Title: Meet The Parents (part 4)
Author/Artist: Amethyst Hunter
Pairing: Ban/Akabane
Fandom: Get Backers
Theme: #23 – "candy"
Rating: R (m/m, language)
Warnings/Spoilers: Minor spoilers for the history between Ban and Maria Noches; also spoilers for the manga ending.
Notes: This veers into AU territory as it references events from the manga ending, but I alter things for my own purposes.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Akabane's mom, however, is totally mine. And she won't hesitate to let you know it. XD
Summary: Surprises of the relative kind are in store for both Ban and Akabane, and everybody gets a little eye candy – even dirty old women!
--
III: The Mother (of all Calamities)
Back at home and safely away from the chaos of Maria's, Monday dawned crisp with expectation in the air. Medusa-chan and I kept to our usual schedules so as not to arouse suspicion with our humans, though we did finish our breakfast a bit faster than usual. We wanted to be prepared for our own missions ahead, and timing was critical. Ginji-kun was due to arrive shortly.
"Akabane! Where the hell are my car keys?!" Ban-kun was snarling as he ripped apart a kitchen drawer.
"They're in the office where you left them last night, dearest," Kuroudo-kun said while studying his reflection in the bathroom mirror, straightening his perfectly-knotted tie. "Shall I fetch them for you while you finish getting ready?"
"Yeah."
I sighed and shook my head. Ban-kun is so hopeless sometimes. Kuroudo-kun would never misplace his possessions like that.
Only his scalpels, Medusa-chan smirked. I couldn't argue that – my human was notorious for laying his claws aside and then forgetting they had been left in different locations. Ban-kun had once pitched a fit after discovering one in the bathroom when, still half-asleep, he'd gone to wash his face and had grabbed unthinkingly for what he thought was a bar of soap.
We surreptitiously made our way to the front door, curling into what might have appeared to be benign rest but was really taut readiness. We were going to bolt straight out of our lair the instant that Ginji-kun came and the door was opened. Getting outside of the building itself might be a little more difficult, but Medusa-chan and I had decided that we could raise enough alarm in the lobby to entreat one of the other tenants to open the main door before Ban-kun and Kuroudo-kun could recapture us.
After delivering the promised keys Kuroudo-kun had donned his big black hat, a favorite bed of mine when he wasn't using it. He went to Ban-kun and kissed him. "I hope you have a good day, Midou-kun."
"Same here. You too," he answered, his meaning entirely different from Kuroudo-kun's, and I wondered if it had anything to do with what he and Maria had discussed. Again, I thought of the strange name that had elicited chills in my blood – Mait' Carrefour – and wondered what this had to do with my human.
Kuroudo-kun smiled placation. "Don't worry. I've told Gouzou that every time an opponent attacks, he's to remind me of how close we are to going on our trip." His smile suddenly became flirtatious danger. "Would you let me have a little more fun if I wrote a B for you instead of a J?" he teased.
"Depends on who gets to be the unlucky scorecard. Something tells me that none of the names from my list are contenders yet," Ban-kun snorted, and kissed him back.
Precisely as their lips touched the door trembled from an enthusiastic beating. "Ban-chan! Time to go!" Ginji-kun sang from the other side of it.
Time to go indeed. Medusa-chan and I looked at each other, and crouched for takeoff.
"Do come in, Ginji-kun!" Kuroudo-kun called as Ban-kun grabbed his necessities – wallet, glasses, keys – and the two of them approached.
Poor Ginji-kun had no idea what lay in wait for him. He threw open the door with all the vigor that we had come to expect from him, and even as it was winking away from the closure we were slamming ourselves against the open crack, wedging our lithe bodies through the slim gate and barreling past his legs before he even knew what had hit him. Ban-kun and Kuroudo-kun didn't even have time to utter any shocked cries of disapproval.
That they had noticed our abrupt departure at all was a given. It was hard to ignore the volts of electricity when they were singeing nearby walls from fright. "Gyaaahh! What was THAT!?" Ginji-kun shrieked behind us.
"The hell! Medusa!" Ban-kun bellowed.
"Bastet!" Kuroudo-kun barked, equally as sharp. His voice could be quite cutting when he raised it above his normal mellow expressions.
Never mind them, head for the lobby door! Medusa-chan said. We did, charging down the stairs and through the hall in near-flight as our toe-tips barely touched ground. Luck was with us and we chanced upon the building's front door just as the mailman was arriving with his parcels. He yelped when he realized he was about to be mowed down by a pair of miniature furred cannonballs and darted out of our path in a flurry of dropped letters. We scooted through the closing door just in time with only a few hairs on the ends of our tails to spare.
