Ichigo didn't really know what happened after that. Everything just seemed to happen so fast. But it went something like this- first of all, her dad found one of her late mother's formal dresses from back when she'd been eighteen. It was a red velvet and tulle skirted, halter topped monstrosity with some shoes and accessories.

But once her dad found it and shook it off a bit to study it for wear and tear and deemed it good enough- he grabbed everything, and then ran it back to her, calling for Yuzu and Karin to help him by grabbing some makeup and hairbrushes.

After that, she spent the next few minutes being forcibly stripped out of what she was already wearing. Which was embarrassing, even if her dad was standing with his back to her. And was shoved into the dress all while she tried desperately to escape.

Which didn't work at all because her sisters had gotten much wiser to her antics now that they were both fourteen and had had many years prior to this to see how she operated. Needless to say, she was pretty startled to get tackled by Karin before she could even get to her bedroom window.

But after several minutes of struggling and cursing and wondering- how the hell did her baby sisters get so damned strong?! The girls managed to subdue her and then after forcing her to sit down on her bed, did her hair and makeup.

She wasn't really sure what was done to her face- for all she knew she would look like a killer clown by the time Yuzu was done with her. But she was at least aware of Karin using the hair accessories that her dad had found to style her hair.

Weaving threads of little crystals and red flowers into her hair as it was pulled back away from her face into a braid.

And once they were done...she, horrifyingly enough, looked just like a princess. Literally.

So much so that she stood in the middle of her room trembling with some unnamed emotion and wanting very much to punch someone or break something. Why? Why had this happened to her? She was a warrior dammit! Not a princess.

Why can't my life ever be simple? She wondered sadly as Yuzu cooed at her once she finished her makeup.

"Ichigo, you look so pretty!"

Karin grinned evilly, while leaning her back against Ichigo's closet door while still holding one of the hairbrushes and merely said, "It's about time you grew up. Maybe you'll actually bring a man home now."

"My, but you are a pretty little thing." Isshin said in surprise as he leaned into her personal space a bit to study her while she was all gussied up. "Just like your dear mother. She cleaned up well too."

He grinned at her as he moved back on his heels.

Ichigo was so close to tears at that point that her hand shot out automatically and she wound up punching her dad in the face. He went down hard and while Yuzu and Karin shared a couple of knowing looks, as she took the time to raise the fluffy skirt of the dress that she was wearing so that she could stomp on her dad's face as she awkwardly made out of the room.

At this point she was hoping to leave the house to go hide somewhere where no one would ever see her mortified face again. But the second that she reached the door to leave and threw it open...

Her way was blocked by one of her inhuman neighbors.

She physically allowed her shoulders to droop as he smiled down at her and introduced himself as Gunter, the royal aide with a bow. And he had apparently decided to take it upon himself escort her safely- just a hundred or so feet away- to the house across the street for dinner.

Ichigo wanted to commit murder right then. Since she was barely hanging on to her temper by a thread.

But not her poor neighbor's murder. To her knowledge he was simply harmless, so killing him would weigh on her conscience more than the death of someone who had hurt others for funsies.

So, she took a moment to calm herself down so that she didn't lash out at him accidentally and hurt his feelings for no reason and then dropped herself into a practiced curtsy and introduced herself to him politely.

After all, she had manners.

Byakuya and Ukitake had both taught her certain forms of etiquette for formal parties and other formal affairs, just in case it was necessary during her work as a Soul Reaper. So, it wasn't as if she were a mannerless heathen. She knew how to conduct herself around others.

However, the moment that she rose back to her full height and looked at the man, he had sparkles floating around him. Which was both startling and alarming to her. So much so that she tried to step away from him even as his hands shot out and took hold of both of her own. Effectively trapping her in place.

"Highness," He said as he leaned down so that he was looking her directly in the eye. "I have wanted to meet you for so long!" He started crying then. Alarming her more. "You are such a lovely young lady! and so very well-mannered as well. I feel so fortunate to be able to meet you like this and bask in your presence."

Maybe she should kill him after all?

She wasn't sure how, but he managed to stop crying, though there were obvious tear treks on his face as he finally released her hands and said. "Dinner shall be ready soon, so I was now escort your highness." And then held out an arm for her to take and smiled.

Ichigo couldn't help herself; she balked a bit. But after a second or so, finally took his arm and muttered. "T-Thanks."

