The entire seireitei was in even more of a buzz from the very second that every Soul Reaper felt her reishi flare. The Captain's and their Leuitenants all dropped what they were doing, regardless of its importance and began to rush to where they had felt Ichigo's presence.
Many of them were very happy about the fact that the girl had decided to stop in and see them for whatever reason.
While others- despite also being rather pleased by her visit- were also fuming mad at their young friend for not inviting them to her wedding. Or sending them pictures of her new husband. (The gals of the women's association had a bet going.)
Which was just part of the reason why so many of them were in a hurry to catch up to her. They all had both congratulations to give. And so many questions to ask!
Ichigo, could feel them converging on her location as she directed Opera on where he could park the carriage so that they could find it again later on, before then moving to let her grandpa out of it.
"Welcome to Soul Society, grandpa." She said as she held one of his hands as he stepped down and took a good long look around.
"Oh my, it's nothing like what I imagined it would be." Sullivan said as Opera jumped down from the front of the vehicle to join them.
"I'm not sure what you were imagining it to look like. But I remember being kind of in awe of it the first time that I saw it, myself." She said as she gently shut the carriage door and then turned when she felt the first of the Soul Reaper's arrive.
"Would that be before or after you decided to utterly destroy the barrier over the seireitei?" A haughty voice asked out of nowhere.
Ichigo grinned at her friend's arrival, then replied. "Before, obviously." And then tacked on as she stepped forward and gave him a hug, "Hello, Toshiro. How are you doing?"
Sullivan and Opera both stared at the young Soul Reaper standing before them, absently noting that he was little more than a baby. Which probably explained why Ichigo seemed to attach herself to him so easily. Or at least it seemed that way to them, anyway.
"I'm doing well." Toshiro said as he hugged her back in a rare display of affection. "It's good to see you, Ichigo. Will you be with us long?"
"I'm not sure." She said awkwardly before remembering that Sullivan and Opera were standing nearby silently observing her interaction with Toshiro. "Oh! Before I forget," She said as she motioned to the two demons. "Let me introduce my grandpa and Opera to you."
Toshiro looked at the two and arched a brow as she introduced them to him. He'd never known any demons personally, but as far as he could tell the two were pretty well mannered. So, he decided to reserve judgement for later and politely bowed to them and introduced himself.
Once everyone finally knew each other Toshiro them looked at her and asked, "Ichigo, while I'm not complaining. But why are you wearing a dress and makeup?"
"Huh? Oh, I guess grandpa wanted me to look nice for the journey here to see everyone. That's all."
"Hn. I see." Toshiro said as he studied her new appearance.
He knew that she had changed considerably since her battle with Aizen. Not only that but she had grown up quite a bit during the short time that she had been without her abilities as well. Still...it was difficult for him to see her dressed up so nicely, with her face covered in cosmetics like now.
She looked like a lady from a good family.
But to him, she was simply Ichigo Kurosaki. The human/Soul Reaper ryoka that had become a very good friend to him and many others.
Finally, he smiled a bit as he said, "The new look suits you."
Ichigo smiled at him as he then said, "Why don't you and your...uh, family? Follow me. I'll take you to the head captain since you'll likely end up there anyway since he'll want to know what brings all of you here."
"Thank you, Toshiro." Ichigo said as she moved to get into position to act as a second escort, but was stopped when her grandpa gently took hold of her arm and gently pulled her back.
She looked at him curiously, as he said in a whispered tone. "You aren't here as a Soul Reaper right now, dearest. Just a guest. So, walk with us instead of escorting us."
"Oh." She said feeling a bit awkward. How am I supposed to know if I'm here in a formal capacity or not unless someone says something beforehand? She wondered, feeling slightly upset with herself for not already knowing that.
Her grandpa patted her hand once he settled it in the crook of his arm in an effort to reassure her that there was no harm done. And then they began to move.
Ichigo already knew the way to the head captain's favorite meeting place by heart and so was distracted while Toshiro escorted them. But she was aware of the questions that her grandpa or Opera sometimes asked about the buildings, and their architecture. The training regimens that they used to train their new recruits.
What did Soul Reaper's do in their free time?
