Milk and Honey
Soi Fon stepped out of Soul Society and into the world of the living. The sky was bathed in darkness, save for the less-than full moon in the sky. Soi took a deep breath, then another, then once more. By her seventh inhale she had realized what she was doing and felt entirely foolish.
'Now, where could she be?' Soi thought as she started to walk down the sidewalk of a small road. 'Wait, should I just go to her now… what would I say? 'Hi, I've given up everything to see if… you know...'' Soi Fon felt a pit in her stomach but never stopped walking, or scanning for her spiritual signature. 'What if I find her and she says no, I'll look like a fool if I return within the same hour.' Still walking, 'But I can't just stay here and do nothing, I either go to her, or I leave.' She scanned a wider range and felt a familiar twang in the air. Immediately she pulled back from it, 'Its… no, I'll wait. I can't see her now, and I know I can't wait forever, but I'm not ready, and I want to do this right. If there is no middle ground I'll make one now. I'll-' A thought hit her like a ton of bricks, 'Urahara!' She happily thought. 'Urahara…' She thought bitterly.
With a sigh she scanned again, looking for her former college's spiritual signature. 'If I can find him I'm sure I can find her, but at least I won't have to deal with seeing her right away. Plus, I'm sure he will be able to help…' She sighed audibly, him helping her just didn't feel right to Soi Fon, 'he will be able to help me adapt to this world.' With that final thought Soi Fon was finally able to latch onto his signature. It wasn't with her either, leading Soi Fon to wonder where in fact Urahara was, if not with her. 'I'll find out soon enough.'
Soi Fon had spent a great deal of her life resenting, and hating Urahara. When she was younger it was due to his closeness to her "goddess" but her worries were put to rest some time ago, at least, worries concerning her "goddess". Her question had opened Soi Fon up to a new set of worries.
Her mind flashed to a distant memory, "Urahara, can I ask you a question?" A young Soi Fon asked the lean, young man in front of her.
The blond turned around and looked at the uncomfortable girl. "Uh, yes Soi Fon. You can ask me whatever you want, you're the Lieutenant. I'm a third seat."
Soi Fon nodded, "Yes, I know. I was just wondering…" Her face flushed red, "Are you, umm," Her mind raced, thinking of a way to hide the true intensions of her query, "Are you single?"
Urahara stood still for a moment, his face turning about as red as Soi Fon's, "I, um…" His face seemed to calm, and he softened up, "I am Soi Fon, but I don't think that you and I would work out well together. That isn't to say that you are not a very beautiful and-"
Soi Fon was ecstatic for about two seconds before she heard him continue, "Wait, no, you misunderstand, I wasn't asking you, I mean, I was, but it wasn't for!"
Soi Fon sighed as she made her way over to where she felt Urahara. 'How stupid of me.' She thought shaking her head. It was that debacle that led to years of constant insinuation from "her" that Soi Fon and Urahara shared feelings for one another. Everyone realized that she didn't, but it didn't stop the jokes from being any less insulting.
Still, even that she could have forgiven the man for. What made Soi Fon despise the man was the fact that it was his fault she left. When Soi Fon was unable to blame "her", she blamed him. It was only a few years ago that she realized the real reason that Urahara and her left. The Vizards, and Aizen's first betrayal. Soi Fon sighed, it was only recently she was able to let go of the hate she had for him. It was hard to hate someone so damn noble in cause, even if he was the reason for so much of her pain.
"Well, here I am." Soi Fon said aloud, looking at a small shop. "I never pictured him as a shopkeeper." Soi Fon said, glancing up towards the large sign that bore his name.
"Is that so?" A smooth voice asked.
Soi Fon calmly brought her attention from the sign to the man leaning against a door frame wearing an ugly hat and a pair of clogs. "Yes it is, I never thought of you having enough business sense to run a company." Soi stated, taking a few steps towards the man.
"Soi Fon, if you're here to finally drive a blade through my heart I've got to say, you're getting sloppy with what you do." He opened a fan and brought it to his face, "I mean, front door, talking loud, no focus." He shut the fan once again and pointed it at Soi Fon, "I'll give you credit for coming at night, and for masking your spirit pressure so well, which I assume has something to do with that Captain's Seal."
