Ichigo didn't recall getting home that night. Nor did she recall even falling asleep.

But she did remember waking up around two something in the morning to use the bathroom and finding herself in a cuddle pile with her grandpa and Opera sleeping on either side of her.

Which was interesting, to say the least. And it also raised some questions in her mind too since the two usually went to their own rooms to sleep. But instead of waking them and demanding some answers, she shrugged it off and after using the bathroom, crawled back into bed and went back to sleep.

The next time that she woke up, it was early morning. Sometime after Opera and her grandpa had slipped out of her bedroom and left her to sleep a while longer while they went about their usual daily routine.

It was also right around that time that she noticed a small piece of paper lying on one of her pillows with a note written on it. As well as the fact that she had the ring from the previous morning on her ring finger.

Curious to know why she was wearing the ring when she hadn't been awake to put it on. She picked up the note and frowned as she read the writing on it.

She was just a tad bit disappointed to see that it wasn't a note from Opera. But she was also equally confused about why her grandpa would write her a note gushing about how cute she was when she was asleep.

She wasn't cute in the least while she was sleeping. She tended to drool too much to be remotely considered cute.

He better not have taken any pictures of me while I was asleep. She thought in irritation.

The last time someone had taken any pictures of her while she'd slept- hadn't ended well for the offender. She'd put that freak in a full body cast for it. And rightly so considering that he'd taken them from outside of her bedroom at night after stalking her for weeks.

Setting the note aside, she pushed the covers back a bit and climbed out of bed to begin her morning routine. She couldn't remember if she'd had a bath the previous evening, so she needed to do that and get it out of the way. After that, she needed to get dressed and go hunt someone down.

She still wanted to know why her favorite two demons had been all nice and cozy in her bed last night.

She showered quickly, and then took the time to brush her teeth and then went and started to get dressed. She had just pulled her pants on and fastened them when the door to her room swung open and her grandpa came skipping in calling out jovially. "Oh Ichigo! It's time to get up!"

She paused in reaching for her uniform jacket so that she could look his way, and blinked when he realized that she was already up and getting ready for the day.

"Ichigo!" Her grandpa shouted happily as he practically teleported over to her and then hugged her. "Good morning dearest." He chirped as he rubbed his cheek against one of her own while firing questions at her. "Did you sleep well? Were you warm and cozy enough? Did you miss grandpa when he got up?"

"Good morning grandpa. I slept just fine, thank you for asking." She said automatically, trying to be nice despite the fact that it was still too damned early to deal with this level of enthusiasm from anyone that wasn't Orihime, Az, or Clara.

Sullivan merely pulled back from her and gave her a happy smile before then skipping away to...do something that was obviously suspicious to her closet.

"Grandpa...what are you doing looking in my closet?" She asked as she finally managed to pull her jacket on.

"Hn? Oh, nothing dearest. I was just wondering if you had enough clothing and things. You've been here for a few weeks now and I've yet to manage to take you shopping. So, I worry that you may not have everything that you need."

"I'm fine, grandpa. I've got far more stuff than I need at the moment."

"Oh? But I thought that girls couldn't live without new fashions and other things pretty or cute."

That was such a weird thing for someone to think. Ichigo thought so, anyway as she slowly replied. "I'm used to only having enough clothing to get me through a week. And I'm also used to making that last for a few years, just to avoid shopping. Trust me, grandpa, I've got enough clothing."

She had been trying to be reassuring. But instead, for some reason, her grandpa felt like that was the most awful thing that he'd ever heard before in his life. He burst into tears, startling her, and then ran out of the room calling for Opera before she could say anything.

Her grandpa's hasty retreat left Ichigo with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she scrubbed her face with her hands and muttered, "I will not commit a murder before lunch, I will not commit a murder before lunch..."

After lunch, though all bets were off. Especially since she wasn't sure if she would even last that long before snapping.

Reaching down, she grabbed her shoes and then once she had them on, she grabbed her bookbag and went to hunt her grandpa down and do some damage control. Hopefully before he managed to coax Opera into something silly.

A few minutes later, she was cursing her own bad frigging luck when she walked into the dining room to see her grandpa calmly sitting down at the table and Opera standing in his usual position, his expression grim but determined.

Uh-oh. Whatever was about to happen didn't bode well for her. Not with Opera's expression like that.

"Uh..."

"Please come and sit down, my lady." Uh-oh, Opera was still using that polite reference to her station instead of her nickname!

