Early morning.
Kenma was already awake before the sky turned light.
After finishing his morning training exercises, he returned to the room to find Yoruichi already awake.
She was lying on the bed, feigning sleep with her eyes closed. Hearing Kenma enter, she opened her golden eyes to look at him, a foolish grin on her face.
"Hehe~"
Yoruichi's laugh was so lewd, her voice so cloying, that Kenma couldn't help but frown.
"Again? It's the crack of dawn."
Yoruichi tried to sit up, but her body was exhausted everywhere, completely lacking strength.
Moreover, the slightest movement sent a fiery pain shooting up from her lower body; she couldn't move vigorously at all.
"We overdid it last night. It hurts a little."
Yoruichi looked regretful, but then her lecherous smile returned.
"Let's wait a bit. We'll continue once my body recovers."
Kenma covered his forehead, a headache coming on.
"Yoruichi, you are the dignified head of the Shihoin family. Can you please be more proper?"
"If that girl from the Hō family saw you like this, her ideals would shatter and her faith would collapse. You should know how much she worships you."
Hearing this, Yoruichi couldn't help but sigh.
"That child's feelings are too pure... I'd actually prefer it if her lofty image of me was completely shattered."
She wasn't blind; how could she not sense Shāolíng's feelings for her?
It was an emotion that included worship and admiration, almost as if she, her supposed "master," had become the entire meaning of her life.
In Yoruichi's heart, she thought of that girl as a younger sister.
She saw her as an individual, separate from herself, not an appendage or a tool.
"Speaking of Shāolíng, after I got married..."
"How should I put it... it feels like she changed a lot all at once. She took over the family's hereditary title of 'Suì-Fēng' and has become even more hardworking than before."
Suì-Fēng?
Hearing this familiar name, Kenma's heart stirred.
"Yoruichi, aren't you afraid that she'll get trapped in this and won't be able to get out? That she might even turn from love to hate?"
"Hmph hmph, don't underestimate Suì-Fēng. She is very strong."
Yoruichi deeply understood the girl's strong will and was very confident in her.
She wouldn't lose her own will over this.
Perhaps this was painful for her, but it was also an opportunity for her to transform.
Yoruichi simply hoped that the girl could break free from the mission imposed on her by her family or environment, that she wouldn't have to stake the entire meaning of her life on someone else.
She wanted her to be able to live freely in this world, to have her own personality and thoughts, even to become selfish, living only for her own will.
Rather than spending an absurd life as the shadow of the person known as Shihoin Yoruichi.
"It's good that you're confident about her situation..."
Kenma sighed, his tone quite complicated.
Suì-Fēng was, by all accounts, a solid captain-level combatant. Kenma would hate for anything to happen to her.
But this current situation... why did it seem so awkward?
The wronged party, Suì-Fēng, watched helplessly as Yoruichi, the person she loved, was forced to marry a stranger under pressure from her family and father.
As the person involved, Suì-Fēng was powerless, only able to watch.
And Yoruichi, after the marriage, looked like she was enjoying it, starting to get a taste for it, becoming insatiable... What kind of debased plot was this!
Kenma quickly shook off all the messy thoughts popping up in his head and asked Yoruichi.
"Yoruichi, speaking of which, what was with that black cat form you turned into yesterday?"
"A family secret art? Or some kind of Zanpakutō ability?"
At the mention of this, Yoruichi couldn't help but scratch her face, looking completely puzzled.
"I don't really understand the specifics either. I just had a feeling and tried it, and then I really transformed."
"?"
Kenma blinked, not quite understanding.
His first thought was suspicion, suspecting that Yoruichi was hiding some Shihoin family technique.
But if she really was hiding it, her explanation was too careless, so transparent one could see through it at a glance.
That's why he was puzzled. If it were truly a lie, Yoruichi would never have concocted one so simple.
Could it be... that Yoruichi was telling the truth?
Kenma's expression was undisguised, and Yoruichi easily saw through what her husband was thinking.
