The next day-

Her day was off to a terrible start. It happened on occasion for her just like it happened for everyone else. But today...it just felt different to her. She just couldn't put her finger on why. But the signs were definitely there.

She knew this with absolute certainty as she stared down at the bloody cut on her finger with a scowl on her face. This was the third time in so many hours that she'd cut herself on something ridiculous while sneezing. And while she knew that she was due for another cold or something else annoying.

Her instincts were telling her that the cut was there for a reason.

Something had been slithering along the edge of her senses for a while now. And while it didn't usually cause any issues for her, it felt almost as if fate itself were reaching out and trying to tell her something.

Something important and life altering.

But as usual...it couldn't seem to get her attention unless she were bleeding. So, understandably, whatever was causing her misfortune at the moment now had her total and undivided attention. Especially since she felt that if she didn't at least address what was going on- she might actually wind up being hit by a meteor or something in retaliation.

Sighing as she took a moment to look around for any signs of people being nearby, she absently stuck her finger in her mouth and began to walk down one of the long isles lined by bookshelves. And once she was totally out of sight of the desk up front, she stepped into another isle and dropped her finger from her lips and focused her energy so that she could finally see who or what was causing her mischief.

And upon finding nothing there, all she could do was scratch her cheek and mutter, "Maybe I really am a clutz." Under her breath and then head off to the employee's office to see if she could find herself a band-aid before she wound up bleeding all over something she shouldn't.

She was gone for a total of ten minutes. Mainly because she dropped the band-aids and wound up hitting her head on the desk when she tried to pick them up.

And since the library wasn't open quite yet, she wasn't expecting someone- a stunningly attractive person with long, vivid red hair, to be standing just inside of the door, looking around almost cautiously.

Pausing in mid step, she frowned and wondered how the heck he had gotten in. After all, it was barely opening time, and she hadn't left the door unlocked. Had she?

Shaking off the feeling that something was off, she started walking again when his eyes found her, and he smiled warmly.

"Hello." He said politely once she was close enough to hear him without needing to shout.

She gave him a brief nod and greeted him back, politely as she walked up. Today she was wearing a fetching cream-colored sweater with hand embroidered, flowering vines on it. Her long hair looked as if it had been pulled back into a twist and was neatly held in place by a clip up off of her nape. She was wearing a faded pair of jeans and a pair of small slip-on heels too.

Both of which emphasized the curve of her waist and her long legs.

Her glasses were resting up on top of her head so he wasn't sure how well she could see him. Though he'd read her files and they said that her vision, and coordination were both perfect. Still, he wanted to be careful just in case that little bit of information was wrong.

So, he held himself perfectly still as he subtly looked her over from head to toe as she checked a watch that was half hidden under one of her shirt sleeves. Absently taking note of the time before finally saying, "Yeah alright," under her breath before then addressing him with a small smile. "It looks like you're the first person here this morning?"

"Yes, it would seem so." He said, taking the small opening to begin conversing with her, that she had given him. "I wanted to get here early so that I could look for some books."

"Any idea which ones you're looking for? I could help you."

He smiled at her as he dialed down his IQ a little bit and instead of simply going for the books where he knew them to be located, pretended as if he didn't know anything but their titles so that she would have to look them up, and then help him search for them.

Fortunately, she had worked at the library long enough to know where every book he mentioned was and whether or not there were copies available since some of them had likely been checked out already. She didn't even have to touch the computer at her station to do it either. Which was impressive to him.

Moving around the desk, she walked over to him and began to point in the direction that he needed to go. And after he walked off and feigned getting lost after a few minutes, she came to rescue him.

After that, he walked beside her in search of his books while making idle conversation with her.

He asked her how long she had been working at the library. Did she like it there?

She had responded with a 'yes, definitely.' Her reasons for liking it had both to do with being able to read on the job whenever she was bored, and the peace and quiet.

He got the impression from that little bit of conversation that she didn't get much peace or quiet. Something that he could empathize with easily given his position at work.

He usually couldn't go two minutes within his office without the phone ringing off the hook or someone trying to break down his door for one reason or another. It was just part of the reason why he had his lunches out of the building instead of in now. The other part of the reason had to do with the unmarried woman that he worked with.

He had a very strong dislike of having them try to seduce him like cheap tarts.

He had no liking of women that were overly loose with their bodies and looking for the next conquest. He was a fox demon, for god's sake! He was a hunter! Not the prey.

He had absolutely no fondness whatsoever for being chased by desperate women for any reason. Which was another part of why he liked being near Ichigo so much.

Despite obviously appearing feminine to her at first, she obviously knew that he was a male and didn't treat him like others typically did. She didn't make fun of him, didn't crack any jokes about his effeminate features, she didn't fawn over him or coo. She didn't even ask him about his hair!

Everyone asked him about it! Even his friends had asked him about that when they all first met.

She also didn't flirt or look at him like the women at work did either. And yes, he was just a tad bit disappointed by that since he was trying to get to know her. But so far, despite that, he was enjoying himself quite a bit.

Finally, after they had collected every book that he'd wanted to get his hands on, and he had a nice stack of them in his grasp- he decided to take his leave for now. Especially since she seemed to be the only librarian on duty and a few more people had come in to look around.

Making their way back towards the front so that she could check his books out, he couldn't help but feel a bit flustered by the fact that she refused to let him carry his books alone and had instead taken most of the thick and heavy leather-bound books in her small hands and refused to give them back no matter how much he argued that it wasn't gentlemanly of him to let her carry them on her own.

Which was how he wound up in possession of one book. But it was the smallest one from the stack. And when he went to argue with her again, she gave him an oddly intimidating look that shut him up really, really fast.

Especially since his goal here wasn't to offend her. The goal was to get close to her. Get know her. Maybe even become friends and see where things took them from there.

The moment that they reached the desk up front, he nearly threw his hands up in frustration. The damned woman hadn't let him do anything to carry those blasted books at all! And to make things worse, he was almost certain that she'd hurt herself while carrying them.

After all, the book's combined weight was nearly thirty-five pounds. Which was nothing that a delicate woman like Miss Kurosaki should be toting around for an extended period of time. She'd throw her back out or something if she did.

Which was why he was trying so hard not to gnash his teeth in-between making idle chit-chat while she checked him out and stamped his books for him. He was trying really hard to keep up his facade of civility. But he was sure that he'd slipped up at some point.

He knew this because she had gone quiet on him for several seconds before she firmly informed him that while she understood why he was miffed- he had no right to be. She startled him with those words as she then went on to tell him that though she was a small woman, she was far from weak.

And then she smiled at him and slipped his stack of books across the desk for him to collect and sweetly informed him that if he wanted to save someone- he'd picked the wrong princess. She preferred to take care of herself.

He'd stared at her for a few seconds, while trying to wrap his head around everything that she'd just said before finally nodding his head and muttering an apology for offending her.

She was nice enough to tell him that she wasn't offended. And there was absolutely nothing wrong with having good manners. But some manners- while nice, tended to be misunderstood by some. It was best to gauge what sort of person he was speaking with before attempting to act gentlemanly. Especially since women nowadays had no idea what the hell chivalry even was anymore.

He understood what she was saying, and even thanked her for the advice before deciding to take the chance to try asking her for her phone number. It was a bold move on his part. But he couldn't help it.

He really wanted to get to know her better. And nothing short of an actual apocalypse would deter him.

She was surprised by his request once he finally managed to get the words out. It took him a minute or so due to stammering.

Which was a first for him. Especially since he usually didn't stammer no matter how shy he felt. But in the end, he walked out of the library with a phone number. Just as he had hoped.