Now what?!
Hide, I said. You get in Ban-kun's car - I'll wait for Kuroudo-kun and trail him to Gouzou-kun's truck!
Good luck, Bastet! my sister chittered, and bounded for the car parked down the street. For her sake I hoped that Ban-kun had left the windows open, but I couldn't dwell on that now. I had to find my own hiding place – out of the corner of my eye I'd spotted the ripple of a black coat fast descending.
I quickly found another car nearby and crawled beneath it, angling my head so that I could see just enough to keep appraised of anything close by yet remain safely concealed. Footsteps clattered, and I slowed my breath to silence.
"Damn cats! What the fuck got into them?!"
"Ban-chan, what happened?"
"They can't have gotten too far, Midou-kun. Perhaps they noticed something outside that caused them to panic. An impending earthquake?"
"Shit, I don't have time for this!" Ban-kun's voice was already quivering with anxiety. He was likely relieved that he had an excuse to blow off his unquestionably perilous job, but that was negated by his fear over what horrid fate might befall us unchaperoned. "We can't just leave them out there!"
"I could stay and look for them while you go find the retrieval package," Ginji-kun offered.
"I'll stay too," Kuroudo-kun volunteered. "Even if work does hold the possibility of some quality entertainment, it would be remiss of us to abandon the poor dears to fend for themselves. These streets aren't fit for stray cats."
I scowled, ears flattening with displeasure. I hadn't counted on Kuroudo-kun's willingness to switch missions once he was distracted. Still, if he and Ban-kun had been set up to fight each other to the death, the guilty party's intention would be cancelled anyway so long as the two of them couldn't meet en route to their deliveries.
"No, you go meet up with Himiko and No-Brakes. We need that cash," Ban-kun snapped. "Dammit. Of all the - " He cursed a string of obscenities and stomped his feet. "Come on, Ginji. They're probably hidden somewhere we won't find them and they won't come out till they're damn good and ready. I hope to God they're just spooked and waiting for us by the time we get back..."
"I'm sure they'll be all right, Ban-kun," Kuroudo-kun said softly, though his tone carried a lilt of doubt. "They've disappeared on us before and always come home safely..."
"Yeah, Ban-chan. Cats are smart," Ginji-kun said hopefully. "Shido told me about some of them that got stranded on one side of the country and they were able to track their owners all the way to the other side."
Ban-kun didn't reply. He just stalked off for his car, and after a moment, Ginji-kun and Kuroudo-kun followed in his wake.
I carefully peered out from my hiding place. Ban-kun and Kuroudo-kun were exchanging terse goodbyes before Ban-kun and Ginji-kun got inside the little Subaru. I didn't see any sign of Medusa-chan, so I assumed that she had either made it inside the car or was even now lurking like myself, doubtless cursing her failure with the same vitriol that Ban-kun had used.
The car pulled away from the curb and Kuroudo-kun began walking along the sidewalk, his pace measured but brisk. He was a man with a purpose.
I, also being with a purpose, slunk after him. This should be interesting.
--
Kuroudo-kun knew the city quite well despite his claims of disliking its layout, and I was no slouch in memory myself. Long before my lovely human had first welcomed my arrival with open arms, I had traveled these same streets many a cold and lonely night, until my sister had discovered me on one of her jaunts and demanded that I accompany her back to what was now our seat of rule. We traveled quickly, I in stealth and secrecy to avoid being discovered, and with surprising swiftness we came upon Gouzou-kun and Lady Himiko at the train station.
Kuroudo-kun greeted them with his customary smiles and inquiries, and they responded in kind while I made my way around the back of the enormous monster that Gouzou-kun called his transport. Medusa-chan had said it was actually a rather pleasant vehicle, but I begged to differ. It loomed above like a giant demonic canine, ready to bite at anything that was foolish enough to enter its path. I hunched to the pavement, fur halfway rising as I studied its huge rubber paws. It would have no trouble reducing a bundle like me to mincemeat. Yet I must dare this creature's fury if I were to complete my objective.
The back side door was pulled in close but not shut completely, and I gauged that there would be enough room for me to squeeze myself inside undetected. Gathering my courage, I climbed up the side of one of those fearsome wheels and vaulted onto the steps, nudging the door aside to board the truck.
