Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Miracle ❯ Chapter V ( Chapter 5 )

Miracle:

Chapter 5

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With a sigh, Nagira turned away as the door shut behind his younger half-brother. Rubbing his eyes blearily, he hauled himself up off the floor and onto the couch, a distance of a few feet stretched into a few miles by his hangover. Groaning, he finally sank into the soft, welcoming cushions and threw one arm over his eyes to block out the irritating light coming from the lamp.

He knew his drinking habits were out of control; he would just never admit it to that smug bastard Amon. It used to be that he would go out drinking, sometimes alone, sometimes with a friend, but he would only come home drunk occasionally; once every few weeks maybe. But as of late, things at work had been piling up and so had Nagira's debts. With the increased amounts of stress in his life he had been driven to drink…and drink heavily.

So heavily, in fact, that this was the fourth night in a row this week he had woken up with a hangover and no memory of the night before. It was getting to be almost routine by now.

Cursing a blistering oath as the phone's shrill ring jarred his aching head, Nagira staggered to his feet, wobbled across the room, and grabbed the offending appliance off of its cradle. "What?!"

His irritable half-shout reached Hana's ears and she gave an exasperated sigh in return. "Mr. Nagira-"

"Yeah, yeah, I already know," he mumbled, cutting her off before she could get started on one of her tirades. "I'll be into work tomorrow…I've got one hell of a hangover."

The blonde secretary made a rude disapproving noise in the back of her throat. "Very well, Mr. Nagira. I'll be scheduling your appointments back-to-back so be prepared to actually work tomorrow." With that ominous statement, she hung up the phone.

Cursing some more under his breath, Nagira replaced the phone on its hook and stumbled back over to his couch. He fell onto it once more, and assumed his earlier position. "I've got to get a new secretary…"

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With a yawn, Doujima rose from the desk and slipped into her jacket. "I'm leaving now," she announced to no one in particular.

"You come in late and leave early," Sakaki grumbled, throwing down the pile of reports he had been going through. "Dammit why are you so special?!"

"We only have to stay another hour so stop whining," Karasuma answered, sparing the slightly younger boy an exasperated glance.

"At least you get to go home…" Michael answered quietly, almost as if to himself.

But before the awkward silence could become too unbearable, Amon strode into the room, the slanting rays of golden sunlight lengthening his shadow on the floor. The setting sun outside burned a fiery red-gold that painted the sky and clouds around it with colors that seemed too vivid to be real, almost alive. This air of surrealism seemed to stick to Amon, surround him with an ethereal glow that had the others almost in awe of the sharp contrast light and dark he provided.

Ignoring his co-workers, the dark hunter crossed the room purposefully, his face blank as always, but with an air of set determination in his manner. Turning to the others, Michael raised an eyebrow, but before he could say or do anything more, Doujima blurted out, "Where's Robin?!"

Not even turning around from the file cabinet he was digging through, Amon answered using as few words as possible. "At home."

"And…" Michael prodded, voice sounding strained. "Is she going to be ok?"

The silence stretched on as the STN-J members waited with baited breath, their muscles tense and their eyes locked on the tall, dark figure across the work room. His hands paused only momentarily, suspended in time above the rows of folders and papers, before continuing their work as if nothing had happened.

"She tested negative for STDs…"

An audible sigh of relief left both Michael and Doujima's mouth, and Sakaki and Karasuma leaned back in their chairs, released from the half-spell that had been holding them.

"…But she's pregnant."

Silence once more enveloped the room as several pairs of eyes widened and one or two mouths dropped open. Amon couldn't be serious…could he? His tone of voice hadn't even changed. This wasn't real, it had to be a joke, a prank, some sort of scheme cooked up by the doctors and medical personnel.

But even as these crazy thoughts flew through their heads, the STN-J crew knew that if the words had left Amon's mouth, they had to be true. The dark hunter was not a person to make jokes; none of them had ever even seen him smile for that matter. He would not tell them something that was not true, at least not about an issue this important to them.

Slamming the file cabinet drawer shut with a frustrated growl, Amon spun on his heel and, ignoring the four looks of shock he was receiving, seated himself in front of one of the many computers.

