P.O.V.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters.

Yoruichi watched and waited; hidden in the dark cavern that was the gateway to the Maggot's Nest. She was not in the best of moods; partially due to the nature of the mission that forced her to return to the Soul Society, and partially due to the itch in her skin from being so close to a prison built of sekki-seki stone. But mostly... because she was bored out of her mind. It was tradition for the Captain of the Second Division to investigate the Nest at some point during her daily rounds, but not Yoruichi had no idea when that might be. Thus, she was stuck waiting there until Soi Fon decided to make an appearance.

She considered the riskier option of stalking her old subordinate and trying to get her attention without giving herself away to the rest of the division, who probably had orders to arrest her on sight. It was somewhat ironic, Yoruichi realized, that she had chosen this particular hiding spot, as it would be the place she would get banished to if she was ever caught. Of course, it was also the last place anyone would ever think of looking for her. Not that Yoruichi actually needed help keeping off the Twelfth Division's radar, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to camp herself next to some reiatsu-jamming sekki-seki stone.

At long last, she heard the heavy doors of the prison swing open, and was momentarily blinded as the bright light from outside washed over the cavern. She quickly shifted into feline form and slipped behind the stalagmites, concealing herself.

Soi Fon was not alone. Yoruichi's sensitive nose caught the strong musky cologne that Lieutenant Omaeda liked to wear, and a moment later she heard the crackle of a foil bag being opened. She peeked her head around the stones to get a better look.

When the pair were about halfway down the stairs, Yoruichi made a soft meowing sound, wondering if it was loud enough to be heard over the noise of Omaeda munching on his snacks. To her relief, Soi Fon froze in her tracks immediately, while the fat man beside her kept walking down, engrossed in his eating.

In a flat voice, the captain called to him, "Omaeda, I want you to return to Division Headquarters. I will finish the rounds alone."

The large man paused and looked over his shoulder at her in surprise. "B-but Captain, this place is dangerous! It doesn't feel right to leave you alone here, especially without your zanpakuto."

In the blink of an eye, Soi Fon had somehow locked her short legs around Omaeda's rather impressive waist and twisted her body, launching him across the room to crash against the wall at the bottom of the stairs.

"Idiot!" she seethed, not even short of breath. "Are you implying that one of these wretches actually has a shot at harming me? Now hurry back before you waste any more of my time."

He winced after righting himself, rubbing the back of his head. Omaeda threw a miserable glare at the Captain, but wisely said nothing as he ran past her and pushed his way out the door.

Yoruichi waited a few moments to be sure he had left, then shifted back to human shape and began putting on the clothes she had brought with her. She made no effort at being quiet, and Soi Fon waited politely for her to finish before she approached.

"You really are too hard on him. It's amazing he's remained loyal."

Soi Fon sniffed loudly in disagreement. "You should never show weakness to your subordinates, or let them grow attached to you. They need to learn to trust only in themselves. Relying on others will only lead to disappointment."

Yoruichi flinched inwardly, knowing that part of that comment could be directed at her.

"So what brings you back to the Soul Society?" Soi Fon asked, her vice tinged with anticipation.

Yoruichi grimaced. "Kisuke's found something he wants me to investigate. It shouldn't take too long, but I might be camping out here between excursions. I thought it only fair to let you know."

Soi Fon stared at her for a long moment, and Yoruichi could almost see her inner struggle, trying to balance her need for answers against the chance of appearing too curious and risking her idol's disapproval. Yoruichi would have laughed if she hadn't been so concerned that her pupil would take it the wrong way. Instead, she threw her an apologetic grin.

"I'm afraid I have very little information at the moment. More questions than answers, really."

The Captain seemed to hesitate a moment, then released a frustrated sigh. "You'll come to me afterwards and share what you've found?"

"Of course."

"It's just... I- it's my duty to know about anything that threatens the security of Soul Society," Soi Fon explained lamely.

Yoruichi nodded. "It's too early to say if my investigation will turn up anything worthwhile, but I'll let you know. My first stop is the Twelfth Division."