The belly of the beast was not empty. Upon the pull-down seat in the cab's rear sat a woman, and a rather pretty one at that. From a quick glance I determined that she was older than Lady Himiko but not quite as youthful-looking as Maria. She was dressed in a pastel pink suit-dress that highlighted her fair complexion, and she wore a matching hat probably about half the size of Kuroudo-kun's. She seemed not to notice me as I perused my surroundings.
Conversation outside drew my attention. I poked my nose through the cracked door. "We've already picked up our delivery," Lady Himiko was saying. "I was told that someone would be waiting in the alley to give us further instructions, but so far Maguruma and I haven't seen a thing."
"Not to worry, Lady Poison," Kuroudo-kun replied. "I have a feeling that our benefactor shall appear shortly, so why don't you two start the truck while I search this person out?"
Indeed, a presence was making my whiskers vibrate with alertness. I could smell something odd in the air, a kind of warping of oxygen that made one think of oncoming rain. It was like the charges that Ginji-kun expelled whenever he was upset, and yet, it reeked of a mechanical coolness that tasted alien to flesh and blood creatures. Movement in the alley across the street caught my attention, and a flash of white made my eyes widen. There.
Kuroudo-kun had sensed it too, for he was already crossing the street and entering the alley, his face set in calm focus. I had the peculiar feeling that he was expecting this stranger and, moreover, that he was familiar with her in a way that Ban-kun would most certainly disapprove of – not in any romantic sense though.
I listened intently for what I could, but the streets were too noisy from the comings and goings of trains and people for me to pick up on anything. I could see a bit of Kuroudo-kun's face underneath his hat, and something the young girl in the white dress said to him made him smile immensely. Apparently whatever had been disclosed was good news.
I was puzzled. Why would a child hire transporters? Surely this one could not afford their extravagant fees...unless she came from a wealthy family, of course.
Their exchange was brief and shortly thereafter Kuroudo-kun was returning to his companions, who had climbed inside the truck. Gouzou-kun started the engine, and reminded of my precarious position, I squirmed my way up the wall and onto the shelf above the pink lady, behind a set of cleaning supplies where I could have a nice vantage point to keep an eye on things.
"Well? Did you find whoever hired us?" Lady Himiko demanded. She could be quite imperious like Ban-kun when she was of a mind to.
"Oh yes," Kuroudo-kun said. "We are to take the northern route until further notice. Though I was briefed that our competition may catch up with us well before that time," he finished with a sinister chuckle.
"We drive around town without a destination in mind waiting for somebody to catch up with us? I've had stranger trips, I guess," Gouzou-kun said with a shrug of his big shoulders. He was very easygoing and I'd never heard him raise his voice in anger, except for the time when Medusa-chan had left dusty footprints across the hood of his truck after it had been newly-washed.
Lady Himiko was not as malleable. The curiosity in her voice was evident as she expressed her dissatisfaction with these meager instructions. "It doesn't make any sense. I thought we were going to make the drop-off someplace." She turned around in her seat and addressed the pink lady. "You wouldn't happen to know anything, would you, ma'am?"
"I'm afraid not," the pink lady responded quietly. She seemed somewhat on edge, though I doubted it was because of the company she was keeping. Lady Himiko had spoken to her in almost deferential tones, as if seeking to put her at ease. "All I was told was that I would be traveling today and that someone was coming to pick me up."
"Well, there's little we can do about it except to proceed as planned," Gouzou-kun said. "It should be a smoother ride, anyway, if we're keeping to the city limits."
"Perhaps. But I have a feeling that this is going to be a most amusing drive regardless," Kuroudo-kun chuckled in that manner of his when he was deliberately teasing someone. He settled himself in the back of the cab, on the floor in front of the pink lady, and I was grateful for the wide brim of his hat that blocked his immediate view of anything above. All he would have had to do was look up just high enough and he surely would have seen the swaying rope of my tail that stuck out from my hiding spot.
Lady Himiko was less than pleased by my human's playful mood. "Akabane, one of these days I'm going to drown you in my puppet perfume and make you spill whatever beans you seem to think are so funny to keep from the rest of us."
He uttered throaty mirth at her threat. "Why, Himiko-san!" he purred. "Are you saying that I fail to supply my partners with critical information? Do I not provide ample support and assistance during any of our missions?"
"I'm saying that you're a sneaky weasel with a bad habit of acting like you know something that we don't," she shot back without rancor.
