Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ False Echoes ❯ Touko, The Angry Angel ( Chapter 10 )

Note: Now edited with the beta reader's correction!

Witch Hunter Robin
False Echoes

Chapter X - Touko, the Angry Angel

Disclaimer: You know by now I don't own Witch Hunter Robin®, which belongs to Sunrise® and Sci-Fi® Channel. You know this already.

Nor do I own the song False Echoes; I just borrowed its title.

Storyline, Plot, Kenny Avery©, Roger Williams©, Kichiro Wantanabee©, Rick Richards©, Michael Campbell©, Rosalind Nichols© and Mr. David Rica© are mine.

Author Notes:

I'd just like to make a quick note about the speed of my updates.

Since I now use Beta readers to help with grammar, and since I have been working on C&D, and since it's been warmer and I've spent more time outside lately, it's taken about three or four days between updates.

I know this is very annoying for my readers. I do apologize for this, and I promise that I will hurry with my updates as fast as I can.

But because my chapters have been getting longer, and because I've been trying to have them beta read, and because I want to make reading as enjoyable as I can for you guys, but it takes some time.

Also, I know it's not Christmas time, but it is in this story. Why? Because I love Christmas. Just like Robin in this chapter. 8P

Note: Now edited with the beta reader's correction!

----------------

"So, what's your plan?"

"I don't have a plan. I want to see my father."

"Then what? You're just gonna ask him, `Daddy, did you kill my child?'"

"Yes."

"Yes? Touko-chan. . . ."

"I don't care, Nagira. I really don't give a damn. He may be my father, but if he did do this, I will kill the bastard myself."

Nagira gave a huge sigh and leaned back in the black leather seats of his car. He and Touko had been over this conversation time and time again since yesterday, since they left a bewildered Robin and Michael at her apartment.

Nagira's eyes moved across the car and came to a stop on Touko. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to murder her own father? Nagira gave a small sigh. Everyone he cared about had a parent they hated. He himself had loved his father, very much.

Amon, however, had hated him. Amon had hated their father, and Amon hated Nagira for the simple reason that Mr. Syunji had chosen to have his first son with a human woman, while he had given life to Amon through a witch.

Nagira gave a small sigh as the morning sun cast its golden-red rays into the windows of the car and lit up his tired face. It was clear he wasn't in a good mood today. It was all too very clear of that. He didn't want Touko hurt. He didn't want Touko to do something that would get her killed.

After all, if Zaizen did murder his newborn grandchild, he surely could murder his daughter.

"Hey, Touko-chan. I've got a crazy idea for you." Nagira said as he leaned up in the passenger seat and looked over to the blonde woman beside him. "If you want your father dead, why not tell Amon about this whole thing and let him do it? Amon kills people for a living, and he's very good at it-"

"I lied to Amon." Touko said flatly. "I told him that our child was still-born. I never told him that someone walked into the hospital and walked away with her. Amon would never forgive me."

Nagira sighed. "You've never forgiven Amon for passing on his Witch's Blood to your child. That's why your `relationship' has been falling apart for two and a half years."

Touko gave a small sigh and closed her deep blue eyes, something that Nagira cursed at as he grabbed the steering wheel from her. Touko made no move to acknowledge the man as he steered the car bumpily into a parking lot.

"Now listen, Touko. I know that what happened was horrible, but you don't even know for sure it was Zaizen."

Touko growled. "You said that it was."

"I…" Nagira spat back in an even meaner growl. "Called people who live on the other side of the world, did my best to understand English, and talked about something that happened two years ago. Besides, the lead detective, Avery something, wasn't even home."

Touko sighed. "Nagira, do you think my father murdered my child?"

Nagira gave a small sigh and became very quiet for a moment. In that moment, his eyes scanned the passing traffic in the street. Cars of all colors containing families of all shapes and sizes. Happy families. Families that weren't witches or witch's brothers or anything like that.

"Yes, I do think he did. But I can't prove it."

Touko sighed. "Well, neither can I. But I won't let him get away with this."

Touko reached to start the car again, but Nagira gave a furious growl from the bottom of his throat and grabbed her wrist before her fingers could grasp the key.

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why now?" Nagira spat. "Why are you so damn hell-bent on revenge after two years? You know that murdering your father will get SOLOMON after you, and you know that Amon's going to find out why you did it, and that'll be it. Once he finds out you lied to him, any chance you two have will be gone. So, why are you ready to ruin your life over this?"

