Disclaimer: I don’t own Witch Hunter Robin in any way. If you want me to stop writing these annoying disclaimers, I wouldn’t mind if you bought it for me. ^_^
Puff: Want a cookie?
Amon: *glares*
Kitsune: Puff, shut your mouth and untie us.
Puff: Have a cookie. The chocolate pieces will make you less grumpy. *shoves a cookie in Kitsune’s mouth* …. Amon, you should have two. *shoves two cookies in Amon’s mouth*
Kitsune and Amon: *can’t talk*
Puff: ^_^
The Joys of Parenthood
Chapter Fifty-One: It Wasn’t Her
“Lock down this floor and get all the children back into their rooms. Call security and have them remove everybody from the garden areas,” Dr. Takahashi ordered snappishly, watching while the nurse ran off to do as she was told, “Amon, Robin, check over the room for anything suspicious. I’ll take care of Javan.” He hurried over to the toddler’s bedside and began checking her over. Wordlessly and without a single protest of any sort, the pair of hunters immediately did a quick visual scan of the pastel colored hospital room.
“Is Javan alright?” Robin asked worriedly as she slid her glasses off of her nose, placing them back into the pocket of her robe. Amon was listening carefully and watching out of the corners of his eyes while he kept looking for things that shouldn’t have been there.
“She’s just asleep. I don’t think that… woman did anything to her,” Dr. Takahashi said in a calmer voice, picking the slip of paper out from underneath Javan’s tiny hand and offering it to Robin, “I think we should just let her sleep until all of this chaos simmers down. The last thing she needs is to have something upset her, especially before the tests and procedures that she’ll be undergoing in the near future.” Amon whirled around and faced the doctor, with pure anger bubbling out of his near-black eyes and swirling around his body.
“Do you really think that I’m going to leave my daughter with you after what just happened? She obviously won’t be safe with you,” Amon hissed from in between clenched teeth, his hands curled into tight fists, “As soon as she’s awake, I’m going to take my child home with me.” Dr. Takahashi had opened his mouth to respond but stopped when Robin poked at his shoulder urgently. He let his gaze flick over to the blonde craft user and she shoved the paper back into his hands.
“It’s addressed to you and I can’t make any sense of it,” Robin said softly, her green eyes settling sadly onto Javan after they left the doctor’s face. He took the note and let his eyes glide over the carefully curled words that danced across the thin surface several times before he spoke.
“That woman wasn’t Reika nor was she any relative of hers,” Dr. Takahashi stated blankly, his voice nearly void of emotion and almost mechanical in origin, “She may have looked like your Reika, but it most definitely wasn’t her. It was a witch; more specifically, a witch named Caydria. She used to be one of my patients and she told me about her skills at great length. She was completely able to master illusions, to the point where she could even fool cameras and medical scanners. Obviously, she was sent here to upset us and to remind us that they can get past almost any defense that we set up. I don’t think that any harm was intended or Javan would be dead right now.” He crumpled the slip of paper and shoved it into his pocket, before returning his attention to the still sleeping toddler. Any wires or tubes that were attached to her were immediately disconnected and he carefully picked her up.
“Before you say anything, Amon, I’m just taking her somewhere safer than here. You can come along with me, if you’d like,” Dr. Takahashi said, looking out into the corridor before he stepped out, “Come along; we don’t have much time before the security sweeps begin and we don’t want to have to put up with all of those lengthy procedures to get up into where we’re going.” The foreboding man followed the doctor, not bothering to make sure that Robin was going to follow them.
The blonde hunter was quickly gathering up Javan’s belongings; her arms were quickly filling up with dolls, stuffed animals, puzzles, and other toys that were obviously gifts from the good doctor. Just as she was about to hurry out of the door to catch back up with the two men, Robin caught a glint of light out of the corners of her emerald eyes. She went back to the bed and hooked one of her fingers carefully around the shimmering little bag that looked like a doll’s purse.
“I’m sorry I took so long to catch up,” Robin panted, her face flushed from the running she had to do to find those she needed to be with, “I just wanted to get Javan’s things.” Amon rolled his near-black eyes vaguely and pulled most of the items out of his hunting partner’s arms. The movement caused by his actions disturbed the loosely held silk bag. It fell to the ground, producing a very faint and muffled metallic sound on contact with the cool tiles.
