Two Souls Intertwined

Miyako was stretched out lazily on her matt that was set out in the living room. She had been overseeing Yuna's training session earlier that day in case anything went wrong, being mentally and physically prepared to jump in, if need be. But thankfully it was unnecessary. Ukitake had walked up next to Miyako, signaling her that he would watch over the rest of the training. Thanking the gods, she sauntered over to the plush cushion set aside just for her and decided to take a nice, long awaited cat-nap.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't get that chance. For as soon as she dozed off, a shriek, that probably broke the sound barrier, reached her ears causing her fur to stand on end. Her mind was racing as to what might have caused this sudden outburst. Only to realize that Ukitake must have told Yuna the big news.

Realizing that she wouldn't achieve her goal at a nap anytime soon, Miyako retracted her claws from the massive hole that was now in the cushion, and made her way towards her master. When she arrived, the sight that greeted her was that of a twirling Yuna.

Not wanting to get caught up in the excitement, Miyako started towards the other side of the room while staying as far away from Yuna as possible. However, Yuna spotted the cat immediately and swept it off the ground, spinning wildly around with it.

Now, as a cat, there were a few things Miyako liked. The occasional petting was nice here and there; along with laying on someone’s lap, as long as they didn’t move too much. But this twirling thing, on the other hand, had to stop.

Miyako let out a low growl, warning Yuna to put her down or else. Miyako quickly realized that this wasn't working though and fell limp in defeat.

After a few more spins of torture, Miyako was finally placed back on the floor. Taking this moment to her advantage, she started walking away only to end up tripping over her own white paws and landing face first on the floor with the room spinning around her. How she loathed
feeling helpless.

Next thing you know, Kiyone and Sentaro were stumbling over each other trying to beat one another to organize Ukitake’s paperwork for him. Why someone would race to organize a Captain’s paperwork was beyond her. But as soon as they came, they were gone, leaving a stunned Rukia and an over excited Yuna staring at the door with puzzled expressions.

Rukia stayed a little while longer to congratulate her friend on becoming a lieutenant. Miyako was still getting over the dizziness that was forced upon her so she didn't pay much attention to the ongoing conversation. When she did tune in, a cold sensation crawled up her small spine.

“You know, you remind me a lot of these two people I used to know...”

Even though Rukia whispered this to herself, Miyako's sensitive ears picked up on this immediately. A pang of guilt started to pull at her heart and make her chest feel ten times heavier.

“You know what, don’t worry about. My imagination is just running a bit wild.” Rukia quickly added.

It was like Rukia knew exactly what she was thinking and Miyako was trying so hard to brush the guilt away.

“I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Yuna said, after dismissing her teammate’s strange behavior.

Rukia nodded before walking out of the room with a small smile on her face.

“Well, you certainly seem to be welcomed to the team.” Jushiro said with a small smile on his face.

Even if Yuna didn't realize it, Miyako could see all of Ukitake's regrets in that one smile.

Jushiro wrapped his arms around his daughter and said, “I’ll just leave you to yourself then. I’m sure you want to bask in this moment for as long as you can.”

He gave her a quick embrace, but not without shooting a look behind Yuna's shoulder toward Miyako. She saw the message conveyed within his eyes and made a slight nod saying she understood.

After Jushiro left the room, Miyako concentrated her reiatsu in the shape of her human form. Transforming from a cat into a human was always a bit painful, but this time around the pain seemed more apparent. She could feel her collar bone grow into place while her shoulders widened and spread apart. The rest of her bones grew in length and her muscle tissue stretched as the snow white fur disappeared beneath her pale skin. Her tail and ears remained. When she stood up straight, she realized that Yuna was still stuck in her little fantasy world.

This is going to be fun, she thought as a mischievous cat-like grin crept upon her face.

“I always knew those dance classes were a wrong choice.” Miyako stated in a passive voice while crossing her arms in front of her bare chest.

Yuna was in the middle of doing another one of her turns when she looked in the direction of the voice, causing her to fall face-first onto the ground in front of her. Yuna lifted her face from the floor, sporting a slight bloody nose and a shocked expression. Priceless.

"Well that was graceful." she said as sarcastically as possible.

"Personally, I don't think those dancing lessons helped one bit. If you ask me, they only made your flailing worse."

Rolling her eyes, Miyako walked over to the stunned, young girl before her.

She knelt before her and pointed to her nose saying, "By the way, you got a little something right there."

Miyako took her thumb and wiped away the blood from Yuna's nose before standing back up and heading towards the door. It took a second for Yuna to come back from her shocked state and realize what her so called “cat” was about to do.

"Wait a minute!" Yuna yelled.

Within a few seconds, she was in front of the door with her arms spread out on each side.

