GetBackers Fan Fiction ❯ Totsuzen ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Get Backers. I own Himiko! Well, a plushie of her. But I do own the villains! (Why rip off the original villains when I can make up my own?) And the only thing I can say to justify this fic: blame MSTing a badfic, too much Pocky, and my second in command Mars for it.

Translation: I don't advocate fangirl Japanese, but the title of this fic comes from a song. "Totsuzen" means "Suddenly" and it's by Field of View. Kinda hard to find their stuff, but they're the most sickeningly sweet male J-pop band I've ever heard. And, God help me, I love them.

Totsuzen

By A Girl Named Goo

Blame This OnDedicated to Mars, Tam, and Chrys. Because you're all insane and you pushed me over the edge and forced me to write this.

"Don't stand in our way, Himiko!" Ban warned, pulling the polished surface of the mirror he was holding to his chest and staring down the girl in question. "You know this is business."

"Right. And I need to transport that mirror," Himiko told him smoothly. The air was still, ideal for the use of the perfumes that she specialized in. But not yet. She knew Ban had a trick or two up his sleeve. Well, so did she…

Ginji watched the exchange, rubbing the back of his head and wondering what to do. Of course he understood that Himiko was a transporter and Ban was a retriever. As such they were going to come up on opposite sides from time to time. And Ginji knew that he should support his partner in this one. But still, they were technically going to the same place. Wouldn't they all still get paid if Ban just handed over the mirror to Himiko and let her deliver it?

"Ban-chan, can't we take Himiko-chan with us? We're going to the same place…" he finally suggested. Blue and violet eyes both rounded on him as he said it, causing him to shrink to his tare form. Note to self: do not get involved in a fight between Ban-chan and Himiko-chan…

"She'll take all our money!" Ban finally offered as an explanation, turning his eyes back to the diminutive transporter. "She may look cute and innocent but when it comes to a job she's a glory hog!"

"Your greed is making you stupid!" Himiko accused, taking a bottle from her belt. "I'm a professional. I have to escort that mirror to it's final destination. It's not about money. And if you'll just come with me-"

She was cut off as the wind suddenly picked up, scattering leaves and…what was this? Himiko held out her hand to catch something that seemed to be caught in the breeze. "Someone folded a hundred yen into an origami tulip…"

This caught Ban's attention. He held out his hand to catch another similar object caught in the breeze. "This one is in the shape of a crane…"

Ginji was chasing several star-shaped yen notes across the ground, gathering them against him. "But who would fold yen into origami and throw it into the air? Is there some kind of festival going on somewhere?"

"Maybe we should leave this alone. No one just throws away money unless it's dirty or a trap," Himiko said, releasing the folded yen note tulip in her fingers. Ban caught it easily, which made Himiko realize the wind was in her favor, and he was distracted by money…

Himiko leapt over to him and used the flame scent just as the wind shifted. A few of the folded yen notes ignited, causing Ban to drop them.

"Dammit, Himiko, that's good money!" Ban cried out, still catching the precious yen notes and pressing them against him, crushing the delicate origami figures. As he gathered the money against him there was a loud crashing noise. Both Himiko and Ginji stopped gathering the yen notes (although Himiko had already decided not to bother with them, she was still trying to see if there was anything else odd about them) and turned to face him. The shiny mirror was now several shiny shards on the ground.

"Ban-chan, that's seven years bad luck…" Ginji muttered.

Himiko's face contorted into a rather interesting expression. "You idiot! I was supposed to transport that in one piece!" she screamed at him. Ban at least had the courtesy to look embarrassed and drop a few of the squished origami yen.

"Hey, I have problems, too! We promised to get that mirror back in one piece!" Ban pointed out. Suddenly, all the origami slipped from his grip and he collapsed into a heap on the ground.

"Ban-chan!" Ginji cried, running toward Ban's lifeless body. Himiko also began to approach, but she, too, crumpled into a heap close by. Ginji looked between his fallen friends, panic-stricken. "Ban-chan! Himiko-chan!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"And they're down!" a far too cheerful voice exclaimed gleefully, followed by a giggle. A pair of dark gray eyes concealed by sunglasses stood next to the giggling figure on top of a wall, overlooking the confrontation in the park. The darker of the pair was carefully folding another hundred yen note into a delicate star, his long fingers extending from fingerless black leather gloves.

The shorter of the two had very pale pink hair, shoulder-length but curling inward in a bell-like fashion. A cute bob. Bright pink eyes were covered by rose-colored glasses (the symbolism escaped no one present) that seemed to take up most of the delicate, pale face. He was wearing elbow-length fingerless white lace gloves, and a sleeveless knee-length white trench coat that was zipped to obscure everything but neat white boots and tight white leggings. The coat was cinched in the middle with a white belt with a pink heart-shaped buckle, giving him the appearance of a slight feminine curvature. On his exposed right shoulder, one could see an intricate black pattern that disappeared into the lace of the glove and the leather of the jacket, making how far the complicated tattoo extended impossible to determine. It was nearly impossible to tell that this seeming caricature of femininity was a man well into his twenties. He could have passed for a fourteen or fifteen year old girl. And that's what made him all the more disturbing to his partner.

