Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Silk Gloves ❯ The Morning After ( Chapter 2 )

Still not mine. Damn.

 

She woke up more refreshed than she would have thought possible. It had been a long time since her last hangover, and she'd had less to drink the last time. Thus, it was strange when she turned over and her stomach did not perform a flip flop. What was she lying on, anyhow? Her bed seemed to have turned in to a rather uncomfortable couch …

Realization and memory washed over her as soon as she moved against the blanket that was wrapped around her. The bar, the gin, the car, the stairs ... , `oh, good lord, Sakaki,' ... she thought to herself, eyes snapping open. A slightly drab living room greeted her; white walls, beige carpet. A sliding door, leading to what she presumed was a porch, grudgingly allowed sunlight to stream in through creamy white curtains. The room was sparsely furnished; apart from the couch she lay on, there was a TV, sitting in a small entertainment center, and a coffee table. That seemed to be it, but she did not wish to rise and see if there was more. Right now, she was too busy trying to formulate an apology to Sakaki for being so much trouble, a thank you to Master for his help, and, most importantly, an excuse for coming to work in the same car as her partner.

`Wow, Miho, you are fucked,' she thought, as her mind refused to provide any assistance in thinking. Throwing the blanket to the side, she rocked herself to a sitting position, experiencing only minor dizziness for her trouble. It was strange, she didn't think she'd ever been drunker than last night, and yet the repercussions for it were hardly showing. What time was it? Perhaps she had simply been sleeping for much longer than she had originally thought. Twisting, she located her coat and rummaged for her phone. Ten twenty-seven; (I was taught to always write out the numbers at the beginning of a sentence) she had been asleep for about nine hours. Was that long enough to get over a hangover like the one she'd been nursing? She wasn't sure.

Lost for what to do, she carefully sat back; making sure the comforter was behind her as she did, and examined her surroundings from a distance. There was not much to examine; it was an atypical bachelor pad. There were no empty cups, nor plates, lying around, and it was relatively clean. No posters of half-naked women (though why she thought those would be in the living room she had no idea), no trophies nor trifles. The only sign of any habit or hobby was a small game console of some sort. She smiled to herself; Sakaki had always struck her as the gaming sort, she was glad to know she had been right. It looked dusty though, as if it had not been touched in months.

In a strange way, the lack of furnishings comforted her; it reminded her a bit of her own apartment. Before she could go any further on that line of thinking, a door creaked behind her, and the sound of bare feet made it to her ears. She sat up and turned, to find Sakaki emerging from a steam-filled room in nothing but a towel.

She very nearly fainted. As it was, it took all of her control not to dive behind the couch in embarrassment. Instead, she held his slightly surprised gaze, not allowing her eyes to slip anywhere below his face, though the baser parts of her mind were more curious than she would have liked them to be.

“You're up,” he said, calmly. “You were sleeping like the dead when I went in.”

She blinked. Somehow, it seemed a lot more … casual ... than she had expected. She didn't mind the lack of drama at all, though, and replied in kind. “I wake up fast. Besides, I've been awake for,” she glanced into the kitchen, “about ten minutes.”

He shrugged, the movement of the white towel against the dark background trying to draw her eyes. She staunchly refused to let them stray. “I take long showers,” he said, “I guess it's not a surprise.” With that, the conversation apparently over, he disappeared into his room.

Miho collapsed against the couch again, feeling a bit like a puppet with its strings cut. That had been almost surreally natural. Aside from the trials of keeping her eyes trained on his face, there had been very little drama. Shouldn't she be feeling uncomfortable right about now? Shouldn't they be dancing around each other, barely daring to make eye contact?

Well, they were the exception to a number of rules; her, in particular. What was one more? And so she let her head return to its resting place on the back of the couch and sighed contentedly. As far as she was concerned, the less drama, the better. She didn't need it.

~^~

A moment later, Sakaki emerged from his room, dressed in his normal work clothes and eyeing her on the couch. Her head was leaned back, eyes closed and breathing lightly. She looked a hell of a lot better then she had last night; that was for sure. If he didn't know better, he'd say that her one-night stand with the gin and tonic had done her good. She looked more rested then he'd seen her in a while. He gazed a moment, looking for the right word in his mind. Serene. Yes, that was it. She looked serene.

“You up for breakfast?” he asked, shaking himself from his reverie and walking to the kitchen.

She smiled, eyes still closed. “Thanks, no. I'll just get some ice water.” She frowned slightly. “I'm afraid I don't quite have enough trust in my stomach for actual food right now.”

