"Riser Phenex is right, in fact, Lord Sirsechz has been thinking about this, Although Lady Serafall is very influential, the decision still rests with the head of the family," Grayfia said, her words quickly bringing a smile to Riser's face.
"But, Lady Grayfia, I..." Rias couldn't find the words to refute her sister-in-law's words, she pursed her lips, lowered her head, and looked quite discouraged.
"I will talk to Lord Sirzechs about this, Miss Rias. Once he has made a decision, then we will decide what to do..." Grayfia said, smiling in Rias' direction and raising her hand to pat the girl on the head, "Anyway, if the head of the family decides that Itachi cannot fight Riser, there is still the Rating Game..."
Grayfia said, uttered a few more words, and then withdrew through a transport circle. Riser and his girls did the same, but the Phenex gave Itachi a cautious, cold look, said nothing, and then left.
"..."
There was a slight silence in the room. Soon, Akeno, Issei, and Koneko came out of an adjoining room, carrying trays with tea and cookies on them.
"Well, we didn't think it was appropriate to intervene at that moment..." Akeno's voice sounded a little apologetic. She gestured, and Issei and Koneko began to hand out cookies and cups of tea.
The cat girl approached Itachi with a tray and a bright face, extending the tray forward, indicating to Itachi to take a cup and cookies. Strangely, her face seemed a little more determined than her usual cold expression.
Itachi did not refuse, grabbing a cup and two cookies. "Thank you..." he said before sitting down on a chair not far away. Koneko followed him. He noticed the girl's actions but said nothing. Once he sat down, he looked into Koneko's cat eyes with curiosity.
"Can you teach me how to use Senjutsu and the Snake-Sage-Mode?" Koneko's voice sounded soft, direct, with a trace of anticipation in it, and she looked at Itachi with bright eyes.
There was a brief moment of silence. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Itachi and Koneko.
"Snake-Sage-Mode, Huh? And Senjutsu," Itachi repeated Koneko's words, smelled the tea and found nothing wrong with it, took a sip, and finally nodded.
"I don't control the Snake-Sage-Mode, nor senjutsu, Orochimaru does that, so, Why don't you just train like you've been doing up until now?" Itachi smiled and patted Koneko's head as if he were patting little Sasuke's head.
However, the cat girl narrowed her eyes with some disappointment, her heart, previously filled with hope, was sent into a void as quickly as Itachi's words reached her ears, she bit her lower lip and looked at Itachi.
"Orochimaru, Is that the mysterious white-man who looks like a woman?" At Koneko's question, the ninja nodded a couple of times. She narrowed her eyes again, thought for a moment, and was about to ask something when Rias spoke.
"We can't talk to Orochimaru, that man is... evil," Rias observed Itachi as she spoke, "I forgot to mention that he took Kiba's body, I don't know for what purpose."
There was another moment of silence. Itachi sighed slightly before opening his mouth, "Kiba is probably being used for Edo-Tensei," his words immediately caught the attention of everyone in the room.
"Edo-Tensei is a prohibited technique, it resurrects the dead as immortal beings whose chakra and physical strength are infinite, and they follow the orders of the one who used the technique," the Ninja explained calmly.
Everyone in the room let out a small gasp, something like this really made Sona Sitri open her eyes in surprise and Rias look at Itachi with admiration. In a corner, Akeno's eyes shone brightly, but went out the next moment.
"Edo-Tensei, an immortal body, thousands of ways to revive, and yet you managed to seal him, Itachi, you are..." Rias smiled after speaking, "Amazing."
The small talk started by Koneko distracted everyone in the room from the topic of Rias' wedding, and in the end, everyone started talking, asking questions about the ninja world.
However, among everyone, Koneko remained silent, watching Itachi, thinking to herself, remembering her sister, and finally clenching her fists tightly.
"Orochimaru..." Koneko murmured softly before shaking her head, Itachi watched the cat girl's behavior out of the corner of his eye and frowned slightly.
Itachi noticed something peculiar about Issei that day; he was discouraged, not asking as many questions as Rias, Akeno, and Sona, instead keeping to himself.
Time passed at cruising speed, and the day came to an end.
Night falls quickly, and Issei calmly watches from his room as people walk down the street not far away. He is thinking.
"The president was being forced to marry, so she couldn't refuse Riser's advances, but... Why?" Issei wonders aloud. He had found the bouquet of flowers he had bought when he went to throw out the club's trash at the end of the day in the trash room.
His reaction upon seeing the bouquet of roses that he had been so excited to buy was... disappointment.
His wide eyes looked with genuine surprise and almost anger at the red roses, each stained with a strange liquid, garbage juice. The wrapping had almost disappeared due to moisture, and the stems were broken.
He remembered his mother's words that day, "Treat them well, roses are good, be kind and respectful..." In his mind, that made sense. Didn't all women want to be treated well?
But then, why?
"My mother wouldn't lie to me, Would she?" Issei wondered, beginning to doubt even whether his mother was telling him the truth. "Yes, I don't think she would play a joke like that on me," he muttered under his breath.
He continued to watch the people on the street as he thought.
"But then, Why does Itachi, who isn't even nice to Rias, seem to have all her attention?" Issei wondered. He noticed how Rias looked at Itachi. There was a trace, a small trace of the fanaticism he saw when the normal girls at Kuoh looked at Kiba.
"Sona Sitri also seemed to be in the same condition as the President," Issei muttered again.
Finally, he opened his eyes, stood up, and seemed to understand something. "What is it about Itachi?" the poor boy asked.
"Itachi has never praised a girl for her beauty. He's always the cool bad boy, the one who gets attention, he's handsome, and he's also powerful..." Issei repeated the Ninja's qualities.
Then he thought of Kiba. Although they weren't the same, they had almost the same profile.
"Bingo!!!" Issei slammed his fist into his palm.
"Bad boy, handsome, powerful, and also ignoring girls..." Issei repeated his thoughts as he smiled.
In Issei's mind, a mocking, audible laugh was heard, but the poor boy ignored that laugh and repeated to himself, "Bad boy, handsome, powerful, and also ignores girls..."
In an abandoned warehouse.
Here, a figure suddenly appears, begins to search the place, and soon picks up a particular smell. The figure is Koneko, and she has returned to the abandoned warehouse where she once fought the strange demon.
She tapped the walls of the place, and her mind began to remember that scene. She remembered how she was completely overwhelmed by the strength of the strange demon, how Kiba died, how they were about to be killed when the guy appeared.
Koneko stood right where Orochimaru had been when he took out the scroll to store Kiba's body. Her eyes shone with a kind of anticipation as she smelled the scent in the air.
"Orochimaru..." she murmured, then looked at the palm of her hand. She remembered her sister's face and finally what had happened. She narrowed her eyes tightly and clenched her fist.
Meanwhile, watching her from a corner without Koneko noticing, Itachi analyzed the situation. He had sensed something strange in Koneko's behavior, so he decided to follow her. Although Asia was a little angry, she understood that he sometimes had to go out at night.
"I don't know why she reminds me of Sasuke..." Itachi muttered under his breath. He watched as Koneko walked around the warehouse, seemingly remembering the past, and finally watched as she left without doing anything else.
"Should I tell Rias Gremory?" Itachi thought, "She shouldn't fall into Orochimaru's hands, that almost never ends well," he remembered how Sasuke ended up after being trained by The Snake.