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Bleach, "Back Against the Wall" (Soifon+Urahara)
Soifon knows that he is hiding things from their captain, and she can't help but feel that it's important. She is determined to find out what -- especially if it's something with the potential to make shake her rival from his lofty position.
Contains implied Urahara/Yoruichi and one-sided Soifon/Yoruichi. Pre-Turn Back the Pendulum time period. Some warnings for GrayHat!Urahara and the Hollowification that KT implied he actually did. Written for a![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fic_promptly challenge week with the prompt, "she hates Urahara for having Yoruichi's favor and fears him because he is capable of anything".
.back against the wall.
The latest reports from the Detention Unit were so promising that Yoruichi-sama praised her third-seat officer publicly, a rare occasion. She was always quick with a dry comment, a tease, or sarcasm, and she didn't hold back cruelty either, but genuine approval and admiration was simply not in her nature -- and in front of the entire division it might as well have been a parade from a more generous captain.
Soifon didn't want a more generous captain and didn't begrudge Yoruichi-sama the aloofness that made her so mysterious and untouchable and regal. It was Urahara Kisuke who bore the brunt of her resentment. Unfortunately, he didn't even seem to notice her glare, smiling with his eyes on Yoruichi-sama as if she were the only person in the room.
It wasn't, really, that Soifon was jealous of him. As long as Yoruichi-sama was happy, she was happy, she told herself.
It was that while Urahara Kisuke was being praised for his impressive results, Soifon had the ugly, growing certainty that his methods crossed the line.
As the rest of the Onmitsukidou began departing, Soifon drew up next to him.
"I know what you've been doing," she told him, low.
Then she had his attention, and she thought that his eyes were sharp even though his smile was politely puzzled. "I'm sorry -- what are you talking about?" he said sheepishly.
"Don't think you're getting away with it is all I'm saying." Soifon met his gaze, steely, before flashstepping away.
She spent that night with her zanpakutou in her hand, back against a wall, senses reaching out to detect any intruders, but the hours passed without incident and he did not come to silence her.
She needed hard evidence if she meant to pursue this instead of making powerless bluffs and hoping he would betray himself. The next day she camped out, cloaking her reiatsu as best as she could, and waited for him to leave the barracks. When he departed, she followed him, silent as any shadow.
Decades of training and centuries of breeding gave her the skill to place her small feet just so, ensuring that no stray leaves or branches betrayed her movements as she flashstepped behind him. As she had expected, he went to the Maggot's Nest, and once he was securely inside she eased the grappling hook off her shoulder. Everyone knew that all forms of spiritual activity were blocked within the Maggot's Nest.
It took the full extent of her abilities to sneak into the fortress unseen, evading detection by guards, inmates, and security measures alike. But she was the shining star of Yoruichi-sama's assassins, and even the Maggot's Nest could not keep her out.
She found Urahara Kisuke alone in what appeared to be a makeshift laboratory in the basement -- she had never heard of a place like that in the Maggot's Nest. Soifon took to the rafters to get a closer look.
He was saying, "It looks like your condition has finally evened out, Sugawara-san! That's excellent news. The other subjects weren't so lucky. So now we know how to stabilize your condition... But how are you feeling?"
Whoever Sugawara was, he was in a heavily-sealed cage, and Soifon could not see him through the ceiling of thick, warded steel. He did not respond verbally to the question, but his answer was clear enough: he lunged for the bars, striking the whole structure so hard that she could see it rock, and he snarled in a wordless, animal sound of rage that chilled Soifon to the bone.
Unfazed, Urahara Kisuke said, "Bad mood, huh? Well, I understand. It's been a difficult transition for you. It's interesting that your cognitive abilities have not returned yet... I thought that would be part of the stabilization process."
He murmured something inaudible to himself as he went to check on a notebook on a nearby desk, ignoring another rattling of the cage. Soifon's mind was racing, her eyes narrowed. What transition? What has he done? She edged to the side, trying to find a better angle so that she could see Sugawara.
"Your physical functions are exceeding the expected parameters, but your mental ones are lagging far behind," Urahara Kisuke said mournfully. "I'll try a few adjustments to see if we can fix that for you."
A guttural growl escaped the cage, and barely audible in the hateful sound were the words, "Kill -- you."
"That is the kind of attitude that got you in this situation in the first place! If you wanted better treatment, maybe you should've thought twice before you and your friends killed Asada-san," Urahara Kisuke chided, his voice gentle in a way that was utterly belied by his words and their situation.
Soifon caught her breath in triumph. I knew it! I knew the reduction in violent outbreaks in the Maggot's Nest was suspicious. He's been doing something to anyone who starts trouble... If she could just be sure that it crossed some sort of boundary, legally or ethically, he'd be sunk.
