Title: Out of Sight
Characters: Urahara/Yoruichi
Summary: One time she kicks him out of her bed and one time she comes to his.
Prompt: Past, Present, Future
Rating: (This chapter) T
Notes: This is the first of five stories, written for the LJ community 5loves, where the point is to write five stories about the relationship of one character with five other characters. My claim is Urahara, and naturally the first of the five has to be him and Yoruichi. This chapter contains spoilers for the current flashback arc going on in the manga, so please do not say I didn't warn you.

It was the feeling of her smooth skin – her skin, and not her fur – that initially brought him out of his light sleep in a pleasant, drowsy haze. He sighed and stretched his legs and smiled to himself, thinking that she must have wanted the pleasure of his company one last time before the morning arrived and he had to get ready for the promotion ceremony.

Then Urahara realized that it wasn't really her skin pressing up against him as much as her foot in his face, and she was speaking to him in a tone much harsher than situations like he had envisioned typically called for.

"You may vacate my bed now, Kisuke," she said firmly, and then she turned away from him, and even though he was well aware of just how fickle she could be, he couldn't help feeling a little bit put out by the command.

"But Yoruichi…" he whined, rolling onto his side and drawing her name out in a way that no one else dared to. "Don't you want to take advantage of your favorite underling one last time before he's transferred away from your command forever?"

She still had her back to him but she tilted her head to look back at him. He could barely see her eyes glittering in the darkness, though he knew she was regarding him with absolute clarity. There was silence, and Urahara knew she was mentally running through the insults he had left himself open to with such a foolish statement – he's not her favorite, she can command him no matter where he's stationed – and when she finally spoke again her voice was a bit gentler.

"You have your own bed, and tomorrow night you'll have a new one. Go say goodbye to it instead."

He was silent for a long time after that – but still not moving – trying to figure out what her point was. Their bond had been forged from things left unsaid and the way they understood each other, but it wasn't until Yoruichi sniffed and flicked her robe over her shoulders that Urahara finally got a clue.

"You know none of this could have happened without you," he said gently, coaxingly.

Never mind the fact that she'd orchestrated all of this; Yoruichi was the possessive sort who didn't like anyone trespassing upon what she considered her property - and didn't take well to those who wandered away from it either.

"Nothing else will happen without you either," he added, when he could sense her will weakening.

"Go home, Kisuke," she said finally, running one hand through her bangs and gesturing vaguely towards the window. To pretend that she never cared was generally her short-term solution when she found her pride insulted, especially if the insult was of her own making. "You're not under me any more."

He snorted, even as he wrestled with his hakama. She glared at him, a murderous glint in her eyes, and he forewent his sandals and skittered towards the window where he normally entered and exited her bedroom.

He paused, one leg swung over the sill, and turned back towards her, a lopsided grin on his face. "'Til tomorrow then, right?"

She slammed the window shut just as he stepped off the roof.

It was the sound of her padding across the floor that first attracted his attention; it would have woken him up, had he been asleep, though he was most assuredly not asleep, because who could sleep with all this excitement?

It had nothing to do with the fact that he was sleeping on his coat on the floor. Not one bit.

The place was old, and he hadn't had a chance to get any furniture for it yet, though considering the chaos surrounding his and Yoruichi's exit, he thought she'd be a little more pleased with the fact that he'd even managed to get a hold of a place for them to flee to.

She liked to think that she was silent and invisible in the shadows, and she was absolutely correct, except for the fact that he'd long trained himself to listen to the quiet steps she made. He liked to think that when she was disguising her reiatsu he could hear the muscles of her ears and tail twitching, if he really had to.

He lay absolutely still, like a child waiting for the Hollow in his closet to attack, and a moment later her cold nose bumped against his temple.

"Kisuke," she whispered against him, and he inclined his head towards her and made eye contact, grey against amber, before he brought the opposite arm across his chest to scratch that spot behind her ears.

"I didn't think you'd come," he murmured back at her, watching as she closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. "I thought you wanted to be alone."

"I did," she said simply, "until I didn't."

That was good enough for him. She'd been quiet since their landing in Karakura Town and he'd given her the space she needed; there was no doubt in his mind that Yoruichi would bounce back, but he had also suspected that she would take exile harder than he would.

Idly, his mind tried to list off the things she'd left behind, and as expected he quickly lost count.

Yoruichi sniffed. "Hiyori must be losing her mind with Mayuri." Urahara openly winced.

"I don't even want to think about it," he admitted, rolling onto his side. Yoruichi shifted as well, and within the blink of an eye the soft fur was replaced with smooth skin. He was looking directly into her belly, just above her navel, and he couldn't help reaching out and brushing his fingers against her skin, just to feel the muscles tense underneath.

"Where did you go earlier?" he asked suddenly. "When you wanted to be alone?"

"Does it matter?" she shot at him immediately, wriggling under the blanket to press close to him. "I came back."

The next question would have been whether she had come back because he needed her or because she wanted him, but he chose to ignore it in favor of watching as her hand brushed his lips and skirted down his neck to rest against his chest

The answer to that question didn't matter anyway. She was here with him now, and that had been pretty much everything he'd wanted ever since they'd first whispered plans of escape from Soul Society. He wouldn't press the issue.

Her hands moved farther down, and for an absurd moment Urahara wanted to protest – it didn't seem appropriate, their first night in exile, and then he smiled to himself and shrugged as she leaned over him. Why not?

They had all the time in the world.