Author's notes:

This is a multi-chapter fic, but updates will be erratic and probably infrequent. The main characters will be Yoruichi and Soifon, although it remains to be seen what kind of relationship will develop between them.

Disclaimer:

If Bleach was mine, Tatsuki would have powers too. (She's had the most contact with Ichigo. Wouldn't that make sense?)

Broken Pendulum

by siyentista

Chapter 1: Is that you, Kyouka Suigetsu?

As Soifon slowly regained consciousness, she realized in alarm that she couldn't feel her left arm. There was nothing wrong with the fact that she couldn't feel her arm, per se. After all, she had fought Barragan and ordered her lieutenant to chop it off, lest the rest of her wither and die. It had been an alarming realization then that she had to trade the limb for her life, but it wasn't alarming to think about it now. No, there was nothing wrong with the fact that she couldn't feel her arm. What was wrong was the fact that she could wiggle it despite not feeling it.

Soifon didn't know what was going on. In addition to apparently having a left arm, she couldn't feel the excruciating pain from the large gash Aizen had given her in her last battle, if it could be called that. And actually, that was the very last thing she remembered.

Logically, Soifon knew that it wasn't impossible for her to be in her current condition: the Inoue girl could have rejected her injuries, Unohana and her Division could have healed her wounds, and the former Kido Corps officers could possibly even have a hand in this. But if she had just finished being treated, wouldn't it make more sense for her to be lying down, recuperating, instead of sitting in a chair?

It was a very small detail, but the fact that she was sitting made Soifon think of so many other nasty explanations for why she was in her current state, some of which included a sadistic Aizen trying to use her for some despicable plan, or Mayuri hiding her away in secret for some kind of experiment. Soifon wasn't sure which option would be more terrifying.

It might have been a case of Onmitsukidou-induced paranoia, but she thought it prudent to gather information before she started moving about, alerting people to her wakefulness. She listened carefully for any indications of where she was and who had taken her there, but her ears met with absolute silence. At the very least, she seemed to be alone at the moment. Discreetly, she tried moving the three limbs that she knew were intact before she passed out, and concluded that they were still there and were unrestrained. Finally, she cautiously peeked through half-lidded eyes, only to widen them in disbelief when she discovered her completely safe and completely unexpected whereabouts.

Soifon raised her head from the desk, freeing her pinned arm, and cringing when the blood urgently rushed to her left arm, causing a tingling, relieving, but also slightly weird sensation—weird, especially if compared to the feeling of not having the said arm. When the sensation dulled, she closed her eyes and cradled her face with both hands, trying to make sense of everything.

She had an arm. She was healed. She was sitting at a desk—not hers— in her office in the Second Division.

Nope, couldn't make sense of it at all.

Before she even had a chance to reconsider the facts and conjure a far-fetched explanation which she was sure was going to turn out to be true—because that's how it is in Soul Society—the shoji door slid open.

"Yo, Soifon."

"Y-Yoruichi-sama!" Soifon yelped, completely taken aback by the woman's arrival.

"Hm? Don't look so surprised that I'm here. It makes me look like I hate paperwork," the caramel-skinned woman said flatly.

"But… but-"

"Yeah, yeah, I do hate paperwork. But if it has to be done, it has to be done… at some point. That's all there is to it," Yoruichi condeded. "Besides, I was getting sick of sitting around on the commander's throne and I figured some of those papers actually need my signature."

"Huh?" Soifon answered dumbly.

"You know, you're looking a little pale." Yoruichi noted, not knowing that the blood had left Soifon's face due to shock. "You're spending too much time doing the division paperwork indoors. Why don't you go outside and have fun while I finish up in here."

"But I-"

"Come on, no buts, out you go," Yoruichi ordered, pulling the smaller woman up and quickly pushing her out the door before shutting it.

But I was going to ask what the heck is going on!

Soifon was in a state of such absolute confusion that she started walking aimlessly around the Seireitei with her face scrunched up. She was more distressed now than when she had first realized she had her left arm back—totally understandable considering that she had woken up in her office right after facing Aizen. But more than that, Yoruichi had entered her office knowing that recovering Chinese woman was there, and wearing the Second Division haori!

Her initial interpretation of the situation was that she must have been out of commission for a while. Perhaps Yoruichi was donning the Second Division's haori because she had taken back the reigns in her absence. And she supposed Yoruichi might have cropped her hair same as before in nostalgia. That made sense. But if she was in a long coma of some sort, why didn't she wake up in the Fourth Division? Why in the Spirit King's name would she wake up sitting in her office, at a desk that had no business being there, no less?

Yoruichi had acted like it was she who had been shirking her duties, and Soifon who had been picking up the slack—matters she had not recollection of. Then it maybe it was short term amnesia? That happened once before when she was training with Jakuho Raikoben and she hit her head so hard from the recoil. And although she thought she would find it hard to give up her hard-earned titles, she could also imagine herself giving them back to Yoruichi out of some sense of obligation.

Soifon suddenly started jumping, hopping on each foot and wiggling her torso while waving her arms. She looked ridiculous, but all she could care about was the conclusion she had drawn from the impromptu dance: she was definitely completely healed like she suspected, and her body was definitely in too good a condition to have been in a prolonged inactivity.

Amnesia it is.

With a more thorough investigation of her body, Soifon realized in dismay that her already small breasts were even smaller, her braids were gone and the rest of her hair was slightly longer. How hadn't she noticed that before?!

"Is something the matter, Soifon-san?"

Soifon quickly retracted her hands, one from cupping her left breast and the other from clutching the hair at the back of her head. She burned red from the thought of what she probably looked like she was doing just now.

"Mind your own business!" she snapped at Urahara Kisuke. Really, of all the people who could have seen her that way!

"My, my, something seems to be bothering you today," Kisuke said calmly, still wearing the amused and confused expression he wore when he first spotted the overly proper Soifon hopping around childishly, and then… doing that.

Only then did Soifon realize that the man was also wearing his old Twelfth Division haori, his detestable bucket hat nowhere in sight. Had he taken back his position too? What happened to Kurotsuchi?

Just then, the snarky man emerged from an alleyway, wearing a lab coat and missing some of the more disturbing implements he had built into his head. "There you are, you unpleasant man," he said, whisking away the blonde-haired man while whispering in his ear about some dastardly experiment they had going, no doubt. Kisuke apologetically waved goodbye to Soifon before allowing himself to be dragged off by the insistent clown-faced man. Soifon just looked on in confusion.

No, seriously, what is going on?!

She had never known Kurotsuchi to like Urahara—and she could fully understand why for she was of like mind in the matter—so why would he hand back the captaincy and interact with him almost tolerantly?

Soifon almost had a heart attack when she saw a bespectacled Aizen walking smilingly behind a long-haired Shinji. But when the frantic pace of her heart beat slowed down, she narrowed her eyes as she muttered her realization, "Kyouka Suigetsu. To think that that zanpakutou could be so powerful as to recreate the entire Seireitei of the past. Well, Aizen, you made the mistake of showing me your face. You've just helped me figure out that this is all an illusion."