Blackout: I'll be. I managed to stave off for a few days.

Ichigo: Yeah, well. Just remember to ONLY submit after you've finished a chapter. You know maintain the distance.

Blackout2010: Right. Right. Anyway Enjoy the fic and your disclaimer!

Disclaimer: If I owned anything, which I don't by the way, and I made Ichigo Soifon canon or at least friends, I wonder how many people would be happy or approve.

Beta edit: Mbpicke


Ch. 5 Mission! Follow the bee on February eleventh

Ichigo hit the snooze button after the alarm clock blared off for the third time in a row. He tiredly looked up since he wasn't used to going to bed as early as he had gone and forced to get up about two or three hours sooner then he usually expected. Still he none the less willed his body to move and after a couple of minutes his body started to return to its normal functioning capacity.

He took a quick five minute shower before dressing himself in a rushed manner and quickly grabbed Zangetsu; so he could hurry over to the cafeteria and grab some breakfast to go before his mission began. After hurrying out of the division building, he jumped above the entrance way and sat down on the roof to eat the toast and apple he obtained while also try and stay out of Soifon's sight for when she would eventually come through to go about her-whatever she normally did- agenda.

'It's almost time' He thought to himself as he took one another bite of his apple while he slowly adjusted himself up to his feet in a crouched position ready to jump from building to building. A few more minutes past in silence, while Ichigo's eyes remained steady over the open entranceway, occasionally sneaking a bite in but remained unmoving. Then he caught sight of his Taicho's back as she was leaving the premises, so he finished his food before preparing to jump after she had left in whatever direction she chose.

As soon as Soifon stepped out of the barracks she only needed to take two steps before pin pointing where Ichigo was. She closed her eyes in disbelief. 'I know stealth isn't his forte, but hiding above me and praying that I won't see you is rather amateurish.' She stopped and considered her previous thought 'Then again it IS sloppy-Kurosaki.' She sighed in exasperation 'At least he's making an effort by trying to staying out of sight.' A devilish grin then spread across her face. Sure she wasn't one for wanton teasing by this opportunity was just too good to pass up. 'I wonder what he'll think of this?'

'Hehe yeah let's give him a real surprise!' Suzumebachi suggested mischievously, already knowing this was gonna be a fun day

Taking the moment Soifon disappeared in a flash step which none but the fastest could dream of keeping up with, an act which Ichigo nearly caused him to blow a gasket as he knew for a fact that he couldn't keep up with her at flash step speed. He jumped down from his hiding spot and landed where she had been and started to focus his reiatsu in hopes to see where she had decided to go.

'Shit! She masked it, I don't know where she went!' Ichigo panicked, unable to find where she went at all. Not even ten second and he already lost her. That had to be a new record in failing a mission!

"What are you doing Sloppy-Kurosaki?" the familiar voice of his Taicho ringed from behind him

Ichigo turned back towards the entranceway and saw his Taicho standing there with her arms crossed, with a very subtle upward curving of her lips.

"I...was umm..." Ichigo started not entirely sure how to explain his action since he was supposed to stay out of sight unless she said otherwise, which as far as he knew would be very unlikely considering that she didn't know that he had to follow and protect her. Inwardly he was silently hoping his captain didn't beat the crap out of him thinking he was a stalker of some kind.

'What are you doing King? Stuttering and showing weakness in front of a girl, is NOT cool. Tell her anything just make sure it's true!'

"Yes?" she said expectantly, her foot tapping against the ground with an 'I'm waiting' look on her face.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck today and ahh, hoped you enjoy it." He forced out

'Really? Well I can tell he's being truthful but let see how long he can keep it up.' Soifon decided to give him an odd look "Yes...I will try. Though I must ask why you would be here at this hour, shouldn't you be asleep or preparing for whatever mission or training is assigned to you today?"

"Well to be honest Taicho. I don't know if I'm prepared for the mission but I will do my best. Hopefully the mission will go smoothly." He said not wanting to let her know she was his mission

'He maintains a cool demeanor under pressure; perhaps he does have some qualities as a leader, though the day is young.' She silently filed away "Very well, return to your duties and pray that you don't get in my or anyone else's way, Sloppy Kurosaki."

"Yes, Soifon-Taicho." He saluted to the woman, glad to have gotten himself out of that tight spot safely

Soifon was about to walk right off when Suzumebachi chimed in again 'Hey, why don't you ask him to come along with you, that way you can keep an eye on him.'

'Not yet, though I will bring it up at our next stop, when I 'test' him again.' She replied back, and proceeded to walk away following the passage to her next destination

Ichigo seeing her resume her walking, turned back to the entranceway so as to seem like he was returning to his post after a few more steps he quickly and quietly ducked behind the door and kept an eye out on her, waiting till she was far enough away for him to move again lest he get caught again. He sat there for a few more minutes until she was almost out of sight before he silently ran after her trying to keep her in his sights.

He managed to keep her within his sights grateful that she wasn't using any flash steps or speed techniques of any kind along the way. As he continued he started to see the first division building in the distance getting closer and closer. "So we're going to the first division? I wonder why?"

'Hey Ichigo, remember what Subaru and Shinjiro said about making sure that your woman wasn't supposed to do any business related shit today? We better hurry up, otherwise you're going to fail this mission again!'

'Damn it! You're right. I've got to get a move on!'

Ichigo then sprinted towards the building, carefully going around Soifon so as to stay out of sight but enough ahead to where he could sense if she was really coming to the building. To his dread Ichigo's hunch turned out to be right as her reiatsu signature was coming straight for him. He quickly entered the barracks and started talk to one of the guys at the counter to at least seem like he was on a delivery mission and asking directions in case Soifon saw him and approached him again, wondering why he was before her again when he clearly went towards the second division barracks.

Sure enough Soifon came in through the doors and quickly strutted by him seemingly ignoring him as she disappeared down the hallway that had a sign saying Sou-taicho and an arrow point in the direction; Ichigo took a reflexive sigh of relief that he wasn't caught. He immediately broke off the conversation and went down the hallway as he managed to catch a brief glimpse of Soifon entering the office of the Sou-taicho.

Ichigo frowned at what his options for the situations were. He didn't know if he should enter the room or listen in as he felt that it would be an invasion of privacy and if the Sou-taicho attacked her he wouldn't be able to save her. Ichigo's eyes widened at the realization and his blood ran cold at the thought. 'No. He wouldn't do that and she'd flee immediately if she felt something was off. Yeah that's right; Subaru's words are just making me jumpy.' He thought shaking his head free of the stupid idea 'I guess to keep me on my toes.'

As Ichigo was about to move a bit closer to the office door, to at least be ready should something happen or if she needed to summon a messenger he could walk in reasonably, a hand suddenly touched Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo quickly and expertly whipped around and sent a right hook into the persons face, knocking the man who touched him completely over from the counter attack he had honed in squad two and unto the ground rather violently.

"Ahhh, ow. You are most certainly a strong one; I just hope you didn't break my glasses." The man said slow to pick himself up from the wooden floor, his hand touching his cheek where he had been struck rather hard.

"I'm sorry. It was a reflex, are you ok?" said Ichigo, helping the brown haired man back to his feet, Ichigo's eyes widened in fear when he saw the captain's Haori around the man's shoulders 'Damn it. I hit a friggin' captain! Can this day get any worse!?'

While Ichigo was freaking out his hollow was having his own thoughts about the man 'What the fuck was that? This pussy is supposed to be a captain. Shouldn't he have been able to avoid that and failing that not have even been hurt since the king is still weaker than him, at least for the moment? Something smells like bull shit. I better warn Ichigo about this guy, later.'

The man waved his hand to alleviate the younger man's concern "It's quite alright. It was my fault I should have called out to you not just startle you like that."

"Are you sure you're ok?" said Ichigo feeling guilty that the guy he just clocked was more concerned about Ichigo than himself

The man gave a bright friendly smile "Yes, I'm fine. Though your concern is appreciated Mr.?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki of the second division." He introduced extending his hand out for a traditional handshake between them

The man gladly grabbed it "Sosuke Aizen Taicho of the fifth division." The man gave a curious stare at Ichigo, possibly sizing him up "You seem to be a man of ideals, perhaps I can have a moment of your time to partake in an enlightened conversation."

Ichigo was rather interested as most Taicho's were busy people and to be given a chance for a good chat with one outside of your own was almost an honor. He looked back down the hallway to check on Soifon and still felt her signature in there, so with a good-natured smile he accepted "Alright, I don't mind."

"Thank-you, allow me to start with a question. Tell me what do you think of the way Soul Society is run?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow as he didn't expect that kind of question "I suppose our governing body does a good enough job of running it. I mean it's been working good for who knows how long." He answered mostly honest as he never was one for such thoughts, since Soul Society never did anything extreme without some justification. Not that it was always agreeable.

"While that is true, it's always good to look towards the future. As all things eventually break down to have a backup plan is sometimes…required." The brown haired man said, trying to challenging Ichigo's beliefs and thinking

"You sound a lot like my friend, Toshiro. You two would probably get along great." Ichigo commented, seeing a great deal of similarities between this Sosuke Aizen and his white haired pint-sized friend, Toshiro Hitsuguaya.

"Ah, yes Hitsuguaya-Taicho. I've met him on several occasions such as when he chooses to visit my fuka-taicho Momo Hinamora, both of whom have spoken fondly of you and I was interested in meeting you." Aizen said kindly, his gentle smile growing a bit more into a smirk

"That's good to hear. I've been so busy with my new division that I haven't had the chance to see them in a while. Thanks for reminding me."

"Not a problem at all." The Taicho of five tilted his head down a bit so Ichigo couldn't see his face as he was deep in thought. After a couple of seconds he raised back up, with his serene smile still there "I just thought a bit and I wanted to ask you if you would consider joining my squad after your tour of duty is over with Soifon-Taicho."

Ichigo paused for a moment, to allow himself to consider the option. He was rather curious as to why he wanted him to join his division, not that he wouldn't mind since he seemed to be very even natured and nice. 'It might not be such a bad option' he mentally considered. He opened his mouth and was going to respond when a mental image of a frowning, disappointed Soifon flashed in his mind.

