heh. And you're exactly as stubborn as I thought you were," The tall girl jibed playfully, and to her surprise the corners of the quiet freshman's lips actually twitched upwards. "Well, well-- so she CAN smile after all!" Yoruichi teased. Feeling oddly self-conscious, Soi's smile turned into an odd littlelaugh. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Almost fifteen minutes later, Soi Fong turned around to see that Yoruichi was still walking casually behind her, nonchalantly taking in the houses that made up the Chinese girl's neighborhood. "Umm...I don't want to be rude, but..." "Hmm?" Yoruichi mumbled as she turned her attention to her 'escort.' "...Why are you still following me?" The upperclassman shrugged as if she had nothing to hide. "No reason-- I'm just heading this way too, is all. Honest," she added when Soi's backward glance turned into a skeptical glare. Soi couldn't help shaking the feeling that there was more to it than that, but turned her attention back to where she was walking nonetheless. Once the freshman girl saw that they were nearing her house, Soi turned and bowed as she had last time. "...Well, good evening, Shihouin-san." "Damnit, I told you...just call me 'Yoruichi,' all right?" The upperclassman said with a bit of a growl. "...And besides, what are you talking about? You're not going to see me off here in the street, are you?" "...Huh?" Soi Fong said curiously, uncertain about Yoruichi meant. "Well, where else would I say good-bye at?" "Actually," The taller girl said with a bit of a smirk, "...I was hoping I could see your house, especially since I didn't get a chance to see it last time..." Soi Fong's eyes widened at Yoruichi's casual statement. She couldn't remember EVER inviting someone over, much less someone who actually wanted to be in her company. "...Y-you don't wanna do that. Besides, I'm sure you need to get ho--" Soi began, but Yoruichi forcefully cut her off. "You mean that I followed you nearly a half-hour out of my way just so you could tell me I can't visit your home?" She said it seriously, but there was a hint of that Chesire-cat grin again and Soi Fong suddenly realized the REAL reason that Yoruichi had been behind her this whole time. Her inbred manners refusing to surrender hospitality to someone who was all but requesting it, Soi let out an acquiescent sigh. "...All right. I'm just telling you, it's nothing special..." "I'll be the judge of that," Yoruichi said, grinning victoriously as they continued their journey to the freshman's place of residence.
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