"Do Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihoin love each other
In a word, yes. Are they in love? I would have to say no, but let me delve into that a little
I believe that there isn’t just one “soul mate” for us all. I believe there are many people out there who’s soul matches yours so perfectly, it’s like it was always a part of your own and when they meet it’s like finding home. Now while this could be in a romantic setting, I also believe it could be found in friendships.
Urahara and Yoruichi are absolutely ment to be together, in some fashion. He’s the logic to her impulse, she’s the calm in his erratic, they just go. Hand in hand with each other, each bettering the other in some way.
Urahara and Yoruichi have such a long, deep past that I feel that they are completely interwoven with each other in the most pure of ways. In some ways, they’re perfect for each other, in others they’re complete polar opposites which in itself is perfect too.
I believe when their friendship started they were both exactly what the other needed in that time. Yoruichi, a princess, a child with a strict regime, expectations far beyond the weight a child should support on their shoulders, wanted nothing more than to be a child. She wanted freedom, to climb trees, play in streams, get dirty and get into mischief unbecoming of a princess. She wanted to be wild, untethered, free from the chains of rules and hierarchy.
She just wanted to be Yoruichi
While Urahara, a kid from the Rukongai, one of the middle districts, mediocre. Not rich, not in the slums, no real struggles but just.. existing. Kisuke, with a mind far too complex for the adults to even comprehend, let alone the other children, left him isolated, unchallenged, bored. He was merely existing in a world that had yet to catch up to him and his untapped brilliance. He would be shunned from his peers, the weird kid who didn’t want to play in the river, instead wanted to calculate what components mixed together in what volume makes the biggest wave when thrown into the river. I think he was feared by his peers, forced into a box by the adults who couldn’t understand why he couldn’t just be content
Urahara just wanted excitement
When they found each other, they gave each other exactly what the other wanted…needed.
Urahara, unbothered by titles and nobles, treated Yoruichi just like any other person, encouraged her free spirit and competitive nature. Finding her eagerness to delve into anything a breath of fresh air from the stifling mundane life he was repeatedly told to adhere to. He saw her for who she was and not who she was expected to be.
While Yoruichi revealed in Uraharas schemes, weather it was stealing some component he needed for one of his inventions, one of his experiments accidentally blowing up or happily being his guinea pig in one of his very many ideas. She jumped in with both feet, bringing that excitement he needed.
A bond was formed between them which only got stronger through the years. They pushed and challenged each other, protected one another in their own ways. They saw each other.
I think romance could’ve been in the stars, if things had alined, but they never did. Like two ships passing in the night.
I think Yoruichi would’ve thought about it first, when they were into their teenage years. She entertained the idea of shutting up one of his long technical rambles with a kiss. Wondered if their relationship would’ve only gotten better if they had taken that step. However I believe that she valued Urahara and his friendship too much to test those waters. She couldn’t bare the thought of the only person in her life who not only let her be unabashedly herself, but loved her for it, suddenly not being there. It wasn’t worth the risk. She entertained the idea first, but it was fleeting.
I believe Urahara entertained the idea much much later, when they were well established as adults. I think one day, he looked at her and realised his best friend was a girl.. a very pretty one. I also believe he entertained it for a very long time. He thought about it constantly, running through every possibility, every outcome, every pitfall and success. He’d run every possible scenario thoroughly, and while it was on his mind for months,, possibly even a couple years, he had come to the same conclusion. Yoruichi was too valuable to him to risk experimenting with their relationship.
I think at some point, after way too much sake, they did spend one night together. It wasn’t worth everything their relationship was, exciting, playful, challenging, comfortable. I feel they laughed the whole way through it, friendly insults and cocky challenges thrown at each other. The following morning, with thumping heads and dry throats, they’d laugh it off. Their friendship as strong as it has always been, but with added clarity. They were just friends.
So yes, Urahara and Yoruichi do love each other, more than anything. They would kill for each other, they would die for each other and they live for each other. Two souls that fit so perfectly together that nothing could tear them apart. A love that has stood the test of time and no less important or as potent as romantic love.
















