Jounouchi was furious. No, scratch that. He was downright pissed, as he paced through the corridors of Domino General Hospital. He was outside of one of the private suites used to house critical inpatients. When Mai had called him earlier saying she was on her way to the hospital, he had been worried sick. It was this worry, coupled with fear, that compelled him to excuse himself from Yami and his entourage, citing that Mai was a bit under the weather from not having fed yet, and needed him to drive her home from her shopping errands (the excuse he had given for her going out in the first place as neither he nor her had wanted their friends alerted to her true agenda). It was probably the lamest excuse he had come up with, Jounouchi reflected, but it had worked, as not one of them had stopped him from tending to his wife. Only Shizuka had chastised him by saying 'how Mai should know better than to run around on an empty stomach'.
In all his worry for his wife, fear that Matushita had harmed on her, Jounouchi never expected the roles to be reversed. That it was Jirou who had been attacked – and not Mai – by a mystery group of vampires, and that his wife had consented for Jirou to receive treatment at the behest of Jirou's younger half-sister.
Jade. Jounouchi ceased pacing in the doorway, observing as Doctor Sally Po checked on the drip that was connected to Jirou's right arm. At the foot of the bed where her brother lay unconscious, Jade was slumped over forward in one of those uncomfortable white-plastic chairs. The young dhampir's hair hung in a limp pool around her, as her hands cradled her distraught face. Jounouchi cursed under his breath. Mai was right. Screw Yami's decree. The kid shouldn't have to suffer for her brother's mistakes.
A hand on his shoulder brought Jounouchi out of his thoughts. Mai's familiar scent flooded his nostrils. "Hey," she whispered. "I made us some drinks." She handed him a Styrofoam cup of liquid.
"Thanks." He took a drink. The burning sensation of the alcohol-laced blood hit his throat and he grimaced, "Whisky?"
Mai shrugged. "I thought we could use it."
"I'd say your right." Jounouchi frowned. "You do realize that by helping them, you've just signed the death warrant on your career, don't you?"
"Maybe I have," Mai admitted.
"I've gone soft," she continued, "Then again, I did always have a soft spot when it came to that kid. I don't know. I guess I'm just pissed off that she got the short end straw for something that wasn't her fault."
"You shouldn't be so quick to jump to my defense, Mai." Jade's voice startled both vampires from their conversation. She stared intently at the screen of her red RAZR phone, her swift fingers where punching out a text message. "I'm sorry," she added when both vampires tensed at her interruption. "But I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. My hands aren't as clean as you may think; I too, share Jirou's in transgression."
"What are you talking about, kid?" Jounouchi wondered aloud. "You weren't even around when Jirou killed –"
Jade's head snapped up. "I'm not talking about what happened three millennia ago before each of us existed. I'm talking about here and now!" Her body trembled and she swallowed heavily, choking back a sob. Jounouchi and Mai starred in utter confusion as tears ran down her face.
"Jade," it was Sally who spoke. The doctor had temporarily abandoned her routine check on Jirou and was now focused solely on her fellow dhampir. She rubbed the young girl's back soothingly. "Jade, you're tired. You don't know what you're saying –"
Jade jerked out her embrace. "No Sally! I'm sick of living like this and tired of the deception. Every day, she learns more, getting closer to the truth. The truth that Jirou constantly ignores, and now we've got a bunch of homicidal maniacs after us. No more. We need help, the consequences are damned. I want to repent, Sally. I want to make it right. I want to heal our family."
"Yes, I know. But Jade, they say the road to hell is often paved with good intentions.
"I know, but I've already text Otogi and told him what's going on. They're on their way here now. I'm ready Sally. Jirou may not like it, but it's for the best."
"Okay, just what the hell is going on?" Jounouchi wanted to know. "And what are you two babbling about?"
"There was a reason Jirou quit Kaiba Corp all those years ago Jounouchi." Jade dried her eyes with her coat sleeve. "It was the same reason that I couldn't personally deliver your wedding gift. On the night of the massacre, Jirou rescued a pre-teen girl from one of the victim's residences. She was human, but there was something about her that unsettled my brother. I didn't understand why he had become almost obsessed with a mere human, to the point where he'd let her openly live with us –"
"Your brother let a human reside with you?"
