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“Wow, that was a bit unexpected. I made that armor specifically to deal with Aizen’s hierro, and it seems to have broken so easily.”
Kisuke didn’t even have to be looking at Yoruichi to see her head whip in his direction. He could feel it. She hissed at him, “Are you trying to say this is my fault?”
Oh great, Kisuke thought. I’m in big trouble now. “What? No, no, of course not.”
By this point Yoruichi was nearly breathing fire. “Yes you are. You’re implying that I wasn’t being careful enough!”
At this point, it was almost all Kisuke could do not to laugh. In all the times he had pictured fighting Aizen in his head, this had never happened. Yoruichi never failed to surprise him, that was for sure.
Yoruichi’s face was pinched in a way that told Kisuke he was in particular trouble. “You are the one who who did a poor job making the armor in the first place!”
The best Kisuke could hope for now was damage control. “I…I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to imply anything.”
She wasn’t done though. “YOU GOT DISTRACTED WHILE MAKING IT!”
“Yes, yes, of course you are correct.” Which, strictly speaking, was true. Kisuke had been very distracted, but he seemed to remember Yoruichi being a large part of that distraction…
Day 1
5 days. That’s what Kisuke figured they had before they’d need to seriously take on Aizen. 5 days to come up with a winning strategy. 5 days to adjust a century of planning.
He had decided to start with some armor. They could use any advantage they could get, and extra armor could help protect people like Yoruichi who liked to fight up close.
As if summoned by his thoughts, he heard a familiar voice calling his name at the lab door.
“Kiiiiiiisssuuukkkkkeeeeee!”
He turned around to see Yoruichi making her way into the room. “What are you up to this morning?” she asked.
“Armor.”
Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. “Armor? What for?”
“I thought that we could use an edge against Aizen. It’s just an idea I’m trying out. I was studying the fighting patterns and reitsu of not only Aizen, but all the Espadas as well, and I think I…I think I figured out…” Kisuke trailed off as Yoruichi smirked at him. “What?”
“You’re so adorable when you start getting all technical,” Yoruichi purred.
Kisuke cleared his throat. “Yes, well, as I said, I’m just trying to give us an edge,” he said as he turned around to look at his data again.
She leaned to peer over his shoulder. “Oh well. Carry on then.”
Trying to concentrate, Kisuke focused on the information in front of him. Concentrating was proving to be a difficult task with Yoruichi this close to him though. He could feel her chest pressing into him, rising and falling with each breath. That was enough to give any person pause, but the way her face was pushed into the side of his just so told his well-trained Yoruichi senses that she was up to something. He felt the puff of her laughter on his cheek as she felt him tense up.
“Something the matter Mr. Super Science Genius?”
“It’s just…umm…you know how difficult I find it to focus when you’re so close.”
“Ah yes, concentration is important for all scientific endeavors.” Yoruichi paused. “Do you know what would really help you think?”
Kisuke knew exactly what she would say, but he asked anyway. “What’s that?”
“Clearing your mind completely. Finding an activity where you are so hyperfocused on the physical that you forget all about this.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “And I suppose you know exactly the activity to help me?”
Yoruichi stood up straight and smiled, knowing she had won this round. “Of course I do. See you upstairs in 5?” With that she purposefully flounced away, knowing he was watching her the whole way.
Ah well, Kisuke thought. I still have 4 days.
Day 2
4 days. 4 days to finish. Yesterday had basically been a waste…well, a waste when it had come to the armor anyway. Although Yoruichi was right about helping Kisuke think. He had dreamed up numerous solutions. Dreamed them loudly. Eventually Yoruichi had kicked him out of bed and back into the welcoming arms of his lab.
The time had allowed him to create a synthetic material for the armor and give it a bit of a test. The real test was going to be having Yoruichi fight in it. The armor needed to be able to allow her to fight up to her normal speed. The two of them had been coming up with a strategy, and with the combination of his new kidous Tessai had helped with, Kisuke was beginning to feel a little more confident. Unfortunately the armor wasn’t quite where he wanted it to be, and the previous day’s “vigorous exercise” hadn’t helped.
Kisuke had managed to get the experimental armor roughly shaped when Yoruichi sauntered in. “How’s the armor going?” she asked.
“I think I’ve got a good working prototype here,” Kisuke replied. “I’m shaping pieces of it to fit your arms right now. What have you been up to?”
“Just chatting with Ururu. Did you know she has a recurring dream where the shop is made entirely of candy and customers have to eat their way in through a chocolate door?” Yoruichi shook her head. “She’s a little strange sometimes.”
