Opera smiled at the many pale, shocked, and terrified faces of his new co-workers with a great deal of satisfaction and pride. After all, it usually took a lot to terrify so many. Especially demons of this lot's caliber.

The teachers of Babyls were all carefully handpicked by his master, Sullivan, for their nerve, iron wills, and especially for their strength. Among certain other...talents that made each of them a perfect fit for Babyls school.

Yet he managed to terrify them quite easily from just stepping into the room and saying hello to them. Truly astounding. He thought to himself as he eyed the lot of them critically.

"We aren't going to be mounted on the wall again, are we?" One of them asked nervously.

"Of course not."

"What about the body pile? Are we stuck doing that again?" Another asked.

Opera hummed acting as if he were thinking the question over. In actuality he likely wouldn't feel the need to make any more body piles out of these demons until his Lilith was expecting their first offspring. But despite already being aware of that fact, he was enjoying the way that each of them fairly squirmed with anxiety.

Finally, he decided to take mercy on them and said, "No. We will not be doing the body pile again for a while."

He almost felt a bit insulted by the collective sigh of relief that escaped them all after that. Thankfully, his feelings couldn't be hurt so easily otherwise they would find themselves in something more uncomfortable than a mere body pile.

"However, I am here for a reason." Opera said, waiting for the lot of them to focus.

The sudden looks of undivided attention on their faces, had him smiling. He was sure that they would be thrilled to be among the first demons to know the two very special reasons why he was present today.

"The first is that I have secured my chosen." He paused for a moment to let that information sink in. And once it did, he heard more than a few disbelieving, sympathetic, happy, and excited sounding.

"Really?"

"You actually managed to do the blood exchange?"

"That poor girl."

"That's great!"

"Congratulations on your marriage!"

"I wish you many years of happiness, yis!"

Then once everyone quieted down again, Opera went on to his second announcement for the day, "The second reason that I'm here today is to let you all know that we'll be working together much more closely." There were some looks of confusion, so he elaborated with a devious smile. "I will be working as a teacher from now on."

There was a heartbeat of silence before the others all shouted in unison, "What?!" Almost immediately after that, chaos erupted.

Ichigo's eye felt like it was twitching a bit. And honestly, it would be perfectly understandable if it was. It had taken her longer than she had felt was absolutely necessary to stop Az and Clara from asking her absolutely insane questions about murder. And because of that, it had taken them longer than it should have to reach their classroom.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

No- the worst of it had been when she had stepped through the door ahead of her two friends and nearly died.

She had barely had any time to react once through the door when she noticed a bunch of weapons flying towards her. Thankfully, her training as a Soul Reaper kicked in and she was moving before she even realized it. Her hands came up and she was smacking, deflecting, and catching the various weapons with the same practiced ease that came from constantly fighting for one's life.

It was over faster than she had anticipated it would be considering the number of weapons that had been used. But once she had the last of them, a broad sword captured in her hand, there was a moment of stunned silence from everyone that had just seen what she had done, and then loud whistles and cheers erupted from the group. While Clara and Az both clapped.

"Devi wow!"

"Damn."

"Unbelievable! Did you see how easily she stopped those weapons!"

"Oh, my. I think my heart just skipped a beat!"

Ichigo glared at the kids and then raised the sword in her hand and used her thumb to snap the blade like a twig. The heavy steel of the broken blade fell to the floor with a clang while the kids all gaped at her with wide eyes as Az and Clara entered the room, cautiously. And then moved to check on her.

"Master, that was simply amazing!"

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." Ichigo said in a clipped tone as she then walked over to the closest desk with the brats responsible for her near-death experience and kicked it hard enough to bring it up off of the floor with a clatter.

The brats all screamed, obviously startled by what she had done as Az patted her on the shoulder and then stepped in front of her and summoned his flames as he growled out angrily, "What were you idiots doing? You could have just killed my master!"

Ichigo merely rolled her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from saying anything. After all, she was much harder to kill than that.

