Ichigo stares at the man who is both a God and a monster. The only thing she is aware of now is her daughter in her arms. He looks at her expectantly. He knows she knows exactly what his intent his. Her mouth is dry and her arms are heavy with her daughter. Both the warrior and the God know exactly what her choice is going to be. It is her only choice.

"Only...a queen." She repeats his words back to him, softly as though speaking them to loud would let the whole world know the intent. He simply nods.

"Yes, only a queen." She side glances over to her father and sees the pain in his eyes and quickly looks away. Does he know? She doesn't want him to know. Ichigo knows her father would never allow her to sacrifice herself in such a way for him. However, is it really a sacrifice if she marries Aizen? She has already has a child there is little more indignity that he could put on her. Would there even be a change?

Her lips part in thought, as the countless scenarios go through her mind. What would Aizen do...well she would have to find out.

"The queen says to let them live." She tells him and she just sees the subtlest of smirks on the God's face.

"Oh, really and who might this great queen be who thinks to give me orders?" Another test, she muses, but what does she have to lose or gain from this? Her father's and ally's life, of course.

"You know damn well." She is in no mood for games. She wants this over with as soon as possible.

"Oh, I do?" He pauses, "Perhaps, I am forgetting could you refresh my memory?" Ichigo narrows her eyes into a glare at him, as she gently rocks Miyuki. She is thankful in a way that Miyuki is still far too young to understand what is going on and what a manipulative monster 'daddy' really is.

"Well, Ichigo?" He says, interrupting her thoughts. The orange haired girl grits her teeth and speaks.

"I accept your proposal." She doesn't dare even glance at her father now, though she can hear his gasp. She wonders if Aizen is using his spiritual pressure to keep him and Shinji from calling out for her to stop. Then Aizen blinks, as though in confusion.

"Oh, Ichigo what proposal?" Ichigo's tolerance level is dropping by the second.

"The marriage proposal dammit!" She hisses, which stirs Miyuki. Then Aizen smiles gently at her.

"Ah, that one. I remember now...but didn't you say you would rather die than marry me?" His smile fades into a frown. In another life Aizen probably would have been a famous actor by the way he can fake and change his emotions in an instant. "I am not one to ask a lady twice and harass her into it. I like to think of myself far too much of a gentlemen for that kind of behavior."

Ichigo grimaces and wonders what Aizen's game is now. Why make such an offer to her.

"What the hell do you want me to do?" She growls at him, now Miyuki begins to squirm and Ichigo forces herself to calm down and gently pat her daughter's back.

"Well...Ichigo this is the twenty-first century of the human world." Ichigo's eyes widened and throat dries at the realization. So he wanted to humiliate her this bad. She forces her mouth shut and looks down as she thinks this over. Her stomach feeling with lead. Then again what does she have to think over. If she doesn't do this her father and Shinji are as good as dead. Aizen is silent, not pressuring, or discouraging her from this decision. She closes her amber eyes and swallows her last ounce of dignity that she didn't even know she had left. She looks up at the monster and says the words...

"Lord Aizen...will you marry me?" She hears an intake of gasps from the prisoners before they begin to speak.

"Ichigo, no! I don't care if I get killed, just don't marry him!" Her father shouts.

"I rather be dead than a bastard like him gets his way!" Shinji joins the chorus. The orange haired girl lowers her gaze again.

"It won't make a difference either way I belong to him. I've already had his child...there is nothing left for him to take from me." Ichigo immediately regrets the last part she said because she knows very well that Aizen will probably find another way to make her suffer if she feels safe from him. Somehow, someway. Her father and Shinji don't protest anymore. She doubts it is because they have given up on convincing her not too; more likely that Aizen has taken away their ability to speak again.

"Why Ichigo-" Aizen's sickeningly innocent voice interrupts her thoughts again. "I am so flattered. Why of course I say yes."

So it is done. Ichigo is lead back up the stairs with one hand with Aizen and the other clutching her daughter. She takes one last look to her father. The look that passes between them says it all and more. When she is out of the prisoner room, Ichigo doesn't dare make contact with Aizen's gaze as thoughts of her future go swirling in her mind. But nothing has really changed. Finally, when they go back to their room Aizen places a kiss on her lips (Something he rarely does outside of bed) and a kiss on Miyuki's forehead.

