A/N: I was disappointed when there was no IsshinxRyuuken romance fic on here, and this story has been on my mind for the longest time. So here it is. Updates might be slow because I have another fic in progress (Furry Little Secret it's called, Komamura x Sasaskibe if you'd like to check it out ^_^) for now enjoy this one!
Disclaimer: Me no own Bleach! This Fic mine!
8:00 PM, June 17th – Isshin Kurosaki stands in front of his deceased wife's tombstone, a cigarette in his hand. Yet another year has gone by, and the anniversary of Masaki's death is once again here. As a tradition, Isshin and his children had taken the short hike up the hill from their house to the cemetery, and had their "graveyard picnic" and spent the day at Masaki's tombstone. Isshin had told his eldest son, Ichigo to take his two little sisters home when his youngest, Yuzu, had fallen asleep from crying in front of her mother's grave. He had told them he wanted a little more time with their mother, and after assuring Ichigo that he'd be okay alone, he was left alone with a lit cigarette and his wife's grave. He smiled at the grave and blew out a puff of smoke that seeped out from behind his teeths.
"Ya still think I look cool smoking, Masaki? That was the first and only time you complimented me on my looks remember?"
He sighed when the tombstone just stared back at him coolly.
"I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise of not allowing Ichigo to go into the Shinigami business, but hey, at least he's good at it, even better than his father." Isshin continued talking to the gravestone, "I know, I know, that's not really saying much, but hey, you gotta give me some credits right?" Isshin laughed hollowly, still the cold tombstone gave no answer.
Ishhin sighs out another puff of smoke, only allowing a couple streaks of tears to flow down his face when the cloud of smoke obscured it from vision, and quickly wiping it away once the smoke had dissipated; he had never let Masaki see him cry, and he wasn't gonna start now. Isshin suddenly heard a muffled voice, it sounds like sobbing; not strange at all considering this is a graveyard. He looked around and finally spotted the owner of the sob, and it surprised him greatly. The figure was only a silhouette, but Isshin had known one of his best friend long enough to recognize that it was none other than Ishida Ryuuken. Isshin hesitated to walk over to Ishida, he had seen the man cry only once before and that was decades ago, when they were both no older than their sons right now. He finally made up his mind to walk over to one of his oldest buddies and crouched down to his level, placing a reassuring hand on Ryuuken's shoulder.
"Hey, you okay Ryuu?"
"Go away, Kurosaki." Was the response. Isshin just smirked, typical Ishida.
"You miss Yui* a lot don't you? I know, I still can't get over Masaki myself." Isshin pressed on.
"Who told you I'm crying over my dead wife?" Ryuuken snapped, still not facing Isshin.
"Well, you are in front of her grave." Isshin pointed out. Something was strange though, "Oh yeah, it's not even her anniversary today, is it?"
"You sure have a sharp memory, Kurosaki." Ryuuken snapped, sarcastically.
"Nah, I just remember going to her funeral several months after Masaki got taken away from me." Isshin replied, ignoring the sarcasm.
"It's not the day she died, it's the day our marriage did." Ryuuken answered weakly.
Isshin sighed and placed a hand on Ryuuken's shoulder sympathetically.
"Yeah….Yui and Uryuu both blamed you, and never forgave you for it, didn't they?"
"If you're trying to comfort me, you suck at it."
Isshin just gave an apologetic chuckle,
"No, but really….I'm sorry…..I know that it was my fault."
"Tch, don't be an idiot, what did my family affair has to do with you?" Ryuuken had stood up and started walking away.
There was a long pause before Isshin blew out another puff of smoke and called to Ryuuken.
"Can you honestly tell me that you ever got over what happened between us?"
Ryuuken stiffened,
"Don't go there, Kurosaki."
Isshin sighed, but pressed on,
"You never got over me, over us, your marriage was just out of expectations, your son was just out of duty of producing a Quincy heir -"
Ryuuken had heard enough, he turned around swiftly and swung his clenched fist at Isshin, hitting him square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.
"TEME! Of course you would think that way, wouldn't you! You pompous ass!"
Isshin raised his fist to wipe the blood from his lips, smirking up at Ryuuken, although his eyes were sad.
"Those aren't my words; they were Yui's. She blamed me, you know."
"Unh!" Ryuuken eyes widened, he had never heard of this before.
…..Flashback...
Ishida Minoko Yui, a small, raven haired, attractive young woman marched into the newly opened Kurosaki Clinic, ripping an official looking document as she walked in and threw the peaces at Isshin.
"What the-?" was his flustered response,
"Look for yourself!" Yui screamed at him through tears,
Isshin bent down to pick up one of the torn pieces, which had "Divorce" in bold printed on it. Isshin looked up at Yui in shock,
"Divorce Papers? Yui, you and Ryuu-?"
"Yes! I bet he thinks it about time too!" the expression in Yui's eyes were anger mixed with pain
"But….who?" Isshin uttered, still dumbfounded, Ryuuken kept his married life pretty quiet, but Isshin had always thought they were really happy together.
"Are you asking me who decided to end it? I did! You wanna know why? Because it's all fake! Ryuuken doesn't love me, how could he? When the only one he can think of is -!"
"Please Yui, don't finish that sentence…" Isshin cuts in, his demeanor now grim.
"Why not! You know it's true! I'm surprised Masaki didn't say anything, anyone can see how you two looks at each other!" Yui cried
"You're wrong, there's nothing going on between us save a professional friendship. Even if there was, it's long past now. And please Yui….don't drag my dead wife into this."
"Tch," Yui smirked spitefully, "Maybe it's nothing to you, but he never got over it. Our family means nothing to him; our marriage, our son, we're nothing but expectations of the Ishida family of him, and his duty to produce a Quincy heir."
