Disclaimer: Uh, no, I don’t have any claim to Witch Hunter Robin. I’m just using the characters for my own personal amusement.
Amon: *whacks Puff across the top of her head*
Puff: What was that for?!
Amon: You’ve been sulking for the past four days. It’s getting on nerves.
Puff: *glares* You’ve been sulking, well, since the first time I ever saw you.
Amon: ….
Kitsune: She does have a point there, Amon.
The Joys of Parenthood
Chapter Forty-One: Missing
“Watching her won’t make her craft stay dormant,” Robin said softly, leaning slightly over Amon’s shoulder, “I was watched closely my entire childhood by many different people. The only thing that happened was that I was kept from making any friends.”
“I know,” Amon snapped, glaring dangerously as he pushed her away from him, “I’m trying to think of the best way to tell her that she’ll end up with powers like those of the witches that we’ve been hunting.” The craft user sighed, her green eyes clouding vaguely with annoyance.
“Javan won’t be like the witches. She’ll be trained to handle her strengths and weaknesses properly. You won’t have to worry,” Robin said with certainty, smiling reassuringly, “If she would want to, Javan would turn out to be a fine hunter.”
“This from the girl who said that she didn’t think Javan could handle a craft,” Amon replied coldly, turning his back to the other hunters who were starting to stare. His charcoal eyes flicked toward Robin, trying to tell her that the topic was closed and required no further comments. She bravely ignored the look, pretending that she was busy removing a few stray pieces of lint from her black dress.
“While I admit that I said that, I’ve had a bit of time to think things over. Javan is a very strong girl, to have gone through what she’s gone through at such an early age and still have a radiant smile on her face every day,” Robin stated firmly, a small grin flitting across her face before she continued, “She’s got your stubborn streak.” Amon smirked slightly, trying not to show Robin that he found her comment even remotely amusing.
“I suppose you mean that she won’t give up no matter what gets thrown at her,” Amon said coolly, his eyes flashing with a hint of pride as he glanced over at Javan. Robin nodded quickly, her blonde pigtails bobbing with her movements.
“Yes and, even if she does think of giving up, Javan will have to put up with the ranting and raving from everyone who cares about her. I know I’ll do all I can to keep her on the proper path, for as long as she needs me to help her,” Robin said determinedly, letting her emerald eyes stay pinned to Javan while she played with her brightly colored toys. Amon looked over at Robin, a trace of confusion painting his chiseled features.
“Robin, why are saying things like that?” Amon asked quietly, his voice vaguely warmer than normal, “I just want to know why you’re so persistent when it comes to how Javan is being raised.” The craft user, completely stunned by his sudden question, began a rapid and very frantic quest to respond as quickly as was humanly possible while answering with intelligible phrases.
“I suppose it’s because Javan is such a brilliant girl and I’m rather attached to her. I mean, it’s a little hard not to care when a child runs around calling you ‘Mommy’,” Robin explained, wringing her hands nervously together, “And I promised Reika that I’d help you take care of Javan. It’s the least that I could do for her.” She momentarily let her eyes meet Amon’s in an attempt to see how he would respond to what she had said.
Amon nodded his head once, immediately turning his attention away from Robin again. The craft user bit her lower lip, before she hurriedly walked over to sit down next to Doujima. The cheerful girl smiled broadly at Robin, brightly chirping about how Michael and Bryton had been working on a new categorizing system to make finding information easier for anyone in the STN-J.
“That’s great,” Robin cheered half-heartedly, forcing a happy smile onto her face. Everyone grinned back at her except for Bryton, whose brown eyes were worriedly fixed to her porcelain face. He waited until Michael had distracted the others with a new program before he slipped a scrap of paper over to her. Robin slowly unfolded it, her green eyes flicking across the scrawled message. She nodded, standing up and walking off to get her coat.
“Hey, Michael,” Bryton said loudly, catching the hacker’s attention before he let his voice slip back to normal, “Robin and I are going to go for a walk through that park that’s nearby. I just wanted you to know where we’ll be at, if you need us.”
“Uh, sure, Bryton. Thanks for telling me,” Michael said confusedly, his tone of voice matching the puzzlement that was washing over each member of the STN-J. They were all trying to figure out why Robin and Bryton would be slipping out of the office, going to go for a private walk in the middle of the day.
“Mommy!” Javan chirped, running over and catching the end of Robin’s scarlet coat in one of her small hands, “Did you say that you’re going to the park?”
“Yes,” Robin said sweetly, looking over at Bryton before she continued, “Would you like to come with us?” Javan beamed, skipping over to snatch her small black jacket off of the low hook where it was kept all day. She shrugged into it, hurrying back over to Robin to have her do up the shiny buttons.
After Javan was securely bundled up, the trio disappeared into the elevator. Amon stared coldly at the doors as they shut quietly, his near black eyes frozen over.
