The next morning was hectic for everyone.

Ichigo, once she was awake had to go to the palace of the former Soul King to check on things and see how everyone was doing. And upon her arrival, she found that Ichibē was waiting for her.

And as soon as the tall, heavy-set man saw her, his face and expression brightened. "Your highness!" He called out while ambling over to her and attaching himself to her like a huge shadow.

"Good morning, Ichibe. How are you today?"

"I'm good, though I can't say the same for Tenjiro." The man said shaking his head.

"Uh-oh, what happened?" Ichigo asked automatically.

"Well, the girl's were being difficult again..."

Ichigo could already feel a headache coming on from the mere mention of the other royal guards and quickened her pace to reach where the women were so that she could nip this new issue in the bud before it spiraled even more. Passing the throne room in the process.

Not that Ichibe was complaining any.

He couldn't stand the feel of how Aizen had tainted the room with his presence.

It wasn't a very well-known secret amongst the Soul Reapers, that Aizen had helped to try and stabilize all of creation during the war to prevent everything from falling apart.

But Ichigo had been present in the room when he'd been doing it and had learned that the man was a part of the former Soul King that had been cast off as a failure.

And once the war had finally ended and the girl had unexpectedly become the new Soul King- one who seemed to delight in frustrating everyone in her life, young and old- she had determined that Aizen could still be of some use to them. Or more specifically, her.

Much to the chagrin and disbelief of some of her friends, Aizen remained sealed, though she had had him moved to the palace.

But only after he had been placed in a coma, to prevent him from causing trouble.

And once there, he had been placed in a carefully constructed cell that doubled as a throne room for Ichigo. Where he now spent all of his time in the giant, reinforced stone that had held the former Soul King enshrined within it, helping to regulate all of existence until Ichigo decided to move to the palace permanently.

Until that day, he and the other royal guards were in charge of keeping Aizen contained. Which...wasn't a terrible task. At least not to Ichibe since he was more than ready to do as his king commanded of him. Especially since she was still very young and had lingering attachments to the world that she lived in at present.

Walking through the various halls of the palace, the two of them chit-chatted about random things.

His king asked him if he or any of the others needed anything of her that she should be aware of. Usually, she would ask if they needed food, medical supplies, or things to keep them entertained for a while since palace life could be rather boring.

But since Ichibe knew that she would see to their needs regardless of what he said or didn't say, he found no need to really respond aside from asking her if he could have a few new books.

It would be an understatement to say that he wasn't pleased, at least to some extent, that his new king was as fond of reading as he was. And the two of them tended to spend some of her visits speaking about the many, many books that he wished to get his hands on.

Luckily, Ichigo was more inclined to help him out than not. And he really appreciated that about her. Truly. But even he sometimes felt that she was simply far too generous for her own good.

There was a heartbeat more silence than there probably should have been and when his king spoke again, it was to say. "Ichibe, please speak your mind with me. Do you need anything?"

"No, my king." Ichibe said after a moment or so of careful thought and then smiled as he tacked on. "I'm quite happy with the items that you dropped off for me the last time you were here."

"I see." Ichigo said, thoughtfully. She knew that he wasn't saying something, but unless he voiced his thoughts like he had done with her before, she wouldn't know what was on his mind.

"Instead of asking what we need, my king. Why not tell me of what is new in your life as a human?"

Ah, that must be it! Ichigo thought as she stopped walking so abruptly that the man nearly ran her over as she looked up at him. Ichibe's expression was still as friendly as ever, but for some weird reason she suddenly felt like sweating bullets.

"Which idiot said something?"

Ichibe's smile turned into a full-on grin of amusement. "I've been sworn to secrecy."

"It was Kyoraku then." Ichigo growled out in annoyance. "Is that part of the reason that the girls are acting out?"

"Perhaps." He said with a shrug before then adding, "Then again it could also be because of the fact that today is your birthday."

Ichigo gasped in feminine outrage and shouted, "Seriously! Who is narking on me?!"

While Ichigo was taking care of things in the divine palace, Isshin was rallying the troops, and giving everyone various jobs to make sure that Ichigo's birthday went off without a hitch.

At the moment, he was the supreme commander and father of the girl king. All obeyed his words without question, including the Soul Reapers that had come to take part in their new ruler's big day. And in all honesty, he was kind of enjoying bossing everyone around and sending some of them scrambling.

"Alright everyone, this is Ichigo's twenty-sixth birthday as a human. It's a huge milestone in her life and we all want things to go well, right?"

"Yeah!" Came a chorus of shouts that almost had Isshin cracking up laughing. Never in a million years would he have ever thought that a day like today would take place.

