Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo.

Chapter 10: The Best Game Face

Like the bearers of the goddess bloodline, there is very little known about the Dark Shadow as well—mainly due to the fact that dead man tells no tales. He will kill everyone in his way, leaving no witnesses to testify of the gruesome crimes he has done.

At first, people has thought that the massacres are just doings of a group of murders—the mountain bandits or barbarians—but even they suffer from the terror. It is a known and established fact that he lurks into the night and kills without discretion. Legends states that he feeds in people's fear where he draws his powers from. There is no consistency in his ways of killings nor any particular reasoning or timing. He will suddenly appear in one place and slaughter everyone in his way and then disappear into the night.

It is the Temple who first established the identity of the culprit through a message from the goddess who descended to the earths in spirit form to answer the people's cries for salvation. It is also the time when the goddess first named a grand priestess to represent her descendants who she bestows powers like hers to bring an end to the creature of darkness and entrusts the temple with the sacred sword coated with the goddess' own blood.

According to history, it is the first grand priestess who is the first one to succeed the mission given to her by the goddess of moon and sun. She successfully found the first of the few descendants of the goddess bloodline scattered across the continents by performing the miracle of directional tracing which depletes her holy powers at its lowest levels. The first goddess bloodline to have been found willingly took on the task of vanquishing dark shadow. However, it was a fatal error as the first goddess bloodline was not recognized by the sacred sword as its owner which led to his own demise along as that of the first grand priestess who have witnessed the miserable death of the first descendant as well learning a vital and peculiar fact about dark shadow—that dark shadow does not have his own physical form but takes possession of the body of a living human being, revealing his identity via a mask of white with red stripes and a cloak as black as the night. But learning this fact also led to a vital consequence: of dark shadow learning of a fatal threat towards his existence which are the bearers of the goddess bloodline.

Through the miracle of wisdom—the ability of grand priestesses to retain memories of their predecessors at will—the second grand priestess has verified the dark shadows' existence and this facts. This led the people to pin all their hopes of the end of the dark shadow's reign of terror to the Temple and to the grand priestess. And it is what it is today.

-000-

The meeting with the bishops takes forever to finish that the grand priestess decides to just dismiss them all. It is a good thing to have the head bishop on her side or else she will have to stay cooped inside the stuffy council room with them until morning.

" You look like you have a really bad headache." Her personal guard, Abarai Renji, notes the moment he sees her outside off the council room's door where he waited. " Just how many hours did that meeting go on? It's nearly supper time." He points out towards the sun starting to set outside the window.

Rukia shakes her head at him. " This much at least is better than the last time I had to deal with the previous bishops. Your father wa—" She stops herself and guiltily glances at Renji.

The red-head knight notices her sudden discomfort and consoles her with a dry laugh. " Don't worry about it. I don't blame you. That massacre years ago with the bishops wasn't your fault." He tells her but doesn't meet her eyes. " I can't even remember my father's face. I was too young to remember it." When she remains silent, he realizes how his words does not bring comfort to her at all, it even made it worse. He cannot remember the last time they have spoken about the incident or even mentioned his father and the other bishops who were killed by dark shadow.

It is one of the Temple's darkest history. It happened only a few years after Rukia has taken over the role of grand priestess—the dark shadow attacked the temple and left only very few people of the temple alive. Renji, who happened to be visiting the temple that day with his mother to see his father—a Templar Knight Commander—was saved by Rukia after he watched both his parents slaughtered right in front of his eyes.

And he knows that she understands his feelings very well as she has undergone the same things as well. Rather than blaming the grand priestess, he takes her as his benefactor and best friend, family even, and will do anything to keep her safe and happy. That's what he believes and promises to himself.

" That guy…" He changes the topic. "…what are you planning to do with him? Are you going to keep on playing oblivious with his intentions?" He notices how the woman beside him flinches with the question. It is obvious to him how she has been avoiding the very question the moment he took her out of the small village.

Rukia looks ahead, holding back the sigh that is bubbling in her throat. Then she gives her guard a small smile. " All I want is what's best for him."

Renji sees it in her face and understands. She wears the same expression that Renji sees every time he looks into the mirror thinking about her. Then he feels a sudden pang in his heart but dare not entertain it, dismissing it as soon as it appears. " You can't put it drag this off. If you don't want to drag him into this mess, you better just make up an excuse and send him away. That would be for the best." He tells her, his voice conflicted. " Otherwise, they'll be no turning back. Nor there will be time for regrets."

To him, Rukia is his left relations—the most important person in the world for him. He does not care if his feelings maybe platonic or romantic. As long as he can protect her, not as a grand priestess, but she herself as Kuchiki Rukia. He is fine doing anything—anything at all, no matter the cost. All for her sake.

