Red Rain

Disclaimer: Surprise! I still don\'t own Witch Hunter Robin. Nope, really, I don\'t. Not mine. I just like to play around with the characters. It\'s not my fault WHR is the work of a genius!


Red Rain
by Rhynn Adama

Chapter Four: Oh...Shit...


Robin was still holding Amon when, five minutes later, the door was nearly ripped from its frame.

\"Amon! The system said there was a fire, and then Michael detected a possible witch birth in the area.\"

Sakaki and Karasuma burst into the apartment, and promptly skidded to a halt.

\"Whoa.\"

Understatement. The entire room was covered in ash and a fine mist. And then there was Robin, with a few singed patches on her skirt and smudges of soot on her cheeks, but otherwise unharmed, and Amon, who she held protectively to her chest. In her right hand was the Orbo pendant, still glowing with the residual effects of Amon\'s birth.

\"Amon, what just happened here?\"

The man\'s response was a grunt, at which point Robin slipped the chain back over his head. The witch hunter relaxed as the pendant went calm.

\"Robin\'s knee acted up again, and there was a bit of a firestorm. No harm done, though. We used the fire extinguisher and put it out.\"

If either one of them thought that was odd, neither said anything. Though Karasuma\'s sharp eyes instantly noted that the fire extinguisher was still in its usual home in the corner behind the door, and the mist drifting along theor wor wasn\'t the same color or thickness as fire retardant. The room didn\'t even smell right.

Sakaki, however, didn\'t seem to notice. \"Ah, well, Chief said that you two were wasting too much time here and should come to work now if you don\'t want to lose your jobs.\"

\"We\'ll clean up and be there in an hour.\" Amon didn\'t move, though his glare clearly dismissed the other two.

\"See you at work, Amon.\" Karasuma prodded Sakaki out the door.
~*~

Robin waited until the door was shut before speaking. \"Amon, why didn\'t you tell them about how you put the fire out?\"

\"Chief Kosaka would salivate if he knew I\'d come into my witch powers. I\'ve been avoiding this for years, Robin.\"

\"But why?\"

\"I\'m a Seed. I had the power, it was just dormant. I\'ve been watched my entire life. I didn\'t have the luxury of being raised into my powers.\"

Robin mumbled an apology, pausing for a long moment. \"Amon, why aren\'t you getting up?\"

\"...because I don\'t want to.\"

The blonde-haired girl blinked in surprise. \"What?\"

Amon twisted around, staring hard at her. \"I don\'t want to. I rather enjoy it when you aren\'t afraid to touch me.\"

\"Oh!\" A flush colored her cheeks as she immediately snatched her hands away, only to have Amon\'s fingers close around her wrists.

\"Don\'t pull away from me, Robin. Don\'t be afraid of me.\" A soft kiss was dropped onto her forehead, before he got up, reaching down and lifting her in his arms. He completely ignored the charred remains of her wheelchair and carried her into the bathroom. He set her on the bench in the shower. \"Can you handle it from here?\"

\"Y-yes.\" Oh my. Robin\'s cheeks were a rosy pink as she averted her eyes, trembling slightly. He\'d carried her. Not a businesslike hold to get her from the floor to the bench, but a gentle, concerned hold.

Her ears registered the click as the door shut, and she fought her way out of her shirt and jeans.
~*~

On the other side of the door, dark eyes squeezed shut, thin lips pursing a frustrated groan. His hair fell in the customary curtain around his face.

Get ahold of yourself, Amon. You just carried her, that\'s all. Got her from point A to point B. No big deal. Forget the way she trembled when you touched her. Forget the softness of her lips.

\"Shut up!\" Turning, his fist slammed into the wall, sending a cloud of dust wafting into his face. He gritted his teeth and surveyed the destruction of his room. \"Well, at least I was needing new furniture anyway...\"
~*~

Outside the building, Karasuma glanced up at the window, frowning. Sakaki made a soft query from inside the car.

\"Oh, nothing. Sorry. Let\'s go.\" She slid into the driver\'s seat and pulled away from the curb as she buckled her seatbelt.
~*~

At headquarters, Michael typed away on his computer, music playing loudly over his headphones. He was running a test on Robin\'s computer to make sure it was working properly, but having a hard time getting it to work.

