Ichigo had been expecting a lot of things from her date with Shichiro. Flowers. Trinket's that she would have a fit about being handed point blank. Even public displays of affection given his habit of constantly touching or petting.

Luckily things hadn't gone any of those ways. Yet.

However, what she hadn't been expecting was to feel so damned charmed by the gentle demon.

She wasn't exactly sure how to put it, but he simply had a way about him that sort of reminded her of 'country boy' charm. He was well mannered. Spoke with a bit of a southern drawl that was a bit hard to notice unless you knew what to listen for. And most of all, he was sweet natured. Yet that sweet nature of his was also deceptively malevolent.

He was very protective and just a tad bit possessive as well.

A fact that would usually set her teeth on edge. Yet here, with him, she found that she didn't mind it. She wasn't sure why, since she was a very capable fighter and could usually take care of herself. But the subtle way that he would move closer to her whenever they were passing by other people, the way that he would slip his long, muscular arm around her shoulders and tuck her close to his side... It didn't bother her. If anything, it made her feel very safe.

Which was something that she didn't always feel nowadays given how often the Netherworld would throw curve balls at her. Either people, insect, plant or life in general-wise.

So having someone close to her that could make her feel that way, even in an illusionary way, was nice. Especially with how she tended to react to some things.

"Have you ever heard of a Nightmare-roach?" She asked out of the blue, wondering if Shichiro had ever heard of or seen one.

Her question seemed to take him off guard a bit, but after a moment he nodded his head slowly while he replied. "I have. They're distant cousins of the ones that exist in the human world. They're also very dangerous. Why do you ask?"

"Opera and I ran into one earlier." She said in a strangely nonchalant manner. As if she wouldn't be having nightmares tonight about being carried off by some of them.

"Oh?" Shichiro said as he stopped walking and forced her to come to a stop as well. "Are you injured?"

"No. But Opera did appear to be trying to feed the owner of the shop we were in at the time to it."

Shichiro was quiet for a moment as he studied her for a second or so with a frown. "That must have been very scary for you. Especially since I doubt that you've ever encountered one before." He said as he squatted down a bit so that they were eye to eye.

"It was. I had to send a text for advice on what to do." She said, looking away from him for a second.

He tilted his head as he considered her. Give how she tended to react to things that were unnatural to her, it was a wonder that she hadn't lost consciousness again or injured herself simply running away.

"Did you text your grandfather?" He asked, curious to know who she could have texted about a Nightmare-roach.

Sullivan would of course be at the top of the list as her grandfather. Opera had been with her at the time, so texting him would have been silly and pointless. Not to mention a distraction that wasn't necessary. True, she could have texted one of her two friends from school...but if she had- wouldn't the kid have come to save her?

"No. I texted some friends from..." Ichigo's sentence trailed off and she looked a bit uncomfortable as several people walked past them. "Their advice was useful, but I'm still probably going to have nightmares tonight." She mumbled as it occurred to him who she had messaged.

"You were able to contact friends from your home?" Shichiro asked, feeling both shocked and amazed that she had even managed such a feat. Especially given the fact that Netherworld technology was still in its infant stages. The technology that had led up to the invention of television alone was only five years old.

"Yeah," Ichigo said.

Shichiro trilled excitedly as he blurted out. "Can I see the messages?"

Ichigo looked a little bit taken aback by his reaction but recovered quickly and laughed. "Alright. Let's find a place to sit down, and I'll read them to you since the idiots have probably blown up my phone by now." She said as he flashed her a smile from behind his mask and stood up.

After that, it only took them a few minutes to reach a place that had some outdoor tables and chairs in what looked like a cafe style establishment. The two of them grabbed a place as far away from anyone else sitting nearby. Getting comfortable meant dragging their chairs close to each other. Which she didn't mind any since it would give Shichiro an excuse to put his arm around her shoulders while she was reading to him.

"Okay, give me a second to get my phone out." She said once they were both settled, and she was comfortably leaning her back against his side with one of his arms draped over her. She pulled her phone out of her purse, and then pulled the message's up.

Sure enough, her friends had blown up her phone with texts.

