Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. I am making no money from this. Tite Kubo owns all, I'm just playing with them for a while. I also do not own any of the quotes I use at the start of each chapter. They were all found on the internet or in books, and if they have an author I say who it is.

Author's Notes: After the Winter War series. Although this is technically an IchiHime fic, and will have more of them than anyone else, there will be parts that focus solely on other couples and characters. (GinRan, ByaRan, HitsuKarin, RenRuk, ShuNa, HinaKira, YoruUra, etc…) I'm sorry if you dislike any particular pairing. And although my other rule, that each story would stand on its own without you having read any of the others, is mostly followed, I will admit you'll get much more out of this if you've read the rest of the series. Timeline-wise this begins around the end of No Warm Memories, which is two years after the end of the War. If you are new to the series, especially if you really like IchiHime, HitsuKarin, RanGin, or ByaRan, I would recommend you read at least that couple's story before reading this one. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter.

Until the Last Breath

By Lady Callista

Chapter 2 : Time

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet, The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."

- Jack London

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"What do you want me to sing?" Orihime asked softly as her and Ichigo tucked Yuzu into bed.

"I dunno." Yuzu mumbled, taking hold of Orihime's hand as the older girl sat on the bed.

Orihime smiled slightly. "What about the one your mother always sang?" And in a sweet soprano she began to sing softly.

"Kirakira hikaru, osora no hoshi yo

Mabataki shite wa Minna o miteru

Kirakira hikaru, osora no hoshi yo"

Ichigo slid back into the hallway at the first line, his memory blending Orihime's sweetly light voice in with his mother's deeper alto until he could hear them singing in harmony. And the sound brought tears to his eyes.

Ichigo didn't know how long he had stood in the hallway when Orihime was suddenly in front of him. He glanced a little bit down the hallway and noticed the door to Yuzu and Kar… the door to Yuzu's room was closed.

"I'm sorry." Orihime said softly, resting her forehead on his chest. "But your sisters always like hearing that one."

"How did you know mom always sang that?" Ichigo asked softly, his hands coming to rest lightly on her waist.

"Do you remember when Karin got that really bad fever last spring?" Orihime asked softly, continuing when she felt him nod. "I took my turn sitting with her, and for a little while she… she thought I was your mother. She asked me to sing to her, like I always had when she was little. She hummed a few of the songs, and I figured it out. They, they really like Aiko's Lullaby too, and Oyasumi."

"I know." Ichigo said softly. "But I'm not that good a singer. Sometimes I would sing with mom. Karin and Yuzu loved it when their Ichi-nii would help put them to bed… But I never thought I sounded good, especially compared to her…"

"I'm sorry I couldn't save Karin." Orihime whispered abruptly, cutting him off.

"Hime-chan." Ichigo said softly, running his hands over her back. "There's nothing you could have done. Toshiro was there before you, and even he knew there was no way to save her."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you they were still dating."

Ichigo took a deep breath, trying to calm the sudden whip of violent energy that flared up. "No matter what kind of day we had had, no matter what was going on in the morning, you always wanted to go out on the first of the month. You always kept me away from my house that night. I thought it was some weird thing because we ended the War on the first of a month. Because I saved you on that day. Which didn't make sense to me, but I didn't want to look further. Just like as long as my sister was happy, I didn't want to question the reason. I know if I'd asked outright you would have told me."

"I know you want her happy." Orihime whispered as she pulled back enough to look into his eyes. "We… I just figured you would be happier not knowing."

"She didn't die because she was dating him. In fact I know him well enough to know he was probably against her fighting." Ichigo said softly, continuing to run his hands soothingly up and down her back. "But she was like the rest of us. She couldn't know about problems and not try and fix them. Knowing she had the power to help people, she couldn't not use it. Yuzu always reminds me of mom, but Karin in a lot of ways reminds me of you."

"Ichigo…"

"You're both brave, and strong. And you both care about other people so much more than yourselves. When Karin first told me what her power did, I thought it was really… odd for her." Ichigo admitted, tears still swimming slightly in his eyes. "But then you told me how she felt after mom died. She never told me, didn't want to burden me I realize now, but she never told me that her main wish was for no one to have to worry about her."

"It's hard to know you're a burden to your friends. To your family." Orihime whispered, tears trailing down her cheeks.

"You were never a burden." Ichigo whispered back, leaning in to kiss her gently. His father's earlier words, wondering when he would finally marry Orihime, swirled uncomfortably in the back of his mind. They were only 18! And even though they'd been through so much…

"I love that you never saw me that way." Orihime replied as she broke the kiss to trail a line of kisses down his jawbone and into the hollow of his throat. Then she rose to her tiptoes, leaning in against him to whisper in his ear, "I love you so much."

