Akabane's arm reached out while her mind remained unconscious, slowly feeling around the empty spot on the table. When it found nothing, one pale purple eye slipped open. "Ginji? Ginji-kun?" Akabane asked, slowly sitting up. Oh, that was right. He'd gone downstairs to go to the bathroom. Where was he? He should have been back by now, Akabane though as she sat up fully, swinging bare feet onto the wooden floor.
As he sat up, he realized he was instinctively holding the blanket over his breasts- her breasts? He had decided- she had decided to accept this female body, at least for now, but it would take awhile for her to adjust to thinking of herself as female instead of male.
Slender, bare feet hit the cold wooden floor of the upstairs room. "Ginji-kun?" Akabane asked, barely able to remain conscious, searching the area with her eyes. The lights were still out, inserting a slight sense of worry into her heart. The power company didn't usually take so long to get the lights working again. Was something very wrong?
It was too dark to see anything, except when occasional flashes of lightning would come through the window and allow her to see vague shapes in the room. She did not, however, see Ginji. Where was he and where was the tea he'd promised to bring her?
Fighting her exhaustion, she tugged on the knots holding her tablecloth dress in place to make sure it was firmly attached to her body before padding towards the hallway, hands outstretched to feel for the doorframe. "This is ridiculous," Akabane finally announced out loud to no one in particular, lighting up a handful of glowing scalpels. The light didn't go far, but it was at least better than groping around in the darkness like a blind man.
In the slight glow of her knives, Akabane suddenly realized that she was not alone. Someone was standing at the end of the hallway. "Ginji-kun? Is that you?" she asked, leaning her weight against the doorframe. She was exhausted, and using what little energy she had left to manifest her knives in order to see.
A flash of lightning in the window behind the other person suddenly illuminated their outline. Akabane's fingers curled tighter around the doorframe, gripping firmly while her eyes narrowed in hostility. That was neither the outline of Ginji-kun nor Midou-kun. That was the outline of someone in a hooded cloak… just like the person who had been responsible for her transformation.
Akabane launched the blades she had ready at the form, which in truth was not the brightest idea for Akabane had no idea if they had actually struck their target or not when they embedded themselves neatly in the far wall.
"A very good shot," a woman's voice purred, coming from somewhere down the darkened hallway.
"Who are you and what do you want with me?" Akabane asked, drawing up another handful of blades at the ready. For a second, her knees weakened and felt as if they might buckle. Damn it, she didn't have enough strength to keep up this fight for much longer.
If you scream, Ginji-kun would come to save you, a voice mocked inside her head. No, Akabane argued back with herself, pushing up against the frame of the door for support. Just because I have this woman's body does not mean I am going to scream like a helpless waif for the big strong man to come save me. I'm still Doctor Jackal, even if I no longer look it.
"Haven't you figured it out by now, yet?" the woman's voice asked, chuckling slightly in response. "You never knew your biological parents, did you?"
"I do not see what that has to do with anything," Akabane answered, taking a slight step backwards. If she could get to a chair, she could sit down and rely on her long-range attacks to protect herself.
"Haven't you seen the resemblance yet, child?" Suddenly, the woman was directly in front of Akabane, a smile that was more like a leer stretched across her angular face. "I am your mother."
Akabane lashed out with the blades and jumped back, despite finding herself on uneasy footing. She was so tired… why was she so tired? It was as if all the energy had been sapped right out of her body. "That is a lie. What reason would my supposed mother have for putting a curse on me?"
The woman appeared to her left, pushing Akabane over onto her side before she could react. The blades she had been holding went skittering across the floor, their light flickering as though the scalpels themselves were threatening to go out. Akabane quickly started lifting herself back up off her stomach, only to hear the enemy sigh, "Powers, bind her arms."
Before she could react, both her arms twisted behind her back, wrists crossed, and she fell flat on her stomach. A high heeled boot appeared in Akabane's field of view, dangerously close to her face. "Such a weak spell never would have worked on you if you were at full strength, but you are not." She sighed again. "I apologize for having to tie you up like this, but it was obvious you weren't going to stop long enough for me to explain if I didn't."
She picked Akabane up off the floor and sat her down on top of a pile of boxes. Another flash of lightning illuminated the room, revealing the other woman's face- and for a horrifying moment, Akabane saw the smile on her face. He knew that cruel smile, the kind of smile that made your blood turn to ice despite how pleasant of facial expression it might have been on anyone else. It was her own smile.
"My darling daughter, I did not put a curse on you- I removed a curse from you," she said, pulling up her own box and sitting down. "Oh, please, stop glaring at me like that. I can sense the faces you're making even if I can't see them. I'll let your arms go if you promise to be a good girl," she said, waving a hand and causing the binding spell to release.
