Authors' Notes: We went on hiatus!!! -Riyuji
Sorry people. It's the kind of thing that happens when you don't live in the same house, aren't classmates, and are forced to pass notes through the window. :) -Rabid Lola
She's serious. By the way, Shido and Madoka did not do anything... yet.-Riyuji
"Jinji!"
Ginji let out a loud "Oof!" as a squirming bundle of energy bounced onto his chest.
"Jinji! Jinji! Jinji!"
Groaning, he cracked open one eye and met sparkling green ones, that distinctively seemed to be laughing at him.
"Chibi…"
"Jinji! 'eykup!" Chibi tugged at his blond spikes, and poked his face.
Ginji grinned, he couldn't help it. "I'm awake, I'm awake," he yawned. "Boy, you sure are energetic." He lifted Chibi off his lap and placed him on the driver's seat. Then he noticed that the driver's seat was empty. "Ban-chan?"
A low chuckle, and Ban's face appeared in Ginji's window. He had risen early to smoke, and a smirk was currently gracing his features. "See what I have to go through with you every morning?"
"Hehe," Ginji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as Chibi greeted Ban with a singsong, "Hi, Banchan!"
Ban disappeared, still chuckling, and went around the car. He lifted Chibi from the driver's seat into the back seat. "Good morning, twerp," he said to Chibi as he shut the door. "Ginji, do you think Natsumi's back yet?"
It was the fifth day of Chibi-care, and still no one had called. Well, not the genuine ones anyway. Two or three phonies had, and between the three of them, Ban, Ginji, and Chibi had proved them phonies.
Ginji cocked his head, unsure. "Eh…"
Ban started the car and pulled it out of the alleyway they'd settled in. "We'd better check, so that we can leave the kid and look for a job. I'm tired of eating off Master and Madoka…" he trailed off with a scowl.
Ginji just grinned. Chibi let out a happy squeal as Ban sped up the car.
A bell tinkled.
Paul looked up from wiping the counter. "You're back again?"
"Not for that," Ban growled.
"Is Natsumi-chan back yet?" Ginji asked.
"No…" Paul said, keeping an eye on them as they sat in a booth.
Tinkle here, tinkle there…not that you idiot. It's the Honky Tonk bells and the ones in Kazuki's hair.
"Kazu-chan!" Ginji said happily, as the person in question walked over to their booth, greeting Paul on the way.
"I see you still have Chibi with you," Kazuki said in his mild tone.
"Yeah, we…hey, how'd you know we named him Chibi?" Ginji asked, a confused look spreading over his face.
The annaiya just smiled. It slightly unnerved Ginji.
"Midou-san seems preoccupied," Kazuki observed.
"No need to point out the obvious, thread-spool," scoffed Ban.
"Ban-chan's trying to figure out who can babysit Chibi today, since we have to look for a job," Ginji hurriedly intervened, seeing Kazuki's eye twitch. "And we're wondering why his parents aren't looking for him yet…"
"Which reminds me," Kazuki said thoughtfully. Both men turned their attention to him. He gazed thoughtfully at Chibi. "I think the kid's not from Shinjuku."
"Not from Shinjuku?" Ban exclaimed.
"But storks can't fly that far!" Ginji said.
"…Storks?" Kazuki asked blankly.
Ban groaned as Ginji explained, "A stork dropped Chibi on our windshield!"
"…" Kazuki stared at his former Thunder Emperor.
"It's true, I saw the bird," Ban said grudgingly.
Kazuki might have stared a bit more…but this was Shinjuku, after all, and the people in question were the Get Backers. So he recovered pretty quickly. "Well, I don't know about that, but I think the kid's half-European."
"Oh! Like Ban-chan?" Ginji asked brightly.
"Doesn't he look it?" Kazuki asked the other Get Backer.
Ban looked meditatively at Chibi, observing him sharply for the first time. "Could be…"
Chibi had been quiet for a while now. He had looked up from the table to see who it was who was standing before the booth…and blinked once or twice.
Ginji pointed at Kazuki. "Chibi, that's Kazuki." But the kid kept silent.
