A Second Chance at Life
Banana Fish Fanfiction
Chapter One
Disclaimer: I do not own Banana Fish or its characters.
At the airport, Eiji and Ibe were saying their final goodbyes to everyone. As the two Japanese males were about to the head to the airline gate, Charlie heard his cell phone ring and pulled it out of his pocket. "Hello, this is Charlie. Yes; Inspector Jenkins is with me." he said into the receiver. As he was listening to the person on the other end, the red haired detective's face suddenly went pale. "What; please tell me you're joking!" Everyone noticed the detective's behavior and gave him questioning looks, wondering what he was so excited about. "Where is he; okay, we'll get there as soon as we can, bye!" he replied before ending the call.
After he did, Max asked him in a worried tone, "Charlie, what's going on?"
"And why do I get the feeling, it's not good thing?" Jessica asked hoping she was wrong.
"It's Ash; apparently he was stabbed and was transported to the hospital."
"What?!" everyone said in a huge panic.
"It's true; a librarian saw him bleeding and called the ambulance. They didn't say how he's doing, but it didn't sound too good."
Eiji couldn't believe what he just heard. A feeling of dread came over him like it did when the news was saying Ash was dead. 'No, not again; it can't be! I have to go; Ash needs me!' The Japanese male started to get out of his wheelchair despite the pain he was still feeling from his wound. Ibe noticed this and tried to stop him, "Ei-chan, what are you doing; you can't be walking right now!" the photographer said in concern
"I have to go; I have to see him!" the dark haired teen replied trying to walk only to have Ibe hold him back.
"Look Ei-chan, I know you're worried about Ash, but it's time for us to go. Your family is waiting for you to return to Japan."
"I realize that and I know it'll make them worry even more, but I have to get to that hospital. I need to be there for Ash; I can't just leave him."
"Ei-chan…"
"Look Ibe-san, I know we've been through a lot since we came here and I know you just want what's best for me, but I'm not getting on that plane until I know for sure Ash will be alright. If I leave now, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. Please just try to understand." the black haired teen desperately begged his caretaker.
Max sighed as he placed his hand on the older Japanese male's shoulder. "You know Ibe, I don't think the kid's going to take no for an answer this time."
"But…" Before the photographer could say another word, he saw the look into the Japanese teen's dark eyes. He could tell that he truly wanted to be there for a friend regardless of his well being. Ibe sighed as he replied, "Okay, if it means that much to you, Ei-chan, but were going together."
"Deal; thank you so much, Ibe-san." Eiji replied with a grateful smile on his face.
Just then, they all saw Sing, Alex, Kong and Bones head up to them. "Hey, what are you two still doing here, Eiji?" Sing asked.
"Yeah, you guys got a plane to catch; don't ya?" Alex added.
"Unfortunately, there's been a change of plan, you guys. Right now, we have to get to the hospital." the black haired teen answered.
"The hospital; why do we need to go there?" Bones asked.
"It's Ash; he was stabbed and loss a lot of blood, so he's on the way there." Ibe answered.
"You've got to be kidding me; not the Boss!" Kong said in shock.
"When did this happen?!" the young Chinatown boss asked.
"We'll talk about that later; right now we got to get to that hospital!" Max said in an urgent tone.
"Max's right; you all should head on down to the hospital." Charlie said before turning to Inspector Jenkins, "We were called to head on over to the crime scene, sir."
"Then we better get down there; we'll see you all later at the hospital." Inspector Jenkins said while he and Charlie headed out of the airport. After the two detectives left, the others headed out of the hospital as well. Max, Ibe, Eiji and Sing piled into Max's car while Alex, Bones, Kong and Jessica piled into her car and headed to the hospital.
Once the vehicles were parked in the hospital's parking lot, everyone got out and headed into the building. A doctor who was walking by happened to see the panicked group and walked up to them. "May I help you all?" he asked them.
"Yes, we were told a young man was transported to this hospital and we came to see about him." Max told him.
"Would you by any chance be asking about Mr. Ash Lynx." the medical professional asked.
"Yes that's him." Jessica replied.
"How's the boss; is he gonna be okay?" Alex asked.
"We just got him out of recovery. Mr. Lynx had lost a lot of blood from his stab wound, but surprisingly, he still breathing." the doctor said to them while they all blew sighs of relief but they were short lived as the doctor continued, "However, he hasn't woken up yet and from the looks of it, the chances of that happening are really slim. He is very lucky the ambulance got to him when they did, a second later and he wouldn't have made it through recovery."
"Sir, is it alright if we see him?" Eiji asked the doctor hoping they could.
