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"Corps Commander? The keigun await your orders."

I am born to serve the Shihoin family.

I am born to serve Yoruichi-sama.

I promise to protect you forever.

I promise to protect Soul Society.

I promise to protect Soul Society from you.

I promise to protect Soul Society from Yoruichi.

"Commander-in-Chief, the Patrol Corps are ready for inspection."

Where are you?

I will look for you.

I will follow you.

I will find you.

I will hunt you down.

I will become stronger.

I will become even faster.

I will defeat you.

I will never forgive you.

"Taichou, Captain Commander Yamamoto requests your presence at the First Squad's Headquarters."

I trusted you.

I served you with my life.

You were my mentor, senpai, teacher.

My friend. My sister. My honour.

I failed you.

You failed me.

You are a traitor, betrayer. Dishonour.

You broke my trust.

You broke our promise.

Why? How could you do this?

She had been appointed Captain twenty-five years ago. The captaincy of the Second Squad had been left vacant for five years after Yoruichi's betrayal, the doors to the Captain's office in the headquarters shuttered. Soifon refused to walk down the corridors, and indeed, had her belongings moved to the far side of the Squad's barracks.

Perhaps in those years, she had entertained a foolish hope in her heart, that somehow Yoruichi would return and clear her name. Everyone would realize that there had been a terrible mistake. Perhaps Urahara Kisuke had forced her into this. Perhaps she had her other reasons for leaving, and did not aid and abet in his plans. Perhaps she has been sent on a secret reconnaissance mission… an undercover one that would take a long time…

After five years, she stopped making excuses for Yoruichi, simply because she had run out of them. She was appointed Captain of the Second Squad in that year, and it seemed the most natural progression as she had slowly taken over Yoruichi's other roles and titles.

A brand new set of haoris were tailored for her. It took her an hour to put it on the first time. As she slipped the robes around her shoulders, she could not help flinching at the memory of Yoruichi walking around the Second Squad, haori trailing in the wind. She had not seen this haori in years.

None of the more senior members of the Squad dared remark to her face that she carried her sword horizontally across her back, just like the former Captain.

There was some noticeable differences between Soifon and her predecessor though.

"She does not eat with us, unlike the previous Commander," went the gossip in the Onmitsukido dining hall.

"She hardly smiles," the younger members of the Squad complained. "She is so fierce!" They refused to believe their senpai's accounts of the times when Soifon did smile. A long time ago. And of course, she did not smile as frequently as the previous Captain.

"Has she ever spoken to you?" The keigun thought back and realized that they had only ever received instructions from her and spoken back reports to her. No amiable exchanges, no cordiality, nothing. They were dismissed once business was over.

Nonetheless, they all respected her. "I have heard that her shun-po is the best in Soul Society!" Young recruits from other squads were known to have looked up their counterparts in the Second Squad, eager to confirm if this was true. They heard rumours that there was someone who could beat Captain Soifon hands down. "But we are talking about within Soul Society. Maybe somewhere out there, someone else is better. But within Soul Society, I reckon she really is the best," reasoned one young cadet. "Wait till you see her hakuda! She can take out hollows with her bare hands, and even the keigun cannot fend her off in groups!" gushed another. "Nah, that's because she trained with the best!" went a third.

Sometimes hidden in the shadows, Soifon would catch snippets of this gossip. You are right, I am the best in Soul Society. Her mouth drew into a grim line. And I will surely defeat you, by my own strength and efforts, if you dare to come back here.

Soifon, Captain of the Second Squad, Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukido and the 9th Head of the Fon family, did not see how plainly Yoruichi Shihoin was still the centre of her world.