A/N: I'm sorry it is taking me so long to update. I've had a lot of personal trauma lately, and I don't feel like dealing with Akabane's trauma when I'm trying to sort out my own. Thanks.
-6-
Akabane lay very quietly on a cold, plastic table while one of the doctor-drones worked on adjusting a series of wires coiled about a frightening looking machine. Himiko and Kagami stood leaning against the far wall of the room, Kagami winking at Himiko and Himiko turning up her nose and pretending she didn't see it. Kagami tried scooting closer to Himiko, only to have her scoot closer towards the door.
"Does he have to be here?" Himiko asked in irritation, finally leaving the wall and slinking across the room to where the doctor-drone was adjusting equipment.
"I'm Babylon City's representative," Kagami insisted, picking himself up from the floor where he'd fallen when his attempt to put an arm around Himiko's shoulders had failed. "They have a stake in this, you know."
Akabane gave him a pointed look, as Kagami had promised not to reveal his bargain. He knew Himiko would neither understand nor approve, and he'd have to hear about it for the next several months. He didn't love the little alien parasites taking freeloading advantage of his body. He did, however, love the idea of having enough power to stand victoriously over Midou Ban's fallen body.
He slashed out at the doctor-drone's hand when it attempted to unbutton his pants. "The machine can't read through your clothes," Kagami stated as the doctor-drone continued to try unsuccessfully to undress Akabane.
"I will be the only one touching my buttons," he snapped. True to his word, he undid as many buttons as he felt were necessary on his shirt, and only opened his pants the absolute minimum he desired to. The doctor-drone gave a frustrated look at Kagami, who just waved it off.
"Let him be stubborn if he wants," he shrugged.
The doctor-drone finally managed to adjust the machine over Akabane's still rather-flat middle. "This should give us a good image of what's going on inside, if we can scan past the womb's defenses," the doctor-drone informed Akabane. Akabane yawned.
The doctor-drone turned on the machine and adjusted the feed until two inhuman little blobs became apparent, chords leading out of their middles into the side of the womb. "There you go," the drone informed Kagami and Himiko, who battled one another for best position to look on the screen. "They don't look like much yet, do they?"
Himiko made a bit of a face, which Akabane noticed. "Not cute and wrinkly little bundles of joy are they?" he asked brightly, causing Himiko to look over her shoulder and make a very childish face at him.
"Judging from the shape of the head and the development of the features, I would place them between seven and eight weeks old. They should start looking more like little people within a week," the drone explained, sounding rather proud of itself.
"How… did you get such a clear picture?" Himiko asked, sounding a bit confused.
"After studying the womb with a sensitive ultrasound, we discovered that one of the knobs sticking out of it was a camera attachment. We dug a wire into his skin until we could meet up and read the feed coming from it."
Akabane sat up suddenly and violently, causing the camera feed to roll. "WHAT?" he asked, raising his way in a voice Himiko could say she'd never heard him do before.
"Lie back down, Akabane, you're going to jar the machines…"
"No," he said angrily, sitting all the way up despite Kagami and Himiko's attempts to get him to lie back down. "This thing has a camera feed built into it? That means whoever did this to me intended to be able to monitor it." He dug one angry fist into his middle. "I want it out of me!"
"Calm down, calm down!" Kagami stressed, knowing his superiors would not be happy if they didn't get the babies they were so badly interested in.
Himiko joined Kagami in attempting to calm Akabane back down and keep him on the table, as he was fighting to stand up despite the fact that the camera's wire was sticking out of a hole in his skin. "If… if it makes you feel any better, it's a very well made endoscope," the doctor-drone stammered, standing defensively in front of his equipment.
"I want it out of me!" he demanded again. "I am going to find the person who did this to me, and there is not going to be enough left of them to bury in a Chinese take-out carton," he fumed, continuing to struggle against Kagami, who held him down only via the sheer virtue of inhuman strength bestowed by Infinite Castle.
"Look," Himiko said desperately, trying to draw Akabane's attention away from how angry he was at the moment. "See? The one on the left is moving around."
They all paused and turned their attentions to the screen. Kagami frowned and narrowed his eyes, squinting at it. "I guess if you call attempting to wiggle around movement, then yes."
She gave him a nasty you-are-not-helping look, but it seemed to be enough to break Akabane's train of thought long enough for him to sink back onto the bed. His face was absolutely red, as he was humiliated by his behavior. Flying off the handle like that wasn't characteristic of him, but then, he hadn't exactly had full control of his emotions since the whole ordeal had begun. He hated feeling out of control almost as much as he hated feeling weak. He hated how his normal, aloof nature seemed to be slipping away from him and leaving a hysterical, flighty shell in its place. He didn't feel like himself anymore.
