GetBackers Fan Fiction ❯ Water and Electricity ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Raitei was out of control, and not until Mizuno's screaming had long since faded away did the electricity stop floating in the air. The water on the floor had sunk back to the sea. Slowly Raitei got back into the depth of Ginji's self, and there was only Amano Ginji left. Suddenly Ginji realized those exact words. Only Amano Ginji left!

"Ban-chan!!!"

He rushed over to his friend's body lying on the floor. His eyes were open but unseeing. There was no heaving of his chest, no breathing. Ginji desperately felt for Ban's pulse. Nothing! He closed Ban's eyes, he couldn't bare to see those eyes like that.

"Ban-chan! What've I done?"

He had killed his best friend! His electric power had killed him. He had done what Ban had told him not to do, and lost himself to Raitei! Right now Ginji didn't wish for anything better than Ban to punch him and yell at him for not having obeyed him. But Ban didn't move. Ginji remembered he had also told Ban he could control his electric power, when Ban had hesitated on teaching him how to swim. Ban had said he didn't want to be electrocuted in the water, but that was what he had done! He had to save him!

Ginji had some ideas of how to get a heart beating again. He laid his hands on Ban's unmoving chest where he thought his heart might be, and started to press rhythmically. After a few times he stopped and felt for a pulse. Still nothing. He bent Ban's head back and gave him mouth to mouth even if he didn't had the slightest knowledge if that would help, but Ban's brain needed oxygen and he just knew he had to do something… For a couple of minutes he took turn pressing Ban's chest and blowing air in his lungs. His cheeks were wet by tears. Ginji wept. Sobbing he was working with Ban's slack body.

"Ban-chan… don't leave me! Come on… please. What'll I do without you, Ban-chan…" His words became whispers as he didn't have the strength to talk anymore.

Ginji was at the edge of giving up hope now. Wasn't there anything else he could do? Wait, hadn't Ban-chan mentioned something about giving people whose heart had stopped electric shocks to make them start beating again? Ginji hesitated only a second. He had killed Ban with electricity, could electricity get him back now? There was nothing to lose. Ginji felt how sorrow was replaced by determination. He put his hands back on Ban's chest and carefully started to build up electric energy again. This time he wouldn't lose control. This was a fight, and the enemy was death. It was the most important fight he ever had to do. If he lost this one…

He charged. Felt for Ban's pulse. Nothing. Again. Still nothing. Again!

There it was! Ban's heart was beating by itself and his chest heaved as he started breathing again.

"Ban-chan, can you hear me?" Carefully he shook Ban.

Ban opened his eyes. The sight of his narrow, blue, seeing eyes was the most beautiful thing Ginji had ever seen.

"Ginji?" Ban coughed. "I thought I was dead."

"You were, Ban-chan." Ginji was crying again. "I killed you!"

Ban nodded. "That's what Kitayama showed me. You killing me." He coughed again and managed to sit up. "Good, I can move again. Stop crying, Ginji. Tell me what happened. We're not dead both of us, are we?"

Ginji made an effort to stop crying and began to tell Ban everything that happened from the time when he'd been thrown over the bridge to the waterfall.

"Yeah. I knew you weren't dead, but when Kitayama showed me you were going to kill me, I wondered which would be best for you," Ban said.

Ginji shuddered. "If I really had killed you, I guess I'd rather be dead. But you're alive, Ban-chan, and me, too." He suddenly bent over Ban, and hugged him. "I'm sorry, Ban-chan. I know I shouldn't have become Raitei. I… I just… I'm sorry."

Ban returned the hug. He wasn't in a mood to yell at Ginji now. He knew how Ginji must feel and didn't want to make him feel worse.

"It's alright, Ginji. It's because of me all this happened, right? Next time try to remember what I said about water and electricity, though. Go on, tell me more, what happened?"

Ginji did so and when he was finished he looked anxiously at Ban.

"Are you mad at me, Ban-chan?"

"For such a tiny thing like killing me? Just kidding, Ginji, don't look so scared. As I said, it's all my fault in the first place. You defeated two of the most dangerous guys there is, one of them without being Raitei. And you revived me, didn't you?"

"You are alive, Ban-chan, right? I'm not dreaming, am I?" Ginji sounded worried.

Ban smiled gently at him.

"If you are, I'm having the same dream. I certainly feel alive and I can assure you I'm not using my Jagan. But what happened to that water bastard and Chikara?"

"Mizuno has disappeared. There is no sign of a body. I don't know what's happened to him. Chikara… I guess he's dead. I must've killed him, too. He is lying behind that screen."

Ginji went to have a look, and came back looking sad.

"Yeah. I've killed him. Strange, Kitayama didn't mind that. When he showed you your future I heard him say he liked what was going to happen."

"He probably didn't know. His vision was my future, through my eyes, and I didn't see what happened to Chikara. The vision started when you fought the water bastard."

He looked at Ginji who was sitting beside him with a sad expression.

"Don't look so sad, that bastard deserved what he got."

"Maybe so, Ban-chan, but I don't like to kill anyone. But I have to admit," he said with a tiny smile. "I'd rather have him dead, than you, Ban-chan."

"Yeah. I guess you could have revived him instead of me, but you had to make a choice, you know," Ban said teasingly to Ginji. "Don't you think it's time to get out of here?"

