Hey everyone! I've had to re-post this chapter as there were too many spelling errors which really bugged me. I also added some changes but only very little =p

I am really sorry for the late update. My course has been so time-consuming. It's unbelievable. Plus this chapter was very complex so I needed extra time to think it through. Thank you all for your lovely reviews: 1SuperKawaii, Vicky73, tokiko76, Nathalie Shiffer, Yuniee, pauLinian4eVer, L, RukiaCHAN1, seras3791, Omili (I hope you received my message in the end =p), Elcarim-Soberian-1222, silverqueen, su kuchiki, Darth-Taisha, sunlightangels, SunRises and isara-love.

L – I think you'll like the beginning of this chapter =p

seras3791 – I am really sorry for the late update. Hope it's worth the wait x

DRUON – Welcome officially to FF! I love your profile pic!

silverqueen – Hands off! Byakuya's mine! Lol Well, I might be okay to share...! x

sunlightangels – I wanted to reply to you but you have PMs blocked =p Thank you for both your reviews. I absolutely love harem fics so tend to write them too =p The Orihime thing will be revealed in later chapters x

This chapter goes out to all my reviewers but especially to DRUON for making me your fave author and to SunRises for your lovely messages (I hope this chapter answers most of your questions if not all =p) Love you all! x

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach just this plot

Loves' Sacrifice

Her mouth stayed open trying to catch her breath back. It gave him the opportunity to steal another deep kiss from her.

'I love you...' he whispered into her mouth.

Her core felt so sensitive to all those different sensations. She could feel his member begin to deflate to a softer state. The heat radiated from his manhood and seed which felt so wonderful to her. She could even feel the rapid pulsating energy from it. It gave her little tingles deep inside her.

'Mmm...'

She moaned at the silky touch of his hot tongue which sent shockwaves down to her core again. His huge hand cuffed her under the chin to bring her mouth closer so he could reach his tongue deeper within her. She relished in the jiucy warm feel of him dancing inside her. Then the same hand travelled quickly along her lean body and went under her Victorian blouse. It skimmed past her flat stomach and latched onto her breasts. He pushed further and sneaked into her lacy bra to squeeze her plump flesh. She broke off the kiss suddenly.

'Mmm...' she moaned again. He leaned close to her ear.

'Every part of your body now belongs to me,' he purred. He went to lick her earlobe before sucking on it.

The ache within her began to creep back especially when he moved to kiss her neck. She couldn't resist her animal instincts any longer and bit down at his long neck. He jerked slightly at the sudden action but he enjoyed it. He was proud of it; proud that his blood was satisfying his lover. It actually aroused him.

She was busy sucking out his delicious blood when she felt a little twitch in her core. Byakuya was getting hard again. He looked up to rip off her blouse and simultaneously pulling off the buttons. It made her gasp.

'Byakuya...!'

'You turn me on so much, Rukia.'

He tugged her black bra down to reveal her lovely breats. He marvelled at her treaures. They were perfect and so tempting.

'I want to make love to you all night...'

'Mmm...'

She moaned as he took one of her breasts and stuffed it into his mouth. His thick tongue swirled over her perky nipples before sucking on them. He repeated this action over and over on both of her breasts. The silky smooth flesh gave a hint of floral body wash but the smell of Rukia's arousal overpowered his senses.

Rukia was reacting to his enlarged member and was lusting after some pleasure... again. She sat up a little to tear open his clothing to reveal his impressive chest. It was perfectly toned and velvety smooth. It was just divine. Rukia could feel her mouth watering just at the sight of his naked torso. Her shivering fingers stroked along his abs and past his nipple.

Byakuya must have liked that especially because his body shuddered at the touch. He stopped eating her breasts and moaned slightly when her tiny fingers stroked down his stomach and went to cup his sac; gently massaging it. He gave into his urges and began thrusting into her again.

'Uh!' she gasped.

His strokes were smoother now that she was getting used to them. All that was left was the overwhelming pleasure. She knew that she had wanted this for a very long time.

You fill me; complete me...

'Must we return to the real world so soon?'