Scrolling up to the first message she showed Shichiro the picture that she had taken of the Nightmare-roach and was jostled a bit when her date jerked a little bit at the picture. Or rather the horror of seeing an actual pair of legs hanging out of the insect's disgusting mouth.

"Nice pic." Shichiro muttered as he peered down at her, making her heart flutter strangely in her chest as she started reading aloud to him.

She did voices. It was silly and stupid, but she was feeling like an utter goofball at the moment. So, she tried doing her best impression of each of her friends as she read their messages to him.

Shichiro, to his credit, was enough of a gentleman not to laugh. At her.

He did however laugh quite a bit at some of the responses that her friends had sent to the Nightmare-roach pic. Especially when some of her friends couldn't seem to form coherent sentences and instead sent reaction emoji's.

A lot of them.

Which might not have been so terrible if not for the fact that some of them had really had a good grasp of what said emoji's meant/represented but sent the emoji anyway.

Unfortunately, though, she very much doubted that the Head Captain was one of those with a very good grasp of what things mean/represented. So, she doubted that it had been his actual intention to send her something so inappropriate.

And while that was a tad bit comforting, it didn't stop Shichiro from asking her what was wrong. Because the second that he asked, she then had to take on the utterly mortifying task of explaining to him what the eggplant emoji meant/represented.

The way that his eyes widened in understanding while she tried to tell him that the old man didn't mean it the way that it sounded to him, the guy had probably been trying to curse and simply hit the wrong buttons more than a few times by accident, didn't stop Shichiro from snatching her cell away from her.

She watched in apprehension as he did something to it before he handed it back to her with a deceptively hostile smile on his face that sent shivers down her spine as he tightened his arm around her a tad and asked her to tell him about her family.

Ichigo wasn't going to lie, that deceptively hostile smile of his had caused her heart rate to spike dangerously as she quickly shifted gears to show him pictures of her dad and sisters.

While she may not have had much use for technology a lot of the time, beyond communication, it hadn't stopped her from indulging in snapping pictures of her family and friends when no one was looking.

She showed him pics of her family during random times in their lives beginning back when she had first become a Soul Reaper. She had pics of everyone during family vacations to the beach, napping together on the couch, on the floor, or even in someone's bed. During accidents that had landed some of them in hospitals. Holidays, birthdays and everything in-between.

It wasn't hard for Shichiro to tell that Ichigo loved her family.

There wasn't a single picture that she showed him that didn't show them all smiling, or spending time together doing various activities. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the pics because they showed Ichigo at various stages in life. Childhood, her teens and then...

His heartbeat accelerated in his chest, and he almost felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him at the mere implications. Yet he couldn't help himself, he asked her even knowing that he may not like the answer that she gave him.

"Ichigo, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Y-You're not a kid, are you?"

She tilted her head back to look up at him, her face going eerily blank before she replied, "No. I'm an adult."

"How old are you, in...human years?" He asked, using a non-verbal spell to surround them so that no one nearby could hear their conversation about humans and their world. Much less any other matters that had anything to do with humans.

"I'm twenty."

"Human's age faster?" Shichiro asked.

"I'm not sure. But I guess to an extent, maybe." Ichigo said with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

He nodded his head, curtly. His mind going a mile a minute as it occurred to him, that Ichigo's life might be significantly shorter than either his own or Opera's.

Hell, she may not even survive another year given how easily she tended to become stressed out by various things.

But then as someone who had lived her whole life previously in the world of human's he understood that new things could become a bit upsetting to her. Especially since it took time and knowledge to adjust properly, and she didn't exactly have ample amounts of either one.

He began petting her out of subconscious habit, his fingers gently scraping along her scalp as he mulled things over a bit before finally coming to a decision. Whether or not Ichigo had a long life just like he and Opera...he wanted her with them for as long as she had.

And because of that he found himself asking, "Ichigo, if I were to ask you if you could accept me as a life mate... Even though we may not have very long together?"

"I would accept you, Shichiro. Eagerly. Scars and all." Ichigo replied as she reached up and put her hand against his scarred cheek, just above his mask.

