Hey everyone! Gomen, gomen, for the late update again. This was the hardest chapter I had to write so far. I re-wrote it like 5 times! It made me tear my hair out! That's why I took so long to post it.

Many thanks to Nathalie Schiffer, IcePrincess95, Beijing Girl, Ghost Ally, 1superkawaii, Yuniee, akiremichan, Vicky73, RukiaCHAN1 and AlaeaMori for reviewing my previous chapter! Love you all! Special thanks goes to Vicky73 and RukiaCHAN1 for making me your fave author! I'm honoured! I am also grateful for those who added this story to their fave list and alert list and read it. Hope you enjoy it. I can never really tell. Let me know if you like it or not x

I forgot to mention in the last chapter, the music Byakuya was playing is called, The Promise; The Heart Asks for Pleasure First by Michael Nyman. Give it a listen. It's lovely. It was the main soundtrack to the film, The Piano where I got a little inspiration from. To be honest, I loved picturing Byakuya playing the piano! lol

Thanks to Yuniee, Vicky73, 1Superkawaii and Chocolate Thunder for reviewing my other story, Mark your territory and thanks to everyone else who supported it. I had some chapters in my head planned but judging by the little number of reviews I decided to just leave it. Perhaps I'll just concentrate on A Hunger For You first lol. If people want an update do tell me x

Anyways, on with the chapter. Hope it doesn't disappoint.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach just this plot

The course of true love never did run smooth – William Shakespeare

Temporary Peace

'No, no, you can't go in there. No one's really allowed there. I think it's some sort of weapon's storage room or something.'

'Is that so...?' Ichigo eyed the room with more curiosity.

As if on cue, the doors to the secret chamber slowly creaked open. A tall white figure gracefully emerged from the room. Ichigo's eyes narrowed at the sight of Ulquiorra; hating him more and more by the second.

'Did I not tell you I'll kill you if you come near my Rukia again?' Ulquiorra threatened as he made his way over to them.

'How would you like to die?'

Ulquiorra smirked as he sensed Ichigo's energy flare up with anger covering the hallway. He still couldn't control his spiritual energy.

Pathetic human

It took all of Ichigo's will power to stop himself from throwing his fists at Ulquiorra. No, there were more important things at hand and he was not allowed to ruin things. He would have to ignore Ulquiorra... for now.

'Rukia,' he stretched out his arm and pulled her into his body to hug her, 'where have you been all day? I've missed you, my dear.' Ichigo twisted his eyebrows and clutched his fists.

'I...Itoko-san...'

Rukia trailed off. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. She was too busy filling herself with guilt after her kiss with Byakuya. Not only did she kiss Byakuya but she actually wanted him. It was like she betrayed Ulquiorra.

'Rukia, did you miss me?' he asked as he stroked the back of her head.

'Ha...Hai' she whispered.

She was a little confused as Ulquiorra never displayed this much affection towards her in front of others. He pulled her slightly away from him to plant a little kiss on her forehead.

'Don't worry. I just have this meeting with some trash and I'll be with you soon after, my dear.'

Ichigo's energy roared with jealousy. The black energy erupted from him and startled them. He knew what Ulquiorra was trying to do. This display was only used to warn him off. But still, Ichigo was finding it hard to control his feelings.

Teme...

Uncomfortable. It was incredibly uncomfortable for Ichigo. He was in the Assembly Hall with four pureblood vampires. Their evil aura surrounded him almost choking him. He couldn't move. The massive energy was pushing his shoulders down and he couldn't do anything about it. Worst of all he had no weapon. He was forced to leave his zanpakutou at the entrance for insurance reasons. They didn't want Ichigo to cause any problems.

'Please, this is not how we treat our guests,' Aizen calmly stated as he observed what was going on from his throne.

'Ah,' Ichigo gasped quietly from relief as all the energy lifted away from him.

He gave a scowl to the row of three purebloods. It was undeniable that him and the vam[ires hated each other but Ichigo forced himself to hold back. There were a lot at stake here. Kisuke gave him strict orders.

'It is disappointing that I could not meet with Uraharu Kisuke face to face,' Aizen looked over to Yoruichi with a sly smile, 'I would have liked to hear what he had to say.' She smiled back matching his evil grin.

'Yes, it would have been quite a show,' she smirked at their inside joke.

It was a wonder for a soul reaper to be able to remain alive in the vampire castle. It was unheard of. Aizen returned his gaze towards Ichigo again.

'My master sends his sincere apologies. Unfortunately, he has taken ill and therefore unable to attend. I am here to take his place,' Ichigo offered.

