1.15 PM Karakura Town's Southern Police Station
Once every five years, Yoruichi got a headache.
This was one of those godforsaken days and as she, Urahara and their escorts walked into the police station it felt as if she was drowning in the sounds of it. It was just so much noise echoing in her ears.
She could hear the tapping of peoples' feet as they were waiting impatiently for it to be their turn to be helped with their matters and she could hear the police officer who was pushing Urahara in front of him, the officer was chewing a gum. It was all driving her insane, and what irritated her more was that she didn't even want to analyze her surroundings further.
There wasn't any need for her to notice the unlocked backdoor, the vent on the far left corner or the exact location of the thirteen weapons in the room. This was a matter for the human system to take care of and as such, it wasn't the place to attempt to solve the situation with her shinigami abilities. At least not until she knew if the police really considered Urahara to be the only suspect or not. If the legal system didn't threaten to throw any of them in jail, who was she to get herself involved in things she didn't have to do? Why do something unnecessary when she and Urahara already had so much on their own plate as it was with Ichigo and his friends?
No matter how hard she tried not to, her own frustration had heightened her senses and perception of the surroundings. Not only could she smell the mold that had infected the ceiling of the floor above, her predatory ears also made sure she could hear everything from within a fifty meters area.
Somewhere in the background she could make out the ping of a bicycle's bell as it went through the street outside and in the far distance she could hear a dog bark at a mailman. Against her will, she noticed that most people at the station had drops of sweat all over their overweight bodies and that some of them were waving the morning news paper in front of their faces in an attempt to keep cool in the heat.
"Right this way, Miss," the officer said. Before she knew it, she was sitting on a grey couch in a room with a park view. On the coffee table stood a pack of tissues, waiting to be used by a widower or a regretful murderer alike.
Yoruichi wondered if the room Urahara was in with his officer looked quite as nice and nonthreatening.
"Miss Shihouin Yoruichi, I have some questions for you regarding the murder of miss Maria Hashi and miss Julia Jenkins," the female inspector said. She straightened her skirt as she spoke. "But before you tell us your story, I need to know if you are acquainted to Mr Urahara in anyway?"
Yoruichi nodded slowly in response to the question. She raised her eyebrows at the officer, bidding her to continue.
"We have received several tips leading us to question his innocence," the officer said bluntly. "If this case, God forbids, goes to court the law says that you cannot testify under oath if you are close to the suspect. In that case, you have an option if you want to tell your story or not. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Yoruichi said.
"I'll ask you once more, do you know Mr Kisuke Urahara?"
"Yes," she answered, smiling briefly at the woman sitting in front of her.
"Are you related in any way?"
The way the older woman was asking the questions in her very monotonous tone, that gave Yoruichi the shrills. She couldn't help but stir in the comfortable sofa, adjusting her legs to be tucked away beneath her slim frame.
"No," she said uncomfortably.
"Are you and Mr Urahara married or living together in cohabitation?"
Yoruichi sighed. "Define cohabitation."
"Do you have an intimate relationship, quite like the bond of matrimony?"
Her eyes flickered to the window. Of course they didn't have a relationship like that, she thought. … Or had they?
Over the years, they had formed a bond much deeper and stronger than that of a human marriage. Urahara was not only her friend, but her best friend and one of her oldest friends. They had never slept together, it wasn't like that. He had been a shoulder to cry on when she needed it, and she had held his head in her lap and stroked his blonde hair when he had felt the world crashing down on him.
They had kissed, yes, but mostly in the beginning. Back in Soul Society… when they used to run around and train and drink sunshine and wine during every free hour they got – after a day spent dealing with violence and death. It had been before they had felt the need to set boundaries between them, back when they had still been young and naive.
Their lips had locked on more than a couple occasions after their escape to the human world too, only difference was that it had always been her who took the initiative from that moment on. It was as if their relationship had changed along with the world itself, she thought sadly. Now one could easily think that they were like brother and sister to each other, without any romantic past or future.
"If you mean to ask if we have sex, then no" she said simply, gracefully ducking out of trying to explain their complex bond.
"How blunt of you," the woman commented, straightening her skirt once more. "Are you sure? Young woman like you, handsome man. Really expect me to believe that?"
A faint smile touched Yoruichi's lips for a second. "It's the truth"
The officer sighed, her red lips forming a smile for the first time since Yoruichi first had seen her.
"For your sake, I really do hope so. Anyway, if you don't belong to any of those groups, then you're not entitled to get any… special treatment. You have to testify. Though I cannot ignore the fact that you do know Mr Urahara… Now then. Tell me, what happened last night?"