-000-

" I'm going out for a walk."

Ichigo remembers telling that to his three elders before stepping out of the room after the long conversation that they are having. He does not realize how long time has passed until he steps out of the building and sees the sun setting in the west. He is not familiar with the Temple grounds and yet he decides to venture alone as he does not think he is able to go back inside that room yet to face his father and the other two after the overwhelming revelation that they told him.

He wanders aimlessly, only meeting a scarce number of temple along the way who pays him no mind either. However, it does not take long for him to come across a familiar face.

" Oi!"

He hears a snarl behind him, prompting him to look back and find the tall red-haired knight glowering at him. The knight's name comes instantly to him mind in recognition as their first meeting did leave an impression on him. " Renji."

Suddenly being called on a first name basis by a teen he's only met three times, Abarai Renji raises a brow at him and crosses his arms across his chest. " Kurosaki Ichigo, what are you doing wondering around here? This is not your little village anymore."

The bright haired teen looks back at the knight solemnly. " Where's Rukia?"

" Don't call out her name so carelessly in here!" The red-haired knight stomps his way to close the gap between them. " She's the grand priestess! Remember that!"

" You don't have to remind me that!" Ichigo lets out in a fit. Both he and the other male equally surprised by the sudden outburst. " Honestly!" The younger male sighs in resignation and speaks in frustration. " Everyone keeping everything a secret."

" You don't know how many secrets this place has, Kurosaki." Renji gives him an empathetic look. " Sometimes, you're better off not knowing anything. You were better off staying in that village of yours and remain ignorant forever." When he says this, the red-haired male's expression is hidden in the dimness of dusk. " I know you're going through a lot, Kurosaki Ichigo so I'll give you a piece of advice. That affection that you have for her… you'd better off forgetting about it if it's the only reason why you came here because that kind of resolve won't be enough. Just go back home and don't show your face in front of her again. For her and for you as well."

Ichigo does not know what to make of his statement. The sharp words brings an unsettling feeling to the Kurosaki teen.

But before he could even think through with the conversation, Renji immediately whisks off the sudden tension by giving Ichigo a hard slap on the back. " What am I even saying? Shall I bring you back to your accommodation? I don't want you wandering around helplessly in the middle of the night still trying to find your way back. I'd rather not have the grand priestess worry about you being lost on top of all the other things she has to deal with."

The comment leaves a tick on Ichigo's forehead. " .You." He glares at the person who just made of him. " I can very well find my way back on my own. So you go hop along and busy yourself like how a Templar Knight do." He states, shooing the other male with his hand."

" Indeed. And here I was, going out of my way to help you." Renji gives him a vexing laugh and states, " I shall return to the grand priestess' side then. As where I should be like how it's been for far longer than you can even think of." Then, the knight wears a triumphant look as he receives the bright-haired male's glare at him. " What's with that look?" He goads. " I'm only telling the truth. " I shall hop along then…and do what you've told me." He turns around and lets out an amused laugh while he's at it. But when Ichigo thinks that he will finally leave, Renji stops and quickly gives him a serious glance.

Irritated with how his conversation with the Templar knight turned out, Ichigo resume on his directionless journey. He has let his mind wander off in thoughts and let his feet take him in unknown direction. The pain in his legs and feet is what brings him back to reality. He loses track of the time and looks up to the sky only to realize that the dust fully turned into night, the stars spread out like sand in the sky and the moon full and bright.

Ichigo looks around to find himself deep inside a forest clearing in front of the lake. The quietness and solidarity floods him. In a place unknown all on his own, he looks behind him—the path is dark. Is he lost? Maybe...

Across the lake, he squints his eyes and strains his vision and can see faint traces of light from torches which proves that he is still somewhere inside the Temple grounds…maybe.

" That's the Shrine of Reflection."

The bright-haired teen nearly jumps out of his skin in fright by the suddenness of the voice that breaks the once utter silence of his surroundings. It is the last thing he is expecting after all. He becomes more vigilant with his environment and finally notices the outline of a small figure just a few feet away from him.

" What are you doing in the forest this late at night, Ichigo?" Rukia asks him as she brings herself up from the tree she is leaning on, emerging from the shadows of the large tree and immersing herself in the moonlight.

Ichigo can now see her face clearly against the moonlight. Her black hair shines and her pale face glows, giving her appearance an ephemeral touch and making her look mesmerizing. He begins to wonder if the pounding of his heart is still due to the fright she gave him from earlier or because of something else…

" Ichigo?" She calls out to him due to his lack of response. This causes the male to snap out of his sudden trance and notices how the female is already standing right in front of him, looking at him as though he is dumb. " What are you even thinking about?" She asks him, crossing her arms across her chest.