"I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying to you."
"In the Shihoin family's past, there have occasionally been members who could change into animals. I just happen to be able to turn into a cat."
After speaking, Yoruichi spread her hands helplessly.
Her attitude was one of 'believe it or not.'
Yoruichi's frankness didn't seem like a lie.
It dissolved most of the doubt in Kenma's heart.
The explanation was so absurd that, paradoxically, it felt strangely real to him.
"Hehe."
Yoruichi suddenly raised her head, a mischievous smile on her face.
She leaped off the bed, scrambling toward Kenma on all fours.
Just as Kenma braced himself to catch her, Yoruichi's body rapidly shrank in mid-air. Black fur sprouted from her skin, her eyes turned into vertical pupils, sharp fangs grew from her teeth, and a tail sprouted from behind her, wagging as her body moved.
In the blink of an eye, Yoruichi had turned into the black cat he had seen last night.
The black cat's paws landed on Kenma's arm. Using it as a springboard, she leaped lightly, extended her sharp claws, hooked onto the outer robe on Kenma's chest, and leaped again, finally landing nimbly on his dark red, short-haired head.
"Yoruichi, what are you trying to do now?"
Kenma first shook his head left and right, trying to throw Yoruichi off.
But Yoruichi clung tightly to his hair; a momentary shake couldn't dislodge her.
He reached up to grab her, but Kenma's hands were no match for the cat's dodges, and she swatted them away with her paws.
"Haha, a cat's reaction speed is three times a human's! A mere human like you can't catch me."
Just as Yoruichi finished speaking, Kenma saw his chance. A feint made the cat misjudge, and he successfully grabbed the cat's body.
"You say that like you're not human!"
Kenma lifted the cat with both hands, but the cat took the opportunity to hook its claws into his hair again.
A hard tug sent a sharp pain through his scalp.
"Yoruichi, what on earth do you want?"
Kenma was helpless and could only let go.
"I don't want anything. I just want to see you all flustered, haha."
Yoruichi laughed out loud again, her voice teasing and full of mischievous fun.
"Is messing with me really that interesting?"
"It's precisely because it's interesting that I'm doing it."
Hearing Yoruichi's reply, Kenma felt a surge of anger. He immediately forced himself to calm down and employed the anti-Yoruichi response model he had painstakingly developed since marrying into the Shihoin family.
That is, to ignore her with a blank expression.
To meet all changes by remaining unchanged.
As long as he gave no reaction, Yoruichi would find it boring, and her fickle mind would quickly give up.
Seeing Kenma suddenly go still, as if he were ignoring her, Yoruichi naturally noticed.
She had nothing better to do right now, so she had plenty of patience.
"Well... Mr. Serious. I'll ask you a question. You answer me honestly."
"If I'm satisfied, it's not impossible that I'll let you off this time."
The black cat spoke, asking, "My human form, or my current form, which do you like better?"
"I don't like either."
The moment Kenma's words fell, he felt the cat swinging its paws, scratching at his head.
"I'll teach you to not like me! I'll teach you! See if I don't scratch up your face!"
Kenma blocked as he spoke, "Alright, alright! I like the cat during the day, and the human when sleeping, okay?"
"Ha, what's that supposed to mean?"
The cat continued to extend its claws, swiping.
"I'll teach you to like both! I'll teach you!"
While the two were still engaged in their battle of wits, an attendant's voice suddenly came from outside the door.
"Lord Kenma, Lord Shisui is here to see you, and he's with an unknown man."
Hearing that Shisui had returned, Kenma looked up at the cat whiskers dangling over his forehead.
"Shisui is here to see me. Aren't you getting down?"
"Nope, I won't."
The cat's mischievous voice sounded from above.
"If you don't want to look like a fool in front of your subordinate, you'll surrender and admit defeat to me. If you do, maybe I'll be generous and let you off this once."
"How about it?"
"You're trying to threaten me with this?"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]