"The rumors were true." Mai placed a thoughtful finger on her chin, while she eyed Jade. "But Jirou told me that the arrangement was temporary when I quizzed him earlier tonight."
"It was at first," Jade admitted. "Jirou honestly had good intentions to release her to a new and loving family, but that was before he became attached to her and their bond was reformed."
Jounouchi balked. "He formed an attachment with a human? The guy's got balls. It's not easy for vampires and humans to live together."
"But it's not impossible; I wouldn't be here if it was."
"Wait a minute," Mai interrupted. "You said his attachment was reformed with her?"
"Yes, I did. You see, the girl, Anzu is an old soul reborn. Though she is completely unaware of the fact, Jirou and I sensed it right away. Well," Jade smirked, "I suppose all Jirou had to do was just to look at her and know." Her RAZR vibrated at that moment, causing her to look down at the illuminated screen. Recognizing the number, she answered the device, "Perfect timing sweetheart. I'm up here in the intensive care unit. There are some old friends of yours with me." There was a long pause as Otogi related something. "No," Jade responded. "Go ahead and bring her with you. I will handle it. You might want to tell Jun to scat though. I don't expect any things to get out of control, but given the situation, anything is possible."
"Okay, what is going on? You're acting as if somebody is about to take your head off."
"You just might," Sally muttered under her breath.
"Huh?" But before Jounouchi could ask the doctor to elaborate, Jade spoke up again.
"Mai, Jounouchi; I must show you, someone."
The sound of footfalls descending rapidly down the adjacent hall signaled the newcomers' approach. Jade gestured to the plastic chairs that Sally was now busy arranging around Jirou's little alcove of space. "You'd better sit down for this."
"Why would we need to sit down? If you're worried about your precious human friend – whom I can clearly smell," Jounouchi wrinkled his nose in emphasis at the tempting, female, and virginal scent that was wafting toward them, "Don't. Mai and I aren't newly made fledglings lacking control; we can handle being in close proximity to humans."
"It's not that," Jade was about to elaborate more when Anzu's voice reached her ears.
"Jade – Jade we're here! Otogi where is she?"
"I'm here, Anzu!" Jade called back. She saw Anzu's familiar bob of brown hair appear in the intersecting halls. "Over here!"
"Jade!" Anzu cried before looking back in the direction she'd come from. "Here, Otogi! Jade, we were so worried! What happened?" She threw her arms around Jade when she approached her.
"I'll explain later," Jade hugged the precious human tightly, as Otogi came hurrying up to them. Over Anzu's shoulders, Jade's green eyes met those of her boyfriend. "Right now we've got more important things to worry about."
"Is Jirou okay?" Anzu wanted to know.
"He's unconscious due to a drug in his system, but Sally's with him now, so he should make a full recovery, but it's going to take some time."
"Thank heaven," Anzu murmured. "Are we allowed to see him?"
"In a few," Jade promised.
"What happened?" Otogi demanded. He reached over Anzu and caressed Jade's soot-covered face.
"Some mysterious vamps in black decided to play dirty. Luckily, I had help in escaping." She gestured to where Mai and Jounouchi stood, starring in open amazement at the new arrivals.
"Oh," Anzu gasped, having just noticed Mai and Jounouchi for the first time.
Jade made the introductions. "Anzu, this is Lord Katsuya Jounouchi and his wife, Mai Kujaku. Jounouchi, Mai; this is Anzu Mazaki, my human sister." She made sure to place emphasis on 'human' and 'sister'.
"It is an honor to meet you both," Anzu said sincerely, giving the pair of strikingly beautiful vampires, who seemed to unsettled by her presence, a bow.
Jade observed that both Mai and Jounouchi looked like they had just each swallowed glass and their complexions were about the color of a lightly fried rice. "Anzu, why don't you go and sit with Jirou for a while? I'm sure both he and Sally could use the company. Otogi and I need to speak with Mai and Jounouchi in private."
