Chapter 5: Things Change
The part of the sword that was closest to the hilt shone brilliantly in the moonlight while the rest of it glowed with a crimson sheen dripping sluggishly down to the sharp tip, then to the earth beneath it. Delicate, pale fingers ran over the coppery liquid with a white piece of cloth, frayed at the edges, obviously torn from somewhere. Below, a boy wearing the standard academy uniform lay supine, desperately gasping in pain, the front of his white robe looking too clean despite the torn hem and the three inch cut in the fabric near his chest, the back sopping and red around the three-inch hole that matched the one in front.
"The Soushireikan's information doesn't seem to be accurate this time, does it?" a tall figure commented as the wind blew through the surrounding bushes with an eerie howl, made eerier by the victim's accompanying gasps.
"Yep, this one ain't even worth bloodying my blade for," the shorter figure answered indifferently, stuffing the soiled white cloth into the boy's mouth to silence him.
"Then I think it might be time to have another meeting. After all, we need to find you a stronger playmate if my plans are to succeed," the tall figure tore his eyes away from the body disdainfully as the boy drew his very last breath. The moonlight glanced off the man's glasses ominously, "Don't you agree, Gin?"
"O'course, Aizen-sama," the shorter figure answered automatically, before falling back into his perpetual menacing grin.
"Bankai!"
A bright column of lightning erupted violently from where Soifon stood on the ground, surrounded by swirls of yellow energy, and she had to wonder if she hadn't made a huge mistake, picking an enclosed area for calling upon her second release. Well, if she had, it was too late to rectify the oversight now. The column shrunk and died down with a few more fizzles, the energy around her, evaporating into wisps then nothingness. Gold had covered the right side of her body, a shield and a slit mask protecting her torso and face, a thick, sleek tube with six sinister spikes extending from her shoulder well beyond the reach of her arm.
"Jakuho Raikoben," she whispered placidly, her eyes narrowed dangerously. That appearance of calm confidence always did scare her opponents much more than any yell could, but her current companion was anything but impressed.
"Condense your energy, Soifon. Don't release it like you're shooting and don't let it dissipate like you're dispelling bankai," Suzumebachi coached her wielder.
Soifon's brows pinched in concentration and sweat ran down the side of her face as she struggled to control the reiatsu that was raring to break free.
Is it just my imagination or is the rocket launcher's length somehow oscillating?
"No, Soifon," the spirit corrected harshly. "Calmly! Do it calmly. Reign it in—your energy, your emotions, your thoughts—everything! Prepare yourself as if you're carrying out a true assassination."
With a small nod, Soifon closed her eyes and began the process of relegating everything to the back of her mind—her annoyance at the bug, her excitement and anxiety for her new technique, her hate for Aizen and her fear of not being able to beat him in this timeline, and many other things that were jumbled up inside her. Simultaneously, she imagined the yellow aura radiating around her getting smaller and smaller, but also brighter and brighter. Soifon didn't know how long it took, but with a clearer mind and a brighter soul, Soifon finally felt herself grow significantly lighter, the weight of her bankai's launcher suddenly much easier to lift. In a moment of enlightenment, she found herself thinking, So this what it feels like to be completely at peace.
A boisterous laugh interrupted her more profound thoughts and her eyes fluttered open in mild irritation. "Suzumebachi-" she warned.
"Now, now, stay calm," the hornet tried to placate her as her giggling died down. "You've only just succeeded. If you get angry now, we'll have to do this all over again, and the day's almost done."
"What?" Soifon frowned in confusion, her annoyance temporarily forgotten.
"You've been in a bankai trance for about five hours." The fairy-like spirit pointed at the woman's right arm which was still in front of her, apparently still raised from when she gave Suzumebachi her warning. "That's why you suddenly felt light," the hornet explained with a contorted face that suggested she was holding back from laughing again. "I'm sure letting go of your fears and emotions had something to do with it, too…" At this, Suzumebachi actually snorted as her determination not to laugh began to fail. "But mostly it's because your launcher is now only one-sixth of its original size…"
Soifon was too fascinated by the previously unnoticed change in her bankai that she ignored the spirit's cheerful mockery of her thoughts and her subsequent explanation of how her five-hour meditation in bankai helped her bring out Jakuho Raikoben's true form.