Soi Fon looked disgusted. "That one. Be careful over there, Yoruichi-sama. Mayuri used to be one of the prisoners of the Nest, before he became Captain."

Yoruichi grinned and cocked her head at the younger woman. "I remember. I was still Captain at the time."

If possible, Soi Fon looked even more uncomfortable. "Y-you know... you could always return to reclaim your place here," the woman stammered. "I don't think anyone ever expected my promotion to be permanent. It's like they knew...they expected that you would come back some day."

"My family still has high hopes, I'm sure," she drawled. "But things have changed, Soi Fon, as I'm sure you know. I don't think we can ever go back to being what we were."

"I asked the Commander-General, after you left, if there was any way you could return," Soi Fon persisted, not willing to let the matter drop. "He said that the banishment of the Vizards was entirely the decision of the Central Forty-six, and that he had had tried to argue on your behalf but failed to sway them. Now that the government has been disbanded, Captain Yamamoto is in charge. If he knew you were here, I'm sure he would take you back into the Gotei Thirteen."

Yoruichi shook her head, though she was actually very touched by the other woman's efforts. "My leaving only partially had to do with following Kisuke into exile. If I returned, I'd have other things to answer for, and I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to do that." Noticing her friend's crestfallen look, Yoruichi patted her shoulder sympathetically.

"Chin up, Captain. You're a credit to the Gotei Thirteen; more than I ever was." With a practiced flip and a burst of shunpo speed, Yoruichi was already at the top of the stairs. She turned to wave at the small figure watching far below, sparing them both the awkwardness of saying goodbye.

Yoruichi sat balanced upon the rafters of the Twelfth Division Research Office, watching from above as the lower seated officers shuffled around, collecting and organizing data. At long last, Captain Kurotsuchi made an appearance, and everyone hurriedly found an excuse to be elsewhere. She chuckled in bitter humor that even those who were disturbed enough to want to work with that man were still deathly afraid of him.

When they had all vanished, Yoruichi leapt down and landed just as smoothly as she would have in cat form. She almost wished the scientist had spotted her performance, but his back remained turned and his attention focused on the monitors in front of him. In fact, if the alarms hadn't sounded and the doors to the room whooshed shut the moment Yoruichi's feet touched the ground, she doubted he would have even noticed she was there.

"Intruder!" he growled, spinning around to face her. The disbelief on his face when he recognized her lasted only moments--his expression quickly turning to one of rage.

"How did you get past my security system!?"

"I'm the 'Goddess of Shunpo', remember? I merely slipped past the sensors before they could go off."

"Impossible!"

Yoruichi wondered why he seemed more concerned with his security system than her actual presence in his office. "How about we skip the how and just come straight to why I'm here," she suggested, hoping to get the interview finished as quickly as possible.

Mayrui grinned, displaying his perfectly white teeth. "My dear, I'm a scientist. For me, it's only the how that matters."

"Captain, is everything okay?" asked a frantic voice over the intercom.

Mayuri's lips curled up in a sinister smile. Yoruichi's body lowered automatically into a crouch, preparing to defend herself or run the hell out of there if necessary. The scientist pressed a button on the wall and answered, "It's all right. Though I may shortly need assistance carrying a body back to the lab."

"Yes sir!" came the eager reply.

Youruichi grimaced. "Don't get your hopes up. I'm not that easy to capture."

Mayuri seemed pleased by her reaction, but quickly waved his hand as if to reassure her. "No need to concern yourself; I simply said that to let them know that things were under control. If I hadn't, they would still be trying to break through the barriers to this room. I could only assume that you went to all this trouble because you wanted to speak with me in private."

Yoruichi grunted in agreement, but she still kept her guard up. It was possible that he was telling the truth. Then again, she had grown accustomed to using coded messages in the Stealth Division, and it was possible that Kisuke had passed on that tradition to the Twelfth when he moved there. For all she knew, Mayuri had just told his men to toss a grenade into the room.

"I'm only here as a messenger. Urahara is requesting your assistance."

"Is he, now? Very interesting. Of course, I no longer owe that man my allegiance, considering he is a fugitive of the Seretei. Just as you are."

