The morning started out a bit differently for Ichigo, mostly because she was woken up a few minutes before the alarm went off by Opera. Apparently, he had spent all night fretting about whether the salve that he had used on her bruises and other injuries from their spar had really healed her.

So, she had sat up and let him check her body over to make sure that the salve had worked, and once he was happy with the results- he had scampered off to run a bath for her so that she could wash the stuff off. Which was sweet of him, but totally unnecessary once she was finally able to stop yawning.

However, during the brief time that he was in her bathroom preparing her bath for her, Ichigo became aware of something. It wasn't exactly a bad thing, but...she was feeling off. Well, not exactly off-off but still unlike her usual self.

Which meant that she was going to begin her period within a few days. A week at most.

And being as she wasn't in the human world anymore and was living with two demons- more specifically, demon males- she had no idea if the Netherworld had anything that she could use. Or if they would even understand what was happening to her.

She didn't exactly relish the thought of walking around for seven days smelling like fresh blood to them. She had no idea how they would react to such a thing. And that was worrying to her.

So, once Opera was finished up in her bathroom and about to leave her, she pulled him to a stop and hesitantly asked him if there were any female hygiene items that she could use for her menstrual cycle.

In hindsight, maybe she should have just spent the next week or so camping out in the forest surrounding her grandpa's home. It certainly would have been less stressful for her due to Opera's bizarre reaction to the mention of her period coming up.

All she knew was that one minute she was asking him a question and the next he had her in his arms and was hugging her very tightly. So much so that it kind of hurt.

"Uh, O-Opera! Your kind of crushing me!" She said as she squirmed in his grasp in an effort to either loosen it or escape. But despite her words, he remained oblivious to her discomfort.

Or so it seemed to her anyway.

In actuality, Opera was very much aware of her discomfort.

It was just that the mention of her cycle had simply scared him and put him on edge as he looked around her room to check and see if they were actually alone. And once he was sure that there was absolutely no one else nearby, or lurking outside of her window, he slowly- very slowly, released her so that he could take a moment to study her.

She looked so confused that he couldn't help the weird way that his chest ached for her even as he asked, "How long until your cycle starts? Do you know?"

"Oh, uh...a few days or maybe a week if I'm lucky."

"I see," He said as he reached out and gently ruffled her hair as he added. "Please promise me that you will tell no one else about this and leave everything to me."

"Huh?" She said as she tilted her head in puzzlement before then nodding her head and promising him. He smiled at her while he mentally began to systematically go over plans.

Plans to reinforce the mansion's defenses. Plans on which battle tactics would be best to employ. But most of all, plans to strangle his master Sullivan for not finding her a partner to help her through her upcoming cycle.

Then again, his master probably hadn't bothered to even look for a partner for her because of the fact that he didn't wish for her to be taken from him just yet. Mistress Ichigo was still very young, after all. But she was also an adult.

A very desirable adult.

Opera wasn't such a fool that he was blind to the fact that any demon would be damned lucky to have his young mistress in any capacity. Likewise, he also wasn't blind to her appeal to others.

She was so very warm, kind, compassionate and innocent. All of which were very rare qualities in the Netherworld. But she was also incredibly powerful and strong. Which were also very desirable traits to demons. Couple those things with her mastery of combat abilities and her exponential growth and he was well aware of just what kind of fiend his young Mistress was going to become in the future.

And all of those things were even more of a reason for him to fight to keep her safe.

Walking through the house that his master had had built- it occurred to him that it had only truly become a home to him when his mistress had been brought there. He was sure that his master would agree with him if he knew what he was thinking right then.

Stretching out his senses as he moved, he could easily tell that his Mistress was already bathing herself and his master was in his study. Changing direction, that was where he went since he needed to have a word with his master immediately.

Upon reaching the study, he didn't bother to knock- no the severity of the impending situation needed to be impressed upon his master- and for that, rudeness was considered to be necessary.

He pushed open the study door with so much force that the hard wood slammed into the wall and cracked it, causing his master Sullivan to jump in his chair behind his large desk.

"Opera! What has that door and wall done to you?" Sullivan asked as he stared at the younger demon in displeasure.

"Forgive my rudeness, sir, but it was necessary to get your attention," Opera began, and then reached out and quickly closed the door behind him before daring to speak another word. "There is a situation that requires your upmost and immediate attention."

"Hn? A situation?"

"The young mistress is about to begin her cycle."

Sullivan went eerily still for several heartbeats before finally shouting in shocked disbelief, "She's about to start her evil cycle?!"

Opera went ram rod stiff where he stood for about two seconds before growling out, "What? No! She's about to begin her reproductive cycle, you fool!" And now there were two things to go over instead of just one.

Sullivan's jaw went slack at hearing this- this terrible but also exciting news.

After all, a demoness's reproductive cycle only happened every twenty or so years. And during that time, said demoness tended to lock herself away with a partner to help her through her cycle.

More often than not this led to pregnancy for the demoness. However, the infant mortality rate in the Netherworld was staggering and just because the demoness was able to carry to term and give birth didn't always mean that the child/children would live for long.

