Fanfic: Rebirth
My intention was to post this as an Easter fic. Unfortunately, RL got in the way :(
Here it goes anyways, hope you like it...
Title: Rebirth
Rating: G
Pairing: Ban x Ginji
Summary: Having just recently started their partnership, Ban and Ginji are getting to know each other better.
Spoiler level: Zero
Word count: 1593
Author's note: I haven't read all the manga series yet, so I have no idea how Ban and Ginji used to get along in the very beginning of their association. If it's too different from the manga, please consider this an AU fic...
Disclaimer: Get Backers and all its characters belong to Yuya Aoki and Randou Ayamine.
He could hear the metallic echo of water sloshing against rocks and smell salt and humidity. When his eyes opened all he could see at first were dark forms against the pale blue luminescence sneaking from somewhere out of his sight. They were in a cave and his back was aching from lying for too long on hard, irregular rocky ground. There was a funny taste in his mouth and his throat hurt.
"Yo, Lightning Kid, how do you feel?" the familiar voice was much calmer and quieter now than a few hours ago, but startled him nonetheless. He turned his head slowly, painfully, to face his partner.
"I'm.." he winced as his voice failed, but managed to continue, "... alright."
Ban snorted then shook his head, a humorless smile tugging at the corners of his chapped lips. Hair strands were sticking to his face in odd angles, dry and dull from their previous forced dive into wild sea, giving him an uncharacteristic disheveled air.
"You don't look alright."
"Are we still..."
"Yeah, stuck in the darn island. They're still out there, looking for us. We'd better wait until they give up. The boat is well hidden, they'll never find it", there was a slight, almost imperceptible wavering in the nonchalant tone and Ginji noticed it - Midou Ban was, in many ways, a mystery yet to be unraveled but Ginji already knew enough about him to tell when he was lying. Probably Ban wasn't that sure about their boat - as far as Ginji could remember they'd left it on the beach, out in the open, since the plan was to just snatch the item and run back home like there was no tomorrow. He didn't think that could be considered a “well hidden” place.
Their clothes were almost dry now and neatly folded; on top of them Ban had placed what was left of the item they had to retrieve - a Faberge Easter Egg. Great part of the small golden leaves that decorated the egg were gone and so was the rich pedestal; somehow, the beautiful royal blue surface of the egg itself and the diamond set serpent around its shaft remained intact.
Ginji closed his eyes in regret. It had been his fault. He had let it fall while they were running from the security guards.
“I'm sorry.” the apology sounded as dry, hollow and small as he was feeling now.
It had been two months since they started their retrieving service, five weeks since they started to get real paying jobs, three days since their last client handed them 500,000 yen cash as a down payment to get back his precious Faberge Easter Egg.
“The Blue Serpent Clock Egg. 1887. A piece of art, young man. Priceless. This is how much I am trusting you”, the client had said. And Ban, in all his confident self, had replied with a grin, “We will bring it back. We are the best in business.”
The best in business, he'd said. That was how much Midou Ban had trusted him. And he screwed everything up.
It had been two months since they started their retrieving service and the Get Backers already seemed to be falling apart.
I'm sorry, he almost said it again but then remembered his partner's reaction not long ago, right before exhaustion made him fall asleep even with Ban screaming on top of his lungs in frustration and anger. Better keep quiet. Ban tended to get annoyed when Ginji repeated himself, especially when in a bad mood.
A click of the lighter and the small, flickering flame dimly lit their faces. Only then Ginji noticed how dark it was - he had gotten used to the weak streak of light (the moon? The sun?) coming from behind the rocks as their only illumination.
“Can't have fire in here,” Ban pointed to the side, probably to where the cave entrance was, “they'd see the smoke. Besides, we don't have anything to burn. Fortunately it's summer and the cave is not deep... warm air circulates in well enough during the day... we're not gonna freeze even if we have to spend the whole night here.”
Ginji just nodded. Another click of the lighter and the flame was gone, leaving them in penumbra again.
There was a moment of heavy, uncomfortable silence. Then, a sigh, hard footsteps echoing on the rocks and Ban sat beside his partner, feeling a slight pang of guilt at the sight of sad, deflated brown eyes.
