At the same time, Seireitei.
The Garganta slowly closed, and the last glimmer of the Negación disappeared from the sky of the Seireitei.
Dust and smoke still lingered over the messy Sōkyoku Hill, leaving behind only the dazed crowd and the mocking gaze of Muramasa from high above.
He glanced unwillingly at Captain-Commander Yamamoto, whose heart was sealed by the green Reiatsu barrier. Then, without saying another word, he opened a Garganta and walked into it, leading the dozens of materialized Zanpakutō of various forms behind him.
Captain-Commander Yamamoto stood in place leaning on his cane. He was likely the only Shinigami in Soul Society who still retained his Zanpakutō spirit.
The Captain-Commander did not order a pursuit. He merely commanded everyone to return to the Seireitei and for the injured to be taken to the Fourth Division for treatment.
Further away, the people who had been casually repelled by Soifon maintained their posture of looking up at the sky. Their faces were a mixture of tear tracks and dust, looking completely lost and soulless.
Soon, under the command of the few Captains who were still conscious, officers from various divisions rushed to the scene to begin treating the wounded.
In truth, aside from Sajin Komamura who had taken a punch of Shunkō from Soifon, the injuries of the others were not serious. They only needed to rest in the ward for a day or two to recover.
Moreover, without the pressure of those old geezers from Central 46, the Captains of the Seireitei held no hostility toward the suddenly appearing Yoruichi, Urahara, and Ichigo Kurosaki. They allowed the members of the Fourth Division to pack them up and take them away together.
Fourth Division barracks, inside a ward.
The air was filled with the bitter scent of medicinal herbs mixed with a faint smell of blood. A table lamp emitted a soft light, illuminating several pale, dazed faces in the room.
Yoruichi Shihōin sat leaning against a hospital bed, thick bandages wrapped around her abdomen. Her face had been wiped clean, but those eyes still stared hollowly at the ceiling, as if her soul had been drawn away.
Rukia, Momo Hinamori, Rangiku Matsumoto, and Isane Kotetsu sat on adjacent beds or chairs, all bandaged to varying degrees.
No one spoke. The only sounds in the room were intermittent sobs coming from Momo Hinamori and Rukia.
"Sorry, it's all my..."
Yoruichi suddenly spoke, breaking the deathly silence of the room.
Everyone's gaze turned toward her.
"If back then... I hadn't left her behind and run off to the World of the Living with that fellow Urahara..."
"If I could have stayed by her side the whole time... If I could have realized the thoughts in her heart sooner..."
"Perhaps in her heart... she has always resented me, right? Hating me, this irresponsible Captain, hating me, this... person who leaves whenever she pleases."
Yoruichi Shihōin's words were filled with self-blame and helplessness.
In her mind, perhaps it was precisely because Soifon held both love and hate for her that she had achieved such powerful strength.
This powerful existence, perhaps from the very beginning, was created by her, Yoruichi Shihōin, with her own hands...
She slowly closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly.
Unohana Retsu, who was checking the healing progress of Yoruichi's abdominal wound and changing the dressing, paused in her movements.
Her smiling lips pursed slightly. Unohana Retsu did not look up to say anything; she simply increased the strength in her hands slightly.
"Hiss—"
Yoruichi sucked in a cold breath from the pain, startled out of her self-pitying mood, and looked at Unohana Retsu with some surprise.
Unohana released her hand with a calm expression, retied the bandage, then stood up. She picked up the medical tray beside her and turned to walk out of the ward without a word.
Her white hem brushed over the threshold, leaving behind no superfluous words.
Yoruichi stared blankly at her retreating figure, opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
"What is the use... of saying these things now."
"Captain Soifon... She must have been bewitched by that fellow Aizen! Definitely! Otherwise, how could she..."
Rangiku Matsumoto finally raised her head. Her voice was muffled, and the rims of her eyes were somewhat red.
"Right! It must be Sōsuke Aizen!"
"Captain Soifon is such an upright person; how could she possibly betray us! Aizen must have used some despicable means!"
Hearing the words she wanted to hear, Isane Kotetsu also jerked her head up.
It was as if they were grasping at the last straw, stubbornly pushing all responsibility onto that hair-gel man standing in the heavens.