"Because I don't want him to kill this one!" Touko screamed so loud that people walking by the car on the street turned and looked. Nagira's big brown eyes shot down to Touko's stomach, and suddenly he understood.

She was pregnant, again.

----

Robin gave a small yawn and awoke to the sight of crimson-stained gold light flashing through her windows on Christmas Morning.

Robin had always loved Christmas. Not only the normal reasons, like presents and snow and decorating trees, but being raised as a nun she also knew and loved the spiritual reasons behind Christmas. It really was amazing.

As Robin dressed herself quietly, she could hear the sound of furious keyboard keys clicking in the other room, and knew that Michael was up as well. She couldn't help but blush pink as she thought about their kissing last night on the terrace. She had almost forgotten what happened in the museum with Rick Richard's echo a few days ago.

As she finished dressing in her black and red skirts and coats, she opened the door and set off down the hall, while tying her blonde hair up with the twin purple ribbons that she had received for Christmas many years ago, a present from Juliano.

Suddenly, she froze in mid-walk. She had forgotten completely to find a present for Michael. She knew that presents didn't matter on Christmas, because Christmas was about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but still, she felt bad that she could not get Michael something.

"Robin?" A voice suddenly called from the other room. "Is that you?"

"I'm here." She called back, realizing that he would have heard the door opening. She finished tying her handlebar hairdo and walked into the living room, where she found Michael the redheaded hacker she had fallen in love with sitting in a small chair by the computer in the corner.

"Merry Christmas." Robin said happily as she walked over towards him. She gave a small yawn and leaned her hands down on Michael's shoulder, and then she set her chin down on her hands. "What are you doing?"

"Hey." Michael shot back as his eyes roamed over thousands of small Internet windows as they opened and closed at lightning speed and the click of a mouse. She couldn't even see what half of the pages were about, but Michael managed to soak up the information like a sponge. "I'm looking for Touko."

Robin suddenly felt a cold shiver down her back and she sighed. "Touko? She didn't come back?"

"No." Michael said solemnly. "And I don't know where Nagira took her."

Robin blinked. Nagira? The man who had came and left with Touko. She shook her head. She didn't know him. "Who is he Michael?"

"Amon's brother." Michael said simply as the webpages scrolled through faster and faster by the second.

Robin was taken aback. "Amon?"

Amon had told her once that he had no family. He had lied to her? She couldn't believe that Amon would lie to her. She always thought of Amon as a friend, maybe a cold and dark friend, but a friend who was always honest.

"Yeah. Half-brother really. I hacked into my computer at Raven's Flat and I've been checking for any sign of where Touko could be. So far, I've found nothing. She hasn't used her credit card, didn't withdraw any money at the bank, so she can't be leaving Tokyo. She was in Nagira's car, but I can't get plates on it. It's really annoying."

Robin sighed and stared blankly at the blue light that was illuminating Michael's face in the dark of the room, with slight help from the crimson-stained light of the sun that mingled in the back of the living room.

"Karasuma." Robin breathed quietly, and suddenly Michael's fingers stopped hitting the keys and he grinned at her, almost as if complementing how brilliant she was at times.

----

Karasuma was relaxing, or trying to relax, in a hot bath on Christmas morning.

She did not know what was causing her mind to return to the events of five years ago, when she had developed a crush of sorts on her dark partner, Amon, but her mind was constantly returning to Amon, and to Josh Osaka.

Why did she still feel this way? Amon was dating Touko, in a way anyway, and Josh was dead. She had no chance with either of them, and she should just forget about them. Karasuma wasn't the kind of woman to stress on and on about romance and affairs of the heart, but there was something about Amon, some lingering memory of five years ago, that would not be forgotten.

Dammit! Miho, this isn't like you. This isn't normal you.

She heard a phone ring from her bedroom and she sighed. Great. It was always something, wasn't it? She was angry today, angry at herself for acting this way, a way that she wasn't supposed to act like.

She pulled herself out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her damp body, and sprinted to make it to the phone before the sound of ringing died and miss the call. When you work for a secret worldwide Witch Hunting organization, it's important to not miss calls.

Her hand slammed down on the phone and brought the mouthpiece up just after the fourth ring.

"Hello?"

"Karasuma-san, good, you're home."

"Hello Michael." Karasuma sighed quietly. "What do you need?"

