Chapter Seventeen
The wind whipped around rambunctiously as the cargo ship prevailed on. The sky had taken to showering them with rain and hail, and the seas were incredibly rough. Outside the thunder rumbled loudly, its grim laughter shaking the sides of the boat.
Black Jack sat in Kisaragi's cabin, holding a glass of scotch. It had been a couple of hours since they left port. It would take them at the very least twelve hours to reach Hong Kong. Kisaragi had explained the situation to the captain, and the captain had set the engines at full speed ahead. It was the most that they could do for now.
"You don't know how much I appreciate this," Black Jack said to Kisaragi, turning his head to look at her. "I'm serious—this guy has had me running all over Japan."
"What are you going to do once you see him?"
Black Jack stroked his chin slightly, and his eyes narrowed as he started to think of a plan. "I don't know. But I'll think about it. I don't think I'll kill him…"
"Really?" Kisaragi exclaimed, surprised.
"Yes. I can think of better punishments. See, if I killed him, he could rid himself of the guilt. Of the pain. I want him to suffer the longest that he possibly can," Black Jack said darkly, his voice a growl.
Kisaragi lowered her head, almost afraid to look at him. He set down his glass of scotch, and pressed his hands together.
"You see, Daitaro's not really the only one behind this, as I've already said… That person I may kill. But I don't like to get my hands dirty at the same time."
"…But didn't you say that you brought a gun?"
He raised his eyebrows, looking at her. "Oh? Oh that's right. I did. I originally just had it to kill him… but now I realize that I could use it for protection, and I also want to formulate a better plan."
A silence passed over, and they listened to the storm outside. Kisaragi then, after being deep in thought, smiled at him.
"You know. You've… you've changed quite a bit." Kisaragi said softly. "The way that you talk about Pinoko… and Yukia, too… the way that you feel for them…"
"Yes. I know. I've discovered this too." He nodded.
"It's funny," she said, "because I never thought that you would become the type of man that… would want that kind of thing. When we were… together, I doubt that having a future with me ever crossed your mind."
He smiled at her. "Well we were very young back then."
"Yes… so young…" she recalled, murmuring. He remembered how she had worried that when she woke up, he wouldn't love her anymore… and how he had kissed her and said that the moment was going to last forever.
But the bitter truth is that young love doesn't last forever, and the two of them should have known better. Yet, the experience had provided her with some nice memories.
"Well," she said, getting up and walking over to her bed, which was actually a bunk bed, "I'm going to go to sleep. You can take the bottom bunk if you like."
"Thanks… I think I will get some sleep." He took off his cloak and climbed into the bottom bunk of the bed.
And for the first time in a long time he actually slept relatively peaceful.
The morning came and with it, a view of Hong Kong's harbor. Kisaragi and Black Jack were awoken early by a sailor, who rushed them up to the deck to show them that they were there.
Black Jack had his suitcase in hand, and he gripped it, flexing his fingers around the handle. He stared determinedly, scanning the area for the yacht that had just slipped from his sight the previous day.
"There," Black Jack said suddenly, extending a finger. "There's the yacht!"
He saw the yacht that was already positioned next to a dock. Kisaragi spotted it too, and she turned to him.
"We've got a lifeboat that we could borrow," she told him, twisting around. "It would get you there faster."
"That would be perfect. Thank you Kisaragi."
The lens of her glasses flashed. "I'm coming with you."
"What…?" he said in disbelief, turning to her.
She smirked. "I think that I could handle myself, Dr. Black Jack. After all, I'm not the same woman that you used to know."
"Woman…?" a sailor mumbled in disbelief, and then the two had run off to go find the lifeboat.
They reached the shore within five minutes, and while they were slightly soaked with the ocean's salty water, it had not stopped them at all. Kisaragi panted a little from all the rough rowing and she looked up at Black Jack as he exited the lifeboat.
"Thank you," he said, casting a smile over his shoulder. "But this is where I leave you."
"I said I was coming with you—"
"—this is my revenge alone, Kisaragi," he told her firmly. "Thank you… but we must part here."
