(I am a bad, bad little fangirl. I forgot to credit Cyndy1 for beta reading and detail work, among assorted duties.)

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Hevn asked, concern filling her voice and making it seem higher-pitched than usual.

"Please, I do not need to be babied. The doctor said I could walk as much as I like until I am up to my usual level of activity." Akabane hesitated on the stairs, eyes suddenly turning cold. "I would not need any recovery time if they had not kept me on my back for a week. So inept…" he said mostly to himself, following Hevn down the stairs of her apartment complex.

Hevn found herself involuntarily shivering, as if his cold voice were a wind cutting through her clothes. "Okay, but remember that we have to come back from wherever we go, so don't use all your energy at once." She looked up at him, sill moving stiffly down the stairs. His muscles were protesting after having had a lazy week off.

He was wearing his usual black slacks with a long-sleeved white button-down shirt, but she had convinced him to leave the jacket at home. She had also managed to convince him that dress shoes were not appropriate for taking a leisurely stroll around the block, but only barely. Apparently, Akabane had never even considered putting comfort before style before.

"I will be fine, Hevn-sa… Hevn." She noticed he'd bit his tongue in an attempt to keep the san from coming out. She shook her head in his general direction.

"The fact that you've gotten over calling me Miss Mediator is good enough for now."

The two started walking, Hevn trying to let Akabane choose the direction and the pace, but Akabane consistently lagging just far enough behind her that she was forced to determine both. In her frustration, she just chose any direction to go without caring which way they walked. In her haste, she walked towards the alley where she had nearly met her death so few days before.

As they passed by the opening mouth of the alley, Hevn involuntarily stopped. She felt cold, like a deer frozen in white headlights. Her hands trembled, her heart roaring in her chest. She tried to cry out with any sound, but choked on her swollen and dry tongue.

As suddenly as they had come, the sensations were gone. Hevn looked down, realizing that Akabane's hand was tightly closed around hers. She found herself holding tightly to his hand in return, as though his touch could protect her.

She calmed down after a moment, gazing up into purple eyes filled with an unreadable expression. She wanted to thank him so deeply, but instead of the words "Why are you wearing gloves?" tumbled out.

He looked down at his hands in confusion. He hadn't been aware of them. "Force of habit, I guess?"

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Hevn thought, smacking herself in the forehead when Akabane wasn't looking. Way to throw a perfect moment out the window!

"Do they bother you, Hevn-san? I can take them off if they do."

She paused in mid-smack, a smile creeping slowly across her face. Perhaps as soon as they returned home, she'd mention his pants bothering her. "It does seem a little odd for you to be wearing them when you're not in your work clothes," she said, for lack of better answer.

She was watching him pull the gloves off, shivering with each snap of the latex, when very suddenly she felt a strong impact against her body. In the next moment, she found herself smashed up against the wall of the nearest building.

She'd been body-checked by what appeared to be a brunette in a hideous purple hat and trench coat. The newcomer was standing directly in front of Akabane and smiling. From the look on Akabane's face, not only was he surprised to see this particular individual, but he had not seen the newcomer slam into her.

"Akabane-san, why haven't you called me in two weeks? You think clients magically go on hold when you don't feel like working?" Saya was avoiding mentioning knowing Akabane had been hospitalized. That would lead to a question of why Saya had not visited him in the hospital.

"I told you I was away, Saya-san," Akabane answered very quietly, his voice barely a whisper. His hands were moving around, attempting to subconsciously tug down a hat he wasn't wearing. Hevn was now beyond confused. Akabane not only knew this lavender freak, but seemed uncomfortable in the weirdo's presence.

"Well, now that you're back, let's go. The clients were beginning to worry!" The freak grasped Akabane's hand and began tugging him down the street a little at a time, despite the fact that Akabane seemed to have rather firmly planted his feet in place.

Hevn stormed up to them, hitting the newcomer's hands with her purse to free Akabane's wrist. "Hold it right there, sister! What do you think you're doing? Dragging around an injured man like that…"

The stranger growled deeply. "Sister? I am not your sister!"

Akabane grabbed the newcomer by the shoulders, startling Saya out of the anger kick. "Hevn-san, this is Saya-san, my usual mediator," he introduced, releasing Saya's shoulder. "Saya-san is a bit touching about being called a girl because of his name."

