"It wasn't supposed to be this way,"
Sui-Feng remained perfectly still, suspended over the rooftops of the Fake Karakura Town Captain Kurotsuchi and his men had fashioned for the war.
"This isn't supposed to be how it goes,"
Her gaze shifted to the left and in that direction, she saw Captain Hitsugaya falling down to the earth, his tiny body sliced in two pieces. Blood and water alike trailed the edges of these pieces and the sole female member of the Espada watched on with a careless look of contempt in her eyes.
"We were ready for this! We've been training for months for this!"
Sui-Feng's gaze shifted to the right and in that direction, she witnessed the fall of Captain Kyoraku, a smoking hole eating up the entire right side of his torso. His opponent watched on as he fell, his guns smoking and his fur coat swaying in the wind. He shared his female team member's look of quiet disappointment.
"This..This can't be happening. This can't be how it ends!"
"All things end, Shinigami!"
Despite every instinct in her body screaming at her to not do so, Sui-Feng finally looked straight ahead of her. Directly in her line of vision was her Lieutenant Marechiyo. Or at least what was left of his body as it disintegrated into fine dust. From behind the growing cloud of dust, Sui-Feng could see the figure responsible for her lieutenant's demise, the same monster whose voice baited her into looking ahead for a glimpse into her own terrible fate.
"All thing end. All things...DIE!" With a single, almost bored movement of his hand, the monster that once ruled Hueco Mundo as its undisputed king sent a dark purple miasma flying toward Sui-Feng.
"No...No!" Sui-Feng broke out of her fear-induced paralysis and bolted in the opposite direction of the miasma. She wouldn't let it touch her. Couldn't let it touch her. Lest she-
A sharp pain came from her hand followed by the terrible sensation of the wind blowing against a part of Sui-Feng it shouldn't be touching. She looked down at her hand and gasped as she saw all the skin and flesh from it gone, leaving only the bones exposed. The purple mist had touched her, despite her best efforts to escape it and it continued to consume her hand, stripping first the cloth of her sleeves and then the skin and flesh and blood that lay beneath.
"No!" Sui-Feng cried. "Stop it!" She reached for her Zanpakuto, intending to slice off the ruined limb before the damage could spread any further. That's when she felt the same horrid sensation of air touching bone on her other hand. She looked to see that it too had been touched by the miasma, the bones in that hand already cracking.
"No! Please don't!" Sui-Feng cried out as she felt this same sensation spread to her legs then her waist and finally her torso. She closed her weeping eyes and continued to beg for it all to stop as she felt the miasma devour her body. She could the last strips of her uniform disintegrate, the hair fall from the back of her head and her mouth dry as the moisture was the first thing to go.
"Please...no...no...no...
The scream that Sui-Feng released as she shot up from her pillow would have made even the most hardened of Shinigami tense up.
Once the scream was finished, Sui-Feng found herself breathing heavily. In fact, she was pretty much panting, as if she had just spent the last hour practicing her Shunko rather then lying in bed. The fact that her skin was coated in sweat which was quickly soaking her nightclothes and blanket could have helped to sell that lie had Sui-Feng bothered to tell it to herself or to anyone else. The violent trembling her body was going through, on the other hand, was a different matter.
"It was a dream! It was just a dream!" Sui-Feng wanted to say that to herself but her mouth wouldn't let her. It was still too bust drawing in breaths and releasing them as barely audible sighs. Even if it weren't for that, Soifon still wouldn't have been able to comfort herself with that sentence and deep down she knew it.
It was a dream, all right. A dream she had been suffering with for the past few months.
Sui-Feng laid back on the bed, wincing against the wetness of her pillow and waited for her panting to stop. She stared up at the brown featureless ceiling, listening to the sound of her own throbbing heart. She listened as it slowly realized that the intense fear, the "death" that her body had suffered really was just a dream and slowed to its normal rate. With this, her breathing returned to normal as well and Sui-Feng felt as if she could speak again.
"Why?" She uttered to the empty darkness. "It's been months since the war. So why am I still having these nightmares?" Slowly, Sui-Feng rose up again and stared out into the open window at the end of her room. Through it, she could see the Moon in it's waxing crescent phase, the only light breaking through the shadows of her room. The night was silent, only the occasional breeze offered anything like sound. Sui-Feng felt a headache coming on, as it always did after these nightmares, and gripped her head. "I'm...I'm over it!"
Sui-Feng wiped the sweat from her forehead and found herself staring at her arm. The same arm that she watched rapidly decay into oblivion after it had touched Baraggan's Respira. The same arm she screamed at her lieutenant to cut off before the rot could reach the rest of her body. The same arm whose very bones crumbled to less than dust at her feet. She had used that same arm to wipe away her sweat.
Sui-Feng felt a twinge of shame as she recalled how this could be. She remembered waking up in the Squad 4 barracks with Captain Unohana informing her that the human Ichigo Kurosaki invaded Hueco Mundo to save, Orihime Inoue, had volunteered to restore her and the other Captain's lost limbs free of charge. At first, Sui-Feng was adamantly against it as it would mean accepting help from a mere human, something the very thought of which wounded the Stealth Captain's pride. She was fully intent to accept the loss of her arm if it meant she could keep her dignity as a Shinigami. Not long afterward the initial offer, however, Sui-Feng began to reflect on it some more and realized sticking with her current condition could potentially mean the lost of her status as Captain if not her early retirement from the Stealth Force as well. There was also the fact, not that she would admit it to anyone even under threat of torture, that every time she so much as passed a glance at the bandaged stump to her left, she would be reminded of the intense fear she felt as she watched the hand decay. In the end, it was the desire to leave that terrible battle in the past that prompted Sui-Feng to allow Orihime to restore her arm. Once she was released from Squad 4's care, she tossed away the single shoe that came back with her that day and ordered a new pair, all to ensure that no mementos remained of that horrible, horrible fear.
A lot of f*cking good that did her apparently.
Sui-Feng groaned as she rubbed her face free of sweat. She looked out the window again and noticed a purple line of light beneath the Moon. Dawn was on its way and with it, a new day of work, training and possibly even a new mission.
All welcome distractions from her recurring nightmare.
Sui-Feng sunk back to her bed, intending to rest if not sleep in what little time she had left to do so. As soon as she closed her eyes, however, the thought occurred to her that, should she happen to fall asleep, she just might have that dream again. She quickly made up her mind that sleeping in was something her lazy lieutenant would do and threw the covers off. She quickly dressed in her battle uniform and headed for the training grounds where she would spend the rest of the morning.
The day was off to an uneventful start it would seem. After training, Sui-Feng had a quick and light breakfast and passed on various assignments to her ninja. With nothing else to do, Sui-Feng decided she would rest in her office for a few moments. Then she would hit the training grounds again. That, of course, only if a mission or a meeting didn't get in the way.
Anything would be better than having that dream again.
Sui-Feng's office was fairly simple. Just a desk, chair and mat with not much else in the way of decoration. There was a small couch leaned against the left wall of the room although she couldn't recall the last time anyone had used it. It just sort of always existed there. There was also a black cat clock that Yoruichi had bought her from the World of the Living. It ticked away as its eyes shifted back and forth, one paw next to its head as if listening for a secret. Without realizing it, Sui-Feng ended up watching the clock for several minutes, her gaze focused on the hands that moved around in the cat's belly. The ticking noise was rather comforting. It made Sui-Feng feel safe, secure...
Sleepy.
Sui-Feng's eyelids closed and her head lowered toward the desk. The moment her chin bumped against the desk, she shot back up with a sharp "I'M AWAKE!" She panted again as she realized what had been going on and groaned in disappointment in herself. "Thank goodness no one was around to see that." After reclaiming her breath, Sui-Feng rested her head on her hands and watched the clock again. Once again, her eyelids grew heavy and Sui-Feng closed them with the sole intention of resting them.
Just a small dreamless rest.
Said rest was just about to slip into a full on nap when Marechiyo threw the door open with far more force than necessary, a stack of papers tucked underneath his arm. "Captain Sui-Feng! Are you in here?"
The sound of the door slamming against the wall startled Sui-Feng back to the waking world. She uttered a small squeak of surprise as she shot back up in her seat, a squeak most of her colleagues would have considered cute if they happened to be there at the time. It took a few seconds for Sui-Feng to recognize the man standing at her doorway as her Lieutenant and once she did, she growled in annoyance.
"Omeada!" She barked. "What's the big idea barging into my office like this!?"
"F-Forgive me, Captain!" He held up the stack of papers in his hands, a few sheets falling from the stack and around his feet. "Lieutenant Chojiro handed these documents out to all of the lieutenants! He said the Captains needed to sign off on them, something about adjusting expenses after the war or something."
Sui-Feng felt like biting Marechiyo's head off for daring to wake her. That's when she realized it: She actually WAS about to fall asleep and possibly suffer that horrible nightmare again. In a messed up sort of way, Marechiyo had rescued her without realizing it.
Of course, she would never tell him this. Instead, she sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose and saying. "Alright, just leave them on the desk and I'll get to them later."
"R-Right," Marechiyo, unsure whether or not to be grateful his captain hadn't killed him for barging in on her, cautiously approached the desk and placed the papers down on the desk.
Without opening her eyes or removing her fingers from her nose, Sui-Feng lifted her other hand and waved her fingers to indicate she wanted her lieutenant gone. "Leave."
"Y-Yes Captain!" Marechiyo nodded before running off, clearly wanting to be out of that office as badly as Sui-Feng wanted him out. Once he was gone, Sui-Feng sighed and studied the stack of papers on her desk. There must have been at least 300 sheets worth of paperwork in there, not counting the sheets still laying on the floor. Definitely a few hours worth of work at the least.
"I should get started," Sui-Feng said to herself as she removed the first sheet from the stack and grabbed a pencil. Before she could get started, however, she uttered a long yawn. She smacked her lips as it ended, water in her eyes. She was exhausted and that was sure to make the paperwork even harder.
"I should go to the training grounds first." Sui-Feng said to herself. "The adrenaline will wake me up enough to focus on this."
With that, Sui-Feng got up and left the room. By the time she had made it to the training grounds, all thought of the paperwork would vanish, leaving only the focus of her movements as she practiced combat stances and desire to not sleep.
"Foolish little Shinigami!" Baraggan roared. "Did you really think you could kill the King of Death himself?"
"N-No!" Sui-Feng shouted. Around her, the harsh winds ravaged what used to be her barracks. It had happened so fast, she still couldn't fully comprehend that it was really happening. Somehow, Baraggan and the rest of the slain Arrancar came back to life and were now attacking the Seireitei. How they had stopped fighting amongst themselves long enough to mount this attack didn't matter. How they had managed to pass through the Soul Membrane didn't matter. How they had located the barracks of the Captains they had fought before didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were here now.
And they were winning.
Through the wind, Sui-Feng could hear the cries and screams of her ninja as they were erased from the world by Respira. She watched in horror as their bodies broke apart into dust, cracks forming through their terrified faces as all the color drained away.
"I told you once, didn't I?" Baraggan continued. "Everything in this world will eventually decay into nothing. Not even you pitiful Shinigami are immortal!"
"S-Shut up!" Sui-Feng barked with as much defiance as she could muster, although she could not hide the shakiness in her voice. "I beat you before, you monster! And I'll do it again! Sting All Enemies to Death, Suzumebachi!"
Sui-Feng's Shikai activated and with her hand now equipped with her stinger, she rushed toward the towering skeleton, screaming in defiance as she pointed her weapon. However, as she made contact with his skull, Baraggan's body turned to mist and Sui-Feng found herself flying through it. She winced as she realized she was right in the heart of Respira, every inch of her body now affected.
"Foolish girl!" Baraggan's disembodied voice spoke in a taunting matter. "Do you have such a fleeting memory? It was the Visored that defeated me, not you! And now that he's not here to protect you, there's is nothing that can delay your fate!"
"N-No..." Sui-Feng watched in horror as Suzumebachi cracked and dulled before breaking up into pieces. "S-Suzumebachi!"
"This is your destiny," Baraggan continued. "The destiny of all beings that exist. You can never escape it! You can only delay it. But for you, even that is no longer an option!"
Sui-Feng screamed as she felt the Respira eat away at her body. She closed her eyes, not daring to see the damage done. She tried to close her mouth, tried to keep that final desperate scream from escaping so as to deny her killer that one final victory. But the pain of her body eroding as she still breathed and the sheer terror of realizing she was going to die forced her mouth to open...
...and thus Sui-Feng screamed into the darkness of her bedroom.
She panted heavily, her chest heaving up and down as she sat up in her futon. As she panted, the cool night air agitated the strained interior of her throat, making her wince. "It's just a dream." She whispered to herself once her throat had stopped hurting and her heart beat returned to normal. "It was just a dream." Her head began to throb and she gritted her teeth as she clenched it. This sometimes happened after a particularly intense nightmare. She groaned as she knew it would last the whole night unless she managed to fall asleep again. And considered how that's been working out for her lately, putting up with the headache actually sounded appealing.
"Dammit!" Sui-Feng cursed in the dark. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! It's been over for months! We won! I survived! And Baraggan is dead so why!? Why is that bastard still haunting my dreams!?" Sui-Feng grabbed her pillow, slammed her face into the underside and screamed as loud as she could into the fluffy cushion. Once she had let it all out, she tossed the pillow away with a sigh and buried her face in her hands. "This has to stop!" She cried. "Otherwise, I won't be able to focus on my duties! I won't-
Sui-Feng gasped as she realized she had forgotten the paperwork Marechiyo had given her. The paperwork that would have taken her hours to finish had she actually started on it. "Oh great!" She growled. "Just what I needed! Now I'm forgetting important work all because of these stupid dreams!" Sui-Feng shouted as she gripped her hair and pulled. She stopped just short of almost pulling out her hair and fell back on the futon.
"Just great! I'm gonna have to get up early if I'm gonna finish that work anytime soon." With this, Sui-Feng pulled the blanket over herself and turned her head. It was only at that moment that she remembered she had thrown her pillow across the room. She was staring at it as it laid crumpled against the wall. She sighed and closed her eyes. "Well if I'm gonna get up early, I better get some...sleep..."
Sui-Feng opened her eyes again, her pupils already shrinking with fear at the mere prospect of another nightmare. She suddenly felt very vulnerable, as if she had been injured on the battlefield and enemies were lurking all around, ready to take her out. She found herself trembling at the darkness of her own room and desperately wishing there was someone else in here with her, if only to hear another person's voice. She hated feeling like this. It was unbecoming of someone who kills people at behest of the Seireitei. Why, one would call it flat-out embarrassing and shameful. But that did nothing to quell the fear she felt at that moment.
At that moment, Sui-Feng wanted to do just about anything but sleep.
She thought back to the paperwork and realized it must still be in her office, waiting for her to complete it. It a sigh, Sui-Feng got out of her futon, lit a candle, and made her way toward the office.
It was a relatively short journey and with everyone else asleep, Sui-Feng had no interruptions as she walked down the hall. She didn't even need to try and keep her footsteps light. Her years of training as an assassin as well as her small feet did that for her. Once she reached the office, she clasped the knob, looked around to make sure no one was watching and opened the door as slowly as she could.
Sure enough, the paperwork was still sitting on her desk, the first sheet still right in front of her chair.
For the first time that night, Sui-Feng smiled as she realized she now had a reason to not go back to sleep. "I never thought the day would come where I would be excited about paperwork." She mused. "But it beats putting up with..."
Sui-Feng shook her head. She didn't even want to think about that horrible dream. All she wanted to do now was work on the paperwork by candlelight and hope it lasted until the Sun came up.
Luck seemed to be smiling down on Sui-Feng for she got her wish.
Once Sui-Feng had finished with the paperwork, she fixed it all in a neat stack and sent a Hell Butterfly for her Lieutenant. It took him longer to get to her office for his liking and he was gorging himself on rice crackers as he waddled in but honestly, what else was new? "Y-You wanted to see me, Captain?" He asked through a disgusting mouthful of chewed up cracker.
"First of all, don't talk with your mouth full, you moron!" Sui-Feng barked.
"Y-Y" Marechiyo swallowed his food. "Y-Yes Captain!"
"Second," Sui-Feng grabbed the completed paperwork and dumped in on the table. "Give this to Lieutenant Chojiro and give him an apology on my behalf for finishing it so late.
"Uhh...R-Right Captain!" Marechiyo nodded as he went to grab the papers. He turned around right as Sui-Feng spoke up again.
"Hold it!"
"Y-Yeah?" Marechiyo asked with a worried tone.
"Ask Lieutenant Chojiro if there's any extra work that he needs completed."
"Huh!?" Marechiyo cried out. Suddenly, he turned around, dropping the papers on the floor and allowing them to explode in a big white cloud. "B-But Captain! I have enough to do today as it is!"
Sui-Feng stared at the papers littering her office floor for a few moments, raised that intense death glare toward the trembling Marechiyo and then sighed heavily. "No, you bumbling moron. I meant work for me."
Marechiyo blinked a few times. Then he cleaned his ear out, unsure if he heard his boss correctly. "W-What did you say, Captain?"
"Things have been quiet around here lately and I'm getting just a little tired of spending all my time training." Sui-Feng fought off a yawn trapped in her throat. It was not a good idea for her to mention the word tired out loud. "I want to keep busy so ask Chojiro if there's task he needs completed."
Marechiyo blinked again. His lips curved into a small smile. "S-Sure thing, Captain! I'll get right on it!" He was about to leave when his foot grazed against one of the sheets on the floor, reminding him of the mess he had made earlier. His smile disappeared and he started to sweat bullets again. "C-Crap! I forgot about the papers! S-Sorry Captain Sui-Feng!" I'll-
Before Marechiyo could blubber another word, Sui-Feng suddenly vanished from her desk. The wind in the room whipped about wildly as the sheets of paper disappeared one by one. Panicked by this sudden movement, Marechiyo fell to the floor and covered his head. "I-I'm sorry, Captain Sui-Feng! Honest I am! It won't happen again! Please don't kill me!"
After a few seconds, the wind died down and Sui-Feng reappeared in front of her cowering Lieutenant, the stack of paperwork in her hand. She waited for Marechiyo to stop shaking like a leaf and realize the wind had stopped which took him far longer to do than she cared to admit. With a nervous chuckle and his palms still sweaty from the earlier bout of fear, Marechiyo slowly got to his feet and grabbed the papers. "T-Thanks Captain!" As he took them in his hands, however, he couldn't help but notice the red lines in his Captain's eyes. "Hey Captain, you pull an all-nighter or something? You're eyes are pretty bloodshot."
"Marechiyo," Sui-Feng growled. "Go. Now."
A shiver went down the fat Lieutenant's spine. "R-Right Captain!" With a whimper, he rushed out of the room. A single sheet fell from the stack and nearly fell to the floor, only for him to come back and snatch it from the air. Sui-Feng listened as his thunderous footsteps echoed out of earshot down the hall and once she could hear no more, she sighed in relief.
"Finally, some peace and quiet."
Sui-Feng sat back down at her desk and rubbed her temples. The quiet around her felt good. Not sounded good. Felt good. It was so peaceful, so calm, so...
...so cozy
Too cozy.
Sui-Feng sat in in her office chair and aggressively wiped the fatigue from her eyes. "No! No! No!" She growled to herself. "I can't sleep! I won't!" Sui-Feng sighed and got up from her seat, her hands pressing against the desk with enough pressure to make the wood creak. "I'm going to the training grounds!" She declared to no one in particular. Sui-Feng marched right out of the office and spent all of the time until evening training.
As it turned out, there were in fact other types of paperwork that needed filling out as a result of the Zanpakuto Rebellion incident. Lieutenant Chojiro had intended to give the bulk of it to Toshiro as he was one of the few to actually appreciate it but when Marechiyo had asked him if he could give any to Sui-Feng, he set loose a Hell Butterfly. The conversation between the two was brief and to the point and in the end, Sui-Feng had convinced Chojiro to give her the paperwork instead. It was sent to her in the evening with the Shinigami delivering it understandably expecting Sui-Feng to start on it in the morning.
She started as soon as they had left. It was more or less like the paperwork from before, mind-numbing and by the numbers. One would think this would be the perfect task to lull someone to sleep through sheer boredom. But the constant sound of her pen scribbling over the paper and shuffling of the sheets as Sui-Feng slid the completed work into the finished pile helped to keep her awake.
