Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ I Promise You Freedom ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

I Promise You Freedom

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Yawning, Sakaki stepped off the elevator and into the STN-J building like he did every morning. "Morning!" a familiar voice chirped to his right, and he turned, eyeing the younger girl skeptically.

"How can you be so awake at this hour of the morning?!" The one-armed hunter slumped into his chair tiredly.

"But Sakaki-sama, it's already 8:30!"

But all the 16-year-old received by way of an answer was a loud moan. "Oh for heaven's sake!" Karasuma exclaimed, striding into the room. She looked much more awake then the younger man; her eyes were alert and there was a spring in her step that Sakaki's was lacking. "You've been working this job for twenty years and you still can't wake up in the mornings?!"

"Oh, good morning Miss Karasuma!" the girl said, smiling at her female idol.

"Morning, Tima."

"I hope you manage to wake up soon." Another voice joined in the conversation. "We've got another hunt to do, and according to headquarters, this one's urgent."

Rolling his eyes, Sakaki turned to the computer where Michael had used to sit all those years ago, and eyed the young man sitting in front of it sardonically. "Do tell."

A head of spiky brown hair appeared above a pair of glittering deep violet eyes. "It's a kid this time."

"I hate hunting children!" Yurika's voice floated towards them from the direction of the elevator and they saw her shiver a little as she entered the room. "Sorry I'm a little late."

"Feeling better?" Sakaki asked sympathetically as his wife came over and sat down next to him, planting a peck on his cheek.

"A little," she answered. "But I really hate it when we have to take kids in. I get really guilty."

"I know the feeling," the young Tima answered.

"Well, this one's twelve almost thirteen so he's a little older. Name's Inari…Lives with his mother somewhere over on the other side of the city. Hmm…" The brown haired man frowned as he stared at the glowing monitor.

"What? Come on Azlar! This isn't the time to be dramatic!" Sakaki snapped, the irritation in his voice growing.

Normally this would have sparked a fight between the two male members of the team, but today it seemed as if the nineteen-year-old was too absorbed in his work to care. "Looks like we'll be hunting his mother too."

"Fine by me," Sakaki shrugged. "If they're related they'll most likely be together and we can kill two birds with one stone."

Tima shuddered. "Don't say kill!"

The soon-to-be father rolled his eyes and glanced at his wife, who merely gave him a patient smile and laid a hand on his arm. Ever since Yurika had gotten pregnant, Sakaki had noticed drastic changes in his wife. She seemed to have acquired a sense of patience and a role as the stability in their risky life that the man would never understand. She even seemed to glow at times, as if some inner light were shining softly through her skin.

Now, her other hand drifted down to rest lightly on the growing bulge, as it often did as of late. Sakaki smiled at her and received a light kiss in return.

"Please, save the warm, fuzzy feelings for the bedroom," Azlar said dryly, standing up and slipping into his jacket.

"Come on, Azlar! We need to get this done, so why don't you keep your comments to yourself!" Karasuma sounded extremely annoyed with the younger male's behavior and he shot her a glare that could have melted solid rock. "Keep your petty male ego issues to yourselves!" Her reprimand included Sakaki this time, and Yurika and Tima giggled accordingly.

Both Sakaki and Azlar gave her a deadly look this time, but she merely ignored them both and picked up her Orbo gun. "Everyone ready to head out?"

She was met by nods all around and Azlar's voice giving out the exact location and the announcement that he was sending all vital information to their mobile units.

"By the way," Tima added as they all filed towards the elevator. "What's Inari's mother's name?"

