Fourth Division. The Medicinal Hot Spring.
The familiar scent of medicinal herbs curled through the air and settled at the tip of Soifon's nose. Her gaze seemed to pass straight through the bamboo grove surrounding the hot spring, coming to rest on the sealed chamber of Seki-Seki Stone that had sat untouched for so long.
Soifon gave a small nod. "Of course I remember. Captain Unohana gave me quite the lesson back then."
If her strength had been even slightly lower at the time, there was a real chance Unohana Retsu — in the full grip of her sword-lust — might have beaten her into complete helplessness.
Standing to the side and listening, Unohana looked out over the hot spring. A faint wistfulness drifted across her face. "If I had the choice, I'd truly rather not tear this spring down."
Unohana Retsu unrolled the blueprint scroll that Tenjirō Kirinji had gifted her. The aged paper was covered in an intricate diagram of ritual formation structures, accompanied by dense, meticulous annotations in the margins.
When she noticed Soifon leaning in for a closer look, Unohana Retsu pointed to the notes on the blueprint and explained, with a touch of helplessness, exactly why she had needed Soifon to come and assist.
"The Bone Hell and the Blood Hell..." she murmured. "That is where the true difficulty lies."
"The builder must channel their Reiatsu into the base of the pool, carving the formation arrays that sustain the medicinal properties — and then anchor and activate those formations using the sheer force of their own immense Spiritual Pressure."
The annotations on the blueprint were perfectly clear: at Unohana Retsu's current level of Spiritual Pressure, faithfully replicating Kirinji's results would be no easy task.
Soifon understood at once. She accepted the scroll, her gaze sweeping quickly over the complex formations and notations.
A moment later, she handed the scroll back to Unohana Retsu and gave her own chest a confident pat.
"Captain Unohana, there's nothing to worry about." Soifon turned to face the open ground beside the hot spring. "This spring isn't going anywhere."
She raised her right hand, fingers spread wide.
The bamboo grove surrounding the Medicinal Hot Spring was torn from the earth by an invisible force, roots and all, clearing a broad, open space.
Then, lines of condensed Reiatsu began to trace themselves through the air — following the paths laid out in the blueprint with absolute precision, assembling the full formation arrays of the Bone Hell and the Blood Hell.
She flipped her wrist.
The two golden formation arrays hovering in the air plunged downward and sank into the earth with a resonant impact.
A blinding torrent of golden Reiatsu erupted from Soifon's body. Vast quantities of Spiritual Pressure poured like a tide, endlessly, into both formations.
The ground shuddered and sank, reshaping itself automatically into two neat, smooth-walled pool basins.
As the Reiatsu continued to flow, warm water began to well up from within the empty formations, slowly filling each pool to the brim.
The entire process took less than three minutes.
When Soifon lowered her hand, two completed hot spring pools lay quietly at the edge of the bamboo grove — arranged in a triangle with Unohana Retsu's original Medicinal Hot Spring.
All that remained was to replant the uprooted bamboo between each pool as dividers. With that final step done, the work was complete.
Done? It's done!
Unohana Retsu jogged over to the Blood Hell pool, crouched at its edge, and cupped a handful of the crimson water, bringing it up before her eyes.
Before long, a searing, corroding pain spread across her palm. Unohana tipped the Blood Hell water back into the pool and used Kaidō to heal the damage the water had done to her hand.
Genuine. Completely, undeniably genuine. This was the real Blood Hell.
Having confirmed the product, the flash of excitement in Unohana Retsu's eyes came and went. She thought to herself: if something like this had existed back then — back when Soifon had not yet fully grown into her strength — perhaps we could have fought to our hearts' content...
Perhaps it was the corroding flesh and the bite of pain that summoned the most primal desire slumbering at the bottom of Unohana Retsu's soul.
Her mind filled entirely with thoughts of battle. The flush on Captain Unohana's cheeks deepened, spreading further with each heartbeat. Even the breath she exhaled had taken on a scorching white mist.
Why — she had already been defeated by Soifon — so why did she still want to fight her so badly...
And in truth, the words Unohana had leaned over to murmur to Soifon that day had not been false.
She genuinely — truly — wanted Soifon to run her through.
She pressed down on the trembling of her body and attempted to let her frame grow calm — but the shaking in her voice would not stop.
Unohana Retsu rose from the edge of the Blood Hell pool. The flush across her cheeks was vivid and unnatural. Her breathing had grown unsteady. Even the hand gripping her Zanpakutō had begun to tremble.
"Soifon..."
Her sword-lust had taken hold — and she had even forgotten to say "Captain."
Soifon tilted her head. Her gaze lingered on Unohana Retsu's face for two seconds. She knew this state — knew it all too well.
But why? Soifon was fairly certain she hadn't done anything to provoke the other woman's fighting instinct.
She let out a quiet inner sigh, and the casual expression on her face slowly settled into something more composed.
Unohana Retsu reached up and unbound the braid at her chest. Black hair spilled down on either side of her — and then her trembling hand moved to the hilt at her waist.
