Halfway down the stairs is a stair
where I sit. There isn't any other
stair quite like it. A. A. Milne
Kisuke sits in his bed alone late at
night and wonders.
He wonders a great many things.
He wonders when Yoruichi will be
home tonight.
She left at evening as she often did,
in cat-form to prowl around,
curious, investigating, ever alert.
She is a good companion to have to
help keep watch over Karakura
town.
And if tonight is like other nights,
she will return some time before
dawn to slip into bed with him in
her human form, warm skin
smoother than the richest Shihoin
silk.
She is an even better companion to
wake up with in the mornings.
But tonight his curiosity has finally
gotten the better of him.
Between the evening and the
morning, between the darkness
and the dawn, at some point she
has to change from cat-Yoruichi to
the brown-skinned, plum-haired
former Captain with golden eyes
and an insatiable appetite for love-
making of whom he is so
inordinately fond.
It occurs to him that in all these
years of knowing her he has never
actually seen her transform.
Oh certainly he can recall numerous
times seeing her immediately after
leaving her cat-form.
She's always fascinatingly naked.
But the process of transformation,
that is what he has never observed.
He has asked.
She's always demurred.
He knows he should respect her
privacy.
But as they say, curiosity killed the
cat.
He has to know.
He recognizes that in this instance
it may be that curiosity kills the
Kisuke. A pissed-off Yoruichi is a
formidable opponent.
But still he has to know.
What is the transition like, cat to
human, male to female, velvet fur
to satin skin?
Zeno's paradox.
The dichotomy one.
That which is in motion must arrive
at the half-way stage before it can
arrive at the goal.
What does she look like when she's
halfway there? One quarter of the
way there? Almost there?
He has to know.
Sitting in the dark he realizes that if
he himself had cat ears they would
be swiveled forward right now,
straining to hear the lightest
footfall.
The house is completely silent.
Tessai is away, the kids are with
friends. If Yoruichi were here they
could be alone together.
He smiles at the...dichotomy. Alone.
Together. Ridiculous. But fun.
He gets up from the bed throwing
the sheet back. Full of child-like
nervous energy and adrenaline he
pads to the door in bare feet,
leaving their bedroom to stand at
the bottom of the stairs in the
hallway. Kisuke paces a little but
then returns to his station at the
bottom of the stairs.
Timing is everything...
He estimates, or in this case admits
to himself that it's just a wild-assed
guess, that she changes as she
descends the stairs. She's usually
in cat form when she re-enters the
house because he can oftentimes
hear her lapping at the saucer of
milk they leave for her.
So if she's a cat when she enters
the house and a woman when she
enters his bed and if the
transformation is a linear process,
then halfway down the stairs is as
good of a guess as any.
Like a kid he counts the steps it
takes him to get to the top then
descends precisely half that
number of stairs. Ridiculous. But
exhilarating.
He flattens himself against the wall
and waits.
And waits.
He feels her spiritual pressure
before he hears the lightest
footfalls on the kitchen floor,
padding softly over to the saucer.
He knows she's equally capable of
sensing his own but she expects to
find him here in the house so that
should be no surprise.
He'll just have to be fast.
And catch her.
Halfway...
What would she be like?
Light steps coming his way and he's
so excited he can barely stand it,
having to force himself to stifle a
giggle.
The footsteps near the top of the
stairs and each one sounds cat-like
but he counts them and the one to
reach his step sounds more lady-
like. Lightning-fast he grabs one
wrist and pulls her toward him, her
back against his, securing her other
wrist as well.
Startled and enraged she yowls and
slams both of them against the wall
and they tumble down the stairs.
He realizes that he does indeed
seem to have a tiger by the tail.
"Yoruichi, please stop," he pleads.
The growl she makes is low in her
throat and menacing, there's no
hint of human quality to it. It
reverberates eerily through the
dark room.
But at least she's stopped the
transformation. The being he still
holds tight against his chest
beneath him is Captain-Yoruichi-
sized, but instead of satin smooth
skin against his chest, she's
velvety-soft and warm.
"Yoruichi? Please?"
The growl subsides somewhat and
there's almost a rhythmic quality to
it, a rumble that's both pleasant
and threatening. "Kisuke?" her
voice is throaty and deep and
almost as threatening as the growl
earlier. "Kisuke," she rasps out,
"What the hell are you doing? Let
me go."
"Yoruichi, I am consumed with
curiosity. I'll just ask one last time.
Please let me see you like this.
You're...fascinating."
"No!" she huffs and strains against
him, her voice sounding a little
more like her own. "And you,
Kisuke, are impertinent. "
"Alas, kitty, I have offended you.
Forgive me," Urahara sighs and
releases her wrists.
She flips around to face him,
pushing him back against the floor
and leaning over him. "That's really
quite rude of you, Kisuke, you
know."
"Yes, I know. I'm sorry, I don't know
what else to say except that I
allowed my curiosity to get the
better of me."
"I see," Yoruichi settles herself on
him, her hands at his shoulders,
nails flexing against the bare skin
there. "I suppose I'm just another
research project to you, then. Just
one more item you find intriguing."
"You are the most amazing and
intriguing and fascinating person I
have yet to come across, Yoruichi-
san. I apologize for offending you.
And you are far more to me than a
research project."
Seconds pass.
"Really? Tell me." Her nails,
seeming sharper than usual, flex
and knead against his skin. Kisuke
winces at the tiny little punctures
but smiles as she starts to rumble
against him. It appears Yoruichi
is...purring.
"Ummmm...Yoruichi-san, I thought
you said you didn't want me to see
you in a half-transformed state."
She leans down to kiss him and he
takes her face in his hands. It's
Yoruichi's face all right that his
fingers are familiar with. What's
not so familiar are the pointed ears
at the top of her head and the
sharp-pointed teeth his tongue
encounters as he kisses her more
deeply.
"Who said anything about turning
on the lights? Doesn't mean I don't
want to... play."
The rumble is a steady vibration
now and it's quite...intoxicating to
Kisuke. He slides his hands down
her wonderfully warm velvety body
to her hips and grins like an idiot
as she raises them. Something
flickers from side to side, tickling
around his ankles. Yoruichi is
switching her tail!
"Perhaps Kitty-san would like a ball
of yarn?" he offers helpfully.
He has to draw in breath hard as
she rakes her claws against him
this time and scratches a little
against his cheek. "That's not what I
had in mind."