Misson Log
Title: Not Gonna Get Us
Characters: Urahara Kisuke, Shihouin Yoruichi
Location: Same bar that Urahara & Aizen were at
Timeframe: Directly after this log. It's a continuation of sorts
Status: closed
Warnings: Staying up until 2 in the morning doing this log was well worth it... Lots of running and being drunk in this.
It was better to quit while you're ahead, at least that's what everyone told Urahara, and for once he was going to take the advice. He knew his limit, and since he was already feeling a tad bit - scratch that - rather buzzed, he had to stop before he said something that would backfire in the future.
He spoke his partings to Aizen, and steered himself through the crowd to where Yoruichi sat at the bar. "You like it?" He leaned backwards against the bar, elbows resting on the wood. A goofy smile was nearly plastered across his face as he looked to her. "I was talk'n to Sousuke ov' there, having a nice conversation, 'nd all." He really hoped he didn't sound as drunk as it came out. He really hoped he wasn't as drunk as he felt, and he mentally started to sing the ABC's to prove himself wrong.
Yoruichi gave a long, measured blink that said about the same thing as a mild snicker: you're quite nearly smashed, how funny. Taking a less than thoughtful sip of her drink, she nodded, lips curving up as she arched a brow at Kisuke, shaking her head. The smile lessened slightly at the mention of Sousuke, but did not disappear. If anyone had a handle on a proper poker face, it was Yoruichi, even if she could and certainly would get flat-broke drunk as much as the next person. Speaking of which...or thinking, she ordered two more drinks, and rolled her eyes as she turned back to her long time companion and comrade in the less than legal.
"Now then...Sousuke? I hope you weren't in this state while talking with him," she drawled, lazy on the outside, a thoughtful and pacing person on her mind's interior. Where Sousuke was concerned nothing could really be taken for face value, and the biggest mistake, unfortunately was supposing nothing he said was true by necessity, only to find out later it was true. This made her brain cringe slightly as Yoruichi was fond of instinct and impulse, but she was no stranger to strategy and potential secrecy as well, so she found herself often trying to figure out men like Kisuke and men like Sousuke.
"What were you talking about anyway?" she said and gave her mad hatter of a friend a serious look before it changed quickly back to more of a grin, if a tentative one. If Kisuke had said anything even slightly suspicious, or worse, not suspicious, they could both be in rather hot water. Wrinkling her nose a bit, Yoruichi tilted her head to one side, propping her elbow on the bar and her chin on the palm of her hand, wondering what Sousuke was doing at a place like this to begin with.
Of course what it came down to was that Yoruichi simply didn't trust the man, but then, who could a person trust these days?
She didn't much care for the answer, even if it was the truth.
"Oh no... I was getting to this stage with 'im. Rest assured." Urahara managed to sit on the stool, and imitating Yoruichi's posture, looked back at her with his chin resting in the palm of his hand. "And are you getting drunk, m'dear?" He nodded in her direction, "Because that's some heavy stuff."
He had heard her question, asking what he and Aizen had talked about, and he wanted to answer, he really did, but this wasn't the place to do so. Their conversation had disturbed him, made him want to hide again, like he did 8 or more years ago. Talking with Aizen little over a month ago brought out the side of him he hated - the paranoid, over cautious side... who happened to crave nicotine, and it was begging to come back out again. "I'll talk about the conversation with you when I don't feel a headache coming on..." He finally spoke softly, well knowing he probably looked completely zoned out.
It was always Yoruichi that calmed him, giving him that slap across the face that hit him like cold water, jolting him back into synch. When he left the Confederation, bitter at the loss of his parents and angry for creating the hougyoku, he was a total wreck and stayed in that state during his time working for Gotei Ent. He knew he was considered dead when he disappeared, when in reality he was working nonstop building the Benihime. When they crossed paths, everything changed; he finally quit beating himself over the small things and accepted his mistakes.
"Besides, we mostly talked about boystuff that'd cause you to make that scary angry face~!" With a devilish smile, he poked her cheek.
