All I can say is this is what happens when you buy me scotch and anime for Christmas.

Discclaimer: I hold no claim over the characters, locations or other elements of the GetBackers universe. Any characters or elements not contained in the anime or manga are my own creations and I would ask only for a request should you wish to replicate them.

'No money, no money... no money.' The young man sat hunched over an overflowing ashtray, a sure sign that Midou Ban was not in his best mood. At his side Amano Ginji had his face firmly planted on the counter, occasionally breaking Ban's own lamentations with a groan of 'no food.'

Needless to say this did not amuse Paul in the slightest. 'If you've got time to complain then why not go out and find some work?'

Ginji raised his head at this, looking as though he might burst into tears at any moment. 'B-but Paul-san, how can we work on an empty stomach? Couldn't you just please, please, please put one more pizza on our tab?'

Ban's head shot up as well, his fist slammed down onto the counter and Paul could've sworn he heard his teeth grinding. 'Yeah you old bastard! Can't you just cut this 'pay your tab' crap and give us something to eat!'

Paul didn't so much as stop cleaning the glass in his hands as a little smirk graced his features. 'Well that's a good question, Ban... I guess I can give Ginji some food since he asked so nicely.' As Ginji raised his arms in celebration Ban's head struck the counter with an audible thunk. 'You could really use some work on your people skills, y'know that kiddo?'

The Limitless Memories

Chapter 1: The Invincible GetBackers

Two decades before Midou Ban and Amano Ginji would sit in the Honky Tonk café, those selfsame seats were occupied by another couple of deadbeats and coincidentally enough another pair of GetBaxkers. A lot of things changed over that time...

'I'm just saying, Voodoo Brew makes the place sound like one of those beatnik cafés from way back.'

'Geez, customers don't usually complain at me over their FREE coffee. What the hell would you call it then, if you're so knowledgeable?'

Paul paused for a second, he really had no answer at all. 'Uh, I dunno... something more upbeat... maybe...'

The young man at the end of the counter shifted himself, still idly stirring his coffee, as if transfixed by the distorted reflection of his clean cut shirt and tie. 'He doesn't have an answer.' Paul's jaw dropped at his partner's disparaging remark.

'I-I have an answer... and its a good answer...!'

Der Kaiser finally ceased stirring his coffee and tipped it back, drinking the whole lot down at once. 'Well then? What's this great name you've come up with? I hope it's better than the last one.'

'The... the- Hey! Just whose side are you on anyway?'

The older man standing behind the counter puffed on his pipe and blew smoke across the counter in Paul's face. 'Well then?'

Paul coughed and tilted back on his stool, nearly falling flat on his back. 'Damnit Hibiki! Cut that out!' He steadied himself again and glanced from Kaiser, who was rather unhelpfully staring off in to space, to Hibiki whose mirrored tea shades and beret looked like headlights and a car bonnet to the flustered youth. 'Fine then... uh, how 'bout...' Paul suddenly sprang up, one foot on his stool and the other on the counter with one arm pointed to the heavens as though he were striking some kind of super sentai pose. 'THE HONKY TONK!' he exclaimed in a proud and happy voice. For a moment everything went deathly quiet, Kaiser's gaze had shifted to Paul, though still he looked distinctly uninterested. Paul's arm dropped and his shoulder's slumped momentarily in embarrassment only to spring up again as Hibiki jammed an elbow into his gut, sending him plummeting to the floor below.

'I don't mind elbows on the counter, but damn it there's a limit, Paul.'

'You really do suck with names you know?' Kaiser rose from his seat and straightened his tie as he spoke. 'Three more coffees, we have a guest.' Paul craned his neck from the floor as the bell above the door rang but still all he could see was a pair of stockinged legs from where he was. Not that he minded.

'For God's sake Paul, compose yourself.' Kaiser though had a better view. High school senior from the look of her, not much in the way of make up, maybe suggesting a strict upbringing... not that she needs it at all... Oh God I'm actually starting to sound like Paul. Kaiser's glance slid over the thin and delicate lines of her face and long hair. Looks even darker than Hibiki's coffee, twice as smooth too.

'Excuse me, is this where I can find the retrieval service?' she asked, her voice was soft and to Kaiser's ears possessed an almost music like quality.

