A/N:
Just as a note, this is my first time writing crime genre, and I'm not completely familiar with the terminology, so pardon any misuse of terms. I did a bit of research, but I'm not certain of how reliable the information was :/ Also, for chapter updates, expect them to come sometime during the weekends, unless life gets in the way :P
Anyhow, onto Kaede!
-Reddie
"I'll be finishing up and getting my degree in a few months," Kaede told her dad, "so even if you can't make it to the graduation ceremony, I'll make sure to bring along a ton of pictures so you don't miss a thing."
"Sure thing, sweetie," Kotetsu laughed, ruffling her hair, pretending not to notice the blue flower clip hiding at the back. "Oh, Kaede. I'm so proud of you. You're turning out to be such a mature, capable woman. Just like your mother."
"…Thanks, Dad." She managed, barely able to get the words out as she choked back tears. "That means a lot. Did you get to see Barnaby today?"
"Not yet. I texted him, but he hasn't responded. I think he might be sleeping."
She shook her head, laughing lightly, "That's probably because you keep calling him in the middle of the night."
"What? He told you about all of that?" Kotetsu pressed a palm to his forehead, embarrassed.
She shook her head, "I was driving down the lane by the hospital one night when I spotted him on the fire escape. He was all powered up and everything, so I'm guessing that's how you two get around visiting hours." She scolded mildly, "You really shouldn't have him do that, Dad. It might get him in legal trouble, and he could get hurt."
"Well, it's not like I told him he had to come." Kotetsu leaned back, "I just call him saying I miss him is all, because I wanna hear the sound of his voice, and then there he is, at the window, the idiot." Kaede laughed a little harder, shaking her head. Her dad's eyes drifted towards the clock on the wall, "Yep, I sure am a lucky man. Love like that usually comes only once in a lifetime."
"… and so, then, what about Mom?" Kaede murmurs.
"Eh, it's a bit of a tough feeling, actually." Kotetsu lowers his voice. "If there's a heaven up there somewhere, I can only look forward to seeing her again. She meant a lot to me, and she still means a lot to me. Barnaby never really replaced her in my heart, but that doesn't mean I don't love him any less or any more than I loved her. I mean, I married the guy, and that should say an awful lot by itself." He blew out a big sigh, "Wow, I really am turning into a rambling old man. Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is, my feelings are torn between wanting to go and wanting to stay. I mean, if I go now, at least I'll get to see Tomoe again. But then that means I leave Bunny behind, and the thought of him living all alone again just… it breaks my heart, you know?"
"Mm." was the only sound Kaede could make.
"Say, come to think about it, how do you feel about Bunny?"
"I'm not… sure." Kaede hung her head, "It's a tough feeling for me too."
"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?" Kotetsu nudged jokingly, "Don't tell me you're gonna swoop out from under your old man and try to claim him for yourself, are you? Wow, didn't know childhood crushes could die that hard."
"Shut up!" She laughed, nudging back, "It's not that at all. See, the way I feel about Barnaby… I do consider him family. I have for a very long time. And I want to be able to say I feel like he's my dad too, but… then I think of Mom. And I don't want him to take her place. I really wish I could find the same sort of balance you did, but I never really…"
"Well, I can't tell you what to feel, Kaede. It's perfectly fine if you don't see him that way. But keep in mind that, if you do want to accept him as a parent, that doesn't necessarily mean rejecting your mother, you know?"
She repeated, a little more emptily, "Mm." Kotetsu's eyes wandered back to the clock.
"Say, what time did you say your next class was again?"
"3:30 PM. Why?"
"Uh… It's 2:47."
"Oh!" Kaede picked up her bag, "Okay, I gotta go!"
He laughed, "I know, that's why I said."
"Thanks, Dad!" She gave a wave, rushing out of the room, "I love you, see you tomorrow!"
If she'd known that was going to be the day, she would've missed class to stay with him a little longer.
It's been exactly a year now, so she'd have to visit him. Taking a glance at the clock on the wall, she heaved a sigh and stood up to close her office for the day. The florist surely wasn't open anymore, so her dad would have to make do with just a visit.
When she got there, she saw that someone had left fresh vibrant red roses on his grave. And of course she knew who it was. She didn't linger too long, and after about twenty minutes of talking to the sky, she waved her father's grave goodbye for the day.
