And so, it ends here. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for all the support and encouragement. I still couldn't believe all my good fortune while making this story. I learned a lot about GetBackers in the process of making this, and I do hope to get the chance to see the Voodoo Children and Lost Time arcs animated. (And Paul-sama, oh, my golly, Paul-sama and der Kaiser! I want to see Paul-sama animated and doing such cool stuff!)

Thanks for reading until here. Hope you like. Long final chapter.

………………………………………

The Transporter could not help but look to the back of the van, as she heard a heavy thud. "WHAT THE--"

"Get us out of here, Himiko!" Hevn ordered.

The driver did not have to be told twice, and stepped on the gas. "Where?"

"Hospital," Paul said, switching on the van's inside lighting, checking the man on the van's steel floor here and there. "Natsumi, do you have it? That little box I gave you?"

The girl placed her backpack in front of her. "Yes, sir."

She fished out the box from the backpack, pressed on a few buttons, and opened the black little case. She found two small vials of a clear liquid, and a device she sometimes saw doctors use for immunizations, with a trigger and a place to load a vial.

"Now listen carefully, Natsumi," Paul said, as he tore off the left sleeve. "Hold the vial firmly, and load it onto the back of the thing. It should click if you got it right."

As the van rumbled and bumped, Natsumi bit her lip and aligned a shaking vial to the device. She carefully but quickly twisted the vial, until she heard the click. She immediately handed it over to her boss.

Paul placed the device on Ban's left shoulder, and pressed the trigger, watching the fluid disappear out of the vial. When the vial emptied, he pulled out the vial, and gave the device back to Natsumi. "The second one." She loaded the second vial as fast as she carefully could, and gave it back. Paul emptied that vial onto the left shoulder as well. He pulled the device off, and sighed with relief, wiping off the sweat with his bandana.

Total elapsed time: 2 minutes.

"I was right to hire you," Paul patted his assistant. She scratched her head in embarassment.

Their patient was still unconscious, and nothing had changed in how he looked.

"We'll soon be at the hospital, guys," the Transporter called out from the driver's seat. "How is he?"

"He'll make it," Hevn reported back. "But we're not out of the woods yet."

The Transporter made a little sigh as she quickly looked to the back of the van. She faced the road again but called out, "How's Ginji?"

The three at the back of the van had fogotten all about him in the general panic, and now all three looked at him.

He had shut down. The poor boy kept a blank, empty stare at the unfolding events. "No…" was all he could mutter, as the van rolled on at illegal speeds.

"Ginji, he'll be fine!" Paul shouted back to him.

"But…. I just…I just…"

Hevn had to come closer and shake him a bit. She made him look at her. "Listen to me, Gin-chan….Ban. Will be. Fine. Thanks to Natsumi and Paul, he'll be fine. Understand?"

He did not.

"Let me try, Hevn-san," Natsumi said as she gently moved her way to the end of the van.

She sat beside the dazed Ginji, and just held his hand. "We both know he's tougher than that, Ginji-san. He'll make it. Okay?"

He gave her hand a little squeeze.

They dispersed when they reached the emergency room. Paul gave quick explanations as their patient was wheeled off. Hevn went in another direction to handle the needed paperwork. The Transporter drove off to park the van. Natsumi walked into the lobby, holding Ginji's hand.

He remained stunned and silent as the minutes moved on….as Paul came to them after 2 hours and said his friend was alright….as Paul walked with the two of them up to a room.

His friend looked asleep on the hospital bed, nothing attached to him aside from a little device on a finger. The device led to a small machine that regularly checked heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels.

Paul explained. Ban would be made to stay until he woke up, to make sure there would be no complications. The two doses of antidote had been sufficient to neutralize the deadly effects of the poison, but as with Ginji and Kadzuki previously, it made him unconscious for a prolonged period. Furthermore, since Ban smoked like a chimney, the antidote took longer to work its way through his system, and what remained of the poison took longer to clear.

Ginji sighed, shook his head at his friend, but still said nothing.

"But his being alive at all is because of Natsumi," Paul continued. "She was a good girl and brought it, like I told her. I got the antidote for your sake, just in case you got into a scrape again, but things turned out differently."

Paul gave a few final words of assurance that the worst was over. He left them to call Himiko for a ride home for himself and Natsumi, and find Hevn.