"Okay." She carefully maneuvered her way around the alcove and to where Sally was, quietly greeting the doctor and taking the bedside seat.
There was a med supply closet a few doors down from where Jirou's room was, but Jade quickly bypassed it in favor of the hospital gardens, as the upcoming conversation was sure to bring the skeleton graveyard shift running. Mai and Jounouchi entered the secluded area first.
True to her thoughts, the moment the glass entrance doors to gardens closed behind her and Otogi, Jounouchi yanked roughly on her collar, and Jade found herself pinned roughly between his suddenly towering form and the limestone wall, that sectioned off the garden's centerpiece – a weird pineapple shaped fountain.
"What the hell are you trying to pull?" Jounouchi shouted. "No scratch that – I don't care. What in the hell is that thing, and why does it have Teana's face?"
"Jounouchi," Mai rebuked him sharply, as Otogi stepped between the raging vampire and his dhampir girlfriend.
"Fine," Jounouchi spat. "Who the hell is that, and why is she wearing your dead, vampire sister's face?"
"I told you. Her name is Anzu Mazaki. Her parents were killed in the Kaiba Corp Massacre. She's been living with me and my brother since then –"
It was Mai's turn to act irrationally. "Explain," she hissed through clenched teeth.
Jade's eyelashes lowered and she took a deep breath, knowing that Mai was after the simple, plain, and unaltered truth. "Anzu doesn't just bare an uncanny resemblance to my long, deceased sister. She is her - somewhat."
Jounouchi's face went dead serious upon hearing this information. "Are you talking…" he swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, "…reincarnation?"
"Yes."
Mai let out a gasp and cupped her mouth in shock, amazement, and acceptance. "This explains everything. His dreams, the pain and bell sound in his head…"
Jade shook her head. "What are you talking about?"
Jounouchi looked concernedly at Mai, but still fielded the question, "The short version? Our fearless leader has been experiencing unexplainable headaches, spacing out from time to time, and dreaming of your long deceased sister, or at least I thought it was her. Now I am not so sure –"
"How long ago was this?"
"Excuse me?"
"How long has he been exhibiting these symptoms?"
"According to Ishizu, it's been about two weeks. Why?"
"Because Anzu's been acting like a mirror image of what you just told me for the same amount of time."
"Their bond must be trying to reform itself." Otogi jumped into the conversation, with furrowed brows. "Jirou was the first connection that Anzu experienced from her previous life." He turned to Jade with a curious look. "You said that Sally deduced that if her memories from her life as Teana ever did resurface - in terms of individuals – that she would most likely remember those who were closest to her first -"
"And for a vampire, the closet individuals to you are those who are part of your bloodline and those you choose to share blood with." Mai finished.
"Familial or spousal ties," Jounouchi elaborated. "And for those who take them, Fledglings. They can fall into either of those categories, depending on how the Sire views them."
"She already views both you and Jirou as her nuclear family unit," Otogi reminded Jade. "The natural order says she'd remember her husband and extended family next."
Jade frowned. "But she's never met him in this life."
"Dreams are sometimes considered the doorways to memories – even those of a previous life. Perhaps she's made the unwitting connection to him through the dream sleep."
"You're right." Jade then changed the subject. "Did Teana have any Fledglings?" she asked Mai, knowing that the vampire had formed a friendship with Kisara and Mana, who had both been close confidants to Teana when she had been alive. If anyone present would know about what went on in her sister's day-to-day life, it would be Mai.
"Like you, none of us where around," Mai indicated to Otogi, Jounouchi, and herself. "From what I've been told, she viewed Kisara and Mana as her family, because Kisara was married to Seto and Mana was with your brother. Ishizu and Mahad, well they were together incognito – and since Yami considered Mahad his brother, that automatically meant the Ishtars were family. That's the old school version of it anyway. Nowadays, the circle is more of a cross between The Brady Bunch and Friends. But to answer your question No. Teana had didn't have Fledglings. It would have been unwise on her part anyway, like having children would have been."