"Of course, your majesty." He said easily as they started walking.

They were about halfway across the street to the other house when her dad came barreling out of her home with bloody tissues stuffed up his nose and a small handbag clutched in one of his hands.

"Don't forget I'm attending this dinner too!" He said once he caught up to them. Gunter's face was one of suspicion when he turned to look at her dad. So much so that he gently pushed her behind him as if she needed to be protected.

Ichigo...wasn't really sure what to think of that since she'd always been the protector, not the protected.

"And you are?" Gunter asked with a disdainful look.

"Hi, I'm her dad, Isshin."

That look of disdain morphed to something akin to disbelief and the man's jaw dropped open a bit as he took her dad's appearance in. To the trained eye, her dad was obviously not dressed for a nice dinner. I mean, he wasn't not dressed nicely. He just wasn't in a suit or tux. Which meant that he was a tad underdressed for this dinner.

Especially given the fact that she was overdressed for it.

However instead of chasing her dad away, Gunter was absolutely delighted to meet him. Despite the bloody tissues stuffed up his nose from being punched and stomped on by her.

So, the lilac haired man wound up escorting both of them across the street.

Upon stepping onto the porch of the house, the door abruptly opened, and Weller stepped out wearing an apron and holding a bouquet of pretty flowers in one hand. He smiled at them, happily, and walked up to Ichigo and dropped to one knee in front of her and held the flowers out to her.

"Beautiful flowers for our lovely Queen. Forever may you reign, Oh Goddess Queen of the Demon Kingdom."

Ichigo felt her dad standing on his tippy toes just to look over her shoulder, his expression one of pleasure and glee while Ichigo felt more awkward than she had ever felt before in her life as she slowly reached out to take the flowers from the man's hands with a small, polite smile on her face.

"Thank you, they're so beautiful." She said as she looked the flowers over. Weller and the others must have gone to a lot of trouble just to find such pretty roses, lilies, lavender, and other flora she wasn't certain of the names of. All of which didn't appear at all to be blackening or dying.

"I'm pleased that you like them, your highness." Weller said as he got up from his kneeling position to tower over her by a few inches. "We had quite the time finding them all and even argued a bit over which flowers to get you. We wanted you to be happy with our efforts."

"Oh, she's happy all right," Isshin said with a grin as he finally stepped out from behind her. While Ichigo buried her face in the flowers to hide her embarrassment as he went on to say. "This is the first time anyone has ever given her flowers of any kind whatsoever."

Weller and Gunter both looked startled by her dad's mortifying words, and Ichigo had half a mind to punch the idiot again for saying that. But couldn't for now. She'd save if for when she got home and couldn't be seen doing it. Yeah, maybe she'd even knock some of his teeth out this time for embarrassing her.

It wasn't like it wouldn't be the first time.

Karin's soccer ball usually did some damage. Not to mention Yuzu's frying pan.

Ichigo, herself usually refrained. But sometimes you just had to give in... She was sad to say that this may be one of those times. She just hoped that her dad's dentist would actually be able to fix the damage again.

She also hoped that her dad didn't get too upset with her for doing it either.

She knew that they didn't exactly have the best relationship in the world, but she at least hoped that her knocking his teeth out didn't damage it irreparably. The last thing that she needed was for her dad to absolutely hate her.

That would be terrible.

"I-I can't believe that no one would ever give her highness flowers. Are the young men of this world ill? Are they blind to her magnificent beauty?" Gunter ranted in an unamused tone that bordered on angry.

"Are they stupid?" Weller blurted out incredulously.

Ichigo saw her dad grin gleefully before replying. "No, it's nothing like that. It's just...she intimidates them."

"She intimidates them?" The two men echoed in unison. Confusion plain on both of their faces as they looked at Ichigo and tilted their heads a little bit to the side. The silent question of 'How?' hanging in the air, unsaid.

Isshin smiled a little more sharply at the two, mischief dancing in his eyes as he opened his mouth. And Ichigo quickly reacted by stuffing one of the roses from her bouquet into it and saying, "Here dad. It's been a while since anyone gave you flowers too. This rose should do!"

Then forced his mouth shut around it, causing him to gag, spit, and cough in an almost comical manner while the two demon men watched their interaction with obvious interest.

Ichigo merely smiled at them, while her dad tried not to die right then and there.

