Three Day Storm

#1: Bad Luck With Umbrellas

X X X

It was somewhere between morning and afternoon when one Ban Midou found himself walking the streets towards the Honky Tonk. Both hands were planted deep into the pockets of his black pants, all three layers of his clothing - the jacket, the vest, the shirt under them - clung to his body wetly. It matched his hair, several shades darker from the rain and slicked flat against his face.

More importantly, it matched the sky overhead.

For three days now, Shinjuku had been storming. Day and night the lightning flashed across the sky, hard rain pouring until the gutters overflowed. Parts of the area were closed off and people who had bad luck with umbrellas (like himself) were soaked to the bone within five minutes. It was downright lousy.

Ban trudged along the footpath until a certain pink and tan café sign fell into sight. Against the dreary streetscape it glowed brightly, lit up despite only being around noon. Ban smirked. When everything else had changed in his time away from Shinjuku, the Honky Tonk almost certainly hadn't. As he crossed the street towards it, he glanced a little higher with the instinct that had followed him since he had first come to Shinjuku - Limitless Fortress, a permanent fixture on the horizon. Vivid lightning forked across the sky all around the topmost cranes, striking them so frequently the mass of buildings lit up like a God of the Sky.

Damned thing had to be the world's biggest lightning rod.

Ban would be the first to admit that he had a love-hate relationship with the miniature city. Without it, he never would have met Ginji or rid himself of Fudou... among other things. But there was something about that half-virtual world that stayed on his shoulder, no matter where he went or did. It was almost like a sixth sense – now, it was telling Ban that something was wrong. He didn't know what, not yet, but the feeling wasn't one he could shake off.

So here he was, resigned to figuring it out. Ban 'hmphed' to himself and looked away from the silhouette of the Fortress . He laid a hand on the handle of the Honky Tonk's door, and pushed it open to the familiar 'tinkle' of the overhead bell.

Ban wasn't surprised to see that like most of the vendors around here were, the coffee shop was empty of patrons. It was most likely because of the storm – but it worked in his favour so he chose not to question it.

Aware, but uncaring of the fact that he was dripping water like he'd sprung a leak, Ban shook his head roughly to be rid of the excess water. It had the exact effect he wanted - not only did it leave his hair that much drier, but it splattered across the newspaper that Paul Wan was in the middle of reading.

"Oi, oi…" the ex-thief had a frown painted on his face as he lowered the paper, shaded eyes glancing to the offender.

Ban didn't make eye contact, preferring to take advantage of the warm environment and try to rescue his cigarettes from a waterlogged pocket. He prised out one that was judged to be suitably dry. He hung it from the corner of his mouth, then finally, smirked at Paul. "Yo."

The older man sighed lightly, folded up the paper and tucked it under one arm. "Please tell me that your luck has been better with money."

Taking a seat at the bar, Ban had the grace to look indignant. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Paul shook his head and stooped for something under the counter. "I'll make you something hot."

Ban mumbled something were he another person, might have been a thankyou.

The two men settled into a silence that was companionable - they had been like this too many times worth the count. Paul would have questions on why he was in town and the man knew it, but he didn't mind.

What he did mind, though, was that at the very same moment that Paul placed a mug of coffee and a plate of French toast in front of him, the doorbell tinkled loudly. It was followed by a voice that Ban had never learnt to appreciate.

"Look at that. Even snakes can't take the wet."

Picking up the mug, Ban delayed his response. He shot a narrow-eyed look to the figure who was taking a seat some distance down the bar. Ban couldn't help but notice that of the two of them, Shido seemed a lot wetter.

He felt a distinct twinge of self-satisfaction at the thought. "Shove it."

The exchange between them was so normal to Ban that it was almost like he had never left. Ban quickly abandoned that train of thought before he could think about the things he wanted to ignore. He attacked the toast instead.

Watching Ban devour the meal with a total lack of manners, Shido snorted lightly and signalled to Paul for a coffee. "Still got bad luck with money, huh?"

"Didn't I tell you to shove it?" Ban growled out around a mouth full of food.

Shido straightened to throw a cutting retort, but was silence by a magnificent strike of lightning outside. The heavy storm clouds flickered purple and the three men tensed as the air boomed with thunder hard enough to make the windows rattle. Ban examined his cigarette in a would be idle fashion, waiting for the rolls to subside before he said anything else.

When he spoke, he didn't look up. "Oi, monkey-boy. Three days, is that true?"

Shido frowned and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. "Yeah," he replied.

