Thanks to SoliderG65434-2 for beta-reading. This is the second to last chapter. s

Chapter 10

The last thing Urahara Kisuke expected to find when he opened his front door midnight was the figure of Shihonin Yoruichi bawling her eyes out. He knew that she expected him to let her go into her room. There was no way he was going to let that happen this time. As she slid past him Kisuke grabbed her by the wrist. "What happened?" he asked calmly. She said nothing.

"Yoruichi, you need to tell me what happened," he insisted.

"Why?" she demanded. "You can't fix it." He tugged on her wrist and led her inside to sit down on the couch. Now that he could see her in the light he saw what a mess she was. Yoruichi looked like she hadn't slept in a week. Her usual impeccable makeup had run and dried in streaks from her crying fits.

"Fix what?" Kisuke asked. "You were gone for a week. I had assumed you made up and your life was back to normal." Yoruichi shook her head. "I don't get it," he continued. "You apologized didn't you?"

"I apologized. But then I told her what really happened."

"What do you mean?" She said nothing. In that moment Kisuke transformed from his usual comforting self to an angry version.

"What the hell did you do to make the two of you break up again?" he yelled. "What was the truth that was so bad?"

Yoruichi was shocked. She had never seen Kisuke this angry. But she knew that the only way to calm him down would be to tell the truth. "I…I slept with another woman," she said quietly. Admitting it for a second time made her feel even worse.

Kisuke stared at her for a few moments. Finally he spoke, in the loosest sense of the word. "I can't believe you would do such a thing?" he roared. "You had a perfectly good relationship with Soi Fon and you-"

"I know," Yoruichi interrupted. "I'm a whore and I ruined it. You don't need to tell me again." He unfolded his fan to cover his face, this time out of resentment rather than amusement. From behind the fan came a question.

"Why did you do it?" Kisuke said in a much calmer voice.

She sighed. "I could make a thousand excuses. It was my fault though. I was drinking even though Soi told me not to and it…it just happened."

"Who was the girl?"

"I don't know. She's just some girl that Reiko had sleep with me."

Kisuke laughed for the first time that day. "The more you try to explain it the more complicated the story gets." He lowered his fan and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "Now, so we can continue on with the story, what did she do that was so bad? Other than try to kiss your girlfriend."

"Do you not remember anything?" He shrugged. "She's this girl who's obsessed with Soi Fon. She idolizes her, treats her like a goddess." The second those words left Yoruichi's mouth she realized the irony of them. She looked at Kisuke who raised an eyebrow in response. "Okay," she continued. "I know how it sounds. But this girl takes her obsession to the extreme."

"Really?"

"Yes really! She collects photographs of the two of us and tapes her picture over my face. Soi Fon certainly never did that."

"No, she certainly didn't," he responded. "But this still leaves a question to be answered; why did you lie to me about this? You conveniently left this part out when you explained it to me.

"I was ashamed," Yoruichi admitted. "I had just blown up at her because it looked like Reiko was about to kiss her. Especially after what I had just done."

Kisuke crossed his arms. "You know what you need to do now." Now it was Yoruichi's turn to laugh. But unlike his, this was laughter of disbelief.

"Are you kidding me? She'll never take me back!"

"Yoruichi," Kisuke started softly. He crossed the room and put his hands on her shoulders. "You love her. She loves you. The two of you can get over this."

"No," Yoruichi whispered. "We can't"

She slipped out from under his arms. She tried to walk out of the room calmly but she couldn't. Her resolve began to crumple the closer she got to the kitchen door.

"Yoruichi," he called out again. Attempts at ignoring him were futile. She turned.

There Kisuke stood, fan put away with a look of complete seriousness on his face. But there was nothing but contempt in his voice when he finally spoke.

"You're pathetic," he remarked softly. Yoruichi began to protest. He held up his right hand in order to quiet her. "Just listen to me," pleaded Kisuke.

"You're not the Yoruichi I know and love. You're this miserable, whining ghost of Yoruichi and frankly, a girl like you doesn't have a shot in hell with a girl like Soi Fon. You know who might have a shot somewhere down the line? Shihonin Yoruichi. The real Yoruichi. But if you don't go back to the Soul Society and try to get Soi Fon back, you're going to blow it and you're never going to forgive yourself. Of course, whatever I say you're just going to do the opposite. So stay here like you did one hundred years ago and cry every night. But that's not going to do anything, now is it? And if you're not going to listen to me," he paused for a breath. "Then I don't know how the rest of your life is going to work out." With that Kisuke moved to shut the screen in front of her. Yoruichi put out her foot and stopped it from shutting.

"You're right," she whispered. "You're completely right. Every single word was true." She brushed tears out of her eyes. "Can you go open the Senkaimon for me?" Kisuke nodded. He lifted the tatami panel that covered the door to the basement and went in.

Suddenly Yoruichi was overcome with a massive need to get some air. It was hot and stuffy in the Shoten and the sooner she got out the better.

Yoruichi sat on the front steps of the Urahara Shoten as she waited for Kisuke to open the gate to the Soul Society. It was a long process, which she knew. But her patience wasn't exactly there. She tapped her fingers against her knee. As she did so there came a sound of the screen opening and closing. "You done yet?" she asked without turning around.

"No," said a small voice. "Kisuke-san hasn't finished yet." Yoruichi turned around. It was Ururu.

"What are you doing out here?" she questioned the little girl. The child smiled.

"You looked lonely," Ururu commented. "And sad. And I didn't want you to be sad or lonely." The girl barely had time to finish her comment before Yoruichi had put her arms around her and was hugging her, hard. "Yoruichi," she gasped.

She pulled away from the hug. "Sorry Ururu, was I holding you to tight?" The child shook her head. She lifted a finger and pointed directly behind Yoruichi who turned her head. Behind her was a Senkaimon. Its familiar doors opened slowly as a stream of fog came out from the bottom. A shadowy figure stepped out, braids flying in the wind. As the Senkaimon disappeared Soi Fon was left staring in front of the Shoten. She looked around before her eyes landed on the two people on the front steps.

"Yoruichi," she whispered, her voice barely audible.