Besides, she knew that if these novice morons had managed to kill her then she never would have lived it down specifically because of the fact that Soul Reapers were notorious for their gossip.

It was something that she had taken notice of automatically the very first time she'd gone to Soul Society to save Rukia from being killed. In fact, it was the gossip mills present within the Seireitei that had helped her keep track of her friend's movements as well as Rukia's execution date.

And the death of Ichigo Kurosaki at the hands of some kids- would have definitely been food for the gossip mills given just how famous she had become in recent years.

"Oh, come on man, we're just trying to have some fun." One kid with spiky black hair said.

Ichigo didn't miss the way that Az's eyes focused on him with laser-like precision. Nor did she miss the fact that his flames jumped threateningly in his palm as another boy, with golden blond hair suddenly chimed in defensively.

"Yeah! Besides did you even see the way that she handled those weapons? She was nowhere close to being killed, unlike the other guy." Ichigo blinked and looked to her left and saw a tall, muscular demon with swords and daggers sticking out of him and decided that the kid was right. That guy was definitely much closer to death then she was.

"I for one, greatly admire a lady with such skilled hands." A little owl said from the back.

Of course, since meeting Yoruichi- talking animals no longer tended to phase her any. Though the subtle innuendo of the bird's words did catch her a bit off guard.

It must have startled Az too, which was weird since Ichigo believed her little duckling was far more innocent than he seemed. Yet the second that Az realized just what was said about her- he prepared to lunge for the bird.

Which caused Ichigo to react by grabbing him around the waist and lifting him until his feet came up off of the ground. But that didn't seem like it was going to stop him any since Az just growled and thrashed around a bit, his hands reaching for the bird, his hands making grabbing motions.

Leaving her little choice but to then toss him over one of her shoulders where she pinned him there with one hand resting on the small of his back.

"Let me go, master! He needs to die for insulting you!" He snarled, apparently wanting owl blood pretty badly at the moment.

But Ichigo had already had enough nonsense for the time being, so instead of letting him down or letting him go, she moved his jacket aside and spanked him, once. It was such a small thing, not in the least bit painful either, yet it made him go completely still and silent.

She didn't have to see his face to know that Az was blushing furiously. Nor did she have to look at the other kids to see their shocked and disbelieving expressions.

To be fair, Ichigo was feeling pretty disbelieving too. After all, if someone had told her a few months ago that she would wind up living in the Netherworld and literally spanking demon booty, she'd have laughed in their faces.

Finally, Az seemed to have finally gotten a hold of himself enough to whimper pitifully. Ichigo felt like shit for making the kid sound so...sad? But he'd left her no choice in the matter.

Walking across the room to what looked like a mostly empty table since there was only one person sitting there, she let Az down on the table so that he was sitting in front of her.

Once he was down, and she could see his face, she took a moment to cross her arms over her chest and stare at him. Hard.

"Do you have anything to say?" She asked gently, making sure to keep her tone devoid of any anger, outrage, or just plain rage in general.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, master." He said in a shaky tone as he stared at her with tearful eyes. Ichigo just reached out and began to use her hands to wipe his tears away, startling Az in the process.

"I'm not that upset Az. The only reason that I did what I did is because you were a second away from slaughtering someone." Which was true. "I need you to understand something- I dislike it when people are hurt. Unless there are a very specific set of circumstances, that is."

"Like...before?" Az asked, looking for clarification. The words, You mean like what was happening with Clara, went unsaid. But Ichigo already knew what he meant anyway, so it was easy to nod her head as she said.

"Yes. Just like before."

"I understand, master. I will try harder not to hurt others." Az said with a determined look on his face as she booped him on the nose and quickly amended his thoughts,

"There is only one or two acceptable times when you can resort to violence Az, and you need to be careful about knowing which situation calls for non-lethal and lethal force. Non-lethal force should only be used in the case of bullying. Lethal force however is much more difficult to place. But the easiest way to know if it should be used is if you are protecting something or someone that you love from grave and immediate danger. Do you understand?"