She finally caught a glimpse of Sugawara. He was a big man, the sort of person who could easily pose a threat to the guards at the Maggot's Nest, since no weapons were permitted inside the walls, even for its overseers, and kidou was impossible. But there was something subtly wrong about his body, as if his muscles were straining to escape the confines of his skin, as if he could barely breathe through the heaviness of his own form weighing him down.
She could only see him from the shoulders down, to her frustration.
Urahara Kisuke approached the cage and obscured her view even further, telling the man, "This will hopefully give you some clarity. After all--" He lifted his head, turning it slightly to the side... in Soifon's direction, although his lazy gaze only fixed on the opposite wall, like a blind man only mostly sure of where the object of his attention was located. "--You are the last test subject, and I would like to find a cure for your condition before I have to shut the books on it."
He had been unmistakably sharing that information with her. Soifon's blood ran cold for a heartbeat.
It was time to go. She waited until he was distracted with adding a concoction to the cage before slipping away, again waiting, waiting for the moment when Urahara Kisuke decided to stop pretending to be a nice guy.
She sat with her back against the wall, zanpakutou in hand, unsleeping as the long hours of the night slipped away.
He had recognized her presence and he had not bothered to act on that knowledge. Instead, he had only told her that whatever he was doing -- whatever he had done -- he was only seeking cures, methods to help. He had simply let her know that it was coming to an end soon.
If he had had dark intentions, why would he have been so lenient with her? He could simply have threatened her to begin with; he could have stopped her the moment he noticed her. She had seen and heard enough to be a danger to him. Yoruichi-sama did not tolerate bickering, but she was reasonable and would listen if Soifon had a real accusation to bring against him, even one as vague as, "He's experimenting on prisoners behind your back, experiments so troubling that he did not even let the guards or his own shinigami assist him."
The most obvious explanation was that he was telling the truth and he wanted her to stand down without creating further conflict.
Could she trust him even that far? She knew that behind those goofy smiles and lidded eyes was an amoral monster who could experiment on a helpless captive as easily as he could (and had) slit an enemy's throat in the dark. All of her cried out against trusting him.
But was that reason? Intuition? They were all of them cold-blooded killers, and she would trust any of their comrades at her back.
Or did she only want an excuse to hate him?
Soifon closed her eyes and it was not visions of Sugawara's unnatural form that danced behind her eyelids, but rather the memory of Yoruichi-sama's admiration of his work and Urahara Kisuke's utter focus on her in return.
And she didn't say anything, and the great success at the Maggot's Nest went unquestioned.
Contains implied Urahara/Yoruichi and one-sided Soifon/Yoruichi. Pre-Turn Back the Pendulum time period. Some warnings for GrayHat!Urahara and the Hollowification that KT implied he actually did. Written for a
fic_promptly challenge week with the prompt, "she hates Urahara for having Yoruichi's favor and fears him because he is capable of anything"..back against the wall.
The latest reports from the Detention Unit were so promising that Yoruichi-sama praised her third-seat officer publicly, a rare occasion. She was always quick with a dry comment, a tease, or sarcasm, and she didn't hold back cruelty either, but genuine approval and admiration was simply not in her nature -- and in front of the entire division it might as well have been a parade from a more generous captain.
Soifon didn't want a more generous captain and didn't begrudge Yoruichi-sama the aloofness that made her so mysterious and untouchable and regal. It was Urahara Kisuke who bore the brunt of her resentment. Unfortunately, he didn't even seem to notice her glare, smiling with his eyes on Yoruichi-sama as if she were the only person in the room.
It wasn't, really, that Soifon was jealous of him. As long as Yoruichi-sama was happy, she was happy, she told herself.
It was that while Urahara Kisuke was being praised for his impressive results, Soifon had the ugly, growing certainty that his methods crossed the line.
As the rest of the Onmitsukidou began departing, Soifon drew up next to him.
"I know what you've been doing," she told him, low.
Then she had his attention, and she thought that his eyes were sharp even though his smile was politely puzzled. "I'm sorry -- what are you talking about?" he said sheepishly.
"Don't think you're getting away with it is all I'm saying." Soifon met his gaze, steely, before flashstepping away.
She spent that night with her zanpakutou in her hand, back against a wall, senses reaching out to detect any intruders, but the hours passed without incident and he did not come to silence her.
She needed hard evidence if she meant to pursue this instead of making powerless bluffs and hoping he would betray himself. The next day she camped out, cloaking her reiatsu as best as she could, and waited for him to leave the barracks. When he departed, she followed him, silent as any shadow.
Decades of training and centuries of breeding gave her the skill to place her small feet just so, ensuring that no stray leaves or branches betrayed her movements as she flashstepped behind him. As she had expected, he went to the Maggot's Nest, and once he was securely inside she eased the grappling hook off her shoulder. Everyone knew that all forms of spiritual activity were blocked within the Maggot's Nest.
