An hour later-

Ichigo wasn't sure how this had happened.

All she knew was that she had done exactly as she had been told/requested to do and now she was in trouble. Honestly, she knew that everything traced back to her grandpa and his weird notion to make her the center of attention, but she reluctant to really blame him since her ignorance had played a part in things as well.

So, it wasn't completely his fault.

After all, if she hadn't been forced up on the stage to give a speech instead of the class representative- whom had already been called to give a speech- then maybe things might have played out differently.

But no. Her grandpa's silliness had led to this.

And by this, she meant being called out to the school yard for a fight by the very guy that had been supposed to give the speech earlier.

Man, he looks pissed. She thought as he threw a fireball her way. She dodged it easily despite the force behind it and stared at him with an unimpressed look on her face.

"So, what was it that you wanted?" She asked, as if she didn't already know thanks to the attack that he'd carelessly tossed at her. Still...she thought it might be a good idea to play dumb for now so that she could minimize some of the damage that could happen to the school.

"I am Alice Asmodeous, and I was the one supposed to make the speech before." He said, staring at her hard. Obviously thinking that his name would mean something to her.

Which gave her a decent chance to size him up from where she was standing.

From what she could see, he was a pretty boy with fair skin, perfect features, beautiful eyes and soft pink hair. Really, as far as looks went he was on par with some of the models that she usually saw on magazine covers. So, he was probably used to being the center of attention and fawned over and that was probably why he had called her out here.

She had taken the spotlight from him, though accidentally. And he didn't like that.

When his name got no reaction from her, his eyes narrowed at her in displeasure and he went on to say, "But then you relied on your connection to the principal and took my place. I am of the noble Asmodeous house, and you have besmirched my honor! So, I have decided to test your mettle and see if you are worthy-"

She tuned him out after that since he was annoying her with his uppity attitude. But she probably shouldn't have done that since it just seemed to upset him more and he threw another fireball at her.

She dodged it again while mentally lamenting about how weird shit like this kept happening to her all the time and was barely aware of the fact that he was gearing up to try and beat her up. Or burn her to a crisp. She supposed that he wasn't very picky about which happened first as long as he managed to do her some violence.

Either way, she wasn't sure what to be more embarrassed about.

That he took such offense to something that she had been forced to do. The fact that he thought that he could hurt her. Or the fact that someone so much weaker than her was picking a fight with her.

From where she was standing it was almost as if a Chiwawa puppy was trying to pick a fight with Godzilla. Just how the hell was she supposed to deal with him without killing him or breaking his spirit?

Really, she was worried about this.

Unknown to her, she had been dodging fireballs for the better part of twenty minutes now and wasn't even frazzled or out of breath. Whereas Asmodeous was down on the ground on his hands and knees, panting as if he'd just run a marathon and his temper was only flaring up more.

"W-Wha? How can this be?" She heard him ask and blinked as she focused on his face. Was it weird that she thought he was kind of cute all flushed and upset? She wondered idly. "You've been dodging all of my attacks for the past twenty minutes! I haven't even hit you once!"

She sniggered without meaning to. It just slipped out before she could stop it and she had to quickly cover her mouth to stop the sound from escaping her lips.

Her snigger was of course met with a positively malicious glare as Asmodeous growled at her. "Am I funny to you?" He was, but it was wrong of her to laugh at someone who was essentially a kid. "A weakling? Pitiful? Perhaps someone unworthy of you even fighting?"

She said nothing. She simply kept her hand over her mouth and blinked down at him as he bared his fangs at her in rage. And all that went through her mind was, Uh-oh, as he slowly got to his feet and created a sword out of fire.

Now that was impressive. Even she couldn't do something like that, and she had reishi out to wazoo and a damn fine imagination too.

"If I can't beat you with magic then I'll beat you with martial arts!" He declared as he got into...a fighting stance?

She didn't know what the hell he was doing at this point, but it certainly wasn't martial arts. He was wide open, and his defenses were disgustingly weak. Whoever had taught him how to fight had done a very poor job of it. But no matter. She'd deal with that later since he had decided to charge at her.