Paul sprang on her like a greyhound out of the start gate, she seemed a little overcome by his sudden advance and perhaps an equal part by the gash which had appeared on his forehead. 'Why yes, this is the home of the invincible GetBackers, the recovery service with a 100% success rate. I'm Wan Paul, the brains of the outfit and the surly guy standing over there is my business acquaintance and heterosexual life partner.'

The girl looked past Paul, to Kaiser again, she stared him down as if transfixed for a few seconds before he broke her gaze and headed for one of the booths in the back. 'Geez Paul, you don't have to justify it like that, you'll make it sound suspicious.'

'You guys are pretty suspicious anyway' Hibiki added from behind the counter.

Paul gave him a sideways glance along with a whispered 'shut up' as he ushered the client back towards the booth Kaiser had chosen, once there he sat down next to his partner and waited patiently for the girl to explain what she wanted to employ them for. Unfortunately Kaiser had never displayed that sort of patience, as Hibiki brought the coffee and the timid girl still struggled to find the words it seemed that he could take no more delays. 'Just spit out out,' he ordered, 'whatever it is you want us to get back. Or else stop wasting our time.'

For a moment everyone went deathly quiet, Paul scowled at Kaiser in the silence, his partner seemed almost entirely unmoved. 'No need to come over all harsh, partner.'

'No... no, it's okay' the girl said quietly, raising her eyes to the both of them, 'My name is Midou Atsuko and... well, it's no so much that I want you to get something back... it's more, I want you to get someone back.'

'Go on' Paul urged her, 'we're listening.' Kaiser remained quiet and sipped his coffee.

'Well, he's sort of like my little brother, but not really...'

'Sort of, but not really?' Kaiser's voice was cold and harsh, almost like he was pressing her just for the fun of it.

'I know it's silly, but I've always thought of him like that, it's just that he saved my life once and...' she sniffed and tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. Hibiki, who had been stood over them still, handed her a handkerchief. She thanked him and dabbed her eyes.

Kaiser leaned in on the table to look out of the booth at the proprietor. 'Finished rubbernecking now? Think maybe you could do some work for a change?'

'You oughta talk.' Hibiki snorted as he tucked his tray under one arm and threw a dish towel over the other before heading back to the counter.

'So you want us to get back your little brother?' Paul summarised, 'Did you lose him? Did he run off somewhere?'

Atsuko wiped her eyes again. 'It's nothing like that, we never lived in the same place to begin with, it's just that he... he's...'

Atsuko collapsed into a fit of sobs, Kaiser was sipping his coffee with his eyes closed and then set the cup down with a little clink as it hit the saucer. 'Mugenjou' he said flatly. That caught everyone's attention. He stared Atsuko down through half opened eyes and continued, 'Your 'little brother' was taken to Mugenjou and you want us to bring him back out.'

Atsuko reigned in her sobbing and nodded. 'Yes, well no, not exactly. He's... Teshimine's always been there as far as I know, but when I think about him with his kind heart in a place so... so much like that. I just wanted to see him, to make sure he's okay.'

'The answer is no.' Kaiser rose up from his seat and turned as if to leave, but Paul had risen as well, blocking him off.

'What's with all of that! 'The answer's no!' Case you'd forgotten the GetBackers is a team!'

'In case you'd forgotten the GetBackers are a business, it's far too dangerous a task to accept some kind of pocket change. There's no way she'd ever be able to get us the fees.'

'But... she's... well just look at her...' Kaiser obliged, casting a cold stare at the tears now freely rolling down the girl's face. 'If anyone ever needed a recovery service it's her, right? Isn't that what we started this business to do? To get back-'

'—what shouldn't be missing in the first place.' Kaiser completed the mantra without a thread of emotion in his voice.

'I'll pay it.' Hibiki was still at the counter drying dishes, but had been listening the entire time it seemed. 'I'll take off your tab you dead beats. That acceptable to the stick in your ass, snake boy?' Kaiser did not respond, he simply turned back to his new client.

'Okay, the invincible GetBackers will bring your brother out of Mugenjou.'

The girl's eyes immediately brightened as she looked up at their faces, Paul smiled down at her. 'Thanks... just thanks so much, Paul-san... I-I don't think I got your name...'

'I didn't give it.' With that Kaiser shoved past Paul and headed to the door, Paul made to follow him but looked back to Atsuko in reassurance.

'Don't worry, the GetBackers have a 100% success rate after all!' He waved as he bolted out the door after his partner. Catching up to him outside he drew level and fell into step. 'We really need to work on your people skills, partner.'