Toshiro chuckled at that last question before replying, "I try to stay ahead of the mountains of paperwork that I get daily. So, I rarely have time to do anything much. But when I do have some free time. I get invited to different barracks for tea and snacks. I get to visit with my friends, and even sometimes get dragged into some random nonsense. Courtesy of many of the other Soul Reapers."
"Oh, you have fun, and you know it." Ichigo said in response to his answer.
"I do not." Toshiro said in a suddenly defensive tone.
"I don't know many boys your age that wouldn't enjoy judging a bathing suit contest with a certain, buxom blond participating. Especially when you get a nice, boobie filled hug from said women when she wins."
Toshiro went as red at the spider lilies on her dress as Ichigo smirked in amusement at the fact that he was still crushing so hard on Rangiku. Silly boy, make a move already! She thought while she heard her grandpa snigger at the abrupt turn of their conversation.
Opera smiled but otherwise showed no other signs of humor. Though from the position of his ears, he was also amused.
"I wouldn't talk about enjoyment if I were you, Ichigo." Toshiro growled at her. "After all, didn't you have fun winning that musical contest a while back? And what was the winning song again? Hit me baby one more time, by Brittney Spears?"
Ichigo tripped over her own foot and fell. Thankfully both her grandpa and Opera managed to grab her before she could hit the floor. But she was mortified anyway.
"I knew that I shouldn't have listened to Rukia about that damned song!" She shrieked as Toshiro cackled evilly.
"No, you really shouldn't. But you did and we've got it all on video!"
"No." Ichigo gasped in horror and started to sweat a little bit when she caught the overly interested expressions on both her grandpa and Opera's faces.
"You have a video?" She heard her grandpa asked while Opera started shivering in excitement and flexing his fingers as if he were about to pounce.
"Yes," Toshiro said with a grin. "And we show it in movie theaters ever few months to remind everyone that you're just as weird as the rest of us."
"What?! Why? Why would you show it in a theater?"
Toshiro shrugged his shoulders, "Meh, it's funny to watch and we get bored." He said as he sent a sly look her way before giving her the death blow. "You were so adorable with pigtails."
Ichigo's mouth dropped open in disbelief at the audacity of the brat mentioning the taboo word. Especially since she hadn't worn pigtails of any kind in her hair since she was two!
A chill skittered down her spine and she turned her head to look at her grandpa and Opera and found the two doing that silent communication thing that they always did. And knew without a doubt that Toshiro's days were numbered. Especially when Opera nodded his head suddenly and then stepped towards her.
"My lady, your hair needs to be fixed. May I?" He sounded like the most innocent and unassuming creature in the world. He is going to put pigtails in your hair! Her mind screamed at her in alarm.
"No," She said, as she took a step back, her face going pale. She knew what was coming. Especially when Opera whipped out a brush and began to try and corner her. "Opera, don't!" She shrieked as she took off running when he managed to pull one of the barrettes from her hair.
Toshiro simply stood there watching the scene before him in morbid fascination as Opera chased after her for a few seconds before finally catching her. After that, it didn't take him very long at all to do as he had intended.
And naturally, the second that he finished his task, he took pictures. While a few feet away her grandpa clapped his hands and called out, "You look so precious, dearest!"
Toshiro's eye was twitching a bit, and he seemed to be trying to fight against laughing at her. Because he knew what she was going to do to him once he did. He'd seen her do it a million times before to some of the others. But he, himself had never been at the receiving end of her wrath like the rest of the idiots.
Even so...he was fighting a losing battle, and he knew it. So, he ran. And he would have escaped too if not for the fact that he ran straight into Shunsui and Ukitake.
"Whoa there, Toshiro. Where's the fire?" Shunsui asked as he took in the young white-haired captain's face.
"Yes, Ichigo's come to visit. Do you know where-" Ukitake started to ask when he looked around eagerly and spotted said girl. And automatically started coughing while trying not to laugh at what he was seeing. After all, he'd never seen Ichigo in either a dress, makeup, nor pigtails before.
It was an interesting look for her.
Shunsui, however upon noticing her and her new appearance, flat out roared with laughter for a good ten seconds and got himself nailed in the face by a dainty looking heeled shoe that was thrown by their friend. Ichigo had a wicked good arm too because Shunsui went down like a ton of bricks and lay there twitching while Ukitake coughed a few more times before finally managing to get himself under control.