"Oh yeah, the line of secession." One of the things Jirou told her, on those rare nights were he would discuss their sister, was that Teana would constantly harass both him and Mana about having a child so that she could "spoil them rotten." Jade knew, that as the Great Wife, human culture dictated that Teana bare children to continue on the royal line, but vampirism made it impossible for her to do so. Not because of sterilization, but because of a vampire's long-life span and in some rare cases, immortality (like she suspected with Seto and Atem). It was faulty to have an heir when the predecessor would live (and reign) as long as he wanted to. It could lead to power struggles and estranged relationships, and a whole host of other problems. If Teana had been anything like her reincarnation, Anzu, (who Jade did know) it would tear her apart to see the people she cared most for in the world fighting each other.
Just like it's going to now. Jirou would be furious probably to the point where he would probably disown her, but Jade knew that there was really no other option than the one she was considering. Someone was after Jirou, and quite possibly her as well. The whole fiasco at the house proved that they were in danger. Oh sure, Jirou's cases had taken a sour turn before, but none had even reached this degree of 'back off and mind your own business or you'll regret it', and put the family in immediate danger. She had briefly considered asking Hilde, Duo, Sally or even Otogi for asylum, but didn't want to put her friends in jeopardy and she would die if those creeps did something to Otogi. Her boyfriend may have a mafia at his disposal and Duo, Hilde and Sally had police protection on their side, but Jade knew that the vampires they were dealing with were professionals. They had managed to end Siegfried (who was no Average Joe in the vampire and dhampir community) and they were capable of outsmarting her brother. The vampires in black were on the payroll of someone who wasn't easily scared off by mere vigilantism and law enforcement.
The combined arsenal of Kaiba, Jounouchi, and Yami, however, was sure to make whoever it was run the other way with their tail tucked between their legs. Now, Jade knew that none of them would want to help her, as he brother had mucked up her family's good standings with the inner-circle three-thousand years ago, and under normal circumstances, she would be fine with that. However, because Mai attached herself to the investigation into Siegfried's death and Yami had shown up in Domino City, her list of informants had dwindled to near-zero, as no one dared to even to be seen with her and Jirou. Jade already suspected that it was Jirou's involvement in solving Siegfried's murder that led to the destruction of their house and her brother's immobilization.
Then again, if they knew Jirou was involved, they probably know Mai is too, which means we're up shit creek without a paddle. Still, though, why would they go after only Jirou and not the inner circle?
Perhaps it's because they figure that due to Kaiba's rivalry with Siegfried, he will just brush off his competition's death as 'an unfortunate accident'. Everyone one knows they weren't exactly cordial with each other. Unfortunately, Jirou had no such qualms with Siegfried. Otogi's voice jumped into Jade's thoughts.
Sorry, I couldn't help but sense your frustration and I wanted to see what was bothering you and if could be of any help. Besides, distracting Jounouchi and Mai with witty conversation while you zone out isn't all fun and games.
Jade blushed self-consciously. Sorry about that. Does that mean Kaiba could be accused of killing Siegfried?
Come on, babe. Do you really think anybody in the entire city, much less in the cosmos, is brave enough to accuse Kaiba of murder?
Good point. Although it still leaves the immediate problem Jirou doesn't quite have Kaiba's all-powerful reputation, nor does he have the luxury that comes with it. He's safe for now because he's on Kaiba's territory, but he's going to recover and we're going to be right back where we started – like sitting ducks. And something tells me that those creeps will stop it at nothing to get to him…
What are you, saying, Jade? Otogi had a pretty good idea where she was heading with this conversation. Still, he could not believe that she was actually considering going through with it.
I'm thinking of getting our family – at least Anzu – to the safest place possible, and right now Yami is the only failsafe we have against those creeps. They'd have to be completely desperate fools to make a stand against him.
Jade, I'm all for reuniting the star-crossed lovers, you know that. However, I think you're missing a crucial point. I mean picture you, the surviving, half-sister-dhampir and consequently, a fluke – no offense – comes demanding protection for a human girl, who bears the face of his dead wife, and is in fact, her reincarnation. Not to mention the fact that you, Jirou, and a select few others made the conscious decision to keep her from him –
Jade bristled. Anzu is her own person and not some Queen of the Damned who lived three millennia ago.