Rukia hugged her knees, burying her face in the crook of her arm, speaking with a heavy nasal tone: "Actually... when Teacher Soifon was locked in the Senzaikyū... I should have thought of it..."
At the same time, Momo Hinamori jerked her head up to look at Rukia.
Could it be—
Rukia slowly raised her head. Her eyes were swollen red from crying, tears still rolling down, and she nodded to Momo Hinamori.
"That time when we went to visit Teacher Soifon, she said... if when that day comes, we don't hate her... she would agree to our confes..."
Thump, thump, thud—
Rangiku Matsumoto and Isane Kotetsu's eyes went wide simultaneously. A blush rapidly spread across their faces as they looked at Momo Hinamori in shock, then at Rukia, whose face was equally red but who bit her lip and didn't refute it.
"Wh... What?!" Rangiku Matsumoto's voice pitched up. "Confession?! You... You guys confessed to Captain Soifon?! And she... she actually replied like that?!"
Isane Kotetsu also covered her mouth, her eyes round and wide.
Meanwhile, Yoruichi Shihōin on the hospital bed felt as if she had been struck by lightning!
She abruptly straightened her body, ignoring the pain in her abdomen, and slammed her fist onto the bed board, making a dull thud.
"Are you kidding me?! Soifon agreed to the confession of you two little girls?!"
"That fellow Soifon... didn't she tell you?! She and I... have already... have already done the things adults should do! Did you not know?!"
Yoruichi Shihōin began to bristle like a hissing cat.
"Hah—?!"
"That kind of thing?!"
There are even more experts?!
Rangiku Matsumoto and Isane Kotetsu were shocked once again. Their gazes swept back and forth between Yoruichi and the two young girls, the sheer amount of information almost causing their brains to crash.
The two of them were like badgers in a melon field, practically stuffed full from eating so many melons.
Momo Hinamori and Rukia wiped away the tears at the corners of their eyes. Their faces turned even redder, but it looked more like the redness of overheating.
"Senior Yoruichi... Did you and Teacher Soifon... confess your feelings?"
Rukia raised her red eyes, looking stubbornly at Yoruichi.
Yoruichi choked.
Confessing or whatever... it seems they really hadn't...
But they had already done that kind of thing; was confessing or not even important anymore?!
Momo Hinamori immediately followed up, her voice still carrying a crying tone:
"Since there was no... confes... then you are at most..."
"It's just a dirty physical relationship! It doesn't count at all!"
What a physical relationship!
The atmosphere in the ward became bizarre and tense.
Yoruichi was instantly stifled. A spasm of pain from her abdominal wound prevented her from speaking a complete sentence; she could only glare fiercely at these two audacious little girls.
Rangiku Matsumoto and Isane Kotetsu were completely bewildered. They looked at the trembling Yoruichi, then at the two young girls who were equally agitated and aggrieved. Finally, they looked at each other, and both saw a hint of unnatural bitterness in the other's eyes.
If Momo Hinamori, Rukia, and Senior Yoruichi were jealous, then what did that make the two of them?
Perhaps... they couldn't even compare to these people who were jealous.
The two of them were nothing but ostriches who didn't even dare to face the feelings in their hearts.
Rangiku Matsumoto and Isane Kotetsu lowered their heads, staring blankly at the white bedsheets.
After a long time—
"I feel like us arguing like this is a bit funny."
"What is the point of fighting over this? Teacher Soifon has already..."
Suddenly, Rukia shook her head with some self-mockery.
After making a fuss, the feeling of sadness had faded quite a bit, and her IQ had reoccupied the high ground.
"That's right. The urgent priority now is to drag that girl Soifon out of Hueco Mundo, and then tie her up with chains of Seki-Seki Stone..."
"Our Shihōin Clan is the [Tenshiheisōban], hee hee hee..."
Yoruichi Shihōin said with a sinister tone.
"That's right. Betraying our feelings... Teacher Soifon can't just run away like this..."
Momo Hinamori's face lost its usual bright highlights.
"So, are we going to fight our way to Hueco Mundo?!"
"To make Captain Soifon realize her errors and return?!"
____
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