Suì-Fēng

"Turn around and only an afterimage remains withal." - Tite Kubo

is the Commander-in-chief of the Special Forces and the captain of the 2nd Division in the Gotei 13. Her lieutenant in the latter unit is Marechiyo Ōmaeda.

Appearance
Underneath her standard Shinigami captain's uniform, Soifon wears the uniform of the Commander-in-chief of the Special Forces, which has no sleeves or covering for the back. Her hair is worn short with two long braids covered in cloth. Prior to Yoruichi's defection, Soifon's hair was shoulder-length and had a softer look to it (perhaps relating to her change in personality). Instead of wearing the standard Shinigami sandals with tabi, she wears traditional Chinese shoes with ordinary white socks.

Personality
Soifon is staunchly loyal, firm, and unbending in her beliefs. She is a hard worker and takes a strong moral stand — she particularly believes in following orders. She is generally reserved and truly not arrogant in any manner like her lieutenant. She will not hesitate in the slightest to strike down even her subordinates if they stand in her way. She chooses to ignore all her subordinates, including her lieutenant Omaeda, believing that personal struggle builds character. Soifon, like most female Shinigami, is a member of the Shinigami Women's Association, and appears to be the only one of captain rank within the organization (assuming Retsu Unohana is not a member).

Soifon likes fish, but dislikes meat. She often spends her free time dreaming about the days when she and Yoruichi fought together and practised Shunpō. In a Valentine's Day omake she even tried to give her a heart shaped box of chocolates with little success and she seems to love anything that resembles a black cat, which is Yoruichi's alternate form, and she has a large collection of black cat shaped merchandise. It is also known that since Yoruichi's reappearance, she began to collect cat accessories and had the 2nd Division quarters installed with floor-heating (the expenses were covered by her lieutenant). Soifon once seems to be affectionately admiring pictures of Yoruichi. Later, as part of the photo collecting project of the Shinigami Women's Association she attempts to take nude photos of Yoruichi while she is distracted but fails miserably. During a meeting of the Shinigami Women's Association she requested to have a cellphone in the shape of a black cat's head with a bee body (the cat representing Yoruichi and the bee representing herself) that would allow her to talk to Yoruichi as much as she wants, and in another meeting when discussing ideas for a Shinigami video game Soifon requested a game with her and Yoruichi as the protagonists, both requests were denied however. Soifon's name means broken (or rather, to break) bee; it is noted that the name of her Zanpakutō, Suzumebachi, means hornet.

History
Soifon was born into the Fon house, one of the lower noble houses affiliated with the Shihōin noble house. The Fon house traditionally serves the Shihōin house by joining the special forces. Any member who does not pass the test to get into the special forces is immediately exiled from the family. Because of this, Shaolin has felt a lot of pressure to succeed since her youth. Though Shaolin and her five older brothers all got into the Special Forces, her first two brothers died on their first missions, her next two brothers died on their second missions, and her last brother died on his sixth mission. Upon her joining the special forces, she adopted her grandmother's codename: Soifon. In the anime, she did not adopt the name voluntarily — a family member gave her the name.

Soifon worked hard and was eventually promoted to become the head of the guard for the leader of the special forces at the time, Yoruichi Shihōin. Yoruichi took the young Soifon under her wing as her protégé, and they developed a close relationship. When Yoruichi eventually left Soul Society in disgrace to help her exiled friend Kisuke Urahara, she was stripped of all her titles. Soifon felt betrayed by Yoruichi's abandonment and the circumstances surrounding them. As a result, she trained herself in order to surpass Yoruichi and take the titles she lost.

Soifon was promoted to the captaincy roughly 100 years prior to the start of the Bleach storyline, shortly after Yoruichi's departure from Soul Society.

Soul Society Arc
During the Soul Society Arc, she was presented with that chance, battling Shihōin intensly as combat at the execution grounds began. There, she proved to be Yoruichi's equal in unarmed combat, and used her Shikai in order to tip the scales in her favor. As this plan did not work out, due to her opponent's strong survival skills allowing her to avoid the instant death, Soifon declared that she would win with the new technique she had created, known as Shunko. Much to her dismay, she discovered that Yoruichi had discovered this ability before her, and that even she had yet to master it, but was able to defeat her with a single attack from it.

