Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, don't have any money any way.
A/N: First off, I'd like to thank everyone who's been commenting on this and helping to feed my already over sized ego. Second of all, I'd like to apologize to those who have been enjoying this for being an absolute prick and taking my sweet time about updating. For the standard cliché, this is the beginning of the end of this fic. Certain characters who have only been ominous shadows in the background are about to get introduce, and the shit is really going to hit the fan for the Get Backers. The coming chapters are going to be a lot of fun to write, in other words. Anyway, enough of my rambling, on with Part Six: Dead or Alive
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All around the city, snow was beginning to melt. The blizzard three days ago had been winter's final dramatic breath before giving way to the warmer temperatures of spring. The wet pavement gleamed black in the warm sun. Muddy brown water was flooding into drains and the city dwellers trudged through slush and sand. The Get Backers were at a payphone outside the library after spending the entire morning carefully researching Chinese mythology. They needed to speak with Mei about a little brown parchment that had been casually slipped into one of their books by someone Ban presumed to be Bai Hu. Maria had picked up on the other end.
"Dead." Ban repeated hollowly to Ginji what Maria had said over the phone and replaced the receiver.
"The phone at the shop?" Inquired Ginji. "There must have been a power outage when you were talking to her."
"No," Ban said, his expression unreadable. "Our client is dead." His hand was still poised on the phone, as if he was silently debating whether or not to call Maria back and tell her she was a bad liar. But he didn't. While Maria didn't exactly subscribe to any set of morals or ethics that applied to the rest of the world, she would never lie to Ban. Especially not about something like this.
Ginji was standing in a stunned silence. So that was why they hadn't been able to get into contact with Mei for over three days.
"Ba......... Ban-chan, that's a rotten joke." Ginji forced a shaky laugh as if to emphasize his point.
"I'm not." Ban replied. "I'm not fucking joking!" There was the crunch of plastic and aluminum as Ban put his fist through the public telephone. The person who had been standing behind them, waiting anxiously for the phone was about to protest about Ban's vandalism, but decided wisely against it before taking a few nervous steps back and then sprinting off to go find a different one.
Ginji took one look at Ban's face, contorted in frustration, and knew he wasn't joking.
"H-how?" Ginji managed.
"Train. Fell off a platform going to visit Maria at her shop." Ban made a gesture by bringing both hands together in a violent collision. Ginji winced at the resounding smack. His partner nodded.
They stepped back into the library, neither saying a word, and headed back to their table to put away the books they had strewn across it. Akabane was sitting at the table when they got there, cheerfully perusing a copy of "The Story of Lady White: A Japanese Translation".
"Pushed." Said Akabane setting down the book. Ginji took cover behind Ban, his face having gone pallid the instant he recognized the wide-brimmed black hat. Ban also seemed to have lost all color when the doctor had greeted them so unusually.
"What are you talking about, Jackal?" Ban snarled, but quietly. The library lady had already told the Get Backers off earlier for being noisy. Ban didn't know which was worse: Ms. Takarada, a formidable old woman who was as wide as she was tall and glared like a vulture from behind a pair of horn rimmed spectacles, or Akabane Kuroudo, a man who really did know 150 useful things to do with a bucket of blood. Maybe even more.
"The girl. She didn't fall. She was pushed. Thrown to be more accurate. She was already unconscious at the time." Akabane seemed to unfold as he stood, like a skeleton in a biology lab, and carefully set the books back on their respective shelves. "Doing a little research I see, boys?" He remarked in an offhand sort of way.
"Just what the Hell are you talking about? And what we're here for is none of your business."
"No, no," Akabane trailed off absentmindedly, opening a book on Feng Shui and flipping casually through the pages. "I suppose it's not. But as the saying goes, I know something you don't know." He slammed the book shut. "What do you say to me buying you gentlemen a drink?"
Ban and Ginji exchanged looks. On one hand, Akabane had information about their mission, which Ban and Ginji were still uncertain if they'd be completing now that their client was dead. On the other hand, this was Akabane Kuroudo.
"No thanks," said Ban a bit testily. "We have enough to be getting on with."
Akabane raised a brow.
"Oh, and here I thought you'd be interested in why Mei was murdered, especially since the man after the artifact would need a young witch to make the tears operate."
Ban's fist clenched. "What are you getting at?"
"Let me buy you a drink and you'll find out."
---------------
The bar was smoky, and every claustrophobic's nightmare. And Akabane was leading the Get Backers to a secluded booth that, in Ginj's opinions was Not A Good Thing. A mess of black and white hair told Ginji that an all too familiar God already occupied the booth.
Bai Hu stood up and nodded to Akabane. "I thought it might be you, Kuroudo- san. Ah, Amano Ginji-san, it is good to see you again."
Ginji shrunk away from the grinning Bai Hu, smiling back sheepishly. Ban glowered.
"I remember you." He said curtly, eyeing the tiger God who looked rather awkward in his navy blue business suit. "You came by Maria's a couple of times when I still lived with her."
Bai Hu beamed. "I'm impressed, Midou Ban-san. You were very young then. You have a good memory." He looked at the assembled trio, still smiling. "But please, where are my manners? Have a seat, everyone. Let's have drinks and get down to business."
Ban and Ginji sat down, opposite Akabane and Bai Hu, Ginji shrugging off the jacket Mei had given him. There was a terrible awkward silence, finally broken when the tiger God cleared his throat.