"Stop it, Lace," the darker one ordered. Although Lace seemed to have the light, feminine voice that matched his pixie-ish features, the other's voice was quite deep, betraying quickly that the one with the angular, feminine face and long black hair was male as well. He wore a black trench coat, closed to obscure the rest of his outfit, and he dug into his pocket to produce a mint green piece of paper, folding it into a tulip and releasing it into the wind. "We have a job to do."

"Oniisan, why didn't the other one go down?" Lace asked, looking up at Leather with unnervingly wide eyes. They seemed to be missing something crucial, something Leather could never place.

"Because the spell and the potion only work for those with witch's blood. Give the tulip a few seconds to do it's job and we can take it and go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Down below, Ginji didn't notice the conversing figures or the tulip that landed square between his fallen companions' heads. He probably should have, though, or he would have noticed the twin streams leading from their heads, as sparkling and airy as one of Himiko's scents. One was pale pink and the other was light blue, and they lead directly into the paper bell…

"Ban-chan! Himiko-chan! Get up!" Ginji ordered, panicking slightly. Suddenly, he sprang to his feet, gasping and backing up a step…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ban's head ached. That was the first thing that registered in his mind as he began to regain consciousness. Most people don't assume a person is conscious until their eyes are open and they are looking at the world, but there is actually a moment when your mind switches on and you can think. That's when it registers you should open your eyes. When you've been knocked out as often as Ban and his compatriots have you become intimately familiar with the various levels of consciousness and unconsciousness, perhaps Ban more than the others because of his workings with dreams, yet another level of consciousness.

As his mind switched on, recovering painfully from it's unscheduled and unwanted slumber, Ban didn't immediately will his eyes open. For some reason that seemed like a really bad idea. He could feel his glasses on his face, pressed all the way up to cover his eyes completely from his horizontally inclined angle, so the light wouldn't be too much of a problem. Just an instinct told him if he opened his eyes now he wouldn't like what he saw, and with his head aching so badly he didn't want to aggravate his condition any further by getting angry or upset.

But the next stage of consciousness was recollection, and his memories of the events leading up to his current painful condition seemed to play as if a film had been loaded into a film projector in his mind. He and Ginji had taken a job getting back an ancient and sacred mirror. After retrieving it from a very old looking compound (and being chased by the inhabitants, their security officers, and their vicious guard dogs, which Ban had used his Jagan on to halt them in their tracks), they had run into Himiko, who had demanded they hand over the mirror for transport. Then things got messy.

Ban didn't remember how they ended up in the park. He just remembered Himiko had left her motorcycle behind to give chase on foot, and after sliding into alleys and buildings had failed to shake her Ban had had the idea to lead her into an open area to confront her and maybe use his Jagan again. At the time he'd been under the impression that she worked for the opposition, but finding out they were theoretically on the same team had only served to make the retriever, who had been unemployed for far too long and didn't want to share his earnings from this job, even angrier. And that's when the origami money began to appear...

After that, the movie seemed to stop. He couldn't even remember anything after taking that first origami crane, although he was certain he had been conscious for at least a few moments after that. All he remembered was feeling lightheaded and collapsing to the ground.

Ginji's probably worried sick, Ban thought. His head still ached, if not moreso due to the fact that he was trying to recollect the events that lead to his current state and was failing miserably. But with that rationalization, he knew that he had no choice but to open his eyes and grudgingly rejoin the world of the living.

His eyes finally opened, a tiny bit at first. The purple filter was unnecessary, as the room he was currently in was dim anyway. It was vaguely familiar, but it was too hard to recall where exactly he was. It was easier just to accept that it was recognizable and therefore most likely friendly.

"Ban-chan!" Ginji's worried voice cut through the darkness, and a concerned face hovered over his. "Ban-chan, you're awake!"

"Mmm..." Ban said, but it felt odd in his throat, sounded odd in his ears. He sat up slowly, looking around. "Ginji, where the hell- what the hell happened to my voice?!" Ban's hands flew to his throat.

"C-calm down, Ban-chan," Ginji tried weakly, backing up a step as if in anticipation of his partner lashing out at him. "I mean...the important thing is you're all right, right?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Ban howled. His voice was higher now. Feminine. "What the hell happened to me?!"

"I'm not entirely sure-"

Ban stood up, feeling a disconcerting bounce. He looked down to realize the front of his shirt was straining to hold back-

"What the hell happened?!" Ban asked again, groping his own chest. Definitely real.

Ginji stepped back again, and Ban realized there was a mirror next to his head. He suddenly realized where he was: one of the rooms in the back of the Honky Tonk, probably where Paul slept. Ban ran over to the mirror, Ginji quickly ducking out of the way to make sure there was as much distance between them as possible.