'Oh, are you now?' Grimmjow's tone was covered with sarcasm. 'You replace him?' He began to circle Ichigo like a prey, like his next meal.

'How do you size up to the famous Urahara Kisuke? The man who slaughtered hundreds, thousands of our brothers and sisters?'

Grimmjow shot out his arm and tugged at Ichigo's robes. He looked down at Ichigo with upmost spite. He was fuming. When did vampires suddenly have to be civilised towards soul reapers? Weren't they supposed to tear them into shreds at the first sight? The other purebloods all thought the sameand so didn't stop Grimmjow.

'Shinigami,' he hissed the soul reaper's formal title, 'do you want to know how why I kept this fucking scar?'

Ichigo's eyes went to where Grimmjow was pointing at. He wore a white uniform with a black underneath fabric just like all male purebloods. He wore a jacket that left his toned chest bare for everyone to see. Right in the center of his chest was a thick scar that reached all the way down to his abdomen.

'You shits ambushed my family. I left this scar to remind me to kill every last one of you bitches!'

'I'm not here to fight,' Ichigo said calmly totally unaffected by Grimmjow's threat.

'What makes you think we would want to speak to the likes of you?' he spat.

'We have a solution to your thirst for blood.'

'A what?'

'A solution.'

Grimmjow immediately let go of Ichigo. He was baffled. No, to be more accurate, he was shocked. Thousands of years were spent by the purebloods to find a way to get rid of their only weakness. The moment they ran low on their blood supply they became weak, unable to focus and lastly started to go insane. Blood controlled them. They were slaves to it. But despite their efforts, no one could ever find a solution.

'Hmm? A cure did you say?'

Aizen perked up suddenly paid more interest in the soul reaper. In fact, Ichigo got everyone's attention. Ichigo shrugged his robes and brushed past Grimmjow after giving him a glare.

'Not a cure, but we can manage it. These are what we call "Sub-Blood".'

'Impossible!' Grimmjow shouted. 'Do you seriously think we'll believe y-'

Ichigo held up a small glass bottle. Inside were 100 red tablets. He dangled the bottle in front of a shocked Grimmjow.

'If you don't believe it you can try it yourself.' Grimmjow fixed his eyes on the tablets. Totally speechless.

'This medication can control your hunger and also give you the energy you need to sustain you for hours.'

Ichigo smirked at Grimmjow's expression. His piercing blue eyes were wide with surprise. Everyone's eyes were wide with shock even the King of vampires was won over. And they had every right to be excited. This was their key to power. With that they would not have any weaknesses. But surely this was too good to be true. Was there a catch?

'And you would just hand over this medication to us?' Ulquiorra asked. He already guessed that this would come with strings attached.

'Of course, we are not going to just give you the formula to this medicine for nothing in return.'

'So what is it that you desire? Name your price,' Aizen asked.

'My master will meet with you later to discuss the conditions.' Ichigo threw the bottle of tablets towards Aizen who caught it swiftly with one hand. Ichigo turned around with his back towards them all.

'For now, there will be peace between vampires and humans. Neither will attack each other so you can try these out yourselves. Should you be interested to take things further you know where we are.'

With that Ichigo strolled out of the Assembly Hall. An air of arrogance; an air of pride followed with him.

And you will come to us. You will be our toys from now on...

A wicked grin washed over Ichigo's face. As he disappeared out of the room everyone else was left confused. Was this really a remedy or was it some sort of trap? Aizen looked at the tablets with deep interest.

'Aizen-sama, you're not seriously going to grant him a ceasefire? Peace among vampires and humans? That's impossible!' Yoruichi advised.

'Temporarily, perhaps...' Aizen didn't seem too certain himself.

'Can there really be solution...?' asked Grimmjow. He was still dumbstruck with the medical breakthrough.

'It is some sort of power play,' Ulquiorra analyzed.

'By not giving us the formula means that we depend entirely on them supplying us with the medication,' he continued. 'They wish to control us with this.'

'It is a great invention, you have to admit.' Aizen smiled at the medicine. He couldn't take his eyes of it.

'Aizen-sama, we may have to take some tests and start some trials before any purebloods take them. We can't rule out if it's just a trap,' Ulquiorra advised.

Ulquioora wasn't tempted. Temptation always clouded all logic. He found it rather suspicious that the humans just requested for no more war so suddenly.

Can there be something more dark hiding behind all this?

'Very well, Ulquiorra, I entrust you with this experiment...'

Clitter-clatter. Clitter-clatter. Rukia marched up and down, up and down the hallway. She was nervous for Ichigo. She was nervous as to what was happening.