As it was, he nearly jumped out of his skin when two slender, pale arms slid over his shoulders, a soft body brushing lightly against his back as delicate fingers moved his hands out of the way, typing rapidly on the keyboard. He blinked in surprise when the test program he was working with flashed a notice that it was running a full system scan.

The body pulled away, allowing him to turn to see who had fixed the computer.

Violet eyes stared back at him.

“Uh, hello. You are?”

The small right hand extended. “Avaia. Most call me Avi. I’m Robi’s big sister.”

“Who’s big sister?” He stared, not taking her hand.

“Robi’s. Oh, sorry. I suppose you all call her Robin.”

“I didn’t know Robin has an older sister. You’re not in the STN-J database.”

“Yes, well, Father didn’t exactly any anyone about me. I’m actually only her half sister.”

“That’s more than she had two weeks ago.”

The woman’s ivory face turned slightly pink. “Um, she doesn’t know about me yet.”

“What? You mean Robin’s never seen you?”

“Oh, she’s seen me,” Avi sank into the chair next to him, crossing her knees and swiveling a bit from side to side. “She just doesn’t know I’m her sister.”

“Why exactly are you here then?”

“Because I was the one who called you, and I wanted to thank you for sending Amon. I was petrified I’d lose my sister. I’ve spent the last three years looking for her. I glimpsed her at the airport when she first got here, but after that... She’s a hard girl to find.”

“Yet you still seeto fto find her.”

“A friend of mine told me where to look after I... after I was born.”

“You’re a witch?” He seemed very surprised that she hadn’t shown up in the database.

“I’m a catalyst, really. I don’t have true powers of my own. But putwithwith another witch, and I can increase both their power output, and their control of the power they have already. I’ve also accidentally woken a Seed before. That’s how we figured out what my power was.”

“You woke a Seed? Who? What power?”

She laughed softly. “The Seed was my best friend, and she was trying to figure out why she’d been having so many disturbing dreams. It wasn’t until she fell asleep in my car on the way home from work that we realized what was going on. She’s a Precog. Or at least she gets warnings when something bad is about to happen. She’s the one who sent me to that mountain road to protect Robin.”

“So you’re a catalyst? That’s all? I thought witches from the same family had the same powers.”

“I am able to create flame.”

“But you just said you didn’t have--“

“I don’t. It’s my tears. If I’m highly emotional about something I can sometimes cry tears that burn. Koryn called them Tears of Pearls. Because the tears look like black pearls.”

“Hmm.”

“You don’t trust me. I understand. I don’t blame you. But I can’t hurt you. I wouldn’t, even if I could.”

Michael frowned, then rolled over to his laptop, plugging a disk into the slot and typing in a command. “Tell me what you think of this.”

Avaia got up and walked over, one hand on the back of his chair, the other on the arm as she leaned down, peering at the screen. Red hair curtained her face as violet eyes scanned the screen.

“What is this?” She asked, shifting to crouch beside his computer chair.

“It’s a playback of an alert I got about an hour or so ago. Apparently there was a surge of power near Amon’s apartment building. Chief seems to think it was a witch coming into their powers.”

“It was me.”

Michael and Avaia both turned to see Robin in the doorway. Or rather; Amon holding Robin against him in the doorway.

“I lost control of my powers and had another flame-out. I ruined another chair.” She flushed sheepishly, bowing her head.

“Well, we happen to have several here with wheels.” Avaia snagged a chair and wheeled it over, holding it steady while Amon helped Robin sit down. “Where to?”

“We have a briefi Da Dark eyes met violet in an exchange of knowing glances, before Amon took over, pushing Robin, computer chair and all, into the meeting room.
~*~

Michael sat down, typing a command into his control keyboard. The recording he’d just shown Avaia popped up on the screens. “Here’s the deal. The system detected a massive power surge around Amon’s building. Only a third of it was recognized as Robin’s. The large majority of it we think was a witch coming into their powers. They want us to keep an eye on the building. Amon, that means you and Robin are going to have to stay somewhere else. We can’t risk confusing Robin’s power for the other witch if she happens to have another flame out.”

“Where do you have in mind?”

“I could always just go hom--“ Robin cut herself off, eyes widening, before she stared hard at her screen. She’d seen Amon’s jaw tighten, and felt the guilt in her gut. She still felt responsible for Touko.

