Patroling [Open]

Of all days to be on patrol, this had to be the worst. It had started raining late last night, and hadn't stopped since. The dirt had turned to mud, and the streets were covered with broken tree branches, sticks, and all kinds of muck from the storm. To make madders even worse, the wind was blowing pretty hard, so debris was flying all over, and it was pretty hard to see where you were going. The temperature had dropped a considerable amount; it was now cold enough to see your breath. Most Rukongai residents were in their homes, warm and dry. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Soifon, 2nd division captain.

Soifon had gotten word early this morning that it was her turn to patrol Rukongai, making sure everything was okay during the storm, and keeping the peace. Of course she hadn't complained. She had said "of course" and went to Rukongai as quickly as possible to start her job. That was just Soifon's way. No matter how much she didn't want to do this (and she really didn't want to do it), she wouldn't complain. After all, for the Soul Society to function well, everyone must do their part. And as a captain she had more reposnsibility than most, and had to remember her duty. The captains set an example for the rest of the Soul Society. If the captains complained and ignored their duties, not only would the Soul Society be a mess, the other lower ranked shinigami would think it was all right to ignore their duties as well, and what where would that leave the Soul Society?! No, Soifon was a good captain, and therefore she was out in the rain and wind, getting mud all over her clothes, and patrolling Rukongai. No, she wasn't complaining. At least not out loud.

Slowly, the petite captain walked down the streets, glancing about her and squinting, trying to see through the dirt and debris flying all around. The storm had really messed Rukongai up, she noted, frowning at a large piece of wood that had somehow gotten stuck in a tree. Luckily, it wasn't up to her to clean everything up, just to report back to the head captain what she's found. A team of cleaners would be sent over later to clean and repair everything. Why they needed to, she didn't know. Why couldn't the Rukongai residents do it? Because they're selfish, rotten, vile creatures, she told herself, shaking her head. Soifon hated the people of Rukongai. In her opinion, such people were a disgrace to the Soul Society. They shouldn't be let in! They should just be reborn as humans. Let the human world deal with them!

Soifon sighed, and kicked what looked to be part of a door out of her way as she turned a corner. Her hands, which felt like ice, were clenched in tight fists in an attempt to keep them warm. Her short hair was ruffled even more than usual, and there was a streak of mud on her face. She could only imagine what she must look like. What if Yoruichi saw her like this?! What would she think? She'd probably laugh, Soifon thought bitterly, glaring into the wind. Soifon had forgiven Yoruichi for leaving the Soul Society, and tried to spend as much time with her as possible. It was so good to have her around again, but she constantly was worrying about what her mentor would think. It wasn't good to be so obsessed with someone, but Soifon found it impossible to forget her, and always tried her best to make Yoruichi proud.

The night before today, the Rukongai District was unfortunately hit by a rather destructive storm. The rains coupled together with powerful winds had made an utter mess of the area. There was mud and debris scattered all over the place, some homes have even been destroyed as a result of the storm. The news of this tragedy had been spread throughout all the squad barracks in the Seireitei. Kyo was hoping that Squad 8 might have been given the job to seek out and assist any that were injured, but unfortunately they did not receive such an order.

And as his Captain didn't give Kyo orders to do anything he figured he'd use the free time to go and observe nature like he usually does. He grabbed a few things to take with him, such as a sake cup set and a light blue haori that he often liked to wear. Carrying the jug of sake over his shoulder, Kyo took a stroll through the Rukongai district. He'd figure that on his way to his usual spot that he would also check out the damages caused by last night’s storm. While on his stroll he felt a reitsu that was quite familiar to him.

If he was correct than that spiritual pressure belong to Soi Fon, Captain of the 2nd squad, and also his former captain from when he was in the 2nd squad as their third seat. Kyo figured he would go and pay his former Captain a visit; after all it's been a while since he had last spoken to her. With a loud swifting sound Kyo had vanished and appeared a few feet ahead. He figured he might as well also practice his Shunpo skills while he was at it. So in a few short minutes, Soi Fon was now in his sight. He had appeared in time to see her kick some of the debris that was in front of her and get mud splattered all over her face. Kyo couldn't help but chuckle at that, "Hello Soi Fon-Taicho. It's been a while hasn't it?"

Soifon let out a sigh as the wind began to blow harder. As the captain turned a corner, something she couldn’t quite place flew by and hit her on the face. Soifon cringed as she felt a stinging pain, and put her hand to her cheek, which now had a thin trail of blood running down it. Yes, this was not a good day. Not at all.

