A few hours later-
Ichigo was certain that the unpredictability and excitability of the many demons in her life would one day kill her. Why you ask? It was very simple, Opera, since regaining his ability to think again, had completely done a one-eighty regarding Az. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on in his mind.
But to her, it actually seemed as if the fact that she saw Az as her son had done something to change Opera's opinion of him in a very, very strong way.
So much so that upon getting to his feet, Opera had grabbed her and deposited her in a nearby chair. And after that he produced a pretty bouquet of flowers, and then promised her- with a very serious expression, no less- that he would never bully her son again.
Then, as if that wasn't peculiar or strange enough, he began to produce a few other things- right out of thin air! It was toys, mostly. Milti-colored stuffed bears, rabbits, some board games and even some... voodoo dolls?!
After which he had seated himself on the coffee table across from her and held several of them up and asked, "Which one do you think our son will like better?"
Her hand subconsciously began to inch towards her cell phone because she obviously needed help here. Opera was freaking her out! Of course, she froze when she saw him look to the side and pause for a second as he took note of the time on the wall before saying, "Oh, it's gotten rather late. Hasn't it?" And then turned his attention back to her. "We should get you ready for our trip into town."
Ichigo let out the breath that she hadn't been aware that she was holding and smiled at him. She was so very relieved that he was preoccupied with something else now!
She'd been worried for a second that he might insist on going to kidnap Az and return him to her side.
But instead, he merely grabbed her and ushered her up to her room and quickly collected some clean clothing from her dresser and handed it to her and then told her to go and take a bath and to not use any of the floral body washes for once.
Apparently, Shichiro had a sensitive nose and while floral things smelled very nice, even to the other demon, it would be in her best interest to allow the gargoyle to be able to smell her natural scent.
Ichigo caught on to the underlying order in Opera's voice and nodded her head in understanding since he was basically hinting that it was to let Shichiro memorize her scent for future purposes.
She was betting that it had to do with certain social ques that she hadn't caught onto yet due to the fact that her own senses weren't nearly as sharp as a demon's. Either that or scent played a specific part in courtships that she didn't know about.
She would have to ask Shichiro when she saw him.
After that, she went and took a quick shower and then once she was wrapped in a towel, Opera appeared to blow dry her hair. Then upon completing that task, he then disappeared from the bathroom so that she could get dressed in the clothing that he'd handed her earlier.
Once that was done, and she exited the bathroom, she found the cat demon pulling various articles of clothing from her closet for her to choose to wear. However, there was just one problem. Well okay two problems once she looked the steadily growing pile over.
One, was that she didn't know how she was supposed to dress. She had next to no information at all about what to expect while out in town for her shopping/date with Shichiro.
Sure, she recalled the giant demon mentioning that he had made reservations for a nice dinner for them both. But she wasn't sure if she was supposed to dress formally- which was just impractical for shopping. Or if she should dress normally- for her anyway. Or nice and a bit dressy.
Honestly not knowing made things far more difficult than they should have been. And then there was the fact that Opera had his own opinions about what she should wear. Which led to her second problem.
Why did she have so many skirts and dresses among her belongings?
Sure, she had worn a few of them thus far, but that didn't change her opinion of the damned things. She still hated them for personal reasons.
So, after Opera had just finished laying out the latest dress for her to choose from, she stopped him and said. "No dresses."
Which seemed to give the cat demon pause. And for a second, she got the impression that he wanted to argue. But simply chose not to and instead nodded his head in understanding and began to put the dresses away. Leaving some of the other things for her to go through.
It was the sight of Opera's drooping ears that made her decide that she might be inclined to wear a skirt for her date. But only if she had some leggings to wear under it. And once she told him that, his drooping ears straightened up and he smiled at her, happy with the small concession.
After that, she went through everything laying on her bed and somehow managed to find a pretty plum purple, long sleeved button up shirt and a multicolored velvet vest of teal, black, purple, and sage green with gold buttons and trim. She took a second to lay the vest over the shirt and figured that it was nice enough.
I mean the colors didn't look bad with the shirt. In fact, it made the purple of her shirt stand out even more.
"At least I'll be easy to find." She muttered slightly amused by just how vivid the colors were as she then grabbed a skirt- a pleated cotton one without ribbons or lace anywhere on it and a pair of leggings to wear under the skirt.
