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It’d been a couple of years since Senku had last seen his mentor—the one who wore an animal skull and bathed in blood, not the one with rejection sensitivity. Though, he was ten billion percent sure that she caused other people to have rejection sensitivity. Shuddering, Senku paused at the crest of the hill that overlooked the city-state of Kertaros and looked behind him where Byakuya was more interested in how even the road was.
His reunion with his old man had come because of this mentor’s suggestion to search for caves close to rivers on Treasure Island. She had initially given him that information so he could find closure, even going as far to warn Senku against what he could have found instead of Byakuya’s statue. Apparently while panning for platinum, Byakuya had stumbled across a medusa that had strayed from the initial drop point and accidentally petrified himself. Oddly fitting all things considered with his dad’s crazy good luck.
Senku huffed, it didn’t matter now. “Hey old man, are you gonna hurry up or what? We don’t have all day.”
“Come on, you gotta admit this is pretty cool!” Byakuya said as he climbed the hill.
“Only you would find something as simple as roads drool-tastic when you haven’t even seen the rest of the city,” Senku ribbed, savoring the fact that he was even able to have this moment.
Byakuya chucked and patted his son’s back, and where he would have shied away before, Senku accepted it now. “You’re right, we haven’t even seen the rest of it,” Byakuya said, squinting down at the glittering silver-capped buildings that rose above the peach-colored fog of the early morning. “So this is where you lived for a few years?”
“I think lived is giving it too much credit. It was more like surviving,” Senku said dryly as he lead the way down the hill, thinking of all the training he went through at his mentor’s hands. If it could have even been called that. He was so focused on not falling and twisting his ankle that he completely missed the worried look Byakuya shot in his direction.
. . .
The Hall of the Council was just as grand as Senku remembered it with its carved wooden doors and high ceilings, large windows allowing in copious amounts of light with an excellent view of the city. Imani sat on one end of the the audience hall bathed in the glow of early morning and the nearby fire. A bas-relief carving in the stone behind her depicted a horse and ram rearing with an eagle clutching the medusa between served as a backdrop to her radiant power.
Normally Senku wouldn’t bother with such pleasantries, but he had rather quickly learned not to conflate Imani’s kindness with weakness. She had also made it plenty clear before he’d left all those years ago that Corn City would be an excellent edition to Kertaros’ coalition; there was no reason to tempt fate. Bowing to the Protector of Kertaros, Senku watched as Byakuya copied his actions before his gaze flitted up to Imani as he stood.
“It’s been a while, Senku,” She said, voice taking on the familiar lilt of a smile behind her ram’s skull mask.
‘You can cut the crap, you know I don’t care about pleasantries,’ Senku thought, but he bit his tongue. The one thing he had learned in his time here was how to use his words wisely. Even Byakuya seemed impressed by his level of restraint. “Just here to see the Tiger; thought you’d be sad if I didn’t come to see you too.”
“I would have been,” Imani hummed. “I don’t know how long you plan to stay, but it’s hard to say when she’ll be back. She’s on a campaign. It was just a little spat in the north, you know how it is. Who is your guest?”
“Oh him? He’s just my old man,” Senku said with a nonchalant shrug as he stuck his little finger in his ear. “Thought I’d actually listen to my dear mentor for once.”
“Now that is a surprise,” Imani said, turning her head slightly to address Byakuya. “It’s a pleasure to be able to welcome you to my city, I hope you’ll be able to enjoy your stay…”
“Ishigami Byakuya,” Byakuya said, bowing once more in greeting since it was obvious to him that approaching would be ill-advised. At least his old man knew when not to be too friendly.
Relieved that his luck was actually good for once, Senku exhaled softly. Byakuya was able to take the Kirovi’s… expectations… in stride and his mentor was absent. She didn’t take kindly to being wrong and, well, Byakuya’s presence was a physical manifestation of that. He needed a little time to figure out how to broach the topic with her, this was the Mentalist’s strong suit, not his and it was giving him one hell of a headache.