She was more than happy to take boredom over suffering another nightmare.
As the night rode on, Sui-Feng found it harder and harder to focus on the paperwork. Her eye lids kept closing on her and the pen fell from her hand a few times. She started to get frustrated and lightly smacked her own face in an attempt to wake herself up more. "Can't sleep! I won't sleep! I won't!" Sui-Feng rubbed her eyes enough to cause them pain, waited a few seconds for the pain to subside and prepared to get started on her work when she heard a sound.
It was a strange sound, almost like a unfamiliar voice saying her name.
"Ah!" Sui-Feng zipped around, eyes wild and hair standing on end. She gripped the pen in her hand as if it were a knife. "Who's there!?"
With only the light of the candle and the Moon, Sui-Feng couldn't make out anything out of the ordinary in her room. It had gone deathly quiet as well, the only sound being that of the candle flickering.
Sui-Feng stared into the darkness for several minutes, her mind racing with all different theories as to what she could have heard. Maybe it was just the wind? Or maybe it was just in her mind? Regardless, she slowly turned back to her paperwork, her eyes still glued to the darkness in front of her. Then, just as she was about to look away, she heard it again.
It was like a voice speaking right next to her ear.
"Who goes there!?" She shouted, moving her head back and forth, her eyes desperately searching for the source of the sound. Still, she could find no one but herself. Her heart was pounding, her skin was beginning to sweat and she felt her breaths become heavier. "I...I must be imagining things. That's the only explanation!" Despite this mental reassurance, Sui-Feng kept her ears open for any new voices. Aside from the sound of her own ragged breathing and the candle still flickering, everything was dead silent.
"Could that be it?" Sui-Feng thought. "Could the quiet in this room be causing my mind to play tricks on me?" She continued to wait for the voice to return but all that she would get was the memory of it playing in her head over and over again, each time making her blood run cold. The silence only helped to elevate her unease and to her chagrin, Sui-Feng realized what she wanted at this moment more than anything, was some sound. Another person's voice speaking just to fill the air or even some music. Anything that would break this deafening silence and banish that horrid voice. Hell, she'd even take Marechiyo yapping if it meant she wasn't alone.
"Dear Soul King, what the hell is wrong with me!?"
Sui-Feng dragged her fingers over her eyelids and pulled them down. After pulling her hands away, she racked her brain for something she could do to fill the void of silence in the room. With it being the dead of night and everyone else asleep, her options were pretty limited. She yawned, and shook her head violently as a result. Sleep was not an option. Hell, she wasn't even sure she could sleep in this silence.
Then it came to her, as casually as a insect walking along one's pant leg while laying on the grass. The memory, distant but vivid of when she was a young child slaying sick in her bed on a bitter winter's day and her grandmother sung her a lullaby. One of the few instances of real childhood that Sui-Feng ever got to experience.
"I...I could sing..." Just saying that out loud caused Sui-Feng to blush. She turned back toward the paperwork and looked around, making sure no one else was around to hear her. Then she took a deep breath, exhaled it slowly, and as she continued on the paperwork, she began to sing the lullaby she was taught so long ago.
"Look up, look up, look up to the sky, Don't you see, can't you see, won't you see the lanterns fly? Like fireflies they ascend toward the weary Moon, after which the Sun comes soon. Look up, look up, look up to the sky. Don't you see, can't you see, won't you see the lanterns fly? Like fireflies they ascend toward the shining star, off to the heavens so very far."
Sui-Feng sighed as she finished the verse. She had finished the sheet and her heartbeat had gone back to normal. "It...It worked!" She whispered. "It actually worked." She blushed again as she realized she had comforted herself with a lullaby. She felt like a child scared of the dark and gritted her teeth. "This is shameful! To think I'd need to comfort myself like this over something as stupid as-
Silence. Now that she had stopped talking, it had returned full-force. The voice did not appear nor did it need to. The silence was maddening enough on it's own. Sui-Feng felt her heartbeat increase as silence continued to dominate the room.
"L-Look up, look up, look up to the sky," Sui-Feng resumed to sing. "Don't you see, can't you see, won't you see the lanterns fly?"
Sui-Feng would continue to sing that song quietly to herself all through the night as she completed the paperwork. It grew annoying to her rather quickly but it sure as hell beat the silence.
Sui-Feng would continue to take up as much paperwork as she could for the next few days and save it all for the night time. Her fatigue made it a little difficult and in some instances, she was sure she made a mistake somewhere. (Rangiku's last name was Moto-Moto right?) But anything was preferable to falling back to sleep and risking seeing Baraggan again. Just the thought alone made her shudder and the fact that the darkness and silence of her room at night seemed to bring those thoughts to the surface didn't help matters. Thus, as mind-numbing as it could be, Sui-Feng threw herself entirely into her paperwork, greeting the Sun each time it rose with a wipe of her sweaty brow and a weary smile.
This persisted until next Monday when a Captain's meeting was held. It wasn't anything major though, just a few matters that needed to be discussed that didn't weren't a full meeting of their own. Unfortunately for Sui-Feng, one of those matters was the paperwork.
"Captain Sui-Feng," Genryusai spoke. "Lieutenant Sasakibe has informed me you've been taking the bulk of the extra paperwork lately."
Sui-Feng stiffened. "Y-Yes Head Captain."
"First off, I must commend you for taking on such a workload yourself. It's hard to find any volunteers for such menial task nowadays so allow me to assure you, your help is greatly appreciated.
"T-Thank you, Head Captain." Sui-Feng replied, feeling just the tiniest bit better that the Head Captain had praised her.
"However,"
And thus the joy fled.
"As the Captain of the Onmitsukido, you understand that you must be ready to be dispatched on a stealth mission at a moment's notice." Genryusai continued. "As such, I feel it would be best to leave all the extra paperwork to Captain Hitsugaya.
"What!?" Sui-Feng shrieked, catching a lot of the captains off-guard. "B-But Head Captain! I've been working to the best of my ability with that paperwork!"
"And we thank you," Genryusai repeated. "But as I already explained, your skills and focus are better kept ready at a moment's notice. Besides, Captain Hitsugaya has been handling the extra paperwork for quite some time now. He is the most qualified for it."
"Thank you, Captain." Toshiro replied simply. "Although it would be much easier if my lieutenant would pitch in every now and then."
"You," Sui-Feng hissed as she pointed a finger toward Toshiro. "Who do you think you are usurping the paperwork from me?"
"Usurping?" Sajin asked quizzically. The expressions on the other captain's faces suggested they were just as confused by Sui-Feng's outburst.
"I beg your pardon?" Toshiro asked in a offended tone.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Sui-Feng continued. "I see what you're trying to do! You're trying to make me look bad in front of the other captains, aren't you?"
"What has gotten into you, Captain Sui-Feng?" Jushiro asked in a desperate bid to deescalate the situation. "I can understand your frustration...somewhat...but sometimes leaving certain task for others is the best option!"
"Right, so why don't you turn off your bitch switch for once." Kensei added. "Seriously, this is flat-out embarrassing."
Sui-Feng snapped toward the Squad 9 captain. He and the other two new reinstated captains had been a part of these meetings for over a month now and Sui-Feng still hadn't gotten used to their presence. Maybe it was the fact that she felt she was shown up by one of them in the fight against Baraggan. Maybe it was the fact that they were indirectly responsible for Yoruichi abandoning her in the first place. Whatever the case, it didn't really matter. The point was, Sui-Feng hated them.
"What was that!?" She snarled. "You think you can talk to me like that!? Don't get co*cky just because you were reinstated, you're still a newcomer in my eyes not to mention a Visored! So don't you take that tone with me, Captain Maagmmooma!"
"How about you watch you-" Kensei suddenly ceased his yelling as it caught on to him that Sui-Feng had completely butchered his name. "Wait...Maagmmooma?"
It was around this time that Sui-Feng realized her error as well. A blush crept over her face as it dawned on her that she had just committed this blunder in front of all the other captains and in great confidence as well. "I meant...You know what I meant, Captain Muguruma."
Kensei grunted. "You know, if you keep butchering people's names like that, you're gonna find it impossible to be taken seriously. So get your head on straight!"
"I concur," Rose said. "I really is quite unprofessional for a captain to be making mistakes like that."
Sui-Feng turned her fierce glare toward Rose which caused him to stiffen. She then turned it to Shinji who adopted a defensive posture as if he were about to receive a beating.
"H-Hey! I didn't even say anything! Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Captain Sui-Feng!" Genryusai's words shook the entire hallway. All the other captains turned their eyes toward the Head Captain, including the now-shaking Sui-Feng.
"Do you consider this operation to be a classroom of toddlers?"
"N-No Head Captain!" Sui-Feng uttered.
"Then why do you insist on acting like a spoiled child!?"
"I...I..."
"You are the Captain of the 2nd Division as well as the Onmitsukido and you will display the maturity of such in my presence! Do you understand!?"
"I...Y-Yes Head Captain." Sui-Feng bowed her head in shame. She could feel herself suffocating from the sheer humiliation she was going through at this moment. She had to grit her teeth just to bear it and her face, no, all of her skin was burning. If it weren't for the damned nightmare, she would consider going to bed right after this meeting and hope to wake up to a new day as fast as possible. "I-I'm sorry."
There was another moment of dreadful silence before the Head Captain accepted the apology with a stern grunt. Thus, Sui-Feng was allowed to return to her spot alongside Captain Unohana. The meeting went on for a mere 20 minutes but to Sui-Feng, it seemed to last 20 hours. She took to staring at the floor, unable to face the other captains out of both shame and anger in equal measure. Every so often, she would feel her eye lids close by themselves and shake her head in order to keep the open. As everyone else was focused on the meeting, the only person who noticed Sui-Feng's struggle for consciousness was Retsu.
At last, the meeting ended and the Captain's flash-stepped out of the hall back to their barracks. Sui-Feng, however, exhausted as she was, simply made it to a road near her barracks. By now, the embarrassment of her outburst at the meeting had ebbed but her anger remained as burning as ever, especially toward her fellow captains. "Damn that Toshiro! Damn that Kensei! Damn them!" In her anger, she ended up punching a hole into a nearby building, sending pieces of brick and dirt everywhere. She pulled out her hand and examined her fingers, finding the flesh of her knuckles red and raw. "sh*t!" She began to wander back to her barracks. "sh*t...sh*t...sh*t!"
She noticed a pebble in her path and kicked it into the sky. She used a little too much force in the kick then she was prepared to handle and ended up falling on her back. She groaned as the pain shot through her, the agony only increased by her physical fatigue. She felt her eyelids close and considered for just the briefest of moments that maybe she wouldn't have the nightmare if she slept in such a sunny location.
"Oh dear," Retsu's voice spoke out of nowhere. "You really are out of it today, aren't you Captain Sui-Feng?"
Sui-Feng's eyes flew open and found themselves locked in Retsu's concerned gaze as she loomed over the her, her shadow completely engulfing the smaller Shinigami. "C-Captain Unohana!" Soifon jumped to her feet and frantically dusted herself off.
"You weren't really considering taking a nap on the road like that were you?" Retsu asked innocently. "You don't need to be an expert on healing to know that's simply not good for your health."
"I was not napping!" Sui-Feng screeched, the red returning to her face. "I...I just fell..." She uttered a groan as she realized what little difference it made in terms of her looking stupid. Today was just one embarrassment after another it seemed. And it was all thanks to her exhaustion.
"Hmm." Retsu leaned into Sui-Feng's face, unnerving the smaller Shinigami even more.
"W-What do you think you're doing?"
Retsu continued to study Sui-Feng's features for a few more moments before answering. "Your eyes have some very dark bags under them. Did you realize this, Captain Sui-Feng?
"I...Well...What does it matter!?" Sui-Feng challenged. "I've just been busy lately!"
"Right, right. The paperwork." Retsu backed off. "The paperwork that Captain Hitsugaya has taken over."
"Thanks for reminding me." Sui-Feng hissed.
"I can see how difficult paperwork could eat up one's time but surely, you haven't let it interfere with your sleeping, have you Captain Sui-Feng?"
Sui-Feng winced at the word "sleep." Just hearing it made her eyelids feel ten times heavier. "I...I have gone to bed late for a few nights to take care of the paperwork," She admitted. "But not enough to affect my health! I'm fine!"
"I'm sure you are," Retsu replied in a unbelieving tone. But just to be safe, maybe you should try to catch up on those missing hours now that Captain Hitsugaya's taken care of the paper work, hmm?"
"Very well," Sui-Feng muttered as she turned around. Of course, she had not intention of following Retsu's advice. She just wanted this conversation to end so she could return to her barracks. 'Anyway, I have some tradin- training to d-do so good day, Captain Unohana!"
Retsu's expression made it clear that she wasn't convinced by Sui-Feng's words. However, for whatever reason, she decided to leave it alone for the time being. "Very well." Retsu turned to leave for her barracks before suddenly uttering "Op!" and turning back. "And don't forget our monthly meeting at the Shinigami Women's Association in two weeks. I will be seeing you there, won't I?"
"Yes." Sui-Feng stated as she channeled the puny amount of energy she had in preparation for another flash-step. "Now good day!" With that, she vanished before Captain Retsu's eyes, leaving only a cloud of dust near the ground as the only evidence she was ever here at all. Well, that and the hole in the wall.
"Oh my," Retsu whispered to herself. "This doesn't look good at all."
"Stupid Toshiro! Stupid Toshiro! Stupid Toshiro!" Sui-Feng spat as she delivered a flurry of punches to the sandbag before her. Normally, said sandbag, as well as the other targets inside this private training room, would have the face of Kisuke Urahara or any of the Visored Captains taped to it which served to increase the power in Sui-Feng's punches. Today, however, what was taped to the sandbag was a poorly-drawn rendition of Toshiro's face. Somewhere in her exhausted mind, possibly her repressed childhood, she decided to give him buck teeth larger than his head and stink lines.
"Stupid Toshiro! Stupid Toshiro! Stupid Toshiro! Gah!" With a final screech of rage and all her hatred condensed into a single punch, Sui-Feng caused the sandbag to burst. She didn't so much as flinch as the sand held inside fell in all directions, covering her with grit. She stood in place, panting and sweating with her hand still outstretched. The sweat dampened the sand, caking it against her skin, hair and clothes. She realized as much as she finally moved her feet to find another sandbag and felt clumps of the cheap mud fall from her arms.
"Oh dammit!" She cursed. "This day just keeps getting worse and worse!" Sui-Feng stomped toward the locker room, feeling a few more clumps fall from her body as she did so, and grabbed a towel and a change of clothes. She then went outside to a small waterfall with a pond beneath. It was quite similar to the one that she tried to take candid pictures of Yoruichi at that one time but the less said about that event and what happened afterward, the better.
Once she was certain she was alone, Sui-Feng placed her towel and clean clothes to the side, shed her dirty uniform, and dipped into the pound. She fully submerged herself in the water, relaxing as the remaining clumps of wet sand fell away. She resurfaced with a small gasp and waded toward the waterfall. She leaned against the stone behind it and, as one might do in the shower in the World of the Living, she contemplated.
"That stupid Toshiro! I can't believe he would hog all the paperwork like that!" Sui-Feng rubbed her face, the water helping to migrate the heaviness of her eyelids somewhat. "How am I going to keep from having that horrible dream now? I'm so exhausted, I might just fall asleep in this waterfall!" She sighed. "No! I can't give up! Not yet! Come on, think Sui-Feng! There has to be something else besides work you could do to fill up the time, right?" She put her finger to her chin as she pondered these things. "Yeah! There's lots of things people waste their time with now that I think about it. Of course, I always spend my free time either training or hanging out with Lady Yoruichi so I'm not sure where to start." Slowly, she ran her fingers through her hair, helping the water along in getting every last speck of dirt out. "However, I can think of a few people that do."
"Huh?" Nanao asked. "You want to borrow some of my books?"
"Y-Yes," Sui-Feng confirmed. "I decided recently that as a assassin, I need to keep my body as well as my mind sharp. and I was told from a reliable source that reading more books is a good place to start."
"Well, I can't argue with that logic and honestly, it would be nice if more people read around here." Nanao nodded and gestured for Sui-Feng to step inside. "Okay, come on in."
Sui-Feng entered the room, a small cozy place lined with shelves full of books. This was Nanao's personal collection although her captain would occasionally use it to hide his less-than proper reading martial as well as his booze. Both of those would inevitably end up in the trash. "Feel free to look around," Nanao said. "Most of my books are about the history of the Soul Society or proper etiquette but I'm sure you can find something suited to your taste."
"Maybe," Sui-Feng said as she scanned the books. True to what Nanao said, most of them seemed to be about history or etiquette. Not too much that interested her. In was in thinking this that Sui-Feng realized she had no idea what did interest her. "sh*t! What am I into? Ok, not to worry. Let's see. I'm in the Stealth Force. I'm from the Feng Clan which serves the Shihoin Clan. Uhh...That's about it... Sui-Feng couldn't help but feel just a little depressed upon realizing this.
"Are you alright, Captain Sui-Feng?" Nanao asked in a concerned tone.
"I'm fine," Sui-Feng lied as she continued to search through the books. "I just gotta find...hmmm?" Her eyes landed on a blue book with red markings. The Kanji read: The History of the Ninja: A Look Throughout Time.
"Huh." Sui-Feng took it out and scanned through the pages. The title checked out. It seemed to be about ninjas through and through. "I think I'd like to borrow this one."
Nanao walked over to see what book Sui-Feng was talking about and smiled. "Very well. I think you'll like that one. And if you don't mind, could I interest you in some personal recommendations?"
Sui-Feng thought about it for a second. "Might as well. The more well read I am, the better."
Nanao nodded with a smile and went about the room taking random books out from the shelves. Once she had a big enough stack, she handed them over to Sui-Feng. "Some of these are fiction but I find them all to be great reads." She beamed. "I think you'll enjoy them as well."
"I-I'm sure I will." Sui-Feng replied with a nervous smile as she wasn't expecting to get this many books. She wasn't about to complain though. The way she figured, she had enough books to keep her from sleeping for at least a week and that was good. Anything that would keep her from sleeping was good. She looked down at the book right on top of the stack and examined it closely.
"101 Uses for Classic Japanese Fan," She read.
"You wouldn't believe how versatile those things can be."
Sui-Feng placed that book at the bottom of the stack and examined the next on on top. "Grain of the Gods: The Story of Rice."
"Might not seems like a fun read at first but trust me, it will grow on you." Nanao chirped.
Sui-Feng set that book at the bottom and examined the next one. "Steamy Tales from the Onsen?" She grimaced as she read the kanji above the picture of a woman sitting naked at the edge of a hot spring.
"What!?" Nanao tore the book away from Sui-Feng and uttered an embarrassed squeak as she saw the cover! "How did that get here!?"
"Let me guess, your captain?" Sui-Feng groaned.
Nanao shook her head, her face as red as Renji's Abrai's hair. "Lisa! My old babysitter used to read stories like this back when she was lieutenant. Sometimes I still find them mixed in my collection. "I-I've got to return this to her as fast as possible! Excuse me!" Nanao rushed past Sui-Feng, the book held tightly against her chest so that no one else could see it. Sui-Feng was left alone with a big stack of books in her arms.
"T-Thank you, Lieutenant Ise." She uttered to no one.
"Huh?" Rose asked. "Would you care to run that by me again, Captain Sui-Feng?"
Sui-Feng sighed, her cheeks already flushing. "I...I said I would like to borrow some of your manga from the World of the Living."
Rose tilted his head in confusion. "My my, Captain Sui-Feng. I never took you of all people for the manga type."
"Well, I'm not." Sui-Feng said. "B-But I've been given a secret mission to the World of the Living in a few weeks and I thought it would be a good idea to indulge in some of the culture first." This was a lie, of course, but the fact that it was suppose to be secret meant Rose would have no choice but to leave it at that. Sui-Feng didn't want to talk to any of the Visored but as they spent the past century in the World of the Living, they were the most well versed Shinigami when it came to World of the Living constructs like manga. And when it came down to it, Sui-Feng hated Rose least out of all of them. It helped that he seemed to be the most enthusiastic about it.
"Very well. Come on in." Rose gestured for her to enter his office. It was a neat little room, much more neat than Sui-Feng would have considered. His guitar, Candace, leaned in a corner near the doorway and across from that there was a single book shelf with only the bottom shelf filled with anything. Sui-Feng could already tell from how small the books were and the colorful characters on the spines that this was the manga she had heard about.
