Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ False Echoes ❯ Do You Trust Me? (Part I) ( Chapter 5 )

Witch Hunter Robin
False Echoes

Chapter V - Do You Trust Me? (Pt. I)

Disclaimer: You know by now I don't own Witch Hunter Robin®, which belongs to Sunrise® and Sci-Fi® Channel. You know this already.

Nor do I own the song False Echoes; I just borrowed its title.

Storyline, Plot, Kenny Avery©, Roger Williams©, David Rica© and Kichiro Wantanabee© are mine.

Author Notes:

Arigato to everyone who asked to be my Beta readers!

I decided to go with TenchiTenryou38 and Sano-san, since they were the first two to ask.

But thank you all for offering! ^^

Anyway, here's chapter five. Again it's a bit slow paced, but this one does, since you were all begging, shed some light on what David Rica is doing here.

Not to mention it's the first of several flashbacks to five years ago when Karasuma fell for Amon.

Well I'm torn folks.

Last night I was super happy because 24, the best damn show on Fox, had finally returned after like four weeks.

On the other hand, Witch Hunter Robin ended, as you all know. And while truly the series has been over for a long time, it was still hard.

Of course now that it's over it's time for me to continue it in Coffee and Donuts.

----------------

Michael's eyes opened with some difficulty, and the world around him was a colorless blur. Everything was black, but not just black, an odd shade of black almost as if he was seeing through a thick veil. Suddenly, the obscure view was blasted with a flash of color: a pale pinkish hue topped by a blonde blur with a reddish tint, and the two large bottle green orbs between that were Robin Sena's eyes.

"Michael."

Robin's voice sent a shockwave through the hacker that made his entire groggy form fill with warmth and a kind of electricity. He felt her petite hand touch his arm gently, and a second wave of heated affection burned through his tired body.

"What happened?"

Michael's eyes were still adjusting to the lack of light, and the sharp pain shooting through his skull didn't help them at all. He vaguely recalled a burning figure, covered by bright orange flames, wielding a British blade, and running towards him.

"I'm sorry Michael."

Michael's eyes had focused just enough for the veil around his sky blue orbs to loosen, and he could see briefly the tears that welled up in Robin's eyes. He tried to move to comfort her, but he found that movement of his left arm off the cold marble floor caused pain to shoot through it. His eyes flew down to gaze at his arm, and he found that several black spots covered it. At first, he thought it was only the blur in his eyes, until he discovered the black marks were actual burns.

"That person came at you. I tried to stop it. But I -, I, I'm sorry Michael."

"It's okay." Michael, with some difficulty and great pain, sat up, and pulled Robin into a one-armed hug using only his right arm. The burnt left one lay at his side, pain boiling through his entire body as the welts and burns rubbed against his shirt.

"What happened to that thing?" Michael asked.

Robin shook her head softly. "I don't know. He just sort of . . . vanished. Jyou helped me extinguish the fire on you. Then he brought us here."

Michael blinked as he looked around the room they sat in. The veil had almost lifted and now he could make out an old oak desk behind Robin, a small portable refrigerator, and a small nine-inch television sitting on the edge of the desk. He didn't have to ask where 'Here' was, he knew it was Jyou's office; the office of a night watchman. He knew because his father had been a night watchman before joining the police force.

"Where's Jyou now?"

"Trying to calm the people down," Robin responded in a whisper. "The doors and windows still won't open, and a lot of people think they heard that person with the sword screaming out 'Campbell' several times."

Michael sighed and wrinkled up his nose in thought. Campbell. Campbell had been what the sword-wielder had called Michael when it saw him. Campbell had been his mother's maiden name. Campbell had been the name of the man in the portrait who looked so much like Michael.

God, please let me be wrong. Don't let it be what I think it is.

The portrait.

Michael remembered the man covered in fire as he had stared at Michael for a moment before screaming and running at him. Michael remembered those eyes, darker than black in color. He saw the man's face illuminated only by the fire that had covered him. And yet, it was hard to mistake.

The man who had attacked him looked exactly like Rick Richards from the portrait.

Rick Richards who had murdered Michael Campbell almost 100 years ago.

----

"Get out."

Doujima's face was still covered in thick tears as the bright red car that belonged to her arrived at her apartment. Sometime during the drive she and Sakaki had managed to switch seats. But now, she just sat in the passenger seat, sobbing quietly, while he drove with a burning hatred visible on his face.

"Haruto, I'm sorry, I-"

"Just get out," he said as he leaned over her slender form and grabbed the door handle, opening it and waiting for Doujima to leave. She made no move to move at all, only stared up at the face that had once shown such love for her, but now was filled only with hate.