Of course, it didn't help anything that his feelings of depression over not feeling himself, coupled with a hormone surge, made him start to wibble. "Oh no," Himiko said.
"What's wrong?" Kagami asked, confused.
"He's going to cry," Himiko answered, looking around. "Do you have any tissues? Things get a little… wet when he's upset," she informed Kagami.
Akabane, meanwhile, was feeling even more humiliated by the fact that he couldn't keep the tears from forming in his eyes, which made him want to cry anymore. Which, in turn, made for a vicious cycle that would eventually end in him crying and feeling absolutely miserable and embarrassed about it. He hadn't cried when Ginji had ripped all 108 blades out of his body at once. He hadn't cried when he'd had his back slit wide open by a long sword. He hadn't even cried when Ban had shattered his sword and left him in a pile of rubbish. Why should he cry at the drop of a hat simply because that thing inside him was forcing him to?
Right then, Emishi happened to look in. "Sakura-chan sent me to tell you that something came up and she's going to be a bit late to the appointment."
"Emishi! What perfect timing!" Himiko cried, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him into the room, where Akabane sat rubbing his eyes with his fists, trying to keep the tears in. "Cheer Akabane up!"
It was too bad that Emishi always wore those funny glasses of his, because Himiko would have loved to see the expression on his face when she threw him in front of a crying Dr. Jackal with instructions to cheer him up. Emishi looked thoughtful for a moment, then leaned in close to Akabane and started conspiritally whispering in Akabane's ear.
Akabane looked up at Emishi, his face blank as if he hadn't understood a word that was said, and then started crying harder than he had been before. "I think he made things worse," Kagami said, frowning at Himiko.
"Oh, forget it," Himiko said. "Knowing his mood swings, he'll stop on his own in a few minutes."
"Or maybe if we give him something to eat!" Emishi suggested brightly, producing a box of Pocky from his pocket. "Have some candy," he suggested. Akabane took a few pieces and started nibbling on them in a mouse-like fashion. Within a few moments, his breathing was back to normal and he had stopped crying, even if his eyes were still puffy and red.
"Where'd you learn that trick?" Himiko whispered, not wanting Akabane to hear.
"Works on little kids all the time," Emishi whispered back.
Akabane, meanwhile, was busily eating the entire box of Pocky by himself. No one moved to stop him. They'd learned that attempting to take food away from an Akabane with cravings usually lead to one being swiped at with sharp objects. At least now that he was being fed, he looked happier.
"Are you going to let us finish the exam now?" Kagami asked, trying not to sound exasperated when Akabane had finished the box of Pocky and was searching the bottom for crumbs.
"Give me another box?" he asked.
They finally got him to lie down for the duration of the rest of the exam, during which the doctor-drone pronounced that there were, indeed, two very healthy little seven week-old embryos just beginning to move about. He also detected a little bud-like scar on the flesh inner wall of the artificial womb, which he told Himiko in private he believed was likely from another embryo that had failed to develop.
Sakura arrived only as Akabane was buttoning up his shirt and pants, carrying the second box of snacks Akabane had been promised. The doctor-drone looked over the data readouts from the exam. "I say that he looks healthy enough to continue with his normal activities, in moderation of course."
Akabane's face brightened and Himiko slapped her forehead with one hand. "See, Himiko-chan? The doctor even says that I can go on that job tonight."
"What about the police watchers?"
"They are easy enough to slip past," he said, waving off her concerns with one pale hand. "I have not had any real pleasure in weeks, Himiko-chan. Please do not enjoy me the benefit of living my life."
"You've got to consider your physical state before you think about how much fun you're having! Someone who breaks down and cries because they can't have the flavor of shaved ice they want is not someone who should be going out on a transporting job!"
"Hormones, Himiko-chan." He flicked a scalpel at her in annoyance. "I am still more than mentally and physically capable of taking on my assigned routes."
She threw up her hands in resignation. "You win! But I'm not binding your wounds when you come home in tears."
"I would not expect you to, Himiko-chan. I have always bound my wounds by myself," he argued back, tugging at the lapels of his coat. "I will see you when I return."
Thus, for a period of about two weeks, Akabane returned back to his usual activities. The nausea subsided to the point where it was annoying rather than crippling. Getting to fight again lifted his spirits up to nearly pre-pregnancy levels. Perhaps, things were finally starting to move in his direction again.