Ichigo felt like screaming right then. Especially when she caught the devious glitter in her grandpa's eyes as she set her bag down against the wall just inside of the door and slowly walked over to her chair and sat down.

Opera set her plate of food in front of her and then asked her if she would like some Hell Grey tea to drink. Ichigo nodded her head and thanked him once the drink was placed by her plate.

And then she waited for the inevitable.

"Lily, your grandfather has informed me that you were deprived of basic necessities- Is this true?" Opera asked, sounding just a bit angry to her.

She sputtered, startled by the choice of words that he used. She had not been deprived!

The lack of clothing that she had mentioned before had been a personal choice of hers. For god's sake it wasn't as if she didn't get an allowance or anything to get what she wanted or liked on occasion. She just didn't care much for fashion and other things. Why did that make her deprived?

"I was not deprived!" She said in outrage, her temper starting to rise a bit.

"Dearest, did you not say that you only had a week's worth of clothing that were meant to last you for years?" Sullivan said, as he picked up his cup of tea to take a sip. Acting all calm and collected during this...character assassination of her family.

"Well, yeah. But-"

"And are you not a girl?" Opera asked, already knowing damned well that she was. After all, he had seen her without her clothing on before!

"Well, of course I am." She replied indignantly.

She was tempted to say, You've seen me in a bathing suit, haven't you? Right there in front of her grandpa despite the fact that it could upset him as well as get Opera in trouble.

"Did your former family have financial difficulties?" Sullivan asked before quickly stressing. "Please, understand that we aren't angry. Nor are we trying to insinuate anything about your former family, dearest. We just want to understand why you went without things."

"My dad was a single man raising three rambunctious girls- of course there was going to be financial difficulties on occasion. That doesn't mean that I was deprived of anything. I chose what I needed. The number of clothing that I mentioned before were a part of a personal choice that I made so that my siblings didn't have to go without things themselves."

Both Sullivan and Opera got very quiet for several heartbeats as they did that silent communication thing again, nearly eliciting a snarl from her in annoyance.

Luckily though, she was able to reign in her temper just enough not to snarl at them as they both looked at her and said in unison, "We understand."

She doubted that they really understood anything.

But she was so upset at them that it didn't matter anyway. She simply picked up her fork and began stabbing the food on her plate with a vengeance.

Which seemed to alarm her grandpa and Opera both if the way that the kept looking at her the entire time she was eating breakfast was any indication at all. Not that she cared any, she simply finished her meal, and then politely thanked Opera and then left to go to school.

Leaving the two demons bewildered and worried by her behavior.

"Oh dear, that didn't go at all like I have hoped it would." Sullivan said fretfully. "I think we made her mad at us."

Opera merely cast a look his master's way that practically screamed, No shit, Sherlock. While he slowly said, "I believe that you are right."

"It wasn't my intention to upset her with our questions. Nor to seem as if we were accusing her former family of treating her poorly..."

"Yet that was the way that it seemed."

"How do we fix this?" Sullivan asked worriedly.

Opera thought for a moment as he checked his bond with his Lilith and flinched a little bit when her side of the bond snapped at him like a beast with its fangs bared.

Oh, oh she was so mad at them!

How am I going to get back into her good graces again? He wondered worriedly before finally coming to the conclusion that he would have to grovel.

Well, the be honest- they would both have to grovel.

Because if he was getting on his knees for her while she was upset with him then so was his master. He would force him if he had to, the elder demon's arthritis be damned.

"My poor dearest, she's been so very stressed lately." Sullivan said softly, guilt coloring his tone. "I just didn't want her to start going through a wicked phase."

Opera had been trying to sooth his Lilith's temper through their bond when he heard his master say those words. And immediately after hearing them, he began to panic.

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.

"Do hybrids even have wicked phases?" He asked in a slightly strained voice.

Sullivan shrugged his shoulders since he didn't know one way or another. Eliciting a low-pitched whine of distress from Opera before the cat demon decided to run from the room to see if he could catch his Lilith.

After all, if she was about to enter into a wicked phase then something needed to be done to minimize the damage!

Ichigo was quiet during her walk to school with Az and Clara. Abnormally quiet. So much so that the kids were beginning to worry that something was terribly wrong with her.

"Do you think she's depressed?" Az whispered to Clara fretfully.

