The Promise

A Get Backers Fanfic by Rabid Lola

Disclaimer: Get Backers, Himiko, and the real Voodoo Child curse is owned by Rando Ayamine and Yuuya Aoki ( I finally got their names right:D) The Voodoo Child curse here is my own creation put together from the bits and clues I've found on the net. Enjoy.

Just to let you know, whatever hints of any pairing you see, romance has no main part to play in this fic.

And Himiko's birthday is on February 10. :)

Prologue: Let it Begin

…---…

It's a promise, Yamato.

When that time comes.

…---…

February 9, 10:50 PM

Himiko glanced at the clock, then hastily away. She was curled up on her couch, hugging her knees, rocking back and forth.

She hadn't been out of the house in two days.

It was almost time.

Somehow, in the past week, she'd been able to avoid her friends. Even Dr. Jackal, her fellow hakobiya. Even Ban and Ginji, who had been relentlessly calling her phone since 6 AM. She never answered.

She didn't want them to worry.

I can't let them see me.

Thanks to Ban, most of her friends knew that something—no one knew exactly what, was going to happen on her seventeenth birthday.

Something to do with her curse.

She herself had felt it, creeping up on her for a month now. Something supernatural, unexplainable. Sometimes she saw flitting substances, ghostly images, haunting, watching. Shades of gnarled figures, witches, shadowing her, following her. She knew they were waiting for her.

She told no one.

A sense of impending doom had been hanging over her for a while. And then, the realization had come that the curse would harm others, kill the people she cared about.

Last Children, Voodoo Children

Doomed to live then die

Last Child, Voodoo Child,

Fated to destroy.

And last night, she had heard Yamato, calling out in alarm…

A furious knocking came at the door.

Himiko looked up, startled, scared.

The pounding came again.

Had they decided to come early?

It isn't midnight yet!

She broke out in cold sweat.

Pound, pound. "Himiko-chan!" a warning electric crackle.

She stared, not believing it. Then she was up and at the door.

"Ginji!"

He stared at her, warm brown eyes worried. "You weren't answering your phone!"

"I…Ginji, why are you here this late?" she said, feigning indignance. "It's…" she glanced at the clock, shuddered, and looked away. "Past 11:00 PM."

"Don't pretend to be normal." Arrogant, condescending, tone sharp with worry. Himiko opened the door wider, and received another shock. One who was just coming up the stairs, crushing a cigarette under his shoe in a manner that told her he was trying to hide his concern.

"Ban!"

"Himiko-chan, we were worried! Why didn't you answer? Didn't you think that tomorrow…" Ginji trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Himiko looked at the pair: the warmhearted, yellow-headed electric eel and the complicated, confusing snake, and she whispered the first thing that came to her head.

"Are you here to kill me?"

The vivid blue eyes widened with incredulity in tandem with Ginji's exclamation of surprise. Then Ban's eyes softened, meeting Himiko's wide, scared ones.

Had he ever given her solid, true reason to believe that he would never do that?

And she was so scared now. It was too near the time.

So he simply said "No," in a gentle voice, so unlike his usual. He turned her around and firmly led her back into her apartment, seating her on the couch, then settling in a chair opposite it. Ginji went in, shut and locked the door.

Himiko was shaking… 11:10 PM. "Then why?" her violet eyes were pleading, scared. As the hour drew nearer, she could sense it, so near, but she could not recognize it. And whispers were disturbing her, though whether they were her own fears or something else, she didn't know.

"Do you really think we'll let you face it alone?" Ban asked finally.

A surprised stare, a choked sob, and she was flinging her arms around his neck, relief and gratitude breaking what little composure she had left. Ban froze, and a flash of confusion, as well as a short flush, sped across his face. At loss, he shot a glance at Ginji, with an expression that said Help me.

Ginji grinned, a little, at his partner's ineptness at showing emotion.

It's okay, Ban-chan, you can hug her back.

He seemed to get the message, because slowly, he folded his arms around the slim girl, while Ginji knelt beside them and rubbed her back soothingly. She wasn't crying yet. She was keeping it in, desperately, her breath coming out in harsh gasps. But slowly, they felt the tension, and some of the fear she'd been keeping in for the past month, drain out of her.

They stayed that way for some time.

