I have traveled the Grandline. I had a reason for taking that dangerous sea lane once but I've forgotten it so it must not have been important. That's how I found this island and when I saw it, it appealed to me. Every morning is the beginning of the same preserved day, preserved like the plum wine I drink.

So I picked up my scalpel and started my practice here. I met that old fool shortly after. He was old even then, when he was years younger than me. He was old because he wasn't immune yet. 

You see, when you fight Death, there are parts of yourself you have to bury in the ground, under the deepest layer of permafrost. You have to view each sickness as a challenge.  Patients can't be people with lives and family and problems and hopes and dreams. Once you view them like that they'll rip out a bit of your life and take it with them if you fail. And fail you will because Death isn't something you beat; it's an enemy at the gate that you hold off as long as you can.

I tried to explain it to him once, but the quack called me 'cold,' said I'd been in Drum too long.  What did he know?  He was a fool.  The miracle he worked for; well, that was just more of the same. An old quack grasping at a stupid illusion.

He earned some of my respect later.  He didn't whine or cry or complain when he realized the inevitable, but worked on as usual, as if nothing were wrong. That takes a kind of bravery - or pig-headed idiocy. I supposed it was more of the latter than the former.

Then, just when I thought he was going to go quietly, he came up with that final request. I accepted grudgingly. I didn't want an assistant destroying the sanctity of my work.

And … time is never marked more obviously than in the growth of a child. There are leaps and bounds within weeks and months. Children get older and those around them are forced to notice it in themselves. I didn't want reminders.

Now the reminder is leaving and I'm finding it very humbling to be passed over for something as elusive as a dream. I suppose we're never too old to learn something new.

The old fool's even more foolish child taught me another lesson today. It's an important one that almost makes up for all that time I wasted on him.

A life that's frozen in routine, a life that's spent cut off from others; that is existing and there is nothing special about that. It is how we fill the space between living and dying, with dreams that keep us young and give us hope - that is what makes life precious.

The snowfall will stop, the dawn will come, and the sakura will disappear - just like he is now, chasing his stupid fantasy over the horizon.

But the wind flays tears from my eyes anyway.

"Goodbye…my foolish son."

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A/N:
Mono no aware: an idea/philosophy that is often translated as a feeling of pathos for the inevitable.  It is summed up in the phrase "the Ah-ness of things" which likens the idea to the cherry blossoms that come in the spring - before you can even gasp "Ah!" at their beauty, they have fallen - leaving only a bittersweet memory of longing behind.
Sakura: cherry blossoms
I think Kureha is harsh even in her thoughts. But that doesn't necessarily reflect what's in her heart. This is definitely a vignette where you should read between the lines.



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