Summary: Kazuki comes to see Ginji, meets Ban for the first time. Sparks fly. What's a guy to do when Ban decides to get mischievous? BanKazuki

Disclaimer: I do not own Get Backers. Are all ye lawyer types happy?

Rating: T for language and adult situations.

That Familiar Stranger

-

-

Back off!

-

-

Recap

"Come on, I have a shirt in the car, let's get you out of this one", Kazuki stared at him incredulously. Ban rolled his eyes. "Oh please. You really think I would go down on you in such a clichéd place?"

"WHAT!!!"

"Relax. It's just a shirt," his smile widened, "although, I could probably back you up in this alley before Ginji comes back."

Kazuki didn't know where to look. He felt…no he knew he was blushing. His heart had started thumping. He finally understood. Ban's reasoning made perfect sense now.

"…. I could back you up in this alley before Ginji comes back."

Sweet lord this wasn't happening. Oh my god. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. He wants to…. No! Ban didn't really mean that he wanted him, did he? Kazuki stared at back at Ban in shock. His eyes were as wide as saucers and his lips were parted. He opened and shut his mouth in confusion. He was thrashing around in his mind, looking for something to say but it seemed as though his brain had temporarily shut down. Gone fishing.

Ban smirked and leaned against the Ladybug. He folded his arms across his chest and waited for Kazuki to come back to earth. He was having a really hard time not laughing right now. Kazuki looked stumped. He had certainly not expected this, which meant he really hadn't understood what he'd been making obvious for the past one hour.

Kazuki finally came to life…. only to start staring at his feet instead. Ban rolled his eyes. At this rate, they'd be standing around all day. He stepped forward and pushed Kazuki against the wall. He placed his hands on the wall, trapping Kazuki within the circle of his arms. Ban leaned closer. Kazuki mouthed something unintelligible and pulled his head back as far as possible from Ban.

The Jagan Master stared coolly at Kazuki for a few seconds before laughing and pulling his hands away from the wall. Kazuki blinked. What? Nothing happened. Ban had looked like he was ready to carry out what he'd talked about earlier, but he did absolutely nothing. How weird was that?

Ban sat back on the hood of the Ladybug and lit another cigarette. "You know something Kazu-chan, you really need to lighten up a bit. And stop jumping each time I look at you. It's annoying."

"And whose fault is that? I can't help it if you act like some hormone-crazed sex fiend!" Kazuki fumed, waving his arms around in a most un-Kazuki-like way. His heart was thumping and he could not even begin to describe how annoyed and irritated he was feeling right now. Ban seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in constantly invading his private space, making suggestive gestures, acting like unscrupulous and completely amoral bastard and then turning around and telling him to cool down. The nerve! The utter shamelessness, the freaking audacity ….oh how he hated him.

Ban raised an eyebrow, "Hormone-crazed sex fiend? Why Kazuki, such language for someone you barely know….I'm shocked, not to mention very, very hurt."

"Oh give me a break. Anyone can see it. You didn't lose two minutes to come on to me. How do you think I feel?"

"I don't know. How do you feel?"

"Disgusted! I feel disgusted. How could you even think that I…that I would agree to something like this or that I would even consider it? You obviously have no finer feelings or instincts which is why you choose to operate and act upon the basest of your urges. Well let me tell you something, I don't appreciate being seen as some piece of meat you want to bundle into the backseat of your car, which doesn't look up to the task anyway!"

Ban frowned. "Hey! Say what you want about me, but don't say anything about the Ladybug. It'll hurt her feelings!"

Kazuki stared at Ban incredulously. "Ban," He held his arms out to the Ladybug dramatically, "It's just a car."

Ban's frown got deeper. "Stop irritating my car Kazuki. It's not just a car."

Kazuki rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever you say but I stand by my opinion."

Ban looked at him thoughtfully. "And it's marvelously up to the task," he said silkily, "we can try it out if you want."

"Stop talking about it! How many times should I tell you! I'm not just some guy who'll jump into bed with you! So if you want to get laid, go look somewhere else!" Kazuki threw back at him.

Silence. Ban coughed delicately. Kazuki frowned. What? Why was he acting like that?

"What?" Kazuki looked at Ban who pointedly avoided meeting his eyes.

