Oeastre

A GetBackerS Fanfiction

 GetBackerS Holiday Series: Sequel to Lupercalia

By: Sanjuno Shori Niko

Rating: R

Pairing: GinjiBan; JubeiKazuki; ShidoMadoka

Warnings: YAOI; TWT; WAFF; Lemon

Disclaimer: GB is not mine. The fic is. Blah. No suing please. Ask first. Your cooperation is expected.

=^-^=

AUTHORS NOTES:

Yes my new obsession is with the Get Backers. Yes I’ve spent the entire day writing this fic while overdosing on chocolate. Yes, this is my first semi-holiday theme fic. No, I am nowhere near coherent.

Enjoy minna-san.

 =^-^=

Oeastre

=^-^=

Ban sighed, fingering the letter in his pocket absently as he watched the revelry going on in front of him. The seemingly innocent envelope had appeared earlier that week. No return address, with only his name penned on the front. It had been delivered anonymously to the Honky Tonk. Ginji and Paul had both asked him what the letter was about, but he had remained silent. Ban let them think it was a… a bill or something. He had not actually lied, since he had not said anything, but neither had he done anything to deny their conclusions.

Being invited to Madoka’s country mansion for an Easter party was a stroke of luck. Yet is it good luck or ill though? That was the question Ban asked himself.

 The mansion was reasonably close to the place where he was supposed to go tonight, but there were more than a few people of above average skill in close proximity, all of who knew him and might possibly notice his absence as the night wore on.

 He had hoped to slip away as the party continued, but so far he had found no opportunities. He did not want to worry Ginji. If Ginji got worried, then he might come looking for him, and the last thing Midou Ban wanted was for his partner to find out exactly why the jagan user had slipped off.

 This was something he wished to keep separated from his life as a retrieval agent. Despite the relatively new turn his relationship with Ginji had taken a few months earlier during Lupercalia, Ban still felt reluctant to expose his partner to the other life he was forced to lead. Not to mention it was slightly embarrassing.

 But if he did not hurry, he was going to be late. There was a spike in the activity of the other party guests and Ban took advantage of their momentary distraction to escape from the others unnoticed.

 Or so he thought. It was a testament to the skill of the observers and Ban’s own preoccupation that he never noticed the people who saw him leaving.

 =^-^=

 Ginji’s brown eyes narrowed as he saw his friend disappear through the doorway. Ban had been distracted ever since that letter had come. Several times during the week the former Volts leader had seen his partner pull out the letter and read it again and again, so often that Ban surely had it memorized by now. Ginji had no idea what was contained in the message, but from Ban-chan’s reaction it wasn’t anything good. 

 “What’s up with the Snake Bastard?”

 “I don’t know, but he’s been acting weird all week. I’m worried.”

 “Well then, why don’t we see what he’s up too?”

 Both of them turned to look at Kazuki, who was suddenly standing on Ginji’s other side. Ginji frowned.

 “I don’t know Kazu-chan… Ban-chan might get mad if he found out we followed him.”

 Shido made a rude noise.

 “Who cares about what that bastard thinks? Let’s go!”

 The Beastmaster evaded Ginji’s half-hearted grab and followed the path Ban had just taken.

 “Ah! Shido, matte!”

 Kazuki smiled, pushing Ginji along with a firm hand between the lightning lord’s shoulder blades.

 “Now Ginji-kun, what if Ban-kun is in trouble? Or needs your help? We’ll reveal ourselves only if Ban-kun needs us to help. Otherwise we’re just following to make certain he’s all right, ne?”

 Ginji looked doubtful but began to walk forward under his own power. His reluctance was obviously only because he was worried about his partners reaction to being followed.

 “Well… okay. But Ban-chan’ll be mad when he finds out.”

 “Why, then we simply make sure that he doesn’t find out!”

 =^-^=

 Considering how the rest of the night was going to go, it should really be no surprise to anyone that about fifteen minutes after the three friends left to follow Ban, Jubei went to Madoka to inquire after Kazuki.

 “Madoka-san.”

 “Oh, Jubei-san, how are you? Are you enjoying the festivities?”

 “I am, thank you for inviting me Madoka-san. However, I’m afraid that I cannot find Kazuki-san. Have you any idea as to where he is?”

 Madoka frowned.

 “No, I’m sorry Jubei-san, I haven’t any clue. Now that you mention it, Shido-san has been missing for a while as well, and it’s been some time since I’ve heard from either Ginji-san or Ban-san.”

 “Ah.”

 Madoka turned, drawing Jubei with her as she retreated to the fringes of the activity.

 “Mozart, can you find Shido?”

 A happy bark and frantically wagging tail answered her question.

