43 An invitation.

Saber was happily eating her several portions of breakfast after the long night she had.

She 'acquired' a new sword last night which also made her even happier. It was a pretty normal morning for Ichigo's peerage.

The guests eventually joined them as well. It was apparent that they did not receive much sleep. Had it not been for the wonderful smell of Shirou's cooking they would have been asking questions non-stop.

"Something is bothering me…" Ichigo said, breaking the silent atmosphere.

Everyone looked up at the shinigami.

"I don't feel any prying eyes anymore." Ichigo said. Since they had been discovered, there was constant surveillance on their home.

Minus the two exorcists who had confused expression, everyone else came to the same realization. Either someone removed the prying eyes, or for some reason they decided to leave the group alone.

"Either way, something is going on." Ichigo said ominously.

"You'll probably run head first into what ever it is regardless" Sasuke spoke jokingly. He noticed that Ichigo was a magnet for trouble just how Naruto had been in the past.

Sasuke was starting to act more open with the group since becoming more…familiar with Sarah. It was odd how they used to adopt almost the same 'emotionless soldier' expression. Sarah's was forced on her by the ones who turned her into an assassin, whereas Sasuke adopted his willingly for the sake of revenge.

It was probably one of the reasons Sarah was attracted to Sasuke so quickly. She saw someone she could relate to more. She was much quicker to tear her mask off since she didn't want it in the first place and she genuinely enjoyed forcing off Sasukes.

"Careful, you don't want a certain someone to drag you away before you finish eating" Ichigo retorted with a smirk.

Sasuke had a rare embarrassed expression at his remark, he couldn't even give a comeback.

Xenovia and Irina were just silently watching the banter between these two. They almost forgot they were sitting at a table full of devils.

"So what do you two plan on doing today?" Shirou asked towards the two exorcists.

They were a bit hesitant to say anything about their mission…..

"We are going to track down the thieves and secure the stolen blades' Xenovia said with confidence.

"Do you need help?" Shirou offered.

Xenovia and Irina were a bit surprised as his offer. They had limited experience with he devil, but he was always genuine when he provided assistance.

"We thank you for the offer, but this is church business" Irina answered.

After breakfast, the girls left to fulfull their mission

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The group were just relaxing for the day, they came back to this world right on a Friday so it was now the weekend.

"You reminded them of their mission so they wouldn't start asking questions." Yoruichi said with a sly expression towards the magus.

Shirou had a smile creep on his face.

"I've met a few exorcists back home, missions are always a priority for them." He said with a chuckle.

Ichigo sighed.

"Some shit is probably going to happen that we're going to get pulled into" Ichigo said with a tired expression.

"No doubt it will involve those knock-offs" Saber added.

"And some big-shot who had some grand scheme in place" Shirou said.

Everyone looked at the trio then around the room at each other, they nodded in silent agreement as the trio were lost in their own thoughts. They quickly scattered, all but Orihime had left the trio to deal with whatever problem came up.

"Your on your own….." Was heard echoing down the hall as most of Ichigo's peerage escaped.

"Atleast Hime didn't abandon us" Ichigo said, grabbing hold of the girl who was trying to inch away like the others. She eventually gave up as Ichigo had wrapped himself around her.

"So what do we do now?" Shirou asked.

"Double date?" Ichigo suggested.

Both Orihime and Saber perked up.

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It was a nice time for both couples.

The date was more so for both Saber and Orihime who loved the normal aspect the most. Both Ichigo and Shirou were basically pulled along for the ride as they went into various stores or stopped at certain restaurants.

It was a double date, but both couples were basically in their own worlds.

Ichigo was walking hand-in-hand with Orihime. She was very happy, she was content with her current life style. She began to think of the past, whenever the sky had fallen, he had been there to hold it up for her.

Her heart was fluttering, her face was a bit flushed. She had finally come to the realization when she thought towards the future, she would spend the rest of her life with this man. This man who she fell in love with so long ago. This man who looked at her with the same eyes that she did him.

She came to a stop and Ichigo followed. She didn't say anything as she wrapped her arms around his neck and met his lips.

Shirou and saber saw what was happening and quietly left to give the couple their intimate moment in peace.

Ichigo pulled in the girl he loved and reciprocated the kiss. It was different from the first time they had locked lips, they had much more practice since then.

