There's no snow here! And when there's gonna be snow I'll be surrounded by sand so here's my oneshot.
Now just a preface. I thought that when Yrouichi showed up at Urahara's he was way to happy to see her if she just left for so long. So I thought maybe they had a reunion before that one.
So here you go.
From the window in his hotel room Kisuke Urahara watched snow fall gently down to cover the street below him.
Yoruichi had gone a while ago, saying she needed 'time'. How much time, Urahara wasn't sure but he knew that when she was gone it was always too long. Unable to sit still he had taken off. He did not particularly care where he wound up, just that it was nowhere that reminded him of her. He wasn't sure how long he had been traveling, just that he had stopped when he was told that everything was booked for the next day already. He was not known for making plans in advance. Nor for thinking things through. But he was good at thinking on his feet and so he had found a hotel and settled down before the snow.
Down below him he watched couples and families running around the snow covered street with brightly wrapped packages. WIth a dull ache he realized it was Christmas Eve. Tessai was back in Japan, he didn't know where Yoruichi was. Shinji and the others had long ago gone off somewhere as well. Unable to just sit there Urahara pulled on a coat and walked out of the hotel and into the snow covered streets. Maybe he could walk long enough that he would be far too exhausted to remember how miserable his life was at the moment. He pulled his hat low on his head and walked faster.
The people and packages began to blur together until he found himself in another part of town. Spreading before him, covered in frost, was a public garden. Instead of the bright colors he knew usually decorated places such as this, it was covered in white. In the center of the place was a large pond, already frozen over. He could see a handful of families without skates even making their way across the frost, their laughter ringing out across the place. Spanning the pond was a bridge. The large globes of light on it cast patches of light on the ice of the pond under it. A little girl in a pink jacket was using it as a spotlight for her ice skating routine while her brother looked on, behaving only because it was christmas. Despite his mood Urahara smiled faintly at the simply joy that seemed to be present in the place.
A few couples were milling around the edges of the pond. Leaning against a tree, under the shelter of its branches, despite the cold he saw a man sketching whatever caught his fancy. Two boys streaked past him and a moment later he watched a little girl pick up a handful of snow and lob it at them, hitting one square on. The three collapsed in a fit of giggles as their parents came to them with promises of hot chocolate and Santa in the morning. As she picked up her daughter the woman caught his eye. Her lips curved into a smile as she whispered something to the girl who grinned and nodded eagerly.
"Merry Christmas!" she called, waving a mittened hand.
Urahara had to smile at that as he raised his hand and returned the wave. With nothing better to do he walked towards the bridge, his hands tucked into the pockets of his dark green coat. Around his neck he wore a bright wool scarf but he couldn't help but think of the Kuchiki's. The Kuchiki's meant the Shihon's and the Shihon's meant Yoruichi. Frustrated with himself he walked over to the edge of the bridge and leaned against the narrow rail. In the center of the frozen pond he could see a small island. He imagined in spring ducks lived there. At the moment the only thing there were two people laughing as they slipped around the side of the island, their shoes gliding across the smooth surface of the pond.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of someone coming up the steps that lead to the bridge. He could have sworn they were wearing orange, but he could have been mistaken. Besides, orange didn't necessarily mean Yoruichi. Though he would probably always think of her in orange from the ball where they had shared their first kiss and she would probably always think of him in dark green for the same reason. He turned back to the pond with a shake of his head. He knew he missed her but still, it had been a long time and it wasn't as though he had any claim to her.
Still he was a warrior and he felt eyes on the back of his neck. He almost didn't turn around. He almost didn't want to turn around. If it was her, he wasn't sure what he'd do. If it was her--if it was her he was equally unsure. She had just left. when she said she needed time it was not with her words. It was with a note that was left on his pillow when he woke up one morning fully expecting her to be there. Whoever was looking at him was obviously not going away. Apparently he was taking too long because the confirmation of the person's identity came when she spoke his name in a voice he had almost forgotten.