"I heard Captain Soifon say once..."
"...that a swordsman of true skill can read another's heart through the crossing of their blades."
Unohana Retsu spoke, her voice steadier now than a moment ago — though a suppressed, breathless tremor still ran beneath every word.
She lifted her eyes and looked directly at Soifon.
"I have a selfish request."
"I hope... that Captain Soifon won't defeat me too quickly."
"Let me... enjoy the fight a little longer."
Soifon was silent for a few seconds. Then she gave a solemn nod.
Almost in the same instant that Soifon nodded, a blade of light flashed — a fierce horizontal slash tearing through the air, aimed straight for the side of Soifon's neck.
Clang.
Suzumebachi's slender blade caught the blow precisely, stopping that tremendous, driving strike cold.
Sparks scattered — and in the same moment, Soifon caught the glint of cold steel from Unohana Retsu's left sleeve. A short blade drove out without warning, thrusting for Soifon's flank, forming a perfect pincer with the longsword in her right hand.
Using Blut Vene would have been sufficient defense — but this was a Kendo match, and naturally she wouldn't call on anything beyond Kendo.
Her body vaulted upward from where she stood, and the short blade's tip scraped past the hem of her Captain's Haori as she cleared it.
Watching Soifon not only catch the slash but evade the ambush with such fluid elegance, Unohana Retsu's eyes burned with a mingling of gratitude and excitement.
"Soifon... you don't think this of me is cheap, do you?"
Unohana silently drew the short blade back into her sleeve.
Soifon landed steadily and shook her head.
"Thank you... for always indulging my willfulness, Soifon."
A smile of absolute, undisguised joy broke across Unohana Retsu's lips — and she surged forward again.
This time, Unohana had decided to bring every ounce of Kendo she had ever learned to bear. She would draw a final line beneath everything that had ever passed between her and Soifon.
Let me see clearly...
What kind of feeling do I hold for you?
And you — what do you feel for me?
The sword doesn't lie, Soifon!
This time, she held nothing back. The long and short blades in her hands became a storm, an absolute tempest that swallowed Soifon completely.
Unohana Retsu attacked faster and faster. The ringing of steel on steel became a ceaseless, overlapping cascade of sound.
Her breathing grew more and more ragged. The flush had spread from her cheeks to her throat. Sweat soaked the black hair at her brow. In her eyes, the flames of pure, ecstatic joy burned without restraint.
"Forgive me, Soifon..."
She brought a blade sweeping down — Soifon twisted aside, and the edge buried itself deep in the ground.
"This... is the real me." Her voice cracked open on the wind. "This pitiful, ugly thing I am."
She wrenched the blade free. Her body spun into a sweeping cut — the short blade thrusting simultaneously toward Soifon from the side.
"Only thinking of my own pleasure..."
The words shattered in the wind — wrapped in the screech of bamboo leaves and the shriek of steel through air — and met Suzumebachi's edge head on.
Clang —
Another clean, sharp ring of contact. Soifon and Unohana pressed their blades against each other, neither giving ground, staring directly into the other's eyes.
Soifon's breath was close — warm air washing over Unohana's cheek. The vibration of locked steel traveled up the blade and into the palm.
"Someone like this..." Unohana said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Do you hate me for it?"
Her answer came in the form of Soifon breaking the deadlock and bringing a clean vertical strike down.
Unohana Retsu raised her blade to parry. The force of it sent a numbing shock up both arms. She staggered, sliding back several steps before she caught herself.
She looked down at her faintly trembling hand, then at the Zanpakutō humming in her grip. For an instant her face flashed with something like bewilderment — and then, slowly, a smile of quiet relief took its place.
I see. So that is what Captain Soifon's heart says...
Whether it is the Unohana who wears a mask — or the Unohana who wants nothing but to fight — Soifon would accept her either way.
With that thought settling inside her, Unohana raised her blade once more. Her toes touched the ground — and she launched forward like an arrow, her momentum more ferocious than ever before.
Unohana's edge came sweeping in.
Soifon swung Suzumebachi to meet it naturally...
But in the very instant before the two blades collided, Unohana Retsu abandoned her attack entirely. She opened her arms wide — and in what was almost an embrace, she stepped into the path of Soifon's swing.
Soifon's pupils contracted sharply. Even as she pulled back her force in that fraction of a second, she could not stop herself from connecting.
Rip —
The blade's edge tore through the fabric of Unohana's Captain's Haori, leaving behind a line of crimson. Blood bloomed instantly, dyeing the white cloth scarlet.
"Captain Unohana?!"
Soifon's figure appeared in an instant at the spot where Unohana Retsu was falling, catching her in her arms before she could hit the ground.
Unohana Retsu leaned against Soifon's shoulder. A thin trickle of red escaped the corner of her lips. She looked up at Soifon's face — so close now — and the eyes that were always warm and gently smiling had gone somewhere distant and unfocused.
