For once, Sullivan's thoughts were silent.

It wasn't necessarily because he wasn't upset about the revelation that Ichigo had spoken of. Because he was upset. Very much so. But he was also completely shocked that someone would so much as even make an attempt to kill her. Much less actually succeed at it.

Especially since he knew just how very strong and powerful his granddaughter was from watching her for so many years.

Why many of her exploits were legendary!

It didn't matter that they were simply legendary amongst the Soul Reapers. Ichigo was legendary for a reason.

And it wasn't simply because she defied all expectations. No- it was because her strength and power were so phenomenal that they were unmatched by others.

She had the kind of power that broke through barriers and destroyed and recreated worlds.

So, to hear that her life had been taken...even if it were simply for a few moments- it made him very, very angry. However, he had enough sense to know that he couldn't lose his temper here. Not when his precious little one was still in danger here and now because of the mate hunting demons.

His temper needed unleashing. But it would have to wait for the moment since he was needed.

Shichiro had done a good job of settling his granddaughter down, and the other children were proving their worth to him as well by distracting her for the time being.

It was actually pretty cute how she went from alarmed one second to fretting over them in zero point two seconds flat because they were crying. But that just showed him how much she cared about the kids.

It's almost as if they were her own. He thought as his lips quirked up a bit despite himself.

He would have to thank Shichiro and the kids somehow once Ichigo's cycle had ended, and everything went back to normal again. He would bet that Shichiro would like some more books on mythical creatures to study. Perhaps he could even find some old books on Soul Reapers as well.

It would give the man something more to study than just humans for a change and that would be very fun for Shichiro. And then two kids...well, he'd have to really put some thought into their gift.

Glancing over at Opera, he noted that his security devil was just a hair's breadth from slipping into his wicked phase due to Ichigo speaking of her death. He honestly didn't blame Opera for that, but something needed to be done so that the cat demon could calm down.

The question was what.

He was trying to come up with something so that Opera could relieve his stress when the Asmodeus boy started begging, "Master, teach me how to fight like you do. Please!"

Ichigo looked startled by her friend's begging, but after a moment or so nodded her head and said, "Alright Az. I'll start you're training now instead of during the weekend."

Asmodeus perked up instantly and gave her such a tight hug that Sullivan could almost swear that he heard a few of his granddaughter's ribs just cracked. However, he chose to say nothing due to the fact that he was rather curious about what sort of fighting style Ichigo intended to teach to the boy.

He knew that she was a master of more than one.

Next to him, Opera's shaking had lessened, and his security devil's feline ears were standing straight up. He thought that he could see anticipation on his face too but dismissed it as Ichigo asked if she could take her friends to the 'training room'.

Sullivan had no idea what room that she was talking about until Opera grabbed him and yanked him over so that he could explain in a hushed tone. After that, he understood what she was talking about.

The training room that Ichigo wished to make use of was actually the room that Sullivan and Opera locked themselves away in when they were each going through their wicked phases.

It was covered in many, many layers of magic spells interwoven together. And it was also exactly like what was needed to help keep Ichigo and the other two kids safe.

He let her know that she could use the room as she liked and then quickly gave both Opera and Shichiro orders to go with the kids and stay with them. But first, Opera would have to make use of some of his strength to collect as much food and drink as he could for all of them, so that they could remain in the room for however long his granddaughter remained on her cycle.

Opera didn't argue any, instead he went to do as he was ordered while Ichigo climbed out of Shichiro's lap with her friends and then took a second to stretch her hands over her head.

Then once that was done, she moved away so that Shichiro could get to his feet. But once the giant demon was on his feet, he quietly moved over to Sullivan and asked him in a low tone, "You aren't coming with us?"

"No. There are still demons participating in the mate hunt around here somewhere. I plan to stay and get rid of them."

"I'm surprised that any of them bothered to stay after seeing what your granddaughter will do to them if they get close enough."