"You can't just walk out of here like that!"

"And why not?" Miyako asked, placing a hand on her hip with one eyebrow raised.

"Well for one thing, you're completely naked!" Yuna yelled while pointing to the nude body in front of her.

"And secondly, you just transformed from a cat into a human! You're not leaving until you explain what exactly is going on!"

They both stood still for quite some time with each one staring into each others eyes. Miyako's magnificent, emerald eyes looked down into Yuna's clear but determined aqua green orbs of light. As a cat, Miyako could always sense the feelings of the people around her by how thick the person’s reiatsu was or how much they were letting seep out. Yuna, however, was extremely easy to read even without the whole eye changing thing. And what she sensed was that the tiny girl in front of her was not going to let this go anytime soon.

"Do you really think you can stop me like this? And what's so wrong with not having on clothes? I didn't wear clothes when I was a cat."

"That’s completely different! You were covered in fur and you didn't have...have...those." Yuna said hesitantly while her face turned a tomato red as she looked down.

Miyako followed the line of her sight which ended on her chest. Yuna quickly looked away and crossed her arms with an indifferent look on her face.

"So what? I'm going to go get something to eat."

When Yuna was about to protest, Miyako flash stepped behind her causing her tail to brush against the young girl’s face as she did so. It was so unexpected that Yuna didn't have time to react and before she knew it the door was sliding open and Miyako had one foot outside the door. But before Miyako could walk completely out the door, Yuna snapped out of it and lunged forward to grab the “cat’s” tail.

"Hey, let go!"
Whenever Miyako felt a hand tug on her tail from behind, her instincts kicked in and she immediately tried to run away. Yuna looked down at her hand after the sudden outburst and grinned evilly, tightening her grip on the white tail. Miyako felt the nerves in her tail send a message to her brain, causing the fur to poof out and making it look twice as big.

Miyako’s brain was telling her to calm down, but her body was doing the complete opposite. Yuna began pulling the tail to get the tall, older girl back inside the building.

"AH! THAT HURTS!"

Miyako began grabbing at the air in front of her trying to find something to hold onto.

"I won't let go until you agree to put some clothes on and tell me what is going on!" Yuna yelled, in a commanding voice.

"Fine! I'll tell you! Now let go! I'm losing the blood circulation in my tail!"

After agreeing to spill the beans, Miyako now sat fully clothed in front of the young lieutenant. Miyako wore the traditional shinigami uniform, but accommodated it to her liking. The sleeves and the back were completely torn off leaving the wrapping that bound her chest exposed on her
back. Then connected to the remaining fabric on the back of her neck was a hood that hung loosely off the fabric and the pants were bound to her ankles giving her less room for error when running or fighting. Also on both her hands were fingerless gloves, giving her a better grip when
holding her zanpakuto. And she wore no sort of foot coverings either, having an extreme hatred for shoes.

"Now, explain." Yuna said as she glared at the “cat” sitting across from her.

Miyako was silent for a second before she looked away and spoke.

"Right after you were born, your mother was sent on a patrol mission. It was in this mission that she and her team were attacked by a powerful hollow. She was the only one to return alive after the attack and when she returned home, wounds covered her entire body.

"Later that night, after healing her wounds, her body rose up and started slaying her subordinates. Captain Ukitake, Rukia Kuchiki, Sentaro Kotsubaki, and Kiyone Kotetsu arrived on the scene only to see your mother soaked in the blood of her squad. Before they could catch her, she ran. Chasing after her, Ukitake, Rukia, and your father found her zanpakuto and kimono on the ground.

“Your father swore revenge against the hollow and began his pursuit, but before he could leave, Ukitake and Rukia accompanied him in his search. Once they found the hollow's lair, he asked permission to fight it alone. Ukitake granted him permission, only to watch in horror as the hollow’s abilities became apparent. Your father’s zanpakuto, Nejibana, had broken as soon as it touched the hollow, yet he continued to fight alone."

Yuna's eyes began to widen as she listened intently. By the time Miyako looked back up from her spot on the ground, the young lieutenant had moved so close that their noses were touching. Miyako's pupils grew in size from their regular slits as she fell backwards in shock.

Too absorbed in her past, Yuna moved even closer.

"Tell me what their names are! What happened to them?! Why am I alone?!"

She kept yelling at her “cat” to try and get answers. But all Miyako could do was stare in horror with her mouth open, unable to say anything. Yuna grabbed the front of her shirt and, out of desperation, shook her violently.

Captain Ukitake rushed towards the room as soon as he heard screaming. When he forced the door open, he saw a furious Yuna standing over a petrified Miyako, screaming in her face for answers and shaking her senseless. The next thing he saw was the older girl turn her head towards him and mouth the words “Help me!”.