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ship_manifestoTitle: The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
annwyd
Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Shihouin Yoruichi/Soi Fong [KITTONBEE] (because I've never used a stupid pet name for any other pairing, I might as well give in for this one)
Spoilers: As pertains to the two characters in question throughout volume 18.
Email: annwyd [at] gmail [dot] com
The Basics
Bleach is a shounen series by Kubotite. It's one of the most complex series out there, so I'm not going to try to sum up the plot and characters. Besides, if you're reading this, you probably know it. But just in case: there are two worlds, Earth and Soul Society, and grim reaper-like individuals called shinigami mediate the flow of souls between the two.
The Characters
Shihouin Yoruichi
First appears on the scene as a talking black cat with a very masculine voice (in the anime; but it's implied in the manga as well) and archaic speech patterns. She is introduced as the oldest friend of the mysterious Urahara Kisuke, and their relationship is never clarified beyond that. Then she takes on the task of teaching Chad and Orihime how to use their spiritual powers. While she seems at first the essence of the wise old sensei stuffed into a cat's body, even here there are hints of what she's really like, if you look for them. She's a little more playful than she has to be, privately delighting in baffling ordinary humanity.
It's not until much later that she transforms into her human form in front of Ichigo, shocking him. But here is when her cat-like nature shines through the most. She teases him relentlessly about his reaction to her nakedness. More importantly, she walks a fine line between playful and deadly serious at any moment.
We shortly learn that Yoruichi, besides being a member of the noble Shihouin house, was once a shinigami of great power, in charge of the Covert Ops and Executive Division (it is theorized that she was also the Captain of the 2nd Division, since Soi Fong, her successor, now holds that title, but this is never stated outright as far as I know). She's still pretty impressive, especially in her specialty of shunpo, which is teleportation or "flash." But then she fled Soul Society with the exile Urahara. This is the first time in over a hundred years that she's returned.
Soi Fong
Soi Fong is the Captain of the 2nd Division in the 13 Divisions, an organization roughly equivalent to a shinigami military. Before her scenes with Yoruichi, that is all we know about her--that, and her very cold, militant manner.
Both part of her own name and that of her zanpakutou can be translated as "hornet."
We first start to see more of her--as an actual character rather than as yet another nearly faceless shinigami--in volume 18, shortly after Rukia's execution is stopped. Of note is that she is the first to recognize a weapon imbued with the Shihouin family seal. Her expression on seeing the seal is easily attributed to concern over the its effects, but on rereading, one can't help but wonder at the intensity of emotion she expresses there...
The Canon
Pairings in Bleach are almost always a subtle thing. Save for a few married couples, despite all the risqué jokes, romance rarely comes up. It's simply not integral to the theme of the series. There are some pairings of major characters that Kubotite seems to favor, but he's not going into detail on the matter.
However, there are some places where the reader can glimpse a strong suggestion of more than platonic feelings between characters. I believe that Yoruichi and Soi Fong provide an example of this.
Before we begin, a note: I am normally very hesitant to call same-sex pairings canon. It's not because there's anything wrong with these relationships, but rather because as a general rule, most mainstream series (particularly shounen ones) are written with heterosexual romances in mind. Kubotite, however, seems to have a Thing For Lesbians, as evidenced by Chizuru from earlier in the series. When a minor character is introduced by having her grope a major character's breasts, I find it easier to believe that the author intends his audience to perceive a later female-female relationship as more than platonic in nature.
The Pairing
Yoruichi and Soi Fong's first meeting in the manga takes place in about as dramatic a circumstance as you could ask for. In chapter 153, Soi Fong shows her first significant indication of personality: here she prepares to kill a lower-ranking officer for not following the rules. It doesn't take a very critical reader to see the importance she places on the aforementioned rules.
At the last moment, however, someone moving too fast to be identified stops Soi Fong, knocking her off a cliff. As they fall, the mysterious figure chides her in familiar tones--and Soi Fong finally recognizes her with more than a little shock.
"Long time no see, Soi Fong," Yoruichi says, and so it is established that they have past history.
They proceed to fight, and it is the hottest thing ever. Before long, they're comparing strengths.
"You don't seem to have gotten any stronger," Soi Fong says.
"On the other hand, I think you've actually gotten weaker," Yoruichi retorts.
They know each other, and they're used to fighting together. Shortly thereafter, Yoruichi lets slip just how they knew each other when she makes reference to herself being Soi Fong's "senpai"--a term of address for one's superior at work or in school. They taunt each other, Soi Fong boasting of her new power and influence, Yoruichi goading her, reminding her not to get too comfortable in her assumed power.
