GetBackers Fan Fiction ❯ Safe Haven ❯ Employment Opportunities ( Chapter 2 )

His dreams consisted of a ruined church. And Lucifer and blood and pain - blinding, blinding pain - all surrounded by faces he didn't care to remember, save for Kazuki's smiling at him through it all. A time when he'd thought, for just a brief moment, that Kazuki had eyes only for him and just maybe the world wasn't so bad.

Everything after that had been so dark and for a few moments he didn't understand what was happening, why he couldn't move or breathe or speak until the pain hit him. But it was such a blinding, white-hot pain that, while he was aware of it, his brain couldn't actually register the 'ow' factor.

Toshiki was grateful for that.

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He woke up in a cold sweat with the blankets and sheet tangled around his hips and his hair down and clinging to his face, neck and shoulders. It took him a moment of darting his eyes around the room to register just where he was and remember why he was there. And another minute to realize that it was a knock at the door that'd woken him up.

Deeming the room danger-free for the moment, Toshiki slid from bed and shuffled to the door, limbs and eyes heavy with sleep. He even growled a little as he put his hand on the knob to turn and open it - if house-keeping was coming by this early in the damned morning...

He pulled the door forward and scowled out into the hall, expression faltering when he saw Hevn standing there with a brilliant smile on her face.

"Good morning, sunshine."

Toshiki responded with an incoherent, confused grumble, and retreated back several steps to allow Hevn room to enter. She did so, and Toshiki took a moment to baffle at her choice in clothing. If you could call it that (then again, he was standing there in nothing but boxers...). He wasn't even going to try and figure out how that skirt was managing to cover her ass, or why her ample chest hadn't fallen right out of that tube-top. He did wonder, however, how many jackets she owned. She was wearing a different one today that hung almost to the floor and appeared to be made out of fake mink. Not real, no, Toshiki was glad for that. He was no animal rights activist, but he could just imagine the wide-eyed, horrified look on Kazuki and Sakura's faces.

Admittedly, fur - even fake fur - did seem like it would feel nice against bare skin. Toshiki wondered if Hevn would think he was weird for hugging her. Or better yet, push her onto the bed and sleep on her. Somehow he thought he'd never wake up again, though - that chest would smother him in ten seconds flat.

...Okay. He must've been more tired than he thought what with all of the random thoughts in his head. He blinked a few times, rubbed as his eyes and turned around to retreat right back to bed and lie down. Hevn shut the door behind her, trailing after him and waving a paper bag. "I brought breakfast! ...What're you doing? Get up. I bought you food and I have your first job offer!"

Toshiki grumbled. "Sleep now, eat later." He flumped face-down onto his bed, drug the blankets up over him and closed his eyes. He was only vaguely aware of Hevn talking to him even as he fell back asleep.

And she was still there and still talking when he woke up awhile later. At first he strained his ears, assuming she was speaking to him, and then upon opening an eye and glancing over he saw the blonde woman in a chair by the window, legs crossed neatly and cell phone in hand, chatting away while he stared off out the window. Toshiki scowled, grumbled, pulled a pillow over his head and sighed. Was she really planning on staying there until he got up? He could have slept all day, it felt like.

Hevn obviously had no intentions of letting him do so, however. When she finished with her call, she snapped her phone shut, looked in his direction and smiled. "You really ought to be getting up, Toshiki-kun. Your meeting with the client is in a few hours."

This time around, Toshiki's brain registered the mention of a job and he slowly glared out from beneath his pillow.

"What job? I told you I'd think about doing that kind of work, not that I would."

Hevn waved a hand dismissively. "Clients don't have time to wait for you to be thinking things over, Toshiki-kun! Besides, this is a pretty big name client. Do well for him and he'll be a fantastic recommendation."

"Then why're you asking me to do it instead of some big name mamoriya?" Toshiki sat up halfway, propping himself on his elbows.

Hevn's mouth twitched a little at that and she hesitated but a second. "Is it wrong to have faith in your abilities? I mean, I figured if you were one of Kazuki-kun's old gang members, you'd be a natural for something like this."

He studied her long and hard, eyes narrowing. It was easy to see that she was a manipulative little thing (or not so little, as the case may be), and she was good at it. Toshiki was starting to worry that meeting her last night had been a Big Mistake.

"...Fine. What does it pay?"

"I'll negotiate that with the client when we get there."

"'We'?"

"Of course! It's always best to have a mediator go along on these sorts of things," she explained calmly, hoping to drive that point home early on so he'd never think twice about going on a job without her along for the mediator fees. "Especially since - no offence - you don't strike me as a friendly people-person."