He closed his mouth, and thought harder about the option. He frowned because he knew that if he took this, it would be the same as giving up on her. Soifon was almost always understaffed; it came with the territory of being leader of the Special Forces, and while she would never admit, he knew that she'd welcome any extra pair of hands to help especially from those she viewed with potential to be capable. "I…don't know." He said softly, weighing all the new information in his mind.

He then sighed after remembering why it was always so understaffed "The second division supposedly has as many deaths as the eleventh division has injuries since they came under a new Taicho. I could very well die before my service here is over, and I wouldn't want to give you false hope, and…well" he looked away from the neutral faced man "there's something else that may also affect my decision."

Aizen narrowed his eyes quickly his mind racing through a thousand different scenarios. He had already calculated that the possibility that him saying yes was near given if he had asked using his 'current' persona and failing that surely Soifon's attitude and treatment would have helped to make him leave or at least make him loyal only to the Taicho who had him, which he had originally anticipated since it was the main reason he had suggested such a move to Toshiro Hitsuguaya. He mentally cursed at the small miscalculation created by sheer chance, not that it would have mattered in the end. He decided to try something else…to nip the bud of this potential loose end "Tell me Ichigo-san is that giant blade on your back, your Zanpaktou?"

Ichigo's head shifted toward his shoulder where his hilt stuck out "Yup, want to see it?" he offered since people only pointed things out if they were usually interested in something

When Aizen said yes Ichigo took a step back so he wouldn't accidently hit him when he pulled it out. The blade's cloth wrapping came undone as it was drawn from it's resting place. Ichigo gently placed the edge of the blade against the wooden floors so it wouldn't scratch it. "This is my partner Zangetsu." His pride firmly secure in his tone

Aizen's eyes widened in disbelief 'The sheer size of this blade is incredible. So much reiatsu and power must be stored within him. He truly is the son of 'Miracle Worker' Masaki Kurosaki, the teacher of Retsu Unohana our smiling angel. I better not take any chances.'

"Well, I think fair is fair, Kurosaki-san. You've shown me your blade, allow me to show you mine." Said the smiling Aizen, ready to use Kyoka Suigetsu and hypnotize him

Just as he reached for the hilt of the sword to pull it out of it's sheath, the Sou-taicho's door opened and Soifon stepped out looking rather pleased with whatever had transpired in their meeting. Her cheery mood was short lived as she saw the two men in the hall both gripping their Zanpaktou for what could be understood as a fight

"Is there a problem Aizen-Taicho? My subordinate isn't inconveniencing you is he?" she said as her voice dropped dangerously and her customary frown returned full force "Or dare I say disrespecting your authority…"

Aizen while still smiling shook his head, hoping to save the situation "Not at all Soifon-Taicho. He was merely showing me his Zanpaktou per my request. He is not at fault for anything."

The woman closed her eyes in relief that Sloppy-Kurosaki wasn't doing something incredibly stupid, though she did have to set the record straight "I understand Aizen-Taicho, but I must ask that you don't do it again as we of the Special Forces must keep our powers secrets so that we can surprise both hollows and traitors of soul society." The woman replied saying the word 'traitor' bitterly

Aizen bit the inside of his cheek as he pondered what he could say. To his distaste he saw that the woman had effectively closed his golden opportunity. All he could do know was bow out gracefully and bide his time. One little escape could be easily rectified at more convenient time. "Of course, I understand. Now I'd best be on my way. Farewell Kurosaki-san, Soifon-Taicho until we meet again." He said as he gave a short bow before walking off swiftly 'And next time you won't be so lucky.'

After Aizen's departure Soifon returned her attention to the other man who was still seeing the Taicho off "So what are you doing?" she asked bluntly in her cold tone

Kurosaki sighed as he turned around for being caught twice in a row, and when he faced her, he looked into her eyes to show respect and spoke "I was just in the middle of a mission, when he surprised me. Since I couldn't proceed for a little bit, I just started talking with him."

Soifon already knew this as she had felt his Reiatsu for a while, though she didn't sense Aizen until she actually saw him, which seemed odd but she figured he did it so as to avoid the recently formed 'We love Aizen-Taicho fan club', that Subaru had informed her about at an S.W.A meeting she had missed once.

The cold captain was thankful for the few times that being unapproachable saved her from those kinds of misery.

She let the thought go since it was inconsequential at for now, and decided now would be a good time to see what the fourth seat playing 'espionage' would say now "You do realize that I've felt your spiritual pressure for some time now. You've been there in that spot ever since I stepped into the office and I also saw you earlier in the lobby area talking with some men. So allow me to ask are you following me or blowing off your mission? As I highly doubt that even you, Sloppy-Kurosaki, could take this long for something as simple as a delivery mission to Squad one."

He flinched at the line of questioning as answering the question could cause her to jump to a very bad conclusion and Zangetsu was already against lying since it would do no good to a proverbial walking lie detector "I…have no answer or explanation to really give you, or rather one that I'm allowed to give you." He admitted mostly honest, since he wasn't sure if he was allowed to tell his mission

Soifon crossed her arms ceremoniously and shot him a frigid look "So you're shirking your duties." She said in disdain, even though she knew otherwise "Very well are you prepared to accept your punishment then?"

"...yes."

'He's going to take it without a fight? Is he willing to take the blame for his mission?'

The woman's zanpaktou was as equal impressed 'Wow. That takes some guts to do. Certainly not very smart but definitely takes guts. I think you should let him off the hook.'

"Tell me your mission, and I will give your punishment accordingly, fourth seat Kurosaki."

"My mission was to guard you Soifon-Taicho and ensure that you did nothing related to the work place, all while staying out of your sight." He said while putting Zangetsu on his back again, resigning himself to whatever his captain had in store, which could be a lot since she was a harsh taskmaster. "Though considering that you went to the Sou-taicho just now, I suppose I failed this one."

To his surprise Soifon's hateful look turned into a bemused smirk "Quite wrong, Sloppy-Kurosaki. You see I went to go see Sou-taicho Yamamoto for a personal reason."

Ichigo's eye lit up with a bit of hope at what she was saying "Personal reasons?"

"Yes, personal reason. Reasons that I will not divulge to you at this time, now as for your alleged failure of the mission, that is null and void on my words, and since you have not failed your mission, I see no reason to punish you." She said a bit amused at seeing his spirit return at knowing that he didn't fail

Well at least she'd let him feel like that since she did give a half-truth to him about the visit to Sou-taicho Yamamoto.

"Thank-you Soifon-Taicho." He replied his gratitude evident in his tone. After expressing his thanks he turned around and started to walk away from her and back to the entrance of the hallway, to return to shadowing her.

"Where are you going Sloppy-Kurosaki?" Soifon asked in confusion since she didn't dismiss him of his duties and said to forget his punishment. 'Why's he leaving me?'

Ichigo turned his head to look over his shoulder to see her as he continued walking away "I'm supposed to stay out of sight remember." Reiterating one of the whole points of his mission

Soifon confusion left her when the understanding finally set in, though she did raise her eyebrow in interest at the man's work behavior 'I admit I'm a little impressed. He's still thinking about the mission and is pretending what just occurred never happened. Granted it was because I said to forget it but this is some serious devotion to the mission that others might be hard pressed to match.'

"Sloppy-Kurosaki, I would like to request that you remain within my line of sights at all times, preferable within three feet of me." She requested in a bored tone, though when Suzumebachi ran it by her again throwing her own personal implications the captain quickly decided to amend what she said "I have to be somewhere within a couple of minutes and I need to hurry and you pretending to shadow me will only slow me down."

Ichigo stopped walking not expecting her to request him be nearby, and turned back to face her "Alright. If it is ok with you, I don't mind." he said glad that his mission just got a whole lot easier in most aspects, and now he'd be able to show how reliable he could truly be.

"Good follow me." The captain said as she brushed past her taller bodyguard

The pair walked out of the division, and started to use flash step to get to their next location. Ichigo saw the direction they were headed and knew they were going to Jidanbo of the south gate as he frequently passed through since his mother lived in the south section of the Rukongai. They greeted the mountain of the man as they passed by on their route to Soifon's next location. They stopped flash stepping earlier than he originally could have anticipated as they were still in the sixth or seventh Rukongai district judging from the well kept building and extravagant clothing the nobles were wearing.

They continued along their way with Ichigo ignoring the looks sent at him for either his hair or being a 'commoner' since he resolved that he was going to be the bigger man and show weakness to them, whereas Soifon sent her own spiritually enforced ones to anyone who dared send a scorned look at her, eventually they reached a very large mansion after walking past the main road.

Ichigo was gaping at the size of the place. It was easily two or three times bigger than his mother's entire apartment building, with bright colors of gold and purple along with very fancy designs, like someone had wanted to make the building look excessively extravagant. The clearly unfazed Soifon walked up and knocked on the door. Ichigo was shocked even further when a butler answered the door who was clearly even better dressed then himself making Ichigo wonder just what place they really were at and how Soifon knew these people.

The butler upon seeing the woman stepped aside allowing Soifon to pass with ease, but quickly held his hand out for Ichigo when he tried to enter the premise "I'm sorry sir, but it is a private meeting only. If you wish to make an appointment to have an audience with the masters, you will have to come back at a later time, as they are currently out enjoying themselves."

"No, it's not that it's just that-"

"He's with me, please allow him to pass, Vincent-san." Said a rather patient Soifon, understanding the man's refusal to grant her subordinate entry since he was unannounced

The butler turned and when Soifon nodded her head, he slowly moved out of Ichigo's way and bowed in apology "As you wish Soifon-sama. The meeting is in the usual room, please have a pleasant stay."

Ichigo gave a bow to the butler, and walked over catching back up to his captain, who waited for him outside a door, at the end of the entrance way. "Alright, Sloppy-Kurosaki. What your about to see is not to be mentioned to anyone aside from the people in this room. You are also not to speak unless otherwise spoken too, am I understood."

"Yeah, but where is this and why are we here?" the boy wondered since what could be going on that involved secrecy at ritzy place like this

"We are currently, at the Omaeda residence. As for why, well…it's for S.W.A. (1)" She said "Don't worry you'll understand." She added knowing he wouldn't get it immediately, as it was more…something you needed to experience rather than have it described

The woman opened the door and proceeded inside with Ichigo following behind her. Upon entering he saw three tables lined up together in a U shape, with several chairs lining it at intervals on the far side there was a podium with a blackboard behind it. Ichigo glanced over to the right and left and only saw women a few he actually knew such as Kiyone Kotetsu, Hinamora Momo and...

