Uncomfortable(?) Position "Here--I hope it's not too bad..." Yoruichi stirred out of her listless state of half-sleep at the sound of Soi Fong's voice and the aroma of hot soup. The upperclassman groaned a few times as she pulled herself into a sitting position on the couch, then without even bothering to make an attempt to open her drooping eyes, accepted the meal with outstretched hands and a few incoherent mumbles. "Honestly," Soi said with a roll of the eyes as she watched her friend move as though she was making her way through a purple haze, "...You'd think that someone YOUR age would be able to know how to deal with a cold." "...Well..." the older girl managed once she'd allowed the warmth of the soup to wake her up a bit, "...Dy'm surbised dew doh soh buch aboud dis, Doi..." The freshman only shrugged her shoulders, as if doing so could account for her wealth of knowledge on the subject of minor sicknesses. "Well, you know...I was sick a lot when I was a kid, and my parents would always do the same things whenever I came down with a fever or whatever-- make me lay down, stay warm, drink lots of fluids, eat, that sort of thing. I guess I just kinda picked it up after a while," Soi finished with a slightly reminiscent chuckle. When she noticed that Yoruichi was in danger of nodding off and spilling her soup all over the floor, she tapped her friend on the shoulder, making Yoruichi's sagging head jerk up. "Yoruichi-san, you need to eat..." After a few moments, Yoruichi scooped up some of the noodle soup with a provided spoon, then gulped it down once she had blown on it to the point where it had no danger of burning her tongue. "Hey..." Yoruichi said quietly once she had allowed her first bit of food to go down her throat, sounding slightly better already, "...Dat stub's preddy good. Dy'm glad you're bedder dan your Dad," she added with a spirited attempt at her trademark mischevious smile. Soi grinned back nervously, deciding that this probably wasn't a good time to tell Yoruichi that the only reason the soup tasted remotely edible was because the instructions on the back of the can were so simple. "Well, if you're gonna be okay, then I'll go eat in the kitchen..." Soi began as she headed in that direction, but Yoruichi stopped her with a wave of the hand. "Dey, by do'd you gome dit in here? Dere's blenny of seeds," the upperclassman said through a sniffle as she pointed out the handful of varied chairs scattered around the living room. Soi hesitated for a moment, about to contend that she didn't want to run the risk of getting sick from being too near Yoruichi, but then she considered that if she hadn't already caught something by now, then she had nothing to worry about for the rest of the night. "...Okay." the younger girl gave a slight nod, then headed for the kitchen to grab another bowl. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A half-hour later, Soi set down her now-empty dish on the carpet, being careful to put it somewhere that she wouldn't knock it over with an errant foot. She glanced over at Yoruichi, who was watching the television set flickering in the epicenter of the room with only half her attention. Occasionally she would let out a slight laugh if she saw something particularly amusing, but otherwise she simply focused on her soup, taking liberal gulps of water in between spoonfuls. It took Soi a moment to realize that she was staring at her friend with surprising intensity, but she suceeded in snapping herself out of her trance with a shake of the head. I must be more worried than I thought, Soi considered quietly as, with surprising reluctance, she turned her attention to the television. It seemed like only a few minutes had passed when Soi heard a loud yawn come from the direction of her friend. She turned her head slightly to see Yoruichi set down her bowl, lazily sloshing some of the soup onto the carpet. "Hey--are you okay?" "Huh? Doh, yeah...I'b fide," Yoruichi answered after another yawn interrupted her. "Id's jus dat duh medidine made be dired, is all..." "I'm sorry," the freshman apologized as she walked over to where Yoruichi had set her dish, then stacked it atop her own bowl and walked toward the kitchen. "...I should've gotten the non-drowsy stuff. I just grabbed the first thing I could--" Yoruichi cut off her younger companion with a nod of the head. "Dit's all ride, Doi. Do be honesd... Dy habben'd been sleebing well dis weeg, so..." "What! I thought you said you'd been sleeping it off!" Soi answered with a bit of annoyance from the kitchen, her frustration not visible to the sick girl lazily watching TV from the couch. She gave a loud sigh, then walked in with a fresh glass of water for Yoruichi, who took it gratefully as her current drink was empty. "Jeez, were you just planning to stay out of school for as long as you could!" Yoruichi gave a stuffy chuckle but no denial as Soi absentmindedly plopped down on the couch beside her. "I swear..." the Chinese girl began, but was violently knocked off her train of thought when she felt something heavy plop into her lap. She blinked when she realized it was Yoruichi's head, then barely succeeded in collecting her thoughts enough to protest. "W-what the...? Hey! D-don't lay on top of me!" "...S...