Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Dark Heart Dawning ❯ Chapter Fifteen ( Chapter 15 )

 

Chapter Fifteen

 

Yoruichi yawned loudly as she walked down the upstairs hallway, stretching her arms high above her head. She wanted to sleep in, but she knew she had to get back to Kisuke now that she had delivered the sample to Mayuri Kurotsuchi in order to be thoroughly analyzed. Actually, she wouldn't have had a reason to want to sleep in if a certain captain and former protégé of hers hadn't insisted on keeping her up half the night. Not that she minded, really. They rarely saw each other these days, after all, with her spending most of her time in the world of the living with Kisuke and the others as they bided their time waiting for Aizen to make his next move. So she couldn't blame Soifon for wanting to spend as much time together as they could during her brief visit to Soul Society.

 

She didn't bother knocking when she reached Kisuke's room. Knowing him, he was probably still in bed, anyway. She'd checked his workshop first and found it empty, much to her relief and surprise. He had barely left that room in two weeks straight. It was awfully reminiscent of the way he'd been before becoming a captain, locking himself away in his quarters for days at a time in order to work on research and experiments. Thankfully, though, he now had enough sense to not neglect his basic needs the way he did when he was her third seat. She probably had Tessai to thank for that, knowing the other man often worried about Kisuke almost as much as she did. Still, she'd been marginally shocked to find that he wasn't slumped over his desk, dozing. She assumed that meant he had finally completed whatever it was he had been working on, and hoped that he would now tell her what it was rather than saying “you'll see when it's finished.”

 

Yawning once more, Yoruichi slid open the door to his room, her eyes closed as she stepped across the threshold with her hand covering her mouth.

 

“I dropped off your sample like you asked,” she said through her yawn, rubbing the back of her neck with one hand. She opened her mouth to continued speaking, but words failed her when she looked down and didn't see a head full of messy blonde hair peeking out from beneath the covers. Instead, she found Daria lying in his bed, the comforter pulled snugly around her as she slept, a content smile on her face.

 

Yoruichi blinked a few times, looking around the room. It was definitely Kisuke's room. She hadn't accidentally made a wrong turn at the end of her hall in her sleep-deprived state. So why the hell was Daria in his bed? And where was he? Deciding that now was not the time to be considerate and let the girl continue sleeping, she stepped forward and placed a foot firmly on her shoulder and shoved her a bit roughly onto her back. Daria woke up immediately, eyes flying wide open and then squinting closed as they were assaulted by the bright light of the morning sun filtering in through the window.

 

“What the hell is this?” Yoruichi demanded. “Why are you here?”

 

“Excuse me?” Daria replied wearily, shielding her eyes with one hand as she attempted to focus on the person addressing her.

 

“Why are you in Kisuke's bed?” Yoruichi asked, thinking maybe she should rephrase the question in order to emphasize what she wanted to know. A sudden thought hit her and she gasped softly, her face scrunching up slightly in a mixture of anger and disgust. “Do not tell me you two had sex last night.”

 

“What?” Daria said, dropping her hand to her side and blinking against the sunlight a few times before focusing on the woman standing before her next to the bed.

 

“I swear, if you two slept together...” Yoruichi stated, letting the threat hang in the air between them as she pointed a menacing finger into Daria's face. Daria shook her head in response as she continued looking up at the other woman, pulling the comforter protectively up in front of herself as if it could somehow shield her from her wrath.

 

“I swear, nothing happened,” Daria insisted as her expression gradually turned to one of confusion. “At least... I don't think anything did.”

 

“You don't think anything did?” Yoruichi echoed, her voice rising slightly. Daria flinched away, and she felt a little bad that she was making the younger woman feel threatened. It was really Kisuke she was mad at. The horny bastard had promised to keep his hands to himself, then he went and broke that promise the very moment she wasn't around to catch him.

 

“We were drinking and talking last night,” Daria said quietly, scratching her head in thought. “I remember him holding me and running his fingers through my hair, but that's the last thing I can recall... Wait!” she exclaimed, holding the comforter away from her body and peeking underneath. “I'm still dressed.”

