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Chapter Eight: Corruption of the Mind

Ginji couldn't sleep.

The light of the streetlamps illumined the interior of the Subaru dimly…he lifted his head and looked at the other two in the car…the sleeping Ban and Chibi. As his gaze fell on the tranquil baby, a sad sort of smile crossed his face.

He wasn't surprised when Ban spoke. "What's wrong with you?" His partner cracked one sharp blue eye open and stared at Ginji.

Ginji said nothing for a while. Then, softly, "Ban-chan, it's been more than a month since Chibi was dropped off here." He shifted position and turned to look at Ban. "Why aren't his parents looking for him?"

"What, you're sick of him already?'

"Of course not, Ban-chan," Ginji said quickly. "It's just that…"

"He needs a proper family," Ban finished quietly. Ginji nodded, and there was silence.

Ginji looked up at the stars through the sun roof. "What if he's an orphan?"

"I don't think he is," Ban said, bringing out a cigarette and lighting it.

Just then, Chibi rolled over onto his stomach and lifted his head, yawning. He sat up and said sleepily, "Banchan? Jinji?"

"Hey, twerp." Ban grinned and ruffled the baby's hair. "Why are you awake?"

Large eyes looked questioningly at them. "Huh?"

Ginji chuckled. "Go back to sleep, Chibi."

Ban took a look at his best friend's not quite happy face, scooped up Chibi, and deposited him into Ginji's lap. "Hug Ginji. He's sad."

"Ban-chan!" Ginji laughed as the baby obliged, hugging Ginji tightly around the neck with a small smile. The blonde Get Backer didn't return the baby to the backseat, though, letting Chibi curl up against him and go back to sleep. The car was quiet again. But both men were still awake.

"Ban-chan, what if he is an orphan?"

"So what?"

"Well…" Ginji looked at Chibi cradled comfortably against him. "What will we do with him? Give him to an orphanage?"

There was a silence, and then… "We're the Get Backers," Ban said lazily. "We can do anything. Even raise kids." He put out his cigarette, threw it out the window, and turned over, shifting until he was comfortable. "Now go to sleep."

A smile finally broke over Ginji's face, and he leaned back, closed his eyes, and let himself drift away.

-=-=-

"Ban-chan, what time are we going to Mugenjou?"

"In a while, in a while," Ban replied irritably. "We'll wait for Natsumi, so we can leave twerp."

"Hey," Chibi said, glaring from where he was eating breakfast. He may have been only two years old, but there were some things he understood. Actually…many things. He just wasn't telling.

"Shame on you, heaping stuff on the girl…" Paul began grumpily.

"Ohayo!" a cheerful voice called, and Natsumi bounced in with her usual girlish exuberance, bag slung over shoulder.

"Hi, Natsumi-chan!" Ginji said, waving happily.

Chibi did likewise, beaming and waving his spoon. "Nats'mi!"

Natsumi grinned and pinched Chibi on the cheek. "You're all so early," she remarked. "Are you dropping Chibi off again?"

"Aa," Ban nodded at the high school girl. "Ginji and I are going to visit MakubeX in Mugenjou. We'll be back maybe a while after lunch."

"Is that okay, Natsumi-chan?" Ginji put his palms together in a slightly begging attitude. Puppy dog eyes gazed up at the girl. "We don't want to bother you, but Mugenjou's no place for a kid…"

Natsumi hid a blush as she turned to the café owner who was…skulking behind the counter. "Master?"

"As long as he doesn't do anything…" Paul paused as he searched for the right words. "Destructive." Why did that sound like an understatement?

"Arigato, Master!"

-=-=-

"Ohayo!" HEVN walked into the Honky Tonk, unusually bouncy…for her. Seems like all the females were in a bouncy mood today. What were not unusually bouncy…in fact, they were too bouncy, were her…well, you probably know already if you're well acquainted with the blond, buxom intermediary. It did not help that today, she was wearing her usual. Something tight, plunging, and several sizes too small. For a little more detail, it was hot pink. Very, very bright and blinding hot pink.

"For God's sake, woman, wear something more decent. You're corrupting the kid's mind," Paul said irritably. Boy, he was so happy today.

"Hi, HEVN-san!" Natsumi sweatdropped as she discreetly ensured that the baby wasn't facing HEVN.

"Hi, Natsumi-chan!" the older woman replied, ignoring Paul's comment. She seated herself at the bar, crossing her legs primly. Like adding a little modesty to her posture negated the huge distraction. "Have Ban-kun and Gin-chan passed by already?"

"The kid's here. What do you think?"

HEVN raised her eyebrows at the disgruntled café owner. "Really, Paul, I think work is getting to you. You should consider retirement."

Natsumi hid a giggle behind her hand, and Paul glared randomly at both women. Was all womankind against him?

