Disclaimer: Don’t own ‘em. Would like to be able to purchase Amon, though. For a list of characters I own, see past disclaimers.
Kitsune: *runs a hand through her silver hair* I can’t believe that Amon ran down the left hall, but he’s not here!!!
Puff: *distant* TAKE THAT!!!
Kitsune: *scampers off to investigate*
Amon: *lying on the floor in the fetal position*
Puff: *beating Amon with bamboo sword*
Kitsune: Now I love a good old fashion beating, but this is wrong! *runs forward to help*
Puff: Don’t interfere! He knocked over the vase!
Kitsune: Look, I understand you’re upset and all, but this isn’t how you should solve your problems.
Puff: *looks confused* I shouldn’t hit Amon?
Kitsune: What gave you that idea? You’re holding your sword all wrong and you aren’t hitting him properly. You don’t want to break anything. Aim for the abdomen. No bones to break there!
Amon: *escapes while the other two were talking* *Looks at readers* I tripped, okay. *runs off*
Chapter Twelve: Talk To Me
When Amon arrived at the office the next morning, it was apparent that Robin hadn’t forgiven him for anything he may have said wrong. If anything, she seemed to detest him even more. Unfortunately, Amon hadn’t figured out what he had done to upset her so he decided to confront her.
The cold hunter pulled Robin into the conference room, where the others’ prying eyes and ears couldn’t reach. The craft user’s green eyes burned intensely with hurt and anger as she stared at her partner. She looked like a deer caught in a car’s headlights, not knowing what do, after a few seconds of exchanging frigid glares.
“What is wrong with you?” Amon asked coolly, deciding that she would talk and that would be the end of it. Robin’s eyes widened briefly, showing her shock and confusion over the fact that Amon seemed to care about her feelings. After the split second ended, her green orbs regained the icy overcoat they had developed since she had ran off at the park.
“You should know,” Robin snapped, surprising herself with the severity of her tone. With that comment Robin strode quickly out of the room, leaving Amon even more bewildered than he had been the previous night. He watched the craft user go about her daily business in the office; she was perfectly pleasant to their co-workers. His dark eyes meticulously watched for any unusually behavior, anything to help him figure out how to get her to drop her grudge without having to apologize.
Javan hunted him down after he had been sitting in the conference room for about an hour. She wanted to go play at the park again; she wanted to take Robin along.
“No,” Amon said icily, sending chills down Javan’s spine. She gathered all the courage she could muster and glared at her father, narrowing her blue-gray eyes into slits.
“Yes!” Javan retorted crossly, placing her hands on her hips. Amon cringed inside; if she had an attitude at this young of an age, he could only imagine her as a teenager.
“I said no,” Amon stated decisively, not raising his voice a fraction of a decibel but increasing the ‘chill’ factor by tenfold, “Perhaps another day.” His ending words seemed to pacify Javan, or scare her witless, as she half-smiled and left him alone with his thoughts.
Now this continued for about a week, each passing day frustrating Amon even more. He would briefly ask Robin what was wrong with her, she would walk off, Javan would bug him, he’d get rid of her somehow, and then he’d have the rest of the day to contemplate his thoughts. Luckily enough, Amon and Robin didn’t have to go on a hunt together; the cases were tiny and really only needed one hunter to take down the witch.
Then Robin and Amon were forced to stake out a witch together. The craft user resentfully sat in the passenger seat, ignoring her stoic partner as well as was humanly possible. Her emerald eyes flicked towards Amon every few seconds, either waiting for him to speak or thinking of the best way to start a flame that wouldn’t spread.
“What’s wrong with you?” Amon asked, measuring his tone to completely neutral. Robin looked around, trying to find an escape route before she comprehended the fact she couldn’t leave without jeopardizing the mission. She sent icy mental daggers towards her partner and then turned her head towards the window. Amon fought down an urge to wring her neck until she turned blue and calmly calculated his next move. All he had to do was maneuver her into a corner so she wouldn’t have another option but to answer. Simple enough in the theory; difficult in practice.
Amon pushed a piece of his hair out of his eyes, acting like he was truly looking for the witch. The case could wait; Robin was more of a health hazard to him at the moment. He was carefully using the mirrors to observe her body language; it was at that moment that Amon discovered Robin was smarter than anyone gave her credit for. The craft user had the same idea as her partner, delicately angling a pocket mirror from behind her sleeve to study Amon.
When she discovered she had been found out, she slipped the mirror into the pocket of her crimson trench coat. Robin turned her head calmly to face her partner, the small smile painted on her porcelain face unnerving Amon even more than the amount of power she held. He cast his dark gray eyes up to meet her bottle green eyes, the glares enough to refreeze the polar ice caps.
“Talk,” Amon ordered insensitively, planning to scare his young hunting partner into forgiving him for whatever he said wrong.
