While I struggle with epic, large-scale battles for my two big stories its oneshot time again! Having done them for ShinjiHiyori, Ulquihime, Ichiruki, HitsuHina and GinRan I decided that it was time to add another favorite couple of mine, UraharaYoruichi. So here you go! This is way WAY back when they were younger.

As always I'm open to continuing.

Kisuke Urahara made his way down the pristine halls of the Shihon Manor, his tabi gliding noiselessly on the specially polished floor. There was going to be a party that night and he was expected to attend it. Rich people did parties like no-one else and Nobles took it to a whole other level. A quick glance downward confirmed that he could, in fact, see his reflection through the floor. Wide, too innocent grey eyes. Shaggy, too long blond hair that always got in his eyes. Features that were slowly changing, as Tessai put it, from boy to man. He didn't look like a Noble, especially not at the moment.

"Watcha doin?" came the question as suddenly his reflection was joined by another one. One with gold eyes, chocolate skin and a cascade of purple hair.

"These floors are really shiny," he said looking up.

"I know, you can see up girl's skirts if you want."

He had gotten used to Yoruichi's strange comments in his few years living at the Shihon Manor. In the beginning he had called her all kinds of titles until she pointed out they were the same age and when he did that everyone thought that he was addressing someone important and got really disappointed when she showed up. He pointed out that she was a Princess and should be addressed with respect. She pointed out that just because she was a girl it didn't mean she couldn't--and wouldn't--kick his ass. He had quickly caught on that she was to be addressed as Yoruichi just as he was Kisuke and that was that.

"Why'd I wanna see up girl's skirts?" he demanded.

"I dunno," she shrugged, "I'm just saying you can and these balls get boring."

Urahara gulped. This was, in fact, his first ball. He was always too young to go before or too new to the family. But they had said he was old enough now and so he had been measured and scrubbed and poked and prodded until he felt far more like a science experiment than anything else. Yoruichi went to the balls because she had to but she always left early. Not this time. This time they would be going for real. They were both in their teens by Soul Society standards. Old enough to begin to learn to fight and train for the Shinigami Academy. Old enough to do all sorts of things. Old enough to attend balls.

"You've never been to one for the whole thing either!" Urahara cried.

"Of course not silly," Yoruichi said rolling her eyes, "but now that you're going too we can keep each other company!"

"I guess," he said, "so what's your mom making you wear this time?"

"You don't want to know," Yoruichi said crossing her arm with a huff, "any longer and I swear my hair would have windchimes in it if she thought it'd look nice," Urahara had to fight to keep from laughing, "well what do you have to wear huh?" Yoruichi demanded glaring at him.

"Green," he said, "your mom said it looked nice on me."

"Green?" Yoruichi's golden eyes narrowed, "green? I'm stuck in more shades of silk than I knew existed and all you have to wear is green?!" Urahara grinned.

Yoruichi felt her insides go into knots. She had always really liked Kisuke Urahara, from the moment her father had brought the orphan home with him. He had actually come along with Tessai who was a Kido prodigy. Kido prodigies were very rare and when her father had tried to taken him he had wound up with Kisuke as well. Yoruichi liked Tessai too but he was always busy with training and such that she never really saw him. Initially she hadn't seen much of Kisuke either since the boy had been so terrified of getting something in his new surroundings dirty that he hadn't come out of his room for the first week he had been there. One day instead of letting the servants do it she had been the one to come and bring him food. Slowly she had gotten him out of the room and into the daily life of a Shihon.

But lately she had been the one who felt like running into a room. She was lucky it was hard to tell when she blushed because she felt as though her cheeks were on fire. Usually it only happened when he smiled or their hands touched not during fighting. It was like butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach. She knew her mother would just dismiss those feelings as foolishness. Nobles did not let their emotions rule them. She knew that was being beaten into her, even if she didn't really believe it herself.

"Are you okay?" Urahara asked, his voice soft and concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said smiling, "I gotta go get ready for the ball."

"But its hours away!"

