Second Division.
Morning light filtered softly through the window lattice, spilling gently into the room.
Soifon opened her eyes. At her side, Rukia and Momo Hinamori lay sleeping, their profiles peaceful in the pale light, their breathing intertwined in an easy rhythm. Strands of hair fanned across their pillows. Soifon watched them quietly for a mont, then rose with the utmost care, not disturbing either of them.
She changed into her captain's haori, slipped silently out the door, and made her way toward the Second Division barracks.
She had barely set foot inside the barracks grounds when she nearly walked straight into Marechiyo Ōmaeda, who was bustling along with an armful of docunts.
The mont he spotted Soifon, a broad grin spread across his face. "Captain Soifon! Good morning!"
"Mm." Soifon gave a small nod and paused. "Rukia and Momo Hinamori are calling in sick today. Division affairs... I'll have to trouble you to manage things for the ti being."
Marechiyo Ōmaeda's face drooped instantly into a long-suffering grimace, but he nodded dutifully all the sa. "Understood, ma'am."
It was baffling, really — both of them had been perfectly fine yesterday, and they were vice-captain-class powerhouses at that. How could they just casually fall ill?
Ōmaeda could only nurse his suspicions in silence. Contradicting Captain Soifon was simply not an option.
Before leaving, Soifon rose on a cushion of Spirit Particles and gave Ōmaeda a weighty pat on the shoulder. "You've worked hard."
Ōmaeda straightened up with a flattered jolt. "It's only what I should do!"
Soifon had just turned to go when Ōmaeda's voice followed her:
"Oh, Captain Soifon! The New Year is almost upon us — shall I pick up anything you might need for the holiday?"
After all, the Soifon family had just been elevated to upper nobility. The proper formalities had to be observed.
Soifon paused ever so slightly, only now realizing that another year had slipped by without her noticing.
She glanced up in the direction of the Royal Palace. About a year still remained before the Soul King's shift ended.
Soifon gave a small nod. "Please. And while you're at it, draft a few invitations for ..."
With her instructions given, Soifon lingered no longer, and flash-stepped toward the Thirteenth Division.
Thirteenth Division — Ugendō.
Trading on her reputation, Soifon made her way through the compound without a single challenge, arriving at the inner sanctum of the Thirteenth Division: Jūshirō Ukitake's personal quarters and office.
She followed the stone-paved path through the bamboo grove, and had just stepped into the front courtyard of Ugendō when a bright, surprised voice rang out:
"Captain Soifon!"
"What brings you here? Are you looking for Captain Ukitake?"
Kiyone Kotetsu poked her head out from under the covered walkway, her eyes — the very image of her sister Isane's — shining with delight.
Before Soifon could even nod, Kiyone had already co bounding forward to et her.
"Let take you in! We never had the chance to thank you properly for seeing my sister ho after the banquet. She's been thinking about when she could thank you in person — it's just that she's a bit shy, and she wasn't sure when you'd have a free mont..."
Kiyone Kotetsu chattered away as she led the path, turning back to glance at Soifon every few steps, a steady stream of updates about Isane tumbling out of her.
By the ti she finally ran out of words, Kiyone let out a quiet sigh inside. She had spent an embarrassing amount of emotional energy today worrying about her sister's love life.
Soifon listened to the machine-gun pace of Kiyone's speech, and then abruptly stopped walking.
She looked at Kiyone. "Co to think of it..." "The New Year is almost here. Do you and Isane have any plans?"
Kiyone blinked, thought for a mont, then shook her head. "Not really. Sis will probably just stay in the division — you know what she's like. It's either the dical ward or ho, nothing else..."
Soifon tilted her head. "Then how about joining for a New Year's dinner at my house?"
The words had barely left her lips before Kiyone's eyes lit up like lanterns. "Really?! Can we really?!"
She pressed her palms together and broke into a wide, beaming smile. "Sis is going to be so happy! No wait — I'm already so happy right now! I'll say yes on her behalf!"
[New Year's dinner, sis and Captain Soifon, alone together — maybe then...]
"Hehe..." Lost in so peculiar ntal image, Kiyone dissolved into a private, blissful giggle.
Soifon watched that utterly transparent expression flicker across Kiyone's face, and felt the corner of her mouth twitch — but said nothing.
The two of them passed through the covered corridor and ca to a stop before a sliding door that breathed with the scent of dicinal herbs. Kiyone knocked lightly. "Captain Ukitake, Captain Soifon is here."
"Please co in."
A gentle voice drifted out, accompanied by a few soft coughs.