"You are aware that even with your client's death, it is necessary that you continue with the mission." The smiles and cheer had vanished from Bai Hu's demeanor. He was talking to Midou Ban.
"If we're not getting paid, it's not our problem," Ban replied nonchalantly.
"Ban-chan..." Ginji started, but trailed off. This wasn't his area of expertise, but he felt slightly obligated to help get the tear back, especially since Mei had given him such a nice jacket.
"Whoever killed Mei got the tear off of her already," Ban continued. "Maria told me she couldn't find the earring on Mei anywhere. Basically, we're too late. Whoever killed Mei has probably already made their wish to become universal dictator or whatever."
"No," Akabane cut in, grinning cheerfully. "I caught up with one of the girl's killers and the reason she's dead is because they couldn't find the tear on her. Since she was no longer the tears' carrier, she was useless and could be disposed of."
Ban's eyes narrowed. He didn't like where this was going. "So who has it now?"
"Amano Ginji-san, you might want to check the breast pocket of that jacket. Mei must have left you a little present."
---------------
"That little midget WITCH!"
The door to the apartment slammed shut behind Ginji and Ban put his fist through a wall. "Stupid, stupid, STUPID GIRL!" He slumped forward, resting his forehead beside the dent in the wall, feeling very confused and angry. Mei's death had struck a nerve in him. While the girl wasn't what one would call defenseless, she was pretty naïve and harmless, and that made killing her senseless. A senseless sacrifice for someone's greed. Someone by the name of TaiYi. But who was this TaiYi? And why had Mei left the remaining tear in the jacket she had given Ginji? Ban blinked, his head shooting up as he remembered his partner.
Ginji was sitting on the couch staring down dejectedly at the earring.
"The backing of it fell off, she must have put it in here for safe keeping." Ginji's voice was small and miserable. He didn't like it when people died.
Ban slumped down on the couch beside his partner with a heavy sigh and rested a hand on the blonde's head.
"Don't let it get at you. Our client is dead, our job is done."
"But we haven't gotten back the second tear! Ban-chan!"
"It's not our problem anymore. Look, we'll give this one back to Maria tomorrow and then..."
"...and then?"
Ban was silent for a moment. He had wanted to continue with the mission, he had wanted to have a wish granted. He hadn't wanted Mei to die. It was unfair. But life was unfair.
But did that really make it okay? To just drop the job and walk away? All that work they had done, the fight with Fudo Myo-o, two Gods risking their positions in the heavens to give them treasures, the help from Bai Hu...
It was so much easier to drop it and move on. But then again...
...it wasn't.
He could brood on this for hours, but the look on Ginji's face was enough to bend his iron will as if it were made of warm wax. Even if he dropped the mission, Ginji wouldn't. The blond would see it through to the bitter end if need be.
Sometimes Ban wondered who really had more pride in their business.
"C'mon Ginji. Let's head down to the Honky Tonk. There's something I want to ask Natsumi."
Ginji beamed. "I knew you'd come around to my way of thinking!"
"You didn't even say anything," Ban retorted giving the blond a shove. Ginji shoved back and threw his arms around Ban's neck.
"Did I have to?"
"Ch. Idiot."
Ginji grinned.
---------------
"Look, you knew what the end of the riddle meant, Natsumi! Out with it!"
Natsumi had been struck by another fit of the giggles and was completely unable to talk. She couldn't even look at the infuriated Ban and the politely confused Ginji and say it. It was too much.
"Paul, you might want to have Natsumi take a drug test. I think she's been smoking something." Ban said matter-of-factly.
Paul did not look up from his newspaper. It was obvious he was privy to whatever she was laughing about "I can't imagine what's so funny."
Ban responded to this with a glare, but once again turned to Natsumi.. "C'mon, stop laughing!"
"Natsumi-chan," Ginji pleaded, "We really need to know. Mei-chan's been murdered and things have gotten really bad."
The laughter stopped. Even Paul looked up from his newspaper.
"Murdered? That little kid? Why?"
"I think they killed her 'cuz they couldn't find the tear they had missed, which was inconveniently in the pocket of the jacket she gave to Ginji." Ban jerked his thumb at Ginji who had obstinately refused to take off the neon coloured jacket.
Natsumi's hands flew up to her mouth. She was dumbstruck. "I... how...?"
"Someone pushed her off a platform in the underground. Now she's a smear on the train tracks."
The young waitress visibly winced. It sounded more than a little unpleasant.
"So you're still sticking with the mission?" She inquired. "Even though you're client's dead?"
Ban nodded. "Yeah. We have the other tear and I think Ginji and I could both really do with getting a wish or two granted. So what's the answer to the end of the riddle?"
"Well," she hesitated, setting down a glass that she had been about to polish. "It was kinda obvious after Ginji was talking about the whole Yin Yang thing and how you two are like it. So I figured it would be a couple, like you and Ginji. It's the whole 'you and Ginji' thing that was funny. It was just a bit too much shounen-ai manga that my friends read that put it into my head. You'd sort of be like Dee and Ryo from Fake... or maybe those two guys from Lesson XX... no... hm... what couple was it that you reminded me of... not Yuki and Schuichi because..."
"Um... Natsumi-chan...?" Ginji interrupted the brief musing, tapping the girl lightly on the shoulder. "What are you talking about?"
