Chapter 19 – Planning ahead

That evening Nishiwaki and Iwase met with Dr Sakai to discuss Ishikawa's injuries. The meeting was held in the observation area outside Ishikawa's room as Iwase refused to move any further away from Ishikawea's side. He was still feeling as though much of what had happened was his fault for allowing Ishikawa go on vacation by himself. The three men stood by the window that looked into Ishikawa's room. Iwase stood looking through the window while Sakai and Nishiwaki, although turned towards the window were actually looking at each other as they talked.

"It looks like the Instructor was very lucky." Dr Sakai said as he shuffled through several pieces of paper.

"Lucky?!" Iwase's voice was both incredulous and angry and he whirled from his position looking through the window to glare at Dr. Sakai.

"Yes. Judging by the age of the bullet wound on his arm they most likely caught him either late Monday or very early Tuesday. With 48 hours to work on him they could have easily done much more damage. Even the beatings they administered were light compared to what they could have been. He has a couple of cracked ribs but no real organ damage from those except some minor damage in the groin area."

"Doctor," Nishiwaki's voice quietly interrupted him. "Please, instead of telling us what 'might have been' or about minor damage that will not effect his ability to run the garrison; tell us about the major damage he sustained and how long he will be laid up."

"Well, okay. First of all, he's not coming back to work for a long time, possibly months. I anticipate that the antibiotics will take care of the infection from the bullet wound within 24 hours. Meanwhile, we're making arrangements to fly in the best reconstructive surgeons to deal with both his face and his hand over the next couple of days – the infection has to clear up before the surgeons can operate on him."

" He has some damage to his urinary track and bladder caused by several hard blows to the groin. We're keeping a watch on that, it should heal on its own within the next 5 days. Even after all this is over and he is into healing and physical therapy, regulations state that he will have to have a psychiatric evaluation and probably some counseling to deal with the trauma of being tortured."

Nishiwaki frowned. "Is he going to be able to use his left hand as before?" Iwase didn't seem to be paying that much attention to what the doctor was saying and had gone back to standing at the windows looking at Haruka's form laying on the bed. There were so many tubes going into and out of his body he almost didn't look human.

"Well, its not at all my field. I think you will need to talk to the reconstructive surgeon about that, but I doubt that it will ever be as strong as it was. Reconstructive work on tendons and bones just isn't as good as the original. I really can't venture any kind of a guess as to how much flexibility he will have."

"So the major injuries are to the hand, face and groin?" Nishiwaki's eyes narrowed and he seemed to be paying fierce attention to what the doctor was saying. Iwase on the other hand, still seemed more interested in watching Ishikawa.

"Those injuries are the ones that may have a lasting effect on him physically. There will be some scaring from the burns; but although they continue to be painful for several weeks, none of them are large enough to cause long term problems. Psychologically," here the older man paused. "Its hard to say what effect everything that happened to him will have on him emotionally." Both men darted quick glances at the oblivious back of Iwase.

"Thank you Dr Sakai. I'm glad we have someone with your experience to watch over him. I trust you are keeping the results of your tests in a safe place and reminding your people that they are not to talk about Ishikawa's injuries to anyone?"

"Yes, I have no desire to see all of this get out to the rest of the garrison either."

The two men shook hands and then the doctor left the room. Nishiwaki walked over to stand next to Iwase. They both looked through the window for a few minutes. Finally Iwase shook himself slightly. "I should be getting back to him." he said and turned to head for the door.

"Just a minute." Nishiwaki said putting a hand on Iwase's shoulder. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Iwase's voice was impatient and his eyes flickered back through the window to Ishikawa.

"When you are going to take over running the garrison."

Iwase's eyes fastened on Nishiwaki's face. "Run the garrison? Are you crazy?"

"Do you think Ishikawa will push himself to get back to normal if Headquarters appoints someone else to take over his position? Particularly since they might consider it a permanent position." Nishiwaki paused for a moment to let Iwase think about it. "Besides, YOU are the one who has been at the Instructor's side throughout everything he's done recently. You know even more about what he has been doing and what he wants to do in the future than even Mifune and I do."

"You can do it, you were in charge while he was on vacation." Nishiwaki couldn't tell if Iwase was just refusing to consider being in charge or if he was afraid of something. And he didn't care. He was determined to get the man to accept the responsibility of taking care of the garrison. Nishiwaki couldn't leave his own spot in the team vacant and there was currently no one able to take his place. Besides, if Iwase spent all his time glued to Ishikawa's side over the next several weeks he might never allow the Instructor to recover emotionally from what had happened.

"Its one thing for me to be in charge for a few days during a – what was supposed to be - a calm period; and a very different thing entirely to be the one setting the schedules and deciding how the jobs are handled permanently. We don't have the experience of being right there on the front lines that you do from being at the Inspector's side and Headquarters is not going to accept our moving up."

"But, but – I have to be here. With him."

"For a few more days; yes, I agree. But once he starts in on the surgeries and the physical therapy he will be spending a lot of time sleeping. You don't have to be with him every minute of the day. Look, Iwase. I promise; if you do this, Mifune and I will help you. You won't actually be doing his entire job on your own. But if we let the Instructor's job be given to someone else, if he doesn't feel wanted or that he needs to work to get back to full capacity so he can resume his job then I'm afraid, I think -."

Nishiwaki's voice broke for a moment and it was Iwase's turn to grip his arm. "I'm really afraid he'll never completely recover, that he'll be broken for the rest of his life."

Nishiwaki's eyes were turned downwards looking at the floor but Iwase could still see the sadness in them. He suddenly remembered Nishiwaki's story of how he had watched Ishikawa take over upon the death of the previous instructor. He remembered how Nishiwaki had talked to him about the Inspector's insecurities, the way he hid things and thought about them on his own. How he had helped them in their relationship. It took a lot of time and attention to know a man that well.

He might be the one who had manged to finally win the Instructor's heart, but that didn't mean he was the only one who cared for him.

"I understand, and I'll do my best but I'll need your help."

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There is an entire separate story about how the Ishikawa heals and what all happens while he is healing. But I don't know when I will be able to write that one.