~Message: not received~

It was easy, Sakaki knew, to make friends with somebody. Simply hold out your hand and say hello.

Say hello to her, you idiot.

Robin Sena, the newest addition to the team of STN-J witch hunters, walked in. Never late like Dojima; she was prompt to the point of punctuality. Karasuma greeted her as well as Michael, cheerfully now, giving off the impression of warmth, losing the cool distance that he always affected with the others.

"Sakaki?"

He realized he had been standing in the same spot. Staring at her like some kind of idiot. Say something. Sakaki opened his mouth to speak the tardy greeting only to be never heard by anyone as Amon appeared.

The debriefing was called to order.

~*~

This is ridiculous. He sat in the semi-darkness of the room, his eyes unseeing on the screen before him. Michael was pulling up schematics of their last hunt and everyone but him were paying attention. Is it so hard to speak to a girl--it's not like that! Colleague? Good morning, Robin...he chewed his gum, his mind wandering.

He felt someone watching. Please don't let it be the chief-!

Braving a brief glance at the shadowed assembly, Sakaki was surprised to find himself confronted by a pair of emerald green eyes. Robin smiled faintly and then her attention was given to Amon who began speaking. Sakaki did not hear a word.

She...smiled at me?

~*~

"Need a refill?" he had practiced for a while, repeating the simple question in his mind for the last twenty minutes, only remembering every so often to lean closer to his workstation giving off the impression of working hard whenever the chief or Hattori went by.

Robin turned up, a pen held in her hand above paper had ceased the writing of some obscure footnote from an old case. "No," she answered--prettily, was the thought that occurred to Sakaki; Michael had already served her another cup.

Oh...he had done it. Shooting the hacker whose back was to him, a strange look, Sakaki went to his station feeling slightly distracted. What was happening to their aloofness?

~*~

"Good morning, Ms. Robin." said the custodian behind the reception desk near the doors. Sakaki exited the elevator with Karasuma in time to catch the phrase of welcome leaving the usually quiet man's lips. The young girl in black replied something in response and the man smiled. Even Karasuma, before joining Sakaki at the door to the below ground parking garage, called out a brief greeting to Robin.

Sakaki, his mind on other things like the warning he'd received from the chief, heard his name said and looked up. He caught a glimpse of Robin's smile and then she moved on toward the elevator.

He had forgotten to say something in return.

~*~

"What's wrong?"

"Huh?" Sakaki glanced and saw slight concern in Karasuma's expression. He was surprised. "Nothing. Why do you ask?" he balanced his elbow on the window casement, looking back out to the suspect's apartment. The building was quiet.

"You just seem..." she struggled for a moment, "preoccupied more than usual."

More than usual? Sakaki felt a twinge of annoyance.

"I just figured something was bothering you."

He didn't respond, sensing the older woman's eyes on him. He thought of Robin's eyes and then shook his head. "No, it's nothing really. I--"

"The suspect's moving!" and just like that, Karasuma's attention was focused elsewhere and Sakaki went along with her. Relieved just the littlest bit that the craft user couldn't scry his thoughts with her gloves on.

~*~

6:40 AM.

Sakaki checked the time on his cell; outside the sky was still gray with the sun soon to rise to dispel the remaining vestiges of night.

6:43 AM.

A brief message would all it would be. Just a little thing on his part that he felt he had failed so far to give on behalf of their newest hunter. That's all. As a colleague.

6:44 AM.

Good morning, Robin. He typed then added a smiley face icon below his name. From, Sakaki. Satisfied, he looked it over and hit send. She always carried her cell and was sure to open it when the text was received.

6:45 AM.

She walked in, no cell in hand. Karasuma rose to greet her and even the chief stepped out to have a few words as well. Sakaki had the sense that something was off. Covertly scanning the screen of his phone while the others were on the other side of the room, his eye was immediately caught by the tiny message flashing on the top screen.

Message: not received.

~Fin~

12/1/09

Note: instead of just saying 'hello'! I wonder how this came out-? I've never really written anything in Sakaki's p.o.v before, but he does seem a little--maybe social skills lacking? Maybe I'm wrong. Ah well, instead of the usual AxR or MxR, I did this one with a hint of SxR since today is moi's birthday! I hope no one minds. :) set early series but before ep.9. Thanks for reading--no flames or idiotic spammers! :)