Yoruichi took another sip of her current drink while ordering another type of alcoholic beverage with her free hand, an elegant and deft flick of her wrist that sent the bartender scurrying. Eyes narrowing almost playfully at her old friend, she quirked a half smile at him as she stirred her current drink a few times, blinking slowly before considering a reply that might be worth something and provide proper results. She'd seen him like this before, a few times in the same window of his life, a period of paranoia and strangeness she really didn't care to see him relive again, or help him relive for that matter.
"Drunk? Kisuke, you know the Shihouin better than that," she all but purred, and dragged her forefinger carelessly down the side of his face, gentle yet somehow not as this was Yoruichi and everything she did seemed to have a bit of an edge, so to speak. "As for what you discussed, that's fine, better, proper even of you to keep it to yourself until next time I ask you," she assured him with soft but strong sentiment as she also examined the pieces of her other question and their importance.
"Was he drunk too?" she asked even though she felt she had the answer already. Sousuke, drunk? Please, she thought with a roll of her eyes, but weirder things had happened…probably-and by probably, Yoruichi of course meant, not likely at all. The poke to her cheek was a familiar gesture that she batted away but not without a reply of a growl.
"I hope you didn't say anything about that," she muttered under her breath, downing this drink and beginning on the next, newly placed by her right hand.
"No..." Urahara noticed out the corner of his eye that Sousuke had left, vanished almost. "He had a few drinks, but he didn't show any sign of intoxication." Urahara replied, and began to grow perplexed at the thought that Aizen had not even tried to take advantage of the situation. If their roles were reversed, Urahara knew he'd be trying to weasel any information as possible.
Signaling to the bartender, Urahara requested his check. He had enough for the night, and even though he had been far more drunk than this, the liquid in his stomach wasn't settling too well. "Yoru-" He stopped in mid-syllable as something - or someones - moved outside the window. It was dark, and the area wasn't that well lit, but he recognized those navy uniforms anywhere.
Normally the circumstances didn't bother him, he'd been in and around Confederation soldiers many times, and due to his long absence, they usually didn't recognized who he was until long after he had paid and left. But of course this was different - the meeting with Aizen, the possibility of being blackmailed, all the encrypted codes running through Benihime's networks.
He made his payment with the bartender, and with a low whisper to Yoruichi's ear, "I think we should go." To the normal viewer it looked like an intimate gesture, playful and coy, and he played it off as one.
Yoruichi nodded to him, playing up the 'show of affection' as their cover just a bit, her smile widening ever so slightly as she leaned in close enough to brush her lips against the side of his face with a smug whisper of, "Sure. I saw them before you though, you know. You're smashed after all."
The way she stood was much akin to a cat standing after laying on its belly, a long, sort of sensuous movement that carried through her entire body, a practiced ease to it as she also slung a lithe arm around Kisuke's shoulders and drew her face next to his a gain.
"For the record, as neither of us trust your friend, chess is possibly not the best option for the both of you, considering the players, " she said bluntly, leaning back again and placing her hand on her hip now, her hidden firearm still secure in her right boot. She had a few others but that one had seemed the most concealable before leaving to such a place, and under the awareness of his company, Yoruichi had had no intention of bringing anything remotely visible. Aizen seemed kind and patient, calm and philosophical, but there was part of the problem.
A man that smart, smart like Kisuke and quiet about it?
She didn't trust him, even if she could throw the man quite a distance.
"Come on, like you said, we should go," she beckoned in what would appear, to anyone else, a come-hither motion to someone about to leave the bar for a far more interesting activity.
Granted, eluding people wasn't exactly boring work of course.
She was mocking him, but she was correct in every sense. What was brooding up, whatever the outcome of it all, was not going to be pretty. Personally, Urahara wasn't going to worry about it until more information came up, especially about the stolen replica of the orb and about the code (well, those two things seemed to be interrelated now after talking with Aizen).
