Chapter Eighteen

The Hong Kong police and fire trucks quickly arrived to the scene of the burning building. In a blur, just as on that night, Black Jack watched as the fire was put out, and bodies were recovered from the remains of the building. He saw the mangled body of Shou Usami, hanging together by threads, being hauled out to a black body bag. He also saw Daitaro, who was actually still alive.

Black Jack immediately got up and rushed over to Daitaro. His hair had been burned away, and his forehead was scalding. One side of his face was completely dismantled and a complete mess. Daitaro's one icy blue eye stared up pleadingly at Black Jack, begging.

"I'm a doctor," Black Jack said to one of the ambulance workers. "I'll accompany you to the hospital and perform the surgery."

He was a little surprised himself at why he was doing this. Wasn't Daitaro one of the reasons behind the death of his wife and child? Indirectly, yes… But Daitaro, who was obviously mentally ill, didn't deserve this kind of ending to his short life.

The very least that Black Jack could do was attempt to save him. And if he did end up dying, Black Jack wouldn't have very many regrets.

Daitaro was put under immediately once he was in the operating room, and also had to be put on bypass. His entire body was covered with third degree burns, and he required multiple skin grafts, and blood transfusions. If Shou Usami hadn't died such a horrible death, then his body would have sufficed for the transplants that were required. But luckily the henchman that had also been in the warehouse was able to provide some of what was needed.

Bits of shrapnel were lodged everywhere in his body. One of the aortas of his heart was damaged. Black Jack worked under the blinding, hot operating room lights, his scalpel cutting and his hands suturing the wounds, instructing with a shout in his voice to apply medicine to the IV or to hand him a tool.

After eighteen hours in surgery, Daitaro Usami was finally repaired. Black Jack stared down at the man that mirrored himself when he was a young boy, and smiled, satisfied. He had multiple scars running up and down his body, and some of the skin where he had been burned could not be replaced, so the doctors here would have to attend to that.

When Black Jack exited the operation room, instead of being able to sleep, a few members of the Japanese police approached him, arrested him, and then took him on the long route back to Yakushime…

Black Jack hadn't done anything wrong except be at the scene of a violent crime… and also shot a couple of people. But after explaining his situation to the police and after the police had talked with Mr. Takahashi, Black Jack was able to be bailed out.

"Who bailed me out?" Black Jack demanded, raising his head to look at the policeman.

The man shrugged, pushing back the iron barred door. "Don't know. But he's outside waiting for you."

Black Jack blinked in confusion and then was escorted out of the building by the policeman. Underneath the light of the bright sun, he saw the figure of Kiriko, standing with his hands in the pockets of his pants.

"Kiriko…" he narrowed his eyes. "How did you know I was here?"

"It's all over the Japanese media… famous surgeon brought down a shady organization," Kiriko said with a happy smile drawing across his face. "You're quite a hero, you know, to a lot of people."

"Huh. Never thought I'd see the day when people would recognize me as a hero. Why did you bail me out?"

"Can't we just cooperate together, doctor to doctor?"

Black Jack arched a skeptic brow. "Not really. You and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things."

He walked up to Kiriko, and then they started walking down the sidewalk away from the station. Kiriko glanced over at Black Jack. As soon as they had heard the news on the radio, he had gotten into his boat and drove off to Yakushime. It hadn't taken him very long… his boat was incredibly fast.

"So, where are you going to go now?"

"Home."

"Are you going to rebuild it?"

"Most likely," Black Jack said. "Look, Kiriko, I appreciate what you did, but I'm also confused by it and I don't necessarily trust you a whole lot. So…"

"Oh I see how it is. You say you appreciate me, but then you race off for home without even bothering to have a conversation with me…" he chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. "Oh well. I suppose I'll leave you."

He reached into his pant pocket again and withdrew a small little box. He took Black Jack's hand, and placed the box in it.

"See ya." Kiriko crossed the street, his hair whipping in the wind as he turned around.

Black Jack watched him go, and then he looked down at the box. He opened it, and then gaped.

In it, lying underneath a small cloth was the diamond wedding ring that Pinoko had.

"Pinoko." He whispered, his eyes widening.

He glanced up, and then saw Kiriko's figure turning the corner of the street. Black Jack pocketed the box and then quickly bound after him.

"Kiriko!" he yelled out, and Kiriko turned around to face him, smiling.

"What the hell is this? How did you get your hands on this?" Black Jack was trying not to be overwhelmed with emotion, but it was so hard.

Kiriko placed a hand on Black Jack's shoulder and nodded, the smile not leaving his face. "All I have to say is that… they're waiting for you."

Kiriko then motioned for Black Jack to follow, and Black Jack eagerly did.

It took them half a day to return to the island that Kiriko was staying on. Black Jack was in a dazed entrapment, drifting in and out of much needed sleep. Kiriko drove the boat, not speaking to Black Jack the whole time.

Finally when they had reached the island and had docked, Black Jack turned to speak to Kiriko. Kiriko was tying up the boat, and Black Jack looked anxious. Kiriko raised his head, blinked, and then gestured for him to move forward.

Black Jack crossed the beach that was in front of the colonial house, which he could see hidden back behind the trees. He walked along the ocean shore, listening to the waves, and then he spotted something odd on the ground. Little footprints.

Black Jack raised his head and looked towards the house, and he saw that under a gateway just on the line between the beach and forest there was a little boy, clinging to one of the posts. Black Jack felt the tears flood to his eyes. He saw the little boy fling himself from the gateway, bounding towards him on his little thin legs.

"Papa!" Yukia cried out, and Black Jack picked him up.

He hugged the boy to his chest, feeling like he wanted to cry, but Yukia was crying already.

"Papa, Papa, I missed you!" he cried, burying his face in his father's shoulder.

Black Jack nodded and his voice hoarse. He couldn't even speak. He felt so happy that it was beyond words.

He looked at his son. Yukia had grown a little taller from when he had last seen him. Yukia's eyes were shining with tears and joy as he stared back into his father's face.

"…How…?" Black Jack whispered, ruffling his hair.

"It's a secret!" Yukia said with a laugh, pressing a finger to his lips.

"Oh is it?"

"Kiriko told me to tell you that," Yukia said with a giggle.

Black Jack, laughing, scooped up Yukia and hugged him once more. His son, his son! This was too good to be true. Then he remembered. And he set Yukia down and looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Papa?" Yukia was confused.

Black Jack turned around to look back towards the house, and he noticed, that walking with slow, careful steps, was Pinoko. She was wearing a lilac sundress, and the breeze blew her hair and skirt around carelessly. She looked as beautiful as she had ever been.

Yukia smiled then, seeing his mother, and nodded to his father as if to confirm that this was not an illusion. Black Jack turned and ran towards her. She ran towards him as well. He met her with a soft impact, and lifted her up and swirled her around, drawing her close to his body. He kissed her head multiple times, the tears now running down his face.

"Chenchei…" she murmured, laughing, feeling lighter than air. "Welcome home."

He kissed her passionately, and then withdrew the box that contained her wedding ring. She gaped a little.

"I was wondering where that went!" she cried out, as he slipped the ring onto her finger. "Kiriko! You thief!"

Kiriko, who was watching from a distance, shrugged his shoulders and couldn't seem to stop laughing.

"Now we're together again, darling," she said, blushing.

He laughed, and picked up Yukia once again, kissing her, wanting to hold both of them to him as close as possible. This was the single greatest day of his life.

A/N: This is definitely one of my favorite chapters! n_n So much fun to write. I hope it doesn't come off as too corny... Anyways, there's still more mystery to the story. Two chapters left after this one! R&R as always!