 

“That doesn't mean anything,” Yoruichi grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

“Nothing happened, Yoruichi-san,” Kisuke chimed in behind her, leaning in the open doorway of Daria's room as he lazily combed a hand back through his sleep-tousled hair. She turned to look as him and Daria leaned slightly to the side in order to see him around her.

 

“Really?” Daria asked, feeling more disappointed than she knew she should.

 

“I don't like to make a habit of taking advantage of drunk, emotionally vulnerable women,” he assured her with a sleepy smile.

 

“Since when?” Yoruichi asked under her breath. Kisuke heard the comment, though, and gave her a dirty look.

 

“You fell asleep, Daria,” he continued, returning his attention to her as he spoke. “I didn't have the heart to wake you, so I let you stay in my room and I slept over here last night. I hope you don't mind.”

 

“No, not at all,” Daria replied, shaking her head. “Thank you... for not taking advantage of me.”

 

“I admit, it was rather tempting,” he said in a teasing voice, causing her to blush slightly. Yoruichi rolled her eyes and crossed the hallway, shoving Kisuke back into Daria's bedroom.

 

“We need to talk,” she stated firmly, glancing at Daria over her shoulder before closing the bedroom door so they could speak privately.

 

“Uh... Yoruichi-san? This is Daria's room,” he reminded her. “Shouldn't we be talking in my room?”

 

“What really happened last night, Kisuke?” she asked, ignoring his comment.

 

“I told you: We were drinking and talking and she fell asleep, so I left her there,” he repeated with a weary sigh.

 

“Stop lying to me or I'm going to kick your ass,” she informed him in a stern voice. “Daria told me you two were cuddling.”

 

“She did?” he asked, blinking in confusion.

 

“Well, those weren't her exact words. But what she was describing sure sounded like cuddling, to me.”

 

“What did she tell you happened, exactly?” Kisuke asked, leaning back against the bedroom door, reaching up instinctively for his hat to pull it down and hide his eyes. He blinked when he realized he wasn't even wearing his hat, remembering that he left it by his pillow the previous night. Now he knew he was in for some trouble.

 

“She told me you were holding her and running your fingers through her hair,” she told him, crossing her arms over her chest once more. “So what the hell happened to you promising me you wouldn't mess around with her any more?”

 

“Yoruichi-san... She had a nightmare,” he explained. “She had a nightmare about her mother's murder, and she was upset so I was just comforting her.”

 

“Are you sure that's all that happened, Kisuke?” she asked him, looking him dead in the eye. “You didn't sneak a kiss or anything?”

 

“Of course not.”

 

“Liar,” she accused him. Kisuke sighed in defeat. Without his hat, he was helpless. Yoruichi could always tell when he was lying by the look in his eyes.

 

“Okay, so I may have kissed her on the forehead after she fell asleep,” he admitted. “No big deal.”

 

Yoruichi stared at him silently for a long moment, then sighed deeply, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes.

 

“You're a fucking moron sometimes, Kisuke, you know that?”

 

“What?” Kisuke asked, blinking in confusion.

 

“You kissing her is a big deal,” Yoruichi told him, poking a finger into his chest.

 

“Like I said, I was just comforting her,” he insisted. “Nothing more. I probably wouldn't have even done it if I hadn't been drinking.”

 

“You are so full of shit!” she replied, half laughing at him. “It takes a lot to get you drunk. I know. You kissed her because you wanted to, because you like her.”

 

“I barely know her,” he argued.

 

“You're attracted to her,” Yoruichi pointed out to him. “She's cute and she's a puzzle. You can't quite figure her out, and that draws you to her even more. You always did have a thing for complicated women.”

 

“So what if I am attracted to her? Are you jealous?” he asked in a playful voice, earning himself a warning glare from Yoruichi. Kisuke sighed, his smile dropping.

 

“Look, I finished that device I was working on last night. Soon enough, we'll have our answers about her.”

 

“And then what?” Yoruichi asked as he turned around and slid open the door, stepping partly through the open doorway before pausing to turn and look at her over his shoulder with a small grin.

 

“Then you'll be able to stop worrying about what I do with her in my bed... unless you'd want to join in,” he teased. Yoruichi rolled her eyes but said nothing, choosing instead to glare at his retreating form as he went out into the hall and made his way downstairs for breakfast.

