The NOL Hospital

As he entered, the Hero of Ikaruga noticed that there were few people here. The place was almost too calm for comfort, but unlike the Cathedral, the place wasn't completely empty. Hopefully the presence of his wounded self would snap them from their nigh-catatonic boredom, otherwise he'd have to wait one second too much to get his wounds properly treated.
As expected, his presence did spark some life in the building, and as he was taken to a room quickly, though not enough to not get showered with irritating compliments about how he still walked and wasn't cringing all the time [he actually was] despite being cut almost to the bone. Now he would be immobilized and kept here for at least one day: the time it would take to the Ars healers to do their job... Great., he thought sarcastically. But this gives me all the time I need to plan out my next fight against Him... and I swear he will not escape me this time!

Once they got to the entrance, Aoko nodded her thanks to Kageo and went on ahead. It took her some time, asking the receptionist then getting lost in the maze of corridors that was the hospital, but she was eventually able to find Jin's room. She took a deep breath and opened the door

Sure enough, there lay Jin, looking as surly as ever.

"Well..." She chuckled as she leaned on the doorway with her arms crossed and a cheeky grin on her feline features"You look like shit, Jin-nii."

Jin noticed that something was wrong - by his standards - as the door opened. He recalled asking for no visits. He recalled bad, it seemed.
"Hmph. Cut that, will you?", he grunted. "What do they want with me again? I've done everything they wanted, and they start knocking at the door the moment one thing doesn't go their way."
He thought Aoko didn't have anything personal in talking to him. He didn't think she was any more particular than any other step-sibling he had. "Where are you guys when it matters, anyway?"
He'd have his right hand into a fist, but the sheer nerve impulse to his injured arm hurt him. He tried to not react with more than a wince, but the pain was enough for him to cringe.
He didn't ask Aoko to move off, letting her explain the reasons of her presence at the very least. Then hopefully she'd let him have a rest day. He wanted time, not smooth-talking.

"Didn't think you'd need any help when dealing with our asswipe siblings." Aoko retorted back with a teasing smile "After all, the great and mighty Jin Kisaragi can take care of himself, right?"

As much as she wanted to poke fun at him more, she had a mission to do.

"In case you forgot, I'm assigned here." She began "At Soichiro-jii's request, I went to find you. A friend of mine told me he saw you at HQ, but you weren't there. So I looked around and, eventually, I ended up here."

With that explanation out of the way, she continued "As for why I was sent to find you...well, as Soichiro-jii eloquently put it; 'The Old Man's pretty pissy at you for deserting your post'"

By old man, she meant the current head of the clan.

Once again, a source of problems. The clan was now only an excuse for things to get in his way... It had been this way for a while already.
"Peh. If the old man doesn't even make a move, can he get surprised if I think ahead? Stopping 'Ragna the Bloodedge' should have been a priority to those bureaucratic idiots.", he said in an even raspier tone. "But they can't even get their shit straight. They should thank me for leaving a useless piece of crap to take care of the real deal. I'm a professional soldier, not a paper worker. If they don't like it, tough shit."
Thoughts like "killing the old man and taking his place" or "screw everything and just desert" were on Jin's mind, but that would be an enormous waste of time to even think about it. He had to meet and kill Ragna again. Then only would the Hero think about the consequences.

"Well, I can't say I don't agree with you."

Aoko rolled her eyes. She turned her gaze to Jin, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks "I can understand wanting to get the jump on Ragna the Bloodedge, and that you're irritated the guys upstairs are too lazy to move their asses, but couldn't you have at least contacted me first? I LIVE here, you know!"

"And be glad it was lil' ol' me that went to find you." She went on to add "If it were any of our other siblings, they'd take advantage of your current position and kill you at this very moment while making it look like an accident or something."

And she did not doubt that any of them would do that. They weren't very smart that way.

Thinking about it, she was partly right. It ached him to admit that as much as she agreed with him on some points, he had to agree with her on her own points.
"I'm not keeping track of every single creep in the family, especially not the part about whoever lives who. How do you think I would've even known the clan had people here? Besides, even if I had known, this would've only been one thing to steer clear of. So you'll understand that in my head, warning you wasn't necessary at all? Besides, leading you to him would've only made one more thing for me to protect. Which is the thing I hate most besides hindrances...", he was quite rude about not giving one about his family.
Thinking about those idiots who would've tried to kill him, he could surely hold any one of them, even one-handed. So he thought. There was no real threat in the Kisaragi Clan. Not to him, in his mind.
"Regardless, now you know. What do you even intend to do, now?"
Her response would surely determine how he would treat her for the years to come, but at this moment, Jin only thought of her as what she looked like to him: some needy little sister. Wait, did he really think that?

(~~~~~~~> From the Hanging Gardens)

Having seen Aoko off, he'd let off a light smile and chuckled as she headed off, it was best to move off now. 'Well at least he's alright, in good hands of a sibling.' obviously the kaka knew they weren't blood relation, she smelled nothing like him. So for the time being, he'd turned and went to head off, it was a good time to return to the professor, he wanted to see of course report that the mission had gone well. "...Mission complete."

he'd have said just before slipping away, he'd had a place to return to now.

(Exuent)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

"...I suppose I'll just keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

Aoko shrugged her shoulders, conceding that while it was pretty stupid for Jin to leave his post, he had his reasons, which were damned good ones too.

"Protocol dictates that I ought to tell those parties concerned that I found you, including that Lt. Vermillion you're not particularly fond of. Buuut..." She turned to give him a wry grin "I'll keep mum about it. Doesn't seem like you want to be found anyway. Soichiro-jii's gonna get pissed at me later, but whatever."

She had planned to leave at this point, but to see how badly Jin was injured, there was something she needed to ask.

"Before I go, I must know...Is Ragna the Bloodedge THAT strong?"

"Do as you wish. It's not like I could do a thing about it...
Jin's voice had somehow softened. She seemed reliable. For once. Let the old man get pissed if he cares, I'll handle this.", he added as a second note regarding the family stuff. If said old man was too bothered about him and told it to Jin's face, that would probably be the end of him.

As for Aoko's last question... "You didn't read the reports? He can easily shatter Anti-Ars fields and blows up entire branches alone, not mentioning the omnicide of the staff that gets in his way... He is THAT strong... or possibly more. Only I can take him on. Or maybe that man...", he was mentioning of course Hazama, but was unsure of how to refer to him, especially considering his memory of the reviled snake was blurry. "If you see him, run for it. You couldn't possibly beat him." His voice was not so rude, neither was it caring. It was cold, flat, analytical, or the closest Jin could get to these.

"Then that means Takeru's in way over his head." Aoko thought grimly as her fist clenched slightly. She knew the guy was good at what he does, but he was no match for Ragna the Bloodedge as he was now.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said aloud with her usual chipper smile "I'll ask Soichiro-jii to keep the old man off your case for a while. In the mean time, I guess it's back to business as usual for me."

Before she turned on her heel to leave, her back turned to him, she figured she'd say one more thing:

"Take care of yourself, Jin-nii."

And with that, she took her leave.

(Exit, Aoko!)