Can humans and vampires seriously live together peacefully? How? Is it possible? Why is it taking so long? Is Ichigo safe in there? They won't kill him, right? What if-

'Oi! MIDGET!' Ichigo screamed.

Rukia jumped up. She was so lost in her thoughts she did not notice Ichigo's presence in the slightest.

'Ichigo? You're still alive?' He chuckled and ruffled her hair into a mess.

'Nice to know you still care, midget.'

'Baka! Stop calling me a midget!' she huffed. 'You're the one who's too tall. You ten foot freak!'

He chuckled some more. He loved how she always exaggerated on things. He loved how he could wind her up so easily. It was rather cute to see her annoyed little face.

'I have missed your company, Rukia.' Ichigo flashed a warm smile for her.

A faint blush tainted over the top of Rukia's cheeks. It was a relief that Ichigo didn't hate her. God, it was a relief that he was even talking to her. And to think that he actually missed her... Wow. She smiled at him. She was over the moon. But then her smile began to fade.

'Ichigo... Gomen, I...' she hesitated. 'I didn't tell you I was a vampire. I didn't mean-'

'Don't apologize, Rukia.' Rukia gasped.

'You saved me. Twice. If it weren't for you...'

Pause. He blushed a little and looked away. He couldn't bear to look at her face. He was shy. No, he felt bad possibly even a little guilty. He took a deep breath to ease his nerves.

'If it weren't for you I probably wouldn't be here today...' He closed his eyes for a moment to focus his thoughts before looking at her right into her eyes.

'Gomen.'

'Baka!' She threw a light-hearted punch into his stomach. Ichigo winced from the shock not from the pain.

'You didn't do anything wrong, Ichigo. You don't have to feel bad. I would have reacted the way you did if I was in your position.' He smiled.

'So you forgive me, yeah?' he asked.

'Of course. We're friends, right?,;

'Yeah, friends...' He was a little disappointed as the sound of that word.

'Rukia, no matter what happens; we'll always be friends, right?'

'Mmm,' she nodded quickly. 'Can humans and vampires really be friends?'

'Perhaps,' he straightened up. 'I hope the medication will help to bring peace.'

'Medication?' She was confused again. What had medicine got to do with their war?

'Oh,' he brought out another bottle of tablets from his robes, 'this is a new invention of Soul Society. It's used to alleviate vampires' thirst for blood.'

'Really? Is that possible.'

She eyed the bottle with reserved anticipation. No medicine could work. There were many failed attempts to find a cure.

'Here,' he took her hand and dumped the bottle into her palm, 'try it.'

'Huh?' she gasped.

'Don't tell anyone you've got the medicine though. I've only given your king one bottle. If he wants more we want him to come to us.'

She picked up the bottle and stared at the red tablets. There must been about 100 tablets. They actually looked like normal tablets despite the colour. She shook the bottle.

'I can really have these?' There was silence. She looked up to see him look at her blankly. 'Ichigo? Did you hear me?'

'Sure. Yeah...' He cleared his throat. 'Er... Take about 5 a day for it to work it's magic. Hopefully we can restore peace on Earth.'

'Ichi...' she noticed his awkward smile, 'go...'

'Do not overstay your welcome, shinigami,' Ulquiorra threatened.

Don't tell anyone you've got the medicine though

Rukia had a few seconds to tuck the bottle under her sleeve out of sight as her fiancé and Renji made their way over to them. She spotted an identical bottle with the same looking tablets in Ulquiorra's hand.

I hope it really works...

'Renji.'

'Hai, Ulquiorra-sama,' Renji said as bowed towards him.

'Be sure that our guest doesn't get lost on his way to the exit.'

'Hai. Kurosaki-san, please?' Renji extended his arm out to point Ichigo in the right direction.

'Well, I guess I'll see you around, midget. Ja ne?'

'Ah.' Rukia nodded and watched as Ichigo walked off with Renji leading the way to depart the castle.

Peace on Earth huh?

The pouring hot water rained over Rukia's naked body. Hot air steamed around the bathroom creating a fog-like scene. Even the mirror was covered in a blurry glaze. She had spent almost 30 minutes in the shower lost in her thoughts. Weeks. It had been nearly three weeks since she started taking the Sub-Blood tablets but her thirst was still there. And then there was-

'Ah!'

A fierce pain shot up and stabbed at her head. It began to spread all over her brain. A loud ringing noise echoed in her mind making her run out of the shower. Her hands clutched at her hair and she shook her head side to side trying to get rid of the pain. Then, all of a sudden, the pain slowly disappeared.

What's wrong with me?

A loud muffled sound came from the bathroom. Ulquiorra, being the gentleman, went to knock on the door first. He turned to the side and rested his ear over the bathroom door.