Sudenly Soifon heard a yell, followed by a bunch of words she would rather not repeat. She closed her eyes for a moment, wondering if she really wanted to see what or who was causing the racket, and finally turned. Two Rukongai men were yelling at each other at the top of their lungs, and pushing and shoving. Soifon rolled her eyes and was ready to walk away, when one man spotted her. He stopped swearing, and grabbed the other man by the shoulder, pointing at Soifon rather rudely. Then, with a big smirk on his face, the kind that says "you better get out of here unless you want trouble," the man walked toward her quickly. Soifon stood her ground, her face stern, looking him the eye. "Hey baby," the man growled, the smirk never leaving his lips. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing out in all this? You might get hurt." The other man started laughing, if you could call it a laugh. It was really more of a snorting.

"I suggest you step away from me," Soifon muttered, her voice icy. The first man chuckled. "Now why would I want to do that?" He reached out and grabbed her arm, clutching it hard. To his surprise, Soifon didn't scream or start to cry. Before he knew it, she had kicked him so hard he went flying backwards into a puddle. Soifon's eyes met his, and she allowed herself a small smirk before turning and walking away.

Turning another corner, she stood for a minute and looked up at the sky, which seemed to be getting darker with every minute. Her arm throbbed where the man had grabbed her, and there was dried blood on her face where she had been hit. She wondered how much longer her patrol would last. Actually, she had been wondering that the whole time she was here. It couldn't end sooner.

Soifon frowned when she heard a chuckle not far from her. She hadn't even felt any other spiritual energy.

"Hello Soi Fon-Taicho. It's been a while hasn't it?"

"I suppose so," Soifon retorted, not looking exactly pleased to see the lieutenant. Last thing she wanted was anyone, especially someone of high rank, see her making a fool out of herself.

"I am guessing you had orders to come here as well?"

Kyo's was a bit disheartened by the cold way that Soi Fon responded to his hello. "Jeez she hasn't changed one bit since I left the squad. She’s still as cold and unaffectionate as always. I must say I'm jealous of Yoruichi-Sama who always had Soi Fon's affection." After studying Soi Fon's appearance a bit he noticed some dried blood on her face, did he get into a fight or something? Well if she did then the other person was probably dead for injuring her.

Kyo then heard her question if he had also been ordered to investigate the area. To be honest Kyo didn't want to tell her that he was just passing through and was going somewhere to drink and watch nature. She would most likely scold him for that, which wouldn't have been a very fun thing to endure. So he figured he'd somewhat lie. "Well actually no I didn't receive any orders to do anything in the area unfortunately. But I decided that since I didn't have anything else to do currently that I would just come here anyway and offer any assistance I could."

Kyo walked up a bit closer to Soi Fon; he figured that by what she said that Soi Fon must have been ordered by the Captain Commander to investigate the area. "To be honest Captain Soi Fon I wasn't expecting to see you here. I would figure that the 2nd Squad wouldn't have been used for this since their mainly used for assassination not clean up or anything." Kyo made sure that he didn't get too close to Soi Fon because he knew that she probably wasn't happy about being given this assignment herself and that his words would just further anger her.

Soifon was, of course, not happy about this assignment. She wished the second division didn't have to take part in this, but it seemed all the other divisions were busy doing something else. It was very rare for a captain to be asked to go to Rukongai and clean up like this, but it seemed the captain commander wanted someone there to keep an eye on things.

"Well they have been used for this," Soifon replied coldly, her eyes darkening a bit. "Though if I had my way that damn captain commander would be doing this herself...."

Shit. Soifon clapped her mouth shut quickly, not believing her words. Had she really said that? It was true she didn't like the captain commander much, but it was never like her to go against someone.

"Do not repeat that," Soifon said icily, her eyes boring into his.

Kyo wasn't really affected by Soi Fon's cold tone when she responded to Kyo's words. He had grown rather accustomed to her cold demanding voice. When he served under her as a member of the second squad she often spoke to him in this tone, well she actually spoke to everyone like that. The only two people she really didn't talk to like that were Yoruichi-sama and the late Captain Commander Yamamoto. However, what did shock Kyo was what had come out of Soi Fon's mouth shortly after her cold statement.

Kyo never expected her to speak that way of her superior, but the nagain Kyo didn't really blame her. He somewhat felt the same way but he would never actually say disrespectful things about the new captain commander out loud. But Kyo knew that many people felt that way about the Captain Commander, after all half of us never knew of the girl's existance and for her to come out of no where and replace Yamamoto was a big thing to take in. If anyone were to have replaced the old man Kyo figured it to be either Captain Byakuya, Captain Zaraki or Captain Kyoraku as they seemed to be the strongest captains. Captain Ukitake would have also been a good match, but with his health issue's it wouldn't be good, and Captain Hitsugaya was still rather young so many wouldn't really see him fit.

Soi Fon then told Kyo not to repeat any of what he heard her say and stared into his eyes with her cold gaze. Kyo's face seemed emotionless as he spoke, "Do not worry Captain Soi Fon. It's understandable what you said and my respect for you will keep this conversation strictly between the two of us."

