"Sum of the Parts"
Disclaimer : Don't own the lovely Ban, Ginji and Kazuki. I do own the dirty old lech in this chapter, unfortunately.
A.N. : Isn't it obvious I went loco on this whole Get Backers-in-drag club episode?
ENJOY!
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Chapter 9 : With Strings Attached (Part 3)
"What the – " Kazuki gasped as they reached the booth.
He and Ban found Kojio alone, splayed on the bench with his head draped over the backrest at an odd angle. His body looked similar to corpses that had been shot.
"My God. He looks… Dead," he muttered while biting his newly manicured nails.
"Uh, why don't you check to make sure?" Ban advised uneasily.
"Why me?" Kazuki begged to differ.
"Because. Aw, hell." For a moment, the retrievers stared loathingly at Kojio's prostrate form. Without a word, they did 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' again. Kazuki threw out scissors. Ban threw – his Snake Bite.
"I win. The Snake Bite is 'paper'," the Fuchouin heir said.
"No way! Snake Bite is 'rock'!"
"You cheat!"
"All right! All right! I'll do it! You're such a girl!" Ban hissed. He took the empty whisky tumbler and carefully slid it under Kojio's nose. After a few seconds, he examined the glass. It was fogged up.
"Great," Ban informed dully. "He's alive."
Kazuki gave out a sigh of relief and sat down next to the inert figure. "Well, we'll have to wake him up somehow."
"Damn it! I told Ginji not to let him drink anymore."
"Where is he anyway?"
"Probably wandering around looking for the bathroom," the dark-haired Get Backer snorted irritably. "He'll be fine." Ban slapped Kojio's cheek in rapid succession while Kazuki tried shaking him.
"Snap out of it, man!"
Passing people were beginning to stare as the two big 'girls' pummeled, jostled and smacked Kojio's diminutive, flaccid body around like a rag doll.
"Unnnhhh…" A weak groan escaped from Kojio's lips.
"I think he's coming around," Kazuki whispered frantically. "Will the Jagan work on a semi-conscious person?"
"Shouldn't be a problem. Based on the time we left him up until now, he should only be in the second sleep stage," Ban explained quickly as he propped up Kojio to face him. "I don't think he has entered delta sleep (1) or a dream state yet."
"That is, if he was actually sleeping," Kazuki observed thoughtfully. "What if he was knocked unconscious or something?"
The man with the Evil Eye shrugged. "We'll soon find out."
Ban's irises suddenly radiated orbs of electric blue fire with fathomless vertical black chasms slashing through their centers.
"Kojio Kiyoshi, welcome to your worst nightmare," he purred fiendishly as he took off Kojio's dark glasses.
Except –
The man's eyes were rolling back deliriously into the back of his head.
"Wha… unnnhh… ccckkkkhhh…" Slipping back into unconsciousness, Kojio dropped with a heavy thud onto the table.
Losing Kojio meant losing the screen between Ban and Kazuki's startled, unprepared eyes. It only took a split-second.
The String Master was caught in the Jagan's net.
Oh. Crap.
Ban watched powerlessly as Kazuki's eyes were instantly robbed of their deep intelligence and spirit, leaving only dull, vacant brown pools that saw through him.
He began counting down the seconds without actually counting, measuring the passage of time by listening to the rapid breaths and the tinkling of bells, by feeling the faint vibration of every tremble, and seeing the colour of Kazuki's face deepen from pale white to crimson.
Considering the seeds of the dream he planted included – among other things – a hotel room, a bed, and a pair of handcuffs; the reserved, well-bred man's reactions were not at all surprising.
Ban very briefly considered asking the now impressionable annaiya the question that everyone else was dying to ask. But not even he, who had speculated and teased the most, would allow himself to be that cruel or insensitive. Maybe he just didn't care. Or maybe it was because he did.
The Get Backer shook his head. Damn those Volts for starting to grow on him. Ginji's immense affection for his old gang was way too infectious. Since when did he consider the feelings of anyone other than himself? He smiled slightly.