Az stared at her for several heartbeats and then got a thoughtful look on his face before finally nodding his head sagely. Ichigo smiled at him and took a second to ruffle his hair before finally saying, "Bird,"

Said bird hesitated for a second before correcting her. "My name is Caim Kamui, madam."

"Kamui, then. I only have one piece of advice for you-" She said as she turned her body to face him. "Would you like to hear it?"

"It would be quite rude of me not to hear a lady out." Kamui said with a bow. Ichigo arched a brow at him.

"I don't mind the innuendo's kid-" She started.

Az sputtered and growled out, "Master don't encourage him."

Ichigo ignored Az too so that she could say, "But since I don't want you to get yourself plucked, you should know that it isn't wise to say perverted things about a girl within her range of hearing. Understand?"

"Understand, milady." Kamui said without hesitation.

Ichigo smiled sweetly at the little bird and then shifted her attention from he, and the other kids to the guy with weapons sticking out of his body. Up until then, he'd been silently observing everyone and everything around him with a sort of hypervigilance that she easily recognized.

Moving away from Az, she walked up to the demon, and studied him with a calculating light in her eyes as she noted that he was studying her in the same manner. The both of them sizing each other up.

The guy's eyes reminded her of a lion in the wilderness. He had the most stunning gold eyes that she had ever seen in anyone that wasn't a feline or a Hollow.

Stopping just within his reach, she reached out and gently took hold of his arm and carefully watched him for any signs of agitation or violence. He merely looked surprised by the fact that she had taken hold of him and was currently maneuvering him over to another desk where she made him sit down.

Once she had him seated, she squatted down a bit to examine some of the worst of his injuries. The guy said nothing the entire time she was doing this, he just sat there and let her do as she pleased. Then once she realized that none of the injures that he had sustained would kill him, she smiled at him.

"You're a pretty interesting guy. Aren't you?" She hadn't actually meant to say the words so much as think them very loudly to herself. But once they were out, she couldn't take them back.

Not that the guy minded any.

He merely responded with, "You are quite interesting yourself, my lady." He seemed as if he wanted to say something more but thought best of it and simply fell silent again.

"How about I take care of getting those weapons out of you?" She suggested as she slowly rose back to her full height.

He got a totally baffled look on his face for a moment before saying, "There is no need to trouble yourself, milady." And then somehow puffed himself up a bit? She didn't know how else to put it. He was muscular before. But when he puffed himself up- his muscles seemed to expand outward, and she watched in fascination as all of the weapons clattered to the floor.

Ichigo couldn't help but let out a whistle of appreciation, because damn that was cool.

"How did you do that?" She blurted out, idly wondering if he could teach her to do something like that since she was already going over the battle applications of such an ability.

After all, being able to protect your organs from being damaged by puffing yourself up would be amazing and drastically cut down the loss of your own life. Or even someone else's life.

However, as exciting as it was to find someone able to do something like that, the guy didn't answer her question. In fact, she would go so far as to say that he was ignoring her. But she wasn't offended since she could guess that he had certain reasons for not replying.

Like the fact that being able to do that, was supposed to be a secret. Or maybe even taboo.

Either way, Ichigo decided to drop the subject and leave the guy alone about it.

Sabro Sabnock was freaking out.

He simply couldn't help himself from doing so when there was a mythical creature, once believed to have long gone extinct in the Netherworld, standing right in front of him.

A Soul Reaper. A living, breathing Soul Reaper was right here!

He couldn't have been more stunned if he tried. Really. He felt a multitude of things at once- curiosity, keen interest, arousal- wait. What? Okay, there was confusion aplenty and the only thing that he could liken it all to was being struck by lightening.

He felt somewhat helpless as he watched her move away from him to return to her two companion's side. To say that he felt envious of the two demons that were her companions would be an understatement. To be honest, he was used to females being drawn to him, and giving him their attention as well as throwing themselves at him.

He felt sort of dismayed that the Soul Reaper hadn't done such things.

But still...he continued to observe her interacting with her companions.