It was uncharacteristically void of smartass comments, but Ban chose to gloss over that. The need for information was too important. He looked down at his reflection in the steaming coffee, then sideways one more time. "So where's the idiot?"

"I hope you don't call all of your old business partners that," Paul commented from the sidelines.

"I know you don't like mirrors, Mido, but even you should be able to answer that."

Ban snarled openly, hand clenching around his mug as if to throw it. Damned monkey making up for lost time, was he? "I'll kick your ass, monkey -"

"I don't know."

It was so straight-forward that Ban's temper was completely derailed. He had to pause a moment before he sunk back into his seat, tossing the phrase over in his head. "… What?"

"I haven't seen Ginji in a few days," Shido elaborated, firmly looking in the other direction.

Ban watched the back of his head, channelling his ire into the hard stare. "Don't you work with him?"

To this, the Beastmaster shrugged. "We don't liaise every day, you know."

"But you said -"

"I know."

"Then what are you going on about?"

"I haven't seen him since before the storm started."

At this, Ban lifted his gaze to look past Shido and through the window of the Honky Tonk. Two fingers nudged his Jagan glasses higher up his nose. "So it does have something to do with Limitless Fortress."

Shido turned his head, giving Ban a wary look. "I thought we were talking about Ginji."

Ban smirked, turning back to his coffee. This looked to be a dangerous situation, he could feel his blood warming already. To Shido, he said contemptuously, "Don't tell me you haven't felt the connection between those two."

The Beastmaster tensed, shoulders going rigid. There was nothing said, though. Ban took that to mean Shido was going to brush the statement off. He was right.

"It's Ginji," Shido said, "There's always a connection between the two."

Ban smirked slightly, setting down his half-finished coffee with a soft 'clunk' against the wood. "So that'd be a no."

Shido growled, hand tightening around his own drink. "Listen, Snake -"

The tinkle of the Honky Tonk's door silenced him, both men looking towards the door sharply. Similarly, they relaxed at the sight of who it was - should-have-been-a-girl-Kazuki. Shido grinned, pleased at the sight of his friend, whilst Ban huffed and turned back to his meal.

Kazukiwas as dry as a bone. It probably had something to do with that umbrella in his hand.

With a smile of his own to the room at large, Kazuki sat in the seat next to Shido, leaving an empty stool between himself and Ban. His hands curled around a small cup of green tea, a murmur of thanks handed to Paul.

They sat like that for some time as the storm raged outside, lightning arcing across the sky and thunder not far behind. All of them were silent, saying nothing to each other but tugged together by a building uncertainty.

It was at the same moment when Ban noticed bemusedly that Paul's mugs now had 'Honky Tonk' stamps on them that Shido finally spoke up.

"Have you seen him?" he asked quietly, looking sidelong to Kazuki.

A slight shake of the head was enough and watching them, Ban felt his heart sink slightly. When he had left for a renewed career in thieving, he had relied on these two - among others - to look after Ginji. To keep his friend safe, to keep the fool from getting himself into trouble.

"It's something to do with Limitless Fortress," Ban said, in a voice that seemed 'too loud' for the otherwise silent café. He didn't care, though - if Ginji was missing, nothing else mattered.

Shido snorted derisively but Kazuki didn't hide his interest. "Limitless Fortress?" the Threadmaster repeated. A slight twist allowed him to spy the iconic cluster of buildings, as the topmost crane was struck by lightningagain. "You think Ginji's gone there?"

"Gone, or been taken," Ban said.

"I don't see why anyone would kidnap Mister Ginji," Shido said, a hand pulling out his wallet. "The idiot gets caught... but no-one catches him."

Ban, noticing the small gesture, took that to mean he was leaving. The arrogant streak in him wanted to have the last word so he stood quickly, a hand laying down a few scrunched up yen next to his empty plate. "I'll let you know," he answered casually, stepping away from the bar.

Kazuki and Shido turned on their stools, the latter all but leaping off of his seat at the bait. "Let us know what?"

"Who took Ginji, why, why they took him to the Fortress... you know, that stuff," Ban waved a casual hand, sliding his unused cigarette behind an ear, one hand on the door. "Maybe I'll even hire you to 'retrieve' him."

A bark of laughter was followed by Ban's swift exit.

The door clicked shut and Kazuki spent the next ten minutes holding Shido back from following Ban out the door, no doubt to start a fight. Afterwards, though, they didn't hesitate to agree - Ban was not going to be the only one to look for their old Emperor.