 “Good boy. Let’s go.”

 Nose to the ground, the dog led the blind twosome away from the party.

 =^-^=

 “Ah, so the prodigal son returns, hm?”

 Ban glowered at the bouncy Spanish woman who greeted him at the gate.

 “Shut up, Maria.”

 Cheerfully ignoring the tense warning underlying both voice tone and body language the old witch took hold of Ban’s arm and began to drag-slash-lead him through the densely wooded property behind the gate. There was no road, only a simple dirt path winding through the trees.

“You didn’t bring your car?”

“The others would have noticed if it went missing. Especially Ginji, and that would have encouraged the fool to come looking for me, which would have brought the rest of the idiots into it.”

“I see… we can’t have that now, can we?”

There was a glint in the older woman’s eyes that Ban did not like.

“What do you know, Maria-baba?”

“Now, now, you’re far too young to be so grumpy. If you didn’t want to come why are you here?”

“Grandmother.”

“Oh?”

“She sent a letter requesting-” Ban snarled the word, “- my presence at tonight’s ceremonies. According to her, it is past time I started getting used to leading coven celebrations.”

“How wonderful! The others will be simply tickled to know that the Heir will be present.”

“I know you had something to do with this, hag!”

Maria continued to chatter on as if she had not heard Ban speak.

“… And the mothers! They’ll simply ecstatic to have their babe blessed by one of the pure-blood!”

Ban sighed and tried to shake his arm loose from Maria’s grasp.

“I know.”

“So morose!”

“I hate you, and I hope your death is suitably miserable.”

“That’s nice, dear. Let’s get you dressed properly; I have just the thing for you to wear!”

They had just exited the woods and were now passing through the gate into the courtyard of a huge, traditional Japanese home that could double as a small palace.

“Goddammit, Maria, you know I hate fancy dress!”

“Oh, you’ll like this one! I promise!”

Ban found himself whisked inside by the youthful seeming old woman. Although the wide eyes of the people they passed on their way soothed his battered pride. Apparently Maria had told somebody, or a few somebody’s, whom she would be escorting in.

It was nice to be recognized. However, the mix of awe and fear in the eyes that never raised their gaze to his face reminded him of why he had tried to leave this life behind him… not that he could.

Ban sighed, resigned to the fact that he could only ever take a vacation from his duties. One day he would take up his responsibilities in full, but not yet. For now he would keep to leading the occasional celebration. There would be time enough for the rest of it later… an entire lifetime’s worth of time.

“Oi, I can find my own way.”

“I know, dear, but you look so cute when you’re frustrated. Isn’t that nice blonde boy taking proper care of you?”

She laughed, giggling merrily as Ban turned bright red and squeaked indignantly.

“Maria!”

=^-^=

Ginji looked up at the tall, twisted gates guarding entry into the forest beyond. The exact shapes moulded into the dark metal were hard to see even with the dimming light of early evening.

“Are you sure this is where he went, Shido?”

“Yep. My friends all say he went his way, and I’ve been tracked his scent myself this whole time.”

Kazuki ran his gaze over the impressive walls of un-hewn stone that extended to either side of the imposing gate, curving over the horizon, disappearing into the distance and giving the impression of containing the entire forest.

“Is there anything else your friends tell you?”

“Yeah, he met a woman here, she has a funny scent.”

Ginji frowned, and for a moment there was a memory of the man who had lead the Volts.

“What do you mean by ‘funny’?”

Shido shrugged, straightening from where he crouched just outside the gate.

“It’s hard to explain. It’s like what I smell and what I should smell are different.”

Ginji knew that was the best he would be able to get out of his friend. It was hard for Shido to put his animal instincts into human words.

“All right, let’s go.”

They went in, casting glances around for traps or enemies. Ginji scratched the back of his head as he voiced a question.

“Why would Ban-chan walk all the way out here by himself?”

Kazuki shrugged and stepped over a root.

“Who knows? You can probably ask him yourself when we catch up. I’m getting slightly curious myself.

“From what I know of Ban-kun, this is not normal behaviour.”

“No it isn’t. Ban-chan didn’t’t look like he wanted to come, and he usually tells me where he’s going if he doesn’t’t want me to follow. Ban-chan hasn’t said anything about this, though, and that’s really not like him at all. He usually makes a fuss about things that bother him.”

Kazuki looked amused.

“I’ve noticed.”

As the three continued deeper into the forest, following the path Shido’s nose told them Ban had taken, the Beastmaster’s frown grew deeper. The back of Ginji’s neck prickled, and he suddenly noticed they had drawn together defensively, as if on instinct.

“What’s wrong, Shido?”

The Mariudo just shook his head and glanced around them before answering quietly.