"Chibi?" Ban asked, eyes turning to the strangely quiet baby.
"That's weird. The last time he was this quiet was when we first found him," said Ginji worriedly.
Chibi suddenly pointed at the thread man, a smile etching itself onto his features. "Pretty!"
A vein popped on Kazuki's forehead.
Paul stared, then resumed polishing.
Ginji waved his hands frantically. "Eh, don't hurt him, Kazu-chan!"
Ban chuckled. "Yeah, he's just a kid after all." Then an idea hit him. A very evil idea.
"Oi! Thread spool! You're feminine coz of that technique of yours, right?"
Another vein popped.
"Kazu-chan…"
"Yes," the other man answered curtly.
"Problem solved!"
"Eh?" Ginji turned to his partner.
Ban had an evil grin on his face. He grabbed Ginji and made a beeline for the door, Ginji protesting wildly as he was being dragged. "Thanks for watching the kid for us!" Ban called back to Kazuki.
"What?! Waitaminute…" Kazuki gasped out.
Slam!
Too late.
Paul just looked once more at Kazuki, then Chibi, and went back to his wiping.
Kazuki let out a sigh and turned back to the booth. He realized that Chibi was still pointing at him.
"Pretty!" the innocent said again.
"There they are again," said the schoolgirls who passed the Get Backers near the busy intersection by their school.
"I wonder where they went?"
A head popped before the two girls, handing a flier to them. "Retrieval Team: Get Backers! If it's stolen, we'll steal it back!"
Ban's realization of who exactly the two girls were registered too late.
For once, Ginji was quicker on the uptake.
"Riko-chan!" Tare-Ginji bounced up and down excitedly.
Riko Tachibana stared. Then storm clouds gathered above her head. "YOU TWO AGAIN!" she yelled.
BLAG! With the red bear bag.
As the two schoolgirls walked away, the other remarked to Riko, "Weirdos."
"I've been through worse."
Ginji stared ruefully after them, rubbing his head. "How can cute girls be so strong?"
Ban's fist hit the top of his head.
Noontime.
Growling stomachs. Very very loud.
"Ban-chan…I'm hungry…" Ginji whined, lowering his signpost.
"Put it up, idiot, put it up," Ban mumbled incoherently.
Suddenly, someone popped up beside them. "I'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU!!"
The (very rich looking) middle-aged stranger pumped Ban's hand up and down vigorously.
Chibi Ban sweatdropped and stared. "Eh?"
"You're the Get Backers, right? Look! You have a sign!" The man pointed at the obvious placard a staring Tare-Ginji was holding up.
"Aa, that's right." Ban pushed up his glasses. "Are you a customer?"
"Hai, hai, hai!" The man nodded so hard Ginji wondered if his neck would snap. Then Ginji gasped and stepped back. "Ban…chan…" A big man stepped up behind the hyper to-be-client; a large, bulldozer-sized man with shades…
"Hishiki!" Ban growled.
The man stared placidly at them. "Oh, you must have mistaken me for my cousin. Are you good friends with him?"
Ban and Ginji stared again, sweatdropped, and opted for a neutral "We've met."
"How nice," the big man said with a pleasant smile. "Sir," to the man he was obviously bodyguard to. "You must calm down. They may not accept your offer if you are too…say, hyperactive."
"He knows more words than Hishiki!" Ban said in an aside to Ginji.
"You're right, Hideo, you're right." The to-be-client backed away and smiled, also pleasantly. "I am Shun Miyanoshita. As I said earlier, I have been looking for you all over the place…" a small, childish frown crossed his face. "I went to the Honky Tonk, like your ads said, but I only saw this oddly dressed…person, and a baby."
"Um," Ban nodded noncommittally, wondering when this man with probably more genki energy than Ginji get to the point.
"Anyway, I would like to hire the two of you for a job that needs delicacy, finesse, and caution," Miyanoshita said.
