Sapphire completely understood why Jadeite was massively pissed at him right now and staring daggers at him. The truth was that he hadn't been thinking at all when Naru disappeared, and he brought the president of the Kanto branch of The Order right to Rei's doorstep. A place where she and her grandfather lived too. He realized that he'd screwed up by putting the very woman in danger who he went to to help save Naru from danger.
Still, they were all back and crammed in the sitting room at the shrine. Satoru already knew of that place anyway. And now it was time to determine if he could be trusted.
Sapphire sure hoped he could, or he would be in some significant trouble.
Still, it was Satoru that looked nervously around him. "I can feel what most of you are." He then looked curiously at Mamoru. "You're confusing to me, though."
Usagi scoffed, "That we explain when we have any reason to trust you —at all." Naru heard the edge in her tone but didn't object. After all, no one was actually moving against him. She also knew the decision had been to hope that he proved trustworthy.
"Can I ask about you?" Satoru asked Usagi. "Why pick her name? Is it an intimidation thing?"
"You mean, why have the 'legendary Usagi's' name?" She asked, laughing at him.
"Yeah." He picked up on a weird vibe running through the room. "What? What am I missing?"
"Something you probably won't believe," she replied. "I am that Usagi. To be fair, The Order doesn't accurately describe me. That's because every time they send someone after me, it's to kill me. They don't live to give a description of me."
"If you're her, you're a killer!"
"Yup. I am. But not of the innocent, and I'm not anything like those vile lies your little group spreads about me. Not that I think you'll believe me. You're a brainwashed sheep of The Order."
He shook his head and huffed. "I've actually seen a vampire murder, someone! I'm not just some blind believer. I know real evil. A vampire killed my sister!"
Naru looked at him in shock. "One killed Airi?"
"Yeah. We were the only ones home that night. She was sixteen. She went outside to get the dog, and he raped her and then drained her dry!"
"Do you know his name?" Kunzite asked. Looking at Usagi's face, he had a hunch this could get interesting. He knew the look of someone who had interesting information.
Satoru had tears in his eyes. "No. I just know that I tried to kill him, and he let me live. He explained it would hurt me more that way."
"I'm betting he was a Polish man that had brown hair, brown eyes and dressed like an English gentleman from the late eighteen hundreds," Usagi announced.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
She smiled. "His name was Aaron Kosminski, and I staked him through the heart fifteen years ago. If I'm right and it's him, he would have taken a necklace from her."
"Yeah, he did! A family heirloom."
She nodded. "I kept all his trophies in case I ever found anyone who knew his victims. If you'll recognize it, you can look for her necklace."
"I would," he admitted, tearing up. "It was a precious family heirloom." He paused and then said, "You really killed him?"
"I've killed more vampires and werewolves than all the branches of The Order combined. Rape, human sacrifice, mutilation, murder, or anything like that pisses me off, and I go after them. I know your little group would approve because they've taken credit for quite a few of them."
"Then why do they want you dead?"
"Because a corpse can't expose them for the pathetic losers that they are. I know the secrets that the Romanian head office works so hard to keep secret. Including what really happened between Dracula and Van Helsing."
"What are you talking about?!"
"Van Helsing was obsessed with Lucy. It wasn't Dracula she was in danger from. It was him. He tried to rape her, claiming it would cure her of her obsession with the unnatural. Her father even allowed him to tie her down so he could force himself on her. Dracula heard her screaming and rescued her."
All he could think of was what had happened to his sister and Naru and how he would have never tolerated that for any reason.
"She's alive and married to Dracula, and they have a sweet daughter."
"How? Vampires can't get pregnant."
"They can adopt," Usagi said, laughing. "Do you think we don't operate in the human world?"
He countered, "Be fair. The only vampire I met previously raped and murdered my sister. I don't know how they operate."
