I Need You to Love Me

Ban and Ginji were right, Rachael and Aya clicked big time, and became fast friends. Rachael was very excited about Aya’s piano playing and musical style, while Aya was excited over everything about her. The boys hardly got to throw a word in here and there as the girls’ female tongues formed words too quickly to give them room. By the time Aya had gone home, Rachael’s mood had improved immensely. But she wasn’t allowed to go to bed yet, Paul, Ban, and Ginji all wanted to know about her first day of work.

“They have a piercing and tattoo room, where they do the tattoos and everything, and in the back they turned the storage closet into a hair salon. There are only two chairs, and mirrors, and a mini fridge in there, but it’s nice. Then there’s the ‘Back Room’, which I won’t be working because that’s where they keep all the sexual stuff at… needless to say I don’t feel comfortable in there.” She laughed; answering one of Paul’s many questions. “And the people, how do you like your coworkers?” he asked. “Most of them are really cool. Jun, one of the guys there, he fixed up my hair for free saying it was dreadful. He’s really nice, and you can just tell he loves people. Then there’s our manager, Eito, he’s the most responsible I think. He likes to be in charge, and be the one to help out and answer questions. When he’s not sneaking off with his girlfriend.” She laughed, “And Jinx, she works mainly in the Back Room, because she likes messing with the people who shop back there, she’s a tattoo artist, and does the piercings. Ayumi, I don’t like so much. She’s really mean to me, and Jinx, and Jun especially. But she’s a really good tattoo artist and has a really high demand. I think that’s why Eito keeps her around.”

“Yeah, she was really flirting with Ban too. Until he announced that Rachael was his girlfriend, and then kissed her in front of everybody!” Ginji laughed. “I thought you were gonna make him cry when you said you didn’t wanna be his girlfriend.”

“I never said I didn’t want to. I said I wouldn’t like to, I’d love to, Ginji. If you’re going to retell a story, do it right.” She scoffed playfully as Ban slapped the side of his head. “You are the perfect couple.” Paul chuckled as Ginji pouted.

A few minutes of amused silence passed before Rachael yawned and leaned her head on Ban’s shoulder, suddenly becoming very drowsy. “You should go to bed.” Ban pointed out. “I don’t want to,” she retorted, snuggling closer to him, content with his arms around her. To her it was like his body was specially crafted for hers to fit against, it was never uncomfortable to be held by him, no matter how awkward the position was. “Why?” he grinned as he rested his chin on her head. “Because then I can’t sit here with you anymore.” She laughed, blushing a little. “Then how about I go with you? That way you can sleep, but we can still be like this.” He suggested. “I like that idea.” She nodded and stood up slowly.

“What’s wrong?” Ginji questioned when she almost fell to the ground. “My leg’s asleep, all the way up to my butt cheek.” She laughed, and limped up to her room with Ban closely behind.

He waited outside the door for her to change into her pajamas, which were just long black baggy pants, and a black T-shirt. As soon as she let him in, he kicked off his shoes and took off his glasses, and laid down with her pressed up against him, keeping her arms wrapped around him as best she could. “Goodnight.” She whispered happily. “Night, Rachael.” He sighed in contentment, lightly playing with her hair until she finally fell asleep.

Ban woke the next morning alone in the room. Rachael’s pajamas were folded neatly on the small desk, and the smell of her perfume still lingered around him. He rolled over and put his glasses on, but left his shoes, hoping that he’d find her down stairs, and that she hadn’t left for work yet. Half way down the stairs he heard her laughter, mixed with other voices; two of which he didn’t recognize.

“It was beyond insane! I didn’t even see her move, I just opened my eyes and he was on the ground, holding his jaw, and she was towering over him. Just waiting for him to try and hit me again.” Someone who he recognized at once to be Jun from Lyfestile laughed. “Yeah, well I don’t like people who think they can beat on others, just because they’re different.” Jinx shrugged. “So what, you just beat him up right there in the sidewalk?” Ginji asked. “Yeah, right in front of the police station.” She laughed. “She almost got arrested too.” Jun sighed. “Whatever, at least now when he thinks about punching someone out for liking the same gender, he can run his tongue through the space where that tooth used to be, and think twice.” She shrugged, “Besides, as long as you’re beside me, Jun, I don’t think I’ll be getting arrested for a long time. You’re just so pitiful when you start crying like that, they can’t bear to take me away from you.” She added, pinching his cheek playfully and making everyone erupt in more laughter.