"Haruto, I swear I wanted to. I just couldn't kill him, I'm sor-"

"Don't say you're sorry!" Sakaki screamed loudly. "Just get out of the car!"

"You can't fight him alone," she squeaked.

"And you can't help me," he snapped.

"I love you."

"No you don't. Now get out of the car."

"No." Doujima sat up, tears still covered her cheeks and stung at her flesh, but she did not let them keep her strength down. She glared at him with a fury equal to his own. "I won't let you do this alone. And this is my car. So if you're going after your father, I'm going with you."

"Fine," Sakaki snapped, turning, and exiting the red car from the driver's side door. "Goodbye Doujima."

Doujima fell down onto the seat of the car and cried silently as Sakaki vanished down the dark street; alone and unarmed, going on a mad quest to fight, no to kill, his father, who was not only armed, but a craft user.

Still, she had one idea. Ignoring her tears, she went for her purse, and the cell phone within.

----

The clicking of keys and the silent sobs from the kitchen were the only sounds heard in Raven's Flat.

Kosaka was tired and he wanted nothing more than to go home. Of course the Chief would be pissed with him if he didn't finish the report soon.

Suddenly there was a sound and the bald man turned his head, afraid he'd see the chief standing in the elevator.

Kosaka breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was only Amon. Amon was the new rookie hunter on the team, a dark and quiet guy. Kosaka was a bit afraid of him, but if Kosaka wanted to take the Chief's job after he retired, he'd have to stay here and work with everyone.

"Amon, you're here late. Everyone else went home."

Amon's dark gray eyes passed over Kosaka and headed towards the kitchen.

"Someone's there." Amon said, his hand instinctively going for his gun.

"Oh, that's the new girl, Karasuma, SOLOMON sent her. She's a little young, but her craft skills make her useful." Kosaka paused to check and see if Karasuma could hear him. "She messed up the hunt this morning while you were being evaluated by Mr. Zaizen."

Amon ignored Kosaka, re-holstered his gun, then began walking towards the kitchen. It only took a moment to find the fourteen-year-old girl in the corner. Miho Karasuma was tucked between a pair of cabinets, silently crying into a tissue.

It took a moment for her to realize that Amon was now standing before her and watching her, and when she finally took notice she paused and blushed as she sobbed.

"Why are you crying?" Amon asked; his voice hit her like ice.

"I messed up." Karasuma whispered quietly. "I let Calypso escape. I could have shot him but I didn't."

"You're a Witch Hunter. Witch Hunters don't cry," Amon said matter-of-factly.

"Well, thank you for that valuable information, Captain Obvious," Karasuma snapped. "I'm not even good enough to be a Witch Hunter. SOLOMON only sent me because of my powers."

"Baka." Amon spoke coldly. "You were born a Witch, that limits your career choices. You can be a hunter, or one of the hunted. The only time you should cry is when SOLOMON decides you're useless."

"Bastard!" Karasuma stood up and tried to slap Amon across the face, but he caught her wrist quickly.

"Cry when you're looking down the barrel of a gun."

Karasuma's tear-filled blue eyes stared into Amon's gray ones as she tried her hardest to pull her hand free of his.

"Let go."

"Stop crying."

"Let GO!"

"Stop crying."

"Why do you even care?" Karasuma sobbed.

"Because you're my new partner," Amon alleged quietly. "And that means we're more or less responsible for each other's lives on hunts, and I don't want my life in the hands of a spoiled child."

Why you-"

Karasuma brought her left hand up and tried to smack Amon with it, but he moved his second hand up quicker and caught her wrist once more.

"Stop!" Karasuma screamed at him.

"You're not crying." Amon observed.

"That's because I'm pissed off," Karasuma spat back.

"Good," Amon said, letting go of both of her wrists. "Be pissed off on the hunt, and maybe you won't screw up."

He turned around to leave but Karasuma quickly ran and cut him off.

"I'm not done with you!" she spat.

"I'm done with you," Amon replied.

"You are the biggest jackass I've ever met."

Amon said nothing, he only began walking once again. Karasuma grabbed his jacket and pulled him back around. "Don't ignore me!"

Amon pushed her back and the girl fell on the ground. She looked up at him with blue eyes full of angry tears as he vanished through the doorway.

"You were right, Amon. I was a spoiled child then. If it hadn't been for what you said to me that day, and my anger at you, I never would have - Stop it Miho."

Miho Karasuma, now nineteen, sighed and rolled over in her bed. The azure sheets around her became tangled and crumpled as she moved around, trying to push away the feelings that had been slowly growing for five years. She had come home from the store only to find that Nagira was, unfortunately, right.