"Mr. Weller, Mr. Gunter, would I be wrong is saying that dinner might be burning right now?"

The two men jolted and the question and panicked a little bit and then quickly ushered her into the house. Leaving her dad outside on his own to recover from his sudden near-death experience at her hands.

The second that Ichigo was inside, Weller gently put a hand on the small of her back and maneuvered her over to the table a short way away from the kitchen and pulled out a chair for her.

"Here, my Queen. Please make yourself comfortable while we finish everything up."

"Uh, okay." Ichigo said, not knowing what else to do as she carefully placed her flowers aside and started to sit down when she heard an inhuman hiss come from Weller's lips and turned her head to see what was wrong. His expression was a cross between shock, horror, and livid fury.

All emotions that she was very familiar with. However, it took her a second to realize just what the problem was.

The top of her dress was backless. And with her hair styled as it was, he could probably see some of the scars that she had received from the various fights, and battles that she'd been through over the years. As well as some of the vicious wounds that Yhwach had given her during the war.

She wasn't exactly sure what he was seeing- as far as her healed injuries went.

But that didn't worry her half as much as some of her barely healed ones went. After all, some of those ran much deeper than simply skin deep. She still had some organs healing, as well as some muscle that had been cleaved apart in various ways.

And while pain didn't really bother her much- those tended to throb and ache terribly from time to time no matter how easy she took things.

It was part of the reason that she had been working at the kissing booth during the festival, earlier. Most of her friends were very aware of what had happened to her during the war. Just how bad the battle with Yhwach had become. They knew that she hadn't been able to have her body healed completely. Just enough to keep her from dying even if stitches and other things pulled or snapped.

Orihime was still recovering from healing everyone that she could during that mess. And so were all of the other healers still alive. Besides...they had their own people to worry about too and Ichigo wasn't so selfish a person that she would let anyone prioritize her wellbeing over others if it could be helped.

She'd done her part in stopping the war from spilling out into the human world and beyond. She'd stopped the Quincies and Yhwach from destroying and killing more people. If she was meant to die from her injuries, then that's simply the way that it was supposed to be.

She wasn't going to whine or complain about it now.

She felt the warmth of Weller's hand gently rest itself, fingers splayed wide over one of the old wounds that resided between her shoulder blades. Causing her to jump a little bit in surprise.

Not because his touch hurt her or anything like that. But because it was rare for foreign hands to touch her so very carefully and gently.

"Highness," Weller's voice was soft, almost pleading. His expression shifted from his previous emotions to one of agony as he asked her, "How did you-"

It was a common question from others that didn't quite know her yet. And while she understood his desire to know what had happened to her to give her so many scars- she didn't want to talk about it right then.

"I don't want to talk about it," She tried to be nice, polite even. But the way she spoke was probably much harsher than she intended given the way that the man flinched a little bit and pulled his hand away from her back. So, she reacted quickly and blurted out, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to sound bitchy to you or anything like that. I just don't like talking about it. That's all."

Weller stared at her for a second and then carefully put an understanding smile on his face and simply bowed to her and said, "I understand, your highness. Please, forgive me if I've overstepped."

"You're fine, I promise. I get questions like that all the time. So, I'm sort of used to it." She assured him hastily before catching sight of her other two neighbors watching their interaction curiously from the kitchen.

Obviously noticing how tense their friend had become a few moments prior and wondering what she had done to cause such a reaction in him.

Weller nodded his head sagely and helped her into her chair and then gently pushed it in for her and then squatted down next to her seat and said, "Dinner should be on the table in another minute or so. Would you like me to fetch you a drink while you wait?"

"Uh, no. I'm okay. I can wait on everyone else."

In all honesty she felt as if she had caused the man and his friends enough trouble already. But she still gave him a shaky smile, anyway. She didn't want the guy to think that she didn't appreciate his efforts to make her comfortable despite their combined blunder a couple of minutes ago.

Weller disappeared from her side after that and returned a short time later carrying a large glass bowl that was carefully placed on the table not too far from her, while his friends each carried a few things of their own. From the smell of things, Ichigo could tell that the men had cooked a nice dinner of shrimp alfredo pasta, garlic bread, salad, some soup, and even had a decadent chocolate cake for dessert.

One that Ichigo was already planning to eat two slices of. It simply looked that delicious.

