Chapter 13

About an hour earlier

"Hey Kurosaki, we're together now , and we're both doctors, I was thinking perhaps we can work together, in one place." Ryuuken proposed

"That's a great idea babe, we can work the clinic together, it would be more popular with more than one physician."

"I was thinking more on the line of you coming to the hosptial and work with me."

"you mean work FOR you," Isshin teased, "You're the dean of the hospital after all."

"Well yes, I will be your supervisor, but other than that , you'll still be doing pretty much everything you do at your clinic. And you'll have real nurses." Ryuuken stated matter-of-factly.

"Yuzu and Karin are real nurses !" Isshin objeced, "I trained them myself. Besides , there are departments at the hospital ….and I'm not very good with departments."

"I'll make you the head of Diagnostic Medicine, that should be comfortable for you."

"And what would we do with the Kurosaki Clinic ?" Isshin asked , not hiding his annoyance.

"Close it down of course. You'll be too busy at the hospital "

"But I was thinking we could both work at the clinic, expand it even, we'll work together, and the kids could be our nurses and assistants, it'll be a family clinic." Isshin proposed.

"And what of the Hospital ? Do you expect me to just leave my position?" Ryuuken argued

"You could make us a partner clinic of the hospital ? I don't know, but you can't expect me to close down the clinic either."

"Why can't you ?" Ryuuken asked, starting to get annoyed.

"I could ask the same, why can't you leave the hosptial ? Masaki and I started up this clinic from scratch, we raised our family here, there's history, I can't throw it away."

"You talk as if the Ishida legacy isn't in the Kakura Hospital, that my son wasn't born there." Ryuuken countered

"I'm not disregarding that, I'm just saying I won't throw away the history that Masaki and I built together." Isshin argued.

"So it comes down to keeping the memory of Masaki alive. You won't give up this clinic because it was yours and Masaki's."

"Yes, pretty much."

"And I moved in with you , because you wouldn't move out of this house and leave Masaki's presence."

"Now that's not fair, that never crossed my mind."

"So after all these years , even after we're back together and she's been gone for 9 years, you still want to keep her presence with you."

"I will not dishonor her memory by throwing it away, I won't let our kids forget about her. I can't ! surely you understand, surely you haven't forgotten about Yui."

"She's been gone for eight years, I decided to let her soul rest in peace and move on." Ryuuken replied coldly.

"I find that hard to believe, given that you never let go of us, but if that's the case, I guess we're different people. I'm not giving up this clinic." Isshin stated

"Fine. I'm not giving up the Kakara Hospital!" Ryuuken cried.

"Fine. Forget working together, guess it was a horrible idea anyway." Isshin countered.

"I guess it was." Ryuuken replied, "although thanks to the suggestion, I know where I stand, I still lose to Masaki, and she's been dead. Even after all these years I'm still competing with her for your affection and I'm still the one who loses.."

"Now that's not fair you're my present, but she's my past. I love you, but you can't ask me to throw away my past."

"What's not fair is you expecting me to throw away my past while you clings on to yours."

"I'm not asking you to throw away your past!" Isshin cried, thorougly frustrated, "You're asking me to throw away mine!"

"I'm just asking you to let go of your dead wife and move on with me." Ryuuken countered, on the verge of tears.

"So this is what this is really about , your insecurities and your love rivalry with Masaki."

"And you say that to deflect it from your refusal to let go of the past and give us a real chance to move forward."

"I'm perfectly fine with that, I want to move forward with you, letting go of my past doesn't mean I have to forget it!"

"If you have truly let go of your past , you wouln't be clinging on to it."

"It doesn't mean I have to throw it away !"

"Ugh, this is going nowhere" Isshin got up and grabbed his key, "I'm going out to cool off. Don't follow me."

"You're right, I need to co. tol off too." Isshin agreed for the first time that night and grabbed his own key. They stormed out of the house and headed in opposite direction. It started to pour.

I would very much appreciate your feviews and critiques. Feel free to tell me if this seemed to be nonsensical rambling. lol