Byakuya was a little disappointed. He would have stayed in the Secret Garden with Rukia forever if he could help it. Just the two of them. As the dimension was designed by Byakuya, it was constantly night time to suit vampires. But on the downside, there was no sense of real time. In actual fact they had stayed in the garden for a little over three days in real time.

'I don't want to get into trouble with Aizen-sama for kidnapping his heir, do I?' Rukia explained.

She actually was a little glad to return to the real world. They spent three days in the dimension and they had been constantly making love. They only stopped in between to eat and drink. Her body was aching a lot. Byakuya had a lot of stamina that could go on all day; all night! His vast sexual appetite could keep any woman satisfied! Byakuya was too busy reciting a chant to take them out of the dimension and missed Rukia's little giggle at the wicked thought.

Rukia walked alone in the corridor to the purebloods' bed chambers. Byakuya was called away to an urgent meeting with Aizen. She was day-dreaming; re-capping on the naughty things she and Byakuya were up to the night before when she spotted a woman with white robes step out of Ulquiorra's bedroom.

'Unohana-sensei?'

Unohana Retsu was not a pureblood vampire. In fact, she was not a vampire at all. She was a powerful witch. She possessed great knowledge of spells and medicine. It was quite uncertain why she was an ally to the vampires but they all held a huge amount of respect for her powers and loyalty. The witches' blue eyes lifted up carefully.

'Rukia-san,' she said softly.

Her long black hair which was braided at the front dipped slightly as she bowed towards Rukia. She was always well-mannered and spoke softly to everyone. Rukia noticed that the witch was carrying her medical box and alarm bells started ringing in her head.

'Is there something wrong with itoko-san, Unohana-sensei?' She hurried forward.

'Ulquiorra-san has been suffering from migraines. I have prescribed him some aspirin and we'll review his condition in a few days time.'

'Migraines?'

Rukia rewound her mind back. Ulquiorra was showing the same symptoms when she was first attacked by the poison in her system. She gasped as her hand clasped over her chest.

Whoever drinks your blood is also infected...

'It's my fault...'

Unohana could see a huge look of worry wash over the petite girl. She heard that Rukia had disappeared for a few days which caused Ulquiorra a lot of stress. That could have explained his migraine episodes.

'Don't worry, Rukia-san. Ulquiorra-san will be just fine. He's asleep at the moment but I'm sure he'd want to see you the minute he wakes up.'

With the lightest of footsteps, she walked over to Ulquiorra. The room was white all over. Walls; curtains; bed sheets; wardrobes; chairs; everything was all white. It was his favourite colour.

Her little feet travelled over to his bed where he laid asleep. He looked so peaceful but she could feel his pain. She had experienced it herself and she had inflicted it on him. Small pearl drop tears fell from her eyes. Ulquiorra was slowly dying. And it was her fault. She noticed Ulquiorra flinch at the sounds of her crying. Quickly, she rubbed off her tears with her fingers before he could see them.

He gradually opened his eyes. It was blurry at first but he could make out a small image in the dim light. The migraines and medicine made him feel quite groggy. His eyes focussed a little harder to see more properly.

'Rukia?' He rushed to sit up to reach her but she placed a firm hand on his.

'Don't force yourself to move. You need your rest.'

He returned to his previous position whilst Rukia pulled her seat closer towards him. The slight watery eyes and a little pink nose did not go unnoticed. He went to take her hand in his.

'You've been crying.' She turned away to hide her eyes from him.

'N-No.'

'You're still mad with me, aren't you?' She kept her eyes off him.

'I...'

'You have every right to,' he admitted. 'What can I do for you to forgive me?'

She looked over to him to meet his emerald eyes. She was still angry with him for what he had done but she was also plagued by her guilt for poisoning him. What was she supposed to say?

'I...' She hesitated for a moment. 'I just want the truth.' Ulquiorra took a deep breath and sighed.

'I see.'

Ulquiorra's hand manoeuvred over to the left of his face and fished out his eyeball.

'Watch carefully,' he instructed.

He crushed the eyeball and it shattered into tiny glistering particles. The pieces swirled and sparkled around Rukia like stars. This was a unique technique of Ulquiorra's. It showed what Ulquiorra saw and sensed during a previous time; like a replay of the past.