“Ban!” Rachael gasped after finally noticing him leaning quietly against the doorway. “Morning.” He chuckled when she threw her arms around him in greeting. “Good morning.” She smiled, happily resting her forehead on his shoulder.

“Awe, Ban never hugs me good morning.” Ginji frowned. Ban rolled his eyes and hugged Ginji, who went chibi in an instant and started celebrating by dancing around in his own little world. “So what brings you two to the Honky Tonk?” he asked as everyone started to ignore the dancing chibi in the background. “An emergency actually. Ayumi was supposed to work our booth at this fundraiser for charity with us, but she canceled last minute. We can’t have two just people working the booth, and Eito’s busy today, so we were walking around trying to figure out where Rachael here lives, and stopped by for some coffee. Turns out she lives here! So we asked her to work the booth with us.” Jun explained. “What’s the fundraiser for?” he asked, now taking full interest in it.

“To make money for local homeless shelters. Their budgets have been cut drastically, and it’s just wrong for people to think it’s okay to let innocent people starve, freeze, and suffer to death! Think about it, these are our neighbors! Women shouldn’t have to hold their babies as they cry themselves to death, knowing that there’s no food or shelter to save them. Men shouldn’t have to die protecting their wives and children from gang members who think it’s funny to beat them to death, or take advantage of them! People just think that because there’s a shelter, and maybe they make a donation or two a year to it, that they’re done and everything’s okay! But it isn’t okay they still suffer!

“That’s why I’m going to this. People shouldn’t have to go through that. You gotta follow what your heart wants, and mine wants to fight. Both like this, and pounding on the dick bags who start shit.” Jinx answered, losing herself in a rant for a minute.

“I’m going because I hate to see people hurting. We weren’t meant to hurt, we’re meant to help each other. Right?” Jun smiled, “That and if we don’t go, Eito’ll have our asses.”

“You’d like that.” Jinx smirked. “Ew, no, oh god no! Not from him!” He laughed, shuddering at the end.

“The event isn’t until tonight, so we’ll see you then Rachael. Now that we have you to cover for Ayumi, we can go shopping!” Jun beamed before dragging Jinx out of the café. “Bye guys!” she waved and went back to resting in Ban’s arms.

After a very long time of content silence between the two, and total boredom for Ginji, the doorbell rang and someone Rachael hadn’t seen before walked over to their table. He was wearing a dark shirt, with a light vest over it, and light pants, and had a white bandana tied into his messy short, dark hair.

He stopped at the edge of the booth, and stood right in front of Rachael, who instinctively pressed herself closer to Ban for safety. He didn’t seem hostile, but he didn’t seem too kind either, she couldn’t read him. He looked annoyed, but he also looked happy to see Ginji, who was already hugging and greeting him excitedly.

“Shido, buddy! How have you been?” he asked enthusiastically. “Not bad, Ginji.” He chuckled while pushing the blonde off of him. “Who’s this?” he asked, looking at Rachael, who couldn’t breathe when he leaned closer to her. “Uhm, Shido… back up, you’re scaring her.” Ginji whispered to him while Ban tightened his grip around her to remind her that she was safe.

“Sorry,” he said, unsure of why he was scaring her, all he did was stand by her after all, and backed away a few steps. “This is Rachael, Rachael this is Shido.” Ginji introduced cheerfully before sliding back into the booth and letting Shido sit beside him and across from her. “Hi.” She waved quietly. “Are you okay?” he asked. “She’s fine monkey-boy.” Ban answered for her. “I wasn’t asking you Snake-for-Brains.” He retorted.

As they bickered, and Ginji tried with everything he had to make them get along, Rachael lost herself in thought. Everyone Ban had said were friends had been nice to her. All of them he promised wouldn’t hurt her, and they didn’t. But Shido, he didn’t like Shido much. He never said anything about him being a friend, or that he wouldn’t hurt her. They just started throwing insults across the table, and Ban held her more protectively. Maybe he would hurt her.

The more she thought about it, the more nervous she was to be around Shido, and the more she wanted to leave. “I’m going to get a drink.” She muttered to Ban, who nodded and left their table.

