Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.
It was already noon.
"Do you know this baby?" Ginji asked the umpteenth random person. The person stared at him, then at the baby, happily perched on Ban's shoulders, blinked, and walked away.
Ginji let out a sigh. "I guess not."
Ban growled in annoyance as the baby pulled at one of his spikes. "Ow! Stop that!"
The baby giggled. He wasn't so scared of him anymore.
Ban sighed and swung the kid off his shoulders, back onto the ground. "You're old enough to walk."
"Ummmm…" the baby whimpered, staring up with huge eyes, hands extended towards Ban.
Who ignored it.
"Ah, Ban-chan…"
"Really. He can walk. Come on." To Ginji's surprise, he took one of the extended hands and continued walking. The baby toddled morosely after.
Ginji tried not to laugh at the sight and followed.
"It's okay… I don't want to part with you either…" Ban said mournfully.
The cashier stared weirdly at the strange urchin-headed man who was talking to the yen coins cradled in his hands.
The man's blond friend was playing with a brown-headed baby. "Where's the baby?"
The baby giggled and tried to pry Ginji's hands of his face.
"There he is!" Ginji said, vaguely remembering a movie where this was done by some animal. Only in his case…
The kid's giggles turned into high peals of laughter, seemingly highly amused by the lame trick.
"Thank you, sir," the cashier said, smoothing his wide-eyed stare back into impassiveness. "The flyers will be ready in about an hour."
"I can't believe we're this desperate," Ban said, shaking his head slightly as he turned away. "Ginji! Let's have lunch."
"Didn't you spend a lot of our money, just now…?" Ginji asked, setting the baby on his shoulders.
"Shut up." Ban pushed open the door, to be stopped by a faint, "Ban-chan…"
He turned to find tare-Ginji, tears streaming down his cheeks, and the baby staring wonderingly at him.
"He stinks…"
Back at the Honky Tonk…
"Where's Natsumi-chan?"
"Vacation," Paul replied monotonously.
"Himiko-chan?"
"Out." He turned a page of his newspaper.
Ginji was desperate. Obviously, or he wouldn't have asked… "Hevn-san?"
"Business trip. Himiko's with her. They're not in Shinjuku."
"Oh no…"
Ban intently stared at the baby, who was shifting uncomfortably in place. He had his fingers pinching his nose but the smell still penetrated.
"You wouldn't happen to have a clothespin lying around, would you?" he asked, the question directed to Paul.
Paul shook his head, burying himself further into his newspaper. He wanted nothing to do with that kid right now.
A vein popped in Ban's head, and he snarled out, "I'm sick of this…"
In a matter of seconds, he snatched Paul's newspaper out of the café owner's hands, grabbed up the baby in the other, and rushed to the bathroom at the back.
"Hey!" Paul said, affronted.
"You weren't helping!" Ban shouted back. "Ginji, get a clean dishtowel!"
As Paul continued muttering crossly under his breath, Ban and Ginji stared down at the baby, who was now seated in the sink, tears starting to gather in the corner of his eyes.
"Eh, Chibi, don't cry!" Ginji said, waving his hands frantically in front of him.
"…" Ban's stare transferred to his best friend. "You named it?"
"Ehehehe…" Ginji sweatdropped. "It's…cute isn't it?"
Ban's hand connected with his forehead. "Why me?"
Their stares reverted back to Chibi. "Ban-chan?"
"Ah?"
"Where do we start?"
Half an hour later, Chibi was back on the table, washed, dried, and blissfully clean-smelling. He was still wearing his red shirt, but his lower half was swaddled in a dishtowel, used as a makeshift diaper. The words 'Honky Tonk' were splashed in front. His blue shorts had just been washed and were drying, draped over the heater. Paul's newspaper was in the trashcan, crumpled and covered in…er, the contents of Chibi's diaper.
Ban was leaning back into his chair, smoking silently, observing the antics of the baby and Ginji seated across him. Ginji wasn't wearing his vest…due to the ineptness of the Get Backers in the field of washing-and-changing, it had been also been victimized by Chibi's diaper and was now washed and drying beside the baby's shorts. Ban's shirt, lucky for him, had only suffered many wet spots, which he opted to let dry while the shirt was still on him.
Ban was jerked out of his reverie by Chibi pulling one of his spikes, again. "Hey!" he complained, tugging his hair out of the baby's grasp.
Again, Chibi giggled.
"He likes your hair, Ban-chan," Ginji said, half apologetically, half mischievously.
Paul snorted as he watched from behind another newspaper that he had somehow procured, still sore at Ban for grabbing his other one.