Michael's voice sounded anxious and worried. "Can you scry something for us?"

Karasuma knew why he sounded anxious. She hated using her craft. It was something she had hated ever since childhood. Sure, it was sometimes fun to be given an insight into people's minds and hearts. She had loved just randomly scrying things that belonged to strangers. That was until one day.

She had been at home. It wasn't long after SOLOMON had decided to use her as a hunter. While they worked out the details, she was allowed home with her family. She had seen an old knife on the mantle that had belonged to her great-grandfather, who had fought in World War II.

She thought it would be fun to scry the knife.

She was wrong.

The horrors that she saw on that knife that day made her want to quit SOLOMON before she even joined it. She wanted to be away from those kinds of horrors, and yet, she could not escape her job. Ever since, she had scryed murder scenes and dead bodies and all kinds of horrible things. And Michael knew how much she hated her craft.

"I wouldn't ask if this wasn't important." Michael's curt voice spoke in her ear and helped to chase those memories of the knife and what she'd seen on it back into that black vault deep within her soul.

"Where are you?" She said sadly.

"Touko's apartment. Arigato, Karasuma-san."

Karasuma just sighed.

----

Zaizen sat behind his office, brooding.

Of course, Kichiro Wantanabee was of no more use to him than a hangnail, for the father of Sakaki had already told him everything he knew on his former partner, David Rica. Still, Zaizen couldn't pretend that he couldn't have used Kichiro.

The sixty-five year old head of the STN-J and the Factory both smoked one of his large Cuban cigars and scowled at the computer screen before them. Toudou's research was still incomplete, and he still wanted more information on the foolish man who had been partially responsible for Orbo.

It was then that he heard a ring, and with a sigh, pressed the small button on his phone that allowed his secretaries voice to fill the room, the same as the thick gray smoke of his cigar filled it.

"Mr. Zaizen, we have a Miss. Touko Masaki on line one for you."

Zaizen's eyes widened a bit. Touko had never called him at the Factory before. His hand shot down to the phone and he picked it up.

"Put her through." He ordered the secretary. There was a moment's pause, in which Zaizen's mind went through all the possible reasons why Touko would call him now, here. The reasons had not even reached halfway, when his daughter's voice was heard in his ear.

"I want to see you, dad." Touko said bitterly.

"Of course." Zaizen returned warmly. Well, as warmly as was possible for him. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Goddamn right, something is wrong." Touko spat so icily, that Zaizen jumped a bit. "I want to see you. Be at the Family Pier at the dock, in an hour. Come alone. If you don't show up, then I swear to God you'll regret it so badly, you'll wish you weren't born and had me."

Before Zaizen could ask any kind of question, he heard the clicking of a cell phone hanging up and he realized at once that something was wrong. Zaizen sighed and slammed the phone down so hard, that it broke the receiver in two.

Zaizen's cold eyes moved down to the drawer and he opened it. Inside was a gun containing the purest form of Orbo known to man, even purer than that in the revolvers that had been used against Kita Nobunaga. Beside the Orbo gun, was an ordinary revolver, like the kind in American Western movies.

"God forgive me on this Christmas Day." He muttered as he pulled the revolver out of the drawer and pocketed it, before standing and setting off to meet with his daughter.

----

There was a knock on the door.

Robin, whom had been sitting on the couch quietly waiting for Karasuma's arrival while Michael heated up some of the spaghetti for breakfast, shot up from her seat and moved to the door, opening it quickly to reveal the dark red-haired psychic.

"Karasuma, Merry Christmas." Robin said pleasantly.

"Same to you, Robin." Karasuma acknowledged much less happily.

A second later, Michael had appeared with a grim smile on his face. He stood beside the coat hook near the door, and beckoned Karasuma over to it.

"She grabbed her coat off this hook before she left last night." Michael, never one to waste time, explained.

"Last night? Well, I'll try to scry it, but it's hard when it's been so long."

Karasuma gave one last sight, not really happy at all to find out what could make Touko run off without a word. She moved her fingers slowly towards the brass hook that had once contained Touko's coat, and tenderly her fingers touched the cold metal.

A second later, Karasuma grunted as images and emotions flashed through her body. It was one of the worst things she had ever scryed since she joined the STN-J, except perhaps for the knife of her great-grandfather.

