Suì-Fēng

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

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

Appearance
A relatively short and petite woman with lightly tanned skin and black hair. She wears the traditional Shinigami Captain's uniform with a sleeveless haori and a yellow obi tied around her waist. Underneath her standard Shinigami captain's uniform, Soifon wears the uniform of the Commander-in-chief of the Onmitsukidō, which has no sleeves and doesn't cover 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 stance — 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 Ōmaeda, 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 practiced 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 Woman'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 and the name of her zanpakutō, Suzumebachi, means hornet.

Soifon is a person of incredible resolve, not hesitating to do whatever it takes to complete a mission and defeat her enemy; an example of this can be seen during her battle with the Segunda Espada, after being exposed to an attack she orders her vice-captain to remove her arm without hesitation. Very rarely will Soifon show signs of desperation or emotion on the battlefield, except when it concerns her former master. Despite her cold demeanor and constant attack towards her vice-captain, she has displayed a certain level of faith in him (trusting him to act as a distraction while she carries out a plan).

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 Onmitsukidō. Any member who does not pass the test to get into the Onmitsukidō 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 Onmitsukidō, 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 Onmitsukidō, she adopted her great-grandmother's codename: Soifon.

Soifon worked hard and was eventually promoted to become the head of the guard for the leader of the Onmitsukidō at the time, Yoruichi Shihōin. Yoruichi took the young Soifon under her wing as her protégé, and they developed a close relationship. 110 years ago, Soifon, in her capacity as a head of the guard, was highly protective of Yoruichi and her honor. She had a short temper when it came to Kisuke Urahara, she saw his carefree attitude as him being lazy and bad at his job. She is proven wrong when she finds that his carefree style attributed to the way he did his job in his position as head of the detention unit.

When Yoruichi eventually left Soul Society to help her exiled friend Kisuke Urahara, she abandoned all of 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 abandoned. She ultimately unified the Onmitsukidō as well as the Punishment Force after Yoruichi disappeared.

Soul Society arc
After Ichigo Kurosaki rescued Rukia Kuchiki from being executed, and seeing that some of the captains also openly protest the execution, while the lieutenants (including her own, Ōmaeda) are unable to stop Ichigo, Soifon ends up disarming Sentarō Kotsubaki and Kiyone Kotetsu, and is about to finish her off as a traitor, when Yoruichi grabs her and drags her away with a Flash Step. After crashing into the forest below the hill, she is presented with the chance of battling Yoruichi 100 years after the latter abandoned her. 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 Shunkō. Much to her dismay, she realized 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. After being notified about the treason of Sōsuke Aizen and two other captains, the two women briefly captured Aizen, being the first Shinigami to arrive at Sōkyoku hill, where Aizen has just obtained the Hōgyoku. Yoruichi blocks his Zanpakutō, while Soifon herself holds hers to Aizen's neck, threatening to kill him if he moves. However before they are able to detain Aizen, Yoruichi suddenly calls for Soifon to move as Aizen, Gin and Tōsen is rescued by Negación fields created by an army of Gillian who break into Soul Society to rescue their leaders.

Bount arc
She would appear again assisting Yoruichi during the time of the Bount Feud, making first contact with them, and reporting it back to Soul Society while Yoruichi relays it to Urahara and Ichigo. When the Bounts 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 Town 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 Ōmaeda 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, she thinks to herself that she might have forgotten to tell him.

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 when her lieutenant, Marechiyo Ōmaeda, attempted to intervene. When Ōmaeda grabs him to give his captain a shot, Ggio prepares to kill him with a Cero. Soifon 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 did not seem too happy about killing Vega.

After the fight with Ggio is finished, his master Barragan finally rises from his throne, ready to engage Soifon and Ōmaeda in battle. As her battle with Barragan continues, she is seen having a difficulty in fighting him, and yet she is fighting with her full strength, with Barragan saying "This is ridiculous... You can't even budge me.". Disappointed after knowing that the enemies he's fighting were at full strength, Barragan draws out his Zanpakutō from his throne to end the battle.

Despite Soifon's proficiency at Flash Step and hand-to-hand combat, Barragan's power as the Second Espada to momentarily age targets dulls her might enough for Barragan to brush off her attacks. Soifon then learns from Barragan the aspects of death that each Espada represent, Barragan himself representing Old Age, or Time, which explains his power of slowing/accelerating time itself. He then uses Sonído to appear by her side and lays his hand on her shoulder, provoking her to leap away only to realize he's aged the bones of her arm so much they have broken. Eventually, Barragan decides to unleash his true form.