Not that it mattered anyway. As the nightmare wound down, Ban was sure Kazuki would probably want to make good on his threat to attempt to kill him. Like, in a few seconds.
Ban permitted himself one final uninterrupted up-close look at Kazuki. Shame… If only… Sighing, he swore never to be ensnared by that face – or body –again.
Wanna bet? The disembodied voice of his snake companion chuckled venomously.
Oh, so you've become my Freudian psychoanalyst as well? Wonderful. Now, shut up!
Just one minute…
Kazuki jumped slightly and drew a sharp intake of breath as his eyes adjusted to their previous surroundings. Back in were the intelligence and the soul, as well as a gold-speckled fury that few had ever seen before. The eyes were laser targeted at the sheepish person front of him.
"Uhhh… Did you have a good dream?"
SMACK!
The slap was so loud, despite the pounding music the whole area around the table practically went quiet.
"Awww… Geez! I'm bleeding!" Ban moaned, holding the side of his stinging face. A corner of his lip had split open.
Out from the crowd someone shouted. "Hey! That pretty long-haired girl just bitch-slapped the witch!"
"Why did you use the Jagan on me?" Kazuki shouted. Even as he fumed he thrust a napkin towards Ban, which he grudgingly took.
"It wasn't meant for you, idiot!" he roared, one hand dabbing at his lip, the other throttling the string master's neck.
"Cat-fight! Cat-fight!"
Kazuki counter-attacked by tying a noose around Ban's neck and pulling hard as he tried to pry off Ban's fingers. "You pervert! What kind of sick hallucination was that?" he sputtered chokingly.
"It was a dream designed for Kojio!" Ban croaked with a grimace. He wheezed. "Dammit! Why would I waste the Jagan on you?"
"Then why did you look at me!"
"You looked at me!"
They struggled for a minute or so. Just before they both lost consciousness, the two stubborn agents finally released their strangle-holds on each other. Coughing and gasping they began regaining their wits about them.
The entertainment over, the crowd went back to their normally scheduled programming.
"They were fighting over that ugly, bald sleazeball?"
"…He must be very rich. Who wants to be touched by that? Blech!"
"I was rooting for the long-haired one…"
Kazuki breathed hard. Now I know how Shido feels. He glanced over to the Get Backer who was slumped over the seat staring at the ceiling.
"Is it still bleeding?" he asked, his voice slightly strained with a mixture of guilt and concern.
Ban wiped the last drop of blood from his lip. "It's fine," he answered gruffly.
"You really are a demented bastard." Kazuki reclined stiffly into the backrest and tensely gripped the edge of the table. "Is that how the Jagan works? I was lucid but without any will. Tied to that bed, no strings, no control, no… I was aware of the whole impossibility and absurdity of it all, yet it seemed so strangely real."
"…being tortured by an android with the mechanical, um, devices and… and… appendages…" Kazuki closed his eyes tightly, shook his head hard and shuddered. Opening his eyes, he glowered furiously at Ban.
"And you know what the absolute worst was about that nightmare?" He banged his fist into the table, making Kojio's unconscious head jump a few inches off. "The robot looked just like you! No. It was you! Why the hell did you use yourself in the dream?"
"As opposed to who? Jubei?" Ban snorted as he reached into his dress for his smokes. "Of course I had to use myself. For continuity's sake." Thoughtfully – and wickedly - he added. "Be grateful I didn't use your image for the robot. Now that would be so whacked. Imagine you being 'interrogated' by – you."
"All I know is, I won't be able to look at you in the same way ever again," Kazuki frowned.
"Was it that bad?" the snake man smiled sardonically, blowing a chimney stack of smoke. "Hmm… Actually, I quite fancy myself with a steel ro –"
WHACK!
Ban received another blow. This time, to the other side of his face.
-o-
Just like a red-orange sunset fading into a blue moon illuminated night, the club's soft tangerine glow was replaced by neon blue-lighted darkness.