Then, he noticed that Chibi had twisted his head around to look at the new arrival…and he was currently staring. With very wide eyes. A bad, bad feeling crept up on Paul. The last time Chibi had stared this weirdly at someone, he had upset the other person considerably (Think 'Kazuki' and 'Pretty'). Except now there was a little more trauma in the stare.

HEVN caught sight of the baby and waved slightly. "Hi, Chibi," she cooed. She opened her arms, and beckoned to the baby, who was seated on the inner portion of the counter. "Come, sit on my lap." HEVN, apparently, liked babies.

Chibi pointed and said in a small voice, "Too big. Won't fit."

Looks like someone's smart-ass comments were beginning to rub off.

HEVN went beet red and crossed her arms over her ample bosom. "Chibi!"

"Chibi! Bad!" Natsumi scolded him, scandalized. Paul was trying to hide his laughter. Both women glared at him and turned their attention back to the kid. "Where did you get that?" Natsumi asked the confused, oblivious kid.

"Banchan?" Chibi said, as if uncertain.

Flames sprouted behind HEVN. "Midou Ban!"

Paul laughed out loud.

-=-=-

"Giiiiiinji-han! Miiidoou-han!"

Ban and Ginji reeled backwards as Emishi practically flopped all over them. "Whaaaay didn't you bring Chibi-han?"

Ban shoved him off, and Ginji took one whiff and grimaced. "Eh…Emishi? Are you drunk?"

"Being extremely inebriated is easily one of the best experiences in my life!" Emishi declared, nodding seriously as he fell backwards, nearly landing square on his ass. You could almost imagine him high up on the podium, gavel in hand, passing a verdict on a serious matter. The jury of two stared, unable to argue.

"Haruki-sensei, stop before you hurt yourself," Juubei appeared beside them, yanking the drunk man up onto his feet.

"Sensei?" Ginji queried.

Emishi struck a dramatic pose. "I am now Juubei-han's mentor in the fine art of COMEDY!" He gave a loud hic and sagged against the doctor.

"Yo Joker, where'd you get the liquor?" Ban asked sarcastically, pinching his nose in disgust.

Emishi gave an unbalanced shrug. "The streets of Mugenjou can produce many wondrous things." Suddenly, he pushed himself of Juubei and knelt, practically oozing out hearts. "Like the beautiful Mami, that exquisite young blossom, with the fairest hair and clearest skin…not even a field of flowers filled with frolicking young lovers can compare to her beauty!"

Ban slapped his forehead. "He's wasted."

"I found him like this," Juubei explained.

Emishi began laughing maniacally, and Ginji sighed and slung one of the Joker's arms around his shoulders. "Juubei, are you planning to take Emishi home? Where's MakubeX?"

The needle-wielder shrugged. "I thought of taking him there."

"Good. Can we get moving?" Ban said irritably.

-=-=-

Natsumi and Paul had decided to spare Chibi the humiliation of being crushed by HEVN's bust, so they just set the kid in front of her and allowed her to feed him…or eat with him, at least. There were only a few things one could deny a woman, after all. Surprisingly, HEVN was almost as good as Himiko in taking care of babies.

Almost…

She had ordered a light salad, and willingly given Chibi the crackers when he asked. Right now, he was gnawing on the first cracker hungrily, looking like a little rabbit.

HEVN giggled at him, pinching his cheek. "You really are cute."

Chibi swallowed the last bits, and held out his hand. "More, please?"

"All right," HEVN agreed. She spread mayonnaise and salad dressing on one half of the cracker. "Let's see if you'll like this."

What's good for an adult…may not be good for a baby.

Chibi ate the untouched part of the cracker first, so when by the time he began chewing on the half that had mayonnaise and salad dressing, he had a mouthful of cracker.

PTUH!

A mouthful of cracker that was soon down HEVN's neckline and into her cleavage.

"Eek!"

"Yuck!" Chibi made a face, throwing the cracker away. By some unlucky hand of fate, it also went down HEVN's shirt.

"Score!" Paul said loudly.

"Master!"

"CHIBI!"

HEVN shrieked even more and reached for napkins, upsetting water on the way. Natsumi grabbed Chibi, beginning to scold, and Paul grabbed towels, leaning over the counter to help HEVN.

"Get it out! Get it out! It's so icky!"

No one heard the bell tinkle as the door opened.

"Hold…STILL…woman!"

"Oh dear."

Everyone froze, Paul gripping HEVN's outstretched arm, and his other hand (with a towel in it) square on HEVN's cleavage. HEVN's other hand was clutching at her clothes, trying to lower her already too-low collar to get to the extra mayonnaise.

To Akabane, it looked very, very wrong. Of course, he didn't show his thoughts.

"Akabane-san, what are you doing here?" HEVN demanded, flustered.

