Bffimagine: Urk. I think this is getting a bit long…
Ban: Maybe you should've tried for five chapters the last few… er… times that you wrote fanfictions.
Ginji: Nods
"Ginji?"
"Hmm? Ban-chan?"
"Where are you?"
"Right here."
"Don't leave me."
"I won't."
"You promise?"
"Hai."
"You'll be there then?"
"Itsumo."
Ban smiled.
"I promise to never leave you," Ban whispered to Ginji.
Ginji grinned and replied that he pledged likewise.
"What month is it today?" Ban asked quietly.
"Well, it's midway through October. Why?"
Ban grimaced.
"I won't be able to see until midway through April."
"Don't worry about it Ban-chan. Time will go by real fast."
"I don't know about that."
Ginji grinned and dragged his partner off the bed. He held Ban's hand, interlocking his fingers with the brunette's.
"You need some fresh air. You'll be fine in no time."
Ban sighed and agreed. He wished he could learn to refuse Ginji sometime soon…
"Where are we Ginji?" Ban almost interrogated.
"At the park," Ginji responded cheerfully.
Ban took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh outdoor air. He heard children playing on the grass, laughing and rolling around on the ground. He felt the warm sun on his face, the gentle breeze licking against his skin. Felt the presence of many people, the presence of innocent hearts.
Amongst all the white there was a terrible blackness. A blackness that almost consumed the purity of everything else, threatening to devour even the carefree laughter of the children.
"Ginji," Ban stated warily, "There's something very wrong here."
"It's okay Ban-chan. Don't worry about it."
Ban still felt uneasy. He probed his surroundings with his mind, regarding the presence of even the smallest insect. He could feel the shapes and made the images in his imagination, thinking about how it would look if he could see. He saw the little children, the teenagers making out behind trees, the adults buying ice cream for their insistent children. And then he saw it—felt it—the black presence tainting all else.
"Ginji, let's go. I don't think we should be here."
Ginji turned to look at Ban. He saw the fear in the clouded eyes, the ones that could no longer see. He looked around for what was disturbing Ban, and the answer found him.
The click of a loading gun rang in the ears of both Ban and Ginji. Ginji felt the cold tip of a gun on the back of his head, sending shivers down his spine.
Ban could sense Ginji's fear, and the person behind him. The aura was strangely familiar…
"Y-You're the Yakuza," he breathed.
"Very observant. My right-hand man bailed me out of that awful jail cell."
The blood ran icy cold in Ban's veins. Ginji felt his breath catch in his throat.
'I hope my senses are as good as they're cracked up to be,' Ban joked bitterly to himself, counting down in his mind.
'Three…'
The finger tightened around the trigger.
'Two…'
Ginji squeezed his eyes shut.
'One…'
"Snakebite!"
Ban closed his eyes as his hand closed around the Yakuza leader's neck, and he pressed down hard on the pressure point. The man fell limp to the ground, landing heavily with a large 'thud'.
Gasps echoed around Ginji and Ban, seemingly extracting themselves from the mouths of all the innocent families.
Tension hung thick in the atmosphere, every eye on Ban or the man lying on the ground at his feet.
The silence shattered like weak glass when a little boy spoke up.
"COOL! Mommy, I want to be just like that man! I want to be really strong like him!" the child declared, holding his ice cream cone and pointing at Ban with the hand that had a red balloon tied to it.
"No Tommy, you can't be like him. He's not a good person. You see, he just killed that man," the mother explained gently to the little brown-haired boy.
Ban's fists clenched and his muscles tensed.
The crowd started to break out in whispers.
"Freak!"
"Murderer!"
"Good-for-nothing killer!"
Ban's patience cracked. He turned his back and walked away, not knowing where he would go next.
"Ban-chan…" Ginji whispered so quiet no one could hear. He ran after Ban, the painful remarks the townspeople were saying about Ban follow close at his heels.
"He's not dead, see?" Tommy pointed at the Yakuza, "He's breathing. I know because his tummy gets bigger then gets smaller again. You said that means he's breathing Mommy."
"Yes it does Tommy. But that man still did something very bad. And no one is really that strong. He's just a freak Tommy. Don't go after that man."
"I don't care!" Tommy wailed. He dropped the melted and half-finished ice cream on the ground and ran after Ban.