“This place… it feels old… ancient… wild. The trees are uncultured, and the animals here are free…”

“But?” Kazuki prompted, looking wary.

“Yet the entire place is fenced in. I don’t understand it.”

“Perhaps…” Kazuki hesitated before forging ahead. “Perhaps the walls cage the rest of the world.”

Ginji nodded. “Yeah, it seems like the rest of the world is fenced in. To keep it away from this place.”

Shido smiled slightly. “You’re right, that’s exactly what it feels like.”

“Thank you, we do try our best.”

All three were jerked from the quiet mood that had descended upon them, spinning to stand back to back. As if from a bad movie, a ring of weapons was levelled at their throats. Ginji blinked. Their captors were dressed very strangely.

Painted swirls of colour tattooed faces and disguised features. Hair was held back with decorated headgear and all wore intricate robes over drawstring pants. It was a mixed group of men and women, but all wore sleeveless robes open in the front. Distracting the mind and drawing the eyes with the thought that the fabric would slip from the precarious balance it held on smooth shoulders at any minute. The breeze stirred feathers and ornaments of shell, bone, and silver. Their feet were bare.

 The one who had spoken grinned at them, her white teeth flashing between gold-painted lips. Her blonde hair gleamed under a band of silver twisted to form ram horns over her temples. The feathers in her hair were red-gold. Storm-sky eyes gleamed with feral light from a feline face, stripes of black tiger-like markings extending from her eyes and hairline. Her pants were black, decorated by the outline of silver and gold flames. The robe she wore was cinched at the waist with a tasselled cord, and split into four panels a few inches below the belt line. Black faded into red as the eyes moved up, while the outline of flames twisted up the garment. Loops of black cord and silver chain were tight around her throat and fell casually down her chest to display a small collection of amulets and pendants. Her ears were pierced several times, and a faceted red stone winked from her navel. Her arms were covered by matching finger-less gloves that looped around her middle finger and were held in place by a silver armband at the top of her biceps. Trailing ribbons of fabric in red, black, and gold ran from the outside edge of her wrist up to the top of the glove. Her breasts were secured by what looked like a cross between a vest and a sports bra made of thin silver mesh. The rest of the group wore similar clothing in different colours and patterns, though the men wore no undershirts like the women’s barely-there support piece.

 Shido made a strangled sound and Ginji gawked. Kazuki was the first to speak, and even he sounded strange.

 “Who… who are you? What’s going on?”

 Again she grinned and a low, smoky laugh sounded in the silence.

 “We will ask the questions of you, stranger. It is you three who are the intruders here.”

 Ginji had already decided not to put up a fight. He had no idea what their skill level was and chances were that they would be taken to where Ban was. Obviously Kazuki and Shido had come to the same conclusion, because they did not resist when their arms were grabbed. A motion of the grinning woman’s arm and they were bound in white ropes, and then searched for weapons. When none were found, they were given an appraising look.

“I do not know why you have come here, or how you found this place, but my duty is to protect the coven. Luckily, it is not my place to deal with you.”

Ginji had since recovered his voice.

“Who does then?”

Another grin from the woman who was apparently the leader and they were prodded into movement.

“Come! I’ll take you to them.”

She moved ahead, her straight, waist length blonde hair shifting enough to reveal the image of a ram-horned tiger that decorated the back of her robe.

They soon found themselves in a torch lit courtyard, struck speechless by the looming building. Everything was carved or decorated in some way, trailing vines and opulent flowerbeds turning the manmade structure into something… wild.

Another armed group came in behind them, and a shouted greeting made the flame clad woman turn.

“Hey-la Sirin! It looks like I’m not the only one to bring home a prize this night.”

“Yo, Tanim. What have you got?”

“A blind pair of humans, a man and a girl, plus a dog. Found them a few minutes down the path from the gate. You?”

“Three human males about a quarter hour from here.”

The man shook his head and whistled lowly as they both turned appraising looks on the others catch. A commotion among their uninvited guests made them raise their brows. Almost simultaneously they waved their groups back, both wanting to see how things turned out.

=^-^=

Shido whipped his head around at a familiar bark.

Mozart? If he’s here then that means…

“Madoka!”

The sightless dark eyes widened at the sound of her name.

“Shido-san! What’s going on?”

Shido cursed and suddenly found himself at Madoka’s side, unaware of the curious expressions on the faces of both hunting parties.

“Madoka, what are you doing here? How did you even get this far from your house?”

She blushed as he touched his shoulder to hers to let her know he was there.

“Mozart led Jubei-san and I here when I asked him to find you. I was worried because you just left without warning, and Jubei-san wanted to know where Kazuki-san went. I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

Shido grunted, seeing Jubei standing by Kazuki and Ginji.

