CHAPTER 4:

Forgive the super late update, folks! Please Read and Review just like always!

He watches them. He had watched them when they had arrived in New York. He had watched the girl talk to Joe Starling, the star detective from the Homicide Department of the NYPSD. He had watched her stomp her way out of the cop central and walks to their hotel room like a typhoon ready to punish anyone who was at the wrong place at the wrong time at that moment.

The Taker smiled despite himself. That girl will cost him millions. She's a child with a healthy body and—according to his researches on her—a healthy brain too. She'll be the perfect subject.

He swirled his red wine as he laid out a perfect plan to abduct the girl. The girl who was actually not aware of his presence. That girl. That girl London Jorrielle Brix Sawada-Hibari. She's the daughter of the former Namimori Middle School and High School prefect and the most popular guy in both school levels too so it was not a surprise for the Taker that the child is the perfect subject. Genes from a brave and healthy father and genes from a genius mother will surely make a product like a girl with a healthy personality, mind and body.

Kyouya jotted down notes, organized, analyzed, re-organized and re-analyzed things on his victim board. There's got to be something that connects the victims to the suspects except the data that they already have. Something. Something that could point out the suspects. His head and heart throbbed in pain.

He couldn't think of Jorrielle now. He told himself. She's safe in their hotel room. He made sure of that. He had sent two police officers after her when she ran out of cop central. He has to focus on the job at hand.

"Hey, boss, want some coffee?" Houston asked while holding two mugs of brewed coffee. He knows that his boss is far from okay. This is the first time he had seen his boss so disoriented. The fight between him and JB had gone worse than any argument that had gone on between the father and child tandem before. This time, ego and worry went against each other. Ego was on JB's side and worry went to Kyouya's side. He couldn't possibly tell who's wrong and who's right between the two persons since the two of them has their own points.

"Yes, please." Kyouya said quietly and took the offered mug of coffee and sipped on it. "How is she?" he couldn't stop himself from asking. He might have been whack enough to scream at his child like that but JB is still his daughter and nothing could change that.

"She's okay. I just had the report from the two uniforms that are guarding her in the hotel. She's okay. Nobody went in or out of your room from the past four hours except for the room service she asked at 19:04." He smiled at his partner. "You have every right to worry about her but you know that she's tougher than you want to admit to yourself, right?"

Kyouya sighed exasperatedly. He massaged his temple. "Computer, give me the percentage of my daughter running away from the hotel, given the circumstances." He commanded his computer. "Multitask, give me the percentage of Joe Starling being Tsunayoshi Sawada-Hibari."

Houston's brow shot up. "You think Starling and your wife is the same person?" he asked.

"What? Me and who is the same person?" asked Starling who had been standing unnoticed behind Houston.

"Oh, fuck! You scared me!" Houston exclaimed with an exaggeratedly shocked face. He likes Starling and hell if he wouldn't admit to his self that he's attracted to the brunet. If Starling was indeed Hibari-san's wife, there is a huge reason for the raven to fall in love with the brunet.

"You and my wife looks the same. I was just having some things going around." Kyouya answered matter-of-factly. He typed furiously on the keyboard. He likes doing things manually. He only uses the computer intelligence net whenever he's asking for percentages.

"Your wife? You mean I look like a girl?!" Starling looked totally confused and amused at the same time. This was the first time somebody had told him that he looked like somebody else.

"No. my wife was a guy." Kyouya said with a shrug. "He was beautiful anyway."

"So you're saying I'm beautiful?" Starling's face pinked up. He would be lying if he said that he was not flattered by what Hibari said.

"No, I said my wife was beautiful. I didn't say that you are beautiful. I simply said that you and my wife are look-alike." Kyouya said with a shrug.

Starling's face flared up. How dare this guy make fun of him?

Task complete number one, complete. The percentage of your daughter running away from the hotel given the circumstances is 90.76%.

"I thought so." Kyouya rubbed his temple. "Kyle, you go check on her. Bring her here, if you must."