When they stepped out of the bar, a cool breeze brushed through the air, and it took a brief moment for Urahara's eyes to adjust to the dimmness. The Fed soldiers were standing under a light post smoking and laughing about something, not taking notice of the two.
"Yoruichi..." Urahara placed his hand on her shoulder, followed by the bridge of his nose touching on top. "I rather avoid conflict tonight - I have nothing on me, for starters..." His voice was practically muffled as he began to pull her in the opposite direction of the soldiers, which luckily was the direction they needed to be going. "If they start to follow, I believe there's an alleyway we can hide in up the block."
This was real cute, he knew he'd never be able to forget this night by her - getting drunk, not carrying anything on him... at least he had his hat.
She found him, if anything else, or rather, nothing else, amusing, but really, he was more than that and Yoruichi nodded with a very briefly lived solemn expression as they moved away from the source of potential trouble, smiling again, a lazy smile that could deceive most people into underestimating her, or even, simply proffering to her whatever she wanted. Batting in false play at his hat, sending it down over his eyes, she arched a brow at his comment.
Nothing? Unusual, yet even right away she considered her own precaution. Aizen surely would have noticed any weapon, been suspicious, or puzzled it all out then and there, even worse.
"An alley? Kisuke," she chided, a deep entertainment in her tone as she drawled in what could only be a playful and inviting manner. "That doesn't sound very noble," she teased, "Hiding in an alley, but then it's not up to us to be the noble ones anymore," she finished quietly as they continued moving up the street, the din of the Feds fading out nicely. "You're a real fool. I hope you have a better plan than…he does," she said in a hushed voice, shaking her head slightly.
"About that..." Urahara spoke in a soft sing-song.
He continued to allow Yoruichi to lead, hand still firmly on her shoulder, as his mind began to wander. Aizen probably did have a plan, and Urahara? Pretty much going with the flow, running around like a chicken with it's head cut off - or to put it nicely, there was no plan yet. But he did have an idea.
Although they weren't too far on the outskirts of the city, and the Gotei ship hanger was at least a mile or so away, it was surprising how poor that section of town was. Although most of the city had been updated and fairly modern, this area looked like it had been almost missed.
"They are following..." It wasn't a surprise, to either of them. "But they're doing it carelessly - they might be intoxicated too. Who knows where they've been before coming here." Even though drunk, he still like to think himself as analytical. Although his idea of hiding in the alley was childish, at this rate, and judging how far down the soldiers were, there was a chance it might work.
When they reached the alleyway, Urahara's hand slipped off her shoulder, down her arm, enclosing her hand. Before she could even utter anything, he began to run, hoping that they could reach the end of the alleyway and around the corner to hide before the soldiers caught up.
The Feds were indeed following them, but as Kisuke himself had said or suggested, rather carelessly. With a lazy slide of her eyes in their general direction, Yoruichi had only a moment to notice his hand enclosing hers before he began running.
He had remarkable speed and steadiness for a drunk man. She'd give him that.
"Yes, I saw they were, but you don't have to run. They couldn't catch up if they tried," she grinned at him as she pulled ahead, pulling him with her this time as she took the definitive lead, her lips never curving down in the slightest. She knew their enemy as well as she knew herself, as well as she knew the man beside and slightly behind her: their enemy was mostly a well organized platoon of fools with a genius a their center.
Never mind that Yoruichi had pretty much decided on who that genius was years ago.
Yes, never mind that.
"Come on, old man," she teased lightly, running even faster as she noted the Feds round the far corner of the alley they'd come through. "No need to be caught today…or tomorrow for that matter," she tossed in dryly and they turned the corner with, slightly unnecessary sharpness.
A grin quickly spread across his face as they rounded the corner. "Ok, I lied about not having anything on me... I just didn't think it'd actually be needed." He pulled out a small metal square looking object, and pressed a button. A small sliver of metal popped out, where he pressed his thumb onto it, as well as Yoruichi's thumb.