Shichiro's words amused Sullivan but he silently agreed with the younger demon regardless.

After all, Ichigo had all but gone completely rabid on the previous wave of attackers and had more or less startled and shocked all of them. So, it was perfectly understandable that many of the more intelligent demons were probably hiding now, attempting to come up with a strategy of some kind on how to get their hands on her without being killed for their efforts.

They were outmatched by Ichigo since she was able to remain calm and rational even in her current, vulnerable state. But they were also outmatched by him as well.

An old man he may be, but he was one of the three great demons for a reason.

His savagery had gone unmatched for well over a thousand years. But even he could tell that Ichigo would likely one day surpass him. If Opera didn't beat her to the punch, that is.

Shichiro merely nodded his head in understanding as Ichigo walked over to them and asked what they were talking about in typical curious kid fashion. The two demons merely chuckled at her poor, but obvious attempt to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Ichigo pouted a little bit but then gave Sullivan a hug and while Shichiro was distracted by Clara suddenly climbing him like a little monkey- and told him that if he needed help to call and they would come running.

Sullivan couldn't help but marvel at his little one.

My, she was much sharper than he thought her to be. Especially to be able to tell what he was attempting to do without even hearing him say it.

It made Sullivan's previous anger melt away into a much warmer and fuzzier feeling.

The moment that Opera returned from his task in the kitchen, Ichigo turned to him and said in a tone that brooked no argument. "Stay safe, grandpa." She didn't have to say, 'Don't you go dying on me' aloud for him to understand and nod his head in agreement.

He wouldn't be dying on her anytime soon. He still had to make sure that he was around long enough to see the kind of fiend she would become.

Ichigo couldn't help but feel a bit pissed about leaving her grandpa behind like this.

After all, she didn't know how long mate hunts lasted for. Or if he'd really be okay alone. Especially if he were going to be fighting anymore hoards of demons without any sort of assistance.

But at the same time, she also couldn't allow Az and Clara to stay where it was open. Where they could be taken out easily by someone with just the right kind of magic or skills. She knew that snipers dwelled in the most unlikely places since she technically was one herself.

There was also the fact that she suspected that the reason that her grandpa had decided to send Opera and Shichiro with them had more to do with getting them out of the way just as much as keeping them close to her for protection purposes.

And she would be a horrible person if she dared to argue with him because of that.

The trek to the training room was an uneventful one, aside from Clara jumping down from their teacher's back and making an attempt to scamper off somewhere unknown. Thankfully, Shichiro had zippier reflexes than Ichigo gave him credit for.

He caught the green haired demoness easily and then tucked her underneath one of his arms and carried her as if she were a football. Clara seemed to take exception to her treatment by the giant demon and tried more than a dozen times to wiggle herself free of his grasp. But failed.

And had no choice but to pout while being carried the rest of the way.

Upon reaching the room, Ichigo made sure to grab Az and then take Clara from Shichiro so that all of them would be out of the way for the next few minutes. Which allowed Opera to carry/drag everything that he had gotten from the kitchen earlier and place it somewhere inside of the room.

Then he went off and got a large bed and with Shichiro's help, carried it into the room as well and then spent the next fifteen minutes just setting it up too.

Once the coast was clear, she ushered her friends into the room and followed closely behind them so that she could close the door behind them.

The second that the door was closed, a bunch of vines appeared out of nowhere and wove themselves all around the door to keep it from being opened both from the inside as well as outside.

Ichigo didn't say anything about it since she knew that the two demons were merely doing as her grandpa had instructed them to.

Besides, it was good that the door was sealed closed now.

This way, Az wouldn't be able to run away from her if he suddenly chickened out during his training.

"Okay, everyone get settled." She said, kind of feeling like one of her old martial arts sensei's as she spoke.

Shichiro was seated against the far wall with Clara already climbing him like a monkey again. Az looked a bit puzzled but still moved to seat himself on the floor so that he was sitting on his heels, looking at her expectantly while Opera...stared intently at her for some ungodly reason?

