Soifon (DarkNight)

, sometimes romanized as Soifon, 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
Suì-Fēng is a relatively short and petite woman with gray eyes and black hair. Her hair is worn short with two long braids bound in white cloth each ending in a large golden ring. 110 years ago, Suì-Fēng's hair was shoulder-length and had a softer look to it. She wears a traditional Shinigami captain's uniform with a sleeveless haori and a yellow obi tied around her waist. Underneath her standard Shinigami captain's uniform, Suì-Fēng wears the uniform of the commander-in-chief of the Onmitsukidō, which has no sleeves and doesn't cover the back, though she does wear long black arm bands. Instead of wearing the standard Shinigami sandals with tabi, she wears traditional Chinese shoes with ordinary white socks.

Personality
Suì-Fēng 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, though she is not above mocking/joking around with her opponents or smirking while in combat, a trait also seen in her predecessor. 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. Suì-Fēng, like most female Shinigami, is a member of the Shinigami Women's Association.

Suì-Fēng likes fish, but dislikes meat. She also seems to be quite obsessed with Yoruichi, and often spends her free time dreaming about the days when they 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. In one of the Shinigami Golden Cup chapters, Suì-Fēng is given a black cat plushie by Matsumoto, who has just returned from a mission in the real world. 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). Suì-Fēng 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. When the Shinigami Women's Association is tasked with designing a new cellphone for Shinigami ladies, she submits a design featuring a black cat's head with a bee body (the cat representing Yoruichi and the bee representing herself), with a private line that would allow her to talk to Yoruichi as much as she wanted. The request was denied. . When Yamamoto commands the Gotei 13 Captains to design a Shinigami video game, Suì-Fēng proposed a game with her and Yoruichi as the protagonists. Her lieutenant, Ōmaeda, tells her plainly that she is the only person who will play such a game.

Suì-Fēng 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 Lieutenant to remove her arm without hesitation. Very rarely will Suì-Fēng 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 Lieutenant, she has displayed a certain level of faith in him (trusting him to act as a distraction while she carries out a plan). Her stubborn attitude is so great that even now she still seems to hold a degree of dislike for Kisuke Urahara be it because Yoruichi used to tease her about him, or she found his lazy demeanor undisciplined or that she still blames him for her mentor's abandonment over one hundred years previously. This is shown when she asks Hachigen Ushōda to place the shop owner in a barrier for a month in exchange for using her Bankai a second time in one day.

Powers & Abilities


Hakuda Master: 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 able to fight evenly, and gain the upper hand, against her mentor Yoruichi Shihōin. She can sufficiently block and attack others and is hard to actively lay a hand on unless she allows it.

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

Master Assassin: As the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, Suì-Fēng is one of the foremost masters in the art of assassination. She is known to be skillful in staying hidden. Using Shunpo, 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. She has studied all the disciplines of the punishment force since she was a child, including poison. Because of this, over the years she has developed a resistance to nearly every poison there is.

Enhanced Strength: Suì-Fēng 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: Suì-Fēng 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.

Shunpo Master: As the leader of the Onmitsukidō, she is also required to be highly proficient in Shunpo. 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 Shunpo 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. Her movements are noticeably so fast that few would be likely to see an attack take place. It has also been noted by Suzemebachi that her Shunpo is the fastest of all Soul Society (excluding Yoruichi).


 * Clones: Suì-Fēng is able to create at least 15 clones of herself at once using Shunpo, similar in principle to Zommari Rureaux's Gemelos Sonído. While they are indistinguishable from her true self and mimic her movements, they do not seem to last long.


 * Utsusemi (空蝉; Cicada): Way of Onmitsu, 3rd of the Shiho. It allows for a movement at great, sudden speed, leaving at least one tangible after-image behind.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Suì-Fēng 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. Suì-Fēng 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 Strategist & Tactician: As Commander of the Secret Mobile Corps and Captain of the 2nd Division, Suì-Fēng has shown herself to be a capable leader. Repeatedly through the series, Suì-Fēng has shown to be insightful and crafty, quickly capable of understanding any situation that presents itself and adjust to it effectively. Suì-Fēng 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.

Kidō Expert: As Captain of the 2nd Division and the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō Suì-Fēng 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.


 * 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. Suì-Fēng's version of the technique is new to her and incomplete, its use of compressed Kidō is not visibly seen. She has enough control to release the Kidō energy as a directed blast that is enough to cause considerable damage to the surrounding area. She can use the technique to greater degree later on, using it to block a devastating lighting blast as well as dissipate it and then to block a blade attack as well as push it back with only her bare hand, using the energy of the technique as a barrier despite the strength of the wielder. She has shown that she can focus the technique's pressurized Kidō onto specific areas of her body to make the protection exceedingly more concentrated.

Zanpakutō

 * In its sealed form, it resembles a wakizashi with a yellow hilt reminiscent of a Chinese dao. It is kept sheathed horizontally behind Suì-Fēng'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 emitted glow dies out, it is revealed that Suzumebachi has now taken on the form of a black and gold gauntlet that has a small chain linking it to a stinger-like blade on Suì-Fēng's middle finger. The "stinger" is about twice as long as the normal length of Suì-Fēng's fingers, slightly increasing her striking distance. The colors and pattern of the Shikai resemble those of a hornet, fitting for the Zanpakutō's name. In this form, Suzumebachi is still capable of withstanding an opponent's sword attacks, as Suì-Fēng can block incoming attacks with the "stinger" and gauntlet portions.