After several moments, they finally pulled apart, a little out of breath. Ichigo gently placed his forehead against hers and held her tightly, just basking in the moment.

"Thank you, today has been one of the best days of my life" Orihime quietly said.

"So far" Ichigo said with a smile.

"Will we be like this forever?" She asked.

"Yes, I'll love you forever" He stated to her.

They didn't speak anymore as she lost herself in his embrace.

They stayed like this for several minutes.

"Sorry to interrupt, we got an issue coming our way" Shirou said towards the couple.

Ichigo and Orihime looked up, coming down the street were both Issei and Kiba from Rias's peerage. They were carrying the two exorcists who were bloodied and beaten.

Their eye's widened as they quickly made their way towards the injured girls.

"Set them down so I can heal them" Orihime commanded towards the duo.

Issei and Kiba didn't even have time to say anything as she quickly deployed her familiar orange barrier around the two girls.

Issei and Kiba looked on with a shocked expression as the wounds began to go away.

"Is this her 'fullbring' " Kiba asked with confusion. He had recalled when she mentioned her strange power. She had yet to reveal it to the world until now.

"Its not time reversal" Ichigo said bluntly. He could tell what the two were thinking.

Kiba and Issei looked towards the shinigami and the other couple standing nearby.

"She has the power of rejection, she is rejecting the damage their bodies have sustained." He explained.

"But….thats….absurd" Kiba stumbled out.

Rejection may not be as strong as time reversal in specific circumstances…but it had a much wider range of usage. His mind started racing at the possibilities, how much could it reject, how long ago could something be rejected. And a final thought, could she reject the devil aspect out of a reincarnated devil?

"That power..." Kiba was about to say something to which he hesitated.

"Encroaches on god's territory" Ichigo finished his thought.

Kiba let out a sigh. This was about par for the course with regards to Ichigo's peerage.

"No one in your group is normal" He said with acceptance.

"I'll take that as a compliment" Ichigo said with a smirk.

Issei was a bit loss at their conversation, he didn't really understand the implications of Orihime's ability.

"We'll take the girls, they were staying with us anyways. You both probably need to report to your king" Ichigo said.

"Alright….please take care of Irina….she is my friend" Issei said with a sad expression.

"I'll protect them with my life" Ichigo said, he respected the look Issei had in his eyes. Issei was a lot of things, prominently on that list was a prevent, but he was also a protector. He would sacrifice his life for someone he cared about without hesitation.

The look Issei showed, Ichigo often had the same one. His willingness to protect.

"You've come along way since that idiot in the club room…." Ichigo said quietly as the devils made their way back to their leader. He wondered what they had gone through since he had been gone.

Ichigo and his group had arrived back at his house just as it turned dark out.

It wasn't long before the girls finally woke up. They quickly searched their surroundings and realized where they were.

They looked towards the four who had just come back from their date.

"Let me guess, it was a trap to acquire your holy blades" Ichigo said.

Both the girls winced at his comment. It was exactly as he said, they were lured into a trap with several rogue exorcists, two of which wielded fragments of their own.

"Thank you for healing us" Irina said. She could put two and two together when they saw their bodies and where they were at.

"You should thank issei and Kiba when you get the chance, they were the ones who found you and carried you back." Ichigo said.

The two girls had a tense expression on their faces, something beyond just getting their blades stolen had happened.

Ichigo noticed this and let out a sigh.

"What else happened..." He asked.

"They told us their plans…" Xenovia said.

"Go on." Ichigo said.

"Kokabiel is their leader and they are going to fuse together all four fragments and use them to slay the devil leaders at the school to restart the war." She said.

The three factions are pretty much in a tentative non-aggression pact right now. None of the higher ups really want to go to war, but tensions are high and having two siblings of current Satans be murdered by another faction would start the war right up again.

"I'm guessing that Issei and Kiba were also told something similar and they would have told Rias who would tell Sona and they would probably go try to stop them from fusing the blades together…" Shirou blurted out.

"If I had to guess I would say that Kokabiel and his people are responsible for removing all the 'eyes' in town so they could move more freely. Which means must have known the exorcists were staying with us." Ichigo stated.

"Which means he's probably expecting us to intervene as well since he let these two live so they could relay the message. Adding us into the battle would increase the chaos factor if the two devil heiresses would die." Saber added.

"Well, no point in over thinking it. It seems that he is setting up a party and sent us an invitation" Ichigo said with a smirk.