"Hey Ichigo! How've you been!?" Rangiku asked as she glomped him from the side, pulling her favorite sixth seat into her bosom

"Fine." He said weakly still not sure what entirely to say, as he returned the hug to get her off of him sooner.

Back in his mindscape Dark Zangetsu was leaping for joy from one building to the next, hollering to high heaven that he hit the female jack pot. "King! Can you believe your luck! Screw the three-some idea! Start stripping and get this orgy started or so help me I'll take over your body goddamn it!"

The thoroughly blushing Ichigo wisely decided to ignore his hollow, in favor of standing against the wall since he wasn't sure what was going on. Ichigo's attention shifted when a woman wearing glasses and carrying a book approached him "Excuse me sir, but you're going to have to leave immediately."

Ichigo was about to respond but Soifon beat him to it "He's my subordinate, and currently he is on a mission that revolves around me for reasons I can't fathom."

The bespectacled woman turned to face the small captain "While this may be true, this IS the S.W.A not the S.M.A., Soifon-Taicho." She said firmly

"Your logic isn't lost on me fuka-taicho and vice president Nanao Ise; however, seeing as how my third seat and the personal bodyguard for president Kusajishi Subaru Kujo isn't here, as she has her duties, allow him to take my seat while I perform the bodyguard duty she normal holds." She suggested as a peaceful alternative solution

The now named Nanao looked as if she was thinking it over so Soifon decided to press ahead "He is also of the second division so it should be fine…unless of course you'd prefer fuka-taicho Omaeda to fill in."

Ichigo clearly saw the woman bristle at the mention of the fuka-taicho, more than likely possessing a similar dislike of the man. He just didn't seem to make friends.

"No. That's ok." The woman said flatly, remembering the alternative for third seat Kujo or Captain Soifon

"Wonderful." She said dryly

Ichigo then proceeded to sit down next to Soifon, who closed her eyes and went into a meditative trance until the meeting would start. More people slowly filed in and sat down, a few sending Ichigo a curious glance since usually Omeada was here when filling in. When most people were present a small bubblegum pink haired girl ran up to the podium and banged the toy gavel that she got from Nanao. "ALLLLL RIGHT, EVERYONE! Sound off! President Yachiru here!"

"Vice-president, Ise Nanao present." said the woman adjusting her glasses

"Counselor and S.W.A adviser, Retsu Unohana is in." said the smiling woman that Ichigo recognized

"Medical Advisor, Isane Kotetsu also here." the tall gray haired woman sitting next to Unohana said

"Kiyone Kotetsu! Chief of attendance, reporting in and logging that Nemu Kurotsuchi and Rukia Kuchiki are absent! While Subaru is being replaced by another." Exclaimed the sister of Isane

"Chief of Planning Rangiku Matsumoto is here!" the busty woman chirped

"Chief of Budget and Funding Momo Hinamora also present"

"Chief of Security and Information is being filled in by me with Ichigo Kurosaki, the man next to me, filling in for my seat representing the second division." informed Soifon

"Ok! Now that roll is taken care of will book-chan please take over so I can eat my opening ceremony candy?" the bubbly girl yelled before switching off with the rather serious looking woman "Greetings, ladies and gentleman. Today we are to retrieve the data regarding what was brought up last time."

All the women in the room blushed, but were thankful she was still as smart and tactful as always to not say what the data was for because of Ichigo's presence.

'Damn. Out of all the meeting, Ichigo has to be at this one! I was hoping that they'd have forgotten about that!' Soifon thought as she watched as a few people take out various folders or stacks of papers, before reluctantly she reached into her own jacket and cursed when she remembered that Subaru was the one with the data. She stood up from her chair to speak "My apologies Vice-President Ise, it seems I forgot my divisions data back at the barracks. I will return momentarily to recover it."

"I'll do it." Ichigo chimed in

Unbeknownst to Ichigo the wild fire of panic quickly spread through the room; as Soifon and the other ladies could only imagine the horror of what would happen if the man accidentally took a peek during his earnest request to assist and it ended up on the front page of the Shinigami golden newspaper. Seeing the looks she was getting Soifon knew she had to put a stop to this quickly "It's quite alright. I can do this myself."

To her annoyance Ichigo shook his head "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You're taking over bodyguard duty for Subaru so you can't leave remember? Besides if I'm going to be here I should take part and since you appointed me in representing our division, I should be the one to go get it." he explained with flawless logic that none in the room could argue.

Still Soifon would go down swinging before giving up.

"Be that as it may you are also MY bodyguard, so you just can't leave me." She replied coolly though she was desperately trying to make the man back down.

"I can't refute that ma'am, but I also have to make sure you don't do any work today; otherwise, I'll fail my mission, remember?" The man carefully reminded her much to her annoyance at being cornered by her own words. Ichigo seeing the woman frustration at being forced to eat her words, he gave a kind smile as if to show his reliability. "Don't worry I won't fail. I'll get it and get back before you notice I'm gone."

Soifon bit her lip, as she knew that she couldn't get out of this one, since she couldn't order him. At least not today. 'Well, perhaps I can use this to my advantage again.'

"Alright." She said with crushing finality "you win." Suddenly all the other women in the room paled considerable "I want you to return to the barrack and ask Subaru for the data. Tell her it's for S.W.A. and she will understand. I have never considered this but Ichigo under no circumstances are you to read that information on that document. I am placing my utmost faith in you in completing this task under this condition. Do not fail me Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo immediately understood the gravity and seriousness of the matter if his Taicho was specifically saying she was putting her trust and faith in him to do this task, and considering Soifon wasn't one to do such things meant he needed to tread lightly as this would make or break their sort of friendly and peaceful interactions with each other. "Affirmative ma'am." He said in all seriousness as he got out of his chair and calmly went out the door.

"Oh, gods what have I done...?" Soifon muttered to herself, while cradling her head in despair.

After exiting the mansion Ichigo knew speed was of the essence and hurried back to the second division. Once he got there he ran to Subaru's office and knocked on it three times, and when he got no response, he opened the door to see that it was completely empty.

He looked to the left and the right quickly and didn't see anyone around 'Well, I guess she won't mind if I look through her stuff to find the report'. Ichigo thought as he started to open filing cabinets and going through her desk. He kept searching but came up empty handed only finding some data on people and schedules such as meetings and reports. Ichigo would have looked again if not for the door opening and Shinjiro walking in.

The man gave a low whistle at the sight of all the opened compartments and files laying about "I know for a fact that Su-chan is very organized, so you better be ready to tell me that you got attacked by a hollow in here or something; otherwise, I'll have to report you for breaking and entering an officer's office with attempts to steal classified data."

"Sorry, Shin. I promise I'll have it fixed up before today's over but right now I need to find the data that Subaru has or Subaru herself so she can give it to me for Soifon."

"Oh so you need to find Su? Well you're in the wrong room, she in the Taicho's office at the moment. Come on I'll show you."

And so they went down about two more doors and Shinjiro knocked on it and to Ichigo's amazement he heard Subaru's voice from the other side giving them permission to enter.

"Yes, what is it?" she said her attention fixated on her task of filling out paperwork while she sat behind the Taicho's desk

"What are you doing there Subaru?" asked Ichigo, since only the Taicho was allowed to sit at that desk and do paperwork in this room.

Subaru raised her head in confusion as she knew for a fact that Ichigo was supposed to be with Shaolin. "I'm doing Soifon-Taicho's paperwork and her assigned duties today. That is the reason I am here, but why are you here? You were supposed to be looking after our sister."

"It's about that actually, we got called into some meeting and she asked me to ask you to give her the data from the previous S.W.A. meeting, whatever that means. She seemed really reluctant to send me for some reason." Ichigo said off-handedly, unable to figure out what the big deal was about this data.

Subaru's mouth opened in horror while her face turned a bright shade of scarlet "Tell me" she said in a low whisper "do you...know what the data is for? Or by chance what it contains?" Shinjiro looked at his wife, wondering what was getting her so worked up.

"No, but she did ask me to not look at it." said Ichigo relaying the only restriction on the request to the violet haired woman and her husband who still didn't look like he knew what was going

"That...would be for the best." spoke a highly relieved Subaru who was in the middle of searching the bottom drawer of the desk. She managed to find and pull out the envelope that had the official seal of the S.W.A on it and handed the data to Ichigo "Here is the data. Now hurry back and continue your mission."

Ichigo pocketed the data and was turning to leave when Shinjiro called out to him "You still got the letter we gave you yesterday right Ichigo?"

"Aw, shoot. Thanks for the reminder, must have been in such a hurry that I left it in my room." he said sheepishly

"Amateur..." Subaru ridiculed

Shinjiro frowned "That's not very nice Su-chan..."

SMACK!

"I told you to not call me that!" the woman yelled, as Shinjiro rubbed the lump on his head "at least not while we're at work!"She whispered, just loud enough for Ichigo to hear

"I'll just leave you two alone." Said the fourth seat excusing himself from seeing any further antics between the lovers

(A little later)

"Hey I'm back and I got the data!" said the triumphant Ichigo as he returned to the S.W.A meeting

"You didn't look at the data correct?" said Soifon who looked ready to kill the man with Suzumebachi if he said otherwise

"No, I didn't." he said annoyed to his captain as he handed the closed folder over to Nanao "Jeez why are you so guarded about the data? You make it sound like you were giving important information out to terrorists or something."

Soifon and everyone else sighed in relief 'At least he's trust worthy.'

"Alright well thank-you for gathering the data we needed Kurosaki-san. You have been most helpful; now let me put this away for the moment so we can focus on our closing tasks." Said Nanao, ready to end the meeting

"Ohh! So we finally got all the data to see which places have the biggest chest book-chan?" said Yachiru, causing all the women at the meeting to drop into mortified horror at what she blurted out. Even Ichigo had the decency to try and hide his blush with his hand, while his Hollow said he was going out to buy a calendar and mark February eleventh as the single greatest day of his life.