Ginji was being led into the black space of the dance floor by his sailor-angels. As he neared the strange arena, he watched in fascination as the dancing spotlights exploded into the void like fireworks, showering a flash of sparks on the happy, playing people.
That was how they looked to Ginji – as children playing.
Stepping onto the floor, a techno re-mix of a song began its crescendo. It seemed fate had a sense of humour and decided to herald his entrance.
(2)"She gave you everything she had
But she was young and dumb,
She'd just turned twenty-one…"
"You'll love this Ginji-san!" Maya shouted as they were bounced around like bumper cars in an ocean of moving bodies. There was a charged sense of anticipation from the dancers and Ginji also felt the need to be a part of what they were waiting for.
Though, as he looked at the increasing hysteria around him, an instinct told him he was forgetting something – or someone. In the frenzy of the moment, it was easy to ignore.
"She didn't care to hang around
So when the shit came down
Why, she was nowhere to be found…"
An arm embraced Ginji's waist and a green-haired 'Sailor Neptune' molded herself to him. As she swayed, she pulled him into the rhythm of her body.
"Let yourself go. Don't be shy!" she laughed.
Ginji's heartbeat quickened. The alcohol was fuelling the catalytic reactions in his cells, raising his temperature degree by feverish degree. He held on to the girl's shoulder for what seemed like dear life.
"This life can turn a good girl bad
She was the sweetest thing
that you had ever seen…"
Even as he was clinging, his dancing partner twirled and let go of him, passing him off to persons unknown in the writhing mass. Ginji was finally caught by a tall, handsome young executive who had his tie loosened and sleeves rolled up. He was pleasantly surprised at the creature that had landed in his arms.
"With your cherry lips and golden curls
You could make grown men gasp
When you'd go walking past…"
"Whoa! Steady…" The man held the Get Backer in place.
Ginji gazed at big, smiling brown eyes that could've been his own. With a scarlet flush on his cheeks, he tore away and wobbled in the opposite direction. Looking down, a bubbly froth rolled in below his feet.
"It seemed like rainbows would appear
Whenever you came near…
Because you looked just like a girl…"
Ginji turned and turned. Everywhere he looked clouds were billowing and swelling – a bubblegum-scented white wonderland which the angels, sailor girls, fairies, princes and princesses, mechas, furry animals and everyone else had made their playground. The music was now punctuated by boisterous cheers and squeals of delight. Ginji's mouth gaped with child-like marvel.
"You're such a delicate boy
in the hysterical realm…"
The effervescence of the bubbles tickled Ginji's skin. He scooped up a large puff of foam in his hands and stared as the disco lights tinted the ball in ever-changing flashes of rainbow colours, making it look as though he was holding a different flavoured cotton candy every second. Ginji giggled, which soon grew into peals of laughter.
"…of an emotional landslide
in physical terms…"
He began whirling and tossing the bubbles into the air, watching them break apart into fragile pieces and landing on bobbing heads.
"You make the whole world wanna dance
You bought yourself a second chance…"
"Ginji-san!" someone shouted. He felt a hand take his and lead him towards the thickest part of the cloud. They were all angels in heaven, he thought.
"Go baby, go go
We're right behind you…
Yeah, we're looking at you."
Ginji dove right in.
"Go baby."
"Go baby."
-o-
It was Kazuki's turn.
He needed a quiet, secluded place to tie Kojio up, so he and Ban holed themselves up in the ladies' room. They would've chosen the less busy men's room if not for the jerks who decided they were going to use it as their private smoking lounge.
Kojio was now strung up with his body stuck high on the ceiling. Kazuki kept tossing glasses of water up to his face in an attempt to revive him.
Ban found the whole thing quite absurd.
"I don't believe this!" the string master grumbled exasperatedly. "He should be awake by now. I don't think he's merely drunk. Something must've happened to him. I just know it."
"Gee, Thread Spool. I thought your interrogation techniques would've had a bit more finesse to it," Ban snorted disdainfully, cigarette dangling from his bruised lips. "Torturing a guy while he's tied up? How original. Turns out, you're nothing more than a pretty-boy thug. I'm sooo disappointed."