(yawn)...sorry..." Yoruichi tiredly droned to her friend as she unconsciously shifted her position on the couch, not noticing that Soi's face was twice as red as hers was, but for an entirely different reason. "Dy...Dy'll mobe in a few middides. I dold dew dy wad dired..." "Y-you've got a perfectly good pillow on the other side of the couch," Soi complained even as something deep in her gut told her not to put up a fuss. "Ahh...Id's nod berry comfy," Yoruichi answered with a teasing smile and a coy voice that came out sounding more like the mumbling of an elephant than a beautiful young woman. The statement itself had the desired effect of rendering Soi Fong speechless however, and the younger girl sighed in defeat even as she pushed aside a sudden feeling of ecstacy. For a while the two girls stayed that way, their eyes on the television but neither paying it any attention--Soi was feeling self-conscious about having her friend so close, while Yoruichi was just struggling to remain cognizant, since her current position was a comfortable one. She was so comfortable, in fact, that Yoruichi had slowly become aware of the clean, freshly-laundered scent of Soi's jeans, and in a last ditch effort to get her mind off the thoughts spontaneously filling her head she looked up and noticed the glitter of a chain on her friend's neck. "Hey, Doi..." "...Huh?" Soi mumbled after a moment, pulling herself back to the present. "Do you need something, Yoruichi-san?" It took Yoruichi a little longer to answer then she normally would have; she hadn't been close enough before to see the color of Soi Fong's eyes that was now as clear as day-- a blend of silver and gray, something like a sky-full of clouds ready to burst into a storm. Her pause was brief enough that Soi didn't notice it, however. "...Cad dy see dat ding? ...Da wod od yer deck," she clarified when Soi only gave her a perplexed expression in response. "Oh--sure," the freshman assented (with a bit of hesitancy) as she reached below the collar of her plain white blouse and pulled out the jewelry that Yoruichi greeted with a slight sigh of recollection. "Hey...Dy remebber dis..." she smiled as she recalled Soi's haymaker knockout of Ichimaru, then lifted up a slender hand and placed the necklace's ruby-and-silver pendant between her thumb and forefinger. "...Id's really dice," Yoruichi admitted as she turned it over a few times, the flickering light of the television illuminating the many facets of the gem and its metal lining. "Uh...Thanks," Soi answered, her tone somewhere between appreciation and discomfort. She hoped that at least the older girl wouldn't ask her what everyone else asked her when they saw the thing. But sure enough... "Where'd dyew ged id?" "...My mom gave it to me...for my 9th birthday." She wasn't sure if she had expected Yoruichi to say anything, or to pry further, but when the upperclassman spoke a few moments later it was a simple statement, not a vague question. "...You musd miss her a lod." Soi blinked, surprised at what her friend had said. Before she could ask how Yoruichi had found out, she realized that the older girl must have simply read between the lines. She wasn't stupid, after all. "Yeah..." Soi answered quietly while Yoruichi relinquished her hold on the charm, letting it land softly against the fabric of her friend's blouse. "...She got sick a few years ago, but she didn't tell me or Dad about it. I was angry at her for a while afterwards, but...I know that it was just her way of taking care of us. It's just...sometimes I feel like I...I wanna be as strong, like that, but..." Soi blinked once she realized what was coming out of her mouth, and she covered it up with a free hand to keep herself from contiinuing. "Oh, jeez, I'm sorry-- I'm sure you didn't wanna hear about my problems--" "...Dit's all righd," the half-asleep senior responded as she turned herself to the television set again, her long hair laying askew on Soi's abdomen. "Id's nod a bad thig do tog aboud stub lig this if id's on your mide." When she heard her younger friend sigh in response, Yoruichi spoke again, rubbing her eyes as she did so. "...I thing...dat your Mob would be broud ob you, Doi." Soi Fong said nothing to Yoruichi's statement, but it did make her slightly glad to hear it from someone other than her father for once...even if it was barely intelligible. It was only after a few minutes of silent comtemplation that the young girl suddenly became cognizant of something that she'd forgotten about entirely, something she should have noticed hours ago but had ignored in her rush to see to Yoruichi's health. "Um...Yoruichi-san...Where are YOUR parents? Shouldn't they be here to take care of y--" She stopped once she took another look at her friend and saw that Yoruichi was fast asleep, a steady rhythm overtaking her breathing pattern. Oh, crap...I was worried about this. She tried to slip her legs out from underneath Yoruichi's head, but was surprised and frustrated to find that her position was such that she couldn't move without potentially waking her up. After a moment of agitated thought, Soi decided to try and lift Yoruichi up just enough that she could move, but the task proved equally impossible. Damnit...she's heavy! She's not that much bigger than me, but geez! Not sure if the problem lay more in her own weakness or in Yoruichi's relative weight, Soi finally gave up and accepted that she would be stuck in this position unitl morning. She took a glance at her sick friend's profile and smiled unconsciously as she turned off the TV, letting the room fill with a peaceful silence. It only took a little while for Soi to nod off as well.
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