Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ I Promise You Freedom ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

I Promise You Freedom

~~~

"Sakaki-sama?…Sakaki-sama?" An annoyed, pink-nailed hand waved itself in front of Sakaki's face and snapped him out of his stupor.

"Dude, you okay?" Azlar asked, not really sounding like he cared at all. The younger male glanced at Yurika and Karasuma and found that they had the exact same look on their faces as Sakaki. It was one of pure horror.

"R-robin…Sena?" Yurika whispered, her entire body trembling.

Azlar nodded. "That's what the report says. Her and her kid Inari."

"Her child…" Karasuma said in a dazed voice.

"Yes! Her child!" Azlar repeated, growing more then a little exasperated. "Are you all going deaf in your old age?"

With a growing sense of horror, the one-armed hunter turned to the smart-mouthed one and replied, "Robin…what…what does it say her power is?"

"Fire."

"And what about her…son." Sakaki's voice choked on this last word. It was bad enough they were supposed to hunt Robin without having to hunt her 12-year-ol son as well.

"Um…he's a psychic. Ya know, can move things with his mind, stuff like that."

With a squeak, Doujima grabbed her husband's arm. "SAKAKI!"

"What?!" Sakaki exclaimed, eyes immediately flying to her swollen stomach.

"The boy! The one you almost hit the other day! He looked…"

The man's eyes widened in realization. "He looked like Michael! What if…what if that was him?"

"Who looked like Michael?" Karasuma asked, her tone sharp now.

"Who's Michael???" Tima wailed.

Meanwhile, Azlar had moved back to the computer and was busy typing away. "Her dead husband," he answered the bewildered girl.

"DEAD?!" the STN-J veterans shouted in unison.

Azlar nodded, his face blank.

Aghast, the three stared at each other. "Dead…" Karasuma murmured.

Sakaki swallowed and slipped a comforting arm around his wife's waist as he saw a tear trickle down her cheek.

"Now, who's this kid you were talking about?" Azlar continued, voice still devoid of any emotion except a gruesome sort of curiosity.

"A boy ran out in front of our car the other day," Yurika said, her voice thick with all the tears still unshed. "When I looked at him, it was as if I were seeing Michael all over again." She looked at Karasuma. "He even had the same kind of glasses! Oh, Miho, I almost had a heart attack!"

Karasuma nodded, the dazed look once again on her face.

"I bet that was him," Sakaki mused, staring at the floor.

Tima, her eyes wide, was busy looking from Sakaki, to Yurika, to Miho, and back. Occasionally, she stole a glance at Azlar too, but once she saw the permanent look of boredom on his face, she did not bother anymore.

"So Robin and Michael did live! At least for a little while." Yurika's face lit up as she said the first part, then fell when she realized it was only half true.

"For almost eight years, to be exact," Azlar drawled, coming to life for the first time in many long minutes. "Seriously, this is all…heartwarming…but we do have a job to do."

If looks could kill, the violet-eyed hunter would have been dead a thousand times over. He found himself on the receiving end of evil glares from every other member of his team, even Tima.

"How can you be so heartless?!" she shrilled.

Rolling his eyes slightly, Sakaki turned to the younger girl and motioned for her to calm down.

"I mean, how do you know these people anyway? They're both witches, or were in this Michael guy's case, so how do you know them?!" The clicking of keys had stopped a long while ago and was replaced by a silent stare from the 19-year-old hunter.

"Wait!" Karasuma exclaimed, turning on the spiky-haired hunter. "You said they were both witches. Michael wasn't a witch!"

"As far as we knew, anyway," Sakaki put in.

"Well," the keys started clicking once more under agile fingers. "It says here his mother was a witch and his own powers didn't develop 'til he was almost 20 or so."

"Four years after he left…" Yurika mumbled. "We never knew."

Sadly, Karasuma shook her head as Sakaki made a sad sound in the back of his throat.

Azlar cleared his throat loudly. "I believe the original question was 'How do you know these people?'!" Usually, Azlar could not get away with copping such an attitude, especially to Sakaki, but today his sharp tongue was being overlooked by all.

"We used to work together…before…before they…" Yurika stopped, choking.

"Before they became witches," her husband finished with a sigh. "Before the ran away from the STN." He looked up at the only other male member of the STN-J team with a murderous look in his eyes.

But Azlar merely raised an eyebrow at him and reclined in his chair. "Orange hair, right? Glasses and blue eyes?"

"What?" Yurika glanced over at him, her eyes slightly reddened.