“No,” Robin responded apathetically, her face set in stone. Amon was starting to get a taste of how it felt to be talking to himself, and he wasn’t enjoying it. Robin looked away, diverting her attention back to their mission. Her partner, however, let his mind wander and came up with different solutions to the problem. Unhappily, most of them ended with Robin getting really mad and him ending up as a crispy critter.
There was but one option that Amon felt was available and it was the one that he didn’t want to take. For him, it would be like opening the proverbial Pandora’s box. The hunter steeled himself, took a deep breath, and spoke.
“Will you please tell me what’s wrong, Robin?” Amon inquired, his voice loosing its ‘may you freeze to death’ quality. Robin’s head snapped around to look at her partner, thinking she had gone insane.
“Who are you and what did you do with Amon?” Robin asked, her expression clearly spelling out astonishment and suspicion. Amon glared, letting the fire user know it was still her icy partner speaking to her.
“Tell me what’s wrong,” Amon ordered, his cold tone half returned.
“Why should I?” Robin snapped, her full repertoire of negative emotions back in place.
“Because I’m your friend,” Amon said, fighting desperately not to cringe at how sickly sweet he sounded.
“I though I was just ‘valuable to the STN-J’,” Robin said in return, throwing Amon’s words back into his face. A switch in his head was flipped on and the light bulb began to glow; he had figured out at least part of what he did wrong.
“Besides, ‘we don’t like each other’,” Robin continued coldly, waiting for a response from Amon. He was currently placing the pieces of information he had just gathered into his mental puzzle and admiring the fact he had completed it. The euphoria from finally solving his problem after a week of badgering from Javan and getting the cold shoulder from Robin wore off quickly when the edge of his senses told him that the craft user was more upset than ever.
“I didn’t mean it how it sounded,” Amon said quickly, utterly loathing how henpecked he was starting to seem.
“How did you mean it?” Robin questioned sharply, the very tone of her voice enough to draw blood.
“I meant we’re just friends; nothing more, nothing less,” Amon stated coolly, really despising the nice guy act. His cool façade hadn’t slipped throughout the conversation, though Amon felt as if he had just bared his soul. His dark eyes narrowed slightly, daring Robin to try and continue talking.
“We’re friends?” Robin asked sweetly, wanting confirmation of Amon’s statement. Her partner looked at her like she had gone stark raving mad and had just terrorized downtown Tokyo dressed in a Godzilla suit.
“Yeah,” Amon said briefly, letting his eyes search the milieu for their target now that his life wasn’t going to abruptly be put to a fiery end anytime soon. Robin’s jade eyes glowed with the brilliance of a thousand stars as she began to lean over to hug Amon. That idea was cut short when her partner glared tetchily at her, his former personality fully restored. At least Robin found out he could be kind if he wanted to.
She joined Amon in searching for the witch, hoping that it wouldn’t be much more of a wait. After a few hours of sitting in a car with nothing to do but watch the street and play with her glasses, Robin began to wonder if they had the right area of town.
“Is this the right spot?” Robin questioned delicately, noticing how edgy Amon seemed to become after their little chat.
“His house is over there,” Amon stated, raising a gloved hand and pointing at a nice house on the corner of the street. Robin nodded, slipping down in her seat a fraction of an inch. She was extremely bored and Amon really didn’t seem to need an extra pair of eyes. Suddenly, an idea struck her like a bolt of lightning. (AN: after the past few chapters, Robin knows what it feels like to be electrocuted ^_^ Back to the story)
Her heavily gloved hands undid the seat belt she had neglected to undo earlier as she hurried to get out of the car. Robin reached for the handle; Amon reached over and caught her wrist.
“What are you doing?” Amon snapped, “You’ll give away our cover!”
“I am going to go politely knock on the witch’s front door and see if he is home,” Robin explained softly, twisting her wrist out of Amon’s grasp. The older hunter looked utterly perplexed as Robin gracefully exited the car. Amon raced to catch up with her, not about to let her confront the witch on her own.
The craft user glided across the street and up to their target’s front door, her skirt barely rustling as it dusted the ground. Her partner was debating the unorthodox way to find the witch as she lightly rapped her knuckles on the wooden door. A moment later a jittery-looking man opened the door, his nervous eyes skittering over them. Amon immediately was on guard; their target had been home the entire time.
“Can I help you?” the witch asked fretfully, opening the door as far as the chain would allow.
“Yes, we’re from a medical research facility and we have you on our list as a possible candidate for some testing,” Robin lied, her face perfectly straight, “May we talk inside?” The witch looked both of them over and nodded; he closed the door just enough so he could undo the safety chain and allow them in. Amon was proud of Robin’s quick thinking, not that he was ever going tell her though.