'It's been a while' Atsuko said to herself, she was still in the booth where the GetBackers had left her. Hibiki was pouring her a fresh cup of coffee, she motioned to reach into her jacket, probably looking to pay for all the coffee she'd drunk.

'Put it away, your money's no good here.' He finished pouring her coffee and seated himself across from her. 'Besides which I can always put it back on their tab when the job's finished.'

Atsuko smiled but her brow furrowed almost immediately again. 'Hibiki-san? How well do you know them exactly, the GetBackers?'

'Well, Paul I've known for most of his life, think I'm the one who understands him best in fact... the other one, not so much. Why?'

The girl hugged herself and shifted uncomfortably. 'It's just that, well, Paul-san seems nice and all and I understand why someone like that would be in a recovery business... but the other one, when he looked at me... He seems just... so cold, like there's nothing at all inside of him.'

Hibiki was lighting up his pipe as she spoke, he shook the match out and took three short puffs before a long exhale. 'There's been plenty of rain falling on Paul through his life, I think that's why he can be so kind, because he knows what it means to be hurt. He has a supremely good heart even though there might well be nothing in his head.' He paused for another long inhale and blew a smoke cloud out over their heads. 'Kaiser, well, I dunno the details. If I had to guess I'd say it seems like he tried to empty his heart of everything for some reason, it must have been something terrible that happened to him. Not like a steady cold rain which beat him down, something more like a tsunami which drowned his world.'

Atsuko spoke up, involuntarily raising her voice and then correcting herself. 'But! But... how can you trust someone who's emptied their heart of everything?'

'Good question. Truth is you can't.' He took a few more puffs of his pipe, building up to a deep breathe, as he continued smoke billowed out from his mouth. 'You don't have to trust him, hell you don't even have to like him, 'cause apart they're both idiots, but together... they're...' Atsuko leaned in, listening intently. 'The Invincible GetBackers and once the GetBackers take on an assignment they wont ever back down.'

Atsuko looked down at her coffee. 'That's what worries me.'

Paul glanced up at the massive structure which dominated the skyline and gave a sigh. He looked over to his partner beside him and spoke. 'So, how'd you know her brother was in Mugenjou to begin with?'

'I didn't.'

Paul was so surprised he nearly missed a step and went flying, but caught himself just in time. 'You didn't? Then... how?'

'The way she couldn't address the problem was a dead give away that it was something awful, it was either going to be yakuza or that damn place... if it were yakuza she might've been able to say.'

'You just rolled the dice then? So unreliable...' Paul muttered to himself, he hated when Kaiser passed off his guesswork as though he knew what he was on about, it just made him look so much worse by comparison.

'We're here.' Ahead of them lay an empty street, they had stopped seeing people a while ago, ahead though they could feel the unmistakeable and terrible aura of Mugenjou. High above them was Babylon Tower, their shared destiny, their promise to one another. The streets were void of life, the paving was cracked and broken and there was hardly a window that wasn't boarded up. 'It hasn't changed at all.'

'Nah, there used to be a broken down printing place over on the right, now its just rubble.'

'That's not—'

'I know.' Kaiser and Paul smiled at each other, their faces quickly becoming set and determined as they looked ahead into Lower Town. 'Alright, Operation Get Back the Little Brother!'

'Commence!' At Kaiser's word they both broke into a sprint, without so much as a care to how they would find Teshimine, but somehow knowing full well that they would.

'The first time Paul met Der Kaiser they kicked the crap out of one another. I've never seen Paul come back with so many bruises... and this is the toughest guy in Ura Shinjuku we're talking about.' Hibiki sipped his coffee and then realised that they'd been talking so long it had gone cold. 'I'll get us another one.' He rose from his seat, but Atsuko caught him by the arm.

'I'm fine thanks, just tell me more about them... these invincible GetBackers of yours.'

Hibiki sat back down with a soft smile. 'Course it isn't like Kaiser got off without a mark either, I'd like to say that Paul beat that snotty son of a bitch all around town, but when I treated their injuries it seemed as though they'd been completely even.'

'But then... if they had such trouble with each other, how did they end up in the retrieval business together?'

Hibiki rubbed his chin, clearly searching all his memories of the deadbeat duo for a reason that he was aware of. He broke into a smile. 'I gotta tell ya, I really haven't got a clue, but I have to say that I get it.' He scooped out the bowl of his pipe into the ashtray beside him. 'Boy oh boy, I should have cleaned this out much sooner. So anyway, I may not know why they become a partnership, but I completely understand why they've stayed together.'