She saw his shadowy black figure stalking away then, and she was speechless. Then she stood up, and dusted the sand off of her pants. She cupped her hands around her mouth and called out after him.
"Doctor! Be careful, okay?"
He stopped, and smiled again, nodding. Then wordlessly, he turned around again and took off.
He caught sight of one of Daitaro's henchmen in the crowd, and Black Jack's hand moved for the pistol that he kept concealed beneath his cloak. As the people cleared away, he saw that Daitaro was being led over to a set of black cars. Black Jack gritted his teeth and summoned up the courage to call out to him.
"DAITARO USAMI!" he bellowed out at him.
Daitaro glanced over his shoulder, and he bared his teeth at Black Jack. Though he turned around and tried to charge towards him, the henchmen wrestled him into one of the cars and it took off. Black Jack stopped a taxi that was passing by, and he forcefully removed the driver from it, and then took off at a high speed.
One of the men leaned out of the window and started firing a rifle at him. The bullets cracked and dented the glass heavily, but Black Jack took out his pistol and fired back. He aimed for one of the tires, and the bullet caused it to have a blowout.
The car screeched and skidded before making an erratic right turn towards what looked like a junkyard. It careened through the high barbed wire fence and hurtled towards a warehouse in the distance. Black Jack sharply steered and the tires of the car shrieked, and he chased after them.
One of the men had removed Daitaro from the car and was rushing him into the warehouse. The other with the rifle started randomly firing rounds off at Black Jack. The bullets ricocheted in a half circle from the left front of the car to the roof to the other side. Black Jack winced, and then he leaned out the window and fired his pistol. The man's hand seemed to explode and he roared furiously, collapsing to the ground with his bleeding hand, unable to hold the rifle any longer. Black Jack climbed out of the car and rushed forward. With a swift kick, he moved the rifle out of the man's way and fired a bullet into his leg.
He headed into the building, and was greeted by empty nothingness. The warehouse, spare for a couple of random metal barrels, was completely empty. A watery black darkness draped over the south of the room.
"DAITARO!" he bellowed furiously. "Come out from where you're hiding! Daitaro!"
"I am Kyobona!" Daitaro suddenly emerged from the darkness, and he charged at Black Jack, carrying a sharp knife.
Black Jack dodged the hit, and cuffed Daitaro over the head with the heel of the pistol. The henchman tried to jump him from behind, but he fired a round into his leg, and the man fell back. Daitaro was on his knees now, and he reached for his knife once again, but Black Jack grabbed it and tucked it away.
"You…" Black Jack snarled, surveying the man.
He was a young man, certainly. He had slicked back black hair, with oddly pale blue eyes, and his face was riddled with what could be both acne scars and signs of drug abuse.
"You killed my family." He crouched down to the man's level. "You realize that, don't you? You killed my wife. You killed my son. A five year old boy. Murdered them both. What kind of sick bastard are you?"
"The one that won," Daitaro retorted, spitting a wad of blood onto one of Black Jack's shoes.
Black Jack pressed the pistol to his head. "You better tell me right now who put you up to this."
"No. Never. No one did. Ronny would have wanted me to," he babbled now, his eyes widening and shrinking at a rapid rate. He finished, "Since you killed him."
"Oh?" Black Jack removed a long coil of rope and lashed Daitaro's wrists and ankles together. He did the same to the henchman in the corner after applying anesthesia.
Then he left the building.
Daitaro didn't remember how long it seemed that he was suspended in darkness, listening to the sound of his henchman snore through his drug induced sleep. But he heard it. The distinct sound of his brother's voice. He saw him, standing there in the doorway of the warehouse.
"Brother!" tears instantly flooded to Daitaro's eyes. "Oh Ronny!"
Ronny approached him, but his face was blank. Daitaro started talking rapidly, excitedly.
"Ronny, did you kill the doctor? I hope you did, Ronny. That guy was nuts! Coming in here and tying me up like this… Ronny, you're okay aren't you? Who fixed up your gunshot wound, Ronny?"
Ronny said nothing. Daitaro's happiness faltered. Ronny stepped into the light.
And then removed his mask.