“That looks like the thing Caydria dropped just before she left the room,” Amon stated coldly, glaring at Robin for daring to bring a potentially dangerous item along with them to wherever they were going. The pair stood perfectly still, eyeing the object on the floor with varying degrees of apprehension and disgust.
“You know, you two can go ahead and stare at that little thing later. Robin, pick it up and let’s hurry. I can hear the security guards getting close to here,” Dr. Takahashi said hurriedly, gesturing as much as he could while he held tightly to a now half-awake Javan, “We don’t have much further to go.” Robin obediently did as she was told to and plucked the pouch up with the tips of her fingernails; it was quickly deposited into one of her pockets so she wouldn’t have to hold onto it while they briskly walked along the near-silent hallways.
“Daddy, what’s going on?” Javan called out to her father, her bleary eyes peeking up over Dr. Takahashi’s shoulder. In a move that immediately won him an extremely shocked look from Robin, Amon’s frozen eyes melted when he saw his daughter. The corners of his pale lips turned up vaguely; anybody who hadn’t closely studied the man wouldn’t have been able to see any difference.
“We’re just going for a bit of a walk, Javan, that’s all. Try to go back to sleep,” Amon said gently, ignoring the incredulous looks he was receiving from his two other companions. The little girl nodded tiredly and let her head rest on Dr. Takahashi, as her blue-gray eyes slowly slid shut once again.
“Yes. You know I have security clearance. Yes. I can bring others in. Don’t give me that. I can easily have you removed from your job if you don’t learn how to not question me soon. Good. I’m glad to hear that you’ve finally remembered your position. Thank you for opening the door,” Dr. Takahashi said in a polite voice that was blatantly forced, hanging the corded phone back up on the wall as a thick metal door swung open nearby. He immediately walked through and the two hunters were very close behind him; almost as soon as the door had opened, it had begun to close slowly.
“Right this way; I’m taking you to my main office,” Dr. Takahashi explained, leading them down a short and dreary corridor to the single doorway at the end. He carefully maneuvered his hands so he wouldn’t move Javan around too much and managed to get the door open. Javan was placed on a dark blue couch, propped up by a pile of velvet pillows.
Amon, without even looking towards the doctor for permission, dropped the pile of toys he had in his arms onto the floor by the sofa and made himself comfortable amid the mountains of brightly colored pillows and overstuffed cushions. Robin quietly shut the door and fished the silk bag out of her pocket; her bright green eyes were instantly made busy by the dizzying patterns that were embroidered into the tiny bit of material.
“Are you going to tell us anything else about that Caydria woman or did you bring us here for some other reason?” Amon asked coldly, his dark eyes pinned to Dr. Takahashi’s now-relaxed face.
“I’ve already told you most everything that I know about her. She stopped making appointments with me about two years ago and stopped coming to my offices completely about three months after that. Whenever I saw her, Caydria only spoke of her symptoms or her abilities. Occasionally, she would complain about having to baby-sit but I don’t know anything else about her beyond that,” Dr. Takahashi explained with a hinting of his typical brightness painting his voice, smiling as he slid into the high-backed chair behind his desk, “What I actually brought you here for was so that we could discuss the tests that I’d like to run on Javan soon, without the risk of being disturbed by those pesky security guards.”
“I thought I made myself clear. I won’t allow you to run those tests on Javan now,” Amon stated, crossing his arms and leaning back further against the pillows, “She isn’t safe here.” Dr. Takahashi sighed loudly and rubbed at his eyes, pushing papers aside with his free hand.
“Not to insult you or anything, but she’d be at more risk with you. Think about it, my boy; with me, she’d be under constant supervision and in an extremely secure location. But if you take her home, there’s nothing to guarantee that she’d be watched constantly or that she wouldn’t wander off on her own,” Dr. Takahashi said carefully as he meekly tested Amon’s patience, “Besides, Javan needs to know about her abilities so she can control them with her own will, not through sheer survival instincts.”
“Perhaps, I’ll consider it,” Amon said coolly, turning his attention to Robin who was now sitting very close to him. She held up a small bit of silver, squared around most of the edges but missing a bit of a circle in the middle.
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