GetBackers Fan Fiction ❯ Uncontrol ❯ Want ( Chapter 2 )

Note: See chapter one for disclaimers and such…. Thanks to those who reviewed! More specific thank yous later when I'm not so tired I'm about to pass out. Hope you enjoy the newest installment!

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two: Want

 

 

 

 

 

*

 

 

It was raining hard on the streets of Shinjuku. The chilled November air was still, and the rain fell straight down to pierce all who had not run to find shelter—lanced through the bodies of the two that did not want to hide. It was raining so hard—as hard as it had rained that day, three years ago. Two shadowed bodies stood frozen, facing each other. One furious. One blank. Both sinking in rain and in grief that would destroy them both. It wasn't raining quite hard enough to wash the shadows clean.

 

Lightning flashed and reflected harshly against twin pieces of purple glass. A gust of wind blew dark, sodden strands of green hair from narrowed eyes.

 

“Midou Ban. Defend yourself.”

 

 

*

 

 

Shido was growing tired of finding himself unnerved. Ginji was too quiet, having long ago given up laughing to cover up his own unease. Where his partner was concerned, Ginji was anything but the endearingly clueless guy he often seemed. At the moment, he sat at the counter beside the Beast Master once again. Instead of chatting with Natsumi, however, he rested his head in his folded arms on the countertop, with a solemn stare trained on the windows. He didn't fidget or ask for food. He didn't babble or attempt to mask his worry. He simply sat, waiting.

 

Shido was very aware that Midou had such an affect on the former Raitei. He was less aware of why the Snake Bastard seemed to be having the same affect on himself this day. He had insulted Ginji's partner far worse in the past—something he was strangely less proud of at the moment—and had never stopped to wonder about his well-being. But today he found himself following Ginji's gaze to the windows. And he did worry. So he waited, too.

 

It was very frustrating.

 

“Where did they go, Ginji-kun?” Natsumi asked from the opposite side while nervously wiping a perfectly dry glass with a towel. “Do they go to visit Yamato's grave, maybe?”

 

“No, they don't,” the blond answered quietly, not turning from the window.

 

“Then where the hell are they going?” Shido interjected. He wasn't afraid of the dark but he didn't like being stuck in it. “It seemed like the kid and Midou have been getting along these days,” not that he'd noticed, he amended to himself, “It's not like they're going out to beat each other to a pulp…” He trailed off when Ginji's fists clenched on the counter. “Ginji…”

 

“Last year… Ban-chan came back with a broken collar bone.”

 

Shido straightened up.

 

“So they are out there fighting?!”

 

“Ban-chan won't hit Himiko-chan. She'll be okay,” came Ginji's dull response.

 

“So the Snake Bastard just lets her hit him once a year? You've got to be kidding me…”

 

“Ban-chan has his reasons. Himiko, too.”

 

“So every year they fight?” Shido asked again, not comprehending, as this new information contradicted many characteristics he had assigned the two. The Himiko girl was irritable, and far too mature for her age, yes. But vengeful and violent? And Midou was a heartless killer and introverted menace… so why didn't he just kill the girl like he had her brother? Yet even as he tried to picture Ban striking down the girl with his cruel snakebite, he felt something was wrong with the image…

 

Shido's mental stuttering was interrupted when Ginji shrugged. “He only found Himiko a year and a half ago. On that retrieval. And I only met him two years ago when I left Mugenjou. I don't know what Ban-chan did on this day, before that.” His brow knitted together at the thought. “He's been pretty bad lately, though. Ban-chan is good at hiding it when he's upset… but I can really see that it's bad this year… I'm really worried about him. I don't know if the first year was—”

 

Paul lowered his paper slightly and glanced out the window. “It was worse,” he muttered, and went back to reading—a clear signal that he would say no more. Both Shido and Ginji turned to Paul at that. It hadn't occurred to Ginji, let alone Shido, that Paul had witnessed the first anniversary of Yamato's death. Ginji, however, seemed to register something in his mind because his eyebrows shot up and his head whipped around to the windows again. He fell silent once again, though now seemed even more hard-pressed in forcing himself to remain in the café like Ban demanded.

