Trial Of Yoshimune

Chapter 10 Courting

Yoshimune stared at the male that was stretching in front of the porch of his house. He'd slept well and long in the flickering sunlight, felt the warmth take over him and warm his soul. Something in the yokai, Ryoma, made him feel all giddy and fuzzy inside, something that the daiyokai didn't remember feeling before the arrival of the bakeneko.

The pocket realm in which his tribe lived in had expanded, there were now beautiful traditional houses creating their own little districts here and there, differing in sizes. The houses were made of the spiritual pressure of the Yokais themselves, each house representing either the owner or a couple in their own way, creating a harmonious place.

Every "shogun" that served him, along with every ruler of a clan that had pledged alliance with them, had a room in the large castle like building that was created out of Yoshimune's ki. It was a complete building with high walls to conceal its country yard, and to keep the low level yokai out. The shoguns, Ryoma, Hitomi, Kazuko, Ranmaru and Chihiro had decided to stay with the daiyokai as they fel that the castle was too quick to be lived in alone. Jun decided to stay with her people who needed a leader now more than ever, even more that both of her parents had passed away and there was none of her siblings left to take the mantle. Yet Yoshimune had claimed that there'd be another person who'd join them some day. Upon them asking about it more, he only said that he had a hunch.

Ryoma rolled onto his back, he swore that he wouldn't move anywhere from that sweet spot of sunshine.

Yoshimune, who was currently studying of proper Lord work under the care of Okami Daio, kept glancing towards the bakeneko's resting form from his papers. This constantly made the elder frown, and he tried to figure out how to stop him when the newly adopted son of the younger Lord walked past him.

Rai had healed at miraculous speed thanks to the wild ki that had been enveloping him ever since his arrival to the issekai as the mortals called. One thing had been very unsure though.

Rai was blind.
But somehow he was able to see in this world.
Or was starting to.
And this also transported over to the world of the living.

As they watched, the boy walked over to Ryoma, blocking the sunlight making the cat spirit groan. The black haired and red eyes child only stared at him expressionlesy. The bakeneko sat up and glared at the child, irritated that hus sun bathing had come to such a tedious end.
"Whats the big ideaaaa?" the tomcat whined as he flipped his long and brown hair back. Rai lifted his hand and patted him on the head lightly.
"You're distracting Yoshimune-sama", the boy said with a steady voice. The cat looked at the boy before turning at the daiyokai, who quickly turned his attention back to the papers, not knowing that his staring hadn't gone unnoticed.

This went on for quite a while, repeating nearly daily. The tones they used were different too as they spoke with each other. Another slight change, that didn't go unnoticed. On the third week of this odd way of acting, Rai decided to visit the dog clan and their newest addition. Half oni called Muzaka.

The boy knocked on the door of the mansion sized house, hearing the sounds of the inugamis from the inside. Footsteps were heard and the door slid open revealing the alpha herself.
"Oh! I wasn't expecting you to come today Raizel, are you here to visit Muzaka?" Jun said earning a nod as a verification from the child, who had turned twelve recently. It had marked him being part of the Yokai clan of Yoshimune for almost a year and it was starting to show on him. He was still shy around the elders- or... Well... The Yokais of power, Jun and Yoshimune were not actually old. Both were in their 90s, and to be honest that was very young for a daiyokai. But anyways, Rai spoke more and more as days went by due to him seeing that it was alright of him to speak.
He was also now able to see somewhat although everything was just light and shadows to him currently.

"Is Muzaka well...?" he whispered his question, anxious of yet speaking near Jun in normal voice. The inugami had reassured him several times that he didn't need to be scared of speaking in her presence, but the boy still had a long way to go.
"He's doing well for someone who'd been left to starve", Jun answered stepping aside in order to let the other one come in. Raizel bowed before entering the house, earning a small chuckle from the female.
"So... What exactly is the reason for your sudden arrival? Usually you'd ask the tanuki to deliver a message in order to ask a permission", she said, running her hand through the black locks of her hair, brown eyes glancing to the direction of formerly blind boy, who flinched. Rai looked down for a second.
"Yoshimune-sama is acting oddly", inugami chieftain furrowed her brows wondering what he'd mean, "He keeps staring at the bakeneko, Ryoma, with this weird expression on his eyes, and whenever they speak it sounds weird", Jun's eyes widened in surprise. She had a hunch of what was happening, but she wasn't too sure about being right.

"What...exactly do they sound like...?"
"Umm.... Their voices go lower and they sound like they were singing from time to time-"

Jun bursted out laughing at the description, she could imagine what it sounded like and what the two would be speaking of. Raizel stopped on his tracks to look at the wolf in confused manner, unable to understand what she was laughing at. Jun wiped her tears away, still giggling as she explained what was going on with the two.
"Your sire... Is trying to court the cat and vice versa", she finally managed to say after a long while of gasping in-between the words.
Rai tilted his head in silent question.
"Yoshimune fell in love with Ryoma"

Rai stared at Lady Jun, who looked at him with very serious expression, her body concealed by the simple white kimono with orange and yellow flowers. He wished to groan at the image, and would've if he had one, but the thought of hearing his caretaker speak with a happy voice made his resolve change.

Jun looked at the young mortal, seeing how the tiny gears turned in his head before coming to halt. She smiled slyly.

"Want to have some fun~?"

It'd be a Hell for the two unsuspecting spirits. But oh so juicy and lovely revenge from the human, who'd grown sick of the sugary talk. And it'd be so worth it to hear the two panic and get embarrassed over the thought as they'd finally realise what they were doing.

Back at the castle, Yoshimune shuddered and wondered if winter was nearing them again. The yokai had long ago lost the track of time.