"I love you more." Ichigo said gruffly, a teasing tone nonetheless showing through in his voice.

"We should go back down." Orihime said as she reluctantly pulled away from him. "See if there's any word yet."

Ichigo nodded, pulling her to him for another brief and tender kiss before taking her hand in his and heading back downstairs. "You'll stay here tonight, won't you?"

"Of course I will."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Up until about two years ago, I always though that Ichigo and Yuzu were like two different parts of you, but Karin never really fit. I could never see you in her. Until she met him. Falling in love with a Shinigami, just like her mother had. I don't know if you would be proud or exasperated."

A knock on the door cut of Isshin's monologue to his wife's portrait, and he made sure his trademark maniacal grin was on his face as soon as he sensed who was at the door. "Come in, Ran-chan."

Rangiku entered and closed the door behind her, her eyes scanning the room and pausing on the portrait of Masaki for a moment before she seated herself across from Isshin.

"She's safely there, and she remembers everything." Rangiku said softly, casting her eyes thoughtfully to the second beer in front of him. "But then again, you and I both knew she probably would."

Isshin pushed the second beer across the table to her, watching her open it and take a long drink before setting his face in serious lines and saying softly, "So you are speaking to me, Fukutaicho-san. After earlier, I wasn't sure."

Rangiku graced him with a small smile. "I think I'm still mad at you."

"And where would Seireitei have been two years ago without my son?"

"So, you're a prophet now, are you Isshin?" Rangiku responded to the teasing tone in his voice.

Isshin chuckled darkly. "No, I can't say that had I known how soon I would lose her, I would have given up my life as a Shinigami for Masaki. I think I would have, but anyway… Now I'm the proud father of a boy who saved the world. And despite the fact that my wife and daughter are dead, things seem to have, somehow, worked out all right for almost everyone."

Rangiku took a deep drink, followed by a deep breath, before offering hesitantly, "Hitsugaya-taicho will take care of her. He's a good man. He… he loves her, and would do anything for her." Isshin's total lack of reply caused Rangiku to add, "Although he's not quite as much fun as my last taicho. He's never been the talk of the Friday Night Drinking Group. I think your name would still be legend, if we were not forbidden to speak of you."

Isshin grinned at the tone of her voice. It was partially teasing, partially reminiscing, and partially reminded him of a mother scolding her five-year old. Yet he answered her seriously, "I know he is, or he wouldn't have been seeing her these past two years. And Ran-chan, are you really mad at me? Or do you just miss me?"

Rangiku was silent for a moment, then answered softly, "Of course we all still miss you, Kurosaki-taicho."

"Taicho?" Orihime gasped as her and Ichigo entered the kitchen just in time to hear Rangiku's last sentence.

"So it was the Juubantai, I was kind of curious." Ichigo said as he casually took a seat beside his father at the table. "I take it Karin remembers everything?"

Both adults nodded, although Rangiku looked back and forth between Ichigo and his father in shock. "You never told Ichigo what Division you led?"

"He never even told me he was a taicho." Ichigo said softly as Orihime hesitated behind him before moving around the table to sit across from him. "He also never told me why he isn't anymore."

"And you never asked?' Rangiku questioned in an exasperated tone as she took a long drink of her beer.

Isshin silently got up, reached into the fridge, and set a fresh one in front of her as he sat again.

Ichigo simply shrugged. "I figured he would tell me if he wanted to."

Rangiku laughed all-out as she opened her second beer, nodding appreciatively to Isshin. "Men."

"Yes, I was the Juubantai taicho." Isshin said after a brief pause, taking another drink of his beer to wet the sudden dryness in his throat. "And the reason I'm not anymore is that I fell in love with your mother. I find it somewhat ironic that my successor fell in love with my daughter."

"How long have you known she was seeing him?" Orihime asked softly.

"Since the beginning." Isshin admitted. "I'll admit I had a moment or a hundred of worry, but it was her choice. She knew what he was… she…"

"Dad?" Orihime reached out to put a hand on his arm as his voice radiated pain and trailed off, and the fact that him telling her to call him dad had been flirting on the edge of her consciousness since he first said it made the term slip out without thought. She was so focused on the father that she failed to notice the look of shock on the son's face.

"I'll admit I followed them a few times." Isshin said as he regained control of himself, squeezing Orihime's hand gently before reaching out to finish his beer.

"Never tell her that." Orihime whispered as her cheeks flushed as she imagined some of the things Isshin could have seen if he had followed her and Ichigo.

Ichigo grew pink as well as the same thoughts flashed through his mind, and he asked his father outright, "You don't follow us around, do you?"

Isshin actually laughed. "Nah, you're older. Plus no father ever worries about his son in quite the way that he worries about his daughters."