The pair reconciled their differences, placing Soifon back where she belonged; at the side of her ex-commander. There, the two women briefly captured Sōsuke Aizen, before the Menos Army came to his rescue.

Bount Arc
She would appear agian assisting Yoruichi during the time of the Bount Affair, making first contact with them, and reporting it back to Soul Society while Shihōin relayed it to Urahara and Ichigo. When the Bount infiltrate Soul Society she encounters Mabashi and when she tries to apprehend him is attacked by one of her own men. Mabashi would use his doll's powers to control her subordinates, poisoning her. Soifon is nearly beaten by Mabashi and when he closes in to finish her she is able to land a second hit from her Suzumebachi thus killing the later and freeing her men from his control.

The New Captain Shusūke Amagai arc
Soifon is only briefly seen at the beginning of the arc during Shūsuke Amagai's introduction. When Ichigo travels to Soul Society to rescue Rurichiyo Kasumiōji she is charged of making sure that nothing interrupts the wedding. When Ichigo arrives to stop the wedding, she crosses swords with Rukia Kuchiki. After disposing of the latter she takes on Ichigo and easily dominates the battle due to Ichigo's recent injury from Rurichiyo's impersonator. When her and Amagai's divisions are tasked with finding Ichigo and Rukia, she leaves lieutenant Ōmaeda in charge and joins Yoruichi in her mission when she reveals the truth about the Bakkōtō. When the Shinigami leveled the Kasumiōji Compound towards the end of the arc, she is seen taking care of the Bakkōtō factory.

Fake Karakura arc
Soifon along with her lieutenant and the rest of the of the Gotei 13 Captains not currently in Hueco Mundo are seen waiting for Aizen's arrival. When Omaeda states that he thought Yumichika Ayasegawa, Ikkaku Madarame, Izuru Kira and Shūhei Hisagi where not going to be there (they are charged with protecting the four pillars) she states that she had told him, although later thinks to herself that she might have forgotten.



After the pillars that keep the real Karakura Town in Soul Society are successfully defended and four of Barragan Luisenbarn's Fracción are killed, she begins battle with one of Barragan's remaining Fracción, Ggio Vega. Binding the Arrancar down with a Kidō, she releases Suzumebachi confident in victory. The fracción manages to escape and releases his zanpakutō, and seemingly defeats her. But then she easily repels Vega before he can harm her lieutenant, claiming that she wanted to test the Arrancar's abilities. She then finishes him off by using Suzumebachi on him. Although it appears as if she struck two different areas (the front and back), in reality she used Suzumebachi's ability on his right lung, and killed him. Strangely enough, Soifon didn't seem too happy about killing Vega. After the fight with Ggio is finished, Barragan is seen finally rising from his throne, apparently about to engage Soifon and Omaeda in battle.

Powers & Abilities


Master Hand-to-Hand Combat: As the leader of the Special Forces she is required to be highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat, which she had been training in ever since she first join the Special Forces. She is most likely the most proficient in all Soul Society being second only to her mentor Yoruichi Shihōin. She can sufficiently block and attack others and is hard to actively lay a hand on unless she allows it.

Flash Steps Master: As the leader of the Special Forces she is also required to be highly proficient in Flash Steps. She has been shown to almost keep up with her mentor Yoruichi Shihōin, being able to hit her once with the Nigeki Kessatsu, but not getting a chance to do so again as Yoruichi was faster.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Soifon is masterful in swordsmanship, commonly only employing her zanpakuto when she faces a opponent with a drawn weapon. She is unique in that her fighting style is entirely different then traditional styles. Soifon holds the blade horizontally with the blade alongside the arm in a reverse grip, using the blade like a large dagger with the blade pointed backwards towards the bottom of her gripping hand. All strikes are made by sweeping the arm forward as though throwing a punch while whipping the blade forward away from the arm quickly in a broad arc. She is quite adept at blocking with the blade in this manner as well.

Kidō Expert: As Captain of the 2nd Division and the Commander-in-Chief of the Special Forces Soifon is well versed in art of Kidō. Though she commonly employs Shunpo and hand-to-hand fighting techniques. She is experienced enough that she is able to mix it with other hand-to-hand combat techniques.