“It’s all right. I should have told you that I was leaving. That damn Snake Bastard, all of this is his fault. If he had just told Ginji where he was going we wouldn’t’t be in this mess.”

“Yare, yare, my dear guests! It’s time to go now!”

The woman called Sirin grinned at her captives and began to move them towards the building when a happy squeal sounded from one side. A dark-skinned woman with an impossible bust bounced down the steps and swept Ginji up into a suffocating bear hug.

“Ha! I knew it! Aren’t you just the cutest thing, following Ban all the way here!”

She dropped the gasping blonde to pinch his cheeks. Pointedly ignoring the looks she was getting from the other prisoners. Sirin stepped forward, sketching a small bow as she grinned in amusement.

“Noches-sama, I take it you were expecting them?”

Maria spun and dimpled at the hunt captain.

“Indeed I was, Sirin-chan. This bunch is with the Heir.”

It was hard to tell under the paint, but it seemed like the feline face paled.

“O-oh?”

“Now don’t you worry dear, you’re not in any trouble. He doesn’t even know they were coming.”

“But you did.”

“Of course I did, who do you think I am?”

Sirin did not answer verbally, but she was grinning at the other woman as she bowed again. Maria turned once more to the confused group of five.

“Don’t fret, dears, I have just the things for you to wear!”

A moment later they were untied and being bustled down a hallway. Ginji blinked in confusion.

“Maria-san? What’s going on? Why are you here? Where’s Ban-chan?”

Maria smiled at the blonde.

“We are going to get you all some proper clothes, I am here for the party and because it’s one of my duties, and Midou Ban is busy preparing for the ceremony.”

Before any could think to ask ‘what ceremony’ they were pushed into a bathing room, summarily stripped, washed and dried, despite protest to the contrary. Shido had the most to say, but Sirin put a stop to that by pushing him under the water and holding him there until the bubbles stopped.

“But Madoka’s still here!”

“She’s blind! It’s not like she can peek anyway! If it bothers you that much close you eyes!”

 “You’re not!”

 “Suck it up! You haven’t got anything I’ve never seen before anyway! Now stop being such a wuss or I’ll gag you and tie you up again!”

 And so on.

 They were soon dressed in the same style of clothing that the rest of the people were wearing. Ginji was in a dark blue, grey, and gold lightning patterned robe with the legless thunderbird stretching it wings across his back. Kazuki was in shades of white, grey and violet, with a delicate long limbed spider spinning its web across the fabric of his garment. Shido had tawny gold and ochre of a griffin in flight. Madoka was in pink, white and green, a graceful songbird singing between her shoulder blades. Jubei was in blue, grey, and black, a solemn wolf watching his back.

Madoka blushed and kept trying to tug her front closed, but that only encouraged it to slide down one arm or the other. Shido was nearly as red as Madoka was, though his expression could have been made of stone, while Kazuki was torn between gushing over the fine make of the fabric and wishing for something to cover his chest. Ginji kept sweeping his arms up and down to watch the fabric ribbons flutter and flare out like wings.

Maria clapped her hands, ignoring the signs of terminal embarrassment.

“You all look so fine! I knew it was a good idea to have these made!”

Ginji blushed, leaning over to whisper to Shido as Maria went over to help Madoka get her headband on properly.

“I know I’m wearing more than Hevn-san when she’s feeling modest, so why do I feel like I’m practically naked?”

Shido slid his eyes quickly to Madoka and back, then shrugged.

“I dunno, but it certainly feels like we should be wearing more.”

Sirin grinned as she came up and forced them to put the headgear on before she started attaching feathers in their hair and looped the mandatory pendants around their necks. For some reason, the loops emphasized the lack of covering on their chests.

“Since I couldn’t help but overhear your guys’s conversation, I’ll explain. Although how someone who hangs around with the Heir can’t know…”

She trailed off and shrugged, grinning again with a flash of teeth.

“Anyway, tonight’s the celebration of Oeastre.”

Ginji looked at her in puzzlement.

“We know it’s Easter, we had a party at Madoka-chan’s and everything.”

Sirin snorted and laughed.

“Not Easter, Oeastre.”

She was careful to pronounce the difference.

“Easter is the christianized version of and old pagan rite called Oeastre, which was a celebration of the returning of life to the world after the death-cold of winter. Oeastre is a planting festival, a time where children are celebrated and the people pray for blessing as well as good harvest for the upcoming year.”

Looking at the expressions on their faces, Sirin laughed and slapped them both on the shoulder.

“C’mon, what did you think all the eggs and rabbits were about anyway? Not some divine scion nailed to great big splinter that’s for certain sure.”