What the hell?

"Uhm...alright," She said uneasily. The weight of Opera's stare was starting to make her feel nervous. "Does anyone need to say anything to me before I start training Az?"

Opera stepped forward before she even finished speaking, beating Az as far as speedy response times went.

"Okay. Opera, what do you need?"

"A spar." He said automatically. "I need you to spar with me right now." He said firmly.

She looked at him for a moment, already knowing that he was...very agitated. His eye had taken on an icy quality to them, his ears were standing straight up, and his tail was flicking back and forth rapidly. It was the only real physical sign of his current mood as well as just how close he was to snapping.

And that was bad with all of them sealed inside the same room together.

"Alright, go ahead and get in position while I have a word with Az."

Opera bowed his head to her and them briskly walked out to the middle of the room while she went over to Az and squatted down in front of him.

"Az, are you any good at memorizing things?"

"Uh, yes. I am." Az said uncertainly.

"Can you memorize how someone moves and integrate it into your own movements?" She asked.

Az was quiet for several heartbeats but eventually nodded his head, yes. Earning a small smile from her as she reached out and ruffled his hair. "Good. This will be part of your training so pay careful attention, okay."

"Yes, master!" Az said excitedly. Ichigo smiled at him again before turning and walking over to the middle fo the room to join Opera.

"Thank you for waiting." She said as she slipped into one of her fighting stances.

"Of course, Miss. And I am thankful that you have allowed me to spar with you again."

Ichigo didn't verbally respond to his thanks, but she did acknowledge them with a small bow of her head towards him while she took a second to prepare herself.

Opera was out of sorts, he knew. And from his mistress's behavior towards him, she was aware of that fact as well. Yet despite that fact, she was still willing to indulge him. To help him relive his stress.

She was such an eerily sweet, creature...

He didn't get much further in his train of thought than that before the two of them were trading blows with one another. The both of them attacked at the same exact moment the other did, reaching out and striking as hard as they could at one another's weaknesses once they were spotted.

He managed to hit her with a kick to the ribs that sent her flying back a ways. But as much as he wanted to congratulate himself for managing that- she took the wind right out of his sails by taking control of her momentum before sliding to a stop and then charging him.

He suffered some incredibly painful blows to his own ribs. But wasn't able to prevent himself from slamming into one of the bespelled walls. He felt the magic against his back flutter and idly wondered if it would be strong enough to even hold the two of them inside the room while they were sparring.

Especially since he wasn't bothering to hold back any. He simply couldn't right then.

And he knew for a fact that his mistress wasn't either.

The next few times that the two of them collided with each other, their blows sent off shock waves. He would punch or kick, and Ichigo would meet him halfway and either take the blow head on or deflect and dance away from his reach so that she could launch her own attacks at him.

At one point they even grappled with one another in close quarters combat.

Opera received a chop from Ichigo at one point during their close quarters combat that had viciously popped out his shoulder out of joint, sending a wave of pain through him. As she flipped herself up over his head while still maintaining her hold on his injured arm and somehow managed to pin him down from behind.

He thrashed, bucked and tried to get her off of him, but she was unmovable.

It hurt more than his arm to be taken down like that. It hurt his pride as a security devil too. He absolutely loathed having others view him as weak. But in the end, he finally relented and 'cried uncle' as the saying goes.

The moment that he gave up, Ichigo began to heal his injured arm as well as some of the other injuries that he had sustained during their spar. A majority of them were nasty bruises, but there had also been hits that he'd taken to the face, one of his ears was bleeding, and his throat hurt from being gripped by her at another point during their spar.

She made sure to sooth the pain away while talking to him in a low, soft tone. Praising him for his strength, his speed, his calmness in a difficult situation as well as his cunning.

