Fuenfunddreissigsten Kapitel: Familie iste Mehr als Blut; Es sind die Bonds Wir Schmieden

Jaiden listened as Carl gave his report. Her green eyes looked up as she noted movement from the corner of her eye and gave Ban a beckoning wave as he approached in curiosity. She took a deep breath as she slowly began to realize that Lee was her suspect; they just needed more physical proof, which she did not doubt they would get. But what troubled the young Captain was the fact that Lee had somehow discovered the truth about TSgt. Pierce being of the Moon.

"And the commissary didn't have video surveillance of the parking lot, I suspect." She remarked once the Texan was done.

"No, ma'am."

"Kuso." She swore, "Try to see if you can get a hold of Valdez, but I doubt he remembers much else."

"Will do." Carl replied then paused.

"Yes?"

"So what do you think about Markus?"

Jaiden was quiet for a moment. Her subordinate had an eye for spotting talent, particularly talent that would serve well in the 13th. While she normally encouraged such finds, at the moment she did not feel comfortable with bringing in a new cub into their World; especially not with the threat of the Covenant and Baldur hanging over their heads. The last thing she wanted to deal with the cub not being able to handle the truth of their World and then run into the arms of the Hunters, who would gladly use the cub as a weapon against the Children of the Moon.

"Captain?"

"We'll keep an eye on him." She answered, "Once we have this case to bed then we'll approach him and go from there."

"Yes, ma'am!" The Texan's voice gave away the fact that he was grinning, "And by the way, have fun at the party."

"I'll be sure to have pictures sent to you." She remarked then hung up to look at Ban.

Everything alright? The brunette asked as he sat down next to his Schwesti.

We might be getting closer to our suspect, but we won't know for sure until we follow up on a few leads.

Do you think these leads will point us to the Covenant?

Probably, but we won't know for certain until we arrest Lee. Jaiden cautioned despite what her instincts were telling her that Lee was her suspect and that he was involved with the Covenant, Where's Ginji?

He's showering before getting dressed. Ban replied, You don't mind?

Nope, just wondering.

Jaiden.

Hm…

Thanks.

For?

For the clothes and the clan colors.

Jaiden arched a brow.

You're my little brother, Beni. Why shouldn't you wear our clan's colors?

You know as well as I do that we're not really kin. Ban whispered, We're not bound by blood, but by Geis…

Luka… Jaiden sighed as she grabbed her Bruederlein's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, family is not always about blood. It is about the bonds we forge. You are my brother, in all but blood, as I am your sister, in all but blood. Nothing, save for ourselves, can break that bond.

Ban's serpentine blues stared in awe at the tiny, powerful woman. It had been a long time since anyone called him by his soul-name that he had almost forgotten that it was his name. But it was more than the fact that Jaiden had called him by his other name, it was the fact that she continued to call him family. He wondered if she ever knew what he had done to survive, would she still call him family.

"Is Ban-chan being silly again?"

The brunette froze as he heard his Sonne. He turned to glare at his Sunshine, who just looked at the quarter German in concern.

"When is he not?" Jaiden sighed as she leaned back, giving the dynamic pair a look, "But I'm more curious as to what brought about this sudden case of insecurities."

"Hunh?" Ginji's chocolate brown eyes blinked owlishly while Ban scoffed and stood.

"I'm taking a shower!"

"Ban-chan!" The blonde exclaimed then looked at Jai-chan in confusion.

"What happened since we last saw each other?" She questioned in a tone that meant she expected to be answered.

Ginji frowned as he thought about Jai-chan's question before he sighed. He knew that his Ban-chan will not be happy with him for telling, but Jai-chan was Jai-chan. She was important to the brunette as the blonde was important to Ban. Plus, she was a kitty, and kitties were vey territorial of their people, which meant she would be able to fix the problem. Normally, the former Volts Leader would not let the darker half of his personality to surface, but their last case had struck a chord in his Ban-chan, and he wanted a bit of retribution on his lover's behalf. And if that meant Jai-chan go all kitty on the problem then so be it!

"We had a case." The blonde began as he sat next to Jai-chan, "It was about an inheritance dispute. Our client wanted us to retrieve his father's Will because his older brother was planning on having it sealed to prevent their younger brother from inheriting. Or so that is what our client thought."

"What really happened?"

"The older brother was trying to ensure that our client would receive a portion of the inheritance. Our client wasn't really their brother but the son of their mother's maid. When both ladies died in a car accident, their father took in our client as another son, but for some odd reason, he never changed his Will to include our client so only the two brothers were going to inherit. When the younger brother found out what the older was trying to include our client, he got very mean and said a lot of many mean things. The younger brother was very mean and spoiled, and the older brother felt our client deserved to receive a portion of the inheritance more so than the younger."

"I fail to see how any of that is directed to Beni." She said with a slight frown on her face.

Ginji shook his head.

"I think Ban-chan might have… ano…" The blonde's expression became serious in thought, "He might have found some similarities, I guess."

Jaiden looked at nothing as she listened to her Bruederlein's blonde before standing to her feet. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to find a Covenant member and skin them alive for instilling such insecurities into her Bruederlein. Unfortunately, there was no available Covenant member for her to exact appropriate revenge on. For now, she would have to settle with showing Ban time and time again that she would always see the brunette as her little brother. She then held out her hand for the former Lightening Lord.