Taking note of a large dumpster ahead of them, and with surprisingly quick reflexes, he pulled her down with him behind it without much of a sound. Although Yoruichi's weight on top of him nearly winded him in such a quick grab action, he managed to press the button again to his device.
Within a split second, two nearly identical holograms appeared above them (although the clothing was different, but who would've noticed in this poor lighting? The alley was nearly black.), and continued to run in the direction they were heading.
Seconds later, the small group of soldiers ran past them following the holograms - not even the slightest bit inclined to look anywhere other than in front of them.
He sighed, "Those will last them maybe 5 minutes... I still need perfecting them." He pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, before glancing at Yoruichi. "Clever, yes? Admit it..." He grinned.
Eyes narrowing in an intrigued, yet laid back manner, Yoruichi nodded.
"Clever, for a smart man," she replied with no small amount of coyness and cleverness of her own, standing slowly and pulling him up with one hand easily. "That's very impressive actually. The last time I saw that toy, you only had its possibilities for one active hologram, but now you have two, and for a sustained amount of time." Hands running through her hair, she began back at a much more relaxed pace, to the battered ship.
"Regardless of what you spoke about with Aizen…we can't think of it that way, the way you might like to, you know," she said quietly for once. "As far as I am concerned, he was never quite friend material," she growled the last bit, eyeing the damage to the Benihime with a deep breath as she continued on, Kisuke in tow. They were safe, she thought, but what if Kisuke had slipped, told them something else….
Yoruichi really couldn't say.
"I know." He spoke softly, before reaching up to the keypad. "Ever since he began prying into my past, I had questions about him."
The staircase leading up to the inside slowly descended, as Urahara glanced at his hat in his hands. "My plans are to finish repairing the ships this week, then... We'll go from there." All the adrenaline was fading, and tiredness was settling in.
He followed Yoruichi up the stairs, leading up to the hanger where the Rubicon was still being housed in. He closed the door, and just it shut, a small group of florescent lights turned on, lighting their pathes to the door leading to the hallway.
When they were about to go their separate ways, Urahara turned and grabbed Yoruichi's hand, "Wait... I just want to thank you." He didn't mean to sound so serious as he placed a soft kiss to her temple, but just as he pulled away, he didn't know what overcame him as he managed to push her back, his lips meeting hers.
He waited for the slap, he knew it would probably be coming, but drunk or not, he really was acting on his own free will. He'd be lying if he said he did it out of whim.
Repairing the ships, fine, though he hadn't exactly answered her question, Yoruichi noted without a grudge. Smiling a little more lightly as they walked through the silent corridor of Benihime, she was about to tell him that he should know he could call on her, that they were old friends. Instead she found herself briefly speechless as he kissed her temple, thanking her. The initial bout of speechlessness over, she meant then to tell him to stop being an idiot: they didn't need to thank each other; they were past that sort of thing. Then his lips found hers and that sentence dropped off the face of space too as Yoruichi brought one hand up to rest on the back of his neck, leaning into the kiss, because why not? .
And it was nice to be appreciated after all.
"Clever," she repeated as from earlier, positive that he could feel her smile against his mouth before she pulled away. Stepping back a moment, she shot him a look of pure contemplation before swiping his hat. "I think I'll hold onto this one for a while," she said, passing him toward her temporary quarters. "And don't give me that look," she added.
"I know you have at least five more of this exact same hat somewhere on this ship of yours."
Smirking as she settled it upon her own head, she turned away, the usual saunter of her walk a little more paced. This night had been weird, but Yoruichi had the distinct certainty that it would not be the last weird night, or the weirdest…and by weird she meant eventful and curious of course. What was Aizen's game? Did he have one?
More likely he thought he was the one in control, but Yoruichi had grown up having problems with overly authoritative positions and this one seemed even more twisted, as nothing seemed wrong on the surface. Kisuke's very rare case of exposed concern was enough to make her take this oddness seriously, however, and as she entered her room, tossing the hat on the simple desk in the corner, she frowned.