Kisuke twisted his lips. “Just sometimes?”
“Be nice. She’s a sweet girl. Besides, I appreciate that she can handle herself in a fight if needed.”
“You do appreciate good fighting skills,” Kisuke smiled. “Speaking of which, want to try this on? I know it’s not going to fit perfectly, but this will give you an idea of what it is going to feel like. Plus I’ll be able to see where to adjust it for you.”
Yoruichi slipped the arm covers on. “Hmmm, these are much lighter than I thought they’d be,” she said, sounding surprised.
“Oh yes,” Kisuke replied, “I didn’t want to weigh you down.They’re bound to feel a bit different though.”
Yoruichi swung her arm up quickly and found it countered by Kisuke. “You’re right, they do seem to slow me down a hair. I’ll have to train with them a bit,” she said.
Kisuke nodded. “I thought as much. Tell me some more about Ururu’s dream while I shape them to fit you better first.”
Yoruichi held her arms out for him as she started to talk. “Well, the walls of the shop were made of some chichi dango, which I told her makes no sense because wouldn’t it just slowly smush down from the weight of the roof? Then she reminded me it was a dream…”
Kisuke slowly let Ururu’s dream become background noise while he concentrated on Yoruichi’s arms. Shaping the armor required him to focus on every slight detail of her, things he hadn’t noticed in the hundreds of years they’d known each other. The way the muscle in her forearms wrapped around her bones, a tiny scar from a nick she’d received somewhere along the line…thousands of tiny things he felt like he should know but apparently did not.
He felt a rush of affection for this woman who had stood by his side for as long as he could remember. This woman who had risked everything for him. He glanced at her animated face as it relayed Ururu’s dream, and he couldn’t help but think about the upcoming fight with Aizen. Aizen was likely the toughest enemy they would face, and there were a lot of things that could go wrong. Kisuke felt he should say something to make sure Yoruichi understood what she was to him, but he wasn’t sure he could find any words to convey this.
Yoruichi peered into his face. “Are you even listening to what I am saying? I felt sure you’d have something to say about the chocolate shouji.”
Kisuke grimaced. “Oh sorry, I was very focused on fitting this to your arm. You’re right though, chocolate shouji would not last long around here.”
She smiled softly, taking the armor off. Like always, she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Let’s continue this discussion upstairs.” Taking him by the hand, she led him out of the lab.
Day 3
Things weren’t progressing as quickly as Kisuke would have liked, but there were still 3 days left. More or less. He had not counted on having as many distractions as he was having. Or rather one rather consistent and compelling distraction. The more he thought about it, the more unusual her behavior seemed. Yoruichi had always been a passionate person, but those passions had never manifested themselves so…constantly. He couldn’t help but wonder if she too was beginning to feel that little bit of anxiety he was feeling. While they knew what they were facing to some extent, there were a lot of unknowns. And Kisuke was a man who loathed unknowns.
Regardless, he had this armor to refine. While he was happy with the basics of it, he wasn’t sure that it would fully be ready in time. There had not been a lot of time to test it out, and time was getting to be in shorter and shorter supply. He really needed to concentrate on the armor.
Kisuke worked for a bit, then asked Yoruichi down to try on the armor once more, this time focusing on her legs. She drug into the lab with a huge yawn. “I don’t think I’ve been getting enough sleep,” she said.
“Ah, and who’s fault would that be?”
“Why should we say anyone is at fault? I like to we should both be celebrated for whatever part we’ve played in the nocturnal festivities.”
Kisuke raised an eyebrow. “Pulling out the big words today, are we? Nevermind, bring one of those legs of yours over here so I can put this armor on it.”
Yoruichi casually raised a leg high. “You mean this leg?”
“Umm…yes…exactly.” Kisuke could see this was going to be trouble for him already. He slid the armor on her. “How does it feel?”
“Not too bad I guess.” She replaced one leg with the other. “I really need to get used to these though. My strategy is going to have to be totally different.” After he slid the armor onto her second leg, she wrapped it around him. “For example, I’m not sure I can pull you as tightly as I normally would with this armor on.”
He looked into her face to see if she was teasing him again, but she seemed sincere. Wrapping her legs around people wasn’t a tactic he was familiar with, but he could certainly see how it would work well. After all, it was incredible disorienting for him.
She kept trying to pull him closer, which was wreaking havoc with his resolve to concentrate on his armor. Yoruichi didn’t even seem to notice his discomfort, concentrating on the task at hand. Finally, after one last readjustment, she realized exactly what she was doing. “Sorry,” she said with a half smile, “was I causing you problems?”