"So you'll worry about Orihime once she's your daughter?" Rangiku interjected before anyone else could speak. Unlike Orihime, she had noticed Ichigo's reaction when his girlfriend addressed Isshin as 'dad,' and she couldn't resist teasing him.

Orihime and Ichigo both flushed even redder.

"Ran-chan, don't…" Orihime whispered in mortification.

"Well, I would say that I would give my life for her, but I would already do that." Isshin intoned in an overly dramatic fashion, addressing himself to Rangiku. "Plus my son would die for her, and he is ever so much more capable than I am, and… I do wonder when he is going to actually make her my daughter?"

"We… we need to get to sleep." Ichigo suddenly decided, grabbing Orihime's hand and pulling her up the stairs.

"Um… yeah… goodnight." Orihime called out as she allowed Ichigo to pull her from the room.

Both Isshin and Rangiku's eyes followed the teens as they fled, and their eyes then met for a moment as they chuckled. Rangiku looked away first, using her beer as an excuse, and when she looked up she saw Isshin staring wistfully at the portrait of his wife.

Taking another sip of her beer, Rangiku sighed as she turned her gaze to follow his and study the portrait of Masaki. "You never found anyone else?"

Isshin tried to play it lightly. "How many people are willing to put up with someone like me? What about you? A woman as beautiful as you shouldn't be single."

"I'm not single. Exactly. It… It's… complicated." Rangiku said softly as she finished her beer and rose. "I've been hiding it as long as Toshiro's been hiding Karin… But we'll see."

"Still in love with Ichimaru Gin?"

The casualness of the question made Rangiku think that Isshin didn't know just how much she loved Ichimaru, and she laughed humorlessly as she stated. "That's complicated as well. Right up until the end, he claimed to love me. And even though some days I hate him, I think I'm going to love him for the rest of my life. Which doesn't mean I can't find someone else, in fact I have but like I said I can't talk about it, and…"

"For some people there's only one." Isshin said softly. "I'm not saying I've been looking very hard, but no woman has held my interest since Misaki. As I do not think any other woman would capture my son's interest if he loses Orihime."

"Do you think it's wrong that I…"

"There's nothing wrong with falling in love again, Ran-chan." Isshin quietly interrupted her. "Just as there's nothing wrong with not being about to let go. I'm happy for you, and I hope that someday you can introduce me to your new someone."

"I hope for that as well." Rangiku replied. "I hope that as well. Although I should head back now, I… I need to see him."

Isshin cast his eyes to the ceiling for a moment, feeling the closeness of Ichigo and Orihime's reiatsu as they settled into bed together. He imagined his daughter and successor doing the same thing in Seireitei. He pictured Ran-chan returning to the arms of a man who had no face to him, just as he saw Rukia-chan curling up with her Renji. Everyone who had experienced the flow of emotions tonight would want to be with the one they loved.

"Good night, Ran-chan." Isshin said softly. "Don't be a stranger."

"Good night, Kurasaki-taicho." Rangiku said softly as she headed for the door, a quiet command to her headset reopening the Senkaimon in the backyard. "Sleep well, Isshin."

Yet Isshin did not head up to bed after his former fukutaicho had left. Rising briefly to get another beer, he sat in the bright kitchen staring at his wife's portrait. And remembering.

By the time the sun rose, he had come to the conclusion that even if he'd known how short a time they would have, he still would have given up everything for her. Because in his short years with her he had enjoyed life more than he had in his fifty years in Seireitei. Because there was a difference between living and existing.

And although Rangiku had been teasing Ichigo and Orihime when she mentioned them getting married, Isshin wondered how long it would take his son to pop the question. Especially now that he had been reminded how short life could be.

TBC…

AN2: First off, the song Orihime sings is the Japanese version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

So I know it's never said which Division Isshin led, but by process of elimination it's a fairly small list of possibilities. (And I've heard it debated that the white cloaky-thing over his shoulder isn't a taicho's haori, but I find that a very weak debate.) He can't have led Divisions 1, 4, 5, 8, or 13, because those Divisions start the series with the same taicho that they had 100 years ago. He can't have led Divisions 2, 6, 7, 11, or 12, because we know who the taicho of those Divisions were 100 years ago, and we know the current taicho are those people's direct replacements. So all that is left is either 3, 9, or 10. And as 3 and 9 were Ichimaru and Tosen's Divisions, we are given the impression that they have led those divisions for a long time. Whereas if my theory of how Isshin left Seireitei is true, then he's been on Earth less than 20 years, so we're looking for the newest taicho. It is certainly implied, although I don't think ever explicated stated, that is Hitsugaya, therefore by my logic that was Isshin's Division. It also allows for RanIss cuteness. Please Review, as I've never written a Bleach story balancing this many POVS and just major characters, so input is appreciated.