He explained the job to them. Ban and Ginji got the gist…the Miyanoshita family was feuding with the Kojima family. The cause was Shun's great-great-great-great-(Ginji lost track afterwards) grandmother's set of china, currently in the Kojimas' possession. Miyanoshita wanted them to get it back, with as little trouble as possible. He also mentioned that he had been about to hire a hakobiya, aiming for the well-known Kudo Himiko, but he heard she was out. (Ginji saw Ban's eyes narrow at this.)
"And, you know the other good one…Kuroudo Akabane." Ginji squeaked a little at this. "He's…" Miyanoshita leaned forward confidentially. "scary."
"Wait," Ban interrupted as politely as possible. "Um…Miyanoshita-san, do you have..."
"Have…?" Miyanoshita prodded.
"Proof of ownership," Ginji finished.
"Oh! Oh, of course." Miyanoshita brought out two documents, one a picture of a painting of an old lady (obviously the Minyanoshita matriarch) and a set of china, another a Xerox copy of an ancient, handwritten receipt issued to Yume Miyanoshita.
"All, right, we take the job!" the Get Backers chorused.
Miyanoshita named a five figure sum, while Hideo nodded happily behind him.
"Excuse me, Miyanoshita-san," Ban said. Ginji looked at him in surprise. "Sorry for the odd request, but can you raise the sum a little?"
"Um…may I know why?" Miyanoshita asked, eyebrows raised, suddenly switching to cool businessman.
"It's just that we have a kid to take care of," said Ginji in his cheerful, innocent manner.
Ban winced when he heard it, and raised his hands when he saw the disturbed looks on Miyanoshita and Hideo's faces. "No! It's…not…like…that…"
Paul watched, ranging between sympathetic and amused, as he watched the Master of the Fuuchoin Ryuu try to handle a hyperactive two-year-old.
Kazuki was now sitting at the bar, Chibi perched on the stool beside him. His little head could barely peep over the counter. Kazuki's elbows were resting on the counter as he fumed inwardly, a tic throbbing in his forehead.
Much as Kazuki hated to agree with Ban, the man was right in calling him feminine, and right again that it was because of his training…but his training had contained nothing about the field of Baby Care.
"Kaz'ki! Kaz'ki pretty!" Chibi said again, bouncing on his chair. Ban's smirk had given him the idea that saying this was a good thing.
Kazuki sighed. "No, Chibi," he said. "I'm a boy."
"Boy?" Chibi asked, eyes wide and questioning. He didn't know the concept of male or female yet.
Kazuki sighed again. "Never mind. But I'm not pretty. Ok? Not. Pretty."
"Not pretty," Chibi repeated carefully.
"Better."
"Do you want anything, Kazuki?" Paul asked, when it seemed safe to talk to the other man.
"Hai," Kazuki said politely. "Maybe coffee and a sandwich, Paul-san." He turned to the baby. "Have you eaten, Chibi?"
"Eat," said Chibi seriously. "Kaz'ki, eat."
Kazuki sweatdropped. "What does that mean?"
"From my experience," Paul put in. "When he says that, he means he hasn't eaten yet."
"Oh. What do you want, Chibi."
"Eat."
"Um…"
"I usually feed him half a pizza slice."
"Ah, okay. Arigato, Paul-san, how much is that?"
"How I wish you were the caretaker of the kid, those two can't even pay for what the baby eats," Paul lamented, bustling around to prepare the food.
Kazuki hid a smile. Chibi, obliviously happy, stood on the stool, and reached for a couple of paper cups.
"Chibi, you might fall!" Kazuki got the objects for him and sat him down carefully again.
"Ayig'to," Chibi told Kazuki, smiling.
A pleased, surprised smile spread over Kazuki's face at the baby's innocent friendliness.
The food came soon, and both Chibi and Kazuki thanked Paul. The thread man saw a smile similar to his own earlier touch Paul's usually expressionless mouth at the baby's thanks. Carefully, Kazuki fed Chibi, cutting up the pizza first and then spearing the pieces with a fork. He ate one-handed.
Though Kazuki knew babies needed nutrition, feeding Chibi seemed to be a mistake. Within minutes, Chibi was fully tanked and scrambling all over the place more actively than before.