...---…

11:58 PM

They were all on the couch, Himiko wedged between Ban and Ginji. She was sleeping, finally, leaning against Ginji. He, too, was asleep. Ban was smoking, his arm draped over the back of the couch, encompassing both Himiko and Ginji. He stared fixedly at the clock on the wall.

The hand moved.

11:59 PM.

Just…one…minute…

Mist began to creep under the door, and slowly, so as not to disturb his sleeping companions, Ban stood, facing the door, blocking them with his body. Ginji stirred, opened his eyes.

Midnight.

February 10.

BOOM.

It struck like a vicious blow, rattling their bones and shaking the foundations of the building. A howling tore through the night, a tornado of winds whipping their hair and their clothes. Himiko awoke with a scream, eyes wide, hands clutching at the couch. Ginji—Raitei—Ginji, leaped up with a fierce shout, electricity crackling and automatically forming a barrier around the three. The room warped, a terrible moaning, cackling, beating assailed their ears. A malevolent storm of darkness threatened, threatened…

And for a moment, all time stopped. And the room split, then reformed, then tried to split again…

Ban was straining, standing before them, arms spread out wide as he tried to contest with the vile, ancient magic that was trying to drag them into another dimension. The Jagan and the Aesclepius were not the only things he'd inherited from his grandmother.

"Ban-chan!" Ginji cried in alarm, Himiko was twisting, jerking, covering her ears with her hands. Instinctively Ginji grabbed her flailing arms and she snapped her head up, her eyes once again wild. She was panting, screaming. "Don't let them get me…don't let them get me!" Her voice was shrill, tense. In her eyes, Ginji saw agony.

Himiko felt nothing but pain, fear. The whispering intensified, demonic, taunting. Screams echoed in her head: the fate of hundreds of generations threatening her, tempting her, torturing her.

Ban stepped backwards, sweat beading his forehead, brow furrowed in a stressed grimace. Desperately, he tried to keep the room together, tried to shield Himiko's mind. Shutting his eyes, he called on the deepest reserves of the dormant magic he possessed. Outside Ginji's barrier of electricity, ghostly shapes rose. Hands stretched out, and negative energy lit grotesque forms and faces.

In Ban's right arm, Aesclepius shifted.

Let go, boy.

WHAT?!

The snake moved again, flowed. Release me, then let this dimension go.

Are you crazy? They'll get Himiko!

Trust me. The spirit moved up and out of Ban's arm.

Ban grit his teeth, and released the serpent, at the same time letting go of the weak hold he had on this dimension.

There was a crash of thunder, a blaze of light. He flung himself backwards and crashed into…it felt like Ginji. Frantically, his arms shot out and he grabbed out. He felt Ginji's arm and Himiko's hand, and sighed in relief.

And then they were in a blackness spreading into infinity, a blackness that contained stars and suns, wheeling around and above and below them. They were standing, the three of them, hand in hand, yet when they looked down they saw no floor, no support. And around them, encircling them, were the semi-transparent coils of a great snake. The body was nearly waist-height.

Ban glanced quickly at his companions, to make sure they were okay. Ginji was on the opposite side of Himiko now, eyes wide, taking in the vast, beautiful panorama of the universe. Himiko was clutching both their hands tightly, breath shallow, eyes just as wide. She was shocked that she was still here, alive, and sane. Ban winced at the pressure of her grip. Her head swiveled to him, and she opened her mouth to ask a question, but he shook his head, motioning her to be silent, for a while.

Ginji didn't seek permission before speaking, though. "Where are we?"

"In another dimension," Ban answered.

"We can see that, Ban," Himiko said with her customary sharpness. She wasn't fully normal yet, though, or she would have let go of their hands by now. Then again, maybe they were all a little scared of letting go and falling into that endlessness.

Ginji was looking at Ban, eyes probing, thoughtful. "You've been here before, haven't you, Ban-chan?"

Silence. Now both of them had their eyes on him. There came an emotionless "Aa."

The coils of Aesclepius shifted.

Ginji didn't press further, but Himiko, not catching Ban's tone, did. "Then what is this place?"

Ban didn't answer, for a while.

"Ban?"

