Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo.
Chapter 8: The Blessed and the Accursed
" Don't you think this is too risky?" Isshin Kurosaki, Captain of the Central Temple's healing unit says to his fellow member inside the Council room. They are two of the few number of people that's been chosen as members of the special task force created by the Bishops. " Wouldn't it make sense to just find the other bearers of the goddess bloodline than forcibly doing this? It's not even proven that we will succeed."
" Head Bishop Yamamoto did say that it is much safer for us to secure the goddess bloodline that's already in front of us that than go to some goose chase. We don't even know if any more people bears the bloodline as that darted Dark Shadow started hunting them down one by one." Shihoin Yoruichi, Captain of the Templar Knights and also member of the task force tells him.
" But doesn't it make more sense to keep her as grand priestess then if that's the case?" Isshin insists his point.
The tanned captain massages her nose bridge. " Idiot. A grand priestess cannot get married and bear children! How can the bloodline be preserved if it ends with her?"
Isshin ponders over her words and then argues again. " But even if she does bear children, there's no guarantee that her children will also become bearers of the bloodline. It's only a fifty percent chance."
A smile of mischief appears on the face of the Captain of the Templar Knights as she stares at her friend. " Ara, Isshin." She nudges him with her elbow. " If this succeeds, you can start calling her Masaki-chan instead of the grand priestess, and claim her your wife."
" Idiot!" Isshin covers her lips with his hands before warily looking around if anybody heard it. Seeing that no one else has arrived, he lets out a relieved sigh.
The door of the council room immediately opens after that and another member enters. " Yo!" The new comer greets them and he approached the duo. " What are you two up to? Did Yoruichi-san say something unnecessary again?"
Only upon hearing the remark does Isshin notice Yoruichi still trying to free her mouth from his hand. He immediately retracts it, freeing her, and turns to his cousin. " You're looking well Kaien! I haven't seen you in a while."
" Oi!" Yoruichi interjects. " Call his Bishop Shiba when we start the meeting or you're gonna get in trouble again with the head Bishop."
" No, no. No need to be so formal. He's my senior and my older cousin to boot." Bishop Kaien tells them with a wide smile. " You too, Yoruichi-san. I'd feel embarrassed being suddenly called that."
The tanned kight's captain grins at the male five years their junior fondly. " Well, who would have thought that the wimpy boy we used to bully when we were young would become a bishop, anyway? I haven't even congratulated you on your promotion. Congrats, Kaien-boy!"
" By the way, Kaien-kun." Isshin calls out his attention. " Who's that behind you?" He points out at the young kid bobbing behind his cousin.
" Oh, her?" The bishop steps aside, allowing both captains to get a full view of a young girl with raven hair and big amethyst eyes around twelve years of age. " This is Rukia." He tells them. " She's from the orphanage that I've been teaching at for the three months. She's been chosen by a holy sword so I brought her here." The child obviously is wary of the two adults as she holds unto Kaien's white cloak tighter and hides herself behind him once more.
" Oh! Sode no Shirayuki! Yeah I've read the report." Yoruichi harps. " You nearly got in trouble for sneaking that sword out of the temple. Lucky you found its wielder otherwise you'd be tried for thief a month after your promotion. I don't even know what you're thinking."
Shiba Kaien lets out a nervous laugh. "Please don't say something so scary." He shivers unconsciously at the thought. " Anyway, I'll bring Rukia to the living quarters to get some rest then I'll be back here for the meeting."
The duo then left the Council room leaving Yoruichi and Isshin by themselves once more.
" Do you think he's planning to take that kid as a bride? She's pretty so I have nothing against it." Yoruichi suddenly comments as her eyes remain on the door the two had disappeared from. " Kaien's just come of age as well so there maybe four…five years gap between them?" She surmises.
" Idiot! He's already promised marriage with Miyako-san. He'll get mad if he hears you." Isshin mumbles. " I'd sign her up as my future daughter in law if I already had a son."
" Maybe you could ask the grand priestess to give her the miracle of immortality then make an agreement with her to wait until your future son grows up then marry him." The knight captain suggests.
" Is that even a thing?" The Captain of the Healing Units replies to his friend sincerely. "Is that possible?"
Yoruichi shrugs. " You'll never know unless you try."
There unusual conversation gets interrupted by the sudden opening of the door a second time. Bishop Urahara, the leader of the special task force, enters the council room. He looks excessively tired as his have dark circles around his eyes and an absent-minded facial expression as though he's given up life itself. Behind him follows the head bishop, Yamamoto Genryusai, as well as the rest of the bishops apart from Kaien.