Kiyone slid the door open and stepped aside. "I'll go brew tea. Please have a seat, Captain Soifon."
Jūshirō Ukitake rose from behind his writing desk, draped in a white haori. He coughed twice into his sleeve, then raised a hand in greeting.
"Captain Soifon. What brings you by today?" "Please, sit."
Once Kiyone had gone, only the two of them remained in the room. Soifon settled onto the cushion across from Ukitake, bypassing any pleasantries and going straight to the point.
"Captain Ukitake, I'd like to ask you about soone." She t his gaze steadily. "The person you once granted a Shinigami's license to — Kūgo Ginjō."
The smile on Ukitake's face grew faintly subdued. He was quiet for a mont.
He lowered his gaze, as if sinking into mory. "Yes, it was I who handed him the proxy badge. However..."
"Perhaps my words at the ti were too stern. It may have given him an unnecessary misunderstanding about the Seireitei, and in the end he... relinquished the title of [Substitute Shinigami]."
He relinquished it?
"It sounds as though you don't believe he's dead, Captain Ukitake."
Soifon's brow lifted slightly at that. It diverged from what the case file recorded — [presud killed in action].
"I know that a man of his ability... wouldn't simply die without a trace." He added quietly, "Does Captain Soifon have urgent business with him?"
Soifon answered without preamble. "I need to learn the technique of Fullbring from him."
Ukitake showed no great surprise. As one of the captains who had selected Kūgo Ginjō in the first place, he clearly understood the nature of the man's power.
He simply gave a quiet nod. "As far as I know, Kūgo Ginjō is still in Karakura Town."
Then Ukitake rose, crossed to the bookshelf, and from an unremarkable corner retrieved a delicate pendant.
It was teardrop-shaped, its surface shimring with a faint, shifting light. One could just barely sense the whisper of a sealed Spiritual Pressure stirring within.
"I kept this from back then. Kūgo Ginjō's Spiritual Pressure is sealed inside. Originally, it was so that if he ever caused trouble, it could be used to track him..."
Ukitake held the pendant out to Soifon.
——
New Year's Day. The Soifon Estate.
Soifon stood in the covered walkway, watching a retinue of staff sent over by the Ōmaeda family bustle this way and that. She had to admit — Ōmaeda might be a bit of a peacock in daily life, but when it ca to getting things done, he was genuinely reliable.
She gazed out at the courtyard, which felt slightly too large for its current emptiness. No particular feeling rose in her chest.
The Soifon family's elevation to upper nobility sounded impressive, but the truth was that the clan's mbers had been whittled away over years of missions and wars. Now, aside from herself, there were no direct blood relatives left to speak of.
If anything, that saved her the trouble of making small talk with extended family.
As dusk fell, guests began to arrive.
Handmaidens stood at the entrance to receive them, guiding each guest one by one into the banquet hall. Soifon stood inside, watching familiar faces take their seats in turn.
Friends, students, and colleagues she was close to in the Seireitei gradually filled the spacious room, and the atmosphere quickly grew lively and warm.
Unohana Retsu knelt in the seat of honor to Soifon's left, her gaze drifting over the low table before her — in particular, the appealingly glazed grilled fish — and catching a familiar sweetness in the air.
——It was the sa honey fragrance that always clung to Soifon.
Unohana Retsu teased with a smile, "Captain Soifon... you really do love honey, don't you."
The grilled fish glistened with a coat of clear honey, gleaming under the lamplight.
Before her words had even faded, a familiar burst of Spiritual Pressure swept in from the side, accompanied by a bright, easy laugh.
Yoruichi Shihōin — appearing out of nowhere via Shunpo — materialized behind Soifon, threw an arm around her neck with practiced ease, and half-pulled her into an embrace. Her other hand still held a sake dish.
"This girl has had a sweet tooth since she was little, and honey especially!"
Yoruichi laughed, rubbing her cheek against Soifon's hair. "Even her Zanpakutō turned out to be a bee — hasn't she ever grown up, do you think? Hm?"
The reek of alcohol on Yoruichi was already thick, and the evening had barely begun — her cheeks were flushed red. Soifon had every reason to suspect she was faking her drunkenness as an excuse to take liberties.
"So Captain Soifon is secretly this childlike?"
Rangiku Matsumoto tilted her head back, took a long swig of sake straight from the flask, and let the clear liquid trickle down her neck and disappear into the bottomless abyss of her neckline.
At that, Soifon couldn't help but protest. "This is simply a matter of personal taste — why must you fra it in such grand terms? I'm defending honey's honor here..."