"Now, now, Himiko-san," Kuroudo-kun laughed. "Only time will tell whether your suspicions are founded. No?" he asked coquettishly, and I instantly recognized the feline indolence in his voice. He did know something! A hunch told me that it could only revolve around the extra passenger, of whose presence we had yet to hear about, for she sat quietly and apparently was content to keep her own counsel unless spoken to.
I wondered how Medusa-chan was faring with Ban-kun and Ginji-kun. A fluttering in my chest assured me that the Get Backers were going to be very startled upon learning of their true goal, if it was anything like the thoughts in my head.
Gouzou-kun was an excellent driver, and his steering was so seamless that before long I began to doubt my original concerns of hazard when nothing more innocuous than the spread of repetitive traffic and asphalt greeted our sights through the windshield. Maybe Medusa-chan and I had gotten worried for nothing. Maybe it had all just been a fancy of ours. Miss Hevn the negotiator hadn't acted any more out of place than her normal demeanor. And our humans did have a tendency to get themselves embroiled in some unusual situations, and extricate themselves almost as neatly as Gouzou-kun weaved throughout the lanes.
Kuroudo-kun had struck up a conversation with the pink lady. "I'm not certain what you've been appraised of," he said, kindly as ever. "But I can assure you that our services are of the highest standards. You needn't worry that your time will be passed in any discomfort. If you have need of something, please do let us know and we will do our best to see that your voyage is conducted with as much ease as we can. Oh, but please forgive me. I haven't yet introduced myself formally, have I? I am Akabane Kuroudo, also known as Doctor Jackal, and these are my colleagues Kudou Himiko-san and Maguruma Gouzou-san. They are known as Lady Poison and Mr. No-Brakes, respectively."
"Thank you, Doctor. I'm sure that you transporters are quite capable in your work," the pink lady answered. Her voice was low in volume but mellifluous, smooth and gentle, and it contained a bewildering element of familiarity. I knew I couldn't have met this woman before today, but something about her...I could smell it, literally, but I couldn't place it...
"I must warn you as a courtesy, however," Kuroudo-kun said seriously. "I choose my jobs based upon how entertaining they can be. If a mission holds the prospect of lethal battle, you may be certain that I am present for a reason."
"It's all right," the pink lady said calmly, as if expecting him to have said such to her.
Kuroudo-kun continued, solemn yet slightly apologetic in his speech. "You may have to watch him be gravely injured, or maybe even killed, if we should clash in locked combat." He paused thoughtfully as he studied the pink lady. "Or perhaps this is your wish...?"
She neither denied nor confirmed this. "It is all right," she repeated. "I suppose we'll learn one way or another. Besides, they are the Get Backers, aren't they?"
My fur puffed out like a cumulonimbus cloud's mounting currents. How in all the good names of my goddess patron could she possibly know of Ban-kun's and Ginji-kun's business?! Oh, Medusa-chan, I wish you could hear this, I thought, more anxious now than ever before. It seemed we were right all along in following our humans on this fateful morning!
Kuroudo-kun seemed pleased by the pink lady's mention. The smile was warm in his voice as he responded. "Yes, this is true. Well, I think that I would rather like to have Ginji-kun as my opponent this time around." He cast a backwards glance at Lady Himiko. "What about you, Himiko-san? Will you fight against Midou-kun?"
"If he gives me any trouble," she answered wryly.
"And he'd never do that," Gouzou-kun deadpanned. "Another trip in the trenches. Sometimes I think my wife's right when she says I should just stick to taxis. Most trouble I've ever had there was the occasional drunk bum throwing up in the backseat."
"You'll never quit the transporting business," Kuroudo-kun told him affectionately. "You like it too much. You'd be bored to tears if you didn't have us around."
"As usual, a weirdo like you overestimates his personal appeal," Gouzou-kun retorted.
Kuroudo-kun laughed heartily at that. "Sticks and stones, Gouzou," he replied smugly, to the muffled sounds of Lady Himiko's amusement.
Their camaraderie immediately ceased when Gouzou-kun spotted something in one of his mirrors. "Batten down the hatches, kids, 'cause here they come. And your significant other looks pretty pissed off about something, Jackal."
"Oh dear," Kuroudo-kun sighed.
"Not another argument?" Lady Himiko asked in dread.
"Oh no," Kuroudo-kun assured her. "You see, our cats got outside right before we left for work, and we didn't have the time to recover them if we were both going to make our assignments on schedule. Poor Ban-kun, he must be worried sick," he fretted as he made his own unhappiness plain. I felt a momentary pang of guilt for having caused both men this unease, but I reminded myself that it was for his and Ban-kun's own good.
