Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Heart Dawning ❯ Chapter Thirteen ( Chapter 13 )

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

“Kisuke!”

 

Daria stormed into the shop, angrily shouting his name, pausing just long enough to kick off her shoes and violently pull off her jacket. She balled the jacket up as she continued walking and threw it angrily onto the floor of the back room, then stood with her hands on her hips as she surveyed her surroundings. A half-empty cup of tea sat on the low table, right in front of his usual spot, but the man she was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Tessai, where is he?” she demanded as the large man entered the room to see what all the commotion was about, drying his hands on a dish towel. He blinked in surprise at seeing her so agitated, since she had been nothing but congenial the entire time she'd been staying at the shop.

 

“I believe he went to his room to rest,” he told her.

 

Daria immediately walked out of the room and went upstairs, her footsteps falling heavily on each step as she swiftly ascended them to the second floor of the house.

 

“Might want to get a mop ready,” she called back over her shoulder. “You're going to need it when I'm through with him.”

 

She continued stalking toward the end of the hall and didn't bother knocking before violently throwing open the door to his room, her mouth set in a firm scowl as she thought up some very choice words for her 'gracious host.' The words died in her throat, however, as he eyes fell on the scene before her: Kisuke was currently lounging on his futon, propped up slightly on his arms, his hat discarded on the floor nearby... and standing before him was a very naked Yoruichi.

 

“I... I'm sorry,” Daria stammered before hastily closing the door once more and heading quietly back downstairs to the sitting room, her face turning a vibrant shade of red.

 

Tessai asked her what was wrong when she entered the room, but she merely shook her head and sat before the cup of tea on the table, downing what remained of it in a single gulp and wishing it was something considerably stronger. She felt like an idiot for not realizing he was most likely with her. But what made her feel even more stupid was how much seeing them together like that had affected her. He'd just looked so damn sexy sitting there - his pale hair a tousled mess and his grey eyes half-lidded, his shirt hanging open just far enough that she could actually see the well-defined muscles of his chest that were normally hidden beneath his baggy clothes - that she couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy toward the other woman. Conniving bastard or not, Kisuke Urahara was a very attractive man.

 

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath, covering her face with one hand. Tessai knelt next to her, one of his large hands resting softly on her shoulder.

 

“Miss Daria, is everything alright?” he asked, and she couldn't help but smile at how gentle and concerned he sounded. It was a stark contrast to his imposing physical stature.

 

“Just a headache, Tessai,” she told him, shaking her head a bit.

 

“I think I have just the remedy for that,” he stated, then stood up and wandered out of the room. Daria groaned a bit, regretting her choice of words. In her short time at the Urahara Shop, she had learned that Tessai greatly enjoyed trying 'herbal remedies' he saw on television or in print ads. Sometimes they worked, but from what she had heard from the children they mostly caused Kisuke to end up locked in the bathroom for most of the night.

 

She had to tell him something, though. Something other than the truth: That she had developed the hots for his employer, who was currently upstairs getting it on with his girlfriend, much to her chagrin. She knew she couldn't let Kisuke or Yoruichi find out about her feelings toward him. He'd probably suggest she join them for a threesome, while Yoruichi would probably end up slitting her throat in her sleep.

 

Sighing heavily, she looked down into the empty cup in her hand, once more wishing for something infinitely stronger than tea.

 

*********************

 

“Shit,” Kisuke muttered, blinking at the now-closed door to his room. He hadn't expected Daria to come storming in there like that, although he probably should have. She wasn't stupid, and he knew she would probably figure out that he'd set her up when he sent her out for groceries, but he really hadn't thought she would go so far as to just barge in like that.

 

Yoruichi laughed hysterically, and his eyes darted to where she was still standing at the foot of his bed, stark naked. She knew exactly what this situation had probably looked like to Daria, and so did he. Normally, he'd find the situation as amusing as she did, but he had been depending upon Daria's attraction to him to keep her from fleeing. Now that she thought he and Yoruichi were sleeping together, her little fantasies about him would be ruined. Even if she wasn't harboring secret, lustful thoughts about him, the mere fact that she believed she'd walked in on them mid-coitus could possibly cause her to feel so absolutely uncomfortable being around either of them that she'd be more than willing to risk death just to get out of the house.

 

Sighing, he stood up and retrieved his hat from the floor, brushing it against his pant leg before placing it securely on top of his head. He then turned toward Yoruichi - who had finally brought her laughter under control - and gave her a rather stern look.

 

“I gotta go do some spin control,” he told her before turning back toward the door. “You finish getting dressed.”