They would have to be the smarter ones to come out on top.
Characters: Urahara Kisuke, Shihouin Yoruichi
Location: Same bar that Urahara & Aizen were at
Timeframe: Directly after this log. It's a continuation of sorts
Status: closed
Warnings: Staying up until 2 in the morning doing this log was well worth it... Lots of running and being drunk in this.
It was better to quit while you're ahead, at least that's what everyone told Urahara, and for once he was going to take the advice. He knew his limit, and since he was already feeling a tad bit - scratch that - rather buzzed, he had to stop before he said something that would backfire in the future.
He spoke his partings to Aizen, and steered himself through the crowd to where Yoruichi sat at the bar. "You like it?" He leaned backwards against the bar, elbows resting on the wood. A goofy smile was nearly plastered across his face as he looked to her. "I was talk'n to Sousuke ov' there, having a nice conversation, 'nd all." He really hoped he didn't sound as drunk as it came out. He really hoped he wasn't as drunk as he felt, and he mentally started to sing the ABC's to prove himself wrong.
Yoruichi gave a long, measured blink that said about the same thing as a mild snicker: you're quite nearly smashed, how funny. Taking a less than thoughtful sip of her drink, she nodded, lips curving up as she arched a brow at Kisuke, shaking her head. The smile lessened slightly at the mention of Sousuke, but did not disappear. If anyone had a handle on a proper poker face, it was Yoruichi, even if she could and certainly would get flat-broke drunk as much as the next person. Speaking of which...or thinking, she ordered two more drinks, and rolled her eyes as she turned back to her long time companion and comrade in the less than legal.
"Now then...Sousuke? I hope you weren't in this state while talking with him," she drawled, lazy on the outside, a thoughtful and pacing person on her mind's interior. Where Sousuke was concerned nothing could really be taken for face value, and the biggest mistake, unfortunately was supposing nothing he said was true by necessity, only to find out later it was true. This made her brain cringe slightly as Yoruichi was fond of instinct and impulse, but she was no stranger to strategy and potential secrecy as well, so she found herself often trying to figure out men like Kisuke and men like Sousuke.
"What were you talking about anyway?" she said and gave her mad hatter of a friend a serious look before it changed quickly back to more of a grin, if a tentative one. If Kisuke had said anything even slightly suspicious, or worse, not suspicious, they could both be in rather hot water. Wrinkling her nose a bit, Yoruichi tilted her head to one side, propping her elbow on the bar and her chin on the palm of her hand, wondering what Sousuke was doing at a place like this to begin with.
Of course what it came down to was that Yoruichi simply didn't trust the man, but then, who could a person trust these days?
She didn't much care for the answer, even if it was the truth.
"Oh no... I was getting to this stage with 'im. Rest assured." Urahara managed to sit on the stool, and imitating Yoruichi's posture, looked back at her with his chin resting in the palm of his hand. "And are you getting drunk, m'dear?" He nodded in her direction, "Because that's some heavy stuff."
He had heard her question, asking what he and Aizen had talked about, and he wanted to answer, he really did, but this wasn't the place to do so. Their conversation had disturbed him, made him want to hide again, like he did 8 or more years ago. Talking with Aizen little over a month ago brought out the side of him he hated - the paranoid, over cautious side... who happened to crave nicotine, and it was begging to come back out again. "I'll talk about the conversation with you when I don't feel a headache coming on..." He finally spoke softly, well knowing he probably looked completely zoned out.
It was always Yoruichi that calmed him, giving him that slap across the face that hit him like cold water, jolting him back into synch. When he left the Confederation, bitter at the loss of his parents and angry for creating the hougyoku, he was a total wreck and stayed in that state during his time working for Gotei Ent. He knew he was considered dead when he disappeared, when in reality he was working nonstop building the Benihime. When they crossed paths, everything changed; he finally quit beating himself over the small things and accepted his mistakes.
"Besides, we mostly talked about boystuff that'd cause you to make that scary angry face~!" With a devilish smile, he poked her cheek.
