Hell was not the fire and brimstone kind of place described in myth. It was much worse. Every soul had its own personal brand of hell. The gluttonous starved. The slothful worked. And those who had murdered were debowled over and over again by a hoard of angry crows. And Aizen sat up in his tower watching it all with a malicious glint in his eyes.

His original plan had been a decidedly good one. Destroy the corrupt politics and soul society. Take over. Restore balance by remaking it with his designs creating a lasting peace. But that had all blown up in his face as one by one his espasdas had been slaughtered by the shinigami. His army gone he stood against Ichigo Kurosaki and his infuriating friends acting like they could take him. However, Ichigo's inner hollow proved a more worthy match then he had anticipated. With his body beaten and his power diminished he'd unleashed his bankai hoping to create a decoy to escape, but Ichigo had not been fooled and Tousen had used himself as a human shield for the final blow. After that, Gin, not much better off than himself, had gotten them both out. It was humiliating. Tousen had been an expendable yet regrettable loss, but it had really been Aizen's pride that had died that day.

Now the plan had changed. Aizen was no longer going to create peace. This time he wanted pain and destruction and he didn't care how he got it. The end of the war had pissed him off severely. Soul Society was going to die…slowly. Then he would take his rightful place as King and any who did not swear loyalty to him would be sent here to suffer. And Ichigo Kurosaki? Well Aizen had something very special planned for him.

"How long do we have to be here?" came an annoyed voice behind him.

"Patience Gin. We need to weave the web before we can catch anything in it," Aizen told him turning to look at Gin, who was lounging on the oversized couch. The tower in which the Lord of Hell had given him and Gin to live in was round; hence the room they were standing in was round. It held a couch and a large table over which was spread several maps.

"Well this web is taking a long time to be woven. We've already attacked once, and it almost worked," Gin said standing up and going to stand by Aizen. Aizen turned to look back out over the field of suffering souls. He never truly trusted anyone, especially those close to him, so Gin did not know his whole plan

"That was merely a diversion. I needed to give them something to occupy them so they wouldn't notice the disturbances," Aizen said.

"You mean the ones in the real world. What are you going to do with all those pure souls?" Gin asked and his foxy smile came to his lips.

"There is a balance Gin, a precarious one that must be maintained. That's what Soul Society was created to do. Maintain it. Good souls are brought to Soul Society and when they die there they are reincarnated. Wicked souls come here and when they have done their sentence they are reincarnated. You see the pattern. But If I remove enough from the scale what happens?" Aizen asked.

"It tips."

There was nothing quite like waking up in a boy's arms. Mary felt warm and for the first time in a long time, content. Ichigo was snoring which is what had probably woken her up, but it still kind of cute and she decided to let him continue sleeping a bit more before she attempted to get out of his grasp.

Despite the fact that Ichigo had given her lots of kisses and even fallen asleep next to her, they hadn't done anything intimate. She was grateful he hadn't pushed for more. She mentally was not equipped yet to deal with anything that major just yet. A boyfriend? Yes she could handle a boyfriend and maybe with time they could do the more fun stuff, but right now this was all she wanted. Just someone to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay and give her heart-racing make-out sessions that blew her mind.

There was just one thing that was not going to fit perfectly in her lovey dovey fantasy. Ikakku.

"Is the coast clear?" Ichigo asked her several hours later. He was still shirtless since she didn't have a shirt big enough to lend him. Mary knew if anyone saw Ichigo leaving her room in the early morning with no shirt there was going to be hell to pay.

"Yeah," Mary said after peaking out the door to check the hall. Ichigo slipped out the door and leaned down to give her a farewell peak on the lips. "I'll see you later," he said before jogging off down the corridor with a wave a brilliant smile on his face. Mary leaned back against the door jab to watch him until he was out of sight.

She sighed and turned to head down to the dinning hall and ran right into Yumichika. He smirked at her and raised an eyebrow with his arms crossed.

"I…You…But…Where the fuck did you come from!?" Mary finally spat out. Yumichika jabbed a finger over his shoulder. "Um my room's right down there and I was coming to see if you needed me to rub some balm into your back," he explained. "But instead I find you smacking lips with Ichigo Kurosaki." He tutted and gave her a mock disapproving look.

"Don't tell Ikakku," Mary begged. Yumichika gave her a mischievous grin and she paled.

"I won't…"

"Oh thank…" Mary started, but Yumichika held up a finger to cut her off.

"I won't tell if you let me give you a make over," he said and held out his hand to shake. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine!" She grabbed the hand and shook with more force then was necessary.