"Hello Ichigo. How are you doing this fine day?"
She let out a growl like a rabid dog and Ukitake merely glued a smile onto his face and walked over to her and gently wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and hugged her while also removing her hair from its current style.
Eliciting a couple of whines from Sullivan and Opera who had both been so very interested in the bizarre level of utter fear that some Soul Reapers exhibited whenever her hair was up like that. There was also that violent streak in her to. That was interesting as well as entertaining.
Finally finishing letting her hair down from the pigtails, Ukitake took the time to run his fingers through her hair in a soothing manner and smooth it out a bit while Ichigo slowly calmed back down. Then once she was calm enough, she wheeled around in his grasp and started babbling.
"They put my hair in pigtails! It's all Toshiro's fault for mentioning things. He has to die for giving them ideas!"
Ukitake chuckled and put one of his hands on top of her head and ruffled her hair. "You must be feeling better now if you're already planning someone's untimely demise."
Even more so if it's Toshiro that she wants to kill. He mused as he tried to keep her there and give Toshiro a better head start since he knew just how fast Ichigo could be when she was peeved about something.
He'd witnessed her knock some of his men around like a pro wrestler more than a few times before for one reason or another. So, he knew that delaying her chase would help to keep her hand off of Toshiro, at least for a little while.
It was while he was ruffling her hair that he realized that there were others present and finally looked away from Ichigo to spy the two demons, watching him. He recognized the one demon. After all, he had been at Ichigo's new school. But he didn't know the second one.
Though from just looking at him, and seeing the way that he held himself, Jushiro figured that he must have been something akin to a guard. Which was...interesting. So much so that he wanted to ask the young demon who he was and what his job was.
Thankfully, though, since being summoned by Ichigo as a familiar- Jushiro had spent the past few weeks reading up on anything remotely detailing demon life and their customs.
Removing himself from Ichigo, he walked over to the two demons and very carefully executed demon custom of hiding fangs and baring wing roots to show respect to them. Granted, Jushiro didn't have those things, but he at least hoped that the two understood his intent.
Sullivan and Opera were both pleasantly surprised by the Soul Reaper's actions, and both demons bowed back to him as custom demanded.
"Hello, it's very nice to see you again," Jushiro said politely as he slowly straightened his spine so that he could speak to the two demons directly. "Please forgive my lack of manners up until now."
"My, you're a well-mannered young man." Sullivan said. "It's nice to see such manners among your people."
Jushiro gave them a brilliant smile, "Thank you for the compliment. I've been brushing up on various things Netherworld and demon related since we last met. I wanted to be well informed, just in case." He said as Ichigo wandered over and grasped one of his sleeves to get his attention.
"Ukitake, these two are my family. Lord Sullivan is one of the three greats, and Opera is our security devil." She said as she pointed from the elder to the young demon standing next to him.
"Your family?" Ukitake echoed with a slightly confused look on his face. And then it hit him, this was her demon family. The ones that she was now living with and being cared for by. "I see." He said in a slightly shocked tone.
That certainly explained why the elder was present. It also sort of explained the other's presence as well. Though not entirely.
"And what brings all of you here to visit us?"
"Oh, that." Sullivan said almost as if he had forgotten why he had wanted to come to Soul Society up until then. "Ichigo received her ranking at school today but has no desire to use it. I was wondering what her official rank here is, and if perhaps someone here could explain to me why she doesn't like her rank."
"Ah, that would be something a bit distressing to you." Ukitake said in understanding.
Demons weren't the same as Soul Reapers or humans. Ranks in the Netherworld were used to establish a hierarchy. Just like other places. The only difference was that to demons- rank meant everything. It was their pride, their strength in word or number form. It made or broke them from the time that they were just young children and established their place in the world.
So, it was understandable that Ichigo's attitude towards her rank would cause them some panic and distress for them.
"May I ask, what rank she got?" He asked curiously, already knowing that it had to be a high one otherwise it wouldn't bother the girl so much.
"She got rank Chet. Which is rank eight out of ten." Sullivan said and waited for the Soul Reaper to react.
"Rank eight out of ten? Really?" Ukitake asked, surprised by the fact that Ichigo's strength had grown so very much since they had first met the girl. "Ichigo that's amazing!" He finally said as he grabbed the girl and hugged her tightly as he added, "I'm so proud of you!"