Contrary to what many thought, she had been learning martial arts since she was very young. And despite the fact that she no longer attended classes- it didn't mean that she no longer practiced it. Quite the contrary, she had learned more than simple martial arts. She had been taught a wide variety of mixed martial arts and other fighting techniques from all over the world.

So, charging her wasn't going to do Asmodeous any favors since it would be easy for her to stop him. She was still worried about what beating him would do to the guy but at this point if she didn't defend herself things would only get worse.

And with that thought firmly in mind, she waited until he was within her reach and then stepped forward while catching his arm with one hand and nailed him in the face with her elbow. He cried out, blood spurted into the air from his nose, and then she flipped him over her head and let him hit the ground headfirst with a painful sounding thud that had her wincing in sympathy.

He lay there, seemingly unconscious as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously and stared at him. Idly wondering what the hell to do now.

A while later she was in her grandpa's office, explaining to him just what he had caused. Not that the elderly demon seemed to care all that much given how hard he was laughing. He didn't even seem to care that she had gotten into a fight!

How was she supposed to deal with this?! It simply wasn't normal to her.

"Grandpa, you do understand that you're an adult here, right?" She asked, momentarily forgetting that technically she was to.

"Oh, of course my dear girl." Sullivan said as his laughter slowly began to die down and he leaned forward in his seat to lace his fingers together and study her.

"Then why are you laughing about what happened? Fighting shouldn't be encouraged between students." She pointed out, though not unkindly.

"Hn, is that so?" He questioned as he got a thoughtful look on his face before slowly admitting. "I suppose that your right about that," And then tacked on. "Perhaps if you were still in the human world, then fighting wouldn't be encouraged. However, this is the Netherworld. And demon's fight. It's simply how we are."

She was quiet for several moments as she mulled over what he had just explained to her. "So, fighting is encouraged here?" She questioned, looking worried when she finally glanced his way.

"Yes, sadly, it is."

"I see."

Sullivan sighed and stood up so that he could walk over to her and drape an arm around her slender shoulders. His grandchild was so small, delicate, and fragile compared to the usual sturdiness of his kind. And as difficult as it was, she also had certain human thoughts and feelings. All of which were an important part of her as a person. This was something that he couldn't overlook continually or ignore.

Not if she was to thrive here under his care.

"Forgive me, Ichigo." He said, meaning every word. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad or to belittle your concerns. It's just natural that young demons will fight to establish a sort of pecking order among themselves."

"It's okay, grandpa. Human kids do it to." She said with a sigh. Sullivan gave her a slight squeeze and was about to say something else when the doors to his office were suddenly thrown open and Ichigo stiffened in place and stared at the newcomer warily.

"Pardon the intrusion, Principal Sullivan, but I have come here to see Lady Ichigo."

Ichigo made a small, strained whimpering sound. Obviously not liking that the Asmodeous boy had been searching for her.

This made Sullivan feel very protective of her. After all, she'd already fought once today and wasn't feeling up to doing so again. "Ah, young Asmodeous. Have you come for revenge on my granddaughter?"

"No, Principal!" Asmodeous said with a warm smile as he walked over to Ichigo and then dropped to kneel on the floor in front of her.

"I have come because I was fairly defeated in combat by Lady Ichigo. And on top of that she even carried me to the infirmary for treatment. I was so moved by her kindness." He reached out and seized hold of Ichigo's hands, startling her into jumping and bowed his head over them as he spoke the next sentence. "And because of that I, Alice Asmodeous will submit myself to the law of demons and now belong to Lady Ichigo."

"Huh?" Ichigo said unintelligibly, not knowing what was happening now. But from her expression, Sullivan could tell that she was freaking out about it anyway as Asmodeous grinned and lifted his head and said excitedly.

"I am your eternal servant, Lady Ichigo. Together let's make all other freshmen kneel and bend under your command!"

"Huh?!"

"My precious granddaughter has her first subordinate!" Sullivan squealed as he whipped out a camera and started snapping pictures again, leaving Ichigo wishing that she could just disappear.