'Rukia, is everything alright?'

Nothing. No sound came from her so he knocked and called her name again. Once more, there was no response from her but he could hear the running of water so she was definitely still in there. Panic took over him so he decided to open the door.

Smokey hot air came rushing out of the bathroom seeking an escape into the bedroom. Once the mist was cleared he could clearly see Rukia leaning over the sink. His eyes widened. A little blush came over him; something that never really happened.

She was completely naked. Her creamy skin was exposed to him fully. Her smooth back glittered with droplets of water. She had a slender body like he had always imagined night after night. His eyes wandered over to her cute little bum. It looked so plump; so soft; tempting. It was asking to be touched...

Rukia was facing away from him and the mirror was covered in steam so he could not see the other half of her body. But it was seductive enough. His heart was in his mouth pumping loud and fast. His body suddenly became hot and stiff.

Kami, she's pure perfection...

It wasn't like this was the first time she saw a woman naked. Despite his cold and stoic manner he had a fair amount of women throwing themselves at him. The amount of female attention he received was not short from the amount Byakuya received. Many women had stripped of their clothing trying to seduce him but he wasn't interested. Ulquiorra only had eyes for one woman...

Rukia coughed gently. She could hardly feel any more pain but she was still a little numb from it. It all started a little over two weeks ago. She began to get headaches. She got them more and more often and then the pain grew. But today was definitely the most painful. Something was wrong. She was sure of it.

Perhaps her body was rejecting to the medicine? I'll have to ask-

She gasped as she felt someone pull her into an embrace from behind. She panicked. She was so scared her body froze; unable to move away.

'Rukia,' Ulquiorra purred.

That voice...

Her body relaxed. She even breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar voice. But then the panic returned. She was NAKED. She was naked in front of him! Her face fumed tomato red.

'I...Itoko-san...'

She made a little attempt to move. It was more like a little wiggle as to ask him to let go of her.

'Rukia,' he purred again.

Ulquiorra didn't want to let go. In fact, he hugged her tighter around the waist. His hot breath sent tingles through her body as he stroked his lips up and down her throat. She shook a little from his ministrations.

'Ito-'

Her voice ripped away from her as soon as he placed long kisses over her neck. He could smell her wonderful essence. It was delicious. His mouth watered.

Rukia, I want to taste you. I must...

He flipped out his hot tongue and ran it along the sensitive flesh. She closed her eyes. How could she deny her cousin, no, her fiancé?

Slowly; carefully he sank his fangs into her. Dull pain hit her and she bent her head backwards slightly. It made it easier for him to chew on her more. She whimpered but it didn't stop Ulquiorra. To be honest, he was actually turned on by it and sucked on her blood more hungrily.

Despite this was her future husband, she still felt uncomfortable in his arms; being touched by him; letting him drink from her. She couldn't find any pleasure from it. It seemed rather... wrong.

Why?

And to think that she didn't feel awkward when Byakuya fed on her; touched her; kissed her...

Why?

That's not love...

... that's just gratitude

Ulquiorra felt wonderful. His mind was so high he felt like soaring into the sky. He pushed his body into hers wanting to show her how much he wanted her. Her blood fuelled his desire like none other. Many nights had he spent alone wishing he was with her like he was now. He dreamt of making her his woman completely.

Rukia...

His embrace on her loosened a bit and his hand travelled upwards to cup her naked breast. Rukia gasped and tried to shake away from him.

'Itoko-san!'

'It's ok, Rukia,' he purred, 'we're engaged.' He went to touch the soft flesh again but Rukia pushed away from him.

'Iie... I mean...' she blushed and covered her breasts with her arms and faced away from. 'I mean...'

'You're not ready yet.'

'Gomen. I...'

'It's ok, my dear.' He stroked her silky hair and whispered in her ear, 'we can wait until our wedding day. It won't be long.'

He placed a small kiss on her head and walked out. Of course, he was disappointed. He wanted her so bad he would have devoured her right on the bathroom floor. But he didn't want to rush her. He wanted her to be ready for their first time and enjoy it to the fullest. There was no way he'd want to force her. They were soon to be married. They had plenty of time. She will be his eventually.

And that's it for this chapter. I'm still continuing with the mystery feel to this story. I know I seem to be doing that a lot. Hope you can bear with it. It will gradually become clearer =)

Sub-blood is my invention. I wanted to use the blood tablets in VK but in the end added my own twist. More of that in later chapters.

So what do you think of this chapter? I know there weren't any ByaRuki moments but I wanted Rukia to analyse her feelings for both Ulquiorra and Byakuya.

All reviews welcomed. Ja x