Author's Note: I've been a bit busier than usual this week so I didn't get to write as much as I wanted to. Let me know what you think!

Chapter 10 - The Truth

Jenny had spent most of the week with Genkai & Hiei training. Jin had been there to help, but Genkai quickly became annoyed with the casual flirting between Jin & Jenny during the sessions. She put a stop to Jin coming to their training after the first day, scolding Jin for pulling Jenny's focus. Jin, who thought the entire situation was hilarious, finally decided not to argue with Genkai & told Jenny he'd be waiting for her when she was done. After training, Jenny spent almost all of her time with Jin.

To her surprise, she actually enjoyed the training. At first she was overwhelmed & frustrated, especially since they didn't exactly go easy on her. They wanted her to know how serious this situation was & that she needed to really learn something. She was thankful, however, that Hiei & Genkai both seemed to remember that she was still just a human. She didn't have incredible strength or an insane amount of spirit energy, so her training had to be a little different. Genkai was able to handle it well, but it took Hiei a while to get used to training with someone who, as he put it, was as "weak & useless" as she was.

What surprised her even more was that Hiei was actually a pretty awesome person. She'd heard a lot of negative things, mostly from Kuwabara, & some warnings about his attitude towards humans from others. She'd spent time with him before, but not much… and they definitely hadn't talked much before this week. His dark sense of humor amused her & the fact that it amused her apparently amused him. Between the training sessions & the short conversations after or before them, Jenny & Hiei had started to build a kind of awkward friendship. It had surprised the others, but Genkai & Jin both seemed glad that they'd come to like one another. Genkai even joked that it made training more enjoyable when Hiei wasn't in a terrible mood.

Jenny woke up laying on her side with Jin's arms wrapped around her. She snuggled closer into him, smiling as she closed her eyes to try to fall back asleep again. It's too early to get up, yet…

Suddenly the door to the bedroom burst open with a bang, startling Jenny & Jin both awake. As they sat up in shocked surprise, they saw (& heard) Yusuke & Kuwabara running in & leaping to jump up on the bed.

"Hey, guys! Time to wake up!" Yusuke yelled as he jumped up & down on the bed, laughing.

Kuwabara was laughing hysterically as he jumped alongside Yusuke. Jenny & Jin pulled their legs in closer to them so they wouldn't get trampled. Jenny scowled at Yusuke & Kuwabara, but Jin, who was laughing right along with them, jumped up onto Yusuke's back & began playfully punching his shoulder.

"What the heck are ya guys doin' here!?" Jin said, laughing.
"Yeah.. what are you guys doing here? And why did you decide it'd be a good idea to come barging in here when we're trying to sleep?!" Jenny asked, annoyed. She narrowed her eyes at them as she pulled the blanket up around her.

"Jeez, Jenny, don't be such a party pooper…" Kuwabara said jokingly. When he finally got a glimpse of the glare she was throwing his way, he stopped jumping & sighed. "Fine… but Genkai's out there waiting for everyone. Yusuke & Kurama found something out & they picked me up on the way back here."

Yusuke stopped, jumped off the bed, & turned away towards the door. "Yeah, we did." The sudden seriousness of his voice sent a shiver of worry through Jenny. "Enough playing around, let's get this over with." He walked out of the room, not looking back at them.

Jin turned to Kuwabara. "Did Yusuke tell ya anythin' 'bout what he found?"

Kuwabara shook his head. "Nothin'. He said he wanted to tell us all together. Something about not wanting to have to say it more than once."

Well that doesn't sound good.

"Well get out of here, Kuwabara, so I can get dressed. I want to get out there & hear what they found out," Jenny said, trying to make sure she didn't sound as worried as she felt. Blushing, Kuwabara quickly left the room & closed the door behind him.

As Jenny finished slipping into her jeans, she felt Jin wrap his arms around her waist from behind. He kissed her neck, causing her to smile even though she didn't feel like it.

"Ya okay?" he asked.

Sighing, Jenny turned to look at him. "I guess so. I just want to figure out what's going on."

"Whatever they've found out, I'm here for ya. Nothin' will change that. We'll get through it, no problem," Jin said, smiling down at her.

If only I felt that confident, she thought.

The two walked into the living room & sat down in their usual spots on the couch. Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, & Genkai were all there waiting for them. There was an awkward silence for a few moments. Jenny glanced over at Kurama to see if she could get any hints as to what kind of information they'd discovered, but his face was a blank mask.

"So…" Genkai began. "I assume you're both back because you've found out something important."

"Yeah, you could say that," Yusuke said quietly. "We found out who adopted Jenny."

Jenny held her breath, waiting for him to continue. Jin squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Get on with it, Yusuke!" Hiei said, not trying to hide his annoyance.