In fact, many of the children born from such cycles tended to die very, very young due to various things.

Circumstances, bloodline magic, whether or not the demoness was able to care for the child/children properly, nature, the harshness of the Netherworld's climate... Honestly there was so much stacked against the newly born infant demons and their survival that every so often only a few hundred children throughout the Netherworld tended to survive against all odds.

It was why many families only had one child born to them. And the adults tended to be viciously protective of said young one.

That being said, there were other things about a female demon's reproductive cycle that tended to need to be taken care of as well.

For starters, if a demoness was from a good family- like nobility- then announcements had to be sent out to other demons so that they would be aware of the fact that a demoness was up for grabs.

This meant that he would have to announce that Ichigo was going to begin her cycle before it happened and then fortify his home's defenses to see if there was anyone brave enough- or in this case- foolish enough to attempt to fight him for her.

This meant that there was a possibility that she could be taken from him. And he didn't like that, at all.

"Opera."

"Sir?"

"Begin fortifying our defenses. And also, you will be going with Ichigo to school as a bodyguard until her cycle begins." Sullivan said, not needing to go into detail about the reasons why the security devil's presence would likely be necessary at Babyls for the time being.

"I will begin battle preparations at once," Opera said with a respectful bow as he vowed to his master. "All will be ready before the allotted time."

"Very well. I will begin the preparations on my end." Sullivan said as he turned his attention to writing out the announcements, and trying to find his darling grandchild a partner that would care for her during her time of vulnerability and need.

Ichigo had a nagging feeling that something bad was about to happen to her again.

Especially when she stepped out of the house to go to school and Opera suddenly appeared out of nowhere dressed in a thin red long jacket with what looked like a katana sword attached to his hip and told her in no uncertain terms that he would be going with her to school for a little while.

Ichigo wasn't stupid.

She knew that Opera's behavior likely had to do with her question earlier, so she knew that he was doing more than simply going to school with her. He was escorting her.

And the presence of the katana meant that he was doing so with the intention of protecting her.

Yet despite knowing this she merely nodded her head in understanding and welcomed his company since she couldn't have stopped him anyway. Besides, maybe observing him a little bit would give her some clue about why he felt the need to act as her escort/protector all of a sudden.

The two of them began walking and had managed to get a pretty decent distance from their home when Az suddenly appeared.

"Az!" Ichigo called out as she waved at him as soon as he saw them. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to walk you to school master!" Az called back to her as he began to jog over to them.

Opera reacted to her friend's presence as one would a venomous snake.

He grabbed her and quickly pushed her behind him as his hand then started towards his katana but was stopped halfway there when Ichigo snatched his hand in a vice-like grip and refused to let it any closer to the blade. Her smile never faltered, not even when she shot him a dark look of warning.

And Opera wisely didn't argue with her for her interference as Az finally reached them and asked her.

"Did you sleep well master?"

"I did. I slept very well." She said, calmly. Trying to appear as unbothered as possible since Az was pretty oblivious to how close he had come to being hurt by Opera just now.

"I'm so glad. especially since we're likely to run into Valoc again today and I worry that this time you may be the one that drops from playing with her for too long."

Ichigo hummed, already knowing that the girl from the previous day was very likely to seek them out to play again as she slowly released Opera's hand and gave his jacket side a slight, yet subtle tug so that the katana was better hidden from sight.

After all, she didn't want anyone noticing the weapon and freaking out about him being armed. Especially since she had a feeling that that could somehow come back on her.

"You don't have to worry about me so much Az, I can keep up with Clara." She said as she shifted her grip on her school bag so that she could reach up and ruffle his hair affectionately.

Az flushed and gave her a cute, happy smile that lit up his face like a Christmas tree before finally noticing Opera standing there, silently observing the two of them with a great deal of interest and asking, "Master, I don't mean to pry...but who is this?"

"Oh, that's right! You've probably never met before." Ichigo said absently as she looked from Opera to Az and back again.

She was about to introduce the two of them so that Opera would know that Az was friendly and not to try taking the kids head off again- but the cat demon beat her to it by introducing himself to Az.

"I am Opera, the security devil of Lord Sullivan and his family." The cat demon said with a bow towards Az.

"Oh, I see." Az said as he then continued with his introduction. "My name is Alice Asmodeus and the servant of Lady Ichigo. It's a pleasure to meet you, Opera." Az bowed to Opera to show his respect to the security devil and his station.

Ichigo scowled at Az's introduction and watched Opera like a hawk just in case he went for his sword again.

"I see," Opera said as he cast her a funny, undecipherable look. "You are the young master of the Asmodeus family, are you not?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"And you serve my mistress?"

"Uh, yes. I have sworn myself to her service for the rest of my life." Az said happily/proudly.

"I see." Opera said after a moment of careful thought before then suggesting, "Then the three of us shall walk to school together."

Az readily agreed to the suggestion and Ichigo had no choice but to go along with it as she already had been. And with that, the three of them started walking again.