Masaki, do you see them? He wondered as he stared at the forty or so people looking back at him with pride. Our baby has done things in life that no human after her will ever manage to achieve. He was so proud of his eldest daughter. And he had a feeling that his late wife was very proud of their girl too.

Even if Ichigo was going to give him grey hairs much sooner than he had anticipated.

"Okay, this is the plan," He said as he started to tell everyone what they were to do once Ichigo returned from her task. "Rukia, Orihime, Yuzu, and Karin, all of you will corner Ichigo and prevent her from escaping. Chad, you and Uryu along with the head Captain and a few others will all go to site B to make sure that everything is decorated and in place. Kisuke, Yoruichi, the two of you will head the security team. Kago, Mizuiro, Tessai, the three of you will make sure that the caterers bring everything and that there aren't any shenanigans. Tessai, I hate to request this, but I also need you to put up a barrier so that ordinary humans won't be able to wander in."

"Understood!" Tessai said as he put a closed fist against his chest.

"The rest of you have until seven p.m. to patrol town and do whatever you need to do. The party starts at eight, no exceptions. The dress code is formal. So those of you without suits or dresses, should take some time to take care of that before things get too hectic. And everyone will be gathering across town at the Swissotel Nankai ballroom. Let's make this one of the most memorable birthdays Ichigo will ever have!"

There was another chorus of shouts, some cheers, and whistles before everyone dispersed.

Isshin snorted at how the Soul Reaper's in particular seemed to vanish into thin air, like ninja's. Leaving behind the chatting and giggling kids who all quickly got to work on their assignments.

Ichigo wasn't sure how it happened, after all, she had gone to the palace to check on everyone. And after finally finding the two only female guards, she found out that everyone in the royal guard decided that they would be holding a birthday party for her.

And despite how annoyed she was, she couldn't be bothered all that much to argue because well...how often did anyone in the palace have an actual cause to celebrate?

Aizen and Yhwach's defeats notwithstanding.

She huffed quietly as a blindfold was carefully placed around her head to cover her eyes, and she was then led to Kirio's territory within the palace by a giddy Ichibe and the others.

That's how she found herself sitting at the large table with various foods and other things heaped upon it, surrounded by the five people that had helped her to gain the strength and power needed to be victorious during the war.

And she couldn't help but wonder how long the five guards had been busy preparing for this particular event. After all, she hadn't said much of anything about her birthday for over a year.

In all honesty, her birthday tended to creep up on her and pass her by before she could even recall what day it was. Much less manage to celebrate it.

But everyone was making such a big deal about it this time that she couldn't help but feel slightly touched by just how many people there were in her life that even cared enough to take the time to plan impromptu parties and such.

"Happy birthday, my king!" Kirio said as she placed something, a small, antique trinket box in front of Ichigo. "I hope that you like it, I spent a lot of time coming up with this blend just for you." The plump, purple haired woman said happily.

"Oh, thank you." Ichigo said as she carefully picked up the small box and opened it to see what was inside, and automatically got hit with the scent of wildflowers and honey, and snapped the box shut so that she couldn't accidentally spill it. "A tea blend, just for me?"

Contrary to what others might think, Ichigo appreciated the small things. And tea was a wonderful gift, especially since the woman's words hinted at the fact that she had created the tea herself. Which meant that she had had to put a lot of time and careful thought into her selection of flowers, and other things.

"That's right," Kirio chirped, "We can all tell that you get stressed rather easy, so I made this tea specifically to help relieve stress and help you to rest. It does other things too. But it's mostly for stress."

Ichigo was so happy with her small gift from the woman that she made an excited squeaking sound before clearing her throat delicately and muttering a thank you. She was already planning to use the tea once her birthday party was over, and she was trying to sleep for the night.

Next up was Oetsu, who handed her a long box awkwardly.

Ichigo could tell from the way that he refused to look at her that he was a bit embarrassed, so she didn't tease him. Instead, she opened the gift that he had prepared for her and felt her jaw drop a little bit in stunned shock.

Inside of the box that she'd been given was a beautiful, solid gold and jewel encrusted bo staff.

"Y-You already have a sword, and a scythe too. And while your excellent with both of them, I thought that maybe you'd like to try mastering another weapon. Though you could just use it as a scepter if you want. Maybe knock a few people in the head with it."

Ichigo let out a laugh, because that was so like him to suggest that she use a priceless weapon/piece of art to knock people in the head with.

"I would love to master it, Oetsu, thank you."

"I don't know much about how to use them, so Ichibe's your best chance at learning how to use it." He said with a shrug.

"I know. But I still like it." Ichigo said as she got up out of her chair and gave the man a hug. Causing him to blush.

"Next is my turn!" Senjumaru said with a smile as she held something wrapped in paper out to Ichigo. "I couldn't think of anything really impressive as a gift, so I decided to weave something for you instead. I hope that you don't mind the design's any."

