The Price of Wishes

An LLS Production

It might turn into shounen-ai, it always seems to...

Prologue: The Paths Cross

One of the hazards of being essentially an electric eel meant that Amano Ginji had a very powerful, if defective, internal compass. That is to say, he could easily home in onto one specific person in the entire world, i.e. his partner, Midou Ban, but, in any other case he would be lost. It was therefore on one of the jobs they did at the retriever duo the Get Backers that he was lost. LOST. Horribly, terribly, nearly across Tokyo that kind of lost.

"Ban-chan..." Ginji moaned as he hobbled along the streets. "I'm lost..."

Somehow, his feet took him to an elaborate red gate, where an elaborate landed green-roofed house with one roof topped with a crescent awaited him. By some strange force, he kept walking, walking, and soon he found himself at the doorstep of the opened door.

"Welcome!" two girls greeted.

One was taller and has long, curly, blue hair tied into pigtails. Her dark outfit seems to have a devilish look to it, showing that she is the darker of the twins. The other seemed to be the younger of the twins, with short, straight, pink hair that has two curls on either side of her head. Her outfit seems to have an angelic look, in contrast to the other. Their eyes matched their hair. They grinned up at him as if they'd been waiting for him.

"Eh?" Ginji blinked. "Erm, sorry, I made a mistake..."

"A guest for Master~!"

"A guest for Master~!" They chorused, one after the other.

"No, that's not it!" Ginji struggled as they dragged him in, sparks falling off him but both of them were hardly shocked as they dragged him through the hallways.

"A customer, a customer!" what looked like a black bunny called as Ginji was dragged in. They pulled him towards the sliding shoji screen that was made of nothing but a wood frame and decorative paper, the type that he decided Ban-chan could finish off with one hand. Before he could even protest he found himself in a lushly furnished sitting room, decorated in the traditional fashion. The motif seemed to be butterflies and smoky swirls.

There was a man sitting on the couch, surrounded by pillows. He wore an elaborate kimono that was perhaps a size too large for him. It was slipping a bit off his frame to reveal perfect shoulders, a delicate neck and a small peek at a pale chest. One of his legs was propped up on the arm of the couch he was leaning on, the slit of the kimono revealing skin clean up to his inner thigh. He was lazily smoking from a long teak pipe in one of his slender hands, a smile on his lips. The man was achingly beautiful, Ginji reflected, like Kazuki-chan. His coal black hair looked baby fine and small strands were flyaway. A pair of eyes, one blue, and one brown, gazed coolly back at him.

"I'm sorry!" Ginji bowed. "I didn't mean to come here!"

The man chuckled, the sound rich and breathy. "It is because you were fated to come here." He took another drag from his pipe, completely at ease.

"Fated...?" Ginji echoed.

"Your name?" the man asked.

"Amano Ginji, the G in the Get Backers retrieval squad!" Ginji proudly answered.

"Amano Ginji..." the man repeated. "Sky field, and silver chance. Birthday?"

"Erm... April nineteenth," Ginji shifted uncomfortably at this interrogation.

"You do realise that you've given your name and birthday to a complete stranger," the man looked amused.

"You asked," Ginji innocently answered.

"So?" the man replied. "If you give someone your name, they can take your soul. If you give them your birthday, they can control your life."

"Oh?" Ginji blinked. "I don't know about that. Ban-chan handles that. And you?"

"I am Watanuki Kimihiro," the man lazily answered. "These are Maru and Moro. Their full names are Marudashi and Morodashi."

"Nice to meet you, Maru-san, Moro-san," Ginji greeted the girls.

"So polite!"

"So polite!"

"And the black bun is Mokona Modoki," Watanuki pointed.

"I'm Mokona!" the black bunny cheered.

"Mokona-chan," Ginji smiled as he waved back. "I'm very sorry for imposing on you, I got lost, you see..."

His stomach growled as he reverted to chibi form. "I'm hungry..."

"I'm hungry!" Mokona echoed. "Food! Food! Sake! Sake!"

"Yes, yes," Watanuki got up. "You're staying for food."