She hated feeling this way; she hated reliving the hunt for Charles Calypso in her mind every night since she had found out that David Rica had been under Calypso's service. She hated the fact she still had feelings for Amon even after they had both agreed to forget the past.

She sighed. Amon had been right about her five years ago.

And Nagira had been right about her an hour ago.

Why the hell was that family always so damn right?

Karasuma rolled back over, pulling the large burgundy comforted up over her bare arms and burying her head into her pillow, trying the best to ignore the memories of five years ago and of this evening.

Then the phone rang. She cursed very fluently and shot her hand out to grab it on the nightstand next to her, and brought it up to her ear as she rose in bed with a rude jolt.

"Hello?" Karasuma answered bitterly.

"Miho, Haruto and I were out at Harry's, and his father showed up, and tried to shoot him, and I hit him with the car, and I tried to kill him, but I couldn't, and now he's-"

"Yurika, calm down!" Karasuma shouted over the frantic sobs of Doujima on the telephone at her ear. "Say it again, slowly this time."

"Sakaki's father is a witch, and now Sakaki's hunting him without any help or Orbo and he hates me now, and he's going to get himself killed, and you have to help him Miho because you're strong and you know what to do, and I need help because you know I'm such a screw up and-"

"Where are you?" Karasuma asked quietly, her voice becoming warm and friendly, trying to disguise her own bad day and this new bad news.

"Outside my apartment."

"Okay, I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Arigato, Miho."

"Don't move, I'll be right over."

Karasuma's fingers shot over to the phone and pressed down the twin white nubs that hung it up. A moment later, once the dial tone returned, she quickly dialed the number Amon had left for emergencies. There was a series of three brief rings, then the dark hunter who had been on her mind since her conversation with Nagira answered the phone quietly.

"Amon."

"Amon, its Miho. Something's going on, I think Sakaki's in danger."

There was a pause. "What happened?"

"I can't really be sure, but Yurika said it had something to do with his father."

A second pause. "Where?"

"Doujima's apartment."

"I'll meet you there."

"Alright. Arigato, Amon."

The darkest hunter hung up.

----

Zaizen sat in his office at the Factory, his tired gray eyes scanning over page after page of information on his "new" Orbo as it appeared on the screen before him.

Of course, the problem with the Orbo was already fixed. Zaizen knew it wasn't serious. He hadn't really cared about the fact that the Orbo had failed on a hunt with those damned witches they used as hunters. He would use this time with only the Factory hunting to test his new human Orbo; Orbo able to be used by humans. It was a wonderful concept. Simply wonderful.

The phone rang, and Zaizen quickly picked it up and brought it to his ear. The quiet, raspy voice of Kichiro Wantanabee spoke from the other end of the receiver.

"Mr. Zaizen?"

"You're not supposed to call me at the Factory." Zaizen spoke quickly, his voice full of anger and anxiety.

"You said I could kill my son," Kichiro snapped back. "And he escaped."

"It's not my fault you're incompetent."

Kichiro laughed a sickening, sour laugh that sounded like the taste of salt. "You don't want me as an enemy, Mr. Zaizen. If you want my information on SOLOMON's movements, then you'll make sure I get Haruto Sakaki dead."

Zaizen paused for a moment, and then sighed. "Fine. I'll meet you at the usual place tomorrow. Midnight. We'll discuss this then. Now what do you have on SOLOMON?"

Kichiro's salty laugh echoed again. "I'll tell you part of the information now, and the rest after Sakaki is dead."

"Deal." Zaizen said quickly.

"The agent in charge of your assassination is a . . . Mr. David Rica."

Zaizen frowned. "Are you playing me for a fool? David Rica was killed; he was a traitor to SOLOMON."

The salty laugh was back. "David Rica was already dead three months ago. Do you really think SOLOMON's scientist couldn't enhance the cheap craft spells already on Rica? And he did not betray SOLOMON, he betrayed the STN. There is a difference, my friend."

Zaizen heard these words and wondered if he should believe them or not. "Why would SOLOMON keep Rica on their team after what happened three months ago?"

"Because he's a crazy bastard who wants to murder everyone connected with the STN of Japan, and they're looking for someone who can murder you. If this person gets caught, they need to not be connected to SOLOMON. Who better than a blood thirsty traitor?"

Zaizen cursed. "Fine. Where is Rica now?"

"He's recruiting two police officers, an American and an Englishman. I'll tell you the rest of what I know once my son is dead."

"Fine, tomorrow. Midnight."