Daitaro let out a horrified scream, tears shooting from his eyes, as he recoiled and wriggled on the floor uncontrollably, almost as if he was having a seizure. Black Jack threw the mask to the ground, and the wig as well.
"Someone has tricked you Daitaro. With a trick as simple as that," Black Jack told him sternly, standing over his spastic body. "And they've probably taken away the people that you and I both love."
Daitaro was sobbing, his voice a low moan as he repeated, "Ronny… Ronny…"
Black Jack gritted his teeth. He might be broken at this point. He jumped at the sound of a slow clapping that was coming from behind him. He turned around and his eyes widened at what he saw.
There was Shou Usami, sitting in his wheelchair that was positioned in the doorway. Shou chuckled darkly, drawing a hand to his mouth.
"Oh boy you are more clever than I give you credit for. When we tried to lose you in Yakushime, I guess that didn't work too well did it?"
"Shou… you…?"
"Yes. Me. Haven't you heard of the saying not to judge a book by its cover?" Shou clucked his tongue and waggled his finger. Then Black Jack suddenly recognized it.
Shou's voice back in Kyoto had been softer, lighter. The voice that Shou was speaking in now wasn't—it was the voice of Kyobona, of Daitaro.
It had been Shou all along. Daitaro had had nothing to do with this. He was just a pawn.
"So what? You're not really crippled?" Black Jack demanded.
"Oh yes, I'm crippled… and incredibly rich." Shou smirked, wheeling in. "See, Daitaro's love for his brother is quite similar to the love that my brother had for me. Except, I never returned the love that my brother gave me.
"Years ago… that accident that severed my spinal cord? Their father and I were playing out in the road. It was his idea, not mine… and when the ball careened suddenly out of our path, he had tried to go after it… but I caught up to the ball. And then my life was over."
Shou's mouth was set in a thin line, his eyes glazed. "I was the older brother. I was the favorite back then. I was the one that was going to grow up and go onto college… to get out of Kyoto was one of my greatest dreams. And it was taken from me just like that. My parents paid for his college instead of mine. So he had to pay, don't you understand? The whole family had to pay.
"My brother supplied me with money for the rest of my life. I of course used it against him. I assembled a team of suited men, and when the boys came of age, I realized how easily that Daitaro could be manipulated… see Ronny was like me. Ronny was smart. And the smart ones have to die. So I arranged his death.
"From then on I realized that I could use Daitaro's persona and body to my advantage… I decided that I wanted power. I was going to grow. I was going to take my hold over this world." Shou reached a wispy hand beneath his robe and withdrew a gun.
"Why did you kill the other doctors?" Black Jack shouted furiously. "Why?"
"To make it look like Daitaro had arranged for their deaths… and also, because I am just simply not a very nice man." He smiled tightly. "Those doctors, just like you, Black Jack, charged rather expensive fees to save a couple of lowly doppelgangers… which they didn't follow through on."
Black Jack was horrified. He took a couple of steps back. Shou remained where he was.
"But now it looks like my little escapade has come to an end," he said, the corners of his mouth twisting downwards. "Oh well… at least I'm taking you down with me."
He fired a couple of rounds into the barrels, and gasoline started leaking out. He shot Black Jack and the hand that had been holding the gun. Shou ripped open his robe further and revealed that he had explosives strapped to him. He pulled a couple of the cords, and a timer with digital numbers starting rapidly counting down. Two minutes…
Black Jack glanced over at Daitaro, who looked back at Black Jack with terrified eyes. Black Jack realized that he was not going to be able to save him. He would barely get out alive himself.
Black Jack picked up his gun and fired once with his good hand, so that Shou could no longer hold his gun. Shou hardly flinched. He was now chanting something in a foreign, other worldly tongue… prayers for the departed. Every now and then he stopped and cackled hysterically, oblivious to the fact that his hand had a gaping bloody hole in it.
The beeping on the timer became more rapid and Black Jack started crawling, inching along the ground, till finally he had reached the outside. Once out there, he managed to get to his feet and stumble out towards the vehicle.
And then, just as on that night that was not too long ago, he witnessed a terrifying explosion that set fire to the whole sky.
A/N: So BJ has saved the day, right? But… there's still more!