She turned her arm around curiously to inspect her bankai's transformation. The sleek tube had been reduced to arm's length, attached to her forearm with a metal brace but detached from her upper arm, allowing her the luxury of bending her elbow—something she couldn't do with the launcher's old form. Not that she could bend her elbow if the old launcher had been attached so precariously since it was so bulky and heavy, but this launcher was small and light enough that with enough training, she could regain the advantage of being able to move quickly during a battle. The spikes that made the old launcher so ominous were reduced to studs in this form, also allowing her a greater range of motion without impaling herself.
"What does it do? I thought you said it made explosions," the assassin asked, a tinge of worry in her voice. The current form of Jakuho Raikoben looked like a cross between her shikai stinger and the old form of her bankai. Frankly, it scared her to think about a close-range weapon with the explosive power of her bankai.
I thought Suzumebachi said the new bankai would be safer for me...
"It is safer for you. Much safer in fact, and you wouldn't have to doubt what I said if you'd actually listen to my answer instead of making up your own theories," the hornet huffed as she flipped her long brown pigtails.
"Stop reading my thoughts," Soifon growled, but the spirit only rolled her tiny eyes. "Calm down, Soifon, calm down. Wouldn't want that thing to suddenly turn into a giant rocket launcher again, now would we?" The reminder kept the ex-captain's urge to crush the little bug at bay. "Now to answer your question of what it can do, point your arm towards that rock," Suzumebachi instructed and Soifon followed her order reluctantly. "Alright, now try to visualize where exactly you are pointing," she continued and once again, Soifon complied. "Good. What do you see?"
"It's a red dot."
"Are you sure? Why don't you walk closer?"
Soifon sauntered hesitantly towards the rock, arm still held in front of her. At first, she couldn't see the point in the exercise; even after moving a few meters towards the rock, all she could see was a red dot. A few meters more, however, and she started making out tiny lines swirled within the dot.
Is that a design?
When she got within three feet of the rock, the tip of her new arm weapon just under one foot from the solid surface, her jaw dropped.
Suzumebachi flew over with a knowing look. "What is it that you actually do when you make the first step in Nigeki Kessatsu?"
Soifon answered without taking her wide eyes off of the red mark, "I stab the opponent with my stinger."
"Nooo," Suzumebachi dragged out annoyingly. "You stab the opponent just because you're that ruthless. You can make that mark with just a pinprick sensation."
"Yes," Soifon answered distractedly, still transfixed by the mark.
"Well, I'll need a little more than a 'yes' out of you. So think again, what is it that you do when you make that first step? The answer is right in front of you."
Soifon inched closer to the stone to make sure she was seeing the design correctly despite the distortions due to the uneven surface. The sight of a homounka, so unobtrusively tiny and projected with fine lines of light, left Soifon breathless. "I… I make a target for the second, killing strike."
"Exactly. You never did get to see how Jakuho Raikoben's ammunition is shaped, did you?" the bee-like creature smirked. "I'm pretty excited to see what Nigeki Kessatsu looks like at long range. How about you?" the bee-like creature asked cleverly. Soifon turned towards her and in a rare moment, she answered her sword spirit's question with a genuinely eager grin.
"Before we try that, you must know a few things about this new bankai. The requisites for its use are a clear line of sight and a target that remains stationary long enough to project the homounka and shoot," Suzumebachi began to lecture seriously. "It can be dodged and it can be blocked. You also need a quick and accurate aim, which you haven't really trained in because your bankai used to function more like a demolition ball than a sniper gun. But since your homounka moves with you, you only need to be accurate enough to hit the enemy, and not a specific point on the enemy, like with your stinger."
"So really, it's like death in one step," the young woman noted in satisfaction. "A little like a cero."