Yoruichi took another sip of her current drink while ordering another type of alcoholic beverage with her free hand, an elegant and deft flick of her wrist that sent the bartender scurrying. Eyes narrowing almost playfully at her old friend, she quirked a half smile at him as she stirred her current drink a few times, blinking slowly before considering a reply that might be worth something and provide proper results. She'd seen him like this before, a few times in the same window of his life, a period of paranoia and strangeness she really didn't care to see him relive again, or help him relive for that matter.
"Drunk? Kisuke, you know the Shihouin better than that," she all but purred, and dragged her forefinger carelessly down the side of his face, gentle yet somehow not as this was Yoruichi and everything she did seemed to have a bit of an edge, so to speak. "As for what you discussed, that's fine, better, proper even of you to keep it to yourself until next time I ask you," she assured him with soft but strong sentiment as she also examined the pieces of her other question and their importance.
"Was he drunk too?" she asked even though she felt she had the answer already. Sousuke, drunk? Please, she thought with a roll of her eyes, but weirder things had happened…probably-and by probably, Yoruichi of course meant, not likely at all. The poke to her cheek was a familiar gesture that she batted away but not without a reply of a growl.
"I hope you didn't say anything about that," she muttered under her breath, downing this drink and beginning on the next, newly placed by her right hand.
"No..." Urahara noticed out the corner of his eye that Sousuke had left, vanished almost. "He had a few drinks, but he didn't show any sign of intoxication." Urahara replied, and began to grow perplexed at the thought that Aizen had not even tried to take advantage of the situation. If their roles were reversed, Urahara knew he'd be trying to weasel any information as possible.
Signaling to the bartender, Urahara requested his check. He had enough for the night, and even though he had been far more drunk than this, the liquid in his stomach wasn't settling too well. "Yoru-" He stopped in mid-syllable as something - or someones - moved outside the window. It was dark, and the area wasn't that well lit, but he recognized those navy uniforms anywhere.
Normally the circumstances didn't bother him, he'd been in and around Confederation soldiers many times, and due to his long absence, they usually didn't recognized who he was until long after he had paid and left. But of course this was different - the meeting with Aizen, the possibility of being blackmailed, all the encrypted codes running through Benihime's networks.
He made his payment with the bartender, and with a low whisper to Yoruichi's ear, "I think we should go." To the normal viewer it looked like an intimate gesture, playful and coy, and he played it off as one.
Yoruichi nodded to him, playing up the 'show of affection' as their cover just a bit, her smile widening ever so slightly as she leaned in close enough to brush her lips against the side of his face with a smug whisper of, "Sure. I saw them before you though, you know. You're smashed after all."
The way she stood was much akin to a cat standing after laying on its belly, a long, sort of sensuous movement that carried through her entire body, a practiced ease to it as she also slung a lithe arm around Kisuke's shoulders and drew her face next to his a gain.
"For the record, as neither of us trust your friend, chess is possibly not the best option for the both of you, considering the players, " she said bluntly, leaning back again and placing her hand on her hip now, her hidden firearm still secure in her right boot. She had a few others but that one had seemed the most concealable before leaving to such a place, and under the awareness of his company, Yoruichi had had no intention of bringing anything remotely visible. Aizen seemed kind and patient, calm and philosophical, but there was part of the problem.
A man that smart, smart like Kisuke and quiet about it?
She didn't trust him, even if she could throw the man quite a distance.
"Come on, like you said, we should go," she beckoned in what would appear, to anyone else, a come-hither motion to someone about to leave the bar for a far more interesting activity.
Granted, eluding people wasn't exactly boring work of course.
She was mocking him, but she was correct in every sense. What was brooding up, whatever the outcome of it all, was not going to be pretty. Personally, Urahara wasn't going to worry about it until more information came up, especially about the stolen replica of the orb and about the code (well, those two things seemed to be interrelated now after talking with Aizen).