"Shounen-ai," Natsumi explained.
Ban was long gone, his face buried in his hand either in embarrassment, or frustration, or probably both, as Natsumi attempted to explain shounen-ai to an already clueless Ginji who's extent of manga knowledge encompassed a bit of Ranma ½ and the manga remake of X-men. Ginji had often ranted about how cool Storm was. She was his favourite character and he often wondered aloud how she got her eyes to go all white.
"C'mon, Ginji. We have work to do." Ban grabbed his partner by the collar of his jacket and dragged him out the Honky Tonk while Natsumi waved cheerfully in farewell.
"Jesus, get you talking to a woman and you never shut up."
Ginji grinned slyly at his partner. "You're jealous."
"I am not."
"Yes you are, Ban-chan." He hugged the brunette from behind, and Ban automatically seemed to melt. You could only believe so much bullshit before Ginji got under your skin.
"Damn you Ginji," Ban murmured, lightly knocking the blond on the head.
"And you don't mean that," Ginji said knowingly, and Ban laughed. It felt good to laugh.
"C'mon you idiot. Let's go find Bai Hu and tell him we've changed our minds." Ban pulled the driver door of the Lady Bug open and Ginji went around to the passenger's side.
"Any idea where he is?" Ginji asked.
"I have a feeling he already knows we're looking for him so no doubt we'll run into him."
Brief memory stirred in the back of Ginji's mind... something Bai Hu had said about Fridays...
"Ban-chan, it's Friday isn't it?"
Ban nodded. "That's right. I see you finally got the days of the week down pat."
Ginji snorted and leant aggressively against the brunette. "Don't tease me. I just thought, well..."
"Well?" Ban shifted into reverse and pulled the Lady Bug out of her parking spot.
"...Well, it's something Bai Hu mentioned in passing but he said he drank tea with Maria on Fridays. He might be with her. Especially now that her apprentice..." Ginji trailed off, staring hopefully at Ban.
"Aw, crickey, you mean we have to go visit that old hag?"
Ginji nodded. "It'd be worth a shot. You said; it's better to follow an untruth than run around blindly."
"I did say that," Ban mused, pulling out onto the main road.
---------------
"Let me out of here you oversized-pedophile-steroid-taking bitch!"
A fist beat repeatedly against the 12-inch thick ceramic door and the guards were growing exasperated with the prisoner.
"Will she ever shut up?" Said the first guard.
"After the half moon, she'll be silent as the grave."
Another threat came from behind the cell door. "I'm going to beat you so black and blue, your children'll be born bruised!"
The second guard sighed. "At least the other one with that tattoo on her face is quiet. Witches are weird man."
"So did Xiaoyan kill the duplicate?"
"Three days ago, dude. Man, doesn't anything penetrate that thick skull of yours?"
"I was on vacation remember? I got a family. I can't be guarding Tai Yi's stupid witch collection all the time."
"Yeah, well these two should finally be able to seal off those arrogant Gods."
For a moment the only sound was the muffled thumping on the cell door and some general cursing.
"I heard Xiaoyan was sliced to bits a few minutes after he killed the duplicate. That was one of our guy's doings wasn't it?"
"That's what Tai Yi says, but I don't buy it. Do you know any of our guys who leaves a huge bloody 'J' over their victims corpse?"
The silence reigned again, interrupted with an annoyed "Could I please get some food at least?" from the noisy prisoner. A new subject was broached.
"Why that tattoo girl?" asked the first guard, lighting a cigarette.
"Waddya mean?"
"Well, the one girl we ripped off from the old lady has a sister here. Why not use the sister? They suit the poem's description."
"Yin and Yang's harmony? Yeah, I know that. But Mai is working for Tai Yi. Fact of the matter is, I think she's the only one who feels any actual loyalty to him besides Nocha. Tai Yi won't kill her."
"Huh. Well, they were both made from scratch from that old goat, but so was the apprentice and the duplicate and the duplicate turned on us and that Lucifer bastard took the other one to that old woman six years ago. So we gotta use the apprentice and another witch."
"Anyway, Chanka Tan is way over-protective of Mai. If Tai Yi decided to use her in the ritual, we'd probably end up fighting all four of Mai's gang."
"They're all weird. Especially Nocha. Don't want to cross that genetic disaster."
---------------
Mei slumped down against the door. This was a problem. Her magic wasn't working. And this was not due to her usual incompetence, but a strange atmospheric block.
The other prisoner in the cell looked up. "Are you quite finished?" She said sharply.
"You could try helping. I can sort of hear those two out there and they're going to sacrifice us to something-or-another."
The prisoner stood up and stretched. She was a good deal taller than Mei, by over half a foot (but that really wasn't much of an achievement considering).
"It's a waste of time and energy. We'd be better off saving our strength to charge them when they open that door to get collect us than trying to offend them into opening it." She stepped into the light and Mei noticed she had a small tattoo of the star of David under her left eye.
"I know you!" Said Mei standing up instantly. "You're Himiko Kudo, Ban- san's friend!"
"You... know... me? I've never met you in my life." Himiko shook her head.
"Well, not personally. Lady Maria told me about you. When Ban-san used his witch blood to bring some guy back to life."
"Toshiki." Himiko said absentmindedly beginning to pace around the cell, running her fingers over the walls.
