Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ I Promise You Freedom ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

I Promise You Freedom

~~~

"Remember, pump her full of as many bullets as you can, then let me take care of things from there. I'll pay you well if you manage to pull this off right."

The four men nodded at the violet eyed man and advanced towards the plain wooden door that stood before them, Orbo guns clutched tightly in their outstretched hands. Azlar himself stood a little before them, reaching the door first and kicking it in with one swift kick.

A sweeping glance around the room revealed nothing, then his eyes fell upon another doorway, this one covered by a sheet of fire. "She's in there!" he shouted, pointing towards the door. "FIRE!"

The five men ran forwards at top speed, the hail of bullets from their guns shaking the room like an earthquake. The fire wavered, yet held, and Azlar grimaced. Time to get out that specialty Orbo Mr. Zaizen gave me…

Ejecting the near-empty round from his gun, the teen yanked out a full one and loaded it into his gun almost faster then the eye could see. Raising the metal barrel, he aimed and fired right at the center of the fire.

The bullet seemed almost to slow, and then it was through, burning a hole in the flames themselves, and spreading outwards. In less then a second, the fire had disappeared and the bullets now soared through the doorway and struck the shadowy form inside.

Azlar grinned malevolently. I have you now, witch!

A sharp scream sounded from the other room and the slim shadow crumpled to the floor; the men fired for several more seconds, then ceased and looked towards the teen.

He stepped forward, chuckling inwardly at his own genius. Pathetic creature! Even a so called 'powerful' witch falls before the Orbo! His booted foot caught Robin's side and flipped her body over; he noted with surprise that her eyelids still fluttered.

A tiny flame appeared on his jacket sleeve and he extinguished it with a snort. The gun in his hand fired loudly in the silence and Robin Sena's eyes slid fully shut, hiding the glittering green depths from view.

Laughing, Azlar shouted for one of the thugs he had hired to bring him the phone. Slender fingers punched in the familiar digits and soon the Factory was on its way to pick up one infamous Robin Sena.

~~~

Groaning, Inari tried to open his eyes, then immediately regretted it as bright sunlight flooded his vision. He flung one skinny arm over his eyes and sat up, head throbbing as he did so. It took the boy a few moments to remember where he was and why he was there, and when he did…

"MOM!!"

He jumped to his feet, ignoring the exploding pain in his head and ran around the house, his mother's scream echoing loud in his ears. No! She can't be!

Feet pounding on the ground, the green-eyed boy barreled around the corner of the house, only to find that the front door had been brutally kicked in. Racing inside, he searched the small rooms of the house and found no one, only charred burn marks around the doorway where she had tried to shield them with her craft.

