This is something that came to me while watching fanvids on Youtube.

綺麗 Beauty

It was strange when she actually thought about it, but she'd always thought of Kisuke as being beautiful. She'd never told him this of course because she rather imagined that depending on his mood, he'd either be really obnoxiously pleased and would tease her mercilessly for the confession, or he'd just be really annoyingly analytical with her words, picking them apart and analyzing them until they didn't mean anything.

Yoruichi could even imagine how that conversation would go: "Did you know, Yoruichi-san that the English word 'beautiful' is a derivative of 'beauty' which was first known as the Anglo-Norman/Old French biaute, which became the Medieval Latin bellitas, and finally the modern day Latin's bellus, in conjunction with the Germanic -ful, which means full of…" and then he'd proceed to rattle off words and phrases in several other languages until she lost her patience with him and walked away.

Despite his quirks and faults, there was something within him that made him special. She saw it the moment she'd first laid eyes on him. It wasn't in the way he spoke, walked or dressed; no it was far more profound than that. Whatever it was, it radiated from him so brightly, she never failed to be amazed by how many people missed it and were quick to dismiss her long time friend as being merely eccentric, at times a danger/annoyance to both man and shinigami alike, or more recently, as merely a perverted dandy.

And while she couldn't deny the grain of truth in each of these, Yoruichi also knew with absolute certainty that her Kisuke was a master in the arts of deception and used the fact that he was underestimated to his advantage. She hadn't made him her 3rd seat for nothing after all. While she'd never seen him cry-she touched wood as the thought crossed her mind, the very idea of it made her stomach tie up into knots-she knew he was haunted by the memories of the past just as she was. They'd been friends for so long that he didn't bother putting on an act around her; she could see through it just as easily as he could see through hers.

Decades back while drinking with friend/enemy Shiba Kuukaku, the slightly older woman had asked her in a voice slurred by way too much sake, what the Princess of the Tenshi Heisouban possibly saw in a man like Urahara Kisuke. Unnerved by the seriousness behind her drinking companion's eyes, Yoruichi had tossed back yet another glass of sake before answering. "In Kiskue I see the physical manifestation of my soul: light and dark constantly at war, along with a burning desire to save the world." She blinked in surprise at the words and burst out laughing, Kuukaku eventually joining in, making light of her words until they moved onto a safer topic.

As jumbled as her words had been back then, she'd said them from the bottom of her heart. Kisuke represented her soul in her mind-and the exiled Shihouin princess often wondered if that was the reason why she preferred to rely on him in battle as opposed to her own zanpaktou. He was no less an important part of her than her brain (and sometimes she scared herself by thinking she would function about as well without him as she would without it).

Yoruichi smiled faintly as she stretched in contentment in the afternoon sun, perched on a tree branch several feet away from the Urahara shouten or the closest thing they had to 'home' in the real world. It was silly in her mind to think of permanently settling down; home as far as she was concerned was wherever you felt free to be yourself and that had always been anywhere Kisuke was.

Still, as well as he knew her, Yoruichi wondered if he knew the reason why she up and disappeared for months and sometimes years at a time. Probably. Her best friend knew her better than she knew herself so he'd most likely figured it out before she ever set foot out of the door. It was a slightly embarrassing realization-that she could be so unaware of her own feelings-but it was also extremely comforting knowing that someone knew her that well. It just felt right in a indescribable way that that person was Kisuke.

As secretive as he could sometimes be, Yoruichi felt that she knew him. She knew the real reason why he started wearing that ridiculous getup once they'd finally got their bearings in the real world. She knew why he owned and operated that shady store of his and why he played the part of the care free idiot from time to time. He'd never volunteered the reason but then again, he didn't ever need to. She could read it on his face but more importantly, she just felt it instinctively in her gut.

His feelings of guilt and loss after the debacle in Soul Society had nearly overwhelmed him in the beginning despite all her best efforts to help him. He'd been reduced to a mere shadow of his former self…and it'd scared her more than any hollow ever could. His aura had become so heavy with a nearly palpable angst that started to affect her. Yoruichi tried to hide it from him, but he was able to see through her pretense and changed almost overnight into the Urahara Kisuke known by Ichigo and the others. It'd surprised her at first, but she eventually came to realize that this was his way of coping. Underneath the hat and behind the foppish fan, he was still the man she'd grown up with; the man she'd once sacrificed everything for-and would do so again if the occasion ever called for it-and the only one capable of sending her heart into her throat, putting butterflies in her stomach, and curling her toes in her shoes with merely a smile.

He would always be, in her mind, beautiful.

*****

End of chapter one! Now that you've read, won't you please review? The next chapter is still being written (having a teensy bit of trouble getting Kisuke's voice 100% to my satisfaction) but expect it to be much longer. This chapter's mainly to set up everything to follow.

Thanks for reading!

~L'echapper Belle