“You know, Robin and Bryton looked kind of cute together,” Doujima said with a smile, pushing a lock of her soft blonde hair over her shoulder, “They each have a bit of an innocent appearance.”
“They’re around the same age, too,” Karasuma added, glancing over at Michael to get his confirmation and to be absolutely sure, “Who knows, they could end up together.” Sakaki and Michael rolled their eyes simultaneously, shaking their heads at the two women who quickly shot playful glares back. Doujima sighed and let her self sink further against her chair.
“I wish I had enough time to pursue a relationship,” Doujima said sadly, lightly running her fingers over the darkened screen in front of her, “With all that’s been going on lately, I’ve been here in the office nearly all of the time that I’m awake. Sometimes even more time than what I’m awake during the day.” She smiled grimly, her eyes flashing with an apology for bringing up the subject of the ever so persistent witches when it didn’t need to be discussed.
“Well, I’m too stressed to even think about trying to find a boyfriend. I’m just a little more concerned about making sure that all my friends survive to see the next day,” Karasuma said, nearly all the light fading out of her face as she carefully sat down. She pushed her brown hair off of her face, trying to put it back to where it was supposed to be but failing miserably.
“Look on the bright side,” Sakaki said brightly, hoping to cheer the two women up a bit, “At least you aren’t Michael. He’s not even allowed out of the office. So, if he wants to date, he’ll have to date a co-worker.” He grinned over at the computer hacker to show him that he was just teasing him.
“Yeah, I’d be able to take them to the coffee machine or the conference room,” Michael stated in a mock-serious voice, letting his amber glasses slide down his nose a fraction of an inch, “Perhaps, I’d take them to the exotic locale of that window over there.” Two pairs of eyes blinked perplexedly at him before a matching set of smiles spread across their faces.
“That’s better. It isn’t very interesting to talk to people who are too depressed to talk about anything besides the stuff that upset them in the first place,” Sakaki stated cheerfully, a crooked smile plastered on his face. His three co-workers that were seated by him nodded in agreement before they began to look around for something that would start up a new conversation.
“I wonder what’s wrong with Amon,” Doujima said, her voice painted over with curiosity, “He’s been even more gloomy than normal today.” She watched the dark man for a few seconds before he turned around and glared fiercely at her, forcing her to quickly turn her gaze elsewhere.
“Maybe he didn’t like something that Bryton told him while they were talking,” Michael suggested, absentmindedly checking over a fraction of code that seemed to be out of place. The others looked around at each other, everyone welcoming accepting that answer.
The next ten minutes passed in silence, a calm hush settling softly over those in the office. The only noise was that of Michael lightly clicking a few keys on his keyboard every few seconds as he attempted to find the problem in the file. The insistent ring of the telephone broke the quiet that had so peacefully arisen. Sakaki, noting that his friend was busy, picked the phone up.
“Hello,” Sakaki said simply, slightly worried by the fact Robin’s number was the one that had shown up on the caller id.
“Put Michael on,” Robin said tensely, “I need to ask him something.” Sakaki quickly did as he was told, pushing the phone at the confused hacker.
“What do you need, Robin?” Michael asked calmly, trying to ignore the fact the craft user sounded like she was frantically running around.
“I can’t find Bryton. He walked off to go get a drink of water from a fountain a few minutes ago and I can’t find him. I swear, he just went around the corner,” Robin said anxiously, not noticing that the signal was fading in and out, “I need to know if you can track him.”
“No, I can’t. Not unless he uses his powers and even then the new security systems aren’t completely set up yet, so they may not work properly. Bryton doesn’t even have a cell phone, so I couldn’t find him for you that way,” Michael explained soothingly, “You should just calm down and go back to where you were when he left; he’s probably looking for you.” All of the other people in the office were now intently listening, straining to catch bits of what Robin was saying.
“It was too quiet there,” Robin muttered darkly, “It was like a cemetery, it was so silent. I didn’t even hear Bryton after he went around the corner. I couldn’t stay in that spot; I think Javan sensed something I didn’t. She was starting to whimper.” Amon had walked over, placing himself as close to Michael as was appropriate.
“Tell Robin that I’m going to go help her look for Bryton,” Amon ordered, striding off and quickly slipping into his long trench coat, “I’ll be there shortly.” Michael immediately relayed the message, evoking a relieved sigh from the craft user.
“I’m sure he’s fine. I just can’t help but worry, especially with all that’s been going on,” Robin said, her voice trailing off when she didn’t dare continue. She couldn’t bring herself to say that the witches would have been still very eager to get Bryton back or even to kill him for leaving them.
“Amon, I’ll go with you,” Sakaki offered, hurrying to grab his jacket and catch up with the other hunter. The dark man signaled his consent and the two slipped into the elevator, both of their faces void of any emotion.
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