Title: Halfway Down The Stairs
Author: Lovesrainscent
Pairing: Kisuke/Yoruichi
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and do not stand to make any profit by posting this story.
Summary: Kisuke Urahara is consumed with curiosity - just what does Yoruichi look like when she is between her cat and human forms?
Halfway Down The Stairs
Halfway down the stairs is a stair where I sit. There isn't any other stair quite like it. A. A. Milne
Kisuke sits in his bed alone late at night and wonders.
He wonders a great many things.
He wonders when Yoruichi will be home tonight.
She left at evening as she often did, in cat-form to prowl around, curious, investigating, ever alert.
She is a good companion to have to help keep watch over Karakura town.
And if tonight is like other nights, she will return some time before dawn to slip into bed with him in her human form, warm skin smoother than the richest Shihoin silk.
She is an even better companion to wake up with in the mornings.
But tonight his curiosity has finally gotten the better of him.
Between the evening and the morning, between the darkness and the dawn, at some point she has to change from cat-Yoruichi to the brown-skinned, plum-haired former Captain with golden eyes and an insatiable appetite for love-making of whom he is so inordinately fond.
It occurs to him that in all these years of knowing her he has never actually seen her transform.
Oh certainly he can recall numerous times seeing her immediately after leaving her cat-form.
She's always fascinatingly naked.
But the process of transformation, that is what he has never observed.
He has asked.
She's always demurred.
He knows he should respect her privacy.
But as they say, curiosity killed the cat.
He has to know.
He recognizes that in this instance it may be that curiosity kills the Kisuke. A pissed-off Yoruichi is a formidable opponent.
But still he has to know.
What is the transition like, cat to human, male to female, velvet fur to satin skin?
Zeno's paradox.
The dichotomy one.
That which is in motion must arrive at the half-way stage before it can arrive at the goal.
What does she look like when she's halfway there? One quarter of the way there? Almost there?
He has to know.
Sitting in the dark he realizes that if he himself had cat ears they would be swiveled forward right now, straining to hear the lightest footfall.
The house is completely silent. Tessai is away, the kids are with friends. If Yoruichi were here they could be alone together.
He smiles at the...dichotomy. Alone. Together. Ridiculous. But fun.
He gets up from the bed throwing the sheet back. Full of child-like nervous energy and adrenaline he pads to the door in bare feet, leaving their bedroom to stand at the bottom of the stairs in the hallway. Kisuke paces a little but then returns to his station at the bottom of the stairs.
Timing is everything...
He estimates, or in this case admits to himself that it's just a wild-assed guess, that she changes as she descends the stairs. She's usually in cat form when she re-enters the house because he can oftentimes hear her lapping at the saucer of milk they leave for her.
So if she's a cat when she enters the house and a woman when she enters his bed and if the transformation is a linear process, then halfway down the stairs is as good of a guess as any.
Like a kid he counts the steps it takes him to get to the top then descends precisely half that number of stairs. Ridiculous. But exhilarating.
He flattens himself against the wall and waits.
And waits.
He feels her spiritual pressure before he hears the lightest footfalls on the kitchen floor, padding softly over to the saucer. He knows she's equally capable of sensing his own but she expects to find him here in the house so that should be no surprise.
He'll just have to be fast.
And catch her.
Halfway...
What would she be like?
Light steps coming his way and he's so excited he can barely stand it, having to force himself to stifle a giggle.
The footsteps near the top of the stairs and each one sounds cat-like but he counts them and the one to reach his step sounds more lady-like. Lightning-fast he grabs one wrist and pulls her toward him, her back against his, securing her other wrist as well.
Startled and enraged she yowls and slams both of them against the wall and they tumble down the stairs. He realizes that he does indeed seem to have a tiger by the tail.
"Yoruichi, please stop," he pleads.
The growl she makes is low in her throat and menacing, there's no hint of human quality to it. It reverberates eerily through the dark room.
But at least she's stopped the transformation. The being he still holds tight against his chest beneath him is Captain-Yoruichi-sized, but instead of satin smooth skin against his chest, she's velvety-soft and warm.
"Yoruichi? Please?"
The growl subsides somewhat and there's almost a rhythmic quality to it, a rumble that's both pleasant and threatening. "Kisuke?" her voice is throaty and deep and almost as threatening as the growl earlier. "Kisuke," she rasps out, "What the hell are you doing? Let me go."
"Yoruichi, I am consumed with curiosity. I'll just ask one last time. Please let me see you like this. You're...fascinating."
"No!" she huffs and strains against him, her voice sounding a little more like her own. "And you, Kisuke, are impertinent. "
"Alas, kitty, I have offended you. Forgive me," Urahara sighs and releases her wrists.
She flips around to face him, pushing him back against the floor and leaning over him. "That's really quite rude of you, Kisuke, you know."
"Yes, I know. I'm sorry, I don't know what else to say except that I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me."
"I see," Yoruichi settles herself on him, her hands at his shoulders, nails flexing against the bare skin there. "I suppose I'm just another research project to you, then. Just one more item you find intriguing."
"You are the most amazing and intriguing and fascinating person I have yet to come across, Yoruichi-san. I apologize for offending you. And you are far more to me than a research project."
Seconds pass.
"Really? Tell me." Her nails, seeming sharper than usual, flex and knead against his skin. Kisuke winces at the tiny little punctures but smiles as she starts to rumble against him. It appears Yoruichi is...purring.
"Ummmm...Yoruichi-san, I thought you said you didn't want me to see you in a half-transformed state."
She leans down to kiss him and he takes her face in his hands. It's Yoruichi's face all right that his fingers are familiar with. What's not so familiar are the pointed ears at the top of her head and the sharp-pointed teeth his tongue encounters as he kisses her more deeply.
"Who said anything about turning on the lights? Doesn't mean I don't want to... play."
The rumble is a steady vibration now and it's quite...intoxicating to Kisuke. He slides his hands down her wonderfully warm velvety body to her hips and grins like an idiot as she raises them. Something flickers from side to side, tickling around his ankles. Yoruichi is switching her tail!
"Perhaps Kitty-san would like a ball of yarn?" he offers helpfully.
He has to draw in breath hard as she rakes her claws against him this time and scratches a little against his cheek. "That's not what I had in mind."