"Excellent. Oh when I am done Ichigo is going to be all over you. I'm going to do your hair since its longer now and we'll have to go shopping for some new clothes. OH! And we can do your nails!" Yumichika was practically bouncing up and down. Mary sighed and ran her hands over her face. Why her?

Ichigo made it back to the tenth division unnoticed and into his room where he changed into a new uniform. He hadn't planned last night of course. He had been caught up in the moment. First the intense spar and then seeing her scars as he rubbed in the balm, he felt so guilty. Here was a person that was his friend, who had been strong even though she had died recently and young, who had never asked for help, determined, fearless, loyal, loving. And he had caused this pain that was never going to heal.

He'd done the only thing that seemed natural. He'd hugged her, wanting to give her comfort, to let her know he was sorry. He had meant what he had said. Mary was pretty, even with the scars. And it had steamrolled from there. Her scent, her warmth, the feel of her hair against his cheek, all of it made him want more.

But did he have the right to take more? He suddenly doubted himself as he sat down on his futon. They were both hurt, and weren't they just doing what came instinctively when you were hurt. You sought out comfort. He didn't want last night to just be a rebound from his break up with Orihime.

And Mary…what did she think about all this? She seemed happy enough when he'd woken up. But he wondered if she had liked him before hand or if she'd just welcomed the immediate reassurance.

All of this was buzzing through his head like a hoard of angry bees when there was a knock on the door and Matsumoto stuck her head in. "Good morning Ichigo," she said with a cheerful wave.

"Oh Good morning. Don't you normally sleep in until noon?" he asked surprised to see her up and dressed.

"No. I had breakfast with Kira this morning and you don't miss Kira's breakfasts. He does everything homemade," she said with obvious relish.

"Oh." Ichigo wondered if she was going to say anything more, and when she didn't he asked. "Was there anything you wanted?"

"Well I was going to ask where you were all last night?" Matsumoto said to him. "We missed you while we were doing shots. I heard you had an awesome fight with Mary, but afterwards no one seemed to know where you had wandered off too."

Of course, Ichigo thought. The gossip queen was snooping. He was sure if he told her the truth her hair would curl so much it would look like a fro.

He shrugged. "Oh after the spar, I had dinner and then I was beat so…I just kind of hung out on the roof and relaxed."

Matsumoto gave him a level look. She sauntered into the room and sat right next to him and leaned in in a way that pressed her boobs together. "Ichigo you are a terrible liar," she cooed and gave him a flirtatious wink. "Why won't you tell me the truth?"

Ichigo blanched and leaned away from her. Of course his eyes were on her cleavage and he thrust out his hands to cover them from view. No no no...Matsumoto wasn't even his age. Damn cougar woman. "Because it's none of your business Matsumoto." Where was Toshiro when you needed him?

She gave a cat's-got-the-cream smile. "Was Ichigo stealing v-cards last night? I saw you sneak in this morning with no shirt."

"Stealing wha?" Seriously this woman was bat-shit crazy.

"V-cards, popping cherries, deflowering. Take your pick."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "NO I WAS NOT SO PLEASE GO AWAY!" he yelled at her as his face flushed both from the accusation and the implication of taking away someone's virginity. Not to mention the fresh memory of Mary's lips and lithe figure pressed against him…crap now his head was full of dirty thoughts of a certain young female shinigami modeling her rather extensive collection of black lacy undergarments.

"Who you thinking about Ichigo? Your face is red," Matsumoto teased and poked him in the cheek. It took all his willpower not to turn his head and try to bite that finger.

"If I tell you will you go away," he said thinking this would be the only way to get rid of Matsumoto.

"YES!" Matsumoto gave a girlish squeal and plunked herself right in front of Ichigo eagerly.

He tilted his face down so his hair hid his eyes. "It was Mary." He winced at the gasp and then the loud "I knew it! Oh Ichigo you sly dog. So what did you do? Take her on a moonlit walk. Gaze romantically in each other eyes. Read her poetry by candle light over wine."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. How did she go from sex to moonlit walks? He pictured himself trying to read poetry to Mary and had the distinct image of her rolling around on the floor laughing at him. "We just hung out in her room and I stayed the night. Just like when we went to the dance. Nothing happened." He was not telling her they kissed.

Matsumoto got up and sauntered off to the door. "Sure you didn't Ichigo," she said as she opened the door and turned to wink at him. "But don't worry. It's our little secret okay?"

Ichigo frowned and rubbed his eyes. He was sure that by mid-morning everyone in soul society would have heard about their little secret.