Admiration (Bleach Fanfic)

Epilog

Kurosaki Isshin lay on the top of his roof, staring at the sky. It had been another long day at the clinic, and he was pleased to say, nothing really bad had happened to his kids. Well, as far as he knew. Karin and Yuzu were starting to get to be at that problematic stage. Ichigo… he had no clue what Ichigo got up to half the time. And then there was his other child.

When he had lost his soul reaper powers, there were not many things that man had come to regret, but leaving that child to fend for himself in a world that was out to bite one down was, to say the least, hard for Isshin to stomach. He also missed the kid, and wondered how much the boy, or little punk had grown since he had left.

"My biggest regret… surprisingly it was what drew us together, huh Masaki? He was the one thing I could talk about, and you wanted to hear more and more about him," Isshin smiled.

"Shiro-chan… I don't know whether to call Ichigo your big brother, or your little brother, though at one point that was easy, no?" Isshin smirked. "Chances are, he would look out for you just like I did, whether you actually liked it or not. Sorry, but he would. That is just who he is."

"Both of you would be looking out for the two girls. But… I think that Karin and Yuzu also passed you age wise equivalently. You were what, eight to ten when I left, and they're now eleven. You'd be getting mad every time any of them would treat you like a little kid."

"But… you are one… and deserve to have a little bit of happiness in your life. I mean, your going to eventually find out what a bastard that Aizen is, and I hope it doesn't ruin your friendship that you have with that Momo-nee-chan of yours. I think she would like you to call her sister once again, as much as you would like her to acknowledge that you aren't a little kid any more."

"But… I wish that you would get to act like a child every so often. Seeing those eyes, and your smile, and you warming up to people… priceless little one. A lot of people care about you,"

"If you had met Masaki, you would have loved her. You wouldn't have admitted it… maybe not even understood it, but… Toshiro… she would have loved you like you were one of our own just like I do. Hell… maybe once Grand Fisher is destroyed, she'll go to soul society and she'll meet you and take care of you for me. She defiantly won't give you a choice in the matter either," Isshin laughed.

"Love you… figure your looking at the stars again, so… I guess I can use them to say goodnight to you," Isshin smiled. He remembered quite a bit after he had lost his powers. His courting of Masaki, their marring a few years later. The children being born. The unsaid statement that their was part of their family missing, something they couldn't let the other children know about. But that was the sad fact of life, it simply wasn't fair. And who knew how Toshiro would act if he ever saw him again.