Stirrings Soi breathed a sigh of contentment as she climbed out of the shower, hanging her brand-new swimsuit (a black one-piece with a yellow stripe running down the right side) over the glass door as she wrapped a towel around herself. She couldn't believe how quickly the last few days had gone--she'd been enjoying Yoruichi's company so much that everything else seemed almost irrelevant. I wish we weren't leaving tomorrow, she thought sadly as she headed to her temporary room. But they were going to try to squeeze a couple more hours of swimming in before they left-- that meant... The image of Yoruichi in her bikini appeared unheeded in Soi's mind for about the hundredth time, but for once she did nothing to reject the memory. It had appeared so often over the last week in her mind's eye that she was slowly beginning to feel less adverse to it, almost welcoming it when it did happen upon her. Soi closed her eyes slowly, feeling something strange happening to her as the thought lingered-- it was almost like she was wandering through a fog, waiting for that little voice that constantly berated her for thinking such things to scare some sense into her. She couldn't hear it this time, though-- instead there was a sweeter, gentler, almost seductive urging that told her that this was good, that told her not to fight, that was making her want to do things to herself that she'd never even considered doing before... She wasn't aware of just how far her hand had gone down her waist until she heard a light knock on the door behind her. Soi snapped back to reality as though she'd been waiting for it, then pulled her towel back on as Yoruichi let herself in. "Hey, Soi! What'cha d--" "C-could I get a little privacy!" Soi yelled rather hysterically as she hugged the cloth to herself, the intensity of her actions making Yoruichi's eyes widen slightly in surprise. "...S-sorry," Soi muttered in shame once she realized what she had just done, her face burning brighter when the reality of what she had been interrupted from hit her full-on. Oh, Jesus...Was I just...? "Uh...hey, no problem," Yoruichi answered, shrugging off her friend's strange temprament as though it was nothing. She then tossed something onto Soi's bed; the freshman looked closer at the folded-up package and saw the hem of what looked like a silk robe. "...I just wanted to give you this." Still being careful to hold the towel up with one hand, Soi tore off the brown paper packaging and grabbed the neck of the outfit, unfolding it to reveal a silver yukata with a gold floral trim. Soi stared at the beautiful robe in surprise, speechless for a moment, then finally remembered that Yoruichi was standing there and decided to speak up. "W-Why are you giving this to me?" Soi asked uncertainly. "Well," Yoruichi began as she stepped further into the room, allowing Soi a glimpse of the small stack of similarly-packaged robes in her right arm, "...I was in town with Kisuke today (Soi felt herself bristle up at the mention that Urahara had been alone with Yoruichi, but it disappeared almost as soon as it had happened), and some of the locals were talking about a festival that's planned for tonight!" "R...Really?" Soi asked as her eyes widened, an uncharacteristic bit of childlike glee sneaking through the cracks of her mature facade. "What holiday is it for?" "...Dunno," Yoruichi shrugged, unabashed in her lack of knowledge on the issue. "All I know is that there'll be plenty of good food there. I haven't had the chance to go to one in a few years, so there's no way we're missing this!" "Does everyone else know about this?" "Heh-- soon enough, they will," Yoruichi answered with a grin as she left the room, leaving a Soi Fong alone with her thoughts again. "For God's sake, kid-- just leave the damn obi alone," Kuukaku said irritably as the freshman adjusted the sash of her yukata for the eleventh time. The brash upperclassman was situated between Soi and Yoruichi (much to Soi's silent displeasure), dressed in a tight-fitting t-shirt and jeans on the basis that she 'didn't wanna wear that flowery crap' to the festival. Everyone else was at least willing to get into the spirit of the event-- Kisuke and the other boys had found some loose-fitting robes of their own with plain designs and simple colors, while even Nanao was adorned in a rather elegant golden one offset with white-stitched lilies. Soi, however, felt like even more of a sore thumb than she had before. "Sorry, Shiba-san," the youngest of the group muttered with a combination of irritation and embarrassment as she tried to hike up the quickly-dirtying hem of her silver yukata. "...It's not my fault that this thing's too big." "Sorry about that, Soi," Yoruichi apologized as she picked up her pace just enough to get her friend in sight. "...They were out of your size, so I just got the next biggest size. I hope that's okay..." Soi blinked, almost stared as she looked at Yoruichi and remembered why she had put distance between herself and the upperclassman. The older girl looked even more beautiful than before, adorned in a robe of shimmering lavender with overlapping designs of wildflowers stitched into the fabric and her hair tied back into a bun held in place with an elaborately carved hairpiece of striking topaz, the same color as those warm, hypnotic eyes... "...Soi?" The girl's eyes widened when she realized she'd been staring, then had to think quickly so she wouldn't be found at a loss for words. "Oh, uh, no...It's okay..." Soi breathed a sigh of relief as she looked away from the group, grateful that the low light of the nearby lanterns was insufficient to make the blush on her face visible. The others began talking amongst themselves the deeper in they went among the variety of stands and booths, all of them debating where to go and what to do first. Soi was only half-listening to their chatter, she was trying to pretend that she was interested in the nearby goldfish-catching games and not in her sempai's elegant profile, her mouth curled up in a smile as she teased Urahara about something that made everyone else in the group laugh as well. Soi wished that she could have heard it, that she could have been just a little closer so as to share in Yoruichi's laughter-- "H-hey!" "...Huh?" Soi muttered as she turned to the voice's source and found Isane doubled over behind