Flashback begins

As the pendulum of time swung back to several years ago, Ulquiorra found himself running faster and faster. He barged through into the secret chamber. He abandoned his calm and collected demeanour. That was unusual for him but these were unusual circumstances. He even tripped over his own feet. Quickly, he picked himself up and continued running. Then he suddenly halted to a stop.

Although the sisters looked extremely alike he could instantly tell them apart. This girl's bang hung in the middle of her face and split into opposite directions. His eyes widened.

'Hisana,' he gasped.

Retsu and Hisana both looked up over to him. He watched in horror as Retsu pulled out a medical syringe from Hisana's arm. His eyes widened.

'No...' he gasped and shook his head in disbelief. 'No...!'

He rushed over to her and Retsu backed away. Hisana stood up but lost her footing. The injection was already taking an effect. Ulquiorra took her into his arms as they slumped onto the floor.

'Bring her back round! NOW!' he yelled at the witch.

'No...!' Hisana gasped. 'Ulquiorra-san, it's ok.' Her voice was soft and fragile.

'Why?' he began to cry. 'Why?' His hands gripped onto her harder; desperately trying to keep her with him.

'It was either me or Rukia. I couldn't let my beloved sister die.'

Aizen had started a new project. He wanted to harvest one vampire from each pureblood line. There were only 3 remaining members from the Cifer family. Ulquiorra wasn't going to be sacrificed as he was the only male heir and he had to carry on the blood line. So, Aizen was going to harvest either one of the sisters. Initially, it was going to be Rukia but Hisana decided to give up her own life.

'How could you abandon me?' His tears continued.

'Ulquiorra-san,' she paused to caress his white face, 'we both know it's not me that you truly love.'

'Hisana... I...' He adverted his eyes away from hers and stopped himself from agreeing with her. Neither could he deny it.

'We are engaged,' he offered instead.

'We were betrothed when we were babies. It was decided by our parents. You had no say in the matter.'

'I do love you, Hisana.'

'Out of duty, not out of choice. You were always in love with Rukia.' Her eyes began to get really heavy but she had a small bittersweet smile when she saw the guilty look on Ulquiorra's face.

'Hisana... I...'

It was true but he felt too awful to admit it. He did love Hisana but probably more in a sister kind of way. But although he wished to be with Rukia he was responsible enough to honour his engagement to Hisana.

'Please take of her for me.'

She stretched to plant a delicate kiss on Ulquiorra's lips. He returned the kiss but he knew deep down that it was only her farewell gesture.

'Take care of yourself, Ulquiorra-san,' she whispered before finally closing her eyes... '...my love...'

Flashback ends

The diamond-like dust swirled back towards Ulquiorra after the playback. It gathered up to reform back to his eye again. He sat up to place it back into his eye socket. He kept both his eyes closed to control his emotions. The flashback had stirred up all that sadness that was previously buried deep within him.

Fresh tears rolled down Rukia's face. She could hardly breathe. Her body was trembling from the shock and crying. She felt awful. Her sister died for her and she wrongly accused Ulquiorra of killing her. She was wrong. She was so wrong it made her hate herself.

'Onee-san sacrificed herself so we could be together?'

'Hai,' he whispered.

Although Hisana never said it but he knew it deep down that was what she intended. She was such a kind and loving woman even until the very end. She wanted both Rukia and Ulquiorra to be happy. That was why he suffered more than Rukia when Hisana died. It was because he knew the truth and he felt guilty. She gave up her happiness so he could be happy. If he had it his way he would have took her place so neither sister was harvested. But by the time the solution was injected into Hisana it was all too late. Every day he lived his life with sadness and emptiness as he carried this secret alone. For a long time, he hid his love for Rukia because he felt it was a betrayal towards Hisana. But over the years he and Rukia got closer and closer that he could not deny his love for her forever.

'You hurt the most when she died?' She held his hand tightly.

'She loved me so much that she wanted to set me free to be with you. She loved me so much but I...' His voice wobbled. He just couldn't withhold his tears anymore.

'I couldn't return her love. She saw right through me...' Rukia got up to embrace him. They both cried to their heart's content.