Hevn could only stare at Saya. She could see absolutely nothing about the stranger's features that indicated a boy lay under that ridiculous pastel outfit. The height, the frame build, the musculature… nothing.

"Saya-san, this is…"

"I don't need an introduction. She's the Shinjuku mediator for those homeless retrievers who have cost you more than a fair share of jobs. I suppose she has a few classier clients, but she's associated with them."

"You know I enjoy working against the Get Backers, even when I lose. You get paid anyway, Saya-san." Akabane turned to Hevn. "Saya-san has a crush on Shido-kun," he said, referencing Saya's comment about Hevn having a few classy clients.

"Shido… kun?" Hevn asked. Hadn't Akabane just said Saya was a boy?

Quickly, hating a conversation that focused on his own shortcomings, Saya commented," I suppose she does a good job, seeing as how she uses her big breasts to get jobs instead of any real mediating talent."

At that point, Hevn was shaking an internally fuming to the point where she was ready to explode like a teakettle boiled dry. Her hands were curled into fists. "Now listen here, you-"

"What should I listen to? You trying to justify taking my best resource? I won't let him go without a fight!" With that, the young man vanished in less than the blink of an eye.

"What… was that?" she asked, still slightly rage-shocked.

"I am very sorry. Saya-san does not usually behave like that. I will have to talk with him later."

Hevn's hands closed and opened, alternating between empty claws and fists. "How can you put up with someone like that? He called you a resource, like you were paper or pens instead of a human being!"

Akabane made a sound that Hevn couldn't interpret and looked away, eyes refusing to meet hers. Sudden confusion and guilt washed over her. She shouldn't have shouted at him. He seemed to feel bad enough that Saya had been an ass. She was probably just making him feel worse.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Hevn-san, let us go home. I suddenly feel very tired." He turned around and began walking back in the direction of the apartment, Hevn following silently behind with her eyes turned down to her shoes. He walked about two blocks before suddenly stopping, almost causing her to run into his back. "Am I, Hevn-san?"

"Are you what?" she asked, confused. She wasn't connecting his current words with the words spoken before.

"A human being," he answered, suddenly starting walking again. His pace had increased noticeably.

The two walked the rest of the distance in silence, taking the long way around the block so that Hevn could avoid having to cross in front of that alley again. It would be a long time before she would be able to pass it without shuddering. After all, it was where her own sister had attempted to murder her.

Her life had been worth nothing more to her sister than the price of the family inheritance. In jail, Marci still refused to admit any wrongdoing, instead placing the blame for her actions on the notion that their parents had always loved and favored their blonde-baby Hevn over her. That left Hevn silently wondering if maybe Marci was right, if the fact that their parents had always favored her had driven Marci to murder. She also found herself wondering how much her life was worth to the others around her, including her parents… including Akabane.

As the two were walking up the stairs in silence, a suddenly compulsion overtook her. She knew she had to act on it, or she'd be kicking herself for the rest of the evening. She ran up the stairs, grabbing him from behind and wrapping her arms around her chest as she buried her face between his shoulder blades. "Don't be mad at me. I'm sorry. It's just that, that Saya really pushed my buttons."

He paused and put his hands over hers. "Saya-san is very dangerous, Hevn-san. I do not want to see you get hurt. I will talk to him about it tomorrow, after he has had a chance to calm down. He thinks you have taken his place as my mediator. He will calm down when I tell him that is not true." His hands were lying over hers. She could hear his breaths as she rested against him.

"What are you going to tell him, Akabane-san? We can't tell him the truth. As much as they support me, Ban and Ginji would never understand, and-"

"And there are people out there besides Saya who would hurt you. People who would hurt you just to get to me. I understand, Hevn-san. I will think of something that will satisfy Saya, or-"

"Or?"

"Nevermind, Hevn-san." He turned around and smiled at her, but his smile was weak. "Everything will be okay."

Somewhere else in the vast city that is Tokyo, Saya lay on his bed, chewing on the end of a chocolate wafer candy. Sure, he had talked big when he'd been putting down Jackal's new mediator, but that did not mean he actually knew how he was going to get Akabane back. What did she have that he didn't have? Well, that Akabane would want, that was. She had a body that most men would give their left arms to sleep with, but Akabane was not one of those men.