The people inside the council room finds a seat around the wooden table. The head bishop looks around and finds an empty chair. " Bishop Shiba still has not returned?" He asked no one in particular.
" He's returned, sir." It is Yoruichi who offers him an answer. " He's just brought in the girl from the reports and will be returning in a while."
" I see." The head bishop strokes his long beard and once again addresses the people in the room. " This is the special task force formed to solve the current predicament that the temple is facing at the moment. We've recently discovered that the current grand priestess is a bearer of goddess bloodline. There are no records of this happening before and we are forced to choose between keeping her as a grand priestess or bearer of the bloodline." He speaks with authority in his voice. " All of you are aware that we have already made a choice. A grand priestess can be replaced by another but bearers of the bloodline are hard to come by. So as proposed and agreed to by the Bishop Council, we will relieve the grand priestess of her position. The grand priestess has also agreed to this."
" Have we found a way, sir?" Isshin asks. " As far as we know, the only time the powers of the grand priestess can be passed onto another is during their death where the holy power itself leaves the deceased body and moves into its new vessel."
Yamamoto Genryusai does not answer but turns to Urahara Kisuke who takes the hint and starts explaining. " As we all know, this is the first time we've come across this predicament so we could not find any solution in the temple archives so I've done thorough research of the issue on how to draw out the holy powers of the grand priestess forcibly without causing harm to the owner or its future vessel. I've drawn a conclusion that the transfer of power that only happens with grand priestess similarly works as like a holy sword. The only difference between them is that holy swords have external vessels which the holy powers can reside in once their previous owners pass away and until they recognize new wielders." He looks around the rooms and seeing that the majority of the group seems to follow his explanation, he carries on. " So we will have to create an artificial vessel for the grand priestess' holy power which will then be used to transfer it to somebody else—preferably the current priestesses that we have will be suitable. By theory, we'll just have to form a container strong enough to contain the holy powers of the grand priestess until it recognizes a new owner. If the container is not strong enough to hold the holy power inside it until we find a suitable vessel, I presume that the holy power will immediately be drawn to return to its original owner."
" That sounds like some crazy plan. How are we even going to make a vessel for her holy powers?" One of the bishop asks.
" Creating the container is going to be difficult as we all know that the grand priestess' holy powers are ten times stronger than all of the bishops' holy powers combined. But it will be have to the bishops to be able to create this as our holy powers are the most similar to that of the grand priestess' own. In that effect, her holy powers will at least show minimum resistance to the vessel and fusing it to the container will be much more feasible." Urahara Kisuke pauses for a moment and then continues. " But that's only the beginning and the easiest part."
" Before you carry on." Yoruichi interferes. " If it is the bishops who will do that any, why have I and Kurosaki Isshin been called here. I don't think we have any use by the way the plan seems to progress."
Isshin agrees to this statement with a nod and looks at Urahara Kisuke expectantly.
" You both will be vital for when we successfully craft the vessel for the holy powers and the grand priestess begins to move her powers there." The lead of the task force explains. " During that time, the grand priestess will be in a very vulnerable and unstable state. Shihoin Yoruichi-san, as captain of the Templar knights, you must ensure the grand priestess' safety and security and ensure that no information will be leaked on the outside as this could pose a grave threat to the plan. As the head of the healing unit, Kurosaki Isshin will provide support to the grand priestess to ensure that she in not weakened to the point that will cause her body to be in harm's way as the process of parting with her holy powers in an artificial way is akin to drawing out her own blood in massive amounts. She may even manifest physical symptoms that could be life threatening."
" And you're still going to this regardless of that possibility?!" The captain of the healing unit slams his hand on the table as he asks the question with an incredulous look on his face.
" The grand priestess has been made aware of this consequences." Yamamoto Genryusai tells him. " Behave yourself, Kurosaki Isshin!"
" Isshin-san." Urahara Kisuke addresses him suddenly. " You play a very vital role in this plan. You're the most talented in your unit. We believe you're the only one who can pull it off."
Kurosaki Isshin greets his teeth as he glares at Urahara Kisuke. " Isn't that just similar to saving her from drowning only to toss her back to the waters again repeatedly?" His knuckles turn white as he suppresses himself from throwing another fit.
Despite the obvious fatigue in Urahara Kisuke's face, he gives his friend a sympathetic look. " She has already agreed to this. It's now only a matter of you volunteering to be the one saving her from drowning or we find someone else."