"Kurosaki..." the frigid voice of Soifon called out from the seat beside him; forcing his body to turn into the death glare she was radiating off her persons "if you so much as breathe a word of this..." her eyes narrowed even further at the hanging threat

"It's quite alright, Soifon-Taicho." said the ever serene Unohana as she got up from her seat and carefully walked over to Ichigo "We can trust him to not reveal this information to anyone." Stopping next to him she placed her hand on his other shoulder calling his attention "right...?" only to besieged by her infamous Mona Lisa smile

"Y-yes, of course, you have my word!" the trapped man cried out as he saw the woman look at him the same way his mother did when she wanted something done immediately.

"You see, Soifon-Taicho. No need to be violent at all." She said calmly, like nothing happened.

Almost everyone sweat dropped at the display and could only think of how truly scary Unohana could be with the exception of Soifon who was slowly lowering the output of her glare from 'frigid' to 'chilly'

"Yes...moving right along." Nanao interjected to try and return things to normalcy "I believe that will end our current Shinigami Women's Association meeting."

"But wait book-chan! What about Ichi-chan! Is he gonna join us too?"

"Well." The intelligent woman gave the man a once over to confirm something to herself before saying "Let us proceed democratically and put it up to a vote. All those in favor of Kurosaki-san being allowed to be another alternate for either Soifon-Taicho or Subaru Kujo please raise your hands at this time."

To Ichigo's surprise everyone present including his Taicho raised their hand in favor of the motion "Very well. Per majority status being obtained Ichigo Kurosaki, from this moment forward you will be instated as an official alternative of any representatives missing from the second division. With that this meeting is adjourned." she said banging the gavel in finality.

Everyone got up from their seats and began to exit the meeting room to return to whatever duty or task they were doing beforehand. Soifon and Ichigo exited the building, and Soifon once again wandered off in another direction.

"So where are we going now exactly?" said Ichigo hoping to strike up a conversation

"You're going where I wish to go, Kurosaki."

Ichigo sighed "Look, Soifon-Taicho I really think I need to give my input on the way things are going."

"You have a complaint?" The leading woman turned back to face her subordinate "If it's not useless bellyaching then I suppose I'll listen to what you have to say."

Ichigo sighed as he steeled himself for what may come next "I would like to be able to assist you, but if you keep me out of the loop like you don't trust me, how am I supposed to help you?"

"What in all of Soul Society gave you the notion I 'need' your assistance? And what do you think gives you the right to make judgment on if I do or do not trust you?"

"It's just that even though you don't need it, or might not even want it, I'm still here to protect you as a comrade in arms. I'm willing to ignore how you normally brush me off and belittle me because I want to get along with you Taicho and be your friend even if the feeling isn't returned. So please at least work with me. Help me, help you."

Soifon bit her tongue unsure of what exactly to say since her siblings had told her to try and get along with him as well. "You'll have to forgive me for being a bit guarded." she lied softly, not wanting him to know she wasn't used to social people "Most people try and befriend a Taicho for their political power and nothing else; and having been trained to expect a knife in the back, I'd like to think I have a healthy sense of skepticism...but maybe I've gone from healthy to paranoid."

Ichigo paused as he let it sink in before continuing "Ok, I see where you're coming from but still you barely trust me at all. Hell to be honest you actually seem to not even like me."

The woman then replied with a statement that threw even him for a loop "Is that really what you think, Kurosaki?"

"Well I really don't know what to think. I don't read minds Soifon-Taicho." The flustered man admitted, not liking this was slowly turning into an argument

'Well, Soifon he's being honest and is willing to take a step forward…be honest back.' said Suzumebachi as she observed the exchange between her mistress and the carrot top

The captain sighed "Look Kurosaki, I do trust you though I...intended for it to be a silent trust between us. For today's little outing, it was agreed by not only myself but also third seats Taiga and Kujo that YOU would be serving as my bodyguard. I willingly trusted you that if something should have arisen thus far I could trust that you'd be able to assist me and watch my back. Back at the meeting I trusted you with a mission that you executed flawlessly with very...sensitive information." Soifon turned around prepared to walk on again "So while, it may seem like I don't trust you, I actually do."

Ichigo scratched his head "I'm sorry then. I didn't think of it that way."

An awkward silence filled the air between the two Shinigami. Soifon was glad that he seemingly forgot about the second part when he asked if she liked him, while it was perhaps not meant in the same way as intend it did fluster her a bit. Soifon glanced back at Ichigo and saw and equally unreadable expression. Ichigo wasn't sure what to make of the circumstances, while he was glad that she actually did trust him it was bit worrying that he made things uncomfortable between them.

An idea came to Ichigo that could perhaps change the attitude between them and put them back on friendlier times "You know, Soifon-Taicho. This entire conversation you haven't called me 'Sloppy-Kurosaki'.

Soifon stopped all movement, before putting an amused smirk on her face as she turned around "That's because I've come to think you're competent when it relates to civil matters, rest assured that when we step unto the battlefield the nickname will be their waiting until you prove otherwise."

Ichigo smiled "Yeah..."

"Now, let's go. I'm feeling a bit hungry and was on my way to eat before you decided to interrupt me."

"Would you like to grab a bite to eat at my mom's? It's not too far away and she sounded like she'd like to meet you again"

"I suppose that's acceptable." said the woman a little happy that she'd see that rather eccentric mother of his.

The pair turned away from the direction of the Seireitei and walked along the road to Ichigo's mother home

"So Soifon-Taicho can I ask how you first met Shinjiro and Subaru?" Ichigo asked the woman as they continued their walk, hoping to strike up a conversation for the long walk ahead

"Why do you wish to inquire that information?"

"Walking through here reminded me of when Subaru told me that you guys first met in Rukongai."

The woman narrowed her eyes and thought hard on his words. Sure she had occasional happened upon them out in Rukongai but it wasn't the first time that they had met. "I don't recall that happening."

Ichigo frowned at the misunderstanding "But she said that you did."

"Kurosaki can you tell me what exactly she said word for word." the woman replied knowing her third seat always told the truth…to an extent.

"She said that Shinjiro and she encountered you first in Rukongai."

"Ahh, there's your problem." the epiphany dawning on the captain "She said where Shinjiro and she 'encountered me' she didn't say that she met me or I saw her."

Ichigo growled over such a technicality which the captain chuckled over after hearing "Trust me; I was the exact same way for a while."

"Why doesn't she ever give a regular answer?"

"That's not exactly true. She usually does give the truth it's just usually not the one you would expect or like to hear." she answered "Seeing as how Subaru trusts you enough I suppose I could humor you and fill in some blanks. I first officially met the pair when they were supposedly attending Shino Shinigami academy. It would mark the first time that our paths would cross and intertwine."

(Flash back)

A much younger, recently appointed third seated officer of the second division, Soifon was running through Shino academy hallways performing errands and delivering paperwork that her Yoruichi-sama had once again forgot to deliver or otherwise do. But she didn't care as that would mean that she would be the one to enter her excellence's presence again and deliver the good news that all the tasks were done without fail. As she ran around the corner she collided into someone else.

"Ah, I'm sorry." Soifon quickly apologized, but stared in awe as the person back flipped and landed on their feet again, standing perfectly straight like they probably were a moment ago

"No need. I am fine." The person replied

The new third seat looked over the individual and saw from the person's size and the way the person's hair fell that it was definitely a woman but she looked androgynous. She also saw a blade in her hand, but her uniform was that of a Shino academy student not someone of the Special Forces or even the Gotei 13.

'Perhaps a senior academy student, no this person has had practice with such moves.'

"How did you do that miss?" the raven haired girl asked

"Do what Shaolin Fon?" the girl asked. She then looked at the spot on floor where she was a moment ago "Oh that, well you learn a thing or two."

Soifon narrowed her eyes, and her hand reflexively reached for her Zanpaktou "How do you know that name? How do you know my name?"

"I've seen you at a strange compound that I've been told is the Fon family estate. I would also know your name since I've visited a few times."

Alarm bells were starting to sound off in Soifon's head, as nobody just entered and exited the compound without meeting the clan head, and since she was one of the heirs to the clan, her presence was required when meeting new individuals who desired to work alongside her clan.

That meant that this woman was lying through her teeth or she was up to an equally nefarious goal.

Just as Soifon was about to demand the woman answer her questions as to how and why this woman knew these things about her clan a loud screech from a whistle forced the duo to cover their ears, breaking up the rapidly mounting hostilities from the earlier conversation.

When the young Shinigami looked over in the direction the sound came from she saw a boy with brown eyes and dark black hair with a whistle attached to a chain around his neck with an arm band that said 'hall monitor' approach.

"Hey no fighting in the hallways, you know the rules! Drawing your sword is strictly forbidden, and I will report you to the headmaster if you try and pursue matters any further." The frowning boy commanded, trying to intimidate the two to stop any further actions of them.

"Sorry Shinjiro-kun. We weren't going to have a confrontation in the hallway." The woman replied though Soifon caught the underhanded threat. Sure not in the hallway, outside though would have been another story. "By the way you're taking your duties a bit too seriously, it's only temporary you know."

"Be that as it may, a samurai must fulfill his duties to the fullest extent of his powers and ability, to do any less then that is a dishonor to those who came before him, Subaru." The now named Shinjiro lectured at the girl, who rolled her eyes in amusement.

He then turned to Soifon "And you why aren't you in uniform? You're going to get in trouble if you keep running around like that." He then pointed to her half-drawn Zanpaktou "You're a graduating senior you can just go waving your sword around to people. You need to set a good example and act responsibly for your underclassmen."

"No, you misunderstand, I am not an academy student I am a Shinigami working in the second division under Yoruichi-sama's personal command!" Soifon argued and she then turned back to the Subaru person "Now answer how you've been to my home without being seen!"

"Why what makes you believe I wasn't seen noble woman?" the girl named Subaru replied smugly, while Soifon started to get more infuriated with her cryptic words

"Because it's impossible to enter the Fon family compound without meeting the clan head or their heirs!"

"I have seen you all." She said simply "It's just a matter of whether or not you've seen me."

"Alright that's enough!" Shinjiro interrupted as he got between them to stop the possible cat-fight. He then turned to the woman he didn't know "Look Shaolin-san-" he started using the name he had overheard

"Soifon." She politely corrected the school official

"Right. Soifon-san: If you are done here I would ask that you please leave the premise and not disturb any students." The man quickly turned away to the other woman "As for you Subaru please stop antagonizing her."

