Chapter Sixteen

Black Jack left immediately for Yakushime as soon as he had left Shintaro at the hospital. With all the traffic and various additional conditions, it took him a week to reach Yakushime. During that time, he strongly believed that he was on their tail. He believed that since he had left so soon, he would be able to confront Daitaro before he boarded the ship bound for Hong Kong.

That is, if everything went according to plan.

Yakushime was located just off of the coast of Kyushu, a small island that was separated from the four main islands. It was filled with very beautiful forests, and had only one town that survived there.

A small shipping port had been established on the southwest corner of the island near the town. Hundreds of ships passed through here every single day. The boats' purposes varied: sometimes they were tourist boats; sometimes they were fishermen, but most times they were cargo boats delivering items that otherwise could not be taken to Tokyo.

Black Jack had never been to Yakushime, but he had managed to find the shipyard pretty quickly. It was a lively place. There were several ships that were docked, floating breezily in the water. Sailors rushed back and forth, and there were crowds of people just walking all around. Machinery wheeled around at relatively brisk paces, carrying loads of boxes from here to there. Black Jack had parked his car off to the side of the road and had taken his suitcase, and then proceeded onwards.

He kept his eyes peeled for any signs of Daitaro, and any men that appeared to be dressed in suits. He saw none, but was still cautious. They could be hiding—after all, at this point, Daitaro knew that he was after him.

Black Jack went over to a small bait shop that advertised in their window that they sold tickets for boat rides. He entered the dingy little shop and approached the cashier immediately.

"Hello," Black Jack said, "I was wondering if there were any ships that were bound for Hong Kong?"

"Hong Kong?" the man mumbled, blinking. "Wouldn't it be easier to just take a plane sir?"

"Please. It's important."

"Alright, alright, hold on… let me check the logs."

The cashier turned around and picked up a folder and started leafing through it, and pulled out a chart that had several little names scribbled into it. He grabbed a pen and then circled a couple of items, and passed it over to Black Jack.

"There is a ship that is docked here, but will soon leave for Hong Kong," the cashier explained. "And also there is a private ship that was scheduled to leave around fifteen minutes ago—"

"—Fifteen minutes!" Black Jack exclaimed, almost instantly breaking into a cold sweat.

He turned and rushed out the door, and surveyed the seas before him. He saw that there was a boat, floating away in the distance, too far to catch at this point. It was definitely a large yacht of some sort. On it, Black Jack could see the distinct heavy bodied figures of Daitaro's body guards. He gritted his teeth and cursed, banging his fist into the shop's wall.

The cashier stepped out nervously and said, "Um, sir? Did you really have to get to Hong Kong? Because um, that ship was reserved for a few gentlemen, so you wouldn't have been able to get on anyways if you didn't have permission—"

"—What about the other ship?" Black Jack demanded. "Could I board that one?"

"It's a cargo ship, sir," the cashier replied meekly. "I doubt that you could unless you asked a member of the crew."

Damn! Black Jack thought furiously. Taking a plane at this point wouldn't help me none! I had to follow them directly! Otherwise I don't know where Daitaro is going next other than Hong Kong!

He scuffled along, now feeling truly defeated, and his mind was whirling around in circles. What could he do now? He had missed his one chance to confront Daitaro by a margin of fifteen minutes. The chances of meeting him again were probably slim to none. He couldn't just wander around Hong Kong aimlessly—it would most likely end up to be a waste of time.

He walked towards the shoreline, and sighed heavily, images of Pinoko and Yukia floating into his mind. He missed them deeply. He wanted to hear their voices. He wanted to be able to wake up the next day and be in his house, and be kissed by Pinoko and then have Yukia's feet come stampeding down the hallway… He wanted his revenge.

"Black Jack! Doctor Black Jack!"

Black Jack's eyebrows narrowed. The voice sounded awfully familiar, and soft and higher pitched… He turned around and saw a young man standing there, his black hair curling around his ears and his horn rimmed glasses reflecting the sunlight off of their lenses.

Except this was not a man. This was a young woman.

This was Kisaragi.

She stared at him in disbelief, a warm smile spreading across her face as she hurried up to him. She took his hand and shook it firmly.

"Doctor! How've you been?"

"Better, Kisaragi." He didn't even bother to smile.

Her face fell. "Is there something wrong?"

"You could say that… I'm trying to make it to Hong Kong and the boat that I was trying to board…" he pointed to the horizon. "…Just left."

She blinked a couple of times and then smiled. "Oh, is that it? Well I believe that the ship I'm on is bound for Hong Kong. If you want you could catch a ride with us."

"Really?" his eyebrows rose.

"Yes, yes of course! I can manage to do you a favor," she told him jokingly. "Here, let me show you to the ship."

They walked back, and while Kisaragi looked like she was near bursting on things that she wanted to say to him (after all it had been five years since she had last seen him, and that was for him and Pinoko's wedding), she kept it in because he seemed haunted by something.

They boarded the large cargo ship and Kisaragi showed him the way to her quarters. Her cabin was off to the left of her practice, which was meager in equipment but relatively large in size. The beds had been stripped down and had been freshly replaced, and everything looked perfectly sterilized.

"Doctor," she said, letting him into her cabin, "why do you need to go to Hong Kong anyways?"

"It's a long story," he said hoarsely, sitting down on the edge of a bed, "but Pinoko… and Yukia… he was our son… were killed by a member of the Jaakuna Gyangu."

"The Jaakuna Gyangu?" her eyes widened to the size of saucers at the recognition of the name. "Oh my God. Pinoko…?"

"Yes. Dead. They blew up my house when I couldn't save the brother of the leader, Daitaro Usami."

She put both hands over her mouth and looked very grim. If Kisaragi were still claiming to be a woman, she probably would have cried for him. But though her eyes were red and slightly wet, she did not cry.

"Black Jack… I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," he grumbled in response. "But I'm after him, and that's why I need to get to Hong Kong as soon as possible."

"We'll be leaving in five minutes. How soon had the boat left?"

"It had left about fifteen minutes ago."

"We should be able to catch up to them by the time that they're docking at least," Kisaragi assured him firmly, smacking her fist into the palm of her hand. "We wouldn't be able to encounter them on the seas, but… we could keep a close watch."

She stood up from where she had been sitting on the chair in the corner. "In fact, I could ask the captain to keep an eye out for any boats headed our way. He's an awfully good tracker—retired from the military years ago."

Black Jack was surprised at how determined that Kisaragi seemed. She had always been quiet, and reserved, but now, it seemed like his misery was actually going to spark something into her personality.

"Black Jack, I promise that I will help you as best I can," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "After what you did for me…"

He smiled gently, the memories of their youth flooding back to his mind: her former beauty, their unrequited love for one another, their first and only kiss… and the day when Kisaragi had announced that she was going to leave for the boat… He had been heartbroken that she wouldn't be around him. But he would get over it in time. And in fact, his love for her had been scraps compared to what he had felt for Pinoko.

"Kei…" he addressed her by her first name; her new name. "Thank you."

A/N: Woot! Another drama bomb has been dropped! Hope you enjoy this chapter. After this it's four more chapters to the end… so things are going to get pretty exciting! (I hope that everything that I wrote about Kisaragi was relatively accurate… there's so little information on her…) And so anyways, R&R and thank you!