Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Silk Gloves ❯ Stay With Me ( Chapter 4 )

Plot kicks in here. Hey, don't look at me, it's not *my* fault Amon and Robin never kissed. ^.^

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The lights flipped on, as machinery whirred and clicked to life. Eyes were turned to suddenly illuminated monitors, on each there was a map with red and blue dots spread sporadically around.

“The blue dots are our hunts in the last two months.” Kosaka said, standing at the head of the room. “The red dots are the reason we're here. Michael?”

Michael nodded, and began to speak, his typing rhythm never ceasing. “The police have been getting strange calls recently, mostly for disruption of the peace, in upper class neighborhoods to the north.” He paused, and a picture of an alley way came up. It had obviously once been almost picturesque, but now there were dents in the pavement at least a foot deep, and rubble strewn everywhere. The fences on either side, though, had not been touched. “Every time they've gotten a call like one of these, something like this alley way has shown up; but no one's ever been in them, or seen by them.”

“Why weren't we called in before?” Michael looked up. Kenshio Kasu, the lone replacement that SOLOMON had sent, was frowning at the screen. “I just mean that, with secluded-looking places like this, you'd think that the police would call us, right?”

Michael shrugged. “No one's been hurt in these episodes and there's been very little property damage. The people who make the calls say that there's a lot of yelling, then unidentifiable noise that varies from case to case, then silence.” Kenshio frowned, and Michael continued. “Some people have gone missing from these neighborhoods, but it isn't enough to account for the number of incidents; well over eighty, starting two months ago.” A note of annoyance entered the hacker's voice, as if vexed that he couldn't figure it out. “Even when we factor in the number of hunts we've conducted in that time, it still doesn't account for half of these occurrences.”

“So you think that these weird occurrences are witches awakening?” Sakaki asked, studying the screen in front of him. Michael nodded.

“All the factors are there, for most of them. For a few, there was just screaming, but that could have been a craft like Miss Karasuma's, which doesn't manifest physically.” He pulled up another screen. “One woman went out to see what the matter was, and said that something strange was going on.”

“Did she see anyone?” Kenshio asked quietly, staring at the screen.

“Three people, one unidentifiable, one a man of average shape and build,” Michael said. “The last was her next door neighbor, who later told her that he had fallen and twisted an ankle very badly.” He sighed, “The case was dropped in favor of other, stranger ones.”

“So, again,” Karasuma queried, “why haven't we been called in before? Did they just look over the trashed streets?”

“Well, it was the latest, really, that sent them to us,” Michael said, and brought up a screen. Karasuma raised her eyebrows; it looked as if someone had taken a vat of molten silver and splattered it everywhere, covering fences and burning vines. “The people who own the houses on either side of the alley say that their trash cans are gone; and though they were simple aluminum, it would still take a great amount of heat to achieve something like this.”

Sakaki whistled. “So, where do we come in?” he asked. “I mean, if they're awakening, and we're hunting, what's there to do?”

“The problem, Haruto, is that awakenings have never occurred at this rate and, when they have, it has been centered in the walled city,” Kosaka said. “While there are basically an even amount of genes distributed through all classes of Japan, seeds in the classier neighborhoods rarely encounter the stress to awaken their diluted blood, especially after puberty.” He shook his head. “I've been checking into police records and the people that are missing are all in their twenties.”

They all nodded their understanding. Seeds could be awakened at any time, technically, but generally, if they were less than half-witch, it took situations of stress to do so. “Does this mean that there is a witch awakening other witches?” Kenshio asked, sounding as if she was musing to herself.

“That's what it looks like,” Michael said. “And we don't know why, and we don't know how.”

“Miho and Haruto,” Kosaka began, voice stern. “You will go to the latest scene and inspect.” Karasuma immediately translated this to its true meaning - `scry and tell us what the hell is happening here' - and sighed. At least she was meant to do it. She could prepare. Besides, she still felt better than she had in weeks. “Kenshio, you'll go to the walled city and root around for information; the people down there still haven't got you pegged as a hunter yet.”