Houston shrugged as he left the office.

Task number two, complete. The probability of Joe Starling being Tsunayoshi Sawada-Hibari is 78.89%.

Kyouya stared at Starling. The man in front of him definitely has the same body shape as his Tsunayoshi. They also have the safe face. He shrugged. There is something off about the man, in Kyouya's thought. "How old are you?" he asked.

"30, why?" Joe blinked like an owl.

"Nothing. You're older than my Tsunayoshi then." Kyouya said. He was being talkative but he didn't mind.

"What kind of person is your Tsunayoshi?" Starling asked as he took the chair nearest to him and sat.

"Hmm… he's fidgety, cowardly, childish, a genius, weird, physically incapable of fighting but he's strong in his own way. He's beautiful and he's a wonderful wife. He loves Jorrielle and me more than anything else."

Starling watched Kyouya's face as it lit up while he was talking about his deceased wife. "You really love him, don't you?"

Kyouya chuckled. "No, I don't." he said.

"Come on! Don't deny it! You know you do!" Starling said with an overly friendly smile.

"I don't love him. I adore him."

Starling's jaw dropped. Wow, I didn't expect this guy to be romantic. Gosh! Tsunayoshi! You sure are lucky to have a husband like him!

"Why do I have to come back here? I'm sleepy, you know!" JB's voice was grumpy and obviously not in the best of moods when they entered Kyouya's office. She glared at her own father but smiled sweetly at Starling. "Hey, there, Joe! What's up?"

"Hi, JB! Nothing's up still so we're still investigating."

Kyouya's brow shot up. "You're investigating?"

Starling cleared his throat. "Correction: you're daddy's still investigating. I'm just sitting here, asking about your mother."

"But you're my mother, right?"

Kyouya flinched. His eyes darted towards his child. W-what the—! He forced himself to laugh. "What are you talking about, Jorrielle? Your mother has been dead since you were a baby."

"But he was never found. He might be alive."

"He's not." His voice slightly rose. He sighed exasperatedly. "Look, Jorrielle, I have a case to investigate here. Think whatever you want to think for now but don't get your hopes up. If your mom is indeed alive, don't you think he'd come home immediately to us? That's how I know my Tsunayoshi. He's not the type of person to just give up on his loved ones."

"What if he had amnesia?" JB looked at Starling before looking at Kyouya. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. Her heart wants to believe that the man in front of her was indeed her mother; the mother she'd always wanted.

Kyouya didn't answer. He simply stood up and walked towards JB and carried her in his arms. "Hush… Okay, don't cry now… I just don't want you to get your hopes up, baby. It's been seven years. Are you saying that I'm not enough for you?"

"No! That's not what I meant!" tears flowed down JB's cheeks. "I love you, daddy. I-I just wanted to think that mom is still alive. I didn't mean to say that you're not enough! You're more than enough!" she buried her face into her father's shoulders.

Kyouya tightened his hold on JB as he buried his face into her thick, dark hair. "Go to sleep now, baby. Daddy's here to keep you safe."

Starling watched as the father-daughter held each other. How nostalgic…

Machines beeped in the white room. Someone's breathing is heard. He moved a finger…

"Hey, Houston, those two are a unit, aren't they?" Starling said as he sipped on his third mug of coffee.

"Hell, they are. When I first became Hibari-san's partner, we were having this important case. We were chasing a murderer when the kid's teacher called saying that JB was hurt while playing with a couple of friends. Damn! In a second, he braked the car and left me hanging. He let me chase the murderer on my own—a newbie cop!" Houston said with a laugh. He was almost killed in that case. The murderer shot at him and it barely touched his head.

"Wow! What happened to JB back then?"

"When I found out what happened to her, I wanted to pound her with my fists. I haven't met her yet back then. But when I saw her, all the will to pound her disappeared. She told me that she 'dove' into the mud pool and her knee scraped a sharp stone."

Starling couldn't stop the laughter that burst out of him.