Soi Fong sics her underlings upon Yoruichi, who once controlled them, reminding her that she gave up all her titles when she fled Soul Society. Yoruichi defeats them all easily and chides Soi Fong, "But there is one title that I did not give away. Do you remember?"
Soi Fong does. "Shunshin Yoruichi!" Yoruichi, god of the shunpo or "flash" technique. She can teleport swiftly over distances better than anyone else.
"Very well then," Soi Fong says, "there is no other way. With my own hands, I will take that title away from you!"
And, as is the custom with such fanservice-filled fights, she shucks her outer robes and begins the battle in earnest.
Observing the familiar battle outfit of the commander of the executive militia, Yoruichi waxes a bit nostalgic on the past--and Soi Fong, seeing this, returns to the topic of their relative strength, challenging her to "reevaluate who is the stronger fighter."
They fight, their movements blending into a blur. It is suspiciously like sex in its wild, confusing tangle. Or maybe that's just my brain. In any case, the first skirmish ends with each of them taking one blow--and looking all the more excited for it. For all that they're (apparently) trying to kill each other, their expressions are awfully fond.
Not content with this, Soi Fong zooms around behind Yoruichi and activates the shikai form of her zanpakutou. "Sting my opponent to death, Suzumebachi." As you can see, this results in quite possibly the single hottest page in the entire series. So far.
Yet Yoruichi manages to escape even that. A certain desperation enters Soi Fong's dialogue. "Why don't you just admit it...I am stronger than you." She even starts guessing at what's going on in Yoruichi's mind. "Does it not occur to you...that maybe I am holding back? 'There is no way that she would do that!' Is that what you're thinking? ... Didn't I tell you already? Don't be so full of yourself. I have long become stronger than you. Now with your death, I will make you pay...the price of staying away from battle for a hundred years, Yoruichi!"
Yoruichi watches this with a quizzical, faintly surprised expression. More and more, it comes across as an attempt to impress her rather than an attempt on her life.
Then Soi Fong reveals the kicker. Suzumebachi's special ability is to leave butterfly-shaped marks where it strikes its target--and if Soi Fong strikes that butterfly mark again, it means instant death. In the century of Yoruichi's absence, she has finally mastered this ability. Before, the marks would vanish after a time; now, they are permanent.
A butterfly blooms on Yoruichi's chest.
Another round of fighting begins. Soi Fong appears more and more eager, more and more desperate. She strikes Yoruichi again and again, but never twice in the same place. Blood falls. More butterfly marks appear.
"If you understand now that I am the stronger one," Soi Fong finally declares, "I'll do the honors of ending this." She begins preparing some kind of powerful move--and for the first time, Yoruichi looks truly surprised. Soi Fong revels in this reaction, declaring that this move is something she recently invented. In fact, it's so recent it doesn't have a name--
"No," Yoruichi says. "It has a name." Its name, in fact, is "Shunkou." Turns out Soi Fong did not, in fact, invent the technique. While Soi Fong gapes in horrified astonishment, Yoruichi calmly explains that there is, in fact, a reason that the commander of the executive militia wears such a skimpy oufit. Shunkou rips away large amounts of fabric from certain parts of the body when it gathers power.
Yes, Kubotite actually gives an explanation for a skimpy outfit--and for the fact that two seconds later, half of Yoruichi's top blows away as well when she performs the same technique.
Soi Fong is devastated. Yet oddly enough, Yoruichi herself is almost subdued. She is certainly more serious and less playful than usual. "I wasn't planning to use this against you," she admits. She even warns her enemy: "Be careful, Soi Fong...since I also can't control it perfectly yet."
And chapter 158 ends there. So far, so good. It's a fantastic (and fantastically hot, for those of you who are as shallow as I am) fight and full of intense emotion. Still, up to here you can read it without romantic undertones just fine (although the temptation is already there). Yoruichi has shown little more than the taunting remnants of affection; Soi Fong has been a raging ball of competitive fury.
In chapter 159, that takes a distinct turn for the romantic--if you stretch the word to include "desperate, tormented love" as well as the fluffier kind.
First, we see Yoruichi showing a lot more feeling for Soi Fong. Looking more serious than ever, she explains the reason she never taught Soi Fong the Shunkou technique before: it was simply too dangerous.
Then, without any apparent effort, she grabs Soi Fong andravishes her on the spot informs her that she can't use that technique yet. Then she simply nullifies it. The expression on her face is new. It's one of astonishing tenderness.