Karasuma shot back off the hook and did her best to remain standing. Her knees were shaking; Hell, her entire body was shaking. She felt as if she was much heavier than she was before, like some invisible burden had been planted on her shoulders.

She had seen Touko's horrible thoughts. She had learned the grizzly story of how Touko had become pregnant two years ago with Amon's child, and how she had flown overseas to live with her mother in New York, afraid that her father would become angry with her if he learned she was having a baby without having a marriage.

She had seen how Touko had held her daughter in her arms only once, before the doctors took the baby to the nursery room to be cared for. She had watched in horror as the memories of a nurse saying the baby had vanished flashed before her eyes once more. She had become even worse when the image that it had been, became Zaizen. Nagira had found out it was Touko's own father who had taken the child away from her.

Because the child was a witch.

And then, Karasuma had seen Touko's plan to murder her father.

As Miho Karasuma bent down, trying to catch her breath, she suddenly realized the horrible truth of where Touko and Nagira had gone, and she realized that she had to stop them or they would both die.

Without a word to Robin and Michael, Karasuma jumped to her feet and ran out the door, dialing Amon's number on her cell phone as her shaky feet carried her down the hallway.

----

"Get me some tea."

"Yes Kosaka-san."

Amon gave a small sigh from where he sat at the bar in Harry's Place. It was almost empty, except for him, Yuji Kobari, and of course for Kosaka and Hattori, who sat at a booth by the window.

"I'll bring it to you, Mr. Kosaka." Yuji said happily from behind the bar. "You just relax, Hattori."

Hattori gave a grateful sigh and sunk back down into his side of the booth. Kosaka looked as if he could care less who brought him the tea, as long as he got the tea.

Amon really hated being around those two. Kosaka was arrogant and selfish, a regular salute to the first man to wear a mustache like his. Hattori was weak and would cave in to any demand made of Kosaka, as long as it pleased the bald chief.

Suddenly, Amon's cell phone rang and he lazily dug it out of his pockets as Kobari-sama poured the tear for Kosaka. Amon noticed that the caller ID screen read "Karasuma, Miho" and he quickly opened the small phone and brought it to his face.

"Yes?"

"Touko's in danger."

Amon's face fell and his bad mood only worsened. "What? By who?"

Karasuma's voice took a sharp intake of breath before it spoke again. "Amon, your daughter wasn't born dead."

The whiskey glass that had decorated Amon's hand slipped and fell with a sharp clang. Amon had never told a soul about having a child two and a half years ago, and the fact Karasuma had found out meant Touko was in real danger.

"What did you say?" Amon asked in a quiet, almost shy voice that made him sound like a complete stranger to Karasuma. She had never heard any trace of nervousness or fear behind that cold voice before, but now it seamed to be nothing but fear.

"Amon, your child wasn't still-born. She was murdered. By Zaizen. Nagira told Touko this and now they're on their way to murder Zaizen. I don't know where, but if we don't do something, Zaizen will kill them both."

Karasuma explained all of this, and absently Amon absorbed the information. He really hadn't heard any of it the second the words "child", "murdered", and "Zaizen" had all fallen in place.

"Amon? Amon?"

"I'll meet you there." Amon said vaguely.

"Amon, we don't know where there is-"

Amon hung up the phone. This was not the cold-hearted man who had no love for anyone or anything. This was a man who had once been a father, but had lost that title after his child was taken from him.

He had blamed God for taking his child, but now he knew it wasn't God's fault.

It was Zaizen's.

----

"Are you sure about this? Do you know the consequences if you do this?" Nagira asked.

They were still inside the black car with the equally black leather seats. Touko had a look on her face like an avenging angel ready to smote evil. Her hands moved down towards Nagira and slipped into his jacket. A second let she pulled out the sleek silver handgun and slipped it inside her own pocket.

"I'm sure. Even if I go to prison for life, I'll still be happy he's dead." Touko said sweetly for someone as angry as she was. She smiled at Nagira, and, realizing she was most likely going to die, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Arigato gozaimasu, Nagira-san."

Nagira sighed. "If I hear gunshots, I'm coming down there."

Touko nodded. "Hai."

Touko opened the car door and stepped out quietly, but then she paused and looked back inside and the brown haired man. "You'll explain this to Amon, won't you?"

"Explain it to him yourself." Nagira shot back. "I know you won't be killed. You're pregnant, and if you thought for a second that Zaizen would really kill you, you wouldn't meet him."

