It wasn't a well-known secret, but he tended to watch/observe the human world from the safety of his office sometimes. He couldn't help it. In fact, it was more difficult to resist than anyone could ever comprehend.

Like others of his kind, he was simply unable to stop himself from brimming with curiosity about the human world and the beings that lived there. Especially since many believed humans to be nothing more than fairy tales nowadays.

And it was during one of his 'observations' that he found her.

She had still been just a young child at the time he'd first found her. And as someone who thoroughly enjoyed seeing what mischief children could get themselves into...he simply hadn't been able to look away from her. She had drawn him in like a good soap opera story and he simply hadn't been able to break the thrall that she had held over him.

He had seen her grow from a young girl to a young lady- and while that would typically not be very exciting- she was always into some sort of mischief. So much so that he never seemed to know what she would get herself into next.

One day she was fighting others in a knock down drag out fight. And the next she was stealing a car and taking it for a joy ride and getting arrested for it once she was caught.

It was interesting to see how unrepentant she was once caught and dragged away. After all, as far as he knew all children tended to be afraid or intimidated by adults. But strangely, she wasn't.

Her mug shot had certainly had him laughing so hard that he was in tears from how funny it was. The very image of her captured was one where she'd taken six adults' hostage and was having someone try- try was of course the operative word- to negotiate for their release. And failing miserably while her prisoners cowered behind her.

Her smirk in the picture that day was the very definition of demonic.

And it made him wonder if perhaps the child was more demon than human, though he wasn't exactly sure how that was possible since any demon caught crossing into the human world was generally dragged back and arrested by the border patrol for breaking the law.

Whereas most humans caught crossing over into the Nether world were captured, had their memories erased and were sent back to the human world before any harm could befall them. After all, humans that wound up in the Netherworld were more likely to be devoured than helped.

Humans were considered a delicacy to his kind. But he digressed.

Needless to say, after that, he was completely hooked on the girl and her everyday life.

Every time he was in his office taking a break from work, he was watching her like a hawk. This human child that often times seemed more demon to him than she was human. And then it happened...one day he saw her meet a Soul Reaper, and then later become one herself.

And from that point on he never missed a day of watching/studying her grow and evolve as a human/Soul Reaper hybrid. After all, even to one such as him, humans becoming Soul Reapers were practically unheard of. They were simply too weak and lacking in reishi to stay alive for very long.

Yet she was strong for one so very young. Far stronger than the one who had given her her abilities. And she only became even more strong the more time that she spent fighting and gaining new abilities.

He inevitably got caught watching her by his security devil, and companion Opera.

Who at the time had caught him shouting angrily at the TV that he was channeling the human world through around when the Soul Reaper woman, Rukia was taken. And the other, Ichigo- that was the intriguing child's name- was left a bloody mess on the cold, wet, and rain-soaked ground barely alive.

It took some doing on his part, especially since Opera wasn't terribly interested in the activities of humans. But he finally managed to convince the other demon to sit and watch the girl with him.

And after a little while of seeing her train to go to the Soul Society to save her Soul Reaper friend, Opera's interest in her was piqued. As he had been aware that it would be.

Which resulted in the security devil watching her too since he finally realized that she wasn't simply an ordinary human being and was in fact something new even to their kind.

They got to see the battle between Soul Reapers and others, the events that took place in Hueco Mundo... The battle that was secretly being waged between the one who claimed himself a God and the Soul Reapers was certainly an eye-opening experience.

Especially since that particular battle had had so much power behind it that it actually reached the Netherworld and shook it until every demon and monster in every corner of the realm had feared their imminent demise was at hand.

They had also borne witness to said God's defeat at Ichigo's hands and sadly, even the loss of her abilities for a while once everything was said and done.

Yet despite that, still they watched. Unable to take their eyes off of the girl for more than a mere moment or so. How could they not when there was such an enigmatic and powerful creature loose in the human world? A child that should not exist, yet did.

Honestly watching her became something of an obsession to them both.

They spent so much time speculating what she would get herself into next. So much so- that they made a shrine to Ichigo in his home office, and even made banners that they hung up on the wall of the room with the words, Ichigo Fight! As well as, Onward to Victory! And when they got a little bit bored by the lull of peacefulness that sometimes took place, they often placed friendly little bets on what the next fiasco would be.

Opera tended to win their bets more often than not.

Then one day, he was summoned to the human world. It was several years after finding the girl, and he couldn't help but take immediate notice the unique position that he found himself in upon realizing that he was staring down the deliriously happy face of the man who had sired the very child that he had watched for so long.

The girl was sitting quietly behind the man with her hands folded in her lap, her eyes, alert and watchful as he began to plan. After all, for someone to manage to summon him of all demons, then they must have something that they wanted. Something that he only had the power to give.

He was curious of course but kept it to himself as he gave an exaggerated bow to the man summoning him and said, "I am the great demon, Sullivan. What is it you wish of me?"

He expected a lot of things of his summoner, fear, caution, excitement, awe... After all, humankind had long stopped believing that demons such as he even existed and reduced them to little more than frightening stories. But what he didn't expect was the utter fearlessness of the one that had sired the girl.

Such a lack of survival instinct could be seen as many things to one such as Sullivan. Yet after watching the man's child for so long, he found that he preferred the human's lack of fear over his screams and cowering.

Yes, he expected many things- but what he didn't expect was what the man blurted out in response to his question.

"I wish to secure the future of my eldest daughter, Ichigo."