When they stepped out of the bar, a cool breeze brushed through the air, and it took a brief moment for Urahara's eyes to adjust to the dimmness. The Fed soldiers were standing under a light post smoking and laughing about something, not taking notice of the two.
"Yoruichi..." Urahara placed his hand on her shoulder, followed by the bridge of his nose touching on top. "I rather avoid conflict tonight - I have nothing on me, for starters..." His voice was practically muffled as he began to pull her in the opposite direction of the soldiers, which luckily was the direction they needed to be going. "If they start to follow, I believe there's an alleyway we can hide in up the block."
This was real cute, he knew he'd never be able to forget this night by her - getting drunk, not carrying anything on him... at least he had his hat.
She found him, if anything else, or rather, nothing else, amusing, but really, he was more than that and Yoruichi nodded with a very briefly lived solemn expression as they moved away from the source of potential trouble, smiling again, a lazy smile that could deceive most people into underestimating her, or even, simply proffering to her whatever she wanted. Batting in false play at his hat, sending it down over his eyes, she arched a brow at his comment.
Nothing? Unusual, yet even right away she considered her own precaution. Aizen surely would have noticed any weapon, been suspicious, or puzzled it all out then and there, even worse.
"An alley? Kisuke," she chided, a deep entertainment in her tone as she drawled in what could only be a playful and inviting manner. "That doesn't sound very noble," she teased, "Hiding in an alley, but then it's not up to us to be the noble ones anymore," she finished quietly as they continued moving up the street, the din of the Feds fading out nicely. "You're a real fool. I hope you have a better plan than…he does," she said in a hushed voice, shaking her head slightly.
"About that..." Urahara spoke in a soft sing-song.
He continued to allow Yoruichi to lead, hand still firmly on her shoulder, as his mind began to wander. Aizen probably did have a plan, and Urahara? Pretty much going with the flow, running around like a chicken with it's head cut off - or to put it nicely, there was no plan yet. But he did have an idea.
Although they weren't too far on the outskirts of the city, and the Gotei ship hanger was at least a mile or so away, it was surprising how poor that section of town was. Although most of the city had been updated and fairly modern, this area looked like it had been almost missed.
"They are following..." It wasn't a surprise, to either of them. "But they're doing it carelessly - they might be intoxicated too. Who knows where they've been before coming here." Even though drunk, he still like to think himself as analytical. Although his idea of hiding in the alley was childish, at this rate, and judging how far down the soldiers were, there was a chance it might work.
When they reached the alleyway, Urahara's hand slipped off her shoulder, down her arm, enclosing her hand. Before she could even utter anything, he began to run, hoping that they could reach the end of the alleyway and around the corner to hide before the soldiers caught up.
The Feds were indeed following them, but as Kisuke himself had said or suggested, rather carelessly. With a lazy slide of her eyes in their general direction, Yoruichi had only a moment to notice his hand enclosing hers before he began running.
He had remarkable speed and steadiness for a drunk man. She'd give him that.
"Yes, I saw they were, but you don't have to run. They couldn't catch up if they tried," she grinned at him as she pulled ahead, pulling him with her this time as she took the definitive lead, her lips never curving down in the slightest. She knew their enemy as well as she knew herself, as well as she knew the man beside and slightly behind her: their enemy was mostly a well organized platoon of fools with a genius a their center.
Never mind that Yoruichi had pretty much decided on who that genius was years ago.
Yes, never mind that.
"Come on, old man," she teased lightly, running even faster as she noted the Feds round the far corner of the alley they'd come through. "No need to be caught today…or tomorrow for that matter," she tossed in dryly and they turned the corner with, slightly unnecessary sharpness.
A grin quickly spread across his face as they rounded the corner. "Ok, I lied about not having anything on me... I just didn't think it'd actually be needed." He pulled out a small metal square looking object, and pressed a button. A small sliver of metal popped out, where he pressed his thumb onto it, as well as Yoruichi's thumb.