"Robin's only fifteen…" Doujima whispered faintly, hands lying limply in her lap. What had seemed to strike so close to the blonde girl's heart was that Robin was young-only two years younger then herself. And if someone could have a baby at fifteen, then certainly at seventeen she could have one, too.

The clicking of keys filled the short silence after that, a silence broken my Michael's quiet question. "Are you sure?"

With an irritated grunt, Amon nodded. "I took her to a licensed doctor so I'm sure of it."

"Did you inform the police?" Karasuma asked, worry tinting her voice. Despite the annoyance she usually showed in the presence of the younger hunter, she really did care for her, almost like a younger sister.

"No, why bother?" The dark hunter sounded aggravated by their questioning of him, but Michael had to press on.

"He's right," the young hacker put in. "We've already searched the place and since Witch Hunting and the use of the Craft are our expertise, why should the police find anything we didn't. And no, that's not an assumption!" he exclaimed, seeing the looks of doubt on all faces except Amon's. "Think about it. If a normal human went after Robin, she could obviously use her Craft to defend herself and get away."

"That's right…" Karasuma said slowly, the tone of her voice indicating that she was catching on. "There were char marks everywhere, so she obviously tried to use her Craft, but since she still got raped in the process, it clearly didn't help her."

"Exactly! Which means, we have to be dealing with a Witch, or, at the very least, another Craft User."

"A powerful Craft User!" Sakaki cried. "Robin doesn't take shit from anyone and her Craft isn't too shabby! That person had to be pretty powerful to be able to beat her down."

Only Doujima caught the tiny smile that stole across Karasuma's face as she glanced at Sakaki. Only the blonde haired girl caught the gleam in her eye, the gleam of amusement, and just maybe…something a little more. The other female hunter soon found herself having to hide her own smile behind one slender hand; she would have to wait until a little later to play matchmaker-right now, Robin was of the utmost importance.

"I wonder what kind of Craft it was…" Michael mused, resting his chin on his hand. His ocean blue eyes stared off into space for a moment, before turning back to Amon. "This doctor…"

Throughout the entire conversation between the other STN-J members, the dark hunter had been typing and poring over what seemed to be pages and pages of data. Endless streams of numbers and letters and pictures flashed by on the screen before his eyes, but he didn't seem to be satisfied with any of them. With one last click of the mouse, the screen went blank.

Standing up, Amon finally acknowledged Michael. "What about him?"

"Well, did he…did he get a semen sample or anything of the sort? It could be useful information to have, after all." His hesitancy and the blossoming of pink on his cheeks reminded the other people in the room that, though he may seem to be mature beyond his years, Michael was still barely sixteen and a child in the eyes of most.

Turning to go, the other man answered, "No, he-" Eyes suddenly flying wide open, Amon stopped dead in his tracks.

A little wary now, his co-workers caught their breath once again. Amon never got startled or surprised by anything, or, if he did, he never showed it to them. Truthfully, he never showed them much of any emotion, so that in itself was another surprise.

"What? What?!" Excitement and urgency now overrode the embarrassment in the hacker's voice, and he leaned forward expectantly.

"He didn't…" Whirling back around, Amon gained back his composure, and when he spoke again, the usual cool, crisp snap was back in his voice. "Michael, I want you to do a search for me on Nakano. Doctor Umeda Nakano."

"Gotcha!" came the reply.

"Check through Solomon's database, I've heard his name somewhere before and I think he has a tie to Solomon."

"To Solomon?!" Karasuma asked incredulously. "How could they possibly be involved in any of this?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm having Michael look. I want the information by tomorrow morning," he continued, addressing the younger boy once again. "Have to ready to present in the meeting room and upload it to each computer there."

"A meeting?" Doujima inquired, her voice puzzled.

"Yeah, which means you're actually going to have to be here on time, for once," Sakaki answered sarcastically.

"Something's not right with that name," Amon said flatly. "Something's not right."

"And anyways, we owe it to Robin to at least try and find out who raped her," Michael added, the clicking of keys underlying his voice.

Nodding, Karasuma answered, "We'll do what we can."

"Good. Tomorrow I will be bringing Robin back." And with those as his parting words, the leader of the STN-J Witch Hunting team spun around on one booted heel and left the building.

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