There was a moment of silence as Soifon continued to stare at him, expression not changing. Many would have flinched unto this demanding gaze. "See that it does," she finally replied, turning away.

She would never admit it, but she was relieved that he agreed not to tell. She really didn't want to get on the Captain Commander's bad side, no matter what her personal feelings were. Personal feelings were not to get in the way of anything else, was Soifon's opinion. They were the least important things as a member of the Thirteen Gotei, and if you put them ahead of everything else, something bad was sure to happen. Also, Soifon was never one to disobey her superiors; something she had learned from Yoruichi.

"There is more work to be done here," she told Kyo, glancing down the littered street. "This place must be clean by nightfall."

Kyo nodded his head as Soi Fon told him to make sure that the swords she spoke here stay between the two of them. His respect and fondness of Soi Fon would be the primary cause of him doing that. He watched as she turned away from him. Kyo, since the day he had been a part of the 2nd division he had acquired a sort of fondness for Soi Fon. He liked how strong she was and the fact that she never allowed anything or anyone to hinder her judgment or stand in her way of achieving her goal.

In Kyo's eye's she was the very definition of a warrior and he deeply respected that. He snapped out of his day dreaming state when Soi Fon spoke saying that there is much work to be done and that the place will be cleaned by nightfall. Kyo figured that since he was off for the day that he might as well assist the 2nd squad in cleaning up. Kyo smiled and spoke, "So Captain Soi Fon would you like some assistance in cleaning this place up?" Kyo then walked up next to Soi Fon awaiting her decision on his offer.

Soifon was a bit startled when Kyo offered his assistance. She wasn't used to getting offers like that from her squad members. Most would be afraid to be with her for long, and even if they weren't, most wouldn't want to spend a day with their strict captain. She softened ever so slightly to Kyo's offer, though she tried not to show it. If she did, he might think he would be able to get away with things, and that was certainly out of the question!

"Very well," she replied with a curt nod, only looking at him for a minute before she turned away. "Why don't you clear up some things over there?" She pointed to a spot halfway down the road that was nearly covered in debris.

Kyo noticed that Soi Fon's composure seemed to drop a bit after he had asked if he could assist her. He knew his offer was rather unusual for Soi Fon, but he didn't think it would have affected her that much. To be honest it was kind of cute to see her like this. Kyo smiled as Soi Fon accepted his offer and then turned to him and told him to clean up an area that was quite a distance from her. why was she making him go all the way over there?

Was she trying to get rid of Kyo or distance herself from him? He nodded her head saying he accepted her command and then flash stepped to the area where he was assigned. When he got there he sighed at the amount of debris and crap that was all over the place. "Aw man what did I get myself into?" Kyo sighed and immediatly began to lift up debris that were located in the middle of the road.

He figured he'd start off by just clearing the road so people could use it once more. Then he would take the debris somewhere to dispose of it. Kyo would lift the debris and put them into piles on the side of the road. Kyo took a quick glance to see how Soi Fon was doing, then he would get back to work.

As the eighth division lieutenant began to clean, which looked to be a very large amount of debris off the street, Soifon found herself watching him. He did it quickly and without complaint, and she found herself wishing some of her division members would work like that instead of being lazy oafs.

Even though I'm a captain, it would probably look bad if I stand here doing nothing, Soifon thought, still watching Kyo. What if my division members see this? Then they might start to think they don't have to do any work either! It would set a horrible example.

It was like her legs moved on their own and suddenly she found herself beside Kyo, helping him. Lifting a beam that was far bigger than her small frame, she carefully set it to the side. Her hands would probably be bloodied and blistered by the end of the day, but she didn't really care.

When Kyo had looked back at Soi Fon he saw she was just standing there watching him. The question was why? Why was Soi Fon watching Kyo as he cleaned up the debris? Kyo figured he'd just ignore it and continue working. It wasn't too long until he noticed someone walking up next to him. When he looked it was Soi Fon, was she helping Kyo? That was a bit unusual for Soi Fon to do, she usually didn't assist others unless it was her orders.

Kyo thought it best not to say anything to provoke her wrath, that's something no man would dare do, not even Zaraki. Kyo knew that with only the two of them that it would take all day for them to clear away all of the debris, but it didn't matter the two of them would get it done no matter what. Man what a nice way for Kyo to spend his day off huh? "So Captain Soi Fon was it just you who was cleaning up around here? Isn't the rest of squad 2 assisting you?"

Soifon glanced over at Kyo when he spoke and shook her head shortly. "It seems I couldn't find anyone," she said dryly. "Perhaps they've all gone into hiding." This was Soifon's idea of a joke, though it seemed it was also rather serious. The members of her division had hid from her before on a few occasions, mostly when she had worked them half to death late into the night and they had to get up for another early morning training session. Maybe today they somehow knew they would have to clean up Rukongai. There were, however, other members of the Rukon district here.

