Title: Unexpected
Author: BebopSamurai
She pushes him back with her zanpaku-to, a smile lighting her otherwise stoic appearance as she does so. He smiles back, knowing as she does that this is the only time she feels any semblance of joy, of exhilaration, in the heat of combat even if it is only sparring. But even as she chides him on, brushing off his blows like they're nothing, they both know that she's only smiling today to avoid showing the depth of her frustration.
He knows that today is probably going to be their last chance to idle their evenings away like this, strength against strength in a chamber hidden beneath the Sokyoku.
Tomorrow she becomes the official captain of the Second Division.
It's been nearly a week and she's already bored out of her mind. She hoped that as the head of both the secret police AND the military police she would have more to do, but so far all she's done is supervise the training of new recruits-- someone below her is responsible for the actual instruction. It doesn't give her much assurance that the trainer is a rather old man, even by Soul Society standards, and that a brief glimpse of the new recruits includes someone only half the size of the average man, who might be a girl but she can't tell from this distance. She stands for a minute, just long enough to see the group trip over each other while performing the most basic of techniques. She turns away, somewhat disgusted and ultimately annoyed.
Shameful.
Seven more days have passed and only once has she been able to spar with Kisuke, the only bright point in her otherwise tedious new life. It was bad enough when all she had to worry about was constantly being watched over by guards half the time, but now she has to plan days in advance to get away, to provide herself with some privacy. She hates all this, the boredom, the waiting, the incompetence of the Second Division recruits. Walking along one of the training pits she notices a brawl between nearly a dozen of the men. She's too bored to notice that they're all ganging up on another recruit; she simply jumps in and knocks one of them down with a flying kick to the back. The others, suddenly aware of their commander's presence, begin to charge as one, in the hopes of impressing her with their strength. She's feeling quite the opposite when, in a flash of blinding speed, the entirety of the group is sprawled on the ground, clutching their sides or chests where she's hit them.
Pathetic.
She wants to spit at them, hate them for being so weak, for disgracing the honor of their Division and wasting their Captain's time. Instead she feels some movement behind her, then aims a blinding roundhouse kick to where she knows the only remaining soldier will stop. She expects to feel her foot complete its cycle, to hear the groan of another soldier as he lands upon the cold stone beneath her feet.
But instead she only feels her foot stop, the muffled thud of a perfect block.
The possibility that this has occured derails her train of thought. No one here could possibly be fast enough to stop one of her attacks...right? She blinks as she finally turns to look at where her foot has stopped and finds, to her shock, a soldier standing there--the petite one from before.
And more than that, a girl. Her face is covered by a mask, but her short hair is visible, along with her wide, dark eyes as the comprehension of what she's done suddenly sinks in.
"C-Captain!" is all the young girl can say before she's flipped over with both legs and tossed a short way away. The only one still standing watches the girl as she scrambles to her knees, immediately genuflecting. Normally she would feel exasperated with such a display of respect, but somehow the Captain is amused instead. Intrigued.
"What's your name?" she asks, and she's surprised to realize that it isn't an empty attempt at conversation. She's genuinely interested in anyone who could last a single blow from her.
"...I'm Soi Fong," the girl answers hesitantly, as though she can't believe anyone would want to know who she was. Especially someone of such standing as Shihouin Yoruichi.
"...Is that so?" the Captain responds cryptically, feeling something tug at the edges of her mouth as she turns away, heading back to the officials who she was listening to and are now waiting for her again. It seems hard for her to believe, but she's smiling the whole time it takes her to get back.
Soi Fong. She'd remember that name. And perhaps being the Captain of Second Division wouldn't be so boring after all.