"To be honest, Captain Sui-Feng," Rose continued as he walked toward the books. "You're the last person I would have expected to ask to borrow my manga."
"Well, life can be surprising sometimes." Was all that Sui-Feng could think to reply with. Her eye lids were growing heavy again and she needed to get moving soon. Not only was she intent on leaving this Visored's presence as soon as possible but she had found that being on the move helped to migrate her fatigue. Thus, she didn't want to stay in the same place for too long.
"I suppose," Rose agreed with a smile. "That's what makes it interesting." He searched through the bottom shelf and picked up a few books. "I'm not entirely sure what your interest are, Captain Sui-Feng." Rose said as he brought the manga to Sui-Feng. "But given your profession, maybe you'd want to start out with these."
Sui-Feng took the manga stack and examined the cover of the first volume. It displayed a young boy with blonde hair and a kunai in his mouth. Naruto read the title above.
"It's about ninjas." Rose said. "And plucky ones at that."
"I see..." Sui-Feng uttered with a sweat drop. Plucky wasn't exactly the word she would want to ascribe to a ninja. "Thank you."
"You'll find a couple of other volumes as well." Rose explained. "I haven't had to chance to stop in the World of the Living and pick up the rest but I'll be sure to lend them to you after I've finished."
"Thanks," Sui-Feng replied without looking up from the manga as she shifted through the volumes one after another.
It was then that Rose noticed the bags under Sui-Feng's eyes. He hesitated to say anything, considering Sui-Feng's infamous temper and the outburst she had earlier, but decided he need to say something out of concern. "Say, Captain Sui-Feng, I know this may not be any of my business but you appear to be quite exhausted."
"I'm fine," Sui-Feng answered in a slightly annoyed tone as she continued to shift through the manga. "I've just been busy with the paperwork...Gah!"
"What's wrong? Oh my!"
Both Rose and Sui-Feng blushed with mouths agape as they stared at the manga at the bottom of the stack. It wasn't part of the Naruto series, that much Sui-Feng could gather from the red-haired girl laying completely naked on a silk bed on the cover. High School DxD was the name of this filth.
"Oh dear!" Rose snatched the manga from Sui-Feng's stack. "I'm terribly sorry about that. Back when we were in exile, Lisa would sometimes have me or Love buy her manga of the more...amorous kind. It would seem some of them ended up in my collection by mistake. Although this particular series does have a decent story to it once you get past the fanservice...Oh! N-Not that I've read it myself of course. I would never...
Rose continued to ramble on about how he had only heard about the plot from Love but Sui-Feng wasn't listening. She was staring off into space, only one thought going through her mind again and again.
"Damn you, Lisa Yadomaru!"
Sui-Feng hardly ever went to the Rukongai and when she did, it was usually either to look for her lieutenant or hanging out with Lady Yoruichi. This was the first time in Soul King knows how long that she'd gone by herself for her own purposes. As she didn't want to attract any attention from civilian or Shinigami alike, she wore a faded purple robe over her Captain's haori as well as a hat and sunglasses which also served to help disguise the circles around her eyes. She wandered through the streets, scanning the stores left and right in search of anything that might provide a welcome distraction from sleep. She yawned and cursed under her breath when it was over. "sh*t!"
As she continued her search, she ended up in front of a candy store. Sweets of all kinds sat in the display window with the prices taped over them on cheap paper. Sui-Feng wasn't exactly known for having a sweet tooth and part of her felt somewhat childish that she was even considering it. But the way she understood it, candy and sugary food in general made it harder to fall asleep at night. That was incentive enough to walk right in.
"Can I help you, miss?" The man at the counter, a old man with hair on the side of his head, asked.
"Um...I'm just picking up some candy for my...nephews!" Sui-Feng though back to how she would sometimes buy candy and toys for Yoruichi's younger brother, Yushiro. Thus, it didn't fell like a complete lie. She even made it up in her mind at the moment that she would send some to him later tonight. That process in of itself would also take her mind off sleeping.
"Well feel free to look around," The old man said.
"Thank you. I well." Sui-Feng started to browse the candy store, searching for something that she might enjoy. She did partake of cakes and mochi whenever they were offered in the SWA meetings but nothing here seemed to fit the criteria except for the dango on the display case. Sui-Feng thought back to the candy she would usually buy for Yushiro and decided on a few bags of jawbreakers, some chocolate and some dango for good measure. She paid for it at the counter and was just about to leave the store when she heard the door open.
"Wait a minute," Zaraki growled. "This is the candy store! There's no way that guy is in here!" He turned to his lieutenant who was clutched on his shoulders. "What kind of game are you pulling here?"
"Oh come on, Kenny!" Yachiru begged. "Please buy me some candy! Then I'll point you to where that guy went!"
"You sure about that? Because I have a sneaking suspicion you don't even know where he is."
"Oh Kenny." Yachiru replied with a somewhat coy face. "Have I ever led you astray?"
"You really don't want me to answer that." Zaraki replied dryly. "Huh?" He looked ahead to the rows of candies before him.
"What's wrong Kenny?" Yachiru asked.
"I dunno," Zaraki said quietly. "I just thought for a split second someone else was right there. Weird." He entered the store with a sigh. "Whatever! Let's get your candy and try to find that guy. I'm itching for a fight."
"Yay!" Yachiru beamed.
From behind the first shelf, Sui-Feng watched as the Captain and Lieutenant of Squad 11 vanished behind the chocolates. "sh*t!" She whispered to herself. "That was far too close. I hardly had time to hide my Reiryoku and slip behind this shelf. She peeked over again and felt somewhat relieved when she couldn't see either of them. "Alright, it looks like the coast is clear. All I have to do is sneak out quietly and I'll be on my way back to the safety of my barracks." Sui-Feng clenched her fist in anticipation and poked her head out from behind the shelf with the full intention of leaving...
...only to find herself face-to-face with Yachiru.
"Gah!"
"Huh?" Yachiru tilted her head. "Soi-Soi?"
"Shhh!" Sui-Feng tried to hush Yachiru to no avail. "No! I'm not Soi-Soi. I don't know any Soi-Soi! Go away!" She whispered loudly.
"It is you!" Yachiru giggled. "You can't hide from me. Even if you turned off your spiritual pressure, I still recognize your scent."
"M-My scent?"
Yachiru nodded. "Hmm Hmm" Then her smile turned into a small "o" of curiosity as she looked around. "Why are you hiding from Kenny anyway?"
"sh*t! This is bad!" Sui-Feng thought. "If Kenpachi finds out I'm here he might try to engage me in battle. I don't have the energy for that! Hell, even if I did, the exhaustion afterward would be sure to..." Sui-Feng forced that train of thinking to crash inside her head. She didn't want to even consider having those nightmares again. "I better think of something and fast!"
"What's wrong?" Yachiru asked. "Are you hurt? Do you need help?" She turned around and placed both hands around her mouth. "Hey Ken-MMMPH!"
"Now now! There's no reason to bring Captain Kenpachi into this." Sui-Feng said as she shoved a jawbreaker into Yachiru's mouth. She grabbed the bewildered little girl's shoulder and turned her back in her direction. "Now listen, why don't you take this," She placed one of the bags of jawbreakers into Yachiru's hands. "And go about your day, ok? I was never here!" Wasting no time, Sui-Feng flash-stepped out of the store, taking care not to let her Reiryoku flare up until she was far enough away. Yachiru sat there with bag of candy in her hands, taking another one from the bag and placing it in her mouth.
"There you are." Zaraki said as he walked up to her. "Where's you sneak off to huh?"
"Mmmph!" Was all that Yachiru said in reply as she looked up at Zaraki.
"Hey!" He shouted. "Have you lost your marbles? You have to pay for the candy before eating it!"
Yachiru simply shrugged. She would keep her end of the deal with Soifon but only because the jawbreakers were quiet delicious.
"Ugh! I simply can't with this Naruto kid!" Sui-Feng commented. "He doesn't know the first thing about being a ninja!" It was nighttime and while all the other Captains and pretty much everyone else had long retired to bed, Sui-Feng was once again at war with her own fatigue. It was 20 minutes to midnight and Sui-Feng had just about finished the first volume of Naruto by candlelight and picked up the second. She did her best to suspend her disbelief and admitted to herself that some of the techniques she saw in the manga were quite interesting. She certainly wouldn't mind having a pair of Sharingan herself. But it lost her the moment Kakashi brought up that whole deal with how important friendship was with ninja. For a member of the Stealth Force who had been taught constantly that the lives of her men were extendable, this was a little hard to take seriously.
"I will give him one thing. He is gutsy." Sui-Feng reached over to her bedside and grabbed another handful of chocolate which she stuffed into her mouth. She had made it a point to be discreet about the amount of it she was eating at a time but this little tiblet of concentration was broken as the night wore on. She had a slight stomach ache from eating so much candy and in a weird way, welcomed it. Just another thing to keep her out of that awful dream. "Still, I think I've had enough nonsense for tonight." She closed the manga and set it to the side just as she felt a yawn coming on. She tried to suppress it but it refused to stay inside her mouth. She groaned as it left her body, gritting her teeth as if wanting to keep any more yawns that might be inside from escaping. "Dammit! No!" She cursed under her breath. "I don't need sleep! I don't!" Another yawn was forming in her throat and she she swallowed hard to keep it down. "Time to switch tactics!"
She reached for the stack of books she had borrowed from Nanao, only to knock it over as she pushed her hand against them. "Dammit!" She grunted as she felt around for one of the books. She didn't care which one. She just wanted to read something to take her mind off her exhaustion. Finally, she felt the hard cover of a book slap against her hand and pulled it to her. "Finally!" She lifted it up with both hands and examined it. Now I can...Huh!?"
"The Lady and the Phantom of the Onsen: A Tale of Lust and Seduction read the title of the book. Underneath it was a picture of a man and a woman in a very suggestive embrace. The fact that they had only a thin sheet of fabric between the both of them for anything resembling clothing didn't help.
"Wh-What is this!?" Sui-Feng blubbered with her cheeks burning. "Damn you Lisa Yadomaru!" She was just about to toss the book aside and find something else to read as another yawn escaped her mouth, causing a single tear to fall from her eye. Once it was finished, she wiped the tear away with a annoyed growl. "Damn you, sleepiness!" She hissed as she settled into her bed and opened the book, deciding to read it after all. If anything, the embarrassment and disgust of reading such filth might keep her awake.
At first, it didn't leave all that much of an impression on her which made sense considering she just wasn't into this kind of thing. As she began to relate to the protagonist, a meek young woman who had just inherited a hot spring from her deceased Grandmother, she let her mind wander into what that would be like. As soon as they mentioned the rumors of the hot spring being haunted, she could guess what the plotline would evolve into and wondered if she should bother to continue. She certainly couldn't understand the appeal of dating a ghost and she should know, she had seen plenty of them in her life time. But another yawn came over her and with it, her mind began to set in disarray. At that moment, she recalled Yoruichi and how much she admired her. With those feelings, a new mental image formed.
One in which she and her former Captain were the ones in a erotic embrace, only a thin sheet of cloth acting as clothing for either of them.
At once, all of Sui-Feng's fatigue vanished if only for a few moments, replaced by overwhelming embarrassment. Her face felt as if someone had lit a torch underneath it and she felt a small trickle of blood seep from her left nostril. Quickly, she wiped it off and panted, taking in as much air as possible in a effort to cool her flaring face. As she began to calm down, Sui-Feng realized this might have been the answer she was looking for in terms of combating her exhaustion. As embarrassing as it was, there was no denying that she felt awake more at this moment than she had during the whole night. With a single gulp and a quick look-about as if to make sure no one was watching, she continued to read the book with a new mindset.
For the next few minutes, everything was quiet in Sui-Feng's room. The story seemed to be taking its time when it came to the main plot which meant Sui-Feng's arousal was allowed to die down a little. Without her realizing it, her fatigue was returning to her as she flipped through the pages. Another yawn coming through finally alerted Sui-Feng to how tired she was and, with her thumb slipped into the first page of the third chapter, she decided to look up at the window at the end of the room, hoping to see just faintest ray of sunlight in the sky.
What she saw instead, as brief as it was, chilled her to her very core.
There was a shape next to the window, huge and lumbering, hunched over like an old man with a cane. There was a single red light that Sui-Feng could make out as the creature's eye, glowing with a vengeful pallor. The moonlight seemed to bounce off the thing's forehead, reflecting a bone-white surface that looked like the top of a skull.
Sui-Feng screamed and shut her eyes. "This isn't real! This isn't real! This isn't real!" Summoning every bit of willpower she had, she opened them.
It was gone. No, more like it was never there to begin with. The room was empty. She was the only person in here.
"Di...Did I fall asleep?" Sui-Feng asked herself. "N...No, I'm almost certain I was awake." She slightly slapped herself on the cheek. "I'm awake! But then why..."
It never dawned on Sui-Feng that the hallucination was brought on by her own exhaustion and fear. All she was worried about was staying awake. She couldn't get back into the book she was reading and went for another one...then another...and another. She finished the chocolates and her stomach ached like hell but at least she was awake. Even when the candle began to die and she started to yawn every minute, she stayed awake until at last, she simply couldn't anymore.
The nightmare she had when she finally surrendered to sleep left her shaking.
"Alright everyone, let's get started." Nanao announced. "It's almost time for the meeting to begin so please take your seats!" The day of the monthly meeting for the Shinigami Women's Association or SWA for short, had arrived and everyone was present. Well, mostly everyone.
"Before we begin, I'd like to take a role call," Retsu began. She turned to the two women behind her, Nemu and Yachiru. "We are well aware of Lieutenant's Kurotsuichi and Kusajishi in our midst." She chuckled before turning to Nanao who sat to her left. "As well as Lieutenant Ise who has once again been most helpful in in preparations. Thank you for that."
"It's my pleasure, Captain Unohana." Nanao bowed slightly.
Retsu nodded in return and lifted up a sheet of paper in front of her. "Let's see here, Kuchiki Rukia?"
"Here!" Rukia beamed from the near side of the table. Before her were a bunch of papers with drawings of bunnies on them.
"Matsumoto Rangiku?"
"Here and ready to get this party started!" Rangiku chirped. She slightly smacked her lips after she finished speaking, a tell-tale sign that she was once again craving alcohol.
"Kotetsu Isane and Kotetsu Kiyone?" Unohana asked next.
"Right here, Captain Unohana!" Isane called out fretfully as she was talking with her sister and had almost tuned out her Captain's voice.
"Present!" Kiyone answered.
"Hinamori Momo?"
"Here!" Momo chirped.
"Captain Sui-Feng?...Captain Sui-Feng?" Retsu looked around as did some of the other female Shinigami in search of the Squad 2 Captain. There was nothing, not even her Reiryoku around anywhere. She was no where to be found.
"Oh dear," Retsu whispered as she recalled the last time she had seen Sui-Feng, exhausted to the point of collapsing on a public road. "I do hope she's all right."
"Should we start the meeting without Captain Sui-Feng, President?" Nemu asked in her usual emotionless voice.
Retsu shook her head. "No, let's wait a few minutes. I'm sure that-
At that moment, the familiar Reiryoku of Sui-Feng appeared from outside the meeting room, bringing with it a sense of relief to the rest of the SWA members.
Retsu uttered a sigh of relief. "I'm very glad that you could make it after all, Captain Sui-Feng, you certainly gave...us...a...fright..." She trailed off as the rest of the SWA gasped at the state Sui-Feng was in.
She was right on the threshold between the meeting room and the hallway leading out of the building. Her hair and clothes were disheveled and she was missing a single shoe from her left foot. Both of her eyes were mostly closed and there was a line of drool trickling down the left side of her chin She wasn't so much standing at the doorway as she was leaning on the frame, her head and shoulders slowly sliding down even as she struggled to stay upright.
"Uh...Captain Sui-Feng?" Nanao asked.
"Huh?" Sui-Feng's eyes flew open with a start as she ripped herself away from the doorframe. "I'm here! I'm here!"
"Captain Sui-Feng, are you alright?" Rukia asked. "You seem a little...tired."
"I can assure you, Lieutenant Kuchiki, that I am most certainly not tired." Sui-Feng argued. She took a step forward, stumbled a bit and slowly made her way to the empty seat between Rukia and Momo. She took a wrong step and stumbled into the wall, eliciting gasps from the other girls from how hard she hit it. Rukia got up from her seat to try and help the Squad 2 Captain, only to get slapped away by a frantic arm. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" Sui-Feng protested as she waddled to her seat, virtually collapsing into it. Rukia stared at her with a concerned face for a few more seconds before finally returning to her own seat. By now, all eyes were on Sui-Feng and it didn't take long for her to realize as much, resulting in a annoyed murmur.
"What are you all looking at!?" She shouted.
All eyes aside from Retsu's turned away in fear. "Oh dear." She thought. "I was afraid of this." She turned to her Lieutenant and asked, "Isane, now that everyone's here, would you mind bringing out the tea?" Hopefully, some refreshments would help to improve the situation.
"R-Right away, Captain Unohana!" Isane nodded before getting up from her seat and dashing to the hallway behind her Captain.
"Hey! Wait for me, Isane! I'll help you!" Kiyone got up and ran after her sister. A few minutes later, both women came back into the room with trays, a steaming hot pot of tea on Isane's tray and a collection of tea cups on Kiyone's. They set them trays down and got to work pouring the tea into each and every cup before passing them around to the rest of the group.
Sui-Feng studied the tea closely, watching her reflection in its surface. Soul King, did she really look that awful? She was almost certain the bags under her eyes had bags of their own. Carefully, she lifted up the cup to her lips for a sip, her hands trembling in the process.
"Here you go, Captain Unohana!" Isane presented the last cup to Retsu.
"Thank you, Isane." Retsu gratefully took the cup in her hands, drank in the sweet smell, and helped herself to a sip. "Wonderful as always." She turned to the rest of the group. "Now that we have our tea, I would like to start off by-
CRAASSH!
The sound of porcelain shattering reverberated throughout the room. All eyes fell on Sui-Feng who's own eyes, in turn, were focused on the remains of the once-proud tea cup she was holding, now a bunch a useless shards soaking in a puddle of tea that was quickly staining the table beneath. Her hands were still in the same position they were in trying to hold the damned cup and were still shaking.
"Captain Sui-Feng?" Retsu asked. "Are you alright?"
"Huh?" Sui-Feng snapped out of her stupor and faced Retsu with a angry glare. "I'm fine!" She regretfully turned back to the shattered tea cup. "It...It just slipped out of my hands."
"That's all right, Captain Sui-Feng." Retsu assured as she turned to Isane. "Isane, please clean up this mess."
"Of course, Captain!" Isane took a handkerchief from her pocket and approached Sui-Feng. She hesitated as she didn't want to be near the ornery Captain. The absolutely chilling death glare Sui-Feng gave her as she came closer only served to intensify those feelings. Regardless, Isane wanted to carry out her Captain's orders and carefully placed the handkerchief onto of the spilled tea. Sui-Feng seemed to calm down a little as she closed her eyes and did not open them until Kiyone had helped her sister scoop all of the shards into a small bag for disposal. She realized her head was leaning toward the right and forced it back upright. As soon as she relaxed, it started leaning toward the left.
"Alright...now that that's out of the way, I was hoping we could discuss a matter of grave importance." Retsu continued. "Namely, the SMA's current attempt to change the name of Soul Candy into Super Power Pellets."
Most of the SWA groaned out loud at those words.
"What?" Rangiku cried. "But that name's not even the least bit cute! Where do they get off?"
"Super Power Pellets." Rukia gagged. "That's got to be the worse name I've ever heard.
"My sentiments exactly," Retsu agreed. "Which is why we must ensure the Head Captain does not so much as entertain the idea.
"That shouldn't be too hard, considering how lame that name is." Kiyone grinned with her arms crossed. "The real question is, why are they trying to change the name now of all times?"
"Apparently, Lieutenant Iba feels that the name "Soul Candy" has grown stagnant and that it's time for a change."
Rukia scoffed. "Even if that was the case, we could come up with a better name than Super Power Pellets." Her eyes brightened. "Like Bunny Soul Pops!"
"Or maybe they could be cat themed." Momo suggested as she turned to Sui-Feng. "What about you, Captain Sui-Feng? You always have neat suggestions when it comes to cats...Captain Sui-Feng?"