 

Rain pounded against the closed windows of the Honky Tonk. No more than ten feet outside the café was visible through the storm. Maybe it was something about the depressing weather that made Shido question the basis of a rivalry that had always seemed so justified. He couldn't remember a moment in time when he didn't want Midou dead. Until this morning when he saw a very uncharacteristic Get Backer and said the wrong thing. Until now when he wanted to apologize to the bastard for the first time ever.

 

“I know you're a killer. Heartless, right Midou?”

 

Shido winced in recollection.

 

“You're not much of a partner type, I hear.”

 

He thumped his head on the countertop, earning a satisfied “humph” from Paul. He should have just accepted the fact that he was bored and stayed home, or visited Madoka, or maybe Emishi or Kazuki… He should have done anything but walk into the Honky Tonk so early that morning. Anything would have been better than this. If he even knew what “this” was. His stomach flopped and he would have liked to believe that it was the four cups of coffee in his system, had it not been for the single word echoing across the corners of his mind.

 

Heartless. Heartless. Heartless.

 

 

*

 

 

A blast of flames that defied nature as it ripped through the downpour narrowly missed his shoulder. Arms hanging loosely at his sides-- refusing to come up in defense--, Ban shifted his body left, and then right to avoid the perfume-induced infernos repeatedly fired at him. Steam hissed in the air where the flames dissipated, adding another instrument to the symphony playing in the street. Rain pounded a relentless rhythm on the broken pavement. Footsteps almost too fast to register splashed through puddles, and the soles of four shoes scraped against the damaged ground where the clashing figures touched down. And when the staccato grew more and more repetitive, more predictable, a pant was pushed through clenched teeth and tensed cheeks, or a gasp leaked from otherwise sealed lips. What may have appeared to be a well choreographed dance—a series of motions performed out of obligation—was revealed as the violent scene it was truly meant to be. The figures, shadows for a day, warred.

 

One took the blows, needing them. One became more furious, needing more retribution than the bruises her blows caused.

 

Ban ducked a wave of fire and reappeared directly behind the enraged teen, shoving his glasses higher up on his nose as they began to slide. Himiko turned and landed a vicious punch on his left side. He barely flinched. When a pink perfume drifted towards his face he sped a safe distance away. This year was different than the last, for both of them. Ban could sense it. There would be no returning to the Honky Tonk to nurse a broken bone. The grief had become too deep, the pain too severe. Himiko no longer wanted to forget it. Ban found himself unable to control it. He would have loved to be terrified by the notion that he was slipping. That the control over himself that he had worked so hard for was falling apart. That is, if he thought he would walk away from this night.

 

“Fight me, you coward,” hisses Himiko, shoulders heaving. “Fight back.” In a split second she had a knife sailing through the rain filled air at Ban. He didn't move, and it grazed the side of his neck. Tears clouded Himiko's vision worse than the storm. “Do you think that by letting me hit you, you can make up for it?”

 

Ban's shoulders slumped. It wasn't the reaction Himiko was hoping for. She growled and bit out, “You took my life away from me.” A speed enhancing potion brought her within an inch of Ban before even he could blink. “He trusted you, you bastard.” The words stuck in Himiko's throat and thundered through Ban's chest. “How dare you think you're doing me a service by not fighting back?!” She grabbed the front of his shirt and shook hard, “How DARE you kill him and pretend like he never existed?!”

 

Ban raised an arm for the first time since leaving the Honky Tonk and removed the girl's hands with little effort. He took a step back. For a moment his blank expression fluttered some kind of emotion, but disappeared before Himiko could identify it. She told herself not to care. “How dare you, Ban,” she said again.

 

She almost jumped when he spoke for the first time that day. “Then avenge him and go, Hi-chan.” His deep voice was low, and cracked with disuse. It was almost inaudible, but the girl caught it and hated how defeated it sounded. She didn't want him to be weak. She didn't want him to call by the nickname he only ever used back when they were happy—back when they were a family, whole. She didn't want to remember a second brother.

 

Himiko wanted to remember the blood. She wanted to remember that she hated Midou Ban. She looked up at the downcast face of her brother's murderer, at the strangely subdued shell of an arrogant bastard, and wanted to remember everything she had always hated about him.