"Yeah," said Mei sobering. She sat down on one of the two beds. "I don't think we can count on Ban-san and Ginji-san rescuing us. From what I could hear from the guards, they used a look-a-like of me to make them think I was dead. From what Maria-sama said, Ban-san isn't someone to take a trip to Hong Kong to continue with a mission from a dead client."
Himiko cocked her head in perplexity. "You hired the Get Backers?"
Mei nodded, looking embarrassed. "It's kind of a long story."
Himiko snorted, flopping back down on the bed. "Maria's got Midou read. He wouldn't continue a job for a dead client... not without something in it for him anyway." She paused, staring up at the barred, bulletproof glass window where dim light filtered into the cell. "Ginji is a whole different story though."
"No point in relying on them though," Mei said miserably, "And whatever magic I can do is being blocked. How did they get you down here anyway?"
Himiko seemed embarrassed. "Ah, well... they caught me off guard."
"Oh. Guess we have no choice but to wait for them to open that door. And then what? We just let them lead us off to wherever?"
"Turn around," Himiko commanded suddenly.
"Huh? Why?"
"Just do it." She huffed.
Mei sighed and did as she was told, staring hopelessly at the door. There was a rustling of clothes, a strange wet, sucking noise, and the rustling of clothes again.
"Alright, you can turn around now."
Mei turned and Himiko was wiping a small vial off on her bed sheet.
"Where did you...?"
"You don't want to know," Himiko replied, holding the vial up to eye level. "Just be grateful they didn't do a strip search when they took away my poisons. Spare sleep scent is always useful."
Mei turned pink with embarrassment. "Oh... um... good?" Mei hoped this was the right response.
There was a click of a lock outside their door.
---------------
Maria sat down at the kitchen table with a mug of tea. Bai Hu was seated next to her, and across from them, Ban and Ginji were sipping instant coffee.
"So you've changed your minds?" Said Bai Hu, trying to sound enthusiastic.
Ban nodded.
"I'd have made you do it anyway," Maria said threateningly, peering over her steaming mug.
Ban swallowed, and took another gulp of coffee.
"Mei accidentally left this with me..." Said Ginji, producing the tear from his coat pocket.
Maria took it, examining it thoroughly. "It's the real McCoy alright. I thought those bastards had taken it from Mei. The coroners didn't find it on her when they were doing the autopsy."
---------------
"There's still the matter of the second tear, my little Mei Gui Hau..."
Tai Yi advanced, cupping Mei's face in his hand. Himiko had quickly stashed the sleep scent under her pillow and watched in silence, waiting for the opportune moment. Any funny moves would have the old geezer's bodyguards on her like ugly on a gorilla.
"I said, I don't know where it is," Mei winced, "ow... you ass wipe! Leggo of me!"
"Oh I think you do know where it is, Mei Gui Hau." His voice was sinister, like a devil trying to sound grandfatherly. He tightened his grip on Mei's jaw, lifting her easily from the ground. Himiko's muscles coiled, ready to spring when the opportune moment. Her hand itched to reach under the pillow.
"Owowow! I don't know! I really don't! The backing on the earring it was on broke, so I put it in my jacket pocket and took it home! I don't remember where I put it after I fixed it! Honest! Honest! OW!"
Tai Yi dropped Mei to the ground where she landed on her knees, clutching her jaw.
"I see..." he hissed silkily. "No matter, Mai will find it before the half- moon..."
"I doubt it." Mei said, rubbing the bruised finger marks. "The half moon's tomorrow. For all I know, I might have dropped it in a gutter somewhere."
"If you did," said Tai Yi turning to leave, the two guards already waiting for him outside the door, "You and that other witch will be joining it... in pieces."
Himiko struck like a cobra. The sleep scent was in her hands in an instant, wafting under Tai Yi and the guard's noses. Mei had quickly clamped her hands over her face, holding her breath. Himiko hauled Mei to her feet, and they sprinted out the prison cell into the corridor.
"Which way?" Mei asked from behind her hands as the two guards and Tai Yi crumpled behind them.
"How should I know?" Himiko snapped, looking frantically both ways.
"Let's go right!" Mei suggested, beginning to sprint down the corridor.
"Is that the right way?"
"I dunno, but there's a draft coming from this way and I don't want to accidentally breathe your sleep scent if we go left."
Himiko grinned, placing the sleep scent in its notch on her belt. "You're not as dumb as I thought you were."
"And you're not such a dyke as Maria-sama made you out to be."
"What?!"
---------------
Translations!
Mei-Gui-Hau: rose blossom Okay, Mei's full name means rose blossom, but when she's just going by the short "Mei" it means plum. I think the double meaning is cute ^.^
The first three of Tai Yi's Five (so far only their names are known)
Mai-Gui-Hau: cherry blossom
Nocha Rong: "nocha" = Nataku in Japanese. Rong is a female name, meaning lotus (which in the original legend he used to reincarnate), but old illustrations of Nocha show him to be very, very feminine. So he has a boyish-girly name.
Chanka Tan: In Japanese he is Tomite, one of the only two of Genbu's warriors to get any time in FY. True to legend, his power is to manipulate ice and here he uses that power to protect Mai. "Kyo", his nickname that means 'emptyness', is the kanji mark associated with Chanka Tan and appears on Tomite's back in FY.