"Humans do that!" She snapped. "Do you think becoming a vampire turned him into a rapist!? Don't be stupid. He was a sick asshole before his transition. All he got was more focus and more power." She cocked her head, "But since you didn't know who he was, you wouldn't have been able to find out his past. Although his true identity is only recently known to most humans. He was a Polish barber who was put in an insane asylum when he threatened to stab his sister. When he was released, he then became truly violent. He was the infamous Jack the Ripper. As a human. The reason he stopped killing suddenly was because he was turned into a vampire and left the country."
"My sister was one of Jack the Ripper's victims?"
Jadeite raised one eyebrow and said, "Way to miss the whole point. Usagi just said she killed Jack the Ripper. Seriously?! That's awesome."
She rolled her eyes and said, "No, the point is that her murderer is dead. What kind of vengeance are you looking for, Satoru?"
A short time later, Usagi retired with the box containing all the necklaces Aaron had collected off of his victims.
Satoru was surprised when he opened the box of necklaces Usagi had handed to him. He had expected them to be a tangled mess. After all, it was a long shot that she'd ever have the chance to even return one. Instead, the box contained twenty-eight long thin wooden black, lacquered boxes—each with gold English lettering on them.
He picked up the first one and asked, "What does it say?"
Usagi replied, "Since he killed first in England and his victims were from all over the world after that, I used the English phrase 'Rest In Peace.' It's a phrase they use with their dead. It was my way of balancing their violent deaths."
He teared up as he opened the boxes one at a time. Once he verified one wasn't his sister's, he closed it and set it neatly next to him. He was choked up looking at the necklaces of those who died at the hands of the same killer. He felt for each family represented there. Each one that had mourned like him.
He opened the sixteenth box, and it seemed like the room went silent to him. Tears rushed to his eyes, and he didn't feel the least bit of shame in crying. There nestled in the sixteenth box, was the jade pendant he thought he'd never see again.
Usagi spoke up. "I wondered who that belonged to. It's a beautiful necklace."
"Like I said, it's a family heirloom. My sister was the fifth generation to wear this piece." He lifted the necklace out of the box and held it up. "The actual necklace has been replaced, but the true treasure is in the jade pendant."
"I'd say," Usagi agreed readily. "It's Imperial Jade from Burma."
Jadeite jumped up and went over to view the pendant. "Seriously? Unsurprisingly I have a fascination with jade."
"As do I," Nephrite pointed out. After all, jade had two different mineral species, jadeite, and nephrite. "And that jade is the most expensive in the world."
Satoru cradled it in his palm. "My ancestors were wealthy. Things change over time, but this necklace was passed down through the generations." He sighed, "He's dead. It might sound bad, but that makes me so happy. Looking at this necklace, I'm confronted with the ugly truth about myself. All I wanted was vengeance."
"What?" Naru asked.
He looked at her and said, "Holding this necklace, knowing that he's dead, this is what I've wanted since I was nineteen. I realize I didn't join The Order for some 'noble purpose'; I joined them to kill him. He's dead, and for the first time, I feel at ease."
He stood and walked over to Naru. "I'm not sure how you see me anymore. I'm not even sure how I see myself, for that matter. But there are two things I know for sure. I love my wife, and I love my daughter. Naru, you're my daughter, and I'm sorry that the fact that you're a vampire messed my head up a bit."
"You're suddenly okay with vampires," Shingo asked skeptically.
Satoru faced him and answered, "I realized I joined The Order to kill a particular vampire. At the time, I thought they were my best hope. It turns out I was wrong. My sister's murder was the worst day of my life. And later, when I got a cancer diagnosis, I didn't even flinch. It sucked, but I'd been through so much worse. Now I have proof that Usagi killed the one who destroyed my life. Is it surprising that the truth exposed my real loyalties? I'm loyal to the one who got vengeance for me."
He then turned back to Naru and handed her the pendant. "You're the sixth generation of my family to have this pendant. I get your feelings for me are probably complicated right now. You don't have to wear it. I just want you to have it."
Sapphire took the necklace out of Naru's hand and clasped it around her neck. He could feel the relief and joy radiating off of her. Once he was done, he watched her jump up and hug her father. A title he felt that the man had earned again.
"I'd happily wear it, Daddy," she said, hugging him.