Taking note of a large dumpster ahead of them, and with surprisingly quick reflexes, he pulled her down with him behind it without much of a sound. Although Yoruichi's weight on top of him nearly winded him in such a quick grab action, he managed to press the button again to his device.
Within a split second, two nearly identical holograms appeared above them (although the clothing was different, but who would've noticed in this poor lighting? The alley was nearly black.), and continued to run in the direction they were heading.
Seconds later, the small group of soldiers ran past them following the holograms - not even the slightest bit inclined to look anywhere other than in front of them.
He sighed, "Those will last them maybe 5 minutes... I still need perfecting them." He pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, before glancing at Yoruichi. "Clever, yes? Admit it..." He grinned.
Eyes narrowing in an intrigued, yet laid back manner, Yoruichi nodded.
"Clever, for a smart man," she replied with no small amount of coyness and cleverness of her own, standing slowly and pulling him up with one hand easily. "That's very impressive actually. The last time I saw that toy, you only had its possibilities for one active hologram, but now you have two, and for a sustained amount of time." Hands running through her hair, she began back at a much more relaxed pace, to the battered ship.
"Regardless of what you spoke about with Aizen…we can't think of it that way, the way you might like to, you know," she said quietly for once. "As far as I am concerned, he was never quite friend material," she growled the last bit, eyeing the damage to the Benihime with a deep breath as she continued on, Kisuke in tow. They were safe, she thought, but what if Kisuke had slipped, told them something else….
Yoruichi really couldn't say.
"I know." He spoke softly, before reaching up to the keypad. "Ever since he began prying into my past, I had questions about him."
The staircase leading up to the inside slowly descended, as Urahara glanced at his hat in his hands. "My plans are to finish repairing the ships this week, then... We'll go from there." All the adrenaline was fading, and tiredness was settling in.
He followed Yoruichi up the stairs, leading up to the hanger where the Rubicon was still being housed in. He closed the door, and just it shut, a small group of florescent lights turned on, lighting their pathes to the door leading to the hallway.
When they were about to go their separate ways, Urahara turned and grabbed Yoruichi's hand, "Wait... I just want to thank you." He didn't mean to sound so serious as he placed a soft kiss to her temple, but just as he pulled away, he didn't know what overcame him as he managed to push her back, his lips meeting hers.
He waited for the slap, he knew it would probably be coming, but drunk or not, he really was acting on his own free will. He'd be lying if he said he did it out of whim.
Repairing the ships, fine, though he hadn't exactly answered her question, Yoruichi noted without a grudge. Smiling a little more lightly as they walked through the silent corridor of Benihime, she was about to tell him that he should know he could call on her, that they were old friends. Instead she found herself briefly speechless as he kissed her temple, thanking her. The initial bout of speechlessness over, she meant then to tell him to stop being an idiot: they didn't need to thank each other; they were past that sort of thing. Then his lips found hers and that sentence dropped off the face of space too as Yoruichi brought one hand up to rest on the back of his neck, leaning into the kiss, because why not? .
And it was nice to be appreciated after all.
"Clever," she repeated as from earlier, positive that he could feel her smile against his mouth before she pulled away. Stepping back a moment, she shot him a look of pure contemplation before swiping his hat. "I think I'll hold onto this one for a while," she said, passing him toward her temporary quarters. "And don't give me that look," she added.
"I know you have at least five more of this exact same hat somewhere on this ship of yours."
Smirking as she settled it upon her own head, she turned away, the usual saunter of her walk a little more paced. This night had been weird, but Yoruichi had the distinct certainty that it would not be the last weird night, or the weirdest…and by weird she meant eventful and curious of course. What was Aizen's game? Did he have one?
More likely he thought he was the one in control, but Yoruichi had grown up having problems with overly authoritative positions and this one seemed even more twisted, as nothing seemed wrong on the surface. Kisuke's very rare case of exposed concern was enough to make her take this oddness seriously, however, and as she entered her room, tossing the hat on the simple desk in the corner, she frowned.
They would have to be the smarter ones to come out on top.