'And you hid all this from me-'

'I didn't want you know. I just wanted to-'

'To protect me. You didn't want me to be burdened with the same guilt for her sacrifice. I know now.' She hugged him harder.

'Everything you ever do is for me. I know...'

It was pitch black in the Dead Forest. This place was famous for the lack of plants and animals. The soil hardly had any nutrients or minerals for any living thing to grow or survive. The only thing that did live there were some tall, thin trees with small branches and very little leaves.

Urahara Kisuke perched a glowing lantern over a tree branch and waited patiently. It was cold and foggy but he could definately see a figure in the far distance. As it slowly made it's way over to him he could see that she was wearing a black cloak to conceal her identity. Even when she stood close to him she still kept her hood pulled over her head just in case someone else recognised her.

'Do you have what I want?'

'First, you shall give me the antidote,' Rukia demanded.

'My, my, Rukia-san, aren't you brave,' Kisuke applauded her.

'By my calculations, the poison within your itoko-san should be kicking in right now, am I correct?' Rukia snared at him.

'So I guess I'll be the one to make the decisions, don't you think?'

He spoke in a care-free manner but his words were filled with sarcasm. Rukia hated him. She wanted to slaughter him there and then. Carve out his flesh and feed it to dogs. She knew she was no match for him but it didn't even matter. It didn't even matter if she died in the process. This man was getting under her skin. But this wasn't about her anymore. Ulquiorra's life now depended on her. She knew that Aizen would kill her for what she was about to do but she didn't care. After everything that Ulquiorra had done for her she had to save him. She owed him so much. It didn't matter if the price she had to pay was her own life.

She threw the item into Kisuke's hands. It was a purple velvet pouch. Kisuke went to untie the gold string to open up the pouch. He poured out the item into his hand. He picked it up by a long gold chain and shined it in the moonlight to admire it fully. It was like a huge Victorian key and well crafted. It was slightly heavier than a normal key and much thicker. A thick layer of vintage gold was painted all over it. The top of the key was coiled into the shape of a crown with three loops depicting the gates to the Prince of Darkness. A small ruby was fixed securely in the middle of the crown and a white pearl was fixed underneath the crown. The shaft of the key was covered in long ridges. Two teeth stuck out at the end of the shaft and trapped another pearl in the middle.

A wicked grin washed over him. He had it. The gateway to Hell. The Skeleton Key he had been searching for nearly 20 years. An evil laugh erupted from him. He was unable to contain his delight.

'Finally! After all these years!' He settled down and replaced the key safely back into it's pouch.

'Good work, Rukia-chan, you are free to go.' He turned his back to leave.

'Aren't you forgetting something?' she reminded. He looked over his shoulder.

'Oh? And what would that be?' he retorted.

'The cure for the poison? You promised you would give it to me if I got you the Skeleton Key.'

'That is correct but I have now changed my mind. I will provide you with the antidote if you could help me with another matter.' Rukia's eyes widened.

'You liar! You have no intention of giving me the antidote! You just want to use me and then leave me for dead!'

'It's rather late of you to realise that now, Rukia-chan.'

'You bastard! AH!' she clutched her head in agony and kneeled onto the floor.

'Tck-Tck. Looks like the temporary cure I gave you is wearing off too. Too bad,' he spat.

'Teme...' Rukia growled before she fainted on the floor.

Kisuke smirked and walked off with his lantern. He clutched at the key through the velvet fabric.

'You have no idea what you've just given me, Rukia-chan. You won't need the antidote. All vampires will die now that this is in my possession...'

Oooh evil evil Urahara. Actually, I'm probably more evil since I've left you another cliffy! I had to split this chapter up because it had a lot going on. There's so many plots going on I'm struggling to fit them into one chapter =p But now I've finally revealed the truth about Hisana's death. I know a lot of you really didn't understand Ulquiorra's actions. I deliberately kept it hidden until now. Hope it surprised you guys =p

I'm struggling to jump from this story to Cupids. So, what I might do is focus on one story for a few chapters first and then move onto the other story. What do you think?

Once again, I am sorry for the long wait I put you all through. The heavy part of my course is now over so I should be able to update more regularly now. Hopefully! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know what you think. All reviews welcomed. Ja x