Kisuke decided then that his priorities had suddenly shifted. She had that effect on him. “Nothing that can’t be resolved.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. Aizen or no Aizen, he was going to enjoy every moment he had with her.
Day 4
Kisuke didn’t even bother going into the lab the next morning. He wasn’t going to get anything useful done anyway. There was a certain urgency to everything, and he wanted nothing more than to stay exactly where he was. This didn’t mean he hadn’t come up with another brilliant idea though. He gently tapped Yoruichi. “Yoruichi, I need to talk to you.”
Yoruichi merely snuggled in closer and mumbled a response.
“What was that?” Kisuke asked brightly.
“Please stop talking. You’re too perky,” was the slightly clearer response he got.
“Oh well, I was just thinking about what you should wear with your new armor.”
He was pretty sure she was rolling her eyes even if they were still shut.“Ugh, seriously? This couldn’t wait another hour? Or five?”
“Well, you know, everything you wear is of great interest to me.”
This got one open eye. “Or everything I don’t?”
This made him laugh. “Two sides of the same coin, isn’t it? All of it interests me equally.”
“Of course it does. Alright, you’ve got me awake now. What is this brilliant plan of yours?” Kisuke started to pull a sketch from the side of the bed as Yoruichi groaned. “Of course you sketched it out. Go on, let me see it.” Her eyes widened. “Kisuke, there’s barely anything here.”
“I know, but for good reason. I wanted to mimic your old uniform to some extent. See how the shoulders and back are open? I took it a step further though, and kept your legs almost completely bare.”
“I see that. I don’t know about this Kisuke. I did just fine in what I have when I fought Soi Fon back in Soul Society.”
“Yes, but I really thought about this. With the added weight from the armor, you need to be as light as possible. We really don’t want anything slowing you down if we can help it.”
Yoruichi peered into his eyes. “Are you just trying to get me into a battle leotard?”
Kisuke shook his head. “I promise you actual scientific process-ing went into this.”
She gave a shrug. “Lucky for you I will look fantastic in this thing.”
“As if there was any question. Should I…take your measurements?”
Yoruichi gave a wry laugh. “No wonder you’re not already pattering around your lab already. You never really had plans to go in there at all did you?”
“You know me all too well,” Kisuke smiled. They still had tomorrow.
Day 5
Today Kisuke had decided that they needed to actually test the armor (and outfit) out. He had invited Isshin over to plan and spar with them. They used Tessai as their test subject of sorts. With his physical strength and kidou skills, he was a natural choice to be Aizen’s stand-in.
Isshin had been a little distracted by Yoruichi’s get-up, but he managed to pull it together and concentrate on the task at hand. As the day went on, Kisuke felt slightly reassured that they had all the pieces in place to properly bring Aizen down.
Yoruichi took some time to fight with Isshin, testing him. “How did you get so slow Isshin? I refrained from fighting for almost a century, and I was still faster than this.”
He groaned. “Speed was never my forte, and if you hadn’t been hiding out for 100 years you would have known that.”
“What is your forte then? I haven’t really seen one yet.”
This seemed to spur Isshin on, but he wasn’t able to quite catch-up with her. Kisuke decided to step in before she got too vicious.
“Hey now, don’t spend all your energy on Isshin. It’s my turn now.”
She got a familiar glint in her eye. “You think you can take me on? Really? Alright then Mr. Science, give it your best.”
Kisuke knew exactly where this was going, and so did Tessai. He told a heaving Isshin that it would be best to leave Yoruichi and Kisuke to themselves as they would forget anyone else was even there. Isshin looked confused, but obeyed Tessai and left the two of them to their own devices.
Aizen watched their bickering in silence. “I see,” he said. “To have survived my attack, there must have indeed been something special about it.”
Yoruichi lifted her leg to her side. “You mean my leg, right?”
Kisuke glanced over her way. That leg was something special indeed, and he had good cause to know exactly how. Yoruichi wasn’t pleased by this reaction though. “What exactly is that look for?” she questioned with a fist to his face.
Kisuke grabbed his face. “Oww…my nose…”
Aizen had watched their bickering silently. “It doesn’t matter what’s so special. You have 3 pieces left, so I only need to hit you 3 more times.”
Kisuke took in a breath. “He’s coming.”
“I know that.”
“Can you take him?” Yoruichi huffed. “Who do you think you are talking to?”
The most amazing person I’ve ever met? Kisuke decided that could wait for later though. She was going to need all her focus on Aizen. No distractions. For now.