 

“Kisuke, wait,” Yoruichi said, stepping toward him and placing a hand on his arm. “Maybe you should let me talk to her.”

 

“Why?” he asked, looking at her once more. “She's afraid of you, in case you didn't notice.”

 

“Yes, but... I um... Well...” she stammered, looking a bit embarrassed.

 

“Yes?”

 

“I sort of already led her to believe we were sleeping together,” she admitted.

 

“What? When?” Kisuke asked her, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion within the shadows of his hat.

 

“Last week, the day I found her in your workshop with you,” she told him. “I told her I'd been sleeping in your bed, and she assumed that meant...”

 

She let her voice trail off and Kisuke sighed. He knew exactly what Daria had assumed that meant.

 

“Besides,” she continued, “it might be easier if this is dealt with woman-to-woman. Know what I mean?”

 

Kisuke watched her silently for a moment, then nodded slightly. Yoruichi wasn't usually one for 'girl talk,' but this seemed like one of those situations where his usual brand of pep talk wouldn't quite suffice. He knew he could probably diffuse the situation himself, but a part of him worried he might say the wrong thing and just come across as a greedy pervert trying to get into the pants of two women.

 

Yoruichi patted his arm, giving him a reassuring smile, and began making her way to the door.

 

“Yoruichi-san?”

 

“Yeah?” she said turning back to look at him over her shoulder.

 

“Clothes?” he reminded her, gesturing toward her nude body with one hand.

 

Yoruichi made a slightly disgusted face, but didn't argue with him about it. Instead, she merely dressed in silence as she watched him closely out of the corner of her eye. It seemed strange to her, the way he was so concerned over whether or not Daria knew the truth about their relationship. Kisuke was the sort of man who generally didn't give a crap what people thought of him, preferring to be himself and damn the consequences. She knew he'd never admit the real reason he was upset Daria had found them together the way she did, though. He probably didn't even know the real reason. He might be a genius when it came to scientific things and military strategy, but he was a complete dunce when it came to his own feelings.

 

“Stop worrying,” she told him as she pulled her orange jacket on over the black top she always wore. “I'll set her straight. And I promise I'll be nice to her about it.”

 

Kisuke merely nodded, still frowning a bit, and she wanted to smack him up the back of his head and remind him that the girl he was so fixated on could still be dangerous for all they knew and that he'd promised to back off until they knew for sure that she was safe. Giving him a slight smile, she made her way out of the bedroom and down the hallway, running into Renji as he was making his way up the stairs.

 

“Hey, is Urahara in there?” he asked, pointing toward the bedroom door. Yoruichi nodded in response and he thanked her, continuing on his way with a worried look on his face. She paused for a moment, watching him, wanting so badly to following him and find out what had him so visibly shaken. She had a mission, though, and until she finished what she had set out to do her curiosity would have to wait.

 

Sighing a bit, she went downstairs and found Daria alone in the sitting room behind the shop. She was seated in Kisuke's usual spot, staring into an empty cup as she rubbed her right temple as though she was fending off an oncoming headache. Yoruichi stood silently in the doorway for a moment, just watching her, then loudly cleared her throat to alert the other woman of her presence. Daria looked in her direction and her eyes suddenly went wide in fear as she sat up straight, the hand that had been holding the cup quickly pulled back and placed at her side in a manner similar to that of a child who had been caught trying to sneak a cookie before dinner.

 

“I'm sorry for the way I barged in like that, Miss Yoruichi,” she said quickly, her voice trembling slightly in fear. “I really should have knocked. It won't happen again, I promise.”

 

“Don't worry about it,” Yoruichi told her, shaking her head as she approached the table and sat down with a heavy sigh. “You weren't interrupting anything.”

 

“Even so, it was wrong of me to just walk in on such a private moment between you and Ki-- Urahara,” she corrected herself, remembering how much the woman had disliked her calling him by his first name.

 

“You don't understand, Daria. He and I--”

 

“I should probably apologize to him, too,” she cut her off, standing up from her seat.

 

“We're not lovers,” Yoruichi said, grabbing her hand before she could walk away. Daria looked down at her, green eyes narrowed slightly in disbelief.

 

“You're not?”

 

“No,” Yoruichi assured her, shaking her head. “We're not.”

 

“Then what the hell did I walk in on?” Daria asked, her face contorted in confusion.

 

“I was getting dressed,” Yoruichi explained. “Kisuke is used to seeing me naked like that. We grew up together - along with Tessai - and he's like family to me. So really, sleeping with him would be like having sex with my little brother, which would just be so gross. Besides...”

