Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown

[flashstepfeline]

Characters: Orihime Inoue and Yoruichi Shihōin
Content: Yoruichi is curious about Orihime's strange powers
Setting: Orhime's quarters
Time: Backdated to after the ship-to-ship epic battle
Warnings: None that I can think of

Comments

/noms delicious teal deer, attempts to reciprocate

[power_of_heart]

"... but I missed out on the swarm of sky sharks because I was out for twenty-some hours, so then... oh, someone's at the door, give me a few minutes, okay Sora?" Orihime's mattress and her knees both creaked as she pulled herself off her bed to open the door. She'd been so absorbed in her conversation with her brother that she had forgotten to move. In her defense, she did have several days to catch him up with, and even if the picture on the wall wasn't answering back, so much had happened that it could take hours to explain it all.

"Coming!" she called to her visitor, and opened the door on a guest she hadn't expected at all. She knew Yoruichi, of course, and liked what little she knew of her, but from the way her eyes and mouth both rounded when she first saw the woman in her doorway, it was clear she thought her appearance there was strange. Yoruichi was so... reserved, that was the word for it... that this couldn't simply be a visit to make friends.

Unless, of course, she was lonely. A lot of standoffish people didn't like not having friends, they just didn't know how to make them! Yoruichi seemed too confident for that, though, so who knew. In any case, she had a guest. "It's nice to see you again. Come on in, there's a chair, and if you want anything else..." She held the door open wide and gestured for her to enter.

[flashstepfeline]

"No thank you," Yoruichi said, not because she would have disliked a drink but because she didn't want to trouble Inoue. She sat in the offered chair carefully, feeling a little guilty about getting right down to business. It was a rather cold way to deal with someone who was your crew mate, to just come around when you wanted to extract something from them. Especially someone like the doctor. But that was the way Yoruichi was trained to think about things, when she had an objective in mind.

"How have you been Doctor Inoue, since last I have seen you?" Yoruichi laced her fingers together and rested them on the table, smiling gently. She didn't want to make her feel like she was being interrogated.

here have some fail and avoidance

[power_of_heart]

Orihime took her own seat at the edge of her bed, eyeing the other woman curiously. They hadn't seen each other much at all, to tell the truth. The last time she remembered even thinking of Yoruichi was when she caught sight of her on the deck of the Victoria II, glimpsing a few moves of that distinctive fighting style out of the corner of her eye. Something seemed a little off, even though she tried to reciprocate in as friendly a manner as she'd invited Yoruichi in.

"I've been busy!" She didn't like how that sounded once it came out: it sounded more like a complaint than anything else. "We all have, though, ever since... we started guarding that prince." What was wrong with her today? That had sounded too evasive, even if she didn't want to talk about the battle with the 4423. She had only even given Sora the edited version.

/takes it

[flashstepfeline]

"Of course," said Yoruichi, noting Inoue's pause. "I'm sure it's been difficult for everyone. You seem to have handled yourself well, though. The infirmary is running nicely, and I'm sure Yosuke is very grateful for what you did."

Somehow, the doctor seemed slightly sad to Yoruichi, and that was something she didn't understand. She could seem so careless and childlike at times, but there was much more to her than that. They were pieces that did not fit entirely together. On the surface, she seemed like such a happy person, but she did not seem to be exactly happy about healing Yosuke. And that struck her as strange, because healing was generally considered to be the 'whitest' of magical abilities.

[power_of_heart]

It was only her job, but even so, Orihime's smile in response to the compliments had a hint of pride in it. "Well, thank you," she started to respond, only for her train of thought to slam on its brakes at grateful for what you did.

It had been very public, of course: the middle of battle was the last place to keep a secret. She and Yosuke had been straggling, though, and by that time Yoruichi had been nowhere to be seen. Could she have felt it? What was she, if she could?

"Oh, is that what this is about?" It was difficult to try and make the matter sound less serious than it was to her: everything from having the secret blown again to having the other woman try to make use of it came to mind as possible outcomes of this conversation, but however it ended, she couldn't show that this was getting to her.

[flashstepfeline]

"Orihime..." Yoruichi's brows knit in concern.

"Why do you look so troubled?"

She could not read her emotions perfectly, but Yoruichi was practiced at reading faces and body language, and especially noting hesitation in the voice when responding to a question. While she didn't understand the reason, it seemed like the other woman was disturbed about something, and trying to conceal her discomfort.

Yoruichi remained confused. She had wished to learn more, but she hadn't been expecting this response. If anything, she had expected that Inoue would be modestly embarrassed, or hiding that she came from a wealthy family or that perhaps she came across the hair clips in a strange way.