Pale gray clouds covered all traces of blue in the darkening sky, bringing with them an autumnal chill, which was odd for springtime. It was sunny the day of her father's funeral, perhaps a sign that he'd been happily reunited with his first spouse at last, an indicator of some afterlife where an old familiar love awaited him. But Kaede couldn't help but feel for Barnaby that day, how the weather must've felt like a knife in the back, like disgustingly distasteful irony, for it to be such a beautiful day out while the love of his life lay buried under shovelful after shovelful of rough, gravelly dirt.
She couldn't help but feel some morsel of regret with how she acted towards him at the funeral. She should've called Barnaby, to ask if he was okay after the funeral. She should've offered to drive him home, or waited for him to finish his sentence when he was struggling to find words, when he was drowning in the middle of that awful, empty feeling. He opened his door to her, texted her the entry number to his old apartment in Sternbild, to his place of temporary escape from the memories of those last twenty long years together in Oriental Town. A change of scenery didn't sound like a bad offer at the time.
But she backed away from him.
Plopping back onto his chair, Barnaby shrugged off his favorite leather jacket and dialed the number one more time, hoping Kaede would pick up at least by mistake. It's been months since the funeral, and when he called Muramasa in an attempt to get in touch with her, he was told she'd long since moved out to open her own private investigations office in a city just a few miles further north than Oriental Town. Muramasa had no idea of the exact address or even which city in particular, since she'd never been all that close to her uncle, so that left Barnaby in the dark and utterly frustrated. He promised Kotetsu he'd be able to take care of her, and frankly, if he couldn't find her, he didn't know what else he could do with his life. She's the reason he fought to hold his sanity together when it felt like the world was falling apart at the limbs.
He wanted to be able to be a good parent to her, even if she never really saw him as one as far as he could tell.
"Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice-messaging system," the phone droned out, "Please leave your message for Kaede Kaburagi after the—"
Barnaby hung up, draping an arm over his face, "Why doesn't she ever answer?"
Dropping the phone, he reclined in his seat, turning his monitor and projector on to show old pictures from the wedding. Even as he felt the clench in his chest at the sight of Kotetsu, strong and smiling and alive, he continued flipping through the album. The pain soon dissipated in the warm, fluttery nostalgia, thankful that he could be certain that these were all genuine memories, events that had actually happened in his lifetime.
Kotetsu had actually once been his husband, and just that thought put him at ease.
Caught in his sentimental mood, he rose from his seat to pluck a certain bottle from the wine rack in his kitchen, pouring himself a glass. And when he closed his eyes, it tasted the same as it did that day, and for a brief moment, the world felt endless again.
The numbers to the apartment danced incessantly around Kaede's head, tormenting her even as she tried to bury herself in the details of the recent case requests she'd been given. The offer still stood to go back to Sternbild and see Barnaby, but of course her own worries still held her back. It wasn't as if she couldn't afford a trip all the way down there. Her last two cases earned her a hefty paycheck, so she could definitely afford the fuel.
She wanted to go so badly, just to see that he was okay, but what if… it happened? She would've been walking right into the situation if she put herself in contact with Barnaby, wouldn't she? No, she couldn't let it happen. It was best not to leave anything to chance after all if she wanted to preserve her last treasure from her dad.
An older man knocked on her door, a folder in his hand.
"Come in," she called, not bothering to get the door herself. The client let himself in, tugging his scarf over his lips. Kaede swiveled around in her chair, making sure to keep good distance from the stranger as she stood up. He held out his hand for her to shake, but she merely gave a bow towards him, hoping it would be polite enough to satisfy this potential client. He merely blinked, confused but thinking nothing special of her bowing gesture.
"Good afternoon. My name is Edmond Shale-Banks." He nodded in her direction, tipping his hat to her, "Are you Miss Kaede Kaburagi?"
"Yes, I am. Do you have a case request, Sir?"
"But of course." He handed her the folder, "I've come here to ask for an investigation into the death of my daughter, Sharon Shale. She was undergoing treatment for leukemia at the Century Center for Health before she passed away quite suddenly." At the sound of this, Kaede scrunched the corners of her lacquered lips ever so slightly and blew out a substantial sigh.
"That doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary. She likely died of natural causes given her state." Shaking her head, she reached behind her for the case request she'd been reviewing. "I don't see a need to investigate her death if there was no murderer."