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Sui-Feng had fallen asleep at her seat, a small puddle of drool seeping from her mouth to replace the tea that had been there earlier. Retsu felt somewhat relieved that Sui-Feng was finally sleeping, despite the unusual locale in which she was doing it, and was just about to advise that no one wake her. Unfortunately, Momo was faster in nudging her. "Captain Sui-Feng?"
Momo screamed as the Squad 2 Captain awoke with a start, her eyes wild, her head shaking from side to side and her hands planted firmly on the table as she lifted her upper body. "I'm fine! I'm awake! I'm awake!" Little by little, she slowed her movements and found herself breathing heavy, her whole body shaking. She realized with personal horror that it wasn't so much the exhaustion that was causing her to shake but the overwhelming fear of the nightmare she was trying so hard to stay out of. It was only when she felt her body cease its trembling that she realized everyone was staring at her. Her face started to burn and not even she could tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.
"Captain Sui-Feng," Retsu sighed. "I think that's enough."
"Enough...Enough what?" Sui-Feng asked even though she knew what Retsu was talking about already.
"The last time I saw you, you were clearly suffering from fatigue and right now it's painfully clear that you've done nothing to remedy it since that day." She closed her eyes. "I'm bitterly disappointed in you."
Sui-Feng felt her anger flare up. "Disappointed!? In me? What are you, my mother? Get off my case, you bitch!" Later, she would find herself shocked with what she was thinking but for this moment, all she felt was rage.
"H-Hey!" Rukia broke in. "There's no need for such harsh words, Captain Unohana. M-Maybe Captain Sui-Feng is just suffering from insomnia. Humans get it all the time." She turned to the exhausted Squad 2 Captain. "Ichigo's family actually runs a clinic. Maybe I could bring over something to help you!"
Sui-Feng shook her head which only served to confuse Rukia even more.
"What's wrong? Are you afraid that it won't work?"
"That's not the issue, Lieutenant Kuchiki." Retsu butted in. "I've been in the medical field a long time and I've learned to tell the difference between someone with a genuine inability to sleep and someone who simply refuses too." She turned to Sui-Feng. "I can assure you Captain Sui-Feng is in the latter category."
"Really?" Rukia turned back to Sui-Feng. "Why? Why aren't you getting any sleep, Captain Sui-Feng?"
"That's none of your business!" Sui-Feng snapped, scaring Rukia out of her seat and causing everyone except for Retsu and Nemu to flinch. "Know your place, Kuchiki!" Sui-Feng continued as she pointed a finger at the fallen Shinigami. "You might be a lieutenant but you still rank under me so don't proceed to barge into my internal affairs!"
"Please, Captain Sui-Feng!" Momo spoke up, her voice slightly trembling. "Lieutenant Kuchiki was only trying to help and-
"The same applies to you too, Lieutenant Moko!" Sui-Feng shouted.
"But I was just...Lieutenant Moko?"
"I mean Momo...I mean...gah!" Sui-Feng gripped her head in frustration. Her mind was foggy and part of her didn't even know what was going on anymore.
"You should remember your place as well!" Retsu argued. "Neither Lieutenant's Kuchiki or Hinamori are in your division so you have no right to scold them as if they were. The same goes for everyone else present."
"Captain Unohana," Isane said, quietly impressed with her captain coming to the defense of the others like that.
"You..." Sui-Feng glared at Retsu who returned the favor without a moment's hesitation. Every other member of the SWA found themselves bearing witness to the single most tense staring contest they had ever seen. Not a word was uttered. Not a single breath let out. Even Yachiru, the same Yachiru that rode on Kenpachi Zaraki's shoulder and giggled playfully as he slaughtered his foes and covered both her and himself in blood, was gripping Nanao's robes in fear, hiding behind the Squad 8 Lieutenant like a frightened child. This staring contest from Hell lasted for only a single minute but it was the longest minute of everyone's lives, including the two combatants.
In the end, it was Sui-Feng who finally broke her gaze. Her already wounded pride screamed in protest but she was too exhausted as it was and couldn't take it any more. "Tsk! Whatever. I don't need nor care for your opinions, any of you! Just stay out of my business." And with that, she used Shunpo and vanished from sight.
Retsu sighed heavily as she recomposed herself and sat back down. "I must apologize everyone," She said in her usually motherly voice. "I'm afraid I let myself get dragged into Captain Sui-Feng's mental state and nearly lost my temper."
"THAT WAS HER NEARLY LOSING HER TEMPER!?" A number of the SWA members thought in shock and horror. They shuddered to think what Captain Unohana would be like if ever truly angered.
Retsu turned to Rukia and held out her hand. "Are you alright, Lieutenant Kuchiki?"
"Oh! Um...Y-Yes Ma'am!" Rukia uneasily took Retsu's hand and let herself be lifted to her feet before reclaiming her seat. "I must admit, I've never seen Captain Sui-Feng like this before."
"Right?" Rangiku broke in. "I mean, Captain Sui-Feng's always been a bit on the grumpy side but today she looked like she wanted to rip all our heads clean off!"
"Thank you for the mental imagery, Lieutenant Mastumoto." Rukia croaked, a look of tired fear in her eyes.
"Opp!" Rangiku covered her mouth. "Sorry about that!"
"Well it's no wonder she was so angry." Kiyone spoke. "I mean, did you guys see the bags under her eyes. She must be exhausted!"
"Irritability is one of the most prominent symptoms of sleep depravation," Retsu explained. "Which makes it all the more unfortunate that Captain Sui-Feng is doing this to herself."
"But why, Captain?" Isane asked. "Why would someone make it a point not to sleep on purpose?"
"I wish I could tell you for certain, Isane." Retsu answered regretfully. "Perhaps, she's trying to avoid thinking of something unpleasant by throwing herself into her work or maybe she doesn't care for the dreams she's been having. Maybe she's even punishing herself for some sort of perceived sin she committed." Retsu closed her eyes and shook her head. "The only thing I can tell you for sure is that it will only get worse if it's allowed to keep going."
"But so what do we do?" Nanao asked. "We can't just let Captain Sui-Feng carry on like this!"
"If I may," Nemu rose her hand. "Master Mayuri has been working on a serum that induces forced sleep onto those to take it. To obtain it and slip it into Captain Sui-Feng's food would be no trouble at all." She shifted her gaze to the side. "The only issue would be getting her to wake up again."
"Are you crazy!?" Kiyone shouted with that kind of sharp-tooth angry smile only anime characters could get away with. "We're trying to save Captain Sui-Feng, not put her in a coma!"
"That's not necessary," Retsu agreed. "Captain Sui-Feng shouldn't be forced into sleep. Rather, we must convince her to rest on her own accord." She sighed. "Of course, with everything that transpired today, I have my doubts she'll be willing to listen to any of us."
It was that moment that Rukia thought of something. She put her fingers to her chin and pondered it for a few seconds, just to make sure it was a viable plan. Once she was confident that this was the case, she smiled and spoke up. "If I may be so bold, while we may not be able to convince Captain Sui-Feng to get some sleep, I know someone who might. But before that, I'll need permission from you Captain Unohana!"
"Permission?" Retsu asked. "For what?"
"For a quick visit to the Human World!" Rukia answered confidently.
"Stupid Unohana! Stupid Kuchiki! Stupid Hinamori! Stupid...Gahhhh!"
It was the day after Sui-Feng's disastrous meeting with the SWA and after another night of avoiding sleep and dealing with vivid hallucinations, she was as angry as ever. As with Toshiro, she had hand-drawn the faces of all the other members of the SWA, save Yachiru, and had plastered them all over the toughest sandbag she could find. Of course, in her foggy sleep-deprived mental state, combined with her desire to start punching said pictures as soon as possible, resulted in less-than-stellar artwork of the other female Shinigami. Isane had received the worst of it, basically being reduced to a grey bush with dots for eyes.
"Stupid SWA! I don't need sleep! I don't need sleep! I just need to train!" Sui-Feng continued to growl to herself as she delivered blow after crushing blow to the sandbag. A few tears had already formed on it, sprinkling sand onto the floor below! "Screw them! Screw them all!" Sui-Feng howled in rage as she delivered a extremely forceful punch to the sandbag, expecting it to explode. Instead, the sandbag was sent flying back and Sui-Feng sighed and braced her fist, ready for another round. Before that could happen, however, another voice suddenly shouted "Shunko!" and the bag exploded away from Sui-Feng, resulting in only a small burst of sand hitting her on the head.
"Gah!" She angrily wiped her face clean and turned to the direction where her sandbag once hanged. Seeing it reduced to nothing more than a pile of sand with strips of leather in it, she hissed and screamed out. "Who did this!? I was training with that! Come out and show yourself, you coward before I-
"Thanks for weakening it for me." A coy voice whispered in her ear. "I'd already gotten my daily training in today at Urahara Shop."
"Urahara?" Sui-Feng growled, her anger intensified by the mere mention of that bastard's name. She turned around to face the intruder, intending to knock their teeth out for their insolence. "How do you know that son of a bitch, you- She stopped at once, her expression turning from murderous and predatory to bewildered and awe-struck.
Standing right behind her, her hand clasped over Sui-Feng's posed-to-strike fist, was Yoruichi Shihoin. "My my," She smirked. "Is that anyway to greet your former Captain?"
"L-Lady Yoruichi!" Sui-Feng uttered. At once, she realized her fist was still clenched and pulled it out of Yoruichi's grasp before bowing. "Please, forgive me! I didn't realize it was you!"
Yoruichi chuckled as she ruffled Sui-Feng's hair. "It's alright, Sui-Feng. I get it, you clearly had your head in the game so to speak. It's wonderful that you're taking your training so seriously. Hard-working as always, just like my Little Bee."
"T-Thank you, Lady Yoruichi." Sui-Feng could feel herself blushing at her former mentor's praise and bowed lower in a attempt to hide it. No sooner had she done that, however, that Yoruichi gently placed the tips of her fingers underneath Sui-Feng's chin and lifted her head up so they were at eye level. Sui-Feng's blush burned even hotter and she gulped as she was certain she was about to be teased about it by Yoruichi. From the somewhat serious look on her former mentor's face, however, it became apparent that she was thinking of other things besides Sui-Feng's scarlet cheeks.
"Sui-Feng, have you been getting enough sleep recently?" She asked.
The blush went away and Sui-Feng felt only a quiet, empty anger. She had no desire to snap at her former mentor but she sure as hell didn't want to have this conversation either. Thus, the words she next spoke were spoken in a agitated yet subdued tone. "O-Of course, Lady Yoruichi! Why would you ask such a thing?"
"Sui-Feng! I can see the bag under your eyes!" She argued as she examined Sui-Feng's face clearly. "Retsu was right! You clearly haven't been sleeping for a while!"
"R-Retsu?" Sui-Feng whispered. "As in Retsu Unohana!?" Sui-Feng suddenly and violently jerked away from Yoruichi's grasp. "I see now! So that's how it is huh? Those...those wretched women at the SWA couldn't keep their nose out of my business so they send you to do it on their behalf!" In a move, she would once again find as quite awkward and unbecoming of her, Sui-Feng let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Oh Captain Unohana! To stoop so low! How pathetic!"
Yoruichi grimaced, feeling just the tiniest unnerved to see her former bodyguard acting this way. "Sui-Feng,
"And you!" She suddenly pointed a finger at Yoruichi. "What's in it for you, huh? Do you enjoy seeing me suffer like this!? Do you revel in my humiliation!? You do don-
"Will you shut up already!?" Yoruichi snapped as she karate chopped Sui-Feng directly on the head.
"Ggah!" Sui-Feng cried as a spot of blood shot out from the wound. She clutched her head together, gritting her teeth in pain. Her eyes teared up and the only reason she didn't wipe them away was because she didn't want her skull to split open. "Lady Yoruichi, what the hell!?"
"Sorry Sui-Feng but you gave me no choice." Yoruichi answered, a tone of regret in her voice all but confirming she didn't take any pleasure in striking her Little Bee. "Now, if you're willing to listen, I would like to explain why I'm here."
"O..k?" Sui-Feng replied, her head still aching from the blow.
"First of all, I admit it." Yoruichi began. "I was called here by the SWA but not by Captain Unohana. It was Rukia that came to get me."
"Rukia?" Sui-Feng breathed. "Rukia Kuchiki?"
Yoruichi nodded. "That's right. She told me about your little outburst at the SWA meeting yesterday and then Captain Unohana told me about the outburst you had as the Captain's Meeting two weeks earlier."
Another blush formed on Sui-Feng's face, this one of pure shame in being scolded like a child by her former mentor. The agony in her head was nothing compared to that.
"They told me everything," Yoruichi continued. "About the tantrum over the paperwork, about how you fell asleep at the meeting and even the way you butchered Lieutenant Hinamori's name."
"Damn that Unohana," Sui-Feng cursed under her breath. "That nosey..."
"You say nosey, I say concerned." Yoruichi interrupted. "Don't forget she's the Captain of Squad 4! It's kinda her job to worry about things like this, especially if they're apparently self-inflicted." She crossed her arms, further cementing herself as a disapproving mother figure in Sui-Feng's exhausted mind. "Why aren't you sleeping, Sui-Feng?"
"It...It's none of your business!" Sui-Feng snapped. Part of her, perhaps the only part of her not clouded by brain fog, was surprised and horrified to find herself talking to Yoruichi like this. The Flash Goddess's only response was to narrow her eyes.
"Sui-Feng,-"
"No! Just drop it already!" With that, Sui-Feng suddenly flash-stepped out of the room onto the yard outside. As soon as she stopped, however, she felt her head smack against something soft and bouncy. She opened her eyes and found herself staring directly at Yoruichi's breast. She looked up to see her former mentor smirking, her arms still crossed beneath her boobs. "You should know better than to think you can outrun me, Little Bee." She cooed.
"Leave me alone!" Sui-Feng spat as she flash-stepped back inside the barracks. Yoruichi followed and thus began one of the fastest chases in Soul Society's modern history. Most of the Shinigami in the barracks never even realized their Captain was being chased by her former mentor. They only felt two huge gust of wind blow through the halls, one after the other. Marechiyo, just back from a unsanctioned snack run, was equally clueless as he wandered the hallways.
"Hey!" He shouted toward his subordinates as they ran for cover. "Just what are you guys yell abo-OOFH!"
Something, (Sui-Feng) smacked into Marechiyo's abdomen and knocked him to the floor. He let go of the snacks he was carrying and the foodstuffs went flying in every direction but the ground. The phantom tackler was gone as soon as they had appeared, leaving Marechiyo to groan in misery and agony and wonder just what the hell hit him...at least until a second phantom (Yoruichi), slammed her foot into his stomach, muttered a quick "sorry" and followed the previous phantom in hot pursuit. Marechiyo fainted.
As the chase continued, Sui-Feng felt herself slowing down against her will. "No! No! No!" She mentally protested, unaware that she was heading for her office. "Keep going, you lazy bum! Keep going until-"WHAM!
Sui-Feng, with what remained of her focus, drawn toward commanding her tired body to continue moving, slammed against the wall of her office, next to the couch. It was like something out of a cheap Western cartoon with Sui-Feng's raised arm twitching, her entire body flattened against the wall. After a few seconds, the petite Captain of Squad 2 peeled off the wall and floated like a leaf toward the ground, her nose and mouth slightly bloody. Yoruichi showed up just in the nick of time to keep Sui-Feng from hitting the floor and raised her to her feet. "Sui-Feng?" She asked. "You alright?"
"I...fine..." Sui-Feng fought to regain her mental composure, no easy feat given the blow to her head and her preexisting exhaustion. Once she recalled her situation, she angrily shoved Yoruichi away. "I'm fine! Why don't you stop following me!?"
"Why don't you get some sleep?" Yoruichi challenged.
"I don't need to sleep! I'm..."
Before she could ever realize it was there, Sui-Feng released a single but prolonged yawn. Once it was over, she tried to continue as if nothing had happened.
"...I'm fully-rested as it is!"
"Full-rested people don't yawn mid-sentence!" Yoruichi scolded, awe-struck in the sheer audacity Sui-Feng had to try to sell such a load of crap. "Stop trying to hide it, you're clearly dead tired and if this doesn't stop soon, you're going to hurt yourself!"
"I'm...fine..." Sui-Feng sounded like a broken record at this point and Yoruichi had to fight the urge to facepalm.
"Sui-Feng, why won't you sleep?"
"I...I just have a lot of work to do is all."
"Bullsh*t! That's no excuse!"
"Being a Captain is a lot of hard work!" Sui-Feng snapped. "You used to be one, remember? You should know!"
"You're right. I was one." Yoruichi said. "And it was a lot of hard work most of the time but no matter how busy things got, I never had to forego my sleep." At this point, it was becoming clear to Yoruichi that something serious was bothering her former bodyguard. What it could be, she couldn't figure out but it scared her to think that it was strong enough to make Sui-Feng bring herself to the brink of collapse like this. She remembered the vibrant, admiring eyes Sui-Feng used to look at her with back in those days. Now, they were over-bagged and barely open and it hurt her heart. Deciding she needed a gentler approach, she placed a hand on Sui-Feng's shoulder. "And you shouldn't either, for any reason."
"Lady Yoruichi," Sui-Feng seemed to calm down a little and uttered another yawn. "What...What would you have me do? It's not like I can just go to bed now...I'm still busy."
Yoruichi thought for a moment. Then a thought came to her. "I know!" She beamed. "Maybe you can try a power nap?"
"A power...nap?" Sui-Feng could practically feel a giant question mark leave her head. She had never heard those two words together and it hurt her brain even trying to understand what they meant. "What the hell's a power nap?"
"It's something I've learned about from the Human World," Yoruichi explained. "Sometimes humans get dealt so much work that it affects their sleeping cycles so, in order to keep from collapsing from exhaustion, they take power naps! Basically, it's a condensed nap, about 30 minutes or so, with the specific purpose of recharging one's mind and body, sort of like charging a phone really?"
"Charging a phone?" Sui-Feng only grew more confused.
"The point is, if you took a power nap now, you wouldn't be as exhausted as you are now." Yoruichi suggested. "It'll make you feel better and think a little more clearly so we can talk this out like adults."
"Lady Yoruichi..." Sui-Feng felt herself soften up at her former mentor's words, only to become crestfallen again. "I don't know..."
Without warning, Yoruichi suddenly clasped Sui-Feng's hands into her own. "Please, Sui-Feng!? Only 30 minutes! That's all I ask!" She lowered the hands so that Sui-Feng could gaze into her eyes, rife with concern for her Little Bee. "I don't know why your so insistent of not sleeping but its killing me to see you like this. Please, Sui-Feng! For your sake as well as mine!"
Sui-Feng couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was the closest Yoruichi had ever come to begging for something from her and even if her eyes weren't exactly pleading, it was clear she was genuinely worried about Sui-Feng which made her want to follow that advice even more. "I want...I really do...I'm so tired...but...the nightmare..." It was then that Sui-Feng noticed the clear blue sky outside the window behind her desk. She could hear birds singing and even the sound of some of her men having a casual conversation. It was then that a certain thought came to Sui-Feng.
"I've only ever had that awful dream during the night, when it was dark and silent. Maybe now, with the daylight and all the sounds in the air, maybe I can actually sleep peacefully of once!" Sui-Feng felt a sense of excitement course through her and realized in both shock and embarrassment just hoe badly she wanted to sleep, how badly she wanted to give in to her body's demand to collapse somewhere and stay down for a while. She didn't care if it was a big fancy bed or another gravely road. Hell, she'd sleep on her Lieutenant's fatty body if it meant she could finally sleep in peace.
Sweet Soul King, she WAS tired.
"O...Ok." Sui-Feng finally replied. "If it means that much to you, Lady Yoruichi, I'll take a powerap...I mean a power nap!"
Great. Now she was starting to blur her words together.
Yoruichi chuckled. "Good. Just what I wanted to hear." Her expression returned from delighted to concern as she tilted her head. "You need some help getting to your room?"
"No...No!" Sui-Feng denied as she turned toward the couch next to her. "I'll just sleep on this."
"The couch? You sure?" Yoruichi asked.
"You said a power nap is meant to recharge oneself, right?" Sui-Feng said as she sat herself on the couch, the call of sleep increasing tenfold just by contact with the cushion. "I just want to sleep 30 minutes and then get right back to work. Ok?"