Unsurprisingly, Soi Fong is absolutely shocked. After her century of desperate training, while Yoruichi did gods-know-what in the mortal world, she is still nowhere near equal with her former superior. In fact, Yoruichi has been holding back throughout the fight. Her apparent struggle to survive Soi Fong's attacks was in fact a struggle to survive without hurting Soi Fong.
Needless to see, this makes Soi Fong an extremely frustrated little bee. She launches into a hysterical tirade, starting with a furious, "I am stronger than you!" and ending with the exceedingly telling, "How can you still dominate me like that!"
Yeah. 'Because you like it that way' is just too easy.
She screams out, "Yoruichi!" Then the force of her emotions knocks her headlong into a flashback sequence.
We swiftly learn two things.
One: her name was once Shaolin, not Soi Fong.
Two: Even then, her destiny was set. Her family had always served the Shihouin noble house. Young Shaolin was expected to become its princess's right-hand woman and put her life on the line for her.
There is nothing subtle about Shaolin's first impression: "Our first meeting...it was like looking at a goddess."
It is revealed that Soi Fong had five older siblings--and they all died in battle. "I felt sad somewhat...but more than that, I felt ashamed of their incompetence." Harsh. From the beginning, then, Soi Fong has been taught that strength and capability are everything.
And Yoruichi? Well, she had those in spades. "So noble, so beautiful, and so terrifyingly strong. She was everything I ever wanted to be," Soi Fong recollects. "I very strongly admired her. No, that feeling was beyond admiration...I worshipped her."
Well, then. Here you could argue, if you were so inclined, that there was nothing romantic about the two of them--only a bad case of hero worship. (But then, you could argue that Rukia hero-worshipped Kaien, but that doesn't take away from her crush on him.) Except that we are now treated to a scene of their first face-to-face meeting.
Not surprisingly, the duty-bound, worshipful Soi Fong addresses Yoruichi as respectfully as possible. Yoruichi, on the other hand, is as light and playful as ever. She even tells Soi Fong to address her more casually--as Yoruichi-san, for example.
This flusters Soi Fong to no end, as can be seen in one of the most breathtakingly adorable pages in the entire series. Her? Address Yoruichi as an equal? She blushes furiously and manages to reach an acceptable compromise with herself: she'll settle for Yoruichi-sama.
Quite a difference between this blushing, stammering young woman and the coiled knot of bitterness and rage that is Soi Fong in present continuity.
The next couple pages are a condensed chronicle ofadorableness Soi Fong's time as her idol's right-hand woman. "I wasn't the slightest bit timid or lost," she remembers. "I was happy. Even in the heat of battle...all I felt was happiness. 'I will die for her.' That is what I swore to myself in my mind, again and again."
In abrupt contrast, we are then presented with a page of spare composition. Yoruichi of the flashback has left without note or warning, and Soi Fong is alone, able only to wonder, bewildered, what went wrong.
That's explanation enough for her behavior now, but Soi Fong is the direct type, so she spells it out a little more. "After I loved and worshipped her like a god, I was betrayed." We then flip back to the present time, and the young Soi Fong, wide-eyed with love and delight, is replaced by the raging woman who attacked her former superior so swiftly. "I was extremely disappointed in you! I hated you! I cursed you! I swore to arrest you one day with my own hands! Then to surpass you, I struggled...gained strength...I will never forgive you, Yoruichi! For betraying my respect and trust, I will never forgive you!"
Yoruichi can only stare in regret-tinged shock. It's pretty clear that she did not mean to extract this kind of reaction from Soi Fong.
As the fight nears its climax, Soi Fong's emotional state rises to a fever pitch. "Why?" she asks again and again as she fights a clearly losing battle.
Finally, it is too much for her. She stops, and with tears in her eyes, she asks:
"Why didn't you take me with you?"
At long last, she admits defeat--and in this, she admits that she never got over her long-suppressed love. "Yoruichi-sama!" she cries out, finally reverting to her old address, as she falls to her knees. Yoruichi can only look on with surprise, regret, and not a little fondness.
Oh, and one more thing of note. By the end of the battle, Yoruichi is covered in butterfly marks. When she and Soi Fong show up again in the manga, they fight side by side--and the butterflies are gone.
Kubotite leaves it up to the reader to fill in just what happened between the two of them after the fight ended.
The Conclusions
There can be no denying that Soi Fong loved--and still loves--Yoruichi desperately. If you really want to, you can deny any sexual component to it (although denying any and all romantic elements would be a little more difficult). But nobody argues that Yoruichi is not a large part of her character.