"Michael Lee, the hacker guy, Inari's father. That's what he looked like, right?" Azlar gestured towards the computer screen and all the other people clustered around the monitor. A picture of Michael, an old one granted, but still useable, floated on the screen in front of a rather large file about Robin.

"That's him alright," Sakaki admitted.

"And that's exactly what that little boy looked like," the blonde-haired hunter breathed. "That's what Inari looked like."

Tima sank into a chair. "I can't hunt a little boy!" she cried, tears welling up in her large blue-green eyes. "I just can't! Especially one they used to know!"

Karasuma moved to sit down next to the distressed girl, a handkerchief appearing in her hand. Tima tended to react to the extreme when under pressure such as this, and the older women had learned to be prepared. The men, not understanding such things, would just stand by and watch, shifting uncomfortably.

With an aggravated growl, Azlar pounded his fist down on the table, causing everyone in the room to jump. "Dammit! I don't care if the witch is your own mother! A witch is a witch and therefore must be hunted! We have a job to do, and we're going to freakin' do it so I can get paid!" He glared at each one of them in turn, a muscle in his jaw twitching.

The only sound in the room was Tima's hiccups as the four other people just stared at the irate teen. He ground his teeth and continued to glare at them, his handsome face twisted into an ugly scowl.

Calmly, Sakaki strode over to the other man and stood over him, eyes flat.

"Wha-" Azlar managed to get out before a closed fist struck him square on the cheek.

His head snapped to the side and the desk wobbled with the force of the blow. "You asswipe!" Sakaki shouted, unleashing the full force of his anger upon the insensitive youth. "How dare you say such things?! Especially when you have no idea what the hell you're talking about!"

Azlar refused to look at the older man for many long moments. Finally, he swung his head around to face him, eyes narrowed, and an ugly purple and black bruise already forming on his face. But he said nothing, just glared daggers at Sakaki.

"Haruto…" The voice of his wife brought Sakaki back to reality with a snap. With a look of almost regret in his eyes, the one-armed man turned away and went to her side, letting her take his hand in his. Only she saw the telltale glimmer in his dark eyes before he forced it away.

"Well, if none of you are going to do this, then I will!" Azlar shouted, his fire rekindled. He jumped up from his seat and raced from the room, stuffing an Orbo gun and several more rounds of Orbo bullets into his jacket pocket as he went.

The others watched him go, faces shocked. "Shouldn't we…shouldn't we try and stop him?" Tima asked timidly.

"No," Karasuma replied, shaking her head. "Robin's strong enough to take him out by herself. He's only one man and he only has one gun."

"No he doesn't," Tima sniffed and Karasuma gave her a sharp look.

"What do you mean, he doesn't?" Sakaki butted in, his voice suspicious.

"Azlar-sama has several Orbo guns!" Tima answered them, her voice still a little shaky. "Mr. Zaizen gave him a bunch more the other day. And even before that, he still had at least three or four."

"Shit!" Sakaki shouted, also jumping up and racing from the room.

He was closely followed by Karasuma, who shouted for Doujima and Tima to remain here in case anyone came by.

Stunned, the two women stayed where they were, their only movement a turning of the heads so the could exchange disorientated glances.

~~~

*decides to take a leaf out of Golden-sama's book*

*listening to "The Rage Beat" from the Gravitation soundtrack*

Okay, chapter 4 done! Sorry there wasn't any action in this one, but I had to lay down all this background information before the story could progress. I promise we will get back to Inari and Robin in the next part (since all of you are still wondering as to whether or not I am 100% evil and have killed her too).

I'm also thinking of doing a purely humorous interlude chapter; since you know, there is all this tension and suspense. I had some pretty good ideas for a parody-type-thing the other day…(Think, boozer Amon ^_~)

Speaking of Amon, my friend (Nightsailer) and I are part of an anime RPG which includes a bunch of characters from many different shows. The reason this reminded me of Amon is because, in the RPG, Amon is paired with Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop and I've been working on a sketch of the two of them to give to her. It's probably one of the best sketches I've ever done in my life, considering my drawing skills suck.

Well anyway, enough of my senseless rambling; reviews and suggestions for the parody chapter would be greatly appreciated!!!

~SanoGirl