Her praise felt misplaced to him at the moment since he had lost to her this time, but he was flattered anyway since he knew that she wasn't the type of person to give empty platitudes to others. Not even if they lost to her in an actual battle. She was however, one who liked to encourage others to reach new heights.

That made him feel significantly better. And a lot less stressed than he had been before.

"Thank you, Miss." He said once her hands finally stopped glowing. "I appreciate your help in reliving my stress."

"No problem, man." She said as she slowly got to her feet. He started to follow her- but stopped when she reached her hand out to him and made a little finger motion to indicate that she'd help him up. He gave her a small, but oh-so-very- fond smile as he slipped his hand into hers and allowed her to pull him to his feet.

When Opera and Ichigo had first started sparring, Shichiro had been greatly interested in just how well the girl would be able to withstand his old friend beating her up. And he had been prepared to intervene if he felt that it was absolutely necessary.

After all, the girl was still on her cycle and tired. She likely wasn't going to last for very long. Not up against Opera anyway.

However, he had watched the two closely once they started and he had been utterly flummoxed by the fact that the girl could not only withstand Opera's alarmingly staggering strength, but she could match too.

Blow for blow, he watched in shock and awe- to his knowledge there wasn't yet a child in the entirety of the Netherworld that could match Opera in anything- so this, this was beyond interesting to see. Especially firsthand!

He was semi tempted to pull his hell phone out and begin recording the spar between the two so that he could send it to Kalego since he knew that his friend would be just as unable to stop gaping in amazement as he was.

One hour passed, then two, and that two quickly slid into five. After that he had finally lost track of how long the spar carried on.

The only reason that he knew that it had been so long was because the other two kids had fallen asleep a few hours ago once the sun had gone down. Leaving him to continue his careful observation of the two when finally, after who knew how many hours had passed- the spar eventually ended.

It had truly been a spectacle too.

Shichiro hadn't thought that Ichigo's strength would continue to hold out for so long, especially after the hell of a beating that she had gotten from Opera. Her face was bloody, her body covered in dark and ugly wounds from his friend's claws catching her on more than one occasion. She was obviously suffering badly from her injuries.

He was able to tell by the way that she fought there towards the end. It was as if she had finally lost patience with Opera and had decided to end things before she sustained any more wounds on her body.

He couldn't really say that he blamed her there. He didn't have to be up in her personal space to know that several of her bones were broken- oh... OH!

Oh hell! Hadn't she said earlier in the day that certain things simply didn't register with her? I should have recalled that fact much sooner than now. He thought grimly as he quickly got to his feet and went to help her over to where she could sit down and rest a bit.

Ichigo sighed as she rested her back against the wall with one of her legs bent at the knee so that she could rest one of her elbows on it. It had been about an hour since she and Opera had stopped sparring with each other.

And poor Opera had been beside himself when he'd realized that he'd actually manage to hurt her badly enough to break some of her bones.

Bones that she had already taken the time to heal so that he didn't need to really worry any. Yet despite that fact he and Shichiro had both fussed and fretted over her almost nonstop since then.

It wasn't their fault, not entirely anyway. Part of it had to do with this cycle crap, she knew. But she was still close to screaming from frustration because of their behavior. Which is how she somehow wound up being sandwiched between the two demons where she sat, with a small platter of finger food next to her as well as a fizzy drink of questionable origins.

She took her time eating what had been placed next to her since she was worried that her stomach may revolt on her again like it had before. But at least she was eating. Which seemed to make both of the demon's very, very happy.

Deliriously so, if their expressions were anything to go by.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable under their hawk-like gazes, she continued to work her way through the food- pausing every so often to take a drink. After which she would scrunch up her nose a little because what the hell was that drink even made of? It had a weird berry taste to it that was overly bitter and not very good at all.

In fact, the first time she'd taken a drink of it, she had almost choked on it. But now she was sort of used to its bitterness. Which was good because every other drink that Opera had produced looked just as questionable as this one. So, she had decided to just stick with it.