He smiled at her, and leaned down so that he could nuzzle her hair with his mask even as he asked, "Do you mind if we marry sooner rather than later?" He knew that he was pushing things, especially since they had literally just started courting a few hours ago and were on their first date together.

Yet he couldn't help it. If Ichigo's life was going to be stolen from her so soon- then he would rather not wait longer than a few weeks.

"No. Not really." She said honestly. "As long as I have you and Opera then I don't really care about how soon or long I have to wait."

More perfect words had never been said, at least not to Shichiro anyway since he understood the sentiment.

"Then I'll speak with your grandfather as soon as I can to make the arrangements for the ceremony."

"Don't forget Opera. He'll be upset if he isn't there, taking part." She sighed then as she pondered aloud. "I wonder if I can manage to make your courting gifts in time. I guess, if I can't then I'll have to settle for finding something nice for you both today."

He started petting her hair again while she thought, occasionally grumbling to herself about what to get before finally saying, "Screw it! I'll get you both engagement rings and make your courting gifts later." Earning a small laugh from him.

"Very well, we should go and look for those since our dinner reservation isn't for a while yet."

"We should let Opera know that we're tying the knot," Ichigo said as she shifted in her seat in preparation to leave. "He may want to join us for this since he's one of our partners. And I don't want him feeling upset or left out if we do this today."

"I'm on it, darling." Shichiro said as he sent a quick message to Opera that they were skipping a few courtship steps and skipping ahead to the marriage part. And asking him if he wanted to join them for searching for a proper engagement gift.

Of course, not even two minutes later Opera appeared. He dropped down from the roof of the cafe and had some listening devices attached to him/in his grasp. But he quickly managed to hide them all while Ichigo stood there sputtering in shock and outrage at being spied on.

Shichiro took the cat demon's antics all in stride given the fact that they had known each other since their days as student's at Babyls and he was used to Opera's mischief.

"Now, now. Calm down, darling." The giant demon said as he tried to sooth his soon-to-be bride's bristling. It took him a few minutes, and some serious petting, but Ichigo eventually calmed and leaned into his touch. Causing Shichiro to trill softly as he shifted from petting her to simply holding her.

While Opera stood there, mentally fawning over how cute his darlings were as he asked, "Now, did I hear the two of you correctly? You wish to begin searching for engagement gifts?"

"Yes." Both Ichigo and Shichiro said in unison, watching the cat demon as he practically vibrated in place with happiness as he started shivering with excitement.

It didn't last for long though before he quickly cleared his throat and then asked Ichigo. "You are certain that this is what you wish? Now?" Ichigo started to open her mouth to reply when Opera quickly put his hand over her mouth to stop her as he said seriously. "Once it's done, there will be no escape from us Lilith. Marriage here in the Netherworld is different from the one's that you are used to. The ties are deeper and last much, much longer. Nothing would come between us and our desire to be close to you or take you from our sides. Not even death will separate you from us for long. We will always find you whether it's in the next life or the others following that."

Ichigo stared at Opera for a second or so longer than necessary, but by then he had already removed his hand from her mouth and was waiting expectantly for her to say something. Shichiro was too, though he was offering her physical comfort by holding one of her hands in his.

"Opera, Shichiro, I understand. Now you need to understand me." She said before then going on to add. "I would marry the two of you here, today. Especially if it meant that I could have you both by my side forever."

The two demons visibly exhaled the breath that they had been holding until then. The hated to admit it, but they had both been worried that she would decide against proceeding even as she decided to go on and tell them.

"And you're right, nothing would come between us. And not even death would separate us. I would not let it."

Needless to say, the two demons took her last words as seriously as they would take a contracted deal of some kind. And they were thrilled to know that she would fight for them. To keep them with her.

Just as surely as they would fight for her. To keep her with them.

"We're glad to hear that, darling." Shichiro said after a moment or so of doing his best not to cry tears of joy.

"Yes, very." Opera agreed, his tail swishing behind him in contentment as he added on. "Let's go search the shops for a good gift for each other." He said as he held out one of his hands to Ichigo.

She smiled at him and took his offered hand while refusing to let Shichiro's hand go from her grasp. They were her darlings after all. And she would hold their hands whenever she wanted from now on.