To begin with Rukia is a mischievous little punk.

Also, this chap contains mentions of torture, body horror, and the demon practice of grounding.

You have been warned.

The second that Balam took a step inside of the bedroom, Ichigo went totally still, and her body stiffened in Sullivan's hold. Glancing down at her, the elderly demon couldn't help but wonder if she was...uncomfortable with the idea of being checked out by other demon despite how he and Opera had vouched for him.

True, she didn't know Balam at the moment. But Sullivan would be lying if he hadn't already considered the gargoyle as a potential bodyguard for his heir.

Balam was one of the very few demons aside from Opera, and the other teachers at Babyls that he would trust implicitly with both his life and wellbeing. And despite Ichigo's current thoughts on the matter- she would be able to trust him to.

Sullivan just knew it.

Which was why, he slowly removed her from his lap and set her down on his bed so that Balam would be able to see her better. "Ah, Opera and I will be waiting for good news outside." Sullivan suddenly said as he quickly climbed off of the bed and then walked towards the door.

He could practically sense Ichigo's stare boring into his back as he left the room, only pausing for a second to grab Opera who had balked at the thought of leaving so soon when he hadn't even had a chance to catch up with his former classmate.

Leaving only Rukia and Ichigo in the room with Balam.

Though he hoped that neither woman overwhelmed the gargoyle too much. After the past few months of having the pair under his roof he already knew that the two were a match made in hell. As well as a force of nature unto their selves.

Honestly, he wasn't sure how they hadn't brought the entirety of the Netherworld to its knees yet. But it was still early into the new year. So, he'd give them another few months at best before that happened.

Either way, he was usually endlessly entertained by their unrestrained bantering and arguing. Not to mention when things devolved to violence.

Seeing Rukia give Ichigo a flying kick to the back for the first time had been just as shocking as it was appalling. Yet it had also reminded the elder greatly of Opera and himself when they had both been much younger.

And then there was the fact that Ichigo only retaliated to such disrespectful behavior from her guard with a few choice words that left the smaller woman seething with rage. Which was also pretty shocking to.

Yet that was simply how things were between them. The two women walked a fine line between affection, friendship, loyalty, and respect...as well a mess of other things that Sullivan couldn't even begin to understand no matter how hard he tried.

So yes, he hoped that the two didn't overwhelm Balam too much. He had no desire to sit down and try to calm the traumatized demon if things got too out of hand.

Balam kept a close eye on the woman he had been called on to examine.

He hadn't noticed before, but she had little cat ears and a black furred tail just like Opera's. And those little ears of hers were twitching like crazy on top of her head, telling him volumes about her anxiety about his close proximity to her.

Balam couldn't help himself, he knew that once he finished doing his examination... he would be petting those adorable little ears of hers. Even if it meant that he probably got himself injured by the intimidating little security devil, Rukia in the process.

Approaching the bed, he made certain not to make any sudden or abrupt movements. Not wanting to alarm or panic her to the point where he accidentally triggered her fight or flight instincts.

After all, chasing her down and tackling her in Lord Sullivan's home, in view of the elder himself as well as Opera, wasn't likely to go over well regardless of the reason why he deemed it necessary.

Thankfully, Rukia seemed to understand what he was trying to do and decided to intervene on his behalf.

She walked over to him and grabbed one of his large hands in hers and pulled him over to the bed in a very nonchalant manner and grabbed one of Ichigo's hands and put her much smaller hand in his large one and then stepped back with a nod before suddenly saying, "I now pronounce you demon and wife- get on with it already."

Both he and Ichigo sputtered and choked for a few seconds before he even managed to squeak out, "What?!"

"Rukia! What the hell?" Ichigo growled at the smaller woman.

"Oh hush, you two. I'm just having a little bit of fun." Rukia said with a snort of laughter before then suddenly sobering up and saying with a wicked grin, "Besides, I can't properly marry you two without permission even if I am an ordained minister now."

There was a loud thump from outside of the room as Opera called out loudly as there was some weird sounds that followed, "You have my permission, Rukia! Carry on, quickly! Before one of them escapes!"

Rukia's wicked smile turned into a full-on evil smirk at Opera's words, and she gave Ichigo the evilest smile in the whole of Christendom. "Oh hey, look at that, I got permission." She chirped gleefully before saying in a rush. "I now pronounce you both demon and wife! Congratulations Balam." And then slapped said demon on the upper arm to congratulate him and fell silent for a moment before thoughtfully tacking on. "Try not to kill her, okay. She's as mean as a hornet sometimes, but it comes from a good place. I promise."