Soifon discovers just how terrifying Barragan's power really is as the building he stood on aged and rusted into nothingness. The Espada then unleashes his horrifying Respira, which inflicts her even as she is running away, her arm quickly rotting away to the bone. In a panic of dying, she demands Ōmaeda to cut her arm off to stop the affliction from spreading further. She is then taunted by Barragan, who finds it comical that a Shinigami (a god of death) is afraid of death. As Ōmaeda is still at a shock at how powerful Barragan is, Soifon suddenly gets his attention by telling him that she will need him to act as decoy as she has a plan. Being the coward as he is, he tells Soifon that it's impossible as he is too powerful. Soifon reminds him to cut off any limb that is turned to bone and remain alive until her plan is executed, she then uses Shūnpo to get away leaving Ōmaeda to run from a quickly pursuing Barragan. As the pursuit continues, Ōmaeda dodges yet another Respira, albeit a slow one, and starts to scream. Soifon hears this and she activates her Bankai after coiling a building with cloth.

Just as Barragan seems to be closing in on Ōmaeda to finish him off with his technique "Gran Caida", Barragan notices the surge of energy from Soifon's Bankai being released and turns around to face her. Soifon emerges and explains her reluctance to use her Bankai, Jahkuhō Raikōben, due to it being too large and too heavy to function as an assassin's weapon. She then states that Jahkuhō Raikōben's attack is "too flashy for assassination" but nevertheless fires a projectile attack at Barragan resulting in a huge explosion. The explosion is powerful enough to not only push Soifon back, but also her lieutenant. Soifon's sash rips apart, but she's safely caught by Ōmaeda. After the arrival of the gigantic hollow, Soifon notices Barragan's figure in the dust, seemingly uneffected by her bankai.

Equipment

 * A steel sash worn under armor, its contributing weight makes it harder for the wearer to move fast. The tremendous recoil produced by using her Bankai requires that Soifon be anchored to a nearby stationary object via this cloth-like material.

Powers & Abilities


Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: As the leader of the Onmitsukidō, she is required to be highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat, which she had been training in ever since she first joined the Onmitsukidō. She is most likely the most proficient hand-to-hand combatant in all of 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 Onmitsukidō, 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. She actively uses her mastery of Shunpō techniques and is highly proficient in evasion in close quarters as well as from a distance. Thus making hitting her almost impossible if not for the most advanced combatant.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Soifon is masterful in swordsmanship, usually only employing her zanpakutō when she faces a opponent with a drawn weapon. She is unique in that her fighting style is different from traditional styles. Soifon holds the blade horizontally with the it alongside her arm in a reverse grip, using the blade like a large dagger with it 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. She also fights in the normal style masterfully, given to being proficient in two variations of sword fighting.

Master Assassin: As the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, Soifon is is one of the foremost masters in the art of assassination. She is known to be skillful in staying hidden. Using Flash Steps, she has disabled the opponents without them being able to see her, as she did while catching the arrows of one of the Dark Ones in battle. She also used this ability to sneak up on Aizen and temporarily capture him before he escaped to Hueco Mundo.

Master Strategist & Tactician: As commander of the Secret Mobile Corps and captain of the 2nd Division, Soifon has shown herself to be a capable leader. Repeatedly through the series, Soifon has shown to be insightful and crafty, quickly capable of understanding any situation that presents itself and adjust to it effectively. Soifon has shown an innate skill to determine what actions should be taken in battle. The tactics she employs are based on subterfuge and confusion. She has shown to be adept in putting her opponents into a false sense of security and allowing them to underestimate her abilities. A common tactic of hers is to gauge the opponent's strengths and weaknesses in the middle of combat.

Great Spiritual Power: As the Captain of the 2nd Division, she boasts a great amount of spiritual energy.

Kidō Expert: As Captain of the 2nd Division and the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō Soifon is well versed in art of Kidō, though she prefers to use 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.


 * Shunkō (瞬閧, Flash Cry): An advanced technique that combines hand-to-hand combat and Kidō. She fights by surrounding her back and arms with pressurized Kidō. The keisen uniform has no back or sleeves because they will rip apart when the technique is activated. What is known of it so far is that it can allow her to instantly neutralize an opponent's movement. Soifon's version of the technique is new to her and incomplete, its use of compressed Kidō is not visibly seen.

Enhanced Strength: Soifon is strong enough to take on bigger opponents despite her smaller stature. Easily overcoming those four times her size. She has shown herself capable of lifting large slabs of concrete debris that she was buried under with little or no effort.

Enhanced Durability: Soifon is highly durable, able sustain being kicked into buildings with enough force to go through walls and bring whole sections down on top of her while attaining no apparent injury. She even survived having her left arm cut off, and still remained active to engage in battle.

Zanpakutō

 * In its sealed form, it resembles a wakizashi with a yellow hilt reminiscent of a Chinese dao. It is kept sheathed horizontally behind Soifon's lower back hanging by a rope.


