The following chapter contains sexual matter. Sensitive readers can skip it and it won't affect the storyline [much;)].

Aizen was absent most of the following few days, leaving Orihime alone and to her own imagination after a brief tea at breakfast or light supper in the common room between their personal rooms. They were fleeting moments, just enough time for Orihime to realize that something had indeed changed. Maybe not just with her, or at least not recently, but somewhere; either in her past or his.

Perhaps theirs.

She had tried not to think about that possibility, but it stared back at her when she looked in the mirror as the changed clothes, thoughts flitting through her mind she'd never entertained before, ones including him.

She had been confined to the monstrous interior of the complex. Aizen gave both Ulquiorra and Grimmjow orders not to let her wander outside; even by accident, as sometimes happened when she investigated a door that happened to lead outside to the courtyard and not to another corridor.

Orihime wasn't sure why, but she had heard that a surge of Hollows had found the complex of Las Noches and decided to investigate it. She hadn't seen any of them, but there were howls and cries from outside the mural side of her room at times, sometimes awakening her from her sleep. Once she had timidly peeked into the common room during a session of howling. It was empty, and soon afterward the noises from the courtyard had stopped. No one had offered her any explanation.

It was unsettling, those wilds calls from the exterior of the fortress she had gradually accepted as her new residence, but it wasn't why she had agreed – at Aizen's invitation – to pass the afternoon in his rooms.

Orihime sat at the table, comfortable in the lavender-trimmed cream kimono with the orchid embroidery, leaning over the paper before her. She had made little effort at drawing another hummingbird, as Aizen had promised to take her to the lab to show his researchers what a proper bird should look like, but she was sketching.

She smiled, something that was becoming more frequent as she set the ink to the sheet of paper. "A garden," she murmured aloud, although she was alone. "With flowers, and vegetables, and even ornamental trees."

It was a new thought to her and one she was beginning to welcome. At least, if the laboratory staff was busy making birds and plant-life, they wouldn't be creating new ways to harass and endanger her friends in the Living World.

"Perhaps he's not like that anymore," she consoled herself hopefully, the pen drawing down the paper. She hoped not. She preferred to think Aizen had grown bored with her friends.

She sketched the layout of the courtyard, a few hazy lines that focused mainly on the area Aizen had said could be designated for beautification. She giggled at the thought. Hearing him say the word seemed so unlike what she knew of him, yet somehow natural.

Actually, she knew Sousuke Aizen enjoyed beautiful things, even creating beauty. That was obvious. It was also obvious to her that he missed those opportunities he had enjoyed as a shinigami.

He still was a shinigami, she thought. "At heart," she told herself. The Hyogoku had changed him, yes, but not entirely. Not as much as events had changed Ichigo, she reminded herself.

Her thoughts halted, as did her pen.

On the paper a thicker line was etched. She frowned at it and rubbed a finger over it, as if to lessen the dark line. Ichigo had changed the most since the War. She wasn't quite sure what he had become, not entirely.

War changed everyone, she knew. She was no fighter, but Orihime did know that much about it. She leaned over the table again, a smile coming to her lips. It was a comfortable room, the low lights and quietness, the smell of water from the back facilities. She had taken a short peek there earlier – actually, as she had taken a few steps into the back room past the rice paper divider that hid Aizen's bed.

A blush flooded her cheeks as she thought of those words.

She hadn't meant to be nosey – she was just curious, yes, that was it – to see if his rooms were arranged like hers were. They were, mostly, and that was as far as she'd gotten. Of course, she had paused, standing at the divider, looking at the bed. It was a casual bed, not as fancily adorned as hers had become, comfortable in appearance, and inviting.

The last thought had sent her scuttling back to the first room.

Inviting?

But it had been.

Orihime retraced a section of lines on the paper. The muted tones of the bed must have been how Aizen had appeared to everyone at one time. Low-key, casual, unassuming, like when they'd known...

She didn't let the thought finish. She wasn't going to think about the past. At least, not one possible past.

"How are you coming along on your plans?"

Orihime startled at Aizen's voice and turned to see him as he knelt beside her. She hadn't even heard him come in the room.

"You've been here all day?" he asked, gaze on her sketch.

"Yes, Aiz—" She stopped herself, seeing faint disappointment crowd his eyes. "Sousuke."

He smiled, nodding. "I see you're working on the garden."

"Oh, yes." She turned back to the paper as he settled beside her at the table.

"Make sure you include hydrangeas. The lab is working on the necessary soil to render your favorite colors."

She smiled, not thinking too closely about his choice of words. "I like pink and purple."