"Come. Let's get you dress." She said as she led Ginji to the spare bedroom of her apartment.

The blonde quietly followed the petite woman and watched her open her closet, pulling out one of three garment bags. Ginji nervously shifted foot to foot as Jai-chan pulled the clothes out of its protective cover. He knew that the clothes that she was providing would be special, and the part of him that was the abandoned orphan from the Fortress wondered if he was really worthy of wearing such special clothes. His chocolate brown eyes suddenly grew wide as he saw the beautiful colors and wondered if the colors meant something. Hesitantly he caressed his fingers against the Regency tailcoat as it remained hanging on a spare hanger. At first, Ginji thought the coat's color was black, but at a closer look, the former Lightening Lord realized that it was a dark green, a beautiful shade of dark green.

Sensing eyes on him, Ginji looked up to find Jai-chan watching him. The blonde felt his cheeks burn as he withdrew his hand away from the fancy coat. It was then he noticed the different pieces of clothing laid out on her bed. The trousers and shirt were light in color; he would not call them white, but they were definitely some shade of white. The vest was a beautiful shade of auburn while there was a simple green piece of cloth seemingly lying next to the vest. Ginji looked at Jai-chan, who smiled as she noticed the question clearly in his eyes.

"Much of the Aztlan culture was destroyed by the Conquistadors and the Jesuits." Jaiden simply began as she slowly handed her Bruederlein's Mate the clothes to wear, "What survived had to adapt to the heavy influences of Catholicism, but few things survived even beyond the Catholics' influence such as… our reverence for colors."

"Colors?" Ginji blinked.

"Yes, you see, for the Aztlan, the gods gave us the beautiful colors of the lands." She smiled, "The gods were the lands, so of course, the colors given to us were the gods' colors. Thus, we hold our colors very dearly. None more so that the colors of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent."

"Feathered Serpent?" Ginji whispered more to himself, "Ban-chan has Asclepius."

"Yes, he does." She replied, "It's a given that he would have that spirit within him since he's descendent of Joermungandr."

"Who?"

"The old myths have Joermungandr described as a monstrous serpent, but in reality, he was a Naga, a serpent shape-shifter."

"Really?!"

Jaiden nodded. "A very powerful shape-shifter, who was also believed to be a Psy."

"Like Ban-chan?"

"Not quite since Beni doesn't have a second skin." Jaiden clarified, "We of the Moon are either a Shifter or a Psy… never both."

"Ano…" The blonde shifted from foot to foot as Jai-chan helped him into his vest, "Sometimes Ban-chan has scales."

Jaiden stilled as her green eyes bore into the former Lightening Lord's chocolate brown orbs.

"Scales?"

"Uh-huh." Ginji nodded, "On his cheeks, neck and sometimes there's a little horn on the tip of his nose too. It's cute, but don't tell him I said so, and he only gets scales when he's really, really mad."

Jaiden took a step back, causing Ginji to worry if he might have said something that he should not have. Meanwhile, she made a mental note to hunt down Uncle Wilhelm and maybe beat some answers out of the witch at the possibility that her Beni could be Joermungandr reborn. Jaiden closed her eyes as she sensed a headache approaching from the wild possibility.

"What's that for?" He asked when he noted the cloth in her hand.

"This is for a cavart, but I'll let Beni put it on you." She answered, happy for the distraction from her strange thoughts.

"Okay." He smiled then tilted his head to the side as he looked at himself in the mirror and froze.

"Is something wrong?" Jai-chan asked; pleased seeing him in his clothes.

"I've dressed up before." The blonde self-consciously whispered, "But not like this… I look… I look…"

"You look like a young lord of my House." She remarked as she sensed another cub with a fragile self-esteem which was making her want to hunt down those that had deemed it necessary to beat down these two bright souls, "Don't you agree, Beni?"

Ginji turned around, surprised to see the brunette out of the shower so soon. He did not think that he and Jai-chan had been talking for that long. The blonde suddenly felt his cheeks burn as he realized the intense gaze that his partner was lavishing upon him. It made him a bit self-conscious whenever the darker teen looked at him with an unexplainable hunger that always made Ginji's heart flutter.

Jaiden quietly slipped pass Ban, but not before handing the brunette the green cloth in her hand.

"Are you angry with me?" Ginji whispered as he realized that his Ban-chan might have heard everything said between him and Jai-chan. Ban-chan just expertly tied the cavart around his neck.

Ban was quiet before looking directly into his Sonne's warm eyes.

"More at myself, really." He answered honestly, "I shouldn't have allowed the case get to me, but it's kinda hard not to wonder when all this good fortune and happiness I have will be ripped from me… it's happened before."

"Ban-chan…" The blonde whispered then leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on the brunette's lips, "We won't leave you. We'll be with you as long as you'll have us, me and Jai-chan. Always."

"For as long as I'll have you, hunh?" Ban whispered as he cupped his partner's cheek, "Well, then, I plan to have you for a very long time 'cause I'm a selfish bastard."