Balam was so still and quiet that it appeared as if he wasn't even breathing. He simply stared straight ahead, blankly as Ichigo shrieked, "Rukia! What the fuck? Balam and I just met!"

"Calm down, Ichigo. I didn't really marry the two of you." Rukia said absently as she cocked her head to the side and then wondered aloud. "Or did I? Hn... I may need to brush up on the rules before I can actually determine whether or not I actually have."

"You moron! What if you have?"

Rukia merely shrugged her shoulders carelessly and muttered awkwardly, "Uh... Oopsie."

"I'll kill you!" Ichigo snarled as she slowly got up and then lunged for her friend. Rukia didn't even have time to react before she was knocked over by her angry king as Rukia managed to yell.

"You should save your enthusiasm for your husband on your wedding night!"

Balam's mind was blank. In all honesty he didn't know what to do, say, nor think at the moment. He had so many questions and at the same time- he just wanted to go back home to his nest and curl up in it and pretend as if he'd never been here to begin with.

Not that he could actually forget what had just happened. Because to he and Ichigo- it obviously appeared as if they had just been married. Legally and lawfully.

By a very irresponsible minister at that.

So, he wasn't very sure how he was supposed to react to this information. He turned his head a little bit to see what his...wife...was doing. And nearly had a heart attack when he saw that she and the security devil were fighting each other.

Granted he couldn't see either of them throwing punches or anything like that, but they were definitely pulling each other's hair and stretching each other's cheeks out a bit with their fingers. And he wouldn't swear to it, but he thought that Ichigo might have sunk her teeth into Rukia's wrist, causing the smaller woman to yelp loudly and snarl out the word, "Bitch!"

Which caused his mind to blue screen a bit because not only was the minister/security devil very irresponsible, but she had a foul mouth as well!

Who knew?

Well, beside his new...wife that is.

But then she seemed to have a pretty foul mouth too since she was cursing as if it were going out of style while Rukia grabbed a hold of one of her cat ears and twisted it, making Ichigo growl loudly but otherwise didn't get much of a reaction out of her aside from another bite to Rukia's wrist and pulling some more of her hair.

Deciding that he'd sat there long enough, Balam got up and walked over to the two women and reached down and easily plucked Ichigo off of Rukia. Though not before she managed to get one more little bite in, to the smaller woman's shoulder.

Rukia shrieked as Ichigo's teeth grazed her flesh and was a second away from flipping out on her friend when she was rescued.

"Alright, that's enough." Balam said, trying to sound authoritative enough to put a stop to any further fighting between the two. Rukia looked at him with a scowl and Ichigo continued to growl as if she wanted to take a few more bites out of the small woman.

Sighing, Balam carefully tucked Ichigo underneath one of his arms in an effort to keep her in place just in case she tried to squirm herself free and go after Rukia again. And then once that was done, he cast an unamused look the security devil's way and then told her in no uncertain terms to get out of the room before he tossed her out.

At this point, he needed to calm Ichigo down and then examine her. Then, they could talk about what Rukia had done and see if they could come to some sort of agreement that would allow them some time to get to know one another better.

Thankfully, Rukia took his words to heart and left the room. And the second that she did, Ichigo went totally limp in his grasp and stopped growling.

A bit concerned for her, he made his way back over to the bed and carefully put her down on it and then sat down on the floor in front of her and did a quick scan of her exposed skin to see if she had any bruises and other things that he would need to report to Sullivan and Opera about the new security devil's lack of professionalism towards their lady.

They would need to correct Rukia's behavior since it could wind up hurting Ichigo in the long run and also make Sullivan look neglectful towards his heir.

"Are you alright?" He asked, watching Ichigo carefully.

"I should be asking you that." The woman said almost sullenly. "I can't believe that she would so something so damned..."

"Irresponsible?" Balam supplied helpfully.

"No." Ichigo said slowly. "Stupid. What Rukia has done is the epitome of stupidity."

He hummed in agreement, because she wasn't totally wrong. Yet he couldn't help but feel just a tad bit stung though he knew that she didn't mean to hurt his feelings any.

"Don't get me wrong, I know that Opera and Sullivan have both vouched for you. So, I'm sure that you're a really nice guy and all-" Ah, well that soothed the sting that he'd felt a little bit. "But I don't know you and you don't know me, and I know that a lot of accidental and arranged marriages don't usually work out very well for anyone involved."

