Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ 'Eve'ning returns. ❯ Seeking ( Chapter 1 )

The tall and thinly made man named Master drove his car across a very hard packed dirt road. It seemed it had been days since stepping out of the plane and onto Australian soil. It had been only hours in fact.

Wiping his brow, the man seemed to be withering in the heat that was inside the car he drove. He was use to the oppressive humid heat of Tokyo, but the blistering dry heat of the Outback was more intense. He could not believe just how hot he was feeling, as she focused on the road ahead of him.

In reality, he had left Sidney just over six hours ago, getting off the plane at seven in the morning local time after a back-breaking flight of many hours over the expanse of the Pacific Ocean. The owner of Harry's then rented a car and headed out of the sweltering city and went north west into the sands and extremes of heat that was the Outback by just after noontime locally.

Once out on the road that lead deeper into the Australian wilds, all he had was a old road map that he found in the glove compartment of his rented compact car and the large bottled water he had bought for the trip from a small convenience store he saw on his way out of the metropolis.

Now in the wide open outback country, The tall Barkeeper was driving inland, looking for a very specific small town called Tinkler's Bend which seemed to be located out in the middle of nowhere of the great continent, miles from any large urban center. He hoped that this old map he had, was accurate.

The car he had rented had air conditioning as a standard feature, but it seemed the car would only let it work when it wanted it to, and it was definitely not wanting to right then. He simply ignored the finicky feature and kept on driving deeper into the wilds, as the hot southern sun continually baked the compact car from overhead.

The man took a sip from the bottle of water he kept in between his legs, and made a face. It was warm and brackish already, due to the heat that had built up in the car. He just took another sip, and put it back between his legs, as the water was too warm to be of any relief for him other than keeping hydrated.

He hoped that there would be a rest stop along this road, yet the map told him that there would not be for about a hundred or so kilometers. He sighed, and kept on driving, thankful that this small car had two tanks for gas, and hoped that the vehicle would not be a fuel guzzler. He had lucked out with that important feature, being the only small car at the rentalsmen's office that day.

With a sigh, he simply pushed the car deeper into the open nothingness that was the Australian desert highway.

It was quite late in the afternoon when he came upon a very dilapidated sign on the roadside. It was wind very ravaged, heat blistered and the black paint that spelled out something was very faded, but it said something that really made him glad to see the sign. It read Tinkler's Bend: one kilometer, with an arrow pointing to the left.

The man smiled and turned the vehicle onto the half sand, half rock entrance road that would take him into the town. He roared off down the path, musing to himself that he was probably one of the few people other than the locals, who would ever take this road into the small town.

The town was a small one, maybe there might have been three hundred people that lived in the town, and that might be stretching it a little. The main street had very few stores, and seemed to have only one Restaurant for it's population, which was centered right beside the small Catholic church on the main road. Tinkler's Bend was not a bustling place by any stretch of the imagination, but this was layed back personified.

The man parked his car and went in to this greasy spoon looking establishment, hoping to find someone to ask directions from. He was seeking Amon and Robin who had been hidden here since taking down The Collective-Moon almost a year ago now. He was unsure of exactly where they might live, but he was hoping that he would answer that.

A severely balding middle aged man in a sickly looking white t-shirt was sitting at the till, reading a newspaper. He looked up, his bald sot glistening with a heavy smattering of sweat.

" What can I get ya, Mate?" He asked with a suspicious eye, seeing the thin man come in.

Master had the ability to speak english quite well, but this Australian slang of talk still was hard to listen to, and even harder to speak if you needed.

" Might I ask to get a small piece of information from you?" Master asked, as friendly as he could.

" Could, Mate... Depends on just wot it is yer tryin' to ask about?" The man said dryly.

Master just looked at the rough looking man, his accent making it hard to actually understand him, but somehow he did.

" I am looking for the whereabouts of a young couple that might live here in your town , or possibly very near here." He asked, hoping his English was better than what he thought it was.

" Got a few of them here mate..." The man replied, still eyeing the man with leeriness. " Got 'a' name of these people so as I can narrow it down for ya 'a' might?"

" Amon and Robin." Master said, making sure his smile was still as friendly as possible. " The last name might be Syunji."

The man stared right into Master's face, eyeing him with a great deal of carefulness.

" A friend are ye?" He asked, almost sarcastically in it's lilt.

" I knew them back in Tokyo." Master explained, seeing the man did have some knowledge. " They are old friends that I really need to see as quickly as possible."

" How do I know ye are a friend of these people before I might give you that type of information if I had it?" He asked, suspicion dripping off his words.

Master thought for a moment, them he looked at the man.

" Amon had a bird... a robin tattooed on his upper arm before they left Japan for this far out of the way place, with a small band that has the Japanese symbol for the robin on it's left foot." He said, then added. " The Italian word for the bird is hidden in the picture, in the shading on the wing, to be specific."

The man blinked, his face suddenly flooding with hospitality towards the strange man that was there.

" He said only people that were there, and the Tattoo artist would know what that was on the band, or the wing." The greasy spoon's owner said, his face changing to being very compliant. " Helps me distinguishes in his friend or foe."

" Does that prove it then?" Master said, feeling the first wave of relief flow over him.

" Hell yeah, it does just right fer me!" The man roared, his face now showing great friendliness. " You then must be either Nagira or the one he keeps calling 'Master'."

The tall man from Japan chuckled, as the man was more animated than when he first had approached him.

" I am the one he called 'Master'." Admitted the Barkeep, seeing that Amon still had revered him to some degree... in his own way.

The man in the white shirt quickly started to scramble as he searched for something around the till area.

" Then let me write you directions out to their little ol'place... it a might far off the beaten path I'd say..." He said, picking up a pen and paper he found beside two empty cans of beer." Lets see if we can get you there in one big Kanga's leap."

" That would be nice." Master said, watching the man scribble on the page with great ferocity. " Would I get there before nightfall?"

" Ye should, Mate." Said the man, as he wrote. " It 'tis a fair way there though... Would you like a coffee or a pint before going?" The man said, finishing his writing.

Master took the piece of paper and looked at the man with gratefulness on his gentle features.

" No, thank you. I must get out there right away... perhaps later?" He said, smiling at the Australian.

" Sound like whatever ye are here about, it's serious, mate?" The Café-owner said.

" Something like that, Sir." Politely replied Master.

" Just call me Willy, mate.." The man said. " To get there the fastest rout possible, mate... Just go outta town due west, mate... Then all ya have to do is follow my instructions I give you, and I will get ya there quick."

" Before nightfall?" He asked again, making sure of everything as he usually would have.

" Just before it, mate." Grinned the balding man.

Thanking the man with a Japanese like bow, Master turned quickly on his heels and hurried off to return to his car. Once in the small vehicle, he headed off due west, as the man had instructed to, as he needed to hurry... the sky overhead was changing colors for the night that was coming quickly.

Willy, the greasy spoon owner, watched the car with the very thin man race off westward. He nodded to himself, as his large hand suddenly had a can of beer in it. He popped the tab, and took a long pull of cold beer and returned to simply sitting there in the customer empty place he called simply 'Outback Eats'.