The strange little creature with long eyesore green hair said something to her, and the Soul Reaper laughed in amusement. The sound of her laughter reaching his ears was like hearing the tinkling of a bell. It was a musical sound and sent a strange feeling of heat through him that he was unfamiliar with.

It didn't feel like his usual hormone driven spike of lust. Which was odd. But he pushed any concerns that he had away so that he could focus on the girl.

She was pretty, he noted absently as he propped his chin up in one of his hands. But then Soul Reapers were said to be lovely creatures in appearance. Many of them were even said to be as lovely as the great legendary demoness Lilith herself.

And as he continued to gaze at the Reaper, he could certainly see why that may be. The girl had a radiance to her that was unnatural to demons. In truth, it was peculiar that her companions weren't bothered by her radiance. It was almost as if they didn't even notice it.

Surely if he noticed it then the others present had as well. Yet the longer he watched her, the stranger it appeared to him that the others seemed to be completely oblivious to her radiance. I mean, were they blind?

Maybe they are fools. He thought to himself as he saw the little green haired creature wrap herself around the Soul Reaper with a look of pure bliss on her face as the taller girl began to pet her hair, which seemed to make the boy with the pink hair jealous. He asked if he could have his head petted too. And Sabro snorted in semi-amusement as the Reaper reached up and began to pet his head too, Yup, they are definitely fools.

But then again, maybe that was a good thing. After all, if the Reaper's companions were too blind to know of what they had cozied up to- then he wasn't going to bother cluing them in any. It wasn't his right to do so.

Still...he was curious about how she had managed to survive among other things. So, maybe he should try to get close to her to. At the moment, he was kind of debating on introducing himself to her. But he was also a bit wary of doing so since everyone that had attended the opening ceremony the previous week knew that the Reaper belonged to the noble family of Lord Sullivan.

Though Sabro wasn't sure how that could be since she didn't look like the Lord in any capacity. Nor did she possess any characteristics of someone who would be one of the young of such an ancient and powerful demon. He could see no horns, no tail, not even fangs when she smiled and displayed her teeth.

However, despite not being sure of things- his curiosity eventually won out and he stood up and walked over to the Soul Reaper and her companions.

"Pardon, my intrusion milady, but I wonder if I may ask thee your name." He said, politely as he pressed one of his hands to his chest and gave her a slight bow. After all, it was only right to show respect to someone of higher station than he.

She blinked at him for a second but then chuckled, "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. And you are?" She asked.

"I am Sabro Sabnock. Tis a pleasure to meet you." He said as he reached out and gently grasped one of her hands in his and raised it to his lips to place a chaste kiss on her knuckles. Her hand was so small compared to his own. So very delicate and frail.

How did such a seemingly fragile creature manage to survive all this time? He wondered as he stared at her for a heartbeat over her knuckles. He wasn't sure what she saw in his eyes, but whatever it was, it had made her uncomfortable.

She took her hand back from him and laughed nervously, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Sabro." He couldn't help but wonder if he had done something wrong, but before he could ask her the door to the classroom swung open with such force that it slammed into the wall.

Everyone looked towards the ruckus and blinked at the imposing figure of their teacher standing there looking around the room while crackling with electricity.

"What are you imbecile's doing?"

Someone muttered, "Uh-oh." Though Ichigo wasn't sure who it was as she stared at the guy that she had accidentally summoned as one of her familiar just last week.

Ugh. What a nasty personality. She thought to herself when something behind him caught her eye. Or rather...two somebodies.

It had truly been a stroke of luck that the two demons had managed to run into the hellhound. Especially since the second that he noticed Opera walking towards him, he had turned around and tried to run away. Which was funny since Opera was not only incredibly fast on his feet but also able to easily capture anyone he decided to chase.

Kalego Naberius was no exception to this. Mostly because he was Opera's favorite person to chase down since the cat demon enjoyed teasing the other man for entertainment purposes.

Shichiro also enjoyed Opera teasing Kalego.

Though it wasn't in any way because he secretly hated the other demon. No. It was more because Kalego was incredibly interesting to watch whenever Opera was around. There was also feelings of nostalgia and affection that tended to flood his being whenever he was around the other two at once.