"A pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Zaizen."

With one more salty laugh Kichiro hung up, allowing Zaizen to brood over the information he had just received, and to wait impatiently for the information still to come.

----

Michael was still having problems with his arm as he and Robin moved throughout the museum looking for Jyou.

The lights refused to show themselves, despite the fact they were all turned on and there was nothing wrong with the fuses. It was like every light bulb in the museum had burnt out. Of course this was just another sign of what Michael feared the most. Still, many candles had been found and lit; they now lined the floor, illuminating an eerie walkway.

Robin had her arms enclosed around Michael's right one as they walked next to one another. She, of course, had not forgiven herself for lighting Michael on fire. Michael didn't blame her at all, but that was beside the point. She felt now how Sakaki had felt four months ago when he had accidentally put an Orbo bullet in her chest.

The pair of young lovers found the aged security guard standing in a corner, trying his best to reassure the wife of the man who had been murdered that everything would be alright. She didn't want to hear that, and tried to shoo him away.

"Michael," The gray haired guard said, spotting the youth. "There you are. I was worried."

It was clear from Jyou's face that he wanted to know what the hell was going on. The dim blue eyed guard cast a frightened look at Robin, who hung her head somberly, but Michael hugged her reassuringly with his good arm.

"Jyou, I need a phone. I have to contact the STN-J," Michael said at once.

He blinked. "The STN-J? What for?"

"I work there Jyou," Michael explained quietly. "So does Robin. I can't go into any more detail; I just need to contact them."

Jyou shook his head. "Phones aren't working right; the wall phones, cell phones, no one can get a call out."

Michael cursed. This was yet another sign of what he was dreading worst of all. Another sign that the man who had appeared and stolen the sword, the man who attacked Robin and killed a rich old man was in fact Rick Richards.

"CAMPBELL!"

Michael was shaken out of his thoughts by the cry. He and Robin both spun around quickly while Jyou let out a groan, and several of the rich people around them screamed and ran. The figure was back. The sword was still in the cold, dead hand of Rick Richards.

"Damn! The gun won't work Jyou," he called behind him, where the security guard had been taking feeble aim at the figure. They were the only three left standing there now; everyone else had run for the imaginary safety of the shadows behind them.

The figure with the sword gave another cry and ran forward, waving the rapier above his head with a wild eyed stare. Michael sighed, he had to be sure. He had to be sure of what they were fighting.

"Robin, do you trust me?" Michael asked quietly, but quickly.

"Of course I do!"

"Then torch me."

At first, Robin looked as if she didn't understand, but the look in Michael's sky blue eyes told the entire sad request in a way she couldn't misinterpret. She shook her head defiantly as the rapier-waving maniac drew closer.

"There's a fire extinguisher on the wall, just torch me quickly! I have to test something."

"No Michael!" she nearly shouted.

"I thought you trusted me."

Robin shook her head. "Don't ask me to kill you."

Michael smiled. "I'm not. I'm just asking you light me on fire. Robin, I will never leave you, you have to trust me."

Robin was crying, but she knew she had to obey him; she had no choice. She gave the hacker a tearful look, but he only smiled at her. Wishing she could do it with her eyes closed, but knowing that was impossible, Robin sighed and tilted her head to the right as bright orange flames jumped up from the floor and onto Michael's body.

The sword-wielding figure, which had been only feet from them, suddenly vanished into thin air once again with a cry of pain. Or maybe it was Michael's cry of pain; Robin could not tell.

Michael was now on his knees screaming as flames engulfed his body like they had engulfed so many witches in the past. Robin quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher and aimed it, squeezing the handle rapidly. At first she thought she had done it wrong, but after the second try she knew.

The extinguisher was empty.

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*Listening to Kenny Chesney's Back Where I Come From*

Well there you have it folks! Chapter Five is finished.

I know, I'm evil.

I made Robin light Michael on fire.

That's the evilest thing I did since Rica put a bullet in Amon's neck.

I know this. Feel free to call me "evil", "bastard", "jerk", "mean", or in Kanno's case a "little puppy" anything else you can come up with. ^_-

Thanks for all the reviews.

Oh and I've decided to dedicate this chapter to TenchiTenryou38 and Sano-san, who have been nice enough to lend me their time to Beta Read this and help me with my horrible grammar skills.

Well, there you are folks.

I'll be back later with more, you know I will.

Of course right now I'm off to make C&D chapter two. This contains:

A Witch Hunt

Robin becoming a "Farm Girl"

Michael goes to Harry's

And the new Replacement for Amon shows up.

Anyway, I'm off now folks.

~ Golden-sama