Disclaimer: I neither own nor am able to watch Get Backers regularly, and Barnes and Noble takes forever to get the new manga... If only I had enough money to buy it… The DVD's I mean. Yeah. Anyhoo, Get Backers belongs to someone other than me… I'm too lazy right now to find one of my manga.
Author's Notes: This is the first installment of six. They're all short stories that can stand alone, together, whatever. I'm refering to these as my 'Senses Series'. They will all focus on the musings of one character, using a particular sense (taste, sight, smell, taste, touch) to center everything around. I'll be posting these separately for reasons I don't entirely understand myself. The upcoming titles are as follows, in order: Bask, Static, Perception, Resonance, and Cravings. Enjoy!
Scent
Part 1 of 6 in the GetBackers Senses Series
By Rin
It was strange how a little thing like affection could change your view of someone. Though she could never truly forget and so forgive Ban Midou, these days Himiko Kudou thought that maybe she could understand why he had killed her brother. Lately Himiko had noticed feeling different when Ban Midou was near – a quickening of pulse, a rush of inexplicable nervous excitement. So it was only a matter of time before the obvious smacked her in the face.
It was amazing what scents could tell you if you knew what to look for. Everything from what they ate for lunch, to what kind of ballpoint pen they used most frequently. As a person who wielded perfumes as weapons, Himiko had naturally developed an acute sense of smell.
She knew Ban's scent particularly well: human scent, of course, but a sharp-edged one, woody; almost like a woodland, perhaps like the ones in Germany he had described to her. He'd grown up there, and maybe it was like the sort of place an adder – European viper – might dwell in. While the person's base scent was a sort of olfactory fingerprint, surface scents changed and could tell you what you needed to know about them.
Ban's surface scents these days consisted mostly of cigarettes, cheap food, sweat, old leather car seats, car oil, adrenaline, and his partner. Ginji Amano's base scent was warmer and softer than Ban's and there was a hint of static and thunderstorms, but the surface scents remained the same as Ban's. And why wouldn't they? After all, the excitable blonde was practically attached at the hip for Ban. It would be nice if she could get the object of her affections to herself for once, however unlikely.
Some days the two would smell of run-down motels, old sheets, and better food than they were used to. On those days they were better rested, better tempered, and Ban probably chain-smoked only half the amount of smokes he usually did. Other days they would reek of blood, sweat, rain, and barely any food, generally looking like something the cat dragged in. Typically, this would be after a job that didn't go as planned, and this would be when Ban would make a beeline for his coffee and his smokes, and when Ginji would be at his whiniest.
New scents on them meant new situations, and Himiko would file these away for later recall and possible use. Even so, she didn't know what to make of the latest series of scents on the two. Only the other day the Get Backers came into the Honky Tonk reeking of each other and smelling faintly of sex. Ginji's scent on Ban was nothing new; he was, after all's Ban's partner, best friend, and a compulsive bear-hugger. Of course Ban would get glomped the most. He was constantly in the line of fire. The smell of sex, however, threw her for a loop. There was no scent of a woman on either: indeed, not even the scent of another man, just the mingled scents of the duo known as the Get Backers. Just Ginji's scent. All over Ban, on his lips, hands, hair, face. Everywhere. It was almost as if they had…
Ban and Ginji. Himiko couldn't fathom it. Those two were such womanizers, and at the Platinum Retrieval Ban had… It didn't make sense…
Ban smirked at Ginji around his cigarette - the kind that he only showed to someone who knew a secret that only he knew too – and all doubt was wiped from her mind as the blonde reddened.
And a few days or so later, at night, she passed them in a park on her way home. She paused only for a moment, taking in the sight of them curled up together in the grass before continuing on her way. Himiko tried to get the image of the pair sprawled out on the grass, Ginji's head resting on Ban's chest, the brunette's arm looped loosely around the other man's, his face more relaxed and at peace than she ever seen it. But the memory lingered, as did the way their fingers laced together, hands joint and lax at their side, sweet as spun sugar.
But it tasted bitter in Himiko's mouth.
Author's Notes: During the creation of this, Ban-chan and Gin-chan graced me with their appearance, and I had to write down their subsequent conversation discussing the ficlet.
BAN & GINJI'S CONVERSATION:
Ginji: Ban-chan?
Ban: Mm?
Ginji: 'D you think Himiko wants to kill me?
Ban: Probably. What I want to know is why she was able to stalk us without me
ever knowing.
Ginji: It's probably just convienient to the story for her to know everything about
us. (worried now,) Will you protect me?
Ban: No. This isn't canon, and Rin's probably too attached to us to kill you, from
what I see. Unless she gets a case of 'need-easy-angst, so-I'll-kill-off-a-
character Author's Syndrome'.
Ginji: (terrified now) Oh... Well, at least I won't die a virgin.
Ban: (stares at him incredulously)
NOTE! I know I was mean to Himiko, but c'mon, it's obvious she likes Ban! And however obvious in the canon, I still think Ban and Ginji is the cutest, HOTTEST shonen-ai pairing that makes sense and doesn't freak me out. And so the idea struck me. Put those together aaannnd… Angst! And an adorable little image of Ban and Ginji cuddling! On three now, a collective 'Awwwwww…..!' I'm such a sucker for fluff…
Read and Review Please! And if you must flame me, please offer polite criticism, and explain what I can improve in polite, civil language. After all, we're all people here. All violators of this reviewing policy will be vaporized in my BLENDER OF DOOM.
………Thank you.