Kazuki looked like he was about ready to gouge out the insufferable Get Backer's precious eyes to go with that busted lip.
"A man tied up in a high place while his restraints unravel one-by-one usually gets me results within fifteen minutes," he replied defensively. "Unfortunately, just like your invincible Evil Eye, it doesn't work on someone who's practically comatose."
"So unless you've got any other bright ideas, I suggest you shut up!"
"Tsk. A bit touchy, aren't you?" Ban waved his cigarette mockingly. He was lackadaisically blocking the restroom door while a crowd of desperate girls cursed, whined and violently banged and kicked from the other side.
"Oi! How long are you going to keep this up? I think some girl outside already peed her pants," he complained.
"All right! I give up," Kazuki sighed. But before he could use his string to carefully cut Kojio's binds, Ban rushed over and jumped.
"It's my turn again, right?" he exclaimed as he impatiently tore at Kojio's restraints with his Snake Bite.
"Wait! Not like that!"
"Hai-yaaah!" The moment his fingers touched the string it broke apart instantly and Ban found himself grasping at nothing. He fell flat on the floor – with a now-free Kojio landing heavily on top of him.
"OOF!"
For all of his vaunted strength and speed, Ban realized he could use neither as Kojio knocked the wind out of him.
Kazuki kneeled beside the TKO'd bodies and shook a finger. "Pretty-boy thug, huh? Well then, I'll let you stay there to contemplate how much better a position you'd probably be in if you didn't disrespect my 'no-finesse technique', you jerk!"
Suddenly, with a bang, the door was broken down and a stampede of cursing, screaming girls whose bladders were about to explode came rushing in – inadvertently running over Kojio and Ban in their race for empty stalls.
"Gross! They're having sex in the bathroom!"
"Get a goddamn room!"
Amidst the chaos, Kazuki pulled Kojio off the Get Backer and dragged him out. "Don't be too long," he called out.
Ban remained lying on the floor trying to catch his breath as girls eyed him with disgust.
He grimaced. I should just expose myself here and get kicked to death by these kogals. I bet it'll be a lot less painful.
Ban staggered back to the table. Along the way he had stolen a couple of drinks. The way this was turning out, hell, they all might as well be drunk.
Amazingly, he saw Kojio pressing the heels of his hands on his temples. He even had the faculties to put his sunglasses back on.
O-kaaay… So now he's awake.
Ban sat next to Kazuki in the booth, his eyes searching for any kind of explanation. The annaiya shrugged.
"Wha- 'appen?" Kojio moaned. "Last thing I remember… strange… glass glowing green…"
"Damn! I should've known." Ban slapped his palm to his forehead. Ginji. He had almost forgotten about his missing partner. Instinctively, his gaze turned towards the dance floor, eyes growing large at seeing it full of churning suds.
"What the hell is that?"
"A foam party. They're all the rage now," Kazuki replied. He then put an arm around Kojio and using his most seductive voice, suggested, "Why don't we take this date to the next level, hmm? Let's go someplace where the only noise we'll hear is – our own."
"Ugh!" Ban resisted the urge to puke all over the two lovebirds. Standing abruptly, he pointed at his rival. "Don't you go anywhere!"
"But what – "
The Get Backer halted the string master with a thrust of his outstretched hand and proceeded to the dance floor. Foam was equivalent to water. Ginji was equivalent to electricity. Mix them together with a dash of alcohol… Well, it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what that was a recipe for.
"Ginji, you better not be inside this giant washing machine," Ban muttered as he stepped into the clouds.
-o-
Meanwhile, Ginji was a marionette on a string swinging and moving to the pounding bass beats and mesmerizing rhythms coming from both the club music and from within himself.
As is always a mystery, Ginji had happened to get a hold of two paper fans which he was now using to perform a hip-hop infused version of his fan dance of joy. Somewhere along the way, he had also lost his long blonde wig.
