Disclaimer: This simple Puff hasn’t a single claim to Witch Hunter Robin. Though, she wouldn’t mind if Amon showed up on her front door. ^_^
Amon: I hate this plot.
Puff: Well, too bad. It’s not my fault I don’t know what happens after episode five. Those guides are so vague…
One-shot
Warnings: Um, Amon in a generally bad mood. ^_^
Amon cursed silently as he flung his jacket into one of the shadowy corners of the conference room. The heavy material landed quietly, seeming to embody its owner’s stealth. Mentally brutalizing himself, Amon stalked to his black coat and snatched it off of the carpeted floor. He angrily ripped out the ill-formed stitches that ran along the side seam. A thin silver needle was grabbed off of the table, along with a small spool of heavy ebony thread, and shoved into one of his pockets.
‘When I bought this coat, they promised it would never rip. And what did it do? It rips!’ Amon screamed in his mind, much more upset over his coat than he really should be. As he strode in the main office, conversations among the other members of STN-J died. Apparently, his scathing mood washed over them and dampened their cheerful moods. They had just captured one of the most dangerous witches they had ever dealt with and they were proud. The whole lot of them didn’t know why Amon looked like he was going rip someone’s throat out.
The seething man set himself in one of the office chairs, an absolute rarity in itself. The other thing that was completely out of place was the fact that Amon wasn’t wearing his trademark coat. That was simply scary. No matter how you put it, Amon hardly ever took off that jacket.
“What?” Amon snapped, sending the other’s scampering to find what they had been working on before he walked in. Even Doujima, who hardly ever did anything, snatched up a folder and reviewed its contents. Robin, settled in front of one of the hardly ever-used computer monitors, kept flicking her green eyes at him suspiciously. After a few moments in the office, Amon stood and glided back into the conference room to appraise the tear again. He knew that staring at the undone seam in his coat wouldn’t make it go away, but he might be able to sew it better than his last attempts.
Carefully, after making sure no one was going to walk in, Amon threaded his needle with his selected thread. He tied a knot at the end of the string and pushed it through the dense material. After about half an hour, the seam should have been closed neatly. Instead, jaggedly ill-placed stitches ran the length of the tear and held it together in a manner that spoke of a young child’s first attempt at sewing. Amon swore violently, under his breath, and pulled his stitches out. His anger at not being able to sew properly grew slowly into rage as tried repeatedly to mend his coat.
‘I will not ask for help,’ Amon told himself on the way to his apartment that night. Once again, he drew stares from his office-mates for his lack of the coat as he left the office. Well, he had it draped over one arm. Robin walked quietly to him, taking his distant mind by surprise when she tapped on his shoulder. The blonde girl gestured as if she were going to say something important, but stopped at the last moment and curled her fingers under her chin
“Good-night, Amon,” she said softly as she stood in front of him, “peaceful dreams.” The craft-user then turned and went back to her spot to straighten the paperwork before she went home. Amon blinked his near-black eyes at her retreating back, and then hurried to his car.
‘Maybe Robin could help me…’ Amon started to think, ‘no, I won’t ask for help. And that would have her think that I will start to depend on her more than I need to.’ The scenery flicked past his window, just on the realm of perception. Even though he was preoccupied, his senses were sharp enough that he really didn’t have to think as he sped along the night roads.
Suddenly, he found himself driving right past where he lived and ferociously slammed on the brake pedal. Amon parked his car, snatched anything he might have needed off of the passenger seat, and stalked to his home.
The star witch hunter unlocked his front door and walked into his unfriendly home. The coat was set on a couch and Amon strode to a bookcase, searching for anything to help him. Unfortunately, he didn’t buy homemaker books often and never practiced sewing. It’s not like he had to stitch stuff constantly on the job.
Amon broodingly threw himself next to his coat and thought about when the coat tore. It wasn’t like he had fallen from some great height, or even had it slashed open. The coat had simply gotten caught on a loose nail and, very occupied with their mission, Amon didn’t notice until he was in his own home.
‘What a stupid way for my jacket to tear,’ Amon contemptuously thought as he fished the needle and thread out of his pocket, going to try again. The eye of the needle was tiny but his precision shooting skills aided him there. Measuring the thread correctly was child’s play as was finishing the end of the thread in a small, but secure, knot.
‘I will make the stitches smaller. That should help,’ Amon thought coldly as he, once again, pushed the needle through the layers of cloth. He pushed and pulled the needle back and forth, stabbing himself several times. About half way, Amon simply gave up and pulled the awkward stitches out of the black material and pushed everything away.
“The rip is too small to take to a tailor. I suppose I will have to ask someone at the office to help me. But who?” Amon asked himself as he prepared for bed. He snatched pajamas out of his dresser and turned the hot water on in his shower. The hunter quickly cleaned up, dressed, and laid down on his dark sheets.
Morning came all too quickly for Amon, as someone would start to ask why he wasn’t wearing his coat for the second day in a row. He dressed quietly as he thought about whom he could ask to help him mend his coat.
‘I need someone who can sew and not ask questions about why I didn’t fix the tear myself,’ Amon thought as he walked to his car, already resigned to the fact that he couldn’t sew a straight seam to save his life. As he drove back to STN-J headquarters, he mentally checked off everyone in the office.
