Sorry that some of the past chaps have taken so long to get up. I've been sick for the past week or so. Plus, my dad collapsed and wasn't feeling so great either, so I had to sit with him for a while.

We're both fine now. But whatever virus got us was just terrible. I'm still coughing a bit, but I'm also drinking a lot of warm tea with honey since I didn't like losing my voice.

The moment that Ichigo was gently put down, Conrad automatically stepped back away from her despite every instinct in him screaming to remain rooted in place. But he knew that he needed to move so that Gisela could help her.

Next to him Gwendal stood unmoving, almost even unbreathing as he observed everything happening with a calculating eye. And when he finally spoke, his tone was as soft as a whisper.

"I have questions."

Conrad had questions too. He simply wasn't very sure that he was going to like the answers that he was going to receive. He slowly curled his fingers into fists at his sides and applied so much pressure that he could feel blood beginning to well up from his palms even as Gisela suddenly asked, "She comes from Earth, right?"

Conrad snapped out of his dark thoughts just enough to reply, "Yes. She does."

"I see. That could explain things a bit."

"Explain what?" Gwendal demanded. His dark blue eyes fixating on Ichigo's pale face almost accusingly despite the fact that she was barely clinging to life at the moment.

"Her current state. I've never seen anything like it before." Gisela said in a confused tone before taking a second to elaborate. "Her organs are a mess! Some of them are barely held together at all. And yet, despite that she's obviously been trying to heal herself somehow. But without magic..."

"Without magic?" Gwendal prompted though even Conrad had a pretty good idea what Gisela meant by those words.

"She has no magic within her that I can sense at all. It's as if she's a regular human being! Yet she's attempting to use something akin to magic- some outside force that's more than her body can handle- to heal it."

Conrad stood frozen, his heart beating franticly in his chest in fear at the implications of what he had just heard. Ichigo...was a normal human being? Yet she was to rule them? As fragile as she was.

He didn't understand what the Great One could have been thinking but he had never been one to back down from a challenge of any kind.

Gwendal made an angry tsking sound and then growled out, "I hope that she dies then." After that, he left the room, making sure to slam the door behind him.

And as upset as Conrad was by his brother's words, even he knew that a mere human Queen would never be accepted by the masses in their kingdom.

Still...her humanity meant nothing to him. He was nothing but a loyal soldier to his ruler regardless of the circumstances. He had already sworn to protect his Queen no matter what, and he meant it. Every. Last. word.

Ichigo didn't know what was going on.

One second, she was in the middle of a warzone strewn with corpses, and blood soaking the ground so much that the mud it created turned crimson and the next... She was standing in what looked like a medieval throne room somewhere.

Confused about what was going on she turned herself this way and that, taking in various details. Stone floors and walls, large domed windows- there was a red carpet in the middle of the room that went straight up a couple of steps to an actual throne. And behind the throne were wall hangings.

Tapestries. Munti colored, yet so carefully created and beautifully detailed.

Honestly if she weren't sure that she was losing her mind right then she might have gone a little bit ga-ga over seeing such pretty historical items. Her fingers certainly itched to touch a couple of them.

"You're here."

She suddenly heard a masculine voice say from somewhere behind her and quickly turned herself around to face whoever was there.

The second that her eyes locked on- him, he smiled at her. He was a tall young man in his twenties with breathtaking sapphire blue colored eyes and light blond hair. He also felt like a spirit to her. So, maybe she wasn't going crazy after all.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Ichigo." He said as he moved closer to her.

Ichigo held herself very still because she wasn't sure what to expect from a spirit powerful enough to drag her into his own created territory not unlike her inner world.

"You're much younger than I expected you to be," He said with a small frown as he got into her personal space a bit so that he could see her face better. "But I also wasn't expecting you to be a warrior either. Still... I'm very pleased that you are." He said a bit breathlessly before reaching up to touch her.

Ichigo didn't want him touching her in any capacity. So, she spoke, sharply in an effort to dissuade him. "Who are you?" She had already decided that she already didn't like him much.