"Yes," he said, and caught himself before saying more. "Yes. And wisteria."

She nodded immediately. "The blue kind?"

"If you like."

She looked to him, smiling more as his hand rested at her shoulder, a light touch that made a ripple flit through her stomach. "I do. The redder ones look sour."

"They probably are." He stood up as a knock came to the door and went there to answer it.

Orihime watched as he returned with a tea service and placed the tray to one side of the low table.

"I'm going to change." His hand rested on her head as she looked to the tea pot and cups. "Ready our tea and we'll discus the garden."

He left into the bedchamber and Orihime set about carefully pouring them tea. Her hands didn't shake anymore, something that had been a gradual progression as Aizen's company became more pleasant. A twinge of guilt surfaced over the flit in her stomach. It wasn't fair to think that people couldn't change, or that they were the same to everyone.

She knew that. On some level, she'd known it for a long time.

She shook her head at the thoughts so that they settled into a lesser used area of her mind. She looked up as Aizen returned and sat beside her, his attention on the paper.

"What's this?" He pointed to where she'd drawn round lumps of foliage.

"Hedges, if that's okay." She watched him nod, the faint smile that turned his lips.

"And this?"

Her gaze went to the squares she'd arranged on the paper. "Potted plants."

He nodded again, reaching for a tea cup. He set it beside her and then retrieved his own. "Include a bench so you can sit among the, well, shade." He chuckled. "Exactly what any tall plants would shade out, as we have no real sun, is immaterial. For privacy."

She nodded, sipping her tea. She set the cup down, watching his eyes move over the paper. "You're nice to me." She immediately gasped at the words, wishing to call them back, even reverse them, if necessary. "Oh, I mean, you're –"

"Not how you expected?" His mild surprise at her openness held no disapproval. He shook his head, moving his tea and the paper further back on the table. He turned to face her, one hand moving to her hair, fingers brushing the auburn strands to the lavender edging of her kimono, watching her eyes follow his hand. She looked back to his face. "Is that what you meant, Orihime?"

She swallowed, nodding slightly. "I think so."

"That's understandable." His fingers went beneath her chin, tilted it so he could see the low light play gray and violet through her eyes. "For you, anything."

She didn't say what he thought she would, nor move away when he bent closer, kissing her lips in a soft moment. This time she readily kissed him back, leaning into his embrace as his arms came around her. It was a short kiss, but his lips wandered to her eyes, a warm contact that made her smile as the light touch brought the flutter back to her chest.

He leaned back a few inches, watching her eyes open. She looked to each of his eyes, feeling her pulse strong in her wrists as her arms wrapped around his neck. "I'm going to take you to bed."

The words halted Orihime's thoughts, but not in the manner she thought they should. She watched his lips move as he formed the words, feeling herself nod as he lifted her into his arms.

The tan and white dressed bed was just as comfortable as it looked when Orihime found herself sitting among the folded back sheets a moment later. She watched as Aizen removed the brown kimono he wore, the faint light revealing a shinigami intact as any man, no influence of Hollowfication, but well-muscled, a calmness to his movements that belied the quickness she knew he was capable of.

Instinctively she leaned slightly away as he sat beside her on the mattress, the sheet gripped tightly in her hands, her mind swarming with contrasting thoughts as she reassessed her earlier nod. She looked to his hands as he put one on her knot of fingers and sheet, easing it down to his thigh between them.

"I haven't... haven't...been..." The words failed Orihime, but he only shook his head.

"It doesn't matter," he said, unlocking her fingers from the sheet, keeping them in his hand, his thumb rubbing over the back of her hand.

His lips went back to hers, kissing more firmly, making her put one hand to his shoulder for support, and then moved more casually over the muscles there. The skin beneath her hand was tight, warm, strong from centuries of swordplay, but Orihime was more conscious of his lips moving across hers and his hand moving slowly over her kimono, gently beneath the weight of her breast, tenderly against the side. He kissed her chin, his lips moving to her throat, soft touches along her soft shoulders until he untied her sash and slipped the kimono from her.

The air of the darkened room was warm, muting some of the fleeting exposure Orihime felt at the kimono slowly falling from her, uncertain when, or how, he managed to pull it free from her. Before she could feel conspicuous, his arms were around her, pulling her close to his chest as her arms went around his back, sliding up, feeling the muscles there move as she felt her back meet the mattress. He kissed her lips deeply, her eyes closing as she her arms loosen enough to lower around his back, feeling his weight cover her, a sensation new to her, one that sent a shiver of anticipation through her. She moved one of legs enough to accommodate him, and after a line of intense kisses over her throat, she willingly let her leg rest over his. The foreignness of the position made her suddenly look to him, breaking his kiss that had moved to her lips. He opened his eyes.