"Er, I'm very sorry..." Ginji tried to walk out, but the screens slid shut through no action on Watanuki's part.

"Food!"

"Food!"

"Just accept," Watanuki murmured.

Minutes later, Ginji was swallowing everything like a man on his last meal. "Delicious..."

"This is a shop," Watanuki drawled as he ate. "A shop that grants wishes."

Ginji stilled. "A shop that grants wishes...?"

"Any wish can be granted," Watanuki nodded. "As long as it is within my ability. But, in exchange, I will have you pay something of equal value."

"A wish?" Ginji repeated. "But, I..."

"You are a recovery agent, is it?" Watanuki prompted.

"Yes!" Ginji brightened. "Me and Ban-chan, we're the Get Backers! We recover what is lost or stolen with a hundred percent success rate! No job too big or too small! Well, sometimes we almost die, but that's part of the trade."

"Are you happy?" Watanuki asked.

"Well..." Ginji muttered. "I'm often hungry, sometimes Ban-chan hits me when he thinks I'm being dumb, and then we don't get paid that often because of the costs incurred... I'm like an electric eel, I can create electricity."

"So I see," Watanuki nodded.

"But, I have friends, and Ban-chan," Ginji continued, still in chibi form. "We're the Get Backers, the S means that neither of us are alone. Oh, but Ban-chan often complains, and he's a pervert as well, which is sad because Hevn-san is pretty but she smacks him because he touches her chest... but we're forever together."

"Then, you have a very good friend," Watanuki offered. "Only those with wishes can walk into this store. So, tell me... what is your wish?"

"Wish?" Ginji echoed. "Well... it'd be nice if we can live better, but then we get huge payouts now and then... Paul-san gives us free drinks and food, so we eat, and I can just stick a finger into the nearest electric socket, so I'm fine there. I like Ban-chan, and we're always together. There's nothing wrong. My wish is only something I want, it's not something I need."

"Then you are one of a king, Amano Ginji," Watanuki answered. "Why don't you speak it out?"

"...sometimes, I get the feeling that Ban-chan doesn't tell me everything," Ginji admitted. "Not that he doesn't trust me, but that... well, it's... difficult."

"That he keeps some secrets from you to protect you?" Watanuki guessed.

"Yeah!" Ginji brightened. "But, we're the Get Backers! Best friends!"

"Quite a strong bond," Watanuki whispered. "What is this friend's name?"

"Midou Ban," Ginji answered warily. "Why?"

"Hmm, not someone I hear much about," Watanuki shrugged. "Either way, you want this friend to trust you?"

"He trusts me already," Ginji spoke with an absolute conviction. "Even if he doesn't tell me today, he will tell me someday."

"... that is a trust that cannot be faked," Watanuki gravely nodded amidst Maru and Moro making cooing noises.

"Moron, moron!" Mokona shouted. "Cheating, cheating!"

"Don't insult other people!" Maru and Moro shouted as Ginji turned chibi and began to cry.

"Huh, Maru and Moro like you," Watanuki muttered as a small slip of a fox curled around him. "And so does Mugetsu. What is your wish?"

"I... to me, Ban-chan is an important person," Ginji murmured. "I have nothing to pay you with, but... if you could, could you please give Ban-chan happiness?"

"Happiness is one of those things that varies from person to person," Watanuki considered. "Though, this shop does not accept money. What would be a fair trade...? Very well, I will grant your wish. However... if you have nothing to pay with, then you can put your effort and time as the payment. Once you have worked long enough for me, I will grant your wish. However... during this time, you cannot meet with Midou Ban."

"You will?" Ginji smiled. "Thanks, Watanuki-san! I don't know where to find Ban-chan, so, as Ban-chan says, I might as well stay here until he finds me!"

Watanuki blew a plume of smoke, the particles making kabbalistic patterns in the very air itself. "Someone would have said, that now our relationship has been formed. That no matter how trivial the meeting and the incidents that follow may seem, a relationship is made. Even if it is for a short amount of time, a knot that has been tied does not unravel. It means that during your lifetime, every incident that passes has meaning. The meeting between you and I also has meaning, so remember it."

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