A/N: Continuity note! I'm changing HEVN to Hevn because even though it's a code name and I think it's supposed to be in all caps, I'm tired of writing it that way and Hevn seems more natural.

It's my story so deal.

Hevn blinked and looked about. "I think this driver is trying to charge us extra."

Akabane, looking half-asleep, opened one violet eye to peer at Hevn. "What makes you say that, Hevn-san?"

"The fact that we're driving along a mountainous road, but we don't need to take any to get back to my apartment," she answered, looking concernedly out at the sky rapidly fading to black.

Akabane yawned and stretched. "Isn't it obvious, dear Hevn-san? We've been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?!" Hevn shouted, practically jumping out of her seat. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

Akabane turned his attention away from her and to the driving, smiling broadly. "Isn't it true, driver-san? You're one of the ones who was attacking Miss Mediator in the back alley of the restaurant, aren't you?"

The driver suddenly jerked, his shoulders rising up in an expression of being caught by surprise. That was all the answer Hevn needed to know that they were on the right track. "Do something!" she shouted, boarding on overly hysterical.

"What should I do? Kill the driver? That would be inadvisable on this road, seeing as how we'd be sailing off the side of the mountain before either of us could take control of the cab from his body."

Of course, by that time, the driver was sweating bullets and shaking. They weren't supposed to catch on to the fact that he was driving them to his gang until after he was out of the car, and yet the black-haired man in the back were discussing the kidnap situation as calmly as though he were discussing what he'd had for lunch.

The blonde was another case, however. "How do you know he won't just dive off the side of the mountain if he thinks you're going to kill him in the end anyway?" she screamed.

"You shouldn't say such things, Hevn-san, it might give him ideas."

Unfortunately by that time, it had given the driver an idea and he had indeed come to the conclusion that he'd rather take his chances jumping out of the taxi careening down a mountainside than face the scalpel-maniac. Hevn screamed involuntarily when she heard the crunch of metal against metal as the fender tore through the safety railing, sending the taxi on a dangerous bounce down the side of the mountain. The only saving grace at the moment, though Hevn was too distraught to realize it, was that the slope they were on at the moment was gentle enough that the car could continue to roll down it. However, the slope didn't last forever, and ended in a sharp several thousand foot plummet to the bottom.

The moment Hevn realized that the drop off existed and began to scream about it was the exact same moment that Akabane, who had remained eerily calm through the entire "about to fall off the side of a mountain" incident, began to move towards the door. Her eyes wide, she could see nothing but the cliff approaching. She didn't even feel a gloved-arm wrap around her chest as she was pulled out of the car, tumbling through brush and the shards of broken beer bottles.

She barely heard the distant sound of metal being thrown apart when the taxi hit the bottom of the valley. She also barely smelled the scent of gasoline and smoke drifting through the air. Down below, a half dozen people on cellular phones were already calling the police to report seeing a taxi sail off the side of the high-rise road.

"Hevn-san? Hevn-san, are you conscious?" she heard a familiar voice ask. Her head spinning, she managed to sit up, and for a moment was convinced she was in the company of three Akabanes.

He smiled brightly at her. "I was afraid that throwing you out of the taxi might have killed you, but it doesn't look like you even suffered a concussion."

It took a moment for Hevn to decide her reaction. Shock? Panic? Joy over not being dead? No… hysteria seemed appropriate at the moment, she thought, bursting into tears from the sheer stress of the situation.

"Hevn-san?" Akabane asked, tipping his head as he looked at her in genuine confusion.

"You… why did you wait until the last possible second to jump?" she asked between gasped chokes. She didn't want to be crying, but she couldn't stop her body. After all, she'd almost died, and he was acting like her reaction was something abnormal.

"It is more dramatic that way," he answered with a shrug.

Hevn was really certain what happened next. Her hand began to move on her own, and she watched in horror as it swung upward. No, no, no, her mind was screaming, but her emotions were stronger than the power of her mind. Her emotions were angry, afraid, and just wanted to take it out on something, and the nearest thing was…

The sound of the impact seemed deafening alone, sitting in the brush along the side of the road. She was froze into place, her arm not moving, her body shaking and heaving from the fact that she was hyperventilating.

Akabane didn't move either, although his head was turned slightly more to the side than it had been. She'd struck him, openly, with her palm against his check. Neither of them now dared move, like two armies stuck in a precarious checkmate.

Eventually, still not turning back to look at her, Akabane just flatly replied "If you'd look further up the hill, you'd realize that it's all rocks up there, and dirt down here. You'd likely have internal bleeding if I'd jumped onto those rocks."

Hevn finally drew her hand back, still shaking and gasping. It was almost like hitting him and turned on some internal switch. He wasn't moving, wasn't looking at her with that cold smile of his, wasn't doing… wasn't doing anything. She thought for sure he'd have at least struck her back, or attacked her with blades, or done something. Instead, his tone of voice had just become cold and factual, losing the earlier half-joking edge that it usually had. "We should get going before we are involved in an unpleasant police interrogation about the cause of the crash."

