Ichigo wasn't sure what had gotten into her after her words earlier. All she knew was that there was ragewrathdeath pulsing through her. There was so much of it that she could have choked on the shit.

She wasn't used to feeling like that. Not entirely, anyway despite her past experiences.

Sure, there had been certain instances where she had really lost her head and rampaged before. But no matter how bad it had been then...her rampages had never been quite like this.

She was covered in blood.

Shiro was freaking the hell out in the back of her mind, shouting in glee as she tried desperately to focus on something other than his, More, more, more! Because his madness was showing at the moment.

So, instead she focused on the fact that some of the blood was wet, and sticky. While some of it was dry, but all of it was caked onto her skin making her feel gross all over again.

She hated the feeling because it was making her skin crawl.

Not only that but she wanted to put Zangetsu away. But at the same time, she refused to put her weapon away until it was actually safe to do so. She would not be snuck up on by someone pretending to be dead.

Looking around, she inwardly cringed upon realizing that by all rights, the absolute carnage surrounding her should have nauseated her. Yet it didn't. Which was...peculiar given the sheer number of bloodied, bruised, broken, disemboweled, and utterly destroyed bodies littering the once pristine floor, stretched out over every inch of the room.

After all, she wasn't someone who had ever killed wantonly. She simply held herself to higher standards than that. But even so, right here and now- she felt nothing but satisfaction in her work.

She had been nothing but thorough in systematically wiping the large number of demons out. Yet even so...the ragewrathdeath inside of her began to fizzle out slowly.

Leaving her feeling nothing but annoyed and disgusted with her behavior.

Taking a moment to just breathe helped her to re-center herself before she finally let Zangetsu disappear as she began to walk back to where she had left everyone.

Weirdly enough the second that she was back in the room with them, she noted that no one had moved. At all. Her grandpa, Opera, Az, Clara and her teacher were all still exactly where she had left them when she had challenged the intruding demons and then started fight them.

Though she could tell that all of them were pretty upset/riled by the way that some of them were shaking in place.

Her teacher was staring at her with his eyes impossibly wide, and even with the mask over his face, she could tell that he was slack jawed. Az, and Clara were both utterly silent. Though the two of them were sparkling.

Opera was not only shaking where he stood, but he was also looking like he wanted to pounce on something. His fingers kept flexing as if he wanted to bury his claws into something. Not only that but he was also sort of chewing on his tail. She could see his fangs biting down on the furry appendage and couldn't stop herself from walking over and grabbing his face and prying his jaw open to prevent it from taking any more damage.

Opera stopped moving completely once she had hold of his face. Probably because he was just a bit concerned that she may be about to rip his face off or something. But once she let him go, he uttered a quiet word of thanks to her before she moved over to her grandpa and looked the towering, elder demon in the eye and said firmly.

"We need to talk."

The 'eep' that escaped the elder didn't go unnoticed by her and neither did the shudder that skittered down the demon's spine before she instructed all of them to sit down.

After which, every single one of them all began to trip over themselves just to do as she bid them, quickly. And then once that was done, every single one of them waited for her next order. Or maybe they were simply curious to see what she was going to do next.

Their eyes were looking at her expectantly and she had never felt so much like an insect underneath a telescope before. She shoved the feeling aside though and then told them that she would be back- and not to move unless their lives were in danger.

She needed another bath, badly. So, she was going to take one. And after that she was going to demand some answers about what the hell was going on.

Especially since her past experiences told her that it wasn't normal for so many demons to congregate in one place. Nor was it normal for her teacher to feel some need to be present to fight either.

And then there was Opera's behavior earlier...it was bothering her too. It had been for days now, but she had hoped that someone would just come clean about what was going on. But since no one had- then she would force them to. It was no less than they deserved for whatever was going on.

She was quicker than usual with her bath. Opting for just the barest minimum of cleaning/rinsing off since she didn't know what was going to happen next but didn't want to take too many baths since it would simply prove to be annoying to her. Especially with her fever starting to spike again.

So, after washing/rinsing herself off as much as she could at the moment, she got out and then grabbed some fresh clothing and got re dressed. Then once she was done with that, she went back to where she had left the others.

She had let them sit there long enough wondering what was going to happen next. Now it was time for her to get her answers.

She heard hushed whispering amongst them before entering the room. Then once she was in their sight again, all of them fell into what could only be described as a cautious silence.

It was sort of strange to her, but she found that she liked having such an effect on people. Walking over to the only chair was left empty, she seated herself in it with all the dignity and grace of a queen, and then she took the opportunity to look them each over for injuries.

