The blade had narrowly taken off the Soul Reaper's head had she not instinctively leapt back. "Dang, I missed," sighed Zangetsu.

"Ichigo, what the heck are you doing?!" she screamed.

"Don't talk to him," Zangetsu answered, pointing its weapon forward. "You're fighting me now!"

By no means did Silas ever consider Yoruichi an ally. For some time he had been waiting for this moment: to slay her where she stood upon learning the requirements to learn shunkō.

Silence filled the training room. Zangetsu was waiting for her to strike, but she hadn't moved. She simply stood there, shadow covering half her face.

• • •

'Ichigo… You always had this expression that belied your age. I only watched you out of interest, attending school with your friends and spending time with Uryū and Rukia.'

It was as if time had stopped flowing in Yoruichi's mind. She was remembering the time that she spent hours just watching him. That same boy looked so innocent when he was asleep.

'Every time you swung your Zanpakutō in the world of the living, I saw a ruthless Soul Reaper hungering for power. But the way Kisuke looked at you was different. The two of us spent nights just talking about how talented you were…'

There was a burning fire she could feel in his eyes, which were stoic.

'When we entered the Soul Society, something looked like it had changed. I began to see what Kisuke was seeing.'

Yoruichi vividly remembered the moment Silas defeated the gatekeeper. There were echoes of fear and mistrust, yet she dismissed them as whispers. Silas was strong, but not cruel. No, not him.

His determination to save Rukia, even if he had to take on the entire Soul Society, led her to believe his resolute defiance. Unlike her mischievous ways, he was like a silent whirlwind.

'You pushed me, Ichigo. You made me believe what Kisuke did.'

Today, however, the truth slapped her with cold indifference. The eyes she saw were devoid of warmth, replaced with a chilling rasp. Silas was no longer the strong lion she thought he was.

'No, you're a cruel man.'

The hope she had clung to felt like it had been shattered like a dropped porcelain doll. The Silas she befriended, the one she cherished, never existed.

'Is this the path you walked on all along?' Words from the time that he fought Kaname and Sajin were recalled. 'I never wanted to believe it, but perhaps you were right. Perhaps the Soul Society was indeed rotten. If someone like you was always this way, then I may start believing the Soul Society is beyond redemption.'

No tears were shed. How could they be shed when Yoruichi was not that type of character?

'Even if that's so, I refuse to play that game, Ichigo! I may be alone now, but this won't deter me. For Rukia, for Kisuke, and for the memory of the good that was in you, I will fight. And when the smoke clears, you'll face the consequences of your choices!'

• • •

A slight smirk almost etched across Silas's face when she saw that Yoruichi still had the will to fight. There was a small chance that she would lose her composure, but Silas couldn't have been more content.

"I just have one question," she said. Both Silas and Zangetsu waited to hear what it was. "How long were you planning to betray our trust in you?"

"Foolish thing," Silas answered. "Why put your trust in a man?"

Something had always been bothering Yoruichi. Silas could tell by looking at her expression. She was far too quick to come to terms with the situation. With a slight hint of interest in his tone, he asked, "How long have you been weary of me?"

Zangetsu stood there, its smile ever so wide, and its sword still pointed at her as she spoke. "I always keep my guard up, Ichigo... Ever since Kisuke told me about your soul candy purchase; ever since you warned Uryū about the cleaner in the precipice world; ever since I discovered you two secretly trained together... But what really raised a red alarm in my head, that I should have listened to, was when you knew of Rukia's execution date being moved forward."

Silas closed his eyes, recalling what he said. To not get Uryū involved in this, he stated that Rukia was going to be executed in three days. Yet that information was only revealed to the public after his fight with Kaname and Sajin. During that moment, Yoruichi and him were underground. She heard of the news once she left to find Uryū, but there was no possible way for Silas to have known!

"All those signs that I ignored," Yoruichi said in a serious tone. "They were all telling me that you've been to the Soul Society before…"

'Leave it to the friend of one of this world's smartest characters to almost figure me out.'

Silas opened his eyes, no longer interested in hearing what she had to say. She looked into them, seeing just how cold and relentless they truly were. There seemed to be no end to how far he would go in order to reach his goals. That's who Silas had become after entering this world: a man whose heart was never for the people.1

Yoruichi tried disconnecting her spiritual powers from the tenshintai. But when she couldn't even feel a link to it, she was stunned. Her eyes fixed on Silas, whose entire hand was glowing a white and red colour!

The instant that he stabbed the tenshintai, he was the first to form the connection. Not only could Yoruichi no longer dispel Zangetsu's spirit, Silas could freely watch as Zangetsu did all the fighting!

A sense of anger filled her. She should have never meddled in his affairs. The way she tried to stop Aizen by saving Rukia was executed too poorly in Silas's eyes. And there was no way he was going to let her escape after revealing all these things. He needed only to lure her here, and the matter would be settled.

Curiosity was truly going to kill the cat.2

1 1 John 2:15-16

2 You're terrible for that, author-dono! Haha.