"Um…" the young man fumbled in his pocket for a second before yanking out the small phone. "Lesse…uh…some chick named Robin Sena."

~~~

Kill…hunt…kill…KILL!

"MOM!" Inari shot up in bed, eyes wide and sweat pouring down his face. His thin chest heaved rapidly as his lungs tried desperately to keep up with his racing heart.

"Oh good you're finally up," Robin said, poking her head into the room. "It's already almost noon you know. You stay up too late on that computer and-"

"No, Mom! I had another dream…They're coming for us!" He jumped up out of bed and ran over to the blonde woman, grabbing her thin arms tightly. "That place you used to work for…"

"Solomon!" Robin gasped.

"Yeah, them! They're hunting us!" He turned away and went to the small window, the very one his mother liked to stare out of so often. "And I know it's true…cause…cause Dad could do this, too. Couldn't he?" He rested his forehead against the cool glass, and all of a sudden, to Robin's eyes, her son looked old; older then her even, with all the tiredness and the weight of the world on his scrawny shoulders.

She sighed. "Yes, your father could do this too. And I know Solomon is coming after us again, Nagira has known about it for a while and is keeping me informed.

"But why now? Why not years ago when I was still little?"

"Because your powers are just awakening now and mine have always been a threat to them." Her tiredness now matched his own and she heard his harsh breathing even on the other side of the room.

"But my power really can't even be considered dangerous! All I do is get these dreams occasionally and most of the time they don't even make sense! What so harmful about dreams?!"

Robin choked as she watched her son's frustration growing, and she knew she would have to tell him. She knew she could no longer hold things back and try to protect him as she had done when he was little. Inari was growing up, and it was time for him to know the whole truth.

"Inari."

He turned and saw his mother sitting on their bed, patting the space beside her with one hand. "Come here Inari, I need to talk to you."

Warily, the boy edged over, fearful and curious at the same time about what could possibly cause his mother to act in such a way. She watched him with a look in her eyes that he couldn't quite explain because he had never seen it before. It was as if she had somehow lifted a veil off of them and if he stared deep enough, he would fall in and get lost forever.

"You're scaring me mom," he told her, his voice unsure. "What do you mean you need to tell me the whole truth?"

Robin's eyes widened even as her mouth was forming those betraying words. "I didn't speak that aloud."

With a tiny squeak, Inari clamped a hand over his mouth and gave his mother a sheepish look. "I'm sorry." He bowed his head sadly. "But I didn't mean to! I really didn't! It just kind of…hit me. Like your mind was screaming it or something.

The blonde ex-hunter gazed upon her son for a moment, then pulled him to her in a tight hug. "Yes, you're just like him,"

"Dad, you mean?"

"Yes, Michael. That was his name."

Inari sat still and looked up at his mother, watching her face closely and waiting for her to continue. Truth be told, he was anxious to learn anything and everything about this man named Michael. He had never remembered his father, for he had been hunted and killed before the boy had turned two. His mother never really spoke about him directly, and the bits and pieces Inari knew came from Nagira and scraps of information he had dug out of the old Solomon files.

"He wasn't always that way, the way you are now, with his powers of the mind. He used to be an ordinary human, except for one thing: He was a prisoner of the STN-J. For your father, Michael Lee, was a hacker, and a good one at that. But he made the mistake of hacking into the STN-J and they caught him and threatened him with death unless he promised to stay in the STN-J building and work for them for the rest of his life."

Inari gulped a little at the part about being caught hacking into Solomon. He made a mental note to himself to be more careful in the future about that.

Robin continued, not noticing her son's anxiety. "That was where I met him, at Raven's Flat, when I was sent to Japan from Italy to search for the Fragment of Wisdom."

"What's that?" Inari asked, sounding slightly confused.

But the blonde witch merely shook her head. "It is not important now, just an object I was to find. But I met your father and was drawn to him, drawn to his sadness and his despair. Eventually, we fell in love and escaped the STN-J, leaving for a life of freedom, or so we thought. Nagira helped us out and we hid for several years until the hunt was given up."

"Why?" Inari asked, sitting up fully and watching his mother with wide eyes.

"I don't know," she replied softly. "Maybe they just gave up, or maybe there was an ulterior motive behind their plans. But at any rate, we lived happily for several years, then had you." She gave him a loving smile when she said this and Inari felt a wave of affection pass through him.

But her smile faded as she came to the next part in her tale. "But…it did not last long. We had let our caution slip a little; after living so long unbothered by Solomon, we figured we were safe. By chance, our old boss saw him on the streets and…" She trailed off here and Inari saw her entire body shudder with repressed horror. "He…he never came home that night," her voice was thick with grief. "Nagira caught wind of what had happened a few days later and told me…told me he had…" Here all control was lost and Robin broke down into outright sobs.

Unsure of what to do, Inari looked uneasily at his mother, then hesitantly reached forward and hugged her. She clung to him and he to her, both of them lost in their own thoughts for many long moments before the sobs quieted and Robin's head lifted. "Solomon killed your father, because of his powers. They had begun developing even before you were born. He had these strange dreams that often came true, and could seem to sense disasters before they would happen."

Michael's son nodded; he too could do those things.

"But…that's not all."

Inari's eyes widened at her next words.

"His powers kept progressing even after that; soon, things bean to move of their own accord. Books left on the opposite side of the room would suddenly appear next to him when he wished, his computer would flicker and the power would surge when he grew angry or sad. Even worse, if he looked hard enough at something, poured all of his feeling into it, he could disintegrate it, cause it to disappear from the face of the earth for good."

She fell silent, not looking at Inari, and he felt his own eyes fall downwards. So, not only was his mother a witch, but his father as well. No wonder Solomon was after them, and no wonder he was having dreams.

"But understand this Inari, no matter what happens, I will always love you." The boy felt cool hands cup his face and identical green eyes met and stared into each other. "Your father loved you more then anything, as do I, and I know he would be proud of you right now."

With a sniffle, Inari nodded and suddenly threw himself forwards into his mother's embrace, as he had done so many times when he was little. With a knowing air, she put her arms around him and held him close as he cried; she knew she would have to pretend this moment had never happened. Inari hadn't let himself cry since he was six years old and he wouldn't be too happy about all this when it was over.

But for now, she cradled him to her body and let her own tears slip silently down her face once more.

A loud crash from the front room startled the two witches, and they jumped apart, both minds reaching for the power they knew would be there.

A rushing sensation overtook Inari's body and he almost sank back to the bed with the dizziness that accompanied it. Liquid fire seemed to sear him from the inside out and he felt as if his head were about to explode. So this is what the Craft feels like…

"Run, Inari!" Robin's voice cried as a sheet of fire covered the open doorway. "Out the window!"

But his feet remained rooted to the spot and the boy found himself watching as his mother scooped him up and threw open the window, tossing him out. "Run Inari! I will find you!"

The last thing he remembered was his mother's scream as the sound of gunshots exploded in his ears. Inari's hand reached up towards the window several feet above his head, before his body struck the soft ground and the world went black.

~~~

Wow, I'm surprised I haven't already been assassinated! T_T Yes, I know I killed Michel, and I know it's sad, but everything serves a purpose, as you will see from this chapter, and later on in the fic. It will become even clearer in the third part of the trilogy. Yes, ^.^, I have decided to do a sequel to this one also. Don't look for it for a while though, because we've barely scratched the surface of "I Promise You Freedom"!!

R&R!

~SanoGirl ^_~