"Yeah. Can you walk, Ban-chan?"

Ban rose. He took a few steps on the floor. For a guy who was dead a couple of minutes ago, he felt just fine.

"Sure. I'm alright. Is the Ladybug still outside?"

Ginji nodded. "Um. But I don't' know where the keys are. Maybe Kitayama got them."

"Let's look in the car if they're there. Else we'll have to walk."

They went out to the car, and they were lucky. The keys were in the ignition lock, so it was possible for them to drive instead of walk. Ban looked at the blood on his body. He didn't like the idea of getting his car all bloody. Ginji saw his look and took off his vest.

"Here, the most blood is on your back, and the vest got most blood on the front. If you put this on you can at least prevent some blood from getting in the car."

Ban took the green vest. He needed it, not only to prevent his car from getting all bloody, but there weren't much of his own clothes left. His shirt was all gone, and so was his undershirt. Of his trousers there were a little more left, but not much. He sighed, this was not good. Of course, better naked than dead, but still…

"Can you drive, Ban-chan?"

"Of course, you moron, you didn't think I'll let you drive, eh?"

Ginji smiled. Ban was definitely feeling better. He acted like his old self again. That was a relief. Ginji seated himself at the passenger seat beside the driver's seat. Ban sat down behind the steering wheel.

"Ban-chan?"

"Eh?"

"How do we get out of here? Samamoto said his men controlled all roads to see who came and left."

Ban searched for cigarettes anywhere in the car, while he was thinking. He found a packet, together with his lighter. At least he hadn't lost that one. That lighter had belonged to Yamato and he treasured it. He lit a cigarette and enjoyed inhaling the smoke from the tobacco; it made him feel calmer. Heh, it seemed he had been a little shaken by all this after all. Well, he wasn't going to tell Ginji that. Lucky they didn't have many things left in the hotel. Of course they couldn't go back there and get anything, but it still hurt Ban that they would have to buy some new stuff, now that the four million yen wasn't going to happen. He thought of something. What if… He put his hand in the pocket in his trousers. The pocket was still intact, and inside it lay the money he got from Samamoto as an advance payment. Ban laughed.

"Ban-chan?"

"Heh, I found this money in my pocket. Those bloody bastards forgot to take them from me."

"That's good, Ban-chan, but how do we get out of here?" Ginji asked again.

"Fighting again, I guess."

He hoped he didn't have too. His entire body was aching like hell, but he couldn't let Ginji do all the fighting alone. Ban started the engine and turned the Ladybug to get to the road. The road ended here, so they had to take the same way back as they came from. They drove off, no other people in sight this time either. When they reached where the road split in two, Ginji asked:

"Where do you think this road leads, Ban-chan? Maybe we can leave this place that way and avoid driving past the hotel?"

"Nah, it probably leads to Samamoto's mansion. It's the only road I can think of that does that, and I don't think I wanna pass his house."

"Guess not." Ginji agreed.

They reached the power station and approached the hotel. Still no one had tried to stop them. They passed the hotel.

"Strange." Ban mumbled. "Even if they don't know we've escaped, they know this is our car and they would check it out."

Only a moment later they were stopped by a temporary road block, and two of Samamoto's men approached them, guns in their hands. "Step out of the car, and keep your hands where I can see them."

"Of course." Ban said politely, stepped out and looked the men right into their eyes. His own eyes turned reptilian as his Jagan began the men's visions. He let them see Samamoto getting out of the backseat, telling them everything was alright and to let them go. The men bowed and pulled off the road block, letting them pass without any further trouble.

"Phuu! That was the first easy thing today!" Ginji loudly exhaled.

That was the only time they were stopped. Ban didn't dare stop the car for anything else but to get more gas. They drove all night and in the morning they reached the Honky Tonk at the same time as Paul opened the café. He stared at them. "You look like you've been through hell and back!"

"We have." Ginji agreed.

Ban pulled up some bills and put it on the desk.

"We need food, plenty of it."

"Coming right up."

Paul went to fix some food for them. The GetBackers seated themselves at a table, taking a good look at each other. Their bodies were covered in blood, Ban's worst. He was still wearing Ginji's vest with no shirt under, and he had wounds and bruises all over. They had neither been eating nor sleeping in 24 hours and they had been to hell and back, not once, but three times during that time! And it showed on their faces. No wonder Paul was giving them worried looks from behind the desk.

"You look terrible, Ban-chan. Maybe I should connect you to a socket instead?" Ginji laughed.

"Fool. Remember what happened last time when you tried electric power on me?"

"Actually, the last time saved you, Ban-chan."

Ban yawned. "Yeah. I guess you're right, but I think I'll pass the socket treatment anyway."

Ginji yawned, too. "I could fall asleep right here and now."

He shook his head trying to clear it some. "Was this a successful retrieval or not, Ban-chan?"

"Of course it was. The request wasn't what we first thought, but we both got it back."

Ginji thought about that and then he smiled, looking with his big eyes into Ban's. They were still blue, narrow, and some called them cold, but Ginji loved them. And the eyes saw him; they didn't have that unseeing look Ginji knew he would never forget.

"You're right, Ban-chan. We both got what we treasured most back."

Paul came with their food. Ban and Ginji smiled at each other and started to eat.

owari