lilly0 | Jade Chapter 17

Title: Jade: Chapter 17 (of 18)
Pairing: Akame. RyoxJin as brothers (not as a pairing). Various other characters.
Rating: PG-13 (for this chapter)
Genre: AU, crime, romance, family
Multi-chapter
Disclaimer: I don't own them or anything else JE-related. But the story is mine of course^^
Summary: Tokyo, 1981: A young bride disappears, leaving no trace but an old necklace out of jade. No one has seen her, no one knows who she is. The woman that never existed.
Tokyo, 2011: Jin, a talented photographer, is known for his sixth sense when it’s about photos and other person’s emotions. When he gets the offer to work with Tokyo’s Criminal Investigation Department, he moves to Tokyo, together with his 16-year-old brother.
There he starts to work together with the skilled, but eccentric young detective Kamenashi Kazuya.They are part of the department for Cold Cases, where forgotten and never solved cases are investigated again. Despite their first rather bad impression of each other, they soon learn that their skills complement each other almost perfectly.
The case they are working on seems mysterious, but harmless: Jade, the woman that had been erased from everyone's memory. But soon Jin and Kame realize that with this case they are awakening a sleeping lion, bringing themselves and everyone they love and care for into danger. They suddenly fall into a network of intrigues, murders and threats. On top of that they are both hiding something from each other and from everyone else... something no one is supposed to know...

“I still don’t understand where Ryo got the address from…” Kame mused.

Jin sighed a bit. “I have an idea…”

“Eh? Who gave it to him?”

Jin smiled slightly. “It’s just an idea and I don’t know it for sure. But Tatsuya has so many friends and if I remember correctly he even worked at the registration office once.” He sighed. “I guess Ryo approached him to ask for the address and he didn’t think much about it. He should have asked me first of course, but…I think Tatsuya just wanted to help. So I can’t blame him for it.”

“I see….” Kame mumbled. “This makes sense.” He rubbed over his head nervously. “But I don’t understand what’s going on. I get the part with Ryo searching for his mother. But what happened then?” Kame shook his head in despair. “And what did I do? I never did something wrong… well, I hid the truth about my family background, but I was never involved into something.”

“I don’t understand it either.” Jin admitted silently. “I mean…going to the origins? What does Jade have to do with Ryo? That’s ridiculous…”

Kame bit his lips. “This guy or woman or whoever is behind this case wants me. At least we will soon get your brother…eh…son back.”

Jin was driving through a country road right now, so it was not a problem for him to stop the car out of a sudden. “Kazuya…”

Kame blinked in confusion, wondering why Jin stopped. When he felt the other’s arms around him, he felt even more confused. “Jin?”

“Don’t be too scared.” Jin told him softly. “I won’t let you down. I’ll get my boy back and I will also keep my second boy. This guy wants to meet us at a specific time… we are way too early, so let’s see if we can do something out of that. Maybe we find a clue…”

Kame nodded his head, a feeling like he was in trance. Everything inside him was vibrating. It was horrible. He just wished he would understand what was going on. "Why, Jin?” he finally asked

“Eh?”

“Why did you never leave my side? After all the things I did… after everything I hid. Why are you still there?”

Jin bit his lips a bit, looking down at his feet nervously. “It’s not like I’m all that innocent either. I have a kid. I’m a father. Doesn’t that change almost everything about me?”

Kame blinked at that, before his eyes went wide. “RIGHT! Oh my god, I haven’t even realized it yet; you are a father. You have a 16-year old son.” He stared at Jin in shock, not moving when Jin tugged at his arm.

“Is this too much for your Kazuya?”

Kame stayed quiet for a moment, then he shook his head. “No.” he mumbled. “We have to talk about this of course and get to know each other, for real this time, but it doesn’t change the fact that I won’t leave your side.”

“See?” Jin mumbled against Kame’s hair, when he felt the other one's hand brushing over his back. “It’s the same for me.”

Kame chuckled. “But I’m not going to be his Mommy, okay?”

Jin grinned. “Believe me, I highly doubt that you can beat Yuu in this position.”

“True.” Kame smiled, glad about this little joke, it was such a nice distraction for the tensed situation they were in. “He was born to be a mother.”

“So.” Jin bit his lips. “Let’s continue and get back my… son.”

“Yes. You are right." Kame nodded his head firmly. "Really, Jin, you are so calm… I almost envy you for that” he mused.

“If I don’t stay calm, I will totally freak out. And it will bring us all into danger.” Jin mumbled, anxiety filling him for a moment.