"Himiko-chan," Ginji whispered. "Don't—"

"It's where I got my Jagan," Ban cut in. They stared at him in surprise. He jerked a thumb in the direction of the snake. "And him." A wry, bitter grin crooked the corner of his mouth. "You could call it the Birthplace of Curses."

A sibilant hissing filled the air, and a lazy, smooth voice echoed around them. "Be grateful, boy. The Jagan and I have saved you more times than I can count."

"Aa, aa, I know," Ban snorted. "I'm just remembering how much it…"

"Witch Queen's brat," a poisonous voice hissed, angry and frustrated.

Ginji and Himiko's heads whipped in the direction of the speaker. Ban, moving more slowly, more coolly, released Himiko's hand and stepped forwards slightly. Himiko, seeing she wouldn't fall, let go of Ginji's hand, quickly and automatically folding her arms. He didn't notice, just squinted at whatever was in front of them, trying to see who had spoken.

Beyond the protective coils of Aesclepius, a withered, ragged shape materialized. An ugly—damn ugly, Himiko mentally noted—old crone. She was stooped over with extreme age, clothed in a ragged, deep purple cloak. Her skin was ashen gray, and she sported numerous wrinkles, warts, a harelip, a bulbous nose, and uncommonly sharp eyes, one almost obscured by a droopy eyelid. Her white hair—what was left of it, flapped every which way, and her gnarled, spindly hands were twitching, as if she wanted to place them around Ban's throat.

Ban, as always, was being infuriatingly arrogant. "Midou Ban-sama, if you please."

"Shut up," the crone spat violently. "How did you guess?"

Ban raised an eyebrow. "Guess what?"

"This!" The crone gestured to the vast expanse, the Birthplace, the three mortals, the coils of the shifting snake. "How DARE you deprive us of…" she leered at Himiko, eyes glinting maliciously. "Our little Himiko-chan."

Himiko's eyes flashed angrily. "Don't call me that."

The crone chuckled. "Temper, temper, Himiko-chan. I can understand how hard it is to keep, though. It runs very strongly in…" an evil chuckle. "Our family."

Himiko stared in shock. Ginji's eyes widened, Ban's eyebrows shot up nearly into his hairline. "I'm not related to you!" Himiko cried.

"You've said too much," a clear voice cut in. Another figure appeared, striding towards them out of the horizon. In startling contrast to the old crone, this woman was beautiful—achingly beautiful. She was tall, slim, and robed in dark, regal colors. And she did look disturbingly like Himiko. She had the same sea-green hair, the same violet eyes. But her hair was long, her skin was fair, and her facial structure a little different. She stepped forward and reached out a hand, as if to touch the transporter girl.

Protective power crackled around the woman's hand as it passed Aesclepius's body. Frowning, she hastily pulled it back. Drawing herself up, she nodded to the snake.

"Aesclepius," she said coldly.

"Amaya-san, my charming sorceress," the voice of the spirit was laden with sarcasm. "It's been too long."

"Himiko." A slight sneer, a forbidding, aristocratic curl of the lip.

Himiko gazed back coolly.

The woman turned to Ginji. "Raitei."

"Amano Ginji," he corrected softly, firmly.

A cruel smile, before turning to Ban. In a tone that was almost wary, certainly hateful, "Midou Ban."

Ban inclined his head. "-Sama."

Amaya's eyes flashed irritation, yet she did not rise to the bait. Extending a hand to gesture towards the crone, she said, "Please excuse my sister Shinya," she smiled at Himiko's snort of disbelief. "We are…upset."

Ban lit a cigarette, and kept the lighter. "Get straight to the point."

Amaya's eyes turned to steel, and she turned her head to face Ban. "The point is this, Midou Ban," she snapped venomously. Acid cunning entered her eyes, frightening, warning. "You deprived us of the first blow, therefore, by law, we may not claim the girl immediately." She spread her hands in a mocking gesture. "What do you need from us? Ask, and we shall do it."

"Claim the girl?" Himiko's incensed voice rose.

"What can you offer?" Ban asked, ignoring Himiko's words and Ginji's questioning, "Ban-chan?"

A smile. "Wise, Ban. Very wise."

Shinya stepped forward in a flutter of tattered robes. Angrily, she rasped out, "By the same law, we can offer this: trial and contest, lasting, by tradition, the whole day."