Natsumi and Ginji stayed in the room, just 3 inches between them, seated side by side on two chairs. He kept his eyes either at the floor or at the door. He could not look at his friend for long, just stole glances at him and at the beeping contraption beside him.

"I've gotten him in trouble again," he finally spoke, his eyes on the floor. "It's always like this."

"But we've told you, Ginji-san, he'll be alright," Natsumi softly told him.

"For how many more times?" he sighed.

She had nothing to say.

He turned and looked at her. "By the way, I haven't said this….."

"What, Ginji-san?"

"Thank you."

She smiled. "You're welcome."

…………………………………………

When Natsumi returned to the hospital the next evening, she found Ginji at the elevator lobby. He was still wearing the blue jacket and dark shirt, and his head bobbed up and down as he sat on one of the seats. She tapped him gently on the shoulder, then smiled and waved as he woke up. He gave her a weary smile back, under eyes with dark rings.

"Have you even eaten anything?" she asked with some concern. He looked rather pale.

He shook his head, and turned over his trouser pockets.

She tsked and quickly went to the vending machine for a soda and a packet of biscuits. She returned and presented them to him. He smiled his thanks and gulped them down with a hungry man's instinctive haste. She chuckled as she watched him. "We're going down to the cafeteria later, okay?"

"But what about Ban-chan?" he asked.

"He still hasn't come to?"

He slowly shook his head.

"Oh." Natsumi bowed her head.

But Ginji gave her a happy grin. "But you said he'll be fine, and I believe you." He stood. "I'm going in now, wanna come?"

"I'll wait for Hevn-san, she doesn't know the room," she said.

He nodded and walked back to the room his friend was in. He sighed deeply, took a deep breath, then went in.

He found his friend seated in bed, watching television.

"Ban-chan!" he exclaimed. Ginji ran up to him and looked him all over. "You okay?"

"Looks that way."

Then quite suddenly but silently Ginji wrapped his arms around his friend, and leaned his head on his friend's shoulder.

He did not cry, did not sniffle, did not talk. He did not even glomp or squeeze the life out of his friend. He maintained a firm, secure embrace. As if he wanted to make sure that his friend was there, and his friend was not going anywhere. His friend did not usually return such signs of affection, but this time he patted Ginji's head with one hand, and placed the other arm over his back. It had been a while, indeed.

Ban finally spoke after a few minutes, and gently removed Ginji's arms from around him. "That's enough."

Ginji moved back and bowed his head. "Stop protecting me already, Ban-chan. Not if you keep getting hurt."

Ban spoke in a whisper, and Ginji never heard it. "I have no choice. It's my fate."

Two young women entered the room, one blonde and one black-haired. The blonde taller one immediately approached the bed. "Good, you're awake. I have the receipts, IOUs, and calculation of expenses." She presented a folder to the patient, who took it silently and began to browse through the papers. But she interrupted him by placing a hand over the papers. "Himiko told me to give this back to you." She placed a silver-plated lighter on top of the papers. "Don't give it to her until you mean it."

"But the doctor said……" Natsumi complained.

"If he dies of lung cancer, that's his problem, not mine and not Himiko's," Hevn tossed her head. "That will be all. I await the manager's orders," she ended with heavy sarcasm in her crooning voice.

Ban took up the lighter, peered at it from all sides, flicked it open, and checked if it still lighted. Satisfied, he closed it with a sigh and silently placed it on the little table beside the bed. He resumed reading the papers inside the folder, shook his head at them all, then returned it to her without a word.

"Ban?" Hevn finally broke the silence.

"Nothing changes…." He spoke softly, to himself. "Nothing…."

Ginji said, "Huh?"

"And I have to keep my promise."

"What promise?" Ginji asked.

The two words snapped the dark-haired patient out of his reverie. "Never mind that," he said, and faced the blonde young woman, and glared at her. "What is the meaning of all this?" He threw the folder with all its contents onto the floor. "We only have one thousand American dollars LEFT?"

"But that IS one thousand dollars…." Ginji hid behind a chair.

"Out of a possible two million?"

Natsumi took up the folder, and found Hevn's final tallying of all expenses incurred during the mission.