"You have made me the happiest man in the world Ichigo." He tells her and Ichigo's amber eyes stare blankly at him. She doesn't doubt he is telling the truth. He had just made his former greatest enemy humiliate herself in front of him in one of the most intimate ways. He takes his leave, and now she is alone with her daughter and shattered pride. With a blank mind she takes care of her daughter and soon she lays her down for a nap and Ichigo finds herself falling asleep in the rocking chair.

Her sleep is the restless type and it is a wonder she doesn't wake up as soon as she could. However, it is an outside force that awakens her. She hears a noise a cry of a child and the gentle voice of Aizen. She opens her eyes slightly to see Aizen with a squirming Miyuki in his arms. She must have woken up while her mother was asleep. Usually Ichigo would immediately get up to take the baby away from her father, but for some reason she does nothing. She just sits there, as though still asleep. She doesn't know why she does this. Later she wonders if it was another one of Aizen using his powers, likely what he did to her father and Shinji, but another part, deep down, knows she is more curious to see what would happen.

Aizen might not know she is awake and she wants to see how he interacts with his daughter while she is not there to observe. With only moonlight to illuminate them she watches as Aizen takes the babe into his arms and begins to gently shush her and rock her in his arms.

The motion doesn't immediately settle the baby, but Aizen continues anyway undaunted. Slowly, the squirming stops, little by little, and Miyuki gets less and less fussier in her father's arms. She can see the baby slowly growing limp by what little she can make out and finally all the noises stop. She sees the subtle rise and fall of her baby daughter's chest before Aizen slowly lowers her back down to the crib.

Ichigo still doesn't know if Aizen realizes her awaken state. She slowly starts to rise from the rocking chair without a word and gently enough to not cause the chair to squeak. Aizen turns around and sees her. He stops in his tracks and in the moonlight she can make out the startled expression on his face. For once Ichigo actually questions whether this is an act, or fake. She usually thinks all emotions by Aizen are fake, but a part of her wonders know why she is questioning it. The God could have easily used his powers to awaken her or something.

This a thought to her that comes to mind that immediately worries her. What if deep down she wants Aizen to be sincere in his actions to Miyuki? What if she wants this monster to at least have a soft spot to this innocent creature of his own creation that also holds her heart. Has she really become so naïve? Perhaps it was just lack of sleep.

"Ichigo-" Aizen whispers, "I didn't realize you were awake. I was trying not to let Miyuki awake you since you have just had such a tiring day. His words seem to confirm her suspicions, but Aizen is an excellent actor. He can easily make you believe what he wanted. He probably let her be so paranoid for a purpose...probably just to fuck with her.

She says nothing just gives a nod and walks out the room with her unwanted lover following her. She hears Aizen gently shut the nursery door. Ichigo turns to him and asks.

"What is going to happen to my father and Shinji now?"

"Well...they are still scheduled for execution so-"

"What!" Ichigo cries too loudly as her hearts drops to her stomach. Aizen presses a finger over her lips as to tell her to be quiet for the baby's sake, but Ichigo is in no mood for such a thing. The infuriated woman just continues, "But I agreed to marry you. You said only a queen can save them"

"What difference does that make? You will be my wife, but you said nothing about being queen." Ichigo growls at him.

"What do you want me to do? Stop playing these damn games you damn snake!" At this comparison Aizen mouth turns a bit up giving away his amusement to her frustration and Ichigo is now shaking from anger as her fists ball up.

"But doesn't marrying make me queen?" She asks.

"It can." He answers her, "But I thought you wouldn't want to get involved with life in ruling." Now Ichigo becomes more confused and concerned than angry.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"Well...being queen means you will have to be by my side." He tells her flatly. "Your throne will be by mine and you will have a certain degree of say in the affairs of the three worlds." Now the blood drains out of Ichigo's face.

"You mean...the entire world will...see me. The arrancars, humans, and shinigami...by your side." Aizen just nods with a neutral expression on his serene face. Aizen had so far down her a great favor by letting her be mostly unseen by the people so she wouldn't be widely known as his lover, just hidden away. But being his queen would mean she would be open to the full gaze of the public and be seen as a traitor because no one would know her circumstances.

"Please..Aizen...don't." She begs, even though she hates to grovel in front of him.

"Don't what, Ichigo?" He asks as though he is innocent to her inward turmoil.

