Unravel (1x1 w/ Jikkah)

When she entered the CCG headquarters on her first day back, Kojurou greeted her rather happily.
"Welcome home, Kawabe-sousakan. It's good to see you again."
 
Jin bowed her head to Kojurou, still having bandages covering the right side of her face and eye, lip stitched and healing. “Thank you, Katakura-sosakan, it’s good to be back again. Seeing you again is quite the refreshment.”
 
Jin smiled with some effort, trying to not pull too much on her stitches. “Thank you, out of everything, I dread paperwork the most- truly an immortal beast.”
 
“And besides that, how have things been? Good I hope?” She asked. Things were complicated, Akechi’s proposal was accepted, and he was given the green light to start culling ghouls for larger trial scales.
 
Kojurou made a noise, he didn't want to get in another disagreement with her about Akechi's gross project. But she needed to know, for better or worse.
"Mitsuhide-sousakan's research was given the funding it needed to go forward with the plan. We've had ghouls brought it by the dozens...some survive, others do not." This whole thing with Akechi really got him thinking about why he became a Dove in the first place. At first, he thought he hated them, and he only tolerated them for Masamune and his late father's sake. But after living with Masamune and his men for so long, he realized that not all ghouls deserved to be put down. The ghouls who lived with Masamune helped raise him, some were brought off from the streets to live a better life, a life with purpose. Kojurou valued all of them as if they were his blood family.
 
Jin nodded solemnly at the news. “I’m glad to hear that he is finding success, even if it’s incomplete.” It was a shame that some ghouls would never be able to reach humanity, that many would die before reaching it, but it was a necessary risk.
 
"If it is true and he can permanently make them human, what do you think will become of us as investigators? There will no longer be a need for Doves." He asked.
 
Jin shook her head. “I fear the day ghouls no longer exist is far in the future, but in the meantime, I suspect there will be significant pushback. We’ll be busy.”
 
“It’s for the betterment of society.” She said softly, a heavy sadness behind her eyes, but it didn’t stay long.
It wasn’t all that uncommon for Megohime to be gone from Masamune’s estate for days or even a week or two, but it wasn’t like her to check in. She always sent texts or video called him, but three days had gone by since he had heard any word from him.
 
"Where the hell is she?" Masamune mumbled, standing outside their coffee shop for the third day in a row. He knew her schedule well enough to know she would have been there by now, but this was the third time she had blown him off.
 
Megohime had blown him off before, she’d been late before, her temper burned hot, but it never burned long. She wasn’t answering texts and wasn’t answering his calls, now her phone completely shut off. Even when he went to her apartment, she wasn’t there, in fact it looked like she hadn’t been there in days.
 
The house was abuzz with Masamune’s men, ghouls and humans sitting and standing around solemnly, some angry, some actually crying.
“Hitto..” One of the men met him at the door, eyes misty from tears. “Bad news, it’s some of our men, they hadn’t come home, so we went out looking.. other ghouls had found clothes dumped all over town after you and Katakura-dono told us to lay low, that culling and all..” The man was starting to ramble, almost like he was trying to avoid the topics.
 
“Eight.” He lowered his gaze, stepping to the side to show on one of the tables clothing articles lay neatly on display. Hats, shoes, jackets, and even belts and sunglasses, all recognizable. “We confirmed it by smell and photos.. some of the guys recognized the stuff and we brought it back with us.” The man balled up his fists, kakugan flared. “They’re taking ghouls right off the street by the handfuls..!”
 
"Kojurou warned us about this, I told you fuckers to stay off the radar, you guys can't fucking listen to save your own asses, can you?!" He snapped.
 
The man flinched, head low before he fell to his knees before Masamune. He could see his men were hurting, it affected everyone, even the other humans amongst them. “Are we supposed to just run and hide like roaches forever..?!” Tears flowed freely down his face, twisted with anguish.
 
"If it meant I could keep every one of you alive until this shit sorted itself out, then yes! It's called picking your goddamn battles!!" He yelled. The others bowed lowly to him as well, their foreheads touching the tatami mats.
"Yurushite kudasai hitto!!" They all said in a chorus. Masamune was already far too angry to hear it.
"You assholes live with two Doves!! Both of us know that the CCG doesn't like to fuck around!! If we tell you guys to keep your fucking heads down, then keep your fucking heads down!!"
 
“Hitto.. it isn’t just us guys..” A ghoul still standing moved over to Masamune, a black leather jacket in hand. “While gathering the guys’ things, something else smelled familiar…” He looked almost sorry for Masamune as he held out the jacket. “I think this was hers..”
 
Masamune's eye widened slowly.
"That... That's...Megohime's...." He took it slowly and the door opened carefully. Kojurou had come home, and he heard everything before he had stepped in. Masamune's anger turned to him quickly.
"Did you know?! Did you know that we have her at HQ?!" He shouted. Kojurou looked solemn before he shook his head.
"No, Masamune-sama...I haven't wanted any part in the kidnappings so I've kept my nose out of it."
"Son of a bitch!!" In his rage, he punched the poor ghoul hard in the face, body shaking.
 
The ghoul went tumbling to the floor, nose gushing blood, but he didn’t dare make a peep.
Megohime had been missing for three days, and he had thought she was just busy with work, when in reality she was in a lab somewhere being used like a rat. Three whole days, was she even alive? He could remember their last conversation, Megohime convincing Masamune she’d be fine going out, not wanting to give up playing the shamisen.
 
"G-God fucking dammit...!!" He struggled to keep his voice level as he clenched his fists tight.
"Hitto..." They all looked worried, their strong and tough boss brought to stressed and angry tears.
"I'm gonna get involved-"
"Masamune-"
"Shut your fucking mouth, Kojurou. I'm getting involved and I'm gonna bring our boys and Mego home. Whether it be for drinks or for burial, they're coming home."
 
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