"So obviously if I'm taking this risk, it must be important," Yoruichi replied through gritted teeth, wishing the scientist would stop toying with her. Cutting to the chase, she explained, "He's discovered multiple small areas in the human world that have been completely drained of all spiritual energy."

"More than likely it's the work of one of the hollows Aizen created," Mayuri shrugged, clearly uninterested in the information. "There have been reports of several similar incidents."

"That's why we had it checked. Our sources confirmed that the power signature of whoever did this is neither hollow, nor Shinigami."

The Captain of Twelfth Division immediately caught the significance of that statement. "A Quincy? Is that why Urahara wanted my help?" Mayuri scratched at the instrument on the tip of his chin in puzzlement. "But why come to me? You have Quincy associates, do you not? Ask them."

Yoruichi sighed in frustration. "The Quincy we know aren't the type to do this sort of thing. Besides which, we've been able to trace their whereabouts, and neither have been anywhere near the areas in question. In addition, they don't have a liking for Shinigami--thanks to you--so we don't anticipate their cooperation with our investigation."

"So you came to me. I see..." drawled the scientist with a smile. "And what exactly can I do for you?"

"He needs your Quincy reiatsu sensor."

Mayuri's eyebrows shot up. This was the tricky part of her plan, for the Captain of the Research Division had never actually claimed to have made such a thing. In fact, the Central Forty-six had turned a blind eye on most of Mayuri's experiments, knowing that his inventions usually gave them a military advantage. But certain operations--such as the extermination of the Quincy--were not held in favor by most of the Sereitei. Mayuri's contributions to that effort were not widely publicized, or there could have been enough of a public outcry to cost him his Captainship. At the moment, Yoruichi was hoping that he valued his pride as a scientists more than his military rank.

"Urahara assumed you must have come up with one, given your success in hunting down the Quincy," she explained, but quick added, "it's all right if you don't actually have one. I told Urahara that you were unlikely to have created anything that he hadn't been able to make himself."

Mayuri fumed. "I'll have you know that I do have one. In fact, I created it ages ago."

"You'll have to show me if you expect me to report that to Urahara."

Mayuri grumbled and took out a remote device from his sleeve. With a click of the switch, the monitors in the room all began displaying the same image--a flattened map of the Earth. With a second command from the remote, a small blinking blue light appeared over one of the islands along the eastern continent. Mayuri made a waving motion with his hand, and the screen zoomed to cover just the island. At this resolution, it became clear that the blue light was actually two markers that were nearly superimposed.

"This is the mortal world. As you can see, these are only two Quincy spirit signatures that were picked up by my sensor."

Yoruichi looked doubtful. "Surely this can't be it? Even if you did wipe out the others, some of them must have been reincarnated by now. Their souls can't all be here in Soul Society."

Captain Kurotsuchi rolled his eyes at her. "My sensor is sophisticated enough to only pick up the energy of souls that have been trained to use Quincy spiritual techniques. I care nothing about those merely born with the potential, but no actual training."

"Something drained those areas of spiritual power," Yoruichi mused. "If it wasn't a Quincy in the mortal world, then it must be one here. Re-orient your sensor to the Sereitei."

She blinked in surprise as the screens suddenly all turned blank. She turned to find Mayuri glaring at her with his arms folded out in front of him.

"You've seen enough already."

Immediately suspicious, she challenged, "why are you being so unhelpful all of a sudden? Surely it isn't that much extra work. You're supposed to have the Sereitei under surveillance at all times."

"The sensors are not fixed on the Sereitei precisely because there is no point in doing so," Mayuri explained in an irritated voice. "A Quincy soul works differently than a normal soul; it draws reiatsu from without, not from within. Having no spiritual power of its own, a Quincy soul that is brought here is incapable of becoming a Shinigami. Therefore, there is no point in searching for one in the Sereitei. I refuse to waste more of my valuable time on this matter."

"Then search the rukongai!" Yoruichi insisted. "Just because they aren't a Shinigami doesn't mean they're powerless!"

