original posting date: 19 July 2006
Trust
Ban coughed heavily as he leaned against the wall in a manner that, to Ginji, sounded more like he was puking his guts out all over the alleyway than anything else. It wasn't as if anybody would have noticed the extra handful of entrails among the half-full takeout Chinese boxes, the broken vending machine, and the corpses of partially eaten rats that littered the alley.
In Ginji's humble opinion, they could have chosen a better place to hide.
As it were, the darkness and Ban's tactfully positioned arm prevented Ginji from noticing that the thick ropes of red sliding out of Ban's mouth looked far more like the intestines of Ginji's imagination that he would have felt comfortable with.
"Ban-chan?" Ban ran the back of one hand hastily over his mouth and slumped, shoulder first, against the brick wall. He grunted shortly in response to Ginji who immediately took a step closer.
"No, Ginji." But the poorly-stifled hiss of pain that followed made Ginji step closer still.
"Ban-chan..." and this time it was an admonishment as well as the repeated question. It was such a quiet demand that Ban almost missed it under the echo of shouting and encroaching gunfire.
"I'm fine, Ginji." His back was sliding farther down the wall, his legs shook, and his arms were too busy hiding the hole in his abdomen to hold him up properly. Ginji ignored him and closed the distance between them. He stared down at the shiny black coating on Ban's hands against the increasingly dark stain on his once-white shirt and his eyes widened almost comically.
Ban felt the twisted urge to laugh that wasn't difficult to contain.
"Ban-chan, you're hurt." He was still quiet, still calm, but his eyes were too wide and his face was too fierce and those hands were threatening to clamp onto him, and Ban knew that if Ginji managed to hold on he would never let go.
"I'm fine!" He found more adrenaline easily as a nearby gunshot almost drowned out his angry refute. He grinned as best he could at Ginji, who still looked incredulous, but he continued anyway. "Do you think these pathetic bastards could get me? Go quickly, damnit, they're almost here. Find..." oh, how it burned him, "find that monkey bastard, okay? I'll be right there."
He stood up straighter and willed his eyes to remain open even through his fading vision, "I'll be right behind you, Ginji. Go." Ginji hesitated, "Hurry!" and metal ricocheting off a dumpster added a better exclamation mark than Ban could ever have.
Ginji didn't move. "You promise, Ban-chan?"
"Yeah," Ban said, but it took him a moment too long to reply.
He took one long, last look at Ban.
And Ginji, the fool, believed him.
(fin)