"I'm sure you could call Shido Fuyuki and ask him to find them. He's got a gift for working with missing animals," Lady Himiko said. "That is, if Ban's not too stubborn an ass to stoop to asking his archrival for help."
"I shall certainly put the idea to him once we've completed our commission," Kuroudo-kun agreed, having perked up at this suggestion. "Maybe if we aren't too engaged in our fight I could ask Ginji-kun if he'd contact Fuyuki-san."
"While you're at it you can trade recipes," Gouzou-kun said in a no-nonsense tone. The truck suddenly veered to one side. "Right now you need to help me concentrate on the road."
"Of course." Kuroudo-kun smiled at the pink lady and rose. "Please excuse me while I attend to my responsibilities."
Oh dear. I think Miss Hevn is going to have more than just a bloodied shoe to scream about once Ban-kun collects the check from her...!
I hadn't any more time to pursue this line of thought, because the truck started to jerk and dart in a zigzagging through traffic. I had to dig my claws into the shelf to avoid toppling off of it.
"He's too smart," Lady Himiko reluctantly confessed. "He knows I'll hit them with the devolution perfume if they get too close to us."
"Have you another poison capable of crossing greater distances?" Kuroudo-kun asked as he stood in the doorway right behind her.
"Just the flame, but that won't do us any good in these close quarters. I'd set everybody else on fire even if I did score a direct hit on their car."
"They won't risk involving others," Gouzou-kun pointed out. "As long as I keep evading them there's not much they can do besides chase us indefinitely."
"But we can still have our playtime," Kuroudo-kun chuckled, and stepped back to unlock the door to the rear cab. "I beg your pardon, milady. The wind."
Pink lady didn't answer. I couldn't see her face from where I was, but I had the distinct impression that she was resigned to this confrontation, though a part of her both anticipated and dreaded it as well. Curious, that.
Keeping one hand firmly on his hat, Kuroudo-kun opened the door and leaned out to wave at the figures behind the truck. "Hello, Midou-kun! Ginji-kun! What a wonderful surprise this is! Isn't it a beautiful day for a challenge?"
Lady Himiko snorted while he pulled the door shut again. "You keep threatening to cut off that finger of his, but I've yet to see you make even a passing attempt at it."
"Oh, it's just Ban-kun being Ban-kun. He needs a complete set of fingers for his Snakebite attack, you know," Kuroudo-kun said tolerantly, amused by his mate's profane response.
"He needs a lesson in the rules of the road, is what he needs," Gouzou-kun growled. "Let's see him try this on for size!" I nearly squealed in alarm as the truck gouged a path perpendicular to the present highway boundaries before surging forward in a burst of speed.
Ban-kun was not to be foiled, however. Over the truck engine's rising rumble Lady Himiko let out a cry of surprise. "What's he doing? He's crazy, using the nitrous in this traffic!" Indeed, a bubble of white now appeared in the visible windshield seconds after her exclamation. The truck shuddered and jolted, weaving from side to side as our chauffeur struggled to keep it moving forward while trying not to crush anything else.
"How quaint, Gouzou. They think they can get you to stop," Kuroudo-kun remarked over the blare of angry horns from other drivers.
The driver was not impressed. "I'd pancake 'em, except that I know how much you like having your boyfriend all in one working piece. So what should I do?"
"Let's play along. I'm curious to see how Midou-kun will handle it." I caught a glimpse of my human's face in the central rearview mirror. Kuroudo-kun was grinning like a fiend. "Shall we, Himiko-san? It's been ages since I've tried a good Flaming Arrow."
She made a grim chuckle to match his delight. "Flaming Arrow? You're not going to make it easy on him, are you?"
"Certainly not. Where would the fun in that be?" Kuroudo-kun chirped.
The click of an unbuckling seat belt was heard as Lady Himiko made to rise from her seat. She muttered something under her breath that sounded like "you guys give new meaning to the phrase 'lovers' spat'..."
"Hurry," Kuroudo-kun nearly begged. "I don't want to miss a moment of this."
Lady Himiko was smiling with him, part amusement and part exasperated tolerance. "Doctor Jackal, you are insane," she pronounced.
He was shameless in his reply. "What else do you expect when insanity is recruited at its finest? What can I say. I try to contain myself, but I always escape."