Akabane rubbed her bruised wrists. "I am afraid I do not follow you."
"Don't you feel more at home in this body than you ever did as a man? Don't you feel like you belong like this? Don't you feel like it's possible that someone might like you like this? Someone like that innocent blonde boy-"
"I will not have Ginji-kun involved in my fights," Akabane answered, threatening the woman at point-blank with a fist full of scalpels. "If this is a fight between you and I, it stays between you and I."
"Oh, protective, aren't we?" she smirked. "Do you want me to have to bind your arms again, young lady?" Even in Akabane's weakened state, she doubted the spell would work again now that he expected it. She'd only managed to catch him the first time because she'd caught him unaware, whether he realized that or not. "The men who took you from me didn't want a female warrior. They wanted a male warrior to continue on their bloodline and tradition. So they put this spell over your body, a spell to transform you into a man. I merely removed it and returned you to your natural state."
"I do not believe you," Akabane answered shortly, hands folded tensely in her lap. "Your story falls apart in that the ones who raised me never honestly intended for me to become a warrior."
"How can you say that wasn't their intent all along? It happened, didn't it? You don't have to answer that question right away. Just think about it. You know that you've been feeling it all along- that you might belong this way. That this might be your real per-" Her words were cut short, as she had to move quickly out of the way of several scalpels that embedded themselves in the wall.
She glanced back at Akabane. Akabane's fingers were losing color from the pressure being put on them in her attempt to keep from losing her grip on the wall. "You don't have much strength left, even I can see that. Why not just take some time to think about it?" The woman smiled. "I'll be back when you're rested." With that, her form seemed to melt into the thin air.
Akabane looked with great interest upon the spot she had vanished from, then released her grip and toppled over onto her side, staring off into inky blackness. The grains of the wood floor were rough, and she gave herself a splinter in her attempts to get back up. If she'd had an energy meter attached to her body, measuring her powers, it would have read "no voltage".
I do not even have the strength to get up, Akabane thought miserably to herself. Am I really this weak as a woman? She rolled over onto her side and lay there. Ginji-kun will come up and find you, her mind said. No, wait, that wasn't right. She would never look weak in front of the Thunder Emperor, male or female. Not if she wanted to one day fight him at the limits of her power.
Unfortunately, not even the strongest of minds can conquer weakness of the body, so she ended up sprawled out on the floor, lost in a deep layer of sleep that only those special beings recharging their damaged powers were capable of reaching.
Meanwhile, back downstairs, Ban glanced over at Ginji. He gripped his partner by the hair, pulling his face out of the ice cream. He was absolutely coated in it from hairline to chin. On top of that, he was sound asleep and snoring.
Ban frowned. He'd never known Ginji to choose sleep over food, ever. He pushed Ginji aside just far enough that when Ginji toppled back over, he landed with his face on the counter instead of in his food. It would not be good to have their partnership ended by Ginji drowning in a bowl of caramel swirl.
He cast his next disapproving glance upon the overhead lights, still blackened. Even Ginji looked creepy in only the glow of the single charged flashlight they had between them on the table, and Jackal was still somewhere in the building. He didn't want to take a chance with that monster in the dark, alone with an unconscious and vulnerable Ginji on the sidelines.What could possibly be taking the power company so long?
As Ban pondered the lack of power, the witch sisters walked through the parking lot of the lavish hotel where they had been conducting their operations. "I do not understand," the sister less involved in the plot grunted. "Why did you not seize her while she was weak? She may not cooperate with us, given the time to recharge her abilities."
The other sister looked down into the glowing silver box she was holding cradled in her arms as she got into the passenger seat of the car the two shared. Inside, a miniature Ban made of straw was looking upward, towards where a miniature straw Akabane lay unconscious. Beside him sat a snoring, twitching straw Ginji.
"Just drive to where I've told you, sister," the witch sister smiled. She reached down, placed two skeleton-thin fingers around the straw Ban's waist, and smiled as she began to guide him.
In the Honky Tonk, Ban picked up his flashlight and headed for what appeared to be a broom closet. Inside, hidden, were the stairs that would take him either down to what he assumed was the Honky Tonk's storage basement, or upstairs to the computer room and the extra closet. Ginji had mentioned Jackal still being in the building, and Ban wanted to know what that half-gender thing was up to.
The stairs creaked in protest, loud enough to make their whines heard about the pounding sound of the rain. The door to the upstairs stuck, making Ban worry for just a second that Jackal had found a way to block it. He rammed his shoulder into the door, causing it to fly open and spill him on the floor.
He dropped his flashlight, the impact causing it to switch off. He could hear it rolling across the floor, even if he could not see it. Swearing, Ban crawled towards where he could hear it rolling. It should be right about here, he thought as he reached out.