"Well, we did some research & found out Jenny was adopted by this lady named Mari Haruno. We didn't find out much about her life with Haruno, but we did find out that she didn't stay with her past the age of 18," Yusuke said.

"Why?" Jenny asked curiously. Mari Haruno… my adopted mother….

"That's where this story gets a little more… strange.. & dark." The fact that Yusuke was acting this apprehensive worried Jenny. He didn't let things get to him like this easily. "You see.. We found out Haruno has some dealings with demon world. I guess Haruno sells humans to demons."

"Sells humans to demons? What for?" Kuwabara asked, sounding appalled.

"Haruno made good money selling humans to demons to be used as slaves," Yusuke paused. "The kind of slaves that are used for more than just cleaning around the house, if you catch my drift."

Slowly the realization dawned on her. "Sex slaves?!" she asked. Does this mean….? "Yusuke, are you saying…?!"

"Koenma, after doing some research, found some clues that lead us to discover that Haruno had sold you to a demon named Kai when you turned 18," Yusuke said quietly, avoiding her eyes.

Jenny felt Jin's hand tightening around hers. She could almost feel the anger boiling off of him.

"I don't understand.. If I was sold to this demon years ago, how did I end up in that park without my memories?" She didn't think it had fully sunk in yet. She was still so confused.

"Well, Koenma also found out some stuff about why this specific demon bought you," Yusuke said, obviously uncomfortable.

"Spit it out, already!" Genkai growled.

"I should be the one to say this, Yusuke," Kurama spoke up before Yusuke could say anything else. His eyes were empty of emotion, but Jenny could sense that it was just a way for him to maintain control. "The demon who bought you knew me before I was re-born as a human. Let's just say we didn't get along. I'd caused him some problems back then. Somehow Kai found out what I'd done & discovered that I had a sister who was put up for adoption. Unfortunately, the woman who adopted you ended up being someone with ties to demon world. I'm sure he was incredibly happy to discover this. He made arrangements with Haruno to buy you on your 18th birthday. I guess he hoped to hurt me through my sister, but for some reason he hadn't revealed it yet."

"This still doesn't explain why you found Jenny in the park without her memory," Hiei stated.

"We aren't exactly sure about parts of that, but we pieced together that Jenny must've escaped from Kai somehow, found her way back to the living world, & passed out from exhaustion before doing anything else. She must've gotten into living world right before Kurama found her, otherwise I bet Kai would've found her before Kurama. Once Kurama had her, Kai probably didn't think it was safe to go after her right then. He was waiting for the right moment," Yusuke said.

"Me…" Jin said, anger seething into his voice.

"Yeah, exactly. We think he was the one using you to get to Jenny," Yusuke replied.

"Why wouldn't he just come & try to take me back? Why go through the trouble to use Jin to hurt me?" Jenny asked.

"Because his main goal was to use you to get to me, we think he was trying to hurt you more than anything. He wasn't necessarily trying to get you back at that point. I'm assuming he thinks we discovered something & that's why we have you. Or maybe he thought eventually he could use Jin to get you back to him somehow," Kurama said.

Jenny sat in stunned disbelief. She'd been so eager to find out more about her past & now… now she wanted nothing more than to go back to knowing nothing. I was used as a sex slave. Those words kept repeating in her mind. She looked down at herself, feeling like a stranger in her own body. She didn't remember any of it. How could she not remember anything? She saw a tear fall onto her jeans. She hadn't even realized she was crying. She wiped the tears away, feeling slightly embarrassed that the others were seeing her cry again.

Suddenly she realized that Jin was no longer sitting next to her. He was standing next to her, fists clenched at his side. Jenny could feel the anger radiating from him.

"I'll kill that bastard!" Jin yelled as he angrily moved across the room toward the doorway.

Yusuke ran & blocked Jin's exit, grabbing onto Jin's arms to stop him. Jin moved to push Yusuke out of the way, but by then the others had moved to help stop Jin. Jenny felt more tears well up in her eyes.

"You have to stop & think, Jin!" Yusuke yelled at him. "We need to do this the right way! Going after him all angry like this without a plan is a good way to get yourself killed!"

Before she even realized it, Jenny was pushing her way past Hiei & Kuwabara to get to Jin. She put a hand on his arm. "Jin… please..," she pleaded.

Jin turned to look at her, his eyes blazing with anger. Jenny flinched, fearing for a moment that his anger was directed at her. Maybe he doesn't want to be with someone who's… who's been a sex slave. She pulled her hand away & took a step back.

Jin closed his eyes trying to calm himself & put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Jenny. I won't leave.. Yet." He spoke to the others briefly. "Let me talk to Jenny alone, guys."

Without waiting for their answer, Jin took Jenny's hand & gently pulled her from the room. They walked down the hall in silence as he led her to their room. After Jin closed the door, he turned to look at her. Slowly, he walked toward her & wrapped his arms right around her.