As the guest of honor, Soifon naturally beca the center of everyone's toasts.
Fortunately, every Shinigami present was of considerable power — a bit of alcohol was little more than a pleasant accompanint for them.
Round after round of drinks flowed, and the mood grew warr and warr.
Isane Kotetsu set down her cup, and her gaze shifted to Rukia and Momo Hinamori, her eyes full of admiration.
"Co to think of it — that enormous Spiritual Pressure that erupted at Sōkyoku Hill that day... that was the two of you, Rukia and Momo, wasn't it?"
"I never imagined you'd both achieved Bankai... And together with Hisagi-san and Renji-san, it seems all of Captain Soifon's students have now achieved their releases?"
Her tone held nothing but pure admiration — not a trace of envy.
Rukia and Momo Hinamori exchanged a glance, and both broke into slightly embarrassed smiles.
"We're honestly still not very practiced at it..."
"You're exaggerating, Isane-senpai..."
Whether they were blushing over Isane's praise, or blushing over a certain other matter, was anyone's guess.
"Ha..."
Soifon let out a cool, humorless laugh behind her cup, choosing not to call her two students out in public for their misdeeds.
A Shinigami who could achieve Bankai was, without exception, a warrior whose na would be etched into Soul Society's history. If later generations were ever to discover that the very first thing Momo Hinamori and Rukia Kuchiki did after achieving Bankai was to defeat their teacher Soifon — and then use that victory to engage in certain indescribable activities...
It would be rather like those decades-old human imaginings about what modern people, ard with computers and all that high technology, would actually get up to with them.
Hearing Soifon's derisive little laugh, the two of them unconsciously sat up straighter — as if the mory of their teacher's finger was still vividly, uncomfortably present.
Just then, Unohana Retsu spoke up with a serene smile, her gaze making a leisurely circuit of Soifon before she began to stir the pot:
"If Captain Soifon ever had a mind to do sothing... this would be quite a formidable power base. So many captain-class fighters all standing on your side~"
Wait — was that not an extrely dangerous thing to say?!
A brief hush fell over the table.
Soifon's gaze swept across to et Unohana Retsu's smiling eyes.
And the mont their eyes t, Unohana imperceptibly raised one hand and gently drew aside the collar of her robe at the chest, baring the smooth skin above her collarbone.
There — where a savage scar had once been — the one Soifon had personally carved away.
Soifon's eye twitched ever so slightly. Without a mont's hesitation, she picked up a piece of grilled at with her chopsticks, flicked her wrist, and sent it sailing with perfect accuracy directly into Unohana Retsu's barely-parted lips.
Unohana Retsu was caught completely off guard, left with no choice but to close her mouth and chew.
Over in the corner of the banquet hall, the Quincy won's contingent and Haschwalth were huddled together at a single table. The won were savoring food they hadn't tasted in ages, while simultaneously trembling at the dense, powerful Spiritual Pressures rolling off the figures all around them.
"Haschwalth... do you think we're actually going to make it out of Soul Society alive?"
Bambietta swallowed a bite of grilled at, still shaken, and cut a sidelong glance toward the petite Soifon seated at the head of the table.
Haschwalth said nothing.
"Mmmm..."
Liltotto picked up her plate and tipped its entire contents into her mouth. "I'm telling you, Soifon definitely isn't going to kill us. Have you ever seen soone feed their victims a al this good before the deed?"
Candice blinked. "What if it's a last al?"
"I agree with Liltotto. I don't think we're going to die."
Across from them, ninas — drawing on her extensive experience as a hostage — hesitated for a mont, then shook her head in concurrence.
After enough rounds of drinks, everyone drifted from their seats and scattered into smaller clusters, whispering and chatting with old friends.
Unohana carried her cup over to Soifon's side. The two of them sipped their sake together, while Unohana periodically glanced toward the Kotetsu sisters, who were sneaking looks at the pair of them in return.
"You know, Soifon," Unohana began, her voice soft and unhurried.
"Isane very rarely fixates on soone like this. Not even when she was learning Kaidō under was she ever so... attentive."
At those words, Soifon instinctively turned her face toward Isane Kotetsu. Their eyes t across the room — and Isane flushed, looked away, and ducked her head.
Soifon dropped her gaze. That night, Isane had acted under the influence of alcohol. Even now, Soifon wasn't entirely sure how to respond to her feelings in a way that was... appropriate.
After all, Isane Kotetsu was a girl with terribly thin skin. Soifon worried that if she charged in recklessly, the two of them wouldn't even be able to remain friends.