"I understand now..." she murmured. "Captain Soifon's heart."
"To die beneath Captain Soifon's blade... I could die without regret."
Unohana coughed up a scatter of red drops.
The arms holding Unohana Retsu tightened slightly. A quiet anger stirred in Soifon's chest.
She replied in a cold, flat voice, and denied every word Unohana had said:
"Wrong."
"If you truly read my heart from my blade, then you would understand — that strike just now, I had no intention of killing you."
"What you just interpreted..." Soifon fixed her with a steady stare. "Is nothing but your own wishful thinking."
"A Kenpachi who misread the blade's intent and died for it..."
"You would be the first, Unohana Retsu."
Unohana Retsu's lashes trembled. Her eyes opened wide, suddenly and completely alert — filled with panic.
At the very threshold of death, Unohana Retsu had been denied — by the person she admired most — in the art of the sword that she was most proud of.
Had she been wrong?!
"Was I... wrong...? Soifon..."
Heedless of the searing pain in her body, Unohana Retsu lifted her hand — blood-soaked fingers clutching at the lapel of Soifon's Captain's Haori — desperate for an answer.
Soifon did not answer.
She rose to her feet, gathered Unohana Retsu up into her arms, and turned toward the hot spring pool wreathed in its pale white mist.
Soifon's powerful Spirit Body could withstand the Bone Hell's side effects. She stepped into the pool with Unohana in her arms. The blood-soaked robes trailed into the water, gradually staining the Bone Hell spring with a faint, spreading blush of red.
She descended slowly until the shoulders of both of them were submerged in the milky white liquid, then settled back against the smooth wall of the pool.
One arm around Unohana's waist, she pressed her other hand against the savage wound, and a soft green glow of Kaidō lit from her palm — merging with the Bone Hell spring's own healing properties, slowly, steadily knitting the sword wound closed.
The water was warm. Unohana Retsu rested against Soifon's shoulder, and gradually, her consciousness grew clear.
Her long black hair drifted on the surface of the water, veiling her soaked figure beneath the gentle current.
Drip.
Unohana's hand closed around the arm Soifon was using to tend to her wound — and then, fingers wrapped around Soifon's hand, guided it beneath the water.
"Soifon."
"Kaidō class should have taught you that when treating a patient's wound, you're supposed to remove the clothing first — to prevent contamination..."
She turned her head. Their cheeks pressed together, warm skin against warm skin.
Soifon let Unohana guide her hand through the warm current — past the Captain's Haori, coming to rest against the shredded remains of Unohana's Shihakushō at the site of the wound.
"Captain Unohana, I never took Kaidō class. You must be losing too much blood — you're getting confused."
The words notwithstanding, Soifon's hands did not stop moving. With careful, painstaking gentleness she began to peel away the fragments of Shihakushō that had adhered to the wound.
Even submerged in the hot spring, the blood still served as an adhesive, binding torn flesh and fabric tightly together. Each careful pull brought another fraction of pain with it.
Feeling the trembling of the person in her arms, Soifon's hands paused, suddenly uncertain.
Unohana Retsu said softly, "Continue, Soifon."
When the last blood-soaked fragment of cloth was finally and gently lifted away, the savage wound was fully exposed to the warm water at last. Fresh blood, freed of obstruction, unfurled in delicate ribbons of red through the white spring.
A pleasurable ache drew a soft, breathless sigh from Unohana Retsu's throat.
She turned her body suddenly, sending ripples spreading outward through the water, and shifted to face Soifon directly.
Unohana Retsu reached up and gently took hold of Soifon's fingers. She drew that hand slowly upward, guiding Soifon's fingertips to the old, jagged scar below her own collarbone.
It was a mark from many years ago — slightly deeper in color than the surrounding skin, with a faint, perceptible ridge that could be felt beneath the fingertips.
Looking at the wound Soifon had just carved into her, Unohana said:
"My body is already full of your Kendo."
"Perhaps... I no longer need to keep this one, Soifon."
Before the words had fully left her lips, she seized Soifon's hand and pressed hard — driving the fingertip deep into the border of the old scar.
The sound of tearing flesh was faint. Blood welled up at once, mingling with what still seeped from the wound at her chest.
Soifon had not even drawn breath to speak before Unohana Retsu's face was already there — warm lips carrying the faint taste of iron closing over her own unspoken words, swallowing them whole.
Unohana Retsu's arms wrapped around Soifon and pulled her close — held tight, chest pressed to chest, blood-warm fabric bleeding scarlet into the pale water surrounding them.
Between them, the beat of two powerful hearts — close enough to feel.
After a long, long moment, they parted.
Soifon's breath came just slightly unsteady. Her gaze dropped to Unohana Retsu's collarbone.
The savage old scar that had been there was gone. In its place, smooth, pale skin — flushed with a soft luminance from the spring water washing over it.
And Unohana Retsu was watching her. The hunger for blood that had burned so fiercely in those eyes had faded, and what remained was the gentle, quiet warmth she always wore.
____
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