"Well… call it a gut feeling, Miss Kaburagi, but something was quite off the last time I saw her. She was in a daze, but she's usually so happy to see me."
"So then, what are you implying by that? That she was drugged by her doctor? It's a hospital. Of course they were going to put her on something if they didn't want her to be in pain for her treatments."
"But something was wrong!" He asserted, nearly grabbing hold of her arm to make a point. Very luckily, she managed to pull the arm out of his reach, before glaring at him irritably.
"Please refrain from touching me." She demanded flatly, following up with a lie, "I am highly germaphobic."
Shrinking backwards in embarrassment, he bowed to her, "My apologies, Miss Kaburagi. But it's really so important to me and the rest of my family that you look into our case. We did trust the doctors, but something seemed so wrong that day that I just couldn't shake it off. So I just had to come to you because people kept saying you're the best in Century City, and we needed to be sure that nothing awful had truly happened."
"Well, Mister Shale-Banks," Kaede asserted, crossing her arms, "I am a private investigator, not a grief counselor. If you're that desperately in need of closure in regards to your daughter's death, I suggest going to a support group to resolve your dilemma." She turned her back on him, watching him in the reflection of the glass behind her desk. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have case requests to review. I hope you have a pleasant day."
"Miss Kaburagi… please." Edmond dropped to his knees, trying to hold his voice even. "She was my only daughter, and she was so young, only four. I would've given the world for her, suffered that wretched disease in her place if I could have." His voice shook, "I need to know that no one had taken my baby from me. I'm her dad. If I can't give her at least this much then… what good am I as a parent?" Kaede turned back around to look down at him, only to see him fall apart on her office floor.
"Alright, alright then." She conceded, "Please get up. That's very unbecoming of a man your age."
"So you'll take my case?" He asked hopefully, standing up.
"I will review your case request thoroughly," she replied, "and if I see fit, then I will take it on. If not, you'll have to find someone else to consider your case." Edmond's eyes glittered at this, and it took all his willpower not to burst forward and embrace her.
"Thank you so much!" He bowed enthusiastically.
"You're welcome. Now, please be on your way, I have other requests to review."
"Not a problem, Miss Kaburagi," he said, heading out the door, "thank you for your time."
"Don't mention it." She muttered, opening up the last case request she'd been looking at before as he shut the door behind him. Reaching for her coffee, Edmond's folder fell open on the ground, causing her to grumble as she turned in her chair to pick it up. That was when she saw the name.
And now, with this piece of information glaring her in the face, she couldn't help but feel that, despite the risks, it was finally time for her to turn to Sternbild.
The walls in Barnaby's apartment complex must've been pretty thin because she could hear him singing along to music down the hall. Did he do this every day? If so, she was surprised he hadn't received any complaints.
Coming to a full stop in front of the door, she froze, tempted to turn back as her hand hovered over the passcode pad.
"Come on, Kaede," she laughed to herself under her breath, hand shaking, "this won't be that difficult. You've been avoiding it with strangers for a year now. It won't be any different with Barnaby. You just have to talk to him. That's all."
Drawing in a deep breath, she punched in the passcode and pushed open the door.
Barnaby turned to her, nearly dropping the wine glass in his hand. Kaede couldn't help the unhappy pang in her heart once she'd seen the wedding video playing across the screen. Utterly mortified that his stepdaughter had caught him at such a pitiful moment, he immediately moved a hand to turn off the projector and sound, and flicked his wrist to turn on the lights. She stayed at the doorway, stock still and unwilling to move. Just to make sure, he took up his glasses and flipped them on.
"Kaede…" he spoke softly, his voice worn thin by age and loneliness. He could hardly believe his eyes, even as he gravitated towards the door, "Kaede, is that really you?"
"Yeah." She raised a hand, waving weakly, "Hi, Barnaby. I have something I need to ask you." Much to her relief, he stopped halfway towards the door, gesturing from a distance.
"By all means. Please, come right in." He said, laughing breathlessly, making his way back to his seat. Tentatively, she set her foot through the door way, placing one shoe after the other with precise movements, walking only up the edge of the stairs in his little circle. He settled back down in his chair, taking up his wine glass again. It further saddened her when she saw it was the exact same brand of rosé from the wedding. Taking a sip, he noticed her eyes fixated on the bottle, which prompted him to ask, "Say, you're of age now, right? Would you like a glass?"