The reverse is a little more subtle. In fact, there seems to be a perception in much of Bleach fandom that the pairing consists of a purely one-sided love. But a closer look reveals that this is just not true.
The kittenish sweetness with which the Yoruichi of the past treats Soi Fong translates into a much deeper fondness in present-day scenes. Why is that? We have to remember that the entire flashback was from Soi Fong's viewpoint. Soi Fong was raised to consider herself beneath the princess of the Shihouin house. The idea that her feelings could be reciprocated simply wouldn't fit with her worldview.
Seen this way, the pairing makes more sense. Yoruichi has always had feelings on some level for Soi Fong--hers were simply never as driven and intense, and so Soi Fong's limited view of life and love prevented her from seeing them. To make matters worse, Yoruichi's actions throughout the fight indicate that she was rather protective of Soi Fong. It's not unfeasible to theorize that Soi Fong took this protectiveness to mean that Yoruichi considered herself above the other woman. Soi Fong would not have resented Yoruichi for this: after all, as far as she was concerned, it's true. Yoruichi is better than her, and always was. Why should Yoruichi be protective of her? After all, Soi Fong existed to serve her. Therefore, if Yoruichi vanishes one day, making herself into a criminal by helping an exile, in Soi Fong's mind, that can only be because she was never strong enough to be what Yoruichi needed. Yoruichi, who probably never stopped and thought about the depth of her subordinate's feelings for her, most likely saw it as keeping Soi Fong from getting hurt and throwing away her reputation.
Soi Fong saw Yoruichi as a goddess to be loved and worshipped. Yoruichi saw Soi Fong as a junior partner to be worked with and protected. Only a hundred years later, when they meet on the battlefield, do they both realize just how much more complex their relationship is.
The Hints
So with all this evidence in canon, do we really need any more hints? Yes we do, says Kubotite, and he gives us them. I'm thinking in particular of three humorous instances.
One is the Akamaru Jump omake. Here, the Shinigami Ladies' Association holds a contest for a new cellphone design. Soi Fong's design...well, see for yourself.
...yeah. She even goes so far as to say that she designed it with both her motif and Yoruichi's to make it easier for them to communicate.
And then there's the translation of a scene in the second drama CD where Soi Fong falls over herself at the chance to take Yoruichi out for dinner.
The last cute hint comes in the form of this section of the chapter 193 pinup:
I don't think I need to say more here.
The Fandom
I first started reading Bleach in early April, and while it didn't take long for me to get sucked into the series, it was a while before I stepped back and got a really good look at the characters and pairings. Having long since come to the conclusion that Soi Fong had the hots for Yoruichi, I still had to reread their scenes to truly get the depth of their relationship. All the same, I must make a confession: it was at first the characters' unmitigated hotness that drew me to the pairing.
That was in late July. Since then, I've been scouring Bleach fandom for both fanart and fanfiction for the pairing. Unfortunately, there's very little out there. It's one of the most popular yuri pairings in the fandom, probably only outranked by the various permutations of Chizuru/Tatsuki/Orihime. But few fanworks for it actually exist.
The Japanese fandom does have some small support for the pairing:
Ribbon Rabbit has a lot of oddly stylized art of varying quality. Some of the Bleach art there (which can all be found on this page) includes YoruSoi. They're the only circle I've seen put out doujinshi for the pairing. As far as I can see, though, at the moment there is very little YoruSoi art there. The best of that small selection can be found here. As a warning: some of the images there are rather high-rated, although there's no actual uncensored nudity.
Kuzuya has some very beautiful Soi Fong artwork, but none of Yoruichi.
This site has a few very cute (though not fantastic) YoruSoi pictures.
So does this site.
On the English-speaking side of the fandom,finnimon has done some very nice YoruSoi fanart, which can be found under memories at ifeelbleachy.
Fanfiction for this pairing is even harder to find. Here's what little I could dig up:
"Smudges of Ink" by karisome. Short but beautiful.
"Bound and Tied" (my own fanfic).
If anyone has any more recommendations, please, please share!
The Other Bits
Music recommendations bychirachira. I totally give my kittonbee-obsessed blessing to all these choices. Obviously, the status of the links in this post is entirely up to chirachira. Don't bitch (at me or her) if they go down for whatever reason.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bleach_yuri, for Bleach-themed yuri in general.
yorusoi, for this pairing in particular.