"Miss, are you feeling well after sparring for so long?"

"I'm okay." She said once she had swallowed what had been in her mouth so that she could answer him. "I'm a bit more tired than I was before. But that's normal considering how much energy I used up just keeping up with you."

Opera looked slightly startled by the fact that she had used up more energy than she had felt was absolutely necessary to keep up with him this time.

To be honest, it was the most wonderful compliment that she could have given him. It made him feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside.

"I see," He said after a somewhat lengthy pause. "And do you think you will finally be able to rest once you finish eating?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure." She said as she reached for her drink. "I kind of feel a bit wired. Like I could run laps around the school or something."

"Oh." Opera said, feeling somewhat unsettled by her lack of rest. Especially when he knew that she needed it so badly.

"I have a question," Shichiro said. Ichigo tilted her head back and looked at him as he asked her, "Where did you learn to fight like you did earlier?"

Opera went entirely to still, his eyes widening to the point where his pupils practically ate all of the red of his eyes. Ichigo could tell that he didn't like this particular subject, but it would be rude to simply ignore the giant's question. So, she reached out and took hold of one of Opera's hands. Snapping the cat demon's attention to her for a moment as she gave his hand a reassuring little squeeze.

"I learned from various places."

"Oh? Like where?"

"A few martial arts dojos. Things like that." She said with a slight shrug.

Shichiro wasn't a fool, he knew that she wasn't telling the entire truth of where she had learned to fight. But he also wasn't sure if it was something that she wanted to speak of. Especially given Opera's reaction to his question. Still...he was curious. And his curiosity demanded to know!

"Were there other places that you learned from? You had a sword earlier. Where did you learn to use it?"

Ichigo could almost feel herself starting to sweat bullets at those questions. And she did not want to be the one to divulge the fact that she had learned sword fighting mostly from being stabbed, slashed and attacked by others.

She had a feeling that he wouldn't take it very well.

And that feeling was making her very, very nervous. She felt Opera squeeze her hand lightly as he suddenly chimed in, "Miss learned to sword fight from her father." Which technically wasn't a lie.

Her dad had taught her some stuff. Though not all of it.

"Really? You learned from your father?"

"Uh-huh."

"He must be amazing at sword fighting!"

Ichigo didn't want to say it aloud, but her dad was pretty good at it. But he had also been pretty useless in some of the fights that he'd joined her in. So, now he stuck much closer to home. At least that way she didn't have to worry about him dying in front of her and having to tell her sisters at his funeral that he'd died because he'd been rusty at swinging his sword.

That would be so embarrassing for them all. So much so that they'd never live it down.

"What else did your father teach you?"

"Hunting, tracking, how to tell poisonous plants from non-poisonous plants. Just...random stuff." She said, secretly hoping that they were such random topics that it wouldn't seem very suspicious to her teacher for her dad to teach her those things.

After all, it wasn't as if she could just tell her teacher that for the longest time while she'd been growing up that she'd been pretty convinced that her dad was absolutely fucking insane.

She doubted that he would understand.

"Those sound like they were fun lessons to learn. And very practical too." Shichiro said thoughtfully before then asking her, "What about where you grew up? What region is it in? Do you know?"

"Uh..." Ichigo said, wondering how the hell she was supposed to answer that particular question when Opera quickly chimed in and saved her.

"Mistress Ichigo grew up in one of the lawless zones."

"A lawless zone? Really?" Shichiro asked incredulously even as his buzzer ability went off at the lie.

The gargoyle hummed as he mentally went over the possible reasons that his friend would bother to lie to him, especially since Opera knew that he couldn't be lied to. But all he could seem to come up with was that Ichigo was probably from someplace that was taboo or even against the law for them to go to.

It was entirely possible that she wasn't even in the Netherworld legally. Which was bad.

But he wasn't going to tell anyone unless he was forced to do so. So, it didn't matter right then.