"Just passing by," the hakobiya said calmly. He smiled and tilted his hat at the openmouthed, very red Natsumi, whose mind was obviously on the same track as his. "I just wanted to check if my little friend Chibi-kun was in."

Hearing his name, Chibi wriggled out of Natsumi's arms and ran out from behind the counter, saying, "A'banee!" happily.

Paul's, Natsumi's, and HEVN's jaws dropped when they saw the baby run and fling his arms around the homicidal-happy man's knees.

Akabane chuckled and patted the head of the baby hugging him around the legs. "Hello, Chibi-kun," he said. His gaze slid up again. "I'm not disturbing anything, am I, Paul-san, Miss Mediator?"

With a horrified jerk, Paul and HEVN realized just how wrong their positioning looked. They sprang apart, yelling, "THIS ISN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!!"

Natsumi covered her burning face with her hands as Akabane chuckled and Chibi stared.

-=-=-

MakubeX smiled up at Ginji. "Thanks for coming to visit, Ginji-san."

Ginji nodded as he watched Sakura and Juubei dispose of their inebriated friend. "Low, low low your boat, gently down the STLEAM! Mellilly, mellilly, mellilly[1]…Look at the pretty trees!" Emishi insisted, not noticing the difficulty he was giving the siblings.

"Trees? There's greenery around here now?" Juubei asked.

Sakura sighed in exasperation, and her cloth billowed and wrapped itself around Emishi's head. Jerking the poor man roughly to his knees, she dragged him away. Muffled sounds of protest came from the inert pink bundle.

Ginji sweatdropped. "Sakura's rough today…"

MakubeX sweatdropped, too. "Eh…it's that time of the month."

"Hey, computer boy," Ban spoke up, taking his cigarette out of his mouth. "Can you do us a favor?"

The prodigy eyed him curiously. "I guess so…what?"

Ban jerked his head towards the computers. "How good are you at accessing remote European websites?"

As a reply, MakubeX began typing away. Ban and Ginji bent over the screen, and wondered if they would have luck in finding Chibi's parents.

-=-=-

Akabane stirred his coffee placidly, pouring milk for Chibi at the same time. HEVN had gone home to change, Natsumi was completing a model of a tetrahedron [2], for a project, and Paul was still leaning against the far end of the counter. If the others didn't know better, they would say he was sulking.

"Ayig'to, A'banee!" Chibi said as he accepted the milk.

"You're welcome, Chibi-kun."

The baby turned to Natsumi. "Nats'mi? Waddat?"

"A project."

"Ba'yow, p'yodyeck, ba'yow."

"What?"

"Ba'yow pyodyeck, Nats'mi, please? Oh and pas staw."

The girl sweatdropped. "Sorry, Chibi, I can't understand…"

"He's asking if he can see your project. And he needs a straw," Akabane said, amusement in his tone.

Natsumi stared. "You can understand him?" She passed a straw to Chibi, but shook her head when he reached for the project. "No, Chibi, don't touch."

"Of course." Akabane smiled. "It's fairly easy."

"Usually, only Gin-chan can. He translates for us when Chibi's babytalk gets too hard," Natsumi remarked.

Akabane's smile grew wider, in a way that somehow made the waitress regret saying this. His next words came out in a soft, almost gleeful tone. "Oh, it's so nice to know that Ginji-kun and I have something in common."

-=-=-

Ginji shivered. MakubeX averted his gaze from the blue computer screen to the former Thunder Emperor, as did Ban. "Is something wrong, Ginji-san?"

The older man shook his head, frowning. "It's nothing, MakubeX."

MakubeX gave off a shrug and returned to his typing.

Weird…a chill just ran up my spine, thought Ginji.

-=-=-

Ban and Ginji were quiet on the way home. Their search had turned up with nothing, so far…MakubeX had promised to contact them immediately if he found anything.

Searching for Chibi's parents…if he did have parents…had a sobering effect on them.

As soon as they stepped into the Honky Tonk, though, a bundle of energy barreled into them, squealing, "Banchan! Jinji!" Ginji grinned and picked the baby up, tickling him. Chibi nearly fell out of Ginji's arms trying to evade him.

"Whoa, twerp," Ban thunked the baby affectionately on the head. "You don't want to crack your skull on the floor, do you?"

"About time you came," a female voice snapped. Ban blinked as he faced angry golden eyes. HEVN glared at him, arms crossed. "I've been looking for you two."

"Hey, what's with you? What'd I do?" the man complained, bristling automatically at her tone.

The woman hmphed and turned away. "Nothing."

"Jeez, no need to take your PMS out on me…" Ban grumbled, sitting down at the bar. Natsumi shushed him.

"Did you take care of Chibi, HEVN-san?" Ginji asked innocently, plonking himself onto the stool and letting the baby run around on the floor.