Thanks are in order:
tochirachira, for the aforementioned music pimping and general Bleach tips and knowledge;
to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
sunsitenthai, for being A Sexy Kitton and letting me fangirl about these two at her;
toanjimito, for permanently removing my ability to spell "kitten" correctly;
and to everyone else who's listened to babble on this topic.
Any further questions and comments are always appreciated!
Author:
annwydFandom: Bleach
Pairing: Shihouin Yoruichi/Soi Fong [KITTONBEE] (because I've never used a stupid pet name for any other pairing, I might as well give in for this one)
Spoilers: As pertains to the two characters in question throughout volume 18.
Email: annwyd [at] gmail [dot] com
The Basics
Bleach is a shounen series by Kubotite. It's one of the most complex series out there, so I'm not going to try to sum up the plot and characters. Besides, if you're reading this, you probably know it. But just in case: there are two worlds, Earth and Soul Society, and grim reaper-like individuals called shinigami mediate the flow of souls between the two.
The Characters
Shihouin Yoruichi
First appears on the scene as a talking black cat with a very masculine voice (in the anime; but it's implied in the manga as well) and archaic speech patterns. She is introduced as the oldest friend of the mysterious Urahara Kisuke, and their relationship is never clarified beyond that. Then she takes on the task of teaching Chad and Orihime how to use their spiritual powers. While she seems at first the essence of the wise old sensei stuffed into a cat's body, even here there are hints of what she's really like, if you look for them. She's a little more playful than she has to be, privately delighting in baffling ordinary humanity.
It's not until much later that she transforms into her human form in front of Ichigo, shocking him. But here is when her cat-like nature shines through the most. She teases him relentlessly about his reaction to her nakedness. More importantly, she walks a fine line between playful and deadly serious at any moment.
We shortly learn that Yoruichi, besides being a member of the noble Shihouin house, was once a shinigami of great power, in charge of the Covert Ops and Executive Division (it is theorized that she was also the Captain of the 2nd Division, since Soi Fong, her successor, now holds that title, but this is never stated outright as far as I know). She's still pretty impressive, especially in her specialty of shunpo, which is teleportation or "flash." But then she fled Soul Society with the exile Urahara. This is the first time in over a hundred years that she's returned.
Soi Fong
Soi Fong is the Captain of the 2nd Division in the 13 Divisions, an organization roughly equivalent to a shinigami military. Before her scenes with Yoruichi, that is all we know about her--that, and her very cold, militant manner.
Both part of her own name and that of her zanpakutou can be translated as "hornet."
We first start to see more of her--as an actual character rather than as yet another nearly faceless shinigami--in volume 18, shortly after Rukia's execution is stopped. Of note is that she is the first to recognize a weapon imbued with the Shihouin family seal. Her expression on seeing the seal is easily attributed to concern over the its effects, but on rereading, one can't help but wonder at the intensity of emotion she expresses there...
The Canon
Pairings in Bleach are almost always a subtle thing. Save for a few married couples, despite all the risqué jokes, romance rarely comes up. It's simply not integral to the theme of the series. There are some pairings of major characters that Kubotite seems to favor, but he's not going into detail on the matter.
However, there are some places where the reader can glimpse a strong suggestion of more than platonic feelings between characters. I believe that Yoruichi and Soi Fong provide an example of this.
Before we begin, a note: I am normally very hesitant to call same-sex pairings canon. It's not because there's anything wrong with these relationships, but rather because as a general rule, most mainstream series (particularly shounen ones) are written with heterosexual romances in mind. Kubotite, however, seems to have a Thing For Lesbians, as evidenced by Chizuru from earlier in the series. When a minor character is introduced by having her grope a major character's breasts, I find it easier to believe that the author intends his audience to perceive a later female-female relationship as more than platonic in nature.
The Pairing
Yoruichi and Soi Fong's first meeting in the manga takes place in about as dramatic a circumstance as you could ask for. In chapter 153, Soi Fong shows her first significant indication of personality: here she prepares to kill a lower-ranking officer for not following the rules. It doesn't take a very critical reader to see the importance she places on the aforementioned rules.
At the last moment, however, someone moving too fast to be identified stops Soi Fong, knocking her off a cliff. As they fall, the mysterious figure chides her in familiar tones--and Soi Fong finally recognizes her with more than a little shock.
"Long time no see, Soi Fong," Yoruichi says, and so it is established that they have past history.
They proceed to fight, and it is the hottest thing ever. Before long, they're comparing strengths.
"You don't seem to have gotten any stronger," Soi Fong says.
"On the other hand, I think you've actually gotten weaker," Yoruichi retorts.
