I don't own the manga and anime Bleach.

Standing in the rain I wonder what I could have done to change this. What could have made things different? Why did this happen?

I could feel the water on my face and could no longer tell weather it was the rain or my tears.

"I'm sorry Ichigo." I whispered into the night, as I let my memories replay in my mind.

I was just waking after I collapsed in the dangai, my son had clearly taken off to fight Aizen. My mind couldn't seem to understand what my son thought he could manage alone but respected his choice…even if it was idiotic.

"Well well look who finally decided to turn up." A cheery voice called to me.

"Kisuke." I greeted quietly.

"Where's Ichigo?" He asked, his voice momentarily returning to the serious tone from his days as a captain.

I hung my head slightly before I answered. "I don't know. I can't feel his spiritual pressure."

He nodded looking around for any sign that the orange haired teenager had been through the area, his search only served to confirm that he wasn't there. I looked over to the mountains and saw a large explosion of black energy, a quick glance to my old friend and we were both speeding towards the site of the explosion.

It took us only ten minutes to reach the sight and it took all that time for the black energy to dissipate, revealing my son and Aizen, both standing, though clearly they were both ready to fall down and never get up again.

Ichigo's bankai was held firmly in his right hand, the long chain winding around his arm all the way to his shoulder. Numerous gashes covered his form, though his eyes still held the resolve to fight despite the fact that he was in such a weakened state.

Aizen was in far worse shape, his sword was no more than a shattered pile of metal at his feet, his body burnt and bleeding.

Kisuke and I watched, barely daring to breathe, as Aizen slowly fell to the ground were he lay motionless. Letting out breaths of relief we turned our attention to Ichigo, who had a small smile on his face as he allowed his bankai to return to it's shikai state.

In a single flash-step we were at his side, proud smiles on our faces.

"You did it Ichigo!" Kisuke yelled happily as I gave my son a hug, and for the first time in years he let me, he laughed at our antics.

"I guess I did." He said quietly, his voice weak with his exhaustion, his smile staying on his face as he closed his eyes, his breathing slowing until…he stopt breathing all together.

I automatically caught him as he fell. His sword broke into two before shattering into tiny fragments of the great clever, the cloth hilt crumbled into dust, leaving only the cloth that acted as the giant of a blades sheath, curled around the right arm of the one who once wielded the blade.

"I'm sorry Isshin." Kisuke said quietly, gently laying his hand on my shoulder as I cried, a scream of pain and denial ripping itself from my throat.

I still had that pure white cloth that wrapped so protectively around my sons arm, we had to remove it and it parted reluctantly from Ichigo's arm.

I sighed quietly as I turned and walked back into my home and straight to my office to the box I kept that last reminder of my son in, opening the box I saw not the white ribbon like cloth but a pure white envelope.

I slowly opened the envelope and read the neat lettering of my son.

Hey dad,

I know that if your reading this then I'm gone for good. You're probably wondering why the cloth I used as a sheath for Zangetsu is now this letter, huh? Well that's pretty easy to explain., Zangetsu's sheath is a part of my zanpakuto and therefore a part of me, so I can control and manipulate it however I want. At first I could only do it on a subconscious level to sheath my sword, but Zangetsu taught me how to use it for other things as well. Some of it came from my Bankai, I think. But that's not really why I wrote this. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for all those times I yelled at you. Sorry that I went after that ghost the day mom died and I'm sorry for never telling you that you were a good father to me. Even though you would sneak up on me when I was asleep, in fact I should probably thank you for that, it's helped me out a lot with Aojiroihansha, that's what I call my hollow because he's a pale reflection of me.

I hope that when you read this Aizen's dead.

Thanks for everything dad, don't forget me 'kay?

-Ichigo Kurosaki

P.S. You remember what you told me at mom's grave the day I fought Grand Fisher? I probably died smiling and I don't know if you even count as being alive, so I'd say that the others are not in any way likely to have happened.

I stood there for a moment before I let my tears fall again as I held my sons last words to me. I did remember that day at the cemetery that Ichigo had fought Grand Fisher…'Wait, how'd Ichigo know about me knowing about that? I never told him and he probably wrote this before he went to Hueco Mundo, so did he always know?'

I could imagine Ichigo smiling at me as he whispered, 'Sure I knew you idiot, two can play stupid you know.'

I let out a quiet chuckle as the vague imagine my mind had conjured disappeared, still smiling in that half gentle way. And as I watched it, I knew that even if I could bring my son back to this life he wouldn't want it. He wouldn't want me to be sad about it either, he wouldn't want anyone to be sad about him. I smiled as I gently folded the letter and placed it on my desk before heading to bed, knowing that I'd probably regret standing outside in the rain when I woke up.