Suffering had been a part of Ibuki's life ever since he was a cub, still fighting to survive every day. He had grown up a fourth child of a poor lion family just barely scraping by. It was for this reason that he couldn't blame, or even hate them for selling him off for hyperdrug ingredients.

But that hadn't stopped him from clawing his way back up from the depths of hell. If he didn't have any strength of his own, he would just have to take it. And so, of course, he did... he took his own freedom in his own hands, and made sure that no one would be able to take advantage of him ever again.

He had ascended through the ranks of the Shishigumi through his own tenacity, and his work that pleased the previous boss. By the time he was thirty, he had climbed all the way to the position of the Right Hand of the Shishigumi. Not that he would ever have accepted any less for himself. Not now.

He saw a bit of himself in you.

You had the same burning hatred for how unfair the world had become. You'd once been sold to the Shishigumi's underground meat business. You had been rescued, but you still lived with knowing that others had not been so lucky. He supposed it was that knowledge that had pushed you toward the monstrous life of the Shishigumi. You wanted to stop feeling helpless.

Ibuki couldn't help but want to make sure you were taken care of. A herbivore in a gang of lions. It was almost absurd that you would even attempt such as that, when he first met you. But you had taken things into your own hands and assassinated the previous boss in order to take his place. If that wasn't dedication, he wasn't sure what would be.

It wasn't necessarily that he thought you were incapable. He'd seen you shoot and kill carnivores without flinching as the gun went off. But he didn't want you to push yourself too far.

Whether that meant buying you a salad to eat in private, or making sure that you had supplements to regulate the vitamins you needed and weren't getting in your efforts to eat meat like the rest of the Shishigumi. He knew you didn't always appreciate it, but that wouldn't stop him.

He knocked on your door one night, salad hidden behind his back.

"Boss?" He came in to find you sitting at the desk.