Az seemed to be the only one with any real visible injuries since the one that she could really see was on his face. Which was a dark blue-black and purple color as well as swollen.

"Az, come here." She finally said, leaning forward a little bit in her seat.

Her friend looked just a little bit wary, but quietly moved to do as she bid him while Ichigo took a second to recall the healing kido that Rukia had taught her a while back.

Her reishi gave the spell a bit more of a kick since she had so damn much of the stuff. But it would still serve its purpose regardless.

Az came to a stop within her reach and she smiled at him and then gently took hold of his arm and tugged him down so that she had better access to his face.

"M-Master?"

"Shhh, let me concentrate on the spell, okay." She said, softly as her hand began to glow a soft pale blue-white color. Az started the second that she touched his injury, but otherwise didn't react to her touch any. He did look pretty surprised though, that she was able to heal him.

The others looked pretty damned surprised too. Not that she paid much attention to that fact. She was far too busy trying to maintain her focus on her task.

All in all, healing him only took several seconds, and she was very pleased with her work when he finally drew away from her to go and sit back down where he had been before. Leaving her to take the time necessary to call upon and heal the others.

Clara wasn't injured any, which was a small miracle in itself. So, she didn't need any healing.

But her teacher, Grandpa, and Opera were another matter entirely.

She wasn't sure just how long all of them had been fighting, but she could tell that it must have been a while given how some of their injuries had wound up layered over each other.

Bruises on top of bruises- some of which reached so deep into their bodies that it had caused harm to organs. Cuts on top of cuts, some were much, much deeper than the first layer of them. And some of them bled so profusely that it was a wonder that no one of them had collapsed or died from it just yet.

She took her time healing all of them, after all various wounds needed varying levels of focus and control. She wasn't sure how she managed it, but she was glad that she did once she finished completely healing all of them. Especially since her grandpa had been dangerously close to having some of his organ's rupture if he moved the wrong way.

Leaning back in her seat as Opera went to sit back down, she took a second to lean her head back against the chair.

Her head was pounding.

But she wasn't sure if it was because of her fever, the general crappiness that she was feeling or if it was a byproduct of her healing everyone. Either way, she was beginning to feel a bit dizzy.

But no matter. She would rest when she was dead. Right now, she had questions.

"Now, that that is out of the way..." She said as she slowly lifted her head again and ruthlessly shoved her discomfort aside. "Does anyone want to tell me why we had so many people intruding into our home?"

Her eyes went straight to her grandpa and the elderly demon let out a small 'eep' again once he realized that she was looking at him. She rested one of her cheeks in the palm of one of her hands and continued to stare at him as he started to fidget nervously.

He knew that he was in trouble with her. He just wasn't sure how much trouble he was in. And to be honest, she wasn't very sure either.

"Oh, um..." He started. She gave him a bored look. "Well, that is-"

Opera knew that questioning his master would be an utterly hopeless endeavor by the way that he was floundering. Which meant that it was up to him to help his master out.

"Miss, if I may?"

She turned her attention to him, and he felt his heart slam against his ribs in fear and excitement. How terrifying his mistress's gaze was! He couldn't seem to stop his body's quaking even as she let out a frustrated sigh.

"Go ahead, Opera." She said, her eyes still glued to him.

"Thank you, miss." He said with a small bow of his head towards her. "The many, many demons that have intruded upon us today came for one purpose... They are mate hunting." Ichigo frowned at the words 'mate' and 'hunting' unsure of what to think despite the fact that one small piece of the current puzzle finally slipped into place as Opera went on to explain.

"Mate hunts usually take place when a demoness begins her reproductive cycle. And it is generally one of the only chances that demons have to either create familiar bonds or alliances with other strong demons."

Ichigo's frown deepened as she turned the words over in her mind before asking, "Is Clara in danger of being taken?"

She wasn't sure if she really wanted to hear the answer. Especially since she had a feeling that she wasn't going to like it much thanks to the sudden pit of dread that had opened up in her stomach. But she still felt that it was necessary to at least check anyway.

"They aren't after her, so no." Opera said, confirming that her feeling of dread was entirely too justified.

"They're here for me, is basically what you're trying to say."

"Yes." Opera said with what looked like a sympathy in his eyes.

"If that's the case then why were all of you fighting them?" Ichigo asked, wanting to understand things a bit more.

"It is simply how things are done, Ichigo." Her grandpa finally decided to chime in. "There are so many demons in the Netherworld desperate for mates, for offspring, and even alliances that it is very dangerous to allow all of them close to you at one time. Many demonesses have been killed during mate hunts by over amorous demons."

