Maleficia looked at her grandson's mate with no end of fascination. The first time she shifted, her body had taken a heavy toll. She hadn't thought twice about almost sacrificing herself to protect her two handmaidens, and had successfully held off a superior opponent.

Lilia had been rather clear of his assessment of this...arrancar. Whoever he was, he was strong enough to match Malleus in his dragon form without dying for it. If anything, he was able to leave on his own power without any major wounds.

That alone worried the Queen more than she'd like to admit.

Ichigo though...her body was in much better shape than the last time she had shifted, though she was still leaking magic like a sieve.

Seeing how her grandson was hovering over his mate, Maleficia made a decision.

Malleus raised an eyebrow when he saw the magical artifact that Lilia brought in. So did Orihime and Tatsuki.

"What is that?"

"It's a magical converter. Sometimes children are born with too much magic and not enough control, so we use items like this until they become strong enough to handle the excess," said Lilia.

Ichigo was awake enough to hear this bit, though she wisely didn't attempt to sit up. Even with Orihime's healing powers, she still felt like utter crap.

"What do I need to do?" asked Ichigo seriously.

Lilia smirked, and pulled out what appeared to be an intricate collar.

Ichigo wasn't the only one staring. Malleus peered at the thing with some confusion and recognition.

"Isn't that the same artifact grandmother had me wear as a child?"

"Considering the number of drapes and other flammable items you set fire to when sneezing?" laughed Lilia. "It took you twenty years to finally stop doing that even with the collar, and another thirty before you were deemed trained enough to not need the crutch."

Ichigo could feel the weight on it...but she also felt the collar taking effect immediately just by touching the thing. It was almost like a pressure valve being fixed, and the flow becoming far more stable.

"Why a collar though?" asked Tatsuki.

"It's spelled to become armor when they take on dragon form," explained Lilia. "Gauntlets had a bad habit of slipping off, and necklaces are too easily broken. And most rings are too small or easily lost especially in active combat."

"The collar though is big enough that multiple spells can be cast safely on it, and are easy enough to adjust to whomever is wearing it," said Malleus. "Though some are custom made."

"There's also the fact that since this was custom made for Malleus himself, it can be used as potential betrothal gift on short notice," grinned Lilia.

Ichigo relaxed slightly at that, as it was a sign the queen did approve of her as Malleus' mate at least.

"Did she say anything about Orihime?" asked Ichigo. If Aizen was after her best friend, there was no way Orihime could stay at her home alone, at least for now.

Lilia's smirk widened.

"I already have that covered. Thanks to Urahara, we were able to have Silver added as a transfer student to your class temporarily."

Ichigo stared at him.

"You do realize you're basically tossing your son to the shark-infested waters that is high school...right?"

Lilia merely chuckled darkly, as this would be a good experience for him.

Ichigo felt more pity than anything at the sheer panicked look on Silver's face until Orihime began to stake her claim on him.

The fact that the 'princess' was openly fighting off other girls over a newly arrived boy spread across the school like wildfire, and would dominate the gossip circles for weeks after. Though Ichigo did have to do some quick talking over her new fancy collar.

~*~*~*~*~

Lilia had to admit, Ichigo's growth was ridiculous. Once she hit her stride, she picked up skills like a sponge. And thanks to the collar she now wore everywhere, her magical growth had shot up exponentially.

Now that she wasn't leaking magic as bad, her core was developing at an almost frightening rate.

Once he wore her out during their sword training, he was teaching her to meditate. If she was to gain even a fraction of control over her abilities, she needed to put some sort of filter around her ability to absorb outside energies before it killed her.

She had too much energy to sit still long enough to actually look, so Lilia made a point to wear her out first.

He found it fascinating that her inner world was a sideways city with a large nest where her dragon form was napping peacefully. Her dragon was much smaller and clearly rather young, as opposed to the mostly mature one she manifested.

That had worried Lilia, as it was clear that the dragon was likely overcompensating to deal with the opponents Ichigo had been facing lately.

It was a good thing Ichigo had jumped at the chance for real training, not the half-assed measures she had been given by the shinigami.

If she was to be the next queen, then Lilia was going to make very sure she wouldn't hold Malleus back in terms of power.

Ichigo was pretty sure she almost had that absorption ability nailed down. She had been systematically going over as many buildings as she could trying to find it, with help from Shiro, Nyx and Tensa. Her still to be named dragon-half was simply too big to go into any of the buildings and was focusing more on absorbing as much energy as she could from the excess to bolster her own limited core.

In a fit of exasperation, she started sending small bits of magic or reitsu out to see if she could pin it down that way.

It wasn't until she managed to bring Malleus and an intrigued Lilia that she finally had any luck locating her absorption ability. Mostly because Malleus noticed the direction his excess magic was following.

That was how they found the massive lake that seemed to have underwater veins that went all through Ichigo's inner world.