The two women backed apart from each other, still sending silent glares at the other which made the man wonder if he got through. Thankfully they both huffed annoyingly at the other and turned around, leaving in their respective directions. Shinjiro shook his head over the encounter and thanked whatever deity had allowed them to dodge a silver bullet before he chased after Subaru.

(Shin and Su)

Once Shin caught up with his newly married wife, he slowed to a brisk walk with her "That was a bit rude Su-chan."

"Perhaps Shinjiro, but she is a Shinigami as well as a noble woman what does she know or care about the people in Rukongai? I've already robbed her 'home' on more than one occasion and found out a great deal of secrets about the people as well as treasure. With this asauchi I obtained from sneaking into the senior end of the year class, we'll be able to enter the Seireitei itself to uncover more knowledge as well as treasure." The woman whispered back

"Look Subaru I know that we're just trying to survive, but is going this far truly a just cause?" The frowning co-conspirer asked feeling greatly conflicted, since his wife was a good person but the constant thievery may finally be catching up with her morale judgment

Subaru lowered her head to the ground understanding his point. She sighed and spoke in a weary tone "Shin, all of those Shinigami are nothing but arrogant snide nobles. They barely notice or care when their stuff goes missing. Why would they care about others? Besides if we did become Shinigami, we would be looked down upon for be outsiders, and let's not forget to mention that if there are a few intelligent Shinigami and they notice that the string of burglaries in Rukongai ends because we became a part of the Shinigami they could connect the dots and arrest us. And I for one don't want to know what the accumulated price we'd have to pay for our crimes."

"Look I know Subaru but still!" Shinjiro argued fiercely as he felt the guilt in his heart "...there is a fine line between being malicious and necessity and were pushing it!"

Subaru let out a vexed sigh at hearing his words because deep down she knew he was right and that she was wrong. The woman lowered her head to calm herself and accept that fact. Finally after she composed herself she faced her lover, cupping his face so he looked into her eyes, and brought out the smile that he loved about her "Even after dying you still maintain your samurai beliefs. I suppose your inability to compromise your beliefs made me fall in love with you."

Shinjiro blushed at her rather affectionate side and gave her a quick thank-you in the form of a peck on the cheek.

"A brave boy indeed..." the now blushing girl whispered seductively "Anyway Shin, with the Zanpaktou obtained earlier I can enter the Seireitei tonight and if I locate something of great value we just might be able to put an end to our…dishonest work for good this time."

(Soifon)

After leaving Shino Academy Soifon was still a bit pissed that the woman was such a bitch to her, but what really had her focus was on how that woman visited her home, without anyone noticing. During the entire trip back to the second division nothing came to mind, and served only to infuriate her further. She opened the door to where the commander was and walked in before dropping into kneeling submission

"I have returned, Yoruichi-sama! The tasks related to Shino academy we're finished in record time." Said the woman to the commander she adored, HER Yoruichi-sama

The woman that was looking at the smaller woman had an amused grin on her face. Her golden eyes tracing and observing every action the girl made. Pushing a bit of her rough purple hair out her way she responded to the report. "Excellent, my little bee. I'm very happy that I can always count on you."

"Thank-you Yoruichi-sama!" the blushing girl replied enthusiastically since her idol, her goddess was giving her such praise for her shabby work. Her heart was on cloud nine, the troubles of earlier today long forgotten.

"Not, a problem though I still wish you'd call me Yoruichi" she grumbled the last part quietly "…anyway there is a captain's meeting in a little bit and Fuka-Taichos are allowed but since our second is away on a mission, I would appreciate it if you'd come along with me."

Soifon raised her head immediately at the prospect of being around her for just a bit longer "Of course your Excellency!"

Yoruichi sighed playfully at the woman's reaction to the news. "Well come on let's go."

{Later that day: In the Meeting}

Soifon was standing next to her Captain, watching and hearing all the information being presented at the meeting. So far during the meeting they had discussed of a powerful new soul that had been located in Zaraki district, which had power comparable to at least a fuka-taicho if not a Taicho in raw power alone. The recently upgraded to Captain Retsu Unohana had informed everyone that fourth division had managed to reduce overall casualties by about twenty-four percent, and would continue to reduce casualties as they developed an understanding of what were the quickest routes to other divisions. Soifon herself did wonder who Unohana's captain was since she was promoted fifty years ago but let it go since it was in the past.

Soifon felt her anger begin to boil over when the infuriating captain of the twelfth Kisuke Urahara stepped forward to present some more information "Greetings, today I'd like to show you two things. First is this!"

He dug into his pocket and pulled out a strange jar with some candy in it, but the candy had a skull on it "These are the experimental 'Super Nutrition Tablets' once they've gone into testing we'll be handing them over to the fourth division, so they can remain vibrant with energy for when they have to do double or triple shifts."

Soifon against her better judgment spoke up "You can't be serious it has a skull on it for crying out loud! Do they even work?"

"Hmm." The scientist mused at the challenge "Well let's try one." So he popped open up the jar and swallowed one of the pills. Everyone looked at him in expectation for a few seconds "Ok, now on to the next thing I needed to report" he said moving along, ignoring their looks

"Wait! Nothing happened!" Soifon pointed out, completely in disbelief that this idiot was a captain

Urahara turned back to face her "What do you mean? Isn't my face just bursting with energy?" he pointed at his face with a jovial smile

'It's going to be bursting back from my fist here in a minute!' She thought "No..."

"Oh well I'll be sure to write down 'more experimenting needed' than. Now if you all would feast your eyes on this" he said happily as he pulled out a graph of the Sokyoku "The Sokyoku has recently had another jump in power and now is stronger than ever and showing no signs of letting up."

"How much stronger exactly?" A not visibly younger Yamamoto asked, curious about Soul Societies most powerful weapon

"It currently has the power of about one million Zanpaktous." The man announced to the others

Twenty six audible gasps were heard from everyone in the room. Kisuke was about to continue but Yoruichi stepped forward from her place. "I believe this meeting will have to be put on hold, as there is an unwanted guest here."

Everyone turned to look at her, confusion and suspicious on their face, so she elaborated further "When Kisuke revealed the power increase do to my sensitive hearing. I heard exactly twenty six gasps of air."

"Yoruichi-Taicho, I see twenty six people in this room." Commented Soifon, not seeing what the problem was

"While you are correct third seat Fon answer me this. If there are twenty six people visible and twenty six people gasped why would the bearer of the news gasps as he already knows the information?" she said explaining the riddle to her surrogate younger sister

Everyone's eyes opened in realization, that there was another person among them. Yamamoto banged his cane against the hard wood floor "This is an immediate order to capture, whoever was the one to overhear the information today. Spread out and find them."

A resounding cry of 'Yes sir!' was heard as everyone in the room disappeared all except Soifon and Yoruichi. "Yoruichi-sama, we must go out and find the intruder!" she reiterated to her still unmoving commander who was busy gazing upward at the alcoves.

"I know but you see little bee the person hasn't left yet." She whispered back to her friend, she turned back to the ceiling "Why don't you come on out! No use hiding any further." She called

Soifon got into a battle stance but was confused when one of the stealth force members dropped from the ceiling and landed about ten feet away from them. "Yoruichi-sama, it just one of our own. We should call the other back before someone gets hurt."

"That would be for the best." the seemingly familiar voice that Soifon couldn't quite place of the stealth force operative acknowledged

Though a bit suspicious she didn't give it a second thought since most stealth operatives came across as weird "See it just a misunderstanding."

"No, it's not. You see you're the only allowed in here from my division besides myself, and since I didn't give an order for any bodyguards to accompany me that means this person is an imposter."

The fake stealth force member quickly back flipped and dove out the window, Soifon and Yoruichi chased after the person. The person ran with all their might, which surprised that someone could be just as fast as them in terms of normal running speed. Unfortunately he or she didn't put into account their flash step speed. So with a few quick moves they cut off the intruder.

"End of the line." Said Soifon in her battle stance, alongside her mistress ready to apprehend the Ryoka

To their amazement the person charged right at them and just before the pair was about to execute some attacks on the person, the individual flash stepped right through the gap between them and continued to flee. The pair quickly gave chase again, inwardly cursing the fact they let their guard down and lost sight of what the objective of their target was. It was to escape not fight.

The pair continued giving chase slowly catching up with the person but cautious enough to be prepared for whatever tricks may come up. Suddenly the person while jumping from one building to the next turned around and hurled a flurry of knives at his or her pursuers. Soifon and Yoruichi used their expert reflexes and either avoided the attack or knocked the blades out of the air, though they knew it was meant to distract them.

"Keep following I'll encircle them." The ebony woman commanded before breaking off pursuit and flash stepping to corner the person up ahead

Soifon continued pursuit and after a few more minutes, the figure stopped as Yoruichi appeared in front of the person. Soifon smiled knowing that the person was surrounded by the two quickest people in Seireitei.

"Done running?" Yoruichi asked rhetorically

"Of course not." The figure replied though a bit winded from being chased by the two quickest women in Soul Society

'Geez, maybe I should ask if they wanna play tag next time. It'd be fun.' The ebony woman thought rather amused "So what's your next trick?"

"This." And the person threw a strange iron ball at Yoruichi's feet and a thick black cloud of smoke exploded and enveloped her, Soifon seeing the attack began to move to strike but the person whipped around and threw another ball but this time it was golden colored. The moment it left the person's hand a piercing light erupted and blinded Soifon, allowing the person to once again make a break for it.

Once the blinding light died down and Soifon could see again she ran over to Yoruichi who was kneeling down in a coughing fit. The woman said she was alright and they gave chase for one last time. Yoruichi said that she managed to throw a dagger into the person's arm and cut them, so they need only follow the trail of blood. They followed it until they reached Shino Academy, where they encountered one of the hall monitors on guard duty, Soifon recognized him as the man who broke up her fight with that one girl earlier.

"Can I help you Shinigami's?" the boy asked a wooden Bokken in his hand and a flashlight in the other, showing the signs of him being on patrol

"Yes, but not anymore as we've just located our person." Yoruichi spoke up having figured out the man on the spot

Soifon looked at her mistress in confusion "Surely not this man. He doesn't appear tired at all and there is no cut on his arm, plus he doesn't seem like the quick and stealthy type."