He was terribly surprised to find a mass of something soft and slightly firm, like a good pillow, in his grip. What was a pillow doing lying on the ground? He continued to grope around until he managed to find his flashlight. As he flicked it on, he realized that what he had a firm grip on was not a pillow- but Akabane's chest.
He jumped away, fully expecting another groin full of blades. When nothing happened, he realized that he should probably start breathing again. He scooted slowly back towards where the he/she lay, poking Akabane repeatedly in the side with the end of the flashlight cautiously until he realized that Akabane was not going to wake up.
"Hey, you," he said angrily, shaking Akabane's shoulder. "Don't you dare need CPR! It's just my luck that the lights would come on right then, and no one would ever believe my story!"
"Stop shaking me, Ginji-kun. I want to sleep," Akabane muttered, curling slightly up into what could be called a Bane-ball.
Ban grunted. Not only was he displeased with having been called Ginji, but something was beginning to tickle in the back of his brain. Something that said that the situation wasn't quite right. Ginji was sleeping instead of eating- that never happened. Jackal, completely and totally knocked out? That didn't happen, either.
"I suppose I can't just leave you on the floor," he sighed to himself, lifting Akabane up. "OOOOF!" he cried once he managed to get a good grip on the body. "For the love of- for a skinny girl, you're heavy!" he grunted, straining and trying not to break his back as he held Akabane. "How many kilograms of weapons HAVE you shoved in there?" He glared down at her chest, where he'd wedged the flashlight. "I suppose you can carry even more with the extra room in there."
He carried Akabane back into the supply room, unceremoniously flopping her down onto the table. As he was straightening out and popping the aches out of his back, he caught a deep sniff of a strange scent hovering thickly in the air of the room. He recognized it instantly- it was the musky stink he'd recognized clinging to Ginji.
He knew that scent from somewhere else. Once or twice, on certain nights that he cared not to share the mental details of, he'd smelled it clinging to the inside of his car in the morning. He knew that scent, oh yes… but no, no, Ginji couldn't have. Ginji wouldn't have.
There had to be other proof. He wasn't just going to assume that Ginji would- not with that thing. He wouldn't. After all, Ginji was supposed to be his partner. His best friend. Closer to him than anyone else, he knew Ginji inside and out, and he just knew that Ginji wouldn't. Ginji wouldn't go behind his back like that, no!
He began moving around the room, being quieter than he probably had to. After all, Akabane was definitely out for the count for the time being. Finally, when he was about ready to give up his search and blissfully admit that he had been wrong, his flashlight beam fell upon the trashcan.
A small, unassuming piece of plastic was all that he needed to realize that the worst case scenario were true. It was a wrapper, and Ban didn't need any help at all to realize what it had once held. He was grateful he hadn't found the actual object, or else the rubbish can would have become his personal vomit bucket.
Seething with rage, he twitched his hand in the general direction of where Akabane was lying. "I could crush your windpipe in while you slept," he said darkly to no one in particular, his voice sounding particularly alien against a background of rolling thunder. "But Ginji wouldn't want me to. Not that Ginji seems to care about respecting my wishes," he snorted. Wait, wait, that wasn't fair. You never made 'you shall not have romantic relationships with homicidal half-women' a condition of their friendship, his mind argued back.
How could that not be an unspoken term of their partnership, Ban answered the voice in his head. Ginji knows I would never approve of this. Did he think of my feelings before he thought of his hormones?
Well, perhaps you are not thinking about Ginji's feelings, the voice in his head bantered back. Ban's arms dropped to his sides. This was something that did not make him happy in the least, and something he and Ginji were going to have to have a very serious 'discussion' about, but it was not something to kill anyone over. True, Akabane probable deserved to die, but it was not his place at that time to be the executioner.
As he started to walk away, he felt something gripping tightly to his wrist. "Don't leave, Ginji-kun," Akabane muttered, sounding just awake enough to speak and not much else. In that moment, a flash of inspiration came over Ban's mind. She thinks I'm Ginji. If I can get her talking, I can make her confess to seducing poor Ginji. Then I can use her words to slap Ginji in the face. That will teach him a sharp and painful lesson about letting his hormones get the better of his brain.
He sat down beside her, grinning in the darkness like the cat that ate the canary. "Don't worry," he said, bending his voice to mimic Ginji as best he could. The fact that the two had lived in very close quarters with one another for as long as they had made this easier. "I will not leave. In fact, I want to talk."
"Too tired to talk," Akabane yawned, releasing her grip on his wrist. "Why does your voice sound funny?"
