Ichigo didn't sleep that night.
She simply hadn't bothered to try regardless of just how tired, or drained she felt right then by the day's events. Her last day in the human world had been weirdly anti climatic and left a bit of a bad taste in her mouth since she hadn't been able to say goodbye to her sisters or friends.
Much less explain what was going to happen despite the fact that her dad had approached her a few days prior to tell her what he was going to do.
To say that he hadn't been happy with the Soul Reapers for putting a target on her back and even using her as bait...was an understatement.
He had been so utterly pissed about the fact that the situation could have ended with her life being taken by one of the people that she had spent so much time and effort getting to know and befriend- that even Kisuke hadn't been able to keep his temper from exploding and he had gotten in each of her friend's faces with his teeth bared at them in rage.
He'd punched a few of them in the face- mainly Byakuya and Kenpachi, and kicked the shit out of Ikakku and Toshiro before turning on Renji and Rukia. Thankfully, he hadn't lashed out at them, but the look of disdain on his face when he had looked at them both had been just as damaging to their feelings.
After that, he had sat her down and told her that he felt that despite the fact that she forgave them for everything, that it wouldn't be good for her to continue her work as a Soul Reaper.
Yet despite his personal feelings about the subject, he had also specified that he knew that the choice to do so was hers and hers alone. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't be happy about it any since they had proven how dangerous they were to her and their family.
Which was only part of why her dad had decided to summon a demon to take her in. The other reason, she was embarrassed to say had to do with some strange events- well, stranger than normal. Especially for her- taking place.
For example, going to sleep one night and waking up with horns, fangs, wings and a tail.
Her dad had been understandably startled by the sight of his eldest child having such interesting new additions to her body once he found her hiding in an old, abandoned building on the other side of Karakura in an effort not to be seen by anyone.
She had been scared, confused and upset about it.
Yet her dad had been strangely calm about the whole thing and had stayed with her for two whole days, helping her to make them disappear. And the second that they had, she had broken down crying right then and there while her dad sat quietly, watching her cry her heart out with a thoughtful expression on his face.
She wasn't sure how, but a day or so after that incident, her dad managed to find some information on their family tree with Kisuke's help. And it had become clear that she was more than a simple human/Soul Reaper/Hollow hybrid.
She had been pretty shocked to learn that she had the blood of both demons and deities as well. Some of which could be traced all the way back to the Soul King- the one who ruled over Soul Society and kept everything in creation from plunging into the void of darkness that it all spawned from.
And it was both because of this new information and also her tendency for odd things to happen to her, her dad decided that it simply wouldn't be good for her to remain with their family in the human world. But at the same time, he flat out refused to send her to Soul Society to live either.
He simply didn't trust many of the Soul Reapers with her wellbeing. Not anymore and while there were always certain exceptions to the rule, he still refused the suggestion on the grounds of their betrayal of her- and by extension, his- trust.
And with that firmly in mind, he went ahead and planned out what needed to be done.
She sighed, feeling a little bit like a kicked puppy or kitten that had trusted the wrong human the more that she thought back on everything. She knew that her dad had done everything to secure her future. She didn't blame him for any of this at all.
She blamed herself for being such a freak of nature.
So much so that she had spent her entire night, sitting on her new bed, glaring at her new school uniform in the futile hope that it would burst into flames. But it didn't. The damn thing didn't even smoke or smolder.
Which was irritating to say the least, but she'd inevitably get over it since she knew her new grandpa's reasoning for wanting her to attend the school that he'd mentioned to her the previous night.
Besides, it wasn't as if his idea for her to attend the school didn't hold some merit. She did need to be trained on how to use her new abilities. Plus, the fact that she would be at a school meant that she could learn more about the Netherworld too since she would likely be there for many, many years.
And even she knew that it was for the best to learn everything that she could for her future's sake. So, in the end, she relented despite her very malicious relationship with both the color pink and skirts of any kind.
Glancing over at the weird alarm clock that she'd been given, she absently took note of the time and decided to go ahead and get her morning routine started.