“You look uncomfortable.” Paul pointed out as she sat down at the counter. “Don’t worry about it. Can I have some water?” she asked, trying to ignore her nerves. “I don’t think Shido’s going to hurt you. He’s one of Ginji’s good friends, from the same place as Emishi, and Kazuki; they’re not like the men who took you off the street. In fact, those men sicken all three of them” he sighed, setting her glass down and leaning on the counter a short way from her. She stayed quiet and slowly drank the contents of the glass, letting the icy liquid cool her nerves and calm her down.

“Would you mind if I played my violin? It’ll be upstairs with the door closed, but you’d probably still hear it.” She asked finally. “Of course not, have fun.” He smiled. She nodded and left to lock herself away in her room.

She sighed to herself as she locked her door and readied her violin. “What to play,” she sighed as she stared at herself in the mirror. “No, not what to play. What to create.” She corrected herself, “But this is why they thought I was crazy, wasn’t it? Because I talk to myself in the mirror, isn’t it? But we’re not crazy… we’re… creative.” She smirked, running the bow across a string and letting the improper note surround her before closing her eyes and playing for real.

She knew from the start that this composition should be played on an electric violin, but it sounded all right on the one Ban and Ginji had gotten for her. It just didn’t sound the way she wanted it to.

Through her composition she expressed how she felt her life was going. The confusion and wonder she felt by going to an entirely different world. The bittersweet emotions tied with her abduction; if they hadn’t done that to her, she wouldn’t have met Ban, she wouldn’t have been given a place to stay at the Honky Tonk, she wouldn’t have been taken shopping and given new clothes, and she wouldn’t be playing violin right now. She played her confusion to Shido, taking a darker turn but only slightly.

She played how she saw the city as well. Dark alleyways filled with rats, spiders, snakes and glowing slime in the dimly lit passages of Shinjuku. Where the city’s lowlifes thrive, and the Yakuza force innocent young women into their cars.

The Limitless Fortress, at least as far as she had gone in, where she had heard children cry, and found bodies pushed into corners. Where violence is survival, and blood and suffering drips down the walls, flooding the building and drowning anyone whom isn’t able to swim in it, to keep their heads from going under.

She smiled to herself, losing herself in her twisted world where she put image to thought, finally, the way a painter would express his or her visions. Only her expressions only she could see. It wasn’t only the bad things she was expressing; the good was just hidden, as always. The composition would have no beauty if it were all darkness, lies, and pain. There was romance to it, like the thorn of a beautiful rose, drawing blood from the fingertip of the woman who holds her lover’s gift. Like the notes slicing through Rachael’s entire existence, demolishing all her walls and barriers, and leaving her completely vulnerable.

Downstairs all conversation had stopped as her song echoed through the now silent café. Shido’s mouth stood slightly open as he became entranced by the music around him. Ban’s eyes were fixed on the doorway leading to Rachael’s room, trying to picture what it was to make her play something so dark, but beautiful. Paul couldn’t comprehend what he was trying to read in the paper and sat with his eyes closed, listening and feeling as the notes ran through him. And Ginji was looking down at the table, though not seeing anything except the visions that were being placed in his head.

All of them sensed the demented nature of her improvisation, and saw different things. Ginji saw life inside the Limitless Fortress, as if his memories were a music video to her song. Ban saw Rachael, beaten and trembling, and cuffed to the table sobbing and terrified of their first meeting, but she was so beautiful then as well; to him she had been the most captivating vision he had ever seen, even from the beginning. Shido wasn’t sure what he saw, but it made him want to weep, while making him angry enough to want to leave, but he couldn’t do either. All he could do was listen. Paul was just content to let the music surround him, as he imagined everything she had told him about her life, that knowledge made her playing even more powerful, and sent a shiver down his spine.

As soon as she finished playing she sat the violin on the desk, and pulled out a blank sheet music book. Each note she remembered by heart, as they were still fresh in her head, and she wrote down what she had just played. She had been told many times that it was extremely unusual for someone to be able to remember every note to an improvisation and be able to write it down. But she was able to.

“You are a strange device, do you know that?” she asked, speaking to her violin, “To bring an emotion into something so solid, yet invisible and intangible. We can all feel the music, at times even so strongly we could reach out and touch it; but that would be impossible.

“And you make memories resurface, and create images out of a sound… really a strange device.” She sighed, smiling and titling her composition “A Strange Device”. Not only because the violin was a strange device, but life itself was strange. The human mind was strange, emotions were strange, feelings were strange; everything as it was, was a strange device, designed by the creator of all things, for some purpose unknown, and with the place her mind was in, she saw it all as the great design it was.