Right then, a sleepy, 9-year old Ichigo appeared in the doorway, rubbing his eyes,
"Dad, is everything okay?"
Isshin turned to his son and cracked a smile,
"It's okay son, I'm just talking to Ishida-Fujin, go back to bed."
Ichigo turned to Yui,
"Sumimassen, Ishida-Fujin, My dad's an idiot, but he's a good person, don't be mad at him, okay?"
Yui had to laugh at Ichigo's take on his dad.
"Heeey….That's not nice to talk about your dad that way, Ichigo!" Isshin whined, Ichigo just laughed,
"Well you are!"
"that's beside the point, go back to bed."
Yui giggled at the most irregular father-son pair ever and came over to Ichigo to pet him on the head,
"Konbanwa, Ichigo, don't worry, I'm not mad at your dad, we're just talking about grown-up stuff, so go back to bed, okay?"
"Haaai, Ishida-youbo, Oyasumi" Ichigo beamed, and marched back upstairs.
Yui turned back around at a smiling Isshin, her own smile faded and she sighed heavily.
"Uryuu doesn't know that you think he's just brought into this world out of duty, does he?" Isshin suddenly asked
"What? Of course not! I woudn't tell my 9-year old that!" Yui exclaimed
Isshin nodded,
"Good. Children are precious gifts, they shouldn't know anything but Love from their parents."
Yui sighed,
"Of course I know that."
"If you do, then don't be saying things like, 'our son is just an obligation to the Quincys' a doctor like Ryuuken and myself can heal any wound, but we can't heal a broken heart."
Yui just looked away from Isshin.
"And as for your divorce, you can blame me, blame Ryuuken, hell you can hate us, but don't hurt little Uryuu, don't let him hate his father because of your opinion of his father. Causing a son to hate his father, that's a moral offense, Yui."
Yui walked over to Isshin, who easily towers over her and raised a hand to his face, he flinched expecting a slap, but instead, she fell into his shoulder and cried. When he realizes what she was doing, he just let out a sigh and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.
…End Flashback…
"So, she really thought I was a worthless piece of shit, didn't she? And it looks like your Father-Son talk didn't work did it? Uryuu despise me. " Ryuuken sighed, now facing his boufu((a/n: deceased wife)) blowing out another puff of smoke.
Isshin smirks and shook his head,
"Naw, they might have hated you, but that only meant that they had loved you too much. You can't hate a person if you didn't once love them. Yui only told you she hates you because she still loved you. Same with Uryuu, I don't believe that any son could truly hate his father. At least that's my take on it."
The corner of Ryuuken's mouth curved up into a smirk,
"Are you telling me that that is the way it is with us? Are you trying to say that I hate you because I still love you?"
Isshin sighs out another puff of smoke,
"That depends, do you really hate me that much?"
"Heh, good question; the truth is, I don't even know." Ryuuken replied, still refusing to look at Isshin. "If I say no, would that mean that I never really loved you at all?"
"Heh, if that is the case, we wouldn't be where we are now, would we?" Isshin chuckled
What the hell is that suppose to mean? Why the hell is he even bringing this up? What the hell is he trying to do? Ryuuken asked himself, he finally blew out a heavy sigh and stood up to leave. What's in the past is in the past, and he's going to keep it there. He hates Isshin and wants nothing to do with him, they had avoided talking to each other outside of their profession since they both became yamoos ((a/n: widower)) and Ryuuken is gonna keep it that way. He had told himself that this was what he wants…so why doesn't he believe himself? Ryuuken shook his head, hoping to clear it out, and continued walking.
"Eh? Where are you going Ryuu-kun?" Isshin called, redeeming his usual goofball demeanor.
"Don't….Call me that!" Ryuuken growled in an icy tone, while a shiver was sent down his spine. Dammit! It's been two decades, he shouldn't be able to do this to me! Ryuuken cursed himself, he didn't know what frustrated him more; the fact that Isshin still calls him by that pet name or that he still allow it to have that effect on him.
"But….I always call you that?" Isshin argued, obviously oblivious. Another thing that irks Ryuuken about the man, he can be so deep one minute, and so idiotic the other, Ryuuken had always suspected if Isshin wasn't acting.
"Sayonara, Kurosaki." Ryuuken stated coldly.
Isshin let out a sigh and rolled his eyes,
"Mate Ryuuken, we need to talk."
And what in the world are we suppose to talk about? Ryuuken thought, instead he said, "There's nothing for us to talk about. Sayonara, Kurosaki."
"What do you mean there's nothing for us to talk about, we gotta talk about US once and for all."
"I wanted to talk about US, 20 years ago! " Ryuuken cried, finally loosing his icy demeanor. "You were the one that didn't want to! And I gave you another chance seven years ago, and you didn't take it. We have NOTHING to talk about!"
"You didn't really gave me a fair chance Ryuu, back in Medical School, You knew I didn't feel the same, I told you so! And then you came to me seven years ago wanting to talk about US when MY WIFE'S GRAVE WASN'T EVEN COLD YET!" Isshin heard himself yell back.
Ryuuken just stared at Isshin for a few seconds before turning away again,
"Sayonara, Kurosaki."
Isshin just stood there looking at Ryuuken's retrieving back. It was only a few seconds before he let out an exasperated sigh, and decided to go after him.
"Mate, Ryuu-kun." Isshin called softly as he caught up to Ryuuken and placed a large hand on his shoulder…
TBC
A/N: That's it for the first chapter, what do you guys think? Am I writing Isshin and Ryuuken right? Now that you've read it, give me your reviews please. Arigatou!