Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Miracle ❯ Chapter VIII ( Chapter 8 )

Contrary to public opinion, I'm not dead! Nor have I been abducted by aliens, or swallowed by my schoolwork. . Thank you all SO much for your patience. I know it's been a while…

I wanted to mention how grateful I am to everyone for not reviewing this story just to say, "Update soon!" As an author, that is one of the worst things to have to put up with; it's just a lot of unnecessary pressure. And so, to thank you all, I've finally revealed who our "mystery man/rapist/guinea pig" is.

So without further ado, here's Chapter 8!

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Miracle:

Chapter 8

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Stealing silently on cat-like feet, Nagira glanced furtively around the office before slipping out the door. He hadn't been noticed by Hana.

Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, the overburdened law office owner strolled away slowly, breathing in a deep lungful of air; a welcome relief after the stuffy office room. He knew once Hana found out that there'd be hell to pay, but it was well worth it for an afternoon of peace and relaxation.

Or rather, it would have been worth it…if he had gotten his peace and quiet. Immediately remembering Amon's strange request the moment he reached the pachinko, Nagira sighed again, this time heavily. He had promised to look into the matter, and while duty to his younger half-brother was not high on his list of priorities, guilt stabbed him through the stomach with an iron lance at the thought of the poor mother and child.

How terrible, raped and left to deal with a baby guaranteed to have powers such as her own…horrible.

Resolve firming, the tall man stepped into the pachinko and scanned the nearly deserted place for his usual intelligence sources. He would end up trying every one of the usual spots until he found a home for the baby, and by then he was exhausted and already dreading the angry messages he knew would be waiting on his answering machine when he got home.

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"Any problems at all today, Dr. Nakano?" Zaizen sat in his customary place behind the cold, metal desk and watched the young doctor closely from behind clasped fingers.

"Well, there seems to be one slight difficulty…"

Face switching from cool and collected to absolutely livid in less then a second, the head of the STN-J leaned forward, teeth gritting. "A…difficulty, you say? Do tell, Dr. Nakano."

Utterly unfazed, even in the face of such anger and power, the copper haired man gathered his thoughts, and mentally steeled himself for the storm brewing on the horizon. "Our test subject seems to be regaining at least a little of his memory, or so it would appear. Today, my spies reported him to have been seen contacting nearly everyone of his business associates, looking for a home for an infant witch, not even born yet."

"What?" The older man's voice was calm, but with an underlying tone of steel.

"Our test subject, Mr. Nagira if you will, runs a witch relocation service. He was seen today with informants, searching out a home willing to accept an infant."

"Impossible!" The raised voice accompanied by the unexpected slam of a hand on the desk made Dr. Nakano flinch slightly. "You said the drug was perfect!"

"And at the time, I thought it was so. Currently, my agents are delving into an even deeper investigation, trying to see what other connections he had, and if it's possible he could have found out about the rape and the baby from another source."

Finally sitting back in his chair, Zaizen appeared to relax a little, but not much. Pulling out one of his foul-smelling cigars, he stared at it a long time before lighting and turning back to the other man. "If Nagira recovers his memory, even the slightest bit, you are to kill him. Do I make myself clear? If any information about this whatsoever leaks out, we're done for, and you as well."

Nodding, his face tight-lipped and drawn, Dr. Nakano excused himself, glad to be out of the presence of his boss. Those cigars were so foul. By now, the employees the worked under and above Nakano were used to Zaizen's temper and behavior. Most had witnessed such outbursts personally. So no longer did the young man worry about the old man's temper, he worried more about the stench of his rotten cigars.

Pushing such frivolous thoughts out of his mind, the young doctor entered the temporary information center that had been set up in one of the underground labs. The brown-eyed man knew took a few deep breathes and sat himself down in front of one of the many computer screens in the room. He may not have worried about Zaizen's temper tantrums, but he did worry about his job, so he wanted to get straight to work. It was going to be a long night.

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"Good work today, Sakaki," Karasuma said to her co-worker as she left work for the day.

"You too Miss Karasuma, do you need a ride home?"

As the other members of the STN-J drifted off towards their homes at the end of a long workday, Robin stood up from her seat beside Michael and stretched a little, muscles sore from having sat so long.

She had been back at work for three days now, and yet she had done nothing but paperwork. Amon had all but disappeared, leaving Karasuma and Sakaki as the only full team left. Doujima, as per usual, had not shown her face much. Sakaki claimed to have seen her sitting in Harry's drinking tea while he passed by on a hunt.

Michael glanced up, taking out his headphones. "You going home?"

Robin nodded, her motions slow as she gathered her coat. She did not want to go home…not after what had happened last time. It was evening once again and though she tried not to show it, the young girl was terrified of leaving the safety of the STN-J building. Scenes of her rape flashed before her eyes whenever the thought of going home by herself even entered her head.

"I'll take you home, Robin," Sakaki called out, after confirming that his partner did not need a ride. "I need to stop by the store anyway to pick up something to eat."

A wave of crushing relief washed through the blonde haired girl, as the older boy said goodbye to Michael and headed for the elevator. Following quickly, Robin called her goodbye over one shoulder and slipped into her borrowed coat.

A wry smile stole over the other hunter's face as the elevator descended. "Doujima's," he asked, more of a statement then a question.

