Namesake
A Get Backers fanfic by Rabid Lola
A/N: Got nothing better to do…
GB property of…well, you should know. :) And here is the latest and for now the last of the fics I have about the AU family I created for the GB world. Last, for now. I'll see if I come up with more.
Kids property of their respective parents. Hehehe. Character key is thus: Midou children are Yamato, Michiko, Ginji, and Yuji. Amano kids are Teshichan, Ban, and Reiko.
……
"Yamato-kun…" Teshichan looked at the tall, dark-green-haired boy beside her. "We're lost."
Yamato sighed. "Can I blame it on you?"
She glared at him. "You're mean."
"Niisan, it's not her fault," Michiko slapped Yamato lightly on the arm.
"I was joking, chibi," Yamato said wearily. "Come on, let's look at the map again."
Riiiing. Riiing.
"Moshi-moshi, Ariyoshi residence."
"Konnichiwa, is Midou Yamato there?"
"Hold your line, please."
"Kaasan?"
"Yamato, Otosan and I won't be able to pick you up. We need to bring Yuji to the hospital, he got into a little accident again." Himiko sounded a little exasperated. In the background, Yamato's seven-year-old brother could be heard, crying.
Yamato rolled his eyes. "Is it something he, Ginji and Ban did?"
His mother sighed. "Yes. Honestly…Anyway, as you know, Ginji-san and Natsumi-san aren't home either. They're watching Reiko's recital. Can you and Teshichan commute home from your friend's house?"
"I think so, Kaasan."
"You should, you're fourteen," Himiko said, a smile in her voice. "By the way, can you pick up Michiko from her friend's house on the way home?"
"Where?"
After giving him the address and making sure he had money, Himiko said goodbye. Before she put down the phone, he heard his father holler in a tone that was partly serious, "Don't get lost!"
Unfortunately, once they'd picked up Michiko and taken a couple of buses…well, they must have missed a stop somewhere.
"Of all the days to forget my cellphone," Yamato muttered under his breath.
Teshichan looked helplessly at the map of the station. She was Amano Ginji's daughter, after all… "I think we're clear in another district."
Michiko just stared uncomprehendingly at the black and grey lines and curves, marked with bright, neon-ish circles. Then she shook her head and let her five-year-old mind focus on other things. "Niisan, I'm tired."
"Agh…I'll carry you in a bit, chibi," Yamato said, scanning the map. "Let me figure this out first.
Teshichan held out her arms. "Come, Iko-chan," she said, lifting the younger girl onto her back.
"Oi, Teshichan…"
"I'll give her back to you in a bit. Just finish the map already."
……
"Yamato-kun?"
"Aa?"
"I don't think you read it properly…"
Yamato chose not to reply. Michiko was clinging to his back, and she peered curiously into her elder brother's face. "Niisan, we're still lost, aren't we?"
"Shush, Iko-chan," Teshichan saved Yamato from replying. "Yamato-kun, there's a payphone over there. I still have a few yen on me…"
"Thanks, Teshi," Yamato grumbled, handing his sister to the girl and taking the coins from her hand.
Riiing. Riiing.
"Moshi-moshi, Midou residence…"
"And Amano!" Yamato heard Teshichan's little brother yell from what sounded like another part of the room.
"Shut up, Ban!" Ginji yelled back, before switching back to politeness. "Whom would you like to speak to?" Yamato had to grin a little at this.
"Yo, Ginji. Are Oyaji (1) and Kaasan back?"
"Niisan?" Ginji sounded confused. "Hey, weren't you supposed to be home…thirty minutes ago?"
"Aa, aa, we're on our way. Got a little delayed. Just…tell that to them, okay?"
"Are you sure you're not lost, Niisan?" Ginji asked suspiciously.
"No, we're not," Yamato answered, a little too quickly. "Oi, what happened to Yuji?"
"Um…" He could picture his little brother twisting his fingers together sheepishly. "Ban and I wanted to explore the roof. And…uh, Yuji wanted to come. But…he, uh, kinda fell…"
"Off the ROOF!"
"No! Off the window, on the way up!"
Yamato sighed. "Ginji, there's a ladder from the second floor. You're not allowed there, but you could have…"
"Kaasan would have seen us."
Yamato slapped his forehead. "And you and Ban are grounded again, right?"
"Un." Ginji sounded resigned. "I'm here. He's facing the wall on the other side of the room. 'Tosan said something about how Aesclepius can see us, even if he's with 'Tosan in the hospital…"
Poor snake. Reduced to babysitting. Yamato smirked. "All right, we'll be home in a bit, okay? Stay there, and don't move. Oyaji's right. Aesclepius can see you." The last bit was said in that threatening, teasing tone all older siblings love to use.
"Ne, stop it, Niisan!"
……
"Think our parents are home yet?" Teshichan asked.
Yamato shook his head. "Just five minutes since I called, and Yuji's injuries sounded big." He shifted Michiko on his back. "Iko, you're getting heavy. Can I put you down?"
"Nii-san…"
"Come on, Iko."
"I'll carry her, Yamato-kun."
"No!"
A car pulled up beside them, and a friendly voice spoke. "Hey. You kids look lost."
Idly, Yamato glanced over at the car. Somewhat like a convertible, it was a light, almost-sky blue, with no top. Not a car they knew. Ignoring the man, he, Teshichan, and Michiko (who had finally dismounted) walked on.
"Are you sure you don't need a lift?"
Something in the voice made Yamato look…why was there something so familiar about this spiky-haired man, with a worn-out blue suit and a cigarette dangling from his lips?