“Now what kind of testing did you have in mind? I’m allergic to most of the medicine for my nerves so I would be really grateful if you people had something new,” the witch explained, his hands twitching as he spoke. Amon shut the door, blocking their target’s escape that way. Robin slipped her glasses out of her coat pocket and onto the bridge of her nose.
“You aren’t from any medical facility are you?” the witch asked, his shoulders slumping.
“No, we aren’t,” Amon said point blankly, pulling his Orbo gun from its holster.
“I should have known that I was going to get hunted. All the others warned me,” the witch said offhandedly, regretting his decisions, “Just take me away. Any life has to be better than the one I have.” With that said, the witch collapsed on the floor. Amon pulled out his cell phone and called in the guys from Factory to take care of the rest.
“Robin, never tell anyone of that conversation outside,” Amon ordered, shooting the witch for good measure before walking out the front door to wait for the Factory vans to arrive.
“Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye,” Robin said cheerfully, making to hand movements to match her words. Amon suppressed an infinitesimal smile that threatened to sneak up on him as he observed his partner. She led him to his car, walking in measured steps and humming softly to herself.
Amon waited only for the Factory vans to pull around the corner before he started the car and drove back to the office. All the way back, he felt Robin’s amused eyes on the side of his head.
Author’s Note:
Yes, I know Amon was WAY out of character. But every man, every single man, has a breaking point where they just can’t take the silent treatment any longer. I’ve been watching my mother torment men since I can remember, so I know. (Picked up a lot of good things, too!) And yes, I know that witch was stupid. He was just a plot device to force the two of them together. I’d like to thank those of you whom actually care enough to read my ever so important author’s notes. {Wails} I’d also like to thank those who suggested new action symbols for me. I chose the brackets {} if they work. It the little symbol doesn’t show up after the word brackets, tell me. Oh and I wouldn’t mind fan art. I’m thinking of getting my own website soon, and I would probably put it up. Since I couldn’t draw my way out of a paper bag, I was hoping some of you all could come up with how Javan would look. Or some family shots! Just email me. K, thanks.
To The Reviewers:
CuriousDreamWeaver: Yeah, there was Amon, trying to all protective like and he screws it up.
Haruya: Yes, penguin. Rachel (my best friend who gave me my nicknames) once told me, if my memory serves me, that Puff was a penguin. So Puff is a human-penguin mix and Kitsune is a fox demon. ^_^ I think a few of those signs wouldn’t show up, especially since I don’t have my beloved asterisk anymore. {sigh} But thanks for the…wide variety of options.
Suki1: As a matter of fact, I have been electrocuted before. Three times actually. Twice trying to hook up new games to the TV and I accidentally touched the metal prongs on the plug while part of them was still in the outlet. And once, I had wet hands and I touched one of those electricity globes. Believe me, it’s fun albeit a touch painful afterwards.
Just4ubaby: Thanks, It means a lot to me that I’ve changed your mind a bit. I’m overjoyed that you my story.
Bana: Yes, that would be cute. Now draw it and send it to me! Wait, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Sorry.
Beautiful Witch Hunter Robin: I think any self-respecting woman would have given Amon the silent treatment. PS: puppy eyes don’t work on me. I’ve become immune to their effects because I, myself, over use them. ^_^
Cali1043: {Smiles} So do I.
Wake-Robin: Well, some how I figured out a way for Amon to drag himself out of the doghouse, but it meant breaking all of his preset boundaries. {Grins evilly} Which is a VERY good thing…. {Thunder in background}
Kanno: I usually don’t read other peoples fan fiction. For a detailed description of why, read the responses back a few chapters. But why don’t you email me and I can maybe give you a few tips for breaking writer’s block. I decided to use the brackets so thank you so very much. {Sirens wail and balloons drop from the ceiling} Yay, you figured out Kitsune. In my little world, she’s my Fox Boy’s younger sister. {Glomps Kurama who’s tied in corner}Kitsune has another name, but I don’t think I want to make it public yet… {Blushes} Oh, wow, that’s quite a compliment. I really don’t know what to say except {Stands up} I’d really like the thank the Academy, my directors because they really made me shine, my family and friends because they were always there for me, and the little people who made me feel so special. You were all so great and owe this award to you! {Sits down} Sorry about that….that was a little odd.
Yamiyumetenshi: I think I already gave your response… ^_^ I’m too lazy to type it out all over again.
Malster: Ya think? Maybe I’ll bring them back, they were perfect for getting on Amon’s last remaining nerve. ^_^
Slysilverinu: Yeah, they be at the office and Robin will walk in offering barbeque and Amon won’t be in sight. {laughs} Draw green-brown spots all over yourself, sneeze on the computer, and tell your sister you have leprosy. That will get rid of her in no time flat.
Row: It’s okay, I know you at least read the Author’s Notes.
Allieycosta: Thanks for the suggestions.