Despite admitting that Ichigo’s reading of Byakuya’s Shunpo was impressive, Rukia mentally asserted that Byakuya’s power extended far beyond his skill with Shunpo, which was child’s play to him. A cold dread settled in her stomach. She needed to stop the fight immediately, before Byakuya, whose expression remained utterly emotionless, started taking it seriously and killed Ichigo.

Ichigo leaped back from his last clash with Byakuya, landing hard on the weathered stone of the bridge. Byakuya acknowledged, his voice quiet, that Ichigo had improved more than he expected before concluding, his gaze hardening with finality, that he was left with no choice.

Holding his Zanpakutō up in front of his face, the faint scent of cherry blossoms beginning to permeate the air, Byakuya decided to show Ichigo the power gap that he could never bridge in a thousand years before his newfound skill went to his head. A choked, desperate cry escaped Rukia’s lips as she begged Ichigo to run, but it was too late. Byakuya began to release his Shikai once again.

Swish! Suddenly, a heavy, dark-purple flash of movement eclipsed the sun. Yoruichi appeared in a blur, a long strip of white cloth pulled taut as it wrapped around and bound the blade of Byakuya’s Zanpakutō just before its release. She appeared on the bridge directly in front of him, her stance coiled and ready. Those present... Ichigo, Rukia, Ukitake, and Hanatarō... were utterly frozen in shock by her instantaneous arrival. Byakuya’s serene mask cracked slightly; he recognized her. Yoruichi stood up, straightening from her low stance, and observed with a dry, almost mocking tone that it had been a long time since the two of them last met.

Upon hearing Byakuya hiss out Yoruichi’s name, a confused 4th Division 7th Seat Hanatarō Yamada, his voice trembling, wondered who she was due to having never heard this name before, though Rukia Kuchiki’s eyes widened in dawning horror; she realized that she had heard of Yoruichi. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Byakuya identified Yoruichi as the former Commander-In-Chief and Corps Commander of the Onmitsukido... the stealth force... before admitting, a dangerous edge in his voice, that he thought she was dead after spending a hundred years in hiding.

Thanking Yoruichi for coming to save him, Ichigo, still running on adrenaline and recklessness, asked her to step aside so he could defeat Byakuya. Yoruichi scoffed at the sheer arrogance of him doing so. Her figure vanished, a flicker of lightning-fast Shunpo, and reappeared in front of Ichigo as she jabbed her bare hand directly into his stomach wound.

The punch was precise, a blinding flash of targeted force. Ichigo’s eyes went wide, and a silent thump echoed in his ears as a stunned Ichigo wondered, What is she doing? He lost consciousness instantly, the world turning to a dizzying, black void. Yoruichi, utterly unbothered, caught his slumping weight on her shoulder after pulling her hand out alongside a rush of warm, spiritual blood.

As he observed the sheer brutality, Ukitake noted that Yoruichi had shoved a powerful anesthetic like Gaten or Hōten directly into Ichigo’s organs in order to knock him out, and his brow furrowed with deep concern as he questioned what she intended to do with the unconscious boy.

However, Byakuya interrupted, his voice dropping to a dangerously low register. He asserted that her intentions did not matter because she could not escape from here. Yoruichi, the cat-like grin wide beneath her dark hair, made fun of his attitude and reminded him with a playful wink that he had never beaten her at a game of tag, prompting Byakuya, a muscle twitching in his jaw, to invite her to try once more.

Before his words even finished, Yoruichi moved. She appeared in a black flash behind him, the unconscious Ichigo now a mere accessory over her shoulder. Byakuya, already anticipating her move, destroyed the thick cloth binding his Zanpakuto with a single, sharp burst of Reiatsu and slashed instantly at her space, only for Yoruichi, moving faster than the eye could follow, to dodge and reappear several feet away on the bridge, the whoosh of her passage whipping dust across the stone.

Upon seeing Byakuya appear instantly behind her yet again... his speed relentless... Yoruichi moved another several feet away from him. The two of them performed synchronous Shunpo leaps toward each other, the air between them sizzling with compressed spiritual particles, resulting in Yoruichi bypassing a surprised Byakuya as a mere afterimage.

However, as she smirked and landed lightly on the far end of the bridge, Yoruichi was astonished to find herself crouching next to Byakuya, who had somehow preceded her. His voice, for the first time, held a sneer of triumph. He mocked her for thinking she could escape with such a slow Shunpo while slashing his blade across her chest.

A dull thwack sounded. Suddenly, Yoruichi’s falling body transforms into a cut piece of fluttering, discarded fabric... a Utsusemi decoy. The real Yoruichi landed silently, a shadow falling upon a stunned Byakuya’s outstretched arm, and her low, purring laugh mocked him for believing that he could stop her with such a slow Shunpo.

In the next breath, she was gone. After moving to the roof of a nearby building in a single, impossible leap, Yoruichi promised, her voice ringing with clear, confident authority, to make Ichigo stronger than Byakuya in three days and declared that she would not be caught by the likes of Byakuya if he chooses to pursue her. She vanished with a final crack of Shunpo and began rapidly leaping across the Seireitei with Ichigo in tow.

With Ukitake noting, a weary relief settling over him, that they had gotten away, Byakuya, his eyes dark with thwarted anger, began walking away from the bridge, leading Ukitake to inquire where he was going.

...