A/N: First off, I'd like to thank everyone who's been commenting on this and helping to feed my already over sized ego. Second of all, I'd like to apologize to those who have been enjoying this for being an absolute prick and taking my sweet time about updating. For the standard cliché, this is the beginning of the end of this fic. Certain characters who have only been ominous shadows in the background are about to get introduce, and the shit is really going to hit the fan for the Get Backers. The coming chapters are going to be a lot of fun to write, in other words. Anyway, enough of my rambling, on with Part Six: Dead or Alive
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All around the city, snow was beginning to melt. The blizzard three days ago had been winter's final dramatic breath before giving way to the warmer temperatures of spring. The wet pavement gleamed black in the warm sun. Muddy brown water was flooding into drains and the city dwellers trudged through slush and sand. The Get Backers were at a payphone outside the library after spending the entire morning carefully researching Chinese mythology. They needed to speak with Mei about a little brown parchment that had been casually slipped into one of their books by someone Ban presumed to be Bai Hu. Maria had picked up on the other end.
"Dead." Ban repeated hollowly to Ginji what Maria had said over the phone and replaced the receiver.
"The phone at the shop?" Inquired Ginji. "There must have been a power outage when you were talking to her."
"No," Ban said, his expression unreadable. "Our client is dead." His hand was still poised on the phone, as if he was silently debating whether or not to call Maria back and tell her she was a bad liar. But he didn't. While Maria didn't exactly subscribe to any set of morals or ethics that applied to the rest of the world, she would never lie to Ban. Especially not about something like this.
Ginji was standing in a stunned silence. So that was why they hadn't been able to get into contact with Mei for over three days.
"Ba......... Ban-chan, that's a rotten joke." Ginji forced a shaky laugh as if to emphasize his point.
"I'm not." Ban replied. "I'm not fucking joking!" There was the crunch of plastic and aluminum as Ban put his fist through the public telephone. The person who had been standing behind them, waiting anxiously for the phone was about to protest about Ban's vandalism, but decided wisely against it before taking a few nervous steps back and then sprinting off to go find a different one.
Ginji took one look at Ban's face, contorted in frustration, and knew he wasn't joking.
"H-how?" Ginji managed.
"Train. Fell off a platform going to visit Maria at her shop." Ban made a gesture by bringing both hands together in a violent collision. Ginji winced at the resounding smack. His partner nodded.
They stepped back into the library, neither saying a word, and headed back to their table to put away the books they had strewn across it. Akabane was sitting at the table when they got there, cheerfully perusing a copy of "The Story of Lady White: A Japanese Translation".
"Pushed." Said Akabane setting down the book. Ginji took cover behind Ban, his face having gone pallid the instant he recognized the wide-brimmed black hat. Ban also seemed to have lost all color when the doctor had greeted them so unusually.
"What are you talking about, Jackal?" Ban snarled, but quietly. The library lady had already told the Get Backers off earlier for being noisy. Ban didn't know which was worse: Ms. Takarada, a formidable old woman who was as wide as she was tall and glared like a vulture from behind a pair of horn rimmed spectacles, or Akabane Kuroudo, a man who really did know 150 useful things to do with a bucket of blood. Maybe even more.
"The girl. She didn't fall. She was pushed. Thrown to be more accurate. She was already unconscious at the time." Akabane seemed to unfold as he stood, like a skeleton in a biology lab, and carefully set the books back on their respective shelves. "Doing a little research I see, boys?" He remarked in an offhand sort of way.
"Just what the Hell are you talking about? And what we're here for is none of your business."
"No, no," Akabane trailed off absentmindedly, opening a book on Feng Shui and flipping casually through the pages. "I suppose it's not. But as the saying goes, I know something you don't know." He slammed the book shut. "What do you say to me buying you gentlemen a drink?"
Ban and Ginji exchanged looks. On one hand, Akabane had information about their mission, which Ban and Ginji were still uncertain if they'd be completing now that their client was dead. On the other hand, this was Akabane Kuroudo.
"No thanks," said Ban a bit testily. "We have enough to be getting on with."
Akabane raised a brow.
"Oh, and here I thought you'd be interested in why Mei was murdered, especially since the man after the artifact would need a young witch to make the tears operate."
Ban's fist clenched. "What are you getting at?"
"Let me buy you a drink and you'll find out."
---------------
The bar was smoky, and every claustrophobic's nightmare. And Akabane was leading the Get Backers to a secluded booth that, in Ginj's opinions was Not A Good Thing. A mess of black and white hair told Ginji that an all too familiar God already occupied the booth.
Bai Hu stood up and nodded to Akabane. "I thought it might be you, Kuroudo- san. Ah, Amano Ginji-san, it is good to see you again."
Ginji shrunk away from the grinning Bai Hu, smiling back sheepishly. Ban glowered.
"I remember you." He said curtly, eyeing the tiger God who looked rather awkward in his navy blue business suit. "You came by Maria's a couple of times when I still lived with her."
Bai Hu beamed. "I'm impressed, Midou Ban-san. You were very young then. You have a good memory." He looked at the assembled trio, still smiling. "But please, where are my manners? Have a seat, everyone. Let's have drinks and get down to business."
Ban and Ginji sat down, opposite Akabane and Bai Hu, Ginji shrugging off the jacket Mei had given him. There was a terrible awkward silence, finally broken when the tiger God cleared his throat.