"I think we've found the source of that troublesome ability of yours," said Lilia, observing it. He barely dipped a finger in before he pulled it out in less than two seconds.

Closer observation revealed an almost dam like structure nearby, heading in the direction of the city, as well as the odd nest.

"How are we supposed to deal with this?" said Ichigo.

"Well we can't block it entirely," said Lilia, looking closely. "While troublesome in regards to your control, it has kept you alive until this point. And it's too big to plug up normally."

"Why not build up a few dams?" said Shiro, startling most.

"That might work, but there's no telling how many openings this lake has and how big they are."

Ichigo looked at them thoughtfully, then noticed the way it looked under the lighting.

"What about turning it into ice crystals?" she asked.

Lilia and Malleus looked at her.

"We could freeze up some of the water, lightening the load long enough to make dams, and when it's needed they can thaw out and add to the rest."

"I like it. We could use the 'ice' to dam up the main outlets, at least until you learn some proper control," said Lilia. "The main question is how to go about it, since your nature isn't exactly icy to begin with."

It took some trial and error, but eventually they figured out how to create a sort of bowl around the 'water', which had openings that lead to the underground labyrinth. It made her magic and spiritual energy feel odd for several days, but her ability to properly control said power went up like crazy.

It was amazing how much a proper filtering system could do for her skill level.

~*~*~*~*

Ichigo took one look at the Vizored, and her face became deadpan.

"So let me get this straight. You want me to learn how to control my hollow side?" she said slowly.

"Yup," said Shinji.

Ichigo stared them all down, before sighing.

"Shiro, do you want to take this one or should I?" she asked.

"Queen's got enough issues with her current skill set, she doesn't need any more," said Shiro.

Ichigo relished in the shocked expressions they all had.

"You let it out?!" said Hiyori with a shriek.

Shiro snickered at them all.

"Why wouldn't I? Shiro, Nyx and Tensa are part of me after all, and it's easier to work with someone if you make a few compromises. Besides, do you have any idea what a pain in the ass it was to do my homework with Rukia around? If Shiro hadn't been studying while I was out, my grades would have been shot to hell," said Ichigo incredulous.

"Who are Nyx and Tensa?" asked Hachigen. It was clear Ichigo had a good rapport with her inner hollow, which would make learning how to use the mask much easier.

"Hello! Tensa is currently sleeping. She's still tired because we were finally able to put a filter on her absorption skills," said a small child. Nyx rather enjoyed her time outside Ichigo's inner world.

"No wonder, considering that was mainly her ability to begin with," said Shiro derisively. "I don't care how useful that ability is...it made her control shit."

"Would you be offended if we tested your control over your hollow side, just to be safe?" asked Shinji.

"I don't see why not," said Ichigo. She never had any real issues with her hollow side honestly. It was her inner dragon she still had some issue with, and that was because it was so young.

The Visored were all suitably impressed at her control, though Hachigen had to ask what her hollow side had meant about a 'filter'.

"My mother was a Quincy, and I inherited their ability to draw in outside energy. While it's kept me alive against some of the bigger players, it made my ability to actually control any of it absolute garbage," said Ichigo. "Even trying to attempt a spell or kido would just result in blowing up in my face because I kept overpowering it by accident."

"Really doesn't help that she's been fast-tracking the higher tier abilities in less than a year," commented Shiro.

"What do you mean fast-tracking?" said Shinji.

"I went from not knowing my zanpakuto's name to bankai in less than a year, and that was after Rukia forcibly shoved her own zanpakuto into my chest to kickstart my abilities," deadpanned Ichigo.

Dead silence, as the Visored stared at her incredulously.

"You're shitting me," said Hiyori. "There's no way your body could sustain that much of an energy boost without killing yourself!"

"One, the Princess has an overpowered as fuck healing ability," said Shiro.

"And two, why do you think our personalities are so advanced?" said Nyx. "We had to sacrifice some of her shinigami and hollow abilities to boost the ones she can actually use with some degree of skill, and thank the Seven we had a place to dump the excess!"

"Queen almost didn't survive that fight with Rukia's brother because she was absorbing so much energy and was leaking like no tomorrow," said Shiro exasperated. "If we hadn't figured out how to filter her core, her life span would have been cut in half, at the bare minimum."

"And Kisuke wanted us to add new abilities on top of the ones you already have...is he an idiot?" said Hiyori disgusted. It was clear Ichigo needed even more power ups like a boot to the head.

What she really needed was some control and to fine-tune the abilities she already had, not add new ones.

"He probably thinks the best way to handle this is to brute force it," said Ichigo, shrugging. "Sometimes having control is more important than overpowering it...especially since I've got enough headaches as it is."

It didn't hurt that when the situation was explained to the Queen, she had given Lilia permission to dig out even more old artifacts that hadn't seen use in centuries.

It was ridiculous that these Shinigami expected her future granddaughter-in-law to face these creatures without any proper armor, much less training.

Brute force was nothing when against someone with actual skill and ability.