Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Silk Gloves ❯ Just Hunters ( Chapter 3 )

See the lack of ownership.

I may 0\/\/|\|z3|2 a l33+ computer (or not.), but no WHR for me.

~^~

As she closed the door to her room, she rested her head on the door frame. She hadn't spent a night asleep outside her own room in ages; and now that she was out of sight of her guest, she could let it show. Breathing evenly, she tried to make her heart let go of all of the confusion she'd experienced in the past day. Not only was her power being strange, but her partner was too. Or perhaps he'd been like this for awhile, and she just hadn't noticed. She rather suspected that he had, and she hadn't. What kept her from seeing it? It wasn't as if she thought he could remain the rookie forever, doomed to be accident prone and somewhat incompetent.

Truth be told, he hadn't messed up anything in at least two months. The small epiphany not an unwelcome one, but only served to highlight how blind she'd been. She could know who had last stepped into a store with just a touch of a finger; but she couldn't see the changes in the partner right under her nose. How pathetic.

Mouth pressed into a small line, she pushed herself away from the frame. Time to work; she still had to call Michael. The light on her answering machine blinked and, knowing it was Michael, she pressed the `play' button.

“Miss Karasuma?” Michael's voice played into her room. “Sakaki said you'd gone grocery shopping, but I thought I'd call anyhow. The chief wants to have a meeting about our hunts recently. He says to come in around two o'clock.” There was the quick sound of tapping keys and his disembodied voice continued, “He says he needs those files that you borrowed a week ago, and to bring them in when you come.” There was a pause, as if he were debating something. “Look, when you get this, call me, so I know I don't have to worry about it.” he said finally, adding a quick, “See you at two,” before hanging up.

Karasuma smiled as she erased the message. She had heard the other ending to that sentence, `call me, so I know I don't have to worry about you.' Sakaki was right; Michael was very protective of those he had left. After losing what structure his life had previously had, it wasn't surprising. She suspected that the loss of Robin, especially, had hurt him deeply; she had probably been his first real crush. `Hell of a way for that crush to end,' she thought tiredly, `no closure, no answers, nothing.'

Shedding her jacket, she grabbed the ground line phone and dialed the office. Using her cell would be no good; Michael would see the number and wonder how she got it back. The phone rang for only a moment before it was picked up.

“STN-J, Michael.”

“Michael,” she said, keeping her voice perfectly even, “I got your message, sorry about the trouble.”

There was an audible sigh of relief. “No, no, it's all right. It's just not like you, Miss Karasuma, leaving your phone like that.”

She bit her lip, worrying one nail as she spoke. “I know. The hunt left me a little tired, and I had taken it out of my pocket in case someone called.”

“Well, Sakaki has it now; I was very surprised when he picked up.” Karasuma thought she detected a hint of amusement in his voice. “About had a coronary, to be honest.”

“Yeah …” she said, trying her best to be convincing as she chuckled. She didn't seem to be as good at acting as her partner, but at least he was buying it. “He must have picked it up after I left Harry's.”

“Mhm.” The hacker returned, tapping at the keys, “Though he did sound a bit …weird this morning.” Karasuma could almost see him shrugging, “I probably just got him at a bad time.”

“Probably.” She said, and, seeing an escape, she said, “Look, Michael, I'd better go, I've still got to shower.”

“Of course. I'll see you at two, and don't forget those files.”

“Right. See you then.” And she hung up, sighing in great relief. Opening her door, she walked out to the kitchen to find that Sakaki had not moved from his chair; staring off in to space.

“You know,” she said, “When you made that comment about being empty-headed, I really didn't think to take it literally.”

He jumped, the chair squeaking against the floor in protest of moving. Running a hand through his hair, he chuckled. “Well, I was trying to think. When you say that, I kind of wonder if I should bother.”

She shook her head, choosing not to answer, and changed the topic. “I called Michael.”

“What'd he want?”

“Some files I borrowed to look over awhile back. Mostly charts of locations and dates of hunts.”

He shrugged. “Well, that explains why he wanted to talk to you personally.”

Karasuma shrugged, leaning against the wall. “Not really, the message would have worked. He's just protective.”

“And probably with good reason.” He muttered, “Even if it gets in the way sometimes.”

She covered a grin with her hand, though it couldn't hide the amusement in her eyes. “You're the one that answered the phone. You could have just told me it rang.”