Then she paused as if remembering the reason she had started talking. Maria started out the door and motioned for Sirin to follow with her charges. Grinning wider, she led them forward and continued speaking in a morbidly cheerful tone.

“Anyway, the clothes for the celebration are all made for ‘easy access’. Wouldn’t do for a blessing to get wasted ‘cause somebody couldn’t get out of their costume, ne?”

She laughed at their red faces before pushing them out the door after Maria and the others.

=^-^=

Ban paused in his actions; brow furrowed as he examined the feeling that had just came over him. He looked out the window and cursed, recognizing the familiar spiky blond head of his partner. Ginji had followed him, along with several others, and Maria had already gotten hold of them.

He shook his head, black feathers melding with his wild hair; it was too late to do anything about it now.

The rituals would start in only a few minutes. Damn her, the old witch had probably known that this would happen. Ban didn’t know which old witch he was thinking about, his grandmother or Maria, probably both, but he had wanted to keep his witch blood - and his position in the occult society - a secret from the others.  It had been difficult, but he had managed so far, passing off the odder things he did as a side effect of the Jagan’s powers.

It would be impossible to avoid an explanation after this.

At least he now knew the true reason why he had been ordered to attend tonight’s ceremonies. For whatever reason, it was time to let Ginji know some of the truth about him.

Damn it.

=^-^=

Maria led them out to a grassy clearing a few minutes walk from the mansion. It was wide and open. A natural hillock on the far side was the only feature of note. There were an impressive number of people present, all dressed in the now-familiar robes. Men, women, children and elders, what were obviously entire families were standing with eyes towards the hill. Maria led them straight towards it, stopping at the edge of the crowd and slightly to one side.

Bonfires were lit at each of the cardinal points; the largest blazed atop the hill, at the East Point. Sirin’s voice quietly explained the significance of that, how East was the direction from which Spring came, the land where the Maiden dwelled.

Ginji’s attention was immediately drawn to the slim figure silhouetted by the flame. Ban’s face was lacking the customary glasses, and a crown of silver serpents twined through his hair. Instead of the usual dress shirt and jeans, he was clad as the rest of the assembly in a black and purple garment that gleamed like scales in the firelight. A forked tongue and a few coils of the serpent on his back curved over his shoulder and around his sides.

A dozen or so women knelt at his feet with children in their arms. The eldest child was no more than a year old while the youngest still had the slightly squashed look of a newborn.

Ginji found himself ignoring the others as he focused on Ban. The jagan user took at step forward and raised his arms, the graceful movement emphasized by the trailing ribbons. His head tilted back as he raised his face to the night sky and cupped his palms as if to catch the starlight. Everything about the situation conspired in that moment to make Ban the most beautiful thing Ginji had ever seen.

So distracted was he by his sudden desire for his attractive partner, that Ginji almost did not realize that Ban had started to speak. The voice of the jagan user rose in a chant and he walked nine times around the kneeling women and their children, painting a line across the brow of each child on the last pass from a bowl he held in his hands. Ginji could not understand what Ban was saying, but it rang in his mind like a song, whispered through his soul like a promise.

The women withdrew into the crowd, faces glowing with pride and excitement. Ban’s chant shifted into something less structured, older, wordless. Or so it seemed, any words that might have been were lost to the tones of Ban’s voice. Maria and another woman walked forward and presented Ban with two bundles of… Ginji squinted, plants and hide?

Ban took out a silver knife and sliced his palm, letting blood fall onto both bundles before grabbing them and throwing them into the fire behind him. The flames roared like a hungry beast and doubled in height as a wind whipped through the assembly, carrying the sudden eruption of strangely scented smoke to all corners of the field. Now more voices joined with Ban’s as every person in the clearing broke their self-imposed silence to add their own parts to the song.

Ginji could see the blood on Ban’s hands as his partner raised them again, swaying in time to the tune of a hundred or more voices. Brilliant blue eyes were both blank and all consuming as they stared over the gathered people. The coils of the serpent twisted around Ban’s slim form as Ophiuchus looked out at the gathered souls for an endless moment.

Then slowly, so subtly Ginji thought he was imagining it at first, the sound of drums and flutes wound through the vocals. At first matching, then leading, the instruments brought the voices down from their spiritual high.

Then the dancing began, and Ginji found himself out of breath, eyes still locked on his partner. Ban was the last to shake off whatever effects the song had, still swaying as he lowered his arms, the afterimage of the star snake fading into memory. Sirin passed in front of Ginji on the arm of the other hunter-captain, Tanim, making Ginji blink and look at his friends, noticing that they all looked as stunned as he felt.