"Erm…..ehehe….Kazu-chan?" Ginji's voice floated out from behind him. Kazuki froze. He looked at Ban who smiled cheerfully at him.

"I probably have an audience," he said softly.

Ban nodded, his grin getting wider. "Uh huh."

"Oh sweet lord." Kazuki turned slowly to find Ginji and Natsumi looking at him as though he'd sprouted a pair of horns on his head. Natsumi blushed and Ginji kept staring at his feet. Damn.

"What is it Ginji," he asked, returning to his gentle voice. Ginji smiled nervously and held a towel out. Kazuki took it and before he could thank the blushing pair that was Ginji and Natsumi, they beat a hasty retreat back into the Honky Tonk.

Kazuki sighed. "I may never gain their trust again."

Ban snorted. "Please don't act like a drama queen. It's alright. They'll be okay. You just surprised them. Once they go inside, they'll think about what you said and figure out that you aren't a 'hormone-crazed sex fiend' but more like a damsel in distress trying to save her virtue from a scoundrel like me."

"I'm not a damsel in distress."

"No?"

"No. And neither am I scared of you."

"Maybe not, but you are scared of what I'm capable of. You are scared of what I might persuade you to do."

"That's nonsense."

"No it isn't and you know it. The real reason why you're mad at me is not because I want you but because you realize that you could want me too. Maybe you don't right now but perhaps, in a couple of more meetings, you might find yourself wondering what I would feel like, taste like…..maybe you'll act upon it, but as far as I understand you, you won't. But the feeling of need and want will lay trapped inside you until you have no rest, no peace. And you'll get angrier and angrier because you won't allow yourself to debase yourself by hooking up with a guy like me. Am I right?" Ban flicked away ash from his cigarette.

As he pulled the burning tube back towards his lips, Kazuki realized that he'd been holding his breath while Ban spoke.

Scared of Ban Midou? It wasn't possible. It was wrong, everything he said. He was not scared of anything about Ban. He just didn't like him. Ban was arrogant, conceited, selfish, egoistical and just plain annoying. And he really wanted to have nothing to do with him. The only reason he was even talking to him was because of Ginji. Yeah, because of Ginji. Without whom, you wouldn't give Ban the time of the day. Scared of Ban Midou? Don't make me laugh.

"That's a pretty story. There's just one thing wrong with it."

Ban looked up with amusement, "and what's that?"

"That it's all wrong. Sorry to break your little bubble but there's nothing about you that would attract me. Sure, some people might go for that pretty face of yours but I see the person behind the face."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, and that person is not somebody I could ever like. You are arrogant, vain, too full of yourself and conceited for me to ever want to have anything to do with you. You know something Ban, for me, a relationship means something deep and intense between two people. They have to have a connection. And for me to make a connection with anyone, I need to appreciate them as a person. And there's little about you that I can appreciate so you should realize, it's never going to work."

Ban nodded slowly. "I see. So you don't like me as a person?"

"I'm pretty confident that I despise you."

"And you don't sleep with people you don't like."

"It's things like this that make me hate you even more, why can't you just say that I won't enter a relationship with someone I don't like."

"Because I call it as I see it. And since you don't like me at all, you can't stand the sight of me, and I don't evoke even a flicker of interest in you….is that the reason you've been standing out here talking to me for the past fifteen minutes?"

Kazuki blanched. He opened and shut his mouth like a fish. Ban smirked.

"It's okay babe, it happens."

Kazuki shook his head. "No! I came to change my shirt and then I just wanted to set things straight."

"Right. So why haven't you changed yet?"

"I….I…well…I got distracted…"

Ban smiled. "My point exactly."

"What?" Kazuki asked weakly.

Ban took the towel from Kazuki's hands and shook it out. He wrapped it around his shoulders and whispered, "I think my baser urges are beginning to connect to yours and I think that you think that it's not such a repulsive thing after all."

Kazuki shuddered but whether it was due to Ban's closeness or the cold air of the street was not clear to him. He looked at Ban with uncertain eyes.

"Ban….I…."

"I told you, didn't I? You are scared of me."

Author's Notes

I think it's been two years since this fic? Perhaps. well It's going to end soon as long as my muse for this fic does not abandon me.

I hope those of you who liked this fic in the past read it again. Read and review please.

Ja ne!