...Okay, so he couldn't quite argue with that one. "Fine." Shoving the blankets back, he started crawling out of bed again, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and shoving a hand back through his messy hair. "But you're gonna have to wait a bit. I want a shower and coffee and something to eat."

Hevn grinned triumphantly. "I have breakfast covered when you're ready for it," she held up the paper bag holding their healthy bagel breakfast. "And I'll put the coffee on." As Toshiki grunted in response and wandered through the bathroom door, Hevn took a moment to crane her head and tilt it a bit, admiring the view.

He was hustled out of the hotel with no time to spare; his hair was still down and a mess, he had a bagel in his mouth and was trying to pull on his flimsy jacket while shuffling after Hevn towards her fancy car in the parking lot. It looked awfully out of place amidst all the old junkers around.

Hevn had her phone out again, and was talking to their client (he assumed) as they slid into the car and buckled in. Toshiki at least had time to savor his coffee-to-go and his bagel and later tie his hair back while the mediator drove, and he was reminded why he disliked cars.

He was still and quiet, though, staring out the window even after Hevn clicked her cell phone shut and pocketed it. Somewhere along the drive, he did speak up to ask how the hell she'd found him at the hotel anyway, and Hevn just smiled and said she had her connections. Toshiki didn't bother pressing further. It wasn't like he'd used a fake name when checking in or anything; he couldn't have been too hard to find.

The arranged meeting spot was the client's house, nearly an hour away. Toshiki was tired enough that he dozed off in the car, waking only when it came to a jolting stop.

The house was older, traditional in style; something Toshiki imagined Sakura or Kazuki being oh-so happy living in. He trailed after Hevn apprehensively, following suit in everything she did, from taking off his shoes to bowing when she did and doing just as she'd told him to do on the way there - keep his mouth closed and let her do all the talking. He could have been offended, he supposed. But Hevn had been right; Toshiki wasn't a people-person and he was likely to say something to screw all this up. So instead he sat beside and a little behind Hevn, legs folded under him as he tried to pay attention to all the little details Hevn and his - their - client were discussing.

Takuya Mizuno was an older man, greying but still rather handsome in his own way. He had a wife that made a brief appearance to bring them tea, and two daughters that stopped by only to be introduced out of politeness - though both girls giggled and hid their smiles behind their kimono sleeves when meeting the quiet, ruffled-looking blonde. Toshiki shifted a little beneath their retreating looks and giggles, and Hevn later assured him it was because they thought he was cute.

Mizuno rambled on about and on about his various collections, everything from paintings to jewelry to expensive koi ('He collects fish?') and beyond. Toshiki wondered if all clients talked this much, and if so he was more than happy to fork over mediator's fees so he didn't have to pay full attention to it all. Hevn would tell him the important parts later, he was certain.

The item up for transport, as it turned out, was a set of twelve small figurines representing the zodiac made entirely from diamond and jade, ruby, emerald... a different stone for every month of the year. Mizuno didn't bring them out as they were packed up for transport, but he handed over a picture and even Toshiki had to admit, they were beautiful and looked painfully expensive. Shortly after the presentation of the photograph, though, Toshiki lost interest in paying attention. Why was he still so tired?

Once Mizuno stepped out for an important business phone call, Hevn turned around a little to look at him. "Following so far?"

"Beyond that I'm supposed to be guarding a bunch of little figurines? Not a fucking clue."

She looked amused. "Actually, the figures aren't really what you're guarding, I don't think."

Toshiki eyed her.

"You'll be protecting his older daughter while she transports the figures."

Mizuno's oldest daughter, sixteen year-old Sayoko, was a pretty little thing indeed, with a shy voice and a soft little face that made her look younger than she was. She wore her kimono so well that Toshiki imagined she had very few curves underneath it all - Kazuki always had to pad his down when wearing one; his body was just too curvy to display kimono properly without aid.

"So... I'm guarding a little girl."

"She's not that little. Who knows, maybe you'll make a new friend."

Toshiki scowled.

After the rest of their meeting, they retreated back to the car and Hevn explained further to him. Two transporters were in charge of driving himself and Sayoko a good ten hours up through the mountains. Sayoko was to present the figures to another family as a sort of dowry - an offering as she would be marrying their oldest son in a few months. A ten-hour trip straight through in some truck didn't sound too appealing to Toshiki, especially not in the dead of night and arriving first thing in the morning. He didn't understand why transporters and himself were needed, and Hevn tried to explain but... it still didn't make much sense. Toshiki chalked it up to 'extra protection wanted' and left it at that.

All in all, he thought the meeting went relatively well.

After all, how hard could it be to guard a sixteen year old girl carrying a bunch of rocks?