Teshichan tugged at his arm. "Yamato-kun…" she hissed.
A grin twitched the corner of the stranger's mouth. "Yamato, eh? I knew it, you're Ban and Himiko's kid." His eyes drifted down to the little girl clutching at Yamato and Teshichan's hands. His face softened. "And so are you, pretty one." He looked at Teshichan. "And you…? Oh yeah, Ginji and Natsumi's."
"You know our parents?" Teshichan asked warily. This wasn't necessarily a good thing.
The man gave a little nod, before remarking, "You're a good way off, you know. About an hour's walk from your house."
"I've never seen you…" Teshichan began, a little hostility creeping into her tone. Static around her fingers made Michiko snatch her hand away from her. "Teshi…"
Yamato laid a hand on her arm, and she fell silent, looking at him. His strangely blue eyes were gazing thoughtfully at the man.
The man shifted a little, almost uncomfortably, but he met the gaze. Something few could do, to either Yamato or his father. "I won't hurt you, or your parents," the man said lightly. Still, seriousness lurked just beneath his expression. "Come, I'll take you home."
Some residue of the Jagan (which Ban did NOT want to pass to his descendants, unless he absolutely had to) had given a strange gift to Yamato: Lies rarely got past him. It was an instinct that almost never went wrong; illusions could not fool him, either. Several times, though, Himiko had had to ask Ban to help her decide whether their son was lying or not.
This man would stick to his word. He could see that much.
"Arigato," Yamato said quietly. He gestured to the two girls, and they got into the backseat. He himself slipped into the passenger side.
That way, if anything went wrong, he'd be the first to get hit.
……
"So, do Ban and Himiko still fight a lot?"
Yamato glanced at the man. So familiar… "What do you mean, fight?"
"Fight. Squabble." A strange grin again. "Act like kids."
He turned over the question in his mind, trying to find the right words. "…They don't really fight. Bicker, yes, sometimes." A grin stretched over his own face. "It's funny. Sometimes."
"Do you know our parents well?" Teshichan asked cautiously from the backseat.
The stranger glanced at her in the mirror. "I knew Yamato's parents better than yours," he said, in the same offhand tone. "In fact, I never really met Natsumi. Only knew her through Ginji."
"Who are you?" the girl asked next.
His eyes slid away from her and back to the road. "Oh, an old friend of theirs."
Why don't you want to say your name? The question passed simultaneously through the children's minds. Teshichan bit her lip, and Yamato could see her hands gripping the back of his seat, knuckles whitening. He remembered, suddenly, the last time he'd brought an "old friend' of his parents home. Luckily, Miroku Yukihiko did qualify as one. Sort of.
Michiko was silent.
The ride continued like that; the man asking random questions, Yamato or Teshichan answering. The questions were neither awkward, nor strange. Yet he himself was.
At one point, though, Michiko finally spoke up. Yamato and the man were laughing at something the boy had said. She looked from the man, to her brother, to the man. "You look alike," she declared solemnly.
A startled look flashed through Teshichan's eyes. "Yes…you do."
Yamato felt a strange twinge, and he glanced at the stranger sideways. But the man only shrugged, and said, smiling, "What a coincidence."
They arrived home…with a sinking feeling, the children saw the Subaru parked in the garage, alongside the larger car used for family trips. And then, from inside…
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY'RE NOT YET HOME?"
The man chuckled a little. "That sounds like Ban."
"Gak, Oyaji's panicking…Michiko, Teshi, run inside and tell them we're okay."
Teshichan looked sharply at her friend as they practically jumped out of the car. The look in his eyes only told her to please go. So she just replied, "Ok," and set off with Michiko at her heels.
Yamato was left with the strange man, who looked up at him as he stood just beside the driver's door. "Yes?"
"Come in for a while," Yamato blurted out.
The stranger started his car. "Sorry, Yamato," he said cheerily. "Can't do that."
Yamato gripped his arm, hard, and the man tensed. The boy had inherited his father's strong hold as well, though Aesclepius was not going to be passed down anytime soon.
"You're strange," the boy said sharply. "You know my parents, you took us home, yet you don't want to even say 'hi'. Who are you, exactly?"
From inside the house, they heard Himiko exclaim, "Teshichan! Michiko!"
Ban's voice suddenly sounded. "YAMATO!"
The man smiled, and suddenly Yamato's hand flew off the his arm. A tingling jolt shot through his body, otherworldly and frightening…but strangely harmless. The boy stared at the man with some mixture of awe and fear.
"Sorry, I really have to go. But, my little namesake…" Yamato's eyes widened, and the man's twinkled. "Please tell them, aniki says hi."
Aniki!
The door banged open, and Ban and Himiko rushed out. "You should have called…" they stopped short as they caught sight of the car, and their son turned to face them with wide, stricken eyes.
"Yamato?" Himiko covered her shock and walked quickly over to her son, brushing the hair off his forehead. "What's wrong?"
"Yamato." This was Ban, and he was staring at a note—how had it gotten there?—tacked on the side of the car. It said simply, For the Midous and Amanos. Please take care of it.
"You came home in this?"
The boy nodded, face still white, eyes still wide.
Ban looked up.
"Who drove?"
For an answer, Yamato turned to his mother. "Kaasan…your aniki says hi."
……
He has not forgotten that day, and he has not forgotten that face.
It was very similar, after all, to the one he saw in the mirror everyday. And its name was where his own had come from.
He was grateful to have known him, just for a while.
…EnD…
(1) Oyaji – roughly equivalent to "old man", a not-so-respectful term for father. Did you think Ban's kid was going to be completely respectful to authority? n.n