Yoruichi sighed and shrugged. "Well, it's a start at least." In one more act of motherly discipline, she wagged her finger at Sui-Feng. "But Little Bee, after this. we're going to have a serious talk about why you haven't been sleeping. Deal?"
Sui-Feng sighed as she realized her former mentor would not leave well enough alone. How was she supposed to explain the dream to her without sounding like a scared child? "Ok." She replied with a sigh of her own as she kicked off her shoes, turned toward the face of the couch and curled up into a ball. Yoruichi couldn't help but quietly beam, finding the whole display rather adorable. If only she had brought a camera.
It didn't take long for Sui-Feng to fall asleep at all. In fact, she was out virtually five seconds into easing onto the couch. Her last waking action was to yawn a final yawn. And then, she surrendered to the fatigue.
Sui-Feng awoke with a start. It took her exactly three seconds to realize she wasn't in her bed and six more seconds to remember what Yoruichi had told her, thus helping her to recall having taken the power nap. She breathed deeply and slowly before picking herself up and sitting on the couch. The room was empty but that didn't bother her. She knew that Yoruichi was probably off in cat-form somewhere, most likely enjoying a nap herself somewhere sunny. Sui-Feng stretched, hearing her arms pop as she did so and smacked her lips. Her vision was a little blurry and she was still tired but she felt a hell of a lot better than what she did before. It was as if most of a huge burden she had been made to carry all this time had been cut from her back, giving her some much needed relief She smiled as she realized something else about the nap she had just enjoyed, perhaps the best part of the whole experience.
She didn't have the nightmare.
"It's over..." She whispered to herself. "It's finally over!" She jumped off from the couch and continue to stretch. "It actually worked! I slept and that stupid nightmare didn't show! It's over!" Once she felt limbered enough, she stepped outside her office, intending to find Yoruichi and thank her for the advice. At once, she felt Yoruichi's Reiryoku just outside in the courtyard and flash-stepped toward that direction. "I can't believe it's finally over!" Sui-Feng thought. "Hmm...Then again, maybe it's only because I slept during the daylight. Well, even if that's the case, I still finally have a solution. I'll just set aside time for a power nap every day before my duties. Yeah! That'll work! And then, little by little, I'm sure to make a full recovery! And it's all thanks to Lady Yoruichi!" She landed in the courtyard with as proper a bow as she could, one hand held to the side. Sui-Feng waited for the dust she brought up to settle again before raising her head toward the direction she felt Yoruichi's presence. "Lady Yoruichi! You were right! The power...nap...worked...
As she spoke, her pupils shrank until they resembled little black pebbles floating in milky pools. Her brows furrowed and the edges of her smile dripped down toward her chin. All had gone silent, every bit of delight and relief that Sui-Feng had but a moment ago vanished completely. "N...No..."
"At last, you show yourself, Shinigami," Baraggan rasped. "I was wondering when you would come to the aid of your comrades, although unfortunately for them, you are too late." The Segunda Espada lowered his bony arms toward the cloud of Respira before him. Through the inky blackness, Sui-Feng could make out the tattered and rapidly-vanishing remains of Yoruichi's hair and clothing. Her lieutenant's gold jewelry was also caught within the miasma, just barely starting to crack under the effects of the aging agent.
"No...no..." Sui-Feng whispered as she began to tear up, forcing herself not to think of the thoughts trying to break into her head. She lifted her hand to her face in a effort to wipe away her tears and, upon feeling a familiar weight on her fingers, opened her eyes to see Suzumebachi equipped on her hand. Rather then question why her Zanpakuto was with her when she clearly remembered leaving it in the office and how it got into Shikai without her calling its name, Sui-Feng turned to Baraggan, gritted her teeth and pounced. She wasn't thinking about how Baraggan's Senescencia would slow her attack to the point of uselessness, never mind the Respira waiting to eat her into a skeleton. All she thought about was how she was going to f*cking kill this monster for destroying Lady Yoruichi.
However, a completely different force would nullify Sui-Feng's attack. Not stop, as she felt the blade of Suzumebachi cut into flesh but nullify as the only reaction she heard a upon hitting her mark was a horrible mocking chuckle, all the more horrible in that it was not in Baraggan's voice.
But in Aizen's.
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Don't you ever learn, Sui-Feng?" The former leader of the Espada asked with that horrid concentrated smile on his face. Sui-Feng found herself wincing under his glare and hated herself for it. "I told you that Shinigami battles are battles of Reiatsu. If one is significantly stronger than the other, it can render all attacks useless."
"S-Shut up, you traitor!" Sui-Feng cried as she pulled Suzumebachi out and tore into Aizen's wound again. "I...I refuse to be your slave!"
"Slave?" Aizen chuckled even louder as he shook his head. "Dear Sui-Feng, you seem to overestimate yourself." Suddenly, Aizen grabbed Sui-Feng by the throat, his grip crushing her wind pipe. She tried to scream but no sound escaped. She tried to stab him with Suzumebachi but as she raised her blade to strike, her Zanpakuto suddenly broke into tiny pieces and fell uselessly from her hand. With tears streaming from both eyes, she grabbed and clawed at Aizen's hand as it squeezed ever tighter around her throat, more and more of the air in her body lost by the second. "I would never have any need for such a weak and useless pawn." Aizen continued in a slightly deep voice. As Sui-Feng was forced to look into his eyes, she noticed the right side of his face was missing completely, leaving only the bony grimace of Baraggan in its place.
"You are nothing but a pest." The two voices spoke in unison. "And pest are only good for being eradicated. Farewell."
"No..." Sui-Feng thought as terror gripped her heart, the vice-like grip on her throat growing tighter and tighter. She trashed her legs about and tried to cry out without a voice, desperately not wanting to die. A warrior reduced to a victim. "Please...no..."
S N A P
Sui-Feng screamed as she awoke. Not cried. Not shrieked. Screamed. The scream was unlike any noise she had made in the past 100 years. It was the scream of someone caught in the fullest grip of terror and despair. A scream that could leave one frozen in their own bodies, their hearts racing and their blood chilled, if they heard it in the middle of the night without warning. A scream born of pure, primal fear.
Sui-Feng gasped after she screamed, her body trembling and her mind in complete disarray. Was she alive? Was she dead? Was she awake? Was she asleep? In those terrible few moments before fully waking up, Sui-Feng's mind struggled to comprehend just what the hell was going on. Even after she realized it really was just another nightmare, she felt no comfort or relief. The power nap had failed. Even in that small window of time, even in broad daylight and with the air alive with peaceful sounds, Sui-Feng was still thrust into the deepest pit of Hell by her dreams. She didn't even feel the least bit rested, her eyelids heavier than ever. But she couldn't allow herself to sleep again! Not again! Now there was just the matter of telling getting Yoruichi to see that without telling her-
Only then did Sui-Feng feel Yoruichi's presence right besides her. She didn't want to look. She didn't want to accept this humiliation on top of enduring another nightmare. But she knew she had no choice. Reluctantly, she slowly turned her head in that direction and sure enough, there was Yoruichi, holding an empty tray that used to carry tea. Said tea was now spilled on the floor right before Yoruichi's feet. The Flash Goddess was starting at her former bodyguard with wide, almost frightened eyes and upon gazing into them, Sui-Feng knew the proverbial cat was out of the bag.
Yoruichi had seen everything.
"Sui-Feng..."
"Lady Yoruichi, please..." Sui-Feng whispered, gasping as she felt tears trickling down her cheeks.
"Sui-Feng," Yoruichi dropped the tray and rushed to the couch, sitting next to her Little Bee and attempting to place her arm around her. "You're shaking like a leaf!"
"I-I'm fine!" Sui-Feng lied as she resisted Yoruichi's touch. The familiar warmth of shame crept upon her face and she curled up into as tiny a ball as she could, her knees buried against her stomach and chest and her arms wrapped around them. It was as if she was naked and trying to cover every part of herself at once from the prying world. Sui-Feng felt emotionally exposed and hated every second of it.
"Sui-Feng, I heard you screaming." Yoruichi stated. "I know you're not fine so stop lying to me!" Her expression seemed to lean on anger but softened as soon as she finished speaking, her hand reaching for Sui-Feng's head. "Was it a nightmare?"
Sui-Feng didn't even bother moving her head in response. Instead she just curled up even tighter, her blush burning hotter and her lips trembling.
"Is...Is this why you haven't been sleeping?" Yoruichi asked as it finally dawned on her. "It is, isn't it?" Feeling slightly frustrated by her former bodyguard's lack of response, she gently grabbed Sui-Feng's shoulders and forced her to look into her eyes. "Sui-Feng, you know I care about you right? And I want to help you but I can't do that unless you let me in."
Sui-Feng turned away, prompting Yoruichi to clasp her hands over her cheeks and pull her forward. "Sui-Feng please! You may not believe me but it hurts to see you like this. Don't be ashamed. Confide in me and I'll listen."
"Lady Yoruichi..." Sui-Feng sniffled. Part of her already felt safer just being touched by the woman she admired as a Goddess since her childhood. It was a small comfort, however, compared to the fear and shame she felt at the moment. "Should...Should I? I mean...it's not like I have any real choice. She's seen me waking up. Heard me screaming. And maybe...Maybe it's for the best...If anyone had to find out about the dreams, I'm glad it is to be you, Lady Yoruichi..."
"Alright," Sui-Feng sniffled. "I'll tell you everything. But...But this has to stay between us! No one else can know, okay?"
Yoruichi stiffened a bit from her Little Bee's sudden outburst but then smiled and patted her head. "Don't worry. No one else will know if you don't want them to." Yoruichi looked around and felt around for any traces of Reiryoku. There was none around and thus she was able to confirm that she and Sui-Feng were completely alone. She got up from the couch and went to close the door. "We're completely alone in here," She reassured her Little Bee. "So just take your time and start from the beginning."
Sui-Feng wiped her eyes and shook her head. By now, her body's trembling had lessen considerably and the nightmare, at least the worst of it, was beginning to fade. She composed herself with as much dignity as she could while sitting on the couch, sighed and began to explain everything to Yoruichi. She explained that had been having the nightmares about Baraggan since the day that Aizen was defeated, how they never seemed to go away even months afterward and how she recently decided to forgo sleep in a effort to deal with the nightmares. She made it a point to leave out any embarrassing or unflattering details like her mindset on the night of her first hallucination. But she did mention the hallucinations, both of vision and of sound, and how they haunted her even when she was awake.
"And there you have it." She concluded with. "That's the whole situation." She scratched the back of her head nervously. "I know what you're gonna say. And honestly, I agree with you. I know it's stupid to let myself get worked up over silly little nightmares like this. I'm sorry I let it fester for so long. But as you can see, I tried my best to fix it! And I will beat it so there's no need to fret...Lady...Yoruichi.
As she spoke, her pupils shrank until they resembled little black pebbles floating in milky pools. Her brows furrowed and the edges of her smile dripped down toward her chin. All had gone silent, every bit of delight and relief that Sui-Feng had but a moment ago vanished completely. "L-Lady Yoruichi?"
Yoruichi was still there of course. And one look at her trembling body and stern look would make even the completely clueless privy to one simple fact.
She was ,i>royally,/i> pissed.
"Well, Sui-Feng, That was quite a lot for me to take in," She said with a fake smile as she raised her hand and clenched her fist. "But you are right about one thing."
Suddenly, she slammed her fist over Sui-Feng's head, screaming, "You are such a idiot!"
"Gahh!" Sui-Feng screamed as the wound from were she got karate chopped earlier reopened. Hot, sticky droplets of blood fell onto her fingers as she held the wound closed with both hands. "L-Lady Yoruichi! Why!?"
"I should be asking you that!" Yoruichi snapped. "What the hell are you thinking Sui-Feng? You keep having these nightmares and your solution was just to not sleep? For how long? Just how long were you planning on putting yourself through this!?"
"I...I..."
"You don't know, don't you? You never thought past that point."
Sui-Feng felt flushed with shame as she realized Yoruichi had hit the nail right on the head. In her exhaustion and desperation to escape the nightmares, she never considered how she would eventually try to sleep again. She looked down with a groan, feeling like a moron.
"Sui-Feng, I can understand your dilemma but even Shinigami need to sleep sometime!" Yoruichi continued, her voice and face softening. "Forcing yourself to stay awake isn't the answer. You should have talked to someone about it."
"Talk to someone?" Sui-Feng asked. "Why? It's my problem and I'll deal with it. No one else needs to get involved!"
"Seriously? You're that ashamed to admit you've been traumatized?"
"Traumatized?" Sui-Feng asked.
Yoruichi sighed. "That's right. I keep forgetting you haven't been in the Human World. Basically, it's when something really terrible happens like an injury or something mentally scarring like almost dying. Basically, it's when you remain in shock after that, your mind and even your body affected by what you experienced."
Sui-Feng took a few seconds to process what Yoruichi was telling her, only to respond with a dry laugh. "Y-You're kidding, right?" She asked. "I'm the Captain-Commander of the Onmitsukido. I've been through countless life-and-death situations before and I've never lost any sleep over them. So why would some battle from a few months ago be any different?"
"Well, from what Retsu told me, it wasn't just some battle." Yoruichi stated bluntly. "You fought one of the Espada and one that used to rule Hueco Mundo before Aizen showed up on top of that. I can imagine how a battle like that might affect someone, especially if they lost a arm in the process."
Sui-Feng fought the urge to gasp, feeling angry that Retsu had told Yoruichi so much. She wanted to rant about how the Squad 4 Captain had no right to divulge information like that but she knew it would be a moot point. So instead, she dismissed the notion with a handwave. "It was really no big deal. Sure, he was a little stronger than most of my foes and yes, maybe I had to get my arm restored by the Inoue girl afterward but that was only so I could perform at my best as the Captain of Squad 2 and the Onmitsukido! I'm fine! Really!"
"Then if that's the case, why are you having these nightmares?" Yoruichi challenged. "Nightmares so bad you'd willingly deprive yourself of sleep to avoid them?"
Sui-Feng opened her mouth to argue but no words left her tongue. No arguments were made. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew it was because she had nothing to say. So instead, she turned away again, unable to look Yoruichi in the eye. "I...don't...know..."
"Sui-Feng," Yoruichi whispered, knowing all too well that her Little Bee was indeed traumatized and refusing to admit it to herself. She could figure out why well enough on her own. Sui-Feng's always been a proud person fiercely devoted to the cause she had been thrust into by her linage. It was her greatest strength as it made her one of her best bodyguards when she still served Yoruichi and later, made her a powerful Captain-Commander in her right. However, it was also her biggest weakness as it made her detached from other people. She saw herself as a machine more than a person and couldn't admit, wouldn't admit to anyone when she had been hurt. The fact that this might have had something to do with how she was forced to abandon her all those years ago twisted into Yoruichi's heart like a knife.
She needed to save her.
"I...guess it'd be a lost cause to convince you to discuss this with Captain Unohana, huh?"
"No." Sui-Feng whispered sadly. "I...I can't let anyone else know about this...I...couldn't call myself Captain-Commander otherwise...I...just can't..."
Yoruichi sighed. "Alright then, that settles it then." She got up from the couch and dusted herself off. "Guess there's no way around it." Without warning, Yoruichi vanished in a puff of smoke, shocking Sui-Feng out of her stupor. The Captain-Commander of Squad 2 fell off the couch and landed on her back. As she picked her head up, teeth gritting from the pain, she noticed a small shape in the vanishing mist. As she watched, the shape shook a loose piece of itself off, stretched, and approached Sui-Feng, not stopping until it was on her chest.
A beautiful black cat with golden eyes. Yoruichi's cat form.
"I guess I'll have to play the role of emotional support animal," She spoke in the same male voice she always spoke in when in this form.
"Y-Yoruichi?" Sui-Feng asked. It had been so long since Yoruichi transformed in front of her that she almost let herself forget she could do that. "Wait, emotional support animal?"
Yoruichi nodded. "Another Human World construct. They essentially help people who suffer from depression or anxiety."
Sui-Feng shook her head. "This is ridiculous!" She rejected. "Are humans really that weak? I'm not depressed or anxious!"
"But you are traumatized," Yoruichi stated flatly. "Deny it all you want but if you're ever going to know a peaceful night's sleep again, you need to come to terms with what happened and until then, you'll need someone on look-out."
"Look-out?" Sui-Feng asked with a raised brow, even more confused than before. "Look-out for what? The nightmares?"
"Exactly!" Yoruichi chirped. "It's very simple really. "I'll stay over for awhile at your place, sleeping in your bed, in cat-form of course. If you have another nightmare, I'll be there to help you and that way, you might just be able to get some sleep. It's not a perfect plan I'll admit but this way, no one else has to get involved. So what do you say?"
"Lady Yoruichi..." Sui-Feng wasn't sure exactly how to respond. "I really don't like the idea of Lady Yoruichi seeing me suffer even more nightmares. But, if what she says is true, maybe this could be how I beat them. Yeah, having someone to assure me they're just nightmares will drill it into my brain soon enough and they'll stop! It's perfect!" Sui-Feng giggled. "Plus, regardless of the situation, having Lady Yoruichi over would be a honor, especially if it means she's away from that awful Kisuke!" Sui-Feng sighed with a smile and said, "Alright Lady Yoruichi, it's a deal."
Yoruichi purred in response. "Excellent! Now I just need to let Kisuke know I'll be gone for a few days."
Sui-Feng's smile vanished. "K-Kisuke? Oof!" Yoruichi jumped on Sui-Feng's face and bounced toward the door. The Squad 2 Captain scrambled to turn herself over and reach out helplessly to the escaping feline. "Wait! Lady Yoruichi!"
"Oh don't worry, Sui-Feng!" Yoruichi said. "I promise not to say anything about the nightmares. I'm simply letting him know I'll be working over here for a awhile." And with that, she slipped past the door she somehow opened herself.
"You...better.." Sui-Feng slumped her head down, alone in her office with only a ticking black cat clock and a pile of Yoruichi's clothes at her feet.
Night had fallen and Sui-Feng was making her way to her room, a quiet sense of dread lingering in her chest. The nightmares and hallucinations she had suffered there for the past few weeks left her dreading the bed, cautious of the window and fearful of the dark. Her heart was throbbing in her chest and beads of sweat peppered her face and hands. Her breath was shaky and should so much as the tiniest sound occurred in the hallway she was treading, there was a good chance she would jump in surprise. She hated feeling like this. She simply hated it.
"Your heart's beating quite fast, Sui-Feng." Yoruichi spoke as she rested in Sui-Feng's arms. "I don't think I've ever seen you on edge like this."
"I-It's not like that," Sui-Feng denied, feeling her blush return. "I...I'm just excited that you've decided to stay the night is all."
"Sure, if you say so." Yoruichi replied in a somewhat teasing tone. She curled closer to Sui-Feng's chest and began to purr, the sound of former bodyguard's fretful heartbeat drowned out by her biological motor. Sui-Feng suddenly did feel much better, much safer, just having a furry little companion with her in the otherwise pitch black hallway. Maybe there was something to this whole emotional support animal crap.
Of course, she was not about to admit that just yet.
"Alright," Sui-Feng said as she opened the door to her room. "Here we are. It's not much but I hope you find it to your liking, Lady Yoruichi." She set the cat down on the floor and watched as she explored with earnest. Part of her was a little concerned with having her former Captain snooping around her room like this but considering the alternative was being alone in this room at night, she considering the snooping a small price to pay. As Yoruichi continued to sniff around, Sui-Feng changed into her night clothes.
"Wow! Sui-Feng, I didn't know you read Naruto," Yoruichi exclaimed as she sniffed at one of the volumes laying near the bed.
"Huh?" Sui-Feng looked toward Yoruichi, her hands fixed to close her bed robes together. "Oh no, I was just borrowing those books from Captain Otorobashi to stay awake. I've been meaning to return them for a while now."
"I see," Yoruichi noticed a stack of books next to the manga and sniffed that as well. "I presume these books were borrowed for the same purpose as well?"
"Yes," Sui-Feng said as she finished slipping on her robe. "I borrowed those from Lieutenant Ise."
"I see," Yoruichi said as she pushed the books to the side with her paws. She chuckled as she came upon the fourth one in the pile. "So Sui-Feng, all these books came from Lieutenant Ise? All of them?"