Sakaki shrugged, grabbing a glass, filling it to the brim with ice, then water from the tap. He then sat a little apart from her on the couch, holding out the glass. Miho opened her eyes, looking surprised at first, her face soon fading to gratitude. “Thank you,” she said, taking the glass with a gloved hand. She sipped for a moment, legs tucked elegantly under her on the couch cushion.

As he sat there, a question bubbled to his lips before he could stop it. “How do you drink from the glass without scrying it?”

The ice clinked as she righted the glass and glanced at him. Her face read only mild curiosity, as if no one had ever asked her that. He didn't see how people could miss it, obviously one's lips had to touch the glass to drink, right? As strange as it sounded, he was fairly sure she could scry through virtually any part of her, including her lips, and it left him curious as to how she managed it. He knew for certain she hadn't scryed it on the sly, she had a very particular body language for that. Tense, almost as if disgusted, even before she saw the vision. No, she was far too relaxed, looking off into space and smiling absently.

“It's why I always have ice in my drink. When I was training, I learned to drink using the ice.” She took another sip, and, in profile, he noticed that she did indeed manage to drink without touching the glass, the ice touching her teeth and leading the liquid to her lips. “It made things a lot easier, since water doesn't retain emotion as well as solids.”

“Really? That's a little strange.”

She shrugged, turning more fully to focus on him. “Not really. From a chemical standpoint, water is an odd ball. Hydrogen bonding, high specific heat, expands when cooled, it's just weird.” Sakaki smirked at the sound of her using the word `weird.' The adolescent nature of it seemed foreign coming from her. She continued talking though, words coming smoothly and naturally, as if she had thought about this quite a bit. “From a religious standpoint, water is usually a purifier, a sanctifier. They use it in baptisms and Wiccan rites. It only makes sense.” She grinned. “Sorry. It was one of the things I researched when I was in training; why water seemed to resist scrying.”

It was his turn to shrug. “I don't mind. Not like I've got anything better to do.” He smiled to indicate he was joking.

She rolled her eyes covertly, but said nothing. After a moment, he rose and went to the kitchen, pulling open a cupboard and grabbing an unidentifiable dish. “If you want to take a shower, the water heater for the building is pretty good, and there are some fresh towels …” he slowed his speech, frowning as he set the dish on the counter. Then he turned. “That was rather stupid of me, wasn't it?”

She shrugged. “Only slightly. You're just trying to be a good host.”

“Is it working?”

She smiled. “Better than just about anyone I've met. Then again, not many people have tried.”

He appeared relieved, and returned to preparing his breakfast. She rose unsteadily, knees threatening to re-fold and dump her ungracefully back to the couch, but she did, eventually, make it up. He glanced over, a raised eyebrow enough to answer his unspoken question. “I do think that rinsing my face would be good,” she said, beginning the wobble to the bathroom.

Sakaki watched in veiled amusement as she hobbled slowly to the bathroom door, at first wondering how she knew where it was. He then remembered how he had found out she was awake, and blushed. Now that she was gone, he could properly think about it. He still couldn't believe he'd just forgotten that she was there. Forty minutes shouldn't have been long enough to just forget. But, he had, and he'd walked out of that bathroom to find his partner, not only awake, but staring at him in his towel.

He'd very nearly fainted. As soon he'd forced his vocal chords to engage though, the situation had taken on a very … natural feel. Well, he had known her for a year; it wasn't as if they were strangers. Still, it was strange to have the professional relationship suddenly morph into something almost friendly. What was odder was how easy it had seemed.

He realized that his hands had stilled above his plate, and forced them to movement again. Thinking about this was, more than likely, not good for his mental constitution.

~^~

The water pouring into the sink was warm and inviting. Truth be told, she would have much rather taken a shower but, while she felt much better, she still wasn't sure. Right now, she was eyeing the soap with something akin to hunger. Lather would make her day so much better; it would almost be worth it. Besides, it was just hand soap; she probably wouldn't get much from it even if she did somehow scry it.

Catiously, she lay her gloves aside and reached out a finger to touch the fairly new bar. It was dry, for the most part, but the condensation from Sakaki's shower had settled on the top, making it slick. She paused for a breath…a heartbeat…nothing came. She grinned. `Amazing what a little stress-relief and sleep will do for a person,' she thought as she took the soap in her hands and began to lather.

~^~

She was still in the bathroom when the phone rang. Sakaki glanced around in confusion for a moment before abandoning the kitchen, reaching out and grabbing the phone on the coffee table. Without thinking, he flipped it open and answered.

“Hello?”

There was a pause, and Sakaki suddenly had a very, very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Then Michael's disembodied voice came through, incredulous and disbelieving.

“Miss Karasuma?”

He could feel the blood draining from his face as he realized that this wasn't his phone; it was Miho's. `Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…' his mind repeated the word like a mantra for a moment before recovering and scrambling for an excuse.