"The males tend to rip not only each other apart but the demoness to in the process." Shichiro said. As Ichigo realized that the fighting was a necessary evil used to whittle down the numbers of those mate hunting.

Her grandpa nodded his head sagely before then saying, "There are also dangers in forced bonding as well."

Crap. Ichigo thought as she let her head drop back onto the chair again and let out a snake-like hiss as she said, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

The only thoughts going through her mind right then was, Why? Why was it always her? Why couldn't it be someone else for a change that had to deal with shit like this?

"I'm afraid that we aren't 'fucking' with you." Opera said as he watched her carefully.

Her cycle is bothering her. He could tell by the flush in her face and the way that she kept acting as if her head were hurting her. And he was worried for her.

However, he knew that she would not forgive he and his master if they continued to keep her in the dark about this.

"Dearest, you are tired-" Sullivan said, hoping that he could somehow talk her into going back to her room to rest. But the second that he started to speak her eyes snapped open and she snarled at him.

Causing him to quickly rethink his approach for speaking to her as he quickly ducked behind opera and cowered in the face of her anger.

Scary! He thought as he peeked out at her from the top of one of Opera's shoulders. His poor girl was so mad at them. But she was also trying to remain calm and understanding.

She was such a kind and empathetic girl.

She was so cuuuuteee that he couldn't stand it!

It took some mental gymnastics on her part, but eventually Ichigo was able to calm her anger towards them down some before then asking. "Why didn't either of you tell me what was going on?"

Opera and Sullivan both exchanged a look before her grandpa them said, "It wasn't out of malice or anything, it was just... I have only just found you. And I dislike the idea of someone managing to take you away from me so soon."

"Plus, there was also the fact that with the differences in how you were raised, we weren't sure that you would be able to handle the news well without overreacting. And it is our duty to protect you."

Ichigo wasn't sure what to say to that. But she supposed that they both made a fair enough point. Although, maybe she should set them straight before something like this happened again.

She wasn't sure if different regions in the Netherworld had different laws, codes of conduct, religions, and cultures. But she should at least impress upon them the differences in her and other demonesses.

The trick was doing it without announcing that she was a hybrid that had been raised in the human world.

"Grandpa, Opera pay close attention to what I'm about to say, okay. I can forgive you for keeping certain things from me to protect me. But this incident could have gone very differently from how it has played out here today. So, first of all, if you are uncertain of something- then ask me. Do not leave me in the dark when doing so could be detrimental to my health. Secondly, where I grew up until you found me...mate hunting is against the law."

There was a series of startled gasps from everyone as she went on to explain to them.

"Cycles are also treated differently there. Girls aren't locked away, or treated like they are fragile pieces of glass. We aren't fought over. We do not need partners to help us with sex-" She gave Opera a pointed look and watched as his ears drooped a little. "We deal with our cycles on our own and still function just fine regardless of our discomfort. We are expected to go to school, to do chores, to cook for our families, care for our children ect. Usually without any sort of help. In fact, many of us are so independent minded that we prefer things that way."

"What?!" Sullivan shouted with both of his hands against his cheeks.

"But that's just cruel!" Az yelled. Next to him Clara looked as if her eyes were about to pop out of her skull as she nodded her head sagely.

"How terrible!" Shichiro exclaimed in shock and horror.

Opera pulled a kerchief from one of his vest pockets and began to dab at his watery eyes while sobbing, "My poor Mistress! You've been treated so very poorly by so many."

Ichigo visibly bristled and snapped back with, "I was not treated poorly by anyone! I simply wasn't treated as if I am fragile when I'm not!"

Her words only seemed to make opera cry harder and then, much to her horror, her grandpa started crying. And his crying set Az and Clara off and before Ichigo knew it even her teacher was sobbing uncontrollably as tears slid down his face.

What the hell?!

Were demons supposed to be such crybabies? Ichigo wondered as she looked from one crying demon to the other before finally groaning and burying her face in her hands, feeling as if she could cry right then herself.

It took some doing on her part. Or more specifically, it took a ton of coaxing from her...but she eventually managed to get everyone to stop crying.

How did she do it, you ask?

It was simple.

She had raided the kitchen and made a huge, huge plate of sandwiches. And then found some tea cakes, cookies and other snack foods, and then piled them all high onto the largest plate that she could find. Then she grabbed some other things from the kitchen. Including a large pitcher that she used to make some tea and then she brought them all out for everyone.