"Yes?" Sui-Feng asked as she walked over to where Yoruichi was. "Why do you ask?"
"All of them, huh?" Yoruichi snickered as she clasped her jaws around the top of the fourth book and showed it to Sui-Feng. "Even this one," She asked with a full mouth.
"Yes, How many time do I have to-AHHHHHHHHH! Sui-Feng screamed as she recognized the book in Yoruichi's mouth by the moonlight.
The Lady and the Phantom of the Onsen
"My, my, Little Bee," Yoruichi taunted in a muffled voice. "I never thought you'd grow up to be this kind of girl."
Sui-Feng's face burned the fire of a thousand suns. "L-L-Lady Yoruichi! It's not what you think! I-I can e-explain!"
"Oh Sui-Feng," Yoruichi continued to speak with the book in her mouth. "There's no need to be embarrassed. I get it. I'll occasionally enjoy a read like this every now and then to be honest. Although, I have to say I never expected Onsens to be your thing."
"Nothing is my thing!" Sui-Feng screeched as she ripped the book out of Yoruichi's mouth and threw it up to the air. "Hado #63: Raikoho!" Sui-Feng shot a blast of condensed lighting from her palm, disintegrating the book in one hit. It was only as she felt the ashes fall on her face that she seemed to return to her senses and realized what she had done. "Oh no...How am I going to explain this one to Lieutenant Ise?"
"We could always buy another copy of that book as a replacement." Yoruichi suggested. "It would be the perfect opportunity to buy more books like that for private collection as well, Sui-Feng." She snickered.
"For the last time, I don't..." Sui-Feng sighed in defeat. "Let's just go to bed." She climbed into the futon and Yoruichi wasted no time curling up on her legs. Her warm, purring body felt good against Sui-Feng's legs, even with a thin blanket between them. Sui-Feng briefly wondered if Yoruichi's mere presence would be enough the chase the nightmares away. She certainly hoped so. Of course, she had the same feelings of hope toward the power nap...
"Good night, Sui-Feng." Yoruichi yawned. "Sweet dreams."
Sui-Feng grimaced at the mere mention of the word "dream" but decided against saying anything. She felt her eye lids closing of their own accord and let her head fully sink into her pillow. "I-I hope so, Lady Yoruichi. I sure hope so. Good night."
Before five minutes had passed, the exhausted Squad 2 Captain would once again have fallen asleep.
"This is the end for you, Yoruichi Shihoin!" Sui-Feng roared as, with a single movement of her arm, she ripped her Captain's haori away from her body, revealing the backless Kinsen uniform she wore underneath. Suzumebachi was already equipped on her right hand and her self-discovered technique, her Shunko, was flowing from her the exposed portions of her body. Before her, clutching the gaping wound just above her left hip and bleeding from the mouth, was Yoruichi.
"Sui-Feng, please." She rasped.
"Enough talk!" Sui-Feng cut her off. "Time to die, traitor!" With Shunpo, Sui-Feng flung herself toward the wounded Shinigami, her blade poised to strike. Too injured to move, Yoruichi could only watch helplessly as her former bodyguard, someone once tasked with protecting her with her life, was now going to take it. "Nigeki Kessatsu!" Sui-Feng shouted as she stabbed Yoruichi in the throat, right in the spot she had done before, dead center of the hom*oka mark. She stopped herself just behind Yoruichi and waited. After a few seconds, Yoruichi fell to her knees and vanished from sight.
"I...I did it..." Sui-Feng whispered to herself as she felt a rush of wind blow against her naked back. "I...won..." She stood up triumphantly, raising her bloodied Suzumebachi to the sky. "I won! I did it! I avenged Soul Society! I...I finally beat you, you traitor! She felt a single cold rain drop fall on her shoulder but paid it no mind. "After all these years, I finally made you pay for your sins! I've finally won!"
Another rain drop fell on Sui-Feng's head. Then another and another. Before long, a complete torrent was coming down on Sui-Feng, filling the silence of the battlefield with the sound of heavy rainfall. Sui-Feng continued to smile even as the rain soaked her through her clothes and hair. Even as she heard thunder in the distance and even as she felt two more drops of water fall from her eyes. "Why...Why did you leave me, Lady Yoruichi." She asked with a cracking voice. "You should have known I would have gone anywhere with you. So why didn't you take me with you? Why...Why..." Her smile faltered as she fell to her knees and cried out. "Why did you make me destroy you!?"
Sui-Feng sobbed as she buried her face in her hands, her tears slipping through her fingers to join the rain drops on the ground below. "It shouldn't have ended like this!" Sui-Feng cried through her hands. "It's just not fair!"
"All is fair in death."
Sui-Feng picked her head up with a start. She looked around frantically, her heart racing and her body adding sweat to the mixture of moisture on her skin. "W-Who's there? Show yourself!"
"All things in this world eventually perish. Not even you Shinigami are safe from your own mortality."
"S-Show yourself!" Sui-Feng screamed as she held out her Suzumebachi. She stood up as tall as she could, trying her damnest to mask her fear.
"Even if you hadn't killed your precious Goddess, she still would have eventually discovered Death's door." The voice continued. "They all do!"
"Don't you dare speak of Lady Yoruichi like that!" Sui-Feng hissed, even as she took a step back in fright. "I'm warning you!"
"Aww...take heart. You will join her in oblivion soon enough."
"Show yourself, you...you f*cking coward!" Sui-Feng snapped, her entire body trembling. She told herself it was from the coldness of the rain but deep inside, she knew better. Her body was stricken with fear. "You talk of death but given how you refuse to face me, I can only imagine you must fear it yourself. If you want to challenge me, come out and face me like a warrior!" She screamed these words as defiantly as she possibly could. She wanted to buy into them just as much as she wanted to sell them to whoever was taunting her.
"You want me to reveal myself?" The voice asked with a slight chuckle. "Very well."
The voice ceased speaking and for awhile, the only sound Sui-Feng could hear was the pitter-patter of the raindrops around her. She wasn't sure how long this moment of silence lasted. A few seconds? A few minutes? But however long it lasted, it ended once the voice spoke again, whispering right into Sui-Feng's ear.
"All you have to do is turn around."
Sui-Feng bolted, flying into the trees. The sinister laughter of the voice rang out through the forest as Sui-Feng continued to dart through it, desperate to get away. "This isn't real!" She told herself. "This isn't real! This isn't real! This isn-
That's when she noticed the trees were dead. Every single one of them grey and leafless. The sky had darkened and the rain had stopped, giving way to a horrid stench.
The stench of decay.
As Sui-Feng watched in horror, the trees around her began to crack and flake. Branches fell one after the other into the darkness below. One of them nearly knocked Sui-Feng out of the sky, slicing the skin of her exposed thigh in the process. Panicked beyond all reason, she started tearing up as she felt the smell grow stronger. "This isn't real!" She tried to tell herself. "This isn't real!"
Then she heard the horrid sensation of her fabric ripping and looked down to see her clothes decaying right off her body. She cried out and flushed with shame but didn't try to cover herself. She needed to get out of here somehow. She could worry about shame later. She gasped as she felt Suzumebachi break apart in her hand and the pieces fall away from her and her tears flowed but she did not stop. Survival was all that mattered. Survival. Survival. Survi-
She winced in pain as she felt her exposed flesh peeling away. "No!" She cried as she felt herself falling into the black, into the decay, into the inevitable maw of death itself. The last thing she heard as she fell into the darkness was the mocking laughter of the Reaper.
"AAAAAAGGGHH!" Sui-Feng shot up from her pillow, her body drenched with sweat. Her scream awoke Yoruichi with a start, causing her to jump off of Sui-Feng's legs and land at her feet with her back arched. "Sui-Feng? Are you alright?"
Sui-Feng didn't answer. She was too busy gasping for air. Her heart was pounding right out of her chest and her head was pounding as well. She felt tears forming in her eyes and shook her head violently to get rid of them. She didn't want to cry. Not in front of Yoruichi. Not again.
"Sui-Feng," Youruichi climbed onto her former bodyguard's chest and slightly bopped her head against her chin. "It's alright. I'm here."
Without directly looking at her, Sui-Feng felt around for Yoruichi, took her in her arms and held her against her breast. The black cat nestled her head against Sui-Feng and started purring, hoping to comfort her. It seemed to work as Sui-Feng did start feeling a little better, at least enough to fully realize that the nightmare was over for now. However, as she stared off into the inky blackness of her room, she was reminded of the still fresh details of her dream, of her own decaying body falling into the void.
"C-Candle."
"Huh?"
"Candle." Sui-Feng repeated. "P-Please. I need a candle lit right now. The darkness...in the dream...it's too much..."
"I see," Yoruichi nodded. "Please wait a moment." Yoruichi nuzzled her protage's chin one more time and went to find a candle. With her feline vision, it didn't take her long to find it at all and despite still being in the body of a cat, she had no trouble lighting it up and bringing it to Sui-Feng's bedside. The black-haired Shinigami sighed in relief as she felt the candle's warmth and saw more of the room with its orange flame. Yoruichi curled up in her lap again. "Better?"
"Y-Yes," Sui-Feng nodded as she stoked Yoruichi's fur. "Thank you."
"Your nightmare." Yoruichi said. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Sui-Feng stiffened. She tried to open her mouth to speak but Yoruichi beat her to the punch.
"You don't even want to think about it, do you?"
Sui-Feng closed her mouth and nodded, feeling a little ashamed of herself.
"I understand." Yoruichi fixed herself so that she was facing Sui-Feng. "I apologize for asking such a question but some people find it easier to deal with the nightmares their having by discussing them with friends. I just thought I might put that option on the table if you change your mind."
Sui-Feng nodded again as she looked out at the Moon through her window. "What time is it?"
"A little before midnight." Yoruichi answered. "Being in this form gives me an extra sense about this kind of thing you see."
"I see." Sui-Feng agreed. A moment of silence followed as Sui-Feng's eyes trailed to the manga next to her bed. "Lady Yoruichi, have you ever read Naruto?"
"Huh?" Yoruichi tilted her head. "Not particularly. Why do you ask?"
"Well...It's just...since we're here now..." Sui-Feng picked the manga up in her hands. "Why don't we read it together? It's a story about ninjas so I think you might be interested!"
Yoruichi's eyes narrowed. "Sui-Feng,"
"I mean personally, the ninjas could stand to be a little more ninja-like but that's just my opinion." Sui-Feng giggled nervously. "It's kinda charming once you-"
"Sui-Feng!" Yoruichi interrupted. "Do you honestly think I can't see what's going on? You're clearly fishing for an excuse to stay up again."
Sui-Feng gulped and tried to explain herself but could only utter garbled attempts to form a sentence "Well...I...That...uhh..." She put the book down and hung her head in shame. Once again, Yoruichi had managed to read her like a book.
Yoruichi sighed. "Very well. I suppose it's alright."
"Huh?" Sui-Feng looked back up with a quizzical look on her face. "What do you mean, Lady Yoruichi? Are...Are you saying that it's okay for me to stay up?"
Yoruichi nodded.
"But...I thought you wanted me to sleep until the nightmares went away?"
"Sui-Feng, things like these require baby steps." Yoruichi said. "We're simply not going to beat this thing in one night and that's fine. Plus, you did manage to get three whole hours of sleep before having the nightmare. I'd consider that a step in the right direction, wouldn't you?"
"I...I suppose you're right." Sui-Feng conceded. "Now that I think about it, I do feel a little less tired now. Maybe things are moving along." With a smile, Sui-Feng picked the book back up. "Ok then. Let's get reading then!"
Yoruichi nodded and moved to Sui-Feng's side as she flipped to the first page. They spent the rest of the night reading through the manga and discussing how they would have written things differently. Sui-Feng opted for more accurate ninjas. Yoruichi opted for more scenes with that Sexy-No-Jutsu that the main character used. One thing they both agreed on were that the ninja dogs should be replaced with cats. This inevitably led to a discussion about the possibility of training real cats for use on the field. Sui-Feng didn't go back to sleep that night but she still better than she had in weeks, her thoughts of Baraggan and his Respira miles away.
The next day came and went like a flash, Sui-Feng, still somewhat groggy from her lack of sleep, spent most of the day training while Yoruichi went into the Rukongai for supplies. There were no new missions for the Onmitsukido which was probably for the best as, despite the three hours of sleep she was able to get last night, Sui-Feng could not stop yawning. It annoyed her to no end and at times, she felt like punching her own throat to get the yawns to stop. This consideration vanished when Yoruichi returned with coffee. It was rather poor but any gift from Lady Yoruichi was something to treasure so down the hatch it went. It helped keep the yawns away for a full two hours.
Eventually, night fell again and Sui-Feng once again found herself walking as slow as possible toward her room, Yoruichi thrown over her shoulders like a scarf.
"Do you think you'll be able to shoot for more than three hours this time?" The black cat asked.
"I don't know," Sui-Feng admitted. "Maybe we can have a snack first? The kitchen's not to far from..." She yawned before she could finish her sentence.
"Sui-Feng,"
"I know. I know. I'm exhausted."
Yoruichi chuckled. "It'll be okay." She promised. "Don't forget, I'm here!"
"I know, Lady Yoruichi and I thank you for that." Sui-Feng replied in the most confident voice she could muster, even as deep down, she was dreadfully afraid of what tonight would bring. The entered the room and Sui-Feng wasted no time slipping under the covers. Yoruichi curled up on her stomach and as she waited for sleep to once again lure her into its embrace, Sui-Feng stared down at the beautiful black cat already asleep on her body. The sound of her purring lured Sui-Feng to her own slumber and before long, the only sounds in the room were Yoruichi's purring and Sui-Feng's soft breaths.
"It can't be!" Sui-Feng cried as she ran toward the Captain's chambers. "They're lying! They must be!" The young Feng girl ran as fast as her legs would carry her, darting out of the way of anybody who happened to be in her path, before returning to the spot she was running along. "Lady Yoruichi would never do this! She would never betray Soul Society! Never! It's just not possible! It's just not-"
By that time, she had reached the chambers and threw open the doors, silently praying that she would find Yoruichi on her throne. She didn't care if she was with that terrible, terrible Kisuke. She didn't even care if this was some sort of joke and Yoruichi pointed and laughed at her afterwards. All that mattered was that she was there still loyal to the Gotei 13. To the Shinhoin clan. To her.
The empty chair she saw in the darkened room dashed all her hopes.
"No...No...No!" Sui-Feng threw herself to the floor and sobbed. "No! This can't be! This can't be!" She slammed her fist against the floor multiple times as anger intermingled with her sadness. She only stopped when she felt a hot drop of blood splatter on her cheek and realized she had broken the skin of her hand. She hissed in pain as she gripped her wrist, her eyes still leaking with tears. "Lady Yoruichi, why didn't you take me with you? Why?"
"Perhaps it was because you were nothing but a burden to her. Dead weight."
Sui-Feng's head shot up from her damaged hand and gasped as she saw a huge skeletal figure sitting on Yoruichi's throne. His skull was leaned to the side with his arm supporting it, almost like he was bored.
"That's what I would do with a useless subordinate."
"Who...Who are you?" Sui-Feng cried out, trying her best to mask her building sense of fear. Just by looking at this...this thing...Sui-Feng could tell that it was dangerous and every cell in her body was screaming at her to take off and escape. Yet, she refused to. "W-What are you doing in Lady Yoruichi's throne!?"
"What an odd question," The skeleton spoke as he pointed to the crown on his head. "Don't you see this crown? I'm a king. And a king needs a throne. And since your pathetic Goddess abandoned you and left this perfectly good throne behind, I figure why not help myself."
"That's not your throne!" Sui-Feng unsheathed her sword and pointed it at the creature. "That's Lady Yoruichi's throne! Not yours! Get off of it now!"
The skeleton sighed in annoyance. "What a loud little pest. It's no wonder that precious Yoruichi of yours left you behind. I think I'll take care of this now." He lifted up the hand not supporting his head and lifted it up slowly and casually. From the inky blackness behind him, a purple mist appeared and seeped over the room. Sui-Feng's fear intensified as she watched the mist cover the room. Her entire body was trembling and the hilt of the sword was slipping through her fingers. "W-W-What's happening?"
"I'm sure to come across more useful servants for my new kingdom." The skeleton replied. "I have no need for a little pest like you so I am doing what one ought do with pest." He lifted his head and his lower jaw fell wide open. "Exterminate them!"
"No!" Sui-Feng turned away, finally admitting to herself the full reality of her fear. But by then, it was too late. The door that she had entered from had vanished completely, only more of the purple death mist in its place. "No!" Sui-Feng cried as the mist closed in on her. "Help! Someone help me!" Please!" Her cries fell on deaf ears as the mist consumed her and she fell into the black.
"Aaaaaaagggh!" Sui-Feng thrashed about as she awoke, throwing Yoruichi off in her movements. She threw her blanket off as well and only stopped her thrashing when she knocked down the stack of Nanao's books. She looked around desperately. "Light! I need light!" She noticed the Moon through the window and rushed toward it. Yoruichi was still trying to process what the hell just happened when she noticed her Little Bee cowering beneath the window sill.
"Sui-Feng? Are you alright?"
"Light...I need light..." Sui-Feng whimpered, not even bothering to fight back her tears this time. "I don't wanna be in the dark. I can't. I just can't."
Yoruichi slowly approached Sui-Feng, nuzzled against her leg to let her know she was there and then curled up in her lap. Sui-Feng uttered a small gasp before placing a hand on Yoruichi's body and stroking her fur. Yoruichi began purring at once and although it took a while, Sui-Feng was able to calm down a little, her huge pants turning into gentle rises and falls of her chest. Her body was peppered with sweat and her eyes started to sting from the mixture of them and her tears. She wiped them off with a whine, blinking multiple times to drive the pain away Once she could finally keep her eyes open for more than a few seconds, she looked back down to Yoruichi and uttered "Thank you."
Yoruichi looked up. "Are you feeling better?"
Sui-Feng looked up at the darkness invading her room. She could hardly make out her futon, the scattered books or even the door leading out of here. It was all black to Sui-Feng, all shadows and it terrified her. She sank against the window sill, drinking in the only light in the room. It didn't take long for Yoruichi to pick up on this nor to come up with an idea.
"Sui-Feng, this might be a strange question to ask but could you still go for that late night snack?"
10 minutes later and Sui-Feng and Yoruichi were sitting on the rooftop of the building Sui-Feng called home. Between them was a plate of grilled fish. Yoruichi had offered to make it but Sui-Feng insisted on doing it, probably to distract her from the nightmare she just went through. Despite her exhausted state, the fish came out delicious and the smell helped to wake Sui-Feng up a little. Once the fish was finished, the two made their way to the roof top and ate as they watched the Moon. It was Full on this night, a giant round shape of light in the sky painting everything below it a beautiful sliver sheen. Sui-Feng couldn't help but feel at ease beneath the Moon. A small part of her wanted to try to sleep again right then and there, comforted by the Moon's weak light and by the cool night air. But she couldn't. She couldn't risk tainting this beautiful mindset with another nightmare. They've ruined so much for her already.
As she munched through her sixth fish, Yoruichi noticed Sui-Feng starting to tremble again. "I take it you don't think you can sleep again tonight huh?"
Sui-Feng shook her head. "I...I don't know if I can go back to my room tonight. It's so dark in there..." She curled up in herself, arms hugging her knees tightly. She buried her face in her kneecaps. She hated this. She felt like a lost and scared child needing to be reassured by her parents that there were no monsters in the dark and she hated it. She hated being this afraid yet she couldn't help it. This bastard, this monster living in her head, seemed to eat up more and more of her bravery with each dream and now she was tethering near the edge. Her body began to tremble and forced herself to fight back another round of tears.
Yoruichi got up from her spot and curled up next to Sui-Feng, purring as loudly as she could. Sui-Feng didn't take her face off her knees but she did reach down a single hand to pet Yoruichi.
They spent the night on the rooftops, finishing the fish and watched the Sun replace the Moon in the sky.
The following day wasn't much better than the previous one. Sui-Feng seemed to have closed herself off, not speaking more than she needed to. "Yes." No." "Thank You." were pretty much all that her vocabulary consisted of that day. She stuck to training but in her exhausted state, she wasn't making much progress. At one point, while practicing her kicks against a sandbag, Sui-Feng miscalculated and wound up kicking the air next to the sandbag. Off balance, she fell on her butt with a thud, followed by her back hitting the ground. Yoruichi was there, laying on the railing surrounding the courtyard and she couldn't help but giggle to herself. In any other situation, this would have been nothing but a harmless moment of embarrassment for Sui-Feng, something she would get over in a matter of seconds, most likely in her drive to make up for the mistake.