Soi Fon felt herself scowl without even forcing herself to. "Kisuke, if I wanted to kill you the only thing you would've seen would have been the smile on my face right as drove my blade into your chest for my second sting, and only because I allowed you to."
Urahara seemed to beam with joy, "Why Soi Fon, I feel so honored. When you used to make that threat it was with a kunai, or at best a sealed Zanpakuto! Now it seems you feel I deserve to die by your Shikai!"
Soi Fon shook her head, "Are we done with pleasantries? I don't enjoy wasting time."
"Is that what you would call it?" Urahara asked with a smile.
"My hand isn't on the hilt of my Zanpakuto. I figure I'm being very pleasant at the moment." Soi Fon retorted.
"Fair enough." Kisuke said as he pushed himself off the door frame. "So, my little friend," A deep scowl told him he was being a bit liberal with the word, or maybe it was "little" that set her off. Either way he continued, "to what do I owe this most 'pleasant' of visits?"
Soi Fon tensed, she was so distracted that she never stopped to think of a good lie to tell him. "I…" She let out a long sigh, lying was out of the question, Kisuke would just catch her anyway, he had a knack for it. Soi looked at the blond in front of her and told the truth, "I won't lie to you. There was a time when I hated you." The statement caught Urahara off guard. "But I'm doing my best to move past that, for everyone's sake."
Urahara regained his composure and smiled, "So, does this mean that all those years of teasing were actually true?"
Soi Fon felt her fist ball up, "I'm trying to be serious…" Soi gritted out through clenched teeth. After a deep breath she continued, "I need your help, at least for right now."
Urahara shrugged, "I guess I could help out an old friend, what do you need exactly?"
Soi Fon walked closer to the man, no longer feeling like calling out from across the courtyard. "I will be staying in the world of the living for an indeterminate amount of time, and since you live here now, I figured you would be a good person to ask for advice. It is not helpful to be a wandering spirit, scaring dogs and… other animals."
Urahara waved Soi Fon inside. The two of them walked through the dark until they came to a kitchen. Urahara pulled out a seat for Soi Fon, and took one for himself. "Sure, I could help you. What exactly do you need, a living body? Clothes?"
Soi Fon took a seat, and nodded as Urahara talked, "And a place to stay, if that is okay with you."
"I would be willing to give you a gigai and an extra room, if you were willing to work for it that is." He said with a devilish smile on his face.
Soi Fon stared at him blankly, "I can't stay here, not with… her able to come in and out, as I'm sure she does. Do you have another place?"
Urahara was once again taken aback. "What do you mean 'her'? Yoru-"
"I mean her!" Soi Fon seemingly growled through clenched teeth. Soi took a second to catch her breath, then looked down. She was standing up, her seat thrown back from the force she used to stand. "I'm sorry…" She said softly, "I didn't mean to do that." She said picking up her chair and sitting back down, her face tinged pink with embarrassment.
Urahara's face was serious at that point. "Soi Fon, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for destroying what you had. I'm sorry for taking her… I'm sorry for not even saying goodbye."
Soi Fon felt a frog in her throat. She wanted to scream at him, 'That was supposed to be her line, you prick, you took her line! She was supposed to tell me that!' her mind roared. "Its… I forgive you, I already forgave you. I wouldn't be here otherwise." Soi said, each word feeling like a weight lifted off of her chest.
"You may have forgiven me, but I never said I was sorry." Urahara replied.
Soi Fon could feel herself losing a fight against a sob stuck in her throat. "Its," She let out a cough to disguise the lump in her throat and quickly changed the subject, "Its fine, now what exactly is a Gigai?"
Urahara picked up on her hint and followed along with the change in subject. "A gigai is a synthetic body. It will allow you to, for the most part, be human."
"Will it look like me?" She asked.
"Yup, so long as you take one that has never been used it will reshape itself to your soul." Urahara said. He stood up and began walking towards the back of his shop, motioning for Soi Fon to follow. "I can give you one now, then I'll show you an apartment that I own, you can stay there for as long as you want."
Soi Fon followed close behind, and listened to the man. "Thank you Kisuke."