"You are aware that even with your client's death, it is necessary that you continue with the mission." The smiles and cheer had vanished from Bai Hu's demeanor. He was talking to Midou Ban.
"If we're not getting paid, it's not our problem," Ban replied nonchalantly.
"Ban-chan..." Ginji started, but trailed off. This wasn't his area of expertise, but he felt slightly obligated to help get the tear back, especially since Mei had given him such a nice jacket.
"Whoever killed Mei got the tear off of her already," Ban continued. "Maria told me she couldn't find the earring on Mei anywhere. Basically, we're too late. Whoever killed Mei has probably already made their wish to become universal dictator or whatever."
"No," Akabane cut in, grinning cheerfully. "I caught up with one of the girl's killers and the reason she's dead is because they couldn't find the tear on her. Since she was no longer the tears' carrier, she was useless and could be disposed of."
Ban's eyes narrowed. He didn't like where this was going. "So who has it now?"
"Amano Ginji-san, you might want to check the breast pocket of that jacket. Mei must have left you a little present."
---------------
"That little midget WITCH!"
The door to the apartment slammed shut behind Ginji and Ban put his fist through a wall. "Stupid, stupid, STUPID GIRL!" He slumped forward, resting his forehead beside the dent in the wall, feeling very confused and angry. Mei's death had struck a nerve in him. While the girl wasn't what one would call defenseless, she was pretty naïve and harmless, and that made killing her senseless. A senseless sacrifice for someone's greed. Someone by the name of TaiYi. But who was this TaiYi? And why had Mei left the remaining tear in the jacket she had given Ginji? Ban blinked, his head shooting up as he remembered his partner.
Ginji was sitting on the couch staring down dejectedly at the earring.
"The backing of it fell off, she must have put it in here for safe keeping." Ginji's voice was small and miserable. He didn't like it when people died.
Ban slumped down on the couch beside his partner with a heavy sigh and rested a hand on the blonde's head.
"Don't let it get at you. Our client is dead, our job is done."
"But we haven't gotten back the second tear! Ban-chan!"
"It's not our problem anymore. Look, we'll give this one back to Maria tomorrow and then..."
"...and then?"
Ban was silent for a moment. He had wanted to continue with the mission, he had wanted to have a wish granted. He hadn't wanted Mei to die. It was unfair. But life was unfair.
But did that really make it okay? To just drop the job and walk away? All that work they had done, the fight with Fudo Myo-o, two Gods risking their positions in the heavens to give them treasures, the help from Bai Hu...
It was so much easier to drop it and move on. But then again...
...it wasn't.
He could brood on this for hours, but the look on Ginji's face was enough to bend his iron will as if it were made of warm wax. Even if he dropped the mission, Ginji wouldn't. The blond would see it through to the bitter end if need be.
Sometimes Ban wondered who really had more pride in their business.
"C'mon Ginji. Let's head down to the Honky Tonk. There's something I want to ask Natsumi."
Ginji beamed. "I knew you'd come around to my way of thinking!"
"You didn't even say anything," Ban retorted giving the blond a shove. Ginji shoved back and threw his arms around Ban's neck.
"Did I have to?"
"Ch. Idiot."
Ginji grinned.
---------------
"Look, you knew what the end of the riddle meant, Natsumi! Out with it!"
Natsumi had been struck by another fit of the giggles and was completely unable to talk. She couldn't even look at the infuriated Ban and the politely confused Ginji and say it. It was too much.
"Paul, you might want to have Natsumi take a drug test. I think she's been smoking something." Ban said matter-of-factly.
Paul did not look up from his newspaper. It was obvious he was privy to whatever she was laughing about "I can't imagine what's so funny."
Ban responded to this with a glare, but once again turned to Natsumi.. "C'mon, stop laughing!"
"Natsumi-chan," Ginji pleaded, "We really need to know. Mei-chan's been murdered and things have gotten really bad."
The laughter stopped. Even Paul looked up from his newspaper.
"Murdered? That little kid? Why?"
"I think they killed her 'cuz they couldn't find the tear they had missed, which was inconveniently in the pocket of the jacket she gave to Ginji." Ban jerked his thumb at Ginji who had obstinately refused to take off the neon coloured jacket.
Natsumi's hands flew up to her mouth. She was dumbstruck. "I... how...?"
"Someone pushed her off a platform in the underground. Now she's a smear on the train tracks."
The young waitress visibly winced. It sounded more than a little unpleasant.
"So you're still sticking with the mission?" She inquired. "Even though you're client's dead?"
Ban nodded. "Yeah. We have the other tear and I think Ginji and I could both really do with getting a wish or two granted. So what's the answer to the end of the riddle?"
"Well," she hesitated, setting down a glass that she had been about to polish. "It was kinda obvious after Ginji was talking about the whole Yin Yang thing and how you two are like it. So I figured it would be a couple, like you and Ginji. It's the whole 'you and Ginji' thing that was funny. It was just a bit too much shounen-ai manga that my friends read that put it into my head. You'd sort of be like Dee and Ryo from Fake... or maybe those two guys from Lesson XX... no... hm... what couple was it that you reminded me of... not Yuki and Schuichi because..."
"Um... Natsumi-chan...?" Ginji interrupted the brief musing, tapping the girl lightly on the shoulder. "What are you talking about?"