'And why's that?' Atsuko was completely focussed on Hibiki and thoughts of the recovery service she'd employed, she'd almost completely forgotten about why she'd taken them on. She hadn't even noticed the sun was setting.

'Because they suit one another. It's really that simple, maybe at first they were just surprised they'd found someone as strong as themselves, but I can tell that Paul cares about his partner just because they're a team and even though he may not show it I'm not sure there's a person alive today who Kaiser cares about more than Paul.'

'What makes you say that?'

'Cause if there was then he's the kind of straightforward guy who'd be with them rather than with Paul in Mugenjou right now.'

For the first time in hours Atsuko took her eyes off of Hibiki and looked across the café, out the window and towards where the GetBackers were. 'Mugenjou... it must be like hell, just thinking about Teshimine in there...'

'Nah, hell and Mugenjou are two very different things. Mugenjou is just a harsh environment, one which was created by men and it's not like it isn't a place which people can make a good life in. Hell is being cut off from the one you care most about... so I guess maybe you could say little Teshi isn't the one that's in hell. Don't you start crying though, I'm sure those two will get him back for you.' Hurry your asses up guys... don't you dare turn me into a liar. 'So, how about you tell me some more about this little brother of yours?'

Paul lit up a cigarette as he perched himself on a pile of rubble, Kaiser kept on pacing up and down, looking this way and that. Paul took a long drag before speaking. 'To think that the great Kaiser would go get himself lost like this, it's priceless.'

'Shut up' Kaiser spat back, changing directions again. 'I'm not looking for a way out.'

'Yeah, yeah.' The building they had come through was all but collapsed, the outer walls had almost completely crumbled away and it was impossible to guess what it once might have been. The place had been stripped of everything that wasn't nailed down on the inside... and most of what had been nailed down.

'If I wanted a way out I'd have just thrown you through the drywall.'

'Charming.'

'Naturally.' Kaiser looked over his shoulder towards a partially collapsed wall. 'You must have felt it by now.'

'Felt what?' Kaiser turned to Paul as if to speak, a crash resounded between them and the floorboards there exploded outwards and upwards. Paul shielded his eyes and waited a moment for the dust to settle, when he opened them it was only to see what knocked him to the ground. 'A tonfa?'

'That's right!' The figure stood over him was not Kaiser, it was far too small. 'With my wits and my twin tonfa style there is no one in Mugenjou whom I, Takeru Teshimine can be equalled by!'

'Takeru...? Teshi-?'

'Sssnakebite!' Kaiser's hand appeared from the dust cloud and wrapped itself firmly around Teshimine's neck, lifting him clean off the ground. The boy struggled and thrashed but he couldn't work his way free. 'I don't like being jumped, kid and I don't like getting dust on my suit either.'

The boy lashed out again and kicked Kaiser square in the ribs, the retriever didn't so much as flinch. 'That suit looks like a cheap knock off anyway!'

Paul took one of the tonfas from the floor and looked from it to the kid. 'This? This is the dear little brother?' Paul looked him up and down for a moment, he wasn't expecting this at all. For starters the scar over his right eye looked pretty nasty, but he guessed that battle scars were a given growing up in such a place. What really struck him was the boy's silvery hair, clipped neatly around his head like any other child out in the world and the really clincher were the bright golden eyes which regarded them both with an intensity which ought to have been far beyond his years.. Other than that he could just be any other kid, from the flip-flop sandals on his feet up past his khaki three quarters to his black vest he looked just a normal kid. A normal kid with awful dress sense, but whatever.

'What you talking about you skinny punk! Come on I'll take both of you on!'

As the boy continued to squirm Kaiser broke into one of his few and far between genuine smiles. 'Interesting.' He tightened his grip and the boy suddenly went limp.

Paul's eyes went wide, all colour drained from his face as he screamed down Kaiser's ear. 'Ah! What are you doing you crazy snake bastard! We were supposed to recover him not break his neck in two! What are you thinking of!'

Kaiser didn't bat an eyelid as he dropped the boy to the floor. 'He's alive you moron, just knocked out. Go in that other room there, I think I saw an old rug. Be quick about it too, before anyone else works up the courage to attack.' He raised his voice only a tiny bit for the last sentence, but it was not lost on Paul, nor was it lost on the hidden onlookers.