After that she made Opera go hang out in the closet for several minutes to 'look for shoes' while she put everything on. When Opera finally came out, he was holding a pair of black, and teal-colored shoes that he handed to her. And then went to grab some makeup and something to put her hair up with.
A few minutes later, Ichigo couldn't help but wonder if she really looked okay.
It wasn't that Opera had gone overboard with her makeup or anything, and it wasn't the colors of her clothing either since they all went together beautifully. And she actually looked really, really pretty in the mirror. No- the problem was...
"I think I'm starting to get nervous now." Ichigo said as she fidgeted with the cuff of one of her shirt sleeves.
"You look amazing, my Lily." Opera said as he came out of the closet where he had been trying to find her a purse since her leggings, skirt and vest didn't have any pockets.
She turned her head to look at him and he could see her nervousness and fear as well as feel it thrumming through their bond.
"That's not the problem, Opera." Her appearance didn't bother her enough to be a real problem. "What if Shichiro finds me boring? Or...lacking conversation-wise. What if we bother each other? What if I can't keep up with his talk about other creatures or his studies?"
Ah, so that is the problem. Opera thought as he sent feelings of warmth and reassurance through their bond in an effort to calm her nerves.
"Shichiro would never find you boring or lacking. You are different people, sure, but you also share certain interests. If you have trouble understanding something that he mentions, then ask him to explain. He will do so happily." He said as he slipped her new bank card into her small, leather bat shaped purse, and then handed it to her.
Ichigo slipped it over her head and then once the purse was in place, opened her mouth to ask him something else and was silenced before she could even manage to get a word out by the fact that Opera was suddenly hugging her.
She hugged him back, tightly, and buried her face against his chest as if she'd like nothing more than to hollow him out and wear him. The thought amused Opera a bit as he rubbed his cheek against the top of her head before finally saying, "Everything will be fine, darling. I promise."
Ichigo wasn't sure why, but hearing his words made her feel less worried and a bit more confident in herself. Finally releasing him, she sighed as he took her hand and then began to pull her towards the door so that they could leave.
It took them less than an hour to reach the nearest town.
But the second that they reached the outskirts of the town, Opera was quick to not only park the carriage, and also help her down from it. And once she was out in the open again, she took a moment to look around.
The town actually looked a lot like a simple village in some foreign country to Ichigo. Which was...interesting considering how advanced the Netherworld seemed to be.
But she didn't question it much since Opera walked over to her and bowed as he said. "My lady, please allow me to escort you to the fabric shop." After which he straightened up and offered his arm to her.
Ichigo took it, easily slipping her hand into the crook of his arm as they started walking.
The inside of the town was much livelier than the outskirts of it was. For starters, the shops looked much more like regular human shops up close. Which was a far cry from what she had seen before.
Not only that but every now and then she would see booths set up here and there along the street. Between various shops and stores.
And whenever she saw something that got her attention, Opera took the time to explain what she was seeing/noticing so that she would understand things a bit better. Which was nice considering how little she knew about the Netherworld or how it's towns and economy functioned.
Some of the demons littering the streets called out to them- or rather to Opera. Distracting her from some sights as he lifted a hand and waved to some of them in a friendly manner.
"The fabric shop is up ahead," She suddenly heard Opera say. "Before you commit to buying anything, let me speak with the owner of the shop."
She gave him a questioning look but understood that there were probably some less than honest demons around that liked to price gouge their customers for less than great wares. And simply said, "Understood." After all, if Opera wanted to get her a better price for something then who was she to argue?
The second before they stepped into the shop, Opera took his arm back, and then grabbed hold of the door and pulled it open for her. She thanked him quietly and stepped inside the quaint little building and blinked.
Something akin to the smell of spices hit her nose. It didn't smell bad, but it almost caused her to sneeze because of how overwhelming it was to her. It took her a second of standing with her hand against her nose to adjust. While a green scaled portly demon stepped out of the back of the shop and noticed her standing there.
"Welcome! Welcome!" The demon called out pleasantly as she shuffled forward a little bit so that Opera could come inside. But the second that Opera was inside of the shop and closed the door behind him, the demon's friendliness evaporated. "Oh, it's just you Opera. Come to steal me blind again?"