Kenshio nodded and stood. She was very plain looking, and had a look of steel about her that made Sakaki wonder if she was another spy from SOLOMON. She certainly didn't seem as if she was a hunter, though she carried out the duties perfectly well. Personally, he thought she was there to keep an eye on them after the factory. They had all betrayed their superior, Zaizen; it was probably a worry that they might become even more rebellious. `Well', he thought, `we have changed our hunting agenda slightly; no hunt without harm. I wonder if she's noticed that.' He frowned, `If she's a spy, probably. Let's hope they don't mind as long as we keep ourselves busy.'

He suddenly realized that the room was empty, save for Michael. Still frowning, he rose and exited, glancing one last time to make sure he had the address right.

“Good luck.” Michael said as he walked past. Sakaki grunted in reply, taking his helmet from his desk and heading towards the elevator. Miho and Kasu had already left, he noted, as he donned his helmet and started his bike.

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He parked his bike beside Karasuma's car and left the helmet. The neighborhood that they were in had `young money' written all over it. An older suburb of Tokyo, the trees were fairly well established and everything was covered in vines. They were parked outside of an alleyway lined with wooden fences, at least six feet tall and also vine-covered. Karasuma was standing in the middle, looking around.

Sakaki slowly walked into the alleyway, looking curiously at the way the watery sunlight shone into the alleyway and reflected a hundred times off of the various bits of aluminum everywhere. Curiously, he touched a bit on the wall beside him, trying to pry it off, but it seemed to have become a part of the wood. He would have had to take off part of the fence to get the metal.

“Well. I think we can say this was a witch,” he said dryly, as he turned from the fence.

Karasuma nodded. “I think so, too.” She tugged off a glove and half-knelt on the cement, reaching out a hand to a glob of metal that was larger than the rest.

At first, she controlled it, just to make sure that she could. Once she had found that she did still have her powers somewhat in check, she allowed her craft to take over. It flashed over the misshapen piece of aluminum like a net, and then came back to her, carrying its prize of emotional tags with it.

 

`Darkness, people, then, sudden fear, like a wave. A great unending fear of the depths of the ocean, creatures rising, unknown to man, from the deep, dragging down to play in the deep. Drowning, deeper, deeper, can't breath, death. Cold. Going to die, can't breathe, please, just let it end, let it end… … …. A voice, calling.

Touch, warm.

Voice, there is life here! Here? Where am I?

Touch, warm, reality, what is reality? Trash can, trash, Motoka, wife. Breathe in, breath out, breathe in, the scent of olives, the sound of voices, it wasn't real…I'm alive…it wasn't real…'

 

She opened her eyes, frowning deeper as she tried to interpret what she had just seen.

“What was it?” Sakaki asked, noticing her movement.

“I'm not sure.” She said, standing and pulling her gloves back on. “Something scared whoever this was badly, very badly, almost to insanity.”

“You can't tell who it is?”

“No, even with my powers like this, whatever happened disrupted it sufficiently enough that the only thing I got physically was …” she paused, frowning deeper. “The scent of olives.”

Sakaki stiffened, face immediately adopting a dour look. “You're sure, I guess?” he said, hoping that she wasn't.

She nodded, looking as happy as he was. “Yes. I think that Single-Eye may have come back.”

“Kuso.” Sakaki muttered. For a moment, they were silent, digesting this new information. He then pressed on his ear piece. “Michael?”

“Yeah, Sakaki? Got anything?”

“We do, but you're not going to like it. It's Single-Eye.”

“Single-Eye? How do you know?” he sounded surprised.

Karasuma joined the conversation. “The metal has fear all over it, the wild kind of fear that he uses. The scent of olives is also in the emotions.”

A pause, and Michael sighed. “Kosaka says to get to the walled city, pronto, and explain things to Kenshio. If she runs into him without warning, we'll have a problem on our hands.”

They both nodded, knowing that Michael couldn't see them, but doing it anyway. “Copy that,” Karasuma said, as they both turned to their respective vehicles. “Have you got a lock on her?”

As they started their vehicles, Michael rattled off her latest position, promising to keep them updated if she moved drastically.

~^~

After he had given Karasma and Sakaki Kenshio's position, he switched frequencies and tried to raise the replacement.

“Kenshio.”