"The other choices," Amaya cut in smoothly. "Are you give her to us, now, or kill her."

"Ban, what's this?" Himiko asked sharply, a note of fear in her voice.

"Make your choice now," the sorceress said with sardonic glee.

"Trial and contest," Ban replied instantly. "But we get to hear the terms."

"BAN!"

"Himiko-chan! Trust him!" Ginji said softly.

Amaya's eyes gleamed. "I'm sorry, Ban, but since you are not the Cursed one," she smiled, a chilling, heartless smile at Himiko. "You may not decide."

"Himiko?" Shinya's voice cracked, sadistic laughter behind it.

Himiko stared around belligerently in the silence, seeing Ginji's pleading eyes andAmaya and Shinya's hard ones, visible even over the distance. Ban's visibly tense expression, the worried lines on his forehead and around his mouth.

Himiko-chan, trust him.

A soft, involuntary hissing from the snake spirit could be heard.

"Trial. And contest," Himiko said finally.

"Settled," Shinya said, not without some disappointment.

"And, as Ban bargained," Amaya turned to the man in question. "You get to hear the terms."

"He's too sharp," Shinya muttered.

"He's her grandson," Amaya answered. She turned her attention once more to Ban.

"The trials will be spaced three hours apart," she began in a clear voice. "An impartial judge is going to be there to give the verdicts. The trials are of our making." By our they instinctively knew she did not mean just the two of them. "For your part, Himiko may take the two of you with her into the trials. We know you don't trust us, Midou Ban-sama," she said, sweetly and sardonically.

"If you win," Shinya spoke up. Her lips curled at her next words. "We raise the curse, and it will not touch Himiko nor any of her descendants—if there are an—again. But if you lose…" A sinister leer. "You'll have to choose between the two remaining choices."

"The catch in the system?" Ban asked.

Shinya chuckled appreciatively. "We don't know how long each trial will last."

"How can't you know? You made it!" Ginji sounded angry.

"Meaning," Ban said, eyes glinting dangerously. "The trials can overlap."

The sisters smiled. An eerie similarity could be seen between them. "You are smart," Amaya cooed.

"What about the contest part?" Himiko asked suddenly.

The sisters grinned, skull-like, at her, and she shrank back. "That's for us to decide," Shinya said.

"We agree to the terms," Ban growled out. A meaningless formality.

"Then," the two spread out their hands. "Let it begin."

"What's the first…"

They disappeared.

Ban cursed.

Himiko wheeled Ban around, eyes flashing. "Ban, what's happening?" it came out half shouted, she was too frustrated to care.

He gripped her by the shoulders, all cool gone, and gave her a little shake, eyes hard. "Shut up. And listen.

"I can't tell you much, we don't have that much time." His eyes bored into her. A wind began to whip around them. "We stopped them from hitting you with the curse right away. I'm still not sure what exactly it is. But we were able to bargain. Himiko, listen." Another shake.

"I'm listening!!"

Ban's voice was low, intense. "They're the original makers of your curse. They're going to give you tests, trials. The judge is impartial, thank God for that. You have to pass all the tests. You can't fail any. The moment you fail, they'll take you, and curse you. Understand?"

Himiko stared up at him, scared. "Hai." It was enough.

He nodded, then let her go. "Good luck. Ginji!"

"Un," Ginji nodded, taking Himiko's arm. The wind whipped harder, a subtle warping filled the air.

"You go with Ginji."

"Ban-chan, you're not coming?" Ginji asked, surprised.

Ban shook his head. 'I don't trust them not to do anything to this place while we're gone. Anything that happens within the Birthplace will affect you in the trial zone."

"But…" they started at the same time.

A portal opened, inches away.

"You'll come back here, when the test is done," Ban said roughly. "Take care." He gripped Ginji's arm tightly, blue eyes meeting brown for a wordless second. He turned to Himiko, and his eyes softened. "You, too."

They nodded and the portal engulfed them, disappearing in a flash.

Ban was left alone among the endless stars, with only a snake spirit for company. He sat down on the non-existent floor and lit a cigarette, blue eyes sharp and watchful.

"They'll be fine." Aesclepius's head finally appeared, snake eyes staring at Ban.

"They'd better be."