Ichigo looked away from the green demon to look at Opera as he replied almost evilly, "Of course. You know that I can't resist the siren call of your shop. You have the loveliest fabrics! And they do so please master Sullivan."
Opera placed a hand on the small of her back and gently pushed her forward a little bit so that the other demon's attention was drawn back to her as he then said, "Let me introduce you to my lady. Master Sullivan's granddaughter, Ichigo Kurosaki. She has decided to make courtship gifts for her chosen and wishes to see your wares."
Ichigo tried to smile politely at the green demon but there was something incredibly sinister about how Opera was acting at the moment. So, her smile probably looked somewhat...off to the other demon as she found herself being scrutinized by him.
"Sullivan's granddaughter? Your lying! Sullivan doesn't even have any kids! What happened between?" The demon demanded.
"I do not lie." Opera said as he cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Now watch your tongue!"
Ichigo did her best not to flinch at Opera's tone, and decided to escape- er, excuse- she meant to say excuse herself from Opera's side so that she could go and look.
She made her way to the back of the shop, as far away from Opera and the other demon as humanly possible. And tried her best to tune out any bits of conversation that continued between the two while she looked.
Thankfully, the fabrics in the shop were lovely, just as Opera had said they were. They were also high-quality items worth a small king's ransom. Yet despite her money hang-up's she still managed to find some various colored bolts of velvet, and silk that she liked enough to want to actually buy.
After grabbing them from their respective places from the shelves and tables that they had been resting/displayed on. She piled them up so that she could carry them a bit more easily, and then wandered over to check out some cottons.
She put the bolts of fabric down not too far away from her and started to go through the cottons, finding several pretty colors that she really liked. But wasn't sure if she wanted to get right now.
She absently made a note of the colors and other various details that likely wouldn't occur to others, and then picked up her pile of fabric and started moving again as she heard some weird shouting and yelling coming from the front of the shop.
She sighed, figuring that the bizarre pissing contest between the shop owner and Opera had just escalated drastically. And while she was worried, she also didn't want anything to do with whatever was happening if she could help it.
So, she ignored it and continued her search until a small explosion rocked the shop, causing dust and other things from the roof to rain down on her and her fabrics. After that, she thinned her lips in displeasure and grabbed her things and then headed towards the front to give someone a piece of her mind.
At this point, she didn't care who just as long as whatever was going on, stopped. However, upon reaching the front of the shop, what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks and all ability to speak left her as horror washed over her.
There just a few feet from where the shop owner had once been, was missing a massive chunk of the building. And if that wasn't bad enough, her eyes widened at the sight of what looked like a mutant insect with a pair of kicking legs hanging out of its mouth.
And Opera...was pushing the kicking legs even further into the bug's mouth.
"O-Opera?" She squeaked as her stress levels went through the roof. Opera stopped pushing at the legs and froze for a second. And he wasn't the only one either, the giant bug had frozen once she spoke too.
"It's not what it looks like my lady!" Opera suddenly called out, going back to pushing at the kicking legs.
Except that it was totally what it looked like. At least from where she was standing anyways. And from where she was standing, it looked an awful lot as if Opera were feeding the shop owner to the damned giant bug!
"This is a Nightmare-roach! They eat people, so please stay back and let me take care of this!" Opera called out while Ichigo did her absolute best not to just start screaming bloody murder.
Instead, she calmly set her stuff down at her feet, fished her cell phone out of her purse and then took a picture of the...Nightmare-roach, and then sent it to her Soul Reaper friends.
With their dedication to pest control they would likely have some very good ideas on how to handle this situation because she was torn.
Torn between screaming and running away in abject terror. Or locking herself away in her room after today and living the rest of her life as a hermit. Either one would work, she supposed.
Her phone pinged with a message from Rukia.
How big is it?
Ichigo looked at the bug again and then typed out, Big enough to easily be mistaken for Chad.
The next message that she got was from Renji.
Oh, that's big! Okay, here's what you need to do. First, use a Binding kido on it to prevent it from moving or attacking. Then...kill it with a small Cero blast. If that isn't enough you can always level the vicinity and dance around the fire in victory.
Which was followed by one from Rangiku.
Yeah, scorched earth is always the best way to go with these pests. ^_^
And then Miyuri messaged her.
No! Don't destroy it! Let me use it for my experiments!
Byakuya messaged her next.