 * Shikai Special Ability:
 * As its first step, Suì-Fēng stabs her enemy with Suzumebachi’s blade. Not only leaving a rather deep wound, the attack leaves a butterfly-shaped stamp on the victim’s body. Spreading from the center of the wound, known as, this stamp becomes the target of Suì-Fēng’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." When the ability takes effect, a larger crest quickly spreads out from the two smaller ones, completely destroying the victim's body. The crests are maintained by Suì-Fēng's will and are impossible to remove unless she wills it; when Yoruichi was still in charge of the Onmitsukidō, Suì-Fēng could only maintain the crests for half an hour. The mechanics behind Suzumebachi's ability takes effect not through point of entry but rather point of actual surface contact. This ability is caused by a venom that Suzumebachi secretes. When it enters the target's body, it spreads throughout their body in a matter of minutes, if not seconds, destroying it without a trace. The effect of the poison takes slightly longer to work for those who have enhanced spiritual power.


 * Counter-Poison: Suì-Fēng can use the same venom that Suzumebachi secretes for Nigeki Kessatsu as a counter-poison by stabbing herself.


 * Bankai: : Its appearance is that of a gold armor missile launcher base that encases Suì-Fēng's 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 entire bankai is made up of a large pointed gold cylinder with black markings twice the size of Suì-Fēng herself. Before she activates her Bankai, Suì-Fēng 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. Suì-Fēng 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, Suì-Fēng 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 fired. It then tracks its target for a precision strike. After a successful hit, the missile creates a powerful and massive explosion. The burst of explosive energy after the detonation is powerful enough to not only blow away Suì-Fēng and her lieutenant, but also rip the steel sash she was tied with, despite both of them being a long distance away from the explosion. Suì-Fēng is capable of firing more than one missile at the same level of power. This attack has a normal limit of firing no more than one missile every three days; doing so more often taxes her noticeably.

Yoruichi Shihōin
Suì-Fēng's relationship with Yoruichi is one of the more dynamic among the Shinigami. When Suì-Fēng first laid eyes upon Yoruichi when she was young, she likened it to looking upon a goddess. Suì-Fēng admired Yoruichi's strength, beauty, and nobility to the point where it passed admiration and became worship. Suì-Fēng worked her way through the ranks and was personally asked by Yoruichi to be one of her bodyguards. Being with Yoruichi made Suì-Fēng happy. However, one day Yoruichi left without warning. Such an action devastated Suì-Fēng to the point where she felt betrayed. From that moment on, Suì-Fēng trained herself to become stronger so that she could arrest Yoruichi herself. When Yoruichi returned to Soul Society, Suì-Fēng battled her to prove her superiority. However, Yoruichi was stronger. Seeing this, Suì-Fēng broke into tears, wondering why Yoruichi didn't take her as well. After their fight, they reconcile and re-establish their relationship. In several omakes, Suì-Fēng's relationship with Yoruichi is portrayed as childish and somewhat obsessive.

Trivia

 * In the Zanpakutō popularity poll, Suì-Fēng's Suzumebachi came 15th.
 * In the most recent character popularity poll, Suì-Fēng came 25th ( in previous ones, she ranked 44th and 16th in the 2nd and 3rd polls, respectively).
 * In the Bleach best bout poll Suì-Fēng's fight with Yoruichi came in ninth place.
 * In the English manga, Suì-Fēng first releases her Zanpakutō with romanized Japanese.

Quotes

 * (To Marechiyo Ōmaeda) "I have no interest in whether it is right or wrong. All I care about is executing orders as a captain of the Gotei 13. All who get in my way are my enemies. All enemies must be slain. That is all that matters. That goes for you too, Ōmaeda. Don't forget where your loyalty lies. If you get in my way, you too will become my enemy."


 * (To Yoruichi Shihōin) "I am stronger than you!! I should have surpassed you already! You should have weakened these past hundred years and I should have grown in strength! Why is this happening? Why are you still above me? How can you still dominate me like that?"


 * "Of my five older siblings, two died on the first mission, then two more on the second, then in the sixth mission, the last one died as well. I felt sad somewhat, but more than that, I felt ashamed of their incompetence."


 * (Thinking about Yoruichi) "So noble, so beautiful and so terrifyingly strong. She was everything I ever wanted to be. I very strongly admired her. No, that feeling was beyond admiration. I worshipped her."


 * (To Yoruichi) "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! Why... Why... Why didn't you take me with you Yoruichi-sama?"


 * (To Ggio Vega) "Who are you going to dispose of? Do you mean Komamura and the others? Or do you mean all of us? Depending on your answer I'll dispose of you. Actually, I'll dispose of you even if you don't answer."


 * (To Ggio Vega) "I don't care for a division where everyone gets along. Some hostility between the subordinates and their superior is better suited for training."


 * (To Ōmaeda) "Think of your comrade getting beat as an opportunity. Don't get in the middle of it. Stab from behind. If the difference in power between you and the enemy is so great that you cannot even do that, then let your comrade die right there. That is the way of the Onmitsukidō."


 * (To Baraggan Luisenbarn) "This Bankai goes against my dignity as a covert ops agent. It's so huge it can't be hidden, it's so heavy I can hardly move and it's attack is far too flashy to be called "assassination"!"


 * (To Ichigo Kurosaki) "Don't think for one moment that we're risking our lives on this fight. This is a fight to survive. Things like protecting the world are no more than moral causes that sound good. We will keep ourselves alive, keep you alive, and fight to protect all others from Aizen's hands."'