Ichigo took her time unwrapping her gift and couldn't contain her amusement when she saw that the woman had made her two sets of clothing. One was a pair of pajamas. A heavy sapphire blue silk with black lace along the front of one of the shirt and a matching pair of pants to go with it. And the other was a vivid black silk kimono with various purple, black, and red colored flowers and butterflies on it plus a matching obi.

"They're beautiful, Senjumaru. I'm totally wearing the pajamas to bed tonight! And I'll save the kimono for my next visit. Sound good?"

The woman beamed at her happily as she said, "It gives me joy to know that my king has found my gifts acceptable. I will await your next visit eagerly."

Ichigo gave her a thumbs up, earning a few chuckles from the group as Tenjiro loudly said, "Alright you bunch of saps, stop hogging our king. It's my turn next!"

He produced a medium sized bottle with a cork in the top and carefully set it down in front of her. "It's water from the springs." He explained. "You get injured an awful lot, so if something happens to you and you need medical care, this should help speed up the process. All you need to do is use one or two drops of water in some regular water and let the reiatsu I've infused it with do the rest."

Ichigo smiled at him since he was leaning into her personal space, kind of glaring at her. And she spent a moment debating on whether or not she should sneeze on him 'accidentally' just to see how he reacted.

She would bet that he'd forgotten things like mere colds even existed in the human world, so he would probably panic.

But in the end, she decided not to do such a mean thing to him and instead put a hand to one of her cheeks and said teasingly, "Tenjiro, I know that I'm cute, but must you flirt with me so boldly in front of the others."

There was a heartbeat or so of silence before everyone started laughing at her antics while Tenjiro sputtered with embarrassment. After that, it was Ichibe's turn to gift her with something and Ichigo would be lying if she didn't begin to mentally chant, book, book, book, book, in her head a bit with excitement.

And who could blame her? Ichibe had a virtual treasure trove of literature that he had collected over the many thousands of years that he had been one of the Royal Guard. And if that wasn't enough, the former Soul King had collected things as well, dating back even further to the beginning of the written language.

So, she was sure that whatever he gave her would be interesting to say the least. And she was right about that because Ichibe reached inside of his robe and pulled out a worn and ancient looking little leather-bound book.

"This, my king, is a book of ancient magic. Magic that may benefit you should you wind up in the Netherworld with demon-kind. It is full of high-class spells, alchemy, summoning circles, spells of creation, protective seals etc. Defensive, offensive, and even healing spells and magic of various classes. I hope that it is of use to in the future." He said with a slight bow of his head as he held it out to her.

Ichigo reached out and carefully took it from him and jolted a little bit when she saw that it was more or less a Necronomicon of some kind.

Thankfully, it wasn't made out of human skin. At least not that she could tell anyway. Either way, she could help but balk a little bit before opening it to the first page and once she did- it was as if the knowledge of ages long past flowed into her mind automatically.

There was a strange sort of electric charge that seemed to fill the air around her, and once she knew and understood everything the charge vanished and she looked back at Ichibe with a wicked little smile and said, "I will use this as needed, Ichibe. Thank you, my friend."

The man smiled warmly at her and watched as she quickly used a little bit of her power to alter the cover of the book to hide what was inside of it. Creating a cover with a little lock on it and a small key that she would obviously keep on her person to prevent others from seeing the pages within.

"Just a little bit of extra security." She said with a wink at the five guards before setting the book down on the table. "Now that I've gotten gifts from everyone. What do all of you say to eating this feast that Kirio made for us. And then we'll all go, and you can either watch Ichibe beat the tar out of me teaching me how to use my bo, or we can set up some targets and I can use my new spells to see if I can hit them." She suggested.

"Yeah!" Everyone said in unison. Each of them teeming with excitement at the prospect of being able to see their new king preform spells or train.

Sullivan and Opera stepped through the portal from the Netherworld, to get their first glimpse of the human world. Well, okay, it wasn't the first time that Sullivan had ever been to the human world.

In fact, he tended to pass through rather frequently from time to time depending on whether or not he was working with the Border Patrol on something.

However, it was the first time for Opera.

And the younger demon was barely able to hide his interest as they looked down at the street from their place on one of the rooftops.

"There are human's everywhere." Opera said in astonishment as he squatted down on the edge of the roof to get a better look at the streets. After all, humans were thought to be an endangered species to them.

Yet sure enough, there were people all over the place! Milling about in singles or groups. Some chatted with one another, and others seemed to want to be left alone and avoided close contact with others around them.

In truth, the staggering number of humans reminded both demons of ants marching to and from an anthill. It seemed as if there was no end to them.

"Sir, could we-" Opera started to ask if they could grab one from the street to take back to the Netherworld with them.