"Maybe she's hungry." Clara whispered back at him. "Should I get her a snack?" She asked curiously. Az slowly shook his head at the smaller girl.

"No. She gets upset when someone takes advantage of your ability."

"Oh, right."

Ichigo could hear the two whenever they spoke even in whispered tones about her. It was hard to miss given their close proximity to one another. And neither kid was as subtle as they thought they were. But since the two seemed to be having so much fun trying to figure out what was wrong with her, she let everything slide.

Besides, it wasn't as if they would really manage to guess what was wrong with her when she was trying to figure that out herself. So, there was no harm in simply leaving them be for the time being.

To be honest, she wasn't really sure what was wrong with her. She was upset because of her grandpa and Opera's questions, sure. But it felt almost as if the emotions weren't really her own.

Could I be reacting to something that I'm feeling from Opera? She wondered as she tried to piece things together. After all, he can feel my emotions from time to time. So, shouldn't things like that be a two-way street? If so, then whatever her grandpa had told him about the whole clothing thing, had upset him greatly.

He'd even had that weirdly determined look on his face when she'd sat down for breakfast.

In honesty, the theory made sense to her. Probably more sense than her just waking up in a bad mood.

She stopped walking, nearly getting herself knocked down by Az and Clara in the process.

"Hey Az, if a couple of demons do a blood exchange for whatever reason...can they both feel each other's emotions?" She asked, hoping that her duckling would be able to tell her something.

But she also rationally believed that Az wouldn't know of such adult things. So, if he didn't have an answer- it was fine.

Az was startled by her voice in mid whisper and quickly straightened his spine and looked at her for a moment as his face flushed. Maybe he felt it was embarrassing for her to catch him whispering stuff about her?

He was quiet for another few seconds and seemed to be thinking before finally saying, "W-Well, blood bonds are meant to be between life mates- so...yes. I believe so."

"I see." She would have to ask someone else more knowledgeable about such things just to be sure. But for the moment, she was happy enough.

She would have to talk to Opera later though. Just to be absolutely sure.

"I-Is that why you're so very quiet, master? Does it have something to do with Sir Opera?" Az asked in concern. The gears in his head turning a mile a minute as he tried to piece things together.

Ichigo merely smiled at he and Clara, though it didn't quite reach her eyes like her smiles usually did as she said. "Let's get to school. We don't want to be late." And then started walking again.

Opera wasn't able to catch up with his Lilith when he ran after her due to the fact that the blasted woman had already scampered off to parts unknown. And with that knowledge to nag at him, he then went and collected his master and the two of them headed to work.

His master had something to do with the thirteen crowns today, so he wouldn't be at school to preform his usual duties. Which meant that Opera was in charge of overseeing the school.

It wasn't that he minded this fact, usually he enjoyed overseeing others considerable. It kept the teachers, students, and his master all on their toes. But today...he felt that his Lilith needed his attention.

And with that thought firmly in mind, he flew ahead to the school to await her arrival.

He still felt guilty about earlier and how his questions and those of his master had likely come off to her. Plus, he was immensely worried about his bride going through a wicked phase so soon after her reproductive cycle, the mate hunts, and other stuff that has happened to her thus far.

It was too soon for her to begin her wicked phase and he was really, really freaked out right now and couldn't seem to stop his chaotic thoughts. He began to pace back and forth in front of the gate, and to be frank- he was getting a lot of weird looks from some of the students wandering past him from time to time.

He wasn't sure how long he had been waiting or pacing around. Time was passing him by at a snail's pace and his anxiety was dangerously high when a shadow fell over him and he glanced up to see Shichiro looming over him.

"What's wrong?" The gargoyle asked/demanded knowing that he wasn't acting like his usual calm self and was concerned about the reason why.

Opera's ears drooped and he looked at his old friend, unsure about speaking where so many could hear him. Shichiro took a second to look around and then hummed in understanding and grabbed him by the arm and motioned for him to follow him.

Opera didn't need any further prompting. He followed his old friend to a nice, secluded place away from the school gate, yet still withing sight of it at which point Shichiro released him and then waited for him to talk.

"It is...the young mistress. I fear that she may be about to begin a wicked phase." Opera said looking upset and nervous. "She's been so very stressed lately, and with everything that has happened thus far she hasn't had much time to rest or recover."

"Is she acting strangely?" Shichiro asked curiously as he glanced towards the gate.

"She was very upset with master and I this morning because of some questions that we had about her former family and lifestyle."