Saya's initial impression had been that Akabane would leave her as soon as she was no longer "new" and "fun"… and then he'd found out that Akabane had apparently been observed spending large amounts of time with her since two weeks ago, and he had showed absolutely no sign of even beginning to become bored with her when Saya had dropped in on them that afternoon. His previous toys had never lasted more than ten days. What did this woman have that made her different?

Saya looked down at his notebook, covered in doodles. His current "To Do" list read only two things. One, crush the woman who had stolen his best transporter away from him. Two, crush the transporter to the point where he would never even think of leaving again. "But how am I going to do that?" he muttered out loud. Dr. Jackal was much too strong to go up against physically, and he could only imagine the hell that he would have to pay if he used any sort of brute force tactics against the woman.

"Of course," Saya said to himself, as it helped him to think out loud. "Who says I have to fight him physically?" Almost no one knew Dr. Jackal better than Saya did. Almost no one had seen so many of his vulnerable spots. "That's my advantage over her," Saya declared, sitting upright. "She can't possibly know all the things about Jackal that I do. I'm going to twist her mind until it snaps," he smiled, breaking a wafer in half, "like a twig."

Night came and left, and the next morning a phone call awakened Hevn. It was a job for a retrieval agency. Guess it was time to get back in the swing of working, Hevn mused. She'd taken a long enough vacation. Leaving a hastily scribbled note for Akabane, she departed.

The familiar sound of the overhead bell at the Honky Tonk was a sound Hevn discovered that she had missed. That same background song that always seemed to be playing when she visited reached her ears. She knew that song so well; it had been etched into her heart right next to the place she kept for the Get Backers.

"Hevn-san!" Ginji cried, waving his arms at her. He was beyond delighted to see her again. "You've come back!"

She smiled at Ginji, and then turned her attention to the frazzled looking brunette of the pair. "My parents said they would be sending you an appreciation gift for saving their lives. I suggested cash would be most appreciated."

"Oh, we received their gift all right- but it was in American funds! The bank socked us a 20 fee to exchange it for yen, and that was only after we had to convince them that the money wasn't actually stolen!" he shouted.

"That sounds like my daddy, all right. He'd know that if he sent you the reward in yen, he'd be the one paying the exchange fee."

"Does it matter which of us pays the fee?" Ginji asked, innocently.

"Yes," Ban and Hevn answered in unison. Hevn sighed and explained it calmly to Ginji, as one would a child. "If daddy pays the fee, the amount he sends you looks smaller than the amount he actually spent. If you pay the fee, the amount he sent you looks bigger than the amount you actually receive. Daddy is a businessman, after all… just like Ban."

"Don't compare me to your father," he shouted defiantly, shaking the glass of water he had in his hand.

"My, my, and after I came to bring you a job, too. I guess I will take it to Shido-kun, who will be more appreciative of my hard work…" she turned to leave and found something approximately three feet tall clinging to her leg.

"Don't leave, Hevn-san!" the tare-Ginji wibbled. "You've been gone so long, I've forgotten what food tastes like," he sniffled, big tears running down his lumpy face.

"Don't say such ridiculous things," Ban said, smashing tare-Ginji in on the head. Ginji fell over, stars in his eyes and a hair pink bump coming out of his head where he'd been struck. "We've found more than our share of jobs while Hevn has been slacking off!"

"Slacking… off? Slacking off? Excuse me, but I was just almost murdered by my own sister! I think I was entitled to a little time off!" She turned heel angrily, her purse swinging around and coming within centimeters of causing massive damage to Ban's masculinity. "I really AM taking this job to Shido!" she fumed.

"Now you've really done it, Ban-chan," Ginji muttered as Hevn slammed the door so hard that loose plaster shook down from the walls.

A black cloud seemed to be hanging over her head the entire way to Madoka's mansion, to the point where even the dirty old men that normally made comments about her bust size were afraid to cross her. As she approached the front gate, several of Shido's animal friends fled in terror.

