"Please wait a moment, Lord Kenma will be out soon."
After entering the Seireitei, Shisui had taken Toji to the 12th Division to find Urahara Kisuke and Mayuri Kurotsuchi to repair Toji's body. After a night of treatment, Toji's massive wound had healed completely, and Urahara Kisuke had converted him, thoroughly transforming him into a reishi-based life form in Soul Society.
After the treatment ended, the sky was already bright. Under Shisui's lead, the two returned to the Shihoin estate and immediately came to report to Kenma.
Toji surveyed the study he was in. He saw Shisui take out tea leaves, boil water, and steep tea, his movements quite practiced.
"Unexpectedly, this Lord Kenma of ours is actually a great noble of Soul Society. It seems I've made a very profitable deal."
In the time since he had arrived in Soul Society, Toji had gradually learned about his current situation and the general state of this world after death from Shisui and others.
Soul Society, Seireitei, 13 Divisions, Four Great Noble Families...
If anything surprised him, it was that the afterlife actually had things like nobles.
It seemed that no matter the world, there was always some bullshit system of high and low, rich and poor.
But what he found most bizarre was his new boss, who he never thought would be a son-in-law who married into a great house.
This was truly... astonishing.
"Fushiguro Toji, I advise you to fix your attitude, especially when facing Lord Kenma."
Shisui's words were a warning, his gaze cold, his expression faintly revealing a hint of menace as he placed the tea in front of the other man.
Perhaps this man was used to being undisciplined, but he would absolutely not allow anyone to be disrespectful to his master.
If his master didn't rather appreciate this man named Fushiguro Toji, Shisui would have definitely made a move to teach him his proper place.
Toji accepted the tea, his expression unchanged. Sensing the hostility from the other, he shrugged.
"So scary, so scary. You don't need to lecture me on such things. Since I've accepted the BOSS's employment, I will naturally do what I'm supposed to do."
"After all, I'm a man who believes in the spirit of the contract."
Getting paid to do a job—that was the most basic rule.
Fushiguro Toji had always put this into practice.
He had accepted Kenma's grace; he would not go back on it.
A sound of footsteps came from outside the room. The two looked over as Kenma's tall figure walked in from outside.
"Toji, how is your body recovering?"
"As you can see, fully resurrected."
Toji stood up, showing his complete body to Kenma.
Kenma nodded and sat down behind the desk.
"Not bad."
Shisui finished steeping the tea, served it at Kenma's desk, and looked curiously at the black cat on Kenma's head.
'A cat is cute, but when did the master get a pet?'
He even saw several scratch marks on Kenma's face.
'Must be from the cat. It seems the master isn't good with cats.'
'What a coincidence. The Uchiha clan is extremely skilled at dealing with cats.'
Although Shisui had only raised crows when he was alive, he had picked up a thing or two about cat habits from his clansmen.
'Later, I'll tell the master some correct ways to pet a cat.'
After Shisui put the tea down and was about to retreat, a strange man's voice echoed in the room.
"Shisui, where's my tea?"
Shisui heard the voice and looked in its direction, only to see the black cat on Kenma's head waving its foreleg at him.
Below, Toji's eyes went wide when he saw this, his expression one of pure shock.
A pet cat... was talking?
A brainstorm erupted in his head. In the end, Toji had to chalk it up to the wonders of the world after death.
'Soul Society... anything is possible.'
Shisui also showed a rather stunned expression, but not because the cat could talk.
A talking cat was something he was already used to. What shocked him was Kenma's attitude.
A cat that could talk meant it had a certain level of intelligence, and Kenma was actually letting an intelligent being sit on his head...
This was something that truly violated Shisui's long-held assumptions about Kenma.
Seeing the two's astonished faces, Kenma sighed inwardly.
He reached up, wanting to grab the black cat, but was swatted again by her forepaw.
He gave up and let Yoruichi continue to stay on his head.
"Shisui, no need to be surprised."
After reassuring Shisui, Kenma looked at the wide-eyed Toji.
"Toji, let me introduce you. This is my wife."
"Huh?"
Toji's mouth opened slightly, his eyes grew even wider, and the shock on his face became more pronounced.
This black cat... was his wife?
After it registered, Toji's gaze toward Kenma changed, becoming extremely weird.
He had indeed heard that some people had... special hobbies. Even when he was alive, a certain large eastern country frequently had news stories about lizards and the like.
But he never expected such a horrifying example to appear right before his very eyes.
Toji had to admit, art really does imitate life. 'Damn, these nobles sure play rough.'
'Wait, Kenma is a live-in son-in-law...'
He suddenly remembered stories he'd seen. Some great noble families liked to raise pets as children and would even find marriage partners for these pet children.
'Could it be...'
While feeling shocked, Toji's gaze toward Kenma gradually filled with a trace of admiration.
'To enter a noble house, even if the marriage partner is... this...'
'For this level of ambition, I acknowledge you!'
"BOSS, you're really something else."
"?"
Although Kenma didn't know why Toji would suddenly say such a thing, judging by his expression, it definitely wasn't anything good.
"Toji, I feel like you're thinking something bad."
"How could I..."
Toji turned his face slightly, avoiding Kenma's gaze.
Yoruichi, on his head, also turned her head to look at the muscular man below.
From the moment Kenma had entered, she had sensed an unusual aura from this man named Toji.
'This man is strong.'
She couldn't sense a trace of spiritual pressure from him.
But just from his words, actions, and that confident attitude, she could tell that this person was, without a doubt, a strong person!
The black cat's face was grave.
"Who are you? Did Shisui bring you here?"
Toji didn't answer, but shrugged and looked at Kenma, who was beneath the black cat.
Kenma slowly reached up and patted the black cat's head. This time, Yoruichi didn't dodge.
"Yoruichi, this is a subordinate Shisui and I recruited when we went to the World of the Living."
"I saw his skills were good, so I brought him here to be a guest retainer of the Shihoin family."
The black cat licked her forepaw, her yellowish-brown eyes narrowing slightly.
"So that's how it is."
"He looks like he's got skills. Since you recruited him, Kenma, so be it."
With these words, Yoruichi, as the family head, had agreed to Toji's position as guest retainer.
Shisui had long since recovered, a look of astonishment bursting onto his face.
"Lady Yoruichi... Are you really Lady Yoruichi? Why have you turned into this form?"
"Shisui, what's so strange about me being in this form?" Yoruichi retorted.
Shisui shook his head repeatedly.
"No, no, this subordinate overstepped."
Below, Toji heard the conversation and also understood.
On his way over, he had heard that the head of the Shihoin family was named Yoruichi.
Now, seeing Kenma's and Shisui's reactions, he figured it must be due to some secret art.
Thinking of this, Toji couldn't help but sigh in relief.
His gaze toward Kenma immediately relaxed a great deal.
After all, he didn't want the BOSS he followed...
Just as Kenma was asking the two about their time at the 12th Division, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.
"My lord, this subordinate has an urgent matter to report."
It was Fugaku's voice.
"Come in."
Kenma frowned. Given Fugaku's steady nature, it was rare to see him in such a hasty state.
Fugaku walked in quickly, ignored the others in the room, and knelt on one knee before Kenma, speaking concisely:
"My lord, according to feedback from the surveillance personnel I dispatched, Kuchiki Kōga was targeted for assassination at dawn. After escaping from the 6th Division prison, he went to the Seijōtōkyorin, where the Central 46 is located."
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]