"Stealthy?" the boy was truly disarmed by the comment since he was usually described as an honest, open individual not sneaky.

"True." The commander said ignoring the man "but I know for a fact that all members of Shino Academy's police and security force are made up entirely of seniors who must carry their Zanpaktou at all times. Seeing as how he has Bokken means he's not a senior and such shouldn't be out this late, which mean he was waiting for someone, and I'll bet one of my lives that the he's been waiting for person is the one we've been chasing all night."

The sword wielding boy frowned noticeable, as he didn't want to fight them since it wouldn't be right but he couldn't hand over the other person which was why he asked her to flee after he healed her.

"It's Subaru isn't it...?" Soifon said finally putting everything together, having remembered their friendly interaction from earlier. "You're buying her time to escape."

Shinjiro gritted his teeth, knowing that this situation had become a lot more dangerous, and gripped his Bokken threateningly. Yoruichi moved in front of Soifon to confront the man's challenge "Seeing as how you know this person and what they look like go get Subaru, while I deal with this one."

And with a nod of her head Soifon flashed stepped past them to continue pursuit after the woman, though she didn't have to go far at all as she saw said woman rushing back towards them. She placed herself in front of her obscuring her path and preventing her from seeing Shinjiro who was a few hallways down.

The now unmasked Subaru stared into the face of Soifon a look of resignation on her face "So we meet again, Noble woman."

"Are you going to come quietly?" she asked getting into a battle stance ready to bring the girl down when she resisted

"I suppose." She said dejectedly, getting a strange look from Soifon who didn't expect her to give up so easily, especially after running around soul society a good two times "I'm well aware that I could have gotten away had I abandoned Shinjiro, but I won't he is my husband, lover and friend. I won't leave him."

"Why did you do all this?" Soifon asked wanting to get some answers out of the girl before turning her in to Yoruichi and Soul Society.

"Simple it was so that we could stay alive." Subaru replied apathetically

"What do you mean? If it's a living you're looking for then just become a Shinigami! You're already in the academy!" the third seat yelled

"Is that what you think?" she said letting out a dry, bitter laugh "I'm not. Only those of noble descent ever really get into the academy, the Shinigami don't even bother with the people of Rukongai, which is why I've had to make my living as a thief at night."

Soifon lowered her head. Pondering what she just heard, and slowly she came to the realization that not many people really did come from Rukongai: as most Shinigami were sent in from a noble family such as herself, or were renown such as Urahara-baka, or the spirit in Zaraki that was a possible threat to Soul Society. She also remembered that back at the compound there had been a few breaking and entering as well as relatively petty theft; though, the Fon family never reported it since they were in charge of security.

But if word were to have gotten out that they had been robbed, it would reflect poorly on them and if the associated shame was great enough possibly cause them to be no longer considered nobles protectors of the Shihoin, since if they couldn't stop thieves how could they stop assassins trying to kill a member of one of the four great nobles families.

A noble family no matter how minor it might be was to be held to a higher standard.

That was the unsaid rule. In Soifon's mind and now it seemed fortune was taking her side by the capture of this woman, but still her curiosity pushed her on."So you were the one that had robbed us, but I don't understand how could you accomplish such a task by yourself?" the female Fon asked her bandit

"Simple, my husband typically worked guard duty for random factions around the many different Rukongai districts during the day and the occasional night shift, so with inside information on the defenses and patrol routes I would hit some of the local areas nobles and rob some of their things so we could sell it to buy food and stay alive a bit longer during our stay in a section until we needed to move somewhere else. Though some of the money made went to some of the orphans we had found all around Rukongai that Shinigami have neglected. It's a shame too considering some want to become Shinigami themselves." The tired girl lamented telling everything to the literal death before her

Soifon closed her eyes and began to consider what the girl and her husband had gone through, when she started to feel a strange idea occur to her. An idea that was begging to be said, something that went against her current lifestyle as an assassin and went back to her younger days, day occasionally filled with a simple act of mercy "What if I helped you?" she said softly, to the depressed thief

Subaru snapped her head back to the woman in both disbelief and wanting "What do you mean? How?" she said desperately hopeful that perhaps this one was different, that maybe…there was something better.

"From everything I've seen thus far you have the skills of a Shinigami. You infiltrated several high security places with ease and were able to not only take things but also not get caught. Tonight you were able to both keep up and catch both me and Yoruichi-sama off guard. You also seem to want to perform whatever duties you have to the fullest extent, so I see no reason why you shouldn't join."

"And what about Shinjiro?" her lover not leaving her mind for a second

"That man has to be a very skilled fighter himself if he was able to pass himself off as a guard for various different organizations, he must also be a very strong soul too considering he and Yoruichi-sama are fighting and she still hasn't shown up yet, meaning he possess considerable fortitude and strength that would serve us well. He also like you fulfills his duties to the fullest."

Subaru's heart had skipped at beat at hearing that her husband was fighting a Taicho for her. Inwardly she wanted to know if everything would work out if she trusted this girl who only hours ago she had been rude and almost goaded into a fight. Her husband had always told her to take a chance with others, perhaps now was the time for the proverbial leap of faith "Why would you do this for someone like me? You barely know me." She whispered

"I'll be honest. I'm not sure entirely." She said tersely. She took two cautious steps towards the woman, her hands at her side to ease the agitation she was feeling "But it would be a shame to see the potential that you two carry inside go to waste because of circumstances. When I look at you, you remind me of myself for some reason. Perhaps it's because you know what it's like to know the consequences of failure. As a 'Noble Woman' of the Fon family if I fail to meet up to the standards set, I would be disowned and left to die in the streets much like you. Thankfully none of my brothers or I have failed."

"Yes, I remember reading a report on that when I infiltrated your estate. It's a bit appalling, and I admit that I thought it was just a joke and was simply used to keep you in line...I didn't know that it was a serious threat."

Soifon nodded "That's why I'll help you. You also know what it's like when your life is on the line in a do or die situation like me and you chose to continue like me."

Subaru slowly closed her eyes taking in all the emotions at once as a stray tear fell from one of her eyes "T-Thank-you Shaolin-dono" she said her heart filled with infinite gratitude for meeting this woman who seemed to want to work with her, to assist her, to change her.

Soifon walked over the rest of the way and with a gentle hand patted her on the shoulder empathetically "I-it's ok." Feeling a bit weird about being called by her true name, the one she discarded long ago "Tell me why do you call me 'Shaolin' I no longer go by that name its Soifon now."

"Why? It's a beautiful name. It's also your true name." the confused girl replied. She paused and then looked away with an embarrassed blush "Besides I think its Shaolin not Soifon who desires to help me...and if you're not like others, than I would like to see what the real you, is like. And this is the first step towards it no?"

Soifon sighed not sure what to do with the girl "Alright, I give. Just only call me it when were alone alright." When Subaru nodded, Soifon turned around back in the direction she came from "Now let's hurry, otherwise you might become a widow much sooner than expected, Subaru-san."

Subaru nodded her head in determination and followed Shaolin's lead back to where Shinjiro and Yoruichi were. When they arrived at the site they saw as expected an untouched Yoruichi with her arms crossed over her chest as she was eyeing and standing over a heavily injured Shinjiro struggling to get back on his feet using his Bokken as a crutch to continue fighting the futile fight. His breathing was labored and ragged emphasizing his exhaustion. Neither combatant noticed their unexpected audience.

"You sure are a stubborn one. I admit you must be pretty strong to continue after being thrashed by a captain like me." The ebony commander said with a smirk 'I can't believe he's even able to move, if my bee wasn't with me I might have lost our culprit by dealing with this guy.'

"aahh...ahhh..A samurai...never falters...even in the...face of adversity!" the barely conscious man proclaimed proudly, still willing to continue the struggle for his wife

The cat woman tilted her head in interest "You do realize that you stopped being a samurai the moment you died right?"

The man started grinning manically, though out of insanity or as placebo to work through the pain the woman couldn't quite tell, but when she saw the man ferverently shaking his head rapidly in attempt of denying her claim, she began to suspect the latter. "To be samurai is...an acceptance of...the heart. Death doesn't...remove such bonds!" he wheezed out defiantly only to fall to his knees his body beginning to fail where his spirit wouldn't.

"Shinjiro!" a worried-filled Subaru ran over unable to watch him push himself any further. To help support her fallen husband she firmly held his body up by slinging his arm over and around her neck and supporting him with her weight as he leaned against her.

"Ah, so you must be Subaru then. You know you've caused us a lot of trouble. Are you ready to face your punishment?" Yoruichi questioned and continued when she saw the stone cold face of the woman "Breaking into Soul Society's Seireitei is a capital offense punishable by death."

"Then it will be my fate, but know that I did it alone on my own power no one else was involved. Shinjiro was doing his duty as both a samurai and member of security force of Shino Academy by protecting it from unidentified intruders." Subaru said, hoping to get Shinjiro off the death penalty and take the blame for herself, even if it was a farfetched idea seeing how he was not only obstructing a Shinigami's duty but a captain no less, and he fought the captain too.

"I'd believe you if I wasn't already aware that Shin there wasn't part of the security forces of Shino academy."

Subaru started to panic, but Soifon spoke up to convince her commander "Yoruichi-sama I must implore you please reconsider turning them in!"

Yoruichi turned her head over to her little sister genuinely interested that she would speak up against a possible threat to Soul Society or even her own judgment as a whole "You have something you wish to say? Go ahead I'm all ears Soifon." Giving her a cat like grin

Not wasting a second Soifon launched into an explanation "Yes, your Excellency! I've come to believe that these people are not in fact terrorists of any kind but are merely souls who wish to survive another day. Subaru-san has informed me that, she really only does what she does because it is the only way to earn money so they can buy food, she also admits that she has been the one who has broken into several high profile individuals to steal their things and gave some of the money to other souls in Rukongai, who have the potential to become Shinigami themselves, but are never found by our forces and consequently die from hunger."

Yoruichi broke her gaze away from the girl and looked towards the floor. Thinking what exactly she should do, as it was true that most people in Rukongai were ignored unless the Shinigami found an interest in them. "You do have a point Soifon, but what exactly am I to tell our Superiors?"