A servant brought her inside, where she greeted Madoka. "Shido-kun went out to get some sauce for the barbeque," Madoka said brightly. Her hands were covered in bandages and her smile was filled with such love that Hevn instantly knew what Madoka had been up to… cooking again.

As if reading her thoughts, Madoka suddenly smiled. "Would you like to try some of the okonomiyaki? I made them while waiting for Shido to return," she said, her smile still full of love. Hevn was caught between a rock and a hard place. While Madoka's food was full of love, no amount of practice seemed capable of making it full of taste. She also knew that, even though the girl was blind, she seemed to have a psychic ability of knowing when people had only pretended to eat what she had offered them.

"I… wouldn't want to impede on your meal…"

"You won't! Just try one!" she said, somewhat pleading.

"All… right…" Hevn said, picking up what resembled a thick pancake from the plate of offerings. The things I do for me job, she thought as she downed the offering in as few bites as possible. She'd try to get her antacid bottle open later when Madoka was out of hearing. "Huh… what kind of fixings did you use in this… Madoka-chan…" she said slowly, turning a bit green around the eyes.

"Well, the name means cooking what one likes, so I put a little bit of everyone one of Shido's favorite foods in there. Squid, carrots, crab, peas…" the girl continued listing off, turning Hevn greener and greener each time the list added another five ingredients.

Just when Hevn thought she couldn't take it any longer, Shido arrived back with the beef for the barbeque. She ended up being invited to stay, an invitation she had eagerly taken them up on. She hadn't exactly been eating well during her parents visit or her vigil at Akabane's bedside.

"This is so nice," she sighed, nibbling on meat-on-a-stick. "Ban and Ginji never offer me anything like this when I come to offer them a job."

"Huh," Shido snorted. "The snake bastard doesn't know how to appreciate their mediator."

Hevn set her picked-empty stick down. "The client needs to have a set of ancient maps retrieved from a greedy collector, who had them intercepted before they could arrive at their new museum home." She pulled out her bag, laying out the relevant information from him. Behind both her and Shido, the shrubbery was beginning to wilt from having Madoka's okonomiyaki chucked into them. Both were hoping the girl's keen senses wouldn't detect that the smell of the baked goods lingered around even after they were supposedly devoured.

"Are there any other questions you have?" Hevn asked as Shido folded the information into his back pocket.

"If I think of any before I leave tonight, I will notify you."

Hevn paused for a moment, and then pressed forward. "Shido, you seem like the right person to ask about this. What do you know about The Cat?"

He looked surprised to hear that name, and she did not know if that was because of the person attached to it or because it was a name that she would not have been expected to know under normal circumstances.

"He's a transporter mediator with abilities similar to my Hundred-Beast-Imitation: Cat. Beyond that, I don't know anything. I have only heard of him because I have an interest in trying to find if those with powers similar to mine exist, but the nature of our abilities seems to be fundamentally different. Is that okay, Miss Mediator?"

"It's a start," she said, standing up and bowing politely. "I leave this retrieval job in your capable hands." There was nothing to do now but wait to collect her standard Mediator's fee. She hadn't gotten much information out of him, but at least now she knew what abilities to look out for should they meet again. She made a sour face. The Cat, it sounded so cliché. Why would Akabane want a mediator with a ridiculous power like that?

She did feel kind of bad about leaving Ban and Ginji high and dry, though. Who knew when they'd find their next job? She looked down at the box of leftovers that Shido and Madoka had kindly sent her home with. She wasn't even sure what in the box would be allowable by Akabane's diet, and she certainly didn't want to make him sick by giving him something he wasn't supposed to eat. Giving it to charity sounded like a good idea.

She walked into the Honky Tonk for the second time that afternoon, finding only Natsumi and Paul. "Did they go out to pound the streets for work?" Hevn asked, referring to the empty booths and bar chairs.

"Actually," Paul said without missing a beat or setting down the newspaper that he seemed to be eternally reading, "Someone else came in to offer them a job about twenty minutes after you left."

"Ah, that's good for them then." She set the box on the counter. "Would you hold this in the freezer for them? It's a little 'I'm not angry anymore' gift for them."

She hand her hand on the handle of the door when Paul's voice stopped her in her tracks. "I'm not sure you want to do that, seeing as the job was given to them by another Mediator."