"Don't make me go out in public." She pleads again. Aizen looks into her amber eyes and repeats.

"Only queen can save them." For once, Aizen is being blunt. It is either accept him fully and present herself in public and be disgraced, or see her own father and one of her former mentors killed. It takes all the power and virtue within herself not to hate this man. She doesn't want to give him that kind of power over her. She knows that hating someone only gives them power over you and she can't afford to give Aizen anymore power over her than he already has. She gives a deep sigh.

"Let me be your queen." She tells him straightforward, asking him. She didn't want another dance where she forced her to ask. Aizen smiles and wraps his arms around her and pulls her to him. She closes her eyes.

What kind of future does she have now?

Time passes, as it does and leaves nothing untouched in its wake, especially Ichigo. She is thankful that the wedding will not be a grand affair with countless snickering arrancars looking at her. It will be small, very small. Aizen once asked her if she wanted her father in attendance. She didn't even let him finish his sentence before she blurted out no.

"But Ichigo who will give you away?" He asks.

"I can give myself away, thank you very much." She responds curtly. The God just smiles and sips his tea.

"Such an independent woman." Time passes more, but not as long as she would like. Aizen is far too practical to wait long for a wedding to be plan, only the necessities are given. She tries to pass the time with Miyuki, playing and feeding her. She knows she won't have time to do this soon. Once she is queen her time with her daughter will be limited. She once brings this up to Aizen in a fool's attempt to get him to change his mind. But he simply assures her that her hours won't be as long as his and she'll still have plenty of time to be a mother to her daughter.

"I am glad I have a woman who is more concerned for our child and not the throne." He remarks. Ichigo glared at him and doubts he holds the same sentiments himself. However, there is a truth to what he is saying. While she was detached during her pregnancy, since giving birth her daughter has become the center of her world. Her main goal in life now is to try to protect for whatever dark purpose her father has for her.

Ichigo regrets greatly that she still has not the slightest clue to what Aizen's plans for Miyuki maybe. It reminds her of a storybook she had been given to read to Miyuki when she was over. One day while flipping through it out of boredom she had come across the tale of Rumpelstiltskin and how the girl had promised him her first born child in exchange for him spinning straw into gold. The only way to save her child was for her to guess his name.

In a way she could relate to the fairy tale creature...almost. But Ichigo would argue that her task was far more difficult. For Aizen's plans were far more complicated than a mere name. In a way Aizen had an almost addiction to making his plans as complicated as possible much to her annoyance along with his other enemies. Once you uncovered one layer there was may more beneath, like trying to find the queen in an ant hill. You never knew which part was truly the key parts and which were red hearings. And of course there was always the possibility he would just change up his plans at the end to add to her endless frustration and countless others.

"Rumpelstiltskin what is your plan?" She whispers out to the open air to which there is of course no answer.

Then again is there really any true answer when it comes to Aizen?

Finally, the day comes. She is separated from her daughter by servants early in the morning. Once absent from her daughter, Ichigo feels that something inside is missing. It dawns on her that since Miyuki's birth that she has never been truly separated from her little girl, unless you count sleep. She had always been with Miyuki up tell now and now her absence was surely felt by Ichigo.

She is lead to the dressing room and ignores the members of Harribel's fraccion that are guarding her. She mostly just stares blankly ahead as she hears in the background the girls getting into another stupid fight.

"You did that on purpose Sung-Sung!"

She hears the arrancar female with the single horn on her head exclaimed. What was her name again? Ichigo wonders...Apacci, or something like that. It doesn't really matter now anyway. The two girls were soon in a shouting match...or more like the Apacci was in a shouting much. Sung-Sung did mostly sarcastic jabs at her. Finally the dark skinned girl that Ichigo had inwardly dubbed the amazon joined in and Ichigo was wondering if they would start a brawl right here in the dressing room. Not like she cared, it might hold off the wedding for a while.

However, there shouting matches were starting to annoy Ichigo and she became this close to snapping at the trio, when suddenly a tall figure entered the room; Harribel. The dark skinned blonde managed to silence her fraccion with merely a glance, not a hostile or menacing glance, just a plain glance. This immediately shut the girls up.

"I need to talk to Ichigo." She tells the girls and this immediately catches the orange haired woman's attention. What could the female Espada want to talk to her about? Then she adds "Alone." She sees the fraccion look at each other and Appaci takes a backwards glance at her and then they all leave without saying a word.

