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It hadn't been long since Su Li re-entered the Second Division's barracks, yet the sight of him walking with calm composure through the corridors—his steps measured, his expression serene—was enough to ripple through the ranks like a silent trumpet of return. The Shinigami stationed there, veterans and recruits alike, regarded their captain not with the previous exasperation or resigned bemusement they had once shared, but with the warm, restrained pride of subordinates watching someone grow into his burden.
For nearly a month, he had risen early, trained late, and handled every mission with an almost frightening clarity, and now, the Second Division had begun to follow that rhythm. Even the newer members, who had only heard vague whispers of his more... unconventional past, now stood straighter in his presence. In their hearts, the term "Captain Salted Fish" had been erased, replaced by something quieter, heavier, and far more genuine: Captain Su Li. Their cornerstone.
With quiet amusement curving the edge of his lips, Su Li returned their gazes with a nod and moved toward the captain's office. Yet as he reached the door, something tugged at his attention, not a spiritual disturbance but something quieter, colder, a residual pull of familiarity wrapped in unease. Instead of entering his own office, he changed course and walked further down the hall, toward the room that had long remained untouched—Sui-Feng's.
"Eh? Bee? You're back?" he asked, peering in to see a slender figure facing away, methodically arranging belongings with the kind of precision only someone avoiding conversation could maintain.
Her voice, barely above a whisper, floated out with its usual clipped detachment. "Thirteen…"
Though her tone lacked warmth, it wasn't cold, and that ambiguity unsettled Su Li far more than any scolding or sarcastic jab might have. She didn't even look at him. He scratched his head, unsure of how to proceed, caught off guard by the sudden shift in their dynamic.
"Oh. Fine... I'll—"
"Wait a moment."
He stopped mid-step, her soft words slicing the air like a kunai.
When she finally turned around, Su Li's breath caught. The woman before him was not the Sui-Feng he remembered—her body, once taut with coiled muscle and razor-discipline, now seemed fragile, her face pale, her frame emaciated. There was a hollow tightness around her eyes that hadn't been there before, and her aura, though still sharp, now carried the bitter fragrance of exhaustion.
She stood there with her arms clenched tight against herself, as if trying to hold something inside from spilling out.
"You… have nothing to say to me?" Her voice was trembling, the defiance in her eyes fading under the weight of uncertainty.
Su Li was momentarily lost for words. He hadn't expected this version of her—the proud, curt, ever-commanding Sui-Feng, stripped of her edge, stripped of that unwavering command presence. She looked wounded. Not physically, but in the kind of way that comes from long, silent nights spent wrestling the shadows of regret.
"What happened to you?" he asked softly, not demanding, but filled with genuine concern, his eyes tracing her sunken cheeks and thin wrists as if trying to piece together a puzzle that shouldn't exist.
At his gaze, Sui-Feng flinched and quickly turned her head, raising her hands to shield her face as if the attention itself stung. "Don't… don't look at me."
He averted his eyes, his expression solemn, understanding that some wounds demanded silence more than salves.
"Bee, just tell me what happened. You look like you were dragged out of the Palace of Repentance, not back from a vacation."
He stared at the wall, trying to give her the space she needed, even as concern gnawed at him. Her current state mirrored something eerily close to Rukia's after her confinement—drained, distant, barely hanging on.
She remained quiet, watching him from behind her hands.
This past month had been a quiet hell for her. Each day bled into the next with no appetite, no rest, no peace. She had spent the nights thinking about him, fearing that he had finally grown tired of her, that his silence was born of dismissal, not duty. She wondered if she meant anything at all, wondered if she had been discarded while he moved on without a backward glance. She had imagined him listless, reckless, spiraling back into indifference, perhaps surrounded by others who could hold his attention better than she could.
And yet, all those fears shattered the moment Omaeda casually dropped by to visit and, in typical fashion, revealed everything. Su Li hadn't lost his way. He hadn't given up. He was waiting—quietly, patiently, even calculatingly—for the right moment. He'd been preparing for something bigger than she realized.
Despite Omaeda's claim that it was all just coincidence and luck through fortune-telling, she knew better. From the moment the incident surrounding Kuchiki Rukia's disappearance came to light, she should have understood that he would move. He would cross into the human world not out of rebellion, but purpose—and she should have been the first to recognize that. She should have stood beside him. Instead, she had left. She, who had known him for forty years, had failed to trust him.
Disgraceful. Shameful. Unworthy.
With slow, tentative steps, Sui-Feng closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him.
Su Li went rigid. His body froze like ice under her sudden warmth.
Neither spoke. The awkwardness of the moment hung thick in the air, stitched together by silence and something unspoken—pain, apology, relief. He could feel her heart beating against his chest, a faint tremor against his ribs.
In all their past encounters, physical contact had been brief and functional—carrying her, catching her, pushing her aside. But this was different. This was deliberate. Vulnerable. Real.
For someone who had lived two lives but never loved, Su Li's mind went blank. Somewhere in the back of his head, a panicked, half-baked thought ran wild: "Do I wash up first or what?" followed by a chaotic montage of romance movies from his past life, none of which applied to this moment.
"Ding ding ding! First hug after returning to duty!" Sui-Feng suddenly shouted, snapping him out of his spiraling thoughts.
"Lying hell!" Su Li flinched so hard it looked like he'd been struck by lightning. His heart pounded against his ribs, and he stared at her like a deer caught mid-Shunpo.
Her eyes sparkled with mischief. She looked happy, but not without that lingering note of loss.
So it was a joke. A tease. Nothing more.
He tried to collect himself, still breathless. "Damn… for a second, I thought this was the kind of moment that changes everything. I nearly started thinking of baby names."
The flush on his face was genuine. His thoughts had outrun his composure.
Watching him fall apart was, for Sui-Feng, the greatest delight. She crossed her arms over her chest, smirking with the smugness of someone who had scored a flawless victory. How rare it was to see him flustered—this might be a once-in-a-lifetime event.
With a mischievous gleam, she jabbed, "When did you get so naughty?"
Su Li shot her a look of dramatic betrayal. "The Sui-Feng I remember was a cold, dignified goddess. You're nothing like her. So tell me, who are you, and what have you done with the real one?"
Her cheeks flushed slightly at the word "goddess," her mind momentarily derailed by the implication. He just… called her that? Out loud? In front of her?
Scumbag! Shameless! Damn charming scumbag! No wait, not damn. Don't damn him…
She stuck out her tongue playfully. "Tch. I'm not telling. Figure it out yourself!"
Su Li's eyes narrowed with mock menace. "Then I guess I'll have to call upon the full power of the heavens and seal you inside the Ten Thousand Law Suppression Tower."
Before the flirtation could continue, the air cracked with the sound of an emergency broadcast.
"Emergency alert! Unidentified spiritual disturbance detected in the western district of Seireitei. Code red issued for sectors 3 through 8. Repeat: immediate response required in the western quadrant—"
The levity vanished in an instant. Both pairs of eyes sharpened, the warm haze of awkward emotion swept away by the steel edge of duty.
Sui-Feng's brow furrowed. "A calamity?"
They didn't need to say anything else.
The moment had passed. The battlefield called.
And both of them were ready.
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