A couple of years passed and everyone had soon gotten used to the new life as an organization.
Jūshirō and Shunsui grew stronger for each passing day and were now ranked among the strongest in the 1st division, sharing the spot of 4th seat.
This morning, Jūshirō was up earlier than normal.
As he changed into his uniform, he looked over at Shunsui who was still fast asleep.
"Even after all these years I'm still surprised with how easy and deep he sleeps"
He simply shook his head at his best friend before grabbing a red band that he used to tie his hair into a small ponytail at the base of his neck.
He then picked up his Zanpakutō and put it at his waist before leaving the room.
"Good morning 4th seat Ukitake"
"Good morning"
"You're up early"
"Guess I am but doesn't hurt starting the day early once in a while"
"You're right"
Jūshirō smiled at the lower ranked officer before he made his way outside to the garden which was one of the more quiet places at the barracks.
He sat down under a tree and placed his Zanpakutō in his lap before closing his eyes.
But rather than him entering his inner world, that was a poof and smoke covered the area, dying down to reveal Sōgyo and Kotowari standing there.
"Sōgyo, Kotowari, why and how are you here?"
The twins giggled, jumping up and down in excitement.
"You did it, said Kotowari"
"I told you he could, said Sōgyo"
"Do what, Jūshirō asked"
"Summon us here to your world of course"
"To be honest, I'm not even sure how I did it"
The twins looked at each other before walking over to him, sitting down in his lap.
"Summoning us here is the first step for you to take in order to reach Bankai, said Kotowari"
Jūshirō's eyes widened slightly at hearing the word.
"Bankai?"
The two spirits nodded and Jūshirō remembered the day Yamamoto had showed up wounded and how he had told them it was from Sasakibe's Bankai.
"So this is the sign I'm ready for it"
He then looked at the twins.
"What's the second step?"
"Subjugation, said Sōgyo"
"If you can defeat us, we'll know you're ready for this power, said Kotowari"
"I'm not gonna fight you two if that's what you're hinting at, said Jūshirō"
The spirits just laughed slightly at the tone in their master's voice and look in his eyes.
"We know, said Kotowari.
-That's why we decided to do it in another way"
"If you can beat us in three games, we'll let you know our Bankai, said Sōgyo"
The two smiled as Jūshirō let out a sigh in what appeared to be relief.
"That I'm okay with
-So what do you wanna do first?"
The twins looked at each other for a moment before smiling.
"Hide and seek, said Sōgyo"
"But it will be different from the times we've played in our world, said Kotowari"
"Okay but let's go to a bigger area, said Jūshirō"
The twins nodded and disappeared back into their sword before Jūshirō left the division garden.
He made his way through the Seireitei to a secluded field between the east and north gates.
"Okay we're here"
He drew his sword and the twins appeared again as he held it out.
"Now we have more space to do what you want.
-So you said something about hide and seek"
"Yes, said Sōgyo
-And the rules are simple"
"We'll hide separately and you won't be able to sense our spiriutal pressure, said Kotowari
-The game is over once you've found both of us"
"I understand"
Jūshirō then closed his eyes and when he opened them, the twins were gone and just as Kotowari had said, he couldn't feel their spiritual pressure.
"Okay where could those two be"
He looked around, trying to see if he could find some spots where they could have used to hide.
"They said I have to find both of them and they will not hide together this time"
After looking around one more time, he began to walk around, looking up at trees and behind rocks but had no luck finding any of them.
After a few hours, he sat down against a tree and sighed.
"You two can come out now, that's enough for today"
He closed his eyes for a short moment and when he opened them, the twins stood there.
"You two are good at hiding"
"Don't worry, you'll find our hiding spots soon, said Sōgyo"
"You just need some more time to figure out how and where, said Kotowari"
They then went back to their sword and Jūshirō made his way back to the 1st division barracks where he found Shunsui lazing around.
"Oh hey Juu"
"About time you got up"
Jūshirō sat down next to him and Shunsui noticed that he seemed tired.
"So what have you been up to?"
Jūshirō didn't really know what to say. Should he tell Shunsui the truth or wait for it to be a surprise once he's gotten his Bankai.
"I was just communicating with my Zanpakutō and when I was in my innter world, the had me chase them as one of their games"
"Must be hard to have to kids as spirits"
"They can be a handful sometimes but it's not like it's something I'm not used to since the twins among my siblings were like that when they were little"
Shunsui just laughed before the two got up and walked inside to see what work they had to do for the day.
Several days later, Jūshirō finaly made some progress with his training. He had decided to check a place he hadn't though about and that was up in the trees.
He was currently standing on a thick branch, looking around until he noticed the faintest of rustling among the leaves a bit away.
Getting over there, he saw a spot of blue among the leaves and moves some aside to find Kotowari sitting there.
"You found me"
"I did"
Kotowari then came out of his hiding place and they got down on the ground.
"Now to find Sōgyo"
While Kotowari sat down on a nearby rock, Jūshirō checked the trees again but couldn't find the other twin so he got down.
After a while, he saw something glimmering in the corner of his eye and turned around to see small pudle of water.
"How can there be a pudle here? It hasn't rained for days now"
An idea then hit him and he walked over to the pudle, kneeling down to see something small at the bottom of it.
"Found you Sōgyo"
The thing at the bottom of the pudle moved and with a small splash, his other Zanpakutō spirit appeared from it.
"Yay you found me"
Kotowari then came to stand next to his brother.
"That's one of three"
"You ready for the next game?"
Jūshirō nodded, determination glowing in his eyes.
"Let's go"
And so, Sogyō No Kotowari continued their challenges to test their master and see if he was worth of their Bankai.