Nothing. Not surprising; sometimes the walled city messed up the radios. He checked her location again, and frowned. She was in a place that he knew for certain had never had problems with communication. But she defiantly wasn't answering him. What was going on? He shrugged. There was a first time for everything, he supposed, like the wind blowing a different way than usual and disrupting something. Still, he kept a careful eye on her position

~^~

When they arrived, Kenshio was no where to be seen.

“Michael hasn't said anything, so she's probably somewhere nearby,” Karasuma said.

“Michael, do you copy?” Sakaki said into his mouthpiece. “We're here, but I don't see Kenshio.”

Michael crackled back on, voice confused. “Yeah, I copy. She's west four blocks.”

“Why didn't you say so?”

They both heard the strained note in his voice. “I couldn't raise her, so I thought you two would be out of reach as well. There's no indication on her heart graph that she's in trouble, though, it's been steady the whole time.”

Sakaki and Karasuma glanced once at each other and took off, heading quickly to the west. They had gone less than two steps when Michael came back on. “Heart rate just spiked, she's moving north and east, weaving in and out of streets. I think she's got a pursuer.”

“Why isn't she firing, if she's being chased?” Sakaki said, looking to Miho for directions.

She shook her head. “If it's Single-eye, she might not be able to use the gun,” she said, then tapped her earpiece. “Michael, any pattern?”

“She's weaving between the route you're taking and one street over.”

Karasuma nodded. “Sakaki, go to the other street and try to catch her, I'll stay on this side. Michael, keep us updated.”

Sakaki nodded and trotted up the alleyway leading to the next street over, taking out his gun and checking the safety. It was on and he paused, contemplating the sanity of carrying the gun out if Kenshio was being affected by Single-eye. She was an ice-craft user, and he had no interest in being frozen on the spot due to a misunderstanding. As he reached the other street, he put the gun away, turning the corner and keeping his eyes peeled for the other hunter.

He kept jogging, and soon he had gone the four blocks to where she supposedly had been before. But he hadn't seen a single sign of her, and Karasuma hadn't said anything about finding her. Frowning, he doubled back around and started back, saying over the radio “Miss Karasuma? Have you found her?”

There was no reply. Warning bells went off in his mind, and he immediately turned down an alley leading back to the street he had just departed. “Michael, do you know where she is?”

Michael sounded frustrated when he came back on. “Yes. She's past you guys now; but she passed right by Miss Karasuma; I don't know what happened.”

Sakaki was about to reply, but stopped when he got out from the alleyway. Karasuma stood rigid, gun trained at a doorway to a building. She was nearly backed against a wall, but who ever was in the door way was hidden from view. He knew who it was, though, and took out his gun, this time flicking the safety off. Very slowly, he eased over to stand beside his partner, revealing the person in the doorway to be, unsurprisingly, Single-eye himself.

Single-eye had changed from his recollection of the man whom Robin had described. He looked almost clean cut, as if he had recently come in to some money. He still retained an almost insane look, though, as if driving others crazy with fear had left him somewhat mad as well. He proved this further when he saw Sakaki and practically grinned, despite the two guns being steadily trained on him.

“Why hello again, young man,” he said, sounding despicably cheerful. “It's been awhile, hasn't it?”

Sakaki chose not to reply, speaking instead to Karasuma. “Why didn't you call me?”

She shook her head minutely. “I only saw him a moment before you got here.” She paused, grimacing. “He actually stopped me.”

Again warning bells went off in his head, and he resettled his gun arm, still aimed at the man in the doorway.

“Well sure I did,” the man said amicably, stepping from the building. “It shouldn't be so wrong to say hello to an old acquaintance, now should it?”

“If by acquaintance, you mean hunter, then you have a strange sense of humor,” Sakaki said, following Single-Eye's movement with his gun.

The man actually chuckled. “Well, we knew that, didn't we?”

“What are you doing?” Karasuma suddenly broke in. “We know you've been awakening other witches, but why? And how have they been going back to their daily lives after you've used your power on them?”

“As if simple Hunters, like you, could understand such a thing,” the man said flippantly. “Why, do you want me to tell you who they are, so that you can hunt and kill them? So that your organization can send you out with guns and black vans again?”

