Amenochiyuki

Chapter Two

'It's. . .warm.' came Ban's first thought after hours of unconsciousness.

". . .an? Ban? Can you hear me?" came a distant voice into his darkened mind. He strained to hear the feminine voice, hoping it would speak again. 'Who. . .is that? She. . .sounds. . .familiar.'

"Ban. It's Hevn, please open your eyes if you can hear me." She was now shaking the Jagan user carefully.

It took a few tries, but Ban was able to open his eyes. The sudden light had him closing them again shortly after, but he worked at it, and was able to open them and see Hevn sitting above him; obvious worry on her face. He looked around the room as best as he could, but didn't recognize it. "Where. . .are we?" his voice cracked and was rough. He coughed and swallowed to try and make his voice cooperate with him.

Hevn smiled, relived to hear the man speaking to her. "We are in a backroom of Paul's shop. Geez, you really got banged up on this one, didn't you. Are you feeling all right?"

As she spoke, the events of earlier flooded back into his memory. His eyes went wide and he went to sit up fast, only to find that his body wouldn't move for him. He tried again and again, but his body just wouldn't yield to his commands. It felt heavy and sluggish. He cursed under his breath as Hevn laid her hands on his chest. "Just calm down, Ban. You shouldn't be moving around."

"Where's Ginji?!" he snapped at her. He didn't mean for it to come out that way, but right now he had no time for pleasantries.

"He's here too. See?" she pointed to another bed just a couple feet away.

There laid his blonde comrade, sleeping peacefully. His chest rising and falling heavily made all the stress in Ban's body seep out of him. He fell back against the bed once more, sinking into the soft pillows and mattress. "Yokatta," he sighed as he closed his eyes.

Hevn smiled. "He woke up about an hour ago. He was really worried about you as well."

Ban opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "He got caught up in the Jagan. Then he fell over the balcony we were on, and got lost in the snow storm."

Hevn nodded, "We now. Shido-san and Kazuki-san explained everything to us when they brought you guys back. Don't worry. We explained everything to Gin-chan. He's okay now." She smiled warmly at the brunette and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You gave us quite a scare though."

Ban's brow frowned at her comment. "What do you mean?"

Hevn's expression deepened to one of worry and sadness. "You were extremely cold when you came in here. You're body temperature was 96.3. If you would have dropped just 3 degrees, you would have been in danger of hypothermia. . .and death." Her voice was soft as she finished her explanation. Her eyes were soft and gazed at the floor. She didn't even want to think about how close they had come to losing them this time.

Ban was thoughtful for a while. Death didn't bother him, but to die like that would have seriously pissed him off. He looked over at Hevn and sighed. He lifted up his hand, his body finally obeying him and wiped a tear from her eye. "Don't cry Hevn. You'll mess up your makeup." He smiled at her.

Hevn smiled back and laughed slightly. She wiped her face and stood up with a deep breath. "You should get some rest. I'll be in to check on you later." She then headed for the door.

Ban didn't say anything; he just nodded sleepily and closed his eyes. The lights were then turned out and he heard the door close. He looked at his partner through half lidded eyes, and smiled when the boy took a deep breath and shifted in his sleep to look more in Ban's direction. "Mission accomplished. Sleep well Ginji." He closed his eyes and fell back into a blissful sleep with a soft smile on his face, as he faced his partner, friend and brother.

Owari