"Me? Oh, right. Sorry about that. I'm the one that everyone refers to as the Great One. But my name is, Shinou. And you, Ichigo are the twenty seventh heir to my throne." He let out a giddy sounding laugh as he brought both of his hands up to his face and covered his mouth for a second. "I'm just...so very thrilled!"

"And why is that?" She asked, still wary of him.

She was doing her best right then not to begin panicking due to the fact that she could feel something...wrong with him. It took her a moment to place it since she'd never really come across something like it before aside from when she'd dealt with Hollows. But it almost felt as if something cold and entirely too malicious for words was trying to take possession of him.

And he was fighting it.

Sort of.

"Because-" He waved his hands at her. "I've never met another Great One before. Much less one from Earth. I never even knew that humans could have beings of great power among them. It never occurred to me that it was even possible since most of them can't use magic. And yet, here you are. A wonderful blend of Demon Tribe, human and everything else. This is an unprecedented event. We should celebrate!" He rambled at her.

Ichigo frowned, not really understanding much of what he was saying. Though she understood the 'beings of power' bit. She'd heard that enough during her young life to understand that much very well.

"I don't feel like celebrating." She said as she began to muster up what bit of reitasu she had so that she could try driving whatever was trying to take possession of him away. But she wasn't very sure if it would work due to how weak her strength really was at the moment.

It was so weak that even when she tried to change herself into a Soul Reaper all she could manage was to simply separate her soul from her body. She lacked the strength at the moment to change into her normal form complete with her uniform and such.

No- all she could manage was a separation of body and spirit and that stupid ass white yakuta that made her feel as if she were going to fall ill and never recover.

She hated that damned yakuta and the utter weakness and vulnerability that it signified.

Reaching out, she held her hand out to him. Even if she wasn't able to completely drive the darkness away from him, maybe she could buy him enough time to pass on completely before it took him over. If she could at least manage that, then his soul and sanity would both be spared.

"Give me your hand." She said and then waited for him to take the offered limb.

"What?"

"Give me your hand, Shinou." She said again, this time wiggling her fingers at him in an effort to encourage him to just reach out and grab hold. Come on, take this little leap of faith. I can save you; I know it.

He tilted his head to the side a bit and regarded her for a moment before finally reaching out and doing as she bid him. His hand sliding into her own tentatively as she closed her fingers around it. No sooner than that was done, she sent her reitsu into him. Eliciting a loud shriek of pain from whatever was attached to him as something black and wispy began to rise and writhe away from his body.

Shinou, to his credit seemed to finally understand what she was attempting to do and simply let her pull him closer to herself allowing her to hug him tightly against her chest as she surrounded them both with her reitsu and the feelings of safety and security that it created.

Gisela had been working on healing Ichigo for nearly an hour now when she started to glow. It was subtle at first. And he noticed it easily enough and at first mistook it for the woman's power.

But then the glow got brighter until whatever it had caused Gisela to retreat away from Ichigo just to prevent herself from being physically pushed away by it. The glow got brighter, and brighter after a few seconds and Ichigo began to shiver violently on the bed that she had been resting on. Her arms suddenly coming up off of the bed as if to wrap around something and hold it to her.

"W-What's going on?" Gisela asked as she grabbed hold of Conrad's jacket and sort of twisted the cuff of his sleeve in her grasp a bit anxiously.

Conrad couldn't help but take a small step forward towards Ichigo. His concern for her wellbeing and curiosity about what was going on were warring within him. Tearing him between doing something and running away.

Then just when things couldn't seem to get any stranger, another person began to appear on the bed. Their body both lying on top of Ichigo, and yet not.

It was safe to say that by this point both Conrad and Gisela were terribly confused. After all, how could there be another person there? Aside from the two of them and Ichigo herself, there was no one else even present in the room!

It took more than a few moments for the person's features to become completely recognizable to them. Soft blond hair, elegant and beautiful features- male.

"By the grace of the Great One." Conrad breathed as the identity of the person resting in Ichigo's arms became clear to him.