"That's fine, but due to his condition only one or two people can see him at a time. Me and other nurses will have to check in with him periodically check on his condition. The room he is in Room 104; go down this hall and make a left. A buzzer is right by his bed so if there is anything you need or if his condition should change, make sure to let us know."
"We will Doctor and thank you." Jessica told the medical professional before he nodded and left them to handle his other duties.
Sing turned to Eiji and said to him, "Eiji, you should go in first to see about Ash."
"Okay I will." the black haired Japanese male replied as Ibe wheeled him to his friend's hospital room. Once they arrived to Room 104, Ibe opened the door before wheeling Eiji in. Once they were in, Eiji gasped at the sight. There was Ash lying on the bed hooked up to an IV and other beeping machines looking so lifeless. Ibe wheeled him closer to the bed and the older male pursed his lips at the sight. The sight of young gang leader holding on for dear life by machines made his heart wrench. "I can't believe this happened; Ash finally has no enemies after his life anymore, so why?!"
"It's not fair; Ash didn't deserve this. I'm really thankful help got to him when it did. I can't bear to think what would've happened if it was too late."
"Ei-chan…"
"But I'm not going to despair because I know that Ash will pull out of this. He did after the fall out with Arthur, so he'll do it again; we just have to have faith." Eiji said to the other with determined eyes.
Ibe was shocked for a brief moment but then smiled at the younger male, "I got to say Ei-chan you've gotten stronger since you've come here."
Eiji gave a small smile as he lightly scratched his cheek with his index finger, "I guess it was Ash's influence or maybe I'm just stubborn."
"Well regardless, we will stay until Ash gets well. I should be able to find a way around the visa issue, but I'm going to have to do a lot of convincing to your parents since we won't be coming home yet."
"Don't worry about that Ibe-san, I'll handle convincing them. Since this was all my idea, the last thing I want is for you to take the fall."
"Are you sure, Ei-chan?"
"I'm sure; I'll know I'm being selfish by doing this, but I just can't leave Ash like this."
Ibe nodded as he placed his hand on the teen's shoulder, "I understand your feelings, Ei-chan; we'll see this through to the end, I promise."
In the hospital lobby, Sing, Alex, Bones and Kong were sitting in the chairs while Jessica called her sister to check on Michael and Max continued talking to the doctor who treated Ash. "I still can't believe this happened to the Boss; again." Bones said.
Kong pounded his fist in his other hand as he said in anger, "All I know is when I find out who did this, they're gonna regret the day they were born."
"There's still one thing that's buggin' me about this." Alex said aloud.
"What's that?" Bones asked his friend.
"Who would want to do this to the Boss in the first place?" the brown haired teen asked.
"So you were wondering the same thing to, huh?" Sing added, "All the guys that were after Ash were done for. Arthur's dead, the mercenary creep was shot to death by Dino before the old baldy took a fiery dirt nap when that facility blew up."
"Maybe it was some rouge gang member we don't know about who had it in for Boss." Bones suggested.
"No way; given the Boss' rep, no one's dumb enough to attack the boss especially in broad daylight." Kong added.
"Well other than that girly looking Chinese head, Yut Lung or whatever his name is, I can't think of anyone else who would want to do the boss in." Alex said
"It couldn't have been Yut Lung; he's given up on going after Ash. I know that for a fact and even if he did, this isn't his style." Sing told them.
"Then who else could've done it?" Bones asked.
The young Chinatown boss kept pondering on that until a though struck him. His eyes widened as he could feel his blood run cold. 'No, it couldn't have been him?! Damn it, I better be wrong!'
Alex noticed the pale look on Sing's face and asked him, "Yo Sing, you feeling alright man?"
"Yeah, you look like ya saw a ghost or somethin'." Bones added.
Sing immediately rose up from his seat and told them, "There's something I gotta do; I'll be back later. Let me know if anything changes with Ash." The Chinese American began to run out of the building ignoring a nearby nurse telling him not to run in the hospital.
"Geez, what got into him?" Alex asked scratching the back of this head as his other two friends shrugged their shoulders wondering the same thing.
Sing was running down the street for dear life ignoring the stares people were giving him. He could feel his legs grow heavier with every step he took, but he had to keep going; he had to know if his suspicion was correct and he hoped to God it wasn't. 'You better not have had anything to do with this, brother?!'
A/N: Well that's the first chapter of my very first Banana Fish story; I hope you all are enjoying it so far! Consider this my own idea of what should've happened after episode 24. I should be quicker with updates since I have a good idea with how I want this story to go. I have been thinking of writing this ever since the Banana Fish anime series ended. I'm sure were all in need of a more different approach for the ending of this series. Let me know what you all think; see you in the next chapter; later!