Smiling back, Robin nodded and thanked Sakaki for his offer of a ride home. Shoving locks of messy brown hair out of his eyes, the rookie shook his head. "Anytime. If you ever need a ride home, don't hesitate to ask."

It had taken Sakaki a while to warm up as the others did; the young rookie hunter hadn't seemed to know how to react to all of this. Because he was male, and because he didn't share the same bond with Robin as Michael or Amon did, he had been a little confused at first, not sure of how to treat Robin.

But now, after a few days, he had relaxed quite a bit and seemed to be back to his normal self…other then the fact that he treated Robin a little more gently now then usual, as if she would shatter like glass at the slightest incident.

They exited the elevator, Robin still shrinking away from Sakaki's slender body as she brushed by him; it was pure instinct by now, she did not even have to think about it anymore. It was just the way things were.

As with Amon, this avoidance of contact did not escape Sakaki's radar. But, in an uncharacteristic show of prudence, he too decided to keep his mouth shut. It was not his job to judge Robin and bring up painful things. It was his job to help her get through this. He didn't need something else to recreate the awkward situation from earlier this week.

Handing Robin his helmet, Sakaki mounted his bike and waited for Robin to do the same behind him. He pretended not to notice as she stood there for about a minute or so, unsure if she wanted to get this close to him. But after a while, he turned and looked her right in the eyes, watching as her own fell to the pavement beneath their feet.

"Robin…" he said quietly, watching as she slowly moved towards him, eventually sitting on the motorcycle and gingerly holding onto him for balance.

"Thank you Sakaki," she said once again.

The young rookie only nodded his head before gunning the engine and making his way out into the rapidly falling dusk.

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Stealing stealthily through the night, the black cloaked figure slipped in and out of shadows, his grace mimicking that of a cat's. His destination was a lone, darkened doorway, which he opened with practiced ease.

A few yards away, another dark figure watched him with goggles that gleamed in the faint light coming from a lone streetlight. He made a mental note to himself, then turned and slunk away into the darkness, heading towards the outskirts of the city.

Ascending the steps as quietly as he had come to the building, Amon finally reached his destination and unlocked the door. Opening it without hesitation or waiting for an answer, he entered the dim room and glanced around.

The light on the phone was blinking, meaning there was at least one message waiting for his older brother. And by the look of things, meaning the absence of light and warmth, it seemed as if he wasn't home yet.

Heaving an irritated sigh, Amon flicked on a few lights, then sat himself down on Nagira's couch and waited impatiently for his older half-brother to get back.

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Yawning so widely his ears popped, Nagira tiredly opened the door to his apartment, the fact that it was unlocked not even registering in his fuzzy mind. Something had been nagging at him ever since he had started this search. A little tugging at the back of his mind accompanied by a nauseating feeling in the pit of his stomach had started early on and steadily grown worse by the hour. All he wanted now was a stiff drink and then bed; he'd worry about work and Hana tomorrow.

Bright light greeted his dilated pupils as the door swung open and he blinked in pain, throwing a hand up in front of his face.

"You're back," a flat voice greeted him.

Chuckling dryly, Nagira shut the door behind him and let his hand fall, blinking rapidly as his eyes fought to adjust from the darkness outside. "I should have known it would be you…" Walking over to a little table by the couch he grabbed a large glass bottle and poured himself a drink. "You always seem to appear when I'm feeling like shit."

Wrinkling his forehead a little in disgust, Amon stood up and moved away, his eyes wandering aimlessly around the tiny room. "Have you found a home yet?"

Several loud gulps echoed in the room before Nagira answered, his voice sounding thick and pained. "Damn…that only made it worse…" Groaning he let himself fall back onto the couch before answering the younger man's question. "Yeah, several possibilities in fact. I'll get some more info on them later and get it to you."

"Good," Amon replied, watching impassively as his brother rubbed at his temples and took deep breaths in an attempt to stave off the rising wave of nausea. "I told you that you were going to kill yourself someday with that stuff."

"No," Nagira answered, voice more heavily layered with pain now. "I just…" Eyes flying wide open, he staggered to his feet and practically ran from the room, the sound of retching and a flushing toilet floating out to meet Amon's ears a few moments later.

Remaining where he was, with the same blank expression on his face, Amon waited for the drunkard to reappear.

When he did not, Amon grunted in exasperation and went back into the small bathroom, finding the older man curled on his side on the floor, clutching his stomach.

"God…" he managed to gasp, before the world went dark.

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Wow…it's been months, hasn't it? Thank you so, so much to those of you who have stuck with this story and haven't given up on it. I told you I would finish it, didn't I?

Other then that, my only excuse is…I've been busy! And yes I know it's lame! And yes I know I use that excuse all the time! And yes I know its effectiveness is wearing off! But, it's the truth, sad as it may be. I'm really going to try a lot harder now to keep up with this and possibly even update my other fics! (Which are worse off then this one, believe it or not…)

My only other note is that I would love your feedback on the position of Nagira as Robin's rapist. I mean, he raped his younger brother's soon-to-be gf/lover! Technically, in a hypothetical situation, if Amon married Robin, the kid would be his nephew! I've got a couple more twists ready to be worked in later on in the story, if this wasn't exactly what you were hoping for…

Again, thank you so much!

-SanoGirl