“Quit it. Stop whining. Unless you’re able to activate your powers at will, you will die, like a dog, in the Soul Society.” — Yoruichi Shihōin. 

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[World of the Living]

A flurry of muffled blows resounded softly in a lowly forest, causing the leaves and green prairie to sway in a rhythmic wave. 

Soft grunts echoed out simultaneously with the muffled blows, increasing ever so slightly and creating the mirage of a charged atmosphere. 

“You know, it’s not really my place to say this given it’s all my fault, but are you sure you’re okay?” Kisuke, wearing a dark green robe with a red scarf tied around his neck, asked. “I’d feel really bad if my bad decisions forced you to make one you didn’t want to.”

Yoruichi stopped punching what seemed to be a crystallized pillar that spotted visceral cracks all over its structure. When Yoruichi pulled back her hand, visible smoke could be seen covering her fist and the last impact point on the crystalline pillar. 

She slowly exhaled and flicked her ponytail-tied hair to the side before looking at Kisuke who appeared uncomfortable and uncertain under her inscrutable gaze, sighing as she made to reply him. 

“You’re such a worrywart, and it’s nothing close to what you’re thinking, so no need for the crestfallen eyes.” Yoruichi replied while taking a fleeting glance at the cracked pillar. 

Kisuke looked at Yoruichi, fixedly taking in her expression and body language, before sighing in relief and sliding down smoothly to take a seat on the ground, a twinkle of amusement back in his eyes. 

“Ain’t that a heart soothing relief.” He said with a chuckle, before pointing at the pillar that was on its last integrity. “Soooo? What’s that about? You’ve been like this for some time now, and I know whatever is bothering you has nothing to do with the clan.”

The former Noble Lord snorted, as if anyone in their right mind would raise a hand against her Shihōin Clan because of her betrayal. Not even Yamamoto, in all his esteem, could do that. Such a decision was solely under the verdict of the vaunted Division Zero. 

“It’s not a matter of regret per se, but more like there was a better way I should have ended it rather than the way it went.”

“Itachi?” Kisuke asked with a raised brow. 

“Soi Fon mostly, Yūshirō too, and yes Itachi.” She said with a roll of her eyes, before adopting a solemn expression. “Telling Itachi not to take any action against Aizen is unfair to both he and Soi Fon. At the end of the day, the root of the problem lies with us being unable to stop Aizen when we confronted him.” They didn’t want to draw more casualties than there were already, and something told them Aizen had something exactly like that planned out in the event that they ousted him. The chaos would have been unimaginable. 

Yoruichi’s reminder of that fateful night brought a flash of anger that soon settled into a glooming scowl. 

Yes, that night had been one to remember. 

“Shinji suspected, but no one knew he was that strong, not even me. And his Shikai…”

Yoruichi nodded, her own negative feelings on the matter stored away for another day. “Itachi wasn’t kidding when he said it was a ‘complete’ illusion and stressed how dangerous it was.” She had a peculiar expression on her face at the end of her sentence which Kisuke caught on to. 

Noting the unasked question in her best friend’s gaze, she shifted uncomfortably as she tried to say it as nonchalantly as she could.. 

“Remember that fight I had with him years ago, the one I said he won with some type of secret illusion technique?” 

Kisuke nodded. “Quite vividly. A bit hard to forget when it concerns you losing—” 

“It was a fluke!”

“— and also when it was said loss that became the crucible that birthed his true Shikai.” He nodded assuredly to himself. “Yes, quite hard to forget indeed. Though, now that I’m thinking about it, you never mentioned the specifics of this ‘secret’ illusio— Ouch!”

A punch from Yoruichi had him eating his last words along with dirt as it sent him barreling a few meters away. His attacker, Yoruichi, had an irritated glare decorating her beautiful face. 

“Then just let me finish, you damn bastard!” She huffed at Kisuke’s pitiful crawling form. 

She calmed herself down and continued where she left off. “Different from what most of the Captains and Lieutenants know about Itachi, that also includes you, is just how tricky his illusions are to deal with. That and, for some reason I don’t know, he doesn’t use illusions as much as he did when I first met him.”

Kisuke tilted his head in confusion, not knowing where this was going with Yoruichi suddenly praising his abilities, so he voiced it out. 