"Shounen-ai," Natsumi explained.
Ban was long gone, his face buried in his hand either in embarrassment, or frustration, or probably both, as Natsumi attempted to explain shounen-ai to an already clueless Ginji who's extent of manga knowledge encompassed a bit of Ranma ½ and the manga remake of X-men. Ginji had often ranted about how cool Storm was. She was his favourite character and he often wondered aloud how she got her eyes to go all white.
"C'mon, Ginji. We have work to do." Ban grabbed his partner by the collar of his jacket and dragged him out the Honky Tonk while Natsumi waved cheerfully in farewell.
"Jesus, get you talking to a woman and you never shut up."
Ginji grinned slyly at his partner. "You're jealous."
"I am not."
"Yes you are, Ban-chan." He hugged the brunette from behind, and Ban automatically seemed to melt. You could only believe so much bullshit before Ginji got under your skin.
"Damn you Ginji," Ban murmured, lightly knocking the blond on the head.
"And you don't mean that," Ginji said knowingly, and Ban laughed. It felt good to laugh.
"C'mon you idiot. Let's go find Bai Hu and tell him we've changed our minds." Ban pulled the driver door of the Lady Bug open and Ginji went around to the passenger's side.
"Any idea where he is?" Ginji asked.
"I have a feeling he already knows we're looking for him so no doubt we'll run into him."
Brief memory stirred in the back of Ginji's mind... something Bai Hu had said about Fridays...
"Ban-chan, it's Friday isn't it?"
Ban nodded. "That's right. I see you finally got the days of the week down pat."
Ginji snorted and leant aggressively against the brunette. "Don't tease me. I just thought, well..."
"Well?" Ban shifted into reverse and pulled the Lady Bug out of her parking spot.
"...Well, it's something Bai Hu mentioned in passing but he said he drank tea with Maria on Fridays. He might be with her. Especially now that her apprentice..." Ginji trailed off, staring hopefully at Ban.
"Aw, crickey, you mean we have to go visit that old hag?"
Ginji nodded. "It'd be worth a shot. You said; it's better to follow an untruth than run around blindly."
"I did say that," Ban mused, pulling out onto the main road.
---------------
"Let me out of here you oversized-pedophile-steroid-taking bitch!"
A fist beat repeatedly against the 12-inch thick ceramic door and the guards were growing exasperated with the prisoner.
"Will she ever shut up?" Said the first guard.
"After the half moon, she'll be silent as the grave."
Another threat came from behind the cell door. "I'm going to beat you so black and blue, your children'll be born bruised!"
The second guard sighed. "At least the other one with that tattoo on her face is quiet. Witches are weird man."
"So did Xiaoyan kill the duplicate?"
"Three days ago, dude. Man, doesn't anything penetrate that thick skull of yours?"
"I was on vacation remember? I got a family. I can't be guarding Tai Yi's stupid witch collection all the time."
"Yeah, well these two should finally be able to seal off those arrogant Gods."
For a moment the only sound was the muffled thumping on the cell door and some general cursing.
"I heard Xiaoyan was sliced to bits a few minutes after he killed the duplicate. That was one of our guy's doings wasn't it?"
"That's what Tai Yi says, but I don't buy it. Do you know any of our guys who leaves a huge bloody 'J' over their victims corpse?"
The silence reigned again, interrupted with an annoyed "Could I please get some food at least?" from the noisy prisoner. A new subject was broached.
"Why that tattoo girl?" asked the first guard, lighting a cigarette.
"Waddya mean?"
"Well, the one girl we ripped off from the old lady has a sister here. Why not use the sister? They suit the poem's description."
"Yin and Yang's harmony? Yeah, I know that. But Mai is working for Tai Yi. Fact of the matter is, I think she's the only one who feels any actual loyalty to him besides Nocha. Tai Yi won't kill her."
"Huh. Well, they were both made from scratch from that old goat, but so was the apprentice and the duplicate and the duplicate turned on us and that Lucifer bastard took the other one to that old woman six years ago. So we gotta use the apprentice and another witch."
"Anyway, Chanka Tan is way over-protective of Mai. If Tai Yi decided to use her in the ritual, we'd probably end up fighting all four of Mai's gang."
"They're all weird. Especially Nocha. Don't want to cross that genetic disaster."
---------------
Mei slumped down against the door. This was a problem. Her magic wasn't working. And this was not due to her usual incompetence, but a strange atmospheric block.
The other prisoner in the cell looked up. "Are you quite finished?" She said sharply.
"You could try helping. I can sort of hear those two out there and they're going to sacrifice us to something-or-another."
The prisoner stood up and stretched. She was a good deal taller than Mei, by over half a foot (but that really wasn't much of an achievement considering).
"It's a waste of time and energy. We'd be better off saving our strength to charge them when they open that door to get collect us than trying to offend them into opening it." She stepped into the light and Mei noticed she had a small tattoo of the star of David under her left eye.
"I know you!" Said Mei standing up instantly. "You're Himiko Kudo, Ban- san's friend!"
"You... know... me? I've never met you in my life." Himiko shook her head.
"Well, not personally. Lady Maria told me about you. When Ban-san used his witch blood to bring some guy back to life."
"Toshiki." Himiko said absentmindedly beginning to pace around the cell, running her fingers over the walls.
