"Yoruichi-san! Where exactly are we?"
Kurosaki Ichigo slowly came to, his head still heavy and foggy.
He shook it a few times, trying to clear his thoughts, and once his vision finally focused, he immediately spotted the black cat dozing nearby.
After being cut down by Ichimaru Gin and losing consciousness, Ichigo had finally woken.
He struggled upright and looked around in confusion, trying to figure out where he'd been taken.
The room was part of a small house built almost entirely from bamboo.
Its furnishings were simple but comfortable, with neatly arranged bamboo tables and chairs and several elegant pieces of calligraphy on the walls.
Ignoring the pain throughout his body, Ichigo gritted his teeth, forced himself out of bed, and staggered toward the window.
When he pushed it open, a breathtaking view appeared before him.
A vast, lush bamboo grove stretched beyond the house.
A gentle breeze moved through the green leaves, filling the air with a soft rustling that sounded almost like whispered secrets.
Sunlight filtered through the overlapping bamboo canopy, scattering shifting patches of light and shadow across the ground.
The faint, fresh scent of bamboo lingered in the air, and the whole place felt calm and secluded, cut off from the noise and chaos outside.
"Is this really still the Seireitei? Everything here feels completely different…"
Ichigo stared outside, bewildered.
Only one thought truly mattered to him: he needed to get back to the Senzaikyū and save Rukia as fast as possible.
'How long was I out? What happened while I was unconscious? Rukia is still alive… right?'
He desperately tried to piece together his last memories before passing out.
"Ichigo, you're finally awake."
As Ichigo lost himself in thought, Yoruichi stirred from her nap. She opened her sleepy golden eyes and looked at him with obvious relief.
"Yoruichi-san, tell me where we are! And what happened to Rukia?"
The instant Ichigo heard her voice, he rushed toward her as though he'd found a lifeline.
"Calm down, Ichigo. It's already over. Rukia is safe, and the charges against her have been pardoned."
Yoruichi softened her voice, mindful that Ichigo was still badly hurt.
"What about Inoue and the others? Are they safe too?"
Some of the tension left Ichigo's body, but he immediately asked about his friends.
"Haha, you're in terrible shape yourself, and you're still worrying about everyone else."
Yoruichi gave him a rare, teasing smile.
"Relax. Orihime and the others are perfectly fine. You're the one who should be worried. You've only been in Soul Society for a few days, yet you've already been nearly killed more times than I can count. Somehow you keep surviving every single one. You're practically indestructible!"
Over the past several days, Yoruichi had watched Ichigo's astonishing growth firsthand.
When they first left the World of the Living, the boy had only just begun to understand his Zanpakutō's Shikai.
Yet after only a few days, he'd already mastered Bankai.
The Tenshintai had certainly helped, but even so, the speed of his progress was absurd.
Stranger still, every time Ichigo took devastating injuries and recovered, his strength seemed to leap forward.
First came his fight with Abarai Renji, where he'd nearly been beaten to death. Then he faced the far stronger Sasakibe Chōjirō and was thrashed all over again.
Finally, he challenged Ichimaru Gin's Bankai and once more ended up lying unconscious on the ground.
The underground hot spring had helped him recover quickly, but surviving so many brutal battles in such a short time — and growing stronger from each one — was still hard to believe.
"Hehe, come on, Yoruichi-san. I'm perfectly fine now, aren't I?"
Ichigo rubbed the back of his head and gave her a bright, harmless smile.
"Anyway, what is this place? Are we outside the Seireitei now?"
His eyes wandered curiously across the peaceful scenery.
The quiet surroundings and occasional birdsong made the place seem perfect for retirement — or maybe a picnic.
"Who said we left the Seireitei? This is still inside it."
Yoruichi licked one paw, a slight smile at the corner of her mouth as she answered.
"What? We really are still in the Seireitei?"
Ichigo's eyes widened in disbelief.
"I always thought the inner Seireitei was crammed with huge buildings everywhere. I had no idea there was somewhere this quiet and out of the way. It feels completely different from the rest of the place."
"Hmph. That only proves how little you've seen."
Yoruichi glanced at him with mild disdain.
"This area belongs to the Second Division and the Onmitsukidō. I used to love coming here."
"It's quiet, isolated, and almost no one ever visits. This place was basically my private hideout. Whenever I had free time, I'd come here and focus on training Hakuda and Shunpo."
As she spoke, Yoruichi's thoughts drifted back to the distant past.
Back then, she'd still been a young girl and hadn't yet become captain of the Second Division.
Even as a child, though, she'd had an intense fascination with Hakuda and Shunpo.