He gave her a smoldering glare, clearly wishing to forget about that part of the morning. “Yeah, yeah, rub it in.” She just sniggered in to her hand, and he crossed his arms. “Well, go on!”

“You're doing a wonderful job on your own, who am I to interfere?” She finally said, smothering giggles.

He dropped the glare, smiling helplessly and even chuckling a bit. After they had calmed, he sighed. “Man, it feels really good to laugh.”

She dropped her gaze to the floor, bracing hands behind her on the wall. She hadn't realized that this was probably the most fun she'd really had in half a year, hadn't realized how little she smiled until she started doing it again. “Yeah.” She agreed quietly, her lips still curled into a little smirk. And I'm glad you're doing it with me, she thought, because maybe that means we're both healing.

There was a moment of silence; as if acknowledging past happy times, and then she pushed herself to a standing position again. “I'm going to take a shower, I'm sure I can find a book or something, if you want …”

He shrugged, “I'm fine. Low maintenance that way- I entertain myself.”

“So do dogs; just don't chew on my furniture.” She said, heading down the hallway. His surprised laugh followed her to the bathroom.

~^~

She took her time in the shower; it had been noon when she'd called Michael, and if they wanted her in at two, she had a good while. Sakaki could do fine on his own; he'd made that clear, so she wasn't going to worry about it. Well, she wasn't going to worry about Sakaki entertaining himself, anyway; but the subject of her partner just got curioser and curioser by the moment; Lewis Carroll quotes aside.

She hadn't laughed so much in ages. Should it worry her that it had been with Sakaki? Should it matter that she was glad it had been Sakaki?

`Bad subject,' her mind told her forcibly, `probably better not to think about that.'

But she couldn't help it. She couldn't run away from this; and avoiding the subject was a very … Amon-ish way of going about it. She remembered the last time she had tried to emulate Amon; it had failed miserably. She didn't have the mental or emotional constitution to try to follow in the footsteps of the presumably deceased hunter.

But there was one other thing getting in the way of thinking about it. She had no idea what to think. Before Robin, this would have only meant that he was finally getting used to the idea of hunts; he had finally settled in. Now … `well,' her mind asked her, `what does it mean now?' She sighed. How was it that interpreting emotions left on a stranger's car was simpler than interpreting her own?

Frowning to herself, she realized that she had been standing motionless under the spray of water. She couldn't let this work her up; there were things to do. After all, he was still her partner and they were still hunters. That was that. For now.

~^~

He was on the verge of wondering if she'd gotten sucked down the drain when a door opened and shut audibly. Moments later, Miho, dressed simply in black slacks and a professional looking white shirt-black jacket combo, stepped in to the kitchen, running fingers through still damp hair. She frowned when droplets fell on to the floor in front of her.

“I'd love to use a hair dryer; but the noise is just awful.” She muttered, and then glanced up at Sakaki. “Sorry I took so long.”

He shrugged. “Like I said, I entertain myself.”

She glanced into the living room and looked back at him, grinning. “No chewed furniture, I see. Good job.”

He crossed his arms. “Ha ha, very funny. If I'd known you had such a sense of humor, I would have never left myself open.”

“That's the beauty of it, though,” she said, leaning against the wall again. “I do have a sense of humor, and you left yourself open.”

“Tell me about it,” he said morosely. “Just when you think you know a girl, she goes and gets a sense of humor. Sheesh.”

`And just when you think you know a guy; turns out he cares more than he lets on,' she thought to herself, but instead of voicing her thoughts, she replied, “Hey, I always had that sense of humor.”

“You should use it more often.” He said, suddenly turning serious.

She sighed. “I would. But at work it's been so hard to forget what we're doing. That we're slaying witches just for being alive. Maybe while we were using Orbo, before Kate, it was easier.” She closed her eyes, “Too bad the `humanity' of the Orbo wasn't humane at all.”

Sakaki was silent for a moment. He knew the story of Orbo, but hadn't seen the crazed man who swore by it; who died for it. He had seen the witch in the holding tank; but he hadn't seen Robin's eyes when she heard their voices reaching out for her, begging her to end their own lives. She was right; it was hard to shake off the realities of their work enough to laugh anymore. “You're right,” he finally said. “It's hard to forget.”

