Duality (DxD) (Part 1)

Ch 26 - Only Ashes

Jin was sitting on the concrete seat. Playing chess against himself yet again. As usual, on a weekend, Aika came rushing to him and gave him a big hug. But immediately she could tell something was wrong. Looking at him, he looked tored, bags under his eyes exhausted. His hair was a mess and he smelt like he hadn't been in a shower for days. Aika just looked at Jins tried and vacant eyes.

Aika: Jin? Jin what's wrong?

Aika said watching Jin move a white queen, into his own checkmate. Picking up and looking at the king. Looking at the black marble piece, of yet another person he lost.

Jin: Aika. What do you do with a dead body? When Hex died Ban didn't tell me what happened to his body. I didn't get to know where it went or what happened to it. So what do I do with Bans body?

Jin looked tired at Aika as she widened her eyes looking at Jin. Knowing exactly what he meant and feeling her heart break imagining what Jin went through. Quickly she hugged Jin tightly as he gently patted her head. Gently consoling her. Yet he was the one who was suffering the most.

It had been 3 days since Ban passed away, yet, It still hurt like he just died. A pain in Jins chest like a suffering he had only felt once before.

Jin had lost another guardian.

Time skip

Aika quickly brought Jin to her parents as she told them everything. Her parents both looks like her, both wore glasses and had brown messy hair. They were extremely welcoming despite only seeing Jin a few times. They noticed Jin's withdrawal as they understood everything, But first before helping Ban and moving his body. Mr and Mrs Kiryuu helped Jin. The one that needed the help now.

They sat him down as he seemed completely out of it, fedding him food as they didn't know how long it had been since he ate. Aika was the one to feed him, slowly feeding him as he ate. He could have ate himself. They didn't know why Jin was so withdrawn, why he didn't take care of himself, but he had the ability to feed himself. But he let Aika do it. Then Aika volunteered to help Jin clean, which Mr and Mrs Kiryuu seemed happy to allow. Aika helped Jin wash. Scrubbing his hair and washing his body. All which Jin let her do as he was unresponsive. Jin was then given large clothes of Mr Kiryuus

Aika and the Kiryuss helped Jin as much as possible as he had protected Aika years ago and was her best friend. Something Aika didn't stop talking about.

Only then was Ban's body taken away. But again Jin wasn't allowed to watch. He couldn't see as they removed him from his bed, as they took him away in the ambulance. They said he was already traumatised enough. But that wasn't what happened to Jin. This whole time they had thought he was unresponsive because he was depressed or traumatized. But that wasn't it.

What had happened to Jin to make him so unresponsive was deep thought. Many were sad thoughts about what he could have done to help Ban more. But that wasn't his main thought.

His main thought was what would happen now?

He was 12 years old. He wasn't Ban's child. What would happen to the dojo now that he was gone? Would the dojo be taken away? Would he be taken away? Jin knew of the foster care system and orphanages. Its something he searched up after looking what could have happened to him after running away.

Jin didn't want that. Yet he didn't want to run away again. If the one regret he did have about killing someone. It wasn't killing someone, but the fact he had to run away from it. To avoid a pain he didn't want to feel. One equivalent to losing someone.

He couldn't run away now. Home... home was in the dojo just as much as it was with his other guardian.

But as he lay in bed, Aika hugged him tight. They had a air mattress set up in her room for him, but she didn't sleep on her own bed. She slept on the air mattress with him. Sleeping while hugging close to him, hoping he was okay. Yet while Jin was in Aikas strong embrace, he remembered another. The one that first embraced him on the edge of death. He then remembered what Ban said, on the edge of his death.

To not regret. Maybe that was an impossible ask. But this was Ban asking it of him. His last dying requests. They may have been selfish requests, but Ban only ever wanted the best for Jin. As he turned in bed, hugging Aika back, he wouldn't regret a single thing. He would make sure he wouldn't regret a single word he said or action he made.

Because if he couldn't do it for himself, he would do it for Ban.

From then on, many things happened. Jins life was turned upside down and span around. As if he was throne into a cocktail mixer and someone shook, his life completely changed.

To everyone's surprise Ban had a will in place. Ban wasn't the best at taking care of a child, but he gave it his best and Jin would say he did a great job. Ban prepared him as best as he could with the time he had, he gave everything he had. Literally. It was a will that didn't read anything. But one that gave Jin all his assets, but the only asset Ban had was the dojo. Its bills, water, electricity, and gas were all paid with government retirement funds. So right now the dojo was empty. All its functions ceased as there was no one to pay for it. It was only a shell of its former self.

Jin couldn't even stay in it. He didn't have a plan yet to shoulder his own burdens, currently staying at Aikas house. He was now legally under their custody, but they didn't feel like home. As kind as they were, this wasn't his home. He wanted to return back to the dojo. His real home. The one he was raised in, trained in, fed in and slept in for 6 years.

Jin wanted to go back home. But without a plan, he couldn't.

Lastly, the most important thing that happened. It was the most important thing to Jin. The dojo situation second to this. Bans body. Their were no family members to claim it, no money to bury it. So it was burned. With what little money Jin could find around the house, an urn was brought to store Ban's ashes. A normal classic metal urn. A dark metallic grey urn. He couldn't get anything special or personal. This was all he could get for one of the most important people in his life.

But as he looked at the urn, Jin couldn't help but think, this is what happens to the dead. Their bodies were destroyed. In a coffin they decayed under the ground, whether their coffin was cheap or expensive, all decayed underground. Bans body was reduced to nothing more than dust.

The entire experience, Bans death, Jins rapidly changing life. All of it had permanently changed Jin.

He had again lost someone else, at such a young age.