He listened carefully to try to understand what she meant. However, she didn't seem to feel like elaborating on the subject any further and instead moved on to something else.

"And then there's the fact that getting to know one another enough to feel comfortable takes time, months even years. And I don't know about you- but I'm not sure that I'd last that long as far as marital rights go." Balam made a weird choking sound as she then went on to inform him. "I mean, I'm not weak when it comes to temptation, but I also cave in pretty easily under the right conditions. And you do seem like you know stuff that I probably don't...so that could make things significantly funner."

He made another choking sound, though this time it was strained. Not only that but he was pretty sure that he was so startled by what he'd just heard her imply that his mind went blank on him again.

Finally, he was able to mentally shake himself out of his startled state to find her just sitting there, staring at him with an almost sad look on her face. Which was odd, but he tried not to let it bother him.

"I should examine you before we talk any more about our...situation." He said.

She blinked at him and then nodded her head in understanding and let him do what he needed.

The first part of his examination was fairly easy. Normal even. But the second part of his examination required that she undress, at least down to her undergarments so that he could better check her for any trace of injury that could be hidden by her clothing.

And when he mentioned this fact to her- both of their faces positively burned with embarrassment.

But he did his best to keep things as professional as possible for her sake. As well as his own. Luckily, she kept any questions or comments to herself and did as he asked.

And once she was undressed, he automatically locked onto the faint discolorations littering her limbs. However, that wasn't all that got his attention.

First of all, as strange as it seemed, her undergarments weren't at all what one would expect of a high-ranking noble woman. Especially the heir of Lord Sullivan.

For starters the fabric that covered her chest and lower body wasn't like anything that he'd ever seen before. Unlike other demonesses, she wasn't wearing the current fashion of soft silks, laces, and satins. The texture of the fabric looked very rough and abrasive against her delicate skin.

Not only that but the top was only held in place by one shoulder strap with a tiny silver buckle. Her underwear was similar and had a couple of small silver buckles at each of her hips.

His hand moved before he realized what he was doing, and hooked his fingers under the shoulder strap of her bra and took a moment to rub it between his fingers to confirm it's texture.

Yup, it was very rough and abrasive. He could tell by the stiffness of the fabric despite the fact that he was wearing gloves. There was almost no give at all in the fabric.

"How do you manage to wear such an uncomfortable fabric without hurting yourself?" He wondered aloud without meaning to.

Ichigo merely arched a brow at him as he quickly retracted his hand and went on to scan the rest of her skin.

Despite already knowing that she wasn't like other high-ranking noblewomen, Balam couldn't help but be surprised by the sheer amount of scar tissue littering her ribs, stomach- goodness she had a scar that looked to be the same size and width of his fist! She also had smaller and less noticeable scars on her arms and legs.

Which was also interesting.

Yet all of the scars had one thing in common... They were all defensive wounds from what could only be from life-or-death battles.

Reaching out, he grasped both of her small hands and checked them since a lot of injuries would have happened to her hands when she was likely fighting. He paid careful attention to her knuckles, fingers, and palms. Absently cataloging every line, every jagged and raw wound that he found on them before asking if he could see her feet next.

Ichigo didn't argue with him, probably because she was curious to see how far he was going to take his examination of her. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he liked being as thorough as possible since it might upset her.

Oddly, her feet were in worse shape than her hands.

Well, the bottoms of them were anyway.

There was so much scar tissue from being cut, clawed, stabbed, broken and there was even evidence to suggest that the bottoms of her feet had been beaten and even burned to the point where some of her flesh had melted off!

And because of that, Balam began to suspect that Ichigo had been gravely abused for a long, long time. Either that or she had been tortured over the span of many, many years. Probably since she was a child.

Though he fervently hoped that he was wrong about that.

But he seriously doubted that he was.

Taking slow and steady breaths to hold his anger at bay- he slowly released her feet and then asked to see her back. She didn't react at first, and simply blinked at him. But after a few seconds, she got up off of the bed and turned around to face the far wall, allowing him to see her back.

The moment that Balam saw her back, he was both stunned and horrified beyond measure.

Bile burned the back of his throat, and rage boiled up within him, so dark and malicious that he could feel himself edging a wicked cycle just trying to wrap his mind around what it was that he was seeing.

Her back was littered in scars that were so deep that some places that there had been muscle gouged from it. Leaving deep, wounds that looked as if they had never truly healed no matter how much time had passed.

True, the scars appeared to be old.

At least seven or more years or older from what he could tell. But that didn't help him to feel any better about the fact that her wings were completely missing.