"TOMMY!" his mother yelled in vain. Her son was far out of earshot, and his balloon had just disappeared behind a nearby wall.
"Hey mister," Tommy said confidently.
Ban was sitting on a bench, head in his hands. He was so upset his senses had not picked up the little boy.
"What's your name little boy?" Ban asked gently, hiding every trace of anger or sadness from his face.
"Tommy."
Ban smiled.
"Hello Tommy."
"I wanna be strong just like you!" Tommy blurted out, talking rather fast.
Ban's smile faded.
"No you don't Tommy. Not like me. You want to be strong like a fire fighter. But not like me."
"I don't think you're a freak. I think you're just like everybody else. Just a lot stronger."
Ban chuckled slightly and ruffled Tommy's hair.
Tommy noticed that Ban wasn't looking directly at him.
"What's wrong with your eyes Mister?" He asked innocently.
"Oh. I can't see."
"That must be real bad. I hope you get better then Mister."
Ban smiled again.
"I hope so too."
"TOMMY!"
Tommy looked up, and to his disappointment, saw his mother.
"I told you not to follow this man! You're in BIG trouble young man!" Tommy's mom scolded.
She took Tommy's small hand and started walking away, stopping and shooting a hateful glare at Ban.
Ban felt the glare, it's heat burning right through him.
"Bye Mister!" Tommy called out cheerfully.
"Goodbye Tommy," Ban smiled in response.
"Ban-chan…" Ginji murmured soothingly when he found Ban on a park bench.
"I didn't kill that man. He deserved to die, but I let him live. No one understands that," Ban reflected almost wonderingly.
"I understand," Ginji smiled and hugged Ban.
"Yes. You do. And so does Tommy."
"Tommy?" Ginji cocked his head to one side.
"That little boy."
"Oh. He's a cute little kid."
"I guess so."
"Let's go home."
Ban obliged and got up. Ginji started to lead him in the right directions and they left the park.
Mid-November
"See Ban-chan? It's already in the middle of November! Didn't I tell you that time would go quick?" Ginji announced proudly.
"I guess so."
"Aw, come on Ban-chan. You'll be able to see in no time."
"It feels longer to me than it does to you, you know," Ban sighed.
Ginji giggled and kissed Ban. He broke away, beginning to kiss the tip of his koi's nose.
Electric sparks riveted through Ban's senses, making him feel oddly giddy.
"I'd better pay them a visit," Himiko said to no one in particular as she approached Ginji and Ban's door. When she looked up to open the door, she saw Natsumi.
"NATSUMI!" She screamed, more in surprise than anything else.
"SHH!" Natsumi warned, pressing a finger to her lips, "Something's going on in there, and I don't know what. Listen!"
Himiko listened intently.
"AUGH! GINJI! STOP! HAVE MERCY!" they heard Ban yelling.
"What's happening? Why is Ginji hurting Ban?" Himiko wondered.
"Let's find out before it's too late!" Natsumi ushered urgently.
The two girls burst in through the door, running toward the sound of Ban's cries for help.
They approached the bedroom, and could hear Ban's yells full on.
Flinging open the door, they saw Ban sprawled across the bed and Ginji was…
Tickling him?
"Natsumi-san? Himiko-san?" Ginji greeted happily, having fun with HIS Ban.
"Oh… sorry. We heard Ban yelling and we wondered if he needed help…" Natsumi waved off the matter and smiled.
"I told you you were being too loud!" Ginji scolded.
"Sorry for worrying you Himiko-san, Natsumi-san." Simple and short. Typical Ban.
"Well, seeing as you two are fine, we'll be leaving now," Himiko hinted to Natsumi, grabbing her wrist and walking out of the room and out of the apartment.
"Well, it's only going to be about five months until you get your sight back Ban-chan."
"Hai."
"You excited?"
"Not really. It is FIVE months."
"The last one went by pretty quick."
"Hn."
Ginji jumped up.
"Let's go for a walk," he clapped and grabbed Ban's hand, pulling him out of the apartment.
'Something very bad is going to happen…' Ban rolled his eyes sarcastically.
Little did he know that he was VERY right indeed.
bffimagine: Ha! Finished another one.
Ban: Hurry up and finish the whole thing.
Ginji: Yup Yup!
Bffimagine: Fine. It should be done in about… four chapters or so…