Feeling as if he had not moved for ages, Ginji turned his eyes back to Ban, only to find his partner had turned toward him. Brown eyes met dangerous blue fearlessly. Then the impossibly blue eyes softened, a smile hiding in their depths, and a hand was extended. Ginji moved forward to take that hand, noticing as he did that there was no sign of blood or wound. Then there was no more time to think as Ban pulled him down into the whirling throng of dancers.

Ginji’s world was a taunting smile, silent laughter, and bright blue eyes.

=^-^=

Shido watched as his former - no not former, Ginji would always be Shido’s leader - emperor disappeared into the crowd. Still in shock from what he had just witnessed, he did not resist as Madoka pulled him into the dance, seeing Kazuki doing the same to Jubei from the corner of his eye.

Apparently Madoka had understood more of the explanations made by Maria and Sirin than he had, because she laughed at his scandalized exclamations when she tried to pull him away into the cover of the trees after a few hours of wild dancing.

“Marriage is just words Shido-kun, and I want to be yours just as much as you wish to be mine. What does it matter what others think? We love, it is all that matters.”

“Well spoken child!”

Maria winked at the flabbergasted Shido, showed them back to the mansion and gave them a room.

“Your other friends have been shown to their own rooms already. You’ll have to get a move on if you want to catch up!”

Madoka smiled, and Shido felt his resolve crumbling.

“Shido-kun…”

The Beastmaster found himself powerless against the soft voice and gentle touch, and the world fell away in a haze of sensation.

=^-^=

Kazuki thanked the nice old man who had shown he and Jubei back to the house and to an unoccupied room. The Weaver turned to look at his Samurai-esque companion with a predatory expression.

“Maa, Jubei-koi, shall we see if these ‘easy access’ garments live up to their reputation?”

Jubei started slightly at Kazuki voice but smiled anyway.

“If you wish.”

Then he drew the smaller man in for a kiss.

=^-^=

The door slammed shut as Ginji shoved Ban up against it, pressing their mouths together urgently. It was a miracle they had made it to the room at all, considering how many times they had stumbled against a tree because they were too busy kissing to watch where they were going.

Sirin’s words about ‘easy access’ was proven true as Ginji shed everything but his pants without breaking away from the kiss. A quick tug at Ban’s sash and the robe slid down the blue-eyed man’s arms to puddle on the floor. The serpent crown hit the floor with a thump and rolled away as they stumbled their way over to the bed.

Ban paused only to grab something from a hidden pocket before shedding his pants and turned just in time to watch Ginji getting rid of his. Both men were obviously aroused, and there was nothing hesitant in the way Ginji bore Ban down onto the covers.

“Ban-chan…”

Ban saw the raw hunger on his partner’s face and moaned, head falling back as Ginji attacked his neck with teeth, lips and tongue. The small clinking thuds of his jewellery hitting the wall and falling to the floor proved but a momentary distraction.

“G-ginji! Oh…”

The man once known as Raitei decided that he loved that sound - his name escaping as a breathy cross between a gasp and moan - and he sought ways to hear it again. Ginji was a physical creature; he thrived on touch, whereas Ban was always seeking ways to keep other people at arm’s length, and so the feelings his partner’s touch elicited in him took his mind by storm.

Yes, definitely a storm. A force of nature that could not be stopped, held back, or denied; only accepted. There was no choice but to surrender and wait for the fury to fade.

‘As if I would want to fight against this!’

Ginji devoured the skin of Ban’s shoulders, leaving red marks behind that would still be there in the morning. They were tangible signs of his claim written on his partner’s flesh. The thought drove him crazy with the need to have everything. He drew a hot line down the centre of Ban’s chest, enjoying the breathy gasps, then fastened his mouth over one nipple.

Ban arched off the bed with a low cry as Ginji drew the small nub into his mouth, suckling furiously.

Fingers clenched tightly in short blond spikes and Ginji grinned around his mouthful, reaching one hand up to pinch the other until it peaked. Ban bucked against him and Ginji moaned as his partner’s frantic movements wore away at his control.

Apparently Ban felt the same way. Ginji blinked as a small tube was pressed insistently into his grasp. Reluctantly pulling back from his partner’s delectable flesh, he looked down at what he held in his hand. Brown-gold eyes first widened then narrowed as Ginji went from shock to lust in less than a heartbeat.

“Do I want to know why you were carrying this around?”

Ban smirked, and shrugged as well as he could, given that he was mostly pinned under Ginji.

“A guy can always hope.”

“Oh?”

Ginji’s tone was mild as he bent his head to savage the soft skin just under Ban’s ear. Yet his actions spoke far louder than his words and the blonde bent all his skill to reducing his partner to a mindless state of pleasure. Ginji was successful enough that Ban never noticed him opening the tube and liberally coating his fingers in the slick stuff.