Organization "expenses":1,000,000

Acquisition and modification of the museum piece: 500,000

Taxes on museum piece: 90,000

Hospital expenses: 6,000

Antidote: 4,000

Security camera scrambler: 3,000

Transistor:3,000

Video recorder: 2,000

Translator:2,000

Transportation expenses:2,000

Current food debt as of : 550

Additional food debt: 450

Labor charges:

Hevn 200,000

Clayman 50,000

Kadzuki 30.000

Shido 30,000

Himiko 30,000

Paul 30,000

MakubeX 10,000

Natsumi 6,000

TOTAL EXPENSES: 1,999,000

Cash inflow: 2,000,000

Current balance: 1,000

"Explain the 'Organization expenses' entry," Ban hissed.

"Look at the letter over there," Hevn said and pointed. "The triad found out we tricked them, but they'll settle with the museum piece, because it's also valuable in its own right. BUT, they want a million back. At best, they say, that piece is only worth 750,000. In exchange, they won't bother us again, and they keep you alive."

"Fine," he grumbled. "MakubeX?"

"Paul told me he got his antidote source and some of his material from the whiz kid."

"How come Paul and Natsumi get paid, too?" the 'manager' asked rather sternly.

"OH, I don't know. Compensation for saving your life?" Hevn answered. Ginji nodded. Natsumi blushed.

"And how come YOU get so much?"

"10 percent commission, remember?" She smiled slyly. "And shall I add charges for psychological damage to Amano Ginji as well?"

"HEVN-SAN!" Ginji protested.

Ban shook his head. "THIS is what happens when I'm not in charge…"

"YOU walked out on us!" Hevn retorted.

"I had no choice, woman!" he shouted back.

As the manager and negotiator kept arguing, Ginji just shrugged his shoulders and grinned at Natsumi.

"Getting Ban-chan back alive and safe and sound: priceless."

Natsumi had to agree, and giggled.

…………………………………….

"Ban… Do you have the resolve to accept the cruel fated life which is yours?"

It was his fate, his promise, his detiny.

Maybe that was why he both wanted and did not want to learn about his ancestors. He wanted to know if there was a past he did not know, and thus, a future he did not think possible. He did not want to know if his fate had already been set in the past, even before he was born.

And this case that almost cost him his life……it gave him no answers.

"Ban-chan?" He felt a little tugging at his sleeve. "Wake up, we're here."

He rubbed his eyes, and saw the gate of the Kitano house just beyond the car window.

He had wanted to go to the Kitano house, and Ginji had offered to drive them there. He did not feel up to driving yet, but he wanted to see the Jade Dragon one last time. He wanted to see his doppelganger one last time, then forget about him.

"Ban-chan?" Ginji looked at him with sad eyes, hands on the steering wheel.

"Hm?"

"You still mad at me?"

"For what?"

"For…for…everything…you know…"

He turned his back on Ginji and looked out the window. "No. Happy now?"

"Really? Really really? You sure?"

"Look. If you ask me that question one more time, I will be." He opened the car door, and got off.

Ginji followed suit and knocked on the gate. They were allowed in by Hayashida Kenji, and were welcomed at the porch by Kitano Kaoru and Clayman. The short-haired woman in the gray suit smiled at them slightly as they approached.

"The Jade Dragon is a significant historical piece, beyond its importance to the Chinese triads. It has a history that goes back at least two hundred fifty years. It is one of the few of its size and quality that has remained in its original form until now." Clayman smiled at Ginji. "I am grateful to be involved in this case, Mr. Amano."

"You're worth it, Miss Clayman," he grinned back. "What are your plans?"

"The Jade Dragon will be on extended loan to the museum by Mrs. Kitano," she said. "In that manner, two financial problems will be solved. First, Mrs. Kitano will receive a stipulated amount, taken from the museum's earnings, once every month. She can use that for living expenses. Second, both Mrs. Kitano and Mr. Hayashida have agreed that the amount will be divided in half – until the time that the GetBackers are paid in full."

Ban nodded satisfaction with the arrangement. A regular source of funds for the next few months.

"But, aren't you afraid that it'll be stolen from the museum?" Ginji asked.

She shook her head. "There will be no announcement to the newspapers about this find. If they notice, their questions will be entertained, but otherwise, it's another piece in the extended Chinese artifacts exhibit. Besides," she gave them a knowing look, I have a learned a few more things about adequeate security systems since I met the GetBackers."

But Ban's thoughts were drifting to the Jade Dragon itself. It would be the last time he would see it up close and without glass around it. Clayman and Hayashida would be taking the statue to the museum after a few hours. He patted Ginji, who gladly kept up the conversation with the art dealer. He sauntered into the large room with the pictures and the wooden crate, the old woman following him at a short distance.