It took the full extent of her abilities to sneak into the fortress unseen, evading detection by guards, inmates, and security measures alike. But she was the shining star of Yoruichi-sama's assassins, and even the Maggot's Nest could not keep her out.
She found Urahara Kisuke alone in what appeared to be a makeshift laboratory in the basement -- she had never heard of a place like that in the Maggot's Nest. Soifon took to the rafters to get a closer look.
He was saying, "It looks like your condition has finally evened out, Sugawara-san! That's excellent news. The other subjects weren't so lucky. So now we know how to stabilize your condition... But how are you feeling?"
Whoever Sugawara was, he was in a heavily-sealed cage, and Soifon could not see him through the ceiling of thick, warded steel. He did not respond verbally to the question, but his answer was clear enough: he lunged for the bars, striking the whole structure so hard that she could see it rock, and he snarled in a wordless, animal sound of rage that chilled Soifon to the bone.
Unfazed, Urahara Kisuke said, "Bad mood, huh? Well, I understand. It's been a difficult transition for you. It's interesting that your cognitive abilities have not returned yet... I thought that would be part of the stabilization process."
He murmured something inaudible to himself as he went to check on a notebook on a nearby desk, ignoring another rattling of the cage. Soifon's mind was racing, her eyes narrowed. What transition? What has he done? She edged to the side, trying to find a better angle so that she could see Sugawara.
"Your physical functions are exceeding the expected parameters, but your mental ones are lagging far behind," Urahara Kisuke said mournfully. "I'll try a few adjustments to see if we can fix that for you."
A guttural growl escaped the cage, and barely audible in the hateful sound were the words, "Kill -- you."
"That is the kind of attitude that got you in this situation in the first place! If you wanted better treatment, maybe you should've thought twice before you and your friends killed Asada-san," Urahara Kisuke chided, his voice gentle in a way that was utterly belied by his words and their situation.
Soifon caught her breath in triumph. I knew it! I knew the reduction in violent outbreaks in the Maggot's Nest was suspicious. He's been doing something to anyone who starts trouble... If she could just be sure that it crossed some sort of boundary, legally or ethically, he'd be sunk.
She finally caught a glimpse of Sugawara. He was a big man, the sort of person who could easily pose a threat to the guards at the Maggot's Nest, since no weapons were permitted inside the walls, even for its overseers, and kidou was impossible. But there was something subtly wrong about his body, as if his muscles were straining to escape the confines of his skin, as if he could barely breathe through the heaviness of his own form weighing him down.
She could only see him from the shoulders down, to her frustration.
Urahara Kisuke approached the cage and obscured her view even further, telling the man, "This will hopefully give you some clarity. After all--" He lifted his head, turning it slightly to the side... in Soifon's direction, although his lazy gaze only fixed on the opposite wall, like a blind man only mostly sure of where the object of his attention was located. "--You are the last test subject, and I would like to find a cure for your condition before I have to shut the books on it."
He had been unmistakably sharing that information with her. Soifon's blood ran cold for a heartbeat.
It was time to go. She waited until he was distracted with adding a concoction to the cage before slipping away, again waiting, waiting for the moment when Urahara Kisuke decided to stop pretending to be a nice guy.
She sat with her back against the wall, zanpakutou in hand, unsleeping as the long hours of the night slipped away.
He had recognized her presence and he had not bothered to act on that knowledge. Instead, he had only told her that whatever he was doing -- whatever he had done -- he was only seeking cures, methods to help. He had simply let her know that it was coming to an end soon.
If he had had dark intentions, why would he have been so lenient with her? He could simply have threatened her to begin with; he could have stopped her the moment he noticed her. She had seen and heard enough to be a danger to him. Yoruichi-sama did not tolerate bickering, but she was reasonable and would listen if Soifon had a real accusation to bring against him, even one as vague as, "He's experimenting on prisoners behind your back, experiments so troubling that he did not even let the guards or his own shinigami assist him."
The most obvious explanation was that he was telling the truth and he wanted her to stand down without creating further conflict.
Could she trust him even that far? She knew that behind those goofy smiles and lidded eyes was an amoral monster who could experiment on a helpless captive as easily as he could (and had) slit an enemy's throat in the dark. All of her cried out against trusting him.
But was that reason? Intuition? They were all of them cold-blooded killers, and she would trust any of their comrades at her back.
Or did she only want an excuse to hate him?
Soifon closed her eyes and it was not visions of Sugawara's unnatural form that danced behind her eyelids, but rather the memory of Yoruichi-sama's admiration of his work and Urahara Kisuke's utter focus on her in return.
And she didn't say anything, and the great success at the Maggot's Nest went unquestioned.