Ban-chan is one tough character to write for, but Ginji is even harder to place. You know he's instinctively smart, but not systematically smart, and that's hard to write, because you want him neither too smart nor too silly. That's why, if you notice, you get to read Ban's thoughts but only read Ginji's actions in this story. That's also why The Prize, with all its Ginji-ness, is incredible to me.
Sorry for the long delay. Culprits: Samurai 7, Saiyuki Reload, wardwork (medical records writing), first week of school.
A resident of the RK section is back with another chapter of a GB fic, still scaring herself with each new chapter. Thanks for reading.
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Two days passed.
Breakfast came to him, ready at the dining table. A freshly pressed suit awaited him in a walk-in closet. And the suite had been cleaned by the time he woke up.
He got hold of the cleaning lady, and made her talk. "The truth. Am I being drugged? How come I never feel you people coming and going?"
The lady vehemently refused, a little scared but brave. "Scout's honor. But judging from the bedsheets, sir, you keep tossing and turning at night, then you finally fall asleep at dawn. So when we come around at 7 or 8, you're too fast asleep to notice us."
Tossing and turning? He did not even realize he was tossing and turning at all! All he knew was that his mind kept building scenario after scenario. Ginji would get another partner. Ginji would revert back to Raitei. Ginji would be shot. Ginji would be involved in an orchestrated accident. Situations presented themselves in close succession. Finally, out of exhaustion, his mind went blank. He would only be relieved of the blankness by the smell of dark coffee.
He had another question for the cleaning lady. "That green statue, the centerpiece. How long has it been here?"
"Around five years," the lady said. "The original owner run out of money, and sold it directly to this hotel."
"What about the characters at the base?"
"Came with the statue."
He sighed. Dead end clue.
During waking hours, he tried to keep thoughts of his electric friend at bay, by checking the organization's headquarters more carefully. Now that he was one of the subleaders, he was given full access to all floors and all files. He did check on files for Amano Ginji, and fortunately found next to nothing. Only that he was Ban's partner, and was often seen at a small café.
He did call the Honky Tonk again. To order pizza – knowing full well that the Honky Tonk did not deliver. He would then act like an irritated customer and demand that they deliver, giving Natsumi his current address. At the same time, he listened to the receiver for his friend's chirpy voice.
"Don't you even have a delivery boy there?" he screeched at Natsumi, though he never liked doing it.
"I think we do," Natsumi replied, "but………he has a bad tendency of getting lost."
"Oh, never mind, I'll get a pizza somewhere else," and he lowered the receiver.
Ban was given a lukewarm reception by the older and more powerful bosses of the triad section Chan was a member of. He did know why. Some of the people assembled had been the clients of the GetBackers, and some of the other people had been their targets. Chan defended him to the group, citing that they could utilize the experience of a retrieval expert to their advantage.
"But the man is not even Chinese!" one of the board members complained.
"Neither was the legendary White Tiger," Chan replied. "Yet he managed to control the organization."
It was then that the board looked at Ban more intently, awe filling their faces the longer they looked.
"Gentlemen, I believe that the spirit of that great leader is in this young man, and he will take our organization to greater heights. What say you?"
Whispers and murmurs were heard for a few moments. Ban pocketed his arms and looked out the window while they talked. He could not help but think of Ginji's shocked face when his limo passed by the Honky Tonk.
A general hush, as the eldest member of the board stood. "We agree to test the young man for the next two weeks."
Chan bowed politely to the elder. "We thank you for your generosity."
Thus, Ban was included in the next weekly board meeting of the organization, in the basement of a factory. It looked dreary from the outside, but the boardroom itself was cozy and opulent. Leather cushioned chairs with armrests surrounded a mahogany table.
His opinion was not needed at the meeting, so he spent most of it memorizing names, faces, and connections. Might prove useful both while part of the organization, and when he returned to being just plain old Ban of the GetBackers.
It was better that he was not asked about anything. He felt really odd. Somehow he just knew that Ginji was on the premises. For once, he hoped against hope, that his hunch was wrong.
That was the problem. His hunch for Ginji was never wrong.
An alarm went off from the side of the room. Everyone rose and scrambled and arranged. Soon no one would have known a syndicate had a meeting there.
"Intruder in the warehouse," the guard watching the monitors pointed at one of them.
Of the higher-ranked members, Ban was first to arrive at the monitors, and checked the one the guard pointed at. A young man was running the length of the warehouse toward a door. When he got there he tried to open the lock, then to spark it, to no avail.