She looked at him sedately, slowly taking her time as she responded. “When we fought Aizen, his illusions were… absolute – no flair or theatrics – just straightly manipulating our senses and leaving us completely helpless. But Itachi’s is different, in that sometimes you can tell when you’ve been had…”

Kisuke propped himself up and held his chin in contemplation while staring at the grass stalk he held between his fingers. 

“You still don’t see it yet, do you? Remember what you told me a long time ago – No Zanpakutō is absolute – which is also the case for Aizen’s as Itachi was able to break it, though an inactive one but still. On the other hand, Itachi, while not having the same ‘absolute’ like Aizen, is able to freely manipulate his illusions – passively, might I add.”

She smirked as she could see a familiar dancing light in Kisuke’s eyes. He was getting there but she could tell he was still a way off. 

“The cocky brat once told me that his illusions were more like techniques than innate abilities. And the technique he used on me, that was the scariest thing I’ve ever felt in centuries: time, space, distance, perception – all controlled in an instant time fraction to a vast degree.”

Kisuke stolared at Yoruichi who was now sporting a shit-eating grin at his belated realization. 

“How long were you in there?” Kisuke had to make mental changes to what he knew about illusion-type Zanpakutō – at least the ones on the level of Itachi’s and Aizen’s. 

Techniques – that was the keyword. 

Techniques, unlike innate Zanpakutō abilities, could be engineered to suit almost any scenario as long as it was in its nature. The kicker here was the insinuation that Itachi could freely control this aspect, in fact well-versed in it from Yoruichi’s words, that he could in a way replicate the directional aspect of Shinji’s Shikai. 

If this technique Yoruichi was explaining in such a roundabout way was truly as fearsome as she made it sound, which Kisuke believed it definitely was as Yoruichi never joked about someone’s prowess, then another forbidden Zanpakutō has found its way into the Soul Society. 

Yoruichi responded softly. “It’s not really clear to me, but probably a year or two.”  

Although it was practically imperceptible, Kisuke caught the way her fingers shivered slightly, but he was too stunned to point that out as he was trying to understand the implications of what Yoruichi said. 

Yoruichi didn’t notice Kisuke’s stare as her own eyes were lost in a far-off daze. “He doesn’t know, I’m sure – he said so himself. Luckily for me, the technique was forcefully interrupted by his Zanpakutō spirit which spared me from receiving the impression of the time spent there. It’s more like a dream now and I don’t have to deal with the full experience of two years of fighting and death.”

She breathed out and collapsed against the crystal structure with her back resting against it. 

She finally looked at Kisuke and chuckled at his raptured expression. “Don’t worry, it’s more like a long forgotten memory… one that sometimes becomes a dream that keeps me awake on a few nights. Honestly it’s not a big deal to someone like me but the memory of that illusion is an echoing reminder that he’ll grow stronger. Stronger than me, that I know for sure.”

Kisuke took one look at Yoruichi, the person he was closest to and knew the most in his life – his best friend – and the understanding came easy to him. Especially when it had to do with how long and wordy she had spun the tale. 

“You don’t want him to die prematurely… I get it, but,” He brought out a fan from his sleeves and threw it to her, which she caught with a cheeky grin, “It’s also an apology, your apology. You feel like it’s your fault he got dragged into this, especially after the agreement you both had when you brought him in.”

Kisuke shook his head and stood up. “I don’t know what to say to you, Yoruichi… but those are hard to make so don’t destroy them quickly.” He said, pointing at the banged up pillar. 

“Shut up, you ingrate! It’s either these pillars or I start punching everything I see.”

Kisuke sweat dropped at the image of her sending her lightning fists to his hardly procured equipment. What else could he do than follow her destructive whims?

“The others are slowly acclimatizing to being half Hollows, so I guess that’s one good news.” He said offhandedly as he walked away, leaving Yoruichi to stare at the crystal pillar. 

Aizen, Itachi, even Kenpachi to an extent – these were individuals that had her doubting her current strength. Being someone so attuned with her senses, Yoruichi could almost smell the cataclysmic change that was coming. 

‘It’s a storm.’ If she was being honest with herself, she missed the Soul Society — or putting it more aptly, she missed her dear bodyguard and her messenger crow. 

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