"I'm so sorry, Jenny….," he whispered. "I can't imagine how ya must be feelin' right about now."

Jenny pulled him close & laid her head on his chest. "Honestly, I don't really know what to feel right now. I can't even remember any of it. It doesn't seem real yet."

Jin lifted her chin with his fingers so she was looking up at him. "Ya know I need ta go find this guy, right? I can't let him get away with this. 'Specially if he's still tryin' ta get ya back." He turned his face to look away from her. "I can't stand tha thought of ya bein' back in that situation.. Of being used like that. I won't let it happen." The anger was back in full force. "I have ta go."

Her heart was racing. The realization that Jin could go after this Kai person & get killed terrified her. "But Yusuke said…"

"I won't go in all crazy-like. I'll make a plan. I won't be stupid," Jin cut her off. He seemed set on his decision. Before she could say anything else, Jin kissed her hard on the lips. For a moment she forgot all about their conversation with Yusuke & Kurama. She forgot about what she'd learned about her past. All that mattered in that moment was Jin.

Finally they broke the kiss & they looked into each other's eyes, studying each other, for a long moment.

Sighing, knowing Jin was going to go whether she wanted him to or not, she took his hand. "Let's go talk with the others & figure out a plan."

After a long discussion, Yusuke decided that he'd go with Jin to hunt down Kai. They'd go talk to Koenma first to see if he could help them at all first. Hiei & Kurama were planning on staying at Genkai's, at least for now, to help protect & train Jenny.

It had been hard to say goodbye to Jin. Jenny had just found out all of this craziness about her past & she was still trying to process that. And now on top of that the one person she could really talk to, the person she cared about the most, was leaving. She was immensely worried that he'd get hurt or worse. Jin tried to make her feel better about all of it, but it didn't help. She'd put on a brave face & pretended like she believed him, but she was still worried. They'd held each other for a long time before they had finally left. Jenny watched, tears streaming down her face, as Jin & Yusuke left.

Jin, you'd better come back in one piece.

After a while, Jenny walked back inside. She moved slowly through the hallway toward her room feeling like she was in a haze. She reached for the door, but paused when she heard a voice behind her.

"Jenny, could we talk?" Kurama stood in the hallway looking at her with an expression she couldn't quite read.

"Uh.. sure," Jenny replied as she turned to look at him.

"Let's go out this way," Kurama gestured toward the door leading outside. "It's just a beautiful day out. It'd be a shame to let it go to waste."

She was surprised by his kind demeanor, but she nodded & followed him. They sat on the edge of the porch, looking out at the forest. Kurama was right, it was truly a beautiful day. A light wind rustled through the trees as sunlight shone through the branches.

After a few moments of silence Kurama said, "I'm so sorry for all of this, Jenny."

Stunned, Jenny turned her head to look at him. "Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything."

"Kai adopted you & used you as…." his voice trailed off. "He was using you to get to me." Kurama didn't look at her, he simply stared out into the forest.

"You had no control over that. You had no way of knowing. It wasn't your fault I was adopted by that terrible woman," Jenny said. She put a hand on his shoulder & as she did he turned to look at her. "This is not your fault, Kurama."

He watched her for a minute, seeming to read her face & thinking about her words carefully. Finally he gave her a small smile. "I'm not sure I'll be able to feel that way about it, but I appreciate your kind words."

Jenny gave him a smile back & moved her hand from his shoulder. "It's like you said a while back… we're family. I know we had a 'more than a little awkward' start…" Kurama gave a small laugh. "But I hope we can move past all that."

"I'm not going to lie to you & say I'm not embarrassed about the whole situation before we found out we were brother & sister," Kurama said sheepishly. "But I've had some time to think about it. I felt drawn to you the moment I met you. I eventually assumed it was because I had some sort of feelings for you. Now that we know about our.. history… I don't think it was the kind of feeling I originally thought. I think I felt drawn to you because deep down I knew we were connected." He gave her another small smile. "That twin bond thing, I suppose."

"That makes sense," Jenny said thoughtfully. She nudged him with her elbow playfully. "Why is it that you got the gorgeous red hair & I got stuck with this brown hair, huh?"

Kurama laughed & nudged her back. "Luck, I guess."

It feels good to finally be back on good terms with him, she thought to herself. I have a twin brother… someone to talk to now….

"All joking aside, though, Jenny," Kurama said, his expression & tone turning more serious. "I want you to know that I'm here for you. I am your brother & I'm going to help protect you."

Jenny felt relief rush through her. My brother. "Thanks, Kurama." She pulled him into a hug. "You don't know how much it means to hear you say that."

She felt Kurama smile as he returned the hug.