Title: Between the End and Where We Lie

Summary: Isshin's thoughts on Ichigo and the final Getsuga Tenshou. Oneshot.

Disclaimer: If I owned bleach, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.

A/N: So I wrote like three versions of this before I managed to create this version, which I am mostly pleased with. I tried to incorporate ideas from all three drafts into one, since each draft focused on different parts of the scene. This has been floating around in my brain for a while, as well. So...just a few thoughts from a character we don't see too often. It's short, but sweet. As always, my unending love to those who deign to review and share their thoughts. Bon Apetit!

~Song

Kurosaki Isshin watched his son rush headlong towards his fate. But for the violent orange hair, he might have been watching himself. The foe was different, the lives at stake were different, but the same defiant set of the jaw hardened Ichigo's expression, the same determination straightened his spine, and the same burden rested upon his shoulders. Never before had Isshin seen the stark resemblance between father and son as plainly as he did in those moments. Past and present mingled, and the memories foretold the future.

The strength to overcome this threat, to protect those weaker than himself, came at a great price. The ultimate technique—a sacrifice in the truest sense of the word. But perhaps the worst of it was not the loss of power itself, but the lingering memory of power once possessed.

Nothing had been said when the fifteen-year-old's eyes had finally opened, but a familiar silent knowledge burned behind his eyes. There were many things that he might have told the young shinigami, but Isshin kept his peace. There were no words for the assurances he wished to bestow. It was a tall, battle-hardened young man that approached his destiny, but Isshin saw only a small boy tottering away on unsteady legs—a tiny child stumbling towards a fate that had arrived far too early.