“Er …no, it's Sakaki … Karasuma left her phone at Harry's and I took it.” He was just starting to be very proud of his covering skills when Michael sighed.

“All right,” he said, and the sound of tapping keys could be heard, “I guess I'll just have to use her ground line.”

“No!” The mantra returned, `fuck, fuck, now what?' He gritted his teeth, drawing on reserves of cunning he hadn't even known he possessed. “Er, she called earlier, wondering if I'd seen it, and said that she was going to go grocery shopping.”

“Well, she should be back soon,” Michael said, refusing to drop the subject. Why did he always have to be so damned logical? “And I really do need to talk to her.”

“I guess…” Sakaki replied.

“Hm, she has an answering machine. That'll have to do `till then.”

“Erm, sure…”

“Oh, and while I've got you on the line, Kosaka says he wants to have a meeting after lunch today, so come in around two o'clock, ok?”

“Got it.” He said, “See you then.”

“See ya.” The hacker said nonchalantly, and hung up. Sakaki collapsed onto the couch, groaning. That had been very, very, uncomfortable. He was only glad that he'd been able to come up with a decent cover story.

“That was some job.” A voice said from behind him.

“Tell me about it,” he said, one hand going over his eyes as if he could pretend it hadn't happened if he couldn't see the phone any more. “I feel like an idiot.”

He heard her move in to the kitchen and fill another glass with ice and water. “Don't worry about it. It's probably better this way; he would have gotten worried if I just hadn't answered.” She paused, and he could hear a hint of a smile enter her voice. “I think, since Doujima left for Venice, he's gotten a little protective of us.”

“Well, we're the only ones he knows well,” he said and continued softly; “the only ones left.”

She sat down next to him, and he opened his eyes, sitting up to look at her. Something was different, besides the gleeful little smile and no-longer-dead eyes. “You're not wearing your gloves,” he observed, very surprised.

She nodded, hardly able to contain a smile. “I guess letting it out last night helped me get my craft back under control. I'm still being careful, but I was able to use the soap, and a towel, too.”

“That's good news.”

She looked down, face suddenly coloring. “Look, Sakaki, about last night …”

Sakaki smiled and shook his head. She had switched back to his last name, after using his first for most of the night. It was a sure indicator that she was better. “Don't worry about it.” He said, voice softening. “Do I look in the least bit disgruntled?”

She peered at him for a moment, and secretly, she could have sworn he looked happier than usual. Slowly, his smile spread to her and she shook her head. “It doesn't mean I don't have to thank you. After all, you came all that way just to get me …”

“Master sounded fairly worried. And you have thanked me.”

She cocked her head, cradling the glass in her hands. “I did?”

“Yeah, right before I went to bed.” He chuckled at the confused look on her face. “You don't remember?”

She shook her head mutely, looking more embarrassed than he'd ever seen her. He couldn't help it; she just looked so adorable wearing that look, face slightly pink and hair a little damp; he laughed.

This normally would have been the time when she gave him a motherly-type disapproving glare; instead she smiled, and then began to snigger right along with him. “In that case,” she said, “I guess I can just forget about it … so to speak.” They both broke out into fresh giggles, until Karasuma calmed down enough to ask, “So, what ever did you tell Michael?”

“Fuck!” Sakaki cried, all laughter ceasing. Karasuma looked taken aback with the suddenness and ferocity of his reaction to what had seemed like a perfectly harmless question. He shot up, looking somewhat panicked. “Damn it, sorry, it's not you, it's just, I told him you'd left the phone at Harry's and I'd picked it up. Then he said he'd try your ground line and I told him you were grocery shopping, and that you'd be back in a few minutes.” He smacked his head. “Wow, I'm a fuck-up … created a perfect cover and almost blew it!”

Karasuma was up and in her shoes before he knew she'd stood. “Well, come on,” she said. “You don't have your bike, so we've got to get to my house before he gets too curious.”

~^~

He didn't think he'd ever gotten out of the place on shorter notice, which should have tipped him off. Of course, all he needed to do was put shoes on and grab his helmet. Karasuma grabbed her phone, gloves and coat, and was standing outside the door, waiting for him before he knew it. He locked the door and they started down the stairs; they were all the way down before he figured out what he was missing.

“Damn it!” He said, patting down his jacket.

Karasuma turned to face him with questioning eyes. “I've got the keys,” she said, apparently thinking that was the cause of his distress.

“No,” he said, frowning. “I forgot my phone; it's in my room.” He rubbed a temple. “Genius.”