For a few seconds she didn't think beyond the moment, not of anything but his hand smoothly rounding over her bare hip and the tremor it sent through the rest of her body.

The touch galvanized her, where she was, who he was, and he sensed it. She began to speak, but he stifled any words with a kiss, this time with more force on her mouth before his lips moved to her throat in a softer trail of kisses. Orihime's breath stilled, his mouth warm against her skin, eager yet controlled, and more gentle than she expected. Those small movements made her relax beneath him, her fingers drifting across the skin of his back. For a few leisure moments he kissed her lips, feeling her warm breath on his face, before he shifted from slow and precise touches to hungrier movements that were nearly insistent. kissing from her chin to her throat until she relaxed, able only to respond with muted moans at the new feeling, a sigh replacing her hesitations.

Orihime had been rarely kissed, a few quick, opportunistic moments from the cruder boys at school which were promptly beaten up by Tatsuki, and never so thoroughly or so expertly. Her few reservations slipped away until his hips moved over her, pressing against her abdomen, and she realized the feeling of the long hard erection resting at her inner thigh. This time her reaction was milder, feeling his arms around her stifle, tighten her against him, his lips hard on hers as his weight pushed her lower into the mattress. She complied with his knee as it nudged the back of her thigh to move her leg more to one side. She was both eager and nervous as she felt his erection push softly against her, slowly rubbing at the receptive entry inside her. Somewhere she had lost her logical train of thought, her body now reacting to his.

Her eyes closed, enjoying the iron hold of his arms around her, feeling his breath hot against her ear as his face crowded close to hers, burying in her hair. For a few moments she was lost in the enpassing embrace, eager and content. With a quick movement he pushed into her, feeling her hands curl on his back, her breath catch in a short cry. He held her closer, letting her finish the stunted gasp, turning to kiss below her ear, murmuring something she didn't deciper at the moment. She clung to him, letting the sharp pain subside into a different acclimation. Her hand slid up his back to his neck, under his hair, the soft locks in her fingers gripping slightly as he felt her heartbeat echo against his chest.

He raised back to look at her, kissing her lips that trembled faintly. And then he began moving again.

At first slowly, feeling her slightly tense, until she eased back into the relaxed expectancy from earlier. He moved slowly with increasingly deeper thrusts until her leg shifted around him, her sole crossing over his calf, sliding down it to his ankle as he kissed her. His lips were harder on hers now, as if demanding the breath from her, bringing her nearly to gasping. The room seemed suddenly warm to Orihime, hot, thick with breathing as he thrust fully into her in motions that brought her to a short panting, her arms locked around him.

Orihime didn't know how long it lasted, that rocking and beckoning push and pull, her legs wrapped around his hips as a swell began deep inside her urged her own natural responses. Her cheek rested at his shoulder as she felt the innermost parts of herself clench around him, her fingers pressed into the smooth muscles of his back, feeling the skin tauten as he moved within her. She muffled a groan against his shoulder as a release of desire rushed through her, stronger than anything she'd felt before, pulling her sensations to a climax.

He moved faster as the moan breathed from her, matching her with his own, ending in a final thrust that left them both spent. He felt her head drop back to the mattress, her eyes still closed. letting himself pant as his face buried in the damp auburn tresses at her neck, feeling her pulse beat against his chest. His arms loosened around her, her legs now limply draped over his. He kissed her ear, her cheek, her neck, moving from her wet throat to finally kiss her lips. Orihime kissed him back, drained and content, almost feeling his smile on her lips in the dark. She smiled back, exhausted.

Aizen leaned back and watched her open her eyes. She looked to his face and then felt his lips on hers again, for a moment lingering. She didn't want him to move away, could feel his hold on her loosen but not surrender her. After a moment he pulled out of her, bringing a muted moan from her lips. He sat back, freeing one arm from around her to brush a few strands of hair from her cheek. His hand moved from her face to her breast, feeling her racing heartbeat below the smooth skin. She looked up at him, trying to catch her breath.

He kissed her slowly but not for long, and then lay down beside her. The air hung heavy and warm around them and he reached over her to pull the sheet across them.

Orihime was too warm for the light material over her, but she didn't protest. Nor did she protest when Aizen pulled her closer to his side, his arm slipping under her back around her waist.

"Where you belong, Orihime," he said into her ear, his breath still hot against her skin.

She nodded, eyes closing as she turned onto her side, resting her cheek at his shoulder. She didn't respond, too exhausted, with too many thought flooding her weary mind.

Maybe he was right.