 

“Besides... what?” Daria wondered, slowly sitting back down at the table.

 

“How does that saying go?” Yoruichi mused, scratching her head in thought. “Something to do with baseball... I don't pitch right?”

 

“You... play for the other team?” Daria suggested, blinking in surprise.

 

“That's it!” Yoruichi exclaimed, pointing at her and smiling. “So you see, Kisuke is definitely not my type.”

 

“Then why did you lead me to believe that the two of you were involved?” Daria asked, reaching out and grabbing the empty cup once more, both a bit angry that she had led her on and relieved that she and Kisuke weren't really sleeping together.

 

Yoruichi noticed the shift in her demeanor, as well as the way she was staring at the cup in her hand - Kisuke's cup, she realized - and a smirk began to tug at her lips as she leaned closer to the other woman, propping her chin in one hand.

 

“You like him, don't you?” she practically purred. Daria sputtered a bit, her eyes going wide as she looked up at her once more, and a blush immediately began creeping across her cheeks. “I knew it!”

 

“I do not like him,” Daria insisted. “He's a conniving bastard and he almost got me killed. Which reminds me...”

 

Daria slammed the cup down onto the table and stood up, storming out of the room and back upstairs to Kisuke's room. This time, she paused outside his door and knocked, then waited patiently for him to come see who his visitor was.

 

He had barely opened the door when a fist came into direct contact with his face. He cried out in surprise at the sudden assault and brought a hand up to gingerly touch the corner of his mouth, wincing slightly when he pulled his hand away and saw a trickle of blood staining his fingertips. He had come to expect such unannounced attacks from Yoruichi, but it had been Daria who delivered the blow, and she was now standing in front of him with both of her hands clenched into fists at her sides and her eyes narrowed into vicious-looking slits as she stared him down.

 

“Why did you just hit me?” he asked her, though he already knew the reason.

 

“Because you deserved it,” she stated matter-of-factly. “You damn near got me killed, Kisuke.”

 

“Yes, but it was a necessary risk,” he argued. “We needed a sample from one of those creatures that had been attacking you, and since they only attack you, well... You understand, right?”

 

“You could have at least warned me what you were up to,” told him.

 

“If I had told you I was sending you out because I needed to use you as bait to draw those creatures into the open, you never would have set foot outside of the store,” he pointed out to her. “I'm sorry I deceived you, but you weren't hurt, were you?”

 

“Well... No, but--”

 

“Then everything turned out alright,” he said cheerfully. “You got home safely, and I got the sample I needed. Everything worked out just fine in the end, see?”

 

“What about Renji?” Daria asked. “He did get hurt. It's only by some miracle that those things took off without killing him, you know.”

 

“Actually, I'm fine,” Renji called from where he was sitting on the floor in Kisuke's room. “Just a few scrapes and bruises. Believe me, I've suffered much worse injuries.”

 

“Shut it, Renji,” Daria snapped, her eyes flickering toward him briefly before she went back to staring Kisuke down. “You aren't sorry, Kisuke. Even if there had been another way to go about getting that sample, you still would have sent me out there as bait.”

 

Kisuke sighed. “I never would have sent you out if I didn't know someone was already out there who would be able to protect you. Trust me, Daria, I would never willingly put you into a position where you could be harmed.”

 

“Trust has to be earned, Kisuke,” she told him quietly, throwing his own words back at him before turning around and heading into her room across the hallway, closing the door firmly behind her.

 

Kisuke sighed heavily and leaned against the doorway of his own room, staring at the closed door, and wondered if he had just royally screwed up. She couldn't be expected to trust him and stay there if he played games with her and used her for bait. She had every right to be angry with him, and he had cheapened her feelings by being his usual, flippant self.

 

Several feet down the hall, Yoruichi smirked at him. She had watched the entire scene unfold from a safe distance, surprised that he actually let Daria hit him. She knew he could have easily dodged that punch or at the very least stop it from coming into contact with his face, but he had taken it as if he hadn't expected it was coming. That was the first uncharacteristic thing he'd done in the last five minutes. Then second was the odd tone his voice had taken on when he told her he'd never allow her to be hurt. Yoruichi had heard him make promises to women before - usually as a means to help him get into their pants - and he had never sounded as dead serious as he did when he made that promise to Daria.

 

It was an interesting development, to say the least. She could tell they were attracted to each other, even if Daria was in denial and Kisuke was oblivious. She sincerely hoped that Daria turned out to not be a danger to any of them just so she could get a kick out of watching the two of them figure it out for themselves.

 

As long as they didn't kill each other, first.