"This is the Senkaimon. As long as you pass through the Dangai, you'll reach Soul Society. Mister Yoruichi will guide you the whole way, so don't worry. If you run into any problems, he can handle them too."
Standing in front of the massive Senkaimon, Urahara Kisuke said with a grin, while introducing the somewhat unwilling black-cat-form Yoruichi beside him to Kurosaki Ichigo.
"Nice to meet you, Mister Yoruichi," Kurosaki Ichigo spoke expressionlessly, his greeting perfunctory.
'Miss Yoruichi? Isn't that Shihoin Yoruichi? Saying it like I don't know her, and calling a woman "mister" on top of that.'
The more he learned about Soul Society, the more he missed Aizen.
Compared to these riddle-speaking types who all treated him like a chess piece, only Aizen genuinely treated him as one of his own, telling him everything.
Big secrets, small secrets, all of them explained and laid out for him.
The Hollowfication experiments from a hundred years ago had only succeeded because of Shihoin Yoruichi's help. That was how Urahara Kisuke managed to leave Soul Society smoothly and slowly establish himself in the human world.
As for the relationship between Shihoin Yoruichi and Urahara Kisuke, you could say it was complicated, or you could say it was simple.
According to Aizen, Urahara Kisuke had once been the third seat of Squad Two, and at the same time a member of the subordinate noble families under the Shihoin clan.
Later, as Urahara Kisuke's strength grew, he transferred to Squad Twelve and took on the role of captain.
It was right after he became the captain of Squad Twelve, turning it into the Soul Society's Research and Development Bureau, that the Hollowfication incident was exposed.
Kurosaki Ichigo hadn't experienced that incident himself, but Aizen would tell it to him every time like a story, so he knew quite a lot about it.
After all, it was only after that incident that Aizen learned to hide himself, and then used the vacancy of the Fifth Division captain to successfully become the captain of Squad Five.
In Kurosaki Ichigo's understanding, that incident could have been Hueco Mundo pulling the strings, or it could have been Urahara Kisuke acting on his own.
Of course, there was also Aizen's speculation.
Aizen speculated that the incident had been a trap deliberately set by Hueco Mundo to force Urahara Kisuke into defecting.
Once Urahara Kisuke was driven out of Soul Society, Hueco Mundo could naturally take him in. After all, at the time, Urahara Kisuke and the others had already been left with no way out.
Kurosaki Ichigo had previously agreed more with this theory.
But seeing Urahara Kisuke's punchable face today, he still felt that the Hollowfication incident back then had been caused by this bastard himself.
This Urahara Kisuke just didn't look like a good person.
"Nice to meet you, Kurosaki brat."
The voice that came from Yoruichi was male, carrying a hint of reluctance and laziness.
It wasn't that she had any issue with Kurosaki Ichigo. The main thing was that she really didn't want to go to Soul Society lately.
She had only just managed to dodge the matter she had promised to Rosse and Shiba Kukaku, and now she was heading to Soul Society again, with the possibility of having to contact the two of them. That made her feel more than a little awkward.
On top of that, she had a feeling that Urahara Kisuke had been secretly doing things behind her back lately.
On several recent nights, Urahara Kisuke had secretly gone to the Visoreds' hideout while she wasn't around.
Logically speaking, there was no reason to hide that kind of thing from her, yet Urahara Kisuke always went only when she wasn't there.
If she hadn't happened to come back once by chance, she wouldn't even have known he was doing things behind her back.
'But why?'
'Is there something he can't let me know?'
For the sake of loyalty between friends, she had even given up Soul Society and followed Urahara Kisuke and the others to the human world.
Although life in the human world was freer, she still had plenty of friends over in Soul Society.
And now, it was precisely those friends in Soul Society who were running into trouble one after another. How could that not make her think too much?
Most importantly of all.
Before Kurosaki Ichigo arrived, Urahara Kisuke had actually told her in secret not to contact the Shiba family on this trip to Soul Society.
Even if she ran into problems, she was to resolve them by secretly contacting Kyoraku Shunsui and the Shihoin family instead.
Because of that, Yoruichi became even more confused about Urahara Kisuke.
'What exactly happened, that even contacting the Shiba family is forbidden?'
Even if the Shiba family was relatively close to Rosse, neither Rosse nor the Shiba family had ever wronged her.
If anything, it was she who had stood them up after agreeing to help Rosse and Shiba Kukaku, leaving her feeling awkward even now.
If Urahara Kisuke hadn't brought it up, she definitely wouldn't have gone to the Shiba family this time anyway. After all, leaving without a word last time really did make her feel too ashamed to face old friends again.
But the moment Urahara Kisuke said that, her rebellious streak immediately flared up. Now she absolutely had to get to the bottom of this.
After all, compared to Rosse, who left her with a fairly good impression, she disliked the somewhat sanctimonious Kyoraku Shunsui even more.
If it hadn't been for Kyoraku Shunsui's targeting, the Shiba family wouldn't have suffered, Sui Feng might not have died, and the Shihoin family wouldn't have been severely damaged afterward.
After Sui Feng's defection, it wasn't just the Feng family that was purged. The Shihoin family was also heavily implicated.
To preserve themselves, they had ceded a great deal of benefits to the Kuchiki family and the Kyoraku family.
Of course, the Shiba family also received a fair share.
But in Yoruichi's view, that was something the Shihoin family owed the Shiba family anyway. After all, Sui Feng had indeed caused trouble for the Shiba family in order to track down her whereabouts.
But what did any of that have to do with the Kuchiki family or the Kyoraku family?
The Kyoraku family had clearly been the ones stirring up trouble, yet they ended up taking the greatest benefits. That was something Yoruichi found very hard to accept.
She even suspected that this time, Kyoraku Shunsui had set his sights on Rosse again, and was secretly scheming with Urahara Kisuke.
After all, Captain-Commander Yamamoto had awakened. Rosse's existence would inevitably have some impact.
In her view, Rukia being sentenced to death this time was Kyoraku Shunsui using Captain-Commander Yamamoto's authority to warn the Kuchiki family and Rosse.
After all, once Rosse took office, the Kuchiki family had been the first to bow under pressure and side with him.
With Rukia's status as an adopted daughter, everything seemed to line up perfectly.
Thinking this far, Yoruichi couldn't sit still anymore.
She felt it was necessary to inform Shiba Kukaku and Rosse about this matter.
After all, everyone was on the same side.
That was how her personality had always been.
If one side was an enemy, she would help her own no matter what.
If both sides were friends, then she would help whoever was in the weaker position, without too much bias. That was her way of dealing with people.
"Let's go. The Senkaimon is open."
As the suddenly opened Senkaimon stood before them, Shihoin Yoruichi and Kurosaki Ichigo, each harboring their own thoughts, stepped into it almost at the same time.
At this moment, Soul Society was like the center of a whirlpool, constantly pulling everyone involved inward.
And at this moment, aside from the person standing at the very center of that vortex, no one knew what it truly meant, nor how it would ultimately change.
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