He missed hanging out with them both. So of course, once Opera caught Kalego and dragged him back and told the hellhound that he was going to hang out with him for the day...Shichiro had decided to hang out with his favorite person too. Besides, it was still early in the school year and he didn't have any students yet.

Kalego had thrown a fit but had calmed down after a little while once there had been a bit of physical distance between himself and Opera to keep the desire to rend the cat demon limb from limb at bay.

So, the three of them had walked together, Shichiro and the other two reminiscing about the good old days when they had been students themselves. And they had stayed that way until they had reached Kalego's classroom.

Like all classrooms at the beginning of a new school year- they could hear chattering, laughing, shrieks and screams of excitement etc. from the other side of the door.

"They all sound so happy." Opera commented with a faint, but fond smile.

After all, even when he had been younger the cat demon had loved children. And had often spent his time trying to mother Shichiro and Kalego from time to time with random acts of grooming, scent sharing, and other things.

Shichiro hadn't minded it nearly as much as Kalego had. And given the hellhounds perchance for gnawing on other demon's tails when he'd been younger, he'd minded Opera's mothering quite a bit.

Shichiro merely nodded his head quickly, his own excitement growing by the second. It's so cool that Kalego gets to teach such energetic kids! He thought as their nasty tempered friend pushed open the classroom door and just stood there for a second before snarling, "What are you imbecile's doing?"

Which caused all activity in the room to cease immediately.

"Oh dear." Opera muttered with a hand against one of his cheeks. Shichiro started fidgeting. These poor kids! He thought anxiously when he felt Opera shift a little bit beside him before hearing the cat demon say in a slightly dismayed sounding tone.

"Oh, the young mistress is one of Kalego's students."

Uh-oh. Shichiro thought as Opera slowly moved away from him so that he could push his way past Kalego eliciting a small, startled Eep from the hellhound as he slipped into the classroom.

The second that Opera was through the door, he paused for a second to look around the room, his red eyes narrowing ever so slightly at the broken windows, the graffiti on the wall etc. And came to the conclusion that this was no place for his Lilith.

It was one thing for demon children to be rowdy and excitable. It was another entirely to deface public property. These kids are menaces. He thought, Not to mention bad influences. He frowned at the weapons skewered across the classroom floor before finally deciding to look at each of the children.

So far, he wasn't impressed by the kids. They all appeared as common as any other random children to him. The only exception was his Lilith since she stood out even amongst this group.

Stepping over some of the weapons, he started walking towards her and felt something akin to nervousness skitter through their bond. And considering just how close to his bride one of the males was standing, he was certain that he knew the cause of said feeling.

He wasn't jealous though. Possessive of his bride certainly but not jealous of the boy giving her his attentions.

Walking over to her, he wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her, pulling her back to his front and resting his cheek on top of her head as she squeaked, startled by his actions.

"Hello, my dearest." He purred as he gave the boy a baleful look that all but screamed, fuck off.

While Ichigo put a hand up in the air and called out in a slightly desperate tone, "Teacher, I've got a pervert attached to me! Can you get him off of me please?"

Opera's lips quirked up into a mischievous smile as he said, "Cruel, dearest."

"Sexual harassment is against the law you know?" She said, loudly, as she tipped her head back a bit to look at him. He simply chuckled as he heard Kalego snapping,

"Hey! Get off that student!"

Opera let out a long-suffering sigh as Ichigo sniggered about the fact that the hellhound was interfering with his cuddles. No matter though. He had made his point sufficiently enough for the moment if the glare that he was receiving from the tall, blond-haired male was any indication at all.

Pressing a quick, but affectionate kiss to Ichigo's cheek, Opera slowly released her from his grasp. And none too soon either by the look of the Asmodeus boy since he saw him a hairsbreadth away from setting his jacket on fire.

He flicked his Lilith's companion on the forehead, causing the boy to squawk indignantly as he took a step or two back away from him, the boy's reaction earning an amused chuckle from Opera as he made his way back to the door.