They know each other, and they're used to fighting together. Shortly thereafter, Yoruichi lets slip just how they knew each other when she makes reference to herself being Soi Fong's "senpai"--a term of address for one's superior at work or in school. They taunt each other, Soi Fong boasting of her new power and influence, Yoruichi goading her, reminding her not to get too comfortable in her assumed power.
Soi Fong sics her underlings upon Yoruichi, who once controlled them, reminding her that she gave up all her titles when she fled Soul Society. Yoruichi defeats them all easily and chides Soi Fong, "But there is one title that I did not give away. Do you remember?"
Soi Fong does. "Shunshin Yoruichi!" Yoruichi, god of the shunpo or "flash" technique. She can teleport swiftly over distances better than anyone else.
"Very well then," Soi Fong says, "there is no other way. With my own hands, I will take that title away from you!"
And, as is the custom with such fanservice-filled fights, she shucks her outer robes and begins the battle in earnest.
Observing the familiar battle outfit of the commander of the executive militia, Yoruichi waxes a bit nostalgic on the past--and Soi Fong, seeing this, returns to the topic of their relative strength, challenging her to "reevaluate who is the stronger fighter."
They fight, their movements blending into a blur. It is suspiciously like sex in its wild, confusing tangle. Or maybe that's just my brain. In any case, the first skirmish ends with each of them taking one blow--and looking all the more excited for it. For all that they're (apparently) trying to kill each other, their expressions are awfully fond.
Not content with this, Soi Fong zooms around behind Yoruichi and activates the shikai form of her zanpakutou. "Sting my opponent to death, Suzumebachi." As you can see, this results in quite possibly the single hottest page in the entire series. So far.
Yet Yoruichi manages to escape even that. A certain desperation enters Soi Fong's dialogue. "Why don't you just admit it...I am stronger than you." She even starts guessing at what's going on in Yoruichi's mind. "Does it not occur to you...that maybe I am holding back? 'There is no way that she would do that!' Is that what you're thinking? ... Didn't I tell you already? Don't be so full of yourself. I have long become stronger than you. Now with your death, I will make you pay...the price of staying away from battle for a hundred years, Yoruichi!"
Yoruichi watches this with a quizzical, faintly surprised expression. More and more, it comes across as an attempt to impress her rather than an attempt on her life.
Then Soi Fong reveals the kicker. Suzumebachi's special ability is to leave butterfly-shaped marks where it strikes its target--and if Soi Fong strikes that butterfly mark again, it means instant death. In the century of Yoruichi's absence, she has finally mastered this ability. Before, the marks would vanish after a time; now, they are permanent.
A butterfly blooms on Yoruichi's chest.
Another round of fighting begins. Soi Fong appears more and more eager, more and more desperate. She strikes Yoruichi again and again, but never twice in the same place. Blood falls. More butterfly marks appear.
"If you understand now that I am the stronger one," Soi Fong finally declares, "I'll do the honors of ending this." She begins preparing some kind of powerful move--and for the first time, Yoruichi looks truly surprised. Soi Fong revels in this reaction, declaring that this move is something she recently invented. In fact, it's so recent it doesn't have a name--
"No," Yoruichi says. "It has a name." Its name, in fact, is "Shunkou." Turns out Soi Fong did not, in fact, invent the technique. While Soi Fong gapes in horrified astonishment, Yoruichi calmly explains that there is, in fact, a reason that the commander of the executive militia wears such a skimpy oufit. Shunkou rips away large amounts of fabric from certain parts of the body when it gathers power.
Yes, Kubotite actually gives an explanation for a skimpy outfit--and for the fact that two seconds later, half of Yoruichi's top blows away as well when she performs the same technique.
Soi Fong is devastated. Yet oddly enough, Yoruichi herself is almost subdued. She is certainly more serious and less playful than usual. "I wasn't planning to use this against you," she admits. She even warns her enemy: "Be careful, Soi Fong...since I also can't control it perfectly yet."
And chapter 158 ends there. So far, so good. It's a fantastic (and fantastically hot, for those of you who are as shallow as I am) fight and full of intense emotion. Still, up to here you can read it without romantic undertones just fine (although the temptation is already there). Yoruichi has shown little more than the taunting remnants of affection; Soi Fong has been a raging ball of competitive fury.
In chapter 159, that takes a distinct turn for the romantic--if you stretch the word to include "desperate, tormented love" as well as the fluffier kind.
First, we see Yoruichi showing a lot more feeling for Soi Fong. Looking more serious than ever, she explains the reason she never taught Soi Fong the Shunkou technique before: it was simply too dangerous.