"I...do not know." She replied, her hope dwindling at being stone walled "but they wish to change." She pleaded, ready to drop on her hands and knees and beg for her mistress's reconsideration just this one time

Yoruichi thought it over a bit and then busted out into a smile "Ok, I've decided that as of this moment you two" she pointed to Shinjiro and Subaru "assisted us in subduing the assailant, whose body couldn't be recovered because Suzumebachi destroyed it!" she said sporting her cat like grin

The light slowly returned into the eyes of the pair as maybe just maybe things wouldn't be so bad "Won't you get in trouble?"

"Nah, course not."

"But how exactly are we to be Shinigami, I merely stole this asauchi from one the older students." Subaru questioned

Soifon turned to look at her "Wait, you're saying you out ran us without any formal training?"

Subaru glanced away "Well, I only learned the basics of the flash step when I was shadowing the student who I got the blade from. Reiatsu feet, think ahead, move body as one something like that. Iiiit's really why I only used it that one time during the chase."

"Well I can easily say that you'd both make fine Shinigami. The boy is quite strong physically, and could probably have taken down a seventh or eighth seat with that Bokken in a duel. You are also extremely swift and must be good at stealth and information gathering to have snuck in to our meeting. I'll be sure to inform the higher up, that we should take a more active stance in checking Rukongai for more individuals who want to be Shinigami." Yoruichi informed after evaluating their performances "I must ask do you two have any family or know of anyone similar to you in terms of skill?"

"No." replied Shinjiro "We've been alone in Rukongai ever since we died."

"Yeah...to be honest you and Shaolin-dono are really the closest thing we have to that out here." Said Subaru adjusting herself even more to keep her husband up

"I see." The ebony woman got in a thinking pose "Well from this moment on we'll be family! Right, Soi!"

Soifon perked up a bit, though she was unsure as her and her family members weren't very close. Yoruichi was always like the big sister she always wanted and aspired to be just like her, and didn't know if taking in these two into her heart would be an easy endeavor. 'No. Their just like me, and if Yoruichi-sama is like family for me, I'll do it for them.' She thought with a smile "Yes, Yoruichi-sama."

Soifon walked over and put Shinjiro's other arm around her to help support Shinjiro "Long time no see, my brother and sister."

Then Yoruichi went to go give her report repeating what she said had happened, while Soifon and her new found family, went to the medical wing to treat her injured younger brother

(Flash back end)

"And that was how we first met each other, Kurosaki." She said placing the cup of coffee back down on the table "Over time we've grown to understand and love each other unconditionally, and they've seen me at my best and my worse, but have always stuck by me even after the deaths of my blood brothers."

"Wow, I had no idea you were so close to each other." Ichigo said in amazement, breaking the rapture he and his mother had been caught up in.

"I remember Retsu-chan telling me a little about that, but I never would have thought that was those two." Ichigo's mom responded having remembered when her student had told her of the incident long before Ichigo had been born.

"Yes, they were the ones that opened the flood gate for any and all Souls wanting to join the academy. Not just nobles" said Soifon before taking a bite of the sandwich that had been prepared for them "I would ask that you don't reveal such information to others. As I don't know if any of the nobles are still vindictive about having the thieves go unpunished or the possible execution of my family for what they did."

"Don't worry Soifon-san, we won't tell a soul."

"Yeah, you're secrets are safe with us Soifon-Taicho" said Ichigo confirming his support

Soifon lowered her head in thought for bit and then spoke a few words that revealed her trust in them "I...feel that you two may address me as simply Soifon, but only when we are alone, so as not to show favoritism."

She then got up from her seat "Come Kurosaki. It's almost three we need to proceed to health land."

"Right" said Ichigo, and then he paused "Wait! When did I say we needed to be at health land? I was supposed to take you there you weren't supposed to know!"

Soifon stopped and rechecked what she said and cursed when she realized she slipped up involuntarily. She looked at Ichigo and concluded he still really didn't know she knew. 'Unbelievable he still thinks this a simple escort mission?'

'Wow. You got yourself an oblivious one on your hands. Though, I think it's kind of cute that he was all into being your guardian angel this entire time.'

'Quiet.' Soifon chided

'Ooohhh, someone's defensive! Come on lighten up a bit, you just shared your real families origins with him, now you just gotta share your own, and he'll be tagged and bagged!'

Soifon blushed but ignored in order to answer Ichigo's lingering question, she sighed knowing maybe if she was honest that he'd be ok with it. "Alright, Kurosaki. I'll come clean; this mission was to...see your abilities to protect me, while revealing your hidden qualities."

"His hidden character?" Masaki asked since she constantly said that around people who Ichigo or anyone else was distrustful with initially

"Yes. You see I've been hearing many good things about you from Shinjiro, Subaru and Hanataro as a person. I wanted to see if you could live up to their expectations both on and off duty." She answered not revealing that she was curious herself and was toying with the idea of getting along with him

"Huh...I guess really was wrong about nobles after all." Ichigo admitted, casually looking away from Soifon and back at his mother

"What do you mean?"

Ichigo turned back to her as he leaned in his chair "Well, Soifon, my father abandoned my mother and me when I was born about sixteen years ago. From what mom told me, he was a noble and when it became time for him to man up and be a father, he fled. Nobody knows where he is or what became of him, all I know is that mother really loved him if that shrine she has in her room is any evidence of that, and that his name was Isshin Kurosaki."

"I'm sorry for your loss." The somber captain spoke, indirectly knowing the feeling of one you could count on disappearing "I will see if I can ask Subaru to look into finding that man for you if you wish."

"No, it's ok. If he didn't want to be a part of my family or me, then I'll forget about him. He's not important." Ichigo declined not seeing the frown on his mother's face.

The solemn mood was broken after Masaki saw the letter in her son's pocket "What's that son?" pointing towards the envelope

Ichigo reached in and pulled it out "Oh, well this letter is for Soifon. I was told by Subaru and Shinjiro to give it to her before we went to Health Land. So here I guess."

The woman took the letter and pocketed it, not so much as giving it a second glance. "Thank-you now we best get moving." She turned and bowed to Masaki "I...would like to see you again in the future, farewell."

Masaki gave the woman a hug "I can't wait till we meet again, my beloved daughter-in-law!"

Soifon laughed under her breath as she could practically feel Ichigo's embarrassment from where she stood. After Ichigo gave a rough good-bye the pair of Shinigami moved as quickly as they could to Health Land.

Upon arrival they proceeded past the long line of individuals, even past Toshiro and Rangiku though he did stop and say hello, and enter the building. When Ichigo asked if this was allowed Soifon said that it was a special day and that she had been booked entry months earlier, which was why she wasn't being hassled for her actions.

When they reached the Lobby, they saw both Shinjiro and Subaru waiting for them. "Ah, right on time. It's good to see you made though, I thought you said you'd try and stay out of sight." Said Shinjiro, seeing the two approach

"I did try, but Soifon-Taicho requested that I appear before her." Ichigo explained, not seeing the dishearten look on Soifon's face "Kurosaki, it is fine. Around them you may just address me as my name."

Subaru's smile widened considerably "So you're on first name basis now? After one mission? What's the world coming too, Shin?"

"I-it's not like that Subaru. We just took a step forward in trusting each other!" Ichigo explained, while Soifon glared daggers at her sister

"Is that really all you've done?" she asked teasingly, trying to make it sound more than he was letting on "because my spies have said otherwise. So. You. Can't. Lie." Moving her head closer to his with each syllable

"I think its fine personally" said a shrugging Shinjiro "He was probably going to find out any way." Hinting to the conversation of how they met

"I guess." She replied moving away from Ichigo's personal bubble and back over to latch onto her lover's shoulder "So final say on the mission?"

"I'd say a success." said Soifon "Though I do wish that I'd have gotten the chance to see his combat abilities."

A loud roar came up from ahead from the hot springs area grabbing the attention of the four. The roar of a hollow. Subaru smirked "Well, well, it seems like you get your wish after all, and you haven't even blown out the candles yet."

"What do you-?"

"No time for questions Ichigo, we got people to save and hollows to kill!" said Shinjiro as he dashed off drawing his blade from it's sheath

Ichigo pulled out Zangetsu and gave chase "Hey, you better save some for me Sempai!"

The two women looked at each other briefly "men..." they dead panned before chasing after the two swordsmen

(Hot springs)

As the Shinigami arrived evading countless numbers of souls trying to get away from the hollows they saw about a dozen or so wading through the waters. Most looked like either Giant human sized frogs or Praying mantises but the most distinct one was a strange gerbil looking creature with a long antenna similar to an angler fish about the size of a small car.

The giant hamster creature immediately fled, Subaru was about to give chase but Soifon stopped her "No forget that creature; we need to focus on the ones here, spread out and eliminate them!" the captain ordered returning to her stoic demeanor

"Yes, ma'am!" they acknowledged before separating to deal with the threat

(Ichigo)

After being given his orders Ichigo charged at the closest one and cleaved it in two with Zangetsu, its upper half dissolving into nothingness. He turned to his next target and jumped back avoiding a mantis's claws, after following up the dodge with a flash step backwards he started to chant an incantation "When the dawn rises, let widower shower her tears over the crescent land. Fold and collide with all around you! Hadou 17: Chikyū furueru!" he yelled. Small trembling started to occur within the room and eventually the tremors grew so strong that a few of the pillars collapsed on top of the hollows killing them instantly.

With his hollows done he turned back to see Shinjiro expertly dealing with his set of hollows. Not one was able to get past the samurai's guard. With a few more slashes with his sword the other hollows surrounding him disappeared.

Suddenly another rift opened and more hollows came pouring in.

Shinjiro turned once the next rift opened. He nodded to Ichigo and the two of them rushed over to attack the giant caterpillar hollows known as crawlers that had appeared.

Shinjiro thrusted his unreleased blade into the head of one of them, as Ichigo delivered a kick to another mantis's chest. Seeing an opening one of the mantis swung its claws trying to behead Shinjiro, who narrowly dodged the mantis's claws by moving his head downward allowing it to pass safely overhead, while Ichigo killed it by shooting a byakurai spell through it at point blank range.