Working his way down Ban’s torso with a quick stop to torment the other man’s nipples again, Ginji paused to thrust his tongue into Ban’s navel. He enjoyed the resulting gasp and the feeling of his partner’s thighs tightening around his ribcage. Continuing on his downward path, Ginji scraped his teeth over the thin skin of Ban’s hip, then pressed kisses on the inside of one thigh.

Running his mouth back up along the crease where the leg met hip, Ginji ran the back of his thumb over the delicate skin behind Ban’s sack until he located the tiny pucker.

“A-ah! Gi-innjiii!”

Smirking, and looking a great deal like his Raitei persona, Ginji licked the base of Ban’s cock.

“Ahn!”

Then as Ban arched of the bed again he quickly slid one finger into Ban’s opening to the last knuckle.

“Nngh!”

Ginji flung his other arm across Ban’s hips to keep them still and took the tip of his partner’s erection in his mouth. And sucked. Hard.

“Aahnnn!”

Greedy brown eyes drank in the sight of the writhing body stretched out under him, satisfied with the way dazed blue eyes went wide in an overload of sensation. The rhythmic clenching of Ban’s tight, internal muscles pulsing around his finger made his own arousal throb urgently. It was enough of a reminder to make Ginji twist his finger around, probing the flexing walls. Ban keened, deep in his throat, and Ginji took more of the brunette’s erection into his mouth as he added a second digit.

Ginji carefully avoided getting near Ban’s prostate this early in the game, not wanting things to end too soon. After he managed to get three fingers inside his partner’s channel and moving easily, Ginji gently scraped a nail over the fleshy nub several times in quick succession. Withdrawing his fingers and slicking himself as Ban jerked and cried out in his hold, he lined his shaft up with the shuddering hole.

“Relax Ban-chan… just relax and breathe.”

Ginji pushed in.

“Hsst!”

Once past the guardian ring, Ginji paused and waited for Ban to adjust. The Jaganishi hissed softly, he was still unused to being taken, this being the only other time since that first night, and his breath came in sharp pants as his fingers scrabbled over the skin of the Raitei’s back. The blond pressed kisses to the side of his partner’s mouth as he murmured meaningless syllables, unable to manage anything more but needing to comfort his lover. Feeling the other man relax he slid in the rest of the way in a single, relentless glide.

“G-ginji…”

“Shh… its all right Ban-chan. Trust me, you need to take deep breaths…”

“Oh gods… Ginji.”

Ginji kissed whatever parts of Ban he could reach, eyelids, cheeks, collarbones, keeping his hips as still as possible as he again waited for his lover to adjust to the new stretch. It was hard, his length was held in a hot velvet grip, sinfully tight. It seemed to take ages before the painful bite of fingers digging into his shoulders eased. Then he started to rock his hips gently, not really thrusting, just a gentle rubbing motion against Ban’s inner walls.

Ban gasped, and moaned, wrapping arms and legs around the blond moving over him, in him. He pulled Ginji’s face down to press their mouths together, and then canted his own hips up to meet Ginji’s.

After that Ginji lost control, gradually building speed until the force of the thrusts moved Ban’s entire body. Feeling the end approaching, Ginji hooked his arms under Ban’s knees, the new angle letting him push deeper and harder than before. Ban keened, whipping his head back as he rocked up to meet each thrust.

Ginji wrapped one hand around Ban’s erection, pumping it in counterpoint to the movement of his hips. Ban thrashed under him, hissing as he shuddered and arched off the sheets. Then Ban’s body curved into a tight arc, flexing up off the mattress, and he screamed. The sound was caught between them in a kiss as Ginji again smashed their lips together. The tight convulsions proved enough to draw Ginji’s release from him, a harsh cry of his own erupting in the wake of Ban’s.

Breathing heavily, Ginji gently withdrew from his lover’s body and lowered Ban’s legs. The other retriever was looking close to sleep, impossibly blue eyes hazy and half-lidded. After spending a few minutes catching his breath, Ginji rose and went into the bathroom to get a wet cloth and cleaned them both off.

Ginji kissed Ban’s forehead as he pulled the covers over both of them, Ban curling up against him with an incoherent mutter. Looking fondly at the slightly sweaty mess of long spikes resting on his chest, Ginji wrapped one strong arm around Ban’s waist.

“Goodnight Ban-chan. I love you.”

There was a smile on his face as the blond went to sleep.

After a few minutes of silence Ban leaned up on one elbow as he looked down on his partner with a critical, sleepy glare.

Fucking fertility festival, stupid meddling old biddies.