There were times when Rachael’s mind was deep, gothic, and poetic. When she would see everything and observe, and be fascinated by things as simple as a toddler following a bug on the sidewalk. But that mindset wasn’t constant. That mindset was only when she was inspired and letting her creative mind flow freely.

She sat for a while after, just sitting in her floor, staring at nothing. The café was unusually quiet, so she assumed Shido had left, and Ban and Ginji finally got a job, leaving Paul all alone in the café. She sighed and decided to take out the black, leather bound journal Hevn had purchased for her, and one of the many pens she had around the room, and began to write.

“I feel like somehow, I owe my stupid dream an apology. Yes, apologizing to a dream, perhaps they were right, I am crazy. But the truth is, I think I have found my answers. Perhaps only one, but the roads begin with the first stone. The journey begins with the first step. Mine begins with the first answer. I think this is where I am supposed to be.

“Ban has changed my life. Whenever I feel his arms around me, I feel like nothing can hurt me. Nothing can hurt me; I am invincible. The song ‘You Raise Me Up’ comes to my mind when I think about him. I think I’ll play that for him someday. And to think, I’ve become so close to him, when we’ve only known each other a few days. Then again, he did save me in so many ways I can’t begin to list them.

“I think this is why I came here, to meet him, and Ginji, and Emishi, and Kazuki, and Jun, and Jinx, and Paul, and Eito. In each of them I see something I wish I could be. Jinx is confident, and powerful. Jun is caring, cautious, but also bold and unafraid to be proud of whom he is. Ginji is also caring, but childish as well, and in his childishness he’s somehow still mature. Emishi is the giver of laughter; he is always ready to offer a joke or foolish action to cheer you up. He’s the best friend I never had growing up. I’ll bet that if I knew him in school, I wouldn’t have tried to kill myself all those years ago.

“Ban’s protective, and so many other things that if I tried to list them I would fill this entire book. He offers so much comfort when I feel nothing but despair. He’s done this since the first time we met, when he saved me from that man in the bedroom. I was on the floor, being beaten as that man tried to cuff my hands to the table so I couldn’t fight back anymore. He was on top of me, telling me everything they were going to do to me, making sure I felt total helplessness, and laughed at my fear and pain.

“Ban broke the door down, and fought him off of me. I didn’t see the fight, I was too focused on getting out of the cuffs the man put on me when I was distracted by Ban, but the fight didn’t last long before he was knocked out and Ban was kneeling over me.

“I cried, I cried harder than ever that night, but I kept crying because he told me that the other men in the house would fight to be the first to have me. That some just wanted to because they wanted it to be as painful as possible; I thought that was why Ban had come into the room. But I was wrong. He promised not to hurt me, he broke my cuffs, and carried me out of the house when I couldn’t run anymore. He stayed with me that night, protecting me, and has been protecting me ever since. I hate those men who took me from the street, the one who dragged me into the car by my hair more than any of them. But I can’t help but to be thankful now… if they hadn’t done this, I would still be starving to death in the park, sleeping under a bridge. Alone and destined to be a nameless corpse found by some playground children as they ran from their parents through the park.

“Kazuki I also shouldn’t try to list too much… oh how many things could I say about him? He seems to figure out so many things I’ve never told him, it makes me wonder if he can read minds. I never told him about the abuse I endured through my last four years at the home, but he knew somehow that I had been beaten growing up. And he brought it up when I needed to hear it, and helped me remember the things I have survived to bring me to this point in time. He’s also comforting, but in a different way. A way that is entirely his own.

“Someone is knocking now, so I now must stop writing in my journal, and go answer the door. My name is Rachael Stone, and I believe I am finding my answers.”

“Just a second!” she shouted to whoever was knocking as she tied her journal back and put it back in its hiding place before answering the door. She wasn’t surprised to see Ban standing there, but what she was surprised to see was the small, purple flower he had in his hand. “I don’t know why, but this reminded me of you, I thought I should pick it and bring it to you.” He smiled, but looking insanely awkward. “Ban, are you trying to be romantic?” she asked playfully, taking the little flower and sniffing it; it smelled better than any flower she had ever seen before. For something so small, it’s fragrance was very strong, “It’s beautiful, I love it.” She smiled and stepped aside to invite him into the room that was slowly reflecting her more and more.