"Oh." Shichrio said, "What sort of questions?"

Opera took a few minutes to explain the conversation and everything that had been said from beginning to end and then cringed a bit when Shichiro visibly bristled as he digested everything that he'd just been told. He didn't know much about humans as far as their lifestyles went, but he was fairly certain that a fledgling going without toys, and games to help them develop certain skills and understanding of things was a huge no-no.

Just as big of one as going without clothing for years at a time. Even if Ichigo had claimed that it was a personal choice to go without for her sibling's sake- it was still bad.

Finally, once he was sure that he had a better understanding of why Opera was acting so unlike himself, he sighed.

"Do you want some help?" He asked, already knowing that Opera was probably thinking of containing Ichigo for the time being, just to be on the safe side. Or at least until he was sure that she wasn't about to start a wicked phase.

Opera's ears twitched a bit and his tail flicked slowly as he considered his question. Carefully weighing the pro's and con's before finally replying, "Help would be nice, thank you."

"Alright, first thing is first- What class does she have today?"

"She will be having her first magic lesson with Suzie-sensei."

Shichiro nodded his head and then told Opera that they would get her before class and isolate her. For the time being, the two of them would be her teachers.

Ichigo knew that something was up the second that she stepped through the gate of the school. She could practically feel it in the air. Like an electrical charge, skittering along her skin.

She grabbed both Az and Clara in response to the feeling and began to scan the area around them for whatever could be causing it. Part of her was half concerned that there may be a Hollow hanging around somewhere, stalking the kids of the school without anyone realizing it.

"M-Master? What's wrong?" Az finally managed to ask, her reaction triggering his own battle instincts to the point where he created a wall of fire between the three of them and everyone else in the immediate area.

"Do you guys feel that?" Ichigo asked them in a hushed tone.

"Feel what?" Az asked curiously.

When Clara clapped her hands together and said happily, "The zap-zap! The zap-zap!"

Both Az and Ichigo looked down at the smaller girl and blinked. "You can feel that?" Ichigo asked her seriously. Clara merely smiled and nodded her head.

"Uh-huh."

"What is it? Do you know?" Az asked Clara, wondering why it was that she could feel the same thing that his master was feeling when he couldn't. Ugh, life is so unfair sometimes. He thought as Clara excitedly explained what she called was the zap-zap.

Apparently, it was an intense focus on a target.

Usually, according to Clara, the zap-zap only happened around the school whenever there was a teacher or someone on the disciplinary committee- typically someone high ranking- was focused on tracking down and punishing someone.

Neither Az nor Ichigo really knew anything that could counter Clara's explanation. So, the two simply shrugged and decided that if that was the case then they were safe. There was no way that anyone would be after them when they had just arrived.

Except...Ichigo's meticulously honed battle instincts kept screaming at her that she was the intended target. So, she pretended to drop her guard to see what would happen. And the second that she did...

Someone attacked them with a net.

Ichigo wrapped her arms around both Az and Clara and quickly jumped out of the way and kept jumping back in a zig-zag pattern while carrying the two kids.

"Az, throw a few fireballs to your left!" She directed. She could feel something or someone in that direction and thought that his fire might help to force them out into the open.

"Yes, master!" Az said as he did as she bid him at the exact moment that the ground where they were about to land broke apart and roots and vines shot up towards them.

Ichigo growled in annoyance, already knowing that Shichiro was involved in this somehow, but that didn't mean that she was going to let him use his plants to capture her so easily.

She used the tip of the root stretching towards her to propel herself back in midair to avoid it and the rest of the vines, but also had to dodge a few other things popping up out of the ground as well.

Flowers. Trees. Even Shichiro himself popped up out of the ground like a frigging daisy and tried to grab her.

He got one of her feet planted in his chest for his efforts since she was excellent at evasion techniques. But while she was focused on evading him and his attacks, Opera came out of nowhere and near caught her from behind.

"You two seem to think that just because I'm carrying Az and Clara that I'm slow and helpless!" She said as she planted on of her palms on Opera's back, between his shoulders and used it to flip herself and her friends up into the air out of the way while Opera skidded across the ground and tried to regain his balance so that he could try to attack her again.

"You do move with ease," Opera noted. "Even while carrying others. But how long can you keep it up?"

Ichigo gave the two idiots a feral looking smile that was sharp and full of teeth as she purred, "Fuck around and find out, boys."