"Huh? Oh, no, thanks, I'm fine."
"Alright then." He said, pouring a little more in his own glass, "So, what finally brings you here after all this time?"
"To fill you in, I've been running a private investigations office up north. Earlier this afternoon, I got a case request about the death of Sharon Shale, a young girl from Century City." She explained, settling to her rear on the edge of the stairs, knees bent and feet tucked within a good distance from Barnaby. "She was four, and she had leukemia, so I didn't think there was any reasonable cause to investigate her death. The father kept insisting I take the case however, so I accepted his request in order to quiet him down. I was planning on taking a glance at it and then rejecting the case, but then the name of her doctor came up." She paused, unsure of how to proceed with her next sentence. Barnaby didn't take bad news very well, especially in regards to his loved ones, and personally, she herself was still pretty unwilling to even say it out loud. She didn't want to believe there was any connection, but a bit of digging around proved a rather significant link.
"What was the doctor's name?" Barnaby urged, leaning forward in his seat, elbows on his knees.
"Dr. Layla C. Page." She barely managed, only a notch above a whisper, "Sound familiar at all?" Barnaby blinked, readjusting his glasses.
"She was one of Kotetsu's therapists, right?" Casting her eyes to the side for a brief second, Kaede nodded.
"Now, doesn't that strike you as a little odd? For her to be working with children for one hospital, and then caring for a terminal adult in another?"
He shrugged, "…a bit. But I don't think that really means anything. I mean, maybe she's a family doctor, so she could've easily worked with patients of different ages with different diseases. As for the two different hospitals, she probably quit the one Kotetsu was in to work in Century City. You know, for better pay."
Kaede shook her head, "I did some research on her. The records in the Century Center for Health say she's a pediatrician for cancer patients. It said nothing about any of her experience as a family doctor."
"She was probably formerly a family doctor then. They might've just forgotten to update her records since she first started working there. Information mishaps happen all the time, even with dependable databases."
"Oh, wake up, Barnaby." Kaede stood up, "I came here to ask for your help in this investigation. Because you understand what's involved here. You know exactly what I'm trying to say."
"Well, I'm saying I don't buy it." He retorted sharply, taking her aback. "Kotetsu was not murdered by Dr. Page. He had an advanced heart disease. He was already going to kick the bucket, so why the hell would a doctor murder him?"
She shouted, "That's what I want to know! So I'm asking you to help me find out!"
Barnaby let out a noise between a hiss and a groan, covering his eyes with a hand under his glasses, "Keep it down. My neighbors are sleeping."
She flushed, plopping back down to the floor in embarrassment and hanging her head, "I'm sorry."
"This…" he sighed, "really wasn't how I wanted our reunion to go over."
"It's not like I was gunning for you to have this reaction." She muttered, "I just need you to help me figure out this case, for Dad's sake."
"Well, I'm sorry, Kaede, but I'm not going to waste whatever's left of my time chasing after something as convoluted as this. It's not going to bring him back."
"Says the man living in the past."
"I'm not living in the past," he rejoined, barely managing to soften his voice at the last second, "I'm just remembering him. That's all."
"That bottle of rosé is almost finished," she said, closing her eyes, "because you're simply having a nostalgic moment? Okay, sure."
He could only laugh at this, "I liked rosé wine long before your father came into the picture, so don't act like you know it all, little private eye."
"It's the exact same brand from the wedding. I remember. There was a bottle of it sitting in front of me the whole time." She then quipped, "And who are you calling little, Old Man? I'm thirty two!" Barnaby could only give a single chuckle at this, looking out the window at the single plane roaming over the mountains in the distance.
"Wow. Never thought I'd hear anyone call me Old Man." Had time really gone by that fast? He knew he would be turning fifty in a couple of years, so it wasn't as though the description was entirely inaccurate.
"Anyhow," Kaede got up and started back towards the door, "If you're not going to help me investigate Dr. Page, fine, great." Then igniting her blue glow, she murmured viciously, "That just means nobody can stop me from having my way with her if she really was the one responsible for Dad's death." Barnaby gasped to himself at the sound of those words, hearing a familiar bloody vendetta seared across Kaede's tongue. Shutting the door behind her, she waved, "Have a nice life, Barnaby."
He turned around and bolted after her.
"Kaede, wait!"