Kame nodded his head again. He could understand Jin very well. To distract himself and Jin he angled for the folder of their research on Jade, going through it again. They had made such a great progress. He just wished he would be able to solve this case…and not die on it today. He looked at the photos, trying to diffuse Jin’s worries. “What did she feel?” he whispered. “I mean… was she afraid when she got to know that she was pregnant?”

Jin tilted his head. “Maybe she was afraid, but somehow she also looks so hopeful…as if she was looking forward to giving birth.”

“She even left her groom for it.” Kame mumbled.

“Poor guy.” Jin mused. “But maybe she couldn’t stay together with him?”

“Maybe he didn’t want her anymore…” Kame agreed. “But why did he commit suicide then?”

Jin frowned. “I’m not sure. Maybe he felt lost and desperate?”

“Yes, or maybe he wanted her to stay, but she couldn’t? Or didn’t want to?” Kame wondered.

Jin frowned. “You have a point here. It for sure wasn’t his child.”

“Maybe the child’s father didn’t want her to have it.” Kame assumed. “Or he forced her to give birth to it secretly.”

Jin blinked at that in surprise. “You might be right. I didn’t think of that! Maybe he was in a high position and didn’t want it to be in danger…”

Kame stared down at the photo. “Yes…” he whispered. “This would explain why she drove away in this car. She wasn’t kidnapped.”

“No.” Jin agreed. “She decided to go. For her child’s sake. They brought her away.”

“I can’t believe that.” Kame shook his head, deep furrows on his forehead. “This is crazy.” He sighed. “Life would have been easier for her if she aborted the child.”

Jin smiled warily at that. “Maybe, but sometimes easy is not what people want. I didn’t want it for example. I wouldn’t redo my decision. Never! I would always want my child to be born… even thinking about a life without Ryo is killing me. Maybe she was thinking similar? She rather preferred a life in the dark, washed away from everyone’s memory, so that she could have her baby?”

“Yes.” Kame mumbled silently, looking at one of the photos. “And still…I feel like I know her face.”

Jin nodded his head. “I know. It’s almost driving me insane that I can’t make the connection to where I know her from.”

“Maybe you saw the article somewhere?” Kame suggested. “I mean, before you started to work on this case.”

“No.” Jin shook his head. “That’s not it.”

“For me it’s even worse.” Kame mumbled. “Because her face didn’t remind me of anyone since years… but suddenly since a few weeks…”

“So maybe there is a connection?” Jin suddenly asked. “Maybe it has something to do with me and Ryo, though we don’t know what it is. And since you started to hang out with us, you…” Jin paused out of a sudden, stopping the car again. He stared out of the front window of his car, not moving or saying anything.

“What… Jin?” Kame mumbled.

“I…this can’t be…” Jin whispered.

“What can’t be?” Kame wanted to know.

“I…” Jin shook his head in disbelief. “I have to make sure first… I… This is just insane. And I don’t understand it at all… But I’m good with recognizing faces…and… there is something… Damn…”

Kame looked at Jin nervously when the latter started the car again, continuing to drive towards their destination. “Tell me.” Kame demanded. “Please, I need to know too!!”

“Even if it’s not making any sense?”

“Yes.” Kame nodded his head firmly. “No matter what, I want to know what you remembered. Or what you saw.”

“Okay, then…” Jin sighed nervously. “Good that you are sitting at the moment…”

******

“I still can’t believe that.” Kame mumbled when he followed Jin to the nurse’s station. “That’s just so… insane.” He looked almost sad. “And still, you made sense. It…now that I know it… I see it too. In her face…”

“Yes, it’s the same, am I right?”

Kame nodded his head. “It’s the same face.” He wanted to say more, but pulled himself together when he saw the nurse coming out of the room.

Jin smiled politely, bowing in front of her. As always Kame let Jin do the charming-flirting kind of work, smiling a bit about how cool his boyfriend could be.

“Sorry to interrupt your work.” Jin put on his most winning smile, immediately feeling relieved when the woman smiled brightly at him. “I’m searching my... brother…”

“Your brother?” the nurse smiled.

“Yes, my adopted brother… He is smaller than I am, around 16, black hair, dark eyes.” Jin explained, looking worried to make her feel sorry for him.

The nurse’s heart felt for him immediately. “I guess I know who you mean. I gave him a folder about his birth here and his parents. He went outside to read it.”

Jin nodded his head, trying to keep his composure while he was looking around a bit. “I still remember this place.” He sighed a bit. “Is there still also a rehabilitation centre?”