But everyone on that floor was beyond caring about appearances as they were cloaked in the anonymity provided by the white mist. They all saw what they wanted to see, heard what they wanted to hear, and danced to the groove of their mind's melody. From where the images or sounds came made no difference at all.
It certainly made no difference to Ginji.
When he thought he could no longer keep up with the quaking, spinning room around him, Ginji stopped dancing. Trying to get his balance in order, he focused through half-lidded eyes at the only steady object he could find – the yellow flare of the ceiling floodlights.
Blinded for a second, he blinked. Its bright ray sliced into the cloud and suddenly, he saw an angel descend towards him. Confused and petrified, he thought she looked familiar. She had long, wind-swept raven hair and shining silver eyes and was dressed in flowing robes of glittering gossamer and swallow's wings.
"N-Natsumi-chan?" he stammered.
The angel stopped right in front of the puzzled boy and gazed up at his eyes. "We're having fun, aren't we?" she giggled.
"Wha-"
"Shhh…" The Natsumi-angel flapped her wings once and floated up until her face was level with Ginji's. Lifting his chin with her finger, she silenced him with her lips – warm, soft, and searching.
"Oompfh!" Ginji gave out a muffled whimper. He then closed his eyes and allowed himself to slacken in rapturous surrender. But inside of him, his heart beat faster and faster and a lightning storm began brewing itself out of a strange chemistry his body had never concocted before.
It was impossible for Ginji to know what kind of reaction this new storm would bring.
The vision dissipated, signaling the fusion of currents before their charges repelled each other and the pulses raced in a relay to escape the confines of Ginji's physical form.
For an agonizing second that bordered between pleasure and pain, the electricity hovered beneath his skin before finally breaking out in brilliant light.
"YA-HOOO!" Ginji yelled happily, jumping up and throwing his arms in the air.
"Ginji!"
Ban called for his partner as he cut through the maze of undulating bodies and swiped at the puffs of foam. Angrily, he cursed at himself, mostly due to the futility of finding Ginji by sight in this jungle of white; and partly because he was responsible for causing this bizarre chain-reaction in the first place, starting with that glass of tequila.
"Ginji! You idiot! Where are you?"
Now, he could sense the surge rising. Hurriedly, Ban weaved and pushed, heading in the direction of the telepathic wave – only to see he was too late.
In what seemed like slow motion, filaments of current were branching out from bubble to bubble, like spindly fingers reaching towards him.
Oh shit, Ginji. Now you've done it.
"GINJI!" Ban shouted as the jolts speared into him.
There was a startled chorus of shrieks, and for a few seconds, Ban stood helplessly as he watched the gorgeous luminance of the red-tinged violet thunder cloud crackle and flicker around him.
Violet? How… wait… this is… different… "Unnnhh" A groan managed to escape from his lips before he shuddered and fell to the floor.
Ginji heard his name called. He dropped his arms and stopped whirling. The music was still playing, but except for faint murmurs from outside the dance floor, there were no cheers, no delighted squeals of laughter. Only stunned silence.
Ginji looked around him. All the dancing angels were gone and the bubblegum aroma that had intoxicated him was now replaced by a bitter metallic ion smell he knew only too well.
Illusions shattered, he alone stood in the middle of the white cloud that still sizzled with static electricity.
"Huh?" Ginji finally began to panic. There was something very wrong here.
"Where is everybody?"
"BAN-CHAAAN!"
Next chapter : Don't worry. No one dies. Although something else might (dundundun!). Peace! Hope you liked this very long installment. Tell me what you think, okay? Thanks. See you soon!
(1) delta sleep : Stage 3 of the sleep cycle. Also called "slow wave" sleep because brain activity slows down dramatically. Contrary to popular belief, this is the deepest stage of sleep (not REM, when most dreams occur) and occurs after 10-20 minutes from the beginning of the cycle.
(2) From "Cherry Lips" by Garbage. Lyrics are the property of their respective authors, artists, and labels. All lyrics provided are for entertainment purposes and personal use only.