Bats had to take off once he'd gotten her to work, though he did promise to swing back by the library at some point to check up on her again. She had merely waved him off and told him to go save people and leave her alone to her books. He had made a weird sound, almost like a chortle but not, and then left her alone.

She spent hours organizing and re-shelfing some of the books that had been returned to the library over the past week or so. And before she knew it, it was almost eleven and he still hadn't shown up to check on her again.

She tried not to worry about his lack of presence since he'd probably gotten caught up in something with weapons, explosions, high speed chases and crazy people running amok. But she failed miserably at it. Which was by the time her work shift ended, and she started to lock up the building for the night- she had decided to hit the streets and see if she could find him.

She had no sooner stepped out of the library to do just that when she spotted a sleek black motorcycle pulling up to the curb. Stuffing the library keys into her pocket, she eyed the cyclist suspiciously.

But only cause the guy was wearing a costume like Bats did.

It wasn't until the guy slipped his helmet off, that she even realized who he was. It was Dick. One of the kids that hung out with Bats and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne.

"There you are." The kid said almost jovially. "Have a nice time at work?"

Walking over to him, she gave him a small smile as she replied. "But of course, those books are delightful company. They're much better conversationalists than a certain onesie clad boogieman."

He barked out a laugh, his shoulders shaking with mirth at her very accurate description of Bruce's Batman costume. Sans the leather and rubber of course.

"Alfred will be heartbroken to hear that you like books over the lot of us." He quipped back in a teasing manner. She merely grinned to show that she wasn't the least bit afraid of Alfred's wrath.

"Alfred prefers books over the lot of you too, I'm sure."

Dick grabbed his chest dramatically and gasped as if he were in pain and then tried to glare at her without letting his amusement show but failed given the fact that she could see the quirk of his lips.

"Oh, how you wound me princess!" He said dramatically as she moved a little bit closer to him before finally asking soberly,

"Is he okay?"

"Hn? Oh. He's fine, princess," He said almost absently as he reached into a bag that he'd had slung over his shoulder and started to dig something out as he tacked on. "He's in the middle of a standoff with the Joker, Harley, and their goons so he'll be working for a bit loner."

She sighed in relief and looked away from him as he made a triumphant sound and then pulled a spare helmet out of his bag. She blinked at the helmet for a second as he beamed at her.

"What's this?"

"A helmet."

"Yes...but why are you holding it out to me?" She asked suddenly getting a sinking feeling in her stomach. His expression was carefully blank, all previous humor and teasing manner had vanished, and he looked...oddly grim.

"Look, I don't know what he was thinking earlier-"

"When earlier?"

"When he decided to walk with you out in the open-"

"Oh, that earlier."

"But he shouldn't have done it."

"I agree. That's a good way to get a gal killed." She deadpanned with a nod of her head as Dick scowled at her.

"True," He said reluctantly after a moment or so of silence. "And since your face has been all over the news the past few hours-"

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"It's not safe for you to return to your home at this time." He explained as she dug her cell phone out of her pants pocket and started to look up the local news specifically for Gothem City while Dick shut his mouth and waited for her to see the inevitable damage.

Gothem City had been abuzz with the news that Batman had been seen in public with a woman, for hours. So much so that people were tossing out theories about 'Beauty taming the Beast' and some other ridiculous theories about her being his girlfriend or even his sugar baby.

All of the theories and stories made her want to gag. But instead of doing that, she lifted her eyes from her cell after quickly reading something about rewards being offered for information on her identity.

Her eyes were wide and disbelieving. And Dick's expression...was totally apologetic as he held out the helmet to her again and patiently waited for her to take it. And once she did, she knew that she would likely be putting it on so that she could ride with him back to the mansion.

She understood the reasons why she would be leaving with the kid; she just wasn't terribly sure how she should feel about it.

Slipping the helmet over her head, she was then coaxed onto the motorcycle behind Dick and told to hold onto him. After that, they were off.

The moment that she stepped through the door of the mansion, Alfred was there wringing his hands and looking worried. For her? Or Bats himself? She was sure, but she managed to give him a friendly smile regardless and allowed him to sweep her up into very unprofessional hug for a butler.

Which she didn't mind all that much since she liked him.

He rattled on about how they were going to make sure that she had everything that she needed for her stay and that Bruce had given him the greenlight on taking her shopping for some more essentials, clothing, shoes and anything else that make her stay nice for her.

He gave her the impression that all of them were plotting to force her to move in with them. Though she couldn't quite imagine how a life debt oath could or should possibly be taken this far under any circumstances. No matter how extenuating they may be.

"Everything will be alright, Miss. If it isn't I'll- I'll smite master Bruce with the dreaded book!" Alfred cried, startling her.