But instead, she turned away from Yoruichi and curled up, refusing to get back on her feet. Guilt washed over Yoruichi like a bucket of water and she rushed to Sui-Feng's side. Her Little Bee wasn't crying, Thank Soul King, but was wrapping her arms around herself, her face betraying utter defeat and ennui. Yoruichi licked Sui-Feng a few times on her neck but all this succeeded in getting was a shift of movement. Yoruichi felt empty inside and in a strange way, anger. Anger at Sui-Feng for letting the situation get this bad by refusing to acknowledge her trauma and herself for utterly failing to help her. She laid her head down on Sui-Feng's neck and purred. Sui-Feng didn't move to pet Yoruichi this time but she didn't try to push her aside either. She stayed and let the purring continue, soaking up the gentle warmth of the Sun as much as she could before the cruel night returned.
No words were exchanged as Sui-Feng and Yoruichi walked toward the former's room. Sui-Feng wasn't carrying Yoruichi this time, her arms dangling at her sides as if they were udon noodles. She reminded Yoruichi of a zombie flick she had seen a few years back with how listlessly she carried herself. Yoruichi sighed as she trailed behind Sui-Feng, her paws creating little pitter-patters on the wooden floor below. The only sound in the dark hallway.
Sui-Feng entered her room and climbed into bed. Yoruichi decided to lay next to her head this time as she wanted to watch her closely. Sui-Feng didn't close her eyes at first, instead she stared out at the Moon outside her bedroom window. So beautiful. So serene. How could anything this magnificent herald such dark dreams? Sui-Feng felt her eyes begin to close and fought to keep them open. She didn't want to sleep. She didn't want to have these nightmares. But she was so tired and the moonlight so soft and gentle. The sound of Yoruichi's purring the perfect lullaby. "This isn't fair!" She thought. ,i>"I should be at peace but I'm not! I can't go to sleep! I won't! I won't! Don't fall asleep! Don't fall asleep! Don't...fall..."
Asleep.
Sui-Feng was cowering in the corner, her crying face buried in her knees. The frightened little girl was shaking like a leaf as the noises outside her room grew more and more violent. Men and women struggling, their groans and cries of defiance turning into screams of terror and pleas for mercy, all while sinister laughter echoed through the house. Sui-Feng attempted to scoot back further into the wall, desperately wanting to vanish from this place, from this nightmare.
"That's right!" The young child thought. "This has to be a nightmare! It has too! I'm really big and strong now! So why can't I wake up? Why can't I wake up?"
Another loud crash frightened Sui-Feng away from her attempt at comforting thoughts. A woman's bloodcurdling scream sounded through the house and Sui-Feng wanted to break down and cry from the sheer fear she was feeling. She wanted nothing more at that moment for someone, her parents, one of her brothers, even Lady Yoruichi to scoop her up in her arms and take her far away from this awful place. Take her somewhere nice and warm and comfortable where she could only have good dreams. Her tears came faster than she could wipe them away and her lips were quivering.
"Please...Please just stop...Please..." Sui-Feng mentally begged as the sounds of death and destruction continued just outside her door, threating to break in and swallow her up like the defenseless little morsel that she was at any moment.
And then, just out of the blue, they stopped.
It took Sui-Feng a while to realize they had stopped through her own crying but once she had, she was able to put her sniffles at temporary pause. She blinked her remaining tears away as she stared toward the only door leading out of the room. It was open slightly and the stench of blood flowed from the crack. Everything had gone dead silent to the point where Sui-Feng's head began ringing just to fill the air with some sort of sound.
"Hello?" Sui-Feng slowly got to her feet, her body still shaking. She waited for someone, anyone, to come through the door but no one did. With a gulp, she approached the door, pushed it a little more into left, and peered outside. The hallways was completely dark, no windows to allow light through. The smell of blood was pungent and, in the distance, Sui-Feng thought she could hear whispering.
Against every instinct to remain in the relative safety of the room, Sui-Feng stepped into the hallway. She clutched her hands together as she walked toward the sound. They felt empty, naked, as if they were supposed to have some sort of weapon with them. Sui-Feng felt a sense of longing for power she didn't have. This isn't how it's suppose to be. She isn't suppose to be this weak and scared and helpless. She'd grown past this point in her life. But if so, why was she here. Where was her weapon? She whimpered as she crept closer to the whispering, eventually getting close enough to realize it was calling out to her.
"Sui-Feng." It whispered. "Sui-Feng."
"H-Hello?" Sui-Feng trembled as she reached the end of the hallway. Before her now was another screen door, a large tear through it's upper-left corner and a huge red stain near its bottom right corner. Sui-Feng could not control her shaking and her eyes began to tear up again. She wanted to run. Back to the safety of her room, maybe even find a way to leave this building but the voice cooed again, its sound motherly and welcoming.
"Sui-Feng...Sui-Feng...
Sui-Feng whimpered as she found herself reaching for the door. More than retreat, more than escape, she wanted safety. She wanted someone big and strong to protect her, wrap their arms around her and reassure her that everything was going to be alright. Maybe then, just maybe, she could reclaim the strength she knew was supposed to be hers. She grabbed the door and slid it to the side, begging to whoever would listen that what lay on the other side was friendly. Out of sheer fear for what it could be, she closed her eyes tightly and kept them closed even after she had opened the door.
"Sui-Feng...There you are..."
The voice sounded familiar up close, calm and soothing. Sui-Feng slowly opened one eye and saw a woman sitting alone in the darkness of the room. Purple hair. Dark skin. Clad in a beautiful golden kimono. And the warmest smile, Sui-Feng ever saw. "There you are, Sui-Feng." Yoruichi said as she outstretched her hands ready to embrace Sui-Feng. "Come to me."
"L-Lady Yoruichi," Sui-Feng gasped. She stood at the door for a few moments, drinking in the vision of Yoruichi sitting there with her arms inviting. The tears came flowing once again and with a small cry. Sui-Feng dashed toward her beloved Goddess. "Lady Yoruichi!" She sobbed in relief.
She practically threw herself into Yoruichi's bosom and cried into her chest. Yoruichi wasted no time wrapping her arms around the frightened child. Sui-Feng grabbed Yoruichi's kimono and gripped tightly, not wanting to let go of this beacon of safety for any reason. As Yoruichi rubbed her back, she uttered a shushing sound.
"L-L-Lady Yoruichi," Sui-Feng sobbed. "I was so scared!"
"Shhh. It's alright now." Yoruichi cooed. "There's no need to be afraid anymore."
"Lady Yoruichi," Sui-Feng buried her face further into Yoruichi's bosom, taking in her heartbeat and drinking in her scent. It smelled of lavender, of expensive perfume.
And of decay.
Sui-Feng's eye flung open as she caught the scent of rotting meat. She tried to mentally shrug it off, telling herself that it was just her imagination or even that it was coming from outside the room. Just when she had fully convinced herself of that, she noticed Yoruichi's heart beat slow down. Five beats and minute...then three...then one...then silence. "L-Lady Yoruichi."
"Relax, Sui-Feng. I just said there's no reason to be afraid anymore, right?" Yoruichi chuckled. "After all,"
Yoruichi tightened her grip on Sui-Feng's body, causing the little girl pain. She winced and struggled against her captor. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me-" She stopped as she happened to look up at Yoruichi's face in her trashing. One side of her face had been reduced to a learning skeleton and the other half was smirking in contempt.
"The dead have no need to fear."
Sui-Feng awoke, not with a scream but with a gasp. That's not to say that she wasn't suffering from the nightmare, of course. In fact, her body was probably the worst it had ever been after her nightly terrors. Her entire body was shaking uncontrollably to the point where the blanket was sliding off. Every exposed area of skin was drenched in sweat and her blanket was soaked. Her heart was racing so fast, it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest at any moment and her brain throbbed as if someone hit it with a sledge hammer. She felt nauseous and had to fight the urge to vomit. She covered her mouth with both hands and willed for the contents of her stomach to stay put. It took a minutes but she won the battle with her stomach and it settled for increasing the ache inside.
Despite all the physical agonies she was going through, however, none of them could compare to the sheer terror of her mind. The details of her latest nightmare were still all too fresh. She could still smell the blood, still hear the screams and still see Yoruichi's decayed face leering at her in the dark. The light of the Moon did nothing to so much as lessen the fear nor could the soft purrs of Yoruichi bring any more comfort. The nightmare had completely overpowered both of these sources of safety and still caught within its grip even after it had run its course, Sui-Feng found herself in another battle, one she was already about to lose.
Softly, she started to cry.
Yoruichi, sleeping through her Little Bee's gasp, flicked her ears at the sound of whimpering. Slowly, she picked up her head, blinked a little of her sleepiness from her eyes, and turned around toward the source of the noise. What sleepiness she still had vanished as she saw Sui-Feng crying into her hands, her body shaking. "S-Sui-Feng?" Yoruichi stretched as fast as she could and went to nuzzle Sui-Feng's side. The Captain of Squad 2 didn't notice Yoruichi's affections at first and when she did, her only reaction was to scoot away, curling up even smaller in the process.
"Sui-Feng?" Yoruichi felt a small pit in her stomach as that was first time on a long while that her Little Bee had ever denied her affections. "Sui-Feng? What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare?"
Sui-Feng didn't answer with anything other than a small nod. The blanket had fallen away from her completely now and she was sitting on the floor before her bed. Her hands were spread over her face, almost as if she was trying to hide the fact that she was crying for the little good it did her.
"Ok Sui-Feng, just calm down." Yoruichi spoke as she tried to nuzzle her again. "I'm here! It's alright. It was just a nightmare and it's over now."
Sui-Feng shook her head in response, which served to confuse Yoruichi.
"Huh? Of course, it's over!" Yoruichi stepped onto Sui-Feng's lap. "I don't know what you saw in your dream but you're awake now! You're safe now! Sui-Feng please look at me when I'm talking to you!"
Sui-Feng stopped moving but kept her hands over her face.
"Sui-Feng, you know I'm here to help you but I can't do anything unless you let me in. Please, let's just calm down and we can talk this out. We can even sit out under the Moon again if you want."
The silence that followed Yoruichi's sentence seemed to last forever. Sui-Feng just sat there, keeping her face concealed with her hands even as tiny sniffles escaped. Yoruichi pressed her nose against Sui-Feng's hands, tempted to push through but unsure of whether it was the right call. Something in her gut told her this wasn't like the other nights. Whatever this nightmare was, it left Sui-Feng with more then just fear.
She was just about to find out what it was.
"Why?"
"Huh?"
"Why...are you trying so hard to help me?"
Yoruichi could practically feel her jaw hit the floor. "W-What do you mean? How-How could you even ask such a moronic question? You're my Little Bee! My former apprentice! And right now, you're suffering nightmares apparently horrible enough to bring you to...to...this state! So of course I going to try to help you! That's what you do if someone's precious to you!"
Another eternal moment of silence.
"I'm...precious to you?" Sui-Feng asked in a tone that sounded genuinely surprised, disheartening Yoruichi even more.
"Y-Yes!" The Flash Goddess replied. "You are! How could you even ask such a thing?"
Sui-Feng sniffled. "If I'm...If I'm so precious to you then why...why..." Suddenly, Sui-Feng ripped her hands away from her face, revealing an expression, Yoruichi had never seen before. A crying, hissing expression of rage, fear and sadness all in one. Even worse in that it launched toward Yoruichi as it shouted. "Then why did you abandon me!?"
Yoruichi jumped back from Sui-Feng's legs with a cry of shock. She landed on her feet and forced herself to meet Sui-Feng's teary yet resentful glare. "S-Sui-Feng! What's gotten into you!?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about!" Sui-Feng screamed. "You abandoned me! You left me behind!"
"We've already been over this, Sui-Feng!" Yoruichi screamed back, feeling a little anger well up inside. "I already explained to you why me and Kisuke had to leave! The Visored-
"f*ck the Visored!" Sui-Feng screeched. "They were what, a couple of random captains and lieutenants? People you barely even talked to outside of meetings? People not even in your own Squad, your own clan! Were they really that more important than me!?" Sui-Feng's cracked upon that last question, her hand slapping against the the bottom of her neck as she gestured to herself. The slap was loud and was sure to leave a mark but in her emotional distress, Sui-Feng couldn't register the pain at that moment.
"Sui-Feng, They were going to kill them! Was I just to let them die? Do you think it was easy for me to make such a decision?"
Sui-Feng uttered a dry laugh. "Is...Is that a trick question? It sure has hell had to be easy considering how eagerly you went along with it with that idiot Kisuke!"
Yoruichi scoffed. "Again with Kisuke! What does he have to do with this!?"
"He's the reason you left!, isn't he?" Sui-Feng asked. "That whole mess started because Aizen started copying experiments he was conducting in the first place! If he hadn't been messing around with that damned Hogyoku, none of that would have ever happened!"
"Sui-Feng, this is ridiculous!" Yoruichi challenged. "We know now that Aizen created his own version of the Hogyoku before Kisuke did! He had nothing to do with that! In any case, he's my childhood friend. I couldn't just leave him to the wolves like that!"
"But you could leave me like a piece of garbage!?" Sui-Feng cried out. "The person who sacrificed everything for you!?"
Yoruichi was taken aback. "Sac-Wha...What are you talking about?"
"I...I gave up everything for you..." Sui-Feng's voice began to break as she looked down. "My life. My childhood. Even my own name was stripped away and replaced with my grandmother's in service to your family." Sui-Feng choked up. "I devoted myself to you, mind, body and soul! I was ready to give my life for your at any moment! I existed only to serve you! I...I worshipped you like a Goddess."
"Sui-Feng..." Yoruichi felt that pit in her stomach return.
"But you...You couldn't even tell me good-bye!" Sui-Feng's hands, which were tearing as the fabric on her knees, clenched into fist. "You couldn't even ask me to go with you! You left me behind! As if I was some tool you had no use for anymore! A burden you were happy to be rid of!" Sui-Feng looked up at Yoruichi, hot tears streaming from her face. "Is that all I am to you? A burden?"
"No, of course not!" Yoruichi argued. "How could you even think such a thing!?"
"Because you abandoned me! You left me behind!"
"I came back!"
"But you stay in the Human World with that damned Kisuke!" Sui-Feng screamed. "If you really wanted to, if you really willed it, you could come back to the Shihoin Clan! You could come back home and we would all vouch for you! But you choose to stay in the Human World with Kisuke!"
"Sui-Feng,"
"You always choose everyone else over me! You...You...
"Sui-Feng!"
"You couldn't even join the fight against Aizen until after I had been cut down!"
In that moment, the whole world stopped for Yoruichi. The soft wind blowing outside the window ceased. The night insects silenced their songs. All that remained were the echoes of Sui-Feng declaration of abandonment, the true confession of the root of her nightmares...
...and the heavy realization that it was partly Yoruichi's fault She felt cold inside, hollow, as if someone had sucked all the warmth and confidence out of her.
Sui-Feng broke down, falling to the floor with her hands outstretched toward Yoruichi, as if she were praying to the idol of some ancient Goddess on a now broken pedestal. "I already nearly died in the fight with that damned Espada!" She wept. "I...I couldn't beat him. Not even my Bankai worked. I had to rely on one of those stupid Visored you left me to save in order to just survive!" She clawed at the ground. "And then when we faced Aizen, I thought I'd take all that anger and humiliation out on him. With all of us together, there was no way we could lose, right..." She choked up again. "But he...he negated my attack! He...tricked me! All of us! And then cut us down like we were nothing! Like I was nothing!" She sniffled. "I was so sure...I was so sure I was going to die that day, never to see the Soul Society again, never to see you again." She looked up weakly, her weeping gaze darkening. "And what do I discover when I come to on the field hours earlier? I find out that you and Kisuke showed up afterward! After we had all been taken out like common pest!"
"Sui-Feng," Yoruichi could feel tears welling up behind her own eyes. "Please!"
"Were you hoping that Aizen had killed me!?" Sui-Feng sniffed. "Were you hoping that he would eliminate the burden you tried so hard to get rid of? Is that why you waited so long?" Sui-Feng's words grew harder to discern as she sobbed. "Is my life really that worthless to you?...Am I really that worthless to you?" Unable to speak anymore, Sui-Feng threw herself back on the floor, openly weeping into the wood. Broken. Defeated. And as far as she was concerned, unwanted.
But to Yoruichi, that last part couldn't be further from the truth. "Sui-Feng...I never...Please get up, Sui-Feng! I..." Yoruichi sighed as she realized she was not going anywhere this way. She took a deep breath, focused and in a split second, her body vanished in a big puff of smoke.
Sui-Feng didn't notice the transformation but she did notice the pair of hands softly grab her arms and drag her up from the floor. She noticed the soft kind eyes of her beloved mentor gazing into her, piercing yellow orbs in the dark, and she noticed the weight of the bare body pressing against her, the flimsy cloth of her night robes doing little to nullify the sensation of contact. She would have blushed if her face wasn't already red from her anger and crying. Her tears were still flowing but thanks to the hug, she had been pulled from the worst of her breakdown. "L-Lady Yoruichi?"
"I'm so sorry, Sui-Feng," Yoruichi whispered in her ear. "All this time, I never realized just how badly my decision all those years ago affected you." There was a small crack in Yoruichi's voice, something Sui-Feng had never heard when her mentor spoke. It chilled her core. "To think that all this time, even after I finally came back, that you still had these dark feelings left inside."
"L-Lady Yoruichi..." Sui-Feng whispered, already regretting her outburst. "I-I'm sorry. I-
"No!" Yoruichi replied sharply as she locked eyes with Sui-Feng again. Her gaze was fierce yet teary. "I'm sorry, Sui-Feng. I'm sorry that I ever let you believe in such an idiotic notion for so long." She took a moment to wipe her eyes before continuing. "Sui-Feng, you have no idea how wrong you are. You are one of the most precious people in my life. Sure, you can be a little strict and uptight and even a little annoying, especially when it comes to Kisuke but-"
"But he's awful!" Sui-Feng interrupted.
"He's also my childhood friend." Yoruichi defended as she gently held Sui-Feng's cheek. "But that doesn't make you any less important to me."
Sui-Feng's lips trembled as she fought the urge to sink into Yoruichi's touch. Instead, she sharply yanked her head away. "Then why...why did you leave me?"
"Sui-Feng, we've been over this a million times." Yoruichi said. "The whole deal with the Visoreds happened so fast their was hardly any time for preparation. I wanted to tell you. Hell, I considered taking you with us but in those last moments, I convinced myself it would be best for you if you stayed and continued your training. You had serious potential that you wouldn't have been able to reach if you came with me in the Human World." Yoruichi spoke with a sense of pride in her voice, only for it to drain as she brought herself back to the conversation at hand. "I should have thought it through, realized how you would have felt personally."
Sui-Feng didn't say anything. She uttered a whimper that she couldn't catch before it was already out but that was it. Slowly, Yoruichi touched Sui-Feng's face again.
"But you need to know something Sui-Feng. I don't regret throwing my life and title as Captain away to save those people. I have to be honest about that. Hell, I'd do it again if I needed to. But...I did regret leaving you behind."
"Do?..."
"Did? As in from the first moment I set foot in the Human World." Yoruichi said. "If you could stand to be around Kisuke for more than a few seconds, he'd tell you. There wasn't a day that went by in all those years that I didn't worry about you. I...I must have spent countless hours looking out at the sky and wondering how you were. How is Sui-Feng feeling right now? Has she eaten enough? Slept enough? Does she like her new mentor, whoever they may be? How's her training coming along?" Yoruichi's eyes watered again as she looked down, a almost...ashamed expression on her face. "Would she ever forgive me if she knew the truth?"
Sui-Feng uttered a quiet gasp.
"When we reunited on that day, I was happy." Yoruichi continued, her voice slightly brightened once more. "I mean, sure, you wanted to kill me and everything but thanks to that battle, I was able to see how much you improved, how much you've grown! I mean, for f*ck's sake, you learned Shunko all by yourself without me even teaching you!"
"I...I guess..." Sui-Feng looked away, slightly embarrassed by the out of nowhere comment.