He looked at the pictures that filled the room again. It would, hopefully, be the last time he would see this doppelganger. He stared again at the picture that started this whole mess, the young man with white hair, Chinese clothes, Japanese face, and unearthly demeanor. "Nice talking to you," he told the image, and moved on to the others.

He finally faced the old lady. "Thanks for all the help. If I ever dig up anything more about him, I'll let you know."

She bowed to him. "If you are indeed his descendant, or his reincarnation, do not make his mistakes."

He bowed back. "We'll see if I can actually do that."

He walked back to the Jade Dragon, ran his fingers through the base of the statue, and felt the engraved characters, one last time. As he did so, he remembered the old lady's words of fate.

- The eyes of the tiger are drawn to the heart of the dragon. -

"Ban… Do you have the resolve to accept the cruel fated life which is yours? Some time in the future you will meet a thunder god and together you will come to aim for a higher place. From that fate you cannot escape."

A white tiger with eyes that held dreams. A fire dragon with a tender heart. They would meet. They would come together. They would dream of reaching that higher place, with answers to who they both were.

- Death to the red dragon. -

"But the thunder god will have two faces… Those two faces are two sides of the same coin. When he returns to his original form for the second time, to overcome the whole, you will have to make a cruelly fated choice. To kill the thunder god, or to be killed by the thunder god."

Ginji? Raitei? Do that? And he, how soon would he have to make that fated choice?

He felt a tap to his shoulder. He looked behind him, and found his partner grinning.

"Case closed, Ban-chan," Ginji said. "Let's go home."

"Sure," and he ruffled his friend's hair.

There had been a few times, much like this one, when he wanted to just get away from making that fated choice. If he stayed away from him, maybe he did not have to kill or be killed. But getting away from him, for some reason, only made him more miserable. Because Ginji was part of him now, and he was part of Ginji. His past was tied to that of his friend, his future knit to his friend's.

Maybe the future might have terrible plans for them both, but they would face it head-on, together.

He would save this case, in a file at the back of his head. It was just another piece of the puzzle. The puzzle they would someday finish, and see the portrait it would make. It would show his past, his friend's past, and their future.

Whatever happens, they would finish that picture, together.

- Owari –

……………………………

Excerpt directly taken from takadainmate's summary/translation of chapter 19 of the Lost Time arc, with permission. Also, those expenses were hard to make up, so please be kind. I know they're rather a bit too generous (especially in the labor charges), but it took quite some planning and computing to make 2 million disappear.

Final replies: Atropos' Knife – I agree about the Ladybug. The gushing, I didn't know where else I could place it, so it went there. Thank you so much for being so nice but objective about "Tenshi". Taiy-chan – I said, I live by Kenshin's oath in my writing. Kenshin will maim and will knock unconscious, but he will not kill. Besides, I don't have the guts to kill off characters. JML – Major compliment to be given a shakedown by you, thank you. Hunter – Thanks much! Tenshi-sama – Wow, you must be a pretty good singer! Congrats on singing with Kitchie. I hope this chapter answers your question.

My major thanks to Atropos' Knife for all the support, encouragement, clarifications and corrections. A combination of honest comments and nice compliments is a welcome thing to any writer. Thanks also to takadainmate and her summaries of the recent GB manga chapters. We all salute your kindness for summarizing the adventures of "the ambiguously gay duo". Thanks to sapphichan for the initial encouragement that I could do this and get away with it.

Thanks to the following crazy sources of inspiration during the writing: the Elizabeth hotel, that dragon I found at the orchid farm souvenir shop, Hei-san, AK's "The Prize". Finally, even if I try to deny it, I was influenced in the writing by Animax's English dub for GB. I can't help it. I hear Ban and Ginji in almost every anime that channel has, because their dubbers keep doing the lead roles. I still like the original Japanese voices the best, though.

Thanks to the rest of the reviewers and the readers who gave this story such a high hit count.

Because I'll be going into clerkship next year (hopefully!), Eyes of the Tiger will most likely be the only multi-chapter story I will make for the GB section. Hopefully I'll be able to make one-shots now and then.

Once again, thank you so very much to all of you. Even with the mistakes, I'm proud of this work, and it was a blast making it.

EK out.