Both Sullivan and Opera weren't sure how to feel about the Soul Reapers initially. Especially since they had betrayed Ichigo and marked her for death.
Sullivan had been content to leave things as they were and simply observe Ichigo and the Soul Reapers interactions for any signs of animosity or bad blood between them. As a means of gauging certain things. Like whether she was safe with them or not etc.
But after seeing her interact with the few that they had run into so far- Sullivan was happy enough with how things were going. After all, it wasn't his place to tell his granddaughter who she could and couldn't associate with here.
Opera however, was torn.
He had developed a certain contempt for the Soul Reapers- though not all of them- ever since they had turned on his Lilith back when she'd still lived in the human world. And while those feelings still ran pretty deep.
He was having some difficulty completely disliking the ones that he and his master had met thus far.
Not only that but he was becoming more and more concerned about the interactions between his Lilith and the Reapers. Not because there was anything truly wrong with their interactions. But because of what he could feel from his bond with his Lilith.
Every time she made contact with one of the Reapers their bond would thrum almost violently with affection. It was startling to him just how affectionate her feelings for them were.
It's no wonder they were able to betray her so easily. He thought grimly to himself.
The Reapers likely knew just how deeply she felt for them and had still betrayed her. To say that he didn't like knowing that would be an understatement. He didn't like it one fucking bit.
Yet even so...
Seeing the male Soul Reaper hug his Lilith and treat her as if she were one of his family confused Opera greatly. The man was acting as if the girl were his younger sibling or perhaps even a niece. He was gentle with her, doting even.
How was this man one of the people who had marked my Lilith for death? He wondered as the male seized her hands and started to lift them and wave them around while Ichigo groaned and got a resigned expression that made his master snigger.
At the moment, such a thing seemed totally inconceivable to him.
Just as it was inconceivable as the fact that his lady had totally forgiven them for their betrayal when she had every right to hold a grudge.
"Rank eight out of ten is so good." The Reaper said again as he finally released his grasp on Ichigo and allowed her to stagger back. Opera reached out and gently placed his palm on her back to keep her from falling when she looked a little more unsteady than she should have to him.
"Yes, we're quite proud of her as well." His master said. "But as I explained before, we're a bit perplexed about-" He didn't have to say anything more since the Reaper nodded his head in understanding and said,
"Yes, yes of course. How about I escort you all to the head captain since Toshiro has run for his life." Sullivan and Opera both chuckled.
While Ichigo gasped and then shrieked in outrage. "That damn brat!"
A short while later, the lot of them followed the tall, white-haired Reaper and the dark haired one that had finally been roused from his place on the ground and introduced to them by Ichigo as Shunsui, the captain of the eighth squad and close childhood friend of the white-haired reaper.
Opera and Sullivan took their time observing the dark-haired Reaper and noticed almost automatically that the male was a womanizer. Which had led Opera to suddenly grab his Lilith from behind and wrap himself around her protectively while glaring at the man menacingly.
Which made the dark-haired man smile at him innocently and then start to compliment his Lilith's choice of attire, her make-up and other things that made her look so very lovely.
However, Opera had no choice but to lunge at him when the man looked at his lady's breasts for a few seconds too long and commented on her...growth from a flat chested youth.
He had been so startled at first, that he hadn't had the chance to even bristle. But once he realized what the Reaper had just said, he had let out a loud growl. After all, how fucking dare he.
His Lilith had magnificent breasts!
Sullivan had to stop him from raking his claws across the man's face and splitting it open to the bone while Ichigo merely laughed in a tone that he had never heard before, and then ripped a log or something out of the ground, startling he, Sullivan, and the white-haired reaper. And then swung it at the man's head like a baseball bat.
She missed the first time. But managed to nail him with it when he was trying to climb the side of another building to escape danger.
Opera calmed down considerably after they had left the dark-haired reaper bleeding on the ground underneath the piece of heavy wood. Though he did make a point of bespelling the wood so that it couldn't be removed from the man's body easily.
The spell would wear off in a day or so. But only if Opera decided to stop focusing on keeping it there. And unfortunately for the Soul Reaper, he had great focus and a long memory.