 * Shikai: triggered by the command . Grasping onto Suzumebachi with her right hand, the entire sword will glow white and shrink in size. When the emitting glow dies off, it is revealed that Suzumebachi has now taken on the form of an accessory. Covering Soifon's right wrist is a gold gauntlet with a small chain linking to a large, thick "stinger" on Soifon's middle finger. The cone-like shaped "stinger" extends 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 Shikai is fitting of its name, as the pattern and shapes resemble that of a hornet. In this form, Suzumebachi is still capable of holding its own against a opponents sword attacks, blocking with the "stinger" as well as striking and even blocking incoming attacks with the gauntlet portion.


 * Shikai Special Ability: Totally integrated into her natural abilities with Flash Steps, Suzumebachi’s abilities indeed prove deadly.


 * As its first step, Soifon stabs her enemy with Suzumebachi’s blade. Not only leaving a rather deep wound, the attack leaves a butterfly-shaped stamp on the user’s body. Spreading from the center of the wound, known as, 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 Onmitsukidō, Soifon could only maintain the crests for half an hour. The effect of the poisons reaction time takes slightly longer for those who have enhanced power. Soifon explains at one point that the mechanics behind the ability are 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.


 * Counter-Poison: 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.


 * Bankai: : Its appearance is that of a protective armor that encases Soifon's entire right arm and comes all the way above her shoulder to form a face shield that she uses to cover the right side of her face. The casing comes off and reveals a weapon with the similar make of a missile attached to a base. Before she activated her Bankai, Soifon wrapped a heavy metal sash (Ginjōhan) around the building she stood on, in preparation for the attack's massive recoil and the resulting powerful explosion. She uses her Bankai so rarely that it has remained largely unseen by the members of Soul Society; even her own Lieutenant comments on having never seen it before. Soifon explains that she would prefer not to use her Bankai. She believes that it offends her pride as a Covert Ops agent, as "It's too large to hide, too heavy to move, and its attack is too flashy for assassination."


 * Bankai Special Ability: Being a ranged weapon of the artillery sort, Jakuhō Raikōben has the ability to launch the missile attached to its base. To do so, Soifon must first raise and aim the huge missile, using the slits present in her face guard to be able to see while doing so. Once targeted, small fins extend from numerous points along the missile, before it is then fired. After a successful hit, the missile creates a powerful and massive explosion. The burst of energy after the explosion is powerful enough to not only push Soifon and her lieutenant, but also rip the steel sash she was tied with. This might be because apparently, this attack drains huge amount of energy and leaves the user exhausted.

Appearance in other media
Soifon appears in most video games. Her shikai is available in most games, able to take down opponents in two hits, though in some games, it may be harder to execute than in others. She also appears in the OVA The Sealed Sword Frenzy as one of the Captains to assist Ichigo in trying to stop Baishin, she also appears in the movies Bleach: Memories of Nobody and Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion.

Trivia

 * The Bount arc 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 Benin, 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.


 * While other Shinigami have commented on their dislike for their zanpakutō's Shikai form's, Soifon is the first Shinigami to openly declare she dislikes her zanpakutō's Bankai form.


 * Like Ikkaku Madarame, Soifon's Bankai is rarely seen by others, likely due to the fact that she dislikes it. Even Marechiyo Ōmaeda, her own lieutenant, points out that he has never seen her Bankai prior to her battle with Barragan Luisenbarn.


 * Soifon is the second Captain to fight an Espada while using only one arm. The only other Captain to fight with this handicap was Byakuya Kuchiki. She is also the second Captain after Mayuri Kurotsuchi to lose an arm completely.


 * Soifon's Bankai, along with Sajin Komamura and Kaname Tōsen's Bankai's, do not follow the normal naming scheme for Bankai names (adding extra words onto the Shikai name). However, where as Komamura and Tosen at least had the original name somewhere in the Bankai, Soifon's does not include the original name (Suzumebachi) at all.


 * So far, Soifon is one of the two Captain level Shinigami (the other being Toshiro Hitsugaya) to fight an Espada who holds the same ranking as them, for where as Soifon is the captain of the 2nd division, Barragan Luisenbarn is the 2nd Espada.

Quotes

 * "Jinteki Shakusetsu, Suzumebachi."


 * "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!"


 * "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!"


 * "If you see your allies losing, that's your chance. Don't step between them. Take the enemy down from behind. And if the enemy is so strong you can't even do that, then just watch your ally be killed. That's what it means to be Onmitsukidō."


 * "I think one should be antagonistic to one's underlings. It keeps them on their toes." (To Ggio Vega)


 * "You might get lucky and die in some corner." (To Ōmaeda)


 * "Bankai! Jakuhō Raikōben!"


 * "This Bankai offends my pride as a covert ops agent. It's too large to hide. It's too heavy to move. And its attack... is too flashy for assassination!" (To Barragan)