‘Michael, no. Sakaki, no. Doujima, not a chance. I really don’t want to ask Robin, so that leaves Karasuma,’ Amon decided, though slightly uncertain about his choice. It didn’t show on his seeming frozen features. Walking into the office, he glanced around quickly before searching out Karasuma. She wasn’t in sight, nor was she with the others.
“Where is Karasuma?” Amon asked sullenly, and four pairs of eyes focused on him.
“She went to visit family for a few days,” Michael said immediately, but quickly amended when he saw Amon’s glare increase ten-fold, “I can contact her, if you need her for a mission.”
“No, let her rest,” Amon said before drifting into the conference room to think. He wasn’t going to ask Michael or Sakaki, because they just didn’t seem like the Susie-homemaker type. Doujima, he decided, couldn’t be trusted with a child, yet alone the fact he couldn’t sew. That left the one person he didn’t want to really ask, but who had been running through his thoughts for a while. Robin.
Amon brooded for a while as he thought about whether his coat was that important or not. Finally, he decided that it would be best to just flat out ask Robin if she would mend his coat for him. His dark eyes darted into the office, spying the girl chatting with Doujima. Well, Doujima was talking and Robin was just nodding her head when she was supposed to.
‘I can’t ask for her help in this building,’ Amon thought, trying to save face at all costs. It was beginning to seem to him that he was going through too much trouble for a coat.
“Robin,” Amon called out, his voice void of his thoughts. A pair of emerald eyes darted up as she set down a folder and flitted lightly into the conference room. Amon simply couldn’t believe what he was going through, but he had passed the point of no return.
“Meet me at Harry’s after work,” Amon ordered coolly, slightly warmer than what Robin was used to hearing.
“Alright,” Robin responded simply, gazing at him with piercing bottle green eyes. After a few seconds, she realized that he nothing more to say and went back to her work. Amon watched her leave and placed his head in his hands, massaging his temples in the process. Pale hands finger-combed his shoulder-length obsidian locks, smoothing it down unnecessarily.
Amon spent the rest of the day lamenting the fact he had asked Robin to meet him somewhere after work. What if she got the wrong impression from him? The star hunter wandered aimlessly around between the office and the conference room, sitting down for about fifteen minutes before walking off again. Obviously, the other hunters were confused over his extremely eccentric behavior; they chalked it up to the fact that he had nothing to work on. Luckily for him, Robin didn’t mention his invitation to Harry’s to anyone. Talking to her was like giving confession to the priest before mass.
Robin was sitting by Michael, pointing at his screen and asking questions. The computer whiz seemed overjoyed to have someone ask him technical questions and the fifteen-year-old was a great listener. Amon snuck past them, and out the door. He wanted to have a few drinks before Robin showed up.
A light chime signaled the door opening and Harry smiled at his newest guest. He quickly set about making her espresso as Robin strode to the bar and placed herself in a chair.
“Can you bring that to one of the tables?” Amon asked as he stood up, gesturing Robin along. The blonde threw him an odd glance that he just couldn’t identify, but followed him anyway. Harry nodded and turned back to cleaning the bar-top.
“Why did you ask me to come here?” Robin question instantaneously, the second they were both seated.
“Can you fix this?” Amon inquired, showing her the tear in his coat. For a split second, Robin seemed confused but pulled the coat closer to her anyhow. She reached into her pocket and snatched the pair of glasses out, placing them securely on her nose.
“Yes, I’ll do my best,” Robin responded, brushing back her bangs a bit. Harry smiled at the pair as he set down Robin’s espresso, turning the small saucer just so. Robin picked up her cup and sipped lightly, testing to see just how hot the liquid was.
“Good,” Amon said flatly, handing her the needle and thread in his pocket. The girl eyed him, but opened her palm to accept them.
“May I work on it at home?” Robin asked softly, “I’ll get it back to you tomorrow.” Amon nodded as she pulled off her glasses and put them back into her pocket. Robin blew gently on her drink, waiting for the steaming brew to cool enough that it wouldn’t scorch her throat on the way down. After a few silence filled moments, her cup was empty and she stood.
“Good-bye, Amon,” Robin said as she walked out the door.
“Awful lot of stress just to ask her to sew your coat for you,” Harry said offhandedly as he picked up Robin’s cup and saucer off of the table, and then walked behind the bar again. Amon stared at his retreating back; was Harry trying to imply something? Thinking about what Harry had stated distracted Amon from the fact that Robin didn’t even bother to ask why he didn’t mend the coat himself.
Amon arrived early and was hoping Robin would show up soon. He didn’t even want to think about how it would look if a fifteen-year-old co-worker handed him his coat in front of everyone. His wish was answered when the girl walked in and held his coat, needle, and thread out to him. The hunter examined his coat, and found it quite difficult to find where the rip had been less than twelve hours ago.
“Thanks, Robin,” Amon said, slipping into his coat. The girl nodded and proceeded to prepare coffee. Amon still was having a hard time believing that he had gone through so much stress just to fix his coat. Perhaps, just maybe, it wasn’t the coat that interested him.
Finish
Author’s Note:
Wow, I hope I did well. This is my very first Witch Hunter Robin fic and my longest one-shot ever. I’m hoping I got the characters with their proper personalities. Oh, and sorry to any extreme Doujima fans. I couldn’t resist insulting her a bit. ^_^ Please review for me.