Compass - Banana Fish x Reader

CHAPTER FOUR: Gesture

It had been two days. Ash seldom came to interrogate me after our last interaction, so it was usually Kong, Alex or Bones. Both Alex and Kong were kind to me, but they seemed to get frustrated when I refused to talk. Bones, on the other hand, didn't have a clue on how to handle me. He'd start off trying to be suave, but gradually became more and more flustered by the second. It was a joke, really. The only things that scared me now were how they'd have their asses handed to them, and Ash Lynx.

I had discovered his full name when Alex had asked whether Papa had mentioned him before, but that's not where I had first heard it. Arthur used to curse somebody he dubbed 'Lynx' sometimes, and now I understood. I tried to get as much information as I could, but most of them were pretty tight lipped. Even Skip, always diverting questions back to me.

"What are your motives?" The boy leant forward over the arm of the sofa and tried to give me an intimidating glare, and I almost had to laugh.
"To go home and never think of this again." I muttered, and Skip deflated.
"Well you ain't no fun..." He whined, slumping and pouting his lips. "You ain't intimidated by me at all..."
"The only person that really intimidates me is Ash...and that Chinese guy, Shorter. Don't beat yourself up about it..." I sighed, pitying the poor thing.

Speaking of the devil himself, Ash walked in at that moment, and he thumbed over his shoulder after nodding to Skip.
"Lunch is waiting for you in the bar. Thanks for keeping an eye on her." The boy waved to me and raced off after giving the blond a low five, and then I was alone with the demon. His expression changed immediately to something cold and serious, and I stood up and walked to the opposite side of the room.

"I'm not telling you anything..." I growled, but there was a heavy waver in my voice.
"Banana Fish." For some reason, those words sent a shiver down the length of my spine. Turning to give him a sharp glare, I sneered at him.
"What does Salinger have to do with this?" I watched him warily as he took a few steps forward and folded his arms across his chest.
"I'm not talking about Salinger. Have you heard Dino Golzine say those two words before?"

Banana...Fish...

"Not together..." I softened a little, though I was still nervous about being trapped in a room with him again. "I told you, Ash...I don't know anything, and I'm not about to tell you passcodes and stuff so you can hurt Papa...You need to understand that..." I brushed a strand of (H/C) behind my ear and waited for him to snap at me, or start with the dog jokes, but it never came.
"Fine. Ignorance is bliss, after all...so I can't blame you..." I watched him as he moved to sit down, and cautiously, like a wild deer, I went to sit on the opposite end of the sofa.

"Could you tell me...why you want to take down Papa..? I mean...He's been nothing but kind to everyone...and after he took you in...I just don't understand..." I looked to him for answers, and he seemed less than impressed about it.

"I guess you could say...after he took me in...I took him in, too..." His mouth was a thin line, and his shoulders looked tense, but I couldn't understand what he meant by that. "He deserves everything that's coming to him, whether you believe it or not...You'll figure that out...Memories can come back just as easily as they were wiped..." His teeth were gritted together, but it didn't last long. His persona quickly turned back to casual. "Anyway, it shouldn't be too long till you're picked up..."

"Sup?!" I yelped loudly as someone burst through the door, and I ended up landing on the floor, right on my ass. "Ouch, my bad, love..." Shorter chuckled apologetically and wandered in, offering me a hand up, but I refused.
"Get away from me...You're the last person I want to be anywhere near..!" I growled viciously as I backed away. He exchanged a look with Ash before holding up a plastic bag.
"Aw, even after I went to all the trouble of going over to that weird craft store and buying you this..?" He shook it a little, as though he were trying to lure me closer.