Over the next few days, they fell into a routine of sorts. One that Kurama found to be incredibly informative about his future bride. For the most part, things went well.

Since Ichigo's home had burned down, she had gotten a week or so off of work to do what she needed to do to sort herself out. While he had gone back to work despite trying to get a while longer off so that she wouldn't be alone.

It wasn't that he didn't want her to have some time to adjust to being in a new habitat.

It was purely so that he could make sure that she was adjusting well and was as comfortable in his home as humanly possible. Which was technically an easy feat and at the same time not.

For starters he'd noticed that she was a tad bit jumpy and skittish. And though he asked her why...she merely waved his concerns off by just saying that it was normal for her when she was in a new, strange place.

So, while he attempted to do small things to help her relax a bit easier. Things like making her tea, playing soft music, and even holding her... He observed that one of the few times that she actually managed to relax was when he was sitting on the couch working and she would curl up next to him and doze off.

He also noticed that she had made good on stealing some of his shirts since some of them went missing the first evening. Which was amusing to him to say the least. Especially since she left him little items to 'steal' for himself.

He also noticed other things too over the next few days. Things like, she was an early riser. And typically got up long before he did so that she could have breakfast, coffee and a few other things done so that he wouldn't have too.

Which was nice.

But there were other things that tended to grab his attention too. Though not exactly in a good way. In fact, some things downright worried him. For instance, loud sounds- freaked her out. Badly.

He discovered this on accident when he'd gotten a phone call one evening after work while she was trying to rest after a day of spending her time going shopping for some of the things that they had forgotten to get the first time.

Soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes and other things had been left out of their other shopping trip. So, she'd made time while he was working that day to go and grab some since she had been using his stuff up till then.

He had been speaking with Yusuke about their group's yearly get together at Genkai's, and they had gotten into an argument of sorts. Now, while this wasn't exactly unusual for them since they tended to argue about some things quite often. What was unusual was the fact that he had raised his voice.

Usually, he spoke in very soft and gentle tones since it tended to coax others into a false sense of security and even comfort. Depending on the situation. What people didn't usually know about him was that he could easily be as loud as Yusuke when he was angrily screaming obscenities.

He made the mistake of raising his voice at his friend in warning- that he would decide to attend the get together or not on his own. Yusuke didn't have any right to decide for him.

Especially when he had Ichigo to think of.

He felt it was a tad bit early for her to be exposed to some aspects of his life and wasn't sure how well she would deal with those things once they were discovered. It would be better if he could ease her into things. So, if he missed this year's gathering because he wished to be careful... Yusuke had no right to but pissed and try to bully him into anything.

He hadn't realized that he had gotten as loud as he had.

But at the same time, he hadn't thought that it would matter much since Ichigo was likely napping after her long day. He'd left her dozing on the couch so that he could move to the study to take Yusuke's call.

Once he'd hung up his phone and walked out of the room and gone back to the living room- he'd noticed that his dearest was missing almost automatically. But had assumed that she had woken up and just gone to the bathroom.

He was agitated by Yusuke's lack of consideration and was pretty upset. He'd started to re seat himself in his chair so that he could take a moment to do some breathing exercises to calm himself but suddenly stopped when the couch moved.

Or maybe jumped would be more accurate?

Frowning, he placed one hand on the arm of the couch and started to lean over the top of it while his free hand slowly inched towards his hair- and to the many, many demon seeds that he kept there as weapons- as he peeked around the corner of the chair and suddenly froze up at what he saw.

Ichigo was hiding behind the couch.

Her body was wedged between the couch and the wall, she had flattened herself as much as she could in an effort to blend with the floor. And she had a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from making any sound.

But it was her expression that scared him.

It was one thing to see panic or fear. He knew how to deal with those well enough. But her expression was neither panicked nor fearful. It was something else entirely. And if he hadn't have seen it for himself then he never would have believed it. Her expression was fierce, and predatory.

Something clicked in his mind then about why she had hidden herself.

She had concealed herself so that she could ambush someone. A possible intruder maybe?

Had hearing him raise his voice to Yusuke done this? Had he really startled her so badly that her fight or flight instincts had been riled?

He didn't really know. All he could do was assume as he started to try coaxing her out of her hiding place. It took him nearly thirty minutes, but finally she crawled out from behind the couch. And even then, she was wary and searching for a possible threat.

He tried, repeatedly to assure her that everything was fine. There was nothing to be afraid of. But she didn't seem as if she heard him. And later that night when he'd turned in for the evening, he couldn't help but notice that she followed him and made herself comfortable outside of his bedroom, on the floor.

It took him a second to understand her intentions to guard him while he slept, and because of this he decided to have her spend the night with him in his bedroom.

He stayed awake half the night just watching her, before finally managing to doze off despite himself. The next morning, Ichigo greeted him in her typical manner, while fixing him something for breakfast. The events of the previous night all but forgotten for the moment.

He'd spent his time watching her while he ate, carefully mulling over the various things that could have made her react to his raised voice in such a peculiar manner. Kuchiki had told him the other day that Ichigo was a fighter. And from her reaction the previous evening- he could only assume that she had at some point in her life- been in a life-or-death situation.

Perhaps one that required careful calculation, hiding, and an ambush?

Of course, on the heels of this realization was the question of why the hell none of the reports that he'd been given by Koenma had even mentioned anything about something combat related? Was it being kept under wraps?

Or did Koenma even know about it himself?

To be honest, Koenma wasn't the type to leave something so important out of any of his reports. The toddler tended to be as honest as possible with him and the others when they went to him for anything. So, he couldn't quite fathom why anything combat related in Ichigo's past might have been left out.

Finally, because it was nagging at him, Kurama decided to ask Ichigo about her reaction the previous evening as she was collecting their dishes to put them in the sink.

"Ichigo, darling-"

"Hn?"

"I need to ask you something about last night. Do you recall what happened?" He asked carefully as he reached out and took hold of one of her hands to stop her from moving. She paused and cast a curious look his way but eventually sighed and answered him.

"Of course, I do."

"Will you tell me what happened? Why were you hiding? Why were you acting so strangely? I confess, that you frightened me a bit-"

She looked down at their hands and seemed to be thinking over something before finally saying, "I'm sorry Shuichi. But I don't really feel comfortable talking about it. Please, be patient."

He thinned his lips a bit in displeasure but didn't push her for more. Instead, he let the subject drop for the moment and collected everything that he needed for work. And before he left, he walked up to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek and told her that he would see her later.

He didn't bother to mention it aloud but obviously he would be looking into things. He just wondered what he would do once he found what he was looking for.