“That’s out of the picture, and you know it. I kept you at my apartment because I didn’t want you burning yours, or the Clinic, down around your ears.”

The Craft User cringed under Amon’s accusing glare, before she straightened.

“You didn’t have--“

“That’s enough, Robin.”

Oh yes, indeed that was enough. Robin lunged to her feet, gripping the edge of the table to keep herself steady as she turned flashing green eyes on the dark haired man at the far end of the table.

“I SAID I WAS SORRY ABOUT YOUR STUPID APARTMENT! You didn’t have to insist that I stay there! You didn’t have to take over my physical therapy! I can walk just fine! I could have stayed at the Clinic!”

“Robin!” Amon was on his feet, stunning the others by the unrestrained anger in his movements.

“SHUT UP! I SAID I WAS SORRY! I’M TRYING DAMMIT AND ALL YOU DO IS KEEP THROWING IT IN MY FACE!”

She whirled to storm from the room, and was halfway across the floor, before she froze, gasping softly. Amon’s fingers were digging into her arm to keep her from moving.

“I thought I warned you about losing your temper, Little Robin.”

That did it. Her hand snaked out, pushing him away. His coat smoked lightly as the Orbo pendant around his neck began to boil.

“Robin...”

She whimpered and pushed harder. “Leave me alone, Amon. Just shut up!”

“ROBIN!”

Startled green eyes turned toward the doorway, where the red haired woman was standing, hands on her hips, and a disapproving expression on her face.

“Who--“

“Apologize, Robin. That behavior was simply appalling.”

The girl’s jaw hung slack, then tightened, as she lowered her head. “I apologize. My behavior was inappropriate.”

“It’s alright, Robin. We understand. Spending that much time with Amon would put me in a bad mood, too.”

Amon glared at Doujima, causing the entire team to burst out laughing.

“So where again are you putting us?”

“The Factory has a safe-house that shou-- Amon?”

Michael blinked at the older man, who had gone rigid the moment he’d mentioned the Factory.

“I’ll take Robin back to her apartment. I’m sure she’s kept a stock of fire extinguishers handy.”

Bringing the meeting to an abrupt close, Amon pushed Robin back into her chair.

“Make sure she doesn’t burn anything while I go talk to Zaizen.”
~*~

Robin sulked the entire time he was gone, or at least pretended to sulk while she studied the strange woman Michael was laughing with. The moment had had left her Doujima and Sakaki had left for Harry’s, and Karasuma was making some coffee in the other room, which meant that Robin was all by herself. Not that she minded all that much. She could easily watch Michael and the red haired woman from here.

Who is she? And why does she seem so familiar?

In the other room, Avaia glanced up, noticing that Robin was watching her and Michael.

“She’s watching.”

“I know. She always watches,” Michael said, typing on his laptop. “Would you like for me to input you into the STN-J database?”

“Is it necessary?”

“You’ll end up here eventually. Better to be on the friends list than on the hit list.”

“Alright then.” She snagged a chair and sat down, leaning on the arm of his chair to watch what he was typing. He had a blank profile form open on the screen.

“Name?”

“Avaia Maieda. A-v-a-i-a M-a-i-e-d-a. 19. 3-29. Mother: Vai Morgana Tandami-Maieda. Father: Toudou Hiroshi.”

Michael choked on his coffee, but Robin couldn’t hear anything after that as Amon returned, his coat slapping lightly against his legs.

“Let’s go,” he said, reaching down and swinging her up into his arms and heading for the elevator. “We’ll swing by the Clinic on the way to your apartment and pick up a new chair.”

“Amon, Karasuma told me to let you know she was getting your fire extinguisher refilled. She’ll drop it off at Robin’s after work.”

The doors shut, and Amon let out a low hiss.

“Amon?”

“The fire extinguisher, Robin.”

She thought for a moment, before her green eyes widened. “Oh...Shit...”
~*~


Sorry sorry sorry about taking so long. This chapter was incredibly difficult for me to write. I have a sizeable chunk of chapte five done, however, so I should hope not to take so long with chapter five. Interesting things shall happen in the next chapter, so bear with me. I won\'t post unless I\'m completely satisfied with my work.

And special thanks to Cody for bailing my butt out of the dredges of the literary world. Writer\'s block is such a pain in the ass.

No, seriously. I think the springs in this chair need replacing.