About half an hour later Soi Fon and Kisuke found themselves underneath street lights, walking down a city street. "This damn thing is uncomfortable, are you sure this one isn't, I don't know, broken or something?" Soi Fon said, cracking a few joints in her neck in an attempt to stretch out her new "body". Soi Fon walked with a steady pace, her small strides never causing her fall behind. "And did you have nothing else to give me but baggy shirts and green pants?"
Kisuke nodded, "It is totally natural to feel like that. Don't think of a gigai like a shoe." Soi Fon looked confused by the statement so Kisuke explained. "If your foot is exactly 7 inches you will get a shoe that is 7 and a half inches long so you can have room. A gigai however is an exact replica of you, it doesn't give you any wiggle room, effectively constraining you inside of yourself, and you're not the biggest package to be wrapped up in." He then gave her a sideways glance, "As for the clothes, well, it was either my clothes, Tessai's, Jinta's or Ururu's. You would never fit into Tessai's clothes, I would feel bad if I made you look even more boyish by putting you in Jinta's, and I would feel even worse if I gave you one of Ururu's school girl outfits. That left only my clothes, besides, just imagine all the jokes I have in store for you. I mean, after years of teasing you're finally in my pants, I guess you get the last laugh." Urahara couldn't help himself and let out a long chuckle.
Soi Fon deepened her frown at the last part, "Har har Kisuke. And I'm not sure of the last time you've seen me, but all my shoes fit tight on me." She said, making a weak point just so he could be wrong. 'Speaking of size, I thought the world of the living would be free of all the giant structures of the Soul Society, but these buildings are just as large! And these are full of people living in them.' The thought wracked her brain; so many people packed so tight, 'A hollow would have a field day if it got into one of those halls, that can't be safe. Speaking of which…' Soi spoke up, "Hey, Urahara, why haven't I seen any hollows, is this town's defender just that good?"
Kisuke chuckled, "Well, I don't want to bore you with details, but there was a time when this place was the center for the spiritually aware, an Ouken hot spot." Soi nodded, remembering that fact. "This made the spot the number one target for hollows. After Aizen's defeat however, the spot moved, and so did the hollows. Not only that but this area didn't just drop from first place on the most wanted list to second. Nope, it went straight to zero, the only hollow you'll find here is probably lost."
"Hmm, makes sense I guess, with no other hollows to interfere the guardians need only worry about giving the recently dead a soul burial, which should be no trouble at all." Soi said, now understanding the situation. 'Guess I can't just say I was here to ward off some hollows if I see her before I'm ready.'
Urahara stopped, "Well, here we are." He handed her a key. "It is apartment 2B, only the second floor so if you set fire to something you can just jump out a window and not hurt yourself. To that point everything should have a manual, if you don't understand how something works, or operates you can read up on it. It usually comes in many languages so it's your pick between Japanese, and Chinese, or even English or Spanish."
Soi Fon grabbed the key and once again deepened her frown, "Har har Urahara…" She said again, this time a bit more harsh.
"Well, I guess, I'll see you later?" Urahara said turning away.
"Yes, I expect that you will. Also, Kisuke, don't tell her I'm here. This weird seal seems to keep my spiritual pressure under lock and key better than I expected, and I would like to take advantage of that." Soi Fon called out to him.
Urahara stopped, "You should go see her, whenever you feel up to it. I don't claim to know how you two felt about each other, but I do know that she cared for you. She treated you like a little sister, I'm sure she would love to see you."
Soi Fon felt like she was punched in the gut, the words 'like a little sister' playing in her head over and over, mocking her. "Yea, I will…" She cleared her mind as best she could and continued, "Thanks for everything Kisuke. You didn't have to help me, but you did, even after all the mean things I've said. You're a better man than I gave you credit for." Soi Fon said as she slowly turned to enter the apartment building.
"And you're kinder than I gave you credit for. I don't know if you were always hiding it behind that cold front you're so good at giving, but it is nice to see you acting warmer around someone other than her." Kisuke replied, "I hope you find what you're looking for here. Please, let me know if there is anything I can do to help."
With that the two parted ways, Soi Fon ducking into the lobby of the apartment building, and Urahara heading back to his shop in the dead of night.