Then, without any apparent effort, she grabs Soi Fong and
Unsurprisingly, Soi Fong is absolutely shocked. After her century of desperate training, while Yoruichi did gods-know-what in the mortal world, she is still nowhere near equal with her former superior. In fact, Yoruichi has been holding back throughout the fight. Her apparent struggle to survive Soi Fong's attacks was in fact a struggle to survive without hurting Soi Fong.
Needless to see, this makes Soi Fong an extremely frustrated little bee. She launches into a hysterical tirade, starting with a furious, "I am stronger than you!" and ending with the exceedingly telling, "How can you still dominate me like that!"
Yeah. 'Because you like it that way' is just too easy.
She screams out, "Yoruichi!" Then the force of her emotions knocks her headlong into a flashback sequence.
We swiftly learn two things.
One: her name was once Shaolin, not Soi Fong.
Two: Even then, her destiny was set. Her family had always served the Shihouin noble house. Young Shaolin was expected to become its princess's right-hand woman and put her life on the line for her.
There is nothing subtle about Shaolin's first impression: "Our first meeting...it was like looking at a goddess."
It is revealed that Soi Fong had five older siblings--and they all died in battle. "I felt sad somewhat...but more than that, I felt ashamed of their incompetence." Harsh. From the beginning, then, Soi Fong has been taught that strength and capability are everything.
And Yoruichi? Well, she had those in spades. "So noble, so beautiful, and so terrifyingly strong. She was everything I ever wanted to be," Soi Fong recollects. "I very strongly admired her. No, that feeling was beyond admiration...I worshipped her."
Well, then. Here you could argue, if you were so inclined, that there was nothing romantic about the two of them--only a bad case of hero worship. (But then, you could argue that Rukia hero-worshipped Kaien, but that doesn't take away from her crush on him.) Except that we are now treated to a scene of their first face-to-face meeting.
Not surprisingly, the duty-bound, worshipful Soi Fong addresses Yoruichi as respectfully as possible. Yoruichi, on the other hand, is as light and playful as ever. She even tells Soi Fong to address her more casually--as Yoruichi-san, for example.
This flusters Soi Fong to no end, as can be seen in one of the most breathtakingly adorable pages in the entire series. Her? Address Yoruichi as an equal? She blushes furiously and manages to reach an acceptable compromise with herself: she'll settle for Yoruichi-sama.
Quite a difference between this blushing, stammering young woman and the coiled knot of bitterness and rage that is Soi Fong in present continuity.
The next couple pages are a condensed chronicle of
In abrupt contrast, we are then presented with a page of spare composition. Yoruichi of the flashback has left without note or warning, and Soi Fong is alone, able only to wonder, bewildered, what went wrong.
That's explanation enough for her behavior now, but Soi Fong is the direct type, so she spells it out a little more. "After I loved and worshipped her like a god, I was betrayed." We then flip back to the present time, and the young Soi Fong, wide-eyed with love and delight, is replaced by the raging woman who attacked her former superior so swiftly. "I was extremely disappointed in you! I hated you! I cursed you! I swore to arrest you one day with my own hands! Then to surpass you, I struggled...gained strength...I will never forgive you, Yoruichi! For betraying my respect and trust, I will never forgive you!"
Yoruichi can only stare in regret-tinged shock. It's pretty clear that she did not mean to extract this kind of reaction from Soi Fong.
As the fight nears its climax, Soi Fong's emotional state rises to a fever pitch. "Why?" she asks again and again as she fights a clearly losing battle.
Finally, it is too much for her. She stops, and with tears in her eyes, she asks:
"Why didn't you take me with you?"
At long last, she admits defeat--and in this, she admits that she never got over her long-suppressed love. "Yoruichi-sama!" she cries out, finally reverting to her old address, as she falls to her knees. Yoruichi can only look on with surprise, regret, and not a little fondness.
Oh, and one more thing of note. By the end of the battle, Yoruichi is covered in butterfly marks. When she and Soi Fong show up again in the manga, they fight side by side--and the butterflies are gone.
Kubotite leaves it up to the reader to fill in just what happened between the two of them after the fight ended.
The Conclusions
There can be no denying that Soi Fong loved--and still loves--Yoruichi desperately. If you really want to, you can deny any sexual component to it (although denying any and all romantic elements would be a little more difficult). But nobody argues that Yoruichi is not a large part of her character.
The reverse is a little more subtle. In fact, there seems to be a perception in much of Bleach fandom that the pairing consists of a purely one-sided love. But a closer look reveals that this is just not true.