Once everything was laid out and the men had abandoned their aprons- yes that is correct. All three of them had actually donned aprons for this dinner- and took a moment or so to grab the drinks and other things from the fridge to lay out on the table before finally seating themselves.

Luckily, by then her dad had finally joined them. So, there was no need to wait for him any as the drinks were poured and everyone began to serve her some of the food.

"Hi, sweetheart." the demon man that she hadn't met yet said as he gave her a lady-ish helping of salad. "My name is Yozak."

"Oh, hi!" She said as she looked up at him. Absently noting that he had the prettiest blue eyes that she'd ever seen before. Honestly his features were very striking not only because of his eyes but his hair. It was a vivid ginger color not too unlike her own. A fact that secretly made her happy. "I was wondering when I'd get the chance to meet you. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. And the scruffy guy over there-" She pointed towards her dad, "Is my dad, Isshin Kurosaki."

Yozak glanced towards her dad for a moment and nodded his head and muttered a slight, 'Hello'. But otherwise kept his eyes focused on her.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, your highness." He said with a charming smile. Ichigo echoed the sentiment as he finally sat back down. Leaving Gunter to take her attention for a moment.

"Your majesty, what sort of drink would you like. We have some sort of sparkling juice, and wine. But we can prepare tea for you if you would prefer."

"The sparkling juice, please." She said automatically before saying quietly. "I dislike alcohol. And I can have tea some other time, if that's okay."

"Of course, it's okay." Weller said as he finished pouring himself a bit of wine to have with his dinner before then asking, "Since you dislike alcohol...should we switch out our drinks? We wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable because we drank."

"You're fine, you can drink whatever you want." She said with an easy smile. "I just can't drink liquor."

Weller seemed to understand and nodded his head and passed the wine on to Yozak while Gunter poured her some of the juice. She thanked him and looked around the table to see what her dad was doing.

Thankfully, Yozak was kind enough to make him feel included given the way that the two of them were chatting while the ginger haired man was pouring her dad a drink and passing various dishes to him so that he could get some food.

Ichigo sat quietly until everyone had food and something to drink before speaking again.

"Thank you, all of you, for your efforts this evening. Inviting us over and making dinner- the flowers too. Everything looks and smells amazing." The three demons all sat a bit straighter in their seats and looked pleased with themselves. "I don't mean to be rude. But...can you tell me how exactly I'm your Queen? Cause I'm really lost here."

"Oh, of course. What specifications do you want?"

"How did this happen? I'm assuming that it's not a lottery of some sort. Being as I'm not from your world- there is no ration or logical way that I could win something like that."

Conrad huffed a small laugh at her words but still took a second to gather his thoughts before responding. "To be honest, your right. Though I don't know what a lottery is- or how it works. Our Kings and Queens are typically chosen for us by the Great One. Our first king. In your case, however, you being chosen was a matter of strange circumstance."

Ichigo decided to take a bite of her food while he talked and was chewing what she had in her mouth slowly. The gears of her mind working overtime as she swallowed before asking for clarification.

"You see highness," Gunter said, taking over the explanation for him. "Our friend-" The lilac haired man said motioning to Conrad. "Was given a task here in the human world. That task was to deliver a soul that would become the core essence of our next King to a child specifically chosen by the Great One. However, there were some last-minute complications upon the soul's delivery."

"What complications?" Ichigo asked looking to Conrad for answers.

"The baby that would have been our King was born dead-" There was an eerie silence around the table for a second or two before the man thought to add. "He was resuscitated. It was simply too late by then for the soul to take its place inside of him. It had already found its way to you."

Ichigo was quiet for several heartbeats as she thought. The soul that they were talking about... she knew who it was. It was Julia. The one soul that she carried inside of her that she had never been able to place no matter what she did or what questions she asked.

Then she sighed, So that's what happened.

Since that was the case, then there was no way now to remove Julia from her without causing irreparable harm to her very own core. The women's spirit had entwined itself with the other souls that she carried that were also a part of her from the beginning.

"I see..." She finally said knowing already that this wouldn't be something that she could just walk or run away from. Especially when these men were some of Julia's people. "Alright, I understand. Now," She took a moment to prop her elbow on the table and settled her chin in her hand so that she was looking directly at Conrad. "Please tell me the state of affairs back in the kingdom."

Conrad took this an encouraging sign and smiled as he said. "Yes, your highness."