She got to her feet and stumbled after him, crashing through the brush as he easily moved through it like a ghost. Heck, she wouldn't be surprised to catch up to him in a clearing and discover that he was floating a few centimeters above the ground. She followed the slight swish-swish of his coat through the underbrush, neither of them speaking or making any noise beyond the sound of Hevn stumbling through the undergrowth.

"I didn't mean to," she said suddenly, trying to keep the tears stinging her eyes from starting to fall again. "I know you saved my life. I was just so frustrated and scared, and then you made that comment… it just… I had to hit something. I'm sorry, okay? I never apologize to anyone, but I'm sorry."

He didn't answer, which was worse for the way Hevn was feeling than if he'd said something horrible to her. She realized that he was cutting at her, but not with any physical instrument. He was letting her guilt do it for him.

She stumbled in a hole and fell with a slight gasp, twisting her already bruised ankle further. She didn't cry, however. The time for emotional crying was over. The time to get back to the road and back to her apartment to nurse her internal wounds was on.

He actually hesitated and looked back at her, although she couldn't tell where his eyes were focused because of the shadows cast by her hat. "Can you walk?" he asked.

She struggled back to her feet and immediately went down again on the bad ankle. He fully turned around and came back, mechanically offering an arm out to her.

Stubbornly, she turned her face away from the gesture. "Keep your pity for yourself," she snapped, forcing herself back onto her feet. Damn it, she had to keep relying on others to save her. Not just Ban and Ginji, no… Himiko, too. Must she be the delicate princess in need of a hero forever?

"Don't be stubborn; you'll never make it back on that ankle."

"Then go on ahead without me and leave me to die," she snapped, looking at the tri-color mess her ankle was swelling into.

Akabane, not in a good mood and not wanting to deal with it, walked straight over to HEVN, gripped her firmly by the wrist, and threw her over his shoulder like she were a sack of laundry. "Hey, put me down!" she shouted, wriggling in his grip.

"My things happen to be locked in your apartment, so I'd appreciate if I could collect them. Then you can die however you want."

After only about five minutes of screaming, kicking, and insisting that he put her down Hevn fully realized that she wasn't getting anywhere with Akabane and just hung limply off his shoulder. About twenty minutes later, she finally spoke. "I feel like an idiot like this."

No answer from him, so she just kept on talking. It was better than the dead silence and the slight panting of his breath from having to carry her weight around. "I don't blame you if you just grab your things and take off. I should have been honest with my parents in the first place, rather than forcibly dragging you into it. Your dignity and my integrity aren't worth what I've paid you, or even what I'd get from my parents." She sighed, hanging limply. "I guess I have more to be sorry for than just being an ingrate to the person who saved me."

"In all honesty," he sighed finally, "I'm probably the one to blame for that assassination attempt in the first place. I have more enemies willing to go to extreme lengths to kill me than you do."

"Considering some of the jobs I've gotten for Ban and Ginji, that may not exactly be true… Geez, sit down for a minute at least if you're going to be stubborn enough to insist on carrying me the whole way. You sound like you're going to give yourself a heart attack."

"I have carried heavier things further."

She snorted. "What did you used to be into, backpacking? If you have a heart attack, I've got a bum ankle. I can't walk back to civilization without you. It's in my best interests if you sit, if you want me to use logic similar to your own."

He finally gave in and sat down when they reached a small, battered bus stop. Hevn examined the schedule while standing on her one good foot. "Too bad there's not a bus until six this morning; I'd kind of like to get home." She picked up her cellular phone. "Out of range, I hope Marci isn't calling me to try to get back into the apartment." She looked over at Akabane, who was resting in a corner of the shelter. "You really are going to have a heart attack," she said, noticing the fine layer of sweat on his skin. "You can at least loosen your tie and shirt…" she reached out and he jerked away from her.

"You really are a stubborn jackass," she snapped. "Hold still!" she cried, loosening the knot.

"Or what? You'll hit me again?" he asked.

There was a tense moment where they just stared at one another, and then Hevn found herself involuntarily giggling. She didn't want to, but she was. It's hard to resist laughing in the presence of someone else laughing, so within a few moments, they were both laughing uproariously about a joke that neither of them found funny in the least.

"I'm sorry, I guess I am under a lot of stress," she yawned, sitting back and fanning herself with an ad paper pulled off the side of the shelter. She'd undone the first few buttons on his shirt as well while she'd been playing with his tie, fearing that he'd give himself heat stroke under all those layers of clothes. "How do you stand those things in summer?" she asked. "I can barely stand wearing pants this time of year."

"It's easier to do when working at night, I suppose. I like looking this way."

"I could tell you liked your hat, at the very least. You continued to wear it even after it got torn, after all…"

"Stupid sentimentality," he shrugged, brushing off her observation.

"Tell me what's sentimental about a hat," she urged. She really was curious why he maintained that almost freakish attachment to the damned thing.

"I'd rather not."

"You're no fun at all," she said, leaning back. "Would you tell me if we were playing truth or dare?"

"Mmm… I might."

"Fine, then let's play. Truth or dare," she said, looking threateningly into his eyes.