It was him. Ginji. Alone. Without the spool. And no way to get him out without being cruel. Again. Dammit!
"Entrance and exit to the warehouse locked?" Chan asked, behind Ban.
"Yes, sir."
"Interesting. No accomplices this time," Chan noted, then smiled slyly at Ban. "I suppose the new leader can handle this by himself?"
Ban knew what the annoyance was trying to do: check his loyalty. This was not the time to betray it, not yet.
"The guy might put up a fight," he said. "I'll need backup."
"Alright," he said, and pointed to ten men. "Go with him."
Chan gave him a pass card to open the warehouse doors. Ban made a run for it, bodyguards and members following after him.
He was first to arrive, and swiped the card. He did not wait for the guards to enter first, but checked left and right himself then went in. Soon he was face to face with his friend.
Suit notwithstanding, the young man recognized him immediately. "BAN-CHAN!" He squealed, and started to run to him.
"Stop right there!" the bodyguards pointed their guns straight at Ginji, and stopped him in his tracks. "What business do you have with the White Tiger?"
"Huh? Come again?"
One man pointed to Ban. "What do you want with our boss?"
"Your BOSS?" Ginji laughed heartily. "Ban is your BOSS? But he doesn't like being in a company! Isn't that right, Ban-chan?"
Ban looked away.
One of the guards finally asked Ban himself. "Sir, do you know this man?"
Ban took a deep breath, lowered his head, and cocked up his glasses. He answered. "I don't know him."
Ginji looked at him, stunned. "But, but, but, Ban-chan……." His puppy-dog eyes were close to crying.
"A common thief, and a dumb one," he added, louder and haughtier, "for getting caught so quickly. Why should I be connected to him?" The men behind him readied clubs and pistols.
"WHAT? Ban-chan, have they brainwashed you or something?" Ginji paled.
"Get him, boys," he said. And soon the men charged.
Ginji slipped on the power gloves and started a barrage of electric strikes. Soon he was felling dark-suited, heavily armed, muscular men left and right.
So as not to rouse any suspicion, Ban too went down to the floor at the slightest shock from his friend. But Ginji did not notice that it was just an act, and Ban soon heard his friend's high tenor shrieking just above him as the sparker shook him like a rag doll. "Ban-chan! You okay, Ban-chan? Ban-chan!"
He kept his eyes shut, as he checked for other noises. Some groans, but not much else. Nobody was still walking or attacking. In typical Ginji fashion, all comers were down.
He bonked his friend on the head. "Stop shouting into my ear, of course I'm alright! It's not the first time you've electrocuted me!"
Then he remembered. The cameras. He can't be friendly with the enemy.
"Ban-chan! You're okay! Say, the suit looks swell on you!" Ginji jumped up with arms outstretched for a big hug.
Ban did not let him. He gave him a solid punch through the stomach.
"What part of 'We're through' did you NOT understand, Ginji?" he screamed at him.
Ginji backed up a few steps away. "But, but, Ban-chan….."
"No more buts!" He landed under punch. "What the hell are you doing here? Do you want to get killed so badly?"
"No, of course not! I don't wanna get killed!" his friend answered. "But I saw you in that fancy car with those scary people inside, and I wanted to make sure you're alright…"
He held his friend by the neck, and pushed him to a wall with the full force of the Snake Bite. He pulled back ever so slightly. His friend could breathe well enough, but could not pull himself away. He spoke to him with an angry hiss, very rapidly, in a voice only Ginji could hear, as his friend squirmed from the iron hold.
"Listen to me, Ginji, and listen good. Shock me, the way you did with the other people here. Knock me unconscious, I don't care. After you do that, run. Run straight back to the Honky Tonk. Do not go anywhere else. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. Do not contact anyone. Stay in the basement tonight. Don't make yourself seen. Last: Find a red dragon. That's all I can tell you. After this, never look for me, if you want to stay alive. Never come back here, because the next time you do, I might not be able to save you. It's YOUR damn fault why I'm in this mess right now, so don't make it any worse for yourself or for me. I won't even ask if you remember everything I said. At the count of three, do it."
"Ban……"
He ignored it, and tightened his grip. "One……"
"-chan……don't….."
"Two……."
"Don't make me do it……"
"Three."
Ban choked his friend, and forced the reaction. Ginji gripped the hand that held him, and gave it a terrifying amount of electrical energy. The lights went out beyond his eyes, and he just barely felt himself fall to the floor.
"I'll come back for you, Ban-chan," he heard his friend above him, then heard the crunch of rubber shoes rapidly fading away.