"Yeah," said Mei sobering. She sat down on one of the two beds. "I don't think we can count on Ban-san and Ginji-san rescuing us. From what I could hear from the guards, they used a look-a-like of me to make them think I was dead. From what Maria-sama said, Ban-san isn't someone to take a trip to Hong Kong to continue with a mission from a dead client."
Himiko cocked her head in perplexity. "You hired the Get Backers?"
Mei nodded, looking embarrassed. "It's kind of a long story."
Himiko snorted, flopping back down on the bed. "Maria's got Midou read. He wouldn't continue a job for a dead client... not without something in it for him anyway." She paused, staring up at the barred, bulletproof glass window where dim light filtered into the cell. "Ginji is a whole different story though."
"No point in relying on them though," Mei said miserably, "And whatever magic I can do is being blocked. How did they get you down here anyway?"
Himiko seemed embarrassed. "Ah, well... they caught me off guard."
"Oh. Guess we have no choice but to wait for them to open that door. And then what? We just let them lead us off to wherever?"
"Turn around," Himiko commanded suddenly.
"Huh? Why?"
"Just do it." She huffed.
Mei sighed and did as she was told, staring hopelessly at the door. There was a rustling of clothes, a strange wet, sucking noise, and the rustling of clothes again.
"Alright, you can turn around now."
Mei turned and Himiko was wiping a small vial off on her bed sheet.
"Where did you...?"
"You don't want to know," Himiko replied, holding the vial up to eye level. "Just be grateful they didn't do a strip search when they took away my poisons. Spare sleep scent is always useful."
Mei turned pink with embarrassment. "Oh... um... good?" Mei hoped this was the right response.
There was a click of a lock outside their door.
---------------
Maria sat down at the kitchen table with a mug of tea. Bai Hu was seated next to her, and across from them, Ban and Ginji were sipping instant coffee.
"So you've changed your minds?" Said Bai Hu, trying to sound enthusiastic.
Ban nodded.
"I'd have made you do it anyway," Maria said threateningly, peering over her steaming mug.
Ban swallowed, and took another gulp of coffee.
"Mei accidentally left this with me..." Said Ginji, producing the tear from his coat pocket.
Maria took it, examining it thoroughly. "It's the real McCoy alright. I thought those bastards had taken it from Mei. The coroners didn't find it on her when they were doing the autopsy."
---------------
"There's still the matter of the second tear, my little Mei Gui Hau..."
Tai Yi advanced, cupping Mei's face in his hand. Himiko had quickly stashed the sleep scent under her pillow and watched in silence, waiting for the opportune moment. Any funny moves would have the old geezer's bodyguards on her like ugly on a gorilla.
"I said, I don't know where it is," Mei winced, "ow... you ass wipe! Leggo of me!"
"Oh I think you do know where it is, Mei Gui Hau." His voice was sinister, like a devil trying to sound grandfatherly. He tightened his grip on Mei's jaw, lifting her easily from the ground. Himiko's muscles coiled, ready to spring when the opportune moment. Her hand itched to reach under the pillow.
"Owowow! I don't know! I really don't! The backing on the earring it was on broke, so I put it in my jacket pocket and took it home! I don't remember where I put it after I fixed it! Honest! Honest! OW!"
Tai Yi dropped Mei to the ground where she landed on her knees, clutching her jaw.
"I see..." he hissed silkily. "No matter, Mai will find it before the half- moon..."
"I doubt it." Mei said, rubbing the bruised finger marks. "The half moon's tomorrow. For all I know, I might have dropped it in a gutter somewhere."
"If you did," said Tai Yi turning to leave, the two guards already waiting for him outside the door, "You and that other witch will be joining it... in pieces."
Himiko struck like a cobra. The sleep scent was in her hands in an instant, wafting under Tai Yi and the guard's noses. Mei had quickly clamped her hands over her face, holding her breath. Himiko hauled Mei to her feet, and they sprinted out the prison cell into the corridor.
"Which way?" Mei asked from behind her hands as the two guards and Tai Yi crumpled behind them.
"How should I know?" Himiko snapped, looking frantically both ways.
"Let's go right!" Mei suggested, beginning to sprint down the corridor.
"Is that the right way?"
"I dunno, but there's a draft coming from this way and I don't want to accidentally breathe your sleep scent if we go left."
Himiko grinned, placing the sleep scent in its notch on her belt. "You're not as dumb as I thought you were."
"And you're not such a dyke as Maria-sama made you out to be."
"What?!"
---------------
Translations!
Mei-Gui-Hau: rose blossom Okay, Mei's full name means rose blossom, but when she's just going by the short "Mei" it means plum. I think the double meaning is cute ^.^
The first three of Tai Yi's Five (so far only their names are known)
Mai-Gui-Hau: cherry blossom
Nocha Rong: "nocha" = Nataku in Japanese. Rong is a female name, meaning lotus (which in the original legend he used to reincarnate), but old illustrations of Nocha show him to be very, very feminine. So he has a boyish-girly name.
Chanka Tan: In Japanese he is Tomite, one of the only two of Genbu's warriors to get any time in FY. True to legend, his power is to manipulate ice and here he uses that power to protect Mai. "Kyo", his nickname that means 'emptyness', is the kanji mark associated with Chanka Tan and appears on Tomite's back in FY.