Ban sighed and leaned forward, glaring slightly at Chibi. "Chibi. Listen. This hair," Ban tugged one of his own spikes. "You do NOT pull. Understand? No. No pull." Ban shook his head to emphasize the point.
Chibi grabbed his hair again, pulling harder than before. To Ban's discomfort, he was giggling while doing this.
"Ow! Chibi!" Ban said.
"When are we going to get the flyers, Ban-chan?" Ginji asked, taking Chibi and setting him on the seat. Chibi immediately began scaling Ginji's back, who, characteristically, didn't mind.
"We have thirty minutes to kill," Ban replied. "Besides, you're not going to take the kid out without his shorts, are you?"
"Nah, guess not…" Ginji said.
Suddenly, Chibi gave a small shriek as he lost his balance and fell off Ginji. Ban almost lunged across the table before realizing that Chibi had fallen on the cushioned seat, and was not that much hurt. He sighed in exasperation as Ginji tried to calm the baby down, and settled back into his former postion.
"This baby is more trouble than it's worth…"
Ban stared at the monitor of his cellphone.
He stared.
And stared.
And stared.
"Ring, dammit, ring," he whispered through gritted teeth.
Ginji came out from the bathroom of the Honky Tonk, carrying a just bathed Chibi. "Ban-chan, it's getting late…"
They'd spent the rest of the afternoon posting up the flyers, all with Chibi's picture and the Get Backers' number, along with the message "Boy Found, Name Unknown. Wearing a red shirt and blue shorts. If you know him, please contact Midou Ban or Amano Ginji at the number above or come to the Honky Tonk Café. Bring proof of your relation to him."
Below that was a smaller sized, but still explicitly clear message: "Retrieval Team: Get Backers! If it's stolen, we'll steal it back! Our success rate is almost 100%!"
Unfortunately, no one in Shinjuku seemed to know Chibi, as they had yet to receive a call. It was now very dark, nine in the evening, to be exact, and they were all tired.
Paul came out of the back. "I'm closing up. Get out."
Ban glared blearily up at him. "What? It's early!"
"No, it's not. And I want to close now. Now move, and take the kid with you. Good night."
Ban, Ginji and Chibi walked out of the Honky Tonk and got into the Ladybug, Ban grumbling all the way. Ginji gave up trying to pacify him as they drove around, looking for a nice spot to park their car for the night.
Fifteen minutes later, they found a hidden alley that they frequented when they didn't want to be bothered by illegal parking tickets. They had enough in the glove compartment already, and really couldn't afford any more any time soon.
"Aw, Ban-chan, look," Ginji whispered.
"Ah?"
"He's asleep." Ginji stroked the hair off Chibi's forehead. The baby was sleeping peacefully in his lap, sucking his thumb contentedly.
Ginji thought he saw a small, involuntary smile twitch the mouth of his friend as Ban glanced at the baby. Before he could tease his partner about it, though, another thought popped into his head, efficiently driving the previous one away. "Ban-chan, are we going to keep Chibi until his parents claim him?"
Ban turned off the car engine, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes. "Where else will he go?"
Ginji hid his grin, knowing that that was as good as a yes, as he answered, "Well, I was thinking, if he will bother you too much, we could let Shido and Madoka-chan take care of him instead…"
Ban shifted into a more comfortable position. "Are you going to sleep with him in your lap all night?"
"Nah, don't think so," Ginji said, moving carefully so as not to disturb the sleeping child. With a little difficulty, he managed to lay Chibi in the backseat, and he settled down in his place again.
"We could ask Shido and Madoka to babysit once in a while…but I think we should keep the kid with us. Our number's up on the flyers already." Ban removed his glasses and placed them in his pocket. "Besides, their parents might pay us."
Ginji groaned half-heartedly as he shut his eyes. "Money again, Ban-chan?"
Ban grunted in reply.
But a few moments later, Ginji heard him mutter, "Well, he is kind of a cute little twerp…"
"What was that, Ban-chan?"
"Nothing."
In the darkness, Ginji smirked, and they drifted off to sleep.
To be continued...
Authors' Notes: Thanks to Pikachu Hunter, Invader Androgynous, …, Lady Geuna and anonymous for the reviews.
Lady Guena: Well, Rabid Lola and I were just experimenting on what they would do by putting ourselves in their shoes. And the thing about Ban… well, let's just say that we were feeling evil at the time.
anonymous: Yes, Kazuki will make an appearance. All the characters will be victimized one way or another.
Invader Androgynous: Thanks for pointing that out. We fixed the summary already. ;
Pikachu Hunter: We'll take that thought into consideration.