The only reason that she made another trip to the kitchen was the get smaller plates, some silverware for if it was needed, and cups.

After that was out of the way, she had flopped down in her chair with an exhausted sigh while everyone had grabbed themselves something and begun to sullenly munch away at the pile of food that she'd set before them.

Everything was blissfully quiet for a few minutes but then all of them seemed to realize that she wasn't eating anything. In fact, she hadn't even bothered to pour herself anything to drink either.

"Um...Ichigo, dearest. Aren't you going to eat anything?" She heard her grandpa ask hesitantly.

"No." She replied wearily, her head was starting to feel as if it were being split open by a hammer and it was making her feel nauseous. Eating now would only be a mistake.

And frankly she had no desire to start puking and not be able to stop right then, thank you very much.

She was so busy trying to push her nausea aside that she stopped paying attention to the people in the room with her. She couldn't help it though, the pounding in her skull coupled with the nausea were both proving to be very distracting to her at the moment.

So, it was understandable that she was startled when something cold was placed in her lap.

She jumped a bit at the contact of the glass touching her legs, and lifted her head to see what- or rather who was responsible. Her eyes landed on Shichiro as the giant started to move back away from her, slowly.

While off to her side a bit, she could see Opera using an empty cup to pour her some tea to drink with a strangely angry look on his face.

He finished preparing her tea and then gently pushed the cup towards her as he turned his eyes to her and ordered her to eat in a firm tone that brooked no arguments. But her stomach was churning dangerously, and she could already feel bile burning the back of her throat.

She swallowed it back down before simply saying, "Guy's, I appreciate that you're trying to take care of me-" Which she did. Really. "But I just can't eat right now unless I want to spend the next hour or so throwing up nonstop. So please...back off."

She wasn't sure exactly what it was that she said that seemed to upset them all so much. But she figured that it was the fact that she had told them that she would get sick.

Either way, all of them were suddenly up in her personal space talking all at once as several of them held out some food for her, apparently planning to push the issue regardless of her feelings about it.

"Are you feeling ill?"

"Do you need some medicine?"

"Eat this cookie!"

"Master, eat this cake! It's very fattening and you're less likely to die of starvation!"

"Drink this tea!"

Ichigo's stomach churned dangerously, and she could feel her mouth beginning to water. Oh no! She was going to hurl! She wasn't sure how she managed to get away from the lot of them. But she could only assume that she was very mean about it because the next thing that she knew, she was outside on her knees in the yard, puking.

While each of them hung back a few feet just gaping at her, utterly appalled by the state that she had been reduced to due to her own stubbornness.

The absolute moment that she was sure that she was finished vomiting- Ichigo slowly got to her feet while using the back of her hand to wipe her mouth and then turned to see everyone standing there, silently appraising her. As if they were trying to gauge just how much longer she could pretend that she was okay.

She hated being looked at like that but at the same time she couldn't exactly blame them, even if she had warned them of what would happen beforehand.

She cleared her throat which still felt as if it had chunks of something stuck in it somewhere and rasped out, "I'm fine." As she brushed past them and back into the house.

The demons all exchanged a look with one another and quietly followed her back inside to see her sitting in her chair again.

"Master, while I greatly admire your strength... Is there ever a time where you aren't fine?" She heard Az ask as he retook his own seat. Clara sat down beside him again and wasted no time at all in gluing herself to his side as everyone seemed to hold their breath in anticipation of her response to the boy's question.

Ichigo was tired and wasn't thinking before she spoke. So, she had no clue that everyone was paying very, very close attention to her response.

"Of course, there are time's that I'm not okay. It's just...that how I'm feeling right now doesn't really register all that much to me. But there has been a time before I came here, where I had to go without a lot of things while growing up."

"I've gone without food before for...so long that I really was about to die because my body was shutting down. I've gone without shelter and protection from both people and the weather. I've gone without medical care so many times that when I break my bones, I simply shrug it off and continue with my day as if it's nothing. It just doesn't register as painful to me because I've felt so many worse things than just a simple broken bone before. Like ruptured organs, having my eyes so badly damaged and bleeding that I was blinded in the middle of a life-or-death fight against someone who wanted to completely destroy me. Although I think the worst injury that I ever had was the one that actually killed me."

There was a weird prickling feeling that suddenly slammed into her. Like fire, and ice all at once.

It was a feeling of such utter fury that her previously scattered focus zeroed in on it as she slowly realized what she had just said aloud and mentally cursed.