She set the flower beside her violin on the desk and admired how beautifully they looked together. The contrast between the light purple flower, and dark wood finish of the stringed instrument were so wonderfully artistic, in a way that few people appreciated. She giggled as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, and rested his chin on her shoulder. “I heard you playing earlier, it sounded really nice.” He said, looking at her through the mirror. “Thank you.” She smiled.

“What were you thinking about to play that?”

“Just things.”

“What kind of things?”

“People, life, pain, comfort, love, fear… does it matter, Ban?”

Ban sighed and tightened his grip around her, “I don’t like you hurting, Rachael, and after listening to that, you can’t tell me you weren’t.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not feeling like that anymore anyway.” She smiled while putting her hands over his and lacing their fingers together. “If you ever need to talk, or just need someone to lean on, you know I’m here for you.” He said softly, and kissed her on the cheek.

He let his lips linger, sending that tingling warmth that always made Rachael melt, through her entire body. “I know,” she breathed, shivering against him slightly. He smirked against her skin and moved his kiss slightly, before planting little butterfly kisses down her jaw line and neck. She muttered something inaudible and tilted her head to expose more for him to kiss, but he pulled away and sat on her bed.

“Put your shoes on.” He ordered. “Why…?” she asked slowly. “Because we’re going out.” He shrugged. “Where?” she demanded. “Does it matter? Jeez.” He huffed as she slowly got her shoes and slipped them on.

As soon as she was ready he pulled her out the door, down the steps, and put her in the car. “Ban, seriously, where are we going?” she giggled as he drove out of Shinjuku. “On a date.” He smirked as if very proud of himself, and sped up.

When they finally reached their destination, he blindfolded her and lifted her into his arms. “Ban,” she gasped, not liking the situation much anymore. “Relax Rachael, we’re almost there.” He laughed and kept walking.

Finally, after what felt like forever of clinging to Ban, hoping he wouldn’t drop her, Rachael’s feet touched the ground once more. It was uneven, and felt rocky, but also a little bit muddy. She heard the wind blowing through trees on their way to wherever they were at, and now she could hear and smell water as well. Before she could reach up and take off the blindfold, Ban’s hands caught her wrists and brought them back down gently. “Before you see where we are, I have something to ask you.” He murmured. “What?” she asked simply, laughing at how oddly romantic this all was to her.

“What do you see right now, behind that blindfold?”

Rachael was silent. She had no idea what he was asking through that question, she saw nothing behind that blindfold. Then it clicked; he was asking her creative side. Her artistic side, the part of her that envisioned everything throughout her entire life, as different that it really was; the part that always saw it as something better, albeit often a dark vision.

“Rachael?” he pushed.

“I see… a forest, and a cliff overlooking some water. There’s a couple on the cliff, holding each other closely in the night. They’re about to jump.” She answered honestly.

“Uhm,” he muttered, and pulled her back a few steps. “Take off the blindfold, but don’t move.” He laughed nervously.

As soon as she took the cloth from her eyes, she gasped and started to laugh. There they were, on a cliff, in the woods, overlooking a lake that was only about twenty-five, to thirty feet down, but instead of the night, it was mid evening. “Ban,” she chuckled, and turned in his grasp to face him, “What is this?”

“Ginji told me about something you two were talking about. You said you liked to be away from the city sometimes, and would run away from the home sometimes to sit in the woods, by a river to think. He said you would play there, and use it to escape your life sometimes. He said you missed having that, so I thought I’d, you know, get it back for you.”

“And how much does this cost me? I know the Get Backers aren’t cheap.”

He smirked and kissed her lightly. “I think seeing you this happy, just about covers it.” He decided. She laughed quietly and rested her head on his shoulder as he held her. “We should jump.” She muttered. “Why?” he demanded, backing even farther from the cliff’s edge. “You’ve never gone cliff diving, have you?” she smirked. “Once, but we weren’t there to have fun, we were running from some guys with guns, who didn’t want us to finish our job.” He answered. “Go back to the car, take off your shoes and anything else you don’t want getting wet, and then jump off the cliff with me.” She smiled as she removed her shoes and jacket. “We’re not jumping off that cliff. “Fine,” she sighed, and walked away to look at the beautiful scenery around her, finally stopping at the cliff’s edge, “Then you can take my things back to the car for me.” She smiled, turning around to face him with the most taunting smirk he had ever seen. “Rachael, don’t. You could get hurt!” he protested, but it was too late, she leaned backward over the cliff and fell. “RACHAEL!” he yelled and ran off the ledge, plummeting after her.