"I just told you that a soul with Quincy potential is worthless if not properly trained!" shot back the scientist. "When a soul is brought here upon death, it quickly forgets what in knew in life. The Quincies that were killed have all forgotten who they were, and lost their ability to use Quincy powers. Therefore, the one you are looking for cannot be among them!"

Yoruichi had to admit that he had a point. Before she could come up with a counter-argument, Kurotsuchi had pressed a button on the remote and motioned her towards the now open doorway.

"This meeting is over. I am far too busy to deal with Urahara's wild speculations. Go now, before I let my subordinates catch you."

She couldn't shake the feeling that there was still something that he was hiding from her; some truth that she was on the verge of seeing. His rush to end their discussion proved it. But Yoruichi knew that now was not the time to press her luck.

"Thank you," she said simply, and flash-stepped out of sight.

"So Kurotsuchi was less than helpful. I can't say that I'm surprised."

"Actually, I got more out of him than I expected," Yoruichi admitted to the white-haired captain sitting across from her. "I just wish he would have been willing to test out all of Urahara's theories. They're both scientists; you would think they both enjoyed figuring out a mystery."

"I admit, the way that man's mind works has always been a mystery to me," remarked Ukitake dryly. "But then, the same could be said for Urahara."

A tray of tea was lowered onto the table between them. Yoruichi looked up at smiled at the new lieutenant as she served them.

"Congratulations on your promotion. And your sister's."

Kiyone Kotetsu blushed and bowed low to her. "Thank you."

Yoruichi inspected the girl as she sipped at her tea. Her spiritual power was not quite lieutenant level; in fact, it was barely third-seat at best. There must have been something else about Kiyone that had impressed her Captain enough to promote her this far. Or perhaps the war had left too many empty positions, and the Gotei was rushing to fill them to keep things running smoothly. Yoruichi forced herself to dismiss the matter; after all, the Sereitei's business didn't concern her now, and her old squad was still in good hands.

"So you suspect the one you're after is a Quincy?"

"Oops, s-sorry Captain," stammered Kiyone, having accidentally tipped over his cup as she poured. Yoruichi would have thought nothing of it, except that she noticed a long look pass between the lieutenant and captain. Did these two know something?

"That's the current theory," Yoruichi nodded, pretending not to have noticed. "There were no hollow energy signatures detected at the sites. And there are no kidou spells--except for the one that creates the King's Key--that can leech away reiatsu like that."

The older Captain grunted unhappily. "I don't like hearing words like "hollow" and "King's Key" in the same sentence. It also brings to mind the hyogyoku."

"Yes, we thought about that too," Yoruichi admitted. "But Ichigo assured us that Aizen had destroyed its power when he tried to make the Key."

"Did Ichigo bring it back with him?"

"No. He gave it to Grimmjow, an arrancar ally who now rules over Las Noches."

"And he is trustworthy?"

Yoruichi knew that it was still difficult for some of the older captains to accept that certain hollows could control their appetites and become worthy allies. Those prejudices were the cause of rifts that still existed between the Gotei Thirteen, the Vizards, and Ichigo and his friends, herself included.

"I'm not criticizing your judgment of people," Ukitake quickly amended. "But a hollow's priorities are not necessarily the same as ours, as well-intending as they might seem. A Shinigami lives by rules and responsibilities, and can be counted on to behave within those boundaries."

"Yes, I remember," said Yoruichi with a bitter smile. Ukitake lowered his eyes in apology, thinking that she had just chastised him for forgetting that she was once a Shinigami Captain. But in truth, she was smiling in irony at how unpleasant those 'rules and responsibilities' had been for her, and how pleased she now was to be free of them.

"For the sake of argument, let's ignore the small chance that the hyogyoku has been stolen and repaired," continued Yoruichi, broaching the matter that she knew Ukitake was really driving at. "We are left with the possibility that this is the work of a Quincy. They have reason enough to hate Shinigami. But what I can't figure out is the purpose of draining all those areas of reiatsu. Is it meant as a show of power, or a warning?"