She braved lifting her head and looking at the others to see who was projecting such a feeling so strongly and almost screamed when she saw that everyone had reacted to her words so very strongly that she could actually see the black mist rising from each of their bodies.

"Ichigo..."

"I take it back, I'm always fine!" She said in a panicked tone as she started to get ready to climb over the back of her chair so that she could run away. Her mind was practically screaming at her right then that this was, Too much, too much, too much! And she needed some room to breathe.

But when she went to flee, she was abruptly caught by vines wrapping around her body and lifting her up so that she couldn't run away. She hung from them for several seconds, worried about what was going to happen next when the vines suddenly released her, and she found herself wrapped securely in strong, thickly muscled arms.

"Shhh, it's okay. I have you now. You're safe." She heard Shichiro say quietly, his tone soothing as he settled her in his lap and then began to pet her hair in a weirdly comforting manner. As Clara and Az scampered over to climb into the man's lap with her, crying.

And once they were there, the two wasted no time at all in attaching themselves to both sides of her and hugging her tightly while they cried. Their poor Master/Ichi-ken!

She had just suffered so much that they couldn't stop their sobbing and wailing. Not even when she whined helplessly for them to stop. Before finally letting out an aggrieved sigh and finally hugging them back.

Opera couldn't stop shaking with ragefurywrathdeath.

The feeling was so damned strong that he could barely restrain it right then. And who could blame him after a revelation like that one?

Never in a million years would he have even entertained the mere idea that his obscenely strong and prickly tempered young mistress could be killed. The very idea of her being beaten down to such a degree was silly after all of the things that he had seen her do over the years.

But now that he knew that it had happened... It was as if a monster had just been unleased within him.

His tail was fluffed up, and his fangs were grinding together painfully with the overwhelmingly strong desire to rend and tear flesh apart. And all he could think of right then was that if he ever got his hands on the people that had hurt his Mistress in such a way- they would die for it. He would never stop searching for them, chasing them, and he certainly wasn't going to let them escape.

He was planning so many different ways to utterly destroy them that his head was spinning from the many, many thoughts swirling through his mind.

His mistress would be safe. She would be protected.

He would allow nothing less than happiness to touch her life from now on!

They would pay!

Of course they would.

They would suffer for every wound, every scratch, and every bruise that this poor child had ever suffered.

There would be no stopping him once he had them in his sights, he was certain. Once he had his hands on them he would wring every drop of blood from their pathetic bodies.

YES, yes, yes! Blood! We want blood!

Yes, he did. Very much so.

However, he would settle for the moment for simply petting the girl in an effort to calm her already high running emotions. As weak as an excuse as it was, it also helped to calm him down to a degree as well.

Especially since he needed to think clearly and rationally. He had been shocked to hear that someone had killed her.

That there were even people who had dared to go after one of the Netherworld's precious treasures, was startling. He had been around long enough to know that one simply didn't touch the precious offspring of others.

Which was simply why the offense couldn't be allowed to slide.

He would also have to let the others know as well. After all, they each should know that someone/several someone's had tried to rob them of a precious child.

Ichigo herself had mentioned being killed almost as if it had happened yesterday, and because of his ability he had been able to tell that she hadn't been lying. At all.

And he was understandably livid about the fact that she had been killed to begin with. Where had Sullivan been? Opera? Had they simply ignored her need for help?

It is doubtful. The voice in his mind supplied helpfully. And he had to agree considering that he had seen firsthand how much the two seemed to care about the girl. So, they couldn't have neglected her somehow.

It must have happened back in her previous home. Oh, yeah. She had mentioned being raised in a different place. Maybe it had happened then?

Yes!

He hummed, thoughtfully as he continued to pet the girl's hair.

He didn't know how she had come back after being killed, and as curious as he was, he wasn't going to ask. It would be cruel to make her relive the act of her murder. Especially when the memory of it was still fresh enough for her to recall it so easily while she was tired.

She must have nightmares about it.

Poor thing, he thought sympathetically before going back to what he was thinking before.

He needed to tell the others. After all, as his co-workers and the ones who helped to protect the children under their care- it was their right to know.

And once they had the knowledge of what had taken place then they could begin their search. Their reach was long, after all, and they could get information that the child likely didn't have if questioned.

They would not escape them.

No, no they wouldn't. He would find a way to make sure of it.

He was betting that once Kalego knew, he would be crankier than usual and attach himself to the girl for the sake of keeping a close eye on her. And his aggravation at the situation was going to spill over into everything at their job. But it didn't matter any.

Not as long as they could mete out their gruesome education to the offending party/parties for their foolishness.