Touko closed her eyes and let a small sigh escape her lips. "Sayonara."

----

A black limousine pulled up to the docks about five minutes later. Zaizen stepped out of the car and straightened his suit as he set off to the large black shape that was dock number five, the one his former wife had bought for their yacht.

Zaizen no longer used the dock, but he still had a key. He walked down and pressed the small brass key into the equally brass lock and twisted it for a second, before he heard a clicking sound. He opened the door and walked inside, where upon he found a narrow pier that led down to a parked white yacht.

And standing on the end of that pier was Touko Masaki, her blonde hair waving behind her in the wind and her hands buried inside her pockets. Zaizen walked down towards his daughter, his own hands inside his own pockets.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Zaizen asked shortly.

"Did you kill my daughter?" Touko asked in a hallowed voice.

"Oh. So, that's what this is about." Zaizen laughed to himself as he closed his eyes. "Is that the only reason you had for interrupting my busy day?"

Touko growled with the anger of a thousand angry angels burning inside her throat. "You did, didn't you?"

Zaizen raised his head to his daughter and opened his eyes. "You fucked that Witch, Amon. I had to clean up your mess. I always have to clean up your messes."

Touko's eyes flashed with a furious fire that would never die. She had heard enough. He was guilty of the worst crime imaginable by mankind, and he should die like the dirty dog he was.

"However, if you must know." Zaizen continued. "I did not murder your daughter."

"Liar!" Touko screamed as she pulled her hands from her pockets to reveal the sleek silver handgun. She aimed and fired three shots, but Zaizen, who had been a Witch Hunter himself before he became manager of Factory, was able to jump behind a large crate of fuel for the yacht and avoid the bullets. He raised himself up and fired his own revolver before Touko could even see that he'd drawn it.

The bullet flew through his daughter's chest and out the other side, spattering warm, burgundy blood all over the ground and the side of the white yacht. Touko's face became a painful mix of sadness and fury, just before she fell to the pier and died.

Zaizen stood and walked slowly towards his daughter's body. His eyes scanning the blonde woman who looked so much like her mother for a moment before he reached down and brushed his hand over her cheek.

"I didn't want to do that." Zaizen said to the lifeless form on the ground beneath him. "Why did you have to love a witch?"

There was a sound of footsteps and Zaizen turned to see Nagira Syunji standing at the door. Nagira paused for a moment as he spotted Zaizen and Touko's body, and then he screamed loudly and went for his gun.

Then he remembered, that he had given his gun to Touko.

Zaizen raised his arm and fired a second shot, which hit Nagira in the distance and caused the brown-haired lawyer to fall to the ground with a thud. Zaizen shook his head and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Touko. I did not mean for it to be this way. You must believe me."

Zaizen stood and tossed his revolver into the water by the pier, and then he down the dock and stopped next to Nagira's body. He could see Nagira was still breathing shallowly, but he didn't show the slightest remorse as he kicked the still living Nagira.

"You tell your brother about this." Zaizen smirked. "You show him Touko's body, and tell him that it's his fault that she's dead."

Zaizen gave one more kick to Nagira, who grunted, before he stepped out the door and walked down towards the black limousine in the distance. After getting in, he lit up a Cuban cigar as the limo sped into the distance and away from the horrible murders that he been committed that night.

----

*Listening to Fountain's of Wayne's Mexican Wine*

*sighs*

What Zaizen does in this chapter is perhaps the worst crime you can commit, and it is in no way condoned or endorsed by the author of this fanfiction. Personally I think Zaizen and any real human beings who commit a crime like the one he does should die a painful death and rot in hell.

With that said, let me say this.

This chapter is dark, and many of you will hate me for it. Not hate me because I killed Touko, since she isn't exactly the most loved character in the world, but because of Zaizen killing his pregnant daughter.

Like I said, it's a horrible crime, and I hate it just as much as you guys do.

I will promise you all that Zaizen will be punished for everything he has done. He'll be punished for selling Sakaki's life for information, for killing Touko, and for the stuff he's going to do in the future.

When and how he will be punished, is something you'll only get to learn if you keep reading and reviewing.

So keep reading and reviewing.

On the next chapter of False Echoes:

Amon will learn of Touko's murder.

Rica will blow stuff up when he attacks the Factory agents at Raven's Flat.

And Robin and Michael will have a `moment'.

Stay Tuned.

Ja Ne

~ Golden-sama