"I think I am catching something. I went and walked in the rain. To cool down, after we-" he paused, hoping the exhausted Akabane would finish the sentence.
He/she didn't. Instead, Akabane laid a hand on his thigh. "Ginji-kun, won't you hold me while I sleep?"
Ban rolled his eyes, but if that's what it took to get a confession, then that's what he had to do. He let Akabane put his/her arms around his neck with only a slight sigh, which she didn't seem to hear. Only when he put an arm around her back to keep her from wobbling around did he realize, to his slight horror, that she wasn't wearing the sheet.
His face turned a brilliant red involuntarily, although no one could see it in the dark. He had a very nice chest pushed up against his body, and there were no clothes covering it. He certainly did NOT want to be that close to a naked Jackal in any situation, but he couldn't help it. Perhaps he could just pretend he didn't actually know who they were attached to- or think of them as attached to no one, just two floating pieces of flesh in mid air.
Okay, scratch that last description. That was pretty creepy. Ban was still musing over whether the boobs were creepier attached to Jackal or attached to no one when she threw her arms around his neck. "I am so tired, Ginji-kun."
"And why do you suppose you are tired?" he asked, trying to sound like Ginji when Ginji was joking. He'd pry that confession out of her thin lips yet. Oh, but Ginji would be so humiliated when he found out Ban knew his secret. Well, that would teach him to keep that kind of secret.
Downstairs, Ginji had pried his eyes open. "Ban-chan?" he asked, upon finding that he was in the dark. "Ban-chan? Master?" He glanced around.
A brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the main room, allowing him to see that the door to the upstairs was open. Concerned, Ginji stood up and moved towards it. "Akabane-san…" he muttered under his breath. If she was awake… what if she'd gotten in a fight with Ban? That would be bad!
Ginji grabbed his still slightly damp shirt off the peg where it had been hanging, throwing it over his head and thudding up the stairs. He had to make sure that Akabane-san was okay, and by extension, that Ban-chan was okay. After all, if one was fine, it likely meant that the other was as well.
Ban was ready to throw a tantrum from sheer frustration. All Akabane wanted to do was snuggle and sleep, and seemed to almost know the exact words he wanted to hear out of her, and was thus avoiding saying them. Damn it, he thought, Jackal manages to piss me off even when he/she's not trying to!
She had adjusted her position against his side. "What's wrong, Ginji-kun?" she asked, still exhausted. "You are tense. Why don't you lie down?" Unfortunately for her, the similarity in Ban and Ginji's build didn't allow her to tell that she was being deceived, and she was too tired to notice the subtle differences in Ban's voice that would have given him away as a Ginji impersonate.
The feel of her chest bumping against his was just too tempting. Well, she thought he was Ginji, right? What harm could one innocent little squeeze do? He reached down, his fingers finding their intended target-
Right as Ban's hand wandered to where it shouldn't have been, Ginji pulled open the door to the room where he'd last left Akabane. The witch sister, watching the straw figures move about under her command in her silver box, released her hold on the electricity right then, causing the room to fill up with light as power flooded back into the Honky Tonk.
Ginji stared at Ban, his jaw slack. Akabane also stared up at Ban, purple eyes blinking as it took a moment for her tired brain to process the information. Ban stared, horrified, at Ginji. He was unable to move, even to get his hand off of where it shouldn't have been.
"Ban-chan, you-" Ginji started. His words were cut off when Akabane suddenly lashed out, raking an entire fist full of scalpels across Ban's face.
Ban howled, falling off the table and covering his face. "Ban-chan!" Ginji screamed, running to his wounded partner. He looked up at Akabane, holding her tablecloth over her chest, a look of twisted rage on her face as blood dripped down her fingers. The look on Ginji's face, however, was one of pure hurt.
"Akabane-san, how could you?" Ginji asked, his voice barely a whimper of protest.
Akabane froze. Her body was shaking slightly. She knew she had no more energy of her own and yet she was managing to remain upright. There was pressure under her ribcage, as though an invisible force were holding her upright.
"Of course- of course you would take his side." Even though he was the one molesting her. Even though he'd tried to trick her into thinking he was Ginji. Why? Why would he do that? Unless he'd intended to-
Ginji leaned over Ban, pressing his partner's wounded face into his chest. A few drops of blood fell, staining red on his shirt and pants. "Akabane-san, I-"
He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. She'd grabbed what remained of her clothes and charged for the window at the far end of the room, breaking through it and landing on the balcony outside. Then, faster than the human eye could blink, she had disappeared out into the night.
Ginji looked after her and started to move, when Ban reached up and gripped his shoulder. Ginji's body sagged in resignation. Ban-chan came first, no matter what, and precious Ban-chan had great injuries that had to be attended to. He'd go after Akabane then.