"I know," Yoruichi said turning to go, "I'm already late to get ready."

She bounded off down the hall. Urahara watched her go, something twisting inside of him. He didn't like it when Yoruichi's eyes went sad and thoughtful, like the weight of the world was resting on her shoulders. He liked her smiling or teasing him, he liked her happy. But more than that, he wanted to be the one who made her happy. Even if she hadn't saved him, which she had, he still wanted to save her in return. But, of course, some Prince would do that. No matter what she said she was still a Princess and he was still the orphan that came with the Kido prodigy. Frowning slightly he turned and walked off to get ready on his own.

After having been poked, pulled and prodded for hours Lady Shihon finally pronounced that her daughter looked, for once, like a Princess. All Yoruichi felt was nerves. The Kimono she wore was not quite as bad as she had thought it to be. All the colors was a bit of an overstatement. It was many colors they were just different shades of orange. Deep orange, reddish orange--she looked like a fall leaf. A pretty one, her mother assured her, but a leaf none the less. Tugging at the obi around her waist, Yoruichi tried to find a way to move under all the silk encasing her frame.

She heard someone inhale behind her and turned to see Kisuke standing there.

She froze as well. He too was wearing silk, as he would have too of course, but whereas hers was orange his was a very deep green. His hair had been pushed back to reveal his features. He looked older, in a very good way. Yoruichi was about to bite her lip but she remembered the paint on it and stopped herself, settling instead for burying her hands in the folds of her kimono and clenching her fists until her short nails made marks in the flesh of her palms.

Across the hall Urahara was having his own troubles. When Yoruichi described her kimono he imagined it to be some candy colored nightmare that he'd have to lie and say she looked nice in until she called him out and they collapsed in a fit of giggles together. But it wasn't. The kimono was gorgeous but it paled in comparison to the woman who wore it. Yoruichi didn't look like the playmate he usually joked with, she looked like a grown up, like a Princess. And she looked very nervous as well.

Usually when one of them went as quiet as they both were one would break the silence but this time they both ducked their heads and looked the other way, words getting stuck in the back of their throat. Urahara shuffled off, feeling like more of a disgrace than he ever had in his entire life and Yoruichi turned back to the sliver of the ballroom she was watching through the door, trying to fight back tears and spare her makeup. She didn't want to be doing this alone. She wanted Kisuke by her side and he just shuffled off with his head ducked. Before she could turn around a find him someone called her name and she had to go.

The ballroom was spectacular but Urahara had no sight for it. Even Tessai was there decked out in some horrible eccentric robe that he only got away with because he was good at Kido and somehow that gave him a free pass to wear whatever the hell he wanted. He was even attempting--and badly--to grown in a mustache because he thought it would make him look older.

"You look like someone killed your pet," Tessai said bluntly.

"I'm fine," Urahara muttered.

"So how's the Shihon life treating you?" Tessai asked changing the conversation quickly.

"Its--" he sighed, "its alright."

"Alright? Kisuke you're living in a Noble house," his friend pointed out, "there's gotta be something pretty bad for you not to say something better than that."

"Its not bad," Urahara sighed, "its just--" he trailed off, "its complicated."

"Complicated," Tessai repeated, "well it can't be anything a little Kido can't fix."

"No! no way are you doing that stuff on me."

"You're gonna become a Shinigami, you're gonna learn Kido."

"The last time you did Kido on me I was bald," Urahara crossed his arms, "my head looked like your upper lip does for months!"

"There's nothing wrong with my upper lip," Tessai pouted, his finger stroking the expanse of his mustache almost defensively, "well if its not kido-fixable than what's wrong? You're still coming out of that room right?"

"Of course!"

"Well then I'm missing the problem."

"The problem? The problem is--" he caught a glimpse of orange out of his eyes, "is--" she was laughing at something someone else was saying, but not the real kind of laugh he knew she did but a polite kind of laugh that had her mouth covered by her fan, "is--"

"You've got a crush," Tessai said with a grin looking between the suddenly idiotic Urhara and Yoruichi.