Two splashes echoed through the woods, followed by his angry rant, and her laughter, and more splashes.

“You could have died!”

“Ban, there’s no rocks here for me to hit; this place was made for diving!”

“I don’t care! Why’d you do that!”

“Because it’s fun!”

“This isn’t fun!”

“I’m having fun,”

“Damn you, Rachael!”

She only laughed and splashed him again and swam away. He growled and swam after her, no longer feeling angry with her, but wanting to get her back for scaring him like that. As soon as she was in his reach, he pulled her against him and pulled her under the water with him so that they were both fully submerged, leaving only her light brown hair floating at the surface to show their presence.

He kissed her under the icy water, putting his arm around the small of her back to pull her closer to him. She wrapped both of her arms around him, and kissed back before pulling them up for air. “What was that?” she asked breathlessly. He shrugged and swam back to the shore with her chasing after him.

“How are we supposed to get back up there, to get your stuff?” he asked before she wrapped her arms around him from behind. “Forget it, the shoes were too small, and the jacket I didn’t even like.” She shrugged. “Then why did you buy them?” he asked blankly. “Hevn said the jacket looked ‘perfect for me’ and the shoes were ‘too good to not get, because they were a little pinchy’. I couldn’t refuse her, even if the shoes were torture, and the jacket was one hundred percent her style, and not mine.” She sighed. He chuckled and started to walk away, trying to find a way to get back to the car.

“Ouch!” she gasped and hit the ground, clutching her now bleeding foot. They had been walking for twenty minutes and were now on the trail that Ban said would take them to Miss Ladybug. “What happened?” he asked while wiping away a few of the tears that the pain had brought to her eyes. “I stepped on something sharp.” She answered. He checked over the injured foot, regretting his agreement not to get her shoes from the cliff, and lifted her up. “Don’t walk on it, I’ll carry you to the car.” He announced as he started walking again. She sighed and let him, since there was no way she would win the argument.

Ban almost dropped Rachael when they finally got back to where he left the car, seeing it being pulled into the distance by a tow truck. “Again? I just paid off the last fine!” he yelled as she climbed out of his arms and watched him rant. “Ban, it’s okay. I’ll help you cover the fine, and get Miss Ladybug back.” She announced once he finally calmed down. “No, I’ll get it. Ginji and I’ll probably get a job soon, and use that money to pay for it.” He sighed. She nodded and took his arm to support the weight her injured foot couldn’t, and limped beside him as he walked down the empty road, back to the city.

There was nothing around them, the road went through the woods, and wasn’t very heavily traveled, so they were met with dark silence, aside from their occasional comments to one another. “Ban, I can’t keep walking, I need a break.” She breathed after almost ten miles. He nodded and sat down, leaning against a tree and pulling her into his lap.

She was shivering, and without her jacket couldn’t get warm, so he wrapped his arms tighter around her to share some of his body heat. “Ban,” she muttered with a smile.

“Yeah?”

“You jumped with me.”

“It wouldn’t matter if you were jumping off the highest bridge in Japan, I’d jump after you. But to be honest, it was an accident; you pulled me off the cliff when I grabbed your arm.”

“Sorry.” She giggled.

“Don’t be, I had fun. Cold fun, but it was still fun.”

She laughed and kissed him lightly. He brought one of his hands up to the back of her head and deepened the kiss, running his tongue along her bottom lip. She opened her mouth in a gasp, realizing that she was ticklish there, and he took advantage of the opportunity to explore her mouth. She moaned into the kiss and melted against him; unable to hold up her own weight from her exhaustion and now full relaxation as his hands explored her back and sides.

“I love you, Rachael.” He breathed when they finally stopped for air, although they stayed inches apart from one another. She froze; no one had ever told her they loved her. And only he had even hinted it, to hear it spoken to her, and know that he meant it, rendered her defenseless against the slow stream of tears that began to flow.

“What’s wrong?” he asked quickly. “N-nothing.” She smiled, and wiped at the tears, but they wouldn’t stop flowing. “Rachael,” he sighed, pressing his lips to the skin by her eye and replacing its tears with a kiss, “Tell me.” He pushed, kissing away the other’s. “It’s stupid,” she laughed as the tears continued to flow.