He came home one night with a sprained wrist but in an amazingly good mood. "Ban-kun fought me particularly well tonight," he explained as he wrapped the sprain in gauze. "I was a bit worried that my condition might affect my abilities, but I can still handle the infamous Midou Ban, then-"
"Then you're an idiot!" Himiko cried, suddenly rising up and slapping her fist on the kitchen counter. She brought it down hard enough to shake the glass. "What if he'd hit your belly instead of your wrist? You could have gotten them severely hurt!"
"I am so glad you care about my personal safety, Himiko-chan," he answered, hanging his coat on the rack. His eyes were cold, the humor he'd come home with draining out of them. "They have the best defensive womb known to mankind. After all, if I can not hurt them, who possibly could?" He looked down at his wrist. "It was not the snake bite. My hand got tangled in a strap when they went for the case I was carrying and they pulled it in an odd direction. Fortunately, I was holding it with my weaker hand. With the liveliness Ban was displaying, breaking my strong wrist could have caused real problems for me.
He lifted his gaze up from his wrist to discover that Himiko had moved away from him. She was standing at the door, shoulders shaking slightly with rage. How could he be so casual about his responsibilities? It wasn't about him, it was about those defenseless babies. She'd seen them kicking and wiggling on the last images they'd taken, and her heart had practically fallen from her chest with how much she'd wanted to reach out to them. Akabane, for his part, had coldly informed her that even though they could see them moving, he could not yet feel them. Thus, he didn't qualify their motions as actually existing. "Where are you going, Himiko-chan?" he asked, standing barefoot in the doorway behind her.
"Out for a walk!" She answered shortly and sharply, slamming the door behind herself. Of course, she wasn't just going for a walk… she was going to the Honky Tonk to seek out Ban and Ginji.
She found only Ginji there, as Ban was apparently out trying to find a new place to hide their car from the diligent city parking police. Knowing that the innocent of a girl was Ginji's weakness, she slid up to the bar and coyly traced a finger on his hand. "Ginji-kun, could I ask you to do me ooooone little favor, please?" she asked, her voice so honey sweet it made her want to vomit. How some girls could always be like that was beyond her. They must really like their sugar daddies to swallow down that kind of feminine tripe.
It seemed to work. His cheeks blushed a deep pink, as his eyes sparkled with white diamonds. In the blink of an eye, her reverted to a flapping tare. "Anything for you, Himiko-chaaaaaan!" he declared.
"Good. Can you please not take any more jobs involving Akabane-san?"
Ginji looked very confused, a sweat drop as big as his chubby fists appearing on his head. "Eh? I'd like to see as little of Akabane-san as possible, but why? Himiko-chan?"
Himiko, in her wisdom, had anticipated that question. "He's very sick, even if he won't admit it to himself. I don't want to see him get hurt because he's too stubborn to take care of himself." Of course, the truthful statement was that she didn't want to see the precious little ones get hurt because Akabane was too stubborn to take care of himself. "There's… something very special that I want to protect."
"I heard that you'd moved in with him, but I didn't believe it until now," a deeper voice interjected.
Himiko spun around on her bar stool. "Ban!" She cried, noticing that his facial expression was one of pure rage. "How long have you been standing there?"
He didn't answer her. "I guess you don't mind shaking up with murderers anymore," he mocked, throwing her words from those long years ago back in her face.
"That's unfair, Ban-chan!" Ginji cried, noticing the hurt that spread over Himiko's young face.
"You stay out of this!" Ban snarled, causing Ginji to shrivel up and deflate in fear.
"You don't understand the situation," Himiko screamed back at Ban, impassioned by how callously he'd thrown her pain at her.
"I might id you explain yourself," he replied coolly, eyes dark with rage.
"I can't. Because…" Because I promised I wouldn't. "I don't have to explain myself to you about anything, ever! You're not my keeper! In fact, you never explained why you killed the man who was my keeper!" she screamed in his face. "Have faith in my judgment for once instead of toting your holier-than-thou opinion. Especially when you don't know any of the own facts. This is my personal battle, let me fight it."
"I can tell which one of us you've judged to be more important to you." With that, Ban turned heel and stormed out of the restaurant. He slammed the door behind him so forcefully that the glass panes cracked in two places.
"Master's going to make us pay for that!" Ginji whimpered as he slid further down on his seat.
Outside, Ban stomped down the street. A black cloud of doom, threatening lightning, hung over his head. Animals fled from his approach, so great was his anger. Akabane and Himiko, Himiko and Akabane. Himiko, the little girl he'd die to protect, squirming beneath that half-human monstrosity. It was like finding out your sister was engaged to Freddy Krueger, except that this was real life and not a movie.
Needless to say, the fact that Akabane and Sakura had decided to go out and see if Himiko was okay was a notably bad twist of fate. Even worse was the fact that the three were fated to have their paths meet while Ban's rage was still red-hot.