First off, she went and took a shower since she had found some new clothing in her dresser, all of which were obviously the latest styles and meant entirely to appeal to her as a girl. She would admit, as far as clothing went, very little of it was actually frilly or girly. In fact, much of it was pretty normal. Which was a relief to her since she'd likely end up destroying all of it- like she was planning to do to her school uniform- if it were.
Grabbing only a plain white shirt, some socks, and an underwear and bra set, she then pushed her dresser drawer closed and made her way to the bathroom. After that she spent the next fifteen minutes trying to figure out how the bath worked, and which items were soaps, shampoos and so on.
No, she did not mind that many of the bathing items that she went through smelled just like flowers since her only other alternative to an actual bath here was to roll herself in a ton of flowers and hoped that it covered her human BO.
After that, her bath was fairly peaceful and allowed her some extra time to try and relax before things were likely to get strange again. She had just gotten out of the bath several minutes prior and had already brushed her teeth and was in the process of dressing when she heard the door in the bedroom open and light footsteps moving around the room.
Taking a deep breath, she gave her reflection in the large mirror on the wall over the bathroom sink one last look before then turning and going to see who was in her room.
Opening the bathroom door, she stepped out and automatically noticed, that yes, someone was indeed in her room. No, it wasn't her new grandpa. And lastly of all, the person was an unknown male.
Was her grandpa someone who was prone to people barging into his home often? She wondered as she walked a bit further into her room to get his attention.
"Hello, intruder." She greeted cheerfully, obviously surprising the demon from the way that his jaw dropped open for several seconds as he stared at her wide eyed in disbelief. "What are you doing in my room?"
The demon stayed quiet for another heartbeat or so before finally coming back to his senses and closing his mouth. All expression vanished from his face and gave him a robotic sort of appearance to her. If it wasn't for the fact that he had red cat ears and a long black tail twitching behind him, that is.
He took up a weird stance and bowed to her before saying politely, "Forgive my intrusion miss. But I was sent to fetch you by my master, Lord Sullivan for breakfast."
She looked him over thoughtfully before deciding that he seemed like a pretty honest guy, for a demon. So, she probably wasn't going to hurt him for being in her room.
"I see. And what's your name?" She asked curiously.
He gave her the smallest, but warmest smile that she'd ever seen before and replied softly, almost shyly. "I am Opera, Lord Sullivan's security devil."
"Nice to meet you Opera. I'm Ichigo."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ichigo." He said in a happy tone. Or...it sounded like a happy tone to her anyway. To be honest, she wasn't really sure what he was feeling since it was hard to gauge what demons felt simply by body language and tone alone. She was about to say something when he beat her to it and asked, "Is there anything that you need help with Miss? Getting ready for school, maybe?"
"Why Opera, if I didn't know better, I would think that you're judging me for hanging out in just a shirt." She said teasingly when she caught him staring at her bare legs with something of a frown on his face.
"It's not my place to judge, Miss. And it is a very nice shirt." Opera said automatically despite the fact that she was fairly sure that he was cataloging the scars on her feet and legs since he had yet to look away from them.
She didn't feel hurt or offended by his staring at them but she still would have liked for him to stop.
He must have caught her scowling at him or something, because he finally did stop. He also averted his eyes so that his wouldn't meet her own.
He must have caught her scowling at him or something, because he finally did stop. He also averted his eyes so that he was instead looking at her pile of school stuff. After which, he finally asked, "You do not want to wear the uniform, do you?"
"No. I don't." She replied honestly as he nodded his head in understanding and then questioned.
"What is it about the uniform that you dislike?"
"Both the color and the skirt."
"Ah," Was all that he said before tacking on. "I believe that I can fix the problem if you would like me to."
She blinked at him and then got really excited. She couldn't help it. She really, really didn't want to wear that damn skirted uniform! So, if he could somehow give her an alternative to wear instead, then that was wonderful to her since she didn't exactly look forward to her scars being exposed to other people her age.
"Really? You can do that?"
"Yes, Miss. I can. Do you have any color preferences?"
"Black and white, please!" She said quickly. "I'd like a black jacket, black pants, black vest, and a black ribbon."
He smiled at her and bowed as he said, "Right away, Miss." And then turned and quickly ran off to fulfill her request, leaving her to wait for him to return.