The door to the throne room of Las Noches opened. Gin Ichimaru walked inside, his footsteps reverberating off of the tall walls as he approached the dias that held the throne in which Aizen sat.

"Welcome back, Gin. So, what have you discovered about these rumors flying Las Noches?" Aizen asked. Gin's usual grin widened.

"They were mostly false. Szayel Aporro is not trying to give Aaroniero a third head, Nnoitra was surprisingly not going to fight Grimmjow, and Ulquiorra is not writing another book of depressing poetry."

"And what of the last rumor I asked you to investigate?"

Gin's smile bloomed across his. "There's a reason I said, 'mostly.'"

"You know, I really should be heading back soon," Halibel said with a yawn. She and Starrk were currently sleeping on the mound of pillows that Starrk called a bed. The two were entwined in each other's arms. Starrk pulled her closer, laid his head on her chest, and closed his eyes.

"Or, and I think this is the better idea, you could stay here,"he said. She laughed.

"I have to go at some point, I promised my fraccion that I'd train with them today. They'd be heartbroken if I didn't."

"I don't want to get up, you're comfortable," he said with a content smile. She ruffled his soft, cocoa hair.

"You are just going to have to suck it up," she said as she started to get up, pushing Starrk off of her. He tugged of her arm, and she allowed him to pull her back into his embrace in their warm pillow nest.

"I don't think so. I am going to make you so late," he said, tenderly kissing her. She deepened the kiss, keeping it slow and sensual, and caressed his cheek. He shivered from her touch, goosebumps raising on his skin as her hands ghosted over his arms and torso in soothing touches. She smirked.

"You really should get some sort of blanket. I'm getting cold just by watching you shake," she said as she began to gently kiss his neck.

"You are free to come a bit closer, and warm me up any time you want," Starrk gasped. With one last kiss, Halibel laid down on Starrk.

"I'll stay for another hour, then I really will need to go. I don't want anyone to think that you and I are an item," she yawned, and nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck.

"You make it sound like I'm some kind of dirty secret," he teased.

"Can you blame me? Given the people we're around, some of them would have a field day if they found out."

"They're probably going to figure it out eventually. If we revealed it ourselves. we could have some fun with it," he said with a teasing smile.

"That's a hard 'no.'"

"Hear me out. When we go to our next meeting you could just carry me into the room bridal style, and I could just be asleep in your arms."

"No," she said as she tried to hide a smile.

"We could set it up as some sort of game for them to figure out, or we could bake some little cupcakes and put small notes in that say 'We're Together.'"

"That's another 'no.' If I recall, Lilynette said that you are a terrible cook. I don't think any of the others would be able to stomach your cooking," she said, the smile becoming more obvious.

"You've never even tried my cooking," Starrk pouted, giving her a small nudge.

"Besides, we're Arrancar, we don't need to eat regular food."

"We'll see if your still talking like that after your training session. I'll whip up something while your doing that, and you'll be drooling by the time you come back."

"I'd like to see you try," she challenged. Starrk flipped her off of him, and started walking away. "Get back here you jackass! I wasn't done using you as my pillow!" she shouted, lifting herself up from the pile and throwing one at him. He effortlessly dodged and winked at her.

"I've got to get started now if it's going to be done when you come back," he called.

"Doesn't change the fact that you're an asshole."

"Maybe, but I'm yours," he said as he walked off leaving her smiling and lightly blushing.