Ukitake spoke slowly as he pondered the matter, staring deeply into his cup. "It sounds more like they were trying not to be discovered, by draining several small areas instead of one large one. Maybe they didn't know we had the technology to detect even such minor changes. You yourself said that Captain Kurotsuchi wasn't aware of what had happened. If Urahara hadn't been paying attention, we might not have known either."

"But what would be the purpose? Quincies drain reiatsu to summon their weapons. Was this one trying to fight something?"

They looked gloomily at one another, unable to offer any answers. Kiyone made a small sound, as if she was about to speak, but Ukitake reached out and grabbed her hand, as if to silence her. Surprisingly, the girl pulled away from his grasp.

"No Captain, I have to say something. This could be important." There was another wordless exchange as they traded looks, but finally Ukitake nodded. Turning to Yoruichi, the new lieutenant explained, "Before my sister and I became Shinigami, we lived in the Rukongai. I had a disease, much like my Captain, and went to a man known as the Shaman for healing. He taught us how to heal using kidou, but what we didn't find out until later was that he was also a Quincy. He used his techniques to steal reiatsu from us and the rest of his patients. I still don't know what he was planning, but I do know that he had a grudge against the Sereitei."

Yoruichi's eyes widened. Could this be her suspect? "Where is he now? Could you take me to him?"

Kiyone angrily shook her head. "He's dead, or at least that's what I was told. I'm sorry. I only mentioned him because I think you're right; I think this could be the work a Quincy." She hesitated as if wanting to say more, but Ukitake gave her such a fierce glare that she went silent.

Interesting.

"I'm sorry we couldn't be of more help, Yoruichi-san," said Ukitake, standing up suddenly. It was a clear message for her to leave.

"It's all right; you've been of more help than you realize." The momentary flash of panic on the man's face confirmed to her that there was indeed a deeper meaning to their odd behavior. She just wished she knew what it was.

Yoruichi glared unhappily at the large fish swimming up to the edge of the pond, completely oblivious to her presence. While it sometimes amused her to pounce on small creatures just as a real cat might, she drew the line at actually eating vermin or pets. She was the head of one of the Four Great Houses, after all, and some things were simply too undignified, even for her.

She sank her four-legged body down against the warm stones bordering the pond and released a small hiss of frustration. Her mission was going nowhere, and her leads were being less than helpful. She could sense that there was an important piece of information that everyone was keeping hidden, which was the key to ending the wild goose chase that Kisuke had set her on. She didn't mind solving mysteries--they could be fun, and added spice to her otherwise monotonous life in exile. But this was fast moving out of the realm of mystery and into the category of "puzzle", and that was where Yoruichi drew the line. After all, she wasn't Kisuke.

"Oh my, I wasn't expecting to find anyone else here."

Yoruichi's haunches rose reflexively as she heard the unfamiliar voice, before she remembered that she was in feline form and that no one should be able to recognize her. She turned her head swiftly to appraise the person who had managed to sneak up behind her without alarming her senses.

The man was dressed in Shinigami garb, but with an odd orange collar that spread almost to his shoulders. He was thin and not too muscled, and held himself so perfectly straight that she wouldn't have been surprised to see an object balanced on his head. Yet Yoruichi had been trained to discard first impressions and study the deeper signs that people usually keep hidden. She could tell almost instantly that despite this man's harmless appearance, he was a warrior of some skill.

She watched as he seemed to be studying her as well, which only made Yoruichi more nervous. There were still some in the Sereitei who remembered that she had another form, and it was possible that an alert had already been sent out to capture any cats in the vicinity.

The man seemed to realize her growing alarm, and held up his hands in reassurance. "I won't bother you, my little friend. I only came here to meditate and admire the beauty of the gardens." He surprised her with a slight bow, then he proceeded to walk a little farther down the edge of the pond before taking a seat in the grass.

I should get away while I can, she thought anxiously to herself, stealing nervous glances at the man sitting only a dozen feet away from her. Yet a voice inside chastised her for being so afraid, blaming it on her animal instincts and reminding her that she had been a Captain of the Gotei Thirteen. Even if that Shinigami managed to suddenly climb to his feet and pounce at her in under a second, she would have plenty of time to see him and get away.