"Oh, please. A cero could kill you, but if you're lucky, it might just take out an arm or a leg or a chunk of your guts," the deceptively innocent-looking spirit remarked. "With the true form of Jakuho Raikoben, once you are hit, you die. No ifs, buts… limbs, or other body parts, for that matter." As awed as she was, Soifon couldn't help but blanch at the casual reference to dismembered or disintegrated body parts.
"Blocking it with an inanimate object negates the Nigeki Kessatsu ability, but still results in a smaller version of your old Jakuho Raikoben explosion, so the shot could still work. This is the same way that your stinger can sting a hole into an inanimate object, say a wall, but even if you sting it twice, the wall can't die…" the hornet rambled on, but Soifon was no longer paying attention, already considering a much more important issue. "Suzumebachi," she said slowly. "At my last battle… Aizen blocked Nigeki Kessatsu just by having denser reiatsu."
Suzumebachi bit her lip and looked down—whether in embarrassment or apology, it wasn't clear. "I'm afraid that could still happen, even with your bankai's Nigeki Kessatsu. After all, shinigami battles often turn out to be battles of reiatsu."
"Mmm," Soifon softly hummed her understanding, feeling thoroughly depressed and causing her bankai grow slightly before disappearing completely. She slumped her shoulders and lowered her head in defeat.
"But that just means we need to train more and plan better, doesn't it?" Suzumebachi perched lightly on the woman's shoulder and wrapped an arm behind Soifon's head.
"Yeah," the woman gave the spirit a small smile, appreciating the gesture, before hiding her weakness behind her usual scowl.
"Now get off my shoulder."
"Soifon!" Yoruichi called as she flopped carelessly into her throne at the Onmitsukidou's headquarters.
After a quick delay, a black-clad figure took a knee in front of the Gundanchou. "Yoruichi-sama," the too-big figure spoke in a voice that was also too low.
"Well, obviously, you're not Soifon," Yoruichi said tilting her head in bemusement. "So where is she?"
"We don't know, Gundanchou. Today's her day off so… " her bodyguard trailed off.
"Pfft, that girl has never taken her day off voluntarily for as long as I can remember," Yoruichi said disbelievingly.
"Sorry, but she's really not here, Yoruichi-sama. We thought it odd that she didn't come, but it is supposed to be her day off, so we didn't bother to find her," the man bowed his head apologetically.
"Hmm," Yoruichi frowned, obviously unhappy. "Is that so?"
"Shall we locate her for you now, Yoruichi-sama?" the man offered helpfully.
The commander tapped her chin, giving the suggestion some thought. "No, that's fine. There's just something we needed to discuss. It can wait."
Noting that the woman's mood had soured despite her dismissive words, the man nodded cautiously, "If that is all, Yoruichi-sama…"
"Yes, you are dismissed," she waved him off distractedly.
As the man slinked off into the shadows, Yoruichi steepled her fingers by her lips with her elbows resting on her knees, and contemplated the recent events.
Soifon had always been comfortably constant, predictable if a little boring; but for two days in a row, she had whipped out some pretty interesting surprises. Last night, she unexpectedly released her zanpakutou and noticeably improved her shunpo, both very good things indeed. But at the same time, the girl had kept her speed secret until that game of tag, and quite obviously intended to keep her shikai secret as well. Yoruichi had been prepared to ignore the secrecy but today, perhaps even more shockingly, Soifon had actually forgone the opportunity to serve the Shihouin princess. There was just something distinctly wrong with that; and at that thought, Yoruichi couldn't help but heave a tired and saddened sigh. "Why couldn't things have stayed the same?"
Author's notes:
Things are about to get more interesting. I'm pretty excited to work on the next chapters, so I hope you guys are excited to read them too. This chapter is a little different from how I usually write, I think, so I also hope I haven't confused anyone by using a style I'm not used to. Because of that, I'd really love to see what you think of the chapter (although it's always a pleasure to receive reviews). Please click on the review button.
I felt like I needed to add this note after the first few reviews of the chapter: Shihouin Yoruichi is the Soushireikan of the Onmitsukidou. It's one of her many titles that Byakuya mentions when she appears on the bridge to save Ichigo from Senbonzakura.
Disclaimer: If Bleach was mine, Soifon's bankai would be even more badass.