. . .
“That went well,” Byakuya said as they stepped outside the building, the heavy wooden doors closing behind them. He nodded to the two wolf-headed guards that stood watch before realizing he probably shouldn’t have disturbed them and raised a hand apologetically before turning to his son. “So, where to now?”
“It is ten billion percent too early to say that went well,” Senku said with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I would say I felt like I was in the lion’s den but Imani doesn’t wear one of those.”
Byakuya stopped, looking over at his son incredulously, “But she was wearing a ram skull.”
“Heh, yeah, well, hers is just for show,” Senku said, his smile slowly fading to a frown as he thought about his mentor. “It’s all pretty cringe if you ask me, that kind of stuff doesn’t move me one millimeter.”
He looked out to the courtyard as a small precession made its way towards the steps and he grimaced, eating those words as his mentor approached on her grulla warhorse in full regalia. Even seeing the animal multiple times fully outfitted in human skulls and tiger pelt, it still was unnerving to see everything, especially when she had come back from a campaign. The original skulls had since chipped and broken off in combat, leaving his mentor to have to source new ones. Even the armor she wore bore more gouges and bullet holes, the tiger skull that she wore was missing teeth and chipped, forever stained from the blood of her enemies. Beside him, Senku could hear his father’s breath hitch as Oak slowed her horse to a halt, the animal pinning her ears the second she saw Senku wasn’t within striking distance.
“Well, isn’t it touching to see my mentor again?” Senku said by way of greeting, even though his heart hammered in his chest as the tiger skull tilted downwards slightly, pinning him in place with its empty stare.
Instead of answering him, which he knew she probably wouldn’t, his mentor leveled her stare on Byakuya before she shook her head, and rode off to leave the two of them together. Good to know she was in a pleasant mood, but it didn’t change the fact that his heart was racing and his palms were sweaty. A few years away and he’d forgotten how terrifying she was.
“Told you it was cringe,” Senku said as he looked over at Byakuya who watched him with a calculating gaze.
“How could you say that was cringe, she was so cool!” Byakuya responded. “Think we should wait up and see if she wants to join us?”
At once Senku felt his heart go to his throat and he made a strangled noise, “That’s a horrible idea!” He hissed, looking around to make sure no one had heard. “She’s a tiger, she’ll kill us if we ruin her plans.”
Byakuya glanced back at where Oak dismounted her horse and removed the tiger skull she was wearing, handing it off to one of the guards. “Ah, I didn’t know... well, we won’t know if she has any plans if we don’t offer to begin with.”
"Do you have a death wish?"
It was already too late for Senku to stop his father as Byakuya made his way over to Oak waving to get her attention. Knowing that he was no longer going to have time to come up with a way to gently break the news to his mentor that she was wrong, Senku followed after his old man.
“Hey, I’m Ishigami Byakuya, Senku’s dad! Thanks for taking care of my son and all, it really means a lot,” Byakuya said as he approached the woman Senku had called 'mentor'.
She was well-built, with calculating eyes the color of steel as she fixated him with one of the most unimpressed looks he’d ever seen. The twin petrification marks that ran from the inner corners of her eyes to under her chin making her look even more severe, and adding to the intensity of her gaze. Talk about a tough cookie!
“That’s nice,” She said, an edge to her voice that suggested their conversation was over as she removed claw-tipped gauntlets.
Byakuya blinked in surprise at her coldness and watched as she brushed by him. “Ah, if you wouldn’t mind, Senku really missed you-“
She raised her eyebrows. “He missed me?”
Though he found it odd, Byakuya continued, “Well, he wouldn’t stop talking about you, and I wouldn’t mind hosting you for drinks sometime while we’re here.”
“You can’t afford that.”
It was then that Oak took the situation into her own hands and left to go inside to speak with Imani herself.