"Oh?" Sullivan said, his curiosity running rampant as he shifted his gaze to the girl. Despite already knowing what the child looked like, and what an enchanting beauty she had grown into, he still couldn't help but study her in the short and silent moments that he was allowed to do so.

The child was barely a child now, having grown up and was on the cusp of adulthood. Yet despite that- she was such a breathtaking beauty that she reminded him greatly of one of the Thirteen Crowns. The Crown of Lust, Asmodeus Amaryllis.

In his mind, the girl could easily conquer many, many males. Human, Soul Reaper and demon alike. He was certain that all she had to do was crook a finger at them and they would willingly fall to their knees in masses to worship her.

Finally, he finished looking the girl over, and shifted his focus back to her sire. The man had been oddly quiet for the past few minutes and he was beginning to wonder if he were perhaps wasting his time even as Sullivan asked, "And how is it that you wish to secure the child's future?"

There was weirdly no hesitation whatsoever when the male replied forcefully. "I want you to take her as your blood kin, and protect and care for her!"

"Huh?" Sullivan said unintelligibly, obviously taken aback by the man's answer to his question. After all, what sort of human would place their child in the care of a demon?

"Let me explain," He human said, realizing his confusion. "My daughter is unique to the world. Not only does she have human blood, but also the blood of deities, demons, Soul Reapers, and Quincie's as well. And some of her demon/deity abilities have started to awaken."

Sullivan looked at the man as if he were utterly crazy. Especially upon hearing that the girl's deity blood was awakening. Which begged the question that he had often asked himself over the years that he had spent watching her- just how powerful was she?

Did she even have limits anymore? He wondered idly as he lifted a hand to stroke his chin with clawed fingers thoughtfully.

Of course, the human wasn't aware that he was no longer listening to him, so he merely continued talking.

Naturally, because of this fact, my daughter can no longer stay here with our family in the human world and needs to be somewhere where she can not only be trained to control and use her demon/deity abilities in their entirety. But she also needs to be somewhere where she can be free to be herself and flourish."

Sullivan couldn't have been more stunned if he had tried. After all, how does one like him respond to this? Frankly he was now certain that the man was indeed crazy. Positively demented, if he were totally honest. But at the same time, his being summoned here today was starting to make an alarming amount of sense.

An inhuman being had a better chance of caring for the girl and helping her thrive than a human one did since he could connect and understand her on a deeper level.

Sullivan found his mind racing at the multitude of possibilities. All of them involving his unnaturally long life with the girl in it. As his daughter?

No. No. That wouldn't do.

He was far too old to have such a young offspring. Not to mention the fact that other demons would ask many questions on why she had been hidden away as well as where her mother was.

He wouldn't know how to even begin to answer such questions without becoming agitated by those asking. And if he took the girl in as his kin, then he wasn't going to tolerate anyone asking her such personal questions. Especially since the information could be used to usurp her as his heir later on.

He was trying to mentally settle on whether or not he could adopt her as his niece. Or perhaps even his granddaughter. Naturally, he couldn't adopt her as his daughter- she was simply too old.

Or rather, he was. He didn't mind being her loving uncle, but there were certain dangers that came from even being associated with his name. No, it was best if he settled on something else. Something that would allow him to do as he was being asked by the girl's sire and protect her like the secret treasure that he knew her to be.

After a lengthy pause, he finally managed to settle on adopting the girl as his granddaughter. Which wasn't going to be a very difficult feat for him- he was sort of already attached to her. Even though she wasn't aware of his attachment.

"Very well. I will do as you have requested and will take your eldest daughter as my kin and will protect and care for her as my own-" Sullivan promised.

"All the days of her life?" The human cut him off and asked him anxiously.

"Uh...yes."

The man gifted him with the most startlingly brilliant smile that the demon had ever seen before as he thanked him and then turned to motion for the girl to come forward.

Sullivan shifted his focus to Ichigo, watching her like a hawk, curious to see how she was going to react to him up close. He would like to say that she at least had the sense to be wary of him... But that would be a lie since she had apparently inherited her sire's fearlessness of greater beings.

Even so, he couldn't help but marvel at her up close as she came to stand just outside of the summoning circle. Up until then, he had only seen a little bit of her that had been hidden in the shadows of the room and had been going on what he already knew of her from watching her.

But once she was close to him, he wasn't afraid to admit that it was like a religious experience, even for one like him. It was almost as if he were in the presence of a newly born dark god.

Those sharp and predatory eyes of hers- once upon a time had been a very human shade of amber- but were now a very inhuman, glittering crimson that stared directly into the very core of his being, stripping it bare for her assessment.

He found himself shaking a little bit with both fear and anxiety. After all, how could he not? He was very afraid of what might happen if she found him lacking in some way.

Her once vivid copper blond hair was different as well. But then he knew from watching the battle between she and the God just how harrowing the experience had been for her. Her hair had changed after the battle to a shocking shade of white that he attributed to the sheer staggering amount of terror that she had felt during the fighting with him.

She had since dyed it a pale, silvery platinum blond. Which wasn't terrible or anything, in fact it looked very good on her. Both he and Opera had agreed that the color suited her quite well.

Yet after a moment or so of staring at him, while he was internally battling with himself on whether or not he should kneel at her feet and worship her as she deserved after all that she had been through in recent years- she finally smiled at him.

Thankfully, it was a very warm and kind smile. The same one that she saved only for those closest to her.

He nearly started crying from the startling beauty of it. And Opera would be so embarrassed for him if he could see him now. As she reached a hand out towards him, and finally spoke in a polite manner. "Hello Mr. Sullivan. I'll be in your care from now on." As he subconsciously took her hand and carefully shook it.