Isshin masters his anger and forcibly pushing himself up from the chair he was seating on, the chair ends up being pushed to the ground in the process before he storms out of the council room, slamming the door shut behind him. He stomps his way along the hallway, not hiding his anger. The people who comes across his way voluntarily moves to the side, avoiding him like the plague.
" Ara, Kurosaki-san." A soft familiar voice intrudes his sense of hearing. He halts on his steps and whips his head towards the direction of the source to come face to face with the current grand priestess, Masaki. " You seem to be in a very bad mood. Has the meeting finished?"
" You!" He nearly shouts in frustration, not even bothering to check if somebody is around or not. He can be punished for his current actions but that is the last thing in his mind. " How can you agree to that crazy plan?! Are you stupid?!" He berates her, throwing her status out of the equation.
The grand priestess blinks at her in surprise for a moment. Then she looks left and right before meeting his glaring eyes again, taking a step forward towards him without saying a word.
Isshin takes a cautious step back from her but she quickly closes the gap, tip toes as she inches her face towards his. Isshin blushes, realizing the closeness of their proximity and warily asks her, " W-what?"
A sinister smile forms on the grand priestess' lips as she quickly brings her hand on his forehead and gives him a hard flick—leaving the area red and throbbing in pain—before stepping away from him. The action inflicted upon the head of the Healing unit, causes the man to crouch down and nurses his forehead after bellowing like a dying whale.
Masaki laughs at his reaction then pats his head to console him. " Thank you for worrying about me." She tells him. " I heard you'll be there with me during the process so I've very much assured I'll live." She distances herself from him once more to see his face better. " Ichigo." She suddenly says.
" What's that? You want some strawberries?" Isshin recovers from the pain and straightens himself up.
The grand priestess shakes her head no and corrects him. " Not the fruit. Ichigo—one who protects. It sounds noble and manly." She says as she looks up the blue sky. " I've always wanted to my son that name but I wasn't allowed because of my status as grand priestess. But now, I get to dream that again." Masaki brings her eyes down to meet his once more, a bright smile appears across her face. " Kurosaki Ichigo. It's got a nice ring to it." She concludes before turning around and walking away leaving the captain of the healing unit blushing to the roots of his hair.
It takes the bishops a full year to craft a prototype of the vessel for the grand priestess' holy powers. Many sleepless nights and failed attempts have been spent to create an orb—as tiny as a marble and as shiny and pure as a pearl—to become the vessel.
" Now, all we have to do is have the grand priestess inject her powers into this vessel every day until her power wears out. It will probably take years so while her powers is being gradually transferred, we will use that time to find a suitable receiver." Urahara Kisuke explains.
" How do we know that we found the right person then?" It is Isshin who asks the question.
" We don't." Urahara admits and elaborates. " It is the vessel itself that will determine the receiver. After the grand priestess transfers all her powers to the vessel, we'll test our luck if it will acknowledge any of the priestess or anyone with holy powers at all. Hopefully, we will find someone before the vessel breaks and the holy powers return to the grand priestess. We will be fighting against time and fate by that time."
The temple's security was increased three-folds as they moved to the second phase of their project. Any meetings with the grand priestess by the public has been cancelled with an excuse of the priestess going into seclusion to meditate.
Every single day, all day long, the grand priestess would inject her power into the orb. It seems to be a success to an extent as her powers does not seem to clash with the orb but fuses with it. Days turns to weeks and weeks turn into months. The first few months, the grand priestess seems to be tolerating the process well, however the longer the time passes she begins to feel her power decreasing every single day. Her body also seems to be wasting away, sometimes she would faint midway.
" We should stop this!" Isshin panics the first time she faints and does not wake up after a week, holding Urahara by the collar. " This is going to kill her."
" I've already warned you of this possibility. This is a crucial time for the success of this mission. It's only proving that we are getting closer to our goal." The bishop holds the captain of the healing unit's hands grabbing his collar and breaking away from his grip. " You should focus on giving her supplemental healing rather than harassing me, Isshin-san. It can take her a step away from death's door."
Hearing the bishop's words, Isshin grits his teeth and backs away then returns to providing supplemental holy power to the passed out grand priestess.
She recovers after a week and begins the process again without wasting time.
A/N: Hi guys! Thank you for reading Dark Shadows! Its taking me a lot longer now to update the story as I am back to work already. So it might actually take me longer to do updates for this story but I'll try my very best not to leave this unfinished. Many thanks again for reading Dark Shadows! God speed and take care everyone!