Disclaimer: I still don't own Bleach. But I'm dealing with it okay.


"I have to confess something," she says.

"You confronted Kisuke a full three years before the so-called intervention?" Juushirou raises an eyebrow.

"No. I waited at least four. But that's not what I wanted to tell you," Yoruichi snaps.

Noting the change in her tone, Juushirou takes a breath and lays his palms flat on the table, as if bracing himself. "Go ahead."

She closes her eyes. "I regretted walking away from you," she says. "I was all kinds of guilty and instead of talking to you like I always did, I ran. I knew better, but I ran." When she opens her eyes she finds him gazing at her, a bemused expression on his face. A barely perceptible blush surfaces on her cheeks.

"Just say you still love me," Juushirou says. "I promise I won't laugh."

Her eyes narrow. "Did you think I'd lie about that if asked?"

"I did," he says. "Not because you are ashamed of it. But because that was the only way anyone would have been able to get to you. Aside from using Kisuke."

"Then you understand," she murmurs.

"I understand that when it all fell into place I finally realized what a martyr you could be," he says. When he reaches for her hand she hesitates for barely a second before letting him take it.

"You forgot to say I'm also a complete idiot," she says.

"There's no point in telling you that. You already know," he smiles at her sadly. "But then idiocy is contagious. The only one with a clear head back then was Shunsui. And the two of you took care of that."

Kisuke didn't saunter into the thirteenth division compound until long after dark.

Juushirou and Shunsui almost argued about the meaning of his tardiness in the hours after they had sent for him. Juushirou insisted he would come and was willing to be guided in the right direction by his well-meaning friends. Shunsui was vocally certain he was already beyond help, and the real matter at issue now was how to smooth things over. Neither of them knew how it could be done, if the situation was as bad as they suspected. Both theories went to pieces when Kisuke came in, smiling and guileless as ever. "Is there something urgent going on, gentlemen?" he asked.

Shunsui spoke first. "Kisuke, an alarming rumor has reached my ears. We're you friends here, and you know you can trust us. Please tell us what you've been doing."

"A rumor?" Kisuke's eyes were sparkling. "Can't be much of a rumor if you're riled about it, Kyouraku-san. You've always been able to tell the difference between fact and fiction."

Shunsui smiled back at him. "Then you must understand why I'm concerned."

"I do. I'd like to assure you that I'm not doing anything bad."

"Were you aware that Central 46 probably doesn't share that opinion?" Juushirou broke in.

Kisuke blanched, but only a little. "I am aware of that. I suspected I could never trust Mayuri. But he has talent. That's why he's my second."

"His talents are worthless if he'd betray his captain for no good reason," Shunsui hissed. "I'd rip the little toad limb from limb if I didn't care about dirtying my hands. But Kisuke, if we're to help you in any way here, we need to know what he has on you."

"Aside from Hou Gyoku?"

"Yes," Juushirou said.

"A gigai," Kisuke said simply. "I developed a new gigai to hide it in."

"Gigais are for shinigami," Juushirou said. "They can be tracked."

"Not this one," a new voice said. The three men turned to find Yoruichi at the door. The relief Juushirou felt at the sight of her disspated as he scanned her face. It was hard, colder than he'd ever seen her. Was she angry? At who?

Shunsui's eyes were wide. "Cannot be tracked. . . ? That's completely illegal!"

"Yoruichi, don't," Kisuke said.

"Kisuke, shut up. Please." She looked at Shunsui, then at Juushirou. "I'm sorry," she said and fumbled in her uniform for something.

Kisuke surged to her with an urgency no one had ever witnessed in him. She gasped as he threw his arms around her. "Don't do this, Shihouin. If I'm to be punished for this, let it be only me. I know what I've done. I can face the consequences. I don't want you involved." He kissed her temple.

She pushed him away roughly. "I'm already involved. Loving you makes it impossible not to be. But we love our friends too." She looked again at Juushirou. "We can stop this from spreading to them."

"Wait, Yoruichi." Shunsui stepped toward them, hands held out as if he were talking to a wild beast. "We can't call ourselves his friends without helping him."

Yoruichi let out an exasperated sigh. Her hands were moving again, and this time she clutched a little canister in her right hand. Kisuke stopped it with his own. "Are you sure?" he asked her.

"As sure as I'll ever be." She turned to the other two men. "You need to forget you saw us tonight." Before she could be questioned she turned to Shunsui. A bright light went off, and the look of shock on his face melted away as he wobbled and collapsed. Then she turned to Juushirou.

He shook his head. "Why?" he asked, his voice a hoarse whisper. "After all this time. . ."

The look in her eyes could not be defined. "Because right now we're a liability to you. We love you too much to let you be dragged any further into this." As she touched his face, the flash of light went off and the dark consumed him.

He awoke, groggy and disoriented, to the frantic shaking of Shiba Kaien. His eyes were wild, and his news was horrific. Urahara Kisuke had been arrested. By Shihouin Yoruichi herself.