Gisela merely gasped in shock and wonder as tears began to well up in her eyes. Her ability to speak escaping her for the moment but even she was well aware that an event like this was unprecedented among even their people.

It was one thing to be able to see the Great One. Or even to hear his voice.

Such things were known to be among the greatest of blessings among the Demon Tribe. But never had anyone in all the history of their people ever managed to embrace the first and greatest Demon King. The very man who had saved them all from the Originators.

Such a thing was positively unheard of.

This has to be a miracle of some kind. Conrad thought as the glow finally began to fade from Ichigo's body and her arms slowly began to fall back to the bed when her hands were caught in the Great One's own as he sat up so that he wasn't lying on top of her anymore.

The spirit smiled down at Ichigo's unconscious form and lifted her hands up to his lips and turned her hands over and then pressed a kiss to each of her knuckles in a weirdly tender gesture that was only reserved for those who were parents of small children. Or lovers.

"Thank you, sweet child." He said gently.

Yet Conrad and Gisela still heard his voice easily.

Their eyes went wide in awe as he then turned to them and addressed Gisela first. "I have healed her injuries. So, her life is no longer in danger. However, she does need to rest more. Ten weeks. No more. No less." He smiled brightly at her as soon as he was done speaking.

"Y-Yes sir!" Gisela squeaked out, already wondering how she was going to manage that. She had so many questions right then that it felt as if her head was going to explode from them all!

"Conrart Weller, what happened today was not your fault. So do not dwell on it. Instead devote yourself to protecting Ichigo from the many, many threats that she may face in the future. Not simply as her soldier and personal guard but as her champion as well."

"Yes, I will do that." Conrad said in a grimly determined tone. He would not fail his Queen again.

He was already thinking of the many ways that he could make today up to her when it slowly dawned on him what the Great One had just said, and his mind did a comical backpedal. Wait?! Did the Great One just designate me as the Queen's champion? Seriously.

As far as he knew there hadn't been a champion for one of the Demon Kings/Queen's in well over a thousand years. Though he was sure that there was no rule or law against it.

Though he was sure that Gwendal's brain would boil over with rage.

"Good." The Great One said with a curt nod, his expression pleased as he took in that funny gob smacked expression of Weller's. This is going to be fun to watch. He thought. "I will take my leave for now then. But I will return to check on things when I can." He paused for a second and a wicked smirk curved his lips as he then tacked on. "Oh, and leave Gwendal's punishment for wishing Ichigo dead up to me."

Conrad couldn't do anything but nod his head in understanding right along with Gisela.

The Great One vanished after that, leaving the two demons standing there staring at the space that he had occupied mere moments before. The two wondering if the Great One had actually just spoken to them.

Gwendal was standing in the middle of the hallway, feeling like an ass. A human. A human would be their new Queen. On one hand he was in a state of total disbelief and on the other...well, he knew that not all humans were bad. In fact, many of the human women he had ever come into contact with were very kind and sweet natured.

So sweet and kind natured that he couldn't fathom anyone ever hating them for any reason. Much less the race that they had been born to.

Besides, regardless of the ever-rising tensions between the Demon Tribe and the humans- he knew that he had been wrong to say what he did. Especially when the Great One himself had approved of the woman.

"I should apologize." He said aloud to himself.

However, he wasn't really sure just who he was supposed to apologize to. The woman had been a hairsbreadth from dying. And the only ones who had heard him were Conrart and Gisela. Was he supposed to apologize to them?

"You went too far." He heard someone say.

Lifting his head, he looked around for a second and finally managed to pinpoint the location of the speaker about twenty feet away, half hidden in shadows. His hand going to his sword, he easily slipped into a fighting stance as he demanded, "Who are you?"

To say that the face of the person that came out of the shadows shocked him would be a gross understatement. The moment that he realized just who he was seeing standing in front of him, he dropped to his knees and bowed his head. "Great One," He said in reverence. "You honor me with your presence, but I am unworthy of it."

The spirit snorted. "I know."