"I was so proud of you." Yoruichi finished. "I remember thinking at the end of that day, once this whole Aizen business was over, I'd take Sui-Feng on a trip to the Human World, show her what there is to see, help her come out of her shell a little." Yoruichi's expression darkened once more as she recalled the name of that man that had ruined hers and to an extant, Sui-Feng's lives. "But then...that battle..."
"That battle..." Sui-Feng trembled as she recalled watching her arm being eaten away by Respira and then later the feeling of falling out of the sky, bleeding from a wound she didn't even realize had been inflicted until the blood had gushed forth." She jumped slightly as Yoruichi placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Sui-Feng, you need to understand we tried to get there as fast as we could." Yoruichi continued. "Kisuke, Isshin and I. He couldn't just go in guns blazing, however, not against someone like Aizen." Yoruichi wiped her tears again. "And I was angry...scared even from even considering what that monster might have done to you. To all of you. I...I didn't even know if you were still alive or not." She sniffled with a smile. "Words can't even express how relieved I was when Retsu told me you survived."
"Lady Yoruichi..." Sui-Feng whispered. She suddenly felt herself being pulled toward Yoruichi, softly landing right on her exposed body. She blushed as Yoruichi grabbed the blanket that had fallen off of her in her post-nightmare trembling and covered both herself and Sui-Feng with it. Once they were under the covers, Yoruichi laid down, pulling down Sui-Feng with her. The Captain of Squad 2 found herself in her former mentor's embrace and with this, a new feeling crept into Sui-Feng's heart, a single word in her brain that she had not felt or thought of in a long, long time.
S A F E
"Sui-Feng, you were born of the Feng clan." Yoruichi whispered as she pulled her Little Bee closer. "That means from the moment you were born, you were raised to be a servant of my clan, a tool for their disposal. And when you became the head of the Onmitsukido, you were further expected to throw your life away at a moment's notice for the good of the clan. You've...You've never been given enough room to be a person, to be vulnerable."
"But why would I want that!?" Sui-Feng argued. "I'm at complete peace with who I am! What I am! I am the Captain-Commander of the Onmitsukido, Captain of the Second Division of the Gotei 13 and Head of the Feng Clan. I exist only to carry out the will of Soul Society, even if it cost me my life to do so. I am a tool to be used as needed and when I die, I will be replaced in all three of my titles. That...That's just the way it is and I'm at peace with that."
"Oh Sui-Feng," Yoruichi moved closer. "It's true, I suppose. When you die, all three of those titles will be filled by someone else. Someone else from my clan, possibly my younger brother, will take the position as Captain-Commander and as the Captain of Squad 2. And one of your younger cousins will become the new Head of the Feng clan, maybe even inherit your name as well." She slid an arm underneath Sui-Feng and pulled her head closer to her chest. "But that doesn't make your individual life worthless."
Sui-Feng met Yoruichi's gaze, her mouth open agape.
"If you were to die tomorrow, there would be plenty of people who would mourn your death. Me, Kisuke, the other Captains and girls at the SWA, Yushiro, even your Lieutenant!"
"Omeada," Sui-Feng sniffed with a somewhat dry laugh. "Yeah right. I bet that slacker would be happy to not be yelled at anymore."
"Maybe, but I've seen him, Sui-Feng. He's extremely loyal, even more so than my Lieutenant was. He'd miss you, even if he decided to stuff his face while doing it." Yoruichi made herself chuckle which helped to put Sui-Feng more at ease. "The point is, there are people that care about you deeply, more than you even realize, so please, don't go about trivializing your life just because of your position in the Gotei 13 and don't ever entertain the notion that you're unwanted, least of all by me."
"L-Lady Yoruichi..."
"You've been strong for so long, had so much placed on your shoulders because of my actions and I can never make up for that." Yoruichi continued. "But I can still try to make amends. I left you once but never again. Sui-Feng, I promise I will never leave your side again, not for any reason. If you're scared, or saddened or even ashamed, look for me and I'll be there for you, just like you were there for me all those years ago."
"L-Lady Y-Yoruichi," Sui-Feng felt herself tearing up and tried to turn away, only for Yoruichi to stop her.
"Don't fight it, Sui-Feng." She said. "You need to release it, everything that's bottled up inside. There's nothing to be ashamed of. There's no one else here but me. I know you were raised not to cry, not to be weak or fragile but that was then. This is the present and you don't need to be strong right now. Not in front of me. Let it go."
Sui-Feng whimpered, wanting to cry, wanting to give in to the overwhelming emotion inside her. Yet, part of her was tired of the humbling, tired of letting her mind tear her apart like this. So she resisted, even against her Goddesses's words of comfort, she resisted and turned away from Yoruichi. Seeing this resistance in her Little Bee, Yoruichi sighed and settled into the futon. She slowly raised her mouth to Sui-Feng's ear and, in as gentle and motherly a voice as she could speak, she sang a lullaby.
"Look up, look up, look up to the sky,
Don't you see, can't you see, won't you see the lanterns fly?
Like fireflies they ascend toward the weary Moon, after which the Sun comes soon.
Look up, look up, look up to the sky.
Don't you see, can't you see, won't you see the lanterns fly?
Like fireflies they ascend toward the shining star, off to the heavens so very far."
Sui-Feng gasped as she recognized the lullaby that her Grandmother once sang for her, one of the only childhood memories she had before Yoruichi that didn't involve training or bloodshed. No Hollows. No enemies. Just a warm bed and her Grandmother's soft soothing voice. This was it. This was the crack that crumbled Sui-Feng's walls. With a sharp sob, she began to cry and this time, she didn't even try to cover her face. She cried into her pillow, letting the hot tears soak into the soft fabric. In the darkness of the night, with only the woman she admired to hear her, Sui-Feng cried, letting herself be vulnerable, letting the tears of her fear, shame, and resentment of her life flow from her face, from her soul, until only her pride as a Shinigami and as herself remained.
But by then, she was already asleep in a singing Yoruichi's arms.
Sui-Feng was running down a dark and seemingly endless hallway. The little girl was almost out of breath, her kimono soaked with sweat as she continued to flee. She already lost track of how far she had been running, how many turns she had made in this hallway. She couldn't even remember when was the last time she saw a window. Behind her, voices sounded from the darkness, screams of the dead and dying followed by horrific hoarse laughter.
Tears of pure terror flew from her eyes in droplets as she ran, turning what she was sure was yet another corner...
...one that led to a dead end.
"No!" Sui-Feng squeaked as she tried to stop herself from hitting the wall. So such luck befell her and she smacked right into it. She fell on her bottom and whined as she went to rub her aching nose. It stung as it brushed against her fingertips. The little girl whimpered as she tried to outwait the stinging sensation, her eyes closed due to the pain. Even when the pain ebbed enough for her to open them, it hardly made any difference as there was no window or door near her. Just the dead end of a hallway consumed by shadows. There was nowhere to run anymore.
"There you are." The deep, condescending voice spoke from behind. "Did you really think you would be able to outrun me?"
Just the sound of the voice alone was enough to throw Sui-Feng's whole body into a trembling fit. Against every fiber of her being, Sui-Feng turned around and found herself face to face with the Aspect of Senescence himself. The ghostly wraith floated before her, his purple robes flowing behind as if he were standing against a mighty wind and the golden crown above his skinless head glistening in the darkness. His grinning face bore no muscle or facial features to display his emotions but Sui-Feng knew what lay in his hear regardless. He was elated and playful, like a cat that had been toying with a field mouse out of sheer sadism. And now, the game had grown stale and it was time to devour.
"Foolish girl. Nothing in this world can outrun Death. Not even the very Shinigami who oversee it are immune to its call. And now, for you, time has run out."
"N-No! Please," Tears trailing down her eyes, Sui-Feng backed into the wall, trying to make herself as small as possible. Her heart was thumping, every breath felt heavy and her kimono was soaked in her sweat. She hated it. She hated all of it. Why did she have to be afraid? Why did this monster continue to haunt her? Why? Summoning every last bit of courage she had, Sui-Feng made one last attempt to deny her fear. "I...I'm not scared of you! Y...You're not real! Go away!"
The only thing she seemed to accomplish with her declaration, however, was rousing the demonic skeleton to taunting laughter which chilled her to the core and sucked all the bravery from her body. "Not scared of me? Don't deceive yourself, child. Death is the Universal fear of every sentient being in this world. To no longer exist. To no longer be a part of this world. To be forgotten by everyone you hold dear and erased by the sands of time. That is your fate! That is your destiny and there is nothing you can do to save yourself from it!"
Trembling harder than ever, Sui-Feng curled up into a ball and began to sob. "I...I'm scared! I'm scared! Please! Someone...Anyone! Please save me!..." She buried her face in her hands. "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna be forgotten!"
"If you were to die tomorrow, there would be plenty of people that would mourn your death."
Sui-Feng stopped crying, even as her tears continued to flow. Slowly, she raised her head up to hear the mysterious voice better.
"You've been strong for so long...don't fight it..."
"Don't fight it...fight what..." Sui-Feng looked around, even as doing so brought back the visage of that awful skeleton before her. Despite her best effort, she couldn't find the source of that voice speaking to her...comforting her...reassuring her...
...at least not until she felt a gentle hand clasp her shoulder and looked behind to see a transparent but smiling Yoruichi looking back down on her.
"Don't fight it...Let it go..."
"Don't fight what?" Sui-Feng asked, even as the answer grew clearer and clearer inside her head. She knew deep down she was dreaming. She knew deep down she was reliving her near-death experience over and over again. And she knew something that she had tried to deny, try to fight for so long.
She WAS afraid.
She was afraid of nearly dying at the hands of an enemy she wasn't prepared to deal with. She was afraid of how easily her powers had been negated or she cut down. She was afraid of not being good enough to serve her life's purpose. To live up to the expectations she carried on her shoulders. She was afraid she was a burden. That she was unwanted. Unloved.
Yoruichi's smile was more than enough to assure her that wasn't the case. And with that, Sui-Feng felt a little of her bravery return. Enough to face Baraggan and shout "Stop!"
"Huh?" The skeleton asked. "You dare ask for me, for the mighty king of Hueco Mundo to stop? For Death itself to halt its advances? What arrogance!"
"Arrogance?" Sui-Feng replied. "You really want to talk to me about arrogance? Because from where I'm standing, you're the arrogant one!"
"What!?"
"You lost the battle that day. You died!" She took a step closer. "And you died because you underestimated the drive of sentient beings to survive." Another step closer. "You never expected the Visored to so-willingly sacrifice his arm to finish you off, did you!" As Sui-Feng spoke, she realized her voice was different. She sounded...older. Not only that, but as she stared down Baraggan, she was certain she was having to crane her neck upwards due to the height difference. Now, she was staring straight ahead. Curiously, she looked down at herself and realized she was no longer in the body of herself as a toddler but in the body of her days as Yoruichi's bodyguard. She was even clad in the black uniform she wore all the time in those days. There was more light in the hallway as well and as Sui-Feng looked behind her, she realized she wasn't in the hallway anymore but in Yoruichi's throne room, the Sun's rays peaking out from the open door.
"You...You little wrench!" Baraggan roared. "What gives you the right to speak to me in such a haughty tone!? Have you forgotten how easily I destroyed your arm? How I survived your Bankai twice! If it weren't so that damned Visored, you would have perished!" As he screamed these words, his Respira began to seep from his body like smoke from a fire. It engulfed the entire room once again, including Sui-Feng who uttered a faint cry. "Or maybe...maybe you think just because I was defeated that you are safe from Death's icy grip!" He bellowed in laughter. "Don't be naive! I may be gone but Death still remains! It still awaits you, Shinigami and no matter how fast you run, no matter how many mountains you move or rivers you divert, it will catch you!" Baraggan's laughter continued to fill the room as he completely surrounded himself with his Respira.
"Are you done yet?"
"Huh!?"
The purple mist stopped seeping from Baraggan's body. Slowly, it began to disperse, revealing a shadow standing before Baraggan. As the Respira continued to dissipate, the figure's perfectly healthy skin, hair and fully intact clothes were exposed. Once enough of the purple miasma was gone. A disinterested Sui-Feng looked down at herself again. She was now in her adult body, her Captain's haori over her battle outfit. The location had changed as well. Instead of Yoruichi's empty throne room, both she and Baraggan were now standing over the Fake Karakura Town where their battle had taken place. The only thing missing was Suzumebachi but Sui-Feng had a feeling she wouldn't need her. This wasn't an enemy she needed to go to such lengths for and she hated herself for letting him torment her for so long.
But that was over now.
"You sure talk a big game for someone who's throne was usurped." She said as she started to remove her haori. "Makes you wonder if your real plan was just to talk me and Omeada to death."
"What!? You...You dare mock the likes of me!?" Uttering an angry growl, Baraggan sent a wave of Respira in all directions toward the disrobing Shinigami. "Die!"
The Respira hit Sui-Feng with full force and her discarded haori slipped away from her. Baraggan chuckled to himself as he watched the garment disintegrate into nothingness. "So much for your drive to survive!" He laughed into the all-consuming miasma.
That's when it was suddenly pushed back toward him. The former king of Hueco Mundo barely had enough time to react to the sudden shift in direction of his power before it smacked him in the face. He uttered a rather undignified cry of surprise as this happened and stumbled backward. Once he regained his footing, he stared ahead toward the specter of wind in front of him.
It was Sui-Feng, stripped down to her Keisen Shozoku with wind-like Reshi blowing from her back and shoulders. This wind had pushed back the Respira as if it were simply a cloud of ordinary mist and now surrounded Sui-Feng, protecting her in a orb-shaped barrier. She met Baraggan's gaze for the final time, her eyes narrowed and devoid of any of the fear that had plagued them in nightmares past. It was replaced by sheer contempt.
"...You...vile... huh!" Before Baraggan could continue his threats, Sui-Feng heard the sickening sound of the left side of his skull cracking. Baraggan weakly held his right hand to it, only for it to break apart at the slight touch. He uttered a shocked groan of pain and despair as his own Respira started to eat at him at various parts of his body.
"I admit it now," Sui-Feng said. "I admit I was scared of you. Hell, maybe even terrified. You left a lot of scars in my mind, bruised my ego and made me second guess myself and I don't think I'll ever fully forgive myself for letting you torment me like that for so long." Sui-Feng looked down in regret for a few moments, the last bit of victory Baraggan would taste in her mindscape again. "You are right, I suppose. One day I will die and who I am will be filled in by others that come after me." Then she looked up, her gaze as fierce as ever. "But I will not be forgotten! I have others who care about me! Who will carry on my memory when I die! That is how people continue the legacy of those who before them, why we're able to recall the names of those who came before us. As long as we keep those bonds close to us, even death has no power to sever them!"
Barraggan's only response was to hold his hand toward Sui-Feng as if to grab at her. He uttered a low growl that ended in some sort of whimper.
"And even if you did have something to say about that, there is one thing you can't deny. One simple fact you could never hope to refute!" Sui-Feng led down her hand and willed her energy to swirl around it. She raised her fist to her face. "And that's that I'm alive and you're not, asshole!"
With this, Sui-Feng launched herself at the decaying skeleton and, with a single, Shunko-infused punch, scattered what remained of his body in all directions. His arms. His legs. His ribs, His crown. His robes, The remaining half of his skull. They all flew away from each other and left a trail of dust as they fell toward the decoy town below. Not a single one of the pieces made it to the ground. All of them disintegrated before they even fell past the rooftops.
Sui-Feng remained in the sky for a few moments, almost as if she was waiting for something else to happen, for this monster that's been haunting her mind to pull one last desperate attack. But that attack never came and upon realized this, Sui-Feng turned her Shunko off with a relived sigh.
The nightmare, for now at least, was finally over.
Sui-Feng didn't awake with a scream or a gasp this time. Instead, her eyes fluttered open as she uttered a soft groan. With another groan, she sat up and wiped her eyes free of the rheum that had formed from them.
"Good morning, sleepy-head!" Yoruichi's voice cooed from the other side of the room. Sui-Feng looked up to see her beloved mentor standing by the window from which the early morning Sun was shining through. She had clothed herself in one of Sui-Feng's old bathrobes which, being a little small on her figure, left most of her legs exposed. Definitely not a bad sight for Sui-Feng to wake up to, not that she would ever say it out loud. "Looks like someone had a good night's sleep for once."
"Huh?" Sui-Feng looked around the room and at herself, a small but triumphant smile forming on her face as she realized Yoruichi was right. "I...I did sleep last night...all night!"
"I'll say," Yoruichi chuckled as she approached Sui-Feng. "You didn't even budge when I got up to bathe. You were out cold." Once she was at her Little Bee's side, she squatted down next to her, her arms around her knees. "So tell me, you feeling any better?"
"I...I do feel a lot less tired now." Sui-Feng answered with slight hesitation. "Although...I'm not sure about the nightmares. I mean, last night's nightmare wasn't so bad but it started off pretty bad and I...I mean...MMPH!"
Yoruichi gently pressed her finger against Sui-Feng's lips, causing the black-haired girl to blush. She slowly looked up to Yoruichi whose eyes betrayed a sense of concerned wisdom. "Things like that won't just go away overnight. You know that."
Sui-Feng realized Yoruichi was speaking the truth and looked away in disappointment as her former mentor moved her finger. Only a second later, however, Sui-Feng was treated to a playful head pat that immediately took her back to her bodyguard days.
"But you took the first step to healing by facing your problems head-on instead of running from them." Yoruichi praised. "So stand tall, Sui-Feng. You did well."
Sui-Feng's face lit up like a Christmas tree light. To be praised like this by Yoruichi for simply getting a good night's rest. But deep down, she knew where that praise was really directed. She had inner demons inside of her. ones not even the strongest of Bankai could defeat. She needed to rely on her mind, on her will to do that and as of today, she knew she had stuck her first real blow. "T-Thank you, Lady Yoruichi. I-I couldn't have done it without you."
It was then, however, that Sui-Feng recalled what she had said to Yoruichi last night in her fear-induced breakdown. Guilt spread throughout her body like a thorny vine as she looked down.
"Sui-Feng?" Yoruichi asked. "What's wrong?"
"A-About last night...Lady Yoruichi I-"
Before Sui-Feng could attempt to apologize, Yoruichi suddenly pulled her into a giant hug.
"Don't even bother apologizing." Yoruichi said. "You're the one that was in pain last night and even though I had no idea at the time, I was the one that put you through it." Yoruichi ran her fingers through Sui-Feng's hair. "You don't ever have to forgive me but I want you to know that I'm here for you now and I'm not going anywhere you can't find me again. I promise."
"Lady Yoruichi..." Tearing up, Sui-Feng pressed her face against Yoruichi's robe, it was soft and warm with the Sun's heat and her tears soaked into the fabric like rain droplets in the ground. This went on for a few minutes before Sui-Feng picked her head up again. "I...I should get up already. I'm sure to have a lot of work to do today."
"What's the rush?" Yoruichi asked. "It's still pretty early in the morning. I think you could squeeze a extra hour or so of rest. And then we can grab some breakfast. Sound good?"
"Lady Yoruichi!" Sui-Feng was about to rebuttal but the look in her mentor's golden eyes melted away any ability to argue. "Oh...Okay."
"That's my Little Bee!" Yoruichi played with Sui-Feng's hair again before getting back up. "I'll get things started. You just focus on resting." With this, Yoruichi stepped out of the room while humming the tune of the lullaby she had sung to Sui-Feng last night.
"Lady Yoruichi...Thank you," Sui-Feng surprised herself with a sudden yawn and realized just how tired she still was. She slid herself back under the covers, turned her head and closed her eyes with a content sigh. She knew one night of sleep was not enough to repair the damage to herself. She dreaded the awkward apology she knew she was going to have to give the rest of the SWA for her behavior. (She didn't even need to ask Yoruichi to know that she was going to make her do that) and for that matter, the sheer awkwardness that would be the next Captain's meeting (Maybe...Just maybe she would treat the Visored a little better...at least, Rose) and of course, part of her was still afraid of what her future dreams might bring. But nonetheless, she smiled because as of last night, she knew she could handle them. She could confront them. And even when she couldn't, even if she failed again, she was confident that Yoruichi would be there to get her on her feet again.
Sui-Feng fell asleep almost instantly. She didn't have any dreams this time. Just a quiet, blissful and well-deserved rest.
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