"I used to visit the Fifth Division barracks," he continued, still speaking to her as if he thought she could understand. It didn't necessarily mean anything, she reminded herself. After all, some people liked to treat animals as if they were intelligent. "Captain Kuchiki has a pond filled with the most marvelous coi. Yet surprisingly, over time I noticed that his fish were disappearing, while those in Captain Ukitake's pond were multiplying. Then one night, I caught our dear little lieutenant sneaking into the Fifth Davison gardens, and wouldn't you know it, she was carrying a coi to Ukitake's pond."

Yoruichi stifled a laugh as she tried to imagine poor Byakuya's expression when he contemplated his disappearing fish. That man certainly needed to be brought down a peg or two. It was still hard for her to accept that over the years of her banishment, little Byakuya had risen to become the head of his Clan.

"Who knows what other secrets might be going on in the Sereitei that no one else is aware of," mused the Shinigami out loud. At the mention of the word secrets, Yoruichi's ears perked up automatically. The odd Shinigami seemed to notice her interest, and gave her a conspiratory wink. "Yes, I'm sure you've seen your fair share on your wanderings, my feline friend. I daresay I have as well. These eyes don't miss much," he said, fingering something that flowed from the right side of his face. That side had been turned away from her, but now that she looked closely, she realized that there were long colored feathers attached to his eyelids.

What a strange decoration! And yet once she had spotted it, it kept drawing her attention. The effect was almost mesmerizing, as if her animal brain had caught sight of a bird and refused to look away.

She couldn't be certain how long she had sat there staring, but the next thing she knew, the man was climbing to his feet.

"I must be going now. Good luck hunting." With another wink, he was gone, having shunpoed out of sight.

Yoruichi was almost tempted to follow him, but her predatory eyes caught something glittering on the ground where he had been sitting. She approached cautiously, sensing weak flows of kidou. As she got closer, she realized that there were words scribbled in the dirt, outlined faintly in reiatsu to make sure that they were noticed.

Interesting....

Yoruichi waited until she heard the loud klaxon going off in deeper levels of the Twelfth Division research area, before she herself crossed the threshold of the building. She couldn't be absolutely certain that Mayuri hadn't devised a way to track her in cat form, but if he had, she was betting he was more preoccupied with that that other alarm at the moment.

She was a touch disappointed when she reached the Twelfth Captain's office without incident, but she supposed it was for the best that she get her business over with as quickly as possible. She found her quarry exactly where she left him, poring over his monitors and typing frantically at the controls. Lieutenant Omaeda's bulky form was easily recognizable on the screen, his zanpakuto in shikei form as he smashed his way through one of the laboratories. The look of glee on his face made Yoruichi feel rather proud of herself. After all, the man deserved some form of gratification after all the pain he had suffered under Soi Fon.

The researchers fled or watched from afar, looking helpless and horrified. Mayuri, on the other hand, was livid. "This will not be permitted! That fool has no right to be down there!"

"I think the secret police has every right to investigate the illegal experiments you've been performing," Yoruichi smirked, phasing back into human form as she landed behind him.

She wasn't fully prepared for what happened next. Without even turning around, the Twelfth Division captain pulled another remote out of his sleeve and pressed a button. Lasers suddenly shot out at her from all sides, which Yoruichi just barely managed to dodge. What she didn't notice until a second later, however, was that the lasers had not been aimed at her, but rather, aimed around her. They intertwined to form a cage, whose electric bars she would have had a hard time squeezing through, even in cat form.

"I knew you'd return. Foolish of you to try the same trick twice. At least I learn from my mistakes," he said, at last turning to face her. "I can only assume this is your doing?" he snarled, pointing one hand at the monitor.

"You know I don't run the Second Division any more," Yoruichi snorted. "Though I won't deny that I may have given them a tip or two about what I found when I was last here."

"Found?" cried the mad captain. "How can you accuse me when you have no grasp of the significance of my work!"

"I don't need to understand it to know that torturing a mortally wounded hollow soul instead of purifying it is forbidden."