She is Teana reincarnated. The fact that Jirou took her into your home and raised her, as well as her dreams proves it! Hell, the fact that you're trying to use her to appeal to Yami's good graces proves it!
I know, and I understand. Believe me, I know more than anyone who Anzu is. But Otogi, just because she's a reincarnation doesn't automatically mean she is a slave to the past. She's free to make her own choices and live her life the way she wants too, and that's something that Jirou and his Highness are ultimately going to have to learn. Anzu is notoriously independent and stubborn, and when she finally does learn the truth, those two are going to have hell to pay. My brother because he tried to 'protect' and ultimately lied to her, and Yami because he will have tried to make her into someone she's not. I know that he'll mistakenly see her as Teana just like Jirou did and how he still somewhat does. Only this time, Anzu will know what's going on and call him on it, something she hasn't been able to with Jirou.
Otogi raised an eyebrow. You think her memories of previous life will return so easily? She's been around Jirou all this time and nothing significant has happened.
I'm not sure. But I bet my last yen, dollar or whatever, that being in close quarters with so much from her previous life will eventually trigger something. Now are you with me on this, sweetheart?
You know I am, Jade. I love you, although I hoped that we'd been at least married before you decided to go all noble and risk your life by walking into the lion's den.
Ask me later. She gave him a wink, before refocusing her attention on the outside world and the two vampires who essentially could help her and Otogi put her plan into motion. "Jounouchi, Mai; I have a favor to ask of you." She took a deep breath. "I need asylum."
"What? You're crazy! I mean Jade, were risking enough by helping you as is –"
"It's not for me. It's for Anzu. Those creeps mean business and I can't trust her safety to the police."
"Hon, you can't possibly mean you expect us to offer shelter to her –"
"She's not poison, Mai."
"I didn't say that she was."
"No, but you are thinking it. Look, I know these may seem a little unorthodox. My mission up to this point has been to keep Anzu from coming into contact with any of you, but I'm tired of the deceit and I just want her to be safe. Please, Mai…"
Mai swore. There was that helpless look again. It made her go against her better judgment earlier and bring Jirou to the medical center for treatment. "Ugh Jade, do you have any idea what you're asking from me and Jounouchi? I mean, have you ever thought about the consequences? If you thought Jounouchi was rough earlier –"
"Hey, I'm a Matushita remember? And we Matushitas don't fear his worship," she joked.
Jounouchi growled. "That's the fucking problem."
Jade sobered and her eyes turned steely and serious. "Perhaps it is," she admitted. "But I'm ready to face the consequences of my actions and will accept any punishment that awaits me."
"You sure, kid?" When she nodded, Jounouchi turned to Mai and a silent agreement passed between them. "It's your funeral, but you have our word that we will do all we can to help."
"Thank you." Jade then turned to Otogi. "I need you to do me a favor go and ask Sally if she still has that hologram of the three of us on her desk, the one she took two Christmases ago from the party at your place. Then, I need you to stay with Jirou and Anzu and have her ready when I call you. Jounouchi and Mai will see that I'm returned to you in one piece."
"You have our word both as vampires and friends, hon," Mai vowed to Otogi, as she and Jounouchi placed their fists over their hearts and bowed to him.
"I'll hold you to it," he hissed, mimicking their gestures.
Jade wrapped her arms around Otogi's waist. "I'll be just fine."
He stroked her hair. "You better be."
"Well then, I guess I've got some phone calls to make." Jounouchi took out his cell phone and pressed a speed dial. "Kaiba's going to love this." No one could tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
Mai rolled her eyes at her husband's retreating form. She knew that his grin was likely because he would somehow manage to harass Kaiba on a personal level during the serious phone call. She then looked at Jade. "Right, as soon as Otogi gets that hologram, we should get going. Punctuality may get us some brownie points with the judge and jury."
To be continued…