The younger woman scratched her head with long, claw like nails as she tried to remember where it had begun. The atmosphere of the room was ice cold, intimidating.
"I arrived about 11 PM. There was no one home, but I let myself in anyway. Figured someone would show eventually."
She could see officer Tylien crease her eye brows, her red lips clamping in a thin red line.
"Do you have keys to the house?" she asked seriously.
"No," Yoruichi answered immediately.
"Was the door unlocked?"
The cat door was, of course, and a window on the second floor was as always open just as much so that she could have gotten in that way, had she wanted to. If she could only explain what she really was… her little secret… then everything would be alright, she knew it would. That wasn't an option and since the door didn't have any signs of forced entry, she knew she only had one possible answer.
"Yes," Yoruichi said with a plain face.
The officer shot a glance to a video camera in one of the corners of the room. Judging from it's red lights, it that was taping everything.
"When did you realize that Mr Urahara wasn't home?"
"Outside," she said. It was the truth, she hadn't felt any reiatsu from the inside.
"And you went inside anyway?"
"Yes, I was hungry. I wanted to get something to eat."
"And you are sure the front door was unlocked when you arrived?"
The younger woman gulped involuntarily. She was dancing on very thin ice, one misstep and her story would fall through. No matter what, she couldn't let anyone know that she was also a cat... Or else she would have to kill the one finding out, she thought. She never enjoyed killing, her role as a shinigami was to protect the living from what was already dead – not bring death upon people.
"Yes," she said, thinking it would be better to stick with one story throughout this ordeal.
"Could anyone else have gotten in?" officer Tylien asked.
"No, the house was empty."
"Did you lock the door from the inside?"
"Yes."
It was already locked, Yoruichi thought, remembering Urahara's struggle with the keys the night before. This was the only way to continue her story, to make it plausible She just hoped that the officer wouldn't notice something odd. Oh damn, there was that creepy smile again. It could only mean one thing, there had been people watching, seeing that the lights hadn't been turned on at Urahara's during the evening. Nobody had seen her...
"Did you see Mr Urahara that night?"
"He came home some time during the night, yes. Might have been at 2 AM?"
"And you were, where then?" the officer let her red lips curl into a small knowing smile.
"Outside, taking a late night stroll. I got back when he did."
"With him?" the officer asked.
"At the same time, yes," she answered as the could recall the dead woman's comment about seeing her by the entrance. She figured Urahara would say the same to his interrogators, and it would be more plausible if they had the same story.
The officer briefly looked at the surveillance camera with those mean eyes of hers.
Now she was in trouble, Yoruichi could tell. The seniors across the street must have been up even then, at 2 AM in the morning, spying on the shop owner. It was their hobby, she wasn't surprised. They had seen Urahara and a blonde woman, but not her. Damn it.
"Did you see miss Hashi or miss Jenkins during the night?"
"I only saw Maria Hashi."
"Around when?"
"I saw her enter the building with Urahara."
"Did you see her exit the building?"
"I heard her leave, but Kisuke didn't follow. He went to sleep instead. We both did."
Officer Tylien adjusted her feet, her sneakers sliding across the marble floor as she did so. She looked oddly misplaced in this setting.
"Could he have sneaked out after her?"
Yoruichi couldn't help but smile when she recalled how strained his walk had been and their intimate their sleeping position later on. "No."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because we shared a bed."
One of the officer's eyebrows shot up. Her eyes bore into those of the younger woman.
"You shared a bed?"
"Yes."
Officer Tylien stood up, walking over to the video camera and turning it off. Yoruichi could make out a faint scent of papaya and coconut from hers shampoo even from the corner where she stood.
"Off the records," the officer said, her face was grim and sad. "I feel obligated to tell you something. The case of miss Hashi's death isn't the only one Mr Urahara is a suspect in, this case also follows the pattern of a murder that occurred little over 20 years ago. Because of this new case, Mr Urahara has also been made a suspect in that case. That one also involved a young woman being found dead within two hours of leaving his home."
There were no emotions showing on Yoruichi's features, but deep down she was terrified, just as anyone else would have been in that situation. Why was he a suspect in a twenty year old case? Had they realized something was off with their aging? They had kept such a low profile, how could it be?
"But he was barely ten years old then," her tone was blank.
The officer smiled while opening the room's wooden door. She held it for the younger woman to exit.
"I'm just saying, be careful, Miss. We are going to arrest Mr Urahara, but you are free to leave. And I suggest you do so."