Collapsing to his knees in the middle of the floor, Inari felt tears slide down his cheeks for the second time that day. She was gone…she was really…gone…

~~~

Sakaki's car screeched to a halt outside the house just as the Factory van pulled away. Slamming his fist down on the steering wheel, he swore loudly and caught an answering curse from Karasuma over the headset. Fuming, he swung open the door and stepped outside, watching as the black vehicle disappeared down the road and Azlar came out of the house, a wide smirk plastered on his face.

"You bastard!" the one-armed hunter shouted, turning to the younger man. "Why the hell did you do that?!"

"She was a witch." His purple eyes danced. "And witches are scum, witches defile the human race. Witches deserve to be hunted."

"That's not true!" Karasuma exclaimed, getting out of her car.

But Azlar just sneered at her. "I think you really have gone senile in your old age, all of you!"

Growling, Sakaki took a menacing step forward, satisfied when Azlar took one back, his bruised cheek twitching. Karasuma moved to stand next to her partner and laid a restraining hand on his arm. "Get out of here, Azlar," she said, voice as chill as a winter's breeze. "Just go home for the rest of the day."

Eying Sakaki warily the entire time, the violet-eyed teen edged around the two other hunters and swung his slender form onto the motorcycle parked outside. "She was a witch!" he said again, and revving up the engine, sped off.

Sighing, Karasuma released Sakaki's arm and steeled herself for the outburst that was sure to come.

"Why the hell did you stop me?!" Sure enough, Sakaki's anger was soon redirected at her.

"Because you can't win everything by physical force."

"Well, it would have helped!" Sakaki shouted in return, his stubbornness not surprising the woman in the least.

"You men are all alike," was the only answer he got before Karasuma's attention was diverted from him. "Look!"

Whirling around, the male hunter caught a flash of orange as a skinny blur disappeared into the recently vacated house. "Do you think…" he asked, and without waiting for an answer, started up the steps.

Miho followed him closely, eager for a glimpse of Michael and Robin's child, if that's who this truly was. Sakaki's steps were slow and quiet on the front steps, and Karasuma found herself doing the same. Quiet sobs reached their ears as they mounted the last step, peering into the house through the open doorway.

A small form was slumped on the floor, tears running down his face. Karasuma gasped loudly when she saw him; he really did look like Michael!

Startled, Inari looked up and found two strange people standing in his front door, watching him with a look of amazement in their eyes. Getting shakily to his feet, he backed away suspiciously and asked, "W-who are you?"

"You're Inari, aren't you?" Sakaki asked in return, stepping into the room.

"Don't come any closer!" the 12-year-old screamed. "How do you know who I am?!" Emerald green eyes flickered rapidly between the two faces and Karasuma found herself almost overwhelmed by pity.

The boy was scrawny, and obviously mistrustful of anyone he didn't know. Though he was small, there was a lean sort of toughness about him that spoke of a hard-lived life and an air of quiet strength that belied his actual age. His eyes glittered behind Michael's old glasses and Karasuma noted that their color was identical to Robin's. Tattered clothes and pair of old sneakers further confirmed her suspicions that this was indeed a child who had lived in poverty and hiding for most, if not all, of his life.

"It's ok," she said soothingly, taking a single step forward and stopping, her hands outstretched in front of her. "We're friends of your mother's. Robin's friends."

Eyes narrowing, Inari took in her face, then turned to Sakaki and stared even harder. "You're the man who almost hit me the other day…" he finally said, voice slow as if coming to a great and astounding revelation.

Sakaki nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that kid. I should have been watching where I was going."

Suddenly, the full revelation broke through on Inari's face. "Wait! I know you!" One long finger jabbed itself in the direction of Sakaki's chest, and the brunette jumped a little in surprise. "You were in my dream too! It said you would be coming here and that you were going to help me!" He paused for a moment, ignoring the looks of utter bewilderment on the adults' faces. "Haruto Sakaki…yeah…That's your name, right?" He turned hopeful eyes upon the one-armed hunter.

Gulping, Sakaki nodded and sank into one of the chairs by the kitchen table. "H-how did you know that, kid?"

"It's kind of hard to explain," Inari replied, all his fear seemingly gone now. "But my dad could do it, too! Sort of like reading minds, I guess, except I don't have to go very deep just to figure out your name."

"Amazing…" Karasuma whispered. "Just like the files said…"

Inari nodded. "Yeah, Solomon's got a file on me and my mom. They had one on my dad too, but it deleted itself and I really couldn't get much from it."

"So you're a hacker, too?" the older woman asked, a smile on her face. They're exactly alike, these two…

"You bet!" Inari exclaimed, taking a seat as she did. "And anyway, Solomon's files aren't that hard to hack into, since my dad took care of his firewalls on them before he…" The boy clamped his mouth shut abruptly and Karasuma nodded sympathetically.

"You are so much like you're dad," Sakaki said. "It's freaking me out."

"That's what my mom said too, before-" This time when he stopped, there was a confused frown on his face. "Actually, I'm not really sure what happened to her." Tears glistened in his eyes once more and caused his voice to shake. "I just want her back. I'm afraid to live alone…"

In that instant, the insecure little boy that Inari Lee really was shone through like a beacon. The other two realized instantly that although he may seem wise beyond his years because of the harsh life of a witch in hiding, underneath all that he was still a scared little boy.

Reaching over with one hand, Karasuma patted his arm. "It's okay, Inari. We're going to help you now."

"Yeah, we'll get your mother back from those rat bastards at Solomon!" Sakaki exclaimed, his eyes shining fiercely.

"So it was Solomon that took her away?" Inari asked, wiping the tears away before they could spill over.

Both hunters nodded. "Without a doubt."

Inari's eyes hardened. "First they killed my father, and now they've taken my mother!"

"They're after you too, Inari, so you're going to have to be careful." Karasuma's voice held a warning tone in it, but the hacker child only rolled his eyes.

"You sound like Nagira," he said, exasperated.

"Nagira…Nagira…" Sakaki muttered. "Now why does that name sound familiar?"

Inari shrugged. "At any rate," Karasuma continued, standing up. "You can't stay here anymore. You're going to have to find somewhere to stay while we figure out a plan to help Robin."

"I know where Nagira's office is, I'll go ask him if I can stay there."

"Good, make sure you take all your things with you and don't let yourself be seen if you can help it!"

"Better yet, I'll drive you over there," Sakaki told him, also getting up.

Eyes gleaming, Inari gave them both a grateful look and disappeared into the other room.

"I just hope we're doing the right thing," the one-armed hunter muttered, glancing over at his partner.

~~~

Meanwhile, miles away, the Factory van was turning into the large, concrete building that gave it its name. After clearing all the security gates, the van parked inside and a team of researchers appeared to unload the precious cargo.

"Mr. Zaizen will be happy about this," one of the masked workers said to the other.

"Yeah, it'll only speed up our Orbo research," one of his co-workers answered.

"Not only that, Mr. Zaizen has special plans for this witch," a third chimed in. "He's starting up the genetic engineering project again, only this time in reverse."

"What do you mean?" the first asked, pausing in his work for a moment.

"He's going to try and implant a gene in witches that will destroy their entire race, Seeds and all."

~~~

Wow, everyone really hates Azlar. I've gotten some pretty extreme reactions to his behavior from you guys; although he can never even hope to live up to the infamous David Rica. *winks* (And if you don't have any clue as to what the hell I am talking about, go read Golden-Sama's Coven Series. NOW! I order you, or in the next chapter I will kill off everyone but Chief Kosaka and have the rest of the story be about him. ^_~)

I guess that's it for now, except for the fact that I am still the target of much anger for killing off both Amon and Michael. T_T YOU STILL HAVE SAKAKI! (Even though he is married…)

~SanoGirl