There was a demon that both of them was mutually acquainted with that would love to get his hands on one, even for a little while due to scientific reasons. However, they had not come to the human world to do a random kidnapping. They had come to retrieve his heir.

"No."

"But my kohei-" Opera started to argue, which was rare for him. Perhaps he was a tad bit curious about the human's and how they lived as well.

"No, Opera." Sullivan said firmly and watched as the younger demon's ears drooped a little bit with depression. Though he rebounded quickly enough when Sullivan snapped his fingers and nice suits appeared on them both at the same exact second that their horns, tails- or in Opera's case, his cat ears- vanished. "Now, that we're dressed for the party, let's go and find my girl, hn?"

"Of course, sir."

After that, the two of them stepped off of the edge and allowed themselves to fall to the street below, though how they managed to do it without being seen by any of the humans, was anyone's guess.

They wandered around for a while, Sullivan trying to sense his nephew's demonic mana, but it was being blocked from him by something. Something incredibly powerful in a not-so-subtle way from the feel of it.

Now, Sullivan might be old, but he was far from a fool. He recognized the power of a deity easily enough; he simply didn't know what one of the deity race could be doing in the human world.

Sure, he knew that in ancient times both deities and demons alike walked among the humans and interacted with them in various ways, but to find a deity of any kind willing to step outside of their dimension and into the human world for any reason was...insanely rare. Mostly due to how the deity race seemed to look down on humans as a weaker and less intelligent species.

A distant cousin to their own race that had been cast aside as failures.

Still...knowing all of that, he couldn't help but wonder about the deity's presence. So much so that he decided to see if he could track it. A deity, if it was in one place for long enough, their power would saturate everything that they came into contact with.

People, plants and animals, even places. Nothing was exempt.

Which was why it was so surprising to him when it led him to a small home attached to what looked like a shed with a large sign on it that read, Kurosaki Clinic.

"Sir, I do not like the look of this place," Opera said in a low tone before asking curiously. "What are we doing here?"

"I can sense the power of one of the deity race here." Sullivan said in a whispered tone, not taking his eyes off of the small place before them.

He had mixed feelings about possibly poking his head inside to see what was going on.

On one hand, it was rude not to acknowledge a deity. Especially as demon who was one of the Thirteen Crowns. But on the other hand, that home looked so small and cramped.

What if he hit his head on the doorframe? Or even the ceiling? Opera wouldn't like it if he started crying because of a boo-boo.

"What should we do sir?" Opera asked after several seconds.

"Well, I should at least knock and greet them, whoever they are." Sullivan said when the two of them felt a strange charge of some kind fill the atmosphere around them before someone abruptly appeared out of thin air.

After that the charge vanished and said person- a tall, young woman with long reddish-orange-blond hair stood a good thirty or forty feet from them. She was wearing a long-sleeved button-down cotton shirt of deep blue, and a pair of jeans. She was also holding a few things in both of her hands. Gifts of some kind from the look of them.

Both Opera and Sullivan goggled at the woman, unable to believe that she just poofed into existence like that. Especially on a street where there were humans running around all over the place.

Was she crazy? Wasn't she worried about being seen?

Of course, as quickly as that thought crossed their minds, they heard her call out, "Dad, Yuzu, Karin, I'm home!" Before then making her way over to the house and shifting her things around so that she could carefully open the door without dropping anything held in her grasp.

They heard more than one voice shout from within the house, "Ichigo's home!"

"Let the operation begin!"

"Cut off all escape routes!"

And the next thing they knew, a net had been tossed over the woman's head as well as both of their own. Causing all three of them to go totally still as someone dropped down from above them and landed deftly on the balls of their feet.

Opera moved a little bit from his place at his master's side, to place himself in front of the elderly demon. Just in case as the new person, who obviously wasn't human finally turned and grinned at the woman over by the door.

"I finally caught you my idiot daughter."

"D-Dad?" The woman stammered out in confusion before demanding, "What the hell is going on?"

"Just making sure that you don't escape what's going to happen next." The man said jovially as the door to the house slammed open and about six people, all ranging in age and gender came tearing out to grab the woman and toss her up into the air over their heads and then carried her off while she screamed.

She had dropped a few things that she had been holding, like the bejeweled bo, and the pitcher. But thanks to the abrupt spike in mana from a demon...they didn't...break?

The man chuckled in amusement as both items floated just above the ground while he turned to them and smiled a smile that reminded demons of a very fang filled smile by some ravenous devi-creature about to devour them as the man then said, "Welcome to my home, uncle Sullivan. I'm glad to see you looking to be in good health."

There was several moments of stupefied shock from the two but eventually they both reacted to the man's words with a loud yell. "Huh?!"