He teared up again. "I'm sorry, Naru. I failed you."
"No, you didn't! A vampire killed your sister, and despite all that and the hurt over the years you suffered, you still love me."
"You're my daughter. What else can I do?"
Mamoru squeezed Usagi's hand, and she nodded at him. He was glad that she agreed that everything had worked out with Naru's father. Even more, he felt the calm radiating through her. That was a big relief over what had happened earlier.
He sat down next to Naru, she was now sitting between her father and Sapphire, and she was obviously happy. Satoru said, "I'm comfortable using my newfound presidency to help you all."
"And why is that?" Kunzite asked, challenging him still.
It was Zoisite who, laughing, said, "Really, Kunzite? You can't understand a man working with someone who has killed his kind? You're mated to a vampire who made an actual career out of hunting and killing werewolves."
Satoru knit his brow, "He is?"
"Yeah, she's a cop who is assigned to a super-secret division."
"A cop?!" That got everyone to laugh. It was obvious that Satoru was shocked beyond belief.
"Yup," Rei said. "She's not here at the moment for… Reasons." She didn't want to let him know she was weakened. It had more to do with respecting Kunzite's protectiveness than distrust. "But she was a London police officer, and now she's transferred and is a Tokyo officer."
"It just shows the conditioning of the cult I was in."
"Cult?" Naru asked.
He smirked, "I didn't realize it was one until your mother said something. Well, I didn't right at that moment, but as I went along, I realized she was right. I was being brainwashed, and I resent that. They used my pain to take advantage of me."
"Soon, you'll find out just how connected we are with the police," Ami added. She found his surprise amusing. It just made it more evident that he was being honest with them all.
He nodded, "And as I prove trustworthy, I'm sure you'll explain more." He understood they had reason to be wary of him. He knew how intense his indoctrination had been. "But now that Niko was promoted to the head office, I'm the regional president, and I can use my power to help you. You'll discover I'm being genuine."
He looked around at the stunned faces in the room and uncomfortably asked, "What did I say?"
"Promoted?" Mamoru asked.
"Yeah, word came down that he was promoted suddenly, and I would be taking over…." He trailed off at the end, realizing something was still off.
Usagi curled her lip. "Typical! They spin so many lies I'm not even sure if they know what the truth is anymore!"
"What is the truth?"
Usagi didn't answer him immediately. She called Luna. None of the humans were there because she didn't know how the meeting with him would go, and she wanted to protect their identities. Even on the call, she was careful of what she said on her end.
Making sure not to say Luna's name, she said, "Since you're so amazing, I need you to look into what's being said about Niko's arrest. I think The Order is trying to cover it up." …. "And that's why you're so amazing! Thank you. Bye."
She hung up and said, "By tomorrow morning, his arrest will be national news. My people are just better at this than theirs'."
"Arrest? What for?" Satoru asked.
"The ritualized murder of his mother," Rei answered. She felt the whole thing personally since she was a witch. "Humans can't sense witches, and Niko's mother was one with a little power. When his father discovered it, they both killed her in secret. After all, his father didn't want to embarrass himself in front of his stupid friends because he married and had a child with a witch."
"More lies that I was told," he said sadly. "I'm finding out I've been fed lie after lie. It's…" He ran both his hands roughly through his hair. "I hate this!"
He went to take his ring off and fling it, but Naru stopped him. "You need to keep that. You're a double agent now, and you need to have that to destroy them from the inside out. Please help us. The ring is not a reminder of a brotherhood. It's a reminder that you're fighting back."
He looked at her sadly. "I know I hurt you, but I couldn't have ever done anything against you. When I found out you were a vampire, it felt like you'd sided with my sister's killer. I was wrong, but that was by knee-jerk reaction. But even with all that misplaced hurt, I couldn't have ever come after you." He teared up. "My battle lines were all wrong. Niko's the abomination. How could he kill his own mother?!"
Shingo nodded in approval. "Good, you've grown up. Now get over it. They've taken advantage of you, yes. But Naru's right. Fight back, and don't be the victim anymore."