Serendipity

Death and Strawberry [Reprised] (Part 2)

Later, That Evening

"..." Yoruichi said, deadpanning when she saw Urahara's pathetic little corner of woe.

Since the room that she and Seren were staying in was currently being occupied by Orihime, one of them would have to sleep elsewhere for a while. Yoruichi had been planning on bunking with her childhood friend, just like old times, but... There was no way she was sharing a room with him while he was like that.

"Oi, Seren," Yoruichi said, crooking her finger to draw the girl closer to her so she could whisper in her ear. "What did you do to him?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"Huh?" Seren said, furrowing her brow slightly, as she glanced between the depressed shopkeeper and curious older woman. "Why do you automatically assume it's my fault he's like that? Come to think of it... I've never seen him look so down before..." she said thoughtfully. Whatever could shake the usually unflappable Urahara must be pretty terrible...

"Me neither, but you're the only one who could get that kind of reaction out of him. Trust me. I know because I've tried," Yoruichi explained, shrugging carelessly, as she recalled all of her past failures to ruffle her friend's feathers.

Seren sweat-dropped. If that was the type of reaction Yoruichi was aiming for, she could only imagine the different kinds of hell she must have put him through in the past...

No wonder he laughed in the face of danger.

"Well, it's true that I was a bit short with him earlier, but I don't think I said anything too harsh... I just called him a dirty old man for staring at my chest..." Seren admitted reluctantly.

"Oh, so that's what happened..." Yoruichi said thoughtfully, glancing at her moping friend. 'No wonder he's in such a funk... He's probably in shock from being called 'old' by his younger love interest,' she thought. Even though their physical 'ages' didn't appear to be that far apart, Seren understood that Shinigami had incredibly long lifespans compared to humans, and none of the members of her dysfunctional family were anywhere close to being as young as they looked.

He was obviously just being paranoid, though. Seren didn't care about stuff like that. She just treated them the age they acted since it was too confusing and weird otherwise. It was already bad enough that she looked about the same age as her 110+ year old father, now. Just imagine the looks they got from people when she slipped up and called him 'Dad' in public...

"Well, whether you meant to or not, the damage is done," Yoruichi said, sighing, as she placed her hands on Seren's shoulders. "But we might be able to fix it... if we use 'that'..."

A Little Bit Later,
Around Bedtime

KNOCK. KNOCK.

Urahara had just finished changing for bed when someone knocked softly on the door, just loud enough to get his attention without disturbing the rest of the house.

"Come in," he said listlessly, expecting it to be either Yoruichi coming to invade his room for the night or Tessai coming to update him on how close that thing they had been working on was to being ready to enter the next stage of development.

"Excuse me, Kisuke-san... Is it all right if I sleep with you tonight?" Seren asked tentatively as she slid open the door, revealing her casual, yet tempting choice of nightwear that Yoruichi had picked out for the occasion. The petite teen was clad in an over-sized t-shirt that was just long enough to hide the little shorts she had on underneath, giving the illusion that the comfy shirt was the only thing she had on.

Urahara's hat dropped to floor when it missed the nightstand he usually set it on for safekeeping while he was sleeping, but he barely even noticed. He was too busy keeping his jaw from dropping and his eyes on her face.  Didn't she know how dangerous it was for her to walk around in something like that!? Her legs looked way too good in that!! Words could not describe how relieved he was that Ichigo wasn't around to see this—he didn't need anymore competition—and what was with that crazy choice of words!? There was no way she really meant that the way it sounded, right? Not that he would mind, but he had been planning on waiting a couple more years before making a move on Seren for Shinji's sake...