She nodded, and they fell into silence. Not sure she liked the sudden quiet, she looked up to the clock for distraction. It was 12:45, and she felt her stomach growling. “How does Harry's sound for lunch?” She asked suddenly, “My treat, as a thanks for taking me in.”

Sakaki crossed his arms. “I told you, you didn't need to thank me. I can buy for myself.”

“I'll take that as a `Harry's sounds great.'” She said wryly. “We can squabble about the bill later, but I still need to pay last night's tab, and I want some lunch.”

“I can get my bike, I suppose,” Sakaki said, standing up and pushing the chair to its previous position. He sighed. “I guess I could be convinced.”

“Not like you've got much of a choice but to be convinced,” Karasuma said, showing him out the door and locking it. She smiled at him. “I'm your ride.”

“Point.” Sakaki replied. “A very good point.”

~^~

Karasuma sipped her tea a bit later, staring out into a sunny afternoon. “You know that, as soon as we go back, we'll just be hunters again, right?”

Sakaki looked up from his miso, surprised that she'd said anything. They had been fairly quiet since coming in to Harry's. Miho had paid off her tab, and then ordered lunch for the two of them (despite his protests). “Sure,” he said, “If that's what you want. I thought it was a given.”

She smiled, eyes still focused outside. “No, it isn't what I want. Being `just a hunter' makes me think of …” she sighed, “it makes me think of Zaizen. As if I'm killing just because I'm ordered to.”

Sakaki frowned. “But you didn't.”

“Didn't what?”

“Kill just because he ordered you to.”

“But what about what we do now?” she asked, setting her cup down and running a gloved finger over the handle. “Isn't it almost the same thing? Michael finds the witches, Kosaka tells us to hunt; we hunt.”

“Miho, you know that's not how it goes, now.”

She sighed. “Yes. No hunts unless harm has been done. And even though all the witches we hunt now have killed someone and are criminals anyway, it ... ,” she frowned and took hold of the cup again, “it just doesn't feel right. What if SOLOMON catches on and replaces Kosaka? You know as well as I do that they wouldn't take to this form of hunting.”

Sakaki shook his head. “I don't know. We're still pretty busy, though, so, unless SOLOMON checks our records, they probably won't even catch on to our new hunting format.” She still looked downcast, and he smiled. “But hey, we've still got twenty minutes before we've got to be hunters again.” `Before we go back to being the Rock and the Rookie,' he thought. “So let's talk about something else.”

She glanced up at him, surprise registering on her face. A slow smile spread across her lips and she finally grinned. “Well, there's always the weather,” she said slowly.

“How about those Americans?” he replied, feeling as if they were playing a game.

“I heard the newest Jet Li movie is good.”

“Really? I heard it was horrible.”

There was a pause, and they both smiled at each other. For just a moment, neither of them were hunters. They were two people of the same age and intelligence, playing a game for the other's benefit. And, just for a moment, Karasuma Miho forgot all about Zaizen, the Factory, and silk gloves.

And then she blinked. Her heart beat once, twice, and continued on its normal rhythm. She drew a breath, and whatever spell that had silenced the background music and ceased all movement within her was broken. Rather than being frightened that the moment had began, or sad that it had ended, she closed her eyes and locked that instant of peace within her. She still had a few minutes before she had to be a hunter again; she was going to savor them.

No more words were said as Karasuma finished her tea, and Sakaki sipped the last of his soup. They made no more bids for conversation, and at 1:45, she rose, silently, to pay for lunch. He heard the clink of change and the quiet ring of the register as Master tapped the orders in and took Miho's money. Then the click of the register closing and her quiet steps. He knew she was looking at him, and turned his head to meet her gaze. She watched him for a moment, eyes so intense he wondered if she could scry him if she looked hard enough.

“Thank you, Haruto,” she said finally.

He couldn't argue that she'd already thanked him for his help, because he knew that that was not what she was thanking him for. He nodded seriously, and she turned, disappearing down the little hall way to the outside world, back to being a hunter. A part of him wondered if he'd ever see the other part of her again; or if it would be locked away, never to return until after another disaster. He carefully placed his chopsticks on the table and smiled to himself. It didn't matter if he never saw it again; he knew it was there, and it wasn't something he was going to forget.

“Thank you, Miho,” he said quietly. The whisper was lost in a bubble of water, as a breeze ruffled a few leaves in the sun-drenched street.

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Beta=Auntie_mom