Author's notes:

Thanks to my beta, PolarisAmane, for making sure that I'm on the right track.

Shorter chapter this time, but you'll probably get a quick update after this since the next chapter is pretty much just being polished.

Disclaimer: If Bleach was mine, Soifon would recruit Tatsuki to the Onmitsukidou.

Chapter 6: Women of Stealth

Yoruichi was not the type to rise when the sun did. It was one of her quirks that everyone had learned to live with. Her men knew to find her in her quarters if the dawn somehow brought urgent news. The other captains knew not to seek her audience until at least late morning. Even the Shihouin elders knew it was best to schedule clan meetings later in the day if they wanted the clan head to be in attendance.

The only reason she ever woke up earlier than mid-morning was if there was a Captain's Meeting, or if there was important mission that required it. This time, there was indeed a mission and it required her to be up even before the crack of dawn. But because the mission was unofficial and not at all sanctioned by Central 46 or the Soutaichou, this meant that no one expected it when she slipped soundlessly out of her room and into the darkness, already wearing a black full bodysuit, a mask and gloves that hid her uncommonly dark skin, and a bandana that covered her distinctive purple hair. From a distance, she looked like she was just another one of her soldiers at the Onmitsukidou, though one with a decidedly alluring feminine form. It was a convenient disguise if she ever needed it, but the outfit's main purpose was for her not to be seen in the first place. Its main purpose was stealth.

The Shihouin threw a lever that raised a small panel in the wall, opening the short and dark secret passageway to the greater darkness of the night beyond. Silently, she thanked Kisuke for installing the escape route in the Shihouin estate for use when they went off for one of their escapades in the past. She was already crouched in the shadows outside when the panel automatically closed itself.

She knew that the clan guards and the few personal guards that took their shift at night would be surrounding her wing of the Shihouin residential building as well as looking after the four estate gates. She scampered behind walls, and darted from tree to tree, heading off to the south, away from those possible witnesses and towards another moveable panel in the Shihouin estate's wall, this one sensibly secured by a code that was to be entered in a tiny camouflaged console.

After ten minutes of shifting from lightning-quick flash steps and skulking in the shadows, Yoruichi arrived unseen at another heavily guarded area: the Onmitsukidou headquarters. This time, she didn't have the benefit of secret gates and secret passages, but the men in patrol were not elite like her personal bodyguards and there was no reason for them to be on high alert. Using the skills she had been trained in since her childhood, she was able to sneak over to the wall of her office undetected, and with a final sweep of her surroundings to make sure that no one would see, she leapt up to her windowsill, balancing gracefully on the thin ledge before letting herself in.

She moved smoothly and confidently through the pitch black room, knowing the position of every table, chair and shelf that furnished the space. When she got to the far corner, she looked around suspiciously once again before opening a filing cabinet filled with information on the skills of existing shinigami, as well as those aspiring to be shinigami. She reached for the large folder close to the front that contained the names and skills of those who might have the potential to achieve bankai one day. She thought of taking the entire sheaf, but with a frown and a shake of the head, she decided to pull out a single sheet of paper—the list of people who had the potential to achieve bankai but needed to be monitored for signs of disloyalty to the Gotei 13.

She whispered an incantation and pressed her palm against the sheet as she curled around it, hiding the white flash of light that signaled the success of the kidou. Placing it in a different folder in plain sight on the bookshelf beside her desk, she walked back to the window and breathed a heavy and suffering sigh.

The Commander of the Onmitsukidou was close to making it out of the division grounds when she detected a whisper of movement from the direction of the barracks. She pressed herself harder against the pillar as she squinted to make out what made the noise. To her surprise, she spotted another figure lurking in the shadows, feminine like her but shorter—more petite. There were a number of women like that in her ranks, but this one moved with extraordinary grace and stealth. If Yoruichi hadn't been so cautious due to sneaking around herself, even she would have missed the movements.

'Soifon?' she guessed, wishing she was wrong but knowing she was probably right. Her gut had been telling her that something was off with the girl, after all.

The figure just then perfectly executed one of Yoruichi's signature techniques, allowing her to vault over the division's wall with nary a sound. 'Dammit!' the captain cursed internally. 'What are you up to?'

She debated whether she should go home to keep up the charade that she hadn't left at all, or follow her subordinate to get to the bottom of her recent odd behavior; but it only took a beat before she set off after the girl. Why not? Wasn't she the very reason she had snuck into her own office in the first place?

She performed the same technique that Soifon used to leave the division grounds, planting her feet solidly on the ground before springing up, flipping and spinning mid-air, her legs high above her head, before landing in a low crouch outside. At once, she was back in the shadows, darting after her apprentice who was exceeding all her expectations now, flash stepping at two-thirds of Yoruichi's full speed while keeping to the features of the terrain that would hide her. Yoruichi found herself dreading more and more what she would see at the end of this chase, but was startled when she realized where they were headed.

'How does she even know about this place?' she wracked her brain for the possibilities. Had she forgotten that she had showed this place before—maybe taken her here for training? Maybe she had mentioned the place at some point when her faculties were muddled enough? She couldn't figure it out, even as she watched Soifon enter the cave she and Kisuke used to train in as youths.

Moments later, she took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she would see before crept into the cave and positioned herself behind the huge boulders that separated the hot springs from the rest of the area. Looking around, she noticed a large scorched hole in the ceiling of the cave, and she tilted her head, trying to remember which of her or Kisuke's crazy techniques or inventions caused it.

Bringing her attention back to Soifon, she found the girl taking off her mask and bandana, laying the items on top of a rock. She walked to the middle of the cave, just below that scorch mark, not at all looking like she was expecting anyone else to arrive. This puzzled Yoruichi; somehow, she had thought that Soifon would be here for a rendezvous. But what happened next puzzled her—no, disturbed her—even more.

"Bankai!" Soifon yelled, after she drew her zanpakutou. A column of lightning shot from her body and into the ceiling, solving the mystery of where the scorch marks came from.

Yoruichi's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and she wobbled slightly from the unexpected downpour of reiatsu.

'No…'