At times, when he can get past the bruise-reflex that makes him flinch away from thoughts of her, Ichigo wonders what his mother was like as a person, rather than just "mother". He looks at her smiling picture, and he's beginning to realise that she could have been anyone.
The past still aches, but somehow it's easier now; to know that it's not just mothers who do it, but people who make a choice and say I will not let you die.
Isshin tells his children how wonderful Masaki was, and doesn't say a single word about who she was.
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