Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, Akabane very reluctantly handed over his hat and coat to the smiling girl at the coat check. Not only did it leave him in the bare minimum that the dress provided, but he hated letting strangers handle his personal possessions. Carry over from his job, he supposed. It was not something worth worrying about at the moment.

A couple of eyes turned in his general direction as he followed the waiter to the back of the restaurant. The place seemed entirely patronized by greasy businessmen, not afraid to take in an eyeful when their trophy wives were not about. The décor was done in reds and browns, as if intended to hide bloodstains. A rich red carpet and dark brown walls was the perfect combination for such a thing.

"You wore it!" Fujimoto Yukio cried gleefully when Akabane joined him and his bodyguard/assistant at a booth.

"All my other clothes were dirty," Akabane answered honestly, trying to make sure he wasn't flashing anyone as he sat down.

Fujimoto grinned, waving a chubby wing-like arm at the other patrons. "It suits you. Look at them stare jealously. When God made you, he said 'today I am going to make one man happy, and a hundred men green with envy."

Akabane shifted in the chair, uncomfortable. A waiter came over to take drink orders, which Akabane declined. Not caring, Fujimoto ordered a Blood Mary for Akabane. Akabane was not sure if that was meant to be a pun or not, but if it was, it only served to remind him of how much he hated puns.

"Do you have a job for me?" he asked, watching the bored bodyguard sip at an amazingly large class of soda.

"Not exactly. I do, however, want to sign an exclusivity contract with you."

Akabane raised an eyebrow cautiously, squirming in his seat. The seat fabric was sticking to his bare legs from the humidity. "So you wish to use no one else but me as a transporter? That might be a problem if you have an urgent need and I have another job lined up."

"You don't understand. I want you to only transport for me." The idea of another man touching his beautiful butterfly…

"I am sorry; I cannot accept such an offer. Monogamy is not my style. Do you have a job to offer me right now?" he asked, placing one hand on the table and leaning his weight onto it, preparing to stand up and leave if the answer came back as a negatory.

"No, but…"

"Then we have nothing more to discuss," Akabane commented. "Goodnight." He began to stand up at the same time the bodyguard began to stand. The bodyguard knocked over his soda all over Akabane's chest, causing him to cry out as ice went into his bra.

"I'm so sorry! Let me help you dry off," the assistant apologize.

"No!" Akabane snapped, picking up a towel and blotting at his wet chest. "Do not touch me. As much as I appreciate the irony of adding insult to injury, I can dry myself." After a few wasted minutes and the realization that he was not going to dry, he gave up and threw the towel down. "And now, goodnight, gentlemen."

As he turned to leave, a sudden pain struck him like a hammer to the chest. He fell backwards, landing in the booth, holding his hands over his heart. Another pain shot through him like Ginji's electricity, causing him to double over.

"Do you like your dress, my dear? When it gets hit with carbonated fluid, it gives off a fast-acting but very painful sedative."

Akabane growled. "We are in a crowded restaurant. Someone is going to see this." He continued holding his chest, trying to get off the seat. He'd fallen back into a soda puddle, so the pain was now spreading through his shoulder blades.

"A crowded restaurant full of men both used to drunks and keeping their mouths shut," Fujimoto grinned. "You must be feeling very sleepy by now."

It was not his style to do so, but Akabane might have used a few choice words had he not already collapsed onto the seat. Unnoticed by Fujimoto, however, a single blade had slipped from between his fingers and fallen to the carpet, where it remained. Fujimoto gestured to his guard. "Take her around to my car." He grinned down on the body of the fallen transporter. "I always get what I want."

About half an hour later, Himiko and Ginji arrived on the scene. "He's still here," Himiko noted as they snuck into the area at the front of the restaurant. She pointed to a familiar coat and hat that had been forgotten inside the coat check when Akabane had been forcibly removed from the building.

"But how do we get inside?" Ginji asked, pointing to the wait station blocking the entrance. "It looks too fancy for the way we're dressed!"