“Tell… *kiss*… me.”

“It’s not important.”

“If it makes you cry… *kiss*… it’s important to me… *kiss*… because I have to stop it.”

“Fine, no one’s ever said that before, okay?”

He stopped kissing her tears away and looked her dead in the eyes. “Rachael,”

“What?”

“I love you.” He smiled, and kissed her again.

She laughed a little bit as he pulled away again. “I love you.” He repeated, followed by another kiss. He repeated it six times; each followed by a quick peck somewhere on her face. “What are you doing?” she questioned finally, laughing at his romantic silliness. “Making up for all the years of your life, that someone should have loved you. Because I can’t see why anyone couldn’t love you; you’re too perfect to be unloved.” He answered, repeating those three words, and kissing her again.

After another half hour of sitting, ten minutes of which were spent with her listening to him telling her how much he loved her, and being kissed each time, they were walking again. They only went another few miles before Rachael was too tired to walk again. “We’ll never get home this way,” he frowned and picked her up to carry her. She quickly fell asleep in his arms, adoring the feel of his warm embrace as he carried her.

She had no idea how long she had been asleep when a large truck coming to a screeching halt ahead of them awakened her, and the sounds of people arguing reached her ears. She opened her eyes to see a man in dress clothes, with a long coat, and wide rimmed hat stepping out of the back of the truck, and start to walk closer to them. Ban gently set her down and stepped protectively in front of her. “Ban,” she whispered nervously, but he didn’t reply.

“Don’t come any closer, Jackal.” He ordered, less worried about the transporter attacking him, and more concerned with how afraid he knew Rachael would be of him. If his dislike of Shido made her feel uncomfortable enough to leave to her room, his hate for Jackal would certainly have her petrified. That coupled with the fact he very well could hurt her.

“Why, Ban, is this any way to greet someone who has just stopped in the middle of their job, to assist you?” Jackal asked, ignoring Ban’s warning and walking slowly closer to them. Rachael’s breath hitched nervously as his eyes fixed on her. Take away the hat, and shorten his coat, he would have looked just like the man who purchased her in the limo so long ago. Having this stranger, who was still walking closer to her, holding eye contact like that only reminded her how recent that event had been; a week at the most, and probably less.

“B-Ban,” she whispered as the man stopped a foot from them. “Back up Rachael.” He replied gently, though still holding a challenging gaze with the stranger. He wasn’t about to believe that Jackal wanted to help them, and was getting ready to throw a punch when he felt her grab onto his arm. He turned just in time to catch her as she fainted.

“Ban! Bring her into the truck, we’re heading back to Shinjuku to turn in our transportation job, so we can drop you off when we get there; we’re not going anywhere near the Honky Tonk, but it’s a lot closer than where you’re at now.” Aya announced, poking her head out the back of the truck. “See? I was only sent to be sure that you didn’t need any help with Miss…” he paused, not knowing the name of this new acquaintance. Ban ignored him as he carried her to Aya. He didn’t want to accept their help, but Rachael wasn’t doing too well; she was colder than she should be, and in the light of the truck he saw that she was also paler than usual.

“What happened?” Aya questioned as he set her down. He tried to lay her down, but she had woken up from her faint and refused to let go of him, especially after seeing the dressy man board behind them. “We went cliff diving, and she stepped on a sharp rock. We would be driving back, but my car got towed.” He explained with a sigh, pulling Rachael to sit beside him, and next to Aya.

“Rachael, are you okay? You don’t look so good.” Aya frowned. Jackal sat next to the pink haired girl, and Rachael scooted closer to Ban who was already holding her protectively. “Oh, you don’t have to be afraid of him, Rachael. This is Akabane, or Dr. Jackal. Akabane, this is Rachael.” She introduced, as her voice and body language portrayed the confusion she was trying to hide perfectly. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rachael.” Akabane smiled, and reached his hand out in greeting.

Rachael couldn’t breathe, or move away from him. He looked so much like the men who tried to hurt her before. Only because of his clothes, but that was all it took. She didn’t want him to touch her; he would hurt her if he touched her.

