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Date & Time: backdated to June 1st, after Yoruichi finds out about her new roommate
Location: Urahara's shop
Characters: Urahara

trickstermentor and Yoruichi

goneonenight
Summary: Yoruichi goes to tell her BFF about the new unwelcome arrival.
Warnings: None yet.

After things were settled--more or less--back in her room, Yoruichi wasted no time getting over to Urahara's shop. Even if Yoruichi was reasonably certain of their chances against him if it came to that, Ichimaru was still too dangerous for her to delay sharing the news.

She pushed open the door to the shop, not bothering to announce her arrival. "Kisuke," she said, her voice abrupt. "We need to talk."

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Kisuke was busy calculating his figures when he felt the telltale prickles of Yoruichi's approaching reiryoku. With a smile, he laid aside his book and went to the fridge; he was just finishing pouring her a tall glass of cold milk when she walked in.

"Yoruichi-san, what brings you-"

Oh. That was unexpected; she sounded angry.

Under most circumstances, the words 'Kisuke, we need to talk' were never followed by particularly enjoyable tidings and for a moment he pondered what it was he could possibly have done to warrant a 'we need to talk.' He came up with nothing and proceeded to frown, blinking in confusion.

"I... I didn't do it?"

She snorted as she watched his thoughts race across his face, that lightning quick mind trying to work out what he'd done to get in trouble and how exactly to get out of it.

"Isn't that always the first thing you say?" she replied, her voice dry. "But no, I know you didn't."

Her gaze caught his, her eyes level and serious. "Ichimaru is here. He arrived with the last day or so."

His entire frame went stiff for a moment as her words hit home, and then very slowly he set the glass down atop the counter, keeping his face carefully neutral.

"I see."

Every trace of levity was gone from his voice as he turned to face her.

"Well. Not exactly a welcome arrival but not the worst person we could have expected. Where is he now?"

It was with a pang of regret that she watched him grow serious; if anyone had earned a break from the trouble at home, it was him. Still, wishing something to be didn't make it so, and the two of them were nothing if not pragmatic.

The news would only get worse, though, and since there was no way to sugarcoat it, she just came out and said it. "He's been assigned to my apartment."

With a casualness she didn't exactly feel, she came towards him and picked up the glass of milk, if nothing else, to give herself something to do with her hands.

"Well then, I hope you don't mind if I invite myself over to stay with you tonight."

As she reached out to take the glass, he mirrored the gesture to cover her hand with his.

"This is a setback," he said gently. "An inconvenience, nothing more. Ichimaru Gin showed his true colours before he died. The man despised Aizen Sousuke just as greatly as we did, there is nothing to suggest that he might try to do us harm and he is just as much a victim in the events here as we are."

His posture remained stiff as he let her hand free and his eyes hard.

"However, when one's hand is bitten by a fox, it would be a sure sign of stupidity to offer up the other without caution."

Her mouth twisted as he spoke; even knowing he was right, she had a hard time thinking of Ichimaru as a victim of anything. But the brief touch did exactly as it was supposed to; reinforced that they were together in this, no matter what may come.

"He didn't seem as though he wanted any trouble," she allowed. "But no, I still don't trust him, no matter how much he hated Aizen." Simply having an enemy in common didn't make him a good person--he'd caused enough harm all on his own.

As unwelcome as his arrival was, Yoruichi knows it had simply been a matter of time. While the Initiative hadn't brought in too many people from their world, it only stood to reason that they'd bring in an enemy eventually.

Hell, they'd brought the Devil from Castiel's world--they were hardly going to turn up their nose at Ichimaru Gin.

"Oh I don't suggest we trust him for even a second, he's already proven himself to be a prodigiously talented liar. It would be disastrously stupid to do a thing like that."

And yet... he was also talented in other more useful ways that couldn't be ignored, especially when in this case he had to assume that their alliances might lie somewhere in the area of being the same. Perhaps. He would need to think about this some more.

He laid his hands upon her shoulders, gently brushing her collarbone with his thumb.

"We have had worse setbacks than this, and we have overcome them. It's simply a case of knowing how best to manage the situation. We know what he is capable of. I would like to think that the same cannot be said by him with regards to us, and so we eke the advantage. For now. Then we shall see how to turn this negative into a positive. The more important question right now is: are you alright?"

He closed the distance between them and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

Yoruichi blew out a soft sigh. "I'm fine. I've been better, but," she shrugged, "whining won't change anything." Having him here wasn't ideal, but as Kisuke had said, they'd made it through worse.

Him living in her apartment did feel like something of an invasion, but she would adjust. It wouldn't be the first time she's been in close quarters with someone annoying and constantly mocking; he'd test her patience, but she had plenty of that.

"I didn't tell him you're here," she said, an edged smile tugging at her lips. "I thought you'd like to introduce yourself." Because there are very few people in Hueco Mundo or Seireitei who wouldn't think twice about getting on Urahara Kisuke's bad side.

"Oh I would very much enjoy ruining his day by greeting him unannounced, I am sure it would be the equivalent of biting into an apple and discovering half a worm." One hand left her shoulder to play with the ends of her hair. "Loath though I am to describe myself in such unflattering terms."

And if anyone were the worm in this situation, he would really much rather imagine it to be Ichimaru Gin.

"It will be alright, Yoru," he murmured softly. "Now, if you had come here and told me that the Initiative had seen fit to bring our dear old friend Aizen Sousuke here instead of his least faithful lieutenant, I would be less inclined to see the positive side of this setback. We should count our blessings where we can, and at least be grateful that we are not going to have to sit through any overly long monologues in our immediate future."

She set down her milk, letting him toy with her hair. She was still too on edge for any more overt affection than that, but she was quickly regaining her normal composure. The thought of Kisuke catching Ichimaru off guard did cheer her up a bit, even if the man was practiced at hiding his emotions.

A grimace flickered over her face at the mention of Aizen, and she had to roll her eyes. "It's like he couldn't help himself," she said, her voice dry. "Like he was so brilliant it was unthinkable he would deprive his enemies of the details of his plans."

It was fairly minor in the scope of all the harm Aizen had done, but she would freely admit that his droning on about his own brilliance had been particularly annoying. Yoruichi appreciated intelligence and the confidence that often came with it, but anyone as full of himself as Aizen deserved to be deprived of an audience--let him preen in solitude for the next few hundred centuries.

"It does rather lack in finesse to stand and gloat," Kisuke agreed, scratching a spot on his collarbone absently. "And it hardly invites others to celebrate your achievements. No one likes a bore, and a self satisfied bore is even more intolerable. By the way, I do invite you to smack some sense into me if I ever reach a level even remotely as insufferable as him."

He knew perfectly well he could be insufferable on the best of days, but as far as he was concerned he had a long way to go until he was on a par with his nemesis.

"Still. You know what they say about those who are all talk."

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