“Yes.” The nurse smiled happily that Jin remembered it. “We are quite famous for that now. People with psychical problems come here. We are especially specialized on those who are in danger to commit suicide or for people who suffer from eating disorders and those with memory losses.”

“Right.” Jin smiled a bit. “I remember! I think when I was here one of the doctors told me about it. He said that…” Jin paused, feeling how something was suddenly capturing him, almost taking his breath away. HOW STUPID HAD HE BEEN!!? IMPOSSIBLE! He shivered slightly, but tried to keep his senses together. “Would you care giving me more information about this? I’m so interested!”

Kame blinked in surprise. What the heck was Jin up to? When Jin turned around, he could see a piercing look in his eyes, signalizing him that it was important to be alone with the woman now. Kame understood immediately. Jin was getting a hint about where Ryo could be. Hence he smiled at the woman and Jin. “I’ll get some things out of the car okay?”

“Here are the keys.” He handed them to Kame, keeping his voice low so that the woman wouldn’t even realize they were talking. “Don’t let anyone see you. Stay there, okay.”

Kame did exactly what Jin had told him to. He knew the moment their opponent would see them here, it would be over. Because then they were playing his game, but what if he and Jin were able to turn it into their game!?

******

With every minute that passed Kame felt more nervous. He still didn’t understand why their opponent wanted him, he didn’t know what he did. He frowned out of a sudden. Maybe it had something to do with his step-father? Was he part of this case? Was he involved? The bride had driven away in a car that was clearly one of his father’s party after all. Well, this alone didn’t mean anything though.

Kame leaned his head against the seat, taking a deep breath. It slowly started to sink in that maybe someone close to him – his father, though they weren’t close at all – was involved. He as his son – though he was just adopted – had to be responsible now.

Kame bit his lips. Their opponent maybe didn’t know all the details, because Kame had hidden a lot. And the guy for sure knew that Kame’s father wouldn’t care at all if Ryo was safe or not. That’s why he went for Kame…

Kame’s hands trembled. Damn!! Why did they warm up this case? He had known that it was dangerous, he had known that he would bring Jin into danger! But despite that he hadn’t cared, he had wanted to solve this because it had something to do with his family… and it had driven him almost crazy not to know what was going on. Now with Jin at his side, there had suddenly appeared a chance. But what prize were they paying right now!?

Before Kame could sink even deeper into his doubts and guilty feelings, Jin was knocking at the door. Kame blinked in surprise, opening it and crawling outside.

“What did you find out?”

Jin panted heavily. “Later.” He breathed out, taking Kame’s hand. “Come!! We have to be fast if we want to surprise the guy.”

“You know where he is?” Kame breathed out.

“Yes.” Jin looked around nervously. “He is where she is…”

“YOU FOUND HER!” Kame stared at Jin in disbelief. “I don’t understand that at all, Jin!”

“I know.” Jin pressed out. “But there is no time to explain. The guy wants to meet us in one hour, here. If we aren’t fast enough we won’t be able to surprise him!”

Kame nodded his head, biting his lips. “It’s all my fault. Sorry for that.” He looked down at the ground sheepishly. “I warmed this case up again though I knew how dangerous it was. And I knew you might get involved. I knew it was dangerous. And overall I kept these huge secret…”

Kame blinked in surprise when Jin suddenly slapped him. Not really hard though, but still surprising enough for him to blink at the other.

“This is our last chance” Jin’s eyes were gleaming furiously. “You know what I’m loosing here, don’t you? What we are loosing!” He grabbed Kame’s shirt, desperate tears in his eyes when he was pulling the other closer. “Listen to me, Kazuya. And damn, listen well! This here is not your fault, no matter how much you believe it is. It isn’t! But it IS our LAST CHANCE! You know what will happen if we loose this game…”

Kame blinked for a moment, then his eyes got a desperate look. He clung to Jin for a moment, trying to gather his strength like that. Then he pulled away. “You are right, Jin. This is the last clue we needed…” He looked at other firmly. “I know you are worried, but I promise you that I’ll give everything I have to save all of us.” He angled for his gun, charging it, while he put his other hand into his pocket, his fingers touching the jade necklace slightly, as if he needed to feel it to be pushed over the last the edge. “Let’s go.” he mumbled. “Fast.”

******
Note: Dear friends and readers! Thanks so much for all your support <3 To thank you I opened up a Request Post. If you feel like requesting a one-shot with a specific pairing or situation you can do so HERE. For Song-Drabbles go HERE.

Jade Chapter 17

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