Ban saw Akabane and Sakura coming before they saw him, as the two were engaged in a lively conversation about whether Himiko did or did not talk in her sleep, despite the fact that she vigorously denied doing so. Hearing this conversation only furthered his rage, as it drew up fare more detailed images of sweet Himiko crying in pain as Akabane abused her gentle body.
Sakura noticed Ban as she reached them. She unfortunately did not notice the cloud he carried above his head. "Oh, hello, Ban-san. Have you seen Himiko? Akabane-san and I were looking for her," she asked innocently.
Akabane noticed immediately that, in addition to mumbling beneath his breath, Ban seemed to be giving off a strange transparent purple aura. He blinked, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. No, it was there… that couldn't be good.
The defensive shield he threw up around himself when he realized what was happening wasn't nearly enough to ward off the crushing power of the first blow. He screamed something that sounded like a slurred version of "This is for what you've done to Himiko!" Not having a firm stance, Akabane was thrown several feet back, hard enough that a massive web of cracks was left in the store windows where he struck them.
The window fell to pieces as Akabane's body bounced off the glass. A shower of razor-sharp shards rained down around him as he fell, causing the street where he fell to glitter as though littered with fallen stars.
Akabane picked himself up and wiped a drop of blood from his lips. The shield had taken most of the damage rather than his internal organs. If he hadn't used it, he likely would have been completely knocked unconscious. He dodged the follow-up punch with so little room to spare that he could count the hairs on Ban's fist as it passed his face, obliterating a display of fruit when it landed.
Ban turned around to face Akabane very slowly, one baby step at a time. By that moment, his entire body was radiating that violently quivering purple light. "I won't let you touch her, ever again," he threatened, voice sounding more like a machine than man or beast.
On one hand, Akabane was almost afraid. On the other hand, he was so thrilled that he could have lost control of his bladder. To be able to fight Ban so seriously outside of the Infinite Castle… what had he done to deserve such a treat?
"Do not you think this is a bad place to deal with our grudge?" Akabane asked, dodging another potentially spine-shattering blow. Ban wasn't giving him enough lag time to regroup and take the offensive away. "Even if it is night, showing our full powers in the middle of city streets? Not wise."
Ban didn't seem to care, landing a blow that shredded most of Akabane's left sleeve and raked the skin beneath until it was raw and bloody. Akabane, for his part, managed to land several blows to Ban with the scalpels. Ban wasn't leaving him enough of a window of an opportunity to summon up anything beyond his basic attacks. He needed his sword, as Ban had already drawn his most powerful weapon if he had not yet attacked with it. Ban wasn't giving him the time necessary to call it up, though.
Running until her lungs felt as though they might burst, Sakura fetched Himiko and Ginji and was racing back to the battle with them. They arrived right as Akabane caught Ban's fist within his own. Too late, he realized the hand he had caught was not Ban's dominant fist. The hand with the crushing grip had reached around and taken hold of Akabane's leg. In one fluid motion, he bent the bone until it shattered and tore free of Akabane's flesh.
Released from the grip, Akabane fell to the pavement. Bone and meat were visible through the hole torn in his pants. Ban landed on a nearby rooftop, crouched more like a tiger than a snake, watching as Akabane slowly sat up.
Akabane ran his hands over the wound, wincing when his fingertips touched raw bone. He couldn't stand on that leg or run, even if he wanted to. He drew up a defensive shield of scalpels, knowing they would do nothing against the massive eyes of the snake God flickering in the blackened sky like dying neon signs.
"Ban, no!" Himiko screamed, running towards the fight. Ban was going to kill them. He was going to take away their lives before they'd taken their first breaths in the world… The snake dived down towards the broken Akabane. Akabane attempted to run, but the break left his sprawling on the chunks of pavement. Himiko, running forward without thinking, threw herself over his body. Closing her eyes, she waited for the impact.
The impact never came. Himiko slowly opened her eyes again, only to discover that she'd been crying. "Are you okay?" Sakura asked as Himiko got off of Akabane. In a moment, Ginji was climbing the side of the building to go to where Ban had last been standing.
"Thank… thank goodness Ban stopped his attack in time," Himiko choked, weakly smiling at Sakura. She'd almost given up her life without thinking.
Sakura looked conflicted as she wound her headband around Akabane's leg tightly to still the bleeding. "He wasn't… the one who stopped the attack."
Himiko stared uncomprehendingly at Sakura. "Ban-chan! Ban-chan? BAN-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" she heard Ginji scream in the distance. Though he was so close, his voice sounded as if it were coming from a million miles away.
-6-
To Be Continued