Mayuri's mouth twisted angrily, but he could not deny this accusation. Before giving him a chance to speak, she continued, "I could have had the entire Second Squad here, but I asked Lieutenant Omaeda to come alone. I figured it would take longer for him to tear through this place, and would give us more time to talk before you were presented with the evidence found against you."

"Evidence?" the man guffawed incredulously. "Those hollow remains are hardly worth mentioning."

"And what about your Quincy Detector?"

If possible, Mayuri became even more incensed. "Fool! How could you? And you actually expect me to use it for you now that you've told them it exists!?"

Yoruichi did her best to look calm, taking sadistic pleasure in knowing that it would only enrage the man further. "No. I expect you to hand it over to me before Omaeda finds it. I'm sure Kisuke will be able to figure out how to use it."

"Absolutely out of the question!"

"Don't worry," she reassured him, flashing her own teeth in a smile. "We won't reveal your secret."

Mayuri drew back as if burned, his rage replaced by cautious fear. "What are you blathering about?"

....

"...and then he gave me this," Yoruichi finished, handing the rather unimpressive cylindrical device over to her friend. She could see Urahara's eyes sparkle beneath the brim of his ridiculous hat.

"My dear Yoruichi, how can you possibly end the story like that without telling me how you accomplished your miracle?"

She snorted in amusement. "I thought you liked to work those puzzles out on your own." She settled herself against some of the throw pillows Urahara had laying about the store and stretched. "But very well, if you must know, he was more than happy to be rid of the thing. I guess he had always worried what might happen if one of his subordinates had figured out how to work it."

"And the secret that he was so worried might be discovered?"

Yoruichi's eyes met her friend's, piercing the shadow that always dwelled over them. She was very curious how much of this he had already suspected.

"That he himself was a Quincy soul that had been reincarnated into the Soul Society. Earlier, he had made a big deal about such souls being ordinary unless they were actually trained to use Quincy techniques, and only then would they be picked up by his sensor. So now he was vulnerable to being detected, and quite likely persecuted as most of his kindred had been."

"So someone had trained him?" asked Urahara, curious.

"Self-taught, probably, from the lessons he learned experimenting on his fellow Quincy. The one thing I don't get is how he became a Shinigami. His own admission was that Quincy souls worked differently and couldn't draw reiatsu inwardly, as we can."

Kisuke's expression darkened. "Mayuri is an expert at soul manipulation. I'm sure he found a way to overcome that obstacle." Never one to brood too long on dark thoughts, Kisuke's expression suddenly brightened and he threw Yoruichi a proud grin. "Congrats on solving the case! I knew I could count on you."

She rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at him, which he barely dodged. "If you weren't so lazy, you could have gone there yourself and probably gotten that thing from Mayuri faster than I did. And anyways, it wasn't that hard. All the clues were there."

"Clues?"

Yoruichi smiled, thinking of the message that Shinigami had scribbled in the dirt for her to find. It had filled the last piece of her puzzle. "Let's just say, a little bird told me," she said, thinking of his odd feathers.

Kisuke looked down at the object in his hands, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "I wonder how many other Quincy made it to the Soul Society."

"We might never know. Though supposedly, they have extremely keen vision and are attracted to bight colors and fanciful designs. I always thought Mayuri's sense of style was a little odd, but perhaps he simply can't help it."

Urahara grinned and tipped his striped hat at her. "Surely Mayuri's style can't be more outlandish than mine? Who knows, maybe I'm a Quincy too!" He chuckled to himself, his gaze still locked on the device so that he didn't see her sudden discomfort. "I'll see if I can't make this thing sensitive enough to pick up any Quincy soul, not just the trained ones. Wouldn't it be fun to know which of us could be one too?"

Yoruichi frowned, her thoughts once again on those colorful feathers. She wasn't in cat form, and couldn't simply dismiss this as an obsession of her feline brain. Refusing to think of the implications, she threw Kisuke a tired smile and curled her body in preparation for a nap.

"Do as you like, but as for me, I think some mysteries are better left unsolved."