“Ban, what did you tell her about Akabane? Did you mention any of his good qualities?” she demanded, now angry with him for making her newest friend so afraid of her boyfriend. “One, what good qualities? And two, actually I haven’t said anything about him. It’s hard to explain why she’s like this.” He shot back and pulled Rachael, who was shaking, into a better position so he could hug her. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder.

The other two transporters in the truck were just as confused as Aya, and Akabane were. “Rachael, calm down you’ll hyperventilate. You’re okay, he isn’t with those men either.” He muttered, trying to keep it so that only she heard him, but in the confused silence his words and her heavy breathing seemed to echo. “I c-can’t.” she whimpered. “Have I ever failed to protect you?” he asked even softer than before as he rubbed her back gently. “N-no, but he looks so much like them.” She whispered tearfully. “Only because he’s wearing similar clothes. Rachael he’s the… good guy.”

Ban cringed as the last two words passed his lips. What was he saying? Akabane wasn’t the good guy he was a killer! One of the most brutal in the Transporter business! But if it would help calm Rachael down, he’d get up, hug him, and call him his best friend; he really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Neither of them noticed Aya had moved until her hand was on Rachael’s shoulder, which wasn’t the best move. With a quick gasp she jumped away and pressed herself to the farthest wall from the pink haired girl. “Rachael, what’s wrong? Tell me!” she begged as Ban sighed heavily. “Aya, come here.” He said quietly, and whispered to her the reasons Rachael was acting so strangely. She gasped and covered her mouth, unable to believe it. “I’m so sorry,” was all she could say before sitting back beside Dr. Jackal and processing the news she had just been given.

“Rachael,” Ban said as he pulled her back into his arms and went back to rubbing her back, since that always seemed to calm her down, “Remember what I said when you met Emishi? That a friend of Ginji’s usually won’t hurt people? Well friends of Aya’s usually don’t hurt her other friends.” He explained. “He won’t hurt you unless you agree to fight him,” Aya added, but stopped because the truck had stopped. “We’re here.” The man driving announced. “Okay, this is where you two get off.” The purple haired woman beside him announced. “Thank you.” Rachael muttered and quickly got out of the truck. Ban nodded to them and followed her, taking her back to the Honky Tonk, and carrying her most of the way.

Rachael was weak. He knew she was getting sick from the cold water and chilly air. She clung to him tightly as he carried her up to her room in the café, ignoring everyone’s questioning stares. Jinx, Eito, and Jun had come looking for her when she didn’t show up for the charity event, and upon hearing she and Ban had both gone missing, Ginji went to find Emishi, Shido, and Kazuki to help look for her. Several of them tried to ask what happened, but were ignored until Ban came back down ten minutes later alone.

“Ban, tell us, what happened to Rachael? Is she okay? Why was her foot bloody like that, and why did you have to carry her? She looked like she was really sick,” Jun asked worriedly. “I think she’ll be okay. We went swimming, after she jumped off a cliff and took me with her, and instead of driving back we had to walk because Miss Ladybug got towed again. Her shoes and jacket are still on the cliff; her foot’s bleeding because she stepped on a sharp rock.

“We’d probably still be walking down the road somewhere right now, if Aya hadn’t stopped Magaruma’s truck to pick us up.” He answered. “You went swimming in this weather?” Hevn questioned. “Yeah. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the car was there when we got back though.” He sighed. “But she’s okay though, nothing happened?” Jinx asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, good. Guys I gotta roll. She’s back now so I can relax; if I leave now I can still make the derby.” She announced and went out the door. Everyone nodded and waved at her, but stayed and conversed about Rachael and their worries.

A content, and thoughtful silence fell over them right as Rachael’s weak voice started to call for Ban, who was gone in a flash to be at her side.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, lying at her side and pulling her close. “I’m freezing.” She answered with a shiver, “And every time I fall asleep, I dream about them.” She whimpered. He sighed and rubbed her back until she fell asleep, and then decided to straighten up her room for her.

While picking up, he found a small black journal. Curiosity got the best of him and he opened it up to read its contents. He smiled at her writings until one line about Emishi, one he had to read three times for it to register.

“I’ll bet that if I knew him in school, I wouldn’t have tried to kill myself all those years ago.”

“Why?” he whispered to her, closing the journal and putting it back where he found it. He shook his head and lay back down next to her, holding her closer than before. “I love you, Rachael.” He murmured to her, and closed his eyes. “I love you to, Ban.” She mumbled in her sleep, making him smile before he joined her in dreamland.