It was hard to keep a straight face when an elderly man was crying about smiting someone with a book. All she could think was that the thing must be like a human fly swatter or something. Massive and heavy beyond words. Besides, behind her she could hear Dick feigning a cough behind one of his gloved hands to hide his sniggering. So she must not have been totally wrong about her imaginings.

After he finally let her go, he started to drag her into the dining room to 'feed' her a bit since she was so upset.

Ichigo wasn't sure how exactly being upset led to hunger- but when she tried to tell him that she was fine. He tutted and wouldn't listen to her.

Which made her believe that Bats must have decided to have the man fatten her up after all despite her earlier warning.

She'd be kicking him in the shin again later for this crap. But for the time being all she could do was sit in the chair that Dick pulled out for her to sit in at the long solid wood table, and inwardly groan at how this had suddenly become her life while simultaneously wondering if she could escape out one of the nearby windows.

But those thoughts were quickly nipped in the bud when she found herself sort of cut off from her ideal escape route by Dick. He seated himself between her and the sweet relief of freedom with a knowing grin on his face.

The jerk. She thought while trying to will the kid's dark hair to burst into flames and distract he and Alfred both so that she could flee. It didn't work any, and she certainly felt some guilt about wanting such a thing to happen to the boy.

But she also didn't want her stomach to explode. And it was beginning to look like Alfred was going to stuff her with so much food that that was exactly was going to happen.

She wasn't wrong about that either.

After that, everything seemed to blur a bit for her since she lost track of time while being plied with all kinds of foods and conversation. She wasn't sure why he did it but Alfred for some ungodly reason cooked a full five course meal complete with several different desserts.

Which was insane considering that it was so late at night.

The elder actually laid an honest to god feast out for them. And barely a few minutes into her second forced dinner plate via Dick- Damion appeared in his own little hero costume. Making her almost choke on the bite that she'd just taken because she had no frigging idea just what the hell Wayne was thinking dragging a little kid into his night time activities, but she would be adding another few kicks to his shin for it.

After all, even she knew better than to drag children into her fights. Just because she had been a child soldier was no reason for others to be. In her opinion it was cruel to tear a kid's childhood away from them in such an irresponsible manner.

One should at least wait until they were drafting age.

"Thank you, Alfred." The boy said as the elder laid his meal out for him with a fond smile as the boy then asked "Ah, miss Ichigo, you're here again? Did you miss us that badly?"

Ichigo decided not to comment. Besides, she couldn't anyways.

She'd just taken a bite out of a piece of cheesecake that she'd thought to try out now that her plate was finally clean again- in the hopes that those at the table would stop piling things on her plate anymore- and the stuff was so rich and creamy that it almost felt like her mouth was just glued shut.

Which wasn't terrible if it kept her from overstepping herself and saying something dumb or hurtful to the boy since he was still fairly young and impressionable.

Her silence allowed Dick cleared his throat once he managed to swallow his own bite of cheesecake and took a second to explain that Bats had done something dumb and now her face was plastered all over the local news and stuff.

Damion didn't seem very surprised by the news. Nor did he seem very apologetic about her situation either.

Apparently, he'd heard about everything while he'd been out on patrol and had already had some time to get used to the idea of her being under foot for a while.

She was glad that he was at least adjusting well since she was still struggling with the idea herself. But only because she wasn't sure she liked being around people who didn't know her very well.

After all, she was a strange person.

She'd known for more than a few years that she wasn't totally human anymore. How could she be when she had an inner Hollow, a Soul Reaper dad, and Quincy blood in her? Not to mention all of the changes she'd gone through over the years, both physically and spiritually had all but ensured that any human that she had left in her was miniscule at best.

And if that wasn't enough to clue others in... She moved around all hours of the day and night. She rarely slept that much. She ran around Gothem City like she used to run around her hometown, stopping all kinds of other unsavory things that went bump in the night.

And when she had a bit too much energy to burn- she hunted in her Hollow mask, of course. Not because she was hungry or anything like that. But because it was a nice way to blow off steam.

Besides, scaring the bejesus out of random criminals that she caught red handed on occasion was fucking fun.

But all of these were things that she doubted that Bats and his family would completely understand. Much less allow her to continue doing. How was she supposed to live her life as a 'human' when there were people around her that could ruin everything?

What if she did something stupid and accidently scared one of them? What if Bats and his family saw her doing something and decided to have her locked away in a lab to be studied?

There was always something that she was trying her best to avoid. Those things were usually at the top of her list though. That and marrying, since she wasn't exactly sure how a human man would handle having a freak for a wife.

Once she finally finished eating everything she could handle, she quickly excused herself to go and lay down, feeling sick both to her stomach and at heart.