her, looking out of breath from running and hastily dressed in a kimono that looked almost second-hand, but was still a vibrant shade of aquamarine. That was when Soi remembered that she hadn't noticed the short-haired girl leave with them a half-hour ago. "Hey, where were you, Kotetsu-san?" "Yeah, what happened?" Rangiku asked since the group had just noticed her and were forming a semi-circle around the girl, worriedly asking her if she needed to rest or other such things. "W...well, I...I was just...shopping for dinner, like Yoruichi-san asked me to...and when I got...back, no one was there... I can't believe I almost missed this!" the silver-haired girl finished with a look of excitement as she indicated the lively chaos of the festival. "Wait..." Shunsui began as he absentmindedly ran a thumb over his uneven stubble, "...Didn't Yoruichi call you while you were gone? About what we were doing tonight?" "No," Isane answered with a confused shrug. "...I didn't have any messages, either-- I left my cell phone on the whole time I was gone." Soi Fong had a sudden inclination to turn to Yoruichi, who unfortunately seemed to be avoiding any eye contact with Isane, almost as though she had something to hide. "...Oh," the Junior said without warning as she turned to Yoruichi's best friend. "...Thanks for that note you left, Urahara! I wouldn't have known about this without you!" "Oh, REALLY?" Yoruichi said with a wide smile plastered on her face, turning to the blonde boy and giving him a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "...Good job, Kisuke...Oh, and I'm sorry I forgot to call you, Isane." "Hey, it's no problem-- everyone makes mistakes," the girl said with a laugh, not noticing as Soi did the almost rigid undertone of the older girl's 'apology.' That's weird, the freshman thought quietly as she watched Yoruichi's seemingly earnest request for forgiveness. Why would she not have wanted Isane here? "So," the Kotetsu girl said as she turned to Soi, seemingly forgetting the others in an instant, "...I s-saw you looking over t-there (Isane cursed the stutter playing on her lips again), and I w-was wondering..." "...Wondering WHAT?" Yoruichi interjected even as she wondered where the slight hint of bitterness in her voice had come from and why it was there at all. She noticed everyone else looking at her a little oddly, but the dark girl stood her ground, not wanting to look repentant. "W-well...S-Soi Fong," Isane said with a nervous smile, turning as far away from Yoruichi's scrutiny as she could, "...Do you wanna go check out the g-games?" "No-- see, we were going to try to stick together, since it's crowded and all..." Yoruichi began, but she was interrupted by none other than Kisuke. "Yoruichi, come on-- they're not children, and Isane's nearly eighteen... I'm pretty sure they'll be okay on their own." "But--" "Yeah, come on, Yoruichi," Ukitake smiled at her almost jokingly. "...You're not her mother, you know." Yoruichi knew that he was just kidding, that he hadn't meant anything by it and that she would probably have laughed if it were about anyone else, but all of a sudden she had the strongest desire to hit the platinum-haired boy right in the face and tell him that if he ever made any jokes about Soi's family again she'd beat his brains out, but the hearty laughter of everyone around her and shock at the visceral brutality of her thoughts stayed her hand. Besides, Ukitake was her friend...but it had been so easy to forget that less than a second ago... "Well, how about this," Rangiku asked as she kept Gin on the short leash that was her arm, "...You two go do what you want, and the rest of us'll meet you at the okonomiyaki stand in a hour-and-a-half, okay?" She asked the question with an oddly suggestive smile, the significance of her implication lost on Soi Fong but not on her dark-skinned sempai. "O-okay..." Soi answered noncomittally, as she hadn't really wanted to go play games but seemed to be having the choice made for her anyway. Before she knew it, Isane had grabbed her by the wrist and was leading her away from the group, from Yoruichi, but she simply gave a disappointed sigh and went along with the other girl. ...I guess it could be fun, she forced herself to think they came to a stop at a turtle-catching booth. She glanced over her shoulder where Yoruichi had been just a second ago, hoping to ditch Isane and go back, but since the others seemed to want to hang out together she let the thought go. She didn't want Yoruichi to feel like she was a burden, after all. The gaggle of upperclassman waved their farewells before heading off in the opposite direction. "Isn't that cute?" Matsumoto squealed to her disinterested boyfriend as they went by a shooting booth that had stuffed animals for prizes. "Eh? Y'mean th' lion thing?" he asked vaguely as he pointed to a yellow, anthropomorphic stuffed toy with beady black eyes. "Not THAT," she said while giving teh slit-eyed boy a teasing roll of the eyes. "...I meant Isane-kun and Soi Fong!" "...Oh. Eh," Ichimaru shrugged the observation off, as such things weren't really what held his interest. "I mean, did you see Isane's face? I haven't seen her like that in a LONG time," Rangiku said as she wore a mischevious smile on her visage. "And Soi's such a sweet girl..." "I always knew she was like THAT," Kuukaku muttered with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, "...But I dunno about th' kid..." "Well, hey," Ukitake said after a few moments, "...We should encourage them! You know, try and give them more time to be...alone together. They'd make a really cute couple..." Suddenly Kisuke cringed as he felt an all-too familiar hand make contact with the back of his head, but unlike the teasing slaps Yoruichi would normally take at him this one felt like she was trying to decapitate him. It was only the fact that he was used to being hit there so many times that he was able to keep from screaming out loud in pain. He turned around sharply to see Yoruichi within arm's length, giving him the deadliest of glares. "Hey! What was THAT for?" the blonde boy asked a little more harshly then he had meant to. Yoruichi levelled her death glare at him a little longer before looking away and muttering "Nothing." ...He just HAD to leave that note, didn't he?
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