 

“Just answer her,” Sakaki said. He could tell that the man had hit a nerve with his partner and, recalling her words about killing merely from orders, he couldn't say the words hadn't struck a chord in him, as well.

“Oh, look at the time,” the witch said, glancing up at the sky. “You'll have to excuse me, but I must go.”

“Stop!” Sakaki said, about to squeeze the trigger, but suddenly, a wave of olive-scented breeze washed over him. His mouth immediately went dry as Single-eye glanced at him, grabbing his eyes and holding them. His breath caught in his throat, and he suddenly remembered the last time this had happened. But, this was more intense, he hadn't been faced with the witch's gaze last time. He tried to say something, but whatever words he would have said were stillborn in his mouth.

Just as he was about to break down, there was a spot of warmth on his shoulder. He shuddered once and looked down; Karasuma had reached a hand over to him, resting it on his shoulder and squeezing slightly. His parched mouth suddenly re-wet, and he knew that he was not going to die of fear in that alley. Taking a deep breath, he carefully nodded to show he had regained control. She returned her hand to her gun. “Stay with me,” she said quietly.

“I plan to,” he replied.

Single-eye looked between the two of them for a moment, face betraying his disbelief. Then he smirked. “I see,” he said.

Things suddenly seemed to happen very fast for Sakaki Haruto. From his pocket, Single-eye took a heavy looking ball and threw it hard - straight at him. He blinked, letting his craft catch the ball and suspend it in mid-air. It had been a long time since there had been a need for his slight telekinesis, but it was very helpful when physically reaching out and catching something was unwise. He realized, too late though, that the real danger was not to him, but his partner. As soon as the ball that was headed for him left Single-eye's hand, he took out a second and threw it in the same manner at Karasuma. She had her gloves off and, lacking his craft power, was forced to catch the ball as it came at her face. Knowing she was vulnerable, he whirled to shoot the witch before he could do anything else, but Single-eye had disappeared.

All within the space of a breath. Sakaki cursed as he realized that he couldn't pursue immediately; Miho's craft wouldn't let her off the hook, and he wasn't about to leave her all alone. Still, they could pursue when the scrying was over.

There was a gasp, ragged and strained. He spun in surprise, just in time to steady Karasuma, who was swaying as if she were drunk. Her hand still clutched the ball that Single-eye had chucked at her, gripping it so hard her knuckles were white. Her gun clattered to the pavement and, miraculously, did not fire. He frowned. He knew that it felt like it had only been seconds since she had caught the ball, but in reality, it had to have been at least half a minute. Her visions rarely lasted so long.

Suddenly, she dropped to the ground, knees folding beneath her, the rest of her body following.

“Miho!” He caught her head before it could knock against the concrete and give her a concussion. Her hand was still clamped around the ball, clinging to it as if her life depended upon it. Her eyes screwed shut; he could just barely make out a whimper coming from deep in her throat. One hand cradling her head on his knees, he reached out the other to try to pry the ball from her grasp. It proved impossible; it was like the ball was a life-line, though whether that line was to life, or death, he couldn't tell.

“Miho …” he whispered, “Miho, let go of it. Stay with me, come back.”

She squeezed her eyes tighter shut, as if she could hear him, but didn't want to listen. He leaned closer.

“Miho, please come back, you can get through this, come on.” He didn't even realize how frightened he was at the prospect of her not getting through this; being brought down by a small plastic ball. He didn't realize how much it scared him to have to live through the loss of yet another co-worker, yet another friend. “Miho,” he said, voice breaking, “stay with me.” All that mattered was her coming back, it didn't even occur to him how terrified he was at the thought of a hunt, of a day of work, a day ... period, without her; not until she gasped again and opened her eyes.

“Haruto,” She said, breathily, and the ball was suddenly dropped. It rolled away, and she gasped again, as if air was a luxury she could not get enough of. “Oh god, Haruto,” She said again, and curled into a fetal position, her hands finding his arm and clamping on.