 

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

 

Daria sat up in the bed in Kisuke's room, holding a hand to her throbbing head. That sake had been a lot stronger than she thought. Normally, she wouldn't have gotten drunk so easily. But she'd had quite a few drinks the previous night and now she was paying for it. She still didn't remember exactly how she ended up in Kisuke's bed, but she trusted him when he said nothing happened. It was probably a good thing nothing had, because she wouldn't remember it now, anyway.

 

She blinked several times in surprise at her own thoughts. Did she actually wish something had happened between them? Sure, he was a good-looking guy, but he was a lying, manipulative bastard with complete disregard for the safety and well-being of others. Of course, she knew that wasn't entirely true. Complete disregard would mean he never would have insisted on her staying there where it was safe until they figured out some things about those dark creatures that kept popping up in her life. And the previous night he had actually been rather caring and attentive toward her, talking with her about her nightmares and allowing her to cry in his arms until she ended up passing out from the alcohol.

 

She knew that wasn't entirely the case, though. She hadn't really passed out. She'd just felt so calm and peaceful with him holding her and running his fingers through her hair that she'd simply drifted off to sleep before she even realized she was tired.

 

Sighing a bit, she turned flopped back down onto the bed and buried her face into the pillow and groaned when she realized it smelled like him. Rolling over onto her back, she stared at the ceiling and wondered how she'd become so damn infatuated with someone who drove her insane half the time. She scoffed as she realized that wasn't completely true, either. The only really infuriating thing he'd done since her arrival there was intentionally send her out unprotected that one afternoon. All the other things - the teasing, the flirting, the innuendo - were likely just part of his normal personality. It made her wonder if any of the things he'd said or hinted at with her had ever been sincere.

 

“Stop thinking about him!” she scolded herself, rolling over onto her side. It seemed that the fates weren't going to allow her to stop, however, as her eyes immediately fell upon his hat sitting on the floor next to the pillow.

 

No sooner had she laid eyes upon the hat than Kisuke opened the door across the hall and began stepping out of her room. He paused, turning to say something to Yoruichi that she couldn't quite hear, but she could tell by the tone of his voice and the look on the other woman's face that he was being his usual, cheeky self. To her surprise, he didn't come back into the bedroom with her, instead going downstairs without so much as a glance in her direction. It struck her as odd, not because she really expected him to pay her any attention but because he was never without that damn hat. It seemed strange that he would just leave it lying in his room and not even bother to retrieve it.

 

Daria grabbed the hat off the floor as she sat up and got up from the bed, deciding to take it to him. She stopped when she reached the hallway and found Yoruichi staring at her.

 

“What are you doing with that?” she asked, pointing to the hat in her hand.

 

“I, um...” Daria muttered, not even sure how to answer that question herself. She assumed it was obvious that she was going to take it to him, but she had no idea why she felt compelled to do so.

 

“He forgot his hat,” she finally said, looking at the hat as she turned it around in her hands. She knew it sounded stupid, and she suddenly felt very foolish for what she had been about to do.

 

“I see,” Yoruichi simply replied. “So, are you going to take it to him or not?”

 

Daria's eyes snapped up to her face, surprised by the lack of scorn in her voice. She was even more surprised to find the faintest of smiles on the dark woman's face. It was almost as if she could sense the silly little schoolgirl crush Daria was harboring for the owner of the hat.

 

“I... I suppose I will,” Daria said, quickly turning and walking down the hall in the direction of the stairs as she felt a blush beginning to rise in her cheeks. It really was embarrassing, the way she was acting. She hadn't been so flustered over a member of the opposite sex since she was in high school. The problem, she realized, was that she wasn't quite sure what to make of her feeling toward him. They were a jumbled mess, thanks to the mixed signals she'd been receiving.

 

She didn't find him in the sitting room, where Tessai was busily setting the table for breakfast, so she instinctively knew he would be in his workshop. After all, most of his time since her arrival had been spent in that room. She didn't bother knocking when she reached the door, instead just walking in the way he usually did when he came to visit her in her own personal space of the house.