Kazuki sighed as he sipped his coffee, watching Chibi run around the Honky Tonk. He seemed to be playing an imaginary game, making sound effects and spreading his hands.
"Chibi, be careful!" Kazuki called for the nth time, feeling slightly nervous each time Chibi slid off a seat or narrowly missed a table corner.
"Better pick him up, before he hurts himself," Paul said.
"Chibi, come here," Kazuki called.
"BOOM!' Chibi smashed his hands together and laughed.
Kazuki sighed again, put down his coffee, and got up. "Chibi…"
Chibi ran.
Kazuki seriously considered using his strings.
"Kaz'ki! Catch!" Chibi cried gleefully.
After an inner struggle, Kazuki gave up and ran.
It lasted a minute, Chibi somehow managing to evade his grasp every time. Finally, disheveled, Kazuki held the struggling, giggling baby under one arm and plopping him on the seat beside him and sitting down.
"Don't. Move," Kazuki said wearily.
"Kaz'ki, look, Kaz'ki!" Chibi stood on the stool, wobbling, his hands waving in another inexplicable illustration of…something.
"CHIBI! You might…"
Too late. With a short squeak, Chibi tumbled off the stool, wildly grabbing for any hold…
His flailing fist caught Kazuki's long tail of hair, and he pulled it with him as he fell.
YANK.
Kazuki yelled, tumbling backwards off his stool.
A loud crash, with an accompanying jingle.
Paul peered over the counter, seeing Chibi seated on the floor, wailing, and Kazuki face down, hair still caught in the baby's hand.
"Still alive down there?"
"Ooow…" Kazuki's bells jingled as he lifted his head, eyes swirled with pain.
Chibi stopped crying, and stared. Then, he tugged painfully at Kazuki's hair.
Tug, tug.
Jingle, jingle.
"Chibi…"
A giggle escaped Chibi's lips as he tugged again, hard.
"Rattle."
Tug.
"Ow!"
Paul sighed. It was going to be a long day.
The mansion they approached managed to be huge, dark, and scary even in the middle of the day.
There were tuxedo-wearing guards around, who must not have been very good, for they didn't notice the rustling in the bushes.
Ban and Ginji deposed of them easily with a few punches. It was inside the house when they ran into trouble.
After knocking out a whole squadron of more tuxedo-wearing guards, Ban and Ginji managed to (carefully) grab the box of china and run.
Once in the car, Ban ranted to Ginji, "There were too many damn guards, and the family wasn't even home!" The Subaru sped out of the vicinity of the mansion. "It would have been a lot easier if Himiko were here, just one dose of her Oblivion, or her Flame one, and we would have done it in less time…"
He continued in this vein for several minutes, when Ginji interrupted with a happy-evil-Ginji-grin. "Ban, you miss Himiko-chan, don't you?"
"Shut up," Ban growled.
They drove on for a few minutes in silence.
"And you miss Natsumi."
"Late comeback, Ban-chan, late comeback."
It was already mid-afternoon.
Kazuki was seated at a park bench, legs crossed primly, apparently engrossed in a book. He wasn't, actually…this was the cover he adapted when he didn't want to be cooped up in his apartment while listening to his strings. Thus, his attention was divided between sorting and filtering information coming in through his ears, and idle enjoyment of what was coming in through his eyes.
Well, today his attention was divided into three. He was listening (though there wasn't much today), reading, and watching over the little kid peering into the pond nearby, fascinated with the fish.
"Fish!" Chibi said, squealing as some darted near, then far. He ran back to Kazuki, still looking towards the pond, then cautiously toddled to it again.
"Be careful, Chibi, you might fall in," Kazuki called. At least the former hyperactivity had worn of…and he'd stopped tugging Kazuki's hair, too. Sort of. He still did at times.
Like now.
Chibi suddenly climbed onto Kazuki's lap and tugged at the long tail, the bells jingling softly.
"Kaz'ki, bells!"
"No, Chibi," Kazuki sighed, putting the book down and prying Chibi's hands off his hair. He held the baby in front of him and eyed him sternly. "Don't. Touch."