"This isn't like you, Soifon."
Unohana watched their silent exchange with an expression sowhere between exasperation and fond disapproval. "If you like soone, you like them. If you don't, you say no."
...
Soifon pursed her lips and was quiet for a mont. She looked at Unohana Retsu, searching for any trace of teasing in those eyes — and found none.
"I understand. Retsu."
She raised her cup and began to move toward Isane — but in the next instant, Unohana Retsu reached out and plucked the cup right from her hand.
Unohana swirled the remaining sake with an amused look, then tipped her head back and drained it in one smooth motion. "They say that Dutch courage helps the timid — but I rather think Captain Soifon has no need of such things."
Their little exchange was witnessed by everyone in the room. Beyond the surprise at seeing Soifon and Unohana on such intimate terms that they would share a cup, the one person at the gathering who had yet to make her feelings known — Isane Kotetsu — wore a faintly wistful look.
"Hey, Sis." Kiyone nudged Isane's shoulder. "Captain Soifon is walking over — snap out of it!"
"?!"
At that, Isane's head shot up — and she found herself looking straight into Soifon's eyes, warm with a quiet smile.
"Would you like to step outside and talk for a bit? Isane."
Soifon's eyes weren't even red with comma-shaped pupils — and yet the mont Isane looked into them, every refusal she might have ford dissolved on her tongue. In a daze, she reached out and took Soifon's slender fingers, letting herself be led out of the banquet hall.
It was New Year's in Soul Society. A thin dusting of snow clung to the tips of the courtyard trees.
The cool night breeze brushed across their faces, clearing the pleasant haze of wine from their heads a little.
"Actually..."
"I..."
Both spoke at the exact sa mont. They blinked at each other in surprise, then, in perfect unison, both tried to defer.
"You go first..." ×2
The awkward silence stretched for a few seconds — until a gust of cold wind swept through, rattling the branches and sending a cascade of snow tumbling to the ground. That broke them, and both dissolved into helpless laughter.
Soifon raised a fist to her lips and cleared her throat. "Ahem... how strange. What on earth are we doing."
"I know — it's like Captain Soifon suddenly got a little silly too."
Isane laughed softly and dabbed at the corner of her eye. "What were you going to say, Captain Soifon? You go ahead."
Soifon stood there, montarily rooted to the spot.
The feelings she had been carefully building up to were now completely derailed by the awkwardness of a mont ago. Saying sothing like "do you have feelings for ?" point-blank right now felt rather... too on the nose.
Soifon began to speak, uncharacteristically faltering.
"Er..."
"So, the thing is, I may be heading to the World of the Living soon for a mission."
"I happen to know that Karakura Town has a lot of interesting spots to visit. Would you... like to co along, Isane? We could look out for each other while we're there..."
A classic case of saying everything except what she ant to say. Soifon herself wasn't entirely sure what she'd just been going on about.
It was strange, really. If the person in question had been Rangiku Matsumoto or Yoruichi Shihōin — those two shaless creatures — Soifon wouldn't have felt the slightest twinge of embarrassnt extending an invitation. Not even a little.
And if it were Unohana Retsu, Soifon could speak plainly and honestly without any trouble at all.
As for Momo and Rukia, she could always rely on the authority of "teacher" to steamroll those two soft, accommodating students of hers.
But when it ca to shy, thin-skinned Isane Kotetsu... Soifon found herself going shy too.
[Could it be — I'm the type who mirrors whoever I'm with?!]
Soifon berated herself internally for performing so poorly, even as the thought crossed her mind.
"?"
Isane blinked, slowly processing what she'd just heard. Was Captain Soifon... inviting her along on a mission to the World of the Living? No — that wasn't quite right. It had to be a date.
She hardly dared trust what she thought she'd read between the lines, and could only venture a small, uncertain question: "Captain Soifon, are you sure having along won't slow you down? My abilities aren't exactly..."
Since she'd already committed this far, Soifon had no choice but to soldier on and keep weaving her cover story.
"No — actually, it was Retsu's... ah, Captain Unohana's idea."
"Captain Unohana has always been very concerned about you. She wanted to take you along on a few missions to broaden your experience — you understand, don't you, Isane?"
Understand what, exactly?!
[So it's because Captain Unohana asked... that Captain Soifon is bringing along?]
Isane's face fell — but then she noticed the flustered look on Soifon's face, and her expression cracked. A smile tugged at the corners of her eyes before she could stop it.
Pfft——
"Captain Soifon, do you know sothing?"
"Mm?"
"Actually... you're really not very good at lying."
____
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