His mind Churned with turbulent feelings of deep hatred and rage along with every one of his protective instincts. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and shield her from further harm. However, he didn't dare to.

Yet.

Everyone among the Babyls school staff knew about the ancient, archaic, and outlawed practice of grounding as well as why it was used.

However, this was the first time that he had ever met someone that the now outlawed practice had ever been used on since it was a well-known fact that most of the demons that the form of torture was used on- had less than a three percent chance of surviving the act of having their wings so savagely removed.

Either because of the damage done to them. Which caused their bodies to shut down slowly from shock, infection, blood loss, severe nerve damage that caused them to suffer from such intense agony that they suffered psychotic breaks that eventually led to their deaths in some gruesome way.

Or because the demon later committed suicide simply because such an important part of them had so cruelly and brutally been ripped away from them.

After all, wings were a necessary part of a demon's survival in the Netherworld. Without them the demon in question had no way of escaping certain dangers or life-threatening situations.

He couldn't even begin to imagine the suffering that she had endured during or after her grounding had taken place.

But he knew that this also meant that she was one of the rarest demons in the entirety of the Netherworld. One of the few survivors who was apparently mentally and physically strong enough to continue living against all of the overwhelming odds against her.

That made the fact that Ichigo had survived for so long after suffering something as horrific as being grounded that much more impressive to him.

Yet...

He still couldn't help but feel so much anger and seething hatred for the one/ones responsible for her suffering. And he already knew that if he ever got his hands on the one/ones responsible for this horrible act- he would take great delight in tearing them limb from limb slowly, and painfully.

He was sure that Sullivan and Opera would- oh. Oh!

Reaching out he gently placed one of his large hands against the worst of her grounding injuries and simply kept it there for a second, letting the warmth from his hand seep into her body. The abruptness of the action caused her to jump a little bit in surprise before twisting her head around to stare at him.

The look in her eyes was suspicious.

And he couldn't say that he blamed her any given how she badly she had been harmed. But he couldn't help it. The feel of the deep wound underneath his palm helped to ground him a bit and push his temper aside so that he could think more clearly. Allowing him to finally vocalize his thoughts.

"Does Lord Sullivan and Opera know about the wounds on your back?" He asked slowly, not wanting to upset her just in case the two didn't know.

She frowned at him. As if she didn't understand why the two would even need to know.

It was all the answer that he needed as he pulled his hands back away from her with a sigh. That was going to be a long and unpleasant conversation to have with either demon.

Granted, he doubted that Sullivan nor Opera would blame Ichigo any for hiding such an obvious weakness from them. But it didn't mean that the two weren't going to be any less upset once they finally found out.

Reaching out again, he picked up her clothing and then handed it to her and told her to get dressed while he took the time to think about how to broach the subject of her grounding status to the others.

"I'm going to go and speak with Sullivan and Opera. You can join us once you're ready." He said as he carefully got to his feet and then walked over to the door and then opened it.

He paused for a second, wondering if speaking of her grounding was really the right thing to do so soon after being taken as Sullivan's heir, but knew that it was best to give the Lord a head's up so that he wasn't caught unawares in a different setting, and then stepped out of the bedroom and gently closed the door behind him.

Opera and Sullivan could both barely contain themselves, though it was for different reasons. Sullivan was worried about Ichigo's health. Whereas Opera was immensely pleased with Rukia for 'marrying' his former Kohei and schoolmate Balam to Ichigo.

Even Sullivan knew that it took more than just a few hastily said words to marry a human to someone. But who was he to rain on Opera's parade. Besides, his security devil had already threatened to hide his silverware again if he didn't stay quiet.

And Sullivan wasn't overly fond of having to eat with his fingers.

It was really messy to do so.

So, he kept quiet as Opera prepared to ambush his Kohei to celebrate Balam's marriage to the lady of the house as said demon was stepping out of the bedroom to find them.

Opera started to open his mouth to tell his Kohei how happy he was for him- when he froze up at the chilling look on Balam's face as he looked at them.

Goodness, I wonder what happened to put such a look on his face. Sullivan wondered as the gargoyle simply said, "We need to talk of a matter of upmost importance."

Sullivan's curious expression slid into one of utter seriousness. While Opera's own face went totally blank, the look in his amber eyes became grim as Sullivan said, "Of course. Shall we all go the study for privacy?"

Balam nodded his head sagely as Sullivan pushed himself away from the wall and quietly led his co-worker and underling towards his study while Opera walked silently behind them like a living, breathing shadow.