"In the end, it's kindness and character that forge the strongest legacies." — Itachi Uchiha.
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Yoruichi stretched herself at the early dawn of morning, accompanied by a satisfying yawn and a few joints popping.
"Ah! That's it right there." She grinned satisfactorily.
"I'm surprised you're up this early in the morning." She looked at the room and saw Itachi sitting in a meditative position with his Zanpakutō laying across his legs.
"I felt you creeping away sometime last night. Were you up here all night?"
"Yes."
She chuckled. "Seriously? There was a party going on down below and you came out here to pass time on your lonesome?" She sighed soberly. "You're a needlessly complicated person, Itachi Uchiha."
"I try not to be." He replied despondently.
She patted him on the back. "Look on the bright side. Now you feel like a person."
He gave her a look.
She scoffed. "Have you seen your past self? You felt like you were an order away from killing the next person who looked you in the eye."
Itachi remained silent. Slowly he took his Zanpakutō and strapped it to his waist, getting up as he did. "It's about time we leave."
Yoruichi rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let me just say 'see ya' to Kūkaku."
She jumped down and disappeared into the building and no sooner as she did that a loud ruckus was heard coming from the building.
Itachi sat in silence for thirty minutes before Yoruichi reappeared with a satisfied smile on her face. "Now we can leave."
So far, Itachi honestly couldn't say that his day off has been that bad. Yes, they could have done everything Yoruichi needed to do yesterday but it seems that neither of them were in that much of a hurry.
"Yikes." Yoruichi suddenly shivered as they drew nearer to the Shihōin Clan. "For some reason I really want to turn around and leave."
Before Itachi could say something, a black missile collided into Yoruichi and kicked up a dust storm.
"Big sister! You're finally home!" Yūshirō's joyous shout echoed loud and harmoniously as he glomped Yoruichi.
Yoruichi had a soft wry smile on her face as he patted the overly enthusiastic and constipatingly energetic kid on his head, which just made him mewl like a cat and cling tighter against her.
"Good to see you again, Yūshirō." A very rare find expression came over Yoruichi as she hugged her little brother who clung suffocatingly to her.
"I missed you so much, big sister. I knew you would come back one day. I always knew."
"Right. Right. Now hop off it." She playfully shoved him away (pushed him a few feet into the air) to which the young lord gracefully turned into a backflip that he stuck with the tip of his toes on one leg.
He turned to look at Itachi and smiled happily at him. "Captain. Good to see you again."
"So Yūshirō, tell me, what the hell has those fogeys in their twist?"
Now it was Yūshirō's turn to look incredulously at his lost-but-found sister.
"You of course, dear sister." He all but shouted at his sister. "Do you know how worried most of us were when we heard the news? Great-uncle almost stormed the 1st Division to demand answers from the old monster."
Yoruichi scoffed. "Bunch of temperamental fossils." She ran her hand through her hair with the barest hint of an amused smile on her face. "Well then, come on along."
Itachi followed silently behind her while Yūshirō ran excitedly beside her. The young Clan Head was doing his very best in pestering his sister in good faith.
One thing Itachi had noticed about the Shihōin Clan in particular was how close knit they were. Even their vassals had an in in how the direct family did their things. They were more involved in clan matters in a way that the other Noble Families couldn't implement. The only Clan that came close to them in this was the Shiba, and they were barely extensive enough to be called a functioning clan, talk less of a Noble Family.
"What do you mean you won't be the Clan Head?!" A frantic Yūshirō stared gobsmacked at Yoruichi's languid admittance, that not only took him by surprise but also the others that were with them.
"What? You're already doing a banged up job without me being in the picture, so why should I disrupt that?" She was the perfect picture of casual nonchalance.
"But...but—"
"No buts, Yūshirō." She did with a tone of finality that finally ended the younger Shihōin's tirade. "And besides, that's not why I'm here."
"Then why are you here, Princess?" One of the elders asked while softly stroking his greying beard.
She looked at them, really looked at them for the first time since their arrival.
"Soi Fon has been relieved of her duties as the Corps Commander of the Executive Militia, she is now just the Lieutenant of the 2nd Division. Itachi still remains Commander-in-Chief of the Onmistukidō, with me as their Corps Commander."
There was a silence in the room before the elders sighed.
"We understand, Princess. Honestly, it feels better this way."
She nodded to herself, fully satisfied. "Glad we got that out of the way without any useless arguments."
The man outright ignored her to face Itachi who had remained silent and watching since the beginning.
"Some scrolls will be delivered to you within the week, Captain. They are meant to only be viewed by the Head of the Onmistukidō."
That got an eye raise from Yoruichi. "Are you trying to say I can't see them?"
The old man quipped back. "Last I checked you weren't the one leading the Onmistukidō."
"I thank you for your cooperation, Elder."
The man waved him off. "As long as you're not that Urahara brat, I really don't care."
Without paying any more attention to Yoruichi's antics, the old man got up and left with his entourage of elders, leaving Yoruichi, Yūshirō and Itachi alone to themselves.
"The documents. No one is allowed to see them. Not even the Head Captain." She chuckled after that. "Kisuke would be jealous if he knew you got your hands on them before he could."
"Hmm."
"If you've got something to say, say it."
The both of them ended up looking at each other with such intensity that made even Yūshirō, a Clan Head, uncomfortable.
"Why?" A simple question, but also the only one he needed to ask.
"Why? Why now? Why this much? Is that it?" Yoruichi directed her gaze toward the ceiling, a time old expression coming upon her face. "If you want a simple and straight answer, then I guess it's this: after all this time, I'm finally worthy of your unending loyalty. Am I wrong?"
"You still remember that after all this time?" Itachi asked.
"I have never forgotten." She replied.
"Just like back then, I'll ask you again: why do you need my loyalty?" He questioned.
She simply shrugged. "Honestly, that's the only thing I'm no longer too sure of. Maybe because I sensed something unique about you? No, I don't think so. Uniqueness comes with being a powerful Shinigami."
"Maybe because you'll be such an unfettered force for my Clan?" She shook her head again. "No. No matter how much powerful you became, my Clan will still be greater. Maybe just to satisfy my curiosity? No, I don't think so. I wouldn't need your loyalty for that. We are not that similar, so it is hardly fondness or sympathetic understanding. It has been quite some time now that it hardly matters."
Itachi sat comfortably, mirroring Yoruichi. One of his legs was draped over the other while he rested his head on his hand. "And why is that?"
At this question, Yoruichi finally turned her head back to him. The golden orbs of her eyes now corrupted with cat-like slits.
"Why should I need a reason?" She asked rhetorically. The room stagnated as something else now sat in Yoruichi's place. "My name is Yoruichi Shihōin. Captain of the Gotei 13 and the 2nd Division. Commander of the Onmistukidō, 22nd Head of the Shihōin Clan. What I have is what I want, and what I don't have is what I don't desire enough. That is all the reason I need."
They ended up staring at each other for what felt like hours until they both broke it off at the same time.
At the end of it, all Itachi could do was sigh. "Why do you have to be so irritatingly complicated?" He asked, not outright accepting or rebuffing her arrogant claims.
Yoruichi snorted. "Look who's talking? You should be glad I am even willing to spell it out this loud for you."
He didn't bother answering her word and stood up to leave. "Stay home for a few days. I'll be expecting you by the end of the week." He stopped as soon as he got to the door.
"Yoruichi?"
"Hmm?"
"Those titles?"
"Yes? What about them?" She asked smugly.
"You no longer possess a single one of them." He replied and swiftly disappeared in a plume of feathers. Soon the outcry of an embarrassed and angry cat resounded through the walls of the room.
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