Turn back the clock a few years.
Those were years soaked in sweat.
Shaoling Hachi's days held only two things: Hakuda and Shunpo.
Her fists and feet struck the wooden posts with dull thuds. If ten repetitions weren't enough, she did a hundred.
She didn't know where the limit of exhaustion lay. To her, there had never been such a thing as "too tired."
She only wanted to be faster, faster still, until she was worthy of that name.
Then she graduated from Shin'ō Academy.
Her grueling training paid off, and she was assigned to the Second Division.
At the time, Yoruichi sat at the head of the division's meeting room.
Her seat stood high above the floor: a broad sofa atop a raised platform, as though the entire room existed for it.
Apart from that platform and sofa, the meeting room was empty. Its wide, level floor looked much like a training ground.
Yoruichi lounged on the sofa with her cheek propped on one hand and one leg raised high. She radiated such easy nonchalance that the rules of Soul Society seemed to mean nothing to her.
From her lofty seat, she looked down at the young girl with fire burning in her eyes.
Shaoling Hachi knelt on one knee a short distance away, head bowed and one hand braced against the floor. "Lady Yoruichi! Please allow me to become your attendant..."
Before she could finish, Yoruichi waved a hand and cut her off.
"As you wish..."
Those three words struck Shaoling Hachi like thunder.
In that instant, they drowned out every other word she had ever heard.
They were the most sacred gift she had received in her short life.
From that day on, she stayed at Yoruichi's side like a true shadow.
No wind could blow her