 

Daria blinked at the brightness she found within the workshop, used to the room being almost completely dark. She looked around for the source of the light and found no fixtures anywhere on the walls of ceiling. Curious about what was causing so much brightness to fill the room, she headed to where she had found him during her last visit. The light gradually faded as she went farther into the room, and by the time she reached the desk against the back wall it was nothing more than a mild glare.

 

The source of the light appeared to be some sort of spherical orb sitting on the desk. As Daria approached it, though, she realized it was actually floating a few inches above the desk, hovering over some sort of short pedestal. The orb shimmered as it gave off its light, casing everything on the desk in a silvery-blue glow matching the color of the orb itself. Daria made a small, impressed sound as she placed the hat on the desk and reached out with one hand to touch the orb. The moment her fingertips made contact with its surface, tiny purple sparks appeared within its swirling light, as if they were being drawn from her body into the mass of the object. She looked around to make sure no one was watching her, then picked up the orb and held it in her hands, staring at it with childlike fascination as more and more sparks appeared and began swirling around within the orb's misty surface, giving it the appearance of being covered in purple glitter.

 

“Enjoying yourself?” Kisuke asked from behind her as she let out a small giggle. Daria gasped softly and turned to look at him, guilt written all over her face.

 

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I know I should have, but it was just so pretty.”

 

“Not to worry,” he assured her, stepping over to the desk to stand beside her. “You can't harm it. It's merely a prototype.”

 

“What is it, exactly?” she asked, still holding the object in her hands.

 

“It's an experimental new light source,” he told her, grabbing his hand and placing it on top of his head, his eyes immediately becoming shrouded in darkness. “Uses less energy than traditional electrical lighting. Actually, it runs entirely on spiritual energy, so it requires no electricity at all.”

 

“I see,” Daria said, looking at the bizarre object once more before holding it out toward him. “Here you go.”

 

“Just set it back down where you found it,” he instructed her, taking a seat at the desk. Daria placed the orb back above the small pedestal, marveling at how it simply floated in the air once she let it go.

 

“Would you like me to let you know when breakfast is ready?”she asked him, watching as he began organizing various papers.

 

“I have some more work to do in here,” he informed her. “Might as well just bring it to me. Oh, and thank you for bringing me my hat. I would have felt lost without it.”

 

“You're welcome,” she muttered, slightly bothered by the way he was avoiding looking at her. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, then thought better of it and silently left the room, heading to the kitchen to see if Tessai needed any help.

 

“You can come out now,” Kisuke called once she had left the room, prompting a feline Yoruichi to jump up onto the desk. She sat down on the corner of the desk, her tail dangling over the edge, a tiny smirk gracing her cat lips.

 

“You lied to her,” she accused him.

 

“I had to,” he explained, adjusting the hat on his head. “I couldn't very well tell her what that thing really does.”

 

“What does it do?” Yoruichi asked, reaching toward it with one of her paws.

 

“Don't!” Kisuke ordered, grabbing her furry leg with one hand before she could make contact with the orb. “It only records the reiatsu of the last person who touched it.”

 

“I see,” Yoruichi said thoughtfully. “That's why you didn't take it from her.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

“May I ask what causes it to glow like that? If you ask me, it's eerily similar to the way the hougyoku looked.”

 

“It's just aesthetic,” he explained. “Nothing to be concerned about. I simply had to make sure she'd actually touch it. And who can resist playing with something shiny?”

 

“It's a good thing she's as simple-minded as you,” Yoruichi humorously remarked.

 

“Hey,” Kisuke said, sounding a bit insulted. “Need I remind you that you were about to touch it, as well?”

 

Yoruichi let out a throaty chuckle. “So now what?”

 

“Now I send this to Mayuri and let him analyze it along with that sample you took to him,” he said, grabbing a pair of tongs off the desk and using them to pick up the orb and place it into a small glass container. “Be sure to let him know not to allow anyone to touch it.”

 

“Why do you always insist on sending me with your deliveries to that psycho?” Yoruichi complained. “Why not have Renji do it?”

 

“Because he is far more 'simple-minded' than I am,” he told her, implying that the younger shinigami wouldn't be able to resist fooling with the orb and ruin their specimen.

 

“Very well,” Yoruichi begrudgingly agreed. “It'll be worth the hassle to finally get some answers.”