Whenever she entered this secluded training ground, all her worries seemed to melt away.
Many years had passed since then, but those memories were still vivid in her heart.
"The Second Division's territory? How do you know about this place?"
Ichigo tensed at once.
"Then we need to leave! If they find us here, we'll be in trouble!"
He'd clearly caught only the words Second Division territory and ignored everything Yoruichi said after.
"Oh, honestly, you idiot! Were you even listening?"
Yoruichi glared at him, puffing up in irritation.
"I just told you this is my private hideout!"
She raised her small paws and launched herself at him, scratching wildly.
A blur of black streaked through the room as her paws moved with incredible speed, leaving Ichigo flailing helplessly as he tried to defend himself.
...
"Your secret hideout? Since when did this place belong to you?"
Ichigo grimaced as he rubbed his face, now covered in scratches from Yoruichi's claws, and glared at her in annoyance.
"Oh my, did I never tell you?"
Yoruichi blinked innocently, then suddenly acted as though she'd only just remembered.
"Big Sis used to be the captain of the Second Division."
She planted both paws on her hips and proudly puffed out her chest.
"What?! You were the former captain of the Second Division? You never told me anything that important!"
Ichigo stared at her in utter disbelief.
Yoruichi had been hiding something this big from him the whole time?
"What's with that look? I definitely told you before! Your memory is obviously just terrible."
Yoruichi felt a brief stab of guilt, but she stubbornly refused to admit anything.
"It's exactly like what happened just now. I told you this was my secret hideout, and you forgot almost immediately!"
Ichigo was usually absentminded enough that she decided to dump the blame squarely on him.
'Did she really tell me? Why don't I remember it at all?'
Ichigo stared at her suspiciously for a long moment, unable to decide whether she was telling the truth.
"Fine, fine. Since you've apparently forgotten everything, I'll explain it again."
Yoruichi spoke with exaggerated patience.
"I was once the captain of the Second Division. Urahara Kisuke — the bucket-hat-and-clogs guy — was the former captain of the Twelfth Division. And Tsukabishi Tessai was once the Grand Kidō Chief of the Kidō Corps."
"This time, make sure you remember it. Don't stare at me like a confused idiot again the next time it comes up."
Yoruichi carefully laid out everyone's former positions, hoping at least some of it would stick in Ichigo's head.
"Huh? Hat-and-Clogs was a captain too?"
Ichigo blinked blankly.
"Of course he was! What else did you think he was? Some ordinary squad member?"
Yoruichi nearly fainted from frustration.
She truly didn't know what to do with this boy.
'How can he be this clueless? What exactly has Shiba Isshin been teaching his son all these years? Did he raise the boy to be an idiot?'
...
Meanwhile, after learning that Yoruichi was supposedly in the Captain-Commander's tea room, Suì-Fēng rushed there like a gale.
Her small, quick figure drew curious looks from everyone she passed, but she paid them no attention.
Her mind was fixed entirely on finding Yoruichi as fast as possible.
But when she finally arrived at the tea room, breathless from the trip, the sight in front of her sent her fury soaring.
The room was completely empty.
Not a single person inside.
"That damned Kazuma! He actually dared to make a fool of me!"
Suì-Fēng ground her teeth in rage.
At that moment, she looked ready to hunt Kazuma down and tear him to pieces just to vent.
Then a faint trace in the air caught her attention.
Suì-Fēng's nose twitched. With the sharp senses she'd honed over many years, she immediately picked up a familiar scent.
'Wait… isn't this Lady Yoruichi's scent?'
She froze in surprise.
Was she secretly part dog? How was her nose this sharp? It was almost a waste she'd never become a tracking hound.
"Yes, there's no mistake. Lady Yoruichi really was here."
Suì-Fēng's expression changed completely.
Only moments ago she'd been swearing to make Kazuma pay for tricking her. Now she felt almost grateful to him.
The question was where Yoruichi had gone afterward.
Suì-Fēng frowned and searched every corner of the tea room, hoping to find some clue.
Soul Society was enormous.
Finding one specific person in it was already hard enough, but finding Yoruichi was another matter entirely.
She'd once been captain of the Second Division and commander of the Onmitsukidō. Tracking, concealment, and evasion were among her greatest specialties.
If Yoruichi deliberately hid her movements, locating her would be nearly impossible.
"Forget it. I should head back to the division first."
Suì-Fēng gave up the idea of searching alone.
"Deploying the Onmitsukidō will be far faster than wandering around by myself."
Searching on her own would be like looking for a needle dropped in the ocean.