She answered back with a retort of her own, but the whistle of wind and screech of horns – or maybe it was tires, as the rest of the travelers on this strange highway veered around the cat-and-mouse caravan we formed – overrode her voice. I watched as she climbed out the door after Kuroudo-kun, the two of them quick and nimble like felines themselves in their hunt for the trophy.
The door slapped shut in their wake, and I was left with the pink lady in the rear of the lorry. Since the beginning of this trip, she hadn't said much, and the ensuing chase seemed about as likely to induce further conversation as anything else thus far. I sniffed the air to see if I could detect any more clues, but all I could gather was a sense of anxiety, an expectation that was as much hopeful as it was feared. Again, I had the curious sense that I knew this woman from somewhere, someplace close, but all searches of my memory turned up nothing.
Who was she? Why was she so interested in my human Ban-kun? Did she know of this apparent plot, to set Kuroudo-kun against him in spite of the lovers' vows to each other? Could she even be the one responsible for this entire mission in the first place?
"Hoah, watch the windshield with those things, Jackal!" My gaze shot forward, where Gouzou-kun was clenching the wheel white-faced. He'd pulled out a small video screen from the console of his truck, and rendered there in living color were Lady Himiko and Kuroudo-kun on the top of the trailer.
Lady Himiko was holding a bottle of her infamous perfume. She had more scents than either Medusa-chan or I could ever count, but she only ever took along seven vials on any given job. I had heard her explain it once to Miss Hevn, that the number of potions used was as important as the types. To use too many at once could conceivably cause the perfumes to overload each one's power, and backfire badly upon Lady Himiko. I figured it also had something to do with the half-magician's blood that she shared with Ban-kun; she was almost as well-versed in sorcery as he was.
Onscreen, Kuroudo-kun turned to his cohort with a delighted smile, one hand raised to his head to prevent his hat from being blown away. His other hand was sporting his own hallmark weapons. Lady Himiko held out her perfume, and he lifted his spike-encrusted hand. She tipped the bottle to the point of each scalpel, igniting them as one might a group of candles. But unlike those welcoming spindles, these flames offered a far riskier greeting to contend with – and judging from the tattered, smoking canopy that the top of Ban-kun's car had already been reduced to in the few moments since the transporters had gone on the offensive, Ban-kun wasn't doing very well in evasive maneuvers.
I caught a glimpse of Ginji-kun's panicky squealing in the rearview mirror of Ban-kun's car. My eyes darted to the video monitor, and I was just in time to see Kuroudo-kun raise his arm in the air and cast it, lit knives and all, towards the Get Backers with the grace of a seasoned orchestra conductor. Simultaneously Ban-kun's car buzzed ahead and to the side, jerking between other cars like some sort of drunken bug. The erratic path didn't help much and the flaming arrows diffused over their target: one lopped off the mirror, one twanged off the top of the car, one thudded into a taillight (where it found rest with its fellows like the quills of a porcupine's back), and the last pinged straight through the back window and out the front of the Subaru's windshield without ever missing a beat.
"Oh my..." The soft exhalation had come from the pink lady, and I swiveled my attention to her. She had spotted the camera and was watching as intently as I was. "The doctor's skills certainly weren't exaggerated, were they?"
Gouzou-kun heard her. "This is just a warm-up for him. Wait'll you see Akabane really get wound up. If anybody can whip him into a frenzy, it's those two guys in the sardine can. Especially the guy driving. Just a word of advice, though. If he tries to get you to look into his eyes, don't."
"Oh?"
"I don't know how he does it, but Jackal's boyfriend has some kind of weird power that lets him make people think they're seeing something that doesn't exist. Guy zapped me once and I almost ran us right off the road."
"Hmm." The sound was not so much one of intrigue as it was acknowledgment, a remembrance of something only the pink lady held to herself. "They say you don't stop for anything, Maguruma-san."
"Not if I can help it," Gouzou-kun said, sounding pleased with himself.
He was forced to put his creed to the test, however, when seconds later the truck shuddered violently enough to throw everyone and everything in it forward. I couldn't dig my claws into the shelf fast enough to keep from being pitched tail over paws – and I tumbled squarely onto the top of the pink lady's back.
REAOOOORRRRR!
"Ahhh!"
"The hell - ?! " Gouzou-kun had little time to share in our traveling companion's surprise, for he was too engrossed in steering the vehicle to a safer position after one of Ban-kun's kamikaze driving stunts had necessitated a sudden stomping of the brakes. Pink lady was still gasping, crying out while her arms flailed around me like a broken windmill, and I was too fixated on righting myself from the fall to take much concern for either human's distress. I managed to scrabble over the woman's shoulders and on top of her hat, where I leapt from her head and onto the closest available safe perch: the front passenger seat next to Gouzou-kun.