Himiko looked around, her eyes settling on a set of decorative bushes. "I have an idea."

Strangely, no one noticed a bunch of bushes slipping sideways into the restaurant. They should have, but like most businessmen of the upper crust they were too wrapped up in how good they looked to notice. "I don't see Akabane-san," Ginji whispered.

"I don't either," she whispered back, frowning. "Something must have happened." A glinting object caught her eye. "Over there, under that table," she whispered.

Ginji and Himiko crept over, hidden by bushes. Ginji's hand carefully darted out of the bush and snatched it from beneath the feet of the men sitting there. It cut him. "Ouch," he whispered. "It hurts!"

"I thought I saw a blue glint," Himiko whispered back, taking it. "A scalpel! Something must have happened. Akabane wouldn't leave his clothes and a scalpel behind for no reason."

One of the businessmen suddenly looked over, as a bush had started dropping leaves on his expensive coat. "Hey, there are a couple of spies here listening to our business deal!" he screamed, leaping up on his chair like a cartoon woman spotting a mouse. The whole room turned to face the commotion.

"Let's go!" Himiko shouted. The two leaped out of the bushes, Ginji going over the nearest table at the same time Himiko went under. In the resulting chaos, food flew everywhere. A few businessmen cried out as the delicious soy sauce went all over their multiple hundred dollar white dress shirts, leaving stains that not even the most deft dry cleaners could remedy.

"Get them!" someone shouted, in the moment before a strange smell reduced many of the men to gibbering like monkies. An electric blast courtesy of Ginji took out the men who had attempted to pull their guns. They fell into an unconscious mass on the floor.

"This way!" Himiko called, leading as Ginji followed. She took out a security guard with a direct punch to the face. She threw a chair onto its side, tripping up two men who had been attempting to rush her. As she looked over to make sure Ginji was still behind her, she noticed him carrying a black bundle. "You saved Akabane's clothes!" she asked in surprise. She jumped onto her bike and began revving it as Ginji launched himself into the passenger basket.

"Well, he seems kind of attached to them…" Ginji explained as she shot towards the exit ramp, pushing a gun-toting man into a puddle with her foot as they passed. Unbeknownst to her, a thousand-dollar suit was lost that day, and that did not even include the suits Ginji had thrown food on back in the restaurant. "How do we find where they took Akabane-san?" Ginji asked, holding onto the bundle with both hands.

"Get his cell phone out of the pocket and see if he has an entry for Kiki," Himiko said, trying to concentrate on escaping their pursuers.

It took Ginji a moment to figure out how the phone worked. "Here she is!" he said proudly.

"Call her and ask where to find Fujimoto. Tell her that he's got one of our girls." After a very awkward call, Ginji looked nervously up at Himiko. "Did she tell you?" Himiko asked.

"She gave me the address, but… I think I'm engaged!"

"Kiki can be like that. Everyone was surprised when she turned Fujimoto down," Himiko shrugged. "Give me the address. We're busting in."

Ginji fiddled with his fingers in the sidecar. "Ano... Himiko-san? You don't seem to like Akabane-san very much... How come you're so determined to save him?"

"So I can rub it in his face that I saved his life, and get him to stop taunting me with reminders of the time he saved my life," she answered shortly. "It wasn't even like I was in that much danger. Geeze, he doesn't need to gloat about it every time we disagree on a job!" Himiko fumed, diving dangerously in and out of traffic. Ginji covered his eyes. Perhaps he shouldn't have asked...

A/N: I still don't own Get Backers. Also, a note on the use of "he" and "she" to refer to female Akabane… what pronoun is used reflects on what the person thinking about Akabane would refer to Akabane as. Akabane uses he because he doesn't admit he's female. Fujimoto uses she because he knows Akabane as nothing else but a woman. To the reviewer who asked: Of course I am a fan of Akabane-san. If I were not, I would have put him in a sailor fuku. looks over and sees Akabane muse inching towards the door.

My advice to Yami? Give your clock a few years. :P