He should have known that they were going to have problems the moment he discovered that the Easter Egg was being kept in a small island, not far from the Tokyo bay and Ginji darted him a confused, slightly apprehensive look.
“What? Haven't you ever seen the sea?”
“...”
“Man... don't tell me you don't know how to swim...”
“...”
Maybe he had been too harsh. The Lightning Kid was strong and fast and powerful, but had very little real knowledge of the world outside. Ginji knew that there was a thing called “sea”, and that there were places that weren't crammed with buildings and had no tar and concrete covering the ground. He had even seen those things in pictures and videos, yes, but had never really been there - no wonder he'd never learned how to swim, no wonder he'd been scared and distracted and way less efficient than he usually was when in familiar territory.
It didn't help that the mission turned out to be more difficult than expected - the mansion where the Easter Egg had been kept was strongly guarded and they barely managed to escape. To make things worse, Ginji dropped the item on the ground and it broke spectacularly, pieces flying to ten different directions. They collected what they could before the guards got too close for comfort and jumped into the sea to lose them. Ginji almost drowned and Ban would have had the same fate as he fought to drag his partner to safety if it weren't for the extra help from Asclepius.
While Ginji coughed salt water and wheezed, Ban let out a barrage of accusations, insults and curses with the fury of a drunken insane sailor. Even noticing the other boy's misery and humiliation he couldn't bring himself to stop until that tight not inside his chest - exasperation, anger, yes, but fear more than anything else - loosened enough to allow him to think rationally. That Ginji accepted everything in stoic silence only added frustration to the explosive mix. Ban wasn't used to that.
At all his yelling, he had expected careless laughter (Yamato) or flippant responses (Himiko). None came, and that hurt and only made him all the more furious - at himself, at Ginji, at the world.
Amano Ginji wasn't like the Kudou siblings and never would be.
That wasn't fair.
He felt Ginji shivering by his side. The electric eel had no energy left to recover and keep his body heat by himself after all they had been through. Although the sea could offer a lot of static electricity for him to recharge, he didn't know how to draw it - never had to resort to this kind of thing in Mugenjou, where all he needed to do was to raise a finger to the appropriated direction. With a resigned sigh, Ban slid an arm around his partner's shoulder. Ginji gave a small start but soon relaxed to the touch and hesitantly leaned on Ban.
“It's fake anyways”, and the Jagan user pointed to the Easter Egg.
“What?” Ginji's eyes widened in surprise. “How do you know?”
“The Blue Serpent Clock currently belongs to the Prince of Monaco. This one is just a replica. High quality, yes, and I'm pretty sure the ornaments are of actual gold and diamonds. But it's not an authentic Faberge.”
“If you knew it, why...”
“Haven't I just told you that the ornaments were real gold and diamonds? This is a fake, it doesn't worth much as art... but the material they used to make it is valuable, that's why. Our client will pay, if not for the egg itself, at least for what it's made of. Besides, we were hired to recover it, not to verify its authenticity.”
Ginji looked at his partner straight in the eyes, tense and serious. It was dark but there was light enough that he could see that the striking blue orbs had softened, all the anger and irritation completely gone.
“When we go back, I am going to talk to the client,” Ginji said earnestly, “I'll tell him it was my fault, not yours. And if he agrees to pay us at least for a partial recovery, you'll have my share.”
Amano Ginji definitely was neither Yamato, nor Himiko.
A slow, playful smile graced Ban's pale face.
“Idiot,” but this time the insult wasn't serious and Ginji noticed, “if I let you talk to the client he'll have you wrapped around his finger in two seconds. The guy's an old fox.”
Ban gently pushed his partner's head down, letting him rest against his shoulder. He felt the other snuggling closer and the softness of his skin and the warmth growing between them was oddly comforting. It had a different quality from the dry friendliness of the Kudous' hugs and playful headlocks. Ban didn't know what it was, but he liked it.
“Get some sleep. It's going to be a while until we can get out of here.” he whispered, unconsciously petting the blond hair.
And Ginji complied, a small sigh of relief escaping from smiling lips.