Author's Note: Black Kat is a person I know in real life, so I'm using their alias.


Keeping Watch

To: Black Kat

Yoruichi quietly slipped back into her more feline form, leaving her clothes behind and neatly piled up. The black cat quietly slipped out of the window of the Urahara Shoten, leaving barely a trace of her being there behind.

From behind a wall, the owner of the shop sat down and took a short sip of tea, "My, my, Yoruichi. It seems you're really worried about the boy. You know you can't have him." he smiled quietly before finishing his tea.

Already many yards away from the closed shop, the black cat leaped gracefully from rooftop to rooftop, her stiff golden eyes scanning the distance for her target, the Kurosaki Clinic, or as she called it, the morgue for those who are still alive. She never really liked the sight of blood, nor could ever get used to it. But it was something she sees on a near daily basis, even in that respect, cold red blood still sent shivers up her back.

There was one thing different between the way she trained Ichigo and the way Kisuke train him, she would always take some time to talk with him after training, while Kisuke would go off and start to do something else. Of course, she always fought back this stinging, nearly lustful urge far deep inside of her. She could hardly believe it herself, but she found herself attached to Ichigo. She knew it was forbidden, that's what she told herself but that lie never worked. But she vowed to protect Ichigo during the night.

Finally arriving at the Clinic, she peered down into Ichigo's window, watching the young teenager sleep silently and peacefully. There was something else that bothered her when it came to Ichigo. And that was Rukia. Yoruichi understood far more then anyone would assume what goes through a person's mind. And she already knew how close Ichigo and Rukia before even meeting the former. But as she trained and watched her pupil grow and become stronger, and realize how this cub became a lion.

"You've grown. Most defiantly." Three months have passed ever since Rukia left and she noticed how restless Ichigo has been, more so then ever. She knew how his thoughts when he was idle always drifted back to Rukia, she could see it in his eyes. How in school they always drift up towards the sky as if waiting for the Shinigami appointed to his city would run by fighting a hollow. Or how during dinner he would always take a plate of leftovers and bring them upstairs, only to remember that she was no longer there.

When her thoughts finally came back to herself, she realized how silly she is. Nearly obsessed over this boy so many years younger then herself. At times it scared her how alike he is to her, minus the constant scowl. If only they had met many years before, they might of fallen in love. But now, it's impossible, but she will still protect his pupil whatever the cost. There she stood, all night. Keeping watch over someone she barely knew.