The male teen finally notices how she is still wearing her priestess garment from earlier and as he does not want to answer her question, he comments about it instead. " Don't you find wearing that thing difficult? It looks heavy on you." He takes one step back to give him himself a breathing room—as he gets more conscious with the close distance that they share. He never really thought too about it before but now that his feelings come out of surface, it takes him a lot of effort not to act out of ordinary or the midget will notice and make fun of him.

If Rukia noticed him backing a bit away, he does not know as she doesn't say anything about it but instead looks down in the white ceremonial priestess robe that she is wearing. " Now that you mention it..." She tells him absent-mindedly. "…this never really bothered me before but I find wearing this thing troublesome nowadays. Maybe, it's because I haven't worn them for quite a while since I've been staying at your place."

Her words makes Ichigo tense a bit but he does not exactly know what to say to her. Both of them keeps silent for a while then Rukia shifts her gaze towards the lake reflecting the moon on its surface, a small smile on her face. " You've chosen a good time to come here. Tonight is the best view of the moon from here. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

He ignores her comment as he keeps his eyes at her, waiting for her to look back at him. When she does not meet his gaze again, he decides to speak. " They've told me everything." He starts. " About how my mom is the grand priestess before you and how you became the grand priestess after her. And about the goddess bloodline stuff as well and how it relates to dark shadow and why he killed my mom. And about the sacred sword that can defeat dark shadow."

" I see." Ichigo watches as Rukia's smile falters and she finally turns back to him, her face shadowed. " Is there anything you want to ask me about it?"

" I understand that that's how it led you to come to our house. I believe that it was fate that dad was the one who found and saved you. I'll give you that." The Kurosaki male admits logically. " When you gave me that sword, I was really happy that you gave me what I thought was the most precious thing that you possessed at that time. It's just that…" He trails off, not exactly wanting to continue nor does he know how.

" Apart from those three, Renji and the head bishop…nobody else knows that you've been chosen by the sacred sword as its wielder, Ichigo." He hears Rukia tell him with remorse in her voice. " You may have been chosen but it is a responsibility I will not force you to bear. I do not wish to make your life a mess but forcing you to this path without your consent. I never want you to go through that path." Ichigo notes the despair in her voice and realizes that she speaks from experience. " It's completely up to you to decide what path you choose. If you choose not to take up that fate, I will make it happen. But even then I will make sure that you and your sisters, as bearers of the goddess bloodline, be protected by the Temple. I'll have the head bishop send you off somewhere safe. Far away from here." After saying that, she immediately feels his fist coming into contact with her head, causing bump and resulting to her letting out a painful shriek. " What's the big idea?!" She yells at him while nursing her sore head. When she looks up to glare, she no longer finds his perpetual scowl but finds a boyish grin.

" That's more like you." He tells her and then lets out a sigh as though facing the inevitable. " Honestly, I don't care about all this bloodline crap and whatnots. They're doing my head in. But I'm not someone that will turn my back on something that only I can do. Especially that it involves protecting my family, both the present—" His words may have been intended to comfort her but in effect, it steels his resolve instead. Just seeing her is enough to give him the answer to all the questions storming in his mind. It's ridiculous if he actually thinks about it logically. So, he doesn't. "—and the future." The last word he mumbles as he hides his blush in the darkness of the night.

" Ichigo…" She calls out his name on impulse, not really having anything to say to him in particular. Maybe, she just finds comfort in saying his name.

Ichigo heaves another deep sigh. " Rukia, I…" He pauses, trying to find the words. "…I had something important to tell you. It's basically the reason why I've come here. The main reason why I've come here in the temple." He admits.

He hears her breath hitch in her throat and wears a cute flustered expression. It is obvious to him that she knows what he is about to say, given the conflicting look she wears on her face. It takes her a while to steel her resolve as she opens her lips and hurriedly says, " Ichigo, about that. As grandpr—"

" But I'll tell you about it once the whole ordeal is over." The bright haired male cuts her off and meets her amethysts eyes once more with determined amber eyes. " I'll tell you once you're free from all these responsibilities. As of now, you are still a grand priestess. And these words I'm intending to say are not meant for the grand priestess. But for Rukia."

Her eyes becomes glazed as she keeps her sight on him. He could see her pursing her lips into a thin line, fighting back something. A sob? Words? He does not know.

Even Ichigo finds himself tensed. He has not even uttered the words he wanted out loud yet he feels as though his heart is going to jump out of his chest any moment. He brings his right hand to caress her cheek but decides against it and ends up ruffling her hair, breaking the tension in the air. " So, how about you help me find my way back?"

A/N: Happy and Blessed New Year everyone!