"You!" She ordered, and the man that she'd been talking to flinched and turned. There was obvious fear in his eyes as she spoke to him. "Get over here and help clean this!" Immediately the man followed her instructions, and soon the petite captain had gotten a number of Rukongai residents to help out, mostly due to fear she supposed.

Kyo had to force himself to keep in his want to chuckle. To think that a squad's member's would actually hide from their captain was a hilarious idea. But the fact that the captain was Soi Fon it wasn't too surprising to be honest. Maybe someday she would learn to show her squad a bit more compassion so that they'd like her more than fear her. After all it's better to be loved that feared. But man it would be real useful for the second squad members to be here and give assistance. But before Kyo knew it Soi Fon was ordering someone to assist them, thinking it was someone of the second squad Kyo looked at them with a smile. But unfortunately his smile vanished quite quickly once he realized it was just a civilian. Then even more civilians joined in to assist the woman out of fear. Just wonderful now she'd scared the Rukongai district civilians into helping them. but at least now they had more help and things would get cleared up much sooner.

With all the help it didn't take long until most of the debris was cleared away. Soifon picked up what looked to be a piece of roof and felt a sharp sting on her right hand. Moving it away, she looked down and saw a jagged gash with blood seeping out. Must of snagged it on something, she thought, quickly attempting to wipe it on her uniform, then hid it from view. Best not to let it known that a captain was injured. It would make her look bad.

"It seems everything is done here," she observed, looking around. The residents she had told to help were all cowering in front of her. "You may go," she told them, and they were gone before she could blink.

As Kyo suspected it didn't take them very long to clear away all the debris. Kyo could smell the feint scent of blood and looked at Soi Fon to see a cut on her hand. She must have gotten it from picking up one of debris pieces lying around. Kyo watched as she acted as in nothing had happened, mostly to keep up her image and reputation. He waited until all of the residents had left before taking out a small piece of cloth. He held it out to Soi Fon for her to put around her hand to cover her wound. "Here use this to cover up your cut."

Soifon blinked up at Kyo for a minute, then looked at the cloth. After a few seconds she took it and wrapped it around her hand. "Thank you," she said quietly, not quite meeting the other eyes. She wasn't used to saying that, and she certainly wasn't used to accepting favors from anyone. It touched her, and reminded her a bit of when Yoruichi was here. Yoruichi who always treated her with kindness. God, she missed Yoruichi! Even though the older woman had just left without telling her, never gave her a warning, and broke her heart, Soifon still missed her more than anything in the world.

Kyo smiled at Soi Fon as she thanked him, "It was nothing, after all I can't just let you bleed now can I?" Kyo then looked around and found his stuff that he had with him before he started helping out Soi Fon. He grabbed it and brought up the sake bottle, "Well Captain Soi Fon, since we've finished would you like to go out for a drink?" Kyo didn't think that Soi fon would agree, but it wouldn't hurt him to offer her. He was still somewhat surprised by her thank you earlier. She was never really known to thank anyone for their assistance, usually she'd brush it off and say that she didn't need it. The only person she was ever known to thank was Yoruichi-Sama.

"Well Captain Soi Fon, since we've finished would you like to go out for a drink?"

If Soifon had been startled by his help she was even more startled by this. When was the last time someone had offered to be with her? When was the last time someone hadn't left as soon as they were done doing whatever they were doing? It had been so long since she'd been with someone, done something with someone, that she wasn't really sure what to say. She hadn't been invited out since Yoruichi was still here. Of course it was probably her fault since she wasn't exactly friendly to people....

"All right," she found herself saying, then blinked in surprise. Had she really agreed to do something with this man? Well, she wasn't going to take it back now lest she seem afraid. "I suppose I could spare an hour or so...."

Kyo had to admit he was rather shocked by Soi Fon agreeing to go drinking with him. He figured she would reject him and give a rather rude remark. But she had actually said yes to it. Kyo gave her a smile and jumped onto the roof of one of the buildings. "Come follow me Captain Soi Fon, I know a spot that's perfect for drinking sake." With that aid Kyo shunpo'd away hoping that Soi Fon would be right behind him following. Kyo would soon arrive at his usual spot and sat under a large tree. It was surrounded by nature's beauty, the perfect place to drink sake and enjoy nature.

"Come follow me Captain Soi Fon, I know a spot that's perfect for drinking sake."

Be for she knew it, the lieutenant was gone. She just stood there for a moment, staring at the place where he was standing just seconds ago. Once more she found herself wondering why in the world she agreed to this. Oh well, there wasn't really anything she could do about it now except follow him.

With that, Soifon shunpo'd after him, catching up rather quickly due to her extensive training in this area.