The kittenish sweetness with which the Yoruichi of the past treats Soi Fong translates into a much deeper fondness in present-day scenes. Why is that? We have to remember that the entire flashback was from Soi Fong's viewpoint. Soi Fong was raised to consider herself beneath the princess of the Shihouin house. The idea that her feelings could be reciprocated simply wouldn't fit with her worldview.
Seen this way, the pairing makes more sense. Yoruichi has always had feelings on some level for Soi Fong--hers were simply never as driven and intense, and so Soi Fong's limited view of life and love prevented her from seeing them. To make matters worse, Yoruichi's actions throughout the fight indicate that she was rather protective of Soi Fong. It's not unfeasible to theorize that Soi Fong took this protectiveness to mean that Yoruichi considered herself above the other woman. Soi Fong would not have resented Yoruichi for this: after all, as far as she was concerned, it's true. Yoruichi is better than her, and always was. Why should Yoruichi be protective of her? After all, Soi Fong existed to serve her. Therefore, if Yoruichi vanishes one day, making herself into a criminal by helping an exile, in Soi Fong's mind, that can only be because she was never strong enough to be what Yoruichi needed. Yoruichi, who probably never stopped and thought about the depth of her subordinate's feelings for her, most likely saw it as keeping Soi Fong from getting hurt and throwing away her reputation.
Soi Fong saw Yoruichi as a goddess to be loved and worshipped. Yoruichi saw Soi Fong as a junior partner to be worked with and protected. Only a hundred years later, when they meet on the battlefield, do they both realize just how much more complex their relationship is.
The Hints
So with all this evidence in canon, do we really need any more hints? Yes we do, says Kubotite, and he gives us them. I'm thinking in particular of three humorous instances.
One is the Akamaru Jump omake. Here, the Shinigami Ladies' Association holds a contest for a new cellphone design. Soi Fong's design...well, see for yourself.
...yeah. She even goes so far as to say that she designed it with both her motif and Yoruichi's to make it easier for them to communicate.
And then there's the translation of a scene in the second drama CD where Soi Fong falls over herself at the chance to take Yoruichi out for dinner.
The last cute hint comes in the form of this section of the chapter 193 pinup:
I don't think I need to say more here.
The Fandom
I first started reading Bleach in early April, and while it didn't take long for me to get sucked into the series, it was a while before I stepped back and got a really good look at the characters and pairings. Having long since come to the conclusion that Soi Fong had the hots for Yoruichi, I still had to reread their scenes to truly get the depth of their relationship. All the same, I must make a confession: it was at first the characters' unmitigated hotness that drew me to the pairing.
That was in late July. Since then, I've been scouring Bleach fandom for both fanart and fanfiction for the pairing. Unfortunately, there's very little out there. It's one of the most popular yuri pairings in the fandom, probably only outranked by the various permutations of Chizuru/Tatsuki/Orihime. But few fanworks for it actually exist.
The Japanese fandom does have some small support for the pairing:
Ribbon Rabbit has a lot of oddly stylized art of varying quality. Some of the Bleach art there (which can all be found on this page) includes YoruSoi. They're the only circle I've seen put out doujinshi for the pairing. As far as I can see, though, at the moment there is very little YoruSoi art there. The best of that small selection can be found here. As a warning: some of the images there are rather high-rated, although there's no actual uncensored nudity.
Kuzuya has some very beautiful Soi Fong artwork, but none of Yoruichi.
This site has a few very cute (though not fantastic) YoruSoi pictures.
So does this site.
On the English-speaking side of the fandom,
finnimon has done some very nice YoruSoi fanart, which can be found under memories at ifeelbleachy.Fanfiction for this pairing is even harder to find. Here's what little I could dig up:
"Smudges of Ink" by karisome. Short but beautiful.
"Bound and Tied" (my own fanfic).
If anyone has any more recommendations, please, please share!
The Other Bits
Music recommendations by
chirachira. I totally give my kittonbee-obsessed blessing to all these choices. Obviously, the status of the links in this post is entirely up to chirachira. Don't bitch (at me or her) if they go down for whatever reason.bleach_yuri, for Bleach-themed yuri in general.yorusoi, for this pairing in particular.Thanks are in order:
to
chirachira, for the aforementioned music pimping and general Bleach tips and knowledge;to
sunsitenthai, for being A Sexy Kitton and letting me fangirl about these two at her;to
anjimito, for permanently removing my ability to spell "kitten" correctly;and to everyone else who's listened to babble on this topic.
Any further questions and comments are always appreciated!
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