Gwendal kept his head down and continued to stare at the floor as he wondered what the Great One's spirit was doing coming to him like this. But as soon as he began to wonder, he decided that he didn't really want to know what had brought the spirit here since it probably had something to do with what he had said earlier.

"You are here to punish me?" Gwendal asked cautiously.

"Perhaps," The Great One said in a sly tone as he moved to stand before Gwendal. "Or perhaps I'm simply here to let you know who it is that you wished dead."

Reaching out, the spirit took hold of the younger man's chin in his hand and tilted his head so that Gwendal was looking up at him and then leaned down and whispered in his ear.

The moment that Gisela was finished washing and re dressing Ichigo in a clean nightgown so that she could rest more comfortably, Conrad picked his Queen up in his arms and carried her out of the room so that he could move her to the room that had been chosen for her years ago.

Unlike his mother, the former Demon Queen's room- Ichigo's wasn't located in the family wing of the castle, but much closer to Gwendal's and his own rooms to ensure that one or even the both of them would be close enough to her to prevent any assassination attempts or kidnappings. Among other things.

The room chosen for Ichigo was a nice big and spacious one that had been empty for nearly a hundred years. And while it wasn't quite as big as his mother's own room. It was cozy enough that Conrad felt that it would suit her tastes just fine since Ichigo not only liked her privacy but smaller spaces.

Besides, the room had everything that she could ever want in it for comfort's sake.

There was a massive canopy bed that had been hand carved by one of the kingdom's finest craftsmen. Lovely carpets and wall hangings in rich blues and purples. A large fireplace to help warm the room when it got colder outside. A bookcase that stood tall enough to reach the ceiling full of all kinds of books ranging from romance to their world's history and science. Couches and chairs that had been strategically placed around the fireplace so that she could curl up and read for hours and hours if she wished.

There was even a desk to work at if she didn't want to leave the room. As well as a table with hand carved and velvet covered wingback chairs for her to sit in when she was eating or hosting others for tea or other reasons. There was a nice, spacious bathroom full of luxurious amenities. All of them the absolute best that they could offer their Queen. Why even the closet to house her clothing was nice and big enough for her to get lost in if she wasn't careful.

As far as rooms went Conrad would almost say that it was the best room in the castle. Why, even his mother was a tad bit jealous of it. So, he was fairly sure that it would appeal to Ichigo in some way or another.

And if it didn't then there was nothing wrong with her taking some time to redecorate it. He would even help if she needed someone to hold up fabrics and other things for her. He didn't mind any.

Finally reaching the door to Ichigo's room, he was startled to see Gwendal standing there waiting on him. Conrad's steps faltered a bit as anger surged in him. Yet even though he knew that his older brother's words earlier had been out of line and uncalled for...the Great One had told him to leave Gwendal's punishment up to him.

Obviously, his brother had already been punished somehow by the spirit otherwise he wouldn't be standing there waiting on Conrad to appear with Ichigo.

The second that his brother spotted him, he straightened his spine and then stepped towards them. Conrad's first instinct was to clutch Ichigo tightly to his chest and warn his brother that he would not let him harm their Queen. But the second that Gwendal was close enough, he reached out a hand and placed it against Ichigo's forehead as if to check her for a fever as he asked softly, "Is she okay now?"

"Her life is no longer in any danger. But she needs a lot of rest. Ten weeks, from what I understand." He replied as he watched his brother curiously.

"I see. Ten weeks huh... I think we can manage that without incident." Gwendal said thoughtfully as he let his hand slowly drop away from Ichigo's forehead. "I've already built a fire to help make the room a bit more comfortable for her. The bedsheets are turned down and ready for her too."

"Thank you." Conrad said feeling a bit relieved that Gwendal was acting a bit warmer towards Ichigo now. Even if his sudden shift in behavior had to do with the Great One.

"Don't mention it." Gwendal said gruffly. "I'm going to go on patrol now. I'll be back by later to check up on her." He said as he walked away, waving at Conrad from over one of his shoulders.

Conrad merely smiled and moved towards the door so that he could finish his task.