He took little notice of my appearance, probably more worried about preserving his reputation than reassuring or chastising unnerved stowaway felines. But now I had a better view of the unfolding action, and what I saw was not good. Kuroudo-kun and Lady Himiko had stopped throwing lit mini-torches, but a grim-faced Ginji-kun – most likely prodded by a raving Ban-kun – was gritting his teeth and even now climbing onto the front of the truck. I strained to peer over the dashboard, but I couldn't see any sign of Medusa-chan, and I hoped that she was safe, if she was in the car at all.
Gouzou-kun grabbed the speaker of his CB transmitter. "Get 'em off the truck!" he barked into it, and I was puzzled as to why he should be so concerned about Ginji-kun's safety until I saw the sparks of electricity dancing from his fingertips as he scrambled over the hood and up across the windshield. Evidently human batteries were incompatible with vehicular ones.
Thumps overhead signaled Kuroudo-kun's and Lady Himiko's willingness to obey the direction, and it began to sound as though a hailstorm had unleashed overhead. Coupled with the blustery wind from the half-opened window behind me, the racket was probably going to treat me to a session of ringing ears afterward. I could hear Kuroudo-kun's enthusiastic announcement from above - "Hello, Ginji-kun! Shall we?" This was quickly followed by the strike of something hard against resisting force; Ginji-kun's opening hadn't fared well judging by Kuroudo-kun's next words: "I'm sorry, Ginji-kun. These aren't metal today, I'm afraid." I cringed with a hiss as I folded my ears back, the noise adding to what was already an increasingly stressful trip.
Then the pink lady came up front.
"I didn't know that this Ginji Amano was so dangerous," she said, steadying herself with a hand on the back of the seat where I was. She looked pale and her hair was slightly mussed, but otherwise she was all right. Now that I had a view of her face, she was even more interesting. A pretty woman, definitely older than Lady Himiko but nowhere near Maria's true age. Somewhere in between, I decided, thinking that she was at least as old as Paul Wan, though I would have put her ahead of him if I had to wager a more solid guess. She had shoulder-length dark blonde hair, not like Miss Hevn's but more muted, hinting of autumn's first glaze, the way that sand warms on a beach at sunrise. Her eyes were wide and seemed to be gray, from what I could tell beneath the shade of her hat.
But it was the shape of her face that drew my fascination the most. Something about the structure of it, the way she held her head high, chin forward with a certain determination...it reminded me of something...someone I'd seen do such a thing...
"Electric boy's not a fighter," Gouzou-kun was saying now. "At least, he doesn't go for it the way that Jackal does. He's a soft touch at heart, so you don't have to worry that he'll attack us personally. He always does his best to back off if a fight looks likely. But if he's forced into a corner, that's when he's a threat to the offense - he won't hesitate to hit the jugular. I just don't want him on my truck because he'll shock the battery stone dead if he can. Might not look like it, but the kid's packing some heavy duty power there."
"I've heard some stories," the pink lady said. "He really works as a retriever? With Ban?"
I uttered a low yowl at her use of my human's name. I was ignored.
"Has as far as I know," Gouzou-kun replied. "Apparently they've got quite the reputation around town."
Someone hit the roof of the cab, rebounded, and then - "Oh, very nice, Ginji-kun!"
"Thanks...Akabane-san..."
"You've been practicing your defensive, haven't you?" And the chase was on again. How they ever managed to remain upon a moving vehicle without ever falling off was beyond me. Maybe some primordial humans had had a trace of feline ancestral grace in them?
"So they are good," the woman said, sounding thoughtful.
Gouzou-kun managed a chuckle. "I didn't say that. I said they've got a reputation."
The pink lady frowned. "But they've managed to defeat you and your team at least once before, haven't they?"
"Depends on what you consider defeat. Me, I'm just the driver. I call it a good night when I can collect my pay and go home without any band-aids to my wife and kids. See, my gas allowance is separate from our take as transporters. It's written into any contracts we accept. So no matter how you look at it, I still win because I get reimbursed for my expenses," Gouzou-kun explained.