X X X

"I should have brought a map."

The grumbled words came from a waterlogged Ban as he studied one of many little stores that resided in the Limitless Fortress. This one was, of all things, a florist - and he was sure he'd seen it twice before.

With a swish of water, Ban turned and tried a new direction. He swore it hadn't been this hard to navigate the narrow streets the last time he'd been here. But then, he'd had Ginji, the Not A Compass, so it had been a simple affair to go in the opposite direction to where the blonde suggested.

Coming to a flight of steps as narrow as the street behind him, Ban gratefully stepped out of the ankle-deep water and began to climb. Halfway up, the surrounding buildings shuddered and he held his breath as an ear popping boom of thunder rolled through the maze of buildings.

When at last it faded away Ban continued up the stairs, a hand on the wall as he went. He wasn't sure how much of this the infrastructure could take and wasn't game to wait around. Somewhere, the lightning was being grounded, but it still sent shock-waves throughout the Fortress.

It seemed that every strike was stronger than the last. Ban knew that didn't bode well for the Fortress... nor for Ginji.

He had always said that Ginji's lightning was different, and inside the Fortress, close to the eye of the storm, that feeling was amplified. Ever since setting foot in Shinjuku, his instincts had screamed, telling Ban what he already suspected - find the source of the storm, find where the power was going or coming from... and he'd find Ginji.

At the top of the stairs Ban paused to survey the wet street ahead of him. It wasn't familiar, a small fact that relieved him somewhat. Of all times and places, he had no wish to get lost. For now he was stubbornly ignoring the fact that he was already lost.

Somewhere to the left, there was a flutter of wet feathers as a crow settled on a nearby sign. Ban watched it from afar, suspicious. He was not surprised when the crow had taken off again, just a minute later. It flew down the street ahead of him and banked around a corner, disappearing from sight.

He recognised the bird to know well enough just what it meant - the Beastmaster was near, probably spyingon him. Damnit. Willing to meet his rival head-on, Ban watched his environment carefully as he moved forward. Two turns later, he came genuinely close to walking into someone; Emishi the Fresh Blood Joker.

Ban stopped immediately, just shy of an actual collision, his fists loosely clenched as he dropped into a stance as naturally defensive as Ginji's. Opposite to him, Emishi did the same, fingers tightening around his dry whip.

"-Midou?" The redhead relaxed considerably, looking back over his shoulder. "Look who it is!"

Ban scowled when none other than Shido and Kazuki came into view, damp from the rain but not as waterlogged as himself. Both of them looked amused - and there was the damned crow, on his master's shoulder.

Ban straightened, but did not relax. "What are you doing here?" he asked bluntly.

"I... live here?" Emishi tried, scratching his temple.

Ban shot him a dirty look, holding the scowl. "Not you. The other two."

"We're going to visit Makubex," Kazuki said, with what Ban supposed was an attempt to maintain diplomatic relations before Monkeyboy opened his mouth.

"Why Makubex?"

"We're following a lead," Shido butted in, patting his bird affectionately. "Isn't that what retrieval people do?"

It was a deliberate jibe and Ban knew it. That didn't stop him. "Think I can't find him, huh?"

The Beastmaster snorted. "You quit the profession, didn't you?"

If Shido was going to piss him off, he had to be prepared for Ban to take that bait. "I know what I'm doing, monkey-boy," he growled.

"I bet I'll find him faster than you."

"I'll take that bet!"

There was a soft tinkle of bells as Kazuki chose to step in, a frown on his delicate face. "Shido, Ban. This is not something to be gambling about," he said, looking from one agitated face to the other. "We need to go to Makubex's."

Ban snorted, but let the matter drop. Shido did the same, though he looked far from satisfied with the truce. Emishi side-stepped the pair warily. "Right," he said. After a moment, he looked at Ban. "Are you coming?"

With his fingers itching for a cigarette, there was a nod from Ban. "Yeah." He still didn't know why they were going to the Boy Genius, but if he wanted to find out, he'd have to tag along. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to follow them for too long.. these days, working alone seemed to make jobs all the more smoother.

The crew moved forward but Ban lingered for a moment. He glanced over his shoulder and upwards, between the tall buildings to spy the top most towers. Babylon City.

A flash of lightning lit the structure up with a vivid flash of green. There was another shuddering boom from overhead and the group collectively winced. As it faded away, Shido brushed past them all to overtake Emishi. "We're running out of time," he said curtly.

For once, Ban didn't care to argue.

X X X

To be continued.