Destroy it, Ichigo. Destroy it before Miyuri can get his hands on it.
Ichigo rolled her eyes at the lot of them and decided to take Renji's advice since it seemed the most sensible in this situation. "Opera, I'm going to bind it. So, you might want to move out of the way unless you want to be bound to it."
Opera didn't bother to ask her what she was talking about and instead jumped out of the way as she extended her arm and preformed the kido wordlessly. A second later the Nightmare-roach stopped moving and fell over trying to thrash itself free but couldn't because it was wrapped in glowing chains created from her reiatsu.
Opera looked at the immobilized Nightmare-roach and then at her and made a pleased humming sound as he said almost accusingly. "You never told me that you knew how to use non-vocal magic."
Hell, she had never mentioned that she knew magic at all, period.
"You never asked. Besides, it's...more of a blatant manipulation of the reiatsu that I possess than an actual form of magic."
"Perhaps. But isn't all forms of magic some sort of manipulation?"
"I wouldn't know." Ichigo said as she stepped away from him to walk over to the insect and grabbed the legs still sticking out of the roaches' mouth and pulled.
A second or so later she had the shop owner completely free, and he lay on the floor of the shop wheezing for air. Ichigo made sure to check him over for any injuries, despite the fact that he was covered in bug spit and gross.
Then once she was sure that he was really okay, she stood back up and walked back to her things and picked them up as she said, "Opera, please dispose of that thing."
Opera's ears twitched and he shot her an amused look but still did as she requested.
A few minutes later, she had her fabrics bought and walked out of the shop, fairly happy with the turn of things despite the newest addition to the seemingly never-ending list of nightmare fuel.
"Hn, my lady, I'm afraid that we spent too much time in the fabric shop to go to any others right now. Shichiro will be waiting on you at the fountain in the middle of town. Do you think that you can make it there on your own while I take the fabric's and put them up?" Opera said out of the blue, startling Ichigo a little bit.
"Uh, sure." She replied as he leaned in and pressed his lips against one of her cheeks and then pulled back and said,
"I've proud of how you handled the Nightmare-roach."
Ichigo blushed and looked away from him since she wasn't really sure why exactly he was proud of her. She was probably going to be waking up screaming from night terrors for a while after seeing that damned bug. Even so, she still waved at him and then turned and...wondered where the middle of town was.
"I should have asked before he left." She muttered underneath her breath. That was her bad.
It took her a little while, but she managed to find her way to the fountain that Opera had mentioned. However, she didn't see anyone there.
Uh-oh. I hope that I didn't keep him waiting for so long that he decided to leave. She thought as she worriedly started to look around for Shichiro. She was so distracted looking for the giant demon that he managed to somehow sneak up behind her.
His shadow fell over her, causing her to go completely still for several seconds while her heart pounded in her chest in alarm as she finally heard him say questioningly, "Ichigo? That is you, right?"
"Shichiro?" She squeaked out as she turned around to look at him and nearly ran into him before she could stop herself. He shifted back a step automatically, probably realizing what was about to happen as she tilted her head back to see his face. He was wearing his mask again, but she could tell that he was smiling at her as she looked him over.
He was wearing a nice green colored sleeveless turtleneck shirt that showed off his wide shoulders and muscular form to perfection, as well as some black slacks. His long white hair had been brushed and smoothed down and pulled back into a messy bun at the back of his head that looked really nice on him.
"Oh wow, you look great." Ichigo muttered, feeling a little bit as if her mouth were dry and stuffed with cotton.
"You look rather lovely, yourself." He said after taking a second or so to look her over too. Ichigo smiled at him but still felt the warmth from her face flushing as he asked her. "Did you have trouble finding me?"
"Oh! Yeah, sorry about that." She said awkwardly before explaining. "This is actually my first time in town, so I had no idea where the fountain even was. And Opera took off before I could even think to ask which direction to go."
"Ah," Shichiro said in understanding. That certainly explained why he had been waiting a little bit longer than he had expected. "I'm glad that you finally found your way here then."
"Me too." Ichigo said with a warm smile as she reached out and took hold of one of his hands in hers and hugged his arm to her chest.
Shichiro trilled softly at the feeling of her chest pressed against his arm and stammered out. "W-Well then, s-shall w-we begin our d-date?"
"I'd love that."