Without a word she turns forward and looks up at the female Espada expectantly. Though inwardly she is nervous for reasons she herself does not quite understand. This woman has no reason (that she knows of) to attack or be a personal enemy of her's. But to be fair out of all the Espada (with the exception of Ulquiorra) she is the most enigmatic of all of them. She says little and acts little of her own self interest. Ichigo knows only two things about her; that she respects Aizen's power and that she cares about her own fraccion. Which is more than she can say about any other Espada in regardless to their fraccion.

A moment of silence passes between the two women. Finally Harribel speaks,

"You do realize that you are the only person with the power to do anything good in the world." This catches her attention.

"That is a rather naïve statement coming from an arrancar." She tells her. Harribel simply shakes her head.

"You are the naïve woman. Aizen-sama is not marrying you for the sake of having a woman on his arm. He is marrying you for a purpose."

"What is that purpose?" She asks her, wondering if this conversation will truly make a difference.

"To honestly say, I don't know the exact details of Aizen-Sama's plans for you, but that goes for anyone. But Aizen would not marry you out of a simple act of vanity. I know for a face that Aizen-Sama has said you would have power as a queen." Ichigo looks up at her and nods, but adds

"The only power he is giving me is to save my father and Shinji." Harribel just shakes her head.

"No, you could have done that without making you queen." Ichigo looks down, averting eye contact with the female arrancar.

"You are right." She finally concedes with a deep breath. "He wouldn't."

"I stated before I don't know Aizen-Sama's plan for you, but I do know one thing. He will give you some type of power. He wants to see what you will do with it."

"I take it then there is something you want me to do with it."

"To do good." Harribel tells her simply, "The human world and Soul Society will soon become the desolate moral and terror field land that Hueco Mundo. This will happen if Aizen's will goes unchecked and unchallenged. But you know have the power...the power to make lives better for all of us; human, arrancar, and shinigami." Ichigo stares up at her with an unbelieving look on her face.

"Your faith in me is misplaced. Aizen would never give me enough power to undermine him."

"You can...by playing his game." At this Ichigo raises a brow.

"His game?" She questions, and gives a hollow laugh, "You haven't been living my life for the last year. I have never beaten any test he has ever given me." She lowers her head, "I learned long ago I can never win against him."

"Aizen-Sama would not have picked you as his queen if he didn't think you were not a challenge to him." The orange haired girl is silence for a moment before she asks,

"What do you mean?"

"Aizen-Sama is bored." She says bluntly, "His mind is use to running complex plots and schemes and now that he has everything he can possibly want he has grown bored. He wants a challenge and he sees that in you."

At this, Ichigo stares up at the female arrancar for the longest time. Everything she says...makes perfect sense. Aizen had likely bee scheming since the day he was born and now that he had won the ultimate prize what more was there to do?

"So...I am his...challenge." She manages to get out, "But I have no desire to be his toy for entertainment." She shakes her head and at this Harribel leans closer to her.

"In the end, sacrifice is the only way to gain anything meaningful in this world or any others. Aizen-Sama has made sacrifices to get to where he is."

"Oh really?" Ichigo says with a fair amount of disbelief.

"He has sacrificed his heart." Ichigo's amber eyes' slightly widen at this. Aizen sacrificing his heart. She had never given thought to where Aizen ever had moments of compassion, or empathy at least once...as a child. She has never imagined Aizen in his youth, or having a childhood. Had she just imagined he sprang from the earth with his mind made up already to conquer the world?

"So..." Ichigo finally speaks, "I will go to the altar in more ways than one." She was going to be that sacrifice for the world, even though she had no idea how she could possibly manage that. Harribel says nothing more now that Ichigo has has gotten the message.

She doesn't pay attention to the dress she is wearing as she is brought to the temple. For a moment, Ichigo now regrets not being given away since it means she will have to walk down the aisle by herself. Aizen is at the end of the altar, awaiting her. She will give him for not looking as smug as he probably feels. He looks like a happy groom who is honestly marrying the woman he loves. Finally, she gets up to him and the vows are now being said. The vows are shorter than a normal wedding and in a way she is glad for that because it makes the torment shorter. Finally she says it.

"I do."

Now she is bound to God.