After killing another two more hollows, Ichigo took a moment to check on the girls to see how they were holding up. He was thoroughly surprised to see that Soifon was killing them with Hakudo alone, where as Subaru seemed to have these six strange golden arrows floating around her body and shooting out towards hollows that crossed her line of vision either killing them or impaling them for Soifon to finish off. As Ichigo viewed the duo he admitted they looked both beautiful and deadly. Not a moment was either open for their opponents to attack and if they were their partner was right there to assist and force the enemy back before picking up where they left off.

'Wow. They fight so well together…it's like watching a beautiful dance!'

'Well king, you certainly know how pick 'em, and your already half way into getting into YOUR captain pants!' The hollow informed as he cackled madly, savoring the feeling of amusement from annoying his king while basking in the blood-shed of the battlefield that he'd been denied for a bit too long

Ichigo would have continued his lovely conversation with the asshole err...hollow if not for Shinjiro grabbing him by the shoulder and yanking away from an energy blast that was released by one of the crawlers.

"Thanks Shin!"

"Don't thank me yet, it's not over!" grinned Shinjiro

"Guess we better split up!" and Ichigo went left while, Shinjiro took the right, renewing their assault against the hoard

(Girls)

"Why are there so many showing up?" asked Subaru sending another golden arrow at a crawler impaling the creature onto the wall like a decoration

"Perhaps something is calling them to this spot." replied Soifon as she kicked another hollow against the wall before destroying it with an off handed Soukatsui, barely giving it a second glance

"Only strong reiatsu makes them swarm like this or…" she said mentally willing more arrows to be created, to continue the fight against the seemingly endless surge of hollows.

"Hollow bait" replied the captain knowing that was the only other solution to this predicament

After responding Soifon twirled around a frog head's arm and smashed her fist through the back of its head destroying. She then stomped on a crawler that was slithering near her pinning it there as she stabbed her Zanpaktou through it.

"But my question is this 'why aren't the other Taicho's and Shinigami responding to this?' We passed Hitsuguaya-Taicho on the way here!"

"Perhaps there is something blocking them from sensing the reiatsu, urghh, and it is a rather large building so people probably used the emergency exits not the front exits where the other people are!" theorized Subaru as she swept the feet of a hollow and knocked into the wall with an elbow strike as it dangled in the air

Soifon flooded all her Reiatsu into picking up whatever it was blocking their reinforcement's arrival. She pinpointed something in the water and dove in after it. Soifon swam down a bit till she reached the bottom and found a strange glowing red gem, she mentally willed Suzumebachi into Shikai state and stabbed it breaking the device before returning to the surface for air.

"(huff)...I got the device! Reinforcement should be here any second!" she yelled, resurfacing near the edge of the deep end

"Shaolin watch out!" Subaru called out to her sister, her last arrow flying towards a different hollow making her unable to call another until it hit something and dissipated

Soifon quickly waded about and saw the teeth of a frog head about to close on her. She was about to duck underneath the waves of the hot spring again to avoid the attack when a giant blade slashed the face of the creature killing it.

Soifon turned around and saw Ichigo standing above her, his Zangetsu sword's edge half covered in a barely visible white light. "You alright Soifon!?" he asked worriedly extending his arm out to pull her from the water

She took the hand "I'm fine, and soon we'll be fine!"

Hitsuguaya and Rangiku came bursting into the hot springs "Is everyone ok!" Toshiro yelled over the chaos

"We're fine now give us a hand!" Shinjiro yelled back as he forced a hollow off of him

"Right!"

The now six continued to fight and once the last hollow disappeared they took a sigh of relief that the ordeal was finally over.

"Geez, Soifon-Taicho be careful what you wish for." A tired Shinjiro teased, as he leaned against the wall

"Indeed." Subaru agreed, kneeling down to catch her breath, from the hollow killing marathon

Soifon turned a solemn look towards the pair "I'll be sure to wish to see 'her' again next year."

Toshiro got up from leaning against the wall "Well seeing as how we're no longer needed, and that Health land is completely trashed. It seems we'll have to be doing paperwork back in the office Matsumoto." He said clearly amused that her plan went up in smoke

"Well, actually, you see captain during all the fighting, thee ah paper kinda sort of fell into the water and is all ruined." Rangiku said slyly pointing into the hot spring where the paper was drifting at the top, damp and ruined.

Toshiro's eyes twitched in annoyance at unimaginable luck the woman had in getting out of paperwork "I guess we'll just have to do it some other time captain!" she said casually before flash stepping off to the nearest sake bar

"You know..." Subaru started getting everyone's attention since she looked like something just occurred to her "I don't recall her entering the battlefield with the paper work in hand." Toshiro started to shake in barely controlled rage and annoyance, with each word the spy spoke "So she must have just grabbed it recently..."

That was all the information the white haired boy need "MATSUMOTO!" he exploded and began chasing after the woman's reiatsu trail not going to let her off that easily.

A silence over came the remaining Shinigami, after the spectacle.

"You know...I'm almost glad Omaeda is my fuka-taicho now." Admitted the wet captain, causing the rest to laugh at her attempt at humor

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief knowing that today wasn't such a bad day.

'Hey Ichigo. Look at your captain real quick.' the deranged hollow whispered in his mind

Ichigo glanced over casually to Soifon, and blushed a very dark red, seeing the wet form of his captain closer. Her wet Haori was pressed against her body revealing all her curves and muscles that she had otherwise covered up. Her normally rough blue hair seemed a great deal gentler than before.

Ichigo nearly had a nose-bleed when his captain complained about her wet clothes weighing her down and her bands being no good, and she undid her band letting her hair fall down to reveal long beautiful hair that fell down to about her back, while she took off her Haori revealing her stealth force uniform which was much different from Subaru's. In that it showed off her shoulders and parts of her back as well as a bit of her sides, and with the water accenting each curve Ichigo got more than an eyeful and what wasn't shown, well Dark Zangetsu had a very vivid imagination and was more than willing to share.

'S-she's drop dead gorgeous!'

'Jackpot king! Fucking jackpot! You sir have official won the fucking lottery of women! Way to go, have a Cuban cigar on me!' Dark Zangetsu commented giving an imaginary pat on the back to Ichigo

"So pretty..." Ichigo whispered to himself, unfortunately two of the three people there were spies or otherwise trained to pick barely hearable sounds, while the third saw Ichigo staring at his sister in awe.

Soifon took an unexpectedly seductive glance at Ichigo, and when their eyes met, she turned away blushing a cherry red; all the while, her Zanpaktou started singing in her head of him taking a good looong look at the 'female' her. Subaru pondered what exactly she should do, as she did know that Ichigo had some feelings for her and her him, but she wasn't sure if they were of the romantic or merely hormonal type. Shinjiro however glanced between the two before he sighed and got up to go sit down next to Ichigo.

As soon as Shinjiro plopped down he leaned over and whispered into Ichigo's ear "If you ogle my sister again or break her heart and cause her pain, I'll fucking kill you. I'm telling you this on my Yamato honor, Kurosaki-kohai." He then lean back and smiled knowing his peace said and work done.

Ichigo paled at the threat knowing he'd carry it out consequences be damned, while the other two again due to sensitive hearing sweat dropped at the action. "Hey, you guys said something about a wish and candles earlier. What was that all about?" blurted out Ichigo, hoping to move right along from the awkward situation

The two third seats looked at their sister who nodded back "Today, February eleventh is my birthday, Kurosaki." She admitted sheepishly

Ichigo glanced at the others curiosity running through him "So is that why I saw Shinjiro and Subaru at your desk instead of you?"

"Yes, it's our birthday present for her. Our sister works very hard and barely has anytime for herself. At one point she literally had a twenty-four hour schedule that didn't even have time to stop and eat, until I transferred into her division's Special Forces to help ease the load off her!" said Subaru, recalling that nightmarish schedule and was amazed her sister was able to do it despite having a pathetic fuka-taicho.

"That's why one of the reasons we asked YOU to watch over our sister is because normally Subaru or I am the one that spends time with Sis when she's out, while the other misses out on her birthday. However with you here to make sure she's safe while keeping tabs on her, we can finish the work quicker and both spend time with her." The dark haired boy explained

"Ohh!" Ichigo exclaimed in understanding, he then turned back to his Taicho with a frown "So…seeing as how you've been calling me Kurosaki lately. I guess I'm no longer 'Sloppy-Kurosaki'?" he asked with a bit of disappointment

Soifon lowered her head in thoughts, her wet unbound hair covering her face as she spoke "Correct, you're no longer 'Sloppy-Kurosaki' as you've proven your competence. From this moment forward you will be 'My number one guardian'"

Ichigo's eyes light up at what she said "How did, what did..." he couldn't think of the words to finish it, they seemingly vanished into thin air

"That's what your name means to you right?" she moved some hair from her face and turned away from the man "Number one guardian" she said more warmly, while inside she felt butterflies and swore she heard her hard ass self saying she was embarrassing herself. But at the moment she could careless

But just for a moment.

"Come on guys, let's go back."

So the four picked up their belongings and hurried back to the division barracks, in a much better mood than they could have possibly imagined.


Author's note

February 11 is Soifon/Shaolin Fon actual birthday at least according to Canon bleach data.

I know the S.W.A takes place at Byakuya's house, but I thought maybe they might change location from time to time, so it was Omeada's place today.

The Hotsprings fight: Ok I know it's probably short but… with four characters fighting it gets a bit chaotic. Anyways they were all fourth seat and up so…yeah more of an annoyance to them then actual struggle.

Hadou 17: Chikyū furueru (earth tremble)

Effect: causes tremor like waves to shake under a target knocking them off balance or having them drop through the rifts or floors if strong enough. (my own creation, feel free to use)


Blackout2010: So ends chapter five

Ichigo: Sure looks like it.

Soifon: So how were you able to stave off for a few days? Was it because of my training suggestion

Blackout2010: Hardly Soifon-san. I will try and release one chapter every time I finish another chapter.

Subaru: So once you finish 12, 6 will be available?

Blackout2010: Yeah, though it's so friggin chaotic and bitch to write it's not funny.

Shinjiro: You'll endure.

Blackout2010: hopefully, anyway feel free to ask questions if you got them

Masaki: See ya next time folks!