He had always been the observant type and despite Kisuke's very obvious reaction he also caught sight of Yoruichi's not so obvious one. Her grip on her fan was white knuckled, more like she was going to use to till someone than fan herself. Her other hand was fisted in the folds of her robes. And she seemed far more interested with glancing out of the corner of her eyes at Kisuke than she did at paying attention to the young man speaking to her. He saw his words sink into to Kisuke's poor confused mind because the blond man's eyes suddenly went wide and he seemed to choke on nothing at all.

"A what? On her? No, no way."

"Oh don't be so dramatic," Tessai said, "its okay for you to like her. Hell I bet half the men in this ballroom like her," Kisuke's eyes swept the room, narrowed slightly as though they could destroy the affections anyone else held for the Shihon Princess, "you'd better move fast Kisuke."

"I'm not moving at all," he said crossing his arms.

"Then you're an idiot," Tessai said, "she doesn't care about ranks and you'd better make a move before her parents start to care otherwise."

"But--" he began.

"'But'," Tessai mimicked with a grin, "but she isn't looking at anyone else out of the corner of her eye is she?"

Urahara glanced over at the same instant Yoruichi glanced and their eyes met. It was more obvious on Urahara's face but both turned a rather spectacular shade of red and looked away. Before he could stop himself Tessai broke down laughing. It was nauseatingly cute to see them tiptoeing around each other like this. Usually they just had a bit of awkwardness but now they couldn't even look at each other.

"My advice," Tessai said wiping a tear of mirth away, "go tell her she looks pretty."

"I can't do that," Urahara said.

"Thats like when you said you couldn't come with me to the Shihon Manor," he said with a sigh, "and here you are."

"No its like when you said you were growing that thing on your lip."

"Oh just you wait, its going to be spectacular," Tessai said with a grin, "just like Yoruichi's face when you tell her she looks pretty."

Yoruichi didn't really know who she was talking too, just that she was wondering what the fastest way to get to Tessai and Kisuke was. Her current plan was to stab the guy with her fan and make a break for it. Her mother was watching the exchange with a smile, judging his positive reaction and Yoruichi's barely contained negative one.

"Dear," her mother said, "perhaps you should get some air."

"I"m fine mother," Yoruichi replied.

"You look as though you are going to murder someone with your fan," she pointed out.

"So?" Yoruichi raised her chin, "its not like any of these men matter."

"My dear, these are all potential husbands for you."

Yoruichi's eyes widened as she looked around the room, suddenly realizing that there were many guests who were about her age, male and Noble. She had just thought they were there for--she hadn't thought why they were there. Just that they were. But looking at her mother's eyes she realized they were there for her, for what she represented. For the power and the wealth marrying into the Shihon Clan would bring. She realized they were all stealing glances at her like kids stealing sweets out of a candy jar. She hadn't realized because her eyes kept darting to Kisuke. Kisuke who kept his head down. Kisuke who wasn't Noble or rich, who wouldn't marry her for what she represented.

"I-I think I'm going to get some air," she said with a weak smile at her mother.

"Good," she said, "hurry back."

Yoruichi bobbed her head, trying to fight the burning in her eyes as she hurried out of the ballroom and into the surrounding garden. The world was already blurring around the edges when she left but once she got outside and the cool air hit her eyes the burning got even worse. Her throat tightened and before she could stop herself she bit her lip, ignoring the taste of paint that filled her mouth. Her lower lip trembled regardless as she fought valiantly against her tears. She hurried over to a low bench out of the view of the partygoers and sat down hard, burying her face in her hands. She couldn't breath in all the silk, not when her 'potential husbands' were waiting for her to return. She felt like a doll. Worse, she felt like a fool.

"Yoruichi?"

Through her blurry eyes she saw dark green. With a muffled sob she launched herself at Kisuke, burying her face in his chest. Urahara had followed her once he saw her face start to show the tell tale signs of her tears. He had found her on a bench in the garden and suddenly went from not being able to talk properly around her to holding her in his arms. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed against him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, trying to avoid the knot of her obi. She seemed near hysterical and worry surged through him.

