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Chapter 3: No Ordinary Love
She belongs to another man. It's a fact that is cut and dry, plain and simple, and any of those other annoying little sayings that humans seem to spout at an alarming rate. And usually, that's how he likes things. He loves for things to be black and white, because then he never has to worry about crossing lines. He knows exactly where they are, and so has no problem stepping over them.
But she belongs to someone else. And the line is drawn, crystal clear, in the sand waiting for his sandal clad foot. But unlike all the other lines, which beg and plead for him to step on them, this one mocks him. Daring him to throw away everything they've ever shared. This particular line is one that scares him. She scares him. He scares himself as well, if that makes any sense, and he's sure that it doesn't. He isn't really sure what it is that pulls her to him. Hell, she isn't sure about what it is that makes her want him.
But he does know that whatever it is, it's concrete. Solid. Like a rock, or piece of ice. Like their friendship is supposed to be. Like his heart when it drops into his stomach. It agitates the hell out of him, because first off, he's a genius. Geniuses know things, and not knowing things can severely piss them off. Secondly, he knows her. Has known her for years. So it makes absolutely no damned sense to him, that he can't figure her out.
He hates that he can't figure out why she's moaning in the middle of the night (well, of course he knows why, what he can't figure out, is how she could make such a sound, and he not be the cause of it). He can't stand the fact, that another man has put a smile on her face so bright, that the sun should turn away in embarrassment.
But there are some things that he does understand. He understands that she is not his, never has been and most likely never will be. And he understands that he is hers, because no woman has ever cast a spell on him in the way that she has, so subtle that it took him years to notice how warm he feels when she smiles at him. He understands that she needs him. Both of them, in ways that the other will never be comfortable with. Urahara realizes that she needs the loud and arrogant son of a bitch, because she needs his dominance over her (what very little he has anyway). He sees that Yoruichi needs him, because she also needs someone who exerts no dominance over her at all.
She craves balance. And they give it to her, one unknowingly and the other unhappily. After all, while her relationship may be made from fire, their friendship is the type that forms legends.
End
Okay, so the ending's a cop out. Inspiration left me right as I got to the very last paragraph. (Insert long-suffering sigh) such is life, no?