Overhead, the thudding of dueling bodies was random across the surface of the truck and its trailer. I wondered how Ginji-kun was faring against both Kuroudo-kun and Lady Himiko. I doubted she would spare him much mercy, tolerant as she was of his foibles. She was kindhearted to a fault, but she had little patience for fools and had said as much in the past. Then again, if Kuroudo-kun was having as much fun as he sounded like he was, Lady Himiko would probably refrain from ganging up on the poor boy. A battle with Kuroudo-kun was enough to stir pity in the coldest of hearts.
"Himiko and Jackal, now, they're in it for the love of the game, just for differing reasons." Gouzou-kun continued to steer around the lanes of traffic, watching Ban-kun's car for any sudden movements, trying to anticipate his opponent's next move. "Himiko wants to prove something to herself, which isn't as off-road as it may sound. Lot of guys I know get into the business because they want to flex their muscles. Not all of them can make it. If you're in it to build a reputation, you've got to have time and talent. Mostly you've just got to have the endurance. Long hours, plenty of risk, and that's just counting the clients. If you're not good, the opposition won't take long to finish you off. Himiko may be young, but she has what it takes to survive and thrive, as long as she doesn't get carried away with whatever's eating at her inside."
"I see," the woman said. "And what of the doctor? Why does he take part?"
"Jackal? He just wants to cause as much mayhem as he can," Gouzou-kun laughed wryly. "Don't let his maple-syrup manners snowball you. Himiko and I both like him and we all get along well, but he's a crazy son of a bitch, and if you ever meet this Midou up close and personal I'm sure he'd be glad to fill you in on all the bloody details. He and Jackal have been an item for some time now."
At that unflattering assessment of my human's character I growled quietly. Kuroudo-kun, as quirky as he could be, was not nearly as inhospitable as he was being made out, and, despite any insistence to the contrary from my sister Medusa-chan, would surely be most displeased by such a description given from his comrade to a total stranger.
The pink lady glanced at me. "You," she said, raising a brow. "Is this your cat, Maguruma-san? She fell on me a minute ago."
I narrowed my eyes at her. As if I'd decided to amuse myself by launching my sensitive body into a furry cannonball on top of her. I reminded myself then that she must have had quite the shock too, and my minor annoyance at her comment eased. This stranger was not an enemy – yet. Best to keep the bridges open until such time as an accurate judgment could be rendered.
Gouzou-kun spared me a brief look. "Bastet! Where'd you come from?" To the pink lady, he answered, "This is one of Jackal's and Midou's cats. Lady Bastet. How'd she get into my truck?"
"The doctor did say that they'd lost their pets this morning," the woman said, studying me as if debating my potential as a threat. "Perhaps she smelled his scent and tracked him here."
"Strange," Gouzou-kun said. "How'd she wind up all the way from their place to downtown? That's a ways to travel for a kitty cat..."
He raised his head and scowled. Pink lady and I did too, as we all realized what had suddenly gone wrong in the atmosphere:
It was frighteningly silent atop the truck.
Gouzou-kun, I yowled. What's going on? Where are Kuroudo-kun and Ginji-kun? Lady Himiko?
"What's happening?" the woman in pink asked, her voice hushed in fear of an impending doom.
Gouzou-kun checked his video screen. No one was in the picture. We all must have thought the worst, that the battle had toppled to the streets below and brought about the terrible ruins of its players – but then the door in the back of the lorry was swinging open, and a petite windblown form bearing the trails of mystical perfumes was bursting inside the cab.
"That idiot! That psychotic fool of an imbecile! I'm going to kill him myself - " Lady Himiko ranted to Gouzou-kun.
"What'd electro-boy do?"
"Not him, Jackal! He and Ginji are bouncing all over the place, I can't keep track! They're fighting on top of other people's cars now!"
"What!?" Gouzou-kun looked all around him, but couldn't find a trace of what Lady Himiko had spoken of. She pushed past the pink lady – not rude, just purposeful – and almost sat on me in her haste to take watch from the passenger seat. "Miss Bastet! What on earth is she doing here, Maguruma!?"
"Beats me. This whole trip has been nothing but one dinger after another."
You can say that again, Gouzou-kun!
A high-pitched and piercing screech rose above the surrounding road rage. Gouzou-kun assumed that it was a problem with his truck and reacted accordingly, but none of the gauges were indicating anything wrong. We all looked out the windows, but saw only the usual tantrum-pitching of irate drivers forced to maneuver around us, and then -
Lady Himiko gasped. "Oh my God, it's - "
I bolted from her side to the top of the dashboard. Medusa-chan!
--
TBC