"What happened?" he demanded looking at the top of her head, "why are you crying?"

"S-she brought them for me!" Yoruichi wailed, "a-all the men," she took a gasp, "they're here for m-me."

Urahara tightened his grip on her, hating it when Tessai was right. After the shoulder of his kimono was soaked thoroughly in tears and smudged face paint Yoruichi's sobs subsided and she was simply standing there with her head to his chest.

"Would it be so bad to marry one of them?" Urahara asked after a moment. Yoruichi nodded, "but you're--"

"A Princess?"

"Well, yeah."

"A Princess who represents money and power and all those things," she said, "a nameless, faceless Princess who all those men just see as means to an end. They call me Princess too," he frowned, not sure where she was going with this, "but they don't make me laugh or fight with me or do anything fun."

"But they can talk to you when you wear stuff like that," he said motioning to the silk she wore.

"They see women in stuff like this all the time," she said.

"They can't be as pretty as you," he blurted out, his cheeks burning. She buried her face in his chest to hide her own heated cheeks.

"Thank you," she muttered.

"Huh?"

"You said I was pretty," she said drawing back slightly to look at him, "I'm saying thank you."

"I--uh--you're welcome?" he said, though it sounded more like a question than a statement. Yoruichi smiled before Urahara covered his hand with his sleeve and reached out, wiping her cheek, "you've still got paint on."

"Oh," she said, "is it off?"

"Almost," he said concentrating before he got the paint all off her face, "done," he said, the sleeve slipping off his hand, bringing her fingertips into contact with the velvety skin of her cheek, making his insides twist, "sorry," he said withdrawing his hand quickly.

"Thats-thats okay," she muttered looking down momentarily until she remembered the faceless men inside and looked at poor, slightly uncomfortable Kisuke who came after her anyway, "thank you for coming after me."

"Its okay," he said with a smile that sent her stomach into knots, "I mean, I'd always come after you."

"I know," she said, "Kisuke?" she looked at him, "can I ask you something?"

"What?" he asked looking at her gold eyes.

"Would you," she licked her dry lips, "would you kiss me?"

"What?!" he gasped, his eyes wide. Yoruichi felt shame well in her and quickly averted her eyes.

"Nevermind."

"Wait!" he grabbed her before she could run, "why do you--why could you possibly want me to kiss you?"

"Because," she said, "because every time you smile or you touch me, I get butterflies in my stomach and I don't like it and I thought that if you kissed me we could just--" she frowned

"Just go back to being friends?" he tried. She shrugged, not sure if that was what she meant, "well you're not the only one who gets the butterflies," he said. Her head flew up, her eyes widening, "why do you think I couldn't talk to you when you showed up in that?" he demanded motioning to her kimono.

"O-oh," she said realization dawning on her, "so," she looked up at him, "will you kiss me?"

"Yoruichi I--" he began to protest until he thought of all those nameless, faceless men. He may not have been a Prince but he knew that if he let her go back into the party she'd wind up going off with one of them and he couldn't bare the thought of that, "I--" he fumbled for the words that weren't coming.

So instead of waiting for them to come he closed his eyes, ducked his head and pressed his lips tightly against hers.

She tasted like the remnants of face paint and the fruity drinks that had been passed around. It was the first time he had really kissed anyone and for a moment he thought Yoruichi was either going to faint or smack him. But instead she softened under the kiss before tentatively returning it. His arms wrapped around her once again as her own hands tangled in his slicked hair, messing it up. Finally after what seemed like a dizzying lifetime Urahara pulled back as Yoruichi rested her forehead against his own.

"Well I can't marry anyone else now," she breathed. He grinned, "do we have to go back inside."

"Yeah," he said regretfully looking back at the party but knowing they'd both get in a lot of trouble.

"Stay with me?" she asked taking his hand as they walked back.

"Always," he promised.