until i see you again | urayoru

i

For years after, prominent Shinigami would praise Yoruichi for her decision.

Kisuke Urahara was officially missing, following a grand escape from their pending judgement. The whole ordeal had been kept a secret from the Shinigami, even most of the captains; they’d only just been told that Captain Urahara and Tsukabishi Tessai were on trial by the time the pair had somehow slipped between the fingers of Central Forty Six.

Yoruichi wondered why anyone was surprised; Kisuke was always prepared for anything.

The evening of his disappearance, Yoruichi sat alone in her chambers, a half empty bottle of sake her lone companion. She poured the clear liquid into the small cup, part of a set Kisuke had gotten her for a birthday years before, and focused on the burning liquid gliding down her throat as she downed it in one shot rather than the tears pricking her eyes.

Various fellow Captains, their faces blurred in the fog of Yoruichi’s mind as she’d struggled to process what Head Captain Yamamoto was telling them whilst maintaining a composed front, had told her they were impressed at her resolve. She hadn’t, as the few Captains in the know had expected, disappeared with her childhood friend, or prevented justice from being served.

Yoruichi had accepted their hesitant praise with silent nods, and wondered if it was coincidence Yamamoto had sent her on a training exercise far from the Seireitei that morning.

It was odd, she thought, that they seemed to think she had known about the situation.

She wasn’t planning on telling her fellow Shinigami that she hadn’t chosen their side; she just hadn’t returned in time to rescue Kisuke.

Yoruichi pressed her face into her hands, damp cheeks warm against her palms as she bit back an angry sob. Kisuke was gone, along with his reiatsu and any trace of where to find him. Exhaling heavily, Yoruichi shook her head, pouring another cup of sake.

He was gone for now, she told herself. She would find him. Or he would find her.

They always had, after all.

| until i see you again |

Soifon was waiting by Yoruichi’s desk when she strode in, frustration visible in her Captain’s tense frame as she returned from her latest mission. Soifon snapped to attention at Yoruichi’s entrance, her Lieutenant’s badge reflecting the sunlight streaming in through the window from its polished perfection.

“Lady Yoruichi,” she said, not dropping her rigid stance even as Yoruichi gestured for her to sit, shrugging off her Captain’s haori and draping it on the back of her seat. “Was your mission a success?”

Yoruichi replied with a murmur, rolling her shoulders as she observed the stack of paperwork which had piled up in her absence. She sighed as she took her seat, her tension softening into unmistakeable disappointment. “It was, Lieutenant. We defeated the hollow with ease.” Looking up from her desk, Yoruichi tilted her head at the look on Soifon’s face. “Is there something wrong?”

Her Lieutenant hesitated, as she tended to do before saying something she felt could be deemed as overstepping. Yoruichi waited patiently; Soifon would usually talk, sooner or later. And, after a moment, Yoruichi was proven right.

“You know, I would go on any of these missions for you,” Soifon said quickly, as if throwing the words out of her head as fast as she could. “If I may—you’re a Captain, Lady Yoruichi. You shouldn’t burden yourself with such trivial missions in the world of the living. You always seem so…” Soifon trailed off, her cheeks reddening as Yoruichi raised an eyebrow at her.

“Go on, Soifon,” Yoruichi replied, waving her hand as she gave her Lieutenant a reassuring smile.

Soifon’s blush deepened. “Well, it’s just—you seem so sad when you return.” She squeezed her eyes shut, wondering if she had overstepped a line when Yoruichi didn’t respond. When Soifon dared to crack one eye open, she relaxed as she saw a genuine smile on her Captain’s face.