Karasuma smiled, shaking her head. “Go get the phone; I'll bring the car around.” Her grin became decidedly wicked. “It wouldn't look good if you remembered my phone, but forgot yours.”

Grinning in spite of himself, Sakaki pointed. “Car's in the second row of the lot to your left; I'll be right back.”

She nodded her understanding and he sprinted up the stairs.

~^~

She had to be careful, when getting in to her car, but she somehow managed it without scrying it. She wasn't sure she wanted to know exactly what Sakaki had been thinking as he'd driven her to his place, and was nearly positive that he didn't want her to know. Sitting back, she experimentally made contact with the back of the seat, and then laid her bare hands on the steering wheel. She breathed, still nothing. Happy with herself, she turned the keys and grabbed the shift to back out.

Her mood abruptly dropped. She knew she'd overreached the bounds of her control as soon as she touched it. It was almost like an electric shock as her mind raced to connect with the emotions that hovered on the shift; Sakaki may not have been touching it with his bare hands, but he had still touched it with the force of his mind.

`Asleep, surprise, coming to my apartment, what the hell will the others think? Michael, new girl like Robin…Fuck. That was a rousing failure, way to make her feel better.'

She let out her breath all at once. Who the hell was this man and what had he done with Sakaki? Though she didn't specifically remember going to bed the night before, she did remember the feelings on the blanket; worry and care, all for her. And here there was even more evidence of it. She had never known that he was so … sensitive to her. He seemed to have been trying to restrain his thoughts, they were scattered and guarded, save for the last sentence. What was that supposed to mean, `way to make her feel better?' Had he actually been trying to shut off his emotions, just so she wouldn't have to deal with them later?

Smiling sadly, she pulled on her gloves with remorse. He didn't have to know he'd pretty much failed; that she still needed the barrier of silk between her and the world. In a way, it was giving him a barrier too; of ignorance.

She put the car in gear, and backed out.

~^~

When he got in to the car he frowned, and she knew that he'd noticed.

“Your gloves.” He said after a moment of silence.

“Yes.” She said, pulling out in to traffic. “I - ,” she paused; she could tell him it was just precaution, but it felt strangely wrong to do that. He had just gone through a hell of a night because of her, was it fair to lie to him now? “I guess I just introduced too many new things,” she said, voice so soft that he had to concentrate to hear her. “One or two were fine, but not scrying the stick was apparently too much.” She wanted to duck her head to hide her sorrow at admitting her lack of control; but she was driving. “I guess it was too good to be true.”

Sakaki shrugged. “Your power is growing, obviously. It'll probably take a while to get used to.”

She glanced over. Yet again, he was showing more perception than she'd known he'd had. And he wasn't asking questions about her lack of control; wasn't trying to twist it to mean that she'd gone insane, wasn't even giving her odd looks. “Thank you.” She said finally, “I never thought of it like that.”

He shrugged, a non committal grunt her only answer. A semi-comfortable silence reigned for a few moments as Sakaki wrestled with the growing question in his mind. Finally, he voiced it. “What did you see?” he asked quietly, “On the shift, I mean.”

She thought about what she had seen on the shift for a moment, and a small smile made its way across her lips. “Not much. Something about Michael, a bit about being asleep,” she smirked, “and one very clear explicative.”

He looked surprised; as he'd thought that she'd see more. “Oh.” He said, and then, apparently trying to mask his surprise, he smiled. “I must be a little more empty-headed than I thought.”

`So he doesn't want me to know that he tried?' she thought, with a measure of shock. `Why not?' The joke wasn't lost on her, though, and she grinned. “Possibly.” But she said nothing else, still smiling enigmatically.

~^~

As she stepped inside her apartment, she felt weight that she hadn't known she was carrying slide off of her shoulders. It felt so good to be surrounded by her own things, her own thoughts. So good, in fact, that she almost forgot that Sakaki was standing in the door way.

“Oh, sorry, come in.” she said, and showed him to the kitchen, pulling out a chair. “I shouldn't be too long, provided Michael doesn't want anything lengthy.” She frowned to herself for a moment. She knew very well how to treat guests; but with her craft like this, it would be imprudent to tell him to sit on the couch and read a magazine while she showered and got her affairs in order.

Sakaki apparently sensed her indecision and crossed his arms. “I'll be fine. You need to call Michael, it's been at least half an hour since he called you.”

She started, and then nodded. “Right. Glasses in the first cupboard to the right and you're welcome to anything in the refrigerator,” she said, and turned to her room.

Sakaki shook his head at her retreating back, steadying his legs on the stool's cross supports. “I ate breakfast, remember?” he said, to no one in particular. Smiling, he settled himself for a bit of a wait.

~^~

Auntie_mom did the Betaing again. Brave woman.