The annoying sparker only blinded him for a few minutes, but did not knock him out. The shock was enough to keep him from standing, though. He still felt like he wanted to pass out. He stayed on the floor, closed his eyes, and waited for backup to arrive.
Maybe he did pass out after all. It seemed like forever before he heard voices and groans around him.
"That guy in the cameraman jacket……..he ain't normal!" one of the men said.
"Lightning! It was coming out of his hands!" said another.
He heard more footsteps. He opened his eyes and found more footmen and several of the subleaders entering the warehouse. He slowly, painfully sat up.
"Are you alright, sir?" One of the subleaders quickly asked.
"Toasted, I guess, but fine," Ban placed a hand in front of his eyes and checked if the fingers were all there and he could see them.
"We saw it in the surveillance camera. That guy gave you quite a shock!"
"But you were great as well, White Tiger! To get that close to the assailant, and choke him!" another man added.
"The name is Midou Ban," he hissed as he got up from the floor. "In future you will call me by my name. I am NOT the White Tiger!"
"But, sir……."
"Leave me alone!" he snapped. "I'll be at the bar if you need me."
His assigned guards started trailing after him, but he looked at them with piercing eyes. "Go back to HQ. Go to sleep. I said I'll be at the bar. I'm not going anywhere else. Get lost."
The guards shrugged, and started to walk away. He got into his assigned limo, and returned to the hotel.
He hid his eyes well under his small glasses, lit up a cigarette, and walked to the hotel bar. He sat at the uncomfortable stool, half expecting a white scribbled mug and a sandwich. "What will it be, sir?" the bartender asked.
"What's the strongest thing you have here?"
The bartender showed him the bottle at the far end of a shelf.
"Fine," he said. "And keep it coming. Don't worry. I'm not the kind who rants when I'm drunk."
"That bad," the bartender tsked at him as he poured it out. "You guys got caught?"
He shook his head. "I've just turned against my best friend."
The bartender looked at him with pity, as Ban gulped down the bitter drink in one second. "This life's like that, kiddo. This life's like that." He poured out another. "I've heard it too many times."
When the man said it was strong, it really was. Two gulps later, and he was already feeling dizzy, he who was a veteran of hard drinks. Still he kept on asking for more. The man obliged him, filling the glass as soon as it was empty. As he promised, he did not talk at all, just thrust out the little shot glass and took it back to down its new contents.
An almost empty bottle afterward, he held his head up with his hand on his forehead. His eyes began to droop. He pounded the counter. "I gotta get out, I gotta. I can't keep doing this," he mumbled as he shook his head and downed another glass.
"That's the problem, kid. Once you're in, there is only one way to leave."
"Yeah, I know as much." He settled his head on the counter. "Hey, you mind?"
The man said no, as he dried the rest of the glasses.
"Really sorry about this, man. I don't want to go up to that gilded cage yet. Just call any of those lackeys if you need to close up or something." He shut his eyes.
"And since when did customers become considerate of bartenders?" the one behind the counter asked with a surprised chuckle.
"Since this one met Paul," he muttered, and started to snore.
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Something I so like about being a writer. I've already been a drunkard, a smoker, and a temporary drug addict in my stories. (Yup, nice place, the RK section, ne?) In real life – I won't even get close to those things.
If you've never heard of Samurai 7, it's because it's quite new, just ending last Christmas in Japan. It's Gonzo's most ambitious anime to date, and is a semi sci-fi anime adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's movie Seven Samurai. I guess that sounds weird, but it worked. It's really neat, and you really get to know everybody's personality.
Thank you to Atropos' Knife, Rabid Lola (kabayan!), Winter Zephyr, and sapphi-chan for reviewing Multiplication. Sorry about the computation mistakes. Never liked math, always liked English. I keep apologizing because, as already said, Akabane was supposed to be the teacher.
The Sinner of Anger – Thanks so much for saying I did right with Ban-chan. The chapter scared me soon after it was done.
Yami Neko Tenshi – Thanks for all the pity for our duo. Thanks for liking it so far.
Atropos Knife – Wow, thanks for explaining to me what I was vaguely driving at for Ban-chan. Can you please explain who Rena is and why she's now working with Natsumi at the coffee shop? Thanks! And I do like Ginji with Natsumi, too. Thanks much for reading Multiplication. I thought I did something really bad, which is why nobody reviewed.
Oro-man – Thanks a lot!
Next chapter might take a while in coming, since I have wardwork and a school paper article to think about in the next few weeks. Just place me on Story Alert if you want to know when I do get to update. Thanks again!