"Well, I tried," said the mediator grumpily. She did not want to recall what had happened earlier.

"Tried?"

Chibi pointed at HEVN's chest again. "Too big."

Ban snickered as the woman glowered at the hapless baby. Ginji was right when he said the other man was rubbing off on Chibi. "Don't worry 'bout tits, HEVN," he said evilly. "I'm sure you did your breasts." [3]

HEVN shrieked in outrage.

CRASH.

Everyone jumped and turned towards the sound, all insults forgotten. The five stared at Paul, who was cursing and picking up the plate he'd accidentally dropped. They could've sworn the man was going red….

"Master?" Natsumi asked.

Ginji put Chibi onto the counter and leaned over. "What's wrong? Did anything happen?"

"NO!" Paul and HEVN yelled, scaring the hell out of everyone. HEVN dropped her head into her arms and moaned, and Paul backed away, retreating into the back room. "NOTHING…HAPPENED!" The door slammed shut.

Ban and Ginji sweatdropped and turned to see HEVN sending death glares to an evilly giggling Natsumi.

"Natsumi-chan? What happened?" Ginji was really confused by this time.

Ban's mental gears, though, were clicking into place. An evil grin spread across his face. "Why that old letch…AAAAAAAAGH!!"

The Jagan master doubled over in excruciating pain as HEVN kneed him good, and Natsumi mouthed to a now thoroughly frightened Ginji, I'll tell you later.

-=-=-

"To think he witnessed that," Ginji moaned, plonking Chibi into the backseat of the car. Natsumi climbed in after the kid… The two had offered her a ride home. HEVN had stormed out without any further words leaving Ban caught between wheezing in pain and laughing with evil joy.

Paul had remained behind the locked door, only letting out a garbled assent when Natsumi shouted to tell him she cleaned up and now had to go home.

The waitress hid a smile behind her hand. "Well, it is kinda funny when you think about it."

"But he's only a kid," Ginji protested, sliding into the passenger's seat.

Ban was still grinning all malevolently as he started the engine, pain forgotten. "I never knew the old man had it in him."

"Ban-chan!"

Ban chuckled and turned a sharp eye on Chibi as the car began to move. "And you had another fun-filled day with Akabane, eh?"

Ginji gulped.

"Kuro-chan!" Chibi said, bouncing up and down in his seat.

Both Get Backers stared. "Kuro-chan?" Ban asked. "What's that?"

"Um…" Natsumi twisted her fingers together. "That's what Akabane-san…told Chibi to call him, a while ago."

The Ladybug nearly disemboweled the peacefully oblivious old lady crossing the road.

To be continued….

A/N: Somehow…we just HAD to include "Kuro-chan" again. –evil grin- We'll try to have chapter nine up in two weeks….kindly pray for our exams. Arigato!

Oh yeah, and people… it was Rabid Lola's 1003rd birthday yesterday! Greet her! –Riyuji

[1] Riyuji was doing this at one point today.

[2] Recent Geometry project of Riyuji and Rabid Lola, which the latter didn't seem to understand. If you want to try, email us and we'll send you the instructions.

[3] Filched from the Chobits manga number 2.

Peter the Muggle: Familiar, aren't we? Thanks for reviewing.

ObssdGB: Yey! Nandito na naman si Akabane-san!

November: Yes, apparently, he does. Come on, you can't threaten Akabane with a baby, but you can threaten others with him AND a baby.

The Invader Androgynous: Wielder gave us the idea…before your fic came out! Peace! We have something better than a flashback. And here's more Akabane for you. :)

Lady Guena: We're sure Ban will get back at Himiko… someday… =P

The PIERROT: YOU READ CULTURE CRASH?!?! –Riyuji Memer is Riyuji's idol. And yes, Animax in English SUCKS EGGS!- Rabid Lola

Wielder of Paperclips: There, more A'banee. He purposely said he "loves babies" to freak the two out.

Garen Ruy Maxwell: Hello, new reviewer! Hope you enjoyed this fic so far.

Iarchocobo: Hold it…introducing, the kid sister of Akabane! –points at iarchocobo- A'banee had practice with you, didn't he? We can imagine you crawling to him, going, "Kuro-niichan!" We're…happy you're proud of Chibi. We'll make sure to pass on the message.

KarotsaMused: Not so much "caring and protecting" as…establishing an intimate rapport with the baby.

ViL: It was probably Chibi's off day when Himiko and Akabane came around. He makes up for it with HEVN and Paul.

limelie: Hi, limelie! Thanks for reviewing!

Purple.Neko-chan: Alam naming na mahaba. Pagtingin nga naming sabi ni Riyuji, "Whoa, it's that long?" Hyper ka noong nagreview ka, ah?

Faye-chan: Did Akabane-san make things even MORE interesting now? (Riyuji: YES, after exams!) Thanks for reviewing!