A/N: So I thought I'd mention, out of consideration for my erratic bouts of inspiration, I'm going to avoid keeping to a strict timeline. The chapters themselves should indicate to an extent when they take place within Bleach's story.

Copyright Kubo Tite. Bless the man.

Chapter 3

The next time Yoruichi returned to Karakura Town, she found two new inhabitants at Urahara's shop. She could sense their presence in the rooms adjacent to Tessai's, their small but strong reiatsu's flickering beside her old friend's subdued yet familiar signature. The moon's silvery rays spilled into the shop as Yoruichi bounded through the door, stretched, and reached for the clothes she knew would be waiting for her by the wall. She padded through the store's aisles into the empty corridor beyond. The lights were off in all but one of the rooms, and she headed towards the doors at the end of the hall.

"Welcome back, Yoruichi-san," Urahara Kisuke called, as his friend slipped into a seat at the table beside him and took to the meal in front of her. He looked up from the sheaf of papers and abacus on his lap. "I missed you."

"Mmm." She swallowed. "Missed you too."

"How was China?"

"Hot."

"Nothing out of the ordinary?"

"Nothing you haven't already planned for."

"They're going well then, our plans?"

"They're your plans, Kisuke. Of course they're going well."

The shopkeeper grinned, reaching over to refill her cup.

"Did I already tell you I missed you?"

"Shut up," Yoruichi said, but she was smiling.

It was a while before she finished eating. Kisuke flicked at his abacus, tapping the papers with his fan and humming at intervals. Outside, crickets chirped against the whistling of a light wind, and a distant car made its late night rounds. It was warm indoors, and at length, Yoruichi sat back, sighing contentedly.

"What'd you go and pick up two kids for, anyway?" she asked, looking over her friend. He looked peaceful and well-rested, despite his late-night activities. She felt a rush of affection, and a pang of guilt, that he'd stayed up waiting for her. He always did.

Kisuke flipped open his fan, tittering. "Well, you see, they came here looking for candies and they were both so cute, I just had to ask Tessai-san if we could keep them."

Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty creepy of you, Kisuke."

The shopkeeper's head lowered, the shadows from his hat deepening over his eyes and the inane chatter in his voice turned serious. "We tracked Ururu-chan down by her reiatsu signature… and that of a large Hollow wreaking havoc on her apartment. Under normal circumstances, she would've made short work of the poor thing, but, ah, it appears the man who presumed to call himself her father had… rendered her incapable of protecting herself."

Yoruichi's eyes narrowed. "I assume his is no longer an issue?"

Kisuke's eyes caught her own, all warmth and humour drained from them. "Of course."

"And the boy?"

"We found Jinta-kun wandering some alleys, nursing minor injuries. These were animal made though. Apparently he'd had enough of abandonment from parental figures for a lifetime and decided he might as well leave on his own."

"Jinta… red-hair boy? Temperamental? Nursing, say, long red scratches from maybe a cat's claws?"

"Yoruichi-san!"

"What?" she shrugged. "It wasn't me. He was yelling at and chasing that half-blind old tomcat down by the shopping district. He was telling me about it, before trying to offer me his half-rotten meal." Yoruichi grinned. "I think he's sweet on me. Still, abandonment issues or not, it was a bit cruel of your boy to toy with the helpless. He got more than his fight's worth though."

Kisuke looked down, absent-mindedly flicking the beads on his abacus.

"It was pretty cruel, wasn't it?" he said quietly, and Yoruichi knew it wasn't a boy venting his personal problems on a stray her friend was thinking of. "I think if there's one thing I've learned since coming here, it's that the living tend to be."

Yoruichi stirred the remnants of her cup, draining the contents in one gulp.

"The dead aren't much better, Kisuke. Whether Hollow, Sinner or Soul, people are what they are, what they always have been. That doesn't change, no matter what world you're in."

"Why, Yoruichi-san, I never took you for a philosopher," Kisuke joked, his voice only slightly wavering.

Yoruichi rolled her eyes. "Shut up. Still, while you can't deny the crappiness, there's always the other end of things. There are always… people like you."

Her gaze was so full of warmth and quiet intensity that the shopkeeper didn't think he could look away even if he wanted to.

"It's your fault, you know," he said weakly, "for taking me and Tessai-san in in the first place." And being there with me all these years. And staying with me.

"My apologies. I was bored okay? And I was at the age where I was beginning to challenge my mother's authority, see how much I could get away with. In all honesty, I think that woman was a lot softer than anyone would dare to point out. I mean, she did let me keep you two."

"And didn't we make the greatest pets," Kisuke grinned, but he wished that he had said something to keep that moment between them going on forever. "Anyway, the kids'll make a great distraction for boredom. Minding a shop is tedious work, okay? It's never the same without you here."

"Well," Yoruichi hesitated, searching her friend's face for a trace, a hint… "I'll come back to see what you've done with the kids once in a while –"

"But you're not staying?"

Yoruichi shook her head.

"Still the situation in Beijing?"

A nod.

Kisuke looked down, smiling sadly. "I was hoping you'd be intrigued enough by Ururu-chan and Jinta-kun to want to stay longer."

"You and Tessai will be a lot better for the brats than I would ever be," Yoruichi said gently. "Anyway, I, um…"

"You've never been much for the domestic scene, eh, Yoruichi-san."

"No, no I haven't. Who needs a spoiled, ex-princess as a parent when they've got two dads?"

Kisuke looked up, silly grin spreading back over his face. "My, my, Yoruichi-san, does this mean you finally approve of my everlasting torrent love affair with our friend, the master of kido?"

"Don't make me jealous," Yoruichi said lightly, but her eyes were intent, searching, uncertain.

He'd tried keeping her with him, feeling a bit guilty for his manipulation, no matter how slight the attempt. He knew she would always choose the mission, especially one that allowed her to travel, to move those ever so restless legs of hers. But it was the larger choice that mattered in the end, wasn't it? She always came back to him.

So he reached for her hand, grasping it reassuringly. He'd be damned if he let himself hold this against her. "Tessai-san will be perfect for those kids. Me? I am so going to spoil them rotten."

"See? Prime parental material." And she clasped his hand back, tightly.