"Hello Kisuke."
The words sent physical pain down his spine. No-one called him Kisuke anymore. No-one save for her. Slowly he turned around. Her hair was tucked under her hat but he had a feeling that it was longer than when he had last seen her. Her gold eyes were unusually somber but still beautiful set in the dusky gold of her skin. Her coat was the same dark orange as the kimono she had worn when she was a Princess. Before she had left that all behind.
Before she had left him behind.
He tried to say something, to say anything but the words seemed to catch in his throat. despite knowing that helping the others was right, there was very little to say why Yoruichi had stood by him in spite of it costing her everything. The only person who seemed more confused by what she had done was Yoruichi herself. Urahara remembered one particularly drunk night Tessai had slurred that he didn't understand how two people as brilliant as them could be such idiots. Urahara had shrugged it off. People had been calling him an idiot a hell of a lot longer than they had been calling him anything else. Though now faced with Yoruichi again he couldn't help but think that once again Tessai might have been right.
If there was one thing Urahara truly hated in the world, it was when Tessai was right.
Before he could truly fathom what he was doing he did the last thing either of them expected.
He smiled.
Yoruichi's gold eyes widened. When she tracked him down to wherever the hell they were she hadn't expected him to smile at her. She expected him to show that anger he so rarely displayed. Maybe not be hurt or upset but definitely angry with her. After all she had run away from, well, from everything. Her feelings, his feelings, the life they were slowly putting together. Goddess of the Flash, ha! She should be Goddess of the cowards for what she had done. But there he was standing on the other side of the bridge across some invisible line she had drawn between them wearing a green coat dusted with snow and he was smiling at her.
Suddenly she was torn.
Part of her wanted to run away again. It was telling her this was a mistake, she left him and she should just stay away before it got her into heaps of trouble again. She was a warrior, the Head of a Clan. Her parents, her tutors, everyone had told her that her willingness to open her heart others was a liability. In politics, in life, in everything. Especially opening her heart to someone like Kisuke Urahara, someone who went against everything her world was supposed to be. They had been right, it had cost her everything. Her and the Clan and the Second Division--all of it was gone because when he had been arrested, when the possibility of loosing him forever had come up, she had heard her heart break at the prospect alone.
But part of her wanted to run to him. In truth she was afraid of loving him as much as she did. She had fled after everything because the thought of what she had done for him scared her. She knew he was alive and well and for her that was enough--or it had been. It had been until the loneliness sent aches down her spine and she had returned to Japan to seek him out. She found Tessai with no problem. He told her Urahara had left, muttering something about being unable to stay any longer. Then he called her an idiot. And so she had searched Urahara out. It had never been hard to find him before but this time it was. That was more frightening than anything else. She told herself that she hadn't wanted to see him before but when she couldn't find him all she could think was that he didn't want to see her.
But there he was, smiling at her from across some invisible divide. Snow was falling around them both. All around them were happy couples and families and all she could do was stand there, unsure if she was part of one or alone in the world. His smile didn't set butterflies off in her stomach, instead it made her feel--it made her feel warm.
Somehow they crossed the distance, arms going around each other as they held onto the other tightly. Green and orange, purple and blond, it all mingled together with the white of the snow. He was taller and broader, she was curvier and her hair was longer, they had both stopped being constant fighters and it showed. She didn't care, he didn't care either as they stood with their bodies pressed tightly together.
"Tessai was right," she muttered into the fabric of his shoulder.
"I hate it when that happens," he said. She tightened her arms around him, aware of just how long it had been since she heard him speak, "hey, Yoruichi," he looked at her.
"Mm?" she looked up at him.
"Merry Christmas."
Yoruichi smiled.
"Merry Christmas, Kisuke," she said.
Back under the tree the artist flipped to a new page in his sketchbook and began to draw the couple kissing on the bridge.
Okay so maybe Urahara and Yoruichi don't celebrate christmas but whatever.
Happy Holidays to all!
This one's on hiatus now as well!