 

Ban felt a moment of relief when he was suddenly sure that the girl would finally take her revenge. He was so damn tired. He couldn't keep it up anymore, not when he was losing it as it was. Besides, if anyone was justified in killing him, it was Himiko. Well, he was sure there were more, but he would never allow it. Not from anyone but Himiko. Who sometimes looked so much like her brother that it hurt to look at her.

 

Himiko stepped forward and grabbed onto his shirt, pulling him close once again, and Ban was sure that his time was up. An image of Ginji flashed through his mind, and his heart paused for a moment. Who would take care of Ginji? No, he assured himself, Ginji didn't need him anymore. He relaxed, telling himself that he wouldn't be with Ginji much longer anyway. At least this way, Himiko would be happy, too. And Ginji had his friends to look after him, to be there for him. His friends… like Natsumi and the Threadspool…like that Monkey Tamer…

 

“Have you decided you're done with pretending?... I know you're a killer. Heartless, right Midou?... kill Ginji, too?...... kill Ginji, too?............... kill Ginji, too?”

 

The grip on his shirt tightened, and Ban felt the tension flow from his body. This was it. Monkey Tamer would be happy. He hoped Yamato was smiling too. He wanted them all to smile. The world was just too fucking dark.

 

But Himiko wanted something else. No blow was delivered. No knives, fire, or poison. Ban flinched when his sunglasses were suddenly snatched from his face. The tension crept back up his spine as the girl he once teased like a little sister stared directly into his eyes for what was probably the first time ever.

 

“Show me why, Midou Ban,” Himiko spat slowly, deliberately. Ban's eyes widened as he reflexively began shaking his head in refusal. The girl would not relent. She knew now what she wanted. “Show me how, Ban. Show me what made you do it.”

 

“Stop, Himik—”

 

“Show me how you could kill him!”

 

Ban tried to back away but he was too far gone. He shut his eyes tight, trying to block out the images that flooded his mind. He had fought so hard to lock them all away… it was too much. He couldn't fight them now, not right now. He forced his eyes open to try a first and last offensive. It had to end now. “I could do it because he was an asshole! Now back off, brat!” he yelled with as much as his usual brutality as possible. “He fucking deserved it!”

 

Himiko grabbed his face in both of her hands, jerking his wild eyes to meet hers. “Show me my brother!!!” she screamed, and without his consent Ban's Jagan was released. He vaguely wondered if the girl knew he was losing control of it.

 

Electric blue eyes widened to the point of bulging, and a low voice croaked out a single “No…” and then the nightmare hit.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

The air crackled inside the Honky Tonk and electric sparks suddenly erupted over Ginji's resting arms. His eyes suddenly flooded with worry, which concerned all who were present at the café. The blond scrambled out of his stool and burst out the front door without a word. Natsumi watched him leave with her jaw wide open, expression scared.

 

Shido stood from his stool as well, but hesitated. Because he felt it too. There was something deeply wrong… Maybe Ban had decided to hit back after all and had hurt the kid… but a thundering in the Beast Master's chest told him that it wasn't the Kudo girl he was worrying about. It wasn't Himiko that had Ginji racing into a storm, looking more like Raitei than he had in the past two years out of Mugenjou. Should he be racing out, too? Did he have any place being concerned--- being curious he tried to correct himself—about Midou Ban?

 

“What the hell are you waiting for?” Paul asked with an arched eyebrow. His newspaper had been placed down on the counter.

 

Well there was his cue. The Snake Bastard could bitch at him later for interfering in personal matters. For now he was going to use the excuse of guilt for his careless provocation while he still could. It was guilt that was driving him hard on Ginji's heels into the streets of Shinjuku. It was guilt for being an ass on a bad day.

 

It was a flutter in his chest that simply wouldn't go away.

 

He was going to make sure Midou was alive. And then he was going to kick his ass for causing him so much damn confusion.

 

And then he might apologize.

 

Maybe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: Okay so I couldn't work in any actual Shido/Ban this time around…. But there is a 100% chance of it in the next one… because I'll give you a hint…. It's not Ginji OR Raitei that catches Ban first. ;) …. So I'll write the next part soon as possible. PLEASE REVIEW, it makes me feel special!