Since when was his sex life something little old ladies felt the urge to meddle in? He would have gotten this far with Ginji on his own!

… Eventually…

Hn. Maybe he should send his grandmother a fruit-basket or something. Just to say thank you.

For caring, you know? Not that he needed the help. Not at all. Still…

It was nice to know she cared somewhat about what happened to him. And that she approved of his choice. Maria had to have been the one to tell Grandmother about his partnership with Ginji. So he had the Witch Queen’s tacit approval to keep Ginji as his lover.

There was a subtle sense of age, and matronly affection, along with a hint of pride and amusement.

Ban scowled and shot a burst of ‘mind your own business, you old hag’ in his grandmothers direction through the ether. Laughter, a reminder to be well and to take care, a blessing… and the familial presence faded.

“Can’t even let me enjoy the afterglow before she brags. Annoying, meddling old woman…”

Ban grumbled as he wiggled closer to his lover’s body. A lover, he truly had Ginji as his lover now… but he would have some explaining to do in the morning. He knew that much.

Ah well. Things probably would have come to this point sooner or later. Events simply conspired for it to be ‘sooner’ rather than the metaphorical ‘later’. Ban sighed and laid his head back on Ginji’s shoulder with a yawn.

“Love you too, Ginji… ‘ven if you are a stupid eel…”

Ban didn’t notice the sliver of a warm brown eye that opened and closed, nor the way his new lovers' smile grew subtly wider. Things could wait until morning.

But that is a tale for another time.

= Owari. =

=^-^=

END NOTES:

It’s 4:47 AM, there’s no frickin’ way I’m gonna pull off the witty, complex Notes you people have come to expect. Just Read and Review like a nice person and I won’t be forced to hunt you down and let small children dribble on you.

My muses have shut down for the night and so has my brain. Your responses go in the little blue box. Hope you all enjoyed the fic.

It’s time for Sanjuno-sama to go beddy-bye.

Ja matta ne, minna-san.

=^-^=

Finished: 2005-04-12

Revised: 2006-03-01

Beta Read: 09/08/05

=^-^=

BETA NOTES (Hope you don't mind, Sanjuno-san!):

Everybody, cheer for Sanjuno-san! She's a good enough writer that she needs hardly any editing.

Well, if there's any OOC-ness (which I doubt there is, but it's possible), completely blame the beta. I have never seen a single episode of Get Backers. I just researched the show a bit, so my job may have some slight failings. I wrote this in the third person for three sentences before I realized it and fixed it. Look, I haven't gotten more than five hours rest in three days, (insomnia, might as well do something useful with my time) so blame me, but READ AND REVIEW! Or else I will set my brother on you. Little blue box, it isn't that hard to remember...

Also, to be annoying, I have put a little practical information on Oeastre here at the bottom from Nerthus.

Oestre Equinox
MARCH 20th (occasionally the 21st)

Other spellings:
Oster; Oeastre; Ostara; Eástre; Easter...

·         Commonly known as the Vernal Equinox, the annual Spring quarter begins for the Northern Hemisphere as the North and South Poles are momentarily poised on the Earth's terminator; the boundary-line between night and day. The Old World knew and celebrated the Equinox as the feast of Oestre, the ancient European goddess of Spring and the dawn. This of course is the origin of the word Easter; the feast date of which is fixed every year as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.

·         Comparatively little is known about the European observances of the Oestre Equinox. While it is likely that the equinox was observed by the Northern Tribes (as well as the Greeks and Romans) little remains for us to work with other than the clearly pagan etymology of the word "Easter"/Oestre. Christianity seems to have completely absorbed the pagan folkways yet the parallel themes of spring-time rebirth and the Christian's feast of the resurrection make it easy to see where to look:

Eggs; chicks hatching; early-spring flowers breaking through; rain; March hares; bunnies; sunrise; farmer sowing seed; "spring" colors; spring clothes...

As the Sun, having climbed from its lowest track at Yule, now first enters into the upper half of it's range in our skies, the Oestre Equinox marks the beginning of the Spring quarter,(not high spring, that's Beltane) hence the perre-nial effects and their attendant imagery:

·         the Equal-Night (equi-nox ) on the increasing side of the year. (Mar.20 )

·         the Sun's arrival at the Year's dawn-horizon (transition from childhood into puberty/youth)

·         the emergence of the crocus; breaking-through; the long awaited Dawning of Life...

·         the Resurrection: the Return of the Spring-Maiden: Oestre / Kore / Persephone: She has RISEN!

·         also: the First Sowing of seeds ( nine months till the nativity of the Sun; "Lady Day", Mar. 25: the feast of Mary's visitation by the angel)

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