Underlying Personalities.
A Get Backers Fan Fiction
By: Cauryn Terenkey
Disclaimer: I do not own any Get Backers characters.
Natsumi hurried off the train and paused to stuff her apron and tie into her bag. She silently berated Akabane for choosing a training grounds so far from Tokyo. She caught a cab towards the forest, but had to jog down the path to the clearing, finally appearing but out of breath. Akabane looked up from where he was sitting, and smiled.
"Well, hello. How are you?"
"Exhausted." Natsumi whined. She collapsed where she was and pulled a water bottle from her bag. "Why did you choose a place so far away?"
"Because. I have a job soon and besides, I wanted to see what you could do with your stamina low." Akabane said, smiling. Natsumi blushed, realizing the double meaning. She gave him a look while he gazed back at her, feigning innocence.
"Okay, where do we start?" Natsumi asked, setting her water bottle down.
"Lets do aim, shall we?" Akabane smiled, holding out four scalpels.
"Right." Natsumi said as she brought out her favorite ping-pong paddle. She grabbed a handful of the tiny plastic balls from her bag and shot them as hard as she could at the man across the clearing from her. He impaled them easily on his scalpels, looking at her, eyebrows raised.
"Impressive." He said, flicking his hand, sending the ping-pong balls to the ground. "I had no idea a young girl such as yourself had this kind of strength."
"Thanks, it's why Daddy never worries about me when I'm out a little later than I normally am." Natsumi smiled. "Alright! Enough chit-chat, Sensei! Lets get cracking!" Natsumi giggled. Akabane's eyebrows raised a bit more before his smirked.
"If you say so."
The pair spent the next hour and a half training. Natsumi developed her own style of fighting rather quickly. Her talent at the sport pf Ping-pong gave her technique a type of grace that was hypnotizing. Or maybe that was just him. Akabane smiled as he looked down at the girl sitting next to him. He'd had to help her back to the train as she had insisted on training until she finally dropped. She was sleeping peacefully, completely unconcerned that she was alone with a known killer. He heard some girlish giggles from down the car, and saw some teenage girls pointing at he and Natsumi. He caught a 'how cute' before they realized he was looking at them.
Akabane smiled at them and went back to looking out the window, tugging his hat down over his eyes, holding it there with his right hand, hiding his frown. He looked at Natsumi with steeled eyes, and one could see the gears turning in his head if one had cared to look. Her talents concerned him. She had come to him for self-defense lessons, why him of all people he didn't know. But as he had fought her, he had felt that little rush of adrenaline he always got from fighting Ban or Ginji, or even Kagami, when he had gotten a glimpse of her true potential. She had also lasted a lot longer than what he had thought she would, and packed more power than she had thought and knew at the moment.
He would have to do a little digging tonight.
Natsumi waved goodbye to Akabane, tired but satisfied with that days lesson. She wouldn't get captured ever again when she helped Ban and Ginji. But she couldn't shake the vision of the concern that was in his eyes. The look had freaked some people nearby out, but all they could see was an overwhelming blood lust. She knew this because several concerned passerby asked if she wanted someone to walk with her to the police station. It freaked her out to be frank. What reason did Kuroudo Akabane have to be concerned about?
Shaking her head, Natsumi turned and walked home, picking up her phone when it rang to listen, once again, to Yuki go on and on about Ginji.
///***\\\
"I'm home dad!" Natsumi called as she walked into the apartment.
"Hey sweetie. Did you have a good day at work? How was the movie?" Daisuke Mizuki asked, hugging his daughter.
"Good." Natsumi smiled. "It was one I've seen before." Natsumi slipped out of her shoes and pecked her father on the cheek.
"I'm glad you're okay." Daisuke smiled.
"You worry to much Daddy." Natsumi giggled, hugging him. "Night. I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow, baby." He said, watching his daughter walk down the hall. Sighing, he went back to the sitting area, stopping before the little shrine they had created in memory of his wife. "Sometimes I wonder, if I don't worry to much…" He sighed, turning to Natsumi's favorite photo of the three of them. It had he and his wife side by side, and Natsumi standing in the middle in front of them on a beautiful summer day, the Limitless Fortress looming in the background.