He let out a breath that he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. She was obviously terrified, shaking and crying into his knees, but she was alive; and she still knew his name. Trying to sooth her, he ran a gloved hand through her hair, thankful that he was used to wearing gloves on hunts. He only wished that she had left hers on. But she hadn't practiced shooting in them, and who would have expected someone to take advantage of that? He found himself hating Single-eye more than he had before. First his mind, and then his partner's.

Her grip on his arm loosened, and her shaking ceased. Slowly, her breathing became more normal, and she relaxed. Sakaki found himself wishing he could take off his gloves, take her hand and tell her that she would be fine, but didn't want to compound her problems. And so he continued to run gloved hands through her hair, as if she were a frightened child he needed to calm before bed. He looked down when he felt a tug on his jacket; she had moved her hands to grip the cloth there, bringing it to the base of her neck and resting her head on the fist she made. Smiling slightly, he rested the now free hand on her shoulder. Her face looked much more relaxed and, though he wanted to ask her if she would be all right, he stayed silent. No words really needed to be said; he knew she would be fine, if he just gave her time. He was willing to give as much as she needed.

Finally, he realized that Michael had been completely cut from the last ten minutes. He would be worried; especially since, last he knew, they had been separated and looking for Kenshio. Things had changed considerably since that moment. Slowly, he reached a hand up and tapped his ear-piece.

“Michael?”

“Sakaki! What happened? You suddenly chipped out on me there.”

Sakaki sighed, looking down at Karasuma's haggard face. She hadn't moved since calming; he rather suspected that she was asleep. “Yeah, well, we were attacked.”

“What? By who!?”

“Single-eye. I'll explain when we get back; have you found Kenshio?”

The tapping of keys made it's way through the radio, as Michael answered. “Yeah. She came back on to the radio about a block after passing your cars. I didn't know where you guys were, so I told her to wait there.”

“What happened?”

“She thought she was being followed, and her radio was apparently just fritzing.” He could almost hear the gears in Michael's head struggling to make sense of it all. “You and Miss Karasuma are ok?”

“We will be.” Sakaki said, looking down at his partner.

“All right. The chief says to get back here and report.”

“We might be a minute. She took a pretty bad hit, mentally; it may take some time to recover.”

Kosaka's voice came over the ear-piece. “Just get here within the hour, Sakaki. I want a full report.”

“Yes sir.” He replied dutifully. “I'll do my best.”

He let his hand drop, ignoring Michael's sign-off, and leaned down again. “Miss Karasuma,” he said quietly. She did not respond, and he sighed, running his hand through her hair once more. “Miho.” She scrunched her eyes once, and then opened them. “Can you get up?” He asked quietly.

She paused, then nodded. “My gloves,” she said, voice rasping as if she had been screaming, “in my pocket.”

He nodded and reached in to her pocket, drawing out the dark grey gloves. They were incredibly light and thin, he recognized the texture of silk. He marveled, that such a little amount of material could protect her so well amazed him. Solemnly, he handed them to her. She put them on immediately, and then rested her head against his knees again, as if even that movement had tired her. He waited patiently, and soon, she opened her eyes again.

“I'm so tired.” She whispered.

He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “We have at least an hour; take your time.”

She nodded. “I think I can sit up.”

“All right.” He said, nodding encouragingly.

She took a deep breath, and drew her knees up to her chest, rolling on to them and raising her body up. Sakaki helped her as best he could, and soon she was kneeling in front of him, a hand on either shoulder for support. She bowed her head into one shoulder, breathing slowly. Unsure of what to do, he placed a hand on either side of her torso to keep her steady, patiently bowing his head over hers.

For a moment, they stayed as such, and then, like a slow dance, she moved again, and he followed, always supporting her and offering quiet encouragement. Minutes later, she was standing, leaning slightly into him.

“Ready?” he asked quietly. She looked up at him, eyes glazed as if she had not slept in ages, and swallowed.

“Yes.” She said.

There was a pause, like the slight suspension of movement in a wave before washing on to the shore. And then she stepped forward, and he followed. Like two cranes in a dance; they moved down the street, she moving, and he following.

~^~

Auntie_mom still the beta. Short author's notes due to SLOW computer, and my rapidly depleting patience.

Heh. This was a fun chapter to write though. *g*