Fuuchouin Kazuki was never one to display his emotions on his sleeve. Whether he was happy or sad, he hid it beneath lowered lashes and a faint smile. It didn't really matter to him whether people understood anything of what he felt, as long as no one knew of the turbulence that tore at his soul. He was a master of the threads, one of the four kings of the Volts, and yet he lived in fear that one day someone would see his weakness.

Then, where would he be?

He knocked back another glass of hard alcohol. The fiery liquid washed down his throat, its rich glow reflecting like burning sienna in the dim lights of the pub. Some people didn't know that he drank. It was a joke actually. Everyone thought that he was good tempered and gentle, and to his infinite distaste, even delicate.

He hated that term actually. People who used that term on him, refused to abolish their mental image of a frail, glass-like doll that shattered to pieces upon the slightest collision with a sharp word. It was obvious such people hadn't seen him at his worst. When his fury had reached breaking point, the sharp acridness of his anger was all he tasted, and his usual kind nature had been overtaken by a darker bestiality that screamed for blood.

"Mind if I join you?"

A smooth voice murmured at the side of his ear, and before he turned to look at the speaker, his ears had somehow registered the fact that the voice had been velvety and…slender somehow. It was a little like a dark ribbon of blood that trickled seductive crimson down one's fingers. Kazuki shook his head to clear it of thoughts; he must have been hanging around Akabane far too often.

"No? What a shame…"

Kazuki blinked, before realising belatedly what he had done. He turned to see the retreating back of the shorter man, and reached out for his arm.

"Hey, I didn't mean…"

When the man had turned back to face him, Kazuki found that the words had died in his throat. The familiar spiky dark hair, and the iridescent purple shades that hid the brilliance of azure eyes, everything that he had come here to forget.

"Ban," he managed to greet him, as civilly as he could manage.

Shit. He had decided to go to an obscure bar, one that was patronised only by a handful of customers as it was located in one of the shadier corners of Japan. He had went to all that trouble, reasonably expecting that no one he knew would be there. And even then…

Ban ordered his drink calmly, and ordered another for him. It took a while before they really became at ease within each other's company. As though the tension that stifled the air within Honky Tonk wasn't bad enough, the object of his most…vivid thoughts had decided to show up at the obscure bar which he decided to park himself in for the night.

The colour of the alcoholic beverage in front of him swirled in lazy whirls of rich violet.

It reminded him a little of the ridiculous pince-nez that Ban wore daily. He hated the way Ban was never seen without them, consistently hiding his eyes behind the purple lenses, from anyone and everyone. It was almost as though it hurt to see things for what they truly were, and starkly untinted by any colour at all.

"It's not like you to be so silent," Ban remarked.

"It's not like you to care either."

The remark came out more caustic than he had expected. Kazuki had meant for it to sound like a light-hearted jibe, but it came out sounding more like what he really felt instead. Ban had to be a bloody moron, if he didn't know by then what he felt for him. Then again, if he really did know of his feelings, he was a bloody smart moron by not giving any false hope.

Kazuki was vaguely aware that the alcohol was muddling his usual rationality, but the more he drank, the more he realised that he didn't really care anyway.

Ban laughed softly. It was a sound that shook Kazuki internally. The sound of his laughter had been like velvet rubbing against bare skin. It was like heady, intoxicating alcohol that trapped one in its bittersweet flavour contained in a single glass. It was exhilarating, liberating, and at the same time, so darkly melodic that it was as though one's soul rose even as he was clawed all the way into the darkness again.

"I'm sorry," he offered an apology, even as he desperately tried to keep his thinking on track.

"I guess I've been drinking too much. It's not like me to be so rude to a companion."

"It doesn't matter, Kazuki."

Somehow the syllables of his name, uttered by the one whose very visage had filled his dreams night after night, awoke the strangest memories inside of him. He couldn't really remember much of his past, only the vaguest details. And yet, all it took was the soft murmur of his name brought back an image that he had locked inside of himself all those years ago.

It was a pale yellow afternoon. He had a tendency to think of days in terms of colours. He liked the way the flowers bloomed prettily in the garden, and the sun had lightly warming as well. He was about four when his favourite hiding spot was still behind the large tree that stood by their ancestral home for decades and decades.

"Time to eat, Kazu-chan!"

He knocked back another shot of hard alcohol.

And made himself forget everything, all over again.

Beside him, Ban stirred restlessly in his seat. It wasn't long before the shorter man stood and carelessly slapped down a few notes onto the counter. Kazuki had a gut instinct that Ban had wanted to talk to him. And in the hushed atmosphere of the near empty bar, where every word could be heard from each corner of the room, Kazuki had concentrated on drinking alone.

"Are you coming?" Ban asked him quietly, much unlike the domineering and uncompromising stance that he usually took with everyone else.

Kazuki took a moment to think. Ban probably wanted information again, information that only he could provide. It did thrill him for just that one moment, pathetic as it was, to note the gentler tone that Ban had taken with him. He had nothing to lose anymore.

"Sure."

A/N: This is the first fanfiction that I've ever written for Get Backers. It's not only because I don't have all the facts, that it's not going to be the usual gentle Kazuki that you would be seeing. Perhaps he would be a little out of character but I did want to try something new for him.

Edited 22/12: Thank you Kia Vail-Kagami, for alerting me to that fact! Damn. I can't believe Kazuki is taller. How bizarre.