 * A technique that combines hand-to-hand combat and Kidō. It concentrates high-pressure Kidō energy around the body, allowing it to be fired at opponents. It can also be used to instantly neutralize an opponent's movement.

Stealth Mastery: As the Commander-in-Chief of the Special Forces Soifon is masterful in the art of staying hidden and unseen. When necessary she can affectively exploit having a advantage against an opponent or hiding her presence.

Master Assassin: As the Commander-in-Chief of the Special Forces Soifon is one of the foremost masters of the art of assassination.

Enhanced Strength: Soifon is strong enough to take on bigger opponents despite her smaller stature. Easily overcoming those four times her size.

Zanpakutō



 * In its sealed form, it resembles a wakizashi with a yellow hilt reminiscent of a Chinese dao. Unlike most Shinigami, she wears it horizontally on her lower back. It is believed that with her Zanpakutō's ability and her speed, she is one of the stronger captains.


 * Shikai: triggered by the command . In its shikai, Suzumebachi changes drastically in appearance and ability. When transformed, Suzumbachi takes the form of a glove that fits to Soifon’s right hand, with a chain attaching the “stinger” to the top of the glove. With a cone-like shape, the “stinger” sits on Soifon’s middle finger, extending at a length about twice as far as the normal extension of the finger, allowing Soifon’s striking distance to increase slightly. Ornately decorated in gold and black, the Zanpakutō is fitting of the name, as the pattern and shapes resemble that of a hornet.


 * Shikai Special Ability: Totally integrated into her natural abilities with flash steps, Suzumbachi’s ability indeed proves deadly. It is called, and in its first step, Soifon stabs her enemy with Suzumbachi’s blade. Not only leaving a rather deep wound, the attack leaves a stamp on the user’s body. Spreading from the center of wound, known as a , this stamp becomes the target of Soifon’s second attack. If struck in this same spot that was hit the first time, the person will inevitably die and thus illustrate "Death in Two Steps." The crests are maintained by Soifon's will and are impossible to remove unless she wills it; when Yoruichi was still running the Special Forces, Soifon could only maintain the crests for half an hour. Soifon explains in a filler that Suzumebachi's ability is caused by a type of venom it secretes, which acts as a handy counter-poison as well but this haven't been confirmed in the manga. The effect of the poisons reaction time takes slightly longer for those who have enhanced power. It has been shown that mechanics behind the ability is not based on being hit on the same spot on the skin, but rather when Suzumebachi pierces the exact same spot internally from any side of the body. This shows that Suzumebachi's ability takes effect not through point of entry but rather point of actual surface contact.




 * Bankai: Not Yet Revealed

Trivia

 * The Bount arc also marks the first time she is seen killing someone with Suzumebachi. The Bount Mabashi manages to survive for slightly longer than two minutes when stabbed the second time, which can be attributed to Mabashi's enhanced power due to the large number of spirit particles in Soul Society. In contrast, Suzumebachi's second hit is instantly fatal to one of the Dark Ones, in the movie Bleach: Memories of Nobody, where said Dark One seemingly vaporizes into thin air. She uses this ability for the first time in the manga on Ggio Vega, one of the Fracción of Barragan Luisenbarn. Ggio was killed not by being hit on the same spot on his skin, but rather when Suzumebachi pierced the exact same spot on his right lung from both sides of his body (through his chest and back). She claims that this is her "best move" since it appears as though she hits two completely different areas on the targets body; even her Lieutenant is confused as to why Ggio died from the attack.

Quotes

 * "Jinteki Shakusetsu, Suzumebachi."


 * "Shunkō!"


 * "Yoruichi-sama!!"


 * "Flash Master Yoruichi... That's not a real title. But since you claim it, you leave me no choice... but to rip it from you with my own bare hands!"


 * "Does it make you think about the past?"


 * "Think back some more now. Try to remember... and don't hold back. Compare us. Between you and me, which of us shines... as the greater warrior?!"


 * "Showing your back to the enemy and running away isn't much of a strategy, is it? I suppose you're running to buy yourself time, but it's useless! Wanna know why? Before it was perfected, my Homonka used to disappear after a while, but now it lasts forever!"