"You and Himiko-chan just passed out while you were looking at the money. I got you here as fast as I could..."

Ban would have objected to him driving, or him carrying him through the Honky Tonk in this condition, but he had much more important things to worry about. He finally stood in front of the mirror, running his fingers over his face. It was definitely feminine now, his usually narrow blue eyes in an alluring, exotic shape. His cheekbones were high and finely sculpted, his lips a bit...poutier? His usually spiked hair had been smoothed down, just slightly longer than it was when his hair was down anyway. His nose must have changed size or shape somehow, because every time he tried to move his sunglasses to their proper place balanced on his nose they threatened to fall off of his face entirely.

Ban slowly backed away. There was that full bosom (karma for his penchant for groping, perhaps?), making both of his shirts very uncomfortable to wear. His jeans were also uncomfortable. They usually clung to his already slender frame in a way that made a belt mostly unnecessary, but now the waistband didn't even touch his skin, while his hips felt painfully constricted by the denim.

Ban was at the back of the room now, pressed against the door. There was a cot near the bed, and Himiko was still unconscious on it, a blanket pulled up to her chin. Funny, no one had bothered to cover him up. He was suddenly very angry. Had they liked what they'd seen? Although he had to admit, if he were looking at someone who looked like his current form, he would have enjoyed it as well...

"What about her?" Ban asked, patting down his shirt (and wincing whenever he felt an alien curve). He finally located his cigarettes and lighter, lighting one and inhaling deeply. That was a little better, at least. He sat down on the bed again, instinctively spreading his legs in the way he would have if he still had a masculine body, but that just made his already uncomfortable clothing more constrictive.

"You...shouldn't sit like that," Ginji advised cautiously and praying Ban didn't ask why. He wasn't going to say "that's not ladylike" to his very angry best friend, who was supposed to be male. But fortunately for Ginji, Ban realized what he meant and brought his legs back together. That settled, Ginji averted his attention to Himiko. "Do you mean did she change?"

"What the hell do you think I mean?" Ban snapped. He took another drag from his cigarette, staring at the girl.

Ginji, instead of speaking, walked over to the cot and lifted up the blanket. At first Ban didn't see any difference. Her face looked the same, she was the same height, and her hair was still the same length. But he finally noticed that her shirt was conspicuously flat, slightly wrinkled in the area that used to be filled out. Ginji sighed and dropped the blanket.

"But why just us? You touched that money, too!" Ban howled, standing up and walking over to Himiko. "Come on, get up!"

"Ban-chan, leave her alone!" Ginji cried. "And I don't know why I didn't change!"

Himiko twitched as Ban shook her, her eyes finally opening. "Hey, what gives?" she protested, before gasping, her hands flying to her throat in a gesture similar to Ban's initial reaction. Although her voice wasn't very deep, it was definitely that of a boy. She began to look at her surroundings frantically. "What the hell happened here?!"

"I don't know!" Ban shouted back, really not in the mood to fill her in on his conversation with Ginji. "We touched that money and then we passed out and we woke up like this!"

"Ban?" Himiko asked, staring at the speaker in disbelief. Then she looked at Ginji. "Why didn't you-"

"I don't know!" Ginji cried out, sounding rather hopeless. All he knew was this room was about the last place in the world he wanted to be at the moment.

Suddenly a voice broke through the loud, panicked, angry conversation, following a knock that they must not have heard. "Ginji-kun, I've got those clothes you asked for!"

Both Ban and Himiko turned to glare at Ginji, who made a quick dart to the door and out of the room, leaving a very bewildered Hevn on the other side wondering what was going on. She looked into the room to see Ban and Himiko standing side by side, one an attractive young woman and the other a rather cute teenage boy. And not the ones who were supposed to have those descriptions. "Oh my..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lace was leaning against the wall inside a traditional pagoda-style home, examining his fingernails and looking more mature than he had all evening. Through the shoji screen he could hear strains of conversation between Leather and an unidentified female. They probably didn't even know he was standing there.

"So you got it?"

"Here."

Lace turned around to see something shadowy drop to the floor. The green tulip, he was certain. It had been violet when they'd retrieved it, and the "lesser" henchman had pretended to be in awe of his partner's paper magic abilities again when he'd seen it.

"This is really for your own good as well, Makoto." Lace grinned slightly. Leather didn't know that Lace knew his real name. Lace was just waiting for the right time to spring it on him.

"I never asked you to do anything on my behalf."

The shadows shifted, and Lace knew that Leather was leaving the room.

"The femininity of a female witch...the masculinity of a male witch...those are hard to come by. I am truly pleased."

"And I'm glad."

The voice was too close to the door. Lace darted quickly and quietly around a corner, then walked toward the door again, pretending to have just arrived.

"So did we do good, Leather?" Lace asked, smiling brightly and making his voice high and feminine.

Leather glared down at his partner. "Whatever." And with that, he walked off.

Lace just grinned and leaned against the wall again, letting his "little girl" façade fall away once more.

End of Chapter One