"Oh, what an adorable son you have!" a voice trilled. Kazuki sweatdropped and turned to see and old lady in a colorful kimono, standing on a path and leaning on a walking stick. She smiled at him, face spanned with jovial wrinkles.
"Er, obaasan, he's not…"
"Does he take after you or his father?" she interrupted, oblivious to what he was saying.
The elderly lady wondered why the pretty young mother jerked up, swept up the baby, and stormed off, the child staring curiously over her shoulder.
The elder shook her head. "Girls these days," she muttered.
Ban and Ginji parked outside the Honky Tonk, Ginji twisting his hands together apologetically, Ban grumbling. They'd done the job, and gotten a decent pay…only problem was, instead of the six figure check, they'd gotten only five figures. Ban still wasn't sure if some of the china broke because of the jerky movement of the Subaru, or because he'd been stupid enough to leave Ginji and the china in the backseat together. Oh well.
The Honky Tonk door swung open with the familiar tinkle. "Hi, Master," Ginji called.
"Got a job?"
"Un," Ginji said, looking around for Kazuki and Chibi tuning out before Paul could ask about paying the tab. Catching sight of them, he chuckled and nudged Ban. "Ban-chan, look."
Ban looked, and a smirk crossed his face. Chibi was seated on one of the tables in a booth, pulling Kazuki's hair gently, enjoying the ringing of the bells as he did so. Kazuki was out like a light, slumped onto the tabletop, and…snoring lightly.
"The kid exhausted Kazuki," Paul remarked.
"Y'know, if I didn't know better, I'd say they were mother and child."
Ginji eyed Ban, making sure no threads appeared to attack him. Apparently Kazuki was truly asleep.
Ban and Ginji walked quietly to the table. Chibi looked up. "Banchan! Jinji!" he said joyfully, holding out his arms. Ban grinned, picked him up and set him on the ground, while Ginji shook Kazuki gently. "Kazu-chan. Wake up."
"Huh?" The thread man awoke, eyes bleary with sleep. "Oh, you're here already? Sorry, I dozed off…"
"Was Chibi that bad?" Ginji asked.
"No, not really," Kazuki smiled reassuringly. "But his hyperactivity could give you a run for your money."
Paul snorted from behind his newspaper. They didn't know whether it was in agreement or not.
"Anyway, arigato, Kazu-chan!"
"Yeah, thanks, thread spool."
"Did you get a job?"
"Un," Ginji said happily. "Now we're going to get the necessities."
"Let's go already, Ginji, before it gets dark." Ban was at the door, Chibi toddling beside him happily.
"Bye Master, bye Kazu-chan!" Ginji scrambled after his partner.
Kazuki yawned and stretched. Suddenly, the door opened again. Ginji held it open with one hand, his other in Chibi's grasp. Chibi looked in, and gave a small wave. "Bye Kaz'ki!"
In spite of himself, Kazuki smiled.
To be continued...
Authors' Notes: Thanks for the reviews... we'd write down all the names but we're on a deadline to keep Rabid Lola alive. Right, Wielder? By the way... I think Rabid Lola is Shun's great(etc.) grandmother. (Rabid Lola whaps Riyuji)
icefirefly, dream-eater-is-hungry, Peter the Muggle, KarotsaMused, Reiko-sama379, Yuki Midou, Invader Androgynous, Philips: Thank you for all the props, people! Hope you enjoyed the chapter (as much as we did writing it!).
Ichigo Akira: We're still planning Akabane's. We've got a good one so far.
November: I know how a beetle looks like! There's one in my garage! XD Fwehehe!
Faye-chan: I'm Pinoy and female, thankyouverymuch. :D -Rabid Lola
Paris Lee: Thank you for the Juubei idea! (showers you in confetti) We thought of lots of evil stuff. :D
ViL: (All Emishi-ish) Here is the warrior of beauty and asthetics, Fuuchoin Kazuki Ranger!
Wielder of Paperclips: Find rattle this time!
Eizan Fujishima: How did you know Kazuki was gonna show up?!
