Happy St. Valentine's Day, Ginji-kun

Valentine for Rami by A Girl Named Goo

Ginji's little tare form was running at top speed beneath the park benches, trying to avoid the looming figure of Jackal who insisted on persuing the young man. As a bench was decimated Ginji leapt, in his normal form, out into the open. Drawing from the streetlights, he powered up a charge aimed at Akabane and released it. But Akabane was gone in a flash, appearing directly behind him.

Ginji ran faster through the park, sneakers beating alternately on hard paved pathways and soft, neatly-trimmed grass. He really didn't want to fight this guy. Especially not when Ban was no where to be seen. Feeling a new power grid beneath his feet fueling a nearby block of stores, Ginji chose to draw from that, channeling another pulse and using the blinding explosion of the dozens of streetlights glowing brightly and bursting to dive under another bench.

Akabane was grinning as he neatly decimated the bench, scalpels in hand. "Why must you run, Ginji-kun? Don't you find this fun?"

Ginji rolled neatly out of the way of Akabane's anticapted attack, but the man was directly behind him again. "Leave me alone!" Ginji cried out, ducking the scalpels as they narrowly grazed his shoulder and lodged in a tree. With no effort at all Akabane dislodged them, smiling cheerfully.

"You are amusing me greatly. I don't wish to stop this..." Jackal said in his normal, polite voice that chilled adversaries to the bone. "But I'm afraid our fun must come to an end. This diversion, and Lady Poison's diversion for your partner, would have been just enough time for Mr. No Break to deliver our cargo safely. Thank you for your time."

Ginji stood, staring in disbelief at Akabane's retreating form. Suddenly, Akabane stopped his slow, precise steps. "Oh, and happy St. Valentine's day, Ginji-kun."

Dr. Jackal seemed to fade into the chilly February night. A sudden tearing of cloth, and Ginji looked down. There was a hole in the front of his shirt that he couldn't distinguish the shape of...until he looked to the ground. Resting there on the damp sidewalk was a white cloth heart.