Page 117 of Kotori
It was this woman. This woman I've claimed and owned and conditioned, who looked past my cruel assumptions and saw the truth I was too blind to recognize.
The woman currently holding me like I'm something precious rather than something to be feared.
"Paige." Her name emerges softer than intended, rougher than expected.
She looks up at me with eyes still glazed from release, expecting another command or perhaps dismissal to clean up.
Instead, I find myself stroking her hair with careful tenderness.
"What you did tonight," I say quietly, the words more difficult than killing her tormentor. "With Mizuki. You saved her when I failed."
Something flickers in her expression. Surprise at the admission, wariness at this unexpected vulnerability.
"I almost lost her to my own blindness," I continue, the confession scraping my throat raw. "My accusations at dinner, my refusal to see her pain. If you hadn't intervened..."
"But you listened when it mattered," she says softly, palm resting over my heart. "You protected her when you understood the truth, Kaito-sama."
The distinction feels important in ways I can't fully examine. Different from him. Different from the predator I eliminated tonight.
"You saw what I couldn't," I admit. "Understood my daughter better than her own father when she needed it most."
"She just needed someone to listen without judgment," Paige replies, but there's something new in her voice. Not the careful submission I've cultivated, but genuine partnership in protecting what we both love.
We. The word settles between us with strange weight.
"Thank you," I whisper against her hair, the gratitude real and overwhelming. "For saving what I couldn't protect."
"We protect each other," she breathes, and for the first time, the words don't feel like capitulation but like truth. "That's what family does."
Family. The word creates something like warmth in my chest, something that transcends possession and ownership.
"I love you," she whispers, but now the declaration carries different weight. Not desperate gratitude or fear, but something that might actually be choice.
"I know," I reply, but my hand continues stroking her hair with reverent care. "I know you do."
And lying there in the darkness, holding the woman who saved my daughter when I failed her, I begin to understand that what we've built might be something more complex than beautiful captivity.
Tomorrow I'll ensure every detail of tonight's justice is properly sanitized. But tonight, I hold what I've claimed and allow myself to feel grateful for the woman who's become essential to my family's survival.
Not just as possession, but as partner in protecting what matters most.
33
Kaito
Thenewsarrivesatsunrise, delivered by a trembling messenger who won't meet my eyes.
I study the young man from my study window as dawn breaks over Kyoto's ancient rooflines, already knowing what message he carries. The timing is expected.
Takeshi appears at my shoulder, his expression grim with news I've been anticipating since I left that bastard's apartment.
"They found him," he reports quietly. "Sho-san's people discovered the body at six this morning. Professional work, no evidence."
Of course not. I wanted them to know justice had been delivered, but proof was another matter entirely. Some lessons require careful acknowledgment.
"Sho's response?"
"Devastated. Confused. He's requesting immediate audience." Takeshi's voice carries unusual tension. "But Hiroshi-san isalready moving, calling emergency council meeting for ten this morning. Mandatory attendance for all senior advisors."