He looked back at her without expression. "I think we'd better start walking again."

"I'll only start walking back if you let me lean on you. We'll never make it if you keep trying to carry me," she snapped, and he eventually agreed. Truth was, he was glad to have her off his back. She was making his joints hurt.

Hevn checked her cellular phone when they finally made it back to her apartment and flopped, exhausted from the trip and having to try to run down another taxi in the middle of the night. "That's odd," she said, looking over her messages. "My sister hasn't called me about getting into the apartment yet tonight, and it's long past last call…"

Akabane, also sprawled out from a combination of exhaustion and how hot the night was, looked over at her. "Perhaps she got a hotel room after all."

"Her things are here, though, and unless she's wearing that sundress two days in a row…"

"She could buy new clothes to wear at any store," he argued.

"But she left her Italian imported beauty supplies here, too. There's no way in heck she'd use hotel soap, and I doubt any all night stores sell it in this part of the world. It's hard enough to get mail-order imported to America."

"Do you think something happened to her, and you're trying to round-about ask if I feel the same way?" he asked, looking over at her and hitting the nail on the head at the same time.

"Yea… as much as we fight, I'm worried," Hevn said, shutting her cell phone gently.

He squirmed up into a sitting position. "Do you feel well enough to go looking for her?"

"Not really, and there's the problem," she answered, moving the ice pack around on her ankle. She wouldn't be walking normal for days, let alone the short time they'd been home. "Marci's a big girl and she's with Clifford; I'm sure she managed to take care of herself." She looked over at him, half-propped up and looking like he was ready to fall asleep at the blink of an eye. "Truth or dare, Akabane-san."

He eyed her in confusion. "Truth or dare," she urged. "I mean it this time."

"If I pick truth, you'll ask me about my hat again," he yawned, rolling onto his side.

"So pick dare, if you don't want to answer."

He waved her off with one gloved hand. "Fine, fine, I pick dare."

Hevn frowned. "You're really that determined not to tell me anything about your dumb hat?"

"Yes, because it bothers you."

"I knew that was the reason," she answered, throwing a pillow at him. "Fine, since you're going to be stubborn…" she mused, trying to think of a good middle-school style dare. "I dare you to make a prank phone call!"

He rolled back over and looked at her as though she'd just suggested that he wijamibob while prancanfancing. "You know, prank phone calls? Hello, is your refrigerator running? Well you'd better go catch it? Ring a bell?" She could tell from the blank stare he was giving her that it didn't. "Didn't you ever have fun in middle school?"

"Keep in mind; I was never a middle-school girl," he answered.

She tossed her phone at him. "You just call someone up, and ask them to do something stupid."

Akabane stared at the phone, then dialed a few numbers. "Hello? Ginji-kun? Did I wake you? I wanted to ask you if you could-"

Hevn snatched the phone out of his hands and hung up. "You're not supposed to call people you know, stupid. That takes all the fun out of it!"

Many tries later, Hevn gave up on the idea of teaching Akabane how to make a prank phone call. However, he wasn't ready to let the subject drop. "I get to ask you for a Truth or Dare now, correct, if I understand how this game is played?"

"I guess it's only fair," she shrugged. "Since I take it your idea of a dare would be less benevolent than mine, I'll take truth."

"I am going to ask you something my co-workers have always wanted to know." He pointed directly at her chest. "Are those real?"

She stuttered, face turning brilliant red. "Yes, of course they're real, and to whoever asked, it's none of their business!"

"Isn't it dangerous to wear a real diamond necklace in Shinjuku?" he asked brightly.

Hevn just sat there, staring at him, for a good five minutes, then actually burst out laughing again. "See, if you could have just done THAT on the phone, you could have had an excellent prank call on your hands."

He feigned genuine confusion. "I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about, Miss Mediator."

"Please, call me Hevn. All my friends do."

He raised an eyebrow. "So you are my… friend now?"

She was caught a bit off-guard by that. Would she go as far as to say that about him? Her gut instinct was to say no, but the way he was looking at her suggested that she might earnestly step on some feelings if she told him the truth.

Hell, she'd lied enough that week. What would one more lie hurt. "Yeah… I guess you are." She took a deep breath. Well, there was one thing she could do that would definitely tell her how she really felt about him, and she was feeling just gusty enough to do it after having slapped him and survived it earlier in the night. "Hey, Akabane-san, you want to try a dare?"

"A dare?" he asked, mentally noting that despite her claims to friendship she still attached the san to his name, meaning she wasn't comfortable shortening it up to even plain Akabane. It was in that moment that he knew she was lying about saying that she genuinely considered him a friend, but he honestly wasn't hurt by it as much as anyone else probably would have been. No one considered Akabane their friend, and Akabane considered no one his friend. It worked that way.

"I want you to… to…" she said nervously, leaning in closer to him. Right at that moment, when she was about to blurt out what she wanted… her cell phone rang. Sighing heavily, she answered it. "What?" she asked.

"Hevn, sister? Why haven't you been answering your phone?"

To Be Continued… (yeah, I know, odd spot to leave off but I like it!)