Perched high on a massive, ancient tree branch whose dense foliage offered perfect concealment without obstructing her view, Bambietta Basterbine remained perfectly still.
Her eyes, sharp and calculating, were fixed on the chaotic scene unfolding below in the Shrek Academy courtyard.
The chaos itself didn't interest her much—an old man being humiliated by a spoiled brat was tedious.
What did interest her were the individuals involved and the currents of power she sensed.
She was surprised to see the notorious heiress of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong, here.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was one of the three great upper sects, its wealth and influence virtually limitless.
And they are also one of the few powers that Soul Society itself has been in contact with, so Bambietta, who is basically Ichigo's guard, knows about them.
So how in the world did that daughter-loving lunatic of a sect master, Ning Fengzhi, allowed his only daughter to wander this remote, dusty corner of the Douluo Continent?
The man treated his child like she was made of crystal and gold, and now she's here, alone!
"Well, 'alone' isn't the right word," Bambietta mused, a faint frown creasing her brow.
Her enhanced spiritual senses, perks of her Quincy powers, detected a distinct, heavy aura lurking nearby.
It was the presence of a Spirit Douluo, one of the Douluo Continent's true masters, currently positioned just outside the academy walls and employing sophisticated spirit abilities to cloak his existence.
That was the guard assigned to the little girl, likely reporting her every move back to the anxious Sect Master.
However, the individual who truly captured Bambietta's attention was the young woman standing alongside the boy who greatly resembled Tang Hao: the rabbit eared little girl.
Bambietta's ability to discern spiritual energies was profound, and she could clearly perceive the raw, untamed life force within the rabbit-eared girl.
This was no ordinary Spirit Master; she was an incarnation of a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Beast, likely one that had chosen to undergo the difficult process of human transformation.
A dark thought crossed Bambietta's mind, turning her lips into a thin, cynical line.
Had that legendary Titled Douluo, Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Douluo, already noticed this girl?
Bambietta wondered if he was even now planning on capturing Xiao Wu to forcibly take her hundred-thousand-year spirit ring and bone—the ultimate prize in the Spirit Master world.
Bambietta's focus then shifted back to Kazui and that girl Rongrong.
She watched as Ning Rongrong, utterly joyful by her and Kazui's reunion and his easy acceptance into the academy, grabbed his hand and excitedly led him away from the stunned group.
A slow smirk, a mix of maternal pride and predatory satisfaction, spread across Bambietta's face.
She's already taken him to her room? That's my boy.
Bambietta couldn't help but feel a flicker of the pride a parent might feel seeing their son score a beauty.
Well, technically speaking, Kazui was her step-son, as Bambietta herself is in a relationship with Kazui's father, Kurosaki Ichigo.
It's kind of an open secret, really, and the only reason why she wasn't recognised as a legal wife is because of political drama and Bambietta herself not wanting to get drag into that mess.
After the brutal thousand year blood war, where Ichigo had ascended to become both the undisputed Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 and the formal Head of the Shiba Clan, the powerful, manipulative elders of the Central 46 grew intensely afraid.
They feared Ichigo, and rightfully so.
With his god-like power, only the sealed Sosuke Aizen could truly pose a credible threat to him.
If Ichigo ever decided he wished to control the entirety of the Universe and became its sole ruler, no one could effectively stop him.
So to "bind" him and diffuse his overwhelming power among various influences, the Central 46 had employed a classic political maneuver: they sent important, high-ranking females from various Noble Houses to him in forced, political marriages.
Ichigo, although reluctant, eventually agreed, convinced by his dad and even his then girlfriend, Orihime herself, as only in this way can there be peace.
However, he laid down one absolute condition: Inoue Orihime, Kazui's biological mother, must be acknowledged as his main and primary wife.
The official, legally married consorts of Kurosaki Ichigo, the Captain Commander, were, Inoue Orihime, Rukia Kuchiki, Nanao Ise, Soi Fon, and, in the most shocking development that had rocked the entire Soul Society, Yoruichi Shihouin.
How Ichigo or the Central 46 convinced that woman to be his bride was a topic still discussed today.
Although lots of theories came up, Bambietta knew the reason why Yoruichi agreed, it is because she had forced Ichigo it.
During the war, when Ichigo asked Yoruichi why she didn't tell him that she had a younger brother, Yoruichi asked him, 'Why should I tell you? What are you, my fiancé?'
And Ichigo, not wanting get teased, doubled down and acted tough, replying, 'If you want to, I can be your fiancé.'
Ichigo thought that Yoruichi would just laughed it off and pat his back for that comeback, but he almost choked himself to death when she actually agreed, saying that if he didn't marry her after the war, she will spread rumors that he played around with her body and left her to fend for herself.
But the political marriages only covered the public front, as Ichigo also maintained other, deeply complex, and ongoing relationships that were essentially an open secret—known, discussed in whispers, but never officially mentioned, as they lacked legal marital status.
One of the reason why that is so is because of Central 46 fear of his own power and authority growing even stronger.
And also because if ever the powers behind those women decided to launch a war and attack Soul Society, the Central 46 wouldn't be able to use their strongest weapon, Ichigo Kurosaki, to quell the rebellion due to his sentimental feelings.
These 'unofficial' partners included, Bambietta Basterbine herself, Candice Cattnip, Meninas McAllon, Giselle Gewelle(she's a girl in this), Tier Harribel, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, Nemuri Nanago/Kurotsutchi, Riruka Dokugamine, and the Fullbringer known as Aura Michibane.
Bambietta and Candice, having been defeated and stripped of their absolute power, decided to remain with Ichigo for the pragmatic safety and protection that his unparalleled influence offered.
Meninas and Giselle, finding the structure of the new peace somewhat boring, simply decided to go with the flow and follow Ichigo's turbulent life.
As for the last of the former Sternritters, Liltotto Lamperd, she had chosen a different path entirely: she was married to Gremmy Thoumeaux, whose reality-warping powers had been surgically suppressed and stabilized.
Gremmy now worked as a humble, eccentric chef, running a highly successful, if unusual, restaurant in the Soul Society's lower districts.
As for how he survived, well, after all that fiasco with a certain Noble House, his brain was retrieved and Kenpachi, who wanted to fight him again, asked Mayuri to revive him.
Also, Bambietta was certain that the reason why Harribel chose to be with Ichigo was because of the issue of survival as well.
As for that Nelliel and Riruka, they obviously possessed romantic feelings for Ichigo and seeing everyone getting married to him, they obviously didn't want to get left behind.
And for that Fullbringer Aura, Bambietta remembered that the reason why she wanted to be with Ichigo is because she wanted to be a mother, having awakened her maternal instinct due to that certain Hybrid.
At this moment, Bambietta smirked again, watching the two children disappear into the building.
She knew what they are about to, as it isn't a secret that this girl, Ning Rongrong, had essentially tricked the innocent Kazui into what she had named 'Friendship of thighs', and even now, Kazui still doesn't know what that truly means.
Noble girls might come off as refined and elegant, but they are more perverted than the last.
This Rongrong girl was completely ahead of Renji Abarai's daughter, Ichika, who was still in the hand holding stage and even then was too shy to hold hands.